Feeling hot, hot, hot

Well summer suddenly is in full swing. Today and yesterday were oppressively hot. Now, don't get me wrong I truly like the warmth. Summer is quite possibly my favorite time of year, but I do prefer easing my way into it a bit...same way I do when I go swimming in icy water. I get my feet wet and accustomed to the cool and then I can dive right in.

So, as much as I could sit here and complain about my stuffy house or the sweat dripping down my back, I'd rather dwell on the things that make me happy about this time of year. Like the sound of fans whirring away. The buzzing, calling of the tree frogs at night. The fun things sprouting up around the garden. A midday lounge atop the soft, cool chenille bedspread with a good magazine in hand and not feeling the least bit guilty because it's too darn hot to do anything else. A big frosty glass of iced green tea- I like to have a quart of that tea made up and waiting in the fridge. Splashing around in the creek. First sightings of fireflies this year. Expansive fields of green. And of course there's more, lots more to be happy about. I'm sure I'll be telling you all about it. In the meantime, stay cool.

Old dress, new dress

My soon to be one year old(!) miss was in need of a new dress and I have been hankering to sew. This is what I came up with:
The dress shape is very simple jumper style. The pattern was made by tracing an old favorite dress from Ava's toddling days. The ruffle and reversible side are made from the same fabric that I used to make her bonnet and bloomers pictured here.
Now here are a couple of picture of Ava when she was nearly one year old. She's wearing the old handmade (not by me) dress that I used to trace Lilla's new one. I remember this day in the beautiful seaside village of Mendocino, California. This was one of my favorite stops from our cross country trip so many years ago.
See any resemblance between these sisters?

Little house in the lawn

Three or four years ago when Ava was head over heels for The Little House on the Prairie, I thought a doll's log cabin kit would be a perfect Christmas gift. I had warm, fuzzy images of Ava putting together the kit alongside her parents over the holiday vacation week. HA! Once that "gift" was opened and looked at, we soon realized that it was not going to be a simple project to bang out in a week. This 500+ piece kit was going to be a saga....a several month long project

Ultimately the project was worth all the time spent. Once the assembling, gluing, drying, painting and more drying was done (whew!), Ava's pioneer dolls (a few like this) happily moved into their new digs. The dolls had been previously shacked up in the attic of the wooden barn with the Breyer horses underneath. I remember Ava, in very much the Ingalls fashion, packing the dolls things up in the "wagon"- an old clementine box- to move into the new house.

And that pioneer family thought they had seen it all: from seven months worth of blizzards to grasshoppers raining from the sky and eating their entire crop not to mention the tumble weed balls of fire rolling straight toward their home. But they probably never imagined seeing this giant knocking at their door: Here's to many more years of happy play with the little house!

Going prairie style

I couldn't resist making one of these old fashioned bonnets for Lilla.

Lately, we've been on a Little House and the Prairie bender. Rowan and I have read the first six books of the series over the last month or so. Every night we read before bed...sometimes not able to stop ourselves from reading "just one (or two, or three) more chapter(s)!" We're just in love with the adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.

Actually, I fell in love with these books when I read them to Ava a few years ago. Ava got all into it, insisting I make a slew of prairie style dress-ups. And we still have a few calico dresses, aprons, and bonnets floating around.

Oh, it's been fun falling in love all over again with these books, especially as Rowan's fresh ears listen on. And as he says of the stories: "I feel like they are a part of my heart."

I heart Indian food

(These aren't so beautiful, but they are delicious! )

Those flavor combinations- the spicy/savory/sweet/sour- and textures are just heavenly to me. But the disappointing thing is that most Indian recipes I've tried don't come close to the deliciousness to be had in restaurants.

When we lived in the city a few doors down from the famed (to us anyway) Punjabi Dhaba restaurant, we would go there every week or two. And my favorite dishes- either saag paneer or beigan bharta- were just perfect.  We used to go- with little Ava toddling along and for twelve or so dollars would roll out like stuffed pigs. It was SO good.

Though I've never been able to successfully reproduce my favorite dishes at home, there are a couple recipes I've found that rival those I can get out and about. Today I'm talking about pakoras. Normally I don't love deep frying food at home. But that little rule must be broken occasionally, if only to make pakoras- those delightfully spiced vegetable fritters.

A forewarning to the following recipe: it will make your house reek with the pungency of onions and hot oil.... the vent over the stove helps a bit...but the odor is persistent. For most people this is not so desirable, but I'm the kind of girl that uses up a ten pound bag of onions every other week. On a side note, a dish of white vinegar left on the counter will help quell some of the cooking odors.
Onion Pakora Recipe (from A Taste of Julie Jordan)
6 onions sliced into thin cresents
juice of two lemons
1 tablespoon salt (yes that's a lot of salt)
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 cups chick pea flour
Light vegetable oil for frying

1. Mix together the onions, lemon juice, salt and spices. In India the mixing is done vigorously with the hands. Squeeze the spices into the onions. Let sit for 30-60 minutes. The onions throw off juice which will become part of the batter when mixed with the chick pea flour.

2. After sitting time, mix in chick pea flour to onions.

3. In a medium sized frying pan ( I love my cast iron for this) measure oil about 1/2 inch deep and heat until a tiny bit of the batter dropped in sizzles. Pull out small handfuls of the onion mixture and drop in the oil. Fry each pakora until brown and crisp, turning once. Drain on paper towels or a brown paper bag.

4. Serve hot. Best absolutely fresh, but heat up nicely in the oven.

Variations:
replace 2 onions with a total of 2 cups of either (or a mixture of) finely chopped cabbage, spinach, grated zucchini or carrots.

Serve with:

Julie Sahni's Sweet and Spicy Tamarind Chutney:
4 ounces tamarind (about 1 tangerine size ball)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/12 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dry ginger powder
2 teaspoons dry mango powder (or tablespoons lemon juice)
1/2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon course salt
1/4 cup sugar

1. Put tamarind in a nonmetallic bowl and add two cups boiling water. Soak for 30 minutes. Strain liquid, squeezing and mashing pulp to extract as much juice as possible, into another bowl. Add another 1/2 boiling water to the residue. When cool enough to handle, squeeze pulp again and strain the liquid. Measure the tamarind liquid. There should be 2 3/4 cups. Discard fibrous pulp. (I cheat on this whole process and just use tamarind concentrate mixed with hot water because I'm too lazy to soak and strain and repeat. I used to use the tamarind pulp, but it's a pain and way more messy).

2.To the bowl of tamarind liquid add all the other ingredients mixing well to blend. Serve as a dipping sauce aside the pakoras. Yum- yum.

The May flowers...

...are blooming. And they all seem to be purple. Well, all the ones in my garden anyway. These puff ball-like Alliums ('purple sensation' I think) are one of my favorites: The lilacs smell divine. We've got a bit more time to enjoy them:
Two years ago I divided and moved the irises from their crowded spots by the side of the house. Last year, they hardly bloomed. This year they've found their roots and gotten comfortable:
Must plant more of these Allium bulbs in the Fall...I love them so!

Kid's art

In this house, kid's artwork and treasures seem to be everywhere...on top of the cupboards, plastered on the walls, and heaped onto windowsills. Sometimes I'm at a loss as to what to do with the mounds of material that come through the door. The children are quite prolific with their paintings, drawings, collages, pottery, dioramas and more. Then there's all those gifts from nature we find: pretty stones, found feathers, special shells, pine cones, and nests to mention a few. I really love this pottery that Ava made at school and carefully brought home wrapped in newsprint. I remember how excited she was about bringing home each of these:
The kids really enjoy looking at the their old drawings up on the walls and remembering how old they were when they made them. "That's the picture I made of you when I was three!" Rowan says about this picture in the foreground.
Rowan has designated the window sill by the back door as our nature's table and this is where the special bits from outside come in. It looks a bit scruffy but he takes great pride in this corner. Upon finding an empty robin's eggshell the other day he quickly plucked it up and said, "I better put this in the nature section."