Tales of Me and the Husband

life can be hard.

sometimes life can be hard.  
certainly, this is no surprise to most of you, or all of you.  
but call me naïve (and seriously, naïve it is), i didn’t really know.  
i didn’t know, or at least didn’t expect that there would be things that were 
hard and would also be out of my (and all of our) control.  
i have learned that, as i’ve gotten older, and it hasn’t been the most fun lesson.  
so, for any of you feeling pain or fear today, i’d hug you if i could.
sorry for the downer post.  
it’s not always unicorns and tulips here at tales of me and the husband.

Interview #1: Sexy Steve (my name for him, he’d probably appreciate me saying).

Steve-Man in his sexy new glasses thinking, “Maybe if I don’t look at her, she’ll go away.”

What is your favorite movie?
Right now, I’d have to say… How to Train Your Dragon.

What is your favorite food?
Anything home cooked by my lovely wifey.  See the post below.

What is your favorite past time?
Watching episodes of MTV Cribs or the Hills.

What is your favorite season?
I love fall quite a bit but as I’m always telling Bridget, it’s hard to beat “Summer Steve.”  “Summer Steve” is a nicer version of myself.

What is your favorite drink?
Hands down, Coca-Cola on ice in a glass.

Where is your favorite place you’ve been?
This one’s really hard.  I have lots of favorite places.  I guess I’d put Vancouver at the top of that list.  Oh yeah, Switzerland.  I could live there pretty easily.

Place you most want to go?
Italy.

Boxers or briefs?
Boxers.  (He was sure no one would care.  But I said, “Au contraire, my darling.”)

Mountains or beach?
Mountains.

Lake or ocean?
Lake…. Winnipesaukee.

What is on your mind most of the time?
Narratological approaches to the fourth gospel.  Bridget wanted me to say Bridget.

Favorite TV show?
Sitcom: Frasier.  Drama: Lost.  Although I’m finding myself very frustrated in this final season.

Anything you’d like to say in closing?
I’ll pick up Nathaniel and Jordan and be home by 4:30.

hot and crunchy chicken cones

I found this recipe sitting at the chiropractor’s office.  I like this chiropractor and not only because he gets Food & Wine magazine delivered to his office.  Anyway, when I saw the looks of this recipe, I had to try it.  It is listed as one of the best chicken recipes of 2010.  It’s from The Mighty Cone in Austin, TX.  I’d call it a wrap, but maybe wraps are cones in Texas?  Anyway, give it a try.  Steve could not stop “Mmm-ing” through the meal, and I loooove to make my man, “Mmm.”

The original recipe here.

And for your convenience, and to showcase the ones I made, here we go.

HOT AND CRUNCHY CHICKEN CONES

MANGO SLAW
1/2 cup diced mango
2 large jalapenos (I completely skipped this part and was happy I did.)
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T sugar
1 T water
1 small shallot, minced
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup cilantro
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 T fresh lime juice
salt and pepper
7 cups shredded coleslaw mix (I used prepackaged kind.)

CHICKEN CONES
3 cups cornflakes
6 T slivered almonds
6 T sesame seeds
6 T sugar (I did 3-4ish)
1 1/2 T crushed red pepper
1 1/2 T kosher salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
all-purpose flour
6 boneless chicken breast halves, sliced lengthwise 1 inch thick
Vegetable oil for frying
6 10-inch tortillas

1. To Make Mango Slaw: In saucepan combine the mango, jalapenos (if desired), vinegar, sugar, water and shallot.  Cover and simmer until mango is softened, 10 minutes.
2. Transfer mango mixture to a food processor and puree.  Scrape into large bowl.  Stir in mayo, cilantro, garlic, and lime juice.  Season with s & p, add coleslaw mix, and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate.
3. To Make the Cones: Wipe out food processor.  Add cornflakes, almonds, sesame seeds, sugar, red pepper flakes, and salt, and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Transfer mixture to a large, shallow bowl.  In second shallow bowl, whisk eggs with milk.  Fill a third shallow bowl with flour.  Dredge chicken strips in flour, then egg, then roll in cornflake mixture.

4. In large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil (I used olive oil; recipe calls for vegetable oil).  Working in batches, fry chicken over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden brown, 6 minutes; transfer to rack in warmed oven (the frying part was the most time-consuming).  Set fried chicken on tortillas and top with mango slaw.  Roll up and eat right away.

Voila!  The final product.  The slaw, in my opinion, really makes it.  It has a sweetness to it because of the mango puree but cilantro, oh cilantro, makes it completely delicious.  The chicken by itself has a bite to it from the red pepper flakes so if you don’t like any spice at all, maybe half the red pepper flakes.
Make it.  You won’t regret it.

morning musings.

jordan: dad, i need new contacts.  i can’t go to school.
steve: you can still go to school.

lindsey: i’m good at singing like a girl and like a boy.
me: i think you sound more like a girl singing like a boy.

gracie: whine whine whine.  let me out.  feed me.

(steve in the bedroom.  it’s not risque, keep reading.)
picks up his cereal bowl on his nightstand to look behind it/under it, puts it back down and begins walking downstairs (towards that room called the kitchen where we usually put those things).  without the cereal bowl.
i politely requested that he come back for it.

william empties dishwasher.  yessss.  thank you william.

william cuts a box-top off the top the honey nut o’s.
lindsey: box tops are not important.

i think about whole foods and what i need to get there today.  i also think about all the attractive one-piece suits there are.  also wish i had more granny smith granola from trader joes.  what’s pineapple and yogurt without the granola?

i think too that i need to get some frames up on the wall.  have been thinking that since they day i got married.

thinking about making this for dinner.  only with chicken that was talked to sweetly before the time of its death though (for real).

no pictures for the blaahhhhg.

Take action. Please?

I watched Oprah’s Earth Day special this year (and last year – remember the garbage swirl twice the size of Texas?!).  After watching these shows, I am always motivated to do my part.  Yes, sometimes that motivation wanes, but for the most part, I remain green throughout the year (confession: my showers can run a bit long).  Whether or not you believe in global warming, you must admit, our earth is a gift and we should take care of it.  It seems pretty simple.

The shows that really get me are the ones where I see that animals are being affected by our carelessness or, as the case may be much of the time, our downright evil ways.  An animal has died because it ingested a plastic bag, an animal is being strangled by those plastic six-pack things (didn’t your Mother tell you to cut them up?!?).  My Mom and I are of the same mold–she sees an amazing animal story, she calls me.  She reads an amazing animal e-mail, she forwards it to me.  Nothing gets the tears pumping like a good animal story… or a bad one.  I have even claimed before, don’t be offended, that I like animals more than people.  While there is some hyperbole there, the point is this: for the most part, animals have an instinct to protect, to love, and to do right.  Yes, some must kill to survive, but they don’t torture, take pleasure in another’s pain, or kill needlessly (at least, not that I’m aware of).  Could I say the same of humans?  Heck no.  Remember Michael Vick?  Or how about puppy mills?  How about the kid with the cats and the fireworks?  Whether or not you clicked those links, you get my point.  Humans don’t always have the instinct to protect.  In fact, quite opposite for some.  Torturing something without a voice obviously brings some sort of satisfaction to many (I’m getting angry just talking about it!).  On the flip-side, remember the story of the kidnapped and beaten girl in Ethiopia who was protected by lions?!  Yes, by lions!  People were abusing her, and lions protected her!  If that doesn’t scream that we have a problem, I don’t know what does.

Now, stay with me.  The reason I’m writing this is the dolphins.  The Cove was an Oscar-winning documentary this year.  I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen enough on Oprah that my heart hurt.  It seriously hurt.  It was devastating.  In Taiji, Japan, there is a cove that is hard to get to and protected on three sides by cliffs.  Here is where the dolphins swim in, and here is where the water runs red (literally) because they are trapped and speared by the Japanese.  Here’s an idea:

And here’s the trailer:

I really don’t intend to make this blog a place for my politics about anything, but I just felt too strongly about this to not share it, and as someone with a voice, I feel somewhat responsible. If you’d have seen the footage, I know you’d feel the same way. So, here are two sites where you can do something, anything (even just signing your name to a petition).

Take Part.
Save Japan Dolphins.

Now, am I being a hypocrite because I still enjoy a good burger sometimes?

a beautiful saturday on the charles.

boston for a beautiful saturday / saw my lovely friends kelly and laura / 
sat on the charles in the sun / had a delicious burger at b.good / 
maybe some red mango too / met kelly’s wonderful fiance / 
enjoyed how beautiful the city of boston is / and so should you

A little looksie at my old e-mail.

When Steve and I first stared dating, we wrote hundreds (maybe thousands) of e-mails to each other.  We spent a lot of time apart, me still being in school, and him being a dad of four with a full-time job, so e-mails to one another flooded our inboxes by the minute.  I am seriously grateful for the modern technology that allowed us to do that (even though sometimes I curse modern technology for its instant gratification) because we learned so much about each other through them and now we both have them safely tucked away into folders on our computers where they will last forever… or at least till our e-mail’s hard drive crashes… whichever comes first.
One of our favorite little e-mail “traditions,” if you will, was writing “random tid-bits” to one another.  We would just list facts about ourself, past or present, wishes and hopes, thoughts, things that make us happy and things that make us sad.  They weren’t well thought-out, just top of mind little morsels of information that you thought of and typed.  Done and done.
Here’s one I wrote to him:
I have been listening to Faith Hill all morning.  Namely, the song that I want to listen on your boat with you.
When Jordan has his glasses on, he reminds me just a little bit of Harry Potter.  I told him that once, saying Harry Potter in an English accent (Like this: Erry Pottah, sort of) and he definitely did not like it.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a shooting star.
I really like you.
I feel sophisticated when I have a Starbucks cup in my hand and I’m walking through the city.  It’s just a front though.  I’m really not.
Last year a heel on my shoe got stuck in the grates in the sidewalk in Philly, I took a step, and the shoe came completely off still stuck in the grate.  I think it was my first day of work, and I was with some co-workers.  Embarassing.
This is short because I see another e-mail from you!
And just like that, came another e-mail from him (I told you, minute by minute).
Here was his reply:
And which song is that?
I love your ability to write in accent (to wit:  erry pottah–by the way, that’s how you use “to wit”)
How about the northern lights?  Satellites?  I have seen them all and the Northern lights are the coolest thing ever.  Northern MN is famous for them.
I feel sophisticated (even a bit more Christian) when I carry my Greek NT to church.
Sorry about the heel.  Did you just keep walking and pretend it didn’t happen?
Note: I don’t remember the song.  Maybe Sunshine and Summertime?
Additional note: We don’t normally don semi-matching cowboy hats.  We were then, however, because we were at Flying W Wranglers in Colorado Springs where cowboy hats are most definitely appropriate.
One more note: He doesn’t use “to wit” in everyday language – only when he is trying to impress a girl and he was definitely trying to impress me then as now I get an e-mail from him maybe twice a week.  Sure, we do live together now, but still, there are random tid-bits we’ve yet to discover, I’m sure!  Let the random tid-bits round 2 commence!  
First thing I fell in love with about this man?  Oh, probably his humor.  Just so you know, these are mostly tongue-in-cheek (as was my Sarah Palin joke a few days ago.  Just wanted you to clear the air on that one.  Phew, so glad I got that out.)
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