This is the sort of trouble she gets into. This was, apparently, when she decided Old Navy had gotten dull…
Author: paul@digitaldendrite.com
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The Brady Bunch
This weekend (memorial day weekend) was one of several where the kids have joined me down at Linda’s place, and it’s felt a bit like the Brady Bunch. We’re 2 kids short for that, but we do have 2 cats, so it’s close. Regardless of numbers, though, it makes my heart glad to see how well the four kids interact, most of the time. Kids will be kids, of course, and there’s a share of bickering and fighting, but in general, it’s just wonderful how well they all get along. The four of them are downstairs watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows right now, and when I left to come to bed, and Lindsay climbed up onto the couch in my spot, Chris announced “Fine, I’ll just stay down here and snuggle with Katie!” This, of course, elicited a whoop from Katie and the two of them settled down to watch together. Too cute for words.
Yesterday was a A-level minor league baseball game at a stadium really close by (the Potomic Nationals) and the 6 of us had great seats. We watched the whole game, laughing, high-fiving the players as they ran by (we had REALLY good seats…), and stayed for fireworks and Katie and Chris ran the bases. Ellen and Lindsay mostly played on their iPhones, but even that was fine. Watch the game, don’t watch, just have fun, and we all did.
It’s always a special time together, doing whatever, and I couldn’t ask for much more between the kids I have and the kids I’m looking forward to being much more a part of. I’m very lucky in this, and I know it.
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Pull My Pork.
I love barbecue. I love ribs, chopped BBQ, smoked chicken, smoked hot links. But one of my favorite kinds of BBQ is a really good pulled pork sandwich.
Now, there are really two ways to make pulled pork: True BBQ in a smoker (which is great, but a lot of work and tends to be a bit dry), and slow cook it with spices and BBQ sauce and vinegar (which is tender and moist, but generally missing that great, smoky flavor). However, I’ve tried to bridge the two with some help from my friend, Liquid Smoke.
I used a “picnic” pork shoulder, and this was my first attempt at this (and mostly, I made up the recipe), but it was really really good.
5 or 6 lb bone-in picnic shoulder (we’ll remove the bone, so if you can get it already de-boned, go ahead).
-1/4 – 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
-1/4 – 1/2 cup water
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-3 – 4 cups ketchup/BBQ sauce/any combination
-4 oz liquid smoke
-1/2 cup or so maple syrup (preferably real stuff)
-1 medium onion, sliced into reasonably fine rings.you want enough liquid to cover the whole shoulder, which is why the measurements are somewhat vague.
put all ingredients into crock pot, set on low. Let cook for 10 hours or so. You should not be able to pull a large chunk out of the pot without it falling apart. When it’s that tender, turn off the crock pot, pull out all the meat to a platter and, using 2 forks, shred it to strands. Put it all back into the pot of liquid after it’s shreaded and put the crock pot to “warm.” Let it just sit in the warm juice for as long as you like. It’ll just get better with time.
Serve on soft rolls with sides of cheddar cheese and pickle chips.
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Mother’s Day Special
This came from my dad, regarding my mom, quoted from their trip home from my house today, Mother’s day. For anyone who doesn’t know, Henry is my sister’s 3 year old son.
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Mom: The reason paul weighs more than you is because he’s shorter.Dad: What?
Mom: Well, if he was taller he wouldn’t be as heavy.
Dad: So then shorter people weigh more than tall people.
Mom: right.
Dad: So then, because he’s shorter, Henry should weigh more than Karem Abdul-Jabbar.
Mom: Don’t be silly. Henry is just a baby.
—-That’s my mom. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. Don’t ever start making sense.
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The Last Concert
Tonight is a milestone–the last elementary school band/chorus concert we will ever have to attend. Hot cross buns, Mary had a little lamb, and all the other training wheel songs are a thing of the past after tonight. Although the kids play their little hearts out, I can’t say I’ll miss this part of the little-kid experience. Listening to 20 apathetic 9 year olds murder Beethoven is getting tired…
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My Manager
Katie: Hey dad, why don’t you sell your cocoa next time we have a garage sale?
Me: Well, because garage sales are usually in the spring and people don’t want cocoa in warm weather.
Katie (not missing a beat): Why don’t you sell hot dogs?
Me: You’re just going with anything here aren’t you…
Katie: Yup! -
All the World’s a Stage…
Amazingly, it’s been 3 months since my last blog entry. I think that social media (Facebook and Twitter, mostly) are to blame, as smaller entries tend to just pop up on there in the ephemeral way that only a Facebook post can be. Comment on it today, forget about it tomorrow…
That said, however, I wanted to blog to recognize something worth remembering–Ellen’s first real foray into the theatre. Last night, Ellen had a small, but front-and-center role in the success-for-your-soul musical “Damn Yankees” at her school. She played the “radio voice”, doing a very good, very rapidly delivered play-by-play as Joe Hardy and the Senators beat the Yankees to finally propel the woeful Washington team to the pennant (as if.) Looking like a cross between a deer in the headlights and a well-dressed statue as she waited, center stage, to deliver her radio patter, Ellen shone in the way that only someone who is an extremely good public speaker can. She clutched her mic for dear life, waived her hands for emphasis as she neared the end of her delivery, and looked as intent as if she were actually calling the 7th game of the world series. Mel Allen would have had a tear in his eye, if they weren’t rotting in the ground somewhere. Perhaps he did anyway. Who knows with eyes?
Her relief after the show was almost as intense as her performance itself, a broad grin on her face when she popped from the stage door to the cheers of her friends. To my eye, though, it was that wonderful support of her friends that stole the night. Ellen can be something of a shut-in (I’m being kind here…) and to see her basking in her friends’ obvious affection, beaming with triumph and belonging, is what made the months of work worthwhile.
You did a great job, kiddo, and we were very proud, as always.
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Party Time
This past weekend, we celebrated Ellen’s 13th Birthday with dinner on Thursday (her actual birthday) and a sleepover for a bunch of her friends on Saturday night. It was wonderful seeing her with her friends. We rarely see her with a group of friends, and it was clear that her friends are a really nice, LOUD bunch of girls. We couldn’t be happier at the sight.
I made fried chicken for our “picnic in January” and this time I brined the chicken before breading/frying. Let me tell you, if you’ve never brined chicken for frying, it’s definitely a good idea. It was the tastiest fried chicken I’ve ever made.
I also made a cake, something that has become a bit of an annual thing much like my pumpkins. I had the idea back in August and it came out very nicely, I think. It’s a half of a Companion Cube from the video game Portal.
And, of course, the proud birthday girl with her cake:
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Ignore the man behind the curtain!
The other day, we’re sitting at dinner, and I look behind katie to the windowsill, whereupon I see a small box-shaped thing.
Me (to Katie): What’s that thing on the sill behind you?
Katie: Oh, that’s just the box to my eraser. Pay it no heed.Consider it done.
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A Way With Words
Saturday, we went out to the Grande Luxe Cafe, the Cheesecake Factory‘s more sophisticated sibling at the Garden State Plaza mall. They have really excellent food, and Katie got red velvet pancakes with cream cheese frosting (basically, she got cake for breakfast). After eating some of that, and drinking 2 glasses of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, she was ready to pronounce the following about her meal:
“Everything at this table, if you take a bite of it and close your eyes, it tastes like you’re soaring through the air on a helicopter made of cheese.”
