Birthday present

Luca wrapped this picture and gave it to me today for my birthday. He started drawing football players yesterday. This is an unusual match-up though. It is a game between the Chargers and the Red Sox. At the left side of the pic is the end zone. At the top is the score board with lines to the respective players. The Charger score (indicated by a lightening bolt) is 88. The Red Sox score (indicated by the sock) is 11. I guess the Red Sox aren't that good at football:)

Snow Day

I'm proud to say that I took this pic. Most of the better shots were captured by Jer, but this one is mine. Luca and Pariya, our next door neighbor, dug this tunnel.

This is James-er on friday night as Jer shoveled the first few inches of what became over 2 feet of snow. This is a record year for Baltimore. The only time on record with more than one snowfall of greater than 12 inches. This year we have had two that were over twenty inches.

This picture is from the street AFTER the plow went through. Those two gigantic marshmellows are our cars. The piles behind them are nearly waist deep, and Jer's back already hurts...

What's for dinner?

I face this dilemma everyday. Today the answer is barbequed pork chops and sweet potato wedges. I like this recipe, but what I really like is how food sometimes makes me think of people. An old college roommate, Lisa, gave me the pork recipe. She said her mom made it on fridays. We got the sweet potato recipe from Todd and Cate. They were our next door neighbors the first year we were married. Their cooking skills definitely exceeded ours at the time, and they probably still do, but we were lucky to benefit regularly. I miss those friends and I love that I can cook something and think about them.
I know I tire of my everyday dinner menu, and I love getting recipes from friends that have been tried and proved true. Maybe you feel the same about yours, so here are a few of mine. Feel free to pass some along to me anytime!

Barbequed Pork Chops

3/4 c onion chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1 clove garlic
1/2 celery chopped
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 pepper
1 c catsup
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

1) Brown pork chops (4-6) in frying pan
2) place in baking dish
3) brown onions with butter in frying pan
4) add rest of sauce ingredients and simmer (I sometimes add all sorts of veggies...carrots, peppers, zuchinni, etc)
5) cover pork chops with sauce
6) bake 1.5 hours at 350
7) serve with rice

Sweet Potato Wedges
1) Peel and slice into thin strips
2) lightly coat with veg oil
3) sprinkle with 2 parts sugar 1 part ground red pepper or chile pepper
4) bake on baking sheet 35-45 minutes flipping occaisionally (a higher temp works better, but I'll do them at 350 while the pork is in)

Children's books

Why do I relate so well to children's books like Bill Peet's Whingdingdilly or Eric Carle's The Mixed Up Chameleon? I guess we all go through periods where we wish we were something vastly more exciting or interesting than what we are. Then I sit back and realize that my life is pretty good...like the Whingdingdilly at the end of the book who wants to go back to being a scruffy old dog so he can play with the boy, or the Chameleon who turns back into himself in order to shoot out his long sticky tongue and catch that fly.
Although it seems to me like maybe those authors had adults with mid-life crisis in mind:)

Firehouse

Here are some pics from our preschool fieldtrip. I think the moms learned more than the boys did, but they loved all the equipment!

This is James with his buddy Noah, sitting in the pumper truck.

Here are all the boys in our little group, except for baby Joey who was probably off bumping his head on something at the time of this pic. Poor little guy!