Category: family

Oh, Rob! (Picnic date night)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, local fun, restaurants

I admit it: I have crushes. All the time. My husband is pretty tolerant of them. He even produced a picture of Boston Rob for me for Christmas last year (downloaded from the internet and printed…in color!). I’m exceedingly happy now that Survivor is back with its new season, Redemption Island.

For date night this particular week we decided to have a picnic. What else would you do in March in Maine?

We had no babysitter, but then our daughter had plans for a couple of hours in the evening. At the last minute we decided that we didn’t want to go out (6:30-8:30 is late when you get up before dawn!) so here’s what we did instead:

  1. Dropped the tweens (daughter and friend) off at their movie.
  2. Called in an order to Pizza Napoli. March specials going on are pretty good. We took advantage of one of the March specials: “buy any large pizza get a free small cheese pizza”.
  3. Came home, rummaged in the fridge for a bottle of wine. The first one was vinegary, so we found a bottle of our favorite wine: Moscato D’asti…so what if it’s supposed to be a dessert wine? We both love it.
  4. Moved the coffee table and spread out our “picnic” on the rug.
  5. Find The Good Wife episodes that we DVR’d but had no time to watch. (Man, has it really been since February 8th??).

Then we had to both get our stuff ready for work, so we called a brief time out to see to that and to get our daughter settled (whom her friend’s parents were nice enough to bring home for us).

Oh, the “Boston Rob” thing? That’s just for laughs. The husband thing?  He’s the real thing. 🙂

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“Clearing clutter for clarity”

by Karen, posted in books, family, health, Midlife Crisis

Okay, I borrowed this alliteration from the book  Ask and It Is Given by Jerry and Esther Hicks. Spring is in the offing. In the spring, when a young man’s thoughts are lightly turning…women’s thoughts are turning too: to thoughts of Spring Cleaning.

I was reading an article in the March issue of Whole Living magazine entitled “Cleaning House” by Susanna Sonnenberg about decluttering. She says that it helps to ask three questions when you are wondering about keeping something:

  1. Do I love it?
  2. Do I need it?
  3. Does it bring me peace and energy or uneasy trouble? (Italics added by me)

I found this very motivating. Maybe you will too. I decided that it doesn’ t have to be a major deconstructive (read: overwhelming, make me want to quit before I start) effort to declutter. Here’s my plan:  starting now, as I handle every object throughout the course of my day,  I will ask myself those (above) questions, and if the answer isn’t “YES!” to any of them, out it will go.

This is my plan. Since I am a midlifer, I can only hope that I remember it (reference the book: I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron). 🙂

Now, my husband? He’s great at this. Me? Not so much. Hmmm…maybe that’s he has time for his thoughts to “lightly turn…” in the spring?? Ha!

Pantry Project

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, Karen's Kitchen, Pantry Project
Sauteed chicken cutlets, roasted fingerlings and baby carrots

Cooking from what’s on hand isn’t as hard as I thought it might be.

This time, I had the presence of mind to raid the freezer the night before, so that the meat would have time to thaw before I was going to cook it.
Thawing in the microwave never goes well for me. I invariably wind up with partially cooked meat that ultimately turns out dry and tough.  Note to self: It’s best avoid the microwave for thawing meats when at all possible.
In the pantry I found a half a bag of fingerling potatoes and some onions. In the fridge, I found some baby carrots that were no longer appealing to eat raw, but there was still some hope for them…I decided that roasting the veggies was the best way to go.
For the chicken…I came across a recipe years (and I mean years) ago in Pam Anderson’s book: How to Cook Without a Book (Check out Pam’s blog by the way, Three Many Cooks) for cooking cutlets (pork, chicken, whatever) and making a quick pan sauce to go with them that I’ve used over and over and over (the recipe, not the pan sauce)…definitely worth the price of the book just for that recipe.
Find Pam’s technique for cooking the cutlets without a recipe here.
To roast the (tired) vegetables, just put them on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive or canola oil, and roast at 400 degrees for half an hour, then check them, stir them around on the pan, then put them back for another 20 or so minutes, depending on how dark you like them. When done, sprinkle with sea salt and give them a few grinds of black pepper.
Dinner…it’s done!

Put on a happy face

by Karen, posted in family

So, it’s cold and dark outside most of the time now, with the (nearly daily) threat of snow looming large, and it can be hard to find your happy place.

You may not even notice that you’ve lost it at first. Maybe a family member (read: husband) or a friend says, “Hey, what’s up? You don’t seem like yourself lately,” and you say, “Nothing’s up. I’m fine,” followed by the standard, “I’m just tired.”

Then you get to thinkin’…well, work isn’t what it used to be, and I really have been feeling tired lately…and that annoying bill that came in the mail and they overcharged me and I have to call about that…there’s a half hour of the day gone, just to get through the phone tree and get a human on the phone! And don’t even get me started on the laundry! OMG! Miss one day and what happens? You’re inundated!

But then something really nice happens: your husband comes home with flowers unexpectedly (for you!). Your child gets a 106 on her test.  Your son gets promoted at work. And you remember…”Life (really!) is good”…

“You are my sunshine” (Grieving my dead relatives, continued)

by Karen, posted in family, good grief, health
Mary

So, it’s that time of year again; when the anniversary of the day a relative died rolls around and you try to remember without being too sad.

This is my mother. At the time this picture was taken, she was a sister, a daughter. At the time this picture was taken, she was not yet a wife, a mother.

She was graduating from high school then, and her life was ahead of her. Too soon, it was over.

My husband took me for a ride a few days after she died with no particular destination in mind. We ended up at a local market with an attached greenhouse. As I walked around the store clutching my Kleenex, I was drawn to some colorful plants that my husband told me were primroses. For a moment, I actually felt happy looking at the little faces of the flowers, so on impulse I purchased one. I took it home and placed it on the little shelf above my kitchen sink.

Every time I looked at it, I remembered my mother’s death with a pang that was then tempered with a little bit of calm. In the spring, my husband planted it in the back yard.

Each year that followed, I brought home another little primrose plant and in the spring we planted it outside. Over time, all of these plants thrived and soon, without specifically intending to do so, I’d created an entire garden of  primroses, which became sort of a tribute to my mother. I was very sad to leave it behind when we moved.

This year when I was browsing at Trader Joe’s I spotted some primroses which (of course) immediately evoked thoughts of my mother, so I bought one. This spring I intend to plant it in my kitchen herb garden to revive my mother’s tribute garden from years past.

I chose yellow for the first plant because when I was growing up, she bought me an outfit that I refused to wear: yellow pants and a yellow shirt. “Who wears that color pants?” I complained. She ended up returning the outfit which I wouldn’t  have been caught dead wearing. Years later though, I recall this incident and wonder, “Why couldn’t I just wear it? Give her what she wanted?”

It’s ironic that yellow is now my favorite color.

Also, “You Are My Sunshine” was a song she loved and sang to us frequently when we were kids.

She died on leap day, February 29. We joked afterward that she chose that day purposely, so we would only have to feel sad about the day she died once every years. She was nice like that. 🙂

Kennebunk Winterfest with tweens

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, fitness, friends, local fun, restaurants, tweens

The Kennebunk 2011 Winterfest was yesterday in (you guessed it) Kennebunk, Maine. It was great that it wasn’t February 25th, since we got (yet another unwelcome) snowstorm. It was fun, but would have been more so if it had been about 10 degrees warmer (I’m just sayin’).

It kicked off with a pancake breakfast at Duffy’s for $5.99 per person (the money went towards supporting the Winterfest event) which included a drink and 2 enormous pancakes. I didn’t photograph them because they weren’t anything special…they were too big, too thick, too pale, too insubstantial…a disappointment really. When we were leaving I saw some smaller, thinner, better browned pancakes coming out of the kitchen, but it was too late for us. I mentioned to the server that maybe the kid portions should have been one pancake if they were going to make them that ginormous; maybe they listened? It was also a little bit disconcerting that the food arrived so quickly. In one case, I saw people’s pancakes arrive after they had barely sat down and they hadn’t even gotten their drinks. I also felt like they were rushing to get us out, but wasn’t sure why.

Next year, I will go to Perfecto’s Caffe on Main Street in Kennebunk for breakfast instead.

Then next stop was the Kennebunk Town Hall where a craft show was held from 9am-2pm. There was a big crowd here (even Elvis made an appearance!)  Dory’s Dogs was there making Nutella and Banana Crepes to die for. I took a bite and died right there. They were amazing. I couldn’t get a picture because my hands were covered with Nutella…I wasn’t worthy.

The kids had the option of making some glass bead projects, but those were not cheap. The key rings were the least expensive project at $3, then there were earrings, bracelets, and other projects, some costing as much as $15. The two women running the craft were awesome: funny, patient, helpful. The kids loved it.

Next: the scavenger hunt. They were given “clue bags” and had to go around to area businesses to get the different parts of the snowman and then assemble it at the end to get the chance to win a DQ  or a toy store gift certificate (we’re still waiting for the call that we won…). This is where it would have been very helpful if it was a) warmer…it was in the low 20’s) and b) did not span the construction zone at the bridge or c) include the Mail It Unlimited Store that was way out of the way from the general location of all of the other participating stores. There was a shuttle, but there were supposed to be two (if found out later that one broke down). The one that was running was never at a stop when we needed it, and it was so cold that it was better to keep moving.

After some compromising (that involved driving to the last two stops that were past the construction area) we finished the hunt and headed for the Soup Contest. This was awesome. You paid your $3 and then sampled coups from 18 different pots and then voted for your favorite. It was tough; some of them were excellent, but some were decidedly not. After telling them that they should have had separate categories for cream soups and broth soups, I picked the Farmer’s Chicken Soup to win, and Izzy picked the Hot Sour Soup to win. My runner-up was the Roasted Chestnut with Sage and Creme Fraiche. This year, they didn’t disclose which local business made which soups (as they had done last year) so we were voting blind.

Overall, it was a great day: good food (except for the pancakes), good exercise to work it off, good fun with tweens.

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Gnomeo and Juliet: Vacation week with your tween

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, local fun, movies, tweens
Gnomeo and Juliet

When it’s winter and the “Can we go out and do something today?” questions are about to put you over the top, give in. I did; we headed out to the 2:45pm showing of Gnomeo and Juliet at the Wells Five Star Cinema.

There has been a dearth of (good)  movies for kids lately, have you noticed? I wasn’t that excited to see this one (I don’t even like gnomes), but it was the only game in town. This movie was actually very good, adorable and funny (and~did I mention?~ I don’t even like gnomes…or pink flamingos!).  All of the kids in the audience seemed to really enjoy the movie (one little girl was talking to the screen at one point, but in a cute, non-annoying way). I even laughed out loud more than once. In case you’re a fan, Elton John sings the songs in the show. 

Gnomeo and Juliet are just so so darn appealing you can’t help but love them and root for them. Don’t worry that it’s just all about the kids though; this movie has plenty of adult humor. My daughter even got one of the subtle play-on-words jokes that went over my head (hel-lo; how embarrassing!). One of the funniest parts was the scary lawnmower from h-e-double hockey sticks sequence (“Your grass will be afraid to grow!” Heh heh heh…).

This movie was a very manageable hour and 24 minutes long, so the whole afternoon will not be wasted even if you don’t agree that it was worth your time, but I’m pretty sure that you will.

P.S. Stick around for the “Crocodile Rock” full cast dance at the end of the movie. 🙂

Head underwater

by Karen, posted in family, friends, health

Well, it isn’t really underwater, but it sure feels like it. I awoke last Friday with an odd feeling in my right ear. I mostly ignored it; I had plans to celebrate a friend’s birthday and so was distracted by good company and good food.  The next day, I awoke to a completely blocked right ear. It felt like it was stuffed with cotton…but from inside my skull.

I continued with my most effective health management weapon: denial. So, I got up, went to my yoga class, complained about it but not too much (I hope!), and then carried on the rest of the day at home with all of the self-care measures that I knew of, to no avail. By 5pm, it was worse, not better.

I’d been talking myself out of going to the Wells Urgent Care for hours…but finally, when it was going to close in an hour and a half, I grabbed my coat and keys and went. On the way over, I told myself:

  1. If it’s really crowded, I’ll just leave.
  2. If my ear (miraculously) becomes unblocked on the way over, I’ll just keep going on down the street (Dairy Queen is now open!) and turn around in the parking lot and go home.
  3. If the wait is too long, I can just leave (reference DQ note above~it wouldn’t be a total loss to have gone out!) and head back home.

Well, none of these things happened. I had barely gotten in the door and they greeted me and ushered me into an “intake” room where they checked my blood pressure (yikes!) and temperature (none) and wrote down my concern. Minutes later I was taken to another room to wait for the doctor, who came in almost before I could read an entire sentence in the book I’d brought to kill time while I waited.

Diagnosis: Otitis Media. What? Are you kidding me? Little kids get that! Stupid ear infections! Yes, plural: not one, but two ear infections, although the blocked ear (surprise!) was the worse of the two.

Let me just say that I now have a world of empathy for those poor little kids who have fluid in their ears and can’t hear properly for however long that lasts. In my case, they told me to plan on it clearing about 48 hours after starting the antibiotic. After  almost 72 hours, while it’s not actually clear yet, it’s much better. I’m very glad that I went because the morning after I did I woke up feeling much worse, but I wasn’t worried about it like I was the day before, when I didn’t know what the cause of it was. Knowledge is power…and peace of mind.

I decided that ‘head underwater’ is an especially appropriate title because I was under…well, overwhelmed by doing so much for so long that my immune system must have just said, “Hey, I need a break. You’re on your own for a while,” and then just went on strike.

It hasn’t been pretty. I’m hoping to woo it back with ten days of amoxicillin.

Celebrating with the kids: Valentine edition, part 2

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, local fun, tweens
My Valentine's Day bouquet

My Valentine’s Day started off great with a bouquet of flowers, with yellow (my favorite) being the dominant color. from my husband. I received them on Thursday night, since he would be at work for the next several days. I love flowers and was completely surprised (and thrilled!) with my gift.

I got to take my tween daughter Izzy out for lunch to celebrate our Valentine’s Day in advance. We went to one of “our places”, the Weathervane in Sanford and ordered way too much (fried)  food, as we almost always do.  After that, we continued up Route 109 to the Cupcake Fetish Bakery where we got dessert for ourselves, and we also picked up a little something  for my son and his girlfriend (Chocolate Dream with vanilla buttercream frosting for Anthony, Strawberry Nirvana for Lauren). The baker made little cupcake bites up (see slideshow below) for free samples in honor of Valentine’s Day and they rocked!

We came home and Iz worked on  her valentines to bring to school for her friends tomorrow, an eleventh hour decision. “This will be the last year, Mom,” she said. I recall her making the same statement to me just about a year ago…

Hmmm…we’re sitting here eating cupcakes for supper…it’s starting to feel sort of like Valentine’s Week (is that wrong?)… 🙂

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Whoopie!!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, books, family, quest for the best

Maybe you’ve heard this news already, but just in case you missed it: The Great State of Maine is considering making the Whoopie Pie its official state dessert.

It wasn’t already? There are lots of places to get a great wh0opie pie, including your very own kitchen. If you take this route, here are two excellent cookbooks to consult:

  1. Whoopie Pies By Sarah Billingsley, Amy Treadwell
  2. Making Whoopies by Nancy Griffin

Did you know that there’s a Maine Whoopie Pie Association? Me neither!(Although a Google search of this phrase got me zero hits). I read about it in a Portland Press Herald Article on 2/1/11.

Did you know that there’s a whoopie pie song? Me neither!  It’s by John Linscott (see link to above article, right side of the page for the lyrics).

Want to buy your whoopies?

  1. Cranberry Island Kitchen
  2. Two Fat Cats Bakery
  3. Wicked Whoopies

No decisions were made at the first meeting. They will reconvene on February 9th.

Here’s hoping the whoopies win!

🙂