Sunday, March 24, 2013

In Which My Computer Works Again

My computer has been on the fritz recently, which is what happens when you combine an old laptop with a kid who has motor skills issues and a mom who has a tendency to drop bits of chocolate on the keyboard.  But it's been given a thorough cleaning now and will hopefully last us a while longer.  I got it back in 2009, so it's not like the thing is geriatric or anything; just a little worn on the edges from some rough handling.  Kind of like the rest of the house-- every time we get a new wheelchair for Connor I bang up the walls for a while until I get the hang of the new size/shape of the chair, and I've now got another kid who leans on everything, leaving hand prints on all of the slightly dented walls.  But it's a happy, cozy kind of bumped up.  So that's good.

Yesterday Ellen asked me to make her some tom kha gai soup.  We were headed to the Asian grocery store and I thought I might try out a new recipe, but she was insistent.  "I love it when you make me tom kha gai" she chirped, turning on the charm.  Ellen being charming is a powerful motivator; I was instantly willing to make her tom kha gai every day of the week for the next year.  I'm so, so glad I'd taken the time to learn some Thai cooking before she got here, and now that she's home cooking together has become one of our favorite activities.  Not all of our experiments turn out (did you know that if you run out of all-purpose flour for pizza, replacing it with bread flour is NOT a good idea?) but we're having a blast trying.

We set off the smoke alarm for the first time this week.  Huzzah!

Connor had his first talent show practice this weekend, and it looks like it's going to be pretty cute.  Out of the four families there, three of us had adopted kids.  So we felt right at home.  Connor seemed largely indifferent to the idea of dancing-- apparently he was not enamored of the musical selection.  That's okay!  As long as he has a good time overall it doesn't matter how much he participates.

Connor's birthday is coming up so soon!  How can my little guy possibly be seven?  Seriously, that is Not Cool.  Connor must stop getting older immediately.  Of course we have no idea what to get him, but we'll figure it out.  His birthday is the same day as the start of Spring Break, so while we won't have a party (Connor hates parties) we'll have the chance to spend an entire fun-filled day together.  The downside to it being spring break is that everyone else will also be trying to spend an entire fun-filled day together.  We may try to avoid the tourist hot spots; neither of my kids do well in crowds.

My little guy isn't so little any more!

~Jess

4 comments:

Kim said...

So I have to ask... what happened with using bread flour for pizza? The very best flour for pizza is 14% gluten (flour protein) and the closest a home cook can usually get is bread flour (11-12% gluten.) Did the dough end up too tough to stretch out properly? If so, the rule is to stretch it a little, let it rest, and then after about 10-15 mins stretch it again.

~ Kim

Emthe said...

Awww! Happy birthday, Connor.

Ashley's Mom said...

I know exactly what you mean. My 'baby' is going to be 18 this Friday! Yikes!

Casey said...

I spent a long time perfecting my Tom Yum recipe, trying to make it more like the soup I remember from a visit to Thailand. Here is what I came up with (it is on allrecipes):
http://allrecipes.com/personalrecipe/62439225/tom-yum-gai-thai-chicken-soup/detail.aspx

 
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