- Ants on a Raft – noun – Ants on a log for people who don’t like celery; the raisins are instead on bread. – “Aunt Anna, will you make me some ants on a raft?”
- Baboon – intransitive verb – To baboon someone, that is, to speak rapidly and be the first person to complete the sentence, “Not too soon, you big baboon!” – “See you later alligator, after while crocodile, not too soon you big baboon!” “Oh, you babooned me!”
- Cabrella – noun– Umbrella. “Mama, where’s my cabrella?”
- Callapitter – noun – Caterpillar. “Ollie look, a callapitter!”
- College Money – noun – Paper money – “Thank you for the college money.” antonym: see Ice Cream Money
- Creams – noun – 1) The vast series of Vaseline/steroids/lotions applied to control Oliver’s eczema. 2) Any lotion. – “Ollie, come here, it’s time to do your creams!”
- Duclos – noun – Duplo. – “I want to build a tower out of duclos!”
- EE – proper noun – Evie. – “Is it time to get up yet EE?”
- Face, The – noun – The face one makes by gritting their teeth and flexing the muscles in their neck until their head shakes. – “Ollie, make your face!”
- Floobooberbabbooberbubs – noun – 1) A name to use as a placeholder when you can’t think of someone’s name. 2) A default noun to be used when you can’t think of the right word. – “What should we name her?” “Floobooberbabbooberbubs?”
- Flute – noun – Anything that can be blown into to make a noise. – “Listen to my flute!”
- Friends – noun – Stuffed animals. – “I’m going to sleep with all my friends.”
- Hamster – noun – A clothes hamper. – “I already put my clothes in the hamster.”
- Haven, The – proper noun – Our property in Michigan. – “We’re going to the Haven this weekend.” synonym: see the Property.
- Hector – proper noun – The name of every boxelder bug. – “Uh oh, how did Hector get in here?”
- Ice Cream Money – noun – Coins – “I found some ice cream money on the ground.” antonym: see College Money
- Kitty Manners – noun – Good manners, especially in public or specifically at a restaurant. – “Okay, I want to everyone to have their kitty manners tonight.” antonym: see Piggy Manners
- Ladybug – noun – 1) A spider. 2) Any bug. – “There’s a ladybug in the corner!”
- Loose – adjective – When a boys ::ahem:: parts aren’t tucked into his underpants properly. – “Mama, it’s loose.” synonym: see Squishy
- Milkwater – noun – A glass of water with a little bit of milk in it. – “Ollie, that’s enough milk, do you want water now?” “I want milkwater!”
- Minnicin – noun – Cinnamon – “I need some minnicin for my applesauce.”
- Monsters – noun – An excuse for anything, especially when something is missing or to avoid going in a room alone. – “Monsters ate my other shoe!”
- Nu Nu Nu Nu – verb – To run around stark naked singing a very specific song that goes, “Nu nu nu nuu nu, nu nu nu nu. Nu nu nu nu nuuuuuu.” Sometimes you freeze in place and point at someone with your mouth open. This is required before you can take a bath. – “Go do nu nu nu nu so you can get into the bath.”
- Piggy Manners – noun – Bad manners, especially in public or specifically at a restaurant. “Evie, that’s piggy manners.” antonym: see Kitty Manners
- Pooncooks – noun – Pancakes. – “Daddy, what’s for breakfast?” “Pooncooks.” “These aren’t pooncooks, they’re pancakes!” “Oh yeah, who’s making them? These ones are pooncooks.”
- Property, The – proper noun – Our property in Michigan. – “We’re going to The Property this weekend.” synonym: see The Haven.
- Relaxing Time – noun – An hour or two in the afternoon when you don’t have to nap, but you do have to stay in your room and do a quiet activity. – “Evie, go back in your room. Relaxing time isn’t over yet.”
- Schnozberries – noun – Default name for any kind of berry. – “Are they blueberry pancakes?” “No, schnozberry pancakes.”
- Shushi – proper noun – Evie’s imaginary friend. – “Don’t open the closet! Shushi is hiding in there.”
- Smooch Sandwich – noun – 1) Two pieces of bread with smooches in between (literally kissing the bread). 2) Smooching someone up in order to tickle them. 3) The answer to the question, “What’s for dinner?”. – “Daddy, what’s in my lunch?” “Well, there’s a smooch sandwich…” synonym: see Tickle Pie.
- Smoochnose McGee – proper noun – A name to use as a placeholder when you can’t think of someone’s name. – “What should we name her?” “Smoochnose McGee?”
- Spicy – noun – Sriracha – “I need more spicy please.”
- Squishy – adjective – When a boys ::ahem:: parts aren’t tucked into his underpants properly. – “Mama, it feels squishy.” synonym: see Loose
- Tickle Pie – noun – 1) Tickling someone. 2) The answer to the question, “What’s for dinner?”. – “Daddy, what’s for dessert?” “Tickle pie.” synonym: see Smooch Sandwhich.
- Trail Mix – noun – Cranberries and walnuts. Nothing more, nothing less. – “Can I have some trail mix in my lunch?”
- Uncle Nathan Green – adjective – A particular shade of crayon; a light- or yellow-green. – “Look, I found Uncle Nathan Green!”
- Wipe – noun – A little homemade square of flannel, with stitched edges. – “I need a wipe!”
- Woo – proper noun – The person responsible for everything. – “Who should do it?” “Woo should do it!” “Okay I’ll tell Woo if I see him.”
Happy Birthday to Me
Today’s my birthday.
It’s kind of funny how when you get older birthdays are both not a big deal and also a really big deal. I mean, on one hand, you still have to go to work, take care of the kids, clean the house, etc. So it’s not really much different than any other day. On the other hand, it’s the one day of the year where it’s all about you. The older I get, the bigger deal that gets to be.
So feel free to make a really, really big deal about me today!
Quote Monday coughs a lot
Judy: “If I wouldn’t talk, I wouldn’t cough.”
Grandma Butterfly: “That’d be the day.”
::Evie and Ollie playing games::
Evie: “I won!”
Ollie: “I two!”
Ollie: “Let’s make a pizza!”
Me: “What should go on it?”
Ollie: “Monster-ella.”
Me: “Hey Evie, Mama and I are trying to think of things that our family says a lot.”
Evie: “Like?”
Szechuan Pork and Green Beans
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
Honestly? I think the reason was that we were looking for a recipe to use up ground pork. But this recipe is so good, you’ll definitely want to buy more ground pork, which leaves you more ground pork left overs…it’s a vicious circle.
The Journey:
Have you ever really smelled white pepper? Go smell it and come back. I’ll wait.
Okay, yes, it smells absolutely odious, but does it smell familiar to you? Because everyone around here agrees that it smells exactly like a hog farm. This is not a positive. I can barely bring myself to put it on my food. And yet, this dish is delicious. Maybe you need a little hog farm for the pork, I don’t know.
Schezuan is Chinese for “melt your face off”, or so I assume, because Schezuan food is spicy! This dish is no exception. I suppose you could try to make it less spicy, but honestly I wouldn’t bother. It would really take away from the dish. Serving it over rice helps with the heat a little bit, but if you have trouble with spicy food though, maybe you should avoid it.
The Verdict:
So yummy and so easy to make.
One word of warning though; do not buy Trader Joe’s soy sauce! I love Trader Joe’s, but we made that mistake and we’re still paying the price. We have to mix it in with Kikkoman a little at a time to get rid of it.
The Recipe:
Recipe from myrecipes.com.
- 1 pound lean ground pork
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil (+ a few drops of seasame or peanut oil if you have them)
- 5 cups cut green beans
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 4 teaspoons soy sauce
- 4 cups hot cooked brown rice
- Combine the pork, cornstarch, salt and white pepper in a medium bowl.
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture, beans, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until pork loses its pink color, stirring to crumble.
- Combine hoisin, sugar, red pepper and soy sauce in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
- Add hoisin mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently.
- Serve over rice.
CataCombo
Do you know someone who is really into music? Like *really* into music? Like would-rather-die-than-be-without their music?
Then I suggest CataCombo, the world’s first combination catacomb and music lounge. The casket contains a full sound system “tuned to the coffin’s unique interior acoustic space” for high quality, audiophile sound. Now you will have access to your tunes for all eternity. Literally. (No word on if this can be combined with the Kiss Kasket)
But wait! Upon further reflection this is a terrible idea.
First off, if you’re accidentally buried alive in this thing, nobody’s going to hear you. “Hey, is that Shane clawing at the ceiling of his grave, or just a fantastic bass line?” “I don’t know, but either way, let’s dance on his grave!”
Second off, the music selection can be remote controlled, “allowing friends and family to spare you a thought by adding tracks and keeping it up-to-date.” Absolutely not! The last thing I need is for my brother to clear out my playlist and replace it with Beiber for all eternity.
No thank you CataCombo! I’ll stick with the pine box after all.
Shane Halbach 