Gettin' my braise on

I love braising.  'Tis the season.  Braised beef short ribs or pork butt?  Exponentially yum.  

This afternoon I kind of braised the shit out of some daikon.  The recipe called for a micro braise leaving the daikon "crisp-tender"...the thought of which didn't appeal.  I texture-tested at the time called for and did not find it to my taste.  So I braised it for longer and then got distracted, so now the daikon is really quite soft.  I'm sure there's a happy medium somewhere.

I have been inspired though.  I'm going to make some "nimono" sometime soon.  Daikon, tofu, mushrooms, maybe some meat, hard-boiled egg, greens, shirataki...everything braised in a broth with soy sauce and sugar...

Celebrating light

Happy Chanukah!

Love louie

Everything's amazing and no one's happy...

Sweet

I tried another new recipe...Erin's GFCF Sweet Potato Biscuits.  The Spinach with Chickpeas were hers, as well.  As you can see, they were enjoyed.  If Cap had been home that plate would have been empty, no doubt.

When the kids came running into the kitchen for dinner, Gem asked what we were having and what were "those", as Sag asked what "that disgusting smell" was.  Sag, like me, has a very sensitive nose.  Before I could consciously process an answer for him (I remember distinctly thinking, really? something smells bad? what could it possibly be?), my brain went into intuitive mode.

"Those are biscuits," I proclaimed, "biscuits are a type of bread."  Something blocked my usual often bordering on TMI honesty (another trait Sag and I share...see above) and left out the sweet potato part.  Nice move, I told my brain.  So, the kids didn't know that there was sweet potato in the biscuits.  (I think that's what Sag had smelled when he walked in, the sweet potato mash pot that was still on the stove.)

And they loved them.

Sweet.

P.S.  As Erin states in her post, the crumb of these biscuits is lovely.  And they are light and simultaneously substantial.  I thought they were tasty and easy to make (you just have to allow for the extra time of cooking a sweet potato or two...I peeled, cubed and boiled mine, but next time will bake them).

Burst

If you've got blueberries from the summer in your freezer, these muffins will inject your winter-bound system with a wonderful burst of bright light.  (Our blueberries are local and organic...yum, yum, yum.)

I subbed 1 cup of white rice flour, 1/2 cup of garbanzo flour and 1/2 cup of tapioca starch for the 2 cups of all purpose flour called for in the recipe.  My muffins were very sweet (I used 3/4 cup of sugar).  In part, because the blueberries were so sweet and juicy, but also, I just don't need my sweets to be that sweet.  Next time, I will decrease to 1/2 cup of sugar.  I used rice milk and safflower oil.  I subbed orange extract for the lemon extract because I had it and didn't have the lemon.  I'd be interested in trying it with lemon extract sometime.  I used the dregs of my apple cider vinegar...and wondered how it would taste with rice vinegar, which is my usual go to vinegar.

The batter was extremely liquidy.  The muffins baked up nicely in 22 minutes at 375º.  They were a bit challenging to remove from the muffin tin cleanly.  The crusty edge was a bit sticky.  I think the same issue would arise using paper liners...

Gem didn't like the muffins, Sag hasn't tried them yet.  Cap is missing out on these this time around.  Me?  I loved the one I had which was still warm.  The burst blueberries inside were luscious.

Dusting off

the ugly.

the pretty.

Some day when my life looks like the photos in a glossy magazine (grin/grimace) I wonder if I'll be mortar and pestling my spices, creating only what I need.  The spices off the tray in the pic above have expiration dates from 2009 and early to mid-2010.  Look at how nasty the tops get when stored next to the oven and alongside bottles of oil and vinegar...for years.

When do you chuck your spices?  This situation is such an argument for more mindful purchasing and using of spices.  Mortar and pestle or dedicated coffee grinder, I'm looking at you.

I made the fabulous brownies for common meal tonight.  It's been ages.  I'd stopped making them because the moist dark chocolate crumbs would get tracked around the carpet and ground in pretty good (and this is in a home where no shoes are allowed...festive eating by a group begets a mess, what're you gonna do :-) 

As we enter the season of celebrating light, these brownies are a must.  They will light you up from inside.

Light

We seek it in different ways.

Last night as I snuggled with my 9yo I don't know why but I asked him if he felt bad a lot of the time.  He said yes without hesitating.  I wasn't surprised.  And of course I felt sad.  I prodded a bit and we came to understand that it's not a lot of the time but sometimes.  And my nerves dialed down.

I thought, though, wondered...if he will be vulnerable in adolescence...more than average.  As I gazed at this beautiful sensitive soul filling the soft yet solid body alternately folding into me and rolling away from me.

During this time where night is longer than day I connect naturally to the dark.

This morning I decided to go for it and catch some light.  Outside the tall old trees sway and buck as rain and wind pelts down and around.  Inside, I reverted to the original plan and used the big head of cabbage to make Cole slaw.

I was going to make it yesterday so it would have the time it likes to season overnight in the fridge.  Didn't happen.  After a lengthy session with Vinny which revealed just how tight my back and body is, and a solid 90 minutes at the comic book store, I was beyond done by the time the kids were fed dinner and the 50+ pounds of veggies were carried upstairs and stored in the coldest-spot-in-the-apartment linen closet now also root cellar.

I'll just braise the cabbage, I thought as I finished off the mint choco ice cream.  That's more wintry anyway.  (Eating ice cream that has chocolate in it at 10:30 pm, while comforting, is really a bad idea.  I didn't fall asleep till after 2am...)

This morning I am seeking light where and how I can.  So I made Cole slaw after all.  I look forward to its cool crunchy tang as I sit down at common meal tonight.  I look forward to the taste of summer it will bring to the table in a warm well-lit room keeping pitch black 5pm at bay.

From the kitchen

Trying to remember to breathe.  Deeply.  (Haven't been too successful so far...)

The quinoa-sweet potato salad is lovely.  Today I made it with rice vinegar and the olive oil my mom brought back from Sicily this summer.  Also, didn't mention this in the earlier post which included the recipe, but I have been using roasted red peppers from a jar.  I'm trying to keep away from raw foods as much as possible...

I also made some spinach with chickpeas.  I tasted it and have already downgraded the amount of cayenne for next time from 1/4 tsp to 1/8 tsp.  Erin, the blogger, likes her food hot :-)  I was going to serve this as part of dinner, but I think it will be too hot for the kids and I discovered that I do not have the main ingredient for what I had planned to make for lunch for myself, so I'll be having some of this for lunch :-)

Gearing up for a hella busy afternoon.  Picking up 50+ pounds of root veggies and crop leftovers, a visit with Vinny, Pokemon card gaming at the comic book store, picking up the eggs.  I'm going to try to squeeze in making something for tomorrow night's common meal before we leave the house again (we dropped Cap off at the airport this morning).

Hope you're eating something yummy and nutritious today.  This making more food from scratch and decreasing processed foods is time consuming.  Fun in its own way and rewarding, but time consuming...

Lovely

Ahhh...  What a wonderful way to start the day.  With a pause for a delicious drink for the mind and soul.

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/personal_essays/i_reader.php

Dusky walk

The monday after

Today is one of those days that while fully cognizant that I am living the life I want to be, I find it tough.  I slept like crap last night, set my alarm to go food shopping, endured the kids' difficult re-entry to non-holiday routine, did not finish a project in the time allotted (needs to get done by tomorrow, it's gonna be tight), made a turkey vegetable soup, made tamari almonds for the first time in forever, will make corn bread in a bit, vacuumed three rooms, am cleaning out and reorganizing the fridge and pantry as I go...guided the kids through their 'school' work, made them meals, listened to their Pokemon tales, gave them hugs and kisses...I'm hoping to squeeze in a walk with them before it gets dark and after dinner will fold laundry.

Reading?  Writing?  Knitting?  Talking to a friend or two?  Nononono.

Light and love to you on this Monday.

More cozy

My father-in-law and my step-mother-in-law showered us with gifts from their recent trip to Finland.  I love my lambswool mittens...they have quite the Nordic flair, yes?  Kiitos!

Cozy

The new comforter is here!  So, so cozy.  It is much more blue than it looked in the catalogue photo (where it had green tones which turn out to be non-existent...)  Pussy willows are an unsung favorite of mine.  I always forget how much I love them.  And birds are sweet.

Good-bye apples...

Central park

It was nippy and dusk is coming earlier and earlier...  A wonderful way to cap off the holiday rounds of extended family time.  (Today was the annual taking of my folks' holiday pic :-)

Family-izing

Dudes, we made it out at 7:20 am Wednesday morning!  I felt quite accomplished.  We had a lovely holiday, the Cape is so quiet this time of year.  We slept well and late both mornings.  Posting a few pics before I fall into bed.  I am bushed.  Tomorrow we head into the city to see my side of the family for the annual taking of the holiday photo.  All this family time is nice.  I am feeling very grateful.

shooting himself swinging.

ocean love.

cool as a New England born Capricorn Finn.

Jamie love.

Mummu's table.

late lunch with Evie and Pops.

Day before

image pulled from web.

Leaving for the Commonwealth in the morning.  Our goal is a 7am departure.  (Insert snorts here.)  We can always try!

I've food shopped and begun packing.  The kids and I chose some games to bring (Labyrinth and Othello.)  I've organized birthday gifts and cards.

Oh, and I've looked into our visit here.  (Insert sighs here.)  We're going to Japan in February and this place is very high on our things we want to do.  (I'm not off track here...I may pick up the tickets at JTB when we head into the city Saturday :-)

We leave for Vinny in an hour (did I mention that last week's visit didn't happen?)  Then home for a snack before I drop the kids off for their last 2D Animation class (they loved it and are planning on signing up for the winter session) and run up to Donna's for the last CSA pick-up.

Then dinner and prepping the road trip food.

There's other stuff on my mind, but I can only do what I can do.  Life will still be here when we return, awaiting my attention.

Oh, but the library books, CDs and DVDs need to go back today.  Mustn't forget those...

Birthday songs

Something for every one :-) Off to birthday dinner!

Sag is 9

A mess of our photos are presently inaccessible.  They're in the old computer and Cap's in the process of transferring them to an external hard drive.

Here's what I do have:

2001

2003

2004

2009

today.

Happy birthday to our Scorpio/Sagittarius.  Our intense, friendly, creative, honest, artistic, kind, expressive, sensitive, freedom-loving soul.  Unlike his brother, there was no waiting involved with this one.  He was officially announced to us on a snowy day in March, the last exhale of Winter that year, and has been utterly and distinctively present ever since.  Being the youngest in a family of oldests can't be easy.  He holds his own, though, and I have a feeling he always will.  He lives and breathes his Truth strongly, a quality most spend a lifetime cultivating.  He's already got it and I hope his flame continues to burn bright in the years to come.

And the weekend comes to a close

Pokemon cake.

Sag's "friends" party was mellow and we spent part of our time together outside which was a welcome bonus (you never know when celebrating a late November baby).

He has been building Lego sets since our guests departed.  Lego came through by having someone available after 5pm on a Sunday to let us know that they will send a replacement bag #3 for the Hagrid's Hut set which had been mispacked with a duplicate bag #2.  (It's gonna be awhile as the replacement bricks will be coming from Denmark...which is kind of cool :-)

I had a tiny little pity party wishing that we had the same options as non-allergenic families so that I could order a pizza for dinner.  But, my kids have never known the pleasures of a weekend-ending pie and were happy to 'order' from the fridge/pantry selections I outlined, so I've gotten over it.

Cap's watching the Pats, Gem's finishing the party bowl of potato chips, Amazing Race and Next Iron Chef later, and once I have the tv all to myself, The Walking Dead :-)

I hope your weekend is ending peacefully.  Love and light to you.

Morningtime

listening to the 9th birthday playlist.

Morning tummies have been fed (there was Fenway cake involved).  The kitchen is just about back to baseline and the dishwasher is humming along.  Gem is darting in and out of rooms scavenging to a hunt of Sag's design.  Cap is doing environmental and electronic cleaning and reorganizing, poised to shower the kids, and will be creating cake #2 for this afternoon's festivities.

I will attempt to sneak out to do some last minute (the most popular kind when one is ADDish) natal-celebratory shopping.

Have a lovely day-before-Sag's-birthday ♥

Let us eat cake

I love the cake Cap made for Sag's family birthday party today.  It's Fenway Park!

Cap is snoozing on the couch, I am exhausted.  The kids are hanging out in bed chatting Pokemon.

It was a buzzy sort of day getting ready for company and celebration.  Tomorrow is the "friends" party and will be fairly low-key.  Two hours of potato chips, a Pokeball cake and about ten kids.

I leave you with one of the songs Sag put on his 9th birthday playlist.

Greek coffee

I like to think you never know.  And live in the moment.  And when the moment simply feels right, like it was made for this, I do things like drink my first little cup of Greek coffee, ever.  Even if it's past 8pm.

image borrowed from Bespoke by Brouhaha.

The blogger from who I borrowed the above photo describes Greek coffee as: espresso with mud with a lot of sugar (her ratio is 1:1) that then has the hell boiled out of it.  I found it very close to hot chocolate...without the dairy.  And I thought it was yummy.

But, as I had quietly expected, I did have trouble falling asleep (and no, I didn't get the bathroom cleaned, I watched The Office and Community instead).  I was dog tired, but my eyes were doing this intense weird thing where they were drooping but I couldn't close them.  It was like each lid contained the same force...both positive? both negative?...and were doing the opposite of magnetic thing.

What I hadn't expected was waking up about five hours after falling asleep, seconds before the alarm, as I was bawling in a dream just having seen the horrorific sight of someone who had hung himself.  When I say horrorific, I mean as in the genre of horror movies.  Or in this case, tv.  I've been watching The Walking Dead and this corpse looked like a zombie.

Off to make meatballs.  (Have I mentioned Sag requested a "meat party" for tonight's family gathering?)  And today I really do have to clean the bathroom.

Keeping it simple

One thing at a time.  Go with the flow.  Etcetera.

Besides the usual (feeding the kids and keeping them on some sort of track with their learning activities), I basically got one task done today.  (Cleaning up the computer/my desk.) 

There was a frenzy around 4pm.  I made Carrot-Tofu Scramble for Gem to bring to Donna's, I took a shower (ahhh), Cap and I made a food shopping list for the two celebrations happening here this weekend, and I scootched the kids to get ready to leave the house.

Donna took the kids for a few hours.  Cap and I headed out to run errands which took over two hours.  'Tis the season. 

It starts with Sag's birthday which is immediately followed by Thanksgiving (which means time split between Massachusetts and New York kin...and the celebration of two grandparent birthdays.)  Then comes NRC (National Reading Conference) which pulls Cap away for a week.  Then comes our anniversary, right during finals.  Then Christmas, again with splitting time amongst the kinfolk, which coincides with getting grades in.  By the time New Year's Eve arrives we are noodles.

So, yeah, driving around making stops here and there for over two hours on a Friday evening...marks the start of this crazy season.

There was some lovely.  (And you know how much I dig the lovely.)  Despite the cooking and cleaning tasks between then and tomorrow's family celebration, Cap and I hit pause and had some connecting time.  And though the slow service at Greek Delights was kind of excruciating in moments (picking the kids up at 8:30 became picking them up at 9:15), I was able to relax.  And I really appreciated that we took some time out for ourselves.

Because it is starting, the annual seasonal cyclone.

 image pulled from web.

P.S.  Enjoyed some Greek coffee with dinner and it has powered me through vacuuming.  I am now off to clean the bathroom.  At 11pm!

Open season

Listening to Lucy Wainwright-Roche's eponymously titled first full-length CD.  Which I bought because I didn't want to lose any of the tones of her lovely voice to audio compression.  If she sold LPs I probably would have seriously considered buying those.

The words of this song, Open Season, caught my ear. 

(Setting this old-feeling shell of a body to "thrust" as I clean and clean and cook and clean and prepare for Sag's birthday celebrations this weekend.  He seems to be on the other side of the virus this morning.  Phew :-)

 image from Life.

open season

open season on a broken heart
this is the year they take the summer apart
there is a magic to the carnival arts and i can hear the sound


is it the wind through the wonder wheel
is it the science of the way we feel
is it the silence of that old appeal will you be mine again?


my love, my love, are you on a winter beach tonight
waiting on a last chance rocket ride over the boardwalk
follow the noise no one but me and the neighborhood boys
will remember where we were when this went down

the ocean calls us like we've never been
one hundred games that we will never win
close your eyes and hear the teacups spin as it begins to snow


and if you're careful that's not all you'll hear
the mermaids watch us steal a souvenir
and whisper moral warnings in our ears as we are heading home


my love, my love, are you on a winter beach tonight
waiting on a last chance rocket ride over the boardwalk
follow the noise no one but me and the neighborhood boys
will remember where we were when this went down

so take a deeper breath let's hear you sing
and reach your hand out for an iron ring
you'll get another chance oh that's the thing we will be back again


cause summer comes around on any clock
a wash with bathing suits and polka dots
we'll ride the subways to their final stops to see the sea again

Thankful

My poor second born was having a terrible coughing fit.  He's been sick since Saturday.  A cold with a fever.  It's been more of a drag than anything intense, but the tail end of this virus has had a certain bite.  He coughed quite a bit last night (with a hopefully final fever spike of 102+º) and a lot this morning.  Then nothing until about half an hour ago when the coughing came back with a vengeance.

As I half-carried and dragged him to the bathroom because I thought he might throw up from the force of his coughs, my mind was grabbing for a solution.  Partly because I'm his mom, but also partly because I am so sensitive to this kind of dramatic disturbance (he was crying and yelling), fight or flight kicks in and I just want it to be over.

If Cap and the car had been here, I would have no doubt sent him to CVS for some cough syrup.

But, he and it were not home.  As I calmed Sag down, I calmed down.  I gave him some honey.  I spritzed some Rescue Remedy on his tongue (Gem helped by calmly calling from another room that it tasted kind of sour but wasn't too bad).

Then I remembered the essential oils and dug them out.  I bought these maybe six months ago and have had them stashed away.  Waiting for a time when I could watch the dvd that came with the order, ahem.  I chose the bottle that said "Peace and Calming".  Poured some drops of olive oil onto my palm, a couple of drops of the P&C and rubbed my palms together warming the potion right up.

I held my palms close to his face and Sag breathed and breathed.  Gem remarked that it smelled really good so I gave him some sniffs too.  ('That stuff's powerful close up!' he said.)  Sag asked for some more.  Finally, I rubbed what was left onto his chest and belly.  Sag said it smelled like tangerines.

Sag has a good olfactory palate.  The ingredients were: tangerine (Citrus nobilis), orange (Citrus aurantium), ylang ylang (Cananga odorata), patchouli (Pogostemon cablin) and blue tansy (Tanacetum annuum).  I wasn't getting the tangerine at all until he mentioned it.  I was overwhelmed by the ylang ylang and patchouli...neither of which I like. 

I am a big fan of aromatherapy.  I have a sensitive nose and my mood can shift dramatically via my sense of smell.  I am so thankful that my kids appreciate aromatherapy and are reaping its benefits from a young age.  Sag's cough has dissipated.  He's worn out, but...peaceful and calm.

Good night.

In a bowl

The need for liver has passed.

Digging around the CSA bag last night before making dinner I came upon a bunch of baby bok choy.

My mental note was still at the top of the pile this morning so when I had the shallot (from the farm) and onion (from the farm) sautéeing and was deliberating about what else the package of gourmet mushrooms needed, I remembered the bok choy.

A flash of inspiration had me tossing in a handful of walnuts as the veggies cooked down in the vessel of iron (that mental note was close enough to the top of the pile to be remembered, as well.)

I almost put the carton of eggs away, but at the last minute, decided to fry an egg to complete the bowl.

Everything went atop a bit of white rice leftover from last night.  (There is often hot rice at the ready thanks to the trusty rice cooker.)

Seasoning?  Salt and pepper.  Oil?  Safflower.  Morning rice bowl?  Yum.

Down by the water

They sound like The Jayhawks in the very best way.  Really digging this one lately.

What's new in books

Reading right now:

There's a cotton candy-like quality to reading this: delicate airy strands whipped into a cloud full of sweet promise...once it hits your tongue, the taste is so its own and it lingers even as it melts in an instant.  She is so smart and has an incredibly light touch with words which delivers layered meaning so clearly.

But...there is truly a vein of tragedy which runs through the stories being told here.  As much as I feel I could zip through this book, I have been glad for the natural breaks which have occurred during the course of my reading because...the relief which comes with putting the book down is palpable.

What I read last week:

This was a super quick read.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this book was 'lighter' than I thought it was going to be.  I enjoyed the firsthand perspective the author had on the state of medical practice in the U.S. and how it has changed, for the worse, in the last few decades.