Happy Birthday, Tim!
{Tim and me at the Columbia Muddy Buddy race at Afton Alps last August. Tim’s helmet designs of the Titanic and the Iceberg won Team Sinking Feeling first prize in the costume contest. We got two awesome Columbia backpacks as prizes. And then Tim got to wear that crazy thing for six miles of biking and running up and down hills, obstacle courses, and a long crawl through mud.}
Today is Tim’s birthday. Every birthday is special, but this one is especially so because last September, during six of the longest hours of our lives, we weren’t sure if he was going to make it through the night.
Tim had been in a mountain biking accident out on a trail in our neighborhood and the doctors were trying to get a handle on the bleeding that had shown up in a CAT-scan of his brain. No one could explain why he couldn’t move his arms and legs because he hadn’t broken any bones. They were also trying to understand why he was in such excruciating pain. I remember one doctor saying that the pain Tim was feeling in his shoulders might be a distraction from head trauma. So Tim lay there for hours, both of us wondering if the pressure caused by bleeding in his brain would become too much and that would be that.
Later that night, after scans and tests and putting the pieces together, the trauma team figured out that Tim had suffered a spinal cord injury called central cord syndrome. Basically, he was born with a narrow spinal column and a very specifically-placed blow to his chin caused his spinal cord to be pinched. The bleeding in his brain turned out to be minor and resolved itself quickly. So while his spinal cord injury was horrible, at least we knew that Tim would still be Tim.
I should write about Tim’s recovery one of these days because it’s quite a story. The good news is that he has regained full range of motion and continues to heal, but as anyone who has suffered chronic pain will tell you, it takes a toll. Still, he is powering through and hopes to feel completely like himself again someday.
They say that events like this are life-changing and I believe it. It’s much harder to get worked up about the little things, I’m more protective of our time together as a family, and we have a whole new appreciation for our community of family and friends. They stepped in to take care of our children during Tim’s original 17-day hospital stay and his surgery a month later, they cooked us so many meals I didn’t have to cook for two months, and they provided love and support through messages, prayers, and snow-plowing throughout the snowiest winter I can remember. As Tim told someone one day, “Other than the accident itself, this has been a great experience.”
So here’s a wish for the very happiest of birthdays to my jaan-e-jaan. I’m glad you’re still you.
Gluten-Free Oven-Fried Frito Chicken Fingers
So. In the weeks since Will was diagnosed as wheat- and dairy-intolerant I’ve been learning as much as I can about what this means. I’m pretty cautious by nature, but when I read or hear story after story about people’s lives improving by eliminating gluten it’s hard not to sit up and pay attention. Will has many of the symptoms typical for wheat-intolerance sufferers, so I’m watching him like a hawk for improvements. I won’t go into details about his symptoms here, but if you have any questions please feel free to contact me and we can talk.
Will has been a trooper. He’s accepted this new part of his life with grace and patience. I’m transitioning the entire family to gluten-free because it’s “all for one, one for all.” Plus I have a feeling the rest of us will benefit from being (mostly) gluten-free, too. I often feel sleepy after eating bread. In fact, I slept for three days once after eating an entire loaf of homemade whole wheat cheddar bread. In one day. Maybe that was just a normal reaction to gluttony, but one wonders.
One of the reasons the transition is going so well is that I discovered a wonderful book called Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone. I had actually read a magazine article a while back that featured the book. I thought the food looked amazing—doughnuts and waffles and other goodies—but didn’t pay much attention because I didn’t think I had to. Needless to say, I bought a copy the day after Will’s visit to the doctor. Honestly, we’d eat nearly everything Silvana presents anyway, so the fact that it’s gluten- (and dairy-) free is just a happy coincidence.
If something seems “off” to you, whether it’s mood swings or eczema or brain fog, it might be worth finding out if food allergies are involved. As Hippocrates, the father of medical science, said, “Let food be your medicine.” There’s a little boy in a classroom I’ve been helping out in this week who is always acting out and seems really angry. I can’t help but wonder if food allergies or intolerances might be involved. They might not be, but it sure seems worth looking into for the little guy’s sake.
Anyway, I’m sharing this recipe from Cooking for Isaiah because it’s kid- (and Tim-friendly) and very easy to make.
Oven-Fried Frito Chicken Fingers with Honey-Mustard Dip
Ingredients:
Extra-virgin olive oil, for greasing
6 cups corn chips, such as Fritos, coarsely crushed (or tortilla chips)
Salt and pepper
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1-1/2 pounds (750 g) chicken tenders
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil. In a shallow bowl, combine the corn chips, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In another shallow bowl, beat the eggs. Coat a chicken tender with the corn chip mixture, dip into the eggs, then coat again with the corn chip mixture; place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Bake until golden and cooked throughout, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, honey, and lemon juice; season with about 1/4 teaspoon salt. Serve with the chicken fingers.
Bunny Cookies and Cupcakes
No holiday would be complete without some ideas from Sarah and Brittany, the creative powerhouses at One Charming Party. Their Easter bunny cupcakes would be so fun and easy for kids to make for friends or for a classroom party. You can find directions and downloadable bunny ears here.
Wouldn’t you love to hand these bunny cookies out to everyone? Sarah and Brittany baked bunny-shaped cookies and frosted them in light pink. After letting the frosting dry well, they placed the cookies in cellophane bags and attached cotton ball tails with double-sided tape. For a final touch, they tied the bags up with pretty ribbons. So cute.
Peter and the Wolf Puppet Theater
{via Design Mom}
I have been enamored of the creative talents of Sarah Jane for quite some time. If I could draw, I’d want to draw just like her. And now she’s earned my eternal admiration for creating this beautiful Peter and the Wolf Puppet Theater. I’m so excited to download the PDFs here—for $5.50!—and let the kids go crazy.
Are you familiar with the story of Peter and the Wolf? Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev wrote the musical symphony in 1936 to introduce children to classical music. Prokofiev used a special musical technique called leitmotif to create his characters. A leitmotif is a melody associated with a person or, in this case, an animal. So in this symphony, each character is represented by a specific instrument in the orchestra, as well as a melodic theme. Peter is playful strings, the duck is a foolish oboe, and the wolf is a menacing French horn. When I was little, I loved trying to figure out which instruments were which characters.
The recording I listened to as a child was by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic as part of the Young People’s Concert series. My mother gave my children this recording in CD form several years ago. I was happy to know it’s still around, and now the CD will come in handy with our new puppet theater. Is there a recording that you prefer? I’ve heard the one narrated by Basil Rathbone is pretty wonderful, too. Sharon Stone even has one, I believe.
I hope Sarah Jane keeps these coming! What stories would you like to see?