Fakir

Her: I can't feel my car seat.
Me: So you're saying you're just floating there?
Her: Yeah.
Me: When did you learn to levitate?
Her: Three months ago.

kitchen stuff

Kiddo wanted strawberry cake with vanilla ice cream for her birthday. I used this recipe, which was one of the few I could find that didn't use flavorings or Jell-O. The strawberry flavor was subtle but good, and without food coloring, it wasn't really pink. I put vanilla in the whipping cream and stabilized it with gelatin.

Blackberry ice cream was good, but frozen seeds are pretty bad.

I made a chicken-posole stew that turned out well. What I did is below, but I would change a few things. Canned tomatoes in the beginning instead of salsa at the end. No cream. Brown the chicken and onions first. Use chicken broth. Maybe cook the chicken thighs whole and shred them; bone-in would have better flavor, but remove skin.

1 lb. fresh posole
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped, roasted green chile
Water
1/4 cup cream
3/4 cup salsa

In a low slow-cooker, simmer posole in enough water to cover for an hour, until it has popped." Add chicken, onion, chile, more water if needed. Keep slow cooker on low for four more hours.

Add cream and salsa before serving. Garnish with more salsa, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, green onions, avocados.

Shapes

Favorite sentence of the day:

Gwab dat purpoh twapezoid.

Stop asking me that

Why not
Because
[offstage] WHY? WHY?!
Because... I can't answer that question.
OKAY.

Why did you say why
Because I was pretending to be you, and you say why a lot
Why do I say why
That's your developmental phase
Yeah

Backfired

From the backseat at hour 16 (of 24) of our drive home from Grandma's:

"I'm being good! I gave [6-month-old] some of my cheese crackers."

Moment of truth

Kiddo, wailing: I don't like choices!

Pearls

"I thought I was going to die! But I didn't die."

"Do you know bambees?"
"Do you mean baboons?"
"Yes, bamboons."

To her dinner:
"Oh, silly lamb. He tastes so good."

Horseshoes and grenades

The alphabet song, Kiddo-style:

"...T-I-love-you-V. I know my letters anytime!"

Chili

I had a single steak defrosted that needed to get stretched into dinner for threeish people, so I made up this chili recipe, which I'm noting here for my own use.

Steak and bean chili

2 cups boiling water
4 dried red New Mexican chiles, stems and seeds removed
2 Tbsp oil
1 6-oz steak, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 large can diced tomatoes
~3 cups fully cooked pinto beans, drained (that's about 1 cup dry beans, soaked and boiled; or 2 15-oz cans)
Salt

In a heat proof container, cover chiles with hot water to reconstitute; set aside.

Heat oil in a 4 quart pot. Fry steak cubes until nicely browned. Remove from pot and set aside. Saute onions, green pepper, and garlic over medium high heat until translucent. Add spices and continue cooking until fragrant.

Add canned tomatoes with their liquid. Using a stick blender, puree soaked chiles in their liquid; add to pot. Return steak cubes with any juices. Add beans, and salt to taste.

Bring to a simmer and hold until ready to eat. This had quite a bit of liquid on it, and I had it uncovered on very low heat for most of the afternoon.

Next time I might soak a couple more chiles and skip the chili powder.

Maybe

Me: Do you want ice in your water?
Her: Yuh-nuh.
Me: Is that yes or no?
Her: Yes, I don't want any.