n o d d y b o o m

for you, a giveaway

 

hi all.

hope you are having a lovely weekend.

a gift for you.  it's a demekin pop eyed fish lens 110 camera with a tripod hole.  brand new in the box.  just leave a comment in this post and i'll select someone by week's end and send it out.  i truly appreciate all your visits here and the whole blogging community in general with their inspiring creativity. 

meanwhile, the spirit of the holiday season has descended upon us around here.  lights have been strung.  presents are being made and wrapped.  one more week of school and then the kids will be home with us, baking for neighbors and friends and those in need.  so exciting.

i hope you're having a wonderful, relaxing weekend, filled with moments of peace, laughter and beautiful skies. 

we are off for a quick walk before the rest of our day begins, to enjoy the after effects of a good hard rain.  the air is clear and crisp and the sun is out.  it's a gorgeous day.

take care.  *

a word of caution...

 

make sure that when you go to all the trouble spend all that time  painstakingly embroider that pillowcase for that special someone this holiday season, you don't accidentally embroider through the front AND the back of the entire case, thereby rendering it inoperable and regrettably putting yourself in a position where you have to undo the whole thing and start over, all the while feeling like a dolt.  sigh.  everybody got that?  ok good.  lesson learned.

pleasant crafting, everyone.

i heart mondays

some photos for your monday.

feeling the pull of the holidays over here.  the shortness of the days.  the busy-ness of the season.

enjoying:

friends

food

stolen quiet moments

conversations with neighbors

long walks

this book with the kids

potlucks

monkeys

a tour through a house of treasures

less time on the computer

scarves

rain

cozy fires

hot soup

music

have a beautiful monday everyone

for those of you who have persimmons trees nearby...

 

try this:

:: persimmon tea cake (adapted from local flavors) ::

  ingredients:

  2 large ripe hachiya persimmons (enough for 1 cup puree)

  2 teaspoons baking soda

  1 1/4 cups organic white or whole wheat pastry flour (or half and half)

  1/2 teaspoon sea salt

  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

  1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

  1/2 cup (1 stick) good quality organic butter at room temperature

  1 cup light brown sugar, packed

  1 organic egg

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  grated zest of 1 lemon

instructions:

  preheat oven to 350°.  butter and flour a bread (loaf) pan.

  open the persimmons lengthwise, pick out an seeds, then scrape the pulp into a measuring cup, puree, measure out 1 cup and stir in the baking soda.  combine the flour, salt and spices in a bowl.

  cream the butter and sugar until smooth, then beat in the egg, followed by the vanilla and the persimmon puree.  add the flour mixture and the lemon zest.

  scrape the batter into the loaf pan and put it in the middle of the oven.  reduce heat to 325° and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before digging in (if you can wait that long.  i didn't.  the bread was still steaming when i scooped it onto my plate.  mmm.)

  i'm serving this to the kids later with whipped cream for dessert.  it has a gingerbread sort of a taste.  very light and fluffy and yummm.  you can't really taste the persimmon.  it's sort of hidden in there with the spices.  give it a whirl and see what you think.

p.s. look at these wonderful things.  i want them all.

p.p.s the persimmons for this recipe came from our neighbors next door which is extra cool in my book for so many reasons.  she has so many persimmons on her tree she doesn't know what to do with them and she was bringing them over in exchange for the baskets of cherry tomatoes we gave her last summer.  i told her i'd figure out a recipe and that we'd do something with all those persimmons and here it is!  later i will bring over the recipe and have a chat with her about making tea cakes for the neighbors or teachers at our schools, etc.  tis the spirit.

have a peaceful day!

thank you for:

converse

handshakes

the kindness of strangers

(per gillian's gratitude project).

oh those kids + a favorite noodle recipe

they sang at the top of their lungs and then stopped completely when i opened the car door to put my purse on the front seat and then started up again after i had closed the door and was walking around to the other side and get in to drive.  it reminded me of a game show i saw long ago starring ronald reagan when he was young, maybe in his thirties, where the guest celebrity participant had to do something and not tell the players what it was he was doing.  the player who figured it out, won the game.  so what he did is he entered the stage to applause from the audience and sat down to start the show and to be asked questions by the players who were trying to figure out what he was doing and the moment the player would say "um" or something like that, reagan would exit the stage and start all over again.  it took a few rounds before someone finally figured out that he was starting over every time someone said "uh" or "um", which people do a lot, actually.  and the whole audience was in on it, so it was pretty clever and hilarious.

anyway, that's what the kids made me think of this morning and we were all in a state of giggles all the way to school.

this is a favorite for quick dinners and lunches around here.  enjoy! 

:: soba noodle salad adapted from feeding the whole family ::

salad: 

  1 8 oz. package soba noodles

  handful of chopped basil

  handful of sliced scallions

  roasted sesame seeds

dressing:

  2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

  3 tablespoons tamari or shoyu (soy sauce)

  3 tablespoons basalmic vinegar

  1 tablespoon maple syrup

  1 teaspoon hot pepper oil (or increase to 1 tablespoon for adults or take it out altogether if your kids don't like things too spicy)

optional additions:

  grated carrot

  shredded red cabbage

  finely sliced radishes

  lightly steamed broccoli

  grilled tofu cubes

  etc.

directions:

  cook soba noodles according to package directions and rinse in cold water.

  toss with dressing and salad ingredients

  serve! 

inspired by...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

different things from different places:

holiday baking

a stack of polaroids i have lying around (my supply is now dwindling and i just can't bring myself to purchase the exorbitantly priced film anymore, though i love it so.  boo hoo).

cupcakes (the links for the books are to amazon, but any purchases through this particular amazon link benefit my kids' waldorf school, which is nice.  just thought i needed to explain to my friends who prefer to support independent book stores, which i also like to do).

milk magazine

some cross stitch i'm working on

juxtapose magazine how to be an explorer of the world

also, check out gratitude log.  a friend of mine directed me there after reading my gratitude post.

what is inspiring you these days? 

cotton candy beverages

  

nikon d700

cotton candy lemonade or hot chocolate :

(inspired by the cotton candy mojito at bazaar i had weeks ago)

fill one mug with cotton candy (we buy ours this time of year at whole foods.  they have little organic bags of grape or cherry vanilla.  we chose cherry vanilla).

in a pitcher, prepare a mixture of freshly squeezed lemons and water OR not overly-heated raw milk and raw chocolate (both unsweetened).

place the pitcher next to the mug filled with cotton candy in front of the child.

either:

a) watch the child pour the liquid over the cotton candy and squeal with delight as the cotton candy melts completely into the beverage.

or:

b) watch the child opt to eat the candy and bypass the rest of the drink (because, of course it will not be sweet without the addition of the cotton candy).  add agave or something sweet to the rest of the drink and drink it yourself.  join in a game of wild chase with the child until the sugar high wears off.  collapse in a heap of giggles on the floor, exhausted but happy.  hopefully. 

eating a lot of late night straus mint chip and rich chocolate ice cream around here lately.  not too late, but still.  late enough.  after nine.  and drinking a LOT of raw milk.  ever since i had that flu, i can't seem to get enough.  weird.  it's the same for the kids.  there must be something in that raw milk that we need right now.

loving the morning light now.  it was so hard to get up in the dark.  although, i'm quite pleased with the amount of sunrises i've witnessed because of it.  still, i have a hard time really waking up until there is light in the sky.  now we wake up and it is sunny or gray or whatever, but light at least.  it's wonderful.

color week :: white

white

shadows playing on a small collection of hobnail glass (i think that's what it's called?).

i finally got to sit up a bit last night and take a tour of the internet.  it is so inspiring to gaze in at everyone's worlds.  to admire the things people are making and doing and talking about.  i adore this place.

today i am running over to little tokyo to gather a small collection of gifts for the kids, post halloween.  they've both decided to give the majority of their candy over to the sugar fairy and who am i not to oblige that?  no, i must play along.  it's too sweet.  too soon they will be beyond that sort of thing and i am intent on enjoying every last drop of their delicious childhood. 

later there will be cellos played and boys to chase around a basketball quart and then tonight we will head to the pumpkin patch to jump and search and admire.  we are hitting a very small city patch this year, unlike the one out in the country we drove an hour to find last year.  but i am very much looking forward to it, as are the kids.  they don't seem to mind that it isn't a huge field sprawling with vines and such.  there is something to discover in every experience, in every situation, no matter how great or small, and i'm very much looking forward to seeing what we will discover tonight. 

tomorrow is yellow.  remember to have a peek at the other blogs who are playing along (look for them in the comments section of either this post or the previous post).  there are only a few of us, so maybe i can figure out how to do a collage of all of our photos at the end of the week?  i'll try.  it would be kind of fun to see them all grouped together, no?

have a lovely day everyone.  *

breathing again, finally

we are finally coming up for air over here and i feel a bit like this sprout that took root in my scrub brush, a fresh, soft  green thing coming up out of the bristles.  i haven't had a virus wipe me out like that in years.  i haven't been confined to a bed in years.  i am a person who normally refuses the flu shot, but i swear, the next time i'm at a party that happens to have a doctor passing out flu vaccines, i'm getting in line with the people who have their sleeves rolled up. 

now that i no longer feel like i'm walking around with a cloud surrounding my brain and cotton balls stuffed in my ears, i am ready to find my way back into some sort of a routine.  i've only been out of commission one week, but it feels like forever.  around me i see that fall is truly settling in.  darkness comes much earlier in the evening.  everyone's porches and front walkways are lined with pumpkins.  the kids run around the house with the neighbor's kids after dinner and "spy" on us through lighted windows under dusky skies.  the japanese maples in our front yard are beginning to hint at giving up their leaves.  soon we will be lighting fires and knitting and making pumpkin pies and apple bread. 

 

flu season

i have been:

treading lightly

sipping tea

sleeping + a lot

reading

stretching aching muscles

becoming re-acquainted with my hot water bottle + cold compresses + eucalyptus

drinking chicken broth with lemon + jalapeno

nursing sick children

trying to enjoy the process

i am still not quite well.  only just well enough to tiptoe around the house, heat up a pot of tea, place a compress on my daughter's head + read her a book, check a few emails and tumble back into bed for a nap.  there are good things happening though too.  i have caught up on reading.  i have begun writing again.  a bit.  i am resting.  i am getting stronger.

i recommend:

lots of garlic + downtime + board games + liquids + good books + laughter + cozy clothes

i hope you are all well + rested*