Mother's Day Food Bloggin' - The Gift of Lemon Curd

I come from a long maternal line of lemon lovers. My mom loves lemon, my grandmother loves lemon, I can only assume my great grandmother, inasmuch as she could get a hold of lemons on the barren plains of North Dakota in the early part of last century, loved lemon too. So for mother's day the kids and I made a big batch of Lemon Curd to package up and give to Grammy and Grandma as gifts. Curd is an unfortunate name for such a delectable treat, but don't let that stop you. If you have a lemon loving mom figure in your life you can make this in plenty of time for Mother's Day. All it takes is a half hour of your time and a few simple ingredients. Some cute jars and a bit of ribbon make this totally gift worthy.

I adapted Ina's recipe slightly for this project and used Meyer Lemons and a couple Key limes to make up for an unanticipated juice shortage, but any lemon/lime combo will work beautifully. Curd making is relatively quick and easy to pull off, though I will warn you the degree of difficulty rises in direct proportion to the number of small children you have helping you. The degree of deliciousness, however, remains constant. Also be aware that you need to babysit this one a bit through the cooking process at the end, "stirring constantly" for about 10 minutes. For me, this all but guarantees that someone will need their butt wiped during that precise 10 minute window. If that is not an issue for you, you are golden.

This project lends itself nicely to cooking with kids. Older children can do some of the zesting, and any age child might enjoy squeezing the lemons in their tight little clutches. As for the aforementioned constant stirring, if you are comfortable (and there to supervise, of course) with your child at the stove, this can be a great way to keep a kid busy for 10 to 15 minutes.

Lemon Curd (adapted from Ina Garten)

Ingredients
3 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
4 extra-large eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons or a combination of lemons and limes if you like)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 - 15 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate. If you like your lemon curd silky smooth I suggest passing it through a fine mesh sieve once it's done cooking to catch any large bits of zest. Personally, I am rarely looking for an extra fussy step, and do not mind a zest flecked curd one bit, but I'll leave it to your preference.

Oh, Lemon Curd, how shall I enjoy thee? Here are some of our favorite ways:

• Spooned on top of a cream cheese schmeared graham cracker.
• As a dip for strawberries
• Spread on a waffle or pancake
• Added to plain yogurt - a shower of granola encouraged.
• On a toasted English muffin with a dollop of ricotta

Happy Mother's Day to all! I'll be heading to California for the weekend to visit Rolph and check out my new digs. How weird to be away from the kids and my mom on Mother's Day? I must admit to being excited about taking a break from single parenting and getting some much needed alone time traveling. You know it's bad when the thought of a 4 hour layover in Denver sounds like a day at the Spa.

MN Favorites - The Scottish Rite Temple

As we approach the end of our Minnesota chapter before heading to California in July, I have been making an effort to be more aware of the beauty, quirks, and everyday treats my home state has to offer. In olden times (seven years ago) when I was preparing to leave NY, I had neither the presence of mind nor the iphone technology to capture my favorite things about NYC life. What a shame. I don't want to let that happen again, so why not start a little blog series? MN Favorites will be just that - a series of posts in which I will share images of some of my favorite places and moments during the last couple months in MN. I figure if nothing else it will force me to pull my head out moving boxes and absorb the charms of now.

After the most grueling and seemingly endless winter in modern history, Minnesota has finally managed to string together a couple of nice days. On the first warm Saturday of this reluctant spring, the entire vitamin D deficient population of Minneapolis donned their sun dresses and short pants to break from the confines of their homes. Like so many flesh-starved zombies, we all stumbled about the streets blinded by the light, seeking nourishment from the sun. For our part, we made haste to one of our favorite ice cream shops,  Sebastian Joe's. While the ice cream was divine, it was not the highlight of the outing. The highlight was playing on the steps of a dilapidated old church on the corner, that in all my years out and an about in Uptown, I have never before noticed. Originally a Methodist church, it is now the Minneapolis Valley Scottish Rite Temple. Who knew? The kids had a blast climbing, exploring, and letting their voices echo about the great stone walls. I had a blast snapping pictures of them in the gorgeous light.

Pepper especially loved practicing her hop scotch skills on the checkerboard floor.

The big kids were more interested in climbing the banisters where they could sit perched high above the sidewalk and say hello to all the zombies people walking by.

I'm eager to hear your thoughts. Local friends, what would you be sure to see and do if you were a mere 2 months away from leaving the Twin Cities?

HiFi Hair and Preschool Style Icons

You might think that as someone who grew up in a hair salon and has enough hair for at least 4 people, would be more interested in basic hair maintenance, but you would be wrong. I dislike getting my hair cut, I dislike having my hair styled, and I have utterly no affection for the "the salon experience". The very thought of a shampoo bowl makes my neck stiff and my head throb. The basement of my childhood home was converted into a charming and stylishly decorated little salon where my mom ran her own business called, The Village Hairdresser. She had a regular clientele of sweet older ladies who had their hair washed and "set'' once a week, and were careful to wear rain bonnets and sleep gingerly upon their pillows to preserve the style between appointments. As a little girl I loved to play in the "beauty shop", as it was called back then, and would entertain "the ladies" by dancing and singing along to music I played on my Fisher Price record player.  The beauty shop made for an excellent indoor playground. The dryer chairs, with their loud, blowing head domes were spaceships, the rotating hydraulic chairs were natural merry-go-rounds, and there was a closet filled with thickly maned mannequin heads to be shuttled around in doll strollers. All that was great, but when it came time for me to have my hair cut or washed, I hated it.

The shampoo bowl was sheer torture. I had to sit propped up on a stool in order for my head to lie back at a proper angle, and no matter how many towels my mother used to cushion the neck support, it still felt like someone was trying to bore holes in the base of my skull. Once saturated with water my hair became so heavy I feared my whole person would be sucked down the drain. The ceiling light stung my eyes to the point that my mom would turn the light off completely in an effort to spare me some discomfort, even though it must have been beyond inconvenient to wash my hair in complete darkness. Oh how I hated it. Therein lies the number one reason I keep my hair long - it allows me to avoid revisiting the childhood trauma I experienced at the shampoo bowl.

My hair cutting aversion has extended to the children as well. Scarlett gets her hair trimmed once a year. I just started cutting Pepper's bangs, and Rudy, well, he is the exception. I would gladly let his hair grow long too if it had any curl or body to it, but it grows pin straight, obscuring his vision, and causing me to compulsively smooth it across his forehead only to have it swing stubbornly back over his eyes with his next movement. I have been fortunate to have my mom, a professional hair dresser who went on from the basement beauty shop of my childhood, to a long career with the Aveda corporation, so close by these past few years. She willingly gives Rudy monthly haircuts in her kitchen - no shampoo bowl required. BUT last month Rudy took out his hair cutting hook-up of  a grandmother in a late season downhill skiing accident. Long story. The short of it is Grammy and Rudy in a heap on the bunny hill. Rudy emerged unscathed, Grammy tore up her knee and has been unable to stand for any significant duration of time since. SO, lest I visit a new form of childhood hair trauma upon Rudy by continuously swiping at his forehead, I needed to find a barber-beauty shop-salon option for Rudy. 

Enter HiFi Hair run by a former student and friend of my mom's, Jonny Clifford (aka Jonny Zygomatic). Jonny generously offered to to cut Rudy's hair in my mom's place at his super cool salon. HiFi is a meeting of hair, fashion, and music, with a decidedly retro vibe. With its red and black walls, leopard print accents, and floor to ceiling music memorabilia, it looks like the kind of place Betty Page and all the guys from Elvis' band would go to get their hair cut.  Though it is definitely not a kid's salon, Jonny went out of his way to ensure it was fun for Rudy including teaching him how to scream like James Brown, which I might add Rudy took to repeatedly with great delight. Since we were going to a salon we decided to do what people do and bring in some pictures of the style we were going for. My Rudy's style inspiration came from a favorite Golden Book Rolph's mom saved from Rolph's childhood. Busy Timmy is Rudy's style icon. 

Rudy was really excited to hand over his book and announce, "I want a Busy Timmy haircut!" With the jukebox rocking in the background, Jonny got straight to work.

In the end Rudy loooved his Busy Timmy hair and also discovered he loved David Bowie. "I like that lady, Mom".

Thanks, Jonny!

House Hunters, Bay Area Edition

 

The last time Rolph and I were house hunting was back in 2007 when we were preparing for our move from Brooklyn to Minnesota. We hooked up with a realtor who came recommended through a friend. She was tall, blonde, personable, but not demonstrative - a hand shaker not a hugger (this was Minnesota after all). Rolph and I flew in for a weekend house hunting assault meticulously orchestrated down to the minute by our real estate machine. We were to see something like 30 houses over the course of 2 days in search of our future perfect home. We felt confident in the hands of our earnest realtor who was clearly a total pro - part sales strategist, part dispassionate advisor, all wrapped in a smart sweater and sensible shoes. 

Rolph and I had decided to cast our net wide in our search for the right house. We knew we wanted a mid century design, but we had been in New York City for so long, we no longer had a strong sense of neighborhoods or location in Minnesota. We weren't sure if we should be in St. Paul or Minneapolis, city or suburb. So we looked everywhere at everything. At one point, we were looking at homes in a leafy suburb about 20 minutes outside of the city. The homes were spread out, the yards sprawling and meticulously maintained. Standing in the thickly forested front yard of one particular home, we got the sense of being secluded in our own private sanctuary. It made us both incredibly uncomfortable. We found it difficult to explain our unease with this perfectly lovely, pastoral setting to our prim and upstanding realtor. Rolph, made a stab at it, "You have to understand", he said, "where we live now we are on a first name basis with the homeless guy who sleeps in front of our building." Our realtor paused briefly, processing this image. Then, in an act of stunning sales jujitsu, she smoothly suggested, "Well, with the recent downturn in the economy, we are seeing a rise in homelessness in the area." 

Obviously, the point we were trying to make was not that we were looking for a greater homeless presence in our new neighborhood, the point was, that sprawling, secluded, and remote, was not going to be a good fit for us, and it really was not until we were standing in that perfectly lovely front yard, that we we realized that. All this is to say that our search for a new home has gone very differently this time. First off we are renting, not buying, so no realtor necessary - just a lot of compulsive Craig's List refreshing. With the help of friends who recently relocated to the Bay Area we were able to hone in on a neighborhood that met our top criteria  - minimal commute for Rolph, access to good schools, and walking distance to shops and restaurants (homeless vibe negotiable). Of course the area we were looking in did not have a huge pool of rentals to choose from, so when we came across one that appealed to us, we acted fast, and we got it! You guys, I am very excited about this house. It has been thoughtfully remodelled by people with great taste and an eye for quality (not always easy to find in a rental). The large fenced in back yard boasts a pear tree and fig tree - A FIG TREE! I am beyond thrilled. But here is the thing. The house is small - really, very small. Some might even say tiny. You want numbers? Ok. Here goes... eight hundred AND ELEVEN square feet. That's right. 2 adults 3 kids, 800 AND ELEVEN square feet. Gulp. I think we can do it, at least for now. We've lived in smaller places (albeit not with kids) in New York, our kids are small, we have a big outdoor space (in a favorable climate) in which to spread out, plus, it seems like no matter how much room we have, the kids are always directly underfoot. I leave a room and within seconds all three of them are right there orbiting around me at nothing greater than a 4 foot radius. What is up with that?

My gut feeling is that this itty bitty house is special, charmed somehow, and definitely the right move for us. Living in a small space is all part of our adventure. We knew that making this move would bring certain sacrifices, and if square footage is one of the biggest, I'm fine with that. I love the idea of paring down and shedding some material weight, but I would be straight up lying if I did not admit to being overwhelmed at what to do with all of the stuff in this house. I have my work cut out for me. What are your thoughts? Are we crazy? Any strategies for small space living? I have a feeling I could devote a whole blog to organizing and maintaining a tiny home.

Image via The Okay Book by, Todd Parr

Big News! The Blythes Go West

photo credit: Destination 360

Hello, blog friends, its been WAY too long. When last we connected I was baking brownies for a back to school function, and now here it is, Spring! (Not really if you know anything about the interminable winter we are experiencing in Minnesota right now - Oh look! More snow in the forecast.) I have so many reasons and excuses for my long blog absence, but that is not what this post is about. This post is about making a big announcement. The Blythes are moving to California! The Bay Area to be exact. I KNOW! Wha? Crazy! I thought you were in Minnesota to stay? What about your family? Aren't you guys running a business? Your house! The kids! California? 

Yes. The whole thing is a lot unexpected and all kinds of complicated. Feelings about leaving are mixed to say the least, but on the whole we are very happy and excited to be making this move. The short story is that Rolph was offered a rare opportunity to take over as Publisher of Counterpoint Press , a renown presence in independent book publishing. Taking this position will allow Rolph to return to his publishing roots, uniting his entrepreneurial experiences of the past few years with his passion for good books. 

As for all that we are leaving behind and all of the plans we have laid here? Well - here's where I get all philosophical about life - Life (at least my life) is unpredictable. It's messy, it's painful at times, and it's full of surprises both exhilarating and crushing. I look around at other people's lives, and from my broad and distant perspective everyone else seems to be marching along in a tidy, linear fashion. Their paths look so smooth. And I think, Hey! Why can't I move in a staight line? What is up with my path? I look at my life over the past few years, and from my close-up perspective I see what most other people don't - all the potholes, the fits and starts and wrong turns, the doubts and regrets, the triumphs big and small. My path does not look tidy, and it's anything but linear. Linear people, how do you do it? I suspect the answer is that if you zoom in on anyone's life you see that their path is not really that straight. We are, all of us, zig zagging along the continuum on our own unique trajectory. Right now life feels very zig zaggy, and my hope is that once this move is complete the sharp turns will soften into more gentle curves. For now, we zig zag.

A friend of mine recently told me that she is continuously amazed by my positive outlook on change, and while I generally am a flexible, adaptable person, I'm not taking this change lightly. A lot of people are affected by this decision, and in many ways we have no idea what is in store for us. But honestly, the decision to move was a no-brainer. It just came down to good timing and our willingness to seize opportunity when it presents itself. The time was right for us to exit the business Rolph started a few years ago. Our children are young and adaptable. Our house is wonderful and we have loved living here and taking care of it, but it's just a house...As for the family we are leaving behind? That is by far the toughest part. Proximity to all the grandparents was one of the main reasons we left New York to return to Minnesota when Scarlett was a toddler. At the time, I joked about how precious few people there are in the world as genuinely psyched about your kids as you are - it seems a shame not to live close to those people...I don't have a good response to this one. It is one of the big sacrifices in all this. All I can say is that grandparents are grandparents no matter what, and we will figure out a way to manage the physical distance as so many other people do. If I think on this aspect of the move to long, I begin to lose my resolve, so I'll move on.

So many, many things are in the works, there are SO many unknowns, so much to do! And yet, I'd like to carve out a little time to blog through the process, or perhaps more accurately, process through the blog. I'd love to hear from you. Have you moved across the country with kids? Any advice for planning and executing a wildly successful garage sale? What about when I get there? I'm going to have to dust off my social skills and make some new friends! Tips and suggestions are much appreciated.