Camping, Revisited

Alright, let's be honest. Nobody thought I'd EVER get around to this post, right? Even I am filled with more self-loathing than ever before. Shame on me for taking two months to write about this major life event! I mean, this alleged "camping trip"was practically a whole lifetime ago, and it's not exactly fresh on my brain now. It's like the meat you see in the grocery store that has a special fluorescent orange discount sticker on it because of its rapidly changing color and interesting smell. (Which makes me wonder, who buys that meat? Here's what I say: if I'm in a position where I don't have enough money to buy fresh, un-rotten meat, then I vote going without. But that's just me.) Anyway, that's my brain when it comes to this little trip. Once I lost the original camping posting due to some freak computer glitch, I sort of lost the will to blog about it ever again, but I feel I owe it to my kids to have it properly documented for their sake. Otherwise, they may never believe that it actually happened. Nothing like a little crazy Mom guilt to light a fire under my ass. 

Alright, buckle up! Here we go:

Here, we have a very handsome & robust Dan, modeling his camping backpack from the days of his camping bachelorhood (he's a man of SO many talents, that husband of mine). He was very excited to show me how much crap this thing could actually contain. If you look below his elbow closely, you can see that there's even a compartment for toilet paper. Such a smart backpack! Camping learned lesson #1: it's really helpful when you go camping with a husband who is so giddy to be reunited with nature, he'll even pose for backpack pictures.

I realize my awesome photography skills didn't capture much else but glare in this photo, but if you strain to look through that, you will see our very jam-packed car. Camping learned lesson #2: Camping with children requires a whole lot of stuff. What you see in this car is basically everything we own. I was nervous I'd forget SOMEthing and then be miserable for 48 hours, but in reality, I don't think we utilized half of what we brought. Rookies!

Here the kids are strapped in & ready to roll, but not unlike dogs, could probably sense Mama's tense nerves and were probably experiencing a tummy butterfly or two themselves. On second thought, maybe they were just scared things were going to crush them, because please notice the mountain of cargo behind them.

Here, Ella is like, "You guys are crazy and make me want to jump out of this dang car seat, but you do always feed me, so therefore I'll stick around and surrender to this chaos." For a baby under 2, she really is wise beyond her years. Also, aren't her rag-a-muffin pigtails the cutest you've ever seen?

Here, Ben is like, "Doesn't this blue shirt bring out my gorgeous blue eyes? Also, are we there yet? WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE'RE STILL PARKED IN THE GARAGE?"

So fast forward the fairly uneventful 60+ minute car ride up to Big Basin, and now we've arrived. Except timing wasn't our greatest strength that day because we didn't have much daylight left, and I won't lie; there was some panic as the fellas set up camp. The realization of- wait, there are zero light switches we get to flip when it gets dark- slowly set in. Nobody wants to set up a (ginormous) tent in the darkness. So the boys huddled up, devised a plan, and got to work. My Dan is on the left, our dear friend (the "other" Dan) is on the right. Please notice his kneepads- this is serious camping business. 

They saved the day! Tent assembled! Number of injuries: 0. Sounds like the perfect time to open a bottle of wine! 

Isn't it breathtakingly gorgeous? Those giant wonderful trees! The delicious fresh air! Even the dirt was sort of pretty. Side note: our Mercedes-of-a-tent came fully loaded with a "front porch" area. I was sort of hoping it would be equipped with electricity as well, but I guess we had an older model.

This is Ben's semi-new favorite person in his world, and his name is Gavin. If you met him, you would want to hug him and squeeze his cheeks because he is hands-down one of the sweetest little boys on earth and has the voice of an angel. He's one of those kids who I'm hoping will forever infect Ben with his sweet, innocent boyishness. I love when they spend time together, and basically, camping was one big Ben & Gavin fest. I've never seen two boys so happy to be together, and so happy to be downright dirty.

Ben, being a scary jungle animal of sorts. And sweet Gavin- even when he's trying to be scary he's just exudes cuteness.

So remember how one of my big camping concerns was what the heck to do all day long (specifically, #6 on my top 10 list)? This was it! We sat and  learned to play a new favorite game, Mexican Train. I don't even play dominoes in any form, but this was great. Then of course, there was some beer drinking.

Then we went on a big group hike, which was lovely....until Ben's legs got too tired to keep moving. Then it got tricky. Learned camping lesson #3 : 4 miles is about 2 miles too many for a 4 year old hiker who hasn't napped. But it was gorgeous, and I got in touch with my inner hiker. She's a tigress!

Ben was thrilled to find a real-life fuzzy caterpillar:

Ella was thrilled to learn that Auntie Liz was willing to carry her a heck of a lot more than Mommy was willing. So they had some quality girl time so that Mommy could continue in Operation Laziness, and drink her beer in peace.

More friendly camping nothingness. Camping learned lesson #4: doing nothing and sitting outside is wonderful.

Here we are on our 2nd (and final) night, preparing a feast fit for a king. You might think I'm joking, but just wait for it...

Well hello perfectly marbled, gorgeous salmon! You're so cute with your pretty lemon slices-- but wait! What's this I see? Are you stuffed on the inside?!

Why yes, you are! What on earth did I do to deserve this royal treatment???? Guys, it was like manna pouring down from the heavens. Being the sushi junkie that I am, I had to stop my hand from picking it up and just eating it raw. Can you blame me?

And all I had to do was provide a black bean salad! (Don't get me wrong- the black bean salad was rad....anytime a recipe includes onion, mango & cilantro on the ingredient list, you KNOW it's going to be scrumptious. I don't even think this is a matter of opinion- it just is). The salmon (a.k.a. manna) was provided and prepared courtesy of our new friends, Rikki & Jack. (Hi Rikki & Jack! Want to go camping again?) Here is where I will mention that Jack is a real life chef...how could I NOT fall in love with camping??? Camping learned lesson #5 : Always go camping with a chef. Here they are, our Salmon Sugar-Parents:

Here's the full spread. Not too shabby for a camping trip, eh? If I was to caption this picture, it would say: Melon salad, veggies and bread, beautiful manna-salmon, three bean salad. AND WINE. Yes, as I recall, the wine was deeeeelightful. We even set up a separate table designated as "The Bar". 

This is the part of the evening when our bellies were full of salmon and wine, so we just smiled and took a bunch of photos. Here: the Findricks & Stublers

Me, Christina & Rikki. Don't you dare look at my camping greasiness!

Dewigs (minus Ben- where did Ben go? Oh right- to Gavin-land) + Findricks:

The night ended as any quintessential camping trip night should: with s'mores (Ben's 1st, my 1,001st)).... 

...And with glow stick swords! (Thanks for this picture, Kasia!)

Overall, what do I think about camping? Let me put it this way: my birthday is coming up in a month, and I'm thinking a camping trip might be in order.I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship...

Fabulous Fries & Perfect Plum Crisp

    Image by bro0ke via Flickr

Who loves french fries and fruit crisps in the Summer? Or...any season of the year?
If you could see me, you'd see me raising both of my arms wildly in the air. Because in my little world, I can't really think of anything better than a juicy bbq'd burger, homemade oven fries, a gorgeous green salad, and a plum oatmeal crisp for dessert.

In fact, that's what just went down in this house. Not too shabby for a Wednesday, eh? (BTW, in case you were curious, Canadians really do end most sentences with "eh?". I'm no expert on the Canadian culture, but I have been there four times- count it- 1,2,3,4- and with each visit I heard at least 5 people use the cute little "eh?" at the end of their sentence. All I'm saying is, why haven't we considered stealing that, and how did they become the nicest people on the planet?). Also, you should probably know that my burger was smothered in spicy roasted green chiles, in honor of our recent trip to Albuquerque, the mecca for all things green chile!

Anyway, I was flipping through my July issue of Food & Wine magazine (which I adore but never have time to read), and I came upon this fantastic recipe for homemade oven fries, which then quickly inspired my whole bbq burger meal into being. And since I haven't posted any recipes in practically FOREVA (who's been wondering: what's up with that? I thought there was supposed to be some passionate food talk on this here blog!) and since I could never deny you anything this delicious, let me go ahead and share them both with you. Mama loves you.


Fabulous Oven Fries w/ Herbs & Pecorino
(adapted from Grace Parisi, via Food & Wine Magazine, July 2010)


2 large baking potatoes, cut into 4-by-1/2 in. sticks
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. each of minced sage & rosemary OR if you don't have these dried herbs on hand (like me) then you can get in the French spirit and substitute 1 tsp. of Herbes de Provence
1/4 c. freshly grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425. In a large bowl, toss the potato sticks with the olive oil until evenly coated. Spread the potato sticks in a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and bake in upper third of the oven, turning once or twice with a spatula, until they are gold and crispy, about 30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle the minced garlic and herbs over the fries and toss well. Amazing smells are about to come wafting from your oven! Roast for about 5 minutes longer, or until the herbs are fragrant and the garlic is lightly browned. Transfer the fries to a large bowl and toss with the grated cheese. Season with salt & pepper and serve. Serves 4. (or in our case, serves two really hungry adults & 1 child).

Plum Oatmeal Crisp
(adapted from Everyday Food Magazine)


1/2 c. plus 1 T. all-purpose flour
1 c. plus 2 T. packed brown sugar
2/3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/4 c. toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash or two of pumpkin pie spice (optional, but recommended!)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2-1/2 lbs. ripe plums, cut into 1-inch pieces (so, obviously, you can substitute or combine any of your favorite pitted fruits; for example, I did a plum/peach combo and it was heavenly. Apricots would be equally delicious!)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Topping: In a medium bowl, stir together 1/2 c. flour, 1 c. brown sugar, oats, toasted pecans and salt. Pour melted butter over mixture and stir to combine & moisten the other ingredients. This is when things start to get very tasty.
2. In a shallow 2-qt. baking dish, toss plums with remaining 2 T. of brown sugar, 1 T. flour, and couple dashes of pumpkin pie spice, if using. Sprinkle with oat/pecan/butter yumminess crumble topping. Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet (perhaps overly-cautious, but an effort to prevent overflow burn, because no one wants that). Bake until topping is golden brown, 40-45 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes before serving, but I'll bet you can't wait that long to taste it because the smell wafting through your kitchen will put you in a love-sick trance. Serves 6. Enjoy!

I'm a Quilter!

I realize there are more pressing matters that deserve my undivided blogging attention (namely that camping trip that I SWEAR I really did take, as well as that 2,000 mile road trip to New Mexico we just recovered from), but I felt it necessary to announce something that is rare, and therefore something I am quite proud of: I finished a project! A quilting project! I can quilt! I'm a quilter!

Please feel free to now douse me with gold stars and smiley face stickers, because one thing that is NOT a strength of mine is the ability to finish something once I start it. Just ask my husband (or parents or friends...), I'm sure he has a hidden notepad somewhere entirely devoted to keeping record of the projects/ideas/rooms to be painted that I never actually completed. I probably make the highly organized, "type A" sorts of people break out in nervous, aggravation-induced hives while in my company. It's my gift.

But I digress.

Remember when I first began this adventure, just about 6 months ago? Well, I learned many things back then. Namely, quilting is a very difficult task in and of itself. Like, you have no idea. Unless of course you've quilted, then of course you have a VERY good idea. But if you are like I once was, a girl with a romanticized vision of what quilting would entail, let me do you a favor now, and rain on your flowery creative quilting parade. Quilting is approximately 1,000 times more involved than I thought. Even when I was 7/8 of the way finished with the project, I STILL had no idea how much more time I'd be forced to invest. But throw in a toddler and a preschooler who want to be VERY involved in their Mom's quilting process, and then the whole thing becomes more difficult than trying to understand a single word that comes out of Ozzy Osbourne's mouth.

Does it sound like I'm complaining? Because I'm not, really I'm not. Yes, it was a ton of work, but the second part of this is, OH MY HEAVENS! How I loved the process, and even more, how I loved the final moment of completion! Remember: completion is not something I often do, so perhaps the giddiness is on a grander scale than your "average" quilter. Either way, all I know is, if you are ever lucky enough to receive a homemade quilt from someone who loves you, please fall on your knees and thank them profusely (especially if it's from me), because that person loves you enough to endure hours upon hours upon hours of thread/sewing/bobbin/binding/batting/stitching in the ditch madness.

So. Allow myself to introduce you to my quilt. Go on, be friendly and say hello:

Did you want to get up close & personal with her? Do it. I don't mind. In fact, I insist.

My darling mother-in-law (a.k.a. The Quilting Queen) kept talking about how important quilt binding is, and how it can really frame your quilt and make it *pop*. I'm so glad I listened to her! Isn't the binding the cutest? And did you take notice of my decently sewn corners? NOT EASY TO DO, MY FRIENDS!

This picture is for those of you who want to see more of the binding. Bless you. Also, I found "stitching in the ditch" to be nearly impossible and almost cause for a stronger eyeglass prescription, so instead I stitched near the ditch. Good enough. As my mother-in-law says, if a person riding by on a horse can't see it (the "flaw"), then don't worry about it! She always knew what to say to keep me going!

At first I really wanted to give this away to someone, but then I realized this quilt is like a piece of history for me. My very first quilt- sort of like my first lost tooth, or my first cut tendril of hair, or my first pedicure. I love that this summer has been full of so many "firsts" in my world. At 31.5 years old, I didn't know I could have many more firsts.

So no, this quilt won't be going anywhere except on the couch with my loved ones & I. Even Ben seems to appreciate it, and rolled around on it for almost 15 minutes tonight while singing an original song (though I think it was possibly inspired by Katy Perry) entitled, "Mommy Made A Quilt & I Like It". Awesome.

For Those Concerned If I'm Still Alive....

(Shame on you if you are a faithful reader of my blog and you're NOT concerned if I'm alive, because if you didn't know any better, and from the looks of my blog, it appears I've fallen off of the face of the blogging planet). But for those of you who are in my closer circle, you know I braved my almost-worst fear (because snakes will always scare me more than anything) and took a major road trip from home to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Let's digest this for a moment, shall we? That's 1,000 miles. Each way. In a Honda CR-V (not that there's anything wrong with my darling Honda, it just would have been more "manageable" in a family swagger wagon). With two young children. In summer. Meaning, in triple digit degree weather. (Note to self: in the future, must write an entire blog post about my opposition for all things hot and desert-like). But I'm alive, and here to (eventually) tell the stories. (What's the deal with my over-usage of parenthesis, anyway?)

All I can say is: WHO is this mother who takes her children camping for the first time ever, and then a few weeks later takes them on a major road trip? When did I become the bravest gal around, seeking out adventure clearly outside of my comfort zone? My new favorite epiphany is this: once you've faced your fears head on (excluding, of course, the snake thing) it really does feel empowering and encouraging, because right about now I feel fairly confident that I can do just about anything!


In other news, if you've been waiting for an explanation as to why I promised a detailed account of the aforementioned camping trip, and then never delivered on that promise, please let me explain. I actually DID write one hell of a camping trip post, complete with very witty stories, tons of pictures complete with captivating captions (even beautiful food photos- yes, beautiful food is possible even while CAMPING). I was about 99% done with the post, putting on the final touches when suddenly I realized.........somehow along the way, my big fat elbow must have highlighted about 97% of the entire post and pressed the dreaded "delete" button. And thanks to Blogger's auto-save function, I lost everything, without even knowing it.

Let's just say, I burst into tears. And Dan held me. It was awful.

Guys, we're talking hours & hours & hours worth of work; brain cell power, time devoted to uploading the pictures, witty explanations vanished, probably never to return again (because you can't create that sort of magic twice, it's just not how it works).

And to be very honest, I've been so sick about it that I haven't had the courage to sit down and write it all over again. It makes me sick. But as I'm re-reading this over right now, I realize that I seem to have forgotten that just a few paragraphs ago that I claimed to have the confidence that "I can do anything".

Shoot.

Insert foot in mouth.

Okay, fine. I'm on it. Attempt #2 at camping trip recap shall commence very soon. Let me just finish my vacation first because I'm sort of too busy nursing a Haagen Dazs bar right now to be anything that resembles being productive.

A 10 Second Update

We are back from the wilderness, and I am happy to report: I DIDN'T HATE IT! In fact, I mostly liked it! I am far too fatigued and sick of my own smell to give any more details than that, but there is a thorough description of our family camping adventure coming soon, and 1,000 photos to go with it. Raise your hand if you're excited to see photos of me greasy and dirty!! Anyone?

But for those who can't stand the suspense, I'll leave you with the vitals: number of snakes seen or bitten by: 0. Number of salamanders seen: 1. Number of mosquito bites: 1. Number of times my precious friend Liz tried to punch a raccoon through our tent: 1. Overall number of bottles of wine consumed: tons.

Hi-Ho!

It's off to the wilderness we go! If you recall, one of my many camping fears was the unfortunate possibility of meeting up with a snake, and our lack of preparation for such a moment. Last night, Dan was unpacking all of his camping gear from the good ol' days of bachelorhood, and beaming with pride, he unveiled his trusty pocket camping knife. The sheer joy it brought to his face was classic- it was like two lovers being reunited after years apart. I decided it was time for a test- THE test: I asked him if we should cross paths with a snake, and if I should deem it necessary (which I would), could he kill a snake with the camping knife? Would he do it? Could he do it? I'm pretty sure he scoffed at me and replied, "Babe, are you kidding me? Of course. You don't need to worry about anything."

Congratulations, Husband! YOU PASSED THE TEST WITH FLYING COLORS! And now, back to my hourly camping mantra, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....


Stay tuned; obviously, a full detailed report of Dewig's First Camping Trip will be given as soon as possible.

Take 5

This week I am so grateful that, without even trying, my kids remind me to take a break from the stress of life, slow down, and enjoy something as simple as a popsicle. Lime and grape flavored. In my grown-up world of checklists and must do's, I almost missed this moment of innocent sibling silliness, and I'm just so grateful I forced myself to take a break from whatever "important" thing I was doing, and grabbed my camera. Also, it should be noted that this little photo shoot ended in a hilarious water fight with two naked kiddos.

T Minus 3 Days

Image via Wikipedia

The family's first camping trip (EVER) begins in 3 days. Here's how I'm handling the nervous anticipation and tackling my camping fears: basically, I'm expecting to hate it.

I realize to some, this might sound like a terrible attitude problem that needs some adjustments, but in my mind, all I'm doing is placing zero expectations on the experience. That way, it can only exceed my presumptions and pleasantly surprise me if things should happen to go well. It's my own version of "expect the worst, hope for the best". So you see, it's not that I have a bad attitude; I just have a disappointment-proof outlook. And for the record, I've noticed that the more wine we plan on bringing, somehow the trip becomes even more disappointment-proof.

Alright, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, bring on your bugs and dirt and smokey hair campfires and meals from cans! Let's do this thing!

Christmas in June

Last night, Ben was throwing a tantrum about- oh I don't know- EVERYTHING, and being the Mother of The Year that I am, I snapped, and not in the rhythmic carefree way. I was fatigued, tired, and out of patience and parenting steam. I wish they sold Parenting steam at Costco, or at least on ebay because I would buy it in bulk, build myself a parenting steam storage shed, and give it away to all my parent friends at Christmas. Maybe I'd even sell it on the black market.

Anyway, when World War III kicked in around the moment I announced it was time to brush teeth, I was 1) on the verge of throwing myself on the floor in a screaming tantrum to join him, and 2) struck with a genius idea. Note to self: ALWAYS wait for option #2 to come to you, even if it takes 10 minutes. DO NOT EVER go with option #1, experience has proven it will always end badly.

The genius idea? Santa! But of course! Santa is watching! SANTA IS ALWAYS WATCHING YOU! Ben, don't you remember the song we sing, where it specifically states he "knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake"? This is one of those moments. In fact, June is Santa's biggest sneak attack month. He knows that most of the children think Christmas is way too far off to really behave, but this is when it counts the most because he sneaks in and watches you even more closely. The month of June is like behavioral overtime in Santa's book.

I'm not saying it was my best progressive parenting moment, but that boy stopped his screaming, opened his mouth wide, and let me brush his teeth for a full 60 seconds, sweetly hopped into his bed and slept a solid 11 hours. So I played the Santa card in June, no big deal, right? Isn't that like 90% of the reason Santa even exists, to help ease the parenting load?

I have a very strong feeling Santa is going to be crucial to our survival this summer.

God-babies

Dan & I have never been godparents before, and then much to our surprise (and sheer delight), we were asked to be godparents twice over in the span of one week! I cannot tell you the tremendous joy and deep honor this has brought both of us; I feel so blessed to spend my lifetime developing special relationships with these two sweet little angels. And I know I might be slightly biased, but I think even Cinderella's fairy godmother would have to agree that I have the world's cutest godchildren. I don't know if body nibbling was in the godmother job description, so sometimes I have to stop myself from nibbling their cheeks, thighs and toes. Can you blame me?

Also, did I mention that they're cousins, and about two months apart in age? I'm in heaven. And I'm in love. And when they spit up on me, it's so adorable that I don't even mind.

Cyberspace, please meet Baby Siobhan and Baby Mick:

(See? I wasn't joking. The cuteness factor is off the charts. And the thigh rolls of love??? To die for).