The one that got away

If you know me or my family you know we are big baseball fans.  Big as in Fan with a capital "F."  We've been to a handful of games at the new stadium, my sister and I even went to opening day (which was AWESOME!). 

On our most recent trip to Target Field my dad's friend Ken came along.  It was his first trip to Target Field.  I was excited to show him Tony O's Cuban Sandwiches which is named after Cuban Baseball Great Tony Oliva who played his entire career with the Twins.  I was pointing out the stand (yum) when my dad said "There he is! The man himself!" Sure enough, there was Tony Oliva!  Probably one of the nicest, most humble professional athletes to ever live.

Now, for Twins fans like us this was akin to a left-winger spotting Bill Clinton, or a child spotting Santa in a month other than December.

We. were.  star-struck.

Tony was shaking hands and smiling for the camera with fans.  He seemed almost bashful about all the fuss being made over him.  On the way out of the house that day I had grabbed our small point-and-shoot, so I told my dad and sister to go say hi.  They worked their way up and shook hands with Tony Oliva.  When they turned around to take a picture, I felt like I was looking at a giddy 12 year old version of my dad!

I pushed the button to take a picture.

!!Battery fail!!

The batteries were too low to take a picture.  Before I could whip out my cell phone some woman ushered my dad and sister out of the way to get a picture of her kids.  The look of disappointment on my dad and sisters face when I told them I didn't get the picture was heart-breaking. 

As I write this I'm getting upset agian.  Sniff sniff.

The amazing thing about the Twins Organization is that they are able to recruit genuine and loyal guys (Joe Mauer, anyone?) and I am sure there will be more opportunities to see Tony Oliva at Target Field, especially since we are getting season tickets next year!

For now Dad, Susan, this will have to do:

Tony Oliva

Opening Day at Target Field

April 12, 2010

credit

I can't wait to bring this guy to a Twins game next year!

Oliver. Walking. Gulp.

Oliver has something he wants to show you.

In just a handful of days he's gotten so much better.  Its so fun to watch him develop his confidence, learn to balance and be amazed at what he can do.  This is such a fun time.  Here is another shot of him tonight.  Clearly I forgot that you can't "rotate" a video.  Cute anyway.

Mama's little helper

All this time home with Papa this summer has taught Oliver some good habits.  For example, he helps with the dishes.

And when I say "help" I mean that he spreads the clean food storage containers all over my ... ahem... not so clean floors.

He also helps with the mopping. 

And by "help" I mean that he pulls it down and drags it around the kitchen.

As for those dirty floors.  The way I see it, the fact that I know they need to be cleaned, and have gotten the mop out counts for something.  Right?  Right?

By the way, I absolutely cannot believe that Oliver is 11 months old.  Eleven?  Where did the last 10 go?

This kills me.

Seriously.  When he makes this face... I die.  And kisses ensue!

100th Post!

{Hey--did you know it's my mama's 100th post!}

{I think that's pretty cool}

As a present for you, here is my home-made spaghetti sauce recipie.  I think I might have gotten a little carried away with the pictures.  Sorry about that!

Start with a bunch of these:

I used about 20 and made 2+ quarts of sauce.  Wash the tomatoes and set aside.  Start a large pot of water to boil.  While you wait for the water to boil, heat 2 T evoo and 2 T butter in a large dutch oven.  While the oil and butter heat, chop a fennel bulb and add it to the pot to start to soften.  You could skip the fennel, but trust me, you don't want to.

Now, realize that you forgot to pick onions.  Go out to the garden and pick two (because they are kinda small).

Chop. Chop. Chop. Into the pot with the fennel.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

By now your water should be boiling so prepare an ice bath in a large bowl.  This is the quickest way to peel tomatoes.  If you want to make a vegitarian version, skip the next step.  Carnivors, follow me.

I like my pasta sauce with sweet italian sausage, but you can use spicy sausage, or ground beef or turkey.  If you use ground beef or turkey, I suggest adding additional salt and pepper at this point along with some oregano (about 1T) and 1 tsp fennel seeds.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the onions and fennel from the pot.  Slice the sausage length wise and remove the casing.  Roughly chop the sausage and add to the pot to brown.  You can add the onions and fennel back in when it looks like this:

Now the messy part: peeling and chopping your tomatoes.

Start by placing a thick kitchen towel underneath a cutting board near the boiling wather and icebath.  The towel keeps the cutting board from slipping around when the tomatoe juices start to run, and absorbs the tomatoe juices.  Also, have a colander on a bowl or in the sink.

Make a small "x" on the bottom of the tomatoes using the point of a paring knife and place them in the boiling water.

It won't take long to loosen the skins, maybe 30 seconds at most.  Scoop up the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and drop them in the ice bath.

After about 30 seconds in the ice bath they are ready to come out, and the skins should just skip off.

 

Now, chop your tomatoes up and put them in a colander in the sink or on top of a bowl.  This will allow some of the extra juice to run off so you don't have to cook the sauce as long to get to the desired thickness.  As you can see I used yellow and red tomatoes for my sauce.

 

 Pour about 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar to the pot with the sausage, fennel and onion and give it a good stir to incorporate. 

Once your tomatoes are all diced (I used about 20) add them as well. Add salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste.  Also add two handfuls of dried oregano.  Finally, grate in 2-3 garlic cloves using a microplane.

I don't have anything to say about this one...

I just love the picture.

Holy cow are these ever cute!

And the fact that they are real leather is only slightly creepy.  Yikes.