Author: Faith

No Atlantis too underwater or fictional!

We’re still playing catch-up today. E’s is over feeling feverish and puke-y and has moved on to be obstinate and whinny. But my shoulder is feeling better and my elbow doesn’t hurt any more and is instead developing a somewhat alarming-looking scab–so, good news! Now if I can just get caught up on laundry and my reports for work we’ll be good.

Anyway, I wanted to post this video even though you might have already seen it. I guess Oprah is having a contest where people submit videos and then she’ll pick a winner and give them a tv show. I think they should give it to this guy, Zach Anner.

Down and Out

Last night was somewhat eventful around here in a minor injury/illness way. E woke up from his nap feeling feverish and out of sorts. He didn’t want dinner but we offered him a banana which he took a few bites of and a little juice.

I was standing in the kitchen chatting with N while he did the dishes when I heard a suspicious-sounding cough from the family room where E was watching Wonder Pets. I peeked down the stairs just in time to see him lean against the couch and puke all over it. I ran down the stairs to help him but kind of forgot about that pesky bottom step and launched myself gracefully into the air where I landed flat on my face and on my left shoulder and elbow.

N ran downstairs too (notably more successfully than I did) and helped E while I rolled around on the floor groaning melodramatically for a minute. After I collected myself we gave E a bath and washed the couch’s cushion covers.

E went to bed okay but was up from about 3 to 4:30 in the morning. He was super thirsty and wanted something to drink but it didn’t stay down. So I gave up trying to keep him in his room and plopped him down in front of the tv so I could clean up the puke on his floor with him out of the way. Fortunately after everything was cleaned up he went right back to bed.

So that’s where we are this morning. My shoulder is pretty jacked up–I can’t really lift my arm above my head–and I’m sporting an awesome scraped elbow which hurts more than I remember them hurting when I was eleven.

E obviously can’t go to preschool this morning which means that I can’t go into the office like I was planning. So today we’ll be rocking it at home in our pajamas and I’ll try and get some work done when he naps *crosses fingers*.

Weekend Fun

On Saturday we decided on the spur of the moment to check out the Salt Lake Farmers Market. It was noon by the time we got there but we had just enough time to let E watch a clown tie balloon animals and grab some lunch. When it was his turn E got a balloon lion but when presented with said lion he promptly decided he was afraid of it and refused to hold it. I think he was afraid it was going to pop. We grabbed some really tasty kebabs for lunch, pushed E on the swings for a while and then headed home. It was really fun but next time I’d like to go a bit earlier in the day. It was brutally hot and delicate flower E broke out in heat rash.

That night N and I went to check out a new Korean restaurant in the Fort Union Area called It’s Tofu. While the name seems a little unfortunate it’s a nice Korean place, especially for the uninitiated. It’s decorated nicely and along with the normal menu they give you an album of with pictures of every dish in it. So if you haven’t had Korean before but want to try it it’s a good place to go.

My tofu soup with side dishes and rice

I’m a sucker for homemade tofu so I decided to try their Soon Dubu soup. It was pretty good but a little less spicy than I expected. We also got a kimchi jun (pancake appetizer) which was really tasty.

It’s kind of far from our house so I don’t know how often we’ll go back but of all the Korean restaurants around here it’s the place where I’d take friends unfamiliar with Korean food.

After dinner we headed to Wise Guys comedy club to catch the set of a family friend, Jenna Jones. Jenna was really funny and Keith Stubbs the headliner was good too. I would have enjoyed it more if we hadn’t been sitting by some frat-boy type who insisted on loudly bagging on the comedians in an attempt to impress his date. Bleh. Such are the risks at a comedy club I guess.

Overall, it was a great weekend.

Complete Comfort Food


Since last week my brother-in-law called me out on being biased toward Asian food (which I guess I am except when it comes to desserts) this week I reviewed a non-Asian cookbook, Complete Comfort Food. And luckily, it was GREAT.

This book is one of the best in this bargain cookbook series AND you can currently get it from Amazon in hardback for $5.20 which is totally worth it.

I made the Spaghetti Bolognese recipe and it turned out quite tasty. I normally prefer a thicker sauce like my mom’s but it was a nice change of paste (har-har).

Spaghetti Bolognese from Complete Comfort Food
(According to the book this recipe will bring back happy memories of flat-sharing and communal eating!)

Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 14oz can chopped Italian plum tomatoes
  • 3 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 Tablespoon sun-dried tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 3/4 cups beef or vegetable stock
  • 3 Tablespoons red wine
  • 1 lb dried spaghetti
  • salt and ground black pepper
  • freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a medium pan, add the onion and garlic and cook over a low heat, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes until softened. Stire in the mixed herbs and cayenne and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Add the ground beef and cook gently for about 4 minutes, stirring frequently and breaking up any lumps in the meat with a wooden spoon.
  2. Stir in the canned tomatoes, ketchup, sun-dried tomato pasted, Worcestershire sauce, oregano and plenty of black pepper. Pour in the stock and red wine and bring to the boil, stirring. Cover the pan, lower the heat and leave the sauce to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. Drain well and divide among warmed bowls. Taste the sauce and add a little salt if necessary, then spoon it on top of the pasta and sprinkle with a little grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.

The Verdict
4 1/2 (out of 5) stars. This book is a fantastic deal. For under $6 you get a wide collection of comforty-type dishes ranging from pot pie to soups to crepes. A few ethnic dishes like Chinese Fried Rice and Vegetable Korma are thrown in for good measure. It also includes a dessert section that with drool-inducing dishes like Sticky Toffee Pudding and Marble Chocolate Cheesecake. Each recipes includes a photo of the finished dish as well as several photos of the steps involved. Nutritional information isn’t included but for the price it’s not a big deal to me.

Letter: Month Thirty-Two

Dear E,

You’re growing so quickly. Every day you seem more like a little boy and less like a baby. You continue to love music but now express your own preferences. Lately you really like upbeat power-pop with strong bass lines or drums. Whenever I play Together, the latest CD by the New Pornographers, in the car you flip out and start wildly drumming your hands on the sides of your car seat and shaking your head from side to side.

You’ve started singing along with songs that you know. Actually, you’ll sing along with a song even if you don’t know it and it’s the first time you’re hearing it (I think you inherited that particular talent that from me). You also still love to dance and have started following along with the routines you see on Yo Gabba Gabba which is pretty cute to see.

You’ve really gotten into pretending lately. You’ll pretend you’re a dinosaur, a baker making a cake, a kitten, or a train conductor. It is so fun to see the world again fresh through your eyes and to have an excuse to be silly and pretend to be a monster and chase you around the house as you shriek gleefully.


Your cousins from Oregon came to visit this last month. You had a blast playing with them and at night when we say prayers you are sure to include “Eve, Nelanor, and Sammy.” I think it was during their visit that you picked up the habit of calling your father “Dad” instead of “Daddy.” It makes you seem suddenly so much older.

I know it’s a small thing and likely to change soon and that I shouldn’t really care but I’m secretly glad you still call me “Mama.”

Love,

Mama

Reupholstered Couch

I’ve always wanted to take an upholstery class but have never gotten around to it. But it seems like a very useful skill to have. When Susan of the excellent blog Freshly Picked told me about the couch her and her husband recently reupholstered I couldn’t wait to see the results.

The Before (photos by Susan)

The After

Isn’t it amazing? I’d love to do something like this but will probably stick with woodworking for now (one furniture-related hobby is probably enough). But some day…

For more details and to see a fun time lapse video of the whole project check out Susan’s blog.

4th of July Recap

We had a nice low-key 4th of July weekend. On Saturday we took E to In-and-Out for lunch and then stopped by a local splash park. E had fun running around but after a while the wind picked up and he started shivering like crazy so we left.

Around here most of the fireworks displays were scheduled for Saturday night and one of the bigger displays was just across the freeway from us so at 9:45 pm we woke E up, strapped him in his stroller, and walked down the block to a park where we had a great view. E was enthralled and kept excitedly shouting out the colors of the fireworks. At one point he cupped his hand around his ear and when we asked him what he was doing he informed us he was “listening for the boom.”

N had the day off yesterday so we took E up to the NPS store to browse around and then came home and took naps. In the evening E’s babysitter came over and N and I drove to Salt Lake and had dinner at The Copper Onion (which was very tasty) and watched Exit Through the Gift Shop (which was excellent).

And now back to the daily grind.

The Noodle Shop Cookbook

This week’s dish was one of my favorites so far. Granted, I love noodles so it’s not unexpected. The Noodle Shop Cookbook by Jackie Passmore covers a wide range of Asian noodles from countries like Thailand, Singapore, China, and Japan.

I hadn’t had udon in a while so I decided to make this simple recipe. It’s kind of like a cold soba dish where you dip each mouthful of noodles into a sauce before you eat them. There’s not much to it other than sauce and noodles so we had some crunchy radish kimchi along with it which turned it was a perfect light summer dinner. I’m definitely going to make it again.

Sama Age Udon from The Noodle Shop Cookbook by Jackie Passmore

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 pounds dried udon, or 1 3/4 pounds fresh udon
  • 1/4 cup minced whole scallion
  • 1 1/4 tablespoons wasabi paste or powder

Dipping Sauce:

  • 1 3/4 cups water
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant dashi stock granules or powder
  • 2/3 cup tamari or light soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil, add the noodles, and bring the water back to a boil. Add 1 cup of cold water, return to a boil, and add another cup of cold water. Return again to a boil, then cook until the noodles are tender, testing frequently after 2 1/2 minutes to ensure they are done just right; they should be just slightly chewy. Drain and divide among four large bowls. Place each of these on its own tray.

Best each bowl place a small dish containing some of the minced scallion and a knob of wasabi paste. (If using wasabi powder, mix to a paste with a little sake or water).

Combine the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat almost to boiling. Remove from heat.

Bring a large kettle of water to a boil. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of boiling water into each of the bowls of noodles (I didn’t see the point of this and just poured some of the hot water left over from boiling the noodles into the bowls). Pour the warm sauce into four other bowls, place on the serving trays and take immediately to the table.

To eat, sprinkle scallion onto the sauce (I added mine directly to the noodles instead), add wasabi paste to taste, and stir with chopsticks to dissolve. Life the noodles from the hot water, hold them over the bowl a few seconds to drain, dip into the sauce, and eat with the noisy, splattering slurp of a noddle professional.

The Verdict
4 (out of 5) stars. I get the impression that this book was pretty ground breaking for it’s time (first published in 1994). The recipes seem authentic and cover noodles from a sizable swath of Asian countries. The main flaws of the book are the total lack of photos (there are some line drawings to illustrate various techniques) and the directions that can seem long-winded or overly complicated.

Overall it’s a good book that covers almost every Asian noodle dish you could wish to eat. However, more recent cookbooks with photos and more explanatory material might be better suited to the novice noodle cook.

The Problem of Lunch

I never know what to eat for lunch. For the years when I was working full time I usually ate lunch out with my office friends. But now I struggle with at putting together something together for myself. I know I should make him a better variety of meals but E mostly eats sandwiches, chicken nuggets, or rice and meatballs and fruit.

This is probably my favorite lunch ever: rice, kimchi, SPAM, and kim (dried seaweed) but even it gets old after a while.

So instead I often skip lunch and then end up snacking throughout the afternoon. I’d like to get to a point where I’m making decent lunches that both E and myself will like but that means no dairy/no eggs and dealing with the whims of a two year-old.

How about you–have any ideas for decent quick lunches?