Saturday, March 08, 2008

Miscellaneous This and That

I started feeling worse and worse yesterday; so I attempted to take it easy around noontime by sitting in my beloved floral Ektorp and cuddling Susie in my lap. Unfortunately, she was emitting this constant whining sound that reminded me of nothing so much as a dentist's drill. (Why was she doing that? Ha! I know not why.) So I went up to bed (where Larry was already napping) and lay down (yes, we are both pathetic) and Susie followed me. Then she heard someone knocking on the front door, which resulted in her running downstairs to shout, "Mommy and Daddy are in the bed!" to whomever was at the door. Cool. As if our neighbors didn't already think we are a bit too frisky, what with the 6 kids and all...

How often do you think I get invited to a grown-ups only social event? Almost never? You're right! So it would stand to reason that I would be too sick to go yesterday evening to our neighbor's house where she was having a little farewell dinner party for another neighbor. A real dinner party, where you drink cocktails before the meal and sit at a table to eat your food and (if you're my husband) stay until midnight laughing and chatting with the other attendees (all grown-ups).

Not that I am jealous or anything...

And that cauliflower I managed to serve the kids on Friday? Made me sound pretty good, huh? It probably appeared to the casual reader that we always have a fresh steamed vegetable (with ketchup) at dinner. Wouldn't that be nice? But, in reality, it's usually just a bag of baby carrots thrown on the table as an afterthought (eat them or no dessert!), or some carrot and onion in whatever stir fry Theo has thrown together. Bagged salad makes an appearance every once in a while. The kids' favorite dressing - French, of course, because it has ketchup in it.

We do have a special family ritual here - every other week I buy the healthy veggies at the commissary, and then, 2 weeks later, after they have decomposed sufficiently, I throw most of them out. Sometimes I treat it as a homeschool science experiment by demonstrating to the kids what mold looks like (biology!). Or I can list it under earth science by calling it compost.

It's a learning lifestyle, that's what it is. Mostly the kids are learning how I waste good money on food we don't use. And I'm learning that you can lead a kid to cauliflower, but you can't make him eat (at least, not without a lot of ketchup).

If I were really blog-savvy, I would insert a YouTube video here of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young singing, "Teach...your children well..." But, alas, I'm not blog-savvy; and Larry wants the computer. G'night, all!

24 comments:

  1. Hahaha! Vegetables at my house meet the same fate! Except I buy them at Sam's, in massive quantities, for significant percentages of our disposable income. Because THIS TIME we're going to eat healthy! THIS TIME I'm not going to blow through 50 Weight Watcher's points before 6 p.m.

    (Excuse me while I take another bite of my raspberry-white chocolate scone before returning to my paper-writing...)

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  2. Love your blog! My mother in law sent me a link. We are Catholic and raising 4 boys (2,4, and twins 8)....so far. We usually tell people who ask us if we are trying for a basketball team (like we don't hear that all the time)that we leave it up to God....HOWEVER if God wants our opinion it is well formed, PLEASE NO. Anyway, it is always nice to hear of another family who life is as crazy as ours! However, with 6 you win!

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  3. Ah, the hiding of the veggies. Yes, my son rarely eats veggies, but he's a teenager. It's expected. but when I put them in casseroles, he's okay with vegetables. I don't puree or hide them, either.

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  4. I am so glad I'm not the only one who throws good money at good veggies only to throw them away.

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  5. vegetables are abundant in my crisper but rarely on the table. they almost all make it to the compost bin.

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  6. Missing grown-up time. Boo-hoo. Hope you're feeling better soon.

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  7. How many bags of gooey spinach have I tossed away?

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  8. I also go through the fridge every once in a while and throw out the veggies gone bad. I also throw out all of the bagged salad, not because it's old, but because one of my darlings likes to play with the temperature control on the fridge, and the lettuce always ends up frozen.
    I've never had the salad survive the thawing process.

    I'm really hoping that ketchup can be counted as a vegetable.

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  9. That's what I do with bananas, except in a stupid way. I buy a bunch of bananas, and the minute the kids see them, they want to eat them, but I don't WANT them to eat them right that second, because HELLO, I just walked in the door, do we have to IMMEDIATELY consume all of the groceries? So I put them on the counter in the fruit thingie and forget about them and then they turn black. The end.

    My kids are going to get scurvy. Or, um, whatever you get from not eating bananas.

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  10. This post is well-timed...I just got back in time to throw out all the veggies that had rotted nicely while we were away. I could pretend that they would have been eaten had we not been away, but you and I know the truth.

    Sorry about the sick. Hope you're better now.

    Heidi

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  11. Threw away that tub of lovingly crafted risotto that I made [how many?] weeks ago, and the green onions, and the cilantro. Not to mention some geriatric flour tortillas and a take-out box of dessicated enchiladas [those would be LittleBit's, from her restaurant]. Trying to figure out what to do with the last two leeks before I have to pitch them out as well.

    Why can I not buy *two* leeks and *one* stalk of celery at a time?

    I feel your pain.

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  12. I've been doing that whole sneaking-veggies-into-everything bit long before Jessica Seinfeld. If anything, I should sue her for copying ME!

    Pasta dishes are the easiest to grind up random vegetables to throw in. The tomato sauce is added insurance that your kids will eat it, too.

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  13. If she's a really nice neighbor she'll invite you over to share a cocktail when you feel better.

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  14. Oh an adult party with drinks sounds great! I don't go to any (because I haven't been invited to any) but maybe I'll have to have one!

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  15. We're vegetable wasters, too! One time I actually found one that had liquified. And let's not forget when you defrost meat, then get sick or behind schedule and don't prepare it (not that I've ever done that). Or when hubs gets home late, takes meal from fridge, then fails to put leftovers back (not that he's ever done that, either).

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  16. Oh that stinks. I hate being sick when I never get to go anywhere and then finally I do. Such a bummer.

    My kids actually like peas and asparagus pretty well. Asparagus is expensive though, but when it's in season, we eat it like pigs. (Baked in the oven at 375 for 20 min. and then topped with butter. Real butter.)

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  17. You should see my vegetable drawer. When I buy new ones, they scream as I put them in there, having heard what becomes of veggies in my fridge.

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  18. Precious youngest turned in the contents of my refrigerator as a Science fair project on mold. She got third place.

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  19. Carrots and bagged salad are my specialty as well. Any other vegetable turns to mush in my vegetable crisper...perhaps they should consider renaming that drawer!

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  20. I, too, end up throwing away most of the vegetables I buy, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one. (Oh, and did I mention we're vegetarians? Really.) I've been doing the Sneaky Chef thing where you puree the food, freeze it, then just throw it in whatever you're cooking and that seems to work well. When I actually cook, that is.

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  21. You are awesome. Very funny.

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  22. Oh, no! I hate it when I have to miss the party (especially a dinner one)! Hope you're feeling better!

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  23. I adore Bob Newhart but I'm not a trivia person so I can't tell you where to find that episode. Ketchup is a necessary evil. I feel so guilty when I have to throw the science experiments away.

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  24. I hate throwing out veggies, but you know, at least we try...

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