I Don't Know If I Could

Want an eye opening read?

Daily Bread

by Emily Milner

Segullah Fall 2007

I have no idea why this article made such a huge impression on me, or why it stays with me. I've never been to Equador. Nor have I ever been on a mission myself. And yet I go back and read it every now and then because it speaks so eloquently about things I take for granted every day.

This post just draws me in and makes me want to gag and cry and laugh at the same time. Not necessarily the description of your optimal spiritual experience. But there you go.

Come back and tell me what you think.

Thanks for Telling Me!

I just found out that POSTUM was discontinued.

Last DECEMBER.

Look, people, you have to tell me this stuff. There's a reason I check the blogosphere a hundred times a day. It's so that if anything catastrophic happens someone will tell me. Need the info!

So anyway, according to the Kraft message boards, I'm one of the last people in the universe to find out about it. It's waaaay past too late to rush out and hoard cases, selling them for profit on Ebay stock up on a few extra jars.

( sigh) There goes one of the top 5 smells I connect with my childhood.

Thanks Kraft. (pubas!)

The R List #2

That's right! It's an encore presentation of some more of my favorite things.

In case you weren't around for the first one, I'll just explain that I stole the idea from Oprah, of recommending things from time to time. Unlike Oprah, I don't give one of everything to each person in my audience. But then again, I won't make you listen to me campaign for presidential candidates that are very scary to the national security. So when you think about it, you pretty much get a better deal here.

Anyway -

First up today is my current favorite drink from Sam's Club. Ahhh, Sam's. The source of all things good.



You'll have to forgive my photography skills. If I did enough of this I'd probably get better at it.
Naa, probably not.

As you may know, I recently gave up caffeine. It was just as hard as it sounds, too. At the same time, I gave up artificial sweetners, and tried to really cut down on my sugar.

(OK, I was actually trying to give up white flour and sugar (and caffeine and artificial sweetener) all at the same time. But needless to say it made me a little cranky. As in, I might have been less cranky if someone had asked me to give up my left pinky. So I postponed the flour/sugar thing.
But that's another whole post...)

ICE is a drink with NO sugar, artificial or real, and NO caffiene. It doesn't have a lot of strong flavor, but when I want a little carbonation, it does the trick.
It comes in 3 delicious flavors, plus I really like the coolness of the tall bottle. Neat, huh?

NEXT Was a surprise entry. I was hunting for a little packet of Kung Pao mix for a Chinese dinner I was planning for the Olympic opening ceremonies night, when I found these:



They were $4.69 each at Super Target (they have them at Wal-Mart, too) and I decided, you know, what the heck?

I'll say that for under $5 (plus you have to add your own chicken) It was a darn good meal that fed 5 of us with NO problem. It's NOT authentic chinese, OK? But it was fast, cheaper than take-out, and I really liked the flavor.

And here's a little tip for you. If you decide to make the Kung Pao Chicken? Take the seeds out of the dried hot peppers (easy to do) before you add them. I only took about half of them out and it was really really REALLY spicy.


And last for the day, my Very Favorite Drink right now. Every now and then when I start feeling sorry for myself because I'm not going to drink a diet coke, but I really need a little treat, but I really don't want the calories of a little treat, (Because really, once I start, there's no such thing as a little treat.), I drive myself over to Sonic and order this. And I don't feel AT ALL deprived for even one more second.

Now, it's a tricky drink to order, so I'm gonna give you the script.

Ready?

"May I help you?"

"Yes. I'd like a Route 44 size water with a shot of cherry syrup and some fresh lime."

"Uhhhh, you want water with cherry syrup in it? "

"Yes, please. and also fresh lime"

~Pause~

" Is that any good?"

"Fantastic!"

"Would you like anything else?"

~pause here to look longingly at the jalapeño poppers~

"No thanks. "

"That'll be .68 cents, please pull around."

I'm telling you it's better than it sounds. I mean for a big drink of water, it's pretty good. And I have to give my sister Jen all the credit for tipping me off to this incredible Sonic goodness.

Try it - or any of these, and then come back and tell me what you think. Really, I'd love to know. In fact, future issues of the R-list may depend on it.

It's Finally Here!!

Every year in our house we wait with baited breath for that one week of the year we spend our Saturday Mornings dreaming about...

CRAAAAZY CEREAL WEEK!

Yes!!
Craaaazy Cereal Week (an arbitrarily determined week during the summer) is the only week during the year that I will breakdown and buy name brand Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs or WHATEVER. Without a coupon. Even if it's not on sale.

You can see why it's such a celebrated holiday in our house.

Yes, it's a lot of sugar for one week.

But the other 51 weeks a year no one expects, eats, or even ASKS for me to buy sugared cereal. Now really, how many mothers of 4 would you guess can regularly walk down a cereal aisle without batting an eye?

The rules of Craaazy Cereal Week are rigid, yet still leave room for compassion, conservation, and free-trade. (it's like I'm a republican or something!)
Simply put:

1. Everyone chooses any 2 boxes they want on our Monday morning field trip to the grocery store.
2. Each person has total control over their cereal as long as it stays in the kitchen. The 2 boxes may be eaten all in one day, or a little at a time over the 5 day period.
3. No one may eat anyone else's cereal without a pre-agreed equal trade pact.
4. On Saturday of Craaazy Cereal Week, all cereal is fair game, but the normal house cereal rules kick back in, and cereal may only be eaten before 9 am.

See? Easy, fun, and fair. AND only once a year.
I love it!

TONIGHT!

I'm only posting this as a public service.

I'm definitely going to this. Because, you know, it's for such a good cause and everything.


Also FYI:

I'm not exactly sure what the criteria is. I've seen the show, and I'm pretty sure I'm not too much smarter than a 5th grader.

I &hearts Costco

This right here is one of the reasons I love Costco.




Seriously, I always find something new to try. And? These are ORGANIC. Because when you're spewing fluorocarbons into the air, it's important that they're at least ORGANIC fluorocarbons.

But the pancakes were actually pretty darn good. And I don't say that about just any old pancakes. And the best part? Every single person in my house can make them all by themselves.

No Wonder

So my brothers and sisters and their spouses were all sitting around after dinner talking about our favorite foods. And this is a decision I do NOT take lightly, people. I mean, think about it. What if I end up on death row one day, and I haven't thought about my favorite food, so when they ask for my last meal request, I just blurt something out, and then it's not really my favorite food, and so the last, THE VERY LAST meal I ever have ends up being something cruddy. Like meatloaf, or whatever, when I could have had French Raspberry Tarts!

Yes, these are the things that float around my brain.

Anyway-

I was listening to everyone talk about their one favorite food. And yes, the raspberry tarts made several appearances on various people's lists. Also mentioned were chocolate mousse, and a thick New York steak. All noteworthy foods.

I myself was leaning toward either fresh popcorn with real butter, or fresh whole wheat bread with butter and strawberry jam.

Then someone mentioned crab legs. With butter. And it occurred to me what my real all-time favorite food is. I mean, think about it - is there anything that's not better with real butter? Grilled shrimp? check. Corn on the cob? check. Heck, I can even remember my grandma making me a peanut butter sandwich with the peanut butter on one slice of the bread... and on the other? butter. It was good too.

So if I'm ever eating my last meal on death row, I guess we now know what it will be. .

A giant plate of butter. Can you think of anything better?

At least it's better than meatloaf.

Eating Out

We don't eat out a ton. And for the purposes of this post, eating out means that you actually sat down, and your food didn't come in a cardboard box. So, maybe once every 3-4 weeks the Brain and I go to an actual restaurant.
One thing we've discovered is that we don't really eat as much food as most restaurants consider a serving. So most often we share something. I have a preference for sharing because it really does keep me from over eating, and yet, if we're still hungry, we order dessert, which is fun, too.

And usually he lets me pick the entree, and then he picks the sides. Although I will tell you right now that one of the sides will be french fries. (- At least they don't come in a cardboard box, right?)
So it's a system that really works well for us. And plus, we get to go out more often, because although it doesn't cost half as much, it's definitely less expensive.

The problem comes in when we go out with another couple.
Does it look cheap to order one entree and split it?
Does it make us look OLD?
Is it weird?

We go with my bro and sil every now and then, and sometimes I get a vibe that they think we're one or all of the above. And the truth is that we are probably ALL of the above. I just don't always want to look that way.

What do you think? Is it tacky? I mean, I don't really care if it's tacky when it's just the two of us. But when we're out with other people, should we at least try to be normal?

Good-Bye Twinkies?

I've been reading a new book which has all but convinced me that the enemy in my life is processed foods. It has spouted the doctrine of whole grains, organic veggies, raw nuts, and free range meats of all kinds.

And I'm scared.

Not only have I never gone a day of my life without processed foods (on purpose, I mean!) , but I have spent many days of my life making witty sarcastic remarks about people who do.

How many times have I driven by Wild Oats and giggled at the "granola types" in the parking lot? I've pointed and laughed at their unbleached muslin shopping bags, full of macrobiotic goodness. I've watched them drive away, smug in their hybrid cars. And I've laughed at the thought of them paying extra money for organic parsley - when they're not even going to eat it!

And today? Just point me to the Birkenstock store, because today I actually hunted for yogurt that didn't have high fructose corn syrup in it.
VOLUNTARILY.

I think I have just enough information to be dangerous with this. Dangerous, excited, and a little bit depressed.

I'm still mulling the whole thing over and deciding what I'm going to do about it. Eating healthier would be a good idea for all of us, but I'm not sure I'm up to making the conversion in one giant leap.

I can run a macrobiotic diet and still keep the Diet Coke and See's Chocolate, right?

Ok then. Pass me a shopping bag, and I'll see what I can do.

Do real people do this?
And what's going to happen to the 15 pints of strawberry jam I made yesterday?

Hot Beverages Are Not A Laughing Matter!

I can tell by the fact that more than just my own alarm is going off at 5:30 am, that early morning seminary classes have begun. If I were a better mom than I am, I would probably make an effort to get up each morning and make a hot breakfast for Lizzie as she gets ready to head out the door.

But - - I remember that one time both those times I got up on snowy mornings last year and made hot chocolate for the girls before they left at 5:55 am. I even had the forethought to buy those cool looking Starbucks type cups with the sippy lids and those brown sleeve things that go around the cup.

The first time they ooo'd and thanked me.
The second time, as they were running out the door, I called

Girls, there's hot chocolate on the front table for you! I made one extra chocolaty and one extra creamy, so I just wrote on the lids. EC for extra chocolaty and ...

oh, crap!

(I guess that one should have read "OC")

They laughed so hard they spilled their drinks all the way down the sidewalk on the way to the car.

Anyway...
Thus ended my career as an early morning barista.

And dang! Cause I think I could have gotten really good at that Caramel Apple Cider drink.

Contraband

My project for the day:



Contraband plum jelly.

Who's bad now??

Somebody Stop Me!

Could somebody please stop me next time I order a large popcorn at the movie theater? I love popcorn. Which is the problem. It's the one snack I never get tired of, and it never fills me up.



Today about halfway through Harry Potter I looked down and our tub was almost empty. And I was the only one still eating it. Mimi asked if I would like a refill, and I actually considered it!

Truth be told, movie theater popcorn is my second favorite kind. If I want the best, I go for the air popped with real butter over it. And don't hold back on the butter.

Is it just me? Or do other people have a food for which there is no kill switch? No off button, whatsoever?

Tomorrow I'm going to have to run extra long. But it was worth it.