If Spooky isn't actually going to publish his draft of today's Cup of Coffee, I guess I'll just steal his title.
All posts by Philosofer
April 7, 2015: Miinii-Caucuii
Miinii-Caucuses? Whatever. I saw both DPWY and Nibbish yesterday, and that was fun.
The Nation Has An Appetite: Ratatouille
Per the earlier discussion, I'm going to describe how I make ratatouille here. Truth be told, I had never known the dish until some recipe showed up on some site someday telling me how to do it this way. So maybe this isn't even real ratatouille? Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious.
Also, sorry I don't have any pictures. The vegetables haven't been in season, so it hasn't been made for a while.
Ok, fine, here's a picture.
And with that...
1 eggplant
1 zucchini (we often use more)
1 summer squash
1 large onion (I prefer more)
Enough tomatoes to cover the entire dish liberally
Other veggies as desired (peppers, for example)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
Fresh basil leaves, torn or cut into 1-inch pieces
Thyme, Oregano, other traditional spices as desired (I'm going to use Herbs de Provence the next time I make this)
Salt & pepper to taste
Red wine vinegar, to taste
Eggs
Italian cheese blend (or other cheese that you prefer)
French bread, sliced.
Chop the vegetables into 1-inch or smaller pieces. Tomatoes should be seeded and given a fine dice. Toss together in a large baking dish, with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, etc. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes, or so. Make sure they don't roast too quickly. Remove the vegetables from the oven, and add the basil and vinegar. Stir, then spoon out small cavities into which you will crack the eggs. I usually heap as many eggs into the pan as I can fit. Cover with cheese (I always add too much, but "mmmmmmm...cheese."), and place back into the oven, until eggs achieve desired doneness. Spoon over slices of french bread to serve.
February 20, 2015: Girls Night Out
Starting tonight at 6, I'm alone with the kids for a few days. More Mr. Mom moments.
Father Knows Best: Mr. Moming It
I’ve been playing the role of Mr. Mom for the past six months. Without a job, we can’t justify paying to send the kids to daycare, so when Philosofette goes to work, I stay home. Holy. Buckets. It is a lot of work.
I think the hardest part isn’t the work itself, it’s the self-sacrifice that goes with it. I cannot both be an attentive parent and try to accomplish my own agenda. This makes applying for jobs very difficult. It makes cleaning difficult. It makes preparing dinner challenging. The kids require attention. Part of this has to do with the demographics. We’re at 5 (he’s easy!), 3 (she’s potty training!), and 9 months (he’s eating everything on the floor and getting into places he shouldn’t be and pulling things off of shelves and crying and pooping and etc.!). Without the baby, the other two are pretty simple. Without the other two, the baby is easy too. But throw all three of them together… wow.
So these past six months for me have really hammered in the respect I have for stay-at-home parents. They do a lot of work. But even more essentially, they give up themselves. And that’s impressive.
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A couple of other quick hits, parenting-related ideas that have been bouncing around my head recently…
My daughter was born with a tethered spinal cord. She had surgery at 3 months, and basically we’ll have to watch her for the rest of her life to make sure it doesn’t re-tether. We recently thought we were picking up some signs that it maybe had, including potty-training problems. We were feeling terribly guilty for not scheduling her to see a specialist a long time ago, since these signs were there for a while. When we took her into the specialist though, he couldn’t have been more reassuring. It’s a strange thing though, having to keep a constant vigil against a specific condition. If we miss it, if we delay, we could fail to prevent some pretty awful effects. It really ramps up the possible parenting guilt.
I recently taught my 5-year-old how to play war. He pretty much plays it constantly now. But even he’s gotten bored, because he’s started to introduce “powers” where cards freeze other cards or blow them up, etc. The thing is, all of the powers are similar to things he sees in games I play on the iPad… which clearly means I need to play less when the kids are awake (I gave up iPad games for Lent).
Alright, I’ve rambled for a while. Time for others to chime in.
February 16, 2015: Day Off
If I'm just making the coffee at 8:30, clearly plenty of citizens must have President's Day off.
January 11, 2015: Church Basement Coffee
I really could have used one of those "donuts and coffee in the basement this morning" Sundays. It was not to be.
Father Knows Best – Hard Conversations
It's been a hell of a year. My wife's grandfather, my cousin's baby, and my sister all passed away. My mother-in-law has cancer (treatable, sounds like it'll be OK, but a couple scary weeks). I left my job. Oh, and we added a third child in May. Sorry for bringing all that up again... sometimes I feel like it's all I talk about.
I'm sure my kids wonder sometimes too. They've been exposed to some big things this year, and they ask some good questions. We've had to have a number of hard conversations with our kids - especially our 5 year old - about they way the world is, why things happen like they do, etc. We've tried not to shy away from the tough answers, but always try to keep a focus on the positive. I know sometimes we slip and give more trite responses, but usually we've done pretty well explaining birth (well, not so much the causes thereof...), death, employment stress, joblessness, etc. And they seem to have done a pretty good job with their processing of the information.
Through each of these moments, sharing the reality of the situation with my kids has helped me too. One of the things that made me feel best about losing my job was when I explained to my son that I had been unhappy working there, and so leaving it was a good thing. I let him know there might be some changes and stress around home, or that we might have to move when I find something (or, I suppose, if I don't find something) but that I would find a new job and we'd all be happier for it. He thought it sounded good, and came up with some of his own positives, like now I could spend more time helping him color.
When my sister died, he was at the hospital. He asked if he could go see her body, and we let him. There were a lot of questions for a few weeks, about life, death, and the afterlife. We're a family of faith, so we talked to him about heaven, letting him know that we don't really have any specific knowledge about it, but that we have faith God takes care of us. Every once in a while there's a new question that pops up - the other day it was about whether animals go to heaven - and so we can tell they're still processing all this information. Heck, I suppose I still am too.
I've wondered at times if I'm doing the right thing by having these conversations with my kids. My parents didn't peel back the curtain on adulthood nearly as early as we are. At the same time, I'm still trying to shield my kids from some of the more trying items, and focus on positive aspects. My hope is that my willingness to talk about big things with them - no matter how young they are - will help them be open with me too.
How about it, citizens? What's your approach to tough conversations with your kids? How did it change as they got older? I'm still stuck with pre-school kids, so I'd imagine school adds all sorts of wrinkles. How much is too much when they're so young? Where have I already gone wrong?
Also, I've been wanting to have these posts feature music that is played for kids. So here's one my favorites for my kids, and when it's your turn, you should share one too!
httpv://youtu.be/4EiU9pTweyw
On The Simpsons
FXX is currently running an Every Simpsons Ever Marathon, and I've been tuning in a lot. I watched an absurd amount of The Simpsons in college and law school, and even after that. Right about up until I had kids. In some ways, it's weird to think that they've continued on for the past 5 years, without me. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing some of the newer episodes during this marathon.
I thought it would be worth having a conversation on the WGOM about The Simpsons. For a long time I was of the mindset that The Simpsons stopped being good right about Season 9. But last night I saw a number of episodes from Season 10, and I realized there were some really good ones still. Not all of them. And there were some real clunkers ("Maximum Homerdrive" ::shudder::). But two of them even makes my top 10 favorites list. (Which I'll present here, and maybe try to kick off a conversation). It might well be time for me to re-evaluate my earlier take on The Simpsons.
Though I remain disappointed in the movie. I mean, in a Simpsons movie the bad guy has to be Mr. Burns, right? How did they manage to mess up such a natural mandate? Sigh. Anyway, here's my favorites. Lots of good ones I had to leave off the list.
Phil's 10 Phavorite Simpsons Episodes:
Das Bus (#5F11 / SI-911)
Team Homer (#3F10)
Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment (#4F15)
22 Short Films About Springfield (#3F18)
Simpson Tide (#3G04)
You Only Move Twice (#3F23)
Bart Sells His Soul (#3F02)
Mom and Pop Art (#AABF15)
The Old Man and the "C" Student (#AABF16)
Homer the Great (#2F09)
Bucket List Book
Gravity's Rainbow was a "Bucket List Book" for me. We've all got "To Read" lists that are far too long, but even on those lists some of the books stand out. I've always been pretty good about working my way through them (I've loved the challenge ever since I took a Great Books class in college), but somehow even among the Bucket List Books, Gravity's Rainbow stood out. Maybe because I adore Pynchon, and this is considered his masterpiece. Maybe because it's notoriously difficult. Whatever the case, it was one of the biggies on my Book Reading Bucket List. And now, I'm glad I've read it. Even if I never really get it all.
I started Gravity's Rainbow in December. I finally finished Sunday night. 8 months it took me. Part of that was a function of some insanity in my life, but that added a couple months at most. Mostly it was that there were many days when I didn't pick it up at all, or when I did I would only read a page or two. I've had this experience with Pynchon before - when I read Against The Day - and like in that instance, finishing the book didn't necessarily leave me with an immediate sense of accomplishment. But I hope that experience proves instructive in a more important way.
When I read Against The Day I frequently felt lost as I read through it. Pynchon's prose can be extremely difficult. He gets lost in asides and transitions, and asides and transitions become the main story, main characters fade entirely from the story, minor characters jump back into essential roles, etc. I read ATD alone, and it was probably the biggest reading challenge I've ever faced. When I was done, I wasn't sure what I'd just finished. But as time passed, more and more things started to click. I feel like I really "get" ATD now. I don't feel that way about Gravity's Rainbow, but maybe in a few months I will. It's also worth saying that, having read both Against The Day and Gravity's Rainbow, that, right now at least, I feel like Against The Day is the better of the two. Gravity's Rainbow was Pynchon's first masterpiece, perhaps, but not his greatest. Maybe I'll feel differently, eventually, when I've had some time to sit with GR.
As for the content itself... My initial thoughts probably aren't worth much. I'm stunned. The ending was anti-climactic. My favorite character was a fairly minor person, I suppose. The protagonist, and indeed, the book, seemed to lack direction. A lot of that was on purpose, but it didn't change the maddening nature of the fact. I want to hear what others have to say about it. I want to sit down and talk about it. I feel like there's so much to be unpacked. It's a rare thing to read a book so dense, that so begs for conversation. I've got several dozen pages dog-eared to comment on. If others are willing, I'd be happy to jot down more specific thoughts in the comments.
For now, let me just say: I'm done. It is good to be done. It is a very good thing to be done with a Bucket List book.
So, how about it citizens? What have you been reading? What are your Bucket List books? Who wants to actually talk about Gravity's Rainbow? Pepper and DG (and others), are you ready for Pale Fire?