Big Sister, Little Sister

Our granddaughter, Carlee, is officially a Big Sister.  She has been waiting patiently for a long, long, long time.  She found out in May that she was going to be a Big Sister and has been waiting and counting the milestones--her birthday in August, then Christmas and finally her Little Sister was born January 2.  She was born a bit too early so she had to stay in NICU and Big Sisters are not allowed in NICU.  Finally, fifteen days later Kennedy came home and Carlee finally got to meet her Little Sister.

Being a Big Sister can rock your world...which is good and bad.

I became a Big Sister for the first time when I was two.  It changes you...you are not the center of the universe, you must now share your parents, your toys, your world.  This can really expand consciousness and kick start all the nurturing instincts but at the same time it can interrupt a carefree childhood.  I do not remember a time that did not feel responsible for my little sisters and that feeling shaped me, my relationship to them and to the world.  It can be confusing.  In second grade my dad gave it to me serious when some kid at the bus stop teased my little sister so the next day when I sent him home with a bloody nose I figured he would be proud of me, he wasn't. Like I said, confusing--where does sibling responsibility begin and end?  My sisters would tell you I was bossy, I would say responsible.  They might tell you I was overbearing, but I was just very protective.  They might even say I was a bit domineering but I was just trying to fulfill expectations, filling a leadership role.

That is just the way it is with Big Sisters and Little Sisters.  Good luck, Carlee, I am right there with you.

Il Castello

Finally a restaurant, an Italian restaurant, I am excited about.  I love eating out but here's the thing, nine times out of ten I am disappointed knowing that I could have done better myself at home.  I am a tough critic because I love food and I love cooking so when we do go out I find myself constantly critiquing: the pasta was over cooked, dry chicken (most common complaint), poor service, the food wasn't piping hot, etc., etc.  My poor husband has heard it all, and even though he agrees, it is nice to go out once in awhile.

Well, we have found the perfect place, Il Castello on A Street, downtown Idaho Falls.  Saturday evening we were encouraged to try Il Castello but I was really dragging my feet--I did not know anyone that had tried it, I had not seen a menu and it features Italian cuisine.  Okay, pasta is one of my passions and so I can be really particular--please, you can put an olive on the menu but that doesn't make it Italian.   So I was already biased when we walked in the door but I changed my mind quickly.  We had two fabulous meals and ended with a fantastic dessert.  We were so pleased with our meals that we couldn't wait to return and so we went there for lunch today.  Perfetto!

RT started with the Butternut Squash soup...mmmmm, delicious.  The perfect combination of butter, garlic, squash and cream, yes, loads of cream.  So good.  (Sorry I do not have a photo of the soup, this is southeast Idaho after all and I still feel a little weird photographing food in restaurants.) 

He also ordered the Spanish Pasta, a creamy poblano sauce served over linguine with poblano peppers, mushrooms, asparagus and sauteed chicken.  This dish was lovely.  The chicken was perfectly cooked, tender and not over done.  I would have liked more of a poblano kick but the cream sauce was just right, not too heavy or thick, this baby definitely did not come out of package.

Saturday evening he ordered the Chicken Fra Diavolo, a perfectly grilled chicken breast served in their house spicy sauce.  Okay, so I am quite good at red sauce but I told RT I would hire on to do dishes just to learn how to make this red sauce!  Perfect--thick, rich, super tomatoe-y and spicy hot!  I loved it.  This dish is served with a corn salad, an excellent side kick for this spicy dish. We were served corn salad all over Italy this fall, it's a very light green salad accented with kernels of fresh corn.

I ordered the Greek Tuna Pasta both times, it really is that good.  Today the tuna was especially nice--cooked to my order the chef had a perfect sear, giving the fish layers of flavor and texture.  It is served a-top linguine and a medley of  piquant veggies:  capers, artichoke hearts, black olives,  sun-dried tomatoes and just enough olive oil to make it very silky on the tongue.

We ended each meal with a serving of Panacotta.  Pana means cream and cotta means cook, so basically this is cream cooked with vanilla and lightly sweetened with sugar.  A few simple ingredients turned into heaven on a plate--rich, not too sweet, sexy smooth on the the tongue.  The chef plated it with a little caramel and fresh berries and I touched it up with just a pinch of salt.  (I couldn't resist the combining the cold velvety cream and a streak of caramel with a little crunch of salt crystal.)

We can't wait to get to Idaho Falls again. Check it out, tell 'em I sent you!

http://ifcastello.com/

Panic Meals

 

Okay, it has not been a great day, work sucked, the kids are cranky, everyone is starving, you are so late getting home and the supper fairy did not leave anything to eat!!

No worries--you open a nice bottle of wine and pour out a good measure, you pour one for your partner too.  Setting out the goat cheese and crackers, some smoked almonds and dried cherries you pour the kids some juice. Taking a deep breath, you restore yourself with a bit of wine and tell everyone to relax, dinner will be ready in less than thirty minutes.

What?!!  You don’t have any wine or goat cheese or smoked almonds or stuff that magically transforms into meals in your pantry!  Oh honey, join me next Monday night and I will give you a shopping list of things you must have in the cupboard and recipes for quick and easy panic meals that you can prepare in under thirty minutes.

Monday, Jan. 30

7 pm.

Meridian Center

$15 per person

To register please email me at jasabinart@aol.com.

Newest arrival

Please welcome the newest member of the Bindweed Family.  

 Kennedy Cache arrived a few weeks early on Jan. 2.  She is just a tiny bite-sized half pint, this little jellybean weighed in at 4 lbs. 2 oz.  Not quite ready for the real world she spent the first fifteen days in NICU and was finally ready for home last Tuesday.  Her big sister, Carlee Beau, welcomed her home with tons of love and a little kiss on this tiny tiny head.

Aren't we lucky!!

True Confessions

I have a confession--I have never stayed in a yurt--well, until this weekend. With the help of some good friends we remedied that situation and I am no longer a yurt virgin!  One of my most adventurous friends, Trish, flew in from Oregon on business and invited me to share a ski trip with her.  She also invited my other most adventurous buddy, Kath, whom you will recognize as Bindweed's number one unpaid employee.  We left early Sunday morning and headed north to West Yellowstone.  After hitting a great bookstore, The Book Peddler, and stopping at Ernie's Sandwich Shop for lunch we strapped on our skinny skis for a tour along the Madison River.  It was just gorgeous to be in the snow--although the snow levels are at a record low, there was enough for a good ski.  

 Then we swung around south and headed for Harriman State Park in Idaho.  Harriman is mecca for cross country skiers.  We have spent many weekends at the Bunk House with friends but have never tried the yurts.  They are great!

We had a short ski into the yurt with our first load.  We found the door unlocked and it was warm and tidy inside.  You remember Kath, my most adventurous friend.

And this is Trish, my other most adventurous friend.  (In the past year she has really been jet-setting.  Back and forth across the states and to Patagonia and Qatar twice!)  She organized the trip.  She lives in Eugene.  She loves the Ducks.  We love her.

The yurt has bunk beds that sleep six.  Kath and I shared this bunk.  The bottom is a futon, so it functions as a sofa during the day and folds down into a double bed for sleeping.  There is a large picnic table with benches and chairs and just out of the shot, is a little counter with a gas stove for cooking.

There are windows and a huge skylight so it is very bright inside.  At night there is a little propane lantern but for cooking and trekking to the outhouse we needed our headlamps.  The dark object on the left of this shot is a wood stove and it cooks!  We had a fire lit within minutes and were down to our tank tops shortly.  Very cosy.

Now, these girls know how to "rough it".  Even though we had to pack in everything we went in style.  Trish brought two gorgeous bottles of wine, hummus, cheese, gormet crackers, granola and homemade poppyseed bread.  She also packed in everything she needed to make her usual morning coffee:  fresh ground Sumatra, milk, honey and a battery powered frother!  She also packed in her laptop to share a foreign film and found that she had internet access in the yurt--amazing.  (We were so busy catching up we did not watch the film but did use the laptop to view some of the photos of Patagonia.)

Kath is a true back-packer and supplied us with all the things we did not know we would need, but truly appreciated--matches, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, table cloth, napkins, wine opener, beer, Kalamata olives, etc., etc., etc.  Total Boy Scout.  If you are ever stranded on a desert island,  make sure you have Kath with you!

I stuffed my backpack with nuts, figs, oranges, apples, chocolate and a nice little red lentil cocount curry and the fixings for saffron rice.  (Trish got the saffron for me in Qatar.)

We had a great meal and talked deep into the still night, warm and snug in the yurt.  We awoke to two inches of fresh powder and hit the trails on our hippy skies.

 Harriman State Park is a gorgeous place and we had the perfect morning with clear brilliant skies and no wind.

There is a large population of swans that winter in the park.  I was so sorry not to have my sketchbook and a little camp stool with me.  To heck with skiing, I could have sat for hours in the sun watching the swans and scribbling.

We had three Bald Eagle sitings this weekend.  I was just slipping my camera back into my pocket when this big guy appeared.

What a beautiful magical place.

Stone Meditation

Stone Meditation

  Right-click here and choose "save link as..." to download mp3 

Between Christmas and the New Year our guru Larinda at Just Breathe hosted an evening of Candle Light yoga as a gift for the stressed out and over worked.  We enjoyed some gentle detoxing yoga and then I closed the practice with this guided meditation. It is an imaginary journey designed to help release stress and tension.  Sara, my personal techno-wiz kid, helped me turn it into an audio recording available as an mp3.  (She is amazing!)  So give it a listen and if you would like your very own copy please feel free to download it and add it to your ipod or mp3 player.

Namaste.

Consciousness

Finally some creative work.  I wish you could get your hands on this book and explore it for yourself.  When closed it is tied together on two edges, can be untied and read from either direction or completely untied and unfolded like an accordion that can wrap back on itself.  The structure is ambiguous so as to imitate the content of the book.  Like the conversation that inspired it, it is an exploration of my thought patterns.  It is playful because that is exactly what I was doing--playing with a thought.  It is part of the Rocky Mountain Artbook Collection 2011 on display in January in Jackson, Wyoming.

 It is constructed of found and manipulated images, very similar to the flotsam one would find in my head.  I could not believe my luck upon discovering digitized images of S. Freud's manuscripts--the power of the Google. 

I have laid it out in order and tried to manipulate the photographs so that you can read and experience the book.  Please feel free to leave comments.