Vacation is Over

We are back. I've delayed posting because I have a bit of the post-vacation blues. Our bags are unpacked, laundry is close to being done, Dave is back at work, Lucy is adjusting to the time change, yada, yada, yada. We had a wonderful time. I'm not one to get my hopes up for a vacation - I'd rather just roll with it and see how things turn out. This trip exceeded any expectations we might have had and more. We were with two other families that have been our friends for ten years now. It was wonderful to connect with them and talk late into the night about our lives with honesty about where our joys and disappointments have taken us. And to do that in New England - where our friendships began - that was significant and special.

We saw a lot of our favorite sights and spent time in Boston, the North Shore and Portsmouth, NH. It was hot and humid but not unbearable. There was a lot of journeying down memory lane and remembering significant (and not so significant) events as we visited some of our favorite haunts. The highlight of the trip was standing with our dear friends Andrew and Megan (alongside Greg and Christine) as they baptized their two daughters, Lorien and Eden. The richness of the liturgy and the substance of our relationships made us realize how friendship is such a mercy in life. There was much to celebrate and we certainly did our best in that department.

So now we're back and I'm missing that special time in my life when I had dear friends in such close proximity that no planning was necessary and an unexpected knock on the door was always welcome. This new chapter of staying at home is filled with joy but it is often coupled with loneliness, which is only heightened when remembering what community in proximity looked like; where our neighbors were also some of our dearest friends. I'm sure things will settle in the next couple of days but for now I'm filled with a lot of memories that are bittersweet - gratitude for what we had and a little sadness for what we have left behind.

With that somewhat melancholy introduction, I give you some pics:


Portsmouth, NH. One of my favorite places to visit.


More Portsmouth. It's so quaint and laid back. Maybe I'll live here someday...


Singing Beach.


Dunkin Donuts coffee in Boston. It's addictive. I will only drink it in Boston (it's gross elsewhere) and I can't get enough. I drank an obscene amount in the course of six days and loved every drop.


At The Common Man in New Hampshire. A longtime favorite with a rustic feel and terrific food.


Ah, the North End. Let's eat.


Lucy loves lasagna. I mean, LOVE.


Dinners on the deck outdoors - so nice.

Boston Bound

We're off to Boston for a week of vacation. We have been looking forward to this trip for months. I've even convinced myself that the 7 hour plane trip won't be so bad. So, with that I bid you farewell and in the immortal words of Boston's common man, "Yankees Suck."

Weekend Getaway

Dave and I took a quick weekend trip to Coeur d'Alene to attend my cousin's wedding. I'd like to share two tips I learned over the weekend. The first I read in a magazine and the second I learned from experience.

1. If you are flying with a VERY squirmy small child that is prone to sleep deprivation induced outbursts, offer to buy your unfortunate seatmate a drink. This nice gesture can give you a comrade for the journey. Even if your seatmate doesn't take you up on the offer, the gesture alone acknowledges that this is a less than ideal situation for your seatmate and people just like that kind of acknowledgement. If this is a long flight (and we learned that 36 minutes is LONG) get one for yourself, too, and have a toast.

2. If you want your small child to be in good spirits for an evening wedding, do not keep your small child up two hours past their bedtime at the rehearsal dinner. Even when your family members remark on how great your child is doing being up so late, do not be deceived. Your child is NOT doing well and will let you know the following evening at the wedding. Good times.

Hope these little nuggets can be helpful to someone out there.

Belly Beauty

So there is a commercial on tv that drives me crazy. It’s for some stretch mark cream and begins saying, “pregnancy is a beautiful thing.” Enter tone change. “But it can leave ugly stretch marks.” Ugly? Did I hear that right?

I beg to differ, or at least I want to anyways.

My lower abdomen is covered with marks and the days of the two-piece suit are quite over. If I do a sit-up it looks like there’s a little man smiling at me with my belly button as his open mouth. But I’m trying not to see them as ugly. They are a part of my history and they tell a story. With Lucy, my 28 week appointment showed her growth as below the 10th percentile and the doctors worried they would need to take her early. I began going to weekly appointments with ultrasounds and non-stress tests to make sure she was okay. It goes without saying that we were anxious and we wanted so badly to be able to just relax and enjoy the pregnancy. But at 36 weeks, Lucy jumped in growth, going from the 9th to 38th percentile. We were estatic and relieved. And that quick growth left behind bright red stretch marks that looked like I’d been clawed by a wild cat. But honestly, I really didn’t care at that point.

Now that swimsuit season is in full swing, I find myself caring. And it makes me angry that I struggle with caring. Really, shouldn’t these lines be embraced? They tell of story of love, of loss, of sacrifice, of beauty, and pain. They are a reminder of my identity, my history, and my present responsibilty. But sadly, their story can be easily negated by the desire to fit into our culture’s understanding of beauty. The fact that many would make unheard of sacrifices to see these marks on their own bodies is forgotten in the quest to make them disappear. And although it’s certainly liberating to be honest about having stretch marks and wanting them to less visible, it’s even more liberating to question the cultural aestethic from which these thoughts arise and attempt to evaluate beauty from a perspective that might not be informed by a culture that values youth over age. Yes, it’s quite unlikely that I’ll be showing off my belly again in this lifetime, even if I come to terms with my marks. But hopefully I can learn to see these lines as something beautitful because of what they represent and the nature in which they can bring me to a place of gratitude and thankfulness.

As I humbly embark on the journey of teaching my daughter the values of beauty, these ‘flaws’ can remind me to challenge our culture’s ideals in the hope that she will embrace an aesthetic that is informed by what is true and noble, rather than one informed by marketers making millions on the hope that she will feel insecure about the inherent beauty of her body. Yes, easier said than done. But I certainly want to give it a shot.

Woodland Park Zoo

Some of you may be saying to yourselves, "Yada, yada, yada. Enough of your ramblings. Give me some pictures." Well, I'm happy to oblige. Lucy and I went to the zoo today and here are a few pics.


A beautiful summer day in Seattle. You can see the Olympic Mountains in the distance.


The Butterfly and Blooms Exhibit.


This terrifies me.


Lucy's first downward dog. Greg, you should be proud.


I love that little face!

A Tale of Two Corporate Giants

Dave and I are convinced that Babies R’ Us is a little pocket of hell on earth. Although convenient in the world of one-stop baby shopping, I usually hate every minute I spend beneath those flourescent lights. This morning was no different. After dropping off my dad at the airport, I was in the neighborhood of BRU and thought I would take the plunge in order to get some summer pajamas for Lucy (I do realize this purchase is about a month late). Once again, I was cursing myself for being lured into the clutches of the ulitmate baby megastore as I sorted through pajamas unable to find Lucy’s size. After a less than ideal experience at the cash register and my worst expectations realized I left the store wanting to hit something.

Enter Starbucks.

Conveniently located next door is a Starbucks, strategically planted for the post-hell pick-me-up. I walked in, not really knowing what I wanted but feeling the need to treat myself after my visit to the underworld. And what do you know? CD’s were on sale for $7.95 providing the perfect answer to a generous gift card burning a hole in my pocket. I purchased some CD’s and had a conversation with a friendly barista about the merits of small children while sipping my free ice water. And to top it off, as I sat with Lucy another friendly barista offered us a sample of their new orange mango banana smoothie, the perfect complement to Lucy’s string cheese. Lucy was content. I was happy. It was good.

Starbucks, you have your faults and sometimes I don’t like you but today was not one of those days. Thanks for the love.

This Little Piggy Went to Market...

The quintessential tourist spot of Seattle is probably Pike's Place Market. My dad wanted to pay the market a visit so we headed out for the morning. Sometimes I tire of the market but not this time. The sun was out, the air was clear and there were fresh berries to be had. Other than a few Lucy meltdowns thrown in for, uh, fun, we had a good time and got some great fruit while my dad purchased scallops that were bigger than my face. A good day.


You can just see Mt. Rainier above Quest Field.


Looking like tourists for the sake of a blog pic.


Really looking like tourists - Dave and Lucy in front of the original Starbucks.



Rainier Cherries. So good.


Diane - notice the beets on the right. This pic is for you.


Seriously, the best peaches ever.

On the Merits of Pie

“When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if not…mmmmm, boy!”
- Jack Handy

I made a pie this weekend. A strawberry-rhubarb pie, to be exact, which is a fruit combination that I wish I had discovered much earlier in life. My dad is visiting this weekend so I thought it would be nice to have a little special something on hand.

Which brings me to the merits of pie.



A pie is not the glamourous member of the dessert family. In a world of chocolate lavender baked goods and pomegranate green tea concoctions, the fruit pie is the trusty old station wagon of the dessert world and the shy girlfriend of the girl next door. And I must say, I love that girlfriend of mine. While swanky desserts may have their place, the fruit pie beckons in a unpretentious and calming voice, Come over and pull up a chair. Sit down and stay awhile.
Will do.



I had almost given up pie making last year. Everytime I made a crust it crumbled and was impossible to work with (cookbooks always caution against overworking the dough but they rarely discuss the frustration in underworking). However, Dave’s grandmother saved me from signing off from the pie making world. She taught me to work the dough and I still remember her saying, “you gotta work it. Really work it.” I remember that mantra now everytime I make a piecrust and there is truly something special about remembering the instructions from someone wiser and more skilled, who probably learned the same thing from her mother or grandmother. Pies used to be a necessary answer to the question,“What are we going to do with all this fruit to keep it from going bad?” Today, the pie might be unnecessary, but that’s what I love about it - the simplicity of pie making makes me think about my rural Nebraskan roots and the frugal art of turning overripe fruit into something useful.



Lastly, the comforting nature of the pie gives way to conversation and the words spoken between bites often lead to friendship, at least in my experience. I bonded with one of my closest friends ten years ago when she decided to teach an aspiring but terrible cook the art of making pie crust. Four of our dearest friends are former neighbors who joined us for an apple pie shortly after moving next door and down the hall. And while I realize that pie is not the most health conscious food item to serve your loved ones, I suspect these friendships might not have been as lasting had we conversed around bowls of fat-free frozen yogurt (they may beg to differ but I know differently).



So the next time you are choosing between some trendy dessert and a humble slice of pie, choose the pie and rediscover an old friend. Or better yet, make a pie and invite over a loved one for a long chat. You’ll be glad you did.

Bon Appetit.

Mad Skills

I hate to brag but I need to show off some of my photography skills. Does the word artistic genius come to mind? Probably. Let's just say that taking pictures of a child on a swing is harder than it looks. I almost got kicked in the face more than once, but that probably says more about my clumsiness than my artistic talents. Enjoy.

Carkeek

One of my favorite parks in Seattle is Carkeek Park. It has great hiking trails, a nice beach, a playground and it's really close. Here's a few pics of Lucy loving the summer sun - and another pole.

Brownie Love

I love sharing food that brings me joy. I admit, I'm one of those people who push a little too hard for others to try the food on my plate. The same goes with recipes, which brings me to these brownies that I consumed last night. This is my failsafe brownie recipe that I turn to when I have a chocolate craving. If you are one who wants to cut down on your butter consumption or tries to sneak vegetable purees into your desserts, please read no further. These are fat bomb brownies at its finest, full of chocolate, sugar and butter love. This recipe is taken from Nancy Baggett's All American Cookie Book (a great and beautiful cookbook, btw) and I think you will love them. These aren't cakey but chewy, dense and fudgy with a shiny, craggily top and great mouthfeel. They are super easy to make and SO much better than that red box mix. Get yourself the ingredients and bake them the next time you have a chocolate urge. Today, if possible.

Fudge Brownie Supreme

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
5 oz bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semi-sweet chocolate, broken up or coarsely chopped (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
2/3 cup all-purpose white flour
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened American-style cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking pan, or coat with nonstick spray. Line the pan with aluminum foil, letting the foil overhang two opposing sides of the pan by about 2 inches. Grease or spray foil with cooking spray.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the butter and chocolate on 100-percent power for one minute. Stir well. Continue microwaving on 50-percent power, stirring at 30 second intervals. Stop microwaving before the chocolate completely melts, and let the residual heat finish the job. (Alternatively, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over lowest heat, stirring frequently being very careful not to burn. Immediately remove from heat.) Let cool to warm.

In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and set aside. Stir the sugar and brown sugar into the chocolate-butter mixture until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla, and stir until sugar dissolves and the mixture is well blended and smooth. Stir in the flour mixture just until evenly incorporated. Turn out the batter into the baking pan, spreading to the edges.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 28-33 minutes*, or until the center is almost firm when tapped and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean except for the bottom 1/4 inch which should still look moist. DO NOT OVERBAKE! Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let stand until brownie is completely cooled. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Using the overhanging foil as handles, transfer the brownie to a cutting board. Carefully peel off and discard foil. If desired, cut away and discard any overbaked edges. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the brownie into 12 bars, wiping knife clean between cuts.

Store in an airtight container for up to three days, or freeze for up to a month. If freezing, leave brownie slab whole and cut into bars when partially thawed.

*My oven might not be calibrated correctly but these brownies always take at least 36 minutes in my oven.

Lunch with Munch

On a lighter note, Lucy and I met Dave for lunch this afternoon. His building is right on the water in downtown Seattle adjacent to the Olympic Sculpture Park. It makes for some nice lunching. Today Lucy was pretty mesmorized by the little light poles (yeah, I realize that's probably not their proper name). She decided each one should get a hug. It was a long walk.





My daughter, the tree hugger. I'm so proud. : )

An Endless Cycle

I promise that most of my posts will not be political in nature. But I heard a story this morning that is on my mind. Following the bulldozer attack in Jerusalem last week, many Israeli officials are pushing for legislation that would not only punish the wrongdoer but his or her family, as well. If this legislation is approved, officials would have permission to cease any state benefits to family members of those who commit terrorist acts including unemployment and health insurance. They would also bulldoze the family house. My question is, where does the terror and violence end? Is this a policy informed by the seeking of justice or revenge and prejudice? Yes, the act committed by this man last week was terrible but is punishing his family proper retribution? It seems more likely that violence will beget more violence and hate will beget more hate. Where does it end?

Here's a first

So I hope you like the look of this blog because I spent way too much time perusing templates last night. If this blog continues to be a time killer, this may be a very lonely post. We'll see. This post goes out to all you lovers out there.