All Child’s Play

So today I went into the guest bedroom for a little vacuuming and dusting.  I very rarely go in there, but since the kids and grandson were visiting this weekend and were in that room it needed the cleaning crew (me!).

There was a little surprise waiting for me under one of the nightstands.  The broken pieces of one of my porcelin shoes had been neatly tucked underneath it.  These aren’t the real shoes like we wear.  They’re little glass or porcelin replicas of fancy shoes.  They’re part of a collection that I inherited from my mom when she died, so they’re kind of special to me.

Now admittedly I should know better than to leave them displayed when I know my grandson is visiting, but we never leave him unsupervised (at his age you can’t).  Soooo…it was determined that the only one who was in that room with my grandson was my son during  diaper changes.

Mind you, nothing was mentioned to me about the breaking of this shoe.  My grandson’s not old enough or smart enough to hide it.  Heck, he’s not old enough to know he did something wrong.  I’ve concluded that my sneaky son hid it away thinking I’d never miss it since the collection is fairly large.

Grrrr!  My son’s a big lighthearted goofball and avoids confrontation by any means, so I’m sure his intention was just to not upset me.  To tell you the truth, I’m laughing about it as I’m writing this because I can just see my son doing it.

So who gets the discipline here?  My son, my grandson, or both?  Not sure.

Honestly!  I should probably just drop it and not even bring it up, but I do want my grandson to understand he can’t play with certain things…then there’s the big kid who needs to know he has to supervise and watch his son.

What to do, what to do?  After 26 years of parenting you’d think I’d know the answer by now.

It’s almost St. Patrick’s Day and with only 6 days to go I’m already in a panick! Hubby is 100% Irish and it’s the grandson’s birthday, so there’s lots of celebrating going on in the McGowan household on March 17th.

For the last ??? years I’ve made the traditional corned beef and cabbage, but this year I’m thinking about doing something different. Not sure why I keep making it every year because I think I’m the only one in the household that likes it.  Besides that everyone goes around complaining about the smell in the house from the cabbage.

Despite all the Irish blood spilling all over this place, not one of those good old blarnies care for corned beef and cabbage. Every year I make it because I just think I should, and we end up with tons of leftovers that noone wants.

I’m looking for ideas on something new and different this year. Any ideas? Irish stew is an option but I’ve never made it before so I’m not sure how it’s different than any other stew.

Just in case you’re looking for a corned beef and cabbage recipe, here’s the one I WON’T be using this year. It’s good…if you like corned beef and cabbage that is.  Now that I’m nixing this family tradition I’m sure I’ll be hearing “where’s the corned beef and cabbage mom”.

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE

Preparation Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 2 Hours 40 minutes (for 3 lbs)
3 1/2 Hours (for 4 lbs)

3-4 lb. corned beef brisket (with spice packet that
comes with the corned beef)
10 small red potatoes (can substitute any other kind
of potatoes but if you use a larger
potato you’ll need to halve or
quarter it depending on the size)
5 carrots, pealed and diced or julienned
1 large head cabbage, cut into smaller wedges (1/4)
1 onion, pealed and cut into quarters
2 small turnips, chopped (optional)
1 Can Beer (optional)
3 cloves minced garlic
10 whole black peppercorns

Horseradish sauce: 1/4 cup prepared horseradish, 1 TBS. dried chives, 3/4 cups sour cream, juice of 1/2 lemon. Mix all together and refrigerate while corned beef is cooking.

Rinse corned beef (if desired) and trim excess fat (leave some fat on meat because this makes it juicier). Put the corned beef in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the spice package that came with the corned beef and fill with enough water (and the can of beer if using) to cover the corned beef. Add the minced garlic and the black peppercorns. Cook for approximately 1 hour 40 minutes for 3 lbs. and 2 hours 30 minutes for 4 lbs. Add the potatoes, carrots and turnips. Cook for an additional 40-50 minutes. Add the wedged cabbage and onions and cook for another 20-25 minutes. Serve with the horseradish sauce.