Hey guys, this isn't something I ususally do since I am typically a dangerous cook but I am going to give ya'll two recipes to try should you feel so inclined.
The first of which is a soup that one my work-dudes brought in the other day which was straight up yummy.

Cream of Jalapeno Soup
5 jap peppers, stemmed and seeded
1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 avacado, peeled and sliced
2 cups diced tomatoes
7 cups heavy cream
1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Mince jalapenos and set aside. In large heavy sauce pan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add japs, onions, and garlic and saute, stirring until vegetables are soft. Temove the pan from the heat and stir in the avacado, tomatoes, and cream. Lower the temp and return pan to the heat, watching and stirring so the cream does not separate. Bring the soup slowly back to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes to reduce by one third and to blend the flavors. Continue stirring. Just before serving, stir in chopped cilantro.

Strawberry Pie
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1 quart fresh strawberries
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving. In a small bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Serve each slice of pie with a dollop of whipped cream.

That should keep you busy for the rest of the afternoon :)
The soup isn't too spicy and I don't like spicy so you can trust me on that one :) The pie was a hit with my boys at work.

Labels: At work, recipes

Been training a new girl at work all week. And I can train, if I do say so myself. However, it has kept me from being able to say hi to ya'll, so hi! Here are some pics from the last week. There will be blogging this week, I promise :)

Emilee had her All-Stars game on Tuesday

And they won! It was awesome. They are playing again tonight.

Amanda went to camp and spent four nights there...




And the girls went to the zoo...

Labels: Amanda, At work, Being Mommy, Emilee, Triniti

Is it weird that it bothers me that I will seemingly never be one of those suave chics who can slip out after sex without waking the other person up? I mean, you see it in movies all the time. The guy/chic wakes up the morning after to find themselves alone and questioning what time the other person bailed... Me? Not so much. Sure, I can get up and get dressed and grab my stuff all unnoticed. But doors? Doors seem to be an issue for me. The little chain thingies, they make a boatload of noise as I slide them over and out and then try so very quietly to lay them along the wall without them clanging. Then the door handle which seems to scream as I turn it and then the door itself sqqqquuuuueeeeeeaaaaakkkkkkks the entire time I open it and then won't shut properly without almost being slammed.
All of which is followed by a phone call a mere thirty seconds later from the dude still in the bed saying, "you ok?"
Once, just once, I'd like to get a call the next day saying, "When did you leave?"

Labels: Being a Chic, Being Retarded, I actually had sex

I love how Emilee is in quotes.

Labels: Being Mommy, Emilee

"Wow Mommy! Good job! That was very excellent of you!"
"What was Trin?"
You got us all the way to camp without getting pulled over!! Great job!"

I was pulled over twice last week.

Labels: Being Mommy, Triniti

Who made pie crust from scratch? Me.


And then who tried to weave it and eventually cut out "Rico Suave's" name? Uhm, that would also be me.


All cooked and golden-pretty.


And a strawberry pie cuz I was feeling cocky.


Now the beginning of the peaches and cream pie.


A little help from The Emo who is spooning it on while I photograph ;)


See, it's all bubby and yummy.

Labels: At work, Being Mommy, Emilee, menu planning

Amanda driving for the very first time ever yesterday!

Labels: Amanda, At work, Being Mommy

I dyed my hair last night from it's normal light copper color to a dark brown. When I got to work this morning, I honestly didn't even expect the guys to really notice because, well, they are guys. And I have made drastic hair changed before that went days without being noticed. And these guys get all tore when I don't notice that they are doing a new chin hair thing. One of the guys was really hurt that I didn't notice he was shaving something differently on his goatee. So when they don't notice my hair color, it doesn't bum me out, I am just more aware that I work in an all dude facility and that dudes just don't notice silly things like girl-hair.
So this morning, I get here and am working. Pretty much all the guys here have seen me this morning either at the coffee maker or in the hall or when they popped their head in my office to say good morning and no comments for two hours... [An aside: were I working at a place where there were a few chics, I would seriously be reconsidering having dyed my hair if no one said anything about it for two hours.] Then, towards the end of the sales meeting, one of them walks in to get something from my printer and says, "did you change your hair?" I nod. He stands there for a minute looking at me before exclaiming, "you dyed it!" I nod again and smirk at the amount of time it took him to decipher what the change had been. And then, as he is walking back out to the meeting, he announces, "Ok everyone, Kate dyed her hair. Make sure you tell her you noticed and that it looks nice!"

Labels: At work, Being a Chic

So there has been this on going thing at work where my boss is trying to get me to become a Christian and I am trying to get him to become an environmentalist. It's like a tug of war... sometimes he pulls me a little and sometimes I pull him a little but I don't think either of us are even remotely close to the jumping off point.
I'm not sure if I've ever really blogged about my religious views or lack thereof. Those of you who know me in real life have probably had a conversation or two about it with me. The Cake Lady and I have explored certain avenues together and in all honesty she is the person who I feel the closest "religious" connection with. I think it is because we have the same core feeling about Everything and the same openmindedness in regards to exploration of this core feeling.
The long and short of it is that I have classified myself as agnostic for many years. And previous to that classification, I don't think I really knew what I was, I don't believe I had invested enough thought into the decision.
From Wikipedia: Agnosticism (Greek): α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge; after Gnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly metaphysical claims regarding theology afterlife or the existence of God, gods, deities, or even ultimate reality — is unknown or, depending on the form of agnosticism, inherently unknowable.
In my searching for an answer, it all seemed unknowable to me. It still does. However, my problem with that was that I have always felt connected. I have always felt something. But I've never been able to connect that something to a god or a religion. You have heard me many, many times refer to The Universe and Karma and Balance and those are all things I do believe in. But how do you tie religion to The Universe? I didn't know.
So my boss gave me this book to read [Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis] when SnowElf came to visit a few months ago and I have been slowly trudging through it. Saturday when I went to the gym, I brought it in with me, hoping to get through a chapter or two while I was working out. As I am jogging along, I read this,
"Now I go on to the next big division. People who all believe in a God can be divided according to the sort of God they believe in. There are two very different ideas on this subject. One of them is the idea that He is beyond good and evil. We humans call one thing good and another thing bad. But according to some people that is merely our human point of view. These people would say that the wiser you become the less you would want to call anything good or bad, and the more clearly you would see that everything is good in one way and bad in another, and that nothing could have been different. Consequently, these people think that long before you got anywhere near the divine point of view the distinction would have disappeared altogether. We call a cancer bad, they would say, because it kills a man; but you might just as well call a successful surgeon bad because he kills a cancer. It all depends on the point of view. The other and opposite idea is that God is quite definitely 'good' or 'righteous' a God who takes sides, who loves love and hates hatred, who wants us to behave in one way and not another. The first of the views - the one that thinks God beyond good and evil - is called Pantheism. It was held by the great Prussian philosopher Hegel and, as far as I can understand them, by the Hindus. The other view is held by Jews, Mohammedans and Christians.
And with this big difference between Pantheism and the Christian idea of God, there usually goes another. Pantheists usually believe that God, so to speak, animates the universe as you animate your body: that the universe is God, so that if it did not exist He would not exist either, and anything you find in the universe is a part of God. The Christian idea is quite different. They think God invented and made the universe - like a man making a picture or composing a tune. A painter is not a picture, and he does not die if his picture is destroyed. You may say, "he's put a lot of himself into it," but you only mean that all its beauty and interest has come out of his head. His skill is not in the picture in the same way it is in his head, or even in his hands. I expect you see how this difference between Pantheists and Christians hangs together with the other one. If you do not take the distinction between good and bad very seriously, then it is easy to say that anything you find in this world is a part of God. But, of course, if you think some things really bad, and God really good, then you cannot talk like that. You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will. Confronted with a cancer or a slum the Pantheist can say, "If you could only see it from the divine point of view, you would realize that this also is God." The Christian replies, "Don't talk damned nonsense." For Christianity is a fighting religion. It thinks God made the world - that space and time, heat and cold, and all the colors and tastes, and all the animals and vegetable, are things that God 'made up out of His head' as a man makes up a story. But it also thinks that a great many things have gone wrong with the world that God made and that God insists, and insists very loudly, on our putting them right again.
And, of course, that raises a very big question. If the good God made the world why has it gone wrong? And for many years I simply refused to listen to the Christian answers to this question, because I kept on feeling 'whatever you say, and however clever your arguments are, isn't it much simpler and easier to say that the world was not made by any intelligent power? Aren't all your arguments simply a complicated attempt to avoid the obvious?' But then that threw me back into another difficulty."

And as I read that, I thought to myself - Holy Shit. You mean that there is an actual "religion" where The Universe, Nature and all beings as a whole make up it's foundation? How have I made it to almost thirty years of age without anyone telling me this? I went back and read that so many times that I haven't been able to move forward in the book yet... it felt to me like someone was showing me something that was a part of me for the first time. I hope that doesn't sound overly dramatic... I am so enthralled by Pantheism that I can't wait to go and check out everything there is to read on it. And I don't know if my boss will be thrilled about this or not because I truly feel like by discovering this, I will be pushed even further from Christianity or any other of these types of religion because someone has shown me the other option, the option I've felt all along.

And I feel like Christianity is looking hypocritical now. [And I have to say right now that I do not challenge anyone's beliefs. I do not consider myself even close to being remotely educated enough to do so. But I do have questions and I consistently ask my boss these questions to better understand him and what he believes. And so please do not take any of these or my future comments to be insulting, I don't intend them to be so.]

Regarding the cancer comment and not to be based solely on it but as an example, using your faith/outlook/religion - How could you not think, even as a Christian that it (the cancer) wasn't part of God. It's his world, his universe that he created according to that belief system. They believe that cancer, a disease separate from human and human good/bad, is evil. How did it become evil? Where did the evil stem from?

And if Christianity considers the world, Earth, to be God's creation - his work of art and Christians themselves to be a work of art how can so many people (Christianity and religion as a whole make up the majority of the population) have so little respect for this "work of art?" Do they simply believe that the Earth in being created by God will simply withstand whatever humans put her through? Why is there not a more "green" emphasis through religion?

And finally, not so much a question but he repeatedly implied that humans have an innate need to be good, a set "moral law" [in Mere Christianity, there is a constant reference to an inset Moral Law where you know what is wrong and right because (they believe) God has told you and there could be really no other option] where we know right from wrong but seems to only equate that with God. Why is it so unthinkable that The Universe has no will or idea to be good because it isn't considered a singular object. Wouldn't it instead be more likely that The Universe could take on the good or bad of all the beings within it? And that the whole ebb and flow of The Universe is the concentrated energies of the whole Universe itself?

These were some of the things I proposed in my conversation yesterday and since I've had this whole Atheism/Agnoticism/Patheism/Christianity thing on the brain, I needed to share with you all where I am. And instead of pondering and researching and not blogging, I figured I'd blog the pondering and researching because I am all about the multitasking :)

Labels: The Universe

Sorry guys, I know I've barely been here around lately. My schedule is jam packed these days. Between the girls summer activities and my work schedule, it's nuts.
But I wanted to shoot out a little update on Emilee since I've gotten quite a few emails asking how she is doing or how her appointment went or offering suggestions on her headaches - all of which I deeply appreciate :)
We had our appointment with the neurologist last Wednesday. It was a freakin' all day affair and I wasn't expecting that at all. She had been officially diagnosed as having migraines. After reviewing all of our options of treatment and prevention, we chose to get a prescription for Topamax. As with any medication, there is a risk of side effects. Her neurologist said we may get a visit from three of the seven dwarfs: Sleepy, Dopey & Grumpy. But almost a week into it, she is doing great. She is taking one pill nightly and we will begin taking one every moening and every night on Wednesday. Emilee is doing wonderfully at remembering to take her pills and I truly think that is because they are helping so much. And grumpy? Not that I can tell. In fact, I have to say I have seen so much of the old Emilee this week that I am just tickled. My happy carefree daughter is back and I can't tell you how amazing that is!
To be on the safe side, we also had an MRI done to rule out the possibility of any noggin tumors. I haven't heard back on the reults from the MRI yet but I am thinking everything is cool.
Emilee also has a list of triggers and is keeping a headache diary of all the headaches she gets, how bad they were and what she did previous to getting them. This way she can learn how to prevent them.
She is really doing much better and I want to thank all of you for your suggestions and concern :)

Labels: Being Mommy, Emilee

Labels: music