Category Archives: Posts

inspired by these makers

March 31, 2014Postssusan

Fog Linen Work is well know for their linen fabrics for the home but they have clothes as well that is so beautiful! Also I was so happy to hear they are opening a brick and mortar shop in Cambridge! Yumiko Sekine has such a great eye for design.

Michelle Armas painting are where its at for me. I think that I am going to purchase a print of hers soon. “Pop Rocks” really caught my eye. This article was a fun read.

Lily Stockman is another artist girl crush of mine and her project Block Shop with her sister Hopie is visually fantastic. I love all the styles and colors and process photos of their scarf collection. I visit the gallery on their site often for visual stimulation.

Gisele d’ Ailly van der Gracht is a publisher and artist who lives in Amsterdam. I come back to these photos of her place again and again. I suppose I secretly hope to be this cool when I am older.

sleepy times

February 22, 2014Postsemma clover, homesusan

Emma does sleep in her bed—although she rolls out easily because she is outgrowing her crib mattress (luckily it is on the floor). In the mornings she crawls into bed next to me and rests her head on my pillow, snuggling into the warm comforter. She will rarely go back to sleep but enjoys the warm place to rest with a little cuddling from mama. At nap Emma has been wanting to sleep in the big bed and chooses maiki’s pillow to sleep on. Its so calming to watch little ones sleep. Must be because they are a blur of activity and noise when they are awake. ^_^

Hope that maiki does not mind that is in the above photo! I love you maiki!

thinking about cold weather

February 21, 2014Postssusan

Photo from the beloved BBC Shelock found here.

I love browsing the internets for apparel. Today I am thinking about how fun it would be to dress up for weather if we lived in a cooler and wetter place, like London. ^_^

Coats for us all! A raincoat for Emma and one for snow. Nice wool numbers for

Susan and maiki.

Emma loves to walk around in my rain boots. She goes with me down the hall to the laundry room trying so hard to walk in my giant shoes while holding onto me (or the wall). Here are some that are her size. And of course we need umbrellas. Kids love umbrellas. Emma speaks longingly about ours and wishes I would let her play with it more often.

And here is a photo of the Grand Hotel Misurina in Italy that I found here on Pinterest, just for fun! ^_^

potato leek (and other vegetables!) soup

January 19, 2014Postspotato leek, recipe, soup, vegetables, vegetariansusan

Ingredients

Olive Oil
Butter
Leek
Potato
Better than Bouillon
Daikon
Celery
Carrot
S and P
filtered water (from Britta)

Notes

I use a Lodge cast iron dutch oven that is a good size but had a cheap metal soup pot before and it did a fine job. It was so much lighter than this cast iron piece that I have now! I am also pretty sure they were the same size.

I do not make vegetable stock but throw in a ton of veggies and add vegetable bouillon to enhance the broth. My favorite is Better Than Bouillon-Vegetable. I add a tbsp, stir and taste. Simmering five minutes between tasting and adding more gives me a good idea of the flavor developing. Also this means that I could make this soup with less vegetables depending on what I had on hand.

Daikon is definitely optional since most folks would not have this Japanese radish hanging around. I like its clear, peppery flavored and have been adding it to my potato leek soup for so long I don’t remember how I decided to start. I really enjoy it!

I really enjoy pureed soup and one of my favorite kitchen purchases was my immersion blender. I do not always blend my soups, it always depends. Sometimes I blend half which is popular with my family and favorable when a soup has grains or noodles in it. Right now Emma is picky about eating potatoes but loves them pureed in her soup. This potato leek soup was fantastic pureed and finished with cream—that what Emma ate.

Process

I add a glug of olive oil and simmer chopped leeks. After a few minutes I add the potatoes, diced and with a tbsp of butter. I just started doing this with the potatoes and butter and it smells heavenly but easily omitted to make the recipe vegan. After a few minutes I cover with water and start adding the other vegetables. First carrot, then celery and daikon. Cover everything with water and then some and bring to a boil. This is usually when I shake some salt over the pot. Simmer on low and begin tasting the broth as it develops. I slowly add the bouillon, simmer more and taste.

If you need to serve the soup quickly then you can as soon as the potatoes and carrots are cooked through. I try to simmer this soup for at least 30 minutes to bring out as much flavor as I can before serving it to my starving family. Puree towards the end. You will have a good idea of how much more water to add. Add salt and pepper to taste of course use any seasonings that you think may be a nice addition. I have put in fresh rosemary to simmer with the vegetables and it was great!

January 2014

January 18, 2014Postsdevelopment, emma clover, susan magnoliasusan

Its January 2014 and we are witnessing growth spurts with Emma in every of development. She speaks in sentences as often as she can. She sat on a big swing for the first time. She loves showers now but still asks for bubble baths. She is a great dancer and walks up and down the big hill that we live on daily. She has started clearing the table after meals without us asking. She occasionally asks to sit on the potty, when for a while she was not at all interested. She still loves to draw and has been making “e’s.” She has been painting so much that our walls are covered in her artwork. She makes friends with every person she meets and loves to hug & kiss every baby and dog. She learned to play her harmonica and not just hum with it on her lips. She is suddenly quite concerned with her hair and obsessed with barrettes and having her hair pulled back. These are just some of the things that I can think of off the top of my head and every day is filled with new adventures and discoveries. Life for us is exciting.

Forever appreciating items that keep me organized and help me to be more efficient at home. I need to get a paper calendar for the new year. Was thinking about documenting ideas for meal planning in a daily planner—although it may be overkill. But I am always thinking about ways to simplify our home life. I found these charcoal sticks and thought they would be interesting to try (maybe in an earthquake bag). I love these cord wrapper thingies and think that they just look so nice. Ah cords, they are everywhere in our home. Still wanting new towels as well. I am so disappointed that my stripe from towels Garnet Hill smell musty after being used once. Is this what happens when they get old? Is five years old for a towel? Now that we pay quarters for laundry I realize how often they need laundering. I think that a turkish towel would be softest but also trying out some linen that I picked up a while back. Both fabrics tend to dry very quickly so they may be the best bet for our windowless bathroom.

I still have yet to make bread from scratch but since Bleubird posted step by step instructions I am again convinced that this will be any easy process. More links for bread: challah, peasant bread, and bread wrap.

Been cooking at home exclusively for the last couple months and its working out great. As a family we have not eaten out for a long time! I buy Emma yogurts here and there and we sometimes get a muffin or scone if I grab a coffee but even that is rare. We decided that when we are in another city to pack snacks and buy very little. Last week when Emma and I went to S.F. to go to the Frog and Toad exhibit and we bought a egg & cheese bagel and brought fruit to snack on. We always get sick when we eat out (maiki and I) so we chose this for health reasons as well as saving money. Its been a lot of fun to cook this much and almost like a personal challenge for me. Funny enough I always create the best meals when our kitchen is closer to empty and I am forced to get creative. ^_^

I was telling my sister that I make soup quite often and how easy and delicious it is. I may post some recipes here for her reference and in case anyone wants to hear all my secrets. I am a very whimsical cook so recipes to me are always guidelines that I will ultimately modify in some way. Not sure that I can even write a recipe with any precise measurements but I am game to try.

Just starting reading Alice Munro’s Runaway. Its an excellent book of short stories and easy for me to pick up and put down throughout the day. I made a decision to read as many (or more) books as I do blogs this year. I came home with a stack from the library that was a bit ambitious for me to read in two weeks time but gives me the chance to get interested in them.