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[2010/08/06 10:04 pm] It's a typical evening of fetching, feeding, cleaning and playing with Amailah. The parents all take turns engaging with her, while the others get something or other done. Once we finally put her to bed there are still things I need to get done, so I spend the next hour and a half puttering about, running errands, whatever.
I finally finish the things that need to be done tonight, and I get myself settled on the couch with a graphic novel, frozen yogurt and some quiet music. As I get really into the story, as my ass becomes a comfortable, happy extension of the furniture, I slowly realize that what I'm hearing isn't actually part of the music I've got on. It's Amailah, awake and crying.
So I mute the speakers and take a moment to listen, to see if she's doing Serious Crying where parental intervention is the only road back to sleep, or if she's just Sorta Crying where she'll shortly put herself back to sleep. Sometimes it's hard to tell, and this is one of those nights, so I get up to quietly creep towards her door. Past experience tells me that if she hears a parent approaching, she'll stop for a moment and then begin Serious Crying if the parent doesn't appear in her room soon enough.
Right as I get to the hall, she goes quiet. I wait a minute or two more, just to make sure she isn't about to explode, but she stays quiet. So I turn around and walk back to the couch... to find one of the cats has stolen my spot.
It all started with strawberry limeade and a cocktail from Alexander's Steakhouse. When I tasted the Asian Yuzu Mojito I experienced basil in a way that was damn near transcendent, and that was only part of what made the cocktail such a success. I could probably write an entire post just about that drink experience, but that's for another day.
You see, it was the basil that led to the gazpacho.
Kat and I were discussing what ingredients we'd need for her recipe for strawberry limeade and, remembering that cocktail, I suggested we add some basil. A store run and a few hours later, we’re looking down at a bowl of something we realized had much more potential. She’d suggested we use the immersion blender to liquify everything, saving time and labor, and it was our intention to top it off with soda water. We did that, and it was delicious, but it got our minds working on how to turn that puree into a summer soup that would stand on its own.
This recipe is the end result of our collaboration, and was a huge hit at dinner last night.
(We’re already thinking of more fruit gazpacho ideas. Stay tuned!)
Strawberry Basil Gazpacho by Kat & Meg
2 pints fresh strawberries, washed and hulled 1 c limeade (Newman’s Own or Simply Limeade are both excellent) 1 fresh lime, juiced 2 tbsp dry white wine 12 med basil leaves, washed 2 c Tofutti sour cream (or the real stuff, as you prefer) 4 tbsp honey 1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
Using an immersion blender or upright blender, thoroughly puree the strawberries with the limeade, lime juice and white wine. Add the basil leaves, and process until the basil is completely integrated. There will be bubbles, but don’t worry about it, they will settle out. You should now have a nice, evenly textured puree.
Mix the honey, lemon zest and Tofutti together until well incorporated.
Serve the gazpacho in demitasse cups or small cordial glasses. Top with a dollop of the sour cream, and garnish with lemon zest.
Every week she is growing and demonstrating new knowledge, new skills. Last night, she picked up her blanket with her toes and brought it up to her hands rather than bending over for it.
It's amazing and wonderful to watch, and I'm glad that I've been capturing so much of her growth on camera. I recently went back through my photos of her, and some videos, and the 6-month version of Amailah seems like such a different creature. She's turning into a little person, with her own sensibilities. She shouted "NOISE! NOISE!!" over one of my favorite songs, recently, and she's started picking out her own clothes, both at the store and at home when she's getting dressed. She's got a solid sense of her own person-hood, and she's asserting it, sometimes in frustrating ways, but only because she's figuring out where the boundaries lie and how flexible they are.
She is often fearless, climbing up the back of the couch to the window or hurling herself down the big slide at the park. When she falls or fumbles her tears don't usually last long, and then she's off on the same errand as before, sometimes with modifications - she seems to prefer Daddy go down the big slide with her, after her solo head-first and tummy-up ride down the chute.
Most days, I feel like I can't get enough photos of her, knowing that she changes so much from week to week.
I love this camera. It just seems... better than the old one. Easier to get the right exposures the first time, fewer necessary post-processing steps, better light metering and white balance. So. Awesome.
Also, I love that Amailah (mostly) doesn't mind me following her around with the camera. She did spend some time yesterday with her hat hiding her face, but that's not usual for her. She's starting to learn that when Mama takes pictures, she can then see them on the back of the camera, and she knows it's herself in the image.
Andan & Jamie spent a lot of time in secret researching cameras & lenses so that they could get me a spectacularly awesome birthday present - a Nikon D700!
I've been saying for a while that I've been feeling like I'd reached the limits of my D70s, and while there's nothing wrong with it, I wanted to move on to something bigger and better. I figured I'd do something about it in the next year or so, maybe the D300 or maybe something else.
What I got as a birthday present this year was not only a new camera, but a lot of time and care going into the research on what to buy, what lens options there are, how compatible my current accessories & lenses are, and how much room I'd have to grow with the camera. A bunch of really great questions, all researched and answered for me.
I've already spent several hours playing with the camera & slowly going through the manual, and I still have the fun ahead of sitting down with Jamie to research/choose a full-frame lens!
This is going to keep me busy for a long time to come :)
She is growing and developing in leaps and bounds. Regardless of her progress compared to "normal" children her age, to me she is graceful and brilliant and I am every day amazed at the new things she can do. I love watching her discover her world.
Mother's Day is about appreciating our mothers, and as mothers appreciating the awesome responsibility and gift of the task we've undertaken.
Parenting is difficult, exhausting, and infinitely rewarding. I'm exceedingly grateful to my mother, not only for enduring the difficulties of my childhood ;), but for giving me the love and care I am now passing on to my own daughter.
[2010/05/04 9:54 pm] When it comes to dessert, if you have a very nice bottle of port it is important to make sure that whatever else you're putting in your mouth will be complimentary to the flavors of the wine. Chocolate is often good with port, but too easily can overpower the more subtle flavors of a good vintage, so when I was charged with arranging a dessert and nice port I wanted to do something special, memorable and amazing.
Something I really love about a good port is the nuttiness of it, and thinking of that I decided to start with a basic and delicious cheesecake recipe from Serena's Granddad. I added crushed, fresh pecans to the crust and made a few substitutions in the cheesecake.
The result was a dessert which was the perfect compliment for the excellent vintage port that I had found. A nutty, buttery crust and a simple yet robust flavor in the cheesecake.
Here's the recipe I used. This works well as an accompanyment for a nice port, but if this is the only piece to the dessert you serve it would be quite good with some Dulce de Lece...
Cheesecake with Pecan-Graham Crust
For the crust: 1/4 c butter, melted 3/4 c graham cracker crumbs 1/2 c crushed pecans (The same consistency as the graham cracker crumbs.) 1 tbsp sugar
For the cake: 16 oz cream cheese (2 packages) 2 eggs 3/4 c sugar 1 tbsp port, tawny 1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350°.
Combine the crust ingredients in a bowl, and press into the bottom of a 9" springform pan. Bake for 6-8 minutes, then remove from the oven to cool.
Beat the cream cheese, briefly, in a food processor or mixer. Add the remainder of the cake ingredients and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Pour the mixture into the springform and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool, then place in the fridge to chill for several hours before serving.
Note: If you prefer a more nutty crust, you can definitely play with the ratio of nuts to graham crackers. I recommend you do this separately, then once you have the ratio you like, measure out 1 1/4 cups of the mix for your crust, plus the stated butter and sugar. For a sweeter crust, add another tablespoon of sugar.
You can also use brown sugar instead of white for the crust. [2010/04/27 2:49 pm]
On Saturday, we bid goodbye to Andan's totaled ZX-11. In preparation for its new owner he stripped it down, and I took some photos of the damage for posterity's sake.
It's gone to a good home, and with time will be rebuilt and on the road again. Bye bye, Ninja!
This photo was taken on the approach to the roof in Kat & Vin's building.
This is all the things I love about candid photography - catching a moment that speaks to the personalities involved, that isn't posed or set up on purpose, and that still has some of the artistic flair of a posed shot. This photo isn't perfect (I wish I'd had the time to get the top of the door frame in the shot, for example) but I think it works in so many other ways that its imperfections aren't such a big deal.
Andan, Jme and I took yesterday off and headed north for hats, cocktails and a delicious, leisurely lunch at Boulevard.
We had some success hat shopping, I got a lovely new felt cloche, Jme found a few things for herself, and I think we both got a lot closer to knowing what we might want for a themed event we're going to in a few months.
Lunch was a resounding success, starting with some wonderful cocktails while we waited for our table. The food itself was so good that there were moments when I wasn't quite paying attention to the conversation.
We stopped at two hat shops, ADS Hats in San Francisco and Fino Fino in Menlo Park. Both places had superb selections, though different types of styles and definitely different price points. Now I want to go hat shopping at even more places! :)
