Take the Time

Life has been rushing by. I swear, it was Christmas, and then I blinked and now it's February. My son will be six years old this month, and I have spent time thinking back over fond memories of his early days, months, and years. I think about how it was six years ago today, when I knew his arrival would happen in weeks. I had pregnancy complications that guaranteed a scheduled c-section, and we were aiming for his arrival at one month premature.

Of course my blood pressure would start to rise, just when I thought it would be smooth sailing. Preeclampsia forced me into bed rest, which at first sounded restful, but it isn't. I had a lot of time for thinking about my sweet son. In those quiet times I realized that these were the last days of a unique part of our relationship. Soon he would be outside me, and I'd share him with the world. I cherished each of his movements, every kick that assured me our child would have an affinity for drums, every sideways stretch where he'd push his head against the left side of my rib cage, and his feet against the right side and do his best to persuade bones to move in a manner in which they do not. I would wince when he bashed against my bladder but smile to myself at his strength.

This morning I roused a sleepy boy out of bed for school, and he immediately cuddled up in my lap, snuggling against me, pushing his body into mine. "I want back in," he said in a sleep-roughened voice. I laughed, and told him he most definitely won't fit. What he really wanted was the warm covers and soft bed, to ease down into comfort and slip away again to dreamland. I held him, capturing the moment in my mind and celebrating that my arms are his contentment, and he is my blessing.

Our weekday mornings are hectic, but today I chose to take the time to appreciate my son. Those few minutes of love and snuggles have left me with a happy heart, and on a Monday that is one fine thing.

Need to update!

Seriously, y'all...that picture of me is from 2007 or 2008, I'm not quite sure.  It was taken on the patio of the (now closed) Belmont, during SXSW, right before I met the Italian Guy who tried to romance me although I'm fairly certain he was married.  Obviously, this was prior to me falling fast & hard for Jaime.  Although it would make for a much more interesting story had it happened while I was dating Jaime, no?

Fictional drama aside, my life has been supercalifragilisticBUSYexpialidocious.  Work has been cray cray.  My law firm had been circling the drain, and crashed and burned in late February.  I was lucky enough to be taken in by a splinter group of attorneys that I'd worked with, to their new office.  Now I'm part of the Austin office of a large national firm, based in California.  We've been doing a lot more work with a third less people, but hey, it's job stability.

I promise to update with some pictures, soon, both of the family and food and fun.

Gluten-Free pizza review: Mangieri's at Circle C

I don't eat Gluten-Free because I have celiac disease.  I'm lucky in that I have no wheat sensitivity.  But lately I've been experimenting with GF products and dishes because I have friends who suffer from the disease.  I'm curious to see how things have changed from the early days of crumbly, icky textured, second rate goods.  I'm relieved to say that G-F has gotten yum-my.  In the recent past I've been blown away entirely by the deliciousness that is Blackbird Bakery.  Karen turns out amazingly lucious desserts with nary a speck of gluten in them.  Her crepes! Oh how I love those delicate, airy crepes!  (The Maker's Mark in the apple pie filling doesn't hurt, either).

I've had a burger at Hopdoddy on a GF bun and I simply couldn't tell it was wheat free.  And this week in honor of Chef Jess at ATX Gluten-Free, I tried a pizza from Mangieri's for ATX Gluten-Free Pizza Fest.

I chose Bella's pizza, a specialty pie, with the GF crust.  Making your pizza with a GF crust will cost you a bit extra, but for those who couldn't eat it any other way, it's worth the few dollars.  Bella's pizza is topped with grilled chicken, baby spinach, roma tomatoes, oregano, sesame seeds, EVOO, mozzarella and feta cheese.   Umm, hells yeah!

The crust was crispy on the edge, which was wonderful while warm but be warned, as it cooled it went from slightly toothsome to a little on the chewy side.  The taste was spot on, even a bit buttery.  As a thin crust, this one is definitely a winner.  I would order it again, without a celiac sensitivity to blame it on.  The toppings are fresh, well-seasoned and paired nicely with each other.  There was no one ingredient that stood out too much or too little.  On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, I give this a 3.75, and that would've been higher if the crust hadn't turned tough.

ATX Gluten-Free Pizza Fest Take Two...

Another winner from guest blogger Carrie Wood!  Carries is my GF friend who gives me her opinion of GF products available in area grocery stores.  I can count on her to either give two thumbs up or a resounding "no!" to GF goods.  Carries writes this post as part of ATX Gluten-Free's Pizza Fest.

This time I tried a gluten-free, yeast-free crust mix by Chebe.


I made it according to the directions on the back - the one with the parmesan cheese added to the crust mix.

I topped it exactly like I topped the Almond Flour Pizza crust.

Pic. 3 - just out of the oven (sorry, it's a little out of focus, but I think I swooned!)

Pic. 4 is what was left (hubs ate half) and the empty Chebe package.

This crust is quite simple, and shapes easily. I forgot to sprinkle cornmeal on the stone, so it stuck just a teensy, but loosened easily with a spatula. It makes a thin crust, but it's not chewy or tough. Hubs doesn't like crispy crust so I bake a little less than crispy crust would require. This crust held up well and didn't get soggy in the middle and the slices could be picked up and eaten by hand just like pizzeria slices.

Our vote between the 2 we tested is the Chebe, because it mostly closely approximates a yeasty pizza dough and because we both agree we'd eat it again!