The "Poke and Tuck"

As the old Danish proverb goes: "If the aebleskiver doesn't come to you, bring yourself to the aebleskiver."

(Disclaimer: This is not so much a Danish proverb as something I just made up.)

My sister, Jessie, and I wanted to learn how to make aebleskivers, so with our respective partners in tow, we headed to Grandma's and Grandpa's house to make it happen. My 91-year-old grandfather, who still does a significant amount of cooking and baking, has almost entirely hung up his apron when it comes to the art of "skivering." (Disclaimer: Again, I just made that up.) His primary job these days is to sit in his rolling dining room chair, lean back and critique our ability to make the pancake balls. It is a much-needed and welcome addition to the kitchen. His successor is his eldest son (my Uncle Steve).



However, my uncle said from the beginning that he was not going to be making this particular batch and if Jess and I wanted to learn, we were going to have to do it ourselves. Fair enough.


Separating eggs LIKE A BAWS!


Mixing, measuring, mixing, measuring.


Even Charlie gets in on the action and assists in some sifting.



Uncle Steve did the first "test" aebleskiver to ensure the pan was at the correct temperature. But after this one, it was all on us. To make an aebleskiver, you fill the divot of the pan with the batter. You let it cook for a minute or so and then it is time to turn. I never took physics in high school so I don't really get the "laws" of it or anything, but I am telling you: these things seemed to defy those laws. To make the ball shape, the pancake needs to be turned. Using a stick (my uncle uses a fondue skewer but any kind of skewer will work) grab the edge of the batter and turn it about a third of a turn. There is no way this should work. It should just collapse in on itself as soon as you make that first turn. Behold:


Take a moment to revel in its glory. A scientific miracle!

Once it has cooked a bit after the first turn it is time to turn again. My sister and I approached this task gingerly; surely too much disruption to the little sphere of dough would deflate it. As we tried to carefully rotate it around, my uncle said, "Don't be too afraid to really poke at it" as he jabbed the skewer into the pancake. "And then when you grab it, you really need to make sure you tuck the side in so it doesn't get any holes."

"So basically, Uncle Steve, you are telling me I gotta poke and tuck my balls." Yes, that's right kids, it doesn't take much for things to take an inappropriate turn in the Andersen household. From that point on the genital jokes continued to the giggly delight of my grandfather, my grandma just shaking her head at the crassness of her granddaughters. Can I really be blamed though? Her son is my father!


An excellent display of some perfectly poked and tucked balls.

All in all, it was a very successful morning. It was wonderful to learn from a master like Uncle Steve. The pancakes were divine and we ate every last one of them (Charlie was responsible for consuming about half of them.)



Heather Shellen: Master of the "Poke and Tuck."

And yes, in the words of Michael Scott, that's what she said.

Want to try making your own? Williams-Sonoma sells a great aebleskiver pan.

THIS is why we are best friends.

"The girls wanted a yogurt." Brittaney says as she hands Madison a blueberry and Ella a strawberry. The flavors, consequently, corresponding their favorite colors. "Is it okay if Charlie has one too?"

"Sure. Whatever you have is fine."

She grabs a vanilla from the fridge and I excuse myself for a moment. I come back in the room to find the three kids with their containers of yogurt in front of them. Madison and her blueberry, Charlie eating strawberry and Ella, begrudgingly eating vanilla. Vanilla: otherwise known as the non-pink one.

"I gave Charlie strawberry. I hope that's ok."

"Oh yeah, sure. It doesn't matter." I look over at Ella who is giving Charlie her best "stink eye."

"The vanilla expired yesterday. I didn't want to give it to Charlie but Ella will be fine."

Sacrificing expired dairy products at the expense of her own child? That is love. (And I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing for her kids.)

More Soup Talk.

Ever wonder if there is something productive you can do with the green tops to your leeks?

What's that? You don't buy leeks?

Ok, let me back up. Go buy leeks because they're delicious. Now, cut all the dark green tops off and yes, I am fully aware that you are now only left with half of the vegetable that you paid full price for. But trust me, you don't want to eat those woody tops.

So, back to my original question:

Ever wonder if there is something productive you can do with the green tops to your leeks? I now have the answer! Before throwing them in the trash (COMPOST! I meant compost!) use them to flavor homemade vegetable stock.



I basically adapted my stock from this recipe by the incomparable Ina Garten. Since I had no onions, I substituted the onions for the leek tops. I also just went ahead and made her cream of mushroom as well. I would highly recommend it.

However, if cream of mushroom is not your thing, you don't have to use this stock only for that; you could use it as a rich and flavorful base for any soup, really. But making homemade stock is extra work, I'm aware. So you know what else you could do? Go to the store and buy a box of pre-made stock. I won't judge you. But then again, I also won't judge you if you just said screw the soup, ordered Chinese take-out and ate it straight out of the box on the couch while you cried over 16 and Pregnant re-runs. Just saying. Also, can I join you?

Happy 2012 Love, The Shellens

This year my New Year's Resolution is to not feel guilty about throwing away all those adorable Christmas cards my friends and family send me. Yes, even the ones with pictures on them. I wish I was organized enough to keep them but the reality is I am not now and will never be, a scrap booker, a picture booker or a sticker booker (unless you go back in time to 1984 when I had a rockin' one. Can I get a what-what for the "scratch-n-sniff" bitches!)

I hope everyone understands this does not mean I want the cards to stop coming. I truly enjoy getting them and everyone even gets a special place on my mantel for the entire holiday season. Each morning it warms my heart to see your smiling facing.

And then, on January 1st, they go in the trash (with love, of course).

So since you all think I have a heart of stone now, here is the Shellens holiday card that you don't even have to feel guilty about throwing away. Instead of a paper card, we subject you to watching a 6 minute slide show of our life over the past year when you probably have way more important things to be doing. But guess what, you don't even have to watch it and I'll never even know.

Our 2011, in photos from Grant Shellen on Vimeo.

Why word choice is crucial when you have a toddler

Charlie: What's that?

Me: Almonds.

Charlie: Try some?

Me: No, love. These are not for babies. These are for grown-ups.

Charlie: Yeah.

(pause)

Charlie: Mommy eating grown-ups!

Unsolicited Parenting Advice #3

Several months ago, Charlie and I were enjoying a quiet evening at home listening to the rocking tunes of "The Terrible Twos." During the song, "If You Ever See An Owl," an owl hoots in the back ground. When the owl hooted, I reacted in a way that I thought was a jovial look of surprise. Turns out, it had the opposite effect and Charlie looked out the window in fright and burst into tears. For weeks he talked about that damn owl that his imagination decided lived in the tree outside and was going to peck his eyes out in his sleep or something.

More recently, Charlie is hyper-focused on things that are scary. He got scared of a dinosaur he saw on a show. At a farm, he was scared of a rooster crowing. They were justifiable reactions at the time but he talks about them nearly every day. It has been a learning process for us dealing with his knew found fear of things. I have no idea if we are handling it correctly but I am pretty confident I know what not to do if your child find themselves fearful of something:

1. Don't tell them things like, "You better behave or the owl will become very angry with you!!!"

2. Don't hide under his bed at night and growl like a dinosaur as he is falling asleep.

3. Don't purchase a rooster to use in lieu of an alarm clock.

What I have been trying to do is down play his comments about the "scary (fill in the blank)." Obviously, if he is visibly upset he gets as many snuggles as he needs. But, if he just mentions something being scary unprovoked, if appropriate I ignore it and change the subject or simply say, "No honey, it's not scary. I think roosters/dinosaurs/owls are nice." I only hope that I am minimizing instilling any unnecessary fear in him. Besides, if I am going to make him fearful of anything, it is going to over things that are worth it. Like large bodies of water, windowless vans and Fox news.

Unsolicited Parenting Advice #2

As if I didn't need another time suck in my life, I have now discovered Pinterest. It is a social networking site where you can create and share pin boards of basically anything you want. For example, crafts you will likely never do, clothes you can't afford and food you will probably never make. So it's like Facebook, but more depressing.

It is an amazing reference for ideas for the kiddos and even though I will never be the type of person who will make felted wine coasters or crochet my own jeggings, for Charlie, I am willing to do just about anything. Since you can never have too many fine motor activities for the the little ones (and it is always so lovely when they stand still) I had to try this:


Plastic strainer, pipe cleaners and a willing child. Done.


Please note: Make sure you stay close by during this activity. It doesn't take long for them to realize that these pipe cleaners will fit in other holes like, say, their ears.

And this will probably happen:



And then this:



And you know what I say to that? Quit crying to me kid, with your little hands and underdeveloped dexterity. Just figure it out. After all, those diamonds ain't gonna mine themselves. AMIRIGHT?

(Disclaimer: Child labor is not funny. Not now, not ever. However, having children to someday do chores for you while you sit on the couch and eat bon bons? HILARIOUS.)