Liv's Leek Soup

Tuesday is movie day at our house. Our girls don't usually watch T.V. but they do get to feast their eyes on cartoons one day a week. I like to sneak downstairs and enjoy some uninterrupted time sewing or reading. Today I suntanned for a bit and then they had other plans. Ivy found Caillou boring,and after her first show Liv popped into the kitchen and said , "Mom - I want some leek soup. Can I make it?" Oh my Lord! Following a brief stunned silence I stammered, "Yeah sure... of course.... ummm...lets do it!" This is the child who has been asking me daily for ice cream , popsicles, and gum all summer. I could hardly believe my ears! So cook leek soup we did! It was so fun, easy and healthy that I thought I'd pass on the recipe.

Liv cut the two leeks, washed them, and sliced them into tiny slivers.


She then fried them in olive oil and butter in a big pot.


When they were nice and soft she added three cups of water and one cup of chicken broth.

Finally she added a handful of parsley, and a teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

Et Voila! Lovely leek soup! It really was that easy and tasty. Oh...what's that you say... you love my vintage table cloth? Why thank-you for noticing! Just a little something I thrifted this weekend ( for a disgustingly low price ) that I can't get enough of. Hope you are enjoying the last days of summer wherever you are!

Getting messy

It' s been a busy week. I haven't quite stopped my decorating frenzy - I painted another room blue and Liv's a very light pink. The bathroom is next on my agenda, and then the bookshelf, Liv's desk, the windowsills, the kitchen cupboards.... well we'll see how much of this I actually accomplish. I've also been busy reorganizing cupboards, craft supplies, my sewing room, and the kids toys.

I noticed something this week that I found kind of exciting. On Monday I did a major overhaul of the craft cupboard and Liv's desk. In the process I had all of the art supplies strewn all over the kitchen- I mean not a inch of space was unoccupied on the floor or counters. When it could hardly get any messier, my kids went into this intensely creative mode and just started moving from one activity to the next with hardly any involvement from me. They were beading for a while and then they moved onto painting.


When painting had been explored to its fullest they moved onto platicine (hmm ... what is that stuff made of...do I want to know?) and from there they did stamping, and then coloring. It wasn't long before the big bottle of glue was out and wonderful things were being made.


Liv named this boat Diamond and had a great time blowing it around the bathtub with a fan. Derek came home at noon and just looked around in disbelief. We don't often get this messy. I was reminded of a homeschooling article I read a while back in which the author/mother talked about a method she used of inspiring her children to do interesting things which she called "strewing." She leaves all kinds of interesting things lying around and lets her kids get involved with them when and if they choose to. I can see from the fun my kids had this week how this could really inspire some interesting projects. Now if I only had a maid to clean up all the mess...

Swimming

We had the most beautiful evening at the beach last night. We went down to Jade Bay in Kal Park and had the beach to ourselves. It was dusk and a bit cool but the water was beautiful and so clean.

I watched a birthing video this week about women who give birth in the Black Sea - that's right - I said in the Black Sea. The women at this Russian birth camp swim with their babies on their backs from a very early age and these babies are so at home in the water. I mean they were swimming - really swimming at less than a year. I was inspired to try swimming with my girls on my back to see if that would help them feel more comfortable in the water. Liv has always been a little afraid but wants to swim so badly. Ivy has less fear but still hesitates a little. Anyhow - I tried it out and it was so cool! They loved it and I can see how regular practice could teach them to swim pretty fast. They can see my strokes from where they are perched, their legs were kicking with mine, and their bodies were parallel to the surface of the water instead of perpendicular to it like they are in a floaty.

It made me realize how much fear and tension I usually bring into the water with my girls. I usually hold Ivy above the surface and gently dip in careful not to startle her or get water on her face. I know Ivy would be fine in the water, but my handling of her suggests otherwise. I wonder how much of my fear and protectiveness is passed on to her? If I am protective the conclusion she must draw is that she is not safe. If she feels that she is not safe and becomes tense and panicky in the water, she won't be safe. So maybe the key if for me to believe in their natural ability to swim and guide them into it without fear.

In love with blue

I've had this thing for blue lately. It's not a color I usually wear or decorate with but lately I'm drawn to it. I've been finding blues I love everywhere and obsessing about the right shades - seriously spending a lot of time thinking about it. So this weekend I decided to do something about it (or to put it more accurately I decided to get Derek to do something about it). We painted our bedroom in the most peaceful pale blue with a good dose of gray and a touch of green. I LOVE it! It looks awesome with the cobalt blue patchwork quilt I bought in Guatemala ten years ago so I will have to give that quilt the tlc it needs. I guess I'm nesting really early this time. I can't stop thinking about all the decorating I want to have done before the baby comes this winter. Or maybe it's not nesting - maybe I'm much more realistic now about how little time I'll have on my hands next year. I don't want to have unpainted windowsills driving me nuts when I won't be able to do a thing about them.

I remember when I was pregnant with Liv - pondering which hobbies I should take up to keep me entertained on my maternity leave. What a laugh! It seemed like an effort just to put a potato in the oven for my meal - crafting was out of the question. Anyhow - now I know and hopefully being really tied down and depended on won't be so hard this time around.

Look at these lovely things with their Mr. Freezy stained mouths. Scary isn't it? We don't often indulge them in pure junk .... ok maybe more than we should but hopefully not enough to hurt them. I can't imagine a life without the odd slushy or frozen popsicle.

That's all for now - I'm off to finish my new beach bag. You know I used to go to the beach with just a towel... well those days are gone. Now as we head for our favorite spot it looks like we are settlers ready to stake out our new territory. It's ridiculous the amount of stuff we take for a few hours at the beach. So a huge new beach bag was needed and will be done for tonights swim at the beach. Have a happy week everyone. Here's a song I love - I hope you enjoy it.

One of those days

So today started out as one of those nasty, crabby days. You know that kind of day if you have kids. Ivy had had two tantrums before breakfast was even on the table. She burst out crying several times during our meal and then sat on my lap, a teary mess. We were all starting to get out of sorts when Ivy spotted the popcorn maker out of the corner of her eye. "Popcorn mommy." My first reaction was to say "You can have popcorn for your snack later honey"...and then I sat there remembering this post by my favorite blogger Soule Mama (scroll down until you find a post that says "Some Days"). I suddenly realized that I didn't have to sink into a bad mood and try to help Ivy through her difficult day with my usual techniques, but rather I could derail her bad day with fun and indulgence. Sounds kind of weird doesn't it. I think my usual reaction to a bad day is to assume that something is wrong with me or the kids or our life....but I hardly ever assume that it's just one of those days. What would I like to happen to me on a bad day? Well dinner out, breakfast in bed, chocolate, and a nap would help. So to make a long story short, I made the popcorn and everyone cheered up. We followed that by a lovely family bike ride to the library and lunch at our favorite cafe. The girls are resting now and I'm grabbing a little time alone. All's well that end's well.

Fun with Dad

Derek scored big points last weekend. On Friday he agreed to keep the last kitten of the litter that we haven't been able to give away. He actually likes it! Liv was thrilled to bits and named her Bagheera because she looks like the panther from The Jungle Book. She's quite a sweet little kitty and much more mellow than her mama.

On Saturday he made a swing in the Maple tree in front of our neighbor's house (they're very easy going). The swing was swarmed by kids all weekend. We have a great swing set in the back yard, but there is something about a rope swing in a tree ... kids go nuts for them. They are a little less predictable. Derek was Ivy's slave because she's too small to ride it herself - and boy were his abs hurting the next day!

On Sunday he took Liv and Ivy to O'Keefe ranch- a local historical site that also has a petting zoo. They had an awesome time! They started out on a tour of the buildings but it wasn't long before they were looking like this...


Boring boring boring. Clever daddy whisked them out and went looking for fun. They found some wild and adventurous girls that live on the ranch and the day was a huge success from there on. They played in the barn with the kittens, went on a tractor ride around the ranch, stood on the fence and watched the cattle roping and visited the woman who gives wool spinning demonstrations. Not only that they saw a bunch of these....


a few of these....

and at least a couple of these ...

Great fun was had by all (as my mom would say).

And as for me... well I enjoyed a whole day to myself! I went for a walk with my sister to the orchard/coffee shop /playground on the hill behind our house, where we enjoyed interruption free conversation. The rest of the day was spent listening to music and organizing my new sewing space downstairs. If you are a mom who does not get time alone at least once a week ...what are you waiting for?!! I am such a happier person and a better mom when I've had a good chunk of time alone. Oh- and after the kids go to bed does not count - you need time alone when you have energy.

I'm almost through here. I've got a picnic to pack - we're off to the beach tonight with my sister and her family. It's so hot and beautiful this weekend that the beach is the only sensible place to be. I hope you are all doing something fun and summery. I'll leave you with a picture of Ivy enjoying the first corn on the cob of the season at lunch today - yummy!

Well it's definitely been a while since I've done this. Let me tell you why. June was a horrible nasty everything go wrong that could go wrong kind of month. First off - we were all sick all month. I am not exaggerating here! We had some horrible bronchial virus that kept us up coughing night after night and left us exhausted every day. I was starting to think we had the RSV virus or mono - it was that awful. On top of that I had ( and still have - grrrr) nausea every day interspersed with occasional vomiting. Fun fun fun indeed. Should I go on? I could tell you about my last torturous month of babysitting, the difficulties of litter training four kittens at once, Derek's difficult employee, or the rain rain rain rain..... but perhaps I'll stop here. June is done and we are moving into happier more peaceful times.

So now things are calming down; the children are happier, the daddy is happier, the mommy is happier. We've been having fun quite often actually. Last weekend we took part in a bike rally for the Wheels for Change campaign. We decorated bikes, went for a long group ride and ended up at the park for a community pot-luck and some live music. We met new people and enjoyed ourselves more than we had in a while.



This weekend we celebrated the eleventh birthday of this beautiful girl - my niece Maggie.


Maggie is one of my favorite people - it's been so fun watching her grow. This girl is overflowing with life, energy, enthusiasm and creativity.



I keep promising my dad that I will put this bread recipe on my blog. My friend Karen passed it on to me a couple of months ago and I haven't gotten over the wonder of it yet. The crust! The texture of the crumb! If any bread could change your life this would be it. It is easy easy easy! and delicious! I've been making a loaf a day for weeks now and my family can't get enough of it. So if you are sick of yucky supermarket bread and don't feel skilled enough to make artisan style bread give this a try. Let me know what you think if you do...



NO KNEAD ARTISANAL BREAD

This is based on Jim Lahey's (Sullivan St. Bakery New York) no knead
bread.

Yield 1 loaf


Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour (or part whole wheat)
1 tbsp kosher salt (or 2 tsp/10mL table salt)
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water (plus 1 tbsp/15mL if necessary), at room temp
extra flour, wheat bran, cornmeal or
sesame seeds etc.


Method:
1. In a large bowl combine flour, salt and yeast. Stir in water.
It will be a sticky mess. Cover with plastic wrap. Cover with a
towel. Let sit at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours. Dough should
double and have bubbles on the surface.
2. Flour work surface heavily. Scoop out dough. Shape in rough ball or
pat into a rectangle and fold into thirds. Dust with flour. Cover
lightly with plastic wrap and let sit 15 minutes.
3. Place a clean tea towel on work surface. Rub with flour and
bran or cornmeal or sesame seeds. Either shape dough into a ball
again or fold into thirds if it is a rectangle. Place on tea towel.
Dust top with flour and bran. Fold tea towel over top. Let rise 2
hours.
4. After 1 1/2 hours preheat oven to 450F (225C). Place a medium sized
heavy cast iron pot with a lid (I like Le Cruset) in the oven
1/2 hour.
5. Very gently slide your hand under the tea towel holding the bread.
Carefully flip the bread into the hot pot. Cover and bake ½ hour.
Remove lid and bake 20 to 30 minutes longer until brown. Cool on a
rack. Be careful - pot and bread are hot


All right- that's all for now. I've got plans for a post about birthing in a couple of days - but until then I'll leave you with this.