indoor sports

cosmo started soccer lessons this week, at the city parks and rec's indoor facility. he took to it right away, ran out onto the field with no hesitation, and started kicking a ball around. for most of the other group activities we have tried, he's a bit more reluctant. i guess he is ready now.



they had a number of activities focused on the olympics for the past two weeks at his pre-school, and we watched some hockey, and other sports on tv. as if on cue, our family fun magazine arrived, with an idea for making a soccer field out of a pizza box, and using straws to blow a cotton ball into the goal. cosmo instisted on looking through the whole magazine with me, and every other page he would say "we should try to make that sometime!" the soccer box project looked like one of the easier ones, so we ordered pizza for dinner one night, and i saved the box. i failed to line mine with green poster board, as suggested, but did mark it with some white electrical tape i had on hand. we found the cotton ball to be harder to move, and not nearly as funny as a tiny craft chick (made, i guess, from a snippet of fluffy pipe cleaner, with some little bits glued on to make it into a chick-like-thing).



prior to this construction, carl and cosmo had transformed the dining room table into a make-shift air hockey table. they used a marble instead of a puck, on account of cosmo's fondness for marbles. the edges were lined with blocks.



i hope these indoor sports can hold us over until some true spring weather hits. i am so ready to get back on the bikes, and into the garden.

let the gardens begin!

we've got green things growing in our basement! i started some seeds for cold-weather plants: brussel sprouts, leeks, parsley--and i also brought in a few of the seedlings that are barely hanging on outside in the cold frame. so, we have some lovely cabbage and broccoli starts warming up under our new grow light.



i didn't think it was possible to be more excited about the gardening season than i was last year...or the year before, for that matter. but, i am. this year, i have a better home garden space, and i am doing an internship with mother hubbard's cupboard--in the youth gardening program at the banneker center. this means i have two gardens to play in, and i get to teach a group of eight-year-olds about the joys of growing your own food!



plants are amazing things, ya know? last week, we needed some fresh thyme and sage leaves for a recipe. i went out into the back yard, to the spot where our thyme plant lives, brushed aside a half a foot of snow, found the layer of straw i'd put on top, in the late fall (hadn't remembered that i'd done that), and there i found those tiny, tear-drop-shaped leaves, all fresh and green and ready for soup! such a treasure. the sage was easier to spot, it's still standing, with silvery leaves peeking up out of the snow.



muddied my boots and warmed my heart.

my korean grandmother?

when carl makes a good pasta sauce, or homemade gnocci, he jokes "ahh, just like my italian grandmother used to make." he makes the same joke for any other dishes we prepare, which originate from far away lands. lately, we have been honoring my "korean grandmother." this winter, i find myself dead-set on perfecting a couple of korean dishes that i am particularly fond of. i am not necessarily interested in preparing them in the most authentic manner, as i am attempting to replicate something i have tasted before.

*

when i co-taught a food preservation class with stephanie last fall, we did a hands-on demonstation of lacto-fementation. you don't use milk (as i initially wondered), the lacto refers to the lactic acid that is released from vegetables when you agitate them with coarse salt and allow them to ferment at room temperature for a couple of days. those acids serve to preserve the food, and saturate it in irresistible, complex flavors. this process is used in the making of kimchi, a korean sort of sour kraut, which is usually extremely spicy-hot. my friend erica shared some from a (not spicy) batch she had made, and i almost devoured the entire quart jar on the spot. there was something nearly addictive about the taste. it was crunchy, slightly sour, and utterly compelling. my taste buds just couldn't get enough. since then, i have been trying to duplicate it. my first batch wasn't even close. i used something like nappa cabbage, only leafier, and it lacked the crispness i was hoping for. when i tried again, i used a green cabbage head, and this recipe, with a great deal of modification. for instance, i didn't hug my cabbage, but i did infuse it with good vibes--and, apparently too much red chili for my taste. it actually turned out really well, but as it aged, the heat increased, to the point where a table spoon at a time was all i could handle. but, i am encouraged that i came close, and i will keep trying. that recipe calls for fruit, which seems odd to me. i skipped all the fruit, except the lemon, and next time, i won't include it either.
*also pictured here are tsukemono, from my "japanese grandmother." but that is for another post.

I've also been making korean-style vegetable pancakes (pa jun). i first tasted these at a lovely little korean bar-b-que in, of all places, the town i grew up in, in southern missouri. as a vegetarian, the pancakes were pretty much my only option at that place, but they were terribly delicious. it has been twenty years, and i have never forgotten them. i only started making them at home this fall, after tasting some less-than-satisfying ones at a korean church fundraiser, here in town. i looked up recipes on the web, found this informative, and slightly amusing video, then started experimenting on my own. i find that making a bunch of small ones, is easier for me than a single, pan-sized one, and also offers more surface area for the crispy edges, which is the whole point, as far as i'm concerned. they are very easy to make, which surprised me, because i have a habit of really messing up breakfast pancakes. what's different about these is that you're not going for fluffy and light. it's flat and crispy you're after. so, you can flatten them out with the spatula, as they are browning in the skillet. we keep fizzy water by the case in our house, so when i found a recipe that included seltzer, i knew it was the one for me. you can use whatever vegetable combination appeals to you, as long as it includes tons of scallions. below is what i prefer. serve with a simple soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil mixture, for dipping, and of course, kimchi on the side.

mmmm. just like my korean grandmother, in springfield, missouri!

pa jun (korean pancake)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 cup seltzer water (plain water is fine too)

1 egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of white pepper

two bunches of scallions, sliced in half lengthwise, then chopped diagonally, about 2 inches long

1 carrot, julienne cut
a few mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/2 hot green chili

olive oil

first, prepare all the vegetables. then mix the batter. add the vegetables and stir, just enough to coat them in the batter. heat some oil (a tablespoon or so) in a heavy skillet. once the oil is hot, drop about a half cup of batter in, and spread the vegetables out. repeat, for as many as will fit in your skillet. cook over medium high heat, until the bottom browns nicely, then flip, to brown the other side. at this point, you can press down on the pancake, with at spatula, to flatten, and spread any uncooked batter out into the pan. add more oil if needed. when both sides are crispy, remove from heat. these are best when eaten just off the stove. you can keep them warming on a baking pan in the oven while you cook the rest, but they tend to lose their crunch.

sweet dreams

we've recently found ourselves in a bedding crisis. i wake almost every morning with an aching back. often, i can't wait to get out of bed, no matter how early it is, because the bed is just so damned uncomfortable. we have a double bed. a futon.

throughout most of my adult life, i have slept on futons. there was a brief futon break in grad school, after i purchased the cheapest possible mattress and box spring upon arriving in houston. but it gave out quickly, as one might imagine. j and i shared an extremely soft mattress set for a while, it nearly broke my spine. the futon we have been sleeping on for the past four years isn't any better, and it seems to have gotten worse lately. or, maybe we are just getting old.

it doesn't help that a certain little person finds his way into the bed at some point in the wee hours of the morning. i wouldn't really mind that, if only the bed were a bit bigger.plus, carl's feet hang over the end of the bed, for crissake!

in a desperate last ditch effort, i switched our bed futon, with the one on the couch. it was lumpier than the other one, and seemed to sort of turn up on the edges--like a raft. horrible.

we both agreed that we'd like to get a king-sized bed, and a nice one. problem is, we don't have that kind of money. anything we could afford would probably not be an improvement on what we currently have. we found ourselves torn between the realities of our financial situation, and our belief that we should be kind to our bodies.

then a little angel posted on facebook that good friends of hers were selling a like-new, high-dollar, stearns & foster, king-sized mattress and box spring for a hundred bucks. though the post was over a day old, and someone had already responded, i called her immediately. within the hour, i had purchased the (immaculate) bed, and arranged to have it picked up by yet another angel (with a truck). the owners even threw in a non-crinkly mattress protector, a mattress pad, two sets of king-sized sheets, and a bed spread-- all in excellent condition. i told them that i felt like we'd won the lottery.

last night, we had the best night's sleep in years--maybe decades! it is so firm, spacious and wonderful in every way, i can hardly believe it's actually sitting there, in our very own bedroom. since he's only had a chance to bounce on beds-with-springs during vacations, cosmo, too was thrilled. our heartfelt thanks to all those who made this possible. we rest easy, because of you.

sick day

• snuggling up in my comfy sweater and fluffy orange blanket
• fever
• cosmo reading sometimes to me (all the way through), as i rest on the couch
• aches and pains all over
• carl's yummy soup, with sprouted chickpeas from stephanie
• shivering
• a beautiful snow on the ground, and in the trees
• wicked soar throat
• carl drawing an extra hot bath for me, including a pot of boiled water
• red wine in a "puck" glass
• seinfeld re-runs + rachel maddow
• feeling loved

winter light

after living for two years in a shoe box of a house, with no space for a dinning room table, we now have a nice open "great room," and a proper dining room table. trouble is, the lighting is all wrong. yes, there is an overhead light, but i typically despise overhead lighting, especially this type, which filled every room of my childhood. my childhood not being entirely pleasant, to say the least, i tend to go for "accent lights," and basically, any form of lighting other than overhead.



the overhead lamp in this room also happens to be offset from where one would probably choose to place a dining room table, or, at least where we chose to place our table (and, what's up with that allen wrench in the fixture?). it would be easy enough to hang a nice pendant lamp over the table, either a swag type, with the cord draped over to the wall outlet, or, i could even conceal a cord in the oh-so-attractive dropped-tile-ceiling . but so far, i haven't been able to locate an affordable pendant lamp that i like the looks of. i've strung white christmas lights in two locations, bracketing the table, which increased visibility considerably, but it is still too dark to eat by without candles on the table, we found that two canles weren't enough.



luckily, i happened upon this candelabra at the goodwill a couple of weeks ago. we may end up spending our entire pendant lamp budget on taper candles, but, by god, we can see our food! plus, all those candles help warm the room, and cosmo gets a big kick out of lighting, and blowing out each of those flames every night.

family dance

only in bloomington would there be a big, family-friendly dance in the middle of winter, right in the neighborhood, in the gymnasium of harmony school. it was sunday afternoon. it was cold. it is not easy to get cosmo out of the house in such weather. but i am so glad we did.



live music, easy, group dances, led by a gentle woman, who clearly knew what she was doing.
the place was packed with adults and children of all ages, sizes and abilities. the repetitive nature of the dances allowed everyone to pick things up at her own pace, and the entire event was about having fun. not about showing off dance skills, or even learning to dance. it was about community, and inclusion, and running around in a big space, in the dead of winter with family and friends.

cosmo was intrigued at the beginning, but didn't want to hit the dance floor right away. after one dance, i pulled him out there, held him, and swung him round and round at the "swing your partner" part. he giggled with glee, and was in for the rest of the time. he clung pretty close to carl and i, refused to partner with anyone but us, but he did participate and declared afterwards that it was "really fun." i know we will be going to the next one (and, i will bring my camera). if you live in town, hope to see you there.

home for the holidays

as excited as i was to not be traveling for the holidays, by the end of the 2 week break from cosmo's pre-school, i thought my head might explode (to coin a julie phrase). it seemed like cosmo hit some new, belligerent phase (i've recently heard the term "ferocious fours" does this ring a bell with anyone?) just as the break began. the three of us cooped-up in the house, eating holiday sweets, for days on end was not working--for any of us. the bitter cold weather wasn't exactly inviting us to leave the house, but carl and i realized pretty quickly that we had to be pro-active, and make plans to get out and do something every day.



so, when cosmo and i weren't making cookies, gingerbread houses, or this caramel popcorn; and when carl and cosmo weren't busy playing checkers, or constructing elaborate marble mazes, we took little outings.





on christmas day, we went for a walk on the clear creek trail. apparently, the 15 minutes of physical exercise, in the great outdoors was just too exhausting for cosmo, so he had to be carried on carl's shoulders for a good portion of it--until i came up with a "catch me if you can" game, and we all ran the last stretch back to the car.



we went to the wonderlab one day, and on another day, we resorted to going to the mall. the mall can be sort of entertaining, if you aren't actually shopping. i'm always up for people-watching, and we got a bouncy ball from one of the gumball-style machines, and rolled it down the ramps (keeping our eyes peeled for mall cops, of course; cosmo actually got busted for this once before). then carl and cosmo rode the escalator at macy's, up and down a good 10-20 times while i browsed the hand bag section and felt relieved that my particular taste exempts me from being tempted by high priced, fashionable leather goods.

my favorite thing we ended up doing over the break was a day trip to indy, to the children's museum. it was insanely crowded, and we, frankly, didn't plan well. we arrived, hungry, around noon, and thought we'd pop into the museum cafe for a quick bite. we grabbed some pre-made sandwiches, got through the line, and headed into the seating area.

i liked the idea of eating by the big windows, but there was not a single seat available, at any table, anywhere, in the entire (huge) dining room. it felt like i was back in the high school cafeteria, searching frantically for a friendly face, or just an open chair. we ended up sitting on the floor, by a couch, and having sort of a picnic (that's what we told cosmo, when he protested). the food was, surprisingly, decent.



it was worth fighting the crowds. we had never been before, and though we saw only a tiny fraction of the sprawling fun-land, we all had a great time. carl and i were very relaxed, and let cosmo lead the way. we started on the fourth floor, where the carousel is. we went through the mirror maze, and then cosmo discovered a holiday themed, dickensonion diorama-type-thing, where people were moving past shop windows of a miniature town, on a track, or belt. he was utterly fascinated by it. there were also kids sledding down a hill, also on a track. he could not stop looking at it, and he wanted to know where the little figures went, and how the whole thing worked, and i tried to lift him up so he could see more of the mechanics of the thing...but it was mostly concealed.



he waited patiently in line to ride the carosel, and insisted on riding it alone, then he headed straight back to that diaorama! he would have stayed there the rest of the day, but we finally convinced him to check out some other areas, and we moved to the science room. he stopped short at the entrance, where the kinetic-contraption-ball-run-machine was.



i swear to you, he was at that thing for an hour, or more. we peeled him away to move some rubber rocks around in a hopper, but he really just wanted to be at that "marble maze." it was very similar to the one they have at the wonderlab, but the input points, where the kids get to make things happen, were much more engaging and interactive. cosmo was really good at waiting patiently for his turn to move some nob, or push a button, and after he had been at one for a while, he would graciously move away for another kid to have a turn. at some point, he told carl, "i just wanna watch," and he did. forEVER.



i guess a place like this, with so many different kinds of activities to choose from, presents the opportunity to learn something new about your kid. it was one of those moments for me, where i realized that my child is his own person, with his own predilections, and passions. i've known for a long time that he likes marble mazes, but here, it was really striking to see JUST HOW MUCH he loves these kinds of things, even in the face of all this other very cool stuff. i stood there, against an adjacent pane of plexi-glass, and watched him, watching the contraption. i was as amazed by him as he must have been by that machine. i shed a few tears, and when it was time to leave, so did cosmo.

all aboard!

the snow is falling outside the window. packages are sent. the tree is lovingly decorated with what cosmo calls "ordaments." we are settling into our first christmas together, at home. our home.

cosmo and i took an exciting trip to north texas, to have an early christmas with family there. cosmo returned loaded down with gifts, candy, and stories (told breathlessly) of an indoor water park, a magic wand game,

and a frozen town of whoville. not to mention his first ever sighting of an actual falling star! we got to star gaze out at nani and papa's place in the country, during a meteor shower. unforgettable.

we also now have in our possession a copy of the polar express (the movie, not the book). this has been a favorite of cosmo's, viewed over and over again, every time we visit nani and papa. cosmo doesn't really watch movies. most of them are too scary for him, or too long, too dialog heavy to hold his interest. he really clicked with the polar express though, the first time he saw it, and was not frightened by the hair-raising roller coaster scenes. i think the fact that there is no evil bad guy makes a big difference too. cosmo's understanding of santa is that "it's just a story," but, it is a really engaging story, and the polar express presents a convincing image of the whole operation. last night, in celebration of the last day of pre-school (breaking for the holidays), we had our first ever "family movie night." we watched polar express. carl had never seen it, and cosmo wanted to make sure he didn't miss a single second of it. then he would tell carl what was gonna happen next, and occasionally, we'd look over at him, and he'd be mouthing the words, as if he had the whole thing memorized.

 

to counter the full-on indoctrination into christmas, this year, i thought it would be nice to acknowledge channuka too. i crafted a simple menorah out of a nice chunk of cedar, and found some channuka candles at cvs. cosmo lit the candles each night, and we sang "o channuka." we played the dreidel game a few nights, after dinner, and on the last night, i made latkes, which we ate in front of the TV, while watching polar express. how's that for blending traditions?

[updated, january 4, 2010-- my computer is back in my lap, and here are the photos] soon, i'll post something about holiday crafting, once everyone has received their gifts.

season's greetings to you and yours!

shop local!

before you start clicking items off your holiday list on amazon, consider heading downtown to your local book shop, (if there are any left in your town, that is). we are lucky, here in bloomington, to have a number of great ones, including an all volunteer run, non-profit--boxcar books!



i had a few titles on my list, that i wanted to get for some children in our family. i started to order them online, and then i remembered that the book corner, on the square, will give a 10% discount if your total exceeds twelve dollars, and 20%, if you spend over sixty dollars. if they don't have what you are looking for, they will order it for you, lickity split. plus, you get to interact with real people, browse through books (with pages), and bump into friends and neighbors on the street.

support local booksellers! keep downtown vibrant! shop local!
ok, i'll stop telling you what to do now.

birthday boy

we had a little birthday party for cosmo at PDO (parent's day out, his pre-school) yesterday. later, at bath time...

cosmo: i was quiet at PDO today.

carl: oh yeah, why's that?

cosmo: because i was so famous.

november

tom waits has a song about it.
many significant, life changing events have occurred for me, in the month of november. one year, my apartment caught on fire, and i had to move out. oh, and four years ago, in november, i had a baby! this november, i'm writing 50,000 words in thirty days. i have my doubts that the collection of letters, arranged into words, placed together haphazardly into sentences, over the next few weeks, is going to resemble anything close to what anyone would call a novel, but at least i'll have something to work with. i'll have 50k words that i didn't have before. and, i must say, i love nanowrimo. it's just the kick in the pants i needed to get this crazy story onto the page. i am writing every day, over 2000 words, and i am not editing. i am not reading what i have written. ahhh. it is so freeing.

cosmo had fun trick-or-treating, but seems to enjoy, even more, playing with the candy. he likes to sort it, arrange it, catapult it with a yard stick, move it from one container to another, build with boxes of dots and milk duds, toss laffy-taffy into a cut-out flap in a card board box, count hershey's kisses, and make letters out of skinny tootsie rolls. he never eats any without permission, and when he is allowed to have a piece or two, he just can't. decide. which. one. he wants. so, we showed him how to do "eeny meeny miney mo," "bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish," and "engine engine number nine," so that the decision making is left to chance. he loves this process, and will line up six (or nine, or thirty-seven) pieces of halloween candy, and then, through a long, arduous process of elimination, pick the one piece he will have. he alternates between the three rhymes, and says, "the one that wins, i will eat." he is always thrilled with the winner, even if a milkyway gets eliminated in the first round, and the piece left standing is one, solitary dot. i love the way he says, "MY mother says to pick the VERY best one, and YOU are not IT!"

speaking of tootsie rolls, cosmo looked better in my borrowed costume than i did, but he couldn't walk in it-- just roll. i loved the costume though, for its ease. no make up, no wig, no special clothes, just put it on, and you have an instant, and rather impressive, costume. "cheers!" to whomever crafted it, and "thanks!" to my good neighbors for letting me wear it. cosmo's ghostly cheesecloth kept drifting off his hoodie, but he didn't seem to care, one way or another. the costume was incidental to him. he still can't get over the fact that one day a year, you go out at night, knock on people's doors, they open them, and hand you candy. how can this be? he doesn't run around excitedly, but rather wanders from house to house, sort of stunned, and amazed. he says his obligatory "thank-you," but no smiles. carl called his own, last-minute costume "the haunted shepherd," he was wearing a sheep-herder's hat, from kyrgyzstan.

back at home, we were greeted by these jack-o-lanterns that cosmo and i made out of plastic water bottles. i hope to do a tutorial on those, in another post.

we checked out an awesome book from the library called "applesauce season." it's all about making applesauce, which is something carl especially loves to do. so this time, we got cosmo involved in it from start to finish, including picking out the apples at the farmer's market, and running the cooked apples through the food mill. he really got into it, in part, i suspect, because it is one of his favorite foods.

cosmo has been surprising us, on a regular basis, with his reading skills. i catch myself saying, "you can read that? so, you're a reader? you read now? okay then..." and, i have been saying this for months and months. i guess i have to face the fact that he's learning to read! very exciting. i have even seen him in his room, quietly turning the pages, and reading simple books, all the way through. gasp! he seems to get a lot of satisfaction from it, and tries to read words everywhere we go. he also made a huge leap last week, in his grasp of addition and subtraction. it started with one of the pbs kids games he plays online, but he needed help. i grabbed 5 pens, and showed him how to figure out the answer to a simple addition problem, using the pens, and counting. he was absolutely giddy when he got it. witnessing his little brain grow and expand is one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

(that's 813 words, FYI)