Mondays with Mariah

You know that old saying..."When life has you working on the weekends, make lobster salad!" No, not familiar with that one huh?

Too bad, because it's a good one.

Anyway, that's just what I did after my photo excursion with Ali and Alex in Scituate. What better place to score some crustacean critters then in a swanky seaside village?

Here's my recipe for Lobster salad, my favorite all time meal:

(4) 1-1/4 lb. lobsters

(have your husband murder them if you cannot do it yourself like me)

Finely chopped celery

The juice from one lemon

several tbsp, mayo

and... a squishy grilled bun

Now for the food part: dessert! In this case Rhubarb tart.

(Steal 6 stalks of rhubarb from your neighbors yard, get your husband to do this so you don't get in trouble)

1 1/2 cups sugar

4tbsp flour

(mix together ingredients above)

Make dough: 2 1/4 cups flour, 3/4 cup shortening, 6 tbsp cold water (cut ingredients together)

roll out dough, fold in half and fill with rhubarb mixture

bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Eat before neighbor notices his rhubarb is missing.

Next I enjoyed the pretty flowers blooming in my yard..

Recipe for pretty peonies:

Buy peony plant

Watch husband plant the peony

Completely ignore peony bush while your husband waters it every day

Enjoy the fruits of your husband's green thumb

Speak of the devil... my husband, Don.

Recipe for finding your soul mate...

Don't settle.

Remember everyday what a lucky girl you are.

Don't be too bossy.

Don't be too fresh (working on that one).

Enjoy.

Mondays with Mariah

How do you process a moment that is adorable & joyous, momentous in an everyday kind of way, a moment that you know you'll remember forever but is over in the blink of an eye?

I don't have an answer to that question. I guess you could take a photo.

Vianne spent Saturday running around and riding her bike in these red sparkle shoes. It made me so happy I wanted to cry. She's a little girl riding her bike in red sparkle shoes, now that's a moment worth preserving. She gave me about 5 seconds to snap this photo of her feet in the grass with my Polaroid camera. Then she rolled her eyes and ran away because I was being annoying. I tried to explain to her that I NEEDED this photo, but she just got mad at me because I was interrupting her fun. Whatever! At least I got my photo.

Mondays With Mariah (a.k.a The Meanest Mom in the Universe)

Sometimes when you are a parent you have to draw a hard line in the sand. I am struggling with a classic parenting scenario right now. The sceanrio goes something like this...Boy sees dog, boy LOVES dog, boy begs mother incessantly for dog, mother denies boy the joy of having the dog, boy's heart is crushed, mother feels like crap. This is what you might call a no win situation.

Jacques is is in full blown dog obsession right now. He goes to the library and brings home books about dogs... for a while he was researching breeds of dogs. Then he found a gut wrenching book about shelter dogs who became heros by you guessed it... saving their families from fires, visiting sick children in hospitals, and overcoming things like blindness, deafness and in one poor pooches case, extreme ugliness. Well, Jacques is a giant soft mush bucket 11 year old boy, so as you can imagine he is positive that he should adopt a shelter dog. Okay, that's a noble thought... I agree. Now Jacques spends hours online pouring through photos of dogs up for adoption at numerous local shelters. He has his heart set on one dog in particular named Bubba. I guess something about Bubba's sweet, pathetic profile photo spoke to Jacques.

Here's a letter he composed on the subject:

It's not that I don't like dogs... actually I love them. I've had three dogs. I just don't want to take care of one now. The gerb (drool), the kacking (barfing) on the kitchen floor, the dog diarreah (don't even get me started about Christmas morning 2002), muddy paws, hair on everything, dog oil slime on the side of the couch, on and on and on...
I like to pet other people's dogs and then walk away while they are left dangling a steaming bag of poop from their leash. Still, I find myself feeling weak and sad when I explain these things to Jacques and he just stares at me, not crying but with big fat tears running down his cheeks. I was pretty impressed by his letter. I told him that and he said, "Yeah, well I stayed up all night writing it. I thought I really had a chance." Doesn't that just kick you in the guts?

Mondays with Mariah

I thought I'd post today about two of my favorite things...

I am absolutely obsessed with this book, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez is a Colombian author. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1982. This book takes place in Coastal Columbia during the last century. It follows the life of Fermina Daza and the two men who love her. I am currently reading this book for the fourth time in a row. I am not in the habit of re-reading a book as soon as I finish it, but this time I feel compelled to read it again (and again and again.) It is extremely hard to describe the spell created by this book and the best way to describe it is to call it magical. Actually, Marquez's style of writing is called magical realism and he blends perfectly the every day occurrences of life with spiritual, mystical, and magical happenings that most people fail to notice. He has an unbelievable grasp on the emotions of love and this the best unconventional love story I have ever read. Something about this story really resonates with me, I haven't quite figured out what it is exactly yet, I guess that's why I keep reading it. It just seems like there's a lot of wisdom packed into it's 348 pages.

Another one of my favorite authors is the children's author Roald Dahl. My kids are insane for his stories such as: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I also love the director Wes Anderson who's movies are on my top 10 list... The Royal Tenebaums, Life Aquatic, Rushmore, and the Darjeeling Limited. So, imagine my happiness when Wes Anderson adapted the story of the Fantastic Mr. Fox! Basically Dahl's short story has become the second act of the film and the first act and third act are all Anderson.

I bought this movie for Vianne's birthday and we watched it last night. It is an absolute work of art. The characters are rich and flawed and lovable. The music is amazing and the sets are unbelievable. I am sure I'll have to watch this movie over and over to really appreciate the genius and the pain staking attention to detail that is required of stop animation films. Throw in George Clooney (my Hollywood boyfriend) as Mr Fox and it's a home run.

Mondays with Mariah

I've been thinking about Melissa at home with her brand spanking new baby. It makes me reflect about my own babies. On one hand it seems like a REALLY long time ago that I was changing diapers and trying to figure out how to bathe them and get them to sleep. On the other hand, it seems like just yesterday and I cannot believe that my Jacques will be going to Jr. High in September. It seems like just yesterday that Trish came to the hospital to take his first portrait! I'll have to dig that up and post it next week!

Anyway, I was inspired recently to take some new photos. Vianne is growing out of her clothes every week and Jacques is taller than my mother. I don't have much more time with them as little kids and the thought of that is kind of crushing down on me a little. At least I can freeze them in time a little this way... Waahhh!

I found this amazing spot a year or so ago and have been dreaming of photographing there since I saw it. We took these photos on a warm day last week about an hour before sunset.

Vianne used to be shy for photos and do a smile that was more like a grimace.

Now she is totally working it. She's so beautiful it takes me breath away.

How about that skirt? Marshalls!




Vianne recently lost her two top teeth. It seems like she loses a tooth at school every day. The nurse sends her home with a plastic tooth container necklace holding the actual tooth inside. She has a collection of them now.

I'll be ordering this one for the wall.

Here's my heart-throb son Jacques. The best part is he is a total shameless goofball and will humiliate himself to no end to make you laugh.

I must have made a joke about farting here, because anything you say about farting is funny when you are eleven.

I am sure he will hate this photo, but I love it.

This one is going on the wall too.

The girls in Jr. High won't know what hit them. They better not call my house though, I don't think I am ready for that.

Fav of Vianne, I think... there's just too many to pick from.

Typical. McSpaz-a-tron.

Can you stand this location?!!! Who wants to do their engagement photos here? Right?!

This is cute, it seems like Jacques is looking at his sister adoringly, but in truth he is probably insulting her.

I think Grammy is going to need this one.

Time to head home. Such cooperative children, and I only had to bribe them with icecream.

Don't feel too bad for me... I actually wasn't very good with the baby stage. I enjoy them more and more every year. I can't get enough of all the funny things they say and stories about the kids at school and all the classroom drama. I think I'll be a cool mom for teenagers- I was a frazzled mom with babies. It's just sometimes I miss the squishy baby snuggling. Guess I'll have to drop in on Melissa and squeeze her baby.

Mondays with Mariah...No. 5

This weekend I made chocolate chip cookies with Vianne. She's very systematic and organized so following a recipe is right up her alley. We were running into some major cabin fever & boredom by Sunday and baking cookies is a trick every mom has up her sleeve.

One small problem ....chocolate chips are Vianne's drug of choice. I have inadvertently created this Franken-chip Choco- stein monster. When she was little (well, little-r the she is now) I couldn't stand the sadness of her boo boo face when she would scrape a knee or get a splinter. In an act of foolish desperation I gave her a couple of chocolate chips as "medicine".

(Insert cringe here for Vianne's future food issues). I'd feel really guilty about this except her second favorite thing in the whole world is vegetables.

While we were making these she looked up at me and in all seriousness asked...

"Mom, if a blob of cookie dough and a blob of tuna fish fell on the floor at the same time, which one would you go for?"

Hands down the cookie dough- no contest.

Which reminds me of a story...

Several weeks ago I was scooping Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream for the kids.

A beautiful pristine scoop of the ice cream flew off the spoon and landed on the floor. I picked it up really quick and put it in a bowl, then I proceeded to eat it - much to the horror of my husband Don.

He was like..."I can't believe you are eating that, the floor is filthy."

I was like, "Are you kidding me? It's Ben and Jerry's, and how dirty could the floor be?"

"Um, really dirty... what if one of us stepped in dog sh*t and there's dog sh*t remnants on the floor, the ice cream is wet and then the remnants stick to it. You can't wash ice cream."

"That's a chance I am willing to take."

Or so I thought, the dog poop comment totally ruined it for me so in a dramatic gesture, I hurled the melting scoop into the trash.

So my question is, how many of you would eat the scoop and how many would throw it out?

Keep in mind my husband has been known to eat hotdogs at Target which in my opinion ruins his credibility.

Here's Vianne "testing" the dough to make sure it tastes okay...

Voila!


Now we are having a total sugar rush... well, at least we've cured the boredom problem.

Mondays with Mariah...No. 4

Where the Wild Things are... sometimes I think right here in this office.

Defenitley in my house too.

I love this movie so much- I think that it was pure genius,clever and sweet and heart wrenching in so many ways.

This song from the movie is quite possibly the happiest song of all time. The singer is Karen-O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with a chorus of children.

If you haven't already seen the movie- you must when it comes out on DVD!

I often blast this song while I cruise home to meet the kids after school. It puts me in just the right frame of mind for the transition from work mode to mom mode and it always cheers me up if I am feeling a little blah.

Thought maybe someone out there could use cheering up too. Couldn't we all?

Turn up your speakers and be happy!!!

Mondays with Mariah... No. 3

"Promises and Pie Crust are made to be broken." - Jonathan Swift

Something you might not know about me... I am the self proclaimed "Pie Queen." I love everything about pies; making them, smelling them, sharing them, and mostly eating them.

Listening to music and baking pies is my favorite form of relaxation.

The best part about my pie making is that my husband is the biggest pie fan on the planet, so I always have an enthusiastic audience for my creations. Without sounding too full of myself, I think it's safe to say I make the best crust in the world. Clearly humble pie is not my strong point. Here's a blueberry beauty I made this summer.

"The man for me is the cherry on the pie. But I'm the pie and my pie is good all by itself. Even if I don't have a cherry." - Halle Berry

My step daughter Emily bought me this AWESOME pie recipe book for Christmas. I highly recommend it if you think you might like to make a pie for yourself or someone you love.

Here's the link: Pie.

"Pie is Love." - Mariah Ashley

And because I am trying to be more giving of myself this year I am going to do the unthinkable... Here's my super secret recipe for blueberry pie. (I can't believe I am doing this...)

Blueberry Pie

Crust: (9-inch two- crust pie)

2 1/2 cups Flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3/4 cup shortening *(I use Crisco sticks, like them the best!), 6-7 tablespoons cold water( put cold water and ice in a bowl and let chill in fridge).

Mix flour & salt. Cut the shortening in with a pastry knife. be careful not to work the dough too much, just until it looks crumbly like small pebbles. Add the cold water one tablespoon at a time, and mix in lightly with a fork. Here's the most important part: dough should be kind of dry- only wet enough to stick together when you press lightly into a ball. Divide the dough into two even balls. Roll each ball out between two sheets of wax paper. Peel one of the crusts off the wax paper and ease it into the pie plate.

Filling:

4 cups FRESH blueberries, 3 tablespoons flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon butter.

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add the berries. Mix with your hands, crushing a few of the berries to moisten the mixture. Add the lemon juice and toss with your hands. Pile the filling into the pie shell. Dot the top of the pie with small chunks of butter. Add the top crust and crimp the edges of the two crusts all around the pie. Cut several vents in the top of the pie with a knife.

Finishing touch:

Beat an egg and add a bit of water to the egg. Brush the egg wash over the top of the crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake pie at 350 for 1 hour. Crust should be golden brown and the blueberry filling should start to bubble out a bit.

Share & Enjoy!

Mondays with Mariah... No. 2

Well, It's still January so I figure I can still talk about my resolutions... one of which is trying to eat healthier (me and everyone else), as well as shop responsibly for my groceries.

On New Year's Day I watched the film Food, Inc. I can honestly say that this film has changed my life- or at least the way I grocery shop. I have always been on the fence about meat... not to say that this film is trying to turn anyone into a vegetarian- it's not about that at all. What it is doing is shedding some light on the very secretive and whacked out food industry.

I have always just felt like... "oooh, I don't really want to know"... when it comes to my food. Can't really have that attitude once you watch this film. Watch it- you'll be glad you did!

Another interesting little food related tidbit....

Not a big soda drinker anyway... but defenitley going to think twice about my grape soda cravings after watching this video! Yuck! (Melissa- you might not want to watch this!)

Mondays with Mariah....No. 1

ad.ap.ta.tion - Adjustment to environmental conditions. Modification according to changing circumstances.

Welcome to the first installment of Mondays with Mariah! We thought you might enjoy getting to know the snappers a little better during these long, cold, winter months... New Year's is a reflective time anyway. I love New Years. I love the idea of a clean slate. I love starting new and trying to get it right or maybe just better. I have resolved to get to know myself better. I suffer from an affliction known as adaptability. I can adapt myself to just about any situation or circumstance. What's wrong with that you might ask? Well, if you are always adapting to every situation how do you figure out what you really like and don't like? Since New Years is also a time to think about your flab, I have been considering rejoining (for the 100th time) the Y close to my house. Guess what I decided though? I HATE the gym. I HATE exercise machines. Not just a little bit... a whole lot. If I join the Y and give them my moolah, I will not go. I should just face that fact and move on. What do I like then? Walking! I LOVE walking. Mostly I love walking barefoot on the beach. Can't do that in January... or can you?

Meet my new best friends! My sketcher shape-ups!

Motto: shape up without ever stepping foot in the gym! YES!

These freaky sneakys are designed to simulate walking barefoot on the beach! They take a little getting used to but they are extremely comfy. You can wear them for a walk or just shopping around. They strengthen your back, belly, bum and thighs because you are keeping your core engaged while you walk!

Here's me on the test drive...

P.S. I am the most uncoordinated person on the planet and I did not fall down while wearing these.

Look, here's me not in the gym! Happy! This is where my adaptability is working for me, because I am adaptable, I can suffer through 30 minutes of biting cold wind.

Besides, if I was in the gym staring at the TV I would have missed this.

Happy Monday!

Does anyone out there also love the sketcher shape ups?