bounty

of curls :: This is my yummy view of Elliott when he's not in my arms. We vascilate between being concerned that he's not more mobile (although our physical therapist says he's sure it's a combination of very long limbs, weaker core muscles and a "why bother" personality) and being glad we can still keep him close.


of beans :: This is today's harvest and the proud grower. I think next year we'll greatly expand our vegetable garden. Maybe then the veggies won't all get eaten before they make it into the house.


of freedom :: This is something we've been working on in fits and starts for our whole marriage: financial freedom. Two excellent tips I've come across recently (one in a finance class Andrew and I took together and one on a website I'm now enamored of) are these: paying off debt via the debt snowball method and socking away money via sinking funds. To one day be free to laugh and spin and float like a kid is more than enough reason to keep at it.

favorite summer salad

For years, I've been making this salad. If you like Tabouli, you'll love this. And since the extra ingedients add protein, you can call it a meal. (Thanks to Mollie Katzen and the Moosewood Cookbook in which I found - and slightly adapted - this recipe.)

Lentil Bulgur Salad

1 cup of dry lentils
1 cup dry bulgur wheat
big handful parsley, chopped
small bunch of green onion, thinly sliced OR 1/3 c. red onion, finely minced
small bell pepper or cucumber, seeded and diced
stalk celery, minced
1/2-3/4 c. feta, crumbled
handful good black olives, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed in a mincer
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. freshly minced oregano (or 1/2 t. dry)
2 T freshly minced mint
2 T freshly minced dill (or 2 t. dry)
fresh ground pepper
big tasty tomato, diced
walnuts, chopped and toasted

Cover lentils with 2 cups of water in saucepan; bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes. Drain well and transfer to big bowl. In separate bowl, cover bulgur with 1 cup of boiling water; cover bowl with plate; let sit for 15 minutes. Add bulgur to lentils along with parsley, onion, pepper and/or cuke, celery, feta and olives. In big measuring cup (or small bowl) combine all other ingredients (except tomatoes and walnuts) and stir into lentil-bulgur mixture. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes (the longer you leave it, the more flavor you get). Add tomatoes right before serving. Top with nuts.

In a hurry, I have made this with canned lentils. It works but is not as good. Sometimes I leave out the onions. And sometimes I add in dried cranberries or finely minced dried figs. It's a fun recipe to experiment with. And Andrew, who does not particularly like lentils or feta cheese, never complains about eating it. Liam, however, helped me make the recipe tonight and said many times, 'This looks gross." Oh well, more for me.

birthday dress up

This past weekend, cousin Samantha celebrated her third birthday. During the party there was a dress-up parade, which Liam so thoroughly enjoyed he had to go through four or five outfit configurations before he landed on the pink fairy. Samantha, however, knew from the very start that she was destined for the princess getup. And a lovely princess she was!



Dressing up was such a blast (Great idea, Bec!) -- for the kids and the onloookers -- it made us realize we need to stock a bin with some fun apparel and accessories. I promised Liam that we'd hunt for clothes, hat, scarves, etc., at Good Will and garage sales this weekend. I promised Andrew that we'd try to stay away from the dresses. If anyone has suggestions for stocking a boy-oriented dress-up stash, we'd love to hear!

the importance of saying yes

This is Liam ready for an afternoon on the town. After lunch we were getting ready to walk to the grocery store and ice cream shop and Liam decided he wanted to change his clothes. This was his reveal - t-shirt on top, t-shirt on bottom. Like any mom of a four-year-old boy, I said, "No, honey, please go put on shorts." But when I saw his total disappointment, I quickly changed my mind. Why not? Who cares? It makes him happy and he came up with a creative idea on his own. (I especially loved the sleeve pockets.) Plus, he has Scottish roots (although I did require underwear).


Last year I read an article on why it's important to say yes to a child. The gist was that parents tend to say no all the time and more than half of that time it's because it's inconvenient to the parent or isn't what everyone else's kid is doing. For example, your kid wants to play with playdough. It's a mess and a pain to clean up, so, no. But what message does that send your child? What kind of power does your "no" have when you really need to say it? Why not just say "yes"? I think about this a lot. And I try, really try, to say yes more than no.

So, today Liam went to town in his "skirt." In the ice cream shop, the owner referred to him as my "little girl" but Liam didn't notice. And who cares? He was sweet, cooperative and in a super good mood. And he went upstairs and changed back into his shorts as soon as we got home. When I asked him why it was so important that he wear that outfit to the store, he said he wanted his skirt to fly up when he did cartwheels on the way there. Of course. And that's why we say yes. Because what's really important to Liam I will never quite understand, but I love it. I just absolutely love it.

did I really just say that?

So far, in my life as a mom, I have said some pretty odd things. A sampling: "Put that back in your pants." "We don't put water in our milk." "Stop smelling your brother." And, of course, "Don't stamp the baby."

Today, though, I topped them all. We were getting ready to leave for an appointment and Liam had jumped into the back of the car rather than get in his car seat. I kindly called him to come forward and get in his seat.

"I'm going to ride back here."

"No, honey, you're not," I said. "It's time to get in your seat."

"But, mom, I can ride here. It's fine back here."

"No," I said. "You cannot ride back there. Now, get in your seat right now."

"But I want to try this."

"Liam," I yelled. "If you don't get in your car seat in two seconds, I'm going to call the police!"

You never saw a four year old move over a seat back faster.

triple berrylicious

I wish I had a photo but we inhaled and licked the bowl clean, and I highly advise anyone reading this to do the same. Here's what happened: I bought blueberries, raspberries and black raspberries from the farmer's market on Friday with visions of flakey-crust pies and rich, custardy tarts. But the weekend came and went and the berries sat in the fridge.

Today, Liam really wanted to cook something but I really didn't want to pull my hair out over a pie crust. So, I relented and we made a triple berry compote. I was feeling badly for "wasting" the berries. Uh, right. And that's why there are none left.

The idea came from the Deborah Madison cookbook Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets. She suggests cooking 3 pints of berries with 1/3 cup sugar or maple syrup. We cooked about 1 1/2 pints with a little less than 1/4 cup of sugar and, at little chef Liam's insistance, several shakes of cinnamon sugar (probably equivalent to a small pinch of cinnamon). When you make this, only heat the compote for about 2 minutes or so and then transfer it to a bowl and let it sit (if you can stand it). It's like eating the best imaginable pie filling. And, without the pastry, it's practically "light." That is, unless you a la mode it and eat the entire bowl.

what we're making

1. :: Liam's drawings into art :: I started this little first-attempt-at-embroidery project a couple months ago (inspired by an idea from The Creative Family) and accomplished 90 percent of the stitching in the last 48 hours. The plan was to give it to my mom for Mother's Day, but I don't think I can part with it now.



2. :: More monster t-shirts :: Liam loves drawing monsters and they are too cute. The shirts are so easy to make. Here's how.

3. :: Cheese :: Yes, that's right. In addition to cutting the cheese (I live with three guys, afterall), we're making the cheese. In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Barbara Kingsolver waxes on about how easy and rewarding it is to whip up big batches of fresh mozzarella and other fresh cheeses and I couldn't help but send away for some starter culture right away. I ordered the Fromage Blanc culture from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company and we made a batch this weekend. The $1 starter culture and a gallon of milk resulted in a couple pounds of fresh cream cheese. Perfect for Liam and Elliott's favorite cream cheese and jam sandwiches. Thank goodness they both think our homemade effort tastes good, too!


4. :: Noise :: Yes, this is Mr. Happy, um, crying. Loudly. He was attempting to shove a fistful of fresh-picked cherries into his mouth and I stopped him. There are very few things that Elliott will cry over. Being denied food is one of them.


5. :: Bruises :: We had hoped to go to the demolition derby at the county fair tonight but it was packed out and, if anything like the hip-hop music blasting through the fairgrounds, maybe a little too rough and crass for a four year old. Liam was, understandably, disappointed, but perked up at the promise of ice cream. After downing his cone at Grahams, he treated us all to a fifteen minute performance of "demolition daddy." Back in the car, he very tiredly moaned, "Wow, I'm all breathed out." He and dad are both sleeping well tonight.


6. :: Memories :: I hate to think of the day when snuggling with mom won't be cool anymore. Until then, I'm just soaking it up.