i [heart] mountains

Pinterest, Pimentos and Pinhole Press

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:01:00 +0000

That's my lame attempt to bring some kind of order and relevance to three things from the weekend that are not at all related.

First, I realized that I didn't have to wait six months for Pinterest to get back to me with an invite (talk about insanely smart marketing--making me want something I don't even need just by making me wait for it) because the MM could invite me himself. He's apparently using it for man fashion tips. Hey, never stop growing, right?

Source: gardenandgun.com via Ann on Pinterest

Then five pages of the February issue of Southern Living dedicated entirely to pimento cheese got me hankering for the stuff, so I made some. This recipe from The Glass Onion via Garden and Gun is still my favorite. Grilled pimento cheese and bacon sandwiches? Yes, we went there.

Finally, an album of Ford photos that I did up over at Pinhole Press arrived in the mail today. It's beautiful!

Here's the Ford-man yesterday. 27 weeks.

Blog Love: Spoon Fork Bacon

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:10:00 +0000

I have been meaning to rave about this food blog (and add it to my blog roll) for awhile now--it is just so fun. Spoon Fork Bacon, ladies and gents. You had me at bacon. Beautiful staging and photography and fun, inventive recipes. What's not to love? I appreciate their playful approach to good food--something that the MM and I need to remember these days as we seem to only cook what's quick and easy at the end of another busy day of work and baby care.

Case in point: You know how much the MM loves lasagna (here, and here and here), so you'd think he would be excited when I announced that I'm planning a Valentines Day dinner for him of made-from-scratch lasagna and a chocolate peppermint cake. He was completely on board until I pointed out that in exchange I'd basically need two free afternoons to put it all together. Then he said, "Well, maybe we should just find a sitter and go out." So much for the fun, inventive or involved. Anyhoodle, Spoon Fork Bacon inspiration:

Whoa! I don't arrange and photograph my food prep anymore. I'm busy playing with this sweet chunk (who's really not so much chunky as loooong these days):

Ford-man. 26 weeks old.

Nightlife = Watching Masterpiece Theater

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:24:00 +0000

So we have not gotten around to hiring a sitter so that we can go out to supper once Ford goes to sleep. Given his current habit of conking out between 6:30 and 7:00 PM we should seriously get on it.

But why go out when it's fun to cook and more importantly, there's the soapy, posh goodness of Downton Abbey in which to indulge? Seriously, y'all, we are on that Downton bandwagon with lots of other Brits and Americans. It's like Dallas or Dynasty with better accents and less crazy hair. And Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess.

And then there's the Downton Abbeyoncé Tumblr. Makes me a little less cranky about the shenanigans that Ms. Knowles and Jay-Z pulled shutting down the whole damn maternity ward in NYC last week. Anyway.

Rounding Out the Trio

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:27:00 +0000

There are many things that the talented ladies of Purl Soho do well, but I particularly love all the little creatures they've created over the years, knit and patchwork. While I am currently wishing for the time to make a flock of these darling penguins....

I have found the time here and there to make this little guy for a friend's brand new baby boy:

It's from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and the pattern is the same for three animals. I made Ford the elephant while I was pregnant:

And the bunny for my cousin's little girl a few years back:

Speaking of bunnies (and Google image search):

Squish.

Ford is One Half!

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Y'all how did the Mountain Munchkin get to be 6 months old (24 weeks, at least) already? Some may mourn the teeny tiny baby stage, but I have to say, I am loving this giggly, playful interactive baby time.

In the past few weeks, Ford has cut two teeth, tried some solid food and given the Merry Muscles bouncer a go. I predict he'll be crawling in another month--he certainly has the will to already!

The way he grabs that spoon and tries to feed himself is too funny. Clearly he was ready! We've tried rice cereal and banana. On to green pea puree since I got a tip from another mama that getting them going on green vegetables before sweet potatoes and other fruits is key to them eating their greens in the pickier toddler stage. Apparently the Mountain Man did not like green vegetables as a child, so we shall see. Fingers crossed.

New Year's Day Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:12:00 +0000

note Ford's Oxo Tot Sprout high chair that just arrived!

The Hoppin' John New Year's Day lunch was a hit! I rounded it out with collard greens and kale, skillet cornbread, a banana chocolate chip cake and spiced cider. I did Part I of the Hoppin' John--cooking the peas and ham-- the day before:

And then finished it the day of:

The secret to all this deliciousness? Pig. Seriously, between the Hoppin' John and the greens, I cut up that pound of Tasso and two packages of bacon. That's a lot of pig. Let the new year's resolutions involving healthy food start on January 2nd!

Winter?

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:42:00 +0000

Y'all, we are having the craziest weather in northwestern Montana. After a very chilly November and early December, it's currently raining and yesterday the high was 45F. Last year, we were bundling up for almost sub-zero (0F) temps. It looks like we'll be getting back to "normal" by New Year's Day. Meanwhile, some reminders of what a Northern Rockies winter is really like.

A walk in Kootenai Canyon with Aunt Becky:

Back inside to warm up:

Lander, WY for Christmas. Seriously cold! Ford could only stay out in it for about 20 minutes before his mama started to fret about little blue fingers and toes.

Back inside. Ford is wearing the first of many monogrammed or smocked shortalls, to his father's mild chagrin. Of course, I think he looks completely adorable!

Two For Your Cow Share

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:19:00 +0000

We know several folks in Missoula and a few around Charlottesville who have bought a share of a local cow or pig to save on the cost of local, organic meat and keep their freezers conveniently stocked. We got on the cow share bandwagon this fall, buying about $90 worth of beef cuts from our neighbor, who bought 1/4 of a cow from the Clark Fork Coalition's Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch in the Deer Lodge Valley near Missoula. We have a few larger cuts of meat, but like most cow shares, we also have lots and lots of 1lb bags of ground beef. Here are two recipes for ground beef casserole-type dishes that we've enjoyed.

[Ladies, as an aside, these are man-pleaser meals. A friend of mine constantly hears from her husband that he wants "a bake" for supper. He's from Alaska, otherwise I think he'd just ask for a casserole--bless his heart--but warm from the oven meals that combine meat, cheese and/or a starch make grown men feel loved and looked-after, I tell you. The MM gets really excited when either one of these is on the menu.]

1. Southwestern Shepherd's Pie--a mix of sweet and spicy ground beef (cinnamon, cayenne), black beans, corn and bell pepper baked with a sweet potato crust. More prep than recipe #2 but a serious crowd pleaser and so, so good on a cold night.

2. Spiced Beef Cobbler with a Cheesy Cornbread Crust--same concept, fewer ingredients and ready in about half the time. The MM and I tag-teamed it while we put Ford to bed and sat down to eat it with a green salad by 7:30pm!

Photo from Garden and Gun

And in case you're wondering, I've already given notice to the MM that he's on Munchkin duty for part of Saturday so I can make Hoppin' John, greens and more cornbread (not as classy as biscuits, but faster!) for a New Year's Day gathering. And yes, that did involve ordering 1lb. of Tasso ham from iGourmet.com. Thanks to the internets and overnight shipping, we're going to have a Southern feast all the way up here in Montana.

More Than I Knew

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:16:00 +0000

Folks we are headed across the vast states of Montana and Wyoming today and tomorrow to spend a woefully short Christmas weekend with the MM's family. I am clean out of vacation days and must return to the grind next week. Boo.
This year the Christmas season has felt like a blur, or happening to other people in some sort of parallel universe that doesn't include month-long head colds and babies. We cut and decorated our woodland tree + a few other decorations around the house, but a few things have been missing this year.

In trying to put my finger on it, I think I have missed baking and eating the usual Christmas goodies, like cheese straws and chocolate peppermint bark. Cooking is my connection to seasons and holidays more than I knew.

And I've missed making it to church for advent services like Lessons and Carols. And we haven't listened to Handel's Messiah enough. Seriously if I had a day to make cheese straws while listening to the Messiah and then go hear Lessons and Carols it would really be Christmas.

Except that it IS Christmas and unto us a child is born and his name is Ford, so over many rivers and through some woods to the grandparents' house we go to spend a joyous weekend with family. The cheese straws will just have to wait until 2012. Merry Christmas to you all!

Soup for Sick People

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Jeez, I feel like all I ever talk about now is sleep deprivation and head colds, but that's pretty much been our life since Thanksgiving. But I think today I am cured. Sleep, massive doses of vitamin C and honey and a Neti pot. I held off on that last one, but it's really not so bad and luckily the MM thought the sight of salt water pouring out one of my nostrils into the kitchen sink was way cool, not gross. Love that man. Anyhoodle. Soup.

Here is the great thing about this soup. 1) You need to eat warm, brothy chicken soup when you're sick but who has the energy to cook when you're sick, EXCEPT 2) this soup is all chop and dump. I think it's the most perfect chop and dump recipe I've ever found. You can find the recipe on Epicurious here, but literally this is all you do:

Chop up 1 onion, 3 carrots, 3 celery ribs and dump them in a big pot with 1/3 cup packed Italian parseley, 1 cup of long grain brown rice and 3 tsp. salt and a 3 or 4lb chicken. Cover it all with 3 quarts of water, bring to a boil and then simmer, covered for 1 hour. Pull out the chicken, let it cool off, then pull off the skin and shred all the meat. Dump (!) the chicken back in the soup and season with salt and pepper. Boom. You can seriously handle this, even while sick. How exciting is that?
Head colds put a damper on taking adorable photos of one's offspring, but here's Ford at 20 weeks last weekend all excited about his exersaucer.

We were steeling ourselves for a long, long week of transitioning Ford to sleeping in his crib in his own room, but it's gone off without a hitch. What a relief to find that he was as ready for a quiet, uninterrupted night of sleep as we were! He's been a happy, expressive little guy all week as a result. Getting up in the night to go in there and nurse him is an adjustment, but he eats better that way and I don't drift off, only to find him still in the bed 2 hours later and wonder why I have a pinched neck from holding my arm in some crazy position to keep from rolling towards him. Win-win. Until he cuts a tooth.

Mail Order Goodness

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:18:00 +0000

I think one of the first items that I ever ordered from J.Crew about 16 years ago involved me filling out the little sheet that used to come in the center of the catalog, tucking in a hand-written check (paid for with some hard-earned babysitting cash) and literally mailing in my order. Remember that?!? So anyway these two items aren't really mail order since I ordered them over the interwebs, but they arrived in the mail this week and were the sartorial bright spots in another week notable only for the continued lack of sleep and lingering head cold symptoms.

On that note, we are going to transition Ford to his crib in his room this weekend. For a few months there he was sleeping like a cherubic little rock star in his co-sleeper beside me, waking once to nurse and making it until 7am. Then 4 months old hit and I think he figured out that it's way nicer to snuggle with his mama and snack all night long. Needless to say, this has not been working out so well for me and he sleeps more fitfully too. According to Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, we can let him cry for up to an hour without going to him at this stage (5 months on Sunday), so it's time to pull the plug on co-sleeping. If I don't get 4-5 consecutive hours of sleep soon, they're going take away my license. Or they should.

Anyway, new clothes:

Emersonmade tweed jacket. Beautifully structured, yet really soft and comfy. Love, love.

J.Crew wildcat cardigan. From my little bro for Christmas. I gave him a sweater too, so that was fun while J. Crew had that big sweater sale last week. Wore it with my black Minnie pants and a black shirt yesterday and felt very Audrey. 'Cept my ankles were cold.

More on Thanskgiving

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:50:00 +0000

Phew, I have done very little this week other than work and attempt to sleep off a nasty cold. Naturally my need for at least 4-5 uninterrupted hours of sleep has coincided with Ford being rather wakeful the last few nights. So I full-on have a cold. The MM claims that if I already can't taste/smell my food then the worst has passed and I'll be better tomorrow. Is this true?? I would love to think so.

While we were in NC, we spent an hour with Jill Schwartzkopf, who photographed our wedding two and a half years ago. She posted a little preview of some of the photos on Facebook and I just to share. She captured Ford as his smiley, expressive best!

We also toted Ford along on several walks--up mountains, to waterfalls, and drove him around on endless nap-inducing car rides. I think we undid all our walking/biking/transit-riding goodness in Missoula in 5 days just trying to get him to nap. We need to work on him taking motionless naps, I know! Anyway, he's such a champ at sleeping in the Ergo that he missed almost all the sights.

Crock Pot Crack Pot

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:07:00 +0000

I'm pretty addicted to the awesomeness of my crock pot. In it right now might be the easiest, cheapest meal I've ever made. Southern Living's New Orleans' Red Beans and Rice. Chop some veggies and sausage. Add water and come creole seasoning. Turn it on. Cook some rice tomorrow night. That's it.

Let's hope slow-cooking the kidney beans makes them less gas-inducing for Ford down the line. It's a special kind of shame when you realize that something you had a choice not to eat has given your child a stomach ache. I really love nursing that baby, but I won't lie. I look forward to days filled with chipotle chilis in adobo and generous glasses of red wine. And real cold medicine. Meanwhile I'm [again] off to bed to avoid catching a cold. Since I can't take the Nyquil. More Thanksgiving photos tomorrow. Here we are feeling spiffy and not yet stuffed like a 22lb turkey:

Well Hello There

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:38:00 +0000

Woah, we have been across the country and back to celebrate Thanksgiving and baby Ford's baptism in the same church where the MM and I got hitched a few years back. Same man of the cloth (my uncle) and everything! It was a lovely day for my family, although Ford apparently didn't think so:

I love this photo. Cracks me up every time I see it! That's Ford with his great-grandmother Cranston and his second cousin, Jack. Probably the only time these boys will wear dresses (christening gowns are still du rigueur in the South)!

More photos to come. I'm going to take Ford's lead and call it an early night.

Ford: Four Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:10:00 +0000

Ford is four months old! No doubt a taste of what's to come, he gouged himself across his forehead with a fingernail a few minutes before his photo shoot. Didn't seem to bother him much and the miracles of Neosporin and baby cell turnover mean it'll probably be healed by tomorrow morning.

Isabel and Chopper realized they have to work twice as hard for us to find them as cute as we used to. So they teamed up:

Streets, Road and Towns

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:06:00 +0000

I don't post much on urban planning, even though it's what I do for a living. It's usually better to keep work and non-work separate, but this is too good not to share. Pretty much sums up what we try to do each day. Enjoy!
[It's a 15-minute TED talk]

On My Radar and In the Mail

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:06:00 +0000

In the mail: I've been searching for the perfect pair of pink pillows (hello, alliteration, nice to see you too) for the living room for at least a year. And then they appeared on One Kings Lane the other day. A Liberty of London print, no less. Sadly I didn't grab a pic before the sale ended and the bigger image disappeared. They're solid pink on the back and the pattern looks like this up close:

Purty. I will scotchguard to protect them from this ill-behaved pup who jumps on sofas with muddy paws like it's his job.

On my radar is that Ford will start eating food in two months!

The bumbo chair will do for a bit, but he's going to need a high chair soon. I really love this one, the Oxo Tot Sprout:

Low profile, fits in with the kitchen table, adjustable, easy to clean, dishwasher-safe tray insert. I could go on. Why can't I find one on eBay?? I knew I'd picked out the cool kids' high chair when I spotted it in an episode of Up All Night. That show is totally my life, if you switched L.A. and talk show producer for Missoula and transportation planner. Riiiight. Anyway, the baby/working mom/silly parent parts. You know.

Thinking and Talking and Dreaming of Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:26:00 +0000

Whoa, where did the last week go? We managed another week with Ford in daycare and me back at work with only a few casualties: putting clothes away, which is impossible when a baby is asleep in your bedroom from 7:00pm onward, and in a related way, Ford's daytime naps. And blogging with any regularity.

So Ford is not getting his usual 2+-hour morning nap at daycare in the midst of toddler chaos and comes home absolutely strung out after only an hour or so of sleep during 7-8 hours that's he's there. So we have to put him to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 or he has an absolute meltdown and could wind up developmentally stunted or with ADHD because of persistent sleep shortages.

Do I sound crazy and paranoid? Well, I probably am, but I read Marc Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and have taken to heart the notion that sleep is equally as important as food. His reasoning is that you would never dream of depriving your child of food, so why deprive them of sleep? So I fret about Ford's sleep. Its quantity, its quality, where it happens. When I was pregnant, I thought the sleep I'd be obsessing over was my own, or the lack thereof. Instead, I lie awake worrying about Ford's sleep while he snores away peacefully beside me in the co-sleeper. At least he IS sleeping long and well at night.

And rolling over! From his back to his front all week and just tonight from front to back, which really surprised. I have video footage, but it involves my recorded voice, which only a mother could love, so I'm sorry, but I'm only sharing it with my other. And mother-in-law, because it's her grandson. Not because I expect her to love my voice.

Anyway, he got some great naps in today on our way to and from the Patagonia outlet in Dillon, Montana. I don't know why it's way down there since everyone in the store for the big Veteran's Day weekend sale seemed to be from somewhere else and I thought Patagucci was all about sustainability and thus not driving all over creation to buy their stuff, but there we went to find crazy deals on baby gear. These are photos of the girly stuff for a friend. Ford got the blue, green and stripey equivalents. Even an insulated set of snow bibs for next winter. For $35!

Bon Weekend: Giggles

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:13:00 +0000

The Mountain Man is a big hit with the under 4-month set. Rain and snow and crock pot lasagna are headed our way this weekend. Bon weekend!

Already

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:18:00 +0000

Being big enough to face out in the Bjorn opens a whole new world of things to see! Including your mommy's iPhone. It's almost scary how attuned Ford already is to that bright little screen. No doubt I'll be downloading games to placate a fussy toddler soon enough. He's going to find it completely baffling that his parents partly grew up in a pre-Internet and Apple world.

Bon Weekend: Mommy Needs To Go Out Sometimes

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 03:11:00 +0000

Otherwise, Friday nights will continue to go like this: "What shall I do between Ford's bedtime and mine? I know! Troll the internet for more baby clothes. Oh look! These Babysoy clothes benefit the Jane Goodall Foundation. And they're cute. I think Ford should have a marmot footie." Click. Boom. Done. Gah.

But it's stinkin' cute, right?

Just like this sweet chunk. Squish.

Bon Weekend!

Tarte Tatin

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:41:00 +0000

Missoula just wrapped up its farmers' market season. We brought home lots of goodies last Saturday, but I wish we'd stocked up on more apples! The Jonagolds and Honeycrisps that we bought were beautiful and equally delicious. I made pie crust on Sunday afternoon while Ford napped and used it and the Jonagolds for a Tarte Tatin yesterday while he napped. Baking and cooking require a lot of advance planning these days.

I used this recipe from Epicurious, but skipped the brandied caramel sauce in favor of good old vanilla ice cream. I love how French, yet rustic this dessert is. Butter, sugar, pastry, fruit. No need for pinched or latticed crusts, although those are fun too.

First you make a caramel sauce in the cast iron skillet. Just butter and sugar! But you have to stir it constantly to be sure it doesn't burn.

When the caramel turns a dark amber, the smaller skillet gets transferred to a larger one full of ice cubes to stop the caramel from cooking.

All the apples get peeled and sliced (if you even make 2 apple pies or tarts a year, having a peeler/corer gadget is a must!) and arranged in concentric circles on top of the caramel in the skillet. The rest get piled on top.

Roll out the pie crust and lay it over the apples, tucking it carefully around the edges.

Bake for about 55 minutes, then let it stand for 5 minutes before inverting the tart onto a plate. My apples slid en masse over to the side of the crust, so I had to scoot them back over and thus my concentric circles don't show up in the finished product....but it was still delicious. Bon appetit!

Bon Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:50:00 +0000

The Mountain Man starts the Munchkin off early with his lessons in how to be a MM.

Bon Weekend!

New Cookbook to Try

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:14:00 +0000

There are many things I love about Garden and Gun, and one of the main ones is how Southern food-obsessed they are. I'm still savoring (heh) their food issue, even though it arrived a month ago.

I had what you might call a passing fancy for pimento cheese until I made the version that they shared from Sarah O'Kelley of Charleston, SC restaurant the Glass Onion. After that it was full-blown, head over heels love. You can find the recipe on the G&G website here. And just today they email to say that chef O'Kelley has put out a Glass Onion cookbook. Based on the cheese alone, I'll be ordering this one.

I'm still figuring out cooking and mothering a baby, but I did come home from Virginia last month with two bags of Byrd Mill stone-ground grits and a sack of biscuit flour. I just feel good knowing that they're in the pantry, you know?

Ford: Three Months Old!

noreply@blogger.com (annabelle) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Ford is officially now an infant, not a newborn. Go Ford! He's also building up some killer neck muscles during his tummy time sessions and still sporting that amazing combover.

See a resemblance yet? We're still not sure either. Something in the eyes, though.

Let's hope baby hair patterns are not indicative of later male pattern-baldness. Apparently boys inherit their hair from the men on their mother's side. While I have crazy-thick hair, my dear old dad is not so fortunate. Ford may fare the same. Maybe he'll get his maternal grandfather's math smarts too. I certainly didn't.

In other news, the iPhone 4 and my custom case are fab. I've been shooting really arresting video footage like a baby giggling and staring at himself in a mirror.