making life more beautiful

I have been reading Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh lately, and listening to Peace is Every Breath on my ipod. I like the spiritual guidance I find there and there's plenty to ruminate on when on my daily walk (which really, truly, I want to turn into a daily run, but that's another post.)

Here's a passage that struck me today.

"Even when we are not painting or writing, we are still creating.  We are pregnant with beauty, joy and peace and we are making life more beautiful for many people."

Preparing a meal for another person can be part of making life more beautiful for someone else.  I know that's how I feel when someone prepares a meal for me, though not usually the thought running through my head when serving the kids.  I get so tired of preparing meal after meal, often to an ungrateful crowd.  I suppose I cannot change how they receive the food, but I can change how I feel about preparing it.  And so, today, I will try and remember this message.

A good storyteller. Little Luca. Westchester kids photographer.

Had some fun doing a quick studio shoot with the very emotive Luca.  He loves music and singing and is quite serious about both.  He also has a very vivid imagination and told me quite a few tall tales during his stay.  And my boys adore him.

Going to Europe with Kids.

Here's the thing.  You have to remember it's Europe with Kids and not Europe with your husband or your college friend and a backpack.  The agenda changes.  Cut back on the art museums, and think castles, cannons and daggers.  Instead of long espresso break in the cafe, think a few hours at the beach, whether you're prepared for that beach day or not.  More time in souvenir shops pricing out souvenir crap and less time in boutiques with espadrilles.  And you know, in the end, you realize you just saw the city in a different way, and that's part of the journey too.

It reminds me of something Bill Mahrer once said -- "Kids.  I don't want kids.  What?  Do you want to learn your colors again?"

Yes, Bill. I do.

jump in. Barcelona.

I'm so far behind, I don't know where to begin.

If you stop posting, does the blog still exist?  If no one posts, but no one's looking, does it matter?

Whatever.

Summer, as usual, has sped by.  Less than three weeks until school starts, and I'm filling with dread.  Just thinking about getting back on that crazy treadmill of pick up, drop off, homework, lessons, tightly packed mornings -- ugh.   Summer vacation rules.

We spent 17 days of this summer in Europe.  Gulp. Yep. It was pretty awesome.  I have a moving-to-Europe for a few years fantasy. I have quite a few ex-pat friends who were here for a few years and I so envy their chance to drop into another culture for a bit and then dash on home.

The thousands of photos can overwhelm me.  Come September, I'll have more quiet computer time, but now, I have to get it in bits when I can.  So, here's a few from Barcelona on our big adventure.

 I love the little black bathing suit we bought Jack in France.

 I was imagining the phone conversation here. "please pick me up. I can't take the metro today."

Big milestone to travel abroad with a kid with so many food allergies.  Biggest stressor was on the return flight when they handed out the peanuts to half of the plane before reaching our row.  I hadn't thought of asking them to hold the peanuts.  We don't know if his allergy is airborne (it appears not to be), but the allergist will only say, we don't really know.  We were four hours from NY when the plane was filled with peanut smells.  I was a nervous wreck and would not let Jack leave his seat.  He eventually fell asleep, and soon the peanut smell faded. 

 We only made it to the line for the Picasso museum.  Jack had one of his bathroom-issues kind of day, and there was wailing and stomach clutching in line.  We had to punt.   (this guy was not at the museum, just outside a shop.  We were scared to touch him b/c we were convinced he was a mime.  Alex took this picture and he also videotaped my freaked out approach.)

here's how it is today.

We're home from Maine (back on Friday) and it's very quiet.  Max & Alex are at camp through July 23rd (4 weeks) and it's strange, but kind of nice and kind of sad.  We got the chance to talk to them yesterday though, and they sounded very busy and happy while we were mostly doing chores around here and reading and taking walks -- things that make the boys crazy.  They get to choose their weekly schedule and I had to laugh that Alex chose snorkeling.  In a lake.  Yuck. Why not go for waterskiing?  I don't know.  His favorite thing, of course, is riflery.  He enclosed some folded up, shot-up targets in his one letter home.  

Max was teary when we left him, but he sounded much better, didn't mention coming home.  Though he did suddenly sound a little desperate when we said we'd speak in a week.  I do write them daily, which we all like.  It's really kind of fun, writing to your kids. I put stickers in for their trunks and hunt for dorky postcards and dumb greeting cards that they think are funny and usually I wouldn't buy.  Max asked for a larger memory card for his camera.  And he was gearing up for a huge game of Stealth (sort of like ghost in the grave yard or nighttime hide & seek) that night.

Jack is adjusting quite well to his solo gig, I think.  He really enjoys being the only child and having free reign over the computer and choice of tv show.  I think he's enjoying his break from attending everyone else's lessons/games/shows/practices.  He's still asleep right now (his bedtime has inched later) but when he wakes up - ha! camp starts for him today. I think it's a good thing we didn't have an only child.  I think we would be too indulgent to be good at it.

 My life went from hysterically mad in June to nice and slow in July with a whiplash speed.  Now I'm having trouble revving up again.  As you can imagine, I have put together quite a list of things I will accomplish while the boys are away.  So far, I've checked off "unpack."

one thing about a big age gap

It's not always easy having two kids 6-1/2 years old than the third.  But, as with everything, there are silver linings.  Today I am grateful that we can still spend much of our Saturday traveling as a pack.  We can all go to the cubmobile races and to lunch in our one car, on our one schedule.   Sometimes it works.

A Sleeper Hit. Chicken Posole. Who knew?

Be honest, do you know what chicken polsole is? My guess was some kind of Mexican soup, and apparently there's many versions of this chicken/hominy broth. Perhaps I'm just the last to know.

Anyway, color me popular, because the crew over here actually liked it. (Dramatic pause while I fall off my chair). "It's really good," said Alex. Not so sure, Max eyed his little dish very suspiciously. "What are you afraid?" taunted Alex. And that was it, Max tried it too. Note to self, why not try some fourth-grade playground tactics at dinner? I kid, I kid. Not.

The recipe from Real Simple is here, but I googled around a bit, and found some great suggestions from the chat boards at epicurious. The bon app recipe calls for Monterey Jack cheese, but one commenter recommends chopped avocado and cilantro on top which I think would be fabulous. I also used some of the chili-garlic sauce from week one instead of an ancho chili. I bought my roasted chicken from the butcher rather than Stop & Shop, and it was perfect.

Turns out even the folks at Real Simple can make this one complicated, here's their longer version. I would not go through all that trouble with an unknown for kids, but it might be fun to try.

We did have one kitchen disaster tonight though, just to keep things interesting. I opened the refrigerator, only to have the word "balmy" come to mind. Yes, it was 70 degrees in there. As Miss Clavel would say, "Something is not right."

Sears guy coming tomorrow. Wish the trash guy was too, because we have a frig full of disposables. Needless to say, I'm baking a big batch of artisan bread tonight to use up that dough. My grocery store procrastination did pay off though. Ha.

Spaghetti with Roasted Potatoes Made Them Cry

And they were not tears of joy.

Clearly I have really struck a nerve when one of my sons began crying when he saw that I added sweet potatoes and rosemary to the PLAIN spaghetti. It was not my two-year old either. And you wonder why my dinner repertoire has slowed to a trickle.

Well, he did have a bit of a point. I had high hopes for Spaghetti with Sweet Potatoes & Ricotta. Sounds lovely doesn't it? Perfect comfort food on a rainy Sunday night? Hate to say it, but it was a loser. It was just too many heavy ingredients all together. Maybe squeeze a lemon over it..

I didn't cry, but I did cringe.

Tomorrow: beef stir fry with bok choy.

Day 2: It's Friday, it must be Tilapia

I'm starting to think perhaps I should have read these menus before I began. I didn't -- I wanted it to be stress free and feel like someone else was answering the question, "what's for dinner?" The meals are far enough from my usual fare to get me out of my shrinking repetoire rut, but kid-friendly they are not.

Day 2: Tilapia with Peppers and Olives

Overall: Mark & I loved it. Will be a keeper for us, but have a hard time envisioning the kids who would happily dig into this one. If you have these kids, send them over, I will cook for them. It's a simple recipe -- saute the tilapia, then in separate pan (or, put it on a plate and use the same pan, like I did) saute peppers & onions and, here's where it gets interesting, at the end, add parsely, green olives and lime juice. Sounds a little funky yes, but it's just that twist that takes it from ordinary to "hey now."

On the plus side, all ingredients were cheap, fresh and seasonally right on track. Quick and lovely presentation. Just delicious mix of flavors and a new way to serve fish. I would serve this dish to friends.

On the what-was-I-thinking side: Kids would not touch this dish with a ten foot fishing pole. For them, I made Friday's dinner: Spaghetti with Sweet Potatoes & Ricotta. More about that one tomorrow. Also, it's not really a full meal, you need to throw together a salad or Friday's dinner (as I did) if your husband wonders where the rest of the meal is.

Day 1: A flop. And some technical difficulties.

First, the sad news. Somehow a piece broke off my camera lens and it won't go back onto the body. I never took it off in the first place, just found it unattached in my camera bag. It gets worse. Took it to the camera shop with high hopes that I was the problem, but no. They have to send it out for repairs, and the fix starts at $100 just to clean the body of the camera (since the lens was off) not to mention the cost of fixing or possibly replacing the lens. And, it will take a while.

So, my plan for a well-photographed journey to a month of meals has started with a plotz.

Night one: Spicy orange drumsticks, green beans & cornbread.

Looked good. Easy. I liked little things like the drumsticks and the cornbread both baked at 400 degrees (something I never plan for). Nutritious and no allergy ingredients (well, the cornbread, but Jack skipped it). Annoyed that I bought a jar of chili-garlic sauce to use 1/2 teaspoon. I should have read that one through first.

Down side: The big boys ate the beans and the cornbread. Told me they weren't hungry for the chicken. Husband liked the chicken, but pronounced it a little weird. Perhaps because I think this is the first time I've ever made drumsticks. We will have to try it again, because I have a lot of chili-garlic sauce and orange marmalade left. Perhaps chicken breasts next time. Little guy had it for lunch the next day with no complaints.

Nothing I couldn't have thought of myself, but easier that I didn't have to plan it. I have a thing for citrus + chicken, so I liked it. The boys didn't eat it, but since they rarely do, so I don't feel so badly, and at least it was cheap.


To be re-booted when the camera returns. How can I continue with an undocumented life?

A little scrambled

which way did he go?
Originally uploaded by Grey Cottage Studio

Many potential posts, but nothing felt right. This time of year feels like the time of new beginnings, and yet, I'm already pulled in so many directions. Our weekend was wall-to-wall birthday party, practices, scouts, neighborhood gigs, blah blah.

Anyway, I have a big idea though (thanks, Molly).

The challenge: Dinner. Little time. Lot of chaos.
Objectives: Home-cooked, nutritious meals that everyone can at least enjoy some parts. I feel like I've already hit a wall and we've just gotten back to Sept.

The strategy: Use someone else's plan. I'm going to cook the cover story from October's Real Simple Magazine,Month of Easy Dinners.
I should add that I have a cast of unique eaters. The older two are quite picky, and feed off each other's food reviews. The little guy's food allergies include: nuts, peanuts, sesame & egg. The older guy is lactose intolerant. And me, I'll eat anything, and it shows.

I would have a kick-off picture, but I can't get the lens back on the camera and I'm slightly panicked. Another story. Hoping a trip to the camera shop tomorrow will resolve that little crisis.

Now, back to the kitchen for reviews of night one.