live from sublurbia

I’ve got my rain barrel up and running just in time for the tremendous rainstorms. Yay! Now if only I had a better spot for it. Not getting a lot of roof run off at the front of the gable. :(

However, the sides of the house are getting soaked. I’ve got a big tub out there, catching water that also doubles as a mud-rinsing sink. So, why not move it? But the rain barrel just looks good at the front.

So I got a bucket and moved the water from the side of the house to the rain barrel one gallon at a time. Ridiculous, I know, but at least it’s getting filled …

And I’ve got the back garden beds cleaned out. They’re falling apart but they should last me one more season. I’ve layered in some veggie potting soil and just spent this lovely cool sixty-degree morning transplanting in some vines and fruits.

Yay rainy season, bring it on! (But no more tornado warnings, kthx!)

1 Comment »

For more WMFW tips, visit our hosts at: We are THAT family.

---

You think with my mega food prep post last month (I know, it’s been a crazy month) I would have covered beans. Small error on my part, sorry.

I’ve been using dried and frozen and freeze dried vegetables for years – there was a metals allergy in my family so I never was much for canned veggies. And maybe it’s my inability to plan meals correctly, but the “standard sized can” of veggies isn’t quite enough for two meals, and too much for one. Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

Think of a something Thursday

I’ve been thinking wayyy too much about food lately. The holidays are coming, I’m packing lunches and snacks for folks, planning my own meals away from the family, either on the road doing small writing projects or at home.

And LEFTOVERS. Oh, the leftovers. And quick-fix meals. And long-term cooking. And my freezer that keeps clicking.

The cycle usually goes like this. I get in a mood to cook a lot, or I find a deal and make a lot of something. Then I have the same tasting leftovers in the freezer forever, using up all of the few containers I have.

So I came up with a better idea while brainstorming this problem. Turn all the food into ice cubes. It worked for my breastmilk in my pumping days. It worked for kiddie purees. It works for my leftover broths! Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

_{For other WFMW tips, see our hosts at “We are THAT family”!}

---

I told myself I wouldn’t pressure myself to WMFW on vacation, but sometimes inspiration smacks you upside the head.

Instead of making sixteen billion different custom sandwiches for the kids every lunch day we have sandwiches, we made three or four and cut them up. The kids served themselves, family style, and all we had to do was shout “This plate is peanut butter, this plate is jelly” half a dozen times.

One time we got smart – jelly on white, peanut butter on wheat. Two days later even smarter – different shapes! Pictured are cheese (triangle), jelly (square) and peanut butter (rectangle). We’re still repeating ourselves, but not quite as much …

No Comments »

And it’s way, way too quiet. I’d been hoping the roofer would be out today, finishing my leaky roof, but it’s after two and still no materials have been delivered. Sigh.

Meantime, I’m crocking up some beans and some enchilada sauce for dinner tonight. Mmmm, enchiladas. Just like mom used to make, and now I make my way. I’m sure as the years go on I’ll develop my own quirks for the recipe, but for now, I’m sticking to as close to her formula as given (the basic formula – the long version is a multi-page treatise on various chilies and their preparation into the fire-nectar of the buds.

We have a first tomato! I bought some sad looking plants a couple weeks back and they look to be in shock (I’ve not yet transplanted them). Despite that, I’ve got one tomato, red and ripe and ready to eat – except for the small matter of its freckles. Hot tar splashed on the poor thing, so I guess it’s unfit to eat. But I’ll compost it back for other garden karma, maybe among the flowers.

Otherwise, it’s a nice lazy day near the end of summer. Within the next day we’ll be swarming with another pile of cousins and I can hardly wait until they arrive.

1 Comment »

FYI, South and West county to be mosquito sprayed Friday night. If you have veggies and rain barrels you’d rather not be sprayed, cover them up.

Don’t forget to cover or keep circulating rain barrels and other water sources, or continue other methods of mosquito abatement. Reading Mother Earth News this month reminds me how much my childhood fowl did to keep the bugs down, but we’re not zoned for that kind of help.

No Comments »

This week’s theme over at WFMW is: Summer Recipes!

Not that hard; it’s summer here all year long (thereabouts) so just about anything we do is fair game. The “recipes” the kids come up with every Saturday during our picnic playdate and lunch – usually involve stacking, smashing and rending lunch into objects of art for the eyes, then stomach.

But my favorite summer recipe this year is Freezer Jam. Most of the fun of a dry run on canning, without the greater chance of my lack of lots of experience giving us botulism.

It started out with a trip to the cousins’ house, where they’d just gotten in a huge batch of strawberries from the co-op.

The general recipe we followed was printed on the pectin packet: Continue Reading »

2 Comments »

If I didn’t know better, I’d say my spices were afraid of heights.

No Comments »

Not to make it a habit but blogging about something that didn’t work last week was actually kind of nice. A lot of famous experimenters and inventors didn’t knock it out of the park the first thing, and goodness knows I’ve screwed up more than a few things trying to raise these kids and heck just figure out life. Some of my Facebook friends had some nice comments and suggestions to go along with it, too.

This last week back home was a little crazy – extra house guests and the house a fright from being away for two weeks. I woke up Sunday morning to the unusually overpowering odor of curry powder. Fearing the young ones had decided to fix themselves breakfast and managed to roll their ownselves in curry powder, I popped into a kitchen thick with curry scent and minus all my throw rugs.

Luckily, another adult had gotten to the scene first. Unluckily, my experiment in floating spices had failed. Glass, fine powder, tile floor, throw rugs … clean up on asile me! Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

But I don’t know anything yet. Won’t for weeks and weeks, if ever. Well, if they don’t call, they’re just not that into me. But you don’t know if you don’t try. And I found a Twitter page that might be useful for updates. :)

But I’m busy reliving the adventure part of traveling to NYC. :) Re-reading the YA books I grew up with, watching a second remake of The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, and emailing everyone I met there. They just showed a scene shot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; kind of makes me wish I’d dawdled there sometime instead of working the entire trip. Sometime I’ll take a leisurely trip there; but helping plan the invasion of big chunks of family here reminds me that there are many things to explore here.

Of the things I enjoyed, I think I liked the variety of Mexican food, the art supply stores and the Highline Park most of all. In a few years the kids will be old enough to read my little Manhattan-specific reading list (Remember me to Harold Square!) and maybe we’ll either plan a trip to re-create that adventure or plan one of our own.

No Comments »