Projectland

Inviting ghosts in

Here is why I make an "ofrenda"  or altar to honor the dead.

because by placing a necklace on the altar, I am reminded of the hands of my grandfather that made it.

because by arranging flowers, I am reminded of my grandmother who loved to do the same.

because by placing his book, we are reminded of my husband's father who wrote it (and who would have loved to know his grandaughters).

because by hanging a collar on a painting of my dog, she gets affection.

because by leaving chocolate, cigarettes, a bottle of coke, and other treats, we give the dead the things they loved in life.

because by lighting candles we show that we miss them and invite them back for a visit.

because by honoring them, they live on through us.

 

Summer fun

Our annual summer visit to York Harbor was perfect in all ways. Family and friends, the weather, the food, the rhythm of the days made it one of our best summers ever.

On one warm, sunny day, our neighbors decided to take trip to Strawberry Banke Historical Village
and invited us along! It had probably 10-12 years since my last visit there, and my oldest is the perfect age to start to understand history, so we said yes! We happily piled into two cars, crossed the Piscataqua river on the big green bridge into Portsmouth, NH and found it easily. It being summer and midweek, we almost had the place to ourselves.

 Barrel construction demonstration from a cooper.

The kitchen in the Wheelwright house. The day we were there, a leg of lamb was roasting in the fireplace on a handmade tin spit, corn pudding was being baked in a dutch oven and an apple pie was being made using apples from the trees on the property. I love when history can be brought alive by demonstrations, costumes and hands on activities. The kids and I walked away with a tangible appreciation of what life must have been like for residents of Portsmouth in 1785.

Feeling inspired by our trip to Strawberrry Banke, I wanted to make something edible from a native plant growing in the neighborhood. Every year when we are there, the Rosa Rugosa bushes which grow in all the public areas in York, are laden with the hugest rosehips.  I found a rose hip jam recipe online. After enlisting some kid labor to help me do the picking, I got to work.

I cut off the tops, scooped out the seeds with my thumbnail, added sugar, lemon juice, a grated apple and a chopped up orange. I let the mixture boil for about an hour. After it had "jelled", I poured it into bowls and let it cool. It ended up a lot like a marmalade, but with a flowery taste. It tasted good on toast!

We celebrated a birthday dinner with lobster and fries.

We took a walk to the cannon and stocks outside the old Gaol (pronounced "jail"). Part of  the Museums of Old York  historical village.

The annual fireman's parade. 

My guy had the best job on the parade; driving the Reo Speedwagon.

Two happy, contented faces!

We had a beautiful day for a trip out to the Isles of Shoals. Off the coast of Portsmouth, NH, the islands of Star, Smuttynose, Appledore, Cedar and Malaga are rich in seagulls, seals, marine life and marine labs. Most interesting to me is the artistic history of the islands. The daughter of the lighthouse keeper was Celia Thaxter. She became a celebrated poet of her time and invited Nathanial Hawthorne, Childe Hassam, and other artists out to the islands for creative retreats. One thing that always sticks in my mind when I think of the Isles of Shoals is the gruesome history of a double-murder which was fictionalized in the book The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve. Star Island has a Unitarian Universalist hotel on it which is very busy all summer long.

The island trees and brush are scrubby, the rocks are many, yet the light is stunningly beautiful. We walked around a little, but spent most of our time in the kid-friendly interpretive center playing with snails and crabs in the marine life touch tanks.

The last really fun thing I did on my summer vacation was take a cooking class at  Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School The class title was "A Maine Summer Lunch with Pat Bagg". We made Tomato tart tatin (my favorite), Crab cakes, Corn Risotto, Blueberry Cobbler and Corn Ice Cream. We left with our stomachs full of delicious summer-inspired lunch and our hands full of Pat's recipes. She was a great teacher. She had been making these very same dishes for years and knew her ingredients and techniques hands down. She had such confidence and was a joy to watch work.

Overall, a lovely summer, with a delicious ending.

Celebrating spring with friends.

 

 

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Happy Birthday!

...you magical, beautiful, 8 year old girl. How can so many years have gone by so fast? Your thoughtfulness, compassion and quick wit inspire me every day. I love you.

December 2011 part 2

When Sophia and I returned from NYC, we got back to our routines with a few special events thrown in for excitement. On December 13, we went to see one of our favorite bands: WILCO at the Riviera in Chicago. Here's a late night picture of Chief Rail and I up WAY past our bedtimes!

 

We were treated to some acting in the neighborhood Christmas pageant at the Church. Our two were so proud of being part of the show.

 

 

Lots of excitement on Christmas morning!

chocolate, tea, oranges, books, a green dinosaur, soap, sunlight, the smell of pine needles...

on the day after Christmas, we took a lovely wintry walk in the woods with friends at the North Park Village Nature Center.

We flew to Maine shortly after Christmas for a family visit, and while there, took a two day side trip to Sunday River  for some downhill skiing. The girls both took to it right away and by the end of the day were skiing down the longer runs.

 

 

 

Then it was time to have the last coffee of 2011 in the Christmas tree mugs and head back to Chicago and start January 2012.

December 2011 (part I)

Hello again!

I'm going to back track a little and post some pics from December. The highlight being a trip to NYC. Again with the NYC, I know, its like a love affair I am having with that city. Every chance I can, I try to find an excuse to go. This most recent excuse was to chaperone my oldest on her turn to have a weekend with her grandparents to see the "Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular" show. What?! She couldn't fly alone! Check out that leopard hat, they were all the rage. All the street vendors had piles of them alongside the knock-off LV bags and Chinese cashmere scarves. Just for the record, I happen to love the street vendor carts in NYC. I find it incredible that they exist and stay in business.

So to encapsulate our trip:

We had the bestest, mostest, bestest time ever!

The holiday windows there were amazing, and the

 Bergdorf Goodman windows were especially inspiring and so magical. There was taxidermy, and lots of it. Be still my heart and imagination.

 

We took a visit to the New York Historical Society and Museum where S learned about 911. She was understandably shocked about what had happened and fearful for our plane trip home. My friend Bonnie says, "no disasters before 3rd grade" because kids can't process a disaster and feel powerless to help. But what about the kids who lived through it? And what about kids who live through traumas before they turn 9? In this case, it was unavoidable that we would see the photos of the twin towers since they were in the front lobby along with a with a badly scraped fire engine door. I felt that the important thing to do was discuss it with her honestly. Her curiosity is so innocent. She was so moved by the photos of the "missing" papers posted around the site. Especially the one about a child missing his father. It is a painful thing to read about no matter what age you are.

To get us out of our sadness, we walked one block north to the Museum of Natural History. And got to see some spectacular dinosaur skeletons.

We also went to the kids museum in the basement of the MNH which is compact, well done and does not look tired the way you would expect a museum with millions of visitors should look.

Before we left my beloved city, we went to see Wicked as promised to a certain someone (and my Mom). They both loved it as much as I do. We belt the songs out in the car on our way to and from school. Little sister doesn't get it, but she will. When its her turn to go to NYC for a weekend with her grandparents, I've got four words for her; "you need a chaperone".

 

Whew, fall is over but... the holidays approach!

I have been absent on this blog. Sorry! things are busy around here and I am finding it hard to write- although my intention is to keep up with the practice because it has been so rewarding. The latest news is that I am starting a part time job! I will be working in Forest Park at the first Binth design store with Suzanna, the founder and principle designer of Binth. After seven years as a stay at home mom, I am ready for re-integrating into the outside world!

Here's a recap of the goings on in projectland recently;

We celebrated a friend's 50th birthday in Michigan. You can read more about his birthday and see lots of pictures here on his highly honest website and blog: Out Your Backdoor

We trick or treated with the neighborhood gang. Can you spot the mermaid and the cheetah?

I co-coordinated and was in the 3rd annual West Walker Holiday Fair which is a benefit for the Three Brothers Garden, a community food bank garden in the neighborhood. I brought scrappies, a new stuffed doll I have been making (more about that in later post!) and some hand painted porcelain. I shared the table with artist friends Alison and Prisana. The fair raised about $2000 for the garden. I was very happy with the turnout and the amount of money raised!

I made paper mache turkeys with my daughter's Montessori class. This one was my favorite- I love the expression and the rainbow tail.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with friends. The food was incredible, and the sentiments and reflections people made as we went around the table were heartfelt. It has been a good year and we have so much to be thankful for.

And so as we head into the last month of the year, I continue to shop for our groceries at our neighborhood grocery store: Tony's Finer Foods for which I have nothing but praise. Look at that display! It's so beautiful. Tony's always has what I am looking for and they inspire me to try new things, although I am still not sure what to do with a bitter melon or all those starchy tubers from central and south America....

and I continue to enjoy cooking for the family. We saw the documentary Forks over Knives and resolved to try to eat more grains, fruits and vegetables. This is a tart made with the last kale leaves from the garden.

There will be lots more to write about come January and hopefully I will get in a short post here and there in December, but till then, stay warm!

 

 

 

criss cross applesauce

One day this fall, just south of the Wisconsin border we turned into a tidy U-pick apple orchard that was impeccably manicured. The kids tumbled from the car, happy to be free after an hour and a half drive. They ran around on the grass and on wood-chipped pathways that ran in between two big flowerbeds. My friend Amy and I walked over towards a white tent surrounded by absolutely gorgeous apple trees laden with fruit, red wagons lined up in 3 neat rows and an older man with furrowed brows scowling in the direction of the kids. He had a 10 am 6" cigar stuck in his mouth. The kids turned to run towards us, and then came the full frontal attack from cigar guy:

"...Hey, git those kids outta da flowerbeds... Listen, if you want to have kids here, you gotta watch em at all times!!!! dey can't run around screaming and climbing the trees and picking apples dat aren't ripe. see dat sign? It says, no children allowed unless accompanied by an adult at all times..."

Then the Mrs. of the orchard came out from behind the back of the tent and her first word was not "Hello" but "Are you looking for a petting zoo? Or rides?, 'cause you ain't gonna to find that here, you might want to go somewhere else"

Whoa! What kind of U-pick place is this? Amy and I looked at each other and I knew we were both thinking the same thing:  load everyone back up into the car and leave ASAP. But we stayed promising to closely watch the kids. The fruit looked too good. Plus the reason we chose that farm other than the fact that they had a picture of a two year old girl biting into an apple on their web page (which I took to mean "family friendly") was because it DIDN'T have a fee to park, a fee to enter the orchard, rides for a fee, and expensive apples.

The Mr. and Mrs. warmed up to us after a while and by way of an apology cigar man said, "your kids are OK. They're doin' great".  I said, "you must have had some bad experiences with kids here huh?" He told us about a couple of times when parents were not supervising their kids and a boy had done a lot of damage to apples with a jackknife and another boy had climbed up to the top of a tree and broken some branches.

Although the fruit was excellent and the owners were actually friendly in the end, I think we need to find an orchard where our "city kids" can run around and cut loose a little. If they can't do that in the countryside then where? (I don't want to give the name of the orchard. I think they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day, and I am sure that any small family farm needs all the business they can get to survive.)

Is it just fate that we will get crankier as we get older? I hope not, but it is a noticeable trend.

OK- on to applesauce, because I love any excuse to use my china cap which I bought half my life time ago at a Kiwanis sale in Ann Arbor, MI.

 

Homemade applesauce is hands down the best. Here is a simple recipe:

Cook 10-15 apples whole or core them. Combine with 2 C. of water, 1/4 C. brown sugar, and 1t. cinnamon over medium heat. Cover pot, and stir apples every few minutes. After 20-30 minutes, the apples should be soft and mushy. Let them cool, and then use a China Cap, or any other food mill/strainer to mash apples into apple sauce. If you don't have a china cap, you can use a cuisinart to make sauce, but make sure to core apples before cooking them, otherwise it will be hard to pick the seeds and stems out before processing the cooked apples.

We went to an orchard a couple of weeks later that I can heartily recommend. It is Ela orchard in Rochester, WI. It's not a u-pick, but the apples and pears are beautiful and delicious and most importantly, the owner, Bob is warm and open to people of all ages coming to his farm! You can feed the goats who comically gum the apples, drooling away, until they are the right size for swallowing. Here are a few pictures:

 

The last picture is my very own Honey Crisp.

Fish tacos

I love fall. It's my favorite time of year, no joke. But, when fall arrives, I start thinking about winter, and when winter arrives I start wishing for an escape hatch to somewhere warm with big green leaves and bright colorful flowers. My parents have generously solved my cold weather blues by treating us to a big family gathering in Sanibel Island, Florida at Beachview Cottages . Our kids have been going there since they were born and think that my parents live there. In reality, we usually spend about a week, most of it outside, which makes my happiness meter go way up.

Last year we decided to do a little exploring and took a drive over to Pine Island. On the way there, we drove through the town of Matlacha and found The Olde Fish House Marina sea food market and restaurant. We really enjoyed talking with the owners and totally dug their back porch dining area overlooking a marina. That day we bought some big gulf shrimp to put on the BBQ, but the reason for this post is so that I can share my fish taco recipe!

If I had to narrow it down to my top 5 foods, fish tacos are in the running for first place. Before I knew any better, I ate them with flour tortillas, but then one day, I had a fish taco made with a corn tortilla and the heavens opened up to the glory that is the combination of corn, fish, lime, cabbage and hot sauce.

For the past few years I have been making fish tacos one night on the annual Sanibel vacation.  My Dad grills the fish that we caught that day on the little grill overlooking the beach. Then we sit down to dinner at a long table, watch the kids play and run in the sand while we eat tacos and drink beer and marvel at how fortunate we are to be there at that moment. Well at least I do. It just seems so right to be sitting next to the place where the food I am eating came from, and with people I love.

So without any more waxing, here she be:

 

 

Super delicious Fish Tacos

4-6 servings

 

Ingredients

• 1 pounds mahi mahi (skinned, boned and cleaned). You can use a variety of fish, but mahi-mahi is the classic fish to use. In Sanibel we use the sea trout we catch in Tarpon Bay.
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying (I like to use a wok for deep frying, or you can use a deep fat fryer if you have one)
• 1/2 head savoy cabbage, finely shredded (I use pre-packaged cole slaw mix)
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves picked
• 3 limes, cut into wedges for garnish
• bottle of green or red Mexican hot sauce ( I like the brand “El Yucateco”)
• corn tortillas

Pink Mayonnaise:

• ¼  cup sour cream
• ¼  cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup catsup

Guacamole with Tomatillo salsa

• 2 avocados
• 6 tomatillos, husks removed and tomatillos washed
• 1 fresh serrano or jalapeno chile pepper
• 3 garlic cloves still in their husks
• ½ t. salt
• 1 T. chopped cilantro
• juice of one lime

Tomato Salsa

• I just buy a good one from the store and add fresh tiny cubed fruit like mango or peach to give it a tropical and sweet taste which is good with the fish.

 

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350. Roast the whole tomatillos, whole chile and garlic cloves still in their husks for 20 minutes. Turn the Tomatillos ½ way through so they get brown on all sides. Take pan out and let cool for a few minutes. Squish the garlic cloves from their husks into a blender, add the roasted tomatillos, chile and any juices that have accumulated into the pan. Add about ½ C. water to the blender, or just enough to make the tomatillo salsa smooth. Mash avocado with a fork, add ½ C. of the tomatillo salsa, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper and mix gently so that the guacamole is still chunky.

Prepare the pink mayonnaise by mixing the three ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the fish.

If deep frying: Cut the pieces of fish into 1-ounce strips. Set up a breading station of flour, lightly beaten eggs with water, and seasoned panko bread crumbs. Season all with salt and pepper. Dredge the pieces of fish in flour, egg then bread crumbs. Once all the fish is breaded deep-fry in small batches in (375 degrees F) oil. Drain on paper towels and season with salt. Keep warm in a 175-200 degree oven until ready to serve.

If grilling: season the filets with a paste made with minced garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let marinate for 15 min. Grill fish on a hot grill 2 min per side.

To serve, set up the tacos "family-style". Assemble the fish in a pile on a plate; put the pink mayonnaise, tomato salsa, and guacamole in separate bowls. Set a pile of shredded cabbage, cilantro leaves and lime wedges next to the fish. Set out a couple of bottles of Mexican hot sauce. I like the green habanero one, but the red habanero is good too. Heat the tortillas wrapped in a dishtowel in the microwave for about 1 minute (might need one minute more, depending on the microwave). Or grill the tortillas, flipping them with tongs until they are hot and dark brown in spots.

To assemble: Lay tortilla down, put a stripe of pink sauce down the middle, add cabbage, 2-3 pieces of fish, guacamole, tomato salsa, a squeeze of lime on top, add cilantro and hot sauce, fold in half and eat.

Serve with rice, beans, and beer!

 

How to make raspberry jam in four easy steps.

Step 1:

On a beautiful late summer day, pick raspberries with friends. We went to Royal Oak Farm Orchard in Harvard, IL. Not because we want to eat HIS raspberries, but because they use IPM and don't spray their fruit with chemicals. (On the other hand, maybe they are being blessed by the holy triad: the fruit is especially delicious.)

Note: Be sure to eat just as many as you put into your pint container! This is important.

step 2:

Stand back and admire your picking ability.  Take a picture.

Step 3:

Bring said berries home (4 pints total=8 C.), put them in a pot on the stove over medium heat. Smash berries with a potato masher. For sure kids can help here!! Add 6 C. of sugar, and a granular package of Sure Jell pectin. Stir well. Bring to a boil, stirring all the while. Boil for one minute. Ladle jam (that's right folks, you just made jam!!) into clean, sterilized jars.  Recipe makes about 8 or 9 cups of jam. Cap with sterilized caps and rings. Process sealed jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Step 4:

Once again, stand back and admire your "work". Then DIG IN!!