firsts

cosmo's first day of pre-school.
he's going for a couple of days a week. he was a little shy at first, but quickly got into the swing of things. i love that we can walk, or ride the bike, and his teachers are great.



first cantastrophe.
we were canning a bunch of roma tomatoes that i got at the farmer's market (16 pounds for $10!) and one of the jars broke when we put it into the boiling water bath. we aren't really sure why it happened. either the glass had a flaw, or it had cooled off too much while we were packing it with tomatoes...? anybody have any other ideas? the rest of the tomatoes turned out fine though.


first boat ride.
cosmo got to go out on a boat on lake lemon. the woman who owns the place that shawna is renting has a pontoon boat that she lets her tenants use. shawna even taught cosmo how to "drive" it.

first night away.
cosmo spent the night with justin and shawna while carl and i went up to indianapolis. he said he missed me, but he never got upset about it, and had a great time making marble mazes with justin (it's safe to say that marble mazes, of any kind, are cosmo's most favoritest thing right now). the first night away was probably harder on mama than it was on cosmo.



first bowling outing.
we went to the bowling alley on campus. naturally, cosmo loved it. they had a ball ramp and some bumpers to fill in the gutters, so he could actually hit some pins now and then. his favorite part though, was the track where the balls came out.

what's your hobby?

we can (not) stop canning! after blueberries, we made some incredible peach chutney, some green beans with lemon and tomato (a slow cook recipe from bittman, where the beans just melt in your mouth), last night we did some spicy pickled green beans (the kind that go great in bloody marys), and we expect to make salsa, maybe this weekend.



i also tried making some fruit leather with peaches i got at a great discount from the farmer's market, because they were quite ripe. i am not sure of the results of the fruit leather yet, since it is still drying, and we haven't tried the green beans either. the peach chutney is to-die-for though, and i am tempted to make more while the peaches are on. apparently we aren't the only ones around here with canning fever. i looked for some books on food preservation today at the library, and all but one were checked out, some with holds 3 deep! i know that part of this mania for me is inspired by reading animal vegetable miracle by barbara kingslover. a couple of people recommended it to me, so i finally started reading it.

(a recent garden and farmer's market haul)

the book is all about eating local, and since we are so privileged to live in a place with an abundance of local food available all summer and fall, it makes sense to put some of it up for the winter months. that way we won't have to buy as much food that is shipped from far away. besides that, we are having a blast.
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in other news, cosmo got a balance bike called skuut. it costs about a third of the german made like-a-bike, but seems to be about as well designed and built. cosmo has never been crazy about vehicles, generally. he tries to ride his trike now and then, but he wasn't one of those kids who was pushing himself around on those little toddler cars all the time. so, we weren't sure how he'd take to the bike. after a day of awkwardly walking it, his heels getting run over by the back wheel, he quickly got the hang of it. i couldn't believe it when i saw him picking up his feet and coasting the next day! now he has a taste for speed.

the great thing about it is that he has so much control. he almost never falls because he can catch himself with his feet, and he can steer it and pick up the front tire when he encounters a step or other obstacle. i love this thing, and feel like it was well worth the money ($90, with free shipping*). it works great on grass, gravel, and pavement, and is really fun on hills and inclines of any sort. it is also light and easy to carry, in case he's tired of riding on the way home from the park.

cosmo has been blowing us away with how grown up he seems. it seems like major transformations take place every couple of days or so. i guess it has always seemed that way. he really digs music, likes to sing, and knows a lot of songs now.

(cosmo, carl and maggie at music class)
he's been making up new words, and new verses to songs that he knows. while they rarely rhyme, they do make some sense, and usually they crack us up: have you ever seen cosmo, eating edamame...down by the bay? (down by the bay).... he's developing an imaginative world, which is wonderful to witness, and he draws simple faces on a regular basis now. he calls them people, and sometimes some ghosts.



we went to the county fair a couple of times. first to see the animals and the precious 4H crafts. we went back one afternoon, with shawna and justin, to check out the rides. to my surprise, he loved the rides. there were many that just went round and round, maybe a bump or slope along the way, but rather tame, and suitable for his age.

he went from motor boats, to crocodiles, to flying saucers, to dragons, to trains and trucker convoys. his favorite thing though was the bounce house. he went into that one at least ten times, and jumped and laughed and fell down, and contended with other kids bumping into him, and kept coming out saying "i want to do it again!" luckily the line was relatively short. unfortunately, it was right in front of the funnel cake stand pumping greasy fumes into the air all around us. cosmo also played a couple of games on the midway, one of them involved throwing darts at balloons on a wall, and he popped one and got a prize. all the others were incredibly easy. everyone's a winner, basically. and for a kid whose not yet three, that was just fine. we came home with more shwag than we knew what to do with. (fair photos by shawna bean)

cosmo also got properly introduced to the world of candy at the fair (someone at a booth handed him a dum-dum) and now, it is all he talks about. for the first two and a half years of his life, he didn't know that those brightly colored small things in intricate wrappers were edible. the cat is now fully out of the bag.
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well...this post sat around for a week or so, unposted. by now i have some updates: the fruit leather turned out great. it was a wonderful use of a whole lot of very ripe peaches. cosmo, naturally, loves it, and it packs great for snacks on the go. here's a couple of photos of the one i spread out onto a round pizza pan.


we also canned two batches of salsa, one red, one green. they both taste incredible. carl said, of the heat in the red salsa, it's slow in coming, in the back of the mouth....
i said, i may never eat store bought salsa again! carl and i consider canning our new hobby. we lucked into a bunch of canning jars at the goodwill, at bargain prices, and snatched them up.

i should point out that our new hobby is something we carry out after cosmo has gone to bed. it takes some focus, and there are a lot of burners going at once. not a safe place for little ones.


* typo stating the bike was $80, corrected 12/29/2008

can it!

the berry mania hasn't stopped around here. we went blueberry picking at a you-pick place outside of town. we all had a great time, and picked a lot in a short amount of time. cosmo was great at picking, but didn't end up with any in his bucket when we went to weigh them. luckily, they didn't weigh him going in and coming out.


i froze several bags, but we don't have much room in our freezer, so, after muffins, and a blueberry tart (with pastry cream, see below),



we still had enough berries to make jam. i've canned before, but it has been a while, and i have never made jam. i wanted something that would actually jell, that could be spread on toast. in my research, it seemed like the pectin sugar/ratio was crucial to get the jam to set, so i was afraid to alter the recipe. still though, i couldn't bring myself to add 7 cups of sugar to 8 cups of berries! so i reduced it by 2 cups, and it worked just fine. the finished product was very jam-like, but still way too sweet for me.

(jar turned upside down to demonstrate that it jelled)

we had so much fun making it, that i went back out the next day with a couple of friends and picked more berries. this time around, we got serious. we purchased a canner, with the thought that we might want to can other foods, like tomatoes, later in the season. i also looked into some low sugar options. i got some pectin that indicated it would make jam with less or no sugar, but i was slightly suspicious of it, since it had other ingredients besides pectin, and, unlike the pure pectin box, it did not say "all natural." i could not find the natural, low-sugar option i had read about...our co-op said they were having trouble keeping it in stock during berry season. so, i did two batches: one with the low sugar pectin, and 1.5 cups of sugar for 8 cups of berries. and i used evaporated-cane-juice-type sugar. it jelled beautifully. then i tried the regular pectin, and used 2.5 cups of sugar for 8 cups of berries. i used a little extra pectin, and it also jelled. i did cook these two batches a little longer than the recipe recommened, because i had read in mark bittman's book that all jam will jell at 224 degrees F. so, we kept checking the temperature, and tried to get the mixture that hot, but it never got there.

i don't think we needed to cook it so long, and it did reduce quite a bit, which means less jam. i learned an important thing (which is why i am going into all this detail), you don't have to follow the recipe exactly when it comes to making jam. at least that is how it worked for me. all of the jam i made jelled. some of it is too sweet, some probably not sweet enough, and some is just right!

(jars sterilizing in pot, before we got the canner)

carl and i really had a blast with canning. there is a point when the stuff goes into the hot sterilized jars, gets the lids put on, and then goes back into the boiling water bath, and you have to move very quickly (and carefully). we worked efficiently as a team, though i did freak out once when the small jars wouldn't stay standing on the canner's rack (which is designed for larger jars).

the best part is when the jars are all out, cooling on the counter, and as you're cleaning up, every now and then you hear a very satisfying "ting" as a lid snaps down and seals a jar. i am proud to say that all of our jars sealed, and it feels like money in the bank to have all that jam on our shelf.

the general recipe and instructions we used can be found at here.

foraging fools

this post could also be called foraging fever, or foraging frenzy. we have been eagerly reaping the harvest of summer in bloomington. first i discovered watercress growing in the stream in our park. ewell gibbons recommends cooking it if you suspect the water is polluted. i suspect all water is polluted, so we sautèed it in a little olive oil, rather than serving it as a fluffy green bed, upon which a savory, filled pastry sits (i had served some from the farmer's market in this fashion and it was heavenly pictured below).


next we found a cherry tree in our neighborhood, laden with ripe, cherry-red pie cherries. we knocked on the door to ask if we could pick some. no one answered, so we just picked from the branches that were hanging over the fence, thinking it might be considered in the public easement.



cosmo helped pick from the low branches, and, to my surprise, liked them fresh off the tree (they are quite tart). we took those home, carl pitted while i prepared a pie crust. i made a few experimental turnover/tarts, and a large pie with a crisp type topping.



the rest we froze. the next day we returned, and this time found the owner home. he answered the door claiming to be right in the middle of something. we offered one of our turnovers (which he declined) and asked if we could pick some cherries. he told us to take all we wanted. and so we did. shawna joined us midway. i think we ended up with 4 or 5 quarts total. we have two and a half in the freezer, and carl made a beautiful sauce which we made into cherries jubilee. for that you take sweetened cherries, add a little brandy, light it on fire while it is still warm, and then drizzle it over vanilla ice cream. to die for, i tell ya!


next we harvested a couple of cups of raspberries from our next door neighbor jack's place.

from those we made what's known as a fool. it's purreed berries (with the seeds strained out) mixed with whip cream. i'd been wanting to try making cream puffs (at michelle's urging) since i'd seen the article about choux paste in the NYtimes magazine. it's a pastry dough that gets cooked on the stove and then beaten before baking. i found the process baffling, even with detailed instructions from various sources. one of them suggested i stop beating the mixture when it looked glossy. how glossy?




the first batch failed. sadly, so did the fool. seems carl and i both got carried away with the electric mixer. we tried again the next day (we had plenty of raspberry puree), with excellent results. these have to be eaten right away, so we handed them out to neighbors as a 4th of july treat.



the following day we headed out on our bikes to the nearby rails-to-trails (thanks to lara for the heads up) and harvested a couple of quarts of wild blackberries. picking berries is a fond memory from my childhood. i noticed that cosmo was eating them right off the vine (he learned quickly how to tell which ones were ripe) and that i hadn't even tasted them. i was just filling the container as quickly as i could, fretting about chiggers, and smacking mosquitos. as a child, i too would just pick and eat, but now i have the long range vision of the wonderful things we can make with berries, and so, i'm focussed on quantity. carl said the same was true for him.

a little sugar really brings out the flavor in these, so we made sauce before freezing it, and also tried a blackberry jubilee.



with the fresh berries i made what's called a blackberry gratin (from mark bittman). it was wonderful, though i was never sure if the consistancy was correct, having never had a berry gratin. should it have been more custardy? or was it supposed to be a sweet creamy sauce, browned on top in the broiler? i also made an elaborate frozen berry souffle (also from bittman) which was gorgeous and amusing to the mouth. this too was shared with neighbors, though, for some reason, cosmo and his little friend sylvan didn't like it. hey, that's okay, more for us. cosmo had kind of overdosed on blackberries already, and may have sensed that his digestive system could use a break.





prior to the cherry/berry fest, i had been on a savory pastry making kick. as a (mostly)vegetarian, i have longed for something equivalent to a pot pie. what i have been making is not really pie, but they use pie crust pastry. i've made galettes, tarts and quiche type dishes. i like the idea of getting so comfortable with making pie crust (which i have always enjoyed), that i don't hesitate to whip one up for dinner, anytime. i must admit that these experiments have been easy on the eyes, and the taste buds. i've found great recipes for savory pastry dishes in debra madison's vegetarian cooking for everyone.


i also made a rustic tart with bing cherries and peaches earlier in the summer, and a quiche with a potato crust. i included this picture of some eggplant rolls (filled with chesses and herbs) served with a tasty roasted red pepper sauce, because it's pretty.







for our friends in far places, consider visiting. we will feed you well.

when he jumps, he almost flies...

a snapshot from our trip to the indiana dunes national lakeshore. it's the closest thing to going to the beach for this part of the country. it is strangely similar to the gulf coast, in that the national seashore (the protected land) is bracketed by various industrial plants, so we felt right at home.

this post's title is a line from a song by local composer, malcolm dalglish. he's the same person who wrote "summer dog days."

POPsicle melt...so lick it!

cosmo has become obsessed with our homemade popsicles this summer. we started with some fresh squeezed honey lemonade, then moved to orange juice, since it is so convenient, and doesn't have added sugar. then we saw this recipe from mark bittman, in the NYT:

BANANA PALETAS

2 medium bananas
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

puree all ingredient together in a blender until smooth. pour into 4-6 molds, and freeze until solid. unmold by first running a little cold water over the outside of molds, then gently pulling the sticks.

i have never made such a creamy delectable frozen treat. you can eliminate, or cut down on the sugar, the bananas are plenty sweet. it's also nice to puree berries, strain out the seeds, and pour them into the molds.

cosmo asks for a popsicle about 7 times a day. i actually don't think he would care if they were made of frozen water, he just really likes toting around, and slurping on, something frozen.

we learned a song in cosmo's music class called "summer-dog-days," and the last line goes:

pop (make popping sound by slapping hand against open mouth) sicle melt...so lick it!

wlb gadget of the year award

okay, so i don't really have a gadget-of-the-year-award system here on this blog, or any award system at all, frankly, but i have been so impressed with this simple set of useful objects, that i had to make a blog entry about it. and besides, it's green, and using it will reduce your carbon footprint! honest! i swear! well, it will reduce the amount of plastic wrap you use, IF you use plastic wrap at all. it can also save on dish washing, which saves water, and energy used to heat water, not to mention human labor. and...it can keep your food stored in the ceramic, porcelain, glass, china, metal or wooden dishes that you serve food in, rather than in plastic tupperware, rubbermaid, recycled yogurt tubs etc. there is concern about toxic chemicals leaching into food that is stored in plastic. these handy bowl bonnets, as i like to call them, while made of plastic themselves, allow one to simply cover any dish, and stick it in the fridge (the food doesn't touch the plastic). they are so easy to use, and can be washed and used over and over and over again.

my grandmother used these when she was alive. i remember them from childhood. i kept seeing them hanging from those little racks they insert onto various shelves throughout the grocery store-- not really in the household object department, but just scattered around, so you see them, and buy them on an impulse. they are cheap, so i finally decided (on an impulse) to get some, about a year ago. they come with 5 or 6 bonnets in a packet, of various sizes, (one of them makes an excellent shower cap for cosmo's baby doll) and the range of sizes is perfect for keeping large or small amounts of leftovers in the fridge. they are flexible enough, with the elastic bands, that each size fits a number of different dishes, so there's less searching for that elusive lid to match the container. plus, they are quite adorable, in an old-fashioned sense.

i love them. if i had ads on this blog, i would want to have an ad for these.
i found some online here, here and here, but i bet you can find them in your grocer's aisle. not sure which aisle, just keep your eyes peeled.