I'm a Skate Punk. Was.

I recently bought Fury a skateboard. Last night I was showing him the finer points of an ollie. Well, explaining. The showing part didn't go so well. Because when you're 37 years old and haven't skated in 20 years, your skate tricks look less like this:

 

And more like this:

"Well Fury, I'm just old, that's all."

"Tony Hawk is older than you and he's waaaay better."

I should never have taken him to meet Tony Hawk. Well, at least you can read about it (and witness some real skating) on Fury's new review blog:

Kid Test Labs Meets Tony Hawk

Time to Bring the Heat: Tastemaker Challenge 2K10

BEFORE YOU READ THIS: If you only have a second and don't want to read this long post, just skip down to the video and rate it. I promise, you will NOT be disappointed (if you like cooking, Rocky, Karate Kid and/or lightsabers).

When I was in 4th grade, I spent my summer vacation fighting boredom by playing a game called "Joe's Diner" with my sister. I was Joe, the proprietor of a diner that cooked anything to order. She was Joe, a regular customer (we weren't too original with names) who came in and ordered random stuff. She would ask me about my kids, order an omlette and I'd cook it. Then I'd eat it, and we'd start over. I invented a lot of dishes that summer and learned a ton about how ingredients played off one another. I also learned that even a 9 -year-old's metabolism isn't invincible.

Luckily, I eventually stopped growing outwards and started growing upwards, which allowed me to work various skills in the kitchen without getting into too much trouble from there on out.

Last week, the US Potato Board approached me and said "hey, BusyDad, you want to join 8 other bloggers in a video cook-off contest? You're the only guy."

"What'll you have, Joe?"

I Need Your Vote

So here's how this contest works. For the next three months, I will be producing one video a month highlighting creative ways to cook with potatoes. Each month will feature a special ingredient or theme (Sound familiar? I know!! Awesome!). Each month I will post that video and people will rate it. By the end of the three months, the contestant with the most ratings wins. There's no prize or anything, but to me, being recognized for something that has been my passion since childhood would be kind of awesome. Plus, it would be nice for a dad to be recognized for his prowess in the kitchen for once, wouldn't it? And in February, all of the contestants will be flown to Blissdom for one final showdown, head-to-head, in front of a live audience. Who are my fellow Tastemakers?

Amy at ResourcefulMommy

Jen at Savor the Thyme

Jo Lynne at Musings of a Housewife

Jodi at Mom's Favorite Stuff

Lindsay @ Rock and Roll Mama

Melanie @ MelaDramatic Mommy (I recently met her and we did the staredown already)

Melanie @ Modern Mami

Rachel @ A Southern Fairy Tale (She's a buddy. I would be happy, and not surprised, if she won).

This month's theme was seafood. I chose shrimp. And I think I rocked it. This is what I made:

And here's my video, where the above went down. Please click through to YouTube and rate it. I would appreciate it very much! And if you're interested in testing out my creations, the recipes are below:

Shrimp Chumbo

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup clarified butter (unsalted)
2. minced garlic (approx 4 cloves' worth)
3. 1 medium onion, chopped
4. 1 rib celery, chopped
5. 1/2 tsp white pepper
6. 1 tsp cajun spice
7. 1/2 tsp gumbo file powder (ground sassafras)
8. 2 bay leaves
9. 1/4 tsp thyme
10. 1/2 cup flour
11. 4 cups shrimp stock (you can use store bought, but to do it right, get a pound of whole shrimp, shell them, take the heads off, and throw the shells and heads into 5 cups water, along with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tbls cajun spice, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/8 cup lemon juice and a stalk of celery. Then boil for about 15 min, uncovered).
12. 3 cups half and half, divided into two batches of 1 1/2 cups each
13. 1 med potato, diced into 1/2" cubes
14. 1 1/4 tsp salt
15. 1 lb chopped fresh tomatoes
16. 1/2 small can tomato paste
17. 1 lb andouille sausage, cooked

Instructions:

Sautee minced garlic in the clarified butter on low heat for 1 to 2 minutes.

Next throw in your onions and celery, along with the bay leaves and spices (except for salt). Turn the heat up to medium and cook about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent. It is important to keep it moving! 

Once the onions are translucent, slowly add the flour a little at a time, stirring constantly. Cook this for about 5-7 minutes.

Slowly add your stock a little at a time, to minimize lumping. Add the 1 1/2 cups half and half that you set aside. Slowly bring to a boil. Keep stirring.

After it has simmered for a while, add the diced potatoes and the salt. Stir occassionally for about 10 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir to incorporate.

Add the sausage and shrimp. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour in the rest of the half and half (1 1/2 cups). Stir it around for a minute or so and remove from heat.

Serves 6-ish

Shrimp Korroke with Asian Plum Sauce

Ingredients for Korroke:

1. 1 lb potato, peeled and diced
2. 1/2 lb shrimp, chopped
3. Cornstarch, for dusting
4. Oil, for stir frying
5. 1/4  cup scallion, chopped
6. 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
7. 1/4 cup shallots, chopped
8. 2 eggs, beaten
9. salt
10. pepper
11. 1/2 cup flour
12. 2 cups panko or unseasoned breadcrumbs
13. oil (for deep-frying)

Ingredients for Plum Sauce:

1. 1 1/2 lbs plums or similar fruit, chopped
2. 4 whole dried apricots, diced
3. 1/4 cup rice vinegar
4. 3/4 cup light brown sugar
5. 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
6. 1 tbls garlic, minced
7. 1 tbls fresh ginger, minced

To make the Korroke:

Peel and boil the potatoes until tender. Then mash them in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Toss shrimp in cornstarch to lightly coat (you want the pieces to be fairly dry).

Heat up a pan or wok, add oil to cover the entire surface. Add shrimp and red bell pepper. Sautee about 3 minutes, constantly moving the ingredients. Add the scallion (but set a bit aside to garnish), garlic and shallots and sautee for another minute or so.

Remove from heat and dump into the mixing bowl with the potatoes. Mush it around so everything is evenly distributed. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add a quarter of the egg mixture into the bowl and mush some more.

Form patties with the mixture. Dip patties into flour to dust lightly. Then into the egg. Then into the panko breadcrumbs.

Refrigerate patties for about 2 hours.

Deep fry the suckers in 350 degree oil for 3-5 minutes until a desired brownness. Serve with sauce (instructions below) and a sprinkle of the scallions.

Serves approx. 4

To make the sauce:

Combine the all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stir to keep sugar from scalding. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until thickened and reduced, about 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.

Transfer to a food processor or use a stick blender and puree until smooth.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Funkdafied Potato Chips

Ingredients:

1 lb russet potatoes
1/4 cup chopped leeks (1/2 green part, 1/2 white part)
1/8 cup chopped chives
1 tbls minced garlic
1/4 cup Fresno red pepper (or similar med heat pepper), seeded and chopped
2 Serrano chilis, seeded and chopped
1 tsp sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oil in a pot or fryer to about 350 degrees.

With a mandoline or by hand, cut chip-width slices (leave skin on) widthwise.

Add the slices 1 at a time to the hot oil. Use your judgment and make in batches. You don't want to crowd them too much. Constantly move the slices so they don't stick. Do this for about 4 or 5 minutes until crisp. Remove the chips and place them on a plate with a paper towel. Repeat for all the chips.

Once chips are done, combine the leeks, pepper, chilis and garlic into a dip strainer and dip into the hot oil for a few seconds (like 10 to 15). Dump into a bowl. Add the salt to the bowl and mix.

Take a gallon Ziploc or similar bag and place a spoonful of the mixture into it, along with a handful of chips. Close the bag and leave lots of air in it, so there's room to shake. Shake it. Shake it. Shake it, baby. Dump onto a platter. Repeat with more mixture and chips until all the chips are seasoned.

Sprinkle fresh chopped chives on top and serve.

Let me know what you think! And please go rate my video. Thanks!

Music Credits You'll Never See (alt title: Announcing KidTestLabs.com)

Jay-Z, featuring BusyD

I'm bad luck when it comes to collabo's.

Remember sometime last year when Mr Lady and I kicked off our advice blog? Looking back, it kicked ass. It was fun, and we dished out great advice. But two people who never shut up about stuff just couldn't find the mojo to keep, well, talking. It lasted about a year. But considering the Wright Brothers' first attempt lasted 12 seconds, I'd argue we're still on the path to greatness.

Around the same time, I teamed up Jeff Day, one brilliant author/MD and cartoonist to start a comics site called BusyDad Tales. It too rocked. But just kind of ran out of steam (I saved the comics - you can see them here).

Luckily, these two have memories like goldfish and have agreed to kick it with me one more time. But this time, it's different.

The kids are taking over.

It was only a matter of time before my kid started realizing that when you chatter incessantly in school you get sent to the principal's office, but when you do it online, you get sent boxes of free Legos. And when you form a mob with other kids of like mind, you can form an empire. Or at least a cool site you can show off to your friends.

Here's me, kicking him out of the nest. Fly, boy. Fly.

Kid Test Labs

Check it. Yo.

7 years in, and he's already got me beat

d Wife has been having a pretty tough pregnancy. Everyone tells us that means it's probably a girl. This would usually be the part where I do a happy dance followed by a "Kid n Play" style grab one foot and hop through with the other, but seeing your spouse miserable and bed ridden kind of keeps you in check.

Of course, I'm always there to offer advice:

"I feel nauseous."

"Maybe take a Pepcid?"

And so is Fury:

"I feel nauseous."

"I wish my belly hurt too" (while rubbing mom's belly).

"Why?"

"So I can hurt with you."

Son, I love you. But making me look bad on home court is not earning you any Bionicles.

A Few Good Causes

This blog gets decent traffic. And since I don't use it to make money advertising, I should at least use it for something productive. You know, aside from trying to persuade you that I'm wicked awesome like a ninja. Because that is a noble cause too. Almost as noble as these three:

Cure JM

This first cause is a post written by Kevin of Always Home and Uncool. He asked me to post this as part of his effort to raise awareness in the blogosphere for juvenile myositis, a rare autoimmune disease his daughter was diagnosed with on this day seven years ago. The day also happens to be his wife's birthday.

Our pediatrician admitted it early on.

The rash on our 2-year-old daughter's cheeks, joints and legs was something he'd never seen before.

The next doctor wouldn't admit to not knowing.

He rattled off the names of several skin conditions -- none of them seemingly worth his time or bedside manner -- then quickly prescribed antibiotics and showed us the door.

The third doctor admitted she didn't know much.

The biopsy of the chunk of skin she had removed from our daughter's knee showed signs of an "allergic reaction" even though we had ruled out every allergy source -- obvious and otherwise -- that we could.

The fourth doctor had barely closed the door behind her when, looking at the limp blonde cherub in my lap, she admitted she had seen this before. At least one too many times before.

She brought in a gaggle of med students. She pointed out each of the physical symptoms in our daughter:

The rash across her face and temples resembling the silhouette of a butterfly.

The purple-brown spots and smears, called heliotrope, on her eyelids.

The reddish alligator-like skin, known as Gottron papules, covering the knuckles of her hands.

The onset of crippling muscle weakness in her legs and upper body.

She then had an assistant bring in a handful of pages photocopied from an old medical textbook. She handed them to my wife, whose birthday it happened to be that day.

This was her gift -- a diagnosis for her little girl.

That was seven years ago -- Oct. 2, 2002 -- the day our daughter was found to have juvenile dermatomyositis, one of a family of rare autoimmune diseases that can have debilitating and even fatal consequences when not treated quickly and effectively.

Our daughter's first year with the disease consisted of surgical procedures, intravenous infusions, staph infections, pulmonary treatments and worry. Her muscles were too weak for her to walk or swallow solid food for several months. When not in the hospital, she sat on our living room couch, propped up by pillows so she wouldn't tip over, as medicine or nourishment dripped from a bag into her body.

Our daughter, Thing 1, Megan, now age 9, remembers little of that today when she dances or sings or plays soccer. All that remain with her are scars, six to be exact, and the array of pills she takes twice a day to help keep the disease at bay.

What would have happened if it took us more than two months and four doctors before we lucked into someone who could piece all the symptoms together? I don't know.

I do know that the fourth doctor, the one who brought in others to see our daughter's condition so they could easily recognize it if they ever had the misfortune to be presented with it again, was a step toward making sure other parents also never have to find out.

That, too, is my purpose today.

It is also my birthday gift to my wife, My Love, Rhonda, for all you have done these past seven years to make others aware of juvenile myositis diseases and help find a cure for them once and for all.

To read more about children and families affected by juvenile myositis diseases, visit Cure JM Foundation at www.curejm.org.

To make a tax-deductible donation toward JM research, go to www.firstgiving.com/rhondaandkevinmckeever or www.curejm.com/team/donations.htm.

Fighting Child Hunger in America

Earlier this week, I was invited to an event taking place in downtown LA as a guest of ConAgra Foods Foundation. To be perfectly honest (I'm all about full disclosure up in this), I didn't really know much about this event before I showed up. I knew that Sheryl Crow was going to be performing, that there would be celebrities, and that I would be rollin VIP. If you know me at all, you're thinking "BusyDad went for the free booze and cool wristband." Guilty.

But when I got there and learned about the organization that this event "Rock a Little, Feed a Lot" (and ConAgra Foods Foundation) was supporting: Feeding America. They do exactly what their name implies. They make sure that children and families who need food get it. Through school programs and food drives, they move A LOT of food to those in need.

Fortunately, this organization has the support of many high profile celebrities. And to be honest, I'm usually quite cynical when it comes to celebrities and causes (I used to be a publicist). But there are rare moments when you can't help but realize that a certain celebrity is genuine in his or her dedication to a cause. And hearing about how David Arquette mobilized an army of musicians, comedians and actors to turn this idea of a benefit concert into reality, I couldn't help but think, "this guy is the real deal."

I ran into him at the party after the show, and asked him to snap a pic with me:

After he snapped this pic with me, I thanked him and started to walk away. But he stopped me and asked me what my name was. Why would a famous guy who is being greeted by dozens of people every minute even care about that? Because he's just good people. It's the little things that matter.

Do me a favor? If you're on Facebook, become a fan of ConAgra Foods Foundation - they will donate 10 more dollars to Feeding America for each new fan they get until October 10.

Oh, and Lisa Kudrow also played "Smelly Cat" live on stage that night. That's just awesome.

And Speaking of Smelly Cats (and Dogs)...

Pet adoption is a subject that's near and dear to me. I have the coolest mutt in the whole wide world and we got him from the Pasadena Humane Society (our other dog is cool too, but we got him from some lady who put a flyer up in the produce store saying she couldn't keep him because her apartment was too small, so he doesn't count as adopted, does he?). I have mentioned Krypto a few times on this blog. He even has his very own post about how he came to join our family.

Anyway, anything having to do with pet adoption is worthy of mention on this blog, so I'm going to mention The Shelter Project. It's nothing outlandish or different. Just a cool campaign to get people to adopt pets from shelters. Because like a bowl of whole grain oats, it's the right thing to do.