Baby GaGa

In the last several weeks that I have been without (a blogging) voice, the littlest member of our family has truly discovered his own, as Samuel's vocabulary has rocketed from goo-goos and ga-gas to full fledged sentence formulation. I have very mixed emotions about this however; on one hand I expect my little junior executive/chef/attorney general (these are his options) to be at his developmental best, and do everything ahead of the game (I think there must be Asian descent in me somewhere). But at the same time I want to baby my baby something fierce, and if he wants to tote his security blanket with him all the way to Harvard, well then so be it! This is why while I make every effort to expose him to a plethora of pronouns, adjectives, and verbs, I delight in their mispronunciation- it's just too damn cute (there is some logic here I'm sure, but I am still trying to find it). One of his first words was GaGa, and while I would be proud to report that this was due to his knowledge of pop culture, we came to understand it was his way of asking for "water". My budding linguist's funniest speech characteristic is his inability to make the "S" sound. He just can't do it. Sock is gock, silk is gilk, soup is oop, and sissy is, well, a sort of back of the throat sounding noise that most closely resembles the spelling of "gunggung", which is so delightfully random.

I still hold on to words that Josephine mispronounced... at nearly 4 she still says "perftic" for perfect and "tee-torra" for tortilla, all because my sentimentality can not bare for these euphemisms to fade away. I even worry that I am giving poor Isabella a complex, as she routinely has to ask me, "Ok, Mom, how do you REALLY say it... NO Mommy, REALLY?". Even I admit that it is starting to encroach a little too far, as the other night during adult conversation (and perhaps a rather large pour of wine) I continued to use the word "fablious" which is of course in-house-Hamiter-speak for fabulous. So when is it no longer appropriate to use "baby speak"? Someday all of the baby babble will be gone for good, so I might as well soak it up while I can, right? Perftic, I thought so.

The Hamiter Kitchen Translator

GaGa- water, also, garlic
milp- milk
Nony- onion
oioioi- olive oil
hot hot- oven
pata- pasta
DO!- Mother, I would like to help please


What are some of the "babyisms" in your family?





On a relatively unrelated note, I have been promising a friend of mine my friend chicken recipe for quite some time, so without further ado dear Lena, here you are!

Pecan Coated Fried Chicken (ie, the only fried chicken recipe you will ever need)

Crispy, crunchy, and full of flavor!

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut diagolanlly into 6 "tender" shaped pieces
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups pecans
1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
olive oil for frying

1. Marinade the chicken in the buttermilk and allow to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.

2. In a food processor, pulse the pecans, flour, salt, and pepper, until the nuts are roughly chopped and the mix is blended.

3. Thoroughly coat the chicken pieces in the pecan mixture and place on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.

4. Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a (preferably) cast iron skillet over medium high heat until hot, but not smoking. Cook the chicken for about 2 minutes per side until dark golden and drain on paper towles.