Haircut and Gnocchi

The boys have been waking up before 7am just about every morning since the time change. They started going to bed a little earlier, so waking earlier is understandable. But, bedtime is back to 8/8:30pm, yet waking is before 7am. Even when he knows he needs to stay in bed until the clock says 7am, Vincent still wakes up, and checks out the time. This seems to rouse Tyler and then they whisper to each other until it's 7am. Sigh.

The upside of all this is that we actually make it out the door on time. No, wait, we don't. We are almost always 10-15 minutes late for school. Nevermind.

After dropping Vincent off at school, we headed to Columbia City to meet friends at the community center. We got there early, so we stopped to get coffee and pastries at Columbia City Bakery. After our mid-morning snack, as we headed to meet friends, we saw a car accident right in front of us, and a hit and run! Lucky for the victim, enough people saw and stopped to help out. I felt so bad for the guy because he clearly had no clue as to what to do.

As much as I love my boys having long hair, I didn't love the way Tyler's hair has been looking lately. I must've trimmed his bangs about 4 months ago, and it still looked like it was freshly done yesterday. And, the rest of his was starting to look much like a helmet.

Little bit dorky, eh?

No, my kids are not dorks! They get haircuts when needed and look like hip young men. I'm joking. Nonetheless, after the community center, he finally cooperated, sat on my lap, and was a total angel getting his hair cut. Look at him now.

This afternoon, Vincent had a play date at a friend's house. I didn't have to pick him up until 4pm. I've had a bee in my bonnet for homemade gnocchi. I bought a russet potato yesterday for such a thing, and with the extra time, I was determined to make it. So, I did!

Here's my recipe:

1 pound russet potato, steamed (I poked several times with a fork, wrapped it in foil, and baked it until it was soft)

3/4C all purpose flour (I used unbleached whole wheat white flour)

1 medium egg, beaten

salt to taste

*I also grated a little bit of parmesan cheese into the mix, probably only a tablespoon. Don't know if that was necessary, or even did anything.

Once the potato is soft, allow it to cool until you can handle it, but still hot. Peel it, then pass it through a food mill or ricer. Add the remaining ingredients and work into a dough. Pinch off a small piece and test it by cooking it in boiling water until it floats. It should hold it's shape, but not be hard. If it starts to fall apart, you need more flour.

Okay, I need to stop. This is where you will need to do a search on making gnocchi for the proper method of shaping. I don't think I can quite explain it eloquently (or correct) enough.

I was sort of a cooking machine this afternoon. All I managed to produce was one meal, but it was a mighty tasty one.

(Clockwise from top) Sauteed cabbage with onions and apples, whole wheat gnocchi with roasted acorn squash and basil puree, chicken breast poached in chicken broth, and Columbia City Bakery pretzel knot.

The kids ate up all their gnocchi and most of the squash, picked the apples out of the cabbage (they did try a bite each of cabbage), and Vincent finished his chicken but Tyler didn't. It's unusual because Tyler normally eats chicken like it's candy. Go figure.

After dinner, we all danced with the XBox. I rule that Dance Central.