It's Cold Outside

There was a little snow yesterday, and I mean a little, at least in our neighborhood. Just enough to make things sort-of white and the roads a bit slick. School was delayed two hours and canceled altogether in snowier areas. Today it's storming to beat the band, but temperatures have risen a bit and it's just wet wet wet.

The lavender shortbread recipe I got from Adriana turned out awesome. I rolled the dough into cylinders and cut it into 1/4-inch slices using my wire cheese slicer. Today I tried these New-Wave Nutmeg Cookie Logs, only using the same sliced-cylinder method and skipping the frosting. Pretty tasty, but I definitely like the shortbread texture better.

It's been a big week of change for the two younger kids in the house. Number Two started stuttering, quite severely at first, at the beginning of the week. Then, mid-week, he abruptly decided he was no longer going to take a nap (this from a kid who only the week before had been relishing a three-hour afternoon sleep). Then, Sunday, the stutter miraculously disappeared, just when I was starting to wonder if a call to his pediatrician was in order. Odd.

The bebe has been madly chewing on her hands and flailing at anything that comes into range. She also started laughing, though it still sounds a bit strained, while being tickled or led through a game of pattycake. Awesome. Last week she had a few days where she was waking up earlier on each successive day, and I was starting to get worried she'd start regressing, but since then she's resumed her not-waking-up-before-seven-am habits (after going to bed between 10 and 11 pm). Bless her heart.

Number Two loves to hold the bebe:




Last night's dinner was flank steak fajita burritos. Well, sort of. Really more of a cross between burritos and tacos, since we used the smaller size of tortillas. For the meat, I defrosted a flank steak for 24 hours in the fridge, then sliced it in half lengthwise, then into 1/8-inch slices. It is way, way easier to do this if the meat is still mostly frozen. I tossed the meat with a little chili powder and some freshly-ground cumin, then sautéed over high heat with a thinly-sliced red pepper. I heated up a can of refried black beans with some cheese for the boys and Mavis (I'm avoiding beans for the bebe's sake), and we assembled our own tarritos à table. 8-inch whole wheat tortillas, heated in a dry skillet and kept on a plate in a kitchen towel. A small Haas avocado and an heirloom tomato, cut into chunks. Fresh-ish salsa (from the refrigerated deli case, not in a jar). Sour cream. Coarsely chopped red leaf lettuce. Yum.