N8 the SK8 w/ the Burrito Upd8

Date & Time: June 26, 2008 6:30pm (late report due to tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, myringotomy {tubes in the ear})

Main Course: Hmmmm smoked pork. We had the last of the frozen smoked pork from Delia’s first birthday party. It was still just as tasty. There’s two country pork roasts in the fridge to smoke on the 5^th of July.

Sides: Chips, Pace Picante (whatever picante is… from thefreedictionary.com 1. Prepared in such a way as to be spicy. 2. Having a sauce typically containing tomatoes, onions, peppers, and vinegar.), jalapeño and garlic hot sauce, low fat sour cream, kidney beans half smashed with garlic powder (black and pinto beans were cooked up over the weekend for future burrito nights).

Beverage / Libation: Cerveza Pacifico, hmmm, there was a large bottle of Livingston rhine wine.

Desert: I can’t remember….

Guests: Tom and my brother Jon with blue hair which may have frightened Wyatt at first. Jon teaches at a college in Florida so he can do funny hair things during summer break…

After Dinner Activity: The kids went to bed early because I needed to wake Wyatt up at 5am to get him to drink something. We had to be at the hospital at 6:30 to have his tonsils out and they said he couldn’t have anything to drink after 5:30am. Wyatt is doing well as long as the Tylenol is maintained… Of interesting note prior to putting Wyatt being put under they give him something to drink to relax him. They turned on the tv (Sponge Bob) and turned down the lights. Wyatt was on Carolyn’s lap and after a couple of minutes Wyatt asked, “why are there two Sponge Bobs,” and then started to try to grab at thing in front of him. I must say it was fun to see him hallucinate… It was nice to see him calm down after freaking out and ripping the blood pressure cuff off his arm… We’ve had many Slurpees this past weekend.

Happy day,
NATE

Date & Time: June 19, 2008 6:30pm

Main Course: Chicken enchiladas, hmmmm. Carolyn made a nice large tray of chicken enchiladas with her homemade sauce (from a jar, but modified and cooked a little bit). Anyway they were tasty and I eat more then I should of. The shredded tasty chicken thigh meat was mixed with black beans and corn and other stuff and rolled in corn tortilla and covered with sauce and cheese. Noah had chicken nachos with lettuce and salsa.

Sides: Chips, Aldi medium salsa, jalapeño and garlic hot sauce, low fat sour cream, we had no beans we only had kidney beans left in the house (time to cook up another pot of beans).

Beverage / Libation: Cerveza Pacifico, hmmm, There was a large bottle of Livingston chardonnay but I just had another Pacifico…

Desert: To the dismay and complaint of the Noah there was no desert.

Guests: The regulars, Tom and Sue.

After Dinner Activity: Sitting on the front porch an hour past the kids bedtime and watching them catch “light-ling” bugs and put then in the bug jar and look at them with the “fine-a-fine glass” (Magnifying glass).

Good day,
NATE

Hmmm Smoky Pork

Date & Time: June 12, 2008 6:30pm (Max’s Birthday and my half birthday I’m 35 and a half; I didn’t get any gifts)

Main Course: This past Saturday for Delia’s party I awoke at 4:30 am and lit the Weber gas grill and began smoking two 6 pound county pork roast (with the shoulder bone). Each pork roast was rubbed with a different spice rub the night before. Prior to putting the roasts on the grill I put the disposable aluminum pan filled with water to help keep everything steamy and a couple of chunks of wood for the smoking. I reinstalled the grates and promptly punctured the disposable aluminum tray releasing about a gallon of water into the grill. 5am is apparently too early for me to competently complete simple tasks… A second tray was located and the smoking resumed. After seven hours, lots of wood chunks and water tray refills the roasts reached an internal temperature of 175 a little short of the 190 I needed to easily pull the pork. I was hungry and the guests were arriving so the pork was chopped and not pulled. Either way the pork was excellent. And now back to burrito night… We had left over smoky pork tacos with flour or corn tortilla. The pork was still very good even though it had been frozen since Sunday. There’s still about a pound left for a future burrito night. Hmmmm. Noah had a cheese quesadilla, crazy kid…

Sides: Chips, jalapeño and garlic hot sauce, low fat sour cream, black beans w/ chorizo, preshredded Mexican cheese.

Beverage / Libation: large bottom of white wine. It was commented that a cork screw was required; this isn’t our normal screw top wine.…

Desert: The boys each had some sort of ice-cream/popsicle thingy. Wyatt enjoyed cotton candy flavor and Noah had rainbow. Not sure what a rainbow tastes like.

Guests: The regulars, Tom and Sue.

NATE

Happy Birthday Delia

Date & Time: June 5, 2008 6:30pm (Delia’s turned 1 years old today)

Main Course: Carolyn declared earlier this week that she wanted, and was going to make, ground beef enchiladas for burrito night this week. Well the day came and the temperature was in the mid 80s and we don’t have any air-conditioning units in the windows yet. So Carolyn figured I wouldn’t be happy if she used the oven today, she figured correctly, and instead made an enchilada pie. The enchilada pie consists of the same ingredients but layered in the crock pot. You make a little tin foil (I know it’s aluminum and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen foil made of tin…) sling so you can lift it out of the crock pot. It probably should be called enchilada cake since it looks more like a cake. Well you slice wedges and eat it with a little soar cream and hot sauce. It was very tasty.

Sides: Chips, jalapeño hot sauce, sour cream, black beans w/ chorizo, cheddar cheese and lettuce (Noah had nachos instead of the enchilada cake).

Beverage / Libation: Large bottle of Livingston chardonnay at room temperature. The wine was will diluted with ice cubes. I am a purest I think most wine is better with an ice cube…

Desert: Carolyn’s dad dropped off a lemon cake from the Deerfield bakery which said something like happy birthday Delia. Delia enjoyed her piece. Wyatt enjoyed the frosting on his piece. Noah refused to eat any cake and instead had a root beer popsicle, which he didn’t care for either. I didn’t have any. Everybody else, Tom, Sue and Carolyn, seemed to enjoy the cake.

Guests: The regulars, Tom and Sue.

Cheers Big Ears
NATE

Date & Time: 5/29/08 5:30pm (a little early this week because Sue had some where to go…)

Main Course: We had grilled chicken and onion with large floor tortillas (burrito ones not taco one). The chicken was rubbed with lime juice, salt, pepper, chili powered, and cumin prior to grilling.

Sides: Chips, jalapeño hot sauce, sour cream, black beans w/ chorizo, cheddar cheese and Aldi guacamole from a bag.

Beverage / Libation: Large bottle of Livingston chardonnay and a 20 or 24 ounce bottle of Chelada, eeewww. I’m pretty sure shellfish do not belong in canned beer. The Chelada was bud light with Clamato and was canned by Budweiser.

Desert: I made a pie (I took Thursday off to see Wyatt preschool sign along). The pie was as pretty as pie nice homemade crust and woven top. The filling was not typical and I’ve had the recipe for a couple of years. It was a cactus pie made with prickly pear cactus. A new local grocery store had the cactus precut and de-thorned so it was easy to use. We tried to keep it a surprise from Tom and Sue but Wyatt couldn’t help but blurt out it was cactus… Noah took one bite and ran to the garbage to spit it out, he can be a little over dramatic. Needless to say I think there is still some of the pie left after 5 days so I doubt I’ll be reusing that recipe… It tasted kind of like apple pie but had a rhubarb type texture. I think it would be good with something like strawberries.

Guests: Tom and Sue. Sue left right after we forced them to watch the video of Wyatt not signing in his sign along… We also pulled out the tape of Noah at his preschool sign along…

¡Salud!

NATE