Blogging takes time...I have no time...

Chanterelle and Oyster mushroom gallette with gruyere-I have been meaning to make this for 4 years. It did not disappoint.

Well I don't have time to write, but I hate losing track of my blog as I have been at it for going on 3 years and I want to keep it up. I have been beside myself busy, and to make things worse I have been doing some liaison work lately, which is SO busy its nuts, the things that go on in this hospital is nuts. I have some great colleagues though, which make it enjoyable. Even psych rounds were nice as I was kindly introduced to those I did not know at the table despite my being so late....

Hannah and Josh

Josh and Lauryn had a double sleepover last week, Josh's first time having his own little friend over. They were so cute. Hannah is this amazing kid who does what you tell her-always, no need to tell her twice! I told her it was bedtime and she went to bed-magic! lol, none of mine have ever been that compliant. Her sister likes to push the envelope a bit, and her and Lauryn are a real pair-but such good friends. They are both very good kids though, and they had a blast, making party hats and cookies, watching Tinkerbell movie, playing dress-up and jumping on the trampoline. We continue to skate weekly, swim lessons and soccer will start soon. Josh will play for the Bambinos, so cute.

I saw Alice in Wonderland, and it was fabulous. All I had hoped for, although it did stray a tad from the actual story. However, it strayed in a most Tim Burtonish way, so I now will be on a quest for a fantastic costume from the film this years all hallows eve....muhahaha......I want to top my wicked queen costume from last year! Johnny managed to charm me in his usual way as well, proving once again that ugly can be handsome if acted well. Auntie and Uncle joined us for the show, and we ate chinese at their fave restaurant they have been going to for 25 yrs or something like that. It was reasonably good, but too much fat for my liking. Give me Vietnamese or Thai any day...or Indian for that matter. We shopped a bit, picked up some nice khaki type pants and a skirt for spring, Josh fell asleep on the drive home.

I am making guinness braised stew for St, Patty's tomorrow. It is braising as I type and avoid my research numbers which are weighing heavily in the back of my mind. Tomorrow Dave and I might stop by a friends party for some black & tan's, which he informs me the Irish hate, but since I am only half Irish, I should only half hate their historical significance? lol Dave and his military history knowledge. It is interesting, but....

Part II:
Josh broke his clavicle. Basically he was in bed, and we were downstairs, heard a scream and found him on the floor. Keep in mind, he had fallen asleep on our bed which sits about 3 feet off the ground, super monster mattress. He was not moving well and I could feel the spot and it was super-painful, so to emerg he went. Poor turkey is in a sling now, and learning how to assemble lego mainly one-handed. Good times.  As such, Dave stopped in at the "stuck inn" and I did not get to go. From the photos, we missed an awesome bash, but, such is life.

My group is scrambling to edit our work prior to our deadline. We are SO close to being done, but I hate these finicky bits. It will be a huge relief to be finished. I am sick of writing about findings and scouring the data. Icky....

On a super-fantastic note, I snared pre-sale tickets for Tom Petty, some nice floor seats. I can't wait, it will be a nice getaway for Dave and I.  I've got a room at the top of the world tonight....we made pizza, classic friday fare. It was +14 today, wickedly sunny, all the fruit trees are in bloom, the daffodils and crocuses are out, the grass needs cut. Full force spring. I am just glad the rain has stopped. I have been thinking about earthquakes again, for obvious reasons as the news is so full of them. Also, we could get one, maybe soon. Josh's daycare has requested everyone send earthquake comfort packs for the kids. The girls do earthquake drills at school. So odd it seems, but we also have our emergency plan for a disaster as a family, so we are not totally hooped if something happens. Kind of like our New Years for the Y2K thing, where I had big jugs of water set aside in though I was quite sure it was a hoax. But I did have a very odd dream last night, and like my mother and her mother before her, when any of us dream about certain family members, something happens. So I take it to heart whenever I dream about certain people, I just wonder what giant clams and wolves meant, and how on earth Dave's dad factored into it all.....
Tonight mimi has her friend for a sleepover, and I guess we will see what the fuss is about New Moon. Lauryn has strept throat, so doped up and off to bed, poor kid. Once the young pair is in bed, we will sit with the girls for the movie. Dave is taking a taping course this weekend, with a  bunch of physiotherapists. Useful as he coaches the various teams that he does. Josh will play for the Bambinos this year, hope he loves it. This is the kid that could dribble a ball across the yard at age 1, so I imagine he will do ok!

We grilled steaks, marinated in garlic, olive oil, rosemary, shrimp on the grill, stuffed potatoes, and oven fried chicken and fresh veggies. Ok, I was just about to write that we found out a neighbour fishes and can get us oysters for $3 a dozen today, when the doorbell rang and it was our neighbour Jeff with a bag of fresh oysters, just pulled from the ocean today. Life is awesome....

oysters and Elsa....

Lemons and curry and haunted mansions

Naan done on the BBQ, curried cauliflower, butter chicken, basmati rice

Well, on the heels of my last post, here is another. Today I am home. My paper discussing correlations and other such fun is basically done, so I can relax this weekend. I baked blueberry yogurt bran muffins, and have been re-organizing my spice cupboard, and utensil drawers. Josh and I made the first parts to what started out as a castle, and now is going to be a haunted mansion-we are waiting on paint to dry. I have washed all the floors, done half the dusting, and folded some clothes. Dave hates it when i fold, as I suck at it, but hey, he's not here. He is in a blizzard in NS, while I sit here in the sunshine. Sucks to be him! I have Indian butter chicken simmering, I will make some curried cauliflower, likely roasted. I should go throw some naan dough in the breadmaker. I will be making lemon poppyseed loaves after I stop at the store to get more lemons and get the girls from school. It has been a most productive relaxing day. I love lemon desserts, especially with the nice crunch of poppy seeds. I have one recipe for lemon poppy seed muffins I have made since 1994. They are low fat and amazingly full of flavour. It was then that i first understood that the best flavour of the lemon is actually in the zest. I have since come to learn how to properly zest, and why you can't just go about it willy-nilly. The key is avoiding the pith, and a good sharp rasp makes it very simple. This dessert will be nice with our Indian supper. A bit of comforting curry finished by zesty, sweet dessert with poppy seeds-from the same region, seems so fitting.

Spring break is next week. I work the first part, Dave the second part of the week. The kids can have a week of solid fun, sleepovers, a movie I am MOST anticipating, some fun baking, games night, hikes, skating. Just general relaxation.....we are all ready for it. The kids get their reports tomorrow too, so it should be good. BTW, Dave's parents are leaving for Chile on Mon, though I think it is still a bad time to be there. Aftershocks are still pretty strong. I have no idea why they feel they need to be there now. But why they do a lot of things is beyond me too.

Olympics, open house and other such

Fun part of the weekend-lemongrass chicken, sushi, and vietnamese salad-check out chopstick boy!

I have been beside myself lately with too much on my plate-and not in my kitchen. My research group has given me anxiety, however, i feel I am actually on top of it now, I always have this 11th hour brilliance which serves me well, so I am no longer worried. We had a good night, Dave cuddling with the girls watching olympics, then Noni joined Josh and I with Haunted Mansion while I finished reading the mutterings of Cohen regarding the inadequacy of the null hypothesis.....

We then watched The Darjeeling Limited, which I adore. I am transported by that one....I want badly to travel with them, and in a way, I guess I get to. We are tired, Dave will be flying off out east Sunday, and tomorrow we attend an open house at his CO's; I get to dress up, be the dazzling wife, beautiful, intelligent...hmmm, yes, fun. I am wondering about the cost of my courses now, two of them equals a good trip,so i am annoyed that this cost is even there now, but i am close enough to finishing that I know I would be a fool to abandon it, but still,  it always should not be about me I guess. My parents were so self-sacrificing, that I too feel I must. As I discuss, no argue with Dave about what to do with our aging parents, as My colleague and I discuss a tentaive plan for Mom next time she presents in emerg, and as Dave's dad reahes his end-stage point in his disease process, we are faced so early with life decisions most our age don't have to. My colleague picked my brain the other day ago about her sister, age 60, who has fallen into a spiral of self-neglect following a long history with addiction, personality disorder, etc. Typically, she has burned all her bridges, and despite her sister's professional orientation, when it is your family, you are faced with certain feelings of obligation, helplessness, and sometimes guilt. She has helped her and no longer wants to, so she wanted to be sure that what she was doing was the right path. What I suggested was in alignment with her own line of thinking, and I know for her it was reassuring, yet I know, that no matter what decision is made, unlike our clients, when you are living with it personally, it is not the same. It never leaves you.

Update: Well, I finish this post almost a week later, but we had a great night at Dave's bosses' house, very fun, wish we could have stayed longer, but we were there on borrowed babysitting time, so we did not stay long. The food was nice, decent cheese spread, lovely company!

Miss Noni: Queen of chopsticks, second nature to her. This kid has some aesome hand-eye coordination!