Cucina di Becca

Some food questions...

I am noticing that it is very difficult to eat these days. The more that I read, the more obsessive I get. Examples:

• Sugar is evil. Gotta feel guilty about any sweet thing that contains refined sugar.

 

• Processed foods are evil. Packing snacks for Luca to go to school is IMPOSSIBLE without guilt. No nuts, of course. He won't eat fruit. Even organic crackers and fruit strips cause feelings of guilt (but at least they get eaten...)

• Apparently, there are no good eggs in the supermarket. None. Must get eggs from a farm. Not even the $4.50 dozen come from well-treated hens.

• Umm... ditto for any chicken and pork. You can get grass-fed beef, but they might just plant a square of grass in front of the stall they are chained to.

• Berries are fabulous food. Also one of the worst for pesticide residue. Have you checked the price of organic berries lately?

• Oh yeah - and don't ever read about what they do to milk. Yet just as I find a way to get raw milk, my friend who grew up on a dairy farm informs me that my kids might hate it due to the strong flavor.

 So, there are a few things that I struggle with. There are more... but I am trying to hide just a little bit of my obsessiveness. Time to find a little balance, so that we can enjoy our food and not go broke.

Book review coming...

Happy New Year!

 

We toasted 2009 by giving our children wine...feeling very Italian. We brought in the New Year with a little Ciancanelli feast by Marcella Hazan. She is an amazing Italian cook who will be my highlight for January.

 

This pork roast simmers gently in whole milk for hours, which might  be a kosher nightmare, but is incredibly tender and produces an amazing sauce. We ate it over quinoa with asparagus on the side. Then, we had ricotta cheese fritters for dessert. Wow, Typepad is unbelieveably slow. Might post this recipe later.

 

 

So yummy--like doughnuts with a creamy filling.This was Mimi's face, right after sopping up all the honey on her plate.

Buon Natale!

Auguri! I hope you are eating fabulous food today, getting cozy with your loved ones and relaxing!

We are passing by a very rainy day in Phoenix by doing all of the above, plus lots of toy assembly and watching Luca moter around his new "Amphibian" mobile. It is truly a testament to the power of waiting -- he has wanted a remote control vehicle for probably six months. I wish I had gotten a video of his reaction to this gift from Aunt Jen (I let her be the hero...). He told everyone how long he had been waiting.

Here is a classic Luca/Mom conversation:

"Mom, I want to take this car out to the swimming pool!"

"Well, don't let it get into the pool or it will stop working..."

"But this car goes on land AND water!"

"Yes, maybe you could drive it through some puddles...."

"But I want to take it into the swmming pool!"

"Luca, our car can go through water too, but we don't drive it into the swimming pool.."

"Well, that is just because it is too big."

True enough. Forget the logic. You just can't take that car into the swimming pool. I can't replace it quickly, since Jen got it on the internet. Here's how my husband helps me out during this conversation:

"It might float..."

I growl at him - "Shall we risk it, since we can't replace this car today?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, Luca, go drive it through the puddles."

And, as usual, with the word from Dad, he lets it go.

I am reading a book called "Real Food" which has inspired me to post on my blog again. It is a fabulous book along the lines of Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, and it sets me out on my journey again for grass-fed beef, raw milk and cheese, and possibly even liver. I have come to my senses and dialed down my work load for next semester. So, hopefully I will be back to writing, cooking and learning more from Helen about food photography.

Off to enjoy Ciancanelli lasagna with homemade noodles and a glass of red wine! Buon Appetito!

Dreamin' about the good old days

At the risk of sounding like a whiner, I am sharing with you my thoughts as I walked across campus today.

I have a ten minute walk from my car to my class on Mondays and Wednesdays...and my first stop is Farrand Field where the marching band is playing. You may not know that I was a big band geek - playing the clarinet, saxophone, flute, drums and even trombone when I was in high school. When I hear the drum core playing, it gets me somewhere deep. So, instead of thinking about how I can hardly manage my life right now, I was thinking about the good old days...

Which took me back to playing the college orchestra at Scripps... a delightful two hours off the Harvey Mudd campus and away from all the science geeky dorm competitions... oh, and then I started reminiscing about playing doubles volleyball...yeah, I had this hot partner named Paul who was really unavailable...we were a really good team....man, the days when I just played volleyball all day and then drank and partied at night...hmmm...why did I grow up?

And now I have this life which moves too fast, and I can't keep all the balls in the air. I should quit my job so I can focus on the kids, especially now that Luca is homeschooling. But I can't quit my job because we need the money especially if he might end up in a private school...sigh...or maybe I was destined to be a homeschooling mom.

Adyashanti would say ... Breathe. Relax. It isn't all so significant as it seems.

Yellow pears...

They aren't green anymore...an explosion of yellow pear tomatoes. Given that we are full of raw cherry tomatoes, I had to find something to do with all the yellow guys. Bill loved it...

Pizza!

I had frozen extra pizza dough, but you can actually buy it at the grocery store now. I rolled it out very thin, spread on some olive oil and rubbed cut garlic gloves over the oil. Then, I sprinkled on chopped fresh tomatoes, fresh chopped basil leaves, some mozzarella cheese and some parmesan cheese.

It tasted so fresh, fresh, fresh. Yes, that word is all over this post, because there is something so FRESH about cooking straight from your garden.

Check out the boys growing up...both in Kindergarten now!

May 2004

August 2008

Summer is over????

So, the first half of this post is to convince you that, YES, summer in Colorado is indeed over. Check out that snow!

We headed up to our favorite yurts in Poudre Valley this weekend. There are two huts that are close to each other, so each family can have their space. We went up with one of our favorite families: the Human/Cruger clan (Katy, Gregg, Miles and Macy)

The boys are setting up the rocket - we got three successful launches and recoveries this time.

I am standing at our yurt and taking this picture looking at the other yurt. Just a cute little pathway in between for the boys to run back and forth.

So, here comes the part of the post that relates somewhat to cooking, although you might argue that it is really just about gardening(whatever happened to the intention of my blog???) and is also intended to convince you that NO, summer is not over in Colorado.

Finally! I have discovered after many years of trying, how to grow basil in Colorado such that it produces these huge beautiful leaves! This is in a pot (with lemon basil which I also love), I feed and water it regularly AND I pinch the heck out of it. Really...I pinch it and pinch it. I thought I would kill it, but Organic Gardening convinced me that I wouldn't.

And the monster tomato plants. I really have some knack with tomatoes. I dug out this piece of dirt on the deck because the dogs peed and pooped there all winter. I filled it back in with lots of mushroom compost mixed with topsoil. Happy happy plants.

So, I guess I am not ready to declare it Fall yet...even though Luca has completed nearly one week of school and I am starting work on Monday. We are still jamming in runs to the pool and hiking/creek/mud play after school. Maybe I will be singing a different tune next week.

I couldn't bring myself to cut the hair before school started. Can you believe that? Just totally gorgeous. If he can't make it at school, maybe we should just try to find an agent and make some money marketing Luca's hair.

And some summer fun for Mimi: spraying the charcoal grill with a water gun after we have finished cooking. She should model these unbelievable Italian clothes. There you go...we'll just move to LA and make our kids work instead of us. Oh. I just pictured Luca in a long photo shoot. Maybe not.

Checking in

I officially ended my cleanse today -- day 9. I also sent my son to his first day of Kindergarten. No wonder I feel like a total mess tonight.

We survived the cleanse and the drop-off. Life is good.

And Mimi's new thing is to walk around the house with running commentary on herself in the third person:

"What's Mimi doing? She is throwing her fishy down the stairs.....what's Mimi doing? She is going down the stairs to find fishy...what's Mimi doing?..."

Locally frustrated

Well, just getting back to my blog here, and now Bill and I are starting a 9-day cleanse. Yeah, there won't be much fun cooking going on here.

For those of you who read the first sentence a few times, yes it is true. Bill is doing a cleanse with me. And it was his idea. However, his goal is losing weight so that he can run faster.

Yeah, I know. You have to read that sentence a few times too. The craziness of living with an athlete. Can you believe that he and six of his friends just ran from Fort Collins to Steamboat Springs? It took them 31 hours, and they each ran 30 miles. If that doesn't sound unbelievable enough, I will tell you that one of Bill's legs of the race had 1800 ft gain over 4 miles. That is like climbing a 14'er. Except that you are running. Fast. But apparently not fast enough.

My goal with the cleanse is to release. That is the best way for me to say it. Release the anxiety about Luca starting school and possibly getting kicked out. He got kicked out of preschool last week...well, that is awfully dramatic. It felt like he was kicked out, but really they said that he had to come home because he was swearing, throwing rocks and hitting people. I am so uptight that my back is seizing up. Seems like a good time to let go, let go of the anxiety, let go of the stress, and bring in some lovely routine. I wasn't really planning on sharing this -- just started editing while proofing my post. Hmm...guess it wanted to be said. Routines...Luca's therapist said that it is crucial for us to have consistency and expected routines. And I don't like routine. I like newness and change. So, I am starting with myself. Cleansing out the "I know that I don't like routine" and bringing in something new. Like yoga and meditation in the morning. Like drinking yummy tea before bed with Luca. Like choosing an animal card with him each day for our focus. Like sticker charts...yeah, I can't really swallow that one. Another suggestion from the therapist. Luca is into it, but mostly for the prize. Alright, enough about that. I could go on all night.

I have been experimenting with local eating for the last month. It is hard. Even in Boulder, CO. Yes, we have one of the world's best farmer's markets. You can get great meat, veggies, some fruit, goat cheese, salmon, herbs, bread, eggs (if you are willing to come early and get in line)...so there are many meals we have made with local fare. The struggles are coming, in the winter. I have lots of plans about getting a freezer for the garage, and freezing lots of this stuff. Yet, I still can't quite give up buying celery, 'cause I want tuna fish sandwiches (not to mention buying the tuna fish...), or buying bananas for my smoothies, or...dare I say it...not buying any coffee?????

This brings up a lesson in life that has to bonk me over the head about once a month: you CAN make a difference without going overboard. I was so intense about cloth diapers, like I let down the world when I used disposables for my trips. Please. Just a little bit of balance in life is good. You can forget your cloth grocery bags once in a while. You can yell at the kids when you are having a shitty day. I would love to learn how to give myself a break.

Next post is about summer fun transitioning into school school school, a new book about local eating from my sister and my next cooking project involving SPROUTS. I made sprouted garbanzo bean burgers. They were good. Of course, I was the only one who ate them...

Catching up with the pics...

feeling like I need to catch up ... hope you like the photo montage...

Trip #2 -- Estes Park with CCC

We started with a visit from our longtime friends, Tanya and Sriram and their children Nandini, 8, and Nishanth (Nishu) 9. Luca and Mimi were in heaven.

Then, we journeyed up to Estes Park, the site of the 2008 Couples Coaching Couples Convention that our circle organized. Luca and I did a great hike around Bear Lake with the Sadagopans, Larkins and Malaviyas.

Here is the group -- 42 couples and 31 kids -- at our bonfire. Not everyone made it to the photo.

The greatest picture of Tammy and Adrian....

Our quartet couple from Columbus -- Nancy and Karen. They were awesome to hang with.

Mike and Chris leading an unbelievable session on World Class Couple.

3 girls and one boy....me, Col, Christine and Rhen.

Umm...some promised pictures from post- convention partying...So, I spent my birthday in Estes Park with the group, and we partied into the night with champagne and card playing. In fact, we did 3 nights of card playing which was so fun that we decided to continue getting together for card nights. We set up one for last Thursday, and Michael baked an organic chocolate cake and he made organic vanilla ice cream. I had no problems with extending my birthday...well, Michael was pretty disappointed with the dryness of the cake from an organic cake mix. I didn't even notice because I was so excited about having someone else make me a cake...and the ice cream was amazing. So, after lots of drinks, we started messing around with the leftover cake as shown below...

and then we posed with poor Adam who was feeling sick. In our defense, we just wanted him to feel included...

Trip #3 -- Canoeing trip in Escalante and Dominguez Canyons

We canoed into the canyon and spent two nights at the most spectacular campground - with the rushing river nearby and a waterfall to shower in. This was our campsite the first night which, while private, was not a good location. We were in the desert, and there was no breeze coming through this site.

In the morning, we got up early and hiked with a guide and part of the group. In the picture above, we are standing at the top of a 40 ft waterfall. We hiked down and got in, as shown below. This took some courage for me - I am not great with water. It is hard to tell, but the water was coming down HARD. It felt awesome though, as it was probably already in the 80's at 7 AM.

We saw some amazing petroglyphs on this hike...

A little self-timer pic while Bill was floating down the river.

This is the waterfall that was literally in our campsite. It is a bit hard to see that it is around the corner... since it was so hot, we would cool off there fully clothed and be dry in a short time.

So, that's it. Our first major trip away from the kids. Successful. Fun. Relaxing. And we won't go to the desert in July next time.

:)

How to seduce Becca

Helen and I biked to the Farmer's Market on Saturday to have a coffee and shop...a perfect start to the weekend.

Here is how you can seduce me...she looked at some rhubarb, thought about making a rhubarb pie and then turned to me and said, "We should make some rhubarb pie together!"

There are several key elements here. First of all, I am not alone in looking at food and instantly thinking about all the recipes that I want to do. Most of my food/cooking conversations with people involve the element of survival, or there is not enough time, or food is so expensive these days, or I am on this diet...etc. I just love to look at something, say an avocado, and then daydream about guacamole...or how someone topped gazpacho with avocado the other day...and where could I find a recipe for gazpacho? ... and then let's look for tomatoes...and so on. So, Helen tapped me into the fantasy element of cooking and then...

she said she wanted to cook with me.

Yeah, that is the kicker. Someone who loves to fantasize about yummy and maybe even high calorie cooking, and who wants to cook and eat with me. At that moment, if Helen had been a guy, I would have asked her out for sure. Needless to say, since most of you know Bill, this is not how he gets me in bed. Which is OK...since I don't want to share my kitchen most of the time...

It wasn't the fantasy of two girlfriends cooking in the kitchen in the end. It was Helen watching the kids so that Becca could get the pie done by a reasonable hour. I will say that Helen is smart enough to know that I will cook anyone a three-course meal if they will take the kids at 5 PM so I can have some peace.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

note: I will leave you to figure out the pie crust, as most people don't like to make their own. This filling was exceptional, because of the addition of orange zest. Try it while rhubarb is in season! Strawberries too...if you are willing to spend the cashola to buy local ones.

2 tsp vegetable oil

1.5 lbs rhubarb (we used 1 lb and it was plenty)

1 cup plus 1 tsbp sugar

3 tbsp arrowroot

pinch salt

1.5 lbs strawberries

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp grated orange zest (from an actual orange!)

1. Trim the ends of the rhubarb and peel off the outer layer if it is really fibrous. Cut into 1-inch pieces and then cook in the vegetable oil and 1/4 cup of sugar for about 5 minutes, so that it loses its moisture. Put the cooked rhubarb into the refrigerator to cool.

2. Hull the strawberries and cut into quarters. Mix together the cooled rhubarb, strawberries, orange zest and vanilla.

3. In another small bowl, mix the arrowroot powder, 3/4 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the fruit mixture and stir to combine. Pour into piecrust.

4. If you make your own pie crust, this recipe says to cook at 425 degrees fo 25 minutes, rotate the pie and lower the temperature to 375 degrees for 30 more minutes.