meatless monday: RAMPS edition

At the Winter Farmer's Market in Indy, we bought ramps, one of the the first spring vegetables to appear. Elliott pointed us to a few good recipes that I'd love to try, but tonight we kept it simple - Scrambled Eggs with Ramps, Mushrooms, and Asparagus. The scramble had a nice mild garlicky flavor from the ramps. I served it with slices of grilled homemade crusty bread, and I meant to serve it with fried potatoes too, but somehow I completely forget about them. For dessert we had (frozen) blueberries and some raw milk gouda, which we also bought at the winter market. It was a delicious meal.

milkmaid

My little milkmaid


somewhat melancholy


but not for long.





I have two of these outfits, one about a size 2t, and the other a size 5 or 6, and if Mom knows how to use the scanner, maybe she'll scan in the (almost 25 year old) picture of Katie and me wearing them after Grandma Criss made them for us. The elastic in the 2t was shot, so yesterday I ripped it out and replaced it so my girl could wear it. Rosie likes it pretty well. She says (funnily enough) that it reminds her of Corduroy bear).

i hesitate to call this spring break

We didn't go anywhere -- you can't, when your due date looms -- and there is a fifty percent chance of snow tonight. It doesn't feel like spring. (Actually, as Jack said yesterday, spring break here felt like Christmas break in the south.)

But it was a break, and that was nice.

At the beginning of the week we had some sunny and fifty degree days, and I (probably prematurely) planted lettuces and peas and carrots. I can always plant again in a week or two if they die in a frost tonight.

For meatless monday, since Jack had missed them, I reprised last week's spinach pancakes, this time with some delicious Indian rice on the side.

We went to the Indiana Museum of Art for the first time, and we ate cajun food at Yats.



We took a few longs walks, one to the park and one around the indoor track at Taylor, hoping to get Owen moving.

I saw the doctor, and she said, "Oh, by the way, I'll be on vacation with my family from April 1-8." Doesn't it seem that, since my due date is April 4, she might have mentioned that a little earlier? Especially since I chose her and her hospital because they do water births, and the doctors who will cover for her that week are NOT comfortable with water birth? Que sera sera.

I finished sewing a summer skirt for Rosie. I started it last week while Mimi was here, so that I could have hands on help with my first attempt at gathering, and it was from a tutorial that I probably bookmarked a year ago. Maybe I'll give it to Rosie when we come home from the hospital. She'll need some special attention, I'm sure.


And we must have done more than that, but I honestly can't remember. Today we went with some friends to the winter farmer's market in Indy, and then to some shops on Mass Ave and lunch at Bazbeaux. We have needed to be introduced to places like these!



Last night I think I had dreams that I was having contractions. But I wasn't, when I woke up. Jack's mom will be here on Thursday, so we might as well wait until then. Owen's due date shows up in the 10 day weather forecast now. If he waits until April, it will warm up a little for him.

matching and mardis gras

Mimi and Rosie happened to be matching this morning.


Jack brought beads back from New Orleans.

meatless...

Jack left today for New Orleans and the TESOL conference, but Mimi is here to keep us company. She's vegetarian, so I decided that this week we'd try vegetarian dinners Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday instead of just Monday.

Tonight we tried these spinach pancakes that a friend pointed me to, and they were amazing. Don't let the name "spinach pancakes" detract you. These exceed expectations. I could have eaten twice as many as I cooked.

Tomorrow night we'll have a winter standby (for the last time - spring is in the air!) -- Curried Squash and Red Lentil Soup with flat bread -- and Friday we'll make mushroom pizza.

Owen

Last night at dinner, Jack said that he's ready to commit to the name.

We've been holding out because nothing felt as right to us for this boy as Rosemary did for our baby girl, and in fact I told Jack that I really didn't have a preference among our top three names, and he could choose.

Boy names are hard.

We've chosen Owen Howard for our baby.

Of uncertain origin, Owen is most likely Celtic or Welsh, meaning "young warrior". Some positive associations we have with the name are John Owen, a Puritan writer; Owen Meany (title character of a John Irving novel); and, for me at least, Owen Wister (author of "The Virginian" and the father of western fiction). It was the 51st most popular baby boy's name in America last year.

Howard is Jack's mother's maiden name (Rosemary's middle name is Cross, my grandmother's maiden name). Howard is of Old English (or Norse, or German, or French) origin and means "noble watchman," "guardian," or "shepherd".

I finished Owen's quilt a while back, but we've been working on a few other things for his room. Using up fabric scraps, I've made a soft ball and a fleece-backed playmat. ONe of the fabric scraps had a pocket, so I made a few little toys to reside in the pocket.


Using cardstock, I made a mobile inspired by ideas here and here.


But best of all, Jack made one of his record mosaics. Using old records and record sleeves, he created this airplane on an old piece of plywood.

noodles to slurp

There is no movie that makes me want to eat more than Wong Kar Wai's "In the Mood for Love," (2000) which is a beautiful movie and features beautiful people slurping up wonton noodle soup from street stalls in Hong Kong in the 1960s.

Just thinking about this movie always makes us want noodles. And yes, we gave up tv for Lent and haven't watched the film in years, since we were dating, but we have been thinking about it. And so we gave wonton noodle soup a try, and here's what we came up with. It was pretty satisfying, and Rosie-approved.

In the Mood for Wonton Soup (4 servings)

For the wontons:
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound shrimp, deveined, tails off, and finely chopped
1/2 Tbs oyster sauce
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
sprinkling of salt and pepper
40 wonton wrappers, at room temperature
1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1/4 cup cool water

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients up to the wonton wrappers.
Mix well.
Put a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper, and brush the cornstarch/water mixture on all edges.
Fold over to form a triangle, press to secure edges, encasing the filling.
Bring two corners together and press to secure.
Place on a dry plate in one layer and cover loosely with plastic wrap to prevent drying.
Store in fridge if not using immediately.

For the broth:
2 quarts chicken broth
1-2 Tbs fish sauce
3 carrots, sliced on the bias
2 cups washed and roughly chopped bok choy
8 oz fresh chinese style noodles (check the fresh produce section where you find mushrooms and tofu...)

Bring the chicken stock and fish sauce to a boil. Add the carrots and wontons. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until wontons float to the surface. Add the noodles and cook for two minutes. Add the bok choy and cook for one minute more.

Spoon into bowls and slurp!

meatless monday: lentil shepherd's pie

I had such high hopes for this lentil shepherd's pie, and it was fine, but it wasn't anything to write home about. In flavor it was very one-note, and I couldn't figure out what it was missing - something spicy or acidic or tangy, paprika or just more salt...

But I did like the cauliflower mashed potatoes (and I didn't mash them with veg. broth, as I wasn't trying to be vegan...I used butter and milk).