Parents, if you imagine that your child’s life will be irreparably damaged if he or she misses out on this one monstrously noisy, hideously expensive night of painful shoes, emotional pressure, and hysteria, then I strongly encourage you to think harder about what the rest of your child’s life ought to look like Read the rest at the Register. image via Wikimedia Commons Read more
If you’re here, it means you waded all the way through my last post. Good work! Here’s your food! Chicken soup (can be made ahead and frozen) In a very large pot, put one whole chicken, chicken parts, or chicken carcass. Do not include giblets. Add a quartered onion, 2-3 peeled carrots, a few sprigs of dill and a few sprigs of parsley. Cover, bring to a boil, cover loosely, and allow soup to simmer for many hours. Strain... Read more
In the past, I’ve written about the emotional and spiritual experience of celebrating the Passover seder as Hebrew Catholics. This year, I’d like to talk about what’s really important: THE FOOD. We do not keep kosher, and we don’t clean the house of chametz (leavened bread), and we don’t follow the special, even stricter “kosher for Passover” rules. The foods we prepare for Passover are symbolic and nostalgic, as well as delicious; but I wouldn’t serve them if we had... Read more
Our kids need us. Most of our teenagers are not in danger of becoming violent jihadists like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; but unless we make a deliberate, consistent, sincere effort to live our faith and to make sure that our older kids are well connected with adults who can guide and educate them and answer their questions, and unless we give them many opportunities to practice their faith, then there is little hope that they will still be Catholics when they leave our homes.... Read more
Today, I’m making Zuppa Toscana. When I share recipes I’m trying, people often ask, “Will your kids really eat that?” The answer is: some of them, yeah. Some of them, no way. A few of them, maybe. And I am fine with that. I have two goals when I serve a meal: at least half the family should eat it, and mealtimes should be reasonably pleasant. My policy is: I decide what to cook, and they decide whether or not... Read more
‘Scuze me while I tape my head back on my shoulders. I gots me a bad case of Conservative Catholic Whiplash. . Yesterday, the True Enemies of the Church were the Knights of Columbus, because they briefly considered marching in a parade. . Last week, Eve Tushnet was anathema because she refers to herself as “gay and Catholic” without also constantly crying out, “Unclean! Unclean!” . Two weeks ago, “mercy” was a dirty word that only thug-loving bleeding hearts... Read more
You know what’s no fun? Being a scapedog. This noble creature has simple needs. He just wants a crate with a blankie and lots of wet coffee filters and styrofoam meat trays hidden under it. He wants people to tell him what to do, and he wants to smell their wonderful, wonderful feet. He wants to go outside and then come inside and then to outside and then come in and then maybe go outside for a bit. He wants to... Read more
This is the season where House of Cards lost us. For the first few seasons, the writers managed to keep up the with complicated, deliberately heavy-handed game they were playing. But when we got to season 3, episode 4, my husband and I watched quietly, and then reached the same conclusion: “Hey, remember Frasier? That was a good show. Let’s watch Frasier.” Here’s what pushed us over the edge. It made sense, at first, that a guy like Frank Underwood would start to... Read more
New baby gifts! Fun to receive, fun to give, almost impossible to get wrong. The only truly unwelcome baby present I’ve ever gotten was tucked into the bottom of a “welcome, new baby!” basket from my church: it was a pamphlet titled something like, “So, Hear Me Out, Now. There’s This Thing Called NFP That You Might Maybe Want to Try. . . “. And yes, this was after I had literally written the book on NFP. I really can’t... Read more
Two weeks old! Here is Corrie having a little snuggle and a big yawn: A moment of deep thought: and a little bit of friendly hazing: Listening very carefully to everything I say: And a schnoogly woogly woogly nap: Oh, those baby lips! Oh, those hairy werewolf ears! Here we decided to see who could do the best Corrie face. Entry 1 (The Seeker After Truth): Entry 2 (The Transient Anguish): ... Read more
I Have to Sit Down
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