Hi all,

Our biggest project going this week is getting the Bee on a schedule. She’s really taken to it, so the only hard part has been training myself to stick to it.

Today, things went so well that we got a chance to play out in the yard:

She sat up on her own once the other day, and keeps looking like she'll do it again!

and go for a swim. It’s fabulous living in Southern California where we can do summertime things in the middle of November!

Now that Ada’s napping on schedule, I’m getting around to a few things that have been on my “to do” list for quite some time. Today, I made paneer.

I love Indian food. My first introduction to it was in high school, when a family friend took me out to dinner and introduced me to chicken tikka masala, dal, and saag paneer. It was love at first bite. I’ve wanted to try my hand at making a cheese for a while, so when I started craving the creamy spinachy goodness that is saag paneer, it was easy to decide what the first cheese should be.

There seem to be two common ways to make paneer: one involving lemon or lime juice, and the other involving buttermilk. After a little research, I decided the buttermilk recipe was for me. People mentioned that it was lighter, sweeter and creamier than its citrus counterpart, so that seemed the way to go.

So, without further ado:

How to Make Paneer Cheese

Measure out four parts whole milk to one part buttermilk.

Put the milk in a heavy pan and heat on medium-high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Reduce heat to medium. Add buttermilk, then bring back to a boil. The curds will begin to separate from the whey.

After cooking for around 5 minutes, the curds will have completely separated. Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Line a bowl with cheesecloth. Pour the curds and whey into the bowl, then lift and twist the cheesecloth to separate out the curds and press out the whey.

Tie a string around the cheesecloth and hang it from the faucet for 2 or 3 hours. Go do something fun!

Invert a salad plate over a dinner plate (the dinner plate will catch the runoff during this next step).

Center the cheese on the salad plate.

Place a pan full of water on top of the cheese (I just used the pan I cooked the milk in). Leave it there for 2 or 3 hours. Go take a nap.

When you pull off the pan, you'll have a squashed cheese patty.

Unwrap and either enjoy or refrigerate. Keeps for 2-3 days. I used 6 cups of milk and 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk, and was rewarded with about half a pound of cheese. It's delicious!

Tomorrow: How to Make Saag Paneer!

Friends, my plan was to start off by telling you about the various things we did this weekend, but a startling new development must be mentioned first.

Our dear Ada can sit up. By herself. No, there are no pictures of it yet, as it only happened once. I, of course, squealed with delight, clapped my hands, and hurried over to smooch her. D was also elated. The Bee stared at us like we were crazy people, then promptly laid back down.

I will be following her around with a camera all day tomorrow.

Aside from that, we had a photo shoot at Quail Botanical Gardens with Autumn  of Picket Fence Productions. We’re super excited about getting the photos back, especially after the teaser she sent us:

Smiley McGrinsalot

I’d like to point out that Bee is now wearing size 12 month clothes. This means she can finally wear this orange sweater, which happens to be the very first thing I ever made for her (just over a year ago).

Things you probably know about me: I like doing crafty things. I like knitting. I keep some yarn around to knit.

Things you may not have known about me:

Please pardon the mess - there are a lot of things in progress. I'm not even going to begin explaining those things in the upper left hand corner. Just be glad they're not in your house.

I keep more than “some” yarn around. I have a tendency to buy yarn first, then figure out what to make with it later. When we travel, I buy yarn as souvenirs (then think about the trip the whole time I’m knitting with it).

I bought the orange yarn for Ada’s sweater in Iguazu, Argentina, while we were on our honeymoon. About five months later, I was using it to knit a sweater for our baby-to-be (we didn’t even know she was a girl yet)! It brought back a whole lot of memories to see this on her, and she seems to like it. Most importantly, she looks adorable in it!

*note for Ravelry users: it’s the Yoda sweater

We had a tasty lunch with D’s folks, who just returned from a fabulous Hawaiian vacation, and were looking very tan.

I finished The World’s Most Ridiculous Baby Jacket:

ta-dah!

D took some pictures of another dress for my etsy shop:

Seriously cute with black leggings

And last, but not least, we found out that the Bee likes dogs:

Good job on the picture, Great Grandpa Wayne!

We had a tasty dinner with Ada’s great grandparents (and they are great), during which she was completely enthralled by their beagle pup. The puppy was born the day after Ada. Soulmates?

Hi all,

No post last night. We had friends over for dinner (thanks, guys – it was great seeing you!), and after one and a half very strong beers, I was unable to do anything but go to bed. My 21-year-old self would be ashamed.

We did, however, have a delicious dinner: this amazing Two-Corn Polenta from Fresh365 (an amazing food blog). I made a huge pot of it, and everyone took turns stirring it as they walked through the kitchen. I’m convinced that made it even tastier!

On an unrelated note, I was emailing back and forth with the Bee’s Great Grandma (and she is great!) last night and telling her the story of how the blog started. I like what I told her better than what I put in my first post, so now I’m going to share that, since, in her words, the first time you write something is the best expression of how you are and who you are.

“My plan was to keep a journal for Ada from the day she was born. Actually, I bought the journal a month or two before she was born. It sat in the craft room, then on the dining room table, then in a drawer in my desk at work, then under a seat in my car (where I think it might still be) without my ever writing a word in it. Every time I started to put together something to write, it kept turning into sappy love letters. Before she was born, I thought “Oh, how silly. One day she’d read it and laugh at what a nutty old hormone-addled fool her mom was to be writing such schlock about a baby she hadn’t even met yet.” Now I wish I’d written those before she was born. Once she was in the hospital, I couldn’t write anything in it, because thinking about her laying there covered in bruises and tubes and wires made me cry. Once she was home, I couldn’t put her down long enough to write something, because if I set her down and started thinking of something to write in the journal, I thought, “wouldn’t it be a better show of love to just go in there and scoop her back up and give her some snuggles and kisses?” I’m going to stand by that one. I’m just as glad I used any available moment to snuggle her.

Now that she’s old enough that she wants some “play on my own” time, though, and that she starts out each night in a crib instead of sleeping on me or snuggled up between us in bed, I feel like there’s no excuse to not record how wonderful she’s made our life. ”

So that’s really what I’m going for here. That, and a little homemaker blogging.

We bought buttons for the coat yesterday at Beverly’s. Bee helped pick them out. She’s got great taste, that little one! I’m hoping to have a finished project to show you today!

We had a lovely day today. Went to the baby read-along at the La Mesa Library, which was quite a bit more fun than I’d imagined. Aside from reading a few board books together, we sang songs, learned some sign language, clapped and bounced, and played with a few big boxes full of toys! I should have gotten pictures of the Bee hamming it up for the older babies there, but was a bad mama and forgot to put my camera back in my bag. I won’t make that mistake next time!

On another note, we’re very much looking forward to a Thanksgiving trip to visit my father in eastern New Mexico. It actually gets cold there in winter (unlike San Diego, for those of you who remember mowing your lawn in shorts and a tank top a couple of Christmases ago), which means Bee needs a coat. Of course, I’m happy to oblige.

Here’s a picture of the work in progress – the lighting’s not great in here, so it’s a little difficult to tell what a pretty shade of deep purple that babywale corduroy is.

Now, if I can just find buttons for it...

Cute, right? There’s a surprise inside, too!

Why, yes! That IS hot pink cherry blossom brocade!

This is officially The World’s Most Ridiculous Baby Jacket. Next time, I’m making it with a hood. And maybe one for me.

In an attempt to enjoy the last days of summer, or rather, in an attempt to convince myself that summer will eventually end, I took the Bee to the zoo today. It was sunny and warm and beautiful and everything that makes me glad to live in San Diego, and I was again reminded of how lucky we are to be here.

Our day, in pictures:

We saw these guys, with their faces pressed up to the glass.

That gave us a good chuckle.

We saw some otters smoochin' it up. Go for it, little guys!

This little lady had a great time!

...then home again to do some reading and a little work on Christmas presents!

I have often been heard to brag about Bee’s unfailingly awesome demeanor.  “She’s so outgoing!” “Well, she’s a pretty friendly little gal, and seems to have a pretty good sense of humor.” “Oh, she really only cries three or four times a month. Seriously.”

That last one came back to haunt me today. Big time. Poor Bee is teething, among other things, and decided that today was the day to let me know exactly how cheery and laid-back she felt about the whole ordeal. Today was the first day since she joined our household that I’ve missed office life. I’ve had some pretty crazy coworkers, but none of them ever shrieked in my ear while trying to head-butt me and disrobe me at the same time. For three hours. That kid has excellent muscle tone for an infant.

We had planned to have friends for dinner tonight, and after recovering enough sanity to take full inventory of the wreckage in the living room (to say nothing of the hot mess I had become), I decided it would be easier to reschedule than to try to summon the power to clean and cook. Thanks for understanding, you guys!

I still had a fridge full of steak that needed to be cooked, though, so I put together the ultimate in comfort food, and would like to share the recipe with anyone else who’s delighted it’s cool enough to use the oven again.

1) Convince the love of your life that it’s perfectly safe to interact with the demon baby while you run and hide in the kitchen.

She was ever so sweet for him, but the glowing red eyes tell another story.

2) Gather together the following:

Steaks – thin cut. The cheaper and fattier, the better the result will be  (I used about 2 lbs of thin-cut boneless chuck steak), seasoned with salt and pepper

2 pasilla peppers

2 white onions, sliced

a big can of whole tomatoes (28 oz.)

a couple of good-sized handfuls of little red potatoes, sliced

2-4 cloves garlic

cumin

coriander

salt and pepper

olive oil

red wine vinegar

either a wide, shallow oven-proof dish and a frying pan or a lidded, shallow cast-iron pot that can go from range to oven (I used my Le Creuset bistro pan; a buffet casserole would work well, too)

3) Cook:

Heat your oven to 325 degrees.

Place your peppers directly onto the gas fire of your stove, and leave them there until charred all over, turning them occasionally with a set of tongs. Remove them from the heat, wrap them in plastic wrap, and set them aside until cool. Rub the burn skins off and pull out the stem and seeds. This will be messy. DO NOT rinse off the peppers, or you’ll lose a lot of flavor. It helps to keep the water in the sink running so you can rinse your hands a few times during the process. Slice the peppers.

Pour enough olive oil into the pan to lightly coat it. Heat until shimmering, then brown the steaks. You’ll probably have to do this in batches.

Set the steaks aside and cook the onions in the same pan, seasoning them with salt and pepper, until they soften. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and toss them into the pan. Add about a teaspoon of ground cumin and a teaspoon of ground coriander. Cook for a minute, then add the can of tomatoes.

Stir, breaking the tomatoes up with your spoon. Be careful not to get tomato juice all over yourself. If using the same pan, add the steaks, potatoes, and peppers to the pan, drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar, and toss the whole mess as best you can. Put a lid on it and put it in the oven. If using another dish, put the meat, potatoes, and peppers into the dish, stir the vinegar into the tomato sauce, then pour the sauce over the steaks. Cover with tinfoil and put it in the oven.

Braise for about an hour (the potatoes should be very tender), then pull the lid/foil off and continue to cook for another 20-30 minutes until there’s a nice crust formed around the rim of the pan.

4) Serve with a glass of wine (I chose a Malbec) or a bottle of beer, and forget this whole day ever happened.

So delicious.

And now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m done for the evening.

Hi all,

I’ve been meaning to keep a blog about the goings-on around here for some time. I really had every intention of keeping everyone in the loop on what we’ve been up to. The thing is, we’ve just been so incredibly busy doing things that it’s hard to find time to sit still to write about it!

This weekend, of course, marked the Bee’s first Halloween. Ever since it first occurred to me that I might like to be a parent someday, I’ve been looking forward to making Halloween costumes. Fantastic, elaborate, ridiculous Halloween costumes. I didn’t realize how busy life would be with a six-month-old around, though, and I had to put “incredibly elaborate” on hold. I’m proud enough that I managed to make this:

Gnomey the Gnome and her dad, Angus Young

Bee’s costume, that is, not her dad’s. I’m not sharing the responsibility for that terrifying wig. Okay, the boots are Old Navy, but still! Bee, btw, won first prize in the kiddie costume contest at D’s office. That’s right, I’m now officially an award-winning seamstress! Huff, puff, etc.

Somehow, on Halloween, we also managed to get our sleep-deprived tushies in gear to carve up an adorable pumpkin family:

Please note the striking resemblances.

I think that’s enough to bring you up to speed on our weekend.  Need one last shot of gnomey cuteness?

Comin' right atcha!

Hope everyone’s Halloween was fabulous, that you had all the fun you wanted, and that you didn’t end up with as much tempting sugary leftover goodness as we did.