weekend

It's been cold and clear and sunny here- bright sharp days that remind me of winter in the mid-west. 

We had a family date on Friday, using one of our Chinook book coupons to go to a lovely Thai restaurant. We managed to get through the meal with only one child having to take a walk outside while waiting for food and only one child having to be reminded that we don't sleep with our heads on the table in restaurants, no matter how full we may be. 

So, pretty successful in other words.

Unity had a gymnastics meet on Saturday. Her team did well enough to advance to the championships next weekend so she is excited about that. I wasn't sure how she would do in this "pre-competitive" track but it's been good so far. 

We have a new houseplant to add to the botanical collection. This one is a sundew, and while it is fun and interesting, we are also hoping it will be a fruit fly predator as well. 

Also this weekend, Brixton and I made cookies while Unity had a friend over and Unity read all of Houseboat Girl by Lois Lenski. I adored this author as a kid, and read through a whole shelf of her books at my local library. Seeing Unity enjoy the books I loved as a kid has been something that I've been looking forward to since the day I found out I was pregnant. 

I've been a little nonplussed with some of the books she's brought home from her school library. There's a whole fairy series that is stretched a bit thin. Titles include Caylee the carnival fairy and Georgia the guinea pig fairy. She also brought home a book that was all about the beauty shop and boys. I'm  not going to tell her what she can and can't read. I certainly know that can backfire. There's a famous story in my family about how I was told not to read my grandmother's romance novel and promptly stayed up all night to read it after everyone else was asleep. 

But, I am glad to steer her towards books that I find enriching and I love when she loves them too. Bonding over books is one of my favorite ways to connect. 

This weekend

            On Thursday Unity's school had a culture night where families brought food and clothing from their heritage to share. I made my grandma's Irish Soda bread and it came out well. No leftovers.

Chris got to visit with friends who were in town from the East Coast, and to see a show. I went to a training for a new project I'm starting (more on that later) and to a small press book fair. 

The kids spent most of the weekend holed up in their room listening to the Frozen soundtrack on repeat, after we banned it from the living room. I think I will never get that song out of my head. They both said that listening to it was their favorite part of the weekend.

Stocking up

We've been doing projects out of the Artful Parent book lately, it is such a great book for fun and fairly simple kid projects. Unity made about a hundred bean and glue pictures. 

I've also been trying to stock up, getting ready for the start of the year. The kids and I made two versions of these breakfast bars;  one with nuts and one without. They always love a baking project and I put them in the freezer so we can just grab one in the mornings, or stick it in a lunchbox. We have a little bit of summer left and a few more adventures, but I can feel that shift in the air. 

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Slightly more than six months ago, Chris told me he was worried he might be allergic to something. He went on the elimination diet and I was praying please let it be dairy. I'd been vegan for four years, before getting pregnant with Unity. Vegan doesn't scare me. Right before Thanksgiving we found out that he has a gluten allergy. Of course.

Ever since then, we have been venturing into the world of gluten free cooking and eating. It has been challenging. I am thankful that there are a lot more products on the market now than there used to be, but most of them just don't taste the same. It's been a big adjustment for Chris. A lot of his former favorites like bread and pasta are now more expensive and less fulfilling. But, we're working on it.

The kids and I are still eating foods with gluten, but I haven't been baking much, because it seems unfair to make tasty things that he can't eat. Recently I have been inching one toe into gluten free baking. And...so far so good.

These muffins are a combination recipe: a gluten free pumpkin muffin recipe from Blackbird Bakery cookbook and the regular blueberry muffin recipe from the King Arthur Flour cookbook.

Ingredients:
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons Xanthum gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
 Cream butter, sugar, salt. Add eggs. Add baking powder and dry ingredients. Beat in the milk.
Mash blueberries and add to batter. Stir in vanilla extract.

Scoop batter into lined muffin tin and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Finally- a blueberry muffin we can all enjoy.

Lingering...

Despite the local newspaper headlines that summer is on it's way out, we are soaking it up still. Having those long lingering August days whilst still preparing for what's coming. It's a balance.

                              
 Brixton got a turn on Unity's keyboard while she was at school. That kid loves his music in all ways, shapes and forms.

            We made the tastiest granola from this book. I'm so excited to try out her other recipies, including cheese crackers and homemade toster pastries.

It was a large amount and I thought it would last for weeks but it's already almost gone. Guess we'd better make more soon.

Also, we've been enjoying popsicles. This one is just plain yogurt and blueberries blended and frozen in the molds. The kids were so excited.

Can't forget to notice the sun, where and when I can.

August Appreciations part 4

12. Blueberry cornbread muffins. So yum, especially with the tons of sweet juicy berries that are at the farmers market right now.

13. Chris's ability to look at our old doors (that he took off the formerly dank basement closet) and envision a work table. Now he can putter with his scooter parts in ergonomic peace. Gotta love living with an engineer.

14. Unity has branched out with the pattern blocks, and decided she doesn't need patterns. She'll make her own. Love that girl's creativity.

15. Brixton reading to Papa. "and den da wabit, he goed to da house."

16. The gorgeous weather we've been having. Hot,sunny, beachy summer weather. Of course the weather report did say that Seattle summer has now peaked. But we have been soaking it up.

what the cherries know

The cherry tree we planted when Unity was born is suddenly producing. Over the years it's given us a handful of cherries, enough to eat in one sitting. This year, all of a sudden, the branches are full, dangling the small sweet globes in front of our faces.

It makes sense to me. The tree has been planted on this earth for five years, just like our little bubbie. We were at a dinner party earlier this evening and one of the parents was enumerating the list of responsibilities that came with being one whole hand. "When you are five you will brush your own teeth. When you are five you will wear bloomers under dresses. When you are five you will put your own plate in the dishwasher."

When you are five, you start to bear your own fruit.

                               We were coming home yesterday from a friend's baby shower and I saw a bird pecking at our tree. Chris ran and got a ladder and we picked all the cherries then and there.  A pie's worth, with some left over for snacking, freezing. Storing.

                   We sat there celebrating my friend and her husband and their sweet babe not yet here.  We brought the cake out and one of the 2 year olds wanted to sing. "Happy baby to you, happy baby to you." As the song ended, a lone voice called out "and many more." My friend's eyebrows shot up. "How many is many?" she asked, bemused.

It was good to talk to her, standing on that threshhold. And feeling too how far away from it I am. My big kids, sturdy legs and solid steps. The highchair burried in my basement, some artifact of other days. There is nothing like that burst of new life into the world, in all its wild joy and terror and transformation.

But at five years old you start to bear your own fruit. And I get to be there, to be a part of it. To watch the becoming. I am beyond blessed.

               
                

A garden update

We had a pretty calm weekend for once. It was nice. We got to spend some time playing catch up with both the house and the garden. The kids are trying really hard to be helpful with cleaning, they like to sweep and they like to soak washcloths and rub them on the floors. Hey, it's a start right? And once the house was (kind of) clean and smelling of Simple Green and Nag Champa, we went after the weeds. Our garden is a little too big for us still, in terms of time and energy needed and sometimes in terms of output too, but it's so important for all of us to have the time working there, using our bodies to help our food grow.

                                   My irises are blooming!

                             A couple of beets. We've planted these three times now, with not much luck. I don't know what's wrong.

                              The cherries are starting to ripen.

                                                Squash.

                                     Big broccoli. Slugs got to some of them, but the ones that survived are
really doing well.

                                                 Brixton's pear tree is growing new branches and leaves. We probably won't have any pears for another few years but it is doing well.

                                 And Chris made strawberry rhubarb lemon bars with fruit from the farmers market. It was A. Maz. Ing.

Germination

                            Growing something takes time, and attention. It's a different pace, a long slow pace, with little sudden bursts of activity. All of that preparation and checking and letting it sit and then suddenly-

                                   transformation.
                                 (This is my first sourdough, using lots of help from this book. )

                                   Sometimes you can't see it yet, but you tend the soil and wait and dream....

                                         It's amazing, every time, how all that waiting and gentle attention can
suddenly ease this burst of change, this transformed being, into the world.

Showing us the essence of themselves that was waiting there all along.

Snow bound

            Well our weather seems to be changing, the snow is melting and things are tentatively starting to open again. Just in time for the weekend. Sigh. But it is good to know that we can ease out of our snow tunnels and back into regular. Yesterday we were starting to claw the walls a bit, but we managed. We made cookies.

We were out of chocolate chips and the only grocery store I could get to was the discount outlet. Of course they don't have normal chocolate chips, so I had to settle for chocolate kisses with carmel. Since we were going untraditional, I decided to go all out and started throwing in random things from the cupboards. Coconut! Coffee! Peanuts! Oatmeal!

I'm calling them our kitchen sink cookies, and they turned out rather well.

Thank goodness for neighbor friends. Every day this week, we visited Reuben or he visited us. I'm so glad we live close by and can visit each other even in extreme weather. The kids had an art show.

and today Unity's school is open for a few hours and Chris is working at work instead of in the basement and maybe Brixton and I will leave the house. Hallelujah.

Cookies

I had an early class at Meeting this week and Chris was trying to figure out what to do with the kids while I was gone. "There's always baking" I said. And so they did.

pumpkin muffins

Inspired by the freezer full of pureed pumpkin from our garden, and the season,  and other people's recipies, we made pumpkin muffins. Yum. I had a charming helper who was more than happy to mix and pour and especially happy to help eat. They were gone in less than 24 hours but hey, there's lots more pumpkin in the freezer.