Archive for January, 2010
Our bookclub discussed The Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. Only one attendee enjoyed it. A couple of us were so-so, and then there was me. I really didn’t like the book one bit.
I found it not very focused and I can sum it up as Friday the 13th for people with half a brain. Really - that bad. I’m so sorry I wasted time reading this when there are just so many other books out there. It’s very rare I read a book that I just can’t stand. I do have a 50-page rule. If I’m not hooked by page 50 and see no hope of becoming hooked and can find no one to tell me a hook is coming, I abandon the book. This has only happened a handful of times. Had it not been for bookclub, The Mistress of the Art of Death would have been added to the list of abandoned books. As it was we met for two and a half hours and discussed the book for ten minutes of that time.
I usually try to theme the food for our bookclub around the book in some way even if it’s a bit of a stretch. This time, I wasn’t concerned. I just made whatever came to mind. I served a lemon poppy seed cake as well as these spiced nuts:
They were super easy, but they were a titch odd tasty but highly addictive. I roasted two types of nuts and some pumpkin seeds.
I mixed up some spices including sugar, garlic and cumin. Sounds odd, doesn’t it? I was very suspect. However, the recipe came from The New Best Recipe book put out by Cooks Illustrated. The second recipe for those following along!
I tossed the nuts into melted butter then put them through the spice mix
and voila! Bizarrely yummy.
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
January 12th, 2010
One of my favourite things about winter is the abundance of clementines! My children both eat them by the dozen each day. Every Friday I pick up at least one 5 pound box. Over the holidays I had a bit of extra room in my organic food box delivery, so I filled the space with clementines. I ended up with a counter full of them.
Bug loves that she can pick them up and eat them without any help. I actually think that’s what keeps this independent girl coming back for more!
Of course it also means she’s always just a little bit sticky….
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
January 11th, 2010
If you have a quick minute, check out this short movie by The Happiness Project.
One of the main reasons I homeschool is that I know I don’t have my children for long. I want to make the most of each day within the years they give me.
I don’t want to miss a precious second. This really served to remind me. The fact that I found it on New Year’s Day also helped to bring it home and start the year off right.
Enjoying every minute of the journey, Amanda
January 10th, 2010
On New Year’s Eve I posted about the blanket I’d been working on (neglectfully) all year long. Well, on Wednesday night - or early Thursday morning - I finished it! Yay!
I took a few minutes and went with Fuss up to the yarn store. They sat me down and got me started on the picot edge. I’d not done one before and I just needed that bit of a nudge. I was determined to finish as soon as possible and did so that very night once the kids were in bed and I was watching 21 - a really good movie, by the way.
I also began another project and picked up some yarn for some future, but not too future projects. Here’s what happened. Fuss and I spend the afternoon in the store, chatting to the two people working there. I’d known them for years so we were catching up. As I was leaving, I asked how the sale of the store was going. They sort of told me about it without being too specific.
I came home and checked my e-mail about 4 hours later. There was a note from the store telling customers they were closing and first thing the next morning would be the start of their farewell sale. Everything 40% off. Oh my!
First of all I was sad that my favourite yarn store as well as my go-to store for help (which I desperately need whilst knitting) was no longer. Then, I thought I should go and at least look at the sale. I knew it would be crazy busy, but I wanted to be a part of it.
My mother came with me since I was driving her to the airport anyway and she offered to sit in the car with the kids on the way. I knew I had about $20 to spend in the store. For those of you who do not knit - that isn’t a lot of money.
As I was getting out of the car, my mother handed me some money for the sale. Yay! I picked up some needles and some more yarn for a few projects. It was bliss to have some money to spend and actually bring substantial materials home due to the sale.
Still sad that I will be without my yarn store - however there is one at the bottom of my street I may just pop into tomorrow to establish as my new ‘haunt’.
Here is a photo of my completed blanket and the start of a wee sweater.
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
January 9th, 2010
One of the things I love about homeschooling is that if we are talking about something in particular, we can actually see/experience that particular thing (for the most part).
Take, for example, clouds. We we supposed to start a unit on clouds in the mid to late fall. How lovely that we can go outside at any time, stare up at the sky and study the clouds.
I continued to put this unit off again and again. However, the holidays were the time to catch up and get all the first term lessons caught up.
You may have asked yourself why I couldn’t do the cloud study as planned. Well, we had no clouds. Just grey skies for quite some time. Not overly condusive to cloud study. Unless you only want to study stratus clouds, which we didn’t.
So, I ended up doing what I always hated doing as a teacher. I had to print out photos of clouds, which I found on the internet, and we talked about them that way. I know Fuss could think back to having seen those clouds in the sky, but it really was not how I like to go about things now that I’m out of the classroom (and he’s never been in one to experience this type of teaching).
He still had fun making the three main cloud types out of coton balls:
He looks particularly jazzed about clouds here.
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
January 8th, 2010
Here is my first cooking post!
I love to make my own stock. I think it’s fresher, richer, more nutritious and just plain yummier than store bought stock. I always have Pacific’s organic chicken and beef stock on hand just in case I run out and don’t have a chicken/beef bones ready (or quite frankly the time) for stock making.
Making stock is really easy. The recipe I use is in Martha Stewart’s cooking school. And, yes, that’s right - it’s the first recipe! I told you I was pedantic.
I cover the chicken (which I get either from the organic butcher or whole foods in a pinch) with water. Bring it to a boil at which point I add veggies and aromatics.
I happen to think the look of an uncooked chicken is very unappetizing, but that’s just me. Here’s a photo of the beef stock in process:
I use the same recipe, I just happened to take the photo before adding the veggies, etc.
Once it’s boiled for a while (that would be a long while in my house), I strain the liquid through a very fine mesh sieve (don’t press on the solids!) and then refrigerate it.
I then pop it all into the refrigerator (I have an extra one in the basement for times such as this). Once it has sat overnight, it’s easy peasy to take the fat from the top, put the clear liquid into mason jars and have stock on hand for ages! I do use a lot of stock though, so I make a new batch at least once a month. I have a super large chest freezer where I keep it all (plus so much other stuff - I really should go through it!).
And that’s another reason I always have a carton or two of Pacific’s broth on hand…..I sometimes forget to take the stock out of the deep freeze!
Thanks for reading my first food post. I plan to add more photos - I realised while writing this that I hadn’t taken enough photos of the process. I’ll learn!
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
January 6th, 2010
They are way too yummy. I made them to take to a dinner party as a little hostess gift. I couldn’t help but sample a few. I was thrilled that they were leaving my house as I could have easily downed all two cups of them in one not-very-long sitting.
This is the first recipe (of course) in the book The New Best Recipe put out by Cooks Illustrated. which I received at Christmas (of course - one of the 10).
Enjoying the journey, Amanda
January 3rd, 2010
My mother gave Fuss some sort of LeapFrog toy called a Diji for Christmas. He calls it his ‘gameboy’. It’s opened up a entire new vocabulary for him - it’s all about killing the little monsters that come up on the screen. Worst than that, the first night after I set it up for him (Boxing Day) my husband sat down for dinner and said to me in all seriousness, “I want my son back”.
This is what I see of Fuss:
Any ideas?
I can’t allow him free access to it during the week or we’ll never get anything done. My thought at the moment is that once Monday rolls around and we are back to our normal routine (yeah, I’m not exactly sure what that is either), I plan to limit the ‘gameboy’. I’d like to say not at all during the week and half an hour each weekend day. He can choose the half hour.
He just gets so sucked into it when he’s playing. He will turn it off and find an expansion activity, but after a while he’ll go back to it. I will admit it’s not as bad as I had thought one of these would be for him, but it’s upsetting me enough.
Not sure how limiting it will go - I’ll keep you posted!
Enjoying the journey despite this media intrusion, Amanda
January 2nd, 2010
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