whew, busy weekend, or in which I get very link happy

Larry had a birthday this weekend, so I cooked a lot; we had my mom and Rochelle over for dinner Friday night. I made meatloaf and mashed rutabagas and parsnips with a lovely salad. What? That's what he asked me to make, I never would have come up with that menu myself. I'm not a big fan of meatloaf but everyone swore it was the best they'd ever had. The rutabaga and parsnip mash was delicious with butter mixed in.

Saturday night the Wannabe Hippie clan came over; Larry's prescribed menu consisted of home made gnocchi and garlic bread; I made a mushroom and kale (out of the garden) sauce that didn't go over very well but wasn't bad, I thought. I used Julee Rosso's recipe from Great Good Food as a starting point for the gnocchi and found this picture of Nina's foot tucked into that page. So sweet.

On Sunday some friends who live in the LA area drove down and brought some other friends who were visiting from Chicago. It was wonderful to see them all again. We had bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese, a casserole that I made out of the leftover mashed rutabaga and parsnip, chocolate bread pudding, caprese salad out of mozzarella I had made with mom on Thursday from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and blood oranges and tangerines that I got at the farmer's market in Leucadia.

Nina and Max are particularly good old friends, remember the last time they got together?

Here's Christian and Larry chilling on the couch with Nina.

And Cynthia and Susan. I had just finished felting the hat that Susan is wearing and it struck me that it is perfect for her so it went home with her (she needs it more than I do, living in Chicago and all).

Here's what it looked like before felting (modeled by Nina).

It was an awesome weekend but now I need a vacation!

I couldn't resist

Nina was mugging for the camera the other night and I caught this:

and here's a pretty one in case you were afraid her face froze that way

picnic!

At the co-op pickup this month I made fried sweet and white potatoes; the herd of kids came running for it but there was no room at the table for them all, so I threw a tablecloth down on the floor and they had a little picnic.

thank you so much!!!!

I started a small co-op out of my house about two years ago. It has really grown and though it is a lot of work I really enjoy it. For my birthday the members got together and gave me a gift certificate; I bought a solar fountain that I had been wanting for a long time with it. It finally arrived yesterday; I can tell that it will be a good place to deposit special stones.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

last night's glass of wine I didn't drink

becomes today's apres-farmer's market sangria. What housework?

going organic...one step at a time

I would love to wear all organic cotton clothing, but it would be very expensive and mostly not fashionable or flattering. As a compromise, last year one of my resolutions was to buy only organic cotton underwear and socks for us--we would keep wearing the ones we had, but anything that needed to be replaced would be organic cotton. I succeeded so I will keep with the resolution this year also.

Of course, Nina is the one who most often needs new stuff because she is growing. But so often buying organic means settling for less pretty stuff, or only a few colors. What I have found is that in the last year there has been a better and better selection, starting with these pretty toddler socks from Maggie's Organics. They come in three packs--primary colors and also mint, pink, and purple. They also have a "natural" colored two pack. Beware of the athletic sock, though, it's tiny and doesn't fit many, even in the toddler size.

For underwear, I bought Nina a few sets of Ecoland; they're so cute and not at all "granny" panties; it's so cute to see Nina in her "hipsters." They come in 2-packs which are a bit pricey at 17$ (I got them at Whole Foods) but since their sizing is only even numbered years (2T, 4T), I am thinking they will fit for a good while. Nina has had her 2T for a year already and they still fit fine and show no signs of wear or fraying; we even have a couple of the 4T and though they are a bit baggy, they fit too. They are a bit plain, with the only options being "white" and "natural" but the natural ones are just fine for now.

Last month Hanna Andersson was having a huge sale on underwear so I bought 9 pairs at 10$ for a 3-pack, I got the medium, so it will be a while before she can fit into them, but I am betting she will be really stoked about the cute patterns and colors!

For the adults, I have been getting Larry Spun Bamboo boxers, they are very soft and durable. I bought them on ebay. My favorite organic cotton t-shirts are from Ecolution.

I have tried a lot of different organic cotton underwear and my favorite are Hanes organic, they fit well and are very soft. Of course now that I am writing about them, I can't find them online, they're probably discontinued. Grrr.

Update: I was just at Target; they still have the lovely organic cotton panties and tanks, for some reason they're just not showing up for me at target.com.

another step

in the intricate dance that is the love/hate relationship I have with Whole Foods:
They're going paper/reusable bag only on Earth Day this year. Though if they're so paper bag gung ho, why do they ask if you want paper or plastic right now? Why don't they assume you want paper and make you ask for plastic if that's what you want?

check out this "to go" mug

It's a ceramic cup with a silicone lid. You can get it here.


Pretty clever, eh?

I could not make up stuff this good

Nina had a heck of a cough for a while so I bought her some honey sticks. I opened the first one for her, handed it to her, and after a minute or so, asked if it was good.

Yes, it tastes like heaven.

That's what she actually said. Seriously. With a look of wonder on her face.

check me out

I have a new post on the Lizard Ridge Knitalong.

the "L" words

Nina has just in the last day or two started to pronounce some "L"s, it's so cute because she over-enunciates them. It's only a matter of time before "Yaarry" is LLarry.

update on the school sitch

Everything went well today, I went in with Nina, made sure she knew her teacher's name, then showed her the bathroom, where the potty seat is, etc. She immediately got involved in cooking in the play kitchen, and made it clear that I should leave her alone. When I picked her up, the teacher told me she had used the bathroom without a problem, and that she hadn't heard anything about a hitting incident, so I think it will be fine. The truth is, that hitting story grew with each telling, finally ending with all the kids hitting and kicking her (I was picturing one of those movie scenes where some poor kid is getting the tar kicked out of him by a circle of kids, only in my mind's eye the kids were toddlers, pretty unlikely).

Anyway, she said she had fun today and later on when we took a walk to pick up our CSA share, we ran into one of her teachers outside the grocery store, which Nina got super excited about.

farm to table restaurants

Here's a list from Gourmet magazine of the country's best restaurants that use locally sourced ingredients. Our local favorite, The Linkery, is on it. I am sad that our favorite restaurant in Gainesville, Mildred's, didn't make it, though.

Oh, and I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by the Kingsolver family. A must read, truly.

first day of (pre) school

There's a preschool a few blocks from our house; that fact registered little on my radar until Franki & Larry made us an offer we couldn't refuse regarding it--so I enrolled Nina and today was her first day. We had talked about it a lot, at first she was really excited (e-kited in her language) about it at first because "there will be lots of mamas to take care of me." Then she found out I wasn't going to be staying there with her and cooled to it; it took me a while to realize that she thought she would be alone, which I corrected and ever since, every time we drive by she sings out the name of the school. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to go to school for several reasons, but we decided to give it a try. It's an Integral School, I'm not too sure what that means, but it seems like a great place and it's SOOO close to our house, I can walk there in about 5 minutes.

We walked in, and immediately after these pics were taken, Nina found a puzzle and got busy on it, at which point we left and hoped for the best. I wish there had been more guidance for us as to when to leave, or what to do, but there wasn't, so... When I picked her up later she had "had an accident" which happened because she didn't want he teachers to take her to the bathroom, but I think as she gets to know them she will feel more comfortable. Also she said some kids hit her, which is very upsetting to me; she says she doesn't want to go back but I think that's more about the bathroom than the hitting. We'll see how it goes on Thursday, cross your fingers that it's more successful.

the cookie sniffer

I have been MIA, as you may have noticed. I have been having some health problems and seeing a new doctor for them, and he prescribed a 28 day detox. It has been hellish, and at day 22 I don't feel better. The caveat being that I feel worlds better than felt during the second week into it, which isn't saying much, considering that I felt like life really almost wasn't worth living then and now it's tolerable again. I just don't feel better than when I started (and considering what all the supplements and "medical food" cost, I should be feeling GREAT right now).

So what's with the cookie sniffing, you ask? Well, if you didn't notice, starting the detox when I did had me abstaining from eating and drinking almost everything that makes the holiday season so fun. No sugar, honey, wheat, corn (and I have to say I participated in an organic tamale line and didn't even eat any), coffee, chocolate, all dairy products, rye, barley, oranges (which are in season here, abundant from our CSA, and amazing right now), soy, peanut, maple syrup. And in days 7-13, all I could have were fruits, veggies, and oil (I used olive and coconut). Did I mention that I am sensitive to tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers? So they're out too. I ate a lot of brown rice with steamed kale, lemon juice, and avocado. In the first and fourth weeks chicken, turkey, and fish are acceptable, as well as lamb and game meat. So that's not so bad. It's hard to do without soy sauce and tamari, though, when you're eating simple food. It's also hard to live without coffee for me--I never drink much, but that little facilitates a LOT of productivity. I suspect the whole thing would be a lot easier in the warmer months, too, when there is a greater abundance of local, organic fruits and veggies. I'm not complaining, Southern California has a lot more local right now than a lot of places, but it's still not enough to do this type of detox this time of year and not feel utterly deprived.

Ok, ok, on to the cookie sniffing. I went to Wannabe Hippie's Solstice party; there was so much good food there, and sweet treats, it was too sad not to enjoy them a little. So I broke a piece off of a cookie and kept it in my pocket, bringing it out with a flourish to sniff it every now and then. It was surprisingly satisfying to smell but not eat it. I mean, it doesn't compare to actually eating the cookie, but it sufficed. I'm pretty sure there were people there who thought I was a complete freakshow, but I can't muster up enough energy to care. Maybe if I had some coffee...