He plays with a toy — for the first time!!!
5 April 2011 By Leave a Comment
Ok. Ok. This may be over the top, but my baby just started playing with his toys!! I think it’s a huge accomplishment.
I am so proud.
Around 2:17, he gets bored and throws it away. Then starts drooling.
That’s my boy!
Toasted Quinoa Salad with Scallops & Snow Peas
28 March 2011 By 2 Comments
One day last year as I was chatting and catching up with my friend Rachel Ferguson, she mentioned that she was vegan. I told her the problem I had with being vegetarian (oh-so-many-years-ago) was that I could not seem to get enough protein. She told me about Quinoa. It has a relatively high portion of protien for a grain. The next time I was in the supermarket, I noticed a box of it in the asile with rice,so I bought it it try it out.
I made Toasted Quinoa Salad with Scallops & Snow Peas from the EatingWell.com website last week. I quite liked it. I liked the fact that the warm quinoa half-cooked the snow peas and red pepper. It gave an interesting warm salad texture. I also used wine vinegar instead of rice vinegar and it worked more than fine. I am sure you can substitute chicken, turkey, tofu or any fish for the scallops and it would be just as good.
I think it will become part of my standard menu portfolio.
“I feed them apples and ricecakes”
27 March 2011 By Leave a Comment
I was walking down by the lake with a girlfriend a few weeks ago. I was pushing the J-man in the baby buggy. She was pushing her twins in a double pram. At snack time, she got out rice cakes and sliced apples and the twins happily shoved them in their mouths.
She remarked that one of her girlfriends had asked her how she got her sons to eat healthy things like apples and rice cakes. The girlfriend had asked this question as she fed her son a Kinder chocolate surprise and some potato chips.
My friend said her answer was simple: “I feed them apples and rice cakes.”
An urban version of a “good woman”
15 March 2011 By 1 Comment
Remember the good woman story?
Well, even though I’m not in the Yukon. And even though I hate touching raw meat (so I am not actually sure I would be able to haul a caribou out of the woods), I think I achieved an urban version of a good woman the other day.
I went shopping. I went shopping at Aligro, the Swiss version of Costco. I even had the J-man in a car seat so I just sat him on the trolley (those flatbed trolleys that you get in big warehouse stores)-car seat and all and just piled stuff around him.
Last week, I stocked up on staples (like pasta and sauce and spices and such). This week, I bought myself a set of dishes (and more staples).
We have been looking for a set of dishes. I have actually been looking. Ludo likes to amuse me and we even went out shopping a few times during the holidays before the J-man was born. Regardless, I just wanted a nice set of everyday dishes that we could also use when we entertain. I have always wanted a good set of dishes. Ones that look nice on the table and make the food look nice on them. Mateo taught me that presentation is half the flavour. If it looks great, your brain expects it to taste great.
So, last week when I was at Aligro, I saw these plates that I liked. This week, I went back (mainly to get more bulk foods), and saw the same plates and I still liked them. So I spent a few minutes in the asile looking. And debating. And choosing. And then the J-man started fussing. So I just chose plates of various sizes, bowls, coffee cups, espresso cups, and their saucers. I quickly went through the grocery area: a bit of this, a bit of that. I piled everything on the cart and got on my way.
By the time I got J-man and the shopping out to the car, it was feeding time, so I climbed in the back seat and fed him in the peace and quiet. When we were done, I put him back in his car seat and headed out to Ikea to buy some shelf organizers. I knew with all my new dishes and the bulk food buying, I would need as much extra space as possible to store things in my cupboards.
The problem: when I got home, I had everything packed into the trunk of the car. Nothing was in bags or boxes. I had a trunk full of shopping (including the dishes and shelf organizers) AND the J-man in his car seat. How was I going to get everything upstairs and into the apartment?
As I was driving into the parking garage, I saw my solution. The shopping carts for the Migros (the grocery store on the bottom floor of our building) are also stored in our parking garage. I hopped out of my car and dove into our storage locker to find an empty box.
I loaded everything from the trunk into the box in the shopping cart. I perched the J-man on top of everything and tossed his diaper bag alongside.
One trip. I got everything out in one trip. I am so pleased with my resourcefulness. If there is one thing I learned in the Yukon, it was: Make do with what you have and adapt to your surroundings.
So there, good women of the North. With my baby fat, I definitely have a few more curves—and if I were to help haul a caribou out of the woods, I would definitely look for a shopping cart (or equivalent thereof).
