Mamarati

So, the buckwheat waffles were completely and totally stuck to my waffle iron like nothing I’ve ever seen. The batter was like snot. It was so odd. I’ve never seen quite this consistency before. I had to scrape the bits out with a bamboo skewer. And this is a nonstick waffle iron that was lubed up.

I thought I’d try pancakes instead. The book suggested using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. I own several of these. The small one is my favorite (I think it’s 6 inches, which is perfectly average. Ha.) I’ve had this thing forever. It couldn’t be more seasoned unless I spent a week deep frying butter in lard.

And still, the pancakes stuck to the skillet so much that I couldn’t even get a spatula underneath them to even get them out of the pan. So I let the pan cool and filled it with water. Half an hour later, I go to wash the pan and I turn it to dump the water out. The pancakes are still stuck to the pan, wholly intact and hardly even phased by the water.

So I still have some of the pancake batter left and I decide to try it in a teflon pan and they don’t stick this time. But they weighed about 80 pounds a piece. And these were tiny little silver dollar pancakes. I haven’t gotten the verdict from Jacob yet on how they ended up tasting.

So far, Jacob has been great at giving me feedback on foods. Cooking is kind of one of those things for me… I really like to do it, but food is expensive so I don’t like to screw it up. I have some guilt in that area. And then I hate serving things to my family that don’t taste good. And I never get a “this tastes like crap” response on any of my cooking, so I wonder if everyone is just being nice or if I’m really an OK cook or what.

Anyway, I told Jacob that I need to make sure that I get absolutely honest feedback with suggestions for improvement… examples of why something didn’t taste good or whatever. It helps that he spent a lot of the summer in the kitchen with me cooking like crazy. He learned a lot of things about food and how it all works together, consistency and texture, color, flavors that go and those that don’t go so much… So hopefully that will make these dishes work at some point.

I’m about to say screw buckwheat, though. That stuff is weird.

I’m also having a hard time finding buckwheat noodles that are all buckwheat and no standard wheat. It seems that Korean noodles don’t have any wheat, so I’m going to have to ask David where to find some of those since he’s my go-to guy on all things in that sphere. (Hint, Hint)

Ok, I can’t take it any more. Now like, millions of pounds of ground beef are being recalled. I just ate at Steak -n- Shake, which isn’t affected by the recall, but you know…

You don’t know. That’s the point.

Food is freaking me out these days. It really really is.

And with all this diversified rotary diet stuff that Jacob has to do… it’s like, I’m becoming so much more aware of just how awful the crap in food is. I was dreading this change but now I’m looking forward to it. It will be nice to eat a food that is just a food. A single ingredient. Not a mash-up of 20 things I can’t pronounce and don’t know where it came from but chances are it came from corn.

Corn sucks. You farmers need to grow something else already.

And it just brings home that gripe that I have about eating out… that everything tastes the same. That it all tastes like it came from Sysco or some other giant corporate food service entity. It’s because it is all the same. It’s the same shit over and over and over again, just in different quantities.

And then I cook something at home that doesn’t have corn syrup or a lot of that crap in it and everyone is oohing and aahing over how good it is and how different it tastes from all those “home cooking” places. Bullshit. If I cooked like that at home, I’d get kicked out of the kitchen.

(sigh)

So, I have finally given up on Apple Mail.

There’s lots of giving up going on around here lately, no?

So, anyway, I recently got a Dell because of the superior voice recognition software that came loaded with Vista. After the accident and still on my worst days or parts of even my good days, it is a miracle.

Switching over from my Mac, however, was not a blessing.

Jacob was excited about it, because that meant he got the Mac, which is a little iBook and it pretty much rocks. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I gave up on the former theme. It kept not loading fully and I just could not track down the problem. I am not the biggest fan of this one, but I’m all about the “easy button” so there ya go.

Monday is Jacob’s allergy appointment. We will figure out more about the corn and egg allergy then, and see what kind of diet he’s going to have to follow and for how long. Read the rest of this entry »

So, we’re talking about people who don’t use technology. This is a hard concept to understand for my kid.

I’ve worked on the Internet in some form or another since he was born. His dad is a network admin. His stepmom is a laptop-toting writer. My boyfriend is a total computer nerd.

Jacob owns two laptops and all manner of other tech goo.

So, I’m trying to describe people who, either by choice or not, don’t use computers, don’t have email addresses, don’t know what IMing is… and he says:

“What do you mean, they’re like Vegans?” Read the rest of this entry »

So, I wish that over the years I’d been a smart mom and had written down all the funny things my kid has said. I thought I’d remember them all. Right. I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast.

Anyway — here’s a few:

Music Class — In his music class the teacher wanted them to all hold hands and sing a song. Now, why on earth a teacher would want these 6th graders to hold hands is completely beyond me. I personally think that kids can hold hands during songs until about 4th grade and then they can start it again about senior year. In the years between, no forced hand-holding should really be happening. It’s just awkward, embarrassing moments waiting to happen, no? Read the rest of this entry »

So, Jacob just got tested yesterday for allergies.

I’m floored.

He’s allergic to friggin’ everything on the planet.

Here’s a list of some of the fun things: Read the rest of this entry »

So…

I’m exhausted today.

And…

I hate to say it, but I can’t wait for school to start.

School for me, you might ask? No.

School for my kid. Read the rest of this entry »

Jacob and I’s first major production together.

Haha.

Today Jacob and I made a pie. There’s a story behind the pie that I will tell later when my arm isn’t killing me and I’ve rested a bit.

First, the pie crust… which tasted so good… crispy good and without using shortening!

The recipe: My No Roll Pie Crust

It’s awesome because the dough comes out like the softest most pliable playdough. You just press it into the pan. No rolling or anything. Very smooshy. Very good for people who have a jacked up arm.

And then, the pie recipe: Nestle Tollhouse Walnut Pie (aka Black Cat Pie)

Pictures:

The recipes: Dark Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

So, this turned out really good… the cake especially. Jacob loved cracking the eggs (what else is new?) and measuring. He’s getting really good at leveling off the flour and watching out for little measurements like baking soda and stuff.

The frosting was a bit more peanutbuttery than I expected, but it was still good and the entire cake was finished off in about five days.

The pan… it’s such a special pan: Baker’s Edge… the boyfriend got it for me and it’s so easy to cut up a cake or brownies or lasagna or cheesecake or whatever.

Darrin’s favorite cake is a pineapple upside down cake. When we were married I used to make him a version that was basically just out of a box.

This year, I asked Jacob what he wanted to get his dad for Father’s Day and he said he wanted to make him this cake. I’ve been shying away from cake mixes because of all the trans fat and crap that they have in them, plus it’s high time I bake like I oughta since I have pans and blenders and stuff now. (This is what happens when you grow up. You buy pans and kitchen utensils and can actually cook real food.)

So I found this recipe: Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in an Iron Skillet

I had to cut it down because the skillets I have are ginormous or baby sized. I switched it from 6 to 4 servings (based on other folk’s pictures and pineapple-configuration-based math) and it turned out perfect for the baby skillet, and pretty, too.

Jacob did nearly everything, but as usual the best part aside from sharing it with his dad was: “Cracking the eggs, of course!”