Makin’ Memories

Last week was April vacation week. The big event was Astrid getting her braces on Thursday. Whoopee! I need to plan vacations better. There are so many places I want to visit, but I always think we’ll do it “sometime.” The problem is that most of our vacation time and money goes to visiting my family in Chicago. I really want Astrid to know her grandma (and aunt and uncles, etc), and since they don’t visit us, we have to go there. But especially now that she’s getting older, I also want her to experience more of the world. It’s a conundrum.

Anyway, other than getting her braces, I think she had a good time last week. She saw the movie “Bears” with Eliot, ate a lot of Easter candy, watched the marathon, went to the playground, visited Harvard’s Natural History Museum, saw “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” at the Wheelock Theater, had pancakes at the diner twice, went to Mt. Auburn cemetery with her friend Grace, learned to play chess, toured the Louisa May Alcott house, picnicked at Walden Pond, ate a big ice cream cone with sprinkles, went to the Institute of Contemporary Art, and had time to just play and write stories and read. Of course that wasn’t enough and on Sunday, she wanted to do one last fun thing before school started again. We had plans to go kayaking with her friend, but the weather didn’t cooperate, so Astrid asked if we could go bowling. Eliot didn’t want to take a chance of hurting his back and wasn’t feeling well, so he decided to stay home. I had a headache and was feeling out of sorts, too, but finally after grocery shopping and other errands, Astrid and I set off to Jillian’s down the street on Landsdowne. For some reason, it was packed; there was an hour to an hour-and-a-half wait. Astrid asked if we could play pool while we waited, but I saw the opportunity to squeeze in another errand, so I said no, we’d go to Coolidge Corner and come back. We walked back home, got the car, and drove to Coolidge Corner. We still had time, so we went in to Brookline Booksmith to browse. I was feeling grumpier and grumpier and just wanted to go home. When Astrid saw a book she wanted, I told her I’d buy it for her instead of spending the money on bowling. She thought about it and said no, she’d rather go bowling. On our way out, we passed a display of markers. Astrid picked up this pink one and said, “It’s melon! I’ve never seen a melon pen.” I tried again, “I’ll buy you the book and the pen instead of bowling.” She said no. I said, “You’ll have the book forever. Bowling will be over in an hour.” She said, “But I’ll always have the memory of bowling.” Good Lord! Here I was being grumpy instead of making happy memories with my sweetie pie. We drove back to Jillian’s where we were told it would still be another 40 minutes. I apparently had not learned my lesson because “I’m not sitting here for 40 minutes” was out of my mouth before I knew it. Astrid’s face fell and I kicked myself and said, “I know! We have the car. Let’s drive up by Copley and see if there’s a wait at King’s.” So we did and miraculously found a parking spot on the street and there was no wait and we bowled and made our memories. We took pictures of each other and laughed and Astrid won both games, which made her very happy, which made me very happy. My wise little sweetie pie.

Wacky Wednesday

Several months ago in an effort to expand our epicurean horizons, I created Wacky Wednesday, where one day a week we’d try a new recipe. I picked Wednesday because I work from home on Wednesdays so I’d have a little more time to cook. And who doesn’t love an alliteration? However, it didn’t last too long. I had to find something worthy of being called wacky, yet not so wacky that Astrid would refuse to try it. That took more time and effort than actually cooking. Astrid was turning into one of those kids who only ate about five things. Well, five nutritious things, plus an infinite number of sugary things. She used to eat whatever we’d put in front of her and we thought she was such an adventurous eater, then suddenly that stopped. I read somewhere that it’s biological. When kids are little enough to be around only their parents, they’ll eat whatever their parents serve them. Then when they get old enough to be more independent, biology kicks in and their palate refuses unfamiliar food in case they accidentally eat something poisonous when they’re out roaming the jungle alone. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s nice to have something to blame. Anyway Wacky Wednesday wasn’t working and I kind of gave up on it. Then I read this parenting book. I’ve read a lot of parenting books over the years although I don’t really know why because none of them ever made much an impression. Until this one: Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting by Noel Janis-Norton. Everything she says makes sense and every one of her strategies works (when I remember to implement them). One of her ideas is called First Plate. If there is a food that your kid doesn’t want to eat, you put a tiny bit of it on a plate and they have to eat it first. What makes it so easy is that it’s such a small amount that it’s hard to make much of a fuss about it. You can gradually make the portion bigger; the idea is that they will start eating a normal amount of it at some point. The First Plate idea made me okay with Astrid not eating an entire meal of something she didn’t want, as long as she tried it. For example, when Eliot and I eat our favorite farro and asparagus dish, Astrid gets penne and whatever other green veggie we have in the fridge (after her first plate of two grains of farro and a microscopic slice of asparagus). Everybody’s happy. So I’d been thinking it was time to start up Wacky Wednesday again, but I never made it past the thinking stage.

Then I started noticing those ads for Plated on Facebook. It sounded perfect: a new recipe every week along with all the ingredients to make it, delivered. On Tuesday! Just in time for Wacky Wednesday. I signed up for the trial membership and we got our first box this week. I made shakshuka (this link isn't the recipe I used, but it's probably pretty good) and it was surprisingly easy and delicious. (Well, Eliot and I thought so!) The only drawback is that it’s obscenely expensive, so I don’t see doing it again. My trial was $20 for four meals, which is what we’d pay for a big night out at Chipotle. But the regular price is more comparable to dinner out at a nice restaurant. And we never go to nice restaurants. And you still have to cook and clean. If I’m going to spend that much, I want someone to do all the work. But I love the idea of not having to think about it that much. Instead of searching endless recipes, deciding on one, then making sure I have all the ingredients, I just choose between three options, click, and it shows up. Hmmm, maybe I will try it just one more time...

Nothing Lasts Forever, Even This Winter

Three different people told me today how sick they are of this winter. I feel like I've been hibernating for months and I'm ready to wake up only to find that winter isn't over yet. But this crocus was blooming right outside the front door at work, so there's hope...

Use What You Have

I rode my bike to work three times in the past two weeks! One of the pleasures of biking to work is riding along the Charles River and seeing the crew teams rowing. People who crew are inspiring. They’re out there every day, in the rain, in the cold, no matter what. I only bike to work when the weather is nice and I don’t have to run errands or take Astrid to school or pick her up from swim, etc., so it ends up being not very frequently. I like hearing the crew coaches through their megaphones. I always think how nice it would be to have someone following along behind me, yelling out encouragement as I go through my day. Sort of like a life coach. But since I can’t afford that, I have to use what I have. Which is myself. And it’s hard to be wise and encouraging all day.

At a recent birthday party, I was talking with Mary, a fellow mom (and fellow ex-Chicagoan!), about all her various projects. She’s a lawyer who’s writing a screenplay and starting a T-shirt company. When I jokingly said “one job’s not enough for you?”, she said she’s also been collecting wise sayings from yoga instructors to put into a book one day. I told Mary about my favorite yoga teacher of all time, Rolf Gates. I went to his class every week at Baptiste Yoga and somehow my body did things I never thought it could do. At one point in the class, we’d have a break where he’d tell a story, usually something from his life. I’d lie on my mat, listening, sweating, breathing, and feel inspired. It must be like how you’re supposed to feel in church. And then he’d finish up with “…and that’s why we do abs” and we’d go on with class.

“We show up, burn brightly, live passionately, hold nothing back, and when the moment is over, when our work is done, we step back and let go.” –Rolf Gates

Mary had heard the story about how Baron Baptiste and Rolf parted ways and we talked about how yoga teachers can be assholes in real life, and maybe she should expand her book to include other inspiring people. She related this story from when she was volunteering during art class last year. The kids were painting and ran out of blue paint and started freaking out. Ms. Iluna, not a yogi, but a wonderful art teacher, calmed them down, saying, “Children, children, it’s true we’re out of blue paint. But we have to use what we have.” Ms. Iluna is awesome. She would make a great life coach. In fact, maybe that's what she should do now that Astrid's school canned her because she made too much money and hired a cheaper, younger, art teacher. Anyway, that’s my mantra from now on: “use what you have.”

And my second mantra is, “if something feels bad, stop doing it.” After one of Eliot’s many doctor visits last month, we saw a display of various handouts at the checkout desk. One, that was for knee pain, said “If you are doing something that is causing pain to your knee, stop doing that thing, and the pain to your knee will stop.” I had to read that a couple times, thinking I was missing something. Why would they say something so completely obvious? We were cracking up and the nurse at the checkout desk said “You’d be surprised by the number of people who call to say that when they eat a certain food, they get a stomachache, so they want to talk to a doctor about it. I want to tell them to just stop eating that food.” I thought, “Yeah, people are stupid,” then I realized I was doing that very thing. For the past few months, whenever I drank coffee in the morning, I felt sick afterwards. So I switched to tea and now I feel much better. Duh.

My Edible Rewards

This was not the greatest year for edibles in my garden. First I planted peas and beans and the bunnies ate them. I put up rabbit fencing and planted again. They ate them again. Repeat process two more times. Finally, I have fairy-size plants growing with miniature peas and beans on them. It’s the weirdest thing.

The cucumbers were probably my most successful. I harvested enough for sushi a couple times and made 2 jars of pickles. It was my first time making pickles and Eliot mentioned the pickle episode from The Andy Griffith Show, where no one has the heart to tell Aunt Bea she makes lousy pickles, and even though Eliot swore he thought my pickles were good, truthfully, just like in the episode, they weren’t as good as “store-bought.” Then my cucumbers got some sort of virus where the leaves and stems turned yellow. And any remaining cucumbers were eaten by chipmunks or squirrels. Here's one pre-pickle:

The onions and spinach never came up. The rabbits ate the lettuce and beet leaves. The pepper plants never got that big, although one plant has a few fruits finally forming. The basil did well. Yay! I grew a lettuce-leaf variety which was perfect for tomato sandwiches. Unfortunately most of the sandwiches were made with bought tomatoes. So far I’ve gotten 2 ripe tomatoes (from 6 plants!) and they were good, although not as tasty as last year’s. But I have a lot of green tomatoes, so there's still hope.

Eliot is strongly suggesting sticking to flowers next year. I see his point, but what's life without homegrown tomatoes? And basil to go with them, of course. And I’d like to tweak that pickle recipe, so maybe a few cucumber plants. And dill for the pickles. I didn’t think of that this year and had to buy dill. And now that the rabbit fencing seems to be doing its job, I could probably plant a few peas, too...

Peas, 1; Bunnies, 0

I have two, count 'em, two little peas! Growing on one of the very stalks the bunnies chewed up. And my fencing seems to be holding. I have nine pea plants in various stages of growth, five bean plants, four cucumber plants, lettuce, beets, tomatoes, etc, etc. In other words, I have a garden again, ladies and gentlemen!

*%#! Bunnies

First, here's my amazing trellis that I forgot to post a picture of in my last post:

See the beautiful peas and beans making their way up the trellis? Here's a close-up from a few weeks ago:

Now, here is what's left of my peas and beans after the friggin' bunnies feasted:

I'm a peaceful vegetarian, but I found myself screaming at a baby bunny unlucky enough to be in my garden when I got there. My friend and fellow gardener counted 26 bunnies on the way to his garden the other night. Where's a coyote when you need one?