My chosen feast?
Cheese and garlic bisquit with honey butter
Wild mushroom stuffing
Garlic mashed potatoes
Chilled prawns with spicy cocktail sauce
Dungeoness crab legs
Clam fourentine
Salted sturgeon
Chilled Salmon
Yams
Pumpkin pie and chocolate pecan pie
I did feast. And it...was...GOOD!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving Menu
This year I am not cooking Thanksgiving meal. This year Lord V, MW and I are going to Salty's Restaurant, across the Columbia River from us. The menu? Is THIS.
Menu:
Carved Turkey with Chanterelle Mushroom Gravy
Corn Bread Stuffing
Wild Mushroom Stuffing
Apple Bourbon-Glazed Ham
Rosemary & Garlic-Crusted Prime Rib with Creamy Horseradish
Salty’s Famous Seafood Chowder
Chilled Dungeness Crab Legs
Poached Peel & Eat Prawns
Smoked Gouda & Bay Shrimp Macaroni & Cheese
Blackened Salmon with Sweet Thai Chili
Salt-Crusted Smoked Coho Salmon & Pancetta Sage Tartar
Salmon Canapé with Lemon Dill Chèvre, Red Onions & Capers
Chilled Snow Crab
Salt-Crusted Sturgeon with Fried Caper Lemon Aïoli
Warm German Potato Salad
Caesar Salad with House-Made Croutons
Fresh Vegetable Platter with Ranch Dipping Sauce
Creamy Oven-Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Pancetta Bourbon-Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage Butter
Honey-Glazed Yams
Seasonal Fruit Platter
Artisan Cheese Tray
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Soup
Fresh House-Baked Breads
Assorted Cookies
Pecan Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Bring. It. ON!!!
Menu:
Carved Turkey with Chanterelle Mushroom Gravy
Corn Bread Stuffing
Wild Mushroom Stuffing
Apple Bourbon-Glazed Ham
Rosemary & Garlic-Crusted Prime Rib with Creamy Horseradish
Salty’s Famous Seafood Chowder
Chilled Dungeness Crab Legs
Poached Peel & Eat Prawns
Smoked Gouda & Bay Shrimp Macaroni & Cheese
Blackened Salmon with Sweet Thai Chili
Salt-Crusted Smoked Coho Salmon & Pancetta Sage Tartar
Salmon Canapé with Lemon Dill Chèvre, Red Onions & Capers
Chilled Snow Crab
Salt-Crusted Sturgeon with Fried Caper Lemon Aïoli
Warm German Potato Salad
Caesar Salad with House-Made Croutons
Fresh Vegetable Platter with Ranch Dipping Sauce
Creamy Oven-Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Pancetta Bourbon-Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage Butter
Honey-Glazed Yams
Seasonal Fruit Platter
Artisan Cheese Tray
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Soup
Fresh House-Baked Breads
Assorted Cookies
Pecan Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Bring. It. ON!!!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Mega-Mindness on a Rainy Saturday Afternoon
MW and I spent this blustery, rainy afternoon holed up in Cinetopia theater watching MegaMind 3D.
Not a bad way to while away a couple of hours...not terrific...but not bad.
I confess, I really wanted to see the new Harry Potter flick but bought Megamind tickets online thinking Harry Potter would be sold out.
Wrong. There wasn't even a line!
Seems the Potter magic has fizzled.
Ah well. It lasted longer then I thought it would.
Right now our home is filled with the smells of chicken casserole bubbling in the oven. I sliced up a quick cucumber and red onion salad, tossed it with white vinegar, splenda and cracked black pepper and slid it in the fridge to marinate.
Hungry anyone? :)
Not a bad way to while away a couple of hours...not terrific...but not bad.
I confess, I really wanted to see the new Harry Potter flick but bought Megamind tickets online thinking Harry Potter would be sold out.
Wrong. There wasn't even a line!
Seems the Potter magic has fizzled.
Ah well. It lasted longer then I thought it would.
Right now our home is filled with the smells of chicken casserole bubbling in the oven. I sliced up a quick cucumber and red onion salad, tossed it with white vinegar, splenda and cracked black pepper and slid it in the fridge to marinate.
Hungry anyone? :)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Foggy Saturday
The house is quiet. Outside our windows fog presses close, thick as cotton candy spun on an earth tone cone.
MW is at his Dads house now. Gabby Abby lays sleeping on my legs. Her tiny body radiates comforting heat like a hot water bottle placed lovingly between sheets on a chilly winters night.
I can feel Christmas lurking. It is now that time.
The seed starts small. The one that whispers inside you to begin feathering the nest to settle into winter and all she brings.
A sudden yearning to dig out the crock pot and fill the home with the scent of simmering soup and freshly baked breads.
I am done mourning Summers end and have begun to revel in the coziness of Winter.
MW is at his Dads house now. Gabby Abby lays sleeping on my legs. Her tiny body radiates comforting heat like a hot water bottle placed lovingly between sheets on a chilly winters night.
I can feel Christmas lurking. It is now that time.
The seed starts small. The one that whispers inside you to begin feathering the nest to settle into winter and all she brings.
A sudden yearning to dig out the crock pot and fill the home with the scent of simmering soup and freshly baked breads.
I am done mourning Summers end and have begun to revel in the coziness of Winter.
Friday, November 12, 2010
In the Shadows of Autism
Tonight is a difficult night.
I purchased some board games for MW and I to sit down and play together with.
Easy ones. From ages 5-8.
MW is almost 13, but is just now beginning to enjoy the challenge of playing a game against another person.
I wandered the aisles of the store carefully choosing games that would not frustrate him.
Monopoly JR. Guess Who. and Trouble with R2D2 inside the bubble because he loves/loved Star Wars.
He chose Guess Who.
We sat down to play but there was some assembly required...meaning every plastic piece had to be put together and then the little face cards slide into the plastic things.
Much struggling but we got it all done and it was time to flip the pieces up so we could start.
He flipped a few up but others fell down. Out of frustration, he picked the board game up and shook it to make the plastic pieces all stand up at once...
but that made all the face cards slide out.
*sigh*
By the time hot chocolate was made, cookies set out and all the &%$# plastic pieces were standing...an hour had passed.
We made it through half the game and MW was struggling not to cry.
I pushed him to finish. I didn't want him to quit.
We made it but during the last part of play we talked about Christmas time and he asked if I was going to put out the Christmas box this year.
Ah yes. The Christmas box. A beautiful advent Christmas box that has little individual drawers you can put tiny presents in for him to open each day.
Except he's getting too old for the tiny box gifts and he fixates on wanting only the one thing he is fixated on.
This Christmas? It's Mario.
Everything Mario.
It's all he talks about. All he draws about. All he plays with.
He is consumed with Mario.
I explained how we were going to do something different this Christmas. A different Advent box. I had purchased an advent calendar that had Lego pieces inside each day where you could build a Lego character and by Christmas time there would be an entire Lego village.
"But I'll get Mario things, right?" MW asked starting to twist his hands in anxiety.
"No. Not this time. Not before Christmas."
"But WHY?!" He wailed, his man/boy voice cracking.
"Because, Honey, you fixate on things and only want that one thing. You want nothing to do with anything I or anyone else gives to you that isn't the thing you are fixating on."
"That's not TRUE!" He yells.
"Yes it is, Honey. You put them back in the bag it came in and don't touch them again."
"I can't help it!" He covers his face and struggles not to cry. "I hate that you think I don't like them!"
"I hate that I fixate!" He cries, slamming his hands down.
My heart is hurting but I cannot let him see. I calmly push him through this. "The advent calendar will be fun. You'll see. And it is my way of helping you not to fixate."
I went and brought it to him to show him.
He glanced at it and ran crying and screaming up to his room.
This, People--is the shadow land of Autism. The place where we push and stretch and struggle with our kids to get them to embrace pieces of life they resist.
It is a place of tears, sweat, anguish and incredible, unending, unconditional love.
I have a Mom's faith that with his tears a new fertile land will grow.
He will grow.
And he will thrive.
The tears hurt though. They seep inside my skin and jab at my Momma heart.
But I will be strong. Because he is worth everything.
I purchased some board games for MW and I to sit down and play together with.
Easy ones. From ages 5-8.
MW is almost 13, but is just now beginning to enjoy the challenge of playing a game against another person.
I wandered the aisles of the store carefully choosing games that would not frustrate him.
Monopoly JR. Guess Who. and Trouble with R2D2 inside the bubble because he loves/loved Star Wars.
He chose Guess Who.
We sat down to play but there was some assembly required...meaning every plastic piece had to be put together and then the little face cards slide into the plastic things.
Much struggling but we got it all done and it was time to flip the pieces up so we could start.
He flipped a few up but others fell down. Out of frustration, he picked the board game up and shook it to make the plastic pieces all stand up at once...
but that made all the face cards slide out.
*sigh*
By the time hot chocolate was made, cookies set out and all the &%$# plastic pieces were standing...an hour had passed.
We made it through half the game and MW was struggling not to cry.
I pushed him to finish. I didn't want him to quit.
We made it but during the last part of play we talked about Christmas time and he asked if I was going to put out the Christmas box this year.
Ah yes. The Christmas box. A beautiful advent Christmas box that has little individual drawers you can put tiny presents in for him to open each day.
Except he's getting too old for the tiny box gifts and he fixates on wanting only the one thing he is fixated on.
This Christmas? It's Mario.
Everything Mario.
It's all he talks about. All he draws about. All he plays with.
He is consumed with Mario.
I explained how we were going to do something different this Christmas. A different Advent box. I had purchased an advent calendar that had Lego pieces inside each day where you could build a Lego character and by Christmas time there would be an entire Lego village.
"But I'll get Mario things, right?" MW asked starting to twist his hands in anxiety.
"No. Not this time. Not before Christmas."
"But WHY?!" He wailed, his man/boy voice cracking.
"Because, Honey, you fixate on things and only want that one thing. You want nothing to do with anything I or anyone else gives to you that isn't the thing you are fixating on."
"That's not TRUE!" He yells.
"Yes it is, Honey. You put them back in the bag it came in and don't touch them again."
"I can't help it!" He covers his face and struggles not to cry. "I hate that you think I don't like them!"
"I hate that I fixate!" He cries, slamming his hands down.
My heart is hurting but I cannot let him see. I calmly push him through this. "The advent calendar will be fun. You'll see. And it is my way of helping you not to fixate."
I went and brought it to him to show him.
He glanced at it and ran crying and screaming up to his room.
This, People--is the shadow land of Autism. The place where we push and stretch and struggle with our kids to get them to embrace pieces of life they resist.
It is a place of tears, sweat, anguish and incredible, unending, unconditional love.
I have a Mom's faith that with his tears a new fertile land will grow.
He will grow.
And he will thrive.
The tears hurt though. They seep inside my skin and jab at my Momma heart.
But I will be strong. Because he is worth everything.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Yes. Yes I DID go there!
I was mall shopping with MW the other day when we hit one of our favorite places: HOT TOPIC.
What did my Hello Kitty lovin' eyes spy?
What new Hello Kitty treasure did I pounce upon you ask?
WITNESS THEHORROR GREATNESS!!
And yes. Yes I did buy it.
BOOYAH!
What did my Hello Kitty lovin' eyes spy?
What new Hello Kitty treasure did I pounce upon you ask?
WITNESS THE
And yes. Yes I did buy it.
BOOYAH!
Sunday, November 07, 2010
A~Yup!
Well it turns out I don't have laryngitis but need to have throat surgery again.
With the miracle of in office laser surgery I've held it off going into full surgery for 2 years so I guess I cannot complain (too much).
Still annoying, though.
On other news:
I joined a gym in September and have been faithfully working out. I took advantage of hiring a trainer when I first joined as it's half the original training cost when you first join.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Twice a week she runs me through a gambit of exercises while she keeps an eagle eye on my form as I'm sweating my way through the routines. I have learned so much from her. It's not just added motivation to work harder while someone is watching you--it's doing the exercises correctly so your muscles get the most benefit.
Working out with her makes the time go by quickly. Sometimes I think, "Did I do enough to make a difference? Did I get a good enough work out?" My answer is in the wobble in my legs as I make my way back to my car and the aches and pains the next day from the millions of muscles she made come alive.
It's also in the inches I've lost since joining.
Best investment ever, Peeps.
An investment in my health, worth every sweaty penny.
With the miracle of in office laser surgery I've held it off going into full surgery for 2 years so I guess I cannot complain (too much).
Still annoying, though.
On other news:
I joined a gym in September and have been faithfully working out. I took advantage of hiring a trainer when I first joined as it's half the original training cost when you first join.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Twice a week she runs me through a gambit of exercises while she keeps an eagle eye on my form as I'm sweating my way through the routines. I have learned so much from her. It's not just added motivation to work harder while someone is watching you--it's doing the exercises correctly so your muscles get the most benefit.
Working out with her makes the time go by quickly. Sometimes I think, "Did I do enough to make a difference? Did I get a good enough work out?" My answer is in the wobble in my legs as I make my way back to my car and the aches and pains the next day from the millions of muscles she made come alive.
It's also in the inches I've lost since joining.
Best investment ever, Peeps.
An investment in my health, worth every sweaty penny.
Monday, November 01, 2010
Voiceless in Portland
I have been stricken with a terrible case of laryngitis that has lasted 2 weeks now.
Anyone who knows me knows how terrible this affliction is for me as I am forced into silence!! :(
*sulk*
How long can this last??!
Anyone who knows me knows how terrible this affliction is for me as I am forced into silence!! :(
*sulk*
How long can this last??!
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