pickles!

ever since cucumbers came into season here we have not been without a jar of pickles in the fridge. they are the perfect snack and perfect compliment to a summer meal. the kids love them and they are just beautiful to me, the jar all packed with summer goodness.

when i was growing up, we always had dill pickles throughout the summer too. my dad made (and still makes) counter pickles. after 3 days or so on the counter they were ready. D and i always tried to replicate them with spotty results. they were always too something... too salty, too vinagary, too plain.

but this year i found this amazing pickle recipe that is so reliable and so delicious, i think i have found MY recipe. the one my kids will (hopefully!) ask for when they are older.

the recipe is from our csa's website and it it a MUST DO if you don't already have a trusty dill pickle recipe. i think the recipe assumes that you will use a very large jar, but i just kind of tailor it to whatever size jar i'm using. it's pretty flexible.

here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 lb med. pickling cukes
• 5 c water
• 1 1⁄4 c white or cider vinegar
• 1 c sugar
• 1⁄4 c salt
• 2 dill flower heads
• 3 garlic cloves

Instructions

Bring to a boil water, vinegar, sugar, salt. Let cool. Place the rest of the ingredients in a sterilized jar and pour cooled liquid over them. Put in refrigerator and eat within 1-2 days or 1-2 weeks.

vacation & birthday week

i want to have a blog. i want to update this thing regularly. but time is just ticking and life is so full this summer. it is lovely, but it is leaving me with little time or energy to record the events. i vow to be better!

the last few weeks have been busy with getting ready for henny's birthday and our week long family vacation on martha's vineyard, then with living our actual vacation and henny's big day and finally with adjusting back to our life on the mainland. it was all so good.

we headed for the vineyard at the ungodly hour of 3:30 am. the only ferry that we could book was so early. everyone was in good spirits, though. it's hard to not be when you are driving toward such excitement.

we arrived on the island and drove off of the ferry at 7am. after a nice breakfast out, we headed straight to the beach. the beach that would become our beach, where we would visit at least once each day.
our vacation was one long week of a lot of simple pleasures.

there was a lot of this:
and this:
and this:
bee's greatest memory of the week, the thing that she tells everyone when they ask about her trip, was that we saw jellyfish. we went to a big beach with scary waves, and a jellyfish warning! it made quite an impression on bee to see the beautiful and dangerous jellyfish bobbing in the water, and to see the lifeguards treating people who had been stung!

we ate good food, and were bad vegetarians. this was my favorite meal. clams on the half shell, steamers, garlic bread with local tomatoes & cheese and tossed salad.

we rode our bikes almost everywhere. i think we only drove the car 3 times, only out of necessity. it was so nice and just a change of pace from our usual country commutes. the kids loved it too. henny would beg to "ride-a-bike!"

during the week, henny turned 2! he sang every note of "happy birthday" to himself, along with us. and then he sang and sang to himself all day long. he enjoyed the cake that we made him, the exact cake that he asked for. henny wanted a "cindy gail cake". cindy and gail are the lovely women that watch hen while i exercise at the y. they were born for their job, and henny just loves them. when we asked him (again and again!) what kind of cake he would like, he always said, "cindy gail cake". it was pretty hilarious and who could deny such a cute wish!

this trip was definitely one that we will all always remember. it may even be the first family vacation that henny remembers.

good memories. good food. good weather. good company. i love it.

angel food: a success

with pick-your-own season in full swing here, it has been berries, berries, berries for weeks! we have frozen strawberries, made strawberry jam and had plenty of strawberry shortcake. and now we are at the tail end of strawberries with blueberries, raspberries and cherries all available too. what a great time to eat around here!

last weekend, with what will probably be the last flat of strawberries on the counter, i made my first angel food cake. this was something that i had been dreaming of for months. my dream started to become a reality when i found an angel food pan at a tag sale for $1 a month ago. 

as i was researching recipes i was a little worried about the fact that all the recipes called for "very fine" sugar and cake flour. i don't like to buy highly processed sugar and i wasn't sure that our natural sugar would be fine enough. one quick email to fabulously accessible celebrity alexis stewart, who assured me that whole foods sugar would be fine, and i was off.

the next minor stumbling block was the cake flour. i found that they don't sell it at whole foods. i was told that is probably because it is processed with some kind of chemical. the woman at the bakery told me that all-purpose would be fine. 

making the cake was like a cool science experiment and ended up being so delicious. and now that we are getting egg delivery and always seem to have eggs to spare, this cake should be making a reappearance soon.

and now, what to do with the 6.5 lbs. of cherries that we picked yesterday??!

...... and the livin's easy.....

oh, do i have a blog? am i supposed to be preserving my family's history here? oops....

life is just rolling by these days. there is so much good going on. my life feels so very full. we are starting to adjust to our new summer schedule. it's a switch to have to do so much of the planning and creating to make our days special. but it's going pretty well and getting more comfortable every day.

bee wrapped up her school year last week. her school had a lovely awards ceremony for the graduates and the kids who will return for another year (like bee). bee has been feeling emotional about school ending and especially the fact that some of her friends will be moving on. it's been a bit of work to sort out these feelings and to try to help make it feel a little better.

i took this picture of bee on the morning of the last day of school:

and coincadentally, bee wore the same exact outfit to school as she did on the first day of the year. so here, just for comparison, is bee on the first day of school, last fall:

the dress sure got a lot shorter! bee wore shorts under it last week, a little too much booty peeking!

as the summer has been blossoming before our eyes, bee's drawing skills have also bloomed. 

annie, daddy warbucks, sandy and grace:

almost overnight she just draws and draws and draws. she has always leaned more toward the arts and crafts, but lately she is almost obsessive about drawing. morning, noon and into the night (well after we tuck her in tuck her in and kiss her good night), she draws. i gave her a set of these ed emberley drawing books that i had as a kid. she is off and running with them, following every step. she also seems to be just teaching herself along the way.

annie, daddy warbucks and grace again:

i even found a drawing laying around here showing bee's other latest skill:

this past weekend bee tried out riding her bike with no training wheels. she is doing wonderfully. she still needs some more practice, but she is doing it! she is only up to short bursts, with us (usually D) trailing right behind. but, soon enough, she will be off!

also exciting........our garden, the farm and our fertile valley in general, have all been so lush with produce. much more of my time has been spent cooking, preparing, canning, freezing and tending our food. it is such a good feeling.

it's dinners like this that make me love summer:
dinner for one: fresh (all local!) salsa & lettuce mix with strawberries, goat cheese and balsamic (all local too!). 

all this and i didn't even mention homemade yogurt, our upcoming island getaway (with the obama's!), fresh pickles, our construction project (!!), bee's new art table and strawberry jam!

and although this post doesn't reflect it, henny has been flourishing just as much as bee lately. he is a wild yet tender, full-sentence speaking little boy who seems to be in love with life (on his terms!). 

more to come.....

WIP: sweater blanket

inspired by the book sewing green, which i got from the library (i love you, inter-library loan!), i started a new project this week. i started by buying a bunch of wool and cashmere sweaters at salvation army. i felted them in a hot wash and dry and started cutting them up.

bee helped me with laying out the pieces so we could get a sense of what it would be like and if i had enough sweaters.
next i started squaring them off and assembling them like a frustrating little puzzle. 

then i put the whole thing away by rolling it up, in an attempt to pace myself so that i do a careful job and actually enjoy it. i can't wait to roll it out this weekend and start to sew the pieces together. i'm using an old sheet for the back and it should be a nice size for a lap blanket or and extra blanket for bee or henny's beds.

consolation

tonight bee came up to me and started peeking under my shirt as she rattled on about one thing or another. this new habit of her looking under my shirt is something that i am trying to be cool with, despite my natural awkwardness. i still have a lot of issues about my body and how it is changed now forever, after having two babies. i feel ok about it in my own head but when i think of how i look to the general population, i am horrified. i can look at the changes and see them as beautiful in their own way, i am just not convinced that anyone else will. and that is where my issues are, i guess.

anyhow, back to tonight. 

bee was chatting away and looking at my side, where the worst of the worst of my stretch marks reside. suddenly she stopped talking and announced, "this mark looks like an 'm', see."

yes, an "m". bee's first initial. of course that is the connection that bee made. she knows that she made the mark and of course it only makes sense that her initial is there. 

i know that in bee's eyes that is just the kind of magic that is so believable to a kid. i want to believe in that magic. it helps to make this body more livable, more lovable. i want to save this thought to share with bee someday. to thank her for helping me through my issues.

super-mega recap

life has been pretty good around here. so good that i guess i haven't felt like documenting it. we are fully living in the season, this time of late spring with a hint of summer. there has been so much good. so much good eating, planting and living. it's just the way i like it. 

during these lovely weeks i have thought of many posts, but just never felt the drive at the end of the day to follow through. here is an abbreviated version of some of the goodness.

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i have reunited with my love of the asian food market. i have always loved these sort of markets, ever since college when i lived near an amazing japanese market. i love getting all of those weird things that you could never find anywhere else. and the things that you can find at the grocery store are about a third of the price at the asian market. i had stopped finding time to get there after henny was born, it was just too much to add that extra errand to the list.

how happy i am to have returned and to have my kitchen filled with nori, miso, pocky, soba, kim chi and seaweed snacks!

two great meals since the return of the asian market....

make your own sushi night.

this was a hit for the whole family. i made up some sushi rice earlier in the day and then just put all the fixings out on the table. we all enjoyed making our own rolls, either nice cut rolls of just sloppy handrolls. it all tasted great and was so much fun. this will definitely become a go-to meal for the summer.

secondly, is spring rolls....
i made these spring rolls for dinner one night. we loved them so much that we made the above platter for a party. the spring rolls are totally easy, if a little time consuming. you can put whatever in them. the first time i made some with fresh raw veggies and some with rice and tofu. the rice and tofu ones were a little too plain and mushy. raw veggies are the way to go. 

the wrappers (seen in the next picture down, for reference) need to be softened in water for about 3 minutes. you then wrap them like a burrito. for these i used shredded carrot, julienned cucumber, bean sprouts, chopped peanuts, shreds of green garlic, shreds of nori, slices of avocado and a handful of fresh (local!) greens. 

we made a dipping sauce with miso, peanut butter and soy sauce. it's kind of a trial and error type sauce. keep tasting until it's right. 

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one thing that has become clear in the last few week is that the kids are thriving in this weather and the new lifestyle that comes with it. they seem happier, with all of the outside play, playground visits daily and less clothes. henny seems so much older with all of the new things that he can do. bee does too. she has been testing out a bit of freedom with going outside by herself to check on the garden, so a little chore or even to swing for a minute alone. it's all so nice. even the inside time seems nicer somehow, knowing that it isn't our only option.

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and finally, the garden is growing and full of so much promise and hope. i don't have too many pictures of the garden as it looks today because it's been rainy, but it's all the way planted and just left to grow. we lost a few cucumbers and maybe a few basil plants in a late frost last week. but other than that, things are looking good. we have spinach (one planting almost ready and one just a bit behind), green onions, tons of edamame, peas, zucchini, carrots, romanesco, brussel sprouts and a bunch of kinds of tomatoes. we even sprung for the good cages this year! i figure that they will be a family heirloom. 

more pictures of the garden to come. and more early summer goodness to come!

phew.....

full circle

in the last few weeks two wonderful things came full circle. one for me and one for D.

first off, i turned this piece of embroidery into a cool wall hanging. i had been debating about what to do with this drawing-turned-embroidery. a pillow? frame it? then i saw this little tutorial which featured a wonderful idea to print on cloth using freezer paper. now that i think of it, it's not really related to what i made, but it got the wheels turning.

i started by ironing a stabilizer on the back of the embroidery. then i cut it to size, layered a piece of batting inside and a cute fabric on the back. i sewed along the edges and then trimmed close to the stitch line. i finished it off with some yellow bias tape around the outside. what i really want to do it learn to quilt and make my own cute binding, but right now i'm working with my limited skills. i added a few pieces of ribbon and hung it by a stick that i found in the yard. i really love it. now to figure out where to hang it.

D's full circle moment is more of a visual.
morels, in the mushroom bag, made with love my bee. unfortunately, the morel season seems to be coming to an end. the good news is that our spinach is almost ready to eat, the farm is about to begin and the farmer's market is our new grocery store. eating with the seasons is so good right now!

mother's day loveliness

yesterday, my mother's day was just wonderful. my three lovelies gave me such a well rounded, relaxing treat of a day.

i don't ever want anything fancy for mother's day. no jewelry or pajama-grams necessary. all i really want is to have a break from domestic duties, sleep in and have a nice breakfast. i was not disappointed. 

while i had full opportunity to sleep in, i couldn't really do it. i felt pressure to fall asleep and my body is just not used to it. it was just as well though because i just enjoyed listening to podcasts in bed until 8. 

when i awoke or arose, i was greeted by the most wonderful surprises and  treats. bee made a beautiful trivet for me at school, with a drawing of me, with the sun above my head and flowers at my feet. D gave me the most amazing gift, a handmade bag that i had been coveting at a craft fair the weekend before. this bag is unreal. i LOVE it so. the kids also made me some nice cards.

i was served a breakfast that included the following: oven roasted potatoes with fennel, caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, cinnamon sugar toast and a bloody mary. all=delicious.

look at that bag one more time.

we spent the rest of the day just hanging around. we went to a tag sale and a vintage furniture store. i took a short nap before lunch and then we spent the rest of the day preparing to have my parents over for a nice dinner.

we made homemade pizzas: asparagus blue cheese, asiago with arugala salad on top, morel (!!) onion and cheese for the kids.

i wanted to share the dessert we made because it was so simple, easy, quick and delicious. we made popovers and filled them with vanilla ice cream, cooked strawberry sauce and topped with whipped cream.
we made the popovers in our mugs that are oven-safe because we don't have a popover pan (yet), but it looked really pretty. it was so good and really so easy. i can't wait to eat this in a month or so with REAL local strawberries.

all and all it was an amazing day and i am truly lucky. i have the sweetest little kids. and they are taught how to be so generous and kind by the best husband and father that a family could ask for. 

in conversation

both bee and henny have been amazing me with their individually outstanding conversational skills. henny is a big copycat and is thrilled to have so many new words to share. and bee, she is just so amazing. sometimes i really forget that i'm talking to a four year old. she has so much language and wisdom.

each of them has wowed me in their own way recently, with two very different little conversations. 

from bee:

while walking up to the library...

"mommy, what is this all about with crossing your fingers?"

"oh, some people think that they will get their wish or have good luck if they cross their fingers."

"well, i don't know about that. i mean, how do fingers know what you want. you can't talk to fingers. they don't even have brains!"

and from henny:

after D had a very exhausting day, i got henny up from his crib in the morning to let D sleep a bit.

"see daddy. see daddy" (said insistently)

"henny, daddy is going to sleep a little more because he worked so hard yesterday."

"yeah. daddy. workin'. fun. tools."

D's big day

this past week we celebrated D's birthday. there was a lot of secret preparation and it turned out to be a very sweet day.

of course we had our traditional fruit "cake", a platter of delicious fruit with candles. i started this tradition for D a long time ago when it seemed that he was getting so many birthday treats, cake at work and sweets from family. D loves fruit and this was a nice thing that i could do that balanced out the sweets. now bee loves it and helps me every step of the way. 

this year bee did most of the arranging and we added a bowl of fruit dip. the dip is just cream cheese and this yummy natural marshmallow cream (like fluff) mixed together equally. 

bee and i worked on a few gifts for D together. i decided to make a freezer paper stenciled t-shirt and bee was pretty psyched on the idea. she copied me every step of the way and made her own stencil. i cut it for her, but she did the painting.
bee used her stenciled fabric to make a mushroom bag for D. morel season is upon us! bee even tried the sewing machine for the first time.

for my t-shirt, i printed out a picture of a morel that i found online and traced it. i highlighted the details that i wanted to use for the stencil and then cut them out of the freezer paper. i followed the instructions in the creative family. basically the instructions walk you through the tracing, cutting and ironing on a fabric. the box of freezer paper also has some very simple instructions on it. i first used an orange paint, but it looked too faint, so i did a few coats in white. you can still see a bit of orange peeking through, which is ok, i guess.

D seems to like it. i think he feels cool in it.

bee is also very cool and tough, she would like you to know.and yes, that is marshmallow on bee's face, she did a lot of sampling!

27 days later.

we started planting our seeds on april 2nd. we planted the first round and a few days later planted a few more things.

and today, 27 days later, the seeds have sprouted and started furiously reaching for the sun. they are busting out with strong roots and begging to be put in the ground. this weekend they will find their new home, along side the spinach sprouts and climbing peas that are already doing their thing.
i just love this time of year. 

duke of cuke, a knock-off, a recipe

it's summer here! we are on our fourth day of a little heat wave. it's summer in april! and i love it. this past weekend we worked on the yard, got the sprinkler out, ate on the deck and just generally felt happier. after the kids go to bed D and i have been just milling around outside, picking up toys and doing little chores. it just feels good.

over the weekend D and i went out to celebrate D's birthday. we had a nice long and relaxing dinner and then went bowling, D's favorite. at dinner i adventurously ordered a drink called "the duke of cuke". it went along well with my skirt and no tights on the first day of the heat wave. the drink was fantastic and we tried to duplicate it at home with good results.

the recipe:

1 c. cucumber juice

4 shots of gin, we used sapphire 

2 T sugar syrup (sugar dissolved into water, about 2 T: 1/4 c. water)

if you have a juicer, great! if you don't, like us, you can improvise. we put 2 of those long cucumbers in the blender until it was pulverized and then put it through a cheesecloth bag. it worked beautifully. 

add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with some ice and shake it.

pour over ice and garnish with a slice of cuke

makes about 3-4 drinks.

april vacation: part one

it's april vacation this week for bee. we didn't have any big plans for the week. i figured that we would just have a relaxing week, enjoy not having to get dressed by eight and do some special things. i decided that i wouldn't make exercising a priority for the week, and just have a break, have some fun.

monday started off beautifully. bee and i had a swimming date with one of her friends who we don't get to see enough of because of schedules. we had a lovely swim and then spent the rest of the morning playing. 

right at the end of the morning, just moments before i was about to give the five minute warning, henny took the littlest tumble from maybe two feet up. i scooped him up and hugged him for a bit. it was totally your typical fall, but henny's reaction wasn't. he was just crying and crying. i assumed that he was just tired out so we started gearing up to go. when i put him down to put his shoes on, i noticed that his left arm seemed to be kind of hanging there. i thought for sure that i was dreaming it up, but then another mother said that she noticed it too. i imeadiately started freaking out inside and bee and i ran with henny to the car. i sat him down in the car and called the pediatrician. they said to bring him right in to the office. 

as i sped to the doctor's i was anticipating the worst. i felt like i knew that his shoulder was dislocated. i just hoped that they could fix it quickly. 

when we finally saw the doctor she determined that it wasn't his shoulder, but that something was going on with his elbow. it was either nursemaid's elbow, or it was broken. she tried to pop the ligament back in, which is the remedy for nursemaid's, twice. it was horrible to watch the doctor twist henny's little arm, which was already in pain. both attempts didn't seem to work, so we were sent to the hospital for x-rays.

poor, sweet henny was so patient through the whole thing. sure, he cried on and off, but he mostly was just a quieter, sadder version of himself. he also fell asleep in our arms so many times throughout the whole ordeal.

of course once we got to the hospital is was a waiting game. waiting for the thorough check in at radiology, the x-ray, the call from the doctor for the results. and then the results of the x-ray were inconclusive! we ended up having to have the hospital pull henny's x-ray so that we could take him somewhere else to be seen. of course they were not happy to have us leave and they did not make it easy. 

finally, we went to an urgent care office and had excellent treatment. i was a little nervous at first. by now we were about 4 hours into the whole thing and had NO answers. i felt like we were grasping at straws. but the final doctor we saw felt convinced that it was nursemaid's elbow and tried the relocation again. and it worked! almost as soon as she twisted his arm and tried to pop that ligament back in, he moved his arm. i'm not much of a hugger, especially of strangers, but i wanted to snuggle with that woman! she was our hero! 

so, that was the first day of vacation and i feel like i am still recovering form it a little bit. i'm still on edge with henny, who is still feeling a little pain. through it all bee has been just amazing. she was with me for half of our hospital adventures, until D came and brought her to a friend's house. she made me so proud with the way that she totally put her own needs second. she didn't whine, she just sat coloring and chatting with me. she tried to comfort henny and told him he was brave. 

when we got home, around dinnertime, we all enjoyed some well deserved ice cream. and later that night, when i was overcome with love for bee for her compassion and maturity, i told her that i was going to spoil her all week  and that i planned on giving her ice cream every day of vacation.

so, that is the focus of april vacation. a lot of relaxing, some good family fun, plenty of loving and ice cream every day! and today we found the cutest way to treat ourselves, mini ben and jerry's, perfect for the kid's to split. as henny would say, "yummy yummy"!

pinata '09: a tutorial

this year, we once again made a pinata for easter. i felt like i sleep-walked through the process, exciting as it was. it was so fun, especially to watch bee, who did almost 50% of the work. but i think this was probably the 20th pinata that i have made in my life, plus that time when i taught a class on pinata making. so, my hands simply went through the steps, just like they had so many times before. 

the steps are as follows...

give yourself a good week for the whole project.

gather up your supplies: a balloon, about a weeks worth of newspaper- half ripped into 1" strips, half for lining your work surface time and time again, elmer's glue, flour, water, masking tape, a metal clothes hanger, paint and whatever else you can dream up to decorate the thing.

begin your pinata by paper-mache-ing over a balloon. blow your balloon up nice and big. 

make your paste by combining about a 1/4 cup of elmer's glue, 1/2 cup of flour and about 3/4 cup of water. the paste should be thick, but not too thick. think tomato soup.

dip strips of paper into the paste and layer over the balloon. keep going until the whole thing is covered. you can leave the balloon knot out if you want. i would recommend it.

let the pinata dry for a day or so. leave it by a heater or in the sun to dry quicker. 

add another layer on to add strength.

give it another day to dry.

add any "parts" to make your pinata look like what you want. you can just use newspaper to make the basic shape of your parts. use masking tape to secure the parts. use as much masking tape as you need. go wild with it.
add another layer of paper-mache, including a good layer over your new parts. 

let it dry.

now you can fill it up! if you left the balloon knot open, you can slice into it in the shape of an x. then you can pry it open a bit and fill it. put anything you want in there. i put eggs with little prizes in this one. but, the eggs broke, so i wouldn't do that again. 
now you can also fashion your hanging device. i used the balloon knot as the top, which i recommend to simplify the hanging. if you have a hole already at the top, insert a bent hanger into the slot and tape it like crazy. 

next paper mache over the holes and any tape with several layers.
next up is painting and decorating. you can use paint for sure but also feathers, sand, glitter, fabric, yarn or anything else you can dream up.

bee painted ours like a blue bunny.

grab some rope, a tree and a whiffle bat and you're off! oh and don't forget a group of spunky kids to whack the thing!

and if you're wondering, the whacking part looks something like this:

notice the smile. it's fun!