Food BLogger Wanna Be

I have been cooking up a storm lately. And, to spite our lousy produce in Ohio this time of year, I have continued to cook with tons of vegitables. It’s easier to do when your husband loves veggies. The kids…not so much. Just about every night Isabelle tells me my dinner is yucky and begs for some form of rice and chicken. What can I say, my kids are half Indian. I thought I would share some of my all time favorites (lately)

Sweet and Sour Chicken Stirfry
This is literally THE best sweet and sour chicken I have ever tasted. It’s no deep fried, and you can really add whatever kind of veggies you like, but the sweet and sour sauce is out of this world! (Let me know if you want the recipe, it was in a recent issue of Food Network Magazine)


Chicken Pad Thai
It took me forever to find a good Pad Thai recipe, but Conrad and I Love love love Pad Thai. Then it took me a couple of more months past forever to figure out that I can buy rice noodles at my local Giant Eagle and didn’t need a specialty store to get them. I skipped the raddish this recipe calls for and read all of the reviews for some hints on making it, but really…it is FANTASTIC. If you are a Pad Thai fan, you have to try it. Really, it’s as good as our favorite restaurant in town.


Peach Pie
I stirred up a simple peach pie filling out of some canned peaches I had and wanted to do something creative with them. So I had seen this recipe on a Bakerella’s website, and I decided to play around. It tasted good, but it was fun to make! Conrad kept telling me how we really should open a restaurant and how these would sell so well in India. I don’t know about that, but it was fun to make little pies in a cupcake pan and decorate each however my heart desires. I think they would be great for a party or buffet.

A Bump in our Road

Keep the Micheal kids in your prayers over the next few weeks. Our beloved babysitter has decided to go back to school and that means we needed to find a new sitter. I’m not sure there is anything as nerve-wreaking for a family than this kind of transition. No matter how much information you have, you never really know who’s watching your kids (unless you are lucky enough to have a grandparent that fills the role!) You never know who’s in and out of the house, or what is going on while you are gone.

In the end, it’s much intuition and faith that goes into choosing a babysitter or daycare. We’ve done the daycare route, but when we had Grace and I went part-time the daycare’s weren’t really friendly toward part timers (meaning you STILL had to pay full time fees for babies till they’re 18 months or so!) and we would have been paying probably well over $1000 a month for childcare!

While we were looking, we found one of these babysitter sites and decided to browse the available childcare. I immediately found a mom who was a former teacher and lived a couple of streets over from us. She had one child, just Grace’s age and added a picture of her and her little family to the ad. After several different venue’s, we decided to bite the bullet, pay the membership fee and get this lady’s info!

After interviewing several other potential sitters, we knew this one was the one after the first interview. We just felt comfortable in their home and playroom, with her as a trained teacher, and her family. She only has one other child that she babysits and its on the way to the office!

In the end, we still have to trust the Lord with our little ones, but we also feel good about Ms. Shelley!

Another Potty Tale

It’s amazing how okay I am with bodily functions after having children. I guess after handling so many dirty diapers and vomiting “events” you just adjust. Not to mention, Grace, our youngest, is a puker. She has had this nasty cough for months. It gets better, then worse, better, then worse. Four rounds of antibiotics later and it’s coming back again. It only seems to bother her at night when she starts coughing then throws up! We go through weeks of nightly changing Grace, changing Daddy, changing sheets, pillow cases, bumper, quilt, AND crib skirt! She’s thorough like that. But, put a big beach towel down for her “just in case” and she can keep it clean as a whistle, and hit everything else around her!

Anyway, yesterday I put Isabelle and Grace in the bathtub after I had Grace sit on the potty for a few minutes trying to get her to go (she never has, but we are just beginning the process of “trying”)and walked away to put some laundry away. Isabelle started yelling, “Mommy, Grace dropped her peanut butter sandwich in the water!” I thought, that’s funny, I thought she ate that sandwich. But I went in and sure enough there it was. I scooped it out and put it in the toilet and thought, that wasn’t a peanut butter sandwich! I looked around the bubbly tub of toys and sure enough there were several other little “peanut butter sandwiches” floating around.

Clean out Poopie. Drag wet kids out. Drag wet toys out. Drain tub. Clean tub. Refill tub. Try again. All in a days work.

Just a Little Cuddle

The other day, after Isabelle was having a rough time waking up from a nap. She was put in time out. She told me that she still couldn’t stop crying. I told her she better stop or we would try time out up in her room, by herself. She thought for a minute, then said with a little shaky voice, “Well, maybe a cuddle will help.” Well, okay then.

Why I Love Conrad

Every year I'm married to Conrad I sit back in amazement that God brought him into my life. I guess I can say this now, after five years of blissful marriage, but people were just plain freaked out when I met and married a foreigner in a sum total of five months. I AM. SO. GLAD I didn't listen to most folks blah blah blah and listened to the Lord. Really. And just a little extra here...marriage hasn't been a lot of work. Actually it's been one of the easiest relationships I've ever had. Certainly the best one I've ever had. I was expecting a lot of work...because...we'll you hear stories, right? Not to mention, we have a cross cultural thing going on. But really...easy...blessed...good!

In light of nearly completing five WHOLE years of marriage, I thought I'd tell you a few of the many things I love about this guy.

1. His eyes light up when he sees his kids. He is a spectacular dad. He talks about the girls when they aren't with us. He smiles when he thinks about them. All his plans and work revolve around taking the best care of them that he can. He thinks they are the smartest, most beautiful, and most unique beings on the planet.

2. He's a home-boy. Meaning, he really prefers to stay home and hang out with us most of the time. And, in actuality, I am too. I always thought I was just weird because I was such an introvert, but we are happy staying near the homefront and hanging out together most days!

3. We have very similar world views. We are so alike in personality. I think that makes life easy. What do they say? Opposites attract, but similarities keep you together? We see and process the world very much the same. In spite of our cultural differences.

4. He's a Geek. I've always had a thing for smart boys..and I got a smart one! He's uber educated and a real go getter. I LOVE that about Conrad! I love it because he's got the motivationl to provide well for beside the balance of not being a workaholic!

5. He's confident. The first thing I noticed about Conrad was that he has this confident gaite, that's very unique for an Asian. And he's got a confident personality and a confidence in Christ. Love him for that!

6. When I ask him why he loves me he says, because you're mine.

Hello...is anybody out there?

I'm sorry about the long hiatas. Life has been crazy..and wierd here for a while. We have had a rash of odd sicknesses and accidents that have kept me absent from my beloved blog. I can't tell you how sorry I am.

So, without furture delay, I'd like to shar with you a couple of highlights of the past few weeks. One hightlight was a family vacation to Sunny (a-hem) Florida in Febraury. It was great to get a way, and really a vacation for us because my mom came with us and provided lovely grandparenting services...so Mom and Dad could take naps and go out to dinner occasionally. Granted, it was 40 degrees and rainy, but relaxing, none the less.

One highlight for Conrad and I was our early valentine dinner at Emeril Lagasse's Tchop Shop restaurant. Yum! We enjoyed the ambience and the night away. I'm afraid I've turing my husband into a foodie. Unfortuantley, I was trying not to be so obviuosly touristy in Orlando and forgot my camera...but I did have my phone. So, below is Conrad with our lovely dessert!