Monday, January 19, 2009

Choosy Moms Choose Jif


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It may be packed with fat, sugar and sodium, but it won't give you salmonella my friends.


Recent Peanut Butter recall does not include Jif.

So anyone who eats Jif does not have to worry.

Don't believe me? See here


Oh and did I mention that I am banned from doing Zumba, or from walking any more than absolutely necessary for 4-8 weeks? 

Monday, January 12, 2009

Susie Homemaker's 

Favorite Things
January 2009

Tied for First Place: 

1.) Zumba. My new favorite way to dance off stress and fatigue. I LOVE it. Not only is it great exercise, but it's a totally fun way to turn off your brain and shake ya bootie.

1.) Waxed paper bags. Unbleached and compostable, these bags are the green choice and best alternative to regular plastic sandwich & snack baggies (which, in interest of full disclosure we still use when necessary).

But put all that eco stuff aside. The very best thing about them: the delightful, crispy sound and feel the wafer-thin waxy paper makes in your hand. $2.95 for 60. Try 'em, you'll love 'em, I promise.

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2.) Electrolux Ergo Rapido

It's a stick vacuum so I don't have to choose between leaving oodles of crumbs and fallen food on the floor or getting down my heavy upright (which I still love, by the way) for every little mess. This thing rocks and is available at Costco. 

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3.) My good old crockpot.


It's not even a fancy one. The $19 spent over 5 years ago is worth $millions, in my book. Not only is it a mega time saver, but you can make so many fantastic things in it (and not just WT food, either). Which brings me to.....

4.) Gourmet Slow Cooker I & II

These books are awesome. Even if you don't want to follow the exact recipe, they give great ideas for what's possible for the old girl.


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Susie Homemaker, MBA


I'm discovering that once you've (for the most part) made peace with the decision to stay home with your young child, it's all about embracing the role with all your heart while trying to stay out of the sanitarium, with all your mind. (Which is why I, a total gym h-a-t-e-r, have finally resigned myself to my fate of becoming a member as I cannot, for the life of me, get my usual pilates routine done without interruption during the course of a day.)

I read a really interesting article in Wondertime magazine once. The female author lamented how she wishes someone had told her how painfully...and fleetingly short this season of life (staying home with young children) would be. Apparently, she'd spent alot of time struggling with the worry/fear that the rest of the world (read: career world), was passing her by...leaving her behind. And what nonsense that turned out to be. So I took her words to heart over the past year and have really decided to enjoy and be fully present in this season of my life--which I have chosen, by the way--rather than trying to straddle so many things that I feel I am doing none of them well. Alas the temptation to do too much is not absent, even from the realm of a stay at home mom, be it via unrealistic expectations for how clean the house should be at all times--to abstaining from some of the fun things to do in our neighborhood. 

Whatever place in life we find ourselves, truer words were never said than these: "Our hearts are restless, until they rest in Thee."


Friday, January 9, 2009

Dinner: Groundnut Stew


Since my breakfast recipe is taking up nearly the whole sidebar, I've decided to post our dinner plans here. 

Have you ever had Groundnut Stew? It's an African Dish aka peanut soup. Super easy and suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper yummy if you, for example, are a peanut satay-sauce lover.

Here's the basic idea. Today I've made it in the crockpot.

- Brown whatever chicken you have in some butter for just a couple minutes on each side (I usually use either a whole chicken or thighs which have more flavor and stand up to long, slow cooking.)
- Add some chopped onion and garlic (1 or 2 onions, a few cloves...whatever with the exact measurements!) and sautee until tender (a couple minutes)
- If I have them, I also usually add some chopped bell peppers, carrots & celery to the sautee mixture; if you don't have it, don't sweat it but you know how it is: the more veggies, the better.

From here, you have a few options:
-If you want to make the whole thing stovetop, just do all the sauteeing in a stockpot and add the remaining ingredients, simmering for a few hours.

-If you're using the crockpot, I recommend greasing it and using the low setting for 6-8 hours.

- Either way, add your chicken, onions, garlic to the crockpot/pan
- Using an immersion blender (always my preference), a regular blender or a wire wisk and bowl, blend 1 cup peanut butter (I only use Jif chunky cause I wanna stay nice and chunky) with 2 cups boiling water or chicken broth and add to the chicken. (I often make double sauce cause it's sooo yummy.)
To that add:
- Asian Sweet chili sauce (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup)
- 1/8 cup soy sauce 
- salt & pepper to taste

...and a few other options:
- Adding some coconut milk/cream will make your sauce richer 
- You can add a can of chopped tomatoes for a slightly more tangy version 

Then just let all this yummy goodness sit on a low boil/simmer for a few hours. If your sauce looks too thick, add some more chicken broth or water.

You can actually add rice to the stew and cook it directly in the sauce, but Mike adores rice plain so I usually serve atop rice in bowls.

A tangy cucumber salad goes really well with the reach peanut stew. (Thinly slice cucumbers using potato peeler and marinate in a 'dressing' made of vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper. Dressing should be tangy & sweet at the same time. Refrigerate.)

 Extremely simple, extremely good.


Thursday, January 8, 2009

That's what she said


Audrey cracks us up nearly every single day now with the things she says. Lately she works in the phrases, " Actually....", "What the heck" and "In fact" as much as possible. 

Other recent utterances...

Situation: Mike trying on funkadelic sunglasses.
Me: singing 70's bow-chicka tune
Audrey: "Sexy!"

???Tell me where in the heck she got that!!!!!!!!

Situation: I was vacuuming up Christmas Tree needles

Audrey: " Are you sucking up the Christmas Tree grass, mommy?"

2 minutes later when she is suspiciously quiet...

Me: " Audrey--where are you honey?"
Audrey: "I'm over here feeding the air."
Me: Quickly turns off vacuum and runs to see what the heck she's talking about only to find her stuffing cinnamon sticks into our floor vents which are blaring warm air.

Side note: could this be an ingenious alternative to room fresheners?


Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Oh gosh.




The FluSTAR® system is now tracking moderate levels of flu activity in your area. Doctors report treating an increased number of cases of flu, and you may be at risk of catching it.



ALERT: PORTLAND, OR

Today's Influenza Levels: MODERATE


Stuff like this is not healthy for people like me to read.
I knew it was coming when I saw Phoebes recent post...


What's cooking, hot stuff?


I will be adding a new section to my blog. My sister Kirsten and I will often chat in the late afternoon and ask each other, 'what are you cooking for dinner tonight?' It's really helpful if one of us hasn't already figured out what to fix so I thought that it could be fun to open it up for others to post what they're making (not necessarily every day, just whenever) and thus provide inspiration for all of us. Feel free to jump on in!

Addendum: Ok, it was a nice idea but I can't seem to figure out how to add a gadget that will allow everyone to respond. Can anyone help me on this?

Bacon Geeks: a day for you
(Torsten, can we get an 'amen!'?)


Calling all bacon lovers: check this out!
I saw it on Yelp! 
January 17, 2009. 
If you can get here, you've got a place to stay.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Adventures of a 2-year old...


Riding Tonto around the house, naked.

Clog boots from the Hanna Anderson outlet. Cute idea, impossible to walk in. Only bought them because they are clogs; I am otherwise vehemently opposed to heels of any kind, or height, for little girls. No way, no how. 

Audrey and Meg

Audrey "putting a little lotion on."

'Helping' daddy with a plumbing repair.
(To which I reply, 'welcome to my world.')




Driving a tractor at the zoo


Seeing the new baby elephant


Learning how to go on the potty


Picking out her first panties (Thomas the Tank Engine boy briefs
(What was I supposed to say? They were the first thing she picked up at Target, declaring, 'mommy these are beauuuuutiful!!!')

Anniversary


3 Precious, unforgettable, redeeming, adventurous, growing, fun, passionate years with my beloved.

For our anniversary on September 17th, Mike planned a day of fun surprises. First, we went to breakfast at a very unique portland venue: Jace Gace. Part restaurant, part rotating art gallery, the place serves waffles--sweet and savory, beer and coffee--and that's it. It was fantastic! I'd never done the whole 'morgen bier' thing before and oddly, it works well. Somehow the icey cold beer works well with coffee and gravy-slathered waffles.




Then, he'd planned for us to visit Benton Lane vineyard which ranked on the top 100 wines of the world! Even crazier, when there we got a personal tour from the owner himself. AWESOME.




...then after a tour and tasting, my beloved had planned a scrumptious picnic for us in a nearby State Park. 



Meanwhile, Audrey was having a blast with her babysitter, Kara (who we met as a nursery worker at Imago.)




Beeeeeeeeeeeep


This is a test of the emergency broadcast system.

I hereby interrupt this catching up from many months of happenings to address a request (?) received from Mike's cousin, Matt Braden. 

Are you requesting an Obama rant or is something circulating in the family scuttlebutt?

More catching...

These pictures are in reverse order but I simply cannot be bothered to upload them again. This is one of things impeding my desire to blog as well: uploading pics is a pain in the butt and has only gotten more difficult after they changed how the pics get dumped into the bottom of the screen. Can anyone explain what's up with that?

Back to the subject at hand...
Summer was filled with too many happy days to catch but a few more highlights include...a trip to Seattle. The Lindbergs (from Denmark) were on a family vacation around the U.S. and we met up for dinner at Salty's--so fun to see them again.

Cecilie and Audrey got on just fine

Jesper (Lindberg) has grown to be quite the charmer, but Audrey was most taken with Tina

Michael and Michael talked non-stop about what's going on in their businesses

We also had a great time hanging with friends we hadn't seen in a few months--the Holt family. (You may recall that Lone, Eric and their two girls Danica and Maddie moved back to the U.S. a year and a half ago from Aarhus. They bought a house in Snohomish, close to Eric's family, about 40 minutes outside of Seattle.)

In typical Lone style, she has decided to paint their fireplace/chimney post-box red. Not merlot red, R-E-D. And it looked cool. She's got crazy ideas and always pulls them off. Amazing girl!

Lone prepping some food....

Notice that Maddie and Audrey are raiding the fridge in the background.


More catching up from summer....



Off for another bike ride...downtown for a free Oregon Symphony concert at the waterfront--a tradition to open the season.





Permit a proud moment: those of you who know me well, know that I don't always make things as easy as possible for myself. An example: in this situation, I would have normally packed some sort of elaborate picnic dinner blah blah. On this occasion we got burgers to-go from one of our favorite spots- VQ (Veritable Quandry.) If you haven't been there, you must go.

Then later that evening our beloved Matt and Denise came in for a Labor Day visit! We have dismally few pictures to commemorate the event (none of Matt, except for his feet--the white socks crossed at ankles, pictured below.)


Nene crocheted diligently while Audrey ate a popsicle.



It was a lovely visit--very relaxing and hyggelig. We miss them and wish they lived here too....

Saturday, January 3, 2009

How Summer Ended


There's so much to catch up on that it would be impossible to do, so I won't even try. As mentioned earlier we have been so busy living & enjoying life to the fullest here in Portland that we haven't had time to keep up with it. 

The Summer lasted much longer than anyone expected, transitioning into Indian Summer...

Scarfing down the last of the tomatoes and other veggies in the yard...

Audrey's an Oregon fan (doesn't she look like a 'big girl' here?)


After Marian and Peter's visit, Jeanie, Jay and Meika left Topanga to come hang with us. It was a grand time; among other things we took them to the Columbia River Gorge & Falls and a Jack Johnson concert in Mt. Helens. Gosh we love these guys and even though they're technically family, they're also very good friends.