Green Dragons

Also, know as "shit gets real".

This is the first of a two part installment of this blog dealing with soccer.  First up, James's soccer.  He was right on the cut off of playing with Andy in the 6 and under division, but we decided to put him in the 8 and under division.  It was the right decision, but wow, completely different world.  They had goalies, and throw ins, and tryouts, and actual drills to get better in practice.

Again, shit just got real.

But James took it like he always does, with a smile and a determination to win.  His coaches were super hard core and talked a lot about "strategy" and stuff.  I'm not sure James ever really paid attention

They actually played positions and James found out he had a favorite position...center forward!

Whenever he was in defense, he wasn't really into it.  Its funny he would watch the play and cheer for his team when the didn't get scored on, but he wouldn't get involved...

But, James learned a lot and he did pretty well!  We are super proud of him.

Another funny thing that happened during James's game was Andy playing with the other kids.  It was super cute.  I remember playing on the sidelines during Keturah's soccer games maybe even more than I remember playing in my own soccer games.  It is neat to see my kids do the same thing.

Charleston

Our anneversary was at the end of September, and Mark and I were able to get away for a weekend in Charleston.  We left Saturday after lunch and drove down to Summerville and dropped the kids off with the in laws.  Then we headed downtown.  We got there in time for dinner, and ended up at Basil Thai, one of our favorites!  As an added bonus, it was restaurant week!  I got the pad thai (as always).  It was delicious!

We stayed one block off market street at the Andrew Pickney Inn.  It was perfect for us.  They had a "delux breakfast" on the rooftop.  Here was the view!

Now, we have been to Charleston before, and we have done all the Charleston stuff.  We were kind of at a loss on what to do this time, but it turned to not be a problem.  We did nothing!  After breakfast, we drove to Mount Pleasant and ran the bridge.  Here is the view from the top.

 
Here is Mark running to the top.  This is the only picture including either one of us, so enjoy...

After we showered, we ate lunch at Taco Boy (highly recommend), then walked to King Street and shopped.  Then walked to the water and sat.

Then walked to a bar and had a beer.  Then went to get ready for dinner at Coast (which was ok).  Here is a graveyard we saw on the way.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, then ran to the battery.  There were porpoises off the water!

 

Great weekend away.  Very nice!

Oatmeal in a rice cooker

So, I had a really bad spring.  Why?  Well, that is for another post, but in order to make myself feel better, I bought a really expensive rice cooker.  I know "retail therapy" is a real thing, but most people buy clothes, or shoes, or purses.  Me, I buy kitchen equipment.  I have heard a lot of people LOVE their rice cooker, but I always though, that's weird, you could just use a pot!  But in my depressed haze, it just made sense.  And what really sold me on it, was the timer function and I could use it to make oatmeal.  Done!  My original inspiration was from this website.

It's a pretty sharp piece of equipment!  Now that the weather is cooler, I am actually using it to make oatmeal.  I usually measure about 3/4 cut steel cut oats and 3 cups water.  I add one pinch of salt for every serving (1/4 cup) oats.   I was low on oats, so this is 1/2 cup oats and 2 cups water.  I also added 1 TB vanilla protein powder and 4 drops stevia.  This serves me, James, and some extra for the next day.

I set the timer to be done at 7am and then I have perfectly cooked oatmeal.

Serve it in a bowl and add toppings.  This one was blackberry puree, PB2 (that deserves its own post), toasted coconut, and some granola for crunch.

Hmm, can't figure out how to rotate that, but you get the idea. My absolute favorite topping is cookie butter.  You can get it from Trader Joe's or there is another version from Ingles, YUM!  It gets all melty in the oatmeal.

So, that is how you make oatmeal in a rice cooker.

James's best day

Where a kid can be a kid!

I think the hardest part about being a parent is when you do something that you swore you would never do.

 

I am queen of the park parties, right?  I am still queen.  Each party has a theme.  I spend extra money on favors...usually costumes, pinatas (which I hate), a cute cake topper, bring the rocket launcher and you have the party of the year!  This year, James said he wanted a Chuck E Cheese party.  Well, thank goodness!  Now, Chuck E Cheese goes against everything I stand for.  The marketing, the cheesyness, the nickle and diming, but....they do everything and I just need to bring a cake.  Well, and the kids.  It is far for us, so I made my neighbors/really good friends make the drive, but I offered rides to some of the other kids.  Their parents really appreciated it!   

When we got their, craziness ensued!  Yikes.  They hadn't brought out the tokens yet, but it turned out to not be an issue:

 

 Now comes the part where Mark and I had nothing to do, because they literally do it all for you!

Oh, except collect Andy's tickets.  I hate those tickets!

After 30-40 minutes, they bring out the pizza, then Chuck E comes out and they have a little show.

 

And then a guitar contest.  James totally won! 

They gave James a medal.

 

Miss Juliet might have had a little bit of a bad attitude about the Chuck E. Cheese party.  She brought ear plug, just incase, and then took off.  Ok, I sent her to Costco and Trader Joes so I wouldn't have to go.  Thanks Ms. Juliet!

Cupcakes!  They couldn't get the candles lit.  Good thing I brought the flame thrower!

James took a turn in the ticket blaster!  Ms. Becky was stressed out we didn't have a strategy, and unfortuately, James was the first to go so we didn't have time to develop one.  For the future: open the bottom of your shirt and allow the tickets to blow into your shirt.

James did NOT grab the 1000 ticket coupon, but our handler was so impressed with the J-A-M-E-S cheer, that she gave him one.  I hate those tickets.

Christopher....was... a little put off by the whole thing.  He had a good time, but spend the "show" under the table.

The end of the party was pretty hectic and we didn't have time to open present.  Since we had a 45 minutes drive, we opened them on the way home.

This quickly developed into "musical paper" which yes, was the highlight of the party for everyone in our car.  We could have saved money and ears!

All in all, it was a great party.  Yes, there were lots of other kids and other parties and it was loud, but they made James feel like a rock star and everyone had a great time.  Plus, I didn't have to do anything except bring cupcakes.  And pay.

The only issue I have is the tickets.  I hate those tickets.  You have like 6 parties all ending at the same time and all the kids need to cash in their tickets, most of them have the 1000 ticket coupon.  It just took FOREVER.  Ugh.

Italian Bean and Pepper Chili

So I am in this CSA...or at least I was.   :(  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  I buy (bought) a "share" of produce from a local farm and each week during the summer I get huge bags of fruits and vegetables.  I'm not sure, but this is either the 4th or 5th year that I have participated in a CSA and I have learned that a CSA is NOT to help you eat more fruits and vegetables.  It is about processing those fruits and vegetables so I can enjoy them in the off season as well.  One thing we always get a lot of is peppers.  Not only peppers, but mild Italian peppers such as banana and cubanelle.  What?  What are you supposed to do with mild peppers????  After a couple of weeks, these peppers start to add up and take up room in the fridge.  Now the question is, what are you supposed to do with bags and bags of mild Italian peppers??  I've frozen them, stuffed them, pickled them, used them here and then, and finally decided to make a chili out of them to freeze and eat for later.  I tried to keep this chili very Italian influenced to make it a bit different.  The result is a comforting chili that is actually light enough to enjoy the the summer.  For full disclosure, although I have made this with freezing in mind, it never actually made it to the freezing step, but I see no reason why that wouldn't work.

Italian Bean and Pepper Chili

1 can chickpeas
1 can kidney beans
1 can canelini beans or white beans
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 TB garlic, chopped
2 cups Italian peppers, seeded and chopped (note: if you have extra peppers, throw them in)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning or oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp grd coriander
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1 bottle or can beer
3 TB olive oil
salt as needed

optional toppings (but not really optional):  chips, chopped green onions, cheese, smoked salt

1.  Heat olive oil in large dutch oven.
2. Saute onions, peppers and garlic until soft, 5-10 minutes.  Sprinkle salt on vegetables as they cook.
3.  Add Italian seasoning, cumin, coriander, and paprika and cook for 30 seconds. 
4.  Stir in all 3 kinds of beans.
5.  Stir in tomatoes.
6.  Add beer.  Do Italians make beer?  My favorite is the home brew my neighbors left us when they moved, but any kind will work. 
7.  Cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes
8.  Serve in bowls and allow each person to top their own at the table.  Serve with corn bread or corn muffins...or polenta bread/muffins.

Here comes the crazy

 

You may or may not have heard that for the first football game, Clemson was scheduled to play Georgia, both top 10 teams.  It was definitely the biggest game of the week so no one was surprised that it was picked for College Game Day.  Everyone was really excited.   Ticket prices went through the roof.  There were estimates that 150,000 people would be in town for this game (that number eventually was increased to 300,000, but I think 150,000 ended up being correct).  It was crazy.  The "craziness" started on Wednesday when the game day trucks arrived and started assembling the stage onto Thursday.

Even though we don't like crowds or crazy, we do like Game Day so I really wanted to see the crazy.  For this 8:30 pm game we headed out to tailgate at about 8:15am and everything worked great!  We had a great tailgate that I really didn't have to do anything for and it was right across from where the show was.  All the kids had a great time.  James really got into the spirit of tailgating this year!

 

Even the goodyear blimp showed up!

 

The show started at 9am.  It was really neat how they film it.  With lighting and make up, from where we were, it looked like everyone on stage was glowing!

 

I'm such a sucker.  Allowed the kids to get facepainting and snow cones.  Hey, no one ever said crazy was cheap!

 

James really got crazy!

 

From the other side of the stage, before the show started.

 

And during.  

 

 I'm so glad we went.  We got the heck out of there about 11:30 and stayed home the rest of the day.  Well, except Mark.  He went, leaving about 4 and getting home a little after 1am.  But at least Clemson won!