No, not a political commentary (although I certainly could make one here...)
The weeping and wailing after I put the kids to bed just seems to get worse. Now the German has to come in, peel them off me, and soothe them. All I get is: Thtay.. thtay...Mama, thtay. It's just so darned cute, with the little pats and tugs, but then when I try to leave the crying starts.
The German just came out: somehow he managed to disngage in three minutes. How does he do it?
'Course, now they have come out, been put back, and are now calling out the rally cry, "Bloood, bloood", so he has to actually see if it's true.
New York to Berlin, New York to Colorado, it's a long trip...
07 October 2008
Today my child is a grown-up.
Well, not quite. But today, after several days of waklezahne (or wobbly teeth), Thing1 lost her lower left front tooth. And the other lower front tooth ill follow shortly.
If I could figure out how to handle movies and photos on this Mac (and I am getting frustrated) I could show the video I took of her wobbling it about.
I am a little sad. She was rough housing about with Thing2 when I heard a cry and there it was, a lost tooth, all in a bloody swell.
Thing1 wanted to call her kita teacher, S, so we did. Then we called Papa. She doesn't want me to call the Tooth Fairy until she has two teeth available, though.
If I could figure out how to handle movies and photos on this Mac (and I am getting frustrated) I could show the video I took of her wobbling it about.
I am a little sad. She was rough housing about with Thing2 when I heard a cry and there it was, a lost tooth, all in a bloody swell.
Thing1 wanted to call her kita teacher, S, so we did. Then we called Papa. She doesn't want me to call the Tooth Fairy until she has two teeth available, though.
04 October 2008
I watched the VP debate.
Can this be for real? Can anyone actually have watched this debate and not be disgusted?
I saw this before watching the debate and it is actually quite realistic.
How can anyone contemplate having Sarah Palin a heartbeat (and that an elderly, cancer survivor's heart beat) away from the Presidency?
03 October 2008
Chicken Cacciatore
This recipe is completely based on Elise's Rabbit Cacciatore
- Two large chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 Tbsp dried)
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
- flour to dredge the chicken in
- olive oil to cat the pan
- 1 1/2 cup chopped onion, 5 small, or as many as you like
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms, or as much as you'd like
- 3 cups of chopped, very ripe tomatoes, o whatever tomatoes you have on hand and 500g tomato puree
- 2 red bell peppers, seeded, 1 inh dice
- 1 bay leaf
- 16 salt-cured olives, black or green, pitted** didn't have these
Method
1 Put the chicken pieces in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add half of the thyme to the bowl, then sprinkle with flour to lightly coat. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high. Place the chicken pieces in the pan in a single layer. Do not stir. Cook for 2-3 minutes on one side until lightly browned, then turn the pieces and brown on the other side for a minute or two more. Return to a bowl.
2 Reduce heat to medium. Add onions to the pan, cook for 1 minute. Then add garlic, bell pepper, and mushrooms, cook for a couple minutes more. Add the rosemary and the remaining thyme. Add the chicken. Cover with chopped tomatoes, add bay leaf. Reduce heat to low; cover the pan and simmer for 35 minutes.
3 Add olives, if you like and raise heat to reduce sauce to desired tickness: for me this was fine.
Serves 4-5. Serve with rice, pasta, or potatoes.
I served this with rice and Thing1 told me "You are the best cooker, Mama". This is a big deal because I can generally never get her to eat food with spices and with multiple ingredients "all touching each other". So I was very touched. Now I join the ranks of Oma and Nana and Julie as being in Thing1's "best Cooker" class.
I made this up for lunch to give the family a good warm meal before heading out to hear a reading tonight. I would never have thought to use so much thyme and I think that it tasted wonderful. I also salted the rice water quite heavily (I need to get some of that fluor into the girls as I haven't been able to get fluoride supplements yet) and I liked doing that while leaving the cacciatore a bit less salty. This gave us all (except for Thing1 who had an extra bowl of rice) two small bowls and left about two bowls left over. If I were serving two couples, I might double this to ensure left overs. I will also add carrots and green beans next time, I think.
02 October 2008
Six random things...
Three weeks later, as I look at Cathy's meme tag, I am still trying to think what six random things I can share. Some random things are just too personal and some are just too generic. Sometimes I think I'm just a bit too ordinary to have interesting edges.
Random fact 1: I have two master's degrees, an MBA in Finance/RE Finance and a MS in Accounting Information Systems. I had been attempting an accounting degree but I had so many carry over credits I needed to expand the major.
Random fact 2: I really dislike the generic German cuisine. As I enjoy British cuisine, even that which does not derive from India, that tells you how strongly I feel. One of the reasons is the preponderence of pig products, the other is the excessive use of fat and grease.
Random fact 3: Although I have never lived more than 7 hours drive from Manhattan, I spent many summers both in Houston and in Seattle, as my high school chum went to Rice (and still lives in Houston) while my college roommate got her PhD in Seattle. I still think of Seattle as that place with the arid summers where I could pick blackberries while walking through the University district. Houston is, for me, the home of The Hobbit Hole.
Random fact 4: Although I collect wine and love it, I sometimes forget to drink it! At home I would occasionally discover an over ripened bottle if I didn't examine my rotation. (This is more of a problem with Californian wines and with whites).
Random fact 4: I would rather drink cider than beer on a hot day and of an evening red wine is generally my tipple. Here in Germany, where a decent red wine costs less than bottled water in the US (okay, a bit of hyperbole), my red wine consumption appears to be increasing.
Random fact 6: Staying on the topic of tipple, the two things that I will miss when I leave Germany, in a culinary sense, are Quark (which I can make in the US) and Federweiser Wein. The latter in the red variety. It was the first thing that I actually enjoyed that was authentically German last year when I discovered it (I had been surviving on Greek food). It reminded me of my salad days in the Fingerlakes region, when I would buy a carboy of varietal grape juice and make my own wine in the basement of my off campus housing. But it tastes better here.
Was that random enough?
The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
I'm not going to tag anyone, because I am just too late, but if you would like to join in, please do.
Random fact 1: I have two master's degrees, an MBA in Finance/RE Finance and a MS in Accounting Information Systems. I had been attempting an accounting degree but I had so many carry over credits I needed to expand the major.
Random fact 2: I really dislike the generic German cuisine. As I enjoy British cuisine, even that which does not derive from India, that tells you how strongly I feel. One of the reasons is the preponderence of pig products, the other is the excessive use of fat and grease.
Random fact 3: Although I have never lived more than 7 hours drive from Manhattan, I spent many summers both in Houston and in Seattle, as my high school chum went to Rice (and still lives in Houston) while my college roommate got her PhD in Seattle. I still think of Seattle as that place with the arid summers where I could pick blackberries while walking through the University district. Houston is, for me, the home of The Hobbit Hole.
Random fact 4: Although I collect wine and love it, I sometimes forget to drink it! At home I would occasionally discover an over ripened bottle if I didn't examine my rotation. (This is more of a problem with Californian wines and with whites).
Random fact 4: I would rather drink cider than beer on a hot day and of an evening red wine is generally my tipple. Here in Germany, where a decent red wine costs less than bottled water in the US (okay, a bit of hyperbole), my red wine consumption appears to be increasing.
Random fact 6: Staying on the topic of tipple, the two things that I will miss when I leave Germany, in a culinary sense, are Quark (which I can make in the US) and Federweiser Wein. The latter in the red variety. It was the first thing that I actually enjoyed that was authentically German last year when I discovered it (I had been surviving on Greek food). It reminded me of my salad days in the Fingerlakes region, when I would buy a carboy of varietal grape juice and make my own wine in the basement of my off campus housing. But it tastes better here.
Was that random enough?
The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
I'm not going to tag anyone, because I am just too late, but if you would like to join in, please do.
Have you gotten your Ballot yet?
Neither have I. So I called my local election official in New York, because the Overseas Vote Foundation makes it so easy to do so.
They haven't received the ballots in the office yet, expect them next week and will send them out then. Very friendly and nice and will take my address change by e-mail so that rather than using my US forwarding address I can get the ballot directly. Even if I didn't get my ballot in time, I could use the Federal substitute, printable from the Foundation's website, because they confirmed that I am registered as absentee on the rolls (sometimes I get concerned about being "accidentally" disenfranchised).
Check out your own voting rolls to make sure that everything is in order: time is flying and in some states it may already be too late.
They haven't received the ballots in the office yet, expect them next week and will send them out then. Very friendly and nice and will take my address change by e-mail so that rather than using my US forwarding address I can get the ballot directly. Even if I didn't get my ballot in time, I could use the Federal substitute, printable from the Foundation's website, because they confirmed that I am registered as absentee on the rolls (sometimes I get concerned about being "accidentally" disenfranchised).
Check out your own voting rolls to make sure that everything is in order: time is flying and in some states it may already be too late.
01 October 2008
A day in the life...
Claire was mentioning the sameness of days and she is right (see my last post). It's much harder to mix things up when others are dependent on us for "support services'. Sometimes I find that pretty tedious and other times, when things move smoothly, I am pretty happy with it.
This week, with the girls out of school for the holidays and with the German back at work after the holiday, it seems appropriate for Berlin that it has been raining madly every day, thereby forcing me to stay home and not allow them to get their ya-ya's out at a playground. It is also impinging on my new-found orderliness. Oh well.
However, in between breaking up spats, suggesting games and playing them, I put together the New York Time's chocolate chip cookie recipe for the second time.
Credit to spicyicecream for the original listing.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The New York Times
Makes 24
• 480g plain flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
• 280g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar (this is 180g of dark brown sugar, by weight)
• 225g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 500g bittersweet chocolate chips (I used 200g because I don't love chocolate)
• Sea salt, to sprinkle
1. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk well, then set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low, then add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. This can be messy, so hold a clean dish towel over the top of the bowl. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly to incorporate.
4. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.
5. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Remove the bowl of cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow it to soften slightly. Line a baking try with non-stick baking paper.
6.Using an ice cream scoop, scoop six mounds of dough onto the baking sheet, spacing them evenly. Use a tablespoon or coffee scoop to measure out the dough. I then pressed the balls flat with a fork, criss-crossing as with peanut-butter cookies. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, about 15-20 13minutes. (I immediately removed the cookies from the sheet.)
Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies onto the rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
I made this a few weeks ago for a book club meeting and I was amazed at how much better these were than the traditional recipe one always sees listed (which is the Tollhouse cookie recipe, generally). The increased vanilla and salt in particular, as well as the decreased ratio of sugar to flour, make it a far less sweet and more savory cookie. I made versions with and without the sprinkled sea salt and the children (and adults) loved it both ways, so this batch was all with the sea salt sprinkles.
Then I threw together a newish recipe for beef stew.
Yield
I really need to start putting meal plans together so that I can buy what I need for the recipes I want to make, instead of creating the recipes to go with what I have in the (now completely empty refrigerator).
Thing1 had a lot of fun putting the cookies together with me, although it took a taste test for her to believe that baking soda and baking powder are not as tasty as sugar (and salt- she is my daughter, after all). She even ate some of the stew (when we pulled out the meat and the green beans for her to eat separately).
This week, with the girls out of school for the holidays and with the German back at work after the holiday, it seems appropriate for Berlin that it has been raining madly every day, thereby forcing me to stay home and not allow them to get their ya-ya's out at a playground. It is also impinging on my new-found orderliness. Oh well.
However, in between breaking up spats, suggesting games and playing them, I put together the New York Time's chocolate chip cookie recipe for the second time.
Credit to spicyicecream for the original listing.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The New York Times
Makes 24
• 480g plain flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
• 280g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar (this is 180g of dark brown sugar, by weight)
• 225g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 500g bittersweet chocolate chips (I used 200g because I don't love chocolate)
• Sea salt, to sprinkle
1. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk well, then set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low, then add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. This can be messy, so hold a clean dish towel over the top of the bowl. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly to incorporate.
4. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.
5. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Remove the bowl of cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow it to soften slightly. Line a baking try with non-stick baking paper.
6.
I made this a few weeks ago for a book club meeting and I was amazed at how much better these were than the traditional recipe one always sees listed (which is the Tollhouse cookie recipe, generally). The increased vanilla and salt in particular, as well as the decreased ratio of sugar to flour, make it a far less sweet and more savory cookie. I made versions with and without the sprinkled sea salt and the children (and adults) loved it both ways, so this batch was all with the sea salt sprinkles.
Then I threw together a newish recipe for beef stew.
Yield
7 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 500 grams beef cubed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 diced onions
- 8 stalks chopped celery
- 2 bunches sliced scallions
- 1/2 cups dry red wine
- 2 cups water and 1 beef bouillon cube
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes actual dried basil, oregano and garlic
- 1 T dried oregano, 1 T dried rosemary, 1 T garlic, 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup chopped carrot/ 1 chopped red pepper/ bunch of sliced mushrooms
Sprinkle flour, salt, and pepper over beef. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef mixture to pan; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan with a slotted spoon. Add onion and celery to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add beef, wine, and the ingredients through bay leaf to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes or until beef is just tender. Add remaining ingredients to pan; cover and cook for 30 minutes. Discard the rosemary and oregano sprigs and bay leaf.
adapted from Kate Kunstel, Bronx, New York, Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2007
I really need to start putting meal plans together so that I can buy what I need for the recipes I want to make, instead of creating the recipes to go with what I have in the (now completely empty refrigerator).
Thing1 had a lot of fun putting the cookies together with me, although it took a taste test for her to believe that baking soda and baking powder are not as tasty as sugar (and salt- she is my daughter, after all). She even ate some of the stew (when we pulled out the meat and the green beans for her to eat separately).
24 September 2008
I know the answer
and it's not 42.
The answer to keeping control over my life is to
1. buy the proper containers for my stuff .
2. Put everything in a specific place. Even if the place is arbitrary, define the place.
3. Spend at least an hour every day putting things back into their places.
Repeat 3 daily, with daily:
laundry, wash, dry, hang, fold, put away.
kitchen tidy (putting stuff away)
dishwasher unload and load as we go
This gives me a stretch of calm from about an hour after I get the kids on the bus. During that time, I can:
1. Go through paperwork and pay bills, file bills, control budget
2. Read magazines
3. Watch DVR'd TV while writing/blogging/reading blogs and news
4. Extend zone of tidiness incrementally
5. Decide on dinner and ascertain that I have correct ingredients or go shopping (done at least every other day).
I have a hard deadline of Friday for getting all my (on extension) tax paperwork together and it looks like I will make the deadline, while discarding extraneous paperwork and clearing up on the way.
This week has been the first time in I don't know how long that I have felt happy with the state of my environment. I no longer feel that I need to apologize for the condition of my apartment when I have people over. Although I am using the dining room table as a desk, it takes me less than 5 minutes to have the apartment ready for guests.
Interestingly, although I always wear a watch, one of the items that gives me the feeling of control is that we put a clock up on the wall. That was something the German resisted, saying that it "didn't go", although the finish (chrome, from Ikea) was well within our range of balck, white, chrome and brushed nickel. However, last night he turned to me and said that having the clock makes him feel more "present". I agree.
It's a nice feeling. I'm not certain how I will be able to hold onto it after my German classes start again, but it will be a priority.
Apartment beautification plans for this evening are to put up our remaining two re-purposed shelves. Tomorrow the wheels will go on the Arbeitsplatz and perhaps on the weekend (when we are in Bremen) we can find something colorful for the walls (we really need some color!)
Self improvement plans, now that I have been wearing my prescription orthotics for two weeks and the pain is decreasing, is to get back to the gym. Next Wednesday is the start date goal.
The answer to keeping control over my life is to
1. buy the proper containers for my stuff .
2. Put everything in a specific place. Even if the place is arbitrary, define the place.
3. Spend at least an hour every day putting things back into their places.
Repeat 3 daily, with daily:
laundry, wash, dry, hang, fold, put away.
kitchen tidy (putting stuff away)
dishwasher unload and load as we go
This gives me a stretch of calm from about an hour after I get the kids on the bus. During that time, I can:
1. Go through paperwork and pay bills, file bills, control budget
2. Read magazines
3. Watch DVR'd TV while writing/blogging/reading blogs and news
4. Extend zone of tidiness incrementally
5. Decide on dinner and ascertain that I have correct ingredients or go shopping (done at least every other day).
I have a hard deadline of Friday for getting all my (on extension) tax paperwork together and it looks like I will make the deadline, while discarding extraneous paperwork and clearing up on the way.
This week has been the first time in I don't know how long that I have felt happy with the state of my environment. I no longer feel that I need to apologize for the condition of my apartment when I have people over. Although I am using the dining room table as a desk, it takes me less than 5 minutes to have the apartment ready for guests.
Interestingly, although I always wear a watch, one of the items that gives me the feeling of control is that we put a clock up on the wall. That was something the German resisted, saying that it "didn't go", although the finish (chrome, from Ikea) was well within our range of balck, white, chrome and brushed nickel. However, last night he turned to me and said that having the clock makes him feel more "present". I agree.
It's a nice feeling. I'm not certain how I will be able to hold onto it after my German classes start again, but it will be a priority.
Apartment beautification plans for this evening are to put up our remaining two re-purposed shelves. Tomorrow the wheels will go on the Arbeitsplatz and perhaps on the weekend (when we are in Bremen) we can find something colorful for the walls (we really need some color!)
Self improvement plans, now that I have been wearing my prescription orthotics for two weeks and the pain is decreasing, is to get back to the gym. Next Wednesday is the start date goal.
22 September 2008
We don't need no stinkin' badgers...
I'm making the German watch Blazing Saddles with me. It is for his own good. I wonder if he will think it's funny?
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