All posts by Kirsetin

A Thanksgiving to Remember

November 7, 2008blog blast, ThanksgivingKirsetin

The fall has long been my favorite season, and I love its celebratory holiday, with the Pilgrims and their hats and corn and all that old-fashioned simplicity. I’m quite certain that I’ve glossed over my own Thanksgiving memories with that pretty, fine glaze we like to apply to the past, but I when I think back they’re filled with visions of family gathered around the kitchen and living room, with endless amounts of stuffing and turkey and pie. Oh yes, especially cherry pie.

Thanksgiving, for me, is a less stressful holiday, even though I often end up cooking. I realize that for lots of women, the idea of cooking and baking and preparing food for so many can put them over the edge, and I get that. But for me, the cooking isn’t overwhelming in the least. Much more difficult for me are the other holidays and there is something that overwhelms me about each of them: the costumes at Halloweeen, the spiritual tension at Christmas, or the whole why-must-there-be-a-bunny discussion at Easter. These things I find overwhelming; cooking, not so much.

That said, I’m certain it hasn’t always been a sure bet that I’d end up the Thanksgiving hostess. My favorite story isn’t even mine: it’s my mom’s. When she and my dad were first married, and living far, far away from where they’d grown up, relatives came to visit the newlyweds for Thanksgiving. In anticipation of the big day, my mom prepped and cooked and stressed, I’m sure, to get it all just right. And things looked good: food ready, table set, conversation moving. But when the time came to cut the bird, something curious happened. The conversation quieted, and my sweet, young mother realized that she was supposed to take that plastic bag and its contents out before cooking… Ah, well. We all learn from our mistakes and she has become a fine turkey cook over the years. And pie, did I mention her pie?

Early in my own marriage, it looked as though the non-domestic qualities may have been passed down. When I asked my husband, on his first birthday after our wedding, what kind of cake he’d like me to make (I was trying!), I thought he’d answer with a flavor I’d select from Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines. But no. What he said, exactly, was, “I’d really like an Italian Cream Cake.”

A what?

I definitely had not seen that in the cake aisle. I furtively called his mom, and she faxed me the very complicated recipe. (Anything that involved more than adding oil and eggs was complicated for me, people. I was new at this.)

I measured and stirred and beat those eggs whites and poured the batter into the new tins we’d bought. As I slid it into the oven, it just didn’t look right. “Greg,” I called. “Something doesn’t look right about this cake.” He slid over to the oven, pulled open the door, and asked, “Did you add flour?”

Flour! Right!

But, lo, these many years later, I can bake a mean Italian Cream Cake and a delicious stuffed turkey.I’ve come a long way, baby.

And for that, we’re all thankful.

This post was written as part of Parent Bloggers Network’s blog blast. It’s sponsored this week by the one and only Butterball, which always graces my Thanksgiving table.

If voting gives you a headache, do it anyway. Just use caution when you select your drug of choice.

November 4, 2008NY Times, politicsKirsetin

We pause for this commercial interuption.

Edit of the day: Cakewrecks hilarious post

My favorite part is Jen’s comment: “What are you guys talking about? Our education system is fine. Really.”

Okay, enough editing. Here’s the original post:

The Obvious Today:

Get out there and vote! Stand inside, stand outside, join the queue, take a snack for yourself, take a snack for your toddler, do whatever you have to do. Just get on over to the polls. I can’t wait!

The Less Obvious, But Very Scary and Worth Pursuing Post-Election:

The NY Times reported yesterday that “Over the past six years, the F.D.A. has managed to inspect annually an average of just 15 of the 714 Chinese drug plants that export to the United States. At its present pace, the F.D.A. would need more than 50 years to visit all of these Chinese plants. By contrast, the F.D.A. inspects domestic drug plants every 2.7 years.”

Now we all know that melamine has been found in formula manufactured in China. We’re afraid to buy potentially tainted toys made there. But we’re importing uninspected drugs by the bazillions. (Okay, that’s not the official number, but it’s close.) Does this make sense?

The upside is that because China and other countries can manufacture drugs so inexpensively, millions of people around the world have access to drugs they wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. However, warns Gardiner Harris in his NY Times article, “without proper regulation, some of those drugs could be either ineffective or dangerous. A 2006 study found that more than half of anti-malarial drugs sold in Southeast Asia contained no active ingredients. The World Health Organization has estimated that as much as 10 percent of pharmaceuticals sold worldwide are counterfeit or contaminated. In some poor countries, the share is more than 30 percent.”

As far as I’m concerned, any percent of contaminated or counterfeit drugs is unacceptable. If Target can figure out what I bought last week without a receipt, and the Apple Store can function without cash registers, then the FDA ought to be able to get its act together, too. Why on earth are we paying taxes out the wazoo to a government that can’t use our dollars efficiently? We work hard for that money. Shouldn’t they work hard to appropriate it properly?

I’m a fan of my good friend Nyquil and his close cousin, Advil, and I hope to not have to give either up on days when my body is desperate for relief. Shouldn’t I be able to take them without fear?

This makes me a little nervous, friends. What about you?

A Little Carrot, Indiana Jones, and Granny with Baby: Happy Halloween!

November 3, 2008blog blast, HalloweenKirsetin

So this weekend, I really wanted to participate in the Blog Blast at Parent Bloggers Network because we had some great costumes. Well, sure, I’m a little biased, but still, we had a lovely little carrot, Indiana Jones himself, and Granny with a baby on her back. The latter is seriously the best costume we have ever come up with (thanks familyfun.com), and more people took photos of my son on Friday than ever before. (And, yes, that did freak me out a bit.)

So, for the contest, we can enter our kids’ costumes in several different categories, and if I had a picture, darn it, I’m sure Granny would have a fighting chance at “Most Creative.” But since my camera broke on Thursday morning, I have only have one lonely picture of our carrot, taken with my cell phone during his class party.

Since it’s all I’ve got, and because it’s really cute, I’m entering this one as “Cutest Costume, ages 3 and up.” Surely it has a chance, especially if the little girl who’s mom brought her to storytime in her hand-sewn, to-die-for adorable little skunk costume, isn’t a blogger. And with all that sewing to do, how could she have time? (Here’s hoping!) And here’s my sweet little carrot (the idea was all his, I promise.) Isn’t he cute? Cutest? Right?

If Aimee, Casey, and Tracey–the three fine judges chosen by the Parent Bloggers Network–agree, I could win a gift certificate to Blurb.com, which, clearly, I will need for all the photos I’ll take with my soon-to-be new camera.