William's favorite bean pancakes: a recipe in photos

Happy BIrthday William!

Obligatory Halloween photos

Didn't get good shots of the kids this year (see yesterday's post) but I am posting these anyway so you can see Dorothy, and William wearing his "Great Pumpkin" T-shirt. He had his beagle costume on in the morning for half a second.

Last shot is something amusing from last week's farmers' market!

You Should See the Other Guy

This is the kind of thing where, if I were the nanny I'd be fired. While watching William today, he crawled over and pulled himself up to stand, using our nightstand like he's done many times before. Should have seen this as a hazard, but all the other times, it was sturdy. Only this time, he pulled the entire thing down to the floor, on top of himself.

He was screaming and when I pulled it off of him, at first I did not even notice the cuts by his eye, I was just focused on his leg being crushed. (The leg is fine.) Then there was that unmistakeable iron smell of blood, and I noticed my shirt was bloodied. I took him to the doctor and at first she thought it needed stitches but upon closer examination, found that it was not very deep. So she prescribed special antibiotic cream that can go near the eye. Probably good stuff to have on hand for future injuries that I'm sure will happen.

Meanwhile, this little bruiser is getting extra snuggles from his parents and "Lo", as he calls Lauren. I was supposed to go to my office this afternoon for an important meeting with my boss and her boss, but I had to cancel. If ever a baby needed his mama, this was the day. He's been pretty happy with all of the extra attention, and I even let him stay up late and took him to Trader Joe's in the Ergo, so he fell asleep nestled against me. Which was pretty nice.

Probably does not need to be stated, but Lauren never toppled furniture before. At least I can't remember any times that she was rushed to the doctor with injuries, other than the one time she cut her wrist. So William's living up to that stereotypical boy energy.

The funny thing is, yesterday was Halloween, and he had his beagle costume on for about 5 minutes, kept trying to pull it off and was generally miserable.  So I let him wear his "Great Pumpkin" T-shirt and that's about as dressed-up as he got.  But I could not take pictures of either outfit because I was holding him and the camera.  When I set him down to get a shot, he crawled into some dirt and got filthy.  So under pressure from the grandparents wanting to see his first Halloween, I was going to secretly dress him up again this afternoon and reenact it for the camera.  But now I  will never get a believable shot because yesterday his eye looked just fine.

Warm Pasta Salad

We have this quite a bit around here. The recipe is more or less this:

Ingredients:
1 pound of whole wheat pasta
1 bag of organic broccoli crowns
1 clove of garlic
1/8 cup olive oil
4 oz. asiago, parmesan blend shredded cheese (or can use other grated cheese-Romano, etc.)
1 can of olives
1 pound of cherry tomatoes
handful of fresh chopped basil
sprinkle of smoked sea salt
sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
-Make the pasta according to package directions. While that is boiling,
-Steam the broccoli crowns in water for 2 minutes
-Chop the garlic, saute it in the olive oil and smash it up a bit in the oil to release the flavor. (Be careful not to burn!)
-Drain the broccoli, then add it to the frying pan so that the oil/garlic mixture coats the broccoli, throw in mixing bowl

-Open up the can of olives, and slice them in half. Add to mixing bowl
-Chop the cherry tomatoes in half, add them to mixing bowl, along with cheese and freshly chopped basil.
-Pasta should be done right about now. Drain it, add to mixing bowl.

-Toss everything together, sprinkle with smoked sea salt (Trader Joe's has it) and fresh black pepper

We eat this hot but also cold the next day! And there are a million variations depending on what I have in the fridge & cabinets. The above is the variation we had last night. Also try: sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, kalamata olives and oregano with the pasta & garlic broccoli.

Guest Post from my Dad: Timeshare

For the past few days I have received numerous calls about my time share.

The people on the phone knew my name and were courteous, then apologized when I told them I didn't have a time share.  They promised not to call again.

However, the calls from this management firm escalated until last night was the last straw.  I finally said "Ok, ok, I have a time share.  What can I do for you?"

The rep said she wanted to find out if I was interested in letting it go at a reduced rate this winter. 

"I guess so," I said.  "Quite honestly, I haven't had much luck getting any return on that investment."

"Would you be willing to drop it down to $1,200 a week?" she asked.

"Sure, if you want I'll drop it to $500 a week if they rent it for more than a month." I said.

"Great, we'll post that right now!"

"Good, what is the website where I can see it?" I asked.

So a Mediterranean villa time share is going at a discounted rate this winter.

 I just hope whoever rents it in December remembers to clean up when they leave.  I have rented it for the month of January. 

Chuck E.Cheese fun

Until last month, I hadn't been in a Chuck E. Cheese since the 80's. Some things are still the same-the arcade games, ticket for prizes system, gleeful children running in endless circles, and Chuck E. himself pressing the flesh. But one big thing has changed-they've improved the pizza. To encourage people to try their new offerings with real mozzarella cheese and a crispier crust, they invited me and my family to come and check it out and write about it.

We went to the location on La Tijera, (a few exits before LAX off of 405) We ordered the fresh olive pizza and hit the arcade. After we had been there a few minutes, Ryan said "This is more fun than I thought it would be." Lauren said "Wow, this is EVEN more fun than I thought it would be!" And William said "goo".

Chuck E. Cheese has a package where for $29.95, you get a large pizza, 2 soft drinks and 50 game tokens. If you buy more game tokens, they are 25 cents or less (cheaper if you buy more of them at once). Every game takes one token. At the end of play, the game spits out prize tickets which you can redeem for toys. If you don't earn enough tickets to get the toy you want, you can buy the difference for a penny per ticket. When Lauren fell short of the tix required to got her coveted rainbow slinky, Ryan discreetly made up the difference from his wallet.

Lauren had her bucket of 30 tokens which lasted quite awhile. She especially liked the old-fashioned Skee Ball, Whack-a-Mole and cheering for her dad in basketball. Lauren even said that she might like to turn six in the company of Chuck E. Cheese. I don't think there will be an unsmiling face in the house!






Disclaimer:I was not compensated but was provided a gift card from Chuck E. Cheese to facilitate this review.