An Ode to My Messy House

Rather than diligently using my spring "break" (ha, ha, ha-- to all mothers with kids home from school) for spring cleaning, I thought I might more profitably use my time to complete a poem that's been unfinished for a while (like so many other things in my life.)

An Ode to My Messy House

Oh here’s to the virtues of cooking and cleaning!

To rooms that are tidy and kids that aren’t screaming,

To organized living with style and grace,

a place for each thing and each thing in its place.

Just because these high standards feel out of my reach

doesn’t mean I don’t value the merits of each.

But while cleanliness, neatness and order are nice,

for now other virtues will have to suffice:

Oh here’s to the calmness of quietly sitting!

To resting, enjoying and conscious omitting.

To lingering, laughing, adventures and fun:

All the things that can’t wait till the housework is done.

So while organized living is still “on my list”

I don’t need a spotless house just to exist.

There are virtues enough simply living with zest.

Sometimes a disorganized house can be best.

by Karen, 3/24/2011

Chocolate Parisian Macarons

A few weeks ago I was having a hankering for Parisian macarons-- no, not the American coconut cookies. Parisian macarons are similar to meringue cookies except they also have ground nuts in them. To complete the equation, you sandwich two of them together with frosting or ganache. 

I searched around for a reasonable recipe and landed upon this one. (I also decided to make some Macadamia Nut Bars while I was at it.) You may be tempted to skip the final step of letting them stand for at least one day, but don't. Trust me, it's worth the wait.

Macarons in the making

Chocolate Macadamia Nut Dream Bars

Parisian Chocolate Macarons

Chocolate Macarons
Makes about fifteen cookies
Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz
Macaron Batter
1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)
3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar
Chocolate Filling
½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
4 ounces (120 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (15 gr) butter, cut into small pieces
Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.

Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.
 
To make the chocolate filling:
Heat the cream in a small saucepan with the corn syrup. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter. Let cool completely before using.

Assembly
Spread a bit of batter on the inside of the macarons then sandwich them together. (You can pipe the filling it, but I prefer to spread it by hand; it’s more fun, I think.)
I also tend to overfill them so you may or may not use all the filling.
Let them stand at least one day before serving, to meld the flavors.
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or freeze. If you freeze them, defrost them in the unopened container, to avoid condensation which will make the macarons soggy.

Just Another Way I Like To Make My Life Harder

I have a tradition every year of making a photo calendar for my mother and mother-in-law for Christmas. Not just any photo calendar, mind you. The photo for each month is a carefully-selected, painstakingly-cropped-and-crafted collage of pictures from that month the year before. (Now would not be an appropriate time to tell me that I could do basically the same thing in Picasa in a fraction of the time.) Of course, this project always falls right during the holidays when I have oh-so-much free time. But this is the 7th (or has it been more?) year that I have done it and it is one of the few traditions that I always keep (along with my tradition of promising myself that next year I will start the dang thing earlier than Dec. 15th).

Yes, I finished this Christmas present on January 3rd (and that doesn't take the time to have it processed and shipped...), but, hey- I actually finished it. Since I spent hours and hours putting it together, I am going to also make it into a blog post (double whammy!).

Our Family Calendar 2011

2010: The Year in Review

January 2010

February 2010

March 2010

April 2010

May 2010

June 2010

July 2010

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

What's Been Keeping Me Away

I just realized it has been almost a month since I have posted on my blog. I guess I've been busy. I wonder what could be keeping me from my blog? Hmmm... besides my typical daily laundry avoidance rituals.... Oh yeah, I'm directing a concert that is one week from Saturday. Cantico, the choir that I direct, has its spring concert on the 22nd and I'm basically the lucky person in charge. :) 

It is a huge project, trying to keep track of all of the concert details, be prepared to conduct the music and still keep my head on straight, but I love it-- it is so much fun! The concert is going to be FANTASTIC by the way. We are singing everything from an a cappella Renaissance motet to The Beatles. And we have a couple of fun surprises up our sleeves.... :) If you are in the area, be sure to get tickets at www.canticosingers.org . That way we can still be friends. =] J.K.

But seriously, it really makes such a difference to have friends come and see you perform. It will be a great concert and you will thoroughly enjoy it. Oh, and you can use the coupon code KPORTER to get a 20% discount on tickets. So come and be entertained-- or just come to give me a figurative pat-on-the-back/high-five/show your support. :) Either way works.

Roller Coasters

When I was growing up in California, we had a summer tradition of going to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. We would usually go for "1907 nights"-- on Monday or Tuesday after 5 pm you could get on any ride for one ticket. My favorite ride was "The Giant Dipper"- a red and white, old-fashioned wooden roller coaster. Incidentally, I gave mom the scare of her life when I went on that ride the first time. I barely squeaked past the height requirement. When we went down the first hill I slid down into the car so my head was on the seat where my bum should have been. For a moment my mom thought I had been thrown out of the roller-coaster car. I spent the rest of the ride trying to get my bum back up on the seat where it belonged while my mom laughed at me.

I'd like to think of the Giant Dipper as a metaphor for my emotions right now: there are lots of great highs and stomach-dropping dips, all packed in quick succession (thank you, post-baby hormones). Actually that first ride on the Giant Dipper is an even more apt metaphor: I feel like I get started on this great ride and then I find myself down on the floor making futile efforts to get back up where I'm supposed to be. Christmas break was one of the highs. We enjoyed happy times with family and friends, Dave had time off of work and the kids had a magical Christmas. On Sunday I was basking in the post-holiday glow, thinking about how blessed I am in so many ways and how much I have for which I am grateful. I truly love being the mother to four beautiful children and my life is filled with things that bring me joy and happiness. But, in typical human fashion, by Sunday night I was dejectedly bemoaning my poochy post-holiday figure and trying to find motivation to approach my plethora of possible resolutions for the year. A friend at church (who reads this blog) asked how last year's resolution- making my bed every day- went. I'm not proud to record that it lasted only about 2 1/2 months. And that was for a lame, easy resolution like making my bed! That doesn't bode well for trying to resolve on something weightier....

Last night as I pondered all of the things I am wanting to change or improve about myself, I wondered if maybe it would be more efficient to just trade me in for a different person/different model. (There must be some kind of warranty...) What are the chances of me actually losing weight, getting my house organized, keeping my house clean, reading my scriptures, doing my hair and make-up before noon each day, praying/meditating daily, waking up early, exercising, cooking healthy food, folding my laundry, baking homemade bread, eating less meat, keeping things picked up, reading all of my book club books, planting a garden, being more frugal, finding more ways to serve others, spending more time with the kids and making my bed every day? (Please don't laugh if you already do all of those things- just let me know your secret! ;) So maybe it's time to take a different tack. While I do have a bazillion things that I need to improve or fix, I would like to take a moment to ponder what I did do this past year.

• Successfully negotiated pregnancy for the fourth time
• Had a baby
• Cared for four children
• Supported my husband in his stressful job with a minimal amount of complaining or whining
• Was co-conductor for two choir concerts
• Helped plan and produce said choir concerts
• Cooked a few hundred meals
• Did dishes several hundred times
• Did a couple hundred loads of laundry
• Changed roughly 2500 diapers
• Re-planted our entire front yard including transplanting 3 full-grown bushes and digging holes/planting an additional 50+ plants (not including small annuals) while pregnant
• Directed a volunteer church choir in monthly performances, an Easter program and a Christmas program
• Wrote 145 blog posts ;)
• Taught some piano lessons and a voice class
• Taught Jared and Camryn piano lessons
• Read several books, including David Copperfield, Hunger Games, John Adams, The Book Thief, Leadership and Self-Deception, etc.
  
• Nursed a baby for who knows how many hours...
  

Okay, enough of patting myself on the back. My point is that it is easy to focus on our weaknesses and forget all of the good things that we do. Maybe that will be my resolution for this year: to focus on finding the positive... and losing weight and cleaning my house and......

Our New and Fabulous Front Yard

Here are some pictures of our new front yard after I finished my huge planting project. In the process of planting a tree in the corner, Dave and I broke a sprinkler pipe (which took a while for Dave to get repaired), so in this picture the lawn is getting really scruffy from not getting watered for a while- on top of the general abuse it took from all of the digging and renovation going on. I also still need to do the edging around the grass, but you can at least get the general idea.

But enough excuses- I'm still really proud of myself for completing the project- while I was pregnant, no less, and before I left on my trip. [Pat self on back.] =)

Before:



















After:

Postscript to "Workin' It"

Believe it or not, I did finish planting the front yard before we left for California. I started to tally up how many plants I dug holes for and planted (or transplanted) and I think it was close to 50. Quite shocking, especially because our front yard isn't even that big. And at least 6 or 7 of them were some pretty size-able ones. Did I mention I broke a shovel? =] OK, fine. I'll stop patting myself on the back for my pregnant feats of muscle power and move on with this post.

I did eventually get ready for our trip, including house-cleaning, vacuuming out our minivan (a.k.a unearthing a french-fry burial site) and getting the oil changed on the car. And... I would like you to take a moment of silence to acknowledge that I had- I kid you not- all the bathrooms in my house clean AT THE SAME TIME. [moment of awed silence]

Now I will try to ignore the fact that despite my hard-working days of trip preparation we STILL left at 10:00 am instead of 6:00 am, had dirty dishes in the sink, and by the time we left I was fighting off tears of frustration at how impossible it is to pack up, clean up and mobilize a house of five people. You can't win them all.