So It’s 11 PM and I start up some sticky rice (a family favorite), taken from one of two large crocks on my kitchen counter (the other contains flour, ZOMG “empty” carbophobes, the HOrRoR!!1!). I dice up grilled chicken, partially cooked carrots, zucchini, and grilled garlic cloves – all donated by friends last night, sent home with us after they’d hosted us for a backyard barbecue. I stir fry the dice variously using a wok (J… I need to get that back to you, but I also want one just like it) and my one skillet, a cast iron beauty I put on layaway years before that I tenderly caress daily. I whisk up a sweet-sour-salty dipping sauce and Ralph puts out bowls and cloth napkins and we have a late, late dinner at the coffee table, the four of us.
It’s hot in the house. But it was nice running around today – especially minus many inches of hair. In fact today held a surprising amount of detail-work concerning hair: since Nels got his cut the other day via he and his father’s barber, I had Ralph cut mine off in what was the most pleasant locale I’ve yet experienced una corta de pelo – our own sunlit deck. Watching the chickens and cats get up to their fuckery. Later in the day Jasmine and I did a lot of work on Phoenix’s new hair (pictures tomorrow!) while Ralph made music up in Olympia. When Phoenix and I got home I ran laundry and worked a little on my latest sewing project (a SEKRIT!) and tidied up the many books the kids strew about the house.
I’ve spent time in my life having to do shit I didn’t want to do. A lot of time. Increasingly I find my day filled with things I’m engaged in and enjoying, so many I don’t always get to them all but most nights I fall into bed satisfied. And hell, the things I don’t want to do, or haven’t in the past been able to deal with without dread, are a lot easier. Truth be told I have a whole new support network in my life, I’m sober, and the sun is out – the darkness has passed – and those things make a big difference. Day after day – lately – I experience gratitude. I’m grateful for my kids, our animals, my spouse, and the health and love of all. I’m still grateful to now, after over half a year, have two running cars (seriously! Although the brakes are spongey on the Mercedes and I’m fearing the worst). I’m grateful I’m parenting more gently and helping my children in more constructive ways. I’m grateful for friends; those who support me and those I in turn support.
Life, in short, is pretty good. L-O-V-E
I can’t wait to see the hair.
My cast iron skillet is much loved though, regardless of years of following all directions and even posting on a forum about it…it never holds a seasoning very well. I have two smaller ones, both gotten as rusty pieces of shit at the Goodwill that I polished back to life – and for some reason, nothing can touch their awesome seasoning. I have joked that we should bury the bigger one in the garden and dig it out next year…perhaps a good rust is the key?
I have no version of a wok right now…I am waiting for the perfect instant that a cast-iron wok comes into my life. I can’t even look at them online if there is a price tag nearby.
Sticky rice? Yum. How do you make it? When I worked at Roy’s Restaurant in Hawaii, we used to steam it, covered by a plate in a bamboo hat that we set into a bulbus shaped pot filled with water, lemon peels, the ends of lemongrass and a little bit of ginger. I do love sticky rice in all it’s manifestations – though that was by far my favorite. Even better when covered by hoisin-grilled bok choy, a nicely seared piece of mahimahi, slathered in French butter sauce and a few drops of fresh scallion oil and topped off with some spicy Japanese radish sprouts. Jeez…now I’m getting even hungrier. (I am a little pregnant here, and while the dude makes every attempt to satisfy my cravings, the occurrence of his flight to Hawaii for take-out is a statistical impossibility – yet I will sit here and fantasize about it for a few minutes).
I’ve had lots of reminders to count my blessings today. Especially the very cute, sometimes frustrating, moppet-headed fifty-pounder. Thanks for another one. Much love.
Your new hair could not possibly suit you better. I love it!
@Bex
You need to make a tutorial on how to make that entire Roy’s meal, and show me how. I’m not quite feeling how you do the rice. I use a rice cooker, which is like a little wizard lives in there.
Glad my post could help.
@Medrie
Thank you! It is nice to not have to tie my hair up, or attempt to anyway, day after day!
A tutorial? I’ll have my license in a few months…and hopefully I can make a few bucks sticking needles into people at which point I will buy this set up and tutorial away. For now, check it out:
http://jasmine-rice.ricethai.net/thai-sticky-rice-steaming-b000fghhby/prices.html
You soak the sticky rice in water over night and then you just throw a couple of handfuls into that basket over the sink (the excess water drains away). You then fill that pot with a couple of cups of water and whatever herb material you so desire and bring it to a boil, then throw the basket in it with a plate (or some other device to stop the steam from leaking away). You steam it till it’s done…which doesn’t take a ton of time, maybe 30-45 minutes since it was already soaked. It won’t really overcook (or so I think from my experience though I’m sure you COULD do it if you really wanted to). Anyway…in a few months, a tutorial for sure.
Taking care of daily business, knowing you have a support system that will catch you when you falter? Makes the stuff we don’t want to do or struggle to do seem quite a bit easier…
@Bex
What kind of basket do I use? Shit, I can’t quite picture the rig you’re talking about!
@k8
SERIOUSLY, you know what I mean!
I love your hair. I have long, straight thick hair and get so pissed off with it, but short it’s just short and straight and thick with no definable style. I should be happy but I always want what I don’t have. What is with that?
Also my 9 year old, Ella, has the same bike as Phoenix, we bought it in April here in OZ! I’m only five one but my daughter is almost my height and will no doubt be way way taller than me, just like her bro and dad. Damn my mother and her smoking. The rest of my family are tall and svelte. I am short and fat. I roll with it. Sorta ;-D
@Annie
I just woke up and had coffee and am recovering from a dream where I dyed my hair and it went horribly wrong! I used to be a towhead as a kid and now I’m rather dark (that picture looks a wee bit darker than it really is, b/c I was in a dark room).
Ella and Phoenix, on matching bikes! We need to get a couple pictures and throw them up on Google+, or as I like to call it, my new drug of choice.
Thank you for commenting!