Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Am I Breaking teh Rulez?

So, I have a tracker thing on this here blog. Which means I know what searches people use to get here, what links they use to get here, and what town or city their IP address indicates. (not sure if that's technically what it's telling me, but it has a city name attached).

And I couldn't help but notice that someone from Sugar Grove, VA has been here the last couple of days. So what, you say. Big deal. But it is a big deal because I grew up there, and it's a tiny town. So I'm curious. If you're willing, I'd love to know who the Grover is who's reading. Considering that only about 5 people have ever been here, it's either a strange coincidence, or I've put something about the Grove in here and then forgotten I did so. Or something.

Anyway, I'm dying to know. If you're not willing to out yourself in comments, and you know me IRL, let me know and maybe we can get in contact another way.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Hmm. Failing. Not Quite Giving Up.

So, I got sick over the weekend. Sick + Six Month Old + Sixty Hours Worth of Work that needs to be done at my job= No blogging.

Basically, my life is winning in this round. It's all wonderful and exhilarating and I couldn't ask for better. But still, I'm getting sick frequently and falling further behind at work. I think it's because there's more work than one person can do, but maybe it's just because the person trying is me.

As I say, things are really going pretty well, just tiring and sometimes overwhelming. Calamity is a charmer, and is generally loving and happy. She just sprouted her first tooth, by the way. Which of course means more fretting and up nights more. She's taken to getting up every couple of hours to nurse--hard on a full-time working mama, but I know it's what she needs for comfort, if nothing else.

We've got a sporadically recurring tear-the-house-apart project to continually cull and revise closet and furniture layout to make more living space and keep from being buried.

By the by, here's what we've got on the baby stuff front. I'm fairly proud of keeping it to what I consider a minimum--no bouncies, no rolling command central thingies, no lights and whistles. And it's nearly all thrifted, handed down or borrowed. But still, it's a lot of stuff:

a highchair
a crib
a backpack
a couple of soft cloth carriers (Moby and Babyhawk, if you care)
a rocking chair
some soft toys
some wooden toys
a changing pad on top of the dresser
a little rocking baby seat thing that she's really outgrown and we haven't gotten around to passing along
a moses basket on a rocking stand that she's really outgrown and we're in denial because we love it so
a mini-cosleeper that we've already passed on to another family

It's not that much, really. The crib's in the bedroom, the tall dresser's in the hall, the secretary dresser's moved into a closet that will eventually be Clem's little sleeping hideaway, with a futon on the floor. The highchair replaced a grown-up chair and the basket rocker sits in an alcove in the kitchen. It all fits, but not without effort and planning. We're in a 592 square foot apartment and we're quite cozy.

And even though I've failed at NablopoJuly and daily food posting, I'll make sure to get a food bit in here. Tonight we had a quick broiled salmon, some steamed green beans with basil and garlic, and Moroccan potato salad for dinner (potatoes, black olives, cumin, paprika, lemon, olive oil, red onion). And fresh raspberries and blueberries plain for dessert. Delicious. I'm determined not to devolve into snacky eating habits, and do my darndest to cook a real, good, healthy dinner at least every other day. The in-betweens tend to be slapped-together burritos, hummus/pita sandwiches and the like. But even those include home-made hummus and cooked beans from dried. I've not been making homemade salsa because we don't usually have local tomatoes, and because I'm lazy.

Calamity ate green beans for dinner. She loved them the most of any food yet. Others of which, for the record, have been: applesauce, banana, nectarine, cantaloupe, zucchini and carrot. She's also getting the hang of feeding herself with her little wooden spoon, though lots of it ends up in ears and hair.

We're going home to Virginia later in the week, and there will be a gap in blogging. Unavoidable. Mom's not on Internet at the moment. We're looking forward to the break, and to seeing all the family, including a new niece, 8 weeks old or so. It was kind of a last-minute change of plans, but I can't wait.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

No sleep, no post.

I missed one. So, shoot me. When I have loyal readers, plural, maybe I'll feel some compunction.

I got the application in. And I even talked to my boss about it. Whew. That's a load off. I have no idea what it will come to. I also told a couple of co-workers who depend on me for a major project. They'll be taken care of if I leave, and there's even a plan to hire someone now who could step over to cover if the need arises. So when we all talked over noodles at Pho Saigon, it was all okay.

Pho Saigon, noodles. Did you catch that? Now the post is about food. I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep each of the past couple of nights, so I'm signing off now.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Shhhhhh. Don't tell.

I'm applying for an amazing, exciting and important job. It's related to food.

I can't do a real blog post because I have to write carefully crafted answers to supplemental questions instead. Here's one of them. I feel bold and cool and a little scared for writing it so casually, but it does answer the question:

4. This job will require creativity and problem solving skills. Please describe a situation when you were required to use these skills, and how you affected the outcomes.

During my graduate education, I was living in Wales on a tight budget and without a car. Normally this did not present a problem. However, it became a serious challenge when the time came to design and implement an interview-based thesis project in one of the most rural (and touristy) areas of England during the height of summer holiday season. I needed to have a home base in the County where I’d be conducting research without paying the exorbitant prices on vacation lodging and also to be mobile enough to reach farmers out in the countryside. I decided to join World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms to seek a work arrangement on a Cornish farm in exchange for housing and some meals. I ended up on a working woodland project with a family who only needed part-time work and allowed me to stay in their camper van as a base for my project. From there, I could walk to the County fair to start to network with farms in the region, and when the time came for interviews, I could walk to the village, catch a bus to town and from there most corners of Cornwall were only a train-ride and a hike away. This plan allowed me access to insider perspective on the region and its farming communities through my host family, a lovely cultural experience, an opportunity to toss hay bales and compost in exchange for sleeping arrangements, and a friendly base for exploration and serious work. In my travels by bus, train and walking, I gathered a sense of the rural and economic landscape better than I ever would have driving from location to location, and I also earned the respect of some famously skeptical Cornish farmers.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Spooning

I have this beautiful post in my head, complete with a well-lit art photograph of the spoon Kolya carved today to feed his baby Calamity Jane.

We had been trying this baby-led weaning thing, wherein we don't offer any food besides breastmilk for the first six months (check. That was easy. Feeding a baby actual food is way more of a pain than just popping her on for some lunch.), and then offer her foods that she can pick up and feed herself, with the idea that she will develop habits and attitudes about eating food when she's hungry and having control of what she consumes, etc. etc. Sounds cool. And I'm always up for doing science experiments with my kid (of the harmless variety). So I gave it a shot. But anything she can gnaw on and actually ingest without teeth is just too hard for her to get a good grip on. And she seemed generally not very interested. So we let it go, and don't even bother to offer her foods for a day or two and then try again now and again. She's getting plenty of nutrients and calories from breastmilk, so she's fine. We'll wait.

But Kolya decided we should try some mashed up food, trad-style, and I said okay, but I want to get a wooden spoon, because I see no reason for her to have plastic in her mouth (or in our house) if there's an alternative. So Kolya decided to make one. He pulled a piece of board out of the closet this morning and started cutting it down. I was skeptical and vocal about it. I wondered whether that kind of wood would have splinters, or whether he'd be able to cut a spoon small enough without breaking it. Basically being a sucky partner and for no good reason.

When I came home from work, he showed me his handiwork. It's beautiful and smooth and I can't wait to try it. But hte food-grade oil needs to cure overnight. So we ran some nectarine through the grinder our friend Sara handed down to us and gave it to her in an iced tea spoon. (Do people not from the south call them that? You know, the long handled ones with small bowls?) She loved, loved, loved it. She made the most sour-puss face with each bite (it was kind of sour) and then ate more and more. And she grabbed the spoon and pushed it in herself, so she was in control of what went into her mouth, so there.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

What to do with Preserved Lemons.

Tagine of Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives

3 Tb. extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp crushed saffron threads
1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 chicken, cut into 6-8 pcs.
salt and black pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tb chopped coriander (cilantro)
2 Tb chopped flat-leaf parsley
peel of 1 large or 2 small preserved lemons
12-16 green or violet olives

In a wide casserole or heavy-bottomed pan that can hold all the chicken in one layer, heat oil and put in onions. Saute, stirring over low heat, until they soften. then stir in the garlic, saffron and ginger.

Put in chicken pieces, season w/ salt and pepper, and pour in about 1 1/4 cups water. Simmer, covered, turning the pieces over a few times and adding a little more water if it gets too dry. Lift out breasts (of chicken, unless you like a little exhibitionism with possibly splashy cooking) after about 15 minutes, and put them aside. Continue to cook the rest another 25 minutes or so, and then put the breasts back.

Stir into the sauce the lemon juice, the chopped coriander and parsley, the preserved lemon peel cut into quarters or strips, and the olives. Simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes, until the reduced sauce is thick and unctuous. (yep, it says unctuous in the cookbook!) If there's too much liquid, lift out the chicken pieces and set aside while you reduce the sauce further, then return the chicken to the pan and heat through.

Present it all on a plate. The end.

This recipe is from Claudia Roden's "Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey & Lebanon". It rocks.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Burning calories, rather than eating them, for a change

Today we walked for miles and miles (like 5, but still). If you're in Seattle, which I'm pretty sure my one or two readers are not, this will mean something to you: We went from Capitol Hill through Allentown to lower Queen Anne (at which point little 6 mth old critter decided this riding in a backpack thing wasn't for her and basically had to be carried for most of the remaining trip), then up and over the QA hill and down to Fremont, then up to 45th where we caught a bus to the comic book shop in Wallingford, then walked down to the U District bridge and up to Capitol Hill. Hmm. I think that might be more than 5 miles. Not sure.

Not much to say in the food department today. I made cookies from a recipe by Sonya, but they were for someone else. Hardly even cookies at all, with all the additions that make the bulk of them: oatmeal, chocolate chips, raisins, toasted walnuts.

BTW, I am a big fan of photo blogs, and this one will get there eventually. But I don't have time these days, so I'm just forging ahead the lazy, boring way.

I think I'll make a little burrito now, even though what I really want is pizza.

Friday, July 4, 2008

What whining sound?

When I'm home on a mondaythroughfriday day, for whatever reason, I like to visualize myself at my desk now and then. Just so I get the full appreciation of being here and not there.

Jesse Helms died today. Yay. Finally. I can't believe such a racist, homophobic and anti-art bastard got to die on Fourth of July. (He now shares a death date with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. What a joke.)

We're having a quiet morning at home today, complete with trying to see who can longest ignore the fact that the baby in bed with us is awake and wanting attention. We play this game most mornings. Unfortunately, I have the magic milk makers, so I usually lose, knowing that we all win a little if I just feed her and we all doze off for awhile. Kolya got up and made some super yellow eggs with the last of the drying up mushrooms and some spinach leaves. Side by side with the rainier cherries and a not-local and not-sustainable, but organic and free trade banana, which I shared with Calamity. She really doesn't care about food, not at all. So she squashed it around on her belly and that was pretty much that.

Today is a day with no plan. I like it that way. So far I've recycled paper that was cluttering up the living room, and hope to continue the spontaneous tidying I've started. (Stopping to blog is not likely to help with that ...) then it's cookie-baking for DeShaz and La Suze and Tobey and new baby Wilkie.

Since this is a food NaBloPoMo (which I'm not officially signed up for, if that's even how it works), I'll say that I'm hurting for a farmers market today. We're nearly out of food, and even gave in and bought broccoli and bok choi at the supermarket yesterday. (hanging head in shame, as it's July and there's no call for that).

In other news, we've cooked seriously good meals all week. And there's still a frozen rabbit pie with spring vegetables from last week's market. I'm not sure whether to thaw it before cooking or just stick it in the oven. Advice?? (SHG, since you're my sole reader!)

Okay, but this counts

So it's after midnight. Whatever. I'm still up so it's my Day 3 post.

Tonight for dinner I made a thai green curry with broccoli and bok choi and carrots and chicken. It was lush. Then we ate some Rainier cherries.

Now I'm going to bed.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Day 2. I hear the crickets coming for me.

So, we had ourselves a 2 minute thunderstorm here this evening. Complete with two claps of thunder and that smell of rain on hot pavement I remember from Virginia.

I can count on one hand the number of thunderstorms I've seen here in Seattle. At home, they were how you knew it was summer--a thunderstorm every few days. Often dramatic. Quite sexy. Memories attached to thunderstorms don't fade for me the way other memories do ...

Anyway, this is food month, according to NaBloPoMe (read it with a southern accent, please).

Yeah, so I made a quick little pasta with the last of the season's asparagus and some morel mushrooms. This is one of the dishes I've made so many times over the past few weeks, while all the ingredients are in season, that I'm well satisfied and ready for them to move along into memory. Now if only the next season's treasures would find their way here. The weather here was miserable this spring, and everything's at least two weeks behind. Last year at this time I was bringing home flats of blueberries and scarfing them down. This year we've only just now hit strawberries. Luckily someone from across the mountains brought japanese cucumbers to the market this week, so we had some tzatziki with our falafel a couple of days ago (much better than the garlic lemon yogurt we have in the long no-cucumber months. And cucumbers and strawberries on a spinach salad are pretty perfect food.

But still, I'm ready for blueberries and peaches. I'm such a hoarder and so attached to certain foods that I could only bring myself to open the last jar of Italian plums in apple cider two days ago. I still have about a cup of frozen peaches, and 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries left, along with maybe 2 cups of frozen blackberries. I know I should have enjoyed them in the darkest winter, but there were still some apples then, so I was never desperate. And I have to be desperate to risk running out of plums and blueberries before the new ones arrive. So I guess the next hot day will be smoothies, and then there'd better be some fruit besides strawberries at the market. I've heard there'll be raspberries this week, so maybe I'll survive.

I forgot to take pictures of the asparagus and morel mushrooms. I'm a bit out of practice with this blogging thing. I'll get back in the swing of things soon.

By the way, Calamity wants to log her dinner here: two or so smushy bites of steamed carrot.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

I'll bite

So, this little half-assed attempt at a blog was outed by Starrhillgirl, in her post about friends. I was honored to be included in the list, and a little embarrassed that all she had to link to was this sad little start-up. So, I'm going to try to jump right in again. I'm sick today, with a sore throat fevery something, which is even less fun when it's 75 degrees.

So Nablopomo or whatever. Food. So yeah, I'm in. It's kinda like logging your lunch, right? I can handle that, I think.

Today was chicken fajitas made by my man Kolya.

that's all I have to say today. Sorry.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Instant Pioneer Life

I once went away for several days and stayed by myself in a cabin by a lake in British Columbia. I had to carry water from the tap up the trail, and cook on a woodstove that required gathering wood and stoking the fire on a regular basis. The rest of my time was spent walking and reading. I've always remembered it fondly and remember thinking at the time that a certain kind of life requires most of every day just to live it. Not there, in what was essentially a rustic resort, but life along the lines of Thoreau's Walden, where I'd actually have to find or grow or mill the food I eat and cut the wood and tend the fire and maintain my cabin myself. I daydream about a self-sufficient life--tending chickens and preparing food would be my main occupations and I would never have to commute or sit in a cubicle.

I realized yesterday that working full time with a 4 month old baby at home is it's own version of 24 hour subsistence living. My day is chock full. I have two hours each workday morning before I go to work: feed baby, change baby, eat breakfast, check email, clean kitchen, wash bottles, pump breastmilk, feed baby and then out the door. This followed by a full day's work (at a job I love), then home for feeding, cooking a decently healthy and environmentally friendly dinner (interrupted by entertaining cranky baby who's dad needs a break after all-day caretaking), feed baby, get her to sleep, check email, waste an hour maybe, then bed. It's an all-day every day job. Sometimes we go on a family walk. Sometimes I read aloud to Kolya before we go to sleep. (We're reading Out Stealing Horses right now. It's a perfect read-aloud book: spare language, even tone, and slowly unfolding story.) Every now and then we go to the grocery store or farmers market. There's nothing pioneer about it, though my days are spent working to ensure long-term viability for small farms and hopefully to preserve some farmland for someone else to raise chickens and food for me. Mostly it's a busy urban life with a big dose of rural awareness.

Since I started work again a month or so ago, I seem to be accumulating tiredness. I'm satisfied with my work, enjoying my family, and getting tireder by the day.

Calamity Jane Is Not Your Darling

Go to this blog, and replace "Chuck Norris" with the real first and last name of my daughter, and pretend it's the blog I designed in my head this morning.

I was talking to Kolya about the hilarious blog we could create if we were willing to use our daughter's full name on the Internet, and it would all be about how tough she is, and people could add to it with all the "CK will kick your ... " sentences. It would become an internet sensation overnight.

And then he said, "You've seen the Chuck Norris blog, right?" And proceeded to run in the other room and read it to me. Curses, foiled again. It was a brilliant idea and a blog about my baby daughter the badass would have been funny. Oh well.