A Mental Photo

She stood there. Naked. Delighted.
Her shoulders were slightly raised; arms up in the air with open palms.
She had a quizzical smirk on her face.
The drops poured down on over her pigtails.
She must have just realized what it was-- it wasn't just about being wet.
It was a shower of drops.
They must have tickled because she kind of giggled.

The golden evening light in the pool shower made the moment even more magical.

It was an image I thought to myself, "This is one of those moment you will try and remember for your lifetime. When it was just her and nobody else. "

I will try to remember when you were just one, and it was just the three of us at the pool on a Sunday afternoon. I will try and remember that you were only two tiles high. I will try and remember when it was the mere magic of a shower that delighted you.

As Emily's time to leave for Africa approaches and I spend these days here at work away from Kate, I think very much about mothering and "sending off" children. I am sad only because I know my turn as a mother will come one day to say goodbye too. I am sad only because as mother, a little more space widens between us and our children every single day--they crawl, then they walk, then they ride away... It is like we stand as mothers with a magnifier focused intently on their joy and pain and then they naturally move away a little bit at a time farther from us. The space is a sweeter, more sorrowful, and fuller experience than I have ever known. It is an irreplaceable joy.

My favorite things...

I appreciate the small things about living in my own house.
Like putting fresh flowers on my own kitchen table.
These we did from neighborhood flowers for Janis' brunch.

Chicken.

Let's face it ladies.
We need inspiration.
Daily.
Dinner time rolls around and the same 20 ingredients stare you in the face in your kitchen.
I'm back in the kitchen again too.
Every night.
On my own, for the first time in over a year.
Here's a new one I tried tonight that I really liked. I altered it to be a sauce without heavy cream (substituting a roux with whole milk) and added chunks of pre-cooked chicken to it and served it over pasta. I liked the fresh taste of the mushrooms with the snow peas. I also added some frozen peas to the sauce for my little pea-in-the-pod Kate (her favorite vegetable).

Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms and Snap Peas
adapted from The Food Network Magazine, June/July 2009

4 chicken cutlets, patted dry, salted and peppered, lightly dredged in flour
2 Tbs. oil

1 Tb butter (I used olive oil)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (1/2 cup wine and water can be sub) 3/4 cup heavy cream ( I used whole milk)
2 cups snap peas, stemmed and cut in half lengthwise
---
Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet on medium high heat. Sear the chicken breasts on each side until golden brown for about 2 minutes per side. Remove from heat and place on a plate.

Wipe out the skillet and add butter. Saute scallions and mushrooms over medium heat until mushrooms begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Scrape the bottom of the pan to scrape the browned bits. Let boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add cream (milk) and stir to combine. Add snow peas (and peas), then top sauce with chicken breasts and cover, reducing heat to medium. Simmer until chicken is cooked through about 5-8 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Cultish

You could say I have a following.
Some people read my blog for my daughter.
Some people peruse it for nutrition advice.
Most people are just curious.
And a few people prod me until I give them these kinds of recipes.

My mother didn't make cookies for us growing up except occasional oatmeal raisin for my Dad, but she always made muffins. These were one of those food moments that I remember my very first bite of all those years ago. The smell is incredible. They freeze beautifully and they are by far the best muffin I have ever had, hands down. Once again, from the one and only Frog Commissary:

Coffee Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins
- makes 1 pan of 12 and 1 pan of minis

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. instant espresso powder
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease
well. Cream butter and sugars together until light in color. Add espresso powder
and vanilla extract. Beat together eggs and milk. Whisk together dry ingredients
(flour, salt and b.powder) seperately. Add dry and wet ingredients, alternating.
Mix until barely combined. Add chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix again briefly.
Fill tins with a 1/2 cup scoop or until 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes. Cool 5
minutes (do not skip this step) and remove from tins. Let cool.

Our version of camping

is staying in an old cabin in the woods, according to Travis who adamantly stated, "Nora, we will NOT be camping until all of our children are at least six."
We spent a wonderful weekend in Pine, which is about an hour and a half away..and about half the temperature of Phoenix. It even rained and we had a thunderstorm on Saturday night. We went with our friends the Ross' and Richardsons. It was an experiment as we had six adults and five children under five in a smallish cabin-- but we proved we still had them outnumbered :) Everyone did very well and despite our run-in with the accidental wall hot-water heater waking Kate up our last night, we had a blast. We even braved a hike to the Natural Bridge which was beautiful. It was only ten minutes away and the perfect amount of hiking for all the little ones. We brought a hot-dog picnic with us and ate on the rocks underneath the waterfalls while the little ones splashed around in the cold pools around us. It is a blessing to be out of the extreme heat and to witness the beauty of God's creation in person, not from behind glass or from a chilled home or car.

Here is Kate all cozied into her backpack--we borrowed from our friends, and she loved it. We can't wait until it gets cooler and we can take her on more hikes.