when you are sitting by yourself, watching your daughter’s hockey practice (#girlscanplaytoo) (I forever will find this hashtag humorous) … and a strange man plops himself down beside you and begins the conversation with “I don’t believe we’ve met”… you know you need to buckle yourself up for a wild ride…
just when you think we have evolved as a species… conversations like this occur… where someone has not figured out that the only place that people brag about their offspring anymore is on Facebook…
it used to be we had a few options – annual Christmas letters, prayer chains, family reunions – but now I hope most self-aware parents realize the only avenue for pumping little Timmy’s tires is Facebook…
this being said – it did occur to me that Little Timmy most likely is not on Facebook – this is a crucial flaw in what would seem to be the perfect outlet for comparing the accomplishments of our young ones…
“so, which one is yours out there?” I politely ask… this way I am avoiding him telling me his name which I was never going to remember
he points to a girl and then, for context, describes her “the tall, athletic one with the hard shot” … before I could point out and describe my daughter, he quickly adds “gets her height and ability from both sides of the family”
this I was comforted by, as you hate to see the competition ensue when one side is so obviously better than the other side of the family… (no offense to the farmer’s side)
a few things I learned during the 28 minutes I was held hostage in the stands… he was a bit of an ‘athlete’ in his day, still runs but not as fast as his superstar daughter… he coached his daughter her whole life until now because no one else can get the full potential out of her… refs hate him… the daughter hasn’t seen a sport that she didn’t dominate at…
I was doing fine handling my end of the dialogue… adding my ‘oh really, oh wow, oh geez’ when it seemed timely… but when he said these words “we are so active we got rid of cable a few years ago and don’t watch any TV”… I thought I was going to lose my mind…
really? pardon? you just bike and rollerblade all evening long? haven’t seen a professional sporting event in three years? you missed Harry and Meagan’s wedding? do I dare bring up Game of Thrones or the 23 seasons of The Bachelor I have consumed?
blueberry pancakes
Ingredients:
– 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
– 2 tbsp sugar
– 1 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 1/2 tsp kosher salt
– 2 large eggs
– 1 cup milk
– 1 cup sour cream
– 1/4 cup butter, melted
– 1/2 tsp vanilla
– 2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen)
– zest of one lemon
Directions:
– sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda together in a bowl
– add the salt
– in another larger bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sour cream, butter and vanilla
– add the flour mixture and fold in
– add the blueberries and lemon zest
– in a saucepan, heat some butter
– pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the hot skillet (generally 3 pancakes per pan)
– cook until bubbles begin to form and pop, around 1 1/2 minutes and then flip and cook for another minute (serve with bacon that has pepper and maple syrup on it)
I could not contain myself anymore and had to say “if my life every got to the point where I had no time for the odd TV show – I would know something had gone terribly wrong”
parenting is a tough gig… and I for one would not have wanted to do it without the help of ‘the Simpsons”… #ittakesavillage … when the kids get home from school, ever since the age of Kindergarten, they have tuned into the Simpsons
the farmer and I have always felt that whatever we missed in teaching the children about life would be covered in the hundreds of Simpsons episodes they have viewed…
I was totally with him, the boasting, the ‘one-upping’… I was fine with it all… maybe this is how he chats when he gets nervous or maybe he doesn’t have access to Facebook...
but when he said his family had no use for a TELEVISION… he lost all credibility to me…
instinctually I just can’t trust someone that hates TV… what has TV ever done to you? other than entertain you?
worst part is – we live in Saskatchewan!!! and unless you are at your cabin – it is not overly interesting to be outside… its not like you are in the mountains of BC…
two questions to ask someone when I meet them
1 – do you love TV?
2 – how do you feel about hugging?
only two things I need to know about someone
matcha raspberry sponge roll cake
Ingredients:
Cake:
– 1 cup sifted cake flour
– 2 tbsp matcha
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 6 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
– 1 cup sugar, divided
– 1 tsp vanilla
– icing sugar for dusting
Raspberry Cream Filling:
– 1 cup raspberry jam
– 8 oz pkg cream cheese, room temperature
– 4 tbsp icing sugar
– 1 pkg raspberries, plus more for garnishing
Directions:
– preheat oven to 375 degrees
– lightly grease a half sheet pan (18”x13”) with baking spray, line with parchment paper, then lightly grease the paper with baking spray
– sift the cake flour, matcha and salt together
– in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the egg whites
– whisk on high speed until light and foamy
– sprinkle 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk till medium peaks
– transfer to a clean mixing bowl
– wipe the stand mixer bowl down and add the egg yolks
– whisk until light yellow
– add 1/2 cup sugar
– fold together with egg whites – try not to lose the volume
– sprinkle over the flour mixture and fold together
– pour into the prepared baking sheet
– bake for 10-12 minutes
– dust a clean linen towel with icing sugar
– while warm, turn the cake out onto the linen towel
– remove parchment and roll up
– cool on a wire rack
– for the filling – whip the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth
– add the raspberries
– unroll the cake and spread with raspberry jam
– spread the cream cheese over
– roll up again without the linen towel
– wrap in plastic wrap and cool in the fridge
– dust the cake with icing sugar
– slice into pieces and serve with raspberries
i feed a farmer 
Good job, Katherine.
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