The Vacation that Wasn't

The plan was good. Go up to my grandparent's cabin at the lake with Russ's family for a long weekend of sledding and snowmobiling.

The digression was gradual. Up until a week before everything was a go.

Then Russ's brother and father both got slammed with different issues and had to bail. Thankfully though Russ's sister was still in. No problem.

Then two days before I took the car in for an oil change. "You have a coolant leak that needs immediate attention." So the day we are leaving we take the car to the shop. No problem. We weren't going to leave until Russ got off work that night anyway.

As I am rushing around getting things ready I realize that I have a the beginnings of a cold. No problem. I'll just take something and be fine.

Just as I am about to go pick up the car. (Two hours before ETD) Russ calls. The coolant leak is fixed but a pump is broken. (I was told a more detailed explanation but don't remember it now.) A $900,-you-can't-drive-your-car-until-we-fix-it-problem.

No problem. We can take Russ's car. Oh wait, the passenger seat belt doesn't work. Problem.

Finally we swapped Russ's car with my mom and were on our way. No problem.

Friday was fine. We went sledding a few times. (We = Abbie) Except that my cold had evolved from minor to major and moved to my sinuses. No problem.

 As we were waiting for Russ's sister to come up so the cousin craziness could begin, we got a call. Her daughter had started throwing up 30 minutes into the drive, now had a raging fever, and wasn't showing any signs of getting better any time soon. No problem....for us. (Sorry Lisa, I feel so bad for you.)

Okay. Then that night between my cold that was making breathing impossible and Savannah who couldn't seem to get a good night's sleep, we were up about once an hour from about 1:00 on.

Saturday we did....not much. Only we decided that while the girls had still had the time of their lives, we were ready to sleep in our own beds and call it a trip.

Recipes

I've surprised myself and done a pretty good job at continuing to make a new recipe every week into the new year. I guess I'm just in the habit...and I love food so what can I say. I have not surprised myself in my failure to blog about them. But just as I'm in the habit to cook new things, I'm also in the habit to catch up on blogging about it.

Most of the recipes have been good, but not "Oh my gosh this is the best thing I've eaten in my life!" good. I've made Devil's Food Cake from scratch, two layers.

 I've made Pioneer Women's Pots de Creme which literally take five minutes with a food processor and then you chill. Truly you can not have an easier dessert that is incredible (except Ben and Jerry's). I think I would have LOVED these as they are like rich chocolate pudding except for the Pots de Creme I had from the Little Chocolatiers has rocked my world and nothing can even come close.

But there is one recipe that I feel like I would not be a good friend, a good sister, a good sister-in-law, a good daughter if I did not share with you. It is heaven! It is from America's Test Kitchen.  It is a crock-pot recipe! Does it get any better? No it does not.

Braised Brisket with Onion Gravey

(Before I get into the recipe I will tell you that it calls from brisket which is a pretty pricey cut of meat. I am trying this recipe again this weekend with a chuck roast which is much cheaper and I'm not too worried about the results. I will try to let you know, though, if you do want to make it.)

1 beef brisket 3 - 31.2 lbs( When I saw how pricey this was I found the smallest one I could find 2 1/2 lbs and it all turned out fine.)
4 tsp of vegetable oil
4 large yellow onions, sliced thin
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine (I used cooking wine, and yes you do cook all the alcohol out.)
1 3/4 cups beef broth ( I didn't have it so I just used extra chicken broth)
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp tomato paste
4 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cider vinegar


Dry the brisket thoroughly with paper towels, the season generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tsp of the oil in a skillet. Brown the brisket thoroughly on both sides about 8 -10 minutes. Transfer it to a slow cooker.

Add the remaining 2 tsp of oil to the skillet ad onions and salt cook until softened, stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in the wine and cook until almost dry, about 3 minutes. (Almost all the liquid will be gone.) Add 1 cup of the beef broth, chicken broth, brown sugar tomato paste, bay leaves, and thyme; bring to a boil. Transfer to the slow cooker.

 Cover and cook about 8-9 hours on low or 5-6 on high.

 Transfer the brisket to a carving board. Set the slow cooker on high and whisk the flour and the rest of the beef broth in to the cooker. Remove bay leaves. Continue to cook on high until the sauce has thickened and doesn't taste of flour 10-15 minutes. Stir in the vinegar. Serve. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.

This is easier than it sounds. I promise. Really I do.

One more recipe that has become a big hit around here are Blondies. They are a cross between a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie. I love them because not only are they divine, they take about 10 minutes to prepare.

Blondies (Also from America's Test Kitchen)

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped coarse (We omit this because of allergies but I bet it makes them even better.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and slat in a medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together in a medium bowl . add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined. Fold in both chocolate chips and nuts and turn the batter into the pan, smoothing top.

Bake until top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, 22-25 minutes (mine always take a bit longer but that is my oven for you). Cool completely on a wire rack.

Hope you enjoy these!!!

Random Thoughts Thursday

Lately Savannah has starting saying, "Please make me happy," whenever she is upset. This is entirely adorable but  I never seem to be able to pick something that would make her happy, which makes her even more upset and the whole thing spirals out of control rather quickly.

This semester I'm teaching two three hour classes back to back from 4:00 to 10:00. If I ever consider doing this again please remind me that I don't enjoy exhaustion.

This morning Abbie asked me, "Why do you make me do all the work?" when I told her she needed to make her bed and clean up her room before she could play. The real question spinning around in my mind after such a statement was, "Why don't I make her do more work?"

Potty training during the day is I believe (hope) going very well. The number of false alarms are down to a few a day (more if at an unfamiliar toilet). We still have issues at night but that is normal....right? Abbie just trained herself at night so I have no experience with how to handle it. For the moment we are doing pull-ups but if anyone has advice, please let me know.

Should we spurge and buy a pass to the Children's Museum?

Okay, that's all I've got. Now I need a nap.

Potty Training Day 2

We are just over 24 hours into potty training and if I look at the big picture it is going well. Unfortunately, it does remind me why I really hate this particular aspect of parenting.

Let me apprise you of our progress. 

Savannah, as mentioned, is doing quite well. She is very willing to tell us when she needs to use the bathroom and rushes along to sit on the toilet. Many of you would say that after the first day this is progress indeed, and I agree. 

Unfortunately, that is where the progress ends. While Savannah is more than happy to sit on the toilet, and runs there often when she feels the urge, she is terrified of actually using said facility for its designated purpose. At this point we run into one of two scenarios.

1. There is no real need and she sits happily on the toilet while I seek to entertain her...for an hour until the need arises.

2. She has the urge, sits, and rather than act on that urge, she immediately starts to cry that she is all done. When this happens I either let her leave, only to be called back to the project within a minute or so. (In one fifteen minute period, we did this about seven times. I counted. If only it lasted for just a fifteen minute period.) 

Or I ignore all the professional advise and make her  sit there and encourage her to go, while she cries and screams that she can't. After about 5-10 minutes of this she will finally accomplish said purpose, be traumatized but happy and we begin again about an hour later.  

So, while I am avoiding a pile of dirty laundry, I have yet to do a single activity without being interrupted every. single. minute. Out of the two options I guess I have the better one. I guess.

Potty Training.......Ugh

Please note my holey socks, no really 

No I am not potty training Savannah yet. Although my goal was to begin.....

After the holidays. Check.

During the winter when we do not want to go outside as often. Check. Check. Check. (The high today is supposed to be 20 frign' degrees.)

Sooo, um, yeah.

I don't know why the reticence. Abbie potty trained very easily.  Really I was very, very lucky.


I guess I don't think lighting strikes twice.

 And, Savannah and Abbie have very different personalities.

And, I have heard enough potty training horror stories recently to remind me what could happen.


When I try to talk to her excitedly about the option she just says "No, I don't want to." This might have something to do with a consuming fear of falling into the toilet, despite the presence of a trainer seat.

So hear I sit wasting valuable "stick around the house" time.

If you have any positive potty training stories, feel free to share them now. Oh, all right I want to hear the negative too (It will justify the fact I am a wimp.)

What to do with a Polluted Inversion

The air in our city is disgusting. I don’t know if we are the most polluted city in the world right now, but if there are more polluted cities out there than we have a big, big, problem. Rather than spend our weekend dwelling on things over which I have little control, we decided to do what most Americans do when confronted with issues of pollution –ignore them, which we did most joyfully 15 minutes from home up in the non-polluted sunny mountains. (For those of you who live near me, please note the blue in the ski of several of the pictures. It is only 15 minutes away!)

I have to admit my daughter is quite a sensitive soul. She is very in tune with her feelings and the feelings of those around her. She is quick to shed a tear when she is stressed or distressed or thinking about being distressed, which is why I love that she loves speed.  She loves sledding down a hill over, and over, and over again, giggling the entire time. 

Also interesting, is her sister, who while usually one to be in the thick of whatever is going on, whenever it is going on, and wants to be just. like. her. sister., was content  to just sit on the top of the hill for an hour and a half watching her sister with no desire to participate.

New Year's Goals

Last year I did okay with my goal to try a new recipe and blog about it every week. I only missed two weeks in December. 50/52 is still an A right? ( You can tell I teach.) Where I most significantly struggled was blogging about it weekly. For the most part I still commented on a recipe (even if it was a few weeks later) but typing out the recipes became a little too tedious to maintain my interest throughout the year. Granted I am confident that you wouldn't have wanted some of them, and I tried to give you the ones I thought you would enjoy the most, but still that is where I failed.

I've been thinking about goals for this new year and to be honest I'm still trying to figure it out. Our big family goal  (selling our house) didn't happen last year. Until yesterday I was quite optimistic about this year, but with some unfortunate news I am thrust into a a complete reevaluation of what and where we will be as a family at the end of 12 months.

 So back to me and what I want to do this year for my personal goals and if it at all ties in to this blog in any way.

I don't know.

 I am however grateful that last year I developed quite the habit of searching out new recipes and trying them, a habit that I'm hoping to maintain in the coming year. I just don't think I want to tie myself to trying to blog about it weekly. If I find something exceptionally great/fun/horrific though I'm sure to share. Because one thing I definitely learned about myself is that I love food. I think it brings people together in a way that can ease tension, and uplift spirits, and it tastes really darn good (most of the time.) So I'll keep cooking, and blogging about the rest of my life and we'll go from there.