conversations, lately

Dylan: Can I fill this with snow? *points to the Subaru's tailpipe*

Kate: No.

Dylan: Can I?

Kate: No. We will get sick.

Dylan: Can I?

Kate: NO WE WILL ALL GET VERY SICK IF I FIND THAT TAILPIPE FULL YOU WILL NOT BE HAPPY AND I ALREADY SAID NO TWICE STOP ASKING

***

Dylan: I want a different blanket.

Aaron: No, this is the special one you got while we went to the hospital to get Ollie.

Kate: You can take it to college!

Aaron: Or technical school, if that's what you choose.

Kate: But then you might live at home.

Dylan: *quietly gets under blanket and goes to sleep*

***

Kate: Hey Dylan, can you babysit Ollie for me while I take Snuffy out?

Dylan: *blank stare*

Kate: Well? Will you babysit?

Dylan: *starts to look agitated*

Kate: Oh, you don't know what babysit means? It's when someone comes and watches the kids when mommy and daddy go out.

Dylan: Oh, so I could babysit [girl in her class] while her mommy and daddy go to a movie.

Kate: Yes, I'm sure they would appreciate that.

******

In case anyone is interested in my cooking adventures, here are some recipes we've enjoyed lately. Right now I'm looking for recipes that aren't too ingredient or labor intensive because of all the wee ones, but I don't mind things that have to be tended to over a few hours since I'm at home a lot.

Cracked Wheat Bread from NY Times. No shortcuts on time--it took a whole bunch of hours with all the rises, but it was a really nice, filling bread. I froze one loaf and the other was gone within two days. Now the frozen one's gone too.

Bulgur With Swiss Chard, Chickpeas and Feta from NY Times. Delicious, filling meal if you like bulgur, chard, chickpeas, and feta. Which, luckily, we do.

We had this Lemon Gnocchi with Spinach and Peas from Epicurious this evening, and loved it. Plus it was pretty quick and easy.

These Potatoes. I've gotten good at frying potatoes nicely with little oil, but I wanted to try some different recipes. These came out great, while the ones from epicurious were terrible.

I've had a few flops, particularly with all the homemade veggie burgers from the NY Times. We made ravioli that I thought was mediocre, which means way more trouble than it's worth, but Aaron intrepidly wants to try making pasta again. I looked up quinoa recipes to learn how to cook with it and ended up with a stone soup situation that involved an elaborate butternut squash soup to go with the quinoa. Lesson learned--soup is not necessary to cook a grain. I have seven years of graduate education, you know.

Anyone have recommendations for recipes? Our go-to meals are burritos and burrito variants, homemade pizza, lentil soup, couscous with roasted veggies, those boil in a bag Indian dishes, and various veggie/noodle sir fries. Plus dinner for breakfast, I'm great at breakfast.