This is Lydia's version of 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free.
Zeelove
Lydia shares my love for zucchinis, although we express our love in different ways. I eat the summer squash (green kind only) with relish. I could happily eat them every day this month as long as they are not prepared in a manner which leaves them mushy. Lydia, on the other hand, refuses to eat the zukes. She does enjoy cutting them up into many tiny pieces. She also likes to lug the big ones around and give them baths in the bathroom sink.
Dinner from the garden
When Pablo has meetings after work once or twice a month, the girls and I eat very simply. This is super easy with harvest season upon us. Our garden is more and more productive every year we live here and work out plot of land. When the girls help harvest, all the vegetables are more appealing. 
We've also been eating our potatoes which are super yummy with a pat of salted butter melted over them.
We've also been eating our potatoes which are super yummy with a pat of salted butter melted over them.
summertime
Today's list:
Make elderflower cordial.
Go for a long bike ride.
Water tomatoes.
Harvest broccoli.
Set up booth for Country Fair.
Play in the little blue kiddie pool in our back yard.
Make elderflower cordial.
Go for a long bike ride.
Water tomatoes.
Harvest broccoli.
Set up booth for Country Fair.
Play in the little blue kiddie pool in our back yard.
Winter Beauty
Once a year, late winter, we head out to Northwest Gardens for their Hellabore Open House. When I first learned about Hellabores I thought them a bit boring. The work Marietta and Ernie have done in the past two decades is amazing. Now I am enamored with the blossoms and appreciate their foliage.
Winter Preserving
This is my first winter that I have done citrus preserving on a large scale. We've done a bit with candied peels and liqueurs. I don't remember whence the inspiration came but I started with a Honey Lemon Marmalade from my favorite preserving book: The River Cottage Preserves Handbook.
That led into Blood Orange Marmalade which is so gorgeous that I must make it for gifts every year. The recipe is a bit on the sweet side. I then tried their Seville Orange Marmalade which is divine in a completely different way. I now want to mix the Seville Oranges with the Blood Oranges to see if I can find my perfect marmalade recipe.We also did a batch of Orange Pomander Brandy from this cookbook which I found at the last Eugene Public Library Book Sale. It looks beautiful, but we won't know for another month or so how it tastes.
For breakfast this morning I had an americano, a blueberry kale banana smoothie and an english muffin with three sunny marmalades.
SMART
Pablo and I met because of Start Making A Reader Today - the non-profit I worked with after college. I was a volunteer coordinator in a low-income elementary school. He came in once a week to read books with Samantha and Efrain.
Tomorrow 4G IPhones go on sale via Verizon to new customers. I just read in the NYT: By the end of the year, one in two Americans will own a smartphone, compared with just one in 10 during the summer of 2008, according to a recent report from the research firm Nielsen. That means that for the first time in the United States, there will be more smartphones than feature phones in use.
I have no idea what a "smartphone" is but the chances are pretty good that I'll own one within the next few months.
HA!
Tomorrow 4G IPhones go on sale via Verizon to new customers. I just read in the NYT: By the end of the year, one in two Americans will own a smartphone, compared with just one in 10 during the summer of 2008, according to a recent report from the research firm Nielsen. That means that for the first time in the United States, there will be more smartphones than feature phones in use.
I have no idea what a "smartphone" is but the chances are pretty good that I'll own one within the next few months.
HA!
School Lunch
On the front page of today’s local paper was an article entitled “Preschoolers seem to know their junk food.” It reported on a new study which “found that salt, sugar and fat are what kids most prefer.” That comes as no surprise. I read through the article while eating my morning bowl of oatmeal and found myself pausing on the following quote by the study’s co-author, T. Bettina Cornwell, a U. of O. professor: “Because kids are not feeding themselves, it falls to parents to help their children develop preferences for healthy foods.”
The quote refers to young children; the study targeted 3 – 5 year olds, but still I found myself linking the study’s findings to what I see happening in my daughter’s school cafeteria.
On Wednesdays I volunteer in the first grade classroom right before lunch period. I stay afterward to walk 12 – 15 first graders to the lunch room and stand with them while they wait in line to punch their 4 digit number into a key pad, pick out their main dish, and then add any extras they choose from the salad bar.
Wednesdays always seem to be pizza days. There are usually two or three choices for their main dish: cheese pizza, some sort of meat sandwich or burger, and then occasionally a third option which I don’t recognize and no-one ever picks. The children are left on their own (bless the kindergarten teacher who stays with her children and helps them through the whole process) to add whatever they like. Usually this is pineapple chunks. Most children grab a carton of milk. Some pick it up, then set it down to get their pineapple and forget it ever existed.
Some days the offerings at the salad bar are more extensive. Today was a good day with fresh apples (gone halfway through the first grade line), oranges and kiwi. I have never seen a child choose the raw broccoli chunks though they are there every Wednesday. For the first time this year I saw raw carrots. Chickpeas are surprisingly popular.
It is impossible as a mother and a foodie to not coax a child into adding something to their plate besides a single slice of “Big Daddy” pizza. I have found that the closer I stand to them (even if I say not a word) the more colorful their plates leave the line. Today I helped serve pineapple in hopes of deterring the shoving which occurs when a group of 4 or 5 are all spooning sweets onto paper plates. At all costs one must avoid any comingling of foods. Pineapple must not touch the pizza! I pointed out the kiwi to a group of girls who hadn’t noticed the new offering, and asked a boy to please add a vegetable to his plate. “I have vegetables already!” was his response. “Where?” I asked in all sincerity. He pointed to his apple and chickpeas before spinning ‘round to join his friends out the door.
Parent volunteers - your children need you as much in the cafeteria as they do in the classroom and on the playground. Though their options are limited by school nutrition guidelines, they may choose to eat nothing more than a slice of cheese pizza and a carton of chocolate milk for their lunch.
Perfect Day
Pablo, the girls and I met Grandma up the McKenzie for some sledding today. It was glorious! We went to a place called White Branch which is just off old Hwy 126 right where the road closes at the seven mile marker. We were the first folks up there at 11:00 so we had the hillside to ourselves until after lunch. The keeper started two roaring fires in the old lodge which was built by the CCC in the thirties, and we huddled around for a packed lunch before heading back up the hill. A few other families showed up and it was grand entertainment watching them hurdle down the hill on their inner tubes. Apparently they don't get great sledding weather every year, and sometimes when they do there are lots of folks up on weekends. For today, many factors unknowingly conspired allowing us to have a perfect outing up the Cascades.
Peace
Now that the holidays have past we settle in for the long, gray, wet, cold season. It is most welcome after the excitement and activity of the past few weeks. Come February we'll be aching for spring.
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