Cooking Under Pressure

I am a reluctant cook. I didn't get the "love to cook" gene, nor have I learned to love it as I've gotten older.   While I do the vast majority of cooking in our household, I've never found it an enjoyable way to spend my (now even more limited) time, and I'm not sure I'm very good at it anyway (but I guess someone's gotta do it). I'm not very picky, and if I were single, I'd be eating a whole lot of Mac 'n cheese or snacking on random, mostly healthy things ("rabbit food" Kelvin calls it, when we forage on weekends!) rather than eating real, sit-down meals.

Other than actually eating the food (and I am a fan of eating), I don't really enjoy any part of meal preparation. I don't like meal planning, even though I have at least a dozen cookbooks from which to get ideas. I don't like grocery shopping and my goal is to get in and out of the store as fast as possible(I don't care if the pears are bruised or whatever and I never to check to see if any eggs are broken [gasp]). I don't like washing, peeling, grating, dicing, or zesting. My "minced garlic" comes out of a Costco jar.  I don't care much for "presentation" (it all goes to the same place!!), although Kelvin finds this important. I don't like washing multiple pots per meal. In our new house, cooking anything in a pan on the stove sets off our smoke alarms about 50% of the time, and I am reluctant to cook anything without turning on two fans and opening all of our doors, or if Iver is asleep.  If Iver is awake, he is a highly active and inquisitive toddler who tends to climb on things, touch knobs and handles, and be unable to leave me alone during the cooking process.  Thus, while cooking was not particularly enjoyable for me before, now it's quite stressful. If I could pick a housekeeper or a cook, I'd pick the latter, in a heartbeat. I'd much rather scrub bathrooms and floors than be the chef!  I am not sure I'm ever going to be up for really "hosting" for holidays due to the burden and pressure of cooking (something that's edible for others).  While I enjoy eating out, because I hate cooking, I am so frugal (and now, scared to bring an emergent baby/toddler anywhere) that we rarely go to restaurants, except when traveling (we do sometimes do takeout tacos or sushi).

Blue Apron, a fresh ingredient delivery service to which I was introduced after Iver was born, has simplified our life quite a bit (they send you the raw ingredients, which still require washing/chopping/ etc. to make three meals-for-two (there are other options as well) per week, and the meals, while not cheap, are quite delicious. We do this about two weeks out of the month, which saves (some) on shopping, while not much on the wallet (it's about $60 per week for those three dinners).

Wednesdays are a long day of work for both of us, and I've made things easier to get dinner on the table with implementing "Crockpot Wednesdays," so that the meal is done by the time we get home from work.

Recently, I'd been hearing more and more (particularly on a busy physician-moms facebook group) about the Instant Pot, an electric pressure cooker, which people have raved has revolutionized cooking for busy (or lazy?) people with limited time and energy (This is me!).  You can make rice, stews, soups, complete pasta dishes, meats, veggies (in 2-3 minutes!), desserts and more in short amounts of time (and in ONE POT).  The pot was on sale on Amazon on Black Friday for 75% off and despite not being a particularly impulsive shopper, I bought one. 

And then, with my not being particularly into cooking, it sat in its box... for weeks.  I just recently got the motivation and over the intimidation factor to get it out, rinse it, read the manual, and watch YouTube videos on "how tos" and tricks of the pot.  Then, yesterday, I inaugurated the pot with making orange chicken, with rice and veggies made separately.  It was awesome!  You can warm up the pot (sauté) to limit the pre-heat time, and then after you add your ingredients (always including liquid, which is how the pot pressurizes) and meat, chicken was done and tender in 10 minutes (cooking itself while I played with my son!), with just a bit of sauce-adding at the end.  And there was just one, nonstick pot to wash after the meal.

I am SOLD.  If any of you are Instant Pot veterans, I'd appreciate any easy recipes for this newbie.  And, if pressure-cooking counts as "cooking," then maybe I'll start to enjoy it.

Gingerbread Christmas

Christmas is supposed to be about Love. Joy. Wonder. Goodness. Gladness. Hope. Miracles. Things that I have felt are quite lacking lately in the world this 2016. It was a bit of an anticlimactic holiday around these parts. Planning to be on call (for at least c-sections), we stuck around... only to find out that I wasn't put on call for Christmas, but only for the New Year weekend. We haven't actually spent a Christmas in Humboldt for a few (? four) years. Due to daycare being closed for 10 days, my in-laws are in town to help with childcare while we are at the office during the week. But we didn't "celebrate" very much.  Iver and I both got sick with a cold on his birthday/the solstice, and I've' felt pretty wiped out and not much like doing anything for a few days. We went to Christmas Eve children's Mass and then Kelvin and I took Iver to Christmas morning service at New Heart; however, I just haven't felt particularly well, joyful, or like celebrating.

Feeling more and more anti-stuff as I age, I didn't really have the energy or motivation to *do up* Christmas this year. While Iver can identify Santa in photos and pictures, he didn't seem to care about him visiting, so we tried to minimize gifts under the tree. And, yes, the few Amazon boxes that came for either his birthday or Christmas went straight under the tree, without being wrapped.

He did enjoy this piano mat, from John and Inara.

 

Kelvin and I don't really do gifts for each other, but more have been trying to spend our money on experiences, and he decided to book us (due to having grandparents around who could watch the child) a night away at a special B & B in Ferndale (about 40 minutes south of us).

Once a hospital, with construction starting in 1894, the Gingerbread Mansion is one of Ferndale's most beautiful historic Victorian buildings.

It was an absolutely delightful place to spend a night. The ambience and Christmas decor were gorgeous, and we enjoyed complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres, a cozy in-room (electric) fireplace in our Veneto room with its claw-foot tub and hand-painted mural, relaxing and reading, and sleeping in until 6:45 a.m., without a 4:30 a.m.-early-rising toddler to rouse us. We had delicious in-room coffee and frittata downstairs for breakfast in the dining area. I thank Kelvin's parents as much as him for the Christmas gift of babysitting, which allowed us some quiet time away, which has been much needed for our marriage and our souls.

Iver had a grand old time with the Grandparents (see below army-crawling or "swimming" video), and it was a good night for all.

 

To close, here is a poem I came across which captures some of the feelings I have had this end-of-2016. I'm praying for more hope, and more peace in the coming year.

 "Amazing Peace," by Maya Angelou.

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.” 

2-year update

Our "little" Solstice boy is two today!

At two, Iver weighs 21.5 lbs (4%).  He is in about 18-month pants and 12-18 month shirts.

He sleeps through the night about 70% of the time in his own full bed in his room. We generally ignore the night wakings on the other nights, but they are still not extinguished.  When he "sleeps through," he goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 and wakes up between 4:30 and 5 a.m. (his internal clock really likes 4:45 a.m.). He does about an 1.5-hour post-lunch nap, but usually at least one day per week, he's overtired, and naps twice or in the mid-morning.  He either ignores or turns off the toddler stoplight alarm clock these days.

He still nurses before bedtime and upon waking, but I am really, really, really over the breastfeeding, and this week, am working on cutting out any nap-associated nursing (he does fine when I'm away/on call or at daycare but cries bloody murder when I'm home). For the past two months, he has been a great eater of solid foods, after 22 months of me fearing he was going to waste away. He loves fruit (raisins "gigi", pomegranate "pom", pears especially right now), yogurt and cereal bars, rice, meats (especially meatballs), broccoli, peas, and green beans. He thinks carrots, potatoes, and kale are particularly "yucky."

He is very communicative and quite funny. He will put together 3- or 4-word phrases (and commands... he's quite the bossypants) and has more than 100 words, picking them up and imitating us daily. He knows his colors, counts partially ("one, two, three, four, six, eight, ten"), his age, full name, and impresses us with his vocabulary and statements. He loves to sing "Itsy bitsy spider" and "Happy Birthday." He understands a lot of Vietnamese and will say a few Vietnamese words, too.

He has learned to "skip" (more of a gallop) and jump, and is a daring climber.  He's still very much an energetic, intense and "strong-willed child," which has continued to been emotionally challenging for me, with tens of battles per hour (over choice of underwear, pants, shirt, jacket color, getting changed, sitting on the potty, breakfast, snack, carseat, etc.) when we're together (he seems to behave better at "school.").

We are working on potty training him, the concept of which he really understands, but which his iron will is proving difficult. He goes to daycare in tiny undies and often stays dry or tells the teachers when he has to go potty, but does have about one (pee) accident most days (he still uses diapers for naps and night time). This could be a very long process with this child (smart but incredibly stubborn), but I'm motivated to stick with it so I can stop having to wrestle him/do diaper laundry.

It's been an overwhelming and exceedingly difficult two years, and it's hard to believe we are still standing, but I do love this little guy with my whole heart.

This past weekend, we had a very low-key joint quadruple birthday party for the "December babies" of 2014.  We rented the Judo Hut (with baby gymnastics equipment), brought a few snacks, and could visit with our adult friends while the kids and toddlers bounced around the equipment.  It was a fun time for all!

Iver LOVES the ball pit

with Ben

Mathias, who was a great sport, with Levi

Mason and Sophia had fun, too

 

The trampoline was a hit

Alex Sr. and Jr.

Nina brought cupcakes!

Ben blew out Iver's candle

Iver donated his cupcake to mama (I'm more into frosting than cake)

Ana got the boys matching alphabet books

This boy sure does love to read.

Hanh took some great family shots!

Here's Iver reading/singing Happy Birthday to himself!

 Here's to many more years of antics from this animated little guy!