Spring

Happy Earth Day!

It's been a beautiful weekend. 

We forgot how powerful the sun can be and got sunburnt noses at the track meet yesterday. 

And, time flies.

A few short years ago my baby was cheering her big sister on at track meets.

And, now she's competing at her track meet. 

On this sunny afternoon, I'm reminded to enjoy every single day with these gorgeous kids because the days pass too quickly! 

january menu plan

Being a new year and all, I'm trying something new... 

using google calendars to plan our meals. 

Obviously, meal planning is nothing new. There are only about a million blogs out there devoted to the task and hundreds of printables and online clubs that will help you with the task. It's not like I've never tried it. But, in the past, while I have a routine repertoire and a few recipes every week I want to play with, I've shied away from the whole "sit down and plan a month in advance" routine.  This may come as a surprise, but for all the planning I do, I'm not really a structured person. I like living in the moment and cooking with what I have on hand, or getting inspired while shopping or reading cookbooks. I don't want to feel accountable to a meal calendar. Plus, I might be a bit prone to getting sidetracked creating a fancy spreadsheet or cute calendar to hang in my kitchen and then forgetting to actually use it! 

But, I've had a tiny epiphany. Just because, I plan meals in advance doesn't mean I've signed a contract and agreed to produce said meals at any cost, but rather I have a food map for the month. Somehow, this makes sense to me and I'm finally embracing the idea. I'm late to the party but at least I've decided to try it again. Plus, I have a slew of recipes I want to try and there's much recipe testing to be done for our hatchpress project. It will probably save me money to consider leftovers and plan a bit in advance. And, obviously, it's an organized kitchen staple. I'm not creating anything fancy, just a simple calendar with meals plugged in. I've printed a blank February and stapled it to the back to jot down ideas as they come and I'm going to go ransack the kids' rooms to find a clipboard to use.

So, here I go... hopefully, it will last beyond January but I'm not gonna commit to that!
I'd love to hear about how you plan your meals and if you're curious about a recipe, I might just share as long as you give me feedback on how it all went. As I said, we're in recipe testing mode around here.

2012

hello, 2012.

Finally, the tree is down and the decorations are put away. Well, all but the last three that were way stuck in the branches and the Christmas bear in one of the kids' rooms. It's time to get organized for the new year, make some resolutions, and start some projects. I love projects and this year is going to be awesome.  In fact, I'm so inspired by my latest project that I find it difficult to sleep or think about anything else. I'm making plans in the shower, doing dishes, folding laundry, driving carpool. 

But, I am going to try and be balanced. That's a good new year's resolution and life goal. So, rather than abandoning everything else and becoming hyper focused on this one new thing, I'm going to be mindful about it... slow and steady.

So, yesterday, I cleaned out my binder, planned my calender for the next 4 months, and organized my bills and put 2011 away. Today, I did a menu plan for the next 5 weeks and worked on the next  Fork & Pint  newsletter. I'll post and update weeknight dinners menus this evening. 

And now, since I have that stuff under control, I can talk about my new, super exciting, bucket list project... hatchpress. Go to the site and take a peek. We're still under construction but you'll get an idea of what we're working on. It's one of those things that you talk about forever and never get around to the doing. Well, this year... we're doing it. Why not? What are we waiting for anyway? We're writing a cookbook and kitchen guide. We realize that it's a lofty goal, getting published and all. But, other people do it so why can't we? 

My best friend Brooke and I, you may remember her from our Summer Mother/Son campout shenanigans, are both foodies and we're in love with our families. We spend our days make making food and organizing kitchens for other people, and even make a bit of money doing so. We have over 30 years of home, family, and food know how between us. And now we're writing it all down to share.   So, for now my foodie posts will be mostly written over at hatchpress. 

Ideas

image courtesy of bushelandapeck.com

So much to say and so little time.
Do you ever feel like that?

The ideas dancing about in my head and heart, keeping me wide-eyed, distracted.

But, you can't put life on hold while making plans. I keep doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, driving, dropping off, picking up, delivering, Christmas shopping, organizing, and living. And, the ideas just keep on coming.

I suppose it's a blessing and a curse or rather a gift and a challenge. Maybe I should schedule just an IDEA day, put it on my calendar. Call it work. Corral the ideas and bring them to the forefront of my thoughts for the entire day. Let them simmer and develop some flavor and depth. Yep, that's what I need: An IDEA day.

How do you handle your ideas and thoughts?

Behind the Stove

Old stove.

What is behind YOUR stove?

It's a scary question. One that frightens event the most fastidious clean freak.
First the stove dies, then we find the deal of a range and get it home. Now, were going to have to face whatever was hiding behind our stove.

We live in a house that's over a hundred years old. The stove has been here for at least 20 years, probably more. We've lived here for 10. About 5 years ago, when I got a new vacuum with lots of fancy attachments, I pulled out the stove as far as I could on my own. I climbed up on the counter and slid down as far as I could with the long hose and cleaned out whatever I could suck up. It was gross and scary. I use that long hose often, to slide all the way under the stove to get what I can. The problem is that the kitchen was tiled about 70 years ago (totally not exaggerating). The tile ends about 4 inches under the stove creating an edge that the vacuum can't accommodate. I knew we were going to find filth. So, here it is. I'm putting it all out there for the whole world to see.

Full disclosure. Don't judge.

Ick. Gross.  

All swept up in the dustpan.

Oven is hot!

New Stove.

Let them eat Turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Counting blessings: 

handyman Mr. T, new stove, even cooking temps, Thanksgiving, family love, evenings in the kitchen