Last week my day job disappeared in an instant. My mother in law, our primary caregiver for our children, broke her leg and was unable to care for the kids. After a quick discussion with the spouse, I signed up for emergency family medical leave with my work and am now a full time mom for the next six to eight weeks while she recuperates. At first I had reservations about this designation and was apprehensive about how it would all play out. But after spending my first work free day with my daughter while my son is at school, I am hooked. We walked around the Academy of Sciences (waving hello to their infamous brownies), shared carrots and edamame, watched the jellyfish and inspected some plants on our way out of there. I had time to really *be* with her and it was an eye opener how much little time I get with my kids on the weekends.
I know everyday won't be all sunshine and rainbows with her, but today I fell in love with my children all over again. Color me smitten. Hopefully this blog will get some much needed attention, too! Because you know I'll have all this free time now. ;)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
An experiment worth noting
Awhile ago I read this post and was inspired to try the same thing with my son. It never occurred to me to give him money at the Farmer's Market and when we did I fully expected him to come back with bags of Kettle Corn and chocolate pastries. But instead he has blown me away with his thoughtful purchases and willingness to try new foods. Every week he clutches his money, works the booths and inspects various vegetables and fruits. He asks how much things are and does subtraction with his fingers. I never knew that he would get a math lesson out of this, but he is really doing it.
The first week he eagerly took his money and walked around, taking our advice to look at everything before buying. He peeled off one dollar for three honey sticks and graciously gave one to his sister. Then he spied a basket of strawberries for $4, thought about it for a moment and then walked on. He asked where the fish monger guy was and headed in that direction. I quickly told him I'd happily buy the fish for him, but he had already moved on. He settled on a trio of red and yellow raspberries with a basket of blackberries for $7. I am not sure where the remaining $2 went. But who cares? The kid was hooked.
The next week we were on vacation in Sonoma and we went to the Sonoma Farmer's Market, where we again gave him $10. He immediately spied the Kettle Corn and bought a bag, sharing it with all of us. Then he saw a bread baker with his own fire pit oven on wheels and mentioned he wanted to get a loaf of the XX. He passed by folks making fresh doughnuts, vendors with ice cream scoops teetering on cones and he persevered... the dude was on a mission. He found a cheese table and parked himself in front, sampling every single cheese the vendor had to offer and then he pulled out his money and asked to buy an aged block of Gouda. Seriously? I couldn't believe it. The vendor looked around and asked "Whose kid is this?" and we raised our hands. He smiled, shook his head and said, "Your kid has great taste!" and wrapped up the hunk of cheese. Then, with purpose, my son walked over to the bread guy and bought the loaf he spied earlier and declared that the bread and cheese were to be eaten with dinner. Amazing! Is this seriously my kid?
This past week he took his $10 and asked a vendor what the prickly vegetables were on the table and she explained they were artichokes. He was sold. He bought three ("So we can all have one" he said) and then bought three honey sticks (again he gave one to his sister), cherry tomatoes and raspberries. Two years ago we tried to get him to eat artichokes, but he hated them. We will have them in the summer, but he always passed on them. As I steamed his artichokes with our dinner, I thought this was going to be the one that didn't make the cut. I set them on the table with a plate of lemon slices, salt and mayonnaise and he got to work. He inhaled an entire artichoke in one sitting!
Thank you, Jenny, for inspiring us to try such a great way to get my son to eat new foods. He is hooked and so are we. I think I am going to get him involved with meal planning next, letting him pick out some dishes in a cooking magazine like Everyday Food.
The first week he eagerly took his money and walked around, taking our advice to look at everything before buying. He peeled off one dollar for three honey sticks and graciously gave one to his sister. Then he spied a basket of strawberries for $4, thought about it for a moment and then walked on. He asked where the fish monger guy was and headed in that direction. I quickly told him I'd happily buy the fish for him, but he had already moved on. He settled on a trio of red and yellow raspberries with a basket of blackberries for $7. I am not sure where the remaining $2 went. But who cares? The kid was hooked.
The next week we were on vacation in Sonoma and we went to the Sonoma Farmer's Market, where we again gave him $10. He immediately spied the Kettle Corn and bought a bag, sharing it with all of us. Then he saw a bread baker with his own fire pit oven on wheels and mentioned he wanted to get a loaf of the XX. He passed by folks making fresh doughnuts, vendors with ice cream scoops teetering on cones and he persevered... the dude was on a mission. He found a cheese table and parked himself in front, sampling every single cheese the vendor had to offer and then he pulled out his money and asked to buy an aged block of Gouda. Seriously? I couldn't believe it. The vendor looked around and asked "Whose kid is this?" and we raised our hands. He smiled, shook his head and said, "Your kid has great taste!" and wrapped up the hunk of cheese. Then, with purpose, my son walked over to the bread guy and bought the loaf he spied earlier and declared that the bread and cheese were to be eaten with dinner. Amazing! Is this seriously my kid?
This past week he took his $10 and asked a vendor what the prickly vegetables were on the table and she explained they were artichokes. He was sold. He bought three ("So we can all have one" he said) and then bought three honey sticks (again he gave one to his sister), cherry tomatoes and raspberries. Two years ago we tried to get him to eat artichokes, but he hated them. We will have them in the summer, but he always passed on them. As I steamed his artichokes with our dinner, I thought this was going to be the one that didn't make the cut. I set them on the table with a plate of lemon slices, salt and mayonnaise and he got to work. He inhaled an entire artichoke in one sitting!
Thank you, Jenny, for inspiring us to try such a great way to get my son to eat new foods. He is hooked and so are we. I think I am going to get him involved with meal planning next, letting him pick out some dishes in a cooking magazine like Everyday Food.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Cutting the cheese
Gross title, I know. But that is what I did today. What do you do when you have to bring a macaroni and cheese dish to a function and the only time you have to make this dish is when your toddler is napping? You cut the mold off the cheese and declare it good to go. My grandmother would have been proud (just don't tell anyone that I did this).
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Reunion
This past summer I attended two reunions, one for my 20th high school reunion and one for an extended family reunion in Milwaukee. Both were awkward and a little odd at a first, with "What's your name?" being the number one uttered phrase at each event.
The High School Reunion
Let's go back a few years and look at where I left my classmates in 1991. I had long, henna red hair with a roll of bangs on my forehead, wore Doc Martens and sported a mouthful of braces for the past seven (seven!!!!) years. Needless to say I was a dork and I only amplified this designation by dressing up as my high school mascot every week at football games and spirit rallies. I figured since I liked to dance and preferred to be behind the scenes, then doing it in a hideous costume was a great way to not be noticed *too much*. What was I thinking?
But a lot has changed in twenty years, folks. I got the braces off, managed to get my hair back to its somewhat blonde state, gained a sweet spouse, a nice job and two lovely children. I feel really lucky in life. But the notion of going to my high school reunion threw me right back into that state of insecurity and self doubt, I was positive no one would speak to me. I figured I'd hide behind a different kind of costume, one that would take attention away from me as a person. So I made a pie. But not just any pie, because that is boring. I made a blueberry SLAB pie, one that can serve about 18 people and whose presentation alone makes folks ooh and ahh. Much like my mascot costume. ;)
And this pie would have been epic had another classmate not plopped a huge pink box of frosted cupcakes and cookies from the best bakery in town right next to my pretty pie. Oh well. I had an absolute blast at my reunion picnic, enjoyed seeing everyone's families and children and ate enough pie to float a boat.
Blueberry Slab Pie from Everyday Food (with my small changes)
The High School Reunion
Let's go back a few years and look at where I left my classmates in 1991. I had long, henna red hair with a roll of bangs on my forehead, wore Doc Martens and sported a mouthful of braces for the past seven (seven!!!!) years. Needless to say I was a dork and I only amplified this designation by dressing up as my high school mascot every week at football games and spirit rallies. I figured since I liked to dance and preferred to be behind the scenes, then doing it in a hideous costume was a great way to not be noticed *too much*. What was I thinking?
 |
| Me in the Willie the Wildcat costume, 1990 |
But a lot has changed in twenty years, folks. I got the braces off, managed to get my hair back to its somewhat blonde state, gained a sweet spouse, a nice job and two lovely children. I feel really lucky in life. But the notion of going to my high school reunion threw me right back into that state of insecurity and self doubt, I was positive no one would speak to me. I figured I'd hide behind a different kind of costume, one that would take attention away from me as a person. So I made a pie. But not just any pie, because that is boring. I made a blueberry SLAB pie, one that can serve about 18 people and whose presentation alone makes folks ooh and ahh. Much like my mascot costume. ;)
And this pie would have been epic had another classmate not plopped a huge pink box of frosted cupcakes and cookies from the best bakery in town right next to my pretty pie. Oh well. I had an absolute blast at my reunion picnic, enjoyed seeing everyone's families and children and ate enough pie to float a boat.
Blueberry Slab Pie from Everyday Food (with my small changes)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Meet my grandmother, the conductor of my dinner train to GuiltTown
There are certain foods that I feel so guilty using in my regular dinner rotation, yet I can't stop using them. This may sound crazy, but when I do use these items I can hear my Depression-era grandmother scolding me from the grave. She came from a very poor childhood and was raised in the Depression, that woman could make a meal out of stones if need be. Towards the end of her life, she lived with my mother and I and we spent a lot of time in the kitchen together as well as grocery shopping since she was legally blind (a slightly horrifying task for a gawky 14 year old to do with her grandmother, but I gutted through it).
But now that I am a working parent, I have limited time to make a weeknight dinner without these shortcuts - they are how I deal with being in the weeds with a full time job and small children at home to feed. Her influence runs far and wide with me in the kitchen, and she creeps in so often that I feel like she is the one who drives my dinner train sometimes. She had rules like we could never have chicken more than once a week (too expensive), always ask the grocery man what the best deal is on meat that day and to always look at the price per pound of the meat, not the total cost of a package of meat. I do this day in and day out without even thinking about where these "rules" come from (though sometimes asking the butcher at my local Safeway what is good that day is an effort in futility). I love the way she has influenced me, yet I resent the way she has scarred me from enjoying many of the conveniences that are out there for working moms like me who want to serve a healthy meal, yet lack the 10 hours a day to make that meal.
Organic Frozen Brown Rice from Trader Joe's
I must have walked past this item in the freezer section of Trader Joe's fifty times before finally buying a package. If my grandmother were there with me, she'd say, "Frozen rice? Who on earth ever heard of such a thing! You can make that for pennies!!" Yeah, but brown rice takes over 40 minutes in my circa-1987 rice cooker or on the stove top. So I buy the frozen stuff and it completes the meal in just three minutes in the microwave. I laugh wickedly as my children inhale it without even noticing that it's brown or... (gasp!) healthy! Sorry Nonie.
Morello Cherries (in the jar) from Trader Joe's
When I first bought a couple of jars to make a cherry pie, I could practically hear my grandmother scolding me (if she were alive), "You are buying jarred cherries? You can't find a moment in your day to pit your own cherries? Lazy Elsie Marley!" She canned her own cherries for pies and when she died, we hoarded that last jar of cherries until we felt that the pie we were making was worthy enough. But Trader Joe's has cornered the jarred cherry, in my opinion. They are so fresh tasting and it seems like a crime to use the gloppy, sickly sweetened canned cherries at the grocery store.
Salad Dressing
First of all, I love a nice homemade vinaigrette. I love the fresh taste, the tang of dijon and lemon juice and I distinctly remember my grandmother always had a glass jar in the fridge with her homemade salad dressing - served on iceberg lettuce, of course. But I have since gone the route of convenience and often default to buying Newman's Own Italian Vinaigrette and I feel so darn guilty every time I open the bottle. But I felt truly awful when I was planning on bringing a salad to a friend's house for dinner and I asked her, "What kind of dressing should I bring?" She paused and said, "Oh I never buy salad dressing, so I wouldn't even know what brands are out there." I wanted to call her bluff so badly... like she never notices salad dressing? Just like the way I never notice that Dove Bars go on sale two times a month. Yeah right!
Roast Chicken
On the days where we ate roasted chicken as a family, she always saved the carcass to make chicken stock. But what impressed me more than the rich stock that she coaxed out of a pile of bones, some parsley and vegetable scraps was how she could clean the meat from the chicken, the carcass would be bare and clean of any meat when she was done with it. I never feel like I have done a good enough job with my rotisserie chicken and my husband laughs as I mutter the same thing (out loud to no one in particular) "I know, I know.. I am wasting chicken again, aren't I?" She'd be proud of my chicken bone stash in the freezer though.
Frozen fruit
I was raised to eat what was in season and have fond memories of watching persimmons get riper and riper next to the sink during the fall. Having frozen fruit was never really an option, though I do recall canned pineapple coming out around Easter. Anyways, I always have frozen fruit in my freezer now. Have you tried those frozen mango chunks from Trader Joe's? Divine. Petite frozen blueberries? Delicious! My kids toss frozen blueberries like popcorn into their mouths.
But the one thing I still cannot buy is applesauce. That woman made and canned her own applesauce every single year and it was to die for. Subtly sweet, grainy yet not overly so, perfectly seasoned with cinnamon and was the color of a perfect sandy beach with a lemony after taste. I swore when I ate her last jar of applesauce after she passed away that I would never eat a jar of store bought applesauce and I still haven't. Nothing can hold a candle to that woman... and her applesauce. I miss you Nonie!
But now that I am a working parent, I have limited time to make a weeknight dinner without these shortcuts - they are how I deal with being in the weeds with a full time job and small children at home to feed. Her influence runs far and wide with me in the kitchen, and she creeps in so often that I feel like she is the one who drives my dinner train sometimes. She had rules like we could never have chicken more than once a week (too expensive), always ask the grocery man what the best deal is on meat that day and to always look at the price per pound of the meat, not the total cost of a package of meat. I do this day in and day out without even thinking about where these "rules" come from (though sometimes asking the butcher at my local Safeway what is good that day is an effort in futility). I love the way she has influenced me, yet I resent the way she has scarred me from enjoying many of the conveniences that are out there for working moms like me who want to serve a healthy meal, yet lack the 10 hours a day to make that meal.
Organic Frozen Brown Rice from Trader Joe's
I must have walked past this item in the freezer section of Trader Joe's fifty times before finally buying a package. If my grandmother were there with me, she'd say, "Frozen rice? Who on earth ever heard of such a thing! You can make that for pennies!!" Yeah, but brown rice takes over 40 minutes in my circa-1987 rice cooker or on the stove top. So I buy the frozen stuff and it completes the meal in just three minutes in the microwave. I laugh wickedly as my children inhale it without even noticing that it's brown or... (gasp!) healthy! Sorry Nonie.
Morello Cherries (in the jar) from Trader Joe's
When I first bought a couple of jars to make a cherry pie, I could practically hear my grandmother scolding me (if she were alive), "You are buying jarred cherries? You can't find a moment in your day to pit your own cherries? Lazy Elsie Marley!" She canned her own cherries for pies and when she died, we hoarded that last jar of cherries until we felt that the pie we were making was worthy enough. But Trader Joe's has cornered the jarred cherry, in my opinion. They are so fresh tasting and it seems like a crime to use the gloppy, sickly sweetened canned cherries at the grocery store.
Salad Dressing
First of all, I love a nice homemade vinaigrette. I love the fresh taste, the tang of dijon and lemon juice and I distinctly remember my grandmother always had a glass jar in the fridge with her homemade salad dressing - served on iceberg lettuce, of course. But I have since gone the route of convenience and often default to buying Newman's Own Italian Vinaigrette and I feel so darn guilty every time I open the bottle. But I felt truly awful when I was planning on bringing a salad to a friend's house for dinner and I asked her, "What kind of dressing should I bring?" She paused and said, "Oh I never buy salad dressing, so I wouldn't even know what brands are out there." I wanted to call her bluff so badly... like she never notices salad dressing? Just like the way I never notice that Dove Bars go on sale two times a month. Yeah right!
Roast Chicken
On the days where we ate roasted chicken as a family, she always saved the carcass to make chicken stock. But what impressed me more than the rich stock that she coaxed out of a pile of bones, some parsley and vegetable scraps was how she could clean the meat from the chicken, the carcass would be bare and clean of any meat when she was done with it. I never feel like I have done a good enough job with my rotisserie chicken and my husband laughs as I mutter the same thing (out loud to no one in particular) "I know, I know.. I am wasting chicken again, aren't I?" She'd be proud of my chicken bone stash in the freezer though.
Frozen fruit
I was raised to eat what was in season and have fond memories of watching persimmons get riper and riper next to the sink during the fall. Having frozen fruit was never really an option, though I do recall canned pineapple coming out around Easter. Anyways, I always have frozen fruit in my freezer now. Have you tried those frozen mango chunks from Trader Joe's? Divine. Petite frozen blueberries? Delicious! My kids toss frozen blueberries like popcorn into their mouths.
But the one thing I still cannot buy is applesauce. That woman made and canned her own applesauce every single year and it was to die for. Subtly sweet, grainy yet not overly so, perfectly seasoned with cinnamon and was the color of a perfect sandy beach with a lemony after taste. I swore when I ate her last jar of applesauce after she passed away that I would never eat a jar of store bought applesauce and I still haven't. Nothing can hold a candle to that woman... and her applesauce. I miss you Nonie!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Foggy Day Popsicles
In San Francisco the weather always takes a tragic turn for the worse in July. We got socked in by fog and you find yourself pulling out sweaters to wear during the day, turning the heater on at night and wishing you never lived here. As I type this I am wearing a fleece sweatshirt, jeans, socks and a long sleeved shirt... at 3:30 on Friday in July.
Then September comes along and I run around screaming about how much I love San Francisco and it's bass-ackward weather. I don't mind it that much, other than the occasional perusal of real estate listings in warmer climates a mere 25 minutes from here.
But even though its 30 degrees colder than our neighbors up in Santa Rosa, we still like to act like its summer. Behold our Foggy Day Popsicles, made with strawberries picked at the U-Pick Farm in Half Moon Bay and super tart greek yogurt and honey. San Francisco summer on a stick - cold and sweet.
3 cups hulled strawberries
1-3 T. powdered sugar
1 6 oz. container 0 % Greek yogurt
4 T. Honey (or to taste)
In a blender, combine strawberries and powdered sugar and puree till smooth. Add the sugar 1 spoonful at a time depending on the sweetness of your berries. Pour into a bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, honey and 3 spoonfuls of the strawberry mixture and stir till combined.
Using any popsicle mold you have, spoon in layers of strawberry mixture alternating with a spoonful of the yogurt/strawberry mixture and freeze until your six year old can't stand another minute of waiting and takes them out behind your back.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
What would you do?
If you were walking down a path in Golden Gate Park near the California Academy of Sciences and your child found a tattered recipe for brownies near a puddle on the ground, would you go home and try to make them? We did.
A few weeks ago we had just finished a trip through the Academy of Sciences and were walking behind the museum, near the kitchen and staff-only entrance, when my son yelled out that he found a "secret treasure map." I absentmindedly yelled "Cool!" and then went back to walking along with his sister. He ran up to me, breathless and holding the recipe out to my face and said "No, really! This is a serious map! Look! It has math on it!" I looked at it a little more closely and saw the word "BROWNIES" across the top of the page and I stopped dead in my tracks. Could this be the recipe that the Academy uses for the gourmet cafe that I always sit in and eat my packed-from-home lunch in? The very same one where I drool over the brownies every time I am in there, yet I am turned off by the $4 price tag? Did my son just find the San Francisco equivalent of the famous Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe? I'll never be sure, but I'll be damned if this recipe doesn't have the same kind of measurements that would serve a busy cafe in a museum like the Academy Cafe.
We came home and decided to give it a go, but I halved the recipe for obvious reasons, you know something is up when a recipe calls for a pound of butter and 14 eggs. And you know what? It was pretty darn good! I really appreciate some of the baking tips it gives - the hot water trick works like a charm. We'll never know if this was the big discovery or not, but it made for a fun afternoon with my son baking in the kitchen. And he thinks they are the best thing he's ever made and he is right... NEXT!
A few weeks ago we had just finished a trip through the Academy of Sciences and were walking behind the museum, near the kitchen and staff-only entrance, when my son yelled out that he found a "secret treasure map." I absentmindedly yelled "Cool!" and then went back to walking along with his sister. He ran up to me, breathless and holding the recipe out to my face and said "No, really! This is a serious map! Look! It has math on it!" I looked at it a little more closely and saw the word "BROWNIES" across the top of the page and I stopped dead in my tracks. Could this be the recipe that the Academy uses for the gourmet cafe that I always sit in and eat my packed-from-home lunch in? The very same one where I drool over the brownies every time I am in there, yet I am turned off by the $4 price tag? Did my son just find the San Francisco equivalent of the famous Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe? I'll never be sure, but I'll be damned if this recipe doesn't have the same kind of measurements that would serve a busy cafe in a museum like the Academy Cafe.
We came home and decided to give it a go, but I halved the recipe for obvious reasons, you know something is up when a recipe calls for a pound of butter and 14 eggs. And you know what? It was pretty darn good! I really appreciate some of the baking tips it gives - the hot water trick works like a charm. We'll never know if this was the big discovery or not, but it made for a fun afternoon with my son baking in the kitchen. And he thinks they are the best thing he's ever made and he is right... NEXT!
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