Everyday indulgences - The Egg Crate

A little free-form ramble from my mind to yours:

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, may remember that, among many other things,  my Christmas wish list featured a fervently-hoped-for egg crate. Of all things.This all makes much more sense when I tell you said that egg crate is from Anthropologie. Well, I didn't get it for Christmas, but I did buy it for myself shortly thereafter, and now it sits it my fridge looking gorgeous and generally raising the tone of this here establishment. In short, I love it. I may or may not have started buying higher quality (and priced) eggs that look prettier in my egg crate, although in my defense that has a lot do with taste, quality and ethics too. But, oh, the brown of the eggs and the blue of the stoneware just warms the very cockles of my heart. 

And yet! How frivolous is this? What an absolutely pointless thing to spend money on! Do I really have so much time and resources on my hand that I have taken to styling the contents of my fridge? If this isn't the opiate of the middle classes*, I don't know what is. My 16 year-old self would be outraged and disgusted (and probably secretly taking notes for future reference).

Having said all that, I do admit that I get a lot of enjoyment out of making my surroundings a little prettier.  I want to make my home a nice, comfortable place for my family and friends to enjoy spending time, and if I can get a little thrill out of a $14 piece of kitchen ware, then more power to me, right?

Some of these thoughts are coming from recent blog posts by Stephmodo and Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day who have been writing about the appeal of pretty cleaning supplies. Personally, I think the joy of actually using fancy-dancy brooms and bottles for household chores would wear off pretty quickly. But I know I'd get the same little thrill from seeing a cleaning stash full of pretties that I do from my blessed egg crate. And really, shouldn't we be taking our innocent little pleasures where we can get them?



*Side note: Did you know that more than half of all Americans (or even 9 out of 10) consider themselves to be middle class? That's a big middle. 

Pesto pasta with feta

Whole wheat pasta, basil, feta cheese and cherry tomatoes. 

As promised, here is the recipe for our pesto pasta with feta. While it doesn't photograph well (not by me, anyway), it is delicious enough that we make it every couple of weeks. And if you don't trust me, trust Señor Picky Eater who shoveled it down with both hands. His dad and I were so amazed we had to take a  picture! I would have thought that Feta cheese would be too strong for a toddler palate, but I guess not, because he loved it!

Evidence of a boy enjoying his dinner. 

As well as being meatless and delicious, it's also a really quick dinner, as in about 10 minutes start to finish, which is hard to beat on a weeknight when everyone seems to be starving to death all at once. So here we go: 

Pesto pasta with feta

Serves 2

You will need

• About 7 oz./200 g. (or half a packet) whole grain rotini pasta (I like this one from Barilla, and good heavens, I wish they would sponsor me for how much I keep plugging their products). 
• 6 oz./170 g. Feta cheese 
• 2 table spoons of pesto (we make our own from this recipe, minus the parsley)
• handful of halved cherry tomatoes (or olives or green beans or whatever vegetable sounds good to you. )

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. 
2. Halve the tomatoes. 
3. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and stir in the pesto, followed by the feta cheese. 
4. Add tomatoes and serve. 

Enjoy! And if you do make it, please let me know what you think :)

Small steps: a meatless meal

A completely unrelated photo of Espen's cars taking their nap in our placemats.

Let's just jump right into this week's challenge, shall we?

This should be simple enough: this week we will be eating one meatless dinner. This is something we often and easily do in our family, but would still like to make it a more regular thing, so a conscious reminder is good for us too.

So, what's so bad about meat? In my opinion, not much (and yes, I will be avoiding the whole ethical debate here. If you want to know how I feel about eating meat and how animals are raised for meat consumption, just ask, and I'll be happy to tell you. It's just not an issue we'll be discussing here). It's a great source of protein, iron and a variety of other nutrients, it's filling and delicious and can be great to build a meal around. However, too much meat consumption (especially red meat) is also high in saturated fat and has been pretty conclusively linked to heart disease, type II diabetes, cancer (especially colon cancer). You can read more about that fun stuff here, here, here and here.

I think the key here (as I'm discovering more and more as I get older) are the words "too much." As I was reading up on this, just about every article and every "expert" stated that meat is just fine in moderation. And so I'm going to be trying to cut back my meat consumption a little. Ironically, while simultaneously trying to get Espen to eat more meat, but that's another story about a toddler who only wants to eat fruit and cheese for every meal.

So, here are the rules!

• This week, incorporate one meatless dinner into your menu. That simple! 
• Not wanting to disregard the vegetarians among you, let's flip this upside down, and have you make a protein and iron-rich meal this week. Then tell me what you made! 
• Need some dinner ideas? We love these Zucchini cakes and these vegetable enchiladas look fantastic. 
• Check back tomorrow, when I will be posting a recipe to one of our own favorite meatless dinners: Pasta with feta and pesto. 

Oh, and did you clean out your closet last week? I did, and it felt great! I now have one huge pile of clothes to donate, and one pile of clothes to pack away and try again if and when I ever lose that weight. I loved 1) seeing that I'm only one or two sizes away from being able to wear them again and 2) rediscovering several pieces in my closet that I haven't worn for ages because I just kind of forgot about them, or didn't think they fit anymore. It was also interesting to see that the clothes I kept are mostly fairly classic, good-quality pieces that I can probably wear for a long time. That might be good to remember when I go shopping! 

See you tomorrow! 

Small steps: closet clean-out

Some sunshiny flowers from our weekend in St. George.

We are literally just back from a weekend away and have collapsed onto the couch in front of Graham Norton (bless his little Irish socks) after tucking a very tired Espen into bed. I'll be headed in that direction myself pretty soon, but I just wanted to hop on here and give you the short version of this week's Small Steps challenge:

This week's challenge is going to be cleaning out our closets.  And before you get your knickers in the proverbial twist over this not being health-related, just hear me out for a minute. Aaaand cue a teensy bit of psychobabble: I really believe that one of the first steps towards having a healthy body is having a healthy mind. As a culture, we have the weirdest hangups about what we "should" look like, and spend a lot of time being down on ourselves if we don't fit that ideal. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that one of the things that often makes us feel bad about ourselves are clothes that don't fit the way we want them to. So this week I'll be paring down my closet to just the clothes that I'm happy with right now. I'm going to keep the clothes that I like and hope will fit better down the road, but I'll be boxing them up and putting them away so they're not a) taking up space in my closet and b) won't keep me frequently feeling bad about them. And anything that just isn't doing it for me at all is being donated.

What do you think?

Hear ye, hear ye!

A few quick public service announcements:

• I just posted some photos and whatnot from Espen's actual birthday yesterday over on Me Here Her There, AKA my other blog. I probably won't be posting them here, so if you want to see a sticky toddler covered in ice cream, now's your chance. I will, however, give you the lowdown on his birthday party next week. 
• I've had a lot of hits for people searching for fastelavn, which is a Scandinavian holiday that kicks off the season of lent. The date for fastelavn this year is Sunday, February 19th, so this weekend! For simplicity, I am linking to my post about fastelavn here. And now I'm trying to decide if I should enforce this holiday at my inlaws on Sunday, which is where we will be spending the long weekend. Whipped cream, anyone?
• Similarly, with Easter on the horizon (that actually blows my mind a little, seeing as Valentine's Day is just over), some people are arriving here via searches for hand painted Easter eggs. My tutorial for those can be found here. But seriously, friends, we've got about six weeks. 

They're pretty, right? 

I'll be back with next week's health challenge on Sunday night. Until then, have a great weekend!

A letter to Espen on his 2nd birthday.

Dear Espen,

You are two years old today, happy birthday! I am writing this while you take a much needed (and resisted) nap before we resume the celebrations. We started the day with presents in our pajamas, and you impressed me with your present unwrapping skills. You know exactly what to do with those! As you opened each gift, you asked "What's this, mama? What's inside?" over and over as you ripped off the paper. You loved all of your gifts from your Lightening McQueen shirt (which you're currently wearing) to your new Thomas books. If I had to guess, though, I'd say that your favorites are your new tent and the Elias boat from Granny and Grandad. Granny and Grandad were able to see you open Elias over Skype, and I think they were as delighted with your reaction as you were with your gift. You were so excited to see Elias that you spent most of the morning asking to take a bath just so you could try him out in water.

After a play date and a very indulgent lunch of a Happy Meal from McDonalds ("Fries! Yummy yummy!") eaten in front of the movie Cars, you finally did get your bath, much to your delight.

That little smirk says it all, really. 

Now, a story time and much playing and shrieking in bed later, you are fast asleep. It really is true what they say about parents loving their children even more when they're sleeping. It means I get to think about you and miss your sweet face and all the funny little things you say. As nice as it is to get a little break from full-time toddler wrangling, I am looking forward to scooping you up for a little post-nap snuggle. Your little body always seems a little softer and warmer when you have just woken up, and you're not yet too busy to lean into me and cuddle close for a few moments.

The first time I met you. 

If you are anything like me, it will take you years to realize what a gift you are to me. When I held you in my arms two years ago, I was completely overwhelmed by how much and how instantly I loved you. And I was almost ashamed to really understand for the first time just how much my own parents love me. Mostly I'm just grateful to be reminded that I have always had the kind of love from my parents that you have from yours.

Being your mother has been one of the most profound experiences of my life. In the midst of all the feeding, diaper changing, laundry washing, book reading, duck feeding, "no"-saying and mess cleaning, I have really and genuinely discovered who I am. And, Espen, I have discovered who you have made me. You have given me patience, tenderness and a never-ending capacity for love that I didn't really realize was there. You have taught me to prioritize, try harder and to never, ever give up. Thank you.

Espen David North, you are a joy and a delight! 95% of the time, you are the happiest little boy in the world, and the other 5% you are really not. You are a chatterbox, and always have something to say. We know you're awake in the mornings because we can hear you talking and laughing by yourself, and we know you're asleep at night because that's when the talking stops. I realized a few weeks ago that we are having conversations now. You ask me questions and tell me what you want or need (usually milk, bunnies or Lightning McQueen) or just tell me about your day. I can explain what we're doing and why to you, or ask you for your input on a particular topic ("Bed? No. Brush teeth? No.") You've always been an impressive vocabulary for your age, and now you are blowing us away with your ability to put it all together.

You are sweet and kind and loving. Sometimes you'll catch my, or your dad's, eye from across the room and just grin a big grin at us. If one of us is in a different room, you'll sometimes yell "I love you!" just to hear our voices. You are learning to share your toys with friends, and show genuine concern if someone else is upset. You love all of your grandparents, and manage to stay close to all of them, no matter how far away they live. If we Skyped with Granny as often as you asked to, she'd never get any sleep!

Always busy.

In spite (or maybe because) of our best attempts to not push typical "boy" interests on you, you have the manliest little obsessions! You love cars, trains, planes, trucks and basically anything with wheels. I am astounded at the sheer number of toy cars that have magically found their way into our house, and have accepted that I will probably be finding trains in my bed for years to come. You are happiest when busy and love painting, going for walks, making "stuff", cooking, helping out around the house and being involved in whatever is going on.

Happy birthday, my little boy! You have brought so much joy to our little family, and we feel so lucky that we get to be your daddy and mama. These two years have gone so fast, and I know the years to come will just fly by, but I am so excited to follow you in your journey through life. You will do wonderful things, simply because you are you.

I love you, Espen.

--- Your mama.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My flowers from Nick.

This is a busy week for us: Espen's birthday party and our "engageaversary" on Saturday, my dad's birthday and Norwegian Mother's Day on Sunday, Valentine's Day on Tuesday, Espen's actual birthday on Thursday followed by leaving town for the three day weekend. Phew! In the midst of all this craziness, Nick and I do still like to take the time to celebrate with a little romance. He surprised me with flowers last night (so I could enjoy them all day on Valentine's Day! :) ), and I found a sweet card on my pillow this morning that I'm sure I read with a big, goofy grin on my face. That man can still make me giddy!

We started a fantastic tradition a few years ago of getting take-out from the Bombay House on Valentine's Day. No more scrambling for babysitters or waiting in line four ages to get a table at crowded restaurants. Just the two of us, a couple of mango lassis and lots and lots of tasty curry. My kind of night! I'm sure we'll curl up with a movie too, preferably of the romantic variety. What are your favorites? I'd love some suggestions. 

Just two crazy kids against the world.

The photo above is one of our engagement photos, and to this day it still makes my heart skip around in unpredictable ways. We're older now, with a child, a house, two cars, an accountant for heaven's sakes!, but I still love my Nick with all the fire and excitement I felt in my heart on that rainy February day when he asked me to be his wife. When I said yes - twice.

Valentine's Day is a wonderful day to celebrate the fun side of love and romance. But in my heart, I will keep saying yes to you, Nicholas North, every single day for the rest of my life. Twice.