Defeated

Any idea what's in these baskets? I'm guessing that you would not assume they had lychees or pork rinds or whole coconuts. But that's just what six aspiring chefs found on the latest rendition of Chopped Redemption. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can get a little background at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/chopped/index.html)

30 minutes; 4 mystery ingredients; 2 chefs; 1 winner.

Round one: Appetizer

The pressure was on as Chef Nicolle and Chef Greg opened the first baskets of the night. Inside, they found shrimp, canned lychees, lemon cough drops, and spinach. After a few moments of staring at the cough drops and tasting the lychees, the chefs got to work.

Round one was especially exciting because the smoke detector went off. While the judges were opening doors and fanning away the smoke, the chefs continued to devise their masterpieces. And the result?



Pretty good looking, eh? It was a tough decision for the judges, but they were eventually swayed by Chef Nicolle's beautiful presentation and flavorful vinaigrette. And the fact that Chef Greg placed a large pile of unadorned spinach on the plate probably didn't help his cause.



Chef Greg, you have been chopped. Sorry about that.

Round two: Entree

Because we were criticized last time for making our ingredients too easy, we tried to spice it up a little bit with the entree ingredients. But we also wanted to eat something for dinner. So, the mystery ingredients were hot n' spicy chicharrones (aka pork rinds), radishes, coconut juice, and beef round tip steaks. Here is what they came up with:


Chef David and Chef Natalie had very similar approaches. They were both a little stumped by the coconut juice, and they both tried to hide the pork rinds as much as possible. Although the judges were confused by Chef David's random garnishes of lemon and a bowl of coconut juice, he won in the end. The judges were especially impressed that he got his food on the plate this time.



Chef Natalie, you have been chopped. Don't be too bitter! : )

Round three: Dessert

It was finally time for Bridget and me to strut our stuff. Our ingredients? A whole coconut, crescent rolls, nutmeg, and dark chocolate. We could not get the coconuts open for a good ten minutes--which takes a big chunk out of a thirty-minute time limit! Bridget smashed hers all over the counter, while I tried to pierce it with a nail. Definitely should have gone with the hammer.

In the end, which one do you think looks better?



You're right. The second one looks much better. And of course that was Bridget's. In my defense, however, I not only had problems with the coconut, but then I couldn't get the food processor to work . . . and then dropped a bowl with all of my dark chocolate. So while I was busy sweeping up my mess (and apologizing profusely to our hosts who probably hate me), Bridget was working on making such a beautiful presentation.



After what I am sure was a VERY difficult decision, Chef Kip got chopped. And humiliated. Really? Bridget beat me at the DESSERT round? Unbelievable.

Better luck next time, right?

Growing Up

I know, I know--every child grows up too quickly and every parent wishes that the baby would take a little more time growing up. But sometimes it just hits harder than others. I mean, there's still a whole lot of this going on:


And we're still enjoying the smiley phase:


But other things are coming along so fast. For example, our doctor told us that babies are supposed to start eating solids at 4 months now. 4 months? Really? But I guess Elijah was ready, because he loved it. Actually, he grabbed the spoon and bowl and tried doing it himself.


And he's already learning to sit up on his own (usually so he can get a full view of what Elliott's up to!)


And we even tried giving him his own cup of water.


So, I guess we are joining every other parent in the world when we say, "Can we slow it down just a little bit?"

Random

I always try to have some theme for a blog post . . . which is probably why I don't post more often. Bridget says that's ridiculous. So, I'm trying to be a little less neurotic and a little more random. So here goes.

1) Bridget's quote of the day: "Elliott, Elijah does not want your foot on his head."

I don't know why it was so funny, but I was sitting at the dinner table and almost spit out my food. Add that to the list of things that you never thought you'd have to say.


2) Elijah is such a fun baby. Every time we change his clothes, he knows it is "Tickle Time" and will get giddy even before we tickle him. If I ever figure out how to upload videos from our video camera, you may get to see the giggling.

On the other hand, Elijah is not a big fan of tummy time. But he's still pretty cute.



My dad always said that we should read to our kids from an early age, and Elliott has certainly come to love his books (especially Christmas books--speaking of random!). We have started to read to Elijah, but mostly he wants to eat the book and Elliott wants to steal the book away from him.


3) One of the best moments of my work week is when I get a picture message from Bridget with a random picture. Although it makes me sad that I am not home with them, it always brings a smile to my face. Especially when the picture is one of Elliott wearing an apron. Some people are surprised to find out that I like to cook, but they usually give me less of a hard time after they've tried something I made. Anyway, Elliott and I have had some fun times making cookies and watching them bake in the oven. For the whole ten minutes.


4) The other night I was working on the computer, and both of the kids were asleep, and I heard Bridget giggling to herself. I looked up to find that she had Elijah's Bumbo on her head. She thought it was hilarious. Then she said that I had to try it. So, there you go.


Is that random enough for you?

Christmas

Some people visit the hospital at Christmas to sing to the patients or deliver goodies. We also visited the hospital this Christmas, but we weren't really singing and the only thing we were delivering was a whole bunch of germs. Elliott started getting a fever a few days before Christmas, and by Christmas Eve, the fever got up to 105 degrees. He also developed some blood in his mucus and may have had a seizure . . . so we were fortunate enough to spend Christmas Eve in the Emergency Room! Poor Elliott was such a champ, and we felt bad that he couldn't enjoy his presents a little more.

Even though we missed spending time with family and friends, we were glad that we didn't share our fever with anyone else. And in some ways it was nice just to stay home and allow Elliott to recuperate. Of course, we didn't just sit around staring at the walls . . .

We may or may not have taken a trip to the park (even though Elliott had a fever) just because it was 65 degrees!


We found time to finish decorating our house, including a creative way to display our stockings due to our lack of mantle . . .


We had a lot of fun opening presents on Christmas (although you may notice that Elliott looks a little miserable and Elijah was more entranced by Pandora's Christmas music than his own presents) . . .


And we certainly found the time to be very, very spoiled.


Don't you love the matching pajamas?! Thanks, Nana Kathy! All in all, it was a great Christmas. We just hope that next year Santa can keep his germs to himself!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

Christmas!! If you are not sure how to get in the Christmas spirit, here are a few steps that we would suggest.

Step One: Meet Santa Claus

Now this may not look like a big accomplishment to you. But considering the fact that Elliott has never really been a fan of strangers (let alone large, bearded men), we considered this a great success. And I think Mrs. Santa Claus was pretty darn excited to meet Elijah!

Step Two: Put up the tree

Don't worry if it's the same fake tree that you've used since the first year you were married. It's the thought that counts.

And why do we put up the tree? So we can climb inside the box, of course!


Step Three: Decorate said tree


Step Four: Meet up with friends to watch the Christmas parade


Step Five: Listen to Christmas music ALL THE TIME and act as goofy as possible!


We love this time of year, not just for the food and the music and the decorations but most importantly for the real meaning of CHRISTmas. We are sad that we won't get to see many of you, but we hope that you have a great Christmas.

Man's Search for Happiness

(do you remember that movie? It was a classic!)

Elliott has been into hide-and-seek for quite a while. He doesn't exactly understand the game, but he certainly enjoys the hiding part. And the screaming part.

What, your games of hide-and-seek don't involve screaming? Oh. Too bad.

Anyway, one of his favorite "hiding" places is behind the shower curtain. It never gets old.


Meanwhile, Elijah has found his own ways to entertain himself. He is a very smiley baby, and we take special pride in the fact that he smiles at his parents way more than he smiles at strangers. But there is one other thing that he smiles at--his toy arch. He will lay beneath that thing forever and pull the links over and over. So we took the opportunity to try and capture his beautiful smile.



(p.s. notice the cool blanket? That was a gift from none other than the fabulous Aunt Nyn. Elijah loves it!)

School Days

I've heard a lot of parents say that the time just flew until their oldest kid went to the first day of school. And I'm sure that's true. But for us, the day came a little sooner than we were planning. We decided to put Elliott into a school for kids with developmental delays. And it was a really tough decision for us. We worried about sending him into the "real world" when he was so young, and we worried about him not being able to talk, and we worried about what would happen when he was around other kids with delays. But we decided to do it, and so the day came (a couple years earlier than we once thought!) and Elliott had his first day of school.

Poor kid. He didn't even know what he was getting into.


And, I am happy to report, it has been really good for him. Elliott walks in like he owns the place, throws his backpack and jacket in the cubby, and runs over to the play area. His teachers love him, and of course Elliott loves to participate in music time. And he loves to come home and show off his new dance moves.

And, just so you don't worry, we still have time to teach him other things, like dressing himself:


(that was all him--no help from either parent), and self-imposed piano lessons:


Good luck, Elliott--only fifteen more years of school to go! Until college, at least . . .