Why is Everybody So Mad at Jay Leno?

Regardless of your opinion on the quality of their shows, the whole Jay/Conan fiasco has been difficult to watch. What an all-out mess. I heard a quote from Jay on the radio yesterday that said something like, "I don't know why everybody is so angry. They offered me my job back. Who wouldn't take it?" Good point, Jay. A job is on the table, big bucks, fame and fortune, who wouldn't grab it?

So I found myself contemplating why I, too, was angry at Jay. I mean, he may be a perfectly nice guy, probably won't be meeting him any time soon...why am I really, really mad? It's because I, like most of middle Americans these days, am fearful for my own position. I am darned lucky...I get a paycheck every two weeks, and I supposedly have job security. But hey, "in this economy," who knows. Jeez-Louise, poor Conan and his entourage pulled up stakes and MOVED ACROSS THE COUNTRY. Now what? Granted, he's not going to have trouble putting food on the table, but Conan represents us. We the people, terrified of a pink slip, counting on stability. Jay is apparently the one holding the cards, the one we're all afraid is going to sneak up and pull the world out from under us.

Be aware, Jay, that your audience will be changing. Many of your faithful will leave you as soon as Conan is allowed to show his face again on TV. He is one of us, you no longer are.

The Cheese Queens of Okemos

Among the many activities planned for the Clark family visit was one I've been dreaming of since reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." We, humble suburban family in middle America, made cheese. In the kitchen. And it was good.

Barbara Kingsolver describes it as "easy", and multiple websites said that it would take a half hour, but I just couldn't believe that mozzarella could be produced from milk so effortlessly! Until I read up about it in preparation for the event, I didn't understand that there were quite a few soft cheeses that can be made without aging and without expensive equipment. I did need to buy "rennet" (we went with the veggie kind) and citric acid, which (truth be told) pushed the price of our batch up to about $14 dollars, but if I make it even once again, it will be totally worth it financially speaking.

The brave girls went to work in the kitchen, stirring and testing the temperature so as not to overcook the milk. The menfolk stayed a safe distance away, in the living room, watching the Jets accomplish the impossible! I can't blame them for not getting involved, considering the incredible football game and the prospect of having to acknowledge what curds really are. But for real, this cheese thing was nothing short of miraculous. Check out the curds and whey!

Honest and true, if we had been a little less nervous, we could have done it in about 25 minutes. And after N pulled and shaped and pulled again, it looked an awful lot like spectacular cheese. And with a little salt, it was freakin' awesome. S and I feasted on little cheese slabs on tomatoes with olive oil, and we were very happy. So happy, in fact, that we endeavored to take the next step and turn the leftover whey into ricotta.

Now, I had read that this was not so easy, and more than one website said, "Don't try it, it doesn't work." But after much heating and stirring and straining through cheesecloth, we ended up with about three tablespoons of darned good ricotta. If you paid us by the hour, that cheese was worth about $36 per pound. But let me tell you this....there is nothing, I mean nothing, like a bowl of pasta covered in your own stinkin' kitchen cheese. Seriously.

My Little Star (with no video attached)

A few weeks before Christmas, M and I heard a rumor that there was going to be some sort of holiday presentation after E's Sunday school class. We asked E about it, but couldn't get anything out of her. We went to church thinking we'd probably hear a pre-school rendition of "Silent Night", and then we'd eat cookies. No big deal, right?

Wrong. It was a whole production based on a story about little pine trees in the forest. One of the teachers read the script and the kids carried birds, bunnies, trees, and stars glued onto sticks. First the little trees stepped up and "grew" on command, and two of them were picked to be Christmas trees. The one that was left looked sad (also on command) and the forest creatures tried to cheer it up. The bunnies brought berries and the birds brought feathers...they decorated the tree and everyone was happy. Then, the stars came out.

E marched up into place with the other "stars-on-a-stick" and held hers high in the sky above the tree. It was so sweet, and I was really wishing we had brought a camera. Then all the stars moved away except one...one little star took its place right in the top branches, and guess who it was! AHHHH! How could she not have told us that she was THE star? My little baby girl star, on top of the tree. Another little girl star walked up and tried to take her place, and E did the only thing she could...whacked her with the stick. I have NEVER wanted a video camera more than at that moment.

I never really understood the "ooohhing" and "ahhhhing" that parents do at every little thing their kid accomplishes...that is until I saw my daughter perform in her first play, a star in every sense of the word.