Margo does not like being sick.
It’s amazing to me the amount of fluid that could come out of such a little thing. I panicked at first–of course–posting messages on my mom’s local list about OH MY GOD MY BABY JUST VOMITED SHOULD I GO TO THE HOSPITAL OR WHAT and then, after several more copious upchucks, realized it was a stomach bug. She was fine, of course, but my Mama instincts told me to drop everything and just love my baby so that’s what I spent most of my time doing last week. And oh, yeah, vomiting myself because this whole germ-magnet-baby thing is new to me and from now on I will wash my hands several thousand times a day.
I cooked Sunday dinner two weeks ago and it went off exactly like I wanted: warm, homey, simple food that tasted really really good. Here’s a picture:
and here’s the menu:
Potato & Leek Soup (adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook)
Onion Tart (a cheese-less adaptation from Smitten Kitchen with caraway & dill instead of fennel and flour from Four Star Farms)
Raw Broccoli Salad (a family recipe)
Quinoa with mushrooms and arugula
Simple Roasted Carrots
Parmesan for grating
Wine for drinking
And last night, Alex made an Ecuadorian/Costa Rican smorgasbord featuring:
Monkfish Ceviche
Chicken braised in Beer with Seco (a spice blend)
Yucca Patties
Roasted Plaintains
Rice
Sadly, my stomach was still recovering so I only took a few bites of each but it was homey and simple and delicious in a whole different way. Pretty cool what my housemates come up with every week. I also don’t have a picture, seeing as I stumbled out of bed a mere three hours before so instead I will placate you with more adorable but sick Margo:
We stripped her naked, surrounded her with stuffies (and towels!) and she had a pretty decent time after all.
2 Comments
First off I want to say great blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear your thoughts prior to writing. I have had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out there. I do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips? Appreciate it!
Thanks!
There are a lot of good books out there about writing. I would recommend above all Anne Lammot’s “Bird by Bird,” particularly her essay “Shitty First Drafts.” It can be really hard to clear your mind and stay focused but I think that’s okay–for a lot of people, they spend a good amount of time writing to figure out what they want to write. If you only lose 10 or 15 minutes, I say you’re on the right track–as a fiction writer, I often lose days writing stuff that doesn’t go into a final product, but helps me figure out what I’m trying to say.
Hope that helps!
-Morgan