"Why?"

The Wizard is changing so rapidly these days I'm having a hard time keeping up in my blog postings. I took the first video a couple of weeks ago, and the second one this morning. He's read Green Eggs and Ham so many times in the last three weeks that he's now skipping ahead to his favorite parts! Such a new reader, and already blasé. We're also shaking our heads at how different he is from his older brother. He makes up stories and songs, does make-believe play with toys, and most of all asks, "Why?" ALL THE TIME. What's more, he usually listens to and seems to understand our explanations! Newton rarely said that word, I suspect because he thought he already had it all figured out. Ha!

Recent Wizard tidbits:

With (some) warmer weather recently, I have occasionally opened the car windows for a fresh breeze, always with the reminder that I'll be closing them as we get on the highway. Saturday we were coming home on the freeway from a barbecue, and traffic was stopped because of an accident. The Wizard had three questions (not right in a row--he did wait for answers in between): "Why we stopped?" "We not going fast?" "Please open the windows?"

In church yesterday, he started talking, and when we asked him to be quiet, observed, "[Cindy Lou]'s not sleeping." We quietly explained that there are other times and places in which it is preferable to speak quietly or not at all. Ah, the beauty of budding logic!

He's also started throwing words into conversation like "fantastic," "amazing," and "actually," used more or less correctly. He also uses the word "dummy" as an adjective--love that toddler sense of humor. Right now he's dancing around the family room singing the "'C'amation point song," with lyrics consisting only of the words, "'C'amation point, 'c'amation point, 'c'amation point," etc.






Cindy Lou's changing even faster. Her top front teeth broke through over the weekend. She can clap her hands. She can sit up by herself. She rolls very efficiently to get to the things she wants, and is just starting forward motion.

Monkeys for a Monkey

It only took about a million years, but I FINALLY finished this quilt I've been working on for my nephew Bud. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and in a way it's good it took me so long because the way I ended up doing the binding is way cuter than the way I had originally planned. And yes, I did stitch around every single one of those circles. Oy. Now I've just got to get Cindy Lou's stitched and bound. Maybe by Christmas?

Seven Months Old

Wee Miss Cindy Lou turned seven months old this week. In the last month, she has changed enormously. She got her first tooth, then her second a few days ago. She started eating solid food (though her mouth and her gut are still getting used to it). She started rolling to get around, necessitating the (re-)installation of the gate at the top of the attic stairs. But with all these changes, she continues to be a delightful baby. She's happy most of the time, sometimes even squirmingly ecstatic (especially at the sight of her brothers, whom she adores). And yes, she still sleeps through the night, every night. At the beginning of the week there were a few nights where she woke up a bit early (like, five instead of six), and I thought maybe the time had come to move her out of our room and in with the Wizard. But then her tooth popped through and it was back to the status quo ante. Yay!







The Wizard's also had quite a month. I have often heard it said that almost all kids have an on-off switch when it comes to reading. In the "off" position, they just don't really get it. Then something changes, and everything just comes together. The Wizard's switch flipped over about two weeks ago, and he's sounding out (or at least attempting to sound out) everything in sight: newspaper headlines, road signs, billboards, even the sides of trucks stopped next to us at the light. And of course books. He's always loved to sit and read with us, but now he's often doing more of the actual reading than we are. Just now he read The Eye Book to me, and he only needed help with a few of the words. Wow. We had thought, based on how late he was to start talking, that he would be quite a bit behind Newton in starting to read. Well, not really that far, compared to other kids, but maybe 6-8 months. As it turns out, he's maybe two weeks later. Hard to believe this is the same kid that, on his second birthday, could make all the sounds of the alphabet and produce about 30 different animal noises, but say fewer than 10 words. Remember this?

Threes Meme

My sister recently started blogging (about time!) and tagged me for this Threes meme. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 obsessions/collections and 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of the post by leaving their names and then let them know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog.

3 Joys (I won't list my husband and children here--that's way too obvious)
1. Living in Portland
2. Sleeping in
3. Dual-tuner DVR

3 Fears
1. Driving off the Fremont Bridge (I cross it at least twice a day most days, since it's on the most direct route between our house and Newton's school)

2. Supreme Court Justice Antonin "Nino" Scalia (seriously--I once had a nightmare about him when I was in law school)
3. Losing my mind

3 Goals
1. Play more with my kids
2. Do better at letting the unimportant things go
3. Stop bugging my eyes out all the time. I'm mostly unaware I'm doing it, but when I see candid shots taken while I'm talking, or myself on video, I can see as how small children could be frightened.

3 Obsessions/Collections
1. Table linens
2. Materials for never-finished or even never-begun projects. 80% of these are sewing/craft projects, the rest mostly home improvement.
3. Stone bead necklaces

3 Random Facts
1. I can touch the tip of my tongue to my nose



2. I hate having polish on my fingernails
3. I was a really really really picky eater as a child--like, I'm so glad none of my kids (knocking on wood) are as bad as I was. I would pick every single little bit of minced onion out of my spaghetti sauce or off my Big Mac. I'm amazed my mom put up with it at all.

I tag my childhood friends Krista and Nat, and grownup friends The Scary Feminists from Hell (if any of them are so inclined).

Springer

Yes, it's truly spring. The farmers' market is starting to have some real food available (not just greens and other winter carryovers), and the chinook are running in the Columbia. Saturday's dinner was almost entirely fresh from the farmers' market, and fixed in just about the simplest way possible: baked salmon fillets, blanched asparagus, and boiled baby potatoes. I drained the potatoes and tossed some butter in the pot to melt, then realized that I had frozen cubes of chopped herbs in EVOO left from last summer. I tossed one of those in, too, and oh, the deliciousness.



The salmon was sold unfilleted, as "roasts," i.e. the whole fish, gutted and then chopped rather unceremoniously into 2-3 lb chunks. So yay--my first experience with doing the filleting myself. I learned as I went, and the second half was rather neater than the first. It was a tad more than we needed for one meal, so I saved all the little bits, and last night adapted the Chowdah for the salmon, substituting it for the chicken, adding additional veggies (cauliflower and broccoli), using 2% instead of whole milk, and using a couple more of those frozen herb cubes (which probably contain a mixture of parsley, cilantro, basil and dill, though I can't be 100% sure) instead of freshly-chopped parsley. Besides cheddar, we also had a little locally-made dill havarti. Could not have been easier, or more delicious.



I didn't have bread to go with (need to mix up another batch of Simple Crusty Bread), so I made up a spare box of Jiffy corn muffins (bargain of the century at 69 cents a box). Perfect.

Chicken Biryani

Having gone out for Indian really whetted my appetite for more. So, once I had finally acquired all the ingredients, I moved up a recipe in my queue, from the Mar/Apr 2004 Cook's Illustrated, for Chicken Biryani with Yogurt Sauce. I served it with steamed cauliflower (though next time I might use a past recipe for Curried Cauliflower), and dang it! I forgot the naan (from Trader Joe's, in the freezer)!

You should make the yogurt sauce first so the flavors have time to meld, so:

Yogurt Sauce

1 C plain yogurt
1 medium garlic clove, pressed
2 T cilantro, minced
2 T mint, minced
salt and pepper

Mix and season to taste. Let stand at least a half-hour or so before serving.

Chicken Biryani
adapted from Cook's Illstrated Mar/Apr 2004

Equipment note: make this dish in a 3.5-4 qt saucepan about 8" in diameter. It won't work properly in a wide dutch oven or saute pan. I used a 3.75-qt soup pot that worked perfectly. You will also need a large nonstick skillet.

Spice bundle (sachet?):
10 green cardamom pods, whacked with flat side of chef's knife
1 cinnamon stick
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, cut into 1/2-inch thick pieces and smashed with chef's knife
1/2 t cumin seed

Wrap spices in cheesecloth or something else porous, and secure with twine or whatever. I didn't have cheesecloth, so initially thought I'd bundle them in a coffee filter.


But then the coffee filter started to tear when I started to tighten the bundle. A quick rifle through a pantry cupboard turned up a length of nylon tulle that had been used as a bow on a hostess gift. My sewing machine was fortuitously already set up in the dining room, so I just cut off a piece of tulle, folded it around the spice-bearing coffee filter, and stitched around it to secure.



In that specially-sized saucepan, bring spice packet and 1 1/2 t salt to boil in 3 qts water. Simmer, at least partially covered, 15-30 minutes and no longer.

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs), trimmed and patted dry*
salt and pepper

Season both sides of chicken thighs with salt and pepper and set aside.

3 T unsalted butter*
2 medium onions, sliced thin (I used my mandoline)
4 medium garlic cloves, pressed
2 medium jalapenos, seeded and chopped as per your heat preference (the original recipe suggests using the seeds of one; I left them both out since I was feeding kids and personally did not feel like something was missing, though Mavis may differ)

Heat butter in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until foaming subsides, and add onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and browned around edges, 10-12 minutes. Add garlic (and jalapenos, if using) and cook another two minutes or so.





Transfer onion mixture to a bowl, season with a little salt, and set aside.

Wipe out skillet with paper towels and return to medium-high heat, and put chicken thighs in skin-side down. Cook without moving for about 5 minutes, until well-browned. Flip and brown for another five minutes on second side, then transfer to a plate, remove skin, and tent with foil to keep warm.

1 1/4 C basmati rice (preferably both Indian and aged--I bought mine bulk so don't know if it meets either of these criteria)
1/2 t saffron threads, crumbled
1/4 C dried currants or raisins (I used currants, but I think golden raisins would also be good)
2 T chopped cilantro
2 T chopped mint leaves

Add rice to boiling spice-infused water and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain rice through fine-mesh strainer, reserving about 3/4 C of the liquid, and discard spice packet. Transfer rice to bowl and stir in saffron and currants.

Spread half of rice in bottom of empty saucepan. Top with half of onion mixture, then chicken. Top chicken with cilantro and mint, then remaining halves of onions and rice, pressing layers down into pan. Sprinkle reserved cooking liquid evenly over rice.





Cover pan and cook over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Keep heat under pan low enough that not much steam is escaping. Scooping from bottom of pot with a large spoon, serve a chicken thigh to each person. Top with yogurt sauce.



*I thought this dinner was fantastically delicious, but no one else liked it quite as much as I did. My one complaint was that, although the article in Cook's Illustrated thought that the recipe sufficiently combatted the dish's tendency toward greasiness by removing the chicken skin and not deep-frying the onions, I still found it a bit greasy. If I were ever to make it again (oh how I wish I'd thought to make it for the book group at which we discussed The Namesake!), I might reduce the butter even further, or substitute bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (still removing skin after browning), since they have less internal fat than the thighs.

The Shiniest and the Happiest

For die-hard fans of my children only (more food postings coming soon!):