A Mindful Life

When we moved here five years ago, I bought a little Meyer lemon tree and put it in a container. Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, and they are sweeter and lighter tasting than regular lemons. The tree yielded meagerly until this year. Yesterday I picked [...]

Since Claire has a small mouth and is still learning to chew, she doesn’t gobble up cookies with chocolate chips or M&Ms in them. She’ll even turn them down. (Horrors!) So I searched for a simple cookie and came across a Snickerdoodle recipe. I made it. Oh my, oh my! They make petite little rounds [...]

This came out exceptionally well, and it was a great way to use a random pack that I’d bought; I wasn’t feeling ambitious enough to make gumbo, etc. Lentil Soup with Andouille Sausage Ingredients 4 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth 4 1/2 cups beef stock or canned broth 1 1/2 cups [...]

I woke feeling lazy, lazy, lazy. However, it is not yet noon and I have managed to vacuum and clean the entire house, get a pork roast started in the crock pot (for pulled pork), and finish knitting and felt two bowls from old stash yarn. I guess the bowls might become gifts… or maybe [...]

Since my stove-top is compromised (one burner can’t be used) and I don’t want to heat up the oven in the summer anyway, I bought a new crock pot. I haven’t used crock pots much because the recipes often call for different sizes; I had only one, and it seemed impractical to have more than [...]

Claire will tell you all about that if you ask her what a circle is! Another gratuitous egg photo.

Last night I enjoyed my annual extravagant outing with several friends. We went to SF for a delicious dinner at Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine and then saw a vibrant musical, Wicked. I had a fine, fine time! Alas, while there is much happening, I’ve got zero energy and time to write, but I’ll try later [...]

A dinner for two: Quinoa and Portobellos 2 portobello mushrooms 1 medium onion 1 Tbsp. safflower or olive oil Pinch of salt 1 tsp. dried chopped basil Black pepper to taste 1 cup of quinoa 1 3/4 cups water (or use vegetable stock) Rinse the quinoa well. Bring water and quinoa to a boil in [...]

The first week of January is nearly past! I have only a few minutes to write this post, so it’s a bit scattered. I signed up to participate in Creative Every Day 2009, so here’s my first post about it. For Christmas I received some culinary items: a jumbo muffin pan, four really heavy cookie/jelly [...]