4 Sep

Sunday Dinner: Cioppino

Posted by jaysaint in Alden wouldn't eat it, Sunday Dinner.

A banged up recipe looks like a winner to me. I figure it’s been on the counter at least a few times.

So good. So so good. I miss it already.

As far as I can tell, “cioppino” is just a fancy way of saying “fish stew in tomato broth.” Zero research went into that assertion, so take it for what it’s worth. The recipe is in the intermediate category on FoodNetwork.com, but the only difficult thing about it was restraining myself from sticking my face in the pot.

The various seafoods — anchovies, cod, shrimp, mussells and scallops — adds up to a spendy grocery bill. We won’t be putting on our table every week, but it joins the ranks of my favorite go-to special occassion recipes — fondue, stuffed artichokes mostly.

The only time, until now, that I tried cioppino was in San Francisco — a speciality of the city. This is just as good. Please try it. And invite me over.

Recipe #11:
Cioppino: A Fine Kettle of Fish from FoodNetwork.com

 

3 Sep

My 10 Favorite Summer Photos

Posted by jaysaint in Uncategorized.


This interactive fountain, on Knoxville’s Market  Square, is one of Alden’s favorite places.

What Elliot’s doing while I’m at work.

Pretty much everything you need to know about my boys. Peeking into “the polar bear’s basement” at the Cincinnati Zoo.

We went to New York City. Alden discovered the massive Toys R Us in Times Square, and the cool science section behind the T-Rex.

Elliot’s wondering how seriously to take my threats. He decided “not very” and made me chase him all over the Tennessee Aquarium.

Alden took this picture. It’s one of my favorites because you can see (and I can see) what I feel when I look at him.

He has the same effect on his Grammy.

I don’t get too political here. And I try not to make my kids a billboard for my causes. But we stand as a family for equal rights. This is us at Knoxville Pride.

Dear Folly Beach, we love you and we’ll be back next year.

Alden got himself a Godmother. He made an excellent selection.

Endless, endless love.

Also, see that pasta salad? Alden wouldn’t eat it.

 

 

29 Aug

Of Mice and Me

Posted by jaysaint in Uncategorized.

He is cute, no? Sitting sweetly on his leafy perch. I envision myself feeding him bread right out of my hand, like I did the squirrels in our old park.

Now picture him IN MY HOME. And envision me with my feet up on a chair, frozen and somehow also sweaty. Cut to twenty minutes later and I am shoving suitcases into the car seats and my sons into the storage compartment of the Honda.

To go back a few steps… my home in this story is my father’s little cabin in the woods. Now my little cabin in the woods. Although the mice would probably make some noise about squatters rights and occupancy laws.

You have to understand that Damon and I spent many years in small apartments in big cities. We don’t really know how to take care of a normal house, much less a little cabin in the woods. One visit I brought a bag of bird seed, thinking we might hang a feeder. We didn’t. I left the seed. You can guess the rest. In case you can’t… field mice infestation. Field mice times a million.

On our next visit we got there late, unpacked and went to sleep. Something woke me up, some sixth sense. In a pre-dawn haze I walked out of the little bedroom just in time to see… something… zoom past my toes. And then another, across the room. And now we’re back to the part where I’m on the chair.

I’m not a screamer. I’m more of a freezer. My heart scrambled up my throat and all the little hairs stood on my arms. I didn’t want to haul everyone out of bed at 4am, and so I waited until nearly 5 (heroic patience!) before I hissed, “DamonDamonDamonDamon. We have to go Right Now! Mice! We have miiiiiiice!”

Half an hour of equal parts cringing, gasping and car packing and we were making the 5-hour drive (that we’d just completed the night before) back home.

Exterminators have visited. Damon found a kind and iron-spined local woman. I told her she could name her price, as long as she went in there and gave every dead mouse a decent burial (or whatever) somewhere far, far away. I will raid the college fund if needs be.

We’re going back for the long weekend, and this time we’re bringing cats.

28 Aug

Speech Therapy, Twice Weekly

Posted by jaysaint in Elliot, speech.

I’ve asked myself, considering, if we really need to be going to speech therapy two times a week. It takes a hunk out of my work week, forcing me to work more at night to catch up. We schedule appointments pretty early to minimize the impact on my schedule, but that means we have to haul Elliot (and sometimes Alden) up and out. It’s kind of a long drive, in the opposite direction of my office. Our in-home teacher comes once a week, sometimes upsetting the nap apple cart and leaving us with a cranky baby for the rest of the evening. Elliot’s on track developmentally, which is what I’ve said I want all along. So why will we keep going?

This is why.

Good now doesn’t mean good always. I don’t feel ready to let go of the help. I hope I’ll know when, but I’m sure it’s not now.

Elliot In Speech Therapy

 

 

21 Aug

Sunday Dinner: Dixie Fried Catfish

Posted by jaysaint in Alden wouldn't eat it, Sunday Dinner.

Swimming around in the bottom of the folder are little recipe cards from I-don’t-know-where. Until now, every Sunday dinner came from a recipe printed off the internet. (Is anyone still writing it “Internet”?)

These cards confuse me. Did Dad save them because he wanted to try them? Or did someone give them to him and  he just chucked them in the folder? A tour reveals no tofu or anything else he regarded with suspicion. Let’s call them good.

Once I got rolling I realized it was a non-recipe recipe. Basically: Dredge some catfish in cornmeal, salt and pepper. Fry it. Eat it.

oil blotches for legitimacy

To be fair, I’ve deep fried maybe three times in my life. I would not have known how long to leave it on the oil. So thanks for that, little card!

I paired it up with some mashed sweet potatoes, which both boys ate and so I will make every day for the rest of my life. Carotenoids for the win, yo! Next time I will mix in a little apple sauce, because I am tricky like that.

On the eve of yet another business trip, when my baby calls me by the sitter’s name twice, it feels extra good to get in a nutritional win.

I need to add another category called “My Mom wouldn’t eat it.” At least she ate the potatoes, too.

Recipe #9: Dixie Fried Catfish from a mysterious little card.

Paired with:

Recipe #10: Salade Nicoise with Conchiglie from Vegetarian Pasta

There’s no tuna, which means it’s not Nicoise. Right? It’s shell pasta salad. Another non-recipe recipe.

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