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It was hot hot hot today.  Everyone’s talking about beating the heat.  Except me.  Sometimes when the AC is on I forget that I don’t want to heat up the entire house baking two stuffing muffins.  I thought my idea was pure genius.  I had cornbread crumbs leftover from some smashed muffins that I made a few days ago.  I was going to bake stuffing muffins as a side for pork chops so that they didn’t go to waste.  Brilliant, for November or December.  I devised plan B to avoid the oven.  I soaked the pork chops in a ‘brine’ of milk and kosher salt, a technique I learned from the Magnolia Kitchen cookbook.  Well, I didn’t actually ‘learn’ it, I just followed the recipe and then returned the book before I remembered to do any further investigation, sigh.  Dipped in egg and then coated in the cornbread crumbs that I seasoned with salt and pepper.  I pan fried them in a little olive oil.  I thought that they came out looking pretty tasty if nothing else but they tasted pretty good too.  

Growing up I remember my grandmother talking about, growing and picking kohlrabi but I do not remember eating it.  I don’t know what made me ask the lady to put it in my bag when all I needed were the spring onions and basil, I guess I was feeling dangerous.  I have a copy of Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  It’s been re-released for its 10th anniversary so the library copy is all new and sleek.  I’m going to have to invest in this one.  Not only are the recipes reliable and delicious but the information about obscure veg, like kohlrabi, is useful too.  I prepared the kohlrabi following the directions in the book.  Remove leaves, peel, cut the bulb part into matchsticks and steam for 5-7 minutes.  I shocked them to stop the cooking and then dressed them with a dollop of sour cream, a teaspoon of horseradish, a sprinkle of dill and salt and pepper… voila kohlrabi with horseradish, from page 384.  

Served with a salad the whole shebang took about 30 minutes to prepare (not including brining time).  To get the timing right, I started the kohlrabi, prepped the chops while it cooked, put the chops on to cook and finished the kohlrabi in the meantime and then tossed together a quick salad.  Done!

We went to the Maryland Science Center today.  I’m so wiped out with all the activity and the heat and class, I’ll have to fill in the gaps tomorrow.  Doesn’t it look like Chase is swimming in the ocean?  The fish look very 3-D.

I’m so happy it’s friday, so very happy.  It’s been a busy couple of days but in a good way.  I’ve been working on scheduling and figuring out a reciprocal childcare situation with a neighbor friend and as hard as it’s been for me to let go a little it really is a really fabulous idea.  If I don’t give credit where credit is due I know I’ll hear about it so let me just come out and say that it was NOT my idea and that truthfully I was incredible hesitant if not resistant.  Ben first suggested that I approach a couple of neighbors months ago but I couldn’t or didn’t want to do it.  Later, said neighbor friend suggested it and after some weeks we finally just jumped in and started figuring things out.  Most importantly Chase is having a blast.  

We picked up lunch today and while we were waiting for our order a big fire truck pulled up right outside the window.   Chase was pretty impressed by the truck itself but when the firefighters leaned out waving to her that really sealed the deal.  She was waving and pointing and was just generally beside herself with excitement.  Later, we went to Wal-Mart on an unrelated errand and came back with a new fire truck toy.  She really likes her new little tykes truck but of course I’ve spent part of the three hours that I’ve been sitting in this lecture to look at other amazing fire truck toys that are out there.  With a little more thought and planning I could have gotten her one of those from an independent toy store.  It’s hard to not go crazy with all of the info floating around in my head.. buy local, buy simple toys… etc. etc.  So I’m just going to chalk this spur of the moment purchase up to, I can only do what I can do and let it go.  It IS a fine looking fire truck after all.  

The real reason that I was al Wal-Mart was because I was looking for buttons.  In spite of the fact that their selection of fabric and notions is pitifully small they do still have a fabric and craft section and I think that they’re the closest store to us that carries any sewing notions at all.  That being said I bought a lot of cute buttons for use with my version of this cute halter dress that I found online yesterday.  Chase was not having any of it when I tried it on her today without the straps so hopefully she’ll let it stay on tomorrow once it’s tied.  I’m hoping that the cute flower button will be enough of an inducement to keep it on at least long enough to get a picture.  You can find the tutorial here, but there’s autoplaying music so turn your volume off if you don’t want anyone to hear.   It’s a great idea and very simple.  I modified it a little adding a scalloped edge at the bottom and some decorative stitching.  I’m really happy with how it turned out.  It’s always so hard to wait until Chase wakes up to try stuff on her.  It takes all my willpower not to go wake her right now.  

In spite of the pathetic response to the resumes that I’ve been sending out I persevere in my hunt for a job.  You would think that after so many resumes and inquiries and so few interviews that my spirits would be dampened but I find that with every ad for a job that I’m actually interested in and every corresponding cover letter that there is still a little flicker of optimism left and just a smidgen of positive visualization of myself in an interview for that position.  I’m really surprised at myself because if you asked me I’d tell you that Im a pessimist at heart.  By way of illustration, I’m concerned about the number of crime dramas that I’m watching because I find myself worrying a lot about the thousand terrible deaths I could die just like the people on tv, but I guess that goes to the power of suggestion and that’s another problem altogether.  In any event, while my secret optimism is interesting it’s not doing me one wit of good.  

Delving further into the inner-workings of my brain, I picked up on one of the above-referenced neuroses over the weekend.  Chase and I were invited to donuts and coffee at another family’s home in the neighborhood and lots of other parents and families were invited as well.  In passing, I mentioned to a friend that I was incapable of remembering names and faces because I’ve been studying for the bar and can’t spare the brain power.  Overhearing our discussion about the bar exam, another parent grimaced and commented that he wouldn’t want to go through it again.  So I engaged him in a little conversation that went something like oh, you took the bar exam, are you practicing?  To which he responded well I took the bar in 1998 and now I’m actually a CPA.  I followed up with, oh…  He lost me right then and there because I’m intimidated by age.  I could have asked him how he came to be a CPA or any number of questions just to carry on the polite chit chat but I was paralyzed by my age inferiority.  It sneaked right up on me, he didn’t look that old and I haven’t done the math on it but i graduated from high school the year he passed the bar so, you know.  I find it really hard to interact with other parents when I know that they’re, oh say, 10 years older than I am.  It keeps me from getting to know a lot of people and probably makes me look weird and socially stunted at get-togethers.  As if a stranger’s age is something that I have time to worry about, sheesh.  Ah, well add it to the list of things I need to get over/work on.  

A-ha!

Water, measuring spoons and a paint brush occupied Chase painting and measuring on the deck while I made dinner.  

Cleaning out the cupboards

We’re still out of AP flour.  I made the same old shortbread but subbed in 3/4 of a cup of oat flour and 1/2 a cup of cake flour to rave reviews.  Here’s how they looked packed up for my mid-class snack.

Cooking from the farmer’s market

I hate beets but my resolve to cook and eat fresh had me buy a bunch in spite of this.  I used a recipe from Deborah Madison’s book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone that I borrowed from the library.  This is the second time that I’ve borrowed it I think I’m going to invest.  Super simple… grate three pounds of beets on a box grater (they will dye your hands, I learned the hard way).  Melt on tbsp butter in a skillet, add beets and cook briefly, stirring.  Season with S and P, add 1/4 water cover and cook over medium heat for another 3-5 minutes.  Remove lid and cook out any remaining liquid (I didn’t have any)  Stir in a tbsp balsamic vinegar (you could also use red wine vin or lemon juice).  Taste for seasoning and stir in 2 tbsp chopped parsley.  This might be a little off the original but is pretty much how I made it.  I will definitely make them this way again if for no other reason than to change up the veg every now and again, even Chase ate it. 

This is that last installment.

Here is the third installment. I broke the first part down into two parts and will try to get them up later.

You never know what Chase will enjoy and what will just totally freak her out. She was suspicious of the moonbounce at first but by her third turn she was, as they say, tearing it up. When other babies waited out for the bigger kids to have a turn Chase refused declaring moonbounce! She didn’t actually declare it but she did get in and hold her own with the big kids though I will say that they were incredible kind to her. She wanted to get in that thing so many times that I had to buy more tickets with a check. Luckily the ticket booth guy was very sympathetic. I thought that all the activity would wear her out but she barely took more than an hour-long nap. I needed more of a nap for crying out loud.

I picked some swiss chard from the garden this afternoon for our dinner. Our little boxes don’t yield a bumper crop of anything but it’s fun and relaxing to work on and I find a lot of satisfaction in picking what we do grow. I Have a little more space to add a few plants now that the lettuce and radishes are done. We already have beans, cukes, tomatoes, peppers, zukes and carrots. Any ideas? I’m thinking maybe I’ll just put in some basil.