April round-up

April brought some kite flying with homemade kites in the park.

The beginning of Gardening 2015! Plants moved and rearranged. And elderberries to add as well!

 And with any improved garden space, must be added more loam/compost... But first it must be deemed jump worthy.

  

The first bbq pizza of the season. We'll be having this for MANY more meals in the coming months.

Seed swap

 

Thinking of spring, as the snowpiles ever. so. slowly. melt. away. Met some lovely folks who shared their seeds and knowledge. Caught up with others on neighborhood news. And have replenished my seed collection and I'm all ready to get planting.

There's just the small matter of 3-4 feet of accumulated snow that needs to disappear first.

Frigid February morning

Pear custard pie for one. For breakfast. I'm the only one in our family who enjoys it, so I shrunk it down to make just a couple of servings and it's all for me. A warm, creamy, fruit and egg meal sounds like the right way to start a cold day like today.  Jasper the cat feels the same way, but he didn't much care for the pear.

All of the beasts are indoors today, looking out through paisley patterned windows. Starting to think a little bitty bit about the springtime thaw. And growing things we can all eat and savor together.

Peaches and Cream Popsicles

It's the start of popsicle season around these parts! So much easier than having to freeze an ice cream maker for 24 hours before mixing up the goods. Just through all the bits in the blender and move it to the popsicle mold and BAM... you wait six hours til they're done.

But you know what?! Most recipes make a dozen pops, so when they ARE done, you get 'em outta the mold, put them in the small sealable snack bags and you have popsicles until everyone eats them. Make a new popsicle a few nights each week and your family has a few flavors to choose from whenever popsicles are administered.

We're currently out of mango lassi popsicles (frozen mango, whole fat yogurt and a dash each of maple syrup and vanilla extract) and only have a few thai iced tea popsicles left (but those are for grown-ups anyway) .

I based these on a recipe from Chow, but I don't have marscapone cheese in my fridge! Holy cow! So I switched up the recipe to include what I had.

I'll let you know in six hours if they're any good. That said, I may have dipped my finger in the mixture (blender off and unplugged) and it was fairly delicious, albeit a tad sweet. I might leave out sugar next time.  

Peaches and Cream Popsicles  Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 cup whole fat yogurt
4 small peaches
1/4 sour cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 t vanilla
Dash of salt  

Directions
1. Mix up in the blender.
2. Pour into molds.
3. Wait 2 hours before you put the sticks in, so it sets a bit.
4. Wait another 4 hours, or until set.
5. Pop out and put into sealable snack bags. Maybe even eat one.

So thankful for...

1. The forest. The return of the forest from Old Man Winter. The last of the ice is receding and the greenery is pushing forth.
2. Listening to the tufted titmouse couple singing back and forth to one another. They might have been protecting their nest from me. I might have been oblivious as I watched them for a good five minutes, then stopped stalking them.
3. Hearing the loudest woodpecker ever, it sounded like it was dinosaur sized! But as it swooped from one tree to another, I found the type of tree (and how hollow it is) can create a visual impression of a collosal bird, when in fact it's just a regular sized woodpecker.
4. Sitting in the sun, on a bench, alone. Quietly a smile crept over my close-eyed face.
5. Making two dozen chocolate and yellow cupcakes for a birthday celebration.

Goals to establish in 2014

General goals for 2014. Thought out though, seeing where I would like to be, how I would like myself, our home and our family shift to a better place.

1. Community:  Enhance friendships, more meals with others (including last minute invites when our home might not look 'perfectly' clean). Go camping with other families. Start a badminton group. Go to more live (music, theater) events. Get more involved with Biocitizen.

2. Creativity: Take a photography course and practice, practice, practice! Blog posts, especially 'Thankful For' that provide an outlet for my appreciations. More hand sewing and patching. Organizing photos (for once!). More family portraits. Get craft room in order.

3. Food/Nutrition: Trying new recipes (well that's never difficult) and new ingredients! Giving in to the kids' food choice, making more compromises and teaching them some basic cooking techniques. More greens and fruit. Get a small separate freezer for CSA extras.

4. Home: Spring lawn re-do and raised beds. Shelves throughout house. Basement Amazement! (Once and for all, clear out the basement and be rid of mold and mice.) Keep a monthly calendar of things we need to take care of (signing up for summer camps, birthdays, etc.). Put up better laundry lines outside and in the basement (for winter). Use MassSave to determine how our home can be more energy efficient: Signed up, waiting for a call to schedule an appointment. Taxes done by March 1!

5. Family: Put up a phone list so the kids can call family and friends when they want to: DONE! Keep working with Dash on temper flares. Work out the kids' extracurricular activities (try karate, in-home piano?) Work out if a Fulbright is possible in our future. Meet with orthodontist for boys' braces. Keep everyone reading: have a quiet time for all to sit together and read their own books.

6. Me: Keep away from old habits that I want to shift away from and develop new ones. Make and keep appointments: yoga, doctor, dds, chiropractor, physical therapist (find chiro & p.t.). Keep up meditation and reflection studies (read books, blog posts, journal writing). My last full year at my job! Keep being creative and don't lose hope!

So thankful for

1. The chirriping kingfisher! Ah, my bird and the only one left this season.
2. The first layers of ice growing where the water lies along the pond's edges.
3. Taking the most difficult time with family, the 7 year-old anger and intense (but sometimes misunderstood) sadness/strong emotions, the (seemingly) impossible scenario and just deal with it head on: slowly and patiently!
4. My hot thermos of steamy hot tea while my seat remains ice cold. Somewhere in the middle is plenty of warmth.
5. Remembering that we create our reality. By ignoring the negative media around us, raising our voice when we can offer up clarity, and focusing on the amazing all around us!

So thankful for... (The 'Reaping What You Sow' Edition)

Slow, lazy, wonderful Sunday morning.. A grey November morning, but relatively mild and quiet. Polka music playing on the radio...

1. Making the time to dry the CSA herbs in August: rosemary, thyme, parsley, tarragon. All of it dried, separated and put in their respective jars to be used the whole year through. (The rabbit is, no doubt, thankful for the dried herb stems she had with breakfast this morning.)

2. Asking the kids to plant those cilantro seeds back in September. Now we have a section of garden dedicated to late season cilantro that is so delicious. I love still having the fresh flavor of cilantro in our weekly batch of salsa.

3. Remembering to order the seed garlic! It'll be here this week, just in the nick of time, before the ground freezes over. Last summer we were so disappointed in ourselves for not planting it in fall 2012. You know spring is about to hit when the small line of green soldiers sprouts out of the mulch!

4. A Sunday family breakfast together. It sows the harmony and spontaniety of sharing the love and warmth we all feel. After he was done with his brekky, Dash walked around the table and gave us each a shoulder massage with a smile. You can't plan for that or put it on the agenda. He felt the urge to share his happiness with each of us in turn, even his 9 year old brother. We're definitely doing something right here, folks!

A day off

It is very rare that I get a full day off from my desk job to be home, by myself, to chose what I do with my day.

My destiny for today has already been shaped by the actions of the last two days: today I have to finish painting the hallway and today I need to finish re-upholstering the dining chairs. My big project for the day is to make a serious dent in the basement, though. The basement, my lion that needs to be tamed. By making some organizational decisions about it (what goes to the Goodwill and what stays) I can make my creative space and share it with the lads. We will give ourselves more space (our home is under 1000 square feet for the 4 of us and our rabbit) to open our minds and make! Make! Make!

But first, a quiet egg & coffee breakfast and putting the chicken carcass on to boil for stock, making the house smell delicious!

Book: Vegan Before 6 by Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman has created a journey for himself when it comes to food. And he's been lucky enough to have been blessed with a friendly (although sometimes stern, when necessary) writing voice and several platforms with which to talk to us all, sharing his discoveries.

Vegan Before 6 was his adventure into losing weight and becoming a more healthy American. Yes, there are the politics of food and food production that play a role in this, but initially it was about regaining his health. I am one of those lucky so-and-so's who had never had an issue with my weight: I don't have a chart on my weight going up or down and I've never owned a scale. Now, I also don't eat too much junk food or pre-packaged food (potato chips are my downfall, any potato products really... maybe good quality ice cream too) and I don't have any food allergy issues that make my weight a concern. But most of my life I have not eaten as much fruit and veg as I 'should' have. Not that I ascribe to the food pyramid of 6-8 servings per day, or whatever it is these days (is it even a pyramid anymore?!), but I know better that I should be enjoying more of our fruit and vegetable sisters.

I also have had this habit of storing and hording items in case I absolutely need them later and I'm more desperate for them later. I used to be that way with Midol, even when my cramps were making me blackout, I wouldn't take them because tomorrow I might need them even MORE. In my adult life,

I horde the CSA veges. But you know what?  They go bad after awhile, although the skunks that frequent our compost pile don't have a problem with it, I feel I could be doing myself a LOT more good by just eating these delicious, in-season pickings. Whether I eat those peppers with hummus today or Wednesday, I'm still getting the nutrition from them. And, quite frankly, I'm rather enjoying them too. Bonus: I can get more next week as well!

But back to Vegan Before 6. I'm reading this book as an educational tool. I'm learning about nutrition and body chemistry, I'm learning more about the politics of food (and I already consider myself a cynic of food corporations and marketing) and there are some delicious recipes in the back that give me and my family some marvelous options for a better myriad menu choices.

This book is helping me examine my own and my family's trends and habits, to figure out why we choose what we choose to eat. Because, it really is a choice. Our choice. So I'm taking the lessons from this book and applying them to our future food choices and make them beneficial for our health, community and happiness. Yeah, good food.

The final toms and homemade tomato paste.

A HUGE colander overflowing with the final tomatoes from the farm. Washed tonight, I'll get to roasting them tomorrow. Smooshed with my stick blender, they make a wondrously rich tomato sauce replacement.

Or just add to a fried egg with some cheddar or on a slice of goat-cheesed bread. Both of which I might have done today!

Sweet basil pesto

I'm not one for pine nuts: not the taste, not the cost, not the limited use of them.  If I have 1/2 cup leftover after making pesto, I can't add them to chocolate cookies or granola.

But the beauty of pesto is its versatility. After all, 'pesto' is Italian for 'paste'. If I'm happy with the taste, cost, consistency and use of the final product, why follow a recipe?! I'll make up my own recipe in a non-measured sort of way.

And for preserving pesto a la freezer, I never use ice cube trays anymore. I hate having little tiny chunks of pesto, it's never enough. I want to decide how big my chunks are, thank you very much. I use a lipped pan to gather up my pesto and when it's done I pop it out of there and cut it into the sizes I want.  Earlier in the summer (technically, it's still summer) I made five batches of this while listening to Mark Maron interview Iggy Pop. Iggy will always taste like pesto to me now.

Sweet basil pesto

Ingredients
Basil leaves (and the softer top bits of stem seem to be ok too and add more bulk)
Salt, enough to taste (but I guess you could say that about any of these ingredients)
Pepper (I'll use shallot pepper or lemon pepper if I have it to change it up a bit)
Olive oil
Parmesan-romano blend of cheeses (I get mine in a tub from Trader Joes, where the good people have already shredded it. I hate shredding that much hard cheese. Gives me the shivers.)
Almonds, sliced and dry roasted and not salted. Again, from Trader Joes. The land of decently priced nuts.

Directions
1. Swish it all around in your food processor.
2. If you need more oil, because it's too dry, then add another glug of oil.
3. If you need more heft to the pesto, give it another sprinkle of sliced almonds.
4. Etc. with the adding of the ingredients.
5. Line a lipped container with parchment paper. With no lip, that pesto will go floating over the edge. The lip's no joke here.
6. Lay that pesto down in the lipped pan/container/pyrex.
7. Let it sit in the freezer overnight.
8. Remove the pesto by pulling on the parchment paper. Or, if you couldn't find the parchment paper and just put the pesto directly into the pan, run some hot water over the back of the pan and the rectangle of pesto will slide on out. *Remember it will slide on out and be ready to catch it or have a cutting board ready to catch it.
9. Now cut the pesto in the sizes you are likely to use. Ice cubes trays always gave me pesto that wasn't enough. Cut it into different sizes and use the smaller ones to add to soup and bigger ones to cover pasta.
10. Date those freezer bags and throw it in the freezer to take the chill off of winter.

Thai basil pesto

The fragrance of thai basil is undeniably delicious. My mouth waters when I even think about it. As I was plucking the sprigs of my CSA's herbs yesterday I wondered how I could keep this luscious flavor to use in the coming months of stir fries and sauces.

Yes, I googled 'thai basil pesto' and didn't find many recipes I liked.

A lot of the recipes were essentially a sweet basil pesto using pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan cheese. A few switched it up using cashews or peanuts, peanut oil instead of olive. But all of them felt like they committed to much to one way of using the thai basil in a recipe.

I wanted a recipe that would allow me to be versatile with it, when it came time to add it to a recipe. So I took it to a basic place: how do I use thai basil?  I always use it with coconut milk and lemon grass. But the lemon grass, I find, releases a better flavor if it's heated slightly first, then added to a recipe.  So, a half can of Trader Joes Coconut Cream with my two handfuls of thai basil. It's concentrated, I think, so I'll only take what I need with each curry recipe I make and it will mix smoothly in, but *hopefully* release the gorgeous aroma and flavor I'm used to associating with thai basil.

Thai basil pesto

Ingredients
One can of coconut milk or coconut cream
4 handfuls of thai basil

Directions
1. Wash and drain the thai basil (I used my salad spinner to dry it off as best I could).
2. Remove as many stems as possible. the softer stems should be ok.
3. I plucked off as many leaves and flowers (I'm not sure if the flowers have flavor, but the more the merrier) and put them in the mini food processor.
4. Add in the coconut milk (or cream) and just mix it up until the leaves are chopped up to your preferred size.
5. I put this in a freezer-safe pyrex bowl overnight.
6. Use hot water to loosen the mixture. Plop it onto a cutting board and chop it into the portions you envision using for future recipes.
7. Right down what it is and the date, onto a freezer friendly bag, add pesto and freeze til needed.

The most I've done so far is leave it in the freezer overnight. I haven't tried it with rice or in a soup yet. Perhaps an update later or, if it's absolutely awful, I will promise to remove the offending recipe.

So thankful for

Today is Wednesday and we're in week three of kid soccer and school. It's important to me to remember the more lovely moments of my days, the wonderful little details that make each day extra special.

Misty bike path

1. Watching steam rise off the fields this morning.  Mystical. Magical. I'm sure there's a scientific explanation for it. Or it's just the fairies and gnomes taking a sauna this morning.
2. Oatmeal for everyone! Starting a morning with a chill, with a bowl of coconuted, blueberried, walnuted, mapled oatmeal.
3. Pilates class #2. The first one felt like a joke. This isn't a workout! I can't feel this! We barely moved! Foolish mortal, the next day your core felt used. Two days later your core wants to go on strike. On the other hand, you woke up without the stiff joints and hunched shoulders. This pilates thing is really working out well for me. And the classes are free at work, so: Bonus!
4. The joyous fun at our pizza dinner out last night. The boys chose to sit together on one side, so my love and I got to sit together too! We were given a table quickly and all of the food was consumed with smiles and laughter and sharing.  Everyone got their fare share of calamari, there was no hoarding this time. Although Dashiell did pick up one piece that had a leg attached to another so it looked like pieces from Barrel of Monkeys, but with deep fried seafood instead!
5. Listening to Dashiell's stories from his afternoon of wading in the Dead Branch Brook in Chesterfield to study the health of the river. Using Rapid Biotic Assessment, he and some friends scrubbed river rocks, gathered insects and learned how a river can be deemed healthy or unhealthy. Tea quickly followed to warm up afterwards. Both lads will take part next week in the Manhan River.

Frost induced food panic

In a fit of absolute panic yesterday morning, the weather gods warned us that a frost might hit last night. My first thought wasn't about the heaters not being ready for action, not about if my kids have sweaters ready, but - I need to go pick basil and tomatoes at the farm before they all wither away to black mush!

Before too long, I headed out and filled a huge fabric bag with lovely oval tomatoes that don't ever seem to split of go bad. (This means I have a few days before I need to process them for the freezer.) I filled the bag's pocket with orange cherry and yellow pear tomatoes as I passed by that row.

On to the herbs and I stocked up on parsley and cilantro. Both will go into a homemade bouillon recipe I found while browsing 101 Cookbooks.  I'm hoping to pick more parsley to dry as well.

Sweet basil  is all over the place now and I gathered up as much as I could fit on top of the tomatoes. Just ONE more round of pesto to freeze before it's too late!

But right next to the sweet basil was a gorgeous row of purple & green thai basil.  Dammit, I can't leave it behind and I gather up a couple of handfuls, determined to make it into a pesto as well. 

And a herb I don't usually use: tarragon. I cut sprigs of that fragrant plant to dry. Next to that was rosemary - the easiest herb to dry of all.

My spice larder will soon be completely loaded up with the delicious flavors of summer that I can take with me into the deep recesses of winter cooking.

Now, on to thinking up a thai basil pesto recipe...

So thankful for

1.  A bike ride (on my new bike, Snow) and brunch with only one lad. Drawing together, the time flew by.
2. The smell of roasting cherry tomatoes in the house.
3. Laundry is finally done.
4. A lovely husband bringing me my coffee just as I woke up.
5. Getting to read my book again last night, even if it was only two pages. Vegan Before 6 by Mark Bittmann.

A very smooth transition to the weekend and I can't help but think ahead to the time when I'm not working my fulltime job anymore. When time is mine to decide how to spend it. When the we'll have more of these smooth transitions, with some jagged times of course. More reading, more bike rides, more writing, more peacefulness and calm.

a lapse in meditation / a meditation for lunch

For these last few months I've been reading up on meditation, different forms, by different groups, different outcomes, different approaches. It's been so eye opening. I felt like I'd read enough by various authors and dabbled to the point where I was ready to try give the daily practice a jingle.

Low, with July came our summer house project. The one week we had put aside for it (well nine days, we added the second weekend for follow-up) turned into one month. And we're still moving back in, slowly. Amidst the dust, living out of boxes and eating out too much, I had lost track of my meditation goals.

As luck would have it, garlic scapes are in full force in early-mid July and pesto is incredibly easy to make. And now it's been scientifically proven that, if you skip the bbq & fireworks on July 4th, you can make 5 full batches of garlic scape pesto to fill the freezer while listening to a WTF interview of Iggy Pop. And garlic scape pesto will always remind me of Iggy Pop now.

But I digress. That same pesto became one with my daily sandwich everyday I was home with hubby, sanding floors and painting walls. I pint of milky iced tea accompanied it. The chunky texture of scape pieces, richness added by the romano, the chewy bread and coolness of the iced tea. None of the experience went to waste. That daily lunch became my exercise in mindfulness.

After four hours of working in 95 degree heat, my focus only on the task at hand, a full stop to sit and enjoy the front porch and my same lunch. A few deep breaths, taking in the fresh shaded air, and I was ready for another four hours of labor.

Update: walls are all painted and floors are all sanded & sealed.

Birthday discovery

Early spring strawberries come in from California. But it's birthday season around here, so we make exceptions for buying local produce and eat up several boxes of these in April.

These were sliced up for our waffle breakfast bar. 

Instead, we made sandwiches:

Strawberry slices = bread

Nutella = ham and cheese

Whipped cream = mayonaisse 

Uber delicious and a super way to round out waffles and coffee/chocolate milk.

Birthday weekend 7 & 9

Yeah, it's Easter, but it's also birthday weekend for my boys. Each is 'Boss' on his respective day.

'New' bikes were distributed, so each kid got the next size up from his older brother and we ride out to Herrell's Ice Cream for Dashiell to get his free birthday medium sundae. And we continued on for a very pleasant picnic/soccer play at a local park.  Lego presents were opened and assembled. Friends came over and baseball was practiced. Mint frosted chocolate cake was made and eaten while we watched some vintage (new to us) Three Stooges. So damned funny, those guys!

This morning it's an outing to Look Park, per Huxley's orders. But first we had a waffle bar: sliced strawberries, nutella, pear, maple syrup and whipped cream of course! (BURP!) We even made 'sandwiches' of sliced strawberries, a shmear of nutella and a dollop of cream.

With the warm temperatures finally sticking around it's a perfect spring weekend in New England.

ideas for 2013

2013, you've got some nerve creeping up on me like that!

Now I have to be thoughtful and decide how I'd like to approach the next 365 days and beyond. How can I add some habits that make me stronger and that won't kill me?

1. Meditate daily. Even for a few minutes. A quiet morning thinking through the day ahead and peacefulness of the moment. Last to bed, alone, remembering the triumphs and defeats of the day.

2. More dancing with everyone, but especially with Dashiell. That kid's got the moves and loves to do anything! Huxley wants to, sometimes, and when he does, he kicks it too.

3. Read more of the same books as Huxley. Last year I read Hugo after he'd finished it. In passing conversation, we remarked on characters and plot. Yeah, my kid's eight and I'm having literary discussions with him. (PS: The Hobbit's on the docket, not because of the movie, but because he loves gnomes, so hobbits should intrigue his interest. And dragons.)

4. More greens. And growing them 'out of season' with a polytunnel starting in spring 2013. Salad greens, spinach, kale, chard, cilantro, and the other 4 types of crazy-ass greens I bought in seed form already.

5. Dammit saurkraut already. If I can poach an egg on the last day of 2012 after complaining about putting it off for months I can get to the making of the saurkraut. Even if it tastes awful, we're giving it a 'go' in 2013. EARLY 2013. Why, I just happen to have 2 cabbages in my fridge now!

6. More time for friends (game nights) and skyping with family across this way-too-huge country.

7. Cross country skiing at every available opportunity in winter. Sledding too.

8. Letting go and giving up on my to do lists when I have too much stuff going on. There is a season to business, there is a season to let it go. It can't possible all get done.  But do remember to meditate. Don't let that go.  That would be foolish.

9. Keep learning how to use this new Mac and put my photos on it so I can add photos to blog about.

10. Waste less food. Keep the kitchen and pantry organized. Store food better. Refresh those leftovers.