Lucky Seven

7 years ago, a wee, mysterious being appeared in our lives.  At first glance, he appeared to be a forest sprite.

We quickly discovered he had the voice of a banshee, the appetite of a zombie and the sleeping habits of a vampire.

With a firm, decided grasp, he rapidly took over our hearts.

And our household.

And our pocketbook.

However, in his household account of debt to us, he is firmly in the black.

And perhaps, Manoj and I are the ones in the red.

Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude: Cheater, Cheater Pumpkin Eater

Note: Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude is a weekly(ish) feature about food, food and more FOOD. No, I am not an expert, but I do enjoy talking about food prep, cooking food, eating food and making sweet love to food.  Okay, maybe not the "sweet love" part. After all, this is not meant to be an homage to 9 1/2 Weeks.

Recipe Index can be found here. 
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After a really weird week of where nothing has gone right, I have a FUN day planned for us.  Team Chaos is out of school and I am letting them choose what they would like to do.  Thus far, they are choosing to hang out in their pajamas.   Since I am nursing a cold (and I have TWO 5ks this week that I will now probably have to walk.  Sigh.), I am totally on board with a Pajama Day Plan.

In the meantime, in lieu of a real post, I would like to share a few food-related links.

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Courtesy of a recipe from Dad Cooks Dinner, I made slow-cooker chicken stock and my world?  Has been officially rocked.  HARD. I had bought a rotisserie chicken on Wednesday for dinner and when we were done with it, I stuck it in the refrigerator.  Yesterday morning, I threw the carcass in the slow cooker, chopped up a bunch of green onions, minced FOUR cloves of garlic and threw in some dried parsley for good measure.  I covered the whole mess with water and let it cook cook on low for 8 hours.  It was SO easy and the stock smells AMAZING.  I feel silly buying canned stock all of these years.  The rotisserie chicken cost $6 AND I made over 4 cups of stock from it.  I poured the stock in baggies and stuffed them in the freezer (I am going to invest in some freezer jars, though)  Chicken stock in the slow-cooker - what a great idea!

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I have been in a cooking rut lately -- I pulled up the All Recipes Dinner Spinner app on my Kindle Fire and this Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken popped up.  And it was a WINNER.  I had a few tenderloins left, so I am chopping those up for the Curried Chicken Divan I am making tonight. 

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I am still playing around with my slow-cooker and cannot wait to dig into some of these slow-cooker recipes courtesy of Receipe 4 Living.

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Budget Bytes posted a round-up of pumpkin recipes and asked for more suggestions in the comments.  Of course, I could not resist linking to my own pumpkin curry recipe since it is my life's mission to expose people to the wonder of curried pumpkin.

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As I was digging through food blogs while on the hunt for new dinner ideas, I stumbled across US Masala.  Holy cow -- this site should come standard with an appetite suppressant.  Each recipe comes with lovely photography and simply stated instructions -- in particular, I cannot WAIT to try the Garlic Masala Baked Potato Wedges.  Enter this site at your own risk on an empty stomach.  You have been warned.

My Kid's Homework Ate Today's Food Post

For the most part, the homework situation here has been reasonable.  Anjali's homework consists of practicing her writing and Arun's homework involves math and reading.  Subjects they both need to work on anyway.  We don't need to do homework every single night, but it averages to about 30-60 minutes when we do have it.  

Last night, Arun started working on his homework while I was cooking dinner, helping Anjali with HER homework and serving as the resident Bellhop for the cats and dogs and their relentless, soul-crushing need to go in and out and in and out of our goddamned house. (Foreshadowing: There are many, many more curse words coming your way, Gentle Reader.)

And then, Arun showed me this:

THREE FUCKING TICKETS

THREE FUCKING RIDES

ONE STUPID FUCKING LITTLE GIRL

Oh, and a chart of some sort that looked like something drawn by a carnie who had too much time on his hands (and too many blunts in his pocket).

Yes, for some reason, this threw me for a permuted loop.  I mean, not to brag, but I do hold both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Accounting.  And according to the State of Missouri, I am fit to practice accounting as a licensed CPA (trust me, I am just as surprised by this as you are.)  While the onions on the stove burned, the rice boiled over and the eggplant dried up, I managed to scribble out a start of the pattern.  Then, I decided to leave the rest for Manoj.

This is a good place to point out that my baby daddy is not only an Indian Institute of Technology grad, but also a Dartmouth dork.  And since we are all about fulfilling stereotypes around here, Manoj is an engineer and scary with math and numbers. Yes, the same man who constantly loses his keys, laptop and shoes INSIDE OUR HOUSE possesses a frightening recall of facts and figures.

When Manoj walked in the door, I thrust the paper in his face.  He took a look and shook his head.  Yes, he figured it out, eventually, but agreed that the lack of directions seemed a bit much for a 1st grader.

Since Manoj was the one to actually figure it out, he is now endlessly mocking me about the fact that I struggled with our 1st grader's homework while steadfastly denying that he also struggled with it initially.

And now I am off to Google to search for creative poisoning methods.

Literally Literary: The Good Kind of Streaking

"Literally Literary" is a feature in which I write about books, reading and more books. My hope is the post title will provide a subtle hint that I am posting about BOOKS. For those of you where the topic of books results in narcoleptic fits thereby causing you to faceplant onto your keyboard, this will allow you to just click away from the horror that is the written word. Also, I simply adore the word "literally", it is literally my favorite adverb. Bonus points if pronounced with a Rob Lowe/Parks n' Recreation affectation.

Special Note: All posts contain non-affiliate links - I do not have an Amazonian Fancy Pants Affiliate Thingie.

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Over the past few months, I have been ranting and raving about what a spectacular reading streak I have been on.  A streak that has lasted MONTHS.  I thought I would do a recap post when the streak ended, but at this point, there is no end in sight.  I am currently reading Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone" (SO GOOD, Lamp reminds me of John Irving and has made the list of authors of whom I must read their entire library).  

Next on the list is JK Rowling's "A Casual Vacancy" (dropping TOMORROW.  Or rather MIDNIGHT, if I happen to be suffering from insomnia, yet again.)  and then, Laura Moriarty's "The Chaperone" (I chose the cover for this book as the image for the post --  I love that image and it reminds me of my great-grandmother.  She was a concert pianist and would have been touring around the same time period.)  

Also, I am asking YOU what has been melting your literary butter lately so that you can help my streak continue.  Can you help a reader out?

No spoilers are in any of my blatherings.  Pinkie swear.

“Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn
A weird, creepy book that starts out as a mystery, then turns into psychological thriller about halfway through.  At one point, I was walking around the house while reading.  I also had to hastily explain to my hungry children  what a "mystery" was while absently pointing in the general direction of the pantry where the Larabars live.

“The Blood of Flowers” by Anita Amirrezvani
This is set in 17th century Persia and features a 14 year old girl whose future prospects are turned upside down when her father dies.  Her mother and her go to live with her uncle, who is a carpet maker.  The girl learns the trade along the way but struggles because of the limited opportunities for women in that time period.  I loved, loved this character and by the end of the book, it became a page-turner for me because I simply had to know what became of her.  Also, the author was quite talented in presenting the story in a richly-drawn environment.

“Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward

With this being the winner of the 2011 National Book Award, I am wondering why more folks have not heard of this one.  This one is set in Mississippi and opens just a few days before Katrina comes bearing down.  It is not about Katrina, per se, but it does give you a perspective on the folks living there.  It also helped me understand what it must be like to be presented with an utter lack of choices - not just regarding the lack of Katrina evacuations, but also their lives in general

“Where the Line Bleeds” by Jesmyn Ward

Another one by Ward.  Twin brothers are graduating from high school -- college is not an option and even the hope of finding a job is a slim one.  One of them does find a job, but the other one is left at loose ends and struggles.  Overall, I really like how Ward weaves a story and she is an author I have my eye on from now on.  If she is writing something, then it is important enough for me to read because I want to hear what she has to say.

“Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell
This book is another dark one and shows that poverty is not limited to race.  It is set in southern Missouri and  features a strong, lead female character whose family is involved in the meth business.  Her father goes missing while out on bond and if the girl doesn't find him in time, her house will be taken by the bondsmen.  I probably related to this book more than both of Wards' for the simple fact that I am white and while I am not poor, I have lived in small communities where there is poverty.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that some of my best friends in grade school were poverty-stricken.

“Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn
This was Flynn's first book and my least favorite of her three.  I still enjoyed this book, although some of became a little silly and contrived.  However, it was a fun, eerie romp that reminded me of the twisted deliciousness that was VC Andrews (remember Flowers in the Attic?)

“Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn
This was actually my favorite of the three Flynn reads.  It wasn't as gripping or addictive as "Gone Girl", but this one really spoke to me.  It was heart wrenching to see a family ripped apart by bad choices and poverty.

“The Five People You Meet In Heaven” by Mitch Albom
I read this in one sitting -- it is a short read, but it is one that will leave you thinking.  I don't even believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell, but I was easily able to get on board with the story structure that Albom presented.

“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Piccoult
Honestly,  I think Piccoult is a bit of a hack.  I have read a few of her books but her consistent, formulaic writing turned me off.  However, "Nineteen Minutes" came highly recommended by a friend, so I picked it up.  And then, I could hardly put it down.  Yikes.  Yes, it is her usual Plots Ripped From the Headlines modus operandi but this one is about bullying.  Overall, I really appreciated how she presented the story from about six different viewpoints.  I wish she had written from the bullys' perspectives (at least from ONE of them), but I still appreciated how she constructed this storyline, even going back from the beginning in Kindergarten and showing us the progression of the bullying.

The floor is yours, Gentle Reader.  What have YOU been reading?

Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude: Jack the Tripper

Note: Fridays of Intestinal Fortitude is a weekly(ish) feature about food, food and more FOOD. No, I am not an expert, but I do enjoy talking about food prep, cooking food, eating food and making sweet love to food.  Okay, maybe not the "sweet love" part. After all, this is not meant to be an homage to 9 1/2 Weeks.

Recipe Index can be found here. 
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Awhile back, Anjali and I were at the Asian store here in Olathe and I spied a jackfruit!  Manoj has always spoken of these as being his very favorite fruit in the whole wide world and how his grandma had a jackfruit tree and wow, it is the best fruit ever, OH.MY.GOD.  I have always wondered about this mysterious fruit that somehow trumped the mango (because in MY book, a fresh ASIAN mango is hard to beat.  And hard to find in America.  Grrr....)

Anyway! I lugged the thing home and Manoj immediately pronounced him vastly under-ripe.  It was going to be awhile.  I spent the next two weeks carefully rotating him.  And stubbing my toe on him so often that I dubbed him "Jack the Tripper".   And explaining to anyone who visited that no, it was not a durian, the famous stinky fruit (And also listed in the post I once wrote about Freaky Foods)

I also began to harbor an imagined kinship with Daenerys Targaryen as I pondered what in the FUCK was inside that thing.

We named him Jack.

And then we put him to work.  He was going to be staying awhile and rent don't come cheap, y'all.

Ah, so sweet -- Arun is bonding with Jack.  This reminds me of my pet pigs, Mickey and Judy.  I wonder whatever happened to them?

 Go the f*ck to sleep, Jack

 Miss H says, "I'm gonna love him and pet him and squeeze him and call him Jack George"

The anticipation!  Arya and Scout sniff suspiciously at what appears to be an egg. An egg that could very well contain another Chihuahua.

Manoj slathered his hands and forearms with coconut oil -- Jack was a sappy, sticky mess.  Think banana sap on steroids!

Hey there, good lookin'!

A single "pod" which had a hunka-chunka seed in the middle the size of a walnut.

Verdict?  It had a texture that was slightly rubbery.  It was not overly sweet, which was surprising to me.  The taste was very mild and fruity. It was not overly cloying and it had a milky finish.  It tasted as if a banana, a mango and a cantaloupe had just conducted a lusty, torrid Ménage à trois  and Jack was the prickly progeny of that lovefest.

Would I buy one again?  Yes.  For one, I was recovering from a cold so my sense of smell was completely off, so I would like to try this again.  Also, this is Manoj's favorite fruit and one of the few things he talks about wistfully from India.  I would gladly spend a few weeks stubbing my toe on a daily basis just to see him happy like that.

And now, I do know Jack.