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From the monthly archives: June 2010
I finally found *the* one…. and realized just how visual I am.
at Folded Space — a png file
It’s tempting to do a post on “GTD for Homeschoolers”… except I wouldn’t know where to begin. 
Last year, I made a resolution that we would shoot for “optimum” in our diet…. meaning 7-9 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. And I was successful. Note the *I*. For a couple of weeks there I was able to get my servings of veggies and fruits. About half-way successful with the hubby. Not so with the kids. When I gave them the option, they always chose the meat and carbs, mostly ignoring the array of veggies and fruits on the table. (We still stick to the one-bite-of-each rule, so they did get *something*, just not a full serving.)
This week, I embarked on a self-designed program that I put into the calendar a few months ago, but never really followed, afraid it wouldn’t work. Day 2 was yesterday and it just might work this time. Mostly it requires a mental switch that I had to flip — the “I need to give the kids some meat!” switch.
Here’s how it works:
Our daily menu goes
beef-vegetarian-chicken-vegetarian-fish-vegetarian-pork-vegetarian… and so on. Which means we have beef, chicken, pork or fish only ONCE a week. Which cuts down on red meat intake drastically and not just for us but for the kids. Part of the difficulty before was that I knew hubby and I had to be more careful about our red meat intake, so I tried to limit *our* servings, but the kids always got their fill, *and* hubby’s notorious about eating little ones’ leftovers if any.
Now, on vegetarian days, I’ll serve NO MEAT OR FISH, not even leftovers. This is where I failed before. I would serve leftovers so that the kids would have *some* meat, but they would usually opt for mostly meat and hardly any veggies/fruits, even if it meant minuscule amounts for each of them and leaving the table hungry. Yesterday, they were forced to partake of whatever was on the table, and get their fill from that. So what was on the table?
- 6-grain rice (from the Japanese grocery — contains several kinds of rice, 2 kinds of barley and 1 rye)
- fresh blueberries
- corn
- green beans
- edamame
- glazed carrots, beautifully done by chef-to-be college student
- broccoli sauteed in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes
- eggs for those who wanted them
- bread
- grapes
- strawberry-banana-pineapple-orange-green tea smoothie
- eggplant in garlic sauce
- Korean-style zucchini
- apples, peaches, nectarines, bananas
- a freshly made batch of my “Ultimate Kimchi” featuring napa cabbage, carrots, cucumber, apples, green onions, ginger, and garlic
All of these, except for the rice, were organic and/or local. And I resolved to not worry about whether they had their fill or not, I just made sure the food was there and that they ate *something*. No one complained about being hungry at bedtime, so it must have worked. Two kids asked, “Where’s the meat, Mom?” but I stood firm 
. I’m already excited about tomorrow. It’s chicken/turkey day today (Papa’s adobo, turkey-black bean-chili plus roast chicken for the lunchboxes). Tomorrow I’ve got potatoes, mangoes, watermelon, avocado, and a whole bunch of other things at the ready. And wahoo! By tomorrow the oven will be fixed. That should give us more options.
Read Aloud: A is for Africa. Add notes to the Nigeria page.
Read Aloud: Moja Means One. Copy and illustrate the numbers in the book.
Older kids: Read African Fractals. Take note of interesting information and include in the Math section of the Africa scrapbook.
Print out banknotes to add to your country pages. You can find them here, and here. Or use the Rand workpages here.
Read Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, pages 332, 343, 362-363. Make entries into Book of Centuries/Adventure: Africa scrapbook.
Today’s Menu, from The Momo Cookbook:
Zaalouk, p. 63
Kesra, p, 137
Briouats of Saffron Chicken, p. 73
Almond Milk, p. 143
Just some musings through the past few weeks.
- Am on Day 40 of my “100 Days Offline (Mostly)”…. and surprise, surprise! I am still on “Day 2 Project” — our photo albums. I have finished SEVENTEEN photo albums so far, and I am 10 years away from being done. After buying a third album this month, I told dh, I know now what the problem is: we are far too attached to our pictures, that we keep every single one, even blurry ones and poor shots, etc. BUT. I will not worry about that now. I’m too far into the project to restart…. so I’ll just finish and go back to it in a few years…. I’m just glad the photos are now out of boxes and bags and envelopes and into photo albums so we can actually enjoy them. I am absolutely *dreading* finishing up 2003 and having to organize DIGITAL pictures. Between pictures in old desktops (two), two of *my* laptops, plus hubby’s laptop, and dd’s, and the ones already on CDs, plus some that are stored online…. hubby says again, “one project at a time, one day at a time”.
- Aisa is on break. A *real* break this time, where she actually has NO studying whatsoever to do, NO residual homework… NOTHING. So we’re having a GIRLS’ WEEK (WAHOO!! ) and taking a drive to Columbus for Pistacia Vera, Tensuke, and Wasserstrom. The last because she has a few more items she needs for her arsenal… namely, needle-nose pliers (for boning fish), clam knife, oyster knife, and fish scaler. Wishing now we had stopped by E. Dehillerin when we had the chance. Although, I have to say we have quite the selection in this country now, and it has just steadily gotten better since I got married 20 years ago when the fanciest piece of equipment I laid eyes on on my first visit to a real cookware shop was a chinoise. Have we come a long way since then.
- Camping time. Paco graduated from his leadership training camp yesterday. No voice at present, keeps saying he sounds like a girl as he can make nothing but high-pitched squeaks. Poor guy. But he came out unscathed and in good spirits, and raring to try out the things he learned. I will not post here what it means but I learned a new acronym this weekend — KIBO. These boys. Is that what roughing it does to them?
- Migi’s an altar server!! He got some training in last week. I love how he is at the age where he is really getting into the Liturgy and getting serious about catechism and apologetics and just asking question after question and really seeking to understand God’s word and His teachings. This is such a beautiful time and I cherish being able to share it with him. I *also* love that My Catholic Faith Delivered gives me “third party credibility”.
- Yena sang Born Free to Papa today for Father’s Day. I had her listen to it on YouTube after we fell in love with the book Born Free from our Africa Study. Papa used to sing it as I was growing up so the song holds many lovely memories for me. She’s such a sweetie and I’m glad Papa got to hear her sing it. Cannot wait to see them next month!
- Nino is such a daredevil. Today at the picnic he dragged me all over the playground, and chose to climb the big kids’ jungle gym and slide down the highest slide. He sure tired me (and himself) out. He’s currently zonked right beside me. Silly boy. You should have seen him make a beeline for the food table after his nth slide — apparently looking for something to drink.
- My oven is dead. Good thing “perfecting macarons” is #43 on the list instead of #3. I was briefly deliberating buying a Zoji bread machine finally and maybe giving up a real oven for a couple of years so we can save up for my dream wall oven…. but common sense has reclaimed its place, so I’ll be calling the repair guy tomorrow.
- DH broke my heart Friday.
In mid-May the whole family dug out one of our garden plots, cleaned, weeded, and prepped it for planting. In the middle we put in a bunch of gladioli, the four corners got dahlias, and the sides got lilies. We’ve been waiting for them to bloom and finally the gladioli are showy in all their tall pink creaminess… the lilies are still hanging back behind the wings. Rather disappointed in the dahlias as they’re not as big as we had anticipated… but the kicker is that when dh mowed the lawn Friday he got overly enthusiastic with the weed whacker and cut down two of the dahlias too. WAAAAH. I *almost* threw a tantrum. Then he treated me to sushi, so now we’re friends again. Besides, it’s Father’s Day. …. I jest. If you knew my husband in person, you’d know how difficult it is to stay mad at him for any considerable length of time. Lord, thank You so much for sending me such a saintly man. - One more thing about Nino…. the kids and I have been making it to morning Mass for the past month…. except the week we were sick… and the days Nino was sick… and the days Dad and Ais had the two cars… but other than that we’ve been good and I am ever so grateful that the Holy Spirit inspires my kids to jump out of their beds every morning eager to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. What a blessing!! Even were I to feel lazy about going (and I admit there have been days….) there’s no way I can let them down and ask that we miss Mass when they want to go so much! But back to Nino…. the kids have been going to Mass… but I rarely am able to stay for the whole because Nino’s at that age where he just can’t sit still or keep quiet for long periods. If left to his own devices, I’m pretty sure he’ll investigate every square inch of that church and still have energy left over to run outside.
- The Vita-Mix I got for Mother’s Day is getting used EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don’t think I’ve ever had a machine that got so much use the first month. It is a total workhorse and I’m so glad we got it. Everyone loves the carrot-apple-orange-strawberries smoothie, and the carrot-apple-orange-pineapple-peaches smoothie, with some coconut oil and flax seeds thrown in (and some hemp when I can get away with it)… but the chocolate-banana-strawberry-spinach smoothie is well-received only by the older set (Dad, me and the two big kids). I’ll keep working on it.
More to blog, but it will have to wait. Big plans tomorrow.
The oldest boy is reading Cry, the Beloved Country. Here’s a set of questions from LoveToLearn.net if you want to go that route. I’ve watched the movie and highly recommend for late teens to adults.
The younger ones are reading Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales and Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
For dessert tonight — melktert!! Made with homemade buttermilk from my cultured butter experiment the other day. It should work, given that it’s apparently very similar to buttermilk pie.
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. We’ve made butter often enough in our DLX, but I’ve been wanting to try making it with Snowville Creamery’s heavy whipping cream (*not* ultra-pasteurized) since it became available at Whole Foods. The other — also important — reason for making butter is that I’m in love with Kerrygold’s Cultured Irish Butter…. and don’t mind paying a higher price at Costco for their 24-oz box… BUT I also would prefer to buy local when at all possible to support the farmers around us. The savings in cost, it turns out, isn’t anything to sneeze at either.
Two cups of the half-gallon of heavy whipping cream went with the strawberry shortcake I mentioned in an earlier post, so I had 6 cups left to work with. I added 1/3 + 1/6 cup of Seven Stars Farm Yogurt (my favorite store bought variety when I’m not making my own) and left it for about 13 hours in a bowl (whisked first of course!), covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature. After the overnight stay outside, I put it in the fridge to chill for a few hours. I’d have preferred to culture it a bit longer, but decided to make the butter in between lunch and dinner, since I figured by the time I got dinner started I’d be too tired to make it, and will have to put it off ’til tomorrow, which does me no good since I’m making our favorite loaf tomorrow, and it will not do to not have that butter ready!
So anyway, into the DLX mixer it went. And yes, some people don’t like making butter with anything plastic but my DLX has served me well all these years and has made me so much butter that it just tends to laugh off the criticism. What’s great about making butter in the DLX is that I can just plop a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the machine and I can observe what’s going on without getting all splattered. It’s almost like having an old fashioned glass butter churn, except this is for lazy people like me.
Just whirrrrr, whirrrrrr, whirrrrr….. it will thicken and turn into butter rather quickly. You’ll know because liquid (the buttermilk) will start splattering the plastic wrap. Let this go on for a bit, say, a minute, to get all that good buttermilk out (yum… for pancakes, dressing, any other recipe you like that calls for buttermilk!). Pour out the buttermilk (I used a plastic sieve but didn’t really need it much since the butter stayed put in the mixer bowl. Added (filtered) water, whirred again on high so that the butter leaves the beaters and gets slapped back to the sides of the bowl before coming together in the center again. Pour out the water and discard. Do this several times until the water runs clear. This is another reason I love the DLX! The washing part is a breeze!
The hardest part was squeezing out all that water at the end. I’m still not done. I’ve wrapped mine in plastic, parchment, foil, freezer paper, etc. Parchment is best but I’m out, so right now I’ve got it in a log-shape (kinda like those Amish butter logs) in paper towel and foil.
All in all, great results. I got about 2 1/2 cups of buttermilk, and 28 oz of cultured butter. (Not bad at all. I think the Kerrygold is $8(?) at Costco (sorry I forget the price)… the half-gallon of cream was $7.99, and I only used 3/4 of it. I love European butter, but I love my local farmers more.
That foamy stuff? Buttermilk!
Twenty-five pounds of these gorgeous beauties. Picked up Saturday from Adam Batson of Ohio Brush Creek Cooperative, at the Montgomery Farmer’s Market. Processed and packed for consumption! And going, going, going…. fast.
First up was the must-have summer treat: Strawberry Shortcake. I firmly belong in the camp of “cake” over “biscuit”. Yena made the cake recipe from her favorite cookbook. The flour was freshly milled, using wheat grains I picked up from Tiffany Shinkle on the same day (from last year’s harvest). I whipped the cream and macerated the strawberries in a bit of sugar and lemon juice. Unfortunately, the baker didn’t like the combo and settled for a bowl of strawberries after everything was assembled. And ugh, no pics — the batteries died soon after I took the pic above.
Steve Ray is scheduled to be in Manila next month.
The Defensores Fidei Foundation is organizing a gathering with him for apologists on July 17, 2010 from 9:00AM-12 noon. Fee is P300 per person.
The organizers are organizing — leave a comment if you want to attend and I’ll forward your info to them.
Read Aloud: Chidi Only Likes Blue. Make a color wheel. You can use this blank wheel if you like. In each section of the wheel, write down your notes or draw the items Chidi and Nneka like. Put this page in our African scrapbook.
Read Aloud: The Jungle Grapevine. Make sure you read the Author’s Note at the back of the book!
Music:: Listen to (and dance to, if you like) Kronos Quartet’s Pieces of Africa all day.
Movie for Mom and Dad: Amistad. Must-read reviews.
Older Kids: Read Amos Fortune. There is a sample study guide here, but we probably won’t use it… dinner time discussion should be good enough for this, and maybe a one-page narration. I’m also letting the kids peruse some links:
- His grave, click on the picture to see a close-up
- Amos and his tools — you can print and add to your narration
- More on Amos Fortune or his life, from the Amos Fortune Forum
- Amos Fortune’s Freedom Papers – can also print this out to help illustrate your narration
Today’s Menu
Chicken Stewed in Coconut Milk
Atar Allecha
Tunisian Potato Salad
Rooibos Chocolate Cake
This is my list of what *not* to include in our study. For various reasons.
The White Giraffe
The Slave Dancer
Africa for Kids
The Power of One — ugh. couldn’t even get past the first few pages. I borrowed it because of the high Amazon ratings.
I’ll go ahead and add comments here too about the movies we picked:
Casablanca we saw because I’ve been wondering forever, hearing those quotes all the time — “Here’s looking at you, kid”, “Play it again, Sam”, “We’ll always have Paris”. We didn’t love the movie, though it wasn’t a total waste of time. I like that Bogart’s character was honorable and decided to do the right thing in the end. And the plot twist made things more interesting.
Major disappointment was King Solomon’s Mines — I picked the highest rated one featuring Stewart Granger (unknown to me prior to this), because the book was just so funny that I even chose to read aloud parts of it to the kids and actually let my 11-yo read it, with a stern warning that he was not to make silly jokes about certain anatomical parts referenced in the book. I was hoping the book would at least stay true to the story. It had won awards, apparently because of the authenticity of the setting (real tribes, language, costumes, etc.), but it was not H. Rider Haggard’s story. Adding a romance to it did not help at all. Part of the appeal to me of King Solomon’s Mines, the story, was the masculinity of it. My kids were so looking forward to “beautiful white legs” and the story around that. The humor in the movie was non-existent and we were given, instead, stares and kisses and romantic tension. Blecch. I’m not optimistic, looking at the other options, with Patrick Swayze and Richard Chamberlain. *Someone* has to do this movie again, the *right* way.
How timely (and ironic, but more on that later) that we’re doing our Africa unit study and today is the feast day of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions! I’m keeping it simple (everyone’s still recovering, bad coughs all around) so we’re simply going to read from the Liturgy of the Hours, which includes a portion of the homily delivered by Pope Paul VI at the canonization of these martyrs of Uganda.
Here are some useful links:
Catholic Culture for June 3
Black Martyrs at the National Black Catholic Congress website
from Catholic.org
Amandazi from Catholic Cuisine — but since I’m stocked with African ingredients already we’ll stick with the menu plan for the day — these sound really yummy though
at SQPN
lots of information at the Women for Faith and Family website
found this link at 4real, to jclubcatholic, suitable for younger kids
Our library doesn’t have a copy of African Triumph by Charles Dollen and I didn’t look for it in time to purchase it for today .
Ironic that this day is the feast of African martyrs who gave their lives for purity and for the Christian faith, in a month which our African-American president declares LGBT Pride Month. These martyrs died just 125 years ago.
St. Charles Lwanga, pray for us!
From Liturgy of the Hours:
Father,
You have made the blood of the martyrs
the seed of Christians.
May the witness of Saint Charles and his companions
and their loyalty to Christ in the face of torture
inspire countless men and women
to live the Christian faith.
We ask this though our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The kids are tired of oatmeal, so today I did a variation of my Choc-Ban-Oat-Cran-Wal Cookies…. except I didn’t want to spend time scooping out cookie dough. Hubby is home helping me take care of the sick kids, for the second day, but the little one woke up early with a terrible sounding cough, reminding me of that bug he gut when he was just two weeks old. That time, dh had a trip to Germany and left me almost in tears, scared of the baby’s illness that made him sound pitifully like an old man with something blocking his throat.
I really should write up the recipe for next time…. but it goes something like this:
about 6 tablespoons of my favorite Kerrygold Irish butter, salted, which I broke into bits and mixed (with my hands, too lazy to start the mixer)
with about 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup white — maybe agave next time
then 2 large eggs from my favorite Amish farmer
a huge splash of vanilla extract
a small splash of rice milk
WHISK-WHISK-WHISK
add some freshly-milled whole wheat flour… about a cup
and then because i had it, i dumped in some White Lily flour too (trying to get rid of this bag which I used for baking some biscuits for a party)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
about 7 plain oatmeal packets from our Oatmeal variety box — it’s always the unflavored ones that get left out!
a handful of flax seeds
a handful of sesame seeds
maybe next time I’ll add in some hemp as well
LARGE handful of Craisins
handful of almonds, chopped roughly
handful of chocolate chips, just because it makes the kids feel extra-special <3
a mashed banana
a tablespoon or so of cinnamon
and finally, I meant to add only a few tablespoons of applesauce — however, I decided to “dump” instead of spoon (the spoons were on the other side of the counter and I was lazy)… and about a cup of applesauce fell into the batter.
The rest of the procedure is simple:
Pick up undiapered baby — who takes great pleasure lately in running around naked — put him on counter, hand him a spatula while you get yours, and MIX MIX MIX. Baby sees a chocolate chip and eats it without even asking!
Spray baking sheet, the large one (I think mine is 10 x 15) spread evenly, and bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Whoops. I should have said *preheat*. Oh well.
ETA: I forgot to add. The inspiration for this comes from
- a recent try of an Oatmeal Bake recipe, a combo I made up from Martha and Lindsay’s recipes over at 4real, which was a hit with the soon-to-be-14-yo, the 1-yo and me
- our favorite homemade granola recipe
and the other blog post’s cookie recipe.
Really exciting news landed in my reader box today:
They have pricing info so far on the Faith and Life series. I’m interested in the Didache as well. Strongly considering signing up. I’m not giving up the one-on-one and the group discussions as those are vital, but this should free up some time so I can do some of the fun liturgical stuff as well which is usually what falls through the cracks. Besides that, I am excited about the Steve Ray videos incorporated into it, and all the neat features they’ve built in. An enthusiastic two thumbs up for Faith and Life Online!
