Perhaps you are wondering, what the hell am I doing?! Well, apparently I am participating in NaBloPoMo, although not here; I’m writing a post every day in November over on my book blog. And apparently I am also still posting in this space too (though not every day!), because I am… on the other extreme of the posting pendulum?? out of my gourd??? an asshole???? I don’t know. I don’t expect you to read any of it and I’m sorry. I have a problem.
A warning. I made these amazing and delicious sugar-free, gluten-free – and yet legit delicious! I swear! although Carla and my husband disagree! – brownies again for Halloween. When I made them the first time, I bought a package of super expensive Medjool dates at my grocery store (the sweetness of the brownies comes from dates, spoiler alert) (I don’t even LIKE dates, but these brownies are good) and my only complaint about the brownies was that it is a pain in the rear to pit all the dates. But! THIS TIME I spotted a bag of Dole pitted dates that was, like, HALF the price of the fancy dates, so I bought that to save both money and time, am a genius. To make the brownies, you pulse chocolate and baking soda in a food processor, add dates, then add eggs and vanilla and pour everything into a pan and bake. Easy peasy, delicious. Halfway through making the brownies, my food processor started smoking and kind of stopped working. This is called foreshadowing. I have clearly not watched enough horror movies, so I just thought it was my food processor’s time. I’ve had that thing since 2008, and it’s lived a long and productive life. Time for a new one. I scraped the date mixture into my blender, which had no trouble turning everything into a nice uniform-but-very-sticky goo, poured the batter into the pan, and baked. The brownies were delicious and soft and I frosted them by pouring some chocolate chips on top while they were still warm, and then spreading the melty chips all over the top. My husband gamely agreed to try one, and bit into it… and right into a DATE PIT. So. This very elaborate and somewhat boring story is in service of warning you to still inspect all of the dates, even if they are supposedly PITTED. I suppose this is the baking equivalent of “never trust a blinker.” Never trust a pitted fruit claim, folks, you heard it here first.
My orchid is reblooming! I got this orchid as a gift way back in 2017. It has rebloomed a few times since then but for the first time in my memory, it has THREE blooms instead of one. I think it’s very happy in its new spot on my mantel.
My kid attended her first b’nai mitzvah of the season last week. When I first posted that she has six to attend this year, a couple of people had questions. Suz wanted to know, “Does that mean six different dresses and six different gifts?” and Eli wondered, “I want to know what one wears to a b’nai Mitzvah! And what kind of gifts is one supposed to give?” Well, first of all, I am a Mean Mom and I only allowed Carla to get two dresses. (And please understand that “only” is in giant scare quotes because that is PLENTY OF DRESSES, she is very spoiled.) (And also, it’s really FOUR dresses, because I bought her two appropriate-for-synagogue dresses as well, that she can wear to the ceremonies.) What girls wear to the party portion of b’nai mitzvah in our area are short fancy dresses and sneakers. Yes. Together. It is my understanding that the dresses are of the same style as those girls are wearing to homecoming. They are very short, sometimes very form fitting. They do not, in my opinion, seem at all appropriate for a middle schooler. And yet they are The Trend. All of us seventh grade moms have been fretting together about the dresses and how uncomfortable they make us, and reassuring ourselves and one another that it’s The Trend and it’s Just A Dress etc. Much as moms have done for time immemorial, I’m sure. For gifts, we are doing cold, hard cash. It is apparently standard to give money in multiples of 18, which is a significant number in some Jewish traditions.
I made aloo gobi last week, and it was delicious. (It was not, my husband pointed out, much like aloo gobi one would get in a restaurant, but it was still flavorful and tasty and warming.) In the comments, Jenny asked: “That Aloo Gobi looks good- but I looked at the recipe and it has some unusual ingredients- mango powder? Coriander leaves? Do you have those things or are you making a substitution?” I did not, in fact, have mango powder on hand. But I do NOW; I went to the South Asian grocery store and they had multiple varieties of mango powder so I bought some. I also got some Kashmiri red chili powder. I did not, however, get fenugreek leaves, mistakenly believing (and failing to look up until later) that the leaves are the same thing in my container of ground fenugreek. Oh no. The ground fenugreek is fenugreek seeds, and has a totally different flavor from the leaves. Oh well. Next time. The rest of the ingredients – including coriander leaves (cilantro) – I had on hand, and now I can make aloo gobi any old time I want.
My CPAP machine comes with an app and gives me a daily score. This is very effective for me, because I like to get an A. Right now, I have a B, which is apparently due to the number of times I got up at night and removed my mask. As Allison noted, “I still don’t really understand them giving you a CPAP when I thought your problem was more insomnia-based, but I hope it helps!” I also still don’t really understand it either, Allison. And now I’m getting a B on my CPAP score because I get up too many times in the night and remove my mask. Am I not supposed to pee, CPAP App???? Or what if my cat is scratching the bench at the end of the bed? Am I supposed to just let him shred the upholstery???? And if my legs are twitching uncontrollably, am I just supposed to lie there and NOT SLEEP? Doubtful; you’d probably dock me points for being awake, too. Oh yes, look: hours of sleep do in fact earn points, and I got a score of 58 out of 70 for wearing my mask “only” 5.7 hours. FUN FUN FUN.
Okay, that’s all I have today. If you prefer to go check out today’s nonsense over at the book blog, I will see you there. (This is probably Way Too Much Suzanne, and I get that.)
First of all, no such thing as too much Suzanne! I am not commenting on all posts, but I am enjoying the abundance of posts to read so far this month.
Second, I was drinking a smoothie as I was reading this, and came across a few pieces of a cherry pit, from my supposedly pitted frozen cherries. Solidarity on never trusting pitted fruit, my friend!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Frozen cherries are the WORST offenders! I used to love my daily cherry smoothie, but we got a giant bag of cherries from Costco and they had so many pits. And then even the “better” cherries from my local grocery store started having pits in them! So I switched over to mango smoothies. Haven’t encountered a pit so far…
I just added your book blog to my reading list now that it’s so active! Never enough Suzanne 🙂
Awww – thanks, Colleen!
I think your CPAP and my Oura ring could be friends and they could b*tch about their humans and their low scores. They can wonder “what are these women doing during the night hours?” My insomnia is so bad right now so I have a lot of red scores on my oura ring readiness and sleep assessment. So much red. But in a way it’s kind of nice to have an objective measurement that matches how I feel about my sleep. I’d give myself a D. Nothing like nearly failing at something that is a basic human need. SIGH.
I have never been to a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. In fact, I did not meet a Jewish person until I worked at a ski resort over winter break during my junior year of college! In other words, ND is NOT DIVERSE. Taco’s best buddy is Jewish so he’s learned about the faith and has a dreidel. I am glad my kids will grow up around a far more diverse population!!!
A CPAP/Oura bitch session. That’s hilarious.
My Oura ring can go to hell, lol. I am very disappointed in my low HRV. Like, super low. It’s so low that Oura took a break from its preachy ways and basically had a morning message of “Don’t worry, everyone’s different.”
At the same time, while I haven’t worn my Oura ring in a few months, I don’t pay the subscription because I’m grandfathered in- that’s how long I’ve had my Oura ring question my readiness. So I’ll wear it more regularly at some point.
I am probably 6 months into the Oura so very new. I would like them to not use red to highlight things. I hate red! It is so triggering for me. Ha. That is so annoying about the HRV lowness (which I still don’t fully understand). Nothing like basically getting the equivalent of a shrug emoji about one of your health scores. 😂
Hahahahaha – I love the idea of our devices getting together to roll their eyes about our terrible sleep habits.
I hate that you feel like you’re failing at sleep. It’s not your fault! You are doing everything you can! Not sure if it works for you — sometimes nothing works except to grit your teeth and get through it — but I find Nicole’s assertion that lying awake in bed is STILL rest to be very soothing. Maybe it’s not AS restful as getting quality shuteye, but it makes me feel less pressured when I can’t sleep.
I’m here for anything you want to write! I learned a lot of cool stuff about you on your book blog today! I’m impressed by your zero events on your CPAP report. ZERO! I don’t think I’ve ever had zero. If I have less than 5, I’m beyond amazed. You’re doing great! I’d love to know what mask you like wearing?
I am wearing a little cushion that goes under my nose, with nothing that goes into my nostrils. Not sure “like” is the right term, but it is still early days!
Hee hee a good night of sleep looks different for people with small kids/pets compared to “civilians”. Civilians can sleep through the night, the best that the rest of us can hope for is to only have one interruption. If my sleep is great to start with, then I might sleep through the night without having to pee, but if I wake up in the night and need to pee, I have to pee or I won’t get back to sleep. All of which is to say that the CPAP should grade on a curve.
Hahahaha – yes, civilians. Like my husband!
I love the youth of today. I love how they have just completely rejected uncomfortable footwear! I seriously adore those young girls in their party dresses with sneakers (I never say the word sneakers, I always say runners, regional dialects are so funny). I truly love it! Here we Gen X ladies are, all crippled from wearing platform slides in the nineties, and these girls are all, no thank you. I mean, I remember when it was totally normal to kick off our shoes and dance in our pantyhosed feet because our shoes were killing us. And now look! They’re dancing around in their “sneakers” (why can’t I say this like a normal person???). In terms of dresses, well, that’s just the thing. It’s A Trend and maybe the pendulum will swing to what we wore (I’m talking Gen X again, I know you’re younger) when we were 12 and 13, and that was giant puffy Laura Ashley wear. It is so cringey now and I kind of wish we had some kind of cuter styles.
I remember tottering out to the clubs in four-inch heels during college, I’m so sorry to my poor beleaguered toes and feet!!!
Ha – sneakers vs runners! I feel like there are lots of regional terms for shoes. I typically say “tennis shoes” even though I am referring to shoes used primarily for tennis.
When I was in middle school, the “cool girl” outfit to wear to dances was a babydoll dress and those yellow lace up ankle boots — Doc Martens or Timberlands or something. I was never cool enough to pull off that look but I admired it jealously from afar.
I live in a very Jewish area and attended over 100 bar/bat mitzvahs when I was in 7th grade!
Oh my goodness!!!! That’s a lot!
I have a story to tell you about brownies and fruit pits. Last winter around President’s Day I found sour cherries I’d frozen the summer before in the chest freezer and thought it would be fun to make cherry brownies (because of the George Washington cherry tree story). Anyway, I failed to check and see if I had pitted them before freezing them, and can you guess where this is going? There were multiple pits in each brownie. But we gamely (and carefully) ate them all.
I know what you mean about homecoming dresses. When North was in middle school, it was the kind of thing I thought I’d have to fight with them about (or decide not to fight with them about– I hadn’t decided) once they were in high school, but then it ended up not being an issue. They swung in the opposite direction and embraced “modest dress” for reasons I still don’t fully understand.
Those brownies are something I must try. They sound yummy. I buy pitted dates in bulk at Costco. I was using them for protein balls, but switched recipes. Fingers crossed. A brownie void of sugar and gluten – that tastes great? Hooray. Yikes on the occasional pit.
The dresses are very short right now and Curly and Mini are very tall, which makes it so hard to shop for dresses.
I have no experience with CPAP machines, but I saw the comment about machines talking and it cracked me up.
I didn’t know you were doing NaBloPoMo – on my way over to check that other blog out.
I like daily blogging although I rarely do it myself. I go in streaks! That style of dress is popular; I’m seeing it everywhere! I don’t mind most of them. But remember I’m from the era of the mini and micro mini skirts. I’m shocked that my parents (both teachers) even let me out of the house!
The dresses are very short. They were short when my oldest was in middle/high school. My middle school/high school self is so envious. 💜
Ack, those dresses are short. I can’t remember if that was the fashion when my daughter was that age but probably, and I know I did plenty of fretting over years, as did my mom about my clothes. She would usually try to shock/horrify me with her statements about my clothes, which just made me set my mind to it even more. There’s no winning.
Your aloo gobi looks amazing. I may try that soon. I made the turmeric cauliflower and chickpea bowls the other day, and they were…fine. Did you try those? Wondering what you thought if you did.
Eve wore a short fancy dress and matching lilac sneakers to grade six grad and it was super cute, and that is as much as I can contribute on that score.
I LOVE aloo Gobi and I don’t know why I don’t make it more often (or ever. Probably because you hadn’t posted a recipe, which seems to be a requirement for me making a lot of things). Biting into any sort of pit while eating is one of my nightmares – I think it would be not as bad with a smoothie because then I would only be worried about swallowing it, not breaking a tooth.
I am not a big fan of brownies, but I am willing to try these – these look good! 🙂
CPAP BUDDIES! I don’t know if I’ve ever had 0 events – is that normal for you since you don’t technically have sleep apnea? I’m very competitive with myself to get an A score every night. Even better if it’s a 100%. But I also rarely get up at night, so that helps.
I had to look up the term b’nai mitzvah, as I’ve only heard it referred to as bat or bar mitzvah. I love a gender inclusive term!
I didn’t realize you were posting on a book blog. I’m gonna check it out! (that was a library joke, I hope you got it)
You only got a B? Maybe you’ll have to add in DEPENDS and skip the potty? Or wear the CPAP into the bathroom?
You are never a mean mom, you’re a cool mom.
Triple bloom=SWOON!
Absolutely no such thing as too much Suzanne.
Yikes to the date pit fiasco! I am always crazy careful with those, and cherries, because I’m terrified of chomping down on one and breaking a tooth 🤣 that said, I *love* dates immensely. Used to take them as my snack in elementary school, which completely weirded out the other kids? Whatever, haha
Now to check out your book blog!
I sincerely hope that the Great Pit Incident did not result in a cracked or broken tooth. That’s always my fear. I’ve had the same issue with other dried fruits – so yes, bite carefully and check thoroughly.
Also? Somehow I was unaware of your NaBloPoMo posts on your other blog. Off I go…