Susiej

The latest on the doghouse dilema:

• My 11 year old says we can tape the game and watch it later — so, he’s going to the play. He is a sweet kid.
• My husband will probably go to the play, although he’s hesitant. He’s worried about walking out of the play and the drive home, and someone in this hyped-up town giving everything away. He will probably find out who won before he can watch the taped game. But, in this over-hyped-sports town, I think it’s a good message for a our kids to say that “sports are not everything.”
• The 8-year-old is feeling over-whelmed. He wants to see the play, but the idea of missing a couple of hours of a sleepover is quite a bit more than I think an 8-year-old can bear. So, I told him not to worry about it, and have a good time with his friends.
• The 5-year-old definitely wants to see Wizard of Oz.
• And the 3-year-old, well he has a date with Vanessa, and couldn’t be happier.

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Filed under: Laugh, Life, boy by SusieJ - 1 Comment →

The end of the day comes, exhausted from four boys who play and climb all day. I put them in jammies, and send them off to meet the sandman, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I know that sleep makes little boys turn into men. Watching them grow breaks and stretches my heart. So, why the rush every night to get them to sleep?

A Koan, prompted by Her Bad Mother.

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Filed under: Tears, boy, reviews by SusieJ - 8 Comments →

Earlier this week, I posted my recipe for making the creamiest, fluffiest, Tapioca Pudding in the Slow Cooker. But if you’re really short on time, here’s Bob’s Red Mill Recipe, for How to Make Tapioca Pudding on the stove top. This recipe also involves separating the egg and beating the whites. This one will take more stirring, but at least it will be ready in about 45 minutes. Did you know that in Southern India, tapioca is used to make a light porridge to help people recovering from illness?

• 2 1/4 cups milk (Low fat will not hurt this pudding.)
• ¾ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs separated
• 1/3 cup small pearl tapioca (not instant)
• 1-teaspoon vanilla

Soak small pearl tapioca in water for 30 minutes in a ½ quart saucepan.
Add milk, salt, and lightly beaten egg yolks to tapioca and stir over medium heat until boiling. Simmer uncovered over very low heat for 10-15 minutes.
Stir often.
Beat egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form.
Fold about ¾ cup of hot tapioca into the egg whites, and then gently fold mixture back into saucepan.
Stir over low heat for about 3 minutes.
Cool 15 m minutes then add vanilla
Serve warm or chilled, plain or with nutmeg or coconut mixed in.
Makes 3 ½ cups.

Like I said yesterday, in the Spring, this is like eating a “cloud in a bowl.”

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Filed under: Life, Make Something, eat, health by SusieJ - 4 Comments →

Our very important babysitter, who 8 years ago, when he was ten and my second son was an infant, wanted very much to be my helper, and quickly learned to manage all four of my boys, is now quite an actor.

He is hands-down, my boys’ favorite babysitter. He has seen me through the dark witching hours of many afternoons, made duct tape wallets for my boys, taught them how to play hide-and-seek with our dog, and given my husband and me our much needed “dates” every now and then. He will be heading to college this Fall, probably on an acting scholarship.

How was I to know, months ago when I bought the tickets to see him in his final performance here, as the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, that it would be the very same night as THE GAME. How was I supposed to know that our home town team would make it to the Final Four? How was I supposed to know that my 8-year-old would be invited to his best friend’s house, with 3 other buddies for his second sleep-over the very same night?
The men in my house are very upset. But it is our last chance to see him perform before he makes it big on Broadway. What’s the problem? I mean, the game can be taped, right?

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Filed under: Laugh, Life, boy by SusieJ - 5 Comments →

This easy recipe makes the fluffiest, creamiest tapioca pudding – almost like eating a cloud. The secret is to separate the egg, and beat the whites. Tapioca pudding is great for kids, because it’s full of protein and calcium too. And using the crockpot takes 2 hours of hands-off cook time. No need to stand at the stove and stir, as the crockpot gently “steams” the pudding and does all the work for you. This tapioca pudding recipe is adapted from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook
Ingredients:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 small pearl tapioca (not instant)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

1. Coat the slow cooker with a light rubbing of light olive oil.
2. Combine the milk, only ¼ cup of the sugar, tapioca, and vanilla in the slow cooker;
3. Stir well with a whisk.
4. Cover and cook on low until the milk is absorbed, the pudding thickened, and most of the tapioca balls are completely transparent. Should take about 1-½ hours.
5. Separate the egg.
6. Beat the whites with the remaining ¼ cup of sugar until soft peaks form.
7. Beat the yolks with a fork to break up any clumps.
8. Spoon a few tablespoons of the hot tapioca into each of the egg mixtures and beat well; pour both egg mixtures into the cooker and stir well with a spoon or spatula to combine.
9. Cover and cook on low for another 30 minutes.
10. Turn off the cooker and let the pudding cool, partially covered for 30 minutes.
11. Serve warm or chilled.

This recipe serves 4, so in my house, this recipe is doubled, and I increase the cooking time by an hour. I love to make Tapioca Pudding for my kids in the spring – after they tangle their kites in the backyard, and look up at the clouds. When they come inside, I give them this “cloud in a bowl.” Coming up in my next posts – the stovetop method for tapioca pudding, and the recipe for Magic Islands, another high-protein “cloud in a bowl” favorites.

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Filed under: Life, Make Something, eat, health by SusieJ - 6 Comments →

I have a pretty good idea what a Real Mom Does. She hides things – like scissors, post-its, and chocolate so they are out of harms way, and Real Moms cannot remember where they’ve hid them, and just when they think they’ve lost their minds, the missing items miraculously show up in the hands of their children, and wrappers are found behind the sofa. And Real Moms get their teeth cleaned at the Dentist, with one on her lap, one playing in the “spitter” and the other two fighting over the toys in the “treasure chest.”But here’s one, and I have a picture (I’m cheating a little, because I was behind the camera.) Real Moms spend the night at the ZOO. Now, that’s one heck of a field trip. Real Moms feel guilty because they are so busy nursing and caring for the little ones, and never get the chance to go to school functions and field trips with their older ones. So, when the once in a lifetime (actually 3 more times coming) chance comes to go on a field trip when Daddy’s home (because he will be SLEEPING!) Real Moms jump at the chance and say YES — I’ll go!! Where do I sign?

Even though the temperature is 28 degrees F, and she must answer questions at 10:30 at night about adaptation and habitat. (After her brain is melted by this time of day from answering Real Mom questions all day long, like “Why is red red?”) Even when she must sit in a closed classroom at 11 p.m. and watch armadillos and snakes and lizards and hawks parade past her.

And she stays, after she watches the guide put the snake into a cooler, and watches this guide immediately jump on the lid to sit on it while this guide locks the cooler, and explains, “we have to keep a weight on the cooler because the snake has figured out a way to get out.” And Real Moms stay even after they learn that this snake, in its cooler, will be sharing the building with us tonight.

And Real Moms sleep in this room, full of 10-year-old boys, some Dads, and more 10-year-old girls, and less Moms, on an air mattress. She suddenly realizes, she is not who she thought she was after all; she is really, the Princess from the Princess and the Pea. And the room is hot, the room is full of snoring Dads that are not “Daddy’s snores”, and lying there awake because every time she opens her eyes, she sees some pair of eyes on her from afar.

And Real Moms stay, and believe it was one of the greatest nights of their life. Because, you see the 10-year-old, who is busy hanging out with his peers, trying to be cool the whole night, catches her Mom’s eye every once in awhile, to make sure she’s watching him, and she is, and she knows it means the world to him that she’s here with him. Now, that’s a Real Mom.

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Filed under: Laugh, Life, boy by SusieJ - 1 Comment →