Room for a Big Girl

Today is our daughter's 4th birthday.  It was a foggy, near-spring Saturday with spring beauties trying to pop out of the ground when I labored peacefully in our bedroom surrounded by strong, beautiful women like our doula and midwife and my strong, supportive husband who massaged my lower back for several hours to ease my labor pain.  At 10 AM on the dot, little V entered our world and we were changed forever.

Happy Birthday to our little goofball

I joined her class this morning to celebrate her "four trips around the sun," which is the ritual in her classroom along with the birthday child giving a gift to the group.  We chose a metal tray to hold some of the Montessori work as well as small vase for the children's flower arranging work.  She was delighted to show her classmates what she'd brought and I was overjoyed to share small bits of each year of her life thus far as she circled "the sun," a bright candle on a small rug in the middle of the circle of children.

We've spent the day doing fun things, letting V choose.  We went out to lunch, to the museum and library and tonight we'll see a class play at school then settle in for a spaghetti and meatball dinner, dessert, some gift opening, and read birth stories and look at photos.  It's been a very special day.

A vintage I tasted last week at a wine tasting.
Perfect for the adults to enjoy for her big day.

We've considered V a "big girl" ever since she hit the big milestones like a toddler bed, no diapers, dry at night, getting herself dressed, etc. etc.  But we recently made it even more official by redecorating her room.  We now also have a guest room again as we put a trundle under our bed.  When friends come they can take over her room and she will still have a comfortable place to sleep.  And one of the best things is how many special pieces, heirlooms, and memories make up this room.

Vintage lamp I've had since my downtown apt.

eBay score hanging lamp for this little cozy corner

Vintage Lawnware lamp.  Yes!

Giraffe sand painting from Gram-E and Gramps'
trip to Africa

Wall hung shelf makes the perfect bedside table
with a cozy place for books and storage
room underneath

Some of the classics

Always thought this crazy quilt was my
great-grandmother's, but recently found out my
Gramma lifted it from a neighbor's estate.

I had this crazy quilt on my bed at my
downtown apt.  Glad to bring it back to life.

It's a bit fragile after over 100 years of life!

Fresh supplies for V's new art desk, which was a
repurposed table from her room's last
configuration.

Art desk--plenty of drawing supplies and a drawer
full of paper galore!

Who doesn't love fresh art supplies?  Found this chicken feeder at the
ReStore and thought it would make the perfect caddy.

My old double bed, which belonged to my dad before that.  There's a
handwritten indication on the frame that it was from the late 60s.

The new loft fits well

Origami mobile from this year's Chinese New Year
celebration

The stain glass window a neighbor designed and created.  We had it
installed where an old window unit A/C was.

Not currently using the ladder, top bunk's off
limits unless guests are here, but the ladder fits
perfectly when it's down.

Trinkets and souvenirs from family journeys
including the music box from my first trip to
Switzerland in 1992.

Vintage satin quilt and duvet from the antique store. 

My old vanity from downtown--my mom
refinished it after finding it at the rummage of
one of my former teachers.  V's Chinese New Year
animal (the ox) framed above. 

A special place for her comb and brush.

Trinket from a friend's birthday party.

Bear my mom made out of my old baby blanket
and a stuffed puppet I used to love at a kid.

My dad's old bed frame. 

Her play kitchen hides away nicely in the knee wall closets.

Hiding some of the toys.

A batik hides the back of the mirror from the bed.

Love these painted green floors.

Corduroy Kitty from Great Aunt Jini.

The art desk fits snuggly behind the bi-fold door.

Vintage suitcases make great dress-up trunks.

Her fave activity at the art desk thus far is sharpening all the colored pencils.

The Homestead in Winter

Someone is making plans to eventually get urban hens.

The holidays are mostly over so I want to get my blog back on track to include more about what many of you originally came here to learn--cooking, preserving, gardening, etc.  An FAQ about the urban homestead is "what do you do all winter?"  Before I learned about the ins and outs of the daily lives of farmer friends I always guessed that winter was a time for them to kick back and relax.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  I would never compare our modest gardening operations in the city to the scale or effort of my rural farming friends, but there are similar patterns during the "off-season" and simply sitting on one's behind is hardly in the plan.

Winter does mean a kind of "hibernation"--especially after the whirlwind that can be the holidays--and I have found myself wishing to crawl into a cave and sleep for months and months.  But while I don't exactly go completely down for the count until spring, I do experience my own torpor.  In winter I find more time to read, knit, sew, bake, plan--gardens, menus, things to preserve, class schedules, travel agendas--and catch up with friends over coffee.  As on a farm, winter's also the time to clean and repair my equipment.  In fact, I just picked up my sewing machine this morning; it's all ready for another 1000 miles.  Winter is also the time to assure that gardening tools and canning equipment are in good working condition.  

Homestead-wise, winter also finds me managing our basement vermicompost bin, sketching out my dream garden for the spring, and making arrangements to get advice in pruning our fruit trees, as well as getting out to enjoy the Wisconsin winters--ice skating, sledding, and hopefully even some skiing or snowshoeing this year.  

One thing I'm most excited about is garden planning and seed starting for 2013.  Having some morning solitude while V is at school will give me a little space and time to plan more logically then act as early as the ground can be worked again in spring.   The second thing exciting me most is the travel plans we're making--a few jaunts both near and far for spring and summer, which we hope to execute in the most sustainable ways currently available to us.  We've found pleasure in making camping reservations and saving dates and spaces for a few of our annual warm-weather weekends.  There's so much hope and excitement this time of year though it's also important for us to meditate on the quiet(er) we'll have until spring.

This winter will be the first downtime I'll truly have had since my daughter started school.  First semester I was getting into a new groove, then there were the holidays, and now I've finally caught my breath and know where I want to go mentally and physically.  My favorite day of the week is Wednesday when I often find time to read, blog, craft, thrift shop, or just sit quietly and drink coffee all morning (that last one is still a dreamworld to me...I mean really, can anyone see me sitting in one place for an extended period of time?  Sounds like the making of a New Year's resolution.) 

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are still celebrating some winter holidays.  Last weekend we explored Twelfth Night and Three Kings Day.  We made a King Cake (or in this case a Rosca de Reyes) and took down the decorations.   Though I wished I'd had time to pour some surplus wassail on the roots of our apple trees I did not, in fact, make time for the drunken revelry of Tudor England when they used to douse the orchard with alcohol, leave wassail-soaked toast in the branches for the birds, and shoot off their guns to ward off evil spirits.  I would however like to try playing snapdragon some year.  Sounds like a wild and crazy way to begin the carnival season when everyone lives a little excessively all the way through Mardi Gras.  

Dough after the first rise

Rolling up the filling--Brandy-soaked Dried Cranberries with Almonds

Cut, shaped and ready for the second rise before baking

Studded with halved homemade preserved cherries and baked till golden

Along with some Shakespeare it'll make the perfect adieu to the holidays

To get the winter cooking ball rolling again I'm sharing a favorite gratin recipe that I just tweaked this week using beets and turnips instead of the potatoes, parsnips, and turnips for which the original recipe calls.  

Beet and Turnip Gratin (Gluten-free)

Peeled Beets and Turnips ready to slice

Makes about 8 servings

Once baked and creamy, the turnips and beets will be indistinguishable in both flavor and color, but you won't be disappointed.  I use a hand-held slicer with a ceramic blade.  Such a tool is invaluable and can be purchased inexpensively at an Asian grocery.

Oil or butter to grease the baking dish

1 T. butter

2 T. gluten-free flour (or AP flour)

1/2 c. vegetable broth (or chicken stock for a richer dish)

1 1/2 c. milk or cream

Salt and pepper

1/4 t. grated nutmeg

1 lb. turnips, peeled and thinly sliced

2 medium leeks or 1 sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 lb. beets (I used red, but golden beets would also be beautiful, but note that they begin to discolor if not used immediately)

Grated cheddar, parmesan or your favorite melty cheese (optional)

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese or other hard cheese

1/2 c. ground gluten-free crackers, cornflakes, or breadcrumbs (or regular breadcrumbs if you prefer)

2 T. chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease gratin dish (or any deep casserole dish with butter or oil); set aside. Heat butter in saucepan until foam subsides.  Add flour and whisk a few minutes.  Add broth/stock and stir vigorously until well incorporated.  Add milk/cream and whisk until mixture returns to boil.  Simmer a few min.  It should have the consistency of a thin white sauce (a little thicker if you use cream vs. milk).  Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Arrange a layer of turnips in the bottom of the gratin dish.  Sprinkle with some of the leeks/onions and a  little salt and pepper and additional optional shredded cheese, if desired.  Add a layer of beet slices and more onions.  Seasoning in between all layers and proceed with the remaining ingredients.  Pour sauce over, cover, and bake 30 min.  Mix cheese, bread crumbs, and parsley.  Sprinkle on top and bake 30 min. more uncovered.  

Let the layering begin.  Don't forget to season w/ s&p between each layer.

And layering.

Cheesy, bubbly goodness in the end.

New Beginnings

First Day of School

This week was the one we'd been waiting for--V started K-3.  We are so fortunate in our city--and neighborhood--to have numerous publicly-funded Montessori schools, and some high achieving ones at that.  Just a few blocks away from the homestead is one of these gems, but we'd been on the waiting list since the lottery in spring.  We got the call on Tuesday and not a minute too late.  Yesterday V started preschool and we officially began the next big chapter of our lives.  This is a big step for her, not only because we feel it's such a great program and philosophy for our child, but because she'll be at this same school for the next decade building important relationships and life skills, creativity and friendships.  Oh, and Mommy might just get a little more personal time to boot.  Admittedly, I've been extremely giddy all summer about this new phase, though I tried not to get myself too excited since it wasn't absolutely guaranteed.  But even after two days of having a good three-hour chunk of childless time, I am feeling like a slightly new person.  As we settle into our new routine I am hoping to eventually carve out--and highly guard--some time to get back into yoga, do some serious sewing (with dreams of having an Etsy shop one day), bake bread regularly, page through recipes and make dishes that I've never had the time to make before (and improve on the creativity of meals around here--breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, all of it!), possibly do some volunteering, get together with a friend or neighbor for coffee (which we've been only talking about for too long), do more preserving and plan next year's garden more thoroughly.  My husband says "it's only three hours."  Yes, but it's a regular, guaranteed three hours three days each week (school is Monday through Friday, but I'm going to add an extra half-day shift to my current pastry gig.)  You'd be surprised what I can get done just knowing for sure I have that time reserved.  Of course there's all the life maintenance that I do around here anyway, but I've already discovered that I can get it done much more efficiently (read: more quickly) when I'm solo. Not to mention the load is lighter--no need to pack snacks for the gym bag, no need to factor in extra time for extraction every place we go. What I'm most excited about is that I'll get to have this personal time in the AMs then will have more time to focus and be present when my youngin' and husband are around.

First Day of School Breakfast--Gluten-Free Maple French Toast

With some of my home-canned peaches, an "All-Star" Breakfast

Last night I already felt I had more time to make a creative salad for dinner.  Picked up some fennel from our CSA farmers and was eager to use it.  

Beet, Cabbage, and Fennel Salad

Serves 4

I served this alongside some poached whitefish for a simple dinner.  One could use red beets as well, but the golden ones give it a beautiful color.

1 lb. golden beets, shredded

1/2 c. shredded red cabbage

1 bulb fennel, thinly shaved (I used a Japanese slicer) with handful of fronds, minced

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. sherry vinegar

1/2 preserved lemon

Salt

Place vegetables in a large mixing bowl and set aside.  Combine the oil, vinegar, and preserved lemon in a food processor and process until a "dressing" is made (alternatively minced the preserved lemon and mix first three ingredients by hand.)  Pour dressing over vegetables and toss well.  Taste and season with additional salt as needed (remembering that the preserved lemons are already salted.)

Tomorrow will be V's half birthday.  I'm not usually one to get into half birthdays, but really just wanted an excuse to bake something, especially with her.  We made our favorite Vanilla Cupcakes using almond flour and had a great time working together (where did this additional patience suddnely come from on my end?)  

Helping to whisk...

...and mix

Mise en place

Mise en place is one of the most important steps in making any recipe, a point I try to convey in my cooking classes.  But honestly, it's been all in theory for me because I usually feel like I'm frantically throwing something together.  Sure, most of the things I make work out just fine that way, but I can probably still count on too many fingers how many times I've begun mixing  ingredients together only to find I'm out of something.  So today I actually had time to stage all of the ingredients in individual prep. bowls so that V could more easily help me bake.  She enjoyed being able to pour and mix, which are too often complicated by my lack of time to get organized.  Seriously, this new chapter has been awesome so far.  I hope it lasts!

Ready for frosting

The garden is still going strong and the fall crops are well established--even after some chipmunks turned under my brassica bed last Friday.  I reseeded immediately and kept them protected.  Everything is nearly back to normal already.  Coming out of our garden right now are lots of cherry tomatoes, which we're mostly eating out of hand like candy; basil basil basil--time to make pesto; and some interesting peppers that are relatives to poblanos.  Greens and beans are still popping too and the fall crop of golden raspberries are starting to peek out.

Pick a peck

One more school day for the week then a jam-packed weekend of fun in Milwaukee.  Summer's on its last leg so everyone and every organization are trying to celebrate before it's too late.