Tiananmen Square

I have blurry memories of watching the protests in Tiananmen Square on television.  My mom is coded into these memories somehow.  The voices are muffled with age, but I can remember being told what was unfolding on the screen before me.   I understood that history was being made.  And then there is nothing.  It goes blank.  I know now that the nothing marked the Chinese government's crackdown and then their whitewashing campaign.  That kind of stuff works really well on an eight year old American.

It's surprising the break it affords me to look at the big picture and remember what happened in that Square twenty-five years ago in a country so far away.  What a relief it is to step outside myself and to consider what life was like for those students.  It's easy to get caught up in the rat race that life can be when you do it next to so many other people.  The questions I ask myself seem weighty at times.  Do I have enough children?  Do I have too many children?  Am I teaching them enough?  Am I doing enough?  But when I remember these people I never met, whose lives were so short, the same questions seem so lighthearted and also insulated.

Springtime in Tiananmen Square, 1989 is the article I read yesterday.  So aptly named.  So much can happen while the sun shines down on you.  This June will mark the passing of seven years since my mother was alive.  I don't know if that is a short or a long time.  There are still a few items I have of hers that carry her smell.  I still have a number of the things she gave me over the years.  My watercolors.  An old swimsuit I can't throw away.  And there are things I have that should still be hers.  Her jewelry box.  Her china.  I know that Naomi's "naturally curly hair" was for her alone.  And Verity.  Well, at least she would be trying to pull up all the plantings in Marmie's garden instead of mine.

The years that have passed have brought great and slow change.  It's taken many years to begin to see her again without the backdrop of what took her from us.  It's taken me this many years plus a few more to look forward to seeing her again.  It's all taking a really long time.  Maybe longer than I expected.  Certainly longer that the world allows you.  On my good days I can see how blessed I am.  And on my bad days it goes downhill really fast.  I'm still learning from her and learning about her, I know.  On most occasions when I'm going crazy about one thing or another I know she would tell me not to worry about it.  I'm trying awfully hard not to.   

The Meal Plan | 05.19.14 | No Big Deal

Monday:  Cauliflower Fritters

Tuesday:  Baked Beans with Cornbread 

Wednesday:  Curried Split Pea Dahl over Rice.  Again.

Thursday:  Kusheri -Egyptian Lentils and Rice topped with a Red Sauce and Sauteed Onions

Friday:  High hopes for burritos made by somebody else.  

Eric will probably call to check in before he boards his plane to come back home.  I'm hoping for a text.  Because I have nothing to say.  I've envisioned answering the presumed call sounding upbeat and entirely positive, like it's been no big deal doing a weekend plus a Monday on my own.  But I can't do that because I'm tired and I'm really bad at pretending otherwise.  It's in part a tribute to how helpful he is.  It's in part a tribute to the age and stage N and V are currently at.  I will never be the person that says motherhood is the hardest job in the world.  But it is an endless job, and most of the time a thankless job.  I don't mean that I want more flowers on Mother's Day.  I mean that practically speaking when your daughter is crying at 4:30 in the morning because she is sleeping in a puddle of pee and she wakes up her roommate and by the time you get back in bed you realize the birds have begun to sing, no one is going to thank you for doing such great work.  This is why God gave us coffee.  To reward us for doing such great work.  

Regardless of all that, today is a great day because this afternoon we are planting our garden!  Tomatoes, basil and flowers in abundance.  And for experimentation, I'm also scattering a mix of mesclun seeds!  I'm most excited about that.  

Destination Unknown

I buckled the girls in this morning not knowing exactly were we were headed.  My cup holder needed a coffee -that much I knew.  It splashed on my jeans, it splashed all around.  We gave a new tune and a new verse to our bike song.  And with them in front and me behind I was left to my thoughts.  

p.s.  I didn't think that was worthy of a post, but Verity did.  I'll go with it. :)

The Meal Plan | 05.11.14

Monday:  leftovers -I'm stretching the tikka masala from Friday with diced potatoes.  

Tuesday:  Curried Split Peas over rice.  A mainstay.  

Wednesday:  Chilaquiles Cassarole -a new bean recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Favorites

Thursday:  Savory Crepes.  A new mainstay.

Friday:  The Weekly Lentil -back to the soup I believe.  

Against all odds I executed my meal plan last week.  The crepes were a hit.  The idea came from a friend who reminded me that sweet potatoes are not the only vegetable I could put in them.  She fills them with whatever she has on hand and now we do too.  I will not again try to cut one egg from my crepe batter -it made them flimsy.  But I will fill the last four with nutella again.
And he pizza dough was great -Van Boven's measurements are spot on.  I need to share that one with you.

Onward we go.  I'm behind the ball already with more than one forgotten appointment that now fills my week.  I made myself go to the grocery store this morning so we are ready in one small way.

   

On Nicknames And The Machine

I have never been one to name a vehicle.  My first car, a grey Volvo lives on as my forever password -a password so good that my sister who co-owned the car with me now uses it too.  (We are aware that this is a negligent security situation.)  Subsequent vehicles were either too red or too blue.  It all seemed so forced.  There was a time in life when your friends asked you, "Does it have a name?"  And it seemed to matter.  I'm glad those days are over.  The peer-pressure to name your vehicle.  Was that a point of anxiety for anybody else?  Someone cooler who had thought up the perfect name for his or her car was usually in your company and suddenly your car was so boring.  And there you stood as its owner too boring, too careless to bother.  How could you?

But really, the pressure's off.  Nicknames are to be stumbled upon.  They are handed down to you.  It can't happen any other way, as far as I'm concerned.

I always wanted a nickname growing up.  Didn't we all?  There is something wonderful about terms of endearment.  I remember, how could I forget, when my favorite summer camp counselor rustled my hair while I stood in the canteen line and called me "buddy."  Actually it was "Hey, buddy."  With an intonation somewhere between an exclamation point and the solidarity of a period.  Like we'd been friends forever but he was still really excited to see me.  After I begrudgingly moved ahead in line, out of his jurisdiction, the girl next to me who witnessed the whole thing looked at me with mouth wide open.  I met her with a dropped jaw.  Did that really just happen to me?

Inconsequential attempts were made in high school to assign me a nickname.  A few would stick on the soccer field, but mostly I was just "the twins."  I do not have a problem with this.  These days Eric calls me Melis which I like, but he is pretty sparing with its use.   That is a subject for another day -how speaking a person's name in greeting or in general conversation is falling out of fashion in this country.

I take you on this meandering trail to make an announcement.  I finally own a vehicle that has a nickname!  Even better, it's a bakfiets -a cargo bike and it's red.  The machine.  The nickname is courtesy of a friend of Eric's, an extremely likable Irish gentleman who happened by it one day.  "Is this your machine?" he asked.

It was previously owned by a young lady in Roxbury.  A single-mom, minding her own business, unschooling her son, cruising around Boston's rough patches on her bakfiets.  We exchanged stories, handed her a check and drove it off the lot.  Or rather Eric biked it home.  We installed some harnesses and bought some WD40.  We brought it to Bicycle Belle for a new back break and rear tire and she sails again.

I am beaming.  I am grunting up hills I didn't know were there.  We ring the bell.  We are waving.  People are staring.  They are smiling.  We have a bike song.  We are having so much fun.

It does come with challenges.   Although steering is not one of them.  You wouldn't believe how easy it is to drive.  It is heavy and the center of gravity is low, so tipping isn't an option.  Pedaling is another story.  It's less of a recreational ride than I envisioned and more like a work horse and I'm the horse.  I tried to explain to Naomi while I was pedaling how hard I am working to get us home and it silenced whatever request she was making.  Also, everything is taking longer that I estimate.  Loading Naomi and Verity into the bucket takes some time.  Helmets need adjusting, harnesses need tightening.  We go slower than I estimate.  Which leads me to my next challenge.  It's becoming Verity's new favorite place to nap.  I need to get a water-gun, for real.  But I'm not sure that would work.

One thing is for sure:  Our radius just got a lot bigger.  

I'd like to thank those individuals who encouraged me to follow my dream of owning a bakfiets on the outskirts of Amsterdam.  ;)

The Meal Plan | 05.05.14 | Eat Local-er

Monday:  Black Bean Salad over Quinoa.  A Trader Joe's recipe.  Satisfying and pretty.  

Tuesday:  Pizza.  Recipe from Homemade Winter.    

Wednesday:  The Weekly Lentil. 

Thursday:  Crepes filled with roasted vegetables. 

Friday:  Vegetarian Tikka Masala.  My sister turned this into a vegetarian dish with cauliflower and chickpeas and it was delicious.

I thought of my grandfather today while I sliced corn off the cob.  In May.  He once watched me score an avocado and feed it to Verity in little cubes.  He seemed a little impressed and a little appalled.  Growing up in west Texas they didn't have avocados.  West Texas is a whole lot closer to avocado trees than where I live.  He went on to tell me that when corn was harvested, they ate corn every day.  Of course they preserved what they could and when that ran out, they cooked with cornmeal and when that ran out, they ate something else, I'm not sure what.
So last week when I bought corn on sale at Whole Foods I was glad he wasn't there to see me do it.  It didn't sit well with me.  They are harvesting corn somewhere very far away from where I sit.  I'm going to wait till August to buy it again.

  

The Meal Plan | 04.28.14

Spring is building confidence around here.  In fits and starts it comes and goes leaving us with a little hope that our corner of the world has not been forgotten.  The tree outside our window is filled with beautiful white blossoms.  They held on through the wind gusts of last week and through the colder temperatures and rains that followed.

Similarly, our meals are straddling the line.  There is plenty of time left for grilled cheeses and tomato soups but we also get to put mango salsa on our black beans and rice.  Yesterday I made an almond cake to see us through another cozy (read: dreary) afternoon.  What are you making lately?

Monday:  These lentils.  Scroll way down for the recipe, or like me, read her entry and wonder why you too haven't started your own granola business.  

Tuesday:  Black Bean Soup and Cornbread.  Not sure which version yet, but I have lots of beans.   Wednesday:  Ina Garten's Macaroni and Cheese.

Thursday:  Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie.  A smaller version of this. 

Friday: Leek Fritters and Pan-fried Potatoes.  #random  

Those Rainy Days

There are some days when you just have to ignore the rain, or embrace it depending on your state of mind.  This morning we ignored it and went outside.  Wednesday we embraced it and went outside.  It proved much more empowering to be a participant rather than a bystander.  And, after surviving the snow and the cold of these long winter months, we can do spring rain.    

My little three year old hasn't been herself this past week.  It's hard to know what is going on inside her head and even more of a struggle to know how to best respond.   I had the opportunity to try out the entire variety pack of parental tactics -igmoring, diversion, empathy, and the ugly head-to-head battles.  Our highs were very high and our lows were very low.  She would fully commit to whatever emotion was felt as if we were at acting class.  "Now be really excited!  Okay, this time try it from the depths of despair."  My sister and I decided that it is really hard to be three or five or eight.  It's hard being a kid.  There's a lot you can't do, there is a lot you are told to do.  But there is still a standard of behavior to uphold.  And being an adult is no cake walk either.  Most the time I would like to be throwing a fit.
But even with all of the ups and downs, even because of them, it was a exceedingly rich week.  We had an open schedule and family to enjoy.  There is a card my mom gave me on my fridge that reads, "Nothing is impossible to the valiant at heart."  Valiant.  It felt as if the world was ours for the taking.

So when Wednesday came and the rain was falling and our inside game was falling apart, I knew we could not let it get the better of us.  We had plans to meet friends at a park and take turns watching our kids while we each went for a little run.  I had my sneakers on and the girls were dressed head to toe in their rain gear.  So even when they cancelled one by one, there was no turning back.  I strapped them in and off we went with a stop at our favorite grocer.  Two blueberry muffins and an orange poppy scone can cure all ills.  

The moral of this story:  invest in rain pants.  Just kidding.  Maybe the moral of the story, of my story, is that it is all a beautiful mess.  And I'm really, very grateful.

The Meal Plan | Marathon Monday

Marathon Monday means stealing away for a morning run with my sis, turning day-old baguettes into french toast and eating a coconut cupcake with my second cup of coffee.
It also means heading to Coolidge Corner to watch the runners go by.

I like this picture because of the sun that is shinning, the serving tray I picked up at T.J.Maxx for next to nothing, and the one dollar bottles of Pellegrino I bought on sale.

On Easter Sunday I pull out the ironing board and I press the napkins.  I do it for both novelty and tradition, and to make sure the iron still works.  I place my coffee mug on the ironing board because we must not be parted during such a time.  I only spilled on one.

  Yesterday Eric grilled Lamb Sliders, and I took a page from Bon Appetite and made Cod with Potatoes and Preserved Lemon Relish.  With some accompaniments and accomplices it was a delightful spread and celebration.*

Tonight we ate leftovers.  Monday.
Tuesday:  I have marinara sauce in the refrigerator.  Fill in the Blank.  I'm so tired.
Wednesday:  Black Bean and Rice Bowl
Thursday:  Lentil Soup and Arugula Salad
Friday:  Pizza.  I've been topping everything with arugula lately.  No exception here.

*For the first time (ever?) the white was gone before the red.

The Meal Plan | 04.13.14

When I was growing up our kitchen was closed on Sunday night.  I don't remember when this policy began but it was not awesome.  My sister and brother and I would lurk around the kitchen, obviously finding "nothing to eat" and being told that there was plenty to eat if we were "really hungry".  

This evening we closed up our own kitchen and pulled out this and that from the fridge to see what we could come up with -a baked sweet potato, leftover lentils and rice, roasted eggplant nearing expiration, the last of the arugula and some pine nuts.  I made the grown-ups a satisfying salad and a deconstructed version of it for the short ones. 

 I'm hoping this week's dinners will look like tonight's -a satisfying afterthought.  With Holy Week to think about and Easter feasting to anticipate, I'm ready for this week to look a little ...less.  

Monday:  Lentil Soup.  Made with yellow split peas and lemon and feta.  From Homemade Winter

Tuesday:  Mushroom Galette.  A way simplified version from BA this month.  

Wednesday:  Curried Red Lentil Burgers.  From Moosewood Restaurant Favorites.  Okay, not an afterthought.  

Thursday:  Pasta Night.  

Friday:  Potato and Leek Frittata 

ShopGirl | Bicycle Belle

I'm starting a new series.  I will feature shops that I love.  Then you pretend you are interested.  Simple enough.  Today I'm taking you to Bicycle Belle in Somerville.  How do I put this?  It's amazing -particularly amazing if you are dying to own a bakfiets and/or want to do so in the Netherlands.  I've been plotting my bakfiets purchase for several months now.  So far it has involved combing craigslist, buying a craigslist app to alert me of any posting of a cargo bike, joining the local bicycle listserve and lastly trying to get a part-time job to raise funds.  

When I stopped into this store today I had momentarily forgotten that I was coveting such a bicycle.  Innocently enough, I wanted to highlight this great little local business.  You see, after several cargo-bike-doors closed on me- mainly the job that I failed to secure I settled on buying a perfectly sensible bike trailer.  A bike trailer instead of a cargo bike.  A small investment instead of a large (medium-ish) one.  

So the owner and I were chatting and I was telling her about my cargo bike woes and she asked if I wanted to test drive a bakfiets.  And I said YES.  And she didn't even ask me to wear a bike helmet.  YES.  I sailed around the block, happy as can be.  

Once you learn to ride a bike, you never ever forget.  Even if it has a big thing in the front.  

Thanks, Carice!

  

The Meal Plan | 04.07.14

Monday:  Lebanese Lentils (lentils cooked with rice served with a heavily dressed salad on top)

Tuesday:  Curried Split Peas over rice

Wednesday:  Fish Stew with Fennel and Baby Potatoes -new recipe to try this week

Thursday:  Hot Dogs with Sweet Potato Oven Fries.  Yes.  

Friday:  Flatbread of some sort.  I'm hoping it will be without cheese, topped with olive oil, sauteed mushrooms and arugula.  

I'm always exhausted when I plan my meals and shop for them on the same day.  I'm bent over the counter, hunting for recipes, writing down the ingredients I need, having told the girls we are leaving in ten minutes for the grocery store.  Ten minutes turns into twenty minutes and I'm kicking myself for having mentioned a stop at the playground on the way home.  We get back, lunch is rushed, groceries and couch cushions are everywhere.   Enter exhaustion.  I hope this ramshackle meal-plan will survive and carry us through another week.  

If you care to join me, here is the recipe I'm going to try from this month's Bon Appetit.  

Fish Stew with Fennel and Baby Potatoes

1/4 cup olive oil 

8 oz. small waxy potatoes, scrubbed, sliced 1/4" thick

1/2 medium fennel bulb, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt, ground pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup creme fraiche

1 1/2 lb. skinless flounder or fluke fillet, cut into 2" pieces 

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill

lemon wedges (for serving)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Cook potatoes, tossing occasionally, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.  Add fennel and garlic; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until fennel is soft, about 2 minutes.  Add wine, bring to boil, and cook until almost completely evaporated, about 4 minutes.  

Add 2 cups water to pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.  Stir in creme fraiche.  Add flounder, cover pot, and reduce heat.  Simmer until fish is cooked through, about 4 minutes.  

Stir dill into stew; season with salt and pepper.  Serve with lemon wedges.  

I already have a list of substitues:  I'm using haddock instead of flounder, cilantro instead of dill.  And I'm going to salt at the beginning instead of at the end.  :)  

The Meal Plan | 03.30.14

On this second to last day in March..

Monday:  Chicken Tikka Masala.  My new recipe to try.  

Tuesday:  Chickpea Saute from Plenty. Did I wait long enough to make this again?  

Wednesday:  Lentil Soup

Thursday:  Black bean and Rice Skillet

Friday: Pizza.  Are you asleep yet?  

I completely burnt myself out last week.  I was in a tizzy about casting aside my winter routines and forging ahead to lighter meals for spring.  The ramifications: pizza was ordered on Thursday night.  And Friday became an easy frittata with potatoes and the leeks i hadn't used yet.  But it also meant I was eating a wonderful roasted vegetable salad for lunch each day.  I'm beginning to see Tamar Adler's approach to cooking as much less revolutionary and much more commonsensical.  Prep work pays off.  I don't know that I'll roast all my vegetables every Monday.  But I will sometimes.  In the same vein, I'm doing more prep today that usual for the week ahead.  I soaked all the beans I plan to use, and I'm prepping my chicken for tomorrow night and making the sauce as well.  This is all happening mostly because it is a dreary, easy Sunday afternoon.

I enjoyed reading this article this weekend.  I hope you had a nice one.

The Meal Plan | 03.24.14 | Learning to Stride Ahead

I'm in the middle of reading An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler and her chapter on vegetables, Learning to Stride Ahead, is teaching me a thing or two.  This week I'm doing things her way.  She says, 

"Each week I buy whole bunches of the leafiest, stemmiest vegetables I can find.  Then I scrub off their dirt, trim off their leaves, cut off their stems, peel what needs peeling, and cook them all at once.  

By the time I've finished, I've drawn a map of the week's meals and created the beginnings of a succession of them.  Then each day I pick up where I left off."

I'm a little out of my element, but since I have a bad track record with making the transition to Spring in the kitchen I'm hoping this might be just the thing, even if a little less structured.

Monday:  (giant) lemon fennel beans over rice.  I don't love the word giant, but I can't wait to try this recipe tonight.  

Tuesday:  Vegetable Stir-Fry to be eaten before ice-cream

Wednesday: Greens Gratin -from An Everlasting Meal

Thursday: Heirloom Beans with Leeks from Simply in Season

Friday: End of the Week Vegetable Curry -An Everlasting Meal 

p.s. Anyone have a good recipe for fava beans?  I've got'em.  Now what. 

Week Weary

It's going to be a crawl to the finish, but it's looking like I will live to tell the tale of this week behind us.  I always wondered what it would be like to take care of two sick babies.  I no longer wonder.  It wasn't that bad, and oh yes it was.  The pendulum was a careless thing for all of us -swinging about without the least regard for people standing in its path.  Moods changed as quickly as a gust of wind.  One minute we were up, the next we were down.  When I'm in a valley like the one we were in this week -it doesn't help (at all) to try to relay the facts and the nuances of the day to my partner.  It happened and you had to be there.  The only witnesses are people of the Age of Innocence.  They are short and they can't testify.  We were a little island -looking for the rescue of warm weather, looking for a bird to visit our bird-feeder, looking for an open table sit at and eat our honey sticks.  Alas. 

I know I can be dramatic.  I can brag some serious self-awareness and I know where I fell short this week, as a parent, as a person.  But it is a week like this one where it doesn't do much good to analyze every ounce of your existance.  It was one week.  And we weren't feeling really well -in Naomi's words.  Fine.  Let it go.  Let it be.  Save your droning for a warmer, sunnier, spring day.  

Have a great weekend.  :)

The Meal Plan 03.17.14

How are you fairing this week?  I know it's only Monday, but still.  Feeling a little stifled in our corner of the world.  Wish I had been more patient with N this morning before I realized she wasn't as well as she first lead us to believe.  I probably could have saved my "I'm not your servant, I'm your mom" speech for a healthier moment.  

Butternut Squash has been my faithful companion this long winter.  Tonight I will sauteed it in olive oil with a garlic clove crushed.  If you do this in a heavy saucepan and leave the lid on it turns into a delicious mash.  I will serve it over white rice.  I will douse mine with hot sauce.  

Monday:  Sauteed Butternut Squash over Rice.  Sorry, I just said that.  

Tuesday:  Lentil Soup.  We've missed you.  

Wednesday:  Leftover Sweet Potato Blintzes from last week. 

Thursday:  hmmm.  That may mean pasta.  

Friday:  Pizza.  I just made that up.  I'm good till Wednesday at least.  

Cinnamon Swirl Recovery

Lately I've been checking out back issues of Cook's Illustrated.  If you turn to page 29 in March-April 2012 you can find out which canned whole tomatoes to buy and which to avoid.  Hunt's Whole Peeled, they recommend.  San Marzano, they recommend with reservation.  These are grown domestically with seeds from Italy.  (You still can't beat their packaging.) 

Today I tackled The Best Cinnamon Swirl Bread from the same issue.  Rewind to Friday morning when our bus outing takes everything out of me.  I didn't think twice because they always do, but I took my temperature and it was a smidge high.  Finally a documented reason to feel crummy and call in!  Eric came home early and the weekend commenced.  With no children to chase I took my shuffling to the kitchen and made some chicken soup.  This feat thanks to Tamar Adler's, An Everlasting Meal, explaining how simply this can happen.  By Saturday morning the fun of being sick had worn off.  Naomi spearheaded the birthday festivities for her dad and Verity thundered around the house.  I stayed in bed and watched Sense and Sensibility.

And here we are on a beautifully sunny Sunday.  It's Naomi's turn to feel a little crummy, sadly.  My big cinnamon bread moment had arrived.  You can't win if you don't play.  Am I right?  

I followed the recipe step by step -down to the 32 pieces of butter tossed in flour.

To folding the dough in thirds like a business letter only to roll it out again.

Six hours later..

I don't know if it was the best ever, but it was the best I'd ever made.    

The Meal Plan 03.09.14

It's rice week.  My eyes are on the elephants.  A couple of weeks ago I bought this twenty-five pound bag of rice on a whim after I saw it in the cart of a friend walking down the rice isle.  I was always buying these puny little bags of rice and running out, mostly because I once cooked old rice and I payed for it.  Rice does go bad.  Not this time.  Now I'm even measuring with my fingers when i cook it.   Gone are the 2:1 days.  Up to the knuckle or just below for 1 cup of dry rice -this tip from the same friend who sold me on the bag of rice.  

Monday:  Sweet Potato Blintzes.  Already in the works so there's no looking back.  

Tuesday:  Curried Split Peas over rice.  

Wednesday:  Otsu  My new recipe to try.  Thank you, KM!

Thursday: Gnocchi.  Rest night.  

Friday:  Shrimp Fried Rice.  BA March 2013.  If I can't get shrimp, I'll just use the sauce and substitute some veggies or chicken.  

:)

What about you?

The Meal Plan 3.03.14

There comes a day when only pizza will do.  Today is one of those days.  We need something to look forward to for dinner.  We need this most days of the week, but especially today since we are all tired.  I'm tired because I stayed up to watch Cate Blanchett win Best Actress for Blue Jasmine.  I didn't want to find out who won at 6:30 the next morning before my first cup of coffee.  I wanted her to win and I wanted to know if she would mention Woody Allen.   She wasn't supposed to because of the charges facing him right now.  But she did thank him for casting her, of course she did, and it seemed fitting no matter the circumstances.  After that it was a Women Power speech, and though initially I thought to myself, "Are you really going there right now?" it's nice to hear some of that from time to time.  Considering we really have overcome a lot over the years, damn it.  

So anyway, I'm tired and Naomi asked me at lunch if we were having pizza or french fries for dinner tonight.  I laughed and then she didn't.

Really quick, last Monday's Chickpea Saute with Greek Yogurt was the most interesting dish I've made in recent memory.  If you don't own Plenty put a hold on it at the library or borrow it from a friend.  And buy some caraway seeds.  I didn't end up making sweet potato blintzes or burritos.  Those sweet potatoes ended up as oven fries on Friday night.  And when Thursday rolled around I subbed out my lentil soup for Rebecca's Lebanese Lentils -a wonderful recipe I rescued from the abyss of my inbox.  I will share that with you another time.    

Up Next:

Monday:  Pizza with a side of roasted brussel sprouts.  Those have been lurking in my fridge since last week.
Shrove Tuesday:  These buttermilk pancakes! with bacon I think.  

Wednesday:  Baked Potatoes, those still need to be eaten, with sauteed mushrooms.  Or flavor sponges as a friend titled them.    

Thursday:  Black Bean Rice Bowl with avocado and homemade salsa (hopefully).  

Friday:  Lentil Soup.  Sometimes Fridays are like Mondays in my kitchen.  Hold on for dear life.

The Meal Plan 2.24.14

I didn't tell you too much about the new series I began last week.  I just threw it at you and hoped it was mildly intriguing.  Is there anything intriguing about weekday meals?  

Last week started off strong.  The pizza dough turned out really well.  I followed Yvette's recipe from Homemade Winter.  She called for part semolina flour which could have been the reason it was so good.  Or, it could have been that I just put more effort into making it.  I set the timer and kneaded the dough with Naomi's help for the full ten minutes.  Tuesday we were away and Wednesday was lentil soup.  Fine.  Thursday we were without Eric for dinner.  He's our risotto guy, but I stuck with the plan and made the cauliflower risotto anyway.  Verity ate it.  I counted four bites for Naomi, and the fifth was not so sneakily  spit into her napkin.  By Friday I was done.  I started making dinner, realized I could not complete the task and called Eric with this update.  We ended up ordering some pasta from Basta Pasta -that is the very short version of that decision making process.  

This week I'm going to try to keep it simple.  I'm trying one new recipe and the rest will be reruns.  

Monday:  I didn't use any chickpea credits last week so we are going to try again.  This time with a recipe that looks more interesting to me.  Still from Plenty, which I am borrowing from my neighbor.  Chickpea Saute with Greek yogurt.  It calls for caraway seeds and lots of carrots and swiss chard.  And lemon juice.  Lemons help February.   

Tuesday:  Off night!

Wednesday:  Lentil Soup.  We have this one night every week.  

Thursday:  Sweet Potato Blintzes which are pretty labor intensive but the girls gobble them up and make great leftovers.  I'll make black bean sweet potato "burritos" if I'm not up for it.  

Friday:  Pizza.  I think.  I don't have any more semolina flour, but will hopefully be kneading for the full ten minutes again.  

Are you making anything mildly intriguing this week?  :)     

Winter Still

It's still winter here.  We are still sloshing our way through it.  We are still eating our way through it.  It's not so bad really.  It hits 40 degrees and I don't know what to do.  Wait, give me back the teens.  We know the teens.  40 degrees and you feel like you should go on a walk and never stop.  We did that yesterday and Naomi asked to be picked up the entire way back.  Verity was on my back.  I thought we were done with the ergo, but with the snow and the ice, she is back in it.  She's such an easy baby to carry.  A heavy baby to carry.  

On today's big adventure we made sure to leave the ergo and bring the stroller.  I gave an evil eye to every house who hadn't shoveled wide enough to allow a tiny little umbrella stroller to pass. We shoved our way to the bus stop.  We rode the bus.  We rode the T.  We rode the Purple Train.  The man on the purple train wasn't happy to see my stroller.  But I averted my eyes to his glare and heaved it up the train steps with Verity in it.  The purple train took us with friends to this idyllic bookstore, just in time for story hour.  It's such a cheery place; filled with color and books.  And it has one of the nicest bathrooms I've ever visited with a toddler.  

I have neglected to take any pictures of my children this week.  It's too bad, but also really nice.  I missed THE picture of Verity's babyhood this week.  With the standing still and the falling snow and the rosy cheeks.  I just didn't have my phone on me.  Who wants to bring a phone outside to play in the snow?  I hope I will always remember the picture of her in my head.  I'm glad it belongs to me at least.  

Here's one from last week's snowstorm.  It's very similar.

And here are the scones I made this week.  Motivation:  so I could eat them.  I have some serious habits to break if Spring ever comes.  

Cup of Jo had a great post a while back about surviving Winter.  I've taken number nine to heart.  Because she's right -it's winter and all bets are off.  

Have a great weekend..

The Meal Plan 2.16.14

I'm happy to say you will be able to count on me for at least one small something moving forward.
The Meal Plan.  My meal plan for dinners each week.  I've been at it since the fall and I'm starting to get the hang of it.  It's really a sketch, written in pencil.  The meals get moved around, bumped back, replaced.  But I can say that it adds an element of peace to my week when originally I thought it would only add constraint with no flavor.  And since I always want to know what my friends are making for dinner, I'll start by sharing what's on my table!

1. pizza: oof's basic recipe -Homemade Winter by Yyette Van Boven
2.  Lentil Soup -duh
3.  Chickpea, tomato and bread soup, Plenty by Ottolenghi
4.  Swiss Chard, Tomato and Garlic over Polenta -friend's recipe archive
5.  Baked Risotto with Cauliflower -Homemade Winter
6.  Baked potatoes with sauteed mushrooms -back-up meal idea from Bon Appetite because there appears to be strong tomato overtones throughout. :)

I'll report back.

Nashville

Nashville lived up to its hype.  Emily and I went for the weekend, flying on one regional jet after another to get there.  After each leg we would celebrate that we were still mothers.  We went to have dinner with our little brother before he flew off to Jalalabad.  J-bad.  It was really sad to say goodbye.  We moaned and laughed continuously the rest of the weekend and ate our way around Music City.  It helped that the food was so good.  

Since returning, I've been googling "antique bungalow for sale boston".  Nashville was dotted with them and I want one, just one.  

A Week Without

I love and will always love my Neal's Yard Dairy tote.  But I'm confident I will find new ways to remember my trips to old London town, rather than carrying this bag with its stains and thread-bare straps.  This week I upgraded to a new used Dooney and Bourke.  The brand doesn't mean much to me, but it's well made and appears to be a classic of sorts.  I can fit and find my keys, my Rosebud Salve and a diaper all in two shakes of a lamb's tail.  It didn't cost terribly much, but it was definitely a discretionary expense and one that I wanted to disappear.  And so I decided I would eat it for lunch.  There is this great scene in Crossing Delancy, (one of our favorite movies) where Izzy walks into the bookstore where she works with a large shopping bag in her arms and someone asks her, "What's in the bag?", and she answers, "My lunch for the next month."  Really, there is a dress she can't afford in the bag.  And so it went for me.  Starting with beans then lentils, back to beans then lentils, finishing with homemade pizza.    

Monday:  Depression Stew from My Berlin Kitchen.  This has become a mainstay in our home.  I love it and I double it.  It's made with flageolet beans and carrots and potatoes in a tomato base.  

Tuesday:  I tried this recipe from Food52 for red lentil dal.  It was fine and would have been much better had I not elminated the last and perhaps the most interesting part of the recipe.  

Wednesday:  Black Bean and Rice Skillet from Simply in Season.  Another simple favorite and one where I get to use my cast iron skillet from start to finish.  

Thursday:  Lentil Soup which got bumped back from Monday night.  My own version, fairly simply and fairly heavy on the cumin and tumeric.  

Friday:  Pizza.  Smitten Kitchen's crust.  The rest of it was unremarkable, but none of us really cared.  Especially me.  

After a week like that one, I can't wait to read through my new Bon Appetit, paying careful attention to the Chicken and Dumplings on the cover.

The weekend!  

Artifact Uprising

Today I received a pretty major tip-off.  Artifact Uprising.  This company is giving me hope that maybe, just maybe I will have proof of these present days in hard copy photos.  Maybe I won't have to reminisce in the years to come by passing my old phone around from one family member to the next.  That would be so great.  

A Birthday Crown and a Toile Tent

  This past Saturday Naomi turned three!  She feels so grown up all of the sudden.  But I can still see a little baby chub in her cheeks and when she starts to babble I know that she is still little.  "I don't know if she can come, but I don't know if she can come, because I don't know if she can come."  We built a tent made out of fabric poles and some old toile (originally intended for her nursery room curtains), and blew up balloons for her to wake up to.  We took a bus ride and went out to lunch and she picked out a book at the toy store with some of her birthday five dollars sent to her by a loving great-aunt.  After a birthday nap we had a few families over and ate macaroni and cheese and chocolate cupcakes.  And shock beyond shock -she wore the birthday crown I made for her.  She must have known.  :)

Homecoming

We're home.  We are home after many long hours in the car and many good hours with family: mine, his, ours.  Our first night back Eric broke our pact and unpacked his suitcase (the nerve!) while I was on the phone which led to a small feud, which led to me unpacking my suitcase and then led us both to a pour of his new Christmas bourbon.  And, now we are mostly unpacked.  Look at that!  

It's hard growing accustomed again to the rhythm of everyday life.  I can't purge all that needs to be purged in one day.  We came home with arms full of stuff.  But we also came home with this great, totally-seventies afghan Eric's great-grandmother made, and a new cast-iron skillet.  And waiting for me on the porch was this cookbook to walk me through the rest of winter -thanks to my brother who asked me what I wanted for Christmas on Christmas morning.  :)  I meal-planned the heck out of it last night (more on that later), and I have my eye on her cardamom and orange scones for this afternoon.