A good night for soup

Freezing cold temperatures, rainy weather. Good for two things. Staying in bed and eating soup. I made the soup and Karen made the sandwiches with some leftovers that she threw together after coming home from work.

I was shocked to look back and realize that I’ve never posted about my cream of broccoli soup. It’s such a staple at our house; we have it about once a month during the winter. I’m sure Karen’s getting sick of it these days, but the boys seem to enjoy it. I took the recipe from my favorite soup cookbook and made a few minor modifications.

On an episode of Kitchen Nightmares Gordon Ramsay gives his recipe for a broccoli soup. It consists of broccoli, water, and salt. He pits it against someone else’s and asks a “random” taster “which one tastes more of broccoli?” His may taste more like broccoli than mine, but I’d rather eat mine any day of the week.

If you’re interested in reading my ceaseless ramblings about the making of this soup, feel free to click <more>. But I won’t force you to.

Socks

When Karen was pregnant with our firstborn a very wise friend of ours told us “Get baby socks from Old Navy. They’re the only ones that stay on.” True enough, they did. So we’ve bought all our baby socks from Old Navy (as much as we could, they don’t always have stores this far out in PennsylTuckey) and they’ve served us well. Until now. Now Ben’s socks just won’t stay on at all any more, so we’ve been forced to retire them. Here’s a select few that got the heave last weekend:

I’m not sure where those realllly long ones came from, but they did keep Ben’s legs warm when he was growing out of his pants. But there it is, the feeble few Old Navy socks that finally gave up the dust. They seem to fall off of their own free will these days. Then again, the tag says “0-6 months” so I’m actually kinda impressed that here Ben is, almost two years old, and we’re only now just throwing away the first socks we ever bought him. They lasted through almost two complete winters, so I’m not at all shocked that they have no strength left.

Ben’s a small guy. He’s always going to be a small guy. And this whole sock thing gives me an idea. I’m thinking we should buy all his clothes from LL Bean and put to use that lifetime gaurantee. Doesn’t Sears have something like that too, where they’ll replace any children’s clothes for free that wear out before the kids grow out of them? They’ve met their match in us.

Because I’m more romantic than you

Watching ESPN or any sports show on TV during the first half of February you will see, on average, 325 ads for Valentine’s day gifts in any given evening. Let’s see, there were flowers, candy, jewelry, Lexus, Mercedes, Cadillac, Hallmark cards, there’s a gift for any budget. But they forgot one:

It takes a very confident man to buy his wife a video game for Valentine’s day. A man secure in the knowledge that he knows what she really wants. A man secure in the knowledge that she will appreciate just how hard it is to come by a Nintendo DS Lite at this point in history. And a man who, just in case, is secure in the knowledge that they have a reasonably comfortable guest bed, should his gift fail to impress.

Have no fear, dear reader. She loved it. Of course she did. And how was I so sure it was what she really wanted? She bought the case for it back in December.

That’s a Legend of Zelda symbol of some sort on the top of the case. My wife is a Nintendo fangirl. Isn’t she the most awesome wife ever? Now if only I could convince her to get the Hi-def TV and the Xbox 360 (Fable 2 is coming)….

Blogging the talent show

Isaac was in a talent show last week. He played the Windmill Theme from the Legend of Zelda. We’re dorks, I know. But he did really well and we were very proud of him.

What we didn’t know when I talked Isaac into this was that this talent show is a pretty big deal at the school and there were enough acts to fill three hours of time. It was okay, most of the acts were very cool, and the kids were very excited to get up in front of everyone.

But something struck me as I sit there watching all this. There were 15 dance numbers in the talent show, and the majority of those were accompanied by music from a little side project Disney’s been working on, you may have heard of it.

List this as Reason #384 Why I’m Glad I Have Boys. Hanna Montana is Disney’s cash cow so I suppose it’s inevitable that there are posters, Barbie dolls, two video games for the Nintendo DS, CD’s, DVD’s, the clothing line and accessories, blankets & bedding, musical toothbrushes, breakfast cereals, toy guitars, books, teddy bears, and, um, oh yeah, there’s also a movie. And isn’t there a world tour as well, selling out stadiums and ruining art shows all over the country? (Here’s a shout out to my bud Bennie down in SC!)

But alas, as I write all this down I realize that I am a hypocrite. Yes, it is shameful the overmarketing of Miley Cyrus by Disney, but honestly I’ve got a bunch of Star Wars stuff in the house so I have no room to talk. But I am happy to play video games and Star Wars and Buzz Lightyear with my boys, and now I have renewed appreciation for all that goes with it.

The Football Gods like soup

To the City of New York: This sentiment comes courtesy of the fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, your own New York Jets, and most recently the Washington Redskins.

Thank you.

That being said, I did my part and I’m sure everyone will agree that the deciding factor in Super Bowl XLII was my Manhattan Clam Chowder. I hope to be hearing from team officials regarding compensation for my contribution to the outcome of the game. And if any other teams would like my assistance I’m willing to discuss terms.