Pennsylvania Vacation, Installment 1

Yo peeps. We just got back from our jaunt into Pennsylvania last night. By my last post, you might be thinking our entire trip was stressful, but it really wasn't. We really only had one very bad day with Noah, and the rest of the time, although he was moody, he wasn't terrible.

We swung down into the Amish country on the way to Pittsburgh, and we all really enjoyed that. There was more to do there than I would have imagined, and I would like to spend more than half a day there the next time we are in the area. There's lots of family-friendly stuff to do. On Friday, the day we arrived, we had dinner at the Plain and Fancy, a restaurant that serves local food. It was recommended to us by some friends who have been there before, and it didn't disappoint. Although it was only one of two restaurants in the area not run by Amish, it was still a good place to stop in. We had some of the local food, which was pretty good. My good friend, Julia, who is from PA, said that a lot of that food is her comfort food. We enjoyed the mac and cheese and chow chow and dried corn, etc., although the flavors are quite mild and sweet compared to what I grew up on. I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed our dinner, judging by the amount we ate!

When we left the restaurant, we hung out on the front lawn, where there was a petting zoo and a swing set. The best part of the whole day, at least in my estimation, was the fireflies that were everywhere on that lawn. I haven't seen fireflies in so long! And there is just a sense of wonder that you have to give in to when you are sitting on a lawn with little sparks all around you. On our entire drive back to the hotel, the fields all along the roads glittered with lightning bugs. It was really neat.

One thing I did not expect to like so much about Pennsylvania was the scenery. I just did not expect it to be so green and verdant. I know they've gotten a lot of rain lately (like we have), and that might have contributed. But my goodness, y'all, it was pretty. And most of PA either has small mountains or rolling hills, which adds interest to the landscape, too. It was just nice. One of the things I noticed in the Amish country, in particular, was how manicured all the farms are. Those people take care of their stuff, I gotta tell you. I never would have imagined how neat-as-a-pin a farm could look, but all of them were exactly that for many miles.

. . . . I think I am going to have to break up my vacation report into a few posts, because our beloved MacBook is on the fritz and I am writing on our really, really old Mac that is really, really slow (which is also why I have no pictures to show you yet). So more on our long weekend later. . . .

Noah's New Word

Well, our little family is on the road right now. We have traveled through the Pennsylvania Dutch Country out to the Pittsburgh area for a cousin's wedding. My parents flew up to Boston in order to make the trip with us, because they thought it'd be fun to spend time with Noah.

Ha! They were in for it. About two days before we left for our trip, Noah started saying a new word: "No."

Because he doesn't have that many words yet, "no" stands in for lots of things. It means, "No, I don't want that," "You are not doing what I want," and most of all, "I am not content with this situation." The latter was demonstrated at length both yesterday and today (we drove about eight hours the first day and about five yesterday). Both days, Noah said--or screeched--"No!" about 47 times a minute for about an hour and a half. There wasn't anything particularly wrong; he just didn't want to be stuck in his seat and was irritable.

Add to that the fact that he has decided he doesn't sleep in the car anymore. So on Friday, we left at 5am (he usually wakes up at 7am), he took a short nap in the car during the day, and he didn't go to sleep until after 10pm (three hours late). He also woke up early the next morning. The net loss of sleep was around six or seven hours over one day, so you can just imagine how rough our day was on Saturday. I am afraid my poor parents are not going to make the joyous memories they thought they would this trip. Noah has just been really irritable and petulant. Nathan said that he felt like yesterday might have been our true introduction to parenting. But with molars coming in, a severe lack of sleep, interruption of his daily routine, and being stuck in a car seat all day (torture for such an active kid), what could we expect?

However, The Boy did sleep well last night, so we are hopeful that today (the day of the wedding) will be better.

Hope all is well with all of you!

It's All Over

It's all over. Oh dear. All, all over. We have decided we can no longer eat out at restaurants with Noah.

Nathan has been saying this for quite some time. He's usually the one walking Noah around the restaurant while I'm shoveling down my dinner. Then we trade for a short while so Nathan can eat, and I pay the bill while Nathan takes Noah outside, because the kiddo can't even stay in one place long enough for us to pay. I am always optimistic that Noah will sit still long enough for us to have a dinner out every once in a while, but as of this weekend, I am finally on Nathan's page.

We went on a jaunt a little ways out of town to get some new running shoes for both of us. Both of our pairs were shot. Nathan's had holes in the soles, and I was starting to get shin splints every time I ran outside, however short the distance. So I found a couple of coupons, and off we went. We ended up getting some shoes we're both really happy with at pretty good prices. And Noah was pretty happy to have one of us walking him around the sports store looking at all the athletic gear while the other parent figured out which shoes to buy. After a short trip into Wal-Mart (always an event, since the closest one is 30 minutes away and we never go), we decided we needed to grab something to eat before we headed home. Noah was evidently not going to make it, and Nathan hadn't really eaten anything all day.

I voted for Olive Garden. Now, I haven't been to Olive Garden since about 1998, but somehow it sounded good to me that day. Besides, it was only like 4:30, and I figured we'd get fast service there, because no one else eats at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Nathan was immediately dubious. He said, "It's just so hard to go out to eat with Noah. I always end up chasing him around the restaurant." I brushed this off, thinking surely Noah would sit still for long enough for us to get some pasta. I figured we could keep him occupied with breadsticks for a good 10 minutes, at least, not to mention the other food I had brought with me for him to eat.

I ended up winning out, so we headed on over to Olive Garden. The first thing we noticed was that the parking lot was remarkably full for 4:30 in the afternoon. Not a good sign. Then we walked inside. (Side note: Why hasn't the Olive Garden decor changed since I was last there, ten years ago? They still have those chairs that look like they belong in the lobby of a dentist's office. Anyway....)

We got ourselves all set up. We ordered drinks, and I got Noah's stick-on placemat situated (one of the best inventions ever). About that time, he started making the motions for "all done." As in, "I don't want to eat. I want to run around." Add to that the fact that Saturday was pretty much the worst day we've had with him in six months, maybe more--maybe ever--in terms of fussiness. The poor kid's molars are killing him. It ended up being a good move to go on an outing in order to let him have a change of scene, but the restaurant was obviously not going to work, considering the fact that Noah was done after we had been there five minutes, it was pretty busy and we learned right away that our waiter was not exactly quick, and we knew a tantrum was imminent. So we threw five bucks on the table for our drinks and left.

It was then that I realized that this just isn't going to work. At all. The days of us being able to go to a restaurant with Noah and have a meal are just over for a while. I have to say that I'm more than a little disappointed, I must tell you. Eating out is really nice for us, not just because it means I don't have to plan a meal or cook or clean the kitchen, but also because it's a nice change of scene for the whole family. I would actually put eating out in the "entertainment" category for us.

So we have another thing to add to the list of stuff we are looking forward to when we move back to Texas: being near family who can babysit so we can go out to eat. :)

Hard Times

So it's been hard times here for my little potted garden. Nathan said that this June has had fewer hours of sun than most Boston Junes, by far. It has been remarkably cloudy, cool, and rainy. Most days don't quite reach 70 (not that I would trade that for the 100-degree weather in Houston right now, but still).

Because of that, my plants are doing only so-so. They are healthy and green, but they just aren't growing that fast.


There was also the pulling-soil-out-of-the-pots-and-throwing-it-incident, which still happens from time to time.

The other hard thing that's going on is teething. This boy has a hard time with teething, anyway--more than most kids. And right now, he is getting at least one molar (I think all four, actually). He was being really, really irritable the other day, as in throwing a tantrum whenever he dropped a cracker in the dirt. I knew something had to be going on other than just an early case of the terrible two's (or at least I really hoped so). Then it became really obvious that his mouth was hurting. Nothing seems to help except for the maximum doses of Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and even that doesn't cut it sometimes. It's just hard to get teeth.


Poor kid. At least he's got a new bus and truck pajamas to help him through it. (He really does love those truck pajamas!)

Let's Go Red Sox!

For Father's Day this year, I got Nathan tickets to a Red Sox game. I would be understating it if I said that it was a good gift. I think he thanked me four times during the first two innings.

Attending a Red Sox game at Fenway Park is a real baseball experience. It is not like going to Minute Maid Park to watch the Astros (or to the Astrodome, which is where we watched them when I was a kid). There is about one hundred years of ambience at Fenway Park, and Bostonians have a passion for their team that is a few notches higher than I've seen in other cities.

The crowd is different at Fenway. You sit much closer together than in other ball parks, since the seats are older (also, it's a small park, as parks go, so they cram as many of you in there as possible). Every seat at every game is filled, and many people buy standing room only tickets. Actually, I bought tickets to this particular game because it was the only one before September with two seats together. People participate totally wholeheartedly in every chant, song, or wave that comes along. The Fenway crowd is remarkably courteous and full of good will, too. They are nice to the opposing team (unless it's the Yankees), and the one time we took the T home from the game, everyone was totally orderly and patient while waiting for a train in a PACKED subway station. I was actually pretty shocked at that. I think the bottom line is that you connect more with the people around you because of your common will for the Sox to do well and your common willingness to heave yourself into tradition.

You sit among a huge variety of people at Fenway, too. You've got the college crowd, couples on dates, families bringing kids, and lots of other groups that you'd see at any ball game. But at Fenway, you also see the die hard fans, the ones who wear very worn Red Sox fleece jackets that match their Red Sox earrings (probably the same people who decorate their living rooms with red and blue, have lively discussions about last night's game over the dinner table, and cry when a beloved player gets traded or retires). You've got the people who you know drove in from Maine or Connecticut because they were lucky enough to get tickets to a game. And you've got the old timers who are thrilled to be spending an evening at Fenway, watching the team the Great Bambino played on, getting a closer look at Pesky's pole, and marvelling at the Green Monster.

There is so much Red Sox lore to know, too. Such as the Curse of the Bambino, which lasted 86 years and was only broken in 2004, when the Sox won the World Series. The year the curse was reversed was our first year in Boston, and I have never seen a city so wild with joy over a sports team. Courtney Schisler's passion for the Houston Astros is the only thing I've ever seen that comes close to Boston's love for the Red Sox.

And I don't know how it started, but Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" is played in the middle of the eighth inning at every home game. And everyone sings along. That song always means "Red Sox" to me. I actually filmed a little bit of it this time:

We had a great time.
Happy Father's Day, Nathan!

My Day Today

• Wake up, find two piles of cat throw up.
• Feed Noah breakfast, make Nathan's lunch, drive Nathan to school early.
• Go to two grocery stores and CVS with a little boy who was dying to get down and run around.
  
• Take a closer look at the fire engine that was parked outside the grocery store. (Noah's reaction: three solid minutes of "OOOOH!")
• Go home, only to find another pile of cat throw up.
• Change a dirty diaper.
• Feed Noah lunch. Scratch that; feed Noah fruit. He wouldn't eat anything else. Be glad he's at least drinking a lot of milk, which is progress.
  
• Put Noah down for a nap. Enjoy the quiet and be thankful not to have to clean up throw up or poop for a while.
• Make a mini meatloaf for Noah's meals this week.
• Also make pasta and some meat sauce for Noah.
• Cut up the large amount of fruit that was bought today. Marvel that it almost fills up all the available tupperware.
• Hear Noah, realize he's awake an hour early. Apparently, a cat thought it'd be fun to sneak into his room, hop up in his crib, and wake him up to play. It looks like they have been playing together for a while.
• Go in, scare the cat out. Ask Noah if he wants to get out of his bed. No, he wants to stay and play for a while. Go get the cat; it seems that she makes a good playmate.
• Change a dirty diaper.
• Give Noah a snack. Fruit, of course. It is the only thing he will eat. Still.
  
• Finish making all the food. Continue doing laundry, which has been going on all day.
  
• Feed Noah dinner at 4:00, because all of a sudden he wants pasta with meat sauce, and it would not be wise to pass up an opportunity to feed him something other than fruit. He eats an amazing amount of pasta.
• Do more laundry. Noah helps make the bed.
• Write a blog post. Lament that "Soufflé Week" consisted of only three soufflés, but y'all, I got tired of them.
• Listen to Noah unloading the bookshelf behind me as I type. Someone tell me this will lose its novelty over time--he does it like once a day.
  

And here will be the rest of my day, or what I think will happen, anyway. You never know what will happen, what with all the fire engines to explore and fruit to devour:

• Get a few things done for dinner. Head out to pick Nathan up from work. Come home, eat.
• Clean up the kitchen.
• Go to book club to discuss Austen's Persuasion. Enjoy time with other women. Enjoy the fact that if there are any bodily fluid issues going on, I'm not responsible for cleaning them up.
  
• Come home, clean up the clutter a little, because our house looks like a tornado came through, as my mom would say.

Lemon Buttermilk Soufflé

I figured that as long as I was making a whole bunch of soufflés and trying to master the technique as a whole, I ought to make up my own flavor.

Since last summer, when I made some Lemon Buttermilk Sorbet, I've liked the combination of those two flavors. So I decided to adapt the Lemon Soufflé from the Joy of Cooking to include buttermilk. What I ended up with tasted lovely, very much like a lemon square. Rather than baking it in one large soufflé dish, I made it in four ramekins and a medium-sized dish. Enjoy!

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Lemon Buttermilk Soufflé

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
grated zest of two lemons
1/2 cup buttermilk
5 large egg yolks
1/3 cup strained fresh lemon juice
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare baking dishes by rubbing softened butter in them and coating them with sugar.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Cook, stirring, for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in milk, sugar, and lemon zest. Over medium high heat, bring just to a boil, whisking constantly. Remove from heat. Let sit for one minute, then stir in the buttermilk.

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks. Very gradually, whisk in the cream mixture. Then stir in the lemon juice.

In another large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and beat until the peaks are stiff but not dry. Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir one-quarter of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish(es) and smooth the top.

Bake until soufflé is well risen and the top is deep golden brown, 20-25 minutes (25-30 minutes if using one large dish).

Enjoy!