The little tyke is a you tuber

Who would have thunk it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUMwu_gXK7Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgfZVNv6w2E&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynjIoymWHvU&feature=related

Its strange because these are the only things that he'll watch...

Mesa Grill : Blue and Yellow Corn Muffins

I tried to cook Mesa Grills blue and yellow corn muffins and I have to say they tasted pretty good. The recipe is pretty painful to follow, although I have to admit that the recipe itself says you can speed it up if you only use blue corn, which I tried for the second batch and it is indeed quicker.

They taste pretty good although my ones certainly do better with some butter and so I used some toasted pecan and honey butter. A recipe I ad-libbed from the same Mesa Grill cook book ( the actual recipe is toasted pecan and maple syrup butter ).

I would humbly suggest only doing the blue corn batter and perhaps double the measure of sweetcorn -- I liked the sweetcorn in the muffins and originally I thought there were too few... ( because of course the measure is divided into 12 when you make the muffins ).

I just now found a link to roughly the correct recipe...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/blue-corn-muffins-recipe/index.html

He's Walking!

The big news around the ranch is the little man is walking! It ends up being a controlled stumble but he makes it work. It has changed things although not in the way that I expected. He is more mobile but not really that much, once he started crawling you had to keep a serious eye out. But now seeing him walk, makes him look like a real little man... a very interesting phycological difference.

Of course now that he can walk he does tend to pick things up and move them. Taking them from one place to another. Luckily the most interesting things he still can't reach. Interesting times!

Fingernails

This a post-pre post as it were -- in that I'm trying to talk about what has happened -- but trying to think about it as it happened.

One thing that surprised me when the baby was delivered ( other then the fact that the baby was coming this second ) was that he was born with fingernails and toenails. I know that doesn't seem surprising to most people - but at the time it seemed so detail oriented that I was just surprised. I mean what happens if the baby cooks too long -- can they scratch themselves? isn't that a little bit of bad design ? why not grow them after birth and save yourself the trouble?

anyway of course in other ways the delivery was quite amazing.

Our son was born by C-Section and I was allowed to watch -- which is quite an awesome experience -- I didn't know if I was going to be able to look -- but I found I could -- much credit here must go to the doctors as a lot of the gore was carefully shielded -- which was pretty decent of them... but it was amazing to see our son literally pulled peeing from within his mother... I'm not an overly spiritual person and of course I understand the science behind the creation of a baby... but once you see a real baby really crying it does raise questions about a spirit and a soul and life.

I was I confess incredibly nervous about this little new bundle of joy -- which was whisked quickly away! ( I was immediately and forcefully directed to follow that baby ).

He was examined and poked and prodded by the nurses for around ten minutes while I watched and of course they were all using gloves and precautions and stuff  -- which was quite intimidating -- I wasn't even sure if I was allowed to touch him -- but eventually I just got too curious. So I asked if I could -- and the nurse said "The dad is always allowed to touch the baby".

I couldn't resist -- I put my finger in his extremely tiny fist and he grabbed it! incredible!! 

9 Months old.

As you can see there hasn't been much action on this blog.

The little gem to blame ( at least thats what I tell myself ) is my new son ( Zeke ).

However he is now 9 months old and I'm starting too get into the swing of things ( although there are always surprises ). 

He is babbling freely -- "MAMAMAMA" , "DADADADA" and he is crawling like a maniac! he can also climb the stairs -- which is a problem since he hasn't worked out how to scuttle down the stairs yet... no doubt he is working on it.

Although I admit that he can be hard work at times, especially at 2am in the morning when he has decided to wake up and demand a bottle. It has to be said that it is totally amazing when he smiles at you or giggles... it gives you a real visceral thrill and I definitely don't think that can be overstated!

I will try and post some previous stories about his/our adventures -- in a sorta retrospective way -- hopefully that won't take too long...

seeya later.

Mesa Grill

The Mesa Grill is located in Ceasars palace in las vegas. Menu and information can be found here.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a big fan of bobby flay's and have cooked quite a few recipes from his cookbook "boy meets grill".

Having said that I think the people who enjoyed the food with me would agree that it is absolutely fantastic. I had the pork tenderloin which was spiced and cooked to complete perfection. The ambience is moderately upscale but not off-puttingly so. The wait staff are very friendly and knowledgeable about the entire menu.

I would recommend the place without reservation!

My only nitpick is when you make a reservation you need to pledge 50 bucks a head if you cancel -- which seems pretty harsh... do they have that many walk aways...?

anyway -- go there NOW!

TumbleWeeds.

Stimulated by the vicious, and sadly accurate assertion that tumbleweeds have been allowed to seed,grow,and even reproduce on this blog. I decided it was time to post again. I can only beg forgiveness -- the presence of a new baby has altered my calendar a little. Indeed it seems to bend the space time continuum but thats another story.

Anyway without further a due -- the first post of the return will follow.