madtypist’s Neighborhood

I made a red quinoa pilaf tonight, experimenting with the red quinoa I found in the bulk bin at Whole Foods. The pilaf recipe came from my new cookbook, Clean Food, and it's really simple -- you saute a small onion in olive oil, add 1/2 cup of currants and some herbs (it calls for summer savory, which I do not have, so I used a mix of sage, thyme, oregano, and basil), add the cooked quinoa, then sprinkle some ume plum vinegar and more olive oil on it and serve. The quinoa is a pretty rusty color, with the dark little currants providing a nice contrast. The dish is flavorful and bold, with the nutty quinoa and the sweet currants and the onions all competing. As expected, neither child liked it, though they ate some of the currants.

I also made a leek potato soup, and the boy actually ate some willingly! I required him to take two bites, and on the second one he started to like it and ate about half his bowl quickly. Then he stalled out, but it's progress!

So we're suddenly #1 on the waitlist for our local co-op preschool, and we'll probably be starting in about twelve days, assuming we get all the medical stuff done in time (apparently I need a TB test before we can start). It's a great school, from what I could see and from first-hand accounts from a friend who has been in it for the last six weeks. I think J will really enjoy the change of pace, he's been a little bored lately at home. I'm not sure yet whether I'll feel like it gives me more free time, given the driving involved, the work day each week, and the other commitments. But it will be interesting!

Tomorrow I pick up the packet of forms and information, so I'll know more then.

Donut is home sick today, I hope his disease passes the rest of us by...

This week in the box I'll be getting: leeks, Chantenay carrots, lettuce, parsley, cipollini onions, green onions or arugula or radishes, and two mysteries.

I still have cipollini onions and leeks left over from last week, plus a few leaves of collard greens, a small butter lettuce, a romaine lettuce, and probably some other things I can't remember.

Cipollini onions are pretty neat -- they are flat sweet onions, meant for roasting. The shape was selected for that purpose, it allows even cooking while whole. I have a recipe I'm going to try that needs some roasted cipollini; it's a quinoa pilaf.

Normally I use leeks in leek potato soup... hard to argue with that option! I should maybe branch out a little...

Clearly I need to use the lettuces quickly; maybe I should just stir fry them and put a tasty sauce on them.

I forgot I also have two small butternut squashes and one big one, but they'll last many weeks so I can wait until I am ready.

I'm beginning to realize that I have to be really disciplined to accomplish "work". It used to be that I would find time during naps or at the end of the day, but with two active toddlers that time has vanished. I can't assume that I'll somehow get things done, I have to really plan to do them at specific times. When I say it that way it sounds ridiculous, but I was good at getting things done in a timely fashion before.

This issue has been driving me a little crazy over the past year -- accomplishing things is important to me, and always feeling like I don't have time to do the urgent and important things, let alone take care of myself, was maddening. I take things way too personally!

Here are my new guidelines:

• remove emotion from unpleasant chores. I don't need the drama, and I prefer to be rational about stuff I have to do anyways.
• take a step back and review recent actions and ongoing plans with the husband once a week. It's good to go high-level and also get a new perspective. Challenge here is getting his attention, since he's been working too much.
• cut myself some slack. This is a challenging time, caring for two small kids. Only do the high priority stuff, schedule some time every couple months to catch up on the less important stuff, and don't feel like a failure when you're not a superwoman. In a few years they won't be so needy, this current experience is temporary.
  

If you could only drink one beverage for the rest of your life (not including water), which one would you choose?

The first thing that came to mind is green tea. Genmai cha, to be precise. But since that is the last thing I drank, maybe I am biased.

I haven't been blogging much at all lately, thank you Facebook. But since I'm not doing Nanowrimo this year, I thought I could at least manage writing a blog post each day. Join me!

What's going on over here? I shall employ bullet points:

• trying out a new cookbook, Clean Food. Today's soup recipe is a Creamy Shiitake and Chickpea Soup. It seems a trifle odd, it has broccoli and raisins in it. The last soup I tried was a Shiitake and Collard Greens soup, with carrots and white beans... surprisingly tasty. The baby loved the broth, she drank two bowls of it.
• Did a bunch of cleaning this morning... bed laundry, throw rug laundry, cleaned the boy's sink and mirror, washed his windows, swept the kitchen, made an apple crisp. Most of that was thanks to the baby taking a nap this morning; I can do this stuff with the toddler but with both of them awake it's not possible.
• debating setting up a credit freeze (already set up fraud alerts, which only last 90 days). Once I file the mail theft report with the postal inspector I think I'm permitted to do the credit freeze. It seems pretty inconvenient, but I have no plans to apply for credit anytime soon.
• I feel like the year is already over, which kinda depresses me.
  
• I need to get shoes for the boy before the cold weather actually hits.
• Clothes shopping is becoming more urgent. My wardrobe makes me sad.
  
• I'm not actually as miserable as the previous posts make me sound, but I am a bit burnt out and lonely. It's been hard to meet up with friends lately. Thank goodness for craft nights, it's so nice to be able to talk and not have any kids around. :-)

If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, which one would you want to have seen?

The moon landing. Being their in person would also be very cool!

I've been trying out an idea I had earlier this year -- if you make a small improvement to your situation every day, it'll make you happier. In practice, this means just doing one small thing -- clean up a cluttered shelf, wash a floor, cook a new recipe, reorganize something. I tend to pick physical things rather than things that are hard to measure or see, because I like to see the change and be reminded of it later.

I really like doing this -- child care is so repetitive that doing something that feels like a real improvement is rewarding. Oddly, I often forget about this plan for days at a time, I should have a written reminder or something, I guess.

Today's change: cleaned up the top of the diaper cart (it's a cart that holds all the cloth diapers for both kids, it has two shelves for the diapers and a top that is cluttered with random tiny disposable diapers, old clothes, new too-big clothes, baskets to hold diaper covers, etc.

What's the last movie you saw in the theater? Rented?

In the theater: District 9.

At home: Watchmen.

Sounds rather poetic, eh? It's a store in San Bruno for baby gear, and I want to test out a kokopax carrier:

BudsCarrier