Kid and Caboodle

At the grocery store this afternoon, I found a large, chocolate confection resembling a giant truffle. Since I LOVE chocolate, I yielded to temptation and brought it home even though it’s not anyone’s birthday or any other type of special occasion. “It looks like an army helmet,” my husband commented when he saw it. You can see for yourself below:

Chocolate truffle cake, with apple for size comparison

The label on the cake is pretty awesome, too:

7" Chocolate Truffle Bomb: Dark moist chocolate cake filled with a silky chocolate cream and chocolate mousse all enrobed in a chocolate ganache.

I wonder if I could learn how to make one of these?

Yesterday while shopping for groceries for dinner, I found Giant had a great deal on fresh corn — a dozen ears for $2. A.J. and I especially love fresh corn on the cob; it’s fun to gnaw on the cob, and fresh corn is so sweet we love to eat it straight.

Apparently not everyone feels the same way about corn on the cob, though. After we had cooked several ears, Chris’s stepdad took a knife and methodically cut all the corn off a cob, then covered it in salt and pepper. Horrors! At least he only confined his work to the ear on his plate and didn’t try to prepare anyone else’s in the same way. If I’d known he was going to abuse fresh corn that way, I would have added a few cans to my groceries and saved him the trouble!

Tonight I read this funny blog post on BlogHer about trying to get dinner on the table in 10 minutes in between homework and other activities. Boy, does that sound familiar. Since Chris and I switched parenting shifts about a year-and-a-half ago, I’ve been the one handling dinner preparations. Normally I use my abilities as the Leftover Queen to throw something together. This week, though, I confess to depending on fast food outlets and prepared meals. I feel fairly guilty about this, but I just haven’t been able to get organized this week. We went out of town for a few days to visit friends, which was fun, but it threw off all our household routines. I guess I need a few days off to recover from my days off!

Christmas dinner this afternoon consisted of:

• turkey (cooked by Chris’ mother, Dee, and stepdad, Mike)
  
• ham (from Giant, arranged by me)
  
• deviled eggs (made by Dee)
  
• bacon-wrapped scallops (from Giant, prepared by me)
  
• broccoli-cheese casserole (made by me)
  
• carrot-raisin salad (made by Dee)
  
• tossed green salad of spinach, bell peppers and cucumbers (assembled by me)
  
• fruit salad of blueberries, bananas, an apple, clementines, oranges and fruit cocktail in syrup (assembled by Dee)
  
• stuffing (made by me)
  
• gravy (made by Dee and Mike)
  
• cranberry sauce (removed from can by me)
  
• pumpkin-nut cake (made by Chris’ sister, Jennifer)
  
• leftover chocolate mousse birthday cake (from Costco)
  
• cookies (made by Jennifer)

We had 10 people at dinner: Chris, A.J., and I; my parents; Chris’ dad; Chris’ mom and stepdad; and Chris’ sister and her boyfriend. I had to ask my parents to bring a folding table and chairs so everyone could sit down for dinner, and we had to scramble to get enough plates and cutlery! I think this is the most I’ve ever hosted for Christmas, but I think it turned out well. The large amounts of alcohol at dinner didn’t hurt, either!

Looks like we’re not going anywhere for a while. We’ve gotten several inches of snow already, and the storm is expected to continue until this evening. This is the view of the cul-de-sac at 10:15 this morning:

View from the front porch

Since all of A.J.’s Saturday classes were cancelled today due to the weather, I had time to make moderately elaborate breakfasts for everyone this morning. Here is A.J.’s:

A.J.'s breakfast: sausage links, pancakes and blueberries

This is Chris’ breakfast:

Chris' breakfast: clementine segments, breakfast burritos and blueberries

A.J. is enjoying the unexpected break. He’s still in his pajamas at 10:30 in the morning, playing video games:

A.J. in the sunroom

As for me, I think I’ll have a cup of tea and read a book.

Thank goodness for microwaves!  In my capacity as short-order cook this morning, I prepared A.J. sausage links and pancakes, with a glass of orange juice on the side.  I also made Chris breakfast burritos — scrambled eggs, melted cheese and salsa wrapped in tortillas.  As for me, I enjoyed smoked salmon and spinach on croissants.  Now for a cup of hot chocolate ….

breakfast burritos

Read about this blog, The Perfect Pantry, in the Washington Post today. This blog talks about the history and use of various spices and includes lots of recipes. When I have some free time I will take a closer look at this.

Today A.J. and I went over to the home of one of his classmates. The two kids seemed to get along very well, and I enjoyed socializing with his classmate’s mother, who is Chinese. Both A.J. and his classmate are only children, so I think it was good for them to have the opportunity to play with someone else of the same age.  Apparently they are only one month apart. The classmate’s mother and I talked about the types of food our kids like to eat. It seems that A.J.’s classmate only likes to eat Chinese food, and fresh fruit. This is a healthy habit, but it is causing some concern at school because A.J.’s classmate won’t eat most of what the school serves at lunchtime. I noted that it is possible to eat healthily in different cuisines. Because the classmate’s mother is Chinese, though, that is the only style of cooking she knows. Being Chinese, she also doesn’t like dairy products or raw vegetables. I did find it interesting that she not only served the kids a big plate of fresh watermelon, but also chips and cookies, though!

We plan to invite A.J.’s classmate and his mother over for a playdate in return soon. Perhaps I will take the opportunity to introduce them to some healthy, but non-Chinese snacks.

Today was my telecommuting day. I worked in the sunroom all day, enjoying the sounds of birds and feeling the warm breeze blowing through the windows.

At lunchtime I relaxed on my living room couch looking at catalogs while doing laundry.

I made two entrees for dinner — baked salmon with a mayonnaise-horseradish-dill sauce (recipe) and breaded chicken patties topped with marinara sauce and melted cheese.

I had a nice slice of chocolate cake with a whipped cream icing for dessert this evening.

I’m looking forward to going to bed early.