Sugar

Everyone wants to know the name of the movie Clay and his dad saw.
It is called Sugar.

http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/sugar/

And, the picture above is from when I lived in Vienna. Just thought someone might like to see it. He's even cute in the a.m.

Ankle Update and other important matters

First things first, has anyone seen my ankles? Neither have I and they've been missing for the last 24 hours. My legs look like tree stumps.

Maybe Eliza and George know where I can find them. I'll offer a reward to get them back.

Today in QFC a very cute old lady walked up to me, touched my belly and said, "Did you know you were having a girl?"
Since the ultrasound technician told me that I was having a boy I was very surprised. I smiled and politely told her that I didn't know that.

Whole Foods 365 no boil lasagna noodles SUCK. I made homemade pesto and red sauce tonight and the noodles never really cooked. They just got sort of gummy and gross. I think Grandpa Lala was afraid we were going to send him home if he didn't eat his dinner so he ate it all up and went straight to bed. I'd bet his stomach is hurting him.

Guess who went to a movie today? Not the 18 month pregnant girl, she stayed home with the kids and attempted to make lasagna. Apparently the movie was good and I would have like it. Harrumph! As Clay left for the movie with Lala they asked if I was going to post this on my blog. DUH!

Still no baby.

Pirate Broom

George and our 6 year old neighbor Eliza were playing "pirate broom" yesterday in the new basement. We're not clear on the details of the game but Grandpa Lala's cell phone was the victim of this high-concept make-believe game which involved hiding the phone, which incidentally was turned off. (Not helpful in the retrieval process.)

And what is "pirate broom" anyway? Is this a little known fact of pirate lore that they used cell phones as brooms? And just how concerned were pirates about tidying up after themselves in the first place?

We scoured every inch of the basement last night looking for the lost cell phone and finally the case of Grandpa Lala's missing cell phone was solved. The phone was found after almost 24 hours of being MIA in a baby stroller.

George received a prize for finding it, which is ironic 'cause he's the one who lost it in the first place.

I'm not writing this from the hospital, we are home and still waiting for the little guy to arrive.

dummy = me

Q- Who is taking a nap right now?

A- Clay.

Q- Who is 18 months pregnant?

A- Me.

Q- Who really should be taking the nap?

Exactly!

Ceviche = raw fish

I don't have anything new to report but figured if I didn't write, everyone would think I was at the hospital.

I'll just give you all a few sentences about our weekend thus far.

George and Goldie are having fun with Grandpa Lala and Auntie Donna.

We all attended a super fun birthday party this afternoon with a delicious Mexican lunch made by our friend who attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Grandpa Lala thought the ceviche was delicious until we told him it contained raw fish. Tee-hee!

Clay and I had a date night and went to the Steven's Elementary School auction. (Someone sitting at our table shook my hand so hard that I had an actual dent in my finger.)

Tomorrow night we are having dinner with our neighbors Mark and Jen. Jen is a great cook so I'm planning on going into labor after we come home and put the kids to bed.

Update

2.5 centimeters dilated
80% effaced
1 day past my due date
2 house guests (Auntie Donna arrived today!)
1 rhubarb pie
1 batch Katharine Hepburn brownies http://www.joyofbaking.com/katharinehepburnbrownies.html
1 new pair of shiny silver clogs!!!!

Due Date

My due date came and went.
I figured this would happen.
I'm off to Boot Camp and will post more later, RATS!

Grandpa LaLa (AKA Clay's dad) is here!

And I am thinking about asking him to leave early.
He isn't checking his email so I feel free to type anything I want about him for the next twelve days.

Here is the problem-
What is the best way to get yourself kicked out of our house?
Everyone knows the answer. Don't eat the meals prepared for you.
I made vodka pasta and I had to force him to try it. Finally he tasted this "exotic" culinary creation and had a minuscule serving. He did admit it was good. But still...

For some inexplicable reason Goldie keeps calling him Grandma Jan, which I think is soooo funny. (They've been divorced for something like 25 years!)
Serves him right.

Still no baby!

And

This is our Wednesday night dinner for anyone who'd like to join us.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/12/friday-night-dinner-pasta-alla-vodka/

I'm still planning the dessert!

Please rsvp by 3pm.

Private to Kim

Kim, this is a water table. We have the one on the left.

The baked item of the day was chocolate chip cookies. Grandpa LaLa arrives tomorrow afternoon and he has requested cookies.

Still no baby.

More later...

9:30pm

Okay, this blog is really about eating and nothing else.
Tonight I made the following rhubarb pie

http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Shaker-Rhubarb-Pie

So friggin' good.

After you make the chocolate cake make this pie.

And, no baby yet. I predict next Monday.

Stuff

Sunday update

Goldie repeatedly drank filthy water out of our water table outside using an even filthier plastic shovel as her spoon. And, if that wasn't enough she dunked her turkey bacon in the water and took slow meaningful bites. Dunk bite, dunk bite.

Later she had diarrhea and I can't say the two are related.

George unfortunately "broke his tailbone" which was actually a skinned knee that seems to have recovered fine.

Clay dug out some ugly plants in our backyard and planted some beautiful lettuce, artichokes and herbs.

And me, still pregnant.
Someone at Fuel coffee shop told me I looked puffy which I really appreciated hearing. This was after I was crossing the street and a car slowed down and yelled "You know you can get knocked down as well."

All which reminds me that I need to write a post about the things not to say to a pregnant lady because clearly people don't know. And yes, I'm sure I'm not having twins.

Chocolate Cake!

I made the chocolate cake again tonight.
There are three slices left.
Lemme know who wants 'em.
Dina or Kim, will you be in Seattle?
It is so good and certainly worth a train or plane ride!

Still no baby!

p.s.- still no baby

I don't care if you are reading this at 2am, run to your kitchen and make this cake.

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2004/08/and-then-cake-came-forth.html

Now that Passover is finished, I'm back to baking. (Perhaps the nesting instict is kicking in.) I made both cake and challah tonight. No, there were not Easter eggs in my version.

And, we are still a family of four.
1 centimeter dilated
80% effaced
and the cake was devine!

Good grief!

George, who seems like a bright kid some of the time, asked my mom if she had any kids.

No Baby Yet

I'm 10 days from my due date and we still don't have a name. It seems all our names aren't very popular with our folks/friends. And the names we sort of liked have already been coupled with our last name by, more famous, others (thank you very much Steve, Astin and Lockheed Martin).

So please, be prepared to pretend to like whatever name we choose and when you have your baby we'll keep our comments to ourselves. Unless you name your kid "Rainy," which I think is a terrible name for a baby in Seattle. I met one at a birthday party recently. (She's only a month old, and as far as I know is not reading yet, so I'm not worried about her seeing this and taking offense.)

And for those of you following the progress on our basement, it is almost finished. We ordered wool carpet today and it should be installed on Wednesday, just in time for Grandpa Lala's visit.

And, speaking of Grandpa Lala, I hope he's also not reading this because he's an early candidate for April's Craziest Person of the Month for trying to convince Clay that "you just can't go too big" with a TV. He's trying to talk Clay into purchasing a 100 foot television (see above), which would be great if we, or our kids, actually watched television.

Please post comments with desperately needed suggestions for baby names and appropriate screen sizes. I'm going to bed!

A day in the life of a troublemaker

First things first, I like to wear my swim suit. It looks best with tights and boots. (See above)

I like to drink water out of the water table outside but only if I've seasoned it with wood chips, dead bugs and dirt.

I like to pick poisonous berries from the front yard and taunt mommy and daddy repeatedly by threatening to eat them.

I like to pull Georgie's hair with absolutely no provocation.

I like to scream and cry when my mommy tries to brush my naturally curly hair and bite the brush as revenge until my tongue bleeds.

Love,
Goldie, age 2

Plain ole wrong

I made Dutch Babies for breakfast this morning and while hunting for the recipe I found the following recipe.

http://bakingbites.com/2006/04/easter-egg-challah

I'm the last person you'd call religious but excuse me, calling a bread challah and inserting Easter eggs in it is about as kosher as having a Christmas tree and hanging Hanukkah ornaments on it.

Call it Easter bread but certainly not challah!

Challah is a special braided bread eaten by Jews on the Sabbath and holidays.

According to Jewish tradition Shabbat and holiday meals begin with a blessing over the challah. This bread commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after the Exodus from Egypt. It is these hunks of bread, recognizable by their traditional braided style, that are referred to as challah.

And, as far as Historians can tell, there weren't any Easter eggs in it. Imagine the mess they would have created as they fell from the sky.

Birthday Boy (March 26th)

This is late, I know. We've been busy. Very, very busy. (Yesterday we planted a very cool bean teepee in our front yard! Pictures of that tomorrow.)

Nonetheless, George turned four!

A few weeks prior Clay was watching the food channel (?) and saw a very cool volcano cake which he showed me and I made. The best part was adding dry ice and water to a cup that is placed in the center of the cake and it "erupts."

He LOVED it! (George also thought it was pretty cool.)

And, Goldie couldn't keep her paws off it.

My editor is now tapping me on the shoulder saying he needs to add an addendum to this post...
________________
The "editor" would just like to clarify that he was not "watching the food channel." He was taking a break from watching a sports channel (probably about motor cross racing or weightlifting or something) and I accidentally flipped to the food channel during a commercial break or something. OK? I was not "watching it." That's all I wanted to say.