Vintage Bed Sheet Lounge Pants

Picked up a really soft king-sized bed sheet at the thrift store. Used a pair of pj pants as a pattern and sewed this up extra quick. I've sewn with bed sheets often and find that they always come out of the wash wrinkle free. I don't know what the content of the fabric is but it's a definite bonus. Also, working with sheets is great because the sides are usually pre-hemmed. I offered to make Talia a matching pair and she rolled her eyes at me. I thought maybe the butterflies would be enough to get her attention but obviously, they are NOT her color. She wants a pair-- just not these. Hoping to get some sewing done over the Thanksgiving weekend. Likelihood... low.

What We're Eating: Asian Trio of Stir-Fried Bok Choy, Asian Slaw and Sesame Noodles

I got bok choy over the summer and made this recipe and served it with a pan-fried hoisin noodle cake (way more trouble than it's worth!). I saw baby bok choy at the first indoor farmer's market this season so I made it again, this time with an Asian slaw and sesame noodles.

Stir Fried Bok Choy (modified from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop):

1 medium head of bok choy, stems separated from leaves, large chop (I used a bunch of baby ones this time)
1/3 c water
4 tbl hoisin sauce
2 tbl rice vinegar
fresh pepper
1 tbl peanut oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbl ginger root, minced
salt and pepper

1. Combine the water, hoisin, vinegar and pepper
2. Stir fry the bok choy stems in oil for two minutes. Add the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds and then the bok choy leaves along with the hoisin mixture for about 3 more minutes. Season to taste.

Asian Cabbage Slaw (modified from Farmer John's Cookbook by John Peterson):

I actually used a bag of pre-shredded slaw-- I think this one was actually shredded broccoli stems with carrot and red cabbage. I added the red onion. The recipe calls for:

2 c shredded cabbage
1/3 c grated carrot
1/2 c minced red onion
2 tbl fresh mint (I used dried)
2 tbl fresh cilantro
2 tbl rice vinegar
2 tbl peanut oil
1 tbl rice wine
2 tsp honey
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
salt and pepper

1. Mix the dressing well and then toss it with the combined vegetables.

A side note: When it comes to seasonings I generally believe more is better. For something like this I might use more rice vinegar and honey and maybe a little more toasted sesame oil. I try not to use too much more oil but I like big flavors, so I generally up the vinegar or mustard or whatever gives a dressing it's tang.

Sesame Noodles:

I used this recipe. I added more cayenne, omitted the sesame seeds (just lazy) and pretty much tripled the recipe since I used closer to 1 lb of pasta, not 1/3 pound. I mean, come on, how many people will 1/3 pound of pasta feed?

First Snowy Day

Today is the first time this season that snow has accumulated in Madison. Being the fantastic mother that I am, I actually took the kids out. Talia had a hundred problems getting dressed-- mostly due to her itchiness, which I had mostly forgotten about since last year. Her skin doesn't LOOK or FEEL particularly dry but she is sooooooo itchy all the time, especially in the winter. I don't know what her problem is. She couldn't wear her new snowsuit because she then couldn't reach her itchy spots. It was ridiculous, really. She also had problems with her boots (too tight) and her gloves (she couldn't scratch herself) and after it was all over she freaked out in general because I told her she could not have hot chocolate. The whole point of me taking them out in the snow was so that I could move them out of the house and closer to my goal of going to the grocery store. So she couldn't have hot chocolate until we came home from the store. Nor would I stop and put her new earrings in, which she had forgotten about until that moment. Plus I didn't want her to change her pants because I told her not to make snow angels unless she was wearing her snowpants. Then she just. couldn't. hurry. up. Just a typical morning trying to get her out of the house.

This was Alex's first time in the snow as a toddler and he really enjoyed it but wouldn't wear the mittens I bought him. I don't blame him-- what can you do with mittens on? The new boots I got for him worked beautifully and Talia's old snowpants fit great. He was able to walk around quite well and was generally happy, which seems to be his disposition. It wasn't too cold out and the snow is mostly gone by now. I have a pile of wet boots, pants, gloves etc to dry and put away but considering that was our only activity of the day and the kids were good at the grocery store (I had to feed them bread, an apple, goldfish, and buy a water bottle) I guess that's ok.

Farfalle with Roasted Butternut Sqush, Pine Nuts and Parmesan

Roast the butternut squash (toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven at...350? 400? for 20? 30? minutes-- I can't remember off the top of my head, sorry. I'm sure either will work). Cook pasta al dente and add back to pot after draining. Add a little cream and heat through. Toss with toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan, salt and pepper. Ummmmhmmmm.

Target Hack

There is a glass front cabinet (one of many in the house) at the end of my kitchen island. I had been thinking of hanging some fabric inside for a while. I don't keep anything too special in it (water spotted vases, a pitcher, my eletric kettle) and I feel like it's one of the first things people see when they walk in the door. I love my new placemats from Target and noticed a matching shower curtain made out of heavy canvas. I cut it, hemmed it and hung it up (ok, i used scotch tape) inside the glass doors. Instant transformation.

What We're Eating: Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Slice 'em up, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a single layer at 425 for about half an hour. Almost finished with my CSA potatoes from the fall. These were pretty good but I'll say it again: I HATE POTATOES!

Car Playmat

Sewed up this little playmat for Alex (and one for Talia too-- when did I start having to make TWO of things?) It has chalkboard fabric on the other side but I haven't dug out the chalk just yet. He actually seems to drive his cars over the roads and it's pretty cute.

What We're Eating: Stir Fried Shiitakes and Root Vegetables with Quinoa

This dish was delicious! I wish I had made twice as much. It definitely required a lot of dishes, which I hate-- but only one pan on the stove (plus the quinoa of course). Ron said this was even better the next day. This recipe comes from the cookbook A Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen: Easy Seasonal Dishes for Family and Friends by Jack Bishop. So far, both recipes I've made from this book were not particularly easy but they were both good!

Stir Fried Shiitakes with Root Vegetables

3/4 oz. dried shiitakes
2 c boiling water
4 medium scallions, thin slices
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbl ginger, minced
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
3 tbl soy sauce
2 tbl rice vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch
3 tbl peanut oil
1 pound shiitakes, trimmed and cut into strips
3 parsnips, medium dice
3 carrots, medium dice
salt and pepper
chopped cilantro

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the water. Add the mushrooms to the sliced scallions, garlic, ginger and pepper flakes. To the water add the soy, vinegar and cornstarch and whisk until combined.

2. Brown the shiitakes for about 8 minutes in half the peanut oil, then remove the mushrooms and brown the root vegetables in the other half of the oil, probably about 6 minutes .

3. Add the dried mushroom/scallion etc mix to the pan and cook for another minute.

4. Pour in the water/soy etc. mix and simmer, covered until the root vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

5. Return the shiitakes to the pan, heat through, add the cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.

6. Serve with cooked quinoa.

Oh Supergirl

Oh Supergirl, how I love thee.

Imagine this-- you're having a playdate at your house. There are no cries of "She won't let me..." or "I had it first!" or "I want to ____ but she wants to ____!" The house is not trashed. The TV is not on. Oh-- and the younger sibling is included effortlessly.

You are cooking, cleaning, taking a shower, doing laundry, organizing-- maybe even getting some sewing time or reading time or phone time. You hear rousing renditions of kids' songs, you see puzzles being put together, forts being built and tea parties that happen magically and then disappear.

How does it happen, you might ask? Her name is Supergirl. She is 12. She lives down the street from me. The cost of such wonderfulness? $4 an hour. I'm in love.

Supergirl, will you move in with me?

Talia cooks

While her diet may not be particularly varied, Talia eats quite well. She eats noodles (or rice or couscous) and beans for almost every meal. I make a big box of noodles every few days and then just dish them out and open a can of beans. She doesn't need the beans heated or even drained (I know, gross!) She likes lemon juice on everything. Sometimes she eats a hot dog or fish sticks or mac and cheese like all other kids. She particularly likes my homemade chicken nuggets (slice up some chicken breast, dip it in egg and then panko bread crumbs mixed with essence of emeril. fry them in a little olive oil). The easiest and best received meal, however, is still noodles and beans. I don't complain-- it's easy as hell for me and usually carry a can or two of beans (plus can-opener-- that's a story for another time!) in my car in case we go to a restaurant or home that doesn't have anything for her.

Still, it would be nice if she ate more veggies and I would like to see her eat a dish that has more than one ingredient in it. She does like to help me cook and will usually try a tiny bite of most things. I decided to let her pick put a recipe from the kids' Moosewood cookbook, "Salad People". She picked out "Counting Soup" and modified it to meet her tastes. She left out the tofu and carrots and added chickpeas. We also talked about other ways we could change the recipe and decided we could use lima beans instead of chickpeas and different noodles, like shells or flakes (small squares-- my absolute fave although they are hard to find).

Whenever we do an art project I always encourage her to make her own decisions. When I color Ariel's hair blue and she protests, I say "I'm the artist so I decide" and she often says it back to me too. I wanted her to understand that the chef gets to make decisions in cooking and that she can change recipes to suit her needs, just like I do. I like seeing that flash of understanding, power and satisfaction on her face.

She really liked the soup and ate a lot of it. Today she didn't want any because, like Ron, she doesn't "do" leftovers. She did want to make it again though.

My new least favorite phrase

From Talia: MOM! Come quick! Look what Alex did! It's REALLY BAD!

Yesterday it was pouring milk all over the floor and then sitting in it and playing in it. Today a tiny puke all over her fairy wings. But it's only lunch time. So much for that shower I was hoping to get...

First Wiggly Tooth!

Talia has her first wiggly tooth! So grown up and yet still my baby girl!

Halloween 2009- Chocolate Chip Cookie Costumes

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I never really wanted to make my kids constumes because it seemed like you could get whatever you wanted for a reasonable price. I feel like making a princess dress would take me a lot longer and cost me more than the $30 it costs to buy one. This year I found the perfect Annie dress for Talia at a thrift store and even found red/orange hair dye. I figured that would be easy and she was on board. Then my sister asked me to make my niece Marley a cookie treat bag to carry with her Cookie Monster costume. I made the mistake of bringing Talia with me to buy the fabric and she said she wanted to be a cookie and match with Alex for Halloween. I basically had the kids lay down on the polarfleece fabric and then I drew a circle around them. I fused on the chocolate chips on and the appliqued a cute swirl pattern on them. Sewed the two pieces together leaving the neck and the bottom open for legs. I think the key element was cutting the arm holes into the front of the fabric, which I just did with the costumes already on the kids. I googled some images for advice and noticed that all the M&M costumes had this done. On my own I would have left the armholes in the side seams. I tried to sew boning into the seams to make it seem more round but it didn't look better, it looked worse and stiff too.

Of course Talia ended up not wanting to wear the cookie costume and went as Cinderella (again) to the Halloween parade and party at school yesterday. All day today she wore her Cinderella costume and then at the last minute she wanted to be the cookie. I recognize that Halloween is a holiday for kids and I shouldn't be personally invested in what my kids wear. She said this morning, "Well, if you really want me to be a cookie I will..." and I told her that it really didn't matter to me and she could be whatever she wanted. Secretly I was really happy she chose the cookie. I wore an apron and a chef's hat and carried a spatula and we got many many compliments on our attire. Whew!

Stitchin'

What's funny is that most people think I encourage so much art at my house because I have some desire to fill my home with creativity. The truth is that I'm really only looking for a few minutes to myself. I choose art (or more likely, crafts) because it's really all I know how to do. I try to get my kids set up with a project and then leave them alone. Hopefully they will leave me alone too. This has always worked well for Talia but not so much with Alex. Alex eats crayons, markers and playdough. His attention span is about 5 minutes and the setup and cleanup take at least 10 times that.

Certain projects do warm my heart. I really enjoy watching Talia get into anything sewing or fabric related. We've tried stitching before. She really needed my help every step of the way. We were trying to stitch fabric scraps onto a base fabric. T kept getting all tangled with it. That was a few months ago. This time I heat set an image she picked out (from Sublime Stitching) onto a handkerchief and she went to town. She never got turned around with it at all-- amazing! I got her started and then let her go. She used a real needle (with many needle-pricks to prove it) and real embroidery floss. She was extremely determined and sat for a long time with very little intervention. Alex was napping, of course. She was quite proud of her work. As a matter of fact, when I took this picture I asked her what she was doing and she said, "just looking" which she proceeded to do for quite some time. She has not, however, expressed interest in creating another embroidery masterpiece.

Where did I get the idea to make handkerchiefs you may ask? Talia is constantly picking her nose and eating it. I sewed her a few flannel handkerchiefs and embroidered her a few. She carries one all the times now and actually uses it. Often she will pick her nose with her finger and then put it in the handkerchief but hell, 1 out of 2 isn't bad! Major improvement!

Another library / bookshelf quilt

I finished my mother-in-law's 60th birthday quilt. It's similar to the one I made my own mother almost two years ago. That was the quilt that "got me back into quilting" after a 2 1/2 year break. I've really imporved my skills since then! Now that I have two kids I don't have time to make a huge quilt but I needed to incorporate at least three pictures into the quilt. It was hard to fit it all into a manageable size. Those photos are 4X6 and I think the whole quilt is about 55 to 55 inches wide and about 18 inches high. There are some cute details-- the flowers are made out of yo-yo's with buttons from my grandmother's collection (actually after taking this photo I added a few more flowers) and I got one of those tools that adds rhinestones so I added a few of those too. The "books" are lightly quilted and the background is heavily quilted, about every 1/2 inch. I'm glad I finally got it done because I'm really behind on another one and I have many many small projects I want to do!

Apple Picking

We went apple picking this weekend with my in-laws. I've been pretty loyal to honeycrisp apples for the past 3 or 4 years but I have to say these Jonagolds are really delicious too. Of course, what the hell am I supposed to do with them all? My mother-in-law and I split the 12 pound bag but that's still a lot of apples. I can't see my family eating more than 2 or 3 per day and I think that's really pushing it. I threw 3 pounds into the crockpot to make applesauce but I'm not particularly fond of applesauce. Alex seems to like it in a general way so I hope to feed it to him. On the other hand, he will work at a plain apple for a while so why would I give him the messier, more sugary choice? It was a fun experience to pick them; I don't think I have ever done that before.

What We're Eating: Garbage Salad

I suspect "Garbage Salad" isn't the most appetizing name for this most delicious dish. The garbage part just refers to the fact that I take whatever vegetables I have in the fridge and throw them in. This week it was a mix of greens-- some from the CSA, some from the supermarket, tomatoes from my garden, a green pepper and cucumber I found in the fridge as well as carrots and kohlrabi from the CSA. Homemade croutons from stale sourdough bread and asiago cheese ($24/pound!) as well. The dressing is a simple red wine vinaigrette-- 5 tbl olive oil, 3 tbl red wine vinegar, 2 tsp country dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I like it to be really tart so taste it and add more vinegar or mustard if needed. Usually I wait until the last minute to add the salad dressing but this one needs to be dressed a few minutes early so the croutons can soak up the dressing. Be careful-- this salad can get really large because it uses up everything in your fridge. I always make sure to take some out before it's dressed (and leave those tomatoes off too) so I can have some for lunch the next day. yum.

New outfit for Alex

I bought this fabric at the Quilt Expo with this outfit in mind for Alex (Alexander Henry's Traffic Jam fabric). I did not use a pattern for the pants and they came out way too tight on his little bottom. It took a lot of effort to squeeze him into them. I actually had to take off his perfectly clean cloth diaper and put him into a disposable to get his butt to fit in. He could hardly sit down but they were just so damn cute! I appliqued the fabric on the t-shirt to match. Tomorrow if I get a minute I will try again with the pants. Perhaps I will find some tall skinny kid to whom I can pass these along. They are about a 2T in length and maybe a 12-18 mo in the waist.

PS. This stroller got a lot of wear from Talia back in the day. Now it's Alex's turn. I had to bring it in the car today because he wouldn't let go of it.

What We're Eating: Winter Squash Sweet Potato Soup with Homemade Croutons and Truffle Oil

Longest blog title ever. As I mentioned in my last food post, we're getting lots of potatoes in our CSA share. This week and last we received both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes. Did I mention I don't like potatoes? Right. This soup was very good *and* it was made in the crockpot. Saute onions (1-2ish) and garlic (3-4ish cloves) on the stove and transfer to the crockpot. Add diced sweet potato (3ish) and diced winter squash (in this case, 2 small carnival squash from our CSA-- or was is hubbard squash?). Add broth (4 cups-ish) and some thyme, salt, pepper and rosemary (I don't remember how much, ok?). Leave it in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours and then puree it with an immersion blender, leaving some larger chunks for texture. For the homemade croutons I just toasted half a sourdough baguette, diced. It was Ron's idea to add the truffle oil because we all know that truffle oil makes everything exponentially better.

This recipe is a genuine reflection of my cooking style-- all amounts are approximate. Especially with a crockpot-- just use what you have. I generally follow the ingredients of a recipe pretty closely the first time I make something but I always just use all of whatever vegetable I have. I don't use 1 cup of diced onion, I just use one onion-- or two. My philosophy on spices in more is always better. Obviously you could just make this on the stove and simmer it for 30 or 40 minutes. That would be fine too. I don't think using the crockpot gave this recipe any added flavor. What it added was the fact that I made it and *cleaned up* at 11 in the morning and only had to worry about making a salad at dinner time. And some roasted broccoli too I think. Or not. Recently all of our meals include a fall soup, a big salad and a roasted vegetable side. It's a great combination.

Recent Outdoor Activities/ Happy New Year

At this time in our lives, we find it rather difficult to take to the kids to synagogue, despite our desire to participate more fully in Judaism. When we do go we end up sitting with Talia in the preschool service, where she doesn't want to join in or following Alex around the playroom, where he is too young to stay for babysitting and perhaps wouldn't be happy there without us. One of the ways we observed the Jewish holidays this year was to spend a little time in shul and a lot of time outdoors together as a family. This year we went to Olbrich Gardens and Devil's Lake. The leaves were changing, the sun was shining, the breeze was refreshing and it helped us to feel like there is a difference between these fall days of the new year and summer days of the previous year. It gave us a moment (just a quick moment-- there was a lake the kids could fall into!) to appreciate the good things in our lives, to feel determined to change what might not be perfect, and how to be better people to each other and ourselves. We even got a little tiyul in without too much complaining from the little ones. We have a fabulous family and very fortunate in our health and happiness. I am enthusiastic about this upcoming election and the positive direction we can all take as a country after these rough times. L'Shana Tova-- Here's to a great year!