Back In the Swing of Things

After a cross-country relocation, I am settling back into cooking like mad. I have found rhythm in making baby food and strive daily to make delicious and healthy food for my family. My son has been off the Gerber food for a couple of weeks now, and he seems to be loving the additional flavors that I add into his mashed creations. One of my favorite things to eat is ramen. From the time I studied in Japan, nearly 10 years ago now, I have striven to
find the elusive excellence of traditional Japanese ramen. I have tried ramen in restaurants, I have tried to make it myself. I still don't make it quite right, and barely want to even call it ramen because to me that signifies its excellence, whereas to many it signifies the noodle of broke pocketbooks.

Still not altogether successful, but I do make a nice bowl of Asian-style noodle soup.

Above is the final result. The two bigger bowls on the outside are mine and my husband's. We split the gyoza on the middle plate and our son ate the applesauce in the front left and the egg yolk, steamed carrots and gyoza in the front center bowl.

Post Pregnancy - Cuttin' Back

I haven’t been writing because I have added duties at home – my husband is out of town working, and it’s been just me and the kid at home for nearly a month now. This shift has rendered every free moment in the day either dedicated to working for my job that pays the bills, or working around the house for my job of mom. So I haven’t been cooking like usual, opting instead for the more expedient options of take out, pre-made frozen meals, and things that come out of a box.

In an effort to get serious about dropping some of this baby weight, I must get back on track. I am not one to diet per se. I am more of the mindset that I can eat whatever I want, but in moderation. I love all the carbs – bread, rice, potatoes and have always lost weight with never cutting them out. I eat relatively healthy, but do have a serious weakness for fried and salty things. I generally exercise regularly, but since my husband has been gone, I have failed to even once, outside of walks with SoulBaby, which are more a mode of transportation to the park than exercise.

I have always been able to lose weight if I follow my own criteria:

1. Do not keep any junk food in the house – being that my weakness is salty things, I never buy them, because I know I will eat them all in one sitting when I am starving. I have no problem resisting sweets like ice cream, so I keep that stocked for my husband and rarely feel it necessary to eat any. Do what works for you to avoid temptation.

2. Keep healthy snacks on hand – most of my junk food eating happens at times when I am in a pinch and need something satisfying fast. I literally have a McDonald’s in my backyard, and its lingering French fry odor has rendered me defenseless many times when I have waited to long to eat. If I stock plenty of nutritious snacks like fresh veggies, cheese and crackers, and fruit, and eat them on demand, then I am less likely to eat something indulgent because I am already full.

3. Cut out all unnecessary sugars – I used to love Coca Cola. We had a long affair that lasted many, many years. The dentist identifying the discoloring on my teeth to be a direct result of the beverage could not break us apart. I could easily drink 6 ice cold cans of this stuff a day. That is until I realized the direct relationship with this and my inability to lose that extra 5-10 pounds I wanted. I cut the Coke out, and like magic, lost weight.

4. Drink lots of water. I drink nearly a gallon a day. I rarely ever drink anything other than water (except for my daily cup of coffee and, of course, wine) and it is in my opinion imperative to do this if you are going to lose weight and maintain it. It keeps you feeling good and gives you more energy than you think.

5. Cook from scratch as best you can. When I first got serious about cooking, it was because I just love to eat. I soon learned though that in addition to being able to have delicious meals everyday that I could never afford in a restaurant, I could also see what goes in everything that I eat. This allows me to better monitor my overall nutrition.

So in light of trying to cook everyday again, I made my favorite Indian veg dish tonight – Aloo Gobi, or curried cauliflower and potatoes. Delicious. I ate it with white rice and steamed beet greens.

Everybody Hates Going To Bed

SoulBaby will now sleep for several hours through the night, but getting him into bed is the most challenging task I face all day. Every once in awhile he will go to sleep peacefully and I can rush for a couple hours to get a few tasks done before I too must retire. It seems that the norm is more often that he goes down for and hour or so and then pops back up ready to go again.

I have set an optimal (according to me) routine bedtime for him every night - bathing him, reading to him and massaging him just as the Johnson & Johnson site says to do to relax your child. Now I have not used their line of calming products which I am sure would add benefit to their claims of ensuring a good night's sleep with their simple nighttime steps, but I have plenty of good lotion and it that really going to make him sleep better? I have read countless child books, blogs, and message boards to search for something new, one small helpful piece of advice that can win me some extra time everyday.

Still, I have put him down three times already tonight and as I write this now he is twitching in his sleep – the first indication he is faking it and will soon be up again. The doctor says he’s a baby and I can’t expect him to cooperate. The books say he should be sleeping regularly now, or at least in a routine. My mom says he is just so social and thinks he is going to miss out on something if he falls asleep.

I am going to let him choose his own sleep path and see what happens because really, I am just tired of fighting to get him to sleep. I hope I am not setting my child up for afternoon kindergarten and an inability to wake up before 8 in the morning, but right now I am so tired I just can’t be bothered to worry that far ahead.

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When I first had SoulBaby he was in the NICU for several days due to some breathing problems and a fever. I remember one of the nurses in there was talking to us about how at first you are so worried about everything with your child, continuously checking to see if they are breathing while they are sleeping and whatnot. Having not had my son at home all to myself, I could not yet imagine this behavior.

When he finally did come home, the first night was the second most shocking experience I had had to date, only topped by the delivery nearly a week earlier. I never knew that a newborn made such irregular, phlegmy and overall unhealthy sounding breaths. And I never knew the kind of pain and concern that his non-stop cry would shock through my body. It was not a physical pain like the labor, but a mental anguish that affected every ounce of my body when I heard his shrill, scared cry.

I think we woke every hour or two to strange gurgling noises in the night for the first week. We became accustomed to the sounds and did not have to worry whether or not he was breathing in the night because we could easily hear him sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed. Finally, he quieted and then we graduated to watching the rise of his chest by the light of the nightlight. Ahhh, yes he is still breathing, and we rest again.

Slowly we became more comfortable. He started taking longer naps and sleeping more at night, leaving me alone in the house with him more, but not with him. At least once a day, I look around and wonder where he is, and then, yes he is still napping, I remember. I have been here with him almost every moment for four months and now it is weird to be awake so many hours in a row undisturbed by baby’s needs. So I have to go check on him now.

Programming The Child

I desperately want my child to be bilingual. Before young SoulBaby ever grew in my womb, I had grandiose ideas of how I would train my future baby to speak Japanese. Having spent one year of university studying abroad and several additional years of training in the language, I always thought I would pass this knowledge on to any offspring.

Now it has been nearly 10 years since I have lived in Japan and nearly 4 now since my last visit. However, I still have the very basic conversational stylings of the Japanese I once knew - I can discuss the finer points of various electronics in Akihabara with the overenthusiastic sales clerks, order delicious food with ease, and ask directions, as well as understand the answers.

Now that my son has passed five months old, he is recognizing some small nuances of speech like the inflection of a question and the certainty of an answer. I, however, am finding that as his interest in language grows, my vocabulary lacks. It has been so long since I have stretched my mind to Japanese mode where I can output words with ease and state my thoughts succinctly. I confuse simple tenses, forget basic vocabulary, and have incoherent words fall right out of my mouth as simple as the babble and drool falls from SoulBaby's.

My current strategy has me continuously writing down the missing words from my vocabulary to look up later in the day when I have a few extra minutes. Hopefully by the time that he is ready to start talking back I will have regained some of my past linguistic glory.

I am also thinking that as he gets older I should supplement his learning with some Japanese Language videos, flashcards and other learning tools. I have read a lot of mixed reviews about these products. Most state that a lot of the products are next to worthless as they only teach vocabulary and not the actual communication of a foreign language.

I figure that with one semi-competent Japanese speaker in the house, these supplemental tools are just what I need to help my son learn. Where the videos leaves off with vocabulary and word use, I can pick up with reaffirmation and familiarity.

For now I am learning Japanese nursery rhymes and they have been received with much glee by a constantly smiling face. If anyone is interesting in teaching some different songs to their children check out Mama Lisa’s Blog filled with lyrics and MP3s of great songs for children from around the globe.

New Clairvaux Winery

received a half case of wine from my friend that came from her neighborhood winery - New Clairvaux Vineyard. The vineyard, situated in Vina, CA, is run entirely by Trappist Monks. With the order’s strong roots in agricultural and winemaking its monks are responsible for many of the finest vineyards in the world. The first Cistercian winery in North America, New Clairvaux was founded in 1955 on the former site of Great Vina Ranch, formerly the largest vineyard, winery, and distillery in the world in 1890.

I am working my way slowly through the reds. So far I have had the 2004 Poor Souls Block Zinfandel and the 2005 St. James Block Tempranillo. Both have been excellent.

Back to the Basil

Many years ago on a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand with my good travel buddy Larichan, we took a one day cooking class at Thai Chocolate Cookery School. The name Chocolate in the school's title, as explained to us, referred to Thai chillies as they are such an addictive, integral part of Thai cooking that they are similar to chocolate. After not being able to buy these fiery hot chillies anywhere near my current home, I could not agree more. The piercing, yet fresh heat from these chillies makes so many Thai dishes addictive and keeps my mouth watering for more. I substitute anything I have, but Thai chillies are the optimal choice for this recipe.

As part of the course fee, we received a small book containing the five or six dishes we had made, in addition to a handful of other classic Thai recipes. I have made nearly everything out of the school’s simple, no nonsense instructions and everything has turned out far better than any other Thai cookbook I have used since. My favorite from the book has always been the green curry, while FunkDaddy has always favored the Basil Chicken. Tonight he won:

Basil Chicken (modified from the original recipe, as I left my book at a friend's house and have yet to retrieve it, and we like it saucy)

1 pound Chicken, cubed
4 T oyster sauce
4 T fish sauce
4 t sugar
lots of basil leaves (about 30)
oil for stir frying
many cloves of garlic, chopped
1 to 2 small chilis (your preference for heat and kind, preferably you would use Thai chilis, but if not use what you can - I have used jalapenos, habaneros, chili flakes and serranos.)

Marinate the chicken anywhere from hours to 15 minutes before with the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and about 1/3 of the basil. Refrigerate.

Make rice.

Heat oil in a wok. Add chopped garlic and heat till you can smell it. Smash the chilis so that they are broken (just so that the juice can come out) and add to oil. Add chicken and stir fry until it is all cooked on the outside. Add the remaining basil chopped up a bit, continue stir frying 1-2 more minutes and you are done. Serve over rice. Delicious, healthy and quick.

Rhubarb Wine In Progress

Currently I am only making one wine, and it is not a grape-based wine. After making a combined 24 gallons of Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Riesling, and White Merlot for a recent party, I cleared out half of my cellar and began to build again. This batch is a good old-fashioned rhubarb wine.

I was only recently introduced to this vegetable often mistaken for a fruit, much in the same way that a tomato is mistaken for quite the opposite. My only experience with it has been in a jam or pie, both of which I have enjoyed.

Growing wild in the mountains of the Western and Northwestern provinces of China and into Tibet, the plant was originally cultivated for its medicinal qualities, but as it turns out it tastes great in so many sweet treats.

Apparently people say some of the best rhubarb in the world grows in Michigan, Ontario, Canada, and a few other northern US states. I had grown up amidst the best rhubarb in the world and it went completely unnoticed to me for all those years.

My parents had a surplus from their one plant and gave me a whopping 13 pounds of rhubarb. I followed this recipe.

I would like to blend this finished product with another white wine. Any ideas?

Steak & Chicken - You Can't Go Wrong

My husband said today – “This is why you married me” as he fed me a piece of grilled chicken freshly removed from our new charcoal grill/smoker. Though it is by far not the only reason we wed, FunkDaddy does make a mean piece of BBQed meat. The way that the juice flows from any meat he grills is astounding.

For dinner we had steak, chicken, grilled potatoes, and beet greens. Also, we had a salad with baby greens, feta cheese, cucumbers, radishes, daikon, and chow mein noodles. I topped mine with a ginger vinaigrette dressing that fits perfectly with the salad’s Asian fusion theme. This meal alone makes me hopeful at the start of grill season.

The beet greens for this meal came from Cut N Clean Greens. I absolutely love that they carry these in so many grocery stores now, as they have made a quick and easy way to incorporate greens into my everyday life, where I may not always have the time to clean a couple bundles of collards or kale on a busy day. They come in a ton of varieties from collard greens, kale and mustard greens, to the country and European blends. Check them out!

Beefing Up on Dairy

Lunch today was rushed. Hunger came upon me and hadn’t thought of anything to make or planned appropriately. So I went back to one of my favorite things and most time-trusted standbys – breakfast.

The ordinary part was the two pieces of French toast on plain old wheat bread. The extraordinary part was the eggs. I sautéed three cloves of garlic in olive oil, added some sliced mushrooms and green onions and cooked until they began to get soft. I added the eggs and let them begin to set before scrambling them a bit. Right before they were finished I added feta and Monterey jack cheeses and voila – delicious.

Experimentation Gone Bad

Last night I tried to make something healthy to eat. See I have been eating out for days now because FunkDaddy has been in the studio all day all week and with my schedule, after working, there is little time to grocery shop, let alone cook. Determined to turn things back around, I went grocery store last night and was all psyched to cook something light and refreshing for dinner.

I set the rice cooker and went to work prepping the ingredients. I have to split the cooking task up, as SoulBaby at five months old has not quite got the hang of being patient. I chopped a head of cauliflower, a handful of carrots, several cloves of garlic and a pound of chicken. That was the point that SoulBaby had enough; I bathed him and put him to bed.

An hour later, I came back downstairs and stir fried the ingredients – first the garlic in some vegetable oil until the smell rose, then the chicken until brown on the outside, then the veggies till done. I added some fish sauce, lime, and chili for flavor, similar to the seasonings used to make pad thai. I had high hopes.

To say I have any culinary training is really overstating things. I have learned a handful of healthy staples from my parents, studied several different kinds of cooking on extended stays in other countries, and scavenged more than a handful of cookbooks for delectable treats. Basically, I am real basic. And then come my experiments, like dinner tonight, that in some corner of my mind seemed like it would taste good.

FunkDaddy didn’t eat it. I ate a bowl of the finished product over rice and it was definitely edible, but not good. I need to stick with some cookbooks for awhile until I get back into cooking. After months of pregnancy backed with months of newborn care, I am ready to start cooking seriously again. By that I mean from scratch.

Since having a baby, I do not have the leisure time or energy to make three courses and bake bread and dessert. I will pick my battles and take shortcuts where available while trying not to compromise my desire to eat healthy and delicious food. My task ahead of me is to grow in the ability to output said food in an extremely quick and efficient manner so that I can be done when SoulBaby is ready for me. What a balancing act.