mother's day (or any day) picnic supplies

We had a busy weekend last weekend. We were down in the OC for a friend's shower/pre-wedding party, stopped in to see another friend's new babe born 3 days after Dashiell, and then zipped back up here after brunch on Sunday for an evening picnic organized by our neighbors. I did not have time to prepare lovely homemade picnic, as you can imagine.





But that was a good thing, because it meant that we got to stop by the Zinc Cafe in Corona Del Mar for the most delicious picnicking supplies. I love the Zinc. I find any excuse I can to eat there when we're in the neighborhood. There's a smaller satellite location in Solana Beach near my parents' house, but it's no where near as delicious as the one in CDM. Think perfectly prepared deli salads, wines, soups, cheeses, sandwiches... and that's just the to go stuff.

I picked up:

Marinated goat's cheese with lemon and thyme
Cured french olives with orange and garlic
Roasted cauliflower
Edamame salad
Hummus
Crackers

And 3 soups for dinner this week. The Tuscan white bean was insanely delicious, but I only got a taste because I was afraid a huge bowl of beans might send the baby into a panic.

ZINC ZINC ZINC ZINC. I love you.

roasted carrot salad

I'm into roasted carrots at the moment, have you noticed? They're non-gassy and acceptable for baby who seems to be sensitive to many things. I came up with this salad last month and have made it approximately 7 times since then. It's actually become a go to dinner recipe as of late. Paired with quinoa of course.

It's easy and delicious and as you all know I'm not one for exact recipes, especially if I've made them up me-self. But here's an approximation:





Roasted carrot salad with chickpeas and fennel

A LOT of carrots. Like 3 big bunches from the supermarket or a big bag full if you're buying them from the farmer's market

2 or 3 small fennel bulbs, or 1-2 large (save some of the fennel fronds for flavor)

cumin seeds

1 can chickpeas

I bunch cilantro

feta (I'm using sheep's milk at the moment, but the other is fine too)

lime

salt, pepper, olive oil


Heat oven to 375. Peel and slice the carrots on the diagonal, so you have nice oblong pieces, not too thick and not too thin. Trim fennel bulbs, cut in half from top to bottom and then into thin wedges. Toss carrots and fennel with cumin seeds and a nice bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Line a cookie sheet with foil, dump carrots and fennel onto it, and slide into the oven and roast for as long as it takes the edges of the carrots to crisp a bit and the centers to be cooked through. Make sure you let some become nice and done so you get the crispy, caramelly taste every few bites.

While carrots are roasting, chop cilantro roughly. You might not need or want an entire bunch in your salad. I LOVE cilantro and believe it could almost be used as a salad green, which means I like a lot in this dish. But you can adjust the amount as you see fit. And you don't need pick the leaves off the stalks. Cilantro stems are just as delicious as the leaves. Pick a little pile of fennel tips off the fronds and set aside with the cilantro.

When the veggies are done, dump them into a large bowl. I usually heat the chickpeas in a saucepan first so they're nice and soft, but you certainly don't have too. Add chickpeas to the bowl, along with the cilantro and fennel tips. Drizzle a generous bit of olive oil over the top and mix everything up well. Add juice of one lime or so, depending on how limey you like it, and salt & pep to taste. Crumble feta over the top and eat. Out of the bowl is fine, but less civilized than actually heaping it on a plate.

I like to eat this with mixed greens and quinoa. But it's delish by itself or rolled in a toasted tortilla with avocado slices.

mother's day, for reals

This little hallmark holiday is definitely taking on a new meaning this year for me. But let's not be sentimental... this is what it's really about at the moment:



Amazing card by Fugu Fugu Press on Etsy.

Happy mom's day to all the mothers and mothers to be. It's the best job I've ever had.

Via Oh So Beautiful Paper

rhubarb jam for moms

Saturday was an out of control kitchen day for me. I think I was trying to make up for the last few months all in the space of one afternoon. After a nice morning of spinning (Yay! I can go to an adult workout class!) and then a stroll with the family around the farmer's market, I came back to our house and proceeded to turn the kitchen upside down. For no good reason at all, except that I was apparently desperate to make things.



One of those things being jam for our moms for Mother's day. (Hi Mom! If you're reading this I spoiled part of your pressie.) I love making jam. It's so simple and so charmingly old fashioned. I have a bunch of jars on the shelf in our service porch (read laundry room, extra pantry, seed storage, etc), but instead of eating those, I continue to make more. Ah well. When a woman needs to create, she needs to create.



This time, Strawberry-Rhubarb. I love rhubarb. One day I will have my own plant, but I think I'll wait until we buy a house (or our house?) because the plants are perennials and last for decades. Neat.

This recipe is crazy simple. I found it through the magic of google on the most random site: rhubarbinfo.com. If you're looking for rhubarb recipes, this is a good place to start, though can't vouch for any of them .

Here it is:

2 pounds strawberries (4 cups, mashed)
2 pounds rhubarb (8 cups, cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
6 cups sugar

Cover cut rhubarb with half of the sugar and let stand 1 to 2 hours. Crush berries and mix with remaining sugar and combine with rhubarb. Place mixture over low heat until sugar is dissolved, then boil rapidly, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Cook until thick.

I turned my batch on and off 3 times to tend to baby and definitely burned it a titch. I don't recommend this technique, but it's still pretty good. If you DON'T mess around with the timing and burning, I'm sure it's delicious.

UPDATE:

The jars are Weck, which are entirely superior in design to any other canning jars out there. You can buy them from a few different places, but the only one I can think of at the moment sans google search is Heath.

And, I did actually "can" the jam so it can be wrapped properly as a present. It's so super easy. Don't be afraid. Especially with something like jam that isn't known to grow botulism or anything fatal. It's the green beans you need to worry about. Or other things without enough salt, acid, or sugar to properly preserve whatever you've made.

Misa Jewelry

My friend Misa makes the most gorgeous jewelry. I posted about her a long long time ago, but she's come out with 2 new collections since then and they warrant a little sharing on the internets.

I NEEEEED this necklace. It's so perfect.



This one is pretty good too.



And here's a little sample of some of her other pieces.




She's also one of the absolute nicest people I've ever met. You know how there are those kinds of people? They're rare, I find. Most people have some mean-ness in them somewhere. But seriously, not Misa. She is amazing in that way. And in her jewelry making too.

She makes all of her pieces herself so you can feel great about supporting a independent artist when you wear her lovelies. I have a few from her Shima collection and I love them. But I might need to add that root choker very soon.

growing out back this minute

Sadly there's not much of a spring bounty this year. But there are some things coming in that I have absolutely nothing to do with, which I'm going to be happy with for now.



Berries



Grapes



Flax (sprouted from chicken feed)



Kumquats (would be so nice in a gin & tonic on the patio)

And the SAD SAD state of our vegetable garden...



Empty boxes. Plus a few herbs. I'm trying to work on that in the next few weeks.

9 weeks

Melt me, why don't you my little boy. Some mornings are still cold in our house and little man gets bundled up in his chair on the kitchen table while I make (decaf, gaaaaahhh) coffee.



And then Brock shoots mini videos with our Flip. Do you guys have a Flip?



We probably wouldn't have used it much before we had a baby, we're just not video people I guess. But now it's the best. I wasn't really into in the beginning, but watching Dashiell with hiccups when he was one week old is pretty cute. I can't imagine how fun it will be to watch these in a year... or a decade.

Highly recommend a Flip for expectant parents who don't have a big video camera. So handy and so easy to use.

reading essentials for new moms and moms to be

Now that we're 8 weeks into this whole parenting adventure, I have some things to share for those of you out there who are expecting. Prepare a bit, would be my advice. As in, read a book or at least a chapter on infant sleep. Just to understand it because it's really different than grown up sleep. Get a book on breastfeeding, just to have as a reference. I didn't have any problems in that department to start, but then the diet thing came up and it was great to have, well, a companion. And don't underestimate the power of the 5 S's.

Here are 3 books and one DVD that I highly recommend for those following shortly into the land of parenthood.



Your Best Birth.
I actually read this shortly after I found out I was pregnant. It was great. It definitely has an agenda, but I didn't find it overbearing at all and the authors aren't shy about admitting their biases. I felt like it told me everything I needed to know in terms of what to expect in a hospital birth. And what to be aware of if you prefer to avoid interventions. It also makes a very compelling case for homebirth and midwifery and the book definitely slants in favor of those options, but I was always planning to have a hospital birth and I still loved this book.

The Nursing Mother's Companion.
An excellent overall reference for all sorts of things that can come up with breastfeeding.

The Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep Tight.
I'm not going to necessarily recommend this book in particular because I've only read the parts about infant sleep so far, but I can't say enough how helpful it would be to at least understand infant sleep before the baby comes. So just get A book on sleep. You can always pick up more as your child gets older or if one method doesn't work for you. I wouldn't get all obsessive about it, but at least know some basics... like the length of their sleep cycles, how much they should be sleeping in the day and in general, and how their sleep differs from adults. For instance, babies have light sleep first (for the first 20 minutes) followed by deep sleep. This is the opposite of adults and is good to know because if you wait the full 20 minutes after they fall asleep before you physically put them down, you'll have a much better chance that they'll stay asleep.

and of course

The Happiest Baby on the Block.
This is a book, but I'd recommend the DVD. It's one of those things that you really want to see to believe. Our neighbors, Ruth and David, gave us this at about 3 weeks and when we watched it we just looked at each other with our jaws on the floor. The 5 S's, man. GOOD TO KNOW. If you can borrow the DVD, even better. You really only need to see it once. I've already sent ours off to the next expectant mom.

Other things to note that people don't emphasize enough:

Babies love water. When they're super upset, draw them a nice warm bath and you can pretty much guarantee that they'll calm down. We have the Spa Baby tub and it's awesome. (The key is to let baby be submerged in the water.) I can't wait to start mommy and me swimming with Dashiell.

Babies love to be naked! Why doesn't anyone stress this when talking about newborn care? Diaper free time is just about the best time of every day. Especially when it's sunny out and baby gets to sunbathe.

I'll probably look at this list in 2 more months and be like, what was I THINKING?? I feel like I'm in danger of coming across a bit sophomoric, but it's all I have right now so I'm just going with it.

new food love

One good thing has come out of eliminating cow's milk from my diet. I discovered the sublime deliciousness of Bellwether Farms sheep's milk yogurt. Vanilla. I've always WANTED to buy it because I like the farm's name and the little container is cute, but sheep's milk yogurt? I love sheep's milk cheese, but I was afraid the yogurt would taste like a barnyard.





It's pretty amazing. And do you see the actual little flecks of vanilla bean in there? It's rich and a little sour, almost like creme fraiche in a way, but then sweet and vanilla-y too. You must try.

chihuly installation at the Salk

My dad took a bunch of beautiful photos of the Dale Chihuly installation in place at the Salk Institute right now. The Salk is definitely one of the most noteworthy (and unbelievably beautiful) architectural properties in San Diego. It was designed in 1959 by Louis Kahn (midcentury!) and is constructed entirely of concrete, with wood details (I think teak if I remember correctly), marble, and water. My mom works there so she gets to walk into the expansive courtyard every morning on the way up to her lab. Nice workplace vibe, no?









I'm quite fond of Chihuly's seaforms, but this is all nice too. Especially that old boat. Mmm. Old + new always looks good together.

Thanks for the photos, dad! And hope you all have a pretty spring weekend.