Kidbits and Updates

Each is not a whole post, but together it's a lot of catching up:

• Last week, Sis and I went to a compass class with some of our GS friends.  And it was taught by a friend we had made at Hog Island last year!  So great to see her again.  I learned so much. I did not know how to read a compass.  Hold the compass flat in your hand, with the curved part at your wrist and the printed red "travel arrow" pointing out from your palm.  "Turn on the compass"--I know, it's not electronic--means to put the "red in the shed," i.e. move the "compass housing" so that the red part of the needle that always faces magnetic north moves into the outlined arrow or orienting lines/arrow.  Now you can tell what direction you are pointing by whatever direction and degree lines up with the travel arrow.  You reverse it to go in a particular direction.  Want to go Northwest?  Move the compass housing to put NW at the end of the travel arrow, move yourself to put the "red in the shed", and walk in the direction of the arrow.  At least I think that's right.  Sis was much better than I was.  I know there is so much more to orienteering but it was a great start.  I'll practice at Hog Island again this summer.
• We went to three orchestra concerts last week, one for our school and two where the kids from our orchestra were invited to play at other concerts to help round out the sound.  They played "Vida La Viva," a bit from "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," "Shadows," and . . . something else.  I love hearing my kids play . . . and it was even bittersweet to hear the little ones play "Hot Cross Buns."  Sis and Bud have come a long way.  And they'll both be playing in the orchestra again next year.
• Piano duet.  Yep, Bud and I are finally playing a piano duet.  I had stopped taking piano during CPE but am starting up again for the summer.  And so we actually did some planning during Monday's lesson.  I'm dusting off "Finlandia" and "The Entertainer" (both easy piano) and then learning my part of "Vida La Viva."  Yes, the Coldplay song.  Just like Bud played in orchestra.  I know it.  He likes it.  And one of the parts is just my speed.  Only challenge is that I don't really count when I play, just play by ear to the tune I know, which makes it almost impossible to play in the right spot with a duet partner so I'm practicing counting.  Whew.  But the playing has rejuvenated Bud, who spent last night playing "Phantom of the Opera," "Prince Sidon," and other songs.  One of my favorite sounds in the world.
• Bud has had a few kung fu performance in the last few weeks, which is not our usual performance time (May and October are the big competition times; January/February are the big Lunar New Year performance times.)  He performed at Quassy Amusement Park, a small, old local park with rides and games next to a lake.  The performance went well, but the team had even more fun wandering around together and going on all the rides--swings, tilt-a-whirl, this big boat that swings like a pendulum, tea cups, another ride that flips and holds you upside down.  I enjoyed the lovely weather and riding the carousel.  Oh how I love a carousel!  Bud even rode with me towards the end of the day. 
• And he earned his Black Belt right before we left for Italy.  The school hadn't been doing belts for the team (it's more of a karate thing than a kung fu thing anyway) and so their Master gave the team the chance to earn their belts.  Bud practiced for weeks, on top of his years of kung fu, and he earned the black belt, embroidered with his school, and a beautiful plaque to go with it.  We're so proud of him!
• INDIGO GIRLS!  Last week, we all went to hear the Girls in concert in New London.  We arrived early enough for dinner (mac and cheese pizza, chix and broccoli and bacon pizza, pasta pomodoro, great salad and yummy cakes) at this great local pizza place, Two Wives--and the only men in the building were Bud and those on the staff!  Everyone was there for the concert, which always draws about 95% women.  Most of them were our age or older--and not even all of them were dykes!  Of the five others I knew there that night, only 2 were lesbians.  But they were moms of twins, just like us.  Gotta introduce the kiddos to the culture, you know?  It was great--they played most of our favorites.  We got home really late, but we didn't care.  Besides, it was Mother's Day weekend and there's not much these two moms like more than a Girls concert.
  
• Mama and I gave ourselves our big Mother's Day present:  we went to the Met museum all by ourselves, leaving the kids at home on Saturday.  I had wanted to see the Thomas Cole exhibition and it was closing on Sunday, but the kids didn't want to go.  And after three orchestra concerts, the Indigo Girls, the compass class, and a kung fu show, we decided they would probably enjoy a day at home much more . . . and we might enjoy the moms' night out all by ourselves.  And we did!  There was some traffic heading into the city on Saturday afternoon, but we talked all the way there.  The Cole show had some great pieces--Course of Empire, Oxbow River, a little trompe l'oeil with an oil sketch of a landscape, a view of Florence in front of which I no longer needed to say "I'd love to take you to Italy!"  There were also paintings by Claude Lorraine, de Loutherbourg, Turner, Constable, including cloud studies and Hadleigh Castle.  The concept of the show--Cole was influenced by European art and travels--was nothing new, but it was pretty.  We also liked the parallel show about Americans in Italy--with sketches and drawings and watercolors by Sargent, Elihu Vedder, and Maurice Prendergast.  We especially liked the Venetian views.  We enjoyed a ham sandwich on a baguette, rich chocolate cupcake, and a cup of coffee in the American courtyard, treating this trip into the city like we did Italy by taking it easy and enjoying ourselves, slowly.  The last show on our list was the French gardens show, tracing the rise of public gardens and private gardening as a hobby after the Revolution and through the 19th century.  There were still lifes by Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon, Mary Cassatt--I loved her lilacs--and Caillebotte's chrysanthemums.  There were also many women-in-the-garden scenes by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cassatt, and Morisot, though little discussion of the trope.  There were watering cans, hand rakes and trowels, and maps of gardens, including a great panorama postcard of the Tuileries with all these wonderful snippets of people.  It was a lovely show.  I think I might be getting excited about going back to Paris someday, with the kids, once they've had more French.  As we perused the shop--I got the gardens catalogue but not the Cole (I have the one from the very-similar Wadsworth show I saw when I came back to NYC in fall 1994 to see Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard--when I stayed with Mama in her dorm, actually.  Full circle.)--I saw mention of a Visitors to Versailles show and so Mama and I trekked up to it.  Great 18th-century court costumes, dec arts, and even a room devoted to an early 18th-century visit by Siamese ambassadors from the court of Ayyuthaya who brought gifts and wore special hats. Yep, Thailand.  Circle again.  We absolutely skipped the Heavenly Creatures and the Catholic Imagination show; well, sort of.  It was spread out through the Medieval court on the first floor so we passed by the overdone fashions and big crowds on our way to other exhibitions.  It was a dramatic place to stage the show, with all the Catholic art of the Middle Ages, but I am completely uninterested in modern fashion. Give me those 18th-century court gowns any day.
• We saw Avengers: Infinity War.  Loved it.  It's past the point where I worry about spoilers; by now the details are well known.  Of course, it's the deaths that got everyone.  And we all seem to have the idea that most won't stick.  But I'm guessing they'll surprise us--it's too easy if Scarlet Witch somehow breaks the Soul Stone from the inside or Cap sacrifices himself for Bucky (and them all) and switches places with everyone in the Soul Stone.  I don't think he'll survive the next one, Cap.  And I think Black Panther, sweet Spidey, and all of those who disintegrated will be back. Doctor Strange knows exactly how it will all pan out.  No resurrection for mischievous Loki, though.  He was one of my favorites.  And I think Gamorrah will get, who I think entered the Stone as Thanos's sacrifice, will get out, too.  And all of that in time for the new Guardians, Spiderman, and Black Panther movies!
• Sis got her braces off!  She was so excited that she took a bag of popcorn with her to the appointment and had been planning her candy consumption for months.  Mama brought her a bag of jelly beans, gummy bears, Star Bursts, Carmellos, jar of caramel sauce, two bags of popcorn from Trader Joe's, and I don't know what else.  She now has a clear retainer.  And says her mouth is "soft!"  Bud will get his braces in a month (he lost his lost baby teeth later than she did)--I teased the orthodontist that he could just recycle the brackets and give us a discount. 
• CPE is wrapping up.  I have 62 hours left, a final evaluation paper (already at 10 pages), and three more essays.  Whew.  I witnessed a funny moment last week.  The priest startled a sleeping patient who then tried to get out of bed.  I fetched a nurse.  The patient kept saying, "I need to get to my business." (You could tell he meant work.)  The nurse said, "You can do your business here in bed."  "It isn't funny business!" he replied.  We all started to giggle.  The nurse said, "I can't believe you said that in front of the priest!"  The priest was laughing harder than all of us.  More on CPE later.  It's my day off!  Which means some Zentangle, crocheting, blogging, and watching reruns of "Arrow."

Mothers' Day Weekend

It wasn't quite the weekend we expected.  We had planned to go on a lighthouse and seal cruise in the Sound, but the wet, chilly, foggy, windy weather caused a small craft advisory and the captain decided better safe than sorry.  Another time, then.

But we did go see the new Captain America movie in the theater, which is a rarity for us (or at least was; we seem to be going to more movies.)  It was perfectly entertaining, even a bit more morally ambiguous than most superhero movies and thus complicated.  Of course, there will be a sequel.  And we'll probably see it in the theater.

And then on Sunday, the kids surprised us with breakfast in bed, which has become one of my favorite annual rituals.  There was an extensive menu--we had eggs, ham, toast with jam, fruit cup, tea.  Delicious.  And so sweet of them.

We also spoke to both grandmothers to wish them a happy day.

The rest of the day was pretty boring.  Mama and I actually cleaned out a couple of closets, getting ready for the transition from winter to summer.  It was tedious work but had to be done, especially because we're pretty swamped for most of the upcoming weekends.    But, in sorting through years of the kids school papers and artworks, I came across menus and cards from other Mothers' Days.  And that was an extra little gift.

And now it seems to have become spring in one fell swoop.  After eight days of chilly rain (so that even I was tired of it), the sun came out Sunday afternoon (after the time for our cruise had passed!) and will warm us most of the week.  And that's another nice treat.

Happy Mother's Day!

I spoke to some of the moms in my life today, and texted or FB'd others (including those who have lost their moms recently), and hope they had whatever they wanted today to be.

(I also got a little teary, a few times about Aunt Sis, whom I always sent a card to or called on Mother's Day, too.)

Happy Mother's Day to you, too!

The kids woke us up with breakfast in bed--breakfast they'd prepared an hour or so earlier and had been waiting to give us, but let us sleep:  scrambled eggs (which they reheated), toast, oranges, our favorite drinks, a Hershey's kiss!  They even brought Mama her favorite Tabasco sauce!  They planned and executed it all by themselves, meaning for the very first time neither Mama nor I had to help with the celebrations.  They even made some lovely cards for each of us, with coupons for back rubs and such.    It was all very sweet.  (I actually felt bad for sleeping in, with them waiting so patiently; next time, I said, they could wake us up.)

It went downhill fast.

See, as part of our celebration, we sent the kids out last night with Beloved Babysitter to the rope course, where they played in the trees til 10 pm!  Mama and I enjoyed the quiet at home by bingeing on "Frankie and Grace" the new Netflix show with Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston as two couples who divorce when the men announce they've been gay lovers for 20 years and want to get married.  It's phenomenal and we laugh out loud through every episode (we've seen 10 in two days!)  I really highly recommend it (Gommie!!)

Anyway, the kids didn't get enough sleep so there was a lot of  . . .  unhappiness today.    It didn't help that we had to clean out the big closet; the temperature has heated up drastically and we needed our summer clothes, especially since Mama and each child will be gone for the next two weekends (Mama and Sis this weekend; Mama and Bud the next weekend.)  We had to do it today.  That means Mama worked her butt off on "her" day.  I watched.  And sorta helped.  The kids made themselves scarce.

There were some good times, too:  planting more bulbs and flowers in the yard and also getting lunch from the steak place (actually my choice because I could have fish and a baked potato, plus the bread--going back to a pretty bland diet.)  We also watched some Big Hero Six and the kids got computer time.  But everything was just a little off.  I'm not the kind of mom, though, who needs today to be perfect or even all about me, nor is Mama--too much pressure on one day, when really, we should show each other love and respect everyday.

Which is good because all in all, between the hot day for CT (close to 80--and that was without our AC on) and the lack of sleep (even Mama and I weren't asleep til after midnight), AND the chores, it was a pretty mediocre day.

I'll never forget, however, that it started on such a very high and loving note with breakfast.

Our Mothers' Day

Kung fu.  Ice Skating lessons.  Free skate.

Lunch at the German restaurant, which Gommie loved--sauerbraten, rouladen, wiener schnitzel, cheesy spatzle, pickly potato salad, a wurst platter, red cabbage, linzer torte, beehive cake, and strudel.  Gommie talked of ompah bands and dance hall polkas, her grandmother's sauerkraut in a vat at the top of the stairs to the dirt cellar, and smoking sausages with her great uncle.  She even danced with both kiddos.

Shopping at the British food shoppe, all the snacks of which we've been munching on this weekend (including crisps and digestive biscuits; must make flapjacks.)

"Doctor Who" and leftovers and looking at some of our vacation pictures.

Bedtime.

Then breakfast in bed from the kiddos, namely cheese and crackers, Cheerios, and macaroons, plus drawings and poems and a handwritten menu.  So sweet.

Also church and the church plant sale.

Lunch at the seafood place on the water (Gommie liked the Arctic Char.)  Churros from the taco trucks.

Planting, planting, planting all the church plants (including a honeysuckle, aster, and pepperbush) and the school plants (snapdragons, petunias, pinks, etc.)  And more phlox.

And resting . . . .

A good day for the three moms in the house.

Happy Mother's Day to you and yours!

We expanded the little bed next to the mailbox, adding honeysuckle on a trellis (right) and other flowers to the already existing lavender, tulips, and mini-roses.  (It's all rather hard to see in this picture.)

Whimsical

"When it's time to eat, you eat!" Sis declared, gobbling first the legs and tail and then the body of her bunny-shaped bread.

We'd spent the afternoon at the Brownie troop's mother-daughter baking extravaganza.  The girls had decorated paper chef's hats with cupcake-liner flowers and then made similar corsages for their moms.  After taking portraits of each pair, we started shaping our dough, which one of my co-leaders had made.  Sis made a lovely detailed bunny and I shaped my bit into a pretzel.  (You might recall that Sis likes to make Whimsy Bread Bunnies.) We both powdered them with cinnamon sugar.

While they baked, we all went outside for a relay, with the girls racing to don chef's hat, apron, and mitt and to carry hard-boiled eggs across the yard on a wooden spoon.  After some freeplay, we all went inside to enjoy our bread with jam, honey, and/or butter.

Because "when it's time to eat, you eat," which is why this is not a great picture:

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recipe to follow soon

Our Happy Mothers' Day

We don't get all jazzed up about Mother's Day here.  A meal, usually the day or week ahead.  Cards made at school.  No presents from the spouse.  Phone calls to grandmothers.  Actually, it's just the way we like it.  Lazy.

In the last few years, Mother's Day has also involved gardening.  There is a plant sale at the kiddos' elementary school to coincide with Mother's Day and the kids always bring home several various seedlings.  And one of their preschool teachers always sells seedlings around this time, so we go to her sale, too.  Plus, Sis got seeds for Christmas that she has been itching to plant since December!

Which means that this year, on the first dry and sunny day in awhile, we were outside planting.  Well, I hobbled around watching--my foot is healing but the skin is tight and the blisters tender, which makes walking and standing painful--while Sis did most of the work.  She potted the petunias and sunflower she got and put the marigolds and verbena she chose in the ground, as well as the lupines I'd gotten.  She then buried the peony bulbs I'd gotten for her at the box store.  Afterwards, she scattered her Christmas stocking wildflower seeds all over the area by the rock wall.  Finally, she planted the little cauliflower plant that she had wanted from the preschool teacher's sale in our back bed, where we were delighted to find that our horseradish and rhubarb from Miss Mary seem to have survived.  Bud, taking a break from practicing his sword and staff forms, eventually planted his six little petunia seedlings.  And helped me pot some Costmary that I had received from a gardener at another historic house for our new colonial-inspired garden that my Brownie troop is building for the historic house.  It's also called Bible Leaf because people would use the leaves as bookmarks to repel bugs, like we use bay leaves now to repel weevils in our pantry.

After planting, we had a Vietnamese take-out lunch and watched the first act of Fiddler on the Roof (up to the attack at the wedding party.)  All in all, a lovely day, which will lead to more loveliness as the plants take root and blossom.

I hope you moms and mothering ones had the kind of day you like to have, too.

Mothers' Tea

"You go rest, Mommy, and we'll make everything!" Bud declared as we unloaded groceries for our planned Mothers' Day tea.  Touched, amused, and a little fearful of the outcome, we assured Bud and Sis that they would put together the sandwiches and such while we just hung back putting away the groceries and unloading the dishwasher.  Of course, we eventually helped, especially after we noticed that Bud likes LOTS of jelly on sandwiches, and was eating one for every one he made.

And it all turned out wonderfully.  Marmalade, blueberry jam, watercress, cucumber, ham and cheese sandwiches cut into triangles and fingers.  Cheddar cheese and pickle on crackers.  Kippers.  And a beautiful almond-raspberry trifle for dessert, complete with Bird's custard.  And, of course, tea.  Best of all, we ate it at a table not in a bed or couch like last year.  And it was different, better even, to have the kids so actively involved in the planning and execution instead of as helpful bystanders.

Every year is the best mothers' day yet.

A Belated Mother's Day Prayer

Meditation for Mother's Day, by Jeffrey B. Symynkywicz

This is the kind of God I could worship: 

a heavenly Mother who prefers 

imitation to adoration, 

and who sees in all Creation 

the indivisible smiles of Her children.

Our Mother, Holy Wisdom, draws one breath
and even we who are miles away
are warmed by the glory of Her inspiration.
Our Mother, Holy Wisdom, reaches out
and even we locked-up against ourselves
are immersed in the blessing of Her embrace.
This Earth is Her body,
and we, children of the Earth,
are Her children.

It really is as simple as that.
Let us honor our Holy Mother
by loving our bodies made in Her image,
by loving one another as she has loved us,
by loving this Earth, our beautiful and eternal home.

Amen.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all moms and moms-to-be!

Here's a little song for you, from our preschool:

I love you mommy

I love you mommy

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes I do

I love the way you look

I love the way you cook

I love you mommy

I love you mommy

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes it's true

When I grow up

I hope I grow up

As wonderful as you!

Tea for Four

(For moms at our preschool: only read this if you don't want to be surprised this afternoon or next year!)

The tears started even before we entered the school for today's special Mother's Day Tea. Luckily, they weren't mine (yet), but another mom who was touched by the "I love my mother because . . ." list that greeted us on the door. Sis said she loves us because we cook with her; Bud said he loves us because we play with him. Others--"she buys me everything I want" or "she lets me play a little after dinner"--had us all chuckling as we waited to be escorted in.

The kiddos brought out decorated coffee-filter-and-tissue-paper corsages--in purple! (Sis had wanted green for Mama but they didn't have it; and yes, it's still always me/Buddy and Mama/Sis)--and proudly, maybe even a bit shyly, took us inside to our seats. The tables were delicately decorated with fresh flowers, a china teapot, colorful plates, homemade placecards, and homemade napkin rings. Bud desperately wanted to give me the little wrapped present but we had to wait for the grace. Finally, before even lemonade and sandwiches, he happily passed me the little wrapped package--inside was a magnet with his thumbprint transformed into a chick. Sis's had a flower. We all put our napkins in our laps! And then they simultaneously wished us "bon appetit!" and we passed around sandwiches--on bright pink and green bread! Apparently, a local bakery will color its pullman loaf dough (what is a pullman loaf?). Maybe I should try it for my bread pledge. There were jelly sandwiches, cream cheese, cream cheese and jelly, cream cheese and cucumber, and turkey. Food you don't eat at home--like deli turkey--is always better at a party. Especially with pink lemonade. The climax was the mini-cupcakes which, like the sandwiches, the children had made that morning. Yum, yum, yum.

And then they all got up and sang. I wish I had the lyrics (I haven't gotten the kids to do it again yet!). My favorite line was "I love the way she cooks and I love the way she looks!" But the best part of the song was that Bud was desperate to hold Sis's hand throughout the song and she didn't want him to. I'm just glad she didn't become upset (or deck him) in the middle of the song! But she couldn't concentrate on singing until he gave up his attempt. It was still all very sweet.

We posed for some pictures with the kids and then headed to lunch--because even a delightful and yummy tea isn't usually enough food for preschoolers or their moms! And I proudly wore my corsage the whole time.

Early Mother's Day Celebrations

It's still a week away, but Mother's Day Celebrations have arrived with a vengeance. First, the kiddos have been busy for two weeks at school preparing for our special Mother's Day Tea on Friday. Everyday they come home and say "we can't tell you what we did today because it's a secret!" Though, then Bud will add, "Yeah, I can't tell you about the [magnets, story, etc etc] because it's a secret." Sis will try to shush him to no avail. It's all very sweet. And so we are all wrapped in anticipation for the big event this week, even if the kids aren't so sure about "tea," ignoring my repeated assurances that we're apparently having lemonade! Sis is most interested in the little cakes. Of course.

And then, this weekend, we went to NYC to celebrate Mother's Day with Ma. The kids painted her a handprint bouquet about which they were very proud. "I'm just like an artist," Bud kept repeating as he carefully painted green stems. Sis was more concerned about color choices, trying to get the full spectrum from pink to purple. (It came out so well we're hoping to reproduce it for the other moms in our family. All of them. :) ). The day itself included beach time, where Sis buried my feet and hers several times and Bud constructed a large sand dragon and I made drip castles and mountains and enchanted forests. It was a whole magical world that Bud was loathe to leave. But lunch--all sorts of yummy grilled things ("Yay! Chicken on the bone!!!")--and then the ice cream man beckoned.

Lastly, though it was not officially in observance of Mother's Day, I went to a delightful brunch yesterday with a big group of my mom friends (while Mama took the kids to a birthday party, no less! Yes, I owe her). The group of us don't get together much anymore so it was fun to see everyone (though, I think I ended up talking to the people I see the most. Which was fine. It's never enough!). And we sure can cook--upside-down pineapple biscuits, German-baked eggs, chocolate monkey bread, a mango-bean salad, and a colorful fruit salad, etc etc etc. So of course, I'm gathering the recipes, since everyone wanted them. I'll be adding them below as I get them.

So, by the time the real Mother's Day gets here, we might be all partied out. Which is okay. Sitting around doing nothing much is a treat too!

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B's Pineapple Upside-Down Biscuits

• 1 (10-ounce) can crushed pineapple
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 10 maraschino cherries (I couldn't find these, so I skipped them!)
• 1 (12-ounce) package refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (10 count)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease 10 cups of a muffin tin. Strain the can of crushed pineapple, save juice for later. Combine the pineapple, sugar, and butter, and mix well. Divide the pineapple mixture among the muffin cups. Place a cherry in the center of each muffin cup, making sure cherry hits bottom of cup. Place 1 biscuit in each cup on top of sugar and pineapple mixture. Spoon 1 teaspoon reserved pineapple juice over each biscuit. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool for 2 minutes. Invert the pan onto a plate to release the biscuits. Serve warm.

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B's Brownie Cookie Bars

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2/3 cup flour

3/4 cup butter melted

1 egg

nuts (optional)

Bake in 8x8 square baking dish at 350 degrees for 35/40 minutes.

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Chocolate Monkey Bread

2 rolls store-bought buttermilk biscuits (or homemade bread dough)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray Bundt or similar pan with cooking spray.

Combine sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa in a large zipper bag or bowl. Cut buttermilk biscuits into quarters. Shake or toss biscuit quarters in the sugar-cinnamon-cocoa mixture. Distribute them evenly in Bundt pan. Sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips (note: you can also try to stuff 1-3 chips in each quarter of dough. But this is time consuming. The chips don't burn and the bread is not messy if you just sprinkle, especially if you do one layer of dough and then chips and then dough and then chips again).

Melt butter and brown sugar on stovetop or in microwave. Pour over dough in Bundt pan.

Bake approximately 30 minutes or until dough is puffy and brown--check for doughy, uncooked bits and continue cooking in 5 minute increments until done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto serving plate. Pull apart to eat.

Mommy Hungry

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J's Stuffed Bread

(Cooked on Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan)

(2) Pillbury French Loaves (the refrigerated dough tubes)

(2) cups cooked broccoli

Pepperoni

Mozzarella Cheese

Take dough out of packaging and slice down middle, opening the tube into a long, flat surface.

Stuff as desired (I did broccoli and cheese)

Pinch up the seam and lay, seam side down, on bar pan.

Repeat with second loaf.

With two loaves lying next to each other, twist/braid/interlock as desired, always trying to keep the seam side down.

Coat final creation with LIGHT EGG (sorry about today!) for a golden/crisp look.

Bake as directed on label, adding approx. 5-10 minutes for it to bake through the ingredients.

Thanks!

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J9'sHam & Cheese Brunch Squares (Pampered Chef)

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 cups (8 ounces) grated Colby & Monterey Jack cheese blended, divided
1 package (22.5 ounces) frozen toaster hash brown patties, thawed (10 patties)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 eggs
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
8 ounces thickly sliced deli ham
4-5 green onions with tops, divided (1 cup sliced)
3 plum tomatoes (I forgot to add these…and didn’t miss them)



1.Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly brush large stone bar pan (cookie sheet 9x13) with oil. Grate cheese. Crumble hash browns over bar pan; press gently into an even layer. Sprinkle half of cheese evenly over hash browns. Bake 13-15 minutes or until crust starts to brown and cheese is melted.
2.Meanwhile, in large bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth using whisk. Gradually add eggs and black pepper; whisk until smooth. Coarsely chop ham, slice green onions, reserving ¼ cup of the tops for garnish. Place ham and remains green onions in pan to cook and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until hot. Stir ham mixture into egg mixture.
3.Remove bar pan from over. Pour egg mixture over crust. Return bar pan to over; bake 6-8 minutes or until center is set. Meanwhile, slice tomatoes in half lengthwise, scrape seeds out and dice. Remove bar pan from oven; top with remaining cheese, tomatoes and reserved onions. Sprinkle with pepper if desired. Cut into squares.

Side note: I have made this the night before. I cooked the hash browns in oven, let it cool. Then poured the egg mixture on and put in fridge overnight. It has to cook about 20 minutes. Enjoy!

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Black and white bean salad with Mango and cilantro

Ingredients

3 sundried tomatoes (in oil) and then chopped
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup of cilantro
1 shallot minced
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
1/2 cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cans of black beans (15.5oz)
2 cans of navy beans (15.5 oz)
1 ripe mango diced (not too ripe)
1 medium cucumber peeled, seeded and diced


In medium bowl combine tomatoes (including sundried), cilantro and minced shallot stir in vinegar, then gradually whisk in olive oil until emulsified, season with salt and pepper.

In large serving bowl combine beans, diced mango, cucumber. Pour dressing over bean mixture and set aside for 30 minutes unrefrigerated. Serve at room temperature.

ENJOY!

Belated Mother's Day Hat Trick

These three readings were included in the Mother's Day service at church on Sunday.  I was touched by all of them and wanted to share them with you.  I include the originally writers and sources where I could find them.

-=-=-=-=-

This is for all the mothers who didn't win Mother of the Year in [2009].

All the runners-up and all the wannabes. The mothers too tired to enter or too busy to bother.

This is for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at soccer games Friday night instead of watching from cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see my goal?" they could say "Of course, wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's OK, honey, Mommy's here."

This is for all the mothers of Kosovo who fled in the night and can't find their children.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and made them homes.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.

And all the mothers who don't.

What makes a good mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips?

The ability to nurse a baby, fry a chicken and sew a button on a shirt all at the same time?

Or is it heart?

Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 a.m. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a school shooting, a fire, a car accident, a baby dying?

I think so.

So, this is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn't.

This is for reading "Goodnight Moon" twice a night for a year. And then reading it again. "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who mess up. Who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair and stomp their feet like a tired 2-year-old who wants ice cream before dinner.

This is for all the mothers who taught their daughters to tie their shoes before they started preschool.

And for all the mothers who chose Velcro instead.

For all the mothers who bite their lips -- sometimes until they bleed -- when their 14-year-olds dye their hair green. Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won't stop.

This is for mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purses.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all the mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

This is for mothers who put pinwheels and Teddy bears on their children's graves.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for all the mothers who sent their sons to school with stomachaches, assuring them they'd be just fine once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurses an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation. And mature mothers learning to let go. For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all. So hang in there.

And better luck next year, I'll be rooting for you.

Originally published by Cindy Lange-Kubick in the Lincoln Journal-Star, April 11, 1999.
-=-=-=-=-=

When I came drenched in the rain, 
My brother told why dont you take an umbrella with you. 
My sister said why not you waited till it stopped. 
My Dad angrily said only after getting cold, you will realize. 
But my MOTHER, 
as she was drying my hair with her saree, 
was shouting 
not at me

…………………….. But at the RAIN.

from a poem originally written in Tamil (found here)

-=-=-=-=-

I offer a prayer for mother’s day today.

This is who it is for:

It is for all the mothers in this room, in this city, across this continent, and in every land around this planet.

It is for the mothers whose homes resound with children’s laughter, screeching toys, loud music, or the sullen teenage shrug.

It is for the mothers who gave birth in joy or in agony or in grief.

It is for the mothers who have adopted the motherless and discovered how wide love can reach; and it is for the mothers who have given over their children to others.

This prayer is for all the women who have wished to be mothers and are not.

It is for all the mothers whose children have ever gone off to war, for the worry they endure and the tension they carry through every hour of absence. It is for the mothers whose children return whole and unscathed, or who return wounded in mind or body, or who do not return at all.

It is for all the mothers who grieve – lost pregnancies, lost children, lost hopes, lost futures.

And this is my prayer:

May peace come to you.

Peace amid the noise and chaos of active children

Peace amid the silence and the absence.

Peace with the choices you have made, the paths taken and the ones not taken.

Peace with the grief you have endured.

May peace come to you, and may you greet it and welcome it, and make a place for it to live within you. May peace find a home in you, and from that home, may peace venture widely over this earth.

a prayer from Jill Ann Terwilliger, UU Minister in Kalamazoo, MI

My Mother's Day

Buttermilk Biscuits

The day actually started with a prolonged session of playing "World of Darkness," the exhibit of bats and other nocturnal creatures at the Bronx Zoo that has unfortunately been slated for closure because of budget issues.  Bud and Sis just loved it--the bats, the sand cat (who was sound asleep, head on paws), the cloud rat, the porcupine we never could see.  And so we played bats under the covers for about an hour, then moved downstairs to a coffee-table-cum-couch setup with more blankets.  For breakfast later, we had mangoes and strawberries--get it?  we were fruit bats!!--but then I remembered that I had a carton of buttermilk in the fridge that was set to expire soon (which had been purchased to make Scott Peacock's poundcake in BH&G to take to church for Mother's Day but was used instead to make whole wheat bread earlier in the week).  Biscuits, anyone?  But of course.  What a treat!  And I'd never made them for the kids, who loved playing in the liberally-floured roll-out surface and with the squishy dough.  Then they loved eating the hot-from-the-oven, flaky and tender biscuits with honey.  "Mommy, you never made this before," Sis noted.  "We should do it next week, too."  Luckily, buttermilk is not a usual staple in my fridge, because I could easily be talked into making these all the time!  But the best part was that Bud dubbed them "butterfly biscuits." 

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup Crisco

1 cup buttermilk (or soured milk)

 

            Preheat oven to 450°F.  If using soured milk, combine vinegar and milk now and let stand, while continuing.  Sift dry ingredients together.  Add Crisco and blend well until like fine meal.  Add buttermilk and mix delicately until it comes together.  Dump out on floured surface and knead gently 5 times.  Roll out about ½” thick and cut into desired size.  Bake in greased pan, with sides touching, until golden brown, 15-18 minutes.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café

Pizza

We had pizza for lunch after church.  Not just any pizza.  But pizza from a special pizzeria--world famous--that we rarely get to visit (we didn't visit this time--Mama got take out while we were finishing up at church.  It was so cute--I was supposed to help out in the classroom today but was summarily excused so they could make surprise presents for moms--handpainted pots with real petunias!  And Sis's was red, Bud's blue, each with their names carefully written by them.  For family members present that one Christmas, it was the pizza we'd ordered on the day before Christmas Eve but never enjoyed because we ended up taking Bud to the ER for a disjointed elbow.  He was fine afterwards; the pizza wasn't).  And it was so good, so worthy of its fame.  A nice treat.  No dishes.

But I don't have a recipe for you.  Instead, I give you the homemade pizza dough we made on Tuesday with the kiddos and Mama Teacher and CJ--fun to play with but it needs more salt, or something, I think.  I used half of it to make rolls too, a la Bertucci's, but again, must need more salt.

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 3/8 cup water

3 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil

 

Toppings:

1 cup prepared pizza sauce

mozzarella cheese

other toppings (ham, artichokes, mushrooms, black olives, whatever)

            Combine all ingredients, at room temperature, into bread pan (wet, then dry, then yeast).  Select dough setting.  Press “start/stop” and remove when dough is ready.  Pat dough into 12 x 15 “ cookie sheet or 14” pizza sheet.

            Preheat oven to 400°F.

            Spread pizza sauce over dough.  Sprinkle toppings over sauce.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown

Oster Bread Machine book

Mango Lassi

After rest, we spent a long time playing outside in the yard.  "Handy Mama" (Sis's appellation) put new batteries in the playhouse and the kids "helped," since they've garnered so much fix-it knowledge from their current tv favorite, "Handy Manny" (they used "Phillipe" today).   So now the fountain and doorbell work and the kids had a field day using the fountain to water the yard (and new plants we picked up at a plant sale yesterday, including zucchini, squash, and a sunflower for each) and clean their "lawn mowers."  Meanwhile, Mama and I mainly sat and marveled at the strong winds, which kept the windchimes ringing the whole time.  The fun only stopped for dinner a few hours later, during which time Bud put away huge amounts of zucchini, onions, and orange peppers with some garlic and Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning.  Mama and I had that with polenta and leftover lentils with chili con carne seasonings.  Sis had chicken fingers leftover from Mexican food yesterday (and, hey, Mommy Goose, I asked and they said they're not closing. But who knows).  Afterwards, we all had watermelon, grapes, and mangoes.  These are amazing mangoes.  Not the red/green/yellow mangoes you find in most grocery stores but the all-yellow-orange ones that Ma and Gong get in Flushing's Chinatown.  They are much sweeter, less stringy, richer flavor, creamier.  Divine.  Which is why I had secreted one away for a Mango Lassi after we got them to bed (during which we were both most of the happy thoughts of the day).  Mama and I shared it.  A perfect ending to a pretty perfect Mother's Day. 

1 ripe mango (or approximately 1 cup pulp)

1 cup whole or lowfat plain yogurt

3 tablespoons sugar

½ cup cold water

ice for serving

 

            Peel, pit, and coarsely chop 1 ripe mango (to yield about 1 cup fruit).  In a blender, purée mango with yogurt, sugar, and cold water until smooth.  Pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove pulp, if desired.  Serve immediately over ice.

Everyday Food 

Getting Ready for Our Day

You'd think that Mother's Day would be a really big deal in a household with two mothers.  Actually, we haven't quite settled on how to celebrate, mainly because much of the coordination of the celebration still falls to the moms, as the kids are kinda young to grasp the concept.  I think last year, we ostensibly agreed that Saturday was one of our days and Sunday the other.  But I don't remember how that worked out.  I think we didn't make a huge deal of it (gosh, that's true, right?  I'm not totally forgetting something, am I?).

As for this year, I think we might all go out to lunch on Saturday, if we aren't on a family field trip somewhere.  Sunday will be too nuts for eating out together.  Regardless of what we do, I will keep in mind this post on mothering yourself from one of my favorite bloggers, author Karen Maezen Miller.  Because in the end, at my house and perhaps at others, everyday should be mother's day.