Important Life Skills to Conquer the World

The morning starts off like any other morning.  First things first: getting the kids off to school.  It sounds so simple. With well over 100 days of school behind us, you'd think we would be a well oiled machine by now. Not so much.

While some enjoy a smooth, trouble-free morning of kids getting ready, no yelling or fighting and big hugs and kisses as they leave their love-filled home to conquer the world, we use these mornings as opportunities for the kids to practice important life skills.

Life skills my children like to practice:

1 - The art of splitting hairs: "I didn't hear you tell me to get dressed! That's not fair!  You said I should get ready for school, you never said I had to go get dressed!"

2 - The ability to look shocked and offended at any given moment:   "What??  I just brushed my teeth yesterday!  Why do I have to brush them again?  I don't have bad breath!  Why would you say something so mean to me?"

3 - Above all, taking no responsibility whatsoever.  You can always find someone else to blame: "I didn't know the project was due today!  The teacher said we'd take a look at SOME of the projects today.  It's not my fault she called my name.  It's because she hates me!  You have to help me finish the project tonight or she's marking it as late.  What do you mean you won't help me?  If you don't help me finish it, then it's not my fault it's late."

Most mornings end the same way: with me yelling at the kids just to get them moving.  Nothing else works.  Asking calmly just brings out their desire to audition for the national debate team.  By the time I have us all running to the bus stop, their morning has been filled with yelling, fighting, whining, privileges taken away, crying, and more yelling.  As I watch them leave for school, a pit has formed in my stomach as I think of how my kids left home feeling unsettled, angry, and sad, instead of happy and loved.  Off the kids go to conquer the world??  With mornings like this, they'll most likely be conquered by it.

This was heavy on my mind as I drove into DC for my friend's morning show.  As I walked in, I could smell something delicious, and the rough morning was momentarily forgotten as I tried to figure out what it was.  Apparently, Carmine's was catering The Tommy Show's live broadcast.

I had never heard of Carmine's before, and while it smelled amazing, I wasn't sold on Italian food so early in the morning.  As I was checking it out, I saw their cookbook set up at the end of the table.  I love cookbooks.  It doesn't matter that I'm a complete mess in the kitchen, I love the idea of cooking something awesome.  The sad truth is, whenever I tell the family I'm trying a new recipe for dinner, the kids don't waste time throwing out where they want to go eat when we deem the meal inedible. It's true.  Me cooking, is like the train wreck you can't not watch.

As I flipped through the cookbook and looked at the different pictures.  I couldn't help but think how cool it would be to cook every recipe in this book.  Then, reality took over and reminded me I was more of a pancakes-for-dinner type of girl than actually taking the time to cook a real meal.  I couldn't argue with that and as I was starting to close the book, a picture caught my eye and I stopped.

Whoa!  Hello, my cheesy, carb-loaded friend.  How have I lived so long without you?  My mouth began to water as my eyes took in the bread, cut into thin (but not too thin) square pieces where you can see the buttery sauce that has baked into the pores, leaving the bread toasted to a golden perfection, and the cheese...beautifully sliced mozzarella layered between each toasted piece of bread, melted just enough so it would be soft and stretch out between each bite, leaving bits of the rich mozzarella dangling, tempting you to come back for another before the fork has left your mouth.  And did I mention the perfect pairing of basil and capers?  YES, capers.  Giving this masterpiece just the right amount of salty tartness to go with the richness of the dish.  It was like a grilled cheese sandwich on steroids.  Maybe I had been too hasty in putting this book down.  Maybe reality should mind its own business.  I began to look a little closer at each picture, and the recipes within the book.

This was it.  This was a book I wanted to cook every recipe it had.

I asked the woman at the table, Kelly, if I could buy the cookbook.  She paused and then said, "I didn't bring any to sell.  But you can have it after the show, if you don't mind waiting."  Carmine's was getting better and better by the minute!  Afterwards, Kelly introduced me to Jill, and as we were talking I told them how all too often my cooking in a kitchen is like watching a bull in a china shop - it's not pretty, but it would be fun to write about.  They laughed, clearly thinking I was kidding.  They said they'd like to read about the recipes I cooked.  I got their cards, grabbed my new cookbook, hugged my friends (I love you Tommy, Kelly and Jen) who did an amazing job, as always, and headed home.