Popcorn for dinner

I saved the culinary energy for H tonight tonight, so that instead of handing him a plate while he sits in front of the computer, we could actually eat together. At home, he's very good at sitting down and not reading or anythign and being with us, although I admit I had to train him not to bring magazines to the table. Nothing says, "I don't want to be here," more than watching TV or reading at the table. I think it's acceptable at breakfast, and sometimes lunch, but that's just us.

So J and I had crushed FinnCrisp Sesame Rounds on the couch while watching Polish TV, and microwave popcorn at the dinner table. He asked for chopsticks, because we always eat popcorn with chopsticks at home. It keeps the grease from getting all over your fingers. Works well for chips and such, too. We actually learned this froma Make-Up girl ( I know, I'm sexist) that H worked with a few years back. It's pretty cool to see a two year old gain chopstick proficiency, although I'm sure millions of Chinese children do it, too.

H and I had a green salad of iceberg, tomatos, cucumbers, onions, and a vinagarette, and pork chops with an orange/soy sauce on them. The chops and sauce were loosely based on a recipe from "The Working Stiff Cookbook".

I can't get about half the ingredients, but the basic idea is to mix a half cup OJ with two tablespoons oil, sesame in the book, olive here, and add one tablespoon soy sauce, then reduce it after you've cooked the chops. You also add ginger, which I could get but forgot, and something else, but I don't remember.

To cook the chops, you have to start with nice thick ones, at least an inch, but thicker is better, and then brown them for one minute on each side on high heat. Then you flip them again, turn the heat to meduim (although I prefer more of a medium low) and cover. Cook four or five more minutes on each side, and let rest on a plate. The book says to then drain the extra grease, but that's up to you, as I find there's really not that much grease, and if you're cooking with cast iron or enameled cast iron, or even heavy gauge stainless, this is a bit awkward, and somewhat dangerous.

Anyway, turn the heat to high, pour the premixed sauce in, and let it reduce, which usually happens very quickly. I double the sauce recipie, because it gives me more time to keep it from turning instantly to glue. As usual, I don't really do much exact measuring with this, but go with what feels comfortable to you. This is one of my husband's favorites, and he is always happy to have pork chop night.

I quite like this cookbook, and it was the first cookbook I bought for myself. I got it becasue it had good, easy, and quick recipies for two people, and a few for four. The Thai fish recipe is disgusting, don't even try. But I did get my first good rosemary potatos from this, although now I prefer a lavender/rosemary mixture instead of just rosemary and salt.

As a side note, J has decided he wants to wear underwear all the time, but still poos in them. Good thing he's got lots. He'll take my hand and say, "We have to go do something in the bathroom," and take me there. Then he says, "Get the wipes".

Thanks for reading,
Anne

Where do we pee?

After a good five weeks or so of potty attempts, my frustration level has exceeded J's ability to use the potty, so I think I'm going to tone it back down. He still has no problem going, he just won't stop what he's doing to do it, or admit it. I realized I was getting frustrated not becasue he wasn't going, but because I was feeling like a failure. He, of course, doesn't really care, and I certainly don't want him to think that the potty is all I care about. So from now on, I will ask him at his diaper changes if he wants a diaper or underpants, and we'll go from there.

I think it's complicated by his overall maturity in other areas, especially language. He has the verbal skills of a five year old, and he's also kind of a big kid. Not huge, but about 38 inches and 31 pounds, and so sometimes I expect too much out of him. He is only 2 and a half, after all. And why do I even care about when he potty trains? He's not going to day care or preschool or any place which requires potty training, so why do I care? I think I feel like, as a stay-at-home mother, my child should be more advanced in everything to justify my time with him. I don't get this message from H, but I think in general I am a defensive person, even before I am questioned about anything, and this is one way it comes out.

I need to focus on what he CAN do. For example, as of this morning, he can cut all the way through a small peice of paper with scissors, he can peel and stick his own stickers, and he can trace lines pretty decently. He also has amazing narrative abilities, and remembers absolutely everything we tell him, including me saying "your stupid train". He thought that was it's proper name, and called it, "My stupid train" all day. Great.

He can also remember about 20 different songs, about 20 nursery ryhmes, and can crack an egg without getting any shell in the bowl. He can identify several different kinds of birds and maybe 10 different flowers, and is generally the most amazing person I've ever met. He can wear diapers forever if he wants. Soon enough he'll be able to change them himself.

And he can type his first name on the computer. Sweet.
Thanks for reading,
-Anne

Marinara time

I know, I know, I promised this about a week ago. But it's worth the wait, really.

I never had any real desire to make my own pasta sauce, being perfectly happy with what came in jars. Newman's Own Bombolina was the winner in our house, mostly becasue H preferred it. I'm partial to a sauce with mushrooms, but he doesn't like mushrooms. I'd rather not hear about it than fight for mushrooms, so I probably haven't had sauce with mushrooms in years.

Back to the sauce-making. So we were fine with jarred, but the last time we were in Eastern Europe, we discovered they have a completely different idea of what should go on noodles and pizza. The sauce is somehow both sweeter and more peppery than we're used to. They also are still figuring out pizza, often throwing things like corn and ham and sardines and goat cheese together, so I was motivated to make a pizza that tasted good.

The recipe I am using is somewhat based on the one in "A New Way To Cook"

I tend to triple this recipe, then freeze it in one meal-portions for later use.

Get your big pot out. Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in it and turn the heat to a medium lowish. Chop up a medium red onion and a few cloves of garlic. I only use two, but some people might like more. Fry them in the hot oil for about six minutes.

Open one 28 oz can of peeled plum tomatos, then seed and chop them. I use my hands to seed them. I don't even know of any other way. Empty one 28 oz can of tomato puree, and half a can of tomato paste into the pot, along with the seeded chopped tomatos. Stir. Then I add a few teaspoons basil, a few of oregano, two teaspoons sugar, and about half a cup of red wine. A cabernet or a burgundy works just fine for this. Add one teaspoon of salt, and then just simmer at a low heat until dinnertime. I often adjust the spices as I'm cooking, so I apologize for not having exact measurements.

I did make this completely from scratch one time, peeling and seeding my own plum tomatos, no puree or anything. It took FOREVER to reduce the tomatos to a sauce, and just was not worth it to me.The above will taste delightful in about 30 minutes of simmering.

One nice thing I've noticed from this is I don't get the swollen tounge from the tomatos when I make my own sauce. Eating fresh tomatos swells my tounge and makes it even bleed sometimes, and so did eating jarred sauce. Even though I'm using canned tomatos and canned puree, I don't have this efffect with the homemade stuff.

Make sure you use Italian Plum tomatos grown in Italy. And your puree should have one or two ingredients, tomatos and salt. If you can find it without salt, even better. I can't remember if that's possible, because I've been here too long, but I'll find out when I get home.

Eggs and NotEggs

I'm fairly confident that J has an intolerance to eggs as well as dairy. I tested him a few days ago, and sure enough, he reacted. He seems to be ok with the tiny amounts in baked goods, however, but I wasn't sure of this until this week, so we had been putting other things in our recipies.
We had egg-free-dairy free pancakes a few times, which were very, very dense, but that can be remedied with additional rice milk. I actually prefer my pancakes thinner than most, so I'm used to adding milk as I cook them. I'm a huge fan of crepes, but since they have to sit for 30 minutes before you cook them, I don't make them too much for me and the boy. He has a hard enough time waiting for food to cook and cool down, so extra waiting is out of the question.

Anyway, while we were egg-free, I found a list of things that could subsitute for eggs ina recipie. As they don't have the pacakged egg-subs here, I chose half a mashed banana and a half teaspoon of baking powder as our sub in a zucchinni muffin recipie. It mixed ok, poured ok, but then it never really cooked. They were in the oven for an HOUR before they even came close to setting. It was like glue muffins. They never browned, and I was going to let them cool and then throw them away. J, however, saw me taking them out of the muffin tin (which is actually silicone), and asked to eat one. I checked the inside, and they had finally set, sort of, so I let him have one. He ate it, and had two more over the next two days, until I finally threw them away. Weird.

We're going to make zuchinni-oat muffins today, and we'll be using real egg. He had three chocolate chip cookies, made with real egg and dark chocolate, but rice milk not cow, and he was fine, so I think a muffin here or there with 1/12th of an egg in it might be OK. I'll keep an eye on it, though, and let you know.

UPDATE; So the oat zucchinni muffins have baked, taking ten minutes longer than the recipe said, but I think it's something to do with the super-havy-duty baking sheet that has to sit under the silicone muffin tin. They still seem REALLY sturdy to me, but taste pretty good. ANd easy to make, so here's the recipe.

One cup oats, instant is fine. One and a half cups flour, 2 and a half teaspoons baking powder, half teaspoon salt, half cup sugar. Mix all that together. In a seperate bowl, mix one lightly beaten egg, one cup milk of your choosing, one quarter cup melted margarine. Then mix the two bowls together gently, adding a half to one cup shredded, skin on, squeezed zucchini. BAke at 425 for about 20 minutes. Done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

A note about margarine: In the states, this would never be allowed in my house, but as there is no almond butter here, it's filling a calorie niche for J. I always prefer to cook with real butter, becasue even though it's full of fat, it tastes better and doesn't have trans fats. My father-in-law tells me they make margarine without trans fats now, but I hope I can avoid it all together. As alwasy, I prefer to eat food, not chemicals. The margarine I'm using, Rama, has no trans fats, so that's good.

J eats it with bread and jam, and of course on his muffins. I'll get soy butter when we get back to the states, or I may try a little butter, and see how he does.

O the Player

J has had a fever for two days, so pardon the break. We didn't get much sleep Tuesday night, and I think I'm still tired from it. However, the babysitter is here, so I will take advantage of her last half hour to write to all my adoring fans.

At home, I am with J full time. It's awesome. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life to be with him, and he amazes me every day with who he is.He's a thoughtful, kind, bossy little boy, and the most fun I have ever had. He occasionally stays an hour or two with the neighbors, or with H or the in-laws if I have something to do, but nothing regular. It was, however, very exciting the first time he went to bed for someone else, sometime in February. We stopped nursing to sleep in January, when he was 2 years, 4 months, and so, Date Night arrived! Anyway, I don't have any regular help at home, but I get what I need when I need it as far as time to myself.

Here, a different story. H and the inlaws are working all the time, and I don't know many people, and those I do can't speak much English. So, five weeks into a three-month stay, I got O. One of H's friends was mugged and knocked out in the street, and O was one of the three girls who picked him up and got him to the hospital. She's also an out-of-work preschool teacher, although here they call it kindergarten, and speaks more English than I do Lithuanian. This is her second time, and she's brought a friend each time with better English. J is having great fun, telling me to go away while they play, and climbing all over her. When I told him about her coming over, and how she would play with him and take him for his stroller walk ( I dare not call it a nap walk), he decided she was "O the player". And she is.

In the states, I could never afford this much help. It's about a third the cost here. I would prefer she not have the TV on the entire time they're in the house, but it's only 7 more weeks, and besides, the shows they watch are 30-year-old Russian cartoons, so hey, he's getting even MORE international flavor in his life. As it is, I don't really care that much. The shows are all little forest creatures and stop-action puppets, so it's the opposite of cartoon network, which he is not allowed to watch.

I'm not as much a stickler for TV as some of my friends. He usually watches about 2 hours total a day at home, usually less, sometimes more, depending, but that's what Noggin's for. He also will ask to turn it off, or say, "I'm done watching my show," a lot, so I'm not concerned.

So that's it for today. I almost have a nanny. I feel so middle-class.

-Anne

Canned food

At home, I'm not real big on canned food, beyond a few fruits, as I've mentioned before. Too much excess sugar, fat and salt, and I can generally make the same thing, only better tasting. I haven't been able to stomach canned soup in years. It just tastes like salty glue to me. However, here I have discovered the joy that is Marks and Spencer, a clothing store that has branched off into prepared foods.

Not having any desire to cook two dinners a night, I have been buying food for my husband there, in the back of a clothing store. I stumbled onto it through a book I was reading, "The River House", and investigated the shop which is about a mile from our apartment. H is fond of the chicken tikka masala, and if you get a can of that, plus one bag of microwave rice, it's the perfect instant meal for him, with no leftovers to worry about. There's also chicken korma, and I got him spaghetti and meatballs, too. I'd still rather eat food I've made, but since H has no hangups about poisoning himself through canned food, he's happy, I'm happy, and I don't have to worry about what to feed him.

Another nice thing is the Marks and Spencer canned food has far fewer unidentified additives and no corn syrup and such, as it is from England, where they don't put corn syrup in EVERYTHING, like they do in the states. So it's not quite the drek that Chef BoyArDee is.

Anyway, J is watching his favorite show, Big Cook Little Cook, another fine English import, and it willl be over soon, so I must go.

Thanks for reading,
-Anne

Poop in the potty!

Obviously, we won't be discussing a recipe today.

Since we've been overseas, about a month, we have been doing some light potty training, mostly out of boredom. J is 32 months, and pretty good at holding it and has no problem going outdoors or in public toilets. He particularly enjoys peeing in the river at the bottom of the hill. However, he seems completely oblivious to noticing the urge, and will often come up to me and say, "look what happened," and ask why his pants are wet. It's still all me bringing him to the potty. We weren't even attempting poo, and I would just stick him in a diaper every other afternoon. He's quite predictable that way.

Yesterday when I was laying down for a minute while his dad was home, he started to go in his underpants. he always comes up and says, "Can I have a few minutes" before pooing. H asked him if J could try and make it go in the potty, and J said OK. H left him alone on the potty and he finished there. Hooray!

Earlier that day, while he was peeing, J said, "hey, some poops are coming out," and did a teency one in the potty.
We were happy for him, but never really have made a big deal out of it, and don't do stickers or m&m's or shaming or anything. i figured we'd just go all the time and talk about listening to your body and he'd figure it out.

The next step is getting som kind of warning from him BEFORE he starts, but hey, one thing at a time. I'm just glad he's not afraid of the potty. I also know a lot of kids go back and forth with this kind of thing, so I'm not claiming sucess by any stretch of the imagination. It's just nice to know there's hope.

And he looks super cute in the tiny European boy undies.