big-sis reading to her class on pajama day

One of my favorite things about driving home in the evening with the girls is the out-of-the-blue comments. Last night big-sis wanted to know where roads ended. These always start the most interesting conversations. Like Monday night, when little-sis announced   that we do not respect chickens. Her guidance lessons at school have been focused on respect recently. Her grappling with these big concepts are usually pretty funny. “You can’t respect someone if you are eating them.” True.

I am finding myself a bit melancholy lately about the end of childhood. Big-sis is approaching it much faster than I want to think about. Nothing drastic yet, just a few rolled eyes when I remind her to do something…she’s still eight, but twelve is looming.

This is the year the girls at school have “cliqued” into groups. She seems remarkable resilient. We’ve had a few complaints that all the other girls want to talk about is Hannah Montana. We do not watch tv on weekdays, and currently do not have cable. I told her she could watch it if she wanted, so she wouldn’t feel left out. She said no, it was a stupid show and she had books to read. She’ll talk to them when they are done. Always a pragmatist.

I know she is my daughter always, but it is hard to picture what that relationship will be. My mother was gone by the time I was twenty, and I find myself counting years like that is a deadline. Logically I know that is unlikely. I’m healthy, etc. Still, I do not really know what that adult mom-daughter thing is.

Last night as she was heading to bed she told me she liked being with me because I always listen to her. I think that is what I miss the most, but it is also the best roadmap I have with them.

It’s a pattern for felted fortune cookies from Indigo Muse Knits.

Aren’t they amazing!

Unfortunately all this goofing off means I really do not have very much time to knit them. Deep sigh.

These are but two of the 3572 questions from little-sis I have answered today. We had a snow/ice day off from school. Not enough of anything for the girls to go out in. We haven’t had a real snow since we moved back from Florida, so they really do not remember what it looks like.

Christmas is finally packed away. The ornaments ended up out on the piano for at least 2 weeks. Sad, but true.

Why the lethargy?

The new room/kitchen is 95% done, and we now have a wood-stove. I have the hardest time leaving this space.

We have also been working through “Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day” - our latest checkout from the Henrico public library. So far we have made Brioche (here overflowing), sandwich bread, cinnamon buns, and beignets (French donuts). We checkout about 8 books a week, and this one is one of the few I’d consider buying. Everything has been very easy to do. Basically the idea is to make a super large, wet batch of dough and use it through out the week. What I didn’t get at first was all the alternate recipes they include for each of the basic doughs.

We lived in Heidelberg when I was big-sis’ age. I attended Mark Twain elementary. This period was probably the only time I ever broke bad in school. For some reason I got it in my head that my second grade teacher and I were not to get along. So my eight year old solution was to skip school everyday after recess.

OK, so truancy aside, this was one of the best parts of Heidelberg. There was a hole in the  back of the fence near the playground. Avoid the stinging nettles, over a small railroad track and you were in a whole neighborhood of garden houses. My memory of this area was a bunch of of small cottages that the Germans used to get out of the city and garden.This photo I found online is typical of what they looked like. (Found here: http://www.gingerwade.de/Schrebergarten/Schrebergarten.htm )

So after about an hour of careful Google mapping - they are called Schrebergartens. Apparently they were the brainchild of an 19th century doctor that wanted to provide country experiences for urban workers. What I remember are all these little houses and a lot of elderly German couples tending the gardens.

It is amazing how this little bit of rule breaking has influenced me through the years.

First, I should tell you that my mother found out - I have no idea if this was weeks or months, but I do have clear memories of them in winter and spring. My brother got sick one day and she came to pick me up early from school and I wasn’t there. I just have this memory of walking into our apartment and knowing, before I was even through the door that the gig was up.

Second, the idea of big-sis decision to skip school and wander around a city by herself for a few hours everyday is terrifying.

1. I never knowingly broke another rule again.
2. The spring before the husband and I got married he gave me my favorite birthday present ever- he rented a garden plot for us and gave me a membership to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.
3. I have a thing for gnomes.
4. I also have a thing for very tiny minimalist living spaces.

We’ve been working on our little garden plot out back. The plan is for six raised beds and a lot of culinary shrubs. I have had the hardest time describing the picture I have in my head to the husband-it really is a Schrebergarten in our own back yard.

It really is a delightful concept. A local country garden vacation. The houses ae tiny and pretty sparse. I remember them as having almost no furniture. Many have a pub in the neighborhood.

I am thinking I need to revisit my no-rulebreaking thing. Some of my best experiences have come out of skipping school in the second grade.

1. It is not vacation when I am doing (more than) what we would otherwise pay a daycare for. If you could be arrested for not doing it it is pretty much not a leisure activity. I love being home with the girls, but it is work.
2. Hosting means I am not doing things I had otherwise planned on doing. Doesn’t matter if folks approve of those activities or would pursue them in their own time, it is what I wanted to do.
3. It is not weird to make your own bread, jam, clothes and I’d rather not discuss how strange I am. Personally I think an addiction to store bought cookies, chips, etc is rather odd.
4. Extra people mean extra work. Period.

Vent over. I have found that folks pretty much leave you alone if you look like you are doing housework, so I have been baking like a fiend. Bread, corn-bread, ginger-bread, seven kinds of cookies, french toast casserole, egg and sausage casserole…you get the idea…

Today we are down to one guest, from a high of 16, so I have had a second to try some bread making.

I started with the recipe from this month’s mother-earth news. Very simple, but a bit dense for what I’d like for day to day. So today I am dusting off my mom’s old recipe and giving it a try:

• 1/4 c warm water
• 1 pack yeast
• 1 3/4 c. warm milk
• 1 T Butter
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 T sugar
• 5 cups flour (I used 1 50/50 blend of all-purpose and King Arthur Whole Wheat)

It is in the oven now, so we’ll see how it turns out.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I am glad to know I was not alone this fall…maybe it was the election, but it did seem more hectic than normal. The husband is a reporter and with the local mayor election, and the fact that Richmond got more than normal national notice this year it made for a busy time.

That’s the best  thing about January, everything slows down.

We’ve has a great holiday. All the adults on both sides of the family agreed to just do kids gifts, which has been an amazing gift by itself. So much less frantic this year. My brother visited from Tokyo in the early fall and my sister from San Francisco in mid fall. Both visits were wonderful, but also added to the general hubbub around here.

For New Years the husband’s side of the family always gets together. This year it is our turn to host, so I have spent the morning cleaning. It is amazing what can pile up. We have a new wood stove, so that has quickly replaced the kids and cat as the # 1 source of all dust.

So Wed night we will have at least 18 people here, maybe more. Most are spending the  night, so a little extra scrubbing is needed.

Happy Holidays!

Seriously folks, why do we teach them to talk? This is little sis demanding a snack - now. A refreshing one.

Little sis is slowly gearing up for school. You might notice she is now sporting a super shiny pair of pink glasses.

We’ve had her cousin here the past day or so. Last night she asked little sis why she needed glasses…I am recording the conversation for myself…feel free to roll your eyes and move on.

cousin - “Why do you need glasses?”

little-sis - “Because my mom said so”

cousin - “Can you see without them?”

little-sis - “Of course!”

cousin - ” So you don’t really need them.”

little-sis “Yes I do! My eye is lazy!”

Some explanation, both bis-sis and their cousin are writhing with jealousy that she gets glasses and they don’t.

To be honest I am having the hardest time adjusting. I was already in the throws of “my baby is going to kindergarten” and now I am fighting off “my poor baby needs glasses” with a big ol’ stick. Frankly my “poor baby” considers them the ultimate fashion accessory and is completely thrilled at all the attention.

The only problem is they make it hard for her to suck her thumb, but they are shiny and worth it. (Aren’t most shiny things?) The case is red and she calls it her suitcase. It goes it everywhere. It is amazing to see how careful she is being with them. For posterity I also have to say some of her clumsiness is making more sense what with the lazy eye and all. I also feel a little better about her mastery of the alphabet…a few months back we figured out she didn’t know W or K. 24/26 letters isn’t so bad, right?

As a side note I cannot help but wonder what I would get if I demanded refreshment? Yarn? A nap? What would you want.

I got roughly a gallon over the last few days. The husband loves them, me, not so much. Since no human could or should eat a gallon of figs in a few days, I decided to try fig jam.

I sort of followed the recipe from Pick Your Own. I cut way back on the sugar…ours are pretty sweet as it is. I used 5 cups chopped figs to 1 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. I don’t use pectin (too cheap to but any!), but if you boil slowly for about an hour or so they gel pretty well. All of this made exactly 3 half pint jars. Sorry for the bad pic, but at least here you can see the speckled a bit. Fig preserves are pretty if nothing else.

We also did more tomatoes the other night. I tried making paste. A LOT of work!! 15 tomatoes ended up making 1/2 pint plus a few extra teaspoons. I think the tomatoes we have right now are too juicy, maybe I’ll try it next time with Roma tomatoes. The stuff tastes amazing, but I am not yet convinced it is worth it.

Anyhoo, we ran into our pal Mike. He and his wife retired to run a pepper farm and now sell at several of the local markets. Things were closing down when we got there and he kindly unloaded all his tomatoes. I got 53 pounds for a mere $20. Let that sink in a minute…that’s $0.40 a pound.

So, back on the home-front, what does one do with 53 pounds of tomatoes? Can, if you can. It really isn’t so hard…lots of boiling, but nothing impossible. My goal is to have at least 40 pints of crushed tomatoes put up by this fall. I am doing just part of the batch today. That’s around 23 pounds. We use a lot of tomatoes, so I am not sure this will be enough, but it can’t hurt.

I am following the guidelines here. They are the from the University of Georgia. The do I wish I had was a hand-held blender. The one from my baby food making days is long gone, but it would give a nice texture.

The only big modification I make is the cutting our the cores part. Frankly it takes to long. After I peel the skin I just crush them by hand into my pot, pull out the core and there you go. Messy, but a lot of fun.
For the record 23 pounds = 15 pints.

As a total side note I have been knitting like mad. We’re in a coll snap…highs only to the mid 80’s! I know, but for here that’s down right chilly. I also want to do a sweater for big sis sort of similar to the one Kit Kitrage wears at the beginning of the movie. I am thinking that Cascade Superwash might do the trick.