Pictures for Grandma

This is for my mom, who keeps telling me that she hasn't seen any new pictures lately - especially of Lydia. The trouble is, we keep doing picture-worthy things, I take Lydia's picture, but she usually just sleeping. So while Hannah looks very interesting and photogenic, we just have a million pictures of Lydia sleeping in her car seat or stroller or baby seat or swing. I guess that's just the way it is, huh? So, Grandma, (and everyone else), here's what we've got:


Last Saturday, we went downtown to Market Square. We spent most of our time at the fountain.


Nearby, there were some musicians playing. Hannah and I were ballroom dancing the day before (along with Beauty and the Beast), which inspired this move.

We also stopped to admire some truly beautiful flowers.

Through it all, Lydia never even opened her eyes...

This is our neighborhood Splash Pad, which is endlessly fun.

Lydia's hanging out in the shade with her friend who's a month older than she.

And I acutally remembered to ask Jonathan to take a picture of me!

We recently played at a friend's house. I posted this on facebook, but Hannah has watermelon in one hand, and leftover salami from her lunch in the other.

Here's Lydia. Asleep.

At another friend's house. (No salami this time.)

Lydia acutally made it out of the seat and onto Hannah's towel before she dozed off.

This was just too funny not to share!

And here's a "real" picture.

The prerequisite bath time shot.

I love this. Hannah was having her snack (and so was Dolly, it looks like), and she arranged her table and chair so that she could sit next to Lydia. This was completly fascinating to Lydia, who watched Hannah the whole time. Or maybe she was just wishing she could have some Cheetos.

Playing With Our Food

I am such a creature of habit. I'm the person who has the same bowl of Cheerios every morning, and the same turkey sandwich for lunch every afternoon. For 15 years. Jonathan is not like this at all. He likes to have a variety of cereals to choose from, and a new kind of lunch meat each week. (Navigating the deli counter has become his special chore at the grocery store.) Hannah, being two years old, tends toward the known and routine, which makes our lunches a pretty boring affair.

Hannah's typical lunch looks a lot like mine, but without the bread. She loves hard salami (a.k.a. spicy meat), and likes cheese in sliced or stringed variety. We always have a few carrots for crunch and to up our daily veggie intake. And we pile on lots of fruit - whatever's in season. One of the advantages of such a predictable lunch is that Hannah can make it herself...if someone will open the refrigerator door for her, that is.

But something possessed me this week to mix things up a little bit. Maybe it's all those back-to-school "make your lunch awesome" articles I've been seeing in women's magazines. I don't know. In any case, I decided to make Hannah's lunch into a butterfly. I didn't add any new or special ingredients. I didn't spend very much time cutting or slicing or chopping (although I did spend a few seconds doing this).

And then, after a few days of butterflies, I decided to see what else I could come up with. Introducing Mr. Salami Mouse!

And the next day, Hannah asked if she could have a rabbit lunch. In retrospect, I realize that she thought the mouse was a rabbit, but this is what I came up with.

So lunchtime has had a little shakeup around here, and we're all a little happier and more interesting for it. Hannah has even mastered the art of making her own butterfly lunch, and taught the art to Daddy. I can't wait to see what we come up with next!

Windows

We've been doing stuff with windows around the Warren house. Jonathan was in the Habitat for Humanity ReStore last week, and stumbled across these neat old windows, which he bought for $3 each.



Deciding exactly what to do with the windows has been a major occupation of ours this week, and we've spent many hours looking at windows on Pinterest. The main contenders are replacing the glass with mirrors, or using the window frame as a picture frame.

Actually, we're pretty sure that we'll only keep one of the windows, and the other will go for another project. If this project actualizes, I'll share some pictures after the fact.

I also stitched up some valances for our kitchen and dining room. The kitchen is painted blue and the dining room green, so this blue, green, and brown motif coordinates with both rooms beautifully. I only took pictures of the dining room curtain because the kitchen one still needs some fluffing/pleat arranging.

And of course, the moments I had to take pictures without a baby in my arms turned out to be very sunny, so sorry about the insane backlight. But you'll get the idea...

Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day! In honor of the holiday, we got out all of our red, white and blue and took some pictures in the back yard. Hannah and Lydia are wearing hair bows and sparkle tutus that Grammy made for them. The blanket has a story: my maternal grandma knitted it (I'm guessing it was around the bicentennial, don't you think?) and gave it to my paternal grandma. Last summer, Grandma gave it to me. We're off to have a fun day with friends, and hope you have a good holiday too.

Arroz Con Pollo Recipe

One of my all time favorite dishes is, of course, one of my mom's specialties. Growing up in Arizona, I knew that arroz con pollo had a Spanish name, but it wasn't until I was much older that I realized this dish wasn't traditional Mexican food. Instead, it's a Caribbean dish that my mom learned to love when she was growing up on Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Now my mom's not Puerto Rican, but a Missouri-born gal who has spent much of her life in southern Arizona. But because of my grandpa's job, she spent most of her childhood living outside of the United States.

As mom remembers it, this dish was common fare in Puerto Rico, and a favorite of her next door neighbors, Don Juan (I kid you not) and his wife. Mom's clearest memory of Don Juan was that he went to a lot of cock fights, which leads her to wonder if that's why they ate this dish so often. Hmmm... don't want to think about that too much, so let's move on!

Mom doesn't have Mrs. Don Juan's recipe. But she found a recipe as an adult, and modified it until it tasted like the arroz con pollo of her childhood memories. And then in typical mom style, she made it for years and years without writing it down, perfecting it to the point where she just eyeballed ingredients.

I guess my mom's love for the dish carried on to me, because this was an often-requested meal when I came home during college (and still is). About two years ago, I asked mom for the recipe so I could have arroz con pollo in my own kitchen. Since she didn't have one, I watched her make it, demanding at every step, "how much did you just put in?" and taking copious notes.

So here - with mom's permission to share - is my mom's wonderful arroz con pollo recipe.


This recipe serves 4 very generously, or probably more like 6. Marinating takes an hour, and the actual cooking takes about an hour as well.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (I used 4 leg quarters because they were on sale, but do use bone-in, skin-on chicken. Trust me, the extra calories are worth it.)
6 cloves garlic, divided
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp fresh oregano
1 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
1 small bell pepper, diced
2 cups white rice
2 tsp capers
1/4 tsp saffron
16 oz bag frozen peas
1 medium tomato, sliced into wedges

Make the marinade by combining 4 cloves garlic (I don't love garlic quite as much as mom, so I use two), salt, oregano, vinegar and olive oil. Mash them in a mortar (or mince everything and mix it a lot) and rub onto the chicken. Marinate for one hour.

In a dutch oven, brown the chicken in remaining tablespoon of oil, working in batches if necessary. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Add onions, bell pepper and garlic to dutch oven, cooking until onions are soft. Scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Return chicken to dutch oven, cover, and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.

Without stirring the pot, add rice and between 3 and 4 cups of water. I know this is vague, but it really depends on how much liquid the chicken has released. (This is one of the times when mom says, frustratingly, "just add enough.") Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Stir in capers and saffron. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. It will still look soupy at this point, but more water gets absorbed, don't despair.

Add peas and tomato, without stirring. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until peas are cooked.

Isn't that beautiful? Even though I just ate this for supper, my mouth waters just looking at the picture!

One note to share: all that not stirring the pot makes for a crust of rice on the bottom. If you cook over heat that is too hot, it makes a burned crust that is difficult to scrape out of the pan. If you find the elusive "just right" temperature, it makes a beautiful brown crust of crunchy rice that is quite good. I'm obviously still looking for "just right," so I'd better go scrape the bottom of my dutch oven some more...

Happy Father's Day

I wanted to show a little love for the awesome Daddy at our house, and say Happy Father's Day to all dads. In honor of the day, here are some extra-special Daddy-Daughter moments from our house...

Jonathan and Hannah

Jonathan and Lydia

Hannah...isn't that the cutest little "I know something you don't" grin?

My favorite picture of these two yet... I can't wait to see what's still to come.