CEiMB: Aromatic Noodles with Lime-Peanut Sauce

I didn't think I'd be able to cook along with the Craving Ellie in My Belly crew this week. We've had a heck of a week. But this recipe was so quick to throw together that even I, with my sinus infection causing throbbing pain in my head and neck, and with my needy baby with her ear infection, and with my crazy toddler and her I WANT TO COLOR WITH CHALK I NEED WATER THE BABY IS TOUCHING MY PUPPY PAPER, and with my husband stumbling around like he's about to keel over because our house has been consumed by like one huge atomic germ, could manage to pull it off. It's that easy.

I didn't have fresh ginger, so I used this ginger/garlic paste sort of stuff that I had in the fridge. When I blended up the sauce I thought I had totally blown it with that uncalled-for garlic, but once it was on the spaghetti it tasted just fine. And I didn't have red pepper flakes so I used cayenne pepper, but I used a little less than the recipe called for because Josh said that cayenne is hotter than the red pepper flakes. What else... Oh, I used broccoli, green beans and baby peas. Some people have talked about adding edamame or other things to get some protein into this dish, but peas actually have quite a bit of protein. I think. Or did I just unintentionally make that up? I really do think I've read that in some reliable source somewhere. Also I didn't think I was going to dig the whole wheat pasta, but I used some by Bionaturae from the overpriced health food joint and it was GREAT.

All in all, a fast and very tasty meal. I will definitely make this again. You can see the recipe here or at the blog of our host this week, Supplicious.

CEimB

For this week's Craving Ellie in my Belly, Lonely Sidecar picked the Lobster or Shrimp Roll. They look so freakin good. I am a huge fan of lobster, despite being a mostly vegetarian. I do eat seafood outside the house but never prepare it at home. So I had to skip this week's recipe.

But I really wanted to try the gazpacho that everyone made a few weeks ago, so I whipped up the White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds.

Good God. It flew together in no time and was absolutely delish. I didn't get it entirely smooth so it still had some nice texture. I will definitely use this recipe again, it would be great when having dinner guests because it is so stupidly easy but seems very unusual and fancy. I'm a big fan of fancy deception.

Also please admire that rad trifle bowl that rarely sees any action. We got these from Crate and Barrel with a wedding gift certificate, it's a set of nice heavy Polish glass bowls, a big mama one and I think four of these smaller ones. They're lovely and I've never used them as actual serving bowls for some reason. Add that to my to-do list: Use pretty bowls for something either than staging food photos or storing dead batteries.

CEimB: Breakfast Cookies

This is my first week participating in Craving Ellie in my Belly. Hi, gang! What's for Supper? is hosting this week, serving up the Breakfast Cookies. I'm so happy this was my first recipe, because I've actually been looking for a good breakfast cookie recipe. Delma eats her breakfast at daycare every morning, so we try to send her easy-to-pack stuff that's relatively healthy. Packing 2 meals plus snacks every day is a lot, especially since we try to keep it pretty simple and we don't want her to get bored with all the repeats of meals. Like when we make a box of Annie's, and then she has mac 'n cheese (with lots of frozen wee peas tossed in to make us feel like she's eating something healthy!) for lunch for 3 days...

So, breakfast cookies. Easy to pack, chock full of stuff I feel good about her eating. I didn't have time to try to stage a photo that would make some big lumpy cookies look lovely. They taste great, though -- not very sweet at all, lots of good stuff that will have you picking at your teeth for ages after eating one of these bad boys.



We only had a sad bag of basically walnut crumbs left, so I used half walnut and half pecan, toasted and then chopped into oblivion. I usually leave nuts in cookies or muffins sort of chunky, but I wasn't even paying attention tonight when I was pounding on that chopper (that sounds dirty), and they ended up practically powder. That's fine, though. And we also didn't have any bran or other flake cereal in the house, so I used Grape Nuts. Oh, and I didn't have pastry flour, so I just used regular whole wheat and all-purpose. I have no clue how that may have changed the final outcome.

This is a great, super-easy recipe and lends itself to countless variations. I'll definitely try with dried cranberries, and with some fruit-sweetened chocolate chips. Yum!

Craving Ellie in my Belly

So, I decided to join the Craving Ellie in my Belly group. I really want to try new recipes on a regular basis, and this will force me to do it. I picked a great week to start, too -- Breakfast Cookies!

Posting is each Thursday, and I have the night to myself for a bit tonight while Josh is out at band practice, so it looks like Delly will have a fresh-baked cookie for breakfast tomorrow!

struggling

I'm struggling a lot lately. There really is nothing particularly rough happening, Josh and I are great, my job is going well, I have been finding little bits of time to do some sewing and play with the bread maker, Delma is becoming a very fun little buddy, and Mimi is finally becoming enjoyable and engaging. But. Our days are long, both girls are up before 6 every day. Mimi is still very time- and energy-consuming. Delma is a toddler, 'nuff said. Our house is in a constant state of disorder, which totally messes with my sense of calm and stability. I am in the worst shape of my life and can't (don't) find time to exercise. At the end of the day I have no energy to blog. The weekends are fun but are filled with errands and go too fast. We don't have a dishwasher, so, oh those dishes. And don't even get me started about the laundry.

I'm pretty much feeling like a hamster on a wheel. It's all just basic life stuff, I know, and it's not stuff that's going to go away. But I just feel like we can't stay on top of things, let alone ever get ahead. The daily grind is sort of beating me down. I'm looking forward to Mimi getting a bit older and us having some more breathing room in our days. I want more joy, I want to create more magic in our world for my girls. I want to create beautiful little adventures and projects and memories.

I need to make a pledge to my family and to myself, to make it happen. I need to make the time, even in small bitty doses, to do things for myself like exercise and sew and write. I need to do more than just *manage* my children, I need to do more to enjoy them. I need to make some joy and magic. Or at least try.

Happy Burfday to me

So, I'm 37. My birthday ended with Delma housing a cupcake (that she frosted and then decorated by herself with almost an entire bottle of star sprinkles), a Lindt dark chocolate truffle (that I only gave her because I thought for sure she'd hate it and spit it out), and most of my piece of chocolate cake (that I was too busy chatting with my dad to notice she was inhaling). She then spent over and hour and a half past bedtime singing and hooting and chatting to herself in bed before finally passing out. That girl can really rock.

Delly has a habit of saying "my" instead of "I." Like, "1,2,3 here my come!" Or, "Oooh, my like that!" In honor of her unique grammar and rock star lifestyle, Josh doctored a photo of Delly as a b-day gift for me:



Perfect. 37, here my come!

smockety

Delma has developed a bit of an obsession with pockets. She likes to hold little things, like rocks or beads, and since she is not allowed to carry her own little things around in school, or have little choking hazzards around Mimi, she has realized that pockets are the perfect solution. She can fill them up with rocks, beads, barrettes, hair ties, etc, and have all her little treasures close by without getting into trouble. But not all of her pants/shorts/skirts have pockets, so I whipped up a smocket using Alicia's tutorial. Now if Delly is wearing something without pockets, but needs to stash some little treasures, we can toss this on her over her clothes.



I squared off the ends of the straps and put snaps on instead of tying them. I used a nice cotton/linen blend from jcarolinecreative.com that hides schmutz and cat hair very well and can just go in the washer and dryer.



Here's a close-up of the pocket, which was a total late-night hack job. It's really bad. But it works, so there you go. Plus it has mushrooms. "Mommy, I like mushrooms!"



I have some little tops similar to this shape that I made for D when she was a babe, and that Mimi will wear this summer, and am very glad to have found this pattern for larger sizes. So easy to modify it, make it completely reversible (leave off the pocket), make it longer or shorter, etc. Love it.

big day

Delly hit a major milestone this weekend when she pooped on the potty for the first time. We were beyond thrilled. Josh and I both got tears in our eyes, and while Delly sat on the toilet, grinning from ear to ear and practically bursting with pride, we sang the Shehecheyanu. Josh said, "It's a red-letter day! May 23rd, mark the calendar!"

May 23, 2009. The 30th anniversary of my mother's death. Delma Elizabeth, for whom our own little Delma is named. It was a very bittersweet moment when I realized what day it was and what it meant.

Delly is finally figuring out what the relationships are in our family, that her grandparents are also Josh's and my parents. She likes to ask us about it. She and I were talking about it in the car one afternoon last week, and I was quizzing her. I asked, "Who is my daddy?" "Opi!" Then she paused and asked for the first time, "Who's your mom?"

It knocked the wind out of me, though I've been waiting for that question for some time now. It took me a moment to recover, and Delma was staring at me in the rearview mirror. Finally I answered, "My mom died."

"Why she died?" She was watching me like a hawk.

"I don't know why, honey."

The tone had become very somber, and Delma wasn't comfortable. Out of nowhere, in true Delma fashion, she started spazzing out, laughing and flailing her arms and wagging her tongue, and lightened the mood. She is most excellent at providing comic relief.

I don't know what she understands about death. She knows that flowers die and that bugs die. What that means in her squooshy little brain, and how that translates to people... Who knows. And I'm certainly not going to press the issue. But we are entering a new era, our first baby is not a baby anymore, and the questions are only going to get tougher. I just hope she always feels safe enough to ask.

baby blanket

Here's an atrocious shot of a baby blanket I made last week. A friend is preggo with her second child, she has a son at home and is now expecting a girl. Is it just me or does it seem like when someone already has a son, and then they have a daughter, they go completely bonkers for the girly stuff?? I think I would. All I have to say is Thank God I had daughters, or else I'd be raising some baby trannies.



So, the blanket. Some Michael Miller Disco Dots on the front, and Minky Chemnille on the back. Such a totally simple project, but it was SUCH a bitch to make. Took three tries, because of the minky... It's slippery, so I had to pin that thing like crazy before sewing, but also the machine grabs it differently than the cotton and was pulling it all over the place. Sewing the width-wise sides was actually pretty easy, but the length-wise sides (going along with the ribbing) sucked. It was just a torturous process, and one I'm not likely to repeat anytime soon. BUT -- the finished product came out pretty cute. As long as you ignore the fact that when you fold it it's totally not squared. And also it left my house, like everything leaves my house, with a fine coating of cat hair.

And then to prove that it passes stringent approval process of the Baby Council of America for Promotion of Cuddly Items, I let Mimi have at it. And then Delly wanted in on the photo action. This resulted in exactly ZERO decent photos of the blanket, but oh well. At least it left my floor a little cleaner.

wedding crafts

Last month my fab gal-pal Moira tied the knot. Not only were Josh, Delma, Mimi and I luck enough to attend the joyous event, but Moira also asked me to help add some hand-crafted bits.

I helped make the cupcakes, which were topped with sweet little images of vintage seed packets.


And I made two ring pillows, one for each of her sons to carry. I knocked off ideas from some that I found on Etsy... just little satin pillows with a bird's nest glued on top, some moss glued inside to fill it a bit, and some little plastic eggs glued it. And orange ribbons glued to the pillow, poking out from under the nest. OMG, the wonders of the glue gun! The one thing I did which worked out very well and I'm pleased with myself for figuring out, was to sew a button to the middle of the pillow -- to squoosh the middle in and make it nice and sturdy and flat for the nest to sit on. They came out quite cute, if'n I do say so myself!