rigatoni with lemon parmesan cream

we had this for lunch today, yum.

i really liked this recipe. creamy, but still light (not at all like an alfredo) with lots of zang. i served it with ginger glazed carrots, another favorite. just throw in 1 T brown sugar, 1 t salt, 1 t ground ginger, and 3 T butter into already cooked/drained carrots.

the pasta was easy too. “cook the rigatoni, set it aside. saute garlic over low heat for 30 seconds (do not let brown). add lemon peel and cream, simmer for 8 minutes. add tomatoes, parmesan and cooked pasta. stir and season with salt and pepper. pour lemon juice over top. serve with extra parmesan.”

train scroms

boy took the kids over to play on the boxcars yesterday. other favorite field trips with dad include the recycling center (where they all just hop in the bins and see what they can find), the cemetery, dried up canal beds and culverts, and construction sites. i usually just take them to the park.

or, when worse comes to worse, i pretend like we’re not related.

“lovely food, gromit”

i remember lots of instances growing up, seeing something strange and beautiful, the way the hairs stood up on the inside of an artichoke or rows of antique pinwheels on a pillow, and wanting to take their picture. i’ve always suffered this urge, usually when i didn’t have a camera, so it passed. but yesterday, when i was rinsing tomatos in the colander, i remembered. i think it would be fun if we always noticed the neat little things. so next time i walk by the telephone pole on vista, bristling with nails and staples of yardsales past, i’m going to take it’s picture too.

if any of you want to play, try to collect 5 things, and then post them. the point isn’t to try and be a photographer, but to catch the little things that hop into your day unexpected. i always liked this post of paula’s. she caught a picture of paint gooping, sliced leeks, and then the chartreuse of her skirt. it’s neat what you notice. by the way, the bottom picture was me whisking pancake batter and wondering at how the sides shed liquid and kept perfectly smooth. eventually, i had to make pancakes out of it and stop playing.

when mavis gets old

you can almost see it already…

a very manly baby blanket

for baby isaac.

i went down the whole brocade aisle looking for something suited to a little boy. this happened to be displayed on the bolt backwards. when i got home i discovered the ‘right’ side. oops. not exactly my first choice.

i have been seeing these blankets in baby boutiques lately and wanted to try and make one. it definitely would have been more fun to make one for a girl, so i will try it again. just to note, it would be cheaper and easier to go with a satin and a more typical fleece. the two i choose wouldn’t even sit still long enough for me to draw a line on them. then when i got out the scissors, they practically ran away. and satin baby binding is evil. you have to pin it every inch (it seems to have escapist tendencies as well). but i am a brave girl, with lots of time on my hands, so there.

picky picky

i need to decide on the oilcloth i want for my kitchen chairs, so i can have it ordered. or if anyone just likes this here ‘paris rose’, they have it in stock at 20% off. i’m not sure myself.

otherwise, i looked through the catalog and liked pears and apples, bartlett pears, hibiscus, and mums. you might think none of those really match my, so far, staid kitchen, but if you pop open my cupboards you get a better idea of what could be going on someday.

whatever i do my chairs in, i will still probably paint the table itself white, with just a tint of whatever color (i love pink/white and yellow/white). so that’s the plan. let me know if you prefer any of the fabrics and we’ll see what comes. thanks.

grapefruit, avocado salsa on tofu?

it seems wrong, but i did it anyways.

so thank you stacy, for making me try something new. it tasted good, if you could get over the “i’m eating oranges with red onions? i am? this is wrong.” sensation. all’s well that ends well i guess. it’s a perfect dish for unsuspecting guests. you mostly make it ahead of time and you can put it together without any damage to your kitchen. not to mention, it’s exciting. especially when it comes to cleaning up your plate. “should i scooch the grapefruit over to the avocado or to the spinach? well that tasted good, what about this?” it’s like doing a puzzle. so here is the recipe. you should try it yourself, or have friends over and make them eat it.

clean house day

i’m finally feeling better. very excited. tomorrow i’m going to make marinated tofu with grapefruit, avocado salsa and hunt down oilcloth to upholster my dining room chairs. previously, in mavisland, it was a good day if i only napped 3 times and swept something.

this is my house, if you hadn’t gathered as much already. it is also clean. or it was (when these pictures were taken), i’m not so sure about now.

i finally reupholstered my living room furniture. but the couch shows dirt like mad. in fact, it shows water. i need to redo it, but i am going to wait until i have a real house. one where i can paint. nothing i can do is going to coerce my pink furniture into matching with that russet wall. and i don’t want it to, anyways.

this is the nursery. anything garish goes. when we get a third bedroom the boys will have something much more moderate. i’m thinking puke yellow and eggshell blue. hooray for them.

my next project is to paint the kitchen table and reupholster the chairs. i eventually want to cover the top in sheet metal but we’ll do the rest first. i also have to paint the kinderzeat, yellow or turquoise most likely. it’s really sad how the whole place looks so drab, but i think that’s what happens when you rent and they had the sense enough to tell you not to touch anything.

i finally hung up the valances in my room and whipped out the winter bedding. both presents from my mother (the same woman who painted my dresser goldenrod, by the way). her theory, “this is rather obscene, i think miranda will like it.” that is why i have headless, 3 boobed statue, with a removable fetus, in my living room.

bathroom, obviously. and, on the right, one of my sewing cupboards.

and this is my sewing hole. it may be small, but i was thrilled to have a place where i could leave my sewing machine plugged in all the time. even more intoxicating, an ironing board with the iron out. now that is a dream.

that’s pretty much your full tour. i haven’t really invested myself in decorating anything. i just take what i can get. i have collected everything i’ve needed (as i’ve needed it) at yard sales. now i just want to finish some of my furniture pieces, so when we do move to my new house in the ghetto, i can give it my full attention. my husband lives in perpetual fear of that day.

my sister has posted her house too, if anyone wants to see what ‘clean’ really looks like.

blankie scrom

i think jehu is going through separation anxiety. except it’s with his blanket. which is all right by me. i couldn’t go to the bathroom by myself when gideon was that age (although this does make me feel kind of slighted). he also craves pacifiers. we’ve never really given them to him before, so the sudden infatuation is kind of strange (and cruelly not indulged). i’m sure both grandmas will run out and buy him some to make up for my heartless indifference. especially if they heard his pitiful little pleas, “nukers? nukers?”. poor little scrom.

malai bhindi

i made this for lunch the other day and it was just right.

if you like that sort of thing, i guess. and i do.

trim heads and tails off okras. fry in 2 tablespoons of oil (don’t overcook or else they get mushy). on the side blend the onion and tomato. fry the onion/tomato puree in 3 tablespoons of oil for 10 to 15 minutes. add the ginger/garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes. add all the spices and cook for another 2 minutes. add the okras and salt and cook for 5 minutes. lastly, add cream, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes. garnish with cilantro and serve with basmati rice or naan.

oh, by the by, i always substitute paprika for chili powder. it keeps the flavor without the heat. i don’t know what kind of insane person puts a tablespoon of chili in their food anyways.