We woke up on Monday to snow. It was only a light dusting when we awoke, but the snow came down steadily for another hour or so, leaving us with about two inches of snow. The children had a snowball fight, and I had a lovely walk around the garden, holding my camera as insurance against being a target.

 By ten 'o' clock, patches of blue were visible in the sky, and I knew the snow would be gone shortly. It was nice while it lasted, but I was actually glad to see the sun come out. I am ready for spring!

By mid-afternoon, the sun was shining brightly. We also had rain and hail, giving us a complete range of weather experience. In kitchen-without-stove-or-oven news, my son unearthed a plug in burner in one of the sheds, so I can use a (small) sauce pan. On Tuesday I made pan seared shrimp and fried rice for dinner, and last night we had pasta with salmon and a lemon/parmesan/vermouth sauce. For lunch yesterday, I roasted sweet potatoes with a soy glaze in my roasting oven. I made a 9x13 pan full of them, and I polished off almost half the pan-they were that good! One thing I have realized about this new kitchen routine is that I am no longer moving easily in my kitchen. I am used to having things a certain way, to having a smooth, fluid dance between counter, stove, and refrigerator. Now I am mis-stepping, bumbling, unsure of where to go next. Am I putting this in the roaster oven on this counter, or the electric skillet on that counter? Cooking the shrimp first or frying the rice first? In short, I have lost my kitchen groove! By the time we get a new stove, I will be so accustomed to this crazy juggling of small appliances to produce the good food I love, that I will have to learn a whole new set of steps. Maybe. Either way, I don't think I will mind!

Sunday fun!

Estelle pushing Stuart across footbridge over the Willamette River

In the bubble room at the Children's Museum

I know this is a terrible picture (blurry, out of focus, etc.) but I like how her hair appears to be on fire!

View from the park-love the old buildings!

More neat old buildings, as seen from the park.

One of the challenges of a large family with a wide range of ages is finding family activities that everyone enjoys. My older children still enjoy playing at the park and taking walks, but the children's museum is out of the question. Yesterday, we went to the seven a.m. Latin Mass, where my husband led the schola and the older boys served. This left us with the rest of the day free. The farmer took the three older children to the beach (his mom had rented a house for the extended family and the younger children and I had spent the day there on Saturday), leaving the three youngers and I with lots of time for a fun outing. We began by taking Stuart to Learning Palace to play with the train set there, while I shopped for some new school supplies. Next on our list was a walk across the Willamette River, one of our favorite activities. Although I must confess to an irrational fear of the bridge breaking when I am halfway across. Our next stop was the children's museum, where we spent two hours playing and running around on their awesome outdoor play structure. Stuart loved the model train there, and kept trying to sneak back to that room. We left the museum to go to our favorite hangout, Napoleon's gelateria- also home to the best latte's in Salem. The gelato is delicious, but kind of expensive, especially for the whole family. Taking only three children was a fun treat. Our next stop was the Book Bin, where we each bought a book. Nancy Drew for Evangeline, a truck book for Stuart, a Tin Tin sticker book for Estelle, and a cooking book for me. Then it was off to Bush Park, to play at the playground where I always played when I was little. The girls quickly made a new friend, and Stuart spent the entire 45 minutes on the swing set. I sat on a bench and read the news on my phone. We then drove to Trader Joes, picked up some picnic food, and headed to the nearby (and totally charming) small town of Independence to check out their city park and have a picnic. The real reason for this trek was to get Stuart to fall asleep in the car (he did!) as he was showing signs (crying, whining, kicking...) of being overly tired. The park was beautiful, and by this point in the day the sun was shining, the sky was a clear blue, and it was actually warm enough to make being outside pleasant. It was so pleasant to have a day with nothing else to do other than enjoy being with my children. No pressure, no time restraints, just a day to do as our fancy dictated! I start the week feeling truly relaxed, and ready to tackle another week!

Kitchen updates

Salmon roasted in the counter top roasting oven

Black bean quinoa patties from the griddle

So! I am now two weeks in to this adventure of making three meals a day for eight people with no stove or oven. I have been forced to become better organized and more creative in my cooking, and so far, I don't think we have suffered for it. Yesterday afternoon, I decided to try my hand at baking a cake in my counter top roasting oven. I made a cinnamon apple spice cake, full of cinnamon and hazelnuts. Other than needing extra time to bake (I think my little roaster runs a bit cool), it turned out really well. For dinner, I used my electric skillet to make fried potatoes with browned butter, rosemary, and garlic. I also made veggie and salmon burgers on the griddle, and microwaved a bowl of frozen vegetables. On Tuesday, I made a potato and garbanzo bean curry in the slow cooker, and served it with rice. The curry was delicious, but the farmer and eldest son asked for a little more flavor next time. I think I will add some ginger and a handful of fresh cilantro before serving. Tonight I am planning on searing shrimp in my electric skillet, tossing it with butter, garlic, parsley, and lemon juice. If I have enough time, I will make two loaves of baguette bread in my counter top oven, and serve the shrimp with bread, salad, and rice pilaf. I think another cake is in order, as the one I made yesterday is long gone. The only problem with baking in the counter top oven is that I can not use any of my larger baking dishes, so the quantities are not quite enough for my large family! I forgot to mention the other tricky part of my new kitchen routine, and that is that during Lent, our family forgoes meat. So, I am cooking vegetarian with no stove or oven for the next four weeks! I checked out a handful of gorgeous vegetarian cook books from the library last night, as I badly need some inspiration. I think the no stove/vegetarian thing would be a lot easier in the summer time, when I can grill outside and load up on fresh veggies from the garden. I find myself craving hot soup, which is really hard to make with no stove! I woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground, and under that a sheet of ice. The sun is shining brightly, beckoning me outside for a walk in the end of winter frostiness. The children are all still asleep (with the exception of Stuart), relishing an unexpected snow day. I should be doing laundry, starting the bread, and taking care of paper work, but I am also enjoying the slow paced morning, lingering over a second cup of coffee.

Stuart

 I had a lengthy post typed up about this little boy's milestones and latest accomplishments. But somehow, it seemed all wrong. Like what I really wanted to say, underneath all those words about using scissors and weight gain, was that I love this son of mine to pieces. He is such an appealing little person, and I am smitten with him.

That is all I really wanted to say!

This and That

 One of my dilemmas now that I am without oven and stove is the making of granola, which is pretty well the staff of life around here. The farmer and my eldest eat it with yogurt for breakfast every morning, and I snack on it throughout the day. I really don't like buying it, as it is usually expensive and full of sugar. Then I remembered this recipe for "raw" granola which I found at The Nourishing Gourmet. It is just soaked almonds and walnuts, coconut, maple syrup, applesauce, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. The beauty of it is that it "cooks" in a dehydrator. I now have a nice full jar of really yummy granola, with no stove and no oven.

Last night we gave a dinner party. It was so fun to break out the good china and silverware, plan a menu, and make champagne cocktails. I roasted a salmon in my counter top roasting oven, made rice pilaf in my rice cooker, and borrowed my mother-in-law's oven to roast asparagus (with olive oil, lemon zest, flaked sea salt, coarse pepper, and pine nuts). One guest brought a delicious salad, and the farmer made chocolate tarts topped with candied hazelnuts. The salmon roasting was tricky, as the pan just barely fit in to the roaster, and trying to put the loaded pan in to the roaster with out burning myself on the hot interior was quite a job! However, the salmon was roasted without mishap, and it was delicious. 

After dinner, we had lots of coffee and desserts and good conversation, lasting until past midnight. Stuart slept on the couch amidst all of the lively talk, and then, having had a full night sleep, awoke at his usual hour of 6, a mere four hours after I got to bed. Needless to say, I am terribly groggy this morning, and plying myself with endless cups of coffee in an effort to ensure I will stay awake during Mass! The truth is, being with out a stove and oven has been tricky. Successfully making a nice dinner for 15 last night gave me the much needed reminder that I can make this work, difficult as it may be!

Finally, a blog post!

A little splash of color to help dispel the February doldrums!

The last few  weeks have been crazy. Blogging has taken a back seat to finding an assisted living home for my mother, an overnight trip to see my sister, moving my mother, and having my stove and oven completely give up the ghost. Moving my mother was difficult emotionally, as it was an admission that her dementia has indeed worsened. The move itself went so smoothly, thanks to my sisters, children, husband, and a dear friend and her children jumping in and making it all happen in one day. Mom has had a few rough times since moving, such as going to the desk three times in one day and screaming "I have been in a concentration camp and you can not keep me here! I am going home, and you can not stop me!", but I am now only five minutes away from her and so was able to go and calm her down. Since then, she has settled in a bit more, and seems to enjoy daily visits from my sisters and I.

My stove is a whole different story! We had a repair man come and look at it, and he took a good look at it and told us to turn off the circuit to the stove . The stove itself is full of electrical problems, and not worth fixing. At one point, he turned a knob for a burner that had not worked for over a year, and the stove's timer buzzed. Not good. So, the long and short of it is that I will have no stove or oven until late June. We can not afford to replace it right now, and do not want to borrow any more money. The stove is built right in to the counter, and has a down draft to ventilate it, so we need to replace it with a similar model. The ones we priced (and they are gorgeous stoves!) are right around two thousand dollars. I had a moment of panic, as I not only love to cook, but my family (especially those teenaged boys!) loves to eat. Then, when I calmly took stock of the situation, I remembered that I had a whole arsenal of small appliances at my disposal. One large counter top roasting oven, a crock pot, electric skillet, one griddle,  and a very nice rice cooker, to be exact. I have since discovered that I can bake bread in the roasting oven, my rice cooker will also cook polenta and risotto, and my electric skillet can be used to cook up the quinoa patties we are all so fond of. Also? I have a cute little electric hot pot, so I can still boil water to make my morning elixir of life! I am planning a series of blog posts about cooking without a stove, and am already enjoying having to be more creative in the kitchen. That said, I was telling a friend on Sunday that right now, I am feeling excited about this kitchen challenge, but I know the excitement will start to wear off towards the end of April.

So! There is the official update, and this will hopefully mark my return to more regular blogging. I have missed banging out my thoughts for the world to see, and have composed many posts in my head over the last few busy weeks. It feels good to be back at this journal of my days.

{phfr} in February

 Pretty- Evangeline enjoying hot cocoa on a wintry afternoon.

 Happy- Our "outside barn kitty" sleeping on Ella's lap by the warm fire. I could hear him purring from the other room.

 Funny- Sometimes Ella likes to play with her hair. The results are often quite funny indeed.

Real- Stuart at the table with his matching game. I bought him a Richard |Scary matching game so I could play it with him while the older children work on their school work. Reality is, he likes three tiles (the fire engine, the train, and Sargent Murphy's motorcycle) and those are the only tiles he will play with. Makes for a pretty quick game!

Joining Like Mother, Like Daughter for another week of {phfr}, making note of the everyday things that bring us joy! This joy and contentment always come to me so much more easily in the winter time, when the days are slow paced and evenings are spent reading, knitting, or playing games around the fire. Summer rushes past in such a flurry of urgent activity that it is harder to catch that feeling of contentment and peace!