A Fun Lunch

Picture this... its a rainy day, it's cold outside, it's mid-January, and we've been cooped up in this freakin' house since November. To make matters worse, the Steelers didn't make the post season so watching the NFL Playoffs is depressing, too. The answer... Creative Activities!

Needless to say - the kids are starting to get stir crazy so, being on a cooking kick recently, I tried to find something fun that we could all make for lunch... together. This is what I came up with: Turkey and Ham sandwich wraps! Woo hoo!

This lunch was a total family effort. Step one is to put out all of the crap. We used some baby spinach, sliced turkey, sliced ham, flour tortillas, nickels (not pictured) and a cheese spread that was made with a 6.5 oz container of Alouette Light Garlic & Herb Cheese Spread and 1/2 cup of roasted red peppers - all chopped up - and then mixed together with the spread.


I gave each kid a little container of the cheese spread so that they could smear it on themselves. (Sammy used mayo because his sense of adventure isn't quite as profound as his brothers' and sisters'.) Here is Ella smearing away...

The first thing we did after smearing was to place a slice of ham on the tortilla. Robby took this part VERY seriously:

Next is the spinach... which is a tricky thing. It's only tricky because it's spinach... and, well, 5 & 7 year old kids tend to think they don't like spinach. My trick was bribery, but your choice of manipulation may be slightly different. I leave that to all of you, should you attempt this at home. A nickel was given out for each leaf that was placed on the sandwich. After placing the leaves, James took a quick break from cooking to calculate his earnings.
Next step is to put a slice of turkey on this badboy:

Then James asks the question, "Dad - can we put more spinach on?" My response - OF COURSE! So we put more spinach on there after the turkey (and now I'm broke).
We repeat the meat, spinach process until we have a nice sized stack - then it was time to wrap the whole thing up. I had to do this for each of the kiddos because it was kinda messy and they all were concerned with losing pieces of the wrap. I walked around the room, wrapped everyone's up, and then it was time to chow down!

Geana is out to lunch with one of her friends, so now we watch football all afternoon and take naps.

Yum

So I've decided to start cooking. To put this in perspective - I've never cooked a day in my life (with the exception of Kraft Mac & Cheese and the occasional ramen noodles and the like...) Anyway - some recent events have inspired me to start trying my hand at cooking and I'm having a blast doing it (it's only been one day, but still.) I'm not naive, It may last - but it probably won't. I'm sure that I'll get sick of it in a week because that's what I do - but dude... yesterday we had some INCREDIBLE food.

We started the day by heading to the Italian Market to get some produce and to get a piece for the food processor that has been missing since the fire. The kids thought that the dead fish laying on ice were the best part. I, however, preferred all of the fresh produce (and continue to enjoy the fresh produce). It was a mild day for mid-January so we got to walk up and down 9th Street, taking our time, and buying too much food.

As an aside - we got the kids some chop-sticks and thought about stopping in Chinatown on our way home. Realizing that we were going nuts and being overly ambitious - we opted instead to go to a Chinese restaurant near our house because the parking was just too freakin' impossible with our van in town. Here is a shot of Anna using her new sticks.


We came home and I made some Blackened Talapia, Garlic Brussel Sprouts, and the aforementioned Mac & Cheese - or as I have now decided to call it - Dibrunaroni and Cheese. (Named for DiBruno Brothers where I bought the cheese which is, hands down, the greatest store on earth.)

Tonight's menu... left overs.

Surely Our Kids Will Have Nicer Teeth

Looks like we did something before anyone in the history of Great Britain!

Congrats to the Kelly Family!

Recipe For Disaster

We took the kids out to the Old Country Buffet last night... because, if nothing else, our family has class.

Seriously - I'm shocked that there are not knock down drag out fights at OCB on a daily basis. The place is a festering melting pot that breeds anger, frustration, chaos, and injury. Let's examine...

Generally, the clientele at OCB is kinda trashy. I don't want to judge EVERYONE who goes to OCB as being trashy, but it's a general observation of mine. I mean - hey - I go to OCB and I don't consider myself trashy (although others may beg to differ). Further, I have several non-trashy friends who occasionally frequent the establishment. It's cheap, kids love it, and there are unlimited amounts of ice cream so I can totally see why people would take their kids there. All I'm saying is that, in general, the crowd isn't the same as you'd find at... say... Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

Okay - so you take a bunch of trashy people who are starving and you put them in a room with crazy amounts of food. Obstacle #1 is that, although there are obscene amounts of food, it always seems that the good food is empty. Everyone is perpetually waiting for the employees to refill the courses that they desire. This happens EVERY TIME we go to OCB without fail. Mac & Cheese - never there. Waldorf Salad - always full. This may have the result of, I don't know, pissing some people off...

Obstacle #2 - OCB is uber-kid friendly. Listen - that's the reason that we go to the place to begin with. The problem is that you have a bunch of hungry, trashy people with lots of food in front of them - that could disappear at any minute. Now you throw kids into the mix. People generally have little patience with their children, so imagine everybody in the restaurant stressing at the fact that they have to get the kids food (that may disappear) as well as their own food. Kids create several other issues with the potential of pissing people off, too. Like - last night there was this unattended kid who kept scooping and scooping and scooping the Mac & Cheese onto his plate. He weighed all of 40 pounds (and I could have thrown him across the buffet but that's not why I mention his weight.) It was clear that he wasn't going to eat all that he was shoveling, but he was in front of me and my 5 kids so we just had to wait. Then, of course, there isn't enough Mac & Cheese for us - so we have to wait until its refilled. A few minutes later, as I'm leading my brood back to the table with plates that are piled full of Mac & Cheese, there is a 3 year old - also unattended - who darts out from under a table next to us and almost makes me spill my meatloaf and potatoes all over the restaurant floor. Luckily I'm known for my grace and coordination so I deftly avoid his attempt at a chop block.

This brings us to obstacle #3 - Old People (look in the background of the picture above). We've successfully piled our plates full of super healthy food and the kids have sat down at the table and have started to eat. Now I have to head up to the drink station to get all of our drinks. I end up in line behind an old couple who can't figure out how to work the intricacies of the fountain soda machine.

Old Man: How do I get ice?
Old Lady: You push the button.
Old Man: Whaaa?
Old Lady: PUSH. THE. BUTTON.
Old Man: Oh... ok. Here?
(slowly reaching for the ice button)
Robby: Want me to do it?
Me: Shhh.
Old Man: You can do it for me if you want.
Robby: Ok.
Me: No - that's ok, sir. We will wait. Robby go back to your seat, please.
Robby: Ok. I want all of the drinks mixed together.
Me: You'll be lucky if you get ice. Now SIT.

You'll be happy to know that we finally got our drinks and sat down to eat dinner. After dinner we ate our ice cream and left the restaurant without incident. Here is a picture of Anna eating her chocolate cake and ice cream. Mmmmm....

Whoa Neti!

So I tried the Neti Pot today and let me tell you - it's AMAZING. It's also 100% natural and non-addictive, as far as I can tell.

Ok - so I'm about to share a story of addiction with all of you. It's a sad story... yes... and one that I am certainly not proud of. In years prior, in the annals my dark past, I have been addicted to Afrin... several times. Yes I know... it's not something I'm proud of but I need to get this off of my chest. I need to be honest and up front to all of you so that you know who the real man is that has been writing to you about his kids. Look - I have nothing to hide. I'm no longer ashamed. I remember in college, my roommates had an intervention and gathered up the 11 or so half filled Afrin bottles that I had strewn about my bedroom - then watched me for 48 hours straight to ensure that I didn't run to the drug store and that I was properly weened off of the stuff. It was a long 48 hours, but I made it through and I am a better person for it. (Cold sweats aside).

For those of you who have not used Afrin, let me tell you a little bit about this amazing invention. It is the wonder drug. Seriously. If there were one drug on this planet, Afrin would by my drug of choice. Not penicillin, not aspirin, nor morphine... nope... FREAKIN' AFRIN! You stick the bottle in your nose, gently squeeze the plastic base, and the pungent mist fills your sinuses and opens them so wide that you can drive a truck through them... and also breathe again... INSTANTLY! There is no taking a pill and waiting 30 minutes for it to kick in. It is instant satisfaction. And it lasts for hours.

The problem is you can become dependant on the stuff to breathe - or so I have heard. :) Prolonged use can also make you prone to sinus infections. And that's where I stand today. See - I fell off of the wagon again and started using Afrin earlier this cold and flu season. It is not a daily habit, but I've been using, on occasion, when I find it difficult to breathe. Well - now I have a sinus infection to show for it and the entire right side of my face feels like I got smacked with a ham.

That's when I found THE NETI POT!

I went into the medicine cabinet, looking for some Sudafed and Ibuprofen, and I came across this little box that had a picture of a lovely woman pouring something into her nose. I thought, "Hey - I'll give that a whirl!" (Immediatly followed by the thought, "Holy shit I have to take a picture of me doing this!") Well - I used it and it has saved my life. I've used it several times in the past few days and it seems to work wonders. My face isn't hurting as much any more, and I couldn't even tell you where the Afrin is right now (but I could find it if I really tried.)

Really - this whole post was just an excuse to post the picture of me using the Neti Pot... my sad and murky trials and tribulations with Afrin addiction aside. I also came across the picture below while writing this post and thought I'd share it with all of you in case you find yourself facing Afrin addiction issue and not having the blessing of 3 jackass room-mates who want to bust your balls to get you back on track.