Category Archives: Domestic Arts

What’s Cooking?

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 roll sheets, 6 tart pans, 4 mini loaf pans, and 2 mini cake pans, along with a book called Small-Batch Baking. I really enjoy baking (even more than cooking), but most baked goods are indulgences. And as we should know but have forgotten, an indulgence is a treat, something enjoyed specially; however, the quantities most recipes create are many dozens of cookies or large pies and cakes that a family of three does not need.

This morning I put the loaf pans to use by making more pumpkin bread. I’ve found that large loaves don’t get consumed quickly enough, and another point to baking small is to reduce the amount of temptation to overeat. I was really pleased with the results and look forward to making more goodies. The recipes in the book make very small amounts; for example, a recipe for a cake makes 2 little cakes (slightly larger than a jumbo muffin) or a half a dozen cookies.

I’ve also decided this year to get creative about food in a different way. I received three other books, some of which provide ideas to ponder and one of which also has recipes. One of my relatives has undergone a significant weight loss, and she and I discussed eating habits and the need to remain healthy, and how excess weight impinges on health. Eating differently — heathfully and in less quantity — is also a creative response to environmental issues.

I realize I have, for too many years, consumed food mindlessly in quantities that would shock a large percentage of the world population. As I watch my daughter learn to eat and to feed herself, I’ve felt my conscience poked and prodded. She follows her natural hunger and satiation. It’s been so long since I stopped at satiation. I know what hunger feels like but often eat as recreation, and I often eat beyond simple fullness. So many people live on much, much less. And in fact, as my relative and I discussed, our sense of proportion is extremely skewed. We have grown accustomed to large servings and lost the understanding of how truly little a body needs to thrive. By reducing how much I consume, I can save our family money, and some of that money will go to organizations such as Feeding America and Heifer International. So the books I will be reading are:

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, by Mark Bittman (includes recipes)
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan

Year In Review

I usually recap the previous year by posting the first sentence written here for each month. Here is the one for 2007. I thought I’d done it previous years to that, but I can’t find it in the archives.

January: My day isn’t over yet.

February: Bean napped four times yesterday, only 30 minutes each.

March: From an email I wrote to a friend who has several children (but it was also me talking to myself and thus worth it to me to post):
Please tell me the fact that my daughter isn’t sitting unassisted at six months is okay.

April: I’ll face reality.

May: I originally knit a baby hat and an adult hat.

June: This was a work weekend.

July: I made Bean’s hat and trusted the pattern.

August: The simplicity of this photo belies the amazing life activity that is constantly occurring within.

September: Bean is an amazing little person.

October: My good friend Ambrosia just welcomed her little girl, Gwendolyn Rose, at 6:33 this morning.

November: This year, my efforts with AEDM will probably be simple, the result of quickie creativity cobbled together from stolen moments.

December: Today was Bean’s first day at the parent-participation preschool session.

All I Want For Christmas

…is for Bean’s four molars to come through and ease up the pain for her. Poor kid.

Also: this year, for the first time in probably 10 years, I do not expect to get the holiday cards in the mail. They might be late, or might not be sent at all. And you know what? Christmas will still happen.

Why Not?

Creativity is at the core of my life. At least, this is how I’ve felt for several years. So I’m diving in and will participate in Leah’s 2009 challenge, Creative Every Day 2009.

I’m not sure exactly what will come of it, but the goal is to gently inspire my creativity and to see it in my life in places I would not ordinarily consider. How about you?

Fear Not

Christmas just isn’t Christmas to me without a tree. For years I had a teeny table-top tree that my mother gave me, and each year she gives me more teeny ornaments for it. Last year she sent me a slightly larger version of that tree; since horizontal surfaces are scarce, I didn’t plan to put it (or the teeny one) up this year. But Husband persuaded me that we could put it on our dining table. I went one better and put it on the counter near an outlet so the lights can be on and little hands remain safe. So here is the Grandma Tree (it is actually tucked against the wine rack and against the wall):

So LKD, now things are all better. 🙂

Art Every Day Month – Day 29

While including food might be pushing the definition of “art,” I decided that today’s creation would suffice for AEDM. At least it’s a domestic art, and one can enjoying looking at, smelling, and tasting it. I cooked the little pumpkin we bought last month and pureed it, and then I made the bread from a recipe on Allrecipes. (Note that I used two 9×5″ loaf pans instead of the three 7×3″ in the recipe.) It is really good — Bean devours it (and this is how she gets an orange veggie, since she refuses them in other forms), and so do my friends and I. It’s the kind of bread that tastes better after a day or two as the spices meld.

Pumpkin Bread

Art Every Day Month – Day 23

Our date was lovely. We decided that since we rarely get to enjoy a meal without refereeing someone, we would have a leisurely dinner. Then we went to a toy store to look for possible gifts for Bean (we are setting a budget) and then to a bookstore to drool over books we want for ourselves. It was a later night than usual, but I’m glad we made time for it.

Here is today’s piece. I’m feeling unsure if I can come up with stuff for the next eight days; my inspiration well feels dry. Oops! I hear Bean awake from her nap.

ornament - art every day month 08 - day 23

Art Every Day Month – Day 2

My effort today is less art and more craft. (Not that knitting isn’t art, but a simple dishcloth is pushing the concept; now a lace shawl or something akin — that is art.) However, this is what I created today. Recently Husband purchased a knife sharpening kit and sharpened all our very dull blades. This has made cooking much easier and more fun; however, we learned the hard way that we cannot wash the knives with my hand-knitted dishcloths. One of them was shred to bits, and so this one replaces it.

art every day month 08 - day 2 - pink dishcloth

I spent a lovely afternoon visiting with a relative — a second cousin on my father’s side of the family. She was a fascinating person to talk to and before I realized it, I’d been there nearly four hours. I learned a couple years ago that I had relatives in the Bay Area, but without a premise for contact I didn’t pursue it, and I was busy, so the time wasn’t right. My parents recent visit catalyzed the connection.

Bean had a rough day today. I felt her gums, and she has an upper left molar coming through, plus the rest of her gums are very puffy. She has new words, though: all done, bird, cracker, excuse me (coo-mee), gate mouse (mess), pear. She mimicks what she hears really well.

In Case You Wonder

Besides playing with my lovely amazing daughter every day, I do other stuff too, such as clean the very gunky oven and making the whole stove sparkle like new. Here is evidence of my efforts:

I committed to doing Art Every Day Month in November. However, I’ve no idea what I’ll do, or if I’ll do much at all. I’ve never felt busier in my life, nor more content.

Treasures

As a child I liked to collect small items and keep them stored in a little box. Periodically I would open it and look at each item, one by one, remembering where I had found it, or from whom it came. These things often were little souvenirs (mostly found, not purchased) from our many camping trips. Other times, they were small items given to me from someone special.

Bean has received a few similar items from her grandmothers, and until recently I was wondering where and how to store them until she is old enough to appreciate them. I decided it had been too long since I’d been crafty, so I transformed a shoe box into a treasure box. This is how I spent all my free time from Saturday until today, and it brought hours of pleasure that I hope will be paralleled by Bean’s. The image on the top of the box is a drawing I made when I was pregnant for her, called Mama Moon. She has a copy of the print hanging on her bedroom wall, and she says goodnight to Mama Moon every night. Here’s the box:

It’s Not Art, Exactly

My mother sent a calendar that had gorgeous food photos with the suggestion I might use them with Bean. So today I quickly glued them to Bristol paper, which will make them less fragile. I’ll trim the edges once they are all dry. There has not been much time or energy for knitting or other creative art ventures, so in the meantime this must do.

The photos are from the Center for Science in the Public Interest calendar.

Patience, Grasshopper!

Scene: Dinnertime, 6:30 p.m. I am standing at the kitchen counter, Husband is leaning against the sink.

Me: I swear, Bean seems hungry every hour lately. I’m chopping up some vegetables for her. [Bean is clinging to my butt, whining in hunger.]

Him: What did you make for dinner?

Me: I made chicken ratatou–ee-yOUCH!

Him: Did you cut yourself? What’s wrong? [He immediately steps over to check on me.]

Me: Bean bit me! The little rascal just bit the back of my thigh!

Him: Oh, I thought you’d cut yourself.

Me: She bit me! She bit me! What an impatient little stinker.

Him: Well, she takes after her mother. [wink]

Instead Of Flowers

This is one of three pinwheels I stuck in a flower pot in our back patio. Bean loves to watch them spin, especially when sunlight causes them to reflect light into the house.

Nasty Drivers and Spoiled Fish

For reasons I don’t want to go into (mostly because they’re boring), the past couple days have been rough for me. I am raw and short on energy and patience. At a stoplight, I had my right turn blinker on. It’s an option to turn right on red (unless there’s sign prohibiting it). I was about to turn when the driver behind me honked. So I didn’t. That’s the kind of mood I’m in — something mean within digs in its heels. She honked again, and I saw her gesticulating in the mirror. I waited until the light turned green and went, and waved at her as she roared past me all the distance of one block to turn left; she flipped me the middle finger through her sun roof. I know it’s not mature or honorable behavior. I don’t like it in myself. This all happened within a mile of my home as I returned home from a nice outing at the park with a friend. I know, I should have walked instead — except here there’s a risk we’d be run over by the same driver. Such is life in an overpopulated area. Grrrrr.

I got home to cook the salmon I bought yesterday to find it had turned bad. It smelled fishy, which is a sign of very old fish. The whole fridge smells funky now.

Bean is starting to arch her back and thrash and scream when something happens she doesn’t want, or when something she wants doesn’t happen. Toddlerhood tantrums already?

I got NO time to myself this past weekend (except for one nap, but I’d like some awake alone time), since we had family errands and housecleaning and some social commitments. I also have very little say over my schedule as far as when things happen (nothing is much in my control), even on weekends.

Something I started to knit I had to frog (“rip it” out) because I made a mistake and couldn’t figure out how to fix it.

What’s so very bothersome to me is the way incidents such as those in the first paragraph stay with me, and how a sour hatred toward humanity rises up in my throat when I’m feeling this raw.

Cranky, cranky, cranky. Will someone show me some love in the comments? If you need incentive, here’s one:

Zigzag

In an attempt to break out of my safe little rut, I tried a new pattern. It’s not as though the stitch is difficult; it involves binding off and picking up stitches, but I’d never tried changing directions before. This is an accent scarf, and it’s intended to be worn to jazz up an outfit. It’s not designed for warmth (and considering it’s 102.6F right now, that sounds just right). I don’t know the recipient yet. I might use it as a gift. Or maybe someday I’ll try to sell what I knit at least to recoup the expense of the yarn. The skein was 130 yards and cost $15, which is on the pricey side for me. (Anybody want to buy a scarf? I should open an Etsy store.)

So Cute!

I made Bean’s hat and trusted the pattern. It’s very cute!

The model is also quite charming and cute.

Planning Ahead

Cooler weather is on the way, so I’ve decided to make Bean a winter hat. I’m trying to experiment more, and I found a pattern called a Ball-Band Toddler Hat. I used a larger needle to get the gauge right and the darn thing came out too large for her. It’s a bit small for an adult, but it would fit an older (grade-school age) child. The bigger needle also obscured the stitches a bit — they’re not as defined. This first attempt was on Cascade 220, a plain wool yarn; I’ll donate it to a charity. The hat for Bean will be on a different yarn, now that I know what I’m doing.

A Day’s Work

Peas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and corn (with green beans soon to be pureed). I did this because I can’t find the variety of veggies I’d like to offer Bean in brand name baby foods, and actually, I think this might be cheaper! It wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined it would be.

98.5

That’s the temperature right now and it’s only 2:45. Little Miss is not napping well today. But she’s cheerful for the most part. She has begun pulling up in earnest this week and uses me often as a climbing wall. The other day she pulled up using the ottoman; there’s a blanket with fringe that covers it. She grabbed a piece of fringe and held on, letting go with the other hand, and stood there! She wobbled and wavered, but she was unsupported by me. She looks very, very proud and happy when she pulls up successfully.

I swear, I do stuff around here, but at the day’s end it seems like nothing. Steaming and pureeing five kinds of vegetables and freezing them in ice cube trays doesn’t add up to much. Doing laundry and vacuuming isn’t that visible. Slicing bits of cantaloupe small enough so Bean can eat them without choking takes time but doesn’t have a big impact. Then there’s the 15 diaper changes in a day, plus the four bottle feedings and the three leisurely meals in a high chair. Then I get up and do much of it over the next day. It’s a good thing I don’t have to justify my work in order to keep a paycheck.

Darn, I could use a nap even if my sweet baby doesn’t!

A Mindful Life / Kathryn Harper

express : discover : renew : create