The pregnant chef

Basics. (part 2) Mustard

2011-12-18T22:24:00.001-05:00

As far as sauces go, there are few instances I can recall when I would pass up a good mustard. Eggs? Sure. Dogs? Definitely. Chicken? Beef? Pork? Seafood? Vegetables? You bet. On a cracker, or on some bread? Why not. Right off a spoon? Now you're talkin'!

Not only does mustard, especially the whole-grain variety (save the bright yellow for Wawa pretzels on the go), twist up flavors to give some sour and smoky tones, I've used it as an ingredient in other sauces. As a stand-alone or as an aid, mustard is one of my palate's favorite treats.

Never mind, the fact that most days I have no less than 4 or 5 different varieties of mustard in my fridge. Except, when I opened the fridge and discovered this past weekend, that I was down to just one measly bottle of the the sunny yellow variety. *Sigh* And to think I was going to gobble up some mustard like it was yogurt. *Sigh, oh double triple sigh*

If you've ever looked at the ingredient list on any whole-grain mustard, you'll find that it's so basic it's criminal. I'm sure most of the time when I'm paying for mustard, I am paying mostly for the jar and the labor, in that order. The ingredients list is so consistently short, with 2 basic ingredients that just about every mustard has. I tried it for the first time this afternoon, amidst the hustle and bustle of getting our house ready for the holidays next week.

This first experiment, I'm using the mustard seeds whole (not ground), and I'm going to let the liquid break down the seeds a bit for me. I added some fennel and cumin seeds, a touch of salt, and I'm planning to add a touch of agave tomorrow evening to help temper the spiciness. We'll see how it goes.

Basic Mustard
Mustard seeds (use a combination of brown and yellow)
Vinegar (try any variety of vinegar, wine, or beer)

1. Place mustard seeds in a sterilized jar.
2. Cover with vinegar until just to the top of the seeds.
3. About an hour later, check on the mustard seeds. If it needs more vinegar to keep the seeds covered, add more vinegar.
4. Let steep overnight.
5. Enjoy.

If you like it spicy, keep the jar cool and use cool liquid. If you'd like it milder, heat up the mixture on the stove first to help soften the flavor in the seeds, let cool, and the jar and fridge. From this basic recipe, the sky's the limit on variations of additives: dried fruit, fruit rind, wines, different types of sweeteners, herbs, other spices, peppercorns, the list goes on. And for smoother texture, just grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle before mixing with the acid.

Basics. (part 1) 2-2-1 Hollandaise

2011-11-29T00:36:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, it takes that physical trip away from familiarity, to bring the pendulum back to center. And the exposure to the big and the small, the broad and the narrow, the full spectrum and the minutiae - traversed in steps across the familiar but in new shoes - I'm still reflecting. But one thing I know:

There are no accidents.

Take our walk in Armstrong Redwoods SNR the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I didn't realize that I dropped my driver's license out of my pocket near the top of the East Ridge Trail, while Theo and I were walking our little pace, to get my phone to text our friends ahead of us that we were not far behind them, and that we were hooking right at the fork in the trail. Then somewhere along the Armstrong Nature Trail at the bottom of the hill some 1.5+ miles later, on our way back to the visitors' center and parking lot, a guy comes walking towards me and hands me my license.

What are the chances?

Like it should be any surprise that this forest would be where human support of one another should take place, where I should find a recentering. It was a striking moment, when we were surrounded by giants and wisdom older than all our collective ages combined, and I felt the sudden jarring of the closing of one of my life circles. One path ended, and my life took a turn in the fork of the life road. I'm not sure where the road will take me, but I have faith and will blindly follow.

So as my life pendulum starts swinging again, I tip my hat to the circles that make up my life and go back to some basics that bring a bit of heaven to the kitchen every day. The morning before we left for California, I made some poached eggs for the family and had a hunkering for hollandaise. Not difficult, not terribly time-consuming, and it does give just about any base flavor a little kick and swagger. Use the basic proportions, and increase or decrease accordingly. And of recent, I lopped some on asparagus. Perfectly yum.

(the poached eggs, I used one of those poached egg pans, steamed in a larger pot. works perfectly each time. some things, I'm eternally grateful for design and technology to come together and make a process that much easier.)

2-2-1 Hollandaise
(covers 3 eggs, a grabful of asparagus, or 4 large potatoes served any which way)

Ingredients
2 egg yolks (I use my hands to get the yolk)
2 oz butter, cut into small pieces
1T whole milk, cream, or half and half
Squeeze of 1/2 lemon
A hint of spice (I used Indian chili powder)
A pinch of salt (use Kosher. less needed than granulated)

Tools
Double boiler (or just have a metal bowl on top of a deeper pot, with just enough water in the pot to create steam for the process without letting the water touch the bottom of the bowl)
Whisk
Water for steaming

1. Place pot with water on the stovetop. Cover the top with your metal bowl, with egg yolks and butter inside. Turn up the heat on the water - you want the water to be gently simmering by the end of the process, not boiling. Boiling the water gives you too much of a risk of scrambling the eggs, separating the butter, and having to start all over again.
2. As soon as the butter begins to melt, start whisking to mix together the egg yolks and butter. Whisk until smooth. Don't worry if it looks like it's curdling. Turn down the heat, and just keep whisking
3. Add milk, and whisk until smooth.
4. Take mixture off the heat, and add the remaining ingredients to taste.
5. Dollop a spoonful on eggs/asparagus/bread/potatoes/fish/just about anything with a non-acidic taste. (or do like I almost did that morning, and enjoy it with just a spoon) The sauce also gets a boost of freshness by adding fresh green herbs. I tried scallions tonight, and it was heavenly.

Little pockets of joy

2011-09-24T15:10:00.004-04:00

(oops - this scone collapsed because I cut it too tall!)

Scones.

Does this word elicit fear and dread, of bricks turned as heavy and dense as building material? Ever think that scones can't march past the borders of sweet dried fruits, or that they are simply fruitcakes with a different color? Do you find that eating a scone usually means you ingest about a stick of butter, or a jar of clotted cream, to coat each bite just to give it some flavor?

Then come with me on a little journey, to some textural and palate-ial satisfaction. This morning, a bake sale to accompany the magic show taking place at the kids' preschool called on me to put on the baker's hat. I sent in some savory scones to stand alongside the sweet bites on the table, and they did not disappoint. As my friend Jess would attest, the recipe for scones that we both follow (from Cook's Illustrated "Best Recipes" cookbook) can be completed from beginning to end within about 30 minutes. The recipe has become one of my standbys for a quick delicious treat, and I do make it often, both savory and sweet.

Make sure to have your ingredients lined up - and before you know it, you'll be churning out delicious scones with ease and flare, adding your own ideas for flavorants, and your house will smell delectable. And - they won't be bricks.

Keep in mind the following tips as you make scones, as the process is combination of those for making cakes and making pie crusts:

1. Like cake mixing, mix the dry ingredients first, followed by addition of the fat and wet ingredients. I usually keep a recipe's worth of a batch in the pantry on hand to cut down some of the production time and to make scones on a moment's (or the kids' or Hubby's, whichever comes first) whim.
2. A food processor is particularly helpful, to both ease the mixing process and to help distribute the butter through the flour evenly (this is also the method I use for making pie crust). Pulse the mix/food process setting on the food processor, so that you don't overheat the mixing and run the risk of melting the butter.
3. Mix the ingredients the way you would to make a flaky pie crust: coat small butter particles with flour, and don't overmix. Keep the ingredients cold, particularly the butter and the cream, so that you don't make a homogenous block that turns into a brick. If you start melting a good deal of the butter by overmixing the ingredients in the food processor, you'll end up releasing the water in the butter. Water will bind to the flour, and you'll end up with a greasy, dense, heavy mess that will not hold together and will not yield light, fluffy scones. The key here is to keep the butter particles intact, and not let them melt, so that they will do the melting in the oven where they will create little pockets in your scones - and yield light flakiness.
4. If you're making the scones on a countertop, a bench scraper will be invaluable to not only clean up your counter surface, but it will help you scrape together last scone bits left from the cutting process to make just one more scone at the end of the cutting process (so that your warm hands don't end up melting the worked-over dough into a dense brick).

So keep some space in the refrigerator, grab a food processor, and get ready to enjoy some most excellent scones (and wonderful aroma throughout the the house).

Cream Scones
Ingredients:
2c flour
1T baking powder
3T sugar
1/2t salt

5T butter, cut into pea-sized pieces
1c heavy cream

Flavorants used in this morning's first (!) batch (we came home and made another batch, with parmesan, mozzarella, chives, and ham)
1c total cheddar and monterey jack cheese
3T fresh chives, finely chopped

Baking sheet
Parchment paper
1.5" to 3" biscuit cutter

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 430. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix together in the food processor the dry ingredients.
3. Place flavorants in a large bowl. Keep in the fridge if you'd like.
4. Dot the butter on top of the dry ingredients. Pulse about 5 times, 2-3 seconds per pulse, until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
5. Add the heavy cream to the food processor. Mix until just combined. The dough will be sticky.
6. Add the dough to flavorants bowl, and mix well as best you can with a spatula. If the fixture is too heavy to mix with a spatula, mix by hand to finish the mixing process, folding the dough on itself about 4-5 times to help build layers and to make sure the flavorants are well mixed into the dough.
7. Press dough into a round 1" thick if you're making small scones (about 1.5"-2" diameter), or about 1.5" thick if you're making big scones (about 2"-3" diameter) or leaving as wedges cut from the dough round. Scrape up the round onto parchment paper, wrap. Let rest in the fridge about 10 minutes.
6. Bring out the chilled dough round, and use the biscuit cutter to cut round scones. Set 1.5" apart on the baking sheet. (Alternatively, leave the dough round, and score wedges from the round).
7. Bake immediately in the preheated oven, about 10 minutes for small scones, 12 minutes for large scones, or 15 minutes for the large dough round of wedges, until browned on top.
8. Once baking is done, let scones cool about 10-15 minutes on the tray before eating.

I've read that you can make this recipe ahead of time, even up to the point where you are letting the dough round chill in the fridge, and let it rest overnight for fast processing in the morning in time for breakfast. I've not yet done this, as this recipe is fast enough to be able to let us have scones *almost* immediately in the morning - but I do plan to try it sometime to see if the baking powder decreases in its ability to let these scones rise.

Fresh chives (or herbs) yield even better flavor than dry (and the house smelled amazing with the chives baking in the oven), but any herb, dry or fresh, would be a great ingredient to savory scones.

The Flavorcentric Menu

2011-07-31T01:52:00.002-04:00

So after my 4:30 in the morning revelation late this week of executing my theory to the (small) masses, I devised the menu for our Saturday evening's experimental dinner:

Exposition: Salt/pepper crackers with three cheeses, sweet cucumbers, and (surprise guest!) pork/chicken pate. Pairing: berry infused vodka martini.

Rise: Fried green tomatoes and eggplant, with blueberry aioli. Pairing: Sauvigion Blanc.

Climax: Roasted pork with coffee marinade, alongside (originally) tomato pasta (which became) red wine pasta with sage/lemongrass foam. Pairing: Schioppettino / Tempranillo.

Fall: Caesar salad with charcuterie. Pairing: Tempranillo.

Denouement: Duo of sweets (black forest cake and sweet potato cheesecake). Pairing: coffee, Puerto Rican rum .

There were several courses, which cumulatively added up to quite a bit of quantity. However, each course individually was not overly quantitative - but instead strove to hit all the parts of the range of flavors. Of particular note...

...Andrew (gracious thanks, as always!!) for all his help in the kitchen. I would probably have stopped at course 2 if not for his help. And Hubby, for helping to put together our vodka drink starter of the evening. Mmmm...

...the wines. And - of particular note - I can't say too much about the Sauvignon Blanc, as I understand that one can not purchase it in the States, but - the SB this evening was lovely. Smelled like lychee at the nose, lightly sweet and a touch of grass on the palate.

...home made crackers. Eeeeeeeeasy! And fun! But - definitely time consuming to roll out all the dough, cut, and lay on the stone. Imagine making 12 pizzas a night.

...the pork in the coffee marinade came out pretty well, with the exception being that there was not enough capascum hit to the palate (which we covered with having the chili powder at the table for service);

...the blueberry aioli which this morning I thought was as solid as cured concrete, but which I discovered yielded quite well and had good texture with application of the immersion blender;

...and the sweets, which was my first experiment in working with chocolate, but yielded a major FAIL in experimenting with a combination of cherry juice+sodium alginate+sodium citrate+sugar in calcium lactate solution. Another time, perhaps more sodium citrate and a little less acid.

This was not the typical meal I would serve to all guests - it was an experiment. I came out of the meal quite full - but I can gladly say that just about all our dishes were empty, and we have no leftovers. Maybe it was just the right quantity to match the number of mouths at the table.

A little peek into the recipes...

Coffee Marinade
- 1c ground coffee
- 1/2c soy sauce
- 1/2c sweet liquor (I used whiskey)
- 1/2c olive oil
- 1T (or more) ground garlic
- 2t (or more) ground ginger
- 2t salt
- 2t ground black pepper
- 2T sugar
- 2t ground chili pepper
- 2t ground coriander

Mix all in a bag, and marinate meat 24 hours minimum in advance of roasting. Roasting - roast at 350 for 45 minutes for a C.T. butt, then at 250 for 45 minutes. Cover with foil to rest at minimum 5-10 minutes prior to serving.

Blueberry Aioli
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2c olive oil
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/4c - 1/2c fresh blueberries
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced (adjust to taste)
- Salt to taste

Blend all in a mini food processor until smooth. Refrigerate immediately, and use an immersion blender just prior to serving to aerate sauce. I served this with the fried green tomatoes (I've posted my recipe on this prior - slice thin, salt overnight, flour/egg/panko, fry) and fried eggplants (same execution). This was a winner.

Now, having been busy during the course of dinner to take photos (DOH!), I have to say that my experiment with dessert was a)fun; b)tasty; and c)visually attractive. Isn't this combination what it's all about, no matter what we're doing?!

For the duo of sweets... Let's back up 2 days prior. I melted dark chocolate and discovered that an offset spatula and parchment paper work just fine to create a thin layer of chocolate to make chocolate bands (to surround cake). I then sprinkled the chocolate with kosher salt and refrigerated it in the fridge about 5 minutes to set. I pulled out my metal straightedge, and cut equal widths in the chocolate. I then quickly wrapped each chocolate strip around a round cookie cutter, and taped the parchment onto itself. All these rounded strips, then went back into the fridge overnight. The parchment pealed off each ring without sticking at all, and I had these great little chocolate band rings, in which I set chocolate cake and cherry juice for a modified black forest cake. Originally, the cherry juice was to have been cherry caviar - so that each round would look like salmon roe sushi. Alas...I will keep trying and playing with the pH.

I then melted more chocolate, did the same thin-layer thing on parchment, fridged it for 5 minutes, but this time I took the same round cookie cutter and used it to "score" the chocolate with equally-sized rounds. On each round, I dropped some puffed rice, for textural difference, and I sprinkled on some truffle salt (!) for umami contrast. Fridged this stamped chocolate overnight, and the next day the chocolate broke into perfect pieces to leave the rounds intact. On each chocolate plate, I served a same-sized cut of sweet potato cheesecake. I think the flavor came together pretty well.

Now imagine both of these served on a white plate. The color was rather nice. Damn, where was my camera when I needed it! Alas...another time...

I have a theory

2011-07-28T05:24:00.004-04:00

If, at every instance you put something in your mouth, what you eat covers every flavor in your tongue's spectrum of tastes, the desire for quantity no longer exists.

This theory is beginning to drive the way I eat (and cook) these days. Not all meals, but most of them - and it's making me really think about what I'm putting in my mouth. It's a simple idea.

I forget exactly what it was that I served, but the other day Hubby was, again, my guinea pig for trying out a little food marble I've been tossing around in this cranial cavity of mine. The dinner I served covered the tongue's spectrum of tastes, and it covered the major food types. It left a hungry Hubby full after one serving, not even wanting of dessert. (I had incorporated some sweet flavors in the entree course) And this experiment led me to wonder, whether it is not so much the size of our stomach that drives the desire for food, but more this muscle in our mouth that acts as a direct extension of the human creature's, or any animal's for that matter, innate ability to self regulate.

Could it be that our tongue, this direct - and usually first - connection between our human organism and the foods that fuel it, has a natural map of flavors that would cover all the nutrients our body needs? It is, after all, the only sense that comes into direct physical contact, in most cases, to the actual foods we ingest. If the tongue has this natural map - maybe, then, the tongue is not as much a reactionary organ that sends the message of what it encounters to different synapses in our brain. It may, instead, be the provocateur, fulfilling the body's quota for various nutrients by requesting foods available through nature and mapped into our genes over human history, foods which harbor nutrients necessary for our organism's survival.

(here's another plug to eat foods that haven't been processed - the more processed foods we eat, the more it may modify our - and our offsprings' - genetics to want processed foods)

I'm preparing for a dinner this Saturday - and I'm serving this marble to the masses. For the dinner, I'm coupling the idea of taste spectrum with the layer of texture spectrum. The verdict is still out.

Heat, have you returned to me?

2011-07-21T23:27:00.003-04:00

I should have known. Having come from a little island on the equator originally, I would, of course, be where the hot weather would stand, oh so comfortably. As for me - not so much. I may have come from the little hot island of Taiwan, but I spent my formative years in the more temperate summers (and colder winters too) of the mid-Atlantic.

As I'm looking at the forecast, and not seeing relief in the near future (I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for next week), I share a little recipe that I love from my homeland, for just this weather.

Shaved ice, with toppings of your choice

Ingredients:
Ice cubes
Red beans (either dry and cooked, or canned and rinsed)
Coconut jellies
Tapioca pearls
Honey, sugar syrup, or condensed milk
Fresh fruit (I love passion fruit syrup in Taiwan, but it's hard to find here in the States)

1. If you need to cook the dried red beans, do so - and add a healthy helping of sugar to the beans. Let the beans cool before topping onto shaved ice.
2. If you have an ice shaver, use it to shave the ice. Otherwise, a blender or food processor does pretty well as well. Shave as much ice as you'd like to serve.
3. Top shaved ice with all the toppings listed. Serve immediately.

Enjoy as many servings as you'd like, until you cool off. Given our current weather conditions here in DC, I am going to have this shaved ice every meal from now until, oh, autumn.

Camp in all its, ahem, glory

2011-07-11T20:16:00.006-04:00

We had the best of intentions. I remembered when I went to camp, often Girl Scout camp, when I was little. And while I wanted to learn how to tie all the knots and learn to survive in the wild like the cool Boy Scouts, I trudged through the be-nice-and-friendly skew of Girl Scout cookie sales, the so-necessary basic skill of plastic bracelet brading (how often I use those skills now!), and the occasional toe's dip in the proverbial learning pool what one should do if one's canoe capsizes - all this torture, albeit, in a relatively calm and easy-going environment. So it was with this enlightened sense of being, that I signed up Baby1 for her first camp experience ever, in the safety of our local Y, walking distance and all.

So as you can imagine my surprise, as when I dropped her off to camp this morning with her little backpack and her packed lunch and snacks, that I was faced not by some quiet little camp of kumbaya's around the campfire but by, I'm sure they were...hyenas. Hyenas, numbering no less than 100 to 150, whose collective voices, surrendered to the molecules of air engulfing all of us bewildered parents, carried all the energy generated by successfully-trained parents who gave their kids the prescribed half-a-day's worth of sleep a night, to store up energy enough to tackle the day. Or, at least, the first 30 minutes of screaming at camp - and I could have sworn I saw sound waves bouncing off the concrete walls of the gymnasium this morning.

I don't think I've ever clung onto Baby1 so tightly, as I did this morning. No, actually, there was one other time: I hung onto her for dear life once when she came back to me, at 2 years of age, after bolting from our car towards a very busy intersection right at 5pm on a Friday, smack in the midst of rush hour and too many people trying to get to too many places 15 minutes ago. I thought I'd lose the race for her with the cars, but, luckily, she heard the panic in my voice over the din of car motors, stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and U-turned back to me. But today, watching this clan of hyenas running around, screaming and yelling, I was not ready to let my Baby1 go and tackle the world on her own. Judging from her clinging tightly onto me as her eyes spoke of horror at the visions of hyenas dancing in front of her eyes, she wasn't about ready to jump in either. And imagine my horror, when she headed out with the wrong camp, and I had to go fetch her. From the other end of the building. And the counselors for the camp all along my route didn't ask me who I was, request my ID, or ask me where I was going with said child. Hello, paranoia-induced panic!

But in the end, at the end of the day when I picked her up, she seemed all right (read: intact), no worse for the wear. When Hubby asked me for specific drop-off directions this evening for tomorrow morning, however, this is what I told him:

1. Sign-in for camp takes place outside, so look for the organized line of parents and bewildered children, the characteristics of which flip once entering the building.
2. Sign off on one of the multitude of sheets of paper that supposedly correspond to the individual camps going on for the day, on the table in front of the multitude of camp counselors, each of whom seems to know no more than the person next to him or her as to what in the world is going on. Find the sheet of paper yourself while the counselor is asking you which camp Baby1 is in. You'll find it faster.
3. They will tell you to bring your child inside the building. Don't be fooled by the lack of noise from the outside - concrete walls make for amazing insulation.
4. Head into the building, and head toward the crescendo of screaming hyenas.
5. When you enter the concrete room with the screaming hyenas, find one of the camp counselors, preferably not the one who is trying to operate the computer to provide drum and base louder than the screaming hyenas to the speaker system. They do this in an effort to really rev up the hyenas beyond their already revved-up awake state.
6. Try to yell louder than the hyenas to find out where her specific camp group is located. The counselor will no doubt give you the wrong answer, since they've gone deaf with the screaming hyenas and nothing in their training booklets told them about needing to learn to lip-read. When this fails, try asking one of the hyenas. They should know.
7. Try not to panic as you set Baby1 free into the sea of hyenas. Exit the door with your eardrums somewhat intact, and, again, try not to panic. OR, better yet , as I did this morning, and Hubby has decided to do after hearing my rundown of my morning experience: wait until the camps have all been organized and each are exiting the concrete box, and confirm with the counselor leading the specific group of hyenas out of the concrete box that they're leading a) the right camp; and b) the right kids for the right camp.

I'm trying not to be as embarrassingly protective of my kids as my parents were of me. But it's days like this that I eschew all dignity and protect the hell out of them.

It wasn't that long ago...

2011-05-24T21:31:00.003-04:00

...when both Baby1 and Baby2 took to their first bites of food. I should have realized, when I was pregnant, that my eating habits paralleled both palates: with Baby1, I ate everything, and couldn't get enough of fresh fruits and vegetables; and with Baby2, I had this ongoing nausea the first 5 months, that I really didn't want to eat anything at all - and especially not meat. Just the thought of meat would make me sick to my stomach. But then... there was Thanksgiving... and suddenly I couldn't get enough to eat.

So now, here we are, as Baby1 makes her own choices about food (OK, I will try it) and Baby2 ventures into the same (Nah nah nah!!). Both have fallen into the bad bottomless pit of junk food heaven, from wanting only goldfish at each meal to getting on our bar stools to open upper cabinets for granola bars and tortilla chips. But there are moments when both kids really surprise me, by being willing to try new things or showing excitement over healthy options. Like, my vegetarian Baby2, who surprised me by delving into tandoori chicken this evening, eating his sausage tortellini with sauteed kale last night, and loving the peas in his curry butternut squash soup as last night's starter; or Baby1, who gets excited by apricots on the store shelves (so do I!), tries everything we serve her at least just once, and gets excited to see freshly-cut fruit as dessert.

So now, as friends hold new little ones in their arms, I figured I'd repost some oldies but goodies for the newest little palates as they venture into the big huge world of food. Making your own baby food is not difficult, and at least you'd have a fairly good idea as to what exactly goes into baby's food.

A general rule of thumb: whenever you try new foods with baby, try it for 7 days to confirm that there are no allergies to the food.

The three basic processes I used:

STEAMING: Orange vegetables usually are the way to go for first foods for baby. Steam chopped carrots, and let cool. Reserve the steaming water - it holds a lot of nutrients which may have leached out from the steamed carrots. Once both carrots and steaming water have cooled down, puree in a food processor to a fine and even puree. Use this same process for:

Sweet potatoes
Peas (you won't believe how green the pea puree will be against store-bought jars!)
Zucchini, peeled
Beets
Spinach (food process finely first to break up the fibrous stems)

BAKING: any squash under the sun, with the exception of spaghetti squash, which is immensely fibrousy and may be difficult for baby to ingest. Split squash in half, and bake cut-side down in about 1/2" of water, for about 40-60 minutes at 350 degrees. Once squash has cooled, you should be able to easily scoop out the supersoft flesh and serve just as is. You may elect to serve the squash sans water - it's up to you. I've typically found that the baking water just doesn't give much to the puree flavor.

STOCK: make any vegetable or meat stock, but keep the sodium down. Impart more flavor into the stock by adding a variety of vegetables and mushrooms. Do take care, however, to not put in too many vegetables that can cause gas - babies will protest. Avoid large quantities of onions, garlic, cabbage, or strong herbs until later in baby's first year. You may elect to food-process the meat if you make a meat stock, and add to the stock to expand the meat side of the palate if you so wish. Stock will help give the veggies a different dimension in flavor and help expand the possible combinations of foods you give to baby.

For storage, we filled ice cube trays to 3/4 full for each cube, and once the cubes froze, we emptied the cubes into freezer bags for extended storage. After the initial weeks of food trials, we found that we could take a cube from each of the bags we had, and be able to present baby with a multi-dimensional meal whenever we sat down to eat.

To supplement the veggies, stock, and meat, we also steamed quite a bit of rice. I would make the rice a little more sticky, and freeze in the same ice-cube trays. The rice would defrost quite nicely, and add a textural, albeit soft, dimension to baby's meals.

Hurrah Hurrah

2011-05-19T20:45:00.005-04:00

Oh what a weekend it was. Penn. Alumni Weekend. Tradition. All the fun of time with my college friends without the stress of finals and papers. The grounds of our University awash in red and blue, with alumni descending on the campus in droves, young and old. And can you believe, the 65th reunion for some - you do the math! It's all I could have asked for, to let me reminisce about my college days days of ole walking on the same ground tread by many before us, spending my time in the breadth of study - ok, just sometimes - and parties - well, all right, most of the time.

And as we hugged and cheered, and met our friends again as they came from near and far, we danced into the night while the rain pitter pattered on Locust Walk and cast a quietude over the entirety of the campus. It's this Penn that I always remember - the quiet campus, too often so as I headed out late after long hours in studio or in study, just in time for rambunctious revelry at a friend's house or at our favorite watering hole (can you believe, Smokes still smells the same after all these years!). There was something wonderfully romantic about the campus this past Saturday night, as three of us walked arm in arm from one party to another, under an umbrella just big enough to leave our heads dry. And as we recalled distant memories from our days on campus, our freshmen fascination when we first set foot on these grounds in West Philly, our stroll along Locust Walk engulfed me in the breath of life I felt when I lived, at Penn.

May I take care to add, that Hubby was not part of our evening festivities, as he stayed home to take care of our little ones so that I may spend the time in revelry with my fellow classmates! Gracious, gracious thanks.

The campus is still amazingly romantic. It's like an old sweater to me - well worn, familiar, and much loved. We had a great time with the reunion festivities, between parades, picnics, and photographs. And the kids' tent at our picnic, complete with kid-sized chairs and tables; straw bales for outdoor seating to watch the jugglers, magicians, and acrobats; and activity tables where the kids can make beaded Penn keychains or decorate a Penn frame for your photo from the nearby photo booth - just perfect for us parents with little ones. Our enjoyment of the weekend events even led Hubby to entertain plans for how we will celebrate my 20th reunion, in just 5 years. To think - the kids will really be ordering me around by then. Amazing.

So to toast our dear ole Penn, I pass along the recipe for my drink of choice. While I didn't realize it until I googled it just now, my signature drink happens to be a highball. Providence, I tell ya.

Highball (I call it a Jack and Ginger)
2 oz whiskey
Ginger ale or soda water/lemon
Ice

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in whiskey, add ginger ale to top off, and stir. Enjoy cold, any time.

Easter dinner

2011-04-24T16:02:00.007-04:00

At a loss for what to serve this evening for Easter dinner (should be something a little more special than most Sunday dinners), I embarked on a journey so frightening, no one should ever have to withstand such torture: I started cleaning out our fridge and freezer. I chucked from the bowels of our chiller chest ingredients that I'm sure had expired with the last administration, left-overs that I thought would be just delicious when reheated (but haven't gotten around to reheating in forever), and things that had so much freezer burn, they were asking me for aloe.

But as the light of the refrigerator started breaking through the rush-hour of left-over congestion, I found some items that were of more recent history, that I could toss together into our impromptu Easter dinner this evening: oxtail, duck fat, and a quarter of a left-over bottle of cabernet sauvignon that we opened just this week (still good, I tasted it).

While I wondered exactly how much could go wrong with any dish that starts with duck fat (not required, just my call), I pulled out a bit of flour, salt, pepper, pasta, onions, and carrots. And with these items in hand, light finally shining through the shelves again, I recalled that delectable dish of oxtail ragu I had at Batali's Eataly and found my little taste of heaven this evening. We served this dish alongside a fresh lettuce salad from our garden (yay!) and pickled beets. If at all possible, cook the oxtail for a minimum of 2 hours. The marrow in the oxtail does amazing things for sauce that would be rendered impossible otherwise.

Keep in mind, the ingredients list is what I had on hand from our freezer and in the fridge. The basic required ingredients are those outlined in the first three groups of ingredients.

Rigatoni with Oxtail Ragu
Oxtails (I had about 6 measly little pieces, about 2" long and ranging from 1" to 3" in diameter)
Flour for coating
Salt/pepper

Duck fat (I used about 1.5T)
Carrots, chopped (4 smallish ones is what I used, not the huge carrots)
Onion, chopped (1 large or 2 small)
Garlic, 4 cloves
Ground beef (about 1/4 lb)

1.5c red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon)
1 vegetarian boullion
3/4 can of plum tomatoes, with juice
Pasta (I used rigatoni, but pappardelle, fettucini, or other wide pastas would work as well)

(optional, but this is what I found in the freezer and tossed it in)
1 sweet Italian sausage, casing discarded and broken into little pieces
1 hot Italian sausage, casing disgarded and broken into little pieces

1. Season the oxtail with salt and pepper, and coat with flour (just enough to coat is plenty). Discard any left-over flour.
2. Heat duck fat in pan until lightly bubbling, but not smoking.
3. Brown floured oxtail on all sides. The right time when you can remove the oxtail from the heat is when the meat has pulled back from the edge of the bone. Remove from heat, and set aside.
4. Saute onions, garlic, and carrots until onions are translucent.
5. Add ground beef, break into little bits, and saute.
6. Add red wine to deglaze the pan. Take care to scrape up all browned bits from the oxtail.
7. Add oxtails, and let mixture simmer until red wine reduces to about half.
8. Add tomatoes, optional sausage, and bouillon. Stir to dissolve bouillon.
9. Bring mixture to a boil, and reduce heat to steady but gentle simmer (bubbles at the surface). Let simmer for about 2.5-3 hours, stirring every so often to make sure the sauce isn't sticking to the bottom, and mashing the plum tomatoes against the side of the pot. The ragu will reduce by about 2/3 (you'll have 1/3 left). Season to taste, with salt and pepper.

*You'll know when the texture of the sauce is right. It thickens wonderfully as the bones and marrow cook.

Cook the rigatoni right before serving (add some salt to the water to help flavor the pasta). Serve, and enjoy.

...and in other news, our fig tree has created some fruit!

Mystery Cake

2011-04-14T23:03:00.006-04:00

When my dear cousin Yawen and her husband stayed with us most recently, an unexpected side benefit rained upon us. Besides just reconnecting with family, her company yielded gifts from afar, via her friends visiting from Taiwan. Of particular note - a package of fried rice cakes.

Fried rice cakes? Kinda like Quaker rice cakes, but, like, a bajillion times better.

So when my father saw the package of cakes, he first got very excited about this little visit of not-oft-seen product from the other side of this planet. And then, he explained their use (as I was expecting them to have a taste more akin to styrofoam):

"You know what you do? You make chicken soup. And you have to serve it when it's still really, really hot, and you put the rice cake on top."

This advice came from the same father who I remembered, from my youngest years, making me ramen with a scrambled egg and fresh scallions, a late-night snack that I still seek out with the right Taiwanese Tung-I ramen wherever I can find it. The same father who explained to me when I asked him for the recipe for the Chinese chicken and dumpling soup I loved so much growing up that it wasn't a recipe that was worth sharing, as it really was the food that his family ate because they were poor (the poor's food or not, it is damn good, and I still can't get my dumpling mix just right). The same father whose oily rice and eight-treasure porridge are revered by all his family friends, including those who own restaurants, and by me as well as my miniaturized clones.

So I looked at those rice cakes with more optimism, took his loose instructions, and tried it tonight. Soup. Hot. Rice cake on top. Right.

The recipe came out well. And the rice cakes were way tastier than I expected. You find the rice cakes I'm talking about some time you're in an Asian grocery store, you gotta pick them up and try them out. It's a cool and new experience, and a delicious one at that all the same. And don't get discouraged by the long list of ingredients - it's really not too difficult, since some ingredients are (OH HORROR of HORRORS!) canned ingredients.

Soup with fried rice cakes
1 chicken breast sliced
1.5t corn starch
1/4c water
1t salt
1t white pepper pepper
1T sesame oil

Assortment of veggies - I used the following this evening:
2 carrots, sliced on diagonal
4 small radishes, sliced
1 Chinese mushroom
1c dried lily flowers
1 can sliced bamboo, drained and rinsed
1 can straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
1 can baby corn, drained and rinsed
1 can water chestnuts, drained and rinsed

1c fresh snow peas
1c fresh bean sprouts
1/2 baby bok choy per serving

2 cherry tomatoes per serving, cut in half
Jalapeno, sliced (optional)
1-2 fried rice cakes per serving

Sesame oil
SaltWhite pepper

1. Dissolve corn starch in the water.
2. Mix the corn starch mixture with the chicken, as well as a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Set aside for minimum 10 minutes.
3. Heat sesame oil in pan. Add chicken and saute until opaque.
4. Add enough water to cover chicken.
5. Add carrots, and bring to boil.
6. Add remaining vegetables through water chestnuts in sections (arrange in stockpot as separate sections of vegetables, as opposed to mixing all vegetables and throwing it all into the pot together). Add enough water to cover. Bring to boil.
7. Taste soup, and add sesame oil/salt/pepper to taste. Once flavor suits your taste, add the bok choi, bean sprouts, and snow peas on top, arranging in groups in the same way as the previous veggies.
8. Serve by arranging the bowl in the same manner - grouping servings of the veggies and chicken separately from each other, and laying the bok choi on top. If you'd like to have the spicy heat in the soup, add your jalepeno slices at the bottom of the bowls.
9. Pour on enough soup to cover all your ingredients (and release the oils from the jalapenos), add the sliced cherry tomatoes (adds a little fresh tang against the smoky weight of sesame oil), and throw on a fried rice cake. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

Baby2 initially had his doubts - but then upon my insistence he tried a bite, and never looked back.

Ham on the Fly

2011-04-12T00:09:00.008-04:00

So when my father brings food down to us from PA, it comes in two variations of the same theme: tons of Chinese from one of our family friends' restaurants (and our favorite when it comes to Chinese food anywhere); or tons of food of other varieties. Of late, he had brought us a whole smoked garlic chicken from Amish country, and a honey ham. In one weekend. Granted, we love honey ham, but an entire ham is not easily consumed by our little family. Maybe when Baby2 is a teenager, it'll come in handy; but for now, it's become the obstacle in the fridge. (And, as for the smoked chicken, not my favorite, so it may go the way of the dodo bird.)

That said, this evening I was going to take the ham and do a simple meat and potatoes meal that would make Hubby proud. But upon finding that our drawer was empty of potatoes, Hubby had a *ding* brilliant idea: carbonara. Would it work without the smoked flavor of prosciutto or pancetta? We were going to find out. Fast recipe? You bet.

We took 2 slices of the ham, and Hubby chopped it into smidgen pieces. Then we followed the classic methods for preparing carbonara. Result? Yums ingested by all, even by our most doubting Baby1. And never mind Baby2 - he inhaled the pasta like he was made in Italy. He even delved into the ham - and for him, in our house, that's an accomplishment.

As for the ham... alas, it may survive to fight another day. There are only so many times I can serve ham before it becomes, ahem, a ham of boredom.

Carbonara
2 thick slices ham, chopped (about 1.5 cups worth)
3 large cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1/2c white wine (we used *OMG* fatty chardonnay)

Bucatini (hollow spaghetti - not the easiest to pick up on a fork, but damn it tastes good) - we used a whole pack (serves about 6-8)

3 eggs, whisked to frothy
4 springs broad leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated (about 1c worth)

Salt/pepper to taste

1. Start by sauteing the ham in the pan, to draw out as much oil as possible; and start up a pot of water for the pasta.
2. Add onions and garlic to the ham, and saute until fragrant. Add freshly ground black pepper and wine, and saute on low heat in the pan until the wine has just about evaporated - and nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. Once the water is boiling, add a generous sprinkling of salt. Add pasta, and cook the pasta.
4. While the pasta is cooking, and while you keep an eye on your ham mixture, break 2 eggs into a large mixing bowl, where you'll mix the pasta. Whisk until frothy, then stir in chopped parsley and parmigiano reggiano. NOTE: if the wine in the ham mixture evaporates too quickly before your pasta is done, turn off the heat before you scorch the hell out of the mixture, take it off the heat, and lid it to keep in as much moisture as possible.
5. Drain the pasta once al dente, and add to egg mixture. Stir at once, to allow the heat of the pasta to cook the eggs a bit and let any residual pasta water mix with the eggs to create a thick sauce.
6. Add ham mixture, and stir well. Add a little salt (kosher's best for adding at this point, as the broad nature of the salt coats the pasta well without over-sodiumizing your dish) and pepper to taste.
7. Serve hot, preferably with a fresh garden salad.

Thanks to Hubby's ingenuity, we averted a typical man-meal. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but hey - I'll take carbonara any day over ho-hum meat and potatoes.

Caribbean taste, DC dank

2011-04-09T09:41:00.008-04:00

Mangoes.

The color, the smell, the texture - they always bring me to that happy little place of clear water lapping white sand, colorful drinks with umbrellas, warmth, sun, relaxation. They turned a dish I cooked one evening into the opposite of these rainy, cold spring days and nights we've had of late (though this cold wet weather has done wonders for my late-set bulbs in the garden!). And can I mention - it was easy! This recipe serves a family of 4 easily, and can extend to a table of 6. Set aside about 15 minutes for intense mise en place, and about 45 minutes for cooking/stewing time.

There are variations you can try, particularly with the fish and seafood additions (or omit them all together for a completely vegetarian option) and with the amount of heat you'd like the dish to have. The mango, however, is a required ingredient. It just added the perfect touch of sublime sweetness to the dish without overpowering. And while it may be vegetable-heavy, a crisp side salad, with or without dressing, is a great balance for the heartiness of the dish.

(this dish came out so well, even Hubby who hates eggplant and mangoes agreed that it was good)

Fish stew
Olive oil (about 3T)
4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
4 sprigs each cilantro and broad-leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped (total of between 1/4 and 1/2c)
1 large yellow onion, chopped into 8ths
2 large carrots, thickly sliced
1/4 American eggplant, chopped into large pieces (1"x1"x1" pieces)
1/2c of broth or water
1 mango, sliced (select a firm mango with some color, not mushy. You want sweetness, but not disintegration.)
1 can (64 oz) whole plum tomatoes, crushed
Salt/pepper
Oregano
Paprika

Red chili pepper flakes (optional)

White basmati or jasmine rice, cooked

Enough shrimps to serve
Squid, sliced (pre-sliced frozen calamari is good too!)
Fillet of tilapia, seasoned on both sides with just salt and pepper. We used just 1 fillet, but you could do 2 or 3 if you'd like. Best option is to be US-sourced, farm-raised. Try other fish as well - red snapper is a good option for Caribbean flavor.

1. The rice...if you use a rice maker, you'll need to tackle the rice first so that it'll be ready when you're done cooking. If not, you may be able to tackle the rice at the end, right before you add the fish to the dish. I sprinkled in a pinch of salt and added chopped parsley and a teaspoon of olive oil, but it's up to you. Plain rice is just as nice.
2. Warm up the oil in a saute pan (with cover) large enough to be able to hold the combined total of the ingredients.
3. Add parsley, cilantro, and garlic, and saute until just fragrant. Take care to not burn the garlic - it makes the oil and the garlic bitter. If you burn the garlic, start over.
4. Add chili pepper flakes to this mixture if you'd like a lot of heat. If not, add the pepper flakes later in the cooking process, right before you add the seafood.
5. Add onions and stir well to coat. Cook the onion until translucent - but make sure to keep the heat low enough to not burn the garlic!
6. Add the carrots and eggplant to the pan, and stir well. Follow with the mango slices, and stir well to coat. Add 1t of salt, and the water or broth, and cover to steam for about 5 minutes.
8. Add crushed tomatoes with about 1.5t of oregano. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low to simmer for about 30 minutes. Gently stir the mixture every so often to ensure it's not scorching on the bottom.
9. Taste the stew base - add salt/pepper if necessary.
10. Add shrimps and squid to the mixture, and stir well. Lay your tilapia on top, and let steam for about 4-5 minutes, until it flakes easily. Sprinkle on a bit of paprika for some color.
11. Serve immediately, with rice on the side.

This dish would go wonderfully with mango martinis, margaritas, mojitos, or caipirinhas. Not necessary, but it's yummy!

Parenting 101

2011-02-17T00:31:00.009-05:00

It's been a while.

So two big events that took place: one, a Valentine's Day celebration (which doubled as a Father's Day celebration, since Father's Day takes place after school ends) that took place at Baby1's preschool; and, two, Baby1's 4th birthday. The first event was an exercise in social commentary and observation of double standards; the second, an exercise in, um, exercising self-control. So the first event...

As the Valentine's Day celebration was to double as a Father's Day celebration, the students' dads joined their kids in the morning event. But whereas the Mother's Day celebration would take place mid-morning, the Father's Day event took place first thing in the morning, so as to allow the dads to get on with their day at the office. Granted, working mothers, particularly full-time working mothers, are in the minority at the parent-led school - but the scheduling definitely favors the working dad over the working mom.

What then started as my personal social observation really got me thinking. That morning, as the teachers led the dads and kids in a round-robin of activities and snacks, the kids got down and dirty with their activities - while most dads stood around, hands in their pockets, afraid to perhaps (a) get dirty with the painting; or, worse, (b) get dirty with their kids. I'm not sure which fear it was, but I did notice that most of the dads who seemed to get into the activities with their kids paralleled those I've seen co-oping at the school. Granted, by the time snacks were served at the end of the hour-long event, all dads had gotten to sitting with their kids.

It is a broad stroke of the stereotype brush that I'm painting on the dads who were afraid to get into the activities that morning with their kids. However, I would have thought that in this generation, most dads would take more joy in getting involved with their kids, no matter the quality of the time spent - especially for those working dads who are not able to spend more time with their (fast-growing) kids in the first place. And I'm comparing the stand-aside dads to those military dads that morning, who, in their uniforms, rolled up their sleeves and still got into the activities with their kids. If there is any constant in parenting, it has to be the eternal common denominator of time - what little time we have with our children, we should not take, but we should give, as a gift.

So the second event... Baby1 turned 4. We threw a birthday party for her, and at her request, we had a moonbounce, and coordinated to have lemon cakes. In an effort to not make and bake well into the wee hours of the morning as I usually end up doing before a party, I chose to purchase some fresh items coupled with some processed-food items. Most of the time, I'm all in for touting fresh raw ingredients from the perimeter of the supermarket, but given that I had sent the evite out just the Monday prior... well, my time has been short of recent to say the least. So it was off to purchase some ready-made items for the little get-together.

And what usually would have been a half-hour spin through the supermarket turned into an hour-and-a-half expedition through the deep bowels of the supermarket. Of all 20 meatball options there, and the 10-or-so dips options, 5 different options for shredded cheese, pre-sliced chicken tenders or presauced AND presliced tenders or presauced AND presliced AND preskewered tenders or pre-all-of-the-above AND precooked tenders or pre-all-of-the-above AND pre-tasted to guarantee that damn, these have got to be the best damn tenders you could possibly serve to your guests with all the choice chemicals pre-pumped in so you can just leave out the extra juice...well, you can see how in the world my half-hour trip took three times as long. I'm pretty sure I clocked at least a couple of miles in the supermarket - there was smoke coming off the shopping cart wheels.

So the text came in from Hubby: what took so long? When I got home and explained to him - he needed no further explanation and understood perfectly - and asked that I bring him to help me in my dilemma next time around.

All in all, the party came together well, even a last-minute one of sorts. What was the funniest thing though, was the fact that even though my evite went out to the parents only 5 days prior, they had already heard about the party - from their kids at her school. From Baby1. She's a 4-year-old publicity firm, already out and about, telling her friends what she wanted (princess, so there were 3 identical princess cards that showed up that day!). And despite my all-black uniform that is my wardrobe, and Hubby's stance as a thick-framed-glasses-wearing architect, we indulged her in her request, from 3 months back, for a pink flouncy princess outfit, full-on with tiara, bracelet, pink shoes, wand, and fairy wings. I'll pick my battles, but this one, this is for my little girl - and she loved it.

One interesting conversation I overheard, during the course of the party, was a parent outlining a parenting method they're following. Last I checked, kids aren't cars - so I'm still baffled how one could read a book, and assume that the exact method outlined would work perfectly for your child. Unless, of course, if you happened to have written the book, which is why I think there are so many parenting books out there: everyone's got a perfect solution. It just happens to be for their child/children. Then again - here's and exercise in self-control: I didn't put in my 2 cents, at least in that conversation at that moment.

Now then, on to one recipe, from our processed-food weekend! This sauce turned out awesome, for dinner post-party, and I'll give all thanks to the sweet Italian sausage in the sauce. Even Dad was impressed - and that's not an easy feat. We served this dinner with a side salad (lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, mix with squeeze of orange/olive oil/s/p) and some garlic bread (mix olive oil/crushed garlic/salt, spread on bread and toast until just hot). I almost felt like we were eating in Philadelphia again.

Pasta with Sausage Ragu
1 sweet Italian sausage, raw, removed from casing and broken into small little pieces
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/4 green bell pepper, diced
1 large can whole plum tomatoes, crushed in the food processor (trust me, processing the tomatoes at home tastes better than buying a can of crushed tomatoes)

Spices: mix the following, in decreasing amounts, into a total volume just shy of 1/8 c
Dry crushed basil
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
(optional, add a pinch of red pepper flakes)

Pasta of choice (try fettucini, ziti, rigatoni)
Salted water

Fresh parmesan, grated

1. In a tall saucepan over medium-high heat, cook the sausage just until oil/juices come out.
2. Add garlic, onions, carrot. Stir well until all pieces are well-coated, and onions are mostly translucent.
3. Add green pepper, crushed tomatoes, and spices. Bring to steady simmer (be careful of the hot tomato bubbles!), and once simmering turn the heat to low. Continue slow simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. In the mean time, start boiling the water for the pasta. Once water boils, add salt, and toss in the pasta. Cook until just al-dente.
5. Combine the pasta with the sauce. Serve hot, with some freshly-grated parmesan (if desired).

Life embrace

2010-11-15T01:13:00.008-05:00

It was the hugs.

When I decided that it was good time for Baby1 and me to take our first mother-daughter trip together, and that it would be to Seattle at the opposite end of the continental US (no, we don't do things small here) I planned out just about every step. The people we'd meet up with, and when we'd meet up with them. The Gehry and the Koolhaas that I wanted to see. A visit to the top of the quintessential Space Needle. Traveling with a little one, I almost couldn't over-plan.

I figured the trip could go one of two ways: it could go rock-star awesomely, and we'd have a fantastic time and look forward to our next trip together; or it could fall flat on its face and leave me one frustrated mother with an equally frustrated daughter stranded in a city without the ground-support familiarity of home. It was a coin toss, that call for fifty-percent chance of whatever the hell on this expedition.

The day we arrived, it was raining. And cold. And I led our 3-block walk to my dear friend S's flat astray in the rain. We couldn't mobilize to get out of our room until quarter of eleven the second day we were there - and not because we were dilly-dallying, but because Baby1 fell back asleep that morning and didn't wake up until mid-morning. I had forgotten that hills are a factor in the west coast, and hiking up just three blocks of 45-degree roads would prove tiring for little legs - and for grown-up legs carrying said child attached to these little legs. And we lost Baby1's hat, gloves, and Bob the toy hamster somewhere along the way.

But despite these minor setbacks, we found a clearing in the fog. Between amazing meals with good friends; getting a chance to experience a completely different cadence and spirit in our environment; watching Baby1 jam, shimmy, and shake to Crystal Method in the lobby of our hotel; and feeling connection with Baby1 in our exclusive time with each other, we found our way. And one continuous theme day after day, from friends to Baby1, were the hugs we got. We didn't get those "oh, I'll hug you but I really don't want to touch you" kind of hugs. We got the hugs that people give close friends and family. And with this invaluable gift, we felt instantly at home in Seattle.

Then, again, the left-swinging walk-the-talk air of the whole place didn't hurt either. And to boot, in the cosmopolitan surroundings of home, I wouldn't be able to find the following just walking into any ole joint in DC:

1. Truffle fries
2. An amazing prix fixe meal served by volunteers, prepared by a guest chef from a 4-star restaurant, with a crew of homeless people trained in the culinary arts by the host restaurant, and they offer vegetarian AND VEGAN options, all for $25 a head
3. 2" thick french toast with fresh-made whipped cream
4. Bags and bags of freeze-dried fruit without sulphur dioxide as one of the ingredients
5. Fruit and nut bars without sugar or ingredients I couldn't picture or pronounce
6. A tourist spot's snack bar with yogurt, fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, and fruit juices at children's eye level (sports drinks with all those unpronounceable manufactured chemicals are at the top level of the shelves, out of easy reach of the kids)
7. Above-ground travel going through a major work of architecture with the dynamicism of fluid and the colors of New Year's Eve in NYC
8. An open-air market that is a tourist draw, in the center of town
9. Huge Fuji apples, local

All in all, this was a wonderful trip. Baby1 proved to be one of the best traveling companions I could have asked for, and I will miss our morning snuggles before heading out the door for another fun adventure together. We had amazing friends that welcomed us with open arms, and makes me want to make this trek across-country more and more.

Time shift

2010-11-08T21:36:00.003-05:00

Every year, these two points of time when we move our clocks this way and that way really drag my patience to the end of time. Between having to change all the clocks in the house; waking up and not really knowing whether the clock I'm looking at shows the new time, the old time, or whether I'm just dreaming; now having to have the kids change their time clocks; and of course finding the end of my day mired in darkness and having to deal with the usual quagmire of bad drivers now all in the same rush hour, but driving around in the dark - I find this whole daylight savings thing to be just a royal pain in the ass.

To help navigate at least a couple of these thorns in my side in this year's "fall back" night - and mind you, it's falling back and gaining an hour for only those without children, and it's still the same schedule now shifted an hour earlier for the majority of those with children - I decided we'd do movie night Saturday night, and let the kids stay up later to push their clocks forward. We've had them stay up late before particularly when we have dinners and parties, and they have, luckily, slept in the next day - but each time is a crap shoot. There's always the chance that they'll shift to keeping their schedules and wake up at their usual time, despite our late schedule the night before, and wake up just plain old cranky because they haven't gotten enough sleep. But we figured, we'd take the chance, see what happens, and enjoy a Saturday family night of movies and popcorn.

To help enhance our movie experience, I popped up some popcorn, mixed it with butter and raisins, and sprinkled on a touch of salt. One of my best friends taught me, back in college, the beauty of adding spices like tumeric and chili powder to popcorn - which I didn't do this time around, but boy, it is REALLY good! Next time...

And when Hubby and I go to a movie, it is not without a big huge Slurpee. Not having made one before, I just gave it a shot in my blender. After successfully making 4 grape slushies from just organic sweetened grape juice and ice, I'm wondering to myself - WHAT THE HELL AM I PAYING $5 FOR AT THE THEATER?! Oy. Oy veh.

Slushies
Ice (measure just enough in volume for the servings you want to make)
Flavorant (juice, soda, maybe even liquor for the grown-ups)

1. Crush ice roughly.
2. Place ice in blender, and pulverize
3. Add enough flavorant through the opening in the blender lid such that the entire mixture starts to turn and mix thoroughly and smoothly. Make sure to give the mixture a stir with a spoon to ensure evenness of the mixture, between the just-icy parts and the just-juicy parts.
4. Serve.

I couldn't believe exactly how easy it was to make this. Everyone, including Baby2, enjoyed these little treats for our movie night, and we managed to keep them up until about 11. Next morning - they slept until 8:30. We lucked out, and they shifted their clocks pretty smoothly.

Welcome October!

2010-09-30T21:36:00.002-04:00

Two sure-shot signs that autumn is here: I see flags out for football teams, and my father shows up with moon cake. This is by far my most favorite of the seasons, even more than the light of spring as temperatures warm up. Something about the colors of the leaves, the sense of students getting back to school, and the occasional smell of smoke in the air that grows in occurrence week by week always brings warmth and recovery to my soul.

And at the end of this month, I'm looking forward to enjoying homecoming back at my good ole Penn. By far, there is no other sign that I can think of, that tells me more directly than this annual celebration, that we're heading through the heart of autumn. Hey - it makes each cheesesteak just that much more enjoyable.

So as I've basically been cooking food that we adults can eat, and then hoping that Baby2 will eat it too without just spitting it back out (Baby1 was SO much better than him at trying new foods!!). Tonight, I tried a little kale. It's admittedly not the smoothest of vegetables (remember the spinach he loved in the crespelle?), and it holds its texture even after cooking - so I knew I was taking a chance trying to feed this bit of food to Mr. Picky. But, surprise of surprises, he enjoyed it, enough so that I was even able to sneak in little snippets of raw spinach. Go figure.

So here's to a good fast (just about as long as it'll take you to boil the water and cook the pasta) recipe with these big thick green leaves.

Bowtie pasta with garlic kale

Bowtie pasta
Olive oil
Garlic cloves (I used 4, crushed and minced)
3 large leaves of kale, finely sliced
1T tomato paste
s/p

Boil water.
While water boils, heat up about 4T of olive oil in a shallow cover-able sauce pan, and mix with garlic cloves.
Wash and slice your kale. No need to dry the leaves.
As soon as garlic cloves start to give off their pungency, add sliced kale. Cover, and let steam on low heat.
When water boils, add bowtie pasta and sea salt. Cook until just al dente, about 6 minutes.
Mix pasta well with tomato paste and garlic kale sauce (and a bit of the cooking water from the pasta - it lends some thickening to your sauce). Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I just love simplicity.

Crespelle

2010-09-24T22:29:00.003-04:00

Friday nights are this dichotomy of emotions and characteristics for me, ever since I became a member of the systemic machine of which we all play some part. Friday nights, I'm excited for the weekend and more time during the day to catch up on everything from A to Z. Friday nights, I'm exhausted from the day-to-day drama of moments of the week and want nothing more than to curl up with a good book in front of a crackling fire with absolute silence around me. Friday nights I want to breathe with the freedom of infinity, but I know that I can't until dinner is ready, the kids are in bed, and I find a moment to recenter and take that breath. And yet, Friday nights, I find the fumes to burn while my mind reshifts to let the creative juices roam free.

So tonight, I found myself wondering about what to cook up for dinner, running solo with the kids this last exhausted evening before the action-packed weekend ahead. A recent recipe for crespelle (Italian for crepes) I read in a book a good friend of mine got me was the catalyst, coupled by a craving for Nutella that started the day I first tasted the despicable nectar. However, my taste buds run on the savory side of the fence, so I took the crespelle with me to the truffles, tomatoes, and spinach garden of eden. And then coupled with wonderful parmesan reggiano from Roma and a delectable bechemel sauce came a little creation so good that Baby1 took two servings and Baby2 kept pointing and even attempted picking up with his fork. And mind you - he was pointing at the spinach in this wonderful crespelle we had tonight. My fears and war with his non-vegetable and fruit eating self reached a truce this evening, and it was in this unexpected moment, one of many these days, that I found my breath.

(granted, there was enough bechamel in our dinner tonight that cows complained - but hey, I'll take my little victories however best I can)

Crespelle
1c milk (I used nonfat)
3/4c flour, sifted
2 eggs
Pinch of salt

Butter for the pan

Red: Tomato sauce (I used Rao's Marinara, for lack of homemade)
White: Bechamel sauce (I seasoned my bechamel with truffle salt), premade grated Italian 4-cheese mix, freshly grated parmesan reggiano
Green: Spinach, steamed, dried, with a pinch of sauce

Making the crepes (can be done ahead of time):

Starting with milk in a large bowl, add the flour a little at a time, whisking to smooth our any lumps.
Add the two eggs, whisking after each addition to make sure the batter is smooth and consistent.
Add the salt. Mix well.
Heat a crepe pan (or any pan where you can use a large spatula to pick up the 6" crepes without having to go too much at an angle)
Add a touch of butter to the pan to season it initially.
Using a ladle, ladle onto the pan about 2T of batter. Pour the batter in the middle of the pan, and use the back of the ladle to spread the batter out to a thin and even round.
The crepes cook really fast - be ready to flip the crepe in 30 seconds. By the time I had spread the batter out, the crepe was ready to flip. If your crepe has a crisp bottom when you turn it over, turn the heat down. It should be soft, not crispy. Additional butter on the pan can help as well.
Stack the finished crepes on a warm plate.

While I was making the crepes, I also cooked the spinach. Simple: spinach, cleaned of dirt and still damp, in a covered saute pan with just a sprinkle of salt. The spinach cooked in very little time, and by keeping the heat on low once the water slowed down in coming out of the spinach, I was able to dry the spinach substantially for the final assembly.

Layering the crespelle:
Start with the largest of your finished crespelle on the bottom. Now ration your tomato sauce, cheese, and bechamel to allot through all layers of crespelle, alternating between tomato sauce/cheese (some layers I used tomato sauce/parmesan, and other I used tomato sauce/4-cheese mix) and bechamel. I fit the layer of spinach in the center layer, and continued layering until I laid on the top layer of crespelle. I topped off our layered crespelle with some bechamel and some 4-cheese mix.

Broil on high for 10 minutes, about 6" from the heat source. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

Cut into wedges and enjoy.

In case you don't know how to make bechamel - about 2T olive oil, 1T flour, and 1.5-2c milk. Roux using olive oil and flour over medium heat, taking care to not burn the flour and to maintain the light color of the roux. Add milk slowly - I usually mix about an equal volume of milk to the roux initially to start off the sauce and bring everything to a half-way temperature between the hot roux and the cold milk. Once this "starter" is well mixed, I add the remaining milk as well as a touch of salt, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Do not let the bechamel get thick for the crespelles recipe - you want to keep it light and soft, similar to sour cream. If you end up making the bechamel before you finish the crepes, undercook the bechamel knowing that as it cools, it will lose its water content and get thicker. And just give the sauce a thorough stir just before using, to make sure you don't end up with lumps.

Having made these crepes with so much ease tonight - there is reason behind the fact that the crepes pan is still on the stove tonight. I plan to make some crepes for breakfast, this time with Nutella on hand.

Buon appetito!

Take and give

2010-08-17T21:00:00.001-04:00

Friday the 13th, usually a lucky day for me, ended up being not so great. Someone broke into my car, and stole my iTouch out of there. Now, there are a couple of steps I took, to make life a little tougher for the thief. Should said 2007 iTouch ever have a problem, it'll be confiscated at your local Apple counter. For what it's worth, the local police have details of the theft in their records.

Thank you, in the end, iTunes registry for device serial numbers, when I was absent a record of the serial number.

That said, that's the only thing that really went all out wrong on Friday. Yesterday , on happier notes, Baby1 and I were having a conversation about pets. Here's the conversation:

Baby1: Mommy, we should have a pet. I do not like our fishies as pets.
Me: Why?
Baby1: Well... the fish... we need a pet. Not the fish. I do not like the fish. We need something different.
Me: OK, well what would you like to have?
Baby1: Um, well, we need to go to a pet store and see if there are stores, or places, where snakes are.
Me: Really? Snakes? (me getting the heeby jeebies about this prospect)
Baby1: Or, not snakes. How about... where can we find turtles?
Me: Well, sometimes you find turtles at lakes, or ponds, rivers...
Baby1: Or the ocean?
Me: Yes, there are some turtles that live in oceans.
Baby1: Can we have a sea turtle?
Me: No. Sea turtles won't be too happy living in our house.
Baby1: Why?
Me: They need the ocean. That's where they live.
Baby1: How about a shark?
Me: No, we can not keep a shark as a pet in our house.
Baby1: Or maybe a small turtle? Maybe, maybe we go to the store, and see if they have turtles that can live in our house.
Me: OK. That sounds good. Let's talk about it tonight.
Baby1: Or how about a sea turtle?

The innocence of life, the endless possibilities, stretched broadly between the shark and the sea turtle living in a 1930 bungalow. We've now tasked ourselves with finding a little pet for her, something that doesn't require that we keep a zoo as a food source or registry with the endangered species peeps.

And tonight, Baby2 made the connection, between the illustrated light fixture in "Goodnight Moon", with the one on the ceiling above his crib. Absolute amazement at these tiny little milestones.

So here's a little bit of summer joy, to share with you all. We celebrate tomatoes, and especially the little cherry ones that have come in bounty from our tiny little 2'x4' patch of a plant bed we have in our back yard. The first recipe uses these cherry tomatoes - the recipe, I can share with you in a quantity only as Baby1's appetite for these tomatoes would allow the rest of us to have. The second was my first attempt at this southern dish made famous by the movie of the same name so long ago, though it seems like it was just yesterday. Time, a drop of water in the ocean.

Summer Tomato Burst
Cherry tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
(optional - French baguette, garlic, salt, olive oil for some garlic croutons)

Halve the cherry tomatoes, and toss with salt and pepper (light on both). It's just as simple as that.
Serve with french bread, sliced and toasted, rubbed with half a garlic, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled lightly with salt.

Fried Green Tomatoes
Large green tomatoes, extra firm
Salt
Cayenne pepper
Oil, for deep frying
3 plastic bags
Flour, for dredging
Egg, beaten, for dredging
Panko bread crumbs

Night before serving:
1. Slice tomatoes to between 1/4" and 1/2" thickness. Saying 3/8" seems too exact.
2. Lay tomatoes out on a pan in a single layer. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt.
3. Cover, and let rest overnight.

Before serving
1. Heat up oil for deep frying.
2. Drain excess water from tomatoes. Pat dry.
3. In the three bags - have enough (1) flour; (2) egg; and (3) panko bread crumbs with salt and cayenne pepper, enough for completely dredging your tomatoes.
4. Using tongs, pick up a slice of tomato, and dredge first in the flour; then in the egg; then in the seasoned panko bread crumbs. Make sure to have a good covering of panko on the tomatoes, especially on the edges. Lay on a dry pan. Repeat with all slices.
5. Deep frying - take care, as the tomatoes may still have enough water on them to cause popping and splattering of the oil as you fry them. Deep fry the tomatoes until just golden, as many slices as will cover the surface of the pan without overcrowding.
6. Let fried tomatoes rest on a rack, and enjoy!

The mother's prayer

2010-07-25T20:58:00.005-04:00

Grant me the patience,
To not let our house turn into a romper room,
To not completely lose it when Baby2 breaks glass after glass because he's learned the fine art of distraction, and is strong enough to hold a door open,
To roll up the toilet paper roll every morning because it's the new Baby2 morning routine to unravel the entire roll ,
To repeat myself so many times that I forget how to put a sentence together,
To take the deep breath when Baby1 has tumbled an entire display of toilet paper despite my repeated requests that, no, we really do not need toilet paper at this time.
Grant me this patience.

Grant me the energy
To cook dinner while still in my work clothing after a full day's work,
To read stories to the children after dinner
Without falling asleep after the first page,
To get that broken glass swept up
Before Baby2 decides he'd like to touch that shiny shard of what it was he just broke
While my 2nd attempt on a 5 minute hollandaise turns into (yet again) scrambled eggs,
To be able to take time to talk with Hubby each day,
And to be able to take some time to take care of myself so I can finally kick this 4-week-long sinus infection,
Then to wake again the next day and repeat the whole routine
But not let it become just routine.
Grant me this energy.

Grant me the perseverance,
To be able to stay ahead of these kids to guide them along a path of darkness,
To not lose sight of the parent I would like to be to my children
And equally not lose sight of who I was before I became a mother,
To be able to allow them to make their mistakes and learn from them,
To not turn into the epitome of the front page of "Child Protective Services Digest, Issue #875".
Grant me this perseverance.

Grant me the soft soul
When Baby1 has decided that she'd kick me or ram a toy forklift into my Achilles,
When Baby2 has decided it would be great fun to hit my arm so that the food goes flying off the spoon,
When Baby1 has taken a metal toy car and notched our 40-year-old credenza
When Baby2 has thrown up all over the car, during our 5-hour drive from Philly.
Grant me this soft soul.

Grant me the wisdom,
So that I can have the energy and the patience
To teach and to guide,
So that they learn the dangers of those tiny shards of glass that pierce my feet
Without having to experience that pain themselves,
So that they gain the soft soul
To see the good in everyone
To be able to see the empathy that emanates from a n'er 1-year-old in the middle of the shower as he hugs and speaks little sounds of apologies,
So that they show the perseverance
To become good people themselves.
Grant me this wisdom.

I've had quite the long day, with both Baby1 and Baby2 . And with two snuffly noses, it will be quite the long night. That said, however, I did have the unique experience of transporting 48 homemade and hand-decorated cupcakes yesterday from my kitchen to a party, and I now know the reality of cake transport: I drove like a granny and took the turns with more care than when we first brought Baby1 home. The cupcakes came out wonderful, and they're from a recipe that I've been using for a while now. The buttercream frosting held up even through 100+ degrees outside.

A couple of hints: when baking cakes, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. When serving the frosting in high-heat environments: chill the cupcakes for at least 45 minutes before exposure, and the buttercream won't lose its cool (or shape) in the heat and humidity.

Cupcakes (makes 24)
2.75c cake flour
2.5t baking powder
.5t salt

.75c (1.5 sticks) butter at room temperature
1.5c sugar
4 large eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1t vanilla extract

1c whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 12-cupcake pans with paper cups (or parchment - that works too).
2. Mix dry ingredients together well - I use a ziplock bag to do the mixing (just shake the bag!).
3. In a standing mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add 1 egg at a time into the butter/sugar mixture, mixing well after each incorporation.
5. Add vanilla into the wet mix.
6. Alternately add the dry mix and the milk to the butter mixture, starting with the dry ingredients, about 4 portions each.
7. Bake approximately 25 minutes, until risen and just set.
8. When done, let cool on a rack before decorating.

This recipe can be altered - you can add food coloring to color the cake, but do not exceed 1t food coloring. You can also substitute cocoa powder for part of the flour (try half) to make chocolate cupcakes, but increase the sugar to 2c.

Buttercream frosting (enough to frost 48 cupcakes with a 1/2" piping nozzle)
1c (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 lb (2 boxes) confectioner's sugar
1/2c whipping cream
1/2t vanilla extract

1. In a standing mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add confectioner's sugar slowly into the butter, making sure it is fully incorporated after each addition before adding more. The mix will be quite dry.
3. Add whipping cream and vanilla slowly, with the mixer on low speed.
4. Once cream and vanilla are incorporated, increase speed to high. The frosting should be quite fluffy and light.

You can add flavorants into this frosting. I took this recipe of frosting, and divided it up into 3 portions. The first, I left plain vanilla. To the second portion, I added orange zest and mint (my favorite). To the third, I added some red food coloring, strawberries, basil, and cracked black pepper. Add flavors to your heart's experimental desire - just be sure, if you add fruits or acidic items, that you fold the additives into the frosting carefully and not whip it up too much. Too much movement, and you run the risk of curdling the frosting.

The cupcakes were a big hit, and Baby1 can't get enough of them. And after the trip yesterday with my 48 little friends, I no longer laugh at those commercials featuring the careful driver with the wedding cake in the back of the car.

That sweet, soft, summer heat.

2010-07-09T00:35:00.004-04:00

Congress took off in August for a reason, and somehow that season of recess has backspaced into July. It's hot outside. It's sticky. It's making you really want to be just 6 again and jump into a pool or pull out the sprinkler and put on those big bug-eye sunglasses just so you can hop around in the water to cool yourself off. We knew it was bad when our cold water came out lukewarm.

It's weather like this, that really makes me not want to eat. Drink a ton of liquids, yes, but not eat. The most I think I can manage these days is a simple salad - which, while light, is not the worst thing for this preggobelly that I've not been able to shed, even after Baby2 turned 1. So while I've been munching away on salad, the pants have slowly gotten looser. And hope is turning on a light, at least along the way in the euphemistic tunnel.

So enjoy a salad as summer hits your neck of the woods. And here's a couple of easy dressings to enjoy - so that you don't spit out the lettuce on the floor and go "bppppppttthhh" at it the way Baby1 reacted to her first taste of undressed lettuce.

All those nooks and crannies - lettuce needs some clothing to be proper for serving.

All of the following formulas have the same execution: mix all ingredients together in a bowl, and whisk until thoroughly emulsified. And they all require the same type of olive oil: the type that you would be perfectly happy to drink without any enhancing consumable.

Caesar
1 egg yolk
olive oil equal to about 2x the volume of egg yolk
anchovy oil equal to about the volume of egg yolk
squeeze of 1/2 lemon
salt
pepper
1/2 clove garlic, crushed and finely minced
anchovies, finely chopped
parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated (no, not the stuff in the bottle)
(optional twists - pinch of dry parsley, some citrus zest, pinch of cloves)

Vinaigrette
2 parts olive oil
1/2 part vinegar
pinch of herbs (parsley, rosemary, chervil, cilantro - the sky's the limit for experimentation)
crushed clove of garlic (I like elephant garlic)
tiny spoonful of mustard (enough to create emulsion)

C'mon, it doesn't get simpler than this - put down those mixes and store-bought bottles already
olive oil
squeeze of lemon
pinch of salt (prefer kosher)
fresh grind of peppercorns (your choice)

Growth and simplicity

2010-06-29T00:28:00.004-04:00

Baby1 found her first self-selected pet this evening. She found him on our countertop, and, with her pie-pupiled eyes pasted close to the countertop, she whispered, "Mommy, what is this?" He comes with six legs and a gray-green body. He measures about 3/8" long, about 1/16" wide, and about 3/16" tall. She wanted to keep him.

She named him Sia. He is a grasshopper. And this evening, when it was time for her to go to bed, she insisted that we also lower the lights in our room so that Sia could also sleep.

My little girl can be so frustrating at times, and at other times... words escape my efforts to describe what an amazing person she's becoming. From giving kisses to Baby2, to explaining to me the intricacies of the world, to letting me know that I really do need the yogurt she just picked out at the supermarket and what a grasshopper needs for bed - she is all in all, pure joy.

Now, mind you, she did share with me that she thinks Sia was making a poop, and that perhaps I could make some teeny tiny diapers just for him. Ahh, no. I draw the line there. My sewing machine needle is too big to make a proper diaper for this little guy.

So to celebrate this new little member of our family, I share a recipe that she and I enjoyed very recently - both making and eating. Perfectly timed for these hot sticky summer months, and easy to share the process of creating these treats with a little one. Sweet, yummy, sugar free. Ready in a couple of hours.

Watermelon Popsicles
Popsicle molds or paper cups with popsicle sticks
Watermelon, carved (enough to fill the molds or as many cups as you'd like to fill)

Mash up the watermelon in a bowl. Make sure to to leave some of the flesh intact.
Pour watermelon mash into popsicle molds or cups to 3/4 full. Assemble with accessory holding sticks or popsicle sticks (use tape to keep them from sliding all over the place while the popsicles freeze).
Freeze until solid.

From the simplicity of making these popsicles with Baby1, to seeing her eyes fill with wonder at discovering Sia - she is the epitome of the joy and innocence of the simplicity of summer in a child's eyes. Enjoy these popsicles, and I hope you find a bit of wonderment yourself in these summer months too!

Fill of the void

2010-05-09T15:08:00.009-04:00

How quickly our lives turn the page.

Just last week, having had a week of recharge in Puerto Rico with family, and having enjoying a celebration of the crossing of Hubby's 40th with close friends, we come to a screeching halt this weekend with news that a dear, close friend and mentor had passed. I think we're still in the depths of shock, disbelief, and sadness. I'm at an absolute loss for words.

In celebration of his life, I post my remembrance of a recipe he told me, for duck. It is one of innumerable invaluable intangibles that he had given us over the years. It reflects the simplicity and complexity that was his dichotomy.

Wherever you are - we miss you, we love you. Having known you enriched all our lives beyond any level you would ever admit.

Duck, seared and simple.
Serve with a well-selected red.

1. From self-caught duck, carve the breastmeat.
2. Season simply with salt and pepper. Let rest.
3. Bring a pan to medium heat with about 3T oil.
4. Sear duck breasts, about 3 minutes each side. Middle should still be medium to rare (rare is best).
5. Enjoy with a glass of red wine.

When in doubt, go chicken

2010-04-06T23:06:00.002-04:00

The scene: on my own with the two kids this evening, one of whom eats the same amount as his big sister

The cast: Baby1 (now 3 years old), Baby2 (now 10 months), myself.

The situation: with 2 little ones tugging at me and running rampant, I've got to get something on the dinner table fast - but I still want to use raw materials and not go with a processed dish, pre-made concoction, or delivery.

Mutually exclusive priorities? Not necessarily.

I thought back to my college days. Two guys in my senior-year house would always go to the local megamart and buy a ton of frozen chicken breasts - and one of the best creations they made was garlic chicken. It seems easy enough, so I figured...hell, I could probably throw dinner together using the dish title's basic ingredients - and add a little twist of my own to the basic recipe. The instructions below are the actual steps I used to make this dish this evening - from frozen to cooked in about 45 minutes.

Garlic Chicken with pasta
4 garlic cloves, pulverized
Olive oil
1 chicken breast (I precut the chicken breast into 8 3/4"-thick strips)
Chicken stock
S/P to taste

Tomato paste
Mozzarella cheese

Pasta of choice (I used medium shells)

1. Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
2. Saute the garlic in olive oil (I used about 3T) until fragrant. Do not burn. Turn the heat to low.
3. Add 1/2" of chicken stock to bottom of pan to deglaze.
4. Add frozen chicken (mine was a frozen block) to the stock, and season top with salt and pepper. Cover pan, cook for about 20 minutes.
5. At the end of the 20 minutes of continual steaming, the block should be able to separate into the individual strips. If not - turn the block of frozen chicken over and continue steaming until the strips separate. Make sure that all pieces get equal exposure in the stock.
7. While the garlic chicken sauce cooks, cook the pasta and drain - but you want the pasta to remain hot. Time the cooking of the pasta to finish just as the sauce finishes.
8. Making sure the chicken has cooked through, season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Combine the hot pasta with the hot chicken sauce. Add a spoonful of tomato paste. Cover the pasta/chicken/tomato paste with an abundance of shredded mozzarella cheese.
10. Stir to combine thoroughly.

The sauce, with the tomato paste, coated the pasta well. I was able to singlehandedly get dinner on the table in the total of about an hour, with several moments of playtime with the kids interspersed between the cooking/steaming/boiling processes going on in the kitchen. If I had more time, I would have added vegetables to the chicken mixture for a better balance, or add a squeeze of lemon to the chicken sauce. Either way, this dish was a winner this evening: both kids loved it, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even Hubby is enjoying his second helping of the dish - and he didn't even want to heat it up.

Cake, TV, kids. Not necessarily in that order.

2010-03-18T21:45:00.000-04:00

When Baby2 came along, we were confronted with an "all hands on deck" kind of situation. Whereas before, Hubby and I could juggle Baby1 between the two of us so that one or the other could do something independently (i.e., cook dinner), or we were able to entertain Baby1 sufficiently without having to hold her the whole time - we were suddenly faced with the reality that one of us would typically have to hold Baby2, and the other was left to entertain Baby1 and sometimes have to help juggle with Baby2. And with Baby1 entering the heart of the T2's - needless to say, we were definitely stretched to the ends of our ability and patience.

Enter the TV. We shunned putting the TV on for her up until Baby2 came along. And suddenly we found that we had an instant babysitter when we needed a free set of hands. But after about 8 months of allowing her to watch TV for about an hour in the morning and at night (and more often than I'd like to admit, even more on the weekends), I started hitting the note of skepticism about exactly how helpful the TV was. The short-term versus long-term benefits really pushed the button of guilt in my daily dose of hindsight. Would the amount of TV she was allowed to watch (so that we could get a little peace and quiet) springboard back at us like a boomerang in the all-too-near future? Would the amount of TV stump her own curiosity for the little joys of life in favor of the instant-gratification world that we're accepting all too readily? Would the present-day babysitter TV become the microwave for a future couch potato?

All in all, these questions boiled in my mind, enough that I decided that we'd shun using the TV as a babysitter with such convenient frequency. Hubby and I brought her and Baby2 together more, and surprisingly, found that we were going back more to the life we knew before Baby2 came along than one that metamorphosed after he came along. And a month later, natural timing or not, Baby2's natural curiosity and adoration of his big sister pushed him to be able to crawl at long last. It's a process of finding balance, not outrighted abandonment of any one thing or another, so that we allow these little pipsqueaks to know about all that's out there, not only about the doors that we choose to open for them.

And in the cooking arena, my experimentation with cake continues. I've been reading up (finally!) and found that the high-protein flour (King Arthur) was altogether not appropriate for cake building. I got lower-protein flour (Gold Medal), did my 3T corn starch/1c flour dance to get cake flour, and built a pretty good crumb for Baby1's 3rd birthday cake from Cook's Illustrated's Best Recipes cookbook. And to my chagrin, reading instructions really did pay off (where's the room for my creative gene?!) when it came to making buttercream frosting.

Cake:
1 3/4c low-protein flour (remove 4T flour and substitute with 4T corn starch), sifted well
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c sugar
2 sticks butter, cut each into 8 pieces

4 eggs
1/4c milk
2t vanilla extract (optional)

1. Butter/powder/parchment line 2 9" round cake pans. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Sift the dry ingredients together twice into a large mixing bowl (I use the standing mixer bowl).
3. Set the bowl into the mixer, and start up the mixer on low (unless you want to look like powdered donut).
4. Cut in the butter, 1 piece at a time, allowing the mixer to mix it well into the flour after each addition. Keep mixing until the mixture looks like a fine pie-crust crumb (pea- and sand-sized pieces, flour adequately covered by butter).
5. In the mean time, mix the wet ingredients together in a measuring cup.
6. With the butter/flour mixture stirring in the mixer, slowly pour about 1c of the wet ingredients into the dry. Blend ingredients until smooth, then turn mixer to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Add remainder of wet ingredients in a slow steady stream (and preferably along the edge of your bowl, unless you want to look like an uncooked powdered donut). Mix on med-high until thoroughly combined.
7. Divide batter into the two prepared pans.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, and let cool on a wire rack at least 10 minutes before running a thin knife along the edge to extract the cake.

Buttercream Frosting
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
1c sugar

1 pound butter (yes, that's right - 4 sticks), with each stick cut into 8 pieces

1. Start up a double boiler (a pot of water boiling water under a bowl large enough (I used a standing mixer bowl) to be able to cover fully the opening of the water pot).
2. Combine all ingredients with the exception of the butter in the top of the double boiler. Make sure the top bowl doesn't touch the water.
3. Whisk gently but constantly, and beat the mixture until foamy and registers 160 degrees.
4. Beat the egg mixture at medium-high in the standing mixer until light and airy, and cooled to room temperature.
5. Reduce the speed to medium, and add the butter one piece at a time into the mix, mixing well after each addition.
6. Once all the butter is added, increase the speed of the mixer to high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

We used beet-juice food coloring to make the frosting pink. This recipe of frosting was enough to cover 24 mini cupcakes (same as recipe above) as well as frost and fill a 2-layer cake (the recipe above). And, both recipes yielded a quite-happy Baby1 in the hour when she turned 3.

Snow + chili + shoveling = joy

2010-02-06T10:11:00.002-05:00

The snow's falling outside, and it's measuring higher than my knees right now. I'm not saying that I'm of such tall stature that a snow level above my knees is something of consequence - but it's high. In light of all this snow, which apparently in Washington DC seals off any hope of spring or summer, this is the general summary of damage:

Wiped out: Vegetables, bananas, potatoes, cheese, eggs, milk, bread, toilet paper, beef, pork, chicken.
Still available: gourmet cheeses, cold cuts, golden beets, oranges, apples, starfruit.

So I observed of our local supermarket's shelves around midnight Thursday night, before the snow started coming down Friday mid-day. Madness and mayhem abound, I contributed to the milk/bread/toilet paper (It. embeetepitis, commonly referred to as "you gotta be shittin me, i mean, seriously?") with a purchase of camembert and golden beets. Along with some chips and dip. Hey - I go high and low brow - if it's yummy, well, it's yummy.

So we're geared up for the snow here, and to celebrate the continual precipitation of sky dandruff, I've been cooking up a storm today. I have two French loaves proofing as we speak, and Hubby helped me with getting chili rolling on the stove. I've also got a couple of items cooking for Baby2, to tempt his palate - though I've got foie gras on my radar. As soon as this snow subsides and we're able to get out of our driveway, Dean and Deluca is my target. He's way overdue for foie.

But here's a recipe for my super easy chili. Hubby swears by it. He testifies up and down that it was the cure for his hypothermia that set in after a bike ride (with too few layers, mind you) many a millennia ago, when we first started dating. And each time we settle down with an afternoon college football game, it's what goes on the stove. I do go Texas-style with my chili - no beans - but it doesn't mean you can't add some in to your own taste.

Mean Ole Chili

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
3 lb ground beef
finely diced onion (or shallot)
(and in order of decreasing amount)
Ground cumin
Salt
Ground coriander
Cilantro
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper

Open up the can of crushed tomatoes.
Brown the ground beef, and break up into small pieces.
Add onion, and saute until onions are semi-translucent.
Add your spices, and stir well. Cook until ground beef is cooked throuhg
Add the can of crushed tomatoes. Bring to slow boil.
Turn the heat down to low, and cover. Simmer for 1-2 hours, or at least until your appetite defeats you.
Add salt to taste. I usually add a touch of salt in the beginning, to season the beef, and then I add some at the end to keep the taste of salt sharp without over-sodiumizing the chili.

Serve with your favorite toppings (I like shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped scallions, toasted bread). And your favorite beverage (I like Coca-cola, though the Pepsi Throwback is giving Coke a run for its money right now!!).

Wings wings wings

2010-02-04T22:42:00.002-05:00

I cooked 12 wings, really I did. The empty bowl of bones is evidence of my cooking endeavor. I just wished that the wings lasted for Hubby and me a touch longer than 15 minutes.

Before this moment of empty bones, there was a process. A simple process, and I baked the wings. All the yum, a lot less of the grease.

12 chicken wings (wingettes and drumettes)
(and in order of decreasing quantity, noted quantities are only approximate - I measure nothing when cooking)
cholula hot sauce (2 T)
salt (1.5 T)
pepper (1T)
soy sauce (1T)
5 spice (1t)

Put everything into a ziploc bag. Shake to coat evenly, squish the wings around to make sure you don't have all the salt sitting on just one wing. Marinate in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, at 350, until the wings are lightly crisp on the outside and cooked through. Enjoy with a Yuengling.

This is my version of bread, milk, and toilet paper, in light of the impending blizzard that has been broadcast to seal the DC area until, oh forever. Now let me get back out to the stores to get more wings.

My ode to vanilla ice cream

2010-01-31T23:33:00.002-05:00

Oh vanilla ice cream, vanilla ice cream
How I love you so.
Your clean simple ingredients,
Yet you carry your depth, though.

You give me the clean palette,
That blank canvas to call my own.
I add to you all kinds of yummies,
And you become more than what we would have known.

For depth and substance,
I add that ginger and cinnamon.
With ugli fruit and blueberries,
You take the flavors far from common.

Cherries galore, strawberries too,
Chocolate chips, and peanut butter,
How about a swirl of honey, or maple syrup,
Maybe pineapples, even better!

And savories, I've got an infinite list to try!
Nuts, bacon, roquefurt, sauerkraut?
Salt lends the element of surprise -
The savory for anyone who goes without.

For those common brand ice creams,
I stick with Haagen Dazs 5,
I have also hopped to the Godmother,
For a pint of their custard, to bring back to my busy beehive.

So vanilla, I sing your praises again.
You were my first culinary find (14 years ago!).
You're my go-to solution, my idea in a bind
To make even a curmudgeon crow.

(try it, it works, and you'll be able to enjoy a different flavor of ice cream every night. without busting your budget.)

Recap - making your own baby food

2010-01-11T23:57:00.004-05:00

For all of you who have been asking me about making your own baby food...

When I first started making my own baby food, I held the premise that by making my own baby food, I know more of what goes into it (did you ever wonder exactly what kind of water went into those jars of baby food??). I also worked by the premise that if I prepare food properly for baby from day 1, they'd like more of the foods that are out there, and would not be prejudiced by badly-prepared food. I mean, seriously - have you ever personally tasted store-bought baby food? Eww. Water-logged, tasteless, didn't resemble what beautiful vegetable they've photographed for their umpteen-million dollar marketing label food - right, if I wasn't going to eat that crap, why the hell would I give it to my baby? It's no wonder so many kids are picky and limited to a palate of chicken nuggets and fried food (hello supersize!): if they ever had a properly-prepared vegetables, they may very well like them instead of turning their noses up at them.

Petit Appetit and Naturally Delicious Meals for Baby were my mind candy when I started, both of which have just gathered dust on the shelves since my first week of food prep, way back when with Baby1. So here are the tools you need:

Baking pan, preferably non-metallic OR stainless-steel pot
Food processor OR wire mesh strainer with something to comfortable to hold and press the food through the strainer
Ice-cube tray for freezing individual portions
Plastic wrap to cover ice-cube tray to fend off freezer burn and other smells
Ziplock bags or freezer container to contain your cubes of frozen baby food

That's it! That's all! No specialty baby food unitaskers, no specialty tools, no additional crap!

General rule - cook your foods until they're just done and softened, but not overcooked; and either puree in your food processor or mash through the strainer. What cooking water you have that is left at the end of cooking, reserve for mixing with the mashed food to desired consistency - that water holds any nutrients that leech out of the veggies during cooking, and it's invaluable to mix into your baby food. Avoid, at least initially, any foods that gives either parent allergic reactions, since some of these allergies can exist in baby as well. And try any new food by itself for 5-7 days, to test for any allergies in baby.

We started with the orange-colored veggies: squash, sweet potatoes, carrots. (Would you believe the joy I felt when our pediatrician told us, "We can just tell which babies are eating a lot of orange-colored food just by looking at the bottom of their feet!")

For large squashes - cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and set cut-side down in about 1/2" of water. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until flesh is soft. Allow to cool, then scoop out flesh, and process flesh with baking water in food processor OR mash through your strainer and mix with baking water to desired consistency. Freeze in ice-cube trays for individual servings.
Sweet potatoes - just either bake or boil until very soft, mash with water to desired consistency.
Carrots - either steam over boiling water or cook in water until just soft, and process until extremely fine in texture. Mix with the cooking water to desired consistency.

And to really realize exactly how much making your own baby food pays off: make some peas. Steam them in a strainer over about 1/2" of boiling water, and process in a food processor. While peas cool, go to your local supermarket (even go organic!) and buy one of those baby-food jars of peas. Set the store-bought jar and your peas side-by-side. Compare the color - and compare the taste. Last I checked, properly-cooked peas aren't gray and tasteless.

You can go along your entire vegetable aisle and pick and choose what ever you'd like to feed baby. Just two general rules of thumb for veggies: in the starting months of feeding baby real food, and even up until about 1 year old, be careful of fibrousy veggies. It can be very tough to digest in little tummies. And break down the cooked item to as small pieces as possible.

For portability, pick up some glass food containers and put in a cube or two (or in the case now of Baby2, five. He is my little sumo wrestler, and I can't cook enough food for him fast enough.). We have encountered several restaurants willing to help reheat our baby food for us.

Some more base-food ideas:

Lentils/split peas/beans (good for protein)
Beets (look out for those diapers!)
Broccoli (mix with some veggie broth)
Parsnips
Squashes - all squashes! Pumpkin, acorn, Japanese, spaghetti (just make sure you grind it up to really fine pieces)
Mushrooms (mix with some veggie broth)
Asparagus
Rice - white, brown, red, black, jasmine, basmati, sushi, wild - whichever you'd like! Sister-in-law processed brown rice to a fine meal, and conveniently travels with the rice "powder" and cooks for individual meals. My father has made rice porridge and frozen it into rice cubes for us. If you do use whole brown rice, just make sure you cook it to a much softer texture in the starting months.
Any not-too-acidic fruit
Tofu (silken makes for a great protein source and is easy for texture)

Then moving on to meats, I did the full gamut. Salmon and non- or low-mercury fish (check EWG the list here), just steam and mix with steaming water. Chicken/beef, I cooked in some water to a well-brothed mixture, and beat in a food processor. Soft meat? Try foie gras. It was one of Baby1's first foods, and she's been expanding her palate ever since. Baby2 is just about due for the same treat.

In terms of seasonings, I held off on salt until about 10/11 months, and even now, I don't season with too much salt. However, I did mix the different base with different herbs so that you get a wider spectrum of flavors in the base foods. Whenever I used dry herbs, I made sure to cook the herbs at the same time that I cooked the veggies, so that they were adequately softened.

After the initial weeks of individual vegetable prep for sake of allergy-testing, we started having a lot more fun being able to mix the allergy-OKed foods. And once I hit just about all the different typical vegetables that I cook in our grown-up meals, and tried out some meats as well, I started combining baby's meals into our nightly cooking. I'd cook our prepped food from my mise en place sans salt/pepper, reserve a small bowl for baby, and move on to season and finish our dishes for Hubby and me. That was when baby's meals really began to be integrated into ours, and when we really felt like we were sitting down to our dinner table together. Yeah, cheesy, I know - but it made a big psychological difference for us at our table.

Buy to fit, fit your buy?

2009-11-19T00:02:00.002-05:00

So two weekends ago, Hubby, Baby1, Baby2, and I were heading home from a visit to Philly. Baby2 started fussing, so I thought I'd hop into the back seat of our A3 to see if mom's company could cheer him up a bit. As I squeezed between his car seat and Bab1's booster seat and held his hand, I started thinking.

Hubby is tall, so we've been talking about getting a bigger traveling car, given that in our A3 when we have both kids in the back seat, there's no room for him to be able to push his seat far back and allow his legs to stretch a bit. From the outside, however, a result of us getting a larger vehicle easily parallels a common pattern I see with many parents: pop out a kid, get an SUV.

Here's where my brain started to roll through a series of questions and social commentary: do most parents get an SUV because they actually need one, or do they get one because, well, just about everyone else has gotten one when they had a child? Is the SUV the beginning of the 21st century's equivalent of the (so sexy, whoo!) mommacar minivan? And leading into another question, do they get one because they have more crap to schlep, or do they get one and then schlep more crap (have more space, get more shit)? Do SUV's really give that much more safety, given that the more people get bigger vehicles, the bigger vehicles get, until we are all driving the equivalent of mobile homes?

So while I held Baby2's tiny little hand, I took a mental inventory of the crap we schlep in our trunk on a road trip. What's necessary: clothing, toiletries. What's desired: travel bed, stroller. All these items add up to pack our trunk to the hilt. Besides the fact that some of the children's items really are designed to be miniature humvee's to keep the chiropractic industry going strong, this stuff takes up quite a bit of space (I mean really, that plastic car seat - you really think the extra 4" of curved plastic on each side is going to protect your baby that well if you get T-boned?). But when I really started thinking about it, carrying around all this stuff on our trips really is more a means of convenience than one of necessity. Which brings me back to my original question:

What the hell do parents need an SUV for?

Have we reached the point where our basic surroundings are not enough entertainment for our kids, that we need to schlep 10 more pieces of entertainment that they can use for all of 5 minutes before announcing that they're *surprise* bored out of their minds? Have we become slaves to convenience, to pack these mobile living rooms (complete with DVD player, forget about actually talking with your kids the way our parents used to talk or sing with us) to the hilt with more crap than we could use in the course of a weekend? Are we spiraling out of control while chanting "Bigger, Bigger, More, More"? Last I checked, these SUV's were great for people who were big, or if you were navigating mountainous regions on a regular basis, or if you were actually transporting the Lakers. But most of the time, all I see is the SUV's carrying the equivalent occupant load of what can be handled in a stationwagon. Cynicism reinforced.

Side food note - pomegranates are piled high in our local supermarket. I love them, and so does Baby1. Before heading into the depths of dark winter, it's just beautiful to enjoy these little red gems. In my real, stationary living room.

Cake experimentation

2009-11-15T10:01:00.005-05:00

There haven't been too many new dishes of recent. Baby2, however, has started eating a bit of food - Japanese pumpkin to start. The first time I tried feeding him was 2 weeks ago - he would have none of it (what the hell is this crap you're putting my my mouth Mom!). Quite in contrast to Baby1, who just took to eating solid food immediately. This past week, I tried again, and he was definitely a lot more receptive to the food I was feeding him. Bobbleheading his way to try to aim and get his mouth around the spoon, once he did manage to get his mouth on the spoon he lapped up the pumpkin that was on there. Granted, half of it would end up back on his lip or chin, but hey, he's trying.

Despite lack of experimentation with new dishes, I have been experimenting with my base cake recipe. This, as I thumb my nose at Hubby's statement that baking was a science, something not to be futzed. Last weekend, I baked my go-to cake recipe with a couple of variations:

Replace 3T of the 1c flour with 3T of corn starch (typical replacement ratio for 1c of AP flour to yield cake flour)

Added 1/2t of baking soda to dry mixture

Use of both lemon and vanilla extract

The result was stupendous. The cake texture - it was delicately moist with a fine crumb. I topped with my version of buttercream frosting (about 1/2c whipping cream + 3T melted butter + 1/2t vanilla extract + 1/4c sugar) - the frosting came out lovely and fluffy, and remained so 4 days later under cover. To get more density and shape, I may increase the quantity of butter next time. This frosting formula, however, will be perfect for when I'm going to make some strawberry shortcake.

Another variation was substituting about 1/4cup of the flour with cocoa to make chocolate cake. Again - fairly successful, though the chocolate flavor didn't come through so strongly - I may need to add more cocoa in lieu of the flour next time. I also made another attempt at my chocolate ganache frosting, this time with a formula of 1/2 square of Ghiradelli + 2T butter + 2T cocoa + 1c heavy whipping cream. It looked to curdle at first, but upon beating more, it fluffed up and tasted wonderful. It still doesn't have the subtle chocolate flavor (still fairly smoky from the cocoa) of the cocoa frosting I remember from long ago, but it was still quite tasty. Baby1 ate the entirety of her slice of cake - AND the frosting. Quite a change from when she would eat only the frosting.

Cake + experiment #1

2009-10-28T22:39:00.003-04:00

I made a cake two nights ago, using the same recipe I use for cupcakes/muffins. Added a touch more sugar than just a heaping half cup, and a touch more baking powder than just the 1.5 teaspoons, and vanilla for flavorant. The result was a slightly less-dense cake, but I may have to resort to using cake flour in the end in order to get that true fluffy cake texture.

Two days later, I have half a cake left. I decided this evening to try to make chocolate ganache to top what cake we have left. Chocolate ganache... this is an experiment I've been thinking of doing and trying to do since I was able to bake my first cake. The inspiration? The cocoa cake my parents used to get for my birthdays when we lived in Taiwan, some 33 years ago. Just thinking about the cake, I can almost taste the frosting. Light, slight hint of chocolate (not too much though), smooth, fluffy. I want to say that it may have had some butter in the mix as well, since I seem to recall the frosting being slightly greasy. My palate has a long memory.

So tonight I took on this endeavor. 4 squares of Ghirardelli dark (72% cacao), about 1/2 cup of sugar, and about 1/4 cup of cocoa powder - all into a glass bowl on top of a small pot of boiling water (my makeshift double boiler). I took care to not allow steam to get into the chocolate mixture, lest the result be a goopety gop (a high-brow technical cooking term). I started stirring the mixture in the double boiler, and once the chocolate melted and was mixed through the other dry ingredients, I added about 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Vigorously whipped this mixture above the hot water for about 10 minutes, and then set the mixture into the fridge to chill and set a bit.

I just brought the mixture back out. It took a little more stirring to break up and soften the mass. Taste - not bad, but too much chocolate. The dark 72% cacao definitely came through quite strongly. I'll still top the remaining half of the cake with this experiment, but this attempt completely missed the target. I'll try again, with less chocolate next time, and more air in the whipping.

Mozzarella in the kitchen

2009-10-18T12:05:00.005-04:00

I finally got over the mental block of the task of making mozzarella and undertook the endeavor this morning. Easy easy process, but I'll have to refine the method - the mozzarella isn't the best texture I've had. Less stretching next time...

This is what I used, as a variation of the recipe offered on Chowhound.com:

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon pasteurized milk *NOT ULTRA-PASTEURIZED
1.5 t citric acid dissolved in 1/4c water (I used bottled water)
1/4t liquid vegetable rennet dissolved in 5t water (again, bottled water)
2T kosher salt

Equipment:
instant-read thermometer
1 large stock pot (enamel-coated steel)
2 large stainless steel or glass bowls
1 large slotted spoon
1 fine-mesh strainer (preferably one with a little lip to allow it to rest on top of one of the SS bowls)
1c measuring cup
cutting board
knife
2 large wooden spoons
2 pairs of thick rubber gloves, or what I used was double-layered pair of disposable surgical gloves

1. Bring milk to 55 degreesF, and stirred in the citric acid mixture.
2. Bring the milk to about 88 degreesF (takes about 5 minutes max), and stir in the rennet mixture.
3. Continue stirring until the milk begins to separate, into curds and whey (childhood rhyme comes to mind). Once it begins to separate, let the mixture continue to cook undisturbed until the mixture reaches 100 degreesF (1-2 minutes). Turn off the heat, and let mixture sit undisturbed until the curds pull away from the sides, about 5 minutes. When this process is ready, the whey should be almost clear.
4. Remove curds from the whey (KEEP THE WHEY!) with a slotted spoon, and let the curds drain over one of the two SS bowls in the wire-mesh strainer. Press gently with the slotted spoon, but don't press out too much water - otherwise, you'll end up with really tough curds.
5. Measure out 4c of the whey, and discard the rest. Bring the whey with the salt to boil in the pot to about 180 degreesF.
6. While the whey boils, slice the curds into thin strips. Lay strips in one of the empty SS bowls.
7. Fill other SS bowl with filtered/distilled water. This is the storing water for your mozzarella, so please consider using the most filtered water possible.
8. Pour hot whey over curd strips.
9. Donning the gloves, take care as you pull the curd strips out of the hot whey. Holding the strips with the ends in your hands, begin pulling the curd strips, then fold. Hold new ends, stretch, and fold. Repeat this stretching/folding until the surface of the curd mass is shiny. Do not overwork the curds, otherwise the mozzarella will be fairly tough.
10. If the curds get too hard to stretch, dip back into the hot whey to soften before reworking the curds.
11. And now to make the little balls of mozzarella: pinch a little ball from the end of the curd mass, and drop the ball into the bowl of water. Repeat until you've divided the curd mass into little balls of mozzarella.

To store the mozzarella, I plan to store them in a covered glass bowl. The mozzarella I made this morning was a little tough and quite irregularly sized. I probably overworked the curd strips when stretching/folding. I'll also need to give my pinching method some practice. Given that this process was fairly easy, I'll most likely be making more mozzarella soon and will try lending the process a gentler hand.

From a child's mouth, truth

2009-10-11T23:52:00.006-04:00

As Baby1 grows her vocabulary and those descriptive terms to tell us how she feels about this and that, she has also been able to give me feedback about the food I'm cooking. On a couple of occasions, I'd ask her if she wanted to try more of this or that, and she'd reply, "Mmm, no, I am OK." That's code for "I don't like that dish so much." On other occasions, she has told me, "Mommy, this is yummy." That's code for, well, damn mommy, this is yummy.

So she has said, of my pasta sauce, stir fried chicken with black bean sauce, pasta alfredo, vegetable curries, chicken with spicy coconut sauce, several different curries, ground beef roasted in pumpkin, chicken soup, roasted chicken, chicken salad, and, occasionally, even salmon (I gotta admit, I'm not the best salmon cook, and often it comes out overcooked and too dry). But whenever she encounters spicy foods, she still gives me that bewildered whisper "spicy!" I've gotta work on those taste buds of hers, and get them used to spicy food. But, in the mean time, we're giving her definition to the different senses on her tongue - for flavors of sweet, spicy, salty, sour, bitter. Umami... I may have wait for a scrunch of her forehead with tasting something or other one of these nights, and be able to tell her the story of umami.

Still, no matter what success or failure was served at the table the night before, every night she sits at our table, eagerly anticipating dinner. Or, better yet, she has always wanted to see what is cooking on the stove and in the oven, even before she was able to walk. And it's at these moments that I find utmost joy, at her curiosity and her anticipation for our food, and she hasn't yet fallen into those childhood patterns of picky eating or distractions by play. Maybe part of the reason is that I've engaged her in my cooking, asking what she thought of one dish or another, and I'd reason with her the next go-around of the same dish, adjusting some flavor based on feedback from before. It has become a fantastic game for us, this cooking thing, and besides the fact that my cooking is often accompanied by an instantaneous unloading of all items in the lower drawers of our kitchen all over the floor, preparing our evening dinners is actually quite enjoyable.

Worn worn worn

2009-10-03T19:28:00.006-04:00

Wake. Feed. Change. Pack. Work. Lunch. Work. Rush. Cook. Feed. Change. Sleep.
Repeat.

That unfortunately, is what my life has seemingly boiled down to these days. There is the occasional variety, but for some odd reason it seems that we're getting closer and closer to that suburbia Brave New World roboticism than we had in the past, unable to break the usual hum-drum of daily life for fear of even slightly throwing things off balance. I don't know if it's because we have two kids now, and paired when with two adults, we can't offset the human:human ratio.

Which then brings me to this question: those people whom we've seen hermit themselves and completely adjust their schedules to accommodate their children when they had one child, what are they like now with 2, or more? How far have they changed from who they were before children, or how much closer have they gotten to who they originally were? Or perhaps, have they become clones of their parents instead?

Who knows. But I'm keeping a keen eye on how much of my life really shifts in having kids, and keeping aware of my growing theory that mid-life crisis happens to those who change themselves or their habits too much from how they lived for much of their life. I mean, it's all balance, right - too much one way, you snap back like a rubber band, back to equilibrium. It's the human inertia.

In the mean time, to cater to my growing inertia, here's a cupcake/muffin recipe that I loved at first sight. Super easy - you only need a 1/2 teaspoon and 1/2 cup to do the mixes.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

1 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
pinch salt

3 eggs, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature

(for cupcakes) heaping 1/2 c of superfine sugar (or just take regular sugar through a food processor)
(for muffins) leveled 1/2 c of sugar
(for cupcakes) 1/2 t vanilla

1/4 c milk

Preheat oven to 350. Prep cupcake cups.
Mix dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
Cream butter and sugar.
Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Mix in vanilla.
Then, alternating milk and dry mix, add each to the sugar mixture, starting and ending with the milk.

Then, for muffins - you can add ingredients to your liking. I've added banana, bacon/cheese/jalapeno, and lemon/poppy seeds in the past. I haven't yet tried blueberries or apples, but I will.

Divide mix into cupcake cups, about 2/3 full.
Bake 18-20 minutes.

We all have a casserole

2009-08-25T21:58:00.002-04:00

Today while I was standing there using my freezer as the most expensive air conditioning system known while I tried to move the synapses in my brain closer to each other to figure out a dinner plan, I decided to make a roulade for dinner. It's easy, fast, tasty, and makes use of several left-over items in the fridge. And then it dawned on me - we all have some sort of casserole in our cooking repertoire. Mine just happens to be a roulade. It's my go-to dish when I'm at a loss for what to make for dinner.

Tonight's roulade made use of several items - marinara sauce I made on Friday, butternut squash from a puff-wrapped cod last night, fresh carrots (shredded), rice (still had to cook it), and cheese. While this new dish may not be of new ingredients, it's a new interpretation of existing parts.

Tonight's roulade
- 1 Chicken breast - pounded thin (1/4")
- 1 Carrot, shredded
- 1/2c cooked butternut squash (diced)
- 3T butter
- Cheese (I used cheddar this time)
- 1/2c Rice
- 1c Marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Prep a baking platter (just foil on a baking tray was all I used tonight).
2. Butterfly and pound chicken breast thin, and season both sides with salt and pepper
3. Layer onto the pounded chicken breast shredded carrot, butternut squash, cheese, and rice (in that order). The butter, I dotted amidst the butternut squash. The rice, I laid just in the middle of the roulade roll.
4. Roll from end to end, taking care not to squish everything out as you push the roll along. Use toothpicks to hold roll together if necessary.
5. Transfer roulade to the baking platter. Pour on marinara sauce evenly over roulade.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven immediately after baking, and let rest outside of oven for 5 minutes.
7. Slice and serve.

Duh

2009-08-24T17:45:00.002-04:00

Why didn't I think of this idea earlier? I was about to throw out some slices of lemon I had used for a lemon infusion earlier yesterday, and decided to try something. It worked:

1. Lemon - slice or wedge to sizes to fit into your water bottle.
2. If slices - curl on itself into a roll so it could fit into the mouth of your water bottle. Shove curled-up slices into an ice cube tray to hold them in their shape. If using wedges, lay out wedges side by side on a single cookie sheet.
3. Freeze. Then, when they're frozen solid, throw them into your water bottle for cold lemon-infused water on the go. What slices or wedges you don't use, bag them and freeze them for later use.

This may be just too obvious to some, but this idea finally dawned on me when I decided to throw some frozen strawberries into Baby1's water bottle earlier today for her outing to the playground. In Mid-Atlantic heat.

Reflection on priorities

2009-08-23T09:48:00.004-04:00

As my maternity leave comes to a close, I look back with bittersweetness at the past couple of months. I've gotten a chance to hang out more with Baby1, and learn a little more about her as she absorbs information around her faster than a sponge around water. I also got the opportunity to learn about the new human in my life. When I've been able to think for a moment, I realize some subtle and not so subtle friction in childrearing.

Just thinking about the times when I have reached the end of my patience, especially with Baby1, I've made one discovery that I hope will help inform how I approach Baby1 in the future. When I've hit the wall with her, it has been an issue of misaligned priorities. Those times when safety is an issue, there is absolutely no question: I admonish her and make her realize that running across the street or not stopping her Carl Lewis sprint when I tell her to do so is completely out of the question. Other times, however - have they simply because I've lost touch with my childhood and am failing to see the world through her eyes?

With so many books (and just seen how very many there are!) out there written about an litany of institutionalized agendas for raising our children, are we adults just as lost about how to raise children as we are simply not in touch with the real child we once were? Just about all the books read of trying to understand the children through our eyes, but how many are written about trying to understand us through their eyes? We push our children, to adhere to our conditions, to conform to our adult world. We shape them to personify our hopes and our dreams where we've failed. We make them into puppets of our world, miniaturized caricatures of our idols. We force on them a structure that would, in scale, rival a single-handed maneuvering of the Middle East-Israeli conflict.

And just when we think they couldn't possibly perfect themselves enough to our standards, we complain that they're growing up way too fast. Seemingly, we say this more and more with each generation. Could it be that, notwithstanding extreme external factors (inordinate amount of TV, violence in the home, health issues, etc.), we're creating self-fulfilling prophecies? We could blame parents working too much and not spending enough time with the kids; overcommercialism everywhere we turn; too much exposure of kids to sex, drugs, and rock and roll too early in life; any of a litany of pop culture surrounding us today. But could it be as simple as that adults have just lost touch with the real child they once were - and that if we were to reexamine life through the eyes of our earliest childhood, that we would once again be able to be more attuned to their needs and thoughts? That if we actually bent who we were, not to what some book tells us to do, but to something that we knew at one point in our life, that we would be able to also align ourselves and better understand our children?

I don't know... but for the time being, I'm using this strategy to better understand Baby1. We'll have to see over time whether or not my idea bears weight. In the mean time, my kitchen as still be churning out food, though at times not as creative as I would like. I'm still using what I have in our freezer and fridge. Of most recent note, I baked up a pheasant that's been in our freezer for a while - S/P all over and in the cavity, tucked butter under the skin, and stuffed it with half a lemon and an onion. Roasting in the same pan as the mire poix were celery, onions, and carrots.

I baked the pheasant, and then used the roasting juices to make my port wine and blackberry sauce. Very simply - port wine, S/P, blackberries, roasting juices. Brought the mixture to a simmer, and turned the heat to low to reduce by about a half. The pheasant was, surprisingly, not terribly gamey, and the sauce paired perfectly. However, the pheasant was still somewhat dry. I'll have to continue testing the baking temperatures and times to get just the right balance for juicy meat and done-ness.

I'll take breathing room for $150, please

2009-08-02T15:19:00.002-04:00

Post successful baguette endeavor, Hubby and I headed out for a dinner solo last night at our local Siroc restaurant, downtown DC. Probably our best sampling of Italian food in DC, this restaurant was the site of our last dinner prior to Baby2 joining us. And, apropos, it is the place of our first dinner solo post-Baby2. We had a fantastic time.

What worries me, though, is the fact that the restaurant, while fantastic, doesn't seem to be packed any time that we're there. We ended up closing the restaurant again, the service was top-notch, the food was fantastic. These are the kinds of things I worry about - we find a good place, serving good food, and then next thing I know the place is closed because people are too used to having some washed-up version of real food. Our total bill wasn't cheap - $150 - but it was so worth it.

So this morning, I baked my savory scones that I had prepped yesterday, post baguette. Great success - filled with bacon, garlic cheddar, scallions. Chilling the scones overnight in the fridge definitely did the trick, as the scones were so flaky and soft, they practically melted in my mouth. I've posted the recipe before, so I won't post it again. I am so making more this afternoon.

Cartoons with the usual cast of personalities

2009-08-01T10:14:00.003-04:00

Baby1 has just embarked on a brand new journey: the joy (or lack thereof) of television. With Baby2 taking some of our time, and at times just needing a bit of quiet from simultaneous screaming from both kids, Hubby and I have decided that yes, we'll try a bit of television therapy with Baby1, just so that we could get, oh, 5 minutes of peace or attempts at establishing peace in this house. In comes Noggin.

We've been watching the Backyardigans and Ni-Hao Kai-lan. Backyardigans because she picked up Uniqua one day at a Target, and instantly recognized her again on the show when one of her cousins had a DVD of of the Backyardigans at Papa's house. Ni-Hao Kai-lan because, well, it would be good for her to learn Chinese at some point, even if it is through a TV show. Both shows, she has actually paid some steady attention to them, which is a relief for us whenever we're hitting a point of decibel limit in the house. But the characters...

Backyardigans. Whose great idea was it to have the white hippo be high-ranked character in each of the episodes? Who made her queen? And Uniqua has a decidedly African-American voice - so why is she singled out as being so unique? And never mind the "mystery" episode, when the moose, also of an African American voice, was the butler and Uniqua was the "strange out-of-towner" character. As for the penguin and the kangaroo - well, they're almost the only two not-extraordinary characters on the show.

And Ni-Hao Kai-lan. Hubby came to the realization yesterday morning that the tiger has ADD, the koala has low self-esteem issues (as well as an unhealthy obsession with pandas - do I detect a "I wish I were" kind of self-value view by the koala?), the monkey is just too small to have personality, the grandfather has to be senile to be hanging out with this motley crew, and Kai-lan is on some sort of prescription medication (we presume for delusional schizophrenia - damn, her pupils are seriously dilated). And how much her high-pitched voice carries her cheerleader personality...

Let's just say I miss the days of Bugs and Tom/Jerry, when cartoons were a little less complex, characters a little more straight-forward, and situations a little more clear-cut. This cast of characters... if they're a reflection of the characters we have in every-day life, of the broad spectrum of personalities we see each day, we're in trouble.

At the least, amidst this entry of new personalities into our house and daily life, and amidst my loss of hearing via the kids, I'm taking on a new recipe for a baguette, care of DK's Bread bible. Simple, clear-cut, and I split the recipe in two by overnighting the rising period in the fridge. I finally got the sponge step looking more like the way it should, and I read something in a book that made too much sense to me - don't use a metallic bowl for making bread, as it will impart an off-flavor to the yeast and to the bread.

Baguette
1 2/3 c lukewarm water
2 1/2 t yeast
500g flour
1 1/2t salt

- Sprinkle the yeast in 1 1/4 c of the water in a non-metallic bowl (try glass or ceramic), and let sit for 5 minutes. Mix to dissolve.
- Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, and make a well in the middle. Pour in the yeast mixture.
- Stir just enough of the flour into the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon to yield a sticky paste (sponge). Cover with a dishcloth and let rest for 20 minutes, or until sponge has doubled in volume.
- Stir the rest of the flour into the sponge, mixing the remainder of the water only if necessary, one Tablespoon at a time. Don't mix in too much water! (this is where my process screwed up, and I had to mix in more flour to dry the mix... we'll have to see how it comes out)
- Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until elastic and smooth, about 10 minutes.
- Form dough into a smooth ball, and place in a non-metallic bowl. Cover with dishcloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1.5 hours. This is where I did the overnight refrigerator rising method: place dough in a non-metallic bowl, and brush the surface with olive oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in the fridge overnight (min. 8 hours).
- Remove cover, punch down, cover bowl with dish towel and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Repeat punch-down and rise. (Both rises I executed with a dish towel. I did not use the plastic wrap cover for either rise, as there was considerable condensation on the plastic wrap this morning.)
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Flour your baking surface (I'm using a baking stone).
- Divide dough into two parts, and shape accordingly (3-fold letter shape, followed by half-fold, then elongate). Transfer dough onto baking surface, and cover with dish cloth to let proof, about 50 minutes.
- Give the top of shaped loaves 4 slashes. Finish the surface with either an egg wash or a salt-water wash (I'm going to give it a salt-water wash to see how it comes out).
- Bake 20-25 minutes, steaming of oven is optional.

As I write this, I'm waiting for the loaf to go through its second rise. We'll see how it comes out. But, the overall recipe is very simple indeed, and the DK Bread bible is really wonderful in illustrating the exact look and methods involved in baking bread. I've tried other recipes, often more complicated and not as clearly explained... so we shall see...

>>UPDATE AS OF 5:30PM

Success! The baguette, even with an overnight rise, came out great. Crust was great, though a little thicker than I like (I like the crisp thin crust, but this tasted authentic), and inside was generally uniform with some larger (1/2") air bubbles here and there. Flavor was right on - it was my using metal bowls in the past that lent the bread the weird flavors. I am so using this recipe again.

Sometimes, you just have to relent

2009-07-25T23:00:00.003-04:00

We can't do a gourmet meal each day. Today, we had burgers and fries - and it's still just as tasty. I did supplement with cuts of fresh tomatoes, and unfortunately Baby1 was so tired from all our activity today she didn't even last through the meal - but at the least, she did eat the tomatoes.

I am, however, genuinely torn when it comes to the costs of some of our meals. I'm torn - not because I don't want to save money in this dire economy, but because I want us to save money in our foodstuffs but I still want to make sure that I put quality and variety on our table. Saving grace is definitely the fact that we don't eat much processed foods, and that we shop primarily along the perimeter - but for a growing family, the food bills do add up over time. My regular purchases: milk, eggs, flour, fruits, vegetables, and a variety of meats. Secondary purchases: cereal, crackers, sugar, juice, water. You'd think this wouldn't add to too much, but boy it really does add up. Then, we also have the take-out orders we place every so often when I can't muster enough energy to cook after a long day (and when I don't want to eat what we already have) - and all of a sudden, our food bills grow exponentially.

So I'm puttin ghtis in writing: I'm going to make a truly concerted effort, during these last few weeks of my maternity leave, to really focus on cooking the foods we have, and to get really well-versed in being able to throw together a good meal, and a series of good meals with variety, from just the items we have in our fridge and freezer. No random ordering out, no cheating with take-out. At the least, while our other costs may be growing while our pocketbooks are shrinking, I can really learn how to use and enjoy what I already have.

And... try to keep up editing this blog on a regular basis.

Gear

2009-07-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

Besides the fact that Hubby and I continually find faults with just about every piece of baby/toddler equipment out there (great stroller, just want it to be able to handle having a toddler as well as a baby; great bottle idea, but the nib leaks like Niagara Falls; what a beautiful snack ball, if only the lid would work the way it's supposed to and not break 2 weeks after we start using it), as I am trekking again through the swamps of navigating care for a newborn, I am going through all our old gear again. Same complaints with some of our basic gear:

1. Bibs. Whose brilliant idea was it to have the rough side of the velcro backs face up, where it can scratch baby's neck? Of course, in the ideal world, the velcro would be facing out at the back of the neck, thus negating the scratchy velcro problem. But what baby actually keeps a bib in place enough to keep that scratchy face facing outward?

2. Pacifiers. The pacifiers should have been made with the cover plate (the hard piece at the end of the chewy nib) curved away from the face. All you need after baby sucks on that thing is to have the footprint of this place engraved on its face.

3. Footed onesies. Keeps those feet warm. Also generates planned obsolescence, as babies grow like weeds and what fit last week won't fit this week.

4. Single-side-access onesies. Parents, you know what I'm talking about. There's nothing quite like folding up your baby in half in order to get their foot into the unaccessible leg of these long-zip onesies.

5. Onesies without lap shoulders or shoulder snaps. OK, so maybe my baby has an extraordinarily large head, but why make tops without adjustable openings for the head? Poor thing looks like he's going through the birthing process each time I try to pull one of these stupid shirts over his head - and he cries like he's going through the process again each time.

These are just the start... as I go through more gear, I'm sure I'll find more material for whining.

Childhood toys, refound

2009-07-23T14:40:00.004-04:00

Outside of cooking, another one of my pasttimes has been hunting down some toys from childhood that I remember. Recently, at our local community center, during playgroup, Baby1 picked up a little block that I remembered from when I was a little child in Taiwan, but the blocks didn't have a label on them for me to discern what they were. Well, a recent hunt and after asking countless other parents about what these blocks were, I spoke with one of the local moms to find that she too knew what I was talking about. These blocks, they have these nubbies all over them, and they connect with one another via these nubbies.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Well, she suggested taking a look at Parents Magazine toys, and sure enough, I found them: Bristle Blocks! Here's a link via Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Krinkles-in-Case-113-pieces/dp/B000HDH02Q.

As soon as I found it, I knew this was what I've been searching for, up and down all over the place. I am so getting a box of these for Baby1, and eventually, when he's ready, Baby2.

Bagels... to go

2009-07-22T15:32:00.002-04:00

I heard about a great place to get bagels, this Capital Bagel Bakery just south of where I live, and I figured I'd take Baby1, Baby2, and Nanny with me on an excursion to check out the place. We stopped first for lunch (Nanny's first jaunt with sushi!) at a place next door, Golden Dragon, where I get my Chinese delivery all the time. Afterwards, seeing that Nanny didn't venture too far to gobbling up the sushi, I figured, let's check out the bagel place, to pick up some bagels to take home with us, in case she is hungry but didn't want to be impolite and tell me that she doesn't like sushi.

Well.

So I order my baker's dozen ($9.12, tax included), and this tall woman comes up in line behind me, places her order, and she begins her departure. She seemed quite well in a rush - aren't we all. I stop with Baby1, who is completely enraptured by a 10-month old baby boy at a nearby booth, to admire said 10-month old, whose mother was gracious enough to allow Baby1 to humor her curiosity about the little guy and who very patiently answers Baby1's questions about all the accoutrement in his car seat (binkies, toys, blankets). We converse for a little bit, and I thank her for letting Baby1 get so close to him, and we then begin our departure. Enter tall woman.

She was still behind us, even after our conversation and exploration of 10-month-old baby boy, and with a brusk "excuse me" rushes past me. Baby1 is in front of me, and as toddlers are prone to do, she started running, then stumbled and fell. Tall woman steps over her, curses under her breath, and rushes her way out the door. I'm more than just a little annoyed.

Now mind you, if she were dressed like she had a full-time job, instead of in shorts and a t-shirt, I might say, hmm, been there, done that, definitely had something to rush off to, I can empathize. Instead, though, she seemed quite annoyed that anyone outside of herself was there, so the only conclusions I can deduce are these:

1. She doesn't like children.
2. She doesn't want children.
3. She obviously doesn't have children.
4. I'm in Virginia - is this racism that's biting at my heels?

Maybe this is self-centered. Maybe in my insular world the women I've been exposed to have been so gracious with my children, that I just assume that all women would regard other little children with open arms and understand when a toddler falls (and just about all I've encountered have then reached out, regardless of all the stuff they have in their hands, to help out with any child that takes a stumble). Or who knows... maybe one of the immediate reactions I have above is a truth. Or, if this is a balance against the better experiences I've had to date with my children, then it goes to reveal that balance does happen in this world, for good and bad.

So the bagels - I've got them in a paper bag right now, but will give them a try. Sounded like they are pretty good against the NY variety - we shall see.

Fading memory

2009-07-20T22:47:00.003-04:00

It goes without saying for any new mom that somehow our memory deteriorates almost immediately after having said newborn, as we are instantly thrown into reactionary instead of proactive mode. So that's where I find myself these days - unable to keep short term memory for extended period of time (not to mention, being around Baby1 all day gives me a newfound encyclopedia of toddler language and loss of adult language) - that is, until I'm nursing. Then all of a sudden, when I don't have a hand to do anything, I remember all kinds of stuff that I need to do or get, and no way of recording my recalled memory. Maybe I should just attach my crackberry to Baby2, and then whenever I pick up Baby2, I can record my memory at a touch of a button without having to remember to grab said crackberry.

So as if I'm not thrown into a tailspin already with two little ones in tow, I am now nursing a sore throat. Not much except Jello feels good on my sore throat, and there's no way I can rest it as Baby1 insists on an unending string of "what's that what's that what's that what's that what's that what's that" all day long. But, I did get to making a 6-strand challah today... haven't yet tried it, but if my throat feels all right tomorrow, I may try a slice. Substituted about 2oz of the 16.75oz AP flour with wheat flour - we'll see how it turned out!

Watermelon granita

2009-07-18T23:48:00.002-04:00

Our wonderful friends Bondrew came over tonight for dinner, to catch up and check in. On the menu - a bounty of vegetables from their community garden, steaks, and tapioca pudding. From our side, I tried making a 5-minute berry cobbler (eek, not good - flipped a wheat pie crust on top of berries/sugar/butter) and a watermelon granita. I'll provide the watermelon granita recipe here for the fact that it succeeded and it was super easy. This made an excellent palate cleanser.

Watermelon Granita
- watermelon (4 parts)
- triple sec or cointreau (1 part)

1. Puree watermelon in blender.
2. Add cointreau to watermelon, and blend with 2 short pulses.
3. Pour into large flat pan (enough to allow watermelon mixture to attain 1" depth).
4. Freeze for 4 hours, with a fork scraping 2 hours into freezing time.
5. Serve.

How do I grow a third hand?

2009-07-18T13:10:00.002-04:00

Ever step into the kitchen, and suddenly in the midst of cooking this that and the other thing realize that you were missing the most important tool - a third hand? Try cooking with just 1 hand - you'll get that same feeling. I'm on a search now, for recipes that can allow me to cook with just one hand, as often times I end up having to carry Baby2 in one of my arms while I'm cooking and prepping to keep him calm (Baby1 just pulls up a stool to observe everything happening on the countertop). And it's not easy - he has little to no head control, and those neck muscles aren't exactly lean and tuned either, so I sometimes really, REALLY need that third hand.

Well, all the meats are diced, sliced, and ground, in individual packets in the freezer. Dad has brought enough food to stock our fridge and our freezers (sometimes to my dismay as I actually do like to cook, and a packed fridge doesn't allow me to cook anything for storing). Veggie drawers are also stocked. From the outside, it would look like I've got it made...

Except, of course, for said third hand. And more prep time.

So I'm on that search for easy recipes, but preferably not casseroles. So far, I've been tackling only those "fresh" recipes, that use some raw ingredients and simpler cooked ingredients. But complexity is not easy when I have one hand occupied... and I'm craving roux and gumbo. Oh help.

Strange dynamics

2009-07-09T12:07:00.002-04:00

Our wonderful Nanny has been taking care of Baby1 since last September - and she is continuing with caring now also for Baby2. Now what's strange, is that I had anticipated the transition to go smoothly, but the dynamic has really changed since I've been home on maternity leave. I adore her, and yet, when she starts cooing over Baby2, or when I watch as she takes care of Baby1, I really have to hold myself back from correcting her every move.

Like I should be surprised - it is, after all, a mother's protective intuition. But, we are transitioning, and we have this summer to do it. If anything, she's wonderful with Baby1 (though I'd like for her to really push educational boundaries and help Baby1 learn more beyond what she can do in the playground) and completely dotes on Baby2. What more could a mother ask for?

So cookingwise, I'm actually still able to do quite a bit of cooking. I've made a variety of dishes, done several different cuisines. We're rationing our stored food that people and we have made for this postpartum period for those days when cooking is not an option (i.e., when I've hit my limit of kidhood or the kids are out of control). Most recently, I made my first batch of tabouleh - super easy!

Equal parts bulgar wheat and boiling water (I used 1 c each)
1 tomato, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil
S/P

Pour boiling water over bulgar wheat. Let sit for 1 hour.
Chop veggies and parsley.
Mix all vegetables and bulgar wheat together.
Squeeze lemon juice on top, and drizzle with olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

We'll have this taboulleh tonight, alongside some bread and hummus (with ground beef). I really should get off the pre-preg "Daddy diet" I've continued postpartum, and get on board with getting myself back in shape!

New platform

2009-06-30T23:07:00.004-04:00

If the last time around, I found myself in a new MO from having 1 child, this time around - I'm really finding myself looking with new perspective at cooking, with 2 children. With a 1-month old Baby2 in tow, though this time around it's not as all-so-new as with Baby1, adjusting to having two kids pulling at my attention is an experience all in its own. I'm still cooking, though I'm finding juggling not as easy as with just 1 - and, on top of it all, I had gotten used to having Baby1 as a toddler, curious about my cooking, and eager to help, and had forgotten all about how difficult it is to juggle having a newborn in my arms while I'm trying to navigate slicing and dicing this that and the other thing.

So knowing what we went through the first time around with Baby1, we requested some special bechamel wheat lasagna from our good friends Bondrew, and we have them stored away for those days when I can not get around to cooking. This summer being my maternity leave, I'm taking advantage of spending time with Baby1 during the day, and trying to navigate still cooking in the evening - so we are carefully rationing out the lovely bechamel lasagna for just those days when I'm full out of steam. And my cooking experiences so far this summer have yielded the following results:

1. Pre-cut meats are a must.
2. Keep the produce drawers well stocked
3. Fruits are excellent as desserts and snacks
4. Premake sauces as a time-saver.

So item 4 was my most recent discovery. Dad had come to visit and brought a take-out left-over to share with us, but he ramped it up by adding tofu to make a new dish in larger quantities. The leftover was this hyper-spicy beef and vegetable dish. We had some for lunch while he was here, and then I most recently used the leftover of the leftover again by adding more tofu and making Ma-Po Tofu. It got my brain gears going: if I had some basic spice mixes and sauces stocked (which I already do), it makes cooking that much easier, especially on nights when I don't have the brainpower to think up something new. So I already have stocked a marinara sauce, a soy/ginger pork or chicken braise, and Puerto Rican sofrito. All these items, I have frozen (par-frozen, hand smushed, then refrozen so that it comes in smaller pieces in my ziploc bags) for longer storage and easy access.

Not the most original idea. But, that being said, I'm not going out to buy a bunch of preprocessed sauces and premixed spices with chemicals I can't pronounce - I'm making my own sauces and spice mixes. Therein is the difference.

What else in my freezer? My previous discoveries of pre-cut meats, preseasoned meats (Middle-Eastern, Italian, Chinese, and Indian seasonings), basic broths, and preseasoned whole chicken. I'm going to run with this for a while, to see how well we can live off of these pre-prepped ingredients to create a variety of dishes. In the mean time, I'm also going to think up additional sauces and mixes to stash away. If all else, at least I have some marinades ready to go for anything we'd like to cook.

Reinterpreted Puerto Rican dinner, with past recipe from Chinese Dinner

2009-02-02T22:33:00.005-05:00

Had a birthday party this past weekend to celbrate Father in Law's 70th birthday party, and in line with his heritage, we celebrated with Puerto Rican food. But, I did put my own twist on the standard dishes to personalize the meal for our party of 12.

Baby, she was really impressive. In her well-learned party hostess mode, she even stayed up with us until 1am, though she did immediately crash out on my shoulder (she never does that anymore, so I'm happily obliging holding her in my arms while she's asleep!). Next morning, contrary to what I've heard about kids, she slept in until 10am, affording Hubby and me a good chance to get some good sleep as well after our cooking and party efforts.

So here we go on the recipes. The first is a follow-up request from our Chinese dinner in the autumn.

Simmered pork
Bone-in pork (if I recall correctly, I used pork tenderloin cut into small pieces, and also threw in some pork leg for the skin)
Soy sauce
Sugar
Ginger (2 pieces)
2 star anise
Water

- Marinate pork pieces in a mixture of soy and sugar, approximately a 1:2 ratio of soy to sugar for approximately 1 hour. Make enough of the marinade to just coat the pork pieces.
- Cut 2 pieces of ginger, about 1"x2" pieces.
- In a large pot, place marinated pork in enough of the soy/sugar mixture (same ratio as above) to cover pork to about 1/2 of depth of pork. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the pork by approximately 1", add ginger and star anise, and simmer for 3 hours on low heat. The liquid should be reduced by about half.
- I finished the dish with a pinch of salt and white pepper when I turned off the heat, and let the pork rest in the stewing liquid for about 15 minutes.
- Serve just by itself or over rice. The pork leg, I just cut the skin off the leg and served a small sliver with each serving of pork.

Tostones with vanilla foam and caviar
Plantains, cut into 1" thick pieces and soaked in saltwater for a minimum of 2 hours
Kosher salt
Oil for deep frying
Heavy whipping cream
1 vanilla bean

- Cut and soak plantains in salt water.
- In the mean time, cut open vanilla bean and scrape out seeds into whipping cream. Whip cream until stiff peaks form.
- Heat oil in deep pan. Toss in 1 layer of plantains for a first fry until they're yellow (about 3 minutes per side).
- Press plantains after frying soaking to 1/4" thickness. Deep fry again until crispy.
- Sprinkle on kosher salt.

(this recipe and the way we made the tostones seems true to tradition, but yields really oily tostones. I may try it on my own without the double frying method some time and see how the results come out)

Serve tostones with vanilla infused whipped cream and caviar.

Red Snapper Ceviche
Red bell pepper
Yellow bell pepper
Green bell pepper
Orange bell pepper
Daikon radish
Red onion
Red snapper (about 2 lb)
Lime juice
Salt/pepper
Just-ripe mango (should still be quite firm)

- Dice bell peppers, daikon radish, and red onion (1/4" dice).
- Marinate red snapper in lime juice for 1/2 hour, until opaque.
- Drain lime juice from red snapper, and mix red snapper with vegetable mixture and another (approximately) 2 tablespoons of lime juice.
- Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and mix well. Serve with a side of diced mangos.

Plantain cups with bean mixture
- Plantains, pressed into a cup shape and deep fried.
- Fill with salad of lentils and bell peppers, tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
(I'll have to find the actual recipe for this dish)

Spanish rice
Sofrito (green bell pepper, yellow onion, cilantro, garlic (2:2:1:1 ratio), shedded and cooked with olive oil, diced salted pork, and oregano for 2 hours, then chilled (for immediate use) and/or frozen (to store))
Chorizo, cut into small dice
Rice mixture of choice (I used long grain white rice, wheatberry, quinoa, and barley)
Tumeric
Nutmeg
Pinch of saffron threads

- Start rice in rice cooker by simmering sofrito and chorizo.
- Toss in rice and stir to coat well.
- Sprinkle in tumeric and nutmeg (not much, just a couple of sprinkles).
- Stir in saffron threads.
- Cook rice until done.

Black Beans
Dry black beans
Water
Garlic, crushed

Salt pork, diced

Salt/pepper

- Soak dry black beans overnight in crushed garlic and enough water to cover beans by 1/2"
- Saute salt pork in a saute pan until oil is pulled out of pork.
- Stir in black beans and soaking water, and add enough water to cover beans by 1".
- Simmer on low until beans are cooked through but still holding their shape. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pork roulade with sofrito
Pork tenderloin
Sofrito
Asparagus
Carrot peels
Cilantro leaves
Salt
Pepper

Bacon

- Preheat oven to 350.
- Pound tenderloin to 1/4" thickness.
- Layer on a thin coating of sofrito.
- Lay asparagus at the starting end of the tenderloin, parallel to the rolling direction for the roulade.
- Lay carrot peels parallel to the rolling direction of the tenderloin over the remaining width of the tenderloin.
- Spread cilantro leaves over the full width of the tenderloin.
- Roll tenderloin tightly, starting at the end with the asparagus. Continue rolling until the seam is fully under the roulade.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and wrap roulade with bacon.
- Lay roulade on foil on baking sheet, and partially wrap roulade in a foil cup, leaving top open. Cover the top loosely with foil (tuck top foil into bottom foil "cup") and bake covered with foil for 1/2 hour. Remove top foil and fold up sides of cup to surround roulade tightly. Bake roulade for an additional 1/2 hour.
- Slice into 1/2" thick pieces and and serve.

Pina Colada ice cream (Tres Leches)
Vanilla ice cream
Marachino cherries, drained
Crushed pineapple, drained
Coconut milk
Shredded coconut

- Let vanilla ice cream thaw until consistency of custard.
- Divide vanilla ice cream into three portions.
- Use immersion blender for each of the three flavors. Blend marachino cherries into one portion, crushed pineapple into another, and coconut milk and shredded coconut into the third.
- Set in freezable containers and freeze for 2 hours.
- Take out all three flavors, and mix each well. Refreeze for an additional 3 hours.

Oy Veh! I threw out my back!

2009-01-05T00:01:00.004-05:00

This, I should have seen coming. Queasiness aside, I have been pushing the limits of my abilities to lift and carry too many things for too long during the pregnancy, and this morning, I threw out my back. I just lifted Baby's little pink piggy stool, carried it to our coffee table, set it down, stood up, and felt this shooting pain in my lower back, enough to make me feel immediately lightheaded and needing to sit down immediately. Baby watched the whole thing happen, and in my panicked voice, I asked her to run upstairs to get Hubby, as my yells for him seemed to not garner a response as he was spending time in the bathroom. Well, surprisingly, Baby understood, enough to go scurrying up the stairs, even shutting the gate behind her, and then, I think she just went into our room but didn't know how, or remembered, to ask for Daddy. Luckily, Mark did hear one of my yells from downstairs, and came running down with her in his arms. She did, however, understand - she repeatedly pointed to my back, tapped it a couple of times, said "Mommy boo boo, mommy boo boo!" Yes, it really was too cute, my little EMT.

So, cookingwise... tonight, definitely was not one of those nights. Settled for take-out Italian, though I enjoyed it immensely. Watched as my beloved Eagles annihilated the Vikings (GO EAGLES!!), and then tried to get up from the chair to go send Baby off to bed. But, in recent weeks, I have been cooking. The scale says it. Put on 5 pounds in the past 4 weeks, thanks in part to my weekend saunters in the baking recipes (cakes, cookies, cakes, cookies, breads, cookies).

and now the meals...

New Year's Eve Dinner: Dinner of Pairs

Caramelized challah with creme fraiche and caviar (Baby licked off all the creme fraiche and caviar, that EMT with impeccable taste!) - did orange and black caviar.

Salmon-Cucumber roll (smoke salmon and cucumber, first try at rolling a non-rice-based sushi roll)

Chicken Orzo salad (cooked orzo in a mix of 1:4 balsamic to water, mixed in fresh cut green peppers and chives, S/P, dash of balsamic to finish)

Lobster with Asparagus thread salad (garnished with some fennel. Very simple - steamed lobster tails, cut up meat, serve simply with blanched asparagus and raw shaved fennel, then squeeze lemon and olive oil on top of all)

Lobster bisque (now this one was fun!)
Shallots
Olive oil
Garlic
Flour
Lobster shells (can be pre-steamed, as I used the left-over shells from the salad lobster)
1 stick butter
1 container half and half (or 2 containers, depending on how many shells you're using and how much steaming liquid you have left from steaming the lobsters)
S/P
Chives
Squeeze of lemon

- Saute shallots and garlic in olive oil until fragrant - sprinkle in a bit of flour to thicken to crumbles the mix of flavorants. Season with S/P as desired.
- Throw in shells. Mix to get some flavor out of the shells into the oil.
- Add 1 stick butter, mix well into shells and flavorants until melted.
- Add steaming liquid and half and half. Bring just to simmer and keep on low until serving time (bubbles should just break the surface, but NO ROLLING BOIL! Otherwise, the half and half will separate and curdle).
- Finish with S/P, chives, and lemon juice to taste.
- Strain all through a sieve, and serve hot.

this recipe, Baby asked for 2nds... then 3rds... It came out really well!

Salmon with hollandaise sauce.
Now this one, the salmon was relatively easy to make - just poached it in white wine and garlic.
Hollandaise, however, was my first take...

4 egg yolks
1 stick butter
3 T lemon
S/P to taste

Whisk vigorously all but S/P in top of double boiler - or do what I did, makeshift: put a SS bowl on top of a pot of water, but make sure bottom of bowl does not touch water (don't ask me why... I don't know, but this worked). Whisk vigorously... and you'll see the mixture start to heat, but no boiling! Keep whisking until everything is smooth, and season to taste. You can serve the hollandaise with everything - salmon, eggs, asparagus, bread. I threw in some parsley and chives to further flavor the sauce, but it came out well either way.

And then, we finished with dear Bondrew's black (chocolate) and red (red velvet) cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, to continue the color/main ingredient matching theme of the dinner.

The dinner dragged through a bit on the later end of things, and not all dishes made it to the table in a timely manner (not like our 12 course deconstructed Chinese dinner we had a couple of months ago), but we did enjoy the saunter of the evening. And we finished with a flavoring of Puerto Rican rum. The beverages, our dear friends Bondrew helped stage all the pairings, and we enjoyed quite a wonderful assortment of reds and whites, sparking and still, with all the dishes.

Until the next dinner!

End of 2008

2008-12-10T22:50:00.002-05:00

I can't even believe, that it is already the end of 2008. The year (and the last several months) have flown by. Between returning from our saunter to Italy to find that my firm was laying me off, then finding a new job (and back to working on architecture again) and as in a new role on the Owner's side instead of on the design side, and new fully engrossed in work as well as playing mom to Baby, time really has flown by. And, did I forget to mention - I'm 14 weeks pregnant.

As if we didn't learn the first time around, we're going to go for number 2!

So, in my true Jewish nature, I kicked off December with a meal this past Sunday that started when I read the 2nd Ave Deli Cookbook too early for my own good (pre-breakfast). No, it wasn't because of those crazy preggo hormones that I was hunkering for all this food - it was that I hadn't had breakfast yet. Trust me - looking back on the past 3 months, I realize now that I had felt this queasiness early on, but I didn't realize that I was pregnant. My appetite hasn't been up to par at all, and cooking dinner at night was like pulling teeth. And having to deal with any sort of meat? Oy no. That just really made me lose my appetite all together. Hence, the lack of weight gain, but baby has been growing.

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm eating all right, but just at night, no appetite. Especially not for strongly-flavored food. I felt like, if I had basic chicken noodle soup every night, that would be perfectly fine for me. I don't know if it's the preggo combined with stress (hello, have you seen the pit that's called the economy?), or if it's just the hormones - but from 3pm onward, it's just not a really fun time. No puking, just queasy. And worn out. And wanting to have chefs and servants at my beck and call. Oh wait - that's pretty normal.

So my Jewish meal. I was reading too many recipes, and suddenly I wanted to make noodle kugel, latkes, and pierogies, all in the same day. Maybe I just needed the carbs, who knows. But I remembered, my friend Tamara, who made noodle kugel 12 years ago, and I remembered really enjoying it, so I tried my hand at it. And I didn't yet get to the pierogies, but I have the ingredients ready to go in the fridge - so one of these nights... one of these nights.

Noodle Kugel
1 pack egg noodles (cook to just al dente, just under the recommended minimum cooking time)
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
Raisins
1/2 cup milk
Juice of 1 lemon
Rind of 1 lemon
1 T vanilla extract

Butter, for buttering baking dish

Preheat oven to 350. Cook noodles as noted above. In the mean time, mix all the remaining ingredients. Mix noodles with egg mixture, and pour into greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Latkes
3:1 proportion of potatoes to onion, all roughly shredded and left to drain (I used about 3 cups potato)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 T salt
1 t pepper
1 egg, well beaten
(you can also add other herbs - I've added mint, parsley, and chives in the past - think about what you'd like in a baked potato!)

Flour

3/4C frying oil

Shred potatoes and onions (easiest done in a food processor). Drain over the sink to remove excess liquid. Squeeze lemon juice over mixture to prevent pinking of potatoes.

Mix potatoes and onions with S/P and egg, and any other herbs you'd like to add. The mixture should be a bit thick - if necessary, sprinkle in flour to make it thicker, so that the batter stays intact when you form the latkes for frying . In the mean time, heat about 1/4" oil in a pan - test the heat by dropping in a bit of the mixture, and see if it sizzles. If it does quickly, you're good to go.

Now, I kept 1 messy hand and one clean hand. The messy hand formed the mixture into 3" patties, the clean one tonged the frying latkes to flip them and move them to a draining rack. Ease each patty into the hot oil, and you can add more than just 1 if the oil does not overcool with each addition of a patty - otherwise, hold off until the oil gets hotter. The longer the latkes sit in the oil, the oiler they'll be. Fry each side until golden brown, and set on rack to drain.

Enjoy as quickly as you can out of the pan - they're best when they're crispy! Serve with sour cream and applesauce (I like both on my latkes).

More to follow on them pierogies!

Wow.

2008-05-27T22:12:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it has been 3+ full months since my last posting! Time has definitely flown by, and now with summer coming on us full-steam. Baby has grown quite well, happily so, eating this that and the other thing, and showing no sign of stopping. I just thought today to myself, to think that 2nd day after she was born, I was worried that her weight wasn't going up fast enough. And now, I'm worried that now she's growing too fast.

Some of our short-cuts - I love getting the big bag of frozen mixed organic veggies from Costco. Yes, I know, organic still isn't regulated in this country, but I'm using my dollars to speak to large corporations about the type of food I'm willing to feed my family. We use these veggies to mix into brown rice, white rice, pasta, stew... you name it, and we've mixed some little bits of veggies into the meal to balance it out for Baby. And she does seem to like it quite a bit. There really isn't much she doesn't like, in fact!

Other short-cuts - I've precooked ravioli and frozen them for easy lunches when mixed with some pasta sauce and veggies. Meatballs break up wonderfully to mix with other items. Tofu in all variations make for a great thickener for anything I'm serving, as well as a good source of protein when I have an accompanying dish that is completely vegetarian. Making sure that Baby's meals are well balanced may be the most challenging task to date. As she doesn't have the means of letting me know if she feels like she needs some vitamin C or some extra calcium (curiously enough, I do get cravings like that, and I rationalize them in my mind that my body is in need of a particular vitamin/fuel in what ever food it is that I'm eating), I need to make sure that she does get enough of everything her body may need: carbs, protein, fiber, flavor, texture, scent.

As for our foodstuffs, I've been cutting corners where I can, particularly for our dinners, so that I can spend more time with Baby before she goes to bed. If it means that I am slow-cooking something with a mix of meats and vegetables, throwing rice into the steamer instead of making fried rice (a multi-part process), or heating up something that I had pre-made and set aside for those "emergency" days, then that's what I'm doing. Pre-made items that I've found to be immensely helpful: meatballs, pre-cut veggies and herbs stored in the freezer, successful sauces pre-mixed and frozen, meats pre-cut or pre-prepped and pre-seasoned. I'm finding shortcuts where I can, but I still don't want to undermine the final quality and flavor of the food. So, it's the raw materials, pre-prepped and pre-seasoned, but not pre-cooked.

Most recently, we had our good friends Bondrew over for dinner, for outdoor grilling. Alongside the usual steak and corn, we also made grilled squid (marinated in olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar) and chicken drumsticks. This is our family's recipe, which I now happily carry on.

Marinade for drumsticks (in order of decreasing quantity)
Soy sauce
Garlic
Scallions
White pepper
Sugar

Mix to tasted, and marinate drumsticks prior to grilling at least an hour in advance. Grill until about 150 degrees at the bone.

A month away from 1 year

2008-02-10T22:54:00.001-05:00

I don't know if other parents do this, in particular, other mothers, but the day we crossed Baby's 9 month birthday threshold, I took that mental period to the sentence: Baby has existed outside of me exactly as long as she was inside me. I don't know if it really was all that important, but to me, it was. It was that mark in my mind of Baby's first step of departure from my protective veil, and somehow, unlike how my parents had tried to be protective of me for much of my young life, I was OK with it.

I'm still cooking away, for both Hubby and myself, as well as for Baby. She's moved on out of her purees - now onto solid pastas, meats, veggies, and we're trying our hand, quite literally, at allowing her to feed herself some of the foods. The main key has been keeping things bite-size before giving them to her, but otherwise, everything's game. I've been feeding her curries, pasta sauces, whole grains, stir-fries - just about everything we adults eat. You know, regular human food. The only thing I've been trying to keep light on her are the sugars and salts, but otherwise, she eats just about everything we do.

I'm still trying to cook as much organic and from scratch as possible, but it's tough. Some nights, I have to admit, I envy those parents that cook the pre-made meals day in and day out. But then again, I wonder if that leaves the kids only wanting chicken fingers and hot dogs day in and day out. I'm going to try my best at trudging onward.

But, today, we went to Costco, and I have to admit, we picked up a ginormous bag of OreIda fries, and I thought, "hey, that would be great as to the topping for shepherd's pie." Go figure.

Tonight's dinner:

Lamb chops (thick)
Red wine
2 heads garlic
S/P
Soy sauce
Red Wine
Carrot, chopped
Celery, chopped
Kale, chopped

I marinated the lamb chops in chopped garlic of 1 head, some salt/pepper, while frozen - left them to defrost while seasoned. I browned the chops in a dry pan, topped with a touch of soy sauce, and turned them to brown each side. Once the soy was almost dry in the pan, I added about 2 cups of wine, added the carrots and celery, and let the mix slow low simmer for about an hour, turning the chops every so often to evenly cook each side. I threw in the kale at the end of the cooking process.

The other head of garlic? Chop off the top of the head, toss it with some olive oil, wrap it loosely in foil, and set it in to bake at 350 for 30 minutes for some nice roasted garlic to accompany the lamb. Trust me - it's great.

I also cooked up some pearled barley mixed with red jasmine rice and wheat berry. The wheatberry, unfortunately, did stay quite intact. But, used in small quantities, and mixed with the softer rice and barley, the wheatberry provided a wonderful textural contrast.

Christmas and New Year's

2008-01-07T22:56:00.000-05:00

Ahh, Christmas dinner. It went from a table of perhaps 6, to 20, back down to 14 + 3. It was a handful, but everyone chipped in, and the motherload was a bit easier to carry. We did a traditional goose, with roasted veggies, a ham, and many more sides (sweet potatoes, my father's oily rice, dim sum) - the goose was a first time for my hands and for my kitchen.

For those of you not in the know of a goose, it is rather fatty, like a duck, but even more so. I brined it for Christmas dinner (and for a more recent dinner with Bondrew), and the flavor was through and through. The first time around, I roasted it for about 3 hours at 325, stuffed with an orange and an onion - it came out a bit dry. Second time, Drew of the Bondrew recommended we go at 400 for about 15, then go 300 for the remainder of the time (about 2 hours total time), no flavorants stuffed inside. The second time around, it was really wonderful.

Brine mixes - first time focused on rosemary; second, on thyme. I have to admit, and perhaps it was because the second time around the meat wasn't overdone, but I really liked the goose the second time we did it. Both times, we did a port reduction sauce - the first time was just deglazing of the saute of goose innards. The second time, we started with a butter saute of shallots, then added frozen cherries, deglazed with port wine, and finished with goose stock. The sauce the second time was a lot thicker, perhaps because we reduced it so much more, but both sauces were wonderful.

Basic Goose
1 goose (serves 6-8)
Brine (in order of quantity, water, salt, flavorants (peppercorns, herbs (strong flavor))

Cook brine, and quickly reduce in temperature. What I do, I boil a hyperconcentrated mixture, more like 1:1, of salt and water, with flavorants, then quickly set this mixture into the fridge to cool. I then pour this mixture over the goose in a brining container (I went to IKEA and got this plastic container with a lid) and add enough water to cover. The brine:added water should run a ratio of about 1:2.

Preheat oven to 400. Remove goose from brine, and discard brine. Cut excess fat from neck and rear. Prick all over with fork, to allow fat some avenues to be able to escape. Bake in oven for about 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 for about an hour and a half - then test for temperature, either at breast or thigh.

Now here's the best part. That pan filled with goose fat? Cut up some potatoes and carrots, what ever you'd like to par-fry, and toss them into the fat. While the bird rests, put the mixture back into the oven, and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring occassionally. In particular for the potatoes, you'll have some of the best-tasting potatoes you've ever had. And don't add salt - the oil already carries the salt from the brine!

Product check

2007-12-10T23:49:00.000-05:00

We've had our Audi A3 for about 10 months now... and some review notes after driving it around for this amount of time. The car drives great - handles well, small turning radius, very responsive. We got it in manual, and it's fantastic. There are several items, though, that bug the hell out of me in this car, items that make me suspect that they didn't think the design through thoroughly.

When you sit in the passenger seat, the adjustment tuner for the clock blocks your view of it. Pulling up on the parking break causes the drop-down arm-rest to pop up a bit, a flaw that our salesman tried to sell us on as being "designed that way." I'm short, so I pull the seat all the way up to the front - but lo and behold, while driving sometimes, the seat re-locks itself into another notch just behind where I've pulled (and thought locked) it up to. The glove compartment has too many, um, compartments - enough to just not allow you to fit a whole hell of a lot of whatnot into it without it not being able to close properly or your stowaway to break. There are no pockets behind the front seats. It comes pre-hardwared for their own phone, and doesn't allow for you to hard-wire your own phone into it (but then, I haven't tried taking it after-market for off-the-shelf product installs either). The salesman toted the rear windshield wiper as smart for automatically turning on and wiping if you have the windshield wipers turned on and happen to go in reverse - but I've had this not turn on 2 times during the course of my driving our car. The head rests on the front seats don't seem to go all the way down. And, if only, there's power running to the rear-view mirror for auto dimming in bright light, but damn if they couldn't have just put a navigation compass on it too.

This is an Audi, right?

Storagewise - we got the smaller vehicle because I didn't want the mom-mobile du jour (read: SUV), but we also got the hum-v of the strollers. When we have the stroller with us, it's all that can fit in the trunk. The car is narrower, which makes for great maneuverability, but it also makes for narrower trunk space. I was thinking about it the other day though - I still think that the larger the vehicle, the more crap you lug around. So, I'll stick with the smaller vehicle, and lug less shit around. It's a sacrifice one way or another - either you get the monstermobile and lug all kinds of crap like you're carrying your living room with you when you go out, or you get the smaller vehicle and have to really prioritize what you do or don't want to lug out. It's all good.

OK, so Hubby, Baby, and I have ventured our way out into restaurants of late. You can read some of my reviews at my yelp.com site, http://www.preggiechef.yelp.com. I'm still cooking, learning to do things ambidextrously and single-handedly. What did I make recently - oh yes, celebration of Hanukkah, I made my first batch of latkes and matzo ball soup. Matzo balls ended up too heavy. Latkes were just a little too thin. Alas, it is the first batch after all.

My latkes, I did find, way easier to just process everything in the food processor - potatoes and onions all together. Definitely press the potatoes and onions out to drain out before mixing in the eggs. Frying, it really was about 5 minutes a side. They weren't the best batch, but they were latkes nonetheless.

And the world's easiest chicken soup to accompany the matzo balls: whole chicken, make sure to salt/pepper/season the inside cavity, and cover in water. Add chopped carrot (coarse, just 2" pieces); whole onion skins and all, with ends cut off; and celery pieces as well. Bring to boil, and let simmer for 1/2 hour. Remove chicken, and remove legs and wings. Place legs and wings back into soup, and set aside the breast/body of the chicken. Let the soup simmer for about 2 hours. Return breast to soup for another 1/2 hour. When ready to serve, chop carrots and celery into 1/4" thick pieces.

Honestly, I've let the whole chicken simmer in the soup, no problem. Really hands free, and oh so good for our winter nights.

When all else fails...

2007-12-05T00:51:00.000-05:00

Chicken breast, season lightly with salt and pepper each side. Pan fry to brown each side.

Place on baking sheet, and cover with tomato sauce. Bake for about 20 minutes. Take chicken out of oven, and lay on 2 slices of mozz.

Serve with pasta.

This is what I made tonight - sure shot, easy, and do-able with baby in one hand. The best part is being able to let the oven do the cooking, without having to watch it the entire time. And it's relatively healthy!

Baby enjoyed the pasta (spinach spaghettini) tonight immensely. I gave her a small plate of pasta, and she had the best time slurping up the pieces she could pick up. But then, when I gave her a small piece of my chicken, well, game over. She knew there was better food, and the spaghettini was last week's news. Alas... what can you do!

Still cooking, still persevering

2007-12-02T23:24:00.000-05:00

So a couple of days ago, I'm talking with a friend of mine, and he remarked that out of the people knows, I'm probably the one who cooks the most. Gotta admit, I was really surprised. I mean, yeah, I cook, day in and day out, and I prep all of Baby's food, but really, out of the people that he knows? I don't know. Maybe my surprise (and longing) at hearing about my friends' meals at home being hot dogs and pizza still continues through adulthood. I don't know.

My parents, or our nanny du jour (as my mother made firing our live-in nannies a task like drinking water) as most cases were, cooked our home dinners each day. Yes, this meant that some days we had just left-overs, but these weren't left-over green bean casseroles, or left over baked chicken. These meals were all Chinese in flavor, and there were a variety of vegetables and meats we'd have. But, comparitively, I missed being able to be "normal," and that included having "normal" meals, like pizza and lasagna day in and day out. Thank god I didn't.

Now, because largely due to my varied group of friends, I hope that I'll be able to deliver to Baby and Hubby the variety of foods that is reflective of all different types of cultures in our meals. Just Chinese won't cut it any more for me, and frankly, knowing that we'd be having Chinese again got really boring at home. My cooking these days is bordering on basic (simply-seasoned protein of some sort, with steamed vegetables with salt and pepper, and at times, a sauce of some sort or a side of rice), but it's slowly starting to get ramped back up again. I'm using the skills I've learned during the course of the last 8 months of Baby's life in food prep, from pre-cutting vegetables and even portioning butter or flour, to prepping the night before for the next day's dinner, and pairing those skills with my learned ability to prep one-handed. My knowledge I've gained in trying different spices and knowing what tastes like what and how long I'd have to cook whatnot how long or when to add cream to a sauce has proved invaluable now, as chasing around little Baby is quite the task of date. I have to admit, my skill-honing came to a complete standstill with the birth of Baby, so I'm lucky that I experimented with different ingredients and methods before having Baby.

Most recently - we produced, with help from our friends Bondrew, Thanksgiving dinner at our house for 10 (this includes Baby, as she's quite capable of eating her body weight's worth at each seating). I was in charge of stuffing, side of veggies, turkey, cranberry sauce, and salad. Here's a brief rundown:

The stuffing, I took a loaf of white bread (wow, when was the last time I had white bread!), cubed it, and baked the bread, single layer, for 15 minutes at 300 for a nice crisp exterior to dry them out. I used Trader Joe's chicken/mushroom sausage, removed the casing, and browned the sausage for the fat and protein. To this, I added raisins and cranberries. Stirred this into the crusted bread, poured in chix broth, and stirred together until well coated and mixed. I baked this for about 20 minutes, at 350. My big mistake was using too much bread... the meat and bread ratio should be about equal, and many thanks to Hubby for picking out the extra bread.

The turkey - I brined it again this year, and it yielded a wonderfully juicy turkey. Brine, about 12 cups of water with 1 cup of salt, 1/4 cup of peppercorns, rosemary, thyme. I got an organic turkey this year, and marinated the turkey in the brine for 24 hours prior to baking. I tucked butter under the skin, covered with honey (bad idea, browned and caramelized too early), but otherwise, the turkey came out great. I combined the left-overs with a pre-mixed frozen mixture of veggies, with some chix stock, for a wonderful turkey soup post-Thanksgiving.

Cranberries - 2 bags of cranberries, some orange juice, rind of 1 orange, and about 3/4 cup sugar. Cooked this 10 minutes, and let stand - oh yum!

So that's the quick rundown of our Thanksgiving this year from my end. We also had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin roll (so good, from Bondrew!), a ham, flan, and lemon custard pie, to name a few other items. We feasted quite a bit. As did Baby. Oh boy, she was stuffed.

And now, Christmasbound!

Where did all the time fly?!

2007-11-01T00:54:00.000-04:00

Did someone say it's November already?!

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!

Snacking away and the dork factor

2007-08-13T13:25:00.000-04:00

So I gotta ask this question. If all the snack companies are now aware of the problems with trans fats, then how is it that they can tout their product as "no trans fat" when, right there in their ingredients list, is "Partially Hydrogenated whatever the hell"? So is it just me, or is this false advertising?

In any case - after Baby had fallen off the bed for the first time this past Saturday (arrgh - I can still hear that thud loud and clear) while I was trying to put on the stupid Baby Bjorn thing, I decided that this strappity thing really has a high dork factor. My friend's husband takes their little Baby home in the Bjorn from our house, and he agrees. I've found that things with too many frills and no way of compacting them really are bad designs. Yes, it's this soft thing, but you ever try carrying one of those Baby Bjorns alongside your diaper bag and your way-too-heavy car seat with baby inside? It's like carrying an octopus. And I've seen some people out there who just wear the thing, without the baby in it. Talk about suburban dork factor. I mean, seriously - in this baby industry that's still fully geared towards getting the females of our population to buy all this crap, the products out there really are poorly designed for our use. Or rather, they're designed for maximum advertisement, minimal practicality.

I have found only very few things that were well designed and that have been a fully integral system. And the dangers of baby products - Hubby asked me, aren't companies concerned about what is or is not safe for babies? Hell no. Just look at some of the profit margins - you'll see safety left in some ditch in those margins. And even with the recent China recall, something tells me Fisher Price isn't going to be going out of business any time soon. Teething rings - what are those chemicals inside those teething rings? Not to mention all the plastic baby bottles in the market. Have you found natural plastic out there recently? If we are concerned about the chemicals we put into the babies bodies, we don't have to look all that hard - it's around us all day long. Granted, they may have to get used to the chemicals in our environment one day, but I'd like to think that I can give this brand new human being a fair chance at having a natural life to start. Hasn't anyone wondered about the source of all the in-vitro and fertility testing that's so prevalent now? Now let me just take a swig out of my plastic water bottle.

So yes, alas, she took a tumble. She was OK - stunned, had a little bit of red spot on her head where she hit it on our jute rug, but she wasn't disoriented, didn't seem drowsy, and didn't favor one side or another. At the end of the day, she actively grabbed the spoon I was using to feed her sweet potato, and aimed it right into her mouth. And she was pretty well yesterday. No visible bleeding, and no softness where her head hit the floor, didn't sleep more than she usually does. If she's anything like me, she's got a skull hard enough to give whomever is holding her a bloody nose. Trust me - I've been there, stars in front of my eyes and all. Growing pains...

Growth, renewal, and reflection

2007-08-12T20:46:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to do this for a while, and I haven't gotten a chance to yet - I really should do it soon - I've been meaning to write a letter to Baby, one that reflects my hopes and embodies my anticipatory life with Baby in these early months of her *hopefully* long and joyous life. It's something that I think about each day now, things I would say to her, things that I hope she'll appreciate one day, especially those elements of love between a Mother and her child that, unless you've had a child, I really do believe you can't quite comprehend. I mean, seriously - here is this cute little being, this brand new little human, who came into Hubby's and my life relatively shortly ago, and I went through the full spectrum of reactions and emotions - from really not being able to identify with Baby in the beginning, to connecting with it and realizing that its every cry can draw an almost hysterical reaction from me to try to help it calm down, to now holding it day after day in my embrace, in hopes that I could one day become the kind of parent that she hopes to have. Parenthood is a strange creature - and I know one day, I'll look back on these beginning months, and wonder "how the hell did I get through all that, I was so absolutely crazy!" One day.

In the mean time, this past week was not too eventful - I can't even really remember what I had cooked. I do know, one day, I made a deconstructed quesadilla, and I tried baking cheese by itself to make a cheddar/jack crisp - that was mildly successful, but the chicken that I baked for the quesadilla came out fantastic. The chicken breast that I sliced up for Hubby and me, I seasoned with garlic, oregano, salt, and parsley - quite good. Another night, we had masala burgers and fries, a la Trader Joe's - the masala burgers are amazingly good! And veggie! Yet another night, we ordered in some Thai food; and Friday night, we ordered in Pizza. Not all that eventful. Yesterday, Hubby had some colleagues over, to discuss the agenda for his class this upcoming semester at the University of Maryland. For the gathering, I picked up some cheese from our local cheese monger, some bread from our bakery, and I made some crab fritters with a spicy salsa mayo. We followed up the fritters with a simple salad and some awesome cupcakes, care of his colleagues Carl and Lisa (and their little puppy Lucia) and our favorite cupcake central, Cakelove.

I'm missing my brown rice - I may make some stir fry this week, to enjoy some brown rice. Baby has been quite cute, starting her babbling now, and really not wanting to stay seated (which, by the way, is quite tiring on our arms, but still quite cute, so we don't mind). We have also started her on some solid foods, starting with some "orange" foods - sweet potato was the food of the week, every other day. Not so much as a filler for her, but just to get her to start understanding and not minding solid foods in her diet. She took to it quite happily, after initial facial scrunches - I would have too, the tang that we've learned to overlook in favor of the sweetness of sweet potato, that she must have detected in each bite. The face she had, though, when she made that connection, that what I was feeding her was what we adults eat - it was just priceless. That metaphorical light bulb went on in her expression, and she became visibly excited about what I was feeding her. By the end of the week, she was actively grabbing at the spoon, and pushing the food into her mouth. Most of the sweet potato still ended up on her face, but hey, she's happy, so we're happy. It is quite exciting.

So for recipes... as the focus may now shift to baby food from our regular meals...

Baby's first sweet potatoes
1 sweet potato yielded about 18 one ounce servings, perfect amount for starter foods
Bake sweet potato, poked all over, and wrapped in aluminum foil, for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees, until a fork pokes easily into the sweet potato. Let cool, and cut into small pieces for mashing. The easiest way I found was to use one of those little food processors, and process in small batches with about a quarter cup of water to start. You'll know - you get to the right consistency when the mixture turns, but is not so watery, and doesn't stall.

Side note - we used filtered water and organic sweet potatoes. The more I read about them, the more I fear all those chemicals we put into our bodies - it seems to me, at some level, that it is no wonder that people these days are having trouble trying to have children, and that in-vitro has become a booming industry. Now, true, that might be just in this area, but I'd like to start Baby off on the right food, at least in the beginning. Something tells me that Frito Lay will still be around for years to come.

Crab Fritters
One container cooked crab, defrosted and shredded
1/2 cup mushrooms, mashed and shredded
1/2 cup onions, mashed and shredded (the shrooms and onions I demolished in the food processor)
Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
1 egg
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Mix all together well, and I made quenelles (shape like a rugby ball) by using two spoons, and scooping the mixture one from the other spoon back and forth, until all 3 sides were even. I did 2 batches - one was deep fried, and the other was baked, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, top rack. The baked ones actually came out much better than the deep fried ones - I did drizzle some olive oil on top of the quenelles just prior to sticking them into the oven. Optional - broil them for about 2 minutes after they're done to just brown and crisp the top a bit more.

I served these fritters with a mayo mixture - mixed mayo with some salsa (drained of its high water content), with miniature diced habanero, chili powder, and paprika. Oh, so good!

Truths of the last month

2007-08-05T19:52:00.000-04:00

If people really knew how tough it is to be a parent, I do sincerely believe that the human race as we know it would come to a complete halt. That realization, in light of today's attempt to get some semblance of our past independent life in, as Hubby and I marched ourselves to the local movie theater to watch a matinée showing of Harry Potter. Let's call our attempt feeble, at best. Everything seemed to start off all right, but it quickly escalated into an action-reaction dance as Baby decided that yes, indeed, she'd like to watch the movie too, and she'd like to provide active commentary during the quieter parts. I had delusions that, since there were other babies present at the matinée showing of the movie, that perhaps then we would all be in good company, and that Baby would be somewhat calm. Nope. I had stuffed her ears with a napkin, in an attempt to try to shield her ears from the noise of the theater, hoping that after I fed her, she'd *maybe* try getting a little shut-eye. Did I mention that today was a feeble attempt? Alas, to no avail - active conversation started right off with the first quite segment after she finished nursing, and I was left with a half-watched movie in the end while I tried to calm her down outside of the theater. And wouldn't you know it - she really does have a penchant for timing - just as soon as the movie ended, and everyone started pouring out of the theater, she was fast asleep. I really felt like just putting one between my eyes at that point.

Such is parenting. And I swear, if I hear my father even ask once when we think we may have a second one, I'll really just have to ask him if he thought it would be a great idea for us to have a second child, why he and my mother didn't. This whole experience has really shown me exactly what true patience is, and while yes, Hubby and I are in the upper half of the percentile possibility of wanting to have a second child, right now, if the human population were left up to me... well, let's just say that the job would have to fall to someone else.

In other food news - I am happy to report that, yes, indeed, pre-prepping food during the weekend for cooking during the week is definitely the thing to do. Especially since I'm now playing "Working Mom" the real game, that step has been a life-saver. Food prep during the weeknights has been cut down to simply assembly and saucing, as opposed to washing, prepping, and assembly/saucing. And admittedly, some nights, I do find it a lot easier to just make something that's somewhat "pre-made". Last Wednesday evening - I found ease to saute some chopped seasonal vegetables, mix with ground beef and with ricotta, boil up some penne, and layer the penne with the sauteed mixture, jarred marinara sauce, and provolone. I've made gumbo on a couple of occasions now - so easy to just start up the roux, mix in the vegetables, add some water and seasonings, and then leave alone to simmer until ready to serve. And we don't shy from ordering in - either for pick-up or delivery, though I did wish that more places around us delivered. Oh, if we were in Manhattan...

Gear reviews... yes, we have discovered the truth that babies grow incredibly quickly (I should have Baby talk to my measly vegetable garden!), and that clothing purchased for babies really should just start at the larger sizes. She's filled in to her 6-9 month clothes, even though she's still a couple weeks shy of 5 weeks. Carter onesies tend to run long and lean, so I've been getting the 9 month onesies for her since Baby's been growing laterally. The recent Fisher Price recall...at first, in the beginning, I worried that we weren't giving her enough stuff for her world and growth - but I also realized that our whole world is so new, it really is quite enough for her to take in. And then, when the recall happened this past week, I have to admit, I felt vindication for the choices that Hubby and I have made, that some of the cheap crap that we avoid out there on the shelves really are, well, cheap crap. Our Uppababy stroller still works great, though we did get a Maclaren Volo for the car and for travel, since the Uppababy was too large a stroller to take for long trips without filling up the entire trunk of our car. And we have, as parents of a girl, gotten a lot of mileage out of Trumpette's mary jane socks. The socks up the ante on her outfits, even dressing up a simple onesie outfit, and she doesn't kick off the socks like she may with shoes.

I'm still torn right now, with the plastic vs. glass bottle debate. Of course, the plastic bottle manufacturers will state left and right that their bottles are completely safe for babies - and it seems just about everyone uses the plastic bottles - but I don't believe that we see the true impact of the products we use until after a full generation has used the products. In any case, I purchased some Evenflo glass bottles just this past weekend... we'll give them a try to see how Baby takes to them. I have to believe that at some level, the more natural the ingredients in the objects we use (and not just ingest), the better they are for us.

So another weekend ends... and another week begins. We'll see what this week has in store for us.

The newest dilemma

2007-07-04T01:06:00.000-04:00

Each day I've been away on maternity leave... no, say, each week, since things seem to change from week to week, but less from day to day... I face new dilemmas that I try to sort out in my mind. My newest one regards breastfeeding. Since I am returning to work next week, and I've been breastfeeding (with 2 supplemental pumpings a day to stock up), I'll be pumping the feedings that I don't give Baby directly while I'm at work. And even if my supply starts to diminish, as I expect that it will when I return to work since I'm not around her the whole day, the amount that I pump will still be OK for Nanny to give to Baby, since I can supplement what ever I pump (in theory, 4 pumpings total per day, while Nanny feeds only 2 to Baby, and I give the other 2 feedings to her) with the frozen milk I have stocked up for the next approximately 2 months or so - maybe just enough until she starts eating solid foods. Now my worry is this: if I pump during the day, and my supply diminishes for those feedings when Baby isn't attached directly to me (I've noticed, for example, in today's pumpings away from Baby that the quantity I make is already less than what I think she consumes per feeding), what happens during the holidays and weekends when I do feed her directly? Will she end up with less milk per feeding? Or should I just move directly to bottle-feeding her only and no longer taking her on my breast?

Ahh... dilemmas indeed. But at least for the time being, Nanny seems to be working out. Both Baby and our friends' Boybaby seem to take a strong liking to her, and Baby returned today as if from a full day at school, babbling away, letting us know all that she learned. It's really heart-warming, and reassuring, to see that she's growing more than she did when she was with only me. I'm sure part of it is the fact that Nanny is taking good care of her; and part of it is no doubt the fact that she's socializing with another baby. Maybe they'll help each other out!

This week's kitchen features - not that much so far, since it's only been 2 days this week, and we have the 4th coming up on us - we went to Father-in-Law's house for dinner on Sunday, and returned with a couple of left-over steaks, roasted potatoes, and left-over green salad. So yesterday, I used the left-over steaks, reheated it with some Spanish rice/quinoa/barley that I made from Thursday of last week, and wrapped it up in a tortilla with some of the greens. A relatively healthy dinner, alongside some baked potatoes, and very quick. This evening, we had a late dinner with some of our good friends, and Baby just went to bed (after napping in the restaurant) at 11:30 - late night for her indeed.

Since I'm starting work next week, I think this weekend will be a cooking-intensive experience. I will put to work my skills in pre-seasoning portioned proteins as well as pre-serving prep, of cutting up vegetables into various shapes and sizes for different dishes. I may also get some breakfasts ready, so that I don't have to worry about grabbing something to eat on my way out the door. We'll see how next week goes, as I am sure it will be quite disastrous - if all else fails, hell, there's always take-out.

Almost time to return to work

2007-06-29T22:29:00.000-04:00

The past three months - they've really flown by so quickly. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Baby, and, especially with the establishment of her sleep schedule (we loosely followed the Twelve Hours in Twelve Weeks guidelines), it's given me a lot more energy to be able to take care of her and play with her during the day. The biggest excitement of her development so far - she is now able to see across the room, and she recognizes Hubby and me as her parents, and she smiles with glee when she sees us approaching. Other exciting experiences - she's lifting her head, trying her hardest to sit up, and she has legs with the strength that I bore when I bike-commuted to work during the earlier part of my pregnancy. We recently took a trip to Miami, and she had her first encounter with the ocean and the beach - she loved the experience immensely. I hope next time that we return to the ocean, that she'll remember her first trip.

Evening cooking ha, for the most part, returned to normal... however, our recent trip to Miami had set us back, in that she was out of her routine just long enough to not be able to get back to our home routine when we returned. Today seems to be a little better, but still not back to normal - evening dinner-prep time was spotted with temper tantrums from Baby, as much of our trip to Miami involved either her sleeping in her stroller or one of us holding her. Perhaps, then, she had enjoyed her trip to Miami too much - however, we did find that our trip went quite smoothly, so there is something to be said for spending the time to really nurture that connection between Parent and Child, and to not follow prescripted methods without conscious judgment and understanding of what we give our children.

In the same breath, hearing parents drop names of manufacturers, products, and parenting methods with other parents, like Starbucks for coffee, sends a chill up my spine each time. No amount of product can substitute for the intangibles of time and connection - and just the same, no one product, or method, is the correct one for all. It surprises me that some parents get so brainwashed into thinking that their method is the only method for all childrearing, and that their method is the correct one simply because it worked for them. I have to think that each parent learns the most about their own child, and at some point, they will learn that their method will not work for their children's children.

Like my cooking, I don't think that my method of parenting works for everyone. And like my parenting, my cooking evolves over time, as I learn little by little, bit by bit, with each dish I make and with each meal I prepare. And with parenthood, it seems that I learn even more about cooking, in faster lessons. When Baby naps during the day, I do food prep for the evening's meal. Readily-prepped single-serving proteins and pre-chopped vegetables make the final meal prep much easier, and celebrating the best of each season keeps the flavors of each meal new and fresh.

This evening, I prepared ceviche - I picked up sashimi from our local supermarket in the morning, some lime juice, and some cucumber. I mixed chopped sashimi with chopped cucumbers, apricot, jalapeno, and shrimp, and let the mixture marinate 5 hours. The sweetness of the fresh apricot cut through the tartness of the lime juice; the cucumber, the spice of the jalapeno.

Last night, we had a salad of greens, with fresh figs, alongside sliced beef that I sauteed. The beef was seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder - and the beef, I had mixed with these seasonings a month ago. It was so easy, to take the pre-portioned bag of beef, and saute it for the dinner. Most meats, when I cook them, I cook them to just under completely done, and then allow the residual heat to finish the cooking, so that the meats retain their juices and don't over dry. Most vegetables during the spring and summer season, I blanch in boiling water for no more than 3 minutes. The vegetables get cooked, but they still retain their crispness and flavor - and the cooking method is so fast, easily done just prior to serving.

This upcoming week, Nanny starts working with us, and my friend Melissa and I are going to do a dry run of our weekday schedules before we really start everything up the following week. Her Baby and our Baby will spend their days growing up together this first year - I, for one, am very happy about our Nanny, as she seems like she will be able to take good care of our little bears while we make the donuts. We know this is really going to be a huge adjustment - having a little one has changed our lives, and I don't think we will go back to work with the same perspectives as when we left for maternity leave. We will keep our fingers crossed that we will make the adjustment well, and that our little bears will have the love and support they deserve from their growing family.

Long while, and Baby's growing

2007-06-09T21:52:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't been starving myself all this time, and yes, I have been cooking quite a bit. The end of the day seems like it just disappears - I get dinner rolling along, feed Baby (who hits 3 months next week!), and have dinner - and before I know it, I'm exhausted, and it's time to hit the sack. But, here and there, I do think about this blog, and I try to keep it up, taking mental notes of what has and has not worked for me during this postpartum time.

Now that we have Baby on a napping schedule (somewhat) during the day, it affords me some scheduled time to prep for dinner, since twilight seems to be her cranky hour. I will usually start dinner in the morning during her morning nap, taking out whatever meat I'm going to cook in the evening from the freezer to let it defrost, and, at times, I'll also go ahead and season or marinate it so that by dinner time, it already has some flavor and doesn't need additional seasoning before getting cooked. Any rice, I also prep at this time, throw it into the steamer, and set it on timer to be ready by evening. Mid-afternoon, I'll usually prep the accompanying vegetables, whether it be just rinsing them or cutting them. And then, by her cranky hour, I have more time to focus on her, and I have to worry less about having to prep and entertain.

So, with that said, we did have our good friends Melissa and Scott (along with their little Baby) over for dinner the other evening. Overall, the menu was simple, since I didn't do much sauce prep. I had cubed up some pork tenderloin, seasoned with cumin/coriander/s/p/cloves, and I made a tagine dish. Heated up some oil (trick with the Le Crueset iron tagine I have is to just heat everything on low, and raise the temperature only after adding the liquid to bring it to a simmer before returning it to low) along with onions and garlic, stirred until fragrant. To the heated pan I then added chopped carrots and bell peppers. I then added the pork, stirring until lightly browned. I added some sun-dried tomatoes, dried dates, and raisins, along with additional spices - s/p, paprika, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, red pepper, cloves, and fenugreek. I added some water to just covering, put on the lid, and let it simmer for about 4 hours.

It's basically a Moroccan slow-cooker. And outside of my heavy hand with the salt, the dish came out great. On the sides, I blanched some asparagus, and we also had some mixed rice (brown basmati, red jasmine, and barley). We also started with a salad, pictured to the right here, though fancier than what I plated that evening. This was the left-over parts, that I decided to stack - the composing parts were golden beet, apricot, cucumber, and daikon. The berries - blackberries - were my addition the day after our dinner, and this stack I had for lunch. The sauce on top is tatziki,
which I purchased pre-made from our local grocery store. I really have to admit, this was an amazing stack salad. The tatziki blended wonderfully with the apricot and beets, its tartness pairing perfectly with the apricot's and beet's sweetness. The cucumbers were recalled in the tatziki, and the daikon provided just the right amount of bite to the flavors. When I added the blackberries, it made the salad even better - just a bit more sweetness to set off the tartness of the yogurt. Melissa commented that it looked amazing... but admittedly, everything is made easier with a mandoline.

And speaking of which - the mandoline I use is a ceramic one by Kyocera. I've only had it about 9 months, but it's been a great help in the kitchen. I haven't any complaints about it yet, and this is the first ceramic blade I've ever used... we shall see how the ceramic lasts.

To close out our dinner, our dear friends brought fantastic chocolate chip pound cake from Whole Foods, along with some strawberries. I made a mix of marscapone with heavy cream and sugar, and voila - we had ourselves a fabulous strawberry pound cake. The chocolate chips were just the right touch to the dessert, and they mixed wonderfully with the strawberries. So long as strawberry season is in place, this will now be my go-to dessert.

I've still be following my regimen of serving most of my meats simply, with salt and pepper, and serving sides of steamed vegetables. Now that it's summer, vegetables are quite abundant, and I'm excited about the burst of flavors for each of our meals. You know, come to think of it... most of the meals I describe are our dinners. Daytime meals are mostly simple - sometimes, it's leftovers; other times, it's a simple sandwich on croissant or fresh bread from our local bakery. And I really can't emphasize quite enough what a difference fresh foods make for a quick meal - I can have a simple sandwich, or I can have a sandwich dressed up with some fresh greens, or cucumbers, or peppers. Fruits, particularly now, make for the perfect finisher for any meal, particularly my lunches... I'm still working on tempering my sweet tooth since pregnancy.

Granted, I do have a ready stash of pre-made frozen meals in the freezer, but most times, I do bring out the fresh foods to enjoy. The frozen pre-made things, they can get stale, and the flavor dimishes so quickly... and there is nothing that upsets my palate more than foods without true flavor. So while it may seem like it's more trouble to make something from scratch, when the garden is abundant, it's actually less trouble - less seasoning needed, less covering needed, no sauces. It's high time to celebrate the return of freshness in the season.

Perception and Reality

2007-05-20T01:16:00.001-04:00

Admittedly, these days, what cooking I'm doing shies completely to what I used to do. Granted, I still try to be a bit adventurous, but my time constraints, particularly during the dinner-prep time of the day, prevent me from doing very much without either one hand being preoccupied with holding Baby or having to dash to and fro to keep her from completely melting down from the lack of attention. And somehow, I still do put dinner on the table, albeit more simply these days, but I just need that daily outlet somehow.

So the past couple of weeks - last week, one of Hubby's friends, a fellow architect from NYC, was in town - we wined and dined with him on Wednesday. And boy, I gotta admit, it's tough preparing a dinner w/a child in hand in the middle of the week. Typically, Hubby does logistics (setting up the table, cleaning up, moving stuff around) while I do the cooking - alas, with Hubby at work, the logistics part of the program fell on me. However, I did find my newfound best friend to be most helpful: ziplock bags. Marinating and even seasoning is much easier, without having to fuss with bowl and plastic wrap or multiple utensils. I lopped into one bag 4 tilapia fillets, seasoned lightly with just salt and pepper. Into another bag went steaks, with premixed adobo seasoning and onions. And anticipating my friend Melissa (no red meat) joining us for dinner, I also marinated in another bag a couple of chicken breasts, with the same adobo seasoning, some thinly sliced onions, and juice of 4 key limes. These three bags constituted the main course - easily done.

Side dishes that evening, I chopped up some vegetables (zucchini, yellow squash), mixed with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Starter was shrimp ceviche - quick-boiled shrimps, chopped, marinated with lime juice, salt, and pepper for about 6 hours, and then mixed with cilantro and chopped cucumbers. We also had a simple spinach salad, mixed with pre-made candied pecans and mandarin oranges (from Trader Joe's, thank goodness for their premade stuff!). For the tilapia, I also made a red bell pepper and olive chutney, in mango juice - this mixture, I made the day before, and set in the fridge overnight to let the flavors meld together. And for dessert, some fresh black berries and strawberries, served with a mixture of marscapone, heavy cream, and sugar - so good! All in all, a pretty good dinner, though by the end of the evening, I was fading quite fast, and had to excuse myself to turn in for the night.

And with mommy-brain, I can't even remember what else I cooked the rest of the week!

Alas, oh well... we come now to this week. One night, I marinated strips of beef in soy sauce, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper - this mixture I simply dumped into a pan and baked until cooked through (about 1 pound beef strips, 350 degrees for 30 minutes). These strips went into tortilla shells with spinach and field greens, and some cheese. On the side, we had a potato salad, consisting of diced red bliss potatoes, sweet and sour cucumbers, and mayo. Last night, I prepared a beef tagine, with dates, sun-dried tomatoes, raisins, tomatoes, zucchini, and carrots, spiced with cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, and chili powder. I started up the tagine at about 4:30, lightly fried ground ginger and garlic powder, then browned the beef, and finally mixed in the veggies and fruits. I added just enough water to cover after browning the meat, then set it on low until about 7:30. We ended up meeting with some friends out for dinner, but we did taste some of the beef and carrots... I must admit, it was damn good! We will save the tagine for another day - and yes, this is about as close to slow-cooker cooking as I would like to get.

So that was the general extent of the cooking this week. We had a couple of bad days this week, resulting in Hubby bringing home dinner and us going out for dinner. Baby is still settling into some semblance of a routine, which leads me to my rant: Parenthood is not easy. Yes, I know, we had warnings about this long before we had Baby, but the reality is that no experience, no amount of product, no discussions can really prepare you for the full-blowing experience of parenthood to your own offspring. Having your baby scream and cry in your ear for even an hour can be debilitatingly exhausting - and hell if you get a chance to relax any time after that. Some people may seem to look for an easier way out, pushing off responsibility onto others, or just ignoring the baby's cries all together, but truly, Baby's staying whether we like it or not. Unfortunately, however, the role of the mother never ends, not even in the middle of the night while the world sleeps - and the morning alarm clock is set without any hope for a snooze alarm, not without extensive rewiring.

Exhaustion is just the tip of the iceberg. And Hubby wonders how in the world it is that I got mastisis a couple of weeks ago in the first place!

And speaking of snooze and rewiring - it is now quite late. I will be catching some zzzz's before my early-morning riser wakes me up in the morning.

The rose colored glasses live on

2007-05-06T23:06:00.000-04:00

Ha! I just read one of the articles on babycenter.com, of suggestions to help new moms boost their energy and mood through eating certain foods. Their first suggestion: breakfast. My breakfast usually doesn't even happen until noon or afterwards, much less being able to fix something to eat - try doing that when you're half starved, got a crying baby, and haven't even gotten a chance yet to go to the bathroom since you've gotten up in the morning. I've tried cooking during the day before, and it really doesn't happen - whatever it is that I cook usually ends up either overcooked or burnt. Impossible.

But, hey, it's good to have that idea out there that someone, somewhere, is really enjoying the first few months of their motherhood, like it's a damn walk in the park. Just not happening here, not in the near future. And I suspect, not for most new moms.

With that said, however, I did make a really good fish tonight. Or rather, I prepared it, then Hubby cooked it while I took a shower with Baby. Tilapia loins, sauteed in butter, with a tomato and carrot sauce. Seasoned tilapia loins with salt, pepper, and parsley. Sauteed the diced tomatoes and carrots in butter, in a pan that had remnants of the spices from my berbere this afternoon, and set the sauce to the side. Then, browned the tilapia loins in the same pan. Hubby served the tilapia loins with the sauce - tomatoes worked wonderfully with the tilapia and butter!

OK, off to rest, hopefully to get some energy renewal for tomorrow.

Damn.

2007-05-05T03:54:00.000-04:00

OK. I really have to admit, being a mother has GOT to be the most thankless job there is in the world. Here I am, 4 o'clock in the morning, having fed Baby at 2:30, and she's still awake, practicing her language skills no less. I've had a collective 6 hours of sleep in the past 36 hours, and my patience is nearing its end - and unfortunately, this is the norm as opposed to the exception during this whole maternity leave. And the end of my leave will coincide with the time when she really starts to develop - it makes me think that this country REALLY has its values completely screwed up when it comes to human development.

And somehow, I can wake up in the morning, look at Baby and marvel how cute she is; but when I'm up like this in the middle of the night, I'm ready to take the first flight in the morning out of here to Barbados. And really, just set up shop and not come back.

So this leads me to my pet peeves of motherhood that all those websites and books would have you believe - but, really, are true only on TV.

8. "Take naps when your baby takes naps." OK, let's dissect this idea. Typical feeding schedule: every 3 hours, and this takes place after the typical every 2 hour feeding that happens in the first couple of weeks of a baby's life, during which time Mom's supposedly trying to heal (right, lack of sleep does not equal proper healing). Baby takes, oh, somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes to feed. Then, typically, baby does not go to sleep immediately after feeding, and oh, there's the diaper change that takes place before feeding, which can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes, depending on whether your baby unit decides it's time for projectile anything. So there's a max given already of 45 minutes eaten out of the 3 hour clock. Then if baby decides it doesn't want to go back to sleep after it eats, well, you can be up for upwards of an hour or more entertaining the baby and interacting with it - which actually does happen with my Baby. So, an hour and a half or more later, baby finally decides it's time for a short nap - and then, guess what, the whole process starts again. Nap, I don't even have time to gather up all those bibs she's spit up on before getting ready to feed her again, much less take time out to nap!

7. "Just let others take care of chores around the house." Right. Hubby works during the day, comes home around 8, tired and hungry. I usually have dinner somewhat ready by the time he gets home, we eat, watch some TV, set Baby to bed, and then we, exhausted, also go to bed. So we're supposed to just let the plates pile up in the sink, the laundry fester, mail go unanswered and unorganized, and the piling method take over the house? This "let others take care of stuff" can actually happen if we lived in the society we used to live in, where we have a collective community that can help take care of things, not in the typical American household. Or, unless, of course, if you have hoards of money to spend on hired help - and that's assuming you also have hoards of money to pay for things like mortgages, groceries, and day care. This idea piles right in with the nap idea - it's great only if you HAVE the help around the house. Otherwise, the chores still fall on you. Oh, and try fixing dinner with screaming baby in hand.

6. "Get back into shape by taking baby out on walks." There are days when I am not even able to set foot out the door because Baby has gone fussy. I've lost weight by eating breakfast at 2, having another snack (AKA, lunch) at 4, and running up and down our stairs getting this that and the other thing and doing the chores around the house to keep it in some semblance of order. Walks, we do take them every so often, but it's not something I can plan on a regular basis.

5. "The way to take care of your baby is X, Y, and Z." There's a reason there are so many baby books out there. No one knows how exactly to take care of a baby but the parents. Everyone's got a theory, not one book has all the answers, and there's a bit of truth in everything everyone says. Which really doesn't say all that much - when baby books measure 2" in depth on average, they say enough shit that some of it is bound to stick.

4. "Get back together with your spouse." Every website I've seen touts some level of sexual intimacy like it's the duty of the woman ripped apart to mend all things back together. Ahem, lack of sleep? Where's that hired help already? Somehow, I think this idea stems from the same people who invented pantyhose.

3. "X, Y, and Z is a side effect of pregnancy." I've already dropped 30 pounds since bearing Baby, and carpal tunnel still hasn't gone away. I think it may be a side effect, period, bearing baby or not. Mood swings, I was even keeled during the whole pregnancy, and now, I have mood swings enough to bring the Titanic up from the depths of the ocean. And I have cravings for food unlike anything I felt during pregnancy. I'm sure it stems from the fact that I haven't been getting enough rest, and my body is turning to food to help replenish its energy levels. But then, cold lasagna straight from the fridge is mighty tasty...

2. That gush of love for Baby? Yeah, it happens - during the day. At night, pacifier goes into her mouth faster than I can blink. And still, she's practicing her language skills through it.

1. "Motherhood is a whole new experience." Oh yeah! Understatement of the century! Nothing can prepare you for this, no amount of babysitting, reading, watching, learning. Nothing prepares you for the pang you feel when baby is crying, right in your ear, and it's your child - and you don't know what to do to help it feel better. Granted, if my mother were around, she might be able to help me learn a bit of how to do this parenting thing - but then, there is plenty my parents did that I'd like to undo, and they took full advantage of their hospital's nursery until I was 4 months old - so unfortunately, my surviving father also has no idea what it's like to raise a newborn. It's at times like this that I really do feel like I'm treading this path alone, plodding along, and really hoping I'm doing things well by Baby.

But then, Barbados does look really appealing.

Off and on, and off and on, and on, and on

2007-04-25T23:30:00.000-04:00

Baby has a pattern. Yes, she actually follows a pattern - which is strange and interesting all at the same time. Every other day, she's fussy and needs more holding and doting; and every other day, she's feeling more independent and able to just hang out on her own without Mom picking her up every other second. This one, she's got a mind all her own - if she wants to fuss, she'll fuss, no matter if she's in the car or in my arms. And the binky - she picks if it works or not. What seemingly has worked for other babies, not working on this one - she's gone through this life before, and nothing's fooling her.

Least of all, her younger souled father. Hubby is convinced she throws him looks of "yeah right" sometimes. Me, I was, in my paranoiac state, thoroughly convinced that when she looked lethargic that there was something wrong with her mental state. Alas, it took me a month to realize that no, she's just tired. I'm sure I'll find something else to satisfy my outward hypochondriac that could possibly be wrong with her. I'm still amazed each day that I look at her - it's like we got a new product in our house, but damn, it's a little human. And it looks like us! I don't know that any person really could design something so interesting as a mini clone, and even then, to make each model unique and different from others.

Breakfast today, alas, my cravings continue. I finished off the last piece of lasagna, straight out of the fridge, no reheating or anything. Hubby stares at me in fear whenever I tell him about these kinds of happenings, as they are things that he may do - but I kindly remind him that, ahem, it's better that I do these kinds of crazy food craving things than look at him as a female black widow looks at her mate (hmmm... dinner...). He had that fear towards the end of my pregnancy: "Shit, I've done what I was supposed to do, and now, I'm just going to be the next meal for her and all her babies!", as I was eating comparable, and sometimes more, than what he ate. And he's got another 100 lb or so on me! Well, this breastfeeding thing, coupled with lack of sleep, it's got me hungry and craving all things possible. So alas, the spider continues eating, and doting on her little one.

Yesterday was a crazy day - Baby refused to be out of my arms, even for 5 minutes, so it made things like, oh, getting a glass of water or eating breakfast (at 2pm, no less) just about impossible. By the end of the day, having cried and screamed her last bit, she finally did fall asleep for a while, in my sling (of which I just purchased a gray one, since my black one, I fear, may pick up too much heat in the summer time), thus allowing me to throw together some semblance of dinner for Hubby and me. I thawed some small squid (body and tentacles), sea scallops, and shrimp, and tossed with a bit of salt and pepper. Threw the mixture into a heated grill pan with some butter and granulated garlic - voila, instant dinner. Quick, easy, and actually, fairly tasty. I served this with some blanched carrots and left over mixed rice, from Sunday night's dinner with Hubby's father - brown and white rice, cooked prior, chilled, then sauteed with bacon and Trader Joe's soycatash, seasoned with ground coriander, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper. Tasty, fast, 1/2 hour and the whole thing was done. Granted, having the rice already done was a fantastic shortcut, but the main part of the seafood, it was still really easy and fast.

Dinner tonight, alas, not even a fraction as elaborate, and much more low brow - Costco run, so we had a hot dog at their food stand. We made the mistake of going there without having eaten first - and now, female spider in tow, Hubby finds it is now his responsibility, as opposed to the other way around, to make sure that spouse does not pull every god damn thing off the shelf ("Ooooh, that looks good...."). What was most unfortunate after our quarter pound hot dog dinner, was the fact that I spied a family - a family, of all things! - digging into their pizza pie a couple of tables away, and I just thought it looked so damn tasty. I couldn't believe that I was still hungry. Hubby deflected successfully - he suggested that he make me a ham sandwich on croissant once we get home. And voila, we get home, and I'm not even hungry any more. Whew, Hubby lives to fight another day.

BTW, I can't celebrate enough this sling that I got - Baby feels very comfortable, like being back in the womb, and it allows me two free hands to do stuff around the house or when I'm out and about. And because it's black, it blends well with my clothes, and passersby often smile to see a little arm or a tuft of her hair sticking out past the edge of the opening. It's like seeing a little puppy in a handbag - this sling looks so much like a piece of clothing, and then when you suddenly realize that it's carrying a little human in it, well, that just tops off anyone's curious eye.

Until another day!

Wow-wee, a whole month and a bit!

2007-04-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

Wow. Where does all the time go? Baby is doing well, learning from us as we are learning from her. The lack of sleep has become the norm as opposed to the exception, though we are slowly catching back up and extending our night-time sleep schedules... so we are slowly getting more rest. Mood swings have been up and down over the past month, as Hubby will quite readily attest, though love for Baby really can not diminish.

However, she does seem to take to temper tantrums. Harumph! We're working on tempering this characteristic.

Food-wise - well, every night, I have been preparing dinner for Hubby and me. Yes, even in the midst of taking care of a new human life, I'm carving time to put dinner on the table. Unfortunately though, it seems some times that is the only meal I'm able to put on the table - 1pm breakfast, 4pm lunch, both usually on the go while tending to Baby. But dinner, I struggle, and I fight, to carve some level of time out for myself (albeit benefiting not just me, really), to do something that I enjoy and to exercise some level of creativity. Sometimes, it is something pre-made from my pre-baby days; other days, it is simple basics, of marinated cuts of meat with sides of steamed vegetables or wild rice. Most dishes, I am still sticking to as close to the original natural form as possible. What I've found to be the best thing for a myself, as an avid cook prior to baby are raw forms of the same things I enjoyed cooking before: readily washed vegetables, cut to ready-to-serve sizes, but now pre-bagged when I have more time during the weekend for the week; and cuts of meat sized for our individual portions, so I don't have to worry about defrosting whole packs and then cutting for individual portions the same night I'm trying to serve the dish. Otherwise, our dear friends have been wonderful in bringing us casseroles and food, so that, especially in the initial weeks as we were adjusting to all the changes, we can still have something to just stick into an oven and have a meal ready to go.

Convenient way of cooking vegetables, though much less reliable for consistent results than blanching - take said vegetables, and throw them into a bowl with a little bit of water and some chopped garlic, toss together with a touch of salt and pepper, and stick them into the microwave for 3 minutes - this can be done at the end of the cooking time, so that the veggies are hot and ready to go once the rest of the meal is ready. Meat-wise, I marinate earlier in the day, even if they're frozen, so no matter the cooking method, the flavor is already ready to go, and I can adjust my cooking method at the end of the day if Baby is finding that cooking time is a perfect time to take on all characteristics fussy. Outside of these two parts of a meal, I also find pre-cooked rice to be a god-send (either cooked in my rice cooker or left over from take-out), as I can saute chopped vegetables and add the rice to the saute for a quick side (butter and heavy cream for Frenchy style, olive oil if otherwise). The oven is also a huge help, as it allows slower cooking without continuous attention at the stove.

Last week, I made some marinated pork tenderloin, with a touch of rum, some tumeric, salt, pepper, soy sauce, sugar, and onions. Hubby threw this on our grill, along with some grilled tomatoes and zucchini (zucchini was coated in olive oil, and had a sprinkling of salt and pepper, tomatoes were plain), and we also grilled some russet potatoes. Instant dinner, not too complicated, and relatively healthy! Other nights, we had pre-made tortellini, which I mixed with some pre-made marinara sauce and mozzarella for a pasta bake; pork shoulder my father brought to us from our friends' restaurant in Wayne, PA; steak with a side of steamed vegetables; egg sandwiches (Dad's night to cook!); grilled salmon on bed of mache. Days and nights do run together - and I am surprised I even remember today's date!

Gearwise... things we've found to work great for us - my New Native sling is working great to keep the little bugger close to me while I need both hands free for housework, or to even just help calm her down. She fusses at first to being put into the sling, but shortly thereafter, she settles in to be happily cuddled up against Mom. Sisters in law got us these fantastic onesies, albeit short-sleeved, that have snaps at the neck - so you can open them wider to put them over baby's head, and then snap them shut to keep her looking nice and neat - they got them from Red Envelope, but they don't seem to carry them anymore. Our stroller from Uppababy rocks, though I wished they had a sun cover for the seat and for the bassinet. I've come to realize that bibs have different sizes - I had to run out to Buy Buy Baby to get some newborn bibs when I realized that some of the bibs we got were just too big around her neck - but not to worry, as she's quickly growing into them. Baby was 8 lb 10 oz when born, now nearing about 11 lb, and she started off her days with the 3-6 month sized clothing - the 0-3 months, we didn't even get to using them, she was just that large. We've done well with having her sleep in one of the footed sleepers, to which I snipped off the feet and re-hemmed - this allows her legs to grow without limitation.

What hasn't worked...BabyGap onesies are too big at the neck (they have those overlapping fabric at the shoulders), and invariably, granted we're outfitting Baby in the 3-6 month onesies and she's all of a month old, the head opening opens all the way to the shoulders. This is great for putting the onesie on her, but to keep it on her without having her look like she's in Flashdance is another matter all together. Target had some onesies which had the zipper that runs all the way from neck to part way down one of the legs, but I couldn't fathom how logical it was to have to unzip her whole outfit to change her diaper in the middle of the night - especially when it's cold and she's asleep. I know I'd be damn pissed off if someone basically took off my sleeping clothes when it's cold out, and I'd be raising hell if they did it while I was half asleep!

Accessorywise... Socks, Baby outgrew the newborn size in the first 2 weeks - same with her hats. I'm doing quite well with our stationwagon, despite everyone touting that baby=SUV (and I'm still hoping for $5 gasoline!), and I'm finding no trouble getting her in the Snugride car seat in and out of the car, though she is getting quite heavy - and SUV or not, she+car seat will still be heavy! My one big complaint about the Snugride - it's supposed to be the infant model, but the first couple of weeks when we had her in it, it snaps into the seat so vertically (think airplane seat) that her head would end up completely slumped forward by the end of a 5 minute car ride. Of this I was very surprised, as the Snugride sits on a level surface sans the car base relatively flat, so that Baby sits level and comfortable - but just not in the car. That's my biggest gripe.

As for the whole parenting thing...the lack of sleep, continuous sleep, is tough. People had generalizations for us that parenting would result in lack of sleep, but I found that the first month is the toughest, as we are each adjusting to each others' habits and patterns. Now that we are into month 2, I can't say that everything has gotten easier, but I'm learning more and more about my little human, and she us. The first month was primarily an adjustment time for all of us, and it seems that she is much more comfortable with everything now that she's been at home about 4+ weeks. Waking in the middle of the night to feed her is now just a little easier, but each day and night is different (some nights, she's up every other hour; other nights, she'll pull about 4 hours of continuous sleep). This weekend, Hubby and I just started trading off nights and days to feed her and take care of her - he's handling the middle-of-the-night feedings on weekends. Hey, it's a start!

We made our first ever trip to the local Farmers' Market yesterday, and she enjoyed her time out with Mom in the hood. I did find, however, as I walked along, that I am again *gripe* in the same place I was at the end of the pregnancy: my clothes really don't fit. My pre-preg clothes are still too small at the waist (though the butt has gone down, yay!); but my pregger clothes are too loose and doing everything but staying on and helping Mom look somewhat publicly acceptable. Um, muu-muu anyone?

We're actually getting back into our old schedule... with modifications

2007-03-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

So Daughter is now a new element in our lives, and we've slowly, over the course of the past week, started getting back into our old routines, with modifications of course. Yes, there are still the middle-of-the-night feeding/changing times, but now, we let her sleep and wake us up when she's ready to be fed (we were on a 2-3 hour routine before, and now, sometimes, it extends upwards of 4-5 hours between feedings), and I supplement with a couple of every 2-3 hour feedings during the day. Hubby is able to sleep somewhat through the night now, so that he can be lucid during the work day. I'm regaining some ability to do things around the house, between feedings, and I'm cooking again - though we are taking full advantage of the food gifts people have given us as well as the pre-made food items I made before Isabel came into our lives. Hubby and I went to our first party on Saturday, albeit without Daughter in tow until Doc tells us she's ready for an infusion into normal life (though I think she'd be just fine in our arms, out of reach of germy hands), and we ran some errands as well. I've taken her for walks, as has Hubby, and we're enjoying the coming spring season in DC.

Things I've cooked... well, the chicken stock left from the healing meal that Aunt and Uncle cooked for me, I made some soup from it last Thursday evening, and topped it off with a empanada shell to bake - it came out all right, though the soup was still sweet from the dates in it and it boiled a little too long and was pretty concentrated. Hubby helped assemble the salad that night, as my abdomen was still healing and I didn't want to spend too much time standing in the kitchen. We also took Daughter out last night, to get some custard at our local custard shop... and I've taken her for walks in the neighborhood, to hear all the birds and to experience the warming weather.

What else... I've been cooking for Daughter, though not directly - breastfeeding her. It took some getting used-to at first, but now, 2 weeks in, I'm feeling much more comfortable. I finally broke down, and went to the local Target and picked up a Boppy pillow to help with breastfeeding - hands still feel numbness from carpal tunnel, and I'm not sure it will ever get better - but my hands and arms truly hurt when I feed her in the wee hours of the night. Yes, I look like I should be going for a swim in the kiddie pool, but the Boppy pillow really does work. I may also invest in an electric pump, to be able to continue giving her breast milk after I go back to work. And I've found that my silicone ice-cube fun-shaped trays are great - I can make food for her, for later on, and store them in coordinating shapes based on what they are - pears for pears, apples for apples, maybe stars for vegetables, and some sort of animal for meats! Fun with food - oh why not, especially if we can use these shapes to our advantage!

So, quick summary before I feed my little one - first 2 weeks were tough, but survivable - and things do start to get better, little by little. Adjustment to a new schedule in such a short period of time is difficult, but it's worth it - especially when the little one starts opening her eyes and throws her first unadulterated, completely non-self-conscious all-gums smile at you. She's precious, we love her, and we hope to be able to give her the best life that we can.

Daughter arrives!

2007-03-23T23:00:00.000-04:00

Baby measured large... cervix did not drop... we decided to go with a scheduled cesarean, and we've landed ourselves a baby girl! Last Wednesday, the 14th, we had ourselves a little baby girl, all 8 pounds 10 ounces of her. Seeing her for the first time was amazing - and all the things I've heard about an overwhelming unconditional love you feel for someone you've never met before is true. The past week has been a whirlwind, where I've learned that all the products that people have been touting - some of them are true to work, some are completely irrelevant. Every baby is different, and some need some items, and some need others.

For Girly... the Graco Pack-n-Play has served as a fantastic second crib, as I stayed on the first floor of our house this past week while I let my cesarean wound heal - I'm moving back up to the second floor this week. The pockets it has for the changing station have been very convenient, and the height works really well for me. I've been doing the breastfeeding thing, and I've been using the Bravado nursing pads - they're OK, not as absorbent as I would have liked. Nursing bras from Bravado are fantastic, allows nursing very easily - my regular bras are definitely not cutting it. I'm lucky that my milk did come in rather quickly, but then, when it's time to feed Girly, and she's still sleepy... well, it does make for quite a mess on Mom. Alas, what can one do...

Other things - her clothing - onesies - we go through them about one a day, some times 2 a day. We got some from Baby Gap which have been really good. There are onesies with snaps at the neck, which makes putting them on her much easier, as there are few babies that do enjoy having a shirt pulled over their heads. The kimono tops do ride up, so they're not as good - though we did get a kimono onesie that snaps at the legs, which is much better than just the top. Hats, realistically, we only need 2, since she wears them only occasionally and doesn't seem to really love them - and we put it on her only when it's cold out, and she'll grow out of them so quickly. We have a hooded towel from Dwellbaby, and she loves getting swaddled in it after a bath (which she really doesn't like). The changing stations - realistically, I only want to use a simple cloth on them, not the fancy sheets, since there are so many chances of getting them dirty (trajectory poo!!). Otherwise... coats, we really won't need them until this autumn, as, even on the day we brought her home, though it was only 40 degrees outside, once we dressed her in her going -home outfit of a long-sleeved onesie, locked her into the car seat, and bundled her up in a blanket as well as the cold-weather cover on the car seat, she was more than snuggled up happy.

Diaperwise, we've got some Seventh Generation diapers, which run pretty huge - Pampers diapers were the ones that the hospital used, and we're continuing to use them at home until she grows out of them and fits the Seventh Generation diapers better... which seems to be happening, starting... now. She's growing fast!

Swaddle blankets, we have some thin flannel ones from Buy Buy Baby, just the basic ones, and they work just fine. We also have some fancier ones from Swaddle Baby, and they're huge - good for wrapping her up for colder nights, but the other flannel ones work just as well. We've been making good use of the Graco monitors, to keep tabs on when she gets really fussy (when Hubby comes down and helps me out), and to make sure she's OK when we don't have her next to us. We have an Uppababy Vista stroller, which has worked wonderfully, and has an adapter for our Graco Snugride car seat.

It's a rollercoaster ride, but it's a fun one. I know our lives will never be the same, but all the same, I'm looking forward to making new memories with her in our life. I haven't done much cooking since getting home... but our schedule is starting to return to what it was before, albeit with changes incorporating her into the schedule. It's an amazing learning experience.

Boy, has it been a long while

2007-03-01T23:40:00.000-05:00

How in the world did the month of February pass by so quickly? To this, I really have no idea... but we survived the baby shower, we're now just 2 weeks away from meeting our little baby, and we're slowly coming to the realization that yes, indeedy, there really is no turning back. Highlights of the month... cookingwise, I've still been cooking, enjoying the gamut of baking cakes and making little easier dishes - stuffed pastas with panna sauce, stir-fries, curries, and now, prepping some pre-made dishes to stow away in the freezer for post-baby delivery. We got ourselves a baby-safe car, and we're going to put in the car-seat base this weekend. We're coming into the final days... and we are very much looking forward to our little baby's joining us in the awake world.

Which is not to say it hasn't been awake - it's done its fair share of squiggling around and kicking, just to make sure I'm aware that it's in there. And the hiccups it gets daily... well, albeit cute, but I have to wonder how good it may feel inside in its cramped quarters. And it reacts now, to things, to voices - Hubby's voice near my belly almost always wakes it up, curious as I am sure it is as to this voice it hears. And the other day, when a foot stuck itself into my side, Hubby put his hand on the spot, and foot retracted - a good sign that reflexes are working!

Lessons learned through this last month... well, one thing, maternity clothing. No matter what clothes feel like when you first purchase them, in the final months and weeks, it will be nearly impossible to keep pants up, to hide a growing belly. Mine has been growing forward, and pants with full panels, demi panels, roll-down panels, no panels, whatever panels - they just refuse to stay up. I find myself pulling up my pants every time I get up from a chair, or even after walking a few steps. Is this fair call for a muu-muu?

And if someone could have told me, I would have purchased not as much clothing of larger size to accommodate my growing belly, but longer clothing. There really is nothing worse than having your pants fall down while your shirt rides up, all revealing the big belly that's taking over my physique. It feels like some old Popeye's cartoon, with the front panel of some gentleman's shirt rolling up and whipping him in the face. Granted, I've been lucky enough to not have my shirt whip me in the face, but damn - these shirts, no matter how wide around, do not do enough to help cover me up for the professional realm.

So what have been my favorite pieces? I've had shirts layered under sweaters through the winter - long tunic-style sweaters, some just from regular, not maternity, sizing. The longer turtlenecks of this past season from H&M have been life-savers, as have some tunic-style pieces. And my favorite pants right now are definitely my jeans. Wrap dresses, too, have been convenient, though I can't help but feel that they could really just fly open at any blow of a winter breeze. Yoga pants feel great at home, and long-sleeved T-shirts, so long as they are long enough, have helped to keep out the cold. From this pregnancy, I've had several pieces that qualify as my favorites, enough so that I may search for more of the same next time around.

As for cooking from now until baby comes... I'm going to make, like I said, some pre-made stuff that can be stored away in the freezer and easily baked/defrosted for quick little meals. Empanadas are in line, as are dumplings, little meat buns, curry pockets, and maybe even little pot pies. However, we are going to stick with our usual regimen, of not having huge dishes with left-overs for days on end... the palate gets just too bored with such limited choices. As this baby (and in particular, its head) has gotten too big for me to be able to deliver it naturally, we've elected to go with a scheduled C-section, so as to reduce risk to both myself and the little one. So, knowing that we'll be going in at a set time and day, we can actually plan around this event, and I've asked Dad to bring some little dishes down from our friends' restaurant in Philadelphia when he comes down. I've also requested some tzong-tze - bamboo-leaf wrapped seasoned rice, pork, egg, and chestnut, which can easily be heated up for instant satiation without the elaborate preparations of a multi-course meal. Of course, I'm still going to try to cook after baby joins us, but all the same, I'll walk with it down the street to our local bakery and cheesemonger, and pick up some bread and cheese. And, ambitious mindedness forward, I'm going to try cooking my own baby food, when our little one is ready.

So for now, I'm going to try to keep the blog up as much as I can, but we are coming into the final moments of just Hubby and me, before we truly become three - I think we'll need to take a bit of time, just for ourselves, to savor, before, as everyone has been pressing into our awareness, absolutely everything changes. And who knows... maybe nothing will really change. Status quo has never been my accepted reality, and we may actually be able to make this threesome work without it completely swallowing us whole.

Shower Time!

2007-02-02T12:30:00.000-05:00

So our little baby shower is tomorrow, and I'm very excited to see all the ladies, especially my sisters in law. I requested the shower traditional way, just women. One thing that does worry me, however, is looking at our registry, people don't seem to have purchased much off the registry... and I worry, that boy indeedy, they're marching their ways to Babies-R-no wonder it's crying like it's the end of the world you dressed it up like a clown, to pick up all kinds of mass-produced crap to shower me with tomorrow, that we really don't want to see in or anywhere near our house. This fear set in full-on last weekend, when Hubby went skeet shooting with a friend of his, and he told Hubby that his wife, who will be attending the shower, was *concerned* that we didn’t have enough baby clothes on the registry, and that we didn’t have enough *stuff* on our Pack and Play (travel crib). Now you have to understand… first of all, we get the Graco Pack and Play and car seat in our house, and I have all sorts of issues about the fact that we’re getting stuff from some big-ass manufacturer (and the fact that they just have too much “stuff” printed all over their boxes in the first place - in drastic comparison, two of our friends got us the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair, it blended right in with our regular furniture, AND the design of their boxes was just simple, clean, so European). As for the clothes… well frankly, we just didn’t want people going to Babies-R-Who the hell is going to wear that out the front door and sending us all the Winnie the Pooh and Disney crap. Hey, if we wouldn’t wear it day in, day out, why would we dress up the little human in that way?

Then, Hubby and I are like, exactly how much *stuff* does one really need to make a baby happy? Last I checked, the basic human needs were universal, independent of age – love, food, shelter. And, of course, clean underwear, but I characterize that under the shelter category. Next thing you know, they’ll be telling me exactly why it is that we need a minivan or SUV in order to really give a baby what it needs, and THEN, I’ll really lose it. I can already see the headlines: “Normally Calm Mom-to-Be Suddenly Goes Postal in Proclaiment of Social Independence”. And boy, then, I’ll really land myself in a fine mess.

My excitement and fear are now running full-on simultaneously for tomorrow's event... we shall have to see how the shower goes. And cookingwise... this week was pretty low key. Did stir-fry Monday night, with lightly sauteed Chinese cabbage, pepper beef (beef marinated in soy, salt, pepper, and stir-fried with red bell peppers). Tuesday night, I did pre-made stuff: got a can of organic Cream of Chicken, mixed together with some slices of chicken tenderloin (seasoned with just salt and pepper) and carrots, and served with bake-and-serve garlic toast (also organic).

Wednesday night, I tried my hand at miniature meat loaf for the first time in my life - and while I got the texture right, there was not enough seasoning, so unfortunately, it came out bland. Two small self-packed packs of ground beef (deck of card size), 1 egg, about half a cup of canned diced tomatoes, about half a cup of fresh bread crumbs from day-old French baguette, Adobo seasoning, thyme, and parsley. The big part I forgot was the salt and pepper... hence the blandness. Making the loaves (I made 2 miniature loaves), I put on some rubber gloves, and made the shapes lightly, much the same way I make my matzo balls. I baked them on a small cookie sheet, so that the grease can freely flow away, and not in a loaf pan (otherwise, the bottom would get really oily from the meat, and no doubt somewhat soggy. I also coupled the meat loaf with scalloped potatoes - sliced red bliss and sweet potatoes, sprinkling of flour on each layer, some salt and pepper on top, and about 1 cup of heated half-and-half poured over the mixture. The meat loaves were about 4" long x 2" wide x 2" tall, and they baked for about half an hour; the scalloped potatoes baked covered for about the same time, with an additional 15 minutes uncovered with a fresh sprinkling of mixed shredded cheese on top with paprika.

Last night - Hubby wasn't feeling terribly well, as he had come down with a bout of food poisoning... so it was just lone eating, though I did make 2 portions of food. I resorted again to pre-made stuff, some of Amy's Organic sliced polenta lightly sauteed, with fresh tomato sauce; with a side of Amy's chicken sausage. Premade again... been feeling lazy this week. I may investigate more our local organic supermarket, to see what seasonal produce and meats they have, for next week's menus.

And as for last weekend, I made a wonderful little snack - used Pillsbury Grand buttermilk biscuit mix, and filled them with some diced turkey (the turkey that my aunt had so wonderfully sent to us), dill, and shredded cheese. Alas, I made 8 of them... but by the end of the day, only 1 was left. Needless to say, between Hubby and me, they were a huge hit, perfect for nibbling as we painted on Sunday, and perfect for the rainy day that it was! I'll have to make them again, and take some photos of them, as they came out quite beautifully. I may, however, next time I make these filled biscuits, use less of the biscuit mix for each of them, as they did come out more bready than we would have liked.

So that's a rough and tumble summary of this week. Wish me luck (and patience) tomorrow!

Where did the time go??

2007-01-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it - it's already the end of January - and a whole month has flown by before I was able to blink an eye. So what's the update from the kitchen... not too much. Still cooking day after day, enjoying food, belly is still growing, and little Squiglet (as we've now taken to calling it) is making a happy home for the remainder of the pregnancy. We did have some friends over for dinner recently, and we did one of our multi-course dinners... here is a brief rundown of the menu:

Toasted challah with brush of cream and cheese (but I managed to char an entire loaf's worth of sliced challah, with the exception of 6 slices) - served with Champagne
Chicken soup topped with puff pastry
Salad (care of one of our guests, who prepared it Roman style, as she is, indeed, Roman)
Roasted duck with orange sauce, with sides of cheesy chunky mashed white potatoes and roasted winter vegetables
3 cheeses (2 sheep, 1 cow)
Hot chocolate (so easy, except for the chocolate part, which we grated - easier way would be to use chocolate chips, bittersweet - just mix with half-and-half, and you'll be good to go!)
Dessert of apple cake, and chocolate/peanut butter sandwiches (again, care of one of our guests)

It wasn't an overly extravagant dinner, but I did learn a couple of things during the course of preparing this dinner:

Timing for the first courses is so key, to get everyone relaxed. Next time around, I need to make sure that I have the first courses ready to serve before the guests arrive - and it's much easier to have cold, rather than hot, courses ready to go.
Duck - this was my first time making duck, and it came out all right. I went to Eastern Market on the Hill for my duck breasts, and the butcher hooked me up right. Brining is key for making sure that the flavor infuses the meat. To make a brine - take about 1 part salt to 3-4 parts water, mix with other flavorants (I used peppercorns, thyme, and rosemary (herbs from our yard)), and soak the meat in the brine for 2-2.5 hours. The duck breasts being frozen, I left the brine mixture out of the fridge, and it worked just fine, as our guest were arriving 3.5 hours after I got the duck breasts into the brine. Roasting the breasts - it took quite a while, and I would estimate that I had the breasts in the oven for a good 1-1.5 hours before I felt that they were ready to go. I just recently watched an episode of Alton Brown's Good Eats - wished I had seen it before I made this duck dish! He suggests steaming the duck first, and then laying the breasts skin-side-down in a hot skillet in the oven to simply crisp the skin - that would have been wonderful contrast of texture. Alas, next time - and there will be a next time. I've saved a good portion of the rendered fat in the freezer for other use - ahh, flavorful duck!
Hot chocolate - in contrast to the hot chocolate I made for Hubby for our New Year's dinner, I put in too much chocolate this time, and as it cooled, it thickened very quickly. However, the mixture did make for wonderful pudding (not quite ganache texture). If need be, next time I'm going to add more half-and-half to help thin out the texture for sippable hot chocolate (instead, this time, we served the hot chocolate with coffee spoons).
And for parties - there's really nothing more worthy than having 2 dishwashers. Truly. We needed to dump some of our dishes into the wash half-way through, just to make some room in the kitchen... but we didn't. And it did pile up quite a bit at the end.

So that was the brief summary of our multi-course meal. Each course really can be quite small, since the guests go through such a variety of flavors through the evening; having large portions would overwhelm the palate. And being on my feet while pregnant - not so bad, though by the end of the evening, my feet were ready for a bit of TLC.

As for other meals I've been preparing... some just standard stuff, some pre-prepared from our freezer. One thing I'm noticing is that, yes, I do quite much like having the pre-prepared meals from our freezer those nights that I'm tired. HOWEVER, the pre-prepared meals I like, I still like them small enough for just 1 meal for Hubby and me, not for 20. I do like having the variety of meals from night to night, and not having the same thing 2 days in a row. Most of our left-overs... unfortunately, they really do just go straight into the trash. The palate demands variety!

So with that said, I may be preparing a variety of pre-prepared meals for Hubby and me, for when after the baby comes in about 7 weeks, enough so that we can eat comfortably without too much repetition. I may start today with making some empanadas, but I may do some to be filled with other variety of stuffings (some ideas that come to mind... Thanksgiving dinner (we got a huge peppercorned turkey from my beloved Aunt, and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with 2/3 of it), with turkey, potatoes, cheese, and some berry sauce; curry of meat and vegetables; miniature chicken pot pies). Granted, by the time little Squiglet comes into the awake world, it will be spring, and I may have my organic garden started again, so we may have some fresh greens and vegetables to celebrate the warmer season... but no doubt, we will be exhausted, and having a back-up stash of ready-to-eat food in the freezer will be quite helpful.

Will keep you posted...!

Solitary Confinement

2007-01-10T00:00:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's longer than I can remember when I last posted to this blog. News from the home front - I pulled an abdominal muscle at the end of our Thanksgiving weekend, and managed to then trigger some contractions, land myself in the hospital for overnight observation, and end up being confined to Doc-prescribed bedrest (read: "solitary confinement") at home through December, until I was off his prescribed contraction-prevention medication. Being a doctor's child, I'm not taken to the miracles of science, and my mind started to race and wander in this lone house. There was only so much I could do here before I start missing human interaction (that started on day 2 of said solitary confinement) and before my mind really felt like it's starting to just break down and soften into the gray matter that it is. Did I take it easy? Sure, not doing much, putting my feet up, being lazy and letting Hubby take care of moving things around. Did I enjoy this time off? Hell no - this was complete and utter torture, day in and day out, counting down the hours of the day. In contrast to my active life before I got tied down, this felt like death to me. Or rather, just like Gitmo.

So, what have I been doing to keep myself busy? As soon as I could, I moved my ops downstairs from the bedroom - staying in bed never did anyone's psyche good, and definitely not for long periods of time. I saw my mother go through that struggle, once confined to her wheelchair when lupus dealt her the hand of paraplegia - talk about a woman who was so active in her life until the day she couldn't be. I don't think she ever did recover from such a huge life change - from respected opthalmologist (and surgeon) to one who, she thought, was viewed as more an invalid and at the receiving end of life, whose hands, so disfigured by lupus-induced rheumatoid arthritis, she didn't trust any longer to operate on patients' eyes and had to resign to an alternate life, one drastically different from one she had envisioned for the majority of her life. In the changes that came with her paraplegia, she was confined to long periods of hospital and bed rest while her body adjusted to the changes; personally, I believe that it was these periods of time when she was limited in her abilities that she began to believe that her abilities, truly, and her life were limited, and that her psyche began to change from one of optimism and hope to one of cynicism and bitterness. But then, aren't all our lives so limited, illness or not.

So to the couch it was, and it felt a lot better to be, at the least, surrounded by reminders of life instead of just by sheets, blankets, and more bedroom. I also continued to cook, albeit with things I already made a while ago an stowed away in the freezer. Manti one night, with yogurt sauce. Steaks that were already marinated, another night, with steamed fresh vegetables.
Chinese seafood soup, with left-over stir-fry from take-out mixed with fresh seafood, another night. Luckily, I did have things enough that were either left-over or stowed away in the freezer that we were able to have dinners prepped without too much time on my feet. And lunches, Hubby brought home lunch to me a couple of days, and I enjoyed sandwiches and other pre-made munchies other days.

But yes, I missed that thing called life.

So, that was week 1, the week I came home from the hospital. A couple of visiting highlights - on Thursday, I had 2 surprise visits from my good friends Jessica and Jessica - two different people, and one scheduled dinner visit from my good friend Melissa. The first Jessica was close by, and brought her new little baby son with her to come pay a visit - what a nice break to the monotony of the days in the house! Shortly after she left, another one of my college friends Jessica stopped by with her little son, and brought me some surprise tasty treats of cheese and bread from our local cheesemonger! A wonderfully yummy break, and again, it was wonderful to see some fresh faces. Then, Melissa, my friend, and yet another college friend, who is also pregnant at about the same time frame as me, brought some Korean bimbimbap over for dinner, and we enjoyed the bimbimbap over some good laughter and conversation. I made some vanilla cupcakes for dessert, as well as a simple salad to start. Thursday was a wonderful break; otherwise, the week would have been quite dull indeed.

By that weekend, I needed a bit of time out of the house - after our dinner Friday night, I got Hubby to walk with me to our local custadry for a bit of sweet. Boy, it felt so good to be out of the house - it truly was a breath of fresh air, enough to help me feel more alive. And less horizontal - it's amazing that That Saturday morning, I walked to the farmer's market, the last showing of fruits vegetables for the year. I picked up some local Fuji apples, and I also made a stop to one of our local bakeries for some pastries.

So that was week 1, and by week 2, I was pretty much up and running again. Not by the literal sense, not at all - however, I did manage to keep myself busy at home, doing this and that, wrapping presents, completing Christmas shopping, and taking care of keeping the house in some semblance of order and cleanliness. And by the time Christmas rolled around, the house was in good order; Hubby had surprised me one weekend with our Christmas tree; and the tree was decorated and adorned with our presents. For Christmas, Dad had come down from Philadelphia, and my father in law also came over for Christmas Day dinner. And for that dinner... my bottled creativity got an outlet.

Red roasted pork shoulder
This was a dish that Hubby had requested, to nod to tradition of pork during the holidays. Granted, little Piglet will be born in the year of the Pig - and to that, we will withdraw from consuming pork the first week of its birth. But, for Christmas - we celebrated with pork.

To a whole pork shoulder, in a medium heavy pot, of material appropriate for long slow braising in the oven, I added water, just enough to cover. In the mean time, preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Bring to boil for 30 minutes, and drain. On the stove, cover the pork shoulder again, with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, salt, ginger, and water, and bring to a boil, for 1 hour. Approximate ratios of soy to sugar to salt to water, 1 : 1 : 1/2 : 6 - though I used too much water, and my shoulder came out somewhat bland. Ginger - I used two pieces.

Then the slow braise - I braised the shoulder for about 6 hours, and by the time it was done, the meat basically fell apart. Soft, tender, though not flavorful enough when I tasted it. Luckily, Dad came to my rescue, and recommended that I add some salt to the mixture about half an hour before the dish was scheduled to finish - and sure enough, it helped save the dish. Though the pork did not have as much depth of flavor as we've had at a restaurant one of our family friends owns in Philadelphia, it took for a good start. No doubt I will try this dish again - and hopefully with more tasteful results!

New Year's Eve. Hubby and I have taken to producing multi-course meals for our friends and colleagues; however, I have never had the pleasure of giving this treat to my own Hubby. December having been quite a trial of our patience and mortality, I thought it appropriate to have a celebratory dinner come the eve of the last day of the year. So for the dinner...

1. Bellinis. I made mine with peach puree and sparkling apple cider in lieu of champagne, Hubby's with sparkling rose and peach puree.
2. Chicken, asparagus, and parsley terrine, with cherry pear sauce. The terrine I prepared with vegetable stock. I stacked steamed asparagus with chicken and parsley on top, and poured on the stock/gelatin mixture.
3. Shepherd's pie - miniature versions, with toasted challah as the crust, in a small 2" round, stacked with roasted pork and buttered mashed potato topping.
4. Salami carpaccio with mixed greens. I used some cured beef (in lieu of the traditional raw variety), served with a mix of baby greens, olive oil, fresh squeeze of lemon juice, and freshly ground sea salt and pepper.
5. Roasted lamb chops with lemon risotto. I took advantage of Trader Joe's pre-marinated chops, roasted 2 each for us, and served with risotto cooked just to al-dente, with yet a bit of bite, and Hubby helped shave in a good portion of parmesan into the mixture. Making a small batch of this was much easier than making larger amounts for our typical 8-10 attendee parties.
6. Cheeses. From our local cheesemonger, I selected 3 hard cheeses, to help with digesting the meal.
7. King cake. I found the recipe online, baked the cake as I prepared the other dishes, and Hubby and I enjoyed the cake that evening, and for may days and evenings thereafter. This cake is a tradition of Mardi Gras proper - I decided to make this cake for reasons which I will explain below.
8. Hot chocolate. So easy, and so good when made from scratch. Half and half, mixed with shavings of bittersweet chocolate. The more chocolate, the richer. Bring to simmer, NOT BOIL, over low heat until melted. This I served in small shot glasses - as they were quite rich enough to have only in small doses, not much more.

So the background of this meal - I designed the meal along the lines of the 12 days of Christmas. The bird motifs - represented by the chicken terrine. Maids a milking, the cheese. Drummers, the shepherd's pie (in shape). Ladies dancing (Fruit of the holy spirit) - the bellinis and the pear sauce that accompanied the terrine. Lords a-leaping - the hot chocolate would be enough to send anyone leaping along through the night. 5 golden rings, well herein was the king cake.

So yes, I've been cooking, quite a bit. And yes, alas, I have left this blog to sit idle. Until now - my good friend Stef has called my attention back to it, and I can use this opportunity to continue tracking my culinary adventures and food habits as my pregnancy progresses. And yes, now, the belly has grown, quite a bit I might add. The countdown has begun to the birth date of little Piglet, who squiggles this way and that, making its presence quite known, to both Hubby and myself.

And now, for a little view of my most recent cooking adventure - this evening's dinner. Clockwise, from upper left - spicy squid with bell peppers; stir-fried chicken with mixed vegetables; salt and pepper fried shrimp; and simple stir-fried Chinese cabbage. The squid, I scored the inside of the squid pieces so that they would curl up as I stir fried them, added the bell peppers and a healthy dollop of spicy bean sauce. The chicken, I first seasoned the chicken slices with some salt, stir fried them with slices of carrots and a can of premixed Asian vegetables (baby corn, bamboo, and bean sprouts). The shrimps - just some oil, about a tablespoon, and cooked the shrimps until they curled and were opaque. A coarse grind of sea salt and black peppercorns, and the dish was done. And for the cabbage - thin slices of the stems, of about 12 leaves of cabbage, with larger slices of the leafy parts, tossed in 1 tablespoon of hot oil with baby shrimps. I added about 1/4 cup of chicken broth, covered the pan, and steamed the cabbage until done. Chinese cabbage, like most leafy vegetables, is a funny ingredient - you start with a huge pile of vegetables, and once done, the water has leached out of the vegetable and the cabbage completely deflates, to about 1/4 its original volume.

I return now to my blog - and I will try my damnest to keep it up day by day!

Good thanks for this year

2006-11-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

Wow, it has been quite a while! I am reporting here, from one of my sisters in law's house, in Charlotte. We're down here for Thanksgiving, catching up with both his sisters, and enjoying our growing family - both have little ones. I am, for one, very much looking forward to our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, as I know that we all have much to be thankful for this year. I gotta admit, when Hubby and I found out that we will be expecting, I felt a sense of relief, and I also realized the luck we had to be able to conceive - many friends and acquaintances have been having trouble trying to conceive. Having a child isn't the choice for every person, but for those who do want children and who are having trouble trying to conceive, I feel much sympathy. For Hubby and me, we didn't give it too much worry - we figured, if it is meant to happen, it will happen, and things will fall into place at the right time. We are definitely thankful this year for this new development in our life.

And to catch up - foodwise, this past week, let's see... We enjoyed some pho on a couple of occasions from a new joint that opened up in our hood, wonderful Vietnamese beef noodle soup if you are not familiar with pho. It's a heart-warming meal, of thinly sliced beef, with a variety of other meat parts as you may desire (I personally love the tendon and tripe in addition to the thinly sliced beef), fresh basil, fresh bean sprouts, a squeeze of lime, all with thin rice noodles in a fresh broth. So flavorful, and warming on these colder autumn nights. Weekend, I made some spaetzle and cubed beef schnitzel (not weiner schnitzel). The spaetzle was relatively easy to make, and unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it before we devoured it.

Spaetzle

1.5 cup flour, sifted into a medium bowl
2 eggs
.5 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

Get a pot of water boiling - and the key to flavorful spaetzle is to make sure that you salt the water amply. Mix the ingredients together into a smooth batter. Now, one of my sisters in law got me a spaetzle press last Christmas, so it is definitely much easier to pour the batter onto the plate and have them come out the right size as they drop into the boiling water; however, you can achieve the same results with smaller-sized spaetzle if you use a colander with larger holes (not one of those that has tiny perforations). Pour the batter onto the spaetzle press or the colander over the boiling water. The batter will fall as small lumps into the water, and they will float as they come done. As soon as they float to the surface, strain them out of the water, and let cool in a colander or on a plate.

To bring more flavor to the spaetzle - melt some butter in a frying pan, and toss in the spaetzle to coat and brown. Add spices as desired (I added some thyme and parsley).

As for the cubed-steak-schnitzel, it didn't come out as good as true weiner schnitzel - next time, I'll do at least pounded pork. The cubed steak, it was just too dense, with all the breading and such.

Earlier this week, on Monday, it was the anniversary of my mother's death - as a Taiwanese Buddhist, we typically observe these major days of the passed's life with an offering of a vegetarian meal. I believe this cermonial offering is a way for the living to be able to feel a continued connection with their passed relatives and friends, and to feel like there are things we can still do for them even after they are gone. Rushing home from work, I picked up a variety of fatayer from a local joint in DC, Fettoush - these are small pastries filled with a variety of items. To spare Hubby too much vegetarianism, I got a couple of pastries that also had ground meat in them; the other pastries had a variety of cheese, spinach, and tomatoes in them. Dessert was another small pastry, filled with walnuts and dates, and coated with a sweet rose water sauce. Hubby helped light some incense in preparation for the meal, and I heated up the pastries. I also made some hummus, with ground up chickpeas, olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt.

Yesterday evening, I met up with my other pregnant friend Melissa and a coworker Diane for dinner at Pasta Mia, in DC. This joint is famed for just what they do best - pasta. Big, heaping bowls of pasta, and they really do it well. I ordered the fettucini alla panna (fettucini with cream sauce); Melissa had the fusilli with vegetables, and Diane had the tortellini special. I can confidently say, I have never had a bad meal at this place. Granted, you have to wait a while to get seated, as they do not take reservations; it is cash only; and don't even think about substituting one sauce for another - but it is really wonderful munch. Their wine, also, does not fail to satisfy - even their house wines are great to have. This place really is structured after just sitting for a while, eating and drinking, and enjoying good company and good food. I really looked forward to this meal all Tuesday, you have no idea!

Today, we made our trek down to Charlotte. Breakfast, I had some bread pudding and a pear. Midmorning snack, after seeing our OB, I had a cheese danish, and I also enjoyed a persimmon. Lunchtime, we were part way down to Charlotte, and we stopped into a Chick-Fil-A - first time I've been in I don't even remember how long. I had their 8-piece chicken nugget meal with fresh fruit in lieu of the waffle fries; but I did partake in some of Hubby's fries. Afternoon, I noshed on some salt and vinegar potato chips, and I also enjoyed an apple. Later afternoon, I had a slice of carrot bread, left over from the weekend. And as for dinner tonight, there is this great joint called Wild Wings that we order from just about each time we come down to Charlotte to visit the sisters - I enjoyed a couple of slices of veggie pizza with some buffalo wings and a house salad. All in all - a really yummy, albeit not as healthy as usual, day!

Much to be thankful for this year - and another wonderful meal to be had tomorrow!

A window into a soul

2006-11-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I got a chance to go to Hubby's class! It was a great opportunity to see his crew at UMD, and a wonderful time I had. I got to participate in the crit of the work, and the discussions about design were a wonderful break from the hum-drum of the daily grind. As for the day, however, it really was very drab - rain all day long, humid, warm, truly icky. I think it may be the Thanksgiving bug settling in for the long haul until next Thursday!

Foodwise... I am still nursing something of a cold here, so I kept my fruit intake up. First half of the day - I had a banana, pear, and clementine. Lunchtime, I got a grilled ham and swiss, but the "grill" this particular joint used was nothing more than their standard frying surface. So, it was two slabs butter with a side of wheat bread, ham, and cheese. I had half the sandwich, a bag of chips, and threw out the other half - it really was just too greasy. Before heading off to class with Hubby, I enjoyed a pear, and tossed out the core in some woodsy areas en route, hoping that some small critter will find it and enjoy it.

Dinner, we stopped into a Campero Pollo joint - neither of us have been to a Campero Pollo, so naturally, curiosity got us sniffing. Funny thing is, at every fried chicken joint, the air always smells the same outside! We were thoroughly convinced that whenever someone decides to open up a fried chicken joint, they have to purchase the exact same machine that pumps out the exact same smell of some "magic" fried chicken. Because, see - outside, it smelled just like any KFC or Popeyes. Inside, well, the chicken was all right, but it wasn't that great - too salty, not enough of a crust. But, we did also enjoy some yuca fries, which was a great treat, and I also enjoyed some mango flan as the dessert.

This is the FIRST time during the pregnancy I have caved to my fried-chicken addiction - yes, really! Alas, the drumstick kid's meal I had just barely satisfied my addiction... until another time for that wonderful fried chicken!

Midweek with a cold!

2006-11-15T23:00:00.001-05:00

Grrrr - somehow, I have suddenly come down with a cold. It started yesterday with a sneezing fit - I thought I was hitting my allergy season full throttle, but my stuffy nose is still sticking with me. Alas, I'm going to stick it out, get enough sleep, and make sure I eat more fruits. Usually, I give it a couple of days, and it'll go away with some TLC. And for TLC... here's what I've been eating the last couple of days.

(Piglet has been moving around and kicking - it's exciting to feel the movement!)

Monday - fruits during the day, apple, pear, clementine, banana. And, I had some little pineapple pastry treats from Dad this past weekend when I visited him - he, in turn, had gotten these treats from his recent trip to Taiwan. Lunchtime, I had a cobb salad - trying to make sure I'm eating a good variety of foods, and having some raw vegetables or fruits at each meal. Evening, I served up a green lettuce salad with pomegranates and beef noodle soup (also from Dad's kitchen). We also enjoyed a Taiwanese engagement pastry, one of Hubby and my favorite treats from Taiwan.

The beef noodle soup is, actually, pretty easy to make, as Dad told me:

Dad's Beef Noodle Soup
Coarsely chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, beef (I think Dad uses stewing beef). Season the beef with salt, pepper, and Chinese spicy bean sauce, and set aside for 15 minutes. Add all ingredients with cold water, enough for the amount of soup you'd like to have (the ingredients should comprise half of the total volume). Bring to a simmer, and skim off any scum that comes to the surface. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper, red chili peppers, and a touch of sugar. Simmer slowly until ready to serve - I think he simmers it for about an hour. Season to taste.

In the mean time, blanch some Napa cabbage, and cook up some pasta (he uses Chinese egg noodles, but fettucini would work just as well) until al dente.

To serve, divide up the pasta and Napa cabbage for individual servings in individual bowls, and ladle on the beef soup.

This is a great noodle soup for our onslaught of cold weather days!

As for yesterday, I had back-to-back meetings (again!), from morning through the afternoon. I enjoyed a banana and a pear in the morning. Lunchtime, I had myself a ham sandwich with cucumbers. And in the afternoon, I had an apple and a clementine. After my evening yoga class, I brought home some sandwiches from Cosi for dinner - a tomato/mozzarella/basil and a chicken pesto sandwich, for Hubby and me.

And today, another day of back-to-back meetings. I enjoyed some cereal this morning, as well as a banana. On my way to my first meeting of the morning, I had a pear. Lunchtime, I stopped by a Bob Evan's, all because it really was just too tempting - but I was good! I ordered a BLT&E - bacon/lettuce/tomato and egg sandwich, with a side of fresh fruits. In the afternoon, on my way back, I enjoyed an Asian apple pear. Back at the office, I had some pomegranate while I caught up with everything from the day and from the week. And this evening, we decided to just get some Indian take-out - chicken kabob, with a side of chole (chickpeas w/spicy tomato sauce) and some raita (cucumber yogurt). Yummy dinner, and now, just relaxation. And blog catchup.

This week has just been endless meetings so far, day in and day out! Whew, running around can be exhausting. Luckily, I've kept a supply of my fruits with me, so between meetings, I've enjoyed some healthy snacks and kept my hunger in check.

So far, despite the back pain, the pregnancy has been survivable. And so long as I can keep my weight gain steady, instead of spiking suddenly over such short periods of time, I'm hoping I'll be able to endure the rest of the pregnancy. Over the hump, looking forward to Thursday!

Catch up time

2006-11-12T20:41:00.000-05:00

This past week, whew, another whirlwind week of meetings, meetings, and more meetings. I felt like I was running everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. Foodwise... not much to report, did eat out several dinners, and lunches weren't all too eventful. I've made a conscious decision to make a lot more of the meals I eat, so that I can monitor what I consume and keep tabs on, especially, the amount of salt and unhealthy fats I'm eating. Eating out, it's too easy to just eat without actively thinking about what it is that I'm putting into my body. So this upcoming week, let's call it detox week.

Otherfoodwise, I've still been eating a lot of fruits each day, varying what I'm eating to keep my palate entertained. The daily variety usually consisted of an apple, an Asian apple-pear, and either a pear or some grapes. I also supplemented with small snacks of Stoned Wheat Thin crackers and plenty of water. And when I stepped on the scale this evening, whoa, what to my surprise - I've picked up a whopping 16 pounds already. Detox week, this is a definite. If anything, I need to get back on being more active - been missing my bike rides and yoga, and I've just been vegging out on the couch.

So the prospect of the fact that I'm growing so fast, and the developing pain in my lower back got me thinking. First, I don't want to become the poster child for the middle-America, Wal-Mart-toting, Wonder-Bread-devouring, hypocritical people that I detest - the ones who blame everyone for the problems with their lives but themselves, and those who refuse to change simply because it's easier to just do what's easiest thing, not necessarily what they know deep down they have to do. And I definitely don't want to become the slogan I've heard over and over, from one person to another: Don't worry about eating everything right now, you're pregnant, and eating for 2! Right...people, that's one person and a maybe-7 or 8 pound baby. Not two 135 pound adults. My frame is small enough, and if I don't keep a watch on it, I'll end up turning into the 500 pound sloth that will need people to help move out of the bedroom. It's time to keep things in check, to make sure that I make each calorie count, and to not eat absentmindedly.

It also got me thinking. I want to make sure that when we have this child, I am walking the talk that I tote. I sincerely believe that we, individually, have the power to create change in the world, and that settling for just what everyone else does is not acceptable. I hope that when we have this child, I will be walking the walk, so that the child truly has someone to look up to, and not just someone who spews the talk without true example. Settling for second best is not acceptable, not when innocence of a developing and receiving mind is at stake.

If we all were to truly walk the walk that we talk - bringing the two together may be the most difficult thing for a person to do. I'm going to try my best to walk my talk, for future's sake.

Busy weekend

2006-11-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

So this weekend came and went with much fervor. Yesterday, I spent much of the day enjoying the company of a neighbor's wonderful little dog Max, as she was away for a day trip up to the Big Apple. Max is one of those wonderful dogs that spoil you if you're wondering what it takes to care for a pet. He's well-behaved, for the most part pretty calm (even though he does have some Jack Russell in him), and he has a full assortment of expressions to be able to communicate with you. He kept me company while I prepared some food for a dinner with friends yesterday evening - I cooked up a vegetable and meatball soup as a starter, along with baking a coconut cake for dessert. While all the cooking was going on, he was completely mezmerized by the squirrels and birds hanging out on our deck, enjoying the nuts and seeds I had left out, mostly for the birds, and true to his Jack roots, bounced up and down like a basketball whenever he saw a squirrel scurry about the deck. What great huggable company, and we also enjoyed a couple of good afternoon walks around the neighborhood.

Vegetable and Meatball Soup
So basic, really easy. Diced up onions, carrots, celery, turnip, and beet. I also used a sprig of sage in the soup. Got my pot good and hot, and sliced in about a tablespoon of butter. I sauteed the onions until translucent, and then I added the carrots and celery. Mixed those up a bit, just to sweat a bit, and then added the turnip and the sage. To this mixture, I added one box of organic chicken broth, and let it simmer about 2 hours (it can be much shorter, but I just let it cook while I got the cake started up and made the meatballs). At the very end, I added the beets and meatballs, and brought the soup to a boil, just to cook the meatballs through. Then that was it - I removed the sage, and the soup was ready for serving.

Coconut Cake
I pulled a recipe from epicurious.com for the coconut cake - a dense cake, and when I baked in a 12" springform pan, it finished in 50 minutes. I also used a 7 minute frosting, a la Paula Dean on foodnetwork.com (this involved emulsification of egg whites into a mixture of superfine sugar and water in a double boiler), and coated the outside with sweetened coconut. We had some last night at the party, and this morning, Hubby and I had 2 more slices left for our enjoyment. It tasted pretty good last night, but it definitely tasted better this morning.

And now we are on to this morning. We had commissioned a piece of art, about 2'x6', a while back, from local artist Kevin Kepple. He, along with his representatives at the Addion Ripley Gallery, came by this morning with the piece. Needless to say, we were very excited about the piece and regarded with much anticipation our opportunity to see the finished piece. We were not disappointed. The piece has wonderful undulating movement about it, in red, depth, texture, and we can tell that in our living room, this piece will take on different appearances over the course of even one day. Just even, as we were sitting there looking at this piece, I could see so many different aspects jump out at me, at different times of studying it. To Kevin's credit, he has so much talent; and, as he says to ours, we gave him complete free reign to develop the piece. The only criteria we gave him was that the piece was to be of a long linear form - he came up with the rest. And we are so very much looking forward to seeing this piece in its different aspects of growth for years to come.

So, we had some visitors this morning - and to prepare just a little snack for everyone, I threw together an oven pancake, a la Fine Cooking.

Oven Pancake

2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk (I didn't have milk this morning, so I used heavy cream)
dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 450 - start off the preheat process with a heavy cast-iron skillet already in the oven, and lower the rack to the lowest level. I mixed all ingredietns together in the blender, whipping at highest speed to bring as much air into the mixture. Once the oven temperature reached the desired temperature, add 2 tablespoons of butter to the hot skillet, making sure to coat all sides of the pan. Pour in the batter, and bake for 14 minutes - the batter will curl up and puff up.

Serve hot with syrup, butter, honey - drizzle of choice!

So that was breakfast, and after everyone left, Hubby and I set to painting the wall where the painting will go. White walls - they may be pretty benign, but boy, they'll pick up any and every scuff mark there is. So, a new coat went on today, and our wall looks just about ready to receive its new decoration.

The rest of the day - we enjoyed a Cirque du Soleil show downtown, with a little sip of champagne, and some munchies they were passing around the tent. After the show, we joined our friends Phanie, with her husband Jimmy, and enjoyed dinner at Rosa Mexicana - just some appetizers and drinks. I enjoyed my usual CranGinger, and we ordered some Queso Fundido and flautas - Phanie and Jimmy ordered the guacamole. I have to admit - usually, their guac is salty, at least the last couple of times I've gone, but this time, it was right on, very mild and flavorful. We enjoyed good company, good eats, and it lands us to where we are now - bedtime. So it is good night to all - until the next meal!

Hide and Seek

2006-11-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

Wow, another week that has just flown by! With Halloween the event of the week on Tuesday, and Monday and Wednesday being the days before and after Halloween, well, that just left us with yesterday, and here we are at today, Friday. Food highlights for the week...

Our good friends Ron and Laura had a Halloween party at their house Tuesday evening, and to celebrate, I brought an oh-so-scary eyeball cheesecake. I used just the basic recipe from Philly Cream Cheese, but substituted almond extract for the vanilla extract. I made sure to whip up the filling nice and fluffy before pouring it into my graham cracker crust. Then, after baking the cheesecake, I let it cool completely on a rack before sticking it into the fridge - this prevented the surface from cracking.

For the decoration part of the evening, I used a mini springform pan to create the iris (green, as requested by green-eyed Hubby), and displaced the green sprinkles of the iris with a small Ateco cookie cutter for the cocoa pupil. The capillaries around the iris, I heated up some strawberry jelly, cooled it down to touch, and filled a snack-size Ziploc bag. After snipping just a tiny opening at one of the corners, I was able to draw the capillaries. A yummy, scary delight!

Otherfoodwise... Wednesday night, I fixed up some mache salad and a baked-ziti stuffed roasted bell pepper. On my way home from work, I stopped by our local organic supermarket and picked up some mache - from CIA week, this is a buttery, mild baby green. Using my mandoline, I sliced a miniature bartlett pear paper thin for garnish and for a pearing (haha!) for the mache. I also made a simple viniagrette with balsamic, walnut oil, sea salt, and fresh coarse-ground pepper. This pairing was quite nice - buttery flavor of the mache paired with the sweetness of the pears and the deep sweet and tartness of the balsamic, cut by the sharp flavors of sea salt and pepper.

Stuffed bell peppers

Here's what I did...

1 red bell pepper, roasted on open flame (on our gas range, easily done while I got some of the other ingredients together) and sliced in half (removed stem and seeds)
Pasta (small pieces) quick cooked to JUST al dente, since it will get cooked again in the oven (don't overcook it, otherwise, you'll end up with mushy pasta - ewwwww!)
Pasta sauce (premade, I used Newman's Own Cabernet Marinara)
Ricotta
Shredded mozzarella

While the bell pepper roasted on our range, I boiled up some water, salted it, and quick-cooked the ziti to just al dente. To about 1 cup of pasta sauce, I added an equal part of ricotta. I also added about 1/8 cup of mozzarella to this mixture. Once the pasta was done, I drained it and mixed it with the tomato sauce mixture, and

Once the ziti finished cooking, I stuffed the mixture into each half of the bell pepper - no worries if it stuffs higher than the pepper. Bake this for about 15 minutes, until the cheese melts.

So that was Wednesday's dinner, and last night, Hubby decided to take an evening off from teaching (yay, I got more Hubby time!), and I brought home a Margherita pizza from Pizzaria Paradiso. And as for my lunches and breakfasts, I didn't vary too much this week - another vendor took us out to lunch yesterday, where I enjoyed some lobster ravioli; and another day, I stopped by a Dean and Deluca's for some thin-sliced charcuterie and cheese, to have with my Asian apple pear and some stoned wheat thins. Breakfasts, well, we've got a whole stash of baked goods (our kitchen island looks like some baker just deposited all the treasures of a solid weekend of baking), so each day, I had some variation of carrot cake, raspberry swirl bread, chocolate cake (yes, I have caved to having a bit of chocolate here and there), raisin bread, or baguette bread pudding.

Today, since autumn has definitely settled into the DC area, I got some Manhattan-style clam chowder for lunch, along with a Thai chicken egg roll, also from Dean and Deluca, along my walk back from having a pedicure. As for tonight - I'm planning on making some shepherd's pie, to help warm the tummy for the cooler evening!

As for the title of today's post - we went and had a visit with the OB this morning. He used this little handheld unit, to listen for the baby's heartbeat. Well, what we do know about our little guy, it's one active little piglet (since, yes, it will be born in the year of the piggy). OB took one scan, found the heartbeat for, oh, all of 3 seconds. And then, off it went. He wasn't worried - he was like, "and there it goes!" Scans again, finds the heartbeat in another area, and again, the 3 second performance and the curtain closed. Again. At this point, I was in a fit of giggles, as was Hubby. OB scans again, and after some difficulty, finds the little bugger in yet another area, and was able to get the heartbeat reading for all of 10 seconds before it decided it really didn't like this machine poking at it and sending radiowaves to it, and runs off again to a quieter area of my abdomen. The little piglet knows a good game when it sees it, and it has made a full playground of my abdomen!

The tally of clothes

2006-10-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

These days, it seems like the hardest thing is to not simply replace my entire wardrobe. My regular pants are getting too tight (even with the hair-rubber-band-loop-through-the-button-hole trick), but my maternity pants make me feel like I'm wearing a hefty bag from my waist down. Pants are still falling down, and I've hit several websites, finding stuff for my growing body, and I'm slowly building up my maternity wardrobe. Here's a running tally (and this is for my own curiosity as well), and how much I've paid for my wardrobe so far (including taxes/shipping where applicable):

Black pants, Gap Maternity ($32, on sale)
Jeans, Liz Lange for Target ($30)
Black long-sleeved T, Motherhood ($12)
Black short-sleeved T, Motherhood ($10)
Red short-sleeved T, Motherhood ($10)
Black empire waist dress, Motherhood ($42)
Khaki shorts, Motherhood ($20)
Black turtleneck, Old Navy ($20)
Green cargo pants, Old Navy ($24)
B/W/Red Flower halter top, Japanese Weekend ($25)
Pastel Flower halter tunic, Japanese Weekend ($24)
Black/Red print wrap dress, Japanese Weekend ($130)

So the grand total so far, for my growing wardrobe, is about $380. I also got some things yesterday from H&M, not from their maternity Mama line, but just their regular line - I may return some of them today, depending on what I find at in their Mama department. The wardrobe is definitely growing, and I'm trying to make sure that all the pieces can coordinate with one another, so that no one piece is a uni-tasker.

Foodwise this week - not that much to report from the week. Daytime diet wasn't that spectacular - I had my usual daily helpings of apples, Asian apple-pears, grapes, and yogurt. Lunches, most of them were purchased sandwiches. Dinner...Monday evening, I made scallion pancakes, which Hubby lent his help to roll out and to pan fry; with seafood soup (shrimp, fish, sea scallops, fish balls, scallions, and carrots). Tuesday, I didn't feel that hungry, after a late lunch of ham and cheese sandwich, so I helped myself to some great Kashi TLC crackers with cream cheese and cotswald from our local cheesemonger. Wednesday evening, I cooked up a quiche lorraine, with bacon, asparagus, and goat cheese (but used too much cream and not enough egg - too liquidy). Thursday, we had an evening event at Hubby and my previous firm, where they host an Art Night to showcase art from local artists, so we went, had some cheese and crackers, and also met up with my friend Jennifer, for art perusing and dinner at Bistro Francaise - I had an overly salty French onion soup and some escargot with butter and garlic. And last night, Friday night, pooped from the week - I enjoyed a helping of Hubby's wonderful PB&J on wheat bread.

This morning, at first anticipating rain from the forecast, but pleasantly surprised by the clear beautiful day outside, I took my usual walk down to the farmer's market to see what was available from the local farms. With the fall season coming into full swing, there wasn't much ware out there - more prepared foods than anything. I helped support the local high school with a purchase of a slice of apple pie (no worries to Hubby, since, gulp, he doesn't like apple pie - and he's supposedly the American, not me!); and then, with apple pie in spoon and hand, I moved on to other stands. I picked up some Asian apple pears, some Fuji apples, a red bell pepper, some small bartlett pears, and 2 loaves of prepared breads (raspberry swirl, and carrot loaf, yum!). The stands are thinning out from the height of the summer, but I am looking forward to setting some root vegetables into the ground this autumn, to see how well they'll fare during the colder months - so, I didn't really feel that sad that the growing season for most is coming to a close. On my walk home, I also stopped by our local bakery to pick up a baguette (addictive in this household, and I may start trying my hand at the French loaves at home again this fall).

So that brings me to now. After unloading my produce finds this morning, and hearing Hubby shuffling about (ah-ha! the bear wakes from his slumber!), I sliced up a couple of slices of the what raisin bread I had remaining from loaf I got from the market last weekend, and got ready to make some French toast. Mine, I like them plain - I know, most people will mix in spices and sugar into their egg mixture, but I like mine just plain. This way, the raisin bread gets to sing the song of its wonderful flavor, without getting overwhelmed by other ingredients.

French Toast (with raisin bread)
Dunk thick sliced raisin bread into a flat lipped pan with 2 whisked eggs - press to soak in the egg. Heat up the frying pan, and with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Bring the pan to medium heat, and lay on the egg-dunked slices of bread, one at a time. About 4 minutes each side, and I pressed on the top to make sure the egg did squish out where needed, so that it was cooked through. Brown on each side.

And that, with a glass of OJ, was it for this morning! Wonderful breakfast... well, yes, 2 parter, since I also had the slice of apple pie at the market... and then I finished the last of my hemming tasks. I finally got all my pants hemmed (you have to understand, some of these pants have been sitting around, unhemmed, for well over 6 months now), but I know I won't be able to wear them until after the pregnancy. But, at the least, they are done and ready. Whew!

OK, with apple and water in tow, I am off to check out H&M today, to see what they have downtown in their Mama line. Wish me luck!

1st day for maternity wear

2006-10-23T11:45:00.000-04:00

So last night, at long last, I hemmed my maternity pants. They've been sitting around for about 3 weeks now, unhemmed, and dragging on the floor like the arms of a sloth. This morning, I was all excited, to wear my maternity pants for the first time. And this morning's experience has definitely confirmed my fears: I am officially in between just about everything. Too big for my regular pants. Too small for maternity pants. These damn things have an elastic waist, but they're slipping off every time I sit down or stand up, enough to look just somewhat low-rise and to make my bootie look saggy. So, if you happen to walk around DC and see some chick walking like a penguin with pants slowly making their southward migration...be a dear, help me out.

I'll call it my sympathy catwalk strut for the baby's first sans-clothing days.

Bike ride to recenter

2006-10-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

I did my bike commute today, 14 miles, and it definitely helped me recenter. The last couple of weeks were crazy, with daytime and evening events, deadlines, and culmination in our baby-announcement party this past weekend. Today, at first, I didn't feel like biking, but I decided to get off my lazy ass and hop back on the bike. I have to admit - it really paid off. My bike commute allows me to gear up for my day at the beginning of the day without the white-knuckle stress during rush hour; clear up my mind at the end of the day; and I don't have to worry about parking during the day. And with the earlier sunset, the ride home is beautiful, with the ducks and geese gathering at the side of the Potomac for their evening swims and dinners.

This morning's ride was not terribly eventful - well, that is, until I tried to walk backwards with my bike to scan my access card to open the office building's entry door. What to my surprise, I tripped over the pedal, and down I went. Luckily, I had some insulation (i.e., my growing ass) to buffer the fall, and outside of a scrape from the gear plate on my leg, I was pretty much OK. So apparently, I can bike on 2 wheels all just fine; but get me on that left-foot-right-foot walking thing, and I'm just a mess. Get me my skateboard already!

This evening, with Hubby at a crit at University of Maryland, I was left to my own devices for dinner. The weather is beginning to cool, so I decided to make some chicken pot pies, modified.

Chicken Pot Puff Pastries

Puff Pastry shells
Chicken breast, defrosted, cubed, and seasoned
Variety of vegetables, diced (I used sugar snap peas, celery, and carrots)
Salt
Thyme
Oregano
Majoram
Tarragon
Cream
slurry of corn starch and water

I tossed the puff pastry shells into the toaster oven, and baked per package instructions. While the shells baked, I cubed the chicken breasts and diced the vegetables. In a pan, I heated up some oil, sauteed the chicken, and once the chicken was opaque, I added the vegetables, the seasoning, and some water to simmer the mixture. I also added cream and the slurry to thicken.

Both parts, the chicken/vegetable mixture and the puff pastry shells, finished cooking at about the same time. I filled the shells with the mixture, and poured some of the sauce on top. This I had with some steamed carrots. Tasty, buttery, and almost all home-made - and on top of all that, this dinner didn't take longer than 1/2 hour to make. That's a winner in my book!

Busy week, party weekend, and a green finish

2006-10-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

Our shortened week last week resulted in 2 days away from the office: one, a holiday, and the other, a trip to NeoCon East in Baltimore for a design trade show. Then, another day, I was out of the office the whole day, at meetings in the morning and in the afternoon. Meetings left, meetings right - it wasn't a light week, that is for sure. I promised myself that, with my growing belly, this weekend, I would hem the pants I got last weekend - well, it is Sunday night, and that didn't happen. It definitely was a busy, crazy week, with no time left to blog on.

We hosted a party last night for our friends, mostly to make the official announcement to everyone that yes, we are having a baby. Most already knew, but for a handful, this was exciting news indeed. This being our 17th week, Hubby and I are both getting more excited about our future prospect, and reality is unfolding, albeit slowly. I've even started feeling a bit of movement! Yesterday morning, as I woke up, and we began talking about preparations for our afternoon party, I rolled over from my right side onto my back, and I suddenly felt this little lump in my belly push upward from under the belly button! It was weird and exciting all at the same time. Now, you have to understand, I am picturing that scene out of Alien - you know which one I'm talking about. So this upward pressure, I'm envisioning my insides getting completely torn out in no time, as I am sure will undoubtedly happen.

So for our party...

Asian Chicken Wings

Chicken wings, seasoned with salt and pepper, and marinated in:
Soy sauce
Garlic
Scallions
Ginger powder

There are a million and one ways to make these wings. I chose to deep fry them first, and then season them with more of the same mixture of sauce (I also added a touch of sugar and some Sriracha for spice), because I didn't get to marinating the wings until about an hour before the party. Typically, they do best when marinated overnight, so that the flavor goes completely through the wings, but I didn't get to get the wings until the afternoon of the party. Otherwise, you can marinate the wings overnight, and choose to either deep fry them, or pan fry and then simmer them on low in a mixture of about 1 part soy with 4 parts water. Either way, these wings are great, and they went pretty quickly!

Scallion Pancakes

Dad was in charge of making these savory snacks, and he made them wonderfully! He gave me a hard time when he discovered that the first trial pancake I fired up, I did it without any oil in the pan. Granted, they came out dry and hard, but, I told him, they're also healthier, and with a dipping sauce, they could pass. He vehemently disagreed - and these are words coming from someone who typically eats very healthy foods!

Flour
Hot (boiled) Water
Sesame Oil
Salt
Scallions, chopped finely

Mix flour with some boiled water, enough to knead into a dough. We never measure the quantities - we just keep mixing a bit of water into the flour until the dough comes together. Dad told me, this is what we call cooked dough, since it's made with boiled water instead of cold water. Roll out a fistful of dough into a round, brush it with a mixture of sesame oil, salt, and scallions (make sure to have enough salt - it does help season the pancakes and make them tasty), and roll up the round. Stand the dough roll up on one end, and squish it down. Roll it out again. This process (and I've repeated it a couple of times more other times I've made these pancakes) gives the pancakes their flaky texture.

Heat up just enough oil in a pan to coat the bottom, and once the oil is hot enough to pan fry these pancakes, lay one down into the oil. Fry one side until browned, then turn over and fry the other side. Serve either plain or, if you end up with tasteless bricks like those I've churned out in the past sans oil in the pan, with a dipping sauce of choice (I like mixtures of vinegar with ginger, or soy with Sriracha, or soy with ginger and garlic).

Cucumber sandwiches

Easy, easy, easy. I seasoned cream cheese with a touch of cumin, chopped scallions, and parsley. Spread it on a little bread round (we used baguettes sliced thin), and pair with slices of cucumbers.

Tostones

These were made by Father in Law (FIL) - and they are such wonderful Puerto Rican snacks. He sliced up boiled plantains, pressed them thin (to about 1/4" thickness), and towel dry the little guys. In a pan, pour in about 1/2" of oil, and heat up for frying. Lay in enough tostones to fill the pan, but do not crowd. Flip them over once as they brown on the bottom side, and fry until thoroughly browned. Season lightly with kosher salt.

So that was the cooked part of our party - we also set out variety of cheeses, cubed melons, raw vegetables, and a slew of drinks. I scored a virgin Pina Colada - yay! Dad made it for me, and it was wonderful. By the end of the night, we had a crew of about 6 of us that remained, so we decided to fire up the grill. I marinated some chicken drumsticks in basically the same mixture we had for the wings, and we also had steaks marinating in some adobo seasoning (salt, tumeric, oregano, garlic) and onions. We added to these vegetable sides, of tomatoes, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Our crew of 6 were quite happy to enjoy the smaller dinner after the roar of the crowd had left.

Today, Hubby and I were quite well exhausted. After enjoying a breakfast of ginger pound cake one of our guests brought for us, and seeing Dad off, we crashed out on the couch for about an hour in the afternoon. There was the Green Festival going on at the Convention Center, so we hauled our asses off the couch to go check it out. We met up with our good friend Bonnie, who was with us last night at the party with her boyfriend Andrew (Ha! Andrew was a touch hung over after our party, so he didn't join us.). This convention, I also attended last year, and it brings together all kinds of Green companies - green eating, co-ops, green building materials, green politics, green ideas, green products. This year, there seemed to be a lot more food companies who set up stands than last year. Some local companies - Honest Tea was out, with samples of their teas. Bonnie, Hubby, and I each got different teas, and sampled each others: Pearfect White Tea, Mango White Tea, and Just Green Tea. Bonnie felt her Pearfect White Tea was a touch on the bitter side, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. The Mango and the Just Green were both winners on our palates. From My Organic Market, a local organic supermarket, we sampled some barbeque chips. We also sampled bites from free-trade chocolate makers, Clif bars, Luna bars, Nature's Valley chocolate soy milk and OJ, wonderful almond butter with honey, and some chocolate crackers. Bonnie and I also scored boxes of Annie's Organic White Cheddar Bunnies and Graham Bunnies - no bunnies were harmed in the making of the, um, bunnies!

We also saw some vendors for organic cotton diapers and organic cotton onesies. Both areas were very informative, and the onesies were really cute. We're still researching the options for diapering and clothing, but, both having grown up with cloth diapers, Hubby and I are definitely considering cloth diapers as a strong option. Seventh Generation, I am glad to say, also makes chlorine-free disposable diapers - a good alternative for convenience. We came away from this convention with some more information about available products, and the strong turnout at the event gave me hope that people are realizing, or at least curious, about green options to conventional living. Hey, if our palates at the convention are any indication, going green is at the least tasty!

OK, long week, long weekend, ready for bed. Til tomorrow!

Clothing, SCORE!

2006-10-10T22:30:00.000-04:00

After searching for clothes at online retailers, ordering some from Motherhood, and being disheartened by what I found in the maternity department at Target, I decided to go for another hunt yesterday. Morning, I started off with a visit to the local mall, where I hit several stores, some for maternity only, some just regular clothes. My first stop was Arden B. Luckily, right now, empire waist styles are still en vogue, so I'm finding some luck with just regular fashion-forward clothes that can still accommodate my growing belly. Case in point - a couple of weeks ago, during Hubby and my first excursion to find some maternity clothes, we stopped into Express, primarily for the great men's shirts that Hubby wanted to check out. I regarded their heap of summer clothes, all on sale, with some fear, and decided, oh, why the hell not, just dig right in and see what I can find. Narrowing down by preferred colors definitely helped cut down the hunt time. I pulled out one top that I liked, a red satin number, in small. It seemed narrower up top, and then, in classic empire fashion, it bellowed out just below the belly. When we went to try on our clothes, it fit just perfectly! And with room to grow! And it was on sale! So for now, while empire styles are still in fashion - it's a great time to stock up on some of these tops before they leave the stores, and still have clothes that will fit a growing belly (without the growing maternity clothing price tag).

So yesterday... I stopped into Arden B, and found myself a black dress, strappy number, empire waist. It fit great, was a jersey material that won't wrinkle, but Hubby ruled the straps too fussy when I brought it home. (When I returned it today, the Then, I stopped into Motherhood, and I found a pair of khaki shorts with a belly band (perfect for this little watermelon I'm starting to sport), and another black empire-waisted dress. Funny thing on the second black dress, Hubby wasn't sure he would like it when I first pulled it out of the bag, but when I put it on, he ended up liking it. It was a similar jersey material, so no wrinkles, with wider-set straps. And for all of $40, I say it was a great buy. I also stopped into Pea in the Pod (which also carried some Mimi Maternity items), but I didn't really find anything. For now, I'm looking for basics, and clean-cut ones, since I'm definitely finding that a body out of the acceptable skinny norm looks a lot better in cleaner designs that in fussier ones. Contrary to what I am sure is some advice somewhere out there, heavier bodies typically look better in cleaner designs. All those straps, patterns, fussy layers, etc - the only thing I found was that well, it just made me look more like a strapped sausage, patterned beach ball, and much too layered to be anything but tiramisu with some serious identity issues.

I headed home, where Hubby and I shared some lunch. This was such a rare treat! Usually, we don't get a chance to meet up for lunch, and this was one of those few opportunities. So for lunch, I baked up some French fries, and made some simple ham sandwiches. OK, not that simple, but they are really good.

Taipei street food - ham sandwiches
In Taipei, some (OK, I only found 1 during the whole summer I spent there back when I was in school) street vendors sell these sandwiches for breakfast. Simple white bread sandwich, with ham, egg, cucumber, mayo, and butter. Yes, mayo AND butter - I don't know that we really could add more fat to this sandwich besides deep frying these suckers in lard. And the street vendors, they butter both sides of each slice of bread before throwing it down onto the frying pan! It's no wonder, after eating one of these street wonderments, I felt like I was ready for sleep again.

Yesterday, I did a somewhat simpler sandwich. I omitted the egg (mostly because I forgot about it), used whole wheat bread, and used vegan mayo on my sandwich. The ham, we also used organic ham, no preservatives. I sliced one of the cucumbers my father gave me, enough for about 6 slices per sandwich, thin slices. I toasted the bread, and buttered only one side of each slice. I lopped on some mayo, layered on the ham and cucumber slices, and there we were, lunch ready to go. With the fries, it was a perfect meal!

Afternoon, I spent some time reading the Baby Bargains book our good neighbor JC gave us. She found the book very useful when she was preggers with her little one, and thought we would be as well. What a treat! The book was chocked full of tips, websites, comparisons, details, prices - you name it, it got it. So, I hit the maternity clothing section. I found that there were whole slews of maternity websites I hadn't hit. Motherwear.com - great styles, and I may pick out one or two as accent pieces as my wardrobe grows with my belly. Japaneseweekend.com was another great website, mostly for ideas, since most of their pieces were pretty expensive. I also checked out duematernity.com, estyle.com, and nordstrom.com - they all have wonderful styles to browse. Most were out of the price range I was looking at for the clothes to last me through the next 5 months, and they had styles that were too trendy to be timeless for the future possible bambino numero due e tre. But hey, that's further down the road. For the time being, Hubby and I have decided to not get anything until we need it. And for the time being, I just need some basic tops, and some pants that can allow my belly to breathe comfortably at the end of the day.

So, after surfing the web for a while, I decided to just make Target my last stop. Hubby had helped me pick out some jeans and black pants from Gap Maternity a couple of weeks ago, but I was floored by how expensive their clothes were for what they were offering. Granted, Gap, I've trusted their clothes for years now, but I felt like at their prices, they knew maternity hunters were locked in and can be chumped out of their money because they have you where they want you - on the demand side of supply. So, I went for a search for those very pieces, black pants and jeans. I usually take a size 6, so I figured, oh, why not, let's start there. Well, the Liz Lange size 6 jeans with belly band (oh belly band, so on my tummy!), it was swimming around my belly like a swim donut. So, I tried the size 4, still swimming. Then, it was down to a size 2. That, it fit well, and my belly still had some room to grow. Who knew! The black pants, I wanted something a little looser, so I pulled a size 4. It fit well, but Hubby wasn't impressed with the overall fit when I brought it home. So off it went, back to the store today - but the jeans were keepers.

So, so far... Motherhood, I got basic basics. I did keep one dress shirt from the pile of clothes I got, but we'll see how the quality goes, as I've heard negative reviews of the quality of their clothes. Target's Liz Lange line, quality isn't as great as I would like, but I'm curious to see how long the jeans will last - otherwise, they fit just great. Gap Maternity, I'm keeping those black pants. Their fit, still clean and well constructed, but I wasn't so impressed with their pricing, but I have yet to find another pair of black pants that fit just as well and are still at their price range. Mimi Maternity, middle-of-the-road, wonderful clothes, but they can get expensive. I'm going to do a search on their website for a good suit - that is one outfit where I will not spare a dime. Pea in the Pod, more designer items, but I find I can just as well scour websites and other equally stylish non-maternity stores for comparable empire-waisted pieces to fit a growing belly.

The hardest thing I found so far is pants. Not the easiest fits, and it is a given that an expecting woman most likely will not be able to wear pants with shirts tucked in, especially not after the 16th week (we're now into our 17th!). The best thing I have found so far are built-in bra camisoles, just from regular stores, but I do look for ones that are longer than just past my waist. Even if my belly grows, the camisoles, especially the longer ones, will still cover the belly, particularly during the colder months, and I know I can layer on top an empire-waisted top, shirt, or sweater on top of the camisole without catching belly cold.

So after my shopping excursions during the day, I came home to make dinner. I did a variation of the pork roulade we made the last day at the CIA.

Pork Roulade

Variations - I took one pork loin, butterflied and hammered out the loin to be about 1/4" thick. I sliced it in half in the short direction, so that I had 2 pieces I could use for rolls. In fact, come to think about it, you could slice it in half in the long direction, so long as you could roll up carefully (then you end up with a short big roll). I seasoned the loin with salt and pepper, each side, and threw the loin into the fridge until I was ready to roll.
I made a dried-fruit mincemeat mixture on the stove, with dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried cherries, and dried raisins. I heated up these fruits in a small saucepan until just beginning to sizzle and caramelize in the dry pan. I then deglazed with just enough water to cover, and seasoned the mixture with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Prepare an icy ice bath, with a smaller bowl to be able to sit comfortably on the ice. Go ahead and set the oven to preheat at 350.
Once the fruits disintegrated enough to become almost a lumpy paste (I added enough water while the mixture simmerd to allow the fruits to further disintegrate, and to make sure the mixture did not dry up), remove from heat. Scoop into the smaller bowl of the ice bath, and stir to cool the mixture quickly. The more you stir from one side to another, the easier it will be to get more of the mixture exposed to the cold sides of the bowl, and the sooner the mixture will cool down.
Bring out the loins! In one loin, I sprinkled some cayenne pepper and parsley. I then laid on the mincemeat, in a thickness to match the thickness of the pork. Starting at the narrow end, I began the rolling process, making sure the final seam was on the bottom.
With the other half of the loin, I sprinkled on some parsley, sage, chives, green onions (dried is AOK), and thyme. I layered on some sliced and chopped mushrooms, and rolled up this half of the loin in the same way I did with the other half of the loin.
Put the rolls into a 9x9 pan, and bake uncoverd for 25 minutes.
I also prepared a mushroom cream sauce. Sliced mushrooms, into a hot pan with oil, saute until caramelized. I took the shrooms off the heat, and whisked in enough heavy cream to serve, and seasoned with salt and pepper. This sauce, I served on the savory roulades (not the mincemeat ones).

So that was the protein portion of last night's dinner. I also steamed some spring baby carrots, green beans, white asparagus, and roasted some red bliss potatoes. Yummy dinner, and we took a walk to get some ice cream for dessert afterwards. Wonderful day, wonderful evening!