A Date Done Right

My husband is amazing, and I don't tell him that enough. I don't tell you that enough either, but mostly I just don't want you to be jealous, so it's for your own good. 

You might be jealous today, but you'll just have to deal...

Last week I was texting our babysitter for an unrelated thing, and Luke said, "Ask her if she's available for Saturday night, I want to take you on a date." And she was (yay!). It made my heart go a-flutter, because typically we are so last minute that we call around for babysitters the day of, or even the night of. But he was planning ahead! And all of a sudden it was our high school dating days again...

Luke just got a new bike, and I have a new bike (which is a whole other story), and he suggested a bike-riding date along the river. I said, "Sure!" (which if you don't know me, was a huge stretch, and it was even more of a stretch that I didn't debate him about it, or discuss all the dangers...)

Saturday came, he loaded the bikes in our super-awesome-way-cool minivan. He even packed a satchel with my favorite prosecco, along with very classy red plastic cups, because that's the way we roll. And off we went, down by the river, riding into the wind. 

And it was fun...really fun. I'm so glad we did it. I love how Luke gets an idea and follows through with it. He's so great at starting traditions with our family. 

*And I must mention, after the bike ride, Luke took me to a lovely restaurant where we immensely enjoyed a five course meal (that was a first for me) and wonderful conversation. 

A date done right.

Sunday Night, 6:40 pm

I asked Amaleah tonight how it feels to have a daddy who makes homemade pasta.  She said, "I don't know, how does it feel to have a husband that makes homemade pasta?" Well, pretty cool, of course!  I'd dare say most wives don't go upstairs to change a diaper, and come back down to hear the pasta maker running and see their husband making homemade penne' pasta.

Of course, he's been goin' at this for quite some time.  It all started when we lived in North Carolina; he got me a hand crank pasta maker for my birthday...I did it once and decided hands down it was not for me...But it stirred up some sort of passion in Luke, and what once was a now & then thing has almost become a weekly event, and tonight it took 40 minutes from start to finish, dinner served! (no more hand crank pasta maker mind you--we've moved on to the Kitchen Aid pasta maker attachments.)


We agree though that it wouldn't be that fast if we didn't function as a team:  he's the pasta maker, and I'm the sauce maker. Tonight's throw together sauce was a lemon parmesan cream sauce.  And I'm thankful Luke has grabbed onto this hobby, because it has turned into a very fun family affair.

Coffee-Muffy, and a Recipe

Lately, I've been having extra trouble trying to cram all my glasses and coffee cups into my one tiny cabinet. I keep thinking, "I need to eliminate. I must purge!" But then I look at all of my favorite little cups and I just can't seem to part; they each have such sweet little memories.

There's the one little thrift shop find that Mercy brought home for me last summer when she was living with us, and out of which I drank almost every day; the perfect size, slightly rounded lip, the perfect handle, and pretty to look at. But then there's the tiny little blue floral cup that Abi sent me all the way from London. How can I pass that one up? Oh, and then the vintage set of 2 white mugs with a green flower (now sadly down to one due to a crash) which I picked up at a Salvation Army. And of course, not to be outdone by all of these memories, Naomi bought me a green and blue pedestal type cup from the Goodwill this summer so I wouldn't forget her! And then there's the handmade pottery Luke found at a garage sale in North Carolina and gave me for a Mother's Day several years ago. And there's also the cute little green cup Amaleah caught me admiring and then secretly bought (with Daddy's help) for my Birthday.

It's just so fun to have special coffee cups for the ordinary daily cup of coffee, and especially for the impromptu coffee shared with a drop-in family or friend. My sister in law Kristen calls it "coffee-muffy," which we had this weekend when we were lounging around after a trip to the zoo. I started the coffee, defrosted some frozen pumpkin doughnut muffins, and we all meandered in for a cup shared around the kitchen table.

I used to swear I'd never drink coffee...but now I'm so glad I do!

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins (from Everyday Food)

for the batter:

10 T. unsalted butter, room temp. (plus more for pan)

3 c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. coarse salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

1/3 c. buttermilk*

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree'

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

*if you don't have buttermilk, just combine about the same amount of milk with 1 tsp. or so of vinegar.

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk and pumpkin. With a mixer, beat butter and brown sugar til light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer in low, add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture, and beat to combine. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin tin and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine:

3/4 c. sugar

2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Prepare: 1/4 c. melted butter

Let muffins cool for 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. With one at a time, brush each muffin with melted butter, then roll in cinnamon-sugar and let cool completely on wire rack.

These muffins were delish! And they froze well (to freeze, save the butter and cinnamon-sugar step til after defrosted).

A Little Rice Mixed With Life (a wordy post)

(the cousins, in normal form...)

It's hard to get back into blogging when you've abandoned it for so long. Part of me wants to call it quits and close up shop. The other part of me has a notebook full of ideas and no real sense of where to begin. It's like an empty journal just staring you in the face, making you nervous about writing in it because you don't want to spoil it. Alas, I feel I must write. My life has been too full of details over the last 5 months to let them slip through the cracks.

I discovered a new recipe this summer (well really, I first tasted it in Spain) when my sister-in-law and her husband and three darling children came to live with us. Her sweet, cuddly, funny, sometimes loud little family lived with us for 6 weeks this summer, and we had many an opportunity to bump into each other in the kitchen. They were good, friendly bumps, mind you...we love cooking together! And so it seems I was always peering over her shoulder, "How do you do that?" or "Don't do that step 'til I get there, I have to see you do it," and on and on. Naomi's an amazing cook, and I savor every moment of learning from her (of course the learning isn't just about cooking--the cooking is just the means, you know?)

So she has this amazing "Cilantro Rice" recipe, that I'm sure she put together out of her own culinary genius. So I watched and learned, and attempted some, but her's was always better. She served it with some amazing beef (I need that recipe, too!), and it pretty much accompanied any other lonely main dish that needed a side.

But then she left. Bummer. Now I have to do it all by myself. So I practiced, like every week. And added my own twists and turns, probably just because I couldn't exactly remember how she did it. And then it got better and better. And then somehow or other my husband volunteered his (my) services to make the Rehearsal Dinner for Rachel's wedding (which was in October and is a whole other story!). And of course, Cilantro Rice got put on the menu.

So all this to say, rice was sort of my life this summer! Mixed with family, lots of family, and some friends along the way. Now, it's totally possible that I've just blown this rice way out of proportion; I mean, it's just rice, right? Suffice it to say, I think it's the memories that came along with it that makes it close to my heart.

So after all this rambling, are you interested in the recipe? Just remember, if it doesn't turn out for you, you need at least 10 people staying at your home, and maybe a few extra visitors here and there to make it really work.

Cilantro Rice

2 cups Jasmine Rice (important)

3/4 medium onion, diced

3 garlic cloves (peeled, left whole, and removed before serving)

1/2 bunch cilantro (trimmed off the stalks)

juice of 1 lime

3 1/2 cups total of chicken broth combined with the lime juice

1 tsp salt (about, to taste)

olive oil

Process the cilantro with the broth/lime juice. Set aside. Drizzle olive oil into a saucepan, almost to cover bottom. Saute' onions and garlic in oil, til clear. Add rice, stir just a bit, and add broth/cilantro mixture and salt. Bring to a boil, stir, and cover and cook for 13 minutes. Test to make sure rice is done, and add a few minutes if necessary. When finished, turn off burner, and leave lid slightly open on pan to let out the steam. After about 5-10 minutes, fluff with a fork, remove garlic cloves, and serve.

The Traveling Sweater

Last weekend, Landis and I traveled with Luke to Washington, D.C., so Luke could attend a conference for work, and so I could rejuvenate (I did this last year with him, and it was wonderful!) We were there during a huge cold blast that seemed to affect much of America, so layering was essential. As I packed for this trip, I came across this cute, white, hooded zip up sweater with pom-poms all over it in Landis' closet. I had forgotten about this treasure, seeing as how in San Antonio we hardly ever need that many layers. I threw it in the suitcase knowing I would use it, and I did. I got to thinking, "Where has this sweater been?"

You see, it originated in Naomi's household (my sister in law and amazing friend), when she bundled up her 3rd child, Selma, during the cold winter months in Spain.

Then, our dearest friend Lory requested the precious sweater for her 3rd hearty little boy, Blake, and he filled it up quite nicely.

Then Lory in all her goodness, sent me a huge tub of darling little boy clothes when she heard my 3rd was a boy, and low and behold, the darling little sweater appeared, and Landis fit in it beautifully!

(see The Jefferson Memorial in the background?)

So now it has traveled the world. I wonder who it will adorn next winter? Maybe our next new niece or nephew, who is coming in August?

*By the way, the beauty of hand-me-downs is their story, and the memory of the child who last wore it...I always think of who the outfit came from when I put it on my child! And I love that!

Community at Christmas Time

Our neighborhood, well, our street has an annual Christmas concert that we started last year at our house. We had such a turnout last year that we had to move it to my neighbor's house because his house is bigger. This tradition is unique, rare, and wonderful. The children on Trafalgar Street get together everyday for a week to practice, practice, practice: violins, cellos, piano, and flute. They all prepared solos and then worked together on two pieces. Then we invited the whole street, everyone brought treats, cider, and punch; the children performed, and we sang two Christmas carols as a group. It was so old-school, so 50's, so community, the way Christmas ought to be, right? The joy and love and cheer, minus all the materialism.

I think next year I'll suggest readings from Luke 2, I don't know why I didn't think of it this year! One year at a time, I guess.

Cinnamon Ornaments

Just in case you didn't have anything else to do on the day before Christmas, I thought I'd pass on another tradition I do with my children. We did this two weeks ago, but if you need an activity to occupy your children this afternoon while you're baking your pies, here it is.

Cinnamon Ornaments

3/4 c. apple sauce

4 1/2 oz. cinnamon (1/2 cup, really.)

about 1/2 - 1 c. flour

Mix the ingredients into a rollable dough, adding flour as needed, but trying to keep the dough brown. Roll out like sugar cookies, and cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets, then punch out a hole (for stringing ribbon) with a straw. Bake at about 200 for about 15-20 minutes, until firming up. Let cool and harden. String with ribbon and hang on the tree...This smells delicious!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Traditions with Three

Every year as a family we go pick out a Christmas tree. I can't believe we're already doing it again! So we traveled to the local hardware store and Luke pulled out 20 trees and we mostly said, "No, yuck, that poor tree!" until we narrowed it down to these two. We let Amaleah make the final decision, and the tree is lovely! I love this little tradition of ours, with the girls hiding in and out of trees, and soon Landis will be too. For this trip, he just slept in my sling, which was nice too.

Amaleah setting up for our early Christmas feast (Pumpkin Ravioli) with my brother and his family, since they will be out of town for Christmas.

And this is just a freeby of our cute little Landis, already trying to be like Daddy.

*and, for those interested, I recently updated my flickr page with newer pictures; just click on the sidebar

Pumpkin Bread Pudding and a Tradition

It's been a very long time since I've posted a recipe, so on Thanksgiving week I thought I'd share one that is very dear to our family. I got this recipe from a friend when we lived in Dallas, and now it's a traditional dish for us. We have it every year on Thanksgiving morning, and we love it. Amaleah always reminds me now that we have to have it for breakfast and not to forget it because it's "tradition." I think children thrive off of family traditions, even if it's something as simple as what we eat every Thanksgiving morning. For me when I was growing up it was homemade cinnamon rolls on Thanksgiving morning. And whenever my mom would even think of not doing it one year, I'd beg and beg and say "It's not Thanksgiving without it!" And she always relented. So here's our traditional recipe. I wonder, do any of you have a recipe that is traditional for your family?

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

1 1/4 c. sugar

1 c. milk

3 beaten eggs

1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz.)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

5 c. bread cubes (whole wheat is fine)

1/2 c. broken pecans (opt.)*

Stir together the first 7 ingredients. Add pecans and bread and let soak. Pour into buttered baking dish (9 x 13); cover and refrigerate overnight. Take out about 45 minutes before baking, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until firm but not dry. Spoon into bowls and serve with whipped cream and nuts (this is the best part!)

*Two years ago, I forgot and added the pecans to the pudding, and Amaleah was sweetly disappointed, because she doesn't like nuts, yet she loves this dish...so now every year she reminds me not to put nuts in it this year...

It's Tradition

Today I am officially 8 months pregnant, and definitely feeling it. The nesting has been taking place for quite some time, but it has definitely intensified recently. For instance, just today I finished organizing baby clothes and stocking them in the attic; cleaned the guest room from top to bottom, including sheet cleaning and the like; and cleaned out both bathroom closets, on a whim... I wonder why all of this always happens right before a baby comes? If only I had this kind of motivation every Saturday.

But back to the reason for this post. It seems to be tradition for me to cram finish some scrapbooking project in the last month of pregnancy. And I just completed my 3rd traditional scrapbooking cramming...When I was pregnant with Amaleah, almost 3 1/2 years after our marriage, I completed our wedding scrapbook (I think it was within the last week of pregnancy). When Julia was in tow, I finished Amaleah's First Year scrapbook (she was almost 3 at the time), and today, I finished Julia's First Year scrapbook, and she is 3 1/2.

Those of you who scrapbook religiously, I have no idea how you keep up. I've decided that the only thing I scrapbook now is the first year of each baby's life, and the rest of the photos just go into an album (and Amaleah has that task right now, because I'm soooo behind in that area too!)

P. S. When my brain is functioning again, I plan a post detailing some of the curriculum I'm using this year, for those who have asked!

7 New Dresses

Every year, since Luke started residency about six years ago, we've had a formal banquet to go to; an opportunity to see the 4th year class graduate, and more importantly, an opportunity to buy a new dress... It seems, as I think back to all the dresses, that there's a story behind each one of them. And I'm in a story-telling mood...

Dress #1: I left a screaming newborn Amaleah with Dad, and hurriedly picked out a two piece polka-dot outfit from Ann Taylor...that one I wore a lot; perfect for nursing...and Amaleah was still crying when I returned.

Dress #2: The re-use: a sparkly purple dress I had found at Ross for $3...seriously; and I had worn it in New York a few years before.

Dress #3: A shopping trip with Luke's gramma: after I subtly mentioned to her that I needed a new dress, she cheerfully responded by insisting we go together: we shopped, I tried on, she critiqued, she bought. Nice. It was a hot pink, eyelet dress with a halter. I had tried on another one and we were deliberating, but when I came out in this one, she said "Oh that's lovely." I said "I think it's a pretty dress too," and she said, "Oh no dear, I was referring to that beautiful mole you have on the neckline..." So that dress apparently worked with my body.

Dress #4: A trip to the mall and a stretchy black dress with white and pink contrast down the front...The story behind this one is that Julia was a wee little baby, who never took a bottle. My babysitter had to drive her up to the banquet so I could nurse her in the car before bedtime...that was a sight, let me tell you...

Dress #5: I picked up my mom from the airport, she was to babysit that night. I had no dress yet, and 3 hours to find one...So, we stopped at Ross, she stayed in the car with the kids, I ran in, tried on 6 dresses, found the perfect one, and a pair of shoes, in less than 20 minutes. I still like that dress (brown, strapless with a cream brocaide pattern throughout)

Dress #6: Shopping trip with Mercy (Luke's sister) in San Antonio, with a few weeks to spair until the event. We walk into Banana Republic. A random black, silk dress is hanging on the wrong rack, and it is really the wrong size for me, I think, but the total right price ($30...)I try it on, and with a little help from Mercy with the zipper, the perfect black dress was bought. This one I wore to Luke's graduation.

Dress #7: This year, another shopping trip with Mercy, this time to one store only...the Gap. Keep in mind I'm big and pregnant, but the styles these days, like empire waistlines, make it possible to buy non-maternity things and have them work (and make me wonder, "Why would anyone else wear this if it makes them look pregnant?"). And this year, I had a personal jeweler to bead me a coordinating necklace!

Besides the fun dresses, of course the best part is a night out with my husband...

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

Luke mentioned to me the possibility of buying an artificial tree this year. You know, it makes sense economically. Add up all the money we've spent on trees over the years and man, it's alot. But how could we? It's tradition, and we're stickin' to it (this year anyway).

I really and truly love going with Luke to pick out a tree. Some people actually walk into the place, grab a tree, pay, and walk out (really, two separate families did this in the course of our time there, can you believe it?). Not us, to be sure. Luke pulls out one, I scrutinize (too many gaps, too full, too skinny, not enough bulk, too much bulk, too funny looking, too Charlie Brownish, etc. etc...), he puts it back, and on to the next.

The girls are part of this tradition too now, only they really don't care about the tree's appearance. All they do is play and hide in the trees for the duration. But they'll soon learn.

So needless to say, we bought a real tree this year, and boy is it a good looking one...( in my opinion)