OMG. Where in hell did all the time fly this year? Yes, part of it was eaten up by the "baby" event, but seriously, even my non-babed friends say the same thing. I look back, and all I can see is busy, busy, busy. Juggling work and home has been a struggle, to say the least, and spending 2 hours a day sitting in traffic is farthest from my idea of ideal.
Why are my work and home locations not closer? I keep asking myself that question. And I have to admit - having a not-so-large vehicle has kept us in check. We don't buy endlessly, we buy more mindfully, and frankly, we're much more frugal with our space. I don't think it's such a bad thing - suburbia Americana has grown an ass as large as the vehicles that occupy it, and maybe it is high time that we are all a little more mindful and a little less wasteful - lest one day we have to explain to our children why it was that we were such consumers to leave them with a lesser world. Just a thought.
In any case... to the topic of cooking. Our dear friends Bondrew have been on regular visits to our house, and we've been to theirs for dinner as well. I do believe it's their subconscious effort to keep us afloat in our community of friends, so that we don't become those new parents that disappear for a year and then reemerge these transformed shells of their former selves. We've enjoyed our time in the kitchen, though, without fail, I end up taking care of Baby more than spend continuous time prepping in the kitchen. Grr. I do miss being able to do my kitchen dance. Maybe when Baby is able to be mobile, I'll have to fetch and carry her around less.
A wonderful nutmegged butternut squash soup at their house when we were there last for dinner - we gave some to Baby as well, mixed into her food, and she gobbled it up. The perfect dinner guest! Baby has been eating quite well, and I've continued making her food. However, I am starting to get a little lazy: I'm starting to feed her mashed up whatever it is that we're having for dinner for her dinner meal instead of feeding her just her own frozen veggies. Yes, I'm still making her veggie blocks, but I'm also now mixing it with some of our food. I'm still wary of salt and sugar in her food, but I am throwing in some mixtures of spices. Things to get her palate developed.
So what have we done between August and now? A lot of juggling, some cooking, more delivery than I would like, and even a wedding. She didn't attend the actual wedding - but she did attend the brunch the next morning. And she was quite well-behaved. I've also dragged her to a couple of happy hour events and evening events, so that she could get more used to being around large groups of people without flipping out. She does live in suburbia, where distances between humans is larger than in the city, and I'd like to make sure she doesn't become this space-eating hog without self-awareness. So we plunge.
I am finding that I'm going back to dishes that I know are sure-shots, and I'm experimenting a whole lot less - something I'm not so proud of, since before Baby, I had started to touch on wanting to try new methods and use new combinations of spices. Alas, the most recent invention I can tout is pannetone for French toast, with egg mixed with cayenne and salt. Sweet, spicy... it's about all the material I've got right now.
Here's a photo of my little beloved, from very recently! She's enjoying a slice of bread at Brasserie Les Halles. We're working our way slowly towards their beef tartar.
Next week, foie gras and truffles!
