The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Is that a Frog in Your Throat, or are you just Marge Simpson?

Yes, by the way, my voice has been dwindling down to almost nothingness over the last few days...and when I put a lot of effort into the volume, I do sound sort of like Marge Simpson...and that's when I sound good. Sometimes there is no voice...I try to ignore the smile on my husband's face at that point....

More Books I'm Recommending

Well, I meant to introduce new books every other week, or something like that, when I put the first 5 books up...and that was what...two months ago or something?

Anyway - finally - here's a new list of books I've put out there for you...not so much cookbooks this time (though there are recipes in almost all of them) but books about the people who cook...or about wine. That just happens to be where my interests lie this time around.

A few more thoughts that didn't make it into the "notes" sections of some of these...

Julia is here again, only this time the book is about her rather than by her. Whenever I feel like I am running out of time to do "something" with my life, I think about the fact that she was older than I am when she became "The French Chef" and the first really big food tv personality. As I've said before, I grew up watching her old shows on PBS. I can hear the theme song from "The French Chef" playing in my head right now. And yes, "Julia" is actually a name we are considering for our daughter...

And Jacques - I remember watching him on PBS (sounds almost like it's pledge season and this is my subtle way of getting you to call in and give your support, huh?) years ago - and he made this Bavarian Wheat Cake (if I find the recipe I'll post it) - it was kind of a custard-based cream-of-wheat cake - very different...but the thing that impressed - and inspired - me was the decorating he did. Very simple - just piped some melted chocolate into a design of a vase with some flowers coming out of it...then filled in the flowers and sections of the vase with apricot jam that had been thinned a bit and tinted red and green (and a batch was left apricot-colored). The effect was like a stained-glass window. Very simple and very beautiful. I made that cake - right down to the vase-and-flowers design - for my mother's birthday that year.

Anyway, sorry it took so long for me to post some new books - and I hope you get acquainted with at least one of them.

New Words and Other Fun Stuff

I can hear them growling and laughing upstairs. Bill is changing Alex's diaper. Why? Well, yes, because it needed to be done. But more importantly - because Alex has started telling us when he needs it done.

More specifically, one of Alex's newer words is "poo poo." (Or is that a phrase?)

Anyway, he understands what it means, and now tells us when he has done, or is doing, said "poo poo." And we praise him and thank him for telling us, and off we go to the changing table to change the diaper.

We figure this is a good first step toward eventual potty training. We're not rushing him (I have vague memories of an introductory Psych class and something about all the lifelong personality problems associated with rushed or forced potty training...I don't want these (whatever they are) coming up in therapy years from now....) but we figure the fact that he is recognizing what he's doing and communicating it to us a good bit of progress toward that launching pad.

Another word - the very newest - is "how." He doesn't know what it means, but he can pronounce it perfectly (and for some people, that's enough). For some reason at breakfast this morning Bill decided to teach him to sing "How High the Moon," so he started with "how" and it went downhill rapidly from there. Sure, Alex can say "hi" and "moo" can pass for "moon" when you're only a year and half old...but Alex wasn't all that interested. He was more inerested in his blueberry pancakes.

Which brings me to my next word and Alex's new nickname. It's not really a new word, but he's using it more frequently. He says "more." And the sweet thing is the way he says it. It's got that same hopeful, kind of timid, questioning sound to it that you hear on the soundtrack of "Oliver!" - so you can guess the nickname.

He is working on a more accurate "kitty cat." At present, he says "da da" for kitty cat. But now he's adding a syllable (yes, we've worked with him on this) and so now sometimes, if he thinks of it, he'll say "da-dee-da." Sometimes, when he's really excited about it, he'll say "da-dee-da-dee-da" - she's just that much of a thrill in his life.

His understanding is growing, and his vocabulary is growing too, though he is not saying all the words he knows. Right now, I think he's adding new words, or reinforcing the ones he thinks he knows but doesn't speak yet, and then going back to the ones he is already familiar with. It goes something like this:

Alex: A dat? (pointing at the ceiling light in the kitchen)
Parent: Light!
Alex: A dat? (pointing at the light above the kitchen sink)
Parent: Light!
Alex: A dat? (pointing at the light over the stove)
Parent: Light!
Alex: A dat? (pointing at the light in the dining room)
Parent: Light!
Alex: A dat? (pointing at the light in the hall)
Parent: Light!
Alex: Ball! (pointing at one of the 8,976 rubber and plastic balls he currently owns, which are scattered throughout the house)
Parent: Yes, ball!
Alex: Juice! (pointing to his sippy cup)
Parent: Right, that's your juice.
Alex: Juice! (pointing to the sippy cup again, just to be sure)
Parent: Yes, that's your juice.
Alex: Ball! Ball! Ball! (pointing, pointing, pointing)
Parent: That's right! Ball!

Sometimes he mixes it up (I think he's checking to see if we're paying attention) - Light, Light, Christmas tree, Light, Light, Light...Keeps us on our toes....

Yesterday we ventured out from our post-holiday hibernation to get some things at the grocery store and elsewhere, and on the spur of the moment we decided to go out for lunch.

Since this wasn't planned, I hadn't packed a sippy cup. I figured we'd wing it somehow. Maybe he wouldn't be thirsty.

A small beverage came with his children's meal, so I asked for the waitress just to fill the cup half way with apple juice. And then the decision had to be made - do we spend the meal offering him sips from the lidless paper cup? (And then spend the rest of our time mopping up the spilled juice?) Or try to teach him - right then and there - to drink from a straw? (That didn't work - it's a tough concept to grasp, since a straw in the lid of a cup resembles sippy cup design but doesn't work at all the same way.)

In the end, I stuck the straw in the cup and stuck my finger over the other end of the straw, thus trapping some of the juice in the straw. I transferred this to his little open mouth and took my finger off the straw. Some of the juice escaped, but the look on his face was one of amazement and surprise and joy - and then he laughed. He laughed hysterically. And not just the one time. Every time I gave him a mouthful of juice, he laughed wildly, delightedly. And so did we.

Last night something got him going - I don't even remember what it was, I just remember he was so happy he was shouting out assorted syllables and running almost on his toes around the basement. Then he'd get to the area over behind the chair and couch where there's the most open space, and he'd start spinning around like a little dervish. He'd stop and attempt to jump (oh, yeah, that's a new thing too - he crouches down then flings himself up, little arms reaching high. He doesn't get far off the ground, but he puts everything he has into the attempt) up and down a few times before spinning - or careening - around the room again. Laughing and laughing. Bill and I just watched him and laughed, looked at each other and shook our heads and laughed some more.

He is a happy, joyful child, for the most part. Today he's wearing a yellow shirt and beige pants, and with his light blond hair and smiley face, he is a bright, shining ball of sunshine in our home.

I Have No Gift to Bring...

Ahh, December the 26th. All the pre-Christmas rush is done, Christmas day is past, and there is absolutely nothing I have to do today. We had a nice Christmas. On Christmas Eve Bill's nephew, Joe, came over and his girlfriend, Emily arrived soon after, and we had a little Christmas exchange of gifts with them...Alex, too, of course. Alex has learned to say "Joe" now, too. That happened at the dinner table. Bill pointed to Joe and said "Joe" and Alex, who can already say "dough" and "juice" (and so has all the necessary vowel and consonant sounds in his repertoire) promptly pointed at Joe and said his name perfectly. But. At the same time, he was pointing, sort of, in Joe's direction, with his thumb extended too...which resembled the sign for the letter "L" - also, more recently, the sign for "loser" when the hand is held up against the forehead. And Alex's hand was somewhat near his forehead. Close enough so that Bill thought it was incredibly funny. (Which it was...) So this gesture in conjunction with the name "Joe" was encouraged for the rest of the evening. Fortunately it's worn off and Alex says "Joe" without the loser sign now. He also said "Em" for Emily, just when she had to leave. He said "Em!" and gave her a big hug. Christmas morning was fun. Alex's first gift was a box containing 4 balls. We got him started tearing the wrapping paper off and as soon as he saw the first ball (the box had a section cut out so you could see all 4 balls - green, blue, pink, and purple. "Ball! Ball!" Over and over. Once the rest of the paper was gone and he could see just how many there were, Alex seemed overwhelmed with the enormity of the gift. He just stood and stared and pointed and exclaimed. "Ball! Ball! Ball! Ball!" His other favorite gifts (at this point) were the set of wooden pegs and a hammer and a little "work bench" to pound the pegs into. (Thank you Auntie Meredith) That held his interest the longest when we were at my parents' house later in the day. And - from Bill's brother Ray and his wife and sons...the label on the package said something like "To Alex - hope you enjoy this as much as your cousins did." It's Elmo...and when you squeeze his hand he sings and does "The Hokey Pokey." Apparently Alex's cousins, Ray T and Ryan, thought Elmo was a riot, and were reluctant to let their parents ship Elmo east to us. Ray T is about 21 and Ryan is 17 or 18 at this point. Just thought I'd point that out. Anyway, Elmo, once you squeeze his hand, sings his song and dances and even turns himself about - as the song directs. Alex dances and turns around right along with him. So does Bill. I need to catch that on film.... So - back to yesterday...went to my parents' house late morning and exchanged gifts with my parents, my sister and her family and, later, my cousin Steve and his family. Alex was worn out and eventually (finally!!!) crashed upstairs in the old playpen my sister and I once inhabited. (He cried for about 15 minutes first, and I sat on the stairs, listening, torturing myself, begging him in my head to please go to sleep. He needed it. I needed it.) Dinner was Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding and assorted accompanying vegetables - very yummy and over with too quickly. After that we zipped back home to get ready for any of Bill's relatives who might show up for the traditional Christmas night party that has been a part of his family (on his father's side) for ages. It's vastly different, Bill tells me, from how it used to be when he was a kid. The location of the party would rotate each year among the four siblings, and it was huge. Unfortunately, it's been shrinking. People have passed away. Families have moved or have established their own traditions. There are sections of the family we only see once a year - in the summer - at Bill's Uncle Don and Aunt Ruth's summer place on the lake. We volunteered to host last year's gathering and this one. This year we had 5 people here (besides ourselves). I had hoped for more, for Bill's sake. It's been a tough holiday season this year in some ways. But - still - last night was nice. And after people went home, Bill called his brother Ray and we talked to everyone out there. Talked to his brother Bob and his family that morning, so even if they weren't in the same house, at least they all got to talk. (Oh no...little break here...Elmo's at it again...the three of them are in there dancing the Hokey Pokey...) So that was Christmas. So what was I talking about with the "I have no gift to bring" reference up top there? There are certain lines in certain songs that are so powerful or emotion-packed that I choke up immediately upon hearing them, no matter how many times I've heard them before. One such line is from "O Holy Night" - when I hear "fall on your knees" - it just gets me. I don't know why. Well, I have theories...but not for this post. Anyway, the other line, from traditional Christmas songs, is in "The Little Drummer Boy"...it's not the line "I have no gift to bring" - it's the line "I played my best for Him." That one just grabs me and resonates with me. Invariably I find myself at some point during my Christmas shopping going a little insane. I fall into an old habit of trying to find THE PERFECT GIFT for everyone. There is no perfect gift, by the way. Or if there is, I haven't found it yet. And I've tried. I've worn myself out, mentally and shoppingly, searching. I remember one year thinking about trying - desperately - to come up with the perfect gift for my mother. The one thing that would erase sadness and bring joy....and she'd always wanted a horse. Since she was a girl. So I thought, since she didn't have room in the back yard or time in her life to actually care for a horse, I would do the next best thing. Adopt one. Kind of like the "Save the Children" program where you send money every month theoretically to care for one child in particular. I think the money is distributed throughout the village, but still, you get photos and updates on one child. I found something in a magazine, I think, about saving the wild mustangs. So I pursued this. I would give her a symbolic little horse statue thing to represent this wild horse out west that she would "own" and could name...and she'd have a horse. Not in the back yard, but still. A horse. Hers. That would be the perfect gift. I was consumed with this idea, and the happiness I imagined bringing her. Until I actually finally spoke with a live person at the save-the-wild-mustang place and found out that they were actually going to catch one of the wild horses and ship it to you. Do we have a suitable yard for it to run around in? Oh....well....um...no, not really. Thank you anyway. Back to square one. But I told her about it. And I was miserable about it for a while. I had really thought... I tried. I've spent other years blowing all the money I had - and then some - in a delightful (overly expensive) series of shopping sprees...and everything I bought was appreciated - but I didn't feel like it was enough. And there's my problem - what was I really trying to accomplish? What did I really expect from all my insanity? Well - tears are always good. Weeping and eternal gratitude seemed like worthy objectives. But those don't come from crazy shopping trips or wild mustangs. This morning I had about two minutes on the computer before Alex woke up, and after checking my email I bounced over to Sheila's blog to see if there was anything new in the last couple of days. And I found this post. Go read it and come back. It won't take long. All set? That is the perfect gift. That is the reason the line "I played my best for him" gets me all choked up. That is the reason that Bill's family appreciates the German cookies. It's the giving of Self. Of time. Energy. Heart. That is the perfect gift. That's plenty. And that's more than enough.

Oh well.

Maybe I was trying to accomplish too much.

I was up til almost midnight baking, and one of the last things I did was mold the very last of the springerle dough. I had bought a few new molds - and for these I was using a hen and a rooster. Very nice detail in the molds, and in the cookies, when I pressed the dough deep enough.

But I was getting tired (up and in the kitchen since 6:30 or so)...and frankly getting sick of cookies by that point. But - I got them done, placed them in their pans and cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed.

My body hurt. I think I'd spent the greater part of the day slightly hunched over bowls or pans or the oven or the sink.

Alex woke up shortly after I'd unkinked myself and was attempting to relax and fall asleep - he's got a cough, and I looked at the clock and realized he was probably due for another dose of cough medicine. So I (VERY RELUCTANTLY) rolled myself out of bed.

My feet hit the floor and I was immediately brought back to two periods of time in my life - when I waitressed, and when I went to culinary school full time on weekends. That awful swollen-soled pain that you feel after you have spent an entire day on your feet and haven't necessarily been wearing the best shoes, either. (In my case yesterday - no shoes at all...on a tile floor...)

And to make it even better - I felt this lightening bolt of pain shoot up the back of my left leg all the way to my butt. I couldn't move my left leg without feeling it again. Which was going to make it hard to get downstairs to where the bottle of cough medicine was.

And hopping wasn't going to work.

The only thing that worked, until everything finally loosened up, was to turn my feet out and plie. And walk in that position. Knees bent. Feet turned out. Out of our bedroom, down the stairs, to the kitchen.

This morning when I finally got up (Bill got up earlier with Alex - thank you, Honey!!!) my feet still hurt but I no longer needed to walk like a frog on my hind legs.

My first order of business was to bake off the springerle.

And you know what? I burned them. Well, burned half and overcooked the others. They are all in the trash now.

Oh, yes, and the two batches of stollen that I baked came out less than glorious too. I was impatient. It's a heavy dough, and I should have just left it alone so it could rise at its own pace.

But I didn't. So I have 3 1/2 loaves of very dense stollen. Still tastes okay, but I won't be giving it as gifts as I'd planned.

My parents were here for coffee this morning and sampled some. My mother and I had already discussed the flaws and the reasons behind them. My father and Bill came into the room a bit later, and my father said, approvingly, that it wasn't overly sweet.

I remarked to my mother that it wasn't overly airy either. We laughed.

I am glad I can laugh about this. There was a time (probably last weekend) that I would have taken this way too seriously, pulled my hair out and torn my clothes over it.... So if I have evolved in no other way, at least I take myself a teeny bit less seriously than I once did.

Gotta go finish the glazing of the lebkuchen....they turned out fine, at least.

Note to Self...

Next year, make some of these doughs ahead of time - like, early November - and freeze them.

It will make your life much, much simpler.

Baby Update

I had my Level 2 ultrasound today.

I've been really feeling tense and anxious and stressed about how this baby is doing. Worried that there might be something wrong - some nameless, unsubstantiated thing might be wrong. I think I was like this with my son, but I don't remember being as emotional about it...

I think some of it has been compounded by the holidays, and by also having a toddler instead of just being pregnant. Less to deal with last time....

But anyway, Bill and I went together, and got to spend who knows how long (time flew and stopped, all at the same time) looking at these black and white images of our next child. The woman doing the sonogram has been doing this for 13 years, and she was zipping along through it, finding bones and organs, taking measurements, tapping numbers into the computer...it's fascinating to watch. The little heart beating...arms and legs moving...the little head...the spine (my favorite "part" for some reason)...and then, all of a sudden, she announced it:

"It's a girl!"

I actually burst out laughing, and then looked over at Bill, who looked stunned. There have been so many boys born on his side of the family (he has a single niece in two generations of relatives) that I guess he really did not expect that he might father a daughter.

I laughed some more. I laughed a lot. Great peals of it. I think some of it was relief that everything looks good, that my baby looks like she's developing normally, has all her organs forming correctly - all of that. But I also kept looking at Bill's face...watched him try to wrap his mind around this strange turn of events...it was delightful.

And, actually, I am coming to the realization that I'm kind of surprised, too. I think I must have expected another son as well, because now I keep having these "Wow! I'm having a girl!" moments.

Wow.

Alex will have a baby sister.

I called my "baby sister", my mother, and one of my sisters-in-law after the ultrasound. My sister has been predicting a girl since the beginning, so I called her first.

And tomorrow morning I'm going to talk to the person probably happiest of all about this news. My niece, Natalie.

Natalie is 8. When I was pregnant with Alex, she, of course, wanted me to have a girl, and her brother, Calvin, naturally was urging my growing belly to produce a boy. Well, he won that round.

And my sister told me today that Natalie cried when I gave birth to a boy. I hadn't known that. But I imagine she'll be rather pleased about this next cousin-to-be....

...wow.....

Mise en Place

Mise en place (pronounced "meez-en-plahs") is a French phrase which means, basically, "to put in place," - and what it refers to in professional (and not-so-professional) kitchens is getting all your ingredients measured (or scaled) out, prepped, and ready to go, so that when you actually start cooking or baking, you don't have to suddenly search frantically through your cupboards for the bottle of ground cloves that you could swear you saw up there the other day.

It means being organized. It also keeps your work area tidy, since you aren't stopping to separate eggs in the middle of mixing your dry ingredients because you suddenly realize that you will only be adding the egg yolks to the sugar and butter at first, then incorporating your dry ingredients, and then the whites are whipped separately and folded into the rest of the mixture...and so since you didn't plan ahead for this, you've suddenly got egg white dripping down your arm and a bit of shell in with the creamed butter and sugar.

Tonight, while Bill brewed up an extract batch of Stout, I did my mise en place for 4 more batches of cookies. A double batch of the lebkuchen, and one batch each of almond stars, farmer hats, and butter cookies. Tomorrow throughout the day I'll put the doughs together, and bake them off tomorrow and Sunday. And then we can ship them out on Monday to Bill's brothers and uncle.

I also plan/want to make stollen, which is a German bread studded with raisins and candied orange peel (yes, studded, like they say in restaurant reviews or in cooking magazines) and marzipan...and topped with a heavy dusting of confectioners' sugar. I remember a good friend of my Mom's family, who was Aunt Hilda to me, used to make this and I loved it. With butter on it.

I also want to make shortbread...and a couple of batches of biscotti...my sister-in-law, Nina's recipe, and another recipe that a friend at work handed to me a few weeks ago.

Also want to make chocolate croissants or cinnamon rolls or something like that for Christmas morning...

I still have a little bit of time, I think...

I'll be fine as long as I mise en place...

Okay, this is way past my bedtime...goodnight....

Hi

It's been a while, hasn't it... The past couple of weeks have just flown by, and between work, family, house, wanting to do more baking, and having a horrible sinus infection that is finally getting better, I just haven't had the energy to write. I've had lots of thoughts...lots of ideas...lots of things that pop into my head at various moments throughout this past bunch of days...but damned if I can remember any of them right now. Cooked dinner tonight for our friend John...nothing fancy, just a little antipasto of olives and prosciutto and cheese...and pasta with a meat and mushroom sauce...and a salad of baby greens with walnuts, cucumbers and dried cranberries...and a loaf of ciabatta, which we dipped in olive oil...(I can make ciabatta, but I didn't make this loaf...will probably start baking bread regularly again AFTER Christmas... Anyway...(my train of thought is often derailed lately)...dinner was nice until Alex decided he was ready to go to bed...and I picked him up out of his highchair...and...well...to be as un-gross as possible...a frightening sound emerged from his abdominal region, and scary stuff came running out of his diaper and down his leg...and on my dress...and the floor....oh, joy. Apparently there is some intestinal bug going around daycare...and it's visiting my son right now. He doesn't seem sick...no fever...but he's not eating like he normally does (with a hearty appetite and lots of "MM-mm!s")...so he's obviously not completely well, either. I have a feeling I will either be staying home with him tomorrow, or, if I bring him in, I'll get the phone call at work to come pick him up...so we'll see how the night goes. And...um...haven't done much baking - made more springerle, still have one more batch of dough in the freezer...and this weekend, which is semi-free, I plan to do a TON of cookie baking. I have to get it done - have to get things ready to ship out to Bill's uncle and brothers in various states so everything arrives before Christmas. And there's the shopping to do, too...which I love - it's just been a question of finding the time. I know it's there somewhere...and maybe I'm just not being efficient enough with it...but I haven't been able to find much of it lately. But it will get done. And that is it for me for tonight. I'm tired, and I have a feeling I might be getting up to clean up a little boy at some point during the night. OH - but wait - speaking of that little boy - he knows the word "knee" (and what it means) and "elbow." My brilliant little man...and we got him some snow boots, which he loves - and he calls them "boo"....and insists on wearing them to and from daycare. Okay, now I'm going. Ni-night.

Where to Begin?

Well, let's take it in order...

Thanksgiving went very nicely, with the exception of my husband's migraine, which finally eased up around 3 in the afternoon...

Other bits and pieces from that day

...not sure which of them it was, but someone in my family taught Alex to say "Cheers!" and clink his sippy cup against another person's glass...he went around the room, from person to person, saying "Cheers!" and clinking cups...

...my first Thanksgiving turkey came out JUST FINE, thank you, and none of it dry OR undercooked. And the stuffing, which my mom came up and helped with, was - as always - very yummy. My sister was the first to sample it, when the bird was barely out of the oven - she was over there, trying to look innocent...

...my son likes turnips....

The next day - my mother's birthday. We hosted that, too, and my husband did the cooking - (I had to work) - roast leg of lamb...brussels sprouts...baby carrots...and leftover mashed potatoes and turnips from the day before. Very yummy. I made kind of faux Napoleons of puff pastry circles layered with lemon pie filling and whipped cream and garnished with candied lemon peel.

...it's not a whole lot of fun having a sinus infection through the holidays...

Over the weekend we got a lot done around the house, and I've started decorating for Christmas a bit. I figure I'll do a little of something every day - a little pre-Christmas gift to myself because I always feel like I don't get enough time to do the fun pre-Christmas things...I always feel rushed.

So - my Nativity scene is up, and I've hung the cutesy snowman advent calendar up AND filled all the compartments with cookies for Alex and my husband to share.

And speaking of pre-Christmas things - I've got more springerle dough (made a triple batch this time) on the counter warming up a bit and tonight I'll form a ton more cookies...and bake them tomorrow.

So - must go. Also made a batch of pfeffernusse - they're kind of like spicy little rocks...good with tea.

That's it for the moment!