Mini Deep-Dish Pizzas
The first thing we found out was that the dough expands. We thought we were going to make cute little pizza bowls in muffin cups. Instead, because we cooked the dough a little before adding the ingredients, it ended up as thick, giant crusts with the toppings pouring over the top. What we would most likely do differently is just put a little dough in the bottom of each cup, just enough to cover the bottom, and then stack the toppings without worrying about making a little bowl. Because I decided to bake them in foil muffin cups it would be easy to just peel the foil away (it was easy) and the cheese would probably keep the shape of the pizza intact.
I bought pesto and kapers to go on my pizzas. I love kapers, but I wasn't expecting the severe overload of vinegar taste these kapers were sporting (they actually tasted - long after I was finished eating them - like alcohol). I bought green onions to go on my mom's pizzas and black olives for my sister. My father is very plain - just pepperoni please. But lots of it. All in all, though, it was a nice change from freakin' pork chops and green beans every night.
July 13, 2012
July 9, 2012
Four More...Kids?
Without asking anyone in our house if it was okay, my sister decided to babysit four kids five days a week. They are all under the age of ten. They come sometime before six in the morning and stay until around three in the afternoon. They are three boys and a girl. They seem well behaved enough, but we have to feed them and, today, my sister decided to schedule an appointment and, without telling anyone, left the four kids sleeping in our living room.
She has been watching them for three weeks now and has not been paid. Their mother, my sister's coworker, couldn't afford daycare and needed somewhere to take her children for the summer so my sister, who is on hiatus pending an operation on her foot, offered to watch them for a reduced rate of $25 a day. Their mother keeps telling my sister that she just doesn't have the money, that the next paycheck will be better and then she will pay her...but of course the amount keeps adding up and how, if her paychecks aren't enough for $125, are they going to be enough for $375? It's going to create an awkward situation when my sister has to demand the money or refuse to watch the children...and then return to work with this woman with all the bad feelings there will be between them.
And these children use dishes. Cups and plates and silverware and pots to cook their hotdogs and whatever. Today, while I was spooning yesterday's Mexican leftovers onto a plate, excited because it's been a loooonnggg time since I've had this particular favored breakfast, my mother asked me if a coffee cup amongst the other dishes was the one I used yesterday. She told me that I needed to wash that coffee cup because my sister is tired of having to do my dishes (as you know, this is a regular fight). I went to put it in the dishwasher, but it was full of clean dishes. Could I have cleaned the dishwasher out? Sure. But laying around half-naked doing nothing was my nephew and his girlfriend, neither of whom have a job or do any sort of chore. (My nephew's exact words earlier this year: "I've never had to do chores and I ain't about to start.")
I washed my four dishes while being glared at by my nephew's girlfriend because she wanted to get coffee but the coffee pot is next to the sink and I was blocking it.
See, the problem isn't that I am not willing to clean up after myself. It's the fact that my sister is willing to help everyone but me. I go to work and I pay part of the bills (she doesn't do either of those things right now) and I dirty all of maybe five dishes. I know I harp on this a lot but it's such a sore point. Today, as she was walking out the door to get in a car and have my father drive her to her appointment, she said, "I'm late to my appointment because we have to take 'Stupid' to work." Who's 'Stupid'? My niece, and my sister is angry because my niece lost her driver's license for not having insurance. It is suspended for three years. Why, you ask, was my father driving my sister to her appointment? Because a few years ago she lost her license over unpaid tickets.
By the way, my sister's appointment was at 10:30 and 'Stupid' didn't have to be at work until 11:00. My father was going to take my sister to her appointment and then swing by to get 'Stupid' and take her to work. How the hell did 'Stupid' make my sister late in any way?
So right now, my mother is watching the four kids. My nephew is playing with them but eventually he will lose interest and want to play video games on the internet (which I pay for) or whine about how he wants to watch TV (which I pay for) and he can't because the kids are watching cartoons. For the record...he will probably want to watch cartoons.
She has been watching them for three weeks now and has not been paid. Their mother, my sister's coworker, couldn't afford daycare and needed somewhere to take her children for the summer so my sister, who is on hiatus pending an operation on her foot, offered to watch them for a reduced rate of $25 a day. Their mother keeps telling my sister that she just doesn't have the money, that the next paycheck will be better and then she will pay her...but of course the amount keeps adding up and how, if her paychecks aren't enough for $125, are they going to be enough for $375? It's going to create an awkward situation when my sister has to demand the money or refuse to watch the children...and then return to work with this woman with all the bad feelings there will be between them.
And these children use dishes. Cups and plates and silverware and pots to cook their hotdogs and whatever. Today, while I was spooning yesterday's Mexican leftovers onto a plate, excited because it's been a loooonnggg time since I've had this particular favored breakfast, my mother asked me if a coffee cup amongst the other dishes was the one I used yesterday. She told me that I needed to wash that coffee cup because my sister is tired of having to do my dishes (as you know, this is a regular fight). I went to put it in the dishwasher, but it was full of clean dishes. Could I have cleaned the dishwasher out? Sure. But laying around half-naked doing nothing was my nephew and his girlfriend, neither of whom have a job or do any sort of chore. (My nephew's exact words earlier this year: "I've never had to do chores and I ain't about to start.")
I washed my four dishes while being glared at by my nephew's girlfriend because she wanted to get coffee but the coffee pot is next to the sink and I was blocking it.
See, the problem isn't that I am not willing to clean up after myself. It's the fact that my sister is willing to help everyone but me. I go to work and I pay part of the bills (she doesn't do either of those things right now) and I dirty all of maybe five dishes. I know I harp on this a lot but it's such a sore point. Today, as she was walking out the door to get in a car and have my father drive her to her appointment, she said, "I'm late to my appointment because we have to take 'Stupid' to work." Who's 'Stupid'? My niece, and my sister is angry because my niece lost her driver's license for not having insurance. It is suspended for three years. Why, you ask, was my father driving my sister to her appointment? Because a few years ago she lost her license over unpaid tickets.
By the way, my sister's appointment was at 10:30 and 'Stupid' didn't have to be at work until 11:00. My father was going to take my sister to her appointment and then swing by to get 'Stupid' and take her to work. How the hell did 'Stupid' make my sister late in any way?
So right now, my mother is watching the four kids. My nephew is playing with them but eventually he will lose interest and want to play video games on the internet (which I pay for) or whine about how he wants to watch TV (which I pay for) and he can't because the kids are watching cartoons. For the record...he will probably want to watch cartoons.
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