Busy weekday

Today I'm making tomato sauce. All the tomatoes are from either my garden or my sister's, and I have enough for 10 jars. 4 are currently sterilizing, and I've got 6 more ready to go. Last time, I made 8 jars, and I think we still have at least 5-7 from last year, so I think we've got about 25 jars so far. I'll probably do another mini batch before the summer is over.

Today is actually a totally crazy day (but aren't they all?!) because tomorrow I'm leaving for a 2-night backpacking trip, for which I haven't started packing and I don't know where half my stuff is since I haven't been backpacking in years. I also ran 4.5 miles to keep up with marathon training, I'm prepping dinner, made a library run, and am doing laundry so the husband doesn't run out of clothes for the kids over the weekend.

The husband has been out of town for several days, leaving me at home with poor little Turtle who is unwilling to go to sleep in the evening these last two nights. He seems to be going through some sort of separation anxiety all of a sudden, not wanting me to leave his room in the evening. Last night, I tried everything I could think of - holding him, rocking him, singing to him, putting him in his crib and rubbing his back, nothing worked. In the end, I finally climbed into his crib and he relaxed and fell asleep. At 10:45. So that's when I finally go to start cleaning up after dinner and doing my evening chores. I didn't get to sleep until midnight, and then he woke up at 6:30. Needless to say, I'm tired.

When I dropped Turtle off at preschool this morning, he kept clinging to me and crying, which he hasn't done in weeks. Granted, he's not been THRILLED to be at preschool, but he's totally accepted it. It does sort of make me wonder when he comes running to me when I pick him up, crying "Mamma mamma mamma mamma, mia mamma, mia mamma." I don't know. It's rough. I'm worried about how he'll do without me this weekend. I've got jars sterilizing on the stove and peppers roasting in the oven, and I've got lots more to do today (besides finishing my iced coffee), so I'll hope for a better evening tonight with Turtle and get on with my day. Cheers!

So much for posting more frequently. It's the end of August, and I'm ready for fall. I'm ready for pumpkins and apples and pie and hot tea and warm sweaters and cozy slippers. I'm ready for fresh air and cooler days and fires in the fireplace and soups and casseroles. Life has been busy but really fun lately. The kids are just shy of 26 months, and they're so much fun. They talk so much, and I look forward to seeing what they learn each and every day. We're working sort of half-heartedly on potty learning, and we'll see how it goes. The garden went pretty well this summer! As usual, the peppers burned. Next year I will have to remember to plant them in a slightly shadier spot. The roma tomatoes have done decently well. So far, combined with Candace's tomatoes, I've made 8 jars of sauce and I hope to make another 8 or so this week, which is not as much as we need for the year, but we also have another 8 or so from last summer, and I might get more tomatoes to can, as well. It's looking good. The zucchini took over, of course. We got a lot of great yellow zucchini, much of which I am freezing, and some light green zucchini, too. And tons of green beans, including a super-long vining variety that I want to remember for next year. The eggplant didn't do much, I was disappointed. The heirloom tomatoes did ok, but luckily we got lots from Candace so we were totally covered. We have tons of cucumbers. Way too much! I've been baking lots of focaccia and whole wheat bread, yum! I have lots of new recipes I want to try, too, like a potato and roasted corn chowder. This week, I'll try to post every day to get up to speed on life and the going's-on around here. I can talk about the marathon I'm training for, the kids' preschool, our extra-curricular activities, career ideas for me, the garden, my crafts, and cooking and baking! So I'll be back tomorrow!

Garden beginnings, 2012

I planted the first plants in my vegetable garden today - 5 heirloom tomatoes, a yellow summer squash, and some basil. It's the first year of our new vegetable garden here at our house, and I'm quite excited. The garden is made up of 4 beds, about 8 feet by 13 feet each, which an automatic watering system. Two of the beds get full sun all day. One is reserved only for tomatoes, and I've dug deep furrows between three raised rows. One row will have around 10 heirlooms by the time I'm done, the other two will have 24 roma plants. The second full-sun bed will have 18-24 peppers, yellow and red, a green zucchini, a yellow zucchini, cucumbers, and basil. One part-sun bed will have eggplant (at least one dark purple and one lighter color), leeks, and green beans. I'm not so sure about growing leeks in this season, but it's worth a shot. I hope I can plant them soon. The last bed will have melons and winter squash. I'm still thinking about which kinds to plant - do I want to bother with carving pumpkins? We'll probably actually carve some pumpkins this year, so it might be worth it. We're planning to go to Italy in September, probably, so I don't know how that will affect the harvest. Hopefully I won't miss too much, after all this work!

A change in seasons

It's a cold windy day, and the children are gradually settling themselves for their afternoon naps. Turtle is fighting it, but he's slowing down, giving in, resting his tired head against the mattress. A stillness is beginning to fill the house, a quiet, a peace that isn't here when they are awake and loud and rowdy and playing. At their age, they don't appreciate the quiet times yet.

My list of chores stretches before me, but I needed to take a moment to set down my thoughts, to relax, to think. Perhaps to meditate a bit. To go over my short-term goals in my head, while wondering when I will have time to get to my long-term goals.

It's the end of February, in fact, tomorrow is Leap Day. We've had a mild winter, but I still anticipate the coming of spring, if only for the longer days and warmer nights. Goodness knows we need rain, and we need it desperately. And if we get it, we can invent indoor activities, and go puddle jumping, and snuggle and read books. And soon, we'll be in short sleeves and sandals, swimming in our pool, going for walks, playing with water and sand, and enjoying afternoons of sunshine.

In a few short months, we'll be planting vegetables, cooking fresh peas, and eating strawberries with whipped cream. We'll have lunch and dinner parties on the patio, trips to the park and the splash pad, go hiking with friends.

And in the meantime, we'll make soup and light fires in the fireplace and watch movies and curl up on the couch with a good book. I'm enjoying the winter, but really looking forward to spring!

Fava Bean Dip

An original recipe:

One can fava beans
Ricotta cheese
Olive Oil
Yogurt (a few spoonfuls, plain)
Walnuts
Salt
Vinegar (just a splash, to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Start with a small amount of olive oil and add more if necessary to blend. Adjust ingredients to taste.

February 2010 - catching up

I have not written much lately, which is a shame because a lot has been going on in my life. I want to keep up this journal as a chronicle of my life and my thoughts. Generally, I only write about cooking and gardening here, but I want to include more of my life, because those are only two aspects of me, and two aspects which have not been a major part of my life recently, which probably accounts for my long absence.

To recap the 6 months:

JULY – won third place in my division at a sprint triathlon; received my personal best time and

AUGUST –

1. Went to Alaska and had a blast: overnight kayaking trip in Homer; overnight camping/kayaking trip to Bear Glacier near Seward; three-day trip to Denali National Park, including a hike, an all-day bus trip into the park, and a flight-seeing trip to the mountain and landing on a glacier.

2. Turned 31!

3. Also learned to do trad lead climbing at Donner Pass the last two weekends of August

SEPTEMBER – had knee surgery on the third – spent the rest of the month in bed or hobbling around on crutches – NOT FUN!

OCTOBER – had some major fertility treatments after almost two years of struggling; overcame some major fears of needles and gave myself about 40-50 injections.

NOVEMBER – found out I was pregnant!

DECEMBER – with twins!

Went to Italy for Christmas, where I spent three weeks mostly on the couch due to knee surgery recovery and morning sickness; the last week, I started recovery and spent some time cross-country skiing

JANUARY – started rock climbing again; saw two beautiful babies on ultrasound.

FEBRUARY – so far, found out we’re having a boy and probably a girl! Spent a beautiful day snowshoeing in the mountains; trying to spend some time rock climbing and biking before it’s no longer possible; trying to figure out how to get ready for two babies in June or July; wondering where we’re going to live or how we’ll manage in our apartment with two babies.

So, things will probably change around here. Now that I’m not terribly sick with nausea and vomiting, and I can walk (yay!), my life is returning to normal as much as possible. I’m hoping to get a garden in the ground before my activities become too limited, and I’m doing some cooking again. I’m working on lots of craft ideas, too, even if they’re just percolating in my head. There will be lots of things going on here in the upcoming days, weeks, and months.

One of my first projects to start thinking about – baby books!

Crab sauce

Loris created this delicious sauce for the fresh crabs we bought at the Farmer's Market last Saturday. I promised him I'd write it down, although I don't know what the amounts or ratios are.

The ingredients were, simply:

Butter
White wine
Lemon
Dill

Since we use unsalted butter, I'm guessing he also added some salt.

Amazing!