austin

Last week Jack and I flew to Dallas for the annual TESOL convention.  Jack's parents (who are awesome) came to Upland to stay with our kids for our FIRST TRIP WITHOUT THE CHILDREN EVER.  We were excited, but not as excited as Rosie, who at the airport said, "Isn't it time for you two to go now?"

Due to some unexpected and sad circumstances (more on that later), I ended up in Arkansas with my family for the end of the conference as well as the first day of what was supposed to be a mini-vacation in Austin for Jack and me.

But I finally rejoined my husband in Texas, and we had a day and a half to spend in Austin. Though the weather dropped from the 80s to the 50s when I arrived (negating my plans of sitting by water in the sun all day), we still had fun.

Some highlights:

• tacos and queso and bottled cokes at Torchy's food truck on 1st
• a loft just off South Congress, where Austin keeps things weird
• coffee with JR at Dominican Joe
• Amy's Ice Cream
• Silver Linings Playbook at the Alamo Drafthouse
• Polvos Interior Mexican 
• Mary Quinlan Park
• The flagship Whole Foods

(Meanwhile, Upland got a solid 10-12 inches of snow.)

my grandmother

Grandma with Rosie, June 2012.


Today my grandmother, after a bout of pneumonia, had a feeding tube inserted. She will never "eat" another meal again.

I can't stop thinking about that.

About food, and what nourishes us; about breaking bread, and about doing it together; about Eucharist, and how every bite is grace; about life without these rituals of obtaining food, preparing dishes, eating a meal, and washing up.

About the turkey and gravy over biscuits she always made the weekend after Thanksgiving. About the nutty healthy cookies she kept in the freezer in case we came over.

About Last Suppers, and how I hope she had one worth remembering, and how I want her to know that every bite of bread, broken, is forgiveness; that every sip from the shared cup can be hope, sweet on the tongue.

Grandma with her mother and with me, June 1981.

top ten things I adored about the Festival of Faith and Writing

This weekend my sweet husband and friends watched the kiddos while I attended the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College in Michigan. As a person of faith, a reading fiend, and a sometime writer, this little retreat - with likeminded friends - was probably the most nourishing and restorative personal trip I've taken since Chiangmai, 2005. But enough general blathering. Here they are, the top ten highlights:

10. Learning from the diverse religious and artistic viewpoints of Judith Shulevitz, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Leila Aboulela.

9. Meeting in person - even briefly - some writers and editors I have enjoyed and respected online (like Rachel of Eat With Joy, Katelyn of Christianity Today, and Micha of Mama Monk), and also making new connections (how could Christie and I possibly have so much in common?) Although, I also have to admit that being at a conference with people I "know" from twitter felt kind of like a creepy preview of walking around with google glasses on.

8. Witnessing the graciousness and humility of Ann Voskamp in person.

7. Hearing fascinating stories of God at work around the world from Luis Urrea and Shane Claibourne.

6. Eating at Brewery Vivant and San Chez Tapas Bistro with my dear friends Jenn, Jane, Karen, and Linda (plus new friend Laura). Real! Restaurants! (Yes, our four square miles of cornfields are a bit lacking in this area.)

5. Marilyn McEntyre on caring for words. A seriously inspiring woman, speaker, poet, teacher, academic.

4. The car trips with Jennifer. Two mamas of preschoolers, it turns out, have a lot to say when they actually get a chance to sleep a full night and finish a complete thought. And what a relief to discover that I do still like road trips!

3. And along the same lines, the chance to finish a thought- and even whole conversations! Whole meals! Whole lectures!- without being interrupted by: "You pretend to be a mama wolf, and I'll pretend to be a baby wolf who was shot by gunners..."

2. Hearing Marilynne Robinson speak. Twice. I don't know if there is another living writer for whom I have as much admiration. I'll admit to being a bit starstruck. If you don't know Marilynne Robinson, I recommend to you Gilead.

1. The opening plenary session with Gary Schmidt, whose young adult novels make me cry. I think you should read them, and I'd start with the Newberry award-winningThe Wednesday Wars. I loved what he said about writers as servants, like Namaan's servant girl, suggesting to the pain of the world, "Why don't you try this?"


The audio from the conference should be available online soon. I'll link to it. In the meantime, if you are interested, here is the book list I came away with.

happy birthday little O

On Owen's first birthday, he took his first steps. He starting hamming it up for the camera, squinting and smiling every time took it out. He absolutely loved having friends over for dinner and really had the time of his life.

Party hat and bib courtesy of Aunt Hannah!

Mac and cheese, pulled pork sandwiches with chipotle slaw, fruit, lemonade, and red velvet cupcakes.

In our traditional Asian prediction game, Owen chose the calculator- a math/science future for him?

tex-mex comfort food

When I was growing up in San Antonio, my mom had weekly menu plans for our homeschool lunches. Something like this:

M: chicken nuggets
T: bean and cheese burritos
W: PB&J
Th: fish sticks and mac&cheese
F: (well, I can't remember the fifth one)

I'm totally over the nuggets and the PB&J, but the others remain as kind of comfort foods for me.

These days, this is how I make my bean and cheese burritos, and they are an extremely satisfying vegetarian dinner.

Homemade tortillas.

Retried beans without the refry.

Mexican rice. (use salsa instead of diced tomatoes)

Top with shredded colby jack, sour cream, and avocado slices, if you're feeling crazy.

composter

I'm beginning to figure out why I have such a hard time starting things. My problem is that I get overwhelmed by my own inability to fully grasp the intricacies of a topic or a task, and give up before I start. Voting. Eating in a way that honors God's creation. Switching to natural health and cleaning products. Making medical decisions. Arts and crafts. If I can't dive in with a high sense of informed competency at the beginning, I don't even want to test the waters.

(I know this sounds like perfectionism, but I don't think that's exactly it. I am too lazy to care much about being perfect, but I do have to feel competent and confident that I'll have some level of success.)

I started getting more adventurous when I was pregnant with Rosie and began sewing. I tried things even when I wasn't sure they would work. I made things up, and worked without a pattern. I allowed myself to see failure as an acceptable outcome. I let myself play at things instead of perfect them.

I've tried to adopt that attitude in other areas of my life, too. For example, even though I haven't mastered the facts on fish (which have high mercury levels, which to buy farmed, which to buy wild, which are in danger from overfishing, etc.), I try to absorb a little bit of knowledge at a time, and if I can't always be sure I'm making a responsible decision, I just make one anyway. Give myself some grace on it.

This is the approach I'm taking to composting this spring. I've skimmed the book I got for Christmas, and i have realized there are a thousand different methods and a million things to know. My options are deeply limited right now, since we will likely move mid-summer, so I'm just going to play at composting and see what happens.

So this is the ceramic crock I got at the Goodwill and keep by my sink for kitchen scraps.

And this is the compost tumbler that my clever husband built for me. (Inspiration here.). He bolted two plastic tubs together, drilled holes in the ends, and ran a steel pipe through it. Then he cut a door flap, hinged it, and added a hook and latch closure. He drilled another half dozen holes for air flow, too.

When I have a full pot of kitchen compost, I drop it through the door along with a couple handfuls of dead leaves or twigs. Every now and then, I spin the bin to mix the contents.

I don't know if the proportions of materials I'm adding will be right. I don't know if the moisture level is exactly where it should be. I don't know how long this cold (not hot and not worm) method of compost will take. I don't know if the bin will get too heavy to move to our next home.

But that's ok. I'm just playing. I'm just giving it a try. Why did it take me so long to get here?

Meatless Monday: new recipes

This week we've tried three new vegetarian entrees, each of them satisfying and hearty and delicious.

Using special Minnesota black rice, we made Wild Rice and Mushroom soup. I think next time I would cook the rice a little bit longer, and maybe use even more mushrooms. I used baby bellas along with a few shittake and oyster mushrooms, and I think next time I will keep it simpler, with all bellas or button mushrooms. (Click the images to view the recipe.)

This Tortilla and Black Bean Pie was very nice. With chips and guacamole, it's an awesome dinner. I did add spices: I upped the cumin to 1 tsp and added 1/4 tsp each of chili powder and cayenne. In all, I think I added 3/4 tsp salt ( one of my pet peeves is recipes that say "salt and pepper to taste"). I also used cooked dried beans rather than canned, and a sharp white cheddar for the cheese.

My favorite - and this could just be because of how hungry I was when I ate it - was Crispy Pan Fried Beans with Wilted Greens. We used cumin and cayenne rather than the spices listed in the recipe, though I'm not sure about the amounts, because Jack cooked this dish. It was so yummy.

December in Little Rock

With weather into the sixties, we took every chance to enjoy the parks in Little Rock this December, playing at Pinnacle, Alsopp Park, the Rivermarket, & Two Rivers. The natural beauty of the Ozarks had us certainly thinking twice about the place we've chosen to call "home" for now.

We had three things to celebrate this December. First was Jimmy's engagement to EA, whom we all love. With her family we visited the Garvan Gardens Christmas lights.

Second was Jesus' birthday, which we celebrated with songs, fellowship, food &wine, gifts for each other, and gifts for people around the world via Compassion and World Vision. The gift for the whole family that was a hit was the board game Dominion. Rosie's favorites were binoculars and a magnifying glass (she is pictured here wearing every article from her entire dress-up box).

Third, of course, we celebrated Katie's 27th birthday with dinner at home one night and at YaYa's the next night.

It was a lovely trip, and as Rosie says, "I already miss my uncles - Uncle GDaddy, Uncle Mimi, John, David, and...John?" (Sorry, Jim, we're working on it.)

meatless monday: tuesday edition

Cauliflower gratin (from an old Bon Appetit mag, and just so-so); onion roasted sweet potatoes; french onion soup.

French onion soup always takes me back to Au Pied de Cochon, which is, I think, where we ate dinner one very late night on my first trip to Paris (do you remember, Laura? do I remember it right?), so late that the restaurant was closing, there was only us and a table of business men in suits, who were eyeing us wryly, a group of giggly American girls (and mothers)in long skirts, sipping our French onion soup. It was delicious.

victory acres

For two summers now, we've had a CSA share at our local farm, Victory Acres. Operated by the same family for the past six generations (since the 1800s!), the farm is 100% organic, producing vegetables, fruits and berries, and raising chickens, cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. For six years, the farm has also been working in cooperation with Victory Inner-city Ministries, providing a place for folks from the south side of Indy to come learn new job skills and help produce good food.

The farm is heaven on earth to Rosie. I can hardly bear to take her there because she cries so hard when we have to leave. But tonight we got to stay for several hours, enjoying a hayride and potluck dinner to celebrate the end of the growing season.




While Rosie played, I took spy camera pictures of my handsome husband.

And then I decided we should take advantage of the light for a family picture.


Oh, and Mimi. Did I mention Mimi has been here this weekend? It's been wonderful.

Chúc mừng sinh nhật

Last night we celebrated Jack's 32nd birthday with an Asian dinner. (Asia Mart on the north side of Indy had an excellent selection of international groceries. Asia Mart, Trader Joe's, Cookie Cutters, and Chickfila are all on the same street within just a few miles of each other. It's awesome.)

We had Thai Whole Fish with Coriander. Whole fish was one of Jack's favorite dishes to order in Vietnam and Thailand, and he gutted and fried the fish for me. Now that should be in the Art of Manliness!

Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls - this recipe from epicurious really is very similar to the way my Vietnamese students taught me, but we used the traditional rice paper wrappers instead of wheat wrappers. And Spicy-Sweet Green Beans. And rice, of course.
For dessert a simple and completely un-asian peanut butter pie.
The ever=photogenic Kinsley joined us, and entertained our babies while we were frying things.


It all turned out well, and Jack was sincerely excited about his kindle and his vinyl.

the Matthews Covered Bridge Festival

Today we drove about ten minutes south to the small town of Matthews to take part in their annual Covered Bridge Festival. I couldn't find my camera before we left, but I took some instagram shots of the festivities.



We heard the local high school marching band play, but we were too early for the tractor pull. Rosie got to jump in one of the inflatable bounce houses, and Jack found a Neil Young record at one of the booths. While Rosie was jumping, I asked the attendant, a teenage Miley Cyrus look-alike, if she knew what an "elephant ear" was. "Yeah," she said, smiling as if she found it a little charming that I didn't. "Well," she corrected, "I don't actually know what it is. It's like, breaded, with cinnamon."

We sampled one later - it's a long thin piece of fried bread topped with cinnamon sugar. We didn't have any breaded pork tenderloins, which looked like the biggest selling item at the fair.


We bought a butterfly net, too -- something Rosie has been talking about for weeks now. Then we did a lot of running around.


And finally Rosie got to have a horseback ride. She wasn't scared a bit.