Happy Mommy

The biggest news: Joe and I are expecting our second baby (gender to be determined) in June.  I KNOW!  You are shocked this kid isn’t due in November too!  But hey – he/she/it will get some extra special treament so as not to feel left out of the November Birthday Club.  Griffin is excited too.  He wants a boy and a girl.  We’ve tried telling him that we’re only getting one.  Joe is pretty excited (I think).  Of course he has been relegated to rubbing my feet every night so that must be a drag.  At least I’m through the morning sickness now – HOORAY!  We’ve decided to call this munchkin Baby Scout for now…

Manly Men

Griffin is going to preschool twice a week (I go with him one day).  He loves his Teacher Nancy and the class is great fun.  On Wednesdays, Griffin goes to Gymnastics with Joe while I’m in class.  They both thoroughly enjoy it.  We need to get him into another class of some sort soon – maybe music?

My first semester back at school went well.  I’ve decided to start from scratch so it’s all GenEd courses: French, Psychology & English.  I had a swim class to start out but the heater for the pool broke so I quickly dropped it.  Somehow swimming at 6am sounds a lot better to me than weight training (yuck).  I’m happy to report my first Report Card will be 4.o WOOT!!!  That was not easy.  I take classes at night while Joe is home with Griffin and study during the day while Griffin is here.  It’s not as easy as it sounds either.  Joe has been quite the trouper too – making sure he is home by 5:45 every night.  And our wonderful neighbors Ron, April & Bryce watch Griffin for us on Thursdays since my class starts earlier.  Bryce has been a lovely babysitter for Griffin.  They both look forward to their weekly visits.  Joe likes it because when he comes to pick up Griffin they feed him dinner:)

We had our first successful run at a garden in the backyard this summer.  The winter garden didn’t fly but that’s something to aspire to for next year.  I’m already looking forward to more fresh veggies and herbs in the backyard.  Since the raised beds are already built, planting should go much smoother.  Now I need to tackle the weeds in the front yard flower beds so my neighbors can stop looking at us as an eyesore.  Realistically that’s pretty far down on the list of chores I’ve given myself.

Biker Boys

Joe went to Canada for Glen’s Bachelor party in September – they mountain biked down Whistler and learned curling – a fine time was had by all.  As for me I went to Calistoga with the girls side of things.  I didn’t know I was pregnant yet so there was a considerable amount of wine consumed on my part.  What can I say?  Baby Scout will probably be a lush. 

Next semester I’m only going to take 2 classes (English & French) to give myself extra time, being knocked-up and all.  I’m hoping giong to class 3 nights aweek will be easier.

Other big news from this year:  Laurisa and Dave got married, Glen & Jess got married, Tom & Tracy got married, Kurt & Cynthia had two kids, Erika had two projects published with Barnes & Noble, and Griffin can do summersaults!  (Like how I threw that last one in there?)  Chris bought a new house (Rosemary might move in one day), Georgia and Ricky just got engaged, we made loads of new friends thanks to Glen & Jess and their awesome taste in people.  Griffin has a good set of friends now too.  Grendal is hanging in there.  We found out our beloved pooch has brain cancer but she seems to be alright for now.  D’Argo makes sure she is never alone, sometimes to Grendal’s detriment.  Joe & I have both enjoyed biking this past year.  We need to figure out how it can fit into our busier schedule so it doesn’t fall by the wayside.  And of course, we still watch WAY too much TV.

Joe and I are currently spending Christmas at home.  We didn’t get a holiday together this year so we’re making up for that fact.  On the 31st we fly to Seattle to witness a man getting OLD, oh and see Mom.  Merry Christmas Everybody!!!  I hope your year was just as exciting (although it’s hard to imagine).  We are putting together a video of the G so that should be posted soon…  HUGS!

Joe, Rebecca, Griffin & Baby Scout-to-be

I’m sure Griffin will second my feelings that we have found him a happy preshool home.  Thanks Wilson Preschool and Miss Mina!  You’re swell!

For those I haven’t mentioned this to already, this preschool is a parent participation school funded by the county.  That makes things easier for Griffin and cheaper for us parents – woo hoo!

In case you can’t see the video above, here is the URL: http://www.ksbitv.com/news/85235607.html

Steak & Sweet Potato Hot Pockets (a variation from an earlier post)  I used diced steak instead of ground turkey, not as good but still worth a bite.

Vietnamese Sandwiches – cooked pork with sliced black forest ham, sweet pickled carrots and daikon (Japanese radish) on a soft roll – my favorite!  I’d also venture to say this was the winner since there was nothing left and he made three sandwiches.

Pumpkin Salad – butternut squash, mayo, cream cheese, olives and toasted pecans (like potato salad)

Greek Salad – Machiko made a traditional one with fresh feta

Pounded Steak Roulade – stuffed with goat cheese and wilted chard.  One roll was covered with honey mustard and herbes de provence while the other was tied up with basil leaves.  The latter had a better overall flavor and the crispy basil was yum, yum, yummy.  I should have used dijon mustard for the first roll but didn’t have any .

Steak and Shitakes Sautéed in Soy Sauce and vinegar with a little sake and shallots over brown rice.  Jason was afraid this dish was too salty but it actually married nicely and the result was a tangy teriyaki style dish.

French Onion Soup – this dish was prepared earlier to make sure we had food ready when people arrived.  As always the best ingredient is cheese!

Karin was kind enough to bring over some brownies topped with heath bar.  Add some of the heath bar ice cream we bought for dessert and taste buds are sure to be pleased!

Yep, we ate a lot on Sunday!  Luckily we had help: Kurt, Cynthia, Karin and Rick were nice enough to come try everything with us.  As our judges they each had a different favorite.  The kids were happy with the result too.  I think its safe to say their choice for best food was brownies across the board.  Poor Griffin slept though the entire 3 hours that Jonathan and Samantha were here.  He managed to tire himself out completely playing with Masahiro before they got here.

So there you have it.  My fridge is stuffed with left over food and even more meat to be cooked that will have to go in the freezer soon.  Side note: Safeway has cow shoulder on sale for $1.69 per pound and they’ll cut it into steaks for you if you ask them to.  The pork was the same price and came as country style spare ribs.  The local produce market is where we picked up all our veggies, bread and the fresh goat cheese.  What a lovely place to live near!  I don’t even think it has a name other than Produce Market…

With all the kids we forgot the other plan for the afternoon – playing games went right out the window while we watched the kids run around the front room with pillows and play hide n’ seek with Karin.  Dinner and a show; thanks again everybody!

lounging on our bed

With all her tests and scans, they Vets have found an enlarged lymph node in her neck that led to finding 5 or 6 bleeds in her brain.  These bleeds are causing seizures but what is causing everything?  Infection or tumor?  The MRI showed the bleeds which can mean an invisible tumor (not really invisible just a type that doesn’t show up on the MRI) or an infection, or a protein deficiency.  They did some more tests today to try and produce a definitive and treatable cause for her troubles.  We are not going to test anymore for the brain tumor because any results we find are not treatable and there’s no need to put her through surgery just to answer a question.

So there you go.  My week in a nut shell has been the ‘hurry up and wait’ game.  Grendal hasn’t had any more seizures thanks to the meds and is in relative comfort right now although she’s hazy (to say the least) from her drugs and being under anesthesia so much this week. Worse case scenario is that this is terminal.  In that case we will have her on meds to keep her comfortable until her quality of life is no longer good.  Best case is they find an infection (finally) and we can treat her and she goes back to being her normal wonderfully amazing perfect Grendal self.  You know which one I’m holding out for.

Love and hugs and licks to you all from the Morrissey Family

Grendal, D’Argo, Griffin, Joe and Me (Rebecca)

This was the first time we heard Griffin count to 10, let alone 3 by himself. It was very impressive to watch his little brain play through the numbers one after the next. I would repeat the numbers after he had said them, but then wait for him to say the next one with no prompting from myself.

I’ve included a recording I made of him counting to 10 that I thought all of you might like to hear.

Griffin Counts to 10

Turkey & Sweet Potato Turnovers

Brown ½ pound turkey sausage with 2 cloves chopped garlic. Add 1 grated sweet potato and 3 cups baby spinach; season with salt and pepper. Cut 2 sheets frozen puff pastry (thawed) in half. Divide the beef and 1½ cups grated Cheddar among the 4 pieces of dough; seal the edges. Bake at 375° F until golden for 25 minutes.

Trading turkey for beef was a fluke.  My ground beef went bad in the fridge so I changed it up to be the turkey sausage that was still viable.  When I stirred the spinach and sweet potato in with the sausage the spinach wilted a bit which made it easy to form into the pastry shells.  I didn’t think I had enough spinach so I added an extra cup after it wilted.

So easy and so tasty you can tell people it took hours and they’ll believe you!  Since it makes enough for four, Joe & I had leftovers for the following day.  I had mine for lunch because I didn’t want to wait until dinner.  My recommendation on reheating these flaky bits of heaven: don’t nuke them.  They’ll get soggy and that’s such a waste.  Just reheat your turnover in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 375.  Enjoy!

The rules of the cook-off were simple and guaranteed to keep everyone happy.  Jessica and her roommate Jeremy picked out some ingredients and then we all worked with those items for our dishes.  We were allowed to look up recipes online and try anything we wanted. 

While I enjoyed the cook-off I don’t think my dish was anything I’d repeat.  I made eggplant curry which was more like spicy eggplant mush.  Although I followed some directions I found online, the eggplant was overcooked before I ever added curry to the mix.  It tasted okay but lacked the texture that makes you realize you’re eating eggplant. 

The best food in my opinion was Jessica’s sautéed veggies.  She said it’s a ‘go to’ recipe for her; she just added more ingredients than normal: tomatoes and mushrooms.  Everything was cooked in garlicky olive oil and then shoyu was added at the end (soy sauce).  The tomatoes popped in your mouth they were so perfect!  I still don’t know what kind of mushrooms they got (from the local Chinese market) but they were incredibly flavorful and buttery.  Hey Jess: will you write up your recipe as a comment on this post?  Thanks lady!

The spirit of the cook-off was great.  No pressure, just fun and food.  I definitely want to do this again.  I think next time we’ll pick a single ingredient that everyone needs to use and see how that fares.  If you’re interested let me know and I’ll be sure to invite you…  (We play board games too, BTW.) 

Another great tid bit about our get together?  Jess introduced me to a favorite drink of her families: Bianco and Blood Orange.  It’s that easy.  Put ice in a tumbler and add some Martini & Rossi Bianco.  Cut a wedge of blood orange and squeeze it into your glass.  Drink up!  What a great way to get everyone into the spirit of cooking together!

*As for Perogis with the Taylors, I’m going to save that for another post.  I got to watch them make everything so I want to try it out for myself at home and then report on my experimenting at the same time.