Freakin' Strawberry Picking

Katie R.

Joe and I have lived in New England for about 7 years now.  I feel like we’ve acclimated pretty well but there are two things that will prevent me from ever becoming a true New Englander:  air conditioning and fruit picking.

Here in New England people don’t use air conditioners and central air conditioning is unheard of.   I still find it so odd that people build new houses and don’t put central air in, but again I was born in the Midwest.  One argument is that it never gets that hot here and I call shenanigans to that, it’s supposed to be 95 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday this week and it’s only mid- June.  It gets hot and humid.  Anyways, we’ll probably never have central air but I promise this week we’ll have our “box” air conditioners running day and night.  

The other thing that I don’t love is picking fruit:  strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, the list goes on and on.  Joe loves it and Andrew does too and I know that people around here really consider it a great part of summer. I think it’s hot and buggy and you can buy fruit at the store.  The argument that it doesn’t taste the same doesn’t fly here either because the place we went picking on Father’s Day sells the strawberries at the farmer’s market where we go every Thursday so I can buy them there.  However, for Father’s day and because Andrew enjoys it I strapped a 20lb baby on my back, walked up and down the rows, had my hair pulled out of my pony tail and had strawberry juice running down the back of my neck.  Good times.

I do however enjoy our annual apple picking with friends, but that is because the weather is cool, the trees are beautiful and we get pizza and beer after it. Oh... and I don’t actually pick the apples I just take photos and talk with our friends. So maybe I’m become more of a New Englander.

Back to the Beach

Katie D.

We are fortunate to have family that have a place on the beach. Even more so that they have invited us back after enjoying our boys over Memorial Day weekend.  As I had mentioned before here Lincoln was not a big fan of the beach. We had left on a high note but it seems we have work to do again!  Enjoy this snapshot of the view from our porch; if you listen closely you can hear Lincoln screaming "No, No, No" in the background!

And for those of you that love your politics, this next view is of Walker's Point from the beach house. This is the summer home of Former President Bush (#41). Barbara was out walking her dogs this morning on our beach with her security detail. She looked lovely and was friendly as always.

Oatmeal Lumps & Clumps

Katie D.

Now that I have two boys that feed themselves every meal can become an adventure.  To help with my sanity I try to find ways to keep the meals as easy as possible. That is when I came up with the oatmeal clump and lump. Lincoln always fought me when I fed him oatmeal even though he loved it and giving him a bowl to eat with his hands and spoon made a sloppy mess.  I decided to see if I could make it easier on both of us.  For one packet of oatmeal I added just a little bit of water and microwaved it for one minute.  The consistency was thick and sticky. Perfect to spoon clumps and lumps onto a plate easy for the picking! It makes a minimal mess and both Colby and Lincoln can eat it with no complaints and at their own pace. I’ve also found it’s a great travel food when served this way because you can always throw a packet of oatmeal into any bag and not stress about the mess it might make. 

Also note the paper plate for a quick cleanup too. Life moves too fast to be slowed down at breakfast time!

Pretty Sure This Was Not The Right Answer

Katie R.

So after having to go out of town unexpectedly for a funeral this weekend, tonight I was back and reading Andrew books at bedtime.  He chose a prayer book his great-grandma gave him and maybe it was because of the funeral or maybe he just caught me off my game but here was the conversation:

Andrew:  Mommy were does the angel come from?
Me:  Heaven
Andrew:  Where is heaven?
Me:  It is very far away.
Andrew:  Can I go sometime?
Me:  Not until you are very, very old
Andrew:  I want to go now.
Me: Sorry but it's a place that you can't go now.
Andrew:  Is it very, very, very far away?
Me:  Yes
Andrew:  Can I watch a movie on the way there?
Me:  Yep

Fail.

Of course I go to tell Joe the conversation and he said when he and Andrew read the book he just tells him that angels live in the sky and that Andrew is cool with that.  Why the hell didn't I think of that?

Quick Guacamole-Spinach Dip

Katie D.

We’ve all got them. They take up space, collect dust and stack up higher and higher.  Yes, I love all my cookbooks but why do I never use them?  For my bridal shower all the guests brought a recipe card with one of their favorite recipes. So in addition to all my cookbooks I have the recipe card box overflowing with wonderful recipes too.  I have my staples that I make frequently, some special treats that I pull out from time to time and the standard dips I make when going to friend’s house or have company over. 

Recently my family was invited to a dinner party and I was requested to bring the appetizer.  I felt like mixing it up a bit.  Instead of surfing the web to find some recipe, I decided to sit at my kitchen table and look through my cookbooks and recipe cards.  I was amazed at all the fabulous recipes at my fingertips.  Page after page I saw more recipes that sounded delicious and were easy and straight forward. I narrowed it down to two that seemed perfect for the occasion and prepared them to my best ability.  At the dinner party I was playing with the kids on the swing set when I came around to hear Tom tell Joe that I had made the dip and that you couldn’t just buy it in the store.  Apparently it was a success.  It was devoured and I went home with an empty bowl. 

Two weeks later, I offered to make the dip for Andrew’s birthday party. Katie R. gladly accepted because she had enough crap to do herself between the party, her family in town and her house still under construction.  It seemed to be another success and requests have come in for the recipe. 

Quick Guacamole-Spinach Dip

1 package dry guacamole dip mix

1 8oz soft cream cheese

1 10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

  1large tomato, finely chopped

Combine guacamole mix and creame cheese. Squeeze excess liquid from spinach. Add to cheese mixture. Add tomato. Mix well to combine. Paula recommends serving it with tortilla chips but I found that pita chips worked very well. It yields 2 cups!

What inspired me to write about the dip is not to brag about my fabulous cooking skills but to encourage anyone to grab one of the many cookbooks that may be sitting on a shelf and try something in it.  Maybe I’ll write about my next successful recipe or huge catastrophe. Stayed tuned to see!

Never Again on a Saturday!

Katie D.

Welcome to the freak show that is also called the grocery store.  I usually go on a weekday morning when the number of customers rivals the number of employees stocking the shelves.  This week I just couldn’t make it until Saturday.  And on this particular Saturday it was raining… no pouring out.  It doesn’t make for ideal conditions but let me be the first to inform you if you don’t already know is that people don’t melt in water.  There is no need to scream, curse and run like a maniac in it, you will dry off while you grocery shop or in your car on the way home.  Once inside the grocery store the freak show continued.  I like to think I’m a friendly, polite person. I say excuse me if I need to walk in front of someone who is looking for something on a shelf.  I keep my cart to the side of the isle if I leave it to grab something.  I understand that on a Saturday things might seem a bit crazy but to be downright rude is just pathetic. The death stare was nice when I pushed a cart out of the way so that the flow of carts didn’t back up.  I also enjoyed the refusal to move a little so I could open the door to grab a bag of frozen peas! And don't get me going on the check out line. Acting like a pain in the ass does not make the shopping go faster. In fact, I will go slow and kill you with kindness.  But mostly I’ll avoid the grocery store on Saturdays!

I Told You So...

Katie R.

I know that I write a lot about the antics of Andrew and daily he does things that make me a laugh and also things that make we want to pull my hair out.  Although I wish his preschool progress report would have only said what an amazing kid he was, the good thing is that he seems to be a nut a school too.  Ok so maybe it's not a good thing but it makes me feel better that he acts the same way he does at home at school so it's not something I am doing wrong.  Yep, I am an awesome parent.

These were the exact words on his progress report (there were good reports before and a few things after but this is what sticks out) “At times Andrew can get carried away with entertaining his peers.”   You guessed it that’s my kid, the class clown.

So basically I am just writing this to say I told you so.  I’m not exaggerating about this child.