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Lula’s January Postcard

2012-02-10T10:02:00.000-05:00

Today is the day

2012-02-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

Well out of 30 things I challenged myself with last year I have 12 left over. Some of the hardest things to complete were the year long items. I didn’t sketch everyday but I did draw and make more things this year than I have the past two years. I did not write a letter every month. I probably wrote a letter every other month. Buying a piece of artwork was harder than I expected, I was very picky and still have not found anything that I really really want. I have to say I watched a lot of movies this year, I didn’t make it to 200 but I did manage to watch 163 movies in 365 days which I think is quite an accomplishment. I had a hard time deciding what and how to monogram something. I have finally decided on what I am going to monogram. The process alone is going to take quite a while, 7 inch letters made of entirely French knots is going to take me a couple weeks! I never got around to doing the self portrait or thinking about how I want to work on it, but that is definitely something I want to continue thinking about.

There are a lot of things that are not on this list that I did this year too. I finally convinced Scott to get rid of our old ugly uncomfortable couch!!!! I have a new position at work, I made our advent calendar and few other things along the way. Just in cade you were wondering here is what I managed to do this year and what I still have left to do.

12 months, 30 tasks, 1 big birthday

Complete a daily sketch, EVERYDAY, no matter how big, small, complicated or simple. This has not been completed. I may not have sketched everyday but I certainly sketched and created more this year than I have in the past 5 years.
Visit at least 4 local museums/art centers or galleries. Virginia Museum of Fine Art, The Chrysler, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, The Anderson Gallery (if you want to go let me know) Done!!!
Continue taking Lula’s weekly picture and writing her weekly updates so that I can put them all together in a book at the end of her first year. Done. Hands down the best thing I did this year. I will never regret doing this and having it to look back at.
Make French macaroons. Done and delicious.
Monogram something myself. Here is an example of what I am going to do….
Find a new home, color and use for an old piece of furniture. A beautiful blue side table.
Buy one piece of art directly from the artist. Still looking for this, I’ve seen a few things but nothing that I really needed to have.
Learn a new technique/skill. Done… if you need bacon I am your girl.
Sew something from a pattern. I have drawn up numerous patterns this year to sew things from but I never went out and bought a pre-made pattern to sew with.
Teach someone something new, outside of work. Done, taught my sister how to knit and how to draw a pattern for stuffed animals.
Read 6 new books. DONE and now I am on my 8th
Complete a self portrait.
Go through that closet full of that stuff that I will use one day and get rid of the stuff I will never use any day. Done. everything has been sorted and donated or given away.
Make something with a material that I have never used or that I am afraid of. Done. Glass tiled our fireplace!
Go to a movie by myself.
Write an original recipe. Done.
Make a magnetic felt alphabet and paint a wall with magnetic paint. I have the alphabet but I think we will be using something other than magnetic paint.
Use my punch bowl and glasses.
Condense our CD library and update our digital music library. Done finally and Pandora is set too.
Make pickles and jam.. Done…twice! Strawberry jam and apricot jam, Asparagus pickles and pickled jalapenos.
Make one meal with only the items in our garden. This one did not happen since all we really had was jalapenos this year… but I definitely made use of them.
Scan in all of our old photos and finish our photo albums. DONE! Now I am getting them ready to archive on DVDs
Write one letter a month, not an email, not a text and not a thank you note- a real letter with an envelope and a stamp. This one didn’t stick either. I wish it had.. but it didn’t.
Really celebrate New Year’s Eve for the first time in 4 years. No going to sleep before midnight. It may not be glamorous or exciting, but we are going to actually plan a lovely evening in.
Genuinely make an attempt to enjoy oysters in all forms, even raw. I have tried them raw, fried, roasted and grilled. I don’t hate them anymore but I don’t love them either. I even cooked them several times on my own. I think an honest attempt has been made.
Spend a day or two in Williamsburg rediscovering a place I haven’t spent much time in for almost 7 years.
Watch all the movies on AFI’S 100 Years 100 Movies List and EW’s New Classics Movie List I am making my way through this one…. only 37 more left.
Bake cookies/cupcakes every month for birthdays at work. Done.
Have tea with someone, at a tea house or my house. I have the place just haven’t had the time.
Celebrate my 30th birthday actually doing something I really want to do, not just what is easy and no baking my own birthday cake! Done!! A day at The Chrysler.

#27 Watch all the movies on AFI’s 100 Years 100 Movies list and EW’s New Classics List

2012-02-09T08:02:00.001-05:00

So I did not get to watch all 200 movies but I did watch 163 movies in 365 days!!! Only 37 left to watch, not bad for a year.

EW’S New Classics List

1. ~~Pulp Fiction~~ ~~(1994)~~ 8/02/2011
2. ~~The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)~~      1. 2/10/2011 2. 5/24/2011   3. 5/25/2011
3. ~~Titanic~~ ~~(1997)~~ 9/24/2011
4~~. Blue Velvet (1986)~~ 1/17/2012
5. ~~Toy Story~~ ~~(1995)~~ 5/30/2011
6. ~~Saving Private Ryan~~ ~~(1998)~~
~~7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)~~ 2/25/2011
8. ~~The Silence of the Lambs~~ ~~(1991)~~ 1/22/2012
9. ~~Die Hard~~ ~~(1988)~~ 7/31/2011
10. ~~Moulin Rouge~~ ~~(2001)~~ 6/30/2011
11. ~~This Is Spinal Tap~~ ~~(1984)~~ 1/28/2012
12. ~~The Matrix~~ ~~(1999)~~ 6/1/2011
13. ~~GoodFellas~~ ~~(1990)~~ 4/28/2011
~~14. Crumb (1995)~~ 3/16/2011
15. ~~Edward Scissorhands~~ ~~(1990)~~ 8/17/2011
16. ~~Boogie Nights~~ ~~(1997)~~   2/1/2012
~~17. Jerry Maguire (1996)~~ 3/16/2011
18. ~~Do the Right Thing~~ ~~(1989)~~ 5/25/2011
19. ~~Casino Royale~~ ~~(2006)~~ 5/01/2011
20. The Lion King (1994) 10/20/2011
21. ~~Schindler's List~~ ~~(1993)~~ 5/24/2011
22. ~~Rushmore~~ ~~(1998)~~ 9/24/2011
23. ~~Memento~~ ~~(2001)~~   3/29/2011
24. ~~A Room With a View~~ ~~(1986)~~ 4/5/2011
25. ~~Shrek~~ ~~(2001)~~ 9/4/2011
26~~. Hoop Dreams (1994)~~ 1/12/2012
27. ~~Aliens~~ ~~(1986)~~ 1/29/2012
28. ~~Wings of Desire~~ ~~(1988)~~ 5/24/2011
29. ~~The Bourne Supremacy~~ ~~(2004)~~ 9/72011
~~30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)~~ 2/17/2011
31. ~~Brokeback Mountain~~ ~~(2005~~) 7/18/2011
32. ~~Fight Club~~ ~~(1999)~~ 7/06/2011
33. ~~The Breakfast Club~~ ~~(1985)~~ 7/18/2011
34. ~~Fargo   (1996)~~ 10/31/2011
35. ~~The Incredibles~~ ~~(2004)~~ 5/24/2011
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004) 2/7/2012
37. ~~Pretty Woman~~ ~~(1990)~~ 7/18/2011
38. ~~Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind~~ ~~(2004)~~ 8/23/2011
~~39. The Sixth Sense (1999)~~    2/9/2011
40. ~~Speed~~ ~~(1994)~~ 8/17/2011
41. ~~Dazed and Confused~~ ~~(1993)~~ 9/7/2011
42. ~~Clueless~~ ~~(1995)~~ 7/20/2011
43. ~~Gladiator~~ ~~(2000)~~ 9/7/2011
44. The Player (1992)
45. ~~Rain Man~~ ~~(1988)~~ 8/09/2011
46. ~~Children of Men~~ ~~(2006)~~ 9/23/2011
~~47. Men in Black (1997)~~ 10/30/2011
48. ~~Scarface~~ ~~(1983)~~ 11/30/2011
49. ~~Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon~~ ~~(2000)~~ 2/1/2012
50. ~~The Piano~~ ~~(1993)~~ 8/22/2011
51. ~~There Will Be Blood~~ ~~(2007)~~ 9/7/2011
52. ~~The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad~~ ~~(1988)~~ 4/06/2011
53. The Truman Show (1998) 10/4/2011
~~54. Fatal Attraction (1987)~~ 2/2/2012
~~55. Risky Business (1983)~~ 3/1/2011
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. ~~There’s Something About Mary~~ ~~(1998)~~ 12/02/2011
~~58. Ghostbusters (1984)~~ 1/28/2012
59~~. L.A. Confidential (1997)~~ 11/17/2012
60. ~~Scream~~ ~~(1996)~~ 10/29/2011
~~61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)~~ 3/6/2011
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
~~63. Big (1988)~~ 2/23/11
64~~. No Country For Old Men (2007)~~   3/12/2011
~~65. Dirty Dancing (1987)~~ 11/11/2011
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
~~67. Donnie Brasco (1997)~~ 2/26/2011
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. ~~Broadcast News~~ ~~(1987)~~ 5/25/2011
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. ~~Thelma & Louise~~ ~~(1991)~~ 3/24/2011
73. ~~Office Space~~ ~~(1999)~~   10/24/2011
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
~~75. Out of Africa (1985)~~ 11/20/2011
76. ~~The Departed~~ ~~(2006)~~ 7/23/2011
77. ~~Sid and Nancy~~ ~~(1986)~~   5/16/2011
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. ~~Waiting for Guffman~~ ~~(1996)~~ 10/1/2011
~~80. Michael Clayton (2007)~~ 3/2/2011
81. ~~Moonstruck~~ ~~(1987)~~ 8/16/2011
82. ~~Lost in Translation~~ ~~(2003)~~ 8/30/2011
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. ~~Sideways~~ ~~(2004)~~ 9/1/2011
85. ~~The 40 Year-Old Virgin~~ ~~(2005)~~ 4/5/2011
86. ~~Y Tu Mamá También~~ ~~(2002)~~ 8/22/2011
87. ~~Swingers~~ ~~(1996)~~ 01/10/2012
88. ~~Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery~~ ~~(1997)~~ 7/21/2011
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. ~~Napoleon Dynamite~~ ~~(2004)~~   6/23/2011
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. F~~ull Metal Jacket~~ ~~(1987)~~ 12/05.2011
~~95. In the Mood for Love (2001)~~ 12/07/2011
96. ~~Far From Heaven~~ ~~(2002)~~ 5/24/2011
~~97. Glory (1989)~~ 12/10/2011
98. ~~The Talented Mr. Ripley~~ ~~(1999)~~ 8/30/2011
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

AFI’S 100 Years 100 Movies List

1 ~~Citizen Kane (1941)~~ 9/24/2011
2 ~~The Godfather (1972)~~   4/11/2011
3 ~~Casablanca (1942)~~ 4/28/2011
4 ~~Raging Bull (1980)~~ 10/6/2011
5 ~~Singin' in the Rain (1952)~~   3/24/2011
6 ~~Gone With the Wind (1939)~~ 9/8/2011
7 ~~Lawrence of Arabia (1962)~~   10/24/2011
8 ~~Schindler's List (1993)~~ 5/24/2011
~~9 Vertigo (1958)~~ 2/15/2011
10 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11 ~~City Lights (1931)~~ 10/25/2011
12 ~~The Searchers (1956)~~ 10/28/2011
13 ~~Star Wars (1977)~~ 10/29/2011
14 ~~Psycho (1960)~~ 8/28/2011
15 ~~2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)~~   3/15/2011
16 ~~Sunset Blvd. (1950)~~ 9/23/2011
~~17 The Graduate (1967)~~   4/5/2011
~~18 The General (1927)~~ 10/01/2011
19 ~~On the Waterfront (1954)~~ 10/5/2011
~~20 It's a Wonderful Life (1946)~~ 11/29/2011
~~21 Chinatown (1974)~~ 11/17/2011
~~22 Some Like It Hot (1959)~~ 4.12.2011
23 ~~The Grapes of Wrath (1940)~~ 2/28/2011
~~24 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)~~ 10/17/2011
~~25 To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)~~ 11/25/2011
26 ~~Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)~~ 7/12/2011
~~27 High Noon (1952)~~ 4/29/2011
~~28 All About Eve (1950)~~ 2/10/2011
29 ~~Double Indemnity (1944)~~ 11/29/2011
30 ~~Apocalypse Now (1979)~~ 7/10/2011
~~31 The Maltese Falcon (1941)~~ 11/28/2011
32 ~~The Godfather Part II (1974)~~ 6/21/2011
33 ~~One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)~~ 9/1/2011
34 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35 ~~Annie Hall (1977)~~ 7/13/2011
36 ~~The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)~~ 12/01/2011                                                                                        ~~37 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)~~ 12/15/2011
~~38 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)~~ 12/16/2011
~~39 Dr. Strangelove (1964)~~ 12/30/2011
~~40 The Sound of Music (1965)~~ 01/13/2012
41 ~~King Kong (1933)~~ 01/13/2012
~~42 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)~~     4/8/2011
43 ~~Midnight Cowboy (1969)~~ 7/20/2011
44 The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45 Shane (1953)
~~46 It Happened One Night (1934)~~ 12/17/2011
47 ~~A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)~~ 9/24/2011
48 ~~Rear Window (1954)~~ 10/4/2011
~~49 Intolerance (1916)~~ 11/19/2011
~~50 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)~~   2/10/2011
51 ~~West Side Story (1961)~~ 10/6/2011
~~52 Taxi Driver (1976)~~ 01/13/2012
53 ~~The Deer Hunter (1978)~~ 6/29/2011
54 M*A*S*H (1970)
55 North by Northwest (1959)
~~56 Jaws (1975)~~ 11/2/2011
57 ~~Rocky (1976)~~ 10/6/2011
58 ~~The Gold Rush(1925)~~ 5/20/2011
59 ~~Nashville (1975)~~ 5/16/2011
~~Duck Soup (1933)~~ 2/25/2011
61 Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62 ~~American Graffiti (1973)~~ 1/27/2012
63 Cabaret (1972)
64 ~~Network (1976)~~ 3/24/2011
65 ~~The African Queen (1951)~~ 6/21/2011
66 ~~The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)~~ 6/5/2011
67 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68 Unforgiven (1992)
69 ~~Tootsie (1982)~~ 8/16/2011
70 ~~A Clockwork Orange (1971)~~ 1/03/2012
71 ~~Saving Private Ryan (1998)~~ 7/12/2011
72 ~~The Shawshank Redemption (1994)~~ 8/24/2011
73 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74 ~~The Silence of the Lambs (1991)~~ 1/22/2012
75 In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76 ~~Forrest Gump (1994)~~ 9/28/2011
77 All the President's Men (1976)
78 Modern Times (1936)
~~79 The Wild Bunch (1969)~~ 11/12/2011
80 The Apartment (1960)
81 Spartacus (1970)
82 Sunrise (1927)
83 ~~Titanic (1997)~~ 10/5/2011
84 Easy Rider (1969)
85 A Night at the Opera (1935)
86 Platoon (1986)
87 12 Angry Men (1957)
88 ~~Bringing Up Baby (1938)~~ 9/8/2011
~~89 The Sixth Sense (1999)~~   2/9/2011
90 Swing Time (1936)
~~91 Sophie's Choice (1982)~~ 3/4/2011
92 ~~Goodfellas (1990)~~ 4/24/2011
93 ~~The French Connection (1971~~) 1/26/2012
94 ~~Pulp Fiction (1994)~~
95 The Last Picture Show (1971)
96 ~~Do the Right Thing (1989)~~ 5/25/2011
97 ~~Blade Runner (1982)~~ 1/26/2012
98 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99 ~~Toy Story (1995)~~ 6/1/2011
100 Ben-Hur (1959)

Lula’s December Postcard

2012-01-04T21:42:00.001-05:00

Making Macarons

2011-12-23T09:11:00.001-05:00

With the help of Bakerella and Tartlette I can finally cross something else off my 30x30 list! I made French Marcarons. I have always wanted to make these super delicate and simple cookies, but they always seemed super hard and complicated. Now I know.. 4 ingredients and a little bit of patience and you have some very delicious treats.

You need 90g of aged egg whites, either 24 hours out loosely covered at room temperature or 3-5 days in the fridge. Whip these until they are foamy and gradually add in 25g of granulated sugar until you have a glossy meringue. Then in another bowl add 110g of ground almonds and 200 g powdered sugar and fold in your meringue. Fill a pastry bag with your batter and pipe small circles on a baking sheet ( you will need 2) lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Then let them sit out for 1 hour to harden your shells. I put a 1.5 inch circle out to help me make all the shells the same size.

Once your shells have rested for an hour they go into the oven at 300 for 18-20 mins.

Make sure to watch them towards the end I made some smaller shells the next day and they only needed 16-17 minutes. Hopefully once you pull them out you will find delicate crispy shells with beautiful feet and soft pillow like insides.

I whipped up a quick ganache and filled them.. then set to getting some egg whites aging for the next day to use up my last Meyer lemon for some mini macarons!

Lula’s Postcards: November

2011-12-04T18:50:00.001-05:00

We have family and friends all over the place and we don’t get to travel as much as we would like to so instead of taking a weekly picture we are going to be “sending” a postcard to the people we miss to let them know how and what Lula is up to. In the end I hope we end up with another great book!

Soft Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies for November

2011-11-27T23:01:00.001-05:00

I have been searching for the perfect soft chewy peanut butter cookie recipe and I think I finally found it thanks to Clockwork Lemon

Soft Peanut Butter Cookies from Clockwork Lemon

(adapted from Epicurious)

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (natural/unsweetened)
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease some cookie trays.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a mixer's bowl cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter, and egg until well combined then add the vanilla extract

4. With a wooden spoon or the mixer on a low setting mix the flour mixture in with the peanut butter mixture in three additions until just combined.

5. Roll out 1.5 tbsp balls of cookie dough and gently flatten with a fork.

6. Bake for ten minutes, rotating the cookie sheets after five minutes. Let cool on the tray until firm enough to move to a cooling rack.

Happy 1st Birthday Lula

2011-11-02T11:30:00.001-04:00

We originally planned to have our birthday party outside but with 50 degree temperatures and strong winds we decided to move everything inside.

We used Lula’s quilt as a back drop for her party and posted up all of her weekly photos for everyone to take a look at.

We just had a few snacks since it was early afternoon. Mac and Cheese bites, Chicken Enchilada Puffs, Veggies and Dip, Goldfish and a Rainbow Cake.

Then the fun started.. we unwrapped presents and played with toys and other kids. Had a “little” cake. Lula was not as interested in the cake as she was in playing with the other kids.

Then it was time for bed and Mom and Dad enjoyed a piece of cake to celebrate.

Happy 1st Birthday Lula!

2011-10-28T07:49:00.001-04:00

It’s hard to imagine that this time last year you were not here yet. We were just getting to the hospital and a few short hours later we got to finally meet you. This year has been amazing, we have watched you grow and taught you so many new things. You have gone from brown hair and blue eyes to blonde hair and hazel eyes. You started out at 10lbs 4 oz and 21.5 inches long and now you are 19lbs and 27 inches long. You are a crawling speedster and everyday you make more progress on walking on your own. You talk all the time and are very giggly and goofy. We love you and can’t wait to celebrate another year with you. Happy Birthday Lula Mae.

Happy 51st Week Lula!

2011-10-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

This week you have done quite a bit. You picked out your very first pumpkin. You are starting to stand all on your own and walking with the help of one hand instead of two. You are getting much better at scooping your oatmeal out of a bowl with a spoon and you are still constantly babbling away.

Happy 50th Week Lula!

2011-10-12T18:32:00.001-04:00

This week you spent a day at Grammy’s house and celebrated her birthday with her. Spent a little time rolling around on your new bug-mobile and have started to laugh with your whole face all the time. You close your eyes as tight as you can and smile as wide you can make your mouth go. You are also spending your first week without Mama and you an Dada are hanging out together at home.

Happy 49th Week Lula!

2011-10-06T08:17:00.001-04:00

This week you are talking and talking and talking and talking. There is hardly ever a time that you aren’t trying to say something. You are also getting really good at feeding yourself with a spoon. And you have not stopped trying to make people laugh and you are still just as curious as always.

Happy 48th week Lula!

2011-09-30T11:40:00.001-04:00

This week you are constantly on the move and still very giggly. You are feeding yourself more often than not and you are on your way to getting rid of your bottles. You are talking more and some of your words are starting to make a little more sense.

2 Years

2011-09-26T09:05:00.001-04:00

Untitled, a photo by katvanb on Flickr.

Happy 47th week Lula!

2011-09-23T20:59:00.001-04:00

This week you got to spend lots of time with all the animals at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. You especially liked the dogs. You are also giggling at everything and have started to figure out that if you act silly people laugh at you. You went to your first Art gallery this week and learned all about echoes and how loud you can sound, we are starting to get a little bit concerned that you never seem to stop talking!

Happy 46th Week Lula

2011-09-15T19:25:00.000-04:00

This week you have mastered the art of telling us when you are done with things. You learned that you can shake your head to say no or yes and you have been putting that skill to use, I think we might be in trouble. You love to drink from a straw and you have been increasing your talking everyday!

Happy 45th week Lula!

2011-09-09T08:02:00.001-04:00

This week you have started to giggle at EVERYTHING. You giggle when you fall down, when you get some food, when you stand up, when you take your bath, when you wake up from a nap or in the morning and any other time you do anything. You have become quite a little daredevil too, you don’t shrink away from anything and inspect everything.

Happy 44th Week Lula!

2011-09-01T17:03:00.001-04:00

This week you experienced your first Hurricane and Hurricane “evacuation” from your house to Grammy’s house. You went back to the Dr. and we found out that even though you started out as a big baby at the top of all the scales around 95% you are now on the small side at an average of 18%. And you have only gained 8 lbs since you were born. You LOVE mac and cheese and cayenne pepper.

Happy 43rd Week Lula!

2011-08-25T21:24:00.001-04:00

This week you have been standing on and around everything, you can’t stop standing and you have started to dance a little! You bounce around and bob your head. You want to “walk” everywhere. You are definitely becoming a social butterfly and you picked out your first pair of real shoes this week!

Happy 42nd Week Lula!

2011-08-18T20:01:00.001-04:00

This week your two top teeth have been making an appearance, a BIG appearance. They are only a 1/4 of the way in and they are huge. You have learned that you can hold on to and bite down in things (fingers included). you can’t stop standing up all over the place and you are so proud of yourself when you do. You are also waving hello to people now.

Homemade Tomato Paste

2011-08-16T19:35:00.001-04:00

Today I turned 6 pounds of beautiful Roma tomatoes into two 1/2 cup portions of delicious rich tomato paste. I looked all over for a good recipe and decided to combine a few different ideas.

I started with 6 pounds of chopped tomatoes (next time I will skin them first or buy a food mill)

3 chopped red bell peppers

2 bay leaves

2 crushed cloves of garlic

Bit of Sea salt to taste

Combine it all and let it simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes and peppers were soft. then run them through a food mill or run them in the food processer. Dump all of the liquid and pulp onto an oiled tray and put in the oven at 300 for about 3 1/2 hours. Every half hour just stir it around a bit.

After about 2 hours you will have something like this…

It’s not quite done, let it go for another hour or so and stir a bit more frequently until it has a brick like color. Here is where having a food mill pays off. If you have a food mill you are all ready to put your tomato paste away and use it when ready, if you don’t have a food mill you need to strain out those seeds and skins. I tried before putting it in the oven but it wasn’t very easy. After the oven it’s not too bad. You just need a sieve, wooden spoon and a lot of elbow grease. After that you will have about a cup of tomato paste to enjoy. Back into sterile jars and top off with enough olive oil to cover, label and enjoy.

Happy 41st Week Lula!

2011-08-11T10:08:00.001-04:00

After our first trip to NY you seem to be allover the place. I think you were stuck in a car seat for too long and now you can’t get enough moving around. You even seem to be developing your own workout routine! Most of the time all we see of you now is your little feet sticking out from behind something.

Happy 40th Week!

2011-08-04T08:06:00.001-04:00

You have had a lot of firsts this week. We took our first LONG car trip to NY this week to visit your aunt Kristin and Uncle Joe. We spent 10 hours in the car and you were super good until the last hour when we were all ready to be out of the car. You took your first nap on your dad in 8 1/2 months. You had your first pancakes this past weekend, blueberry lemon seems to be your pancake of choice. You also had your first play date with your cousins Khloe, Kellen and Logan in NY. You and Khloe had a lot of fun together!

Happy 39th Week Lula!

2011-07-28T11:36:00.001-04:00

This week you have started to eat even more food, if that is possible. You prefer to have oatmeal and fruit in the morning and you love Green Bean Casserole and Chicken and Squash. If you can feed yourself you are the happiest and much to our dismay you LOVE bananas, Mom and Dad were hoping you would inherit our distaste! This week you have started to express your happiness in an interesting way,when you get excited you stick out your tongue and growl or hiss. No we call you our little lizard. P.S. you are officially 9 months old today!

Apricot Jam…

2011-07-22T09:02:00.001-04:00

We started with Strawberry jam and that wasn’t enough or us. We usually have to buy a few small jars of apricot jam in the winter months or some of our favorite recipes. So since apricots are just about everywhere right now and they smell and taste delicious we decided to try our hand at Apricot Jam. I searched all over the place for a recipe and ended up at Thought Palace and used Jens’s recipe. This recipe is one that Jens says was handed down and does not require pectin or processing in a canner. Since The last batched we made were canned and processed with pectin I thought we could give this one a try.

Cut the apricots in half and put them in a large non-aluminum cooking pot. Set aside the pits for later. For each cup of apricots, add 3/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice. Let the mixture stand at least two hours, you will end up with a syrupy soup of apricot halves and sugar. While the apricot halves are marinating in sugar take the apricot pits outside with a hammer and crack them open to get to the kernel in the center.

Just tap the pit on the raised ridge on one side. Be careful when you are cracking the pits open, if you hit them too hard you will go through the pit and crush the kernel. Hang onto those kernels until your jam is finished cooking.

Now put the pot with your apricot halves and sugar on the stove and bring to a boil over high heat. At first you’ll just need to stir occasionally to keep it from scorching, then as it comes to a boil you’ll need to stir continuously. Once it’s at a steady boil, set a timer for 25 minutes and keep stirring…

When it first starts boiling, it’s going to produce lots and lots of pale orange foam, which you’re going to have to skim off with a ladle to keep the pot from overflowing. If you put the foam in a quart jar and let it settle, it turns into apricot syrup. The syrup is awesome on pancakes or ice cream. Keep it in the fridge. We did this and ended up with almost a full jar after it settled.

When the timer goes off, take a look at the mixture. If it still seems liquidy, let it boil another five minutes (but no more). The goal is to have reduced the volume by about half, and for what’s left to be fairly thick; sort of like boiling jam. When it’s ready, turn off the heat

Now fill each prepared and sterilized jar as follows: Take it out of the dishwasher, turn it right-side-up (very important!), drop in an apricot kernel, and ladle jam into it up to about 1/4” below the rim. Try not to get jam on the rim, if you do wipe the rim with a damp cloth. (The right amount of airspace is important for getting the jar to seal.) Put a lid on top, then screw a ring over it finger tight. Turn the jar upside-down (very important!) Go on to the next jar. Repeat till you run out of jam.

When the last jar is filled and flipped over, set a timer for 5 minutes. When it beeps, flip all of the jars back upright and let them stand for a little while. You should soon hear a little metallic “ping!” sound as each jar seals shut — the cooling air shrinks and forms a partial vacuum that pulls the lid tight and makes it flip from convex to concave.

If any jars haven’t popped shut by themselves in 15 minutes, they’re not properly sealed, so put them in the fridge and eat the jam soon.

Tighten the sealed jars’ rings some more, and label them with the type of jam and the approximate date. In a reasonably cool place (basements are good) they’ll keep for at least 2 years.

We have been enjoying some of the let over jam that would not properly fill our last jar. We just put it in the fridge. We only put a kernel in half of our jam so that we could taste the difference and see what we want to do next summer. I can’t wait to be able to use this in one of our favorite recipes this winter.

Happy 38th Week Lula!

2011-07-21T10:14:00.000-04:00

This week you have started to hold your own bottle more often than not. You are learning all about sharing at daycare and you have begun to explore more of your vocal range for us and have started screaming to tell us when you are REALLY happy.

20. Make pickles and jam. Done.

2011-07-18T21:48:00.001-04:00

I might have gone a little overboard with the whole pickles and jam idea. I started out innocently enough, picking 10 lbs of strawberries on a beautiful Saturday morning at Brookdale Farm in Chesapeake. Then I spent an afternoon making 6 pints of strawberry jam and 8 pints of strawberry balsamic jam. The recipe I used was super simple and easy to follow. I got so excited about how great it tasted the next morning I decided that we needed MORE jam in the house. So the next week we went back to Brookdale Farm in Pungo and picked about 35 lbs. of strawberries and made 30 more pints of strawberry jam, we used the same recipe but didn’t add the balsamic and pepper.

After all the jam was made we still had about 5 lbs of strawberries left over so we froze about 3 for this winter and then I made a buttermilk pie with fresh strawberries on top. Then I pickled some asparagus and made pickled jalapenos from our bumper crop of jalapenos in the garden.

Strawberry Balsamic Jam with Black Pepper

Ingredients

Preparation:

In large Dutch oven or preserving pot and using potato masher, mash strawberries thoroughly, 1 layer at a time, to make 6 cups.

Mix pectin crystals with 1/4 cup of the sugar; stir into berries and bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. Stir in remaining sugar; return to full rolling boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Skim off foam with metal spoon. Stir in balsamic vinegar and pepper.

Using funnel and 1/2-cup measure, fill hot 1-cup canning jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles, readjusting headspace if necessary. If necessary, wipe rims. Cover with prepared lids. Screw on bands until resistance is met; increase to fingertip tight. Boil in boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

My next task was pickling. They may not be cucumber pickles but they are delicious. I had a pickled asparagus spear in a Bloody Mary a few years ago and loved it. So I decided to give it a try for my first pickle. I was simple enough just asparagus, cider vinegar, garlic, peppercorns and mustard seeds. They are delicious. We have been enjoying them as a quick snack with our homemade bacon and some cheese, we are almost out of them already. I know what I will be doing next spring!

Pickled Asparagus
adapted from Putting Up by Stephen Palmer Dowdney

4 pounds asparagus, trimmed to fit your pint jars and blanched in boiling water for approximately 10 seconds

3 cups vinegar( half apple cider vinegar, half white vinegar)
3 cups water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons Mustard Seeds
1 tablespoon red hot chili flakes
3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tsp Black Peppercorns

3 pint jars (if you use the taller, 12 ounce jelly jars, you don’t have to cut your asparagus quite as short and you’ll probably fill four jars.

Sterilize your jars. Put the peppercorns, sliced garlic and mustard seed ( divided evenly among your jars) in the bottom and pack the trimmed and blanched asparagus into the jars (it’s up to you to determine whether you want to go tips up or down).

Bring the vinegar, water, salt and chili flakes to a boil. Pour into jars on top of asparagus, leaving at least 1/2 inch of head space.

Put lids and rings on the jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (you can skip this step if you plan on just putting your pickles in the fridge).

Wait at least 24 hours before eating, but 3 weeks is even better.

Pickled Jalapenos

We went out to our garden one morning and noticed that we had a huge amount of jalapenos. Too many to eat before they went bad and so we decided to pickle some for the winter months for nachos and chilies and anything else we wanted to add a bit of flavor and spice too. For the jalapenos we didn’t use a recipe I just used a method that I read about on The Purple Foodie, from Micheal Ruhlman. 1. Pack jars with jalapenos. 2. Fill jars to the top with water. 3. Strain jar into measuring cup, repack jalapeno slices into your jars ( I added a few peppercorns and 1 clove of garlic to each jar). 4. Dump out half the water you strained and replace with vinegar( I used white vinegar). 5. Bring vinegar and water to a boil, I added a little salt and sugar as well. 6. Add liquid to your jars, leaving the correct amount of headspace. 7. Seal jars to finger tight and process in canner for appropriate time. We ended up with 8 small jelly jars of delicious pickled jalapenos. I also tried the same technic for some freshly picked okra from our farmer market this Saturday.

Happy 37th Week Lula!

2011-07-14T07:53:00.001-04:00

This week you enjoyed our first vacation, just relaxing and doing whatever we felt like each day. You got a new pool for our house. We found your new favorite song Ladybug by Rabbit! from Do Fun Stuff! you can’t keep from bouncing and bobbing your head when the song plays. we have always known you loved music but now you are dancing right along all the time. We also had to lower your crib this weekend because you are standing and moving all over the place.

Happy 36th Week Lula!

2011-07-07T20:09:00.002-04:00

Lula Crawls

This week you have officially become mobile on your own. We have to watch you wherever you are. We can’t even hold you without turning into a jungle gym. We took our first family vacation this week and you had your first 4th of July! We spent most of our time at the pool.

Happy 35th Week Lula!

2011-06-30T08:21:00.001-04:00

This week you have been back to your old tricks and chewing on everything. You especially like to try and feed yourself. You have also been standing and walking quite a bit. You don’t seem to sit still anymore and are always bouncing or wiggling around.

Our “little” Garden

2011-06-24T23:07:00.000-04:00

The garden has had a lot of changes recently. It has almost doubled in size and it has grown so much food I am starting to wonder if we can actually eat it. We have had much better luck than last year. I kind of gave up on the tomato plan last year, but this year the early attention and making sure we are keeping to 1 vertical “vine” really helped us. We have never had so many HUGE tomatoes so early. We have 4-5 softball size super steaks 10-12 tennis ball pineapple tomatoes and even the Sungold mini’s have responded well to the technique. We are really happy with the way that the square foot gardening plan has worked. The herbs are almost out of control now. We have already harvested around 20 cups of Basil to make pesto and I think we could do another round in a week or so We did loose our tomatillos and our corn did not do very well this year. I think it got blocked by the huge basil plant. Next up is finding a good recipe for pickled jalapenos. We should have enough for a couple of pints soon.

4/23/2011

5/28/2011

6/23/2011

Farmer’s Market finds

2011-06-24T07:11:00.000-04:00

We stopped by the farmer’s market at the beach a few weekends ago and picked up some delicious peaches, pepperoni bread, fresh ground corn meal and fresh blackberries! We decided that it was officially time to break out the ice cream maker again and we turned these beautiful blackberries into…

this delicious blackberry sorbet….

adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup corn syrup

3 cups blackberries

1tbs fresh lime juice

3tbs raspberry liqueur (optional, but delicious)

Combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat stirring until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat and boil without stirring for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and let mixture cool completely.

Put sugar syrup, blackberries, lime juice and liqueur in a blender and process until smooth. We strained ours so there wouldn’t be any seeds, but its up to you. Cover and refrigerate until cold.

Stir and freeze according to your machine’s instructions and enjoy!

Happy 34th Week Lula!

2011-06-23T18:48:00.001-04:00

This week you have started standing on your own (with some help of anything in reach). You are also enjoying a little walk ( with help) down the hall from your room to mom and dad’s room in the morning.You have developed a LOVE for the pool, you spent the whole time kicking and splashing.

Happy Father’s Day

2011-06-19T20:08:00.001-04:00

Happy father’s day to all the Dad’s out there! This morning we started celebrating with a special request for eggs benedict and a very special card from a very special little lady. Then we spent the afternoon swimming! I hope all the Dads we know and love enjoyed their day as much as we did.

Happy 33rd Week Lula!

2011-06-16T23:26:00.001-04:00

This week you went to your first farmers market and hand selected a few peaches and blackberries. You have started to play the lovely game of pick up throw your toys so that some one else has to give them back. You took your first shower and you have started to really enjoy chewing on your afternoon snacks.

Happy 32nd Week Lula!

2011-06-09T10:09:00.000-04:00

This week you are into everything and you can’t keep your hands off anything made of paper. Books, magazines, newspapers all of it is immediately in your hands. You have also started to give your mom and dad one of the best gifts since your first smile and you are giving out kisses they might be sloppy and drool filled but we love them.

Happy 31st week Lula!

2011-06-02T13:03:00.001-04:00

This week you have had a lot of firsts. Your first and second tooth are making an appearance and you had your first pool day. You loved the pool once you got used to the cooler temperature. You have also become almost impossible to bathe, you don’t want to stay in on place and are constantly sitting up and pulling yourself around.

Happy 30th Week Lula!

2011-05-26T05:02:00.000-04:00

Watch out Lula’s on the move!!!!!

This week you have surprised us in a lot of ways! You are definitely beginning to crawl. We never doubted that you could get around your own way but we actually saw you on the move! You had your first solid food this week and tried your hand at eating some sweet potato puffs and you have started to vocalize your hunger by not only crying but saying babababa! You have also started to start to say dadadada a lot! You also went strawberry picking for the first time this weekend. Looks like we are in for an interesting summer.

Happy 29th Week Lula!

2011-05-19T06:10:00.000-04:00

this week you have really been enjoying eating breakfast with Mom and Dad in your highchair. You are particularly interested when Dad puts cream cheese on a bagel and f you hear any noises behind you you immediately try to turn around to figure out who or what it is. You are also starting to pick up and use a few helpful signs for Mom and Dad to let us know when you want more food!

Happy 28th Week Lula!

2011-05-12T19:04:00.000-04:00

This week you got to spend lots of time with your Grandma and Grandpa at their house playing with all of their animals. You really really liked the horses, especially your aunt Rosy’s horse Corona. You were interested in the goats and donkeys but the donkeys weren’t very interested in you. The chickens were apparently the least interesting of the bunch you didn’t even want to look at them.

Photo Book

2011-05-10T08:47:00.001-04:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Happy 27th Week Lula!

2011-05-05T06:44:00.000-04:00

This week you have started sitting up on your own. You have been enjoying breakfast with Mom sitting in your highchair in the morning and a book before bed with Dad.You are also starting to get quite a bit of blond hair growing in so who knows what your hair color will end up being. We have also noticed that your eye color may be changing just a little bit!

26 Weeks of Lula

2011-05-01T20:12:00.001-04:00

It’s hard to believe that we have taken 26 of these pictures, she has changed so much and we can’t wait to see how much she is going to change in the next 26.

Lula's First 6 Months

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6 Months and Counting

2011-04-29T16:27:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I took the day off and Lula stayed home with me to celebrate her big birthday. My plan was to spend the day outside in the yard, but with the storms and rain yesterday we stayed inside instead. We went out in the morning to run a few errands and then came home to make a special treat for the day…

We made two small red velvet layer cakes and a special treat that Lula could actually enjoy. Steamed carrots and butternut squash with cinnamon, thanks to Lula’s Aunt Kris who gave us our very own Beaba babycook for Christmas last year. It was definitely a hit and after a day of playing in the kitchen Lula was ready for bed a bit early and had her bath and went to bed a bit earlier than usual around 5:15.

Then it was time for Scott and I to give ourselves a little pat on the back for making it through our first 6 months of being parents, my going back to work at a less than ideal schedule and still having a happy, smiling baby!

Happy 26th Week Lula!

2011-04-28T09:37:00.000-04:00

It’s hard for me to believe that 6 months ago you were so little and quiet. Now we can’t keep you quiet, you are either having a lively if imaginary conversation with us or with your toys or singing along in the car. You put absolutely everything in your mouth and you can’t wait to get your hands on everything. You are also starting to drink out of a cup! You have had your first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day and Easter. Now you will have your first and only 6 month birthday!

Our Little Garden 2011

2011-04-23T21:40:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to getting the garden started today. We took an early morning trip to the closest nursery and picked up a few of the plants that never materialized from my seeds. I set up the net for the vining plants, got my tomato cages in place and then started planting. This summer we are planting Pineapple tomatoes, Supersteak tomatoes, San Marzano tomatoes, Pineapple Tomatillos, Red potatoes, Sweet Corn, Sugar snap peas, Soybeans, Butternut Squash, Zuccchini, Pickling cucumbers, Sweet Cucumbers, Sweet Peppers, Jalapenos, Mini golden peppers, Eggplant, Romaine lettuce, Bibb lettuce, and Iceberg lettuce.

I also redid our herb garden, starting from scratch. Our Rosemary tree was so root bound we almost couldn’t get it out of the container! I replanted a new rosemary in a more manageable size and added a few of our standard old friends, thyme, sage, basil, and mint. I also added a few other things that I have never grown, tarragon, lavender and chives. Hopefully everything comes up soon!

Happy 25th Week Lula!

2011-04-21T06:14:00.000-04:00

This week you got to spend sometime rolling around with your great grandma! You and Dad also got to spend some quality time together while Mom spent her first night away from you guys. You have also developed a very strong liking for sweet potatoes.

Happy 24th Week Lula!

2011-04-14T06:25:00.000-04:00

This week we have been going to get you up in the morning to find you “swimming” around. You roll over onto your stomach and inch your way all around your crib. You have also learned how to sing at different volumes this week and you have been exercising your vocal chords as much as possible. Monday you and Mom spent the whole day playing in the sun!

Happy 23rd Week Lula!

2011-04-07T05:21:00.000-04:00

This week absolutely everything goes in your mouth! Toys, hair, your fingers, anyone else’s fingers, clothes, spoons, just about anything you can get your hands on. You are a fan of carrots and have figured out how to reach for things including the spoon you are eating off of.

Charcutepalooza: Makin’ Bacon

2011-04-01T08:09:00.001-04:00

We got started a little late so this post is a bit of back tracking and a bit of this current month’s challenge. BACON! Who wouldn’t want to make their own bacon and Canadian bacon. the Bacon Challenge was from February’s challenge on Curing and the Canadian bacon is from April’s Challenge on Hot Smoking.

Makin’ Bacon Day 1:

We started with a 5 1/2 lb pork belly and some pink salt, courtesy of Central Meats in Chesapeake. We decided to try a few different cures and see which one we like the best. So we split our belly into 4 pieces and away we went. We coated each piece a basic dry cure then put each piece in it’s own bag and started playing with different flavors.

In the end we decided to try 2 sweet cures and 2 savory. One that didn’t have any extra flavors so that we can try fresh bacon without anything getting in the way. One with smashed garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns. On the sweet side we had heard about honey cured bacon being pretty tasty so we are trying that and maple and brown sugar.

Then they sat in the fridge until they were ready to meet with the heat. We decided to roast 1 sweet and 1 savory to get the true flavors from each without any added smoke and since we were firing up the smoker for the Canadian bacon from the April challenge at the same time why not try 2 that we added a but of smoky flavor to.

Makin’ Bacon Day 4: Brining the day away.

We started the brine for the Canadian Bacon. It was simple enough to get ready, the only thing we had to work out was how to store that in our fridge. We cut the brine recipe in half since we only had a 2 lb loin. We cooked, cooled , chilled and stirred to get the brine ready. Then we dropped in the pork and in the fridge it went.

Makin’ Bacon Day 6: Un-brining the night away

I got home from work and pulled the pork loin out of the brine and rinsed it off to rest in the fridge until the next day……

Makin’ Bacon Day 7: It’s time to get cooking.

I got everything rinsed and ready and then the rain started! I thought I was going to get a bit of a break but no such luck for me. So I set up our umbrella and got smoker fired up.

That last 25 degrees was a long cold wait. Finally the smoker was ready to go and I got everything situated. Then just checked on the temp every 15 min. or so and in around 2 hours we had beautiful smoky bacon and some really tasty oven roasted bacon not to mention some yummy Canadian bacon.

We put the garlic and bay leaf bacon to use almost immediately and roasted a chicken with a few slices on top, last night we had delicious BLT’s with avocado and maple cured bacon and I really enjoyed my breakfast of poached eggs and Canadian bacon on an english muffin, no time for hollandaise, this morning. I can’t wait until this summer when I can make fried green tomato BLT’s with our own bacon!

Overall I preferred the flavor on the maple and brown sugar and the garlic and bay leaf bacon when the bacon was what you wanted to taste.The maple and brown sugar got a sticky sugary glaze on top that crisps up and caramelizes as you cook it. The hickory smoking made a big difference too. The honey cured and basic fresh bacon are very tasty and oven roasting is quite a bit easier than smoking but I really enjoyed the flavor from the smoking. We will be makin’ bacon again soon!

Happy 22nd Week Lula!

2011-03-31T07:42:00.000-04:00

This week you have started to really enjoy fruit, pears specifically, you don’t love apples but you will tolerate them. We finally found a cereal that you like, leave it to you, your cereal of choice isn’t rice or oatmeal its multigrain. I hope you aren’t this picky once you start eating solid food.

I'm an Easy Rider

2011-03-24T17:03:00.000-04:00

How do you compare?
I spent some of my afternoon off browsing around this site taking
quiz after quiz. They can be so addicting. Have fun

six word memoirs

2011-03-24T09:49:00.001-04:00

I love this idea I read about over at Kirtsy today. Now I cant wait to hear more and try to come up with my own. What would yours be?

Happy 21st Week Lula!

2011-03-20T12:46:00.000-04:00

This week you have become mobile (sort of). Almost overnight you turned into our little inchworm. You are scooting along all on your own. You just lay back and relax on you back and push yourself across the floor. Sometimes you turn on your side and kick yourself around in a circle. We never find you in the same spot or even facing the same direction when we get you up in the morning.

Cupcakes for March

2011-03-17T12:17:00.001-04:00

This month the request was for red velvet cupcakes. So I made not-so-red cupcakes. I didn’t quite have enough red food dye. They were still delicious!

Happy 20th Week Lula!

2011-03-17T07:56:00.001-04:00

This week you have really stepped up your chatting game. You LOVE to have a nice long chat with your giraffe first thing in the morning. You also got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Aunt Rosy this weekend while Grandpa and Mom and Dad were working on your new bathroom.

Our Little Garden 2011

2011-03-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

Our little garden got its start this week! I only planted three of each variety this year after last year’s surplus of plants with no home. Hopefully we will have better luck with the Pineapple Tomatillos and the Pistou Basil. I’m also trying Lavender and mint from seed for the first time. I also moved our little seed spa to our guest room upstairs. I think the kitchen may have been too chilly last year and the guest room gets the same amount of sun but stays about 5 degrees warmer. I just hope our little friends don’t get too toasty in their heated sauna.

Happy 19th Week Lula!

2011-03-10T06:14:00.000-05:00

This week you have started to sing along to music. You were pretty specific in the beginning and only piped in for one particular song but now you chime in with your latest rendition to just about everything and you particularly enjoy singing along in the car. You particularly enjoy singing back whatever song daddy happens to be serenading you with.

Let’s Make Meat!

2011-03-09T09:39:00.001-05:00

We just found out about this from an article in the paper this morning. 12 months of curing, salting, smoking and general meat tricks following Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman as a textbook. One new technique a month! This could not only satisfy one of my 30x30 challenges, 8. Learn a new technique/skill, but it is also something that will hopefully be delicious.

Making our own bacon? That project on its own could take up a whole year! Add on prosciutto and corned beef and we were sold. Scott and I are super excited to have a new project to work on together. We are a little behind and plan on catching up when we can. We have already missed a few challenges…

January Challenge is Duck Prosciutto.

February Challenge. The Salt Cure.

the Apprentice Challenge, make some fresh bacon. It can be pork, lamb, goat belly – whatever floats your boat. For now, we’re not asking you to smoke the bacon, simply to cure and roast. Fresh Bacon. You’re going to love it.

Are you in for the Charcutiere Challenge? Ready to bring it? You’re going to make pancetta. Or guanciale. There is no need to limit yourself to pork, check out this inspiring take on lamb prosciutto.

march challenge. brining.

For the Apprentice Challenge, we want you to brine a whole chicken or pork chops.

For the Charcutiere Challenge, we want you to brine, and then corn, a piece of beef. Brisket is the classic cut. Cow tongue is another option. You choose.

Scott will be more than happy to make his own corned beef brisket and I can’t wait to try making our own bacon. We just need to solve that pesky problem of where to hang our duck prosciutto and we will be in business. If you want to join in check out the plan at Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s Kitchen, or just click on the Charcutepalooza button on my homepage.

Let’s make meat!

Meals for the Week?

2011-03-08T11:24:00.001-05:00

This week I am trying to make our meals ahead of time, with my schedule and Lula’s early bedtime it really helps to have something at least ready to add a few finishing touches to, otherwise we end up eating at 8 or 9 when I am home. We saw this recipe on TV Saturday morning and decided that it would be pretty delicious. I couldn’t find any ground lamb, so I ground some at home and mixed it with ground beef for the meatballs. We are also trying a few other recipes from this episode and will let you know how they turn out. Red Pork Posole with Pulled Pork and Pappardelle with Pulled Pork. Hopefully spending one of my days of cooking for the week will pay off.

Moroccan Meatballs with Eggs

Cook Time: 40 min Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

Spice Blend:

1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Meatballs and Eggs:

1 pound ground lamb or beef
2 slices good quality stale bread, crusts removed, processed into fresh bread crumbs
5 eggs, 1 for meatballs, 4 for poaching and serving, optional
1 medium onion, 1/4 onion grated and juiced, 3/4 onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, 2 minced or pasted, 2 sliced
1 small handful fresh mint leaves, leaves picked and finely chopped
Pinch ground cinnamon
Few grates nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for liberal drizzling
1 small zucchini, sliced on an angle or chopped
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Spice Blend or Ras el hanout
1 (14-ounce) can chickpeas
A handful cilantro, leaves picked and chopped
Serving suggestion: Whole wheat couscous or buttered warm flatbread.

Cook's Note: 1 egg only is required for meatballs; the 4 additional eggs are to poach in sauce before serving which is optional.

To make the spice blend: Combine the cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, nutmeg cinnamon , cardamom, allspice, cayenne pepper, and ground cloves and store in an airtight container away from heat for up to several months.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange a wire cooling rack over a large baking sheet and place near a large mixing bowl. Place a bowl of warm water nearby.

In the large mixing bowl, combine the meat, bread crumbs, 1 egg lightly beaten, 2 to 3 tablespoons grated onion and juice, 2 cloves minced garlic, mint, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and a liberal drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, about 2 tablespoons. Roll the meat into walnut-size balls with dampened hands (use the bowl of warm water) and arrange the meatballs on the wire rack set over baking tray. Roast the meatballs until cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat more extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion to the pan with the sliced garlic, and zucchini. Cook 7 to 8 minutes, then add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, honey, and spice blend, and bring to a bubble. Drain the chickpeas and stir into the sauce. Remove the meatballs from the oven and slide into the sauce. Cool completely and store for make-ahead meal.

To serve, reheat the meatballs in the sauce. Use about 1 cup water to loosen up the sauce, if necessary. Make 4 wells in the sauce and drop in the 4 freshly cracked eggs. Cover the pot and simmer to poach to desired doneness. Scoop the meal into shallow bowls and stir the egg into the meatballs and sauce as you eat.

Happy 18th week Lula!

2011-03-03T06:52:00.000-05:00

This week you went back to the Doctor and got some more shots and we found out that you are growing even more than we thought! You are also starting to giggle a lot and make lots of funny faces to make us laugh!

Happy 17th Week Lula!

2011-02-24T20:19:00.001-05:00

This week you tried your first bit of “real” food and had some rice cereal. You definitely had more fun playing than eating!

Cupcakes for February

2011-02-21T20:01:00.001-05:00

I am starting to cross some things off my list. The February Birthdays at work are getting Strawberry Cupcakes with a simple but delicious lemon lime glaze.

I got a new toy!

2011-02-20T18:51:00.001-05:00

I’m super excited to get to play with my new toy. I finally got a new camera. If you thought you had seen lots of pictures before you might be in for a surprise. We had a fun afternoon testing it out.

Happy 16th Week Lula!

2011-02-17T08:19:00.001-05:00

This week you got to hang out with Grammy for a while on Sunday and Mom and Dad got to go out alone together for the first time in a long time. You have also become a pretty talented conversationalist and can mimic noises with the best of them.

Lula’s Weekly Photo

2011-02-15T10:18:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe that we have already taken 15 of these photos. Lula has definitely started to really enjoy taking her pictures and you can definitely see her personality coming through. She is super intense one week and super giggly the next. I can’t wait to see how much she changes in the next 3 months!

Lula’s Weekly Photo

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P.S. check out the original spot where I got the idea for these pictures and see their adorable weekly photos.

2. Visit at least 4 local museums/art centers or galleries. Virginia Museum of Fine Art, The Chrysler, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, The Anderson Gallery (if you want to go let me know!)

2011-02-10T10:10:00.001-05:00

2/9/2011 - Attempt number one on this task met with a little bit of trouble. I was all ready with $2 off admission passes and an address. My Mom and I headed over to the Contemporary Arts Center here in Virginia Beach for my birthday only to find that all the galleries were closed because they were opening 2 new exhibits today (2/10/2011). So we took a glance around the tiny photography exhibit that was still open and called it a day. We tried and had a good laugh! After that we headed to Norfolk and wandered around the d’art center for a while. In some good news for the day I might have found the artist that I am going to buy my piece of art from this year. I guess I will just have to go back another day.

Happy 15th Week Lula!

2011-02-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

This week we have been waking up in the morning and just listening to you babble away in your room. It’s been really funny to hear you carry on a conversation with your mobile and then give us a huge smile and lots of wiggles when we come in to get you ready in the morning.

30 x 30

2011-02-08T05:19:00.000-05:00

As promised here is my list of to dos for the coming year. The items on this list are not necessarily things I have never done or things that are hard to do. They are all things that I have been wanting to do. Hopefully this list will give me a push in just the right direction. Tomorrow my challenge officially begins!

12 months, 30 tasks, 1 big birthday

Complete a daily sketch, EVERYDAY, no matter how big, small, complicated or simple.
Visit at least 4 local museums/art centers or galleries. Virginia Museum of Fine Art, The Chrysler, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, The Anderson Gallery (if you want to go let me know!)
Continue taking Lula’s weekly picture and writing her weekly updates so that I can put them all together in a book at the end of her first year.
Make French macaroons.
Monogram something myself.
Find a new home, color and use for an old piece of furniture.
Buy one piece of art directly from the artist.
Learn a new technique/skill.
Sew something from a pattern.
Teach someone something new, outside of work.
Read 6 new books.
Complete a self portrait.
Go through that closet full of that stuff that I will use one day and get rid of the stuff I will never use any day.
Make something with a material that I have never used or that I am afraid of.
Go to a movie by myself.
Write an original recipe.
Make a magnetic felt alphabet and paint a wall with magnetic paint.
Use my punch bowl and glasses.
Condense our CD library and update our digital music library.
Make pickles and jam..
Make one meal with only the items in our garden.
Scan in all of our old photos and finish our photo albums.
Write one letter a month, not an email, not a text and not a thank you note- a real letter with an envelope and a stamp.
Really celebrate New Year’s Eve for the first time in 4 years. No going to sleep before midnight.
Genuinely make an attempt to enjoy oysters in all forms, even raw.
Spend a day or two in Williamsburg rediscovering a place I haven’t spent much time in for almost 7 years.
Watch all the movies on AFI’S 100 Years 100 Movies List and EW’s New Classics Movie List
Bake cookies/cupcakes every month for birthdays at work.
Have tea with someone, at a tea house or my house.
Celebrate my 30th birthday actually doing something I really want to do, not just what is easy and no baking my own birthday cake!

Happy 14th Week Lula!

2011-02-03T05:27:00.000-05:00

This week you have really figured out how to use your hands, no more idle grabbing or swatting at things. You have a purpose…. grab, inspect, hold for a while then toss away. That goes for everything, jewelry and glasses included.

Happy 13th Week Lula!

2011-01-27T11:58:00.001-05:00

This week we are all battling through our first family cold. You seem to be doing much better than your parents and only had 1 day of feeling bad.

Happy 12th Week Lula!

2011-01-20T09:31:00.001-05:00

This week was a big one. Mom and Dad sent you off to your first day of “school” and Mom went back to work. We all seem to be adjusting fairly well and so far you really seem to like going to visit the other kids.

A Challenge

2011-01-17T06:44:00.000-05:00

Instead of a wish for my birthday this year I have decided to challenge myself to get back to doing things that I really love. Next year I will be 30 and it has been almost 7 years since college. I have managed to get caught up in work, life and everything else and unfortunately I have let a few things fall to the side. This year with a little help I am determined to get back to sketching and making things everyday. The plan begins with a daily sketch.

I am hoping that carrying this everyday will help to get me out of my everyday routine or lack there of and into a new one/back to my old one! So I am officially jumping on the 30 before 30 List bandwagon. More to come soon.

Happy 11th week Lula

2011-01-13T08:31:00.001-05:00

You have become a bit of a chatterbox this week and you have your first 2 teeth coming in. You and Sophie the giraffe have become good friends.

Happy 10th week Lula

2011-01-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

This week you went back to the doctor to get lots of shots. You were a champ and only let out one big yell and then you were OK. You also had your very first New Years Eve, you didn’t quite make it to midnight you turned in around 7:30. We don’t mind since we know you will enjoy plenty more and because you are sleeping for 9-10 hours every night. You have also discovered that sticking out your tongue makes people laugh and you are doing it constantly.

Happy 9th week Lula

2010-12-30T13:40:00.001-05:00

This week you have been smiling at everyone and everything! You are chatting with anything that you think is talking back and you had your first bubble bath. You also had your first tour of all of our Christmases, including your very first white Christmas. We got 16”of snow at your Grammy’s house and you got to spend an extra day with aunt Kris and Uncle Joe.

Happy 8th Week Lula!

2010-12-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

This week you have graduated to a full night sleeper, 9 out of 10 nights you sleep for at least 7 hours! We are gearing up for Christmas and you helped mom make lots of cookies to give out and wrapped lots of presents. You also got your first stocking and sent out your first Christmas card this week!

How to tell it’s almost Christmas…

2010-12-22T09:02:00.001-05:00

At our house the kitchen has so many cookies and treats on it you can’t see anything else. Last night was packing night for our Christmas treats.

It really made me want to have another cookie party. Maybe next year we can have a kids decorating party! Anyone interested?

Holiday Round up

2010-12-21T11:29:00.000-05:00

West Elm

I love this tree. It would be great for a mixture of vintage and new ornaments.

And these snow globes they are so nice and simple.

I couldn’t resist these sparkly animals especially the little squirrel and rabbit. Plus $5 goes to St. Jude.

Who wouldn’t love to curl up on a chilly winter night with this furry throw around the holidays.

I also love these nutcracker plates and platters.

Last but not least I love this wreath and topiary it would be so easy to change this to work with any holiday.

Z Gallerie

These twig candles would make any table cozy.

I can always use another spot to hid presents and these Veneto Suitcases would do the trick.

This twig coat rack would be the perfect spot for your guests to hang their coats.

These dessert stands would be perfect for all those delicious treats at the holidays.

Pottery Barn

I LOVE this burlap advent calendar. You can make it anything you want and it has great BIG pockets for toys or treats!

These lit mercury balls would be beautiful in large clusters on a mantle or in a centerpiece.

All the cookies, fudge and caramels of the season would look delectable in this simple antique 3-tier stand.

Champagne will always look classic and no one will have trouble finding it in this party bucket

allmodern.com

I love this Holiday Matryoska Stocking and this holiday tweeter stocking

From the Closet of lost Christmas Presents…

2010-12-18T20:03:00.001-05:00

We pulled out a golden oldie this week. I gave this stovetop smoker to Scott for Christmas 3 years ago and we have just now gotten around to using it. We decided to stay simple just in case it ended up being a giant smoking shoe box that we would have to throw outside!

We decided basic smoked chicken breasts would be the easiest and most delicious to try first. Then we had to pick our smoke.

The process was much simpler than we expected. Just a few tablespoons of wood chips, a drip pan and our seasoned chicken.

22 minutes later we had perfectly smoked, juicy and delicious chicken for dinner. We will definitely be using the smoker again!

Happy 7th week Lula!

2010-12-16T14:05:00.000-05:00

This week you got to see more snow! We did a little more Christmas shopping and you have begun to have very lively conversations with your bumble bee friends and your parents! You also began to accessorize your outfits with some hair bows this week.

Happy 6th Week Lula

2010-12-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

This week you saw your first snow flurries and spent an afternoon Christmas shopping. You put your first ornament on our Christmas tree too.

Happy 5th week Lula

2010-12-02T15:50:00.001-05:00

This week you have been starting to make lots of interesting noises and some amusing faces. You are really enjoying your bath at night. You even slept for 6 hours one night and on average have been sleeping for 4-5 hours at night. Mom and Dad are most excited about your new sleeping habits.

Lula’s Weekly Photo

2010-12-01T09:48:00.002-05:00

Each week I will be taking a picture of Lula to watch her grow, So far we have 4 weeks of photos. The first was taken at the hospital before we left and all the rest have been taken here at home. We are hoping to put them all together into a photo book after her first year. I fell in love with this idea from YHL . You can see all of them by clicking on the pictures.

Happy 1st Month Lula!

2010-11-26T16:08:00.001-05:00

This week you have accomplished a lot. you are sleeping for 4-5 hours at a time at night, you went on your first visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s house which included your first taste of tunnel traffic ( it took us 2.5 hours to get there) and you had your first Kent family thanksgiving and meet just about all of your mom’s cousins and your great grandpa. You were polite enough to be passed around to just about everyone and barely made any noise. Happy first month Lula.

Happy 3rd week Lula

2010-11-18T22:15:00.001-05:00

This week you went back to the doctor and got a clean bill of health. You have started to stay awake longer lately and we have found your first favorite toy!

Happy 2nd week Lula

2010-11-11T18:55:00.001-05:00

Today your grandma and aunt came to visit and got to spend some time with you while you were awake!

Happy 1st week Lula

2010-11-04T20:36:00.001-04:00

Lula is officially a week old today. It’s hard to believe that one week ago we didn’t have this little one hanging around. Today we went on our first family outing, that wasn’t to the Dr. and we all took a nap during the afternoon rain storm. Happy first week Lula.

introducing…..

2010-10-28T20:47:00.001-04:00

Miss Lula Mae

10/28/2010

10:28 am

10lbs. 4 oz. 21 1/2”

Our little one…

2010-10-08T15:07:00.001-04:00

…may not be so little after all! We had an ultrasound today and with 3 more weeks to go she is already estimated to be 8lbs 4 oz !

Who knows how much bigger she is going to get, any guesses?

September 26, 2010

2010-09-26T08:17:00.001-04:00

Exactly one year ago today.

Grilled pizzas 2.0 and something new

2010-08-17T18:34:00.001-04:00

We decided to try the grilled pizzas again. Determined to get them to grill on the grill not on a stone….. this time we made a half whole wheat dough and

They worked out beautifully. They were the perfect thickness and texture. They held up to the grill and the ricotta. Because they worked out so well I decided to try my hand at something I have not made before. A cheddar cheese crusted apple pie. All in all it went well. The crust was a bit cantankerous, and temperamental but in the end we worked out our differences and together we made something great.

who will she look like

2010-08-17T17:28:00.001-04:00

We are starting to think more and more about whether our little one will be more like me or more like him. I guess only time will tell, but we have had so much fun thinking about it.

thursday night dinner

2010-07-24T19:40:00.001-04:00

We decided to get a little more adventurous with our grilling Thursday and tried grilled pizza and steaks. We used tomatoes, sweet peppers and basil from our garden and added a bit of white asparagus and ricotta. The pizzas themselves were delicious and light with just ricotta, olive oil and lemon with the veggies.

We learned a lot from this experience and lost a little bit of crust through the grates. In the end we had a great dinner and we have a game plan for our next pizza grilling night. One tip…. do not make your crust too thin and make sure you know what side of the grill is heated or you will end up with gummy stringy dough!

the nursery

2010-07-14T09:20:00.001-04:00

Last week we took the week off to work on the nursery and get things set up. Between my erratic schedule and the busy season coming up for Scott we decided to get things done while we both had the time.

The dresser turned out so well. It’s been used by lots of people and now our little one will be using it too.

We still have a few things to finish, I have been working on the mobile and a few things for the walls.

And this is the bedding that started the whole room. We wanted to do something that wasn’t overly girly and was really cheerful.

nursery

2010-07-02T09:30:00.001-04:00

We took next week off to get things started on the nursery for little bug. We decided to go with a really bright and cheery combination. Turquoise, green, yellow and orange. We are going to start painting the room turquoise or more specifically …

and repainting an old changing children’s dresser that I have had for years orange….

our first edamame

2010-07-02T09:16:00.003-04:00

We decided to try our had at soybeans this summer and so far they have been growing very well. The only down sides have been that the Japanese beetles love to chow down on their leaves and that we didn’t plant more! Last night we pick just a few to see if they are ready yet. We boiled them in lemon water and salt for 5 minutes added lemon juice and salt then had a snack.

They were plump and wonderful. We can’t to have the rest this weekend.

kiwano!

2010-07-02T09:16:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we went to the store and saw a very strange fruit in the produce section and we decided to take it home with us to investigate. Turns out it is a kiwano or horned melon.

We found the basic steps online and got started. First cutting it in half.

Then you squeeze out the little seed sacks and enjoy.

The final decision… I thought it tasted like banana (which just happens to be my least favorite fruit ever) and Scott thought it tasted like kiwi ( another of my least favorite fruit.) In the end Scott enjoyed basically all of the melon and I drank lots of water to get rid of the banana flavors in my mouth!

Stuffed Zucchini

2010-07-02T09:09:00.001-04:00

Tonight we decided to have stuffed zucchini. We used some zucchini from my parents huge garden and stuffed it with some tomato and mozzarella chicken sausage , fresh tomatoes and basil from our garden.

We grilled some corn and asparagus and had a little fresh foccacia. It was a great summer meal.

Now we know…

2010-06-16T20:14:00.001-04:00

it’s a Girl!