Daddy's Special Chicken

By popular demand, the recipe for "Daddy's Special Chicken"*

6-8 Drumsticks of chicken**

1 Cup Sugar

2- 2 1/3 Cups Water

2/3 Cup Soy Sauce

3 sprigs fresh Rosemary (or 2 T dried)

1/2 Tsp fresh ground black Pepper

1 tsp Sriracha (rooster) hot chili sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil,

simmer until you can see the meat separating from the bone.

To thicken sauce (Which may well be the very best part of the dish) ,

1 T cornstarch

1 T cold water

Mix until all combined and milky in consistency,

add to boiling sauce

Serve with white rice.

Feel free to adjust the amounts of sugar and soy sauce to your family's tastes.

* (In interest of full disclosure, Eddie used to make "Shoyu" (or soy sauce) Chicken to woo women when he was in college. After we got married he cut down the amount of sugar and added more spice, I take full credit for introducing him to Rosemary, if you need some and you live in So Cal I have a very prosperous Rosemary plant and I am willing to share.)

** If you are one of those silly people who doesn't like drumsticks you can use any part of the chicken, even the white meat and it will still be tasty.

Handsome in my house!

Results are in, and
Once in a Blue Moon's
"Man of the Year" 2008 is.........
My husband Ed

The above photo (taken by Ella when she was 5) illustrates one of the reasons that he wins, he will pose for 5 year old photographers, and play hide and seek for little girls who hide when they hear the garage door opening to signal his return from a long day at work.

Another reason he wins is that he does the dishes, this would be reason enough, but he also cooks! That's right ladies, and not just chicken dinos or hot dogs, "daddy's special chicken" is a favorite of not only our family but neighbors and friends too.

My husband got me a gift certificate for a massage for my birthday this year and watched the children while I went.

He also happens to be a very sexy ukulele player, when he starts strummin it makes my heart happy, so thank you Mr Edward for being my man of the year - every year!

Six-year-old-in-the-house!

This morning I awoke to the sound of Ella coughing, not something I love to hear in any situation, but especially on her birthday.

She came in my room and I braced myself for her sickly cuddly mode to hop into bed and snuggle up, instead she leaned in and whispered

"Did you wrap my presents yet? and did Liana get me a present? cuz I got her a present for her birthday and I got Nina a present on her birthday.......(yadda yadda yadda-you get the picture)"

All year long when I tell her I will not be buying whatever new thing is being advertised during the Dora commercial breaks, she says to me

"Maybe for my birthday could you get me a _____?" And I usually take the chicken way out and say "Maybe, we'll see."

Starting in November she begins the conversations with "when it's my birthday I want to have sparkly bracelets for all the kids and I want to invite everyone I know and I want to have prizes and ...yadda yadda yaddda...!"

And I take the chicken way out and say "We'll talk about it when it is your birthday, we won't have everything, but we will have fun things."

This answer gets me through the other girls birthdays and holidays but it means that once the party is on the calander all bets are off, and my little diva must be tamed daily.

Don't get me wrong, she is grateful for everything and shares at the drop of a hat, but she just thinks soooo many things are fabulous that she can hardly contain herself when she thinks there might be one of the things she has been longing for wrapped up in ribbon for her.

So the party is scheduled and we have a plethora of sparkly, frilly things to do - the big thrill this year will be stringing their own candy bracelets. I am already anticipating the shrieking fun of a gaggle of giggly girls and mentally reminding myself to take ibuprofen before the headache sets in.

I ask myself why I want to throw a party each year, and I guess the reason is that I want her to feel special, I want each of my girls to be a princess for a day.

Growing up in a family of 6 children I never felt like my parents loved one of us more than the other, but it was sometimes a little too easy to feel a bit lost in the shuffle. My birthday was always a time where I did feel special, and I felt like people really did like me and that my opinions mattered. My Mom shared her birthday with me and only now I can really appreciate what that must have meant in self-sacrifice some years.

So thank you to my Mom who gave me the gift of life and the beautiful childhood birthdays that made me feel celebrated, even when my hairstyle and choice of eyeglasses weren't worthy of applause

And thank you Ella for reminding me what that feels like, and for the last time, I am not buying a Barbie that is taller than you! (But I might get a princess one with a horse!)