Lolita

Lolita is the name of a restaurant in the Tremont District of Cleveland. It is the 2nd restaurant that Chef Michael Symon has opened in the Cleveland area.

Michael Symon is the newer Iron Chef on Food Networks, Iron Chef America. He is also the new host of Dinner Impossible on the Food Network.

I have been following him since he began his quest on the Iron Chef competition and knowing he was from Cleveland - and recently being a transplant to the area.

Last year, Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom gave us a gift certificate to his restaurant Lolita, but due to the crazy renovations, Celie's cast, and the pregnancy, we haven't really had the chance to do so. However, last night - Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom & Mrs O were all on hand to watch the girls while Bob and I were actually able to get into an early reservation at Lolita's.

Bob was actually excited about going to his restaurant considering he has watched a few shows recently with me featuring Michael Symon and can see why I like him. I also prepared one of his recipes for Thanksgiving and I think it was the best thing on the table (cornbread dressing). I was just excited not to have to snarf my food down before meltdowns occur and not having to worry about crayons, goldfish, or sippy cups.

It took us about 20 mintues to get to the restaurant. It is in the historic district of Tremont. It was a really cool area. It reminded me a lot of Virginia Highlands in Atlanta - at least the Virginia Highlands of old. We were sat immediately. It is a fairly small venue, with seating of about 80 or so. Our waitress, Tammy, was awesome. It definitely had a cozy, relaxed feel to it with an artistic edge. It definitely made me miss some of the old hang outs of Atlanta & Boston. But I was very glad to have found something so cool in the Cleveland area & with such reasonable prices. WOW!!

Bob had the roasted garlic bruchetta for an appetizer and I had the mixed greens salad with local goat cheese in a lemon viniagrette. My salad was absolutely delicious and light. The lemon viniagrette was the perfect consistentency and perfect balance of sweetness & tartness. Just wonderful. Bob ordered the Meatballs with a squash puree as a side. I ordered the Hanger steak over chickpeas, skordalia & cilantro with a side of local roasted potatoes. WOW!! Bob's was awesome - great flavor combinations - it was like eating a traditional bowl of spaghetti and meatballs without the spaghetti. Yummy. My steak was phenomonal. perfectly done and seasoned well. The chickpeas & skordalia was a light and crunchy contrast to the steak. The roasted potatoes had a wonderful seasoning and done to perfection. Of course, we couldn't have dinner and not get dessert as well. Bob ordered the Chocolate Pot du Creme and I ordered the Gelato of the day - a Porter Gelato - that would be Porter as in a beer. I snagged a bite of Bob's dessert before he dug in. WOW!! it was AMAZING. The thick chocolate custard was well balanced with the creme on top and the touch of caramel. But what really kicked the flavor in my opinion, was the hint of sea salt on top. WOW!! My Porter Gelato was fantastic. The flavor of the porter was front and center and the gelato was smooth and creamy. If I had known about this dessert at the beginning of my pregnancy, I would have ordered it by the Gallons. It definitely satisfied my beer craving.

It was a fabulous dinner & it was nice to spend some time with Bob just him and I. I had been looking forward to going to Lolita's for dinner for almost a year and I was not disappointed. I admire Chef Symon because he talks a lot about flavor and balance in his dishes, but since you cannot smell through the TV, you kind of have to take his word on it. He is the Truth though. His flavors are wonderful. It really is the first time that I have been able to really dissect things and it was a lot of fun for me. I hope that we are able to go back again some time after Jake gets here.

Watch out those in MI. He is supposed to be opening a restaurant in Detroit called Roast. You will be in for a REAL treat.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I am thankful for many things, but most of all I am thankful for my wonderful husband and my precious 2 3/4 children. I am truly blessed and feeling over emotional about how lucky I really am. (it must be the pregnancy).

We will be fortunate to spend the day with Aunt Sue, Uncle Tom, Mr & Mrs. O and our family at our house. The preparations are already underway for the big meal tomorrow. We are scaling back a little bit this thanksgiving - our menu is as follows: Turkey, whipped mashed potatoes with Chives, traditional dressing (out of the bag and doctored up a little bit), cornbread dressing, and sourdough dressing (the other dressings are experiments - small batches), fried corn, homemade cranberry relish, and possibly pumpkin soup. Mrs. O is bringing homemade bread and a tossed salad. Aunt Sue is bringing bacon buns and some other treats for the day and the weekend. In years past, we have also had lithuanian sausage, kuglis (lithuanian potato casserole), and a molded jello - all traditions from Papa Tony & Grandma peggy. But I decided to scale back a little for tomorrow so hopefully, I won't over do it too much.

Since Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom are coming in for the weekend, we will be able to spend some time with them. We might even try to put up some x-mas decorations. They love being helpful when they come to town - so I always try to have a couple of low key "projects" available to do. We will also celebrate Celie's b-day with them while they are in town. So, Celie will have 3 celebrations for her b-day this year. They will head back to Chicago on Sunday. Bob will be heading to the farm on Sunday as well to go hunting for a couple of days. Mrs. O will be coming up on Sunday to stay with us girls while Bob is hunting. This will be a huge help so hopefully I can get some rest and/or some shopping done for x-mas and Celie's b-day. I have Drs. appt. on Monday afternoon - so I am hoping for good things. Next week will be 34 weeks, so any issues on the borderline of serious, they will probably induce.

That is our Thanksgiving plans in a nut shell. I hope to post pics and anything else of any exciting events as soon as possible. I will also update Drs. visit after Monday afternoon.

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving!

Cheetah Frog

If you ask Anna if a Frog hops, she will begin saying hop and hop around the house. I captured her doing some great hopping and combined ballet/dance moves, but the video ended up being too long to post (I was afraid of too long download times for people). So, I captured a shorter version today - complete with her Cheetah print PJs.

Side note - it is hard to believe that Celie was wearing these PJs when she was 18 months and they were too long on the bottom, but fit just right in the waist & top. These fit Anna perfectly and she is 27 months. Just one of the differences of our two cool girls.

Snow man

After the OSU/UofM game. Bob decided to take Celie outside to let her express some of her energy. I took Anna upstairs to see if she would take a nap - that didn't happen. But Celie and Bob were outside for over 1 hr and 45 minutes. In the midst of their time outside, Celie created a wonderful snowman. We just need to work on her ability to scale up.

Bo Gucks

Anyone that knows Bob and knows him well, knows that he is a Buckeyes fan. Always has been and always will be. Well, this past Saturday was the BIG GAME - UofM vs. OSU at OSU. It was actually the first game that Bob was able to watch the whole season.

We have been trying to get the girls to do the Na na na nana na na Chant - they have it down pretty well - except for instead of saying Go Bucks! Celie, in particular, says Bo Gucks!! Still, it is pretty funny.

Here is some video of Anna with her Buckeye football. You will have to listen carefully (over the TV) at was is said when the football lands - yes, it talks and the girls were throwing it all around. Too bad we moved, it would have been fun to see Anna & Mallory go at it - Big Ten, Little Two's head to head. (Mallory is a daughter of a friend of mine in MI. Anna & Mallory are about 1 1/2 months apart and my friend is expecting their 2nd - due in March - so their 2nd and jake will be a couple of months apart) Oh, and she, my friend, is a huge MI fan, works there as well as her husband (in the athletic department!) So, it would have been fun to see all of the fans together expressing their opinions.



If you didn't catch the game, OSU beat UofM. Bo Gucks!!

Belly

It is amazing that even though I haven't really gained very much weight, my body has definitely taken on its own identity. I do not think my belly was this HUGE with either girl. And it has gotten bigger since this picture was taken 1 week ago. YIKES!!!!

Baby Jake Update

I went to the Dr on Monday. My blood pressure was good 110/78. We talked a lot about some of the symptoms I have been having and what our next steps are. I have gained about 6 lbs. so far in this pregnancy, so that is a good thing.

My Dr and I are pretty confident that we will be able to make it to 34 weeks - which is our first milestone - this is the week after Thanksgiving. Every day that he stays in, is better, so we are hoping that the blip in my blood pressure was just a fluke type of thing and things will continue to go well and we can make it well past 34 weeks. However, we will just have to wait and see.

I have really been limiting what I do. It does make me feel bad since I cannot take the girls outside to play in the beautiful dusting of snow that we have. I also have difficulty bending down a lot - so trying to get the girls to pick up after themselves is also a challenge. However, the low key attitude that I have been taking, I think have really helped. I am hoping that it will help me make it well past 34 weeks, but maybe before x-mas - but we will have to wait and see what Jake has in store for us all.

Why can't I sit down?

I do try to take a break and sit with the girls in the living room. However, how can I sit down when I come in and see this:

I have been trying to explain to Celie that her stickers need to go INTO her sticker books, but she would rather have them all out for display. She plays with the stickers like puppets. It is actually pretty creative, if you ask me, but it is frustrating to A) not be able to sit down on the couch and B) stepping on the stickers that have lost their "stick" and have ended up on the floor, but seem to have enough "stick" to cling to the bottom of your feet. ARGHhhhhh!! (Those are the ones that mysteriously disappear).

Anna the Fashionista

I have tried to keep pants on this girl, but some days can be a challenge.

She definitely has her own sense of style. For instance, for the last 3 days, she has decided that a teething ring that she found in a tub of toys makes a very fashionable bangle. She hasn't taken it off since she put it on. Also, she decided yesterday afternoon and this morning that it was o.k. with her if she could only find ONE Cinderella glass dress up slipper. I couldn't stand to hear the clunk, silence, clunk of her walking. It was sad. So, I was able to find the matching slipper for her this morning. I gave it to her and she was immediately thrilled and put it on. Of course, she was a lot funnier in her walking around and making noise then the video below, but I couldn't grab the camera fast enough.

Enjoy!

Hospital Tour & Update

Yesterday, Bob and I went on a tour of Hillcrest, the hospital that we are going to be delivering Jake. It is very similar to St. Joe's in that there are separate areas/rooms for Labor & Delivery and then Post Delivery. The rooms are fairly small in both areas. However, the nice part is that the rooms in the Post Delivery area have a bathroom complete with shower. When I delivered both Celie & Anna, the Post Delivery area had not been updated yet and they only had a toilet and sink in the room - no shower. So, you had to go down the hall to shower and get ready. That was a bummer.

Also, Hillcrest has a Level 2 NICU, which, at least in the state of OH, means that the NICU can take care of any baby born after 28 weeks. So, that made me feel reassured since we are at 29 1/2 weeks right now. The only time that they transport newborns to another hospital is if there is a surgery that needs to be performed. They have affliations with Rainbows, Cleveland Clinic main campus and Metro. So that is also reassuring, though I am hoping that we won't need to worry about any of that. Because of the NICU being situated in the middle of the Family Maternity floor - you are not allowed to have cell phones on at all on the floor, nor can you have anything that plugs into the wall. They are very concerned about things that disrupt the cardiac monitoring machines in the NICU. So, everything is somewhat limited. But the staff seems really nice and it is very clean. Also, there are a ton of restaurants in the area so if room service isn't that appealing, Bob can run out and get something else. YEAH!!!!

When we deliver, we can expect to be in the hospital for about 48 hours after birth - given there are no complications, etc. So, that is what we are hoping for.

On another note, I had my check up today with my OB. My blood pressure was 110/76 YEAH!!!! So, that is good. I had lost 1 1/2 #'s - so my OB said that I should just try to keep something in my stomach, even if I do not feel like eating much, I should try to eat small meals, etc. Jake sounded good - like a galloping horse. I asked her about what she thought about having to give me/Jake a shot to help him develop his lungs if he is coming at 34 weeks. She said that the shot is only given before 34 weeks and that after 34 weeks, the likelihood that his lungs are good are far better than the risks of taking the shots. Also, she said that babies that have been developing under more difficult than normal circumstances, i.e. hypertension, pre-eclampsia conditions, tend to accelerate the development of their important organs incase of an early delivery. That is why some 30 week old babies can be born and have hardly any issues and a 38 week old can be born and have issues. It just depends on the history of the pregnancy, etc.

So, we are still in the wait and see mode. We are hoping for the 34+ weeks. And we are very hopeful that we will see it. I just have to remember to be slow & rest. Oh yeah, and breathe.

Happy Halloween

I have offered many a times to help with Halloween costumes for friends and relatives. Usually no one takes me up on this offer. So, with great delight, I just couldn't wait until the girls were here so that I would finally have someone to make costumes for. However, being pregnant has definitely put a damper on things. Also, the girls are not quite of the age or interested where they can tell me what they WANT to be for Halloween, so I am left trying to come up with something on my own.

Well, I have to say that I cheated this year. I couldn't help the ridiculous sale that disneyshopping.com was having - about 5 months ago - so I bought a Tinkerbell outfit for Anna - complete with leotard/tutu and wings. It is rather cute. We are finishing it off with a white turtleneck & tights underneath. I made her a white and silver bag for her candy loot. There were not any costumes in Celie's size, but I did find some Pocahontas accessories that were on a super duper sale. So, I bought her the Pocahontas headband & necklace and the Pocahontas boots - moccasin like boots. Then I did make her costume from a pattern I bought at Joann's. Her dress is all handmade, including stitching all of the various trims and individual leaves on the front. We finished her costume with a brown long sleeved shirt & shorts. I also made her a matching bag for her treats.

Since Bob was home this year for the big Halloween Event, we decided to go out for the first 1/2 hr or so with the girls to our neighbors and then spend the rest of the time at our house passing out candy to those that came to our house. There weren't as many kids around the neighborhood as there was last year. The girls had a great time and even Anna was getting into the whole thing saying Trick or Treat and thank you. I was trying to get them on video saying it to post, but they were too fast and I was too slow. It was nice to see the neighbors that we knew. A few of them thought that girls were so adorable that they gave each one of them HANDFULS of candy. Lucky for us, they are purists, they really only eat solid chocolate and that is it. They won't even eat M&Ms - whose kids are these?????

Anyway, here are some pics from this evening. The house picture is of our neighbors the Gritti's. I loved their house & decorations.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Glucose results

I received word from my Dr. that the results came back and I do not have gestational diabetes. Phew. I am glad to hear that one. She said that 1 out of the 4 markers were high, but to be considered diabetic during pregnancy 2 out of the 4 have to be high. So, though I am not, she suggested that I watched my sugar intake. So, that is what I will be doing.

Glad I have one less thing to worry about.

Ridiculous & other miscellaneous items

This is what is ridiculous.
Yes, that would be snow on our deck. Ah, a light dusting you may say, well, as I sit next to the sliding glass door that looks onto the deck, it has hailed, the size of peas, and is currently snowing a light fluff of flakes. Joy!! It is October!!! I am NOT ready for this.

* * *

I spent 4 1/2 hours at the hospital on Saturday. Nothing serious, but I did have to do an extended 3 hr glucose test because my initial test came back high. So, hopefully, the results will come back some time this week and be o.k.

* * *

Jake continues to move around and I am thinking that he is growing pretty well. However, he likes to move around, just as I am about to settle down for awhile, trying to relax. Having him use my stomach as a punching bag isn't very relaxing, but at least I know he is doing o.k.

* * *

I am really trying to take to heart the recommendation of my doctor - she at least has gotten me to quit drinking diet pop. I haven't had one in 29 weeks and don't think I will go back to them. I am trying to relax more and not do too much. However, for me, that is difficult. I really feel guilty and lazy if I am not doing something. But I know that it is in the best interest of Jake and Me to keep low key about everything. So, I am really trying to focus on 1 thing a day that I will let myself do - whether it is laundry, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning off the desk, making pants for Celie, etc. and the rest of the time, I am trying to relax with my feet up.

We will see how long that lasts.

My next Dr. visit is on Monday. Details to follow.

Halloween Pics will be up, hopefully, over the weekend.

Happy Haunting!!

This one is for Uncle Tom

Jake Update

I went for my 27 1/2 almost 28 week visit this morning. Everything seems to be o.k. However, my blood pressure was a little high 130/80. I am usually 120/70 or lower. So, my Dr said that she would like to see me every 2 weeks from now on just to keep an eye on things.

I have been experiencing some numbness in my arms and hands, like I did with Celie. And last night, I had some weird vision things happening. Hopefully, it will just pass, but the Dr. suggested that I just try to relax, but keep aware of the symptoms of pre-eclampsia.

Jake sounded great and he is definitely moving around quite a bit.

Our next milestone is 34 weeks.. That is when the Dr. said she feels comfortable - depending on the situation of inducing me. So, that means, that Jake, could potentially be a December baby. That would make Bob happy - tax deduction.

We are just hoping that things calm down a little bit and he stays in his incubation state as long as possible.

A New Anna Phase

The weather here is now cooling off. We are not supposed to get above mid 50's today. Perfect fall weather. However, for some reason, Anna does not like to wear her pants. She will tolerate her pj bottoms for sleeping, but as soon as she is awake, she wants them off. It is hard to get her dressed to go anywhere, she screams and has a fit. It is not fun.

Well, this morning, I came down from doing laundry (our laundry is on the 2nd floor) and this is what I saw. I know that it is blurry, but I wanted to capture her with her hat that she put on sitting on the pillow watching TV.
Here is a side profile of Anna in her hat.


Anna saying Cheese for the camera. Usually I can't capture her because she is moving all of the time.

I missed it

I can't believe that in 5 short days, it has peaked and I missed it.

Last Sunday, we took the girls to Kent State University to see Katie - the girl that babysat for us this summer. She plays soccer for Eastern Michigan University and they were playing Kent. On the way home, the girls fell asleep and to take advantage of the time and to let them sleep, we kept driving, just driving around the area. The sun was out. The leaves were glistening in their fall glory and I thought, excellent, next weekend, I will have the chance to get out and take some photos of the fall foliage.

Nope. In the past 5 days, we have had rain and a cold snap and a little bit of rain. All of which has contributed to the colorful leaves to exit their branches and find their way to the ground. The scenes are definitely not photo worthy now. Bummer.

From my Previous Life

There once was a time when I was a grungy art/sculpture student. As I have posted prior, an influential figure in my life as an art student began with Charles Hook, my undergrad sculpture teacher. He died this past St. Patty's day of Pancreatic Cancer.

This past weekend would have been his 60th birthday. In celebration of him, there was a retrospective of his work and an Iron Pour in his honor. Also, a sculpture park was dedicated in his name at Railroad Square - a long tradition of artist studios, galleries, etc. in Tallahassee, FL (where Florida State is located and where I went to undergrad). I so wanted to be there to participate in the weekend activities. However, being pregnant with Jake would have made for a very tiring and trying weekend. So, I opted not to go. Luckily, Deborah, his wife, completely understood and has sent me a link to a video that was made of the Iron Pour.

Just a little information for those who may not know, when you are casting metal, whether it is aluminum, bronze or iron, you must melt the metal in a furnace. There are a lot of different types of furnaces and ways to do such a thing. However, iron has the highest melting point of the 3 most common metals used in sculpture, therefore, the process is different than for aluminum or iron.

As you will see in the video, the upright tube in the picture is the furnace or cupola as it is called. Also what you will see are people holding a "bucket" with long handles under the tap hole of the furnace. They are going to catch the molten metal coming out. Then, a person will take an instrument looking like a hoe and scrap off the slag or the impurities from the molten metal that is on the top. Then the metal will be poured into the various molds that are on the ground. If I remember correctly, that furnace, when tapped full has about 100#s of molten metal coming out at a time. Yes, it is very hot. The starting melting point for iron is around 1800 degrees, but most of the time what is coming out is more in the 2200 range. That is why everyone around the furnace is wearing leathers. Yes, I have a pair of those along with a Fireman's helmet that I wore when I poured iron.

There is a lot more technical stuff to it as well. And it amazes me that I remember so much of it. I owe that to my great teachers Charles Hook & George Beasley (my graduate instructor).

I hope you enjoy the video. The music may be a little loud - but the video is definitely the type of pour that I experienced in undergrad and grad school many times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqx3rBQ_7xM.

Jake's Room

Well, we definitely accomplished quite a bit this weekend. We have started about 6 different projects and none of them were finished. So, we decided that it would be a good idea to concentrate on one thing and then the rest would follow. So, the first thing to do was Jake's room.

I started painting his room on Wednesday night and was finished by Saturday morning. I had to wait for all of the coats to dry so that I could apply multiple coats. It saddened me to be getting rid of the fairies, but as I painting over them, I knew they had had their time and it was time for something else.

After the paint went up, I used my cool Cricut cutting machine to cut out outlines of puppies and paws out of vinyl. I then stuck them in the border around Jake's room and paw prints up his walls. I am very happy with how it turned out.


I couldn't resist putting his name somewhere in his room. I also liked the sleeping & waking up (as Celie calls him) puppies along his crib wall. Yes, I did that on purpose.


This dresser was Papa Tony's and Celie has used it since she was born. Now, Jake will use it and Celie will use another Papa Tony piece in her room. Yes, those are bone & fire hydrant drawer markers. I made them with my cool machine as well. Yes, they serve as labels for what are in the drawers. I am too forgetful these days to remember everything, so hopefully, they will help out a lot.
This is the artwork that is above Jake's dresser. It is an original print from an artist here in Brecksville. He had a bunch of different dogs, but I liked the pugs the best. It is what inspired the theme for the room.

I am feeling more settled knowing that his room is done. I am hesitant to open up the diapers and put them in his organizer because I have a feeling that between Anna & Celie, they will end up all over the floor. So, I will wait on those types of things. But for the most part, we are ready for him. Though since I am only at 27 weeks, I think it would be a good idea for him to stay in there for awhile.

However, I do have my days where I wish he were here. He can really serve up a good whallop.

Tramatic

That is the only way to describe yesterday.

I, in my infinite wisdom, decided to make the girls appointments to get their hair cut. I knew that it would be a challenge as neither of them will really sit still and I have been doing the hack job of cutting their hair ever since we moved to OH. When I try to cut their hair, they really don't seem to mind, so I thought, well, maybe they are out of the tantrum stage. I was wrong.

Yesterday, the girls and I went to Cuts N Curls in Solon, OH, about 35 minutes from our house - Why not go locally? because they were featured in an article about Salon's specific for kids. They had the cars that you ride in lifted up on chair hoists. Each cutting station had a dvd player and/or video game player. Really, it was pretty neat. So, I made the appointment for each girl at the same time so that if they were terrible, they would at least be over at the same time.

As soon as the brush came near Celie, she threw a fit. That made Anna just go off as well. Anna at least stayed in her car with a few attempts to get up. The woman that was cutting Anna's hair did an o.k. job considering she wouldn't sit still and she kept bowing her head. She cried the entire time - no juice, no goldfish, no nothing would soothe her - other than getting out of the car. Celie kept flailing her arms and was not cooperating at all. So, I took her out of the car - that was difficult - she is EXTREMELY heavy these days. I sat her on my lap and wrapped my arms around her like a straight jacket. She kept crying and screaming, but I was determined not to leave with out her hair cut. Kara, her stylish, did a great job of giving her a cute haircut and adding some layers to it. She did get about 2" cut off her hair, but she really needed it. We also took care of the knots that she got while she was in her cast and I still hadn't managed to get rid of.

It was a very trying day for my nerves. Actually, I should say morning, because all of this happened before 10:30am. Oh yeah, and it was raining all morning too.

Luckily, they did not ban us from the Salon forever and since it was Anna's first haircut, they took her picture, gave us a locket of her hair and a certificate. It was actually really sweet & cute, but unfortunately, it was all lost on the moment. Next time, the girls are going separately, and only one at a time.

Here is Anna at the Salon - I couldn't get a good pic because she wouldn't stop moving and trying to get out of the car. She wouldn't stop crying either, until we got back out to the van.
I took the long way home - so I could decompress. Today is much calmer. Thank goodness.