just to put it out there, in case you weren't sure: i am finished with being sick EVERY day. let me rephrase that: i am READY to be finished being sick EVERY day. sometimes multiple times. and the only person (other than me) that you can feel even sorrier for is tom. the man has spent the last two months being all things to all people in this house. granted, i still do the everyday tasks like cooking (usually), laundry and regular child maintenance, there are many mornings that i do not make an appearance and he takes care of all their needs. a couple of mornings this turned into waffles and yogart, which is a pretty delicous meal. homemade, from scratch waffles, no less.

and to top it all off he put together wyatt's bunkbeds this weekend. no instructions, just putting together the boards we got from a friend. figuring out what size screws to buy, sawing off the tops because they were too tall. all the while letting wyatt help and letting me mope. it was a rough weekend, me feeling like i'd been hit by a train and cassie running a fever, with a runny nose and hopefully a new tooth on the way. tom did it all in stride. he's a keeper, in the marriage sense of the word.

but again, let me reiterate (for my sake and tom's) i'm ready to stop throwing up everyday.

tom is legally off the cleanse. yesterday was his last day, officially, but he gave in a couple of days early. i guess the thought of eating another salad pushed him over the edge. this time around i think i learned more from the cleanse, and i think more of that knowledge will be transformed into my cooking. we went to the store today and instead of russets i bought red potatoes. a small change, but i think the smaller potatoes mean we will eat less of them. also, due to huge pregnancy cravings i bought a lot of fruit: oranges, grapes, cantaloupe, things that were affordable. also, susan brought some cantaloupe over the other night and it was delicious. wyatt actually identified the cantaloup in the cart, "like aunt susan?" should be yummy.

also this week, i perfected the oven-baked french fry. yummo, people. i made them for the burgers we had for sabbath supper (those were another story) and sam said they were the best fries he'd ever had. now, for those of you who know sam, you'll quickly recognize he's exaggerating. for those of you who don't know sam, he's exaggerating. he's like tom, he tends to do that. but i have to admit, having sam over for dinner is one of my favorite things because it seems like no matter what i put on the table he loves it. maybe it's just because he's a starving college kid. either way, it boosts my cooking esteem by miles.

so the fries: simple. i tried them the other week for sunday night group dinner and due to the issue of baking several things in the oven at once the potatoes suffered. the recipe: line a cookie sheet with foil (a susan simon tip), put some olive oil on it, slice up some taters into wedges (with the skin on, that makes them really yummy), drizzle them with more olive oil and then sprinkle them with seasoning, like kc masterpiece or some other delicious rub. bake at 450' for 25 minutes, flip them and bake for antoher 25 minutes, then for the last couple of minutes broil them. like i said, easy and yummy. (as long as you're not trying to bake something else at 350'). everyone enjoyed them, except baby cass who just wanted more burger.

also, i must say, sam said kiddush this week before dinner and it was fantastic. he has been saying it the last couple of times he has come to dinner and this week tom and i noticed how comfortable he seemed with his hebrew. cassie has been lighting the candles, too, and i think pretty soon she'll be singing the blessing. in a few months their home will be a wonderful place to be on sabbath.

this comes from my brother, the most well-informed man in europe...or america for that matter.

it's a good reminder of what's really happening. and if you don't read his blog then at least check out this post:
http://augustcool.blogspot.com/2009/01/mother-of-all-quagmires.html

for the blogosphere friends who haven't heard, baby #3 is coming august 22. or thereabouts. after a month of "morning" (all day sometimes) sickness, i visited the pregnancy coordinator and she put me on a new drug for nausea. the first couple hours i thought it was great, but now i'm starting to rethink the whole process. the benefits may not be worth the side effects. i'm debating that little pill right now, but thanking the Lord that i'm 9 weeks in and this means (at least in the past) that i will be feeling like a new woman on week 13.

this should be an interesting pregnancy, as i've never been huge in the summer and i'm already dreading the heat. with two kids my energy level has severely decreased and tom is picking up the slack. i feel bad for him, getting up most mornings with both kids yelling "MAMA!" but he does it anyway.

on a sidenote, wyatt is getting the potty training thing down pretty well. he sometimes even goes into the bathroom and sits on the toilet by himself. my biggest concern for him is that he thinks he's a big boy now and doesn't always use the little toilet insert thing so he just hangs on for dear life, his bum dangling dangerously close to the cold toilet water. he very well could fall in. i try telling him that he is a big boy but his bum is not a big bum. honestly, though, i'm seeing a problem arise in the poop area: when he poops they are the littlest turds. and then a day or two later i find a load in his diaper/pull-up. any tips on how to get the kid to relax?

and cassie, well, she's not interested in the process. she would rather wash her hands. my hope is they'll both be potty-trained by the time this new one comes out. wyatt says he wants a girl. no matter how many times i ask him he says he wants a little sister. he must really like cass. she is pretty great. and i don't think the little lady has any idea that there's a real baby on the way. she'll be so excited to get her hands on a live baby. just today they both were playing with her babies in her crib and i heard him say, "ew! poopie!" i had to ask whose poopie it was and was relieved to hear him say, "my baby's". maybe they'll be changing diapers in 8 months.

it's been snowing here, little flakes every couple of days. saturday acutally gave us a little snow to work with and wyatt, with the new concept of a snowman in his head thanks to winnie the pooh, decided he wanted to build a snowman. mind you, it was 45' out and sunny when we attempted this, and it really only turned out to be me building, as tom couldn't remember how to make one. in fact, he's not sure he's ever made a snowman. i assume that's because he made forts to protect himself from his brothers.

we also had to find clothes for the kids to wear. we don't spend much time out in the snow and the mittens i purchased for cassie 4 months ago have disappeared. but the snowsuit fits her, and so do the boots. wyatt on the other hand, well, let's just say i'll be shopping sales this spring for 4T snow stuff. nevertheless, i was really proud of our little snowman, and proud that no one got hurt...



you see, one time, when i was in high school and my siblings were in college (or out of college, i think) we built a snowman. at least, i remember it being a snowman but when i try to get an image in my head, i'm not really sure what it was. but we'll go with snowman, more traditional. and my creative siblings thought, let's get some spray paint and to really jazz him up. it worked great for a while until the spray paint got clogged. and rachel decided the best way to fix it would be to jab at it with a toothpick. while holding the can as close to her face as possible she pushed down on the nozzle and spray paint went everywhere, including her eyes.

911!

have you ever called 911? they're pretty fast. and pretty nice. the ambulance came and the guys walked into the house, commenting on the snowman out front. they took a look at rachel, i can't remember if they flushed her eye out (we had already done that ourselves) but they seemed to think she would be fine and left not long after they arrived. when we went back outside we saw the snowman was surrounded in yellow "do not cross" tape. we felt a lot better knowing our neightborhood would be safe from the snowman.

boy, it's a good thing our parents were home...

introducing: sam-a-lam-a-ding-dong, sammy, sam the man van buskirk. i find it hard to just call him sam. he's a great guy, marrying our favorite big cassie, and blogging from manhappenin' kansas. check him out on the sidebar.

i thought this was an interesting piece of information put out via the A.P.

"Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, attended the summit in Egypt.

Israel did not send a representative. Hamas, shunned internationally as a terrorist organization, was not invited."

amazing that we're putting this in print and yet people all over the world are upset that israel is actually fighting back after being hit with rockets every day for six years. even during the previous "cease fire" the people in sderot were bracing themselves for kassam rockets. somehow israel is the bad guy for wanting to get hamas out of gaza, and yet the world shuns hamas as a terrorist organization. i know not all things are so black and white, but if you look at the facts (all of them) we need to be supporting this tiny nation of israel before the philistines, ahem, palestinians attack again.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

michael d. blake officially retired this month and his company sent him off with quite the party. there were so many nice things said about him it was overwhelming. i know i got teary-eyed. as family we all know he is an exceptional man, but to hear his boss/partner of 30 years, as well as other associates sing his praises was to see a different side of him. the word tenacious kept coming up, "like a dog on a bone" was a phrase repeated throughout the night. tom observed that we see him as diligent, but in the work world that is tenacity. no wonder he was so successful for so long. i'm sure the whole company will miss him, but as evidenced by last monday when he came with deann to watch the kids, we will get more time with him now that he's not so busy. congratulations to you mike, and welcome to a whole new life!

you're wondering, what's the story on this picture, leah? a good question, but i must ask (since paul is polling people too) is this:

a) a plate still being nibbled on
b) a plate that needs to be cleared to make room for more
c) a plate that does not get cleared even when plates with more food (pieces of cake, for crying out loud) are getting cleared

you guessed it, this was my plate. i thought i was finished. apparently i hadn't cleared my plate enough because all the other plates got cleared and mine stayed on the table. it wasn't until they (unnamed restaurant) started taking tablecloths off the tables that this plate got cleared. my poor plate. next time i'll put it in front of susan and lauren. their plates disappeared all night.

merry christmas, moon boots.

not that anybody cares, but i just whipped egg yolks into peaks! haha! my arms are really tired. don't try this at home.

look for the roulade after shabbat tomorrow...(if all goes well)

for susan

i took a plunge this week and tried something completely new. something i had never made, or ever eaten. i made a ricotta and spinach roulade the other night for my family (meaing mom, dad, joe and tom). it went pretty well with the tomato basil soup that has become part of my repertoire. the photograph in the cookbook looked pastry-like and i got to thinking it would be like a croissant. i initially skimmed the ingredients meaning i didn't notice amounts. i thought it would be a flaky bread rolled up with ricotta spread inside, a little like a cinnamon roll. it wasn't. it's very eggy. it has four eggs in it and only 1/3 cup of flour. that said, it was pretty good, very light. it would probably be better still warm from the oven. next time i will put more spinach and garlic in it to counteract the egginess. or try different ingredients. if you're interested i'm more than willing the share the recipe.

as for the book itself, the instructions were very easy to follow. there is a section in the back (with photographs) describing different techniques. i should have consulted this before i tried to whip my egg yolks into peaks. and even though i didn't accomplish said peaks for my roulade, i think it still turned out well. this might be an oneg dish.

here's a website that has a good walk-through of making a roulade, if you're curious: http://veganmenu.blogspot.com/2008/03/seitan-roulade-braised-leeks.html

stay tuned for a new focaccia recipe!

new to me

we played a round of "scattergories" last night with a group of friends. only one round because we then moved onto the nail biting "catch prase". we could play that game all night. but as tom and i were getting ready for bed he revealed his strategy to me. once the letter has been rolled he then puts that letter in each blank to give himself a bit of a head start. then he brainstorms words that start with that letter and looks at the list to see if those words will fit anywhere. can you believe this?! it's a list people, 1,2,3,4,5... and you're supposed to go through it and think about what is best, not come up with whatever and then fit it into a catergory. tom's favorite part of the game is trying to sell his answer to the group. now i know why it's so hard to buy what he's selling: it's not the best answer he could come up with, it's the fastest. he tries to manipulate the situation so his answer works. thankfully most of the time people see through it. i guess the results speak for themselves, though. i won again.

tonight i made two new recipes from 'the illustrated kitchen bible'. i made "hamburgers" and "deep fried potatoes". warning: this is probably not the best post to follow the grinding my own grain eassy.

the burgers were nothing to write home about. i was a little skeptical about it when i saw the egg yolk. they're simple burgers, with said yolk, onions and salt and pepper. i put some extra seasonings in it. the best trick i learned from the burgers was broiling them! it's pretty cold here (not today, technically, since it's 9pm and 59' outside) and not having to go outside to use the grill is a perk. the burgers were juicy but the onions and lack of grill taste made it seem more like meatloaf than a burger. i'll return to the standard beef and seasonings but stick with the broil till it gets warm again. i was pleased to find my broiling pan in the basement and the clean up wasn't terrible.

the potatoes are always a work in progress. i tried the double fried method which means i fried them at 320' for 6 minutes, let them cool and then fried them for 3 minutes at 350'. next time i'll fry them the second time at 375' to get them a little crispier on the outside. they're fried potatoes, so they're pretty tasty. the real trick is adding the seasoning when they're all finished. you can use anything that you would normally put on burgers, a mesquite flavor is best. and the finer the better, it sticks to the fries. currently i have a larger blend that's not as cooperative for seasoning fries. but they're still yummy.

i'll be honest with you, i meant to serve a salad with the burgers, but who really wants to eat leafy greens with their burger? this meal is especially good with a cold coke.

IDF:

Last night I read "the five fundamental transforamations to our foods and ways of eating". (Is that where the period goes? Susan? Joe?)

"Refining grains extends their shelf life (precisely because they are less nutritious to the pests that compete with us for their calories) and makes them easier to digest by removing the fiber that ordinarily slows the release of their sugars. Also the finer that flour is ground, the more surface area is exposed to digestive enzymes, so the quicker the starches turn to glucose...

"Refined flour is the first fast food...

"Before the roller-milling revolution, wheat was ground between big stone wheels, which could get white flour only so white. That's because while stone grinding removed the bran from the wheat kernel (and therefore the largest portion of the fiber), it couldn't remove the germ, or embryo, which contains volatile oils that are rich in nurtients. The stone wheels merely crushed the germ and released the oil." (107-8)

Pollan goes on to tell us that the germ that was released, but that also gave off a stinky odor and therefore was undesirable, actually contained "protein, folic acid, and other B vitamins; carotenes and other antioxidants; and omega-3 fatty acids." (108)

I wake up the next morning and go with Wyatt downstairs for some breakfast. Downstairs, you question. Yes, downstairs. We spent the night at Tom's parents' house, as we were having our early Christmas celebration. Shannon and Jason came up early so they don't have to come in December when she will be just three or so weeks away from delivering baby #4. I open the pantry and think, cereal. I know, how can I give him cereal after reading that scandalous information? Easy; he doesn't like eggs and we can't afford to give him yogart every morning. (How many yogarts do you know of that are inexpensive and don't have high fructose corn syrup or aspartame in them?) Life cereal looks like a sure bet, a little bit sweet (6 grams of sugar for 3/4 cup, not bad) and it has the guy with the black hat on the front. He kind of looks like a modern-day Moses, except he's a Quaker. The Quaker. Anyway Wyatt ends up eating the equivalent of about two bowls and is happy. Meanwhile I look at the box.

Oh no! What a scam. My eyes have been opened and now I feel like a terrible mother. On the box it states it is "an excellent source of B-vitamins to help convert food into energy". Is this the vitamin B that has been removed because it has been crushed to an unrecognizable state? Am I to believe that my son will have more energy from eating this pre-packaged food? Argh, this is so hard. The ingredient list starts off with whole grain oat flour, then sugar. Does one counteract the other? I'm so confused. Michael Pollan, help me!

Only two hours later I find out that Shannon, my Texan sister-in-law, ground her own wheat not long ago. And she said it wasn't too hard. About a year ago I had a woman ask me if I ground my own flour and I tried to not laugh out loud (and that's hard for me). Grind my own flour? I have indoor plumbing and electricity. Why would I grind my own flour? I wear pants and don't cover my hair, where would I get whole wheat? I have a car and lots of grocery stores, why waste time on making wheat into something edible when it already comes like that in a bag?

My trouble now is that I'm not asking myself those questions any more.

I realize that it will be a long journey before I convert to gluten-free baking. I prefer my bread to be light and moist and less like dehydrated space food. Cookies aren't good for you anyway, why try and mask them with healthy things like gluten-free flour, if there is such a think?

And this is my dilemma: I love to cook. More specifically, I love to bake. There are few things in life that can't be made better with a nice baked goodie. But I'm beginning to wonder, would some more whole grains in my diet kill me? Actually, it would probably help me, and my kids, live longer. And little by little we might notice a difference in our enery levels and overall health. There may even come a time in our lives when we don't have to take strawberry-flavored fish pills to get our Omega-3. Can you imagine?

wyatt william turned 3 this week. we had a bit of a flashback of the week he was born, three years ago tuesday. tom and i spent monday floating the niangua in missouri because the weather was so warm and the simons wanted to see our amazing paddling skills and lauren insisted on watching the kids. what a day. just like november 3rd, 2005, when tom, pop, papo and james went golfing and my water broke.

also, gas is down to under a dollar this week. on november 4th, 2005 the front page said "$2-a-gallon gasoline -- yes, even $2 gasoline -- can be... SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT" and had a big photograph of a gas sign reading "$1.99".

it was a good week; we got to see a lot of family and friends and celebrate little man and what a blessing he is to us. he's been praying a lot for people who are sick or sad and learning what it means to be thankful for what we have. he says a lot of silly things and a lot of brilliant things. some show stoppers from the last month:

-while riding in the car he told us, "i love God all the days of my life."
-he constantly reminds us to not be afraid, "God is on our side."
-when he sees someone crying he'll go up and put his hand on them and say reassuringly, "don't cry, you'll be alright."
-he's figuring out how to put on his shoes and sometimes his socks as well. whenever he tries to put his socks on he asks, "mama, this sock goes on this foot?" i've tried to explain to him that it doesn't matter, but that'll take some time, i think.
-the best: i was cutting his nails the other day (it seems i cut them every week, is that normal?) and i said, "wow, your nails are so long" and he said, "maybe my toes are getting smaller." bu-bum ching! (that's for you maas)

some photos from the night. if you're wanting a bit of video check out http://www.youtube.com/beahblake halfway through the night he wanted his little bible. i guess he wanted to share something with big cassie.
maasen is one of his favorite people. he feels so safe and happy with her and he always wants to say hi to her.
he was a bit in shock when i brought out the cake and we all sang. ultimately he just wanted the winnie the pooh candle. honestly, i was a little nervous he would have trouble blowing out the candle...i don't know why.
here it is! the fireman set from uncle joe. it came with three men, coats, hoses, water that shoots out, a pole to slide down, and a truck with a big bucket ladder. wowee! another great gift from his euro uncle.
a curious george book about firemen from gigi & papo. (almost as exciting as the bike he got) the book is written " in the style of margret & h.a. rey" so it's not quite the real thing. he doesn't get into trouble, which seems a little contradictory.
before the presents were opened each kid had a hard time resisting the curious george stuffed animal. cassie ended up cuddling it in the end. i think she may have even sung him "all the pretty little horses."
i had to include this photograph. i think this is when wyatt had his little bible out. it sure looks like he has something seriously important to tell cassie. he loves big cassie and always wants her to play with him, no matter what is going on.

*thanks lauren for taking the photos. what a blessing to have them so fast. is your turn around always that quick?

i hope obama reads the papers. there's no such thing as a two state solution. hamas will just want more.

"Israel launches first air strike on Gaza since June" Why?

...The Israeli army said the clashes erupted late Tuesday after its forces uncovered a tunnel in central Gaza that militants planned to use to abduct Israeli soldiers. It said a special army unit headed to the area to destroy the tunnel. One Palestinian was killed in fierce gunbattles that ensued.
Hamas then fired mortars across the Gaza border into southern Israel and Israel answered with the airstrike in the early hours of Wednesday, killing five suspected Palestinian militants, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The army said the airstrike aimed at the mortar launchers and hit them...
The official said Israel did not intend to break the truce, noting that some 60 mortar have been fired since the cease-fire and Israel has chosen not to respond. -
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081105/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

i suppose now is as good of a time as any to tell you that i'm reading in defense of food by michael pollan. this book comes recommended by my brother joe, so here goes nothing. i'm a little worried about reading it but not because it's a hard academic book. from what i can tell it's full of important information about why the american diet is so screwed up and what we can do to change it.

dr. brooks rice lives with us and he is like a living version of this book. i've learned a lot of valuable things from him in our kitchen talk as we prepare food side-by-side. don't drink cow's milk, the protein is too big for humans to digest. don't drink soy milk, the levels of estrogen are too high. as a matter of fact avoid soy whenever you can (which is usually always) because it is a scavenger so it isn't so good for you anyway. eat vegetables with your protein to help you digest that protein. on and on. and this can be overwhelming when planning meals for a husband and two small children. am i introducing terrible eating habits in my children by feeding them macaroni and cheese? is it realistic to give them fresh organic produce if it means we can't pay our mortgage? (why is that word spelled that way?) (and i'm just kidding about that last one, they eat frozen organic veggies too, ha!)

so consider this the first of many posts focused on food. i guess it's not really the first, but rest assured, it will not be the last. get the book yourself, read through it. i'm sure you'll be shocked by margarine and kellogs cereal and the beef industry. i am.

sukkot, or the feast of tabernacles, is drawing to a close this week. we enjoyed our time in the sukkas, both at adat yeshua as well as in our back yard. it's just one more festival that puts us back in the world of Jesus, like in john 7:2, "But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, 'You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.'"

we learned a lot during this holiday season and even got to celebrate Hoshana Rabba (where we get our english word "hosannah"), something new in our experience of the high holidays . there's a water libation that they pour out on the altar during sukkot and it is an especially joyful occassion, unlike some of the other festivals that are observed (passover, yom kippur, to name a few). this makes what Jesus said in john 7:38 even more powerful: "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." he says this during the feast of tabernacles, sukkot, when the israelites are offering water libations. water. wow. as rabbi says, "that'll preach".

here are some photos from our sukkot adventure. the roof is supposed to be thatch so you can see through to the heavens. since we're gentiles we figure a mesh roof would work for now.



this is our sukka. we tried to spend the night in it, but eventually all slept in our beds. it ended with wyatt repeatedly saying, "i want to sleep in my bed." can you blame him?

he loves reading out of his "special bible" (as he calls it). during sukkot you're supposed to read through the book of deuteronomy. i'm not sure what they're reading, but it's from the old testament at least.


this is the sukka at AY. it's covered since we got a lot of rain this last week.


here are our good lookin' friends. we had supper in the sukka wednesday night, fighting off the cold in order to feed our faces. good bread, cassie. yum.


um, that's us. wyatt was asleep in the car. he made an appearance at the very end of the evening.


allison did the honor of reading from deuteronomy.


we met susan for lunch on thursday and she continued reading from deuteronomy. mima was supposed to join us but she and pop had to make an emergency to trip to mayo. we're thankful that G-d has answered our prayer and they are both on their way home as we "speak". pop should be recovering quickly, but keep praying for him.


wyatt didn't sleep through this meal. they loved looking at all the things hanging around the sukka. i especially loved the pictures of jewish men picking out their willow branches and holding up their lulavs. it's a fun holiday and one that i hope more people observe in the future. it was good enough for Jesus.

go ahead and JUMP! might as well...

potato soup - vegetarian style

6 cups diced potatoes

3 stalks celery, diced

1 cup chopped onion

2 cans chicken broth

4 cups rice milk

6 tablespoons butter, melted

8 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons vegetable recipe mix (knorr)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

dash of pepper

in a large pot bring potatoes, celery and onion to boil in broth. cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. pull out veggies, leaving broth. add milk. in a small bowl combine melted butter and flour. stir into broth/milk over medium heat with whisk. stir until thickened. then stir in reserved vegetables, recipe mix, garlic and pepper.

this turned out the way i wanted it, a bit thicker than the original recipe and now it's all vegetarian, for those requesting it (ahem, susan). serve with cheese, garlic bread and a salad and you've got a nice little meal. (adapted from allrecipes.com "ultimate potato soup" by thumper74137)