5:00 Fridays

I'll be teaming up with some friends old and new to run/walk/shimmy the Race for the Cure on Saturday. In case you are living under a sewer grate somewhere stinky and rather humid, surely you know that pink is the signature color for all things breast cancer-related. And so I created a lovely sipping-with-your-gal-pals-after-a-5k walk/jog/run/flutter step-while-hanging-on-the-deck-listening-to-the-Pretty-In-Pink-soundtrack-on-an-amp-cranked-to-11 cocktail.

I hope you enjoy one right after you're done feeling yourself up. Early detection, my friends!


Stop the War in My Rack
1 ounce Rain Organics Red Grape Hibiscus vodka
4 ounces of good quality champagne (Please, no Andre or lower shelf crap here!)
2 ounces pomegranate juice
splash of grenadine

Add first three ingredients to a cocktail shaker with crushed ice and shake. Strain into champagne flutes and add a dash of grenadine(just a dash, mind you!). Pop in a few pomegranate seeds or a whole strawberry to jazz up the presentation.

Cheers to keeping our racks safe!

And yo, you wannna snag one of them hottie shirts up there? Just leave me a comment, and I'll see what I can swing. It'll be the breast 15 bucks you ever spent.

Wordless Wednesday: And Off I Go...

Today marks my baby Bird's flight. He finished kindergarten today. sniff sniff. Hats off to you, my first baby.

He would be tickled to read your words of wisdom and congratulations so humor a proud mama, mkay?

Talking About God

What I love about having two children who are the same gender is seeing their differences unfold. Despite the fact that they are both boys and raised in the same house, they are distinctly different creatures. I've kept a little chart since Deal was born of how they have differed throughout their various growth spurts and stages. I'm nuts about charts and tables and pie charts (even though Professor Malthouse steered us away from pie charts, claiming they do not depict graphical excellence).

Both Bird and Deal attended the same Methodist preschool. They both went to chapel and had the same teachers. Bird still thinks "Jesus" is pronounced "Cheesus" and remarks how they must have a lot in common since he likes cheese too. I guess he figures since Mac Daddy is from Wisconsin this all clearly makes sense.

Deal wants to end every declarative statement with "Amen." He also wants a Jesus themed birthday party.

So take this recent exchange as an example:

Deal: Where does nature come from, Mommy?

Bird: It's Mother Nature, Deal. Mother Nature gives us the rain and stars and plants and snow.

Deal: NOOOOOO She doesn't!!! Mother Nature isn't real! Mommy is our only mother!

Bird: I SAID MOTHER NATURE MADE NATURE! That's why we call her that. MOTHER NATURE!!!

Exasperation beads in little sweat droplets on their upper lips at this point. Neck hairs are saluting, voices are quivering, fists are shaking.

Deal: God made nature. God did it. God did it. God did it. God did it...

This starts to sound like goddamn it after while, and I crack up.

Bird: Deal, I told you, there is no God!


I can't win. I don't necessarily agree with either one of them. I had no idea what to do. So I did what every mommy blogger would do. I fired up my laptop and let them fight while I captured a blog-worthy moment.

Amen.

Something's Turniping Me On

We are fortunate to participate in a CSA that showers us with an amazing locally grown, organic bounty of produce every week. Farmer Tom of Double T Farm takes good care of our bodies and our palates. The boys wait at the screen door to see what goodies are in my bag when I get home from Tom's local pick up spot. I empty my hemp bag emblazoned with "I love green!" on the front. I always chuckle, thinking to myself that "I love greens!" would be oh so much more appropriate.

Last week I brought home a veritable feast of green goodness. Every week elicits a culinary orgasm. I've been plowing through new recipes and cooking adventures, none of which involves meat. I'm not opposed to meat mind you. I crave an Inferno burger from MoJoe's time to time and even spice up the cholesterol intake by indulging in onion rings once in a while. Once. In. A. While. Neither my waistline nor my aging heart can handle that lack of nutritional integrity on a regular basis. But dang, my tastebuds need to be coddled every now and then. But I digress... For the last week or so I've been preparing vegetarian meals, not by choice but by happenstance. Our plates are so loaded with goodness that there's no room (and no need) to add anything else.

Believe it or not, turnips are a crowd favorite.

Turnips.

You heard me. I said TURNIPS.

T-U-R-N-I-P-S!

And most nights I don't even cook 'em.


Here's what I like to call my CSA Salad:

Quarter and thinly slice one large turnip into bite size pieces (by all means, save the greens to stir fry!). Peel and seed a cucumber. Slice into little bite size half moons. Now here comes my one cheater ingredient. Add one sliced avocado, cut into pieces that are uniform with the turnip and cuke. Add the zest of one lemon (stop grating at the yellow lest you get that bitter white pith!). Now add the juice of that lemon. Grate some fresh black pepper on top, give it all a gentle stir, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so. Serve cold.

No salt. No oil. No Hidden Valley ranch.

I'm telling you, this crunchy goodness is a fine palate cleanser and compliments any meal. In fact, we just served it alongside an Indian feast of dal, palak paneer, and whole wheat naan. I added some chopped fresh cilantro to make it better suit the Indian flavors.

And no one missed the meat.



Cross posted at Foodie Mama.