Catching Up

I imagine that if I were to look back over my blog archives, I will notice that I periodically do a "dump post" where I combine every tidbit, thought, link, and the like in one long list, usually titled similar to this one.  I guess about every 4-6 weeks or so, I get behind on what I mean to post but still want and need to share (and record) some of what's going on in my head and environs.  The list this time seems longer than usual, so I've divided it into four categories--tidbits, on my mind, in the papers, and recipes.

Tidbits

• Sis and Bud have had lots of discussions recently about what they want to be when they grow up, which never fails to remind me of Paula Poundstone's joke that adults ask kids that question because they are looking for ideas!  Anyway, Bud wants to be a paleontologist, with his own museum, which will have, in addtion to dinosaur fossil bones, some racetracks and other fun things.   Sis, on the other hand, still wants to open a pizzeria, despite not actually liking pizza; when asked about this, she just says she wants to make it for everyone else.    
• I'm having total performance anxiety in Chinese class.  I'm desperate for Sis and Bud to know the answers to the teacher's questions, to participate, heck, even to sit still and listen.  And, well, Sis doesn't like to talk and Bud doesn't even like to be there, so every class has become an uphill battle.  Which isn't what I had in mind at all.  They like the teacher but, oh, the timing of the class, the length of the commute; it's just not working for us.  And everytime they don't get the word right or they won't even try, the A-student in me frets inside not just a little bit.  Hmmmm, no wonder 3+ is the age lots of classes don't want the parents in!  And I'm not even as bad as some other parents, mainly because I surpress my desire and need to force them to answer (I won't let them be rude and roll around or take the teacher's things, like one of the nannies, though)--one of them actually held his daughter in a cross-legged position and goaded her at each question (Answer, you know this one, etc).  And the one time she got up and wandered off--she's 3 ish, remember--he grabbed her and practically dragged her back.  Ugh.  I just don't want them to learn Chinese that badly.  And, really, I can't imagine that kind of pressure or punishment is conducive to a positive learning experience.  So, my kids take their loveys and don't always answer--and even if it drives me nuts--I'm going to be okay with that.  At least outwardly.  I just don't want to be one of those high pressure, overachieving parents.
• Sis wanted to know what I "do," since Mama goes to the office everyday.  I explained that I'm a mommy, but later I might go back to work in an art museum.  Sis replied, "Mommy,I want you to be our mommy.   Don't go to work."  You got it.

On My Mind:

• I hate stickers.  And I have only recently realized this about myself.  Well, no, specifically, I don't like what kids do with stickers, which is put them all over furniture and and toys and walls and glass--even inside of the window on Bud's side of the car--despite our "only on paper" rule of which I always seem to be one step behind.  When I was a kid I put stickers on letters to my pen pals or otherwise just left them on the sheets unused.  Mama put them all over her house and on paper.  Our kids do that too.  And it drives me nuts.  I would ban stickers completely except who won't let her kids get stickers from the doctor's or dentist's offices or even from grandparents?  So, I'm trying to chill about it.  Well, that, and use Mama's scraper to take off the really offensively-placed ones.
• There is a new Indigo Girls album out, Poseidon and the Bitter Bug, in support of which they will be touring soon (don't laugh, it's the very first album we've bought completely as an MP3!).  It's always exciting when there is a new album.  We can't go to their concert here in CT--too far and too much $$ to pay the babysitter--I wish they had concerts in the afternoons sometimes--like they did at a music festival outside of Chicago once--we would take the kids, especially because Bud loves "Shame on You" and their cover of the "Loquat Tree" song.  It would be great if they did a whole child-friendly album (with "Love of the Common People," "Uncle John's Band," any new ones.  It would be better than They Might Be Giants, who will be in the state soon.  Not that I'm getting tired of Laurie Berkner, right?).  We've been playing the new album but it's sharing time with our Andean panpipes CD and Vivaldi's Four Seasons so we haven't memorized it yet.
• Piggybacking on the IG album, I was thrilled to see in this month's Saveur that the restaurant Watershed (co-owned by IG's Emily Saliers) with its reknowned chef Scott Peacock (Mom, H, I gave you his cookbook with Edna Lewis a few years ago for Chrsitmas, remember?  I love Lewis's cookbooks, as much to read as to cook) was named one of the most influential restaurants in the U.S.  I told Mama we should take a kid-free weekend down to Atlanta for a meal there, and at Flying Biscuit (another Saliers' restaurant), do some sightseeing, and come home.  Connecticut is great, but some Southern food would be fabulous.  Though, I'd have to go on a veg-hiatus for those two days, I think.  Tops, two nights.  She said it would be the most expensive meal we'd ever had.  
• Back to new:  There will be a new Sarah Waters book out this summer, The Little Stranger.  I read the first chapter online and am looking forward to the rest of it.  It seems to be a little in the Wilkie Collins/ghost story/country house (I'm thinking of the estate in Woman in White) vein, and that would be great.  I loved The Night Watch, and the earlier Victorian books.  Just hoping there is a lesbian twist, but not so sure.  There's just not much (or good) historical lesbian fiction/literature out there.   But, wouldn't want to pigeonhole such an amazing writer. 

In the papers:

• If you are a nurse, someone grieving the loss of a loved one, or just someone like me who likes to keep abreast of grieving issues (for my church work), check out Theresa Brown's post on oncology nurses coping with grief over at the Well blog.
• I'm lucky I'm not in this category:  moms with "grandmas who can't be bothered."
• Breastfeeding.  Again.  On Lisa Belkin's Motherlode, in Judith Warner's Domestic Disturbances, all because of an article on the Atlantic website entitled "The Case Against Breastfeeding" by Hanna Rosin.  I can't decide if I need to rehash and then bury again all my negative experiences and powerfully sad emotions about my failed attempts to breastfeed the twins.  And then to see that some people (called scientifically illiterate by others) have examined the medical literature and found it doesn't support breastfeeding the way the popular literature makes me feel like my difficult experiences were unnecessary, which is hard to comprehend and accept.  How different would those first 6 weeks have been without the added stress and guilt of unsuccessfully breastfeeding?  But Mama says we had to do it the way we did or we wouldn't have thought we tried--but would I have needed to try so hard if I hadn't thought it was so important?  Do I think it's not important just because some researchers and doctors have conducted these studies?  Isn't it more about the contact than the nutrition?  But would there have been less anxious contact if I wasn't so disappointed?  Mama is much more Zen about it, though I think she was as conscious if not more conscious of the pain it all caused.  And in the end, I'm thankfully past the point where I can do anything about it anymore.  Though, obviously, it still matters to me . . . and to several of my mom friends who had similarly hard attempts.  Okay, I'm done with this.  For now.
• Like quizzes?  Thinking about your health?  See this.  I haven't taken the quiz yet as it hasn't worked anytime I've tried it.  But I'll keep trying.
• Why talking to your doctor about the end of your life is so important, on The New Old Age blog.  

Recipes (for full recipes, see below):

• We've been on a bread machine tear, inspired by both our friend Miss B who casually made dinner rolls so easily one afternoon during a playdate and by the bread book, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Book by Beth Hensperger (whose cookbooks I enjoy and use).  We've made Miss B's rolls (success!), honey white bread (success!), and cinnamon raisin bread (success!).  
• I altered my Dal recipe, adding about 1 teaspoon or so of cinnamon and not pureeing the onion/garlic/ginger mix (because of forgetfulness).  Came out great.

• Made the kiddos an adapted fettucine carbonara for dinner that was quite a hit, greatly surprising me but also supporting my recent discovery that they like new things.
• MMmmm, there is a bake sale at my PT office today.  With a quirky Australian goodie called a "hedgehog."  Nope, not the marzipan kind, but a no-bake graham cracker kind of treat.  Mmmmm.  Can't wait to share them with the kids after school.

That's not all but if I wait too long to publish, it'll never get done.

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Cinnamon Raisin Bread for Bread Machine

 
    * 1 cup water
    * 2 tablespoons margarine
    * 3 cups flour
    * 3 tablespoons sugar
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    * 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    * 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
    * 3/4 cup raisins
Directions
    1. 1Add all the ingredients in order given except the raisins.
    2. 2Add raisins in on the "add in" beep.
    3. 3Bake on "sweet bread" setting.


I added an extra tablespoon of sugar, using brown instead of white.  And was generous with that teaspoon of cinnamon.  I soaked the raisins in hot water while waiting for the "add-in" beep.  Oh, and I used butter not margarine but probably should've softened it a bit more.  In the end, as some reviewers mentioned, it was very much like a bagel.

recipezaar.com

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Honey White Bread

2/3 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons honey

3 3/4 cups bread flour (I only had regular unbleached white)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 3/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Place all ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer's insturctions.  Set crust on medium and program for the Basic cycle; press Start.

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack.  Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Book

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Fettucine Carbonara

1 egg (Eggbeaters work)

1 tablespoon whipping cream, light cream, or milk

1 tablespoon butter

4 oz. bacon, chopped (I used deli ham today)

4 oz. fettucine

¼ cup parmesan or romano

1 tablespoon parsley

 

            Let egg, milk, and butter stand at room temperature for 1 hour.  Cook bacon til crisp; drain on paper towels and chop. 

            Cook pasta.  Drain well.  Return to saucepan over low heat.  Toss butter in pasta.  Beat together egg and cream til just combined.  Pour egg mixture over pasta, tossing til well coated.  Add bacon, cheese, and parsley; toss to mix.  Season with pepper.  Serve immediately.