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Yesterday, Spring came. The weather went up to 41 degrees. Daddy and I got out into the garden and Daddy prepared the ground for future plantings; I planted onion sets. Together, we planted 4 golden raspberries and another blueberry bush.
Next week -- Summer! It is supposed to go up to the 70's. This is so Cleveland!
I don't know what I am going to get! I wrote something but it disappeared. I uploaded on picture, all good, another and the first disappeared, so I reloaded and got a message that I already had it. Who knows? Anyway, here are (is) some photos/a photo of Daddy in his scrubs, headed off to clinicals.
This recipe is enough for a pot luck and maybe left overs. For a family of two (which describes most of us now), you will have plenty for a main dish and some leftovers if you halve it.
2 onions, slice, chopped, whatever you prefer
2 Tbls oil (this is actually optional)
1 Tbls curry
2 tsp cumin
1 Tbls tumeric
1 tsp cayenne
2 C lentils
2 C rice
4 cans of broth (vegetable if you want this to be vegetarian)
plus some water (enough to make 8 cups total liquid?)
2 pkgs froz spinach (total 20 oz) or a bag of it, Whichever way is easier for you
Saute the onion and spices in the oil. This is where the oil is optional. you can also dry saute the onion and spices, which will heighten the flavor of the spices somewhat. (I learned this from reading one of Mark's cookbooks that we took to him in Jan.) Stir in the lentils and rice and saute for a bit. Add the liquid and spinach, simmer and stir occasionally to break up and distribute the spinach. Don't over stir or the lentils will get too mushy.
Pass yogurt, raisins and coconut to top with if desired.
Discussion on lentils. There are different varieties of lentils. Red lentils (also called Egyption?) cook straight to a mush. Great, it that's what you are looking for. Not so great if you want your lentils to have some shape, bite. American lentils (I have no idea what they are really called; they are just the most common ones here -- you know, $.79 a bag at the local supermarket hold their shape better, but will cook to mush if you over cook them. The French lentils (also known as green lentils?) are smaller and hold their shape quite well. They are really good in salads. I found them at the organic/natural markets in Cleveland. I usually buy some when I am there because I don't want to make a special trip. I made this dish (both times) with regular 'American' lentils and they were fine, though the texture varied. I'm not sure why. I think it may have to do with the amount of liquid and the number of times I stirred the pot.
Enjoy.
By the way, has anyone found a good software for recording and printing recipes? I think I would like to 'publish' (just for you guys) my recipes and that seems to be the most efficient way to do it. I have a program that keeps the recipes, but, frankly, it is a bit of a pain to use. Or else I just don't quite get it. The main problem with it is that it comes with tons of recipes that I have no interest in and just clutter things up. Nor have I figured out how to make a book out of the recipes. I suppose you could print each one individually and then put in a three ring binder, but there must be a more efficient way.
As you can see the crocuses are making a valiant effort to bloom in the face of adversity and the daffodils are not far behind. By this time in years past, Daddy had been able to get into the garden, turn it over and plant some of the cold weather crops. Not this year. Daddy hasn't really had much time, but even if he had, he wouldn't have been able to do much. We just barely got the carrots and parsnips out for our Naw Ruz. There are still some in the ground (so if anyone comes home soon and wants some, I'll gladly make them.) They were so good roasted with potatos and yams with olive oil, salt and pepper! Yumm! I also made a meatloaf (at Daddy's request -- he doesn't get it very often anymore since we are trying to eat a more healthful diet.) I forgot the salt, but that didn't stop anyone from eating it! It went quite quickly. I also made a rice and lentils dish that I sort of copied from Mike and made up on my own. Not as popular, but I still like it.
Yesterday, I got up at 6:10 to eat breakfast before sunrise.
It is a very sleepy time of the day for me and I was intent on the task at hand. Mendon was working on rising and Daddy was still luxurating in the warmth of the bed. Around the corner, as in from about the fridge, I heard a female voice chirp (in the nicest of tones), "Good Morning!" I thought to myself, 'Kristen got up and came over for breakfast!?!' We had talked about it, but both Mendon and Kristen admitted that morning was not Kristen's high energy time and we had been up late the night before (see *below for the rest of the story), so it didn't quite make sense that it was Kristen. Before my mind could get to who it might be, Rachael popped her very shining-smiley face around the corner. Speaking of chuffed, she was quite chuffed at her little surprise!
She had come in at around 4:20 (am) and snuck upstairs ever so quietly so as not to wake us. (Like that would have happened! We were like ones dead!) Then she waited up there for us to get up, afraid that she would fall asleep and miss the moment, but unable to sleep for all the adrenalin racing through her veins! It was quite a suprise in the very best way!
*Now for the rest of the story.
The reason we were up till quite late on Friday night was that we went out to dinner with Kristen's mother and her fiance (they are getting married April 2) and then back to their house. I'll let Mensch tell you the rest!
I know it sounds as though I have been sounding Grampa's death-knell for a long time now, so the following news is really not news, but another notch down the slippery slope. (This mixed metephor doesn't quite work.)
Gramma called at midnight on Saturday, and amazingly, we were all still up! She was taking Grampa to the emergency ward. He was telling her he was having a heart attack, and she was saying he wasn't. After arguing about it for an hour, she finally called 911. She was right; he wasn't having a heart attack, but he was right, too -- something was wrong. He blood pressure was 200/85. He had water in his lungs. They wanted to keep him in the hospital for observation and probably some treatment, but he wanted to go home, so Gramma took him home at about 4 am. He rarely gets out of bed anymore and is less and less active each time we go to see him.
I know you are all aware of his condition, I just don't want it to come as a shock when I have to make 'the phone call.' And I know that it may be years yet. Please don't think I am ghoulish or that I love bad news. I just don't want any of you to come back to me later and say, 'Why didn't you tell me?'
or Aarons Getting Married!
Merry, Daddy and I went to Sumo Boy on Monday night after Stretch. What a nice way to break the fast.
We really enjoyed out meal there and I take back my comment about their not lasting. The menu is varied enough (Pan-Asian) that even Daddy, who was quite unenthusiastic at the thought of eating there, really enjoyed his meal. He had a bento box with salmon teriyaki, Merry had lo mien noodles, and I had barbecued eel. All was quite yummy. We will be back. You are welcome to join us.
Well, I suppose this is a test to see if I can maneuver around the new interface or whatever Nathan has done to this site. I don't know about you guys, but everything is crowded into about one fifth of the screen on the left. I can fit about three to five words on a line, depending on the size of the words.
Other than that, it seems to be similar.
This weekend, I decided, once again, to try to enter some recipes into a computer cookbook so I can pass them on to you guys, assuming that you want them. I am using Cook'n 99, so you can get a feel for how terrufic' this progam is! (It sucks!) It has tons of recipes in it already that clog and clutter what I am trying to do. These are recipes that I wouldn't feed to a dog! And I only use the program about every six months, so I have to figure it out all over again each time. I don't use it more often because it is frustrating.
Anyway! I will keep trying (unless someone else has a better program!) so if there are specific recipes of mine or Daddy's or Gramma's or Mimi's, let me know and I will include them.
I am reading Expecting Adam by Martha Beck. We are reading it for bookclub. Now before you dismiss it out of hand for being a book club book, let me tell you a bit about it.
It is the true story of a woman (working on her doctorate in feminist studies at Harvard) and her second pregnancy. Sounds quite unremarkable, but it is quite the opposite. I don't want to tell you any more because I might tell you too much. And her writing is so good, it almost reads like a novel. Only better because it is true. I was amazed at how well the very first chapter gripped me. I have been reading it in every spare moment since. I own the book, so anyone visiting is welcome to borrow it and read it.
I recommend this book to anyone who is contemplating an advanced degree, considering getting pregnant or having children in the future, or who wants to reconnect with their humanity.
Yes, it is official! The comments are closed due to spammers! Dirty, rotten scoundrels! I want my blogs back!
Okay, I have a confession to make. I love our blog. I love being able to get a glimpse into what you are all doing and to make little comments and to have a conversation flow back and forth between all of us. I even love the way the conversations are hijacked and taken off in other flight paths.
Feel free to email comments to the person writing in the blog!