Happy Halloween!

Last night we went to our friend Staci's 6th Annual Halloween Extravaganza -- this is our second year attending. We have the good fortune to have friends who love dressing up and spend months thinking and scheming about their costumes. It forces us to stay on our toes. This is our first holiday as a family of three, so I had a lot of fun figuring out our costumes. Naturally, J and I were merely accessories to Little, I mean, Thing One. 

The party started at 7pm and we were the first to arrive. Little charmed the early arrivals for approximately 45 minutes and then decided that parties pretty much suck. I went into the back room, swaddled him and shushed him to sleep and placed him in his stroller where he slept for a solid two hours. I guess the boom of the music and the the loud voices of the 25+ people were the perfect white noise. I was still nervous about leaving him alone where I couldn't hear his cries, but managed to have a great time while checking in on him every 20 minutes or so. 

By 10pm, J and I were both pooped. So, I fed our sleepy baby, wrapped him up tight, and walked briskly home in the rain. Little stayed dry under the canopy of his stroller, but squawked toward the end to make sure we knew that it was way past his bedtime. Halloween was great this year, but we were all happy to be home and tucked into our warm beds.

Online Dating

While reading a chapter of the Wonder Weeks aloud to J the other morning over breakfast, we found out that around this M is really starting to see colors and patterns more clearly. He also is starting to enjoy movement more, such as rustling leaves on the treetops and shiny clothing or jewelry. Before J left for his business trip to D.C. (and before the weather abruptly changed from warm sunny days to cold and rainy) we had been taking afternoon walks with M in his stroller. His eyes would stay wide open, taking in all of the scenery, and then about 10 minutes from home he'd fall asleep and nap. So, I feel that we've done a pretty good job of exposing him to new objects and places. 

It's people that we've left out of the equation. Yes, we've introduced him to many of our friends, but it's been in the comfort of our apartment -- a very familiar setting. He's definitely starting to take interest in people walking by and facial gestures, but J and I were struck by the fact that by 8 weeks, M will start to enjoy watching other children play. It was one of those "oh crap" moments, because we know very few couples with babies. Our friends Anna and Brian are our closest friends with a little one and Elliot is quickly becoming a little boy and is sort of indifferent towards M (I don't blame him...J is much more fun at this point in time). We love our friends here in Portland and have every intention of attending many more happy hours, camping weekends, and birthdays, but it's time to expand our social circle -- we need to start putting ourselves out there to meet more people in our neighborhood with kids. 

So, Operation Find More Friends has commenced. J and I joked that it's like dating all over again. We both managed to avoid doing the online dating game the first time around, but this time I think it's inevitable. Don't worry (moms) we're not posting creepy Craigslist want ads or anything. I'm going through completely respectable channels to pick up other couples with babies. I joined a group of ladies called the Super Strollers who go out walking on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the weekends. There are only 3 or 4 in the group, but they all live in NW Portland. I haven't actually gone out with them yet, but making contact and setting up dates is the first step right? I'm also going to join a parenting group at the local hospital that meets once a week. With M as my wing man, how could I go wrong? M is already honing his Blackberry skills for all of those phone numbers we're going to rake in.

Naptime Gourmet

My goal yesterday was to utilize Miles' morning nap time to the fullest. Some days I just don't have the energy to do much more than check my email and stare off into space, but Miles (knock on wood) has been sleeping really well at night, so I've been waking up quite refreshed. He went down around 10am and I got to work in the kitchen. 

I decided to crack open the Slow Cooker Gourmet and try another recipe since the first round was so successful. Sticking with the Mexican section, I flagged the Pork Stew in Tomatillo sauce. As I mentioned before, this isn't your average slow cooker cookbook, so there was some prep time involved. I roasted tomatillos, serrano peppers, onion and garlic under the broiler until everything was soft and slightly blackened. This veggie mixture was combined with chicken stock and I added a small bunch of cilantro before blending into a sauce and added a bit more salt. I was supposed to put a corn tortilla in there before blending to thicken the mixture, but I forgot. I will remember to do this next time.

Next, I salt and peppered a pork roast, diced it into 1 1/2 inch cubes and browned it in two batches and put the browned meat in the bottom of the slow cooker. I think browning the meat is one of the most important parts of having success with the slow cooker. If you skip this step then you'll likely end up with bland unappealing hunks of meat in whatever sauce you're cooking. It took some extra prep time, but was totally worth the effort. After the two batches of pork were browned, I de-glazed the pan with a little dry vermouth (white wine or even water would do as well) and poured the liquid over the pork in the bottom of the slow cooker. Don't skip his step! The browned juices are the best part. 

I then dumped the tomatillo mixture over the pork, covered the slow cooker and set it on low for 6-8 hours. If the sauce looks too thin, just remove the cover for the last hour or two to let some of the liquid evaporate. Even though the recipe had a bit of work before going in the slow cooker, I was still able to finish it up in about 45 minutes and still had time left over to clean up the giant mess I made in the kitchen.

And the result? Incredibly tasty. The pork fell apart when pressed with a fork and the sauce was tangy and slightly spicy. We served it over rice with a liberal sprinkling of queso fresco on top. The cheese melted over the hot stew and added a nice salty kick. I paired my meal with a Drop Top amber ale and it was perfect. It feels so good to be able to cook delicious meals again even though I don't have nearly as much time to devote to cooking as I did before Miles came along. I'm going to continue to experiment with recipes for the slow cooker and maybe even develop a few of my own once I get the hang of ratios and ingredients. 

Pork Stew in Tomatillo Sauce (Ingredients and Recap)

2-3 lbs pork loin (or a fattier cut if you wish)
3 lbs tomatillos
2 serrano peppers
1 onion peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic peeled
2 c. chicken stock
1 c. fresh cilantro  
1 corn tortilla
salt to taste
queso fresco and fresh cilantro for garnish





Salt, pepper and dice pork into 1 1/2" cubes. Brown in two batches and place in slow cooker. De-glaze pan with white wine or water and pour liquid over pork.


Roast tomatillos, onion, peppers, and garlic under broiler until soft and slightly blackened. Blend veggie mixture with chicken stock, cilantro, and corn tortilla. Salt to taste.


Pour tomatillo mixture over pork and cook on low for 6-8 hours (removing lid for last hour or two if mixture isn't thick enough). Serve over brown rice with crumbled queso fresco on top.

On My Bookshelf

Lately, my bookshelf has been a revolving collection of baby, parenting, and post-pregnancy books on trial from the library. After reading quite a bit of "professional" advice on eating, sleeping, and routines, I've happily dumped most of them right back in the library return box. The extent to which some of these guides want you to structure your day is exhausting. I just don't have the time or inclination to schedule "alone play time" for my 7-week-old and trying to structure feedings by the clock has proven to make my days more harrowing than restful. Anyway, there have been two books that I actually felt compelled to buy. One about me and one about Miles. 

The first is a book called The Wonder Weeks, which takes a more positive spin on the fussy periods in an infant's development. Instead of seeing Miles as a cranktastic baby that needs to be fixed, it has helped me understand that these trying times are actually quite wonderful because it means he's growing, both mentally and physically. After reading the chapter on the Wonder Week 5, I realized that earlier in the month, Miles wasn't just being a total pain in the butt for no reason. He wasn't napping, he was feeding constantly, and was generally a grumpy little guy -- all indicators that he was making mental leaps and was probably really overwhelmed. The next milestone is Wonder Week 8 in which babies start to understand that they are not one in the same with the world around them. He'll start to recognize that his arms are in fact his and colors and patterns are more clear. The book also provides a really great checklist of some of the things that you might start to see in the week leading up to and following each wonder week. For instance, this week one of the games they suggest is helping him pull up into a sitting and standing position. We tried it and he loves it. In fact, he wants to stand all the time now, which is awesome and a little frustrating because it really tires him out. One thing that we also read is that around this time, babies really enjoy watching rustling leaves and being outdoors, so we decided to take him out for a spin in his Baby Jogger stroller because the weather was so nice. 

Which leads me to my second book, Exercise After Pregnancy. Even though I only have about 3-5 pounds to shed to make it back to my pre-pregnancy weight, my belly is still pretty mushy and jiggly. The other day I pulled out my prenatal pilates DVD, which has a special postnatal workout, and found it nearly impossible to finish the 20 minute session. I don't consider myself to be greatly out of shape, so struggling through the "easy" warm-up exercises was difficult to swallow.  

I learned from the book that it's important to take it slow and focus on getting your abs back into the right place before doing any hardcore strengthening exercises. Apparently, a lot of women's ab muscles split down the middle and are stretched to maximum capacity -- and we all know how big my belly got toward the end! When I checked to see if this was the case with me, I found that I had a good three finger widths between my right and left side. With that in mind, the book focuses on getting back your posture by gently strengthening your core. Also, all of the women pictured in the book are actually moms -- round midsections, love handles and all. For me, exercise is much more tolerable when it's coming from a woman who actually looks 12 weeks postpartum as opposed to Brooke Burke cheerfully bouncing on an exercise ball with unnaturally perky boobs and a 14-inch waist.   

So for now, I'm now working on getting my rectus abdominis pulled in closer and then I can focus more on shortening the muscles to back where they should be. I mean, while my maternity jeans are oh so comfy, I'd really like to be able to put on a normal pair of pants sometime in the near future.

Apple Season

J and I always look forward to this time of year. The weather starts to get cooler, but is still sunny and the grocery store fills up with all kinds of delicious local apples. We thought about attending an apple tasting at a local nursery. However, J got his flu shot on Friday and M didn't have a very restful night, leaving us worried that he might be catching a cold. I'm pretty sure M is just fine (and his gurgling, snorting, and coughing were just quirky newborn noises), but we both decided that it would be a great weekend to just hang out in our pj's. Fortunately, our lounging didn't interfere with enjoying one of the season's greatest treats. 

It's been a while since J baked a pie, so he was eager to dust off his favorite crust recipe and try out the new apple peeler that I picked up at Kitchen Kaboodle. We've had one of these gadgets on our kitchen wishlist for a while, but given that our cooking spaces for the past seven years have been so small, it always seemed like a luxury item. Well, now that we're in a much larger space, it no longer seems like a luxury, but a necessity. J peeled and cored this whole bowl of apples in about 10 minutes. It was great. We used a combination of Braeburn and Granny Smith apples, so there was a nice mixture of sweet and tart. 

J only made enough dough for one crust, so we whipped up a crumble top for the apple pie. While M took his afternoon nap, we cleaned up a bit and did a few chores to the smell of baking apples and cinnamon. Nothing like a pie in the oven to motivate you to get things done! I kept telling myself that if I successfully rearranged the guest bedroom closet that I could maybe have an extra large piece of pie as an afternoon snack. You know, for all those extra calories I would burn re-shelving bedding and camping gear.   

Just look at those perfect apple layers. And the taste is phenomenal. I have to say this may be one of his best baked goods to date! As you can see, less than 24 hours later we've managed to kill half of the pie. We had a slice in the afternoon because neither of us could wait until after dinner to sample the goods. Then, we had a celebratory slice when we finally got M to sleep after nearly two hours of his cranktastic antics. J had a piece for breakfast, followed by his usual oatmeal later. And I'm about to dig in for my second breakfast. I'm thinking that apple pie will not be a regular item on our menu or we'll need a crane to get us out of the apartment come springtime.

More Purple Food

We had an abundance of these purple beans from our CSA sitting in the refrigerator. Tonight I needed a quick vegetable (other than salad) and decided to saute them with a little butter and garlic as a side for the main course. They were pretty cool looking, purple on the outside, and bright green on the inside. I couldn't wait to test them out. Much to our disappointment though, they didn't stay purple. As soon as they started to cook, they turned green and looked just like any other bean. Luckily they were tasty and we had no trouble finishing them all. 

The main course was much more exciting. Jesse and I purchased a slow cooker a couple of weeks ago knowing that life with a baby just wouldn't allow us to spend hours in the kitchen tending the oven and stove. When I was coming up short on inspiration for what to cook (other than pulled pork), my good friend Lauren suggested I purchase the Gourmet Slow Cooker. I was pleasantly surprised when not a single recipe called for canned soup! 

I decided to delve into the Mexican section and prepared chicken in peanut chili sauce for dinner, which really turns out to be more like a mole. The recipes do require more prep time than the usual slow cooker concoctions that I've seen, which involve dumping cans of stuff and cooking the crap out of it. However, I browned the onions and garlic, blended the sauce, and prepped the chicken in the 30 minutes remaining on Miles' nap time. It cooked for about 3 hours on high and the chicken was perfect. We served it over a quinoa pilaf and sprinkled it with a bit of queso fresco. Paired with our hypercolor beans, I was really happy that dinner exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to try out the next recipe on my list, pork stew with tomatillo sauce.

I made quite a mess with the blender and sauce, so Miles and Jesse offered to help with the cleanup. What can I say, I'm one lucky gal.

E & J Diner

One of my favorite meals to eat out is breakfast. In D.C., we frequented The Diner just around the corner from our apartment on Saturday mornings. Sometimes it was after a late night of drinking (where the reuben omelet helped soothe our hungover bellies) or just an early morning. Our rule was to get there before 9:30am to avoid the crowds of more sensible hungover people who slept off the previous night's debauchery. It was always fun to go around 8am when bleary-eyed parents would bounce infants and toddlers on their knees while scarfing down a stack of pancakes. We'd chat about the cuteness of the babies and the brilliance of choosing the diner for meals with little kids -- it was always so noisy that nobody cared when the little ones howled. 

Today, we were those bleary-eyed parents, but lacked any place like the Diner for an early morning meal. Last night wasn't particularly bad for sleep, but Miles was wide awake at 6:30am and ready to rock. I rolled out of bed, changed his position and popped in his pacifier, which bought us exactly twenty-two extra minutes of rest. Jesse groaned something to the effect of, "We've been in bed for 11 hours. I shouldn't be this tired." Mercifully, those twenty-two minutes were just enough for us to wake up and embrace the day (and our baby who was sounding more like a rabid Ewok). Jesse offered to walk over to Ken's Bakery to pick up a baguette for French toast, but then I remembered that we had bacon in the fridge. Hell yeah! Breakfast was on. 

By 7:45, Miles was fed, changed, and happily cracked-out on breast milk in his swing. So, I whipped up a batch of biscuits. Instead of baking and gorging on all twelve, we sensibly froze half of the uncooked dough for another sleepy Saturday morning. Once the biscuits were cut and ready, Jesse got to work on cooking up the bacon and eggs. It was a proper diner breakfast with orange juice, coffee, and a bottle of Cholula that I liberally applied to my scrambled eggs. I forgot how much I love Cholula and vowed to never eat eggs without her again. 

Throw a (Pickled) Egg on It!

Our friends Larson & Serena gave us this great book, Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it, a while ago. While I've poured over the pages from time to time and made plans to have a big pickling/jamming/curing day, it just never happened. 

When my mom was in town a couple of weeks ago, Jesse and I took advantage of her stay to go out for happy hour at Clyde Common for our anniversary. In addition to some of the most delicious mixed drinks I've had in a while (that'll have to wait for another post down the road) we shared small plates including an assortment of house pickled vegetables. On the pickle plate was a wedged pickled egg. I've always been kind of grossed out by pickled eggs, particularly the ones that are colored with purple beets, so I almost wanted to hold my nose when sampling. However, their eggs had a slight yellow tinge, which was not nearly as gross as purple, so I ate one. And I was hooked. It was mind blowing. We decided it was about time to give pickling a try. 

The only thing missing in our kitchen were all the ingredients for pickling spices. So, on Tuesday afternoon I decided to pick up the CSA solo (instead of our usual family trip that can become a somewhat harrowing experience with a screaming infant near the end). I left a few minutes early and stopped by Penzey's in the Pearl and purchased a jar of their pre-mixed pickling spices. This afternoon we decided to hard boil six eggs for a trial batch. They need to sit for seven days to attain maximum pickleness, so we won't have a verdict until then. I think they're pretty spectacular looking though.  


Here's the recipe for our first try at pickling eggs:
(I'll update later if we tweak it a bit)


6 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. water
1 T. Penzey's pickling spices
1.5 tsp. kosher salt**
3 cloves garlic, sliced 


Place eggs and garlic in a 1 pint mason jar. Bring vinegar, water, salt & spices to a boil. Pour over eggs and garlic. Let cool on counter and place in refrigerator for 1 week. Enjoy!

**The first batch turned out to be way too salty, so I halved the salt to 1.5 tsp.

Maybe Moby?

When I got pregnant, I had set out a game plan of ideals. One of my main goals was to have a natural childbirth -- clearly that did not happen. Another one of my goals was to wear the baby as much as possible. I thought it would be so easy to just sling Little on my chest, wrap him up and go about my normal life. Well, just like my birth, life threw a curve ball. I gestated a child who hates swaddling (unless under extreme duress) and despised all forms of child carriers including the famous Moby wrap that apparently is loved by all babies and parents. The first time I put Little in the Moby he howled. The second time he screamed as though I were prodding him with hot pokers. The third time, well, it took us an hour to calm him down. I'm not one for giving up, but needless to say, the Moby went on a high shelf never to be touched again. 

The galling thing about his reaction to the Moby is that it places him in the exact upright position in which he loves to be held. For some reason, after two weeks of avoiding it, I decided to pull the wrap off the shelf today to give it another try. I wrapped it a little looser than usual and slipped him in with hardly a whimper. After a minute or two, he realized he was being confined, so I popped in the pacifier. It worked like a charm. He tolerated it for about 15 minutes then began to rooting around to be fed. I nursed him and slipped him right back in and he passed out for a catnap. In fact, I'm blogging while baby-wearing -- how very new age mom of me.