Friday, August 30, 2013

Fresh Salsa Recipe



I'm posting this quickly for a friend on twitter. Here goes: 

48 ounces give or take (6 big tomatoes or so) of peeled, chopped garden tomatoes, about 32 ounces drained (I cut them up and put them in the blender/food processor to measure)

One chopped onion

6-10 jalapeƱos, cored and chopped (leave some inner pepper membranes for hotter salsa). Cutting out the insides (I use a spoon after cutting them in half and wear gloves) takes most of the heat out. If you use the whole pepper, I'd just put in one or maybe two if you like it hotter and maybe add some sweet banana peppers for more chunks in the salsa.

1/2 cup of Cilantro

2-3 large cloves of garlic - some people prefer just one. I like lots of garlic.

Add after straining the tomatoes:

1-2 tsp of salt (to taste - canned tomatoes or Rotel have considerably more) 

Tsp of sugar 

1/2 tsp of ground cumin 

Lime juice, I just squirt in a couple teaspoons full or so. 

Monday, February 4, 2013

1/27/13 - 2/3/13 Week in Pictures



The day after her first haircut, Anna got to visit with her Uncle Brent, who helped her make a nest for her frog and Christmas Duck.  She had been wanting to do a "nest craft" and had been planning it out for awhile.  Brent was immediately on board with the idea and helped her gather some tall dry grass for her animals' nest. 





Duck and Frog in their nest.  Side note: That frog used to be mine.  I got it from my grandma Velda Dugan.  So, it's likely 30+ years old. 





Anna and Brent also painted together.  She had a great time. 






Sam decided it would be cool to wear one of Anna's boots on his hand.  He threw it off with the other one pretty quickly, which he thought was pretty much the funniest thing ever. 






"Surprise!"



Sammy made his first drawing ever this week.  It was on a magnetic drawing board thing, but I was able to capture it, for reasons only a parent could possibly fathom. 




"Welcome to The Joy of Pa-....Kinda Drawing a Little Bit"  Proud moment and a milestone for him to purposefully make marks on something. 




It doesn't look like much, but it is his first purposeful drawing.  Well done, Super Sam. 




On an unseasonably warm Wednesday, we dropped all our plans to make sure one of us was able to take Anna to a nature park or a playground.  She dearly loves going on an adventure.  Since days over 50 degrees are, well, pretty rare this time of year, we opted for a playground.  I would've taken Sammy too, but it was unbelievably muddy, and he still crawls about 60% of the time. 




It's a...............one of those.  The weirdest looking little bouncy animal thing I've ever seen in a park resides in Jamestown.  I've never bothered to take a picture of the thing before, but I assured a client who called that I would send a picture.  I'm fairly sure it is supposed to be a lion, but the jury's out.  I've heard lion, zebra (from Anna), sheep, bighorn sheep, and rockabilly goat (from my ever creative brother Brent). 




Rockabilly Goat looks like he owns Jamestown, there. 




Pretending to be a cat after practicing some soccer outside in the mud. 






Good morning, it's #TeamNoSleep
Somebody hasn't been sleeping through the night very well lately.  And on top of that, I was up super late writing an article: http://www.coltsauthority.com/2013-articles/january/remembering-jim-harbaugh-s-days-with-the-colts.html





Anna and Sammy got to have company on Saturday and play with Nicole and Hailey, a friend of mine's nieces.  Then we all went to a new Mexican restaurant. 
The same day, Tammy and I entered the 21st century and bought a flat screen TV.  It was a fun, busy, expensive
 day. 




Anna and Hailey coloring at J's Taco Inn.  The girls were devastated and near revolt when they found out they were going to have to stop playing and sit in a restaurant.  The were okay with the idea when they found out they could keep their princess costumes on and have a princess dinner. 





Three princesses all playing on iPhones.  Nothing keeps kids well-behaved while they wait for their food like some (somewhat) educational phone apps. 





Eric the pizza chef.  He and Anna each made a pizza during the Super Bowl party.  This was the longest any of the kids stopped running around during the Super Bowl. 


Anna and Sammy got to play with Eric and their friend Ava (and Ava's 2.5 month old sister) while we all watched (and I use that term loosely) the big game, which drug out on account of the power at the New Orleans Superdome going out for 34 minutes in the second half.  It was a good game in the end, but we spent most of our time refereeing the kids. 



Anna's First Haircut




Tor a long time, Anna Rose was strongly opposed to getting any kind of haircut, saying she didn't want to end up short hair. She didn't want to look like a boy.
But then one day, Anna pulled her own hair while putting on a shirt, and she was finally open to the idea, though a little scared. So, I showed her a YouTube video of a little girl getting her first haircut. It was colorful, and set to calm, pleasant, little kid music. Anna was sold.
So, finally, on 1/26/2013, she got her first haircut, at "Shear Fun" in Avon.




Afterward, the four of us went out for lunch. As usual, Anna chose "the Chinese place."
Sam, who has good taste when it comes to food, stole my egg roll.  He was pretty proud of himself.  Also, if it looks like kind of a dumpy restaurant in the background, that's just because it's a really dumpy restaurant.  But the buffet is pretty good.









Anna playing spies. She and her stuffed purple pony are in disguise. She was the “Countess Hoffenfoff,” and the pony was…wearing a shoe on its head.
Anna playing spies. She and her stuffed purple pony are in disguise. She was the “Countess Hoffenfoff,” and the pony, or "Agent Pony," was…wearing a shoe on its head for a disguise. 

______________________________________________________________________ Sunset last week when I was getting ready to take Anna to her dance lesson. Hard to believe it was so cold with a sky like that. Sunset last week when I was getting ready to take Anna to her dance lesson. Hard to believe it was so cold with a sky like that. January 20, 2013 (11:00 am) ______________________________________________________________________


“Are you lookin’ at me?” (at Pittsboro Town Park)

 “Are you lookin’ at me?” (at Pittsboro Town Park) January 16, 2013 (10:46 am) 

from early/mid January: Guys’ night out with my little buddy Sammy.  (at Hardee’s / Red Burrito) Guys’ night out with my little buddy Sammy. (at Hardee’s / Red Burrito) He went with me to get some signatures from a client who is buying a house in Lebanon. It turns out little Sammy really likes Hardee's burgers. He also ate a pickle slice. the looks on his face were priceless. I have a video of that to find later.
From 11/30/12, Tumblr: I'm sitting up, in the middle of the night with a very unhappy one year old. His new molars are wreaking havoc on his gums, and he's just miserable. This is fatherhood. I sure do love this little guy.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013