Father’s Day Ribs

I asked the husband what he wanted for dinner on Father’s Day. He started talking about the BBQ, grilling this or that.

“Yes, we could do that,” I said. “Or, I could throw some ribs into the slow cooker and –”

“Oh yeah. Let’s do that.”

Pork Loin ribs

Happy Father’s Day. Not the greatest pic, as I nearly forgot to take it before the last of ’em was gone.

Good choice. And so easy. I used a Hawaiian BBQ sauce I found at the store, complementing the trip to Kona Kitchen we had done the day before, and the Spam Fried Rice the husband cooked up earlier in the day for lunch. Obviously we were in a Hawaiian stae of mind. Sauce + Ribs + 8 hours on low. Set it and forget it.

Seattle Restaurants Old – Chandlers Crabhouse

For Easter the husband’s parents treated us to Chandler’s Crabhouse on South Lake Union. This place has been there forever. It is the restaurant the husband’s parents treated us to in celebration of our engagement, like, 12 years ago or something. Yeesh.

I ordered the special, this ahi tuna dish from their “fresh sheet”:

Ahi tuna, Chander's Crabhouse Lake Union

“Crispy on the outside, rare on the inside, served with Napa slaw, honey-ginger soy, serrano ponzu”.

I was going to get a mixed greens salad, but the waiter, a very nice dude, suggested I get the “Chef’s Seasonal”. Radish, I remember, plus some other vegetable whose name I can’t remember. Whatever. It was really tasty.

chef's seasonal salad

Have you seen this vegetable? What is it?

As a dessert the grandparents ordered a brownie a la mode, and the look on the kid’s face, after a day of eating Easter treat after treat, was priceless. I only let her have a few bites. I’m such a meany.

https://instagram.com/p/0yLnxxoueu/?taken-by=cacha02

 

Hoppy Easter!

5 things my kid does at this age that I never did

This week is birthday week for the kiddo. So, in honor of my mini-me, here are 5 things she does that has me shaking my head.

1. She says “I know, right?” and various other colloquialisms that she has no doubt picked up from me. Maybe I did this when I was this age? But I doubt it because my parents didn’t speak that way. They were just trying to speak plain English, their second language, and try to deal with three kids who were brought up with this second language as their first. The kid started saying “whatever” at a very young age and I got angry at her for that. She told the teacher this at Sunday School. I was sitting right there and was mortified and delighted at the same time.

2. She eats sashimi, and a lot of it. How lucky to be living in this city at this time with this family where sushi is a weekly occurrence because you can pick it up at the local store, where there is a full time sushi chef employed and they can make it to order …. AT THE GROCERY STORE. The first time I had sushi I’m pretty sure I was in high school. It was a big deal when they opened up a restaurant in “West Hartford Center” and dang it was super expensive. But here, still expensive but more bearable because, you know, I have a job and stuff.

3. Knows what sarcasm is by name, and the other day in school drew a Venn diagram. Conversation, once, in the car:

Husband: oh I love parking in the city.

Me: funny, you don’t sound like you love it.

Kid, in the backseat: That’s sarcasm! (as if explaining to me what her father was saying. But did she not get what I was doing? Maybe she still has a little bit to learn).

4.Not only has taken selfies of herself (and once, with her aloof dog Max). She even draws pictures of princesses taking selfies. Wait, WHAT?

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“they are taking a picture together”

(she also says “Wait, What?” but because her English is so proper she says, “Wait, what did you just say?” Similar to when I tried to teach her the words to the “Ghostbusters” song. “Who ya gonna call?” I’d sing and she would repeat, “Who are YOU going to call?”

5. I dunno, maybe there’s just 4 things I can think of at this second. So I’ll spend the rest of this post talking about how kind she is, empathetic, creative, artistic, outspoken (usually in a good way) hilarious and I could go on, but I know it’s not the most interesting thing to read about other people’s kids. (really, friends, it’s not)

Happy Birthday, sweet pea.

 

Scenes from The Happiest Place on Earth

Happy holidays from Disneyland

Happy holidays from Disneyland

So … this happened. Here are a few photos. Thing is, I wish I had more to share, but I was sort of in the moment. We had a really fun time. We didn’t tell the kid about the D-word until the night before. Heck, I didn’t even tell her she’d be seeing her cousins until we were about to enter the security line at the airport. And truth be told, she was more excited about that than anything. But then again, I’m not sure she knew what exactly Disneyland was until we went through the gates.

Tinkerbell

Tink was cute and sassy. Played to the crowd, whether you were a six-year-old or a thirteen-year-old. Possibly my favorite character

Cinderella

Cinderella was all business. But the kiddo did get a curtsy in, which was super cute.

Ariel

Ariel was sweet, too. Say “Mermaids!” I had hoped that the kid would be more inquisitive with the princesses, but I think she was just a bit overwhelmed

Elsa and Anna

Definitely overwhelmed here. We had to stategize to make sure we had tickets to see the hottest queen and princess in the land. Totally worth it! And not too long a wait. Star Tours was way worse.

 

Oalf hanging out at the Frozen cabin

Olaf hangs out with you while you wait your turn to visit the Queen of Arrendale.

Fantasyland at night

Frozen and decorated for the holidays. I returned to the Magic Kingdom after dark to ride Space Mountain. A different place

So. Yeah. Probably won’t be able to top this trip for a while.

First Day of School

I’m a few weeks late, but here are a some pics from the kid’s first day of school. I have my backpack on as well, not because I was going to attend kindergarten, but because I had to hightail it over to the bus stop to head to Bellevue for work.

first walk

first walk

first day pic

first day pic

first day selfie

she seems to smile for dad all right. what’s up with that?

official kindergartener here

official kindergartener here

Had a hard time getting the kid to stand still for a real pic. Maybe it was nerves. Whatever, she’s having a great time.

Grillin’ like a villain

We were eating dinner on our deck one night and the husband said, “We need a new grill”.

“Yeah, we do,” I replied. Tried to play it casual, but inside I was like “YEAH, BABY!”

You see, while I like to post pictures of food and stuff that I bake and cook, it’s the husband that does the majority of the cooking in the household. And I’ve been dying to buy him a new grill as a birthday or father’s day gift, but I didn’t want it to come across as, “hey, here’s your new toy now go make me a steak”. It would be like the husband giving the wife a vacuum cleaner as a gift (let’s assume the wife was expecting something else).

Anyway. The husband got this sweet grill and has been having a blast playing with it. I want to take more photos of the foods he’s cooking up, but I tend to dig in and not care much about taking photos. Here are a couple where I wasted precious eating time …

1) Barbecued Chicken. Still tweaking the process, but the end result was the best-tasting chicken I’ve had in ages. Chicken is chicken. We eat it often because it is relativley inexpensive, easy to prepare, and the kid likes it. But then you make it this way and you WANT to eat the skin because it’s so darn crispy delicious. And just, yeah.

Oh yeah. He also tried grilling these vegetables, too.

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2) Pork chop. Ripping the meat off the bone kind of thing. The kiddo asked to have a piece with a bone, so we shared this and split half of another chop that was more like a loin? or a rib? As the husband explained the one not pictured, was similar to a rib-eye steak (only it’s pork, of course). Whatever it was, it was amazing.

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Sweet grill marks!

A new grill. Like a gift that keeps on giving.

(the above pic was taken by my assistant, Kiddo).

Tea party for two

We read a lot of Fancy Nancy. I think she’s marvelous. That’s fancy for quite enjoyable. A tea party, a real one, with actual tea, would be something Fancy Nancy would do. Figured this would be a good thing for a rainy day. It’s been raining a lot lately.

Kid’s plate: baby carrots, turkey/croissant mini sandwich, grapes, olives, apple slices, Babybel, multigrain wheat thins. Minty hot cocoa.
My plate: quick chicken salad/cucumber and croissant sandwiches, grapes, carrots, apples. English breakfast tea.

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We spent tea time talking about books we’d read (Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes) and movies we’d seen (Mr. Peabody and Sherman, for her). We ate with our pinkies extended. She spilled cocoa on her ruffle skirt. Everything was delectable.

Man, I looove Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Yesterday was devoted to baking. Today was about friends and family. It started with what has become the annual “More Pie Please” thanksgiving morning workout. Back at the boathouse, which is looking good these days. After the warm up, there was a 5×5 lifting portion where I did Push-ups and Bulgarian Split Squats. Next was the following:

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The “length” was pushing the the prowler sled the length of the boathouse with 50# loaded on it. The prowler, always a part of this thanksgiving workout. The 10-1 means 10-9-8-7 etc. a classic Thanksgiving special, if you ask me.

At home to keep the kiddo busy we practiced a little baseball with the kids bat & ball set she got her dad for his birthday (yes, you read that right). After that, we did some races up and down the block. Let me just say, for a nearly five year old, this kid can run. I hope I did enough exercise to justify the overindulgence I planned to partake in.

Finally… Time to head for the the husband’s fam for the great gorge that never get old, year after year.

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Have I ever tried persimmon? Well now I have.

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First helping. Of all things, I forgot to take a pic of dessert, and it was plated so nicely, with fresh whipped cream and everything. There’s always a leftovers pic.

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I’m not going to lie. A little part of me is grateful to not have to clean up after such a fantastic feast.

This year, I find myself thankful that I’m in a position to have a day like today, spent with friends and family. That I have co-workers that make it bearable on the hard days, and make it a joy on the good days. That my friends and family are healthy, getting healthier, that my daughter has an amazing school that cares for her, that friends, old and new are creating a great support system. My parents and sibling are far in distance but not far from my thoughts. And now the gushy part is done with. Happy.

Father’s Day Extravaganza: Go Big or Go Home

Happy Father’s Day! Last week I suggested barbecue ribs for Father’s Day dinner and Husband was on board. So the extravaganza kicked off last night when I made some Guinness Barbecue Sauce. I’ve never made a barbecue sauce from scratch. In fact I’ve never done much with barbecue, which is kind of silly when you think about how easy it is to combine sauce with meat, at its basest, that is. Barbecue snobs will probably scoff at my ignorance, but that doesn’t bother me.
Changes on the sauce: I substituted tomato paste for ketchup, halved the salt, and left out the hot sauce (kiddo doesn’t like hot). I also used Dijon mustard instead of dark brown since it was all we had, and slightly reduced that amount to tone down the horesradishy bite. The sauce was tangy, the Guiness gave it a nice distinct flavor. Tasty.

via chattycha on flickr

Barbecue Ribs

 
The ribs recipe (via my slow cooker of course) couldn’t have been easier, although next time I will mix/turn halfway through cooking time.

Oh, and did I mention this was an extravaganza? I made cornbread (from a mix), also had cole slaw and potato salad (from the market) and for dessert a 4-inch chocolate raspberry cake (also from the market). Plus a salad, in an effort to avoid overeating on the extravaganza stuff.

via chattycha on flickr

Father’s Day Dinner, Plated

 

Kiddo raved. “Mom, this is soo delicious.” It was much later I realized she was talking about the corn bread, not the ribs. Darn that carb-addict gene.

Husband enjoyed it immensely, and that means win.

He didn’t enjoy the dirty dishes. Can’t win ’em all.

P.S. see that glass peeking out from the upper corner of the photo? That’s my Guinness, reward for an extravaganza well done.

Guiness BBQ Sauce from Epicurious.com (the original idea was from Pinterest!)
Barbecue Ribs recipe from NYMSCC