Sunrise Ruby

fire

September 7, 2011 – 2:06 pm

It’s surreal here in ATX today. The air is hazy with smoke. The smell is strong, strong enough that it’s uncomfortable for many folks to stay outside for long.

Bastrop State Park, around 30 miles SE of our home, is burned.

One article I read today stated that 130,000 acres have burned across the state. Hundreds have lost homes.

Yesterday a wildfire began less than a mile away from our house. It was smoky, and ash was falling on our front lawn at one point. Luckily the fire was extinguished before it could do much damage, and we did not need to evacuate our neighborhood.

I’ve never really had to think about what I would take with me, other than our persons, if there were some kind of disaster and we needed to leave quickly. It’s unsettling. Time to stop joking about that go bag, and actually pack one.

Surreal, this summer that Texas burns.

By Brianna | Posted in community, nature | Comments Off

Left-over pizza packet greens

August 28, 2011 – 12:10 pm

At least once every few weeks or so, I crave these. An easy pot full of Vit A, Vit C, calcium and chlorophyll.

No, leafy greens are not even remotely in season here. Pretty much nothing is, since we’re on our record-breaking, drought-loving 73rd consecutive day of triple-digit temps here in ATX. But I make a mean pot of greens. I can’t help it.

This recipe is adapted from one on Eclaire. I’m calling it Left-over Pizza Packet Greens here, because I always seem to use the contents of a left-over packet of crushed red pepper, from the last time we ordered pizza, to make this dish.

1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bunches collard or turnip greens, washed, stemmed and chopped
3 C veggie broth
15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Heat olive oil and butter together in a medium pot until butter is melted. Add onion and cook until softened, but not browned, 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and continue cooking another 2 minutes. Add greens and saute another 2 minutes, stirring.

Pour veggie broth into the pot, bring to a simmer, and cover. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until greens are softened and turning dark green. Add tomatoes and salt, and simmer another 5 minutes.

Don’t overcook these, and they won’t be at all bitter, like those other greens you’ve had that you didn’t like. (When I say simmer, I mean simmer, not hard boil.) Maddie chows down whenever I make this dish. Even Ben will eat greens this way, which is saying something. Enjoy!

By Brianna | Posted in cooking | Comments (1)

a game

August 19, 2011 – 2:14 pm

If you’re the grown-up, you sit behind the couch and watch for “the show,”

which consists every time of two small pairs of wiggling feet sticking above the couch, and nothing else. It’s called “two kids upside down!” <insert hysterious giggling here>

By Brianna | Posted in Ben, Madeleine | Comments Off

4 years

August 15, 2011 – 7:16 am

Where did they go? Yesterday marked the completion of Ben’s first 4 journeys around the sun.

On Saturday we celebrated with friends and family at our neighborhood pool. Swimming, hot dogs and fruit for lunch, vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting for dessert. We even got a break on the heat Saturday morning, with some cloud cover and a pleasant breeze. Perfect.

Ben is growing tall and into all limbs like his dada. His eyes are deep grey-blue, also his dada’s eyes. He’s serious and sensitive much of the time. He’s currently very interested in nutrition; he asks often whether the foods we’re eating are healthy and is interested in what effects they have on the body. He thinks about the food we have, and he sometimes observes out loud that not everyone is lucky, that not everyone has good food. He wants to know what the men begging on street corners want, when we see them, and why they don’t already have it.

Lately Ben asks questions about death, too. He misses our dog Sam and understands that he died. He knows that my grandfather died, and that the grandparents of a beloved babysitter died, too. Late Saturday night he got out of bed to ask us, “When am I going to die?” And, tearfully, “How can someone die when their family is still real?” Oh, my boy, good questions. I’ll hold you.

Even with these deep thoughts, he’s four, and his favorite jokes are still about poop and pee.

Ben has dimples when he grins, and he sticks his tongue between his teeth, just outside his lips, when he’s really concentrating on something. This is inherited from my dad, I think. He’s currently passionate about playing board games and working jigsaw puzzles. He continues to love to cook; he’s upset when we cook without him. He likes playing in mud in the backyard, gardening with us, using tools, swimming and playing in bouncy castles. He loves trains and cars and animals (especially donkeys) and balls and dinos. He loves helping with household chores and wants to know how much longer until he’s 5.

I couldn’t be prouder or more in love with the person he is today, and I consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to keep journeying with him, as he continues to discover the world and himself. I’m so grateful he came to be with us. <3

By Brianna | Posted in Ben | Comments (1)

childrens’ sangha altar

August 7, 2011 – 5:20 pm

We provided altar decorations for Plum Blossom childrens’ sangha this afternoon:

A dish of cedar elm leaves and twigs. A few flowers from my patio rose. A piece of meteorite that was gifted to Nathan by a co-worker.

By Brianna | Posted in community | Comments Off

baking bread

July 28, 2011 – 7:39 pm

By Brianna | Posted in Ben, cooking | Comments Off

Tomato soup

July 18, 2011 – 6:36 pm

I make a lot of soups, y’all. But this one is really, really good and needs to be shared:

Tomato Soup

2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste
1 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks celery, diced
2 small carrots, diced
2 med onions (I used a yellow and a red), diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 C broth (I used veggie)
1-2 bay leaves
3 Tbs unsalted butter
1/2 C chopped fresh basil
1 C half and half

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drain canned tomatoes, reserving juices. Spread tomatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with olive oil (about 1/4 C). Roast tomatoes until they are caramelized, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile heat remaining olive oil in a sauce pan over med heat. Add carrot, onion, celery and garlic and cook until veggies are soft, about 10 minutes. Add roasted tomatoes, reserved juices, tomato paste, broth, bay leaf and butter. Simmer 15-20 minutes, until veggies are very tender. Add basil and half and half. Puree with an immersion blender until smooth.

Tonight we ate our tomato soup w sliced raw cheddar cheese and fried okra, both on hand after a trip to the farmer’s market over the weekend. Fresh bread and a garden salad with this soup would make an even better (less rich) meal, I think.

By Brianna | Posted in cooking | Comments Off

first movie in the theater

July 18, 2011 – 4:10 pm

These photos are from a couple of weeks ago, when I took Ben and Maddie to see their first movie in the theater, the live-action version of Charlotte’s Web.

Ben dressed up for the occasion.

Maddie needed a booster seat to keep the chair bottom from flipping back up while she was sitting in it.

It was just a buck for each of us to get in, so we splurged on an obscene amount of popcorn. Everyone made it all the way through the movie, I’m proud to say. We only had to get up once to go to the bathroom, and there was only one incident of Ben sprinting down the movie theater aisle shouting, while I chased him down, loudly whispering for him to come back and sit down. I cried; Charlotte’s Web is bittersweet, after all.

By Brianna | Posted in Ben, Madeleine | Comments Off

mud

July 18, 2011 – 10:26 am

I was sick on the couch most of last weekend, and Nathan completely rocked solo parenting while I rested. He did what any good daddy knows to do under the circumstances: help the kids make mud in the backyard and then become beyond recognition filthy. When they came inside, I emptied nearly half the bottle of Spray n Wash on that patchwork skirt Maddie was wearing, but that probably won’t save it. It was worth it, obviously.

By Brianna | Posted in Ben, Madeleine | Comments Off