food – Peaceful Reader

Panama City

I just got back from Panama and it was pretty amazing! I like beaches and forest and I didn’t think Panama had either so it wasn’t my ideal travel destination but I needed to use some unused tickets from Copa Airlines and their homebase is, yes, Panama City. My son, Tristan and I traveled last Sunday and made it to our super cool two bedroom apartment in the Casco Viejo (the old section) which is the also the tourist section with lots of restaurants and shops around the two nearby squares.

We built up a holiday routine; sleep late, a little fresh fruit and bread for breakfast at home, and then off to explore and find a place for lunch. As a foodie family we always look forward to finding delicious food and we are always on the lookout for amazing vegetarian and vegan food. We had amazing luck finding delicious vegan food in Mexico and I hoped we’d have luck here as well. We didn’t the first night but the rest of the time, after we’d had a chance to look around, we found a treasure trove of excellent choices.

I love that I can go on vacation outside the U.S. and find menus that have at least 4-5 vegan choices and several full vegan restaurants in the area. Amazing. I can’t find vegan or even good vegetarian choices in most of Iowa. Another side note is all the to-go containers are eco-friendly unlike Styrofoam boxes here.

We did make it to a beach 30 minutes away from PC and spent a lovely day and we took a tour bus to see the Canal and a biodiversity museum. We took two hours to tour and read all the information at the Museo Canal in town. We had a lovely trip and it was fabulous to spend 5 days with my son.

I have so many thoughts and feeling about what’s happening and with that narcissist running our country. It is a major shit show with people getting kidnapped by the ICE gang, secrets being shared with no accountability, libraries and artistic centers taking a hit, USAID which is major help for our 3rd World countries who need our help. We’ve entered into a zone with no empathy. It’s too much to think about and makes me so crazy.

So many things

I’ve had a lovely holiday season with my family. We’ve had good conversation, eaten good food, played games, and opened gifts together. Christmas Eve we had a delicious tofu curry with jasmine rice, a vegan scramble for breakfast Christmas Day and homemade pizzas for dinner that night. The Friday before Christmas we hosted a Christmas party for theatre friends and I made.an Italian Sausage lasagna and Japhy made pesto pasta for her and I (no tomatoes, no meat). I made Whoville ‘s Spiced Up Margaritas for the party and French 75s on Christmas night. We tried our best to play Chameleon all together and then the next day a few of us tackled CodeNames together which was a blast! Most importantly it was just great to see our grown up kids having fun, laughing together.

I got everything done that I needed to do before the holiday. The presents were wrapped, menus planned, house clean and I did it all on very little sleep. It’s been a rough month or so starting around Thanksgiving I’ve had the worst trouble sleeping. I’ve been sick with a cold for about the same amount of time that has compromised my immune system.

Sleep is so important and lack of it causes me to forget things and not be my best self. I’ve tried many of the recommended suggestions for better sleep including melatonin, staying off screens, drinking relaxing tea, going to bed early and while I might do any number of combinations of those ideas I still might lie awake at night getting only a brief amount of sleep either right away or toward morning. I’m frustrated. I started menopause years ago making this a ten-year-old problem. Our beautiful Tarah dog above fell asleep one night so deeply right on top of the gifts and all I could think was “I am so jealous!”

I am still doing yoga both at home with Adriene and also with Sam at Cota Studios but many things like blogging just don’t get done because of this sleep deprivation. My goal for this coming 2024 is to get back on a better schedule. For the last couple of months Japhy has been home because she is about to go on a grand adventure but that’s a whole other post for later.

Take care, get some rest, and happy holidays to you…

Fall catch-all

I love fall recipes especially all things with butternut squash! I recently made a spicy butternut squash pasta recipe from the NY Times that was so good I made it twice in one week. As the weather changes we are always look for heartier dishes to warm us up. I’m in the middle of planning our upcoming Thursday meal which I now like to call our Un-Thanksgiving or our Grateful Day. Growing up my family and Greg’s family both celebrated the holiday with all the traditional fare and I used to help my mom prepare a turkey and all the sides but then we just stopped. For many years I prepared other dishes we liked instead such as vegetable lasagna or food from India. The last few years I’ve made vegan Wild Rice Soup; that and some fresh hot bread from the oven makes a perfect meal. This year the only thing I have my heart set on is skin-on mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. Otherwise I’m still searching for ideas. Tristan has two vegan pies, apple dutch and pecan, on order from New Pioneer Coop in Cedar Rapids.

In between cooking I’ve read:

Dry by Neal Shusterman because it is on a banned book list and I was curious. My first Shusterman book and I will read more. (4 stars)

The Rachel Incident by Carolyn O’Donoghue because I heard it reviewed on a podcast. (4 stars)

We are called to Rise by Laura McBride because it showed up in my free library. (3 stars)

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros because two librarian friends highly recommended it and it was getting a LOT of attention. I liked it and am happily waiting to read Iron Flame. You should probably love high fantasy to enjoy this. (5 stars)

Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark because it’s our book club choice for November and I am enjoying it but I’m only half way through the 579 pages. (probably 4 stars)

There are a lot of good series to tuck into for fall:

Everything Now on Netflix – Japhy and I discovered this and loved it. It’s about a young girl’s struggles with anorexia and a lot of high school drama but it’s very real in it’s depiction plus it takes place in London.

All the Light We Cannot See limited series on NF- I loved the book and was looking forward to this. We have one more episode to watch. Mark Ruffalo is amazing as is the young daughter and the young German radio genius. The Nazis are all sufficiently creepy as hell.

Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV – I loved the book and the series has not disappointed at all. It veers from the book but it is captivating. Brie Larson plays the great Elizabether Zott with zest.

I’ve also made a habit of going to yoga a few times a week at Cota Studios and love practicing in person with other people after years of doing yoga alone with Adrienne in my upstairs studio. Sam is a relaxed and knowledgeable instructor who brings calm and joy into the practice. I really appreciate the gift of this studio in our community.

Happy holiday however you celebrate. Do remember the real facts of this holiday in that those First People who came to the table in peace were later tricked through false treaties, tortured, and killed for who they were. Remember all that is going on in our world from sea to shining sea and that while we do have much to be grateful for we must think about how we can help and be empathetic and aware.

Looking for a good book

I have five chapter book suggestions for young people that I’ve read myself this summer. With everything happening in the world around us it might be safest to stay home and read. There is plenty of summer left to enjoy a few more great chapter books!

1. Maya and the Robot written by Eve. L Ewing (2021): A delightful tale of a forgotten robot that finds its way out of the closet and into Maya’s life. She figures out how to get it to work just in time for the 5th grade science fair. This is a great story about friendship and overcoming fears of losing all that is familiar. It should be noted that the robot originally belonged to a young neighbor who was killed in a neighborhood shooting is touched on briefly.

2. Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds (2021): Portico Reeves has an amazing imagination and he protects those around him with his superpowers as he tries to deal with his parents arguments and impending divorce. Jason Reynolds has a gift of speaking the truth from a young person’s opinion. Get a taste of Stuntboy as he reads the first chapter to you.

3. Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca (2021): an #ownvoice novel in verse about a young Indian American girl whose life is forever changed when her mother is diagnosed with leukemia. Reha is working so hard to balance her Indian identity and traditions with her American school self~it is a lot to handle until the only thing that matters is her beloved mother.

4. 365 Days to Alaska by Cathy Carr (2021): Eleven-year Rigel loves living in the wilderness of Alaska with her family so when she finds out her parents are divorcing and her mom is moving with the Rigel and her two sisters back to Connecticut to live with her mother, their grandmother she is mad. Getting used to suburb life compared to the wilds of Alaska is a difficult feat and it’s hard to make friends and still feel like the strong nature-loving person that she is. This is a fantastic debut novel! Listen to Colby Sharp’s review.

5. The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga (2021): This one hurt my heart with everything happening right now with gun violence. Something needs to happen because it’s scary for adults and children. This book, told in alternating chapters is about a school shooting. Parker, Quinn’s older brother took a gun to school and killed Mabel, Cora’s older sister as well as three other people. We learn this in details as Cora and Quinn, former best friends and neighbors don’t talk anymore until Quinn comes up with a plan to go back in time to change what happens. This is a loving story about a frightening and all-too-common situation. How do the girls deal with their guilt, their grief over what happened and find a way to make peace with each other? I cried at the end. This would make a great read aloud so key discussions could take place.

I didn’t read all day long, I also made some delicious food:

I picked up two crates of peaches from the Tree-Ripe Fruit Company and they are so delicious as is but I succumbed this afternoon to take a few of the extra soft ones and make this Peach Crumble from Pioneer Woman. It’s bubbling in the oven right now.

I made a wild mushroom risotto last week and had some leftover mushrooms to use up and even though it is blazing hot outside for Iowa I made soup: Hungarian Mushroom Soup – it is creamy and delicious and I know I will enjoy it with a slice of sourdough tonight for dinner.

Sweet corn! My husband brought home 6 ears of corn from one of the many pickup trucks around town and I shucked and boiled them in a little salted water and the flavor is the taste of summer for me. I could probably live on sweet corn and fresh peaches for at least the rest of July!

Stay safe out there…

What to eat during a pandemic?

I’ve made a lot of food during our stay-at-home “vacation” because we don’t eat out much. BP (before pandemic) I generally only cooked a few meals throughout the week to sustain us. Breakfast was usually quick and out the door and lunch were pretty much pb & j or leftovers at work or school for each of us. And most nights we didn’t eat together because of rehearsals and dance. Now I feel like I’m constantly in the kitchen cooking or cleaning it back up. I’ve made some good food though and we’ve enjoyed it together. I follow Jaime Oliver on IG and have several of his cookbooks. I love his videos and his recipes but, I’ll admit, it’s also about the accent! We’ve made this bread recipe twice now and it is truly amazing. So easy, delicious and really just takes an afternoon. Check out Jaime’s post to find many other wonderful recipes.

View this post on Instagram

So sharing my easy bread recipe again from #KeepCookingCarryOn which has already been tried and tested by so many of you already! Who’s already baked a loaf??

A post shared by Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) on Apr 22, 2020 at 9:11am PDT

On Monday our senior walked across the stage in a staged version of what will come later; a video of everyone spliced together with speeches and everything. I’m very glad her high school chose to honor the students by hosting this as it took a lot of time and effort from staff. It was surreal to walk with everyone masked up through the school keeping a good distance between families, as we traveled down the hall together for the last time. We returned home after our “5 minute” ceremony to have cake and a little bubbly. I made a buttermilk chocolate cake recipe that was so moist and flavorful. My husband who is not a lover of sweets or chocolate ate two pieces!

{Buns in the Oven}

What are you cooking up?

Ah summer! Cheers to Brunch.

I’ve relaxed into my first full week of summer. I’ve done an equal share of cleaning, reading, and organizing so far. Oh and a little napping tossed in. I’ve had lunch with a few friends, celebrated two birthdays, had a pedicure, and started each day with yoga.

One major accomplishment was hosting a brunch last weekend. We have a group of theatre friends and colleagues that we like to get together with to talk about all things theatre and beyond. I like the idea of people sitting around our large kitchen table having interesting conversations about the world. All I needed to do was pick easy yet delicious recipes that I could put together the night before and in the morning. I didn’t want to be in the kitchen while guests were arriving or at the table. Sometimes I seek out recipes online but this time I went straight to a a cookbook that I love from The Cottage in La Jolla, CA. I’ve shared this cookbook before in a post about the amazing Buttermilk Coffee Cake (recipe included) and another post about Blueberry Muffins (recipe also included). If you love brunch this is the perfect cookbook for you.

I made the coffee cake, Carmel Brunch, an egg dish, and their roasted potatoes and I pre-prepped the egg dish the night before so I had one less thing to mix up in the morning. I put my husband in charge of one dish for the gathering (he is the theatre person in our house after all + he loves jicama!) and I found that recipe, Jicama, Avocado, and Mango Salad in Friendsgiving by Alexandra Shytsman.

Everything turned out well and people ate heartily around the table. One friend brought warm french bread with Wild Blueberry Jam and warm blueberry muffins as well. One friend tried his first Bloody Mary ever and that was a hit. I do love brunch and this was a perfect way to bring friends together. If you need me to share any of the recipes I used please let me know. Enjoy! Salud!

Talents

This week at school we had two mornings filled with our talent show. It was amazing and as I watched I was overwhelmed by all the talent we have in our school. We had dancers, very funny comedy routines, dynamic singers, piano players, tiny musicians, and one young man who solved his Rubic’s Cube while jumping on a pogo stick.

As teachers we put together a synchronized routine following these two routines from YouTube. We did a good job of and had lots of teachers involved.

I started thinking about my own talents that I could share and came up with a very short list:

I am a very good reader

I can mix a great drink

I am an adequate cook

None of these are talent show worthy. Long ago I was in a small town beauty contest (not my idea) and had to come up with an act. I wrote an interesting parody about friendship and read it aloud; people laughed and I won third place. Not bad for a brunette. My talents will have to remain low-key.

I am ready for the year to end but it is always bittersweet; this group of 6th graders were in 2nd grade when I became the librarian at Hansen. There are more than a few of them that I will miss a great deal.

In other talented news I made this dish, Mediterranean Chickpea Salad, this morning for a picnic and it was delicious. I’m reading two books right now; The Inquisition by Taran Matharu (the 2nd in the series) and Eat to beat disease by William Li. Recently my husband and daughter watched his excellent TedTalk, Can we eat to starve cancer?, and I watched What the Health on Netflix one afternoon. I was pretty disgusted how major health organizations are sponsored by meat/diary/fast food companies. If you have a chance both of these videos are worth your time.

Happy June!

Snow Day

I finished reading both An American Marriage, a decidedly sad tale, and Less, an uplifting tale of love and highly recommend both books. I’m now reading Front Desk by Kelly Yang, which won the ALA Asian/Pacific Award this year.

These week I made Khichdi which a friend posted on IG referring to it as comfort food. Mashed potatoes with a slice of real butter melting on the top has been my comfort food for years. I can picture it in the large bowl my grandmother brought to the table for many family meals. I can smell it; the creamy yellow potatoes mixing with the soft butter on top. Comfort food means different smells and feelings to everyone and I thought this lentil dish was definitely worth trying. All the spices made my kitchen smell amazing, maybe the comfort starts in the making, as I took lots of deep healing breaths while chopping and stirring. When it was finished we soaked it up with toasted naan and cleaned our bowls. It was a perfect dish for a freezing evening.

Last Sunday I made a tomato soup recipe I’d ripped from a food magazine. It was a very easy recipe to put together and it was delicious. Tomato soup pairs perfectly with grilled cheese and I used white cheddar with some yummy sourdough to fry up in my cast iron skillet. They were a perfect gooey mess to dip into the creamy soup. Here is the recipe for yourself.

Creamy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

4 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced

4 large tomatoes, seeded and quartered

1 T olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup onions, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, diced

1 can tomato paste

32 oz vegetable broth

1/2 cup loosely packed basil leaves, torn

Parmesan croutons *I didn’t make b/c no me gusta croutons

1/2 cup shaved Parmesan for topping

1. Add olive oil to large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, chopped red peppers and tomatoes and sauté until tender.

Stir in tomato paste and then add vegetable broth.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat .

2. Allow the soup to cool just a tad and then add in batches to a blender or use an immersion blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.

3. Ladle into bowls and add Parmesan shavings, fresh cut basil leaves, and freshly ground pepper to top.

The red peppers added an excellent flavor to the soup. Also I didn’t have 4 fresh tomatoes on hand but I did have a Mason jar of tomato sauce from this summer so I substituted that which worked fine. I even think you could substitute a good quality can of diced tomatoes for this. Fresh tomatoes in the winter are not as flavorful as the summer so it’s a fair switch.

Stay warm and drive slow. We are on our 8th snow day.

Prepping for an amazing (and mostly vegan) Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m ready for the Macy’s Parade and for relaxed cooking tomorrow. I did some pre-cooking tonight and I’m feeling peaceful about what needs to happen tomorrow. Everyone enjoy a happy holiday. It might be about enjoying family or enduring family but either way, find at least one blessing in your day.

Menu

Early appetizers: blue chips and our homemade salsa

Soup/Salad course: Wild Rice Soup and Big Green Salad
I found a local farmer who sells big bags of microgreens for a reasonable price and it was a 5-minute drive from my house. I’m pretty pumped about this revelation. Find them at Rainbow City Farm on insta.

Dinner:
Celebration Vegan Roast
Just Bare Roasted Chicken (I couldn’t find a local one)
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans with pomegranate seeds
Healthy Corn “Casserole”
Mashed Potatoes with vegan mushroom gravy
cranberry – orange raw relish
Jicama/Avocado/Mango salad (from my Friendsgiving recipe book)
Homemade pretzels for our bread (Groovy Girl’s recipe)

Everything but that roasted chicken is vegan. My theme is comfort food with a Native American flare. I’m learning and working to experiment with a variety of recipes. Heather and Tristan are bringing the pies. And I found good almond milk whipped cream for the tops!

June; thank you so much.

Wow – this month has flown by. Groovy Girl and I started the summer off with a road trip to Denver, Co. We stayed with family and just had a lovely time. We hiked in the area and saw deer, bison + baby bison, and pronghorns. From Iowa, it is about an 11-hour drive and we did it in 2 days.

Our favorite things were Sushi Ronin, Little Man ice cream both in the Highland area of Denver and I loved the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse and we both loved hiking at Chautauqua in Boulder, walking the 16th Street Mall, and dipping our feet into Boulder Creek. We also had a great afternoon hanging out in Washington Park just enjoying.

We had dinner with friends and family we have not seen for years and it felt great to reconnect. It is very important to keep lines of communication open in friendships and family circles. If not nurtured in some way they can easily wither away. Sometimes that can even mean a place and I definitely enjoyed connecting with Denver/Boulder again and I’m happy my daughter loved our experiences as well. I wished on the trip that I’d had the foresight to take each child on a high school road trip. There are a lot of skills learned on a road trip that you don’t get if you take a 4-hour flight to the same destination. Different lessons. The talking and the navigation were the best parts; I’m trying to teach her to put down the phone as we drive so she can look out the window and daydream, think or just unwind. Unplugging is a huge challenge for all of us with smartphones.

This trip was also a challenge to myself. I used to make this trek back and forth frequently when my son was younger and the trip was longer because I was often driving back to Minneapolis/St. Paul or Rochester area. I wanted to prove to myself that I could still make it happen and get myself around. And I did it. Bravo to me. My life can now continue!

I’ve been lucky enough to call a variety of states home but Colorado will always hold a very special place in my heart. As we drove into the state and you can see your first glimpses of the mountains in the distance; my daughter said “hello mountains; its been too long”. I agree. Our souls are better now.

And then I’m just as happy when my little black Prius pulls us back into our little corner of Iowa and we are home; happy to sleep in our own beds and kiss the ground with happiness for a safe trip.