OUCH

Mark is my careful kid.  My kid who looks before trying anything dangerous.  Knowing him now, and looking back on his toddler years. . . . he didn't fall that much.  He walked late, but once he started, he was slow and steady.  Again, he didn't fall that much . . .but when he did. . . . he did it really well.  Right before he turned two, he was running outside, and fell on the pavement and scraped up his chin. . . . . right before my in laws were coming from Chicago.  I was hoping that the visit went well.  Because boy, did Mark's bruise look awful.

There was the time that he fell at camp, and chipped a tooth. . . .

And then there was the time that he ran into a light pole in front of my husband and my father in law, while flying a kite.  That injury was awful.  Blood was everywhere.  And my husband and father in law had no kleenex.  Just a cell phone.  So they called me.

This latest injury happened on Thursday . . . . I was in the infamous blue zone waiting for the kids to get out of Religious School.  Waiting.  Waiting.  And then Mark's teacher appeared.  Could I drive around, and come into the office.  Mark fell (five minutes ago) and needed some ice.  He fell on his face.  Face????  Mark??????  I was surprised.  Naomi is forever showing me little scrapes and crying for band aids and boo boo ice.  Mark isn't the kind of kid that needs ice. 

I drove out of the blue zone, while the teacher gathered up the carpool kids and met me in the office.  I got to the office, and there was Mark . . . red eyed from crying, holding an ice pack on his lips.  He said that his jaw hurt (both sides), both ears hurt and both cheeks.  And he his lip was rather large. . . . The administrative person gave Mark another ice pack and off we went to the car.  The poor kid was trying to hold it together, since his classmate was in the car.  This ride lasted FOREVER.  He was complaining about his jaws, and cheeks.  It couldn't be broken . . . . right?????

Once home, he calmed down and had some dinner.  On Friday morning there was a slight mark on his chin.  By Friday evening he had a full fledged bruise, and it was UGLY!  Another friend asked him if that had happened when he fell (a witness to Mark's graceful trip including the ungraceful landing on his face).  I took a photo this morning, because he could not really see his chin in the mirror. 

Mark flinched when he saw the photo. 

Kugel!

So, last night was the Temple Emanuel Mystery Dinner and it was GREAT.  The whole thing is a great event.  The family shows up at 4:30 PM.  The kids are whisked away, and the adults have fun dining on some appetizers.  And then the BIG reveal.  Some of us are hosts, and some of us are guests.  We have ranked dinners. . . (breakfast for dinner, Next Year in Jerusalem, Make Your Own Pizzas) and then we open our envelope.  We find out the address of the house, we drive there, and then we find out who is hosting and who else will be dining with us.

This year, I cooked at someone else's house. . . and our theme was breakfast for dinner.  There was OJ, white wine, kugel, homemade waffles, bagels, cream cheese, lox, veggies, fruit, maple syrup and whipped cream.

We had a great time.  I am already thinking of themes for next year (Chili 9000 or PASTA NIGHT).  Any ideas?

Here is the family kugel recipe.

Noodle Kugel

1 pound broad noodles

8 eggs (I use egg beaters)

1 c. sugar

1 carton sour cream (8 oz) (I use fat free)

1 stick butter, melted

1 8 oz carton cottage cheese (I use low fat)

1 TB Vanilla

Cheeses need to be at room temp.  Cook and drain noodles.

Beat eggs with sugar, sour cream, cottage cheese, melted butter and vanilla.  Pour drained noodles into mixture.  Pour whole thing into 9 x 13 Pyrex dish (sprayed with Pam).

Top with topping and bake 350 for one hour. 

Topping

¼ c corn flake crumbs

½ c graham cracker crumbs

¼ c sugar

Mix into bowl.

The Little Things That I Miss

I miss having my silverware in neat stacks . . . all the little spoons in one slot, all of the knives in another slot.  Right now all of the silverware is thrown into a plastic box.

I miss having an oven . . . my kids miss eating roasted chicken.  Nice to know that I make a few things besides cookies that they miss.

I miss having the kitchen in the same room where I cook.

I miss having a disposal.

I miss having the ugly kitchen, since I have no kitchen right now.  Instead I cook on what was my kitchen table.  If I thought that my ugly kitchen was small, who knew what it was like to cook in the dining room.

I miss my gas stove.  I don't like cooking from a microwave and skillet.

I miss having the ability to cook a vegetarian meal for Adam while cooking chicken for me and the kids.

I miss having Naomi's room and the kitchen.  There are WAY too many boxes around the house. 

I miss having my order.

I miss having a food pantry. . . right now my food is on my bookshelf.  The cookbooks that used to be on the shelf are packed away.

I miss having a bathroom on the first floor.  I have to run upstairs or downstairs. 

I miss the no dust zone.

I miss the cleaners.  (It is too hard to schedule them to come while the workers are here.)

I miss entertaining.  Can't have people over, unless they want to eat take out pizza.

I miss having playdates for the kids.  I think they miss it too!

Living Under Construction

We are in the middle of living through a home renovation.  Please have wondered why we didn't rent another place during this time period.  Well, it is because of the lack of cash.  This is a HUGE project for us.  We have never done something like this, but it was either this, or move.  After we looked around at what was in our price range, and not wanting to leave our great neighborhood, we decided to demo the kitchen and add on.  Not bad.  But we also wanted to add a dormer in Naomi's room.  AND, we wanted to move the bathroom door from our first floor bathroom from the kitchen to somewhere else.

Soooooo, in early February we packed up THE ENTIRE KITCHEN and pantry, Naomi's entire room and the downstairs bathroom.  We put the STUFF in the porch and the basement.  We put Naomi's bed in Mark's room.  And we put some kitchen stuff in the dining room, including the fridge.  We put the kitchen sink in the living room (expensive but worth it).

And now, we are still living in half our house. By the time we get to use our entire house, it will be SPACIOUS.  This past week we had to pack up our family room in the basement, so we were down to our bedroom, Mark's bedroom, our upstairs bathroom, the living room (quite full of stuff) and the dining room (also quite full of stuff).

And the kids have been great about sharing a room.  Most days it is easy, unless it is a Saturday morning and someone in that room wakes up the other person.  But, really, it has been better in that respect, than I had anticipated.

The kitchen. . . I miss it.  The kids miss it.  Adam misses it.  Even though I am preparing fresh waffles, taco dinners and others.  We all miss the oven.  Adam misses being able to eat a vegetarian meal while we eat chicken.  I miss eating chicken when we have a vegetarian meal. 

Things are moving along.  Rough plumbing and rough electrical both passed inspection.  The outside of the new addition on the first floor looks great.  Naomi's dormer still needs siding.  But next up is framing of the new closet spaces (and I have to empty the small linen closet) and insulation.  Then in mid April we go away for a week, and then I think we are in the home stretch.  I am hoping to be able to host a nice open house in June for all of our friends and family that have fed us and supported us during construction.

Gotta go pack up the linen closet!

Don't you love the styling kitchen?????  Where do I start?????  The blue counter tops???  The lovely white cabinets?  By the time they were demolished, none of the cabinets closed and frankly some of them came unhinged too often.  In the second photo down, the back pantry. . . turns out that the whole back pantry area subfloor was rotten away from old termite damage.

Good bye OLD kitchen

Bread Machine Challah

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Put in bread machine.  Follow directions for white loaf, medium crust.

In about three hours, you have a nice challah (loaf shaped)

Old Kitchen

Thought I would post some photos of the old kitchen.

This is back when Mark was in preschool.  The kitchen table was smack in the middle.

When the project is over the eat in part will not be in the middle of my cooking area!

Passover Planning

Growing up, I was used to using up the flour on the hamentashen, before Pesach.  After all, you don't want flour in the house for Pesach.

This year, Pesach is going to be a little bit different.  Without a real kitchen, I will be hobbling it together.   Like breakfast. . . . . breakfast is bad enough during Passover.  During the rest of the year we have 12 different types of cereal, and the kids pick the cereal.  Glass of water.  Done.  Breakfast gets you out of the house, with a full stomach and an easy clean up for two working parents.

Passover with a kitchen means, some of us have fried matzah, others have scrambled eggs, and others have cream cheese on matzah.  On some mornings I make kosher for Passover pancakes.  And then there is the massive kosher for Passover breakfast clean up (thank you Adam). 

This year we have a toaster (which can create melted Swiss cheese on matzah), Crispio-s for the kids, and one skillet for either kosher for Passover pancakes or scrambled eggs.  And we will still have a massive clean up (thank you Adam).

I haven't even thought about dinners.  Okay, I thought about the kosher for Passover blintzes that are in the frozen aisle at the store for one night.  We will have the seders out of the house.  Three nights done.  Five to go.  I attended a class on how to make kosher for Passover lasagna (meat or parve).  Again, I will oven crash for that.  And that will get us TWO dinners.  Three more dinners to go. 

Ideas?  Please let me know.