So, last weekend we took a vacation

This is what happens when you're slathered in sunscreen and playing with your iphone.

We had RSVP'd yes to the wedding in late winter.

When I thought for sure I'd have a job by now.

When I didn't think it was possible that a significant portion of our savings for  this unemployment could be lost on a technical snafu.

Before I realized that our new health insurance deductible would be quite so high and Lola would be visiting the ER so soon.

Not only had we RSVP'd, but I'd paid for the room and sent the wedding gift over a month ago.

We were going to the wedding even if we had to eat peanut butter sandwiches and hard boiled eggs that I brought along (and we did.)

However, the problems began almost immediately. Upon arrival, we found our room would not have air conditioning during a major heat wave and with an asthmatic child who was already showing signs of a cold.

After some tense negotiation we were able to get into a room for that night, but would have to move the next night into an un-air-conditioned room. I was able to get out of the reservation for the 2nd night, which significantly helped the money situation, we celebrated by eating at the restaurant. Conservatively, we each ordered an appetizer and Lola got a kids meal. Afterwards, we finished the couscous tuna salad I'd made for lunch on the trip but which Lola wouldn't touch.

The night was lovely, our room was on the precipice of a cliff with a beautiful view. As twilight fell, the fireflies started up. They were much smaller than the ones in dc and everywhere. Lola and Jonathan tried catching them, but they kept slipping through their fingers. I was able to grab one but he wouldn't light up in my hands. I let him go and he fell into the deep grass, lighting up as he went.

That night we cuddled into bed when suddenly the thunder started. Then the wind. The room shook, the lights flickered several times. The lightning flashed and there was a large boom. The patio furniture blew against the side of the building. The lights went out.

And stayed out.

That morning they were still out. Our plan for a cheap morning breakfast was negated because the entire mountain had lost electricity. The dining room had made a makeshift breakfast buffet on propane and they charged everyone the buffet price. Awesome.

The planned purchase of $3 oatmeals had been upped to $11 per adult and $8 per child.  After a slight fit I got the manager to charge me the child's price as I can only eat 1/2 cup of food. But it was still not in the budget. However, since it'd take at least an hour to drive anywhere else, and we weren't sure if they would have power, as the word was the entire surrounding area had been it, we bit the bullet and ate. It would surely be cheaper than lunch.

After breakfast, we cleaned up, put the wedding clothes in the car to change into later, and hung out in the shade climbing on rocks. At lunch we made peanut butter sandwiches and hard boiled eggs.

We put together a puzzle in the main office, which was pretty nice until Lola poured all of my hard work back in the box. I get pretty serious about puzzles.

Then it was time to change. So off to the car we went. I pulled my dress on over the one I was wearing and shimmied out of the other in the parking lot covered by the open car door. Jonathan somehow managed to get into a suit while inside the car. Lola was relatively easy. Then with the air conditioning on full blast I fixed our hair and makeup.

The wedding itself was lovely, though the venue still had no power, they'd secured a generator for the space so they still provided dinner and music, but it didn't have enough power to turn on the AC. Lola had started to get lethargic and we realized she was burning up with fever. We'd been coaxing her to drink well all day with not much success.

The bribing began. We offered chocolate milk and orange juice but she just fell asleep. As soon as the cake was cut we dashed out. To drive through downed trees for a few hours all the way back to DC with a stop once we reached civilization for tylenol (the first she's had since the hospital visit.)

We've spent the past few days holed up in our bedroom with the AC on plying Lola with any drink she desires and trying to keep her fever down.

And I need a vacation.



Road Trip Couscous Tuna Salad
adapted from my brain and thousands of standard tuna salads at potlucks


1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 can tuna
1 cup frozen peas

Cook couscous according to package directions. Mix garlic powder, salt, pepper, mayo, yogurt and tuna. Toss with couscous and peas. Pack up with a bunch of ice. Enjoy.

If you like tuna macaroni salad you'll love this. My stomach no longer tolerates pasta. Which I love. But the longer I go without it, I don't necessarily miss the pasta so much as I miss the vehicle for all of the wonderful things that pasta conveys. Luckily, whole wheat couscous is kind to my stomach and provides an extra protein punch.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

A few weeks ago I made a pie crust.

It was meant for a peach pie, but I got a little overwhelmed with the rolling and waiting, so once it was in the freezer to chill I decided to leave it there and ended up making a cobbler.

I was inspired to try it with organic lard (been using it in my breads too!) I used a recipe from Mike Ahmadi's blog and modified it just a bit for my purposes.

On Friday, while doing our shopping, I spotted some ruby red, beautiful rhubarb at the co-op and decided the strawberry rhubarb pie that I keep on buying strawberries for but never making had to finally get put on the front burner.

This pie is summer to me. It reminds me of my grandma, I suppose most baked goods do, but nothing brings it home as much as strawberry rhubarb pie. (Except for maybe the scent of her perfume. I inherited a bottle and keep it close. Ten years later it still evokes the same comfort as it did when I was a girl.)

The flavor of rhubarb is the flavor of my grandma's kitchen: the yellow formica counters with bread boards that pulled out from under the lip, ridiculous rooster themed wall paper, and the lazy susan that teamed with baking ingredients housed in teal canisters with a floral design and a white lid.

Lola was super excited to help. So I had her hull the strawberries for me and then hand them to me to slice.  Then she helped the Daddy wash up the rhubarb and I chopped that up.

Lola was put in charge of the stirring. So we mixed up the fruit and added the white and brown sugars, tapioca, flour, lemon juice and zest, vanilla and cinnamon. She got a little overzealous with the stirring and we lost a few good pieces of rhubarb when they flew out of the bowl, but we made sure they got a proper burial and persevered.

 Once the filling was finished Lola was distracted by the Daddy with some markers and I went to work on the crust. It was extremely crumbly and prone to falling apart, but I could see big chunks of fat which was exactly what I wanted. I rolled out the first round of dough just enough to fit in the pie pan and stuck it back in the freezer. I rolled out the top crust a bit but it was getting soft so quickly I put it back in the freezer for a bit to firm back up and pulled out the bottom crust to pour the filling in...and realized I had at least a cup and a half that just wouldn't fit.

So being resourceful, I decided to make a cobbler as well! But I couldn't be bothered to find a recipe so I poured the extra into a bread pan and mixed up a little batter with some flour, lard, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and milk. Once it was the right consistency I poured it right over the rhubarb strawberry filling in the bread pan and stuffed it in the oven.

By this time the top crust had gotten cold enough again, so I finished rolling it out and clumsily spread it over the pie tin, sliced a few lines through the center to allow steam to escape and put it in the oven on a cookie sheet covered in parchment. (My smoking oven has taught me a thing or two.)

The cobbler came out when the dough was a dark shiny brown (about 40 minutes) and the pie came out an additional 20 minutes later. The crust was amazing, crumbly, flaky, flavorful, but not particularly pretty. The filling had that lovely tang of rhubarb with the super sweetness of the strawberries.

The cobbler was the unexpected star. It had the same sweet filling as the pie but the crust came out with a good texture and flavor as well, very similar to a banana bread. I wish I'd written down the recipe! But instead you'll just get a picture of the cobbler that almost wasn't and probably won't be again.

Verdict?  While the pie crust was amazing. It was hard enough to work with that next time I will use a 3 to 1 ratio of butter to lard.




 Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Filling
Adapted from Grandma's Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie, Valarie Enters,  Foodnetwork.com

 2 cups sliced strawberries
3 cups chopped rhurbarb
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons minute tapioca
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla


 Preheat oven to 425. Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon juice and zest, cinnamon and vanilla and let sit for 5 minutes. Once the juices have started to develop add the minute tapioca and the flour a little bit at a time. Depending upon the juiciness of the fruit you may add or reduce the flour. You want the dry ingredients to soak up the juice in the bowl so that as it develops more juices during the cooking process it stays together. Pour the filling into the chilled crust. Place the top crust over, slice through in several areas for venting. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes and then turn down the heat to 376 and back for an additional 50 minutes or until the filling bubbles through.

2 Crust Lard/Butter Pie Crust
Adapted from Pie Crust, Mike Ahmadi, http://tinyurl.com/FoodMuse

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
3/4 cup lard, cubed
1/3 cup ice water

It is important to freeze the butter and lard, cube, then refreeze. You want it as cold as possible before adding to the flour.  In the food processor combine the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse a few times. Add the chilled butter and lard. Pulse until the mixture looks like tiny peas.  It is okay if there are still some larger chunks, but the majority of them should be pea sized.

Start adding the ice water a tablespoon at a time with a quick pulse or two after each addition. You can test if the dough is ready by grabbing a handful and squeezing. If it starts to stick together it is ready. (Don't do this unless you're almost sure it is ready as it will raise the temperature!)

Pour it out onto parchment paper and divide into two piles. Form each pile into a round flat disk and wrap with parchment paper.  If you wish to freeze it at this point wrap it well and forget it! Otherwise chill at least 1 hour.

Remove from parchment, flour, and roll out!

On watching Lady and the Tramp 100 times

There's finally been a respite from Caillou in our house. Thank god. Caillou is fine for the most part, but there are two versions of the show.

There's the version that Lola loves, which generally has three short episodes fit into a half hour segment, and a short 'learning' sequence at the end where they review something learned in the episode.

Then there is the other version.  It has several episodes as well but they are punctuated with live action puppet sequences and the voice actor for Caillou is different and much more grating.

I can't tell the difference in the opening sequence or the descriptions for these but Lola can as soon as the music starts.

And if its the puppet version god help us.

chicken chicken chicken dinner

A few weeks ago, I took my good friend Dena shopping. We live in DC where it makes no sense to have a car. But I do. (Sense and I are rarely in sync)

Anyhow, me and the fam have been in a particularly tight budget situation lately and I had already done my meal planning on a strict budget based upon what we had in our pantry and freezer. So I had brought no bags, and planned to watch a movie with Dena after taking her grocery shopping. However, when I saw they had whole chickens at .79 a pound I had to recalibrate. So, I bought four. Four whole chickens. I spent $12.

Processed food is scary

Forgive me, but I watched Food, Inc this weekend and it's got me all up in arms.

First- let me say this: I still cook with processed food. I still feed my family sugar. In fact, several nights a week I find myself bribing my two year old with a dessert to get her to eat her vegetables.

But ya'll, the food industry has some really shady practices. First they make us fat, and then they sell us things that are supposed to make us thin.

This was a really interesting article I read in The Guardian this week - Why our food is making us fat.

Processed food is scary.

The Remains of the Day

Here lie the remains of the squash

Today Lola and I gardened.

I've been meaning to prune my wild squash for the last few days. Last week, I staked and tied them but over the last few days it has become apparent that I really needed to clean out some of the leaves so they would stop smothering their neighbors.

But...I kept putting it off.  It was always too hot when I had time and evenings are generally a hot mess of dinner, bath, and 2 hour long bedtime stories.

So this afternoon, when I got a weather update that informed me that it was going to rain this afternoon and would continue raining for the next few days, I rushed out into the garden with Lola in tow. I tasked Lola with picking basil leaves for a garlic scape pesto for dinner and got out my trusty shears. 10 minutes later I was left with this sad pile for the compost heap.

On putting your child on a leash

When I was a kid, on the rare occasion my mom took all 5 of us anywhere she would pull out "The Leash"

It was a long telephone cord-ish rope that had little handcuffs spaced every few feet.  We had to walk in tandem and try not to run into other people or each other. For 5 unruly kids this was never easy. Or possible. There were many instances of us getting hopelessly tangled up together and a few successful escape attempts by my little brother. I don't know how he weaseled out of those handcuffs but he certainly was good at it. This is the same brother that managed to drive the car on two separate occasions while sneaking away from our parents all before the age of 5. Both occasions resulted in accidents- once a streetlight and once another car in a parking lot.  If any kid ever needed a good leash, that one did.

Peach Cobbler

The good peaches have begun to show up at the stores. I've bought them two or three times this season thus far and have been very lucky. I always look for one with just a little bit of give and I haven't been disappointed. No mealiness has been encountered- only lush, sweet, juicy loveliness.

Spinach bread - or how much I love my bread machine

I love bread, but unfortunately my stomach can't handle too many carbs at the moment and bread tends to upset it. However, if it's a particularly hearty bread I can have a few nibbles.

Although, I can't eat much of the bread myself, I still love baking it. Occasionally, I'll hand make baguettes, but mostly I experiment with my bread machine. I love the anticipation as the smell of bread fills the house, grabbing a nibble here and there, and watching my family enjoy the fresh baked bread.

The neverending couscous salad

This is the story of a rained out BBQ and the couscous salad that survived.

We had planned a cookout last Friday evening and I spent the afternoon making this lovely couscous salad.

I've recently fallen in love with whole wheat couscous. The nutritional profile is pretty fantastic with 1/3 of a cup packing a whopping 7 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein. Most importantly it's delicious, with a fluffy texture and slight nutty taste.

The salad was fantastic, I mixed chicken stock flavored couscous with black beans, corn, fresh cilantro and parsley and some grape tomatoes. I made a quick vinaigrette with lime juice and cumin. The result was divine. However, it was meant to be consumed by 10 people and instead was a side dish for 4. The flash floods had won this round.

Everything is better with garlic

If you've been spending much time around the farmers markets these days, chances are you've seen a pile of these on a table somewhere. Garlic scapes are just about my favorite thing of late spring. I was introduced to them a few years ago by my CSA.

It's a jungle out there

Late April and still manageable

I have never gardened before.

When I was 12 I watered my mother's garden one summer when she was feeling ambitious and we were living on 11 acres of woods. The garden was a 15 minute walk away from the house uphill through the woods and required thousands of yards of hose and large barrels. It was the most terrible job ever. Almost as bad as being assigned to pick up sticks in the woods which was another favorite of hers. At least that job was in the shade. (She recently told me she only made me do this ridiculous job because I read too much, I think I'll just sign Lola up for soccer.)

I learned nothing from this experience with gardening other than how to use aloe vera after being sunburned.

Naughty children get (char)coal.

So today I was going to discuss wrestling with squash in a square foot garden (don't worry the wrestling match did occur and you'll hear all about it tomorrow) but I'd rather talk about yesterday when Lola said her tummy hurt and she needed medicine.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled program

Welp. Shortly before my last post I returned to full-time work. It was a nonstop few years of late nights and daycare for Lola.

Then this spring, I found myself in the position to stay at home again while figuring out what exactly to do next. So, Lola and I spend a lot of time in the garden, cooking, penny pinching and doing various crafts in between my job search and the occasional consulting gig.

So - I'm back! Posts coming up in the next few weeks will include: Pasta-less pasta, paper making, the best macaroni and cheese ever, making 3 meals out of one whole chicken, tiramisu cupcakes, and trying to tame my wild squash plants in my square foot garden.

To tide you over, here is a photo of Lola eating mulberries from our backyard tree and the first peas from our garden!

She's also wearing a shirt that I chopped the sleeves off of that morning because I couldn't find a short sleeved shirt. I'm all about solutions.

Happy Wednesday!