love

A while ago Shawn wanted to make me a meal.

"Relax Mom," he said.
"Go do something for yourself Mom," he insisted.
"You work so hard Mom," he said.
"I'll make you lunch Mom," he added.

Then he politely asked me to leave the kitchen so I did.

He called me up some time later and had me sit at our table. Then my son served me, one course at a time, the most beautifully prepared food, presented with finesse only a fourteen-year-old boy could conjure up.

I love this kid.

garden update

We planted many new trees recently.  Woohoo! These include mango, avocado, orange, grapefruit, fig, mulberry, sapote, starfruit, guava, dragonfruit, papaya and longan.

We are also trying to grow vegetables and herbs. So far we have tropical spinach, long beans, a cucumber, a squash, ginger, and carrots from seeds (still waiting for them to sprout).

Super exciting!!

haiti and baked goods

This month Mr. Shawn decided to do some fundraising for a project my brother is involved in. My brother is headed to Haiti to treat victims of cholera and he is part of a group that frequently goes there to give medical treatment to people who otherwise have no way to see a doctor. This is their cause if you want to check it out. 

Shawn was so excited to contribute the money he made selling his delicious breads and muffins. He did the planning, shopping, and baking all by himself. I smashed a few bananas, that was it for my contribution. Shawn made close to $200! Here's what Shawn had to say.

"I'm SOOO proud of my uncle for doing all of this selfless service for the people of Haiti. I raised this money from making banana bread and blueberry muffins and selling them to my neighbors. Hopefully that will inspire whoever is out there to do something like that and help the world as much as possible! :)"

quintessential paris

All you have to do is spend a summer afternoon walking through these streets and you understand why this is a city of artists and poets, a city that epitomizes love.

corner view~typical family dinner

Hello corner view friends.  Thank you Francesca, for giving me the opportunity to choose this topic, as well as for being such a gracious, consistent host.

Our family time is dinner.  This is when we gather, pray, and enjoy each others' company.  I try to make nourishing, home cooked meals.  We have about ten meals that we rotate.  I am hoping for some new ideas this week as tonight along with regular tacos, thanks to iCarly, we tried spaghetti tacos!

A favorite in our family is Indian food.
Here is how I serve it:
~Brown basmati rice made in a rice cooker.  Easy.
~Plain yogurt.  Easy.
~Curried veggies.  Pretty easy.
(According to our friend Deepu from India, when you serve Indian food you need to be sure you have plenty of rice and yogurt.)  The yogurt cools the spiciness.

Curried veggies are prepared like this (for a family of five).
Four peeled and chopped potatoes
Two peeled and shopped yams.
Cook these first in water, olive oil, salt and spices until they are half done.  I season with curry, cumin, sea salt, cayenne pepper, and tulsi.
Add (3 - 4 cups total of): chopped green beans, broccoli, carrots, and greens from our garden (anything works -- chard, kale, we often use arugula).  Plus one half a bag of frozen peas.
Add enough water so the sauce is thick, but liquid-y, and as you add water, add salt and a little more spice.
This dish takes 45 minutes to make, and it helps me to get the kids in on the veggie prep.

With this meal when we go all out, we often also serve the papaya dish described here.

yamashiro farmers market

It has been a long and busy week in LA.  The girls are going to acting boot camp five hours a day, each girl goes three separate days a week.  Yesterday I cooked lunch at the camp for twenty kids, homemade marinara sauce and noodles, garlic bread, salad with mandarin oranges.  It was a lot of fun.  We are searching for a place back home to live for two months when we return.  We are keeping our active little boy as busy as possible, which involves visits to the parks, hikes, walks in the neighborhood, games, playing ball in our courtyard here.  We are getting the girls started in schoolwork online as much as possible.  Tomorrow Sky gets her hair cut and gets ready to film another six shows next week.  The show will be released to the public very soon.  We have seen it, it is great!  Both of the girls have taken dance classes at this really cool dance studio here.  We are also shopping, cooking, and generally finding our way around in a big city...having fun.

We have booked our flight home at the end of the month.  But for now we are trying to enjoy our time and the opportunities in this place that is so different from our home.

And so tonight, when we had no water due to a plumbing mix up so I couldn't cook, and we had to change plans at the last minute, we decided to meet our invited dinner guests at the farmer's market.  I was so happy to discover this place, way at the top of a hill overlooking the city.  There we met the girls' acting coach, and a bunch of families in town for boot camp for dinner.  And for a few hours, while we ate great food, listened to live music, talked and laughed, and the kids painted flower pots and danced and consumed all sorts of treats, I had a family here.

corner view~what's for lunch?

Annabel's specialties, curry tofu and French bean dish

This year both of our girls have been home schooling.  One of the sweetest parts of this experience is that we all get to share lunch, often with Dad too, as he works from home.  This year both girls have gotten into cooking, and many times they have made me some pretty great lunches! 

Although today it was hot and there were some sore throats to soothe, so after eating some leftovers we made "strawberry snow" in the juicer with ice, frozen strawberries, and agave nectar.

corner view~on my kitchen counter

Our kitchen counter is a place where the kids as toddlers have stood on stools and watched me cook.  They have learned to measure, sift flour, crack eggs, and eventually chop food.  We have made all sorts of dinners -- pasta with fresh red sauce, gnocchi with homemade pesto, vegetable pie with fresh gravy, burritoes with homemade guacomole from our neighbor's trees, three layer enchilada pie, Chinese inspired stir fry with homemade garlic/ginger sauce, all sorts of Indian curries, homemade chai, and plenty of salads.  We make meats, fish, potato dishes, soups and casseroles.  We have baked cookies, made pancakes and waffles, pies, homemade pizza, cookies, sorbet (one time), and of course birthday cakes (my personal favorite).  All on one counter.   

This kitchen counter is a place where I admire goods from our garden.  I love picking fruits and vegetables from our yard, bringing them inside to the counter, and working a little magic to make them into delicious dishes to serve my family.

This year that love seems to have really caught hold of the children.  So I started what we are calling "Theresa's Cooking School."

A couple of nights ago Annabel asked me what the different levels in the school were.  We decided that there are five total.  Beginner, advanced beginner, intermediate, upper intermediate and master chef.  Annabel loves to know where she stands.  I told her confidently at dinner, "You are a solid intermediate."  She agreed with that assessment.

In Theresa's Cooking School being a solid intermediate means one can make a single dish, cooked and well spiced, by oneself.  Annabel has mastered curry tofu and a French bean dish.  But trust me folks, she is going for the master chef status.