Round One

I decided to finally try my hand at making baby food last night. I received two baby food books at my showers that had a lot of great ideas. I flipped through one and found a recipe that seemed simple enough. I grabbed the ingredients that I needed from the store as I did errands that day.

When Dayne went down for a small cat nap I took over the kitchen. Cauliflower, tomatoes, butter & cheddar cheese. Simple enough.

I pile my stuff near by and start reading the directions. I chop up the head of cauliflower so I'm left with just the florets. I measure out the butter. I grate a block of cheddar cheese and then I read and re-read the tomato direction. Peel and remove the seeds from the tomato? PEEL it? I stared at the tomato, trying to figure out the best way to do this.

I cut it in half and tried to peel the skin off that way, it didn't work so well. I stared at the tomatoes, scratching my head when I decided the interwebz would hold the answer. I wasn't disappointed either, a quick search told me to put the tomatoes in boiling water for 5-8 minutes. After I pulled them out and sliced them in half, the skin practically melted off. Careful, it's a hot job!!

After I finished burning my fingers peeling the skin off the tomato, I roughly chopped them and added them to the pan with the butter. Meanwhile I had the cauliflower in the steamer. I cooked the tomatoes until they were pretty mushy then added the cheddar cheese, stirring until it was melted in with the tomatoes.

The book said to blend all the ingredients together so I threw it all in the blender and turned it on. Yeah...didn't work so well as you seasoned baby food pros already guessed. It blended everything perfectly on the bottom but there was no way to get the stuff sitting on top down to the blades at the bottom.

I dragged out our food processor and shoved everything in that bowl, which promptly minced everything perfectly. I left it a bit lumpy since the point of this food was to introduce a thicker, bumpier texture to Dayne. I tasted it as I started packaging them up to freeze. I would eat this! It would make a pretty good side dish vs a mashed potato actually.

Jason walked into the kitchen and he started laughing.

"Using every item out of our storage to make his food huh?"

The kitchen was a disaster zone but I had fresh food for Dayne! And maybe a side dish for us someday.

Dayne seemed to enjoy it too, he ate half of a container after his nightly bottle!

So if you're going to attempt home made baby food, make sure you have a food processor of some sort. Blenders don't cut it!

10 Short Years Ago

It's amazing how much changes in ten years and yet it seems like just yesterday I was climbing down from my loft bed in my dorm at college.  I turned on the TV to get updated on the weather as I got dressed for class.  I stopped and fell into the seat in front of the TV with my jaw on the ground.  I watched as the second plane hit the second tower live on TV and heard the reporters chock back sobs of emotions, trying to continue the report.

I raced out into the hallway and saw that everyone in our building had clustered around the big screen TV in the common area.  I stood beside someone I had never met before and felt a hand grab mine as the tears fell.  That day, we were not strangers, we were Americans.  We were no longer too busy to meet a strangers eye, or offer a quick smile, or say hello.  Those few days after 9/11 I remember the "oneness" I felt with everyone.

I would pass people on campus and our eyes would meet, smiles would be exchanged.  People spoke to others more freely, more openly.  We were all facing the same tragedy, hurting the same hurt, crying the same tears.  Ten years have passed, I've started working my first "career" instead of a job, I met my husband, I got married, I had our son, I've made new friends and lost track of old ones.

But no matter how much time passes, every detail of that moment will forever be etched in my memory.  We will never forget all those who died that day.