The Menu

Just a few more minutes!

For dinner:

challah
caesar salad
chicken
Mexican rice
refried (actually, crockpotted) beans
plantains
mashed potatoes (because DD cannot survive a shabbos w/o potatoes)
chips/guacamole/salsa
lime cilantro coleslaw
brownies

And for lunch:

exactly the same thing, but no chicken, and...

caldo de res (beef shank/butternut squash stew)
deli turkey meat

GOOD SHABBOS, ALL!

Sequential Spelling

We all love Sequential Spelling! I grudgingly did Spelling Workout all through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade with DD9. It just wasn't very inspiring and felt like a lot of busywork. The advantage was that I could just hand her the book and have her do most of the work independently. Spelling Workout requires more parent time, but the approach is so elegantly simple that I love doing it.

Each day in Sequential Spelling is simply a spelling "test." Over a couple of weeks the student builds up to 25 words per day on the "test." You just read the words (with a sentence for context), the student writes them down, you reveal the proper spelling for the word (explaining any phonics rules if needed), and if they wrote it down incorrectly, they immediately rewrite the word correctly. That's it! The first set of words is based on the phoneme "in." From there it goes to pin, tin, etc. Then sin, pin, spin, etc. By the end of week 1, the student can easily spell the word "beginning" because of the logical progression of the words. And the spellings really stick with them!

At first I had DD6, DS7, and DD9 all doing the program. (They recommend that no matter how far along you are in spelling it's best to start with book one.) DD6 was doing all right, but it took her a lot longer to write the words down. It works fine to have the other two kids together. At first I thought that I would just do the spelling lists separately with DD6, but in the end I decided to just start her with it in 2nd grade. She's doing Explode the Code and phonics lessons at the same time, so I think she doesn't really need to do spelling right now. I think spelling is really optional for first grade anyway. So, this is one of the big surprises for our learning year. I'm so happy we're all enjoying it!

NOT the Menu

It's been a long time since I blogged anything but menus, and it's been a long time since I had any time! The summer flew by. Now we're settling into our new learning schedule, and despite not being sure we could fit it all in (3 kids with 16 subjects, and 1 kid with 7) we're managing pretty well. Not many loose moments for me during the day (though there are for them).

The BEST change I made so far this year was to put ALL of their work into a single notebook for each kid. No fumbling for this book or that book, no fumbling for pencils. I took over 5 of the 6 drawers in the dining room sideboard and filled it with all of our supplies (pencils, paper, etc.). It's been nice having that right next to the table. It takes about an hour to get all the worksheets into their books each week, each into its own subject area. I also wrote a few household chores into the schedule for each of them so it's part of their normal daytime routine instead of us trying to get it all done at the end of the day.

We're finishing week number two, and it's all running pretty smoothly. Hoping everything continues to settle in and we can add in all the history and science I want to do. We've done about half of what I hope to get done, but it shouldn't be a problem fitting in the other half.

So much more to say about our learning, but the clock is ticking and I have a couple more things I'd like to get to before it's time for bed.

The Menu

Two shabbosim in Atlanta, with a wonderful camping trip to Unicoi State Park sandwiched in between made for a wonderful couple of weeks. Getting up at the crack of dawn Sunday meant that we were home before noon and by the end of the day everything was unpacked and ALL the laundry was done (!). Then I scrambled mightily to be (mostly) ready to start our new learning schedule. And start it, we did. Overall, our first week has gone well and I'll write more later about how I've made our time even more efficient so our learning shouldn't take more time than last year despite an increased workload. It sure has been a few late nights this week to prepare everything. Many late nights still to come, I'm sure. But I love that part. That's when I get to do my learning about what they're learning. Really wonderful to have to do that. And I realized that my DH spends his whole work day learning about various college-level subjects so he can write a whole course together with the professor, and I spend all of my time learning about our subjects so I can be an effective teacher. So, essentially, all six of us spend our entire days LEARNING! Good stuff.

Now, the menu, and hopefully some blogs about other things to come too. :)

For dinner:

challah
smoked brisket (from our stovetop smoker)
mashed potatoes
spinach/tomato/onion salad
roasted mushrooms
roasted cabbage
roasted apples
vodka lemonade (why not?)

And for lunch:

challah
peach soup
smoked fish (stovetop again!)
arugula/pecan/cranberry/onion salad
herring beet salad (w/Matjes (non-pickled) herring)
creamy pesto pasta (just because we CAN make it creamy!)
homemade strawberry ice cream

YUM!

Good shabbos, all!

The Menu

Another week! Highlights - our 10th anniversary last shabbos (best 10 years ever!), a great shabbos and tisha b'av (major fast day) last week with a family from Atlanta, a great 28 hours w/several kids from another family Thursday/Friday, lots of swimming pool time in the back yard, going through stacks of learning materials to make sure I had everything I need for the coming year, wrestling with the not-so-on-the-ball print shop employees at OfficeMax, doing what I can to quell the usual August feeling that we won't fit everything in this year (but somehow we always get done what we need to get done!), planning next week's trip to Atlanta for shabbos, Unicoi State Park for camping, then back to Atlanta for shabbos, making a campfire songbook, and wrestling late into the night to figure out how to schedule everyone's activities so that I'm available to the ones that need me. OY! Quite a bit of work to sort it out. I want to be able to hit the ground running when we return from our camping trip. Snore.... :)

SO...

For dinner (dairy!):

challah
smoked salmon (trying out our new stovetop smoker; anniversary present from ima)
eggplant parmesan
broccoli
roasted potatoes
lemon butter orzo
caesar salad
carrot ginger puree
ice cream (YAY)

For lunch:
challah
herring
caesar salad
stuffed cabbage
pastrami
brown rice
carrot ginger puree
butternut squash kugel
raw veggies w/cilantro/olive/anchovy sauce OR aioli OR curried mayo
apple strudel (I think... haven't made it yet!)

GOOD SHABBOS!

The Menu

Apparently, my blog is on summer vacation. But the menus still keep coming! :)

For dinner...

challah
roasted chicken
roasted cabbage
mashed potatoes
sweet and sour onions
sweet and sour mushrooms
rice w/preserved lemons
roasted carrots, zucchini, and preserved lemon
chocolate chip meringues
strawberry kiwi sorbet

And for lunch...

challah
surimi salad
orzo salad
baba ghanouj
red pepper spread
spaghetti with meat sauce
steamed corn
butternut squash kugel
frozen lime pie

GOOD SHABBOS!

The Menu

Here we are again. Another week gone by. Good grief!

For dinner...

challah
chicken chimichurri
lots of different salsas
rice
beans
chips/guacamole/salsa
plantains
lime sweet potatoes
lime cilantro coleslaw
roasted asparagus
chocolate cake (from guest!)

And for lunch...

challah
tomato salad
fish cakes
baked potatoes/green onions/tofu sour cream
black bean brisket chili
roasted pepper salad
all the veggies from Friday night
more cake and strawberry-kiwi sorbet

GOOD SHABBOS!

The Menu (again)

So, okay, all I do any more these days is cook shabbos dinner. Or so it appears! :) Well... here it is!

DINNER
challah
broiled flounder w/a preserved lemon/garlic/butter sauce
shiro wat (Ethiopian chick pea mush)
alecha (a stewed cabbage/potato/carrot/turmeric/ginger/garlic concoction)
injera (Ethiopian sourdough flatbread)
cheese
rice/lentils
ice cream & mint chocolate chip cookies

(We had Ethiopian food Thursday night and it was so delicious that even though I virtually never serve leftovers for shabbos we just HAD to eat the rest tonight!)

LUNCH
challah
sushi
     cucumber
     avocado/cucumber/surimi
     egg/spinach/sweet potato
miso soup
green salad with miso dressing and fried won tons
eggplant miso salad
teriyaki chicken
lime pie

YUM!

And what else did we actually do this week? We swam in our new 15' pool 3–4x per day, went bowling, watched fireworks, and, um, well, really not all that much, er, else. We're on learning vacation this month, just davening/parsha/chumash each day (well... most!). Lazy days this week, but hoping to be a bit more productive next week!

The Menu

Well, at least there's a menu! :)

We were out of town last shabbos, after a wonderful week with the kids in camp while the mommies shopped at Value Village (an entire wardrobe for 6 for the year for $200!), and went out to lunch every day (I took babysitting money that I earned in the couple of weeks before I headed to Atlanta and used that for play money!). A fun, if somewhat decadent, week.

Now for the meals...

For dinner:

challah
mashed potatoes
mushroom gravy
steak
roasted zucchini and eggplant w/preserved lemons
roasted carrots
roasted cabbage
brownies

And for lunch:

Matjes herring (thank you, Buford Farmers Market in Atlanta!!!!!!!)
stuffed Turkish eggplant (cute little 4' round orange eggplants from the garden stuffed w/eggplant, onion, garlic, tomato, basmati rice)
green salad
pesto gnocchi
roasted veggies from Friday
beef stew
more brownies

The Menu

Busy mommy = no blogging. :) Tending and harvesting the garden, homeschooling, visitors...

For dinner, we're having 17 people and eating the garden...

challah
roasted asparagus
homemade tomato pasta with meat sauce
roasted chickens (3! 2 for us, 1 for DH while we're gone this week...)
roasted potatoes
roasted zucchini/carrots/onions w/preserved lemon
roasted eggplant marinated in preserved lemon and basil dressing
roasted mushrooms in same
angel food cake

and for lunch (someone invited myself and my 11 guests, so we're bringing a large part of it!)...

challah
roasted peppers
guacamole w/tomatillos
cucumber salad
sugar pumpkin/butternut squash kugel
any leftover veggies from dinner

And then a week of the kids and I and the puppy (sans DH) in Atlanta. Kids to camp, mommies to play. Nice change of pace!

The Menu

Another shabbos, and apparently the only time I have anything to say! :)

For dinner...

challah
brisket (from a previos shabbos) + chicken
green salad
balsamic mushrooms
roasted pink banana squash
roasted carrots and beets
roasted Yukon gold potatoes
apple torte

And for lunch...
challah
chummus
green salad
pasta w/mushrooms
marinated eggplant
tomato chicken
roasted veggies from Friday
apple torte

The Menu

A shabbos/shavuos away, and now we're back! Cooking up a storm, and lots from the garden...

For dinner:

challah
caesar salad
roasted chicken
roasted carrots and beets
roasted zucchini w/preserved lemons
mashed potatoes
chocolate pudding

And for lunch:

challah
beef stew
beef tacos
tomatillo salsa
guacamole
Mexican rice
"refried" (not really) beans
chips & salsa
lime cilantro cole slaw
tofu sour cream

Good shabbos!

The Menu

Another shabbos, another fun meal!

For dinner...

SUSHI BLOWOUT (special request for ima's birthday!)
asparagus tempura/cream cheese
cucumber
cucumber/avocado/surimi
egg/sweet potato/chard w/shiso gomashio
salmon/avocado/asparagus
salmon/cream cheese/cucumber
seared salmon nigiri (seared with a blowtorch!)
salmon/scallions/surimi
salmon nigiri with shiso
and LIME CHEESECAKE for dessert (if we can even eat dessert!)

And for lunch...

steamed carrots (from the garden!)
roasted balsamic beets (from the garden!)
salmon salad (from the garden!)
beef stew
shiso gomashio rice
guacamole/chips/salsa
roasted bananas
corned beef sandwiches
and ORANGE CAKE for dessert

And thank H' for shabbos. Still feeling tired post-bug and hoping to get plenty of extra sleep over shabbos. Good shabbos, all!

Pastries

I've not really had all that many jobs in my life... music teacher has been my professional one, as was working in the fundraising office of a science museum at UC Berkeley. I still dream about being back there once or twice a year. It was a lovely place to work for eight years! I'm not doing much music teaching right now, but I know one day I'll go back to it again. I loved teaching classroom music for all those years, and teaching 50+ private students every week, but I imagine a much smaller schedule than that in my future. :) I did love creating/composing/writing operas with my K–5th grade students. Those operas were definitely the highlights of my school teaching years.

But the job I dream about the most often? Serving coffee and pastries at La Creme de la Creme Pâtisserie for 8 years (all through high school and then during college vacations). I loved that place. The quirky owners, and the really stupendous food. I can still remember the tastes 30 years later, especially the...

coq au vin

spinach lasagna

quiche

raspberry vinaigrette for the salads (made in the giant dough mixers!)

handmade (often by me!) pasta - carrot & tarragon; onion basil; spinach; tomato; and plain

baguettes (real ones, crispy on the outside moist and soft on the inside but NOT chewy)
 Russian salad (carrots, peas, and turnips)

potato salad (French style...)

chicken apple salad (it was $8.95/lb!)

pasta salad with artichoke hearts, olives, and pimento

breakfast pastries - croissants (real ones!), chocolate croissants (fresh and still melted inside...), almond croissants, raisin croissants (YUM), apricot soleils (apricots over pastry cream on a round croissant), beignets

desserts - truffles, grand marnier chocolate mousse cake with raspberries, lemon mousse, strawberry mousse with lady fingers, lemon tarts (perfection), napoleans (perfect puff pastry), strawberry napoleans (perfection perfected), creme caramel (oh, sigh), chocolate mousse with rum, black forest cake, apple tart, the strawberry/kiwi fruit tarts, the raspberry tarts,

and the coffee, the perfect coffee... the hot chocolate (50% powdered sugar, 50% cocoa)... the iced lattes...

I'm sure there are many things I've forgotten. Every time I think of my time there I feel so happy. What a wonderful, wonderful place to be. Every time I put on an apron part of me visits back there and then. I don't know why I wanted to post this. I suppose it's just a small ode to a place I was very fond of once upon a time. :)

Readaloud: Fever, 1793

Tonight we finished this most riveting of readaloud books, Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book follows the story of a young teenager, Mattie, as she endures the yellow fever epidemic that hit Philadelphia in 1793. The descriptions of life before and during the epidemic are wonderfully rich. The bravery and character of Mattie are inspiring. There were several very poignant moments where my own voice was cracking while reading the story. It gave us a very good sense of what it might have been like to live through such a terrible times.

The book also provides ample material for discussion on:

•18th-century medical science
•the first hot-air balloon, which is part of the story
•the role of the Free African Society and of black people in general in Philadelphia
•how food supplies were historically affected by a health crises
•the state of yellow fever today and the history of yellow fever in our own city, Savannah
•how panic affects people's decisions
•why Philadelphia was the capital at that time

I'm so very glad we read this book. The kids weren't enthusiastic about starting it (and were clamoring for another Nancy Drew mystery!), but we all became very enamored of this book, and particularly of the main character, Mattie. A very inspiring story.

The Menu

Last week, the menu consisted of Gatorade for many of us, and a dinner/lunch brought to the rest of us. Terrible stomach bug. We're just now finally recovering. Gevalt, and baruch hashem!

For dinner:

challah
eggplant with fresh basil and red pepper
roasted zucchini with preserved lemons
stir-fried swiss chard with garlic, ginger, and cumin
baked Japanese sweet potatoes
coq au vin
linguini
roasted cabbage
layered sorbet: mango, tofu sour cream, strawberry

And for lunch:

beef barley stew w/homemade kishke
deli sandwiches
garden salad
anything left from dinner

No guests this week. :( Wasn't sure if we'd be operating at 100% or not, and I definitely didn't want to pass along this intensely nasty bug.

Calm Puppy

I never knew there was such a thing but (sh) our puppy is quite a calm little guy. I'm not sure if it's just a phase or what. I was expecting, well, mayhem! He politely eats his food, goes outside to run with kids,  and practically wipes off his feet on the mat before he comes inside. He's just... sweet. Mellow. Perfect. We were wondering about his hearing, but the vet says he seems to be hearing fine. He does roll two lazy eyes towards the source of a sound, but doesn't startle or cock his head or anything. He's just... mellow. This is just so unlike the puppy experience I was braced for (and still am braced for, really!). Could he change? Could he get a little more wild? Or is this it? So curious to see... He's in good health, other than testing positive for giardia, but then we are the poster children for giardia (no longer, thankfully) so we can help a puppy through that too. Seems like the medication is simpler for the puppy than it was for the humans. He did bark when Mrs. B. (formerly of next door) dropped in to say hello (but wasn't allowed in because of a stomach virus that had DH in the emergency room for several hours!), so we're glad he'll be a bit of a watchdog. He's just a dear, and I don't think of myself particularly as a dog person either. But this one? He's special.

Puppy

Today we went on our second puppy browsing expedition... and (surprising ourselves!) came home with a puppy. I mean, not totally surprising ourselves. We did decide - a year ago - to get a puppy, and we knew it likely we would be getting one soon, but we didn't really think we'd actually be bringing one HOME today! But we did. We went to a rescue organization that had 60 puppies (plus probably 120+ adult dogs). It was overwhelming with so many and I could hardly separate one puppy out from the next. D. described what we were looking for and the lady knew exactly which one was the right one for us. As soon as D. saw him, that was it and he was ours. He's 10 weeks old, probably 25 pounds (for now... note those BIG paws!), and is an English Shepherd mix. Very calm and sweet. And his name? Basil Rathbone.

And on top of that, we also acquired two rabbits in the last week! One from the Humane Society, a white female rabbit we have named Amelia Earhart (EER-hart... ha ha ha), and another from an individual, a white rex with black splotches that we have named Horatio. Horatio and Amelia are living in a condo next to the chickens. We also built them a little run outside the chicken run where the kids can play with them, and the rabbits can also hang out with the chickens in their run. We'll use their waste for garden compost, and could also use it to feed/fertilize a future tilapia pond. Pictures of them to follow soon, IYH! What a week...

Down Two Teeth!

Raizel has beaten Eli to the punch and lost two teeth! The top two are wiggily too, so I'm sure she'll be down four any day now IYH. Eli has some wiggling around too. Looks like with might have a toothless club around here!

The Menu

Another week has evaporated!

For dinner:

challah
caesar salad
rosemary garlic beef roast
steamed broccoli
roasted asparagus
roasted potatoes
roasted mushrooms
miniature chocolate cakes

And for lunch:

challah
caesar salad
oregano chicken
white bean salad
orange onion spinach salad
tomato avocado salad
mushroom tart
and from our guests... a chocolatey conglomeration

Simple food to cook this week!

Good shabbos, all!