The Special Plate
(Get ready for the sappy post people!)

I do not remember where I read about the Special Plate.  Somewhere online or in a book a family used the Special Plate as a way to recognize the importance of a singular family-member at dinner time.  I do not remember how that family used the Special Plate.  Perhaps it was to celebrate achievements, good choices or general special-ness of the individual in the family. 

For our family The Special Plate is brought out every now and then during dinner for one family member and this family member knows they are the special someone for that dinner.  We do not have one Special Plate (as the other family described), rather one of our plates will be of a different design or pattern than the rest and this is how we know who is designated on a particular night.  For instance I have a plate from my mom's house and one from my mother-in-law's house (not sure how that happened), but neither plate matches the rest of our plates.  So on a night that a child or a parent eats off these plates they are deemed Special. 

What does that mean?  Well, for us means we go around the table and everyone says one thing they like about our Special family member.  This can be an attribute, memory, action or talent of the individual.  For Ramona's night, which happened to be tonight, I said that I love her exuberance, her father loves how well she did in school this year and her sister loves playing dolls with her.  Recently we added a new catch, now the individual has to say one thing they like about themselves. 

I am not sure how often we do this, maybe a couple times a month.  Sometimes this happens by accident when I do not pay close attention to what dishes I am using.  There are times I feel someone needs special acknowledgement.  And of course, when we just need a change of pace. 

Regardless of how the night comes about it is always great to recognize how appreciated we are in our families and to have the self esteem to know what we like in ourselves.  Just like saying what we are grateful for, I have found that we hesitate when we have to say what we like about ourselves.  It feels unnatural and awkward.  But why should it??? 

For my daughters I truly hopes this habit carries them through the years coming up - I hope this gives them confidence, as well as aids them in knowing how truly important and wonderful they are to the family.

What I like about myself:  My intense desire to constantly work towards being better at
what is important to me.  I work at being a mom, I work at writing, I work at photography,
 I work at being a friend, I work at being my man's support and love,
and I never stop when I fail.  I just dust myself off, whine a bit and get back on the saddle.

I fixed the error on my blog that did not allow commentary.  Please feel free to leave something you like about yourself.  If you feel up to it.  :-)  Or just write it down some where, in a journal or on a post it.   

Happy Early Wednesday to my Family and Friends!
 

Maffeoberries Adventures in Seattle

We went to Seattle in late May.  While in Seattle we visited the Aquarium, Space Needle, Chihuly Glass and Garden exhibit, the Pacific Science Center and Pikes Place Fish Market.  The girls were missing some school to go, so I made sure to pack the adventure full of whatever educational and enriching experiences were in walking distance (or accessible via the monorail).  The kids loved the monorail.  I guess that is how you can tell we no longer live in a dense population anymore.  Public transportation is an 'experience'.  I had the girls write the days events in journals - and later at night we researched some of the animals from the Aquarium.  We were all fascinated by the Giant Pacific Octopus that they had there.  I learned the Giant Pacific Octopus grows to at least 100 pounds, but the baby they had there was only a couple months and less than ten pounds!

The first night there we saw the May Day Anarchist riot from our hotel room.  We all stood at our hotel room window captivated by the many police officers moving a riotous crowd by making a line of bikes across the street and chanting move.  The crowd continually set off fireworks.  It was very entertaining for the kids and my man.  I found the experience a bit unnerving.  

Once we finished with the city itself we visited family - our German Aunt and Uncle were also in town, plus our many US based relatives.  It was a blast.

Udi's Café & Bar

Of course, we are traveling gluten-free, which brings complications where ever we go.  On this note, we are thrilled to mention the Denver Airport has an Udi's Café!  This Café has many hot and cold gluten-free sandwiches, there were also gluten-free salads, and various other goodies.  Unfortunately not everything was gluten-free; however, everything was clearly marked and the gluten-free food was available with a variety of options.  Progress my friends!  It is fair to mention, like all airport food and gluten-free food, progress comes at a cost.  It might save money to bring your own home goodies, but in a pinch there are sandwiches.

 

Coffee & A Specialty Bakery

Once we were in Seattle we looked up several gluten-free places through yelp.com.  We tried out the highly recommended Coffee & A Specialty Bakery of Pike's Place, 1500 Western Ave, Seattle WA.  It is on the lower level of Pike's Place, sort of tucked away, but located conveniently close to the elevator.  We tried their freshly made pizza (I highly recommend), their cinnamon rolls (the girls highly recommend) and their fresh made bread.  It has been a long time since we have had fresh made bread!  That novelty alone is worth going for.

Blue Moon Burgers

Lastly we ate a Blue Moon Burgers.  A hipster joint with a local and natural mentality.  They use only locally sourced meat, make their own fries and sauces, plus get their gluten-free bread products from a local bakery.  Their employees are friendly, informed, know what Celiac Disease is and are able to answer with confidence cross-contamination based questions.

Blue Moon Burgers employees told us that they prepare their food in dedicated gluten-free areas, and are careful about contamination.  We were told they use dedicated grills and fryers. 

On their menu are gluten-free grilled cheese sandwiches and gluten-free burgers!  This is the first time my daughter has been able to order a grilled cheese sandwich off the kids menu, with fries, and from a restaurant since her diagnosis in 2009.  She felt content and relaxed, as if the restaurant was made for her.  This feeling can only be equated to the feeling of coming home after traveling for a long time. 

Also, the burgers are worth writing home about!  Not just the standard American/Cheddar Cheese Burger - I got a the Blue Shroom gluten-free.  The Blue Shroom has portabella mushrooms, crumbled blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, sweet red onions, pickles, and the Blue Moon sauce.  AH-MAZING.  All on a gluten-free bun.
 Plus, for the people 21 and over they offer gluten-free beers.  Worth stopping by.  Make sure to ask your own questions and do your own research.  I have only visited once and sometimes things change, but if they stay the same - great, great gluten-free stop in Seattle!

Happy Week Everybody!

Smiley Face for Mom

We are wrapping up the last week of school before the summer.  However, we are trying to jam in as much as possible into this week.  Today Ramona got her chipped tooth fixed, Beezus had a play date, the little man had his first haircut (which I gave him and might have botched a bit) and I organized an art club for the summer and a dinner party for tomorrow night.

Needless to say the kids and I were a little tired tonight.

I was tired, not just from the activities of the day, but also the night before I stayed up till between 1am and 2am cleaning my daughters' room, because Beezus called a friend for a play date. 

This might not seem like a big deal, but sometimes calling another child for a play date can be very intimidating for her.  She struggles with social anxiety, especially in a situation that she is unsure what to say, what is expected, and what the end result will be.  She tends to build these moments into an insurmountable challenge in her head - and it is hard to talk her out of it. 

I have been working with her this year on making this one phone call.  I talked to the other mom in front of her about having the phone call, so Beezus would know the mom expected her to call.  Beezus would not have called if she thought she was surprising the other mom.  And Beezus talked to her friend at school about the call too.  Heck, her and I went over exactly what to say several times before the phone call.  This seems like a lot of extra preparation just to make a phone call, that everybody already knows will be to schedule a play date, but for my daughter that takes the unknown variables out, and almost relieves her anxieties enough to actually make the call.  I did have to bribe her with a reward to get her on the phone - it went great!

The look of pride on her face when she hung up the phone - knowing that she had a play date and, at least for the moment, got over the fear of the phone was awesome for us! 

When we got home she began to panic that her room was too messy.  I told her to clean it.  However, as the night wore on, and as she ran out of time to finish cleaning it (not that she had really started), I told her I would finish cleaning her room.  I would not normally do this, but I knew I needed to relieve her anxiety over the room so she could enjoy her play date the next day.  We worked too hard just to get her to make the play date, to have it fail over a messy room.  So, this one time I cleaned the girls' room into the night.  I had to wait till everyone was asleep to get the time.

So there I was, 1 am, sorting bins, tossing trash, dusting, organizing books, sighing and listening to everyone in my family snore in their respective beds, including our dog (who is the loudest snorer in the house).  To keep a positive frame of mind I reminded myself how ecstatic Beezus is to have this play date - how excited I am for her to have it!  Just had to keep remembering what big steps we were taking.

Anyway, so tonight, as I was holding my little 9 month old man, who is cranky from missing his morning nap during Ramona's dentist appointment, his afternoon nap during Beezus's play date, and is letting me know it with kicking and fussing, I am staring at the stove, willing it to cook dinner for me, Ramona walks into the kitchen and says,

"Mom, since my room is clean can I have a smiley face sticker?"

Happy Mid-Week Everyone!

 

1-2-3 Gluten Free

We tried out a new gluten free brand, 1-2-3 Gluten Free Inc.  This company is dedicated allergen-free & gluten free.  Their facilities are certified by the Gluten Free Certification Organization (GFCO), as well as, free of are peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, soy and casein.  They also are Kosher!

We tried their Bundt Pound Cake Mix.  My family loved it.  It actually is as simple as one, two, three.  We poured in the batter, added the ingredients, placed it in the oven.  Voilà!  Probably the easiest bundt cake I will ever make.  To avoid one problem we had - make sure your bundt cake dish is the right size, mine was too big.  The cook time was slightly longer than the packaging indicated - we went for an extra 15 minutes.

To make the cake special I added a chocolate ganache drizzle (or in my case chocolate ganache saturation), my man made some whip cream and we cut up strawberries.  It was amazing!

 

Happy Friday!!

This is for my sister.  I spent the day cleaning, while my man and the girls watched Lord of the Rings.  I might have blogged too.  And now, feeling the fatigue from scrubbing bathrooms, not to mention the permanent smell of bleach up my nose, I decided to relax and look up the msn.com news.  I know, I know, google shudders at the thought. 

 

When I was on msn.com tonight I saw this headline near the bottom of the home page:  Cute bunny balances stuff on his head

 

Needless to say I just had to click on this slide show - of which there are 18 photos.  Too freaking cute.  More than anything though - this bunny reminds me sooooo much of my med school sister - that I had to share.  So, even though we are states apart, and I will never, ever own a rabbit, I thought she would appreciate a post dedicated entirely to her, and her love of bunnies...

 

This bunny is talented.  :-)  And since the bunny is balancing food, we will pretend it is gluten-free food and that way it is okay to have on the blog.

http://now.msn.com/stuff-on-my-rabbit-tumblr-features-funny-photos

Happy Saturday Night!
Might have spent too much time with the bleach tonight!  Yikes.

Pamela Pancake Mix on Saturday!

Our Version of the
Pamela Pancake Mix Recipe:

• 2 Cups Pamela's Pancake Mix
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/2 Cups Water
• 2 Tablespoons Oil
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Vanilla*
• 1/4 Cup Sugar*

Directions:  Mix in electric mixer, cook medium heat till bubbles are solid, flip for one minute, done!

*We added the sugar and vanilla.  Sometimes I like to make it with Cinnamon too!  You might need to put in slightly more flour to determine your desired constancy.

We love to add bananas and maple syrup to our pancakes. It is a great Saturday meal, one we try to have every weekend.

Happy Saturday Afternoon!

 

Artisanal Gluten-Free Cupcakes

I have mentioned several times that I am now making cupcakes out of a new book.  I am not altering the recipes and I will not be placing the recipes online. 

I love this book and highly recommend it for a gluten free household!  The recipes all utilize a gluten free flour combination of brown rice flour, sorghum flour, corn starch, potato starch, potato flour and xanthan gum.  I find that the cook times accurate (something that is hard to find in gluten free recipes).  The recipes are well organized, easy to follow, and relatively fast to make.

This weekend I made the vanilla with chocolate frosting cupcake. (Page 45).  My family loved the vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting.  It is one of the more standard cupcakes we have made.  By standard I mean no fillings, no candy ingredients, no fruit, no cookies or fancy frosting.  Of course, sometimes simplicity can be simply understated.  My family ate all 24-30 cupcakes over last night and this morning (I would know the exact number, except they kept disappearing as I made them).  Ramona wants her birthday cake made from this cake and frosting recipe.  My man actually asked me to make more (a high compliment from him).

On a Maffeoberry scale this book gets 5 out of 5 maffeoberries. 

Happy Saturday Morning!