Yummers.

We had our first real snowfall last night and woke up to a thin blanket of snow with gorgeous, big fluffy flakes still wafting down from the sky. If that sounds overblown and a bit too romantic... trust me. I'm not exaggerating here - the first snowfall is truly magical.

So! The holiday season is now officially here since this Christmas will be white and will also justify many delicious things to keep fingers and toes and bellies happy and warm. I've burned through most of my mulling spices and have already made several batches of our favorite holiday cookie. This morning I baked the first loaves of a sweet tea bread that is beloved (and so simple!) in my family at this time of year. And there will be more to come!

Here are a few recipes that are keeping us warm and sated as the winter season gets off to a snowy start...

Red Lentil Soup

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cookies
*Mods: I rarely have ginger root on hand unless I plan for it, but these are fine without. I also use 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice for a shortcut. And, I think these would be divine with some finely chopped candied ginger.
This could so easily be made vegan since gingerbread often omits eggs! Sub some Earth Balance for the butter, and vegan choc chips (carob, perhaps?) and you're set.

White Chocolate, Almond, and Cranberry Cookies

Basic Chicken Soup
Easiest prep for chicken soup that I've ever seen. Delicious.

Peppermint Bark

Spinach Casserole
*My modifications: saute chopped onion with garlic and spinach before mixing in with rest of ingredients, add whatever leftover grains you may have (I added couscous this week), vary your cheeses (goat cheese, anyone?!), and vary your dairy addition (I used a small scoop of sour cream instead of cottage cheese this week).

Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Halve your sprouts for a faster roasting time.

Scotch Bread
Combine 1/2 stick of butter, 1 box golden raisins, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 C boiling water. Let sit, covered, overnight.

In the morning:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and beat 2 eggs with 1.75 cups of sugar.
Combine creamed eggs and sugar with raisin mixture.

Add 1-2 tsp cinnamon and about 3.5-4 C flour (I use half whole wheat and half all-purpose... I might try some oat flour next time). Add flour slowly. Batter will be stiff, but still workable.

Divide between 2 greased loaf pans or mini loaf pans. Be careful to not fill pans more than 2/3rds of the way or you'll have spillage whilst they bake... Sadly, I speak from many Decembers of experience on this one...

Bake regular loaf pans for 1.25 hours, mini loaf pans for 50-60 minutes.

There are many substitution possibilities. Different sweeteners could be used, different flours, the addition of nuts would be delicious, and some of the fat could probably be subbed out for applesauce.

We have this toasted with butter alongside scrambled eggs on Christmas morning every year. It's also great around 4pm with a cup of smooth black tea.

Puff vs. Puffins

I introduced Christopher to Peter, Paul and Mary this week by downloading their "Best of" album from iTunes.

He's now asking to listen to "Puff, the Magic Dragon" at all times. I should probably just change the iPod settings and let it run on repeat for a while. Lucky for us, all 4 of us enjoy the wise folk sounds of the legendary trio.

Actually, he asks for "Puffin the Magic Dragon." I guess it's all about your frame of reference...

"Yay, magic dragon song!"

This is fall.

Nap time for Christopher has gotten shorter, and of course, Colin's needs cut into that time now. Today, however, on our coldest day thus far (low 30s! it's hat weather!), I was able to mix and bake and chop and roast between the end of lunchtime and the end of nap time. I love turning off the heat in the house for a few hours and keeping things warm by turning on the oven.

Pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips, and roasted red potatoes and broccoli. Snacks and the beginning of dinner. Yum. These colors and these smells represent late fall in our family.

I'm looking forward to an extra set of parent hands in the house later next week over the Thanksgiving holiday. Then I can *really* do some damage in the kitchen! A pumpkin pie, stuffing, lots of roasted vegetables, and maybe even some bread baking. Mike is going to barbecue the turkey again this year. Please cross your fingers for him and hope that it doesn't snow!

Hearsay

Wednesday, October 26 @ 8:30am
Toddler sits in living room with "The Origin of Species" propped open on his lap. He slowly drags his left(!) pointer finger across a page full of 10 point font lettering while narrating:
"Strawberries, apples and coffee. Now I need to cook together the next things..."
I think he was reading a recipe. :)

Saturday, October 29 @ 7:42am
Two adults and toddler at the breakfast table enjoying piping hot pumpkin pancakes. Infant in bouncy chair on floor. Father says to toddler:
"Christopher, I don't want you to put your head in your syrup, please."
Doesn't everyone start off their weekend like that?

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes - please try these.
They combine the best of fall + buttermilk pancake deliciousness.
My mods: instead of fiddling with all of the different spices, I add 2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice (Trader Joe's makes a good one). And try to use cake flour. It makes them... well... cakier.

What's your soundtrack?

Here's what we're listening to these days:

Car rides
Christopher demands "a happy song" every time we get in the car and his two current favorites are Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison (or "the sha-la-la-la song") and Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder (or "the I wonder song").

Hang out time at home
Songs for Wiggleworms (album) - especially "I've Been Working on the Railroad" (or "the railroad song")

Getting dinner ready
My daily opportunity for a dose of adult news while Mike and Christopher tear it up at the park: NPR (WBEZ 91.5 here in Chicagoland). I *heart* NPR.

Friday afternoon/dinnertime
Sara Bareilles (you all know she was in my UCLA a cappella group Awaken, right?!) or Alison Krauss and Union Station usually hit the spot when we're celebrating the end of the week with some playtime and a glass of vino. (Alison Krauss' voice amazes me, by the way. Effortless, agile, emotive, and perfectly on pitch ALL TIMES - just check out her live performances. Someday we'll see her in concert...)

After the toddler is in bed
Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. It makes me feel like my brain gets a realignment and shifts into adult-mode. Ahhh.

Saturday morning pancake hour
Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams (Better Together and Banana Pancakes are two of Mike's favorites).

Sunday morning
While we feast on Saturday's pancakes and get over the disappointment that the end of the weekend really IS approaching, the Garden State Soundtrack, Sigur Ros (this is the song Takk - which means "thank you") and a big cup of Irish Breakfast tea never disappoint.

And then... there were two.

And truly, if you'd been hanging around here on Labor Day, that's exactly what it would have felt like. In the morning, the three of us went up to the Chicago Botanic Garden and walked around for 1-1/2 hours. It was a beautiful early fall day.

We had planned to go roast s'mores over an open fire with friends that afternoon and at 1pm I was still saying, "I'd really like to get to R&S's house for s'mores at 4pm... let's see how I feel in an hour."

Colin was born at 3:45pm. I clearly, a) had a baby *very* quickly, and b) had a very skewed sense of those little labor pings' trajectory. Ha. I still have not roasted s'mores since Fall started, but I have not given up hope. The marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers are still waiting in the pantry.

Colin is a peanut and a darling. I will update Flickr before the end of the week so that everyone can see more images of his sweetness. He's working on filling out, too. Just the other morning I realized that his face has taken on a delicious roundness that wasn't there at birth (he was 3 weeks early, afterall!). And a double chin is solidly in the works. I love it.

Christopher - since we last posted here - is now a bonafide TWO year old. We celebrated his two-some-ness with a morning fete attended by family and many, many friends. It was warm enough for splashing, cool enough to not melt the guests, and early enough to send all toddlers back home for afternoon naps with chocolate cupcakes in their bellies.

He has started a preschool program that meets 2 days each week for 1-1/2 hours. It is play-based socialization and he loves it. In fact, just last week on the way home, he said with a wistful sigh, "I love preschool." After much deliberation over whether he was too young or just plain not ready - there isn't anything we would have preferred to hear him say. That just about sums it up for all of us. We love preschool. :)

Christopher is also embracing his new role as big brother. He likes to keep him company in his bouncy chair and often forgets himself in his zeal to keep the chair bouncing (why wouldn't he want to bounce higher/faster/bigger?!?!) and frequently asks to hold Colin. He leans over Colin and will say, "Hello Colin. How are you today, Colin?" He gives him pats on the head, lots of kisses, and nearly-bone-crushing hugs. Mike and I constantly perform a watchful, yet beautiful dance as we let them get close but intervene with a split second to spare to explain why Christopher probably shouldn't lean on Colin/poke his eyes/pat so hard/etc etc.

And so, this is why the blog has been silent for so long. First I missed the glory days of summer gardening (the tomatoes alone paid for our garden investments this year, and I believe the amount of swiss chard consumed was solely responsible for my sky-high iron levels during pregnancy - yes!), then I missed writing about Christopher's 2nd birthday, then I didn't update about Colin's spectacular arrival... It seemed like so much time had passed that there was no way to catch up. But several friends from afar have asked about the blog and I need to remember that this blog is a way to share our life with the friends we have near and far. We don't want to miss out on any of you!

And now...

There's a pie pumpkin baking in the oven, which will scent the house with the smell of fall and then be whizzed up into puree for waffles or bread or soup or DINNER. I'll do my best to post more regularly again and bring you all along with us through this next season of Fall.

xo,
M&M and C+C

Pavarotti - Live in concert in Paris 1965

I don't want to be too blunt, here... but if this doesn't make your heart speed up just a tiny bit, and make you think, "hey, that's kind of gorgeous"... well, then... try replaying it.

30 years old. Trim. Handsome. Abso-freaking-thrilling voice.

(Pavarotti is singing the part of Rodolfo who has just met Mimi, his new neighbor in his rundown tenement building in Paris. She's come to his door asking if he'd light her candle so she can see in her cold, dark apartment upstairs. He accompanies her back up to her place and she drops her key - Rodolfo, the sneaky guy - finds it while they're chatting and hides it in his pocket to prolong their encounter. They're both searching around on the floor in the dark - the candle went out again - and their hands bump into each other.)



Here's the text translation:

What a frozen little hand,
let me warm it for you.
What's the use of looking?
We won't find it in the dark.
But luckily
it's a moonlit night,
and the moon
is near us here.
Wait, mademoiselle,
I will tell you in two words,
who I am, what I do,
and how I live. May I?
Who am I? I am a poet.
What do I do? I write.
And how do I live? I live.


There's much more on YouTube if this has you hooked. Here's one of the entire aria staged (though he wasn't exactly known for his acting abilities or stage movement). The "ah" vowels are enough to make me swoon. 3:45. La speranza, indeed.

At the end, he goes over to ask her to tell him about herself. God help the soprano playing Mimi who had to follow THAT up! The next aria (in which Mimi explains who she is and what she does) is equally fabulous... but, um... yeah...

Garden update

Above: Lemon Tomato and Cherry Tomato plants, parsley lines the front.

After several weeks of warm to hot temperatures, many trips around the garden with the watering can, and selective weeding... we have food! I can't explain how gratifying it is to have salads on the table each night, comprised entirely of greens from our own garden. We've been eating a lot of chard as that has taken off and seems to practically grow over night. Sauteed with garlic and olive oil, thrown into scrambled eggs with some delicious cheese, and soon to be auditioned in a frittata or quiche... it's good stuff.

I'm still babying my tomato plants (I have what some might deem as "too many" at a total count of, um, 9 plants...). But, I hope that come late August, I'll be sweating over pots of tomato sauce seasoned by our own basil and oregano.

Nasty little green wormy things ate our kale leaves (center row) after our first harvest! They got onto the broccoli leaves, too (left row), but didn't touch the lettuce or the beans. Hmmm.

Lemon verbena and cucumbers in the back left corner; sunflowers growing above everything else with a few corn stalks and copious amounts of swiss chard. In the front left-right: rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil and teeny purple basil in the lower right corner.

Tomato sauce land. L-R: Home Depot Celebrity start, and 6 of my own plants started from seedlings... look who's winning!!!

Squash: yellow summer, Amish Pie pumpkins, Sugar Pie pumpkins. Mmm. Pie from scratch. I can already smell October... squash with a little cinnamon and butter baking in the oven...

Link to some wonderfulness

I regularly read a blog called Soulemama (soulemama.com). She's just had her fifth(!) child and instead of blogging on a daily basis, she's asked other bloggers to contribute to her writing space for a while.

I read THIS today and *loved* it. The last two paragraphs are the best part.

We've been doing a lot of outdoor play with the sky high temperatures and our garden has taken off. I am amazed at how much those little plants can grow in a single day with the warmth of the sun egging them on. I'm so grateful for my group of mama friends here in Evanston, with whom I gather almost every single day to watch our toddlers play, argue, laugh and stumble. And I'm loving Yard Sale season! Woot! :)

A long weekend

After two days of crushing thunderstorms, we had a hot, rain-free Memorial Day.

We made a morning trip down to Lincoln Park Zoo where we saw the current favorite: giraffes; and other assorted hot and sleepy animals. I was reminded that summer brings with it its own Toddler Packing List and we have traded gloves, hats, and jackets for a different kind of hat, sunscreen, and a spare t-shirt. In short: Christopher came home with a new neon-green bucket hat.

We played in the yard, dusted off the water toys, dug in the yard, took naps, fired up the barbecue, and proceeded to sweat through dinner because we were just all so thrilled to be outside, outside, outside.

And I think I got my first bug bite of the season which is something of a rite of passage: summer is here.

Earthy.

Today the sun has been shining and the air is warm. A late afternoon cloud cover and thunderstorms are expected as the sun begins to go down. Wait... maybe a bit earlier - I just heard some thunder off in the distance.

This is perfectly timed as I just finished planting the remainder of my seeds and starts. I left a few sections of empty space in the veg beds in case I'm seized by the need to plant something else irresistible.

I'm hoping to figure out how to link to a document via Blogger so that you can see my planting plans. Here! Click on the photo below to see it a bit bigger!


Oh yes, on one particularly cold, rainy evening in April, I geeked out with the veg plans and drew up a map on Excel outlining spacing and location for each variety I hope to grow this summer. It was actually quite helpful since some things require more/less sun, and I took height and growth rate into consideration. This year will be a big leap from what we tried last year, and I hope that each season will offer many opportunities to learn learn learn.

Mike and I spent the afternoon planting two dwarf apple trees! We're excited to be planting trees in our yard and hope that we'll see a few Cortland and Macintosh apples for munching or baking or canning in a few years from now. At the moment, they're just two cute twigs sticking out of the ground. Our fingers are crossed that they grow up to be big(ish), strong trees that provide a little more shade for the patio and some enjoyment for our tastebuds.

We also staked and fenced in the last few vegetable beds... a necessity if I want to see all of that hard planting work come to fruition! The bunnies around here are cute, but we sing the song "John the Rabbit" with a whole new tone these days. Let's just say that the bunnies and I have had a few encounters in the early evening when they come out to look for little bunny hors d'oeuvres prior to their bunny dinners. Sweet, green seedling leaves seem to be a favorite.

The sheets that were drying in the breeze have been brought inside, and I can still hear families riding by on afternoon bike rides. Christopher is VERY into bike rides, by the way. That and going for runs with Daddy in the mornings in BOB. For both of these actitivies, he can be heard egging on the driver with, "Faster, Mama/Daddy!"

Spring. Truly.

Last night we woke up at 4am because the thunder outside of our windows was SO LOUD. The rain and lightning were equally impressive. I love a good thunder storm - as long as it doesn't get my basement sopping wet - and it reminds me of the summers I spent playing in Charlottesville.

The season has definitively turned and now we even have humidity to grouse about(!). The last few days have brought us up into the high 70s and 80s and so we've been out for bike rides, picnic lunches, park play, and even a Christopher-Mama date at the zoo. Highlights of our zoo outing included the giraffes, the rhinoceroses, and the seagulls who kept trying to get a nibble of our lunch.

The farmer's market opened up last Saturday with an abundance of plants and mostly root and winter vegetables. Not to worry, it will be spilling over with a huge array in just a few weeks. I bought some grilling cheese made in Wisconsin which looks similar to Halloumi, and a big bag of spinach. There's a new midweek market that will be happening up in our neighborhood this year. I'm looking forward to going to that one via bicycle.

I love seeing naked toddler legs running around the house - and Christopher is thrilled when he's only clad in a diaper. It's hard to argue with that outfit since he's so darn cute AND it provides easy access for kisses on the knees, the arms, the neck and all other edible parts of his cute self.

Upcoming projects for the garden include constructing a compost bin made of pallets from Mike's lab deliveries, building planter boxes for the patio, and finishing the vegetable beds (dirt/markers/seeds and starts!).

My latest thrill: a long, flat-head screwdriver makes the perfect dandelion weeding tool. Thank you, to the internet for that tip. Clearly, I thrill easily. If I had 2 acres, I'd let a whole patch of yard go crazy with dandelions and then hack them back to eat them... but alas, we live in suburbia and our front yard was looking rather... weedy.

And now... since the lawns are mowed and the dandelions are plucked... I'm going to down several glasses of ice water and see if there's a new Modern Family on hulu.com!

Happy day, y'all.

What we're up to these days.

- Ripping back the plentiful number of perennials in our garden. We need that space for veggies!

- Taking a hacksaw to the trumpet vine. Don't worry... it will be back in another month or two.

- Listening to "Chickens!" and reading about "Chickens!"

- Writing proposals and papers. And more proposals and more papers. And even more proposals and papers.

- Making cabbage soup since we got a head of the stuff in our bin this week. Cabbage outside of St. Patty's Day?!? Turns out, it can be done. And it's pretty tasty.

- Taking a good voice lesson and reworking some cornerstones of the repertoire.

- Organizing social time in the form of playgroups.

- Steaming dainty asparagus and teeny new potatoes for dinner... salivating as we think of the fresh peas to be purchased at the Farmer's Market in 3 weeks' time.

- Walking around the neighborhood to greet passing dogs, "Hi Dog! Bye Dog!"

- Whispering words of encouragement to my brave young seedlings in the basement workroom.

- Fermenting homemade yogurt and baking up batches of granola twinged with ginger (best when served together and topped with fresh strawberries).

Stay in and stay busy.

As a friend recently pointed out, "Hey! The daily highs are finally out of the 30s! Bring on Spring!" Yes... but we still have chilly wet days and so here's our survival list of how we've weathered (tee hee) the chill of winter and the shoulder seasons.

- Playgroups and playdates! What did moms do without the internet and cellphones to make play arrangements on the fly? It can be a lifesaver knowing that you're headed out to someone else's warm house for a different set of toys and some adult/toddler company.

- The library! This is a year-round destination (heat in the winter and AC in the summer!) and it's a great one. Our main library's first floor is entirely devoted to the children's section and there are several hands on play areas for those that aren't interested in sitting still with a book. The library also offers a variety of story hours and playgroups which are free free free.

- Wagner Farm. While this is cold in the winter, it's still a neat place to go and see the cows, horses, chickens and pigs (pigs only in the summer, though). They have a wonderful interactive museum geared towards toddlers and it's a perfect destination for an hour.

- The Exploratorium. This is in a neighboring city and has a small fee, but is a wonderland of hands on activities from slides, to a huge climbing structure (think a human-sized guinea pig maze), drawing with crayons, dress up and role play, a book corner, train table, water play, and interactive music displays.

- The Family Room. A drop-in style playgroup housed in a cozy building with coffee for the caregivers and rooms full of toys for the kids. It's geared towards toddlers with a room full of manipulatives, another with kitchen/house toys, a gross motor skills room with a slide and balls, a reading room, and an arts room. For the last 20 minutes of the drop-in, there's a "circle time" where we gather and sing a couple of songs, listen to a book, and wind down from the excitement of all the free play.

- Wiggleworms. This is the music class we've been attending for a while now. We both love it and Christopher talks ad nauseum about his wonderful teacher and her amazing guitar in anticipation of each class.

- Gymboree. We signed up for an awesome deal for this through Groupon over the months of January and February. It was a lifesaver. The classes were a bit lackluster, but most days of the week the "gym" was open in the afternoons for free play. It was the perfect well-lit, warm and cozy place to go climb, slide, and play.

There are a variety of other free playgroups in the area, as well as many more options that come with a fee. These are the ones we took advantage of most frequently. And, of course, I become a gym fanatic in the wintertime which means that Christopher can hang out in the kid care for an hour a few mornings each week. The staff know him well, and they have a ton of things to explore that we don't have at home, so he's happy to be there every so often. I'm grateful that he goes there so easily to give us each time to "play" on our own.

Spring related: I planted seeds this weekend! Not in the ground, but in makeshift seedling pots. They're all set up downstairs in the workroom beneath a florescent worklight. I am really hoping that I'll see some growth over the next few weeks. But, if not... we'll be out there before we know it. Yard waste pick up begins this week, so our spring clean up will now begin in earnest... when it's not raining, of course!

Springing

I'd forgotten where our daffodil bulbs are located in the garden, but their top-secret hiding places are slowly being revealed as small shoots of green are starting to pop up in random areas through the still-frozen-solid dirt.

I also realize that I have a patch of purple irises that must have been multiplying for several seasons now without being divided. There's about a 2' x 2' area that will be covered with green shoots and purple flowers in another month or two. I will definitely divide and share/replant the bulbs later this summer to spread out the color - perhaps put a few in the front yard.

I'll plant some seeds this week as we're 6-8 weeks out from the typical last frost date of May 1st. (I read on one gardening site that May 25 is sometimes the last frost, but that depresses me too much, so I'm going to be optimistic and go with May 1st!)

We're starting to do more long walks outside by the lake and downtown. Park play dates and barbecue-parties-to-come are the general focus of conversation. But we're still keeping busy with all of our winter resources. That's what I'll focus on in my next post: how to stay sane and busy with a toddler in the cold, wintery Midwest.

Well, then.

It's mid-February in the Chicagoland area. What else is there to say?

Apologies for being so quiet on the blog. After receiving the third email in one week asking if we were doing okay... I figured I'd better cough up some news.

Well, there's snow. We had a blizzard! Did you hear about it? We shoveled a lot, cursed the way the winds had blown and drifted snow against our garage door, and rallied a ton of neighborhood brawn so that we could all get out of our shared alleyway the day after.

But now - we're in the midst of our first spring tease. This weekend it was sunny and warm (high 30s! low 40s!) and later this week it will be in the 50s! This is cause for cautious celebration because we all know that the mercury will plummet again before spring actually arrives.

We're taking lots of walks and getting as much use out of our snow boots, as possible. Especially the smallest member of the household, who was delighted by all of the slushy ice puddles brought on by the warmer weather.

We're listening to Rag Mop (or "mop mop", as Christopher requests it). And we're listening to anything else that we can... when we're allowed.

We're watching words spill out of Christopher's mouth - new ones on a daily basis. Who knew that he knew the names of so many things? Apparently he did, but the rest of us had to wait to actually hear it. It must be a relief to finally say what you mean/want and be understood.

Garden-planning, backyard-afternoons-dreaming, longer-day-yearning, park-swing-missing... that's what February is all about. All of those things will be here before we know it. We just have to keep reminding ourselves!

And lastly, Happy Valentine's Day! I just finished my annual day-of valentine crafting. Whew! Just in the nick of time, as always.

This week's dinner table. Part Two.

Perhaps this was not the best week to write about dinners since Mike and I will have shared ONE dinner together in the span of Sunday to Sunday... but we both ate, nevertheless.

When I last wrote, we were having White Bean and Chard Soup with Brown Bread. It was good. And that bread made some delicious toast. Especially with homemade blackberry jam. Just ask Christopher!

Wednesday night there were eggs on the dinner table. I have a new scrambling technique thanks to a tip from a friend. Don't laugh - we've all had nasty, dry, brown scrambled eggs before, right? There is a way to make them to absolute perfection. And I intend to try them as indicated on the linked website: piled on top of thick toast smeared with goat cheese. I added a little crumbled queso fresco and a side of greens with broccoli and sunflower seeds.

Thursday night brought leftover soup back to the table with the end of the brown bread (I'll be making that again very soon!) with green salad. It was Thursday. It's all I could muster.

Today is Friday and it's effing cold out there. When we woke up this morning the radio reported a temp of -4... but with the windchill? Oh yeah... it *felt* like -22 out there. The RealFeel vs. ActualTemp thing always amazes me. Why bother with "Actual"??? CRAZY! It didn't change our normal routine, but the furnace sure is getting a workout. The oven has been adding warmth and good smells by baking a few loaves of sandwich bread.

Later tonight for dinner: Broccoli and Cremini Mushroom Casserole (not quite the casserole mama used to make - this is out of The New Moosewood Cookbook), Mashed Potatoes (comfort for the low temps) and Green Salad. We do love salad.

Next week I intend to bring in a little soy protein via a killer tofu lasagna that I've been promised. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Food for a new year

One of my New Year's resolutions (I say that with every grain of salt possible) is to try to cook some new things around here. This week, I'm going to write about dinners.

I've also been doing a little meal planning. It makes the grocery shopping more focused, keeps the bottom line down, and helps prevent the 5:30pm glazed-over look on my face as I stare into the refrigerator waiting for dinnertime inspiration to jump out at me.

Hey! Cook me!
It never seems to happen.

Last night: Frittata with swiss chard and goat cheese, green salad with chopped almonds and a sliced, roasted, red beet. The swiss chard was tender without being soggy, and the goat cheese - well, I've never met bad goat cheese. It was damn good.

Tonight: White bean soup with more swiss chard ('tis the season and it's sooo good for you!), Irish Mum's Brown Bread from 101Cookbooks.com, and roasted carrots and broccoli.

This afternoon: well, SOMEONE ate all of the maple pecan granola from TJ's, so I'm left with nothing to do but make some of my own. The smell reminds me of our second apartment in Copenhagen because that's where I first started making my own granola. And the weather outside matches, too. Oh, bittersweet nostalgia.

Standing-ish ovation.

While changing Christopher's diaper today, I was singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." Just as the song ended, he got a huge smile on his face, clapped his little hands together and said, "Yay, Mama!"

Be still my heart. I need to sing to that kid more often.

So, it's been a while since I last updated. I must say that though our holidays were delightfully relaxed (aside from a major insulation installation project which remains 75% completed), it seems that even the most relaxed of holidays still leave a person in a very vulnerable state when the reality of Normal reappears after New Year's. That is to say - last Monday caught us off guard and this past week was a looooong one.

Christopher and I made some killer wheat germ banana bread, started up with our Wiggleworms class again, had a few playdates, and took a very brisk walk one morning to the grocery store in about 8 degree weather. Don't worry about Christopher, he has a sleeping bag-like insert plus a parka plus hat/mittens/blanket and a "weather shield" which makes him look like the Boy in the Bubble. He fell asleep in his pod of coziness and I kept warm by moving quickly. It was actually very nice and a few flurries fell on us just before we got home.

Mike is teaching two courses this quarter and attending numerous dinners for departmental visitors, the president of the university (la dee da!), and recruiting weekends.

Winter is a busy time for Mike's work calendar, so we try to stay equally busy at home. As one of my friends said yesterday, "It's Cat in the Hat weather." Truly. If you don't get out at least once a day - no matter the destination or weather! - you start to feel a little goofy.

Animals are front and center on the Christopher agenda. Most importantly: the sounds they make and the places they live (Big Red Barn is a current favorite). To encourage further exploration of the wonderous farm animal kingdom, I found an awesome recording of Ella Fitzgerald singing Old MacDonald, and Santa's gift of a wooden farm animal puzzle is completed many, many times each day. A winter visit to Wagner Farm is in order for this week... if it doesn't snow too much!

Stay warm and Happy New Year to you all!