Erik got rid of my photo hosting!

So, Erik got rid of my photo hosting and all my pretty graphics and pictures are gone! Boo hoo... :( I wish he would have told me prior to doing this or at least set up an alternative before getting rid of it!!! HINT HINT! (He more than likely will never read this though). Anyway, I'll try and get things situated at somepoint...

Finding Your Happy Place

So, I find myself constantly asking God for more patience. When he spliced my DNA together this is something he skimped on a bit. I don't know if he can infuse me with some during REM sleep or something, but he needs to get to it pronto! There are a few moments in my life when I amazingly have the patience I need. Yesterday was one of those days. After totally completing an entire Tae Bo workout I felt awesome. First off, all that high kicking is hard! I've been doing some interval running though and it seems to have given me the staying power to get through an entire Tae Bo Advanced workout! This is a huge accomplishement for me to just do the entire workout. Anyway, afterwards I go upstairs to find my daughter covered in poop. She was trying her heart out to poop in the potty and clean it all up on her own. However, she managed to get it all over herself, her clothes, the floor, the rug, the sink.... you get the idea. Well, if you know our family you know this is not an uncommon occurance. Typically I handle it with a big sigh and silent frustration. But after that Tae Bo workout it was like water off a ducks back! No biggie..."poop happens"!!! So thank you Kelly for those awesome Tae Bo videos because it gave me a gallon of patience for about 3 hours!
Of course what goes up, must come down. By evening time everyone was winey and hungry. I was frantically trying to get my greek fish dish made. Meanwhile, Jaxson kept whipping off his pants and running around naked. Apparently his current career choice is that of a Chippendale stripper. Miranda was taking her clothes out of her closet and bringing them downstairs. She couldn't explain to me why and I really had to stop what I was doing to sleuth it out of her. Between all that, and the incessant wrestling that these kids do to the point where someone is hurt and everyone is crying, my wonderful Tae Bo patience is gone. I put on some relaxing mood music for the kids and hope we can all zone out peacefully and can make it 'till dad gets home.

Bacalao a la Catalana

Another good fish experience last night! Thought I would share the meal recipe with you this time. We had cod with spinach and I think the spinach was especially fantastic with raisins and toasted pine nuts. Erik liked this meal, although he thought the halibut from last week was better, he still thought the cod was good. I got atlantic cod and I've read that pacific cod has even more omega-3s in it and you should get that if you can...but this was fresh enough so I gave it a shot. I ate it as left overs for lunch today and it was still very yummy. Since I'm doing all this food Medeterranian experimenting I thought maybe I should share some of my adventures with you...you know...passing it on and such.

Bacalao a la catalana (This came from pg 104 of The Mediterranean Cookbook that my MIL gave me this weekend)

Serves 4
4 cod fillets, each about 6 oz/175 g
olive oil, for brushing (make sure you get first cold press extra virgin! It's the best since there are no chemicals used to extract the oil and therefore retains all it's antioxidents and good stuff for ya)
salt and pepper
lemon weges, to serve

Catalan Spinach
generous 1/3 cup raisins ( I buy these plump biggy organic raisins and I think they are superior by far to those dinky Sun Maiden ones)
1/2 pin nuts
4tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 lb 2 oz/ 500g baby spinach leaves, rinsed

put raisins in a small bowl, cover with hot water, and set aside to soak for 15 min., then drain well.

Meanwhile, put the pine nuts in a skillet over medium high heat and dry cook for 1 to 2 min, shaking frequently, until toasted and golden brown: watch closly becaseu they burn quickly.

Heat the oil in a large, lidded skillet over medium high heat. add the garlic and cook for 2 min, or until golden but not brown. remove with a slotted spoon and discard.

Add the spinach to the oil with only the rinsing water that clings to its leaves. Cover and cook for 4 to 5 min, or until wilted. Uncover, stil in the drained raisins and the pine nuts, and continue cooking until all the liquid evaporates. Season to taste and keep warm.

To cook the cod, brush the fillets lightly with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place under a preheated hot broiler about 4 inches/10cm from the heat and broil for 8 to 10 min., or until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily.

Divede the Catalan Spinach among 4 plates and place the cod fillets on top. Serve with lemon wedges.

Loved Loved the catalan spinach and think it's one I'll do over and over...
Remember this is good for you...will help reduce heart disease, colon disease, cancer so on so forth...so enjoy and know you are doing your body some good!
:)

$32 Hallibut

So...our family doesn't have such a great history with fish. I keep preparing fishy meals, however, to the displeasure of my husband he contends that he's just eaten the gulf coast (that nasty overly fish yuck smell/taste) everytime. My kids, and husband for that matter, are totally satisified with good ol' Gordon's breaded fish fillets. You know...the kind that's 3/4 bread and an afterthought of cod or something. Well...this just won't do... so this week, believing Dr. Angelo Acquista, author of The Mediterranean Prescription, I decided to take a pricey fish risk. He claims that it is imperitive that you get the freshest fish possible and eat it that day. Then your fish won't taste fishy but fresh and yummy. Actually, he wants you to march yourself down to the docks at 4:30 a.m. and catch the fish as they are tossing them off the boats. Well, this isn't very likely for this Austinite...so as fresh as possible from HEB will have to do. So, Monday at the grocery store I pick up 2lbs. of hallibut that the seafood counter guys claim, "just came in this morning and is fresh fresh fresh." And, yes, I pay what I think to be a lofty sum for this fish.. it's about $18 a lb. and I get two pounds. My heart skips a beat when I see the sticker print out on the fish of $32. This is just for the fish, mind you. I really try to keep each meal around 5$ per person and this, actually, ended up falling into range because the entire meal served 4 people plus two days of left overs... so I'm fine with it now but was freaking at the store.
I ended up cooking the hallibut in olive oil (first cold press import from Italy which Acquista also says is a must) with some chopped onions and other assorted herbs. I make an avocado salsa from the South Beach recipe book to go with it. The fish cooks up amazingly and I think to myself, well maybe...just maybe....
The true test is when my husband sits down and takes his first bite (he has no clue how much I spent on the fish at this point). "This is good," he remarks. And I release a small intake of breath. "It doesn't really taste like anything," he claims. These are all good comments from him. So he likes the fish, thinks it's great infact. He wouldn't choose it over a hamburger but as fish goes, he gives it a thumbs up. Then I tell him the price etc. etc. and he claims that I have now set the bar. I know now to get really great tasting fish I have to shell out the money for it. No surprise there, really, since we typically get what we pay for. Honestly, though, I'm thrilled that i finally figured out how to make fish and feed my family happily and healthy without all that added greasy breading or the upturned stomach from that overly "fishy taste". My daughter scarfed it down along with her brocolli and avacado salsa...of course she eats raw spinach as a 4 year old so isn't a true test for kiddo taste...my 2yr. old son didn't eat it though.... anyway...lesson learned here... expensive fish is good.

The Emperor's Children

So I just finished reading The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud and it is really too fresh in my mind to reflect upon. I did read it quickly and found I couldn't put it down. However, it wrestles with grand issues of truth, honesty, intellectualism and idealism (if there is such a thing as "true" intellectualism or if it is simply mental masturbation....or fluffing one's own ego). This novel plays with our perception of our American-selves pre 9/11 and post 9/11. It challenges us to think about our selves.... our ideals in this "new America"... despite the fact that... reading it in 2008 it seems as though we are steaming along in the same direction as always ignoring or avoiding the changes that 9/11 should have illicited. Like I said... it's too present in my mind and I must think on it more....

Earth Day

So, yesterday was Earth Day...what did you do? After printing out multiple copies of Miranda's IEP to distribute to various private therapists (yes I know...lots of dead trees there), I raced to HEB and bought 10 of their meshy-clothy grocery bags before meeting back up with Miranda's OT to discuss her progress. I am pleased to finally say goodbye to plastic bags. They clutter up my home and are completely unmanagable for a person like me...good riddance! 99 cents a bag is a really cheap price to pay and I'm happy to do it. I read not that long ago that plastic trash accumulates in the ocean and that bottom dwellers and fishyies eat and inhabit the plastic. We catch these fish and then eat them. By consuming them we are also consuming the poisionious plastic they have been eating. YUCK! This whole turning 30 experience is really making me freak about what we put in our bodies and such... I guess these thoughts will develop more in posts to come.
My father died of a heart attack when he was 42 or 43 ( I honestly can't remember the exact date but this is what my mom tells me). Anyway, I'm a decade away from that and it scares the explitive explitive out of me! I suppose my thoughts of changing things are a way to deal with that. When I was 12 43 seemed old...but it seems sooooooo young to me now...I suppose changing things and taking control of what we as a family eat, our activity, and how we conserve will give me some power to not fear the fate my father received.

ARD

Sorry to not have posted for awhile. My daughter had her annual ARD (Admission Review Dismissal) this week which was a source of stress for me... Plus I've been trying to figure out what to do for her over the summer to make sure she mantains her skills and doesn't regress and, hopefully, learns new things! I really haven't been doing a lot of sewing or much of anything else for these reasons. Hopefully my life will settle down to normal again.
On a side note...I turned 30 yesterday... :( not too thrilled about it but dealing with it! More on that to come as well! :)