new year’s resolutions 2012

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 | Uncategorized | No Comments

My new years resolution once again involves better discipline.

How did I do in 2011? Let’s see…

Get to bed at a reasonable hour (between 11 and 11:30). Lights out between 12 and 12:30. – Getting MUCH better at this one. Baby wakes up at 7am! I still need to work on it juuuust a little more.

Eat breakfast. – As I’m still breastfeeding, this is an easy resolution to keep. I’m hungry in the morning.

Be a good mommy – I have no idea how I’m doing on that front.

Get to the gym, or yoga, or walk or get exercise 3 days a week – Since April I mostly managed about twice a week so I think we’re doing well. Just added Spud to the gym membership last week so she can go to the daycare while I use the gym though we have not started that yet.

Take your art self seriously and make art a priority – Failed on this front. Need to do better.

Get something published – Again, failed. No, my greeting cards don’t count.

Finish that goddam book already – Succeeded at this one. Hooray!!

So here’s the list for 2012:
Be a good mommy
Take your art self seriously and make art a priority
Get something published
Buy a new house (maybe?)
Get rid of a lot of clutter in the house
Sell stuff
Get off the computer and be more analog, especially just before bedtime!

greengage jam

Saturday, December 10th, 2011 | lists | No Comments

After 10 years of carrying around my very last jar of Sainsbury’s Greengage jam because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it again EVER, I opened it for breakfast today. It is still quite good, though no longer very green. Odd. Usually when a food turns, it TURNS green. Anyway, the internet has progressed a bit in the last 10 years to the point where it has become possible to find things you thought were impossible to find… even if I can’t order my Sainsbury’s Jam, I can still find other (and to be sure, more expensive) manufacturers versions.

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/groceries/index.jsp?bmUID=1323541851097

http://www.hediard.com/sweet/jams.html

http://www.thefrenchybee.com/hediard-fine-french-preserves-greengage-plum-jam-132oz-p-60.html?Oscsid=10733c919d2e04736928a4b23b98cc0f

http://andysorchard.com/cart/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=92

http://shop.chezpim.com/collections/jam

Bonne Maman makes it but not for the U.S.

And another brand’s “Patrimoine gourmand confiture extra de reine-claude de Moissac” also not available here.

matzoh brie

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 | family, recipes | No Comments

Gramma’s Matzoh Brei (the original recipe)
Mon, 7 Jul 1997
“Hi there! Ok, here is the recipe I got from Gramma last Thanksgiving. Sorry not all the amounts are specific. This is pretty much exactly what she told me about the dish. Use your imagination! More to follow soon I hope.” –Lau

Ingredients

3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
sprinkle of salt
6 matzoh boards
2 tbsp. margerine
2 apples
cinnamon sugar (mix it together)

Procedure

1. Whisk the eggs and milk together, and put over a low flame until WARM, not cooked!
2. Break the matzoh boards into pieces and let them soak in the egg mixture
3. In a separate teflon frying pan, melt the margerine, and remove it from the heat.
4. Peel and quarter the apples to make slices.
5. Spread an even layer of cinnamon sugar over the bottom of the frying pan, and lay the apple slices on top, in a nice pattern.
6. Warm the pan again on the stove, and pour the matzoh/egg mixture over it evenly.
7. Fry for several minutes over medium heat, until you think the apple mixture is brown (it is easy to check if you’re unsure).
8. Then, place a plate over the top of the pan, and flip the whole thing so that the apple layer is now on top. Slide it back into the pan to cook on the other side, for just a few minutes.
9. Serve immediately, while still in the pan.

My Matzoh Brei (Updated Recipe)
Because every good recipe deserves to be made better. Also, I use the Calphalon Unison Slide Nonstick Frittata Pan Set from Williams Sonoma to make the cooking juicier and the flipping easier.

Ingredients

2 apples
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried figs
1 TBSP lemon juice
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
6 matzoh boards
1 TBSP butter
2 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of cardamom
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP white sugar
honey

Procedure

1. Fill a bowl of cold water, add the lemon juice. Slice the apples into 1/4″ thick slivers and put them in the water so they don’t turn brown.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs into the milk with a fork, add vanilla.
3. Break the matzoh into pieces around 2″ square (or something like that) into the milk mixture. Stir to coat and let soak a few minutes.
4. Melt the butter in the bottom of the frittata pan on medium low.
5. Sprinkle in about 2/3 of the brown sugar, the white sugar, the cinnamon and cardamom.
6. Cover the sugar mixture on the bottom of the pan with the apple slices (you may not need all the slices), then add the raisins, figs, and the remaining brown sugar.
7. Pour the milk/egg/matzoh mix on top of this and press it down with a spatula (or your hands).
8. Cover (THIS is thee part that keeps the moisture in – grandma’s recipe cooks uncovered) and turn the stove up to medium high.
9. Cook until it’s time to flip. I don’t remember how long. Guessing about 15 minutes. The pan started smoking – that was my cue.
10. Flip and cook another 5 – 10 minutes.
11. Shake out of the pan and serve topped with honey.

I’ve also made this with pears instead of apples, leftover seder charoseth, and other dried fruits like dates. Usually I make it with maple syrup rather than honey. And I’ve changed up the spices using a pumpkin pie combo. The spices and the fruits are very flexible and forgiving in quantities that make it easy to experiment. It really depends on your mood.

“spud’s” birth story

Sunday, April 17th, 2011 | family, Spud | 2 Comments

I was probably in labor a lot sooner than I realized but everyone kept saying “oh you’ll KNOW.” Well guess what, I didn’t. The contractions did start changing on Friday night, 4/8 though. They got to 10 minutes apart but they were not very strong Braxton Hicks and then eased off overnight then all but disappeared. Saturday, Bill convinced me to go on a long walk. After that, I took a nap. That night the contractions came back stronger but an hour apart. I probably had about 3 strong-ish contractions over the course of 3 hours but at midnight, the third strong-ish contraction, only 9 minutes after the last broke my water with an audible “pop” which also felt like a golf ball sized water balloon breaking above my cervix.

Only a little water came out, feeling a lot more like a generic discharge but I rushed to the bathroom just in case. I told Bill to call Marilyn, our doula, (with whom we’d been texting updates the last two days). He was reluctant so I said to text her instead and I went up 2 flights of stairs to change to a maxi pad. At the top of the stairs more water discharged so I yelled to Bill that yes my water had indeed broken. I changed pads, had another contraction 18 minutes after the last one, which discharged more water (I never did get a gush, just a discharge with each contraction that was clear and odorless). Then I got down on all fours, hoping to keep as much water in as I could.

We have no idea but think Rachel may have broken the water with her long sharp toenails which would have been a higher-up non-gushy break. In any case, I was cursing because I knew she was going to lose her cushioned ability to turn.

Marilyn wanted to know if she should come to the house or the hospital. The next contraction came 3 minutes later, followed by 5, 6 and 4 minutes. We agreed to meet at the hospital and left the house at 12:30. Got to the hospital by 1.

We called Cindy, the hospital’s “birth navigator” ahead as planned. She called ahead for us and was assigned to natural-birth support Nurse Ann who is a retired navy midwife. Great! But then came the bad news. I already knew I’d have to go on antibiotics when I got to the hospital because I tested positive for Group-B Strep. What I was not prepared for was that my blood pressure was high and there was protein in my urine. The one and only time I presented with preeclampsia. Gugh. My doctor has since told me this is not unusual with first births and a mother my age. Of course this is why they’d been sending me for non-stress tests for the last several weeks. I wish I could have passed the final!

Immediately I had to be on constant monitoring, though we used the telemetry monitors. I was not totally stuck to the bed at first. It took a little while to get the paperwork done and the IV set up. I was able to labor on the ball and on the toilet for a little while. It was incredibly hard to find a comfortable position except for on the toilet. The bed was too high to help much. I tried hugging the birth ball while kneeling on it. Bill and Marilyn helped me get into the zone with the hypnobirthing techniques and with counterpressure on my lower back (and then later on my knees). But that was pretty much the extent of my being able to shift around. I think that lasted an hour before I got hooked to the IV.

At first Nurse Ann put the heploc on my left wrist which was really uncomfortable and I asked her to switch it to my fore-arm. Amazingly, she found a vein there and hit it very cleanly on the first try. This is good because the damn thing stayed in for 2 more days afterward. I never got off the IV hose after that because as soon as the antibiotics finished, I was put on magnesium and fluid to try and get my blood pressure down. I was not aware of that until a while later when I realized the IV was still in. The contractions stayed about 3 minutes apart for the next 4 hours but also stayed very strong.

At this point, I think they were having a hard time getting the baby’s heart beat to show up on the monitor. This, very unfortunately for me, caused Nurse Ann to have to constantly keep shifting the monitor. She was, at this point, basically holding them on me and pushing them all over my abdomen. Every push started a new contraction. I was now vocalizing to breathe through them as it is extremely hard to focus on relaxing your extraneous muscles while being constantly pushed in the belly. The couple of times she was able to ease off and let me get my management under control between contractions, all the hypno and relaxation practice worked and the contraction felt A LOT less intense. Also at these times, I shoved off everyone who was touching me and didn’t need any counter pressure. It’s really too bad I didn’t have more opportunities to work through them like that. I think had I initially presented with fewer complications, we really would have been able to achieve a peaceful birth. The next thing they did was strap an oxygen mask to my face. Rachel was not handling the contractions as well as I was.

I think the doctor was in the room at that point. I was on my hands and knees on the bed with my butt in the air. I said to her something like “Hi Doc! I’ve got my best face forward for you!”

I really wish I could have managed to get into a squat at this point because it may have helped Rachel but it was nigh impossible. We didn’t get the squat bar and they were not letting me off the bed (this was part of the reason I wanted to do hypno because I was afraid I’d have a panic attack being stuck to the bed. I am pleased to report I managed that too). At this point, the doctor tried to pump fluids back into me to help cushion the baby from the contractions. I am not sure but I don’t think it worked. The doctor did actually sit and watch the monitor screen for almost a full hour while the nurse still shoved at me very apologetically with the monitors and had me shift positions in the middle of contractions from the left to the right side. I was very unhappy laying down for this.

Note for hypnobirthers, if you do nothing else, practice a relaxation word. It totally works. Bill and the Marilyn must have repeated that mantra a million times that night. Bill was also improving rainbow colors at this point but I didn’t notice, his voice was helpful as he’d read the scripts to me enough times. He was really fantastic. Bill and Marilyn also did a great job of trying to keep me focused, continuing to push my knees and my back.

My legs had started feeling shakey hours ago but I didn’t realize this was going to be an issue. By almost 6am, I had dilated to 7cm and Rachel’s head was at 0 when I believe I hit transition and started shaking uncontrollably all over. Marilyn said it was from the hormone shift. I have also read that it happens more frequently with women who are hooked to an IV. In any case, this was something I was utterly unprepared for since I didn’t know it could happen. I think at this point Bill tells me I said something resembling “I can see why people want the epi now,” (I thought I’d asked for one).

I also started saying I had to poop and they kept saying it wasn’t poop. I still think I was right because it didn’t feel the right time to push. But everyone in the room, including me could hear Rachel’s heartbeat on the monitor. It had stopped recovering from the contractions about 45 minutes prior and I heard the doctor say “I’m not sure how much longer I can sit and watch this.” Rachel’s heartbeat slowed to 60bpm and didn’t come back. At this point, the doctor leaned over the bed and said to me, “I’m sorry, baby’s in distress and needs to come out.”

So off we went to the OR which seemed only 3 feet away. We had a fantastic anesthesiologist (“Hey Doc, every anesthesiologist I know has a sense of humor – do you?” How the heck was I still being a wise ass? He said “Yep – comes with the territory”), who had a spinal block and epi in me within minutes. Bill was kept out of the room for a few minutes during prep and the initial incision. He is a bit annoyed about that because he would have been fine and indeed knows me a bit better both inside and out (I think he got a good look at my intestines). He tried to watch them take the baby out but it happened so quickly that we just heard a little yelp from behind his back and she was out and on the table behind him. Again, the breathing and calming techniques worked well for me because I could feel the pressure of everything they were doing to me – that is to say I felt like they were taking out every one of my internal organs, vacuuming them up and putting them back inside – making sausage of my insides and then stitching and stapling me back together. Indeed, Rachel had pooped meconium in me as a sign of her distress but she came out healthy and alert, eyes wide open to the world at 6:10am weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces. We found out later her APGAR scores were 8/9. I was then given Pitocin to help contract my uterus and avoid hemorrhaging.

All in all, she had a narcotics-free birth (I was only under the epidural for MAYBE 5 minutes when she came out. The doctor cut as soon as my abdomen went numb. Apart from the Magnesium, I had no drugs in me.

*****
The next 24 hours were a bit hazy. We stayed in the L&D wing while I and the baby recovered. She got to stay in the room with us though they took her away at some point to do some tests. Bill tried to sleep on the fold out chair. I did manage to feed her a little. But the next morning a staff neo-natologist (whose cousin is a steel sculptor we happen to know – small world) came in and told us Rachel’s white blood count was elevated but they couldn’t figure out why. Even though she was not showing signs of being ill, he didn’t want to take any chances. He said i was probably nothing but sometimes you miss something because the baby doesn’t seem sick. So they took her to the NICU for 48 hours of IV antibiotics and observation. Poor thing got stuck with needles more times than I did.

That’s all I can manage time-wise today. Will post more later.

chilled peach soup

Saturday, April 9th, 2011 | recipes, soup project | No Comments

<-- For the soup project.

Reston, VA. Saturday, May 22, 2010.
Today started out sunny and cool – in the 60′s. We went to the farmer’s market. Strawberries are just now in season as well as rhubarb, zucchini, spinach and other greens. We bought a small herb garden and spent the afternoon gardening. We rearranged the flowers in the perennial garden, added the digitalis, and planted the sun and part shade annuals in the lower bed for the first time since we had the large old tree removed. With our garden finally getting sun, we are trying herbs and peppers in the former impatiens garden. We’ll see how this goes. We finished planting just in time for it to start raining. On the way to the return the tools to the storage facility, I suddenly wanted to make peach soup. I have no idea why since peaches are not in season yet (July – August). Perhaps I just want to get a jump on summer since we were in Mexico only two weeks ago. I found the recipe linked below and made some alterations.

Chilled Peach Soup
From cookinmomma posted years ago on http://www.grouprecipes.com
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange juice
1 (16oz) bag frozen peach slices, thawed
1 cup pineapple-coconut juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Greek yogurt
1/2 cup rice dream
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger

Procedure:

1. Thaw the frozen peaches.
2. Put peaches and the rest of the ingredients in the Cuisinart (or blender).
3. Blend well until pureed.
4. Chill this in the fridge for a few hours.

wheat-free banana bread

Saturday, April 9th, 2011 | recipes | No Comments

Wed, 23 Feb 2000
“The banana bread is pretty straightforeward. Barley flour gives it a hint of a nutty flavor. It has a better consistency than wheat flour because there’s less gluton. It got RAVE reviews at work today. –Michelle

Ingredients

1/4 Lb butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp water
1 egg
2-4 ripe mashed bananas
2 cups barley flour
1 tsp baking soda

Procedure

1. Cream together butter and honey.
2. Beat in vanilla, water and egg.
3. Add crushed bananas.
4. Add barley flour and baking soda, mix with fork.
5. Grease 9×5 inch brownie pan bake in 350° oven for approx 40 minutes turn halfway through.

low fat lasagne

Friday, April 1st, 2011 | recipes | No Comments

Serves 6

Sat, 27 Dec 1997
Lissy: This is the way I made the lasagna Wed. nite. You wouldn’t believe it but Muffin’s oil heaters broke thursday nite and smoke went all over the basement while dad was trying to stay “calm” and recover. All’s well now tho. Talk to you soon. C.

Ingredients

1 Box “no cook” lasagna noodles
2 “16 oz” cartons no fat or lite ricotta cheese
1 package no fat or lite shredded mozzarella cheese
1 bag or 1 bunch fresh spinach (washed, spun very dry, chopped in cuisinart) should amount to about 2 cups. You can substitute 2 small packages of frozen chopped spinach but they must be thawed, drained and dried on a paper towel.
4 cups tomato sauce. I use 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can pasta ready tomatos, 1 small can plain tomato sauce all mixed together.
1/2 chopped onion
4 cloves chopped garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons basil or 1 teaspoon oregano
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Sprinkle of Shredded Asiago cheese (or very sharp parmesan)

Procedure

1. In small bowl, microwave onion and garlic in olive oil for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes till clear. In large bowl, thoroughly combine ricotta cheese, chopped spinach, onion, garlic, basil or oregano.
2. Spray bottom of a 13 x 9 glass baking dish with Pam. Then spread 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce all over the bottom. Place one row of noodles over the sauce. Spread noodles evenly with 1/2 ricotta/spinach mixture . Drizzle about 1/3 of the tomato sauce over the ricotta. Sprinkle some mozzarella shreds on top.
3. Place second row of noodles crosswise over all and repeat ricotta, sauce, mozzarella sequence. ( You may add other “flat” vegetable such as thin eggplant slices or mushroom slices to this layer if desired ). Place third row of noodles crosswise over all. Use remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella shreds . Sprinkle with shredded Asiago.
4. Bake at medium temp, 375 degrees about 30-40 minutes or until cheese on top bubbles. Cut into squares and serve. Individual squares can be frozen and re-microwaved.

spinach and gruyere puff

Friday, April 1st, 2011 | recipes | No Comments

(Williams Sonoma)
serves 8

Sun, 9 Jan 2000
“Ok we all know I’m on a limited diet right now. This is producing some interesting experiments for me. In any case, I found this wonderful recipe in the latest Williams Sonoma catalogue and tried it tonight. It came out brilliantly and very yummy. Not to mention full of happy spinach (iron- as i can’t really eat meat) and very low on the calories. The only fat is in the cheese (and also calcium and protein). I did make some minor adjustments to the recipe as I can eat egg whites (more protein), but not the yolks. I used ’99% egg white’ substitute (the 1% yolk won’t kill me). Well, this recipe produced the puff that ate Cleveland, next time I think I’ll try cutting the recipe in half. ” –Michelle

Ingredients

1 Tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
12 oz. baby spinach leaved, washed and dried (2 bags prepackaged – you can also use frozen spinach)
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
2 1/4 cups whole milk (or lactaid)
3/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
4 oz Gruyere cheese, rind removed, diced
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten (or a little more than 1/4 cup egg substitute)
6 egg whites (i used 5 because i ran out – worked fine)
(I also threw in 1/2 a chopped onion)

Procedure

1. In a large saute pan over medium heat, warm olive oil, add garlic (and onion) sautee. add spinach & sautee until wilted. season with salt and pepper.
2. Preheat oven to 450F
3. Lightly oil a 10′ braiser (i used what i had, which is something like a brasier- i suppose a casserole dish will also work fine.)
4. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, warm milk.
5. Add cornmeal; cook whisking constantly until thick and stiff (about 8-10 minutes though the recipe says it should take 16-20).
6. Stir in cheese and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cool 5 minutes.
7. Fold yolks (or egg substitute) into cornmeal mixture, then fold in spinach.
8. In a large bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir 1/2 whites into mixture, fold in remaining whites and transfer to braiser.
9. Bake 10 minutes, reduce heat to 375 and bake until top is golden and puff is more than double in height 20-25 minutes (my gas oven took 35 -40 minutes for some reason).

butternut squash soup

Friday, April 1st, 2011 | recipes | No Comments

(from Enoteca Restaurant in Douglaston, Queens)

Ingredients

Two butternut squash – peeled seeded and cubed
Two red onions peeled and julienned
Four Tbs. Olive Oil
Four ounces proscuitto- sliced paper tin and then chopped
1 _ quarts chicken broth or stock
1 Tbs. Fresh sage – chopped
3 Tbs. Maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish of roasted pecans

Procedure

1. Coat the bottom of a soup pot with the olive oil, then place on a medium/low heat.
2. Add the onions and slowly cook them for about twenty-five minutes. No color should then be left to the onions.
3. Add the squash, prosciutto, sage and chicken broth or stock, and simmer slowly until the squash is tender.
4. Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor and process, slowly adding the syrup, salt and pepper.
5. When ready to serve, roast the pecans in a 375-degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Garnish.

gramma’s balic fish

Friday, April 1st, 2011 | recipes | No Comments

January 4, 1998
Lau- Gramma mailed me this recipe for the Balic Fish. That’s the Gefilte Fish made out of chicken. I copied it here directly. –Michelle

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts (totally defatted)
1 large onion &anp; 1 medum size onion
two slices challah or white bread– crusts cut off
1 tsp salt for the water / 1 tsp salt for the chicken
1 dash white pepper for water / 1 dash white pepper for chicken
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 egg
1 carrot
9 buy a jar of horseradish

Procedure

1. In a large pot, put 2 – 2 1/2 inches of water,the gelatin, slice in the large onion, 1 teaspoon salt, dash of white pepper. Bring to a simmer (slow boil).
2. Grind together: the chicken, the medium onion, the bread. Add: the beaten egg, 1 teaspoon salt, dash white pepper.
3. Use a pastry blender to beat the chicken mixture until light and fluffy and completely mixed (you may have to add a little water)./li>
4. Gently shape mixture into ovals and lay into water. If you must put in a second layer of ovals, first put some of the boiling sauce gently over the first layer.
5. Put the carrot on top. Remove from heat. When lukewarm, gently remove the ovals with a slotted spoon and arrange on platter. Put a slice of carrot on each oval.
6. Put cooled sauce, which has been reduced during cooking, through a strainer into a glass bowl and refrigerate.
7. Serve with horseradish next day.