Sunday Feast

My goal this week is to roast a pork loin. Extra points for organic meat.
Stayed tuned to see how this plays out....

time wasted

It's bedtime and I did not finish folding the laundry (I didn't even begin). I also did not make my new September calendar that included Owen's chores. I guess that must be why he didn't finish his chores tonight. I did however upload pictures from Nettie's wedding to Shutterfly and FB, created and ordered a photo book, I also answered all my emails, and recommended some books to my uncle in Virginia. I guess you can say it's been a virtual productive day (as opposed to "virtually productive"). Tomorrow has my name written all over it, but for now it's off to bed to read a real book.
Incidentally, I made tacos for dinner and in place of the lettuce I used fresh baby spinach. My kids ate it without a fuss. My husband ate it without a fuss. What an easy, easy, easy way to add spinach to our diet. Not that my boys are picky about their vegetables but who am I to turn down a gift horse?

Owen jokes

Here is a sampling of the dozens of jokes and riddles Owen invents throughout the day (you'll have to imagine him laughing at the end of each one):

Q: Why does the chicken eat bread?
A: Because she usually eats corn.

Q: Why does dressing only go on salad?
A: It doesn't go on meat because it sucks up the dressing.

Q: Why does a chair only sit on the ground?
A: Because it gets dirty outside.

Joke: fly, spider, mosquito, insect, guinea pig.

I tried to get him to tell me some more but he said no more jokes tonight. Because you know, he has to save his energy for some more good jokes tomorrow.

Summer Fruit Crisp

I wrote earlier about the yummy peach dessert I made from a magazine. This weekend we had my parents up to visit, as well as our "second" parents so I made the dessert again. I took my mom and dad driving around Brentwood and we went to the Farmer's Daughter farmstand and got some outstanding peaches and yellow pluots. Owen and I ate almost all the pluots and Mom wanted me to save some of the peaches for her to take home, but with the remaining peaches I made the fruit crisp - sooo yummy again! Here is the recipe for any who want to try. It's really easy. Let me know if you make it, and how you like it!

Summer Fruit Crisp
Topping
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup quick-cook oats (I've also used the regular kind and both work just fine)
1/4 cup flour (I use whole wheat flour to give a lil' healthy to this dessert)
5 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger (I omit this b/c I don't have ginger)
1/8 tsp salt
Filling:
5 cups chopped fresh fruit (I use unpeeled peaches; the recipe used unpeeled plums and blueberries)
3 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs flour
1 tbs orange juice
1/2 tsp orange zest *optional (I omit this too)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine all of the topping ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Rub the mixture together with a fork, pastry blender, or your fingers until in forms clumps (I use a fork).
3. In an 8-inch square baking pan, gently toss the filling ingredients. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit.
4. Bake the dish until the fruit is bubblyl and the topping is crisp, about 30 minutes. Let the dish cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Vanilla ice cream would be wonderful, I think. It calls for something creamy and sweet to accompany this dish.

my birthday present

Loren gave me the Flip Video camera for my birthday. I've been wanting one for a while and I am really excited to try it out. I recorded some footage this morning and uploaded to youtube (one of the main selling features of the camera). It took a LONG time, like almost 25 minutes to upload one minute of film. That's a mark in the CONS column. So far the PROS are: it's small, really cute, and new; CONS: long upload time (big one) and trouble sharing the video once it's posted to youtube. I'm going to try to embed it here, and then I'll try some other things. I hope the bugs work out because it's so cute.

Rules of the Universe

Rule #1 Everything belonging to and surrounding small boys (children?) must be slightly sticky from an unknown source.

It seems that lately, whenever I pick up a book, especially one of Liam's board books, the cover is ever so sticky. I wipe them but the stickiness won't go away. This applies to toys, books, and even our leather recliner. As far as the leather recliner, I blame the Diego sippy cups. Those things leak like a sieve.