Dec 23 - It's a Very Quarantine Christmas

With a little bug floating around our house, we've cancelled our plans to have the McFeely Clan over for pizza dinner.  We took advantage of the newly found family time and did some fun projects. 

Made chocolate candy cane cupcakes:

Washed outside toys with lots of soap (really, it's fun!):

Attacked the overgrown front yard: 

And watched a LOT of movies. 

Vegetable Garden

We planted a small veggie garden in the back yard. We have tons of space back there, but I've only had the energy/imagination to plant a small corner of it.

Yet we are already getting a bounty!

The first harvest was a pile of fava beans and a couple handfuls of sugar snap peas:

The next day a few zucchini were ready.  Erin got to pick the first one:

Which she then eagerly sliced up.  I cooked it up in some oil and a dash of salt.

You know how they're always saying to encourage kids to try new foods by letting them be a part of it?  Well, Erin planted, watered, harvested, and chopped (with a grown-up knife).  Did she take a taste?  Absolutely not.  Good thing we have all summer.

Robin wanted to show off the one she harvested:

Still coming along: lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, garlic.  I think it's time to plant some more too!

Hall Closet Project Done

The hall closet was out of control.  We've restored a bit of sanity there.  Sorry, the pictures were really hard to take since the closet is smack dab in the middle of a dark entryway.  But hopefully you get the idea.

The idea is everyone has one two-prong hook, to hold one jacket, one coat.  Everyone has two "cubbies", one with a bin for shoes, one cubby to put your bag, scarf, whatever.  Backpacks go on the floor when the child comes home from school.  And that's it.  

The upper shelf is currently pretty bare, but I imagine it'll contain "ready-to-go" items like the summer swim bag. We'll see how well we can keep it up, but for now every one seems to be much, much, MUCH better about not leaving shoes/jackets/bags everywhere (and I'm totally guilty of this too).  

Mama's first batch

I started my first batch of beer last night - a Holiday Ale. I got everything spot on, except I added the spice packet to the wort rather than with the hops, but hopefully no one will notice. It was a steamy, malty mess. The only really stressful point was the rubber bung was too tight and couldn't form an air-tight seal, so I "modified" it with a serrated knife. I'm crossing my fingers the seal holds. 1 week or so till bottling, 2 weeks or so till the first tasting. Care to join me?

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

It's pumpkin season!!!

This time of year I get so excited by the absolutely delicious canned pumpkin on the shelves at Trader Joes. I learned my lesson from last year and stocked up - those suckers fly off the shelves and when they're gone, that's it until next year.

I've already done a pumpkin bread, the spiced pumpkin scones from yesteryear, pumpkin muffins, pass on the pumpkin pancakes since no one liked them.

New this year is Pumpkin Milk Bread, a pin, and it was delicious!!!!  Light, slight pumpkin flavor but not overpowering, really tender.  It made two loafs:

this one was threatening to go stale, so I had to think fast.  What better goes with pumpkin than .... pumpkin!!!  And so was born the pumpkin bread pumpkin bread pudding.  The bread pudding recipe was here, and I used the whole pumpkin loaf here.  That's a lot of pumpkin in one bowl, my friends.  Since it was basically a mix and dump recipe (not a fan of that term, but it is what it is), the girls cut the bread cubes and mixed the pumpkin custard.  

It was all I love about pumpkin pie (the ooey gooey spice, pumpkin flavor, warm silky goodness) and nothing that I don't like (chewy, dry, soggy, or otherwise questionable pie crust).

Soooooo delicious!!!  Next time, if I have more time in advance, I'll make a salted caramel sauce with maybe some candied pecans or walnuts to go on top.

Erin's Fiscal Responsibility

This week at the local Thursday night concert, I let Erin loose with  $20 to go buy herself a hot dog.  I was about 150 yards away, watching the whole time.  I advised her to ask for one hot dog, and she should get a lot of money back. Here she is at the snack shop:

And here she is coming back, proud as anything to have successfully bought a hot dog and returned with the appropriate amount of change.

Not pictured is Robin's indignation that her $0.10 did not buy her a hot dog. She was upset for quite awhile that Erin's money could buy food but hers could not.  I have no idea where Robin found ten cents. Erin shared her spoils with Robin, so everything worked out in the end.

Car-Free Day One

I had an action packed day planned for taking bus/bart/bus to go pick up my glasses (the kids were not thrilled) then taking the bike trailer to the pool.  The kids, after having a super-packed weekend, were content to stay at home all morning in their jammies listening to Pirate Rock, reading books, and working on art projects.  Fine by me!

I did take one bike trip to the grocery store and took the kids to the pool in the trailer.

Then. We went shopping.

Granted we sandwiched 4 destinations into one car trip but that means we technically only have one left for the week.

Full disclosure: we're headed for a week-long camping trip to Yosemite on Sunday, and Brian is gone Thurs-Sat for a conference.  So we have to get all those last-minute packing/gear/food details done before Wed.  So.... realistically we're gonna surpass the 2-car-trip rule this week, but I think today started out well. Erin even commented tonight, 'Hey Mom!  This was supposed to be a car-free day!"

Car-free Experiment

It's been my plan this summer to have one car-free week.  I've whittled it down to 5 car free days, and I get two exceptions.

The plan goes into effect tomorrow.  So this Mon-Fri, we only get 2 outings in the car.  Rules are, we don't get to drive ourselves, but if the girls are driven by someone else (Hint hint, Grandma/Grandpa, Grammy/Papa), it's OK.  The trailer and my bike are all set, the double stroller is good to go, I've got the bus and BART schedules, hopefully I won't be whining by mid-week.

 I quizzed Erin about alternate modes of transportation and she rattled off a long list of reasonable ones: bike, walking, scooter, BART, skateboard... then she happened upon Taxi.  She reasoned it was the best because it was the fastest.

Taxi wasn't on my list of options, but who can argue with that logic?

Cooking Show Time

I've blogged about Erin's cooking shows before: her mixing random amounts of many ingredients to make, well, something.  Robin is in on the act now. They spent 20 minutes happily mixing, tasting, adjusting, exploring new ingredients (the baking stuff is all at in the bottom pantry.)  This time, Erin used discretion with the baking soda and only used two tsp, not the many tablespoons she usually likes to use. And Robin had a ball tasting at nearly every stage. Oh, and they cleaned up. 

We baked their concoctions, but have not tasted them yet.  There's lots of pumpkin pie spice, cloves, vanilla and colored sprinkles, so I'm thinking it won't be too bad.

Canned Apriums!

Our fruit-only CSA has us faced with a bounty of delicious fruit.  Rather than watch it fester and end up in the compost, I thought I'd jump on the micro canning bandwagon and give home canning a try. 

The first batch: last week's apricot-plum hybrids.  I stored half in the fridge, so these were not quite ripe yet.  Put them in a boiling bath, peeled, seeded, and halved them. 

Sanitized the jars.

The set-up.

Some adult fortification (gin and fizzy cranberry juice).

Processing in medium syrup (2C sugar to 3C water) for 25 minutes.

And viola, 3 jars of beautifully preserved Apriums.  I'm gonna store these away for the fall/winter when such delicacies are sparse.

Pretzels!

We used to make these awesome pretzel dogs, with homemade pretzel dough.  The recipe was one I'd bookmarked from a blog.  Then the blog server quit out, and I lost the recipe.  We've tried half a dozen recipes to try to get a good one, when this one found its way to my pinterest view.  It's good.  Really good.

OK, ok, the recipe is really for ham-and-cheese pretzel bites, and that sounds even more awesome.  But we were pressed for time, didn't have any ham, and it was questionable if the girls would eat stuffed pretzels.  So we just used the dough/boiling part.

It was delish.

The ones I made:

The ones the girls made.  Even their "lumps" turned out beautiful, tender and tasty: 

Of course, the girls wanted to do their own "cooking show", consisting of them putting together fairly random amounts of common baking ingredients into a bowl, mixing, tasting excessively, demanding it to be baked, and declaring the product to be delicious.  Sometimes it is. 

Tonight the girls were on the tired side, so they each took the opportunity to test the consistency, integrity, and viscosity of their mixtures on the countertop.  They were engrossed.  Clean up wasn't that bad. 

Pin Attempt: 30 minute french bread

Remember Pinterest?

I found this recipe today, and couldn't resist the allure of the quick, crunchy possible result.

The first attempt was promising, but not a success.  Not a total fail, but not a total *aha* kinda recipe.

First off - the recipe calls for 2 c water to 3-4 c flour.  I used about 6, and I think it probably could have used more.

Second, the rise.  The recipe says you don't really need one.  I did, for about 20 min.  It could have used more.  Traditional breads usually have two rises - one proof, one in the final shape of loaf.  Part of the attraction of this recipe is the allure of a nearly no-rise yeast bread, just as easy as a quick bread, right?

Third, the baking technique.  It calls for tossing 3-4 c ice in the bottom of the oven just as you put the loaves in, shutting the door, and not opening it for at least 15 minutes.  I'm down with that, I understand the steam will create a deliciously crisp crust.  However the logistics were a nightmare.  Trying to toss in that much ice, into a 425F oven?  Yikes.  Half the ice got wedged in the hinge of the oven door.  One reader commented it might short out the coils, and another suggested heating a rimmed baking sheet in a lower rack and putting the ice cubes there.  Will try that next time.

The fun part was letting the kids work with a hunk of the dough and making their own mini loaves.  Erin made a heart (bottom left on this picture), Robin made some lumps.

The taste:  Somewhere in-between a quick bread and a yeasted bread.  I will try tweaking this a bit and see if I can get it working for us.

Running Date!

Brian and I got to go on a running date yesterday. Erin was in her preschool, Robin went to her by-appointment preschool.  We both use a GPS-based app on our phones to track and share runs.  So here are the stats from his and my run.

                                              Brian                            Ashleigh
Distance                                4.31 Miles                   3.9 Miles
Time                                      44:31                          42:29         
Pace                                       10:15/mile                  10:53/mile
Calories                                  524                              411


So there you have it, folks.  Proof that when men and women exercise side by side men 1. go further 2. faster, and 3. burn more calories.

Or, I had the "pause when pace slows below 3 MPH" turned on and part of my workout was truncated.

I feel a rematch in our near future.

Cucumber experiment

The question to test was simple: does the shape effect taste? 

The experimental design: a cucumber cut into different shapes.  Sticks, circles, shredded. 

The investigator. She first diligently observed the differences, noting size, shape, texture.  Some had obvious seeds, some did not. Some  Then the tasting. 

First spears, then the circles, then the shreds.  Apparently they all had the same flavor, but the shreds had the best texture.  Good to know. 

Don't tell Erin she ate 1/4 of a cucumber in the process. 

Kitchenless Dinners

We're on week 2 of no kitchen.  Well, it was broken up by a 5 night trip to PDX,  so really we're still in our first week. Our cooking capabilities are limited to a rice cooker, microwave, hot plate (which just broke) and electric griddle.  The nearest McFeely's have also given us a 2-burner propane stove which we've yet to use.  We have a BBQ too, but haven't used it since last summer. Mostly we seem to be using the microwave and rice cooker*.

Tonight's dinner: 

Carnitas, pre-cooked and re-heated in the microwave, fork shredded and BBQ sauce added (WHERE has this been all my life?  So tasty and easy!) 

Mac N' Cheese

Broccoli

Shredded cheese, mexican blend

Rice, tortillas, or bread, diner's choice

Cherry tomatoes

Milk

Seriously. Delicious. Dinner. Everyone could plate out what/how they liked it.  Shown is the kids' plates, Erin's on the right, Robin's on the left, the differenced being if there was sauce in the pork (yes for R, no for E) and if the broccoli was cooked (yes for R, no for E). 

I'm growing more and more amazed at how versatile the microwave is.  And the electric griddle. Really, do we need a "kitchen"? 

*Lest you think The Coffee Queen has gone without her daily megadose, the fancy coffee maker is hooked up and running.  And in a pinch, I have the one-cup drip funnel available for use.  Trust me, nobody wants to see me without my 3-4 cups of coffee a day. 

Indoor Skating

I made this bubble recipe today.  Good bubbles, easy recipe.  This isn't a post about bubble recipes.

I filled two empty yogurt cups and put in two old bubble wands. This isn't a post about blowing bubbles.

This is a post about silliness.

The girls excitedly found the containers.  They had already taken off their clothes (normal at this time of day, and hence why this post has no pictures).  They blew a few bubbles.  They spilled the entire contents, maybe 4 oz, of bubble solution on the family room floor.  They laughed.  They pushed it around with their hands.  They laughed harder.  They squished it around with their feet.  They slipped.  They laughed even harder.  They bubbled up their tummies and legs.  And laughed.

At first I quickly pulled out the cleaning rags and a bucket of water.  I warned them they would slip and it might hurt.  I was concerned, nervous.  Then I started laughing too.


Erin's quote: "You know what I want to be when I grow up?  A kid."

Me too, sweetie.

Almond Citrus Salad

Time for a crazy "let's-see-what's-in-the-fridge-and-try-to-make-something-paletable" experiment.

Salad:

Romaine lettuce

segmented grapefruit

toasted slivered almonds

pickled ginger - this is not the sushi kind, I think it's more of a Korean style and was a random buy at the local Asian grocery store

Dressing:

Olive oil

rice vinegar

little bit of apricot jam

dash of sesame oil

dash of soy sauce

I liked it.  It was really bitter and sour.  Brian took one bite and passed his bowl to me.  Well, 50% is not bad for a random recipe. 

Stalagmite experiment: FAIL

We found a kid experiment to try from my latest obsession - growing stalagmites and stalactites in your own kitchen.  Looked easy enough and we set it up.  The hope was for a beautiful column of crystals dipping down and upwards to touch.

We ended up with this:

The crystals were pretty, though:

It was a good lesson that experiments rarely work perfectly the first time. 

Knitting Project III: Fingerless Gloves

Technically, this project is only HALF done (still need to do the other glove).  This was supposed to be for Erin since she's been asking for mittens for awhile now.  I thought fingerless gloves would be a little more functional for her.  I used the smallest needles and a thin yarn.

Yet this pattern is still WAAAAAYYYYYY too big for her. Might look good on me though. . .  Will have to find her a kids size pattern. 

Smoooooooooth

We received a VitaMix for Christmas from A's parents.  I had no idea how much of a thing this was until my sister-in-law D clued me in.  And we've used it nearly every day since.  Smoothies with whole fruits/veg/ice, sauces, hummus.  I mean, I put an entire carrot, in huge chunks, and it is pulverized to deliciousness in a few seconds.  I even chopped an apple, cole-slaw style, for a salad tonight.  I love this appliance!  Some of our better smoothies: 

Orange, carrot, banana, pineapple, orange juice, ice.

Blueberries, protein powder, banana, milk, whole apple, ice.

Carrots, orange, orange juice, coconut milk, pineapple, ice.

There've been some flops too.  No one liked the spinach smoothie.  Well, I did but no one else.  And one avocado one was a little, um, odd.