Time to get sneaky!

       For two years now, I have been trying to get Josiah to eat vegetables with inconsistent, and somewhat poor, results.  I finally decided that I am going to sneak vegetables into that kid's diet if it kills me!  The weird thing is that he will eat very grown-up meals with vegetables in them, (like Spicy Malaysian-Style Stir-Fried Noodles with bok choy) but he will not eat just plain vegetables.  So, I decided it's time to get sneaky.  I have begun experimenting with adding spinach to his fruit smoothies for a snack, which works great.  But that is not going to cut it, really.  Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that she sneaks Kale into her daughters food.  I was concerned that it would go bad in the refrigerator too quickly, but she said that was no problem.  She just cleans and chops the kale and stores it in the freezer.  It is hardy enough that it doesn't really wilt too badly and usually the wilting won't matter as it is hiding in other foods anyway.  So today is the day that I finally trimmed and chopped the two huge bunches of Kale that have been taking up way to much space in the refrigerator.  It took some time, but it helped that I used my favorite kitchen tool: My Cuisinart Pro Custom 11 food processor:)  The very best purchase I have made for my kitchen, ever.  Now it's time to find sauces, egg dishes, soups, and casserole-style meals that could use a few extra vitamins and fiber!  Hopefully, I can avoid adding a faint Kale flavor to every meal I make over the next three weeks!

Better Off

       Two nights ago, it stormed at our house.  The sky grew dark, and the wind began to howl as I helped Josiah get ready for bed.  It didn't rain hard and the storm passed quickly, but not before it knocked out our power mid-bath.  Fortunately, we have a sky-light in our bathroom so Josiah and I had enough light to finish getting his bath before putting on jammies and saying nigh-nigh to Daddy and Lala.  Our normal bedtime routine seemed eerily silent, even though he didn't seem to notice at first.  We read a book by flashlight, without the usual loud whirring of the fan in his closet that we use for white noise.  After reading and saying our bedtime prayer, we began to rock in the (more) noticeably squeaky rocking chair in his room and I sang him a song or two.  Even though he didn't seem particularly bothered by the storm, when I tried to lay him down in his crib, he was obviously aware of the difference in routine and lack of sound-proofing.  He lay quietly in his bed for about ten minutes, just long enough for me to get out some candles and my ice cream, then (probably because he could here us talking and moving around) began to call for anyone who would listen....mommy?....daddy?....mommy?.....lala!....mommy!!. 

       Because of the change in routine and the late hour, I decided it would be easiest to just rock him to sleep.  I stashed my half-eaten ice cream in the dark freezer and went back to his room.  I was afraid it would take him forever to fall asleep on his own, so I began rocking him in that squeaky old chair.  As I sat there, rocking, all I could think about was how much I would NOT want to give up our electricity long-term.  I sat their thinking about the Amish and how they manage each day without the simple things that I normally take for granted, like fans (let alone air conditioning).  I was also reminded of a book that I read last year called Better Off, which is about this MIT grad and his new wife going to live with a community of Amish people for a year and what they learned about the benefits and drawbacks of unbridled technology usage.  Could I hack it?  Could I live an entire year without electricity?  My answer was, decidedly, no. 

       Then, something changed.  After Josiah fell asleep, I went back out into the living room to find Jeremy snoring peacefully on the floor (he didn't want to go to bed until the power came back on and he could shower) and Lauren was wondering around in her pajamas by candlelight, trying to figure out where to get some drinking water. She was "parched" and we were both unsure of how to get water to brush our teeth.  After I finished my ice cream by candle light, we began to get resourceful.  She drank what was left of the water in Josiah's sippy cup, (which probably had floaties, but it was too dark to tell) but that wasn't going to cut it.  We looked around the kitchen hoping for a forgotten water bottle to drink from, but we had no luck.  We went outside to see if we could drain any water from the hose, but there was no water pressure.  Back inside, we decided that we could melt the ice in the freezer to provide a bit of drinking water and water to brush our teeth.  At first, we were just planning to let the ice sit out, then I decided that I could light our gas stove manually and we could melt the ice more quickly.  Soon, we each had a nice-sized cup of water to drink and brush our teeth, with more water on the stove for the morning in case the power did not come back on by then.  Meanwhile, Jeremy was still napping on the living room floor, so I tried waking him again and gave him his phone so that he would have a light to guide him to bed if he decided that the floor got too hard.  Then, I headed off to my room to take a cold candlelit bath in Josiah's leftover bath water (hey, it's better than stinky bike-ride sweat), brush my teeth with my ice-melt, and climb into bed with the cool weather coming in the open windows.

       As I got ready to climb into bed, I began thinking that maybe I was too hasty earlier.  Maybe it could be a nice change of pace to live without electricity.  As soon as the power went out, our normal evening routines of homework, clean-up, TV watching, and Facebook came to screeching halt.  But is that really so bad?  Candlelight can be very relaxing, and I started thinking about how much more I might read (without feeling guilty because I don't watch TV as well).  I also started thinking about how we might play games more in the evening, or stay outside longer.  Just as I began to get comfortable in my bed, the whole house began to hum as fans kicked back on along with just about every light in the house.  I was surprised at the slight twinge of disappointment that I felt as everything electrical came back to life around me and life immediately seemed to go back to "normal".

Would it really be so bad to go without modern conveniences more frequently?  Maybe we would be better off with a bit less power in our lives.  Maybe our lives would be a bit more full if we had more frequent reminders to stop, slow down, rely on our own resourcefulness, and spend a quiet evening by candlelight.  I know that next time the power goes out, I will be happy to get out my candles, stop what I am doing, and enjoy it while it lasts.

THE chocolate.

       Is there any simpler way to bring a little happiness into life than chocolate?  Well...I think not.  If chocolate = happiness, then my mom (and all of her family) should = very happy people.  For as long as I can remember, my mom has been making this chocolate sauce to go over ice cream that everyone loves.  Even my husband, who is not nearly as big a chocolate lover as I am, somehow guilts my mom into making this chocolate every time we go to my parents' house (even if it means a quick trip to the store).  Really, this happens because she is happy to spoil her kids when they come home, even her in-laws.  She is an enthusiastic purveyor of happiness.

       So...tonight...for the first time...I am making the chocolate.  For some reason, I have hesitated to learn the recipe (not that she actually follows it)  for years now (11 to be exact).  You might be wondering why I wouldn't want to make this happy-inducing chocolate at home.  I guess that I was afraid that once I opened Pandora's box, there would be no going back.  You should have seen my no-bake cookie phase of 2009!  Or, maybe I was afraid that the chocolate is really not that good, and that it is strictly a comfort food to be enjoyed at home (my original home).  Well...we're about to find out! 

       After getting a general idea of the ingredients that mom puts in her chocolate, and listening to what the original recipe (that is probably as old as I am) says to put in the chocolate, I have attempted to tackle the chocolate sauce.  I added an obscene amount of butter and powdered sugar to a sauce pan, a bit of milk and some cocoa...let it come to a boil and continue to boil for two minutes...and voila!

It's going to take a little practice to get it right, but it was a pretty good start:)