Big Quinoa Bowl

After reading Laurie's comment about the "Delicious Big Bowl - Quinoa Recipe" posted at 101cookbooks.com, my mouth watered and I decided to have a go at it for dinner last night. For those not familiar with my favorite whole grain, quinoa is amazing. Great texture, easy-going flavor, as quick cooking as white rice, and the only whole grain that is also a complete protein unto itself. It's pretty darned amazing.

We had no asparagus on hand, so I substituted fresh picked kale from our container garden. Which is a bonus, because our kale is growing particularly abundantly and yummily.

Then, I decided to switch in sweet potatoes for half of the white potatoes, figuring it would add some nice flavor and also good nutritional value for me and the little one. Also threw the kale and potatoes into one pan rather than going for the separated colors aesthetic of the original recipe.

Finally, the recipe mentioned a citrus dressing that the author had used, but I decided to wing it a bit here as well. I mixed my own concoction, using olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a dash of spicy chile oil, a wee bit of honey and lemon juice, and some wheat-free tamari. The result was damned good, if I do say so myself (and Bob agreed).

The final result: a very yummy meal, fast to cook and nutritious. One I will definitely be making again! Happily, Bob and I also seem to have fallen into the habit of cleaning up together right after our meals together. It's so much faster than I think it will be, and every night we go to bed with all the dishes done. Fabulous!

The original recipe:

Delicious Big Bowl - Quinoa Recipe

2 cups white quinoa, rinsed well
4 scant cups water
1 teaspoon salt
a few splashes of extra virgin olive oil
3 - 4 medium/large potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large yellow onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup toasted nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, etc)
1-2 cups lightly cooked asparagus, cut into 1/2-inch segments

another splash or two of good olive oil or citrus dressing

Bring the quinoa, water and salt to a boil in a large thick-bottomed pot. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the quinoa opens up revealing a little spiral and is soft and pleasant to chew. If there is any remaining liquid at this point, drain it off and set the quinoa aside.

Warm a splash of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, then add the potatoes and a couple pinches of salt. Toss to coat the potatoes and cover for a few minutes to allow the insides of the potatoes to sweat and cook. Uncover, toss again, then cook a few minutes longer (uncovered) until the potatoes start to get some color. Continue tossing every few minutes to get more color and crispness. When they are cooked through and pleasantly crunchy, season to taste with salt and scoop out onto a plate. Set aside.

In the same skillet (no need to clean) warm another splash of oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes or until they soften up a bit.

Toss the quinoa with a splash of olive oil (I had leftover citrus parmesan dressing, so I used that). Serve each bowl of quinoa topped with potatoes, onions, nuts and asparagus. Alternately, you can toss everything together in one big bowl and serve it up family-style.

Serves 4 - 6.

On My List This Month

Bread and Yogurt from Scratch. Wish me luck!

Also, another great Web site from the writer of 101cookbooks: Mighty Foods!

We finally got around to making dinner plans with some of our friends. As of right now, we're having people over every weekend for the rest of this month, and have tentative plans with Marissa, Tom and Tess for early October. This should give me lots of opportunity to try out new recipes. Stay tuned.

Reduce Junk Mail!

Stop getting all those credit card offers in the mail! Opt out!

Frugal Foody, More Saving

With our little boy scheduled to arrive in January, we are looking for additional ways to save money and continue our financial improvement (it pays to keep track - our net worth grew by more than $6,000 in the last month! I never would have guessed if I didn't know).

Bob and I really, really, really love to eat. Seriously. We love food. And food, well, it loves to eat our money. Some months we may have even been known to spend as much as $3000 on our groceries and restaurants combined. Which is, frankly, absurd.

We have a commitment now about eating out (we mostly don't do it, except for special occasions), and have been attempting to spend less at the grocery store as well. Thought I would share a few Web sites and ideas I have come across in my efforts to find resources and support:

Finding Great Recipes: This seems to be an important element of staying inspired by home cooked meals for me. Recent Web sites I've found to make my mouth water include:

• What I'm Eating
• 101 Cookbooks - specifically this egg salad sandwich!
• One Frugal Foodie
• Happy Foody: Links to a post about frugal organic shopping. Love, love this woman's recipes and approach. She's in the process of roaming around the country with her husband and young daughter in an RV...
• And finally, a mouthwatering picture of strawberries on my friend Laurie's Blog

Big Batches of Food: When we're being smart, we do things like make Bob's rice & beans (recipe forthcoming) in massive quantities, then have them for lunches, avoiding the daily dilemma of either preparing lunch or eating out (I'm often running a little late out the door - preparing daily often fails for me). Several Web sites I've perused of late take this recommendation one step further and recommend a monthly or every other weekly big food prep day that ends with freezing some of the food. We'll have to try that.

Where We Shop: Most of what's out there on the Internets about frugality and food is geared toward coupon clipping and shopping at Costco. We're pretty strongly committed to fresh produce and food that is local and organic when possible. We don't frequent farmer's markets as much as we should, because they are a great way to do this cost-effectively. However, we have found that Wilson Farms in Lexington, MA, offers very inexpensive, high quality produce at a fraction of the price that major grocery stores do (including everything from Shaw's to Whole Checkbook, er, I mean Foods). The trick is not to get sucked into buying their pricier specialty items like amazing cheeses and baked goods and exotic mushrooms. The other main staple of our shopping trips is Trader Joe's. Love that even their frozen meals are actually just real meals, but frozen. High quality, minimal selection (for me a big plus since most grocery stores overwhelm the hell out of me), and very inexpensive.

We've done a few comparison shops from time to time. What we purchase on a weekly basis for between $100 and $200 tends to cost between $200 and $400 when we head to conventional grocery stores (again, mainstream or organic in focus).

I think maybe in the coming weeks and months, I'll blog some recipes we're trying and how we're doing with our commitment to reduce food expenses.

Following up yesterday's rant...

I'm feeling a bit better today. More ready to get back into the swing of things and make my routines my own again...

Just for today, I'd like magic to take the place of time and effort.

In an effort to continue cost-cutting, I diligently packed my lunch today. Mind you, even though I've stopped throwing up all day every day, the idea of food is still generally unappealing to me. Packing my lunch is sort of an in my brain task, involving calculations about nutrients and ma and the baby, and has little to do with what I actually want. I was feeling pretty unexcited about eating the lentil vegetable soup or cottage cheese or fruit I was packing. So you can imagine my surprise when I though, hmm, I still need a whole grain and then actually wanted some of the leftover cous cous from last night. I've been looking forward to the cous cous all morning.

When I dropped it all over the kitchen floor a few minutes ago, it was hard to save the tears until I'd gotten back to my office and closed the door. But I did. And then I cried quietly, so no one would hear me.

It seems like almost everyone I know who is or recently has been pregnant keeps telling me to enjoy it. Because, they also want me to know, they did.

I have a confession to make. So far, not enjoying it. I'm pleased as punch to be pregnant, and wouldn't change it, but I'm not enjoying it. In fact, I feel pretty overwhelmed by it most of the time. Maybe it was months of throwing up. Maybe it's that while I can feel flutters, I still can't be sure it's the baby, and once I feel the baby everything will magically change. Maybe a lifetime of looking forward to experiencing pregnancy (yes, folks, I daydreamed about being pregnant far more than about wearing a wedding dress - I've always been curious about the experience of occupying the same body with another person) set me up with some false or incomplete expectations. Whatever the cause, I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Even with the vomiting gone for a week now, I'm struggling to focus and get things done at work. And all that throwing up really changed my habits. I'm out of practice when it comes to meditating, exercising, and having conversations with people about something other than how many times I've thrown up today, or how yes, I am so happy and so excited to be pregnant (because "everyone" wants to know if I am feeling these things).

Friends, exercise and meditation are pretty much my formula for happiness and health. And I know that I just need to pick myself up and start over again with all of them. And in fact, I had just decided and committed to that right before I went to heat up my cous cous only to drop it on the floor, and return to my office feeling defeated. Time to recommit again.

I know that once I do, it'll be less than a week before I start feeling better. But maybe right now, at this particular moment, I don't even want to feel better. I just want some magical something to swoop in and make it better for me.

Old News.

Oh. my. God. I'm going to have a baby.

Queasy but happy...

I just googled the words "I don't feel very good" - I'm sitting at my desk, nauseous and thinking non-stop about food. What food would taste good. What food wouldn't have a good aftertaste. What food might make me throw up.

Yes, folks. I am pregnant. I know this. I knew it might mean not feeling so well. But knowing it and then feeling it, week after week, are two different things!

I'm in my 12th week now - in about two and a half weeks I'll be done with my first trimester and I'm just praying that I'm average and that I start feeling better with my second! On the up side, swimming at Walden seems to alleviate some of the icky feelings, so at least my favorite summer pastime can persist!

Here's a picture of the picture of the blob inside my belly from a few weeks back (I was in my eighth week at the time):

The black oval in the center is the gestational sac, the bigger roundish whiter blob inside the sac is the head, the little bulge above it and to the right is the belly, and the little piece at the end is the beginning of legs...

Prom

This past weekend found me, Bob, Deji, Cameron, Tara, Debbie, Denice and Matt all dressed up for a midnight sing-along episode of the Buffy musical episode (thing Rocky Horror but way more fun), followed by a Buffy prom. Ridiculous? Yes. But outstandingly fun. We didn't get home until 4:30am - never mind the fact that I left at 5am to drive two hours to an all-day meditation retreat!


My Treo doesn't take the best photos (strange colors and lighting anyone?), but here are a few snapshots from our evening:

Recently...Or, well, somewhat recently...

Bob, who will probably have something to say about me posting this picture! But you know, this is exactly why I love the man. He'll do anything to make me laugh.

The Superbowl with Matt, Lindsay, Jacy, Victoria, and Friends...seriously, we hate the Colts...

A few months back, me enjoying a mini-monster at the Ben & Jerry's Factory in Vermont

An airport, I forget which one. I spend too much time in airports. Any and all suggestions about making my time in them exciting and fulfilling are welcomed!

From my fabulous fall paddling trip:

Our Big List of Things

Here's what we'll be up to for the next five years. We're in the process of putting together a budget and timeline for each. My current question: how can we do these things in such a way that they make a difference for others? Of course there is the difference it always makes when someone fulfills on dreams and looks at the world seeing what is possible. But beyond that. For instance, is there a way to use some of the hikes to raise money or awareness for global health or environmental problems? How can our physical fitness be something that impacts people? I think we've got to move from the realm of "us" to the realm of the world...

Bob

1. Own a house
2. See Machu Pichu in Peru
3. Visit Australia
4. Teach someone something
5. Be conversational in Spanish
6. Be conversational in French
7. See the Redwoods in California
8. Visit Hawaii
9. Have six-pack abs

Us

1. Have kids
2. Visit New Zealand
3. See the Grand Canyon
4. Explore Alaska
5. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

Me

1. Visit the Ben & Jerry's Factory in Vermont (just did that this weekend!)
2. Hike Mt. Katahdin in Maine
3. Hike Mt. Washington in New Hampshire
4. Trek to the base of Everest
5. Complete one year of consistent meditation practice - one hour in the morning/one hour in the evening each day
6. Complete a cross-country road trip
7. Have four-pack abs
8. Have well-defined arms
9. Collaborate with Sam on some creative endeavor
10. Go on a walking tour of France with Karen and/or Laurie
11. Hike in Montana
12. Learn to downhill ski
13. Master breathing on both sides/my freestyle stroke
14. Play a sport as part of a team
15. Visit Taos, New Mexico
16. Complete a sprint triathlon
17. Own a real couch
18. Go on a weeklong sea kayaking trip
19. Host a fifth wedding anniversary weekend at OMNI Camp
20. Visit Paris with Bob
21. Publish some piece of my writing
22. Get accepted into Breadloaf's Master's in English program

I know I've Been a Bit MIA

Answers to some questions I've been getting recently:

Where am I?
Mostly in airports. See previous post.

How is teaching UU Religious Education to 5th Graders?
Awesome. Fifth graders rock. As does the UU version of Sunday School. My kids love soccer, are completely too cool for school, but love have a story read to them and drawing pictures. Since they are looking this year at Jesus's life in the context of him being a man who was a social reformer (our curriculum all but apologizes for looking at Jesus at all, it's kind of funny, and very UU), I'm thinking about connecting all of the international efforts to use soccer for peacemaking and bridge building as a teaching tool at some point during the fall.

How is my class going?
Wonderful. It's such a joy to be back in an English classroom again. We're spending the first half of the semester on Yeats, and I'm planning to focus my first paper on his view of the creative process. He's a bit of a nutter, but incredibly self-observant in this respect, and perhaps it's reading Margaret Atwood's On Writing of late, but I am utterly fascinated by the dichotomy between being and creator within every artist.

How's work?
Good. My note of the day about my job is this: I am so, so, so glad not to be applying to colleges right now. I attended an admissions event at the home of one of the alums I've gotten to know because of my job, and damn these kids have it harder than even I did only ten years ago. Our class (2000) was the first big spike in numbers/competitiveness nationally, but it's gotten so much worse since then. And parents have become so much more obsessed with the process than they once were. I definitely don't envy this Millenial kids.

So that's me in a nutshell...no, this is me in a nutshell, help, help, what kind of a shell would have a nut like this? (I'm not crazy, I'm just quoting Austin Powers.)

Ox-goad lattice window bent hand house
"LEKB" - my initials - in Cretan pictographs – predecessors to our modern alphabet

Bob sure does take some interesting classes.

And on that note, back to my own reading for class (Yeats at the moment).

Dear Rain,

I've been waiting for you.

No Longer Thirsting,
The Once Cracked Earth

A Week in the Life of a Fundraiser

Wednesday last:
- Get lost in Camden, NJ on my way to the Philadelphia airport
- Arrive just past 4pm, in time for boarding without luggage, but must check my luggage because of new carry-on restrictions, get on later flight
- Staff announce that flight will board fifteen minutes later than scheduled
- An hour after "fifteen minutes later," no staff anywhere to be found, flight has disappeared from all boards, I decide to pee and grab a snack, all within 100 yards of the gate
- Twelve minutes later, I return and discover my flight boarded and left...bumped to later flight
- New flight delayed one hour
- Board flight, sit on runway for an hour, learn we have moved up to 30th in line for takeoff
- Arrive in Boston at midnight

Friday last:
- Arrive at Logan Airport, check bags for flight to Phildelphia and connection to Birmingham
- Arrive at gate, discover Philly flight so delayed I will miss connection, switch last minute to flight via Charlotte
- Arrive in Birmingham, discover my bags are in Philly

Yesterday:
- Leave Birmingham, AL at 2pm for Atlanta, GA - should take 2.5 hours, but torrential downpours and no visibility delay journey, reschedule planned dinner appointment with prospect for next day
- Traffic stops one mile from hotel, spend more than an hour getting to hotel
- Hotel at 3340 Peachtree Road - water main broken on street, traffic barely moving - another 30 minutes to travel final block, and then 3330 Peachtree Road, 3350 Peachtree Road - where is 3340?
- Call hotel, get directions, water main flood prevents me from following them, spend 30 more minutes getting back to the turnoff
- In right turn lane, really, really have to pee, can see the hotel, begin to turn and crunch
- Look left, see SUV slowly removing rental car's side view mirror, closest place to pull over is my hotel, I know a bed waits for me, but I can't go to it
- Call Hertz, wait for police, 1.5 hours later, I arrive in my room. It's well past 9pm. Seven hours for a 2.5 hour trip.

Today:
- Discover that my normally flawless staff assistant made an error on my itinerary, have accidentally double booked myself with rescheduled appointment, re-reschedule appointment, get myself on later flight home
- Great day of visits, likely new money for Tufts, nice people
- Arrive at airport with time to spare for 9:45pm flight, complete accident report with Hertz, have time for cup of ice cream
- 9:15pm - flight has no pilot, they are looking for one, new 10:30pm scheduled departure
- 9:45 pm - we've lost our flight attendants and still have no pilot, 10:50pm scheduled departure
- 10:00pm - post this blog entry before laptop dies

A New Season

I was just looking at this picture from last March's annual end of winter polar bear swim, and pondering the impending change of season at home in New England. The urge to burrow creeps closer, and down comforters begin to beckon...Labor Day was our first harbinger.

The Labor Day breakfast for my parents was amazing and strange. Maine's governor, John Baldacci, joined our table for a while, catching up with my dad, and listening attentively while my mom spoke to him about affordable housing in the state (one might even say she lectured). Governor Baldacci, Congressman Tom Allen, and the countless state legislators and other state government officials who were present are why I have never been able to internalize the idea that career politicians are smarmy or power-hungry by nature. I grew up around some of the most altruistic, principled, dedicated public servants, and continue to believe this to be the norm.

Strange to realize that my parents drew the biggest crowd that this annual event has had in years. Strange that my mom brought Maine's Labor Commissioner to tears with the remarks she made. That my dad's poetry prompted a standing ovation. What would it be like to see my parents through eyes other than my own? I got a sense of that last week...

So Proud of My Parents

Look what Bob and I get to be a part of on Labor Day:

This year, the Southern Maine Labor Council will hold a Labor Day breakfast at 8:30 on Sept. 4, to honor union activists Kathy and Frank Kadi.

Kathy, a member of the Maine State Employees Association (MSEA) , was the first Maine president of the Congress of Labor Union Women. Frank has been a long-time activist with the Service Employees International (SEIU) union and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) .

There will also be music from the group “Nine to Nine,” featuring Senate President Beth Edmonds. As well, Ralph Fasanella’s painting “Red Sky,” a photo essay of working people by Guy Saldanha and labor painting by area schoolchildren will be on display.

Photo by Carlos Fernandez.

Fishing For Squirrels

This site is hilarious.

Learning to Swim (3)

Curled up, leaning over you, my head against your chest, ear pressed to hear your heart. Peaceful, then struck by the thought I love this heart…I want to reach down, grow fangs, feast on it, consume it completely. Then wonder, who thought that? Has Margaret Atwood as writer qua writer possessed me? Is this love? Desire? Indicative of a disorder?

I think of it for a day, desperate to write it down but never with pen and paper in hand until now. Now, seated across from you at this Tibetan restaurant. Me with my hot lime, you with your lime soda. Both of us tired and cranky, a little mad at our belated friend who has yet to join us for dinner. Both anticipating being even more tired.

“You’re going to write now?” you say, sounding uncomfortable, as I uncap my pen.

“You don’t seem to want to have a conversation with me.” I retort.

“Don’t do that.”

“What? You seem tired and hungry. I’m not upset, I just don’t want to sit and stare into space wishing I had something to do. So I’m writing. Let me know when and if you actually want to converse and I’ll happily converse. Until then, I’m writing.”

Writing about you and how much I wanted to devour your heart last night, that is.

Hillary in 2008

A few friends have recently told me, Hillary might win the primary, but no way will she win the general...I beg to differ...

From Time:

And there is plenty of encouraging news for her in the latest Time poll. More than half of those surveyed -- 53% -- said they had a favorable impression of her; she registered higher than the other most familiar names in the potential Democratic field, Al Gore (49%), John Edwards (46%) and John Kerry (45%).

Clinton does best against McCain
Her negative ratings (44%) were lower than either Kerry's or Gore's. In hypothetical matchups with the preseason GOP favorite, John McCain, Hillary is the only big-name Democrat to make a real race of it, with McCain edging her by just 2 points among registered voters. By comparison, McCain would trounce Kerry by 10 points and Gore by 9.