Monday, September 29, 2008

Let's cook, and eat shrimp!

MINNEAPOLIS -- Coleman family insiders were stunned Sunday night when Cate Coleman ate shrimp, for reportedly the first time in her life.

Coleman, 35, partook of the seafood dish as part of a Coleman family outing to Let's Cook, a store near downtown Minneapolis that offers cooking classes and events for groups. Mom volunteers there for other people's classes and brought the group of family adults down for a private class, focused on handmade pasta.

The shrimp was an hors d'oeuvre.

"Once I got past what it looked like, I tried it and it actually tasted good," she explained later in the evening.

Cate has actually cooked shrimp before, for me, as I was the only one in the family who would eat it. But she has often expressed a desire to not be able to recognize her food when it's on her plate, if you know what I mean, and a cooked shrimp is shaped a lot like the thing it used to be.

During the evening, she also tried the spinach filling for tortellini. And there were other things but I don't remember what she tasted at the table.

It was a fun evening, kneading dough, cutting it into strips and forming it into shapes, or tortellini, or ravioli ... man, getting hungry just thinking about it again. The chef had some incredible sauces to serve with the various pasta. Cate did draw the plain pasta, while other Colemans made tomato-flavored pasta and spinach pasta, but it was neat to knead the dough and roll it out, etc.

Plus, it was just nice to get out without the kids.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Took him out to the ballgame

Very soon after we got here, Elizabeth and I went to a Twins game. Well, Robert has been dying to go to one ever since, and last night we finally had the chance.

It was a great night to take a 6-year-old boy to the game. The fan activities outside the Metrodome were right up his alley -- he got to get his blood pumping on the moon bounce and throw baseballs at a catcher's mitt target. We'd got too late of a start to ride the train to the game but he still got to watch some go by.

He had gotten a brand-new Justin Morneau shirt for the occasion, with the birthday money his aunt and uncle sent him back in June.

The stadium was packed, boisterous and excited and the game matched it. The Twins fell behind 6-1 but rallied to tie it in the eighth and win it in the 10th, sweeping a three-game series from the White Sox.

As we filed out of the stadium, fans were chanting Sweep!
Sweep! Sweep!

Robert didn't understand most of it but he knew we were having a good time. And even though his cough nearly overtook him around the eighth inning, he made it through the whole game. And he never once asked when we were going home. He didn't ask for every food item that came down the aisle. And we took care of each other just fine.

It was the kind of game I'd hope a 6-year-old could remember deep into adulthood. I remember my first game as an extra-inning game between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles at Memorial Stadium in 1979, at the same age. This isn't Robert's first game -- not even his first this year -- but it's clearly the most memorable. Heck, I think it may be the most memorable baseball game I've ever been to. And I've been to a few, including playoff games.

Plus we met an interesting couple next to us -- they both used to work for Gannett (USA Today's parent company) and attended a D-III school. He's still a journalist and she is a singer.

There aren't that many degrees of separation around here! Minneapolis has a real small-town character every so often.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Reading together

Sometimes siblings can do things together...

a) quietly, like reading a book they both like

and

2) without poking each other in the eye or complaining about what the other one is doing (or not doing, as the case may be).

Refreshing. And worth documenting here.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

More house hunting

We're beginning to get this real estate thing down to a pattern. (I'll avoid the term science.) We did a handful of open houses this morning and afternoon and here's how it goes.

Cate has been researching real estate in the Twin Cities for about two years, so she has the sites down. She had a list of open houses with times. All five of us descend on the house (when we're all available) with instructions to not talk about anything we see out loud in front of anyone else. Then we meet in the backyard and discuss what we liked.

We save three today and only one even remains on the list.

Elizabeth takes copious notes. Here's her notes on one house we saw this afternoon.

tree shutters - dark green
birches
playground
small forest
mudroom window
playhouse
ferns pines
white fence
slanted wall, small living room
lots of windows
window seat
dark color
brick white
fireplace
striped dining room
kitchen tile
lots of cabinets
porch into eat-in kitchen
electric stove
closets
light green
red stairs down
carving stairs
up porch
green bathroom - tiles - down
screen door
different type wood floors
nice downstairs
horrid laundry room wallpapers
cool exercise room/bath
closet
side yards
window boxes

It's an odd little house, a cottage that had an attached garage which was turned into living space. There is indeed a porch off what could be the biggest bedroom, upstairs, but the chimney sticks up through the middle of it and there's no place to actually fit a bed.

Another house got marked down for the following: creaky stairs, not in good shape floors, old metal awning, metal fence, loud neighbors. Oh, and no dining room.

This could take a while.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Bed check

It's 7:45 p.m. (Central) Do you know where your kids are?

Elizabeth is sewing a Civil war cap so she can better put herself in the role of Confederate spy for a creative writing
assignment. Unfortunately the hat was put away by the time I got the camera out.

Robert is obviously not ready to settle down yet. He was coming down the stairs because he saw two stars that were "awesome" and wanted to share.

Colleen is asleep. She had a long day playing with Amelia, shopping/walking with Nonna, making pie crust, and sliding down hills. There's not enough stain remover in the world for that particular hobby.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

I thought we had a few years yet

Robert has been missing his piggy bank, which is one of 14.5 gazillion things still in storage. So when Cate saw apple juice in a glass bottle at the bagel place where we met for lunch today, she snapped it up. Colleen drank the juice and Cate washed it out and presented it to him.

She also gave him all of her change. Robert didn't think it was enough, however.

He asked Cate, "Do you have any more coins for my bank?"

Cate responded: "What you see in there is all my money. I don't have any more."

Robert asked if she thought I had any money, and Cate said she would check.

"How will you ask him?" Robert queried, and Cate responded that she would ask if I had any change for Robert's piggy bank.

"Mom, don't ask him like that." As in Mom, you must be the stupidest person in the world.

"Say, 'Dad, can I have your wallet?' "

Monday, September 15, 2008

Being social

Sunday was a banner day for us being out and about. Neil, Alicia and Amelia came over for brunch, which Cate and Elizabeth assembled this morning. (Some yummy leftovers for me to take to work.) Neil and I watched the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Vikings game with Robert while the female set went for a walk/bike ride.

In the evening, we met neighbors. A woman around the corner who has kids at our bus stop took note of the fact that there are a lot of new families in the neighborhood with young kids and invited us and three other couples over for dinner. There were eight kids playing in the house (and upstairs, and outside on the trampoline) as well as two newborns who mostly slept. It was nice to actually meet some other people, all of whom are going through or have recently gone through some of the same things we are: moving into a new neighborhood, picking houses, scouting out schools, etc.

We may emerge from our shell yet.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Elizabeth goes green

Elizabeth has taken the fate of the earth into her own hands... er, feet. She will be joining her friends on Monday as they bike 8 blocks to her school. As long as the weather stays cool instead of frigid, she'll get plenty of exercise and fresh air.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Local climate change

Clearly, we were aware that it would be cooler here than in the Washington area, and that it would get cold sooner, etc. As we pull out the long-sleeved shirts for the kids ... and the rest of us ... it seems to be turning cooler even sooner than one would expect.

Case in point -- this week I am beginning to get my fall allergies. (Or my fall cold, perhaps.)

Usually I get them in mid-October.

So for this week, I'm a bass. Or a baritone. Cate isn't feeling well either. In fact, she fell asleep early and since I was at choir practice, Elizabeth (bless her) put Colleen to sleep.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Don't ask about No. 3

Robert, of course, has been adjusting not only to a new home and a new school but also going to school for the full day for the first time, going from half-day kindergarten to first grade.

When you ask what his favorite part of school is, the answer is what you'd expect: recess. But his second-favorite?

"Nothing."

Oh well.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Take that!

I realized this afternoon that I still have the weather button on my Google toolbar set to pull the current temperature for the 20164 zip code.

I chuckled when I saw the temperature in the 20164 was 91 degrees. Here in the 55410 it was a cool 62!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

First Day, Part 2

As Robert was taking off his shoes following his first full day of school, he said "I missed you, Colleen. But Mommy, I missed you most of all." What a heartbreaker.

Then came time to bounce off the walls. Poor Robert was so excited he just couldn't sit still. He was running in circles and twirling in the kitchen. Elizabeth was slightly more subdued, talking about what she needed to bring in the next day (including a permission slip for a field trip to The River in a couple of weeks).

Although they didn't do much on their first day, they had a good time, made some friends and there were no complaints when Day 2 rolled around. Success.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

What happened?

Earlier this afternoon, Colleen had her first experience with an Oreo cookie in quite some time. After eating two of them, she took a look at her hands and said, "I'm dirty, I have to wash my hands!"

Cate explained to her that it was cookie dust (and therefore, quite edible).

Colleen reiterated that a hand-washing would be required, thank you very much, so they went downstairs to wash. As Cate was helping her dry her hands, she said, "Colleen, do you want to see something really cool?"

Colleen: "Yes!"

Cate lifted Colleen up so she could see her face in the mirror, and she caught sight of her face -- covered in Oreo crumbs, from eyebrows to chin, covering both cheeks. She said: "What. Happened?"

That, my friends, is the result of a 3-year-old and two Oreo cookies.

First Day, Part 1

The weather report mentioned "tropical humidity" this morning and the kids wanted to know what that meant. I told them it was going to rain today. Sooner rather than later, it turns out.

We were all gathered, introducing ourselves (two other girls at the stop are in Elizabeth's class - one recognized her from the Open House), and then the clouds let loose, soaking us to the skin. At least this gives them plenty of conversation starters on their way to school. Also, the bus arrived empty so they will be spared that sick feeling of asking a stranger if this seat is taken.