lady cordelia

under the covers

Jeez.  I fell off the face of the internet because I got a sinus infection.  Having a social 5-year-old sure does bring a lot of colds to this house of ours.  And maybe it's because I hardly ever sit down and relax, but this one really got me.  I almost got real sick a few weeks ago and I really got sick this time. And, I had just been thinking in the days previous to getting sick...wow..I wish I would sit down and finish knitting that hat for my friend.  Yeah, the same hat I started a month ago.  But, who can sit down and knit for hours on end with two small children, mountains of laundry, a little farm and house to be tended & plenty of food that needs to be cooked and served!?

I have super big "homesteading icons" out there in the blogging world whom I respect to the millionth degree and I have decided they must have help in their home of some form.  Someone else is cleaning out the chicken coop or doing the laundry, no?  Someone else wiping a baby butt or two?  Or, maybe I'm just hopelessly horrible at multi-tasking.   It's possible.  My husband would say it's a rock solid bet that I'm horrible at multi-tasking.  (Rude.)

Anyhoo.  My Mammy came and spent the night because The Brad is out of town (and has been oh so very busy when he is not out of town.)  And, well, I was falling apart.   My mama was also sick but we drank hot lemon water together and had a very peaceful time and I had to explain to my oldest daughter why sometimes Mama needs her Mama.  And then I had time to sit in bed and finish knitting the hat and even start another knitting project.  I also read and read and read the biography of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse.  And THAT was so fun because it got me interested in cooking again.  (I am like...on for a month and then off for a month with my cooking passion.  Its terribly depressing.  I wish I loved food like Alice Waters does.) 

I even started perusing one of her cookbooks again and decided that YES I am very excited about cooking and NO I can't wait another minute to totally make a ridiculous attempt at a Goat Cheese Souffle tomorrow.  And I also got very happy about growing more food and adding to my random wild and messy veggie boxes that pop up here and there, wherever I can fit them, around the property.  Oh.  I got so bonkers about a new one I have planned that I pretty much just burned out the last little bit of energy I had saved
to write
the blog. 
Poof.

Wow.  Well.  I'm spent.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  As for me, I am rather enjoying lounging around reading and knitting as if I have nothing better to do.  Luckily my girls are knee deep in books and imaginary play. Perfect! They'll hardly notice I'm under the covers.

Ciao.

weekending with my pal amanda

weekending (what a weekend.)

Hey: check out what I found this weekend.

Yes, that is my a** in $160.00 jeans.   Oh Yaaaa.   Only $3.50 at what us locals call Old Folks Thrift Store. Nevermind why we call it that.  Just don't confuse it with New Thrift, Mr. Munchkins or Stinky's.  Anyhoo: check it out:  I never thought I would own 7 for All Mankind jeans.  (Nor was I really all that upset about not owning them, if you catch my dirft.  I mean, really.   Who needs to spend that much on jeans?  I'm lost on the point totally.  But, hey.  Put those pricey jeans in my face for $3.50 and I'll be super happy to brag about wearing them.)

Then yesterday I went yard-sailing with my favorite thrifting buddy (sans kids!).  She picked me up at 8 a.m. sharp.   Unfortunately, all the yard sales we hit really left a lot to be desired.  That is, until I took my chances with an Italian espresso maker (and also a milk frother. )

Oh. My. Goodness.  I will never use a regular coffee maker again.  Never.  Never.  Never.  I AM SO HIGH  ON CAFFEINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Plus it looks so rad in my kitchen.   I feel so Italian.  Even the guy at the yard sale told me it is "way Italian" of me to buy this coffee maker.   Wow.  You just never know what amazing things can happen to one girl in one weekend.  Me: an Italian coffee drinking person in $160 jeans.  Holy.  Freaking. Moley.  

And wait, that's not all.  We found a hummingbird in our living room.  (Our 5-year-old said she saw a very big bug and we should come look.) We thought she might die, she had been trying to get out the glass window for sometime.  She rested in my shirt and looked at me for a good long while.  She didn't move.  Her tiny black eyes just blinking.  (I think she knew I was wearing $160 jeans.  She just had that look in her eye.)  Then just as we were going to put her in a little open-topped box so she could rest and hopefully regain her stregnth, she suddenly flew away like lightning to the tallest tree around.  

Recap: Wearer of Expensive Jeans.  Italian Coffee Drinker.  Hummingbird Saver.  Can you improve on that? Perhaps not. Ciao.

weekending with amanda.

scenes from around here (in the kitchen)

Part of my evolution as a mother-who-cooks is to remember now and then to soak green peas overnight.  Then I can make soup or dal (depending on how much water I use) for next nights lunch of dinner. I don't decide in advance if it will be soup or dal you silly-head!! I'm still new to this whole cooking thing! See?  If it's too watery, it's soup.  Too thick, it's dal.  Voila!

Part of my evolution as a healthy feeder is to make fresh veggie juice for the girls.  (It was a 2012 resolution to keep the juicer out and use it frequently).  As long as there are enough apples in there I can get away with plenty of leafy greens too.  At first my 3-year-old said Blech! and spit it out everywhere.  Another time she pushed it away angrily with a disgusted look on her face and spilled a full cup of carrot/apple/beet juice.  (Nice.)  But, as the old adage goes, If you don't suceed, try, try again. And so I did.  And now she walks around with a beet mustache all day.  And often a beet beard too. 

Part of my evolution as a mom who hates being sick is pulling out the nettie pot, taking these herbs and downing a lot of hot water with lemon/honey/cayenne when I have a head cold. Beat the cold out in two days. Maybe it was just the nature of that specific virus to last a few days.  But, we'll never know will we. And meanwhile, the thought that I scared it out of my system with cayenne and herbs is super hella rad.

Also: Today I will be making a no-knead bread as introduced to me by a good friend.  If you have never wanted to make bread because you are highly irritated and upset about the time it will take, that's no longer an excuse for you.  Here is a recipe I found online that is similar to the one I am using today.

Well, that's it for now.  Off to make the soup or bread.  Or both.  Or neither.  That's how I roll.

(Oh..and for you that read yesterdays post, here is some sweet news: the pup was adopted by a new family already (one with out a cat or chickens). 

hello buttermilk cake, good bye paper towels.

Buttermilk Cake (with Pears.)  

Quick.  Easy.  So yummy. Light.  Not too sweet. Good with a little cup of coffee.  Or, how the girls had it last night with fresh whipped cream on top.  (My three-year-old begged for whipped cream, I made it, and the whole way through eating her cake she said.."I love whipped cream!  Then, after her plate was licked clean she looked at me and  said: "I hate whipped cream.")

Anyhoo: I used the recipe from Swanson's book but found a very similar one online at her site. Almost the same recipe I used but it features a different fruit than the book version, which was plums.  I used pears.  So see, you can use almost any fruit.  The online recipe also calls for salt (instead of sugar) to sprinkle on the top.  (Really?  Salt? I would use sugar.  But, then again, that's just me.)

So.  There is that.  

And.  That is that.

Here's my big news: Ready?  K.  Hold on to your seat cause this is heavy: We've decided to stop using paper towels.  Ya. Ya.  [nodding].  Maybe all of you are already fully grooving non-paper-towel users and I am late on the bandwagon.  Or.  Maybe you are like I used to be (up to last week that is ): you use plenty of paper towels but have a bit of a mental eco-block about it.  

Sure, sure, I hear you: one uses more water washing the cloth towels that replace the paper towels. Ya, Ya.  I hear you, I get it.  But, life is not perfect.  One must choose the lesser of two evils.   If I  just throw a few dish towels in the laundry with each load is it really wasting water?  No.  So: NO paper towels in the house.  

None.  Not even one roll. Because if I had even a little "emergency" roll  in the house, it would be dangerous.  Know what I mean?  I'd be all: "Oh, jeez, one paper towel won't hurt.  I just need to clean this spilled yogurt off the table."  But then, you know...before I know it, I'd be totally out of control again and, once again, a full-on paper towel junkie.  That is what I was.  A junkie.  Well, a moderate junkie.  But a junkie none-the-less. Yes me!   I come off so eco-consious but know this: it's really a work in progress for me.  

I am deconstructing myself and reconstructing myself one day at a time.  There are pieces of my consciousness that are still rock hard.  The paper towel piece was so...you know, so formed and almost unchippable it seemed.   But then, I take away the paper towels and I find I'm living closer to the source of my joy.  Closer to the real me.  And I love that. Ya.  I solidly love that.   I love it so much.  When I see a dishtowel lying around now I just kind of say to it "Hey, you."    And I kind of just take a deep breath and shake my head a tiny bit in a thoughtful way.  You know.  I just do that.  So.  Yeah.  I feel good about it.   Really great.  I could just go on and on. 

 

Le Poopy Wafer

I'm really into all those cool photos of food and vintage kitchen utensils and bowls and such. 
All the "cool" baking cookbooks have those pics these days. You know.  Fresh baked strawberry-oatmeal muffins oozing out of  muffin tins from the 1950's.  And stuff.  Like that.  It's up my alley.

Anyhoo, hear this: a friend gave me the most awesome set of vintage measuring cups for Christmas.  She really gets me.  You can see one of those very cups in the pic above. The very pic that is kinda sorta trying to be way cool and vintagy but ends up just looking a little yellow.  It's hard when there is hardly any natural light in the kitchen.  This is exactly the kind of thing no one really tells you and you just kind of find it out by yourself: taking photos of food is easy in theory but actually hella, hella rough.

Anyway, do you like the sound of these: Poppy Seed Wafers.  Of course you do.  Who doesn't?  They are made with BKWT flour, ok?  (That's buckwheat for those who need a refresher in whole grain flour acronyms.)

I love it when a cookbook tells you straight out something might be difficult to do.  As in, rolling the Poppy Seed Wafer dough into 2 logs.  Having experienced the difficulty first hand, I will tell you flat out that I may not again attempt Poppy Seed Wafer dough log rolling.

When I finally got the logs somewhat congealed, and not at all log-round in shape, I said to my husband that perhaps the cookies should be called "Poopy Seed Wafers" as the logs looked like... Well.  Anyway.  

The dough was then refrigerated for 2 hours before being sliced "wafer thin" (said in a French accent) mine were not "wafer thin" (said in a French Accent) they were more like "brick thick."  My little bricks were then baked.  

I want so badly for you to know how disgusting these little cookies look.  But, alas, I was too lazy to take another picture by the time all was said and done with the baking.  If you can imagine a demented, thick, dark brown Vanilla Wafer with Poppy Seeds, then you can see my wafers in your own little sweet mind. 

Can I tell you though....how wonderful they taste!  Oh.  With afternoon tea?  Please.  Too good.

You know where I got the recipe, right?  Right.  I got it here.

I love that I am writing about baking.   You have no idea how far off that really would of seemed had you known me even 18 months ago. 

Bye Darling!  Off to get a wafer!

 

Firsts for 2012

 

Daily Veggie Juice. Pulled out the Champion Juicer and not planning on putting it back into the cupboard means: fresh veggie juice almost everyday for this family in 2012.  A year ago the juicing "clean-up" used to bother me so I put the juicer back into hiding.  Now the clean up is like nothing and the everydayness of doing it is, so far, just a simple ritual. THAT, my friends, is progress in the kitchen.  See.  I am not saying we will do it every. single. day.  But the juicer is not going back.  He's part of the family.  The son I never had.  I'll call him Bruno.

Her first piano lesson. Sigh. Smile. So happy. Makes mama proud.  

 

(Pinterest photo. I'm a little lazy today.  The rest of the photos are mine.)

Zippers. Who knew I would be so excited to find zippers (for sewing projects) at a new local thrift!  Really, Cory?  Zippers make you smile?  Zippers?  Yes.  Zippers.  Now zip it. 

Little Guy.  A first sewing project for my five-year-old from this book.  She fully rocked the whipstich.  Way cleaner than my messy stitches.  Really.  I mean it.

These are just some of the wonders and wonderfuls around here since the beginning of 2012.
I'm still kind of tired from the holidays actually and looking forward to a day with the family at the beach tomorrow.
So.  Well.  Ciao!

 

This Moment

Enjoying the end of the year with a "brothy" variation of this soup (my kids just like the broth!) alongside Oatmeal Sandwich Bread from the baking book Good to the Grain-  one of my very favorite Christmas presents. 

XOXO

Celebrating This Moment with Soulemama.

dang peppermint bark (and other things of probable non-interest to most outsiders)

Firstly: Thank you for all the sweet well wishes.  We did go down in flames.  Three days in bed is NOT my cup of tea.  My oldest lil' one is still on the couch.  

Anyway, I "came to" a little bit last night and was able to walk a bit.  So, I made Three-Layer Peppermint Bark.  You know the recipe.  Everybody who is anybody is talking about it.

I couldn't taste it while cooking or even try it when it was finished as my stomach was (and still is) unright.  But.  I had to get this damn bark made. It was one of those things I had to achieve.  Like those silly "Members Only" jackets all the cool kids wore in school.  I had to have one. I dragged my mom to Sears to get me one.  See.  I just had to fit in with the pack and make the freaking Peppermint Bark.  Okay?  It looked so cool.  I wanted to be cool. So I made it. 

It was really fun, actually.  And I'd like to make it again. But not today. Today I don't give a crap about being cool.  I need to get that laundry going that I told you about three days ago.  Though, admittedly, I  did promise my eldest child that later today we would make Christmas Cookies.  You DO realize I've never made bark or Christmas Cookies before, don't you?  You DO realize this is all part of my awakening as a homey mother.  I love being a homey mother and I will go to great lengths to be one.  But I hate Member Only jackets.  Please do not ever make me think of them again.  They were so ugly really, and the kids who had me feeling I should wear one were really not very nice.

By the way, before I toodle-loo, if you click on the link for the bark, and you see how pretty it is, just know mine does not look like that.  But The Brad DID say (when I gave him some bark) to get it out of the house which means: it is very good and will make him gain too many pounds. Score one for the bark maker.

And I just want to say, Three Layer Peppermint bark and Members Only jackets are like...sooo different.  You know that right?  Because the bark turned out really cool and provides love and joy (if not a few pounds).   The Members Only jacket: not so much.  Sometimes "following the pack" is a good thing...but only when the pack is really rad.   Know what I mean? Perfect.

And.  Well.  That's it for today.  Must keep it short around here as I am finally ordered to make food for my kiddo who is on the couch.  She ordered a lettuce, pickle, mayo sandwich.  Hmmm.  Ok.  Can do.

Oh.  And maybe I  just have to share this one more thing.  These two always meet here in my bedroom around 11 a.m. to lounge in the sun patch. I had to quickly snap this pic.  Cute no?

heritage.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving.
After the  meal, my aunt bestowed on me a handful of treasures.
She knew of my beginnings in baking (and by and large cooking) and understood my new-found passion. A fine baker and cook herself, she learned a lot about being in the kitchen from my grandmother (her mother in law) and has always treasured the recipes that were passed to her.  But, until I piped up earlier this year about my new-found passions, she thought those recipes may only slip away with time. 

My Aunt honored and stunned me last night with a beautiful scrapbook she made comprised of recipes from my grandmother and great-grandmother.  This one, handwritten by my great-grandmother over 100 years ago. Now, it is here, in my hands and in my heart.

Also, several cookbooks used by my great-grandmother. This is a page from one of them.  Funny stuff.  No? (Look at the antidote for arsenic.)

My grandmother was not always a healthy woman, but she was a wonderful cook and baker and one of the sweetest ladies you could want to know.  She passed away when I was a young girl but I remember her cozied up in her rocking chair, crocheting away.

My Aunt also gave me a small stack of photos- many of myself as a baby, ones I had never seen.

I love knowing that when I do the dishes, or cook a meal, or bake fresh goodies, or knit something, or garden, that I am right in line with my grandmother, and her mother, and her mother.  And, as I look through the recipes and the photos of my grandmother, I can't help but wonder if my heritage is a living entity.  The very one that called me out of the blue in the last few years to the baking tins and knitting needles.  

My Aunt recognized me as the torch carrier.  Wow.  It's something no one would have ever guessed.  (Myself most strongly included.) But here I am with my two little girls, in this fast-paced technological world and I can't help but see an old generational recipe for molasses cookies as a lifeboat in the blur.  Something of substance, something to soothe us and bring us back down to what is really essential.  It's hard to explain, but I know many of you understand.  It's a wonderful thing. 

see me and my mama on upper right & my maternal grandmother knitting (or crocheting) in her favorite chair.

 

 

 

things involving yarn and carbs.

Stop with the breakfast options already.  Right?  Come on.  This is fresh homemade granola and homemade strawberry compote THAT I froze and took out months later. With yogurt.  Greek style.  Come on.   But- you know all about this stuff.   I won't link to the recipes.  I just thought the pic was pretty.  Not even 6 months ago I could barely crack an egg.  Look at me now, ma!  Right?  Right.

Yeasted Bread.  Tassahara Bread Book.  Made it a million times.  (Or, maybe 10 times, or 15.  Close enough.) Check it out:  Tablespoons & Teaspoons.  Different.  K?  I have a dough ball just like the one you see above in my trash right now cause I thought I was way too cool to look at the recipe today.  If you like salt a lot, the one in the trash was the loaf for you.  (What a waste of 7 cups of flour.  And 4 tablespoons of salt)

Now.  Check this out.  Bag of already made granny squares at local thrift.  FULL ON BAG.  (Just sampling the amount in the pic.)  Now I can totally make the gran blanket I've been dreaming of without having to learn to make the squares!!!!  NOW you are jealous.  No?  But wait, it gets better.  $6.  Yes!!!  (Sigh. Blowing on fingernails and shining on shirt.)

And, on the serious side a little- a hurricane hat for a friends son who is undergoing 2 years of chemo for leukemia.  He will most likely push it into a lifetime of remission with this treatment.  But, it's been immensely hard for the family, as you can imagine.  He is a senior in college and still going to school because he wants to graduate with his friends.   

 I want to link with Yarn Along today, so I have to mention a book:
See it in my sidebar.  It's a bio of a famous Rolling Stone writer/editor.   Pretty cool read, actually.
My dad got it for me cause he knew the dude.  And, well, my dad's name is listed in the index.  He's even quoted in the book!   Kind of....you know....FULLY RAD!  My dad is just very cool.  He's going to be 80 next year.  That does not stop him from being super rock n'roll.