Our bathing beauty.....

A new beginning

After a considerable absence, I'm ready to begin blogging again. Contrary to what you may be thinking, it hasn't been a matter of having nothing to say. Hardly. Perhaps my disappearance from the Blogosphere can be attributed to the sheer lack of sleep I've been burdened with over the last couple of years which now, to our greatest delight, seems to be old news. Maeve has been sleeping nine or ten hours in her own bed as of late and I (almost) feel human again. Or perhaps I haven't written because I'm a lazy turd. Yeah, that's probably it. Regardless, here we go again......


Zack and I are each trying to drop a few pounds; I, a few more than him. Over the last couple of weeks I've been on a tireless quest to make the perfect unfried French fry. I have failed several times. Too crunchy, too soggy, too salty, too dry, too low-fatty. Today, I embarked on another attempt. My previous tries involved my fab new food processor Zack got me for Christmas, complete with french fry blade. The processor cranks out perfect, skinny little fries in seconds flat. Today, I decided to hand cut the fries, hoping that a bit more substance would alleviate some of the obstacles I'm trying to overcome. So with a compost bin brimming with potato peels, I gave it another go.
After trying a couple of different ways to season the fries, I decided to go with an egg white wash with good old Old Bay seasoning. Although I'm not a huge fan of pre-mixed spices, I do dig some Old Bay.












As best I can tell, the key to a good, unfried, french fry is constant babysitting and overall coddling throughout the process. After I put them in a 400 degree oven on a well-loved, lightly sprayed cookie sheet, I set one timer for 40 minutes and another for seven minutes. Then I went to blow dry my hair.... then stopped to change a poopy diaper and wash my hands..... back to drying..... timer goes off. Those little suckers were already starting to stick! I gently scraped them off the cookie sheet with a spatula and, for the first time on this journey, I didn't leave half the potato on the sheet pan. Closed the oven, set timer for seven minutes, back to the bathroom. After blow drying for a couple of minutes I had to stop to put on the television for Maeve who'd been happily playing with her Playmobil farm until this point. Back to drying... timer goes off.... and so it goes for the next 40 minutes, during which time I managed to get completely dressed and clean up the french fry prep mess I'd made.

I was fairly confident I'd cracked the secret code on these guys but I still had to put them to ultimate taste test.... the two year old critic, Maeve. Check out the footage.

That's right, I said "better than the ones I made last night." What can I say? I am simply not a quitter. I am determined and committed. If the fries were a failure at lunch today, you can bet your ass I would've tried again at dinner. I'm vigilant.

She seemed fairly pleased. Here's the before and after....

More pictures of the kid

Eating dinner at the grown up table

Snacking while Mommy makes dinner

All clean and ready for bed

Maeve's first official Yesterdog! What a treat!

Lovin' it!

Little Miss

Some recents photos of our little one...

So yesterday I took Maeve to the zoo. It was an absolute mad house. The animals inside the enclosures were much better behaved than those running around the place! Anyway, after strolling around in the Indiana humidity for a couple of hours, Maeve and I were both completely withered and decided to go home. When we got back to the car, this is what we found:



This super hot, Ford Taurus was parked SO close to my van that I totally jammed my back right into her side-view mirror while strapping Maeve in the car seat. So, I left her a little advice....

Hail

Widdle Waddler

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Abbott for the T-shirt from the Denver Zoo!!

Widdle Waddler

Sadie-mouse

Maeve

Baby Maeve

Zack and Maeve "sledding"

Snow baby

M's snow suit

Maeve's new sled

Christmas in Colorado

Baby genius

Mommy and baby opening presents

Playin' Grandpa's guitar