Moving Along

I have moved!

GFCF Mama now has a new name and a new home. Visit me over at flamencomom.wordpress.com. I still haven't finished unpacking, so please be patient while I tidy up the joint. Thanks!

No Way, Fay!

Fay, you are definitely harshing my mellow. Today my kids started school--Ayden started kindergarten--and already they have a weather day off tomorrow. Why? Because Fay is coming. Crap.

Electricity and internet connectivity permitting, I'll be posting live on here tomorrow intermittently during the storm. And who knows? Maybe I'll have some helpful hints to share for keeping your kids--and yourselves--sane during those times when you just have to hunker down, stay safe, and wait out some nasty weather.

I guess now would be a good time for me to get the board games and reading material ready. For anyone in Fay's path: stay safe, keep listening to the weather reports, and if you are asked to evacuate..do so.

photo: The Weather Channel, http://www.weather.com/.

It Was Supposed to Rain...

The tropical storm was a non-event here, literally. It was a bit cloudy, but we got nary a drop of rain.

The end.

Just kidding! We spent the weather day at home with the kiddies, who were anxious to get back to class. Zoe and Ayden had a great first day of school. They both love their new teachers, and have already made new friends.

In other news, I finally got that much-needed haircut. And I gotta say...it's mighty cute. I'll try to post a new photo today.

There may also be some actual cooking happening here at Casa Flamenco today. More to follow...

Be Back Soon

Hello, internets! I've been a naughty blogger...few posts, no visiting other blogs...what gives? Well, next week is my last week of summer school; so I'll soon have plenty of time after that to share lots of gfcf goodness and family fun. I promise!!

I had a bad run of it with wheat and dairy recently; this was partly due to laziness, and partly due to the fact that I've been so busy that I haven't been very well organized in the kitchen and have dined on-the-go more than I care to even think about. Yuck. Folks, it hasn't been pretty. But I'm determined to get back on the bandwagon. Fear not: Zoe has adhered steadfastly to eating gfcf. I guess I took what precious little time I had to hook Zoe up, but I neglected to do the same for myself. Chalk that one up to a lesson learned.

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed that I do well on my finals!

Unexpected Treats

I am not a gardener; in fact, I'm one of those rare breeds you hear about that can actually kill plastic plants. So it's little wonder that I don't even try to plant or grow things in my yard. But a while back something appeared to be blooming in my yard...and miraculously, I managed to not kill it.

We had some landscapers come in and do some put in some new grass and trim a few of our trees. One of the gentlemen knocked on our door and said, "I don't know if you know this, but you got a pineapple growing in the yard."

A pineapple you say?

So we checked it out, and sure enough it was an actual pineapple. As if the fact that it was growing so nicely wasn't surprising enough (no one was taking care of it), none of us recall ever even planting this thing. What the....?

Flamenco Dad and I talked it over, and we came to the only reasonable sounding conclusion. You see, my father-in-law LOVES to garden. When he lived in this house he was constantly planting and mowing and trimming...you get the idea. Well, he hasn't lived here in years, but he's become what I have called "The Phantom Gardener," secretly planting things in our garden and my brother-in-law's garden. Over at the BIL's place, he planted some avocado a few years back. Anyway, we concluded that he was the one who planted the pineapple around the same time he planted the avocados.

Three days ago we cut the pineapple from its home and brought it inside. We marvelled at it for a day or so--this was a full grown, live pineapple that actually came from our own yard--then we cut into it and ate it. It was one of the sweeteswt, juiciest pineapples I've ever tasted. Initially I contemplated using it to make some pineapple bread or smoothies, but this baby was great on its own, no baking, blending or grilling required.

Cupcakes and a Movie

I really need to give a shout-out to the folks over at Cherrybrook Kitchen. A while back I tested their Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix, and was very pleased with the results. This time, I tried their Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate Cake Mix, and it was heavenly. The product is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free, tree nut free...and FABULOUS! All I added was some oil, water, and vanilla; poured the mix into these cute little Barbie cupcake cups, bake at 350 for about 18 minutes, and presto! Baked yummy goodness. I topped these little gems with a homemade icing--which had some cocoa added to it because, you know, I love having a little chocolate with my chocolate! The texture of these cakes is perfect; not unlike a certain boxed cake mix that I used to buy in the supermarket a long time ago. Mmm...

The heat is oppressive around here lately, so I've been keeping the kids entertained with indoor activities. After dinner we turn the kids loose outside (by then the hottest time of the day has long since passed). After the cupcakes were out of the oven, I popped in a movie: Flicka. Ayden was not too enthused about it--I guess it's because it wasn't animated--but I thought it was very good. Since the kids have been around horses at their grandma's, and because there's a strong young female character in the movie, I thought Zoe might enjoy it; and she did. And because I'm a bit of a sap, I shed more than a tear or two by the end of the movie. If I don't get back to my homework soon, I'll be shedding a few more tears come exam day next week!

Seis

I was tagged by Lynn to come up with a list of six words to describe me. This was not an easy task; my over-analyzing nearly got the best of me on this one. Here goes:

1. loving
2. friendly
3. imaginative
4. silly
5. sensitive
6. loyal

I don't know who tag for this one, so I invite everyone and anyone to take the challenge. Go for it!

Rock That Vote

Martha Stewart Living Online is having a competition called the Big Idea; MSLO staff members submitted ideas for new projects for the media and home giant. Alexis, the Deputy Home Editor, submitted a proposal to publish a special magazine devoted to food allergies and sensitivities. Ms. Martha has decided to let the public vote for the winning project, so get to gettin' and vote! Voting is open until February 7th, and you can vote as often as once a day. You can look at the finalists and vote here.

In The Home Stretch

My last final is tomorrow, and I've done pretty much everything in my power to avoid studying for it. We bought and decorated our tree, wrote out the Christmas cards, visited the Buddhist temple for lunch again yesterday, and even put lights up in front of our house. Anybody who knows Flamenco Dad and me knows that we do as little outdoor decorating as we can get away with, so the fact that I went out and bought lights and helped put them up means that my study avoidance thing is in full swing. Now, it's time to get to business.

So no more foolin' around--next time I post here, I will have officially finished the semester. I mean it. Really. I promise.

Could It Be?

Is tomorrow really the last day of the month? Did I do it? Did I actually manage to make it through the month, posting every day (even in spite of technical issues)? Well, tomorrow is the 30th, which means two things:

1. My finals begin next week. Good Lord, it's time for the freak-out to begin.
2. NaBloPoMo is coming to a close. Woo Hoo!

I kind of feel like Morgan Spurlock from the movie "Supersize Me" and the t.v. show "30 Days." I'm really proud of myself for being able to stick with blogging daily for that long. I know a month doesn't seem like a long time; but sometimes I feel I'm borderline flaky, so this is a real accomplishment. I'm going to commit to something else for the next month--though I will try to continue keeping a more regular blogging schedule (just maybe not every single day). I'll deliberate on it for another day, and then December 1st will be the kickoff.

Got Me Again

I've been tagged by j. over at Austin's GFCF Diet Journal. I had to take a minute and look at the last 8 Random Things meme I completed back in September before I tackled this latest challenge. I'd be really embarrassed if I repeated the same things I listed the last time; though I must say, I'm not sure I'm that interesting that I can come up with eight more interesting things about myself. Please forgive if this list is not as good as the first.

1. While my husband is the musician in the house, I had quite the music education myself. I took several years of band, where I became a mediocre trombone (yes, you read that correctly), clarinet, and alto saxophone player. I am unable to play any of these instruments today, though I can still read music.

2. I smoked throughout my last two years of high school, during my first go-around at college, and for a couple of years after that. I smoked for about six years in total, and fortunately for me I quit the year before I met Flamenco Dad. He's not a fan of cigarette smoke.

3. I learned to drive at twenty-two (kind of late by some folks' standards). But before I got the hang of driving, I crashed an old boyfriend's car--oops. Hey, that stop sign and that tree jumped out in front of me; how could I not hit them?

4. I know lots of people think he's kind of grungy, but I think Johnny Depp is very sexy. Does that make me weird? Call me, Johnny!

5. I'm scared to death of mice (rats too). I'd elaborate, but I'm starting to hyperventilate.

6. As I mentioned in my previous meme, I never learned to ride a bike. But I can roller skate like nobody's business. And I'm talking the old school skates, not the rollerblades. Holla!

7. I did not enjoy any of the following movies: Crash, The English Patient, or The Thin Red Line. I know they're supposed to be these great, important movies; but I just don't see the appeal. In fact, the latter was so bad in my opinion I'm still wondering how I can get those three hours of my life back.

8. It's no secret that I love spicy foods. I put some variety of hot sauce (tobasco, sriracha, jalapenos) on just about everything I eat. I'm still trying to figure out how to successfully add heat to my desserts, but it's coming soon--I just know it!

Leftover Pumpkin?

If you're like me and are wondering what to do with leftover pumpkin puree (how many pumpkin pies can one person bake anyway?), these gfcf pumpkin chocolate cookies are a nice alternative. I got the recipe for these tasty treats here. Pumpkins are a great source of Vitamin A, so why not sneak them into your kids' favorite treats for a boost? My kids loved them...and so did Dad and I.

BTW, I got tagged for a meme, and I'll be sure to do that tomorrow. I'm still reeling from the results of Dancing with the Stars.

Images from the Buddhist Temple

This is a photo of the Buddhist Temple we visited yesterday, the Wat Mongkolratanaram of Florida. People from all over the Bay Area come here to enjoy the temple, the meditation garden, the gorgeous view of the river, and the food.

This statue greeted us as we approached the produce market on the temple grounds. We bought lots of wonderful, fragrant ingredients (which I'm already putting to good use).

Here's what I ate for lunch. I know the photo's not pretty, but I was pretty deeply engrossed in my lunch by the time it occurred to me that I should take a photo. It's a VERY spicy chicken with basil over jasmine rice. In the corner there is a fried sweet potato, which had been dipped in a (gfcf) batter that included sesame seeds. Had I known about that method of cooking sweet potatoes, I would have served THAT at Thanksgiving.

Here are some of the folks responsible for the wonderful food we sampled at the temple. Some of the best Thai food I've ever had was made by these kind people.

A Taste of Thailand

I was hoping to upload some photos of our excursion today, but due to some funky stuff going on here I'll have to do that in the morning. Today we visited the local Buddhist temple, which has a wonderful Sunday market; there, some Thai folks who live in the area sell produce--lots of yummy traditional Thai ingredients to be found there--and make a wide variety of Thai dishes for the locals to try. The temple is located right off the river and has a lovely picnic area, so we had a fabulous Thai picnic lunch. All the proceeds from the sale of the food, produce, and other wares goes to the temple. We had a great time. One of the best parts was that just about everything there was gfcf--hooray!

When we got back, I baked some cookies: gfcf pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to be precise. More on that tomorrow. Hopefully those pictures came out fine.

Alert the Media!

I am going to an adult party (as in a grown-ups only party)--sans children! No Thomas and his friends, no Barbies, no Dora or Diego...I think the apocalypse may be upon us!

We're going to a wine-tasting/start of the holiday season shindig at the home of a friend of ours named Paul; Paul is a sound engineer who has helped Flamenco Dad on several projects. Paul's also a great photographer, who recently took FD's new headshots. So we're bringing some wine and the guitar (and yours truly will do a bit of dancing tonight). So tonight the kiddies will be left in the loving care of my dear,sainted mother-in-law (can you tell I'm grateful to her for babysitting) while my husband and I get our party on. Tootles!

So Tired

I was actually just asleep on the couch when my hubbly woke me to tell me to get to bed. It was at that moment that I realized that I had not yet posted today. So here I am, half asleep and typing away. Gosh, it's like I have a sickness or something. Must post every day. Must try to win a fabulous prize. Must get my behind in bed already.

Thankful...

for my two kids, who absolutely rock the earth...

for my hubby, who totally rocks my world...

for my mom, brother, and the rest of my crazy familia. They always keep things interesting and entertaining...

for my friends, both near and far; thinking about all our adventures together makes me smile...

for all the wonderful people I have met online, through this blog and others. I'm amazed at the ability of the online community to bring people together...

for The Soup and Best Week Ever. Weekend television is so much better with you in it...

for turkey. Ahh, tryptophan and gravy...

Countdown to Turkey

I've just spent the last 8 hours in my kitchen prepping for the Thanksgiving dinner at Mom's. Today I prepared a pumkin cake and a chocolate pecan pie; as well as a sweet potato casserole and a homemade cornbread stuffing. We've got several items on tomorrow's menue that are gfcf, so I don't have to worry about what in heaven's name Zoe will be able to eat. Thank goodness! In the morning we're loading up the kids for the trip, and I hope to be feasting on some turkey by around 3. My mom is serving a ham as well as turkey, but let's face it: that ham is the understudy to the real star of the Thanksgiving meal, which is turkey.

The kids are excited to visit their grandmother, great-grandmother, uncle, and the assorted other relatives and friends that will be there. What my kids don't know yet is that my mom and her husband have already put up their Christmas tree: a 12-foot behemoth with a gazillion lights and a slew of adorable ornaments. I'll be sure to take many photos.

Moving On

Change isn't something that Zoe--or just about any other autistic child--takes to very easily. When she was in kindergarten, changing what she ate for lunch on a given day was met with a resistance not seen since the French Revolution. And you could forget about last minute schedule changes; oh, the wrath that would ensue! As Zoe's gotten older, her ability to transition has improved dramatically. She still puts up a fight sometimes, but in general she has a much easier time of it.

Today Zoe got some news that, while very exciting, threw her for a bit of a loop. Her occupational therapist told us that it may be time for Zoe to "graduate" from therapy. She's met all the goals the therapist had set for her, and she has improved in that area to the point where therapy may no longer be needed. I had a similar conversation with her speech therapist not long ago; so it appears that after the present evaluation period ends, Zoe may be done with private speech and O.T. after nearly 8 years. That's right folks; she has been in therapy for 8 of her 10 years. So you can see why Zoe might be a bit apprehensive about closing that chapter in her life.

Zoe loves the therapists, staff, and friends that she's met along the way; and I know that's the reason she doesn't want to leave. So part of what we'll be doing during her Thanksgiving break is talking about how we deal with moving on when things in our lives change. It's fascinating to see how she handles this; Zoe has reached a level of maturity that I guess I didn't really notice until now. That's the mama in me, always seeing my baby as, well...a baby. But today my baby came home from therapy, and sat at the desk and proceeded to write in her journal, no doubt about the changes in store for her now.

I Should Probably Blog Before I Take My Medicine

I'm getting some of my Thanksgiving prep done early this year. In fact, I've already purchased everything I need from the market--well, except that I realized after I got home that I'm out of eggs--and Wednesday I'll get cracking on the cooking. This year we're going to my mom's for Thanksgiving, something we haven't done in years! Usually Flamenco Dad has to work the day after Turkey Day, which made driving 5 hours to Grandma's (only to have to turn right around again) a pain. Now that she lives much closer to us it makes the trip easier.

So I've got a couple of side dishes in the making, as well as some desserts. I'm doing a sweet potato dish and some gfcf cornbread stuffing. I'm still working out the dessert thing, but I've got to make a decision by tomorrow. I was thinking something with pumpkin, but the hubby is requesting chocolate. Maybe I can put the two together into one showstopper of a dessert. I'm running out of time to decide, so I've got to get to it!

We've all got a cold here...again. We're tired, cranky, and smell of Vicks Vaporub (so not hot); and my house is like a tropical rain forest because of the humidifiers.

Tonight, after the kids were tucked in, I cozied up on my couch and watched Dancing with the Stars with the hubby. He makes watching the show even more entertaining (if that were even possible). He provides interesting commentary on the musical selections (we agree they are often campy, and occasionally border on ridiculous) and the costume choices. My husband thinks the Spice Girl is sexy, while I think her partner is hot stuff. Wonder what he thinks of Vaporub?

I've heard nothing else about the kangaroo/wallaby/chupacabra, or whatever it was wandering the streets a few nights ago. Maybe it was some random hairy guy roaming the area. Oh boy, I think I'm delirious from the Nyquil.