neat

i'm a sucker for any books published by parent's magazine press, in the late 1960's, early 70's. why, you ask? because those were books that i had as a kid. my favorite books.



the first child-related purchase i made after finding out i was pregnant with cosmo, was parent's magazine press books i found on ebay. titles i'd loved as a child. i could not afford the few copies i could find of jelly beans for breakfast. fortunately and unfortunately by remi charlip was also out of my price range, but i did get my nostalgia fix with arm and arm (also by charlip) and a few other wonderful stories. now, i scan the bookshelves at thrift stores and yard sales, hoping to pick up a few more titles. one, which i found at a good will here in town, is called the awful mess. it isn't one i had as a kid, but is of the same general quality, and i love it. it is about a boy who crafts elaborate towers and tunnels and jungles in his room, which the rest of the family regard as "an awful mess." the conclusion of the book (spoiler warning!) involves the boy having a new friend over. the boys crawl through the tunnels, and share caramels at the end, and the friend says, "i like your room, it's neat."



i said that to cosmo today, and meant it. it is really neat and tidy in there, thanks to these awesome shelves i made this week. i've been meaning to make these for six months or so, finally got around to it. nothing like house guests (arriving this weekend), to get one motivated to finish projects. they were fairly easy to build. however, since i skimped on the "grade" of pine boards, i got some seriously warped and otherwise messed up boards that i had to work around, but, the finished product, i feel perfectly happy with. it was so much fun to fill in all the slots with toys, and art supplies, and TALL books (which had been lying on their sides, since we had no tall bookshelf space before), and to have more of cosmo's stuff down low, where he can actually can reach it. his clothes really had no proper home before this either, and, while i think i need to add a couple of shelves to the tall one, it is such a huge improvement. the new shelving also allowed me to de-clutter all the other storage areas, like thes built-in open shelves, and and the closet.

oh, and please note the "feet" of the lower shelf--they are made of wooden beads (which came from cosmo's beading set, which originally came from one of those beads-on-wire-tracks toys, which someone gave us when he was a baby, which i took apart one day, and saved the beads). they add a subtle color accent.

the stuff i build is always very simple, rarely painted, in this case, not even a clear coat. i'm just way too impatient to install the thing, and put it to work. i can't be bothered to wait for paint to dry! one of my neighbors said they looked "scandinavian." i'll take that as a compliment. even if she did mean that they look like they came from ikea. my other secret dream job is to be a furniture designer for ikea...

i also have to work within the confines of the tools i have available to me. i can borrow a table saw from our neighbors, but i'd rather not, so i avoid designs that would involve a table saw. recently i made a tv stand (so that cosmo could have his little table back) and i made it way too deep, primarily because i could find pre-cut plywood pieces at 2ft x2ft. it was close enough to what i had drawn, and so much easier than dealing with sheets of plywood, and getting it cut to size. the sides consist of small pieces, assembled to make a panel. i actually get a big kick out of coming up with the simplest and cheapest design, with the tools (and skills) i have at my disposal. constraints always force creative solutions.

SPRING BREAK!

carl and i love to shout SPRING BREAK! and joke about trips to ft. lauderdale, fl, to sip daiquiris and play beach volley ball with a bunch of drunk college students.



our actual spring break (thank god!) involves puttering around in the yard, taking walks in our neighborhood to check out pussy willows and crocuses in bloom, and a day trip to columbus, indiana, which is an hour away from here.

cosmo has been looking forward to this little jaunt. so much so, he would wake up, in the days leading up to the trip, and ask, "is it columbus day?" as it turns out, we went on st. patrick's day. the main attraction for us (besides the world-class architecture) is a children's museum called kid'scommons, which we were told featured a big house, where kids can explore all the inner workings, including plumbing. we had asked our librarian for some books with good drawings for pre-schoolers who ask "where does the water go?" and "what's under the house? what's inside the wall?" she suggested kid'scommons, and mentioned a giant toilet that kids slide down. that was all cosmo needed to hear. he could not stop talking about that giant toilet slide.

when we finally got on the road, we told cosmo we would be stopping for lunch before we went to the museum. he was not happy about any delays, but ended up falling asleep in the car, and lunchtime was just what he needed to wake up, and get ready for the big adventure. we walked from the cafe to the museum, and passed a block of "tree cozies," a public art project that we all enjoyed seeing. it reminded us of the houston group, knitta, please! though, obviously not exactly subversive, since it was sponsored by the local arts council...



we arrived at kid'scommons, and cosmo settled into a geometric puzzle(wedgits), which he had recently played with at a friend's house. a little later he found a ball track, and was mesmerized by that for a while before heading upstairs to the house exhibit. he found a plumbing demonstration that involved, what else? a pneumatic ball maze, cosmo's favorite sort of thing. he was not interested in leaving that area for a long time. in fact, he came back to it again and again.




when we finally made our way up to the giant toilet slide, cosmo was afraid to go down it. i went first, and he and carl met me at the bottom. it was a tight fit for me, but i made it. we mentioned it a few more times, but he became insistent that he did not want to go down the toilet slide. he creeped around, in all the nooks and crannies of the "house," which i thought was very nicely done. we made our way around the rest of the upstairs, played with a bunch of other stuff, including this awesome gear toy, and his first lincoln-log house. he ended up back at the ball track downstairs, and stayed there for what seemed like hours. we all had a great time, though you can't tell from the photos. cosmo usually looks so serious when he plays intently.






he was awestruck by the old player piano. we requested dueling banjo's from the motion picture "deliverance." not a piece originally intended for the piano, but amazing nonetheless. cosmo just stood about 3 feet away from the piano, hands clasped, in rapt attention, through the entire song.



on the drive home, cosmo kept coming up with new ways to inform us that he would never want to go down the toilet slide. my favorite was, "i don't want to go down the toilet slide all the days we go to the children's museum." we assured him that we got it, and that he never had to go down the toilet slide, ever, ever.

even though it was the driving force behind the trip to columbus.
it did occur to me, even before we went, that this is the stuff of pre-school nightmares--going down the toilet. part of his curiosity about it probably stems from his fears. oh, and i just remembered my own dream on this theme! guess it runs in the family.

once we got home, cosmo did some more hands on exploration of water and plumbing with the garden hose. these shots were taken just prior to the complete soaking of all clothing, and stripping down for the first naked-run-around-the-yard of the season.



i highly recommend kid'scommons, and i know we will be going back. it is so close, and such a pleasant drive through brown county. for those of you who live nearby, during the month of march, a wonderlab card gets you buy-one-get-one-free admission.

how's your spring (break, or no break) shaping up?

responders response

i had a dream about this last night, so i guess that means it's time to settle the give-away list.

i will send something handmade to robin, teresa, alli, mep and bethany. i think most of those on this list will do a swap, which means they will send me something handmade too! yay!

oh, and i may send something to julie, just cuz.

salt pig

if you'd asked me a couple of weeks ago, i wouldn't have known what a salt pig is. now, i have one nestled next to the stove in our kitchen. i've been wanting one of these for years, but never knew what they were called. i've seen one at a friends house shaped like an egg. its basically a way to keep coarse salt out in the kitchen, where you can just grab a pinch while you're cooking.



when cosmo was an infant, our dear friend michael went to hawaii (where he was born), and brought home, as a gift, some red salt from the islands. for years it has sat on our spice shelf, unused, it its bag. i've often thought we needed one of those egg-shaped salt dishes, so we could set it out, and reach for it more easily. last week i went searching for one online, and found this from a potter on etsy. i saw a few mass produced ones that i liked, but decided this would be a great object to look for on etsy since i could probably find a beautiful, handmade one, at an affordable price. i was right. this one is the closest, in shape, to what i would make if i were a potter. i love it.



i love the whole idea of the salt pig. i guess it is so-called because of the snout-like opening (more obvious in some other designs)*. you can rest a small spoon in there, but i chose this one, in part, because the opening was big enough for my hand to reach in.

in my online search i found this list of reasons why people might want a salt pig:**

1. Ceramic interior keeps salt from clumping in steamy kitchens or humid climates
2. The large opening is an easy way to access salt while cooking ... either use a spoon or reach in and grab a pinch.
3. Keeps dust or other stuff from falling onto the salt. The side opening keeps debris from settling on an open bowl.
4. People think they are cute.

the nice thing about etsy, is the personal touch of direct contact with the artist, who included a complementary, tiny vase with my order. this is my first etsy purchase. i'm sure it won't be my last. one of these days, i'll open my own etsy shop, but that's another story altogether.




* just found this comment on chowhound: Most people seem to say that the opening resembles the snout of a pig & that's where the name came from. However an old Scottish definition of "pig" is a jar or pot made of earthenware.

** found this at chowhound.chow.com

fair weather blogger

my garden blog has been neglected all winter. it only makes sense, right? what is there to write about? my indoor herb garden died sometime in december. the cold frame was a bust. 'nuf said.

but now, it's spring! at least it felt that way today. i got my hands dirty, and wrote about it.

for more garden news from cake, check out rake shovel hoe.

first responders

i've participated in a couple of meme's on this blog, but as of yet, no give-aways. i liked the sound of this one that i just saw on craftknife, and i am rushing to get my post up, so that i can be one of her first five responders:

the first 5 people who respond to this post will get something made by me...i'll decide what to make for you, and you will receive it by the end of the year, or sooner. you won't know what it is, or when you will get it.

sound fun?

here's what you have to do:
repost this meme on your blog and and send out 5 surprises of your own. these surprises can be anything....a piece of art, a photo, a poem...whatever you choose...

let's review: if you want to receive something special from me, be one of the first 5 bloggers to post this meme on your blog and then comment back here. oh, and you have to actually do the meme, as in, you need to send out surprises to 5 other folks. got it? cool.

ciabatta

oh. yeah. that's. what. i'm. talkin'. about.
this one is half whole wheat, half white flour, and was very easy to make.

whole grain bread

since i can't garden much in the winter (though i DO try...) i've taken to exploring the art of bread baking. i've done some yeast bread baking in the past. a few years ago i discovered that i could make a decent, crusty, sour(ish)dough, baguette with very little effort. it's quite satisfying to pull one of those out of the oven, just in time for dinner. sadly, there's just not much nutritional value in white flour, and my experience with home baked whole grain breads left a lot to be desired. in particular, they seemed to always be too heavy, and too sweet.


some library patron was looking at this book while hanging out with a little one in the playroom at the downtown branch one day, last fall. they must have decided it wasn't for them, because they left it behind, and i picked it up. it was exactly what i was looking for (though i was not actively looking, just vaguely thinking about it now and then): a way to make yummy, crusty, artisan loaves of bread using only whole grain flours. i checked out the book, and started reading it. from the beginning. the famous baker, peter reinhart (well, famous in the artisan bread baking community...), tells the story of his journey to whole grain baking, and my, what a journey it has been.


getting ready to mix the soaker, getting ready to mix the pre-doughs into the final dough

fascinating, in ways i couldn't have imagined, he goes into the chemistry of bread baking, gluten development, enzymatic activity, delayed fermentation, the purpose of a making a soaker, the difference between a wild yeast starter, and a biga, making a sponge, how to mix your pre-doughs into your final dough, the autolyse method, and oh, so much more. to an experienced baker, it must be a completely different read than it was for me. he explains what happens in traditional methods, and then how his method differs, and why. he talks about all the test bakers that he sent recipe after recipe to, and how he incorporated their feedback, to finally come up with the wonderful recipes included in his book. it took me several renewals, returning, then checking out again before i even tried to make one of the breads. carl was starting to wonder if it was JUST a research project, or if he was ever going to get a chance to sink his teeth into some homemade bread.


before and after shots of the bread dough, proofing in the pan

one day in late november, a woman i barely know, showed up at my door with a healthy, whole wheat, wild yeast starter, that she had kept going for 2 years. i decided to work it into reinhart's master formula for whole wheat sandwich bread, treating it as the mother starter he describes. it worked fine, and the bread was delicious. i made two loves: one in a loaf pan, and one on a baking stone. the loaf pan one was higher, a bit lighter, and, i think, a bit better.


whole wheat sandwich loaf

then the book came due again, no renewals. then i went on a trip. then another trip. i neglected the starter, did not refresh it, or even check on it, for weeks and weeks. when i finally took a peek, it was moldy, and destroyed. but, i had received the book as a christmas present, so, i started again, making my own wild yeast starter, from scratch. in fact, i made two. using two different methods(pineapple-juice-based, and mash-based), to compare. i ended up with two separate mother starters in my fridge. since they need to be refreshed regularly, i have been making bread, often as i refresh a starter, and the results have been exciting. i made two more sandwich loaves, a rye metiel, and a straun, incorporating quinoa and cooked brown rice. the straun was a freestanding batard. it spread out considerably on the baking stone, but was fairly light in texture, and so moist and flavorful.


straun, and a close up shot of a free-standing whole wheat loaf

i couldn't distinguish a difference in the two starters i had going in the fridge. the author says they are interchangeable, and since they both seemed healthy, i let one of them go. next i made a straun using rolled oats and cornmeal. carl and i both agreed that this one wasn't as good as the others i'd made. it had a tangy bite to it that neither of us appreciated, and i found it to be too dry, and too heavy.


sandwich loaf, made into sandwiches, and grilled cheese, with yummy tomato soup (carl made the soup)

i had to admit to myself that all of the breads i'd made from this book, were too heavy for my taste, and i wasn't impressed with the quality of the crumb. i wanted to try a more rustic type of bread-- chewy, with big holes. and, i decided i wanted to try one of reinhart's transitional breads, which means they have some white flour mixed in with the whole grain. i figure this is really the only way i am going to get the kind of bread i'm looking for. so, i tried his transitional country hearth bread. the dough was lovely to work with, and satisfying to knead. one of the complaints i have had about the other breads in this book, is that the dough is very wet and sticky. he recommends wetting your hands as you knead the dough, to prevent sticking. i guess it works, but it is so unpleasant. this dough, by contrast, was soft and supple, and felt so good in my hands. this dough also did not require the wild yeast starter i have in my fridge. instead i made a biga, with comercial yeast, and left it in the fridge overnight, for a slow rise. the dough is more that 50% whole wheat, which is still a lot more hearty than most commercial breads that i like.


transitional country hearth bread

i made three mini baguettes, which puffed up in the oven, forming lovely rounded loaves, with crispy crusts and superb flavor. while this bread was not perfect, it is definitely the direction i want to head in with my future bread baking.

i skimmed through the book, picking out breads that i wanted to try, and found that all of them call for the biga instead of the wild yeast starter. i find that maintaining the starter is a pain in the ass, there is a lot of waste (i have to throw out 75% of it, each time i refresh it), and it takes up tons of room in our small fridge. since i do not really prefer the breads that are made with it, i think i am going to let it go.


my bread journal

i've been keeping a bread journal, to keep track of the various schedules for each bread, what kinds of grains i have tried, and my thoughts about each bread. it's a great winter hobby, warms up the house, and, let's face it, homemade bread, fresh, slightly warm, with butter on it...can't be beat.

a different kind of romance

i spent my valentine's day in bed.

i basically couldn't move. i woke up with a tummy ache, which i thought was a leftover from the night before when i ate a few too many dove chocolates. within an hour, i was ache-y all over, and feverish. i never did throw up, but i had other gastrointestinal symptoms in the morning (and let's just leave it at that...). as the day wore on, i felt worse and worse. i ran a fever as high as 103.5 (according to our unreliable instruments of measure), and every muscle in my body hurt so badly, it was all i could do to lift my head up to sip my orange juice and fizzy water.

carl took cosmo to bryan park in the afternoon, to meet some friends. cosmo fell in the creek, and carl ran home, cosmo in one arm, the bike in the other (why didn't he just ask our friends to bring the bike? don't know. panic, maybe?) and by the time they got here, cosmo was crying, and had VERY cold feet, legs and hands. it is amazing how all the pain left my body for those moments when i was rushing to get cosmo's clothes off, and get him into the warmish tub, dried off, and then snuggled up next to me to warm up. mommy adrenaline must have kicked in. as soon as he was goofing around again, and clearly over it, all my symptoms came flooding back. i finally took some ibuprofen (i like to put it off as long as possible, let my body do what it needs to do to fight the illness) and the pain was dulled enough for me to get a good night's sleep.

not the most romantic valentine's day, i know. but i must say, i fell in love with my sweetie all over again as he took loving care of cosmo, me, and EVERYTHING else while i was down.

woke up this morning feeling miraculously better.



so, we got to make our valentine's day cookies a day late, and i brought most of them to an awesome clothes swap, where i scored the sweater i needed yesterday: a soft, bulky, roomy, cardigan--the kind you wrap the top half of your body in, when the bottom part is covered in a blanket.

something blue

i'll tell you what, we've got a good thing goin' over here on dixie street. our neighbors are to-die-for. and i dare say, they feel the same way about us. yes, they are talented, funny, warm, smart, politically like-minded, generous, appreciative AND they have a boy close in age to cosmo (they are just now starting to play together really well), PLUS awesome teenage boys, who babysit! we all seem to understand the value of good neighbors. when we make something yummy to eat, we share. when they have a bonfire in the back yard, we're invited. when they need an hour of childcare, on short notice, we're happy to do it. you get the picture.



recently, said neighbors were given a hot tub. yes, i said GIVEN. apparently we are not the only ones fond of this delightful family. once they got it all set up and bubbling (between our houses), they made it clear that we had an open invitation to use it. we take them up on it frequently. the other day, cosmo and i, and their little boy, had a wonderful play date in the tub (with the temp turned way down for the wee ones). but mostly i like to slip into it on cold nights, with steam rising, and gaze up at a star filled sky. thanks neighbors!

something borrowed

continuing with robin's blog carnival (albeit, a day late on all of them), i submit to you something borrowed. i borrowed the idea (and template) from family fun magazine, and the materials are "borrowed" from the trash. it's a coin purse made from an orange juice carton! i like the clever use of the cap to keep the purse closed.



it's quite easy to make, the trickiest part is the accordion folds on the sides, because at certain points, you are scoring and folding against already existing creases. but, it works quite nicely, if you score heavily with a butter knife (or, if you are lucky enough to have a bone folder, use that. mine has sadly disappeared). the instructions say that a craft knife is optional, but i don't know how you'd make this without one. in fact, i am not sure how i'd even live without my trusty exacto knife. not happily, i can assure you.



next i'm making one out of a half gallon half & half carton. given how important half & half is to our everyday lives around here, i have a feeling i'm going to like it best of all. cosmo suggested we keep our bus money in there. great idea.