Culinary update

I made a killer dinner tonight. I think I found my culinary calling: Middle Eastern food (or perhaps I just really like eating Middle Eastern food). For dinner, I made baba ghanouj, hummus, olive salad, and lamb chops marinated in a mint yogurt sauce. The star of the show was the baba ghanouj, mostly because I've never roasted eggplant before, and for my first time making it, it was delicious (and garlicky). Of course you can never go wrong with marinated lamb chops. I'm always a little conflicted about  grass-fed lamb chops from New Zealand. Do they really need to come from that far away? Honestly, at $15.00 a pound, isn't there an American farmer that can clone a few sheep from New Zealand and start raising them in some field? I'll inquire next time I'm at Whole Foods or our local farmers market.  

These past couple of weeks, I've really falling in love with my food processor. Passionate love. From cabbage to strawberries, I'm using it at least three times a week. It's allowed me to make dishes that I would have never attempted before such as falafel, which is on the menu for Wednesday. When I return to Baltimore and place it next to my Mixmaster, I'm not sure who will be my preferred sous chef: my gritty, powerful, seductive Cuisinart or my beautiful, refined, sensual Kitchen Aid.

Lamb, olive salad, pita bread, baba ghanouj, hummus and a relatively local Pinot. 

Olive salad - sorry for the bad photo, it looked much prettier in person

Baba ghanouj and hummus. Even though the containers look like they are from Whole Foods, I did make them myself. Next time I'll take a photo of the disaster in the kitchen to prove they are homemade.

Tired

I just don't understand why the kids don't nap somedays. I was up late last night and was really looking forward to a 15-minute power nap this afternoon. Theoretically, I could take a power nap, tidy up the house, catch up on the news, make out the week's grocery list, and take care of the cats during nap time today (I live such a glamorous life). Nope. Didn't happen. I was able to sit in Jonah's room while he was settling down and write out my grocery list (it's going to be Lebanese week), but that was the only thing I was able to do. I spent the rest of the time telling Genna to calm down and checking in on Jonah to tell him to put his head down and go to sleep. I wonder why kids fight sleep so much. Are they afraid they are going to miss something? The most exciting thing they're going to miss is emptying the cat's litter box, but they just don't understand that. Are they having so much fun that they don't want it to end? I just don't get it. I think tomorrow I'll have a long chat with Genna on why she doesn't want to nap. Maybe I can get to the root of it, gain an insight and then somehow convince her that naps are really a treasure that kids have while they're young. I might as well give it a try. Psychoanalyzing my children for two hours has to be more fun than scolding them for two hours.

G & J

Since it was cold and gloomy again today, the kids and I had a lot of "together" time. I find it interesting how different my two kids are. And since I spent the whole day indoors with my rug rats, I had ample time to experience their differences. At Jonah's age, Genna had (and still does have) a pretty short attention span. If she played with the same toy for 15 consecutive minutes, we thought it was a miracle toy. Jonah, on the other hand can spend an hour easily playing with his trains, pushing them around and over things. Genna has an insatiable appetite for books. We read dozens of books to her daily and she would still ask for more. Of course books were the one thing between Genna and bedtime, so that may be part of the reason she could never get enough books. Jonah will tolerate about two or three books and then he prefers to line them up and roll his trains over them.

Genna needs continual participation from others, mostly me. At the community center playspace today, I could not be more than 18 inches away from her. I had to pretend I was a mailman, then I had to set up a balance beam for her, then I had to pretend I was a mommy (as if I'm not), then I had to pretend we were at a restaurant. Jonah ran ahead of me into the playspace and never looked back. He was in and out of toddler cars, up on slides, found the trainset, found the car ramp, found a couple of cute toddlers to play peek-a-boo with, and never missed me at all - except for when he got his foot stuck in a car and I had to help him get it out.

Genna has a much higher energy level. She was walking to the tot-lot by age two. Jonah walks a half a block and then wants to be picked up and carried. Genna was walking at 13 months. Jonah didn't crawl until he was at least 14 months old. On the other hand, we kept the baby gates on the stairs for Genna until she was almost two and a half. Jonah was doing stairs by himself at 21 months (perhaps that discrepancy was partially due to overprotective first-time parents). Genna loves to jump on her trampoline. Jonah loves to look under it while she's jumping. Genna has never been interested in food and there were days she'd survive on a cup of milk and a raisin. Jonah requires a banana to hold him over while I'm making breakfast; he'll finish his french toast and be screaming for more before the second batch is even finished on the griddle.

Genna reading Go, Dogs, Go. She has almost every page memorized; and there's 64 pages to that book.

I love how she reads the book to me and then holds it up so I can see the pictures.

Genna politely holding the book so Jonah can roll his truck over it.

Genna practicing her gymnastics dismount pose. Jonah wondering why anyone would want to do all that running and jumping around when there's snacks to eat and trains to push.

Jonah's birthday

Jonah turned the big T-W-O today. This is the last birthday that he won't really understand that it's his special day, and the last birthday that I'll be able to get away with buying him an opera dvd as his birthday present. I just can't stand listening to Barney or Bedknobs & Broomsticks anymore, looking forward to hearing La Boheme in the minivan.

We did all of Jonah's favorite things today: Gymnastics - well, that's really Genna's thing, but Jonah loves turning the lights on and off in the restroom there; grocery shopping - Jonah loves those shopping carts with kid cars in front (they are so ridiculously large that I couldn't even turn the cart around in the grocery aisle and had to back out of the aisle); chicken nuggets for lunch - Jonah actually ate two whole bites of chicken with his half cup of ketchup; nap time - Jonah hates nap time, but at least I could bake him a birthday cake during this time; licking the frosting beaters - what kid doesn't love that; organic mac-n-cheese and green beens for dinner; and birthday cake. Jonah only had one 3-minute temper tantrum today, so I'd say he had a good birthday.

On one hand, it's really hard to believe that Jonah is two. I have vivid memories of when he was born so it doesn't seem that long ago. On the other hand, I barely remember what life was like before Jonah, so it seems like he's been with us much longer than two years. I can't say that I'm sad that he's two already. Infants are hard on me - all the sleep deprivation, the annoying breastfeeding, always having to keep track of how many "months" old he is (I hate when other parents ask and I have to guesstimate), the diapers, having no idea why he's screaming, the sleep deprivation, and the sleep deprivation (did I mention the sleep deprivation?). I'm actually looking forward to the next couple of years. I have a distinct memory of when Genna was about two and a half and feeling that she was so much easier and so much more fun. I'm hoping the same is true for little chunky boy Jonah.

"G'morning momma! I can now unzip my jammies all by myself now!"

Presents arrive from Auntie Zoe & Uncle Rance

Reading my birthday card on the potty

"C'mon, mama - let me turn the lights on and off in the bathroom just a few more times. It's the only real fun I have while waiting around for my sister to finish gymnastics."

This is just from licking the icing beaters. Jonah hasn't even had the cake yet.

Happy Birthday! As an aside, the cake icing was a disaster. I tried to make a French buttercream with a Betty Crocker hand beater. After 15 minutes of beating and the beater about to overheat, I was ages away from a stiff peak. So the light and airy strawberry buttercream turned out to have a dense meringue texture. Fortunately the kids had no problem eating it.

Home all day

In the evenings, I normally put Jonah in his crib, turn his light off and sit in his room to write my blog while he goes to sleep. Today, I thought I'd just sing him a song and then write my blog later. So, as I sat down to sing to Jonah (without my laptop), Jonah started saying, "Bloook.... bloooook." Well, he really means to say "blog." So, apparently my blog has become a part of Jonah's nightime routine also. I obliged, and hence I'm sitting in his room downloading photos and posting today's blog while Jonah goes to sleep to the erratic purr of my typing.

Mother Nature gave us a good dusting of snow last night and some cold temperatures today so we decided to have a lazy day of staying inside all day. We probably could have gone out, but with Jonah's cold and my aversion to spending 25 minutes bundling up the kids for 20 minutes of being outside, we decided we'd have a play at home day where the kids could pretty much do whatever they wanted and make as big of a mess as they wanted; they were happy to participate.

There's nothing like jumping on the Goodwill trampoline in pajamas before breakfast!

Genna is trying to instill her passion for jumping on Jonah. She's no long allowed to help him jump off the coffee table. And, yes, that is Jonah wearing the pink princess pjs. His dinosaur pjs are in the laundry. 

Sesame Street podcasts. I think this is the Hunt for the Letter H podcast

Why not wear summer clothes when you stay inside all day long?

Jonah loves anything with wheels.

Whassup mommy?

The $1.99 pink fuzzy slippers are a hit with Genna.

Another podcast. Note the added shirt and pants to the summer dress.

Genna now has the camera. Do you like our matching hairstyles?

"My turn for the camera!"

"It feels great to spin around after a shower, except when I bonk my head."

Two kids showered and ready for bed by 7 pm. Success.

Two kids asleep (one on my typing arm) by 7:30. Priceless.

In the end, it was a good bonding day for me and the kiddos. They watched a few more podcasts than I had intended and I didn't read them as many books as I intended, but we all had fun.

Gloomy again, mostly

I was in the car today and was in the mood for complaining. Big-time complaining. I wasn't necessarily angry at anyone or anything specific, I just like to save up and compartmentalize all of my complaints and then let them all out at once; I'm sure Noah would say this attribute is one of the top ten reasons why he married me. Fortunately, Noah was in the car with me and he could listen to my complaining. I'm not sure why, but it's not very satisfyng complaining to the kids. Even though the receiver of my complaining really just has to sit there and say, "yes....you're right....I know..." It's far more satisfying to complain to an adult rather than a toddler and a 4-year old.  

Then, in mid-complaint, something happened - the sun peaked through a small opening in the clouds, and for about four minutes the sun was shining. I'm not sure if it was just the excitement of the sun, but I suddenly felt better about everything. My mood instantly improved. I've heard of people who receive light therapy to ward off depression, and maybe there's really something to that. I wonder how many Seattleites are like me - mildly grumpy when the weather is foul. It certainly doesn't seem like there are many similar to me here. I actually find most people here chipper and upbeat. Driving is much more pleasant here than on the East Coast. I still can't get used cars giving me a little room on the road when I turn on my blinker. In Baltimore, the blinker is a signal for the surrounding cars to speed up and make changing lanes as difficult as possible. In any case, if Noah comes home with a 200 watt lightbulb in a little box for me to put my head in, I know that he's had enough of my complaining for the day. 

We hit the 20,000 milestone in the minivan. We brought this vehicle home 2 years ago (almost to the day!). If we look hard enough, there's probably a few crumbs of goldfish or cheez-its in the kid's seats from its inaugural trip. 

I made hummus for the first time in my food processor. The consistency is quite different than when I make it in the VitaMix. Or, it could be my proportions. I'm not exactly careful when it comes to measuring ingredients for hummus. 

This is Albert, he's the 20-year old cat that we're watching for or landlord. He's a sweet little thing, albeit geriatric. 

The good and the bad

All cities are different. In Baltimore, we've gotten to know the kid's circuit. Warm days are spent at decent playgrounds, the zoo, traveling to DC or just playing in the backyard; those days are easy. It's always the rainy or cold days that present more of a challenge. Fortunately, as parents (who are about to pull their hair out if they have to spend one more minute in the house with a fussy toddler!), we've learned about the popular places to take kids when weather is bad: Maryland Science Center, Art Museums, which are free in Baltimore and always have at least one kid-activity in progress, and my favorite - the libraries. Baltimore city and county have awesome libraries for kids and adults. For toddlers, they are literally indoor playgrounds. The flagship is the Rosedale library. With its toddler city that includes a grocery store, fishing port, construction zone, house complete with kitchen and upstairs bedrooms, infant garden, theater, library, and post office, the libraries are wonderful places to spend a rainy day. This is not the case in Seattle.

This morning we went to the Greenwood library. It was open this morning. Being open is not insignificant; there are many Seattle libraries that are not open in the mornings, on Fridays, or on Sundays. Huh? Yeah - that's what I thought a couple of weeks ago when I drove to THREE different libraries on Friday only to find out that they were all closed on Fridays. Once inside the library, there's always a children's section. I only know it's the children's section because the reading tables and chairs are shorter than the ones in the adults departments. If you're lucky you might find a toy or two in the kids section. Our pediatrician's waiting room is more fun for the kids than Seattle's libraries. The Greenwood library's kids section is unique. Some architect had the brilliant idea of showcasing a 4' high by 12' diameter rock formation that protrudes through the front glass wall of the building. It is quite stunning when you first see it. However, on the inside of the building this giant rock with slippery 1.5' chiseled steps is located in the children's section. The architect or interior designer did NOT have children. I spent the entire time trying to keep both Genna and Jonah out of the ER with a concussion. The giant rock, with it's giant steps, was like a pool of water in the Sahara Desert for the kids. It's always a fun time to see my clumsy Jonah jumping up and down a slippery rock.

So, I quickly chose a few books and dragged the kids (of course whining) out of the library. As I was returning to the checkout because my "checked out" books were setting off book-theft alarm, there was a frantic mother with a toddler who had a face covered in blood. Poor little thing. I didn't even have to eavesdrop to find out what happened. I knew that the Frank Lloyd Wright-esque boulder had gotten the best of the little girl.

So, I think we'll continue going to community centers on rainy days. The Seattle libraries are not welcoming places for rambunctious little tykes, but what Seattle lacks in libraries, it does make up for in community centers. Thank goodness.

Jonah always looks like a young Jedi to me in his robe.

"May the Force be with you."

"Just kidding! I'm really just a toddler from planet Earth who wears a purple diaper."

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

I'm always a bit cautious about what I post on my blog. I follow the basic Internet safety rules about not posting too much personal information about address, phone number, when I'll be out of town, etc. In fact, I don't even like when Noah's voicemail message at work states that he'll be "out of town." I google-searched my name and my blog doesn't show up on the first couple of pages of results - not sure if that is good or bad. And, since I'll probably be looking for a job when I return to Baltimore, I always have to keep in mind that a potential employer may read my blog as well.

That said, I think I'll take a risk today and reflect on a very relevant subject to our lives, but it may not be appropriate for all audiences. So, please stop reading if you are not allowed to watch PG-13 movies.

We've started potty training Jonah. I know it's a rite of passage for both parents and child, but there are simply some things that I'd outsource if I could. In many circles there's a belief that cloth diapers result in babies being potty trained earlier because they are less comfortable when they are dirty. Contemporary diapers are so good at absorbing that kids have no incentive to "hold it." So, I've been using the cloth diapers A LOT lately. And, I have to agree, Jonah tends to hold his pee-pee when he's in his cloth diapers. If I was diligent about putting him on his little potty every hour or so, he probably would have a dry diaper all day long. In fact, he often tells me when he wants to use the potty. Keep in mind that "tells me" for Jonah means saying something not quite comprehendible in English and then leading me to the bathroom.

Number Two for Jonah is a different story. He seems perfectly happy to soil his cloth diapers. In fact, he's starting to have this little routine where he plays with his trains, then gets very still, then gets "the look" on his face. What's weird is that he'll frequently toot on the potty. In fact, he's often sat down on his little Baby Bjorn potty, lets out a big toot, stands up, points at his potty, and says proudly, "TOOT!" So, he'll pee-pee and toot on the potty, but prefers to poop in a diaper. This is always most frustrating to mommy the day after he has an entire pint of blueberries. I'm now severely limiting his blueberry intake because I've learned that he doesn't chew them. He swallows many of them whole. How do I know this? Think about it.

So, other than spending the day washing out diapers (did I mention that we share a wash machine with three college boys?), we did our traditional Monday morning Goodwill shopping this morning. Noah and Genna were able to join Jonah and I today because of the holiday. It was quite the family outing. Genna found a kid's trampoline. Once she saw it, there was no way we were going to be able to leave the store without it - at least not without a devastated little girl. And at only six dollars, it's a good way to let Genna practice some of her gymnastics at home. We had to explain to her that there's no way we can bring the trampoline back to Baltimore with us (won't fit in the minivan), but I think if we prepare her for that she'll be okay with it. So, if anyone in Seattle is looking for a kids trampoline, check the Ballard Goodwill in August.

Noah's improving on his latte art

We decided to let the kids watch Blues Clues so Mommy & Daddy could enjoy a quiet dinner. Not something I'm proud of, but sometimes we just need to pacify the kids.

Jonah loves to feed the cats.

He's very serious about it.

He doesn't look too girly in Genna's little collard white onesie, does he?

One more sunny day

I was really happy to be living in Seattle today. Before lunch, we went to a playground where we watched trains snake around shores of the Puget Sound and bald eagles fly above us on a warm, sunny February day.

In order to balance out our hamburgers yesterday, we went to Silence Heart Nest Restaurant in Fremont, a vegetarian restaurant, of course. Apparently all the employees are "students of meditation" with "Indian spiritual master Sri Chinmoy."  According to the website, Sri Chinmoy devoted his life to "harmony and oneness between people and between different cultures." And we definitely saw many of the cultures at the restaurant: the artist with his suitcase-sized yellow leather man-purse, the lesbian table enjoying their vegetarian curry, the Japanese college students who picked up their waffles and were eating it like a slice of pizza, the cross-dressing man wearing a sweater-dress with heals, and the family of four with the toddler throwing his mac-n-cheese (that was us). I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, people-watching or eating my tofu "neatloaf" sandwich. Noah ordered the (soy) bacon guacamole (veggie) burger. Even though I'm trying not to repeat restaurants in Seattle, I might have to go at least one more time to Silence Heart Nest before we leave Seattle. 

The popular Fremont neighborhood 

The Silence Heart Nest Restaurant

"Don't you even think about taking this toy away from me. If you do, I swear, I will have the biggest, loudest temper tantrum you have every seen. Don't tempt me."

I love how the restaurants here are so kid-friendly

My half sandwich and fries of neatloaf

Vegetarian bacon guacamole burger

Afterwards, we decided to splurge on dessert and went across the street to the Flying Apron cafe. I'm really not sure what's left when you take out all animal products and wheat from pastries, but that's what we ate. The kids didn't seem to mind and gobbled up their gluten-free, vegan chocolate cupcake. I, on the other hand, am thankful that my family does not have any allergies to wheat or dairy - not because I didn't like our dessert today, but I don't think I could handle going to that bakery again because our server had earrings that created a 1.5 inch diameter hole in his earlobes; truly the most disturbing body-piercing thing I've seen.  

Paradise for someone prone to allergies

Look at the line up of vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free pastries

You thought I was kidding with the vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free pastries. I don't even know what "alternatively sweetened" means. 

According to NOAA, the Seattle weather will be returning to normal grey skies tomorrow, so I suppose my blogs won't be quite as upbeat as they have been for the past couple of days.

Sunny Saturday

Since we had some clear blue skies today, I decided to take a few extra photos today and post this week's photo essay. We went to Discovery Park today to do some hiking and then took the kids out for hamburgers. Seattle is a very busy place when it is sunny; there seems to be an obligation to go outside - but not without sunglasses. I chuckled at all the people fumbling around with their sunglasses, some pairs were obviously from the 80's, in new condition.

My morning lifeline. What would a day in Seattle be without a cappuccino? 

This macchiato looks really good, but it actually didn't taste very good. My barista needed to work a little harder on this one. 

Kiddos patiently painting while mommy and daddy decide what to do today. 

"C'mon daddy, just make up your mind where you want to go today and quit checking Facebook!"

If we were true Seattleites, we'd take the bus, but we'd rather look like the dork family in the minivan.

We arrived at Discovery Park. Don't be fooled by the photo, these trails were not made for the double-wide mall stroller.

Awesome vista at Discovery Park

The kids just aren't interested in looking at the mountains across the Puget Sound. Jumping off the mulch pile around the trees was far more interesting than looking at one of our great National Parks.

Arms up, kids!

Yet another burger joint in Seattle. It seems like for every vegetarian cafe (where there are A LOT of), there is a burger joint. It's a weird dichotomy.

This made our drive home much longer than expected: a draw bridge. I didn't think many of these existed any more, but they do, surprisingly on a major street in Seattle. C'mon Seattle, build a taller bridge.

This is not insignificant. In all my travels here in Seattle, this is the ONLY McDonalds that I've seen. 

Home at last and watched Mt. Rainer from our back porch while the sun set. 

I know that one person reads my blog: Dad. These two items were in a package for me sent sent from Dad. Garlic press and a knife sharpener. Thanks, Dad! I used the garlic press to make my coconut curry for dinner, with extra garlic!