First Post-Charlotte News Story

I finished my first radio piece since Charlotte was born!  The subject is the annual Facing Race Ambassador Awards put on by the St Paul Foundation.   It aired on KFAI's evening news last night.  It is archived on their website for two weeks.

Favorites from the Nothing Diet

The nothing diet continues.  So far I have only managed to add chocolate to the list of prohibited foods--maybe by next week I'll have taken some foods off of it.  Eggs, nuts and wheat are in a three way tie for what I most hope to get back (aside from dairy and chocolate, which I know bother Charlotte).  But in the meantime, I have found some things to eat.  Here is one of my favorite meals.  I wrote the instructions more or less in the order that I do each thing, and color coded for each segment of the recipe.  Experienced cooks could probably just read the ingredients list and go from there.   

Chicken Catchatore (adapted from Buca  di Beppo)

Ingredients

Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts or thighs

about 1 1/2 cups balsamic vinaigrette

Sauce

1 onion chopped

olive oil, for sauteing the onion

1 can diced tomatoes

6-8 pitted kalamata olives, sliced

about 1 T fresh thyme

about 1 T fresh parsley 

about 1 t fresh oregano

Garlic mashed potatoes

8-10 red new potatoes

rice milk

olive oil 

salt 

pepper 

garlic powder

Put chicken and balsamic vinaigrette in a covered shallow dish or Ziploc bag in fridge.  Marinade for at least 1 hour or up to a day.  

Scrub and peel most of the potatoes (I left a few skins on for color and nutrition).  Cut into quarters or eighths, depending on size.  Boil until soft.

Preheat oven to 350.  Arrange chicken on a cookie sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes until done. I cut open the largest piece to check.  Clear juices (as opposed to bloody) is another sign to look for.   

While the chicken and potatoes are cooking, chop herbs, onion, and olives.  To strip thyme leaves from their woody stems, hold the stem from the tip and run  the fingers of your other hand up its length.  This should rub them the "wrong" way, making them drop right off.  

Saute onions in the bottom of a sauce pot with a bit of olive oil.  Add the diced canned tomatoes.  At this point my potatoes are usually done--check with fork and drain if done.  Set aside.  Add olives and herbs to sauce, let simmer.  Check chicken, let cool if done.  Mash potatoes.  Add a liberal amount of rice milk and a scant amount of olive oil (too much will make it taste like olives) to achieve the right consistency.  Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.  Taste sauce, adjust seasonings (if there was no salt in the tomatoes to begin with, it may need salt). 

Serve chicken on a bed of mashed potatoes, topped with the sauce.   Green beans make a good side dish.         

 

Spring Recital

Here we are at the kids' Spring studio recital.  Both Solomon and Nova chose to do their most recent (i.e. most challenging) pieces; Song of the Wind by Shinichi Suzuki for Nova, and Minuet III by Bach for Solomon.  Great job kids!  The week before was the group recital (Charlotte has had a lot of practice being an audience member--thankfully she seems to really like violin music).

After posting this I realize the audio is not coming though great on the blog--there is a distinct electronic buzz to the violins that wasn't there before--but you get the idea.

The Nothing Diet

No wheat, no eggs, no citrus, no nuts, no soy, no dairy, no corn, no shellfish.  When a friend of mine told me about the dietary restrictions she had imposed upon herself to deal with her baby's collic, I mentally dubbed it the Nothing Diet.  Little did I know I would soon be (not) eating the same things.  

 A couple of weeks  ago, we figured out that Charlotte spits up a lot when I have dairy.  Nova was the same way as a baby. I found the adjustment wasn't too hard.  I ate kalamata olives and almonds for snacks instead of cheese.   By 11 months she could handle dairy and hasn't has difficulty since.  However it seems that something else is bothering Charlotte's tummy as well, probably something I am having more of to compensate for the lack of cheese, milk, and yogurt.  

To get the to the root of the problem quickly, I've started the Nothing Diet (in other words, I've removed the top 6-8 allergens from my diet).  After two weeks of detox, I'll try adding things back in one at a time and see what causes problems.  Of course, I could just take them out one at a time, but then, on the off chance that my daughter is allergic to more than one other thing, I might never figure it out.

             

Sixty Days of Practice

Solomon and Nova recently finished their sixty days of practice challenge (I think our previous record for consecutive practice was about two weeks).  It was transformative. Certainly, their playing got better; but most importantly, their enjoyment of the instrument went way up, and griping about practice virtually disappeared.    They were playing on their own, making up songs together and playing duets!  The key (for me) was understanding how important it is to play something everyday.  Even a five minute practice maintained the continuity, reserving a place for violin in the day and in their minds.  I used the past tense because, sadly, an injury derailed us from our next goal--100 days--around day 75.  But we are ready to start again.       

GG Rose's 80th Birthday Party

Here we are with my grandparents, John and Rose, celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday.  But we were not the only ones there--far from it!  26 of the 28 family members were at the party.  We've finally reached the point where we split up for photos more often that doing the BIG group portrait.   GG Rose (as she is known in our household--Great Grandma seemed a bit of a mouthful early on, so she declared herself GG) was in good health and good spirits.  As far as I can tell, she has had quite a life to date, and shows no signs of stopping.  I couldn't wish for anything more for my 80th birthday (if I get there).  It was also the first time she met Charlotte.  As you can see, they hit it off.         

No Dictionary, No Problem!

I am so impressed with our seven year old, Solomon!  Unfortunatly, Solomon has inherited--perhaps even improved upon--my complete inability to spell.  I know no other person who can read (and comprehend) the original Swiss Family Robinson but still needs reminders on how to spell 'office.' 

When we moved last winter, our dictionary was packed up with many other rarely used books.   It still lies buried at the bottom of a box in our basement.   So I was quite surprised when almost all the words on Solomon's Private Eye sign were spelled correctly.  (He is starting a Private Eye business--if you know Solomon this will come as no surprise).  He looked them up in his copy of Calvin and Hobbes, based on his memory of the comic!  Everything he thought to look up was correct.  Time to dig out that dictionary.