Born (and Fed) in the U.S.A

Siân is in her third trimester of pregnancy. She feels like a whale and she is also nauseated a lot--still! I was the same: I was sick for the whole nine months during every one of my six pregnancies. After a couple of months into the first pregnancy (with Siân), I had developed a system of knowing when to vomit in the morning in order to reduce the overall nausea I felt throughout the rest of the day, and I did this with every pregnancy thereafter: after I woke up each morning, I waited until the time was right, quickly slugged down a large glass of cool water, and then activated my vomiting muscles (while I don't usually brag about this particular talent of being able to isolate the vomiting muscles, I feel it should be mentioned, if only once). When done quickly and before I ate anything for the day, the water simply came back up without any additional...seasoning...and I had the comfort of not heaving on an empty stomach. 

I know. TMI. But whose blog are you reading?

Siân hasn't taken the daily morning vomit path. Instead, she feeds her cravings in order to reduce the nausea. Sometimes, only root beer will dampen the urge to spew; sometimes it's orange juice; sometimes it's Twizzlers. 

Anyway, that was the long way around to saying that I do most of the cooking when it comes to the evening meal because Siân doesn't have the stomach for it, nor the energy. Siân is very grateful, and it has forced me to cook way more than I had been doing because I now have more people to feed on a daily basis. Before, when Joseph, Gary, and Elannah were mostly fending for themselves and it was often only Husband and I hungry for dinner, it was a little too easy to just get takeout. Cooking for the family is definitely an improvement for our bank account and our health.

My kids grew up eating a wide variety of dishes because that was my way of traveling without getting on a plane. Searching up new recipes and learning the cooking traditions of other cultures was also a way to get myself excited to cook meal after meal. I think I tried a two-week meal rotation once, but it only lasted for the first two weeks because I couldn't fathom eating those fourteen meals over and over and over. My palate demands variety.

While my kids are all right with trying new foods and have slightly more enlightened palates than their peers, I think the girls's spouses (and one soon-to-be spouse) are quietly worried about what I'm going to be making when they're invited to dinner. To a man, they all grew up eating pretty typical American fare, so when they're confronted with some exotic noodle dish like pad thai or baked potatoes with tuna-mayonnaise and baked beans as toppings (so English!) or an Indian curry, they are cautious. Fortunately, they fear offending me more than they fear trying something new (not that I would be offended, because I truly love each of them more than I require accolades for my cooking), so they'll gamely try anything once before they go back home and eat what they really like. They've even surprised themselves by really enjoying some of the things I've made (sushi bake, for instance, has become a real hit!). 

Siân's husband, Nathan, also grew up eating typical American dishes, so living with us and having me cook whatever strikes my fancy--and it's not usually what he's accustomed to--has been a little hard on him. He's a lovely young man, and he's not horribly picky, but I think that every evening for him is a bit of a worry as he wonders what he'll be confronted with this time. Not every recipe I try is a winner in my books, either, which makes it doubly tough for Nathan. But he neither complains nor make demands. If he just can't stomach what I have made, he will, without fanfare, fend for himself by making something else (usually pizza rolls or frozen taquitos). 

In honor of Nathan's grace and kindness, I decided to re-explore American dishes for a while, so I've made a lot of American-style casseroles and whatnot lately. I made American-style goulash in the Instant Pot the other day, and I thought it was very, very much like a yummy spaghetti bolognese (but with penne pasta), but I think I'm the only one working through the leftovers, for some reason. Hey, it's something to pack in my lunch for work, so I'm happy.

The most popular American dish I made recently was Jack Cheese Casserole, which is a recipe I included in the cook book I put together of our family's favorite recipes that I give to my children as they move out of the house, and which Siân has told me has become a favorite with Nathan and Tyler (recipe to follow). That casserole was gone the same night, with complaints that there weren't leftovers. 

I did try a recipe for Crack Chicken, but that wasn't a huge hit (though there is nothing wrong with the recipe). I had a lot of leftovers that would have gone uneaten, so today, per Husband's suggestion, I added some of the ingredients called for in our family's perennial favorite, Pampered Chef Turkey Ring (fresh parsley, celery, dijon mustard, dried cranberries, slivered almonds instead of walnuts, crescent roll dough), and salvaged the unpopular leftovers.

The quintessential American food, cheeseburgers, always makes everyone happy. I gently mix ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce to loosen the mixture a bit and make it easy to flatten. Then I create very thin meat patties and fry them, like a smash burger, and top them with cheese. I make fry sauce as a toasted bun spread and serve it all up with the traditional cheeseburger toppings (tomato slices, Iceberg lettuce, sliced onion, and dill pickle slices). 

I'll keep making American food for a while. Then, just when Nathan is getting all comfortable, I'll hit him with something deeply unfamiliar, haha!

This recipe is so typically American it turns your blood red, white, and blue. Bring this to a potluck and everyone will beg for the recipe.

Jack Cheese Casserole

Serves 8

8 oz corn chips (Fritos) (Siân uses tortilla chips)

2 cans tuna packed in water, drained

2 (12 oz) cans cream of chicken soup

1 (14 oz) can evaporated milk

1 large onion, diced, or 3 Tbsp dehydrated onion

1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles

1 pound grated Monterey Jack cheese (cheddar is also really good)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F.

2. Spray the bottom of a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the corn chips evenly in the dish. 

3. In a frying pan, saute the onion until soft (if using dehydrated onion, skip this step and simply mix the dehydrated onion in with everything else). Mix together the onion, tuna, soup, chiles, and evaporated milk. Pour the mixture over the corn chips.

4. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the casserole and bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes. 

A Cautionary Tale

 I got a text today from Denise, one of the faculty members. It said, "Will you be my best friend?"

That seemed odd. We already pinky swore we were best friends, like, two years ago, and we talk about boys every time we have a sleepover, so where was this coming from?

Just kidding. The only boys we talk about are our husbands, and only to brag about them. Plus, the last sleepover I ever had with a bestie was probably in 1989. 

When I went to investigate, it turned out that a couple of the girls in Denise's 10th period class had managed to snatch her phone and send out a series of texts to random people in her contacts. The girls are good kids generally, but this is definitely a lesson about password-protecting your phone!

Denise was flustered and less than amused, though she didn't scream at the girls. 

"I have to explain what's going on to about seven different people now," she said. Class was just beginning and she wasn't going to have time to sort this out for another seventy minutes at least.

"Didn't Kim's hair-raising story at lunch not give you the heeby-jeebies about leaving your phone within reach of students?" I asked.

"I know!"she said regretfully. "I thought I had it in my pocket!"

At lunch, Kim regaled us with a tale of what could have been the end of his career and his reputation (and even, perhaps, his freedom) because he left his phone within reach of a student. 

A few years ago, Kim had left his office door unlocked and his phone on his desk while he was teaching a class. A student opened the office door and grabbed the phone. Even though it was password-protected, the student could still access the photo app, and he took the phone with him into the bathroom. There, he proceeded to take a series of very graphic and intimate pictures of himself before putting the phone back on the desk, Kim none the wiser. The student thought it was a hilarious prank.

Several days later, Kim, still unaware of the photos, found that a couple other students had also grabbed his phone and snapped a few selfies of themselves--also as a prank. They told Kim about it, and something told Kim to go and look further back into his photo gallery. That's when he found the graphic photos of the boy. 

Kim was rightfully horrified and even traumatized by the photos. He immediately called our boss to report what he'd found, and that opened a police investigation into child pornography. Kim's phone was confiscated so that investigators could see if a claim could be made that Kim had solicited the photos from the boy, if he had any more such images stored in the phone, and what sorts of searches he had made in his browser. 

Fortunately, the investigation into Kim was closed after the student confessed that he had taken the photos of his own accord. Kim's phone was still destroyed, per policy, but as part of the agreement the boy and his parents made with the court, Kim was paid back the value of the phone. The student was never allowed to take seminary classes again (turns out he also had some issues sexually harassing young women).

My phone is password-protected, but I usually leave it on my desk. When I leave my office, my practice is to lock both my computer screen and my door, but there is a big window through which I speak to students that I cannot lock, even if I slide it shut. I've been lucky so far, but I am also taking this lesson more to heart from now on. The problem is that most dress pants do not include pockets large enough for a phone, which is why I leave the phone behind when I need to use the ladies room or run an errand. Yet my career and reputation could end in just a couple minutes if the wrong kid got hold of my phone...

Food for thought.

Wedding #4

 It's official!

Elannah and her boyfriend, Dalton, are engaged! 

Did I mention before that Elannah broke up with Dalton a little over a month ago? If I did, this engagement announcement will come as somewhat of a surprise. Without spilling the tea on all of their personal details, both of them grew a lot in the month they were apart. What amazed me most, however, was how Dalton handled being broken up with by the love of his life. He was terribly confused and sad, but he never spoke badly about Elannah to his friends and family. When he and Elannah ran into each other (which is inevitable in our burg), he was kind and caring rather than bitter and vengeful. Eventually, Elannah spent a lot of time praying, fasting, and visiting the temple, and she got an answer that marrying him was the thing she needed to do.

Dalton is a great guy, so we couldn't be happier. He even came and asked Husband and me for our permission before he made his surprise proposal plans, and he was so sincere and sweet. I found out later that he was so nervous about talking to us that he just about vomited, but he was very open with us during our interrogation interview. Even Husband was impressed, which is saying something. Husband asked Dalton a lot of tough questions to make him sweat a little, but we already liked him, so the interview was pretty much a formality.

The wedding will be in August. The venue is booked and Elannah has chosen her wedding colors.

It's on.