ZimWex Family Blog

You May Have Noticed...

That I haven't exactly been following through on my one recipe a week thing. Not even close. I just somehow can't really do it. It is the one thing too many that just can't be done. At this point, I am lucky if I get cooked food on the table at all! If I am lucky enough to find time/space/energy to come up with a few more new recipes, I will be sure to post them. Until then, I will spare you the post of the every other night mac n cheese! AZ

a few pieces of follow-up.

1. I still yell at my kids. *

2. I am still tortured by not having enough/having too many playdates. **

3. Milk delivery  continues to be revelatory.***

4. Violet no longer yells out "I Happy Now" now that she is in a big girl bed, because she can now get out herself.  Wah.

5. We no  longer order Chinese food.   Never found a Mama Buddha replacement satisfactory to everyone involved.  I guess this is not bad for anyone.

In case you had been wondering about any of this stuff.

AZ

* maybe less than I did prior to August 28th, but I'm not sure.  The experiment was a bust.

**but have a new excellent organizing system, the playdate jar.  will post future blog about it.

***and has not yet been stolen. (this is when Tanya gets mad at me for "jinxing" something.)

Apple Season.

This was the last weekend at the Milk Pail Apple Orchard. So we kind of stocked up. I have been reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", which I am totally in love with.* This book is a blog post of its own, but in short, it is about a family that decides to eat only foods that are local and in season for a complete year. Being the impressionable gal that I am, it has inspired me to embrace seasonal cooking and in season fruits and vegetables. Thus, the two complete bushels of apples that we picked yesterday.**

I am going to try to cook lots of apple-y things with these bushels over the next few weeks. Its sort of an optimistic evening, so indulge me. I might, I just might, whip up another tarte tatin, some applesauce, a few apple muffins, and a jar or two of apple butter.*** If you think this seems unlikely, please don't burst my bubble. I am going to try to believe this for at least another few days or so.

AZ

*Thanks, Mom.
** Two bushels, but no peck. (Btw, what is a peck?)
***I also might sit staring at MSNBC for the next 15 days straight and sustain myself solely on Chinese takeout.

A few updates.

1. Baby Buddha tonight. Food was good. New discoveries: Chili Pepper Shrimp and Chinese Zucchini in White Wine Sauce. MORE THAN THIRTY MINUTES WAITING FOR DELIVERY. Recommendations still welcome!

2. Yelled at the kids the other day. It was ALMOST to prevent serious injury, except it was AFTER the injury was sustained...Kids were roughhousing and one ended up with big goose-egg on her forehead. Couldn't control myself and totally yelled at them. BUT!! that was the first yell in all these many days. Not too bad. I have, however, noticed myself yelling in a whisper quite frequently. Not sure this is a huge improvement from a straight-ahead yell, but it is some improvement... I think.

3. A bunch of people read my post last week on PROPOSITION 8 in California. A few of them went and donated something to the effort. At least one of them did it in Sarah Palin's name.

4. The fourth Ralph Lauren is open.

AZ

Change is good?

No, this is not a new Obama or McCain slogan.

Last night was Chinese food night. Empire Szechuan was clearly out of the question. So we decided (thanks for the advice, all) to give Baby Buddha a whirl. It was comforting for many reasons:

1. the containers were THE SAME!!
2. the service was on the speedier side-more like 15-20 minutes, so not Mama Buddha fast, but not too bad, either.
3. (get ready for this one) THE FOOD WAS BETTER.

Okay, well the kids do not agree with #3 yet, but they are wrong. The food was totally better. Despite my earlier posting, I often skip Mama Buddha night (everyone else indulges with a vengeance) and make myself my own special dinner.* Last night, however, I totally got into the food, esp. the szechuan peanut dumplings, yum! The sesame chicken and sesame noodles (my kids sugar coated dinner) were nearly indistinguishable from Mama Buddha.** We also enjoyed the crab rangoon, scallion pancake (yes, pretty much everything was fried), veggie dumplings, and sweet and sour chicken. So, although I am having trouble believing that anything good could come out of Mama Buddha closing, I must reluctantly admit that it (may) have. Need more than one test run to say so definitively.

As for the kids, they tried to pretend that they didn't like their meals. But I could tell that they didn't hate them. Or that if we had been clever enough to pretend that THIS food came from Mama Buddha, they never would have noticed.

Conclusion: change can be good. At least in the case of Chinese take-out, though I am hesitant to apply this philosophy elsewhere. In the meantime, if anyone else has any restaurant suggestions, let me know!

AZ

*Which is against my policy and I would never do for the kids.
** To us. The kids took issue, but did eat.