Clean-ing

We're back on the Clean Diet for our yearly detoxing.  I think that we probably eat fairly well in general.  I limit our sugar, at least to half, in every recipe, and often use honey, dates, or maple syrup instead.  I buy only organic meat, and lots of organic fruits and veg, but we do love butter.  And cream.  And bread, and my extra dark fair trade chocolate that I have a taste of occasionally. (sigh)  I have a cup of tea nearly every day, and sometimes a cup of coffee as well.  For at least a week, we are doing a mini cleanse and eliminating a lot of things that we love (like chocolate, dairy, gluten, caffeine...) as well as adding two liquid meals a day.  Chris grudgingly agreed to go along with me.  And really, this is mostly for his benefit, because with all of his travel this year, his dietary regime got kicked to the wayside.  (When you are in the boondocks of Texas working at least 12 hour days and the only restaurants have wilted iceberg lettuce as their veggie choice, who could blame you really.)

No whining allowed. 

The Food Critic in My Kitchen

*Pictures by Aidan Cummings*

I cook for two food critics every night.  They are budding chefs and their favorite shows to watch on YouTube (no cable here) are invariably cooking shows (with an occasional foray into Shaun the Sheep).  So the nightly routine goes a little something like this...You could have added a bit more spice, I think...Hmm, I'm tasting a bit of lemon, I like how that complements the dish...Maybe next time some pancetta for a salty flavor might kick things up a notch...You should have smoked the gouda first.  Sometimes I'm advised to never make the dish again, but still applauded for my effort.  Sometimes I get high marks from the whole table.  And sometimes I still have to threaten something horrible to get them to finish their food.  The darling husband is getting into the game now as well.  It used to be that he happily ate whatever I made, just because he was so grateful to have someone cook for him.  Now, however, he has decided to start having an opinion as well.  I'm not certain that I like this new discerning palate. 


Taste everything! -Chef Anne on America's Worst Cooks

I was recently chastised from a small person for *gasp* using a premade pie crust and once nearly set the table on strike for cooking Indian food from a mix.  Fortunately, the wee ones like to cook almost as much as they like to critique and "let's play Iron Chef" will send them into the kitchen every time. I've taken to having them taste test, and add seasonings if needed,  because making them a part of the process means they are much more likely to gobble something down.  Some perfect Saturday mornings I'm greeted in bed with a cup of tea, and the smell of pancakes sizzling or breakfast burritos being created. 



How many times do I have to tell you?  Use more seasoning! -Chef Anne

Most times, it's so fun to have little foodies in the house who like to try interesting things, but I confess there are certainly days I wish I could open a box of mac and cheese and not be greeted with open revolt.  


Not that!! -Chef Anne

And for the record, I think our pasta maker hates me.


I've never met a stick of butter I didn't like. -Paula Deen

Happy cooking.  And happier eating.  One final quote from Paula Deen on cooking competitions-We're gonna spank their bottoms until their nose bleeds.

Ski Lessons

I taught my kids to ski this weekend.  I'm not an amazing skier.  In fact, my entire history consists of one terrifying trip from the top of a mountain pleading-Dear Jesus, please let me live-and last year, two lessons from a friend. 

Aidan was a little frustrated after two (!) trips down the bunny hill that he wasn't picking it up faster. And then Chloe was a bit frustrated that it wasn't clicking quicker for her. Cue inspirational speech and a break for poppyseed rolls. This is the part where I told them that they were going to be amazing, but nobody starts something new and is the very best from the beginning.  But that they would be amazing because they would not give up and would learn to believe in themselves.  I think it's so good to try new things and be stretched out of our comfort zones. Persevering past the "too hard" point to the place where you start to get it, and to believe in yourself is empowering.

 

After lunch, Chloe and Aidan wanted to ride the lift together, by themselves.  At that point, Chloe was still wanting to hold onto me past the first steeper slope as her security blanket.  Best choice of the day was to let her go with her brother. Aidan took off in a snow plowing fury and I watched from the bottom as Chloe fell.  I wondered what she would do, and I saw the spark clear as day that she decided she'd be darned if she let her brother beat her. In a moment she hoisted herself up, and was tearing off after him.  And from that moment on they were an inseparable team.  They came down beaming at their newfound skills.  But bigger than that, my littlest bird gained something special as she learned to fly, and this momma learned that sometimes a little push from the nest might be the most loving security blanket of all.
 

Back to Life

Okay, because I know you've been waiting for this.  Here is Esther Sparks new music video and Happy New Year!

The Other Esther

It's not very often that I meet other people with my name.  I never had that problem in kindergarten of having to be called Esther H to differentiate between Esthers.  Sometimes, I've heard of someone's grandmother being called Esther, but never anyone my age.  Until a couple of years ago, when her blonde haired, blue eyed daughter became friends with my blonde haired, blue eyed little girl in first grade.  And there she was, another Esther.  A musical, born in a castle with a Scottish accent and lover of restoring broken things, and broken people, sort of Esther. 

Probably one of my favorite things to photograph is something that tells a story.  Something that lets you glimpse behind what you can easily see and wonder about what comes next.  I was tickled pink to be asked to do the photographs for Esther Sparks & the Whiskey Remedy's new single coming out on January 1st with a vintage vaudeville theme.  We met on a gorgeous fall day for the final filming of the music video.

Esther Sparks & the Whiskey Remedy

Yes, that's my son in a tutu.

The Cast

Esther & Darren-the stars of the show. (Not sure why Chloe looks a little scared in the background)


There was lots of music, and dancing, curious looks from pedestrians and Scottish meat pies.  You gotta be wondering by now, right?  I'll share the link to the video when it's released so that you can see all of the awesomeness for yourself.

A little Bit of Random

Yesterday, the 11 year old and I were in the store.  Look here, Mom.  I glanced up in time to receive a shot of peppermint room spray in the eyes.  A small disclaimer goes here because the lad didn't think that it would spray halfway across the room, and his stricken face was the last thing I saw before my eyes swelled shut.  He led me by an outstretched arm to the bathroom and I spent the next few minutes running water in my eyes.  I was late to pick up Chloe so I had to hurry up and pay, while I was still squinting to see through bloodshot, swollen eyes.  (I felt the need to explain myself to the clerk.)  Chloe wanted to know why the car smelled so strongly of peppermint.

Chloe had her first board breaking session in Tae Kwon Do the other day.  I almost missed it.  There was a miscommunication between me and the husband and he took my car to get a part for his non functioning vehicle. But instead of coming back to get me, he went straight to Chloe's class.  With 5 minutes to get to her class, I left Aidan to watch a pot of soup bubbling on the stove, grabbed the bike out of the garage, pumped up a flat tire and began a Tour de France worthy sprint to the finish line.  The whole time I was...Please God just hold her off until I get there...I promised I'd be there....

Fortunately for our marital harmony, I stepped in the door just as her teacher was asking her if she was ready.  She looked up as I walked through the door and slid into a seat. 

It was a happy ending after all. 

December 6th

I can't believe I haven't updated this little space in so long.  I keep thinking I should sit down and write something, then the thought gets swallowed up in the rest of the day's activity.

I'm homeschooling Chloe for this season.  She goes to her public school for specials-art, music, pe, and science enrichment then spends the rest of the time with me. We are having so much fun being together all day.  I feel like my creative energy comes in bursts and spurts and right now homeschooling is consuming a lot of it. 

I've been taking lots of portraits, and making new friends.  I recently started a facebook page...bluethistlephotography....eek!  That's a little bit scary and a little bit exciting.

We just celebrated a birthday in our house.  Our Thanksgiving baby just turned nine, and not a day goes by that she doesn't make us laugh and give thanks that she's ours.  She's sassy and spunky, and tender and generous.  A bit ago she took her little green purse on a tip to Target because she wanted to look and see if the $9 that she had earned raking leaves for a neighbor was enough to buy her big brother the Lego set that he wanted.  She was about $40 shy, but undeterred, decided to keep saving so maybe she would have enough by Christmas. 

birthday cinnamon rolls

Happy birthday sweet Chloe.