Computer Issues

My computer was in the shop all day, then it needed to be charged, have a new OS installed and then backed up, so I am only getting to blog now! Also I cleaned, all alone in the house for 5 hours today so I am happy (clean house!) but wiped out!

I made spaghetti and meatballs tonight, but these were special "end of the week" spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce was a can of tomato sauce, 1 can of chopped tomatoes and all of the vegetables leftover from the week. So, some spinach, some carrots, some celery, some garlic, some onion, all sauteed together in olive oil and spiced up with some oregano. BTW despite the popularity of EVOO I never cook with extra virgin olive oil, I cook with plain olive oil. Extra virgin is so delicate I merely use it to top things like hummus, to dress a salad, or to make a bread dipping sauce with herbs and salt. Good EVOO will come in a dark bottle to protect it from the light and must be stored well away from the heat of the stove lest it go bad and taste "off". You only buy the good stuff in small quantities because it is prone to rancidity and it should be a bright spring green color, not gold or yellow. It is also more expensive than standard olive oil. My favorite dressing in the world is REAL balsamic vinegar mixed with a bit of really good extra virgin olive oil.

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

My husband has been home sick from work, tonight he was scheduled to be the assistant coach for our daughter's basketball team. I have to tell you my first thought was "Cancel it, we're all skipping practice!" but then I thought better of it. We made a commitment as a family to get our kid to practice and to help coach the team. It was time for me to step out of my comfort zone. I decided to fill in as assistant coach.

A little background; I was a nerd in school. An uncoordinated, clutzy, asthmatic mess. I took a sort of perverse pride in always being the last picked for any team. I went to high school football games to hang out with my friends in the brass section and never watched a single play. Unathletic might be too mild a word for it, perhaps "sports-phobic" might come closer to the mark. However in junior high school I did notice I had a weird sort of gift. On PE days where we had blessed opportunities for "free play" I could join a game of "horse" the only basketball game I liked. One simply had to make baskets and avoid spelling out "H-O-R-S-E" by missing shots. I was brilliant at this. Unlike a real basketball game there was no running, there was no one playing defense on the basket to distract me, there was no confusing a person for being on your team and embarrassingly passing to the opposition. You dribbled in place and took your shot. I was sinking them from all over the key, dribble dribble dribble, shoot, swish. The PE coach noticed me doing this and watched me for a few moments and said, just as I was taking my shot, "You should come out for the girl's JV team." Flustered, my hands slipped, air-ball. The other girl playing with me gleefully hooted "H!" and rebounded the ball. The coach sort of looked pityingly at me and said, "Well, maybe not." So ended my basketball career, I stuck to twirling the jump rope for endless lines of double-dutchers after that.

So tonight I went out in my sneakers and my high performance work out shirt and I coached my little heart out. I know basically nothing about basketball, and I haven;t even held a ball in maybe 15 years. It was very strange. We had the kids running a drill where one would shoot a basket, the other kid would rebound, and the rebound kid would pass to the next kid and that id would take a shot. These kids are only ages 6-8 so as you can imagine there were many, many missed shots, and bad passes that caused the balls to go careering out of bound and towards people on other courts. It was very strange to chase the ball down and bounce pass to the next kid, or to stretch out my hand almost effortlessly and stop the ball from going out of bounds in the first place. I felt all those little incidental muscles getting used and my hand-eye coordination (which had always been pretty good) coming back. It was sort of... fun. And while I may not know much about the game, I do know about kids. We have one little showboat on the team, he is amazingly talented for such a little guy, but he knows he's good. He tries to take his own rebounds and ball-hog and take two shots when you are to take one. I shut him down. I made him pass politely. I made him apologize for calling other players names. Because even to a sports-phobic like me I do know it doesn't really matter how many points you score it is how you play the game.

Dinner tonight? Spaghetti with sausage and vegetable red sauce. Green pepper, onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms and a slug of red wine and we were good to go. Have a good night and sweet hoop dreams!

Meatless Monday Menu: Spaghetti and veggie red sauce

I think everyone makes this meal when you invite someone over for the first time and say, "By the way, i'm a vegetarian." I have more vegetarian dishes under my belt now, but none that go together as quickly. I chopped some onion in the pan and let sauté in olive oil. I added kosher salt, chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms. When the onions were soft and brown I added a few TB of red wine. Then I added Italian spices, canned tomatoes, and a small can of tomato sauce. I had some spaghetti leftover and dinner was ready. Sorry for the brief post but I am updating the blog via iPhone.

Hoop Dreams

So I am going to do something a little bit ridiculous tonight. I am going to make a themed dinner. Today will be my daughter's very first basketball game, so I am going to make her "Slam Dunk Spaghetti and Meatballs"; where the meatballs will represent the basketball and I will make a little "basket" out of the spaghetti noodles. I am going to add some chopped fine carrot to the meatballs (or maybe even carrot puree?) to give it a slight orange color, maybe a backboard made out of garlic toast; and a side of "Free Throw" (tossed) Salad. Is this silly? Yes. Over the top? Sort of. Will she love it? YES, I THINK SHE WILL! So I am ON like Donkey Kong for this one. I will post pictures when I am done.

One question though? What should I make for dessert???

Every day is a celebration.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and injured today in the terrible shooting in Arizona. I cannot imagine how harrowing and devastating this has been for all involved. The title to my post pre-dates this tragedy, but I find it more important now than ever.

Today we were reunited with the our closest friends here in the Keys. Due to all of the holiday busyness and our travel schedule it has been over 2 weeks since we last saw them. They have lovely twin daughters the same age as our older daughter and the wife of the couple is Godmother to our younger daughter. Our husbands get along "like a house a'fire" as we say down South. It's just really, really cool when you are friends with the parents of your child's friends.

Anyhow, our daughters had their first day of Municipal Basketball practice today, a skills test/lesson and a chance for the coaches to see the kids and assess their skill levels so they can be placed on teams. We saw a lot of parents we know this morning, out supporting their kids, enjoying the gorgeous weather, chatting and catching up. The park where we were at is beautiful and tree lined and shady. At times the atmosphere seemed almost like a convivial cocktail party with people laughing and talking and mingling. Some of us decided to go get lunch all together at a seaside burger joint with gorgeous unimpeded views and an ocean breeze.

At lunch I decided to invite the whole clan to dinner at our house on the spur of the moment, since our husbands would be at softball practice together that afternoon, anyhow. After softball I came home and made spaghetti and red sauce, steamed green beans, some frozen heat and serve french bread. I am sure you all have your own favorite spaghetti recipe, but I encourage you to bring it out when you are feeding a big crowd. One box of spaghetti, a can of sauce, a can of tomatoes, some chopped onion and garlic is a pretty economical (and kid pleasing) way to feed a crowd. We asked out friends to stop by the store on the way over and pick up ANYTHING they liked dipped in chocolate for a surprise dessert!

For Christmas we received a small Chocolate Fountain (cue choir of angels: ahhhh!). Let me tell you, if you have ever harbored Augustus Gloop levels of fantasy about chocolate, as I have, you can well appreciate the awesomeness of the aforementioned Chocolate Fountain (ahhhhhhh!) It is simply the most fun you can have fully clothed and in the company of minors. (Ahhhhh... hem.)

Our friends brought bananas, blueberries, strawberries, dried mango, marshmallows, pretzel sticks and apple slices. These were all lovingly bathed in glorious chocolate and consumed with much "mming" and "ahhing" and some more unintelligible grunts of pleasure. The kids all took turns, the big kids helped the little kid spear her blueberries, there wasn't much spilled on the tablecloth; and then after we were fully sated on fruit and endorphins the grown-ups played MarioKart and the kids played dress-up.

All in all a pretty normal day, laid back, nobody did anything crazy or remarkable, but I promise you I will always remember it. One of the few things I know for sure is it doesn't much matter WHAT you do as much as it matters who you are with when it happens. Few things in life are as pleasurable as sharing a meal with folks that really get you, your husband, your sense of humor and your love of oregano. Few things in life are amazing as being around other adults who think you have really awesome kids and you love their kids in return. Few things are as precious as the time we spend with those we love. Friends are the family you make and that should be celebrated; on birthdays, holidays and even random Saturdays.