7 Quick Takes Friday!

#7

Yesterday

was our little man’s first birthday! 

I got a little overly excited about the triple prospects of 1) the chance to make a meal for my love, who has lost nearly 30 pounds in the absence of my cooking, 2) the First Birthday Meal for my youngest (first birthday meals always spark ridiculous amounts of preparation for me…case in point: Charlotte’s first birthday cake took 7 hours to make) and 3) the presence of one of our best friends and Charlotte’s godmother, Sister Awesome (she is actually in the process of entering a convent, hence, sister. The “awesome” is because she is awesome.). 

All those things combined to make me choose an overly complicated and ultimately underwhelming dessert for Liam, and a seriously alarming and intense but ultimately divine pasta dish for all of us.  This, coupled with the fact that I totally lagged during the day and didn’t get home from the store with the groceries until nearly six, meant that we ate dinner at nine last night. 

Nine. 

I reassured myself by drinking copious amounts of wine and telling everyone that we were eating Italian-style. 

#6

That Pasta, Though

was seriously unbelievable. Carbonara is so vastly underappreciated. 

I actually had never even heard of carbonara before I went to Italy. In case you haven’t, either, let me explain it to you. 

Carbonara is the Italian version of bacon and eggs. With pasta, since Italians don’t understand meals that don’t include pasta. 

I’ve only tried to make carbonara a few times, because it is a little tricky to get the egg sauce to thicken without scrambling the eggs. This version worked pretty well, although my pasta was a wee bit too hot when I added it to the egg/cheese/parsley mixture, so I did have a few little bits of scramble in the finished dish. Once I used a recipe which called for tempering the eggs with pasta water. That recipe actually sucked, because it was Cooking Light and carbonara just isn’t carbonara without lots of yummy fat and calories, but the tempering process worked pretty well. I think next time I’ll use P-Dub’s recipe and just incorporate the tempering step. 

Even the children devoured it. No surprise with Charlotte, really. She eats anything in pasta form (a girl after my own heart). But Sienna is notoriously picky, and she didn’t give us too much trouble. Liam was literally silenced by the pasta for nearly twenty minutes and ate two servings. 

All in all, it was a successful birthday dinner, despite the lateness of the hour. 

#5

Liam 

literally smashed the cupcake all over himself. It made me so happy. 

Seriously, I’ve always wanted my kids to make a huge mess with their first birthday cakes. Sienna was more interested in eating the cake than smashing it, and Charlotte screamed bloody murder and refused to touch the cake at all, so when Liam started pulling the cupcake apart, crushing it in his fat little fists, and rubbing it into his hair, I was so happy. 

#4

After The Kids Were in Bed

the Ogre and I stayed up WAY to late *ahem* “talking”. 

It is so weird, being apart for six weeks and then being back together. I feel like a teenager again, or like I did when we were first dating. I found myself checking my reflection last night, making sure I didn’t have parsley stuck in my teeth, brushing them hastily before climbing into bed, and trying to keep my stomach sucked in for maximum sex appeal. 

#3

On The Way Home

from the airport I couldn’t stop staring at him. It was strange how being with him was both the most natural, familiar, comfortable thing in the world and also so…unexpected. 

I found that I had forgotten certain facial expressions he makes. His  hand was larger around mine than I remembered. His smile was a little more ironic and his eyes crinkled around the edges more than I thought they had. 

#2

They Say that Familiarity Breeds Contempt

I don’t know about contempt, but familiarity definitely breeds a certain indifference. It seems impossible to me, right now, that I would ever get so used to the Ogre’s presence that I would stop reaching for his hand at every second or making out with him in the grocery store (which I totally did. Sue me.)

#1 

Oh Yeah

In an effort to begin the horrific transition away from smoking cigarettes, the Ogre has taken up smoking a pipe.

I, for one, am thrilled with this new development. Not only is it a step in the right direction, but oh.my.gosh. I love the smell of pipe tobacco.

Seriously, it smells like safety, strength, home and comfort. I  wrap myself in his arms every single time he comes inside from smoking his pipe because he smells so divine. It’s wonderful.

Also, I think he looks really sexy smoking a pipe. Holmes-ian, even.

And now, we are going to put the kids in bed and finish “talking”.

Happy Weekend, everyone! Go and see Jen for more quick takes!