Finger Food Friday on Saturday: Edition My House Smells Like Fried Food

Allright.  I've said before that I'm not a quitter.  I committed at the beginning of summer to do a FFF for the whole season, and that is the ONLY reason why you're seeing a post here tonight.
That, and the fact that a few of you wrote and told me that you loved Finger Food Friday.  Lesson #1 on getting your way with Meanie Mom: Flattery will always light the way to my vain little heart.

So here it is.

Tonight we're doing Onion Rings.  It's a recipe from the September Edition of Everyday Rachael Ray Mag.  I guess I love her, despite the fact that her recipes usually call for a million ingredients that don't really end up complimenting each other.  It's like she throws an elaborate party with a bunch of people who have nothing in common.  The party ends up okay, but you walk away knowing your evening would have been more enjoyable if you'd just stayed home with a bottle of wine and a Netflix.

Check me out with my metaphors.

Anyway, I tend to look for her less complicated recipes.  Here's all the ingredients you'll need for onion rings:

That's 3 cups of pancake mix, 3 onions (I only used one.  Long uninteresting story.), 2 cups of Club Soda or Seltzer Water (Is there even a difference? Serious, if you know, please inform me.  It's one of those trivial facts that I hate not knowing the answer to), 1 1/2 tsp. of Chili Powder, and enough Vegetable Oil to fill up your frying pan to 3 inches.

First thing is obvious.  Cut up your onion rings.

Wear some goggles.  I don't care how dorky you look.  Serious!  Wear them, unless you want to tear up like you're watching the final scenes of Rudy.  

Ruuuuuuudy! Ruuuuuudy! 

Kills me.

Anyway.  I'll try harder to stay focused tonight.  Let's keep going. 

Next, you dump 3 cups of pancake mix into a bowl. 

Then you add 1 1/2 tsp. of chili powder.  Remember, I don't really ever measure.  I just eyeball it.  So feel free to live on the edge like me.  

Then you mix it up with some salt.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention salt in the ingredient list.  Just go ahead and pretend like I remembered.  It's 1tsp or so.  

If you're even measuring.  

Next, you slowly whisk in the Club Soda until everything is nice and smooth. 

See that above?  Not smooth. Keep going.  

There, that's better.  By the way, I really should have used a larger bowl, but what could I do?  I was knee deep in the middle of FFF.  Besides, it's all part of the 1 onion vs. 3 onion story I mentioned earlier.  

Don't ask.  

Okay, now you dip your rings in and get them nice and coated.  

You may want to kind of dangle the onion above the bowl and let all the excess batter drip off.  It'll save you some mess.  

You're welcome.  

Next, you heat up your oil in your frying pan (the recipe says to about 325 degrees, but I just watch it and make sure that it's rippling hot.  That's worked better than any old thermometer so far.).

Drop those babies in there and fry them up for 2 minutes, turning once.  

You know what's going to go on my bucket list?  "Learn to take a good picture of food frying in a pan." Why can't I ever get a good shot of that?  

Anyway, take them out and drain them on a paper towel or a paper bag.  Salt them, and voila!  Onion Rings. 

Just look at all that greasy goodness.  Yum.  

By the way, sorry bout the terrible quality of photos today.  Ever since I got back from Vegas, my camera has been acting up.  My photography friend followers- Charlotte?  Natalie?  Mr. C?  Any suggestions are welcome.   Tell me what to do with these shadows and bright spots.  I'm beyond annoyed.  

Despite my faulty camera, the family reacted well to onion rings.  They brought a smile to 9's face. 

By the way, did you notice that 9 got a hair cut?  He starts high school on Monday.  High school! And this weekend I taught him how to back my car out of the driveway.  

Did I tell you guys that I met him when he was in Kindergarten? 

I think the theme of my summer has been "Time doesn't care about how young you feel, the fact of the matter is you're getting old, sister." 

 At least I'm having fun doing it. 

You all have a good night.   

Aw, Hell! Hail!

Hi everyone!

I want to start off by saying THANK YOU and hello to everyone who's come and checked out the blog.  I know I sound like a broken record, but I do truly love that my friends are reading what I write.  (By the way, shouldn't that expression become obsolete, just like records themselves?  My kids have no true understanding of what I mean when I say things like "I'm tired of sounding like a broken record!").
Anyway, I love that you guys are reading me.  Thank you!

So, let's get back to vacation.

After getting into Sequoia, we dropped 9 off at Hume Lake for his week o'fun and then headed back up the mountain to our campground.  We drove with the windows down to enjoy the mountain breeze (which felt like heaven compared to the stifling 100+ temps out here in the desert).  The 70 degree weather was perfect for setting up camp.  Until I noticed that the temperature had started to drop.

So I put on a jacket.

Then clouds rolled in and it dropped some more.

So I changed into pants.

Then it started thundering.

So I made all the kids stop playing and put on their jackets.

Then I noticed that I could see my breath coming out in little puffs.

So I dug out the luggage and fished around for our hats and gloves.

We put them on in time for it to rain.

So I herded the children into the tent (and I mean that I literally herded them, as the rain had excited them into such a state that they were all running around like it was the Second Coming of Christ).

We sat in the tent and listened to the plip- plop of raindrops.

It was nice.

Until the plip plops turned into dull ping ping pings.....


and we realized our tent was being pummeled by hail.  Little tiny frozen ice balls were gathering all over the ground.  It was 32 degrees.  In August.


Here's a pic that Mr. C snapped of us while we were waiting out the hail storm. 

And here's a pic I snapped of Mr. C while we were waiting out the hail storm.  

Of course, the whole time I was thinking about what the brochure had said about lightening and was planning out what to do if I saw any of my kids' hair start to rise up (a sign that lightening is about to hit. If nothing else, that damn article taught me some useful facts about the great outdoors).

In the end though, it wasn't a bad experience- the freezing in a tent together while listening to the ice balls fall all around us.  I made up some good scary stories starring my kids.  They were scared just enough to be thrilled.  PG even told me that it was her favorite part of the whole trip.  And the hail/rain storm passed over in about 45 minutes, so I could at least cook dinner while staying dry, though it was so cold that I couldn't feel my hands.  Wah.

By the way, that's something else I learned about myself on this trip.  I really hate to be cold.  I may come back in my next life as a lizard, just so I can sit around on a rock all day and let the sunshine warm my skin, my bones, my body.

In fact, I think I may still be thawing out, along with Roo.

Sorry.  That picture has nothing to do with anything really.  I'm just blatantly plugging a cute pic of my kid.  I can't help it.  It's her cheeks.  They're the end of me.

You all have a good night!

Mountain Mama

Hey all!

We're back!  I'm back!  And MAN I have missed the internet- by probably more than what I think is a healthy amount.  Before we left I had grand plans to sit by the campfire under the stars with Mr. C's laptop and write posts every night.  Then we got there and was surprised by three things: a) there are still places on this planet where the internet is not within reach, b) I was in one of those places, and c) I'm a fool for not believing Mr. C when he warned me that I wouldn't have internet access for 6 days.

I think I was in denial.

So although I couldn't sit and write posts to you all every night, I did almost constantly write mental posts as we were going about our days.  I think that stands as testament to how much I love this blog.  Furthermore, the fact that I can even remember what my mental posts were, stands as a testament to the fact that I haven't lost as much intellectual acuity as I thought.

At any rate, I'm planning on inundating you all with vacation posts this week.  I have at least 3 or 4 posts floating around in my head as we speak.

Anyway.  Our vacation.  Let's talk about it.

I've been on camping trips my whole life.  My parents have a picture of me sitting in my playpen on a camping trip when I was less than 1.  I've always liked it, and have never had a problem with sleeping in a tent or getting a little dirty.  In fact, it kind of bugs me when I talk to people who refuse to even try it because of the outdoors/tent factor.   I always feel like they come off as a little snooty and close minded.  I mean, at least try it before you tell me you don't like it.

However.

I have learned since joining the ranks of parenthood that there is camping, and then there is camping with kids.  

Here's what camping was like for me and Mr. C in 2001, BC (Before Children)

-We pack up the truck in an hour and hit the road.  He drives while I read the latest issue of Cosmo and force him to take inane quizzes.
-Upon arriving, if we get a brochure or reading material from the Ranger, I look it over quickly and then toss it aside as fuel for that night's campfire.
-We arrive at camp, pop open a couple of beers and set up.
-If it rains? We have a tent. (wink wink)
-If there are bears?  Bears, schmears.  Besides, my heart thrills at the thought of Mr. C protecting me from bears.

Now here's what camping is for us in 2010, AC (After Children).

-We have a mini van and the process of packing it begins a full 2 days before departure.
- Instead of a mere trashy magazine, it now takes 2 backpacks stuffed with snacks, video games, coloring books, reading books, and action figurines to make the drive up bearable.  Plus, there's a DVD player that's rigged up between the seats to save us when all else fails.
-Setting up camp with the kids "help" almost requires a Xanax.
-If it rains (and it did- that's one of the posts I have floating around in my head), we have to crowd in a tent and find ways to entertain the kids until it's over.


And the bears?  I'll talk to you about the bears in just a minute.  First, I want to show you the reading material the Ranger handed me on our way into the park.   The uplifting title of the article I'm about to show you is "YOU are responsible for your OWN safety!"  And if I could, I'd insert the music from the Psycho shower scene right here for effect.  Feel free to let your own imagination oblige:

!!!!

!!!!

!!!!

!!!

THE PLAGUE???? COUGARS????  WEST NILE VIRUS? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

So much for relaxing.  Friends, I have a big imagination and you could only imagine the horrifying scenarios that played themselves out in my mind after reading that article.  It was seriously enough to fill up a couple of episodes of Tales From the Crypt.   My whole objective for the week became all about protecting my babies from the danger lurking...... well, everywhere, apparently.

And don't even get me started on the bears.  The next page of the newspaper went into detail about how all traces of food needed to go into the bear lockers overnight.  All traces!  Car seats should not be left in cars, lest they contain food or juice. And lastly, all cosmetics and toiletries should be locked inside a bear locker as well, since bears have apparently developed a taste for toothpaste and flavored lip gloss.

I kid you not.

Then, to make all this worse, my BFF called me the night before we were going to leave and relayed this news story to me out of Yellowstone:  A Grizzly Bear, for reasons unprovoked, tore into 3 separate tents in one night and dragged out the campers and mauled them to death.

Lovely.  I'm trying to think back to what horrible thing I must have done for her to exact such terrible revenge on me.  Did I borrow a shirt back in the 90's and not return it?  Shoes?  Boyfriend? Nothing's coming to mind.  Char, if you're reading this, you're on thin ice girl.

Anyway.  The whole bear thing really freaked me out, which irritated Mr. C, which in turn irritated me.  I mean, come on, is it really so cowardly to demand that a frying pan and spatula be kept in the tent where we sleep?  I am protecting our children's lives, for goodness sake!  Right?

Needless to say, I no longer harbor lusty thoughts about Mr. C bravely protecting me from scary forest creatures.  I'm too busy trying to figure out how I'm going to do damage to a bear with my meager supply of cookware.

However, we made it through the week all intact (more or less).  And like I said earlier, there's much more for me to write.  At this moment however, I have one more mountain to tackle.

Here it is:

Laundry.  You all can send your letters of condolence now.

Have a good night!