Ice Pops

When we had the first little heat wave here a couple of weeks ago, I dug out the ice pop molds, and since then we've been hooked. One of our favorite kind is to blend coconut milk (the canned type) with fruits like strawberries or mango and add a little honey for sweetness. It is also pretty easy to make fun striped pops using layers of different flavors. Now if I could only find the sticks that go with the molds...

Rainy Day in Concord, Massachussetts

Friday was a happy day for my girls. We went to to visit the house where Louisa May Alcott had lived in Concord, Ma. We all really enjoyed reading "Little Women" so getting to see where the girls from the book had lived was a real treat.


It was such a wet day. We also stopped by briefly by the Minute Man National Historic Park, but got cold and realized that there were enough other things to see in Concord that we should just go again later in the summer.

I was cold and wet, but when you are four years old a rainy day with puddles, a pair of boots, and an umbrella is just about the best things ever.

Vegan Saag with Tofu

As someone who spent years cooking and eating Indian food on an almost daily basis (while living in ashram), there was a long time that I would not go near a pack of curry powder. I always enjoyed Indian food, but lets just say I needed a break. These days, I enjoy cooking Indian again, and always look forward to eating out at our favorite Indian restaurant. Saag has always been one of my favorites. This recipe easy and quick, it can easily be made up in the time it takes to make a pot of basmati rice. We had it along with the veggie masala burgers from Trader Joe's (love those!), and some apple chutney from last fall. I used frozen spinach for this, but fresh would only make it better, and is in season now!

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 lb frozen chopped spinach, or a large bunch of chopped fresh greens
1/2 cup cashews (ideally soaked, but it will work either way) to make cashew cream
1 block of tofu, diced
salt, pepper to taste

Heat a small amount of oil, and saute onion until translucent. Add garlic, ginger, and all the spices, and saute for a minute more. Add the spinach, and 1/2 cup water, cover, and simmer until spinach is cooked. Meanwhile make the cream. Add 1 cup of water to the cashews, and blend for several minutes, until smooth and creamy. (You only need half of this, but it is difficult to make a smaller amount. Just save the rest for another use.) Add half of the cashew cream, tofu, salt and pepper, and simmer a few minutes more to let the tofu soak up the flavors.

This Boy

Rasika is getting to be so big. He has been learning so much lately. His reading is getting better, and he also attempts to write. It doesn't always come out right, but he's not afraid of trying.

(God moron = godmorgon = good morning in Swedish)

He can eat an ice cream cone without making a huge mess. Sometimes. Clean his room. Well, sort of. The other day he was counting: "twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-ten." I corrected him. He continued: "thirty-eight, thirty-nine, thirty-t..." He caught himself, and asked me what was next. Continued, and figured fifty out all on his own. Somehow that made me a little sad. Here he is riding his bike all on his own.

Happy 65 to my Dad!

Here he is talking to my four year old today. (I stole the photo from my sister's Instagram.) I hate not being able to be there for birthdays and such. Can't wait to get to see him in August!

Evening Walk in Providence

Last night we had plans to go out to a "Shakespeare in the Park" performance downtown. Too bad the play was cancelled due to threat of thunder storms. Fortunately this is Providence, where nothing is far away, and the park is only about 5 minutes away from home. Since there were no thunderstorms and we were already downtown, we ended up going for a nice little walk along the water instead of just going home, and it turned out to be a really nice night out. We will have to try to catch the Shakespeare play another night instead.

Summer's First Swim

Or at least a quick dip. (It was COLD!)

The ten year old finished her math for the school year yesterday morning, and to celebrate we packed a lunch and spent the rest of the day at the beach! It was the first hot day of the year, and though it doesn't show in the photo, the beach was packed. Ours seemed to be the only school-aged kids though, so next time I think we'll coordinate with some of their homeschool friends.

Memorial Day Hike

 There's this little trail around a lake where we like to go for hikes. Just the right length for the kids, and you rarely meet another person out there. It is such a peaceful place. 

The four year old found a caterpillar.

I found a bunch of these wild pink Lady Slipper orchids.

Perfect day for a nap in the grass.

And the daisies are in full bloom.

Zzzzz

Well, the blog ended up taking a long winter's nap. As our school year activities are coming very close to the end here, I thought I will try to spend some time here again. I kind of miss it...

We have had such a fun, busy year, our first year here in RI. And when I say busy, I mean it in a good way. One of the many reasons we choose to homeschool is to be able to live our life at a slower pace, hopefully with less stress involved for the kids. But yes, with three kids home full-time, still quite busy. :)

Today is memorial day, and a beautiful day here. We are going out for a hike in the woods, so I will stop now. Maybe I"ll be back with some photos later. For now, here is one of me and the kids from Mother's day, a couple of weeks ago.

Summer Dreams

I wore a dress today, one I haven't used since last summer. As I pulled it out of the closet, I noticed something rattling in the pocket. Seashells? I sat down on my bed, pressed the dress to my face. Did it not smell a little like the beach? Salt water? Sunscreen?

I love living in the Ocean State. Outside the snow is melting, but in just a few months I will once again have sand all over the floors, in the car, in the bathtub, in my hair. I will make sure to get out more often this year. Afternoon trips to the nearby beaches, day trips to Newport and Narragansett. There are so many places I haven't seen yet...

I stop daydreaming and put on my dress. Stick my hand in the pocket and pull out a small handful of pistachio shells. I must have put them in my pocket while cleaning or something.

This is what happens to me in February.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I signed up on Instagram and stopped blogging. Oops. I will back soon, but for now, I added a feed of my latest photos to the sidebar below. I wasn't sure I'd be so into it, but it is quite addicting; the kids are already making fun of me. ;)

Weekend Photos

A little midweek weekend update. I just moved all my photos off my phone, so I thought I would share some from this weekend. Right now it is so cold here, our heater is having a hard time keeping up, but the weekend was actually pretty nice, though windy.

A blurry shot from the farmers market.

OJ and chocolate raspberry scones.

Haircuts for the boys.

Christmas present cookie cutters in use.

Soaking up some sunlight in the park.

More Pandit

 We finally got Pandit to the groomer and he always looks so small afterwards. So far, each time we've taken him, we've been asked if we would like a "Cocker cut." I am not quite sure what that means, but images like the one below pop into my head. I ask them to just cut it short. 

This time, though we didn't notice right away, he came back with a cut on his neck. We will have to find a new groomer for next time.

Pandit likes to sit in the window like a cat. Only he's a bit more clumsy.

Reuben Sandwich

I could easily live without peanut butter and jelly, but one American sandwich that I really like is the Reuben. This is how I make a vegetarian version of it: Take two slices of rye bread, spread one with (vegan) mayo, add a heap of sauerkraut, a couple slices of Tofurky, a slice of Swiss cheese (or vegan Daiya) and the other slice of bread. Fry a few minutes on each side and enjoy! There you go, a fried sandwich to bust your new year's diet! :)

Kids Bake: Vegan Blueberry Orange Cupcakes

Sarasvati got a baking kit for Christmas, and today she tried it out and made us blueberry orange cupcakes for dessert. She loves blueberries (and hates bananas). We used the vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and added frozen blueberries and orange juice concentrate to the batter. Then she made a vegan buttercream icing with a little orange juice in that as well. The kids loved the color of these cupcakes: "It's more like green than blue!" and "This one is darker than that one!" I think we'll be making these again. :)

The cupcakes went fast! Next she wants to try her new cookie cutters with some sugar cookies. Fun!

Weekend

We spent the weekend switching bedrooms with the girls. I am sooo tired! We didn't even finish everything (bunkbeds!) but I think it will end up being much better than before. Hope you had a good weekend!

Puppyversary!

2012 was a great year for us. So many exciting things happened. First out was Pandit, our dog. Today it is exactly one year ago that we brought him home. He is the bestest and cutest lap-warmer I've ever had! I know he always looks sad in pictures, but in real life he is full of energy and a real wiggle-butt!

Looking back, I am not sure exactly why we thought it would be a good idea to get a dog while we had a three year-old in the house. I think I remember someone suggesting we wait, but then I kept pulling up cute pictures from the adoption website, and someone changed his mind. Anyways, the energy level has been a bit intense with the two of them, but the three year-old is now four, and things are slowly settling down.

Tomorrow it's off to the groomer, he needs it badly! So much dirty winter slush sticks to him while we are out on our New Year's resolution walks.

Amazing Swedish Immigrant Photos

Man(!) washing clothes in a bucket.

As a Swedish immigrant (and a big fan of Vilhelm Moberg's Emigrant Novels), I absolutely love this blog of photos from a Swedish-American family living in Texas around the turn of the last century. The photos are truly fascinating! I can't even imagine what it must have been like to come over as a poor immigrant at that time, but I always try to think about it when I get homesick, or can't get a good connection with my family over Skype. So many more awesome photos on the blog, check it out!

Finishing Things

 

Another one of my resolutions for the new year: work through all the craft projects and materials we have collected over the years. The girls just finished these cross-stitch patterns that they got last Christmas and we hung them up on their door. Aren't they cute? They have so many more projects to go through. I think we'll have to make sure to schedule a craft-hour as a daily event. If you have kids this age and your house is not cluttered with craft supplies, I would love to hear your secret!

I got the cute cross-stitch patterns from the Etsy shop Chezsucrechez.

Happy New Years!

a little belated...

I had such a great time in Sweden over the holidays. We made it back safely, but it is always so hard to leave. I love my family, and wish I could see them all the time. The kids had a great time too, with their grandparents and cousins. I took a bunch of photos, so maybe I'll get some up here soon. One of my thoughts for the new year is to be a bit more active here. To post more often. Maybe more recipes, but mostly just life. I basically have no memory, so I need to document more. We'll see how it goes...