angry chicken

salad in jars

I have been making these on the weekends and eating them during the week. I originally made them to entice my daughters into eat salads more. They are cute and I think Instagram worthy, which a big deal with them. So far, I have been the only consumer of these. This hasn't stopped me. I thought they would be so handy for out of the house, but I find they are just as convenient at home. I just dump and add dressing and toss. Done. I love lots of bits on my salads and would skip making them during the day because I didn't want to take the time to add everything. Now I just dump. This also allows me to use the little bits of food, nuts, cheeses, what-have-you from the fridge, and then I feel very frugal and this makes me happy. 

We saw Thor: Ragnarök over the weekend and liked it a whole bunch. It is directed by Taika Waititi, who also wrote and directed What We Do in the Shadows, which is one of my favorite movies ever. It's like Spinal Tap, but with vampire roommates, not a band. So incredibly funny.

flavored syrups

I've had two amazing drinks on heavy rotation this summer. Both were copied from ones I had bought, a Hibiscus Iced Tea from Tea Bar and a Lavender Matcha Milk Tea which was a special at Maplewood Cafe. My homemade ones don't taste exactly the same, but are delicious. I realized they must be using flavored syrups (I think?) so I made my own.

To make the syrups:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon dreid lavender (or 3 cinnamon sticks)

Boil for 3 minutes, let cool for 20 minutes, strain and put in bottles and store in the fridge. I kept the cinnamon sticks in mine because it's pretty.

Then I added the syrups to taste after making the hibiscus iced tea (Tea Bar uses carbonated water. I never have any so make it flat) or the matcha milk tea. Amazing!!

Unrelated:

Thank you so much for all your tips about audio books and tips on getting them. I had also forgotten about the Hoopla app I have on my phone, which is also through our library (like Overdrive) and the UI is really easy to use—so I just downloaded 5 books from there. Yippee!

jello cake thing

The jello cake I linked to in my last post was made for the 4th of July.

It was really fun to make, but was pretty much a fail. We were able to get a good slice out of the middle for this photo. The white cake was fine, as was the jello/mousse layer, but when we poured the jello red layer on the top, it slowly started to sink into the mousse layer and kind of disappeared. It was really funny. Also, the cake was really gross, flavor-wise. The strawberry red jello might have been ok, but the blue mouse made it just so crazy sweet and weird, no one could eat it. So, there you go. It was still fun to make, but yeah.

I sewed 3 gymnastic leotards this weekend and am starting on a ballet leotard. I feel like my life right now is really about getting the girls to their various camps, events, and classes, which is fine, but I also want to just still in my backyard for a bit. I have so many things on the to-do list. All fun crafty things—mounting an orchid, making henna paste for hands and feet, getting the new facial products in my etsy shop, going berry picking. All that kind of stuff. I also have bought a plane ticket to Iceland in September, just for myself, and I am beyond excited! So, I am having fun researching for that.

kinpira gobo

I made some kinpira gobo a bit ago and it was a huge success. I was at Uwajimaya and saw the burdock root and remembered the dish and how delicious it was. Thanks to you tube, I made it. I loved it so much, just with rice. My family was less interested. So, that means I had a lot of it. That's a lot of fiber in a few days. I'll just leave it at that.

The rain here has been really sad. The plants are so happy, rain with a day or two of sun, but it's cold. Like, it's rainy right now and it's about 55°. I'm trying to stay positive, but it also not only throws off my clothing choices, but my cooking. It's seems weird to eat fish tacos and limeade when it's so icky out. But eating stew and soup make it kind of depressing.

We are having a lot of fun watching all the new MST3K on netflix. It's pretty great to watch these with the girls after being fans for so long in college. Only two of the girls really like it—it does require patience. There's that odd thing that happens when you are watching a movie that is so bad—it's both incredibly boring and amazing at the same time. Pretty great.

some homemade drink bases for winter colds

We can't seem to shake the winter colds since some of us got the flu a bit back. One or two of us seem to always have a sore throat, runny nose, and low energy. Not enough to be in bed, just a low-level crud we are walking around with. After trolling the internet I made these two syrups that have helped me a whole lot. The kids don't like them, but Pete and I sure do.

The big jar is 5 chopped lemons, about 2 inches of chopped ginger, and honey. All the juice from the lemons weep out and make a wonderful syrup. I add a big spoonful of this with some lemon pieces (and a pinch of cayenne pepper) to hot water and stir and then strain it into a mug. Delicious! The pepper helps feels good on my throat. This also is great cold with bubbly water, minus the pepper.

The little jar is a base for golden turmeric milk. I didn't really measure here, but it's probably about 2 teaspoons of this spice mix, with a tablespoon of turmeric and then enough honey to make a paste. I add a teaspoon to of this in hot almond milk (or whatever milk I have on hand) and it's so good, like a wonderful chai with a kick.

portland 1985

We were in NW in between snow episodes and I took the girls to Escape to NY pizza. I have been taking them there since they were little because that's where I always went. It's exactly the same. Exactly. Like the same stickers and posters and all that. And the same pizza. The downtown location is the one I went to the most, but it closed when I was away at college, but the one on 23rd is still there. So much is gone on NW 23rd from when I was little, so I am very comforted that this is still there. And the same owner was still working the counter and I heard him talking to a customer asking her how her Christmas break was and how college was going and it just warmed my heart.

I'm doing a little better, but the flu Pete and I got is a real bad one. And then life on top of that. And I feel like the animals save up all their personal needs for when we are sick. Do they really go to the bathroom that much when I am healthy? I don't think so.

In the Sunday paper I always read Parade magazine. Always. It's comforting and amusing. There was a recipe in it that Pete made and it's been the only thing that has made me feel better. Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup. Delicious and so easy! And on the same page as the recipe was a weird add for dry foot skin or something gross, because it's Parade magazine.

homemade chile mocha

I found this very short video on making a chile mocha and it looked delicious. It's much more photo-styled than my version, but whatever. I had no whipped cream. It was still delicious. I think the spice mix they they listed would be really good but I made a different one, using theirs as a guide. Mine was spicy! I think it is perfect, but Pete thinks it might have a little too much heat.

Here's my simplified version:

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon chipotle powder

1/4 teaspoon clove

I added 1/4 tsp of this mixture to 1/2 cuphot milk that had a small handful of chocolate chips melted in it and then topped it with a little water and the instant espresso (I used instant coffee, a heaping teaspoon) Delicious!

lemon curd (again)

Okay, due to some impulsive photo deleting, I am using photos from old post. I wanted to share the easiest and best lemon curd recipe, and searched my own blog making sure I hadn't done this before (I had) but the link to the recipe is no longer good, so I'm just going to type it in here. I made a amazing birthday cake for Lydia, a yellow cake with lemon curd in the middle and a buttercream frosting, but I don't have a photo (again, the deleting) so you have to trust me. It was delicious.

Lemon curd is one of those things I love and can't buy because it just doesn't taste right. But all the recipes are too rich (too many eggs yokes) for me. This one is perfect, doesn't require extra egg yolks, and is lighter. I never use a double boiler either, just a good enamel sauce pan.

Easy Lemon Curd Recipe-

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (and zest)

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup butter 

To make this add the first 3 ingredients and heat it all up and stir a lot until it gets thick. This won't take long. Then take it off the heat and add the butter and stir it until melted. I like to use it this way, hot, over french toast, otherwise you can keep in the the fridge and use it cold.

We went blueberry picking over the weekend and we had fresh blueberries with lemon curd and a little whipped cream on top—delicious.

Japanese-Style Pancakes

So, I made these this week. They had been on my list since I saw the video how-to a few weeks ago. I realized there was no reason to make one at a time, especially for a family of five, so I waited until I found (and remembered to buy) 5 of the same size cookie cutters. I followed the directions exactly and they worked out really well. There are lots of videos on you tube showing these made in a bain marie, which takes a lot longer. I made these on our large cast iron griddle pan that goes over 2-burners. It's very uneven and the back gets really hot so next time I will cook them at a lower heat. When you look at these online, you can tell they all get really brown/burnt because it takes a bit of time to get the middle cooked. They still taste delicious with the color, but a few of mine got a little to dark.

The butter was so cute, but came off for the actual eating, because it was just too much. Also, 2 of these per person made the kids and adults very full, one each might be better, with some fruit, eggs and bacon. They really are more like a fancy dessert—the texture is light and spongy inside. Very, very yummy and so pleasing to make and stack. The girls added nutella.

In other happy cooking news-

I made hash browns in the waffle iron about an hour ago. Why had I never done this before? I was going to to take a photo but they disappeared too fast. Just freshly grated potato in the food processor, tossed with a little flour, salt, and pepper. That's it. What the heck? So yummy and easy. The internet told me I would never make them any other way again and I think it was right.

sprinkles

We just got back from a store that has a lot of bulk candy. Like, a whole lot. (Winco.) I saw bulk sprinkles and had to get some. I posted this photo on instagram about 4 minutes ago and Erin asked if I was going to make the smitten kitchen confetti cookies with them. I had not heard of these. So now I am here, on my laptop, printing this recipe as I type this. I'm so glad I did, because I too would have just tried a plain old sugar cookie recipe, but Deb says no. Not that simple. So, I am using her recipe instead because she has never lead me astray. I am cutting down on sugar right after I make these. And then again after my birthday next week.

Unrelated:

We can't stop watching Overly Sarcastic Productions. Sadie loves these video summaries of lit classics, they are great for both books we have read and for books she wants to read. There are so many good ones here, I can't pick a favorite. (Better for older kids, a little swearing.)

quick cinnamon rolls

I made these cinnamon rolls the other week using no yeast but a biscuit dough. They were fine, they tasted good, but they weren't really cinnamon rolls to me. The texture is was so different. I I think I will stick with the yeasted dough. But they were fun and quick to make. I used an old recipe from a cookbook no longer in print, but it's almost identical to the one here. Continuing my quest for a last minute cinnamon roll, I also made cinnamon rolls from trade joe's pizza dough a week later and they were delicious! And weren't nearly so rich and they texture was wonderful.

Unrelated:

• These summer houses for under 30k are sure fun to look at over at Poppybox

• Beautiful tulip images begging to be printed out and glued onto wood blocks or sketchbook covers from Rijks Studio

•  22 ways to reuse an altoid tin. These ideas are more tech/camping than art and craft. They would all be good gifts for the girls to make for Father's Day.

egg bake

 

The meal planning continues. I I know I have said this before, but I can't imagine not doing it now. We are going on vacation for a week this season and will have a kitchen. I'm going to take a meal plan there, too. I know if I don't it will make me grumpy, and I really don't want to be food grumpy on a vacation.

We are now repeating our favorites and one is an egg bake. This one is canned tomatoes, lots of garlic, red peppers, onion and spinach, which sauteed for a long time (except the greens) and then transferred to a baking dish with cracked eggs on top, and baked for about 25min at 350°. (I just remembered how to do that degree symbol without looking it up!) I serve this with toast, or a side salad, or both. There is a very similar recipe here. Everyone likes their eggs harder than I do, so I take my portion out early. If I were smart, I'd make a single portion in a ramekin for me. This is my favorite breakfast the next day. We always have leftovers of this because only 3 of 5 of us really eat it—the other two politely move it around the plate, pick out the egg, and focus on the toast and salad.

honey toast at home

We pass by a cafe almost everyday called Honey Toast Cafe. They serve honey toast. Very straightforward. They serve other tasty items as well, but it's the honey toast we go in for. I had never heard of this dessert before this cafe opened, but it's a thing, and you tube can show you how to make this treat at home. This dessert is delicious because it uses lightly toasted very thick (but airy and light) white bread with ice cream and honey on top. That's it. You can customize it as much as you like. The warm slightly crunchy bread under the cold ice cream is so good. Sharing the big ones in the cafe is hard, it turns into a mess real fast, not in a good way. Buying small ones really adds up, so we made our own using the Japanese bread we bought at our local Asian market.

There are so many online tutorials on how to make this, most with relaxing music. We keep the bread in the freezer and use it as needed, to give the ice cream that special lift.

onigirazu

I've been making onigirazu lately and can't seem to get enough of them. They are perfect for leftovers. I know they were a thing a bit back, so the internet and a friend in-the-know tells me, but I only just discovered them this last year. They are basically a big onigiri with a lot more room for fillings. This one I made has salmon mixed with some sriracha mayo and seasoned rice.

I was grabbing these to eat at Uwajamya for about a year, not even considering making them. I don't know why, it just didn't occur to me. I was at the book store inside Uwajimaya (Kinokuniya) and saw this book and got ridiculously excited. I didn't buy it, but visit it often. This book and youtube videos of people making these made it easy to try. I bought my large nori sheets while I was there and that was all I needed.

So, my family is not down this these. Yet. I still have hope. I think they might be the perfect food. So portable, tasty, and easy to make.

A few cons:

• my family won't eat them (but they would be the perfect lunch/picnic/snack food for everyone!) My girls call them "mom's weird seaweed sandwiches" and don't like the smell. At all.

• I have not found a way to make them with brown rice and still stick together, which I know would be healthier.

• The whole arsenic-in-the-rice thing, which I guess is higher in brown rice, so white maybe isn't so bad.

• Some fillings don't lend themselves to freezing. I like to make several at a time and freeze. My combinations are all over the place—turkey and cheese, salmon salad, tuna salad, eggs and cheese, beans and cheese, cabbage slaws, and the sauces I add are creative/questionable.

• Pete says none of this sounds like it would taste good with nori—but it does! To, me. But I also like nori and he's not a huge fan.

The pros for me are huge, I use little bits of leftovers and I make a bunch at a time and them freeze them and they are delicious and I can eat them in the car! And, I think they are funny— I do try to make weird combonations on purpose, just to see if they still taste good, and so far I have had no fails. I did pull one out of my purse to eat during a fancy ballet performance, I was starving, and forgot about the smell these can have, and the whole deal was awkward and weird, but I ate it anyway in the dark, not looking at the other parents sitting next to me. For the win!

 

 

napa cabbage salad with apple and caraway seed

I made this salad as a side dish to grilled sandwiches this week—the girls weren't into it, but Pete and I devoured it. I love caraway seeds and how they smell when they are toasting. The recipe I used was from an old issue of Everyday Food, but I couldn't find it on the MSL website (is that site getting harder to use every month or what? The the pop-up adds are the worst. Grrr) I found the exact recipe here, so thank you internet. This version calls it a detox salad, but I prefer to call it just salad.

I'm in the middle of a craft room clean-out and finding so much stuff like old back issues of Mailorder and embroidered patches and fake money I had made for that. I scheming for a reason to make enamel pins, they would have been perfect for Mailorder.

pinwheel cookies and happy holidays!

It's been a whirlwind of activity with the girls around here, most of which was unexpected. There's been a few very sore throats, fevers, an emergency trip to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, a lovely solstice celebration last night (expect horrible tooth pain for one of my daughters) but we are all good! There are times I can just roll with it, deal with what comes up, and just be happy* and one way is to make cookies, so there you go.

This is a basic sugar cookie recipe that I formed into pinwheels. They are vanilla flavored, although mint would be nice. I got huge props from my daughters on how they turned out. They said the were instagram worthy.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday and new year! See you in 2016! Thank you so much for reading. It's been a long time I've been blogging now and it's meant so much to me. Thank you, thank you.

• Unrelated, I loved this story in the NYT about an art curator that in my mind, is the perfect Wes Anderson character that hasn't been created yet.

*This is also easier to do if I'm not having back pain, which I am not right now. So grateful about that.

questionable cooking, part 2

So, these were made. They are coal cookies from nerdy nummies. I realize they look a lot more like cow pies than coal. These were just weird. They are basically a rice krispy treat but with crushed oreos (minus the cream middle) and melted marshmallows. They had a very soft texture. The surprising thing was how little flavor they had. I would have thought an oreo would taste more like something, but no, they were very tasteless. Maybe it because they were so dark, you expect more of a flavor? Some espresso powder would have helped, possibly, but that still wouldn't take care of the texture issues.

The internet provided the how-to. My two youngest daughters made these—it took up at least an hour of oreo scrapping and crushing and whatnot. They ended up not really eating them. But, after most of them were tossed, my eldest daughter was sad. She liked them! Quite a bit! So there you go.

Speaking of cookies, I attended the annual Low-Pressure Cookie Party this year. This is a pretty long tradition now of getting together with some very funny ladies and sharing cookies. You don't even have to bring any cookies to come, or they can store bought, or whatever. We have soup and salad and then eat the cookies and divide the left-overs. it's always so fun and laid back and full of crazy stories and much cursing. I made the cookies on that fantastic spotted platter (provided by the every-ready hostess), they are a Lofthouse style cookie, the pink ones with almond glaze and the orange with orange glaze. All the cookies were outstanding.

the power of breadcrumbs

This dish does not have breadcrumbs but It was delicious, it's Chicken Paprikash over egg noodles. The Kale salad is from 101 cookbooks, and it was very good, but next time I will not add the Brussels sprouts if I plan to have leftovers, only because, raw, they got very pungent the next day.

I remembered how much I love breadcrumbs. I made breadcrumbs from white bread scraps from the freezer, including some old hamburger buns, and they are so yummy. I used them in the apple brown betty and it was outstanding. It's a standard brown betty recipe, but I added a good about of ginger, lemon juice, and a handful of frozen raspberries.

 

This was an unexpected hit. Honey mustard salmon with green beans. The breadcrumbs and roasted onions together made for onion ring-like flavor and crunch on top of the fish which was so delicious I sort of freaked out. This dish was so easy and tasted very fancy-restaurant.

some new meals that we liked

Potato Hash with Spinach and Eggs (I know I served a side dish, but I don't remember now. Salad?)

Butternut Squash Soup with Shrimp. This was so good. The kids didn't eat it but I LOVED it and so did Pete. It was a bit too spicy for them. Plus, they don't get excited by shrimp. I understand.

Red Snapper Veracruzano

These are all from about 2 weeks ago. When I started doing this meal planning I needed to rest my brain and limit my options. This meant not over-researching, too. I have a lot of cookbooks, and then there's the whole internet. So, for these first 3 weeks I decided I would only look at my old Everyday Food magazines from the month of October. It was a great way to start—they are easy to cook from, Pete has made a lot of them, and they are really easy to flip through. I just now branched out this week and added recipes from 101 cookbooks. I also started looking for specific recipes, like something using lentils and another using ricotta. I'm almost acting as if I have never cooked before and it's making this so much easier. The girls have liked a lot of these dishes, and also are happy to be exposed to so many new foods. If they don't eat much, they might make themselves peanut butter toast or eggs later, and that's fine. I just feel much better having new dishes on the table.

We have spent less money on food by planning for the week in advance. I make the dish for 4, even though there are 5 of us, they aren't big eaters and then I don't get stressed about too many leftovers. So far, I like one soup, pasta, and fish dish a week. I also have one night open, usually Friday, for random leftovers that might have stuck around. The soups I usually make on Sunday. I have really settled into this. I still sometimes fight it and wonder if I should either not make the dish I have planed, or make a change, but I haven't skipped any so far, and have always been happy about that, even when we eat late and it seems no one is home.

I was just told about The Minimalist Baker, and of course have to go back and dig through Smitten Kitchen, but for now I am only branching out slowly. There's a lot of repetition in the Everyday Food issues (And they are very meat heavy. We aren't vegetarian, but close.) so it will be good to look at these sites soon.

Thanks for all your suggestions and feedback about your meal planning or your plans to do meal planning. It's been a big deal for me because I realized I felt like I was just reacting to daily life. I have for a while now, since spring really. (Um, hello hormones and being 43.) I just couldn't really plan, keep up, or even make many advance decisions. I thought I was being in the moment, but I felt pretty shaky and not able to get centered enough to sit still and make a plan. Getting into a groove with this meal planning has done a lot for my brain space and confidence. I can't control life, but I can make these decisions that make me feel like I am not reacting, but more like I am participating. And I enjoy buying fancy cheese again.

cranberry apple cake

My mother-in-law served us this delicious Cranberry Apple cake recently and we ate an alarming amount very fast. Who knew my family liked cranberries so much? I didn't. I found the recipe online and made it again, shown here. 12 oz of cranberries is a lot, so the cake is moist, more like a steamed pudding. It would work well with less cranberries if you wanted it to be more cake than berries, right now it's more berries than cake. I made no changes other than baking it longer, almost 10 minutes, I'd say.

I'm busy finishing up a Halloween costume and trying to find a new book to read. I have about 3 started and nothing is grabbing me. I'd like to start another reading project like I did last year, with the women comedian memoirs, but I haven't thought about it enough to formalize a theme yet. And speaking about books, I was alerted awhile back that Greensleeves has been reprinted! This is the book being mailed to readers right now because it was out of print when I stared this mail/book club project. I hope that means more people can read this lovely, odd, wonderful book now that it's available.

Meal Planning: Already into week 3 of this. I went down a rabbit hole of menu planning printables and stopped after about an hour and just printed the best one for me and moved on, because that's a whole thing. I do like having a pretty list to look at. I was tempted to make my own, I still might, but need to get past Halloween and a birthday first.

ridiculously cute halloween cookies

I was so tired the other evening, it was about 8:30ppm but it felt like 1:00am. I am a morning person. Delia was all excited to bake something. She's almost 11 and very industrious. I told her to go for it and she made these cookies with almost no help. I got off the couch once. She used the recipe and wonderful online tutorial over at Kawaii Sweet World. She made the dough, died it, flattened in out in layers, stacked it, and chilled it overnight. The next morning, she cut out the cookies and baked them. Then added the faces. They are delicious and very adorable.

Thanks again for all your tips, suggestions, and feedback about meal planning. There are some great ideas in the comments. Homeschooling, I feel like I make food all day. Breakfast is more on their own, but I am usually up early baking muffins, etc. I also make a sit down lunch everyday because we do a lot of learning while we eat together, mostly talking about a specific topic. Keeping with the theme of making things easier and asking for help, I'm having one of them help, or make lunch for everyone, one day a week. This is much easier now that they are older. I didn't really think about doing this before, which I know seems odd, but it was because they are always busy learning on their own while I make lunch and I didn't want to interrupt them. Of course, teaching them to feed themselves and the family is learning and they really like doing it. Their cooking styles are very different and funny. One is fast and loud with lots of banging, one is very slow and careful, and one mostly talks and gets distracted telling stories.

One-Pot Curried Cauliflower Rice and some meal planning

This was delicious and everyone in the house ate it. One kid didn't love it, but ate it anyway. It's One-Pot Curried Cauliflower Rice.

I've been trying to pay attention to what has been challenging for me lately, what bums me out and feels hard. I think I just plow through the day trying to stay positive and upbeat and then feel so tired and don't look at what I can adjust and change to help myself out. Somethings are a pretty easy fix, I just need to realize they need some fixing.

For a few months now making food for anyone but myself has been hard for me. I found myself saying out loud that thinking about dinner was depressing me, and I was not really joking. This is new for me, I have winged it for my whole adult life and been fine, not meal planning ever. I never knew what I would make for dinner, I'd just make something. Often I'd be inspired by a recipe and try it, and even buy items specifically for it, but never more than one dish at a time. Never for a whole week. 

This summer and fall I've felt creatively tired. And emotionally. It's been a hard 6 months, but getting better. I just didn't want to wing for dinner anymore it, I wanted a plan. Something to tell me what to do, buy, and serve. And I wanted to try new dishes and I wanted to worry less about the kid's nutrition and lack of exposure to different foods and all that. So, I am on week 3 of planning the dinner meals for the week. I know many families do this (most?) but it's totally new to me and I love it. I have never planned 5 meals (or so) for a week at a time and gone shopping for all the ingredients at once. I thought I would end up spending and buying more, and it has been way less. Mind blowing. In the last 2 weeks we have had all new dinners, almost all of them the girls have eaten, and I have spent so much less time in my head wondering what I will make and dreading making the same old thing. The key is to have all the ingredients in the house already, have a recipe, and follow the plan. Following any plan is ridiculously hard for me. I'm not sure why. It actually makes things so much easier, but I still resist it, or I re-evaluate a plan when I don't need to, wasting brain energy on something that's already been solved. I don't think I realized just how much I do this.

On Sundays I sit with a stack of back issues of my Everyday Food magazines and post-its and choose 5-7 dinners with sides dishes. Leftovers are eaten if I only make 5 dinners that week. I post a menu on the fridge, a dish for each day, and make a shopping list (I printed templates from the internet. I love the internet) and then I shop for it, or Pete can. Bonus. I never normally make lists, which means it's impossible to get help because it's all in my head. And also, I forget stuff. Not anymore. And because I am using all my back issues of Everyday Food (for now) the recipes are super easy—Pete can make any of them and so can the girls with some help. I keep trying to sabotage it, by wanting to swap out ingredients and alter the recipes, but I have resisted and every time I am happy I did. I usually throw hot sauce and curry in everything and I haven't at all this last week, except when it's called for like the recipe here. It's been so good for me to back off. Also, the girls really don't dig spicy food the way Pete and I do, so this has been much better for them. I will share more food successes as they come. I am a little self-conscious writing about this, it seems so basic and makes so much sense to have a system to feed a family, but you know, I get there when I get there.

blind oreo tasting results

We had the party and it was a huge success. A party of 13-year-olds is sure a lot different than 8-year-olds. All we had to do was provide food and leave the room and not saying anything embarrassing. (!?) I was told later I had only made one infraction, which I think is pretty good.

But the game! We did come back in for the game. So, we didn't do it exactly like the Oreo Challenge that it was inspired by. We gave everyone a paper bag and had them write their name on it. Then had everyone close their eyes, taste the Oreo and then say out loud what they thought it was. This was all the kids doing it at the same time. Then they opened their eyes and I announced the flavor. They marked a line on their bag to keep score. It was the honor system. If they didn't like the cookie, there was a bowl in the middle they could toss it in, and if they did like it, they could finish it, but I advised them to just put it in their bag to save, because they had to taste 14 different ones. There was a tie for second, and I am embarrassed to say that first place went to my birthday girl, and second place was a run off, and went to my youngest. They got 11 and 10 right out of 14! I swear they had never had most of these before.

To make it easier, I quickly read a list of all the flavors to the kids right before we started, but I think I should have NOT done that, because they memorized the list and were able to guess a lot. There was some very funny strategies that developed quickly—namely, tasting the filling first, and going by the smell more than the taste. They were able to tell the Halloween ones (which have no different flavor than the normal ones, just a bright orange filling) because it tasted "like orange dye." Cracked me up.

I was a stickler for details, Peanut Butter, was different than Reese's (there were both). And I made them guess the filling color. The most reviled was the Banana, which freaked them out so much they were convinced some were Banana when they weren't .The Lemon was pretty bad, and so was the Pumpkin Spice. The Mint, Cookies and Cream, and Double Chocolate were the favorite.

There was no cake, but ice cream, which they crumbled Oresos on, and then the rest were divided into their bags and taken home by the kids. Many were too sick and opted to take very few. Understandable.

apple picking

We were able to pick apples today. I thought it was going to be crowed at Smith Berry Barn, but we were told the crowds were there on Saturday, not so much Sunday, when we were there. We had to go deep into the fields to find apples, but we did. 41 lbs worth. We always have to stop picking before we want to. Picking them is so satisfying.

We have this down to a system now—we core, peel, and slice all the apples and store them in ziplock bags in the freezer. This makes them perfect for pies, crisps, tarts, soups, and apple sauce. The girls fight over whose turn it is using this gadget, which is great, because it's a lot of apples. I'd like to try some of delicious apple recipes suggested in the comments over on Posy Gets Cozy. I usually just make a lot of apple sauce and pies. I also am looking to try more savory apple recipes this year.

Unrelated, I found this book list fascinating over on Huffington Post. 17 Books You Should Add To Your Usual Back-To-School List.  It's an alternative take on the classics normally assigned in high school. I have only read one of the suggestions. I'd love to check out the others.

brownies

It was cool enough to bake last week. Fall is coming here. These were made from my family cookbook, the recipe and notes are in this older post. These were made by Lydia and Sadie and they added Trader Joe's chocolate chips, which I think make all the difference.

Not about brownies:

• We are still loving Adobe Voice on our ipad for projects—I'm so proud of this movie Sadie and Delia made about Nelie Bly all by themselves. So great.

• I started and finished sewing Sadie's coat. I will show it soon.

• I also was told about this site full of podcast goodness, Radiotopia, which is full of amazing shows to listen to—kind of mind blowing.

ice box cake in a jar

I was reading about icebox cakes a bit back and got inspired to try some mini ones. They are quick and easy, the only thing is, you need a good 12 hours of wait time before you can eat them. So we made these right before bed. It couldn't get any easier than this and the flavors are perfect.

We squirted a bit of whipped cream first, then added two broken cookies (these Lattemiele Slightly Sweet Milk & Honey Cookies are by far the best I have tried for this type of dessert) and then blueberries. Then repeated the whole thing again. Done.

After 10 hours or so the cookies turn into a soft cake, but the appearance is much different. It's not nearly so pretty, it looks like there is barely any whipped cream in there, but it tastes delicious. I think for a party I'd add a little fresh whipped cream right before I served it. I tried it again with graham crackers and it was not nearly as good.

Unrelated:

Greensleeves is on its 7th reader! I love the idea of this book traveling around to different readers, who are leaving their thoughts in a little book tucked with it. It's so cool! I have heard Greensleeves is back in print, which is wonderful, but I will always love my copy that is traveling around to different readers. I keep going back to the comments of that secret book post, which is when I first heard of it. I think it's one of my favorite posts ever, becasue of you guys.

Pete's carrot, ginger, & apple soup

Pete has been making this soup lately. He found a recipe and tweaked it and came up with this and it's just so incredibly good, I request it often.  And 2 of the 3 girls give it a thumbs up. It gets better the next day, even more flavorful. He likes his soups very smooth (I'm a little more into texture and big pieces) but for this soup, smooth is perfect, I usually sip it from a mug.

Pete's Carrot Ginger Apple Soup:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 inch of ginger, minced (he's says you can even add 2 inches)
• 8 oz broth (or water, but broth makes this a whole lot better, he uses veggie or chicken)
• 3 small potatoes (yellow finn, or yukon gold, or peeled russet)
• 6 carrots chopped
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 apple diced
• salt and pepper

Saute the onion and then add the garlic, ginger and carrots. After a couple more minutes, add everything else (adding water if you needed to cover the veggies) and bring to a boil and them turn down, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Blend in a blender, or with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper if needed.

I kept asking him about spices, because we love spicy food, and there are none. What? It's amazing to be able to taste every single ingredient in this soup. I keep thinking when I eat it I will add hot sauce or something else, but then I taste it and never add a thing, it's so good as it is.

Happy Mother's Day! I rested all day with my pug and ate some chocolate and read a fancy magazine, The Gentlewoman, which I can't put down. Björk is on the cover of this issue and it's full of fascinating interviews. The family bought it for me here in town at Rich's Cigar Store & Magazines.

I used to go there all the time in high school and sort of forgot about it until recently. It hasn't changed at all, which is so comforting.They have an impressive inventory of domestic and local magazines and you can buy empty cigar boxes there, perfect for crafting and storing little treasures in.

really good bread

One of our favorite places to go downtown after Powell's Books is Little T Baker in Union Alley (which we call Diagon Alley, but it's really more like Hipster Urban Lumberjack Alley.) They have the best bread. I mean really, the best. And they serve it with butter and jam—it's so pleasing and fun to eat.

There's shop in this alley, Spruce Apothecary, that sells fabulous hard-to-find items, including Royall Lyme, which is the cologne my Dad wore when I was growing up. He passed away 12 years ago, and the anniversary of his death was last week. I was pregnant with Sadie, my eldest, when he died. I go to this shop to and dare myself to smell it. I have a few times now. I haven't told the girls what I am doing. I'm sure I will someday and let them smell it too, but for now, I just keep it to myself. Scents are so powerful. Growing up, my mom wore Chanel No 19, and I still buy it for her. I always feel about 8 years old when I smell it.

I'm in a sewing frenzy for the ballet performance coming up next week. I feel like I'm back architecture school, not knowing which way is up and drinking too much coffee and not enough water. But it's different now that I'm almost 43 instead of 23. The bounce back takes longer. And my eyes aren't as good. There has been some cursing at ruffles and broken zippers, but it's coming together! A show! A show!

 

coconut macaroons with unsweetened coconut

I love eating coconut macaroons and love making them. It took me awhile to find the perfect recipe. With so few ingredients, you'd think it would be simple, but it wasn't. After testing different recipes, I knew I really didn't like them too gummy or too sweet. The recipes that call for sweetened coconut (which I never seem to have, I buy unsweetened in bulk) and/or sweetened condensed milk just never crisp up enough for me and are too sweet and gummy. This recipe I have been using for a few years now and it works perfect. I like them a little more toasted than normal, so you might want to check them at 15 minutes, depending on your preference. Bonus—these are so nice to have for the gluten-free/dairy free people in my life.

For the cookies:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 3 egg whites*
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

I whip the sugar and egg whites until they are almost a meringue. This is a crucial step that I think makes a huge difference. Then I add the other ingredients and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes, checking for browness at about 18 minutes. I use a small cookie dough scoop for these. Delicious!

*Sometimes this seems like too much liquid, depending on the size of the eggs. When this happens, I add 1/4 cup more coconut. Conversely, if I only have two eggs left in the house, I add less coconut, more like 2 1/4 cups.

creamy chickpea spinach soup

I made this Creamy Spinach Chickpea soup a bit back and it was a huge hit with most of the family. This is a photo of before it was blended. I use a stick blender for this, which I love. I have been researching getting a Vitamix for a few months. I stopped researching, finally deciding to get one (after also looking at a Ninja) but I still haven't pulled the trigger. I have a blender that works fine. It's not amazing, but it makes smoothies, which is what I need it to do. But it won't blend greens and kale the way I suspect it needs to get the kids drinking them. They will eat veggies in soup, however. So, I'm feeling like I can't justify the price. I know they have them refurbished, but still.

So, I took the money I had ear-marked for the Vitamix and bought an iPad mini last week as a family learning tool. So far, it's iMovie 24/7 here. I made a lot of home movies when I was little (with a huge video camera strapped to my shoulder!) and I can't believe how easy it is now. The version of iMovie on my laptop was so old and clunky (my OS is so old I can't upgrade) and this new version is insanely easy to use, the girls are making movies non-stop all by themselves.

Any iPad learning apps you all like? I am finding a ton out there, Common Sense Media is a great resource for this.

roasted brussels sprouts with chickpeas

I roasted a bunch of brussels sprouts the other night. I coated them with salt, pepper, and olive oil and roasted them at 425° for about 25 minutes. Then I tossed them with:

• a can of drained chickpeas
• 2 TBL soy sauce
• 2 TBL rice vinegar
• a splash of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sambal oelek

Delicious! And very stinky. The kids were having none of it. I had leftovers the next day with a fried egg on top. That was very good, too.

Unrelated:

• We are super excited to be participating in the homeschooling science fair this week. We do every year and this site, Science Buddies, was a great resource for ideas.

• I'm still having a pens, pencils, paper, and notebooks moment—here's a guide to buying pencils from My Pencils Draw Worlds.

Confirmation Code: GFBXHFFD41094112

a cyclops snowman cookie

For a couple years now we have had friends over to decorate Christmas cookies during the day. Hooray for homeschool flexible scheduling! Otherwise, I don't know how this would happen this time of year. I make a double batch of sugar cookies a few weeks before and freeze them and take them out the night before. I seem to use a different recipe each time. These were yummy, but got very puffy. Then the kids go to town with icing and sprinkles. We had these eyes on hand from when we were making Twinkie minions last spring, and they were such a hit decorating these cookies! They took a fabulous comedic turn. I love seeing a stocking with eyes. Delia added broken candy canes pieces to the mix, which was a great addition, too.

Unrelated:

I am reading Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned and am almost done. Lena Dunham is much younger than me. I find her writing interesting, smart, funny and sad. Mostly I feel grateful I'm not in my 20s anymore. I read an interesting discussion about this book on Man Repeller. In keeping with the theme of female comedic writers, next up— Yes Please by Amy Poehler.

solstice gifts

I put together these 3 little jars for the girls for solstice. They don't read my blog which is why I am showing them early. I like to give them handmade, or partially handmade, gifts for solstice and I had so much fun making these. The bottles came from Cargo, here in Portland. They are small, only about 3 inches high, and the goodies inside came from Collage, also in Portland. These shops are very dangerous places for me, I try not to go in them very often. Collage carries quite a few miniatures now, which I find delightful.

Unrelated:

• I had a cooking fail today—caramel sauce. I am doubly bummed about it because I have made caramel sauce so many times with no issues, but this time I tried it in the microwave (why!?) and not only did it boil over, but them got too hard, and then separated. It was sad. I made Pete throw out all the evidence, so now I am pretending it didn't happen.

• I can't stop watching the Hobbit Office skit on SNL.

• I'm excited to start this clayoquot toque pattern (free!) from Tin Can Knits after the holidays.

gift factory 2014

Last weekend pete bought whole spices in bulk, toasted them, and ground them up to make garam masala. We found the little spice jars at Cost Plus, and magically, quadrupling the recipe filled all 9 of them perfectly. The recipe calls for rose buds, which we left out. I really like to give a non-sweet gift item every year, along with all the sugar stuff. Having said that, I think I'm going to use this today to make these garam masala oatmeal-raisin cookies. This spice blend is also great on popcorn and hashbrowns.

We use this blend at home for the red lentil soup we have made almost weekly for a few years now. 3 out of 5 of us love it, and the 10 year old eats it for breakfast. It's so easy I always feel like I'm forgetting something. The recipe is from a friend, and I'm not sure where it came from originally. I've probably made some changes along the way, but here it is:

Red Lentil Soup—super easy and delicious!

• 1 chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 cup red lentils
• 2 cans (16oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cup broth or water
• cilantro, chopped (optional)
•  juice of 1/2 lemon (not really optional)

Saute the onions and garlic and then add the spices and cook for about 2 minutes, add the lentils, coconut milk, water, and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer (give it a good stir now, the lentils like to stick to the bottom of the pot), cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the lemon juice and chopped cilantro. I love this soup.

Unrelated:

This hysterical piece in the Oregonian by Jamie Hale is the most Portland-y Portland story I have read this week. A brief summary—

"This is not just a story about drunken Santas roaming Portland bars. This is a story about a secretive society, riot police, fake protests, legal battles, Chuck Palahniuk and, incredibly, a rivalry with people dressed as bananas."

the low-pressure cookie party

The low-pressure cookie party was a huge success, like always. There were many yummy cookies to eat, and it really was low-pressure—one guest came with two bags of oreos, and another with a purchased bag of delicious shortbread after a baking fail. It's all good. There was much swearing, eating, a little smack talking about high-pressure cookie parties, and delight taken in the host's heated toilet seat. For real. It also had a light.

The little brown guys there on the left with sprinkles are pretzel shortbread cookies and were a favorite. I need to try making them, I love cookies with salt. They were perfect for breakfast this morning with coffee.

 

apricot ginger shortbread

I bake these cookies every year for the Low-Stress Cookie Party I attend. it's a win-win, you just come and eat cookies. You can bring some you have made, or not, all you have to do it show up. Then, if there's some left, we split them up and take them home. It's genius and we have been doing it for many years now.

I always think I will branch out, but then I don't, because these are so good and I only make them once a year. They use 2 sticks of butter for a 8" square pan, so you know. I know I have blogged about these before, but since I am repetitive, so is my blog.

Real Simple calls them Apricot Crumbles, but I have renamed them because they have ginger and they are a shortbread.

I'm trying to make sure I take the time to do fun holiday stuff right now—bake, make little gifts, wrap stuff, use too many stickers, that kind of thing. There's been a whole lot of driving and errand running with the 3 girls all in the nutcracker this year, so our days have been spent in a minivan suck hole, which is not my favorite. My brain is working over the whole— what do I have to do, vs. what do I want to do, and then deciding I should do what I want to do so I don't resent what I have to do, thing.

thanksgiving trifle & learning geography

I made this for Thanskgiving—it was the first time I have used this amazing trifle dish Grammie gave me for my birthday. It was a raspberry, gingersnap, mascarpone trifle. It looked amazing, and in theory, was amazing, but in reality, was a fail. But I have not given up hope. The big mistake was using gingersnap cookies instead of gingerbread. There wasn't enough body in the cookies. They got mealy and grainy in the liquid, so instead of being a trifle, it was more like a sauce. A delicious sauce with a very grainy texture. It's like it should have been on top of another dessert, and for a bit I thought about serving it on top of pie, but I didn't.

Unrelated:

The girls have been really enjoying these geography quizes. This first link is fun with some sense of geography already, but for learning from scratch, this site is better, because they can learn little bits at a time. This second site also has the US state capitals. I like to follow up with a blank print out they have to fill by hand periodically in so they can practice spelling. Then I can use all the stickers I have stashed.

butter keeper

I am very happy with my on-the-counter butter storage of late. Over the summer, I was looking at my butter and was getting disturbed. The girls are cooking more and the butter looked like it had been attacked by a fox. I have used the butter keepers with the water in them, but I never knew how much butter was left and there was always that awkward moment of putting it back in the water without chipping the top (which is now chipped) so on a whim, I grabbed a weck jar and dropped in half a stick. I realize a normal butter dish might work for most people, but it gets gross in this house. The lid always hits the butter, and the ones you can't see through make me mad.

See? No lid hitting the butter. Now I cut a whole stick in half and just fit it in. The genius here is that the girls can dig at it and if it gets to messy, I can just switch the lid. It's stack able in the fridge and I can see how much have left. I don't bother with the clips. And the cats can't get at it, which they tried to do before. I have been using my weck jars so much without the clips and rubber rings, like vintage Pyrex, it's very liberating.

Unrelated:

• I made smitten kitchen's cauliflower cheese. It was good, the girls sort of liked it, Pete and I loved it. I am thinking of it as a side dish for Thanksgiving. I added a few chopped pecans on top and I'd be tempted to sprinkle on a little blue cheese.

• I'm looking for yarn crafts for the kids for the holidays. I have a lot of gifted yarn on hand. I love this tassel/pom/pom image from pinterest and this yarn font has me excited. I'm amused by the idea of making pom poms with a fork. These multicolored ones pom poms are making me crazy.

cake in portland

My ladies and I went to Palace Cakes recently for some serious cake eating research. They were all divine. It's the same talent behind Two Tarts, which is my favorite place to get cookies in Portland because they are so small—you can get so many different kinds! It's very celebratory. Palace Cakes, like Two Tarts, serves good french press coffee, to help you get through the cake. The storefront is very small, only two tables, so you might have to wait to sit, or eat the cake at home, or in your car.

These were all delicious. One of us got all weird (in a good way) about the chocolate cake, I loved it, but was also very pleased with the lemon cake. There was a lovely carrot cake cupcake with citrus that meant a lot to me.

Unrelated:

• I have been having a lot of fun looking at all the hand-picked beauty tools/products over at Reed Clarke. I have that brush cleaner in my painting box right now! Of course I should use it on my make-up brushes. Genius!

• I'm really interested in reading Wolf in White by John Darnielle after reading this review over at the Rumpus. I have been a fan of The Mountain Goats for a long time. I do agree with the reviewer that being a fan of his music is irrelevant to reading his novel, however I sit right up and notice his creative output, whatever the medium, because I love his music so much.

 

Sante Fe Trip: Food

 

Thank you all so much for your food tips in Santa Fe. It was a wonderful city to eat in and one of the perks of traveling alone is I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. The downside is that I couldn't sample what everyone else was eating, experiencing more of the menu. Hardly a thing to complain about, but you know what I mean. This lovely blue corn waffle was one of the amazing breakfasts served at the B&B I stayed at, The Madeleine Inn. They served a delicious hot dish daily, along with fruit, homemade granola, and tea breads, all of which were outstanding. I was able to eat outside every morning. I loved my room, the other guests, and everyone that worked there. It was the perfect escape.

This amazing drinking chocolate was from Kakawa Chocolate House. I went for the darkest and least sweet one, with a lot of chile. It was so good—hard to even describe. This was after a long day of looking in galleries. I remember my feet hurt and the chocolate made it all better.

This was one of my favorite meals—from the restaurant at the spa 10,000 waves, called Izanami. This was one of the only times I was sad I was alone because I wanted to try everything on the menu and had no one to share with. I thought it was funny that I was having an incredible Japanese experience in Sante Fe, and then I found out the chef is from Portland. Ha! I spent 3 hours soaking, being scrubbed and pampered at the spa, and then hung out and ate outside for another hour. Heavenly!

Here's another amazing breakfast from the Madeleine Inn. Bread pudding with bacon.

La Boca is where I landed my first night out. It's tapas and was so good. This was a spicy shrimp dish. I was able to get in pretty much anywhere without reservations by sitting at the bar. I got some great tips that night on where to go from the super nice bartender.

Everyone said to go to Cafe Pasqual's and I am so glad I did. This was an amazing squash blossom salad.

Not pictured:

Fish tacos from La Choza, which were very tasty. I also ate at The Teahouse, which was good, but I was having walking mishaps on the deep and loose gravel.

Eating out alone (not just at a cafe or a casual place where you order at the counter) was really interesting. I refused to look at my phone (except to take photos) and just hung out. I think most couples there thought I was eavesdropping. I was. But I also chatted it was so great just talking to everyone. I was also a pleasure just staring off in to space so many times during the day, talking to no one at all. There are so many other places I wanted to try and didn't get to. Another a trip will be planned, for sure.

pickled veggies

Pickled radishes

Pickled beets

When I am cleaning out the fridge and getting anxious about veggies not being eaten, I pickle them. Right away. It takes about 5 minutes and then I feel so much better. I have been using this basic sweet/salty vinegar recipe from the Momofuku cookbook for a few years now. I memorized it, or something similar that works for me, and I use it for everything. It's pretty forgiving. There's one here, but I use much less sugar. Here's my brine:

• 1 cup water
• 4-6 TBL sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• kombu (optional)

I heat the water and sugar until the sugar dissolves and pour it over the cut veggies and add the rest of the ingredients. To prep the veggies, I slice them in the food processor with the slicing blade, which is my best friend. The radish one stinks to high heaven, but not as much as the daikon and carrot one I made, which makes the girls scream and run out of the kitchen every time I open it. Pete just said it's hard to capture the smell in text. I love the way it tastes so much. Especially on fish tacos!

Unrelated: Books I want to read soonish

The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison

The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell:

There's a fascinating piece about him here.

the Fish Taco Project

I love fish tacos. I sometimes forget this and then when I remember I get excited because they are so easy to find. They remind me of pizza—there is much variety and quality in this one dish. Fancy, fusion, good, bad, bad in a good way, so-so, and gross. They pop-up in unlikely places, which makes them even more exciting and at times questionable. Recently, I had 3 different fish tacos three days in a row (I only thought to photograph these two) and I felt the need to start this ridiculous yet delicious project.

These aren't really reviews of fish tacos exactly, more like descriptions. I can't really give them stars. That would be too difficult to figure out. I try to avoid any that are terrible, but when it comes to fish tacos, I'm not very picky. I find my enjoyment of a fish taco is directly proportional to how hungry I am when I'm eating them. I love how small they usually are, so I can grab one as a snack. I've had so many around town I thought I'd start to list them and take photos for fun because it's a blog so, you know, I can write about fish tacos.

Now, when I am out and about if I can find a fish taco nearby (especially if it's new to me) I feel I have completed a special mission. My family is patient and supportive. As I eat my fish tacos, I will add them to my new fish taco category. These are all in Portland unless otherwise noted. Please feel free to add your favorites in the comments.

These salmon fish tacos are from Fishbox, which is a cart on Belmont. They were delicious, spicy and very good. I do like corn tortillas better than flour, that's my only quibble. Maybe they can make them with corn tortillas, I didn't ask. I think this was grilled or blackened salmon. And I did say spicy, didn't I? These are a fusion type thing—I think some wasabi was in there. I liked them a whole lot, but the spiciness of the sauce kind of overpowered the salmon taste. Pete got the salmon sandwich which he said was amazing. 8/2014

These Baja fish tacos came from Salvador Molly's and they were very filling and tasty. They were so filling I couldn't eat the rice and beans. They have battered fish with a garlic-lime aioli crema and picked onions. They were very good, but heavy. I felt a little sad later, but I think that's because I don't do well with fried food in general, no matter how often I try to deny it. 8/2014

I'm a big fan of figs.

This morning I had my figs with ricotta, honey and pistachios. Delicious. I love this combination so much, but searching for fig recipes on Pinterest has given me many other ideas.

Some random links:

• I just saw this from Powell's Books, a list of 25 books "to read before you die". I had only heard of a few of these books. It's an interesting list.

• I haven't really done much weaving, but if I get into it, especially with the kids, this tutorial over at HonestlyWTF is really helpful. I do get a little creeped out by some weaving like this. I always am afraid of finding bugs and bug eggs hiding in the loose wool. If it's tightly woven, I'm okay, but once it goes puffy, I get the willies. Surely not rational, but I can't help it.

 

snack plate for adults

My in-the-know foodie guru was showing photos of her meal at Cheese and Crack Snack Shop and I was so intrigued. What is this, on a metal tray? Measuring spoons of marionberry jam, fromage blanc, chocolate ganache, dijon mustard, honey with a slice of blue cheese some olives and cornichons and two kinds of homemade crackers? I had to find out and It was the best best meal I have had in a long time. It's the perfect food for me—I'ma snacky kind of eater, and it was very filling. It makes me want to raid my fridge in a different way.

The aftermath

When I was little my Dad used to make us snack plates with cheese, crackers, and little meats, and it was always our favorite. Looking back, I see it was a desperate action on his part to feed us when we were out of everything else or no one was up for cooking, but to us, it was dinner heaven. My brother and I still prefer to make small sandwiches or customize little meals as we eat them. My biggest stresser eating these snacks was figuring out if I wanted this meal to lean more sweet than savory. The menu is very interesting and I will have to do more research there for sure. Everthing looks so good.

homemade vietnamese iced coffee

Occasionally, I like to get a vietnamese iced coffee. It's usually too sweet for me so I have to be in the right mood and also willing to pay $3.99 for them. I find this irksome because that's more than the Bánh mì sandwiches are I eat when drinking this usually too-sweet beverage.

The internet told me all kinds of things about making this at home. Which coffees to use, which condensed milk to buy, and what type of pour-over filter to get. Also, it explained the difference between Vietnamese and Thai iced coffee, which doesn't explain why I dislike Thai iced coffee so much*—they are very similar, so I'm thinking it's just too sweet. I bought this can of coffee at Uwajimaya, displayed on an endbase, along with quite a few interesting coffee drink type beverages, and bought sweetened condensed milk. I did not buy the special filter. We have so many coffee/espresso contraptions in the house I couldn't justify purchasing another one until I tried one we already have, so I used our stove-top espresso percolator.

 

The result is fantastic. This is a dear friend drinking my concoction, and wearing stellar nail polish and a lovely blouse. She declared it very good.

The only problem with this is now I can drink them whenever, just how I like them, which is making me very jumpy and hyper. I should switch back to shrubs. Or homemade chai.

*My own search feature scares me sometimes. My blog is an interesting archive of my brain and it's predictable loops. Along with enthusiastic misinformation (Jade Teahouse serves Vietnamese iced coffee that I raved about, not Thai, because um, they are a Vietnamese cafe. What? I am insane. Also, I had no memory of ever researching this all before, which I did, albeit Thai iced coffee, but it was 5 years ago, so that's better than last year, right? Whateves.)

chocolate

For Mother's Day (and again for my birthday) I received some chocolate from Pete. He bought them at Cacao in Portland, a wonderful little shop selling fancy chocolate bars and delicious drinking chocolate. I loved everything shown here. I am a huge fan of dark chocolate but find most of it too chalky. I like the taste, but not the texture. These are all so smooth and wonderful to eat—the Patric being my favorite. It is so sophisticated and has so many flavors in one bite. I just loved it. He talked with the sales folks quite a bit and they told him these were all delicious and they were right.

Unrelated:

• I am super happy to see Bil Nye has a channel on youtube with a ton of full episodes of his shows, including the series The Eyes of Nye, which is nice for older kids.

• I have been telling friends that want to learn to knit about the amazing (and free!) projects  designed just for beginners over at Tin Can Knits. It's called The Simple Collection. It's new to me and seems so wonderful to learn from these designs that are specifically meant to teach basic knitting skills simply and clearly. The designs are lovely, as well.

chocolate cereal nests

We spontaneously made some chocolate cereal nests yesterday. I had 3/4 of a box of very unpopular shredded wheat cereal, unsweetened, and didn't want to get rid of it, so I melted a bag of chocolate chips and stirred it all up. I had made these before years ago and it was fun, but kind of a mess and hard to shape. These were so much easier and fun to make.

I used the food processor to make the cereal fine and crossed my fingers that one bag of melted chocolate chips was enough for about 3/4 of a box of finely chopped cereal. After a lot of stirring, it was just fine. Adding shredded coconut to the mix would have been good, too.

For shaping, we used cupcake liners in a tin. I had the girls scoop in the mixture, press with their fingers to make a little indent, and then chilled them until they firmed up. They keep fine room temperature after that. This amount made 12 nests in a standard muffin tin. They make the nests a bit more uniform and less natural, but were so much easier to handle and shape. The paper came off just fine and they are so tasty.

Unrelated-

I have taken a break from my shawl (pattern and yarn here) to start on a crewel work project and am having so much fun. More needlework excitement! I have been buying/collecting/ needlework kits and books of all kinds for years now and only recently have been able to dive in. I have been shopping in my own closet and bins and can't believe what I have stashed away that I had forgotten about. My tastes don't really change at all, so what I have found, I love. I am so happy I snatched things up when I saw them on sale years ago.

pumpkin bread

I have been tinkering with pumpkin bread/cake recipes again. I have posted a few in the past and keep making changes here and there. This one is currently my favorite and I think it will be for a long time. It's from the excellent Grand Central Baking book (recipe here) and I changed 3 things:

• I used white whole wheat flour instead of white and sadly,
• I never have buttermilk so I used yogurt instead
• I made it in a bundt pan (and increased the cooking time) instead of two loaf pans. The second one I made last week I added chocolate chips to.

Unrelated:

• We are teaching the girls computer programming—we just heard of code.org a bit back and have been doing it for about a month now. It's pretty amazing. Pretty, swear-word amazing.

• I have been getting looser with my knitting rules and now have 4 projects going on at once. Look out! Really, this is huge for me. When I sew, it's one project at a time, and always has been so breaking of out of this mindset has been huge for me with knitting. I had to come to terms with my knitting burn-out and that it's often because I have been working on one item for too long. If I focus on taking pleasure in the knitting (process) and let go of the need for a finished item as quickly as possible (product) I tend to enjoy it a whole lot more. So, I might cast on this tonight. Make that 5 projects.

 

snow!

we got snowed in the last 4 days and the girls have been:

• Reading a ton—we finished reading Tom Sawyer and started To Kill a Mocking Bird (from our Family Library)

• Working on their DIY skills with intensity. Also, they were sledding a whole lot and we realized we don't have a lot of snow gear, like real gloves. Oops. We used socks instead.

• Working on their books—for a couple months now they have been writing and illustrating their own stories on StoryJumper. So far, they are just online, we haven't paid to get the actual book printed yet. It's been so fun. Sadie uploads her original artwork, Delia is learning so much about grammar, and Liddy is writing an amazing story about an elephant that owns a candy shop and Medusa makes an appearance.They are learning so much about writing along with basic graphic design on the computer—using scale, layers, placement features and formatting text. It's amazing to see and I had no clue when we started this how much they would learn on the computer side. We always make our own books (with paper and staples and draw everything) but they just took off with this in such a different way, it has been great to see it develop. StoryJumper provides a little outline for them to use first so their story doesn't get too off the rails as they go. It's also free (unless you want an actual book sent) and you can read other books written by kids, which are pretty swell.

• I ran out of sugar and we couldn't get to the store in all the snow, so I made cookies with sweetened condensed milk instead. Who knew? I had no idea you could do this, but you can. They were so good and really made us all very sick.

chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

Pete had a birthday last week and we made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I used my go-to cake recipe from my PDF that I have on my fridge.

For the frosting, I used a half-batch of this recipe. Next time I'll add a little salt to the frosting. The peanut butter I used was a natural creamy kind, which is very tasty but needed a little salt to balance how sweet this frosting was. This cake was very well received with a little vanilla ice cream on the side. It's super-rich and wonderful, a little goes a long ways. I didn't have any peanuts to garnish the top, so some raw sugar got sprinkled on instead for a nice crunch.

Unrelated:

• I was looking for simple and easy valentine's day crafts and saw a bunch of nice ideas on this pinterest board by cratfy magazine that look fun and aren't too over-the-top cutesy.

• I have both hearts and needlework on the brain and I found this lovely image of hearts that has me itching to start a new piece.