Black Cat BBQ Debut

The second annual Pearl Beach BBQ Cook-Off was a success!  Not necessarily a won-first-place kind of success, but a good-time-had-by-all-rain-held-out success.

There were briskets, ribs, and lots of catching up with family.

Cousin time included the backbreaking entertainment of digging a giant hole in the yard.  What began in the morning with digging up a treasure that was buried last summer turned into an all day quest to dig a hole deep enough to bury a wagon.  My sincere apologies to my parents for destroying an 8’x10’ patch of lawn.

The true measure of fantastic barbecue is not winning a barbecue cook-off or getting featured in Texas Monthly or having a line outside your restaurant every Saturday.  Fantastic barbecue is your family and friends enjoying it and everyone smelling like smoke.

Check and check!

Mr. Good Time

Trent is deep in preparation for his upcoming second ever barbecue cook-off.  Here he is last year at his first ever barbecue cook-off:

Maybe right now you’re thinking, “I didn’t know Trent wore glasses!” 

Trent has better than perfect eyesight, but can be kind of a major pill if he’s losing at dominos or a board game.  The trick to keeping Fun Trent around is for him to wear his Good Time Glasses, a pair of 3D glasses with the lenses punched out.  With the Good Time Glasses, his mood stays elevated.  He’ll be wearing the glasses for the barbecue cook-off as well.

House of Candy Cards

I’m trying not to say, “I don’t have time for that.”  It’s not that I don’t have time for things, it’s that I, like everyone, have a limited amount of time for everything.  So I’m prioritizing.  Reading to all the kids before naps and bedtime is a priority.  Sitting at the table together for dinner is a priority.  Me getting dressed before breakfast is a priority.  Kids being dressed on a rainy non-school day is negotiable. 

In college, one of my classmates was adamant that every to-do list should include every single thing you have to do during the day, like taking a shower or eating lunch.  She had heard that no matter how many things you put on a to-do list, on average people will complete 80% of the list.  So the more items on the list, the more you accomplish. 

I finally realized that my to-do lists need to have everything I actually need to do during the day, not just what would be nice to complete at some point.  I need to be able to cross things off my list.  So instead of filling a list with dust ceiling fans, bake Mexican chocolate cookies, sort through the brazillian pictures on our computer, I now have the sense to fill my list with the things that actually need to be completed, for real.  Now all my lists start with Kids Dressed, Kids Teeth Brushed, Feed Holly (five times), Unload/Reload Dishwasher.  Then I can add Replant Herbs or Put Away Winter Clothes to the list.  Morale has improved.

I always see people post pictures of their babies with what I call “the month stickers” on, smiling babies propped up on crisp blankets in the bright sunlight.  So much subtle (?) pressure to capture picture perfect moments!  A friend gave us a pack of stickers when Holly was born and here’s how that’s going for us:

1 Month was also Tate’s birthday.  Look how tiny she was!  We barely ever saw those tiny, skinny legs; they were all wrapped up for December and January in footed onesies and double swaddles.

2 Months was taken during the post dinner, pre bedtime window. 

All I know about 3 Months is that Tate is in his pjs for bedtime and Holly is for whatever reason still awake and in clothes.  It’s not that I don’t have time to stage a major photo shoot (and by that I mean dress her in a plain onesie and take some pictures by a window),  it’s just that it never makes it to the top of the list.  All day I’ll think in a few minutes I’ll get the picture, then all of a sudden it’s the end of the day.

No regrets.  It’s capturing our real life.

Contrary to Popular Belief

Last week at HEB, I picked up a bag of broccoli slaw because it was on sale.  I checked the back to see if there was a recipe for a sauce to go on it and the recipe listed was for broccoli slaw enchiladas.  It sounded simple and all the other ingredients sounded good, so I decided to pick up everything else we needed and make them.   I mean, why not?  (Why not?  Because it’s broccoli enchiladas.)

There was at least a 90% chance that the highest rating we would be able to give these was that they were edible but we were never making them again.  Because it wasn’t something where you make fake enchiladas with a béchamel sauce and lasagna noodles and broccoli slaw.  These had corn tortillas and enchilada sauce…and broccoli and carrots.

They were fabulous. 

They were make-them-again fresh and delicious and just the slightest hint cabbagey from the red cabbage in the slaw.  One of my life mottos is that there’s no wrong way to eat cabbage, and that is definitely true here.  It seems like it wouldn’t all work, but it does.  I’m endorsing it so much that I’m posting the recipe. 

I change something in every recipe almost every single time, but here I followed it.  (Mostly)  It’s one of those recipes that I think has to have all the pieces to work.  There can’t be any I don’t like cilantro, I don’t like black olives.  Commit to the whole recipe if you so chose.  Broccoli enchiladas.  Really.

I’m posting the recipe because I endorse it.  It might be the first recipe I’ve printed here, if that means anything to you.

Broccoli Slaw Enchiladas
yields 12

12 oz HEB Broccoli Slaw (obviously it doesn’t have to be HEB, but it’s their recipe)
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup red onion, diced
1 cup cilantro, minced
12 corn tortillas
12 oz enchilada sauce
12 oz reduced fat shredded cheddar jack cheese (we used regular cheese –it’s enchiladas)
6 oz sliced black olives, drained

Place bag of broccoli slaw in the microwave on high for 3 minutes.  (Note:  If there is one thing I learned in the petrochemical industry, it’s don’t microwave plastic.  But did I microwave the bag?  Yes, guilty.)  Pour into a bowl.  Add garlic powder, onions, and cilantro and toss all ingredients together.  Wrap tortillas in a paper towel and microwave for 2 minutes. To assemble, dip entire warm tortilla in enchilada sauce, coat both sides.  Fill with mixture of slaw and shredded cheese.  Wrap tightly and place seam side down in a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas, top with shredded cheese and black olives.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Remove and let sit 5 minutes, then serve.  AND ENJOY!

The other new food I *invented* (of course other people have made this) last week is a sandwich that is going on the menu of my vegetarian sandwich shop as The Nursing Mother:  wheat bread, peanut butter, chocolate chips.  Every time I unscrew the peanut butter lid, I hear Personal Trainer Nick’s voice, “You should only be eating peanut butter if you are trying to gain weight.”  Do not try it, because you can’t untaste it.

Open A New Window

The world of sewing little girls’ clothes has been opened!  It’s the best part of quilting (picking out fabric) plus the fun of making rag dolls (minus the pain of sewing on the hair).  Plus the whole project goes relatively quickly.  And there is a whole world of trim to be explored:  rick rac, lace, ruffles, sequins…it’s going to be fun.

The first pattern I tried was the simplest.  I tried to start with a fabric that would be forgiving in terms of patterns matching up at the seams and something that wouldn’t overwhelm a very little girl.  It’s pretty roomy and probably won’t fit Holly until the summer.

The next dress was a little more complicated:  lined, with a sash that ties in the back, and a zipper.  There was one step of the pattern that I didn’t totally grasp, so I skipped it, thinking I would go back and figure it out.  That never happened, so I did end up hand sewing some of the lining in the end.  It also meant that I had to rig the zipper to fit it in.  Thankfully I’ve had enough practice on zippers with bags.  It all worked out in the end. 

If there is one thing I learned from Catholic high school, it’s how to sew a hem.  It was the nineties and the days of Britney Spears and Oops! I Did It Again, but we weren’t going that short.  We were just trying to fix the awkward length produced by the uniform company.  My mom has always been adamant that we never sew a hem on a machine, always by hand.  She would help with the uniform skirts, but my sister and I had to sew our parts too.  Those pleats stretched out into a ton of fabric.  There were many nights spent with my mom and sister around the kitchen table, turning up the hem of a plaid skirt.  Just like Little House in the Big Woods, right?

The third dress was made with my newww ser-ger!  (Can I get a “new serger” in a Bob Barker Price is Right voice?)  I’ve used a serger before, but it was a little overwhelming to sit down and figure out how to get everything set up.  Thankfully Trent’s mom and sisters were in town recently and we spent hours at the kitchen table getting everything threaded and the tension worked out.  By “we” I mean that at some point I moved to the living room to feed Holly, then ended up reading a magazine while Trent sat with them and worked on the tension.  It does take a village.  A few days later I was able to sit down and make another dress, alternating between my sewing machine and the serger.

I might end up overdoing it on the ric rac.  Why not?  Who else but a little girl can wear so much ric rac?

In trying to take a picture with my phone of Holly modeling the dress…

and we were constantly photo bombed by Panther.

I will admit that I am not getting enough sleep.  It has been so fun making these little dresses, but now it’s time to take a few days to get to bed at a decent hour.

Speaking of things I learned, or didn’t learn, in school, Rush and Tate had dinosaur week at their school last week and were talking about fossils in the car.  I told them we could see if they still sell trilobite fossils at the Museum of Natural Science.  (You could buy them 23 years ago, so certainly they still sell them.)  My dad chaperoned a museum field trip when I was in 4th grade.  In the gift shop, most of the girls were buying shiny hologram bookmarks.  I wanted one too, but my dad came over with a handful of trilobites.  In the words of Jimmers, Why get a bookmark for $2 when you can get a fossil for $2?  I have always been thankful for my dad steering me towards things like that.

Too bad our conversation in the car continued with Rush asking what a trilobite is.

“It’s like an old timey bug.”

Wrong.  Or is it?  And I am not kidding, I took a geology class in college completely about dinosaurs.  Old timey bug.  I should keep working on my sewing skills, because my fossil knowledge isn’t going to pay for college tuition around here anytime soon.