Over the last few months my son Taylor has lost a lot of weight, around 25-30 lbs, going from 155-160, down to 130, a pretty low weight for someone that is 5′11.”     Once I noticed (sadly, I didn’t notice until he’d lost about 20 lbs, because I’m a terrible mother unobservant like that), I scheduled a doctor appointment for him and he’s had a battery of tests.  He’s not suffering from Krohn’s, irritable bowel syndrome, gluten intolerance or any of the common causes of weight loss.  

It’s odd  because he hasn’t been ill or  even had any symptoms outside of the weight loss. 

He’s been to the pediatrician 3-4 times, the hospital for blood work and the pediatric gastroenterologist, who “threatened” him with more invasive tests (e.g.  a tube down the throat or up the bum) if he didn’t keep a food diary for the nutritionist.  Which is our next stop  in the unexplained weight loss tour.  

Last night he showed me his food diary; surprisingly, for someone that protested that “this is stupid,” he did a really good job of writing down the foods that he ate. 

Unfortunately, in the “amount” column for each item he wrote “ALL.” 

Yes, somehow he thought the nutritionist could figure out the calorie count of fried shrimp, spaghetti, or an omelet, based up on the amount of “ALL.”

Which begs the question, is my 16 year old exceptionally dumb, along with frighteningly thin?  

No, really, he’s a smart kid, but the common sense, well, it’s lacking.

I honestly don’t think there’s anything wrong with him.  Well, at least not physically.   Part way through this process he did say that he had ”wanted to lose the weight.”   But, when your son HATES going to the doctor, well, it’s a little hard to discern the motivation to a sudden confession that he likely feels would get him out of some blood work.  (He’s a needle hater, that one.) 

Plus, it’s odd in that he wasn’t overweight to begin with, and he’s not a vain child.  He wears blue jeans and t-shirts every day.   Cares about good hygiene, but not overly much about his appearance.  He’s the kind of child that plays chess, carries a rubik’s cube and wears shirts with science puns on them.

Nevertheless, he’s also the sort of child that likes a challange.  That worked really hard to solve that rubik’s cube in less than a minute; who becomes mildly obsessive about something (right now it’s Dr. Who) until a new obsession comes along.   

I fear the weight loss falls into that catagory.  For awhile, for whatever reason, he decided that he wanted to NOT eat very much, to see if he could do it.

Or… maybe it’s a rebellious thing.  He has a squeaky wheel for a sister.   She’s wonderful, but she DEMANDS the attention, and would tell me, from the time she was three or four, that we shouldn’t have any more babies because she “wouldn’t get enough attention.”  Reagan is a loud, vivacious child that makes friends (and enemies) easily.  Taylor is quiet; he has friends, the same friends for years, but is rarely the center of attention.  (He definitely seems to prefer it that way.) 

He’s always been an obedient child, my “easy kid.”

And maybe we’ve taken that for granted.  Maybe this weight loss was a ”pay attention to me” ploy, especially since food is a big deal in our house. 

My husband has been getting up and making the kids breakfast every morning.  I’ve been cooking dinner most nights (and per doctor’s orders, I’ve been serving “all the bad stuff,” lots of protein, lots of fats-plus a side of veggies and a fruit, thank you very much. )   And he hasn’t lost any more weight.  But, he hasn’t really gained any either. 

(Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for myself. LOL.)

It’s a mystery, and while I love to read a good one, I hate dealing with one in my personal life.  I just want this to be over (even if I never have a “real” answer) and for everything to be okay.   A mere “okay” has never sounded so great.

Sunday while my daughter was at the mall (surely NOT flirting with boys) trying on zebra and rose printed pants (1 pair pants + 2 patterns = yikes) my bff, Mary Sue, and I went to see “An Education,” an Oscar nominated film starring Peter Sarsgaard.    The film received a good review in our local paper and is the story of a 30 something man (like me, Peter Saarsgaard  was born in 1971, so he’s barely clinging to the 30’s, LOL) who seduces a 16 year old girl, Jenny.

We arrived at the theatre about 15 minutes early and sat in the top row.  Looking around, Mary Sue said “What’s with all the elderly men?”   Yes, scattered around the theatre, each sitting  ALONE, were 12-15 white-haired gents.  And us.  

Mary Sue was pondering what might have drawn them all to the theatre.   I wondered if they were expecting a Lolita-esque tale and found myself worrying about how many might be on the sex offender registry (of course, being in our 30’s, I doubt we would be a draw to these particular gentlemen.) 

The movie was good and, surprisingly,  for a tale of seduction, it had no actual sex scenes.  It was more a story of a con man and how he seduced a girl with the promise of an exciting, sophisticated life. (Not sex.)

However, one scene may be the freakiest thing I have ever seen in a movie.  Jenny, upon reaching the age of 17, decides she is ready to have a sexual relationship; David (Peter Sarsgaard’s character) arranges a weekend in Paris.  In their hotel room, wearing a negligée,  Jenny approaches the bed but David stops, exclaims “Wait a minute,” and heads to the bathroom.  He returns, banana in hand, and says “Since it’s your first time and it will be messy, I thought we’d use this.”

In his hand was 

a banana

AN OVERLY RIPE, YELLOW AND SPOTTY

VERY CURVY

BANANA!!! 

I’m not sure why I find this so, well, freaky.   I just can’t get over it.  Whhhhhhy?  Why would anyone think that was a good idea?   

They didn’t end up having sex that night (duh?)

But she didn’t flee in horror and did (later) end up having sex with him (which happened off screen, much to the disappointment of my theatre-mates.) 

Which may be freakier than the banana itself.

I liked the main character, Jenny; I could see why she might be conned by David and his promise of glamour and fun; however, I just can’t get past the banana.  

(Or the fact that he wanted to call her “Minnie” and for him to call her “heffalump” or “gumplywink,” something like that.)

Obviously, the skeeviest part was a 30-something year old man picking up an obvious school girl (when they first met she was in her school uniform, carrying her cello and actually looked her age.)

Hmm.. in fact, my own 15-year-old looks older than the school girl Jenny.

I guess I should be thankful that Reagan has a nice, age-appropriate boyfriend. (Which, from the point of a view of  a mother is maybe worse than no boyfriend at all, LOL.)

Nevertheless, this movie made me want to warn her about all the “bad guys” out there. I want to remind her to follow her instincts, not to doubt herself, as I did when I was her age, with fairly disastrous consequences.

She thinks she’s so grown up, that she can handle any situation, that no harm can happen to her.   She doesn’t realize that those with poor intentions can also be handsome and charming (and may be wielding bananas.)

TWD: Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Thanks to Pamela of Cookies with Boys for picking this cookie recipe.  I loved it!

Alas, my daughter’s friend did not!

After the friend’s strong reaction, I got out my camera, grabbed my completely unaware husband and said ”Try this cookie!”  He looked at me, looked at the cookie, looked at the camera.  And took a bite.    Good man.   Either he likes my baking, or its the Magnificent Power of the Ta-Ta’s all over again.  (BTW, if you say “Mysterious Power of the Ta-Ta’s” in front of your teen daughter’s friends, she will be embarrassed and not speak to you for most of the night.)

These cookies are delicious  and quite easy to make.  They’re great alone, but would also make a fabulous ice cream sandwich (maybe filled with cinnamon ice cream?

With the holidays coming up, it’s an excellent time to buy “Baking From My Home to Yours” and bake along with us!

TWD: Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte

Pretty, no? 

 Okay, literally, “no!“  as my dessert got a bit smooshed, which somehow made the lovely cherry sauce look rather like smeary ketchup.  (Or catsup, if you prefer.)

I made this torte with low expectations.  I do not like chocolate covered cherries.   Despite my huge sweet tooth, I just can’t stand them.   Blech.  I was willing to try this recipe, but I really did not think I would enjoy a brownie with dried cherries AND cherry preserves; I was wrong.  This was delicious!  The bottom brownie layer was moist and flavorful and the marscapone cheese mousse was to die for.   Soooo good.   Plus the added pureed cherry preserves on top were a nice contrast to the whiteness of a mousse.  A pretty dessert (non-smooshed) that I plan on making again for the upcoming holidays.   (Along with the sweet potato biscuits, the tartest lemon tart and a lot of hashbrown casserole!  I’m going to start counting down the days until Thanksgiving!)

Counting DOWN the days.  Counting UP the pounds, apparently.  Maybe I should add a salad to that list? 

The recipe is available at April’s site, Short + Rose.   And, yes, it does dirty a lot of bowls and have several steps, but none are difficult.  (Note:  I did sub in red wine for the kirsh so I couldn’t flambé it;  I just let the mixture boil for a bit longer to cook out most of the alcohol.)  Plus, you can make the brownie and the mousse a day ahead of time and only have to assemble the dessert the day it is served.  I highly recommend this, even to fellow cherry + chocolate haters.

TWD: Sweet Potato Biscuits

Erin at Prudence Pennywise is living up to her blog name; these biscuits are really inexpensive to make.   They simply contain sweet potato (or pumpkin), flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter.     

Living in a town with one of the largest pumpkin canning factories in the U.S. I decided to substitute in canned pumpkin for the sweet potatoes.    (There was also the small matter of having canned pumpkin on hand and NOT having canned sweet potatoes, LOL.)  

One mistake, though, I neglected to consider that sweet potatoes are, um, SWEET, compared to canned pumpkin.  I should have bumped up the amount of sugar in the recipe, from two tablespoons to four.

Compensating for the lack of sweetness I made a compound butter; I combined one stick of softened salted butter, the zest of one orange and three to four tablespoons of honey.  This went very well with the biscuits and I have plenty leftover to make either another batch, or to serve with some type of quick bread or on sweet potatoes.  

Any ideas of what kind of quick bread would be good with orange honey butter?

I managed to get a photo or two, but these aren’t pretty.  In fact, carrying them into my friend’s house, covered in plastic wrap, she thought they were fried chicken.  They are an “interesting” color of orange:

I cut mine in the shape of pumpkins, not that you can tell.  

This would be a great (and easy!) recipe for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  If you are interested,  the recipe is available at Prudence Pennywise or in “Baking From My Home to Yours.”  

TWD: Allspice Crumb Muffins

Before this recipe, I’d never baked anything that highlighted allspice and was pleasantly surprised by how delicious these muffins were.    I made these a couple of weeks ago, which, while it was nice to be “ahead” didn’t work out so well, since I didn’t get a photo AND I can’t really remember much about baking them-other than that the recipe was easy and the muffins had a great top (Top ‘O the muffin to you!)   For a more substantive post about the muffins (and the recipe) please visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen Table. 

In other news, I started tutoring at the grade school Wednesday afternoon.  The teacher in charge of the volunteers looked at the list and said “Oh, you have HH.  Hmm….he’s a bit…. stubborn.   But I’m sure you’ll be okay.” 

Unfortunately (maybe?) HH was absent yesterday, so I was assigned another child, “Houston,” a short, slightly chunky, tad bit smelly, be-earringed boy in the 7th grade.   The kind of kid that breaks your heart because you can tell immediately that he’s treated as a “have-not” by the other children and probably many adults.

We sat down; Houston went to get his snack of chocolate milk and graham crackers, then sat down and said “Want to see something?”   Wishing to establish a rapport, I eagerly responded ”Oh, yes,” expecting to see a trinket from his backpack or a photo of his dog.  

He punched the table.

Not out of anger, just to show me how hard he could punch.

Hmm… is there a polite way to respond “negatron” to ”Want to see something?”

We started his social studies homework; “What countries import oil to Russia?”

Houston: “I’ve changed my fingerprints. (shows me his fingertips)  See, I used a pin and poked it and now I have little scars and my fingerprints are different.  Now I can never get caught.”

M’kay?

“Can you find the are arrows on the map showing what countries import oil to Russia?”

Houston: “It doesn’t hurt to put a pin through your skin.  I did it on my arm and here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and then put a string through all the holes.”

WTF?

“See, this arrow, what country is that?”

Houston:  “I’ve been fishing before.  I caught a fish and put it in the blender and the lid wasn’t on it and fish blood and guts went all over the ceiling of our trailer.”

“Let’s list ten Middle Eastern countries and their capitals.”

Houston:  “And then we had to move out of the trailer and my uncle was sad because he liked the smell of the fish blood.  And my mom was mad that we had to move and she and my uncle wrote bad words on the walls in paint. Like ‘FU.’” 

“Look at how many of the countries end in ’stan.’  I wonder why.  Has your teacher mentioned that?”

Houston:  “I know how to shoot a gun.  My grandpa has guns and we shoot them.   I shot a turkey before.”

“Let’s read about the Nile River and answer these questions.”

Houston:  “I shot it in the foot.  And it ran away like this.” (demonstrates a hobbled strut)

“Is the Aswan High Dam a good thing or a bad thing for Egypt?  List two advantages and two disadvantages of the dam.”

Houston responded:

The damn controls the water.  I can speak Spanish.  It keeps the Nile river from flooding the crops.  My mom had a boyfriend that was Mexican and he had two Mexican kids.   The damn makes it easier for people to cross the river so they can bury their dead.  And they taught me un poco Espanol. If people can’t cross the river then they won’t have life after death.   Mainly swear words though.  The damn can sometimes make the floods worse, though, which kills the crops.  I think the damn is a bad thing and they should remove the damn.

I had been instructed to have him dictate his answers and to write them down for him (due to a disability, he has a hard time holding a pen.)   It wasn’t until AFTER I had written his response that I realized I had misspelled DAM each and every time in the essay.  

I think I may be fired from (volunteer) tutoring!  Which is worse, that I can’t spell, can’t keep the kid focused, or that the word I can’t spell made an unintentional swear word?  (Yes, I did go through and cross out all the “n’s” at the end of the dams.)  (But it won’t be that difficult for the teacher to realize my mistake, and, alas, that I am a dumbass.)  

After tutoring I ran and picked up Reagan and told her how it went.  She said “Did you know he’s Mongolian?”     Confused, (“Like the beef?”)  it seemed unlikely to me that a boy from our little town would be from Eastern Asia.   Then it dawned on me, someone (and sadly, probably an adult, given the obscurity of the term) likely referred to him as a “mongol”  and this dated, derogatory term was misinterpreted by children, including my daugher, that  misunderstood and didn’t know better.

I’d say tutoring went “so-so” and left me feeling a bit sad.   (I definitely root for the underdog and this kid is like the underdog of the underdogs)   But the muffins, the muffins were fab.

TWD: Split Level Pudding

Jennifer and pudding sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

This pudding was definitely worthy of mi amor.   And it was easy to make, used ingredients that I had (and usually have) around the house, milk (I used 2% rather than whole), egg yolks, chocolate, vanilla, cornstarch, heavy cream (yes, I usually have a carton for ice cream making), and sugar.

I served the pudding in small punch bowl cups and only made four servings;  one for each member of my family. 

My camera shy one didn’t eat his, though.  

 

And he wouldn’t smile nice for his “Match.com” profile pic, either.

(Just joking.)

Attack of the giant pudding cup: 

 

The chocolate ganache at the bottom was rich, thick and chocolate-y.  I used Dove dark chocolate instead of bittersweet, thinking my kids would find that more appealing.   The vanilla part was smooth and had a really nice texture.  Not too thick or too thin.   I served each one with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and, in my husband’s words “this is the best thing ever!”

This is a great, easy, comforting recipe.  I encourage everyone to visit Garret’s blog, “The Flavor of Vanilla,” for the recipe and his review.

TWD: Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart

I love tarts.  My first Dorie recipe after joining the group was the French Pear Tart, which I adored and have made three or four times since then.   (Now that I think about it, I really want to make it AGAIN, SOON.)     Carla of Chocolate Moosey chose this tart recipe.

I decided I would vary this recipe slightly because I don’t like peanuts.   I don’t hate them, I just prefer other nuts.  (huhuh, I said “nuts”)   I decided to use pecans (hazelnuts were too expensive) and toasted them in my toaster oven.   Burnt the first batch.  Burnt the second batch.   Darn.   I decided to change my method and toasted them in the skillet I would later use to make the caramel.   I also sprinkled the pecans with a little sea salt.

I used part of the pecans in the tart crust, which I made Saturday night while my daughter was at her homecoming dance.   

Gratuitous homecoming picture.

Sunday I made the caramel and the ganache.   The caramel was easy, melted sugar, a bit of corn syrup, butter and heavy cream.   The ganache was even easier, just chopped chocolate, heavy cream and butter.  Assembly was also a breeze.   I made the tart to take to my book club and it was refrigerated longer than the thirty minute max specified in the recipe, yet it was still delicious and not soggy.   I also sent the leftovers to work with my husband the next day and they were still fine.

I must say I preferred this tart served with whipped cream.  It really speaks to the richness of the ganache that whipped heavy cream actually seems to lighten it up!  I could easily see making this for dessert after a holiday meal.   Or for a pms-y random Tuesday night when I’m craving CHOCOLATE and the little four aisle grocery store down the block doesn’t carry “New York Super Fudge Chunk.”    

Don’t forget, the recipe can be found at Chocolate Moosey, or in the book, “Baking From My Home to Yours” by Dorie Greenspan.      

  

Homecoming 2009

I’ve decided that homecoming is a lot like Christmas.  Lots of money, tons of prep and then it’s over way too fast!   This was my first homecoming experience as a mother (rather than as a teenager) because my son didn’t attend last year (or this year.) 

Reagan, however, was determined to go.   She was asked by a boy from her school, a junior (she’s only a freshman), who, in an effort to impress her, told her an anecdote about throwing a flaming gopher at a passing car.    Fearing he would make a vest out of her skin, she said “No, thanks,” and asked a boy, Ryan, that is her ”facebook friend” and attends a different school.

We shopped for a dress, shoes, jewelry.  She got her nails done and her hair curled.   Being concerned about skin cancer ”mean,” I wouldn’t let her tan.    

Finally it was the day of homecoming.   That morning I met friends for breakfast.  Karma and Jim were in town for their twenty year high school reunion. 

It was great to see them.  Plus, Karma solved a mystery for me.

 

LADIES UNDERWEAR!

 

 

But, back to homecoming.  While I visited with Karma and Jim, Rea got her hair done.  Then we headed home, she did her make-up, put on her dress and heels and we ran over to our neighbor’s house to take photos.

(Meanwhile her brother was still in his pajamas, playing video games.)

Then we headed to the riverfront to meet her date, Ryan, and his mother.   He put on Reagan’s corsage:     And then she attempted to pin on his boutenniere: 

Rea looked at the pin, looked at the flower, looked at the pin, looked at the flower,  then turned to me and said,
“What the hell?”   So ladylike.  I was so proud.    

 

 

They seemed a little awkward posing for pictures.   Ryan’s mom said “put your arm around her!”  But this was as close as they got:  

Then we headed back to Princeville and took MORE photos at Rea’s friend’s Ethan’s house.  

 Pretty Girls!

After many, many photos, they headed out to dinner at a local Japanese steakhouse.  (The kind where they cook at your table.)   Taylor and I also went out to eat enchiladas at his favorite restaurant.        Honestly, he’s not that glum!  He just doesn’t like being photographed.

It was too dark to get any good pictures at the dance.  But the kids had fun.  Most of the girls took off their heels and they did all kinds of crazy theme dances, like the cha cha slide and the macarena.     Once the dance was done, Rea and her date went to a bonfire til around 1:00, then we had to drive Ryan home.   A 45 minute drive in extremely foggy conditions.

What not to say to your daughter and her date on the ride home:  “Are you guys getting hot back there?”            

During the late-night drive Reagan fell asleep with her head on Ryan’s shoulder.    When he arrived home, he said goodbye but she didn’t walk him to the door.  No good night kiss!  (The whole “teenage boys want to have sex with teenage girls, and vice-versa, it’s a natural thing, but not something you are at all ready for at fourteen” discussion may have been unwarranted.)   I’m not sure if she was relieved or disappointed about the lack of kissing.  Nevertheless, she had a great time and it was a lovely first date.

TWD: Cottage Cheese Pufflets

Or, as they are called in my house of cottage-cheese-haters ”jam-filled non-puffies.”

I’ve wanted to make this recipe for a long time and actually bought cottage cheese to make it once, got busy, and threw away the cottage cheese a month or so later when it had expired, I hadn’t made the recipe, and no one had eaten it.  I’m thankful that Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes picked it as her TWD recipe and brought it back to my attention.  I love recipes that picque curiosity, that make me wonder “What would the texture, taste, etc.. be like?”  

I made the dough on Saturday, and I must say, I love dough that can be prepared in the food processor.   It’s amazing how smooth and silky the whirred up cottage cheese (with a good dose of butter) became;  I added the dry ingredients, pulsed briefly, then wrapped the mixture in plastic wrap and refrigerated it until last night.  

After grocery shopping, dinner and taking my daughter for a haircut and eyebrow waxing (I’m too wimpy have mine done!), I pulled the dough out of the fridge.  It rolled out easily on a silpat mat coated in flour.  

Unfortunately, it didn’t come off so easily!  After cutting the shapes, I really should have re-chilled the dough, but I was in a hurry, it was after 9:00 and I still had studying to do.  So I scraped them up with a flat spatula, filled them with strawberry preserves and popped them in the oven.   Not pretty.   And they didn’t puff. 

But they did taste good and the texture, despite not puffing, was soft and silky.  I’m having a weird food memory, deja vu-esque feeling about these but I can’t quite put my finger on it.  They just seem “familiar.”    Any ideas of a (likely midwestern) baked good that would be similar?   It’s really driving me crazy.

I still have half the dough in the fridge and, if I have time tonight, I plan on experimenting with some different fillings; a mixture of cinnamon and toasted pecans would likely be really good.  I also plan on reading TWD posts and seeing what worked well for others.    

(Oh, and I do have  photos of these, but left my camera at home.  I’ll upload those later, assuming any turned out. )