Monthly Archives for December 2010

Flight

When faced with the choice of fight or flight, I almost always choose flight.  I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, it’s just my defense mechanism and it’s probably not going to change.  In the most recent family drama, I made an impulsive decision to pack up the family and head to the Cape for a spontaneous vacation, and I’m so happy I did.  We’re at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis, and although it’s not quite as hopping as I’m sure it is in the summer, there are plenty of activities to get the kids out of the room and leave me in peace.

We left early in the afternoon of Christmas day, and arrived in Hyannis after an uneventful drive.  Our dinner options were very limited, but we ended up at the Dragon Lite for some really good Chinese food.  They were doing a brisk business, but for a while we were the only ones in their overflow room so that was nice for the other diners.

The hotel has beautiful Christmas decorations including lots of lights in the courtyard outside our room, and there’s a pretty good restaurant on-site which was fortunate when the storm hit on Sunday.  We didn’t get as much snow here as we did at home, but it was pretty windy and we lost power for an hour in parts of the hotel.  Luckily we were already eating our dinner when it went out in the restaurant, and the power was on in the area where they are showing 3 movies daily.

Other activities have included a dance party for the kids with live entertainment, cupcake decorating with absolutely the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever had in my life, crafts and face-painting, some sort of animal show tonight, nightly bonfires, the game room, and of course, the indoor wave pool where the kids have spent HOURS tiring themselves out.  Today we ventured out to the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory for a tour and a couple bags of chips fresh off the line.  I can feel my ankles swelling already.  In our down time, we have iPad, an iPhone, a laptop, a DVD player, and a Nintendo DS to keep us from killing each other.  Oh yeah, and Aliya has her new facepainting kit that she’s torturing us with.

I have done almost nothing except eat, sleep, and read until I fall asleep again.  We haven’t been too adventurous with our culinary choices – the Old Yarmouth Inn for Sunday brunch (fabulous!!), Not Your Average Joe’s last night, a local bagel joint today, and the best pizza Hyannis has to offer tonight.

We’ve had a great time, and we’re headed home tomorrow so I can cover the phones in the office on Thursday.  I hope you’re all enjoying your winter break as much as I am.  Happy New Year!!

[slideshow]

(A)Live from Whateverland

People have started to check in and make sure I’m still alive, which means it’s definitely time for an update.  It’s comforting to know that if I die buried under the piles of crap stacked around my house, my body won’t go unnoticed for months.  Someone will miss me.

I’m alive, and this morning I arrived in Whateverland.  I think this is probably the earliest I’ve ever arrived.  If you’re not familiar with Whateverland, it’s more of a state of mind or acceptance rather than an actual place.  It’s the place where I stop stressing out and running around trying to make everything perfect or at least presentable, and sit down, pour myself a beverage, and say “whatever.”

This morning I dropped Norah off at preschool just as they were preparing for their holiday celebration.  When the teacher asked if I was staying I said that I had to go home and clean up because my mother’s arriving today.  She said, “Why are you worrying about cleaning?  It’s your mother, not your mother-in-law!”  Maybe she has a point.  What’s my mother going to do if the house is a mess when she gets here?  Fire me?  Tell everyone?  Write about it on her blog?

I did come home and do a few things, but there’s absolutely no way that I’m going to get everything *ready* the way I want it to be, so whatever.  I just went to BJs because someone had an accident on my featherbed (whatever) and I also had to buy new Christmas PJs for Adlani.  I had to let him wear his original new Christmas PJs to pajama day at school today because he had no decent pajamas to wear (whatever).  The kids’ rooms aren’t ship-shape (whatever), and my room isn’t ready to be occupied by Mom and Keith (whatever).  The presents aren’t wrapped (whatever), I haven’t done the grocery shopping (whatever), and I didn’t have time to hide the piles (whatever).  I haven’t printed and framed the annual photos (whatever), the Christmas cards will have to be Happy New Year cards (whatever), I didn’t ship out boxes to my 3 sets of remote peeps (sorry, but whatever), I still have a project that I really want to finish before Christmas (but if I don’t, whatever), and people are still emailing me about door hardware emergencies (sorry, I’m out of the office and I’ll answer your email when I get back from Whateverland).

On the bright side, I have to give kudos to Ben, who put up the Christmas lights and the tree, installed a new toilet (that’s a whole separate blog post), and spent 3 hours cleaning last night.  I got him a really nice present this year.  I hope he likes it, but if he doesn’t – whatever.

By the way, in a poll of 938 Americans, “whatever” was deemed to be the most annoying word used in English conversation (whatever).

Now where’s my beverage?

OMG

My house looks like about 23 moms, 4 dads, and 33 kids came in, chowed down, hung out for a while, and left behind a couple of tall kitchen trash bags each.  Oh wait – that really happened!  Hopefully A&E isn’t roaming the neighborhood looking for candidates for the next episode of Hoarders, because I’d be a contender.

It was a great day, and once again I forgot to take photos because I was so busy sitting around chatting.  Aliya ran the check-in table and she was seriously a huge help.  We collected gifts for 61 kids!

I don’t know what I was thinking when I signed up (and pre-paid!) for a 1 1/2-hour Zumba class this afternoon, but I can’t move without groaning, so the clean-up will have to wait.  A lot of people wanted recipes for the brunch menu, so I’ve attached a pdf to this post that you should be able to download by clicking here.  These recipes were previously included in our “Family Food” cookbook, which is why they’re already so nicely formatted.  BTW…the photo below was on the cover of our 2005 Family Food submission, and it’s one of my all-time favorites.  Aliya got a little too close to Choco-Monster, but she was more acquiescent back then.  It wouldn’t go over so well today.

The soup has not yet been included in Family Food…it’s from the New England Soup Factory Cookbook, which I highly recommend.  If you haven’t been to the NESF, it’s in Needham near my office and we are frequent customers.  I was a little worried when I was making the soup because honestly, it doesn’t look that appetizing.  It was my first time making it and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to serve it but I just forged ahead.  I’m glad I did!

Cheddar-Corn Chowder with Bacon and Scallions

1 pound uncooked bacon, diced (I used turkey bacon.)
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 medium red bliss potatoes, diced into 3/4-inch cubes
6 cups chicken stock (I used 8 cups because I didn’t want to throw it away.)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 cans (each 16 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained (I used frozen corn.)
2 cans (each 16 ounces) creamed corn
1 pound (16 ounces) sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 cups heavy cream
4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 bunches scallions, sliced

Heat stockpot over medium-high heat and add the bacon.  Cook the bacon until brown and crispy.  Remove the bacon from the pot and set aside on paper towels to drain.  Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.  Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the drippings and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, stock, cayenne pepper, and coriander.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 35 minutes.  Add the whole kernel corn, creamed corn, cheese, and cream.  Simmer an additional 7 minutes.  Season with the Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.  Stir in the scallions and crispy bacon pieces.

Makes 10-12 servings (I used my crock pot to keep it hot, and one batch filled it to the rim.)

Can I interest you in some Shame Pain?

Aliya and I just hit the sack after finishing the preparations for the Pathways brunch tomorrow (actually, today!).  I’m beat, but this photo cracked me up so I had to post it.  Aliya overheard me talking on the phone to a friend who will remain nameless.  The friend said that she couldn’t have any champagne tomorrow because she embarrassed herself after drinking sangria at the candle party.  Aliya asked me what she did to embarrass herself and I said that maybe she just acted a little silly.  Aliya responded, “Yeah, a lot of your friends act like that sometimes.”

She was very interested in what was going into the pitchers and why one had a red ribbon around it.  Apparently she didn’t think the tags I hung on the handles were sufficient, because I noticed that she added her own labels.  At first I thought the purple one was some sort of judgmental commentary on the consumption of alcoholic beverages before noon on Sunday, but then I realized that she just hasn’t mastered wine list spelling yet.  She was so helpful tonight though…she has actually gotten to the point where she can be an extra pair of hands for me when I’m cooking, and she’s pretty willing to help clean up and get organized.

So if you’re in the neighborhood tomorrow morning and want some “Shame Pain,” stop by.  I will warn you though…some of the other family members don’t share Aliya’s organizational talents, so open closets and doors at your own risk.

————————————-

Aliya’s all ready to collect the gifts and distribute the Partylite orders:

If you weren’t convinced that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, here’s Aliya’s schedule of what to wear last week, which she coordinated with Hannah:

When I finished cooking and cleaning up I dragged myself upstairs and found this in Norah’s room.  Ugh.