Not Made of Sunshine, Rainbows and Ribbons for Hair Bows

You know what I'm really sick of companies: When you create products that are sexy, pink and cute in order to target women.

There was the "Bic for Her" debacle.  Yes make it pink and purple and label it for women, that will make me squee and run out and buy your product.

Wait, pens were gender specific. Well SHIT. Guess I've been using the wrong damn pen all these years.  Maybe my 10-year old self would be excited, however, she was also into Lisa Frank...so you know not so good at making stylistic choices.

You know what I want from a Bic pen....FOR IT TO WORK.  I'm sick of reaching into our "everything" drawer at our house and picking a pen only to find that while it does indeed have ink it won't work. 9 times out 10 it's a Bic brand pen.

Now there's a steak house opening in Washington, DC that is being touted as "not your daddy's steakhouse". Because when I eat a steak I look like I'm in porn film. Also if I need a chain saw to cut said steak houses' steak then it is OVERCOOKED.  You know what I want from a steak house. AMAZING steak.  I could care less what the decor looks like, just bring me a rare slab of cow that is perfectly seasoned with a little salt and pepper and this woman is happy. 

Just by slapping sexy on something throwing in a dash of pink maybe a fancy cocktail isn't going to make me buy your product.  Indeed it will probably make me MOCK it and not touch it. 

Big Dreams

I held a spaghetti slurping contest with my daughter, Agatha*.

I won.

I can't help but marvel at this beautiful, silly, adorable human being.  She's at the fantastic age that if I am even slightly funny she laughs her head off. Her giggle is infectious, and I will be as goofy as it takes to make her laugh.

As we grow I can't help but be optimistic that our relationship will be strong enough that we will get through the teen years unscathed. I believe that if I assume she will turn into a horrible evil teenager that all of that negative energy will ensure that inevitability.

Already I can see that she is going to keep me on my toes.  Agatha's intelligence (and often stubbornness) are plain to see, and she doesn't miss a thing. No dumbing it down; and that's a good thing.  I want her to question things, to think analytically. I see glimpses of the woman she will be and I get excited.

But even as I look forward to seeing her grow, there are plenty of things that worry me.

In my day (ahem) the internet, social media and smart phones were science fiction. When Agatha is a teen, we'll have computers on contact lenses and implants that act as smart phones.  Today's technology has changed the game.  Now bullying follows victims everywhere, it does not just stay at school. Will she have the confidence to stand up for herself if she is bullied? If she is a witness to bullying? I hope so.

Sex and sexy are targeted to younger and younger age groups.  There wasn't such thing as sex-ting, cell phones were the size of your head and didn't have screens.  Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and other useless starlets were limited to magazines.  They weren't on blogs or TMZ.  Will she know the difference between sexy and beautiful? I hope so.

I remind myself that for all those worries there's always a silver lining.  There are teens speaking out against bullying, who don't buy into the sexy messages that is aimed at them and working to make a difference.

She will grow up in an America that will have always had an African American president, and I hope that by the time she's a teen it will also be an America with its first female president.  As an adult no matter who she loves if she and her partner want they can get married, hopefully it will be in all 50 states.

Being a parent I'm learning is a constant tight rope walk of excitement and worry. The trick is learning how find balance.

*Not my daughter's real name.

Menu for January 27

This week's menu includes:

• Pork Tenderloin marinated in lemon, mustard and rosemary
• Spicy red bean and chorizo stew
• Chicken tangine with preserved lemons and olives.

Photos and comments coming soon!

UPDATE:
Well, this past Sunday was a complete and utter dud.  I miscalculated the timing on these three dishes. and at 11:00 pm I was still cooking.  So no pictures this time.  It was a bloody miracle that I didn't fall face forward into the bean and chorizo stew I was so tired.

So, I'm adding another stipulation to my rules:

• All groceries need to be purchased before 11 am on Sunday.  

This way if anything needs marinating (chicken tangine) or soaking (beans) that there is an enough time to do this and not begin cooking at 9:30 pm.

Trial by fire, as they say.

Re-learning How To Manage Time

Time.  It's a hot commodity these days.  Time management, I used to be pretty good at it.

Then I had a kid.

Holy carp Batman. That saying that when you have kids and everything changes is the biggest understatement.  E.V.E.R.

One of the casualties of less time and my inability to manage it well: Dinner.  Busy workweek schedules don't help.  When I get home from a long day at work, the last thing that I want to do is cook.   It sucks, because I love to cook.  However, I love to cook complicated recipes that also tend to take planning.

And we're back at square one.

I've tried taking short cuts through simple recipes.  Ending in unsatisfying, boring meals.  And the inevitable ordering of delivery from local restaurants.  This is not only too expensive, but also not very healthy for all involved.

A couple of Sunday's ago, while I was slowly braising pork butt in the oven, I had an epiphany.

Beer Braised Pork Butt

Why only cook one meal on Sunday?

I could cook several and have enough for home cooked meals throughout the whole week.  Not only that but I'd have enough leftovers in the fridge to take to lunch.  Why it took me two years to have this revelation I blame squarely on the lack of sleep that comes with kids.

So far this concept has worked out really well.  I've started to refine the process to by making sure that:

• One dish be a stew or a soup,
• Meats are rotated,
• Use different cooking methods (i.e. only one dish in the oven)
• Crock pots are a girl's best friend, and
• Buy veggies that can go with the meal that are not overly sensitive to sitting in the fridge

The Hubby has been enjoying this so much he bought me several new cookbooks: The Canal House Cooks Everyday, One Pot of the Day, and Coming home to Sicily.

So far I've made the following meals:

• Beer Braised Pork Butt
• Chicken and Dumplings
• Beef Lasagna
• Carrot Soup
• Minestrone Soup
• Chicken and Rice
• Chicken Roasted over Potatoes and Lemons
• Spaghetti w/Onion, Pancetta and Tomatoes

Here's to better time management and good eats!

You Should Listen to Your Body

For the past month I've had a nasty cough.  A cough so bad that it caused people to stop and give me angry looks on the metro.  Sorry folks, but I think that there are worse germs on the metro than my cough.

Initially I thought I had a cold.  In my mind this seemed plausible because it is winter after all.  That and both my kid and  husband had colds the week before my cough started. When the cough lingered, I just thought I got another cold.  This is called D-E-N-I-A-L.

Inauguration weekend I woke feeling like road kill.  I had the chills, fever, sore throat, and my head felt like it was in a vice. Because of the high rates of the flu this season, I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment with my doctor.  

Surprise, not the flu!  Instead I have been suffering from a severe sinus infection.  Apparently my body decided that since I was not listening that it would escalate things to fever level. Four days and three prescriptions later, I am starting to feel human again.  The ability to breath through my nose is also returning.  It's amazing that I didn't poison my family from my cooking because of my inability to smell anything.   It's also amazing that nothing terrible, besides discomfort, occurred from this infection that I decided to ignore.

Moral of the story: Listen to your body, it may have something important to say.