Super Kids

Our daughters have spent a good portion of the summer writing a comic book. Hubby had the pages photocopied and stapled into books, and then sold them at his table at Wizard World.

The girls may or may not post any more pages online, but here's the cover.

Not That Worried about School Supplies

One of the good things about CPS, in my opinion, is that the school year always starts the day after Labor Day. This year, that's September 8th. So there are still three weeks of summer left for us!

Those are the three weeks into which we try cramming all the things we haven't done yet. We still need to hit the Bristol Renaissance Faire, camp, see the Blue Man Group, spend time at the beach.

And I suppose, buy some school supplies.

This Is Not a Food Blog

A friend of mine noticed I've been writing about food a lot lately - that my blog seems to have morphed into something else. That's true, but I think it's only temporary.

I've been working on a personal project - collecting some family stories and writing them down in some format or another. It's going slowly, because I haven't hit upon the right presentation. Many of the stories revolve around food, and so I've been thinking about how much food has changed over my lifetime. For instance, I grew up watching my grandmother make bread. . . letting it rise and punching it down. My daughters have never seen that process, because the only bread I make is banana bread. They love homemade bread, and we own a bread machine. . . but still. I keep thinking about what has been lost.

This project - a kind of family food genealogy - is always floating around in my head. I only seem to make progress on it if I jot some of these details down somewhere. To make room for more details, I suppose. . .

Anyway, perhaps I'll make some headway on this gray Saturday, since hubby and the girls are at Wizard World.

The Veggie Box Dictates the Dinner

Mostly, the vegetables from our farm share end up in easy to prepare side dishes. One of my favorites is sliced zucchini, onion, and halved cherry tomatoes sauted in a little olive oil with seasonings. Another favorite is a simple salad of greens, fresh basil, and cucumber slices. I used to put onion in there, but I find that only detracts from the basil. And hardly anything is easier than corn on the cob.

Sometimes the veggies are more critical to the main dish, as in stuffed green peppers, or tuna salad with swiss chard, or salad nicoise with new potatoes and green beans.

Very rarely, the veggies are front and center. Like in a late-lunch of roasted carrots and fennel; breaded, fried cauliflower; and plenty of naan. I actually prefer this way of eating, and would like to serve more meals like this in our future.

How Preschool Teachers Think

The other night, after many days of phone tag, I had a long conversation with my daughters' former pre-K teacher. Our daughters are entering eighth grade this year, so I've know this woman for a long time. Over the years we've visited her often, but since I've gone back to work full time, it's been awhile.

I was worried about state cuts in preschool funding and her amazing program. She wasn't.

She said, "Tell me about the girls. What do they look like now? Where will they be going to high school?" She asked us to please come and visit the classroom. She gave me her email address and asked for the girls to send her a note.

She asked me if I was pregnant. What?

"What?!" I said. "No."

"Oh, I thought you might be calling to tell me you had another little one coming up that I could teach."

My family and I had a good laugh over that one.

For All the Years I Spent in Orthodontia

The sweet corn from the farm share is delicious.

In fact, it's so delicious, I'm going to be selfish and not cut it off the cob for our two daughters who wear braces. If it stays on the cob, there's more for me!