"Did you know your house is on fire?"

I had gotten home from work late that evening and was sitting in the living room watching television with my husband.  The show we were watching ended, and I felt uneasy.  I heard a noise that sounded like it was coming from the basement ....

(This is actually not the first time I have heard weird noises in the house and thought it was an intruder, but in fairness, there has always been a reason for the noises and I wasn't just hearing things!)

Jenn:  I think there's someone in the house!
Ed:  (Doesn't move from the couch or look up from the computer) There's no one in the house.
Jenn:  No, really.  I think there is someone in the house!
Ed: (Sees the mylar balloons in the kitchen moving) It's those balloons moving. (In hindsight, the balloons were moving in the heat draft from the fire - they should not have been moving at all)
Jenn: (Hearing a louder noise and feeling more ill at ease) No there is someone in the house!

Whereupon I jumped up and ran for the door to go outside to scream and alert everyone to the intruder.  Ed stood up and slowly walked towards the basement door to calm my fears. :) What a good, kind husband.

As I'm opening the front door, I think to myself "Hmmm it smells like smoke."  I step out onto my front porch and there is a strange man running up to my house and he says "Did you know your house is on fire?"  I take a step back and turn around and sure enough there is a big orange glow shining behind my house!

I yell "Ed!  The house is on fire!"  and I run back into the house (not as crazy as it sounds -- there was no visible smoke yet in the house), I grab my little dog Taco, my pocketbook, and my work computer (I know, I wish I had grabbed some scrapbooks instead, but I wasn't thinking and it just happened to be right there by my pocketbook) and I run out to the curb where the good samaritan is on the phone to 911. 

I turn around and realize my husband has NOT followed me out of the house.  I thrust my dog at the stranger and ask him to hold the dog so that I can go find my husband and I run back to the front porch of the house.  The glow of fire is visible when peering into the open front door and a little white smoke is lazily drifting out of our home.  Because of these signs, I don't go back in the house, but I stand on the steps and start hollering for Ed .... there is no answer.  I'm sure now that Ed has fallen into the fire, hit his head, and is dead.  (Yes, I am a catastrophizer.) I run to the side of the house to go to the back yard to see if he is there, but by this time the flames are licking around the side of the house from under the eaves and they are too close to the gate for me to go through it safely ....

So I scream.  You know that panicked, crazy person scream that people let out in the movies and that you swear that is not what would happen in real life?  I let out that scream.  I scream my husbands name praying that he has not fallen victim to the grasping fingers of fire that are destroying our home with their voracious hunger.  Miracle of miracles he answers me.   "I'm here."  He says this with a tone of irritation in his voice.  Like I am interrupting him.  I find out later in fact he was trying to get to the garden hose and get it hooked up to try and contain the fire.  So he had been IGNORING ME when I was calling his name and worrying that he was dead!  I am so glad that he is ok, that I'm not even mad that he caused me such panic.   But for next time, if the house is not on fire, I tell him he has to answer me before I have to start screaming like a banshee!

You're Welcome ...

New blog I love -- http://www.yeahyourewelcome.com/

It is gift ideas -- and the gifts are unique and funny to start with and then her commentary is hysterical.  I was totally laughing my head off -- this girl has a fantastic (albeit earthy) sense of humour (or at least right up my alley) and a very creative gift giving sense! 

Check it out but make sure you go to the bathroom first!

Jackie's Vodka Sauce

I went to my friend Jackie's house last week to learn to make Vodka Sauce.  She was making 4 batches for a Cub Scout 'Spaghetti Dinner' so I think now I can do it on my own!  BTW, this was possibly the best food ever had at a cub scout event!  Homemade vodka sauce, sausage and peppers, meatballs, garlic cream sauce, marinara, bread from the local Italian deli ... Everything was delicious!  Anyway, here are my notes on how to make vodka sauce a la Jackie!

Overall notes --

High quality ingredients are key.  If you skimp on the tomatoes or cream ... it just won't taste as good!

Stir well after every ingredient addition to make sure all the flavors get to all parts of the sauce.

If you want to make a double batch, you are better off just making it twice.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil - Not Extra-Virgin
1 Tablespoon Butter
One small bunch Chopped Scallions (don't use the hard white ends -- just the green parts)
Minced Garlic (about 5 cloves or one palmful of minced)
28 Oz can crushed Tomatos - Sclafani brand
3 handfuls Pecorino Romano grated cheese
1 quart heavy cream
2 heaping spoons of Sun-dried tomato spread (California Sun-Dry brand)
Fresh Basil

In a large, heavy non-stick skillet over medium heat pour some olive oil in the pan (approximately 3 tbsp) and add two pats of butter (approximately 1 tbsp total)

When melted, add one bunch of chopped scallion tops and stir to saute briefly:

Add a palmful of minced garlic -- can add a few slices at this time, but most should be minced.  Sautee briefly.

Add one 28 Oz can of Sclafani crushed tomatoes and stir to combine - these tomatoes smell and taste wonderful.  You will not be as happy with a lot of other brands.

Add three big handfuls of Pecorino Romano grated cheese and stir to combine -- don't use Parmesan or another cheese.  It really needs the flavor of Romano cheese.  Lean over and smell the sauce after combining the cheese in  ... can you smell the cheese strongly?  If not you might need to add a little more cheese.

Add one quart (!!) of Heavy Cream and stir briskly to combine.  Yes I can feel my arteries hardening now! 

Add a couple big spoonfuls of Sun-dried tomato spread and stir briskly to combine.  Now you need to start stirring it regularly ... not constantly but fairly frequently.   You can bring it up to a simmer, but be careful as the high sugar content of the tomatoes makes it easy to burn.

Keep cooking it until it looks and smells done (lol yes I know this is the tricky part)  -- Probably about 10-15 minutes.  You might need to turn the heat down a little bit if it is doing more than a simmer.  The sauce will thicken up some and you will be able to see that as you stir.  Keep scraping down the sides to get all the deliciousness into the sauce.

Remove from heat and add some fresh basil to taste - just tear them right into the pot. (sorry I forgot to get a picture of this, but she only added like a handful of basil leaves)

The below picture has a pot of completed sauce on the left, and a pot of sauce that has just started cooking on the right.  You can see how the one on the right is a very pale pink, and the one on the left has a little more orange look ... the flash made it look a little more orange than it actually was.

Options: 
1) If you want a sauce with a little heat, you can add a couple of sprinkles of red pepper flakes at the time you add the crushed tomatoes.
2) For a little saltier sauce and a little more flavor (although non-vegetarian then) you can get some quality proscuitto and cut it up fine and add to the sauce.

You might ask ... but where is the vodka? Jackie says she doesn't put vodka in as it just seems to make the sauce thinner without adding any dramatic flavor value and she likes a creamier sauce.

How do you eat this delicious vodka sauce?  On pretty much ANYTHING this will taste divine!  It is fantastic over pasta (of course) or used as a sauce to dip bread in.  Poured on a plate next to a slice of fresh mozarella it is awesome.  Some people eat it in a bowl like soup.  It even tastes fantastic as a dip for tortilla chips!

So give it a try -- it is way easier than I thought it would be and I hope you have fun making it!

My Laminator

Great deal today on Amazon.com if you are in the market for a home laminator ...

Scotch Thermal Laminator $17.99

It's not super fast, but I bought this same model last year and it has been great for doing the few small number of things I need to do. This is a great price too -- I actually only paid $16.99 a year ago, but I haven't seen it that cheap again since then. It has a pretty small footprint and having one at home means that I don't have to run to Staples to get something laminated and risk being tempted to buy more office supplies I don't need!!

This does laminate full 8.5x11 sheets, so you can laminate signs or flyers. Don't just think of lamination as a way to protect something for multiple uses ... also think of it as a way to add body. Like a volumizer for paper. :)

Living Rich With Coupons

I've been playing around with cutting coupons and my friend turned me on to this great website:
http://livingrichwithcoupons.com/
If you are interested in saving money on your grocery bill, I suggest you check out this site. She has some fantastic ideas.
The basic concepts are:

1. wait til something goes on sale to use your coupons


2. 'stockpile' enough of frequently used items so that you don't have to buy until it goes on sale again (sale cycles are approx 4-10 weeks)

There are tons of coupons available online that you just have to print out.

I have already gotten a bunch of stuff for 70-90% off original price -- even gotten some things for FREE!

Rest in Peace, Henry.

I have been reading the blog of Katie Granju, whose 18 year old son, Henry, just died from complications due to a brutal assualt and drug overdoes. You can read more about her and her story on her blog http://www.mamapundit.com/. My heart aches for her and her loss.

It is a sad story. It is one that reminds me how some things - even ones very close to home - are truly outside of our control. No matter how much we try to make a difference, no matter how much support we give someone, the outcome of their life is theirs to determine. We can't force people to make good choices. We can't force them to accept help when it is needed. Someimtes, even though we are fighting as hard as we can, they slip away from us and succumb to their demons.

A columnist for a local newspaper, Steve Wildsmith, wrote about his interaction with Katie's son and hsi thoughts upon Henry's death, and I liked his perspective. You can read his story here. My favorite part was his closing line:

"Rest in peace, Henry. You were always loved. I wish that would have been enough."

I too wish that would have been enough.

A Bath for Taco

Normally Taco is a big fluffy ball of black pomeranian fur. Here is a picture of him when he went to Cameron and JT's baseball games. Note that his paws barely touched the ground the whole time we were there as ALL the Stokes kids wanted to hold him because they think he is so cute!

But the truth is that Taco is mostly fur. As evidenced by this picture where you can see he is just a tiny little thing once you get him soaking wet. Here he has just come out of the bath and is very disgruntled over it.

What you don't see is the explosive diarrhea that he had all over my living room which necessitated a bath sooner than normal. Oh the joys of having a pet in the house.