What's On The Menu?

Last week when I asked Matthew what kind of pie he wanted for Thanksgiving, he told me apple pie, pumpkin pie . . . and turkey pie, followed by gales of laughter.  The turkey pie bit was his running gag all week.  He thought it was hilarious.  So when he discovered that we were having turkey pot pie for dinner tonight, he thought it was the funniest thing ever. 

The Holidays Are Upon Us

I ate turkey . . .

. . . and now I’m ready for Christmas.

And Matthew has heard a new Christmas song and is walking around the house singing “Rub-a-dum-bum.” (Think “Little Drummer Boy”)

Taste Test

Next to turkey, pumpkin pie is probably the flavor I associate most with Thanksgiving.  However, my last attempt at egg and dairy free pumpkin pie was marginal at best.  So I searched my cookbooks and the internet trying to find a new recipe.  What I found were a multitude of recipes in three basic categories of egg substitutes: gelatin, tofu, and cornstarch.  The gelatin recipes were mainly just chilled pies and since pumpkin pie is really just pumpkin mousse if you don’t bake it, I opted to ignore that category.  That left me with tofu and cornstarch so I picked a likely candidate in each and pulled out my measuring cups.

Coming out of the oven, the tofu pie looked just like regular pumpkin pie.  It even had the small cracks on top that are characteristic of pumpkin pie.  The cornstarch pie, on the other hand, was very wiggly.  We’re talking watch-it-wiggle-see-it-jiggle kind of wiggly.  I was skeptical. After chilling, however, both pies were nice and solid.  The cornstarch pie still looked a bit bizarre for pumpkin sporting that dried pudding look.  And the cracks on the tofu pie had widened with chilling and made it look a bit old and dried out (which it wasn’t).  But both looked tasty when sliced, giving me hope.

 Tofu Pie

 Cornstarch Pie

However, looks aren’t everything.  In any kitchen experiment, looks must be factored in with taste and the ever important texture.  Some of you may think that taste is the most important element in any cuisine, but honestly texture is just as important.  The right flavor coupled with the wrong texture still signals disaster (Think of buttered popcorn flavor jelly beans . . . mega yuck.).  And so we tasted.  And surprisingly, the texture on both was fine.  The tofu pie had the same creamy texture that regular pumpkin pie has and while the cornstarch pie was smoother and a bit more solid, neither was an abhorence on my tongue.  And the flavor was right.  The tofu pie just needed a bit more spice (it had plenty of ginger but needed just a touch more cinnamon).  The only complaint I had for either was the slight, strange aftertaste that accompanied the tofu pie.  My niece, Sage, (who is also on a completely dairy free diet) agreed about the aftertaste but it didn’t bother anyone else.  The boys and even Kev ate both . . . willingly.

So the end result of our tastathon was a tie in the pumpkin category and two very usable recipes to be baked up for future Thanksgiving celebrations.  Bon appetite, all!

Artists In The Making

This year both Daniel and Nathan came home all excited on the day of the Reflections assembly at school.  They were excited about entering so they got their art groove on and each one entered in three categories.  While neither one was a winner, Nathan’s teacher told him that he was the nearly pick in the 3D art category.  That helped keep Nathan from feeling disappointed and Daniel was a bit bummed, but recovered quickly.

I was particularly impressed with one of the photos Nathan took to use in his photo collage.  I told him to experiment with distance and one photo that he was sure was not a good idea turned out really cool looking:

Yuletide Medley

This morning Matthew informed me that he needed to listen to Christmas music.  I tried to convince him otherwise since it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but anyone who knows Matthew can readily predict that it was an exercise in futility.  So I turned on Rockapella’s Christmas album.  It is like Christmas “lite,” most of the songs being written just for them with very few old standards.  I figured that would satisfy him since it is one of our favorite albums around the holidays.  Matthew put up with that for exactly 2.5 songs and then he told me it was the wrong music, he needed Jingle Bells.  And the version of Jingle Bells he likes best is sung by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.  That is definitely hard-core Christmas music.

So I caved in and gave him the good stuff.  I admit it.  I let my three year old do Christmas music.  It was easier than arguing that I was feeling Scroogey and needed to eat turkey before I could be ready for holiday tunes.  But Christmas music is like an addiction and once he jingled his bells he wanted the “Fa la la song.”  So we Decked the Halls.  And then he was ready for Rudolph.  Right now we are Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and before you know it we’ll be Roasting Chestnuts and taking Sleigh Rides.

And then I realized that I was having an inexplicable craving for peppermint and was seeing reindeer . . .

(Sorry it's so blurry.  One of my offspring changed the camera from auto focus to manual focus without me knowing and since Matthew is in no way cooperative concerning pictures lately, as soon as he realized I had the camera out he hightailed it into the other room.  There are no second chances for photo ops with him right now.)

A Shout Out For Nathan!

At our elementary school, they focus on one character trait each month (honesty, respect, responsibility, etc.) and one student from each class who exemplifies the month’s trait is chosen as the student of the month.  The trait for October was integrity and let me just tell you that I’m awfully proud of Nathan for being chosen as the student of the month in his class.  Integrity is the one trait that encompasses all of the other ones and I’m so proud of Nathan for making such great choices when he’s away from home.  I think it is easy to make good choices when Mom and Dad are standing next to you, but to make good choices when you are on your own can be much more difficult.  I couldn’t be more pleased that Nathan is able to do that. 

There was a special award ceremony held for the students and the parents and they received a certificate and coupons for a free kid’s meal at Appleby’s and Famous Dave’s and a free tub of cookie dough from Papa Murphy’s.  Here is what Nathan’s teacher wrote about why he was chosen:

“Nathan is a very responsible student.  I can always count on Nathan to do what is right and to do it correctly.  He often gets to do special jobs for me, because I can trust Nathan not to fool around and to finish the job.  Nathan is honest, truthful, obeys classroom rules and makes good choices when he has decisions to make.  Nathan is a caring student and treats others in a kind way.”

Way to go, Nathan!

One Of The Unfortunate Side Effects Of Having Had A Huge Monster Fire On The Mountain Behind My House Six Weeks Ago

It got cold.  And there was a mouse.  In my house.  Kev made a mouse corral out of boards and chased it out the front door.  But still.  Eauwwch.  And now I'm lying awake at night worrying about how it got in and how to keep the rest out.  And when I do sleep I have nightmares about mice and rats.  Not conducive to restful sleep.

(For those of you who are blissfully unaware of why I hate mice so much, check out the whole sordid tale here.)

A Linguistical Problem

We have been trying to convince Matthew that he is one of the boys.  There is a big enough age gap between him and Nathan that for a long time we have talked about Matthew and the big boys.  Now that he is old enough to do a lot of the things the other boys are doing, he gets bent out of shape when Kev and I talk about “the boys” going somewhere or doing something because he thinks that means he is not going to be included.

This is only the latest twist to a linguistic dilemma we have had for years.  When Matthew was about a year and a half old, I was having a conversation with him when he told me that the big boys were at school.  I told him that only Daniel was at school.  Nathan was at home.  Matthew looked at me like I was a little bit stupid and again told me that big boys was at school.  That was when I realized that he was calling Daniel Big Boys.  It’s not that he didn’t know Daniel’s name (If I asked him to point to Daniel he would) or couldn’t say his name (I’d tell him to say “Daniel” and he would), he just called Daniel Big Boys.  I would point to Nathan and ask, “Who’s that?”  Matthew would reply with, “Nannan.”  I’d point to Daniel and ask, “Who’s that?” The response was always, “Big Boys.”  About the time we moved into our house, Matthew gave Daniel a nickname for his nickname and just started calling him “Boys.”  I think Matthew was nearly three before he really started calling him Daniel consistently.

So you can see where our current problem began.  I think that somewhere in the back of Matthew’s mind he still thinks of “Boys” as being a proper noun, not a pronoun and definitely a word used in reference to someone other than him.

This Is Why I Was Crazy Enough To Have Kids

Today was Parent/Teacher Conference for all my kids.  Daniel’s teacher told me she wishes she had a whole class full of Daniels.  Nathan’s teacher told me he is a leader, a high achiever, and very possibly gifted.  Matthew drew me a picture and told his teacher what he drew.

Yup.  This would be one of those moments when I’m awfully glad I’m a mom.