laurushka.org/blog

While at Trader Joe’s yesterday, I saw this interesting item…

A Brussels Sprouts Stalk!

Look at this thing:

Somehow I have been on this planet for thirty-mumblemumble years, and I never knew that Brussels sprouts grew on a stalk. I had only seen them in frozen packages or fresh containers. I always thought they grew just like cabbage, but were picked when really tiny! Of course, I had to buy the stalk. Tonight, Lilia and I picked the sprouts off the stalk, and I steamed them up. Yum!

Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Brussels Sprouts, in case you want to know more.

I loooooooove coffee.

I love the smell of the beans. I love the warm cup in my hands. I love the excuse to have half-and-half. I love the nutty chatty buzz it gives me.

But besides 2 random cups of coffee in the past 2 months, I have been coffee-free since late June. I had my last cup right before I was hit with the flu, and haven’t gone back. But I think my brain wants me to go back on it… I can smell a fresh pot of delicious coffee brewing in the kitchen. But I haven’t made any coffee, and it is not the work of coffee elves. It’s just my mind playing tricks on me. But I won’t give in. I have too many reasons not to go back to coffee, and not enough reasons to cave.

1. Coffee makes me sweat. As an unfortunately sweaty person (even my NOSE sweats), I don’t need more sweat in my life.

2. I am lactose intolerant, and half-and-half claims my daily limit of milk. Maybe I could have ice cream every once in a while if I didn’t spend all my lactose points on half-and-half.

3. The amount of half-and-half I need to use to make a cup of coffee that I like is just ridiculous. I don’t count calories (but probably should), but this is an obvious place to reduce calorie intake.

4. I get so dependent on caffeine after having one or two cups of coffee per day that I experience terrible caffeine-withdrawal headaches if I don’t have it.

5. When I get used to having one cup of coffee a day, I start increasing to two cups per day… then three cups… then I’m drinking a whole pot. And if you have ever seen me after drinking a whole pot of coffee… you know it is not a good thing!

There are more reasons (cost of good coffee beans, weekly purchases of half-and-half, physical wear and tear of daily coffee drinking), but I think these five should be enough to stop me from having another cup.

Instead, I have been drinking green tea. My favorite green tea is Good Earth brand green tea with lemongrass. It has none of that bitter green tea taste. It isn’t as delicious as a good cup of coffee with yummy half-and-half, and it doesn’t fill the house with the wonderful coffee aroma, but it has less caffeine, so I can have three cups and still be less juiced than having one cup of coffee.

But as the weather turns colder… I’m still tempted to make a pot of coffee. Maybe I will experiment with some other teas to see if there is one that feels like a more satisfying replacement of coffee.

Are you a coffee drinker, a tea drinker, both or neither?

We didn’t have any Mother’s Day plans yesterday. When Joe asked me if I had heard of the The Ohio House, I said yes, but when he replied, “Did you know they serve food?”, I had to say no. The Centennial Cafe opened just a few months ago in The Ohio House, one of the only remaining structures built for the 1876 Centennial Exposition (Memorial Hall, where the Please Touch Museum is moving to in October is the other). We decided to check it out.

When we walked into “The Centennial Cafe at The Ohio House”, we weren’t sure if we had to order at the counter or not. I asked the woman at the register, and she acted surprised that we wanted to sit, but had a man lead us into a dining room. A large group was right on our heels, and the man started setting up tables for them, without letting us know where we could sit. We got his attention, and he said we could sit at the table we were eyeing. There were paper placemats on the table that had the remnants of the last customers’ meals. They never offered us a high chair (Lil is okay in a regular seat, but she likes high chairs– she’s also short). We piled the three dirty placemats over to one side, and when the man came over, he took 2 of them (left one with coffee rings on it) and never replaced them. We looked over the menu, which had things like 2 eggs and toast for $3.29, and a side of meat for $1.50– seemed reasonable. When the woman who was at the register came over, we asked about specials. There was a Mother’s Day special– 2 eggs, meat, toast, hash browns and a small coffee. We both ordered that with bacon, I got scrambled eggs to share with Lilia, Joe got over-easy.

The food showed up– brought by a third person. Joe had sausage and scrambled eggs. We had no silverware. Lilia had no plate (eventually she got a cool zebra plate). They gave Joe bacon, but didn’t change the eggs. He tried to eat them, but he doesn’t like them, so he had to send them back. He asked for silverware– we got plastic utensils. When they took his plate back, he lost his fork and had to get another one. I kept making Joe ask for things we didn’t have– napkins, ketchup, salt and pepper, jelly for the toast (when he asked for a jelly, the man handed him ONE packet).

Meanwhile, a woman who I thought was the owner came by a few times to say hello to Lilia. She also gave me a little votive candle, which I thought was a nice touch, but would have rather had her invest in some good service! I think her husband was there too. We were not the only ones having issues– the large group had some trouble too.

We finished up and never got a bill. We decided to just go up to the register, and when they rang up our food, the total was almost $30!! I was almost speechless! The register was computerized, so they needed to take off the extra bacon or something– but I still thought the meals would be about $7.00 each, right? It turns out the Mother’s Day special was the opposite of a special– it was $10.99! Fine, whatever, we paid, and then spent some time walking around the outside of the building– Joe took a bunch of pictures– it’s a pretty cool building. But man, what a lame breakfast experience. To sum up my review: The Centennial Cafe: Cute idea, I wish them luck, but the service stinks and the food wasn’t that great, and they jack up the prices for Mother’s Day. We said, MAYBE we’d go back and get something to go. MAYBE.

Afterwards, we drove past Memorial Hall to see the construction on the Please Touch Museum. We saw two signs for two historic houses– Sweetbriar and Cedar Grove. I’m not sure if Sweetbriar was open– we stopped and walked around to see the view (of the Schuylkill Expressway– we tried to imagine what it was like before…) and we admired a very very VERY large Mulberry Tree. We continued over to Cedar Grove, and two tour guides were outside and invited us in. We had a great tour of this house which was built as a summer house in Frankford– and moved stone by stone to the current location in Fairmount Park. The Morrises of the Morris Arboretum donated it to the city in the 1920s. My favorite items in the house were old-fashioned women’s pockets, and a squirrel cage like this:

After Cedar Grove, we went over the the Japanese House and Garden, which Joe and I have been to before. Lilia was getting tired by this point, but still enjoyed feeding the Koi in the pond. I think Joe has pictures of that, maybe he can share in a comment here? After we explored the house, we walked around outside– there is a beautiful picnic grove that we will need to revisit.

The day out ended with a trip to Trader Joe’s for supplies (Lilia slept in her stroller), and last night, Joe made my new favorite meal, Collard Greens and Garlic with Sausage. Yum. For a day without any plans, it ended up being pretty nice

No, I’m not referring to Peeps, that awful Easter treat that everyone seems to love. I’m just peeping to say Hello, I am still alive on this planet, but I am struggling with balancing schoolwork and mothering and life and maintaining a blog.  Remind me that I have a post in my head about “maternal competence”… someday, maybe after I make some more progress on the schoolwork, this post will come out.

But now, let me talk about food again.  It’s funny how someone who loves food so much is still afraid of the kitchen. But I am working on overcoming my fear! If I could learn how to drive a stick-shift after five years of being a passenger, I can learn how to cook, right?

And I will make mistakes in both cases… for example… I double-parked to unload the car the other week, and turned off the engine and left the gear in neutral. I kept a remarkably level-head when the car started rolling down the hill towards me while I was pulling things out of the trunk, and was able to quickly hop in the driver’s seat and put it in first-gear.

Recent debacles in the kitchen include: burning my arm on the inside of the oven while heating up frozen burritos; slicing my index finger while trying to halve a bagel; and then there was the chicken broth incident. I figured I had broth-making down-pat after making two batches, but oops, I must have had the temperature too high, because the whole pot turned to a congealed fatty mess. Blech. I haven’t made a chicken since!

But let’s talk about kitchen success!  Last week, I was inspired to go through my  two-year’s worth of Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazines. I picked out two recipes: Ginger Carrot Soup and Roast Beef with Peppers, Onions, and Potatoes, and we tackled them this weekend. I handled the Roast Beef myself, but made Joe slice the carrots and puree the soup.  I liked both meals very much. We hardly ever cook red meat, so it was a bit nerve-racking to take the temperature and wait for it to hit the magic safety number. And then the next day, we ate the rest of the roast beef with a mango and black bean sauce, loosely following this recipe for Beef and Mango Wraps (we didn’t have any wraps). I think it was the first time I ever sliced a mango– what an interesting pit!  And today, I am enjoying Ginger Carrot Soup for lunch.  Unfortunately, Lilia doesn’t believe me that this is soup. I think her definition of soup requires NOODLES. Ah, well, she can enjoy a hard-boiled egg instead.

Well, I may disappear back into the ether now, as I have class this weekend, and quite a lot of schoolwork to do in the next few weeks (and into MAY!). But I will leave you with the wise words of Mr. Roger Miller:

Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage
Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage
Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

All ya gotta do is put your mind to it
Knuckle down, buckle down, do it, do it, do it

Well, ya can’t go a-swimmin’ in a baseball pool
Ya can’t go swimmin’ in a baseball pool
Ya can’t go swimmin’ in a baseball pool
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back
Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back
Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car
Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car
Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

All ya gotta do is put your mind to it
Knuckle down, buckle down do it, do it, do it

Well, ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to

Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch
Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch
Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to!

It warms my heart to see Lilia enjoying a bowl of her Great Aunt Rose’s Italian Wedding (or Birthday!) Soup. She’s not eating the meatballs, because of the cheese.

Here’s the Recipe:
Aunt Rose’s Italian Wedding Soup

2 48-ounce cans of Chicken Broth (or home-made chicken broth)
2 stalks celery finely chopped
1 small onion (optional) finely chopped
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of ground meat (turkey or beef/pork combo)
2 large eggs
1 cup dry Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon powdered garlic
2 teaspoon dried parsley (or fresh finely minced)
1/2 cups grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 medium heads escarole, cleaned and chopped

Acini de pepe (pasta) about 3/4 cups
=======================================================
Simmer broth, celery and onion till tender.
Combine the ground meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, basil, garlic, parsley,
Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.
Mix well and form into bite-size balls. Drop the balls into the broth.
Cook the acini de pepe in a separate pan, strain it, and add to soup.
Add escarole into broth.
When meatballs rise to the top, they are cooked (about 6 to 7 minutes).
When escarole is wilted it is done.

(Soup in photo played by Famous 4th Street Deli’s Matzo Ball Soup)