TACO NIGHT!!!!!!

Last night was TACO NIGHT!!!!! I love taco night.... it is one of the best meals the mother makes. You see....she makes meat, refried beans, Spanish rice, plus has cheese, tomatoes, olives, lettuce, sour cream, hot sauce.... you name it for taco fixings... she has it. Everything goes on to the table and it is a free for all....in making your own custom plate of food. Everyone is a little bit different. First we will start with the mother.... she usually goes for the taco salad....with most of the fixings, a little meat and sour cream for dressing. Next is Howie.... who doesn't eat the meat cause it is not kosher.... so it is a big helping of beans, then tomatoes, lettuce, cheese on a hard shell. I don't think I have ever seen him eat a softshell.Thank goodness I don't live there anymore,cause with all the beans it could be a long night for the mother. Moving on to Rands and the Beau...since they are married... it would only be natural for them to have similar looking plates. Rands has a flour tortilla shell, filled with meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, some taco sauce and a bit of sour cream, the Shell will almost not closed it is so full. But with a little elbow grease and clever folding, it is ready for the first bite. The Beau's creation is just as big but he never has the luck of getting it folded correctly, so most of it ends up on his plate, so out comes the folk and spoon. Skinny is more of an equal opportunity kind of guy... .first he starts with a softshell with a little meat , cheese, lettuce and taco sauce.... next he has a hard shell fixed the same way, then back to the soft shell, if he is still hungry. Now A.B's plate is a masterpiece in itself... he is always trying something new.... this past Sunday it was a hard shell filled with meat, cheese, tomatoes... and so on... then wrapped in a bean lined soft shell. Kind of like what you would get at "Taco Bell". Last but not least you have my plate. I like to make a cheese crisp in the microwave, then fill it up with all the meat and fixings... it is the perfect mix of warm and cold Mexican goodness.
See I told you that we are an equal opportunity family when it comes to food. We will eat just about anything from around the world.

The big "DONUT"

Another Sunday has come and gone...... which give me something new and interesting to tell you about.
So yesterday happened to be one of the hottest days of the year here in Iowa and Skinny decided he needed to go play golf at 7:45 in the morning , which meant I would need to haul him out to the course. I wasn't to excited about driving all the way out there, but if it meant a few hours alone in the apartment with peace and quiet, I was willing to do it. Skinny comes in at 7:15 all ready to hit the links, as I slowly crawl out of bed. I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth, then throw on some clothes and we were out the door. Half and hour later I was back to the apartment alone. It was nice and cool, so I decided to lay down on the couch to take a nap. I laid there for about 10 minutes and realized that I wasn't tired anymore, so I needed to find something to do. I walked in to the kitchen and remembered, I had gotten a box dessert I was going to make to take with us to the Parents. So on the oven goes..... as I pulled out the box and got all my ingredients out, then started to whip up my dessert. It was easy, some cake mix, oil, an egg and water... all mixed together and poured in to a pan. Quickly placed into the hot oven and we were on our way. Next came making the mousse that goes on top on the cake. So another mix into the bowl and some milk.....2 minutes later after whipping it a bit, the chocolate mousse is ready to chill in the fridge. I check on the cake, still 20 minutes to go on its cooking time. Dishes needed to be done, so I washed everything and wiped down the kitchen, found the cooling rake, just as the timer on the oven went off. The cake smelled so good when it came out I wanted to eat it then, but I didn't. I put it on the rake to cool for the recommended time......now I was tired. So I laid down on the couch to veg, for a bit.....an hour later... I was looking at the clock an realizing I needed to get that cake out of the pan. Back into the kitchen I went, to find a plate. With great ease the cake slide out of the pan and onto the plate.... I felt like Martha Steward!!! I put plastic wrap over the plate and went about my day, since I wouldn't need to put the whole thing together till right before we left for the parents.
Now remember how I said it was the hottest day of the year yesterday? Well about 4 in the afternoon it started to get a little warm in the apartment, since the air conditioner was now working overtime. I had a thought that I might want to put the dessert the rest of the way together, so it would then have time to firm up in the fridge. I then proceeded to pull out the mousse and unwrap the cake. I scoop the mousse on top of the cake and start to spread it to the edges, then I got out the Cool-whip and put that on top of the mousse. Everything was looking great, until I began to "drizzle" the chocolate sauce all over the top of my creation. The sauce was cold and came out in "blops" instead of nice,pretty lines. So out came a knife and TRIED.... I will repeat TRIED to make nice little swirls on chocolate. But it looked more like mess......so I just stopped and put it into the fridge, it didn't looked so good but I was sure it would taste good.
Now we jump up an hour and 1/2 forward in time........ and we are ready to head out the door to the parents... I carefully take the tort dessert out of the fridge and started out the door when Skinny says" what is up with the big DONUT?" .... Big Donut!!! are you kidding me??? I put my hard sweat and muscle into this TORT and he is calling it a big donut...... Whatever. I choose to ignore his comment and head downstairs to the car.
Now we get to the parents and I walk in with my creation, and neatly place it in the fridge. The meal goes fine and it is now dessert time..... when I pull the tort out, my step-father says..." nice cinnamon Roll... it's really big" cinnamon Roll???.....people give me a break is what I was thinking..... but before I can yell at him The Mother says..." it looks wonderful and it is a tort... you all will have a piece, since I'm sure it is delicious". She then begins to serve everyone a piece even my brother, who never eats dessert took a piece and ate it, without too much arguing.... and it was actually really good.... I was very impressed with myself. So I'm half like Martha Steward..... it may not look pretty but at least it tasted good. I'm still young and have time to improve.

Chicken and spaghetti rice

So I'm 32 years old now and I find myself in BRACES again. You see I have this jaw problem that is going to require surgery, so before I can have the surgery, they have to get my teeth ready. Now my teeth are pretty straight now,I actually had braces 20 years ago to fix that problem. But the orthodontist and oral surgeon seem to think that having them again will help in the jaw fixing process. Since I only want to go through the surgery ONCE. Which does make sense in the end... but right now let me tell you it SUCKS!!!!!
I don't remember my teeth hurting this much, or how much stuff really gets stuck in your teeth.... when you have having... oh let's say WATER... just kidding... but seriously the first day I had custard...plain old vanilla custard....and I was picking it out of my braces for 15 minutes. Plus I have to drink a ton of water, so I can keep raising the food out of my teeth and braces. I think I have spent more time in the bathroom looking in the mirror for random chucks, then I did when I was a teenager ,just ready for school everyday.....and let me tell you I spent a ton of time in the bathroom, during my adolescence.
So let's get to Sunday's dinner.... the mother being the wonderful person she is... decided to make a some what braces/teeth hurting friendly meal.... of her famous spaghetti rice and grilled chicken....which I was actually looking forward to since I had my braces on for 4 days and pretty much had stuck to pudding, custard, pasta and soup....and of course WATER. This was the first time I was going to try to have some meat.
Anyway we are all sitting at the table and the salad goes around, my first thought is to take some, but then my head starts racing as I see all the things that I will be "picking" out of my "metal" later.... cut up carrots, slices of pepper.... and of course the lettuce and cabbage. I decided it was not worth the work.... I quietly said " no thank you" and waited for the rest of the meal.
The mother delivers the main meal to the table......And I select the smallest piece of boneless, skinless chicken I can find....next to it I put 2 scoops of spaghetti rice. Then I proceed to cut up my meat.... which looks like I'm cutting up something for a 2 year old...the pieces are smaller then bite size... we are talking about 3 centimeter by 3 centimeter sections.... once I finally finish cutting the chicken I'm ready to eat.... and notice that most everyone is about half way done with their meal. The mother, in her sympathy, say " I know you are having a hard time eating,so take your time, I won't rush you." Which was nice and then everyone else chimes in... they would sit there too. So I start eating, 1 piece of chicken, carefully chewed... followed by a teaspoon of rice. By the time all the rest of the people at the table have finished their first helping and most of their second.... I still have a little more than half of my plate cleaned. I mean the food is great but I just can't chew any faster or eat bigger bites.... since my teeth feel like they are going to explode from the pressure. I seriously don't remember it being this painful. Now most everyone I have talked to thinks it probably has something to do with being young and not caring about the pain. I don't know what it is.... but I hope it gets better soon.... then again I have lost 4 pounds in the last 7 days.... so it just might be a good weight loss program.... I guess there is an upside to the pain after all...Not to mention that know I have an excuse to only eat jello for every meal.