A Life Sustained

This Moment | Kitty Love

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:26:00 +0000

Playing along with SouleMama today. In her words: {this moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Has this really only been a year ago?

CSA | Asparagus Guacamole

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Week two of our CSA brought us a head each of red and green lettuce, a bag of spinach, two bunches of asparagus, green garlic, and radishes. Another impressive week's worth of veggies!

The first bunch of asparagus went into creamed asparagus and shrimp over toast.

This was surprisingly the fastest meal all week; only 15 minutes from start to finish. The actual name of this dish is "Bay State Wiggle", a name that I find not at all appetizing (recipe in Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant).

We made it through the head of red lettuce and the radishes by having huge dinner salads every night.

We haven't touched the second head yet and we're getting another this coming Saturday. I think we may have to resort to trying lettuce soup. Steve has expressed skepticism.

The spinach makes a regular appearance in our daily smoothies.

This is one of the best ways that I've found to get some extra greens into all of our diets. No one notices a little bit of spinach with all that fruit in there.

Some of the garlic and the other bunch of asparagus went into guacamole.

A friend passed the idea for this recipe along to me. It essentially just substitutes pureed asparagus for the avocado in your favorite guacamole recipe. It's really tasty and a great way to eat a local version if you don't live where avocados grow. I reserved some of the pureed asparagus mixture for Silas before adding in the jalapeno and onion. He ate a whole bowlful.

Asparagus Guacamole

Inspired by From Asparagus to Zucchini

1 bunch asparagus (3/4 - 1 lb.) trimmed, roughly chopped

2 green onions, minced

1 green garlic, minced

handful cilantro leaves

1/4 C. sour cream (or yogurt)

juice of 1 lime

1/2 an onion, chopped

1/2 a tomato, chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

1 tsp. cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1. Blanch asparagus in boiling water briefly (1-2 min.). Drain and run under cold water.

2. To a blender or food processor add: the asparagus, green onion, green garlic, cilantro, sour cream, and lime juice. Blend until well mixed and creamy (if you have a good blender--mine is not, so it didn't get all that creamy).

3. Transfer mixture to a bowl and fold in the rest of the ingredients.

4. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

5. Enjoy!

Yarn Along

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Knitting: I'll be honest. As of last night, I had still only just cast on. But, Steve had to head back into work after dinner, so I used the time to get a couple of inches done on the Amerie. I like it! It's a very simple two row pattern. Although, simple as it is, I think I'll still reserve this for when the little guy is sleeping. I have a really hard time multi-tasking with knitting and I inevitably make mistakes. Hopefully, there is more sleeping time in our future than there has been in our recent past. I don't know if it's teething or what, but Silas has been restless the last few nights, up every 10 minutes or so. Teething medicine doesn't work, he doesn't want to nurse, he doesn't want to rock, he kinda wants to be held, but not really. We are some tired parents this week.

Reading: While putting some other books away I came across my copy of Guarding the Moon by Francesca Lia Block. I started reading it before I was pregnant, but it really didn't resonate with me, but now that we have over a year of babydom behind us I find myself nodding at a lot of what she has to say. The fear, the anxiety, the all-consuming love. I was first introduced to Block when a friend gave me the Weetzie Bat books as a going-away present when I moved to Los Angeles. She said that reading them made her think that LA was a magical place. I fell in love with Block's writing style immediately. She's sort-of a modern beat poet.

Joining Ginny at Small Things.

Family Silhouettes

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:04:00 +0000

This was my project last weekend. I've been wanting to make family silhouettes for awhile now and seeing some super cool silhouettes in the latest Paper Source catalog gave me the nudge that I needed to finally get them done. I'm so happy with how they turned out! I especially love Steve's; it looks just like him! This was a really quick and easy project. I just took profile photographs of all of us and printed them out on regular computer paper. I put a plain sheet of paper on top of the print-out, held them both up to a window and traced the outline of the image. These I cut out and used as a template to trace and cut out the profile in the black paper. Then I mounted them on the gray ovals, made little name plates, cut a sheet of scrapbook paper to fit in the frame and there ya go. My initial vision had each of us in our own frame, but that would have turned this into a $30 project instead of a $10 one.

I've had mixed feelings about silhouettes over the years. My mom loves them and so there were always beautiful vintage examples on our walls when I was growing up and I remember loving to look at them. My negative experience came in kindergarten when our teacher made silhouettes of us all. I remember having to sit very still in front of a light while she traced the image. On the day that she had them all cut out, she held each one up and had us guess who they were. No one could guess mine so she, in a moment of questionable judgment, asked the class if they thought it was a boy or a girl. Everyone called out "boy!" I was mortified. But, I think silhouettes may have come full circle for me. I'm back to loving them.

Weekending

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:36:00 +0000

This weekend was...

Our first garage sales of the season, which yielded only a few

tidbits (some fabric and a book),

early rising to go to the Farmer's Market,

a mini-picnic in the park of chorizo and eggs and breakfast burritos,

watching Silas open up like a flower when he gets a chance to explore and interact with people,

scones and blueberry iced tea for tea time, sitting out in the breeze and listening to the leaves rustle,

pans full of water and the hour of play they bring,

a breakfast out with grandpa,

the resulting late, but long, nap,

dinner of leftovers,

a quiet evening,

and staying up way too late with Steve after the little guy went to bed.

Joining Amanda at The Habit of Being.

Weekend Review: The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

At first, you'll steadfastly believe they're paintings. I did. As I initially flipped through Molly Peacock's The Paper Garden: An Artist Begins Her Life's Work at 72 and lingered over the images of Mary Delany's "paper mosaicks" -- flowers painstakingly recreated with layer upon layer of colored paper -- I was convinced that they had to be paintings. The coloring too perfect, the shading too subtle to be paper. With her poet's skill, Peacock unravels the strands of Mary Delany's eighteenth century life to reveal how the twists and turns in the course of an extraordinary woman's life brought her to the invention of the art of mixed media collage.

The British Museum

In short, as a child Mary Granville Pendarves Delany(1700-1788) was groomed for an appointment in the court, a lady-in-waiting, perhaps, but religious and political upheaval removed that option and she was instead married off at 17 to a slobbering drunk. When he died less than a decade into their marriage, Delany enjoyed something that most women of her time never tasted: independence. Always one for undertaking a creative venture, she designed clothing for court, embroidered, built intricate grottos out of shells, and otherwise enjoyed a sociable life. She had several suitors, but was reluctant to give up her hard-earned freedom. When she did, it was for a deep, mature love and companionship.

At the age of 72, a widow for the second time, she pasted her first paper petal and began a journey of creation that would result in almost 1,000 individual collages that are so intricate and detailed that botanists still reference them. Peacock selected 35 of these treasures to feature in the book, analyzing them with a careful eye and using them as signposts in the tale of Delany's years.

Delany is not an unknown of history. There are several biographies and books already published about her. So what makes this treatment different? This book is just as much about Molly Peacock, the author, as it is about Delany. These two lives mirror one another and Peacock's admiration is evident in the loving way she writes about her muse. Both are artists who married twice -- only finding true love the second time around. Both have complicated relationships with their past. Both have benefited from intense and close friendships. The most valuable thing that Peacock brings to this story, though, is the way that she interprets Delany's work and situates her in a place in which the domestic and the public intersect.

In these flowers, Peacock sees many things. She sees a sexuality that will be later echoed by Georgia O'Keefe. She sees a woman navigating the public sphere of men. She sees domestic arts elevated beyond simple utility. She sees inspiration, no matter what your age. Taking up every possible research angle, Peacock has given to us Delany's story; full and contemporary.

Bloomsbury is generously offering to one A Life Sustained reader a copy of the book. To be entered in the random drawing to win, just leave a comment on this post. Comments will be closed in the evening of May 26 and a winner announced in this post shortly thereafter.

Read more reviews and find additional chances to win a copy at the other stops on the tour:

Monday, April 30th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Wednesday, May 2nd: Bookfoolery and Babble

Monday, May 7th: BookNAround

Wednesday, May 9th: The Whimsical Cottage

Monday, May 14th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Wednesday, May 16th: Book Club Classics!

Saturday, May 19th: A Life Sustained

Monday, May 21st: Redlady’s Reading Room

Tuesday, May 22nd: Boarding in My Forties

Thursday, May 24th: Luxury Reading

Tuesday, May 29th: Suko’s Notebook

Wednesday, May 30th: Savvy Verse and Wit

My review copy was provided courtesy of Bloomsbury.

This Moment

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:22:00 +0000

CSA Day!

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:58:00 +0000

Can it be here already? The beginning of our CSA season is upon us; Steve and I picked up our first box at the Market on Saturday. Look at those beautiful veggies up there! I was surprised at how much was in our box, to be honest. I was expecting it to be a little bit lighter this early in the season. We received: a huge bunch of spinach, green garlic, a head of green lettuce, two bunches of asparagus, overwintered carrots (so sweet!), and chives.

I've been feeling pretty uninspired for the last few weeks in regards to our evening meals. Picking up our CSA box forced me to sit down with our cookbooks and make a plan for the week and so far, it's been good and a little reinvigorating. It was a little box of veggie inspiration. The carrots, some of the garlic, and some of the chives and their blossoms went into an Herbed Carrot Soup (recipe in The Moosewood Cookbook)...

I didn't know that chive blossoms were edible, but, yum! One bunch of asparagus went into a Baked Lasagne with Pesto Balsamella and homemade noodles (recipe in Simple Italian Food).

We make this dish once a year and now I remember why. The components are all really very simple: noodles, asparagus, and the sauce. But the time to prepare them all from scratch really adds up. We made this on Sunday, starting to cook at 4:30 and sitting down to dinner at 6:45. Oh, but it was worth it. There really is nothing quite like fresh pasta noodles. *swoon*

Three-quarters of the spinach, some of the garlic, and chives (chives top everything this time of year, really) went into Cream of Spinach Soup (recipe in The Moosewood Cookbook).

Silas really loved both of the soups this week. I mixed them with a bit of leftover rice to give them a little more body and make it easier for him to eat (he still does the classic spoon turn as it's en route to his mouth). Soups are so perfect for using up a bunch of produce and they are, usually, an incredibly simple meal.

Instead of tossing the spinach crowns into the compost pile as we usually do, we braised them in sake and tamari. I had no idea that this part of the spinach plant was edible, but in searching through my recipes I found one that called for them. I love discovering ways to use things that we normally throw away. I feel so thrifty and resourceful (recipe in Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant).

If you're wondering how they tasted, they were good! The bigger ones were not as tender as the smaller ones and I think I needed to trim off more of the root, as that part was rather woody. The pink crowns, though, were a touch sweet and tasted of asparagus, oddly enough.

And finally, the last of the asparagus and more of the green garlic went into an Asparagus Risotto with Mushrooms and Ginger (recipe in The Vegan Gourmet).

It was Silas' first taste of mushrooms so he, of course, promptly spit them out. It's okay though, he was in a surprisingly good mood for the end of the day and actually let me stand in front of the stove for the hour that it takes to make risotto. After that, he can eat whatever he wants.

We still have some spinach and the lettuce to eat up before Saturday...salads, salads, salads! It feels good to be back in the kitchen with some purpose. (It tastes good too.)

Yarn Along

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:22:00 +0000

Knitting: My accomplishments this week include rolling the yarn for the Amerie into a ball and mastering the provisional cast-on with waste yarn. Thank you youtube! Steve watched the tutorial video with me and said, "that looks like one of those things that looks more complicated than it actually is." Indeed it is. It took me several tries, especially with a squirmy toddler in my arms, but we got it figured out. Now. Knitting.

Reading: I've half-started a handful of books, but am making the most progress in Beyond the Sling by Mayim Bialik, or "Blossom," if you were watching TV in the 90s. It's a great introduction to Attachment Parenting. Bialik is straightforward about what AP actually looks like in her home while still maintaining a sense of humor. It's refreshing to read the story of an AP mom who is still in the trenches, as it were, with young children.

Linking up with Ginny at Small Things.

A Beautiful Day

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Silas is banging on the doors and is ready to get outside. Smart fellow. Today we are having friends over, hopefully making pie and ice cream, and doing our first bit of grilling for dinner. All the cracks in between will be spent out in the green.

What are you doing on this beautiful spring day?

Weekending

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:24:00 +0000

This weekend was...

Quick breakfasts of Rhubarb Buckle and a trip to the Market to pick up our first

CSA box of the season (!), menu planning to use all its contents,

the installation of a baby gate at the head of the stairs, and the

ensuing pang in my heart at Silas' look of confusion when he tried to back down

the stairs and found his way blocked,

finally getting our tomato and pepper plants in the ground,

the first peonies showing us their pretty faces,

a Mother's Day of French Toast,

and a full day spent in the kitchen making homemade pasta with my love and

dancing with a baby on my back...

my idea of perfection.

Happy belated Mama's Day to you all!

Linking up with Amanda at The Habit of Being.

This Moment | Climbing

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:59:00 +0000

~~Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway...the cookbook Frugally Delicious (featuring me!).~~

Garden On My Walls

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:06:00 +0000

I'm pretty particular about what I hang on our walls, choosing artwork by family members over mass produced prints. I like the idea of every item having a history and a story to tell. I also love to scour the thrift stores for unique pieces. When I came across these two photographs I literally jumped at the chance to buy them (and they were half price! $15!). They were so hard to photograph because the frames have regular glass instead of non-glare and these images don't do them justice at all. They are of a camellia and a tiger lily and the detail is so rich and deep. Looking at them, I'm reminded of the first time I saw an image by Edward Weston; I never in a million years imagined that a photograph (somehow, calling them "pictures" doesn't seem appropriate) of a bell pepper could be so sensuous and could evoke such emotion. But they do and these portraits of flowers elicit the same response from me.

These prints are signed by the photographer - Ruth Weller Nelson - and a quick Google search of her didn't yield too much information, other than that she was a local and is buried here. She was actually a contemporary of Weston, which is apparent in the similarity of their styles. A relative of Nelson's posted on a message board that Grant Wood (another local) made some of his photorealistic paintings from photos and that Nelson had taken. She was sworn to secrecy and only revealed this information to her family when she knew she was dying of ovarian cancer. Whether or not this tidbit is true, these are amazing prints and I feel so lucky to hang them in my living room

Joining Lady Cordelia.

Yarn Along

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:14:00 +0000

New things to report on both reading and knitting fronts. Thanks to all of your wonderful advice, I've decided to make a cowl with my luxurious single skein of alpaca and I'm going with the Amerie. I was drawn to it right away, but, to be honest, the provisional cast on and the three needle BO scared me off. So I searched and searched through Ravelry and while there are tons of beautiful cowls out there, there wasn't much else that fit the weight and yardage I have. So, I'm going to close my eyes, cross my fingers and dive in. Eeek.

In the evenings I'm reading The Roof at the Bottom of the World, a historical account of the discovery of the Transantarctic Mountains. It's fascinating and the photographs are breathtaking. I used to have a very detailed fantasy of finding true love on a scientific expedition to Antarctica, which is hilarious considering I really can't handle the cold and uncharted frozen wildernesses otherwise hold no draw for me.

Joining Ginny at Small Things.

Frugally Delicious

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:10:00 +0000

Awhile ago I was invited to submit one of my recipes to be published in the book Frugally Delicious. Last week, I finally got to see the finished product and check out the offerings of some fellow food bloggers. I never for a minute fancied that I would ever have a recipe of mine in print, so it's been a delightful surprise as well as an honor to see my Not-Too-Spicy Green Pea Curry on the page. The theme of the cookbook is one of frugality and for many of the recipes this is synonymous with whole foods. Dried beans rather than canned. Homemade rather than store-bought. I haven't tried any of the other recipes yet, but they do look yummy and this book is now in my kitchen "stack" for inspiration.

And now, here's why this is cool for YOU! I have one copy to give away and I'm eager to share it! Just leave a comment on this post to be entered into the random drawing to win. And if you want, I'll even sign it. *wink*

Weekending

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:59:00 +0000

This weekend was all hot ovens and cold drinks.

Saturday was the first Farmer's Market of the season. Steve and I reflected back to how much has changed since last year when Silas was only three months old and the weekly trip to the Market was filled with much anxiety. We either put Silas in the sling and raced through to get back home and out of public before he started crying or Steve went by himself. Our tiny little boy who would only stay in the Moses basket or the baby hammock for three minutes tops while Steve and I traded holding duties and bites of breakfast.

This year, it is a joy. Cries traded for laughs. A little boy happily pointing and babbling at all he saw and wanting to run around in the park. Heading home when we were ready rather then preemptively due to a fussy babe.

There was more for offer there than we expected this early in the season.

We loaded up on arugula, bok choy, asparagus, radishes, cucumbers, spinach, some seedlings, and rhubarb to use in desserts for what I have dubbed the Age of Rhubarb.

There were some morels, which was surprising since everyone was saying they would be finished long before now due to the early heat.

We took bets on which of our friends we would see there and were right on the money. Much catching up ensued.

Then home for naps, a Quesadilla lunch, and iced tea/iced coffee on the porch. The breeze was fresh and the moments serene. Perfection, truly.

The asparagus went into pot pies for dinner, the scraps of puff pastry used to make cheese sticks. We both wished that there were at least 17 more cheese sticks.

Sunday was an early start and a full day in the kitchen. First pancakes for breakfast, then an all-butter pie crust, then kneading bread, then omelets for lunch, then homemade almond ice cream, then a rhubarb and apple pandowdy, then goulash for dinner, then baking bread. Steve and I took breaks playing with Silas outside to escape the culinary heat. It was worth it, though. The pandowdy with the ice cream was simply divine.

Joining Amanda at The Habit of Being.

Weekend Review: Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:42:00 +0000

All religions have some version of the Golden Rule -- "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" -- as part of the key to their practice. And yet, when we look around the world and see the atrocities that we enact upon one another, it's hard to believe that anyone is taking this message of compassion to heart. Too much harm has been done in the name of religion. In Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (2011, Anchor Books), religion scholar and prolific writer Karen Armstrong invites members of all faiths to reclaim their spirituality and to embrace its true purpose and goal: compassion.

Awarded the 2008 TED Prize, Armstrong set out to draft a Charter for Compassion. This she did collaboratively with the online community and launched the resulting document in 2009. Through the Compassionate Action Network, she seeks to create an international fraternity of cities who practically implement compassionate ideals and encourage their citizens to demonstrate them in daily life. The book serves as a source of individual inspiration and as a handbook for compassionate community building and discussion.

The twelve step format intentionally mirrors the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to drive home the point that our future survival requires us to abandon our addiction to greed, envy, and over-ambition. Armstrong's twelve steps lead us through education, empathy, mindfulness, humility, and finally loving our enemies. She draws from her wealth of knowledge of the major religions and of history to explain how and why we find ourselves at this point. While aggression and fear of the other served to help our distant ancestors survive attack, it does the opposite for our modern, global civilization. It is through interdependence that great advancements have been made and through compassion that we will thrive.

Armstrong's opening chapter on her wish for a better world is incredibly inspiring and led me to the instant conclusion that this was an important and a worthwhile project. The steps really are best read in a discussion group atmosphere to encourage real reflection on the topics and creative brainstorming on how to practically live these words in our daily lives. Without the benefit of peers with whom to read this, it is far too easy to breeze through the steps without allowing the message to really sink in or doing the internal work necessary to see change in our own lives and how we interact with the world. But, if taken seriously and incorporated into our lives, this book and its ideals really do have the potential to change the world.

This review was originally published on Blogcritics.
My review copy was provided courtesy of Anchor Books.

This Moment | Little Hawkeye

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:59:00 +0000

~~Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway for a copy of the cookbook FoodTrients and a FoodTrients apron!~~

New Cooking

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:07:00 +0000

We're all about pot pies these days; they're the newest addition to my repertoire. They're super easy, but look impressive and make simple things, like creamy mushroom soup or asparagus stew, seem like a special treat. I just divide our filling of choice into ramekins, plop a square of puff pastry on top and bake for 15 minutes. Easy peasy.

I've been feeling really stagnant in the kitchen lately. Without really trying to, we've gone mostly vegetarian. It really is an entirely different way of cooking, I'm finding. It's not just the exclusion of meat, it's the celebration of everything else: greens, grains, and beans. But, we're so very used to building a meal around a meat protein that I find myself searching for dinners that are tasty, quick, and that actually feel like complete meals. There's also that pesky planning that's necessary when one needs to soak beans the night before or leave enough time to cook a grain. Pesky.

So, yesterday Silas and I went through my mountain of cookbooks. I purged a bunch, but more importantly, I picked out a new stack to keep on the kitchen counter for inspiration. I'm rededicating myself to making menus. Yummy things are in the works!

For posterity, my stack currently contains some old standbys as well as some "new" titles from the 70s:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair
The Vegan Gourmet by Susann Geiskoph-Hadler and Mindy Toomay
Natural Foods Cookbook by Jean Hewitt (1972)
Whole Earth Cook Book by Sharon Cadwallader and Judi Ohr (1972)
Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe (1982)

Any other cookbook suggestions?

FoodTrients - Review and Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:53:00 +0000

Increasingly, research is proving what should really be common sense: eating a diet of real whole foods is crucial to maintaining health, feeling good, and living longer. So often we search for medical solutions to what ails us when what our body is trying to communicate is that it's starved for nutrients and therefore unable to repair itself. If we listen to our internal wisdom, we would be amazed by our body's ability and resilience.

Even when you do eat a whole foods diet, as we try to do, it can still be difficult to know that you're maximizing the nutritional value in each bite. At times, I feel overwhelmed when I think about trying to fit in as many vegetables -- especially those all-important leafy greens -- that I know I should be eating every day. Grace O, a chef trained in Southeast Asia who now operates skilled nursing facilities in California, tries to lend us a helping hand in FoodTrients: Age-Defying Recipes for a Sustainable Life (2012, FoodTrients Publishing).

She defines "FoodTrient" as "twenty-six powerful nutrients that promote health, wellness, and longevity." These she then divides into five categories: anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, disease-preventing, immunity booster, and mind & beauty. In each recipe, she identifies which ingredients are the keys to health and explains how they work to benefit us. This is especially useful if you are trying to use foods to do specific things; boost your immunity when you feel a cold coming on, for example.

This book contains over 65 recipes, including starters, salads, main courses, desserts, drinks, and extras and there is quite a bit of variety and a focus on organic, seasonal produce. While she does introduce us to some exotic ingredients (such as moringa and soursop -- the acai and goji of the near-future, I'm sure), the recipes are not so out of the mainstream as to be intimidating. I tried several of her dishes and all of them were tasty and satisfying. The green tea noodles with edamame, pictured above, is a great example of a fairly basic dish that becomes supercharged with health benefits with just a couple tweeks. She has you cook the soba noodles in green tea to gain its strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

The beet and potato salad, pictured above, came together really quickly and was a filling meal all by itself. The main dishes do center mostly around meat, so vegetarians may struggle to adapt, but the meat-free recipes that we did try were truly delicious.

Grace O is generously giving away to one lucky A Life Sustained reader a copy of FoodTrients as well as a FoodTrients apron! All you have to do to be entered into the random drawing to win is leave a comment on this post (open to residents of USA and Canada only). Comments will be closed in the evening of May 8 and a winner announced shortly thereafter.

And the lucky winner is...

Tonya

"Very interesting read - the dishes are gorgeous - I'm going to have to google moringa and soursop!"

Thanks Grace O!

Join the tour! Check out the other reviews and giveaways...

Monday, April 16th: girlichef

Wednesday, April 18th: Broken Teepee

Thursday, April 19th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, April 23rd: 2 Kids and Tired Books

Wednesday, April 25th: Tiramisu!

Friday, April 27th: Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books

Saturday, April 28th: Beth Fish Reads

Monday, April 30th: Book Club Classics!

Wednesday, May 2nd: A Life Sustained

Thursday, May 3rd: Kahakai Kitchen

Friday, May 4th: :: steph chows ::

Monday, May 7th: Get Healthy with Heather!

Tuesday, May 8th: Amused by Books

Wednesday, May 9th: Holly the Healthy Everythingterian

Monday, May 14th: Lilveggiepatch

Wednesday, May 16th: Itzy’s Kitchen

Monday, May 21st: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Happy May Day

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:10:00 +0000

Around here, April showers have indeed brought May flowers.

Welcome May Sponsors!

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:50:00 +0000

A warm welcome to A Life Sustained's sponsors, new and returning, for May.

Bubba Pickle's Market

Delicious-looking felt food creations from Amber.

Montessori Materials by Request

Teaching tools from AMI-trained teacher Shawn.

Bella's Casa

Montessori inspiration for playful learning by Jae.

The Handmade Classroom

Whimsical felt creations by Aly.

Weekending

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:05:00 +0000

This weekend was...

a trip north for a 40th birthday party. We asked a lot of Silas (patience with a long car ride, interrupted schedules, an unfamiliar bed, and rooms full of noise and strangers) and he showed better spirits than we could have hoped for. He was shy and clung to me like a baby koala. His uncle entertained us with guitar and song, much to Silas' delight. This little one can't get enough of live music. He danced and danced and howled when we tried to take him inside out of the cold and rain. After much merriment, the best homemade wantons ever, and lots of cousin love, we headed home and were glad to have all of Sunday afternoon to ourselves to wind down, reconnect over waffles and tea, and fine tune our monkey noises.

Joining Amanda at The Habit of Being.

Weekend Review: Parenting for Peace by Marcy Axness

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:38:00 +0000

Our children are not really ours. They are not given to us to keep or to own, but entrusted to us for an all too brief time in which to nourish their bodies, set their feet on the path they will walk to adulthood, and teach them what it means to be be human. While the day-to-day moments of parenting are fun and can be silly, the work that is being done in those moments carries a weight of the highest importance. Marcy Axness, in Parenting for Peace: Raising the Next Generation of Peacemakers (2012, Sentient Publications), calls upon us to make good on the oft repeated claim that "our children are our future." If this is so, and it is, then it's time that we parent our children in a way that prepares them to engage with the challenges of the future -- environmental and social -- with peace rather than conflict.

This is not a parenting "how-to" book. There are no lists of things to check off in order to raise a member of Generation Peace. Rather, it is a neurobiologically-based approach to and a philosophy about parenting with guidelines to help in the implementation of its ideals at each stage of your child's life from pre-conception through the early school years. In the simplest of terms, what makes for kind, caring, peaceful adults is an internalized sense of trust and security. This comes from having a close attachment to a primary caregiver, mom, when young. It is this secure attachment to one person in childhood that allows an individual to then generalize feelings of empathy and love to humanity as they mature.

For each stage, Axness discusses the important neurobiological milestones that are occurring and describes how to best work with nature to nurture these developments. This is followed with a helpful "Principles to Practice" section that gives practical advice in each of the six areas that she has identified as key to healthy growth: Presence, Awareness, Rhythm, Example, Nurturance, Trust, and Simplicity. It is very clear that these are not rigid rules that you must follow, but rather a list of suggestions to assist in implementing the ideals explored.

The key take-away point is that we are all either in "growth mode" in which we feel safe and our minds and bodies are free and open to grow, or we're in "protection mode" in which all of our energies are redirected towards shielding ourselves from external stress and harm, stunting the development of our minds and bodies. The more we can do as parents to maximize the time our children are in growth mode, the more secure, and therefore peaceful, adults they will become. She gives us many ways in which to do this, but the most obvious (not necessarily the easiest to implement) is to live a life of example. In short, we are to be the change we want to see in the world, to use that old Gandhi entreaty.

Axness draws from Attachment Parenting, Montessori and Waldorf philosophies, and for those who are already familiar with them, this book will surely resonate, but her guide is not limited by any one of these systems. She doesn't mince words and she refuses to bow at the throne of political correctness when what is biologically called for runs counter to popular culture. This is a book full of powerful ideas and Axness is calling for nothing less than a revolution in how we raise our children. It is a call that resonates with me. This is a book that I will return to often as I navigate the choppy waters of parenthood.

The review was first published on Blogcritics.
My review copy was provided courtesy of Sentient Publications).

This Moment

noreply@blogger.com (cpcable) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:59:00 +0000

Yesterday I inadvertently dressed Silas and myself in matchy-matchy outfits; turquoise tops and gray pants for both of us. I think my need for mother/child clothing is bubbling dangerously close to the surface!

~~Two giveaways to enter this week! Enter to win a bentwood headband from Bentwood Bands and a bamboo iPhone case from OpenSky!~~