maricucu

Project 52 week, uhhhh . . .

2011-02-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

Yeah I missed two weeks. Not because I didn't take the pictures but because I kept trying to formulate a post in my head and by the time I did that would not have the time to post it. A bit of sickness, some all purpose busyness and before you know a week . . . or two . . . has past.

So I missed the second week of the seasons theme. Appropriately I caught what I expect to be the last of the rare North Carolina snowfalls of the season.

Last week's theme was lifestyle and right about now my lifestyle includes evening sessions of this. Mindless knitting that an ADHD person can crank out while focusing other mindless things like food network or shows I won't even mention on Bravo. If anything it at least makes me feel productive even if the load of clean laundry remains sitting next to my knitting basket unfolded. Sometimes sanity trumps the to do list.

I have managed to do other things but somehow, perhaps the winter blahs, don't make it feel worthy of documentation. I promise to post more when the dreariness wears off, or I get more sleep. Whichever comes first.

We did it again.

2011-02-21T11:30:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned we have a little tradition that Mr. Maricucu started of having the older kids build a bear for the baby. Yes I know the stuffed animals are dust collectors, but pretty well loved dust collectors around here.

Well, we figured it was high time to get the baby her first pal and seeing as how the toddler kept walking off with the older brothers' bears all the time we added a nicely understuffed new one to her collection as well. It's amazing to see how much the boys have grown since those last pictures. Those two grown boys you see below are now 7 and 5 respectively. The baby that we built the bear for last time is now a super active 2 year old.

The more things change . . . well you know.

Twofer.

2011-02-04T18:25:00.005-05:00

Today's post is both my Project 52 post for this week as well as my latest obsession. Chai. It almost sounds like "sigh" which is precisely what I do when the spices hit the heat of the tea. My body actually sighs. This week's theme for Project 52 is Seasons and chai has become my ritual for the winter season.

Besides, any recipe that starts with popping open a can of condensed milk has my interest peaked from the get go. Technically this recipe is for a chai mix that keeps in the fridge for up to 6 months (not that yours will last as long if you actually like chai). But what's chai? Spiced, milky, sweet indian tea. Usually the spices are simmered for a while in a combination of milk/water then strained and the tea briefly brewed in the spiced liquid. Black peppercorns, cardomom, cloves, ginger and cinnamon all are common chai spices. If you like holiday spice you're likely to love chai.

Now a while back I was catching up with reading Amy Karol's blog and saw her post a chai mix. At the time I was not a tea drinker but I bookmarked the recipe. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've 'fessed up on here somewhere that my preference for tea has always involved the powdered instant iced tea which horrifies the sweet tea soul of my southern bred husband. I just was never into hot beverages and if I wanted caffeine then I was either going to drink cola or the vile powdered iced tea. Period. End of Story. Or so I thought.

Fast forward to this year when I'm shaking things up including now drinking tea - real tea for some ADD coping benefits. I won't go into the long winded explanation but it's all about the l-theanine and dopamine if you want to google and how it helps my slightly off kilter brain. Hello, my name is Marielle and I'm a black tea drinker. First, I drank it cold and unsweetened like some bitterly brewed medicine that I had to endure several times a day. Quickly I realized that was no way to do things so I splashed a bit of lemonade into my sipping tea and Arnold Palmered my way through the day feeling quite devious if I say so myself. I also revisited Alton Brown's wisdom on tea because I figured there had to be a more common sense approach to tea. Right away I learned how to brew a smooth cup. After downing my first ever cup of smooth, hot tea and actually enjoying it, I remembered the chai concentrate recipe. I hit the pantry for the ingredients and mixed it up. I tried it, let he kids try it and then had to fend them off the dregs of my cup only with the promise that I would fix them their own. Definitely a success.

The original recipe calls for cardamom which I don't keep around the house so I increased the cinnamon. I also remembered my mom mentioning that in Dominican Republic allspice is referred to as the peppercorn of the Caribbean so in went the allspice. I'm sure you could try ginger or even *gasp* stick to the recipe and use cardamom.

Chai Concentrate
adapted from The Oregonian

1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg - definitely try to use fresh
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

First the labor intensive part. Opening up the condensed milk can and not licking it all up. Please don't. That's no example for the kids and really you need the milk for the chai. Priorities people, priorities.

You'll notice my fancy condensed milk utensil. Yes a butter knife. Growing up my mother always grabbed one before the can opener since it's just much sturdier than a spatula and a bit easier to get into the can. This time it also works as a great stirring stick that is again much faster than a spatula. Dump in the sugar and spices then give it a good stir.

Tada! That's it. Well almost it. Let the mix rest 24 hours and allow the spices to bloom, flavoring the condensed milk as well. Trust me, you need to wait.

Just tuck it in the fridge and wait until the next day.

Through the magic of blog time here's the mix all ready to go. Now there's a slight layer of bubbles/scum looking stuff at the top. Do not fret, it's just the air bubbles from stirring that worked themselves to the surface. Just give the mix another stir.

Next you'll brew your tea. Oh that tag? Yes, Luzianne. I'm trying to finish what I have in the pantry before trying other brands but if handled well this one's pretty smooth. Oh the mason jar? Well since my buddy the keurig produces my hot water and I hate washing dishes I skip the tea pot and brew directly into a quart mason jar. I drink the first cup as hot chai and then the subsequent cups I drink iced. I just chuck a lid on the jar and stick it in the fridge. Fancy teapots are cute, but a relaxed me is even cuter.

While your tea is brewing, dump a regular heaping tablespoon (or two if you dare) of chai concentrate into your teacup.

Now this is where the rubber meets the road. In one corner, our piping hot tea. In the other corner the chai mix. Who will reign supreme?

Pour the hot tea over the chai mix . . .

. . . stir. Then watch the magic happen.

Sigh. Milky, sweet, spicey goodness and a hot cup to warm your hands.

Project 52. Scale/Size Week 2

2011-01-29T21:39:00.004-05:00

Hmmmm, late. Surprise, surprise!

I had a hard time coming up with something theme related this week. So I took the easy way out and shot some more origami stars that the toddler ran off with and dismantled. Her hand was not supposed to be part of the photos but it was a wonderful deviation. One regulation sized star, one teeny star and a quarter as well as my lens cap for scale.

Uh, ma'am what do you have in there?

2011-01-28T22:11:00.004-05:00

Oh just a drum,

Some maracas,

A tambourine,

And this lethal quira (thank goodness it wasn't in her carry on),

Yes that would be my mom, aka Abuela's doing. Now before each parent cringes in horror at the thought of a grandparent showing up with the equivalent of a percussion section as a gift, I asked for it. I really did ask for it. Promise. See in June when my mom was partying her soon to be 60 year young patooty at my grandfather's birthday party she mentioned she was having trouble coming up with gift ideas to bring back for the boys. I told her that she didn't have to bring anything but if she felt she had to that I would love some instruments for the kids and to use in our homeschooling. No I have no visions of us as the Partridge Family, just wanting to let the kids bang out their preferred rhythm without worrying about expensive gear. One of the markets in DR sells these for a song (ha!) and I remembered how much fun we had as kids with the drums just like that flag painted one on my table.

That would be how my mom found herself explaining away not one but two sets of instruments (for both sets of grandchildren) to a US customs agent. A whole suitcase worth of instruments mind you. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "it's for my grandkids" and apparently he believed her. Like I said thank goodness the guira picks (3 very pokey metal tines) were not on her carry on or I might have gotten a call from a TSA agent holding my mom for questioning. But thanks to her we now have a rocking family band to which we've added the collection of harmonicas that have somehow made their way to our home over the last couple of years.

And if you come to my house a certain little two year old might treat you to her version of the blues.

Here's a proper use of those instruments and featuring the voice of the Dominican equivalent of John Lennon, Bob Dylan and P Diddy all rolled into one - Juan Luis Guerra. I dare you not to get up and dance.

Size/Scale. Week 1

2011-01-20T14:48:00.002-05:00

This week's theme being size and scale you'd think I would have plenty of objects and little subjects to photograph. However when you hand a huge restaurant sized spoon to a toddler they run off to bang the front door. Go figure. Back to the drawing board and inanimate objects.

Et voila! My crochet hooks. Love the colors, love the gaudy sheen and most of all they take direction well.

Legos, Ancient Egypt and Fireman Sam

2011-01-16T09:37:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not going to play some funky version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Just another homeschooling snapshot.

Around the holidays we were reading up on ancient Egypt, mummies, pyramids and by virtue the Sphinx. At one point we pulled out the legos to build a pyramid. My boys told me there was no way I could build a pyramid at which time I figured out they thought I meant a real pyramid. Doh! I'm sure the puny one we built somehow did not compare to their imagination.

However, my boys in all their attention to detail decided to build the chamber attached to the pyramid where the Pharaoh's body was prepared for burial. Oh yeah and that conversation on mummification? Grossed out momma way more than the kids. The oldest put together the chamber and then I fiddled around with a little lego person to build a loosely interpreted Sphinx. Loosely being the operative word. One of my boys looked at my woebegone Sphinx and said, "here momma, let me try." then proceeded to build a larger Sphinx with paws and a body that actually fit the scale of the lego head. I felt like I was in front of this guy:

After a while I left them to continue playing while I fixed lunch. When I returned to announce lunch was ready I was greeted with this. From our favorite TV show Fireman Sam, the lighthouse from Ponty Pandy. Built right on top of the pyramid, Sphinx and attached chamber. How's that for historically accurate? Can you say, "I love rabbit holes."

Beginnings. Week 2

2011-01-15T15:55:00.000-05:00

The second half of the beginnings theme for Project 52. This time it's personal. Back in November I found this nifty little people typing thing that's related to how you dress. So the new photo off to the right? That's my after. The necklace on the book? That's my "type" of jewelry and yes it definitely fits me to a T despite my aversion to accessories for years. The page to which the book is open? Yes it's my type and if you know me in real life you'll chuckle at the inset quote.

My beginning though, was spurred on by the external makeover. I've done quite a bit of introspection since then, both related and unrelated which has peeled off a big 'ol bandaid. I'm hoping this is the year for healing old wounds as well as the beginning of a healed me.

Soap.

2011-01-14T16:27:00.004-05:00

Random tip from moi: Unwrap your bars of soap and tuck them in your linen closet, underwear drawer or just put them on a shelf. Not only will they freshen your towels but the bars dry a bit more making them last longer in the shower.

I remember reading this somewhere and want to think it was another Martha tip. What can I say I love Martha for all of the nontraditional reasons. I love that she's picky and yes a little compulsive. I love that the more she lets loose on her shows lately the more real and endearing she becomes. I also love that she goes overboard in her explanations. Watching her shows as a kid (oh yes I did), I loved the mini schoolings I got on fussy and old fashioned norms. They lined right up with some of the ones my mom recalled from her own childhood and shared with me.

Beginnings. Week 1

2011-01-05T16:51:00.003-05:00

First, a belated Happy New Year! There have been a host of changes for our family including the very surprising move of my little sister and her mirror image family to NC. Yes, she and her were both crazy enough to have four kids too and with both sets of cousins close in age we parents are anticipating some creative hijinks in the future. It's been pretty neat to have some family around since both Mr. Maricucu and I moved up here 10 years ago on our own. Now we get to inflict *cough* spread our fabulousness on some relatives. Be afraid, be very afraid.

On a different note if you see some cryptic photography posts in my blog it's me messing with the camera again. I've decided to try my hand at Project 52 which is just taking a picture once a week to match a selected theme. With the attention issue doing something like Project 365 would have been a guaranteed failure. Even with the weekly version I'm not making any promises and will feel free to do it the Marielle way. Which means whenever I remember.

For the first two weeks the theme is Beginnings and here's mine. I sewed 27 of these little newborn diapers for my second before he was born. That same baby just turned five years old the other day and I can't believe he ever fit in these (that's a matchbox car for scale). Since then two other siblings have worn these wee diapers and they've been packed away for the last time. See it's the beginning of new stage for our family as we slowly move from the land of babies and toddlers into one with biggish kids who have some pretty interesting personalities.

I will say I've looked forward to this in between stage of big enough to be cool but young enough to still need momma and daddy. I do have an inkling that it's quite fleeting. My mother, my grandmother and many an experienced mom all confirm that in far too short a time they'll be off having babies of their own. But for now I'm freezing time with the shutter and looking at them in awe as they transform.

Mmmmmm, hot cocoa

2010-12-19T14:42:00.004-05:00

Seriously is there ever a time one can utter the words hot cocoa and not tack on mmmm, yum or groan? I know I can't. Growing up Dominican meant we had plenty of hot chocolate/buttered toast breakfasts. However visiting my grandparents in Dominican Republic proper meant you were on the euro meal schedule. Hearty breakfast, large midday meal, and a light supper. The evening supper could be anything from a fresh bowl of milk based oatmeal, a light meatless spaghetti or hot chocolate and a toasted cheese sandwich. For a picky eater, making it through the minefield that was a large midday meal was worth it to finally get a treat for supper.

Suffice it to say I make hot cocoa/buttered toast breakfasts often in my home. And if there's even a whisper of cold weather then we might break out the hot cocoa for an afternoon warm up too. I typically make it on the stovetop. Just the side of the Hershey's cocoa canister recipe, nothing fancy (except for the homemade vanilla). Made with whole milk it's very tasty and if you really want to gussy it up do what my mom says they did growing up - add a large spoonful of peanut butter while stirring up the hot chocolate and beat it frothy with a molinillo.

However somehow one of these little puppies made it to our home.

I'm not saying how or who's responsible but it's definitely been put to use. Although as much as I like coffee I can't drink that all day long nor make it a habit of drinking it everyday. I began to think it might be nice to have instant hot chocolate. Then I thought some more. Most of the recipes for homemade hot cocoa mix involved non-dairy creamer - filled with hydrogenated oils. Remember me? I'm not afraid of the fat but I don't consider hydrogenated oils real fat. I'll eat butter, olive oil and coconut oil until the cows come home but hydrogenated oils are just something we avoid as much as possible. Then I remembered that good 'ol Alton Brown (the loquito as my mom has dubbed him, translates to "the little crazy one") has a hot cocoa recipe and he too isn't fond of freaky deaky ingredients. Sure enough his recipe for hot cocoa involves real sugar, full fat powdered milk and natural cocoa plus a few other ingredients. Better yet, it could be made with hot water *eyeing Keurig in the corner*. Meaning the perfect storm of indulgence had now descended upon my kitchen. Hot cocoa in under a minute? Here's what I thought:

Give yourself bonus points if you remember the movie that featured this song. That's back in the day for you young whipper snappers.

Back to the hot cocoa. Within two days I had tracked down full fat powdered milk. Most of the stuff in the brick and mortar stores is non-fat which to me tastes like dishwater even when it's not powdered. However if you're lucky enough to live near a large Hispanic population or near some fancy food stores you'll find NIDO powdered milk or some European full fat powdered milks. I bought the NIDO (in a can that were it not for the hot cocoa mix would last me until next year). Be sure to buy regular NIDO milk and not the NIDO Kinder (which is a fortified drink/formula).

Now I'm used to adding vanilla to my hot chocolate and since I'm efficient (read: lazy) I mulled over how to add it to the mix. I thought about taking my little leftover pieces of vanilla bean and grinding them up with the powdered sugar first to have the full vanilla flavor but then worried my food processor might just gum them up. Plus that's too much work (yes I just said that). I finally remembered that my homemade vanilla is just alcohol and would not compromise the shelf-stability of my cocoa mix. So I drizzled in some vanilla to the powdered sugar step and made sure it was well blended. Also, don't skip the cayenne even if you think you won't like it. The cayenne makes the chocolate taste even more rich not spicy. However, here's a tip. If you do like a bit of heat/spiciness then add a few more shakes of cayenne into the powder in your own cup, stir then add the hot water and stir some more. You'll get tons of back of the throat heat with no burning on your tongue due to the dairy. Absolutely delicious.

Oh and if you're *ahem* running out of gift ideas this makes an awesome gift for pretty much anyone (barring dairy allergies). However, on that note this is the perfect thing for people with dairy allergies if you use safe brands. Just make the base mix without the powdered milk and add about 50% of the recommended mix amount to your cup of warmed milk alternative (nut milks, soy milks, etc.) Pow! Safe hot cocoa mix for your dairy sensitive loved ones. Also, if you're wanting to incorporate xylitol or erythritol as the sweetener instead of all or part of the sugar it's quite simple to make a powdered version. Just whiz up 1 cup sweetener with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a food processor until it's powdered. Xylitol pretty much substitutes in equal quantities (although watch the um, side effects) and erythritol is one I haven't used but is only 70% as sweet as sugar thus you'd need roughly 2 1/2 cups for this recipe. Again I haven't tested it with the alternative sweeteners, so proceed with caution.

Hot Cocoa Mix
adapted from Alton Brown

2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons of vanilla (no water/glycerin based stuff, only alcohol based as I haven't tested the stability of anything else and mold is not yummy in hot cocoa)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa (dutch process is listed in the recipe but I've used the natural as well with no ill effects)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon table salt (any fine salt will work)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 pinch cayenne pepper (about 1/8 of a teaspoon, maybe less)

I read somewhere that when you make homemade mixes like this, the most important step is to mix it well either by sifting or some other thorough method so as to incorporate the powdered milk very well and avoid the telltale look of not quiet mixed in cocoa powder. I immediately thought of the food processor but if you have a big blender (this is a pretty big batch) then use that.

First add the powdered sugar to the food processor.

Then drizzle in the vanilla. I eyeballed it to about 2-3 teaspoons.

Then mix well. I found I had to scrape the side and bottom a bit to make sure the wet vanilla blended well back into the powdered sugar. It looked a bit like biscuit dough right before adding the wet ingredients.

After blending in the vanilla well, add all the other ingredients to the food processor.

Blend well again scraping down the bottom and sides to be sure that everything is thoroughly mixed. You may want to take a whiff right about now.

That's it. No really. All that's left is to package it up. Around here that usually means a mason jar but I'm eying that humongo powdered milk can for the next double or triple batch of cocoa mix.

Label it for family members who will inevitably want to make cup after cup of cocoa. For our tastes I've found 3-4 heaping tablespoons (or soup spoons) for 6 oz of cocoa ideal but tweak it for your tastes and then label the jar accordingly. See, I just gave you permission to make a test run all for yourself. You know, for tasting purposes of course.

So how easy is this? Well let's take a look. Just plop the powder in the mug or cup.

Add hot water and stir.

If you've got some whipped cream hanging around then by all means please guild the lily.

But then don't tell the kids because this is all that will be left.

We're ready

2010-12-19T14:22:00.001-05:00

For some winter play that is. Well, make that North Carolina winter play.

In the past we've braved it out to play in the cold and sometimes slushy NC winters. These boys need to get all that squirrely energy out and winter presents a challenge. Slushy winters meant shoes needed to dry and sometimes weren't ready for the next day's play. Mr. Maricucu suggested a pair of fishing waders for each boy. Yeah, that's not going to happen. This Florida girl finally admitted defeat and went boot shopping. Saw these rubber boots online and they even had toddler sizes (because little girl neeeeeds to do everything her older brothers do). So with a pair of thick socks their feet should stay toasty warm most of the winter. Might have to get a pair of waders for Mr. Maricucu though . . .

Mr. Maricucu and I . . .

2010-12-17T21:06:00.005-05:00

. . . have become connoisseurs of expensive toys. No, not cars or jewels or the typical things. We're soooooo over that don't you know? *insert appropriately exaggerated eye roll* No, we've begun to pay crazy prices for actual toys and way before the Christmas hoopla started. Why look, see this lego here?

Pow! We paid $200 for that several weeks ago. Yes, $200 for one very exclusive lego (well duplo to be exact). No we haven't lost our marbles. Why do you ask? This is a rare objet d'art! This type of lego exists only in the rare homes where little boys dare flush such objects down the toilet thus clogging it up so righteously that not even a toilet snake removes said lego.

That's right, Mr. Maricucu and I have not suddenly changed our names to Thurston and Lovey. No, merely paying out the nose for roto rooter to remove the toilet and present me with the perfect opportunity for a homeschool lesson on value. Oh yes, I went there, wagging finger and all. Yeah it went right over their heads too.

Apparently when the plumber comes over all fear of what you might have done coming to light goes out the window. Exhibit A: Couldn't pry him away from the scene.

The bright spot is that we now have a new wax seal and the recaulking of the toilet that had been on the household to do list forever is done. Yippee!

On a more serious note here's a quick shot from the other day. Mr. Maricucu's latest toy, an IR heli from BJs that he'd been itching to get for ages and finally did. Mr. Maricucu used to have a large RC helicopter before we got married but he gave it up for love (well, apartment space) so this feels sort of full circle. While the kids were whooping it up the other day as daddy learned to fly it, I snapped this. All I need is the Magnum P. I. theme song in the background.

I'm a cynic.

2010-12-07T21:12:00.002-05:00

Yes, yes I am. I've accepted that part of me and I'm okay with it. So the sinister chuckle I get every.single.time. I watch this commercial should come as no surprise.

Seriously, I laugh at the poor guy's face drop. Obviously it's a commercial people. But still I laugh. I'm awful, yes, yes I am.

My normal kids.

2010-11-17T13:51:00.004-05:00

Don't worry. If you come over for dinner I promise to wipe the kids and their mess off the table first. Want to guess what my biggest gripe is when poor Mr. Maricucu slogs his tired self through the door in the evenings? Why can't these children play like normal children? Yeah he can tell it's going to be a doozie from that alone.

From the adventures with our outdoor hose (don't ever open a window to tell a kid to put the hose down. 'Nuff said), to the one where they redecorated the whole back lawn with 20lbs of dog food my children have this penchant for sidestepping their toys and just coming up with other things to do. Sigh. I really do appreciate their creativity, honestly I do. But when my 120" measuring tape no longer retracts and is missing the neck strap because my kids played spider web with it? Well creativity seems over rated right about then.

If you were to walk in the boys 'room right about now you'd see all the typical plastic toy bins on the shelf but you'd also see a mishmash of cardboard boxes that they love to jealously guard as if they were worth thousands of dollars. Never mind that the booty inside is mostly cash register receipts (don't ask, it's something to do with Fireman Sam), pennies, rocks and toothpicks. Fair warning, don't let the two year old playfully knock you with her tote bag. Much like my sister at age 8 (denim purse filled with 20lbs of rocks anyone?) my daughter carries the metal tubing I never used to attach the latest-gate-she-doesn't-know-how-to-open-yet. Brass knuckles indeed.

These children gleefully jump over toy cars and play food to be the first to get the empty paper towel tubes. Bonus points if it's the tube from the foodsaver bag refills. Those are harder. Heaven help the poor soul that wants to break down boxes because the pleading for a "good box" would lead you to think you were holding a firetruck instead. And this picture? Apparently the top of our dining room table is a much better fort than the bottom. Our couch pillows do not belong on the couch. If Mr. Maricucu and I had a penny for every time we pick those up he would have retired yesterday. But, at least they're playing together, at least they're playing. And despite my healthy dose of griping in this post it's good to remember the message in videos like this. Just downloaded her book on audible. I hope it's good.

The Gift Of An Ordinary Day from Katrina Kenison on Vimeo.

My smart phone thinks I'm an idiot.

2010-11-14T20:54:00.003-05:00

Back in April my husband started pestering me about us getting some smart phone called a Droid. I had owned PDAs and even PC phones before, before the iPhone pretty much revolutionized things. I remembered the little stylus, the clumsy interface with setting it up like a PC and the lackluster speed compared to a traditional computer. I mehed, I hemmed, I hawed. I pretty much rained on his parade and said, "me? What do I need a smart phone for? I'm fine with mine. You can get yours, I'll stick with my regular cell phone." Poor guy. But he kept working on me, and finally I said I'd give it a try. It wouldn't hurt to put a calendar in easy access of my hands but I said it would be a waste, that I didn't text and that it would in no way replace the ease of working on my laptop. Man have I been on a diet of crow ever since. I kind of like crow and I really love this little phone.

The same person who said she wouldn't text? Now she interrupts *cough* entertains her husband at work with random pictures from her day. The person who whined that it wouldn't replace her laptop? Well the poor laptop has gotten lonely. She's writing me these annoying stalkerish emails and I'm kind of avoiding the topic with her. Wouldn't want her to get jealous or anything. I now check the weather while nursing the babe in bed, scan books at the local store with the UPC scanner app, record videos of the kids while rocking away in my living room and have even been *gasp* known to post to the blog from the phone (though Google sure doesn't make it easy, hear that Google?!!).

But there's one little thing wrong in this relationship between the droid and I. It thinks I'm an idiot. See, I communicate via email and forums quite a bit. I pride myself on a decent mastery of the English language and even more so on my wonderful knack for using spellcheck. All hail to firefox for that wonderful spellcheck. Still, an error would escape my fingers now and then. A little typo here, an incorrect tense typed up in a rush there. Nothing the reader on the other end couldn't fill in almost automatically with this wonderful human mind we have. If I typed, "I'll scroumge that up for you", the reader could understand that I meant scrounge. All well and good.

However, my smart phone thinks it knows better than me. I find it kind of creepy in HA L sort of way. It has this annoying little feature called autocorrect that when I'm thumbing away on the onscreen keyboard takes a best guess at what my intended word is. Instead of scrounge it thinks I means "scourge" and then I come across online like I'm Balki from Perfect Strangers wishing a pox upon my reader. Mr. Maricucu says I can turn it off but the feature does come in handy sometimes. Unless I'm texting in Spanish with my mom and then it has a field day. In another year or so of adding Spanish words to the autocorrect roster I'll have the thing thoroughly confused and my poor friends are going to be getting the funkiest Spanglish emails evah. Good times, good times. So if you get a message from me and it sounds like I was hitting the sauce, rest assured that I'm not. It was just my droid.

Random TV show association.

2010-10-18T20:44:00.005-04:00

I have these random moments that trigger memories like when you find that dusty cardboard box in your attic and pull out item after item in awe at the time that's passed. Somehow the other day I was watching The Nanny. Don't ask. It involved me nursing and not being near the remote. This episode guest starred Joe Bologna and I remembered one of his very short lived shows that my sister and I absolutely adored. Rags to Riches. I immediately had to search on youtube and apparently I'm not alone in my crazy devotion. We loved the kooky plot of a widower adopting 5 grownish girls but most of all we loved the music. Yes the random acts of dancing and song love started when I was a kid. Music that had my mom's ear cocked our TV's way because she recognized almost all the songs (my mom rocked the 60s). Just like these current teeny boppers loving everything 90s again *sigh* everyone was obsessed with the 50s and 60s back then. I loved, loved, loved Tisha Campbell.

Of course that reminded me of Little Shop of Horrors the movie. I can't remember how many times we watched that one but too many too count. I will not admit to singing with a hairbrush along with Ms. Campbell and her crew. Nope, didn't do it.

Seeing Tichina Arnold triggered the memories of watching Martin religiously then going to school the next day to laugh about it with friends. Sheneneh and Pam were the highlights of almost every episode. Be warned, mild but colorful language in this one:

After guffawing over Sheneneh I couldn't help but remember In Living Color, another 90s favorite. Fire Marshall Bill and Homey the Clown were my top picks but Wanda and Venus De Milo are a close second. Definitely kind of on the rude and crude side but I can't help laughing still. Here's a more tame skit with Jim Carey as Background Guy.

I realized two things after my mini flashback:

1. I have a strange sense of humor
and
2. I watched way too much TV as a kid

No chia pet around here.

2010-10-08T19:52:00.004-04:00

Just a quick little post and run. A view inside my fridge. *best Howard Cosell voice* In one corner water+chia gel. In the other corner, chia pudding with milk, xylitol, vanilla and of course chia seed. Will report back with the results.

The Chia.

2010-10-08T14:22:00.008-04:00

No, not tai chi. Chia. As in . . . no I can't say it. If you must go there, at least go here. Yes, I've had the song running through my head the whole time and the one time it came out of my lips my kids kept asking me what I was singing. But yeah, it's that chia.

The back story: One of my kids is allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. Since his diagnosis we've not kept nuts in the house except for an isolated garage stash of boiled peanuts for Mr. Maricucu. It's a southern thing and I like his boiled peanuts about as much as he likes plantains (which is not at all). So, no nuts in the home. We keep sunflower seeds and sunbutter plus flax seed and milled flax seed to boost protein. I was trying to find another source of easy protein both for snacking, meal boosting and most importantly, something crunchy to put in salads. I love nuts in salads and was really missing the hefty fat/protein boost. So in my search I came across the mention of chia seed.

Before I go much further let me bare my food soul. My food philosophy so to speak and hang on 'cause it's a wild ride down the rabbit hole with this one. First, I'm not a vegetarian, vegan or raw foodist. Nothing wrong with any of those food preferences, I'm just not wanting people to stumble across this post with lofty expectations involving any one of those three and then be shocked out of their gourd when I mention that I'm considering soaking some chia in condensed milk. See? I told you.

So, here's the food rules according to me and my clan:

1. Sugar is bad but artificial sweeteners are worse. Better to eat real sugar, honey or maple syrup. (sugar police, please don't bother stopping here). Do I try to limit sugar? Sure but not severely. I do love to bake and my vice of choice is butter+flour+sugar so I don't have too much label reading to do. Am I convinced my all butter blueberry muffins are health food? Nah. Do I think they're better for me than the premade stuff using HFCS, plus a whole mess of unpronouncables? Shyeah. It's a continuum and this is where I am.

2. Fat is good. Fat fills in wrinkles and keeps you from going woo-woo-crazy as you age. Good fats help you regulate hormones as we *cough* all race down that slippery slope towards menopause. So olive oil, coconut oil, butter (yes real butter!) - good fats. Personally, I use them liberally. In fact, I don't weigh or measure myself but I'm a couple sizes smaller than I was when younger and afraid of fat. Just sayin'.

3. Yes your momma was right. Vegetables and fruit are good for you. Doesn't mean you have to eat them steamed with no salt and a side of blegh. Have you seen a Latin, Indian or Southern cook in action? Seasoning, caramelization, balanced salt and yes good fats can take a veggie from no way to yes please.

4. Grains aren't health food but I'm kind of attached to them so I try to temper my use of unbleached white flour with whole wheat flour. I also try to not build a meal around starches alone (see #3). I am Dominican, so there's no way I'm giving up my rice. Just not happening. Mr. Maricucu will sob if I mention giving up potatoes. Again, we're not going there. Aside from our very, very, very brief foray into Atkins as a young married couple (that ended with a big bang during a family Thanksgiving) we're not going to give up carbs. But we have lessened them and made better choices.

5. We drink green smoothies in the morning. Nothing fancy, an apple, a whole mess of spinach and a huge amount of frozen fruit with a dollop of honey. Great way to start the day for this ADDer that used to self medicate with caffeine. Alas it required eating something proteiny (yes that's a word) a couple of hours later. We just started doing this in the Spring then the baby arrived and it all went to pot. It's just now that I'm back to making the morning smoothie.

Ultimately though, flavor rules. I balance our choices so that we are getting nutritious meals but really if it doesn't taste good there's just no convincing my own palate (the pickiest one in our family). Balance. It's all about balance. I'm not an extremist when it comes to food and will severely break imaginary "food rules" all the time if there's something yummy involved. I've been known to eat a twinkie still (can't keep them in the house though or I'll inhale them). I eat deep fried things. Yes I do. I try to keep grass fed red meat for cooking but if I run out I'll use the regular stuff. I'll drink the occasional Coca Cola but lately have been preferring lemonade. I'll go into that another day. Food is a joy, it's a pleasure. I grew up in a family that appreciated and celebrated food. So while Mr. Maricucu and I have made changes over the course of many years we don't fall into any one food philosophy and that's my disclaimer.

Phew. So glad to have gotten that off my chest. Not a confession but a solid proclamation that I'm weird and proud of it. Chia seed. Right. No more tangents. I found out about chia seed from another mom who mentioned that her kids liked it. I learned they were filled with Omega 3 essential fatty acids, tons of minerals and chock full of protein as well as fiber. Sign me up. I kept perusing google but the search came to a halt when someone mentioned that you had to eat them soaked and that the seeds developed a gelatinous coating like a caviar. Screeching halt. Heck no I was not going to snarf down snotty chia seeds even if they made me another foot taller and grow long flowing blonde hair. I closed my browser and continued to search for an alternative. A couple of days later I decided to search more about the gelatinous seeds and found that you can indeed sprinkle them into salads and other food dry as long as you weren't dumping them in by the bucketful and drank water. Good enough for me. I ordered some with my next vitacost order.

Now facing a whole pound of chia seed I decided there would be no convincing the other people in this house to try something I didn't taste myself. That, and if I was going to incorporate it in some recipes, I needed to know how it played with other ingredients. I took a few of the tiny dinosaur egg shaped seeds and sprinkled them in my mouth. Bland. Not in a bad way but really they taste like nothing. Same texture as a poppy seed but a much more bland taste. That was great since it would only help to include it in various recipes.

Since the chia seed were so bland dry I got a bit adventurous and soaked some according to the jar instructions. I thought it might be a wonderful protein boost for our morning green smoothie and the texture wouldn't be offensive if blended to a pulp.

Several minutes later there we were. Just a small mason jar of suspended gelatinous seeds and me. I took a bit on a spoon and tasted.

Eureka! Bland again. Not only bland but unlike snot (sorry!), the gel like coating was not goopy. More like a loose melty jello consistency. Oh yeah, this was better than I had anticipated. Suddenly my brain was whirring with applications and another google search produced recipes galore. Chia pudding caught my attention immediately. Any kind of milk (I used whole fat cow's milk), sweetened and with a touch of vanilla. Then the seeds were soaked in this mixture.

Someone mentioned it was similar to drinking bubble tea. I've never tasted the stuff but am itching to try one now. The chia pudding was light, fun and pretty tasty. I sweetened my milk with xylitol (my lone exception to the no other sweeteners rule but it's great for your teeth). Next time I'll thicken the milk mixture by using either coconut milk or sweetening with condensed milk

All along the tasting process I gave a taste to each kid and they loved it. The pudding was a hit as well and while fun to eat with a spoon, given a straw instead, the kids declared it a hit.

I'm planning on doing some kind of take on this holiday chia pudding recipe soon possibly using canned pumpkin puree and condensed milk instead of the blended nut milk she makes. Meanwhile I've been adding about 1/2 cup of chia gel to a batch of smoothie in the morning (our batch makes about 7 cups) and you wouldn't believe the difference. I was able to knock out the banana that I was using to make the smoothie creamy and thick. The banana was okay but it was a pretty assertive flavor and some of the fruit combos were overpowered by the banana. With the chia gel I got that thick and creamy texture with no added flavor. But the best part was when Mr. Maricucu mentioned he was full until lunch. So was I and my mental clarity was amazing. Well, in comparison to my normal. Recently I added a scoop to our morning Dominican style oatmeal and the seed cooked down very well and aside from the specks, no noticeable difference in texture.

Ch, ch, ch, chia! Sorry but I had to scratch that itch.

Swinging from the rafters . . .

2010-10-04T22:26:00.005-04:00

. . . was not what I was doing on Saturday night. After a hectic week Mr. Maricucu told me to take off around dinner time and blow off some steam. With the nursling in tow I did what most moms dream about - ate a meal all.by.myself at a snail's pace all while enjoying a magazine and letting the nursling nurse. Heaven. Then I decided to check out some photography books and magazines at Barnes and Noble. With my selections in hand, I found what I thought would be a quiet corner and sat on the floor to nurse the baby again while I read. Can I say it again? Yes, heavenly. My vantage point as I relaxed:

My brief bliss was suddenly broken by a conversation. Picture it - young 19ish year old college guy. The type that feels he's just so much smarter than his peers. He's out with his crush dujour, a little ingenue looking at him as my Abuela would say, "like he's Rock Hudson." Except when she says it, it sounds like "rog hoodson" and I love that. So back to our little 90201 couple. As they round the corner to the next aisle he says in all his self-important glory, "Do you know what the greatest threat to a security system is?" Dramatic pause. "People."

Gah! Gag me now. I felt awkward for them.

I bet you five bucks he heard that not even the week before, 10 bucks judging by her giggle that she took it hook line and sinker and a grand prize of $20 ladies and gentlemen, that it's not the first time he used that line. Then I wondered if I sounded as snotty, yet as blissfully young and ignorant as they did when I was their age.

Nahhhhhhhhhh.

By the way, sorry for torturing you guys with cruddy phone camera shots. My camera is in some black hole and I'm not sure when it will return. Hopefully soon. But here's another freaky shot. Playing with the brightness on said phone to get a good shot of the baby's eyes.

Mayhem

2010-09-24T23:09:00.004-04:00

Wow it's been a while since I posted a video. Not because I haven't laughed at anything lately but because my brain is fried and when I am in front of the computer and not the droid the kids seem to have their kid-dar out for "oh no momma is concentrating!" So it's quite appropriate that I post something related to mayhem - the Allstate mayhem commercials. The deadpan tone of voice from Dean Winters is like Ben Stein channeling Bobcat Goldthwait. Since Mr. Maricucu must be pretty tired of me guffawing at these spots I figured I'd post one on the blog for posterity.

I'm just this shy of not too old to get the references but it's pretty scary to realize that in another couple of years I'll be completely out of the loop regarding modern slang. Heck, I didn't even know who this Dean Winters guy was until I googled him. It may sound pretty bleak but TV for me is limited to food network and HGTV so I don't have to put up with overly tanned "reality tv" stars, canceled favorites or bad news.

Oh and a little note to my friends and visitors. I'm not ignoring comments, I promise. I'm just barely functioning on a daily basis (in a good way) and like to dedicate a little time and thought to my replies. So just consider me delayed at responding in an ADD/procrastinator kind of way.

It's so exciting

2010-09-13T22:46:00.004-04:00

Receiving new school supplies that is. I know enough people like me to know I'm not the lone freak. Whether smooth sharp pencils, brand new pens, unblemished notebooks or as in my public school days being the first student to christen a textbook. It all makes me giddy still. So non-homeschoolers might be feeling pity for me right now, assuming that I would not ever experience the thrill of new supplies. Well then you might be wrong.

Check it out people! The science portion* of our resources for this year. Not only do we get to break in the books but Houston we've even got sealed science kits. Oh yes, yes, yes sealed kits which will go against ever fiber in my being to disrupt them and actually use them. Yes I'm weird like that. I thought you knew. Let's just say that consumables make me weep and shiver all at the same time. If it were up to me I'd have a set of brand new books, notebooks and pencils just for petting, then another set for actually using.

So yes, we're now "official" homeschoolers as recognized by our state and really that means nothing has changed. Well, nothing except now I have a whole new excuse to shop. Someone alert the presses!

* Forgive the poor cell phone pic. I was opening up the new stuff alone in my bedroom and if I had stepped out for the camera my little people would have been alerted to "something cool 'cause momma broke out the camera". Then it would have all gone south from there.

Hmmmmmm

2010-09-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

Back when my oldest was a baby I would hear other parents make comments about how their kid had fallen asleep on the floor playing or even on the couch. Others shared pictures of their child asleep in odd places like a drawer or laundry basket. You get the picture. I would share this with Mr. Maricucu and we were confounded since our oldest just.did.not.fall.asleep anywhere but in bed. Don't get me wrong, he slept well but he was not the type to drop from exhaustion. So you can imagine how surprised I was one day when I hadn't heard my then toddler second born in a while. I walked into their bedroom and he had fallen asleep on the floor as he played with his trains. I do remember grabbing the camera and immediately emailing Mr. Maricucu the picture so he could share in the awe. Apparently he's one of "those kids", the kind that falls asleep midchew at the dinner table. And yes even when he was out of the high chair he would fall asleep in the middle of dinner nearly keeling over sideways from the dining chair before one of us realized it and caught him.

Seems our third is that type of kid too. I was running errands one day while Mr. Maricucu was at home with the kids and arrived to find her face down, bottom scooted fast asleep on the living room floor. Before I could even say a word Mr. Maricucu just looked at me and said, "hey she fell asleep and after the morning she had I was not about to move her." I totally understood. In our house as long as you're not falling asleep in the bathtub, momma and daddy will not disturb you other than to throw a blanket over your body. This third kiddo though, she seems to be turning it into an extreme sport.

As I was nursing her sister the other day on the rocking chair I noticed her doing the usual - pulling out every basket I have on the shelves and dumping them out to fill with her picked up loot from around the house. I saw her walk around the side of the couch and didn't think anything of the silence that followed (yes that was risky). Here's what I found when I got up to investigate moments later:

Yes, she is asleep, in an ikea basket of all things and she of course dragged her poor bedraggled dolly along for the ride. I guess contorting yourself and a porcelain doll into a 13x13" basket is some hard work and requires an impromptu nap. Oh and you better believe I did not wake her up. No way no how. Sleep is precious for both parent and child.
By the way that doll is a porcelain doll my mother bought for her when she was born. When my mom told me she would be bringing the doll up I told her it was under the condition that she knew it was going to be played with and not a dust collector. I'm not an amazing housekeeper but I refuse to add dust collectors, aka knick knacks to our already cozy home. So yes, dolly looks like she's been rode hard and put away wet but she is loved and most importantly used.

In other random thoughts from my head check out these plumcots. So beautiful I couldn't help but snap a pic. They were however way too sour for the kids. Nothing a drizzle of honey and a toss couldn't fix. Then the same container was emptied in moments while the children buzzed around it with their forks.

The ark is full.

2010-08-22T22:30:00.003-04:00

At least that's the way it feels. With four kids in car seats it means we have only the passenger seat available for an adult to occupy in our minivan. Once Mr. Maricucu had installed the baby's car seat I sighed, turned to him and said, "that's it we can't have any more kids, we're out of room." Obviously that was not the only reason we're fine with four but the reality hit right about that time. Four kids in the car, four kids out. Three backpacks, one huge old lady bag and a sling occupy the space behind the driver and passenger seats:

The boys go in the back since they can blessedly do their own car seat straps. That's right moms, one day they will get in and get out on their own!

The girls are in the middle row rearfacing which makes for some interesting giggle fests as their older brothers alternate between entertaining and annoying them:

So yeah, I've got a mom-mobile. And yeah, it's full of kids. So sue me.

That was bound to happen.

2010-08-18T22:10:00.003-04:00

Those who know me know two very important things:

1. I'm big on natural and home remedies. If it's reasonable (and in my mind that can be a bit of a stretch) then I'm willing to try it. Well, let's look at number two actually . . .

2. Willing to try it as in give it to everyone else in the household. Remember me the former picky kid? My mom was also big on herbal/home remedies. One famous concoction we chugged down involved shark oil, raw garlic and raw onion among other ingredients blended into the most goopy, vile liquid known to a child. So while I have no problem giving my kids or Mr. Maricucu safe home remedies I typically am not so quick to dose myself. However, in my defense my kids are very good remedy drinkers. You should see the stuff they chug down and don't bat an eyelash. Their cod liver oil/probiotic powder morning shot? They will loudly complain when I forget it. I kid you not.

So the other day I had these two bottles on my counter. They both look pretty similar especially on the darker inner corner of my counter.

I grabbed the yellow the one on the left and gave all three kids a drop of what I thought was vitamin D. The bottle on the right.

It wasn't until I dosed myself that I recoiled in horror when I tasted garlic and bitterness. I quickly looked at the bottle and realized I had just dosed everyone with this.

Yes, ear oil. Bitter willow and pungent garlic ear oil. Thankfully not a big deal toxicity wise but when I tasted that awful mix I immediately asked the kids why they didn't say anything and told Mr. Maricucu to stop laughing at me. The kids responded that they didn't notice. Lovely. Note to self: Read labels carefully.

And because my sister has loudly protested the absence of recent baby photos this is for her. Outfit also courtesy of my sister and handed down from another absolutely adorable little girl.

NOT back in the saddle

2010-08-16T22:33:00.003-04:00

Remember how I gushed in my last post that I was back? Yeah, for an ADD person that's like announcing on January 1st that you won't ever touch chocolate while PMSing, you'll put away your clothes immediately after the dryer stops or that you'll unload the dishwasher instead of pulling out one piece at a time until the thing needs to be reloaded. Yeah, my "woohoo! I'm back" was followed by a deafening silence that spanned weeks. Typical. So I'm now announcing that I'm NOT back in the saddle in true opposite day form. For that matter I'm getting soooooo much done around the house (not). And I'm definitely not wearing a snuggly baby in order to get stuff done around the house. Exhibit A:

Notice the super clean mirror (not) and my very cheerful face (I could work for the mob with that expression). For those of you seeking a more chipper version click here. I also did not have rice pudding for breakfast the other day. Super delicious, creamy and sweet Dominican style rice pudding using my mom's recipe. Nope, no I didn't and I also didn't lick the spoon clean because frankly what kind of manners are those?

So sometime soon I won't be posting some random stream of consciousness catch up posts. I'm so not back in the saddle. Really.

The birth and an update.

2010-07-29T09:41:00.007-04:00

Wow, long break but so needed. My friends may already know this but I tend to become a bit of a recluse as I get near the end of a pregnancy. Then right after the birth Mr. Maricucu and I line up his time off and my mom's visit to make sure our family gets an extended babymoon. Nothing fancy, just a good amount of bedrest for me with the baby and time for the siblings to adjust to all the new hubbub in the household. Mr. Maricucu is now back to work and my mom is back in Florida. The first two weeks Mr. Maricucu carried the whole load on his shoulders. Caring for the kids, the house and then on top of that me (in bed remember?). By the time my mom showed up he was exhausted. Thankfully my mom stepped in to help and gave Mr. Maricucu and I the best gift a parent could ever get. Sleep. She would let the kids join her on the sofabed at whatever early hour they rose, then Mr. Maricucu and I would get to do something we haven't done in years - sleep in together. Even if she hadn't done dishes, cooked us some meals and did laundry (including putting it away - my nemesis) all of which she did, the sleeping in part alone was worth its weight in gold.

Abuela in action.

Now about the birth. I'm kind of a strange one. I'm not interested in recreating romantic detailed birth stories piece by piece. What's more, being the sarcastic cynic, what usually imprints in my memory is what goes wrong in a humorous sort of way. I remember most of the birth until transition and then after that it's all a blur/whirlwind which sometimes comes back a few months later. But I'm also not the type to journal, have babybooks or any other introspective tool besides my camera. I don't have my kids' measurements or developmental milestones written in chronological order somewhere to pull out later. It's either going to make me one amazing mother in law, "Oh I can't remember when his daddy walked but the baby is doing just fine", or a horrible one, "Hmmm, I remember his daddy walking at 6 months old. What do you mean kids don't walk at that age?" Before the horror sets in let me just say that I do mentally catalog sentimental and sweet memories of the kids - I'm not an entirely heartless momma after all.

So do you guys remember John Moschitta Jr. the World's Fastest Talker and better known as the micromachines commercials guy from the 80s? I'll do the birth story a la Moschitta which will give the birth junkies a detailed account and spare the I-don't-want-tmi crowd. Deep breath . . .

Friday before 4th of July weekend having some contractions, Saturday had some amniotic leaking, Sunday more contractions but then they petered out, Monday contractions on and off but nothing consistent, woke up 3am on Tuesday with more contractions but they stopped, off to bed, 7am my older daughter nursed then the contractions picked up and were more intense, called my doula she came to assist and use some tools to keep the contractions consistent, soon called my midwife during the first half of the day to come over and check on me, she did and predicted I'd be calling her over for the birth around 4-5pm, took a walk with my doula/friend, came back and ate an early dinner, bam right around 4pm and at the end of dinner had to stand up during contractions, called the midwife . . .

. . . deep breath

That leaves us here. Me in the birth tub thanking the Lord eternally for blessing us with hot water to soothe during contractions. From this moment to the next picture I can't even recall how much time passed. All I remember was hitting transition and puking (as is usual for me) then feeling very pushy. Once I hit transition I pretty much close my eyes and keep them closed until I've pushed the baby out.

Here we are. Having gone from intense contractions one moment to relief, euphoria and awe in another. Like her other siblings and despite the early leak baby's bag of waters was pretty strong. I'll have to confirm this with an attendant but I think she crowned still in the sac. A few moments after this picture and while we were still in the pool my other three kids each came over and gently touched her on the head all while cooing over her.

Being weighed by the midwife's assistant.

Mr. Maricucu doing what he does best. The thankless behind the scenes support work. Yeah he's a good egg.

Of course after baby and I were looked over each sibling had to take a turn holding "their baby".

Number 1, he's a veteran at this birth thing. This is the third sibling birth he's witnessed. He's blossomed into the designated baby soother, patting and shushing as she fusses while I change her diaper.

Number 2, snuggling and smiling at the baby sister that looks just like him as a newborn.

And number 3, who alternates between wanting to dress the baby up like a doll and looking at this suspicious creature who now forces her to take turn for nursies.

So here's the newest member of our family. I hope she doesn't mind growing up the youngest or at the very least that the chaos of three older siblings makes it interesting.

Oh and lest he feel forgotten a certain someone in our home turned the big 4-0. He's lucky I was incapacitated by a little syndrome called pregnancy-in-the-southern-summer otherwise there could have been a lot more devious planning on my part. One day . . .

Another project finished.

2010-07-09T21:54:00.004-04:00

I went from setting up the birth supplies last week to labor this past Tuesday. The end result is pretty darn adorable if I do say so myself. So yeah the blog will likely be slow for a while and you might have to put up with some more pictures of little Miss M. as I come off the babymoon high.

Making momma work for it.

2010-07-03T07:45:00.002-04:00

Otherwise known as trying to get a group shot of my kids for Mr. Maricucu's Father's Day present. It's always the biggest challenge and I'll show you why.

First attempt early at the park before playing. They've got that "what you talkin' about Willis" look.

Quickly the shot disintegrates. The second born begins to dig for gold, the baby spots something besides momma and the oldest raises his hand to ask a question. Seriously? My children are homeschooled and they still raise their hands in random moments to ask questions. Proves it's a reflex or something.

I gave up, let them go play and then we went home. Later that afternoon I decided to give it another go first on our front porch. Whoooh boy another question and one that looks like he's in pain.

I told them to make some silly faces in the hopes that it would loosen them up.

No such luck. The youngest is pretty much set on looking elsewhere.

Gah! The questions, the questions! No we are not done. No I cannot take pictures of you tumbling until we get to the back. Why? Because the porch is hard and your head is not. (momma bites her tongue on the every ready sarcasm).

I tell them to give their sister a kiss. She's not so sure and elbows them back into place. Why must they smile as they look down at the ground????

Moving on to the rickety rocking chair my oldest throws me a bone and asks for a picture holding his sister. He really does love her. Too bad she's giving me direction.

Evidence of their love. Earlier at the park guess who was in charge of helping her off the slide?

Finally with promises of playtime we head out to the backyard. It wasn't any better I'll tell you. See my second born? If looks could kill . . .

Oh my goodness the questions!!! She's got a limited vocabulary and yet has the hand raising thing down. Kids, newsflash. We homeschool. You don't have to raise your hand to ask a question.

At some point they're all on the play structure and I snap at what would be a pretty decent picture - if their sister wasn't two feet shorter.

I quickly tell them to sit on a lower spot hoping their sister might grab a spot nearby. Ohhh they look so happy don't they? Not. Normally I'm go with the flow and shots like this I love because they are just as natural as the smiles. But I doubt my extended family would like to get scowling shots being the traditionalists they are.

Right about here is when my oldest absentmindedly asks, "momma are you frustrated?" not knowing I was going to answer stream of consciousness style. Blegh, I sent them off to play and gave up on the group shot. Maybe next year.

A momentous occasion.

2010-06-27T10:36:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow this whipper snapper is 100 years young. My grandfather who has outlived most of his peers, all of his siblings and many more will be feted today like nobody's business. As I type, my mother and most of her siblings are in Santo Domingo rigging up wayyyy too much delicious food for a birthday party this afternoon. People have flown in from out of the country, driven into the city from the outskirts of Dominican Republic and if I know my family like I know my family then they will be partying way past my grandfather's bedtime (which is a very early 5-7pm mind you).

I'm hoping one day someone actually sits down with him to cobble together my grandfather's life story. From sitting around trying to catch the grown up gossip as a kid I've picked up a few interesting tidbits. Hopefully in revealing them I won't be disowned. *kidding!* I know he's been married three times (the last was my grandmother with which he had 6 children). He lived in New York as a young single guy then returned to Dominican Republic, the cosmopolitan man having been to the big city of dreams. Abuelo was involved in developing agriculture with the Dominican government. My mom tells me that before it was cool to be organic he had a set aside plot on the land he managed, just for his family's produce that the workers were instructed to not spread with chemical fertilizers or insecticides. He said even back then that those chemicals would be the undoing of agriculture.

He has 13 children and even back in the 80s/90s we would all keep count of the dozens upon dozens of grandchildren he had. Now we're keeping count of the great grand children instead. I also know that my grandfather was known for his hot blooded temper and that it only slightly calmed down with age and diminished hearing (which I imagine would pretty much calm down anyone). He loves baseball and politics, two subjects which are a sure way to unleash that healthy temper on anyone daring to disagree with views. Until his eyesight got worse he was the most avid reader of cowboy novellas I've ever known, devouring many a week then exchanging them for new ones at the local shop.

He's made about as many mistakes as we can all make on a journey 100 years long. Yet, he was always willing to extend a helping hand to anyone in need many times in discretion to preserve a person's dignity, grew up with a shrew of a stepmother that shipped him off to an uber strict boarding school yet while strict did not transfer that to his kids. He's been loyal to a fault, both to family and friends. Most of all he loves his family fiercely. So today he'll be surrounded by the seed he sowed and I can only hope to get to such an advanced age surrounded by family and friends that see beyond my imperfect human nature to what God has been able to accomplish through that life.

Happy Birthday Abuelo. Felicidades Abuelo y que Dios lo bendiga con muchos mas.

Another round of photographing the kids.

2010-06-22T21:39:00.003-04:00

Yes, it was Father's Day around here just like everywhere else in the US. This year my kids were very amped up about sharing their surprises with Mr. Maricucu. To the point that they kept almost spilling the beans had it not been for Mr. Maricucu's placating "You guys don't need to be telling me that right now. Let's wait until Sunday." They made him cards, gave him a couple of gifts and let him sleep in just a tad even if it was me convincing them that 7:30am was not a good time for gifts.

Of course, every year I update Mr. Maricucu's office photos along with his Daddy memory book. This year instead of the DAD photos with the wooden letters like the years prior, I went for straight shots of the kids. In part because I really wanted to capture their faces and mostly because whenever the letters came out it was a round of "I don't want to carry the D, I want the Y (which we never use). How come HE gets to carry the A. Well then I'm not gonna smile." Oh yes, good times, good times indeed. If I were just a tad wealthier I'd prepay my children's portraits to a great photographer for the rest of their lives and just capture the informal shots. But I'm not rich so I get the joy of receiving direction from my little herd while gritting my teeth and trying to engage them.

Today I introduce the final cut. An 11x14 collage of the shots that actually came out decent and were framed for Mr. Maricucu.

And yes, it's totally killing me that in about a month the collage will not be current with the new child headcount. I'll live though. But for now this collage represents three days work on some of the hottest days in the last couple of weeks, trying to shoot them quickly in the early hours of the morning. All while hearing, "are we done yet????? You said one picture [I said one nice picture]. Why do we have to take these photos? I want to go play on the slide." Never mind that on Father's Day it was all, "look Daddy the pictures we took for you." So we finally got one decent individual shot of each kid and at least a few of them together if not all together. That will be the next post, the outtakes which are just so not funny in the moment but I'm sure will get funnier as the years go by.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

2010-06-18T14:19:00.004-04:00

Oh yes, I went there and likely dated myself severely. But really this is just another one of those random bits of info that never leave my brain. Before you consider it a positive, remember that in order for me to retain all this useless random information it comes at a cost of retaining important information like where I left my keys or the fact that the dogs need to be let out.

A while back when I had but just a wee baby with tiny little feet that wore (and kicked off) tiny little socks, picking them out of the laundry was not a big deal. His lilliputian garments stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of Mr. Maricucu's and my clothing. At that time I read a tip in some magazine from a mom of several boys. She mentioned using a sharpie drawn dot on the boys' socks to differentiate which belonged to what boy. She started off with one dot for the oldest and as socks made their way down the line of hand me downs she would add another dot for the next child that corresponded to their birth order. Handy for sorting laundry and handy for kid identification. Hmmmm, I thought but then filed it away under tips I likely would never need.

Fast forward to the current day and I find my growing children are outgrowing stuff at a faster clip than before. Also, with different brands fitting more snug or loose than others, their white undershirts had become a minefield of various sizes just for one boy. Then I remembered the tip and brought out the sharpie. One dot each for their birth order and presto, the shirts were easily identified by Mr. Maricucu and the boys. I even did the little girl shirts too although no one would mistake the lacey camisole in 2T for something that would fit anyone else in this household, at least for the next couple of weeks. Then, since I was on a roll and Hanes/Fruit of the Loom insist on labeling their underwear in microtype that wears off the first wash, I took the sharpie to their boxer briefs too. Just another thing to tick off the nonexistant list. I can rest easy now that my 6 year old will no longer come out sporting his 4 year old brother's undershirt like a belly dancer nor the four year old hand holding his brother's boxers around his waist asking me what I did to the laundry.

Strawberry Shortcake

2010-06-13T20:17:00.007-04:00

No, not that Strawberry Shortcake, although I am a child of the 80s and did love her as a kid. I'm talking about the awesome dessert that apparently was being withheld from my tastebuds for years. Yeah, I've had the sponge cake and strawberry version but believe me, it's nothing compared to a traditional shortcake with its sweetened cream biscuit, in season berries and a bit of good whipped cream. I just don't know what Martha's people were thinking when it came to portion size. These shortcakes ended up being quite large (not that my family was complaining). I could easily see making them half the size and ending up with 16 instead of 8.

So a good while back I had the large surplus of North Carolina berries hanging around and while we ate about 3/4 of the flat and additional quarts straight, I knew I wanted to try at least one strawberry shortcake recipe. Now if you've read my blog before you know I have a thing against recipes that leave me with orphan egg yolks or whites. Can't stand 'em and will usually avoid them with a few exceptions I might post later in the year. So that removed a few recipes from the running. I also didn't want to have to roll out dough for a simple shortcake. Those two factors and wanting a tried and true recipe for the shortcake left me with Martha Stewart's recipe and I'm glad to say she didn't disappoint even if her portion sizes are out of whack. Even better, I was able to whiz up the shortcake in the food processor avoiding the witching hour kiddie meltdown meeting up with my hands in dough. Win-win situation if I do say so myself.

Strawberry Shortcake
adapted from Martha Stewart

6 cups strawberries (1 3/4 lbs) - washed, hulled and quartered
3/4 cup + 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar - I'm saving you the mishap of dumping the sugar all in one spot. The first quantity is for the berries, the second for the shortcake and the last bit is for the whipped cream. For those of you who read the instructions after you've dumped in the ingredients already (like moi).
3 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces - Here I will commit baking heresy again and mention that I use salted butter for all my baking. I would incite the baking police to take me away but I'm already on the lam for the belly shot police from a while back.
1/2 cup + 1 1/2 cup heavy cream - Again, divided first for use in the shortcake and the last portion for the whipped cream to serve between the layers. If I come across as an overbearing motherly type I apologize. However I don't think I can do anything about it.
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

So this recipe requires just a teensy bit of planning. Remember you must macerate the berries with the sugar first in order for the sugar to draw out the berry juices and soften them slightly. If you'd like, splash in a bit of white wine with your berries and sugar. My aunt used to do this and the results are quite delicious all on their own.

Dump the washed and quartered berries in a bowl along with the sugar. I suggest you hold back on the sugar a bit and taste the berries. Mine were in season and quite sweet so I only used about 1/2 cup of sugar. You may need more or less depending on your berries.

Give them a stir and set them aside.

Now onto the shortcakes. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In the food processor add the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse to mix the dry ingredients.

Next, add the cubed butter and pulse again until the pieces of butter are about pea sized. You can certainly do this step by hand and use a pastry cutter instead of the food processor. Whatever works for you.

Once the butter is cut into the dry ingredients (this is just like making biscuits) mix the heavy cream and the two eggs in a measuring cup. Pour the heavy cream/egg mixture over the dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse until the mixture forms large clumps (Martha says 25-30 times but she's precise like that).

Mine went a little further since I was distracted but it was just fine.

This is where Martha and I will have to disagree. She wants you to scoop out 1/2 cup portions of the dough onto a parchment lined pan. I grabbed one of my favorite dishers and scooped out rounded scoops about 1" apart on the baking sheet. Next time though it's going to be a half scoop so about 1/4 cup of dough (and reduce the baking time accordingly).

Bake the shortcakes until they are light golden brown, about 20 minutes. It was devastatingly hard not to crack into one of these early. However the food mafia, aka my kids were keeping me honest.

By the time you come back to the berries you'll see the magic that has happened. Soft glistening berries, the sugar all dissolved and melded with the strawberry juice into a heady syrup.

Here is where the photography took a back seat. When the troops are awaiting dessert, their gazes longingly reaching over the breakfast counter, I don't have it in me to make them wait too long by snapping away at the food. Well, that and they begin to say, "momma can you please stop taking pictures of the food????"

The whipped cream. You can certainly whip the cream by hand (I recommend chilling the bowl in the freezer first) or pull out the stand mixer. I wanted to make this short and sweet so I threw the heavy cream and sugar in a glass bowl and hit it with the stick blender. Come on, I can't be the only one that remembers the infomercials where they take the skim milk and use a stick blender to whip it into "whipped topping" all in front of a fit-for-Ron Popeil audience. When the mixture starts to foam, add in the vanilla and finish whipping until soft peaks form.

Finally, assembly. After the shortcakes have cooled for 10-15 minutes, slice them open with a serrated knife so they don't crumble on you. Top each bottom half generously with both berries and their syrup. Then a little whipped cream, the top half of the shortcake, more berries + juice and finally a dollop of whipped cream. The juicy syrup was by far the hit for my family on the crumbly shortcake. Don't skimp on it.

But wait, there's more! Surprisingly we had a couple of quarts of berries that had to be used up ASAP and I remembered wanting to try a strawberry crumble but with local berries to see if it would be weird or yummy. Strawberries having such a floral flavor, I thought they might ruin a crumble. Boy was I wrong. I used the smitten kitchen recipe for the topping and the filling I just threw together with the berries, sugar, lemon juice and some cornstarch. I did add a handful of blueberries that were rattling around in the freezer. Verdict? Absolutely delicious. I was in love with the bright red color but the flavor was amazing. I didn't even need any ice cream and that's a biggie for around these parts.

So try some shortcake, or some crumble. Either way the berries will shine.

Seriously . . .

2010-06-10T00:38:00.004-04:00

I'm not currently sewing for the baby. I know it sounds sad and likely awful mommish but man when I'm pregnant the last thing I get is bursts of energy and the few I'm getting right now are being directed at reorganizing, decluttering and managing the troupe of already birthed children. However, I am sewing, just not for the baby. I'm working on the stash of large diapers that will replace the soon to be worn out ones I sewed up last time I was pregnant.. No that is not a coincidence - I apparently only manage to crank out diapers when I hit a hard and fast deadline. Can't get much harder and faster than a baby to throw the household into upheaval for the next several months.

Typically I stick to my color scheme of blah and blah, aka beige and white because I'm OCD like that and having to come up with cute combination of fabrics for diapers would literally be the rabbit trail that sucks the little bit of focus I might have completely dry. However, I made a huge mistake this time around when I was ordering fabric. For some reason my brain was out to lunch when I ordered only 3 yards of fabric (I typically order 5 yards of each type, inner/outer/etc.). Not only that, but this time I wanted to make more diapers. Like 40 and I only ordered enough fabric to make 15. Nothing like that smacking you in the face at 11pm about 4 weeks before your due date. So I've been scrambling to cobble together more fabric. Which is why on top of the beige soakers you see some bright green and red, soon to be joined by turquoise and finally some lilac PUL (waterproof outer fabric). It's going to be one grand old multicolor circus inside these diapers but I might just have to use the beige as a topper on the bright layers just to keep things under control. I have a feeling Mr. Maricucu is going to think I've lost my mind when he opens this batch up.

Ahhh nothing like a little beige to bring things back to order.

It's either the kids or me.

2010-06-05T22:07:00.006-04:00

We're freaking people out and I have a hunch it may be both. There I am in all my current sherpa mom glory with the camera armor fiercely in place. I purposely chose this angle because right now this belly is so obscenely protruding, people gasp a little when I turn and they see a side view instead of a front or back.

The kids and I were eating out the other day and as I was heading out of the restaurant with all three by my side, I noticed people were giving us some strange looks. Could be that it was the day I picked the only thing that was clean and fit (a long flowy skirt), fitted shirt and my favorite my-kid-sister-gave-them-to-me-sparkly-sandals leaving people wondering if labor was imminent, or the mini herd of children calling me momma. I'm not sure, but it was the first time I noticed people obviously staring at our family. Weird.

A couple of days later at the museum of art, yet more looks. Older folk looked slightly amused at the crew and me circling Rodin's sculptures, college students looked horrified at the audacity of taking children (you know, what they were mere minutes ago themselves) to such a cultured place. Never mind I caught at least a half dozen of them snapping their cameras away closely at some statue's nether regions. Then one museum staffer just about lost her marbles when one of mine asked aloud if he could step on the rug. Ummmm, no honey that's an ancient mosaic floor, not a rug. I could see her breathe a sigh of relief as the realization that I wasn't going to let my child trample on the artifact washed over her.

I'm finding it quite amusing to see people reacting to children being brought out you know, in public, as the quite lewd Ron White would say. Puzzles me to think of the alternative, but in the meantime we create a little public spectacle each time we go out on an outing. Hey you college students looking my way, feast your eyes sweeties. In a few years with a toss of the coin you could be just as lucky.

Later this week I will amaze you with my ability to finally post the strawberry shortcake recipe only about a month late. Yes, I rock.

P.S.: Just for a little perspective here's the same belly at around 20ish weeks. Now add another 6 inches straight in front of me and you've got a good idea of what I look like right now and why I don't even bother taking side shots anymore. I think the only reason my mother believes I've been pregnant four times is because she eventually gets to see a grandchild at the end but I'm just not big on photographing myself during pregnancy. There I said it, take me away belly shot police.

I'm not a beader but I play one on TV.

2010-06-01T22:20:00.003-04:00

I'm not a huge jewelry person but after nursing for 6.5 continuous years figured it was time for a nursing necklace. For those who are thinking I'm celebrating being a registered nurse a nursing necklace is something moms wear to keep baby's hands occupied while nursing and in the distractible as well as fiddly stage. That and getting to wear some pretty beads doesn't hurt either. However, I've never made jewelry before and this was sort of a last minute decision while at the craft store. I found a nice large donut shaped jasper pendant that I liked, picked out some cord I thought would work and came home to look up some hints on google. I quickly learned two things: 1. I forgot to buy a clasp, thus the super long length of necklace right now. 2. I should have bought some nylon or other water resistant cord. Right now my beads are strung on leather.

But not too bad for a beginner, huh? The necklace is actually straight but I shifted in the odd self-portrait. Being the waste-not-want-not type I had to use the other beads in the packet. I made sure to knot between the beads in an effort to keep a tugging baby from creating a shower of beads over her head and will be buying the clasp soon to bring the length from "Look here! Here, here, huge belly!" to at least the upper hemisphere. Although, now that I think about it that might not be any better. At least it will bring it closer to baby's hands.

Wow.

2010-05-28T22:00:00.003-04:00

Five days between posts, that's a record around here. I didn't intend for it to stretch that long but the days have been getting a bit more hectic around here. I've had spurts of nesting urges and this being the fourth time around I know better than to put things off for later when I might be too tired to do anything. But the cravings march on and what would a post about the latest craving be without a picture? Baked brie (on the super melty side) with cubed ciabatta, sliced apples and a bit of cherry preserves on the side for moi. The kids had their own portion and loved our lunch of brie fondue as it was billed. I know by now that if I get settled in with a plate of something new and delicious it never fails to attract the children's attention. Suddenly that slapdash meal on momma's plate looks way more alluring than the same 'ol, same 'ol. So I make sure to gush and build up the new item then give them their own and let them go to town.

But we haven't just been cleaning and feasting on cravings around here. No siree, we've actually been doodling as well.

It's no secret that my kids love to plunk themselves around the dining room table to doodle, draw and color. I've loved seeing their abilities develop as they draw items from a favorite story, cartoon or just inspiration from around their world.

I'm by no means an artist. However I remember reading an interview of Mo Willems who has certainly earned his status of favorite around our home. He said that a lot of adults stop doodling and drawing because they think they are not as good as a professional but mentioned that some guys aren't pro basketball players and yet continue to shoot hoops at home. He encourages parents to continue to doodle and draw right along with their children just as we would continue to read aloud to our kids despite not having the ability of Jim Weiss and continue to cook for our families despite measuring short of Jacques Pepin. With that rolling around the old noggin I grabbed a sheet of notebook paper, and sat myself next to my oldest artist. He was intrigued as I sketched the alstroemeria in the vase on the table.

I took a note from the Camp Creek Blog entry on observational drawing and just kept my eye more on the object in front of me than the drawing at my hands. I actually enjoyed myself and better yet was able to use my ability to hyperfocus to my advantage. It's not perfect but it's a pretty good drawing and even better still my kids saw me try something new even though I'm not an expert. A great life lesson in general.

Happy summer to meeee!

2010-05-23T22:45:00.003-04:00

Not a big deal, just another craving satisfied and without having to hit the grocery store or even leaving the house. Do you like pesto? I love pesto but once I had fresh homemade pesto I was forever ruined for any other kind. The other day I had a major craving for some pesto but I wanted to try some spinach since it's what I had hanging around the house. No problem, google to the rescue. Soon I had pulled up this recipe. But if I'm going to be honest I didn't pull out a measuring cup and added a bit more oil than indicated so I can't say how accurate my version was.

What I can say is that it rocked on some tortellini. So much that even my 4 year old, ewww-what-is-this-green-stuff took one bite and said, "momma this is delicious!" Garlicky bite, nice sharpness from the parmesan cheese and since I have sunflower seeds in the freezer at all times that's what I used instead of pine nuts. It came out thicker than traditional pesto but adding a bit of extra butter or oil to the pasta is my solution instead of too much to the pesto.

However, my true litmus test for pesto is toasted on a crusty roll. I like to keep small crusty rolls in the freezer so I can pull out one or two as needed. Yes, as needed. I split a few open, spread on the vibrant green stuff, added a little kosher salt and then for good measure some more parmesan cheese. Toasted and the pesto melted into the bread. Utter heaven. Of course, what's a little spur of the moment summer lunch without a iced glass of lemonade? Oh yeah.

Meeting of the minds part 2.

2010-05-20T11:27:00.004-04:00

This was totally spontaneous. The older one, inspired by finding an old notebook of mine (just another failed attempt at journaling) said, "let's write a mystery!" My other boy grabbed the tray to organize the papers and when she saw there was a buzz of activity the little one grabbed her chair and planted herself right in the middle.

Older one scribbled furiously in what he calls cursive, filling the page then handing his younger brother the pages to organize in the tray. The baby pretended to file the papers as well and did everything in her power to test the 4 year old's patience (which admittedly is not that much). They then distributed the papers to each other and walked around talking about mysteries, robberies and bad guys in 20s tough guy speak.

If only . . .

2010-05-16T22:08:00.003-04:00

. . . it were this simple. Rest assured, the video is totally safe for work, school and your granny. Just a little fanciful story telling.

Bread in a hurry.

2010-05-14T16:48:00.003-04:00

I've had this recipe for over five years now, shared by a fellow mom on the infamous old babycenter recipe boards. Infamous because if you've ever been on the babycenter boards at any point in the early years it was a hotbed for controversy. Thankfully the recipe board was spared from the drama and had a generally pleasant vibe to it. This was posted originally as a Macaroni Grill bread copycat recipe. I haven't been there in years but if my memory serves me right it's pretty close, a thin crispy crust that softens upon cooling with a medium tight crumb. Definitely not an artisan parisian loaf but a great loaf to dip in some well seasoned olive oil or for the double carbers like myself, in the last bit of lovely pasta sauce. What can I say? In Dominican Republic we have fresh baked bread in the morning, then again in the evening with a good dose of rice for lunch. Even growing up in South Florida you couldn't go 10 feet without finding a Cuban bakery brimming with lard based loaves of loveliness fresh from the oven. One thing I know is carbs.

The other wonderful part of this recipe is that relatively speaking, for a bread recipe it's pretty quick. You can start the recipe in the early afternoon and have fresh baked bread for dinner, ahem with dinner. This time I was making some to go with our Huevos Flamenco for that evening. The original recipe calls for all purpose flour but I typically use half white whole wheat. You'll also notice I'm making the bread in the food processor. I've admitted to loving kneading dough by hand. My children, however, have a radar that must come up like a bat signal whenever I get my hands in dough or raw meat. They suddenly need me or better yet I can hear they definitely need me from across the house. So when I have only one batch of dough to make I put that baby in the food processor and it's mixed and kneaded in under a minute and a half. If you don't have a food processor feel free to mix this up by hand (kneading 5-8 minutes) or using your stand mixer of choice (kneading 2-4 minutes).

Macaroni Grill Bread Copycat

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water - If you're using the food processor the water can be cool or room temp. Food processors heat up the dough slightly during processing.

dried rosemary
kosher salt

First, place all of the dry ingredients in the food processor and pulse them to mix.

Next, turn on the food processor and pour in the water as it runs. The dough will begin to come together.

Now there's one step I add to any bread recipe and will improve your bread baking right away. Aside from learning to measure flour the right way or better yet, using a kitchen scale for weighing baking ingredients allowing a dough to rest before kneading is an important, often overlooked step. Why? Flour doesn't hydrate instantly and especially whole grains. Allowing a dough to rest 10-15 minutes after mixing will mean the flour hydrates properly and you won't have a dough that is overly stiff because you used a bunch of extra flour to knead a very sticky dough. Allow the dough to rest and most of the tackiness will be gone without you having done a bit of extra work.

After allowing the dough to hydrate (this is called autolyse) run the food processor for 60 seconds to knead the dough. You'll know the dough is well kneaded when the ball comes together against the side of the bowl and the dough has visible, stretchy gluten strands.

Dump out the dough on a lightly floured surface and give it a knead or two to shape it into a ball.

Then place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and place in a draft free place to rise. I stick mine in the oven (of course the oven is off). Let rise until the dough doubles or about an hour.

This dough doubles so beautifully. I still stand in awe at watching yeast, water and flour at work.

Dump out the dough onto your counter and cut in half. This recipe makes two modest sized loaves. You won't need additional flour at this point since the dough is elastic and well hydrated but not excessively tacky. In fact, adding flour at this point will make it difficult to pinch the loaf into shape. The flour on my counter is leftover from the first step. Yes I'm a messy cook.

Take one dough half and press out the air with your fingertips. Just flatten it in order to shape the loaf.

Then bring the edges of the dough and gather at the top to form a tight ball.

Dig your fingers/knuckles into the middle of the dough ball and pull it firmly against the counter towards you 3-4 times. This will give the ball an elongated shape. Pinch the ends of the loaf on top from one end to the other to seal.

Flip the pinched side down and there you have one loaf. Repeat with the other dough half. Check out my Vanna White impression.

Place the loaves on a parchment lined pan (or greased baking sheet) and put back in the draft free place to rise again until doubled or about 45 minutes.

You'll know the dough is doubled if a finger inserted in the loaf doesn't fill in or fills in slowly.

Now you'll need to prep the loaf for the oven. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and if you're using the oven to allow the dough to rise, please be sure to take out the loaves before preheating the oven. Then brush the loaf with water. Water will promote a crispy but light crust. You can also brush with butter or even an egg wash, the latter which will allow the toppings to stick more effectively. But I'm lazy and don't want to crack an egg just for this purpose so I stick to water which means the toppings are a bit delicate after they come out of the oven.

Then sprinkle the loaves with kosher salt and dried rosemary.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and if you're fussy the internal temperature is 190 degrees.

Then tear off a hunk and go dip in your favorite substance. Oh yeah.

The garden neglect built.

2010-05-10T22:09:00.003-04:00

If you noticed a dearth of garden posts this year, yes it's been neglected. I hadn't stepped foot in the poor patch of dirt since last fall not even to clear out the spent plants much less this spring to make space for this year's plants. But the other day I finally faced my mental block head on and stepped into the garden. To my surprise, I actually enjoyed myself. Yes me, the black thumb had a good time and in the great outdoors at that. Those who know me will know exactly how much of a stretch that is.

First, I checked on the herbs. I was surprised at the amount of plants that had overwintered. The rosemary my neighbor said would grow like a weed and take over my yard is doing exactly that and I'm giddy. My vision of being able to plant some in the front of the house and rid ourselves of that awful pampas grass might just come true.

The sage is doing well, all silvery green and bushy. I lopped off the blossoms that had sprouted in hopes of keeping the herb plant portion going strong.

No I've not taken up headshrinking in my spare time. Just a carrot that overwintered and is looking quite um, rustic. I found it along with two onions from last season, eureka!

I had heard that strawberry plants send off multiple runners that grow into more plants so last year when my seed didn't sprout I bought one plant. One teeny little strawberry plant that gave us a total of seven or eight strawberries all season. Meet my proud garden mom, she's sent off runners galore.

When taking these pictures most of the berries were still green but now we've picked a few handfuls of small berries and the plants are full of blossoms.

This lemon balm is the plant that won't die. It's hard to tell scale from the picture but it's about 3 feet across and I'm about to hack into it if any of my local friends want a bunch for tea (very calming kid tea by the way). I need to keep it from blocking the sun to the German thyme plant that cowers at its feet.

The oregano is also alive and kicking too. I just wish I had found some of the smaller leafed Caribbean oregano to add to the garden - this is the larger leafed Greek oregano.

I threw a bunch of swiss chard seed into the plot last year which came back as a volunteer plant this year.

Finally, my pride and joy - the blueberry bush. I spent all summer last year watering this baby on a daily basis since I'd heard that fruit production is dependent on how much water the bush receives the previous season. Seems all the effort was worth it. The blueberry bush is full of fruit and I'm jealously guarding it from the birds.

My high tech defense mechanism? A CD on a string. I hope it works because I remember the birds last year divebombing the bush as I watched in horror from a window.

Alas, there was a casualty. The smaller bush from last year didn't make it when a colony of ants set up their home in its rootball. Darn ants and their knowledge that I refuse to use chemical measures to rid myself of them. Well I've got news for them - it's called diatomaceous earth and I know how to use it.

Oh and just for kicks. If you've ever wondered what my hardworking, white collar techie husband does when he lets his hair down, here you go.

Nah, he does play computer games but in order to keep the neighbors from coming to our front porch with pitch forks he does this thankless job all summer long. Boy is he ever glad we moved out of Florida or this would be a year round thing.

A busy day.

2010-05-06T21:45:00.003-04:00

I keep most of our days pretty low key. Anything that involves packing up everyone up into the car is a production and instantly gets weighed on my grand scale of "is it worth it?" But we had an errand to run the other day and then I figured if we were all in good spirits we'd hit Target for our annual summer stockup.

Our first stop was at a local meeting point to pick up some fresh produce. We're trying out a CSA of sorts but one that allows you to pick the produce and the quantity as well as offering extra options like local honey, jams, dairy products and baked goods. Knowing we've got hearty appetites and love to have leftovers I opted for the large box, added a pint of local heavy cream and a flat of strawberries. Ummm, wow. See those green onions? There were two large bunches at least three feet long. The two leafy things behind them are jersey cabbages which will be put to good use for some pulled pork sandwiches tomorrow.

The asparagus we had tonight with meatloaf and smashed potatoes using those beautiful new potatoes. Delicious but since there were two large bunches of asparagus, I cooked up both and chopped up the leftovers to toss into some quiche. It's my half-hearted attempt at stocking up our freezer with meals for after the baby arrives. We'll see if it works. I tossed some of the tomatoes into a batch of Huevos Flamenco last night and even put together a simple cucumber and radish salad to go along with that meal.

Oh and we did not forget the berries. Heavens no. Around here any sort of fruit is fair game (we've got two full fruit baskets) but fresh and in season North Carolina berries are a treasure and we dig in. The kids had the two large 2qt baskets the first day the berries were home and that evening we used more from the flat of strawberries to give a strawberry shortcake recipe a try. The shortcakes were absolutely divine and we've got only about 2-3 quarts of berries left. We've had strawberries with breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm going to have to order some more flats just to be able to put up any jam.

Now regarding our annual stockup it's sort of an informal tradition. We replace the wading pool if necessary, get a few new sandbox toys and one or two items of interest for the backyard. This time the object of desire was a snorkel set. Apparently after a couple of episodes of Curious George my two older boys wanted to give snorkeling in the pool a try. Like my mother says, "que duren mis penas" loosely translated, may they last as long as my pity/shame which is usually not long.

When you have two older brothers . . .

2010-05-03T09:06:00.002-04:00

. . . this is the only proper way to swing . . .

And if you must swing the proper way then fast is the only acceptable speed for you.

Of course it helps that your big brothers are more than happy to oblige.*

* Guess who's ready for his summer shearing? Also, momma is not so convinced that speed or alternate swing positions are safe for her babies. She just bites her lip and stays close by.

Homemade Vanilla

2010-04-29T16:51:00.003-04:00

Finally! After I regained the ability to breathe through both nostrils we headed off to the grand opening of a local downtown farmer's market and then something possessed me to finally go take a look at my neglected garden which explains the delay. More on that another day.

So why make homemade vanilla? Well, I grew up baking with Dominican vanilla which typically is imitation vanilla if it's the clear pastry kind. I never had to buy vanilla in the states because every trip to the US, my grandmother or someone else would come with several large plastic jugs of vanilla ready to distribute. Seriously my parents have been in the states since 1980 and even in North Carolina my mom would dutifully bring me my jugs of vanilla. What's the big deal about Dominican vanilla? Well much like those people who've tasted Mexican vanilla it's just much more intense. When it's real vanilla it's quite floral and heady and even when it's the imitation stuff it knocks the socks off anything you can find here in the states. But I didn't want to keep using the imitation stuff and I figured at some point the federal agents would no longer allow people to bring back large jugs of fluid no matter how they'd been labeled. I purchased a couple of real vanilla extracts both in brick and mortar stores as well as online but blegh. The extracts had a very harsh chemical after taste and I was less than impressed with the difference in taste between the preferred bourbon vanilla beans and the tahitian notes I'd been accustomed to.

So in 2007 I began to do a little vanilla research. In Marielle-speak that means I stayed up wayyyy too late for 2-3 weeks reading up everything google could spew on my screen about making vanilla. With too much information and not any closer to a decision I stumbled across this egullet thread, the paragon for foodies gone extreme. All kidding aside, I appreciate a super-researcher of any variety so the information helped me come up with a plan. I ordered tahitian beans from Vanilla Products USA, who at the time was only selling on ebay. Yes, I bought vanilla beans from ebay. I think that was one of those rare instances that had Mr. Maricucu raising an eyebrow. Undeterred I had him buy me a bottle of vodka and put together my first batch. After a few weeks, the liquor was definitely vanilla infused but still heady of vodka. Four months into the batch, the extract was stronger but I was having doubts about this experiment panning out and ready to dial up abuela to see about setting up an import scenario as a fail safe. But then I did something amazing. I forgot about the vanilla for another couple of months. One day I was going to make a pound cake and remembered the vanilla in my pantry. Pulled it out and eureka!, dark extract heady of vanilla and not Smirnoff's. I poured a scant amount into a little cup of milk and tasted. Oh yeah, I had made vanilla extract! My first pound cake with the new vanilla had Mr. Maricucu asking me what I had changed in the recipe, it was delicious. My parents visited shortly after and I made them a batch of pound cake as well. My dad quickly declared that it tasted like "back in DR" and my mom began to brew her own extract as well.

Making homemade extract is really one of those super simple, great return on minimal investment tasks. Just grab a bottle of liquor - I stick with something middle of the road like Smirnoff's. No reason really, I just figured for making extract I didn't have to pull out the Grey Goose. All you need is a flavorless liquor to infuse with the vanilla beans. But just like I wouldn't swing to buying the high end stuff, I didn't want to tempt fate by doing this with Everclear. I figured even with the small amounts of vanilla in recipes you don't want to go for something that's known to be a gutbuster. It can't mean anything for good flavor but I'm a non drinker so what do I know. Pick what you like and let's get to work! A good ratio is 12 vanilla beans for every 750ml bottle of vodka.

Once you've done the walk of shame or pride (depending on your circumstances) out of the liquor store you'll need to get vanilla beans. What you're looking for is a plump, oily bean that bowls you over with aroma. When we were first married Mr. Maricucu and I were attempting to make a homemade vanilla bean custard ice cream. Being a couple of DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids) we just shopped for it like we did all our groceries. Pay what the tag says. So we paid about $8 for one bean that was so dried out it crunched under the knife as we attempted to split it. This time around I had been around at least half the block so I ended up ordering via Vanilla Products USA. What arrived were two vacuum sealed packs of very oily vanilla beans that left an aroma filled residue on my hands when I handled them. I think I did a little happy dance in the kitchen that day. The beans I used in this last batch were leftovers from the first beans I bought in 2007. Yup, 3 year old vanilla beans but I had resealed them using the foodsaver back then and kept them in a dark place. If you don't have a vacuum sealer feel free to double bag your extra vanilla beans. I kept some in their bean format to use for ice cream that summer until my vanilla was ready. Definitely try some fresh vanilla bean in an ice cream, creme brulee or just good old fashioned cake. Amazing stuff.

First pour off about an ounce of vodka from your bottle to account for displacement by the vanilla beans. I pour mine into one of the older bottles I had brewing but who am I to tell you what to do with your own surplus?

Then grab a bean and cut it down the center lengthwise. This will expose the tiny flecks of vanilla bean inside the pod and will help infuse your vodka that much better.

Next, chop the two bean halves into 1-2" long pieces. Why? Well the first time I made vanilla I only split the beans and indeed it makes for an elegant presentation. But then I quickly realized that as my vanilla level dropped, the bean was left standing out of the vodka and not infusing the stuff at the bottom. So I fished those out (that was a pain!) and chopped them down.

Next, dump your vanilla bean pieces into the bottle of vodka until you've chopped all twelve.

Label your bottle - I go for the no frills masking tape in my kitchen drawer but you can get a little fancy schmancy if you're the paper crafts type. I'm not and am afraid to go there considering my penchant for collecting craft supplies. You'll see that with just one shake of the bottle the vodka has already begun to change color to a lightish tan. Just place your bottle of proto-vanilla into the pantry and give it a shake whenever you remember it's there.

After at least six months (but you can go longer), you'll have this:

Here it is held up to the sunlight so you can appreciate the dark amber hue.

This is nothing like the stuff you'll find at the grocery store and dare I say it gives that snobby brand beginning with a N&M a run for their money. You'll definitely spend less than buying the N&M brand and yours will be amazing. Most extracts have that chemical aftertaste or worse are doctored up with glycerin to make them sweet. If you want to taste your vanilla to gauge its progress, add a few drops to a small cup of milk - never taste it straight lest you think I've led you astray.

And here's my lineup from that day. From left to right: My current bottle of vanilla, a bottle that had I finished up and topped off with more vodka (added another two chopped beans but mostly it's repurposing the previous batch's beans), then the two new bottles that are brewing. Yes you can top off old bottles, I would just recommend always having two bottles, the one you're using and the one you've topped off to allow it a bit more time to brew.

Why vanilla was postponed.

2010-04-26T21:22:00.005-04:00

First, let me whine a little. And if you don't like to hear whining then skip down to the last half of this post. I'm all of 5 feet tall and short torsoed. Which means barely any room in my torso to begin with. Then I get pregnant with my husband's super long offspring and sometime in the third trimester I'm eating supermodel portions not by choice but because anything more in such a limited space and it's reflux city. Breathing? What's that? I don't take a normal deep breath again until I've literally pushed out a baby. Beautiful picture huh? So on Friday I was gifted yet another one of my beautiful, children's colds. Which pretty much had me tired but not much else. Then bam! on Saturday I could barely breathe and with no sleep was pretty much useless all day long. Thank the Lord for a husband that takes as good care of me as my own mother would. Seriously, kids fed & entertained? Check. Marielle fed and sleeping like a wheezing baby? Check. Laundry done? Check. Dinner cooked and cleaned up? Check. Blessedly on Sunday after he had to go work for a few hours and run errands, a friend brought over a meal to give the poor guy a break and our family some nourishment. I avoided pneumonia and even though I sound like Carol Channing am on the mend and can semi-breathe. So that was our weekend and I was all set to come back and hit you with my vanilla method. But then something else happened.

My little sis went and had herself a beautiful little baby girl! She who is now breathing freely, welcomed baby A., the adorable little sister to 3 very proud and loving older brothers. To say she's going to be spoiled is an understatement. Isn't technology wonderful? My too-cool-to-be-old-fogie parents sent me the cell phone pics and I was able to admire her right away. The only thing I'm missing is smushing on those beautiful cheeks in real time. Congratulations to my little sis and my brother in law as they welcome their newest blessing.

Why do I only remember to buy liquor when I'm pregnant?

2010-04-22T21:26:00.002-04:00

Now don't go getting all in a huff that the pregnant lady is hitting the bottle. It just always seems I get a severe urge to make more vanilla extract while I'm pregnant. I'm guessing because I know it will brew while I'm heavily babymooning and thus I'm still multi-tasking. Yes it's a sickness.

Last week while Mr. Maricucu was in the car and could stay with the kids I stopped by the ABC store (North Carolina's government run liquor stores) and made a run. While I will brave the judging eyes with my protruding belly what I will not do is take my three into a small store stocked top to bottom with glass bottles. My mom didn't raise a fool. Well at least this sibling, I can't vouch for my sister and brother.* So I go in the store to stock up on more vodka for the vanilla and finally remembered that I needed to get margarita fixings. No, people I'm not drinking margaritas. Mr. Maricucu is not much of a drinker but he does enjoy a margarita every now and then so I figured it might be nice to make them at home. Of course, I know as much about mixing drinks as I do about rocket science. Actually my knowledge of mixed drinks is likely in the negative territory while rocket science is squarely on the zero. So the poor little old man that was manning the counter gave me an impromptu lesson on tequila. I'm sure he totally believed my story that it was for my husband. As I was walking back to the car with my bottles of vodka, tequila and triple sec Mr. Maricucu was giggling to himself at the thought of his expecting wife and the looks she must have gotten while in the store. Eh, it works for me.

So sometime this week a little tutorial on how I make my vanilla. For the record I didn't go on a vodka buying binge, the two bottles on the left were ones already in my possession. Like a proper child of my mother I find it hard to let go of perfectly good bottles and reuse with abandon.

* Marielle's brother and sister's aren't fools but since they are her siblings she is allowed to tease them mercilessly. Anyone not blood related to H. and B. better back off because Marielle has been known to defend her siblings. 'Nuff said.

I've got a super power.

2010-04-19T22:13:00.003-04:00

Oh yes I do and you might want to sit down before I lay it all out. I have a skill, a talent, so finely honed that I consider it a super power along the lines of Mr. Maricucu's beloved X-Men, League of Whatchamcallits (he's going to kill me for that one) and Superman.

Okay, so take a deep breath and clear your mind. My. Super. Power. Is.

I hold birthday gifts hostage. What? Doesn't impress you? Or does it not qualify as a super power but more of an evil genius power? Oh I'm quite serious about this. Without any effort on my part whatsoever, I will buy birthday gifts months in advance. Then I will carefully place them in a safe place (read: away from the kids) and forget about them. Then I will call the loved one I so esteem on their special day and midway through the conversation mention that their gift will be in the mail soon. Then I hang up and get caught up with the kid intent on using that screwdriver he found but on something without screws. Or the child who insists she has a super power too - the ability not to crack her skull. Or the one who's so eerily quiet that I go on a hunt to see what he's done with a lump in my throat. And that, folks, is when my super power kicks in. I then proceed to cycle between forgetting to pack up the gift and remembering but only when a sleeping child is in my arms or when I wake up to pee at 3am. Over and over, the weeks go by, *blush* the months go by. And these are people I actually love. I'd hate to think what a poor soul would suffer if I really didn't like them.

You would think that with the ability to craft this super power would have lost its stronghold on me. I mean, I have the supplies in house, then there's me in the house and the shipping supplies are also in the house. Heck my mail carrier will pick up the darned package right at my doorstop. Has that helped? You underestimate my only-slightly-less-impressive ability to procrastinate. I mean I've only been doing that since birth (quite literally I think I was a few days late). So now instead of forgetting to mail a gift that's in the closet, the gift now needs to make it out of this snare that is my mind, into fruition and meet its fate in gift limbo.

How impressive is this awesome skill of mine? My sister in law's birthday is in September, my mother in law's in October and my niece in February. They all live in the same household, and I still have their gifts in my possession. Oh and if we're being honest here, the last one is still ensnared in my mind. Blessedly Mr. Maricucu remembers his brother in law's birthday like a person with normal brain receptors and actually orders him a manly magazine subscription on time for his birthday. On time people! There are people out there who get out gifts on time. Tsk, tsk those mere mortals.

So I finished my sister in law's gift last year, and now I've finally finished my mother in law's gift. She's had some surgeries on her back and I figured a nice rice wrap and matching eye rice pad would come in handy for hot/cold therapy. Yes that's my mother in law that sends me free fabric pretty often. The rice wrap is about 39" x 6". I segmented the wrap about every 5 inches and sewed a line of stitching down the width to keep the rice from ending up all at one end. Very easy, just a little tedious to fill, pin back the rice and then stitch each section up.

The eye pads are about 8"x4" and a lot easier as they're filled just once. I've been swiping Mr. Maricucu's eye pad for those days when I have a sneaking headache and a cool, heavy eye pad is heavenly. I did not contour the nose area of these pads since I found that the rice is easy to mold around the bridge of the nose. The second one is made of scraps from my grocery bags and is headed to my mom who suffers from sinus issues.

So now, I must harness the nesting that is sure to last oh but briefly and make my niece's gift. Thankfully, my loving family members all still speak to me and appreciate their gifts even if they are obnoxiously late. So what's your super power?

A little excitement before the weekend.

2010-04-16T23:24:00.004-04:00

Growing up, my family had one cardinal rule. No one ever goes to or stays in the hospital alone. Much like the marines and their "never leave a marine behind" command, in our family we took shifts, called on friends and pretty much ensured that a person was not alone in the hospital. No we're not paranoid but in an imperfect world with many shift changes a human can make an error so a loved one keeping a watchful eye helped reduce that risk drastically. That person would also serve as an advocate for someone likely under sedation or too weak to persist in requesting comfort measures.

Well I'm here to say the tradition continues. Here's my crew at the hospital ER while poor Mr. Maricucu was being seen for kidney stone pain. Bad cell phone pic but even if I did have my camera I think they would have poorly on me trying to snap pictures at the emergency room. Mr. Maricucu is not usually one to complain about smaller symptoms so when he called me to tell me he was coming home early and panting through pain I knew it was not just back pain. Sure enough, a couple of hours later instead of heading to our family doctor the whole crew was packed and ready to head to the ER. Once there they sat still for a good 2-3 hours and munched on the food I had hastily packed up preparing for the worst. We tried every hand sanitizer station, discovered all the bathrooms and spoke with both police officers on duty. I steered them away from a TV playing one of the most gruesome vampire movies I've ever seen (hello?) until we found the little kid section which was a mixed blessing. When Mr. Maricucu was called back to be seen he told me to go ahead and stay in the lobby thinking it would be easier on me. Three hours into the ordeal I asked which room he was in and found that they had yet to do any type of diagnostic procedures on him. I camped the three kids and me in the small room while I peppered the now surprised nurse and PA about the course of action. Thankfully I touched bases with a friend who sent her husband to rescue my two older boys from the boredom of the ER and unleashed them in their backyard to play then fed them dinner. Finally, after a cat scan, an IV bag and a whole bunch of sitting around waiting Mr. Maricucu was sent out with a little less pain, some prescriptions and a referral. He's recovering now and doing well. Definitely not our idea of fun and now we get to sit around and wait some more on the hospital's idea of fair billing.

Pausing for a bit.

2010-04-13T23:18:00.002-04:00

The other day I left the baby napping at home with Mr. Maricucu while the boys and I visited the local museum of science. I don't know what it is about sibling dynamics but it doesn't matter how many kids you have, remove one from the equation and suddenly the leftover ones are totally different. I imagine a good bit has to be the parent who is used to running on all cylinders and hyper aware of what the kids are into suddenly feeling just a teensy bit more leisurely. I know it's going to get a little hectic in just a few months and this seems to be tradition to slow down with the kids a little more in preparation (or perhaps just a heavy dose of mama guilt after being so snappy and hormonal).

After walking around the exhibits we ended up in the discovery room which is hands on all the time. I caught my 4 year old staring out of the window wondering what had caught his eye in our pedestrian downtown area.

Ahhh, of course. A sandpit and construction vehicles are always a big hit. This is the intended site of a brand new nature center that will be a hit I'm sure.

Then both boys split up according to their personalities. My younger one found a little niche and plenty of puzzles. He delved right in and didn't move an inch.

While his older brother covered territory across the room and back. First a quick peek at the museum's bee hive.

Then the hide table to identify various animals.

Not five minutes later I saw this scene. Now as the mother of this child I find it highly entertaining that as a toddler he would cling to me for at least the first half of any new situation/location before attempting to explore on his own. I filled that need of his to have me play homebase but never did I imagine that he would walk up to a kid at a museum and just ask for help then introduce himself and ask her to be his friend. The little girl, a year or two older than him, graciously agreed.

And so they spent the rest of the afternoon side by side while I tried to keep my distance. Sniff. He's growing up.

Feeling just a bit unnecessary I went back to peek on my puzzle builder. Yup, still there.

I find it an entirely amazing and bittersweet process to watch the boys grow up so fast. I remember holding my oldest in arms, just barely a few days old and speaking to an aunt of mine over the phone. She asked me if I was smelling the top of his head and finding it hard to stop myself from kissing him. I shyly admitted that yes, yes I had. She replied, "Go ahead and kiss him some more. Snuggle him as much as you can because in the blink of an eye he will be grown up and moving fast. Enjoy this now." Truer words were never spoken.

TV by proxy.

2010-04-10T22:33:00.004-04:00

I've mentioned before how I watch a lot of TV by proxy. I've got my husband on the hook for letting me know what eventually happens on Lost despite me not having watched anything past the first season. I'm sort of addicted to The Movie Spoiler because I can satisfy my curiosity about a horror flick without having to watch the darned thing and end up replaying it in my head. Yes that totally makes sense to me. Here's a tip: TMS also works great for those very involved multilayered plots that leave you gasping and saying, "no way!" at the end. You can go back through the synopsis to reprocess all those foreshadowing details again and again. What? People don't do that? Do people actually leave a movie without replaying it over and over in their heads while annoying their significant other exclaiming about plot points at random times the following week? Huh, go figure.

Another show that we started watching together but I quickly forgot to keep watching, was Can We Duet. Great show put on by Country Music Television where existing duets (or soloists who are paired up) battled it out a la American Idol without the sickeningly sweet bubble gum pop. The first season one of my favorite pairs was Joey + Rory, a sweet down to earth couple who didn't take themselves too seriously. By the second season I missed all but one episode however loved the winning duo - Steel Magnolia. Not only were they named after one of my favorite movies but their voices (particularly the female vocalist, Meghan Linsey) were lovely. Here they are giving a live performance with nothing but a guitar and a set of drums.

Airing our dirty drawers.

2010-04-07T23:05:00.002-04:00

Or more accurately, the worn out diapers. A couple of weeks ago I received a new shipment of prefolds in the mail. The last batch we purchased were now very well worn and with a new baby on the way I figured it was time for a new set. See, I bought my last batch of prefolds more than 4 years ago. They were used as cloth post partum pads after I had my second child. Their main function was as nighttime doublers (to increase absorption) and were used for two kids simultaneously while being washed in heavy duty cycles every other day. Then my third child came along and the prefolds had another stint in the post partum cloth department while continuing to be used as doublers for two children and again being washed every other day.

That's a lot of wear and tear people, but these things are amazing. Since prefolds are simple, multilayered flat diapers there's no elastic to give out, no waterproof layer to wear out, no velcro to stop sticking. It's all absorbent cotton that as long as it's still absorbing works well even when it's ugly. How ugly? Let's take a look. I'll ease you into the ugly slowly. Here are the new prefolds. These are indian prefolds and all sizes are the infant sizes.

Notice the smooth, even weave and the lovely puckering. If you've never ordered a prefold diaper before they arrive larger and smooth. Then you wash them on a couple of hot cycles to remove any sizing and waxes to end up with a shrunken, puckered up, quilted looking prefold that feels amazingly soft. Which is why I will unashamedly say they work amazing as post partum cloth pads. So soft that the day that men decide to wear plastic underwear is the day I might reconsider cloth pads. Even then I likely won't. But that's a rant for another day.

Here is a prefold from my used batch. This one is the "medium" worn example since it's still pretty much intact and just slightly worn in a few spots.

These prefolds have four layers on the outer thirds and then 8 layers down the center so even when one of the outer layers wears out they are perfectly fine and still absorbent.

Now here's the down and out prefold. The one that's a testament to how much wear you can squeeze out of a diaper.

Yes it is that ratty looking in real life. Luckily, since I just fold them in thirds and stick them in an all in one diaper all I care is that the prefold is still absorbent. So yes, these were still being used. Despite the many holes, worn out patches and lifted up fabric layers, they worked like a charm. Not bad for something that cost at the time like $1-$2.

Now I just need to find a last resting place for the used prefolds. Any ideas? If all else fails I might just slice them up and use them to augment the stuffing in the kids' beanbag.

Chicken and Dumplings.

2010-04-05T12:12:00.005-04:00

I've got a question for you. When you hear chicken and dumplings do you think gravy/broth filled with vegetables and chicken then topped with billowy biscuit like dumplings? Or do you envision a hearty gravy filled with only pulled chicken and poached thickish dumplings resembling a short noodle? The mason dixon line travels between these two. The former - a total northern thing and possibly out west as well as people moved out in that direction. The latter? Now that's a southern thing pure and simple. Since my introduction to American cuisine was limited to what I saw on TV cooking shows in the 80s and 90s I'd only heard of the puffy northern dumplings. Then while dating Mr. Maricucu we hit a Cracker Barrel in South Florida to satisfy a craving and boy was I surprised to see a plate of what looked like creamed chicken with some very puffy noodles show up on our table.

Was the plate for me? Nope. Actually I might be committing heresy by admitting this but I'm not a fan of chicken and dumplings in any form. If I had my 'druthers I'd take my chicken and gravy encased in a flaky pot pie crust any day. But I love a guy who happens to adore chicken and dumplings and since I like tinkering in the kitchen to preserve our beloved family recipes I figured I could tackle this one. A little online sleuthing turned up a cracker barrel copy cat recipe that began with making some homemade broth which I bookmarked immediately.

I know what you're thinking, "groan, not a super involved recipe again." No, not at all. See I have this little cheater's ritual which makes the whole process oh so easy. Every couple of weeks I'll hit up Costco or the local supermarket and buy two rotisserie chickens. The Costco chickens are a little larger and better priced but in a pinch the grocery store by my house does just fine. I remove the chicken breasts clean off the bone and use them to make a wonderful composed salad of baby greens, boiled new potatoes, bell peppers, green beans and a simple vinaigrette. Other times I'll make a quick chicken salad loosely based on an old Ina Garten recipe minus the nuts.

Then right after I take off the breast meat I continue picking off the dark meat. I end up with two piles. One filled with clean chunks of moist dark meat and the other with everything else (carcass, skin, and juices from the bottom of the rotisserie containers). I typically throw those two separate piles into the freezer until I want to make some some chicken and dumplings.

If I just want to make broth (great for freezing in individual sized portions and pulling out for illness) then I just dump the "other" pile into a pot, cover with water and add a splash of apple cider vinegar. I let that simmer all day long, sometimes replenishing the liquid and strain, then freeze. Delicious, very low sodium, homemade bone broth. But you're here for the chicken and dumplings.

Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings
adapted from Cracker Barrel Copycat Recipe

note: I make my broth with the two rotisserie chicken carcasses but if you'd prefer to start from uncooked chicken then please visit the previous link for raw chicken and veggie quantities. Also, my recipe makes a good sized batch of chicken and dumplings. Feel free to halve the recipe for a smaller family.

Broth
2 rotisserie chicken carcasses picked of their meat
dark meat from above mentioned carcasses
1 splash (couple of tablespoons worth) of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt (or ground celery seed)
kosher salt to taste

Dumplings
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons of table salt
2 1/4 cups whole milk

Dump your frozen pile o'carcass into a large stockpot and cover with water. As a frame of reference this stockpot holds 8qts. Not a beautiful picture but one that holds the promise of flavor.

Bring the pot to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer. I usually start this in the morning sometime after breakfast and let it simmer a good 7-8 hours replenishing the liquid if necessary to keep it over the bones. This is certainly a wonderful time to use the crockpot too if you have one large enough. Just simmer covered in the crockpot on low and you won't have to worry about keeping an eye on the liquid. After simmering all day I end up with this beautiful golden colored broth.

Strain the liquid. I use a large fine mesh skimmer/spider that's about 7 inches across. It's much easier for me to scoop around with that than to balance a pot of hot stock over a large container. When you're done you'll have this spent pile of bones.

Behind door #2 you'll find this beautiful stock with a fine layer of fat (schmaltz anyone?). I don't remove the fat since I've never found it to be excessive but if you don't like it, go ahead and remove it.

This amount of bones/water usually produces 10-12 cups of stock. If you like a thinner gravy in your chicken and dumplings you'll use 12 cups (it's okay to top off with water if your broth is just a touch less than that). If you prefer a thicker gravy then use only 10-11 cups of stock. Put your stock back in the pot and set it aside.

Time to make the dumplings. In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the milk and stir to combine. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. It will look very wet at this point, don't sweat it.

While the dumpling dough is resting bring your broth to a simmer. Add the lemon juice, then the celery salt.

Also add the pepper and taste for salt, then adjust as necessary.

c

Back to the dumpling dough. The dough has grown quite bit thanks to the baking powder.

Liberally dust your countertop (or other preferred dough rolling surface) then dump your sticky dough right on top. Dust more flour on top of the dough and knead it a couple of times gently to smooth it out.

Roll out the dough to a 1/2" thickness and then cut into rough 1"x2" rectangles. I don't break out a measuring tape for this people. Just guesstimate and then have at the dough with a pizza cutter. This is rustic, not perfection.

Now that your dumplings are ready and the broth is simmering it's time for a dip in the hot tub. Drop in the dumplings a handful at a time. Between each addition, give them a gentle stir with your spoon. Once the dumplings are coated in broth they won't stick together.

Keep adding the dumplings until they're all in the pot. They will puff up and float on the surface but that's normal.

Simmer the dumplings for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so to keep them from sticking to the bottom. After simmering, the dumplings will no longer float and the stock will have thickened into a gravy.

Add the chicken and stir gently to warm through.

All that's left is to ladle it up into bowls and adopt a southern drawl.

How do you get kids to try something new? Tell them they can't have it and that it's not for them. There's no way they were going to take that for an answer after the fragrant simmering happening in our home.

A quickie.

2010-04-02T11:56:00.003-04:00

A quick little cocoon for newborn photos. There will be one in July of course and I might get to sneak in a little practice before then. Until then Mr. Floppy serves as a chunkier albeit more cooperative standin.

Just some cranberry colored homespun (it's much deeper in real life) and unblocked per the pattern's suggestion. Thanks to Melissa for her lovely All You Need is Love free cocoon pattern. I did mine on size 10 needles and cast on 60 stitches. It's roughly 9 x 14" but I can pretty much coax it into different sizes by tugging and pulling which is what I needed for trying out different poses. Forgive the very messy sewing room floor. I only vacuum when I notice it, um like now.

And here's a little something that the kids and I are loving. Andrew Bird performing Dr. Stringz and pretty much entrancing all of us with his very smooth, melodious voice. I'm not really into music to the extent most people are collecting albums, downloading and listening all the time. However every now and then I hear something that's just pleasing to the ear. Must check out more of his songs in the near future. Be sure to turn up the volume.

Oh my, I may have scarred her for life.

2010-03-30T22:17:00.004-04:00

I've finally gotten around my mental block and picked up the waldorf doll again. In a burst of inspiration, procrastination or misdirected nesting I put a bit of a dent in the dolly's body this week. Now, the last time I worked on the boys' dolls it was all secretive evening work but this time I've been working on the third specimen out in the open. I had heard there was a bit of a risk in doing this. Some children might be horrified to see their dolls without facial features, hair or limbs and *sniff* never want to see them again.

I must admit that once I closed the seam on top of the head (yes it's supposed to look like that) I made a concerted effort not to let baby see the doll in this particular stage to avoid having such a moment. So I set the doll aside in my sewing room and added to my list of professions I would suck at - surgeon, right there next to singer and anything requiring an attention span longer than that of a squirrel.

Looks pretty gruesome huh? I promise the position of the needle was totally a mindless thing. Just like I do with all my other hand sewing. Little did I know it would look so, um, bad.

But I was worried for nothing. The minute little girl entered my sewing room she saw dolly from across the way and it was all I could do to grab the needle before this scene played out. Cue the music maestro.

And now this momma has a fire lit under her bottom to finish this particular project.

Slight deviation of plans.

2010-03-29T09:40:00.003-04:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled post to ramble.

I've posted before about my love for tangy lemon bars. It's quite an unhealthy obsession but I fully own it. A couple of weeks ago I replenished my stash of grapefruit to satisfy my other obsession but this time instead of picking out individual ruby reds I opted for a large 5lb bag. Big mistake. The bagged grapefruit were bitter as all get out. I love sour and I love tangy but even I couldn't eat the quite bitter ones straight. So they sat on my counter until I juiced them all yesterday. I gave the kids some of the juice straight since sick child is just now feeling better and blessedly his siblings did not catch it. The rest I used in my lemon bar recipe along with the zest for some grapefruit bars.

Now my mistake was forgetting the tang of lemons is much more pronounced even against a bitter grapefruit so these were a bit too sweet for my taste. Next time I'll cut back the sugar but this time I took a lemon from the fridge and squeezed the juice over the bars while still warm. Much better. Oh and look who's becoming a fabric connoisseur. She reorganized my scraps and made sure to smooth her hands across every.single.piece.

One of these things is not like the other . . .

2010-03-26T14:39:00.004-04:00

. . . one of these things just doesn't belong.

I apologize in advance if the song sticks in your head until Monday. I'll still find it amusing but at least I'll be sorry.

Exhibits 1, 2 and 3:

The other day I broke out the Perler beads while cooking dinner. Midway through dinner prep I couldn't resist putting one together myself and found myself hunched over a little spiked grid furiously placing beads while keeping the baby from ingesting the rest. The older boys worked on theirs, the six year old more interested than the four year old. It's pretty obvious mine is the middle one. Yes I couldn't resist putting together a graduated rainbow one - more like I couldn't do anything else but hyperfocus on searching for beads. It's all good though, the baby loved mine when it was done.

Today one of my kids is sick and laid up on the couch while the rest of them enjoy the side benefit of the movie rotation. Yesterday it was Fox and The Hound, today Lady and The Tramp. Momma on the other hand gets the side benefit of brewing wellness tea, making soup and checking body temperature often. So sometime in the next couple of days I'll finally post the chicken and dumplings recipe that's a favorite of Mr. Maricucu.

Quilting

2010-03-23T23:14:00.003-04:00

Last November I was involved in a quilt square swap for an I Spy themed quilt. As soon as my stack of squares came in the mail I thumbed through them, then put them away knowing I would have absolutely no chance to do anything with them until after this pregnancy was over. I knew it would do me no good to get started on something like a quilt considering the nearly 3 dozen diapers I need to sew up before July and the host of other projects already on my plate.

Well apparently I dared myself and the other part of me thumbed her nose at the to do list. Behold, the beginning of an I Spy quilt for the kiddie comfort corner. The comfort corner our home is the corner made by the two couches in our living room and serves as a getaway for overwhelmed children or just as a hideout lately. The kids love hanging out on the mishmash of beanbags, cushions and covers in the corner but it seems we never have enough covers for when the "I don't want him sitting next to me"s kick in. This quilt, once finished, will pad our stash nicely.

Since I've got 100 unique, 4" squares I knew I wanted to bulk up the overall size of the quilt with some solids. After a good bit of time wasting on google image searches and the rabbit hole that is flickr, I finally decided to go with a disappearing nine patch block. The swap squares are pretty varied in colors so I chose two solids from the kona-type offerings at Joann's. A beautiful tahitian blue (much more saturated than the picture) and a nice bright grass green.

Since time will be of the essence I'm going to use the birthing method like the last quilt I made for my nephew which involves no binding and then stippling the quilt all over. For the backing I've chosen this plush cuddle cloth in a matching green which might allow me to get away without using any batting. We'll see.

I also recently received this Oz Layer Cake in the mail that I'd ordered last fall. Love layer cakes - just a stack of 42 unique 10" squares all from the same coordinating line.

I'm really excited about making a throw for the living room couch that might be used by the grownups instead of being appropriated by the children. Not sure just yet what design but I've got time since this is definitely one project I'll leave for next fall.

Documentation for the guilt.

2010-03-21T21:47:00.003-04:00

Nothing like a cryptic title to throw you for a loop huh? Documentation for the guilt? What guilt? As if being a mom wouldn't be guilt inducing enough, I'm latin and I'm female. 'Nuff said. This last decade or so though, I've shaken off the guilt complex and sort of come into my own big mouth and all but there's nothing like the Rick Roll called pregnancy and hormones to punch you square in the gut. I'm not an icy person by an means but man do I suck at being normal during pregnancy. While a sad movie usually has me tearful I cry like a man, biting my lip and wiping the tears away with the edge of my sleeve looking around to make sure no one has noticed. While pregnant? It's full on waterworks with multiple tissues and the blubbering lip. Mr. Maricucu and I were watching The Blindside the other night and it was all I could do to keep it together. Although I don't think he noticed since he was wiping the tears away with his shirt and biting his lip.

Back to the guilt. I'd been feeling guilty because with my exhaustion during the last couple of months the kids have been hearing a lot more Nos when it comes to messy projects. I just didn't have it in me to follow through with the necessary cleanup and make sure they cleaned their messes as well. Thankfully within the last couple of weeks I've had some spurts of energy and creativity so they've been getting more messy opportunities. Me, I'm just left thinking there's a darn good reason I say no sometimes.

First we began with a fresh double batch of playdough. Again multicolored, and again a blegh army green by the end of the week when they'd blended it all together. It was pretty tame though. My oldest built a wall of forest fire while his brother made some sort of turtle/snail/pinch pot thingie that I can't for the life of me remember what he called. Chaching! There goes my deposit in the therapy jar.

All in all the playdough was uneventful until I discovered that their little sister had managed to pinch off kosher salt flakes of it onto the dining room carpet (yes that's a rant for another day, genius builders) which I stepped on and mashed with my feet as I took her out of her booster seat. Apparently when I thought she had given up on eating it because it tastes like a salt lick I erroneously assumed she would play with it - on the table.

Well with that hiccup out of the way we moved onto a straightforward pre-St. Patrick's day shamrock collage. I figured the cutting of the papers would buy me enough time in the sewing room. Oops, did I just say that out loud? Little did I know it was even possible to use a whole bottle of glue on a single sheet of letter sized paper. Who knew you could layer a collage 6 layers deep? Apparently momma lost track of time and when we went to move his masterpiece off the table, we were left holding a shamrock shaped hole in the middle of the paper while the glue/construction paper mash stubbornly stuck to the wooden table. The wooden table I had the foresight NOT to refinish several years ago in the middle of a nesting fit. I think I'll do it when they leave for college.

A few days later we moved onto paint. I figured, sure why not? I'm a pro at this by now. I pull out the water-resistant-on-one-side freezer paper and tape it to the counter. Break out the ice trays we use for paint and let them go at it one at a time on the kitchen counter where any mess (so I thought) would be contained. Then little sister was set up at the kitchen table to experiment with finger paint which I vaguely remembered I checked was non-toxic as I watch her accidentally lick some off. Quite quickly I was scrambling to verify that on the large bottles of paint when I found her gleefully licking up gobs of the stuff from the tray, her fingers and then the paper. *shudder*

While little sister was conducting her own paint tasting, my younger son was entranced in covering every single inch of his paper with paint. Apparently his technique with glue extends to paint as well. When I saw it took him all of three minutes to do this I gave him some forks and legos to imprint some texture on all that paint and was able to get a little more sewing in. After he was cleaned up I set up the oldest to paint with a fresh tray and fresh paper taped on the counter while I nursed and rocked the now clean little girl to sleep. As I was walking into the bedroom to set her down I peeked over my shoulder at my oldest and reminded him, "don't make a huge mess, I'll be back in a minute." I put the baby down, she stirred a little so I shushed her back into lalaland then walked into the kitchen.

Just a brief pause to remind you this is my oldest, the 6 1/2 year old. The one who's been around the longest. When I walked into the kitchen he had painted his arms up to his biceps in brown paint, was happily smacking around the paper and paint to splatter the stove, floor and fridge and had managed to paint the top half of his face brown as well. When I recovered from the shock I asked the famous rhetorical question of all motherhood, "why would you ever DO THAT?!" Before he had a chance to answer I went into my deep brain automatically prescripted but typically averted, "You are six years old, you know how we paint, blah, blah, blah." To which he replied, "Just because I'm six doesn't mean I know everything." Screech!! Did you hear that? Because I did and what I wouldn't give to have taped that statement. Having that at my disposal would be like gold in the midst of any future difference of opinions with this child. Instead, I went to get some kitchen towels and had him clean up his wonderful mess. Now I have documentation for those days I'm feeling just a bit guilty that I'm hampering their development because we haven't broken out anything but the crayons in a while. One day I might post what they do in the backyard while I look on (and sometimes don't) from the kitchen window.

Sock Monkey Love

2010-03-18T22:31:00.003-04:00

Back in the day . . .

Oh yes, I'm going there and I know that purely by the use of that phrase I will be instantly catapulted into old fogie status. I'm okay with that.

So back in the day you had to either tape the Superbowl with a vcr and actually fast forward through the football to catch the commercials or watch the game with a fellow sport enthusiast who would alert you to the commercial breaks by getting more food or taking a bathroom break. Then came the wonders of the internet for us non-sport lovers. Suddenly you could spend your Sunday on any other endeavor and then just look up the commercials online. This year I actually forgot to do either. Sad, huh? I'm sure the big advertising agencies consider me a nightmare - a consumer with ADD so bad she forgets to even look up the much touted Superbowl commercials. I won't even get into how I promised my husband years ago when Lost jumped the shark that he would just tell me what happens in the final episode because I had neither the patience nor the attention span to watch the series. Lucky for me he's still watching and what seemed like an impossible promise is likely to come true. TV slackers, unite!

So about those Superbowl commercials. I did get a peak of one weeks later that totally caught my attention. It's the Kia commercial featuring the beloved Sock Monkey going on a fantasy wild ride with his fellow plushies. Sock monkeys have experienced quite a renewed popularity in the last several years thanks to the online crafting community and it seems someone was paying attention. My favorite part hands down? Sock Monkey's tatoo of course - hand embroidery no less.

The first of many wristlets.

2010-03-16T21:27:00.002-04:00

I made this on a whim for a dear friend's birthday. I had seen a zippered pouch tutorial on the Flossie Teacakes blog and bookmarked it because I wasn't really inspired just then. This month the inspiration came. My friend, a busy mom, loves to go on walks with her kids and I figured a well-sized wristlet with a snappable strap would be perfect to tote on such outings. Where the flossie teacakes tutorial shines is in her attention the detail (check out the tabs covering the end of the zipper) and firm suggestion to use interfacing. The interfacing gives the wristlet proper body and makes it feel like one you could buy in any boutique (but not really because it's one of a kind). I've also been itching for a project to use this bird print. I love the super bright colors against the deep chocolate background. I had used a teensy bit of it in my mom's log cabin pillow but really needed to showcase this print some more.

The lining is of course a super bright color. Lately, I'm embracing my love for bright color but since this project was not for me I played it safe and saved the punch of orange for the inside.

I started with 10"x6" rectangles of fabric and sewed up the wristlet with 1/4" seams so it would hold a large bifold wallet, a phone and a few more odds and ends.

I couldn't help but add a bit color to the outside as well. An atom red zipper . . .

. . . and some matching snaps on the the strap so she could attach the wristlet to her sling rings, other bag or anything else.

Oh and I'm definitely making more. At the very least one for my niece and one for me which is odd for this fickle ADD-proned sewist. We'll see . . .

Meeting of the minds.

2010-03-14T22:35:00.004-04:00

I love the moments when I can just sit back and observe the other members of my family. This particular night, Mr. Maricucu in a moment of total self-sacrifice told the kids to grab their favorite game to play a round before bedtime. Why self-sacrifice?

Well, allow me set the scene for you. A six year old fully caught in the throes of needing to win, needing to succeed which is totally developmentally appropriate but flies in the face of good sportsmanship. His younger brother a very fickle four year old who's very laid back nature and slowwwwww as molasses cooperation flies in the face of his brother's patience. Add the very analytical father, a techie by trade, who is not caught up with the day to day of the above scenario and let's just say it played out like a tense UN meeting between Venezuela, Germany and the US.

It was hairy there for a while, three seemingly different languages being spoken, some pounded fists (that four year old *tisk, tisk*) and a refusal to take a turn stalling the progress of the game. Eventually the game did continue and Mr. Maricucu despite initially being behind won the game. Oh yes, he plays cutthroat even with the young'uns. Where was the little girl while all of this tense action was happening? Apparently she's the journalist of the organization and took detailed notes to make sure I stayed on top of my accurate reporting.

I had such high hopes.

2010-03-13T00:07:00.003-05:00

When I saw this book on the featured section of our library I made a beeline for it. In fact I think the kids thought I might have spotted candy instead of a new sewing book. As soon as we were home and fed, I cracked open the cover but much to my dismay I was less than impressed.

Thank goodness for the library system because had I purchased the book it would have instantly gone in the sell/trade pile. Don't get me wrong the designs are okay, the photography pretty whimsical but having spent the last couple of years learning to sew so that things look well put together, the last thing I want to do is then dress my child in fraying, wrinkled hems with what looks like the contents of Aunt Lucy's hope chest super glued to the sleeves and neckline. So, back to the library it goes and I'll go back to my beloved Google Reader where generous fellow bloggers provide great inspiration on a daily basis.

Oh ye of twitchy organizational urges . . .

2010-03-10T22:24:00.005-05:00

. . . avert your eyes. If you're the least bit bothered by mess, disorganization or displacement of items you've been warned.

Now for the rest of us who live in reality (kidding!) here's the current state of my sewing room. I figured since I've got a bunch of stuff in progress but nothing actually finished quite yet I'd 'fess up to my mental block. It's all my own doing of course. I imagine some sort of self sabotage if you want to get all phsycho-babble but really out of the many works-in-progress I have about three items that are in the last step of completion and I can't stand to look at them. Happens every time, I'm giddily working on something at quite the clip when I'm nearing the end and I set it aside. Fear of not getting the project right, my procrastination at actually packaging (if it's a gift) or just feeling blegh. Either way, said item will sit on that mess of a cutting table not only unfinished but also blocking the way to working on anything else. If anything I'm quite self-aware of my limitations and quirks.

But! There's hope! At some point soon I will go on a finishing rampage and clean the sewing room. Then I'll sit and stare at it for fear of making a mess all over again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Behold my ironing board. Filled to the brim with prewashed fabric that Mr. Maricucu finally tired of having to work around in the laundry room. Underneath, more prewashed fabric overflowing from a laundry basket that I was in the process of pressing enthusiastically - before I got pregnant.

Finally at least some progress. My little girl's waldorf doll body parts and the rest of the supplies all rounded up in one box to take out in the evenings. For now she pats the wool batting gladly. On top, the fingerless mitt I've now had to pull apart a record three times just to get the buttonhole for my thumb the right size. Apparently aside from my man-sized head (long story) I must have man-sized thumbs to match.

Signed, Marielle. Your local spastic and unproductive crafter.

'Cause she's got . . . personality!

2010-03-07T21:25:00.004-05:00

I've shared before how even I, the lyric mangler, has songs randomly popping in my head during the day like some kind of personal soundtrack. Today's soundtrack is brought to you courtesy of Lloyd Price. Definitely an oldie (shhh don't tell my dad I said that) but a goodie.

Back to Miss Personality as you listen to the music. She sure has enough to go around and good thing considering the food stained shirt she seems to be sporting at any hour of the day. Indulge me for a moment as I present her newest kissing fish face. Nothing melts a parent more than when your kid first learns to kiss. Although I could do without the *ahem* slobber issue but I'm willing to overlook it.

And yes all of these pictures were taken of her on my dining room table. After a short reprieve during which Mr. Maricucu and I were breathing a sigh of relief she's gone back to climbing up there and this time dancing like a mad woman. It's enough to give me a heart attack several times a day.

Thankfully at the end of the day there's sewing therapy. A little inspiration turned to actual sewing this time around. Still not done but I've never claimed to be a super productive sewist. It's the only way I can enjoy the process.

Oh those cravings again.

2010-03-05T23:37:00.003-05:00

This week I gave into a visual craving. I saw this huge bunch of flowers at the grocery store and just had to have them. It probably didn't help that the 4 year old was egging me on each time we passed the wrapped cellophane bunches. The baby keeps trying to yank them and knock them over but thankfully these are a pretty sturdy variety.

Of course I've had food cravings too and for the first time in a couple of weeks this one didn't involve sugar. Nope, just plantains mashed up into a Dominican mangu, topped with sauteed oil & vinegar onions and a couple of fried eggs. Mr. Maricucu grew up on grits, gravy and biscuits but I grew up on mangu with a variety of accompaniments.

What you'll get next to a serving of mangu is at the very least some fried eggs but if your mom is a true Dominican you'll get some queso frito (a squeaky, large curd farmer's cheese that is dusted in flour and fried), fried Dominican salami (good if you like it but a no-no in my home) and a hunk of some type of hoop cheese. Topping that pile of mangu are sauteed onions in olive oil that have been hit with a bit of vinegar as well.

The only problem with these types of cravings is that if you live far away from your mom you have to make them yourself. Small sacrifice, I say.

Chocolate Bliss Cookies

2010-03-03T08:52:00.006-05:00

That's right folks, chocolate bliss cookies. I think these came from a baker's chocolate box and then ended up on the kraft site. I always lose the recipe and then when a craving hits I'm frantically googling for this one bowl fudgy treat until I find it. My one gripe? I can't stand to see this recipe circulated throughout the 'net without the addition of salt. The first time I made these cookies I was so disappointed because what should have been deeply intense almost brownie like cookies tasted so flat. So please go ahead and give these a try but don't forget the salt.

Also a note: The original recipe listed a smaller quantity of flour because the cookies included nuts which prevented overspreading. You know the routine around here with nut allergies so I included the larger amount of flour but I imagine a bunch of chopped pecans in these would be absolutely amazing.

Chocolate Bliss Cookies
adapted from Baker's Chocolate

16 oz (2 2/3 cup) semi sweet chocolate chips - divided

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter - softened

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour- if not using nuts increase flour to 3/4 cup.

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups chopped walnuts - can sub pecans and in fact I find them a bit sweeter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line some baking sheets with parchment.

In a microwave safe bowl place 1 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips. Nuke for about 2 minutes, stirring halfway. Sometimes I need another 30 seconds more to melt them loosely. You'll see why later.

To the melted chocolate add the brown sugar and stir to combine well.

Now add the butter. You see how my chocolate looks a bit thick? I will usually nuke for 30-45 seconds after incorporating the butter especially when the house is a bit cooler in the winter.

Mix in the eggs.

Then the salt and vanilla.

Toss in the flour and baking powder. Gently fold it in.

Finally fold in the remaining 1 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.

Mmmmmm. Batter shots get me every time.

Using my favorite cookie scoop I just plop out the batter onto the parchment. My scoop doles out about 2 teaspoons of batter and I can fit 12 cookies on a half sheet baking pan. If you don't have a cookie scoop you can scoop out the batter in rounded tablespoonfuls leaving about 2 inches between each cookie to allow for spreading.

The look of disappointment when I put her out to insert the cookies in the oven.

Bake cookies for about 12 minutes or until shiny on top and just set but not overcooked. They will puff up but come back down as they cool. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking pan then move to a cooling rack (or your mouth).

See? Crackly top like a brownie.

Fudgy and tender insides like a brownie. These are definitely addictive and you can't beat washing out just one bowl (or if you have kids around you might be washing out a cleanly licked bowl).

It's like clockwork.

2010-02-28T21:46:00.004-05:00

Last week we received some more of this:

So I made some of these (recipe to come this week):

I've seen more snow this winter than we've had in all the 10 years of living in North Carolina. Apparently we're getting some more this week and I'll admit to being a wimp. I don't think that even with the addition of snow tires, snow plows, blowers and heavy duty coats I would ever be inspired to take out my crew on a daily basis anywhere in winter. That's why we wimps end up in the pseudo north I guess. Somebody tell my father in law he needs to come down from Buffalo and take his snow back home.

His and Hers Sewing

2010-02-27T00:39:00.003-05:00

For Mr. Maricucu a rice pack for his eyes. A couple of weeks ago his ophthalmologist mentioned that in order to rid himself of dry eyes he should apply warm compresses to his eyes which should help unplug his eye ducts. Poor guy was doing warm, wet washcloths which would get cool after a while and I imagine kind of clammy. I told him I could sew him up a rice sock and I fashioned this one from tracing an eye mask of his, extending the ends a bit to fit his eyes. Filled it about 3/4 full of rice to make it firm but also flexible (so that the rice contours around his eyes and nose area) and after testing it once myself I'm pretty pleased with it. He nukes it for a few minutes and then goes to town.

For me an almost finished fingerless glove. I'm taking a progress picture because I've already gotten this far before and had to rip the whole thing out due to sizing. This time the fit is much better and I'm about two inches away from finishing then moving on to the second glove. I'm hoping that being fingerless, I'll be more prone to wear them out and about as well as in the evenings while knitting/crafting/sewing.

Do you like hummus?

2010-02-24T21:31:00.003-05:00

Hummus can definitely be a love or hate thing. Seems that people are pretty passionate about the humble chickpea dip. I'd never tried hummus until eating it at a local Lebanese deli and have loved it since. My own recipe is loosely based on Alton Brown's method but I've since discarded his recipe for that awful, awful phrase of "doing it by eye". That's what my mom has always told me when I would ask her for a recipe with measurements, "oh I just do it by eye" or "el ojo porciento" which translates to the "eye percentage". As a beginning cook what it translated to was frustration when things didn't turn out for me the first go around. Now I'm doing it to others - ah, the circle of life.

Really though, hummus couldn't be more simple and adaptable. A friend of mine told me her husband made his with half pinto beans and it was extremely creamy. Quite good actually. I do admit that I'm a tad particular about my hummus. I'll eat the storebought stuff just fine but at home I avoid adding heavy spices or making super thick, gloppy dip. Instead I prefer a homemade hummus that is impeccably smooth with just the right balance of lemon juice and plenty of fruity olive oil for a spread that should squish out the sides of a pita should you make a sandwich. Mmmmm.

Note: You'll notice I don't include tahini (sesame seed paste) in my hummus. First, with nut allergies in our home I can't guarantee that there's no cross contamination in the manufacturing process and second, ever since leaving it out I don't miss it. Alton Brown uses peanut butter instead and I could technically add sunflower seed butter but like I said, I don't miss it.

Hummus

1 large clove of garlic
1 (15oz) can garbanzo beans (or chickpeas, however they're known in your neck of the woods) - drained but reserve the liquid
2 tablespoons of lemon juice - this is where the "by eye" comes into play
kosher salt to taste
about 1/3 cup of olive oil - again by eye and to taste. I like my hummus a bit loose.

With the food processor running, chuck in your garlic clove. It should mince as it hits the blade and you won't be frustrated wondering why your fancy brick of a food processor can't chop a measly clove of garlic. Not that I've done that. I will say reading your manual is a good thing.

Dump in the garbanzos. I'm making a double batch as usual since my kids love this stuff as much as I do. If you like hummus I suggest you do the same.

Grind the garbanzos but you'll notice that no matter how much you process them, they will still be quite course.

This is where the bean juice comes in handy. Now I know, some people avoid using the bean juice because they think that it will give them gas. Actually most people who are accustomed to eating beans do just fine with adding the bean liquid.

Add about half the reserved bean liquid into the food processor and continue processing until the beans are very smooth. Add more liquid if necessary. See what a difference a little bean juice can make? Don't fear the bean juice. Okay I'll stop saying those words.

Add the salt and lemon juice and process again. Taste at this point since beans can be pretty bland. I use a good bit of kosher salt to taste.

Now, with the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil. No I didn't measure, I just pour straight from the bottle until I get the right consistency then taste again for salt.

The hummus should now be creamy and rich yet balanced.

Oh yeah. I like mine slathered on pita bread maybe with some red bell pepper. My kids love to dip carrots sticks, pretzels, their fingers. This is good stuff.

The original cool science guy.

2010-02-22T21:53:00.003-05:00

Well at least for me. Before Bill Nye and his frenetic energy busted on the scene for me there was only Mr. Wizard. I'm going to sound like an old fogie now but back in the day when Nickelodeon had better content like You Can't Do That On Television and Mr. Wizard's World, my sister and I would watch Don Herbert in awe at his experiments and dead pan explanations which were not condescending despite his younger audience. When he passed away a couple of years ago I was surprised to learn he'd been doing the Mr. Wizard gig for quite a while. Here he is explaining siphons to a young girl.

A little reality

2010-02-20T22:10:00.003-05:00

Last year a friend of mine mentioned she was making a king cake to share with her kids. I thought it was a wonderful idea and one my children would definitely enjoy so I bookmarked what looked like a good recipe and forgot. Until last Monday. Tuesday we went to the library (which included a book on mardi gras) and got home way too late to make any kind of dent on the king cake process.

So on Tuesday night I threw together the recipe in the food processor (my cheat to bread dough in 2 minutes) and then let it rise overnight in the fridge. The next day was a little busy and being distracted I glossed over the instructions and went straight to the ingredients list for the filling. When I saw 4 cups of powdered sugar and cream cheese listed together I knew what to do, so I had my oldest mix that together. I threw it in the dough, formed my ring and let it rise. As it was baking I tackled the icing - but oh the horror. The instructions read, "use remaining 3 cups of powdered sugar to make icing". That's right folks, I was only supposed to use one cup of sugar in the filling. Being too late for regrets I kept plugging away. As my king cake oozed cream cheese frosting in the oven I mixed the icing. I threw it on, added the colored sugar and then tasted. Wayyyyy too sweet. The kids liked it but even aside from the super sweet filling I was not impressed with the dough. Sure it was fragrant with lemon zest and nutmeg, rich with egg yolks, milk and butter but man alive I'm sure there's a reason most good Cajun families buy their king cakes from a bakery. Too much work for what basically stiffens up from one night's sitting. I also didn't put the bean in fearing one of us (me!) would forget and end up needing dental work.

I've been itching to knit something again so I cast on a little something something for myself to use up this unplied yarn. It's very soft and a joy to work.

Next up - hummus! See you around.

White Chocolate & Coconut Cookies.

2010-02-18T22:57:00.003-05:00

One thing I've noticed about the South is that it is unabashedly sweet. The people, the traditions and most of all the food, tooth achingly sweet. Some people are put off by that, I find most of it quite endearing. I guess that's good since I live here (and no cracks about North Carolina not technically being south enough).

But back to that sweet food. Many of the food traditions in the South are very sweet and definitely an acquired or you-had-to-have-grown-up-with-it taste. Ambrosia, jello salads, tea cakes, pecan pie (that's PEE-can pie for you non-southerners), coconut cake drenched in syrup AND spackled with sweetened coconut, sweet tea, need I go on? I mean the sweet tea alone is enough to leave an unaccustomed drinker hopped up on sugar going into next week.

Well meet this cookie. Although not technically an authentic southern dessert the components certainly are. Back when Mr. Maricucu and I had been dating I wanted to send him a little something for Valentine's Day. I ruled out flowers since he's a pretty practical guy but I did enlist a local gift basket store to put together a basket full of some yummy goodies like rum cake and some snack salty things. To the basket I added a few geeky office toys and finally a supersized two fisted mug full of these cookies. I had seen the recipe in a magazine but the original used a refrigerated cookie dough. Did he like them? He ate them all and loved them.

Then I dropped the ball and never made them again in the almost ten years we've been married. Doh! So this past January I began to scheme of recreating these with a homemade sugar cookie base to surprise my pragmatic Valentine. I'll warn you though, this is a sugar cookie base which is quite delicious on its own but sweet nonetheless. Add white chocolate chips and dried sweetened coconut and you may as well not mention these to your hygienist. If you enjoy sweet then these pay off but if you want to make the sugar cookies au naturale go for it.

White Chocolate Chip and Coconut Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups white chocolate chips - 1, 12 oz package. If you can, find the chips that actually have cocoa butter listed as one of the first ingredients.
3 cups sweetened, dried coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.

Cream sugar and butter until pale and fluffy - about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla.

Then dump in all the dry ingredients. Stir those in scraping down the bowl about halfway through.

Finally add the white chocolate chips . . .

. . . and the coconut. Stir them in but don't overmix.

If you're the dough eating type this one will be hard to resist. I mean, vanilla, butter and sugar? Come on!

Drop by spoonfuls about 1 1/2" apart onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I've mentioned it before but I heart my cookie scoop. It has a 2 teaspoon capacity and is as great for scooping out consistent cookies as it is for meatballs. If you don't have a cookie scoop I'd say spoon out 1 1/2" balls of dough.

Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown. There will be a dime sized spot in the middle that doesn't look set but that will finish cooking as the cookies cool.

Mmmm. These are pretty yummy even for me the coconut-I-can-take-it-or-leave-it person. What was the verdict from my husband? Oh he loved them too but did not have a clue about the original batch and inspiration. Either way he's requested we keep this in the repertoire and possibly ditch the white chips (but remember he's my non-chocolate person).

This is my brain with no caffeine.

2010-02-16T22:13:00.002-05:00

All over the place much like my active daughter.

My ADD is beginning to pull my blog posting schedule a little to the non-daily side. Hang in there while I figure out new ways to cope that don't include coca cola. That or I might have to take up coffee. We'll see.

Mfffmmmmmfmghmmm.

2010-02-15T12:19:00.006-05:00

Or what it sounds like when you take a first bite of fudgy brownie. I'm not going to get into what makes the perfect brownie. I have no loyalty when it comes to brownies much like my obsession with pastelitos. When my mom frets over bringing me cuban pastelitos from the inferior bakery I just remind her that to me, there's no such thing as a bad pastelito, some are just better than others.

Although I do have a particular fondness for this recipe from Alton Brown. First, because it uses cocoa vs. chocolate and second because of the authentic shiny top as as well as pure chocolate flavor. There is a trick to getting that shiny, thin top I learned from the folks at King Arthur Flour which means I ignored Alton Brown's instructions (a first for me). I also changed the baking pans twice. I've admitted before to rushing things along when it comes to cooling and eating a finished product and brownies are no exception. I typically bake brownies in a mini muffin tin using liners (or greasing well) because it means I can eat a hot/warm brownie without making the rest of the pan look like a chocolate massacre. Instead I can pop out a morsel, eat it warm and the only thing I've messed up is my mouth. For the second batch I did end up using a baking pan but I switched from his 8x8 recommendation to a 9x13x2 and boy was I glad. With the amount of batter this recipe makes using an 8x8 pan would have made for a monstrously thick brownie that would have taken forever to bake and likely been a bit dry around the edges.

See that batter? Shiny batter = shiny top.

Cocoa Brownies
adapted from Alton Brown

2 sticks of butter - 8 ounces
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups cocoa
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and then prep your mold. If using a large pan, line with foil and then butter the foil. If you prefer the instant-eat mini muffin size then set out your liners or butter the tin. Then grab yourself a helper of the six year old variety.

Place the butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until melted.

Add the sugars to the melted butter and mix.

This is what the butter/sugar mixture looks like right after the initial mix. Smooth but still thick and a bit grainy.

Microwave the butter/sugar mixture for 2-3 minutes to dissolve the sugar. This is the step that will give you a shiny top and also a fudgy texture. After microwaving, the mixture will be much more smooth and a bit thinner.

Add the cocoa and stir well to combine.

Oh yeah, getting closer now.

Mix in the eggs one at a time.

Then the salt and vanilla.

Finally add the flour.

Pour into your prepared mold and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs but no wet batter. The mini muffins will take less (about 25 minutes) so keep an eye on them.

Then pay the piper.

Shiny, crackly top? Check.

Now if you used a large pan you'll have to do the virtuous thing and allow them to cool before cutting but if you used the mini muffin pan you can dig in right away.

Once the larger pan is cool use the parchment paper or foil to lift out the whole pan of brownies out. Then cut with your favorite tool (I've found a pizza cutter to be a good tool).

Mfffmmmmmfmghmmm.

Ottobre pants.

2010-02-13T22:11:00.004-05:00

Finally got around to finishing the Ottobre pants for my little girl. They are design #10 on page five of the Ottobre 1/2009 issue. Man I'm so sad I didn't cut out at least a half dozen of these in different colors. The extra long foldable cuff gives plenty of grow room without looking sloppy and the pants have just the right amount of ease for a very mobile little girl. I'll definitely be making her a few more although I will probably add about an inch to the rise since our cloth diapers need a good bit of room. I did end up applying two snaps on the shoulders of the tunic to bring the lap neck in a bit and compensate for not having stretched the binding more.

The closest thing to a modeling shot I'll ever get. She moves too fast for the camera these days. She's got plenty of room to grow with the arm and leg cuffs but I'm iffy on these lasting until next year. Thankfully the baby will inherit her hand me downs so all my work will get a bit more wear.

Tell me you've seen this too.

2010-02-12T20:29:00.003-05:00

Watching a movie on a three seater sofa and this is how they end up.

Two siblings who really do love each other but most moments of the day are one telling the other to "stop breathing on me" or "stop looking at me". Yet they've found each other like two little magnets. What's even more amazing is that they spent the whole movie like this. Apparently germs and brotherly cooties don't count when you're enthralled with An American Tail*. Oh and where was little sister?

She passed out on the couch right next to them. Sweetest thing ever.

* A little bit of Marielle trivia. In 1988 when I first entered fifth grade the teachers in my school district were on strike and proceeded to stay on strike for the first two months of the school year. Students still attended school but we were put in the gym and watched movies (I know the horror!), the first of which was An American Tail. Needless to say, we loved it.

Oh my belly acheth.

2010-02-11T13:27:00.003-05:00

I can't even say it's the baby's fault. Oh sure, I could pretend but it wouldn't be true. It's all my own doing. See, yesterday I was engaged in a lighthearted conversation with some other pregnant moms discussing the few things that appealed to us in the food department lately. I'm prone to getting hyperfocused on a recipe anyway but when I'm pregnant my cravings rule the roost and when a recipe catches my eyes I will not let it go. Doesn't matter whether the recipe is good or mediocre, my mind and stomach will not rest until I've made it.

So in that conversation someone mentioned fresh bread spread with butter and within minutes I had looked up a recipe from Joy the Baker that had popped up on my google reader just a few days before. Within a couple of hours this was on my stovetop waiting for the second rise.

Much later impatiently cut while warm and spread with butter.

But then I went and did something absolutely terrible. In an effort to to be efficient I printed off a recipe for Swedish Apple Pie that I saw pop up on Salad In A Jar thinking I would make it sometime later this week. Sigh. What a farce. By midafternoon this baby was cooling on my stovetop and a few moments later resting in my stomach. I'll never make another rolled crust apple pie again. It was worth it, until I had to admit that I probably should have chosen one recipe and not both to test considering my stomach right now is the size of a coin purse being squashed up more and more everyday.

Brings to mind an exchange between my dad and his doctor who told my dad quite solemnly that he need to lose some weight for his health. My dad smiled, rubbed his belly and told the doctor, "Do you know how much I've invested in lobster, steak and fish for this belly?"

A little bit more excess.

2010-02-10T10:16:00.002-05:00

Because it wouldn't be me to reign in and do reasonable. More hearts, left pile the ends still to be woven in, right pile all done. In the pile will be a one-of-a-kind quilted fabric heart too. Fiddly but fun.

For a person who loves to wear red and brighter pinks on her body, I sure do keep a lot of blue and green fabric/yarn.

A new obsession. I saw these cute little letters on Creative Jewish Mom and decided to give them a try. One thing kept bugging me. I didn't want to have to give every bean a clear coat to protect the sharpie from rubbing off. Then I remembered a wood burning tool I saw at the store for next to nothing and thought it might work on a dry bean. Well lookie here, it worked just fine. I still need to practice my line formation with the woodburning tool and next time I'll nestle the beans in some playdough so my fingers and nails don't come precariously close to the 950 degree metal tip. Ouch.

Happy Birthday Papi!

2010-02-08T23:16:00.004-05:00

That's right, my dear old Dad is a ripe 60 years old today which led to a whole lesson on how that is ten times the current age of my oldest. It's great to see a kid's eyes get wide open as if your age in years translated into money. Needless to say he was impressed that Abuelo was 60 years old.

On a day like today in 1950 my grandmother became a mom for the very first time.

My father as a young kid. Surrounded by his cousins, I'm sure back then at his age there was nothing better than birthday cake and presents. He hadn't yet begun to obsess over Elvis so there's no tell tale high pompadour until much later. Too bad those pictures are in his possession.

I've shared this one before but it still amazes me that I'm now officially older than my dad was in this picture with my sis and me. See? I told you from where I acquired "the look".

Now one from December. I think the grays have softened him a little. As a birthday gift I won't share the story of how he asked a then teenage me to dye his hair dark black and the "I Love Lucy" episode that entailed. Happy Birthday to you Papi, hope you are blessed with many more.

Cream of Roasted Red Pepper Soup

2010-02-08T08:32:00.005-05:00

A couple of years ago a Trader Joe's opened up in our area. I avoided it like the plague for the first couple of weeks before braving it with the then much younger boys. It was right before the holidays, thus very packed and of course they were handing out samples. Stroopwafels, yum and how I miss thee. The orange chicken was tasty of course and then we turned a corner to see an employee handing out little cups of cream of roasted red pepper soup. Oh my word, how delicious. I definitely loved it but what raised my eyebrow was that not only did the boys love it, they loved it more than the stroopwafels. I know! So I bought a tetrapak of the soup and heated it up that evening along with some grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a hit. However, that little tetrapak? Didn't go very far and was pretty pricey. A little sleuthing on google though and I found this recipe on the cooking light forums a couple of years ago. It would be risky to present a different version to the same family that had now fallen in love with the Trader Joe's version but thankfully it was a pretty close replica and has been part of our soup repertoire for ages.

Cream of Roasted Red Pepper Soup
adapted from Cooking Light Forums

4 red bell peppers
1 onion - finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 sprig fresh rosemary - or about 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
5 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper

This soup is dead easy to make. The only step that takes a bit longer is roasting the peppers, but by using the broiler you save yourself the trouble of standing over a flame with each. individual. pepper. Wash and cut the peppers in half. Remove all the seeds and white parts of the ribs. Then place cut side down on your baking sheet and if you have more room than I did (I was making a double batch as usual), squash/flatten the pepper with the palm of your hand.

Then place the pan under your broiler and let them char for 15-20 minutes turning the pan once or twice for an even char. You want all of the pepper to char (yes burn) because the parts that don't char are difficult to peel after roasting.

While still piping hot, place the peppers in a bowl and then seal with plastic wrap.

That green contraption you see on my bowl is a silicone universal lid, my answer to plastic wrap when possible. I get a kick out of using the sealing function but also use it upside down (vented) in the microwave. Let the peppers rest and steam for about 20 minutes.

Once the peppers have steamed, they will be slightly cool enough to handle and the skins easy to slip off. Peel the peppers and set them aside.

Whatever you do, don't throw out this liquid! That is essence of pepper and you'll want to reserve it with the peppers to add to the soup pot.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Toss your onions and butter into a deep pot and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the onion is softened.

Being too lazy to walk out in the backyard to get some rosemary (or face the current condition of my garden) I dug out the dried rosemary and put it in my little tea ball.

Toss the rosemary into the pan.

Add the peppers and the liquid from the peppers.

Next in, the broth.

Finally, add the tomato paste.

Bring the soup to a simmer and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Once the soup has simmered (and the sun has almost set, darn winter light!) fish out the rosemary and discard.

Whiz the soup up in your blender (or if you're like me with the stick blender) until very smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Then drizzle in the luscious cream and reduce the heat to medium low at this point.

Mine was a bit more bright orange than usual due to the varied colors of peppers I used.

Then it's ready to serve. I usually dollop a bit of sour cream in the middle to cool it for the youngest. What to serve with it? Divine breadsticks are a regular for soups around here. Grilled cheese is of course, a classic. Or just cut up large hunks of bread, toss with garlic, olive oil and salt then crisp up in the oven and toss those garlicky croutons into the soup.

Flyaway hearts.

2010-02-06T20:03:00.001-05:00

Not for Valentine's Day but for a well needed embrace.

When all else fails, there's always chocolate.

2010-02-05T20:59:00.002-05:00

Let's see:

1. Three kids cooped up in a house for a week while we wait for the snow to melt.
2. Finally reaching the point where you need a daily afternoon nap but heck if that's going to happen. See #1.
3. The sewing room is trashed because you thought it would be a good idea to have the little girl mess around while you worked on something. So sewing is out.
4. I finally gave up my coca cola/caffeine habit but for purely selfish reasons. Wheee, it's been loads of fun.

At least I have chocolate. That and what I consider my vital pantry ingredients - sugar, flour, butter and eggs. Yeah, I get a little panicky when I realize I don't have the ingredients to make something delicious on a whim but then I remember - in a pinch, there's always Amazon cake.

This week I had the ingredients to make Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies and add my own little spin. Oh man, there is nothing like that first bite of fudgy, chewy, chocolately brownie. I think the massage last year for my birthday came close but for the brownie I didn't have to leave my house. Not that I'd turn down another massage, hint hint. I sigh, close my eyes and my shoulders slump down from their near-my-ears position. It's definitely a moment and a good one at that. I'll have a little step by step this week because fortunately for you, the kids and I scarfed down the first batch so quickly that I felt guilty when Mr. Maricucu didn't even get a taste. Of course, we had to make a second batch.

Hooray for mail!

2010-02-04T15:11:00.004-05:00

The other day I received a package that I had forgotten was coming in the mail. It was another swap but in this instance a commission that I had requested from another mom in exchange for something I had (how's that for vague?).

When I had originally approached this knitting momma she giggled at me, a knitter, requesting that she knit something for my boys. I readily admitted that the boys had been hankering for a new winter hat in "their colors" for a while now and my attention span just wasn't up for knitting two in a row of anything. Nothing would induce more therapy on a child than having momma peter out of steam right before getting the second hat done. So I requested one in green and one in blue of this pattern. Boy did she produce! Gorgeous denimy blue and a mossy green all lanolized, soft and squishy ready for topping off a cold noggin.

The kids know that if a package comes for me they must wait until I take a picture of the packaging (yes they must) and then I'll let them see. I love documenting the moment of opening a package, I just can't help myself. However, it took all of two seconds after I'd unwrapped the tissue and said, "these hats are for you guys" that they each snatched their corresponding color and put them on. Here's the oldest, of course his color is green.

The younger, a fan of anything blue. It's strange how much they've latched on to these colors and thankfully are not specific on shades. Just, "blue for me and green for him momma."

Look at the beautiful job she did on the bindoff in the crown. I could stare at this forever and thankfully thought to take a picture because the boys found it odd that I wanted to take a picture of the back of their heads.

This is the bonus. My friend was kind enough to throw in a little extra for me! This funky, super squishy scarf was for me. Now I'll admit I don't typically wear a scarf because a scarf dangling behind clumsy 'ol me is just an invitation for getting caught up by a kid, in a car door or in the house door.

Then I remembered the short fold where you double fold the scarf and tuck the ends into the loop made by the scarf - sort of like a cravat or cowl. So after attempting a traditional look . . .

. . . I put it on with the short loop method. Now, because my friends told me I look a wee bit serious (and imposing, scary, angry *giggle*) let me explain this was first thing in the morning before the shower. Obviously, I'm sooo not a morning person. If it helps, imagine me with short hair and you'll get a good idea of the look my dad perfected on us kids growing up. To be honest I was just so intent on trying to focus the camera, not get some funky angle on me and make the bedhead work that I forgot to smile. Even with the bedhead, lack of makeup and early morning crusties this is nothing close to the pictures of me after giving birth looking like Mick Jagger.

However, in order to not permanently scar your retina with my serious look here are the kids in their attempt at walking off with my soft scarf. Love this and I'm sure they will too in a few years.