Meal Plan March 20, 2011

For the next two weeks, I am teaching full time at Franklin Park Conservatory for their Growing Young Chefs from the Ground Up spring break camps. There is still time to register for March 28-April 1! I am looking forward to all the fun activities planned but having me out of the house all day two weeks in a row is really going to change the way things work around here. Ingredients and Influences:

• We want to keep things simple to prepare and cleanup.
• We'll use up food from the freezer and pantry, including homemade tamales and tomato sauce.
• We have a whole cauliflower, a bag of spinach greens, some crimini mushrooms, and big bag of yellow and green beans from our trial Green B.E.A.N. delivery box.
• We have a hunk of mozzarella and provolone in the fridge that need to be used.
• Despite today being the first day of spring, it looks like winter will make a comeback towards the end of the week.

Meal Plan:

Sunday - Alex brewing beer for his brother's wedding during the day, we're contributing a salad to family dinner at his parents.

Monday - homemade pizza topped with homemade pancetta and mushrooms, spinach salad

Tuesday - from the freezer pork tamales, roasted cauliflower

Wednesday - dinner out with my family

Thursday - spaghetti and home canned sauce and leftover cauliflower

Friday - pad thai with green beans

Saturday - wedding shower and bachelor/ette parties for Alex's brother Ben and fiancée Kim. I think Alex will smoke chicken wings for Ben's bachelor party and pork loin for the April charcutepalooza challenge.

The Making of a Cover Model Chicken

Our australorp hen is on the cover of this week's Columbus Alive! Read raising the roost about keeping 'pets with benefits' in the city. Learn a little more in the two sidebars, keeping chickens 101 and why to raise chickens.

I love sharing about our homestead. Along with an interview for the article, I had the pleasure of watching a professional search for the perfect chicken pictures.

First, photographer Jodi Miller came out with writer John Ross on a drizzling cold day. She shot for almost an hour. I posed with the chickens and baited them with stale corn chips to do their thing. My girls are so tame that they rarely gave Jodi the 'crazy' she was looking for.

A few days later, Jodi returned with a background and different lights. This time she had the idea to try to catch a hen in mid-flight.

Because the girls don't jump up unless surprised and it would be impossible to catch them doing so against the background, there was only one choice: drop them.

I held a hen a few feet off the ground and released on Jodi's count. She spotted the ground and flapped to a gentle landing. I don't think this counted as animal torture, as the hens jump farther to get out of their coop several times a day.

Sadly, none of the flapping chicken pics ended up in the Alive. It was reassuring, in a way, to watch a professional straining to capture the vision she had in her mind. I go through a similar struggle on a daily basis!

Thinking of Disasters and Japan

On Thursday night, Alex and I watched the No Reservations episode in Dubai. The excess, building on shifting sands, and rapid multi-culturalism pictured in that show led us to discuss the meaning of our way of life. Is it possible to make a difference on a small scale? Can the world handle Dubai style consumption? How does instant communication affect things? We concluded that it's best for us personally to live our life in a sustainable way, but always be practical and prepared for disasters. We reasoned that natural resources or disasters will likely limit population and expansion at some point, but it's hard to tell how high technology and near-instant communication will affect such events.

At 2 a.m. on Friday morning, Devie wanted to go out and Alex walked her downstairs. He looked at his phone and an alert about the earthquake in Japan popped up. Shocked, Alex shared the news with me.

Our sleep was restless after that. We have people in Japan. We have visited and know the beauty and history there.

We emailed our closest friends, Naoko and Miyu. Naoko responded within a half hour (amazing, technology is!) that she and her family are safe. She wrote "We live on 4th floor,so we shaked like hard rock!!! We are often feeingl earthquakes,now. Dirty water came out from ground." In another message later in our day (her Saturday morning) she answered my questions about the oil refinery fire in her city, saying "My home is near  at the Chiba oil refinery, we can see the red sky. We are worried about air pollution ,because Yuiko can't stop cough.She has asthma ."

We have yet to hear from Miyu. She does not live very close to the epicenter, so I imagine communications are slowed from overuse and/or power outages.

Fortunately Japan is well prepared for earthquakes. It looks like the death toll was limited by strict building codes. The strong Japanese economy and government will easily manage rebuilding.

Even when we are worried about them, we so appreciate our ability to make and visit friends around the world. Foreign friendships provide the context to internalize world history and care about far-off disasters. We hope to revisit our Japanese friends in person in 2012 when the earthquake will hopefully be a distant memory.

Bring the World to You: Host a Japanese Exchange Student

We have 'people' in Japan. People who have lived with us, vacationed with us, and treated us to tours of their home cities. We have people who mothered me during my pregnancy and attended my wedding. People who were foreign exchangees and are now family.

We met our people, Miyu, Naoko, Kaoko, Kristiina and more, through the Ohio 4-H International Program. Ohio 4-H has been arranging exchanges between Ohio families and a Japanese English language learning program called Labo for over 30 years. In 1993, my parents hosted a Japanese student for a month and went on to host several others, including Miyu for a year of her high school. After Alex and I were married and settled back to Ohio, we hosted three adult exchangees.

The benefits to inviting exchangees into your home and having friends-like-family around the world are enormous:

• World news and conflicts are viewed in a broad light.
• Communications, during the homestay and after, must be creative to overcome the language difference.
• Exposure to new games, ideas and foods make us grow as a family.
• Our daughter is growing up with a global awareness borne of genuine concern for her friends in other countries.
• Visiting local places with a foreigner allows you to experience them in a new way.
• We have friends to visit in their homeland.

The Ohio 4-H Program is looking for families who can host students ages 11-17 this summer. The 4-H program provides training, support and some activities during the homestay while the host family supplies a bed, daily meals, and a host brother or sister of a similar age. All the details are on the Ohio 4-H International website.

Apply to be a host family today and bring the world to you this summer!

Madagascar Live Giveaway!

When I told Lil we were going to see Madagascar Live she immediately said "Yahoo! Madagascar Rocks!" Then she started to sing "I like to move it move it!" with the appropriate King Julian dance moves. Lil loves Madagascar and fortunately Alex and I are entertained by the story too.

Madagascar Live is coming to Columbus next weekend only. For five family friendly showtimes Saturday the 26th through Sunday the 27th, Melman, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and King Julian will amuse audience members at the Palace Theatre. The live actors and puppet characters will bring new life to the DreamWorks Madagascar movies in each ninety minute show. Tickets are $22.50 - $82.50 available online and at Ticketmaster outlets.

In addition to providing me with tickets, Broadway Across America gave me a Family Four Pack of tickets ($136 value) for the 6 pm showing on February Saturday 26th to give away!

To treat your family to the Madagascar Live experience, simply leave a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random next Monday, February 21, at 8 pm.

Connect with the cast, directors, and all the details:

Madagascar Live website

Madagascar Live on Facebook

Madagascar Live on Twitter This giveaway is for four tickets to Madagascar Live on Saturday February 26, 2011 at 6 pm in Columbus Ohio. The contest is open to adults 18 and older. A winner will be selected by Random.org on February 21. The winner is responsible to pick up tickets at the Will Call office of the Palace Theatre. No transportation costs or additional prizes included.

A Handmade Valentine's Day

Shut in by ice and snow and illness, Lil and I spent a lot of time crafting for Valentine's Day last week.

Plump hearts spelling LOVE adorn our (faux) stained glass window.

Friends and family are receiving heart felt personalized cards from Lillian.

Lillian painted ceramic mugs for Alex and I at Grandview Clay Cafe.

I sewed a hand embroidered conversation heart pillow for my girl. I think I am now experienced enough to tackle sewing my name onto my Made by AmyD apron.

We're celebrating as a family with afternoon tea including a sour cherry pie made with fruits we picked this summer and froze for just this occasion.

Did you make anything for Valentine's Day?

Friday Five: Sweet Things for Your Valentine

Five gift ideas for the food lover in your life: 1) Cooking class for two - I'm loving the vegetable centric class at Hills Market February 23 or check out North Market, Franklin Park Conservatory or Sur Le Table for something that suits your sweetheart's interest.

2) Iced vegan sugar cookie from Pattycake Bakery - Choose from their nice or naughty messages or create one of your own. Budget friendly at only $3 each.

3) Hand painted coffee mug, cereal bowl, or serving plate from Grandview Clay Cafe

4) Food or Dessert Tour from Columbus Food Adventures

5) Fruit tree - We love our Meyer lemon tree for giving us a dozen lemons this year. The fig tree we gave Alex for father's day is just starting to send out new leaves and our lime tree rescued from the clearance cart is looking good too. We keep them indoors in winter and move outside in summer.

My valentine Alex is receiving one of these gift ideas. Can you guess which one?

Holla Challah!

Challah is said with a 'holla!' attitude in this house. I apologize to Jewish families who eat challah as a sabbath bread, but I really can't even think of this bread without the tune of Hollaback Girl rising in my mind. It doesn't matter how you say it or whether you think of the song: challah is a rich beautiful bread worthy of baking and eating regularly.

If I am working alone, I form the dough into a double braid as is traditional.

If Lil is hosting a play date, I often make a batch of challah dough, let it rise and then divide into four or six pieces. I help the children shape braids, spirals, letters, or 'rocks'. They rise a second time while the kids play. We bake their creations and watch the shapes change. Finally, we eat the delicately crumbed breads together, sharing for some kids their first yeast bread baking experience.

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Holla Challah makes one large loaf or four-six smaller loaves

adapted from the The Book of Bread

1 1/4 tablespoons active dry yeast 3/4 cup warm water 1 tablespoon sugar or honey 2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour 1 1/2 - 2 cups bread flour

optional glazes: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1/2 teaspoon water, poppy seeds

1. Stir yeast and sugar into warm water in a mixing bowl. Allow to proof for five minutes.

2. Add eggs, salt, vegetable oil, and white whole wheat flour. Begin stirring, or start KitchenAid /stand mixer with dough hook if you have one.

3. Add bread flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl cleanly.

4. Turn onto a floured board and knead at least ten minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. (Alternately, use dough hook of stand mixer to knead for 5 minutes.)

5. Put in an oiled bowl, cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm place until double in bulk, approximately 1 hour.

6. Punch down dough and allow to rest for a few minutes.

7. Divide dough into portions for kids to shape. Help them make shapes and place on a Silpat lined cookie sheet with plenty of space between creations.

8. For a double braid, divide into two portions, one approximately a third of the dough and the other two thirds. Further subdivide each part into three equal parts. Roll each into a rope. Braid the larger three ropes, tucking ends under the braid, and place on a Silpat lined cookie sheet. Braid the smaller ropes, tuck in ends, and settle on top of the bigger braid.

9. Cover and allow to rise again until double in bulk, approximately forty five minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

10. Brush risen dough with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds if desired.

11. Bake ten minutes at 400 degrees F. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35-40 minutes longer. Cool on a rack.

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Get ready for some meat curing posts - I'm participating in Charcutepalooza. Read my article about the year of meat project on Technorati.

Challah recipe added to Hearth and Soul blog hop.