A Happy Home

Found this in a file folder of Kate's old papers.  That's my post for the day.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken Noodle

I may have a new favorite soup - Lemon Rosemary Chicken Noodle - so yummy!  I had a bowl at a local deli counter last week and replicated it at home this weekend with help from some online recipes.  The lemon must act as an appetite stimulant 'cause I just want to keep eating more and more.  The actual temperature outside was a little warmer on Saturday, when we shopped for the ingredients, but it was windy and dismal.  The grocery market had fragrant little clumps of rosemary:

But we decided to visit the local greenhouse instead.  It's a wonderful place to stop in on a cold mid-winter day.  Somedays we make it a quick stop on the way to school to just walk around, smelling the dirt and just plain greenness of the place. (they also have little complimentary cups of coffee!)  We bought a potted rosemary plant for our soup:

Kate helped make the soup and John made cheddar crackers from scratch.  The recipes are below.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken Noodle Soup

2 chicken breasts, cooked (or leftover roasted chicken), pulled and diced

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled, halved, cut in half-moons

2 medium celery ribs, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp lemon zest

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or 2 tsp dried rosemary)

1 bay leaf

Juice of two lemons

2 quarts chicken broth

8 oz. fettuccine noodles

2 Tbsp cornstarch (plus cold water to dissolve)

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Add oil to stockpot and sauté onions, carrots, celery, garlic, lemon zest and rosemary for a few minutes.  Add lemon juice, broth and bay leaf.  Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Break pasta into 2-3 inch pieces and add to pot.  Add chicken.  Stir in cornstarch mixture.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Easy Cheddar Crackers

 1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 Tbsp butter, softened

1/3 cup milk

Combine flour and cheese in a small bowl.  Mix in the softened butter.  Gradually add ilk until moist.  Turn onto a floured surface and knead 8-10 times. 

Roll dough into a thin rectangle & cut into squares, strip, or shapes (with cookie cutter).  Pizza cutter works great for this step.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool completely before removing from baking sheets.  Store in airtight containers.

Get Out

Last week at this time, we were anticipating a temperature plunge and we decided to get outside as much as we could.

Snowshoes leave such pretty tracks.

It began snowing heavily as we followed along the frozen river.

And, of course, we roasted marshmallows after our walk.  Perfect winter day.

An Intentional Cup of Coffee

I love a good coconut latte so the first thing I ask when I visit a coffee shop is, "Do you have coconut flavoring?"  The answer is almost always "no" but still I ask.  So, yesterday morning, after I dropped the kids at their respective schools, I met a friend for a cup of coffee and our first chat since the new year started.  When I asked my standard opening question (re: coconut flavor), the ladies behind the counter looked at each other strangely and then back at me.
"We do", one of them said.
"It's so weird", the other said.  "Nobody ever asks for coconut and we found this bottle in the back room this morning and brought it out and just opened it right before you walked in." 
"Great", I said.  "I'd like a coconut latte, please."
"Here's the thing though", the first one said.  "We've never seen this bottle back there before and it's shelf date is February 1 so we'll only have it for another week.  Which is silly", she said, "since it's really just sugar syrup but...I guess it has to have a date, right?"
I said, "Well, I'll definitely be back in the next week then."  I received a $30 gift card as a Christmas gift so...I'll be back.
I sat at a table with my drink and a cheese danish and it was SO delicious.  Then the first lady came over to the table with a pen and paper.
"If you write down your name and number," she said, "I'll put it with the bottle and instead of throwing it out, we'll give it to you."
A little baffled, I said "great, thanks" and wrote my name and number.
A few moments later, the second one approached the table with a coffee shop gift bag and the nearly full bottle of coconut flavoring, dispenser and all.  She handed it to me.  "You might as well take it now," she said.  "Save you a trip."
I wasn't sure if there was a hidden camera somewhere or what - this was strange.  Nice, really nice, but strange.  Of course, I said thanks.
My friend arrived and we had a great chat - she even brought me two books she was finished with - it was a very nice morning.
This morning, I organized my day, got my errands run, put in my writing time, and then made a very intentional cup of coconut coffee.  I found this french press coffee caraffe and milk frother, brand new, still in the box, unopened, a few years ago at a thrift store.  I suppose someone received it as a gift but didn't want to keep it.  I bought them but have never taken the time to use them.  I brewed the coffee and frothed the coconut laced milk, poured them together in this pottery bowl that my youngest brother made in college.  The bowl has always reminded me of a latte cup and I like that I have to use both hands to drink from it - no unconscious grabbing of mug, sipping without tasting.   Hmmmmm. So warm and creamy and coconutty!

REALLY Wintery Weekend

We spent the weekend on the river and it was REALLY REALLY cold.  This is life in Minnesota.  My eyes tear at the sting of frozen air and then, from the moisture of that tear-up, my eyelashes frost and I know they will freeze shut if I blink.  In town the city truck plows the snow to the center of the street, separating the south and northbound traffic.  There isn't much snow this year so, as you drive one direction, you can still see the drivers going the opposite way.  Mark and I stopped at the gas station to buy a few scratch off lottery tickets.  Last June, for Father's Day, our niece gave Mark five scratch off tickets.  He scratched the little waxy fish off to reveal his winnings.  We were at the river then and so brought them into town and exchanged the winning tickets for new ones.  After scratching them off we decided not to exchange for new ones until our next visit.  We've (Mark lets us play too!) been playing this game since last June, always winning a little something to buy more tickets.  So, there were five winning tickets waiting for us when we arrived this past weekend - $5 - five more tickets.  The tickets are what Mark and I stopped in town to get when I took this photo.

(This isn't a black and white photo - I think even the color is frozen)  Everything is frozen.  I know I'm getting older when drastic weather like this fills me with - not contented glee at being sequestered to a warm living room - but with an overbearing awareness of our vulnerability.  This is us against nature and we are overly dependant on tools (furnaces, coats, boots, homes!).  There are many little things that could go wrong, leaving us in a lot of trouble.  So I appreciate, greatly, the luxeries I have and I packed as many as I could with me, everywhere I went this weekend - just in case.

Being sequestered to a warm living room is actually quite nice but...we start to go a little nuts after awhile.  The first two days were fine for outdoor play but on the third day, we drove, followed different maps to different frozen lakes.  Many lakes had multiple ice fishing houses on them, some even had hundreds.  But this lake had only one little red house way out there.  So secluded and pretty.

As the sun rose on our last day, the temperature was thirty-four degrees below zero.  That is not the wind chill, that is THE temperature.  We scratched off four of the five lottery cards the day before and won nothing.  As we began to scratch off the last card, each of us taking a turn, we realized that our run might be over.  This might be it, our last card.  Well, it was six months of fun - pretty good gift.  When there was only one little square left to scratch, we decided that - maybe - it was a bad idea to be gambling on a Sunday and so we set the card aside until Monday morning.  (this was very hard for the younger ones of us).  On Monday morning, as the sun was rising and the temperature dropping, Kate scratched the last square to reveal a $1 win!  Yay!!  We play on!

More than There was Before

During summer vacation, a few years ago, I wanted a project that the kids and I could work on; actually I wanted identical projects that we could work on, each in our own style and pace but with the benefit of watching and learning from each other.  When we saw a cart of old, used hardcover books on the sidewalk in front of a shop, I had an idea.  We each bought one ($1 a book).  My choice was Heidi by Johanna Spryi.  I've never read this book but the point of this project was not to choose a book for reading but a book for inspiration.  The books became sort of scrapbook/doodle pad/file folder/coloring books.  I told the kids they could do anything they wanted in these books; draw, cut, color, paste, sticker, glitter, tape,  paint...We were gung-ho for awhile but then the books got put away for some reason and now, I've just found them this past week.  And I can't stop working on mine.

When did it become so hard to doodle?!  I can't think of what to draw.  During my writing meeting this week, it was unanimously decided that part (only part, mind you!) of my problem is that I need to loosen up...just let go.  But, like, how do you do that?  So,...this doodle book is good for me.  There is no purpose, no planning.  The more scribbling and coloring and gluing and adding, the better.  And, I'm having to violate one of my biggest rules, "Never write in books"! Yeah, this is out of control.

When you reread a classic,

you do not see more in the book

than you did before;
you see more in yourself

than there was before.

- Clifton Fadiman

Own Your Own Mood

Kate's performance as Aphrodite Colossus Athena Swenson in her middle school production of Dear Edwina is coming fast.  It's a small role but a fun one with a cute song.  This past weekend, our "to-do" list included creating a '50s themed costume for her.  I made this poodle skirt thanks to tutorials here and here.  We found the V-neck sweater and blouse at a thrift store and added ribbon and buttons to make it look like a cardigan.  The white tennies were on clearance at Target and we used a black Sharpie to turn them into saddle shoes. 
I saw a newsletter on parenting in my email inbox this weekend.  I subscribe to a site that sends them out every so often.  I read this one and it applied so directly to how I was feeling, it was eerie. As our kids get older, we expect more from them and when they don't always live up to those expectations, we get cranky.  Or if they're cranky, we may get cranky.  I know I sometimes do.  This article talks about these expectations and these mood changes and the need for us, as parents/friends/spouses/coworkers, to avoid taking on the moods of those around us.  The concept isn't exclusive to parenting and the article reads in such a simple and "duh" way - I was happy to have found it.  Here's a link to a link of the word.doc article if you'd like to read it (it's the "Allowing Our Children their Moods" article).

Saturday Morning Sleep-In



Yesterday was 40 degrees and rainy all day, not normal weather for a Minnesota January.  Today we woke to 14 degrees and a world of ice.  That is typical Minnesota weather!  We were going to go for a long walk at the University Arboretum.  We were going to take the kids snowtubing with friends this afternoon.  But it's a treacherous walk just getting down the driveway for the paper. 

We slept in. We're staying in, having coffee, cocoa, and easy sopapillas (picture above, recipe below).  If we feel ambitious later, we may walk up to the local hardware store as I continually forget to put "lightbulbs" on my shopping list (with all these lamps, you'd think I'd remember lightbulbs!) and we've come to the point of moving a lightbulb from a lamp in one room to a lamp in another.  That's pretty bad.  So, maybe we'll walk to the hardware store and buy lightbulbs.

For our "Mom" bookclub, we're reading The Flight of Gemma Hardy (a modern day Jane Eyre), as well as the original Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and I'm am thoroughly enjoying the experience.  I can't wait for the meeting and the time spent with friends, discussing/comparing these two books.  I read Jane Eyre years ago so, this go 'round, I read Gemma Hardy first and am now rereading Jane Eyre.  I think today is a day to spend in a chair by the fire with my book.

Sopapillas

Thaw Time: 40 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Bake Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

½ of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed

¾ cup sugar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  Cut the pastry sheet into 25 (2-inch) squares.  Place the sugar and cinnamon into a paper bag (or glass container w/tight lid) and shake to combine.

Bake pastries for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Add the hot pastries in batches to the sugar mix and shake until coated. 

The Secrets I Kept

I mentioned, before Christmas, a few projects I was working but couldn't tell you about, of course, because they were gifts.  Well, this pillow was one of them.  I saw a pillow like this in a Garnet Hill catalog years ago and thought it was such a simple fun idea.  Every year, on my side, we draw names to see for whom we have to make a homemade gift.  It's couple to couple; for example, Mark and I had to make a homemade gift for my brother and his wife.  That way we can tap into (and take advantage of) each others talents!  For the pillow, I drew on the people with a brown Sharpie, then traced them with shiny chocolate colored puff paint.  I used a deep red binding so that it can be used all year or only during the Christmas season.  Turns out they had our names in exchange and had been stalking my Pinterest boards for months to come up with the perfect idea - a custom-made boot rack to hang outside the entry door at the cabin!  I'm so excited for spring and upside  down rain boots on this new rack after our walks through the trees.
I bought Mark's gift last September at the Little Falls Craft Fair.  As I'm about to tell you what it was/is, I'm reminded of what I bought him for his birthday.  Hmmm, seems to be a theme.  Well, here's the lamp I bought him for Christmas.  It's for at the river and was made by a couple from the North Shore.  They collect rocks and driftwood from Lake Superior and make these lamps. 

Happy New Year, I'm Back, Downton Abbey

Ahhhh..........
I'm back.  I missed you all.  I missed this. 
So, here's what happened...my new Christmas desk chair got to partying with my desktop computer and they partied, just before the new year, like it was 1999.  And then...they (well, the computer anyway) pulled a Y2K on me - complete shut down.  ???  No idea what happened.  Probably a virus, I guess.  Anyway, it (the computer) has been visiting the fix-it shop this whole time and is finally back - with all my blog photos, files, and other important stuff in tact - yay!
In my down time, I watched the Downton Abbey DVDs, all of season one and two.  I even pulled Kate in and got her hooked also.  So, the evening of January 6th, us girls camped out in the basement with popcorn, wine (me) and hot cocoa (Kate) and our ancient hand-me-down TV and watched PBS, Downton Abbey, season three, episode one.  Ahhhh.  Love it. 
Our basement "retreat", where the ancient TV lives, is also my sewing/craft room.  Partway through our viewing, Kate wandered over to the yarn bins, removed a ball of varigated yarn, sat down and began finger crocheting.  I held my victory dance in check.  After a bit, she put the yarn down, sat at my sewing desk and began snipping scraps of fabric with my sewing shears, enjoying the crisp woosh of each cut. 
Okay, she left quite a mess behind her. 
But. 
But. 
Remember, neither she nor John have ever been much interested in the creative fabric, thread, string, needle stuff that I love.  So... I did not mind this mess one bit.  In fact, after she went to bed, I stitched all those snipped scraps onto a background fabric.  This I will save!  My Downton Abbey/Kate/scrap sampler.