Life Off Headset

Weekly recap + what we ate: Testing and ten year old

This was the week of COVID test distribution. All public school students were sent home on Monday with a rapid test kit. (Well, all schools that were still meeting in person; eleven schools in our district had transitioned to distance learning because of their COVID numbers, though I understand test kits were available for those families to pick up at the school.) Our school had a Zoom COVID test party, which I thought was a cute idea. The Principal led everyone though how to use their test kits, with a 15 minute dance party while we waited for the results. The nine year old’s test was negative. I had a feeling that it would be, but given that the four year old had no symptoms and he tested positive, I’ve given up any expectations on how COVID spreads.

The County also started handing out test kits at Public Libraries. I love that the public libraries are seen as the right hub for the distribution to happen. The first two days, I drove by a couple libraries and the lines were quite long, so I didn’t stop. In fact, on Tuesday they ran out of tests before the end of the distribution window. Wednesday, I got there half an hour after the window opened and managed to get several kits because they gave two to each resident, including children. The line was quite long when I arrived, but it moved quickly and we were in and out in about ten minutes. I’ve been hearing stories about how there are people selling on Craigslist these COVID test kits that city/county governments are distribution for free … which I find really angering.

In other COVID news, on Tuesday evening, we were told that the the four year old’s class would be closed because of an exposure in his classroom. The school was initially somewhat vague about re-opening plans because while the state has approved a five day quarantine and negative test for kids to return to class after an exposure, our County still mandates a 10 day quarantine period. So I girded my loins for another ten days at home with the four year old. But then, the next evening, the school and wrote, saying since the four year old had had COVID within the past ninety days (seventeen days, to be exact) he was allowed to return to the classroom. Hooray! I had already made plans with him for Thursday, so he went back on Friday, one of two kids in class. I asked him how it was being in such a small class, and he said he liked it. Though he added, “But sometimes my head said to me, ‘What is going on?'”

I hear you, little guy. Some days it feels like such a mental and emotional roller coaster having to navigate COVID.

In happier side, my oldest turned ten last week. Wow. I look at her and wonder how we got here so soon and how she got to be so tall and have so many opinions. A decade seems to me to be a long time … surely it hasn’t been a decade since she was born? And then other days, I think, if she’s been around so long, why haven’t I figured this whole parenting thing out yet? Isn’t ten years enough time to figure things out? But I have to admit that my kid still confounds me every single day, and every single day I’m convinced that I’m bungling things.

Anyhow, at her request, we had an ice cream cake and Chipotle and probably a little too much screentime. The day after her birthday was a half day of school, so the Husband took a half day off and we took her skating. Or rather the ten year old and four year old and I went skating and the Husband watched the baby and cheered us on. It was the four year old’s first time skating and I thought he did okay! And he got lots of help from his sister. He was also super excited by the Zamboni as it is featured in the book that we got him for Christmas, “Unconventional Vehicles“.

After the four year old got tired of skating, the ten year old and I skated together for the rest of our time, gliding lazily around the rink, trying to avoid the groups of teenagers and middle schoolers. Originally this was supposed to be a mommy daughter date, and she was disappointed that her little brother had to tag along because of his school closure, so I’m glad we got a good half hour on the ice just the two of us.

Some kid adventures this week:

Both the baby and the four year old began the winter sessions of swim lessons this week. Winter swim lessons are certainly harder to navigate than summer swim lessons. In the summer, you can put them in their swim suits before you leave the house and they can ride home slightly wet, sitting on a towel. But in the winter, there’s all those layer of clothes and the dressing and undressing and undressing and dressing. But the kids have fun and I do want them to learn to swim sooner rather than later. Though to be honest, I feel like they’re going to need more than once a week lessons to truly learn. I think the ten year old really learned to swim independently the summer she had daily swim lessons for two weeks.

A new to us park: It was quite cold (for us) this week. No snow, but temperatures in the low 30s to mid 20s. I only made it outside for 13 hours this week (17 hours a week is the average to get to 1000 hours for the year. But I figure things will even out in the summer…) Still, I was determined to explore a little bit outside, so Monday day after school drop off, I took the baby to an “adventure playground” that was a little bit of a drive from home, but not too far from the ten year old’s school. I think the only thing truly “adventure” about this playground was the climbing wall, but there was a castle and a pirate ship which were perfect for imaginative adventures. And lots of slides and swings and pretend cars.

Game nights: On nights when we manage to clean up dinner by 7:15p or so, we’ve taken to playing games as a family. For Christmas we added Sleeping Queens, King of Tokyo and Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza to our game cupboard. Even the four year old can play these games, which is great because for a while I felt bad that he was left out of game night. We help him strategize sometimes, and I’ve loved seeing how he’s coming to understand how each game is played. It’s been really fun, and we laugh a lot. Yes, sometimes there is pouting and tantrums when someone doesn’t win, but we’re working on those life lessons, I hope.

What We Ate: The Husband decided that he wanted to cook dinner this week, which was kind of great. It made me realize that a) I do like cooking and have been somewhat a control freak about it, and b) cooking takes up a lot of time, and I have so much more free time in the evenings when I don’t have to cook! The kid’s Swedish Climbing Wall has been great during this pre-dinner time – I can sit in the room while they climb it, but I only have to interact minimally so I can read or do some work while they play.

Saturday: Hmmm… can’t remember.

Sunday: The Husband made some kind of stir fry.

Monday: Spicy tofu tacos and Napa Cabbage Slaw. This was really tasty – one of those meals where you realize that it’s the sauce that’s important, not what you put it on.

Tuesday: Chipotle, as requested by the ten year old for her birthday.

Wednesday: Dumplings and french fries, take out. Not the healthiest, but it was supposed to be a post-skating snack and then we realized afterwards that we were too full to eat a proper dinner. There was definitely a lot of birthday slacking going on this week.

Thursday: Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry with Rice.

Friday: Pizza – the Husband even put anchovies on mine! And we watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I feel like I spent the whole movie staring at Keanu Reeves with a little bit of wonder at how different he is in this movie from really anything else he’s done.

January Challenge #16 – flowers

For January I signed up for 64 Million Artists’ January Challenge. Every day in January, they send out a prompt for a quick creative challenge. I’m posting some of my output here.

Find a flower. You might find it outside, inside, in a book, magazine or online.
Consider the colour, shapes and textures of the flower. Is it rough, soft, rotting, smooth…or anything else?
Capture the essence and colours of your flower in a picture, sketch or haiku.

January rose.
Blazing solitary pink
When will the snow come?

Snow mirroring clouds,
Soft white banks of fluff and cold
with blue sky between.

January Challenge #9 – Reflections

Capture a reflection that you see, perceive or feel.

The weekend – Where the Music Comes From

I spent much of the weekend working. Yay work! I had gotten a call to do another supertitle gig, this time for a vocal recital. The contract had me create the PowerPoint for the supertitles in addition to running them during the recital. Creating the PowerPoint and putting the slide placements in my score ended up taking much of Friday night and all day Saturday. At some point, after I was deep into typing the slides for the first half of the concert, the Husband, data organization genius, figured out a way to take the translations that I was given and put them directly into the PowerPoint. It involved moving the data set (as he called the lines of text) into an Excel file, then into a Word document merge file, and then finally into the PowerPoint. While it seemed complicated, it was loads less time consuming that typing everything out. This is probably incredibly nerdy, but the Husband and I had much discussion about whether it was better to proof your data set then merge, or to merge the given data set and then correct the final PowerPoint. It is so interesting to me that even after twelve years of marriage I’m still discovering ways in which the Husband and I think differently, especially on such a conceptual level.

Anyhow, the recital itself was magical. The first half was songs by queer American and British composers, and many of the songs were favorites of mine. The second half was songs by Spanish and Latino composers and full of fun and feeling. I had forgotten how much I love a song recital – the simplicity of a singer and a pianist and the music they want to share. No sets, no costumes… just music and text and heartfelt emotions of that moment.

One of the songs in the first half was a song written by Lee Hoiby, called “Where the Music Comes From.” I had sung it when I was in college, and judging from YouTube it is extremely popular in college song recitals. Nonetheless it is one of my favorite songs; I loved the piece for it’s elegant long lines, full of hope and yearning and joy. I get the sense that in the classical music world, songs that are so unabashedly melodic are somewhat out of style – critics tend to dismiss them as artless pastiche pieces or overly sentimental. Maudlin, even. I would definitely say that “Where the Music Comes From” is sentimental, and sentimentality is perhaps frowned upon these days. People want smart and ironic and clever.

(Also, I just noticed that I had always sung the third verse incorrectly… there is a phrase of music that is just different enough from the previous two verses that you need to pay attention or you’ll sing it wrong. I had an internal mortifying moment wondering why my voice teacher and art song coach never said anything to me about this and let me perform it in a recital incorrectly!)

There is something strange about hearing someone else sing a piece that you are so intimately familiar with that it is carved into the heart of your memory. When I heard it in the recital on Sunday, I got goosebumps because it sounded familiar and new all at the same time. But – and here is the wonder of this particular singer – I have loved this song for over twenty years now, and he made me re-think the piece. (I’ve put the text below.) I had always thought of the three verses as three different wishes, but there was something about the way this singer sang the song that made me realize, that actually, it’s the same wish – the song is a wish for a place where all these things can come together.

Where the Music Comes From
Music and Text by Lee Hoiby

I want to be where the music come from,
Where the clock stops, where it’s now.
I want to be with the friends around me,
Who have found me, who show me how.
I want to sing to the early morning,
See the sunlight melt the snow:
And, oh, I want to grow.

I want to wake to the living spirit
Here inside me where it lies.
I want to listen till I can hear it,
Let it guide me and realize
That I can go with the flow unending,
That is blending, that is real;
And oh, I want to feel.

I want to walk in the earthly garden,
Far from cities, far from fear.
I want to talk to the growing garden,
To the devas, to the deer,
And to be one with the river flowing,
Breezes blowing, sky above.
And, oh, I want to love.

There is so much about the text that speaks to me, but I think listening to this now, during a pandemic where isolation is a survival tactic, I really grasp on to the imagery of needing to surround oneself with joyful nurturing things, whether it be friends or nature or even just thoughts – and being able to recognize and merge these things into your life.

Weekly recap + what we ate: Snow! finally!

Snow and clouds and blue sky in between.

We finally had snow! After the mildest of winters, snow arrived. Enough snow and ice that the first two days back from winter break were declared snow days by the school district. The third day was a delayed opening, and it ended up being quite a mess; so many school bus drivers were out due to COVID that ninety bus routes were cancelled that day. Given that COVID numbers were going up, we decided that just to be cautious I would drive the nine year old to and from school instead of having her take the bus. I’m not sure if it really is going to make a difference, but isn’t this whole pandemic layer after layer of risk mitigation and risk assessment? So we figured if the bus was a layer of COVID risk, we could remove that since I could drive her. Hopefully by the time I go back to work in February, the COVID numbers will have gone down.

I’ve been reading Katherine May’s Wintering, and she has a passage about snow days that I love:
“I love the inconvenience [of snow] the same way that I sneakingly love a bad cold: the irresistible disruption to mundane life, forcing you to stop for a while and step outside your normal habits.”

In a way, the snow day seemed like merely an extension of our COVID isolation period – a time outside of the everyday rush and bustle where we were forced to just be in the place we were. The Husband went to work – since his test was negative and he was vaxed and boosted and had no symptoms, he was allowed back to work after five days – leaving me home with all three kids. We couldn’t venture very far afield, and instead found our lives wrapped in a cozy cocoon of winter weather. Even our planned grocery delivery had been cancelled. So we ate down the pantry and the freezer, and the shin deep snow in the backyard was our playground.

Bundling the kids is always a process. It takes me about fifteen to twenty minutes to get the four year old and the baby fully into their snow gear and out the door. (The nine year old gets herself dressed, save for me zipping her up since we have these gloves with extended cuffs that have to be put on before the coat.) Mittens, snow suits, hats, scarves, wool socks, boots, Aquaphor to protect their cheeks … it’s a lot. But at least I know they are warm enough to they will stay out there for a good long while. I do need to put a calendar reminder for next fall to review the snow gear since I think the two older kids will need new snow pants next year, and definitely boots. Luckily there will be hand me downs for the baby.

The second snow day, the nine year old wanted to take a walk down to the trail to see what the snow looked like there. Everything was blanketed white and shimmery ice. The kids played a little too close for my comfort at the edge of the creek, my warning that wet feet would be cold feet going unheeded. It was a beautiful walk, though. The trail was quite empty and the stillness made our crunching footsteps seem louder than normal. I love the squeaky brittle sound of walking in snow.

There was a nice lazy rhythm to these snow days… up and outside by 9:30a. Play in the snow until lunchtime. Then lunch with hot chocolate – I had bought a large pack of hot cocoa bombs from Costco before Christmas. I don’t think I ever got the milk hot enough to melt the chocolate shell and release the hot cocoa mix in a swirling explosion like on the YouTube videos. The bombs kind of just floated in milk and then slowly disintegrated to reveal cocoa powder and marshmallows. Oh well, nothing is ever like on YouTube.

Then indolent afternoons of screentime (nine year old), books (four year old) and naps (baby) while I tried to pick up the kitchen. I was once again reminded how much living happens when people are home all day. The clean up felt constant. It was definitely an unrelenting couple of days.

Wednesday, I took the four year old and the baby sledding while the nine year old was in school. (The current guidelines allow her back in school if she is vaccinated and without symptoms, so I guess she didn’t really have to quarantine.) I love sledding even though we don’t own a sled. I had, in fact, put a calendar reminder for myself to buy a sled last fall. But fall came with it’s sixty degree weather and the need for a sled didn’t seem imminent. Never mind that the point of writing myself a calendar reminder was so that I didn’t wait until the need was indeed imminent. I felt a little sad earlier in the week as I watched other kids whizz down hills in their sleds, and kicked myself for not having bought a sled. Then I went looking around the house for other things to use. I ended up grabbing a cardboard box (what else?) that I wrapped in a garbage bag, and the cement mixing tray that we had been using as a water table. This latter worked surprisingly well, though the cardboard and garbage bag did manage to get the baby down the hill, even if not as slickly. It was really adorable because the four year old insisted on keeping one hand on his sister’s “sled” as they went down the hill in tandem. Once in a while they fell over, going heels over head, but they got up and did it again, pushing and pulling their make-shift sled up the hill.

Thursday, was the first day that both kids were back for a full school day. I took the baby to Seneca Creek State Park in hopes of having a little hike, but she just wanted to play on the playground. I did manage to convince her to walk down to the edge of the lake and we threw branches in the water, a favorite pastime. It was definitely cold – probably mid 30s – but there is something I really love about cold weather and bare trees and the quiet of winter.

Friday we had more snow, and another snow day with classes cancelled. I took the kids sledding again. This time, I also brought along a baby bath tub since the cardboard and garbage bag from last time had disintegrated. The baby bathtub didn’t work great, which was just as well since the baby wanted to go to the playground instead. So, after telling the nine year old to keep an eye on her brother, I took the baby to the playground. She wanted to swing, though before I knew it, she had fallen asleep in the swing!

We ended up meeting up with some friends at the hill, which always make things more fun for the nine year old. And then at one point, I looked up and a snowball fight had broken out among all the neighborhood kids who were at the hill, complete with sled barricades. Of course my first instinct was to tell the nine year old that she shouldn’t be throwing snowballs at other kids, but I bit my tongue and let the classic kids rumble play out.

So in the final tally, the first week back at school was actually one short day and one full day. The four year old was technically released from isolating on Thursday, so he had one day of school before the snow day since the day care follows the public school closures.

On the one hand, three snow days in one week is a lot, but on the other hand, I was kind of glad that I had a bit of relief from the anxiety of sending my kids back to the COVID germ pool that is school.

Fun food discovery:
I’ve started making a Dutch Baby for breakfast on those days when the kids want pancakes but I have no patience for all the assembling and mixing and making. The Dutch baby batter comes together quickly in the blender and then cooks up super fast, all in one skillet. Bring the skillet to the table and everyone have at it. So much quicker than pancakes.

What We Ate:

Monday: Green bean and tofu stir fry.

Tuesday: Black Bean tacos. Basically a can of black beans, warmed up with half cup salsa. Eaten on tortillas.

Wednesday: Lentil Quinoa bowls with Roasted Broccoli.

Thursday: Cod cakes (from Dinner Illustrated) with roast asparagus and potatoes.

Friday: pizza (the husband made) and The Muppet Movie. It was the baby’s turn to choose so we each picked a movie from our DVD collection, lined them up in a row and let her pick one. I have to admit, while I find The Muppet Movie hilarious, I have yet to stay awake for the whole thing. Funny story – the Husband used to watch this movie with the nine year old, and everytime the movie got to that bit in the middle where the projector “broke”, he would turn it off and say, “Oh no! I guess that’s the end of the movie.” It took her a while to figure out that there was a whole other rest of the movie that she hadn’t seen yet.

January Challenge # 6 – a tasty bite

Think of a recipe or dish that is important to you and your family or culture. Share the recipe with somebody else, and ask them to share a recipe that is important to them.

Tea eggs are ubiquitous in Taiwan. If you go to 7-11 they will have vats of them, self-serve style, much like American 7-11s have hotdog cases. When I was little, we often had a big batch of tea eggs stewing on the stove. If you look up tea egg recipes, they are often so neat and tidy, delicately made with orange peels, star anise, and bags of tea. The tea eggs my mother made were messy and wild; she made them with loose tea, and as the eggs sat in soy sauce, the tight little dried tea leaves would unfurl, opening into an unkempt tangle that draped over the eggs like seaweed. She also made sure to thoroughly crack the boiled eggs so that they would reveal beautifully marbled spiderweb patterns when unpeeled. There was a kind of brazen imperfection in the pot of cracked eggs, as if they were daring you to judge them by their broke, flawed appearance, when in truths these cracks are what makes a tea egg – the cracks allows the flavor to seep into the egg whites and allow the soy sauce and tea to soak into the beautifully marbled patterns . Most recipes you find online call for letting the eggs sit for an hour or so, but that yields an egg that is beige or light tan. To get the deep brown colour of my childhood, the eggs need to sit… indefinitely. That is also part of the homey quality of tea eggs – they are a constant presence on the stove, always available for when one needs a quick savory protein snack, and filling the kitchen with the warm smell of tea and soy sauce.

When I make tea eggs, I sort of cheat. Primarily because I like my tea eggs slightly more soft boiled than typical. The tea eggs of my childhood always had that faint greenish ring around the yolk, which I always found unappealing. So for my method I make a batch of soft boiled eggs – these day in the instant pot – then I peel them and let them sit in the already cooked soy sauce and tea concoction. This way, it’s more of a marinating process then a stewing process and the eggs don’t continue to cook. You don’t get the beautiful marbled exterior, but it’s a trade off I’m willing to make to have the interior I like. I’ve never been one to value the aesthetics of food over the taste.

I don’t have a specific recipe: Soy sauce, tea, star anise, cinnamon stick if I have it. Toss, stir, steep, smell. It’s a very forgiving recipe. And if it doesn’t taste quite right, I’ve found that leaving the eggs in to steep even longer usually sets things right.

January Challenge #3

Today’s challenge is part of “We Are Connected” and has been inspired by all sorts of ideas that were sent to us, and that came out of creative workshops. So, although this idea is from us at 64 Million Artists – really it’s a little bit of a lot of people’s imagination – just like the challenge.
What does the word ‘Connected’ mean to you? Find a small piece of paper, a post-it or the back of an envelope. This piece of paper is your blank canvas! Use it to capture the images, stories or memories that you associate with the word connected. It might capture your connection to a friend, a family member, nature, a hobby, a memory…anything goes

Weekly recap + what we ate: the last week of the year!

The day after Christmas we went for COVID tests, back to back appointments, with the Husband and the four year old going in first while I waited outside with the COVID positive baby and then me taking the nine year old in when they came out.

The people at the testing center looked exhausted.

“Has it been busy?” I asked, somewhat inanely making conversation with the lady who swabbed our noses.

“Oh yes.”

“Worse than Thanksgiving?”

“Much much worse.”

I remembered to thank her profusely for doing her job. How stressful it must be. Even though a lot of healthy people come to the testing center to get requisite tests for travel and family gatherings, I’m sure there are a good number that actually will test positive.

It was our first trip out of the house in three days, and once we were in the car speeding home, the temptation was great to just keep driving and not go home – that little intoxicating taste of freedom. But, being responsible people, we took ourselves home and continued to quarantine.

The husband, the nine year old and I came back with negative tests rather quickly. The four year old’s test took the full 72 hours and was… positive. wump wump. But in the end, it was kind of a moot point because his daycare center ended up closing for the week anyway due to a COVID related staffing shortage. I feel like so many people I know – people who are super careful and vaccinated and boostered – were testing positive. It has been kind of brutal.

We spent the week rediscovering the joys of our backyard. I googled “classic outdoor games” and came across SPUD, which I had never played as a child, but which the kids loved. The two little kids also discovered the joy of throwing a ball at a pyramid of tin cans and yogurt containers. And of course there were cardboard creations and improvised obstacle courses.

And indoors there was this classic – the set from the Husband’s childhood, with missing pieces supplemented via eBay:

Speaking of childhood nostalgia – we watched 9-Bit Christmas and it was delightful. Full of the hallmarks of a childhood in the late 80s, and the story was kind of great too. It supposed to be a knock off of A Christmas Story, but it’s gentler and more forgiving… perhaps a sign of the times? Anyway, will definitely put that into the Christmas movie rotation.

For New Years Day, I wanted noodles, but we didn’t have the right kind of noodles at home. This is probably laughable, since I have a bin in the cupboard with at least four different kinds of noodles from Asia. Noodles are definitely my favorite food. I love how versatile yet specific they are.

So I decided to try my hand at making udon noodles from scratch. I’ve come to realize that the combination of flour + water + salt is the basis of so many different dishes – noodles, dumpling wrappers, scallion pancakes… All the recipes for Udon noodles that I read called for kneading the dough with your feet. So I mixed up the dough and got the kids involved in the stomping and the rolling. I did have to improvise a bit since we were out off all purpose flour. I don’t know how that happened – probably isolating hot on the heels of bake-heavy holiday season. But I did have whole wheat flour and sprouted flour (a random Hungry Harvest purchase). I also had bread flour, but I didn’t remember until too late, and in retrospect that might have been the best option.

The results were tasty. Granted, toss anything in scallion ginger sauce and it will be tasty, but the noodles tasted simple and doughy. The chew was not as bouncy as ideal, but I think that might have been because of the flour. I’m on the fence as to whether to try again, but it’s good to have demystified the idea of making my own noodles.

We also put together the Swedish climbing wall that we had bought for the kids for Christmas. I thought it was going to be a huge challenge, but it was surprisingly easy and the kids love it. A good indoor energy burner, for sure. And I may once in a while be found hanging from it too…

Throw back food stuffs:
When I was little, growing up in a tiny Canadian town, much of the Taiwanese food that my parents loved wasn’t available in stores. They made their own dumplings. They even made their own tofu – a multi-day process that started with soaking soy beans and involved a rustic metal machine that made grinding noises in our basement, and square molds that sat overnight in our sink. Of course these days, we buy dumplings and tofu at the store. One other thing I remember my mother making were shrimp chips – they came out of this box as hard round translucent discs which my mother fried in oil until they were puffy and pink and crunchy. You popped the fried chip in your mouth and the chip would bite at your tongue before dissolving in a crunch of salty shrimpy goodness. These days you can readily buy ready-made shrimp chips in the snack aisle at the Asian market. Even the local Giant has them in the ethnic food section, though those ones are skinny and shaped almost like French fries.
The other day, I was at HMart looking for fun food stocking stuffers, and I came across a box of uncooked shrimp chips and I had to buy them for my own stocking. Last week, I gave them a go. I don’t love frying things; I find it messy and I never know what to do with the oil afterwards. So I thought I would see if I could fry the shrimp chips using the airfryer function of our new toaster oven. They do lack the umami of being fried in oil, but the crunch shrimp-y goodness is still there. And the novelty and nostalgia.

Other cozy things this week:
In Summer of 2019, pregnant with our third baby, I decided I wanted to learn how to knit. I had learned once, but then found crochet to be easier and more forgiving so knitting fell by the wayside. Both older kids had handmade blankets made for them when they were born, and I wanted to make one for the baby that was coming. So I dug out a book, looked at some online tutorials, and cast on my first row. It was a pretty simple project – knit stich back and forth til the creation felt long enough. I don’t know if it was time or skill or what not, but the whole thing turned out to be pretty slow going. But finally, the week before Christmas, I finished it and was able to wrap it and put it under the tree for the baby to open come Christmas day. She calls it her “Bankie” and I love seeing her cuddled under it. It certainly has flaws, and the colours don’t quite go together, but I think it will still keep her warm and loved.

What we ate:

Sunday: Cauliflower Curry Soup from ATK’s Vegan for Everyone.

Monday: Sweet Potato and Carrot Eggah and Roasted Potatoes. We don’t eat a lot of potates, but a bunch came in our Hungry Harvest box, so I had some to use up. I cooked the for “0” mins in the InstantPot and then tossed them in olive oil and salt and roasted at 400 until the outsides got golden and crispy. They were really good and I’m now looking forward to more potatoes in our box.

Tuesday: Chili. Every year at some point over the holidays the Husband makes chili. He always makes it the night before so it has time to sit and meld. I love eating my chili with pickled jalapenos, onions and sour cream. The Husband likes his with Fritos. So do the kids. I love how chili is meal where everyone wins.

Wednesday: Banh mi bowls. Made with tofu ground beef rather than pork. And eaten with noodles.

Thursday: BBQ Pinto Bean Tacos with mango salsa.

Friday: Pizza (home made pan pizza) and Empire Strikes Back.

Saturday: Dumpling and homemade udon noodles in scallion ginger sauce with stir fried napa cabbage and mushrooms.

Happy 2022! My year that was 2021

I started off 2022 by making some bad choices, staying up until 4am, seduced by a Law & Order marathon and then a 2am Hallmark holiday movie that was expectedly saccharine, but surprisingly engaging.

The Husband, the nine year old and I had stayed up on New Years Eve to watch the ball drop. The baby tried, but fell asleep on the couch. The four year old put himself to bed around 9:30pm, after we watched Empire Strikes Back for movie night. Everyone who was awake went to bed after the ball drop. I, of course, didn’t want to leave the baby asleep in the basement by herself… hence being sucked in by the Law & Order marathon.

When I was single, I used to watch Law & Order all the time. Not any of the spin offs, just the original. I don’t watch enough cable tv these days to watch Law & Order anymore – I feel like with all the streaming services, one has to be pretty intentional about consuming content these days, and Law & Order is one of those shows you can take for granted and never watch because it seems to always be on. But once in a while, I’ll find a marathon on and before I know it, half the day is gone. Actually, I seem to remember doing this last New Year’s Eve.

At any rate – It’s a new year, but I thought I’d look back and pick my highlight reel for 2021:

January: Positve COVID test for the baby and our first isolation experience. Two weeks. Good things: Grocery delivery, Zoom, a birthday cake sent in the mail, a new President, a multi-racial female VP, and Georgia flipping the senate. Hard things: Capitol riots on January 6th, distance learning.

February: Organizing a fun Zoom birthday party for the Husband involving Husband trivia. Taking my last milk donation to the Breast Milk Bank – kind of bittersweet, but glad to be done pumping. Good things: some wonderful snow days. The baby says, “Mama!” Hard things: distance learning.

March: Led a virtual class on stage management for kids via Zoom for a local opera company. Took the kids to stay in a Lockhouse along the C&O Canal – our first overnight since the pandemic started a year ago. Good things: The nine year old goes back to in person school, the Husband got his first dose of COVID vaccine. I finally caved and bought Airpods and it is life-changing. Hard things: Lost the four year old at Best Buy (found him again, but it was scary). Atlanta spa shootings. Favorite news story: The Ever Given stuck in the Suez canal. Riveting drama.

April: Spring trip to Longwood Gardens. Got my first vaccine shot! Good things: kite-flying and Easter eggs. the four year old staying dry at night. Listening for the first time to this little thing called Hamilton and realizing that it’s pretty good. Hard Things: homework battles.

May: Trip to the Air and Space Museum. Got my first haircut in a year and a half. Worked for pay! Work for new to me opera company and many wonderful new to me colleagues. Good things: My parents arrived to help with the kids while I worked. So grateful for them. Hard things: Working from home with a toddler (I was over a year late to this game… big hugs and high fives and all my respect to people who did it since March 2020)

June: Start in person rehearsals. How I’ve missed chorus rehearsals. Camping with the kids and my parents. Good things: joined a pool. First date night with the Husband since can’t remember when. First stop on Maryland’s Ice Cream Trail. Beautiful things: being witness to the joy and love and tears as singers and musicians make music together onstage for the first time in too too long. Hard things: commuting on the beltway after 2pm. Awkward thing: accidentally setting off the fire alarm at work by knocking over a rack of music stands.

July: Second show of my contract and reuniting with a very dear friend in the director’s chair. We’d worked together as baby ASM and baby AD and it’s almost surreal that we’re all grown up. Visit with a good friend from college. Good things: The kids got bunk beds! So many people on my local listserv offered up bed rails when I posted about needing one for the baby. Getting to swim laps in the pool during adult swim. Ted Lasso. Marina InterLibrary Loan system. Summer Olympics. Hard things: Tech. Being a landlord. My parents leaving; I’m always sad to see them go. Mosquitoes. Delta variant and never ending risk-assessment.

August: Took the kids camping by myself for three nights. Did some old fashioned back to school shopping and bought clothes for the kids (which… they have already outgrown!). The four year old went back to daycare/pre-school after 17 months away. “The kids are wild,” he says. Trip to Dutch Wonderland and Longwood Gardens – stayed in a hotel! First Day of School for the nine year old. Good things: Re-watching Pride and Prejudice – the ten hour Jennifer Ehle/ Colin Firth version. My mask making group at church getting an award of recognition from the Hospital. Free toddler play time at the local rec center. Hard Things: Nine year old’s basketball camp moving indoors because of torrential rain, and then being cancelled. Setting up tent by myself in the rain. Trying to get back into the school routine.

September: The Husband had knee surgery. Four year old sick, but thankfully not COVID. I decided to take up running. Good things: outdoor music concerts at the Golf Course on Friday nights. Apple picking. NSO in the neighborhood string quartet concert followed by the movie Soul. Nine year old’s bus stop moving to walking distance from home. Got new glasses! Hard things: Not planning well enough to complete the Maryland Ice Cream Tour. (definitely a third world problem). Fighting house clutter in an unending battle. Texas abortion laws

October: Quit Facebook, after realizing it was a toxic infinity scroll for me. Made a Millenium Falcon out of cardboard for the 4 year old and won Hallowe’en. Good Things: Malaria vaccine approved by WHO. Hammocks in the park. Hard Things: questioning whether I’ve overscheduled the kids’ weekends. Patience while parenting.

November: Longwood Gardens in the Fall. COVID vaccine for the nine year old. Tackled some big house organization projects. Good things: a visit from dear friends. Rented a concertina to try to learn how to play. Hot Pot playdate in friend’s backyard. Lots of great hikes with the baby. Hard Things: Hmmm… nothing specific, just the daily grind. My Thanksgiving apple pie had a soggy bottom… need to figure that out.

December: Gig running super titles, first time back working at and indoor venue. The baby has COVID. Again. Seems an ironic bookend to the year. Hard things: booster shot wiped me out for a little over 24 hours. Hard things: Typical holiday overwhelm. Omnicron.

Well our second year of COVID living and the end seems very much like March 2020, but I think I feel less unsure and more accepting of what risks I’m willing to take. There is work coming up in February, which is exciting and daunting, but I’m looking forward to it. Here’s hoping 2022 is exciting and boring in all the right ways!

January Challenge Day 2 – Why I love…

On a whim, I signed up for 64millionartists’ January Challenge. Every day they send you a creative prompt. Today’s prompt was:
Think of a place or location that is important to you. Now, finish the sentence “Why I love…” with all of the things that you love about that place. Keep going! You could set a timer for five minutes and see how many things you can note down about your love for this place. You could illustrate, or share photographs of some aspect of the natural or built environment. Capture your memories or the people and culture that make it what it is.

Colorado – mountains and history. Timeless and historic.

I love Colorado because:
There mountains are beautiful.
The skies are the bluest blue imaginable.
There are no mosquitoes.
It does not get humid in the summer.
Walking to a waterfall and showering in cold mountain runoff.
The $1 cookie place on the 16th street mall in Denver.
Despite everything, I think the company I worked for did some pretty great opera, and I was so proud of many of the productions we did.
The best places to eat were in the Casinos.
You can rent a pontoon with a grill. And we did.
Boulder. Brunch. Bookstores.
The IASTSE crew I work with there are not there just for the pay check – they care. Not just about the show, but about the people who are trying to create the show.
The pottery place that operates on the honor system. An unlocked room full of pottery, priced shockingly inexpensively, and no one overseeing it – just a box to put money in, a ledger to record what you bought, and some newspaper to wrap your purchases.
So many wonderful memories and moments.