A Red Letter Day: May 19, 2010

Anyone that guesses what this momentous photo represents will get a handmade gift of their choice. Contest ends tomorrow at 5pm. After that, the secret will be revealed.

Guest Post from Grandma Martha

What a wonderful visit! It encompassed both Mother’s Day and Sarah’s birthday which seemed very interrelated this year: her first Mother’s Day and her birthday which is always an opportunity for me to reflect on how her existence has shaped and transformed my life. And my first ‘Grandmother’s’ Day which celebrated my darling Maceo. What a wonderfully bright, alert, strong and engaging baby. The many photos on this blog demonstrate his personality. I shall very much miss our morning snuggles in bed, feeding him his cereal, taking walks with him and his mama, reading to him and all the jiggles and giggles along the way.

I am very impressed with the grace and confidence with which Sarah and Craig are managing parenthood. Maceo is one lucky baby to experience so much love seasoned with patience and common sense. What a beautiful family. I am so lucky to be part of the experience.

I’m so lucky that the next chapter will take place in Portland when Sarah, Craig and Maceo come to visit me in July. Something to look forward to!

Love, Grandma Martha

Happy Birthday to Me!

A Dairy Queen Waffle Sundae (newly featured on the menu) sounded like a good way to bring in my 35th year - after a Dim Sum lunch. It was good going down, but left me with a bit of an over-sweet stomach ache.

Worlds End Walking (and Sitting) Adventure

Some photos from a lovely walk through the World's End preserve in Hingham, MA.

Spending Time with Grandma

My mom arrived last Thursday in time to spend both Mother's Day and my birthday with us. What a special treat. The last time she was here, Maceo was just about 2 months old. Needless to say, he has changed a ton since then and she has loved being able to spend time with him now that he is blossoming into a super active, engaging and busy baby.

Grandma is the baby whisperer when it comes to baby food. While Maceo was pretty interested form the start, she has coached him into being a remarkably neat and efficient eater. From the moment she puts his bib on, he seems to know the program. She taps the spoon on the edge of the little bowl and he pops his mouth open like a little bird ready for the next bite. This little synchronized dance goes on from the first bite to the last. He has gone from boring rice cereal to seemingly tasty oat cereal and bananas. The oat cereal seems to be his favorite. If we used no discretion, I think he would eat until his tummy ruptured. I hope that when my mom leaves he will still maintain his fabulous skills in the eating department, although I fear that it has more to do with her being a skilled food conductor.

It has been wonderful to have another set of hands to help out during the day, especially since the broken washing machine saga continues (files that under COMPLAINING). Even without the obvious help with daily household chores, spending time with a baby and another person is a treat because often you don't get to observe as much when you are the primary care taker. So with Grandma holding him, reading to him, feeding him and generally keeping him happy, I have had the chance to study him and really see the ways that he is learning and growing.

Another very fun task that we accomplished was making a bunch of new summer pants for Maceo. Despite my proud post earlier about the "Jambo Pants", my mom guided me through a bit more sophisticated sewing process that rendered a much more professional product. While I initially resisted the ironing of seams and meticulous pinning, I was convinced of those extra steps in the the final product. Once we perfected our pattern, we turned the operation into a Ford Motor Companies inspired assembly line and did the cutting, ironing and pinning in shifts making the process MUCH faster. I don't have any photos of the little guy in the new and improved pants for this post, but no doubt they will be regularly featured in future posts as he has enough pants to wear a different version every day for a couple weeks.

The photos that accompany this post were taken at the Forest Hills Cemetery during an afternoon stroll. Despite being very enamoured of Craig's fancy camera, I truly have no idea how to use it and managed to change a bunch of settings (accidentally) which I fear screwed up the light. However, there are still some nice shots of Maceo and Grandma that are a testimony to the bond they have been developing.

Make Way for the Pirate, Matey

Or perhaps he looks more like a guy working out at Gold's Gym with his pewter rattle/dumbbell?

New Hampshire Part III: Relaxing with Uncle Niko

Maceo and Auntie Hana

I just found these photos from our week up in New Hampshire with the cousins - they were on another camera. More fun with Auntie Hana.

Some Nice Portraits

Visiting Great Grandma Peggy

Craig, Maceo and I took a road trip to Fort Lee, New Jersey the week before last to spend time with Great Grandma Peggy (Craig's mother's mother). As you can see from the photo, Maceo was VERY interested in getting to know his great grandmother. After some discussion about what a fitting name would be for Great Grandma, she decided on "Sadie". Maceo loved spending time in the warm yellow of Sadie's apartment.

Pot Roast

I have never attempted to cook a pot roast. Primarily because Craig is a vegetarian, and secondarily because I didn't grow up eating a huge amount of red meat or very traditional American dishes. I have become increasingly enamoured of my crock pot due to the amazing time-saving capabilities and have been researching crock-pot friendly meals. Yesterday at the grocery store I was intrigued by the various beef cuts in the meat section and decided to give one a try. I was pretty sure I remembered my grandmother cooking something that might have been pot roast, but since I was a kid I had no idea what I was actually eating.

A quick search on the Internet gave me ample pot-roast recipes to choose from that were tailored for the slow cooker. I decided on the absolute easiest one I could find and then improvised. I browned the meat in salt, pepper and flour. Then I cut up a few carrots, parsnips, potatoes, a sweet onions and several cloves of garlic. I dumped all of this in the crock pot, along with about a cup and a half of beef stock, set the dial to low, and let it go for 8 hours. I even managed to do all of the chopping with Maceo in a front facing baby carrier since he was on a napping strike. Everything but the browning.

At about the half-way mark I realized that the smell coming from my pot was very familiar and indeed a common aroma at my grandmothers. I took that to be a good sign. When Craig came home around 4pm, he opened the door and announced that our entire house - from the entry way on up - smelled like Burger King. Not a great sign. Nine hours later we had dinner. On the whole, I'd say it was pretty tasty. The meat was incredibly tender. The carrots and parsnips were sweet and the onion and garlic gave off a nice savory undertone. I was somewhat shocked by the oil that was on the surface - I tried to skim the majority off but I suppose that the fat marbling is what keeps it tender. On the whole, a good experiment. Not sure I would make it on the regular, but it gave off a comfort food vibe that can be just the thing for the right moment.

Love Bugs

Craig loves to drag Maceo into bed when he comes home from school for a nap. Even if Maceo just woke up from his own. Rarely does the second round of sleeping work, but big smiles from both parties are guaranteed.

Back to School for Mama

For the next eight weeks, I will be heading off on Tuesday evenings all by myself to take an upholstery class at a local Jamaica Plain craft school. While at first I was apprehensive about committing to something for 3 hours a week in the evenings (read: bedtime for Maceo) I realized that it would be a great opportunity to 1) learn a practical skill, 2) have some quality time by myself, 3) create space for something creative and productive to happen weekly, and 4) give Craig and Maceo some solo time.

We went on a mission in early April to find the raw material for this class. I found a late 1800's mahogany rocking chair for $30 that was in need of some serious TLC. I had fantasies about finding a Victorian ladies dressing chair with a full skirt, or even a mid-century Eames inspired chair, but no such luck. One of the challenges was finding a chair that was small enough to fit into our place. We don't need any new furniture, and perhaps more critically don't have the space, so the compact size was essential. I am still unclear where this chair will actually go when it is done, but at least if we have to store it somewhere it will not take up tons of precious storage space.

Despite multiple post-its and reminders to myself, I failed to take a photo of the chair before the first class. How idiotic. As a result, the before and after pics are going to be much less dramatic than I had hoped. Just to give you a visual picture, it is (technically, was) a narrow rocking chair with a fully upholstered seat and high upholstered back. The frame was a lovely deep red and the upholstery was a nondescript and mildewy heavy red canvas type material with two of the very large and dangerous looking springs protruding form the seat.

I also failed to take photos of perhaps the most impressive part of the project which was ripping off the old upholstery. Last night was the first class, and the main objective was to rip off all the old fabric and stuffing and get things "down to the studs" so that we could do any repair/reinforcements to the wood. The photo below (again, poor quality with the blackberry) is the chair taken down to the skeleton.

I was somewhat skeptical of the time-dating of the chair when I first bought it: labeling if from the late 1800's seemed like it might just be a ploy to make it more attractive (read: vintage) to the buyer. However, that dating was confirmed when I started ripping off the old seat and back. I discovered that the chair had been reupholstered once before, so much like stripping wall paper you could see the various life spans of the chair as reflected in the fabric choices. The original fabric was a mustard yellow with small blue and red bouquets embroidered into the fabric. Sweet. When I got down to the original stuffing, it was hay! Seriously. And as if that was not Little House on the Prairie enough, the primary nails that were used in the construction of the frame were square. The instructor said that they were essentially tiny railroad ties. Wow. There were also several sections where the frame had been constructed with wood notches at the corners so that each of the sections fit like puzzle pieces.

Unfortunately, the authenticity of the dating was also confirmed by the terrible condition of the wood. Once I got everything off, one full corner of the frame was splintering and almost rotting away. I made a joke about needing to post a weight limit on the chair, but the instructor seemed convinced that some wood-fill and furniture glue was going to be sufficient to hold things together. And so we re-glued all the joints, recreated about a 4 inch section of the frame, and got everything into vices to dry for the week. Next week will be all about re-tying the springs in the seat, removing all the tacks, and beginning to build the frame back up.

I plan to add future posts over the next couple months to show the progress of the chair. I must admit that I had a touch of chair envy as there is a guy in the class with the mid-century chair I had been dreaming of, as well as a few other groovy pieces. However, my project is by the far the oldest and has the potential to be the most transformed. Stay tuned.

Nice Buns!

In addition to the full array of outside fun we had in New Hampshire, we ate like kings and queens. Unfortunately, we did a pretty poor job at documenting this aspect of the vacation despite the culinary masterpieces coming off the grill and out of the kitchen. Thankfully, the one exception were the absolutely perfect cinnamon buns that Niko made on Saturday morning as the centerpiece of our outside brunch. They were the centerpiece because A) they were just delicious, and B) he made 16 rolls for 6 people, which meant that we all had to do our part in the eating department. Not a problem with this crowd.

The recipe is from Cooks illustrated and is listed below. Sidenote: We failed to take a sexy close-up photo of the buns so I tried to crop them from another photos.

1 TBS melted butter, for pan

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling

3/4 cup brown sugar
packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt

1 TBS melted butter

Biscuit Dough

2 1/2 cups flour, plus additional for work surface

2 TBS sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6 TBS melted butter


Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat to 425 degrees. Pour 1 TBS melted butter into 9-inch nonstick cake pan or 8×8 glass pan, brush to coat pan.

To make cinnamon-sugar filling: Combine sugars, spices and salt in small bowl, add butter and stir with fork until mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.

To make biscuit dough: Whisk dry ingredients together in large bowl, whisk buttermilk and 2 TBS of the melted butter in measuring cup or small bowl. Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir until just combined, dough will look very shaggy. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter top and knead until just smooth and no longer shaggy.

Pat dough with hands into approximate 12×9 inch rectangle. Brush dough with 2 TBS melted butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar filling, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges. Press filling into dough. Loosen dough with fingers or bench scraper from counter and roll dough, starting at the long side, pressing lightly to form a tight log. Pinch seam to seal. Cut evenly into 8-9 pieces, pinch bottom of roll with fingers to seal and keep filling in place. Place in pan. Brush remaining 2 TBS melted butter over tops of rolls.

Bake until edges are golden brown, 23-25 minutes. Loosen buns from pan, place large plate over pan and invert buns onto plate. Then place cooling rack over plate and invert onto rack.

DNA is Powerful Stuff

For those of you that knew my mother when she was my age, you will be amazed at the likeness between the two of us in these photos. For those that don't, I have scanned a photo that offers a comparison.

Think he's hungry?

Nose nursing - an extreme indicator.

Fishing with Dad

They didn't catch anything, but they had fun (despite Maceo's super serious face).

The Hungry Caterpillar

Maceo often seems quite attentive during story hour. This week his interest skyrocketed as he was fixated on turning the pages, holding the book, and most intensely, eating the book. After just one "gumming" session, I now see the virtue of board-books. Inspired by the hungry caterpillar, Maceo decided that on Thursday he would eat through 2 books, as well as 2 sessions of rice cereal. Unlike the caterpillar, he did not appear to wind up with a stomach ache.

More Rice Cereal with Auntie Hana

In just 5 short days, Maceo really started to get the hang of the rice cereal. While Niko made some delicious cinnamon buns, Hana and Maceo supervised.

A Family Portrait: A Work in Progress

Despite a surplus of photos of Sarah and Maceo, Craig and Maceo, Maceo and Maceo, getting a good photos of the three of us remains a challenge. While we had plenty of visitors to help us document a family moment, it seemed impossible to get everyone smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. Thus far, this is closest we have come...three smiles, one person looking at the camera. We will keep trying.