Jake's Recipe for Salad Dressing

I don't need a recipe.

No offense to those who do like recipes. I have enjoyed many a meal that was prepared using precise measurements of this and that. But recipes are just so restrictive. When I go to work in the kitchen, I like to let the ingredients volunteer their services. Somethymes it seems that they know what I'm cooking and they call out to me. It's kind of like Obama's vision for volunteerism in America...

Anyway, my assignment for this year's feast was simple. I was to make a green salad and prepare a relish tray. Simple and easy... a little too easy. With some encouragement from Jenny I decided to complicate things a little by making a copycat of the Olive Garden salad dressing that we all love so much. She showed me a recipe online and I got the basic idea. A little oil, some lemon juice, some vinegar, diced garlic, a touch of parsley, a sprinkling of romano cheese, some pectin! Mix it all up in our handy dressing bottle and voile! It was ready to taste.

hawcht-patewy!! Something was wrong with this recipe. Not only did this dressing taste nothing like the OG, but it tasted nothing like anything good that I have ever had! Even Chef Boyardee would take offense at this Italian creation.

With my ghastly result in hand I paused in the kitchen to listen for which condiment or spice would call to me and volunteer their essence to salvage the dressing.

The first to pipe in was the ever-trusty sugar, everything is better with a touch of granulated goodness.

Slurp. hmm still too acidy.

If sugar doesn't work, what else could I use to tone down the acid?

At this point I remembered my chemistry, if something is acidic, why not just add a base to tone it down? Brilliant! I knew I went to college for a reason. I paused again, anxiously listening for an alkaline volunteer to make their services known. From the deepest, darkest corner of the pantry I heard a whisper, "come, try me". It was my long-lost friend Arm and Hammer, the perfect base to neutralize any excess acid.

Deja vu?? As I poured the first tablespoon of baking soda my mind flashed back to the days of my youth. It seemed I had done this before. Memories of baking soda, vinegar and closed containers flooded my memory as my dressing flooded out from the bottle. Quickly I tried to limit the spillage by replacing the lid to the jar. This action angered the baking soda and CO2 hissed its way through the lid. I gave up and just opened the lid as ghastly dressing sprayed all over my sweater, the wall, the freshly washed dishes, the counter and of course the floor!

Fortunately nobody was physically hurt, that's the most important thing. As for my trust of condiments and spices... well, let's just say I'll be a little more careful next time the Arm and Hammer calls out to me. That jokester.

Happy Ending

Monday I had a terrible day. I don't know if I remember all the details of why it was so terrible but I know it involved Madison not napping all day and discovering that the stroller was not in the trunk when I arrived at my doctors appointment (I had asked Jake to put in in before he left for class. It was in his trunk). Luckily some of the nurses helped me out and held Madison during the parts of the ob appointment that holding Madison would have been awkward. (Every appointment involves peeing in a cup and I wasn't about to let Madison run around on the bathroom floor, yucky). I initially was frustrated with Jake for forgetting the stroller however he completely redeemed himself at the end of the day. I wasn't feeling like eating much of what we had for dinner and I had been craving Olive Garden Salad and bread sticks. Jake without hesitation decided to do a late night Olive Garden to go run. I didn't even ask him to do it:) What a sweetie! Thanks Jake for putting up with my pregnancy mood swings and helping my bad day to have a happy ending.

T.P. Mischief

A few weeks ago Jake and I went down to Columbus, Ohio for a residency interview. They put us up in a really nice hotel. We didn't get the most restful nights sleep however because Madison was a little excited about being in a new place. Her lack of sleep resulted in a clingy moody baby the next morning until she found... the toilet paper roll. Back at home Madison always wanted to play with the toilet paper roll however I never let her go crazy with it for fear of the mess. Jake had left early that morning for his interview and I was desperate to have a few minutes to get dressed and put on some makeup. I was happy to have anything entertain her for a few moments. 1Here is a video of her moment of fun.

I'm debating?

Hello everyone! I know I just did a post about going private but now I am wondering if I should or not? Maybe you all can give me some feedback on what you think of private blogs. Here are the thoughts in my head. Some people say private blogs are a pain to view. However, the blogs of my friends that are private are not a pain to click on. Once I log in my computer recognizes my log in and there are not any extra steps when I click on their blog. So... maybe that isn't a problem. Also, I know it's fun to find old friends blogs. I have come into contact with a bunch of old friends through blogs and don't want to block old acquaintances from finding me... When you go private is there a way that people can put in their info. and you can give them access to your blog? I think I have seen links where you can do this I am just not sure how it works? I have a few other questions but that's good for now. Let me know what you think or if you have answers to some of my thoughts? Still leave your email in the below post, who knows what I will decide. Thanks for your input!

Time to Go Private

Tonight, after reading my sister's post I have decided that it is a good idea to change our blog to a private blog. She watched a news special where they talked about some of the dangers people have run into. Here is the link on the ksl website http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4699330 I know the cases of crazy people doing weird things are rare, but I don't want to risk it. We live in a crazy world! Peace of mind is better than worrying about all the weirdos out there. So...if you would please leave your email address in the comment section we will be happy to add you on our list.

Happy Halloween!

For our Halloween party at the church we decided to go with a western theme. Madison was our little moo cow! We had a fun Halloween! During the afternoon on the 31st Madison had her first experience with trick-or-treating. We took her to the shops in downtown Perrysburg where the kids can have lots of trick-or-treating during the warmer daylight hours. Jake trained her well to pick out the Reeses (one of Jake's favorites) since all Madison would be eating were the animal crackers. I am sure next year Jake won't be able to eat all of Madison's candy:)