Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I was ridiculously excited when Alan Alda’s If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?:  My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating showed up on my phone.  (I love that digital holds are automatically borrowed from the library when they become available.)  After the sad strangeness of my last audiobook I was looking forward to something funny, and really, how can Alan Alda not be funny?  (He can’t not.  Period.)  What I glossed over slightly in my mind was the subtitle, which states exactly what the book is; rather than a memoir, it’s a book about what he’s learned about empathy and ‘theory of mind’, especially as they relate to communication in general and communication in science in particular.  It’s amusing, yes, because it’s by ALAN ALDA, and he reads it himself, but it’s informative enough that it wasn’t quite as distracting on the elliptical as I wanted it to be.  If I had it to do over again, I’d read it instead of listening to it.

I’d still absolutely read it, you understand.  Both because it was incredibly interesting and because, well, ALAN ALDA!

Once upon a time we acquired a 50 lb box of red potatoes.  Reds are our favorite potatoes, you understand, but the box was acquired at the beginning of summer, which meant that soups and a multitude of other hot things weren’t going to be eaten much for the next few months.  In those months the potatoes sprouted and grew alarmingly, and yesterday morning I decided to tackle the potatoes and try a slow cooker recipe I’ve been eyeing, thus killing two birds (or hundreds of potato sprouts) with one side dish.

The good news?  Pretty much everyone in the family happily ate these Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes (shocking, I know, but some of my kids still have a barely-there relationship with spuds in general).  I didn’t bother measuring anything other than the amount of potatoes, I didn’t put the last bit of cheese on top or garnish with chives (it was one of those days), and yet–success.  The bad news?  Well, let’s just say that potatoes that far gone into growth mode take a lot of work to render usable.  If your potatoes look like normal potatoes instead of Christopher Lloyd in the “Back to the Future” movies, you’re good.  The next time you need a side dish, give these a try!

Seriously.  In the last week or so we had a death (my uncle) and a funeral, a faceplant off the swing resulting in a doctor visit to check for a broken nose (my youngest), a wedding/ring ceremony/reception (my niece’s), a previously undiscovered cousin (long story), a day at the waterslides with my brother and his youngest (the kids and me), and the start of school for my older three (including my son’s first day of first grade).  That would be why I missed on Sunday, and that’s why this blog post is going to be impressively brief.  I tried these Peach Oatmeal Muffins for dinner tonight, since I have peaches to be used from my parents’ peach tree, and they were–okay.  Texture-wise, they were all an oatmeal muffin should be; flavor-wise, well–they needed more of it.  I may try them again, but the spices need to be at least one-and-a-halved, and the salt could probably use upping as well.  What lovely peach recipes do you make?

I chose The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake as my next audiobook because I was thinking it would be in the same vein as The Cake Therapist, or Delicious!, or perhaps something by Sarah Addison Allen.

My brain is full–too full to easily empty all in one swoosh.  I’ll have to see what I can manage on Friday.

One of our neighbors asked my daughter to water her garden while she and her husband went camping for the weekend, and she told her she was welcome to pick their beans while they were gone.  And WOW.  I have never seen such a bumper crop of green beans–she probably came home with 5 pounds of them in 3 days.  I went looking for interesting ways to use them, because why not?, and decided on this recipe for Seasoned Chicken, Potatoes, and Green Beans.  (Note:  I also have red potatoes that need using.)

I was a bit nervous about the cook time, based on some of the comments, but I went with about what it said because I was starting with partially frozen chicken; both the chicken and the potatoes came out quite nicely.  (They weren’t exactly the firmest potatoes to start with.)  The green beans were more done than we usually have, but they were seasoned and tasty and cooking them all together made for a one-pot meal, so I’m not complaining.  I can’t guarantee that completely thawed chicken and perfectly firm potatoes would cook up quite as evenly, but I’d probably just cut the potatoes a bit smaller and hope for the best.  Let me know how it comes out for you!

I finished listening to Helen Simonson’s The Summer Before the War today, and I’m a bit conflicted about it.  Her first novel, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, was full of gradual awakenings and even more gradual comeuppances; I remember asking Britt if the ending was satisfying, because if certain characters weren’t going to get what they deserved, I was going to be too irritated to put in the time to finish it.  She assured me I was safe to keep reading, and the ending was every bit as satisfying as she promised it would be.  The ending of The Summer Before the War, sadly, was not quite as satisfying–AND, in my opinion, the title was misleading.  WWI more or less begins about 115 pages into a 473 page novel, which means that a full three quarters of the book takes place during the war.  That makes it, overall, a war novel, which of course means that people die at the end, including some of the people to whom you have grown attached.  There are some comeuppances to be had, but just as much tragedy. (Come to think of it, both the title and the cover art belie the actual story.)

Of course, Simonson can undoubtedly write, and write well.  She has the Austenian gift of conveying what is real during the course of a polite conversation that studiously avoids reality at all costs; one laughs, cringes, grinds one’s teeth, and generally experiences an impressively wide range of emotions during all of those conversations.  There’s a bit of Agatha Christie’s England here as well–I wasn’t surprised to learn that her autobiography was part of Simonson’s period research.  Indeed, if I had expected a war novel, with all of the tragedy that implies, I would likely have come away–in general–very impressed.  (I say in general because a few bits of the falling action felt suddenly rushed, as if the fast forward button had been inadvertently pushed during a couple of scenes.  The pacing of the rest of the novel made the contrast noticeable.)  As it was, I felt a bit betrayed by what the novel became.  It’s absolutely worth reading when you know what you’re getting into, mind you–just don’t expect the same kind of reading experience as Major Pettigrew.

(Please forgive the proliferation of double dashes and such–I’m a bit tired to be writing this sort of review.  As for the tendency towards a bit of British-ness in the writing, this was a 15 hour long audiobook.  These things happen.)

I may not have finished any books, but I’ve got several recipes I ought to be reviewing.  Unfortunately, I’ve been awakened by a child for the last four nights, and my hubby and I are just now trying to rein in our bad bedtime habits, so I quite literally lack the mental energy.  I therefore offer you a mishmash of food recommendations that involve no cooking (and therefore no critical thinking) whatsoever.

1.  Just say yes to the Rocky Road Trip Oreos.  Dang, those things are good.
2.  I loved the pina colada thins, my sister liked the Pistachio.
3.  And to complete the Oreo trifecta, the Good Humor man Strawberry Shortcake Bar ones were disturbingly tasty.  It was a good season for Oreos.
4.  OH MY GOSH, the Tropical Mango Button Cakes that Costco carried this summer.  Made by Sugar Bowl Bakery, these individually packaged bits of rich, fruity, coconutty goodness have not done my waistline any favors.
5.  Who else quite enjoys the Reeses stuffed with pieces?  They work for me.
6.  For my Utah friends, the local corn selling at $3/dozen at Ream’s made quite a lovely dinner tonight.  Technically, one does cook corn, but really, you boil it in a pot of water.  (Grilling it was so not happening today.)
7.  There were “watermelon radishes” in my Zupa’s salad today.  Considering my profound dislike of garden-variety radishes, I was pleasantly surprised.
8.  Also, the brownie I got there–with caramel and pecans–was rather amazing.  I wasn’t expecting it to be anything like THAT good.

Alrighty, folks.  There’s your list for today.  Perhaps I can have a night or two of uninterrupted sleep and come up with the mental energy for an actual recipe review eventually…then again, perhaps not.  Only time will tell.

Do your children beg to go to the dentist?  Mine do.  I never disliked the dentist as a child, but I don’t remember actively looking forward to it; my children, on the other hand, are constantly asking me when they can go again and if I’ve made their appointments.  (One of them declared that a dentist appointment would be a perfect birthday activity.)  Yesterday was finally the day of their scheduled summer cleanings, which means that I can put off the clamor for the next six months.  All three (my 3-year-old played at my fabulous aunt’s house) passed with flying colors, while I, on the other hand, appear to have the second cavity of my adult life.  (I had 3 after getting my braces off, but I was 13.)  Add that to my yearly OB checkup today, which was followed by three sets of essentially the same form to fill out at school registration, and it hasn’t exactly been a week of cracking good fun thus far.  (Can you tell I’m listening to a very British audiobook at the moment?)  On the other hand, I’ve at least done some of the things.  Maybe now I’ll manage more time to actually finish a book?

I’m not great at making homemade family night treats every week–or having weekly family nights, for that matter.  But I’m trying harder to manage the latter, and since it was a quiet afternoon, I decided to enlist my 6-year-old in making the former.  He was restless and feeling left out of his sisters’ activities and needed some one-on-one; he was also one of the most important recipients of tonight’s lesson (making proper apologies instead of yelling ‘sorry’ in an aggravated voice across the room, or the lawn), and so I figured helping with the treats would soften the message.  Out of several no-bake options–because IT’S HOT–these Puppie Chow Krispie Treats won out; they’re essentially Muddy Buddy flavored Rice Krispie treats, and who doesn’t like the sound of that?  Ultimately, I’ve decided I’d rather have the real thing–you don’t get the perfect amount of powdered sugar in each bite of these, making some bites not quite sweet enough for me–but if you’re passionate about Muddy Buddies and don’t have Chex, these are a reasonable substitute.  The kiddos seemed to like them–you’ll have to let me know what you think!