It is not secret to anyone that knows me that I don't eat any kind of fish or seafood. Often times when people find out for whatever reason, usually while eating out, someone says, "Well, what about crab? You have to like crab?" No, I don't. Then they usually go through a couple more rounds of that with different kinds of fish or seafood that they just can not believe I don't like. "Well, what about shrimp/salmon/lobster? You have to like shrimp/salmon/lobster?" No, I really don't. Finally I just started saying, "I don't like anything from the water." And then when they ask another version of their same question I just repeat, "Nothing from the water."
The problem for Joe is that he really likes things from the water. He will often order seafood or fish when we are out but I started to feel bad about never cooking it for him. I have been feeling bad about it for awhile but the other day I was having a conversation with a friend that tipped the scales in Joe's favor. I was chatting with a friend about her disdain for touching any kind of raw meat and thought to myself, "Well, you just need to kind of suck it up because your kids want to eat!" And then I thought, "Ha! Suck it up and cook some seafood for Joe already." So I did.
On my grocery trip, I stopped at the meat counter and asked for some shrimp. She asked me how much I wanted and I froze. Um..."7?" She quickly realized I had really no idea what I wanted and asked me some questions about how many were going to be eating and what else I was making with it. Turns out she decided I needed 1/2 pound, so I ended up with 13 raw but deveined ('cause that's NOT happening) shrimp.
I got home and started to look up recipes for grilling shrimp because while I am willing to cook it, I am not willing to cook it in the house. Way too stinky.
Anyway, I found a recipe for a marinade and mixed it up. Then I set out to peel the 13 shrimp. I made it through without any snide comments but I can only imagine my face because Joe had a pretty good laugh. I will say it wasn't bad except for the horrible ripping noise it made when I got to the little feet or whatever they are technically called. (I think I might be make the same face now even thinking about it.) But I peeled them all and let them sit in the marinade for a little bit and then I touch them all again to put them on skewers. I threw them on the grill and had to have Joe check them for doneness, because I had no idea.
I grilled a chicken sausage for myself and since I had kabobs for Joe, I made some veggie kabobs too.
And the verdict...Joe said that is was the best grilled shrimp he had ever had. He is pretty honest when I am cooking new things so I know he was telling the truth. He also knows that if he says he likes it that means I will make it again, so it doesn't really do him any good to say he likes something when he doesn't.
So, there you go. I have officially cooked shrimp and will do it again. Go me!
Oh...and here is the recipe!
Ingredients
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/2 pound of shrimp, deveined and peeled
Directions
1. In a bowl, crush together the garlic and salt.
2. Add the cayenne pepper, paprika, olive oil and lemon juice and mix well.
3. Add the shrimp and toss until they are all coated.
4. Cook shrimp on grill for 2-3 minutes on each side (or until Joe says they are done)
The originally recipe which calls for 2 lbs of shrimp can be found here. But if there is ever an occasion where 2 lbs of shrimp needs to be grilled in this house, that means there will be more people here and someone else is peeling all of those shrimp. I have limits.
Enjoy! (If you like things from the water.)
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Pasta Salad
Yesterday I was meeting with a friend who is working on organizing herself in the area of menu planning and cooking. I was going back through my menu plans searching for recipes that would fit the bill of what she was looking for and while making my list, added "pasta salad". When I meet with her, her eyes got kind of big and she said, "Aren't there, like, thousands of pasta salads?!?" Um...yeah, there are. And it hit me that perhaps I should share my pasta salad recipe. It seems the time of year where you might need to take one to a picnic or BBQ so here you go!
Ingredients:
1 bag of cheese tortellini
1 English cucumber, cut into bite size pieces
5 Roma tomatoes, seeded and cut into bite size pieces
1 can of small black olives (I leave these whole, mostly so it is easier for me to pick them out!)
1/4 cup of chopped pepperoncinis
2 Tablespoons of juice from the pepperoncini jar
3 Tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
1 cup Greek dressing
1 small container of crumbled feta cheese
Directions
1. Cook cheese tortellini per instructions and then cool completely. (I usually just run cold water over it in the strainer.)
2. Combine the chopped cucumber, tomatoes, black olives and tortellini. Then add the pepperoncinis and the juice, along with the parsley.
3. Then add the Greek dressing and finally the feta.
Chill in the frig for a couple of hours so things start to really get happy together but you can eat it right away. It is honestly best the next day, so I try to make it the night before I am going to need it. I don't know why I add things in little by little other than it seems to help get them evenly throughout the salad instead of dumping everything in at once.
I have in the past just used regular pasta instead of cheese tortellini and that it is good too. It obviously reduces the cost of the salad but it isn't quite as good. I think the original recipe also had red onion but it was way to overpowering. It does make A LOT of salad so be prepared for leftovers if you are just making for your family.
Ingredients:
1 bag of cheese tortellini
1 English cucumber, cut into bite size pieces
5 Roma tomatoes, seeded and cut into bite size pieces
1 can of small black olives (I leave these whole, mostly so it is easier for me to pick them out!)
1/4 cup of chopped pepperoncinis
2 Tablespoons of juice from the pepperoncini jar
3 Tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
1 cup Greek dressing
1 small container of crumbled feta cheese
Directions
1. Cook cheese tortellini per instructions and then cool completely. (I usually just run cold water over it in the strainer.)
2. Combine the chopped cucumber, tomatoes, black olives and tortellini. Then add the pepperoncinis and the juice, along with the parsley.
3. Then add the Greek dressing and finally the feta.
Chill in the frig for a couple of hours so things start to really get happy together but you can eat it right away. It is honestly best the next day, so I try to make it the night before I am going to need it. I don't know why I add things in little by little other than it seems to help get them evenly throughout the salad instead of dumping everything in at once.
I have in the past just used regular pasta instead of cheese tortellini and that it is good too. It obviously reduces the cost of the salad but it isn't quite as good. I think the original recipe also had red onion but it was way to overpowering. It does make A LOT of salad so be prepared for leftovers if you are just making for your family.
Photo A Day June 24-30
We had a whirlwind trip to Yellowstone Park last week and visiting my parents so most of my pictures from last week are representative of that. I already shared some of my favorites from the park, so I decided my photo a day's would be different. (Considering we did just one day in the park anyway there wouldn't have been a chance to share much of that trip in this post anyway. Someday when Taelin is older we will go back for a longer chunk of time and see more!)
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| june 24, 2013 at the restaurant after we got picked up at the airport. taelin did not want to wear her cowboy boots to Montana... until I paid her two dollars to do it. (I tried paying her one dollar but she held out for two!) |
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| june 25, 2013 this was our one day in the park and this was our first stop, which was actually a bathroom stop, and a little log balancing just had to happen |
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| june 26, 2013 making monster cookies with Grandma and Grandpa |
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| june 27, 2013 at the school playground down the hill from my parents house |
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| june 28, 2013 a picture and letter that taelin dictated to me (all my teacher friends can imagine how excited I was when taelin brought me the sticky note and pen and said, "Mama, will you please write down the words I have in my head." Such an important part of understanding that words convey meaning! Ok...I will take my literacy teacher hat off now. Here is the letter in case it is too small. "Dear Yellowstone Park, I know to not be loud when I am near a buffalo. When I go to Yellowstone Park, I love to see buffalo. Whenever I see a buffalo, I want to pick a buffalo that is pretend. All the things at Yellowstone Park are real. Love, Taelin" |
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| june 29, 2013 While we had a great trip, Taelin was glad to be home. She gets to watch something on the iPad when I am getting ready and I took a quick picture to capture that. Right now, she is working through the Magic School Bus episodes that are on Netflix. |
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| june 30, 2013 Tea parties are still an important part of our days! Her new frog tablecloth is courtesy of Grandma. |
Monday, July 1, 2013
Yellowstone National Park 2013
When I was first making my list, I was consulting (with permission) lists that other people had made on the Day Zero Project website. There were a lot of travel goals people had set for themselves and while I didn't set any international travel goals, I did have a few I quickly added. Yellowstone National Park was one that was easy to decide on for a couple of reasons. First, it is relatively close to my parent's house and it is also good to have a plan for something to do when I am there. Second, I have only been to Yellowstone National Park one other time in my life that I can remember. I was probably 9 or 10 and it seems like a place that I should visit as an adult.
Last summer, my sister and I decided that it needed to be a whole Hoffman family vacation so we started planning. We flew into Montana last Monday evening and my sister and her husband were already in Montana for another family (on Charlie's side) event. My mom and dad rented a mini-van that would fit all seven of us and Tuesday morning we heading off to Yellowstone.
It was a really quick trip, just that day really. We did stay the night outside the park and then drove back on Wednesday. We didn't make the whole figure eight loop, we just did the lower loop, but we did get out and hike a few times on some easier trails. We saw buffalo, which was Taelin's "must-see", and we saw a few elk but there were no moose or bears.
Taelin did really well considering it was pretty much an all day car ride. She can now tell you what a geyser is and how stinky a mudpot is. She learned this all because she is an official Junior Ranger thanks to all the hard work my sister did with Taelin to earn her badge. There was quite a few activities that Taelin got to choose from like a Bingo game of sights within the park or keeping track of what animals we saw. Lorie was determined that she was going to get that badge and she did. It must have been the downpour that we were stuck in right before she got her badge that had our cameras all locked up tight, because we didn't get one picture of Taelin with her badge.
Here are a few photos from our trip!
Last summer, my sister and I decided that it needed to be a whole Hoffman family vacation so we started planning. We flew into Montana last Monday evening and my sister and her husband were already in Montana for another family (on Charlie's side) event. My mom and dad rented a mini-van that would fit all seven of us and Tuesday morning we heading off to Yellowstone.
It was a really quick trip, just that day really. We did stay the night outside the park and then drove back on Wednesday. We didn't make the whole figure eight loop, we just did the lower loop, but we did get out and hike a few times on some easier trails. We saw buffalo, which was Taelin's "must-see", and we saw a few elk but there were no moose or bears.
Taelin did really well considering it was pretty much an all day car ride. She can now tell you what a geyser is and how stinky a mudpot is. She learned this all because she is an official Junior Ranger thanks to all the hard work my sister did with Taelin to earn her badge. There was quite a few activities that Taelin got to choose from like a Bingo game of sights within the park or keeping track of what animals we saw. Lorie was determined that she was going to get that badge and she did. It must have been the downpour that we were stuck in right before she got her badge that had our cameras all locked up tight, because we didn't get one picture of Taelin with her badge.
Here are a few photos from our trip!
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| One of the many buffalo we saw. This picture was taken shortly before he decided to cross over the walkway we were using, cause us to hurry along as not to get trampled. |
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| We saw this elk along the lake on our way out of the park for the night. You can always figure out that there is something to look at when up ahead of your there are cars pulled off the road. |
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| My sister and Charlie |
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| Charlie, Joe and Taelin |
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| A rare family picture. (My FOX news loving dad would flip his lid if he knew I posted a picture of him was on the internet!) |
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| One of the bigger waterfalls |
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| My mom wore her pedometer and logged 4.5 miles...and she didn't do nearly the amount of hikes/walking the rest of us did. Taelin was a trooper! |
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| Taelin LOVES her LaLa! |
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| In the lobby of the place that we stayed! We didn't spend much time there other than to sleep. |
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| Old Faithful You kinda can't have a blog post about Yellowstone without it. |
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| I think we went to 5 different stores looking for a stuffed buffalo that was like LaLa's Chippy. (Which had originally been purchased for Taelin when she was a baby but couldn't be parted with once my sister got here.) Luckily we found one that was kind of the same... the differences we explained away by the fact that LaLa's Chippy has his summer coast and Taelin's has her winter coat. |
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Photo A Day...for June so far...or at least most of it!
Enjoy!
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| june 1, 2013 camp dakota ziplining |
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| june 2, 2013 |
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| june 3, 2013 |
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| june 4, 2013 i love tiger lilies! |
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| june 5, 2013 end of year presents for our teachers |
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| june 6, 2013 a first...french braids! |
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| june 7, 2013 girls day at the children's museum |
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| june 8, 2013 a day a Nana's! |
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| june 9, 2013 |
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| june 13, 2013 on my way from work on the last day of the school year |
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| june 14, 2013 |
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| june 15, 2013 |
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| june 16, 2013 |
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| june 17, 2013 |
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| june 20, 2013 |
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| june 21, 2013 |
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| june 22, 2013 |
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| june 23, 2013 recommitting to a photo a day! |
Photo A Day...at least most days May 13-31st (ish)
So, I am a bit behind in sharing my photo a day and to be honest I got behind in taking a photo a day. I just went back and spent an hour sorting photos from the last month in preparation for our trip to Montana and decided that sharing what I did have was better than nothing. And, the fact that there are pictures missing is just more evidence to what I already knew...that life has been crazy!
Here is what I have for the rest of May...
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| may 13, 2013 One of my two new blueberry plants! |
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| may 16, 2013 foxglove my aunt gave me from my grandma's garden |
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| may 17, 2013 pretzel after a haircut |
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| may 18, 2013 family fun center |
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| may 19, 2013 1st solo corn on the cob buttering |
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| may 20, 2013 my hanging lettuce baskets |
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| may 22, 2013 waiting between dance and gymnastics |
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| may 23, 2013 curls! |
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| may 25, 2013 our first farmer's market trip of the year |
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| may 27, 2013 feeding the ducks |
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| may 30, 2013 |
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| may 31, 2013 new binoculars for the camping trip |
Friday, June 7, 2013
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once. ~Jennifer Yane
This past week has been nothing short of crazy. Work was absolutely nuts (and I only work three days) and it was really all I could do to race to Friday. We are hiring new mentors for next year which will hopefully alleviate our current caseloads so I can actually feel like my job makes a difference, unlike most of this year where there was always more to be done and not enough of me to do it. We spent our late afternoons and into the evening interviewing. I had typed up a menu plan but then between my book club on Monday night and then three crazy days of work...well, let's just say there was no real point. Joe has been working a ton too and my crazy week impacted him in huge ways.
...deep breath...
Having a job that is so cyclical is tough in some regards. This time of year is always so busy and people are so ready to be done. There are changes that happen in preparation for next year, some chosen and others not. It is hard not to stop and reflect on what the last 10 months have been like except for that there isn't a lot of time to do it.
I do know that I will be mentoring again part time next year. I am so excited that I will again be working part time and that I again with have 2 full weekdays home with Taelin, in addition to our weekends with Joe. She will be attending preschool again three days a week although there have been quite a few inquiries about whether she starts kindergarten in the fall. And where that might be. And then between the reflection of this year and the looking towards next year I realize I need to take a couple of deep breaths again.
We are tittering on a year of change. Next year, will be the last year that Taelin and I get to enjoy more days at home together than not. Next year, we will have to decide what kindergarten is going to look like for Taelin, there will be an actual registration of some sort that I expect will result in a few tearful/happy/proud/sad moments. Joe's job has a lot of transition happening right now that is really going to lead to more transition for next year. Next year, I am going to have to make some decisions about my next steps in my career. There is a shelf life for the kind of work I am doing and I have been feeling that this year.
I don't know what any of that is going to look like right now and am I pretty much ok with that. I don't need to know right now and I know that whatever it ends up looking like, we will be together and we will be happy. That's how we roll.
So, before I get too far ahead of myself, let me tell you why I was racing towards Friday. You see, Taelin and I had some fairly elaborate plans today. After going to the podiatrist for my aching foot and getting the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis and another appointment to get fitted for a orthotic, we drove up to Portland and enjoyed a double header of the Portland Children's Museum and the Zoo. It was such an incredible day of spending time together (which was just what I needed after pretty much the only time I spent with her during the 3 prior days was the 40 minutes of getting her ready and driving her to preschool.)
And tomorrow...we are going to Nana's and spending the afternoon at the beach. It is supposed to be beautiful weather. And then...I only have 3 more work days and our summer can officially start. Bring. It. On. Who knows what can happen....
...deep breath...
Having a job that is so cyclical is tough in some regards. This time of year is always so busy and people are so ready to be done. There are changes that happen in preparation for next year, some chosen and others not. It is hard not to stop and reflect on what the last 10 months have been like except for that there isn't a lot of time to do it.
I do know that I will be mentoring again part time next year. I am so excited that I will again be working part time and that I again with have 2 full weekdays home with Taelin, in addition to our weekends with Joe. She will be attending preschool again three days a week although there have been quite a few inquiries about whether she starts kindergarten in the fall. And where that might be. And then between the reflection of this year and the looking towards next year I realize I need to take a couple of deep breaths again.
We are tittering on a year of change. Next year, will be the last year that Taelin and I get to enjoy more days at home together than not. Next year, we will have to decide what kindergarten is going to look like for Taelin, there will be an actual registration of some sort that I expect will result in a few tearful/happy/proud/sad moments. Joe's job has a lot of transition happening right now that is really going to lead to more transition for next year. Next year, I am going to have to make some decisions about my next steps in my career. There is a shelf life for the kind of work I am doing and I have been feeling that this year.
I don't know what any of that is going to look like right now and am I pretty much ok with that. I don't need to know right now and I know that whatever it ends up looking like, we will be together and we will be happy. That's how we roll.
So, before I get too far ahead of myself, let me tell you why I was racing towards Friday. You see, Taelin and I had some fairly elaborate plans today. After going to the podiatrist for my aching foot and getting the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis and another appointment to get fitted for a orthotic, we drove up to Portland and enjoyed a double header of the Portland Children's Museum and the Zoo. It was such an incredible day of spending time together (which was just what I needed after pretty much the only time I spent with her during the 3 prior days was the 40 minutes of getting her ready and driving her to preschool.)
And tomorrow...we are going to Nana's and spending the afternoon at the beach. It is supposed to be beautiful weather. And then...I only have 3 more work days and our summer can officially start. Bring. It. On. Who knows what can happen....
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