More about fish tacos

Well, apparently I have my Texas family members all abuzz about fish tacos. It's a California thing....from Mexico. This website explains the default on fish tacos. I don't do this, but it's good food entomology.
http://foodluvin.com/2008/06/ensenada-style-baja-fish-tacos/

We use corn tortillas because they're lower fat, but flour hold up better. Try one of each! I like a firm white fish...tilapia, mahi mahi, swordfish. And I like the method of cutting the fish into strips first, and then cooking it in a non-stick skillet...we had them that way at Bob's cousin Brenna's house on our recent trip to CA. Or you could just grill one big piece and cut it up. Or even use shrimp, pan sauteed. You can Google around and find the spices to use...I don't think it matters much, it's more about the salsa and/or the sauce and other accouterments you use. Last time we marinated it in a dry rub of garlic, cumin, salt , pepper and a little chili powder and EVOO. At the other end of the spectrum, I've also made them with corn tortillas, breaded fish sticks, tarter sauce and cabbage and they were equally wonderful, just not exactly healthy.

And here's a picture of Parker and Boris for the addicts. The Easter Bunny brought Boris, he is her first cat stuffed animal. At the time, we were reading Mama Cat Has 3 Kittens, and in it, there's a cat that looks just like this one, named Boris, and we got a big laugh out of that....so she's been Boris ever since. She sleeps with him nearly every night, in a tight head lock. He's just the right size to fit perfectly in the crook of her arm.

scooter and yummy salsa

After years of asking her if she wanted one, Parker finally decided she'd like a scooter. All the neighborhood kids zip around on them, and we were surprised she didn't want one sooner. It looks like such fun. She got the 3 wheel version. If she masters this, we'll get a 2 wheel kind. She mostly rides it in the house unfortunately. Usually round and round me while I'm trying to prepare dinner, while singing and asking me questions.

A couple people commented on my posts about stuff I make for dinner, so here's a picture of some salsa we made for fish tacos. I'm not trying to enter the cooking blog arena though, trust me. It's grilled pineapple and tomatillo - it was great on the fish tacos, but it was also good just with chips and would be good atop plain black beans too.

First Bob grilled the fresh pineapple. I bet it would work with the canned kind too.

All blended up in the food processor.

Recipe - makes a huge bowl full:

Grilled Pineapple-Tomatillo Salsa
15	tomatillos, peeled and washed
3	(1/2-inch-thick) slices pineapple
2	chipotle chiles in adobo
1/4	c. fresh cilantro leaves
3	T. honey
1	onion, finely diced
1/2	t. salt
Combine tomatillos, chipotle chiles, cilantro, and honey in a blender and pulse until a bit chunky. Transfer to a bowl. Dice the grilled pineapple into 1/8-inch pieces and add to the tomatillo mixture, along with the diced onion and salt. Place in refrigerator to chill, or serve warm.

Progress Report

Here's a quick update progress report on the family room remodel. We replaced the old windows and door and added recessed lighting....

BEFORE

AFTER


And we had new cabinets built on the other side of the room. The old cabinets were in the opposite corner (on your right when you walked in the door). These are on your left when you walk in. There are drawers that go on the fronts in the middle, they're just not installed yet. The picture doesn't really do them justice...they look really nice and will look even better when painted I'm sure.

BEFORE (nothing)

AFTER (in progress)

And here's a Parker pic so no one has a fit. This is her and her waitress game that she played NON-STOP for a week. Notice the detail....she has a pad and pen to take your order (I have an old sushi menu she uses) and she insists on having a dishtowel tucked into the back of her pants. She's seen waiters do this to use when handling hot plates. There was much hysteria when she tried to play waitress in her nightgown and didn't have anywhere to tuck in her dishtowel. She's using a little wooden sushi set... they have velcro in the middle so she can pretend to slice them and everything. After sushi, she serves (toy) ice cream, and then brings the check and runs your credit card. And then we start over.

Garden (and Parker's) Growth

We had a super busy week last week. Construction finally got underway on the playroom. The new lighting, new windows and new door were installed. Tomorrow, hopefully, the "mud people" will come and the cabinets are being installed this week too. I'll post some progress pictures after the mud folks are done. Just the new windows have made a HUGE difference in how light and bright it is in there now.

On Thursday Parker had her 4 year old "well visit" or checkup. She's continuing to grow along her same growth curve, and she's in the 25th percentile for both height and weight and BMI. And her blood pressure is normal. They also checked her blood sugar and iron levels with a finger stick, because I said that she seems like she has low energy some of the time. We don't have the results yet, but I suspect she'll be diagnosed as 'lazy'...or another polite medical term meaning lazy. I'm making an effort to boost her stamina.

The garden is limping along. Parker and Bob planted sunflowers, and one is finally blooming. I've had several tomatoes and cucumbers and dill and we also have some jalapeño peppers but they're pretty tiny since they're in the shade of the sunflowers. The other day I made a yummy ziziki sauce using cukes and dill from the garden. Pretty thrilling. Next year I'm going to try zucchini and squash and eggplant.

Striking a pose for the sunflower picture:

Cucumber - I planted the english kind that have a thin skin. Very yummy.

Green tomato. I should have picked this one green....the birds found it when it turned red. They've taken care of my grasshopper problem though, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I'm getting a net next year though.

My garden clogs. Army green with ladybug jibbitz.

July 4th and swimming breakthrough

We had a great 4th of July! Our neighborhood has activities all day, beginning with a little parade. People decorate their golf carts, mowers and bicycles and toss candy. It's very cute. After that, Bob, Parker and the neighbors went up to the pool and did lots of playing in the water. For dinner, we went to our friend's house and did more swimming (see video!) and then back to the neighborhood to watch fireworks. Everyone congregates at the pool cabana, and there's a band and dancing, and people bring their own fireworks and set them off over the lake. It's a ton of fun, and Parker lasted until 11pm! We really soaked it up this year and had a great time.

The parade

SWIMMING! At swim lessons, Parker learned to swim underwater all the way across the pool, but it's been pulling teeth to get her to do just a couple strokes under water at home. Yesterday at our friend's house, she finally just went for it, and swam over and over and over again while we cheered. She's very proud of herself.....and we're super thrilled too.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Summer Vacation 2008

We made our annual trip to California a couple weeks ago. We left early on a Saturday morning, and finally got home Sunday night, 8 days later. We had planned to get home the Saturday before...but because of storms in Dallas, our flight was canceled as we were boarding the plane! Luckily, quick-thinking Bob started dialing the 1-800 number as soon as he heard the word "canceled" and we were able to get on a flight the next day. So we rented a car and drove back to Escondido to Bob's cousin's house and stayed another night there. It was nice to get to spend some time on the beach, and also to see other areas of CA....citrus trees, mountain views, etc.. Avocados are 5/$1 there.

Incidentally, the directions to Bob's cousin's house sound like this: "you take the 5 to the 8 to the 163 to the 15". For some reason, in California, they put "the" in front of their highways....instead of "I" like we do. I thought the Texas folks might find that regional difference interesting.

We stayed in a condo in between the beach and the bay (Mission beach/bay) - it had a nice courtyard where Parker could play with her cousins, and was about a half a block from either the calm water of the bay, or the waves on the beach. Parker preferred the waves, surprisingly, but she tired out pretty quickly. This year, instead of going home for naps, Bob's sister loaned us her 'nap tent', and Parker would crawl in it when she was tired of the sun or wind or of being awake. It worked really well.
Bob's sister and her family also came down, and we had a lot of fun visiting with them, and Parker loved playing with Lexie. So all together, Bob saw his Grandmother, 3 aunts (or 1 aunt and her 2 sisters....how does that work?), his uncle, 2 cousins and their husbands and their kids, and his sister, brother in law and niece and nephews. Phew! Lots of folks!

Here are some pictures. There are many more uploaded to a web album if you're interested.
http://picasaweb.google.com/CGPost/2008SAnDiego?authkey=TZKRuENfbvk
Hopefully you can just view it without logging in or anything. If not, email me.

Family portrait



Playing in the waves at the beach.

Parker and Bob going to the waves

Parker and Lexie playing with baby dolls

On the swing

Chasing waves with Mackenzie and Bob

Demo day

Today, after years of talking about it, we finally began construction on the playroom/family room renovation. And by 'construction', I mean deconstruction. And by 'we', I mean the guys in this picture. As it turns out, carpenters get really jumpy when working around old wiring and someone does flash photography when they're not expecting it. Whoops.
They tore out all the old paneling and cabinets today, and soon an electrician will add some new lighting. Then we'll have new texture and paint, and new wainscoting and new built-ins. New windows and a new door too. Yahoo!
Ideally, I would not have schedule this so soon after returning from a vacation. Yesterday was ROUGH with Parker afflicted with severe jetlag and me needing to completely empty this room of 4 years of toy accumulation. We got it done though. I'll try and have vacation pictures up soon.

Home again

We're home! We've been in California all week, and we're finally back. Pictures to follow soon!

Happy Birthday!

Last weekend was Parker's birthday party - she is very happy to finally be 4 like her friends. To count down the days until her big day, we made paper chain - one link for each day - and tore one off each night. I had Bob take a picture of it.....but forgot to ask him to make her bed or brush her hair first.


For her party venue, she chose a bounce house place, Pump It Up Jr, which has smaller stuff for younger kids. She's been to a couple other parties here, and enjoyed it I guess, so that is what she chose. She really had a ball, and all her friends had a great time too.

Leading the pack.....

Group picture....she had a good turnout.

This is the big chair she sat in to sing Happy Birthday. She was worn out at this point, and got stage fright when it was time to blow out the candles, so I had to do it. She refused.

We opened gifts at home...a new Barbie nightgown, and some lipgloss w/ a clutch purse carrying case were among her gifts.


After gift opening, we went out for a family dinner. Here's the clutch purse in action:

Loving the pool

I'm still working on birthday pictures.....here's a pool picture in the meantime.

Parker is LOVING pool. This picture really isn't accurate, because she's in the baby pool with goggles on, neither of which she'll do now. She wants to be in the 'big pool', and wants me in with her....no floaties. Last year, she wouldn't go NEAR the big pool if there were other kids there, but this year, she's over that, thankfully. I guess.
The shallow end is low enough for her to touch bottom along the edges, so she spends most of her time bobbing up and down, back and forth along the edges. She's trying to teach herself to swim WITHOUT putting her face in the water, so she's hopping up and bicycling her arms and legs and then landing again. Today she did that for 2 hours, and the bottoms of her toes are raw. She took a great nap though.
Otherwise, she likes me to hold her stomach and swim her around while she kicks and paddles her arms. Still with her head up though. Either way, this is waaaaaaay more time in the pool than I spent all of last year I think.
She is also taking swimming lessons this week and next. These are old-school lessons, where you go under the first day, no matter how much you're screaming. Today was her 4th lesson, and the first day she didn't cry going in and have to be peeled off of me. When we did lessons when she was 2, it was the same way. She hated it at first, but by the second week, she liked it. The trick is going to be convincing her to swim underwater at home, not just at lessons. I told her that as soon as she could swim underwater, she could go down the slide at the pool, and that has really motivated her. Hopefully she'll put it all together soon. Stay tuned.

Ballet Recital

This weekend was the big ballet recital. Apparently, it's recital season for everyone, and dancers across the metroplex have been working on their recital numbers for months now. And Parker's class is no different. We got things rolling with a dress rehersal friday night. I was super worried about this because it meant leaving her back in the dressing room until time for her dance....her class was the eighteenth one to go. There were teen assistants assigned to each class, so I knew she'd be fine, but wasn't sure if she'd freak out or not. She had no issue with me leaving her, thank goodness.

Parker and dressing room chaos:

The next morning was the big show, and again I was super nervous. She has really done great all year in ballet, especially considering she is the youngest one in her class by a year at least. She keeps up and tries very hard and does a great job...and not just by a mom's standards. But as recital time grew closer, she's had a few freakout/meltdown issues at dance class....refusing to dance, running out of the room crying and balling up in my lap, etc. So it was anyone's guess if she was going to totally freeze or not.

But she did great!!!
And neither one of us cried or wet our pants.

She's the 4th one from the left.

I have some very grainy video of her that I'll try to get posted. I have to do some editing on it, so it might be a while. We chose not to buy the professional video for her 2 minute performance. Not did I get the professional pictures done...although I might take her up to JCPenney and get a picture in her outfit. It is amazing how much money you can spend on recital if you take all the options. And the bigger girls do TWO dances....so 2 costumes, etc, etc.

Afterward we went out to eat and got ice cream. In costume of course.

Another tradition is to give your dancer flowers afterward. Conveniently, I could order them in advance and pick them up at the show. Bob presented her with her roses afterward, and she also got a metal on stage when they did their final bow. She really liked that part - all the dancers come out and they introduce the groups ("Tinkerbells") and the do a big bow holding hands. The back of her metal says "Parker - First Year".

The next day when she woke up,
she said "do we get to do recital again?" and was very annoyed when I said no. We're going to take a break from ballet this summer....namely a break from driving her talkative self across town and back every week....and start back up in the fall when school starts. I hope she gets as much enjoyment out it next year as she did this year.

Happy Birthday Paula!!

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Memorial weekend

We stayed home for Memorial weekend....but we had plenty to do around the house to keep us busy. Bob cleaned out the garage, and Parker kept him company riding her 3-wheeler while wearing her slippers and a ballerina skirt.

On Sunday night we broke out the Slip-N-Slide. Parker was THRILLED with it....although she's not quite coordinated enough to slide very far. She sort of runs to the end and falls down. But she has a ton of fun doing it, and it really wears her out.

This is her starting to run....she rares back like a baseball pitcher and then takes off.

Water collects at the end and makes a big splash.

Then she runs back for more.

Today's exciting event was Bob dismantling the freezer. For months now it's been leaking at the bottom, so he took the whole thing apart to fix the clog in a water line that was causing it to leak. At least we're crossing our fingers that will fix it. That might not sound like a fun holiday event to you, but if it's actually fixed, and we won't ever walk into the kitchen first thing in the morning and step into a puddle, it will be way worth it!