Our Little Foodie

Since we first met our little man, he's been very interested in food; much to our pleasure I must say. We've always said we hoped our children enjoy food as much as we do... so far this is very much the case for Bekila. I'm enjoying it while it lasts because I know any day he may decide to change his mind. But for now we're letting him try pretty much everything and making sure he gets to experience flavors. Things like adding cinnamon to his oatmeal, or putting berbere on his cottage cheese seem to make the experience all the more enjoyable for him. I'm taking advice from a cook book a friend recently gave me called The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler by Lisa Barnes.

His reaction to new things is usually a large smile and a laugh. When he really likes it, he inhales loudly in which case we try to calm him down for fear of him choking...

I'm amazed that he's perfectly content to sit in his high chair for over an hour watching us cook and then slowly eating his meal. Lunch and dinner seem to be his favorite... He tolerates breakfast, but it's not his favorite.

Below are a few pictures of him trying and learning new things.

Greek yogurt is one of his favorites. These are pictures of the first time he tried it.

This past Sunday we celebrated his 1st birthday by making Filet of Buffalo Bourguignon. He love it, particularly the carrots.

He also had his first dose of sugar after eating the Carmel Cake. We substituted half of the flour with blue corn meal... It wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever seen, perhaps next time I'll just make it a single layer, but it was delicious! Bekila enjoyed the carmel topping very much!

Berbere...

Since Dave and I first began the adoption process perfecting our Ethiopian cooking skills has been one of our favorite things to do. A couple of weeks ago we decided to attempt to make berbere, a traditional Ethiopian spice, from scratch. The recipe we used called for a combination of dried New Mexican chilies, fresh garlic, fresh ginger root, red onion, rue seed, sacred basil, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bishop weed, and salt. We started off by de-seeding and stemming 2.5 pounds of red chilies and then creating a paste with the garlic, ginger and onion. We then had to dry the paste in the oven at a low temperature for several hours.

The next day when I was traveling for work, Dave added the remaining ingredients and ground it using our food processer. Here is the finish product.


Now we have a small stock of berbere to use for future cooking. We have also discovered it makes a delicious snack when sprinkled on the top of cottage cheese... Something I'm sure Little Bee will enjoy too when he comes home! In the meantime, Dave and I will work on perfecting our skills... Maybe injera is next.

A Labor of Love

For the past two weekends, my mom, Dave, and I have been working hard on the furniture for Little Bee's room... A labor of love if you will.

Now it's finish and was completely worth the effort... We had our doubts at times as to what the finished products would look like and if it would be worth all of our hard work, but every time I walk in the room I am reassured by my since of accomplishment and satisfaction with the final product.

We did three pieces; An old dresser that was my grandparents and is likely older than I am, an unfinished crib, and an unfinished rocking chair.

The dresser had to be stripped of it's old varnish and stain which was a relatively simple task that took a couple of hours over a couple of days... I almost finished stripping all of the drawers before I remembered to take a "before" picture of my project, but at least you get an idea of what the dresser looked like before.


After stripping it, sanding it, applying three coats of stain, three coats of varnish, and putting on new knobs, here is our finish product! You can't get a good sense of the knobs from this picture, but each drawer has a different set of ceramic knobs to add to the worldly theme of the nursery. My mom had originally pointed me to the Anthropologie website where I feel in love with knobs that were between $10 and $15 a piece. Spending $100-$150 on knobs isn't what I had in mind for this project. So, we looked to another source... Hobby Lobby! And, we were able to find comparable knobs for $3-$5 a piece!

We bought the crib and rocking chair at Unfinished Furniture Warehouse. I forgot to take pictures of them before they were finished, but just imagine plain, unfinished wood. Also, the rocking chair was in about 11 pieces... Here they are in their finished form.


Next project!...Hanging things on the walls... Also, we've ordered a crib mattress that should be in this week. To ensure I don't have too much time on my hands to think and worry about the next couple of months, I'm exploring fabric for curtains, bumper pads and a window seat cover.

I love having projects and it seems to be very effective in helping me get through this difficult time of waiting. If anyone has any additional project ideas, let me know!

Keeping Busy, Having Fun, and Breathing Deep

I've found these three techniques to be particularly effective in quieting my busy brain and coping with the anxiety of waiting and the unknown...

We found out last week that the courts will remain closed until Oct 12th and, now, the U.S. Embassy requires our paperwork be submitted 2 weeks before our Embassy date. This means we'll have to wait 8 weeks after we pass court to travel and pick up Little Bee, we were originally going to have to wait 4-6 weeks after passing court... Enter deep breathing here. So, now we think it will be more like January or February before we have our little man. Ugh. Families who have been through this before say the pain of waiting all goes away when you have your child in your arms. I'm trusting this will be so.

Thankfully Dave and I have created several projects for ourselves... Enter keeping busy. Dave's big project has been starting his own company! I'll provide more details as things progress, but it's VERY exciting and also quite stressful, and so far, things are looking good!

As for me, I've been traveling for work, hence the absence from the blog. We also bought Little Bee's crib and a rocking chair last weekend that is unfinished. I'll be finishing each of them, along with a dresser that I've stripped. The stain should be in tomorrow, so I'll have a project to keep me very busy this weekend!

We're trying to do Little Bee's nursery as green and chemically free as possible. So, we painted it using VOC Free Harmony paint from Sherwin Williams and we'll be finishing the furniture with VOC Free stain from TimerSoy. The paint was great to work with. Went on very well and didn't smell at all, so no paint high for me! I'll report back and post pictures with how the stain works out.

In our spare time, we're managing to have a lot of fun too. Getting together with friends, hiking, cooking, and planning our trip have been effective at keeping us occupied as well.

So there you have it... how we're keeping busy, having fun, and breathing deep, all in an effort to survive this difficult wait.

Pretty Sure They'll be Tasty Little Morsels

The bite of the the canning bug hasn't subsided... If anything, it has intensified...

Last Friday I canned Roasted Sweet Italian Peppers Marinated in Olive Oil and Vinegar. It was fairly labor intensive, but fun, and resulted in what I think will be some tasty little morsels of peppery goodness that can be used to add to spaghetti sauce, put on sandwiches or in salads, or as a part of an antipasto tray. I say "think" because Dave, Ann, and I tried them before they went into the jars and they were delicious, but will have to wait 2 weeks to taste the final product.

I had not heard of Sweet Italian Peppers until this summer... turns out they are very good... Much more flavorful than a standard green pepper and not quite as sweet as a red pepper.

The first step was to thoroughly wash the peppers. Our's happened to be covered in dirt from a recent rainfall so it took some soaking and scrubbing to ensure the area around the stem was clean.

Then came putting them on a hot grill to char the skin which adds delicious flavor and enables you to peel the peppers. For ideal peeling you want the skins to be mostly black, but not overly charred.... I did two rounds; The first could have been left on a little longer and the second a little shorter. So, next year should be just right!

Once they're ready, you take them off the grill and put them in paper bag, or covered casserole for at least 20 minutes; This makes the peeling fairly simple. The recipe I followed gave great instructions, however, I did not perfect the washcloth technique and just resorted to using my fingers and a knife for peeling. It was a beautiful Fall evening complete with New Belgium Hoptoberfest which made the grilling, peeling, and canning particularly enjoyable. After a couple of hours of peeling, it was time to cut the peppers into large bite size pieces, pack the jars with the peppers, a couple cloves of garlic and some fresh basil. Then came pouring a hot mixture of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and red chili pepper flakes in each jar to fill it 1/2 inch from the top (you can get the specific measurement in the recipe I provided in the link above). The jars were processed in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes since we live above 6000 feet. I'm thankful to report that all the jars sealed successfully!

And here is the finish product!

One of the most amazing parts of this process was that I started with about 20 pounds, or about 40 peppers, which resulted in just 7, pint jars of the final product.

I also pickled 25 pounds of beets on Sunday, but will save that fusha goodness for another day.

My Favorite Part of Summer... In a Jar

Nothing says summer to me like fresh tomatoes... Tomatoes that you grow yourself or get from your local CSA are in a totally different league than those you buy from your local grocery store, regardless of where they're grown. I would eat "homegrown" tomatoes for lunch and dinner every day if I could... Well, last Wednesday I met my match. We got about 30 pounds from our CSA and that was a little more than this girl could take on before they went bad! So, I wound up canning them... therefore we now have our "summer in a jar". Now, during the cold months of winter I can pull out one of these beauties and make delicious pasta sauce or a pot of chile...ummm. Just makes me want to put on a warm sweater and make some corn bread thinking about it.

This past Spring, we decided to go in on an "El Grande" Share at our CSA with our friends, thinking "El Grande" just ment a "big share" that we could all split. Come to find out it means we get a huge amount of 7 different items (corn, basil, tomatoes, onions, etc) at various points through out the summer. Earlier in the summer we got corn (about 20 ears worth each) which I ended up freezing. Then we got a GIGANTIC amount of basil which resulted in a pesto make party that produced enough pesto to last three families at least until next summer. We still have another box of tomatoes coming, as well as Italian Sweet Peppers, potatoes, and onions; most of which we plan on preserving in some form or fashion.

I must say, I think I've been bit by the canning bug, there is something very gratifying about it and it seems to be one of several hobbies I'm picking up in an effort to productively pass the time until Little Bee comes home...

Home Improvements

It's amazing how an impending visit from a social worker to see if your home is "fit for a child" can motivate you to complete things on the home "to-do list". I haven't blogged in awhile because we've been busy having new dry wall put in, painting, cleaning and buying new carpet. All things that have been our "list" since we closed on our house in November and by next Friday will all be complete.

In a couple of weeks, we'll be having our third and final home study visit which will take place in our home. I love our little house and know it will make the perfect home for our child, however, there is something very nerve-wrecking about having an almost stranger come in and check it out. Our social worker has assured Dave and me that it's "not a big deal"; they just want to make sure we have space for a child and it is safe, you know, no guns above the fire place or sewage in the backyard, etc., but it still makes my blood pressure rise when I think about it. I'm sure things will go just fine...

One of the rooms we've been working on is what will be the baby's room. We had some dry wall redone in the room which led to the perfect excuse to paint. We decided a while ago that we were going to do a "Children of the Globe" theme, if you will, in the nursery. I have to give my mom credit for this one as it was her idea. Dave and I LOVED it and have decided to roll with it. Several years ago on some travels in Central America my mom bought me a Mola that was obviously made for a baby. Molas are fabric artwork, created by the Kuna, who are the indigenous people of Panama and Columbia. Molas can also serve as traditional costumes for the Kuna.

Here is a picture of the Mola that has served as the inspiration.



We've also started collecting other traditional baby clothing from around the globe, pictures of children from different countries and other cultural trinkets that will all be used to decorate the nursery. We think it is unique and will be a great way to celebrate the diversity that exists throughout our wonderful planet! Stay tuned as we post more pictures in the future.

On other fronts, we continue to make progress on our paper work. The big thing is waiting for our finger prints which should be about another 2-4 weeks. Our goal is to have all of our other "ducks-in-a-row" before they arrive so we can submit our dossier and home study documentation which means we'll officially on the waiting list! So hopefully, in a few weeks we'll officially be "waiting"...