So far my Waldorf in the Woods weekly playgroup has been everything I’d hoped for. We are having a great time! What’s more, the moms and kids are growing closer and more comfortable with eachother – I feel really good about this community we’re building for our children.
Sierra and I have decided to start a new club, and we’re calling ourselves Mama Scouts of America.
We just got back from an impromptu camping trip in the nearby Casper’s Wilderness Park and we had A BLAST! We also impressed the heck out of ourselves: getting the tent set up in record time, grilling steak and portobello mushroom caps for dinner – Sierra even got up before me and got a fire going and brought me hot coffee in the morning.
We stayed at Live Oak Campground, Site #3 at the recommendation of the ranger. It overlooked the dry creek bed of Bell River and since sites #2 and #1 were closed, and #4 was down the hill, we were virtually by ourselves. We saw deer in the wash in the evening, and the nearly full moon setting in the morning when we woke.
Check out the grill we had going in the evening and morning. No men around – just us two mamas and four kidlets between us! (We shared her massive tent, which is as large as my bedroom…)
Another mom and two kids joined us in the morning and we all went to hike the nature trail loop. And we found the perfect place for our Martinmas celebration that we’re going to have at the beginning of November: Sites #5 and #38!
We had so much fun that we planned two more camping trips while we were out there: Joshua Tree, October 18-19; and Casper’s again, in early November. Let me know if you want to join us, and I’ll send you more info.
My favorite part of the trip? Staying up late after the kids fell asleep, poring over and reading the introduction to Sierra’s new Waldorf Oak Meadow curriculum for her homeschooling kindergartener.
Now that I’ve finished the last of the seven Sookie Stackhouse books that my neighbor lent me, I’m having a breather while the eighth book arrives at my local library branch. I’d almost decided to start REREADING the fourth book, Dead to the World, which I had enjoyed the most so far, but then realized that there were too many things in my life I had been neglecting (not Christian – but the hubby and the teenager maybe…)
Got over to my friend Sierra’s house on Saturday and made a double batch of flax muffins (well, she’d already made the batter when I got there at 9 am – talk about hardcore!), one batch of banana bread, two shepherd pies (with the lamb meat Sierra’s family bought direct from the farm last month), and many many Korean dumplings (otherwise known as “mandoo”). Additionally, I went home with a container of bolognese (leftovers from her dinner the night prior) AND bean soup (made before I arrived!).
So my stomach is happy. We almost polished off that entire shepherd’s pie this evening. Christian especially loved it. I think the rosemary from our CSA basket really pushed it over the top. It was scrumptious. We used the recipe from Williams-Sonoma as a general guide.
As for the mandoo, I tripled or quadrupled my mother’s basic recipe.
Mandoo (Korean Dumplings)
1 package dumpling wrappers (square or round – if you can only find the eggroll wrappers, cut them into fourths)
1 1/2 pound ground beef (my mother would also add 1/2 pound pork or more)
1 bag of bean sprouts, rinsed and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg
oil (if you are going to deepfry them – you can also panfry or simply boil them in water or chicken stock)
1. Put a heavy plate or bowl on the tofu and let it sit. You want to get rid of as much of the liquid in it as possible. (Especially if you are going to deepfry a batch, you want to reduce scary hot oil splatter.)
2. Sauté the bean sprouts just until they are limp. Season with salt and pepper. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
3. Add tofu, bean sprouts, and meat to a large mixing bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Use your hands to firmly mix it all up. I keep my hand in a plastic bag.
4. Then prepare your workspace for making dumplings. You’ll need a clean flat spot to work on, either a plate or a cutting board; another cutting board or cookie tray for the finished ones, a small saucer of egg white, a soup spoon for the meat filling and, and, I think that’s it.
5. Tie your hair back and get comfortable. Once you get started, you’ll want to make as many as you can without stopping. Dumpling making is pleasant repetitive handwork and perfect for long catch-up conversations with girlfriends.
6. To make a dumpling: take one wrapper and put it down in front of you. Using your finger(s) like a paintbrush, dab egg white all along two adjacent sides of the wrapper square. Put one spoon of meat in the middle. Fold the wrapper in half –
and gently from the meat filling bump, use your fingers to seal the wrapper closed. You don’t want there to be any air pockets.
7. Repeat about a million more times.
8. Serve with a dipping sauce : one part rice vinegar to 3 parts soy sauce.
Dumplings can be individually frozen directly on the cookie sheets and then put into a large freezer ziplock baggie.
Enjoy!
Your dad wonders what you’ll look like as a teenager, so he used a little tool called yearbookyourself.com
Dear Baby,
During our last week in Thailand last month, right after you had turned 15 months old, language exploded for you. You delighted in the power to communicate and suddenly you were saying a half dozen new words every day. The exciting adventure into talking makes you extra fun to be around.
I remember a point in Bella’s babyhood – at nine months I’m pretty sure – when I decided that nine months old was my favorite stage thus far. And then as she grew older, I had to keep revising that statement: “No, THIS stage is my favorite!”
The same thing is happening with you my dear little Ti-ti. THIS stage is my favorite. You’ve been confident and happy-go-lucky, but now you’re able to relax and cuddle more too. It delights your dad to no end when you rest your head on his chest when he asks you to. And you love giving soft little kisses.
You crack me up! You and all your hand holding and kissing of friends (making out with Kyla in the kitchen – granted she may have been more interested in the smear of cream cheese frosting on your upper lip). You and all your giggles and mischievous deeds (yes, tossing things off either of our two balconies has become a favorite).
And now you trailing behind me all day plaintively saying, “Mama. Tigga,” because you want to get back in your Tigger costume AGAIN.
I love you Baby!
Mama
Devana's Earth Mother and her flower children.
Last weekend Devana gave a full day workshop to ten of the mothers from the attachment parenting meetup to show us how to make the beautiful Earth Mother pictured above.
It was really a special treat. Not only did we each produce our own unique and lovely Earth Mamas (for our Nature Tables), but we had great conversations – it would be hard to go wrong with a such a cool group of crafty, Waldorf-inspired, attachment moms – and a delicious potluck lunch to boot.
Devana runs a home-based Waldorf kindergarten and pre-school. Her website is The Garden of Enchantment.
Devana had her store set up: lovely items, many handmade, at reasonable prices. Note that the wool roving is plant-dyed by Devana.
This is what the room looked like when we arrived.
Us, having a crafting blast.
Each doll was an expression of her maker... (this one's hair is not quite finished)
Another totally beautiful, totally different doll.
More finished creations. Devana's "original" is in the back with the green apron. Mine is the bald one, but I had Christian to run after.
This is what Sue would look like with two kidlets. Random karaoke moment at Reflections restaurant (where they have the best rat naa ever).
My brother and sister’s birthdays are only two days apart and Sue has complained her whole life that we would go out and celebrate Songbae’s birthday with a restaurant of his choice, and then tell Sue that it was for her birthday too.
Well, for somebody SO NEGLECTED, she has come a long long way. And she knows how to have a good time too – so I have no doubt she’s doing things all the way she likes over there in England with friends and family.
Sue with her lovely family: husband Joss and daughter Noi naa.
But I do miss her and wish I could give her a birthday hug in person.
She’s one of those crazy luckys who’s got it all and does it all; I mean not only does she have her PhD, but when her kid’s toy cell phone breaks, she pulls out her soldering kit and fixes it!
Sue, impressing me with her soldering technique.
Even her boss appreciates that he has a good thing going with her around: He recently nominated her for a merit award based on “exceptional performance over a sustained period” and she got it. That, plus a raise – not bad, eh?
Sue, you are an exceptional sister – I hope you’re having a great 39th birthday!
Today, my brother Songbae turns forty years old and for all the complaining I’ve done about him over the years, I’d like to take a minute and gather all my warm fuzzies about him and gather it into one admiring kudos post for his birthday.
If you ever met my brother, even for five minutes, you’d know that he has a monstrous surfeit of energy and intelligence. But like how a big man might adopt a particularly gentle manner to counteract his intimidating hulk, Songbae has developed an incredibly open character tempered with a large dose of frank curiosity. So even though Songbae’s brain runs circles around most of the people he meets, rarely are people intimidated by him, so busy are they answering questions about themselves and absorbing what they have already have learned about him. I think Songbae can boast of having more friends around the world than anybody else I’ve ever met.
And that surfeit of energy? He loves to direct it towards humanitarian causes – and he often serves on the board of non-profit organizations or donates his time helping them set up business plans and the like. I think though, that almost two years in Ukraine for the Peace Corps convinced him that he would be better suited to serve the world (yes, I really believe he thinks in noble terms like this) if he had a big money background – so then he went and got an MBA at the top-rated business school in the country: University of Chicago. Now after several years of investment banking, he’s back on the loose, looking for the right job abroad; ideally an executive position with an international NGO or something similar.
He also uses that energy to get good at what ever he does. He throws himself into projects 100%; I can remember even back in college he was getting monthly awards and bonuses, for selling the most encyclopedias of any employee. When he went to work in D.C., it came as no surprise to me that within a year his boss put Songbae’s office next to his own, so indispensable was he. And at his last job for Banc of America in San Francisco, he came in as an associate, but left (was laid off) as a vice president.
Since he’s been laid off, he’s directed that energy towards self-awareness and self-improvement. Like I said, he always goes whole hog; now he’s meditating and exercising daily and doing a fruit and veggie fast once a week. Not surprisingly, this regime has really made Songbae even more charming and fun to be around, because his once-erratic spurts of energy seem more focused and measured now.
He loves adventure, travel, and physical pursuits. He loves a challenge. He loves people. He is generous to a fault. He loves to read – if you pick up a book he’s read, you’ll see all the notes he’s taken in the margins (even in a book as light-hearted as What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love and Marriage).
And he loves kids! Songbae is a great uncle, and I think he’ll be just as great of a dad some day as well. One of things he said to me that most touched me this vacation, was that as much as he loved hanging out with Bella, Christian, and Noi naa (his neices and nephew), he doesn’t want them to become a substitute for having his own children. In this little video clip below, he is playing with Christian: Christian has just learned to say one of his first words, “down,” and he’s using it to communicate with Songbae. Watch how willing Songbae is to engage with Christian – he enters Christian’s playworld so easily.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgihRboicmc]
I have an amazing brother and I appreciate him more and more as we grow older.
I wish him much love, fun, and deeply satisfying relationships in his 40th year. He sure deserves it.
My old friends John and Joe are here – and I am really enjoying their visit.
My mom and dad went to medical school with their mom and dad and so we, the kids, have known each other our entire lives, and feel more like cousins than family friends. We vacationed with the Oh’s several times a year for pretty much our entire childhood (which includes the infamous motorhome ride to see ALL the major national parks in the United States in fourteen days – all five of us kids slept together in the queen size bed over the cab and the four adults took round-the-clock shifts driving between famous landmarks).
I remember holding my knees and watching the water rise while taking baths with John.
And I remember Mrs. Oh’s belly when she was pregnant with Joe.
It’s not just that these guys are are easy to be around, but they have a similar sense of adventure, love of travel, and enjoyment of food and eating, as my family – plus they are both ultra-smart, so you can bounce any idea in the world off of them and get a great conversation going.
(And unbelievably, they are both still single! Line up ladies – what are you waiting for?!?)
Last night John mentioned casually that they were going up to check out the LA Korean taco truck that has been making the news for the last year or so. (First saw a mention in the Wall Street Journal here, and then again in the OC Register here.)
This taco truck called Kogi – which means “meat” in Korean – was apparently making huge waves by serving up Korean BBQ and flavors in tacos and burritos. Even more fun, the truck’s locations could only be found through Twitter, leading to many a merry rave-like scavenger hunt through downtown LA.
Recently, Chad and I heard they were making forays into Orange County, but then discovered that Kogi really caters to the after-party crowd, and that they wouldn’t be in Irvine until after 10 pm on a given night. That’s just too late for us these days.
But luckily not too late for John and Joe! Last night the Kogi truck was supposed to be in Long Beach, nearly an hour from here, so John and Joe drove up after we had all gone to bed. I got back up around 11:30 pm and then waited until 1:30 am for them to show up, and I was richly rewarded:
THOSE KOGI SHORT RIB BURRITOS KICK SOME SERIOUS BUTT.
And I got to hear a detailed account of the experience, which included nearly TWO HOURS of waiting in line. I guess there were almost 200 people in line! Mostly younger and Asian folk, and although the truck met in the parking lot of a club in Long Beach, the crowd was mostly people who were there just for the food. Everybody had been milling about in the parking lot, checking their tweets, and being good-natured (you know how good-natured us Koreans are) until the truck arrived. At which point the whole crowd began to shuffle, zombie-like, towards the front of the truck. The Kogi-master appeared and instructed the group to form a single-file line, which the group promptly did.
By both their accounts, it was a gratifying and worthwhile LA food experience. (They got the Bulgogi slider and a taco combo – which they loved.)
OMG – my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Luckily there are two more spicy pork burritos in the fridge waiting for me (and Chad). How much do I appreciate John and Joe? TONS!
P.S. Tomorrow night (Sept 19, 2009), they are going to be in Irvine: 17221 Von Karmen Ave., Irvine, CA.
Fanfare, 1999
Too often photographs taken to capture late night partying bliss turn out to be a harsh dose of reality the morning after. It is not as easy as it appears, to bring images of night-time revelry into the daylight, without disintegrating the easy mood in which they were taken, but somehow the French-born Korean artist Oan Kim, manages. Using an arsenal of old-fashioned photography techniques, like double exposure and over-exposed blurs, Kim creates large black and white prints of fans – enjoying the show and at the after-party. In Fanfare, 1999, a man’s head is improbably horizontal to a marble table top – nearly touching him is the mouth piece of a well-worn trumpet jutting out between somebody’s legs – and somebody else’s hand is pulling a cigarette from out of the unidentified trumpet players front jean pocket. The number of hands reaching for smokes, clasping knees, and touching strangers; all in this single cramped shot tells the story of the collapsed sense of personal space that we have all experienced late at night (PYO Gallery, Downtown).
