Semi-Handmade

~ Autumn Over Here ~

 
My version of autumn may be a little different than most across the states. For me the pivotal part of this change of seasons has always been, it is clearly THE best month for sunsets - October that is. Living seaside in So Cal, we don't see many trees change colors and the weather change is slight.

Aside from the change in daylight, one thing that does usually 'mark' autumn for me is canning. I usually can tomatoes and also apples with dried cherries. I'm not up to that activity this year. We did not have enough heat over the summer to support my rooftop square foot garden, which is 95% tomatoes - and which I usually preserve. I also usually preserve apples so I can readily make amazing apple pies for at least 6- 8 gatherings thru the year without much hoopla. We planned 2 trips to the apple farm and both days the plans blew up in flames - no apples for us yet. However, the need to "stash food" hit me as usual, like I am a squirrel or a bear that needs to store food (even though Trader Joe's is a 10 minute drive away either north, south or east - and open 7 days a week and one can wear flip flops everyday of the year, no snow or sleet to fight). So I decided to cook up some soups and freeze them to calm my need to stash food, so I could readily have some last minute dinners ready to go. These are the soups I included in this fall "stashing" project of mine:

• Tortilla Chicken, but they called it Mexican Lime from Epicurious
• Carrot Tomato(with farmers market tomatoes, not my own homegrown- bitter I am!) from SouleMama
• Broccoli Soup from Apples for Jam (not pictured)
• Curried Roasted Squash Soup from Sunset Magazine (not pictured)

 
 
 
I have thoroughly enjoyed these soups, the smell of the kitchen when I made these soups and most of all creating space in the freezer to store them all and seeing each time I open the freezer how much we have for the "winter". You may be conjuring up images of a bear storing food for their cubs - but to keep it real, here is the deal... I loved all the soups, the kids and the man - not so much. The tortilla chicken was a huge hit all around and the man asked to add it as a 'regular' in the line up. So I have a lot of soup in the freezer just for me, guess I will be having great lunches for sometime.

My favorite companions to these soups that I have been enjoying (alone) are:

• The Raw Green Bean Dip from Shivaya Naturals on carrots or snap peas
• These Squash Feta muffins from Martha Goes Green, that I found thanks to 101 Cookbooks (as far the the flour debate, I used 1 c. APF, 1/2 c. spelt flour and 1/2 c. almond meal and they were scrumptious)
• And a salad that a new friend I made at a party told me about - arugula or field greens, pomegrante seeds previously soaked in dill pickle juice, goat cheese - drizzled with truffle oil and a dash of sea salt. Add a slice of fresh pear if yo have them.

There are a few other signs that signify autumn around here, besides storing all kinds of crazy food we could easliy run to the store or farmers market for without having to turn on the 4 wheel drive....

The glass pumpkin patch on our city's main street today...

 

 

 
 
 

And the lights and banner streamer from some favorite autumnal fabrics across our living space... 

 

 

ABCs of a Semi-Handmade Summer

Since 1986 I have had a job each summer that involved a time clock or a corporate responsibility to perform. Now in a part-time hybrid situation, it is an entirely different sort of summer, with entirely different stresses. I don't get coffee breaks, a chance to check email, a lunch hour and the travel perks are long gone. Yet, so far this summer there has been a lot more gratitude than any summer in the past and moments of pure freedom that overwhelmed us all with joy.

Here are the ABCs of our family's summer with a mother that is not tied to a corporate mission statement but rather a different mission of sorts.

A.  Awareness and reflection.

B. Blue basketball shorts worn day & nite, and momma getting over not being everyone's stylist.

C. Confidence to give monkey bars a try, and gratitude for being a spectator for such feats.

D. Dribbling, throwing, kicking, skating all the time.

E. Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline by Rebecca Bailey, rereading it again and having a few aha moment.

F. Flackers, flax crackers. And trying to give up all gluten.

G. Giving up the 9pm-Midnight sewing, reading, relaxing hours and succumbing to the fact that we all need 8-9 hours of sleep.

H. Hordes of fruit and tomatoes from our CSA, and donating most of our own garden to birds and other healthy nocturnal creatures.

I. Iyengar Yoga 2x per week + cardio core 2x per week = happy mommy = happy family. Trying to fit that in every week is the challenge.

J. Just restraining when it comes to speaking, restraint is an overlooked virtue. Ask, "Why am I saying this?" (from Buddhism for Mothersby Sarah Napthali)

K. Keeping in touch with school friends and making new ones.

L. Learning how to do an Ollie on the skateboard, at age 2 & 38.

M. Mastering the under 500 calorie veggie burger for myself, with notes here. Download The under 500.

N. New (only new to me) music discovered, like Marc B. New artists discovered that have almost my exact name, the other Kathi Crosby.

O. One pot dinners, good cold or warm, and taking them down to the beach for picnics without a fuss. Such picnics lead to 'together' moments like this above and skies like this below. Also, no dishes in the kitchen. Win-win.

P. Parks, newly discovered, that have castle play structures and offer up a little bit of knitting time for mom and role playing for kiddos.

Q. Quests such a learning the Ukulele or taking a Krav Magna (martial art) course, to model to our children how to stretch ourselves and "practice" - and go where it feels a little uncomfortable.

R. Ravelry, and slowly getting 10+ years of projects recorded.

S. Swinging very, very high.

T. Tears swelling up as I watch a 4 year old swim across a swimming pool for the 1st time and how she comes up from the water beaming with pride.

U. Uninhibited use of letters.

V. Violently falling in love with an iphone.

W. Welcoming friends over for dinner.

XYZ. Watching it click in the brain of a 4 year old that XYZ is indeed three letters contrary to how it sounds in the ABC song.

Inspiration found in Mammoth

 
Before children (aka 2006 BC), vacations were inspiring and a great time to reflect and return home with a renewed focus. For the last four year however, vacations with my children have been few and far between but the few we have attempted have been desperate whirlwinds of poor sleep, way too much time spent packing and unpacking ‘gear’ and intense attempts at creating fun memories with little glimpses thru tired eyes of joy and adventure.  We went to Mammoth Lakes recently for a long weekend – it was the most successful vacation with children that we have had (babes are 2 and 4 now). Joy and adventure prevailed. It was a success in two major ways a) everyone had some fun and slept well b) the kids experienced new things such as falling snow and riding a bus and c) I returned rested, focused, energized and inspired.

The time away inspired me in several different ways around creating, writing, parenting, wifehood, fitting into ski pants again one day and even cooking.

I found a several pockets of time to finish this scarf for Cassidy, to coordinate with a semi-handmade “streamer” dress that I had made her. When I got home I laced in some vintage lace that just happened to be in my stash and the right color of pink.

I also took a lazy hour to sit on the couch watching the snow come down (it snowed for four days straight) and looking over the Sunset Magazine Best of 2009 Recipes Book. I came away with plans to make almost everything in the magazine. Of the few foodie inspirations that I have Heidi Swanson is one and The Minimalist is the other big one for me, right now. This seems a little like 101 Cookbooks , where she cooked her way thru 101 cookbooks. Well, I was not that inspired-but I am going to cook my way thru the best of Sunset Magazine 2009 Recipes, all 176 of them.  I already started with the Lula Kebabs , Braised Lamb , Shrimp and Artichoke Linguine , Chocolate Panna Cottas and the Spicy Sunflower Salad . I am an avid Sunset magazine reader so over 2009 I had already used a few of the recipes that are in this “Best of”. So here it goes, an adventure in trying new things – including some new recipes.