Cracker Intentions; Cracker Reality

I bought a box of these peanut butter crackers intending them as an easy-to-eat "early labor" snack, but I was in intense labor so quickly (and the whole thing lasted less than 9 hours) that I didn't get to eat anything between breakfast (cherry Nutrigrain bar and orange juice with liquid iron*) and an hour or so after the kid was born.

They're a little dry, but palatable, especially with a glass of milk.

Here are other things I intended to buy before giving birth, based on research I did on some homebirth websites, so that I'd have them for labor and  post-birth snacking (for me and for my support team):

applesauce
bananas
bread
juice/Vitamin Water/lemonade
grapes (to freeze)
Greek yogurt
Clif bars
soup
popsicles
brownie mix (2)
cottage cheese
oatmeal
tater tots
Toaster Strudel
pudding (chocolate)
Emergen-C
miso soup
bagels
fruit

Of course, this didn't happen, thanks to my intense contractions and speedily-born son, but I've kept the shopping list in the diaper bag and intend to pick up most of these items later this week.  They still sound pretty tasty to me. 

*A Lesson Learned: Drinking OJ in labor turned out to be not the greatest idea.

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Hat Trick

I was told I selected the "perfect combination" of three snacks to bring along in my bag when my husband and I attended our first Tribeca Parenting Childbirth Education Class (Home Birth), so I thought I'd share this winning combo:

• Sugar snap peas (healthy, fresh, crispy)
• Reese's Pieces (sweet, chocolate, peanut butter, melt-in-the-mouth)
• Snyders of Hanover Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzel Pieces (savory, tangy, crunchy)

What would make up your ultimate trifecta of snacking?

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Photo Essay: Our Baby Shower (February)

Host: Rachel





Spread: Cheese Fondue with fruit and vegetables, pickles, spice cake. I enjoyed the food so much I didn't get any photos of myself, and very few photos of any of the guests!




Decorations: Tissue paper garland (made by me), flowers and butterflies (made and donated by FEAST organizers).  Flowers.




Activity: Draw a picture for our homemade alphabet book!



Thanks, friends!
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Grrr!

Tiny vanilla cupcake from Whole Foods, courtesy of Susan.

Are you surprised I didn't choose chocolate?

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Early Birthday Presents

I love the day that Easter candy first makes its appearance in the stores -- or, at least, the day I first notice it.  That day was yesterday, and I snagged a couple of my favorites because today's my birthday and I "deserve" a treat.

Though I prefer an original Cadbury egg over the other flavors (the filling is always creamier in the former), orange is nice for a change.

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Not just for kids

[Seatbelt Carriage Satchel by Harveys; Uniqlo Boyfriend Jeans; We Who See Pleated Canvas Booties from Urban Outfitters.]

We toured a local pediatricians' office last week and made sure to take home a couple of the Yummy Earth organic lollipops from the reception desk.  The doctor who spoke to us said that they used to give out sugar-free suckers, but that they'd decided that organic ones with real sugar were a better, healthier idea.

Tastier, too, I'm sure.  Mine ("Strawberry Smash") was tart and sweet at the same time.  Delicious!

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"Ginger" should never be an insult.

I got a tip from Daupo that the ginger cookies he spotted today at Paradis were mighty fine -- sweet, soft, and with a good ginger flavor.

Ginger cookies at Paradis?  I've never seen such a thing!  Their chocolate chip cookie was the first item featured on this blog (the epic picture came later), so I always give their cookies a chance.

I went right over -- and bought two, of course.

And Daupo was right.  No "redheaded stepchildren" in the cookie family, these.  Just delicious.

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Poetry Tuesday: The Patient Muffin

Pepitas don't look like
Pepitas taste nice but
A pumpkin muffin is soft and waits
Solidly on your desk, and waits
Warm flavor pausing, waits
For you to remember.


OR


A Noiseless, Patient Muffin

A NOISELESS, patient muffin,
I mark’d, where, on a little office desk, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to adorn the cluttered, flat surrounding,
It launch’d forth fragrance, fragrance, fragrance, out of itself;
Ever unreeling it—ever tirelessly speeding scent.	5
And you, O my Stomach, where you sit,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of work,
Ceaselessly eating, nibbling, snacking,—seeking the foods, to ingest them;
Till the hunger you still have be fill’d—till your breakfast's anchor holds;
Till the pumpkin-y muffin's strings catch somewhere, O my Soul.

 


[Pumpkin muffin from Whole Foods, via Kevin.  Thanks, Kevin.  Sorry, Whitman.]

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Not Pictured: 1 Slice of Dean and DeLuca Iced Lemon Bread

(photo by Dan)

Eaten before and after Infant CPR and Safety class at Birth Day Presence.

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Office Food Theft: Never a Victimless Crime

Yes, many in my workplace (including me) have been reduced to passive, aggressive, or passive-aggressive notes regarding food theft.  There are thieves among us!

We're not richly compensated enough that this becomes "no big deal."  And most of us are generous and would (and do) share happily if asked.  Stop eating our food in secret, mysterious thieves!



In my office, if it isn't coffee, tea, milk (one specific brand, easily identified), or half-and-half, it's not public property.  Sometimes fruit and baked goods are left out on the counter or table for all to share, but those offerings are pretty easy to identify.  Yet lunches, leftovers, and more go missing -- again and again.



The worst part is that I am straight-out quite fond of pretty much everyone I work with, which makes it awfully hard to point fingers.  But clearly there are a) thoughtless and/or b) mean and/or c) porky and/or d) starving people among us.  

Boo, food thieves!  Boo!

Does personal food go missing in your workplace?

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My pants are too tight. Oh, hello, Pudding.

Yes, I'm too lazy to shop for maternity pants.  The pair I'm wearing today have to be completely unbuttoned when I sit down.  I'm spending my Elevenses eating leftover pudding from The Food Emporium anyway -- tight pants be damned!

FYI, marshmallows left in pudding overnight take on a sort of soft-foam texture.  Odd.

Also!  While I have mentioned I found Whole Foods' chocolate pudding to be TOO chocolatey and rich, the F.E. pudding is just my speed. The only thing I don't like about this in-store brand is the packaging.  Because the pudding cup is "rippled" around its sides, it is impossible to scrape all of the pudding out with any utensil.  Wasted pudding is a disgrace.

p.s.  Here's a funny picture of my cat wearing my hair as a wig. It is un-staged (i.e. he crawled under my chin and sat down like that):





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My dinner with My Dinner With Andre

It would be fun to make a "Giant Movie Night" joke about Andre the Giant here, but we didn't invite anyone over or declare it an official "Giant Movie Night" before sitting down to eat dinner and watch My Dinner with Andre.



Dan did, however, make excellent chicken enchiladas, using a Rick Bayless recipe.  The adobo rub was a little salty, but avocado slices helped cut that to a manageable degree.

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Shower Power!

Jeff and Michelle are having a baby (they beat me to it).  I felt privileged to attend one of their baby showers last weekend -- and not just because the food served there was excellent.



But it was.







The party was held in the back room of, and catered by, a charming local bar called The Richardson.  They laid out a great spread of grilled sandwiches/panini, veggies, pickles, cheese, deviled eggs, pretzels, and meats.



I believe I ate quite a bit. 





Seriously intense, moist, and attractive cupcakes (chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, and carrot cake) were provided by another local favorite shop, The Blue Stove.

Congratulations, Jeff and Michelle!  And thanks (also to Jeff's mom, who hosted) for the party!

Snowy Sick Day Breakfast

 

My sister made homemade orange rolls and posted a photo on Facebook.  I wanted some immediately. But she lives in another state, I can't eat a photograph, and I'm home sick after a snowstorm with neither the ingredients nor the energy to produce my own rolls. Alas!

We were, however, inspired to throw some Pillsbury/Cinnabon cinnamon rolls (find them in the refrigerator biscuit section of the grocery store) into the oven this morning.  No doubt, Cali's rolls were better (as are my mom's, here), but these were pretty good.



My only quarrel with them, really, is that there are just five in a can.  That's an odd number, and there are two people in my household.  How can we possibly share fairly without dirtying a knife?

So, I'd love to have had that sixth roll, but I can acknowledge that this product would be perfect for people with five-person families.  You just can't please everyone, Pillsbury.  You just can't.



Microwave leftover, cooled rolls for 20 seconds before eating.

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Stuck on almonds

Dan's preparing for an installation at the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, NJ.  I went down to Flavor Paper, his main wallpaper distributor, yesterday to help with the "weeding" (removing the negative space from hundreds (thousands) of sometimes-tiny vinyl stickers.



These salted almonds (sent to us at Christmas by Dan's parents) saved the day.  Between them, a clementine, and some red raspberry leaf tea (good for uterine toning, I'm told!), I was able to get through multiple hours of picking away at sheets of vinyl with tweezers and my fingers.

When we were done, we grabbed some Tex-Mex at Lobo.  They start out by bringing the table a basket of what I judged to be above-average chips and salsa, in case you were wondering.  And I was hungry-but-not-ravenous, so my dinner of chicken enchiladas with verde sauce suited me well.


p.s. How's this for a bathroom?!

[Tiny Fashion Spread: Jeans and cardigan by Uniqlo, Tee from Forever 21, Onitsuka Tigers on the feet] 

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Snowy Breakfasts

(photo by Dan)

We had a blizzard a few weeks ago.  I miss it (which I realize is because I could stay inside, safe and warm and dry).  Our lazy, snowy, post-holiday mornings made for some excellent breakfast opportunities.



Ruby red grapefruit (no sugar needed) and jalapeno-cheddar bagel with cream cheese.  Thanks, Dan, for shoveling and stamping through the snow to the store to get the provisions!





"American Pancakes" from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess and homemade cranberry curd (loosely based on a recipe in the same book).

Here's a tip: if you make more batter than you need, cook up all the pancakes anyway and freeze or refrigerate them.  Throw the leftovers in the toaster to heat and eat when you feel like it.  Pancake batter doesn't keep well, but cooked pancakes do.

Let it snow, breakfast-lovers!

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Fast Snack: Tuna Salad on Crackers

Dan makes a wicked tuna salad.  This one, assembled for tuna melts the other night, was heavy on the onions. I added a sprinkling of cheddar left over from breakfast and ate it on crackers this afternoon.

Disclaimer: Yes, pregnant women shouldn't eat too much tuna.  There's a debate raging about whether they should eat any at all.  The most extreme opinion I've read is that NO woman of "child-bearing age" (!!!) should eat tuna.  I'm pretty careful (and choose light tuna when buying it for myself), but decided I was unwilling to give it up completely.

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The Cookbook Challenge: Book One

For a couple of years, I've been wanting to prove to myself that the many cookbooks I've hoarded (about a quarter of which can be viewed in the photo above) are good for something.  I do cook regularly from a number of them, but there are others that just hang out in the kitchen as novelty items.  Far too often, I turn the internet when looking for a new recipe to try.  I know this is, in part, because it is much easier to search for specific ingredients on my computer, but I love quite a few of the cookbooks I've collected -- even ones I don't use often.  They do take up space, though, and I should probably use them or lose (at least a few of) them.

I thought perhaps I would create a challenge in which I attempt to make at least one recipe from each of my cookbooks (and books of "food writing" that include recipes) over the course of a year.  This may help me decide which cookbooks to get rid of, but it might also clue me in to some new favorites.  As a bonus, this could also create some entertaining blog content (for you!) along the way.



For my first book in the challenge, I chose The New York Times Large Type Cookbook (by Jean Hewitt; illustrations by Maida Silverman. Golden Press, NY, 1968).  I don't remember exactly where I picked this up (as will be the case with many of my second-hand sources), but for some reason I was drawn to the format.  The recipes are fairly basic in an appealing way (large print makes everything look easier!), and the illustrations are spare but sweet.



This morning, I made up a dish of the cookbook's: 

Boone Tavern Spoon Bread
 (note: recipe instructions have been paraphrased)

1 1/4 c. white cornmeal
3 c. milk, rapidly boiling
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt (you could ease off the salt a tad, I think)
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 T. melted butter, cooled


Once the milk is boiling (be careful, as it can easily boil over in a too-small pot), add the cornmeal and stir constantly until it is well-mixed and thick.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Preheat oven to 375 F. 


When cooled, stir cornmeal mixture into other ingredients.  Mix (I used a stand mixer) at high speed for 10-15 minutes, or until smooth.  Spread in a pie plate or casserole dish (1-1 1/2 qt capacity).  Bake in oven for 30 minutes.  Serve with melted butter (or cheese or hot sauce or sour cream, I thought, with bacon on the side).  The cookbook specifies that this should be eaten with a fork, which tickled me.  It's "spoon" bread, after all!





I hope you appreciated my "large print" homage.

Spoon bread is like a corn bread casserole.  I found the recipe plain but filling, which seems true to the aesthetic and contents of this cookbook.  I have a hunch, flipping through it, that there are other things in this volume I would enjoy making and eating.  The New York Times Large Type Cookbook is staying on the "keep" pile for now.



How many cookbooks do I have, anyway?  I'm taking bets.

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