Asher has these little yellow CAT trucks that move around the house. Sometimes they are in the bath, sometimes in his crib. Sometimes one is MISSING!! The other day I dumped out a bunch of barley and let him go to town. It wasn’t really enough gravel to do his “work-job” so I found lentils, rice and cous cous and threw them all onto the top of a rubbermaid bin. He played with it for 45 minutes. He wanted to learn all the different things that make up the gravel and cous cous was the funniest. “Coocoocoos” After his nap he asked for it again so I set it up. He made roads, he cleaned roads, he made the dump truck dump piles into a bigger pile. He’s played with it almost every day this week.
I only watched 1 season of American Idol. After watching Kelly kill it week after week the 2nd season people just didn’t do it for me and I never went back.
Earlier this month Matthew got to light Kelly Clarkson unplugged for VH1 and I have to say, it was just about the first time I ever really wanted to go to work with him.
I’m back at work too this week and all I can say is that it’s not nearly as exciting. I was thinking about doing a post on formatting spreadsheets but I went with what Matthew’s doing instead. You’re welcome!
I’ve had a list going for years, a list of things I want to do one day. Some are big (have another baby) and some are small (sing karaoke.)
Inspired by Maggie Mason I decided to actually tackle some of these things and this weekend I baked a loaf of bread. From scratch. By myself.
I love bread and always wanted to make a loaf myself. Homemade bread always sounds so good, like the perfect addition to every meal. I picked up a never used bread maker for $20 bucks and it sits in my kitchen, still never used.
When Liz referenced her grandmothers whole wheat bread I thought it sounded like an amazing recipe to have in my mental cookbook so I picked up some ww flour. Then the giant sacks of bulk purchased at the food co-op whole wheat flour sat on the kitchen counter for a week. Since we only have the 1 kitchen counter it was kind of staring me in the face so last weekend I set Asher up with some “trucks and gravel” and went to work.
The gist of the recipe is easy. Mix wet ingredients, mix dry ingredients, put them in the mixer together slowly. knead with a dough hook, put into a warmed oven in greased pans, let rise 2 hrs, cook, eat.
The mixing was easy, even figuring out how to work the kitchen aid mixer was easy. I did have to google dough hook.
its this one
not this one
FYI. I mean, the hook does look more hooky but you can never be too sure.
All set with that I had to start mixing the dry into the wet and I didn’t know what speed to put it on so I called Matthew. MAAAAAATTHEW didn’t know because he only kneads his bread by HAAAAAAAAAND. Also he was at work in Boston and could only help me so much.
Not confident winging it went back to my other husband, google. There are 10 levels on the mixer.
“kitchenaid how fast to knead bread”
Anyway some said 1, some said 2 so I switched back and forth. (shrug)
Then after doing it forever and not knowing when to stop I went back to google
“kitchenaid how to know bread is kneaded”
The answers were inconclusive so I had to call husband #1 again who tried describing it over the phone.
It finally seemed “not as sticky” (??) so I put it in the loaf pans, turned off the oven and packed Asher up for our Saturday night hamburger date and trip to the bookstore.
When we got home I turned the oven on and threw him in the bath. By the time he had jammies on it was done.
Its not perfect but I’ll try again. Bake a loaf of bread from scratch. Check.
I came across this recipe for french dip sandwiches while poking around on our best bites after making their baked chicken taquitos (also ridiculously delish)
Matthew loves a french dip and there are 4 ingredients so I went for it one day when he was at work. I never use the crock pot and I’ve been looking for a reason to keep it. This recipe is it.
The picture isn’t the most exciting one I’ve ever taken but click through to her pics if you need further nudging. I was in a rush to eat after smelling it cooking all day.
Ingredients
1 2.5-3 lb. beef roast (I used a bigger one the second time and it wasn’t nearly as good but I’ve never cooked a roast before so there’s probably some trick)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix
2 c. water
2 cans beef broth
6-8 large buns
Directions
Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper. (I used our nonstick grill pan so no oil needed)
When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You’re not cooking the meat, you’re just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.
Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mix. Pour water and beef broth over roast.
Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low.
Place meat in crusty rolls. Dip into amazing au jus. Put it in your mouth. Do it again and again.
Ok she mentions some stuff about putting cheese on it and putting it in the broiler so if that’s your thing go for it. We don’t like cheese messing up our french dips so we just made some sides and ate until we burst.
Novemblaaaaagh is a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me because I look through old drafts and photo files while posting. I had this fun idea where I’d find a random date in November where I took a photo of Asher on the same date each year and post it to see how he’s grown. I found something better.
Amazingly, I have video of him doing the EXACT SAME THING in 2009 and 2010.
I don’t know which is my favorite but man, was he adorable. When I re-watched the video from last year and saw him signing I almost thought about having another baby straight away! (I have since come to my senses) He never signs anymore but once in a blue moon I’ll move my fingers and say “What’s this the sign for…” and he knows it. Every time.
Farmers market, donuts, walk through the park, collecting sticks, throwing leaves, seeing the ducks, climbing mountains, home, puzzles, trains, fresh turkey sausage and apples for lunch, naptime, trains, trucks in gravel, baking bread from scratch, out for dinner, bookstore, bathtime, stories, bed.
TV time, trucks in gravel, driving cars, organizing art supplies, painting with watercolors, coloring with markers, stamp set, story time, lunch, nap, puzzles, tickle time, video chat with grandma, grilled chicken for dinner, playing catch, bathtime, stories, bed.
Matthew was away until Sunday afternoon but we made the most of it.
I have been listening to this album from 2009 pretty much non-stop for the past month or so. I’ve heard a bunch of the songs before but once I bought the album and started listening to it I became Obsessed. To say I am no longer up on music is an understatement. Matthew is constantly downloading something new. This week he went to Atlanta to light this for the Artist’s Den:
Who? Exactly. I mostly listen to stuff I already know I like. Then I listen to it over and over again. Sometimes I can listen to 1 song 10x in a row. It drives Matthew crazy. Ok nothing drives Matthew crazy, it makes him shake his head in wonder, that’s about as crazy as he gets but still.
I basically pick an album and listen to it all the time until I move onto the next one but I haven’t loved an album like this since I had Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous on repeat in 2004.
Its the 10 piece band, its the bare feet and the combination of awesome voices and the California of it all. Its the need for a tambourine in my hand while I’m doing dishes.
Its Home.
Good luck not wanting to listen to this song 10x in a row.
This is something I used to do a bunch, and I even have a sticky on my computer where I still track things to post, then don’t ever post. AKA story of my life. Intentions:11 Follow through:3. Eh, 2. Who are we kidding. I have 43 posts in my drafts folder.
In any case, Novemblaaaaagh is a special time where I go through all of my old drafts and think about finishing up posts from April (Did you know we went to California on vacation and I took over 1000 photos. I posted 1 photo on my blog. ONE.)
3 of the drafts I found contained posts about stuff I like written in this very format. Turns out I still like them so yay, we both win:
I have always hated earbuds but became a convert out of desperation. Matthew has a similar pair I’ve been borrowing and after losing/breaking/breaking 3 sets of headphones (left on a plane/crushed in my bag/spontaneously combusted) in the past 3 months I was ready for something new. These are pricey but come with 6 sizes of buds and have great sound. Since I bought Matthew his pair for Christmas I feel like I recommended this product to myself. Go me! (I wrote this in May but still very true. These are fantastic earbuds for the non-earbud lover.)
My friend Chana got this for me after I complimented the one she has. I went from using it onsite where I didn’t like carrying all my cards around to using it every day and leaving extraneous stuff at home. It holds a spare key, lip balm, ID, debit and money and fits in my back pocket. Everyone needs a friend like Chana.
These shoes are awesome. So light and comfortable and the sole is like a reef flip flop for those days you don’t want to get subway slime on your pedicure. As a primarily reef flip flop wearing household during summer months branching out into sanuks took a little convincing but Matthew and I both have and love these shoes to bits. (Ok these are kind of summery. Sue me)
Everything is adorable and well made. Asher has a bunch of tshirts but if I had a girl I could see myself going a little crackers over there. The quality is great and I occasionally find older ones I really want on eBay. So sick of the GAP, and Old Navy fits Asher like crap. Its apparently made for only short children.
