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Monday, Monday– or more links about my own version of spring cleaning

Spring is finally here, and I brought it indoors in the form of a few branches of cherry blossoms. I feel a new sense of possibility after a long slog through the tundra that was this winter...

Spring is finally here, and I brought it indoors in the form of a few branches of cherry blossoms. I feel a new sense of possibility after a long slog through the tundra that was this winter…

And while we’re on the topic of this new sense of possibility, here are a few projects I’m thinking of undertaking with all of this extra energy the warmth and light is supplying… Anybody with me?

I am going to start making a scrapbook. Maybe I’ll even make a bunch of them, like Elsie from A Beautiful Mess

I am going to stop hating packing a lunch for my daughter. In fact, I am going to embrace it and not feel overwhelmed and like going to bed every time I have to figure out what to make. (This is highly unproductive, as she needs to eat pretty much every day) And I am going to achieve this goal, despite the fact that she is beginning to get sick of the dumplings I’ve been serving her 3 x a week this entire school year. But hey, I’m not alone. Food world superhero Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen also hates packing lunch. When I read her rant on Food52, I felt a bit better about myself.

Maybe buying this lunchbox will help.

I’m going to make these yarn hearts (thanks Momfilter!) with the kids to give as mother’s day gifts. I’m pretty sure neither my mom or mother-in-law read this blog so we should be all good…

I am going to make at least one new dish a week, and I’ll probably get the recipe from the New York Times Cooking site, because I’m addicted and also because they’ve finally gotten an iPhone app.

I am going to eat less sugar. I am not cutting it out entirely, but I’m going to keep the amounts as low as I can while still giving myself a treat every now and then. I wish I had more willpower and were able to cut it all out, but I don’t. So there.

I am going to get control over my e mail. Not sure which method I’ll choose, but this 21 day version looks good. Or maybe I’ll just erase all 5,000 unread messages and start from scratch.

A post about cooking in which I complain about my latest mothering chore of packing lunch for my child

pot stickers

Here they are… our first batch of dumplings. Pot stickers, to be specific, but who is really that specific when dealing with second graders’ lunches?

The party’s over.

Or at least the my-kid’s-school-has-a-lunch-program-so-I-don’t-have-to-deal-with-packing-a-daily-lunchbox party is over. She just wasn’t eating the food, and I was forced to admit that a rice cake and some juice that she was given as a substitute does not a nutritious meal make. If I want to help that little brain to grow, I’m going to have to suck it up and make her lunch. Every day.

What a nightmare.

Or at least, at first it seemed like a nightmare. But once I realized that she can heat up her food (do I have the only child on earth that doesn’t really like sandwiches?) I decided to take this as an opportunity, rather than just a burden. At the very least I finally have something to do with all of the slightly less than full portion leftovers I have from dinners past.

But sometimes there aren’t any leftovers. For those days, if you’ve planned ahead (a new skill I am developing in spades in 2015) there are dumplings. Which you have made in bulk with your kid (fun activity!) and stored in the freezer in single serving size packs for just such a moment.

Here’s the scenario. You put your little angel to bed, you then open the fridge to see what you’re going to cobble together for lunch the next day. Nothing appropriate. It’s freezing outside, so running to the deli is not an attractive option. You then remember the dumplings in the freezer. You jump for joy (but only internally… on the exterior you remain all calm like “of course this what was I was planning all along”) and take one of your little pot sticker packets out of the freezer and stick it in the fridge. Cook ‘em up the next morning (which takes all of 5 minutes) and you’re good to go.

And lest you think that there is no way you could possibly manage to create something so exotic and complex, let me be the one to inform you that the most difficult part of this operation is finding the dumpling wrappers (which these days can be found in any grocery store with an Asian section.) And that isn’t all that hard, is it?

We used Mark Bittman’s super simple recipe 10 days ago and had a blast making 48 little suckers. We still have one or two lunches left in the freezer too! Here’s how we did it:

First we get the ground pork (but you can use any kind of ground meat, or even make a veggie version with cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and carrots) mix it with cabbage, scallions, ginger, garlic and a bit of soy sauce.

making pot stickers

Then we place a spoonful onto the dumpling wrapper.

making pot stickers

After we rub a tiny bit of beaten egg around the edges to act as glue, we carefully fold them in half, pressing the edges together…

cooking pot stickers

And then they are ready to cook! The cooking is a 3 step process, but super quick. See the esteemed Mr Bittman’s recipe below for the exact methodology and then hop to it!

Ingredients

¾ pound ground pork or other meat
1 cup minced cabbage
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoons minced garlic
6 scallions, the white and green parts separated, both minced
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons good soy sauce
48 dumpling wrappers
1 egg, lightly beaten in a bowl
4 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil, more or less
¼ cup rice vinegar or white vinegar

Preparation

Combine meat, cabbage, ginger, garlic, scallion whites and 2 tablespoons soy sauce in a bowl with 1/4 cup water. Lay a wrapper on a clean, dry surface, and using your finger or a brush, spread a bit of egg along half of its circumference. Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in center, fold over and seal by pinching edges together. (Do not overfill.) Place dumplings on a plate; if you want to wait a few hours before cooking, cover plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Or freeze, for up to two weeks.

To cook, put about 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet and turn heat to medium-high. A minute later, add dumplings, one at a time; they can touch one another, but should still sit flat in one layer. Cook about 2 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned. Add 1/4 cup water per dozen dumplings to pan, and cover. Lower heat to medium, and let simmer about 3 minutes.

To make the dipping sauce, combine remaining soy sauce, green parts of scallions and vinegar.

Uncover dumplings, return heat to medium-high and cook another minute or two, until bottoms are dark brown and crisp and water evaporates. (Use more oil if necessary.) Serve hot, with sauce.

Monday, Monday

self portrait

Nothing puts a smile on a mother’s face like a self portrait by her kid. At least when said kid is still little…

A few links to help you be less productive (but perhaps more web savvy?) on this hazy Monday:

Feeling ambitious? Try making these spring vegetable dumplings from the ever amazing Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen.

Gotta love a village that gets pissed when a magazine names it one of America’s “happiest seaside towns.”

See why Rita Pierson brought tears to my eyes during her TED talk imploring fellow educators to be the champion kids really need.

If The New York Times piece on guerrilla gardener Ron Finley doesn’t get you all inspired to plant a curbside vegetable garden, I don’t know what will.

Learn how to top off your Mother’s Day gift with a ribbon rosette by watching this video from One Kings Lane. It’ll look so nice, she won’t care what’s inside!

And if she has everything she needs, why not honor your mom by helping someone else’s?

Don’t want to be a downer here, but lately, I have had a lot of illness in my family. I found this essay on how to talk to a sick friend to be really really spot on. The book’s probably worth reading too.

And in conclusion, I would just like to say that this is, without a doubt, the perfect summer dress for a little girl.