Swim lessons

Me and Jack survived our first few days of swim lessons! Although I was definitely the more nervous of the two of us, I think we both ended up having fun. Jack has even made a friend. He is one sleepy bubba by the time we get back. We have just enough time to eat lunch (another Smitten Kitchen recipe!) and head for nappy nap time. Yesterday, I made the avocado Tartine sandwich which was quite yummy and better yet was made out if some of Jack's favorite foods - avocado and cucumber. 

Hopefully that makes up for the Del Taco we picked up today ha! 

I tackled my next SK recipe tonight - the intriguing Buttered Popcorn Cookie. I was full I anticipation but sadly the cookies fell flat... Really flat. They looked like popcorn filled crepes; don't get me wrong, they were delicious but a little embarrassing to give out at a work meeting so looks like we'll be eating them at home. Lesson learned - don't over beat the eggs, butter, and sugar or you'll be eating a lot of flat cookies by yourself. 

Summer: Day Four

I am not a born cook. But since I lucked out and married one I have developed a liking for cooking. All growing up, my mom constantly tried to entice me into helping her cook in the kitchen; poor woman, I turned her down everytime. So, she is endlessly impressed with whatever I cook, regardless of its quality, since she was afraid I was a lost cause. How times have changed. There has been one cookbook that has recently inspired me. I was first intrigued with Deb Perelman, author of the blog and cookbook Smitten Kitchen, when I heard her discussing her dislike of dust jackets in an interview and I yelled "me too!" into my empty car. I knew i could trust her taste in food as well. As soon a I got her book (thanks, Tracy!), I promptly disrobed it and drooled over those magnificent pictures using it as a coffee table book for the first few days so I could show anyone who came over. The few recipies I have tried out have increased my faith in her tastes as well as my own cooking abilities - if she developed her cooking chops in that tiny New York kitchen, then I was not a lost cause. So one of my goals, created in those first heady days of summer when everything seems possible, is to make at least one thing a week from her cookbook, three things in a good week. This week's first item was the New York breakfast casserole - bagels, red onion cream cheese, tomatoes, and eggs mixed into glory. I made it the night before, but it took quite a while to bake (1:15) in the morning. I was able to pop it in the oven, crawl back in bed, then wake up to the smell of that savory casserole while we snuggled with our little widget in bed. 

It was soo good and did not dissapoint, but we needed about four more people to help us finish the thing off! 

After our delicious breakfast Jack and I decided to check out the library and near by playgrounds, but had our adventure time cut short by Jack's first bee sting which he handled like a champ.

Please note the sock ice pack tied around his little foot. 

Day four - a success dampened only by the bees. Stupid bees. 

Summertime

Just about every job I have had, has afforded me the opportunity to have a summer. And I love it. I have been spoiled rotten and really cannot imagine life without it. Not that teaching is an easy profession at all: There are times where I dream of having a job that allowed me to be done working when I left for the day. I hate having piles of papers to be graded haunt my conscience those moments I find some free time. Trying to cajole middle schoolers to write more and actually read their novels. But I cling to the idea of summer just as much as those students. I am a homebody, content with reading books and soaking in the pool; if that happens simultaneously all the better!  But my always on-the-move toddler has quite the opposite idea of summer fun. So my goal this summer is to live it up...with a toddler in tow.  I have concocted a list of places to go and things to do that will hopefully keep us both happy and sane.