Waiting

in my selfishness
i'd rather be

startled by

Spring's arrival--

wondering

how the bush,

barren yesterday,

is suddenly saturated

today

with blooms.

but

this year

i must wait

patiently

like a gracious host

(imagine me in a cell phone waiting lot)

i hope to be here

when my guests arrive

Digging spring

 

I'm growing up and I'm also leveling up as a PNW-er (no pun intended).

In other words, I'm starting to garden. (Ahoy!)

Instead of just looking forward to summer, I'm reveling in spring and soaking it up.

Well before March 21, I started counting down the days until I could put some seeds into the ground.

I've tried - and failed - before at a garden, so this year, we are taking it small. We are essentializing. Whatever each of us really wants - enough to take care of - we get to plant. 

I've put in some mesclun, a few Easter egg radishes, some peas and cucumbers. We'll get four blueberry bushes - one for each kiddo. I also scattered a box of wildflower seeds I got from the Dollar Tree. We'll see what happens.

Theo picked and arranged this little bouquet.

I'm not one for instruction manuals, so I needs must accept with full responsibility what results (or doesn't) this year. 

Either way, in taking a page from Emily P. Freeman, Thursdays have become my gardening day: we get our hands in the dirt, plant another row of lettuce, weed, water, check on the yard as a whole. Basically, I channel Michelle Obama.

It doesn't mean that we can't do any gardening on the other days of the week (we do), but Thursday is intentionally set aside to make progress on it. I love seeing how much happens in just 7 days.

Tell me what you are growing this time of year! (In your literal garden, or just your life, y'know.)

The life-changing magic of Vietnamese noodle bowls

It's Wednesday again and I can't think of anything we ate this week that was really noteworthy.



I blame KonMari, which has been slowly but surely taking over our house. Giggle all you want but I (and David!) have been delightfully surprised by how addicting it is to follow her method. (There's lots of stuff on the web about it but this was a favorite essay.)

Yes, I really need three mustard yellow scarves.

So far we've done clothes, books (gasp!), papers, and some komono.

In light of that, there hasn't been that much time for cooking, so I'll just share a regular standby that serves us well whenever we need a quick dinner. Sometime in our first year of marriage, we discovered our favorite Vietnamese noodle bowl at The Backdoor Kitchen on San Juan Island. We loved the bright, lime-y dressing (dressing is really too heavy of a word to describe what this is though) and we spent most of the meal (as we often do when we are out) dissecting the rest of the dish.



Normally I don't like places that do fusion, but I think that Northwest restaurants often do a good job of it. In fact despite the PNW being full of great Viet restaurants, the Backdoor's bún has been the best I've tasted, since most of the aforementioned Viet restaurants - though they serve a rockin' bowl of phó - often sweeten their nuoc cham to the point of cloying.

We love that this dish works well with any kind of leftover meat - rotisserie chicken from Costco or leftover steak - or even no meat at all.

Tofu works great, obvs, and in a pinch even hard-boiled eggs will do.

It can be simple or fancy but what we think makes it really special is when you make the effort to buy the herbs (especially mint) and roast peanuts fresh to serve on top. Here's an outline of a recipe.

Vietnamese Noodle Bowl

• For the dressing: Squeeze one lime into a bowl. Add 1-2 T of brown sugar and about 6-8 T of water. Stir and taste. You're looking for it to taste like a very dilute limeade. Then add one medium garlic clove, minced, and 1 fresh Thai chile, also minced, if you have it. Finally, add 2-3 T fish sauce. 
• Bring to boil a pot of water and cook 8 oz rice noodles (you want the cylindrical noodles often labeled "bun gao"). When they are tender (take one out and taste it, they can be deceptive), drain them and rinse them cold. If you want to be super fancy, you can lay them out on a dishtowel and get them really dry. David likes this method because it makes the dressing even more concentrated. I still go the lazy way and think it tastes just fine.
• Prep all your desired veggies. We usually do romaine, sliced thin. Cucumbers are a must. Carrots are great but I can feel lazy about making them pretty (the best would be to julienne them on a mandoline). Any other vegetables would be great; radish would be especially pretty. 
• For herbs, pick your favorite few from this list: green onions, cilantro, Thai basil, mint, dill
• Prep meat in bite-sized servings.
• Roast 1/2 cup peanuts and crush in a mortar and pestle.
• Let everyone make their own salad at the table and dress as they see fit.

---

And now for the reason you even read this blog at all.

Theo

• is still 2 years old.
• replied, upon being asked by David if he wanted to go out with him on some errands, "No. Stay home. Eat food. Watch show." Boy after my own heart.
• used the word "combine" as a noun. I seriously did not know that word until high school when we had to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm still not sure I even know what they are now. 

How did my baby become a boy?

 Emilyn

• turns 20 weeks today.
• still loves to roll.
• has started to giggle more.
• is most definitely teething. There is lots of drool and she was even cranky this week. 
• slept before 9pm six out of seven nights this past weekend. W00t.

David and Lisa

• are still super enamored by The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up. Want your life transformed? Apply: (1) the gospel, (2) Dave Ramsey, (3) KonMari. No joke. 

#ohrenee

I'm thinking of trying to post at least one recipe a week; this will give me a schedule to keep me writing. (And cooking, let's be honest.)

Lucky for me, Eunice visited this past weekend when David had to work, and brought a bag of clams from Taylor's*, along with Bon Appetit's recipe for Steamed Clams with Chickpeas and Green Garlic.

When Eunice first texted me the link I honestly didn't think it was going to be anything special (and worth the somewhat specialized ingredients**). And when I read the prescript calling this recipe "pure Erickson," I wondered "Who's Erickson?" Then later upon reading the article in its context I realized it was Renee Erickson, famous Seattle chef and owner of many restaurants. (Insert embarrassed emoji.) But by the time the meal was over I had forgotten all about "Who's Erickson?" and was all "Oh, Renee" with Eunice like I'm on a first-name basis with her.

I hope that's enough of a motivator to you to make this recipe. Eunice and I loved how flavorful the broth was and how surprisingly light it seemed, despite the heavy cream and creme fraiche. We used regular garlic instead of green garlic but other than that we followed the recipe as written. The tarragon and dill are delightful additions which we feel you shouldn't skimp on, and we also thought that if you wanted to stretch the meal more you could add another can of garbanzo beans.

Eunice and I polished off almost three pounds by ourselves. I was sorely tempted to "destroy the evidence" before David got home.

Thank you Eunice for bringing and making us dinner! You are a gem!

Here's a link again to the recipe so you don't have to scroll up.

_______________
*plus a fresh loaf from Breadfarm, Meyer lemon bars, chocolate chip cookies, and all the other ingredients to make the dish. I was seriously wooed this weekend! Watch out, David!

**Eunice, on the other hand, thought this recipe looked rather simple and easy to put together. But that's because she's amazing. Like bringing us homemade chicken enchiladas with homemade sauce (think: roasting multiple types of chiles, etc.) after the baby was born. I am pretty much the laziest cook on earth compared to her. But really this recipe is pretty simple, once you have the ingredients together. Do it.