Grillin' with Grands

It's way too late in the evening to think of anything clever but I wanted to share the latest photo (taken by Uncle Neil) of the kids. Here are Pat and Donna with their four grandchildren. We had a great visit last weekend. Good food, good company.

A birthday for Robert

We had friends over to celebrate Robert's birthday today, and although it was the first rainy day in six weeks, we grilled anyway.

Cate had already come up with the idea of doing pizzas on the grill, and although I had never attempted such a thing, we went for it. The Taste section in Thursday's Star Tribune wrote about making pizza on the grill, too, so it seems we weren't the only ones thinking about it.

Cate and my mom assembled this massive list of possible toppings: Pepperoni, chicken, homemade Italian sausage, Neil's fresh basil, tomatoes, mushrooms, black olives, peach chutney, anchovies, roasted garlic, hummus. Then, all of these grilled vegetables: red peppers, poblano peppers, scallions, red onion, leeks and pineapple. Also, fresh and shredded mozzarella, and tomato sauce.

Process was a little slow, but basically every pizza came out great. It was a cold, wet day outside and we went four kids pizzas at a time, then two individual grown-up pizzas at once. Neil was in charge of rolling out dough and I was in charge of grilling. Guests were in charge of selecting their own toppings and for the most part, I assembled them and cooked them. We had the grill on fairly low, cooked the crust for 4-5 minutes, flipped and put the toppings on, then cooked until the cheese melted.

It was nearly two hours in front of the grill, all told. And I saw some great combinations of toppings go by. Elizabeth had black olives, red peppers, pineapple and red onions. I saw something with sausage, chicken, basil, tomatoes, a veggie or two and just a sprinkling of cheese. A handful without tomato sauce. Just cool stuff. We would definitely do this again. (Ryan's photos included here.)

And when the group got big and involved some newcomers, we went with name tags. Ryan's girlfriend and her daughter were there, as well as friends of ours that hadn't been exposed to the whole group yet. People were named, and most of them labeled. To wit:

Robert: Birthday boy
Cate: Patrick's wife, Birthday boy's mom
Elizabeth: Robert's awesome sister
Colleen: (Not sure, though she is certainly awesome as well.)
Mom: Nonna, mother of the brood
Neil: Neil
Alicia: Alicia
Amelia: Mom Alicia, Dad Neil
Ryan: I don't know, but I later saw it stuck on his forehead.
Jennifer: Colleen's godmother
Kyle: Belongs to Jennifer (I hear Jennifer wrote this)
Cate: Just the first and last name
Max: Just the first and last name
Carrie: Friend of Patrick (the world-traveling soprano -- my label, not theirs)
Charley: Journalist (I didn't write this personally but when I refer to Carrie and Charley around the house it's as "our soprano and journalist friends")
Lindsey: Lindsey
Jazmine: Jaz, Jazzy

Robert received cool stuff, a couple of things which I'll spotlight: Finally, his own poncho, which Cate crocheted for him; a kite from the Jensens (he has been dying to fly a kite for a long time); bases for the backyard from Ryan; a crocheted creation from Neil and Alicia; a crystal mining set from Nonna and Da.

And no pony, no moon bounce, no Chuck-E Cheese, great 7-year-old birthday. Thanks, all, for coming and sharing an otherwise dreary day with us!

Happy Birthday, Amelia!

We had about 30 people here today for Amelia's first birthday party. While I'm sure this will be covered in more depth on Baby 365 at some point soon, I'll just say we all had a great time. (In fact, new photo at Baby 365 now.)

She didn't go face-first into the cake, or throw food all over the place, or anything like that. She didn't pitch a fit or get overly tired at the gigantic pile of presents.

I've seen football games with fewer cameras than this birthday party. Neil counted nine cameras at one point during the present opening, not counting cell phones. I posted two photo galleries on Facebook with many more photos, including shots of ... the shots.

Cate and Elizabeth's present was a big hit with the adults. Amelia, of course, didn't seem nearly as interested in the doll (which Cate crocheted, with accessories crocheted by Elizabeth) as she was in the box that it came in. But while I could try to describe all the steps and all the work that was involved, I couldn't possibly do it justice. Hopefully Cate will elaborate.

Colleen, Amelia's Aunt McKenzie and her second cousin, Nina, were among the hits of the party. Colleen is about to turn 4, Nina is 5 and McKenzie is 6.

Oh, and after everyone left, Amelia took her first steps. Great day for all.

Ever made 60 pounds of sausage?

Yeah, I hadn't either, not until yesterday. I'd been in the house when such projects were being undertaken, but one of the things about being gone for 18 years was missing sausage day. But just take five Colemans, 60 pounds of pork shoulder butt ($1.45 a pound, I believe), a bunch of spices, some ancient equipment and sausage, and voila, six hours later, you have authentic Italian sausage.

And sore shoulders. Not the pig's.

It started with cutting up pork, 10 pounds at a time, trimming the fat and cutting the meat into pieces small enough to fit into the grinder. (Neil demonstrates, above.)

The pork gets ground into chunks. Not exactly ground beef, mind you, but small enough to fit into the sausage casing, of course. I did a lot of the grinding and was more or less cutting pork the rest of the time, so I don't have pictures of that grinding process.

The ground pork is mixed with the spices, which you can see Mom doing in the sink. The spices were measured out and chopped up in the blender, then mixed by hand. With one batch, we got to the bottom of the bowl and saw a lot of spices at the bottom, which prompted us to pull as much pork as we could back out of the packing mechanism and respice it.

If you get that batch, lucky you, very hot.

Very important: Each of the batches must have a small part grilled up and tested for proper spiciness. As a teenager, that was my favorite part of the process, and about the only part I participated in.

The grinder attachment is then removed and a funnel attached. The sausage casing is ... let's say threaded onto the end of the funnel, using a technique that you might be familiar with if you took health class in a public school, and pushed out into the casing.

It's then parceled out into one-pound increments, wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil, and sent to the freezer, where it sits for anywhere from weeks to months to years before being consumed.

Let's be honest, that's a lot of pork, and nobody needs that much fat, right? Each of the kids got four pounds to take home, and since none of us has anyone else to share them with, it should last for a while.

Plus, it'll only get spicier the longer it stays in the freezer.

Oh yeah, and then Neil cooked dinner. But he'll do his own PR. He doesn't need my help.

Where were the kids through all this? Blissfully ignorant and entertained: Nanny sent Legos, 40 various people with their attachments, from rakes to ray guns. Hours upon hours upon hours of fun.

Merry Christmas from the Colemans

All in all, it was a pretty good Christmas round these parts. We're all here, all doing well.

Last night we had dinner at my cousin Chris' house, with many, many people we'd never met and a handful of people we had. The kids had fun playing with their Miller cousins, and everyone marveled at the cookies that Cate made. She's been baking up a storm the past few weeks, first for a choir bake sale and secondly for, well, this. I've had trouble keeping away from them, to be honest. Stupid cookies!

Elizabeth was up late with Cate finishing up a project -- a gift for Amelia, their favorite cousin -- even after I got home from Midnight Mass. Of course, Midnight Mass was at 10 p.m. We didn't have anything that required assembly this year, but a lot of gifts to wrap, and I had a lot of those on my plate this year. So for those of you who got inexpertly wrapped presents ... uhh, sorry.

This morning nobody came into the bedroom before 7 a.m. and we actually didn't unwrap a thing before 9. (Thanks, Cate, for the extra hour or so of sleep.) Presents were opened in shifts today: the ones we exchanged with the kids and from Cate's mom and our friends were opened before we all went to church this morning, and the ones with the rest of the family weren't opened until after dinner.

Oh, dinner. Wow. Dinner was a Neil creation, primarily, with the rest of us contributing items or hands. But he roasted the beef tenderloin with a nice dijon mustard sauce and also grilled scallops for the non-beef set. I'll have you know Cate tried a scallop and liked it enough that she ate another as well (remember seafood is still new to her), though we were not able to convince Elizabeth to expand her palate as well.

Elizabeth reports, not surprisingly, that opening presents was her favorite part of the day. (She's just woken up and can't get back to sleep, so I solicited her input.) She likes the new fleece blanket that Nonna made. Each of the kids got one, and in fact, the other two are sleeping underneath them as I write.

Surprised Elizabeth didn't mention the Wii, but then again, she's a down-to-earth kind of girl. And the Wii was the last thing they opened. We can thank Cate's mom and sister for that one. I actually am interested to see what one of these darned contraptions is all about, but have barely used one. We'll get it set up.

Being a godfather

Neil and Alicia's daughter Amelia was baptized today in a nice ceremony after Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle. It was nice because she was the only one being baptized and while Elizabeth was one of a group of six when it was her turn, apparently St. Thomas has baptized as many as 12 at a time.

So Amelia got all the attention from Fr. Steve, just like Colleen did when he baptized her three years ago.

I don't wax poetic about my beliefs and Neil even less so. But everyone had a good time. Robert really enjoyed being put "in charge" of Da's camera and delivered some great pictures.

So in the end, I don't have much to tell you that actually goes with the title of this blog post. I guess I'll figure that out in the years to come.

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.

Happy birthday to bro

It's Neil's birthday today, as he turns 30 again. I was just thinking the other day, the last time I saw Neil on his birthday I believe puzzles and Star Wars figures may still have been involved. Or maybe a new glove.

That would've been 1991, when Neil ... uhh, turned 13 again?

So happy birthday. We'll spare the singing. Maybe. And we won't celebrate it in multiple small towns across the upper Midwest. Definitely.

Greetings from Minnesota!

What does a girl do on her first day as a Minnesotan? Listen to Prairie Home Companion of course. While passing through the hall Elizabeth caught a moment of "Guy Noir, Private Eye" on the radio and said "Ooo! What station is this? It's like TV but without the screen." She's listened to Garrison Keillor before but never as a fellow Minnesotan.

The Meeting of the Cousins went very well. All were cranky at the end but it was well past bedtime so we'll overlook that. Baby Amelia was sleeping for the initial meet and greet but Robert soon helped her overcome that. There were lots of kisses and peek-a-boos. Colleen sang her songs, Elizabeth entertained with cartwheels (even Uncle Neil and Uncle Ryan tried their hand (s and feet) at the cartwheel and were as successful as grown men can be), and Robert helped and talked (his personal strengths). Aunt Cate got to hold her lots (thank you) and enjoyed sniffing her head. That's not too weird -- babies smell nice (most times). Pa also attended and worked his great-grandchild magic. Colleen ran right to him and he lifted her onto his lap. He got lots of hugs and she just ate up his undivided attention.

Special mention goes to Jennifer Jensen who stopped by to say welcome (and provided the photo of Colleen and Pa!). We went together to an open house, our first in the Minnesota market. Not the house for us I think but a nice way to get our feet wet -- with a friend. She also took us to the Linden Hills playground. So the kids got some fresh air and Cate got some grown up conversation. Very nice way to spend an afternoon.

Something borrowed

Or handed down, if you prefer. Cate has a ode in her head to another piece of clothing that everyone has worn, but today is a nice day and Scooby came out of the dresser.

Scooby is a tank top that Neil bought for Elizabeth when we were living in Arlington. Elizabeth was much smaller and the shirt was gigantic on her at the time, coming down to her knees. But she loved it, and wore it until she didn't fit anymore, in the other direction.

It later went into Robert's circulation and was worn occasionally, and now Colleen is the perfect size. We've gotten the maximum usage out of this gift, to be sure! So thanks!

Coincidentally (not ironically), Colleen is holding in the bottom picture another piece of clothing that everyone has worn, a pair of fleece pants that had been part of a Bear in the Big Blue House ensemble. A little warm for that today, but we're at the point where instead of clean laundry going into drawers, they're going into suitcases.

Colleen wouldn't quite pose with the Scooby shirt but you get the pictures.

Robert is out on his last play date in Virginia, with Austin, a kindergarten classmate. They'll be going to the park and such.

Saturday mornings will never be the same

I learned Saturday evening that what I had feared had indeed come true: This was my last weekend of softball for USA Today. Although we swept two games on Saturday, we lost a tiebreaker and did not qualify for the playoffs.

I started playing for the company 13 years ago, within weeks of getting a full-time job there in May 1995. Other than being with Cate, it's the longest I've ever been involved with something, and I'll definitely miss it. Only two people have been on the team since I started and I've seen close to 100 people shuttle through, including fellow bloggers Tammi Marcoullier and Neil (though he wasn't at all eligible, we passed him off as an intern). Dad has played for this team as well, though that got me blackballed from coaching the team for a few years!

I've already missed chatting with Tammi in the outfield about whatever was going on in our lives or at work, team captain (and team glue) Mark Hayes getting tossed from games in his younger days, falling to pieces on the final day of the season to miss the playoffs for most of the late '90s, and, of course, winning three league titles.

I came full circle this season, getting to pitch again after an ugly flameout in the 1996 playoffs kept me out of the rotation (other than to mop up) for more than a decade. Played first base, second base, catcher, all around the outfield. Pulled a hundred balls foul down the third-base line, as I have never mastered Dad's art of placing the ball in front of the opponent's worst fielder.

A few times in recent years, the kids came with me. One week the team was so hard up for players that I packed up all three kids and 8-year-old Elizabeth was in charge of watching the other two while I kept track with one eye. But I hated to miss a game. I spent part of the 2003 season on the sidelines when Cate went back to work Saturdays after Robert was born, and last year I wasn't eligible because of a paperwork snafu (I had to get grandfathered in since I no longer worked for the company), and those weren't fun. Cate was never quite as keen on me packing up the younger ones the way Dad would bring me out to a Dirty Sox or St. Alexis game. Or whatever the team in Delaware was.

This weekend we went out with a 16-0 win against the Discovery Channel and a 14-9 victory against AOL. I wore the Baseball Weekly jersey for old time's sake. In a mercy rule blowout, Ramon Padilla preserved the cheapest 2-hitter on record by throwing out a batter at first base to end the game on a ball hit into right field.

This will probably be the thing I miss most about living in Virginia. Although the names and faces changed frequently, this team eventually managed just the right balance of competitiveness and camaraderie so that we could all have fun.

I hear they might be getting the Cavity Busters back together, though. If Jay can still hit and Peter Erickson can still hit ball after ball up the middle, it'll be just like old times.