The Professional Domestic

Week 7 Operation Pie Challenge

I was starting to have a problem coming up with an interesting variety of pies to use in this challenge and then I asked myself why I was limiting myself to just sweet pies? What about savory pies? This opened up a whole new world of recipes for me to try!

Have you seen this photo circulating on Facebook?

I thought it looked very yummy so I tried it one night for dinner.

Have you also seen those Facebook posts called “Nailed It” where the picture shows the epic fail of the person attempting to make what they saw in the photo?

Yeah, well here is my attempt to make the above mentioned taco pie.

Nailed it! Um no.

I was pretty disappointed. I did everything the recipe said to do and it turned out like this.

Just before writing this post I googled “taco pie” instead of going on Facebook to get the credit info for the photo and up popped the WordPress blog of Teresa Warner with the same photo. I thought that was interesting so I started to read some of the comments to see if anyone else had a problem with the recipe like I did. Every single person who commented said theirs looked just like the photo. “I must really suck,” I thought. Everyone else got theirs right.

Then one of the comments said that someone else was distributing this recipe and photo on Facebook with an altered recipe. Now we were getting somewhere!

I looked at Teresa’s recipe and sure enough the crappy dehydrated potato flakes the Facebook recipe called for as the bottom crust is actually supposed to be crescent roll dough. **Mental Head Slap**

I bet if I tried the recipe again using Teresa’s recipe it would look just like the photo and most likely taste a whole lot better my friends! I will be trying it again and I will give you an update soon. Moral of the story, do your research on these Facebook recipes that are circulating. From now on, you bet your sweet bippy I will! – MM

P.S. If you would like to check out Teresa Warner’s blog and the correct Taco Pie recipe click on the Taco Pie link below.

Taco Pie

Weeks #5 and #6 Pie Challenge Update

Week #5 of my pie challenge was a no brainer. We had apples coming out of our ears from our 3 trees so I made an apple crumb pie. I love the crumb topping once in a while when I just don’t feel like rolling out a second crust.

I didn’t take any pictures this time other than the finished product. Looks super yummy doesn’t it? The bottom crust was my standard pie crust that I posted about for the Maple Brown Sugar Apple Pear Pie. The apple filling in this recipe is really to your taste as far as how much sugar and/or cinnamon you prefer. The crumb topping is super easy and I really had never made a crumb topping until I had to make one for a pie one time at the bakery. I don’t know what took me so long to try a crumb topping but I am glad I did!

For the crumb topping I use a stick of butter, not too hard and not too soft, a cup of packed brown sugar and a cup of flour. I work the butter into the brown sugar and the flour until it resembles chunky sand. You don’t want it too finely worked into the dry ingredients but you don’t want big chunks of butter either.

Just spread the crumb topping over the apples in the unbaked pie crust and bake for close to an hour at 375 degrees or until the filling starts to get bubbly. Cool for at least an hour before serving (if you can stand to wait that long).

Week # 6 was Doug’s favorite Banana Cream. I was excited to try my old Betty Crocker Vanilla Cream Filling recipe with my newfound confidence of making the filling the way I had done the Mississippi Mocha Mud Pie. I had learned to make that filling by dumping the egg yolks in at the beginning of the process instead of adding them in slowly at the end like the older publications recommended doing. I couldn’t wait to try this new method with the old Betty Crocker recipe. Guess what? It worked out beautifully just like I thought it would! Woo hoo!

Here is the recipe from the old 1950s Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Vanilla Cream Pie for 9″ Pie

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch (I changed it from 3 Tbsps)
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups milk (whole milk is best)
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 tsp vanilla

Measure out the milk and then pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes just to bring it a little warmer than room temperature. Doing this helps to jump start the process instead of standing there stirring it for an extra five minutes.

Using David Dial’s method in his blog Spiced add the dry ingredients in a saucepan and then add the milk and egg yolks to the dry ingredients using a whisk to combine. Heat all of the ingredients over medium heat, whisking constantly until it starts to boil.

Once it boils, boil for about 30 more seconds taking care not to let it stick and burn. It will get nice and thick and custardy. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.

To prevent a skin from forming, lay a piece of plastic wrap right on top of the filling and chill until firm.

To assemble the pie, slice firm bananas into the bottom of a pre-baked pie shell. Next spoon over the bananas the vanilla cream filling. Then either pipe on (if you want to get fancy) fresh whipped cream with a pastry bag or spoon the whipped cream on top before serving. Yum! I highly recommend David Dial’s Blog, Spiced. Here is a link to his articles Spiced Blog

I have been struggling to find good pie recipes. I am not sure why. Most are too sweet or involve too much chocolate which Doug isn’t a big fan of. Then I thought why am I limiting myself to sweet pies? Why not explore savory pies? Ah I got your attention didn’t I? Until next time! -MM

Has Anyone Not Been Touched by Cancer?

Tomorrow my mom and I will be traveling to the VA Hospital to sit and wait while my Dad has his large intestine removed due to another go around with colon cancer.

At the age of 42 my Dad had part of his small intestine removed after his first diagnosis of colon cancer. For almost 30 years he has lived with a colostomy. Now at the age of 70 he once again is fighting cancer and all of his large intestine must be removed due to a cancerous tumor blocking the flow through it.

I am writing this post not only to ask for your prayers of healing for my Dad but also to tell you that this could have been prevented.

It had been five years from his last colonoscopy and for a man with this kind of history with cancer, waiting five years in between exams could have proven deadly. No excuse in my opinion, justifies not getting regular exams and preventative check-ups with your physician.

My Dad has not been the only member of his family diagnosed with colon cancer. His mother was also diagnosed in her fifties with it. That many years ago the treatment was not terribly kind. Although she did not have to have a colostomy she suffered decades of stomach and intestinal irregularities because of the massive amounts of chemo they flooded her small body with.

With this kind family history of colon cancer it was recommended that I start having colonoscopies in my thirties. At 38 I had my first colonoscopy and everything was fine.

Please, PLEASE if you have any family history of cancer or any other kind of preventable disease keep up on your yearly exams. It could be a life saver! -MM

Week #3 and #4 Pie Challenge

I apologize for my late delivery of week #3 ‘s Pie Challenge. We had a week of mind numbing busyness and Internet connection problems which will hopefully be resolved soon.

So here goes! Week #3’s selection was a Brown Sugar, Maple, Apple, Pear Pie. I made the recipe up myself because I had plenty of apples and pears on hand from our trees. I chose brown sugar instead of granulated sugar because Doug loves brown sugar. I thought “let’s try it!”

Both the apples and the pears were under ripe and very tart in my case so please adjust the sugar to your taste.

The filling:
About 2-1/2 cups sliced pears
About 2-1/2 cups sliced apples
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure male syrup (not the fake stuff people)
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp soft butter
6 Tbsp all purpose flour
A little extra butter to use for brushing on the top crust at the end along with cinnamon sugar

Combine everything into a large bowl and set aside to prepare the crust.

The crust:
2/3 cup shortening
2 cups all purpose flour
About 6 to 8 Tbsp ice cold water

This pie crust my Granny taught me is a very standard crust. In her day lard would have been used instead of the shortening.

Incorporate the shortening into the flour with either a hand pastry blender or a fork until the shortening is well distributed throughout the flour.

Add the ice cold water a Tablespoon at a time using the fork to blend just until you get the crumbs to start to stick together. Do not stir! If you over mix you will get a tough crust and if this happens throw it out and start over.

Roll half of the dough (reserving the other half for the top crust) out on to a lightly floured wooden surface. Always flour your rolling pin as you go not your surface after the first initial flouring. If you mess up do not re-roll the crust it will be tough.

Using a metal spatula gently slide underneath the dough after you have rolled it out freeing it from the surface you rolled it out on (Maybe I should do a tutorial on pie crust technique).

I roll the crust up onto the rolling pin and then lift it over the pie pan. That’s one of the easiest ways to get a crust into the pan.

Fill the bottom crust with the pear and apple filling and then roll out the second crust and crimp the edges to seal everything in. Brush the top crust with melted butter and sprinkle on a little cinnamon sugar mixture

Bake at 375 degrees for at least 45 minutes. In my opinion the pie is done when you insert a knife through the filling and it doesn’t hit a hard apple.

We loved this combo although I didn’t really get a lot of the maple flavoring. I might increase that or outright remove it the next time. This was a sweet pie but the apples were so tart that it worked our perfectly. Again if you like a tarter pie then decrease the sugar to your liking. Also you can always use your own pie crust recipe or even a store bought crust if you like.

Week #4 Pie Challenge -Key Lime Pie

My husband loves Key Lime Pie. Everytime I make it though it’s not what he really pictures. I found this recipe for Key Lime from the Smitten Kitchen. Let’s see what he thinks about this recipe.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2015/01/key-lime-pie/

The Smitten Kitchen does such a great job of explaining how to make this pie that I think I will save myself the time and let you check the blog and recipe out for yourself. I added my own pictures below to prove that yes I did actually make the pie haha!

Although this recipe was the best scratch recipe that I have ever tried for a key lime it still did not satisfy the picky husband. I have come to conclude that the kind of key lime he wants is really the tacky green dyed stuff from a box. Sigh…. I do hope you try this recipe though! -MM

Week #2 of Operation Pie – Pineapple Cream

In honor of Labor Day and the hot and humid temps here in Western New York, I decided that the second pie of my pie challenge should be my pineapple cream. It is virtually a no bake pie, especially if you use a store bought graham cracker crust.

My Great Aunt Leona used to make this pie and as a child I loved it’s cool, fruity, creamy flavor on a hot day just like we are having now. Hope you like it as much as we do!

According to the box’s directions the graham cracker crust is 1-1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs, a 1/4 cup sugar and a 1/3 cup of melted butter.

Mix the three ingredients in a bowl until incorporated thoroughly. The result will look like moist sand.

Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9″ pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.

For the filling: in one bowl combine 1- 8oz container of whipped topping unthawed and 1-1/4 cups of sour cream. Stir to combine thoroughly.

In a second bowl combine and stir together 1 box of vanilla instant pudding (3.5 oz) and 1 can of crushed pineapple in heavy syrup drained.

Put both bowls of ingredients together into one bowl.

Spoon into the cooled pie shell. Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge and serve cold. Easy peasy huh?

Doug eats this pie for breakfast. He claims it is fruit and dairy. How can you argue with that?

Here is the complete recipe:

Crust:

1-1/4 cups of graham crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter melted

Filling:

1 box of instant vanilla pudding

1 regular sized can of pineapple in heavy syrup

1- 8 oz. container of whipped topping unthawed

1-1/4 cups sour cream

Directions:

For the crust: Mix the three ingredients in a bowl until incorporated thoroughly. The result will look like moist sand. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9″ pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 6-8 minutes until lightly browned.

For the filling: in one bowl combine the whipped topping and sour cream. Stir to combine thoroughly. In a second bowl combine and stir together the vanilla pudding and pineapple. Put both bowls of ingredients together into one bowl. Stir together. Spoon into the cooled pie shell. Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge and serve cold.

Happy Labor Day Everyone! -MM

Week #1 of Operation Pie – Mississippi Mocha Mud Pie

If you ask the males in our household which they would rather have for their dessert, cake or pie, they would probably say “pie” about 95% of the time. So when I brought the subject of a pie challenge up to Doug his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree in a Chevy Chase movie.

I plan to feature a different pie every week for the next 52 weeks. Pretty big deal huh? If you have a favorite pie recipe that you would like me to try out in the next 52 weeks please feel free to e-mail me at marymargaretripley@yahoo.com with your recipe and story (I love a good story behind a recipe) and I will try it out and feature it on the blog if all goes well. With that, here is the How-to and recipe for Week #1 Mississippi Mocha Mud Pie. Enjoy!

Start with 18 Oreo cookies, fillings removed. Grind along with a 1/4 cup of chopped pecans and 1 Tbsp of sugar in a food processor or mini-chopper.

In a bowl add a 1/4 cup of melted butter to the cookie, sugar and pecan, mixture

Remove 3 Tbsp of mixture and set aside to use as a garnish later. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9″ pie pan and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. No wonder they call it a mud pie it looks like potting soil!

For the filling, using a medium saucepan, whisk together 3-1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1/4 tsp salt until combined well.

To the above dry ingredients add 3 large egg yolks, 1-1/3 cups of milk (I only had 2% on hand but the original recipe calls for whole) and 1/3 cup of brewed coffee.

Whisking all of the wet and dry ingredients together in the saucepan, place over medium heat whisking constantly until it begins to boil. As it starts to boil it will get thicker and harder to whisk but keep whisking for another 30 seconds after it starts. Remove from heat.

After removing from heat immediately add 2 Tbsp butter, 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 1-1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Whisk together until the butter and chocolate have melted and the whole mixture is smooth and silky.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and cover with plastic wrap. Chill it in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Looks great already doesn’t it?

Before serving the chilled pie, top with whipped cream. Combine in a stand mixture or use your handy dandy hand mixture, 1-1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1-1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla. Whip until soft peaks form.

Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie and if you like you can pipe it on with a pastry bag like I did. Sprinkle the toasted pecans and reserved cookie mixture over the top of the whipped cream and drizzle chocolate sauce over all of it. Yum!

Over all this recipe trying it for the first time was fantastic! There are a couple of things I think I would tweak though. One being, add more filling. I would have liked it a little fuller. Either that or use an 8″ pie pan instead of a 9″ pie pan. Two, I used walnuts instead of pecans and I wished I had used the pecans. Three, I really didn’t taste a lot of the coffee so next time I will use a stronger brew. Four, I will chill it overnight. It was even better the next day .

This was one of the easiest cream pies I have ever made and I hope to use these same methods with other cream pies. I have never put the egg yolks directly into the mixture while it was cold. Most recipes and methods call for putting half of the hot mixture into the egg yolks separately then dumping the whole egg mixture back into the original mixture. This recipe eliminated that extra step and it worked beautifully!

As far as the taste and how it went over with the guys? Scott gave it two thumbs up and Doug…well he likes banana cream pies better. Ha! Next time Doug!

I will definitely make this pie again. Here is the link to the original recipe for easy printing. Posted by David on his blog, Spiced-One Dash at a Time. Thanks for a great recipe David! http://spicedblog.com/mocha-mississippi-mud-pie.html

Until next week! -MM

A Pallet Garden Fence and My Latest Reads

A PALLET GARDEN FENCE

My husband Scott has been saving wood pallets for quite some time now and a few weeks ago while I was at work one Saturday he and Doug made me a fabulous fence made of the pallets.

I was stunned when I got home though he had texted me a few progress pics during the day. It was beautiful! Also, everything he used we already had in the garage so it didn’t cost a thing.

What a wonderful husband and son I am blessed with.

What do you think?

He will finish the front when he finds more pallets and he plans to add a gate.

I think a bird bath, or water fountain and some white lights will make it a hangout as well as a peaceful place to garden. Thanks boys!

MY LATEST READS

Scott and I signed up for the Summer Reading Program at our local library and have been reading some really great books.

The reading program always gets me to read books I wouldn’t normally try if not for the categories it specifies.

So far I have read GI Brides, by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, The Reluctant Widwife, by Patricia Harman, Top Secret 21, by Janet Evanovich, and currently I am reading My Mother was Nuts a Memoir, by Penny Marshall. All great reads!

Our library is the best. They always have what we need and if they don’t they can transfer it in from another library in the system. They have great adult, teen and children’s programs, wonderful book sales and a friendly staff. You can’t beat it!

If you would like to check out any of these titles I just mentioned you can go to my new Amazon.com store. I also have a few canning and baking items I can’t live without also available.

Here is a link

http://astore.amazon.com/marymargare07-20

-MM

Lunch Date with Doug and Why am I so Tired?

Doug and I decided that a lunch date would be better for us this month because our schedule was very busy in July. I had been feeling very tired and somewhat miserable and this day was no exception. We were recommended by a friend to try a small restaurant called Otto Tomotto’s in Victor. It serves Italian food and Doug loves Italian. Victor is about 50 minutes away from us on the other side of Rochester.

We arrived just before noon. It is a small restaurant in a small plaza just outside the Village of Victor. We walked in and our first impression was good. It was clean and decorated nicely. Many people were seated at tables chatting and eating. It took a while to get a table because there was no sign stating whether to seat ourselves or to wait to be seated. After a few minutes a waiter came around and said we could sit anywhere.

I was extremely tired and was having a hard time concentrating on the menu. At one point I even bumped my drink and spilled my water at the table. Nothing like a wet lap to wake you up right?

Doug ordered the rigatoni with sausage and I ordered a grilled chicken and pesto panini with a side of pasta salad. We also ordered a bowl of beans and greens which we shared.

The food was very good but I think Doug enjoyed his more than I enjoyed mine. I didn’t have a taste for anything that day. I did enjoy the beans and greens though. It was excellent! Flavorful broth, the right amount of salt and garlic. Yum!

We enjoyed Otto’s but to be fair I do want to go back and try it again sometime. The way I was feeling that day really made the experience not as good as it could have been. We both felt it was a nice restaurant and the food was fresh at a reasonable price.

The reason I am talking so much about how I was feeling is important. That morning I went to my doctor because of the exhaustion I had been feeling. I knew I shouldn’t be this tired just doing my normal work and home duties. It took me days to recover from my Fridays and Saturdays at work and I didn’t want to do a thing once I got home. I had absolutely no motivation and that is not like me.

I feared thyroid problems because every other woman in my family including my grandmothers, mother, sister and niece were all on medication for thyroid. My doctor didn’t think there was anything physically wrong with me but she would test me just to be sure.

After speaking with me for about 10 minutes she gave me a sort of an ultimatum though it was more of a suggestion. She said my work was causing me too much anxiety. I was so stressed that I was forgetting to turn the stove off sometimes burning our dinner, I was forgetting where I was driving to and had to pull over at times until my mind cleared, I was tired and irritable and not sleeping at night. Her suggestions were to either be put back on medication (no way), seek counseling (maybe), decrease my hours (not likely) or outright find a new career (yeah right).

I was not having a good day when I took Doug on our lunch date that day. In fact I was a basket case though I didn’t let that show to him.

A few days later I got a call from my doctor’s nurse telling me that all of my tests were normal except I was Vitamin D deficient. She wanted me to take 5000 mg of Vitamin D every day. Okay I said, sure, no problem.

I had no idea that Vitamin D was that big of a deal until I started taking it. It was like my energy was instantly back. My mind was clearer and I wanted to get up and move again. In fact my husband and I went on a 4.3 mile walk within 3 days of me starting this Vitamin D dosage. Wow.

I now had the energy and mindfulness to also sit down with my boss and my warehouse supervisor to talk about the things that were bothering me and sapping my spirit at work. It was a good and productive conversation between the three of us.

Not everyone gets the same result to starting a Vitamin D regimen as I did but boy am I glad my body reacted as quickly as it did. I can now focus much better at work and at home and life isn’t as overwhelming. My family is also happy to get the happy side of me back instead of the yelling and crying me.

Typically all of us are somewhat Vitamin D deficient in some way. Most of us get the vitamin from sunshine and our diet but with an increase in inside jobs and changes in our diets we just don’t get enough Vitamin D. If you are feeling like I did see your doctor about it. Your tiredness could be an easy fix like mine. -MM

Here is a pic of Bernie the Cat. He thinks he is Batman. I couldn’t resist snapping this photo

Locally Owned Stores

First and foremost I want to start by saying that this post is intending to put a positive light on smaller locally owned stores not put a negative light on larger retailers.

Now with that out of the way I want to tell you about my grocery and food shopping habits which have changed tremendously over the last 20 years.

There are so many options out there for us as consumers that sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.

I work as a Bakery Manager in a relatively smaller grocery store considering the mega grocery store options in our county such as Tops, Wegmans, and Super Walmart.

Recently there was an article in our local newspaper featuring our store, Caledonia Marketplace, which focused on the changes that have been happening in the store as well as changes that will be coming in the next few months. Exciting changes for us as employees and to you the consumer.

I bring this article up because some of the comments have been extremely positive about our changes but some comments still make it clear that shopping at a smaller retailer is cost prohibitive.

The reputation of a smaller store is that it just can’t compete with the “Big Boys.” That goes for any type of retail store whether it is an appliance store, furniture store, hardware store, etc. The mentality of many general consumers seems to lean towards one-stop shopping.

When Walmart came up with adding grocery to their already mega stores I was honestly stunned. I couldn’t imagine such a thing. In fact, I still can’t wrap my head around why you would want to get your clothes, garden shovels, baby bottles and bicycle pumps from the same place you get your ground beef and chicken breast?

Why does everyone want one-stop shopping? Are we getting lazy? Are we spending too much time on our phones and computers? Have we lost the desire to connect with our local community by shopping at our own town’s stores? Would we rather stand in line at a mega box store and then come home and sit in our recliners and not have any social interaction with our neighbors?

“The prices are too high at the local stores, I am on a fixed budget,” you say. Yep there is that. Just about everyone is on a fixed budget. I was curious to see if that was really true in our store’s case. Was it really more expensive to shop at our local grocery store?

This past Saturday I grocery shopped at the store I work for, for my weekly groceries. Obviously it is convenient for me because I work there. I purchased a wide range of products from snacks like chips and dips to produce, dairy, meats and bakery items. The total was $96.44. I used the same receipt and priced checked on-line using the Geneseo Wegmans grocery store as my model. Yes, most general grocery items were more expensive at our store than Wegmans but wait, there’s more. Produce was almost even in price between the two stores but meat and bakery departments in our store won hands down. The result? The same products if I had purchased them at Wegmans would have cost me $100.93. That’s a little over $5 more than my little grocery store.

Yes the big stores are cheaper when it comes to grocery items because they have better buying power than small independently owned grocery stores but in general the surrounding departments like Deli, Bakery, Meat and Produce offer cheaper prices in the smaller stores. So I guess if you are only purchasing say a bag of chips your experience would be that our store was more expensive. However, buying a large amount of items from a smaller store proves that you might come out the same or even beat the prices against a larger retailer.

I am not advocating for buying everything your family needs at one store though. I think you do yourself a great disservice by doing the one-stop shopping thing. I would never buy items like detergents, toilet paper, paper products, diapers or cleaning supplies at a grocery store unless it was a really great sale and I had a coupon. For me I have found the best prices on these items have been at dollar stores, pharmacies like Walgreens with their savings cards and most often I use Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program.

I, as a consumer also frequent farmers markets, farm stands, bulk food ingredient stores run by local retailers and sometimes we will stop at mom and pop butcher shops on our weekend travels or head into the city to go to a local Italian bakery or Deli.

I know that everyone is different in how and where they shop, their schedules and lifestyles at home, their knowledge of cooking baking and growing their own food and financial situations.

I have to say I completely understand that money is almost always the central issue in your buying habits and wouldn’t it be nice if it wasn’t? I just ask that you give the little guy a second look. Traveling down the road a mile to your local hardware store instead of heading into the city to go to a major chain retailer might save you $5 but how much did the gas and time cost to get you there? And who knows, you might even run into a long time friend you haven’t seen in ages. -MM

June’s Date Night with Doug and Teaching Him how to Clean the Kitchen Floor

Date Night With Doug – June

For June’s date night with Doug we went all out Mexican. I am not talking about a quickie trip to Taco Bell or Mighty Taco here folks. We drove an hour to taste authentic Mexican cuisine in Medina, NY, but first, date night with Doug always starts off with a little shopping before dinner.

Father’s Day was coming up and a few weeks before, I had spied the perfect gift for Scott at Tractor Supply, a broadcast seed spreader for the lawn. I know that doesn’t sound very interesting to most of you but when you are a guy who is obsessed with obliterating every single dandelion in the lawn this is the perfect gift. While we were at the checkout we told the cashier where we were going for dinner and she thought that was great fun. She commented that she was still going to dinner with her dad and she was 26!

Next we went to Game Stop and Doug turned some of his old video games into store credit and purchased a couple of new games with it. He loved that!

Now on to dinner. After traveling what seemed like forever we finally arrived at our dinner destination Mariachi De Oro Mexican Grill in Medina. When we pulled in, the parking lot was packed, which is always a good sign, especially for a Tuesday night.

We waited for a bit in the doorway, not quite sure how they seated people but soon we were being led to our table for two. It was a colorful, bustling restaurant with many people sipping giant margaritas chatting animatedly at each other.

Looking at the menu, our dinner choices were many, but after much consideration Doug decided on steak and cheese quesadillas and I decided on steak and chicken fajitas.

Our appetizer as you might guess, was salsa and chips.

Everything was really, really good. Nothing was overly seasoned or greasy. Everything was fresh and colorful. Now about dessert.

Doug ordered fried cheesecake. I ordered the flan. Neither one of us had ever had either of these desserts.

Doug’s dessert was impressive to say the least. I have to give this restaurant an “A” on its presentation. He ate more than half of it before collapsing against the seat giving in to his full belly.

The flan was very different for me. It’s texture was not something that I would really order again though I have nothing to compare this restaurant’s interpretation of a flan to. The honey it was draped in was sweet and luxurious tasting but I didn’t enjoy the cold, rubberiness of the flan. I will have to give it a try somewhere else to compare.

It was another very successful date night with my son. I enjoyed every minute with my young foodie. July’s date night is at Otto Tomato’s in Victor, NY. Can’t wait!

Teaching Doug How to Properly Clean the Kitchen Floor

Doug is 13. He doesn’t really want to clean anything, let alone the kitchen floor. However, when one wants to buy himself a brand new XBox One, one has to work for the money to buy it.

When Doug wants to earn money we play the card game. The card game is getting out a deck of playing cards and every playing card has a certain point value to it.

Cards 2 through 10 are face value, Jacks are 25 points, Queens are 50 points, Kings are 75 points, and Aces are 100 points.

Now if you really want to step it up a notch you can throw in the Jokers for 500 points. That’s a lot though and this time we took the Jokers out of the deck.

So to earn a point you have to pick something up or do a specific task. Examples, fold 25 pieces of laundry or put away 10 pieces of silverware from the dishwasher. You get the idea. Not only does this game promote counting in younger children, it also gives older children a sense of the work it takes to do the chores that we as adults do every day.

I forgot to tell you what a point gets you in this game. A point gets you a penny. Yeah that sounds like a lot of work for a penny but it really adds up. Today I told him I would double the penny value to 2 pennies per point. He picked the first card off the top of the deck (be sure to shuffle them first) and he was off and earning money. After washing and folding all of the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming his bedroom, and deadheading all of the peony bushes outside he was looking for more. I told him he could sweep and mop the kitchen floor and hallway for 100 points.

After about 10 minutes he said he was done. Yeah right. We have a huge linoleum floor in the kitchen and it is white. Who installs a white kitchen floor you say? Apparently my grandmother thought it was a good idea at the time. Me, not so much. It shows everything.

I went in to inspect. As I suspected the edges were still full of dirt particles and he hadn’t cleaned under the desk nor moved the bar stools. The mopping needed more attention too.

One thing I have learned while employing certain kids at the bakery is that no one has really ever properly taught them how to sweep and mop. Seems like a simple thing but not everyone is good at it.

So I had Doug move things around, sweep under the desk and workbenches, and mop a couple more times around the room. He didn’t think he deserved the 100 points because he hadn’t done very well the first time but I told him after we both worked on it together that doing chores was also about learning as well as doing. We will keep working on his sweeping and mopping skills. By the end of the afternoon his double scored playing card game had earned him $18.36. Not bad!

By the way here is a picture of Douglas smiling on the last day of school with a celebratory caramel latte. His favorite. Sheesh, I don’t make the kid work all of the time ya know! -MM