Fur Kids...

Been a while since I posted anything on our furry kids - Kirby and Abbey. They are doing terrific and SHEDDING like crazy. Always happy to see us whether we are returning from a long trip or just coming back from the mailbox. Love that! It seems that Kirby has developed OCD over the past year. When we approach the door to let him into the house, he turns in at least 1 clockwise circle before charging through the door. Sometimes if you just put your hand on the door handle, he'll commence to turning in a circle full of excitement that He's Coming Inside!! He seems incapable of coming into the house until he's turned in a circle. Sometimes if I catch him way out in the yard, he will come charging to the door, pause, turn in a circle, then charge into the house. It's sort of endearing...

Purple Majesty

So we located some Purple Majesty Potatoes while we were at the first ever Norman Music Festival and I finally tried that recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen and save for a little deviation (no pepper), the resultant potatoes were scrumptious! Two days in a row! Hot with fish one day, then cold with chicken the next.

Michael Anthony’s Fork-Crushed Purple Majesty Potatoes

1 lb. Purple Majesty Potatoes, washed
4 small shallots, minced
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons good extra-virgin olive oil
Fleur de sel to taste
White pepper to taste (I omitted pepper)
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

In a large pot, cook potatoes with skins on in heavily salted boiling water until tender, approximately 15 minutes. Remove potatoes from pot, and peel them while still warm. (1) Place potatoes in a large bowl and, using a fork, gently smash them, maintaining a fairly chunky consistency. (2) Fold in minced shallots, lemon juice, olive oil, fleur de sel, and white pepper. (3) Finish with parsley. Serves 4.

Run Ruled...

Emi's girl scout troop held their last meeting of the year at the OU Women's Softball game this Sunday against Texas. It was a great game in that 1) we all got FREE OU Crocs!, 2) the girls received participation patches for attending this game as a group and 3) we kicked the crap out of Texas! The game was over in the 5th inning because of the Run Rule (OU won 8:zip). I was a little disappointed that it was over so soon because the emcee of the game had come over to our group and asked if the girls would sing Take Me Out To the Ball Game if Texas scored and the game continued...the girls must have practiced that song 17 times before Texas struck out.

She Shoots, She Scores!

I missed the big "tournament" game today and thankfully Scott captured some video of Emi's big goal. I told her to score one for me and she looked surprised that she scored...and her dance that followed was Too Cute - she was definitely proud of herself!

I'm so proud of my baby girl!

Do-Si-Do

Emi's school had a big Hoe Down today! The kids have been practicing Square Dancing for the past few weeks in PE. Emi was paired up with her friend, Billy, and when he would get distracted during the dance (they are only in Kindergarten, mind you), she would just do the moves (do-si-do) around him and then grab both of his arms and basically force him to promenade with her. She didn't seem to have ANY qualms about taking the lead. Not sure WHERE she gets that. Her partner's mom told me that she would make a good wife someday! Here! Here!

Field Trip...

Today I tagged along - chaperoned actually - on a field trip that Emi's class took to the Orr Family Farm (Agri-Tainment). While it was a gloomy day, it did not rain...always a plus! The kids got to make their own butter, take a hay ride AND a train ride, see and feed a bunch of farm animals and participate in a land run just like they did 100 years ago!

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Mamita helping Emi to ride in the soft grass

This weekend we finally got around to getting the Emster a bike on which she can resume learning to ride. She outgrew her first bike with training wheels many moons ago... She picked out a cool Bratz bike (we did our best to de-Bratzify it) and a cooooool Hannah Montana helmet. After ALL of that shopping and prepping, she seems a little unsure about actually RIDING the bike!

Look at that face!

Feeling kicky....

This afternoon Emi had a soccer game and her team won! Not officially. The weather was wacky, raining a little when we got onto the field, ridiculously windy even for Oklahoma and much colder than it was in our protected cul-de-sac at home! It was the longest game of the season, or at least it felt that way from my vantage point (curled up under a blanket in my Winfield chair). I was proud of Emi for making a goal and relieved to get home and thaw out once again...

The Loves of My Life

Springing!

Some images of the plant life coming alive at our place...

Trifecta

The Best and Worst of it...

Last week on our flight from Phoenix to Long Beach we ended up with The Flight Attendant from Hell! We were on a VERY small jet and Scott was wedged in the back of the plane (literally pinned in his seat) while I was in the first row aisle seat. No, not 1st class at all! Before the plane was fully loaded, I asked our flight attendant if the seat next to me was taken. She looked me dead in the eye with a glare of hate and said "I don't know!" in a voice usually reserved for someone who has slept with your husband or run over your dog! I recoiled in terror!

Soon after my seat mate arrived and we talked a bit about the layout of the plane, etc, when we saw the flight attendant slamming around the different bins for our refreshments. She squatted down on the floor and began talking to herself with I'm guessing her pre-flight mantra: "I HATE MY JOB!" "I HATE MY LIFE!". My neighbor and I were a little scared at this point praying that the pilot had a different mantra. It was obvious that our attendant was unhappy and was ready to spew her venom on the poor unsuspecting patrons on the jet. She went over the safety instructions with that same look of loathing on her face, but to make things interesting, or to completely jack around with us (or perhaps in an effort to keep important information from registering in our brains), she starting rolling her R's emphatically. The use of poRRRRRRtable electRRRRRRRRonic devices is stRRRRRictly pRRRRRRohibited afteRRRRR takeoff for safety RRRRReasons.

Somehow we got through that flight and we didn't dare bother the suicidal flight attendant for drinks. We didn't want anything to set her off. But at one point my seat mate RRRRREALLY stepped in it with her when we were landing. She actually had the GALL to ask the attendant if she knew on which carousel our luggage would be when we landed. I don't know why we expected a sweet, helpful answer, because what she got was another loathesome look accompanied by another "I don't know!" in that voice that meant "Go away!". Yikes!

So we deplaned in Long Beach and instantly our lives were transformed. It was almost like landing on Fantasy Island! The LGB airport is so small and quaint and pretty...laid back (security is 1 guy at a table who offers you plastic bags for your liquids if you happened to forget yours!) The weather was nice albeit a lot cooler than Phoenix. The airport personnel was very friendly. The shuttle driver who took us to the Queen Mary (who looked a lot like Snoop Dogg incidentally) was super nice as well. Every body seemed very happy to be alive! Hallelujah!

Foodie Goodies...

Last weekend I saw Ellie Krieger make Thai-Style Halibut with Coconut-Curry Broth and I thought to myself - What a wonderful addition to my repertoire THAT might be! So we tried the recipe last night, with some ingredient substitutions and YUMMERS! The recipe calls for halibut obviously, but my store only had salmon and tilapia.

So, we went with the tilapia. And instead of shallots, we used green onions because that's what I had on hand and ditto with the lemon for a lime. Scott scoured another store for the last can of coconut milk because we didn't feel this could be substituted. I sauteed the onion and added in the wonderful curry paste, then added the chicken stock and coconut milk. [NOTE: This broth tastes a lot like the Tom Yon Gai that we used to enjoy from Royal Thai when we lived in Dallas.]

After the broth cooked down a little, I added the salted tilapia, covered the pot and cooked for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, Emi was steaming spinach in the microwave. When the fish was done, we mounded Jasmati rice and steamed spinach on plates, then placed the wonderful fish on top. To the broth/sauce we added cilantro, green onion and lemon juice stirring briefly over the heat, then we ladled the broth into the bowls.

OMG! The end result was so good! Emi told me that it was the best fish I'd ever cooked and even enjoyed the heat from the curry. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Monday night we made Mongolian Chicken with water chestnuts and green onion. It was also very yummy served with brown rice cooked a la Alton Brown's method (baked!). I had suggested Mongolian Beef for the menu, but Emi wanted to mix it up a little so mix it up we did! Happy with
those results too! We marinated the chicken thigh strips in a mixture of veggie oil, soy sauce, corn starch, ginger and garlic for about an hour, then cooked the chicken quickly in the wok adding about a cup of water after the chicken was mostly cooked. We added water chestnuts and green onion and covered the pot to let the sauce thicken.

As a side dish we served a soybean/green bean/mushroom medley (frozen Archer Farms product) that complemented the Mongolian Chicken nicely.

Yo, Ho, Ho! A Bicycle Built for Two...

Even though I was feeling puny this weekend (sinus crap), I still enjoyed some quality time with my family. We worked in the yard and went to Emi's soccer game on Saturday. We also logged some time on the bikes by biking to Campus Corner Saturday afternoon. After we celebrated my brother's birthday (the big 4-0!) on Sunday, we attended the Pirate's Life for Me family concert hosted by the OKC Philharmonic and later biked to the park and library. It was a most excellent weekend with the fam!

Alpha and Omega

Having a drink in the bar on the Queen Mary

Aboard the Queen Mary

The Queen Mary hotel has to be the coolest place we've been to for a conference thusfar. The weather and fun time we had in Phoenix couldn't be beat, but this was a GREAT break away from life.

Even though the ship is permanently docked and there is a wave break surrounding the ship, I STILL felt the ship move from time to time....maybe it was vertigo. It seemed to happen specifically when I visited a bathroom near the center of the ship....