Author: Shane

Quote Monday doesn’t go for gender stereotypes

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Evie: “Some people say that there are boy colors and there are girl colors. But I keep telling them they’re wrong! So for Christmas I want a black hat, a black backpack, and a Darth Vader water bottle!”

::Pinata opens up and madness ensues as kids scramble for candy::
Afterwards, Evie: “I didn’t get any erasers.”

Evie: “Everybody keeps telling me my wings are so nice. That’s because they smell like love. [Another girl]’s wings smell like plastic and chemicals.”

::Me scrolling on a web page::
Ollie: “Daddy, why are the pictures going up to heaven?”

::Evie, eating some Laffy Taffy::
Me: “Did you read the jokes first?”
Evie: “Yes. They were…not hilarious.”

Chermoula Eggplant With Bulgur and Yogurt

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The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Okay, last month I mentioned this recipe, but I didn’t want to distract from that amazing recipe. So now it’s time for this one to shine all on its own.

The Journey:

At the end of the day, this is an eggplant dish. I don’t know how people feel about eggplant one way or the other, but I’m sort of ambivalent on them in general. However, this is the perfect way to eat them. The eggplant is very tender, and the seasonings / toppings give it a lot of flavor.

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The Verdict:

It’s good, not too difficult to make, and it seems very fancy pants (at least to me, who is admittedly not exactly the final word on fancy pants).

In fact, that basically goes for everything in Jerusalem, so you should go out and buy it immediately. We have not had a bad recipe yet.

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The Recipe:

Recipe from Jerusalem.

  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon chili flakes
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped preserved lemon peel (I’m told they’re available in stores, but ours actually came from the food swap)
  • 2/3 cup olive oil, plus extra to finish
  • 2 medium eggplants
  • 1 cup fine bulgur
  • 2/3 cup boiling water
  • 1/3 cup golden raisins
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons warm water
  • 1/3 ounce (2 teaspoons) cilantro, chopped, plus extra to finish
  • 1/3 ounce (2 teaspoons) mint, chopped
  • 1/3 cup pitted green olives, halved (we didn’t use these because Sara doesn’t like olives)
  • 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • Salt
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. To make the chermoula, mix together in a small bowl the garlic, cumin, coriander, chili, paprika, preserved lemon, two-thirds of the olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  3. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Score the flesh of each half with deep, diagonal crisscross cuts, making sure not to pierce the skin. Spoon the chermoula over each half, spreading it evenly, and place the eggplant halves on a baking sheet, cut side up. Put in the oven and roast for 40 minutes, or until the eggplants are completely soft.
  4. Meanwhile, place the bulgur in a large bowl and cover with the boiling water.
  5. Soak the raisins in the warm water. After 10 minutes, drain the raisins and add them to the bulgur, along with the remaining oil. Add the herbs, olives, almonds, green onions, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
  6. Serve the eggplants warm or at room temperature. Place 1/2 eggplant, cut side up, on each individual plate. Spoon the bulgur on top, allowing some to fall from both sides. Spoon over some yogurt, sprinkle with cilantro and finish with a drizzle of oil.

Halloween, 2013

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pumpkins

 

Evie’s pumpkin’s teeth are very appropriate, given that gap in her bottom teeth.

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Here we have one very adorable little kitty cat…

2013_10_26_9999_9…and here we have one very pious angel

Those wings were no joke! All that tin foil was a lot harder to deal with than I thought it would be. Considering they had to make it through 2 Halloween parties, a day of school, and trick or treating, I’d say they held up pretty well (if I do say so myself!)

You know, costumes are so cheap these days, that it’s almost never cost effective to make your own (to say nothing of time-effective). It sure is hard to compete with a lot of the really amazing costumes you can buy online these days (waaay cooler than anything we had as a kid). But my heart is definitely going to break on the inevitable day when the kids beg me for a store-bought costume over the homemade one.

 

OOMPH: Released Today!

/ Shane / 2 Comments

I’m very pleased to announce that OOMPH: A Little Super Goes a Long Way is officially on sale today, including my story “Random Play All and the League of Awesome”.

I can not overstate how much I love trivial superpowers. As anyone who knew me growing up could tell you, I’ve always loved super heroes. From dressing up as one as a kid (or, er, as an adult), to collecting comic books, to apparel, movies, and video games, to the absolutely embarrassing number of times I’ve listened to Dr. Horrible.

But I never liked the idea of guys like Superman or Thor. I don’t want an unstoppable goody-two shoes. Show me a guy who doesn’t have it so easy. Show me a guy with just a *little* bit of power, and the wit and courage to use that little bit at just the right moment to make a *huge* difference.

Well, I will show you. I’ll show you a whole book of stories like that.

OOMPH is available in paperback, as well as for the Kindle or Nook.

Sara puts another half marathon under her belt

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One of Sara’s college roommates had the brilliant idea of all meeting up again back at the old stomping grounds, and doing a race together. It was a lot of fun getting the four of them (and all the associated spouses and children) together for the first time in 10 years. Actually, come to think of it, Gregory was the only non-Purdue-ex-student among us (though I think he could be an honorary grad if Alexis would have just bought that “Purdue Boyfriend” shirt for him). We had quite a herd of children, and the lot of us together were more of a force of nature than a group of friends, but it was a lot of fun to cruise around and relive old times.

Only Sara, Phil, and Amy’s sister Mary opted for the half-marathon, though in Amy’s defense she is what can only be described as shockingly pregnant. This should not necessarily be considered a handicap though, since she and Alexis crossed the 5k finish line at the same time, but since her timing chip was pinned to her tummy, she ended up winning by a nose baby.

Sara usually runs in Chicago, which is the flattest of the flat, so she was a little nervous about running on all the hills. However, she was quite pleased with her time of 2:39:59, which was only 3 minutes longer than last time, even with the hills and the 5 extra minutes in the bathroom line (and that’s not even mentioning the freezing rain!)

Once again the kids and I tried to meet up with her as often as possible along the route. We did a pretty good job, but this was super-stressful, because it was very difficult to navigate through all the one ways, dead-ends, road closures, and tricky traffic situations along the route. We actually did a pretty good job of meeting up with her, but I was pretty tired at the end of it from getting both kids in and out of the car so many times, finding parking, and somehow dredging my brain for directions on streets I hadn’t used in 10 years.

The kids made signs to hold, and they both did a really good job. Sara came up with the idea of offering high fives to the racers and it was a HUGE hit.

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I don’t think any of us were prepared for the amount of high fives; it was somewhat staggering. It really did seem to give a little boost to the runners, and even when we didn’t get the signs out of the car people would say, “There’s the high five kids!” One lady even risked life and limb crossing traffic to give us an extra high five.

In fact, the kids made the cover of The Exponent, the school newspaper (more pictures available in their gallery here).

Photo via The Exponent

All in all, it was really a lot of fun being at Purdue. Mostly if we go back there we just go to campus, but this time we were all over town, which brought back a lot more memories (“Oh, remember when you lived here?” “Wait, I remember this place, so and so used to live here!” “Didn’t this used to be…” etc.)

In fact, I guess it really was a throwback because as soon as we got back Sunday night, I had a nightmare that I was late for a physics lecture in EE 129 and when I got there I found out they were having a test I hadn’t studied for. I asked the professor if I could retake it and he started quizzing me with questions about how to draw different molecules. “Oh no!” I thought, “I totally don’t remember this being in the lecture!”

Yes, I guess we’re never too old for the old “test I didn’t study for” nightmare.

Good times with good friends, and I was very proud of Sara. Overall, I give the weekend a high five.