I had a wonderful time last night with some girlfriends at the pottery painting studio/store called Color Me Mine. I've been wanting to go there for years, but for one reason or another, just had not gotten there yet. So we planned a girls night complete with some light appetizers, a bottle of wine, and a nice iced coffee for me (decaf so I wouldn't get the jitters). I chose a tall rectangular vase, and designed a grape vine on one side. I painted the outside tan, and the colors of the grape vine/grapes are in a dark brown and olive green color. It has to be glazed and fired up in the kiln, so I won't get to see it completed until next weekend, but I have a feeling its going to look good, and I already know this'll be a hobby I can get hooked on. I'll be sure to post a photo of the finished product when I get it next week, but for now, here are a couple pictures from last night (you can see the design I drew up before I went...and next to it is how it looked after I was done painting and while it was still drying.) The colors will really "pop" after the firing and glazing. Anytime you want to go, count me in ladies - I had a blast!
Tommy now calls our dog Maverick "Bear" (which is Mav's middle name) and the dog will go to him when called. It's pretty cute. They are constantly playing tug-of-war, with Mav taking a "time out" once in a while to lick Tommy's face. Tommy just giggles the whole time. 
Tommy's really starting to get the hang of standing too. He managed to stand for almost a minute today. I know that doesn't sound like a long time, but to us its amazing. His favorite thing the past couple of days is to stand up then screech and throw himself onto Tony or I. He then rolls away and laughs hysterically. Tommy has begun clapping too. He claps especially when he thinks he's done something good. Today he stood up for a couple seconds, and upon landing started clapping for himself and saying "Yay!" It was adorable. Of course its totally infectious behavior, so the minute he starts to clap and cheer, Tony and I can't help ourselves but to join in! 
Here he's helping Daddy put his toys into one of his new toy boxes, and one of him laughing while playing with his fire engine ride-along.
On Saturday morning, we stopped over at the market for some much needed weekly necessities (I needed soy milk for my coffee!), and I was inspired to pick up some veggies to make a really tasty soup. I know several people who can make one soup or casserole, really really well (like my Mom’s Tuna Casserole – I LOVE it!!). A signature dish that when thought of, immediately makes you think of them, of sharing a nice meal together, and of family/friendship. Well – I WANT that! Ha Ha. I’ve been searching for a soup that screams ME. Something I can make in bulk and freeze for some individual meals, to pull out when I’m in the mood for some comfort food, and a recipe I can call my own to share with the people I love.
Broccoli: I picked up two big bunches of broccoli. I took them home and rinsed them really really well, then laid them on a paper towel to dry. I set up my steamer with about an inch of water (it’s a large metal pot with a separate steamer pot that has tiny holes on the bottom and rests inside the larger pot – great for steaming veggies and crab legs!). Once the water in the steamer was boiling, I put the broccoli bunches into the steamer pot, and that into the larger metal pot, covered it with the glass lid, then I set the clock for 4 minutes. While they were steaming up, I grabbed a large bowl which I filled with ice water. After the timer chimed, I picked up the entire steamer part of the pot with the broccoli inside, and dunked it into the bowl of ice water three times (each time for about 5 seconds). The reasons I’ve heard for doing this is to help the broccoli keep their brilliant green color, and also to ensure they will have a nice crisp crunch. Next, I dumped them onto a giant cutting board, and removed ALL of the stems. If you like broccoli you may not want to go to this extreme, but I don’t normally like it, so I wanted it to be in small enough bunches that I would not be biting into the broccoli stems. (I thought it would be nice if all of the veggies in the soup sort of disappeared into it, making a flavorful and thick mixture, without clumps in it.)
After the veggies were all prepped and ready to go, I set the rest of the ingredients for the soup out on the counter, and got started. Here are the directions for my adaptation of the various recipes I researched (and some notes). It’s a keeper!
We’ve had some ups and downs this month. The biggest up has been that Tommy finally has teeth! Yep, that’s right, I said teeth – plural. His first tooth emerged amongst many a sleepless night, nasty diaper, and crankiness on the 11th. Tony had collected Tommy out of his crib that morning when he noticed that first pearly white! Within days the whole process began again, and just this week tooth number two finally emerged. We are excited to reach yet another milestone of the many Tommy’s had this year, but also it’s a little bittersweet. It means our baby is growing up! He will be ten months old tomorrow. It’s astonishing to me that we are beginning to plan his first birthday bash! I can’t wait. It’s going to be such a fun party. We’ve decided to go with a dinosaur theme. I’ve been jotting down ideas, and coming up with ways we can throw a great party while still keeping within a fairly tight budget. 
Last weekend my sister and her husband came up for a visit. Tommy was able to spend some quality time with them, and I know he loved it. They and my parents watched Tommy for his very first overnight! I cried the entire way to my parents house, not because I didn’t think they would do well with him or anything…he loves them, and they love him too…it was ALL me. I couldn’t stand being away from him. It broke my heart to drop him off, and I felt incredibly guilty, but I am proud of myself for taking that first step. We also had our first Tapas party last weekend. A tapas party is basically like having a bunch of small meals, sort of like appetizers, but with a Spanish flair. We had everything from Potatas Bravas to Albondigas, Tortilla Espana, and my personal favorite Calamari Frito, amongst other things. We washed all of the great food down with some Spanish wine and Sangria (Tana, you make the best Sangria!!). I even made up a couple small desserts including three little heart shaped coconut angel food cakes. The evening was a great success, and we had an absolute blast with the two other couples who joined us. It’s definitely something we hope to do again soon. 
(This pictures shows just SOME of the Tapas we had, there was so much food! Picture below: Albondigas [Spainish meatballs], Gambas A La Plancha [pan fried shrimp], a hummus platter, An appetizer platter featuring Spanish olives and Manchego [a Spanish cheese] and other things, Tortilla Espana, Patatas Bravas, and Pollo Con Ajo [chicken thighs fried in olive oil and garlic])
The end of this week, Tommy has begun to try and stand on his own. Soon, he’s going to learn to really balance…and it will only be a matter of time before he takes that first step toward walking! We think he’ll be running around chasing after his friends at his first birthday party.
I’ve also discovered something new about Tommy. He’s still really into music…in fact just today he was rocking and singing along to a Steely Dan song which came on the radio this afternoon. But to my great surprise, I’ve learned just how much my child likes books!! SO EXCITED!!! He’s always enjoyed it when we read to him, but lately he has been getting really (REALLY) upset at the end of the story, when it is time to close the book and put it back onto the shelf. He tends to grab the book and try to open it again. We hope to encourage his love of reading as much as possible in the hopes that it will help him learn to read words a lot easier, and we also believe that encouraging a love of reading will eventually help him with his schoolwork. (In this picture below, he pulled all of the books off the shelf then sat and looked through them.)
Next week I am meeting some friends for a relaxing Girls Night at a local pottery painting shop. I can’t wait. It’ll be my first time doing something like this. I plan to make something I can use in my kitchen that will tie in the pretty browns and tans of my dishes and the lovely olive green colors of our walls. I’m thinking something with bunches of green grapes or a grapevine will be pretty. We’ll see what happens! 
So…I cancelled my plans for Friday night, and Sunday. I wasn’t about to miss JC Superstar…as it was my early birthday present from my parents (Thanks again for taking me Mom!). Tony spent much of the weekend on the car business (and it was warm enough for him to finally get the rest of the Christmas lights & things put away.). He also had a touch of the stomach bug…so I was on baby duty. I tried really hard to enjoy myself at JSC…but the thought of my baby sick at home, the awful seats we had (selling seats where you can’t see part the stage should be illegal – its just so wrong), and the fact that I had not had time to eat yet Saturday…sort of ruined the experience for me. Don’t get me wrong…the performance was excellent. Ted Neeley, who portrays Jesus in the movie version of JCS was headlining…and the man who played Judas was amazing. But my thoughts were more on my empty stomach and sick little man, than the musical.
Since we’re stuck in the house today (ugh...snow and ice), I decided to give the whole Vegan baking thing a try. I made banana nut bread…and somehow managed to keep myself from dumping milk chocolate chips into the batter. I am very proud of myself for that last bit. It’s cooling as I write this (Tommy’s napping)…and I’m anxious to try it out. If it tastes as good as it smells (my house smells soooooo yummy right now) I’ll post the recipe…if not…well…you won’t hear about it again! I’m not Vegan. To be honest, I don’t even think I could be a Vegetarian. I LOVE me some beef & pork products…but… I’ve been incorporating some Vegetarian & Vegan (soy milk instead of cow’s milk, etc.) dishes into my normal diet…and it’s nice to try something different.
There’s always an awesome carnivore-friendly dish out there for me to rave about though…(gotta be fair to both teams right?? - I know Jaqi will disagree. Sorry Jaqi.) Here’s something Fantastic that Tony made this weekend. For his friend’s superbowl party on Sunday, Tony braised some mild Italian sausage with onions and green peppers…he then let is simmer for about 4 or 5 hours in a garlic, oregano, and butter sauce. His friends enjoyed it like a sandwich on rolls… but we decided to throw the leftover mixture in with some angel hair pasta…and it was DELICIOUS. I am bummed we ate it all last night for our dinner, because I would really really like to eat some more of it today. 
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