18 month words

What Jaynie says at 18 months:

Mama
Dada
Jaynie
Cleo
Boo (Zooboomafoo)
Elmo
Abby
Lindsay (daycare lady)
Auntie
gaa (bottle)
yes
hi
bye
no
uh-oh
all done
what that?
where it go?
ok
all right!
please
thank you
two
three
fish
cow
cat
doggy
birdy
meow
moo
tweet tweet
woof woof
ooh ooh aah aah (monkey sound)
quack quack
baa baa
that
go
down
ball
pop
car
truck
chip
eggy (egg)

Linguine with Cacio e Pepe

Oooh, a food post!!  Last weekend, after Jaynie was sound asleep, Scott and I broke out our cast iron skillet, some fresh scallops, and dried pasta to whip up this amazing dinner.  I was in charge of the linguine, and Scott threw together a quick lime-butter sauce for the scallops (I'd like to point out that the lime-butter scallops were my idea...I was the creative genius, and Scott was solely my kitchen minion).

Linguine with cacio e pepe (or linguine with cheese and pepper), is a Mario Batali recipe that I adore (as do my parents).  For it's deliciousness and refinement, it is AMAZINGLY easy to make.  Seriously, your guests will be impressed...and you can say: "Oh this?  I just whipped it up!"

Linguine with Cacio e Pepe
(From Molto Gusto, by Mario Batali)


Kosher salt
1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound dried linguine
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus extra for serving
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano


Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in a large pot and add 3 tablespoons kosher salt.


Meanwhile, set another large pot over medium heat, add the pepper, and toast, stirring, until fragrant, about 20 seconds.  Add the oil and butter and stir occasionally until the butter has melted.  Remove from the heat.


Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook until just al dente.  Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Add 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water to the oil and butter mixture, then add the pasta and stir and toss over medium heat until the pasta is well coated.  Stir in the cheeses (ass a splash or two more of the reserved pasta water if necessary to loosen the sauce) and serve immediately, with additional grated Parmigiano on the side. 

Dinner & a movie!

Eggs

A little behind on Easter posts, but heck, I'm always behind on my blog now.  Funny thing...working full time with a one year old leaves me precious little time to blog!

But here is Jaynie's first egg dye-ing experience.  She was very interested and curious about the process.  She gently handled her egg, dipping it into color after color.

The final product was a lovely marble red Easter egg, and a pair of lovely red marble Easter hands.

Of course, being Jaynie, she had absolutely no interest in eating her egg the next day.  Maybe next year....

Easter Easter Easter!

Easter was a busy weekend for the McCarthy's.  We had tons of family in town, which meant plenty of get togethers.  Scott's mom and sister stayed at our house, and my grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins (all of them!!!) were here for the weekend (thankfully not at our little townhouse).
The weekend began with a visit with Aunt Janet and Julianna at a little park in Danville.  Jaynie showed off her walking skills, swinging skills, and duck pointing skills.

Grandma and Nonny

Saturday was Easter prep day, which meant dying eggs, making potato salad, and baking desserts.  And of course a trip to the toy store since Grandma was visiting!

Eyeing Aunt Janet's bunny cakes.  Someday it will be Jaynie's job to make these cakes.  Also, pretty sure she is signing "more" here.

Then came Easter.  The last time Jaynie had to deal with huge family get togethers was at Christmas time, and she was a bit under the weather, and was hardly herself at all.   I was a little worried about Jaynie braving the crowds again, but this time she was a champ!!  She stayed up 2 hours past bedtime on Easter, and didn't even let out as much as a whine that she was exhausted.  I think she didn't want to miss any of the party, so kept going and going.   Good girl =)

We had 30 people at my parent's house, complete with our annual ping pong tournament.  This year also featured an egg hunt, starring Jaynie.  Out of 30 people, Jaynie was the only child (hint hint cousins), so she did a solo hunt.  She was thrilled to open the eggs and find goldfish, yogurt melts, and chocolate.  She even tried her hand at ping pong.

Egg hunt time!

My favorite egg hunt photo...it captures  the magic of her Easter

My cousin Christian won the tournament this year, with a $132 prize, and Jim F. took second place with $65.  The stakes are going up!  I really need to practice for next year, since I have been eliminated in the first round every single year.  No pics of the tourney, as I was hardly able to watch any of it as I was keeping my eye on my very active one year old!

Ping pong champ 2022

It was a wonderful Easter, and I feel very lucky that so much of our family is able to get together so often.

Pushing the Wagon

Even though Jaynie is a walking girl now, she still prefers to push something or crawl for her main mode of transportation.  Here she is on a weekday, after work and daycare, getting some outside time in...

Here I go!

Wait...I saw a leaf...must stop and check it out.

Watch out!  No brakes!

I crawl into the wagon when I get tired of walking.  Mom pushes me home (sucker!)

Monterey Weekend

We took a short weekend jaunt to Monterey over President's Day weekend back in February.  Aunt Kelly joined us so Scott and I could sneak away for a romantic dinner for two.   But the main reason for the trip was the aquarium!

Now that Jaynie is one, it is so fun to go places with her.  She loves to watch everything going on around her, and is so excited to see new things.  At the aquarium, she was ecstatic!  She clapped whenever we walked into a new room, pointed to all the tanks and kids, and squealed with excitement.  I think I spent more time watching Jaynie's reactions than watching the fish.  

Pretty much her face the whole time at the aquarium

Jellies!

She got a little TOO excited watching the ocean with Scott at lunch, and kicked her shoe off into the water!  The sea otters went dancing on the town that night!

Oops...lost me shoe Daddy...

Lower left...

Look Mom...no shoes!!

After the aquarium, we strolled down the wharf and picked up dinner for Aunt Kelly: fresh calamari, clam chowder, and crab cocktail.  Seafood dinner + bottle of wine + favorite niece = pretty good babysitting night.  Scott and I slipped out to dinner downtown.  It was so exciting getting out for a night on the town. Cocktails and wine were enjoyed!!

Thanks Aunt Kelly!

This was Jaynie's first hotel experience, and I wish I could report back that she is a hotel champ...but she was a little freaked out to sleep in a weird place.  In fact, she wouldn't even sleep in her pack'n'play, and instead slept with Scott and  me.  Actually, it was more like Scott and I slept on the edges of Jaynie's huge bed...we formed the letter "H", with Jaynie as the crossbar.

First hotel room

The next morning Jaynie was a wreck from lack of sleep, and wouldn't nap in the hotel room, so Kelly had the great idea to do the 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach so Jaynie would sleep in the car.  Best idea ever.

Pebble Beach.  Shhh...Jaynie is sleeping in the car while we hopped out at vistas for photos!

Love this.  Brother & Sister.

We're planning on some more weekend getaways this summer.  What a fun little escape from everyday life.

What's cooking?

Roasted artichokes (these are right before they went in the oven)

 It's been a learning curve to get a healthy home cooked meal on the table every night with a 1 year old wanting your attention all the time.  It's been difficult to realize that I can't make meals like I used to on a regular basis.  Nowadays, it's about getting a Jaynie friendly meal on the table with as little prep time as possible.  I've been making meals such as: chicken and dumplings, quick stir frys, slow cooker stews, and easy pastas.  I haven't even thought to take pictures and post these, but maybe I should.

Pretzel baguette ham and cheese sandwich

 On the weekends, Scott and I decided we need to make a point to cook together one of the nights, after Jaynie goes to bed.  It's been only a few weeks of our new plan, but so far we have made roasted artichokes, crab cakes with red pepper relish, grass fed rib-eye steak with fresh herb steak butter, leek bread pudding, and apple fritters. 

Grass fed rib-eye with herb steak butter, leek bread pudding, braised balsamic rainbow chard

Leek bread pudding.  To die for.  From Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc cookbook.

Apple fritters with vanilla ice cream and honey.  Also Thomas Keller's idea.

Now that we're back on the cooking train, I'll be posting some recipes again!