It's all about Dessert Night!

In an effort to bring order and more than anything, rhythm, to our days, weeks, months, our dear friend recently trained in Simplicity Parenting came over, sat me down and helped me start sorting it out. The daily rhythm is particularly difficult for me to hold and she is a natural with that and so wonderful to work with so I was grateful for her generous offer.

Prior to this, my husband and I had sat down over tea and plotted out some weekly and monthly rhythms- being slow and selective with our choices in hopes of being able to stick to them.

I will post later about the daily rhythm our friend helped me create but now, the weekly rhythm:

Tuesday night is Dessert Night

Wednesday night is Game Night

Thursday is Breakfast for Dinner Night

Sunday is Family Afternoon Swim (at the indoor pool- not the river!)

Then, once a month we hold a Friends Potluck Night here at Noisy Cottage.

Our first official Dessert Night, I attempted a pie made with a little rice flour and tapioca flour mixture.

It looked beautiful but, alas, was not quite as tasty as I would have liked. Better luck next week!

But what really was lovely was this feeling of knowing what would come next- not in the scheme of the universe, of course, but in that gentle way of being able to let go knowing that it was Dessert Night and with that some small ritual for the day.

Thank goodness for the small ritual, woven into our days holding them finely together like a spider web here and there with space in between for surprises and change.

For this, I am truly grateful.

Are you nuts?

Well, actually I am!

Last night, slightly plagued with the beginning of a cold and feeling that slight "Tomorrow is Monday" sort of glum, I decided that I needed to create.- Something edible, something sweet, something that would bring cheer to the week in little doses as we set off on the second leg of our two week grocery shopping from a week ago- when things start to run out usually and we have to get creative with our meals.

So, I splurged and made Spicy & Sweet Nuts.

Sunflower seeds are usually the cheapest so I tend to have more of those than anything else but I happened to have almonds and walnuts too-- thanks to a holiday splurge.

So in they went as well.

I altered this recipe Sugar and Spice Candied Nuts

2/3 c brown sugar (made with regular sugar and molasses)

1 1/3 c sugar

big dash of cinnamon

big dash of coriander

2 teaspoons salt

whatever else you have a hankering for

2 egg whites

2 Tablespoons water

3 or more cups of nuts and seeds

I frothed up the egg whites and water until they were really frothy but not stiff in a nice big bowl.

I added the spices and sugar together in a separate bowl.

Next, I put the nuts into the egg white/water mixture and stirred- play around with that part in case you feel like you need more nuts in there.

Then you lay them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and sprinkle the sugar spice mixture over top and toss until they are covered.

Bake at 300 for 30 minutes or so and then let cool.

Break up as you put them in a big bowl once they have cooled.

Delicious!

Touched with a sudden need to organize, I had the inspiration to use the sheet metal of the stove's backsplash to start planning our meals and lunch and breakfast options. Dry erase markers are incredibly helpful!!

Sheepishly saying hello to the New Year

(yes, my friends, our turkey had actual breasts......)

Uh, so (shuffling my feet)- I was MIA for a while.

I sort of fell out of blogging and into the world of children and homeschool and the overwhelming realization that I had holiday fairs looming very close on my horizon and no inventory to speak of- not to mention holiday orders and children who needed holiday magic themselves.

So, blogging fell by the wayside.

I am back, trying to make amends.

I vow to myself that I will not make promises I can't keep but I will try and I promise to try to blog regularly to share life with four children. Daily, maybe not- but frequently I am sure I can manage- complete with the joys and burliness of child rearing and self-rearing- the latter being perhaps the biggest of all.

I will start this New Year off by showing the miracle of the breasted Thankgiving bird that graced our table this past Thanksgiving.

For some strange reason that I am sure has its roots in physics and air pockets, our bird came from the oven with a pair of round breasts. Shocked, the children, my husband and I stopped to stare and then burst into a roar of laughter that echoed through Noisy Cottage.

Who knew?