Matching Tracksuits

fun in fours

food and cooking

Preparation

Monday 03 December 2012

Advent is a time of preparation, and if there happens to be any Polish genes in your immediate family, that's likely a domestic and culinary as well as spiritual process. There's all the cleaning that should be done -- not quite spring cleaning, but awfully close -- but it pales compared to the amount of cooking.

We've taken to starting early as a result. So early that it's almost an exaggeration. Until you think about the other preparation that awaits. Add to it the coming baptism for the Boy -- itself an event for Poles -- and it's no wonder that we've begun cooking Christmas Eve dinner already.

Dough, Dear

The dumplings for the barszcz and the second-course pierogi are ready. They'll sit in the freezer for the next few weeks while we begin fermenting the beets for barszcz, smoking the tenderloin for Christmas-season gifts and treats, cleaning this, washing that -- at least in the old days. With a six-month-old, who knows how much of the scrubbing will get done. But there are non-negotiables, and the food is among them.

Morning Play

Sunday 18 November 2012

We're almost in quarantine. With the Boy still a little iffy from a previous illness and K sick, we have stayed inside the whole weekend. Sometimes, though, that's just what we need: a lazy Sunday morning with everyone doing what we want. L reads; the Boy plays; I hang out with my children.

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As the morning wears on, I turn my attention to the Boy's lunch: a soup made of pureed potatoes, carrots, squash, broccoli, and chicken. The Boy loves it, and I can see why: it's really not that bad, despite the fact that it's a bit bland due to the lack of seasoning.

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The Girl helps with our lunch, which includes an eternal favorite for L: shrimp. This time, we set her to work cleaning them.

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After lunch, a walk that reveals the irony of suburbia: nature and concrete.

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With a short week in front of us, a relaxed Sunday is about perfect.

Future Food

Sunday 09 September 2012

It must be boring to eat the same thing, meal after meal, day after day. I can’t imagine I’d like it very much. K and I used to eat oatmeal most mornings for breakfast, and then it became an everyday thing. It soon became clear to me that I must stop eating so much oatmeal or I’d never be able to look at a Quaker Oat’s box again without having a fit of some sort.

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Yet that is precisely what E does, only it’s not a question of X or Y for breakfast or lunch every day. It’s a question of X for every meal, every single day.

Still, it won’t last long. He’s almost four months old. We’ve begun giving him rice cereal and grated apple. At the same time, it’s mixed with milk, so it probably tastes just about the same as every other meal — the consistency alone might be a little different.

But that doesn’t keep him from dreaming of the not-too-distant future.

Mixing

Friday 03 August 2012

The Girl has fallen in love with the Olympics. "Can I watch gymnastics tonight instead of reading before bed?" she asked last night. This morning, it's the same. She has her favorites, but she'll watch just about anything. Gymnastics, though, sends her into a hypnotic trance -- at least as much as a hyper five-year-old slide into motionlessness.

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After breakfast, she, K, and the Boy curl up to watch beach volleyball -- not the Girl's favorite, but she still chants "U-S-A!" endlessly.

It's been an inspiring week for her. A week of growth. Rarely does she list "princess" as the first thing she wants to do with her life. Now the list includes gymnast, swimmer, dancer, and artist. Occasionally she adds "princess" to the mix," but so many other things seem so much more interesting.

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But I'm not really worried about that kind of mixing. She'll have enough goal mixing as she grows up. I anticipate at least three different majors during her freshman year, now only thirteen years away. No, it's the little things that thrill me more.

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Things like stabbing a green bean and a piece of chicken onto the lunchtime fork in an effort to kill the bean taste. Or mixing rice and leftover chicken.

Sources of Joy

Friday 20 July 2012

Having someone play with you and your dolls is a great source of joy. “Pretend she’s…” begins most every sentence — and this time, the playmate will actually play along with the request.

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Being surrounded by dogs thrilled to be with you and eager to show you is an endless source of joy. It lasts as long as the dogs’ energy, hence it is truly seems infinite.

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Having a good stretch after filling your belly is joy that at its very center is complete contentment.

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For good friends, it’s something a simple as sharing food — a freshly-picked cherry tomato or a plate of pierogi.

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Untameable tomato plants that tower above you are a promise of present and future joy.

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And the greatest source of joy is seeing all those you love happy.

Southern Requirements

Wednesday 25 April 2012

When you live in the South, you have to learn how to bake cornbread. And since the Girl has developed a taste for it, K decided it's time to add it to her repertoire.

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The response from L? Squeals of delight. I suppose it's to be expected: I grew up in the South; K grew up in southern Poland; we live in the South. There's simply no escaping it.

Parsley

Wednesday 18 April 2012

Growing one’s own herbs — if only we had the time to use them…

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In the Background

Sunday 01 April 2012

Buds out of the focal plane will soon become the center of all attention — especially birds.

Focal Point

In a Pickle

Thursday 29 March 2012

It’s a bold idea that only a winter-hardened Polish woman could come up with. It’s more Eastern Europe that a consonant cluster. We need only imagine the ground, frozen solid for months, is covered with snow as a scarfed babcia digs about in the cellar for something to use in soup. She happens upon a store of cucumbers preserved in brine — pickles to us, but since everything in the East is pickled, it makes little sense to single one veggie out for distinction like that.

Whatever the series of fortunate events, Polish pickle soup is a reality, and now that we know the Girl likes pickles — “I eat them at school with my lunch!” she smiles — we have a new soup in our regular line-up.

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A recipe for those interested is here, though I don’t vouch for it. It’s not what K uses — she freestyles!

Cabinet

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Tea and Chocolate Milk Make the World Go Round