Creamed Corn

I'm really surprised I didn't do more blogging in the past 24 hours... Last night I was up until 2:30. I'm on the brink of getting an ear infection and in an attempt to stave off the wretched pain I took Non-Drowsy Sudafed which keeps me awake. Stupid drugs. So, while I waited for myself to get sleepy I started looking up ideas for my brother's wedding. That was fun :) I want to get married again so that I can have the wedding I planned out last night! Although, I should emphasize that I would only want to get married to Matt again.
I was up around 8 today so I didn't get to sleep in much unfortunately and then I spent the whole morning emailing people. I had emails about Auxano, about printing things, about the cafe and scheduling and a whole bunch of other things. It was crazy how much I got done this morning without ever leaving the couch!
In the afternoon I packed Gabe up and we went to see my dad (or Bumpa, as Gabe calls him) at his work where we were getting some printing done for Auxano. As soon as I finished there we went and got groceries and I must say, grocery shopping is so much more fun with a little dude hanging around. He says "Hi" to all the grumpy old people that walk by in an irresistably cute voice, he tries to pound it with people in the line up and he points out everything in the produce section and calls each fruit either an "apple", a "Nana" or a "ball". He's so perfect!
We got home and I cuddled him to sleep while I watched Big Bang Theory. What a fantastic show. I have an official favorite episode (so far, we've only seen the first season and 1/4 of the second season). Anyway, Sheldon gets drugged and when Leonard asks him about a secret he says, "Mom smokes in the car. Jesus is okay with it but don't tell dad." He then claims he's Batman, then starts telling Leonard about how he drank some milk that tasted funny. Oh man, it's awesome. Jim Parsons is a seriously talented actor.
Anyway, once I finally got Gabe down for his nap (5 hours late) I started making dinner: Baked Pork Chops, Beets, Roasted Potatoes with Feta and Home-Made Creamed Corn. I've been meaning to make creamed corn for quite some time now but I never had enough corn kicking around, so this week I made sure I bought 4 ears and saved them until I had time to make it! The recipe I used was, more or less, the recipe from Food Network's 5 Ingredient Fix. You cook up 3 pieces of bacon, set the bacon aside and keep the grease in the pan. In the same pan you slowly cook the corn that you've scraped off the ears as well as all the 'milk' you can coax out of the ear. I used 4 ears for 2 people. Add salt and pepper and I added butter too. Stir, stir, stir to get the starches all milky (like a risotto) and in 40 minutes you'll have gorgeous, bacony creamed corn. The meal was a bit of an odd compilation for me. I typically only do 1, maybe 2 items per meal that take longer than 30 minutes to cook, but the pork took 40 minutes, the corn 50, the potatoes 40 and the beets 40 as well. Not to mention all the work of scraping off the kernels, prepping the beets and coating the pork. It was a rather labour intensive meal for being a plain meal. If we were having company over and duck was the main course I'd think nothing of the time, but since it was an everyday meal it was a bit much.
Matt's mom came and took Gabe to the pool and Matt and I were planning to go for wings. We used to go to the Toad and Turtle every Wednesday for wings (25 cents and they were great!) but since we've had Gabe we haven't been. I really wanted to go but I really wanted more people there. The place is crazy on Wednesday nights and it's not much fun as a date place, but great fun as a group place. Well, Matt forgot to call his buddies, so we had no one to go with, so we opted for dessert instead. We went to Montana's and were seated with a dessert menu until we realized they don't have their Chocolate Eruption anymore! I was heartbroken! So, we dropped a tip and walked out after being seated for maybe 2 minutes and not even having taken a sip of our waters! We walked across the parking lot to East Side Marios and each of us ordered a dessert... and then we switched because we liked eachother's better!
I'm going to bed as soon as I'm done writing this since I need to brace for my second marathon weekend of the month. Tomorrow I'm going to check out the new facility for Auxano and we'll probably hook up my laptop to make sure the tech side works and whip out the guitars to hear the acoustics of the room. I'll make the rest of my biscotti dough in the morning so that in the early evening I can finish baking it, and then in the evening I've got plans for coffee with a friend. Friday I need to go to the church to receive an order and maybe check out plans for renovating the cafe, then I need to bake 6 dozen cookies and finish my biscotti if need be. Saturday I need to setup at the church for the Ministry Fair and I believe Matt had plans for us to do something but I can't quite remember what. Sunday... well, Sunday is almost too scary to mention. I need to be at the church by 7:30 to set up the coffee and then at 10:00 the Ministry Fair starts so I need to be at my booth. Then at 10:30 I need to run out to the cafe and help out everyone and make sure my new volunteers know what they're doing, then it's back to the booth for a few hours. I'll be back at the church by 5:00 to do setup and staying there until 9 - at least. Monday I've got a friend coming over for coffee and then we have the Auxano kick-off which I'm helping lead worship for and running sound I think... Before then I need to find time to practice the worship songs with the rest of the team and try and learn a Johnny Cash song. Partay.
But then on Tuesday it will be sweet release, and I'll be back to my everyday schedule. I'm actually thinking I'll go rent a cello on Tuesday. $40 a month for a cello rental is really not bad. I think it'll take me about two months to learn to a point where I'd feel comfortable playing in front of people and then, if I really enjoy it, maybe I'll buy a cello myself.
But for now, I'll try and rest, keep popping pills to avoid a full blown ear/sinus/throat infection and take one day at a time.

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)