The Sleepy Chef

A few months ago, we have The Charming Phantom over for a sleep over. Friday night, her mom offered to reciprocate so WF went over there after Funfest. I fully expected a call in the middle of the night but none came so I assumed everything was ok. Saturday, I had a class all day, so my dad picked him up and my parents took him to his soccer game. I got a text from my mom saying "sleepover didn't go so well. Call me at lunch" On my lunch break, I called and she told me what happened. Apparently, The Fearless Phantom woke up about 4 am and heard talking. She went into the playroom, where the kids were "sleeping" and found them sitting on the bed, playing Sorry! She told them it was lights out and they insisted that they had already been to bed and were now up. She told them to get back in bed and they did so she went back to bed herself.

When she got up Saturday morning, she found 5 small bowls and a banana sitting on the table. At first, she thought someone had poured orange juice, but when she looked closer, she figured out they were bowls of uncooked scrambled eggs. When she asked WF what they were doing there, he said "well, when we were up this morning, I was hungry so I decided to make some eggs, but I can't cook them so I set them on the table. I thought I would make some for everyone. CP was there but she didn't have anything to do with it, she was mostly asleep the whole time" She thanked him for being thoughtful and as soon as he turned his back, she tossed the 4 hour old eggs.

When I got home, I was asking him about it and I asked if it clued him in that it was still dark outside. He said "nope, every morning when I get up, it is dark"

What were you thinking? "Well at first, I was confused because I couldn't find any bowls, but then I found some and it was ok"

Why 5 eggs? "Well, I made one for everyone that eats eggs"

Oh, did you not make one for AP?(youngest sister) "No, I didn't make one for CP, because she doesn't eat eggs, but I put a banana out for her so she could eat with us"

Ah, your 4 am foray into cooking all makes sense now.

Friday filler

Rogers asked what voice lived in my head. The voice that lives in my head is a complete OCD perfectionist. It wants labels and time tables and "a place for everything and everything in it's place" That is not how the voice outside my head sees things and since she is a bitch, she wins. However, to try and instill some order to this chaos we live in, I'm working on cleaning my house. Each day, I plan to clean off one flat surface (you may remember the dirty housewife pictures a few months ago) each day and I'm sorting one toybox each. Any toys that are broken are getting tossed. Anything that is missing parts is getting tossed. Anything that is decent, we just have too many of or don't play with or whatever is going to the CARE swap. Looseyfur, keep your eyes open for a big box o' crap to show up at your house one day :)

TB is going to cheer camp. It is being sponsored by one of the high schools and he decided to do it (after first questioning what, exactly, cheerleaders are supposed to do). We signed him up so he will go to the camp on Sunday the 14 and cheer at half of the football game on Friday the 19th.

I started reading The Other Boleyn Girl for book club. I didn't read our last book because it sounded stupid (after listening to the discussion about it, I'm so glad I didn't waste my time, I would have hated it). I thought the same thing about this book but Quigs read it and suggested that I try it because it was pretty good. So far, I have to agree. It is a little dirty and pretty funny at times :)

I have been super impressed with the last couple of meals I've made. I made a meatloaf the other night (Quigs and Loosey, let me know what you think) and I thought it was really good. Then tonight, I made kabobs and the meat was some of the best I've had. I LOVE Old Time Meat and Deli for my meat. There is a new meat store that has opened up closer to me and I keep thinking about trying it but I really like OTMD and can't bring myself to try switching.

I have to go to the farmer's market tomorrow. I don't know what I'm going to get because my mom came home with a huge bag of tomatoes, which is generally what I buy the most of. I do need some green beans (aka crack, which despite assurances otherwise, I like much better than sugar snap peas) and if I take the van, I'll get a watermelon. If I take the scooter, I'll have to pass on it because there is no way to get it home. I'll also probably pass on the corn because I'm tired of it nearly going bad before I can use it. I'll pick that up at the farmer's market over here

TB is losing his teeth. His front bottom ones are are loose. One is super loose ( a few days to a week at the outside before that one is gone) and the other is a little loose. I have been cutting corn off the cob for 2 weeks for him because he can't eat it. But I stupidly didn't think of that and sent him and apple to school for lunch today. I felt a little bad that he couldn't eat it but I did tell him that I will cut them up for him in the future

Speaking of apples, I am ready for the Best Apple Ever. They come out right after TB's birthday and I'm on the waiting list but damn I want them now!

My throat hurts. I think it is allergies but in any case, it is a pain. I'm tired of downing Tylenol all the time.

Dumbass

I was cleaning a pan and I left it on the stove to boil so that the bacon gunk would come out easier. Then I came in the living room, sat down and set about finishing my book (which seriously, I'm sick of books killing off my favorite characters). It took longer than I thought to finish it and by the time I was done, I had forgetten all about the pan. That is, until I smelled a horrible burning smell! I ran into the kitchen and turned it off before it caught fire (it was smoking a little) but now my house reaks and I'm afraid I ruined one of my good pans :(

Feeling fruity

After discussions about various fruit leather, I decided to make my own. Fruit roll ups are gross and everything else is too expensive.

I started last night by cleaning my strawberries (strawberry fans, Aldi's on Mattis has them for 1.49 a box and they are super tasty, some of the best I've had all season) and blueberries. Then this morning, I got up and cleaned the cherries. That was tedious beyond belief and likely something I won't do again.

Then I whipped out the blender and set about pureeing my fruit. I knew the strawberries would be fine but I was worried about the skins on the cherries. The cherries did fine, suprisingly. The blueberries were what I ended up having problems with. When I first started them, the skin didn't blend at all. I scraped the sides and set it to blend again, walking away and letting it run for a minute. I came back to almost blueberry jelly. It was thick and gelatinous and kind of gross looking. It probably could have benefitted from a little OJ but I went ahead and used it as is.

I lined all my trays with foil (although in reading, other places said either parchment paper or platic wrap so hopefully it works out) and poured all my puree. Now, I wait between 5 hours (online recipe) and a day and a half (dehydrator instruction guide) to see if my attempt at fruit leather is eatable :)