J told me one day that to get a recipe shown on America's Test Kitchen that you had to subscribe to Cook's Magazine, which I have always liked but it kind of pissed me off. I forgot about it. I have way too many other recipes that I want to try to lose any sleep over it but....it still sat wrong with me. That they just couldn't share their recipes with the common folk like the food channel and any other businesses concerned with good PR do.

Then I read the post from Appetites about their claim of copyright infringement over a stupid potato salad recipe that some food blogger modified. It made me even more peeoed and I don't think I can watch the show anymore. It makes me sad because I really like the show and enjoy the magazine and even bought their cookbook for J a few years back.

Baby Milestones

I've failed miserably as a mom. I haven't kept up with the LB's milestones as much as I should have. Katrina reeked havoc on my intentions. Not that I didn't document them. Every new tooth, and crawl and step is written somewhere. Either on this blog, in one of the million random notebooks I have around the house or on a piece of paper. It's written down but I don't know necessarily where. I am trying to be better with Master P although I don't even have a baby book for him. Out of the stationery business, out of mind. But I will do it here for now. At the end of 9 months, Pman FINALLY has a tooth-or atleast half of one. AND he finally crawled today on July 29th. (I didn't think it would ever happen especially after W crawled at 6 months) if only 3 steps or whatever you want to call the hand to knee motion. 3-and then he got back on his stomach. He crawled one step early this morning but the 3 steps came this afternoon when W was sleeping. I had a hunch it would happen when big brother was not around to bug the hell out of him. and it did. He was hell bent on getting W's golf club and it obviously warranted a few crawl steps. YAAAAY!!!!! So we are moving along and let this be the official recording.

Anniversary dinner at August

We went to Restaurant August the other night for our anniversary. We also went last year and did the tasting menu but I was pregnant and I was at that really full point in the pregnancy. Because of that I didn't enjoy it and had to sit there in envy while J got the wine pairing with his. I wanted to go back thinking that we would do the tasting menu again.

It really is such a beautiful restaurant. They had huge arrangements of yellow lilies everywhere! They smelled delicious but I could only think that a restaurant that is truly about fine dining shouldn't distract the nose and palate with such a strong flowery smell. similar to waiter's wearing perfume or cologne. But no matter. We were seated far away from the flowers (although I could still smell a hint of them) and near a window. The service was impeccable if a bit too fast. We wanted to enjoy a leisurely dinner and really we were out of there in less than an hour an a half. But who knows, if it were the other way around I may be bitching about that. We decided against the tasting menu. It didn't really jump out at me so we decided to get 2 apps and 1 entree each. This is what I ate:

Baby beet salad with bacon, quail eggs, fried black eyed peas and crabmeat ravigote
This was possibly the best, most well-balanced salad I have ever put in my mouth. I was worried about the lack of salt on the table for my quail eggs but I paired each half with a big honkin' chunk of bacon and a beet and that was the last time I thought about the salt

Besh's signature Black and blue gnocchi
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the portion because I am always wanting for more of this decadence. It was as always delicious although the gnocchi were not as light and melt in your mouth as they have been in the past.

Filet with porcini mushrooms and greens
By the time I got my steak I was stuffed. We were hoping for a reprieve between this course and the last. Time to digest our food and rev up our hunger once again. But here it came, fast and furious. The steak was cooked exactly as I asked. No surprises, a tender steak with mushrooms and greens. I could only eat half and the busboy came back to ask if everything was ok. This happened last year during the tasting. We didn't eat all of one course and the busboy said the kitchen was going to ask why. He seemed a scared to bring the plates back. A bit of arrogance in the kitchen, you think? I know, especially with no salt on the table but I guess they have reason to be.

Ok. But that was about the food. Now I have to talk about something else. If you're not bored, see the next post for my opinion on the state of fine dining today.

Tonight was the night that I was going to transform W into a good eater. I am sooo tired of making 2 dinners or just 2 dinners that require preheating the oven and waiting 30 minutes for the pizza or the chicken nuggets. Tonight W was going to eat carrots and noodles. I steamed the carrots while he was napping and tossed them in butter and salt. They tasted like candy. The noodles I tossed in butter, parmesan cheese and salt and they were delicious. and I gave him 4 potato chips for a lagniappe.

He ate the 4 potato chips. and I didn't give in. He wanted more chips. "After you have 1 carrot and 2 bites of noodles."
He wanted yogurt. "After you have 1 carrot and 2 bites of noodles."
He gave up. He wanted to get down. I made him sit at the table until he had 1 carrot and 2 bites of noodles. No dice, mama. I started to cave. I told him he could get down. Frustrated I told him, "I don't care. If you're not hungry you can get down"
5 minutes later. I want a nana. "After you have 1 carrot and 2 bites of noodles."
J came home. I gave him the speel. The broken record technique.
I went running, came back and J went running.
"I want a nana."
"you can have a nana AND yogurt covered raisins....IF you have 1 BITE of carrot." At this point I had shown my weakness. The war was his to win but I still had some fight left in me. I told him I would take a bite of carrot if he would take a bite at the same time. There I sat with a carrot in my mouth trying to get him to take a bite from the other end. Hysterical laughter, from W. I HAD HIM!!!! or so I thought. I crawled around the floor like an idiot chasing after W with a carrot hanging out of my mouth. Thank God J was running. The story goes on but how did it end, you ask?
He had 4 potato chips, a bowl of goldfish and a banana for dinner.

Decorating nightmare

I want to puke every time I think about decorating this house. I can pour through magazines and show you a bunch of oh so sophisticated rooms that I just love but when it comes to actually pulling it all together-well, I suck. I hired a decorator after Pman was born and she sucked. I spent too much money on a whole lot of nothing. Now it's been a year and half and it's high time we stop living like this. I feel like I'm in college although we don't have any futons, thankfully. I think J had one when we got married but that went out with his bachelorhood.

So anyway, I scour the web for ideas and went to my favorite shop when in Cashiers but after the last fiasco I am dead scared to buy anything. I am frozen from fear. I can't even buy a pillow. But I have become reacquainted with decor8 on the internet. I don't necessarily like her ideas but her blogroll and sidebar links have a lot of good resources. Not that I am buying from them because as I said before, I'm scared. I also remembered Hable Construction. They have cool hand printed fabrics and pillows for the more casual rooms. Great stuff for that beach house in Cabo San Lucas we will buying (right, J?). and maybe our family room.

Venus would be disappointed

I have a new found love for Venus Williams after I saw her beat her sister's ass at Wimbledon. She was kind and gracious to her and Serena acted like such a shit. She pouted through Venus' speech and was really just a sore loser. Anyway, I've taken up tennis again. At one time in life I was pretty good and since being back I have started to have fantasies of me kickin' butt on the beginner tennis circuit. Until today. I went out to play with Uncle RaRa and he ran me ragged. My poor fat ass was running back and forth, huffing and puffing but I have to say I was proud. Then it hit me. The nausea-oh the misery. I just knew I would throw up and when I started seeing spots I kind of started to panic. It lasted about 5 minutes-I won't bore you with the details. but damn, it's gettin' hot in hea! I think between the heat and not having yet had lunch, I just couldn't hang.

I know it was such a rookie mistake. Venus never forgets to eat, ha!

I know I’m not nice. I don’t claim to be although a dream of mine is to be described as “joyful”. I know that’s pretty far fetched too but I’m not rude. I can be, like most people and probably come across as such more often than not but I really do make an effort to meet other moms with kids my same age. In the park, at the pool, at the mall or coffee shop and it seems all I come across lately are rude ones. I know I blogged about this when W was a baby. I thought maybe it was a “new mom with first child syndrome”. I thought I was coming across moms with their 2^nd children so they didn’t really give a crap about us new moms. They thought maybe we were too giddy and excited for their experienced and jaded selves. But being a mom with a second child now I find that I am not like that. I get so excited to come across other moms with babies who are Pmans age. whether they are first timers or not. I ran across one last night. I asked her how old her baby was. Same age as P. Yay! Let’s talk about milestones, I thought! Her baby was clearly walking and moving around where Pman is just barely sitting and not even crawling. She scowled at me and moved on. Whatever. It seems things never change.

I know you're sick of hearing it. I know J is sick of hearing it and I am sick of saying it. That I am starting a healthy way of eating. But today, I really am. There was a small kink in the plan this morning. We went to the mall. It was our outing. Sad, isn't it? But I figured W would enjoy playing in the fountain and I could get a wedding gift for someone who got married almost 6 months ago. He loved it. I had him run "really, really fast" around the fountain a few times to make sure he got good and tuckered out. S and her baby girl met us and we fed the babies then walked over to Cafe du Monde to get coffee. There are no other coffee shops in the mall-ANYONE WANT TO MAKE FORTUNE OPEN A PJ'S IN THE MALL-so I had to settle for a $4.00 iced cafe latte with whole milk. It was delicious-anything with whole milk would be-but I think $4.00 was a bit steep. This ain't the French Quarter. This is Veterans blvd. but I guess they figure they have a captive audience. So that was my slip. Otherwise I have been really good all day.

Yesterday, I made Dr. Ann's homemade granola minus a lot of the nuts she calls for because I didn't feel like buying pine nuts and the like for $17/lb. It was really easy. I took slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and oatmeal. Then I mixed it up with about a quarter of a cup of honey and a tsp. of vanilla extract. Then I baked it in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring about every five. Deeeelicious. I had it this morning with a fresh peach and skim milk. J didn't enjoy it as much as I did. But I am sure it will grow on him.

I've also decided not to take a free day for two weeks which is going to be hard. Free days are a carryover from my long ago Body for Life but they make such much sense. They kind of get you through, keep you going, make you feel like you are not totally depriving yourself of anything good. But lately they have been getting me off track (I've been taking free weekends) so I am going to forgo it for awhile.

I know my fans are really excited about my diet dilemmas but I am sick and tired of it and think about nothing else so I wouldn't be true to you if I didn't post about. I will be a hot mama once again some day. I'll spare you the details for 4 weeks. By then I will be able to give you a good update. Doesn't mean I won't share my healthy dishes and recipes with you. I might even take a photo of my shrimp fricasee tonight. Stay tuned.

Finally sitting

Yay!!! Pman can finally sit for extended periods of time. It makes it much easier to get photos of the two boys. Now we have to work on his expression.

Facebook

I do not get it. I am a fairly new member and I am trying to figure it out. But I just can't. The sad thing is is that it's like crack. I am addicted to it. I sit and wait and wait some more-for new photos, status updates, whatever. I'm like a dog waiting for a bone. If you are not familiar with the Facebook phenomenon I will try and explain it to you. But I am not making any promises that you will understand it any better than I do.

You see, you have friends. Only your friends can see your stuff. And then I guess by using six degrees of separation theory Facebook sends you pictures of people you may know and then you can 'friend' them too. The first few days I was a member I was 'friended' by people that I wouldn't even email. I thought it was so weird. Now I am that crazy stalker trying to get more 'friends'. I am just trying to keep up with the Joneses. The Joneses have something like 400 'friends'. I barely have 17. and that took an effort.

Anyway, my point is..I sit and wait for these status updates. Let me give you an example of a status update:

Jane is just finished taking a dump.
Bill is going out to dinner.
Amanda is about to go party with her friends.

That's what I sit waiting for. and when there is an update. Wahooooo! I get so excited. But pissed at the same time. Pissed that I have checked this stupid thing 10 times in the last 30 minutes and even more peeoed that I am excited that I just found out that Jane just finished her business.

If anyone can shed some light on this phenomenon for me, I would be most pleased.

Today we went to the coffee shop. It's been awhile because we've been doing a lot of swimming but I needed a break from exposing my pale white fat thighs in a bathing suit so we did coffee instead. It doesn't have the same allure to W as it did when he was 18 months but he enjoyed his cookie just the same. When it was gone he used one of my techniques on me.
"Five more minutes", he said. Meaning that it was almost time to go and he was giving me a warning. 2 minutes later he said,
"Les go"

There was a mom and kid (probably W's age) having coffee and bagels. She rushed him on out of there after she had slathered the bagel with cream cheese. He could barely keep up as she rushed out the door and he dropped his bagel cream cheese side down. He was sad and she hadn't realized what had happened until she saw my face. So she walked back in, said, "I told you to use 2 hands!", picked up the bagel, took a napkin and gave the top layer of cream cheese a once over. I was horrified. Like she couldn't either a. get another one or b. get the other half out and slather it with the cream cheese. Where was she going in such a rush?

Then I remembered...the day that W was shaking his bag with his newly bought muffin. It fell out and skidded across the floor. Boy, I was peeoed. I told you not to shake it!!!! So I picked it up and promptly picked off the top of the muffin. I wasn't in a rush. Nope, no place to go either. So there you have it. Here I was judging this poor lady and I had basically done the same thing 2 months earlier. Judge not lest ye be judged. Is that the expression?

What a week

I mean, what a week. I didn't think I'd make it through. We had to drive back from N.C. and that took us 11 hours and 6 min. door to door. and on top of that I had to say goodbye not only to DeDe, the Bachelorette but also to the Real World Hollywood gang. A really hard week. I am not sure what to think about DeAnna's outcome. It all seemed a bit staged but I haven't thought about it much since. The Real World on the other hand...God, I love it. Since I was 20 I have said I would do anything to be on it and I still haven't changed my mind. I am steadfast in the belief that I would make for good tv. But I guess now I am classified as an "aged mother" which is what the doctors classify me as when having a baby. But I don't feel like it when in the context of the Real World. I can still whoop it up with the best of them and I know I would be one of the best characters on the show. I swear, I may be 37 but I can hang with any 20 year old if my life depended on it. The partyin' and the drama and the fun and the bonds they make.....OH MY GOSH! I can't stand the thought that the Real World passed me up.

I'm serious.

Oh say can you see

We had a fabulous 4th of July in the mountains of North Carolina and I am so glad we made the 11 hour trek up there and back. Flying is such a hassle although driving is much more tiring, I think making a road trip was the way to go.

W had a ball-swimming at the lake, going on a hike, riding in the golf cart and hanging out at the inn and at Mimi and Papa's.

The highlight of the trip for all of us, I think, was at the Friday night barbecue where we saw the most beautiful fireworks while the symphony played. I never thought that fireworks could give me that much joy until I saw them through the eyes of William.

He took it very seriously when they played the Star Spangled Banner. Here he is with his hands over his heart.