Another Day, Another Antibiotic

After the holidays died down we were keen to get the grill fired up and have our first burger event of the year.


This was fairly successful though the guys are not really too keen on meat these days.


Elliott, however, was quite impressed with the ketchup.


After dinner I came around the corner and saw Elliott sitting in a pile of cookies that he had apparently knocked off the counter. The interesting thing was that he was not trying to eat them, he was just sort of rolling around and kicking at them like a cat enjoying catnip.


Two Fridays ago we were afforded the opportunity to go out for dinner. We picked a restaurant based on the beer and the ability to watch the Blackhawks. While we had to peer into the next dining room to see the game while someone played Bob Marley songs on the guitar, the "three ounce" beer tasters were poured quite generously.


The following day the guys both decided to wake up about 15 minutes after I got home from work and spent the next six hours in bed with us allowing us little to no sleep.


The day after that Jen and Lauren took the cousins out to get their photos taken. Some cousins were more into it than others. Can you figure out which cousin was a little less into it?


Can you tell which cousin would have rather been doing anything else?


Can you tell which cousin maybe wanted to punch the photographer in the crotch and make a break for it?


Can you tell which cousin may have secretly been plotting to murder his mother and auntie in their sleep?


Can you tell which cousin may look into your soul and cast darkness upon your very being?


This was all forgotten later that night when he met us all at Grandma and Grandad's where he got to eat copious amounts of corn on the cob.


Right after Passover/Easter weekend I had an alarming amount of carrot and parsnip tzimmes left. I decided to mash it up and turn it into a delicious carrot and parsnip bread with sour cherries. The result was quite nice. I highly recommend for any excess tzimmes you may have around.

I know this is a common problem for a lot of people.


One morning when Jen "accidentally" woke up Elliott he had to come and stay with me. We tried to call Nana and Grandpa on FaceTime (one of his favorite things to do) but unfortunately they were not available. Instead he spent much of the morning just talking about how awesome it would have been.


I took them in to the doctor on Friday after completing their second ten-day round of antibiotics for a check up. Martin requested a tissue and then used it to clean the doctor's chair, desk, and door.


Elliott grabbed the keys right out of my pocket and tried to use them to open the doctor's locked cabinets. Elliott has never really used my keys before for anything so it was a little surprising that he was interested in them, now where they were, and seems to have a good idea of how to use them.


The result of the appointment was that they both still have ear infections. This meant we had to go to Walgreens and pick up another $150 worth of prescriptions for them. It also meant that our stupid, terrible, awful, no good, very bad heath care provider had to one again be confounded by the fact that we have twins and not be able to fill our prescription without an hour's worth of phone calls.

I won't tell you who it is but it rhymes with Boo-nited Elfcare.

We can't exactly blame them. After all, they are the only twins in America.



One night, waiting for Mummy to return from work I decided to do an Animal Sound Identification Lightning Round. They scored quite well.


Over the weekend, tired of all the kids music channels, I decided to play the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack. Elliott was particularly impressed. Martin's reaction was also great but I was unable to get it on video.


On Sunday we went to a local farm festival where the boys had a pretty good time playing around. Elliott was a big fan of this area where he pretended to be a giant who was ransacking a tiny village. He was particularly ruthless with the scarecrow.

Elliott has long been a defender of crows.


Martin became extraordinarily hungry towards the end of the trip and the sample portions of pie only fueled his anger at not being able to eat everything he wanted. We were foolish in not bringing any snacks with us even though we were a mere five minutes from home.


Elliott also enjoyed shaking the hell out of this wind chime. Elliott deemed it not nearly windy enough and rebranded this item as a shake chime.


This latest antibiotic, or perhaps a cumulative effect from all three, has left their poor little intestinal tracts in bad shape. This has meant for an average of 4-6 diaper changes before lunch time and recently expanded to vomiting. The doctor supposes that in their weakened state they may have contracted a stomach virus. The fact that Grandma is also in that camp without any antibiotics would lend support to this theory.

They've been on antibiotics for 25 of the last 30 days. This leads me to wonder if the cure is worse than the sickness. I'm pretty sure that they'd be better off just letting these ear infections work themselves out after what they've been through.


Illness be damned! After we got them to sleep last night we proceeded onward with our Cinqo de Mayo dinner. I started by grilling some avocado in the skin then topping them with salsa and cumin-spiced sour cream. This made for a pretty tasty end to a rough day for all of us.


Jen, before knowing the boys were sick, had requested a margarita. I was still able to deliver but it was consumed with less joy and more tired resignation than originally planned.


I also grilled up some seasoned Mahi Mahi and vegetables and made these tacos on corn tortillas with cilantro, spiced sour cream, salsa, guacamole, and crumbled cotija.


Never one to pass up a good beer opportunity, I enjoyed this Daisy Cutter Pale Ale from Half Acre. It was very tasty and I'd highly recommend as an accompaniment to tacos.


After dinner Jen bravely volunteered to open the bag of unspeakable horror that was sent home with the boys from day care.


Because of their illness they soiled every bit of clothing they had and we had to walk home with Martin wearing no pants and Elliott with no shoes. This left Jen up late Googling solutions for barf-stained shoes.


After his sickness we had to keep Martin home from school this morning where he drank some juice out of a cup then immediately passed out on top of me about two minutes after his mother left for work.


I transferred him to the couch where he has been sleeping for more than two hours. I'm hoping that a combination of sleep, a bland diet, and a lot of liquids makes him better for tomorrow.

Otherwise either Jen, I or both of us may be fired.

Milk Not Jails

Yesterday a knock came at the door. It was a representative from Milk Not Jails to deliver a bundle of goodies to us. I had almost forgotten that we'd made a contribution to their efforts back in August through their Kickstarter campaign.

Milk for Jails is a great organization. I'll try to explain without getting too political. Basically they have the radical idea that maybe rural New York is better served through supporting local agriculture than through continuing to support the largest prison system on planet Earth. Maybe a dairy farm is a better idea than another prison so that America can continue to have more of its own citizens imprisoned than any other country on the planet.

What a concept!



The great thing about having paid for this in August is that it was like getting a special early Christmas gift!

We got butternut squash from African Zion Organic Roots Farm; lemongrass tea from Evolutionary Organics in New Paltz, NY; a dozen eggs from pasture raised hens from Tellos Green Farm in Red Hook, NY; Chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream and mango drinkable yogurt from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy; garlic from Streetlight Gardens in Albany, NY; Adirondack Red Potatoes from Conuco Farm in New Paltz, NY; Sauerkraut from Greyrock Farm CSA out of Cazenovia, NY; braising greens from 5 lbs. of Dirt Farm in Montgomery, NY; baby bok choi from an unspecified location; lettuce from Finger Lakes Fresh in Ithaca, NY; apple butter made by Bed-Stuy Farm Share in Brooklyn, NY; Pea Shoots from Evolutionary Organics in New Paltz, NY; and honey almond granola from Hawthorne Valley Farm.

Wow. That's a pretty good haul. We actually just donated because we supported the cause. I wonder how much they're making from our donation after they gave us back all this stuff? Did we donate to their cause or did we just shop with them?



As I looked at all these ingredients to try to figure out something to make I had some of this Imperial Pale Ale from Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. I figured this was the right way to go in keeping with the local New York theme of the meal.

I have to say, I'm warming up to IPAs. I was never much of a fan but now I actually find myself looking forward to them. Perhaps my tastes are being refined. Maybe I've reached a new level in my appreciation for the ancient beverage of beer.

Maybe I'm just getting old.



For a first course I sauteed up some shrimp with garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and fresh basil. When they were just about done I sliced up some freshly boiled Adirondack Red Potatoes and fresh sliced basil from our window box.

I also tossed the pea shoots with some lemon, shallots, honey, toasted poppy seeds, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I worked in a restaurant where we used pea shoots (or pea tendrils as we called them) all the time for garnish. I've never actually eaten them before tonight.



For a side dish I cooked the braising greens with some olive oil, butter, bacon, onion, garlic, molasses, the remaining beer, water, salt, pepper, and cayenne.



For dessert we were quite well taken care of by the chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream from Ronnybrook.



On this day, in 1933, we saw an end to prohibition in America with the ratification of the 21st amendment to the Constitution. Even though I wasn't really in the mood for it I figured there was no better way to celebrate than by having some gin. And what better way than with a gin and tonic made with the finest ingredients?

To cap off the night we celebrated with a screening of A Christmas Story/. Well, we watched it. It just makes us seem like asshole film buffs if we call it a screening.

We also like to listen to things on vinyl. We're that kind of jerk.

A Very Belgian Christmas

Yesterday, in the midst of my annoying sickness, we traveled out to get our Christmas tree. My initial plan had been to get the tree on Saturday so we didn't have to go out at all on Sunday. The idea was that my normal disinterest in decorating the tree could be avoided if I didn't have to go out, cut it down, and lug it home all in the same day.



For the third year in a row we went to Maple Row Tree Farm. Jen and Fred were able to mend their broken relationship after last year's falling out.



I tied my side of the tree to the roof pretty well. Just look at how tight that twine is!



Not to pass judgment but Jen's side left a little to be desired. The guy at the farm felt so bad for us that he help us by re-tying her end.



For lunch today I used up a remaining baguette with another of Mark Bittman's Thanksgiving leftover recipes this year. It was simply a grilled cheese with Gruyere and cranberry sauce and it was quite delicious.



After lunch I discovered that the flood had damaged more strands of our Christmas lights than I'd thought. I had previously tested them but apparently they were waiting until I had the tree up to blow out completely. This lead to an I-told-you-so-filled trip to the nearby hardware store to get the last three remaining strands they had for sale.



After stringing up the lights I settled in to make carbonade flamande, a Belgian stew. I based this off of the recipe in Culinaria and made it by browning the beef stew meat in a little butter then removing it and cooking down some onions, then adding the beef back with salt, pepper, bay leaf, thyme, sage, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and beer.



For beer I chose to use this Leffe for added authenticity.



I served the carbonade with stoemp aux carottes which is simply boiled potatoes and carrots mashed together. I added some salt, pepper, butter and freshly ground nutmeg.



To match the theme of tonight's dinner I chose this Bush De Noël from Brasserie Dubuisson in Belgium. I've had their regular Bush beer before and it was one of the best beers I've ever had. When a friend gave me this Christmas version I was excited to give it a try.

The beer is not labeled as Bush in the United States because there is a flavorless American beer called "Busch" and they don't want to confuse the general public. Apparently there is a huge problem with people walking into the tiny import wall of fine beer stores and picking up a single 8 ounce bottle of this beer for $7.00 and thinking that they're getting a can of Busch Light.

Surely we can understand that confusion. Good on the American legal system!



I mean, look at the packaging. You can barely tell the difference between the two.



It's like one of those "Spot the Difference" puzzles where you have to figure out what's different between the two pictures. Can you spot the differences between the two beers or the two Christmas scenes?

Hint: one of the Christmas scenes is flavorless.



After decorating the tree we settled down for a nice little seasonal celebratory drink. Jen's drink of choice: hot apple cider. At the Christmas tree farm yesterday there was a woman marveling at the hot cider available. She was chasing after her children telling them: "This is amazing. You've got to check this out. It's from apples but it's hot! It's like apple juice but they serve it hot!"

The kids seemed as shocked as we were that she had never heard of this before.



I went with this egg nog from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, a splash of brandy, and some fresh nutmeg.

With that we settled in to watch some of our growing Christmas movie collection. Tonight was the perfect night to watch the short ones: Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Muppet Family Christmas.

All this while fumbling with ornaments around the tree and swearing.

True meaning of Christmas = discovered.

Buttered Noodles, Roman Style!

The other night Jen and I went to a really nice restaurant and had a fantastic meal. We both felt compelled to order what they were calling Spaghetti, Roman-Style. It was simple: spaghetti cooked with butter, garlic, and Parmigiano. Sometimes that just hits the spot. However, we couldn't bring ourselves to order it much for the same reason I never order the chicken entree at a restaurant. I don't think I'd forgive myself if I used up this experience to order what essentially amounted to buttered noodles.

Besides the price tag was $25. For an extra $5 you could get the seared ahi tuna entree. The owner of that restaurant must get text alerts on his phone sent to him whenever anyone orders the Spaghetti, Roman-Style. I can imagine him smiling as receives the text, lighting a cigar with a $100 bill and telling his mistress, "One entree closer to getting that new gold-plated helicopter."





Jen always refers to this dish as "buttered noodles." This is why she is not a successful restaurateur. She could only get $12 at the most with a dish of that name. This also happens to be one of Jen's favorite meals in the entire world. Since we weren't able to have it at the restaurant we had been craving this dish ever since Friday night.



Tonight I decided to give in to that craving. I had also given into this craving last night by making cappelini with olive oil, butter, crushed garlic, fried parsley, cappelini, salt, and pepper. It was such a hit I decided to do the same tonight replacing the cappelini with this spaghettine.

While the pasta was cooking I crushed the garlic, cooked it in butter and olive oil, threw in the parsley to fry it. I really kicked this dish up a notch by adding some tomatoes that I'd peeled and seeded. This is just another example of my culinary ingenuity. Tomatoes with pasta! How do I come up with this stuff?



Given the fake Roman nature of our meal I decided to start us off with a refreshing Campari and soda. Having never been to Rome I just assume this is the kind of thing they drink before they have their Roman style spaghetti.

When in Rome! Maybe! I imagine!



For wine I really killed the mood by introducing a wine from Napa Valley. I'm sure I should have served a nice Montepulciano or Sangiovese but that is so trite. Besides I didn't have any of either of those. I did have this lovely cabernet sauvignon from Decoy Wines that some lovely soul had given me for Christmas this past year. It may not have been Italian but it did have a handsome mallard on it and it was was fantastic.

Truth be told I would have liked the wine even if it wasn't very good just for the mallard. It reminds me of a painted wooden mallard my mother had when I was a young child. The mallard has always been a favorite duck of mine for that reason. It always reminds me of home and of youth.

Although I may just be imagining the part about the wooden mallard.

Stout Hearted (or Guinness Record)

St. Patrick's Day was supposed to be a night where I made a quasi-Irish themed dinner that we've been planning for a while. Instead, after a brief visit to the doctor in the morning, it turned into me being in incredible pain and spending most of the day wandering around the apartment, unable to sit or lie down. Finally I ended the evening with a heating pad on my back eating Chinese take out with Jen on the couch.

It was the saddest fake holiday since Jen and I spent a Valentine's Day in New York city eating take out from the "Cooganelli's" Italian menu from our local Irish pub and watching a special on Russian mail order brides.



Tonight started off with the use of the leftover colcannon and batter from the cheddar potato batter I used for the asparagus potato tart from last weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities.

I combined the two (in some proportion) and added some panko along with a little extra shredded Irish cheddar. Then I formed them into little balls, covered them in panko, pan-fried them, and finished them in the oven.

I served them over some red kale which I tossed with olive oil, sauerkraut, and pickled beets.



With dinner I had a Smithwick's. I'd purchased this as to remain authentic but as with the Harp and the Guinness I think I just don't like Irish beer. At least I don't like the Irish beer that makes its way to our shores. I'm sure there's plenty of good stuff over there in Ireland but all three of these certainly leave me wanting more. Well, more of something else.



For the main course I made this pot pie with beef, Guinness, and cheddar based on Jamie Oliver's recipe. Jen has been wanting to make/eat this for a while now so tonight was the night!

I didn't really change much except that I didn't pay any attention to the quantities and I did add some peas at the very end, right before forming the pie. Basically it's a simple beef stew with cheddar cheese incorporated into it and baked with puff pastry dough.



For a side dish I made beer-braised cabbage with Guinness. I stewed some garlic, onion, and cabbage with butter then added the cabbage, Guinness, mustard powder, Worchestershire sauce, and a little brown sugar, salt, and pepper.



For dessert I used up another bottle of Guinness by making these Guinness chocolate brownies. I used a basic brownie recipe and added Guinness Extra Stout to it. While they were still warm I scooped up some vanilla ice cream to serve on top.

But that wasn't the only dessert.



After talking the other day I determined that I haven't had an Irish car bomb in over ten years. I also determined that that was a very good thing. I think even then I had done it out of duress. While I enjoy many different foods and beverages I've never been a fan of any beverage that forces you to chug. This is probably why I'm not a big fan of doing shots.

The same thing makes me cringe at the idea of food-eating contests. Even thinking about one of those hot dog eating contests makes me feel like I'm going to gag. I don't even have to watch it. I just imagine that skinny Japanese guy and those bulky Americans sitting at that table in front of mounds of hot dogs and not only does it make me feel physically ill but it makes me think that maybe I'll never eat food again.

My memory of my last (and first) Irish car bomb was that it was actually pretty tasty. So it was that I determined I would make Irish car bombs but I would sip mine slowly. Seeing it is so sweet from the Bailey's Irish Cream it would make a nice after dinner drink to accompany the brownies.

Jen reminded me that the Bailey's would curdle quickly (hence the reason this is meant to be guzzled in one gulp). That's why I elected to pour myself a tiny amount of Guinness, Bailey's, and Jameson which I would rotate through slowly over the course of forty-five minutes.

Jen did hers the natural way and ended up with a curdled mess toward the end. Just watching her suffer through it reminded me of why I had no desire to do such a thing. The whole thing just looked like a chore.

Except, unlike most chores, when you are finished you are seized with the urge to go: "Whooooooo!"