Slushy Saturday

Fun day so far. It's the Hubs' day off his diet (he has one day off a week) and we had to go to the aforementioned Grocery Outlet, so we went driving down the main drag in Kenmore to see where we could eat that was new for us. This brought us to a place called Jay's Cafe. Little tiny place, standard diner/cafe fare (lots of eggs and chicken-fried this and pancakes and steak-fried that), but it's really really good food, excellent service, and both patrons and staff who are tolerant of hungry-loud preschoolers. It cannot be stressed enough how important that last bit is.


As we left there it began to "slush" (that is to say mixed-rain-and-snow), so we hightailed it to Grocery Outlet, where we spent a lot more than I buy when I'm there by myself (Laston's a lot more... hmm... carnivorous than the rest of the family, and meat's a little spendy even at Grocery Outlet).

So now the Amazing Nate is fixing my computer (hopefully for the last time), Abby and Greg are playing in the girls' room with Lizzy, who is explaining earnestly that Care Bears are "these bears, you know, bears, and they care". Laston and Nate are discussing mechanics and electronics and a number of other ics, and I'm blogging and doing homework.

Thus is a slushy Saturday at Chez Gamers' Babes.

All About Food

Broot at Lost in a Sea of Blogs challenged me to answer some questions on food and cooking.

1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?
My beloved spouse at Nerdy and Good at It and I started at the same time, about a year ago. I don't really remember why.

2. Who is your foodie inspiration?
I don't have a specific chef or website or anything like that, but I enjoy cooking for a group of people with assorted dietary restrictions - it's a challenge!

ETA: It has been pointed out to me that my fangirl crush on Alton Brown may count as a "foodie inspiration" but I maintain that he doesn't inspire me to cook, precisely; I just find him admirable (and nerdy-hot) in general.

3. Your greasiest, batter – splattered food/drink book is?
Betty Crocker Cookbook and The Milk-Free Kitchen. But mostly I wing it

4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?
They make this spicy chunky guacamole in this hotel in Puerto Vallarta...

6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?
Honestly, I don't need any big kitchen gadgets. Wouldn't mind an immersion blender or an egg slicer though. Could use a new muffin tin.

7. Who taught you how to cook?
My mom, and my ex-husband (him mostly through laughing at my sad, pathetic efforts early on). Lots of trial and error, a little Food TV

8. I’m coming to you for dinner what’s your signature dish?
Mushroom pot roast

9. What is your guilty food pleasure?

Really good chocolate

10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
I can cook, but I can't bake (except for this one self-adjusted banana bread recipe).

Finally…tag other bloggers with these questions…like a hot baked potato…pass it on!

Sara @ This Mom Has Tattoos
Tiffy @ Fat Girl in Motion
Yillup @ Yillup's Place for Everything

Well, I have three who've updated recently. Go to it, ladies!

I Do Love This Place

I've mentioned the recently opened Panera Bread store down the road from me before. Because I've been sick, I've been eating nothing but chicken soup and the like for a few days, so I decided to indulge myself with the free pastry I won for signing up for their punch card program.

Oh. My. Word. 

This is the best cherry Danish ever.

And I also went into the store for the first time today - usually I do the drive-through window - so I could see all this nummy stuff I've been hearing about. I'm pleased to report that the people inside the store are just as great as those in the drive-through area. They know their stuff, and they are friendly and efficient. In addition to my pastry, I bought a baguette (only about sixty cents more than a similar loaf at the grocery store, and far better bread).

I knew that Panera Bread gives back to local communities, but I didn't realize until today that they give to one of my favorite charities here in the Seattle area. And at that it's one that makes sense for their product! And although they don't specifically screen for allergens, they are definitely allergy-aware and do their best to accommodate, which, as you know, is my pet advocacy.

I swear they aren't paying me to say this; I just love this store!

Cookie Time!

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But soon, and for the rest of her life.

Girl Scout Cookie sales are mostly in March. But tonight Abby's troop and a few other local troops met in a local Junior High School for a Cookie Rally. I was expecting this to be a right royal pain for the adults in the equation, but it was actually kind of fun. Aside from the usual making sure that Abby eats nothing untoward, I mostly got to chat with my fellow Brownie Moms and listen to the kids learning cookie-selling songs.

All around the neighborhood streets,

The Girl Scouts sell their cookies,

Ringing doorbells, asking please,

Please buy some cookies.

To the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel, as you might expect. Now maybe I can get it out of my head.

They made signs (for the record, the cookies are still $4 a box, at least here in the Girl Scouts of Western Washington area) for their sales. Abby identified which cookies she can eat - because she likes to be able to tell other allergic people what's safe (she can have four of this year's eight available flavors (well, six, but she doesn't care for the peanut butter (peanuts do not equal tree nuts) ones)).

So, Dear Readers, spend the next few weeks girding your loins for Cookie Season. And support your local Girl Scout - they help people (and have some fun!) with the cookie sales.

ETA: And... and (this is very important). Lizzy went to bed for her dad while Abby and I were gone. You people have no idea how freakin' huge this is!

Parents of Preschoolers...

... are the adults you see around town muttering letter sounds to themselves. Today's Letter Sound of the Week  at Lizzy's preschool is M - as in Mmm Mmm Monkey and Mmm Mmm Mint.

Our toy mmm mmm monkey is missing his tail. We don't have any fresh mmm mmm mint. Everyone else was likely to bring mmm mmm Mickey mmm mmm Mouse for Show and Tell on Mmm Mmm Monday. So Lizzy brought me the little Santa Claus ornament she got for Cwiss-a-muss. "I want to bwing this Santa for Mmm Mmm Monday."

"But Santa Claus does not begin with the Mmm Mmm sound, Lizzy."

"This one does, Mama. It's a Mmm Mmm Musical Santa."

So she took it to school, and I found myself in the Grocery Outlet, muttering things like Mmm Mmm Macaroni and Sss Sss Spaghetti Sss Sss Sauce. Not to mention C is for Cookie.

This is also related to yesterday's conversation wherein it was established that Lizzy is terribly indignant that swans and "gooses" look "a lot the same" in ABC books. How can the authors of such books expect small children to know the difference between Swans and "Gooses" just from the first sound? The nerve!

What am I, Four Years Old?

I ask, because I have an ear infection. Not a sinus infection; those are still in abeyance since the Tooth Extraction of Doom, thank goodness. Not bronchitis or pneumonia. Not strep throat. All of those are diseases either commonly associated with adults or with people of all ages. But bacterial otitis media is mostly known in babies and small children, or at least so it seems. It has something to do I believe with longer Eustachian tubes in older children and adults, so they don't get crammed full of gunk and infected as easily as in people with short tubes.

But then I look at my actual four-year-old and I think naahhhh... because children that age are strange. She can lick her own nose. She thinks the Indians took the Pilgrims out to lunch. She refuses to believe her name begins with E (even her full name) because it "stahts with the L Sound". She corrects me when I say "pain the the neck" because "gwownups is sposta say 'pain in the ass', mama".

So here I am, brain the size of a planet, 43 years old, with a fever, an earache, and dizzy spells. I'm not all that sick; I just feel yucky from the fever, really. So ladies, if Mama Jenn is a little cranky tonight, cut her some slack. Kthxbai.