a peek inside the fishbowl

When I was about five my parents got me on tape describing – in all seriousness – what parents do all day. I announced that fathers work and mothers wash dishes. I was reminded of this recently while reading a post over at Mary Lynn’s blog.

Sidebar: I think interviewing your kids is a very fun way of preserving a sweet memory. A couple years ago when we were stuck in a hospital waiting room with Sarah’s split lip we came up with a few top ten lists to pass the time. It was actually quite revealing to discuss ten things we like to do as a family, ten things we loved about a family vacation and the ten things we missed about home, and our top ten favourite desserts.

But the interview I decided to undertake with the girls this weekend was a little different. With no prompting from me whatsoever, I asked the girls separately what topics they thought Mark and I were experts at. Here is what they said.

Sarah said that daddy is an expert at:

1. Editing videos
2. Barbecuing
3. Making apple crumble
4. Shovelling snow
5. Hugging
6. Science
7. Driving
8. Getting good things at the grocery store [ed. “good” includes cookies, chips, ice cream, and/or all of the above.]
9. Helping out on school projects
10. Jokes [ed: ??]

… and I am an expert at:

1. Arts and crafts
2. Blogging
3. Journalism
4. Cuddling and hugging
5. Cooking
6. Thinking of good ideas and places to go
7. Dog and pet care
8. Hula Hooping on the Wii [ed. okaaaaay]
9. Helping our community
10. Ponytails [ed: ??]

Emma said Mark is an expert at:

1. Birds
2. Using a video camera
3. Editing
4. Teaching
5. Directing
6. Managing money [ed: can you tell we’ve been talking a lot about his work lately?]
7. Parenting
8. Golf
9. Making people happy
10. Video games

… and that I am an expert at:

1. Parenting
2. Blogging
3. Journalism
4. Photography
5. Art
6. Swimming
7. Poetry and story writing
8. Making the family happy
9. Making up songs on the spot
10. Trying and learning new things

Isn’t that funny? It’s insightful in a really neat way. I’m quite pleased with their lists!

If you decide to do this with you kids (whether you blog about it or not) please come back and leave me a comment. I’d love to see what they come up with!

Many moons ago I was interviewed for an article in Best Health magazine. In fact, it was so long ago that I plum forgot about it. So you can imagine my surprise when I got a tiny peek at the spread. I haven’t seen the whole issue yet, but I was thrilled to be pictured alongside blogging superstars such as Aimee Wimbush-Bourque of Simple Bites, Heather Greenwood Davis of Globetrotting Mama (who I went to school with!), and Elan Morgan of Schmutzie (who is also the powerhouse behind the much-esteemed Canadian Weblog Awards). So cool.

ETA: I finally picked up a copy. :)

And in OTHER good news…

I’m pretty excited about my new gig. I am not sure if I mentioned it here or not, but I’m the site editor and content manager for a soon-to-be-launched website called Recipes.ca. I’ve taken the reigns of the Facebook Page too, so please join me there! We will be the gateway to some great recipes and food news. If you love food – good food! – as much as I do I promise you will love it. One of the things I’m thinking of doing is transplanting the “Will They Eat It” series-that-isn’t-really-a-series from the Fishbowl and giving it a new home in my spot in the Editors blog at Recipes.ca. What do you think? Do you read it here? Will you read it over there? I’m trying to gauge interest so your feedback would be most helpful. Thank you! Anyway, on to the recipe!

–

I decided to make Chicken Paprikash, or as my Czech people call it, kure na paprice.

My mom used to make this dish all the time, in fact, it was one of my favourites growing up. Czech cuisine is heavy on meat and starches – ALL YEAR ROUND. This is what I grew up with. Much of it doesn’t hold a lot of appeal for me anymore (sorry mom), but this is an exception. (Oh, and pork schnitzel. And potato pancakes.)

I found a a recipe over at Canadian Living, but as I was making it I realized it did not taste anything like the stuff my mom used to make. It was too tangy and I was slightly alarmed, but it wasn’t until I added a whole bunch of sour cream to the sauce that I realized that this was the reason why. Do not skimp on the sour cream!

Overall the recipe was pretty good. There was a little something missing but I’m still not quite sure what it is. Also, it used an awful lot of mushrooms and onions, and I don’t think my mother ever put those in the sauce.

She used to serve it with dumplings but I served it over broad egg noodles.

Next time I might use a bit less tomato paste than the recipe called for, and more sour cream. I think cooking the chicken in the sauce for a bit longer might be good too.

I will say this, it made for a pretty darn good lunch the next day. MMMm, SAUCY:

But the question remains, did they eat it?

I need to be honest here. Mark didn’t like it very much, and Sarah was so-so about it. But surprise surprise, Emma LOVED it. Maybe I’ll even make it again… just for Emma and I.

Have I ever mentioned that Sarah loves to make her own clothes? And that I’m a terrible seamstress? This week’s column over at Canadian Family magazine features a no-sew sewing project. (My favourite kind.)

Here’s a hint:

Would you look at that proud beaming face? LOOK AT THE BEAMING.

Ahem. You can read the post here.

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