Wabisabi Mama: traditions

Showing posts with label traditions. Show all posts

Monday, January 21, 2013

inaugural thoughts

Four years ago, despite the almost crippling cold, PapaQ and I bundled up our one year-old daughter and headed out to the national mall to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as president of the United States.

Inauguration Day 2009

This year we stayed in. We love the excitement of being there live, but we also love the ease and convenience of watching it on TV in a warm house.

Despite living in Washington DC, where it can sometimes seem that politics are a way of living, I'm sometimes embarrassed that I don't know much about policy, economics or other politically savvy subjects. Many of the people I know work for the government or for a particular senator or congressperson. PapaQ himself is a civil servant (and despite how easy it is to criticize the waste and redundancy in the government, the people I know who work for Uncle Sam are honest, hard-working, capable, if not brilliant, employees. PapaQ supervises a barebones staff and is still expected to move mountains... and by-and-large he does). Our friends (and family) span the political spectrum and I'm always learning new things from them. But despite differing beliefs I think we all just want what is best for our families and for our country and we're doing what we can to make that happen.

I think the president's inaugural speech touched on some of those things. Some of my favorite excerpts:

We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”...
We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own...
...we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice – not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

But let's be honest, my favorite part was my Obama Cake Redux. A sweet way to start the next four years!

Obams cake 2009

Obama Cake Redux 2013

This is a cake fantasize about. Our absolute favorite chocolate cake (from Barefoot Contessa Home cookbook). I had quite forgotten about Obama cake though until later in the day and I kind of threw this together. I didn't have enough cream cheese to frost the entire cake, so the filling is cream cheese frosting and the outside is simple whipped cream. But, ohhhh, we really like it.
Happy Inauguration Day everyone.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

these are a few of my favorite things...

sugarplum fairies

drooly kisses

making pierogis

opening gifts

decorating the house

visions of sugarplums?

winter greenery

the smell of a Christmas orange

babies and grandmas and twinkling lights

Christmas breakfast

brown paper packages tied up with string!

holiday photo cards

first snow (so excited she didn't even change out of her pajamas)!

music lessons with dad

The past few days have been filled with happy moments and lovely things. Hope you're making good memories too! Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

merry moments

Advent devotionals and seasonal activities keep us busy, but mostly merry. This mama has promised herself that we will have a plan but will not be glued to it - there must be flexibility! Which is just as well since we've been battling colds and adjusting to life with twin infants. Quite frankly, sometimes things just don't happen the way I intended - the cookies I wanted to bake didn't happen, we never got out to go ice-skating that one day, and we still haven't hung up the bird seed ornaments outside. But it's been quite magical all the same, even if we're just hanging out around the Christmas tree, passing around the babies, eating cookies (homemade or not!) and telling jokes. Mayumi has been expanding her repertoire recently.

Like this one:
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Mary.
Mary who?
Mary Christmas!

Ha! Get's me every time!

Monday, December 3, 2012

oishii: baked breakfast barley

I'm a big fan of breakfast, and in the colder seasons I find myself making warm, nourishing meals (as opposed to my favorite cold cereals). We love oatmeal, but then I came across this baked barley recipe and I had to try it. What a treat! With chopped dried apricots, pistachios, and honey, it is a nod to middle eastern fare and it was so substantive and delicious.

I used regular pearled barley as well as some fancy purple barley too, though it ended up looking just plain brown after it was cooked. If you like the chew in steel-cut oatmeal, you probably like barley as well. And it is so good for you! The sweetness comes from the honey and apricots - there is no refined sugar here. I prepared it the night before and put it in the fridge so that in the morning I just had to pop it in the oven. The recipe is adapted from Not Your Mother's Casseroles by Faith Durand.

Baked Barley Breakfast

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups pearled barley

1 T unsalted butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2 1/2 cups water

3 T honey, plus more for serving

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup chopped, dried unsulphured apricots

1/4 cup shelled pistachios, chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened dried coconut

Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease 8-inch square baking dish.

Rinse barley in water and drain. Heat butter over medium heat in a saucepan and cook barley for 3-5 minutes or until it smells toasty. Add salt, almond milk, water and honey and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, beat eggs in a small bowl. Once barley mixture is boiling, turn off heat. Pour a spoonful or two of milk into the egg and whisk together to temper. Whisk egg into barley mixture.

Stir in apricots, pistachios, and coconut. Pour everything into prepared dish.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until top is light brown and it is no longer liquid-y. Serve warm, with a drizzle of honey. Oh, and I may have eaten it with a piece of baklava, too...

There are a few other baked barley recipes floating around. This week I'm going to try the blackberry barley bake and also try to make it in the slow cooker.

This morning I ate some leftovers while Miss Mayumi and I had our morning Advent devotional. This year I created little cards that outline our devotional (song and scripture) along with a simple activity and service project, as well as a corresponding ornament for the tree. It has been so endearing to see her excitedly open the little drawer every morning to see what they day will bring her.

In other news, I've finished addressing our holiday card and am hoping to stamp them and get them in the mail today (these are the exciting things in my life!). Though sending out all those cards is a daunting task every year, I love to do it. I smile at the idea of family and friends opening it and seeing our THREE little munchkins - how fun to announce a new birth this way! I still get a childish thrill when I receive cards in the mail, especially Christmas cards. I adore it when people send out their yearly newsletter with updates on every one in the family. So I like to imagine that our humble little card will bring cheer into some homes this season.

Monday, November 26, 2012

the perfect tree

Despite dropping temperatures we made it out for our second annual tree-cutting. I went along for the ride and even managed to get out with both the twins strapped to me in the Moby wrap, but it was so cold and they were crying that we quickly retreated to the minivan and cranked up the heat and the Christmas music, nursed a bit, and did the proper ooh-ing and aah-ing when Mayumi and PapaQ returned dragging the most beautiful tree!
A quick drive down to the farm market was in order. While the strapping young lads there shook and baled our tree we indulged in hot cider and donuts and picked up some apples to take home. Since then there has been much merriment as the decorations have gone up.
What is it about a Christmas tree? Those gleaming lights, the ornaments collected through the years, those fragrant evergreen boughs...
Well, no one really wants to hear me wax poetic, so perhaps you'll welcome Mary Oliver's words:

When I Am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."

~ Mary Oliver ~

Oh, to become closer to the hope of myself! I love how a Christmas tree indeed invites one to stop and stay awhile. Those twinkly lights, so hypnotic and soothing.

More tree loveliness to come!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

giving thanks

Hope your home is full of loved ones, good food and the happy recognition of abundance and blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, October 29, 2012

if I had the energy...

and if there weren't a hurricane going on outside our windows, I would've made a bigger deal out of Halloween this year. Wouldn't it have been charming to have made the entire family homemade thematic costumes? Or even store-bought costumes? And to have had a party? Or a homeschool activity day? Or something? For how long do I get to use "I just gave birth to twins" as my excuse for being utterly unproductive?

But thanks to Pinterest, next year I am ready with a stockpile of ideas: