Saturday, January 13, 2007

The Habit-ual Offender

What is it with habits? They say it takes 21 days to create a new habit (as in a thing that sticks) and we all know it takes years to break a bad one, evidenced by the prevalence of nose picking in traffic, if nothing else... so, when I've spent months honing good, productive habits, and easy routines that let me get everything done, I want to know why it takes approximately ONE day to flush the whole thing down the toilet and I can never seem to get back into the groove. I don't understand and I demand an answer! I've gone from actually hunting for laundry to do as part of my routine, to cowering as I sneak past the towering, festering pile in my bedroom. I know I did all of the vacation laundry when we came back... and then that was it, apparently. Other things to do? Holidays? The Husband being home? (not that he wears more laundry when he's home, just that we tend to find other things to do when he's around for an extended period and I don't have a "catch-up" day, like I do when we plan things for his regular off days.) Hard to say but, whatever the cause, I have now resorted to the "idiot's scavenger hunt", with notes taped in various places, starting with the coffee pot, directing me to the next task in my morning.

School has taken a nosedive, too. We're just seemingly doing this random learning thing. I wouldn't debase unschooling by calling it that. This is definitely non-schooling. Again, is it the holiday weirdness, looming other crap that I need to address? Who knows. I've decided to take a new approach. Every day, we will cover the quick and dirty basics - spelling, handwriting, math practice - and then have a day dedicated to each subject. Monday will be history/geography, Tuesday, science, Wednesday, math (as in more in depth math than the morning practice), Thursday, language arts. Friday is co-op day, so we don't do lessons, other than Bailey telling us about hte content of her classes. Each day, we'll focus our reading on the subject at hand, do projects / experiments, watch any shows I can Tivo, and play games that fit with the subject. Hopefully, that will get us back into the groove. Part of our (my) problem seems to come from the added labor of setting up / cleaning up when we move from subject to subject during a day and the need to plan various lessons over the course of a week. It just seems easier - to me, anyway, having not done it yet - if I can spend an hour in the evening, planning a single subject and related acticities/reading for the next day. We shall see, shant we?

So, onto new recipes...


Chicken Char Siu and Chinese Barbecued Pork Tenderloin, both from Cooking Light, were on plates and in tummies this week. Both were reviewed very highly by the under-10 set, particularly served with rice and green beans sauteed in toasted sesame oil. The chicken is a nice, tasty, moist satay and the pork is juicy, with a complex tasting crust, thanks to the layers of flavor that include Chinese Five Spice powder and hoisin sauce. Both would be delicious on a salad with Cardini's Asian Sesame dressing, if you can find it in your neck of the woods. The Husband - my personal shopper - has bought out the stock at Graul's in Annapolis, yet again. It's the only place we can find it. I wonder if they think he's deranged.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

A New Year, a new goal

So, in the spirit of the new year, we had to come up with new goals, right? I mean, it seems sort of pathetic to begin 2007 with the same goals we had in 2006. It just screams failure, does it not? Of course, we also can't abandon these oldies-but-goodies in their entirety... so our new plan is a bit on the, um, "broad" side.

I've always hated the New Year resolution; either you shoot too low and end up done by March, or you shoot for the moon and end up horribly defeated by, well, March. This year, we have instead created a mission statement. The gist of this is that our goal is to live a more peaceful, healthful life and that we will make efforts in the areas of physical health (eating better, moving more), mental health (cutting out stress), financial health (making a point of frugality and saving) and household health (decluttering, organization, repairs/improvements we've put off for years) and that we will be conscious that each decision we make will positively affect one or more of these areas.

So, of course, the first order of business is to get back to eating like people. For whatever reason, the end of the year, from, say, the beginning of November on adds tonnage to us like we've had reverse-lipo at the hands of a mad scientist. I don't understand how jeans I bought when the boys were one can no longer be pulled further than my knees. I have bulges and jutting flesh where none has ever existed. My other in law refers to this state as "fluffy". At this point, I'm about as fluffy as Angela Davis' afro in a cyclone. Not good. Anyway, we both lost a substantial amount of weight when Bailey was small, just by restricting calories a bit, recording our goals, nutrition and activities on FitDay.com (free online is good, PC version is better). It was excellent. We planned three meals and three snacks per day, with our target calories in mind. Most dinners were from Cooking Light magazine, as were many breakfasts and some lunches. After the first two weeks, I had trouble meeting my calorie intake goals and would often have to have a weirdly heavy evening snack to have eaten a reasonable number of calories. 45 pounds later, I felt great, fit into my clothes again and had lots of energy. It was not a "diet" I had to stick to, just a manner of being a little more cognizant of what I was putting into my mouth.

Now, we're back on the "program". Today, I had oatmeal, a steak sandwich on a Trader Joe's "everything" bagel (complete with onions and real mayo), a cranberry scone with my afternoon tea and a fabulous dinner, using new (to me) recipes. I thought I'd share some reviews, in case anyone else is looking for good food that won't stick to their asses like gum on hot asphalt.

Arborio Rice, Parmesan and Green Pea Pancakes from Cooking Light was fabulous. We loved it, the kids loved it. It made exactly as much as it said and was easy to prepare, if it did take a bit of time (most of it waiting, so I could, theoretically been doing something else... like knitting). The one thing about this recipe you should know is that non-stick is NOT optional in the browning phase. These things will adhere to anything they can before they brown. Trust me. I have three pans to clean.

Black Bean Soup from Cook's Illustrated: The Best Light Recipes was OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD. Black bean is one of my all time favorites and I'm usually sadly disappointed by any form of light recipe. I decided to use this (and a couple of other, selected recipes) as a barometer to see if I need to own this book. If the others are this good, it will have to be mine. Absolutely everything you would look for in a tasty, satisfying black bean soup is in this bowl. I used the chipotle in adobo variation, because I like the added heat and smokiness.

Last night, we had Southwestern Lasagna, from Cooking Light. I have to admit, when I was out shopping for the ingredients, I was a litte put off by the recipe. To be fair, it may have been a prejudice due to the trauma of shopping with three kids, pushing a stroller, and dragging a cart while grocery shopping on a Sunday afternoon (inadvisable) with every rude, stupid person in the universe. Whatever it was, it was completely out of line with the finished product. The lasagna was yummy. Again, high marks from all age groups. I think it's reminiscent of Amy's Enchilada Bowls, which is a favorite from when I used to take my lunch to work.

I'll keep posting the reviews, for those who are interested. My test kitchen is open!

Knitting? Yes, I'm finishing up a pair of Magical Mittens for my brother-in-law's girlfriend. I'll post a picture of them, and their companion hat, when I finish.

Cheers!