Where O Where Have My Little Socks Gone?

Socks can be quite revealing. Show me your sock drawer and I will see how meticulous you are. In our house matching socks are a feat to be celebrated.

My exultation in having pairs for both of my daughters in hand came to an abrupt end one morning last week; they were gone an instant later. Poof! No socks. Not just one stray sock vanishing as they often do, but four socks. Two lovely matched pairs gone.

Socks seem so simple, and yet remain so hard for me to manage.

But wonder of wonders, this week the missing socks resurfaced! Yet even I am aghast at where they had lodged. At least they were clean.


The essence of my current haphazard existence is captured in this photo. Still, I honestly don’t think I would have put them in that drawer if I had not been lacking so much sleep. The simple act of going to bed would doubtless save me much untold grief.

Now, where did I put my can opener?

Forgotten Grapefruit and the Role of Food in My Life

Can one live simply and be "foodie"?  When the rest of life spins out of control, food remains my lone creative outlet.  It often seems to be my only achievement of the day.  If nothing else, I cooked a meal (or two) for my family I tell myself.  My children sense my positive attitude and seek to join in the process.  I try to include them, though occasionally I reserve the pleasure of cooking or baking all to myself.

Another woman I know was christened "Mac Gyver in the kitchen" by her husband.  I would put myself in that category as well, since I take delight in salvaging food and creating a novel dish. Today I finally broke out the months-old grapefruit from the recesses of the fruit drawer. Since I was never going to eat all of it for breakfast, I decided the fruit should go into a salad for dinner.  The result?  The salad needed some shrimp, avocado or chicken added to balance out the fruit's sharpness.  I tried all three versions and found shrimp was the most perfect addition of the three.  Before adding the final components that made it "just right," I snapped this photo.  

In case you are wondering, the final additions of chicken and shrimp were leftovers from the fridge.  I don't have the time to make a special effort for recipes--I work with whatever ingredients I have on hand, which is what we Mac Gyvers thrive in doing.  

So I suppose that performing photo shoots of food and describing it in depth qualifies me as a foodie.  And yet it is an identity that I hesitate to fully embrace.  Life should revolve around people, not food, right?

I Don't Like to Eat Frogs

This week was back to school week for my husband, and since she was ill last week, my daughter started school again as well.  I was hoping to get the year off to a good start, but my intentions were not sufficient.  Today, for instance, we had stressful departures, late arrivals, and forgot to bring all that was expected.  Humbled again. 

In Getting Back on Track: The morning routine, Crystal Paine wrote about how difficult it is to "eat that frog." I know I am not alone in my efforts to reform and take my own advice, rather than living unwisely.  She captured my struggle with procrastination quite well; you may go to her words for further insight.

Less Animal, More Vegetable

Before it became quite so trendy, I aspired to be mostly vegetarian.  Though I never really succeeded in eliminating meat, I did reduce my intake; as a single college student, I consumed red meat on a monthly rather than weekly basis.  

But my, what a difference a family makes!  My children and husband love meat, and now my goal is to avoid having red meat on consecutive days.  Fortunately, my family will eat some vegetarian meals.  These are a good respite for my hereditary high cholesterol and help cut our food bill down somewhat.

Tonight I think I will experiment and try making Indian Dal in the place of lentil soup.  Lentil soup has been making weekly menu appearances for many months now.

I also have an online article with 10 of our favorite meatless meals, which I alluded to in a post last month.  Per the editor's request, I removed several links to recipes.   Here is a quick list of 6 links I had to take out:

-French Bread Pizza

-Fried Rice

-Chalupas

-Russian Potato Salad

-Patty Kirk's "Clean the Refrigerator Minestrone Soup"

-Chinese Eggplant, Potato, and Green Pepper Stir-fry

So "Che ba!" That's Mandarin Chinese for "dig in!"

Garden Update

As we enter 2009, my little parsley plant is still hanging on, but somewhat the worse for wear, thanks to freezing temperatures and a local presence of nibbling wild rabbits...

"For everything there is a season..."