Adventures in Tofuland

I have to admit that when it comes to food, I'm a little ADD. I love food and the cooking process to a fault. I tend to get bored with it quickly, which leaves me to experiment on my poor, unsuspecting husband. But honestly, he's a human garbage disposal, so I guess it's a win-win.

Of all the things that I have tried for the first time, there is one ingredient that never ceases to make me crinkle my nose.

Tofu.

Just writing the word makes me scowl. But in the interest of cooking science, I set my reluctance aside and bought a package of firm tofu. In all fairness it was 99 cents. If things didn't work out, then I wouldn't be out a ton of money. Now if they would only bottle time and put IT on sale so I could stock up . . .

Anyway, I'm headed on a tangent, sorry.

I have this great stir-fry book which obviously features tofu dishes. I decided on a citrus pineapple entree. Now, I know that tofu absorbs the flavors of any dish it's cooked in, but as we sat down to eat our first bit, I was overwhelmingly . . . disappointed.

marinating tofu watches half the batch get golden

everyone getting crispy

Not that I expected much, but man was it bland. And it felt like there was no substance to it. I think I ate two heaping bowls and still had this feeling of being hungry. I honestly don't know how vegetarians and vegans eat tofu and survive. Perhaps I'm did something wrong (like not make rice to go with it), but more power to those people. I'm not about to give up my carnivore status for soy products.

And so our adventure in Tofuland was quite disenchanting I think I will make this dish again, but definitely substitute the tofu for shrimp.

tada!

The Little One Stopped for Toothy Ten (months not teeth)

As per lack of further postings or emails, I am sad to report that Ariel did not make the semi-finals for Live! with Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Search. It was a crap shoot anyway, but it was fun to dream about it anyhow. To see who won, click on the link in the "One Beautiful Baby" posting.

It’s hard to believe that in two months, Ariel will be a year old. Unreal.
Her first bottom tooth erupted on March 14th. We're still waiting on the second one to come in. You can see the white bud trying to push through. She’s taking it all in stride. Tylenol only makes an occasionally visit.

She has expanded her vocabulary to “Dadee”, “ba-ba”, “ma”, and “ny-ny-ny-ny.” The last word is a series of this “ny” sound. Honestly it sounds like she’s saying nein, which is “no” in German. But who’s been teaching her German? Hmmmm…

A couple days before she turned ten months, Ariel started crawling on her hands and knees. While she is much faster now, she prefers to “walk” (and I use the word very loosely). She would rather hold onto your hands and walk, than crawl under her own power. Go fig.
At this age, Ariel is fascinated with looking out of the window. She really enjoyed watching me shovel snow. If the curtains are closed, she tugs at them until someone comes to move them out of her way.

We are also having some issues with separation anxiety. We went to a family gathering to celebrated Eric’s grandmother’s 91st birthday and Ariel fussed and cried when anyone other than me, held her. Sad thing is, she didn’t even want Eric. She usually is a very happy baby and will go to anyone, but Ariel is her own person with a strong willed attitude.

I attempted a photo shoot this month, but patience apparently does not come with increased mobility. So I got a handful of shots before she had a meltdown. Oh well.

Another update in a couple weeks. Until then....

here I am!

arguing with froggy Tianna

a kiss from Yzzie

play that funky music

One Wild Child

The Denver Zoo has four free days a year. And back in February, we embarked into the madness for Ariel’s first outing to the zoo.

There was a big group of us that ventured out: my friend Mina with son Haylen and her family, our family, and both of our godchildren with their mommies. Now free days sound great in theory, but in all practicality, the zoo seems to have been placed on the outside of the gates. It took us at least twenty minutes to find parking (at least we didn’t have to pay).

And once we finally got inside the zoo, it was moving through a sea of humanity to view most of the exhibits. Since Ariel enjoys her “Mercedes” so much, we rented a wagon for her to ride it. I really didn’t want to be bothered with the running stroller. And as much as we took her in and out of it, I was glad for the wagon.

Yzzie rode in the wagon with Ariel and they made the cutest pair ever. Yzzie made sure to keep a good grip on the baby so she wouldn’t fall out. Phoenix was enthralled with the elephants. As we walked into the elephant pen, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and pointing his finger, he exclaimed, “Mama, Mama Mama.” I hope he wasn’t calling his mother an elephant, cause that’s just plain rude. :0)

It was hard to tell what Ariel really got out of the experience. Most of the time she spent staring at the people and not the animals. We pointed out a bunch of stuff, but perhaps it was all too overwhelming. But we’ll go back as it gets warmer. I won’t even mind paying to get in.

This One Time At Band Camp...

Eric and I had an afternoon date today. The Colorado Army National Guard was celebrating their 150th anniversary. And what better way to do that than with a free concert.
As you all know, Eric and I are reformed band geeks and so we were jumping at the chance to go.
Believe me when I say you can take the kid out of the music but good luck taking the music out of the kid.

Anyway, as we were searching for a place to park, I realized how much I dislike LoDo (lower downtown) and its one-way streets and its ridiculous parking, when you can find it. We shelled out $10 to park and were about 10 minutes late.

We were treated to four different branches of the main concert band: wind ensemble, Dixieland, rock, and country. Everyone was great and we even knew two of the service men from our days in ASC showband.

After intermission, the main concert band reassembled and reminded us of the beautiful, moving qualities of music. They played “America the Beautiful” and I hade once played this exact arrangement. I found myself cuing the chimes (as I had this part) during the course of the song. Seriously, who does that? And why do I remember something that I did over fifteen years ago when I can’t remember the details of a phone call just yesterday?

Man did I enjoy my years as a band geek. There was the music, the camaraderie, the joy of being apart of something so beautiful. Then there was night rehearsal, the feelings of inadequacy and cutthroat competition for first chair. There are some days I missing playing the marimba, to hear that classic woody sound of the instrument, to feel so completely absorbed by the notes, that I don’t remember playing half the song.
Ahh, the power of music.