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Mark Madoff's Widow

I finished this today. I didn't contribute a penny to the widow of Bernie Madoff's son. I simply donated a dollar to the public library so they would hold the book for me, once it was returned.

It was a quick read. I mean we are talking me and this book was less than 300 pages.

What did I learn? Bernie Madoff is a thief and has no remorse. His wife, Ruth Madoff, is a clueless and meek excuse at best. Stephanie Madoff Mack fell in love with Mark Madoff and will continue to pay a price, that no one could ever imagine, for the rest of her life. On display is family dysfunction at its best, but ultimately nothing earth shattering. I mean the media and tabloids have shared it all in detail. While she forgives her husband for taking his life and paints him in the best light possible, she uses the book to trash almost everyone with the last name Madoff that she came in contact with.

Read this if you are curious, but there really is not any earth shattering information that makes it a must read.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuna Croquettes

I made these for dinner tonight.

Tuna Croquettes
~ Alton Brown ~

Ingredients:

1 (7-ounce) pouch albacore tuna, drained well and shredded by hand I used canned, drained it, and broke it up with a fork.

2 green onions, chopped fine I left these out, I don't like them.

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs, divided

Olive oil, for sauteing

Directions:

Place the tuna, onions, mustard, eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs into a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine. Divide the mixture into 8 rounds and set aside on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Allow to rest for 15 minutes. Place the remaining bread crumbs into a pie plate. One at a time, coat each round in the panko on all sides. I used a normal sized ice cream scoop to portion mine, making them larger and having less than 8. Only Chris and I eat them anyway.

Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the croquettes and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack set over a half sheet pan lined with paper towels. Allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving. I ended up cooking longer than 2-3 minutes for them to be golden brown.

Resting on the parchment waiting to be coated in Panko.

Panko bath

Sauteing. That is a 10-inch pan so you can tell that mine are crab cake size. I used a large can of tuna so I had to use an additional 1/2 portion of all the ingredients.

Chilling on the rack.

Ready to eat. Chris dipped in tartar sauce, I used cocktail sauce. Super easy and super yummy!

The Boy Who Loves Electrical Cords

To know Kade, is to know that he loves an electrical cord. He doesn't plug them into the outlets because they are baby proofed, but give him a box of electrical cords and he will be entertained for hours. Take them away and he will be upset and start crying. He will eventually settle, but if you've told him they had to go to sleep, he will wake up the next morning and talk about the cords until you produce them.

Last weekend, while working on the playhouse with his Dad, Chris set him up with a shop light. This was like gold. Surprisingly he never got burned, like I did as a child, because he kept turning it on and off and carried it around for hours. The day ended and he was not upset about the light going to sleep because he had dropped it and the bulb had broken. So instead of asking repeatedly for the light, he would tell you that it was broken and Daddy has to get a new one.

So Chris came home with this:

Clearly we do not need to buy him a birthday present anymore. You can tell by his face how happy he is. Surprisingly, it doesn't get hot on the metal like the old ones did. Clearly some designer got smart. However, it is still blinding. How lucky we all are, because Kade doesn't want it in his face, so it ends up in ours!

Playhouse Progress

It has been awhile. I know. Chris has been busy and the small amount of time he has spent here and there on the construction has not been photo/update worthy. Yet then he had a couple days off and look what happened:

Yes, that is a deck off the upper floor. Yes, it makes me nervous. No, I do not think the railing is tall enough when I have a boy who loves to climb. Yes, gone are the days of letting him go play outside by himself. Yes, he has already stood on the chair and table that are on the deck, making him taller than the railing. No, Nurse Claire has not seen it yet. Yes, Nurse Claire is going to become extremely nervous over the development.

Early Valentine Treat

I am a sucker for a red velvet anything. This is when all counting of calories goes out the door. I won't make anything red velvet at home without others to eat it, because it would be disaster.

Chris worked longer hours than normal (for the winter season) at the end of January, because they had to move out of a storage warehouse. I knew it was temporary and I'm used to the restaurant business hours, so I didn't complain. I just felt bad that he was running himself down.

So imagine my surprise and gratefulness when he came home with these:

This is a red velvet cupcake from Susie Cakes. They are by far the BEST. Sprinkles is nothing in comparison. Notice how the frosting goes down into the center of the cupcake. Genius. The Beachcomber used to use Susie Cakes for it's chocolate cake until they finished building the larger kitchen. Thank goodness or I might have never made the discovery!

Chris brought these home for the kids. Kendall had already claimed hers, yet she only liked the butter cream frosting on the inside. When she found out Kiley and Kade didn't want theirs, she wanted to lick these two free of their frosting, but at $3 a cookie I wouldn't let her. I ate them instead and they were oh so good.

Just a small list of Susie Cakes' Valentine's offerings. I think they might even ship. Otherwise if you aren't in California, you are out of luck!

Today's Discovery

Today I discovered why people decide to only have one child and some no children.

HOMEWORK

Yes, it is that simple. Yes, I am a credentialed teacher.

I have never liked homework. While I see the importance in some, it's the obvious busy work that irritates the heck out of me.

Kendall had massive amounts of busy work at her old school. The new school has been wonderful. It is just the right amount to reinforce the daily lesson without it becoming any form of busy work.

Then Kiley started Kindergarten. They receive weekly homework, which is not bad at all and totally manageable. Then the teacher started sending home monthly math homework.

Here is December's:

If this doesn't constitute busy work, I don't know what does. It is just something else we have to get done along with the already 5 pages of combined math and writing that come home. The idea is to do one a day I suppose, but it's irritating. January's had probably 15 questions that required no recording of an answer on paper. Guess who skipped those. Yes, I am a bad role model. I have three kids, I don't have time for nonsense. I don't think it's important that my kid walk around the house looking for and counting rectangles, door knobs, or sinks! January had a question that asked them to grab a handful of beans and put them in groups of ten and then record how many they have. I should have written zero because we have no beans, but I just made an answer up! I was pretty close to visiting the principal and asking if she sees any worth in this, but decided to just bite my tongue and skip all the ones that don't require an answer to be recorded!

I have many credentialed teacher friends who agree with me on this. They run the range of elementary to high school teachers. I know there are some old school parents that expect their kids to have a decent amount of homework and some older teachers that still believe in busy work. I might still be in the minority, but I'm hopeful that the trend will change.

Photo Finds

Tuna Casserole

Chris is a big casserole fan. That was until we discovered that he was allergic to MSG. Most casseroles ask for Campbell's Cream soup. All of those soups have MSG. So I went searching on www.foodnetwork.com to find a recipe that he could enjoy. I found a winner!

Tuna Casserole

~ Ellie Krieger ~

Serves 6 (2.5 cups per serving)

Directions:


This is a surprisingly low fat version of the classic tuna casserole you grew up with. You make your own creamy mixture, which replaces the high-fat condensed soup in the original version. Fresh bread crumbs toast right on top of the casserole
Ingredients:

5 slices whole-wheat bread, crusts included I used Panko crumbs
1 tablespoon canola oil (I used olive oil)
1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 large stalk celery, finely diced (about 1/2 cup) Left out, Chris hates celery
1 (10-ounce) box white mushroom, stemmed and chopped (about 2 1/2 cups) I used 8 oz. carton
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups 1 percent milk
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 pound whole-wheat fettuccine noodles, broken into thirds and cooked according to package directions
1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped broccoli, thawed left out, guess who doesn't like broccoli
1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas, thawed left out 
4 (6-ounce) cans chunk light tuna in water, drained

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place bread in food processor and pulse for 30 seconds into bread crumbs (makes about 2 1/2 to 3 cups crumbs).

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until onions are soft and translucent, 8 minutes. Add celery and cook, stirring, until just tender, 6 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms release their water, 5 to 7 minutes. Add flour all at once and stir immediately and vigorously with a wooden spoon until flour is completely incorporated into vegetable mixture until there are no flour lumps. Add milk and broth, stir to combine and bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to a vigorous simmer and cook, stirring, until liquid has thickened and reduced by about 1/2 cup, 7 to 8 minutes. Add salt and pepper and stir to combine. Combine cooked pasta, vegetable-liquid mixture, broccoli, peas and tuna and toss to incorporate. Pour into a 9 by 13-inch casserole. Top with bread crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes, or until crumbs are golden brown and toasted.

Per Serving:

Calories 500; Total Fat 7 g; (Sat Fat 1.5 g, Mono Fat 2 g, Poly Fat 1 g) ; Protein 49 g; Carb 56 g; Fiber 11 g; Cholesterol 75 mg; Sodium 990 mg
Excellent source of: Protein, Fiber, Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin C, Folate, Vitamin K, Calcium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Phosphorus, Selenium
Good source of: Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc

 Fresh out of the oven!

Yum!

Read It

I've been looking for something to read since I finished the Steve Jobs book. Last night I started looking on amazon.com and then this morning I found two things I wanted to read. I'd like to read the biography that Bernie Madoff's Daughter In Law wrote. However I will not buy that because I will not give any of those people any money. Thus I reserved it at the library. It will cost me a dollar, but it goes to the library.

In the meantime I needed something to read so I settled on True Colors by Kristin Hannah. After reading a couple of her books I stumbled upon this one and the synopsis caught my eye. So did the $2.99 download to my iPhone via Kindle. Yes, I am cheap and yes, I did read the entire thing on my iPhone.

So I started reading this about 8am this morning and could not put it down. Actually, I put it down to deal with the needs of children and to go to the grocery store and pick up lunch. I finished this 541 page book at 5pm tonight. I know I'm nuts. It's OK, I'm a quick reader as long as it's interesting and isn't required reading for say a college course.

This is one to read. It follows the lives of three sisters and all the twists and turns of true love and forgiveness and the complexity of that in a family that has many scars hidden beneath the surface. I won't give you any more information, just if you are looking for an easy and well-written read this is one to try!