and for my final act...

...a little bathing beauty cuteness.

it's the natural progression to the "self feeding" post, don't you think?

selvedge

yesterday one of our printer reps came in and brought some samples (presents!) with her. amongst the different publications was an issue of selvedge (which i've seen on other blogs but hadn't located in our local bookstore -- and even if i did, the cover price of $25 per issue is a little prohibitive with my budget). so it was super exciting to get to keep one to drool over for free.

the eye candy is pretty much what i'd expected -- lovely things to drool over and feed the imagination (and make me wish i had more time on my hands to work on all kinds of things i don't really have time for anyway).

self feeding

sam's been feeding himself with his hands for a long time, so he thought it was about time he graduated to utensils. we've had mixed success with bananas on a fork. usually i stab the banana, he takes the fork in one hand, takes off the banana with the other, and shoves it in his mouth. today we tried our luck with spoonfuls of yogurt. sam thought he was doing so well, he'd try it hands free.

silly boy.

my new soup buddy

i always keep lentils in my pantry, but i normally buy the brown ones. so when my recipe for moroccan lentil soup called for red ones, i had to do a little more searching around our supermarket, and i happened on these little lovlies. these split red lentils (masoor dal -- found in the middle eastern isle) seem to cook a lot faster than whole brown ones, so are great to drop into my tomato soup when i'm in a hurry and want some more protein (with no fat and really low in calories - what more could you ask for?) awesome.

what say you?

i was thinking about trying to design something for a valentine give-away on one of my favorite blogs (of course, i haven't actually contacted the blogger yet, so i'd have to do that...). i pulled some sketches out and came up with these little luvbugs. would you want to win a dozen notecards with these little guys? even if they're laser printed and not letterpress? what say you?

update: i emailed the blogger and her giveaways are full. ah well...

my new fav

roasting has become my new favorite way to cook veggies, especially winter veggies, and i've been trying different variations. tonight was a simple combo of butternut squash, red onions, and carrots with olive oil, rosemary, oregano, a little garlic powder, salt and pepper. i just cook them until they get soft and then the edges get crispy and yummy. easy peasy and super delish. i highly recommend giving it a try.

food experiment #3

so i know you've all been on the edges of your seats waiting to hear about my third food experiment for the year. sorry about that. a little bit of life got in the way. but here it is, the story of my minestrone massacre:

on sunday i tried to make my own minestrone soup. not that i've never had minestrone soup before. i have. lots of times. but it's always been out of a can. (oh lovely can of soup. so convenient to heat and eat when the boy will not be put down. and labeled vegetarian, so as not to confuse those of us who would prefer not to eat mystery broth). so i thought, "why not try to make my own from scratch? i've made soup before. how hard can it be?"

i looked up a metric ton of recipes (okay, it was more like three or four) and none of them had the same combination of veggies and such that were in my favorite canned variety, so i decided that i would simply look at the can, read the ingredients, and make it up from there.

so i did. and it wasn't a collosal failure, but it just wasn't the same as from a can. and i've really cozied up to that canned soup (any foodies out there, feel free to string up your bows and take your shots). my soup ended up looking a bit more stew than soup (too much stuff, not enough room in the pot for more broth), and it also didn't freeze particularly well. the potatoes got squarshy, the noodles got mangled, it was not pretty (and since i forgot to photograph the debut night, and the repeats looked terrible, i decided we could live without the visual).

however, i think even a mangled minstrone would be improved by one of these bowls, don't you?

faerie lights

just had to post a couple of these wonderful images.

found via here.

this week's food experiment to come tomorrow.

sock wars

sam and i are in full battle mode.
he does not want to wear his socks. i want his piggies to be warm and toasty, and it's cold in the basement. he pulls them off, and crawls away. i snatch them up, i snatch him up, and we sit down, and i put them back on. he thinks it's a game. i think it's a war. some days i think i win. some days i know he wins. most of the time it's a draw--he walks around with one sock on and one sock off. i guess i should be glad that at least half of his toes are warm and that so far (knock on wood) we are at least managing to still have pairs of socks. yay for small victories.
speaking of which, i see some naked piggies...
cute handmade socks found here.

monsters on my mind

it's been a while since i made anything for the boy (other than meals), so i was thinking about making him a stuffed monster for his birthday (even though he already has a plethora of stuffed toys). i've got more than enough scrap fabric, the trick is finding the time. perhaps if i start now i'll get it done in time for his second birthday.

from the archives

someone at work found this great old book that they published back in the 60s, and i decided i needed to scan a few of the pages for my own archives. i really love the style of the illustrations, and especially love the clothing (how much fun would it be to be dressed up like the lady in the second image -- red hat, red shoes, white gloves -- fabulous!)

11 months old (and boy did i have to work for this photo!)

but i finally got a good one (and about 50 blurry pictures of the back of his head).

thanks for finally humoring me, sammy-sam.

experimental food (and why i'm a kitchen rockstar today)

so i'm technically calling this my second try at experimental food for 2010. i sorta cheated for the first one, as it wasn't exactly a new recipe or a new food, but a new technique. last sunday i tried making my own sourdough hot pretzels, complete with dropping them in boiling water and the whole 9.

but this week i was really jumping out of my comfort zone with this recipe for moroccan lentil soup. i've never used garam masala or (to my knowledge) cardamom for anything before, so i basically had no idea how it was going to turn out. overall, i think it was pretty successful -- i mixed some with sammy's peas before i pureed them, and he ate a huge helping -- and of course, i had a nice big bowl-full (and enjoyed it). mike, however, opted out of the adventure tonight, and that's why i'm considering myself today's kitchen rockstar -- i basically had to prepare three separate meals for us tonight. soup and homemade sourdough bread for me (and sam), skillet lasagna and spinach and broccoli salad for mike, and pureed peas (with lentil soup) for sam. AND everything got done at the same time, so we could all eat together. woot!

but the very best part is that we've got lovely leftovers for everyone tomorrow night, so even though i made a slight mountain of dirty dishes, it was totally worth it (especially when mike is on clean-up duty, heh heh).

progress

huzzah! one thing to cross off my project list. the scarf that has been in-progress for the majority of 2009 is finally done. it's sorta short, but it does the job and keeps my neck nice and cozy. of course, it looks about a million times cuter on my little model.

rewind: our christmas card

i just wanted to do a quick rewind post about our christmas card (since i didn't post a photo earlier). the one on the left is our traditional ornament card (6 geese a-laying). it was a lot of fun to be able to use mom and dad's machine to cut them out. it opened a whole new door of possibilities. maybe if i'm good, they'll let me use it again next year...

the one on the right was something i put together quickly for sam's daycare, the pediatrician, etc. i thought it came out pretty well for something that was as spur-of-the-moment as it was. i'm thinking i might have to do a photo card like this for everyone next year (along with the ornament, of course).

it's playtime

because we've had so much snow and cold weather, sam and i have been spending a LOT of time playing in the basement. he's got lots of new toys that we've been enjoying, but we've also been playing a lot of games. among his favorites are chase and piggyback rides. he's also doing a few new tricks, including clapping and this really cute thing he does where he just tilts his head to the side and gives a big grin. it's like he's turned all his cuteness on full-blast. he thinks it's funny when i fall over and say "you GOT ME with your CUTENESS."

on my list - notes to self, the 2010 edition

so it seems like all the bloggers are posting up a storm of resolutions (or goals or whatnot) for 2010, and i thought i might as well jump on the bandwagon, as i'm certainly hoping to do a little self-improving this year. maybe if i post them on here, i might actually accomplish one or two (or at least my collossal failures will make good post-fodder, eh?)

here they are, in no particular order:

• buy a new calendar and remember to write things down on it
• try more new foods/new recipes (ideally one a week -- realizing that life sometimes doesn't allow for such things - quick'n'easy/tried'n'true meals are called such for a reason)
• remember to set aside time for excercise (preferrably before 10pm)
• find more time to be creative and make things with my own two hands (this includes finishing the scarf i've been working on for nearly a year now, and various other projects in multiple stages of not-finishedness -- this does not include random messes and piles of unwashed dishes)
• fill up one sketchbook
• buy pretty/fun stamps and send real letters
• teach sam how to use a sippy cup
• buy less "stuff" (in particluar, do not buy more things for more projects that i have no hope of finishing before i'm able to finish all the projects i've already bought materials for)
• feel better about my post-sam body
• get more organized (especially when it comes to papers/magazines/etc.) and learn how to use the new back-up drive we got for christmas
• clean the bathroom before it becomes atrocious (this is a big one. it's always atrocious.)
• make a genuine effort to market myself (which includes setting up some kind of portfolio site)

*whew* i think this is enough to begin with.

p.s. that cute planner can be found here.

and another thing...

and now that i've finally conquered that christmas post, i can move on to one for the new year. not that there's a whole lot to tell. we had a pretty low-key new year's eve. we decided to just hang out at home and make some yummy dinner (which meant a great, big broccoli salad all to myself! woot!!) and clinking in the new year with a couple of cream sodas. it was lovely.
and we've already gotten our first buckeye win for 2010. i'd say things have started off swimmingly.
hope you all have a great new year! happy 2010!

a very merry

now that all the festivities are over, i've been thinking about what to report about christmas. i guess the bottom line is this: our families are awesome. we love to see them. we love to hang out and eat great food and be silly and play video games and make cookies and do all those fun things that just don't happen enough. we do not, however, enjoy driving with the threat of a screaming boy hovering over us in the backseat while we make our way to the various gatherings. and though we really did have a spectacular time, and sam (for the most part) did a fabulous job of sleeping in transport, i do certainly hope that in the future sam will roll with things a little easier. it took a couple of days of being back in his home territory for him to settle back down into his "schedule". in the past week we have all been making good use of his new stash of toys (and i'm enjoying the fact that we've got a place to store most of them too! woo!) thanks to all who made this such a happy holiday for the three of us. we love you!

still, i really think someone needs to get busy and invent those transporters right quick. i don't know what the hold-up is. they've had them on star trek for ages. who's with me? missy?