LAmom

JG HAS BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS DAY!

This Sunday we went out to eat for the first time since JG turned 12, which means that he was finally able to order from the adult menu.  JG was so sick of children's menu items that he had even written a web page about it: Why are kids menu foods all the same?

He celebrated his liberation from the kids menu by ordering a Chicken Fried Steak breakfast plate.

CURRENT FOOD INFATUATION: KABOCHA SQUASH

This year I've been working on improving my diet (I wouldn't say that it was really bad before, but there's room for improvement).  My inspiration is some research I did on how to live to be 100.  From the things I read, it looks like I should focus mainly on exercising more and eating better kinds of food.

So I've been trying new vegetables, including lots of different types of squash.  And I have fallen in love with the Kabocha squash.  Velvety texture with a flavor almost like a sweet potato.  Mostly eating it baked with butter and that's it, but I'm seeing some recipes around that look interesting.  This one will probably be first.

I FOUND LAMB'S QUARTERS!

Here in the new house, I've been bemoaning the lack of mallow weeds in the yard.  I have bitter greens (dandelion and sow thistle), sour greens (wood sorrel), and delicate greens (chickweed, and lots of it!), but I didn't have anything I recognized that was a good sturdy, bland green to use as a salad base.

Meanwhile, this other weed was springing up back there and I watched it grow larger and larger, always wishing that I knew what it was.  Well, it has finally flowered, and the flowers gave me a clue!  They looked like Chenopodium.  A little research confirmed that I've got Chenopodium album, aka Lamb's quarters!

I'm eating a salad with them this very moment.  Cool.

FEAR AND HALLOWEEN

Seth Godin's Halloween blog post focuses on marketing, but one question that he asks is:

"How did fruit end up as treat non grata?"

A part of the answer to that is the attitude that has developed that sugar greed is a part of the Halloween fun, thus anyone who doesn't cater to it is a party-pooper who hates children.

But another aspect is fear.  Remember all the urban legends about razor blades in apples?  The take-home message was that homemade treats could kill you.  The only treats to be trusted were the ones that came in sealed wrappers with corporate logos on them.

A home-made cookie or piece of fruit is treated by many as "candy from strangers", and therefore dangerous.  Unfortunately, we are often so unfamiliar with our own neighbors that we view them as strangers who could potentially be homicidal maniacs.  Better off with something from the Hershey's company; we know we can trust them.

GETTING READY FOR A MOVE

We're moving from Lynwood to Lynwood so it won't complicate our outside life too much, but moving is always nerve-wracking.  Wish us luck.

SOLVE A BRAIN TEASER!

I just did a write-up on Squidoo about a real-life incident where I was locked out of my car.  It presents the whole story and then invites you to make a guess about how the problem was solved.  See if you can solve "The Case of the Locked Beetle".

GHOSTS

Jonathan at The Gridbook Blog writes eloquently about the images of beauty and vitality that we can see on film, preserved images of people who have long ago stopped looking the way they looked then.

This very same thought has been on my mind through this Christmas season.  During Christmas, we hear in the air all around us the voices of the dead.  They're still instantly recognized and they still feel personal, even though the owners of the voices are long gone.  Bing Crosby, Karen Carpenter, sounding so vibrant and alive, walking with you through the mall, visiting you in your bedroom.  The ghosts of holidays past.

DISHES I HAVE EATEN RECENTLY

• Sauteed zucchini
• Grilled squash
• Scrambled eggs with shredded zucchini
• Pasta with chunks of squash
• Crockpot chicken with squash
• Chicken and squash soup
• Zucchini walnut muffins
• Stuffed squash

Right now, there's a squash casserole in the oven.

TURN THAT THING OFF!

Now that I'm phasing out my extra job, I'm at home more in the evenings.  This means that I can take charge of my house again and that includes enforcement of limits on the amount of TV that the kids watch (it never happens when they're at home with Daddy).

So after I announced that television and computer game time were over for the day, JG and BT were suddenly at a loss for something to do.  After Mommy's suggested activity, some room cleaning, BT promptly fell asleep.

That left JG alone with his own thoughts.  After laying around saying nothing for a while, he asked me, "What's the actual purpose of smoking?".  So I got to explain to him what nicotine is and a bit about the physiology of drug addiction.

Next came a discussion of a TV show that he's seen called Total Drama Island, which apparently is a parody of Survivor.  We talked about the meaning of parody and satire and also about the way people act in real reality shows and how people in real life can be equally cutthroat.

Next question: What is a guru?  This takes us to www.dictionary.com ("Wow!  They have EVERYTHING on the internet!!") and an examination of how JG himself is a guru to BT at times.

I doubt that any of this conversation would have happened tonight if the TV had still been on.

WHY I'M GLAD TO BE BACK HOME: PART IV

Now that we have a backyard again, we've planted a few vegetables.  We tried to pick the shadiest part of the yard to plant peas, but the recent heat wave has left them looking pretty sad.  Similarly, we got no response from the carrots.  But the squash, sunflowers and turnips are looking great!  We went out this morning for our first harvesting.  JG and I got to discuss which parts of the turnip plant we eat and why ladybugs are our friends.  We picked a huge potful of turnips greens which are now in the crockpot cooking with a chicken.  Woohoo!