Sunday Burritos

I made burritos for lunch because they are fast. Anthony often made them for Sunday lunch after church when we were dating. We just used canned beans then. This time I used pre-soaked and cooked dried beans. After pre-soaking the beans for 6-8 hours, and cooking them, they were still not soft the way we like them. Anthony said something about that you have to cook them for 6-8 hours after soaking them 6-8 hours. Wow. Until I do all that, given the electric bill after such an extensive process, I wonder if it would be cheaper to just buy canned beans . . . Or, I suppose I could get a pressure cooker . . . 

Baby Shastya's New Books:)

A nice lady stopped me at church this morning to tell me she had a baby gift for Shastya! The lady said her kids had helped her pick out all the books for Shastya! Shastya loves baby books, and is already so excited about this gift.

 

 

Fabulous Shari's Fish Stroganoff

I gave Anthony a list of options for supper: fish tacos, cauliflower and potato curry, or pasta with tomato sauce and side salads . . . He said, "beef stroganoff!" I said we didn't have any beef. He said, "fish stroganoff." I was like, "okay!" I looked at a few recipes online, but they called for mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, and sour cream. I did not have any of those ingredients. I just created my own recipe.

Fabulous Shari's Fish Stroganoff:

1. Bring water to a boil. Cook egg noodles and 1 haddock filet in the hot water on medium heat for 8 minutes.

2. Saute 2 little onions and a baby garlic bulb in 1/4 cup of water on high heat. Add black pepper.

3. Combine onions & garlic mixture with the fish and noodles mixture. Add 1/4 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of Chobani yogurt to pot. Salt to taste. Mix. Serve.

(EndNote: About the title . . . I asked Anthony what he thought of me naming this post "Shari's Fabulous Fish Stroganoff." He said I should name it "Fabulous Shari." Lol. So I named it "Fabulous Shari's Fish Stroganoff.")

Bengali Fish Curry

I bought some fish, haddock at the store for something different today. I was planning to make fish tacos, but Anthony asked if I could make fish curry. I thought that sounded like a great idea! I looked online for a recipe and found Yummly's Bengali Fish Curry. I made that. We really liked the recipe. It was fast and easy. I served the fish curry over rice.

A Beautiful Weekend For A Picnic At The SC Botanical Gardens

On this beautiful weekend, baby Shastya and I returned to the lovely SC Botanical Gardens. This time Daddy accompanied us. We took a picnic lunch consisting of peanut butter and apple jelly sandwiches, and water. We picnicked on a bench overlooking the pond. Shastya was able to pinch off a couple handfuls of my sandwich before I could stop her! We were not the only ones out at the gardens picnicking. We saw many other families enjoying food and the local gardens while we there.

Shastya Baby Foodie: Blackberry Oatmeal

The Stromboli Torpedo

I gave Anthony some options for dinner, and he chose stromboli. Our one of a kind stromboli torpedo was loaded with all sorts of secret ingredients including the fact that I used bread flour in my dough this time. I will be doing that again. I also saute my pepperonis, onions, and bell peppers, which was a nice touch. I used cheddar and provolone for my cheeses. I heated our tomato dipping sauce on the stove at the request of Anthony. The sauce also had peppers and onions in it. The stromboli and sauce were a smashing hit and success! 

The New Favorite

We had Indian Cauliflower Curry twice this week. We didn't mind "one bit" having it twice. I think cauliflower curry must be a new favorite of ours! I'm glad it's a healthy new favorite.

Untimely Circumstances at the SC Botanical Gardens

Shastya and I went on a trip to the SC Botanical Gardens. I didn't take my tablet with me, and that is what I usually use to take pictures with. I missed the opportunity to capture the essence of Spring on camera. I was "kicking myself" after I realized I hadn't brought it. The flowers and scenery were so Spring: the dogwoods, the camellias, the azaleas! Alas, maybe another day I can get some pictures of the flowering trees and bushes. Further, I also do not have photographs to make it quite evident that the stories I am about to tell actually took place, but that is a good thing.

Anyway, when I arrived at the gardens, I got Shastya loaded into the stroller, and headed off to the bathrooms. The sign on the bathroom building had two pictures on it: a woman and a man. The woman was on the left, and the man was on the right. So I turned left and hauled the stroller with baby Shastya in it into the bathroom.

Once we were all the way in the bathroom, walking past the sink, then the urinal . . . towards the stall . . . it occurred to me, "Ah, we're in the men's bathroom!" But did I mention, it was kind of a trick to even get the stroller in the bathroom. I wasn't going anywhere, not even to the women's bathroom. I had needed to find a bathroom, and we had found one. I maneuvered the jogging stroller into the stall . . . we finished, and were about to leave. Suddenly I heard footsteps . . . I saw two suede tan shoes appear in front of the urinal, next to our stall! I was thinking, "Ahh! you've got be kidding me." Then I got my phone out in case anything went amiss . . . The stranger left. We hurried out a minute later.

After walking the gardens for some time, I percieved one tall, lofty, dogwood tree that was particularly stunning. The tree's bright white petals were gleaming magnificently in the sunlight above the trail, against the backdrop of a Carolina blue sky. I stopped, turned the stroller so Shastya could get a good look at the tree too! I said something about, "See, God made that, He made you, and He made everything beautiful, but then . . ." I was going to go on telling her more, but she started crying.

A short while later as we were walking down a pine needle trail along the pond, we saw a lady and a little girl. I was excited because Shastya is a very social baby and loves seeing people and little children. I had just smiled at the people, when a snake, a real live snake showed up in between the four of us to be social. The little girl started walking towards it with her hand outstretched towards it. The snake was dark-colored and its tail started rattling.  I jumped back with my stroller, and mentioned that the snake's tail was rattling. The other woman didn't look concerned and said it was a garden snake. I hoped and prayed it was since the little girl was headed towards it. I just said I didn't like any kind of snakes and turned around and went back the way I had come.

We walked around some more, and then it was time to go home. When we were pulling out of the parking lot, turning onto the road, a bright cobalt blue sedan about sideswiped our car. The cobalt car had been parked at the end of the parking lot where there are no parking spaces. The car had been parked perpendicular to the road. My car had perpendicularly approached the sitting blue car. I turned left and paralleled the blue car before passing it and heading toward the road on a two-way driveway. Without warning the blue car started suddenly and headed for the road. There wasn't enough room for my car and the other car, it surely would have sideswiped me as it "made for" the road. I'm not sure what reality the other driver was living in at that moment, but I laid on my horn and brought the other driver back to the present!

Such adventures Shastya and I have . . . Overall, we had a very nice stroll in the woods, and in the sunshine. I am sure Shastya and I will return to SC Botanical Gardens before long. When we do, I hope to share photos from the gardens.

Shastya's Misadventures

Yesterday we got up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready for baby Shastya bear's 7:45 a.m. cardiologist(heart doctor) appointment in Anderson, SC. We did not get home from it until 12 or 1 in the afternoon! Everyone at the office was amazing: the doctor, the secretary, the first nurse . . . but then we met a second nurse . . .

At the doctor's office, baby Shastya was so well behaved, just smiling away, and being a very social baby. The first nurse could not believe how good Shastya was, getting all rigged up with 8-9 stickers and wiring all over her. After the EKG, our little sweetheart had to have her blood pressure taken three times because the machine was doing funny. During all this, baby Shastya just enjoyed the toy that the first nurse (the nice nurse) had given her. This very kind lady had been a nurse for 40 years, we discovered after talking. She had grand kids of her own, and she had a great way with kids.

The doctor came in and was very good with children as well. Next, we were sent a couple paces across the hall for another test for baby Shastya. The room was very dark. We were ordered by a second nurse to put the baby on the table. I was trying to get the rest of the EKG stickers off of Shastya, but the mean nurse just said, "here, I can get them," and pulled them off of Shastya. Before I could hardly even take-in what was going on the nurse had stuffed Shastya legs under a white sheet, and pinned Shastya's arms at her sides under some other white sheets. I don't see how the nurse even had enough hands to do all that so fast. She totally freaked Shastya out. Poor little Shastya started rearing her back and going ballistic.

I told the nurse that baby Shastya was scared of the dark. I asked the nurse if I could take Shastya out in the light for a minute to calm her down. The nurse said we had to get on with the test, and asked me to hold baby Shastya down . . . Obviously, that did not go very well. About this time, Anthony returned. I asked him to hold Shastya down. He did. But then the nurse still didn't do the utrasound. She said she couldn't do it with the baby crying. She was telling us we needed to control our baby/ keep her from crying. We said that it was way past the baby's nap time, and that that would probably not be possible. The nurse said we could try to get the baby to sleep a few doors down the hall in an office, and bring her back for the test when she was asleep. We thought we would give that a try . . .

Anthony rocked baby Shastya to sleep, but then she woke up maybe ten minutes later. We were both wondering why the nurse wanted the baby to go to sleep in the first place. Even if the baby was asleep, she would wake up as soon as we laid her on her back. She usually sleeps on her stomach. And, if being on her back did not wake her up, as soon as the nurse put the gel on her and started the test, we knew baby Shastya would start screaming if awoken from sleep in that way . . .

Anthony decided to run to the store for some baby formula since we had been at the cardiologist's office for hours and Shastya was going to get hungry. He also picked up some bagels for me and himself as provisions for our all-day Anderson misadventure. Meanwhile, the mean nurse kept taking other patients for ultrasounds while waiting for baby Shastya to go to sleep.

We decided to go out and wait back in the waiting room where there was more light and lots of toys and distractions for Shastya. Once we did so, Shastya made friends with another child, a parent, and the secretary while we were out there. Shastya was smiling, laughing, and being a little sweetheart. At one point the mean nurse came over and said something to the secretary. Baby Shastya momentarily started, and cried a little before the mean nurse left. I think baby Shastya heard the nurse and that that is why she started crying  . . .

Finally, the mean nurse said she would try to do the test on Shastya again even though baby wasn't asleep. We went back to the dark room. This time the nurse said she could turn the light on for a minute if that would help. Shastya was all happy in the bright room. Then the nurse looked at her sternly and said sharply, "Are you going to behave now?" The nurse's face and words terrified little Shastya, and she burst into tears. Further, the nurse also said something again that she had said earlier, "she's a three year old in a baby's body (referring to Shastya)." At this Shastya got mad, and started crying irately. Baby Shastya is a person. She knows when someone is being mean/ misbehaving. Each time the nurse said her little ditty about Shastya being a 3 year old in a baby's body I thought, "Well, you're a three year old in an adult's body!" But I didn't say anything.

The nice nurse came in at that point and said something to the mean nurse about maybe she (the mean nurse) would still have time to go to lunch after all. At this point, it occurred to me that the mean nurse probably did want to go to lunch, and that maybe she didn't know that it was her fault all this was taking so long.

Trying to be nice, and trying to help the situation, I said to the mean nurse, "I think baby Shastya is scared of you. Maybe if you could just smile at her, she'll know everything is okay." Then the mean nurse started being nice to Shastya, the test went well, and we were done! Unbelievable.

Hardly missing a beat, the mean nurse said: "time for the next victim . . . The next victim is a four year old. A four year old after the three year old(referring to Shastya) . . ."

Anthony ended up missing one of his classes during all this. On the way home I mentioned something to Anthony about the nurse being paid too much to act like that. Anthony and I didn't think she was good with kids at any rate.

French Toast From Bread Machine Bread

Anthony said his family used to make bread in the bread machine sometimes for the express purpose of making french toast with the freshly baked bread. I decided to give that a try. I am now a fan of french toast from bread machine bread.