It was a hectic, emotional day. First day of school for my 3rd grader and her baby sister, a PreK 3 year old. We are at a new house, a new school, they need to make new friends, get used to a new routine, and frankly the enormity of what I am asking them to do and do cheerfully hit me today.
My PreK kid went straight into her classroom, ready to play and ready to greet the day. Her older sister was explaining things to her in a calm soothing voice like you might use with a skittish animal, but the baby seemed content and happy to play with the toy shopping cart and baby dolls in the "dramatic play center". Finally it was time to take my 3rd grader to her classroom so we hugged baby sister good bye and let ourselves out. She never even looked back at us.
Walking in silence towards the 3rd grade class room I looked at my 8 year old, remembering the tears and frantic grabbing after me when she was the little one being left at daycare for the first time. Now she has a sassy little bob of hair and her feet are nearly as big as mine. I could tell by the guarded look on her face she was nervous so I started chatting about the girls she had met at "Meet the Teacher" day, subtly reminding her of their names. We realized that the 3rd graders were supposed to meet in the cafeteria, so we headed down the hallway with me still blithely blabbering and she, my little chatterbox, giving me one word answers.
I left her in the cafeteria with her class and seated between the two girls she knew and hoped for the best. She looked at me a little tremulously as I waved good-bye. In her eyes I could see the little toddler who begged me not to leave her 6 years ago. It hurt.
I went home and cleaned furiously, unpacked, broke down boxes with insane energy. I washed dishes, I organized shelves, I swept the floor, I vacuumed the rug, I wiped down counters and put away toys. I had set the timer for 2 1/2 hours to make sure I was on time to get the baby and I was out the door like a shot when it rang out. I grabbed my camera on impulse as I dashed out so i could maybe get a few cute shots of baby at closing circle time or hugging a new friend goodbye. I parked my car in the driveway a few minutes later and started toward the classroom. I was just climbing the steps to her portable I heard the sound that makes your hair stand up, a wailing bloodcurdling YELL from my preschooler. I peeked in the window and while the teacher was valiantly trying to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider with the other kids, over the deafening roar. My baby was in the back with the assistant SCREAMING HER HEAD OFF and what she was screaming was plaintive, powerful and persistent, "I WANT MY MOMMY!" The assistant caught my eye in the window and motioned me in frantically. I walked in and baby launched herself into my arms sobbing and hiccuping and she said to me, "I never want to go to school AGAIN!" The assistant told me she had been fine till some boys started crying for their Moms and it seemed to spread from there. I noticed two small boys were also sniffling and teary but neither of them had the insane window rattling fury of my bellicose beauty. I grabbed her bag and scooped her up and mouthed, "I'm sorry!" at the lead teacher as we hustled out the door.
Later, over some mac and cheese we discussed the day, she said, "School is terrible Mama!" When pressed she admitted she had fun at playground and centers and playing with other kids, but she suggested next time I just come with her. She also shook her head sadly and said, "I never even got to see Sister."
Yup. I forgot to tell her that 3rd grade and PreK aren't in the same class, heck they are not even in the same building. She was devastated. This made my misapprehension for my 8 year old even bigger. I set the timer again to leave and to go to my older child at a moment's notice. I kept my cell phone on my hip in case of a frantic phone call from her teacher or principal or possibly the police. My sunny gregarious toddler had crashed and burned in class, surely my sensitive artist/poet/singer/dancer would come home permanently curled in the fetal position and suffering dehydration from the copious crying.
The baby and I entered the cafeteria 3 hours later with great trepidation, me looking for a sad eyed brunette and she looking for roving preschool teachers who might come and separate us. When I finally saw my little tween she beckoned me over with an assertive "come here" gesture so I hustled to her, prepared to whisk her to the car before the inevitable tears could start. Before I could say a word she told me brusquely, "Come on! I have a lot of homework to do and SO DO YOU!" As we trotted off she was waving at new friends and yelling goodbye to her teacher and telling me in rapid fire detail about her day before announcing as she buckled herself into the car, "Today was the best day EVER!"
For dinner we had bacon, star fruit off our tree and scrambled eggs. They match my brain at this point.
Showing posts with label breakfast for dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breakfast for dinner. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
What I did Today: Museum Edition
I walked all over Key West today hauling kids who were alternately happy and murderous... walk with me will you?
Our first stop, the fully air conditioned and utterly delightful Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center which since it is located in a sort of janky end of town made me worried it would also be janky. But it was very well done and a great example of as our guide said, "our tax dollars at work" should you be in Key West I'd recommend it!
Then we walked to the awesome and inspiring Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters Museum, where I learned the fascinating fact that the lighthouse was tended three times in it's history by female lighthouse keepers, all of whom inherited the job from their husbands. The lighthouse is located directly across from the Hemingway House, which I found out later was built and lived in by the Tift family, who made their fortune in ship wreck salvage.
Then we decided to get some lunch at a delightful little bistro called Six Toed Cat, after the famous polydactyl cats that inhabit the Hemingway garden. I had a turkey bacon panini to share with the baby, my oldest had a garden salad, Lee got a burger and we all shared the shoe string french fries which were hot, crispy and had just the right amount of salt. There was fresh squeezed limeade on the menu (delicious!!) so I got a glass of that, but then hit the ice water pretty hard because it was HOT out there today and we had been sweating buckets. The kids were sucking down waters as well. The tables are shaped like 6-toed paws and it was inside in the a/c so very pleasant.
Then we marched down to The Key West Shipwreck Museum and climbed the 65 foot tall tower overlooking Key West and the reef and my oldest got to hold a 65 pound bar of Spanish silver that was lost at sea hundreds of years ago before being recovered in the late 80's.
Then we were off to The Museum of Art and History at the Custom House and saw some really cool interactive pieces of sculpture where an artist had created life sized 3-D renderings of some famous paintings and you were encouraged to climb into them and interact with them and even take pictures of yourself posing in them. Meanwhile cameras are trained on you and the images are displayed on video screens that are placed in picture frames along the staircase. Pretty neat! The 2nd floor was devoted to Keys history with a neat exhibit about Flagler's trains down to here. I didn't realize that the project cost 700 lives, millions of dollars, opened in 1935 and then was blown away in the Labor Day hurricane of 1935! Some of our existing car bridges are built on the very bones of Flagler's lost dream.
The kids were pretty hot and tired at this point so we made a quick stop at Mattheessen's Ice Cream for a little pick me up. I had strawberry, the kids got something called "Papa Smurf" which was blue and had tiny marshmallows in it. I am not sure they got the implications of EATING PAPA SMURF and that it puts them squarely into Gargamel territory, but it was like 112 degrees out there and I guess he was a smurfing good way to bring down their core temperatures.
And then our last stop of the day was Truman's Little White House and it was so freaking cool. The house is done with original furnishings from Truman's days there, if you have Florida relatives of a certain age you will KNOW what type of furnishings they had. Rattan furniture in tropical print fabric, geometric pottery style ash trays, mahogany wet bar, jalousie windows, the whole business. It was everyone's Miami grandma's condo from 1954 in there, I loved it! The one drawback was keeping a very tired toddler from trying to climb into Bess Truman's bed to take a nap. The BEST PART was the tour guide talking about all the bills and laws that Truman signed at his small living room desk there, and she said, "He was working in health care back then. He was trying to create Medicare and it was very unpopular, people were calling him a socialist and all kinds of things, he left office with a 22% approval rating, worse than Nixon! And yet I know that is a program that a lot of us here depend on TO THIS DAY!" I wanted to go up and hug that woman, I really did. Apparently when Johnson signed Medicare into law he signed it at the Truman library to honor the work Truman had done.
Then we went home. I meant to make a key lime pie for dessert but all I had energy for was to get the kids to pick the limes off our tree and then make them some scrambled eggs for dinner. Key Lime Pie with recipe TOMORROW!
Our first stop, the fully air conditioned and utterly delightful Florida Keys Eco Discovery Center which since it is located in a sort of janky end of town made me worried it would also be janky. But it was very well done and a great example of as our guide said, "our tax dollars at work" should you be in Key West I'd recommend it!
Then we walked to the awesome and inspiring Key West Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters Museum, where I learned the fascinating fact that the lighthouse was tended three times in it's history by female lighthouse keepers, all of whom inherited the job from their husbands. The lighthouse is located directly across from the Hemingway House, which I found out later was built and lived in by the Tift family, who made their fortune in ship wreck salvage.
Then we decided to get some lunch at a delightful little bistro called Six Toed Cat, after the famous polydactyl cats that inhabit the Hemingway garden. I had a turkey bacon panini to share with the baby, my oldest had a garden salad, Lee got a burger and we all shared the shoe string french fries which were hot, crispy and had just the right amount of salt. There was fresh squeezed limeade on the menu (delicious!!) so I got a glass of that, but then hit the ice water pretty hard because it was HOT out there today and we had been sweating buckets. The kids were sucking down waters as well. The tables are shaped like 6-toed paws and it was inside in the a/c so very pleasant.
Then we marched down to The Key West Shipwreck Museum and climbed the 65 foot tall tower overlooking Key West and the reef and my oldest got to hold a 65 pound bar of Spanish silver that was lost at sea hundreds of years ago before being recovered in the late 80's.
Then we were off to The Museum of Art and History at the Custom House and saw some really cool interactive pieces of sculpture where an artist had created life sized 3-D renderings of some famous paintings and you were encouraged to climb into them and interact with them and even take pictures of yourself posing in them. Meanwhile cameras are trained on you and the images are displayed on video screens that are placed in picture frames along the staircase. Pretty neat! The 2nd floor was devoted to Keys history with a neat exhibit about Flagler's trains down to here. I didn't realize that the project cost 700 lives, millions of dollars, opened in 1935 and then was blown away in the Labor Day hurricane of 1935! Some of our existing car bridges are built on the very bones of Flagler's lost dream.
The kids were pretty hot and tired at this point so we made a quick stop at Mattheessen's Ice Cream for a little pick me up. I had strawberry, the kids got something called "Papa Smurf" which was blue and had tiny marshmallows in it. I am not sure they got the implications of EATING PAPA SMURF and that it puts them squarely into Gargamel territory, but it was like 112 degrees out there and I guess he was a smurfing good way to bring down their core temperatures.
And then our last stop of the day was Truman's Little White House and it was so freaking cool. The house is done with original furnishings from Truman's days there, if you have Florida relatives of a certain age you will KNOW what type of furnishings they had. Rattan furniture in tropical print fabric, geometric pottery style ash trays, mahogany wet bar, jalousie windows, the whole business. It was everyone's Miami grandma's condo from 1954 in there, I loved it! The one drawback was keeping a very tired toddler from trying to climb into Bess Truman's bed to take a nap. The BEST PART was the tour guide talking about all the bills and laws that Truman signed at his small living room desk there, and she said, "He was working in health care back then. He was trying to create Medicare and it was very unpopular, people were calling him a socialist and all kinds of things, he left office with a 22% approval rating, worse than Nixon! And yet I know that is a program that a lot of us here depend on TO THIS DAY!" I wanted to go up and hug that woman, I really did. Apparently when Johnson signed Medicare into law he signed it at the Truman library to honor the work Truman had done.
Then we went home. I meant to make a key lime pie for dessert but all I had energy for was to get the kids to pick the limes off our tree and then make them some scrambled eggs for dinner. Key Lime Pie with recipe TOMORROW!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Weird Wednesday: English Muffin Egg Strata
I love breakfast for dinner, which is weird because I will barely tolerate breakfast for breakfast. I am such a committed morning-phobe that I really can't eat until 10 a.m. or later because even if I am up, moving, feeding the kids, etc. my stomach cannot support the idea of eating until it is almost lunch time. So the only way I really get to enjoy breakfast foods is when we serve them at a normal wake-up time, like 5 p.m.
I miss being a night-owl.
Anyway, when I went to make my normal egg strata I had that sad, Florida realization. The bread had all gone moldy whilst still in the bag! It happens occasionally, you don't even get a chance to eat it because the humidity and heat are such that it makes normal shelf-lives laughable. So I pitched the bread and thought about what to do. My mother in-law makes a wonderful "oven omelet" by beating lots of eggs with milk, salt, pepper, a dash ground mustard and onion and cheese, but I had really set my mind on having a "strata" or layers of bread, veggies and cheese covered in beaten egg and baked.
I decided to use the English Muffins I had just purchased. Here's what I came up with for dinner.
English Muffin Egg Strata:
6 English Muffins
1-2 C shredded cheese
1 C of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 C of chopped onion
8 oz of sliced mushrooms
12 eggs beaten
1/3 C of milk
salt
pepper
dash of Tabasco
1 tsp of dried Italian herbs
I greased the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan with butter and set it aside. In a medium bowl I beat the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, herbs and Tabasco. I cut up the english muffins into small cubes and took half of them and covered the bottom of the pan. I thawed the spinach in the microwave on low, just enough so I could wrap it in a towel and wrong out the excess water. I sauteed the onions and mushrooms in a skillet until the onions were fragrant and mushrooms had released their liquid (which I poured off). I put a good handful of grated mozzarella over the bread cubes and then put on all the vegetables. I topped that with the rest of the bread, then another good handful of shredded cheese, over all I poured the beaten eggs and let them sit for a few minutes and then right before putting them into the 350 degree oven I topped the whole thing with a bit more cheese. I set it in the oven for 20 minutes. Your oven might cook them faster or slower, check for doneness by seeing if the casserole has pulled away from the sides and if it is still slightly jiggly in the center; it will firm up once it is out of the oven and cooling. I served this with bacon strips I cooked in the microwave and wine glasses filled with orange juice.
It was delicious, I also think it would pair well with sliced Canadian bacon, or any of your favorite Omelet fillers.
I miss being a night-owl.
Anyway, when I went to make my normal egg strata I had that sad, Florida realization. The bread had all gone moldy whilst still in the bag! It happens occasionally, you don't even get a chance to eat it because the humidity and heat are such that it makes normal shelf-lives laughable. So I pitched the bread and thought about what to do. My mother in-law makes a wonderful "oven omelet" by beating lots of eggs with milk, salt, pepper, a dash ground mustard and onion and cheese, but I had really set my mind on having a "strata" or layers of bread, veggies and cheese covered in beaten egg and baked.
I decided to use the English Muffins I had just purchased. Here's what I came up with for dinner.
English Muffin Egg Strata:
6 English Muffins
1-2 C shredded cheese
1 C of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 C of chopped onion
8 oz of sliced mushrooms
12 eggs beaten
1/3 C of milk
salt
pepper
dash of Tabasco
1 tsp of dried Italian herbs
I greased the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan with butter and set it aside. In a medium bowl I beat the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, herbs and Tabasco. I cut up the english muffins into small cubes and took half of them and covered the bottom of the pan. I thawed the spinach in the microwave on low, just enough so I could wrap it in a towel and wrong out the excess water. I sauteed the onions and mushrooms in a skillet until the onions were fragrant and mushrooms had released their liquid (which I poured off). I put a good handful of grated mozzarella over the bread cubes and then put on all the vegetables. I topped that with the rest of the bread, then another good handful of shredded cheese, over all I poured the beaten eggs and let them sit for a few minutes and then right before putting them into the 350 degree oven I topped the whole thing with a bit more cheese. I set it in the oven for 20 minutes. Your oven might cook them faster or slower, check for doneness by seeing if the casserole has pulled away from the sides and if it is still slightly jiggly in the center; it will firm up once it is out of the oven and cooling. I served this with bacon strips I cooked in the microwave and wine glasses filled with orange juice.
It was delicious, I also think it would pair well with sliced Canadian bacon, or any of your favorite Omelet fillers.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Veggie Oven Omelet and Honey Biscuits
Veggie Oven Omelet
Eggs
Cream
Cheese
Onions
Mushrooms
Zucchini
Garlic
Basil
Salt
Pepper
Beat 2 eggs per (adult) person in a bowl with a small amount of cream or half and half or milk (proportional to the eggs). Saute some sliced mushrooms, onions and garlic in olive oil. Grate zucchini and salt it, let it stand a few minutes and then wring it out in cheesecloth or several thicknesses of paper towels. Season the sauteed veggies with salt, pepper and basil. Add parmesan and mozzarella to the eggs,or whatever cheeses suit you. Then add all the veggies to the eggs. Place everything in a greased 8 inch round cake pan and bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Homemade Honey Biscuits
2 c. white wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. butter/shortening
1/2 c. honey
3/4 c. milk
1 egg
Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in oil, honey, milk and egg. Mix enough to moisten dry ingredients completely. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees on a lightly greased baking sheet 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Eggs
Cream
Cheese
Onions
Mushrooms
Zucchini
Garlic
Basil
Salt
Pepper
Beat 2 eggs per (adult) person in a bowl with a small amount of cream or half and half or milk (proportional to the eggs). Saute some sliced mushrooms, onions and garlic in olive oil. Grate zucchini and salt it, let it stand a few minutes and then wring it out in cheesecloth or several thicknesses of paper towels. Season the sauteed veggies with salt, pepper and basil. Add parmesan and mozzarella to the eggs,or whatever cheeses suit you. Then add all the veggies to the eggs. Place everything in a greased 8 inch round cake pan and bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Homemade Honey Biscuits
2 c. white wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. butter/shortening
1/2 c. honey
3/4 c. milk
1 egg
Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in oil, honey, milk and egg. Mix enough to moisten dry ingredients completely. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees on a lightly greased baking sheet 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Back Up Plans
So today I was supposed to make red beans and polenta, but we had a VERY long day and we were all starving, so we moved our Wednesday Breakfast For Dinner idea to tonight. We made some awesome homemade pancakes, from a recipe at Deep South Dish, a website I am coming to LOVE! The only change I have ever made to her pancake recipe (which is nearly as easy and foolproof as Bisquick pancakes) it to use curdled milk (milk with some white vinegar or lemon added to it) instead of buttermilk. I never have any buttermilk on hand so I just curdle some and it adds the necessary acidity and tang to the dish.
I am making the red beans tonight since we have already eaten and now I can just let them simmer until bedtime. If I can summon up the energy I might go get the polenta started as well and then just make fried polenta tomorrow with the cooled squares.
We rounded out our breakfast for dinner with milk and juice to drink and fresh fruit; we had our choices of strawberries, pears, apples or green grapes.
Today we went to the American History Museum, but we got a late start and then we needed to meet a friend at noon, so all we managed to see was Julia Child's kitchen, the dresses of the First Ladies and a children's exhibit about the nature of the inventing process called Spark Lab. We spent the rest of our time after lunch at the National Museum of Natural History. There we saw the famous dinosaur exhibit and their latest exhibit called Ocean Portal! It was very interesting and they had a neat part of the exhibit that blended art and science, called the Hyperbolic Crochet where using the traditional crochet form, hyperbolic geometry and some unconventional materials (crocheting plastic bags anyone?) they create a gorgeous model of an ocean reef. Today must have been our lucky day too, because the docent at the coral reef exhibit informed us that the Butterfly Pavilion was free today, you just had to get your free time stamped tickets to get inside. We saw dozens of varieties of strange and beautiful butterflies in the lovely display, all flying around and sampling the fruit and the flowers. I think the girl's favorite part of the day though was going to the Discovery Center. Definitely another full day of activity. Looking forward to going BACK to the American History museum tomorrow to see all the other exhibits we missed today.
I am making the red beans tonight since we have already eaten and now I can just let them simmer until bedtime. If I can summon up the energy I might go get the polenta started as well and then just make fried polenta tomorrow with the cooled squares.
We rounded out our breakfast for dinner with milk and juice to drink and fresh fruit; we had our choices of strawberries, pears, apples or green grapes.
Today we went to the American History Museum, but we got a late start and then we needed to meet a friend at noon, so all we managed to see was Julia Child's kitchen, the dresses of the First Ladies and a children's exhibit about the nature of the inventing process called Spark Lab. We spent the rest of our time after lunch at the National Museum of Natural History. There we saw the famous dinosaur exhibit and their latest exhibit called Ocean Portal! It was very interesting and they had a neat part of the exhibit that blended art and science, called the Hyperbolic Crochet where using the traditional crochet form, hyperbolic geometry and some unconventional materials (crocheting plastic bags anyone?) they create a gorgeous model of an ocean reef. Today must have been our lucky day too, because the docent at the coral reef exhibit informed us that the Butterfly Pavilion was free today, you just had to get your free time stamped tickets to get inside. We saw dozens of varieties of strange and beautiful butterflies in the lovely display, all flying around and sampling the fruit and the flowers. I think the girl's favorite part of the day though was going to the Discovery Center. Definitely another full day of activity. Looking forward to going BACK to the American History museum tomorrow to see all the other exhibits we missed today.
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