An A to Z of Musical Instruments -- available in four color stories. |
What? Béarnaise is yellow! I'm sure you know someone who would appreciate this postcard. |
An A to Z of Musical Instruments -- available in four color stories. |
What? Béarnaise is yellow! I'm sure you know someone who would appreciate this postcard. |
I don't have a story tonight, or a recipe, or any of the usual things. What I do have, for the first time ever, is an Etsy store. I could go on for pages acknowledging people, thanking them for their patience and inspiration, but I'd rather just show you what I've got to offer so far. The photos were taken by my amazing friend and cohort Lindsey Walters of Miscellaneous Media Photography. Thanks to everyone past, present, and future who supports me doing this. You know who you are.
And now.....Weather Mouse!
Tonight my daughter Heidi figured out that she could chew raw leafy greens. She's been reaching for my salad for months now, but before she would just suck the dressing off, or sometimes almost choke on a leaf that she tried to swallow whole. Tonight she tried again. She sucked off a few leaves (thoughtfully draping the spent leaves back in my bowl), and then she realized that it tasted even better if she chewed the leaf up. She sat in my lap, feeding me a leaf and then herself a leaf, wiping lemon juice and olive oil all over everything and both of us, and laughing at the sourness of my hastily made, poorly balanced salad dressing. Perhaps "first salad" is not an achievement many parents consider a milestone, but we all have different values.
I also couldn't wait to get a crayon in her little hands. I offered them to her months prematurely, just because I didn't want her to miss a moment of drawing pleasure just because we didn't have the right materials at hand (and by "at hand," I mean quite literally placed on the play table next to whatever else she was doing). We spent a few months practicing not eating the crayons, then we practiced gripping them and applying pressure to the paper. (We're still practicing staying on the paper and off the furniture, books, and clothes.). Once she knew what the crayons were for, she caught on pretty quickly. Then on July 21, 2011, she did something amazing. She drew a dog.
"Do[g]" | Crayon on Mama's leftover newsprint from figure drawing class. | 7.21.11 |
Heidi's first "Dog" hangs framed on the wall, and several other dogs, cats, horses, balls, and "softs" are filling up the rest of my abandoned newsprint pad left over from college. This weekend I'm opening running snail & rainbow, and it'll be another big first for me.
Lemony Spinach Salad
This is what you should eat when you crave something that tastes like a tasty nutrient bomb. I eat it when I'm sick, when I'm well, when I'm sad, and when I can't think of what else to eat.
Make your dressing: combine one crushed clove of garlic, a forkful of dijon mustard, a soup-spoonful of yogurt, a pinch of salt, two soup-spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil, and a soup-spoonful of lemon juice. Stir or whisk it together. Adjust the flavors to your preference, adding more lemon or more oil or more salt til it tastes perfect to you. I (obviously) like mine on the lemony side. Toss with spinach. Eat it and be happy and well.