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Happy Mother's Day!

(Missing one child from far away…)

I hope everyone that is a mother had a wonderful day! Being a mother is truly the hardest job; it comes with a lot of heartache and judgement. My kids are not always happy with me, my ideas, and my suggestions. I want the best for them-always. Even though it is a difficult job I love being a mother and the payback can be amazing.

It’s funny how the day started out as such a humble celebration, it was a way to honor and connect mother’s who sons had fallen in the Civil War and later as a way to promote peace. It’s unfortunate that the holiday became so overly commercialized. I do appreciate the simple things my children do for me. I ‘m happy with a meal together and several hand made cards. Today we went for a walk, out for lunch, and a visit with my own mother. It was a good day. A simple day.

I also made chocolate chip cookie bars for school and folded laundry so it wasn’t like I chilled the whole day. It might be nice to pampered all day. Right now BB is the important event at my house as I write and plan for my day tomorrow.

How ever you spent the day I hope it was relaxing and the focus was more on a shared experience than “stuff”.

Starter curry from Jenny

I love my copy of Dinner; A love story for many reasons. It has fantastic recipes, amusing stories, and I agree with her on many topics. We love dinner at our house. Sitting down together eating and sharing conversation. When my son moved back after living on his own for a year and a half it was the dinners together that he raved about missing. Every night he felt blessed to be back at the table eating good food with family surrounding him.

Even though I love this book I’ve only made a few of the recipes from this book. Chicken cutlets and dark and stormy are two top favs. I pulled the book out the other night and decided I was going to experiment with more of her recipes.

Tonight I made Curried Chicken with apples. Everyone had 2nds and fought over scraps. Groovy Girl sadly didn’t like some of the ingredients but she loved the chicken and the sauce. Apples confused her and those she refused to eat. She suggested a potato instead of the apple.

[yep, already had a bit or two but you can see the cilantro, yogurt, etc}

Here’s the recipe so you can try it yourself.

Starter Curry; Curried Chicken with apples (it is only one apple…really)

2 T canola oil, plus more as needed
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 large stalk celery, chopped
1 large apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
2 T madras curry powder
3 medium-sized boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 lbs) {Organic or farm-raised by someone you know preferred)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup light coconut milk
Handful of frozen peas (optional) {I opted out-don’t like frozen peas, or any pea from a pkg}
Few dollops of plain yogurt
Suggested garnishes: chopped cilantro or mint, sliced or chopped almonds

Heat the oil in a deep, large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes.
Add the garlic, celery, apple, and ginger. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the curry powder, stirring to combine.
Push the ingredients to one side of the pan, add a little more oil, and brown the chicken on all sides. If your pan is too stuffed, you can do it in two batches.) Stir all the ingredients together then add the broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the peas (if using) then cover and cook 10 more minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with basmati rice or flatbread and top with a dollop of yogurt and desired garnishes.

Enjoy this delicious recipe and many others in Jenny Rosenstrach’s book and website.

What DID I read in April?

Not much is the answer. It was a busy month and my lowest reading in history. I read 2 (two) books in all those 30 days. It was a month of starting books. Hopefully more free time in May will help me clean up my record.

I started:

The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow: This is the book club pick for May. I’ve read the first 5 chapters and I don’t know if I’m going to continue. It was recommended by our oldest member, Jean, who diid this year. We are reading it in memory of her so I would like to finish it but I’m not drawn to the story or the character of Gertie.

Girl at War by Sara Novic`: I won a copy of this book by responding to a tweet from David Ebershoff from Random House. Girl at War is a story from Croatia, 1991, when the war is just beginning and Ana’s childhood is a changed forever. Ten years later Ana is in NYC for school and is haunted by memories of war. I like this one and plan to read more this week now that I’ve made the choice to let The Dollmaker go for awhile.

Dreamsleeves by Coleen Murtagh Paratore: Groovy Girl and I started this one a few days ago. I’m lucky she hasn’t gone back to “I don’t want to read with you” shenanigans (read all about that here) because it is the best way to end our day together. Spunky main character, Aislinn, has a lot going on with her 4 younger siblings and an alcoholic father. They are saving money for a dream house in the country and her mother is pregnant again. Groovy Girl and I feel this is not going to end well.

The life-changing magic of tidying up; the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo: I read an article about this book and ordered it from the library (I already have enough books clutterin up my house) I like her advice and am in the process of rethinking objects in my house.

The Organically Clean Home by Becky Rapinchuk (from cleanmama.net): Healthy recipes for cleaning. Also ordered from the library. Recommended by V and a topic of conversation while in Arkansas.

The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney: Recommended to me by a neighbor friend who happens to be a counselor. One of my two kids at home right now is withdrawn and I’m trying to learn more. This book is helpful and makes me realize why I’m socially awkward at times.

This is what I finished:

Nest by Ester Ehrlich: Marvelous tale of Chirp who loves birds, nature, and playing outside. Her mother is diagnosed with MS and Chirp, her sister, and father have to watch as she struggles to deal with this new reality. Her family sets her apart in school as well, they are Jewish and her father is a psychologist. Luckily they are surrounded by nature on Cape Cod and this serves as a healing force for Chirp.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart: Crazy story of four orphans ready to save the world from mass brainwashing. Mr. Benedict places an advertisement looking for gifted children and once they pass all of his tests they are rushed off to save the world. Read for 6th grade book club and it was just exciting enough to take their minds off of Legend series for a just a bit. Our last book for the year is Champion by Marie Lu.

Could it really be Spring?

I do hope so. I need warmer weather. I’m tired of the cold.

One tree cut away}

We had warm weather a few weeks ago then it got cold, cold again. I had to get my winter coat back out of the basement storage closet. Yes, that cold.

Today it was warmer and we worked outside on the yard. Last week we had three trees cut down. I had the tree man leave them free standing as I didn’t want them just gone. We carried limbs from the front yard to the back and clipped them into smaller parts. They were river birches that had been planted years and years ago. They were tall and majestic and had bark that peeled back creating texture on the trunk.

Now we have enough logs for family fires all through the summer and fall. Lots of s’mores. The trees will continue to bring us joy but it’s still hard to see them gone.

They were dead though and had to go. Recently we had a large branch fall on a windy day, taking out the garage gutter. Another day, another storm and one of them could easily land on the roof. That would be an unexpected surprise.

I also had a chance to plant a few flowers, herbs, and 3 tomato plants. I’m ready for healthy spring eating and spending more time outside

{Groovy Girl enjoying new perch}

{My new reading spot}

Weekly Update

It’s been a week of quick meals, crazy schedules and yet I’ve managed to create a few recipes to share.

{Janssen’s granola and photo}

I’ve been meaning to make Janssen’s granola recipe for quite awhile now and when the last few clusters of my TJ’s ginger mix landed in my morning yogurt the opportune moment was upon me. It took me 3 days to gather ingredients and find a space of time to make and bake it. It’s delicous! Just because it’s my nature I will play with it next time. This time I did add in some mixed nuts (cashews + pecans) because they were sitting in our nut jar and some chopped dried mango.

Last night I hosted book club and I gave the granola away in little cloth giveaway bags (that I made from white cotton squares). It was a combination Earth Day/May Day gift from me to all my book club friends. Hopefully it brightened their morning yogurt.

I also whipped up a jug of ginger beer this weekend. Jenny from Dinner; A love story introduced me to the Dark and Stormy and ginger beer is a major ingredient. I don’t like the jacked-up expensive price of ginger beer ($10 for 4 bottles) so I thought it would be worth it to make my own. Now I know why it’s not cheap…it’s hard to make. I chopped up two large roots and then squeezed it through my mesh strainer to just barely produce 3 tablespoons. I rinsed cold water through the pulp to eek out 1 more tablespoon. I thought with the added yeast in this Epicurious recipe that it would be fizzy but it is not. It does have ginger flavor though and I will use it. Maybe this weekend I will test run it with a Moscow Mule. I will probably have to add club soda though to give it that extra POP and zing.

I planned to make Dark and Stormys (we’ve had rain + the last time I hosted we had a tornado warning) for book club but I changed plans when I wasn’t happy with my fizz-less mixture. Luckily we had plenty of wine. And delicious food. My favorite was Katinka’s Greek salad.

What I’m reading:

Book club: Orphan Train by Christine Baker Kline ( I read this months ago so didn’t have much to contribute)
School: The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Groovy Girl: Nest by Esther Ehrlich

Next up: Swamplandia by Karen Russell

Good Food, Good Friends

{I have no idea why this posts in all caps when it does not look that way in editing. Strange but I don’t have time to keep messing with it. Enjoy. }

I made a meal yesterday for two musically talented friends who came to town to play a gig. I offered to make them food as I’m all into this entertaining without cleaning utopia. I did actually do a bit of cleaning but I just don’t get stressed out about it. I mostly tidied up a week’s worth of daily clutter and swept our one hardwood floor that shows all the dust bunnies, dog prints, and crumbs.

I have several go-to meals I pull out of my hat that are easy to put together and still make a good impression. Homemade pizzas are a big winner~especially if you ask the kids to help scoop the sauce and decorate the pies. A Mexican burrito or tostado bar is another. This is the one I did today as I came across this great recipe for a Mexican-inspired quinoa dish from Damn Delicious. I woke up early yesterday morning and made the quinoa dish so it would be ready and I’d only have to reheat it.

(Sarah Prineas, Maribeth Boelts, and Jill Esbaum)

I spent my day at the public library for a book festival. We had an amazing time. There were book characters, yoga story time, music, drama, and three Iowa authors. This was the first festival and I think a few things we could do differently but in general it was a good time for all. Groovy Girl had the opportunity to “be” Olivia and she LOVED it. She hugged lots of small people, posed for photos, danced and generally played it up. It was hot and sweaty in the costume yet at the end of the day she didn’t want to take off the huge costume.

After the book festival it was easy for me to wash some greens, saute a pound of grass-fed beef with homemade taco seasonings, reheat the quinoa dish, and fill little bowls with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, and avocado. Right before they arrived I heated corn tortillas on our griddle just enough to make them crunchy. And the best part was cracking open a container of feta cheese to sprinkle over the top. Mmm. It was good, not too heavy, and we were able to eat within about 45 minutes so my friends could travel the 8 minutes to set up their equipment. The most important thing was the lovely conversation around the table between my two children, my two young guests, and myself. There was storytelling and laughing. Entertainment bliss.

Springtime

Little green shoots are popping up in the dark black soil out in my yard. Birds are chirping and swarming around our bird feeder. Rain drizzles making everything richly green. Of course it is still freezing and I’m sitting here in my light winter coat because I turned the heat off two days ago.

I had an amazing arugula salad for dinner tonigh with pecans crumbed on top. I bought the arugula this time with hopes that soon I will have some growing in my backyard. I love the flavor-it has so much more to offer than lettuce. Mixed with lettuce it’s all pretty good.

We’ve had our first backyard fire of the year and it was fantastic. We roasted Hebrew hot dogs, turkey dogs, and bratwurst. We had all the trimmings: suaerkraut, mustard, ketchup, buns, homemade pickle relish and wasabi. We had bad-for-you-chips and bottles of crisp cider. It was all delicious.

Something about spring makes everything just crack open in an exciting way. Life begins anew. It’s refreshed and earthy. In the midwest we treasure it because we’ve been hibernating just to keep warm. I, for one, am ecstatic to have warmer weather here and to share time outside with family.

{Young Hansen gardeners}

Hello April; Meet my March reads…

I had a great reading month because of Spring Break. Think of what I could get read if every month had a week’s vacation nestled right in the middle. Let me plan the school calendar for next year!

1. A place at the table by Susan Rebecca White (2013): Interesting story that involves a unique cafe and 3 very separate characters who come together. Some of it I liked (Bobby story made an impact with me) and some of it did not fit or felt forced. Three stars on Goodreads. Read for reading retreat

2. Dramarama by E. Lockhart (2007):Two outspoken Ohio teenagers bond at school and then head to summer drama camp at a nearby college. They both have very different experiences while away from home and mixing with other campers. I liked what this book had to say to young adults; it’s okay to be out there, be you no matter what. Four stars on Goodreads. Read for reading retreat.

3. Circa Now by Amber McRee Turner (2014): Interesting story about grief as Circa and her mom learn to live without her dad, the glue that was holding the whole family together. Circa’s mom suffers from depression and isn’t good in some social situations. They are religious and have help in their church family + a neighborhood family steps up to really help out. In the middle of their grief a young boy shows up and needs Circa’s help as well. Three stars on Goodreads. Read with Groovy Girl.

4. Prodigy by Marie Lu (2013): The second in the exciting series with Day, the rebel, and June, the once elite turned rebel, escape to the Rebels and then escape again away from the Rebels. The twists and turns in this one were surprising and I liked hearing more about the collapse of the U.S. Waiting to read Champions now. Four stars on Goodreads. I read this with my 6th grade book club at school and wanted to do something interactive socially with them. I included Lu in a tweet asking if we could visit with her via twitter or any other social media just to talk and ask a couple of questions. She never answered and my young readers are a little disappointed. If anyone knows how to get this accomplished please let me know.

5. A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon (2014): This is the one that I read all the way to Arkansas, through the afternoon bluegrass fest, and then on to Greers Ferry. It was a great story and has all of us comtemplating what brings us joy. What 100 pieces of your life do you hold dear? Five stars, reading retreat.

6. If you find this by Matthew Baker (March, 2015): I received this in the mail right before we left for our trip and I, of course, stuffed in my already stuffed book bag. I’m glad I did as I started this on the reading retreat. The cover pulled me in and A. and V. were interested in the title for their boy’s book club. I preread it for them and for any of you with an adventursome child looking for a good book. I’m going to write a proper review for it soon because someone at Little, Brown kindly sent the book my way. It’s totally worth it. Five stars, gift from publisher

7. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson (2012): This one has been haunting me for a few months. I wrote a blog post about this book, you can read it here, and the road trip back from Little Rock gave me the perfect opportunity to finish it. I wasn’t disappointed in this fantasy adventure and I plan to read the second one soon. Four stars, for me

8. El Deafo by Cece Bell (2014): I’ve read only a handful of graphic novels and this one was excellent. Cece’s life journey was tough and she is able to make light of in the pages of this book. I imagine it was cathartic thinking about her early years with this big box and ear plugs to help her hear. Every child wants to fit in and have friends as part of life-Cece does a great job of bringing this message home. I’m so happy to have read this. It was an honorable mention for Newberry but it’s truly V’s daughter’s recommendation that made me pull it from our book cart of new books and read it. Extra bonus: I chatted with a few students about how much I liked it and it’s been in constant rotation. Five start, for me.

9. The Ghosts of Graylock by Dan Poblocki (2012): Up for Iowa Children’s Choice Awards we showed a Prezi of all the nominees and this clip was pretty creepy. I had to read the book to see for myself just how scary it was. Don’t read it right before bedtime is my suggestion. I thought it had great connections. The brother and sister work together to solve the problems they are having thanks to a visit to Graylock, the local closed down asylum. I liked Poblocki’s writing style and will look for more from him. Now I know what to recommend to that rotating group of kids who ask the question “where are the scary books?” Four stars, for investigative purposes.

10. Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur (2011): Also an Iowa Children’s Choice nominee and the perfect book to clear my mind of swamps and ghosts. Elise is struggling with the leap into middle school as well as the family she misses. She’s not interested in doing homework and there’s a bully at school making her miserable. She just wants to fit in and her old friend Franklin makes her feel more like a baby than a middle schooler. This was a well-told tale with many layers. Four stars, for school.

How much reading were you able to accomplish in March?

Our weather is cheering me up and the garden is calling my name so April might not be as readable as March was. I’ve already started several good ones though and I got a package again from Little, Brown…treasures await!

Reading retreat bliss

Our journey to Little Rock was a success. We drove first to Mountain View, AR for a bluegrass festival at the beautiful Ozark Folk Center. I enjoyed listening to the music and I was able to read while listening, which was important as I was desperately trying to finish Lucy Dillon’s A hundred pieces of me for our reading retreat.

From Mountain View we headed South to the Little Rock area, staying in a gorgeous and new Best Western, picked because it had an indoor pool area. Groovy Girl loves to swim and we love the hot tub. I had one lovely night sleeping there and a relaxing morning before my friend V. picked me up for the first leg on the reading retreat. We relaxed at her house for just a few minutes, waiting for A. to pick us up.

{cheers}

Our next stop was their local Whole Foods, a spectacular-looking store, basically a prettified Wal-Mart for natural food shoppers. It doesn’t give me the same healthy feeling to be in there like Whole Foods used to, it is different but it did have many of the picnic-type items we were looking for so we picked and chose carefully. Oh, to eat like this all the time! We had rice crackers, good hard cheese, a seedy hearty bread, a mix of olives, two delicious bars of chocolate, pears, apples, a box of salad greens, and two bottles of wine. Except it was a Sunday and we could buy everything BUT the wine. Drats!

A. luckily had a friend living nearby that had a bottle of wine, the funny part was that the wine had been a gift from A. so she borrowed her own bottle of wine back. We could live with one bottle of borrowed back wine and we headed to the hills of Greers Ferry. I sat in the back and pulled out my book again to continue reading. I wanted to finish before we made it to the cabin and they wanted me to finish so we could talk about the book. It seemed to be the crowd favorite.

Our cabin was lovely with way more space than we needed. The best part was the large back porch that looked out on the lake. It was a perfect spot to talk, enjoy the weather, and share a meal, family-style.

We had a great time. It was rejuvenating for me. We talked about our books, friendship, the world (and all the world’s problems). We talked about ourselves, our husbands, and our children. Everyone has joys and trials, let me tell ya’. We did a little bit of yoga. We sat outside and inside. We stayed up later than usual. We laughed. We drank just the one bottle of wine. We shared chocolate with fruit. We had 24 hours of solitude with each other; three strong women.

{breakfast}

And the morning was filled with sunshine and hanging in our jammies. And then A. got the phone call. The one where her husband told her that their borrowed cat had been hit by a car. It was a sad note to end on yet it illustrated how life just keeps happening around us. The cat was a hard loss for her family-hopefully they’ve found joy in their shared memories of their friendly feline mate.

I hope we will get to do this again in a year or two. The theme of A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon is about what’s real and important to you and the memories of our reading retreat are high on my list.

Vacation waste

I love vacations! It’s tough being a super green person while you travel though. There is a lot of waste in the journey and it’s painful. One quick stay at a hotel can yield a ton of waste. I tried to research about hotel waste and all I could find was statistics in the U.K.

Driving, off course, uses gasoline to get to your destination. And while you can bring healthy snacks along the way you can’t eat a main meal. Well, I can because I’m a snacker, I can eat a lot of little meals and be just fine but others in my family have to eat a bigger real meal. My husband begins to snarl if he doesn’t eat a real meal along the road and his preferred sandwich shop is Subway. We are anti-most-any-fast-food places but there are a few we are willing to stop at through any trip. Meals here are made for throwing into the trash. Gross. None of the containers are bio-degradable or recyclable (and if they were, they don’t provide a place to recycle it at the restuarant!) This could change-and wouldn’t that be great. So road trips create waste as you dine along your journey.

Hotels now provide breakfast which is a newer and good feature so you aren’t pushed out into your new location searching for a breakfast place every morning. My husband would never do that anyway-we pack cereal in that case. We’ve been to one amazing hotel in Minneapolis that used real plates, cups, and silverware for their breakfast and we loved it! Most places have styrofoam or paper plates, all meant to be tossed away, and the trash can, after a breakfast with many sleepy people, is overflowing! It’s kinda gross to us. You’ve all been there and many don’t even give it a second thought. We think about it and try to figure ways around it. One trip we actually packed our own plastic picnic plates for everyone to use. Our teens were a tiny bit mortified but they used them amidst the stares of other diners. We were only trying to impress ourselves and to not add to the huge overfilled garbage can.

Our last trip we forgot the plates until we had our first hotel breakfast and my husband and I both looked at each other and groaned. To be fair it was our first trip in our newer Prius and packing was an issue. Plates were not high on the list. Next time though I will bring them no matter what especially if it is more than a one day trip. A small thing we did to appease ourselves was to save our little plastic juice glasses and used them all three days we were there.

On the other hand when my two friends and I traipsed off to Greer’s Ferry for our reading retreat we made minimal impact on the environment. Our compost waste was bigger than the small trash bag we barely filled. That kind of travel lifted me up and made me realize how much this way of life is just part of me. I use cloth napkins everyday. I don’t use any excess paper products at home and it makes it very difficult to be that way out in the greater world. I bring my own travel mug to the coffee/tea shoppe.

Our trip was great though and it was wonderful to visit with friends for a few days. The reading retreat, our meal at The Root in LR, Mary Poppins at The Rep, the fantastic bluegrass in Mountain View and The Old Mill in Little Rock were just a few highlights.

How do you deal with this on the road? Any tricks you can pass on…