she's just saying...

Home Sick

Today's the first day back after the school's Thanksgiving week off, and Henry stayed home sick. He complained of a headache and sore throat yesterday, enough that he didn't want to go to a movie. And this morning he begged to stay home.

At one point he had a temp that hit 101 deg., the "official" level at which you're supposed to keep kids home, but it subsided after Tylenol. He also complained that his abdomen hurt, which immediately set off the appendicitis alarms in me. Though within an hour, he was up eating Top Ramen and asking if he could watch TV. My rule is if you decide to stay home sick, you don't get TV, video games or the computer. That way malingering is not rewarded.

I'm never sure if Henry's really sick or if he just doesn't want to go to school. Given the choice, he'd stay home, as we all would, frankly. In the absence of clear signs of illness, I'm suspicious. It's mainly because I used to fake being sick to avoid school occasionally. How occasionally I'm not going to say as my mom does read my blog. (Sorry, Mom!)

Is it fair to question Henry's motives based on my own past behavior? He doesn't do this often so I tend to believe it that he doesn't feel well, but he also always seems to bounce back by mid-morning. This time he fell back asleep for several hours, woke up and read, and did his homework. Yep, definitely sick.

This is clearly not a real child.

The Color Purple

Over my life, I've fallen in and out of love with many different... colors. [I bet you thought I was going to say men. That's also true, though a topic for another post.]  As a child, gazing at pink and blue together actually gave me a physical thrill. That's no longer true, sadly. I went through a red phase, including painting a bedroom wall deep enamel red in high school which my mother approved, bless her heart. Pink and coral are still perennial favorites, though not with blue, and brown has wormed its way back into my wardrobe, almost supplanting black, though not totally. And you may remember my recent fling with chartreuse that continues still.

But as #1 Sister knows, I've always intensely disliked the color purple. This makes me an anomaly in my family: it's MyBigBro's favorite non-black color, my mom and #1 both like it, and Dr. Sister likes "jewel-tones" including purple; but me, not. [Note to self: query dad re: opinion of purple.]

That's why I was more than a little freaked out when I realized that the last six balls of yarn I've purchased have all included purple. Real purple, not just a certain shade of blue-ish lilac which I've always kind of liked.

Check this out:

So clearly I can no longer categorically state that I don't like purple.

However, I can still say that I really dislike dark green. And burnt orange. Especially together, or when they're with purple. I don't think that will change, but you never know...

I think it's interesting that color preferences can change. Have you warmed up to a formerly-rejected color, or fallen out of love with a certain hue?

Spudlings

You may remember that last year I accidentally produced a petite potato in my garden, documented here. I don't recall ever planting that potato - I'm guessing it sprouted from the compost I spread, from which source I've also conceived pumpkins and the odd squash.

This year, I didn't plant any veg at all; with the farm stand down the block, I wasn't motivated to grow my own. But at some point I did take an old potato sprouting in the bottom of the bin and plant the eyes, just for the heck of it. I forgot about it til I noticed the vigorous growth of something in the garden besides the weeds and parsley. I then forgot about it again until someone brought their potato bounty into the office and I thought I'd better check on my crop.

Here's my harvest:

Since this is 8x the amount I grew last year, I figure next year's production will be enough to make salad. Then the year after, I feed the neighborhood.

Knitmas mania

There's a knitter's blog titled "I'm knitting as fast as I can!" and I so relate right now. Due to the confluence of my deepening knitting obsession and being broke, I've decided to produce all my Christmas gifts via the needles this year. Since everyone in my family still gives a present to everyone else (despite vowing for years to stop the practice), that means 11 gifts right there. Then there are friends, co-workers-who-are-friends, special teachers and neighbors. Actually, many of those are getting canned goods, i.e. lovingly-homemade jams, sauces and chutneys that were my September obsession. Still, that leaves a lot of knitting to be done.

Things I'm making: berets, watchcaps, fingerless mitts, scarves, cowls, slippers and if I panic and run out of time, a washcloth or two, and possibly a few more felted mice and coffee cozies. I'm about halfway through, and if I'm averaging one gift every five days, I should just make it. I can't show you anything I've made as you may be a lucky recipient, so I'll just flash my stash, as we say in the knitting crowd.

All of this will be knitted up, within my lifetime. Really.

Not-mine Wonton Soup

This is straight from MichelleLB at PDXKnitterati. I'm making it tonight so will let you know how it goes!

Wonton Soup

¼ lb peeled deveined shrimp, (frozen thawed is fine, and size doesn’t matter since it will be ground)
¼ lb ground turkey breast
6 medium to large shiitake mushrooms (3 for filling and 3 sliced for soup)
1 can sliced water chestnuts (half for filling and half to go in soup)
1 stalk green onion
3 to 6 stalks bok choy (half goes into filling; other half goes into soup) I like baby or shanghai bok choy. If you use the smaller bok choy, 6 stalks; if you use the really big long stuff, 3 is plenty)
snow pea pods, amount of your choosing
1 egg
¼ tsp five spice powder
½ Tablespoon oyster sauce
1 package wonton wrappers
1 48 oz box reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups water

Start your broth, water, 3 sliced mushrooms in a large soup pot. This can heat while you prepare wontons; when it boils bring it down to a simmer.

I have a small food processor, so I chop things sequentially. This also lets me avoid chopping the vegetables too finely; we want some crunch!

Chop and place into a large bowl: the shrimp, turkey (already ground), 3 mushrooms, ½ can water chestnuts, half the bok choy, green onion. Combine eggs, 5 spice, and oyster sauce and add to bowl, Mix all ingredients well. (does it need a little more 5 spice? give it a sniff; it should smell divine. I tried to measure but had to guess because at first I had too much in my measuring spoon)

Fold wontons! I put a little less than a tablespoon of filling in each wonton. Fold on the diagonal, then use the back of your spoon to put a dab on the fold next to right side of the filling (on the outside), give a little twist and fold to bring the underside of the left side of the filling mound to the dab on the of the right side of the filling mound. Sounds confusing, I know. You can google it, but my way is different than the ones I found there. They all work.

Bring broth back to a boil. Add wontons and remaining water chestnuts. Cook for 4 minutes, reducing heat to medium when soup begins to boil again (don’t want to jostle the wontons too much and have them fall apart!). After 4 minutes, add the remaining bok choy (sliced in 1 inch pieces on the diagonal) and pea pods. If you have extra shrimp, now is the time to put them in the soup, too. Stir occasionally to get the vegetables down into the soup. Soup is ready in about 3 more minutes. Don’t overcook; it gets sloppy!

If this is more food than you need, you can store the extra filling in the fridge for a couple days, and make fresh wontons again.

Hey Michelle: Thanks for the recipe and the material for another blog post!

Cranberries go Tex-Mex

This is my all-time favorite cranberry sauce. I bring it to every Thanksgiving gathering, mostly for me. It adds a surprising and welcome contrast to the typical Tgiving menu, and goes great on cold turkey sandwiches as well. Warn the children, however - it's spicy.

TEX-MEX CRANBERRY SAUCE

INGREDIENTS: (approximate)
1 bag of cranberries
cup of sugar
cup of water
up to 1 chopped jalapeno, or about 1/4 cup canned, chopped
1-2 scallions, sliced
1+ tablespoon cilantro
1+ teaspoon cumin
2+ teaspoons lime juice

DIRECTIONS:
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, gently stir in all the other ingredients and modify heat to your taste. This keeps forever in the fridge.

The 5 stages of computer grief

1.  I just bought this new computer. Three weeks ago. It's impossible that it doesn't work. It's brand new - just out of the box! I'll just try to power it up again - it will start up this time. If I just take out the battery one more time, it will work. It's definitely going to work now.

2.  Are you kidding me? I just bought this computer! I chose HP because Dell sucks! HP sucks! What a piece of crap! How can you send me a computer that breaks in three weeks?! (One day too late to return it for a refund, btw.) What's wrong with manufacturing and quality control in this country? This is an outrage!

3.  If I follow every step of the troubleshooting guide for "blank screen on startup." (The fact that they have that troubleshooter should have been my first clue.) It's the BIOS screen, no, the safe start-up, no, the memory stick seating. The power cord! If I spend another hour on the phone with tech support who makes me repeat every action I've already taken, this time it will be different.

4. I just spent a month setting this computer up to my liking. Transferring all my files that they'll just wipe away. Another weekend gone from my life. I never had time to back it up - it was only three weeks old.  It's a lemon and I'm stuck with it. I'll have to keep dealing with tech support for hours on end of frustration and irritation. This really sucks.

5.  Fine. Send me the damn return box and I'll ship it back for repair. I'll start from scratch again. I give up.

End-ing Up

I was playing a game with a friend the other day, and he asked: "What was the most fun day of your life?" It wasn't a day, but an entire weekend, the one when I turned 50.

After the usual backing out, reconsidering and re-making of plans, Neighbor X and I flew to San Francisco. A friend of his ran a grand old hotel there and upgraded us into a lovely room with a stunning bath (the crucial part of any hotel room). We got there in the evening and got ready to hit the town.

Our destination was the legendary End Up, a dance club/bar/garden/lounge scene. It was Gay Night and we got there in time for a silly transvestite performance that set the tone. They were pumping fresh air into the dance floor filled with hot shirtless guys dancing to deep house thumps and disco remixes. The dance floor and lounge opened onto a garden patio with private areas, twinkly lights, tropical plants and fountains, very magical in the early morning hours.

We hung out for awhile with a bunch of little gay asian guys who were funny and sweet. Everyone kept asking us "Where are you from?" (I guess our fleece jackets gave us away)

and "Are you having fun?" Later on, the after-hours crowd started coming in, more hetero but still cool. The party went all night and picked up more steam early Saturday morning when a drummer came in to accompany the house d.j.  At one point they stopped serving alcohol for an hour or so with no visible decline in the happy level for reasons I needn't explain. It was a fun, friendly, exhilarating scene.

We danced, drank and visited til sometime the next morning, left the still-pumping party, took off with some new best friends and hung out at our hotel. We had plans that evening to go out for dinner, but never made it. We relaxed with room service, long baths and a movie.

The next day we drove to Calistoga, touring wineries along the way. Schramsberg had a champagne cave built into a hill, very romantic, where we toasted to my birthday with some other guests.

Opus One had all that is Opus One. Classic elegance and classic wine.

We ended the weekend in with mud baths, champagne, shopping, wonderful lunches and a picnic in the vineyards.

Once home, we went back to the frustrating dance of attraction and separation, never to change.

I've moved on from that relationship; still, I keep the memory of that wonderful weekend and take it out now and then to savor.

So, think about it -- what is your favorite weekend/day/night memory?  Is it one you can share?

Memorializing (reposting today)

My dad, Reinhard George Hochschild, is 92 and a veteran of WWII. 

Here's a photo of him being awarded the Legion of Merit:  "...awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.  The Legion of Merit is sixth in the order of precedence of U.S. military decorations."  (Typically, they misspelled his name on the certificate, but also typically, he doesn't think it is worth getting corrected...)*

*Thanks to MyBigBro for this post

I've lost my fizz

I know! I haven't posted in a week! Amazingly enough, this is the longest dry spell I've had in the 2 1/2 years of writing this thing. Trying to get inspiration for a new post, I've been reviewing some previous ones from those last two years and have come to a realization: I used to be a lot more interesting, and a heck of a lot funnier.

I'm not sure what's happened in the last year, but my posts have gotten dull and flat. My writing was once snappier and even had a little snark, and my observations were keener and cogent. Now, I fear I've turned into one of those boring homemaker-bloggers, droning on about knitting, cooking and family activities.

Hang in there with me til I get my blogging mojo back. Could be any day now... really.

This appears to be something called a fizz-saver. Too late for me, I'm afraid.

"I owe all my success to my mother."

That is the phrase Henry and I have been practicing since he was a little boy. I'm prepping him for the media onslaught he'll inevitably face some day. And here's one reason why:

Central Oregon Middle School Cross Country District Champion - Sixth Grade Boys