rudderless

The Yard Sale Continues!

Diapers, anyone? I just listed my medium pockets on diaperswappers.com- here’s the link.

For the locals, I have an enormous vat of Thai sticky/glutinous rice that I need to pass on. We have always made it in a bamboo steamer and the girls love rolling it into balls and dipping in soy sauce. We just don’t have room. Let me know if you want to try it.

I’ll be back later with pics of our FIRST WEEKEND Aboard! It went swimmingly, with the icing on the cake being Sophie this morning, “But I don’t want to go back home. I like the boat better!” She WAS at home.

And to put KSue’s and my mom’s minds at ease, boating does not mean the end of blogging. If anything, it should mean a beginning of sorts, as a boat trip was what inspired this whole business!

Nineteen Months

Dear Roo-

Happy Nineteen Months! What a crazy awesome month it’s been for you. 2 more molars. Speaking in complete sentences, about everyone and everything. You have a little work to do in the pronouns department, but for now, nothing in the world is more eloquent than, “My do it? Rosy do it?” I love hearing myself in your language- the way you mutter, “Careful” to yourself all day long. The constant, “Happen? What happen??” And the joyous shout of “I take a WALK!” when I ask if you’re interested in a stroller ride (at 7AM).

Then there’s “Right here” and “Right back.” The other day we were having our special predawn time and I’d been clipping your toenails. When I was done, you grabbed the clippers for yourself and said to me, “Wait here. My right back.” You ran into the kitchen and hopped up on Sophie’s stool to get the dish sponge, which you proceeded to rub between my toes (ewww . . .) while tickling me with the clippers. A baby who administers pedicures. There is simply SO much going on in your head, and in your world. It’s hard to keep up.

The big deal this month- the potty! Next week will ostensibly be our first week living on the boat as a family of four. Karma is truly catching up to me, as you decided to bless me with the gift of “peepeeinthepotty!” What a glorious achievement. I knew you were ready physically and when words started pouring out like wildfire, I knew you were ready intellectually. So here we are a week later and it’s like old hat. Two girls, two potties, one very happy mama.

The tiny moments I want to put in a time capsule for when you’re fourteen and threatening to drive away in the family car:
-The way you touch your nose with your finger and scrunch your face and say, “Shhhh.”
-On New Year’s Eve at Diana’s when you looked over at her sleeping pup and said, “Doggy sleeping. Shhh, doggy quiet.”
-The M added to everything- Mogurt, Morange, Moga (yoga), Melmo. I wonder how long that will last.
-The tippy toe dancing and insistence on being a ballerina just like Sophie. This weekend you were on her bike saying, “Rosy the princess . . . Rosy the PRRRINNNCESS!”
-Your mad love for Tubtubs, Caillou, Brown Bear, Bus Stops and Choochoos.
-It must have come from the Once Upon a Potty book, but the way you gasp when a box comes in the house and say with such excitement, “A new present!”
-The demands for “Booby ON THE couch?” This evening your Dad and Sophie were playing hide-and-seek and you were nursing. You looked up to count- “1,2,3,4,6,7,Booby?” You count everything, with a tiny finger pointing, always, “2,3,4 BEARS!”

I wish I could bottle it, freeze it, distill some of its essence. It is all so lovely right now. Watching the silly, charming, SMART you emerging by leaps and bounds. What a goofball, happy and lovely as the day is long. Every day less of a baby, yet still wanting to snuggle into that cradled spot where you can nurse, “on the couch!” a few times a day. We are at such a crossroads in your life. The moment between baby and kid. Between part of me and all of you. We are all happier people because you make us smile so many times a day. Intense and light all at once, silly and cerebral, joyous through and through. I love you to no end.

Here’s to our adventures ahead. I can’t wait!
love,
mama

Red Pot Meals- sausage and beans!

As boat life becomes our reality once again (T minus THREE days!!!), I am trying to remember the best of the one-pot meals. I have a Le Creuset cast iron dutch oven that is my favorite kitchen item, ever. I use it five time a week- for soups, stews, braises, popcorn. The inside bottom is dark brown, seasoned with five years of use and goodness. It’s my baby. So without further ado, here’s a favorite red-pot meal. We made it last night and will be making it again, on the boat!

Spicy bean stew with sausages
adapted from the River Cottage Family Cookbook

2 tbs olive oil or veg oil
1 lb mild Italian sausages, we’ve used both pork and turkey; of course the pork is slightly better, but the turkey seems healthier!
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
2 14 oz. cans beans, cannelini, pinto, kidney- whatever you love.
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes
salt and pepper

1. Fry the sausages in the oil, over medium heat until browned all around. Set them aside on a plate,
2. While the sausages cook, peel and chop the onion and garlic as small as you can, drain beans into a colander and rinse.
3. Add onion to the pan (same pan you cooked the sausages in). Turn heat to low and cover, sweating the onion for about 10 minutes. Add garlic and fry for another minute or two, until fragrant. Stir in brown sugar and the spices and thyme.
4. Pour in tomatoes and beans, season, and add sausages. Turn the heat up to medium until stew simmers, then put the lid on, turn to low, and cook for 1-2 hours (longer the better). Stir every now again, but if you cook it gently enough, it shouldn’t stick.
5. You could leave the sausages whole, but I like to pull them out at the end and cut them into bit-size pieces, then add them back in (this makes feeding a toddler simple).
6. This is exceptional with potatoes, mashed or roasted, and a good beer.

Treehugging Tuesday!

John and I went to see Avatar this afternoon and with images of the ginormous (and beautiful) Hometree in my head, I hereby resurrect Tree-Hugging Tuesdays! I did a few of these on the old blog and may republish some old entries over the coming months. But the greenest thing we did all week? Potty-trained our baby!!

That’s right, Rosy is officially a potty kid. Still in cloth diapers at night and naps, but in a week we’ve cut our diaper-fueled water and electricity consumption by two-thirds!! Thank you, Roo!

Both of my girls potty trained wicked early, and with no fuss. Blessed I am. I have no secrets. Rosy was showing some real readiness signs- telling me when she peed, taking off her diapers, wanting to “rehearse” the potty rituals, going for long stretches without peeing and the DRENCHING herself to the tune of a leaky diaper. Which really prompted the efforts last week. She’s had three or four misses, but for the last three days, has been nothing but consistent. I don’t sit her on the pot and ask her to pee- we only go when she asks. She does a lot of rehearsing, and we make the bathroom super fun with lots of books and attention and love. I have stayed close to home for the past week or so, which is everything, if you ask me.

I can’t compare early potty training to any other way. I can only say I’m thankful that we’re saving diapers and water and resources, along with our sanity on the boat. I also think for us, it’s worked to do it before the stubbornness and independence of two and three set in. My friend Christie always says there’s a window, and if you miss it, you’re doomed to potty issues for the next few years. Who knows if it’s true, but I certainly happened upon that window both times and feel so lucky that my ladies jumped on board.

Here’s to the potty! We love you, Roo.
For old time’s sake, here’s an old TreeHugging Tuesday post about how we diapered the ladies. In the end, after four years of it, I am still loving prefolds and covers, just what we started with. Full circle, eh?
Sophie in what is still my favorite fleece cover.

Monday Favorites

The Monday endorsement theme continues, with kids’ stuff!

A friend asked last night which children’s book authors I’d recommend for their expanding library. Specifically, she wanted stuff without too many words and lovely pictures, which rules out the beloved Frances series and William Steig (love love Doctor Desoto).

But we can provide a list. Here goes.
I complied all of the below titles (and toys) here at Amazon- you can even shop through us!

Byron Barton makes great graphically illustrated books. Rosy loves Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs.
Taro Gomi is one of our all-time favorites. Especially My Friends and Bus Stops.
Anything by Peter McCarty is beautiful and simply worded.
Rosemary Wells. The Yoko books are some of our favorites.
The Ella books by Carmela D’Amico are a bit more involved, but still simple and sweet.
The Blue Kangaroo series by Emma Clark
The classics by Maurice Sendak- Wild Things, the Night Kitchen, the Nutshell Kids. We love them all.
Vera B. Williams and Julie Vivas are my other favorites.

Graduating from pure picture books, our favorites have been:
The Little Bear series by Else Minarik
Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series, and Mouse Tales.
For old classics, I love Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson, and Robert McCloskey.
And for Sophie, the Angelina Ballerina series continues to resonate.They’re short enough that I don’t mind wading through them night after night.

We are bringing some books to the boat, storing some more, and will be relying heavily on libraries along the way. Our toy collection has also been pared down to the select special things and costumes. The most popular toy in our collection, hands down, has been the Haba doctor kit (at far left in the picture). We had a plastic one but after the crazy toxic plastic scare a while back, I tried to replace our best things with “better” versions. The Haba kit is a little collection of vials and bottles with cork tops. Nothing like the American kits with blood pressure cuffs and such. But it gets played with every day. They love it. We recently added some elastic and triangle bandages, and a real stethoscope (so cheap!) and it’s gained a new lifespan.

Their other favorite? The dragon. We have read and listened to Puff the Magic Dragon dozens of times over the past few weeks. Rosy calls any lizard or crocodile she sees a dragon- today we visited the pet store and she almost fainted at the sight of the iguanas in the glass boxes- “DRAGONS!! BABEEEE DRAGONS!!!!”

Happy reading, and playing!

Pizzer

We love pizza and live in a town that has NO good pizza. Not one slice. My friend Marie used the say, “The best pizza in the Keys is DiGiorno.” And we tried that too. But still, not GOOD pizza. Our favorite place in the world to get pizza was five minutes from our marina in East Boston- Santarpio’s. Anyone in the Boston area who hasn’t tried the sausage and garlic pie should make a bee-line for this old-school awesomeness. I’d order one on the way home from work and pick it up via the backdoor of the kitchen. Cash only. Always amazing.

But back to us. Our first homemade pizza recipe appeared on the old blog almost 3 years ago. It’s still a great recipe. Problem is, we’re about to move aboard and use an oven that can’t accommodate a traditional cookie sheet. When I saw the America’s Test Kitchen deep dish recipe using cake pans, I knew we had our next experiment. I’ve made it three times and it gets better and better. Try it, you won’t regret it. And the old, healthier recipe is also below.

Deep Dish Pizza
Makes two 9-inch pizzas serving 4 to 6

Dough:
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup skim milk plus 2 additional tablespoons, warmed to 110 degrees
2 teaspoons sugar
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour , plus extra for counter
1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 teaspoon table salt

Topping:
1 1/3 cups tomato sauce
1/2 pound shredded mozzarella, along with bits of any other cheese you like. I use cheddar, Parmesan, Asiago, fresh mozzarella, any of it.

I haven’t experimented with toppings beyond cheese. But I aspire to. Some Zen master says somewhere, “There’s always another pizza.”

1. Mix milk, sugar, and 2 tablespoons oil in measuring cup. Mix the flour, yeast, and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the flour, then pour the milk mixture into the well. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the dough becomes shaggy and difficult to stir. Turn out onto a heavily floured work surface and knead, incorporating any shaggy scraps. Knead until the dough is smooth, about 10 minutes. Shape into a ball and place in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the top and spin ball of dough to coat thoroughly. Cover with a damp towel and let rise for about an hour.

2. Oil two cake pans with 3 tbs. olive oil each (non-negotiable). Transfer dough to lightly floured counter, divide in half, and lightly roll each half into ball. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, roll and shape dough into 9 1/2-inch round and press into pan. Cover with towel and set in warm spot (not in oven) until puffy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Remove towel. Ladle 2/3 cup sauce (I use jarred pasta sauce, and occasionally make my own) on each round, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges. Sprinkle each with 1 1/2 cups cheese and any toppings. Bake until cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let pizzas rest in pans for 1 minute. Using spatula, transfer pizzas to cutting board and cut each into 8 wedges. Serve.

Pizza Sophia

dough:
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tbs dried yeast (or 1 packet, if that’s what you’ve got!)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs honey
1 tbs flaxseed meal (optional)
1 tsp salt
2 1/2- 4 cups unbleached white flour (I rarely measure anymore)

Combine the yeast, water, honey, and olive oil in a big bowl. Stir to dissolve yeast. Wait about 5 minutes, until yeast bubbles. Add salt, flax, and work in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until dough comes together. It shouldn’t be dry- slightly sticky is what you’re looking for. Knead until dough it is smooth and has some ‘give.’ Drizzle with oil and turn to coat, then cover with a damp towel and put in a warm place. I have a big mixing bowl and having worked with bread on the boat, I try never to take it out of the bowl!

When it’s risen (about 2 hours later), sprinkle with flour and stretch it onto a cookie sheet or pan of your choice. We then spoon on some jarred pasta sauce (Newman’s Own Organic is good), thinly. Then break up about a 1/2 pound of fresh mozzarella cheese (Squeeze the excess moisture out with a paper towel so the pizza isn’t sopping wet), sprinkle over the top. When I have it, I’ll sprinkle on some Pecorino or Parmesan, freshly grated. Sharp cheddar is also delicious. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until cheese is golden. Cool for 10 minutes, season with fresh pepper, salt, and fresh herbs if you’d like, and devour. Oh we love this.

On the Agenda this week

At the Illustrious Free-Range University of the Sisters, this week we are studying:

Biking! We put the magic bell on two days ago and off she went, ringing all the way. No fear, just love for the crazy fast wheels, and the brake. She must have biked a mile yesterday. I’m just thrilled that she loves it.

Potty Time! She waddles into the bathroom every ten minutes to sit. No luck yet, but I’m proud of her determination. I decided to try again this morning after she peed in her diaper and started crying, saying, “I peepee in potty!!! Wanna peepee in potty!” She gets it, she really does. Now to make that body work for her . . .

Bloom did a nice piece on why she homeschools her 4 kids. I’m looking forward to future installments and encourage anyone on the fence about it, or curious about it, to check her blog out. It’s lovely. We get the, “Is she in school yet?” question about five times a week. Sometimes I just say, “Yes, in our own way,” because truly she is. If you define school as a place to learn, we are all in school, in our own way.

Lovely Monday

Because everyone else does endorsements on their blog, why not us?

This week on Lovely Monday we love-

All the crazy smelling soaps in the house. My friend Chris borught me one that smells like a Christmas Tree. My friend KSue makes her own soap and inhabits the shower with her lemon/eucalytpus, as well as the dining room table with her clove-scented hand sanitizer (all natural and my kids are ADDICTED). Go get some. The soaps look particularly nice all felted up.

I am also addicted to the new Seventh Generation dish soap (clementine/lemongrass) and laundry soap (eucalyptus/lavendar) frangrances. Seriously good work, you natural chemists. Burt’s Bees diaper creme has made the list. I’ve tried every butt paste on the shelf in my 4 years of diapering. This stuff really works, and smells awesome.

Lanterns! How something so simple and quick to make can be so beautiful . . . I love them. Watered down Elmers and tissue paper on Mason jars. We stuck IKEA votives inside and they burn for days. When the tops get too black, we just make more.

Sunrises. Thank you, Rosy, for getting me up in time to see this. These cold days have been incredible. Winter light is magic light. Whether it’s at your table, or at 7am in the sky.

A Virtual Yard Sale

I’m truly, finally, packing up our stuff and moving it onto the boat. The piles tend to wither, and then get sorted through again, wither some more, and then we’re down to the bare minimum. I’ve done this with our books and we have just a few we still find ourselves attached to. Baby stuff seems to be the other thing I hold onto. Hence the virtual yardsale- more to come, I’m sure, but this is what I have so far.

If any our our dear blog/Facebook friends have interest in these titles, we’d love to pass them along-

The Capable Cruiser by Lin and Larry Pardey. We have both read it cover to cover. This is the 1994 edition, without a dust jacket, in near-perfect shape.

Cruising the Florida Keys by Claiborne Young. The 2002 edition, a great guide to anchorages. We just don’t need it anymore. Coming south? Want it?

Understanding Rigs and Rigging by Richard Henderson. John has read this a million times. It’s a great resource and now that we have our rig, we just don’t need it!

Learning at Home by Marty Layne. I loved this book- really inspiring, written by a mom to 4 who homeschooled her kiddoes. I’ve made my mental notes and am ready to pass it on.

How Children Learn by John Holt. Another homeschooling classic I’ve read and need to send someone’s way.

I also have 6 Kissaluvs Contour diapers, 100% cotton, with some staining (that will sun out, I’m sure), in rainbow pastel colors! These are super cute and were some of the first diapers I bought for Sophie. They just need a cover on top- let me know if any of my mamas, mamas-to-be (and grandmamas-to-be) want them. All I ask is that you cover shipping (ten bux or so?).

Just leave me a comment or send me an email (erlandrum@gmail.com) to claim your prize. I’m sure there will be more soon . . . thanks for reading!

Resolutions Revisited

1. I just spent close to an hour filling out a dozen info forms for social work programs. Most in Boston, some distance learning. Who knows what I’ll piece together, and when, but it feels like being seventeen again, waiting for those big bundles of information full of possibilities. Do you think they’ll accept GRE scores from ten years ago? Oh come on, not THAT much has changed in the dark, unused corners of my mind.

2. On the eating front, we watched Food, Inc. If that doesn’t set your mind spinning about local foods and opting out of the crazy corn-driven industrial wasteland we call the Farm Bill, I don’t know what will.

3. My friends tell me I can make a good limoncello from vodka. I may set to work on that when the fixings for Hot Buttered Rum dry up here. It is the BEST winter drink, reminding me of many long, cold days on the Ditch (the Intracoastal Waterway). My mother prefers a Bourbon Toddy (also good), but she is right- I have so many memories wrapped up with Hot Buttered Rum, it’s hard to drink much else. It’s also a mean cure for a sore throat. Here’s the recipe:
-1-2 shots of dark rum, or spiced rum
-2 tsps. sugar
-1 tbs. fresh lemon juice
Put above in a big coffee mug, fill mug with boiling water, top with a dash of cinnamon and a tiny sliver of butter.

4. The book! I got a bunch of sweet comments on Facebook (hey, did you know there’s a real website with all this stuff??) saying I should write a book. John’s been egging me on for years now. I may have found my premise. My place to begin. We’ll see where it takes me. If I can get one itty-bitty chapter out a week, I may be done by the end of the year. More to be revealed soon . . . the old man in the picture is a beginning.

I have one more hour of solitude before the friend/babysitter has to go- off to the writing races.