Sprung At Last

The Divorce: Medical Bills

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Watching the bills mount on my end, I become frustrated. Somehow I’m always the one who ends up paying everything. I sulk and whine to myself, It’s Not Fair.

But then I remember, The Child has another parent: The Foreigner. He’s not much of a parent – what with not having seen her since she was three and all – so mostly he serves as Exhibit A on the list of evidence that proves I should not be allowed to marry. The fact is, though, it is possible to collect money from him, even in the Netherlands, and he’s legally on the hook for just under half of any medical bill for the child over $50.

I would say a nearly $4,000 medical bill falls into that category.

This came up once before, and as I recall, before the state will start collection proceedings on my behalf, they require that I make “a good faith effort” to obtain the payment myself. So, I scan a copy of the bill and send it to him in an email.

As per the terms of support payment:

I have a medical bill for your daughter for neuropsychological services, in the amount of $3650.00. Your share of this bill is 44% or US$1606. Prompt payment is appreciated as I have already paid the bill in full.

I note also that your account balance is some $2900 in arrears for regular support; kindly bring this up-to-date. The bill copy is attached.

He wastes no time replying:

You think I am some sort of pot of gold on the horizon. Instead of
informing me of the cost afterwards. Why do you not inform me beforehand what you want to do. I would like to have a say in things like this where you spend lots of money.

She can receive FREE medical care over here until she is 18 years old. I think US$3650 would cover the cost of an airline ticket, now wouldn’t it.

This is half my montly paycheck. I cannot pay you this just like that out of my pocket !

I will inform you what I can do, after I get more information from you.

I reply and remind him of a few key points; to begin with, that I have sole custody of her, which was something he willingly agreed to in our divorce mediation, such was his haste to leave the country. I try to soften it a bit – a large unexpected bill is a shock for anyone, myself included.  I tell him I wasn’t thrilled about it myself, it was a most unfortunate circumstance – yet there is a bill that must be paid.

He replies, reluctantly conceded that sole custody “may” mean I don’t need to consult him, and then informing me that he pays 360 euros a month for his family’s health care. I thought he had just said it was free but, as usual, I must have misunderstood.

I’m stupid that way.

He clarifies:

Again, you ignored my comment about free 100% health care coverage in the Netherlands.

360 euros a month for 100% free care? Only in the Netherlands, or only in his mind? I give up. I don’t really care, I’m just trying to make the “good faith effort” the state says I must make.

The state doesn’t say I have to argue with him, but I’m so utterly frustrated with everything, a good fight by email is starting to feel cathartic.

Pumpkin Coffeecake with Brown Sugar-Pecan Streusel

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The hardest part of Thanksgiving, for me, is this: What do I eat for breakfast?

I have a day off, and thus, eating cereal while not being in a rush seems like a waste of a perfectly good breakfast. But I host Thanksgiving every year, which means by the time I get up on Thursday to get the bird in the oven, half my dishes are already in the dishwasher and the other half are headed there. I guess I could have some bagels on hand, but that seems heavy, given there’s a big meal on its way. Yes, I could buy something, but that too seems to come up short in light of all the traditional home cooking that engulfs my kitchen that day.

I want something that says Thanksgiving: seasonal, home-made, traditional.

This year, though, I think I’ve finally found the perfect thing. I received a review copy of Home Baked Comfort (Williams-Sonoma), and after making the Lemon-Blueberry Loaf with great success a couple of times, I decided that the Pumpkin Coffeecake might be just the thing to kick off my Thanksgiving morning. I baked it on Wednesday, so it would be waiting for me Thursday morning.

What with having cranberries and twice-baked potatoes on the brain, I managed to make mistakes in pretty much every step of the recipe. I misread the butter and flour quantities, and ended up with one giant streusel crumb rather than a bowl full of small ones. I attempted to correct the error without much luck, and ended up having to chop the streusel into the required little pieces. I used the wrong size pan. I forgot to set the timer on the oven.

It was delicious in spite of me: Moist and spicy and pumpkiny. The recipe calls for a glaze but I don’t think it needs it. Three days later, it’s still lovely with a warm cup of coffee.


Pumpkin Coffeecake with Brown Sugar-Pecan Streusel
 
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Ingredients
Streusel
  • ⅓ cup flour
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch salt
  • 6 tbsp cold butter, cut in pieces
  • 1 cup lightly toasted chopped pecans
Coffeecake
  • 1½ cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.
  2. Make the streusel: In food processor, whir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, then add the cold butter and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Toss in pecans.
  3. Make the batter: Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
  4. In a stand mixer fitter with the paddle, beat butter and brown sugar until well combined. beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add pumpkin and sour cream and mix well. Stir in the flour mixture; batter will be quite thick.
  5. Spread half the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the streusel on top. Spread remaining batter over that, and top with remaining streusel. Bake about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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This is my contribution to Weekend Cooking, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Why not swing by and see what other culinary surprises await?

Hot Chocolate on Blue Wednesday

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The Child is on a mission: she needs money.

In the summer, she sells sno-cones on the street behind our house. She does quite well with this, raking in sixteen dollars on one particularly hot day last summer; she sold sno-cones to the mailman, a grandma with a car full of grandkids, and a local Got Junk franchisee. A picture of The Child, her sno-cone stand, and the truck’s driver ended up on the Got Junk Facebook page that day. She was both rich and famous.

Sno-cones in November, though, are not a good business model, even when you live on a busy street. The Child develops a new plan: Hot chocolate. She spends days working on a sign, nagging me to buy her a supply of mix and hot beverage cups, and badgering me into buying her a little table for her business. She needs something to keep the cocoa hot, and receives my old slow cooker from the yard sale pile in the garage.

She’s ready.

The day before Thanksgiving, she hauls everything out to the corner, and eagerly jumps up and down in the icy drizzle with her sign advertising hot chocolate.

An hour later, she comes back inside, despondent.

Nobody wants to buy hot chocolate, she says.

Don’t worry about it, I tell her. Try again on Friday.

She frowns. This will not do.

I need a way to earn money, she says. What if nobody wants my hot chocolate on Friday, too?

Well, then you’ll have to find a new business plan. Keep trying until you find something that works.

She doesn’t like this idea. I need money sooner than that, she says.

A bell goes off in my head, and an angel gets its wings: Christmas is coming.

I get on the phone with my father, mostly to tell him this story because I think it’s cute. She doesn’t understand, I say, parents don’t want anything that costs money. We like the stuff they make.

That’s not true, he says. We like expensive things. Me, for example, I like expensive woodworking tools. Take note.

I have a garage full of expensive tools, I say. I’ll send them to you.

Those tools are crap, he says. The Departed bought lots of tools for his shop, none of them worth owning, according to my father.

That may be, I say, but they cost me a fortune and I want them out of my garage. Anyway, you said expensive, not good quality.

Noted, he says. Put The Child on the phone.

I get The Child and make myself scarce, as instructed.

Later, I ask her if there is anything I need to know or help with.

You need to take me to the mall on Sunday. Early, before it’s crowded, she says. Also, if an envelope full of money should maybe happen to  come in the mail, it’s not for you.

Got it.

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