Thursday, January 22, 2009
Tonight I went to a meeting of the Board of Trustees at my synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel Judea. We spent a lot of time discussing many of the things we worked on at our Board retreat on January 11th. It was a good, but long meeting. At the end I was able to tell all my fellow board members about my new blog, and I asked if I could take a photo of everyone. Unfortunately, I couldn't get everyone in one picture, so today I have 2 pictures, and somehow, I still managed to miss one attendee - sorry Harold!
When I got home, Gary wanted to talk to me about puberty. Apparently Ben's going to be having some sort of talk at Clarendon about puberty. He's really worried about it. A year or two ago they had some type of similar discussion, and Ben said it made him sick. Gary thinks he might be afraid of something. Perhaps it is the idea that when he grows up he'll grow his feathers - his name is Seagull afterall. Gary said we should just buy him some dequillatory, and he'll get over it.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
January 21, 2009
Ben is reading to Lily before bed. He often reads to her while they both lay in his bed. I'm not sure who enjoys it more - Ben because he's taking care of his little sister, or Lily because she gets to climb into the big bed with Ben.
Labels: Ben reading to Lily in Bed
January 20, 2009
Seth and Sloan sleeping together after watching a long, full day of inauguration coverage. Sloan always watches over Seth while he sleeps.
Labels: Sloan the watchcat
Monday, January 19, 2009
January 19. 2009
Tonight I cooked dinner for my family at Benihana. I came, I saw, I cooked! It was much harder to cook for 5 than to cook for one, and I thought one was pretty difficult. Gary seemed pretty proud of me, and the kids all seemed to enjoy dinner. Chef Anton was again so gracious, even though I made a complete mess of his grill. He let me wear his belt, with the holster for the knife. Gary, Ben, and Lily all captured the historic event on video and digitally. I can run, but I can't hide!
Leaving Benihana, I had a flash back to my freshman year at I.U. I hated dorm food, and it was not uncommon for me to cook asian-inspired food on the hot plate of my popcorn popper. It was pretty easy, and really cheap, so I guess this was my early attempt at teppanyaki cooking!
When I left tonight, I was given both my red toque, and my apron. It was fun to leave with these, and to keep my special memories. Each of the kids took turns trying on the over-sized hat. I couldn't figure out where to keep it, so Gary popped it onto the top of Dumb Dumb Give Me Gum Gum, our totem pole that sits in our hallway. Dumb Dumb, as we usually call him, was named after the Easter Island statue in the Ben Stiller movie Night at the Museum. Dumb Dumb looks pretty cute disguised as a chef!
There are many pictures and videos taken by Gary and the kids, and I will find a way to post them shortly.
Labels: Benihana Dumb Dumb
Sunday, January 18, 2009
January 18, 2009
MMMMMMMmmmm. I love warm hardboiled eggs. These were my dinner tonight. They were delicious!!
Labels: 2009 Warm Hardboiled Eggs, January 18
Saturday, January 17, 2009
I think I'm Turning Japanese!
(Think song by the Vapors)
For Chanukkah this year, I asked for and received the gift of learning to be the chef at Benihana. Today I went for my chef training, and on Monday, January 19th I get to actually be the chef, and prepare dinner for my family.
I arrived at 3pm for my training session, and was met by 2 other would-be chefs, Carlos and Mike. We then proceeded into the restaurant, and were met by one of the managers, and by the master chef, Anton.
After signing a waiver that said we were responsible for any cuts, burns or food poisoning of our guests due to improperly prepared food, we were shown exactly how to prepare teppanyaki-style shrimp, steak, fried rice, and vegetables. We will be preparing Benihana's Spring 'N Meadow, which is a steak and shrimp combo, with mushrooms, onions and zucchini. I learned how to cut the shrimp (much, much harder than I expected), as well as how to make the famous onion volcano. I learned some spatula and fork tricks, and how to properly bow and serve the sauces. Chef Anton was with me every step of the way, and he made me feel so at ease!
Most of all I learned that it is much harder to do all of this, and I only prepared dinner for one. It should be interesting to see how well I do preparing dinner for five.
Here's the bonus photo for today. That's me on the left!
Labels: Michele Learning to Cook with Master Chef Anton
January 16, 2009. Sick with a cold, and busy today, so the cats get a repeat performance.
Sloan climbed into the Crockpot Carrier then Bristow got curious.
Labels: 2009 Sloan in the Crockpot Carrier with Bristow looking on, January 16
Seth Visits the Eye Doctor
For the first time in nine years, Seth visited the eye doctor. His new eye doctor, Dr. Jeffrey Azus, was really great with Seth. He was also really great with me, and let me take my pictures as I wanted to. He did try to give me a posed photo (not this one), but did let me go ahead and snap away to my hearts content. This photo is the one Seth chose for this post.
The end result of Seth's eye doctor visit is that he has 20/20 vision, and therefore doesn't need glasses. He does however have blepharitis, which is like dandruff of the eyelid. We now spend a few minutes every morning and a few minutes everynight cleaning his eyelids.
Labels: 2009 Seth at the Eye Doctor, January 15
I was driving north on Highway 80 on Wednesday, January 14th, and as I looked to my right there was a woman riding her motorcycle with a dog tied to her. Yes, I said that correctly, there was a woman with a dog riding a motorcycle.
I was quite amazed, and decided immediately that it would be my photo of the day for Wednesday. What was even harder, and most likely pretty dangerous, was me trying to change lanes, and to actually get the picture before I got to my exit.
But as you can see - I got it! Of course, she got off at my exit too, and I probably could have gotten an even better picture, but I liked the idea that I took this photo at 55mph!
Labels: 2009 Woman Riding a Motorcycle with her Dog, January 14
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Yesterday I read an email from Chicken Soup for the Soul about resolutions. The name of the article was "I Shot the Sheriff," and the author chronicled her life for a year with photographs. At the end of the year, she took all of the pictures and made a photobook.
It sounded like a wonderful way to begin to journal, something I've wanted to do for a long time, but haven't figured out how to do so in any consistant manner.
So I'm going to do it, and here is my first "official" photo for 2009:
It sounded like a wonderful way to begin to journal, something I've wanted to do for a long time, but haven't figured out how to do so in any consistant manner.
So I'm going to do it, and here is my first "official" photo for 2009:
I guess it's not the most exciting picture, but it certainly is a real-life view of what my life looks like on a day to day basis.
And if the title makes you think about Eric Clapton, don't forget you can always download his song, I Shot the Sheriff, on iTunes!!!
Michele
Labels: Sloan and Bristow on the bed - 1/13/2009
