One More Day

Little Zim is turning four tomorrow. He's very aware that it's his birthday and I hear he's been counting down to the big day. Today he held up one finger. The following is a reconstructed conversation from last week between Little Zim and his dad:

Zim: [looking at a big box from Fisher Price in the doorway] Dad, what's that box for?

Dad: I don't know, looks like it might be a present.

Zim: [pensively pausing] I think we should put it away and best not think about it.

I should remind you that Little Zim can read, but I figured he's probably not reading this blog so there's little risk of ruining is birthday surprise. So for the boy who loves words, we ironically got him a book filled with pictures which brings us back to our holiday gift list....

#2 In the Town, All Year Round

2008 plasticann holiday gift list...

Five years ago, I attempted to and succeeded at blogging about 100 gifts. It was a bit exhausting and I didn't have 100 good ideas the next year so I lost a bit of momentum. The blog has been pretty quiet these days and I've missed it so I'm attempting to bring back the gift list. This year, I can't commit to 100 gifts, but I'm aiming for at least 50 so I'm going to start the count at 1 and keep going until Dec 25.

1. Snuggly Hat

I spotted this hat at a local outdoor store, Chinook, and I became a little obsessed with it. plasticmom may or may not have realized, but she bought me this snuggly hat as a gift. I wore it tonight and it kept my head toasty and the earflaps are just wonderful. Thanks plasticmom!

Lemon Bar Grudge Resolved

Overall, Adam has been a wonderful husband/boyfriend for the last [eek] nine years so I really have nothing to complain about, but I must confess that I've been holding a lemon bar grudge against him for a good part of the last eight years where I vowed never to make him lemon bars. It all started back in 2001...the following is a reconstructed conversation on that fateful night:

plasticann: Adam, I made you some lemon bars as a treat, but I left them at the office. I'm so sorry.
Adam: That's OK? Were they from scratch?
plasticann: No, they were from a mix, but it's a really good Sunkist mix and it's my favorite.
Adam: I only like lemon bars from scratch, you should call Zara and get her recipe so you can make them from scratch.
plasticann: Harumph! I don't make lemon bars from scratch, the box is very good. I can't believe you'd refuse to eat my lemon bars because they're from a mix. I'm NEVER making you lemon bars even from a box.

Thus for many many years, I refused to make Adam lemon bars even from a mix because I deemed Adam to be a lemon bar snob. I also refused to make them from scratch...in retrospect a dumb sticking point since I do love lemon bars, but I am a little shall I say lazy. Well, the other day, I had lemons so I flipped through a cookbook looking for lemon recipes when I found a lemon bar recipe that looked easy so I decided to bury the hachet and give it a whirl. The lemon bars turned out great and they passed the Adam lemon bar test so we've now resolved our lemon bar conflict and can now move toward enjoying the buttery goodness of these treats whenever we have lemons. This is good news since we both love lemon bars.

Bury the Hachet Lemon Bars

Crust:
7 tablespoons butter (nearly 1 stick)
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lemon (2 Tbs)
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Place butter in an 8 inch square pan, put pan in oven until butter melts
3. Sprinkle 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup powdered sugar over melted butter, mix to form dough in the pan, press dough evenly over bottom of pan, return pan to oven and bake 15 minutes
4. Beat eggs with sugar until blended, beat in 2 tablespoons flour, lemon zest, juice, baking powder and salt until well combined
5. When crust is baked (15 min) spread lemon mixture over hot crust, return to oven and bake until pale brown 20-25 minutes
6. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar (optional)

SYTYCD

Adam got me tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance live show for my birthday. We went last last week and it was super fun. They did all the best dance numbers from the entire season and they did all my favorites. The crowd was a mix of young kids and older folks and everyone was really enthusiastic and clapping and hollering so we felt less geeky screaming for our favorite dancers. Can't wait for the next season to start.

Halloween

Last night was Halloween and we actually had trick-or-treaters. The neighborhood squirrels ate giant chuncks out of my little pumpkin so Adam lit some candles on our porch to make our place look more welcoming. My favorite costume was a kid dressed as a "Red Box" DVD vending machine. I wish I'd taken a picture, but it was very cool.

Curry Ginger Carrot Soup

It's amazing what I can accomplish in two hours if I don't watch TV. Anyhow, we had a ton of veggies in the fridge this weekend so I cooked up a storm to get through all of it. I made Adam some apple sauce and I made a delicious curry ginger carrot soup with a giant bag of carrots we had. The soup is bit on the hot side since I added a little too much spice so Adam wasn't a fan, but I've been loving the soup myself. I froze the soup in a bunch of sandwich bag servings which are perfect for lunch at work. I just ate a bowl as a "healthier" pre-dinner snack than a bag of sun chips.

Curried Carrot Soup

Ingredients
Serves 4 big bowls or 8 small cups
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ginger (optional)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Directions
Heat butter in a Dutch oven or large (4- to 5-quart) saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, carrots, and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

(Note: I used an immersion blender right in the pot of soup which was super easy.)
In a blender, puree soup in batches until smooth; transfer to a clean saucepan. Add more water to thin to desired consistency. Reheat, if necessary. Stir in lemon juice. Serve garnished with cilantro, if desired.Note: Hot liquids will expand when blended, so be careful not to fill the jar of the blender more than halfway. To prevent the liquid from spattering, allow the heat to escape:
Remove the cap from hole in lid, and cover lid with a dish towel when blending.

Happy Birthday To Me

Last Sunday was my 30th and plasticmom was out for a birthday visit to help celebrate. Adam, plasticmom and I went out for a fantastic meal at Oya and enjoyed the chef's tasting menu. I also had a birthday pie party which was super fun. Twenty-five guests, 14 pies from Petsi's and lots of candy favor bags filled with Zagnut bars and huge gummy alphabets. We had waaay too much pie and we're still working our way through it. My friend Dave took home an entire key lime and proceeded to eat his way through. He finished up Wednesday morning 7:45am. I received lots of thoughtful cards and gifts. The following is a reconstructed conversation at my party about one of my favorites.

Wheezy: [looking at the birthday cards displayed on the shelf] Oh no...someone got you the same card as me.
plasticann: Which one?
Wheezy: The one with the "30."
plasticann: [laughing] You know how got me that card?
Wheezy: No, who!
plasticann: Wheezymom, she mailed it to me.
Wheezy: [slightly flabbergasted] I know someone would buy the same card, it's the only "30" birthday card at the store.
plasticann: Where did you get it?
Wheezy: CVS!
plasticann: I wonder if Wheezymom also got hers at CVS.
Wheezy: She probably did.

Hilarious! I displayed the two twin cards together and they look awesome. I still laugh when I think about it. Great minds think alike.

Night Out on the [relative] Cheap

Adam and I had half priced tickets from Bostix for Chorus Line last night so we needed to grab dinner before the show downtown. We decided on Kingston Station for their Gruyere cheese frites with truffled mayo so we were pleasantly surprised to find out when we arrived that they have a happy hour with awesomely cheaper full sized appetizers at their bar Monday-Wednesday 5-7pm. Appetizer that are normally $8-13 go for $5-6 during this happy hour special. We tried the frites, chili rubbed chicken wings, mussels, hummus and pita. All were delicious and we also shared a beer.

Getting back to our half priced night on the town, I was able to buy our tickets from Bostix last week through their advance purchase website. You don't get to pick your seats, but the tickets are half off and you don't have to wait in line the day of. You know which section you'll be in, but not the exact seat until you show up. The musical had no intermission so the doors stayed close throughout the show. Since the show wasn't sold out, there were tons of empty seats in front of us so everyone started moving down and toward the center. We picked up and moved on down like everyone else and ended up with great seats in the center much closer to the stage. It's a great little perk for a weeknight show and now that I know about Kingston Station's Monday through Wednesday happy hour, weeknight theater tickets are even more enticing.

My Neighbor

Adam was enthusiastically greeted by our little neighbor last week when he was coming home one evening. Our two porches and front doors face each other and she likes to hang out right inside the screen door. The following is a reconstructed conversation between Adam and our little neighbor Zay (age 3), I was not present:

Zay: [standing inside of the screen door] Hi!
Adam: Hi Zay!
Zay: Hi Ann!
Adam: [not sure how to respond]
Zay: [turning around to someone inside the house] I said hi to my neighbor...I said hi to Ann.
Adam: [Still not sure how to respond, but waves hi]
Zay: [not getting the response or reaction she was hoping, so she yells] I SAID HI TO MY NEIGHBOR...I SAID HI TO ANN!

In other news, Zay also woke up in the middle of the night crying really hard and yelling "Mommy, mommy." We all had our windows open since it was a warm evening so I'm sure MGDub, who was staying with us, probably heard her as well.

As Far As I'm Concerned...

Our friends Marj and Jon got married this afternoon so MGDub came up for the weekend to celebrate with everyone including our friend Zayne, the British girl Zayne not the American boy Zayne. MGDub and Zayne had never met, but had heard a lot about each other for years since they were both at one point in the same small group, but not at the same time. Let me explain, Adam and MGDub once led a small group together and it was called appropriated the Adam and MGDub small group. Then MGDub left for the Big Apple so Adam kept leading the group which was when Zayne joined. Long story short, Zayne hilariously sassed MGDub at some point in the evening when she said, "Well, as far as I'm concerned, you were never a part of that small group." To which MGDub replied, "Hey! That small group used to meet in my apartment." Wow, I think sarcastic Zayne may have won that round, the fact that she has a British accent only makes it more hilarious.

Zimo & Zegan

Adam and I hosted an impromptu BBQ over Labor Day and among our guests were Zrica and her kids Zimo and Zegan. Zimo is a prococious almost four year old who reads and once agreed that he was a Communist. Zegan is his little sister who's almost two and looks up to her big bro and wants to do everything he does including reading. They were both really into playing with our Lego magnets on our fridge. I also let them play with a landline phone we had around. Zimo even "called" me on my cell phone and we had a lovely conversation. The following reconstructed conversation about the phone:

Zimo: Mommy, if they're not using their phone, maybe we can...borrow it.
Mom: We already have a phone at home.
Zimo: But, that phone is for Mommy and Daddy and we should have one for...the kids.
Mom: You already have a phone that you kids play with and drag around.
Zimo: But...it's always good to have an extra.

Good try Zimo! I could see him visibly straining to come up with more logical reasons for why they should take the phone home. Zimo may be pretty smart for a little kid, but Mom is afterall still much smarter.

How much does a batch of cookies cost...some plasticann stats

Adam asked that question on our way home from the store tonight. I had stocked up on six pounds of butter since Cabot's was on sale for $2.50 a pound. Six pounds may sound like alot, but I go through butter like nobody's business which motivated Adam to ask, how much does a batch of cookies cost? I estimated around $4.50 a batch for the chocolate chip and around $7 for Adam's favorite. (Adam's favorite is a premium cookie.)

Assuming I bake around twice a week, I probably spend $50 a month on baking which translates to $600 a year which is really quite an expense when I look at it annually. Two batches is pound of butter each week which translates into a mind boggling 52 pounds a year. Frankly, the six pounds I bought tonight will really only last me until mid October. The batches I make are big, they bake up around 75 small cookies or 40 medium cookies or 20 large cookies. So each time I hand out a large cookie to a coworker, it costs around 22.5 cents in ingredients. Granted I would probably have to pay $1.50 for that same cookie at a bakery which is over six times more expensive so therefore it still makes sense financially to bake my own cookies.

One Million Rows

I'm a geek, I work with geeks, I find them all hilarious and endearing.

Joe: I'm getting a new laptop from IT.
plasticann: That's great. If you need Office 2007, you can join the beta test group. You can get Excel 2007 installed.
Bob: What's different about Excel 2007?
Joe: More rows, a million rows.
Bob: [shouts] GET OUT!!!
plasticann: [laughing] Yeah, that's a lot more than the 63000 we currently have.
Joe: Well, it's 65536 rows to be exact!

A Sign

I was walking by my neighbors lovely flower garden when I noticed a lovely sign in calligraphy that read, "STOP, don't take my flowers...DAMIT!" I had to laugh, the sign was simultaneously genteel and aggressive all at the same time.

Flora

Adam and I checked out Flora in Arlington last night for dinner since we had a gift certificate we wanted to use. They had a Restaurant Week menu which was fun so we each ordered an appetizer, entree and dessert. Here's the wrapup on the various dish "battles"

Menu:

Calamari: fried calamari, watercress, pickled onions and peppers, basil
Chowder: sweet corn leek and bacon chowder

Chicken: pan-roasted Giannone chicken with whipped potatoes, roasted garlic, rosemary gravy
Scallops: George's Bank jumbo sea scallops with ratatouille, basil oil and lemon

Cobbler: blueberry cobbler with toasted almond ice cream
Bread Pudding: ginger peach bread pudding

Preliminary Round:

Chowder vs. Calamari....Chowder WINS!
Chicken vs. Scallops...Chicken WINS!
Bread Pudding vs. Cobbler...TIED!

Final Round:
Chowder vs. Chicken...TIED!

I voted for the Chowder, Adam voted for the Chicken. All in all a good meal and plus we got to spend down our gift certificate which always makes me happy.

Charlie Card Discounts

I was on the mbta website last weekend when I discovered a wonderful treasure, the Charlie Card discount. The Charlie Card is the plastic subway pass we use here in Boston. Not only will the card allow you to travel effortlessly on the subway and bus system, you can also flash it for discounts around town. I think my discount loving husband was a little proud of me for finding this. My favorite picks are places I actually do go to:

*2 free Samosa or Mango Lassi with an entree purchase at Diva in Davis
*Free cup of chowder with entree purchase at Legal Seafood
*Free appetizer at California Pizza Kitchen with Minimum $10 purchase
*10% off all Upper Crusts
*A whopping 20% off at Whittard of Chelsea tea shop on Newbury
*10% off at Ben & Jerry's

The discount book is available online so check out all the other great discounts.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Adam and I visited Zara, Zryce and the kids up at Chautauqua last weekend where they were vacationing with Zryce's parents. We had lots of fun times with the kids and we even made western themed ice cream sandwiches from brownies as a special treat one night. The kids were told they had to finish their dinner if they wanted special dessert. The black bean salad was the main hurdle between both kids and their dessert, but both persisted. The following is a reconstructed conversation featuring Zames and his "cowboy hat" ice cream sandwich.

plasticann: Zames, do you like your ice cream sandwich?
Zames: [intently eating ice cream with no visible sense of excitement]
plasticann: Is it yummy?
Zames: [continues to eat while ignoring plasticann, starts to dance up and down]
plasticann: Zames, do you need to go to the bathroom?
Zames: [more frantically eating, but nodding]
Zara: Zames, let's go to the bathroom.
Zames: [still eating, nodding and starts walking to the bathroom]
Zara: Zames, don't take the ice cream to the potty. We don't eat while we pee. It'll be here when you come back.

Who knows what goes through a 2.5 year old boy's mind, but we hypothesized that Zames was concerned that he would lose his ice cream sandwich if he went to the potty so he was trying to finish it quickly. Anecdotal evidence, but he did appear to enjoy his ice cream much more post potty than pre potty. Most importantly, we all learned that we don't eat while we pee...a worthy and sanitary refrain indeed.

Steak and S'mores

We bought a big steak from McKinnon's in Davis and grilled it up for dinner last night with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Adam did a great job grilling and the steak was delicious. I just ate some leftovers in yummy sandwich form. We also invented a delicious new S'more concept, the chocolate covered pretzel S'more. A dark chocolate covered pretzel from Trader Joe's with a toasted marshmallow. You get the chocolate, the salty pretzel as your graham cracker substitute and a deliciously gooey marshmallow. It's a bit tricky to make unfortunately since putting the pretzel over the fire causes the chocolate coating to melt. Adam's first attempt worked pretty well. He made a slit in the marshmallow, not quite all the way through, stuffed a pretzel in the slit and threaded a skewer through the marshmallow, the pretzel through the hole and through the other end of the marshmallow. This way, the pretzel stayed put partially wrapped in the marshmallow and the pretzel didn't swing around wildly as we tried to toast the concoction. YUMMY!

Formaggio Kitchen Saturday BBQ

Adam and I rode our bikes down to Huron Village yesterday to check out the Saturday summer BBQ at Formaggio Kitchen. Huron Village always seems psychologically far, but it really only took us about 10-15 minutes to bike there. Adam got the pulled chicken sandwich and some baked beans. I had to get the "Pearl in a Hole." For the Pearl in a Hole, they give you a hollowed out half baguette, you fill the "hole" with all your condiments, hand the bread back to the grillmaster who puts the bread on the grill to toast it and fills the "hole" with a giant 1/2 pound Pearl hot dot cooked to perfection with a nice snap. With quality ingredients like Pearl dogs and a fresh baguette, it couldn't help but be super yummy.

PA Adventures cont.

Our stint in the Lehigh Valley continued with trips to the Crayola Factory in Easton, I got to to check out a Wegmans, Longwood Gardens and the Asa Parker house in Jim Thorpe, PA. We continued on to the Poconos for a conference for Adam's work for a few days. Finally, it was on to Philly for our last stop. We'd gathered lots of culinary recommendations from friends and we ended checking out a few of them. Our big fancy meal was Alma de Cuba, a Cuban restauarant my friends Corinna and Ian raved about. It was very yummy. We also visited the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall where we discovered that the founding fathers all sat in Windsor Chairs, the very same chairs that Adam's dad handcrafts. We ate cheesesteaks twice and explored the Reading Terminal Market. On our final day in Philly, we went to a pirate exhibit at the Franklin Institute which was very piratey and awesome. All in all, our grand adventures through the Eastern portion of PA was super fun and relaxing. However, it's been good to be home.

PA and Back

It's been a while since I last posted, but Adam and I have had a number of fun adventures in July, namely visiting MGDub, GJDubya and family in Allentown, PA.

We took the train down to Philly July 3 and drove our rental out to Bethlhem, PA where we were staying. Bethlehem used to be a steel town and in fact, Wheezy and I once worked on a project involving Bethlehem Steel where we learned all about different types of steel products including cold rolled, hot rolled, H-Beams and I-Beams. Anyhow, Adam and I visited with MGDub's family for a few days where we got to go to not one, but two Iron Pigs baseball games and learned all the various chants and cheers. We also saw MGDub's childhood home and saw her wall of achievement which was quite impressive indeed. We always knew she was wicked smaaaht, but we had no idea just how many awards she'd received throughout her lifetime. We were excited to meet the whole family Babas, aunts, uncles and the boys.

To be continued...

Scrabulous

is Fabulous when you win! Adam and I have been playing Scrabulous online the past two weeks. I won the first game (313 to 293) and my victory was particularly sweet because Adam had scoffed that luck was the reason I was ahead for most of the game. Afterall, I didn't even know what the shaded spots meant, how could I be playing with skill. Even though it was all true, I was still offended by his comment and my annoyance fueled an uncharacteristic competitive streak in game 1. I never did bother to figure out exactly what the shaded spots meant, but I did know that they were a good thing. I thought that was going to be good enough, but boy oh boy was I wrong. I'm now trailing miserably in game 2. Adam is currently ahead by 125 points or he has 160% more points than I do. That's a whole lot of points, he's been maxing out on these fancy things he likes to call "triple word scores" and he's built a scrabble board so cluttered and dense we're now running out of room on the board and we have to cooperate in order to break out into the other half of the board. However, I do have to admit that those pesky shaded tiles have contributed to Adam's success, probably those red ones in the corners.

Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

Dave's Pasta in Somerville is one my favorites in Davis Square. They've been making fresh pasta for years, but in the last three years they've expanded their offerings to include a sandwich shop with wine/beer, a cheese case and some local fresh produce and products. All of their food is great and you can beat the location so I stop by at least once a week to pick up some bread or cheese or eggs, etc. Anyhow, Dave's Pasta now has a Saturday Sidewalk BBQ so Adam and I walked over today to check it out. I got the 1/4 pound Pearl dog with all the fixings including their homemade jalepeno relish and Adam enjoyed a delicious chicken sausage with peppers and onions.

After lunch, we walked over to Dunkin Donuts for some iced coffee since we were way undercaffeinated. I wanted to go to Bob Slate so we walked over to Porter where we come across the Obama for President Bake/Yard Sale. I must admit, I was intrigued even though we're [gasp] Republicans. The baked goods looked great and I wanted to compliment the organizers by telling them that their desserts looked so good that I wanted to buy them despite the Obama pitch, but I didn't know if they'd really appreciate it. I bought a decadent Obama brownie for a quarter [what a steal] and Adam bought a Whoopie Pie for two bucks. Yes, Adam did his parents proud by supporting Obama eight fold. Too bad his Whoopie Pie wasn't very chocolaty, but my Obama brownie was delicious until I found some tin foil inside my Obama brownie so I had to toss the rest which was a little sad since the Obama brownie was really good. I just love calling them Obama brownies for some reason.

Next we meandered over to the hardware store. I was at the checkout when the following reconstructed conversation happened between plasticann and the checkout lady:

checkout lady: Do you have Ace card or a student ID?
plasticann: Nope!
checkout lady: You should get one?
plasticann: A student ID?
checkout lady: No, the Ace card, you're here a lot.
plasticann: I'm here a lot?
checkout lady: Um, I'm pretty sure I see you in here a lot, you could really use the Ace card.
plasticann: You're right, I do come here a lot. How much is the card?
checkout lady: It's free!
plasticann: I'll get one then.

So, there you have it, I spend a lot of time at the hardware store. Truthfully, I probably go there at least once a week so it's a good think she hooked me up with the card. After the hardware store, we were walking home when we heard someone holler "Zakun" from a car. It was a our friend Zane in a car stopped at the light. I had to laugh, it was the perfect end to our lovely meandering stroll through our neighborhood.

Fluff Factory

Check out this clip on the Marshmallow Fluff factory just outside of Boston.

Q: What's is Marshmallow Fluff?
A: It's an artisanal batch produced marshmallow creme product.

Q: What is a Fluffernutter?
A: A delicious marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwich on white bread.

Q: What is plasticann's favorite way to enjoy fluff?
A: Smores - 2 graham crackers, 2 Andes mint, a smear of fluff, microwaved for 10 seconds.

Food Critic

The following is a reconstructed conversation between plasticann and someone at the dentist's office whom I will refer to as Lady. Note, Adam and I share the same dentist.

Lady: So I hear Adam is a food critic, that's really cool.
plasticann: Um, yeah, he does enjoy food.
Lady: I wish I could be a food critic.
plasticann: [pause] Um, you know, he's not actually a food critic.
Lady: He's not? What does he do?
plasticann: He likes food and he does critique food for fun, but he's an assistant pastor at our church.
Lady: Oh, I didn't know that.

I think she was somewhat disappointed.