Spice Obsession

I am in love with Indian food right now.
The problem: No Indian restaurants within 100 miles. Though I'm told now there is a lady who sells some Indian food out of a freezer in the back of her grocery store if you know the right way to ask.
The solution: I'm cooking a lot of it.

Don't get me wrong. Joel still does most of the cooking around our house. (He made a most excellent sesame salmon the other night.) But when I have a day off to cook it usually involves masala. Aarthi gave me a quick lesson on cooking before we left Cleveland and that was very helpful in teaching me how to use the spices. Since then I bought myself a great book and I've tried about a dozen recipes from it. It's awesome.




Along the way there have been a few hiccups and advice to share for anyone interested in cooking some Rogan Josh for themselves:
-don't burn the mustard seeds in oil, you'll set a wooden spoon on fire.
-Some of the spices are not easily found. I had to buy my cardamon pods and Amchur on amazon.com (love amazon!)*
-cook and store. I've had luck cooking a lot of things in bulk and freezing it so that it can just be pulled out and added to a meal with a fresh dish later.
-It makes a mess. I cooked an indian meal last week for some friends and I used every pot in the kitchen at least twice. I'm not kidding, I did a lot of washing.

*The spices themselves amaze and interest me. I have a seed and pod shelf in my spice cabinet now. I use turmeric and cumin more than I use basil and thyme. I have green and black cardamon pods in neat little glass containers and I just harvested my first batch of saffron. I love the smell, the feel, the taste of all of these ingredients.

All in all I love Indian food and since I'm so far from a restaurant it's worth it to have to cook it for myself. SO if any of you have any favorite Indian recipes please send them my way.

Next stop Thai????

Tread Lightly

It seems that I have not been alone in my fall funk. A quick sampling of various friends' blogs, Facebook statuses and emails make me feel like there is something in the air that we are all breathing. I feel ya girls. I'm there with you. But I'm getting a little better. My funk is dissipating and I can feel myself coming up for air.

Joel and I have been really busy lately. Joel is building a hops trellis and spends most of his spare time in the fields. I'm at work a lot which has been very busy with influenza etc. lately. When I'm not at work I'm spending time with Adeline which is precious time indeed but also limits the time I can spend doing other things. I still find some time to read and time to spend with Joel. These things are easy to do once Adeline is in bed and the sun has gone down. But the one thing that I had all but cut out of my life to make room for Adeline and my new job was exercise. Ah yes, the age old story. Woman has baby, goes back to work, and doesn't have time to address the plaque she can feel building up in her arteries as she misses run after run.

Overly dramatic, maybe, but I really feel a huge difference in my mood when it's been a while since I got some good cardio in. Ask Joel, when we lived in Cleveland every once in a while he would just say, "Sarah, I think you need to go to the gym." I know that these words have sparked marital strife the world over but it is not his intention to imply that my thighs are starting to get unruly. It's just his way of saying I'm being a bitch.

Over the summer Joel and I were better. After Adeline went down we would take turns running while it was light until nearly 9:30 at night. But alas fall and hops have come upon us and our evenings and weekends have been gobbled up by dusk and manual labor. Meanwhile my Sauconys stare at me from the bottom of the hall closet as if to say "What did we do wrong Sarah?". It's not my shoes' fault. It's just life.

But last week Joel and I bought a treadmill. A nice one. One that is quiet enough not to wake up Adeline if I run in the morning or at night. And I love it. I've been on it nearly every day and I remember now why I've often considered myself a treadmill slave. I can't get off it. I'll get on to do a quick two miles and then I'll say to myself, OK just finish up this five minutes, then it'll be like, alright just go to you hit 200 calories, then it's well you're almost at 3 miles you might as well just do that much.... It's nice to feel that my body remembers it's job. It remembers that I like to sweat and I like to run.

Anyway, the funky cloud is rising... The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train... I hope all of my friends out there struggling with life's problems much larger or smaller than mine find your way out of the fog.

Enough Already

For some strange reason I recently started to read Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. I like Anne Rice, The Vampire Chronicles were fun for the first few books and I've been in kind of a spooky reading mood lately. I also think I needed something a little less, um shall we say, depressing than some of the stuff I had been reading. I bought the book on Amazon and started reading pretty diligently about a month ago. Unfortunately the book is freaking 1020 pages long and I have not finished. Uggg.
Let me tell you once you get in about 700 pages you just can't turn back. At least I couldn't. And now with about 90 pages to go I'm afraid Ms. Rice didn't tidy up an ending for me. I just don't think she could do it in such short a time. I will be pretty mad if I get to the end of a thousand pages and have to get the next thousand page book to find out what happens.




In defense of the book it has been fun. A complete fantasy Epic about Witchcraft and the south. Nothing heavy or meaningful, just fun. But I can't wait until it's done.

The question is what should I read next?

Under Pressure

What's the deal?
This weekend Joel, Adeline and I went to Grand Rapids for the wedding of a cousin of mine. All weekend long we got the "Second Baby Pressure." I mean seriously. Adeline isn't even twenty months yet and they want me to give her a sibling? It all started innocently enough with simple comments like "She's so cute, you should have another." or "save those clothes for baby number two." As if a second child is an inevitable event. Then the questions like "So when does Adeline get a brother?" or "Do you have enough bedrooms for the second nursery?" or my least favorite the "Are you pregnant yet?"
My nipples haven't recovered from baby number one and they're all pushing number two???? Doesn't Adeline need another cousin before she gets a brother or sister. Or at least a puppy. Don't I have enough going on right now? As if joining a new practice, starting a small business and raising one child weren't enough. And it came from everywhere not just my parents but grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...
Then as if the pressure for another child wasn't enough then the accusations of pregnancy started. I couldn't believe it!! At one point after about my 4th glass of wine for the evening I had two family members who will go unnamed forcing a 5th glass of wine in my face and chanting "chug, chug, chug" to prove that I wasn't pregnant already. I refused to chug another glass of wine for fear of losing my ability to walk but the maddness escalated until a very nice uncle stepped in and demanded that it all stop!
How did all this start? Am I getting fat? Do I have a paunch that they all think is child number two? I can't blame it all on drunken debauchery though that excuse does go a long way.
Anyway none of this is helping the sibling cause any if for no other reason than it is driving me to drink heavily at family events. Maybe moving to Michigan wasn't the best idea after all. In the meantime I'm going to start researching raising only children.

Fall Nesting

It happens to me every year. The sun gets lower in the sky, the leaves start changing and I start looking desperately around the house and yard for things that I want to change. What's nice this year is that I don't have to think about all the work I'm doing for someone else. I have a feeling we're going to be in this house for a long time.

So today I did a little planting. I uprooted some of the johny jump ups that had jumped up at the edge of the yard, separated out some Giallardias and planted them with some transplanted Daylilies and a few bulbs at the edge of the "Adeline Garden".

My Saffron crocuses have sprouted and I should be able to harvest my first batch of saffron in a few short weeks. It makes me want to figure out how to grow cardamon, coriander and turmeric.

The bathrooms, master bedroom and living room are on the list of things to paint and there are a stack of things that I want to frame and hang. Not to mention the hops poles that should be here in a few days...

But the hard part is that free weekends are hard to come by. Our next one is Halloween!!! And it's hard to do any of this with Adeline around especially 'cause she's so much fun to play with.

Anyway, it's fall and I've got the nesting bug...

Peanut Butter

Ok So I know that we're supposed to hold off on peanuts until Adeline is 3ish and now she's only 18 months. I preach it every day but lately I've been eyeing the Nutella and all natural Peanut butter and wishing I could just give her a little bit. I know she'd love it and it's such a nice portable lunch staple. Especially for picnics on the beach.
But I'm paranoid about food allergies. I know there isn't a strong history of them in our family but Joel is pretty allergic and when Dela was about 8 months old she did have a reaction to God knows what. She's a good eater and there is no real reason to give it too her early except my own desire to share this cool food with her. So I put the Smuckers PB back on the shelf and mentally compromised with myself that I'll at least wait until she's two...

Shout Out

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to my husband for all the work he's done since I started my new job. He has been home taking full time care of Adeline, (a position I greatly envy). Since I started full time at my new practice I have not done a single load of diapers or other laundry. I've not had to do grocery shopping, vacuuming, toilets, sweeping or dishes. I have only cooked when I wanted too and my biggest household responsibility is making the first pot of coffee in the morning.
It is SOO NICE. I know being a stay at home parent is a lot of work and many times a thankless job but I am eternally great-full for my husband's efforts.

Joel you ROCK!

New Job

Well my first week at my new practice is done. I feel pretty good about it all told. It was (is) hard to learn a completely new hospital system. Who do you call for this or that. What resources are available and what do we do ourselves. I'm getting used to handwriting notes and flipping through paper charts again. All in all I like the simpler system. I also really like the way Michigan tracks vaccine administration. There is no guessing what's been done where and when and what is missing.
There are lots of cultural differences working here rather than Cleveland which I'll have to get used too. I've noticed lots of younger married couples. Much more use of alternative medicine and fewer smokers. (In my one week sample of course).
I've rounded twice and have been amazed both times at the sweet simplicity of the work flow. No complicated med rec, no duplication to the point of madness... sigh. I think I'm going to really like it here. My partners are all very different but are all very nice. The nurses and office staff are helpful and patient.
...lets just wait and see how I feel after next weekend. I round and take call for 5 days. I hope it's not to busy.

I LOVE the 80s

So most of you know I'm not that into U-Tube and I've never posted a video clip on this blog but this one really made me laugh. You should check it out.



watch out for that angel kid....

Correction

Thank you anonymous. My source was wrong the election is indeed a fundraiser for the Omena Historical Society.

You can buy a mayoral spot in Omena Michigan....

But only if you are a dog, or a horse or a cat.

I kid you not. Omena Michigan (in our new home county) is electing it's first mayor in 150 years. There are 27 candidates, all animals. You can vote as many times as you want. One dollar a vote. Proceeds are going toward the humane society.

Just throwing this out there....

Is it OK to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies before I actually read Pride and Prejudice? Yes please feel free to comment on the gaping hole in my public school education.

VS

On Inheriting Roses

Joel, Adeline and I moved into our new home almost a month ago and we LOVE it. We feel so much at home already it's hard to believe that we have actually spent so little time there. We have been back to Cleveland for 9 days so that I could work and I am back again now for the same reason. Everyone asks if there were any surprises when we moved in. (When we moved into our Cleveland home we discovered a dishwasher that was broken among other things) Both of us agree that it is better than we remembered it being. Most of that has to do with the garden.

The flower gardens are amazing. There is Lupine and foxglove, daises of every color, peonies, violets, columbines, clematis, wisteria and roses. In fact there are so many rose bushes that I tried to count them on one of our first days there and gave up when I hit 26 in the back yard. There has to be a dozen more in the front and I have found a few more hiding in the back that I know I missed on the first count. There are beautiful heirloom, climbing, and knockout roses, huge trellised hedges and small bloom covered bushes and I haven't the slightest clue what to do with them.

I've never had roses before. No I take that back. I've never been able to keep arose alive before and now I've got this instant prize collection of them. I'm so scared I'm going to kill them. This garden was obviously somebodies pride and joy I would feel horrible if I turned it all to thorny dust even if I never knew the person. I feel responsible for these flowers like someone has left their pet with me and I don't know how to care for it.....

SO.... I am seeking advice on the care and maintenance of roses from anyone who is willing to share their secrets. Especially if you've got any green or natural solutions to what to feed them and rid them of aphids.

I have some pictures I'll try to post soon but my computer here at work won't accept my memory card now so you'll have to wait but trust me they're pretty.

Running Naked and Track Etiquette

Today I had to be out of the house for four hours while it was being inspected. I decided to go to the gym. This is usually a pretty relaxing thing for me to do and a good way to burn a couple hours. Today however it was pretty stressful.
First off I forgot my ipod. Without that small piece of wonderful technology along with my nike+ attachment wrapped onto my arm I don't know my pace or how many laps I've done. I am also pretty addicted to the music. I have a very eclectic mix of running music from Kanye West to The Drop Kick Murpheys and a few pop stars that shall remain nameless. I love it all. So I felt a little naked and weird without it to start.
Then I decided to run on the track which mid day has it's fair share of older people walking on it. I'm not talking about 60 or 70 year olds. I'm talking about OLD people. But that's OK I can deal and I'm always happy to see them out. They usually stick to the inside lane and I lap them 3-4 times a turn. There are even a few I have gotten to know and exchange "Hellos", "How are yous" and "You're looking goods". Today there were all sorts of weird things going on on the track. It was packed and just about every piece of track etiquette was thrown by the way side. For example

Track Etiquette #1: Stay in your lane.
Today people were wandering in and out of lanes like drunk ducks. (Trust me we used to have a pet duck with a bit of a problem) They always managed to wander into my lane right before I was going to pass.

Track Etiquette #2: Stay out of the running lane unless you are running.
The fourth lane is the fast lane, has been since the beginning of time. It's the easiest to run, it's the most accurate measure of distance and in competition reserved for the #1 seed. If you are walking and getting lapped by Violet and her walker with the tennis balls and streamers on it or if you are just standing on the track watching your boyfriend lift weights. GET OUT OF THE RUNNING LANE.

Track Etiquette #3: The track is a one way street. Just go with the flow.
Today there were two women that despite being asked very politely by Violet and others to please turn around and walk in the right direction... refused. They were also violating articles #1 and #2.

Track Etiquette #4: Don't spit gum on the track
It jams up the walkers

Track Etiquette #5: Cover up your junk.
You know who you are. 'nuf said

Despite all of these obstacles I managed to finish 4 miles in pretty good time and didn't resort to violence once. We'll see what happens when we get the results from the inspection.

CRASH

Nothing gets my heartrate up like a crash C-section. For those of you who aren't familiar with this concept it's basically a "We've got to get this baby out NOW" situation where they wheel mom down to the OR fast and put her under general anesthesia while everyone scrambles to get ready for a potentially really sick baby. The worst is when they start cutting mom (sans epidural) before anesthesia gets a chance to get there. I can't imagine what that feels like but if it were me I know it would be worth the pain.
Anyway, I'm usually pretty cool in a code. I don't yell or throw things I just kind of work. I feel like I go into distance running mode, heartrate up but not beating out of my chest. However, crash sections leave me a mess. I get flushed, my hands tremble as I'm trying to assemble suction and laryngoscopes, my heart flutters in my throat and then the baby comes. If it's bad I go into code mode and calm down. If the baby comes out screaming I start to cry and my legs go numb. I can't explain it.
Either way I have had way more than my share of codes recently.

HGTV DIET

Well it's done. Our house is officially on the market and I am officially exhausted. It seems like for months strait Joel and I have been waxing, scrubbing, polishing, rip-n-renewing, sanding, priming, painting and more. As a result I haven't made it out for as many runs as I would like but yesterday (after cleaning the closet) I found an old pair of "Skinny Jeans" and I tried to put them on. They were basically hanging on my hips. Huh? What happened? I don't feel thinner. I feel like a primer covered, ratty haired slob. My only conclusion is that cleaning and home improvement in general must really burn as many calories as people have always said.

SO

For 50$ anyone who wants to loose that last 5 pounds can come over and help me lay mulch in the yard whenever they want! :-)

You know you've had a bad call when...

You've shoved a tube down two different sets of infant vocal cords within six hours.

Soy??? Really Kid?

Adeline is not a picky eater. She loves veggies and meat and just about everything that we put on her tray. (She snubbed the Tai food but I think it was a little early for green curry) But she will NOT touch cows milk. I nursed for nearly a year. She gulped down pumped milk like a fiend and when I stopped pumping about a month ago she drank formula without hesitation but I have tried every trick I know and she won't touch cows milk. A few days ago at my mother's suggestion I brought home some plain soy milk and presto she drank it. Joel is bummed 'cause this means that there will be no more whole milk in the fridge but I'm just ahppy Adeline will drink something besides water and I don't have to force extra vitamin D drops down her throat.

What does this say about us?

Joel and I have been doing the Netflix thing for about 6 months now. We don't watch a lot of movies or TV but we do spend a lot more time at home now that we have Adeline. recently Netflix suggested a movie for us based on what we have liked in the past. It was Requium For A Dream. We watched it, a little stunned I must admit. It was a good movie but it made me thing what kind of stuff have we been watching that made Netflix think this would be good for us. Surlely it wasn't Wanted or Timeline. It must have been Soylent Green (It's People!!!!!!), Hotel Rawanda, or No Country For Old Men (What the Hell??!!!). In any case I think it's time I figured out how to use Netflix and see what Joel has in our Queue.

I Hate Late People

first off let's not confuse what I mean here. Socially, among friends late is not a big deal. You just sit back and have an appetizer and a drink until they come. What I hate is people who are late to their jobs.
Yesterday I finished a 24 hour shift at 9 am but my replacement didn't come in until 9:45!!!! That means after sign out I didn't leave the hospital until 10. Which made me an hour late for my meeting at a different hospital which was then dragged out over the rest of the morning to fit into others schedules. I wanted to scream. And now today I have to do all the things that I wanted to do yesterday morning after work. Yes the weather was bad yesterday but this particular doctor is never there for sign out before 9:20. The rest of the 6 people in the group are fed up. The rest of us are usually there 15 minutes early so that the post call person can be on the road by 9 at the latest. Half the group refuse to be on the schedule so that he follows them. I'm close. the problem is that this particular partner works a lot of hours, has a lot of seniority and brings Lakewood a lot of business.
Never the less it is SO unprofessional and discourteous I feel I have say something....

Fire and Wine

It's Tuesday night. I am really tired and still at work. I will be at work for another 10 hours. The only bright spot is that tomorrow is Wednesday Fire and Wine night with Joel. It's the night every week that we put the baby down, turn everything off (phones, TV, computer), sit in front of the fire and drink wine. I really look forward to it each week. It is our night to ourselves to reconnect, relax and vent hardcore about kids and parents. Some weeks Wednesday night Fire and Wine comes on Thursdays or Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays and that's just fine as long as it happens...

My Awesome Husband

Joel fixed the vacuum cleaner yesterday. I couldn't even figure out what kind of tool to use to take the damn thing apart but Joel not only knew what tool to use but we actually had one. He knew what to do once he took it a part and (wait for the most amazing thing).... he knew how to fix it and put it back together. My hero.

Then he made lasagna from scratch. Meaning he made his own noodles and everything. Half the noodles were spinach and the rest were plain. It was very yummy and he even did all the dishes this morning.

But yes we also took a step back. We tried to work in the back hall and put in a new light since we had to take out the light that was there. It wasn't up to code. Now we've found out the only way to put in a light is to basically rip down a wall. Something about a neutral wire and a ground for the hot whatever that means. Anyway we've added that to our list of house conundrums.

But tomorrow and for the 4 days after that Adeline and I are single girls . Joel is going to Napa valley for a conference and we will be home alone. Wish us luck!!

Two Steps Forward One Step Back

As many of you know, Joel and I have been putting a lot of much needed work into our beloved home. We are planning on putting it on the market sometime soon and realize exactly how hard it is to sell a house now.
We have done a lot of painting and updating but it seems that everytime we take a step forward we also take a step back and it is getting a little frustrating. For example we hire painters to paint the house then we find out several weeks later that they broke a window but it's too late to "pin it on them", we paint the dining room and replace appliances one day, the next we have to hire roofers to clear out our ice damns, I spend a whole day cleaning out closets and refinishing floors and then the vacuum cleaner explodes on me sending a shower of ground up dried cat puke all over the living room. You get the picture.
I know these are all parts of home ownership but it's getting expensive and tiresome so I'm looking for advice:

A: does anyone have a realtor on the East side that they love?
B: does anyone have a vacuum cleaner that has lasted them more than 2 years and still works?

Daunting

The first blog after about a month of not doing so always seems daunting. So much has happened. Christmas, a trip to Michigan, New Years... They were great but I can't rehash all of that now so I'll start with this:

I made cheese yesterday. I've done a lot of fresh mozarella, ricotta and queso blanco but yesterday was my first batch of hard cheese. I picked a farmhouse cheddar. It was pretty complicated with a lot of picky temperature control to make it turn out right. It's frustrating because I won't know how it turned out for at least 4 weeks. So we'll break it out for Adeline's birthday which is about 5 weeks away.

I think we are going to have a "Dela-versary" party to celebrate us having Adeline for a year now. Joel thinks it is exceedingly silly to have a birthday party for someone who won't remember it like one year olds and really old people. I think it is an absolute MUST to have a one year birthday party. This is our compromise and yes there will be cake. Thoughts on birthday parties for toddlers anyone???