Apr 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
We decided to go to Magic Springs yesterday because I’d gotten season’s passes on sale and this was their 2nd weekend open (time’s a wasting!) It was a gorgeous day, maybe a little chilly with the wind, but sunny and nice except…
We saw CLOUDS of what we thought were smoke blowing around. I noticed Scott’s black shirt looked dusty and my phone was covered in “dust.” It was PINE POLLEN! One of the timber companies has huge hillsides of pines on the hills over Magic Springs. It was literally blowing in huge clouds. I’ve never seen so much pollen!
Well, today we were all a bit miserable so I let the kids stay home. Nasty old pollen.
Apr 13, 2009 | Panameña, Recipes, Uncategorized
Meme and Fidelia (Panamá)
Emily loves pineapple and talked me into buying one at Sam’s on Friday. I noticed it looked pretty ripe this morning so I decided to cut it up and make chicha de Arroz con Piña while I was at it. This is a frothy, yummy, sweet, drink that instantly brings back memories of shopping on Avenida Central with mom and Meme. They would have big jugs of this for sale in little stores and it tasted so good when you were hot and sweaty from shopping with two shopaholics all morning! I learned how to make this by watching one of my babysitters, Delia. She was a wonderful cook and an even better person!
Recipe for Chicha de Arroz y Piña
1. First cut top and bottom off of pineapple (piña.)
2. Continue by cutting rind off. (Do not throw away!)
3. Cut into quarters. Then cut down edge to get rid of center core. (SAVE.)
4. This is what you will have. A bowl of the cut up fruit, a top piece (to plant,) and a pot with all the end pieces, core, seedy pieces etc.
5. Cover the scraps in the pot with water. Add about 1-2 cups of rice, cinnamon to taste (or cinnamon sticks,) a little dash of cloves, sugar to taste (I like raw or turbinado about a cup,) and boil until the rinds are soft and rice is done. You can substitute the sugar with a can of condensed milk at the end if you like that taste, but I was trying to keep it lower calorie and this tastes as good. When it’s done take out scraps and toss them in your compost. Put what’s left in the blender and puree. Then pour into a pitcher over some ice to cool. To serve I like to get a glass of ice, pour glass about half full of milk, then the rest with the chicha.
Sprinkle with cinnamon.
You can add vanilla if you like and more pineapple juice if you like.
(Also, if you didn’t add sugar you can add the condensed milk to the pitcher and add a bit more water.)
Apr 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
Yesterday mom and I went to see “I Love You, Man.” Dumb, funny, and probably what I needed after the worst temper tantrum any of my kids have ever had (Jac, luckily in the privacy of my van.) My nerves were pretty shot. We were dittering (is that a word?) about how excited we were the Farmer’s Market was opening today and how we were going when we woke up.
Well… I emailed a good friend whom I know loves fresh produce as much as I do and she said “It’s open?” Uh oh. I could have sworn that the NLR Times said it was open starting in April… I looked on the websites for the NLR and LR markets and found:
NLR market opens April 18th
LR market opens in May!
ARGH! And us all dressed up (well, dressed anyway) with no where to go at 7am.
I will have to make do with Kroger until then, or get busy and get our garden growing. (I do have my herbs out!) Trying the Basils in a pot this year since I have no sun anywhere else. Maybe it will manage to grow.
Apr 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
(My lovely yard from the side view with our star, Cole.)
If you know me you’ve noticed a change in our yard since last year (when we adopted our “little” puppy Cole.) Before, it wasn’t much to look at, but now Cole has helped give it his special touch (large holes in a neat line going down the hill that water runs down like a waterfall when it rains, chewed up toys, smashed bushes.) He LOVES the fish pond and the poor fish put up with his swimming in their home (I think because he does keep the raccoons away.)
(NOT my yard, but I like these ideas!)
Last summer I had a landscape designer come give me a plan that I could work from for the yard. I liked some of his ideas but think I need to add some things to make it actually work for my family. Scott and I walked the perimeter this weekend taking mental notes on what we liked and didn’t like, and I am almost certain a plan has formed in my mind. I’m going to try and rework the designer’s plan and watercolor a new one that I can show the gardener when I finally call him. (I would do it alone but not sure how to drive a backhoe…) I am really excited because I think maybe we will have a nice yard by the end of the year!
This is a picture of the pergola I want over our driveway on the side of the house. We are going to probably do stone pillars that match the house though instead of the wooden side beams. This is a picture of the pavillion at the new Rivermarket playground (AWESOME!)
Apr 3, 2009 | Motherhood, Uncategorized
My honey and I started a “diet” this week. I must start by saying that I do not believe in diets in the traditional sense. We really are just doing this: I’m just writing down everything I put in my mouth, trying to only drink green tea or water, and mainly veggies. The hubby has done something crazy (to me- thinking of him) he has gone vegetarian. If you know him and his moanings because we eat no red meat in our house this is amazing to you also. I think the spur of activity might be because our 20 year high school class reunions are coming this summer.
I’ve never really had a weight problem. Lucky genes I guess. I always was VERY active until the past few years. In high school I was a total adrenaline junkie- run, swim, body surf, swim, lift weights, run (all in one day.) Now I’m active chasing kids but not doing regular exercise, and that plus the fact that 40 is getting closer and closer has made my tummy start to sag. (Well, maybe babies have had something to do with it also.) My last doctor’s visit I found out my blood sugar is almost diabetic.
“What does that mean?” I asked the doctor.
“Well,” he said, “that you will be diabetic in a few years probably.”
That, coupled with the fact that both of my grandma’s developed diabetes after 40 made me a bit worried. After researching, I found out that women with P.C.O.S. have a really high chance of getting it anyway. Great. So, now I’m trying to get my BMI, which is normal but on the higher end of normal, down to low normal (which equals about 12 lbs.) Hopefully that will get my sugar in check and keep me from becoming diabetic.
I found a neat iPhone application called
“Lose It!” that keeps track of all the food you eat, the exercise etc. I think it is mainly helping me keep from eating an entire pan of brownies by myself (which I’m thinking about right now but I’d have to enter it and then see the guilt in two places, my bum and my phone. 🙂 Trying to utilize the Wii my kids are so fond of too, but Wii Fit is a bit slow- all that clicking between things.
Anyone know of any better games for it?
