my life list 1 thru 10

a little over a year ago, i read this post and it has created a little voice in my head. the voice has basically been telling me over and over again that i should make one of my own and then see what i can do about crossing the items off.  i’ve finally decided to listen to that little voice so often, i say things like ‘oh i wish i could/knew how to do that’ and this is my attempt to finally write down those things i wish i could do and then well, do them….

i’m not quite up to one hundred but it’s at least a start:

1. take a cake decorating class
2. swim with dolphins
3. relearn to play piano
4. travel to and spend time in all 50 states (the ones i visited as a child don’t count)
5. see the Eiffel Tower in person
6. take an extended trip to San Francisco (at least one month)
7. make the recipes i set aside to cook later
8. spend a year in a foreign country
9. learn to knit and make something i won’t be embarrassed to be seen wearing
10. read 1,000 (starting today)

good bite cooking videos!

can you hear the angels singing?!? i’m not one who normally shares videos i find on the net but this is just too good to keep to myself. it’s part of a new cooking site that not only shares new recipe ideas but it has videos that show you how to make them. heeellllooooo my new favorite time suck!!!

i’m not mary nor contrary

but here’s how my garden grows:

these pictures were all taken a few weeks ago. there have been lots of changes in my garden since then.  i’m already harvesting cherry tomatoes and will soon have more than i know what to do with.  we also have a few cobs of corn starting, about 20 meyer lemons on their way, one large eggplant ripening, strawberries blooming, and zucchini starting to sprout.  it’s strange to me how happy i am tending to these plants and watching them grow.  once the kids and i get settled into our summer routines, i’ll put together and update and jot down some of my thoughts and lessons learned from this first attempt at a garden.

a new approach to eating (and a recipe)

Recently I read the book “Food Matters”.  In it, Mark Bittman argues that for a healthier world and healthier self, we should all eat less meat.  His premise is that the meat packing industry is one of the largest contributors to global warming and that with all the hormones, antibiotics and poor living conditions in large scale operations, our bodies are getting a big dose of things it doesn’t need.  He does not encourage or ask that we all become vegetarians but instead, he suggests we all become ‘flexitarians’.

His basic plan is that we consume more fruits, veggies, and whole grains and less meat, animal based products and processed foods with refined sugars (ie - junk food).  His basic rule is to try to avoid eating foods with more than 5 ingredients or anything that contains ingredients with more than 3 syllables - those are most likely a preservitive.  I found this idea intriguing and a much easier approach to watching what I eat than measuring, weighing and counting calories.

I’ve been using this approach the past few days and am encouraged by how easy it is to eat more fruits and veggies.  I’ve also been surprised at how few I was eating before. I’ve also been surprised at how full I feel after making myslef a large salad topped with lots of veggies and how much better I feel too.

I’ve made a few yummy veggie dishes and sides that I hope to get around to putting up here soon.  For now, I’ll leave you with this simple little gem ( I could have eaten all of this on my own and the best part is that according to the “Food Matters” eating plan, I can and probably even should!):

i knew this day would come

Today is Tuesday; just an ordinary day.  It’s not the beginning nor the end of the week - it’s not even the middle of the week…but Tuesday is about to become a very special day.

Recently, my daughter was promoted to a member of the ballet company she’s been training at and my oldest son was promoted to a higher ranking class at his karate studio.  These are great things and I am so proud of them - so very very proud of them. They have been working hard and deserve the rewards.

As I was looking at their new schedules and updating the calendar, I realized that Tuesday is now one of the only days we will all be able to have dinner together.  The monkeys visit their dad every other weekend and the weekends we are all home are usually very busy.  While we may be able to have dinner together on the weekends they are home, it is not guaranteed and this is a big change from what has been our norm.

For the last few years, I have made it a point - it may have sort of been an obsession of mine - to make sure we all sat down for dinner together during the week.  This wasn’t something that happened  very often in my home growing up and when I chose to have kids, I knew this was something I wanted to do for them.

And, I knew the day was coming when the kids would grow and branch out to their own activities and therfore become busier.  I knew the day was coming when they would spend more time away from home.  I knew the day was coming when we wouldn’t all be able to have dinner together every day.  I knew it was coming but I guess I was just hoping it would take just a little bit longer to get here.