Blue Ribbon, Baby!

Wow! We won the family photo contest!

This picture captures the first year with Scott: we are happy but also tired. I am cooking. At least one of our awesome family members is visiting us. And Scott is drooling on whoever is holding him.

It was a wonderful year!

Best Santa photo ever

My (former) roommate, Melissa, and her brother.

Love it.

IT'S SNOWING!

You guys! Guess what! It's snowing in the kitchen! Wait . . . wait.

Never mind, it's powdered sugar.



Scott is taller and more able to reach things that are placed on counters than I had realized!



A few minutes after this picture he realized that this was SUGAR and started putting handfuls in his mouth. Yikes. This was probably a moment in which I should have tried to teach and discipline him, but he looked so proud of himself, and was having so much fun, and helped in the cleaning up, so I decided to just keep the powdered sugar out of his reach in the future.

Blue Ribbon Baby

We're finalists in a family photo contest at HiveMoms.com, which is a site that helps organize co-ops. (Thanks, Ben, for being the baby stand!) If we win, I will start calling Scott a Blue Ribbon Baby. That's what Granny Koop sometimes called my dad, because when he was little she took him to a county fair (or something like that) and he won the prize for Best Baby Boy.

Pictures

Scott is into mopping and wiping things lately:


He gets grouchy if I stop cleaning to take photos and leave him to do all the work himself:

But he's back to smiles soon after. (Look! He has a tiny bit of hair for a teeny mohawk!)

Rice Pudding

Ladies (and gents), you are going to need to make yourself some rice pudding this week. We had an Indian version yesterday at a chaat house (what does chaat mean??) and I made some tonight here at home. Rice pudding reminds me of our honeymoon in NYC where we ate a lot from Rice to Riches.

Rice pudding is quick, cheap, easy, and makes your tummy so happy that you will not mind that it's chilly and overcast outside. It's the best thing you can make from leftover rice. Put it in a pot, add milk (almost enough to cover the rice), add sugar (I prefer white, not too much, start adding slowly and aim for somewhere around 1.5 tsp per serving), and vanilla extract. You can add an egg, but I like it more liquidy, without egg. Exact measurements can be found here, but they're not really necessary. Other additives: raisins, fresh fruit (after it's done cooking), chocolate chips ...

Now start sprinkling in little bits of cinnamon, nutmeg, perhaps a little cardamom or cloves, and hum it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas as the kitchen fills with wonderful scents. Simmer uncovered (steaming, not boiling) for maybe 15 to 20 minutes until mushy and perfect.

Yummmmm.

Tonight Scott was sitting on my lap, watching Sesame Street clips on the computer. In one of them, they sang the ABCs. He asked to be put down (by pointing down, leaning and making a "Mmmhhh?" sound), walked to the fridge, and pushed the button on this magnet that plays the ABC song, looking right at me. Wow! I'm just floored by this. He's, like, here! In full! Alert and communicating! But he was a baby only a few weeks ago!

Been having too much fun

My parents and sis came out to visit us for Thanksgiving week and we had so much fun visiting San Francisco, wedding planning for K's May nuptials, and eating eating eating. A few photos:

Thanksgiving morning 5 mile run in Golden Gate Park! Our CA friends, Shawn and Deb, convinced us to go and we're glad we did. I am smiling here, so it must be lap 1.

Scott was a roast turkey. Those are turkey leg frills, not Clydesdale feet.

Mom and Dad took Scott to the park(s) around MV and PA

The Fairmont hotel in SF had a Christmas open house. That gingerbread house in the background? REAL GINGERBREAD. Like, thousands of pounds worth.

Overheard in Houston by Chookooloonks, a photographer who blogs:

"The weather's great today, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it really is."

"Man, if the weather was like this all the time ..."

"... If the weather was like this all the time, this would be California, and we couldn't afford to live here."

Ahhh. True.

But it is beautiful weather. EVERYday!

But we still love him.

We have letter magnets on the fridge and tonight Scott was bringing them to me, one by one, laughing and being cute every time I said thank you. The first three letters he brought were B W R. And I was all:
"What? C'mon kid, you are supposed to be the next generation. I'm expecting VHTR and SFR from you, or at least APWR. (Though I can't say I'd be totally thrilled with those four letters.) Get with it."
and
"Luke, cancel bath time. Scott needs an extra hour of reactor theory tonight because he is WOEfully behind my expectations."

At least it wasn't R B M K.

... and when I have a band we'll sing a cover of this song.

I never got what Kermit saw in her. But this song gave me a lovely look into her crazy head.

"I'm gonna climb the Matterhorn
But only after all our children are born
Because I want to be a good mommy too
And I'm gonna always love you."

If you watch the video, notice how Kermit rides the rocking horse. That is pretty much exactly how Scott rides his rocking moose: con exuberancia!

Quinces

It seems like everyone out here is talking about quince ("kwins") paste, or membrillo. Quinces are one of the fruits I had never heard of until I moved to California, along with jujubes and persimmons. Last week I found quince for $0.99 a pound at the best produce stand in California (and maybe the world). Sold.

Qunices look like ugly pears: lumpy and not quite symmetrical, unlike the pretty, smooth fruit we usually see. Homely fruit, in a loveable way. I hear you should pick yellow ones that have no or very little green. I'd recommend large ones because it's less to peel. And I got a bunch of them (5 or 6 lbs, or 8 large quinces) and make a large batch of paste because it's time consuming and keeps just fine.

After peeling, coring, and roughly cutting the fruit, simmer it for about 45 minutes until the fruit is tender. I put the cores and peels in that cheesecloth bag and boiled them because I hear the peels contain a lot of pectin, which helps the paste set later.


Remove the bag of peels and cores and blend the simmered fruit in blender, food processor, or mash very very well. Mix with a lot of sugar: approximately the same volume of sugar as fruit mash. I went short -- about 2/3 the volume -- and was happy with the results. Now simmer again. For a long time, about 1.5 hours, while stirring to keep from crystallizing. Whew. (Maybe, like me, you have a husband who is a good conversationalist and you can have him stir while you assemble a lasagna?) When done, the paste will turn a deep orange and be fairly firm and able to mound without running much.

Not close to ready yet

Put the paste into a container lined with oiled parchment paper. It's very sticky, but using oiled parchment paper solves that problem completely. Spread it flat. I put mine in the oven at 150F overnight to help it set. If it's still not firm enough to remain together, you may need to flip it over and repeat as the top side sets more easily.


It's a lot of work, but the taste is so interesting and unusual that it's worth it. The fruit has a lovely, lightly sweet scent that will perfume your whole house for those hours of simmering. It's not often enough as an adult that you get to try a totally new taste, and this one is really enjoyable!

Yum.

A few other new tastes to try this week from the farmers' market: Pippin apples, Delicata squash, Parsnips, and the fractal-like Romanesco

Judgement and Sickness

So. Not least among the bad character qualities that parenting is ridding me of is JUDGEMENT. Prior to becoming a parent I would, not often, but sometimes, run across, say, a screaming infant on an airplane and think "Why isn't his parents even trying to calm him down?", completely unaware of just how much trying they were doing as they shushed and swaddled and swayed and sent telepathic messages to the baby's brain with every iota of energy in their body saying "Please, please, please not on the plane. You can cry all night and I won't complain." Now? I've been there. Not for long, because Scott is an awesome flier (3 roundtrips down before he turned 1!), but I understand sending bargaining telepathic messages and just how much energy that consumes.

Then there was Bib Judgement. Bibs look silly. They don't match the outfit (unless they do and that's almost sillier), they're gross, they're just ick. I no longer have bib judgement because I am mother to the world's happiest little drooler ever. Bibs are useful! They solve laundry issues! Yay for bibs!

But the thing I was most likely to unintentionally judge was Dried Boogie Face.

Scott, pobrecito, has had a fever for a couple days. And when it his fever gets high, his little nose and eyes make protective boogies. And no matter how much you clean his little face, 5 minutes later it is DBF again. Poor darling is having to go through so much to help me get over my vices.

Please send your "telepathic messages" our way for quick recovery!

Weekend recap

Hello dear ones! This past weekend was lots of fun. Scott was a baby Koala, and though we never got a great picture, this will give you an idea:


It was pretty precious. At the beginning, the idea was that Luke and I would be eucalyptus trees because we still spend quite a lot of time holding Scott ... but in the end we didn't really get dressed. Fuzzy baby costumes are just wonderful. Very huggable.

Kids on Halloween are so much fun. There was a city party at the beginning of the week where they showed a movie on a screen outdoors and the kids had a costume parade and ate popcorn. On Friday, we went Trunk or Treating at our friends' church. And Saturday, we had friends and preschoolers over for chili, salad (with tomatoes and potatoes, my favorite!) and the most delicious pumpkin ice cream that the neighbors brought over.

And then we pulled off an amazing feat of parenting and partying.

We put Scott to bed, dropped the baby monitor off at our neighbors', and went out to a grown-up Halloween party. These friends of ours put on LEGENDARY Halloween parties with months of planning. This year's theme was CarnEVIL.

Luke was Insane Clown Posse (90s rappers) and I was a German Sparkle Party, which only makes sense if you've seen the video, but luckily it was sent out with the invitation so everyone at the party had.

My name tag says "Hallo! Ich bin Helga."

Actually, that is the face Luke made all night. It's a clown thing.
The party was unbelievable. The driveway was a circus tent. There was a 9 foot paper mache elephant. A dance floor and carnival games where you toss bean bags and throw coins into dishes. So much fun to see! Thank you friends for the invite!

Shawn is one of the hosts/ring leaders, which is why he gets such pretty shoes!

I like to dancey-dance.

Zeitgeist

Bridget sent this to me today. DOESN'T IT LOOK LIKE FUN? I love it.

2009 will always be, to me, the Year of the Beyonce Video and Zombies. Something about that song (also zombies and vampires) really struck a chord with the American public. Why?

Right now I am adding to my Life List: "Dance 'Single Ladies' with a large group of girlfriends". As adolescents, we used to have Friday Nighters (which are all girls' parties or sleepovers) and learn dances (prom scene from She's All That, anyone? Check it out now, funk show brother ...). And even if we are laties (ladies in their eighties) before we get to do it again, there will be more dance parties. Luke is gonna love my be-spider veined legs in tights six decades from now. :)

Last weekend

Last weekend the Wagners visited us! We went on a walk,

visited Mozilla,

and dressed Scott up for church.

Thanks for the tiny tie, cousin!

It was tons of fun.

Coops and Co ops

Luke and I are really into the idea of having a few (like 3) chickens in our backyard. No roosters, just hens, to lay fresh eggs and be funny and teach Scott things about where food comes from and how to treat animals. We look at chicken coop designs sometimes and I think Luke would be more than happy to build one. Our little yard, amazingly, meets the city's requirements for having up to 4 hens (20 feet from the neighbor's building or their written permission) but our landlord still has a no pet policy -- like, no vertebrates of any kind -- so no chickens just yet.

City chickens and city "farming" in general is gaining popularity and I love it. I hear a lot about square foot gardening and most of our neighbors have tomato plants and squash hanging from their balconies or green been vines growing out of their few feet of dirt. It's really gorgeous and fun. We moved in too late to plant annuals this year, but we have herbs, the lemon tree, and so much mint you can't believe it. I'm all about making our yard PRODUCE. This winter I'm planning to plant strawberries ('cause, ya know, it NEVER FREEZES here in paradise!) and next spring tomatoes, maybe rhubarb, and chamomile flowers. And maybe berries. And squash.

Our crop of chocolate babies is coming in nicely!

My other wish-turned-project lately is to start a parents' babysitting co op. Mom was in a neighborhood co op when we were kids and I remember it being very fun. It saves money and builds community, which are two big goals on our unwritten family mission plan. Are any of you in one? Have been in one? Have tips ... ?

Making brownies (and explaining the chocolate face in the earlier picture).

Spaghetti Carbonara

Quick and easy and good. I heard the editor of Gourmet describe it as "bacon and eggs, Italian style" in an interview last week.

Spaghetti
1 or 2 eggs, depending on amount of pasta
1 or 2 strips of bacon per person (I use turkey bacon)
Parmesan cheese
If you have it:
parsley, red pepper flakes, garlic glove

Boil water and add pasta. While it's boiling, fry the bacon (not very crisp), with the garlic clove to add a little flavor. Cut it up in thin strips. Whisk eggs up. When the pasta's done, drain it and quickly add the eggs; they'll cook on the hot noodles. Add bacon, cheese, and spices.

Blue Suede Baby Shoes

They are supposed to be his holiday shoes, but his feet are getting really big really fast. Happy week after Columbus Day? I mean, that's a holiday, so they're still holiday shoes.

Little lace up boots on chubby legs: irresistible.

Also, my very cool friend and high school classmate Alison Gregory is in a contest for a walk-on part in Mad Men. Watch her interpretation of Joan Holloway and vote for her here. Doesn't she have a great haircut?? I don't know why she hates supermarket checkout girls so much. H.E.B. must not have treated her nicely.

So, today Luke had to work but I didn't (because it was a childcare holiday). I played with Scotty all day, didn't make dinner so instead bought Taco Bell, and fed half of Luke's burrito to the baby because he finally got an appetite. I told Luke he should give me a demerit. (I give myself demerits for bad 1950s housewife behavior, like if I leave the clothes in the community washer too long.) He gave me his beer instead.

Yay! Being married is fun!

Hi!

Hi, I'm Jenn. I used to blog here, but for the past umpteen days I have not. Instead, I've been:

• Baking multiple batches of soft pretzels and trying with little to moderate success not to eat all of them before Luke gets home
• Making layered jello, which is pretty but, like, insanely time consuming and really only worth it for a Rainbow Brite party or Pride parade
• Doing much planning and very little training for the 5 mile, 8 am Turkey Trot in Golden Gate Park that Karen, Scott, and I are running(/strollering) on Thanksgiving morning
• WASHING CLOTHES which is unusual for me. It's a chore I tend to avoid, even though I like it.
• Laughing at Scott as he continues to turn small objects into "cell phones"

And now, to fold clean laundry! Whipee!

26 is the new 80

I spent 25 years in great health. Now, though, I am rapidly deteriorating. This last month, I have:

• had a doc ultrasound my abdomen to check for cysts he thought he felt
• had another doc take a biopsy for suspected skin cancer, which turned out to just be weird skin
• bumped my pinkie finger and had it swell up so much I can't straighten it, make a fist, wear my wedding band on the finger next to it, or disguise the black and blue on my palm
• had 2 cavities filled and am HAVING A TOOTH PULLED at 2 pm because my bone has grown into the tooth and is filling it up

THANK YOU LUKE AND MOZILLA for your excellent, excellent health insurance.

And thank you God that none of these are actual big issues. (c:

Little boy

Do I look more like a Beatle or that guy who leads David Letterman's orchestra?

This weekend we went out for SEAFOOD! YAY seafood! I've lived mere miles from the Pacific for months and this is my first time to have fresh fish in California. What is wrong with me? Anyway, we got a little nervous when we saw a white tablecloth and realized that this was a take-your-time kinda restaurant, and who knows how long a one-year-old can sit calmly in a high chair?

Turns out, plenty long. Scott sat there adorably, staring out the windows at the ocean, playing with his sunglasses, and eating fish and veggies. What a stud.

And he likes to talk on the "phone", too. Watch out, one-year-old girls: this guy is irresistible.

When we say "Hello?", he puts the cell phone/computer mouse/box of Altoids to his ear! So cute.

Too far

2,389 miles,
13 hours by plane, and
Too many dollars away.

Pretty thing #1

I'd like to share some of my favorite pretty things that I see in daily life.

This is my chenille plant, which I love for two reasons. First, I remember being young and hearing my mom say she had a chenille bedspread as a girl and I always liked the word chenille sounded. Second, the plant looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book:

"I am a chenille plant!
I'd stop growing, but I can't!
I grow all day, I grow all night
Here in CA the weather's right!
Bring me coffee when you rise
And I'll photosynthesize."
(Wouldn't you know it, she only speaks in rhymed couplets.)

Like everything out here, the plant grows surprisingly well. It has doubled in size in the last 2 months without any fertilizer. (Occasionally I put cooled, watered down leftover coffee on it because someone, either my grandmother or my former office-mate, said the acidity was good for flowering plants.) It stays under our porch with only about 4 hours of indirect sunlight each day and I hear the cuttings easily make new plants. With babies or pets, it has to hang out of reach: the plant and especially the red fuzzies can cause nausea if ingested. And that, my friends, would not be pretty.

Here comes the Sun (song)

Remember this rockin' song by They Might Be Giants that Karen recommended and I taught my middle school science class to sing?


Well, ya know, the sun's not gas. It's plasma. So TMBG wrote another song, which appears on their new album called Here Comes Science. Aw, nerdy rockers! They're great!



But isn't miasma kind of a weird word to use? Isn't it kind of ... off? Word friends, what do you think? (Bridget, love, I'm looking in your direction. I'll go with whatever you rule on this one.)

(And now I'll probably be singing Miasma for the rest of the day. I hope you will be, too.)

Free month of Netflix

Hey! I just got 4 cards in the mail for a free month of Netflix. If you want one of them, email me and I'll send you the code.

One year and one day old

This weekend was wonderful. On Friday, my mom came to town to celebrate Scott's first birthday. On Saturday, we went to the coast.

It was beautiful. Rugged and stunning. We ate cheese and a savory tart and fed the pieces that fell in the sand to the seagulls, aiming for the fat gray gull with the soft voice.


Scott rolled down sand hills and rinsed off in the icy surf, laughing as the waves chilled his feet, then legs, then all the way up to his waist.


We saw a pumpkin patch and he explored.


We saw sheep and kittens and goats.

But it was not yet his birthday.


And then it was Sunday!


And he was ONE.

*****************************************************

We were just two "I"s, and then we were together, and then he was here and we were three.

He was tiny and nearly helpless. Nearly ... but he helped teach me strength, joy, and love. Because of him, I saw the peace of of the night, rocking and nursing while everyone else was asleep. And now he's big and sleeps all night. Now I get to remember the fun of doing somersaults and banging on a pan with a red spatula.


Happy birthday, big boy.
Welcome to this glimmering world.

Savory pie crust

Oh, homemade pie crusts. It's a love/hate thing.

This is Alice Waters's (of Chez Panisse fame) recipe and it really was easy. Not as easy as unrolling the store-bought crust, but easier than going to the grocery store to get one.

Chez Panisse!!! With baby Scott and Kelly! It was a very cool lunch.

1 c. all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tablespoons cold butter cut in cubes
1/4 cup ice-cold water (or a little less)

Use something with a flat, thin edge (2 butter knives, or thin spatulas, or a pastry cutter) to cut the butter into the flour and salt until a few large clumps remain. Pour in the water and stir it in with a fork. Fold together until the entire mixture holds together and is blended, but handle as little as possible. Add more water a few drops at a time if needed. Wrap it all in plastic and refrigerate it for an hour before rolling.

(You don't really have to wait an hour, it just makes things a lot easier. If you can't wait, just flour your counter and rolling instrument really really well.)

I made this crust into an onion tart and it was nice! I know, who would think? Luke liked it too! It was the second onion tart I've ever tried. The first I had on a pot-luck hike in Austria when two French girls brought one. On a HIKE!! Culinary skills! I think I brought bologna or something.

Food Junta

This blog, Food Junta, is REALLY GREAT. Their mission is to "empower the young, broke, and hungry" so they post easy (unintimidating, quick, few tools required), cheap, fast recipes. Three cheers from all age and income brackets!

A couple weeks ago I followed their recipe for homemade ricotta which really was less expensive and more delicious than store-bought ricotta. You probably really do need the cheesecloth, so put that on your shopping list (Wal-Mart's fabric section had some). You also need whole milk, and if you don't have a kiddo in the house you might need to pick that up, too. Other than that? Salt and lemon juice or vinegar. Yippee, kitchen science experiment time!

I put some of it on pizza crust ($2 from the shop down the street, but maybe even less expensive where you live) with diced tomatoes, sauteed onion slivers, and summer squash. Brushed the exposed crust with olive oil, baked at 400F for 15 minutes, and it was perfect.

New post!

Alright, Ellen tells me that her portrait is catching her off-guard every time she visits the site, so I'm putting up a new post. But I think from now on I'll put up a big picture of EACH OF YOU on your BIRTHDAY!

The next birthday boy/girl already has enough pictures up here for a lifetime, I think. Scott turns one year old on Sunday (and my mom is flying in for a quick visit and I'm so excited!!!). He looks a lot like Luke did at one:

Baby Luke, already participating in home maintenance

Therese and Luke, about 1 year old. I plan on recreating all of their photos with Scott and Emma, which we will think is SO FUN and they will think is ridiculous.

Scott is big -- his feet now touch the stroller's footrest, which I couldn't imagine ever happening! -- and funny and very determined. He explores everything and is social and is just a lot of fun. One is awesome.

Check out the feet on the footrest!

Scott explores the backyard, which FINALLY got some rain!

And we have an announcement: our lemon tree is expecting! Quintuplets! She's very young and is not supposed to be having seedlings for at least another year, but she is mature for her age and I think she can handle it. Our neighbors also have a lemon tree so she won't be single parenting the little budlings.

Teeny baby lemons!

One last thing: how cute are these reading Wagners?

Answer key: Very.