Monthly Archives: January 2010

>Fortunately – or not

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>Why do I keep these thing? Maybe because it’s it’s so much fun when I reach into my desk drawer and find a random fortune. These two came from my desk drawer at school.

You are very optimistic and your plans usually succeed. No lucky numbers. How can my plans for becoming a millionaire succeed without lucky lottery numbers?

#3, 23, 32, 40, 41, 46. A small lucky package is on its way to you soon. I have a few books ordered from Paperbackswap.com. I enjoy these packages, but I don’t know about “lucky.”

Last week Chuck and I both ordered Chinese take-out food at our respective workplaces and brought home our leftovers and our fortunes.

My fortune: #10, 21, 32, 37, 40, 44. You will soon embark on a business venture.
It doesn’t say I’ll be successful. I hope it’s going to be a good one.

Chuck’s fortune: #3, 13, 32, 33, 40, 43. Your lucky number for the week is seven.
Huh?

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>Adventures in marmalade

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>I had lots of oranges. I’ve committed to being more sustainable and self-sufficient in the kitchen. I bought a water-bath canning pot last August.

Put it all together and you get: Daisy’s Adventures in making Orange Marmalade!

The idea kind of grew on me. I searched for a recipe and found one in the classic Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook that we received as a wedding gift 25 years ago. Nervous about making something so new, so out of my comfort zone, I read and reread the recipe and instructions several times.

I searched the house for the supplies and ingredients. I had everything except (are you ready for this?) the right kind of pectin. It called for liquid pectin, so I went to (of course) Fleet Farm, the only store I know with an entire aisle devoted to supplies for canning and preserving. Yes, they had my liquid pectin. I almost bought extra, but said to myself, “Self, you’re going to do this right the first time. The next time you’re going to use this product it’ll be summer, so don’t stock up now. It is January, after all.” Please don’t laugh; that snort? It’s just not becoming.

So here I was with 4 medium oranges, 1 medium lemon, a little water, a little baking soda (why? it was in the recipe), a lot of sugar, and a pouch of liquid pectin.

Step 1:
Score orange and lemon peels into 4 lengthwise sections. Remove peels; scrape off white portion. Cut peels into very thin strips.
Oh, my goodness, this was tedious! There must be an easier way. Next time I might use my zester file, even though it’ll leave the marmalade with tiny pieces instead of strips.
Combine peels, water, and baking soda. I still don’t know what the baking soda did for this recipe, if anything. Marmalade doesn’t rise, so…. never mind. Bring to boiling. Cover; simmer for 10 minutes. Do not drain. (Italics in recipe)
Remove membrane from fruit. Section fruits, reserving juices; discard seeds. Oh, my goodness, tedious? This step was almost as bad. I can’t believe I complained so much, but I kept thinking, “there must be an easier way.”
Add sectioned fruits and juices to peel. Return to boiling. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Okay, I can do this. In the meantime, I was on Twitter and Plurk asking for advice.

Measure 3 cups. I had just shy of three cups; I did it anyway. In an 8- to 10- quart kettle combine the 3 cups fruit mixture and sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil; boil, uncovered, 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in pectin. Skim off foam.

Then the water-bath canning began. This part was less traumatic than I’d feared. I ladled the marmalade into the half-pint jars, leaving a 1/4 inch head space as directed. I wiped the jar rims clean and adjusted the lids. I processed in the boiling water bath for 15 minutes (actually 20 – is that okay?) and ended up with 6 lovely jars of marmalade. I followed advice on the pectin package and turned the jars upside down while cooling so the fruit wouldn’t “float” and then flipped them right side up.

The result: The marmalade is too thin. Two days later (after the magic 48 hours) it still hasn’t fully set. What now? One source suggests I can re-cook it. I’ll look into it – I’d hate for all that scraping and de-membraning and the works to go to waste.

Any advice, foodie friends? Anyone? Anyone?

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>Pumpkin Cookies!

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>They’re out of season. The pumpkin came from a can, not fresh or frozen. I was feeling a small amount of guilt in my locavore, seasonal heart as I softened the butter and started mixing in the egg.

Then La Petite came by and looked over my shoulder. “Mmm, oatmeal cookies?” “Pumpkin cookies with oatmeal.” “Even better!” she proclaimed.
Then Chuck chimed in from the computer. “With chocolate chips?” “Yes, I was planning on it.”

I felt a lot better.

This recipe is so old the card is tattered. I really ought to type it up in a Word file like so many of my favorites. I’ve made these since my kiddos were really little. In fact, I’d feed them to my kids for breakfast when they were very young. Cookies for breakfast? Don’t judge me; these cookies are healthier than a poptart!

Great Pumpkin Cookies with Oatmeal and Chocolate Chips

3 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups quick oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg or 1/4 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 16 oz. can solid pack pumpkin
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon, and salt: set aside.
Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well.
Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop or a 1/8 cup measure, drop dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on racks.

Optional: frost and decorate. Cream cheese frosting works well with these cookies.
Another option: replace chocolate chips with raisins.

Amigo was coming down the stairs as I pulled these out of the oven. He had two as soon as they cooled. Despite the non-locavore nature of the beast, these cookies hit the spot on a cold winter Saturday night.

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>A Day On, a Day to Dream

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>If you know the name Julia Ward Howe, you probably know her as the writer of the lyrics to the Civil War Hymn “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Ms. Howe’s poetic voice also suggested Mother’s Day, long before it became a holiday, as a day to celebrate celebrate peace.

Martin Luther King Jr., believed in peaceful confrontation and nonviolent civil disobedience. I think he and Ms. Howe would have gotten along fine, had they lived in the same century. In recognition of Dr. King’s Dream, below is a re-post from Mothers’ Day 2008.

I dream that differences will be valued, not disdained.
Eye color, hair color, body shapes, and skin shades will be appreciated for their beauty and variety.
Cultural traditions will not disappear, but will thrive and grow together into a rich and fascinating sharing of knowledge and beliefs.
I dream that blindness will be merely a different way of seeing, and deafness impair only the quantity, not the quality of the language ‘heard’.
Children will matter because they own the future. Their education, academic and social, will become and remain of utmost importance.
The mediators and the peacemakers will be recognized as the strongest leaders.
Questions will come from curiosity, not ignorance, and the answers will breed respect.
Knowing each other, knowing ourselves, will lead to knowing that fights and conflicts, wars of all kinds, will cease to be of value.

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>Sunday List

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>Make coffee.
Finish laundry.
Read Sunday newspaper.
Clean litter boxes.
Shower.
Blog.
Run Virus-Scan on laptop.
Make a difference in the world.
Make and preserve orange marmalade.
Work on progress reports.

Progress, as of 11:00 AM:
Coffee: check.
Laundry: last load in dryer.
Newspaper: check.
Litter boxes clean, self clean.
Virus Scan finished on both laptop and desktop.
Oranges, sugar, jars, and water-bath canner gathered. Must shop for liquid pectin.
Progress reports on jump drive; will work on those during playoff games. Specific goal for today: fill in Social Skills and Study Habits sections.

Wait a minute. What’s that other goal? Make a difference? That’s a little tougher. Haiti comes to mind. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is tomorrow. I don’t have the day off from school; I do have a substitute because I’ll be in a workshop all day. I’ve been teaching a series of vocabulary lessons called “Words About Great Leaders” with an emphasis on Dr. King and other strong leaders. Can I do more?

It’s easy to give up, feel powerless, when there’s a huge disaster in the world. Haiti’s poverty is debilitating on a typical day. A hurricane or earthquake hitting their island is devastating. The immediate loss of life, the potential for disease, the absence of basic shelter, food, and water – can one person make a difference?

Yes.

I can make a difference locally by teaching my students as well as I’m able. Teach them to climb out of poverty, teach them not to take for granted the skills and the materials they already possess. Teach them to be aware of what’s happening in the world, know that their small neighborhood is connected to the city, the county, the state. Show them that every action is like a stone dropped in a pond, starting a ripple effect that moves outward in ever-growing circles.

Meanwhile, I’ll go buy the liquid pectin I need for making orange marmalade. It won’t change the world, but it’ll feed my family. Today, that’s a good start.

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>I heard it on the grapevine

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>1. If it weren’t for rumors, I’d have no news at all.
2. I read lips a bit, but I don’t read minds. Not much.

You might be a teacher if the above makes sense to you – too much sense. The news trail is totally logical — along with the desire for a medical salt lick (Prozac in the lounge, Ritalin in the cafeteria) and the urge to write on a progress report “Johnny is a bully, much like his mother.”

How much information underload can I accept? Well —

I could accept that I didn’t have all the IEP information yet. The student was due to start in my class three weeks in the future, and I had progress reports to write, benchmark reading assessments for my entire class, assignments for a graduate class and a study group due first. I skimmed the IEP with an eye to reading it fully before the child arrived.

I could accept that the special education teacher might have more information than I did at first, but knowing that she shared that information with a different teacher and didn’t tell me, that’s just wrong. Careless, too. The other teacher, at another grade level that has nothing whatsoever to do with my grade mentioned this information to me – casually, over lunch. “Oh, I just happened to know.”

I could almost accept that another teacher “just happened” to have information on my incoming new kiddo. Almost. But I cannot accept her attitude that I “should have known” and should have sought out this information on my own. Uh-huh, yeah. See #2 above.

Thank goodness for the grapevine; I should probably be grateful. If the gym teacher hadn’t mentioned this info in the first place (also casually, as we approached the copy machine), I’d have been totally in the dark. As it is, I’m only seething under a dark cloud of hard feelings. Direct communication? What a concept. See #1.

Now if only I can train the grapevine to bring me chocolate and coffee….

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>Uncommon Sense

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>

(copied and only partially edited from a good friend’s chain email)

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

  • Knowing when to come in out of the rain
  • Why the early bird gets the worm
  • Life isn’t always fair
  • Maybe it was my fault.

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for expecting responsibility and respect in a school setting, teaching students manners, and refusing to accept that the dog might have eaten the homework.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement despite the self-inflicted nature of the injury.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his cousin, Common Courtesy, who was recently moved to Hospice Care.

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>Get more Bang for your Buck with Suddenly Frugal, the book

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>I have a lot of respect for people who not only talk the talk, but can walk the walk. Leah Ingram is a writer who made major lifestyle changes and wrote a blog and a book about them.

Suddenly Frugal is a practical guide to cutting expenses down to little or nothing. Her family set out to save money in order to buy a nicer home. When they closed on the home and moved in, they realized their frugal ways needed to continue in order to afford the upgrade in housing. When our U.S. economy tanked, others found themselves in frantic states of “OMG, how can I stop spending money?” Leah’s blog reassured them that they could.

The book is much more than the blog. I’ve been a regular reader of the Suddenly Frugal blog for several years; her link is in my blogroll on the left sidebar. In book version, Ingram added more details for each topic, including the estimated savings. Her stories are both personal and practical, involving tips that vary from getting “ring around the collar” out of her husband’s shirts with Do It Yourself laundry soap to finding attractive landscaping plants on Freecycle.

Many of her frugal tips are eco-conscious as well. Buying CFL bulbs saves both money and energy. Backyard composting cuts down on garbage pickups, which reduces her bill for that service (If my city charged for garbage pickup, we’d be saving a bundle). Growing vegetables, buying from the Farmers’ Market, and joining a CSA organization saved money and raised the nutritional value of her family’s menus. Ingram kept her records and has the numbers to prove it.

I’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite chapter or tip because every section has valuable advice. I carefully read the piece on purchasing a vehicle because we’ll be in the market in June. I also browsed her advice on washing machines; mine is making ominous noises, and I’d like to do my research and replace it before it collapses.

And that’s what Suddenly Frugal is all about. It’s not about deprivation, but budgeting carefully and wisely. By avoiding wasteful spending, families can live comfortably and worry less, despite dire financial headlines.

I offered to read and review this book for Leah Ingram because I enjoy her blog. She sent me a copy free of charge in order to review it. You can read her blog or follow her on Twitter (leangreenmom).

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>How much Zest is too much?

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>

I got a citrus zest file for Christmas!

The timing is great; we picked up a case of oranges from Amigo’s high school music fundraiser in mid-December. I’ve been eating at least one orange or grapefruit a day, and then I zest the rind of the orange so we can use it in cooking or baking.

Chuck (he of the cool shoes) walked into the kitchen today and said, “Dear, you’ve put aside enough orange zest to last us a decade. Stop, already!”

I put it to you, dear Internetters. Foodies, locavores, eco-conscious cooks and bakers, here are the questions raised in my zesty dilemma.

Does orange zest (or any zest) freeze successfully? Can I grate and freeze these aromatic peelings and use them later?
Is there any use for grapefruit zest? I have a case of grapefruit, too, but I’ve never seen grapefruit zest in a recipe.
How much is too much orange zest? No, never mind, don’t answer that. I’ll find out for myself.

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>Best Banana Bread

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>I posted a banana bread recipe long, long ago. Banana bread is a standard in my repertoire, and I can almost make it in my sleep. Almost.

When La Petite was in high school, our house was one of the hangouts for the kids. I learned that they were more likely to hang at the homes of parents who fed them, so I kept baking. It worked. One day a coworker and fellow high school mom asked me for my banana bread recipe. “What do you put in it? Alex keeps raving about it!”

I tried an experiment, though, that didn’t work so well. It was one of “those” weeks: the weeks when we don’t have time to eat the bananas, much less bake them into bread. I tried the Frozen Banana option. Supposedly they’ll look gooey and awful, but will bake up well. Well, almost.

I called it the Incredible Collapsing Banana Bread. I thought it was done, but it wasn’t. the toothpick test came out clean, but the bread fell in the middle and tasted terrible. It was underdone in a big way. What happened? The only thing out of the ordinary was the frozen bananas. All I could think of was, “Were they too cold? Not the right consistency? What went wrong?”

I approached this dilemma with two tools: increased baking time and smaller pans. My mother (who witnessed the drama of the incredibly collapsed banana bread) gave me tiny bread pans for Christmas. I split a double batch of banana bread between one full-sized pan and three tiny ones. The tiny ones finished quickly, and the big one appeared done. Learning from experience, I let the big pan sit in the still-warm oven for ten minutes before calling it done. It worked.
The third tool (okay, three changes) was this: I made sure the banana goo was completely thawed and at room temperature before mixing and baking.

Well, here goes. Bake it as you wish; but thaw your bananas and use a smaller pan.

Daisy’s Banana Bread

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
3 eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium-large bananas)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups flour (I like 1 cup all-purpose flour and 2/3 cup whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(optional) 1/2 cup chocolate chips and/or 1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 or 9 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Beat the sugar and butter/margarine in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir into the banana mixture just until moistened. Blend in chocolate chips or nuts. Pour and scrape batter into the loaf pan.
Bake the 8 inch pan for 60 minutes, 9 inch pan for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean.
Cool 5 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Warning: Teenagers in house will inhale this. Make two if you want some for yourself.

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