Picture a thirteen hundred square foot apartment filled to the brim with toys, furniture and inhabitants both big and small. Imagine a toddler immersed in art, imaginative play, and cartoons. Projects big and small, tutus, tiaras abound, and everything on display. Add to the chaos a fearless, almost-toddler who just discovered the freedom of walking. Nothing and no-one can stop her from independent exploration to satisfy her immense curiosity.
Throw in the mix a daddy who commuted to D.C., three days last week, which is especially aggressive since it was a four day workweek, and you have yourself a solid picture of my week with the kids. The days Evan commutes to D.C., he leaves before the kids are up and gets home long after they’ve gone to bed at 9 PM; It is not unusual for him to catch a ~5 am train. Those days, parenting falls solely and heavily on my shoulders. There is no break or recuperation time between work and parenting in the evenings.
Just a few months ago, I would have been terrified of the prospect of taking care of the kids on my own, and would have begged my parents or mother-in-law for help. This time, however, I decided to man the ship myself. Each evening the kids ate a home-cooked dinner. We played, went on walks, and laid out on the grass at Independence National Historical Park. I took the kids on a treasure hunt to spice up an otherwise typical walk and treated them to gelato.
Someone, who isn’t a parent, once asked me how-come I can’t make time to hit the gym in the morning. Everyone, myself included, would benefit from a stronger core, and a few lost pounds, so I won’t make excuses. But I do know that running after two young ones can be a bit of a workout. That’s my fitbit output from one of those days.
Needless to say I didn’t feel guilty indulging in ice cream after the kids went to bed.
Not particularly different from any other days other than the fact that Evan and I actually captured our culinary output on camera while running after the kids, enjoying Philadelphia, and much-deserved time with my parents. Cookbooks, blogs, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter are full of single shots of delicious eats but they don’t often give us a glimpse into a full day in the kitchen. I am going further and sharing a weekend. The farmer’s markets brimming with strawberries and vegetables have inspired me in the kitchen. Our local HeadHouse Square farmer’s market looked like an explosion of bright red and green. Had we not been limited by the one tote we brought with us, I would have bought every radish and green in sight.
So here goes… two days in our culinary life:
Tomatoes aren’t really in season yet but parsley, young red onions, and garlic are bountiful. I roasted the tomatoes in the oven until they were bursting with sweet-sour flavor and dressed in an herbaceous vinaigrette. It was sunny bright.
Earthy and flavorful is this deep-roasted broccoli with oven-fried garlic. Some florets are verdant green while others are crispy-baked. A perfect side served room temperature and just as good cold in the evening. Healthy, too.
Speaking of healthy but more importantly, absolutely delicious. This is the one dish I did not cook. My mom made this gorgeous, chilled borscht topped with sour cream, grated egg, scallion, cucumber and dill. Mouthwateringly delicious and perfect on a hot summer’s day.
Some go goo-goo for pasta salads but I find them to be too rich, too heavy and laden with cheese and unbalanced vegetables. Instead, I opt for a quinoa salad. Same principle… herbs, veggies if you’d like, and a light olive oil vinaigrette. This one has lightly pickled onions, garlic, and some herbs. These easy oven-baked chicken thighs have made regular appearances at our dinner table the last few weeks and for good reason, too. They are so very delicious, a synch to make, and fill the house with the most beautiful aroma.
Corn chowder, to me, is a summer affair. This one is a very light version of Corn Chowder sans bacon and with part-skim milk. Light and refreshing it pleased even the tiniest of taste buds.
Eggplant is such a favorite at our house. Baked, sautéed, stewed, stuffed and even steamed, we eat it year-round and I cook it in the Italian, Turkish, Japanese, Indian and Azeri styles. Every which way it is unforgettable. This is pan-fried eggplant topped with a dill and garlic crema. It is my most favorite preparation because that’s how I grew up eating it.
And since hot weather, margaritas, happy hours, and siestas are upon us, we make guacamole. Simple. Avocados, red onions, and limes. A favorite snack for everyone … even Eliza.
And if you know me, you know that I am someone who does not like to make dessert optional. The rhubarb season is brief and it is one of the earliest spring plants. Rhubarb is best friends with strawberries but I thought it is special enough to be the star of a sweet ending. Here’s a rhubarb snacking cake. Yum.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell you that completing this culinary line-up are homemade strawberry-creme-fresh and chocolate ice creams. Well, the least I could do is not taunt with pictures. They are mind-blowing.
Whew. That was quite a lineup, wasn’t it. Well, all that cooking didn’t preclude us from enjoying our weekend outside the kitchen. We visited a farmer’s market, the Three Bears Park, and partook in the happenings of Old City. We also went to Spruce Street Harbor Park which has been open for a week, and Sophia has her eyes set on the skating rink at Blue Cross Summerfest. Sophia may be eyeing skating, but I am eyeing those hammocks and beer at Spruce Street Park.
Quality time with Baba and Deda were huge hits for us and the girls. Played out and fed with all sorts of delicious, the girls played with Legos together. Future engineers? I can only hope.
Said Pablo Picasso and such is the case where I work. We dream up pie in the sky ideas and work hard to make them real. Every day is different, every project unique, and every achievement immensely satisfying. Computer science is one of the most exciting and dynamic fields today. It is at the epicenter of our economic output since everything and everyone uses computers. Chemists, biologists, physicists and even quantitate financial analysts need to know computer science. The hour of code is a hugely successful effort to bring computer science and programming to tens of millions of school aged children.
The United States is not able to produce enough computer scientists to satisfy its growing demand and it is everyone’s duty to inspire children to choose professions in one of the many STEM fields. In doing my part, and also because I am always excited to share an experience with my nephew, I took Alex to my company’s take your child to work day. The event, dubbed a Tech Expo was geared toward children aged 10 and up. The bring your child to work day did not include shadow time. Instead, children were whisked upstairs to a series of cool demos and talks about what the current state of the art is that we (myself and the people I work with) are working on, and what lies in the frontier. Demos included 3-D printing technologies, programming with raspberry pi, the bleeding edge in electromagnetic research, and renewable energy. The sessions were hands on and the children had a chance to try all of the technologies for themselves.
I am a firm believer that learning does not always take place inside a classroom while reading a textbook. My nephew missed a day of school but I am certain that he learned much more that morning at the Tech Expo. He learned that research and failure go hand in hand, that you can dream big, work hard, and persevere. He wasn’t the only one learning. I learned that there are few greater pleasures in life than seeing young minds churning with creative ideas and thoughts. I couldn’t have asked for a better day and a better companion. Oh, and of course, he had time with his cousins as well… and some ice cream. It is summer, after all.
For someone who did not grow up eating salads regularly, I spend an illogically significant amount of time trying new dressings and green combinations. I call it culinary curiosity. Before you jump to conclusions and think I somehow grew up on the white (rice, potatoes, bread and pasta) diet, rest assured that I grew up eating more vegetables and fruits and greens than is typical in even the healthiest of diets.
Our salads, and there were many, were not made up of lettuces, but vegetables and often dressed with delicious dairy-based dressings. They made for tangy and refreshing suppers in the spring and summer and for warming dishes in the cooler winter months. Among them are Vinegret, Olivie, Tomato and Cucumber Salad, Radish Salad, Herring Under a Fur Coat, and many, many others.
Evan has embraced my penchant for these beautiful dishes and in exchange, I have embraced his irrational love for green salads. As if rising to a challenge, he whips up an amazing salad from any combination of greens and vegetables with the grace of a master chef. This particular rendition is no exception. An arugula, spinach, and radicchio base is topped with pink radishes, tomatoes, and cucumbers. A tangy red wine vinaigrette brings together the sweet, salty, and bitter profiles. Oh… and of course crispy bacon and garlicky potato bread croutons for the much needed crunch. Perfection in a bowl in under 15 minutes.
A reason to celebrate. This Sunday, we tossed aside our tanks, shorts and flip flops in favor of something a little more fancy. Evan’s cousin married a beautiful bride in a stunning dusk ceremony in downtown Philadelphia.
I do wonder what it is with Evan’s family—everyone they marry is Russian. True, Evan started the trend, but his sister and now his cousin have continued carrying this torch. It must be that they realized how close-knit and fun-loving Russians are. Whatever the reason, we’re only too happy to celebrate especially when the celebrating involves an elegant black tie gala.
As I sat back and took in the beautiful ambiance at the reception, I couldn’t help but look back to almost SEVEN years ago when Evan and I got married. It is hard to believe that it was that long ago when we said our vows to one another under our magical chuppah. Perhaps seven is not long, not when we look at our parents and grandparents, but it has been a busy, eventful seven. A Ph.D., a house, a daughter, another daughter a move, and more. Travel, laughter, tears of sadness and unbelievable joy. Low lows, indescribable highs and everything in between, everything together.
I didn’t circle Evan at our own wedding ceremony because, to me, it signified that my world revolved around my husband. I know now that it does and that’s how I like it.
Endlessly tired of heavy cookery where winey tomato sauces and long preparations abound, I suddenly remembered about pasta. Not the typical boxed stuff, but the handmade stuff. The kind your (grand)mother, Italian or otherwise, would make when you were little. Truth be told pasta, and the realization that I could sate hungry bellies of my cheery cohabitants with a few turns of my cherry-red pasta machine, was just the excuse I needed to continue procrastinating. Procrastinate against what? The much overdue cleaning out my closet. Despite procrastination, perfection is how I would describe its current state. I went in with surgical precision and nothing that doesn’t fit or I don’t quite love survived the cuts. An extremely satisfying process for someone who doesn’t like clutter and isn’t a hoarder.
This post, however is about pasta. I distinctly remember my mom making home-made egg noodle when I was little. Sometimes, the noodles graced a hearty bowl of chicken soup and other times, they were dressed with rich farmer’s cheese and sprinkled with sugar which is, to me, the ultimate comfort food. She rolled out and cut the dough by hand. It is then that I realized that homemade pasta is unlike anything you can buy at the store and many, many years had passed before I dared to make my own. My mom recalled her grandmother making homemade noodles, cutting, drying and storing them in a linen bag. Her story took me back to my grandparents home where my mom grew up. I could suddenly remember ever nook and cranny of the house and was determined to rekindle those memories for my mom.
In fact, my homemade pasta was so nice, I happened to make it twice in as many days. The first batch of pasta was destined to become delicate spaghetti for a carbonara sauce. The result was so successful that the kids fought for every last strand. I mean how can guanciale, eggs, cream, and parmesan laced across delicate handmade spaghetti be bad?
Feeling guilty about repeating the rich meal, I made linguini and Evan dressed it with a much lighter sautéed onion, mushrooms and spinach sauce. There may have been cream and parmesan, too. The mushrooms and parmesan provided such a meaty, umami flavor while the onions and spinach stand up quite well to the savoriness.
It would be very unfair to keep my full-proof pasta recipe to myself.
Serves 4:
Ingredients:
10 oz flour
3 large eggs (not jumbo, not extra large, just large)
2 tbs olive oil
Preparation:
Pulse the eggs and flour in the food processor until combined. Turn the food processor on and drizzle in olive oil. If you find the dough sticking to the walls of the bowl, add flour a teaspoon at a time until the dough looks like wet sand. Turn out onto the counter and knead lightly into a rectangle. Wrap in seran wrap and leave to rest at room temperature for an hour. Use your machine/attachment to roll/cut into spaghetti/linguini. Cook in boiling water until al-dente (2 minutes in our case) and dress in your favorite sauce. Enjoy!
