Gunning for the beard

The husband didn't always have a beard. The first appearance came when I was pregnant with the boy. It gradually grew in over the months, and the husband enjoyed taking off the time from shaving. I'm not really sure what made him give up on razors. I never was a fan of the scratchy, prickly facial hair - It didn't look bad at all, but it's thick and rough, and it's never been my thing. The husband seemed to like it, so I tolerated it. Only because...

The husband promised he'd shave it while I was in the hospital. And so he did. It actually became entertainment while I was in labor. In between contractions, he went into the bathroom and shaved off a little more. He came out of the bathroom each time, and it made me laugh. It was fun, and eventually I had my clean-shaven husband back.

A couple of years later, I became pregnant with the girl. And... the beard gradually came back. I hadn't missed it. I started looking forward to the hospital shaving session again. But the way things go, I ended up going in for a scheduled c-section. No labor. No time to shave. No shaving session. Flash-forward ten-and-a-half years, and: the beard is still around. We just celebrated the boy's bar mitzvah, and the beard was in every photo.

Early on, after the girl was born, the husband and I made a bet. I had never lost the baby weight. The deal is: If I make it back down to my wedding weight, the beard gets shaved. I have never really been able to do it though. Until now. I'm headed in the right direction, anyway.

Looks like I'm losing a pound a month, or so. Slow but sure wins the race. I hope. At this rate, I may be at the wedding weight long before the girl's bat mitzvah. Works for me! The husband may very well be looking very different at that party. Looking forward to it!

Cooking for strangers

Well, not really strangers... just people I haven't seen in 25 years. Heading to a 4th of July BBQ. Happy Independence!

I LOVE cooking for other people. I am not always good at it, mostly because of my lack of attention span at just the right moment: I often burn things or otherwise ruin them. But I still try. I should cook fun things for my own fam, but I just don't bother when it's "just us". I need to have a party (or go to someone else's party) for the excuse. I think I'm pissing off my friend who is hosting this BBQ; she may be afraid I'm showing her up.

Here's everything that the husband and I have been preparing this long holiday weekend, whether for the July 4th reunion, or for local friends.

Baby arugala salad with warm pancetta vinaigrette and spiced pine nuts. Recipe credit to the cooking class I took my mom to last week for her (early) bday.

The nuts are accidentally too spicy. I like them that way (they have a great kick) but I hope others don't have an issue.

Scallops with candied fennel and vanilla-citrus reduction. Recipe credit to one of my favorite places in the entire world that I am glad to have been to once.

I know, I know. You're thinking: WTF? This is a 4th of July BBQ, not a gourmet meal. Where are the hot dogs and burgers and ribs and corn and potato salads and watermelon? Yeah, I'll leave that to my friend the hostess. Don't worry about her, though: she holds her ground. She'll be making her own assortment of kick-ass food in addition to the standard picnic fare.

You are probably still confused, wondering how I'll serve this at a BBQ. I haven't quite figured that out yet, but it likely will involve tasting spoons. Meh.

Honey-tomato bruschetta with fresh ricotta (yes I made the ricotta too)

Another pause from the menu to say one quick note: OMG, don't ever buy ricotta from the store again!!!! Seriously. Easy to make and yummy. And I didn't even have lemons to curdle the milk, so I used a lime instead. Yum!

Kobe sliders with pesto on potato rolls. The husband made up this combo - he's also making alfredo sauce for it as an alternative choice.

The alfredo sauce on Kobe burgers was NOT my idea. Neither was the pesto - but it was pretty good on the test sliders. 

Dill pickles.

Yeah, just pickles. Don't laugh. Homemade pickles are GREAT! And go well on the sliders (without the alfredo sauce, anyway!!)

Mini pulled pork sandwiches on homemade potato rolls.

"Mini" only because I screwed up and made them too small, figuring they would actually rise more than they did. The rolls were intended for the kobe burgers but I'm not going to make a whole nother batch in a larger size.

I think that is it. Everything else is boring. Can't wait to eat it all.

Lesson: Never buy ricotta cheese again. Duh.

What the heck is a clap-out and why don't we have one?

Just saw someone on Facebook post photos of their daughter's "clap-out" at elementary school. Excuse me? What's a clap-out? I imagined all the kids walking out of elementary school and everyone clapping on their way out.

So I Googled it, and I was right. The oldest grade parades out of school on their last day and everyone applauds. I read about moms breaking down at their kids' clap-out. I read about moms THINKING about their kids' clap-out and breaking down. And I suddenly got emotional too.

I cannot believe that we are done with elementary school. Yeah yeah, I only have two kids, but it's gone by so fast. There's no graduation in our school district... no pomp and circumstance, no caps and gowns, no moving up day to the middle school for outgoing fourth graders last week. I suddenly found myself desperately wanting a clap-out, to celebrate my beautiful daughter's accomplishments. I love graduations. I'd cry even if it was the graduation of people I didn't know.

Of course, I'm still proud of the girl. She has a great head on her shoulders. She's confident, smart, funny and a loyal friend. To me, and to her brother, to the husband, to her friends and to everyone. My graduation gift to her? I will regret this for the next, um, forever, but it was her very own Facebook account. A mistake? Probably. I have panic attacks about it constantly. But she's thrilled: It makes her feel grown up for some reason, and she earned it. I'm so happy for her.

But I'll be pissed if I find out that the school district starts doing clap-outs for the fourth graders next year.

An uphill battle

Lost 20 lbs so far!
Yeah!
That was purely from diet change.
Now, I've plateaued.
Have to start going to the gym regularly.
Sigh.
The question is, join the ultra-hip, very popular gym in town, with the state-of-the-art equipment, plethora of group classes, pool, personal trainers, weigh-ins, people from town that I don't want watching me, crazy-high initiation fee, and ridiculous monthly fee,
or,
Use the gym at work, which is conveniently just beneath my office, with people I work with that I don't want watching me, no initiation fee, and free.
Which am I more likely to keep up?
I won three personal training sessions at the really nice gym, and have been going every week. Now it's over. Have to figure out what to do.

A rite of passage

Took the boy to the school district art show at the high school today. Art from all grades were featured. The boy is taking art as an elective and as a "cycle" class this quarter, so he had some work featured there. Some really impressive stuff from kids in town!

We then went food shopping. I was thrilled that the boy was really chatty. I was taken by surprise when he asked me to buy all of the following:

1. Toothpaste
2. Mouthwash
3. Tooth whitening pre-rinse
4. Razors
5. Shaving cream

Sniff. The first razor. OK OK maybe not as significant as the first tooth or the first shoes or the first steps. But!! My baby boy needs a shave!!!