For The Love of Wine

I have this activity that I like to do at least once a week called Drink Wine. I may not even finish a glass, but I sure do love it. Like tea, I find a nice glass of wine rather comforting. I love how it looks, all pretty and shiny in a glass. I get all wine enthusiast and lift the glass up to my nose to sniff for notes and tanines. I like a fruity wine, nothing too dry, or expensive--I'm the only drinker in the house. My favorite bottle is less than $10 and it's pure heaven: a nice fruity, Australian shiraz by Mad Bay. I also love Layer Cake's shiraz. too.
I'm a red drinker during the winter, and switch to white during the Spring and Summer. I love sharing a glass with a friend at a cozy bar. Nothing beats a glass during a fantastic meal out with my husband, or on a warm summer night on the deck while reading a book, or by the ocean, or at Book Club, or after yoga, or in a closet : ) I channel Julia Child's and pour wine into risottos, chicken dishes, or marinaras that call for a sturdy red. Wine is like a nice, warm internal blanket that unravels the stress and demands for you to be in the moment. I'll do anything to stay warm and present these days, so tomorrow I'm off to the The Wine House for Wine Fridays. Cheers!

Photo Challenge--A Wintery Photo Blog

Photography is a big, huge part of me, and I take all the photos in my blog. I love how photography, art, and design bring visual magic to many of the blogs I read here.
Beautiful sunflakes fell this morning, which inspired me to go outside with my 4 year old, camera in tow. Typically, I have an aversion to shooting wintery scenes because it's challenging to get the correct white balance to obtain authentic tones. But I let it go and just had fun photographing my son jumping on the ice-crusted snow. I couldn't resist shooting my dog, and a tree in the yard, too. 
                         My son jumping. I love the shadow.

                                    Cracking the icy surface

                                           Winter's Tree

                                            Snowy pup

                                     Black and White Ronan

Chocolate Chip Cookies, BeWellMama Style

Due to the ever present snow storm pattern we're experiencing here in New England, both kids are home and I'm having mad cravings for chocolate, so the kids and I are baking Chocolate Chip Cookies. Wahoo! This is not your typical CC cookie; nooo, we're experimenting by adding a little barley flour to the recipe. Risky, indeed!
"Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies"
1/2 Cup flour
1/2 Cup barley flour
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Tsp salt, I use a tad less
1 stick of butter, softened 
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 Cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375.Combine flours, baking soda and salt in small bowl. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugars 'til fluffy. Add egg and beat until creamy. Carefully add dry mixture to butter mixture and combine until a nice, ball of dough forms. Then stir in chocolate chips. Plop dough by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and space about and inch apart. Bake until you see a few golden spots on top of cookies, about 9 minutes. Cool on rack and enjoy.

Taste Test: Both my kids liked the cool, gray color of the cookies. If you can handle the weird, dog biscuit-like smell, then you're good to go. My daughter picked at her cookie, but my son devoured his. I ate about 3 and enjoyed them. Would I make them again? Maybe, but I'll use less barley flour.

Beans Glorious Beans

I have a pot full of navy beans simmering away. I added some olive oil, crushed garlic, and peppercorns to the mix and they'll be done within the hour. Once they are tender, I will add a little sea salt, then make White Bean And Pasta Soup incorporating some of the bean liquid, and homemade chicken stock, too. I'm thinking this is the perfect dish for a cold Winter's night. Don't you? 
We love beans around here. My daughter has taken quite the liking to them, and is more than excited to enjoy soup with an amazing Italian bread purchased from a local Italian specialties market. I will make good use of the remaining beans by making a salad with them using tuna, red onions, and for a little punch, a few capers. Happy eating. 

Up and Running

This past Monday, things just weren't working right around here. Not only was my lifeline (computer) at the Apple store getting repaired, my husband's car ceased to work, and the dishwasher decided against blasting out water to clean the dishes. What's a girl to do? Well, I dug out my giant lobster pot, added hot soapy water to it and cleaned the dishes 1960's style. We drove my husband to work and the whole ride there, I was thinking of calling a plumber.  Last night when I returned home from a glutes busting yoga class, I saw the Subaru running, exhausts and all, and figured my husband called AAA. Nope. He turned the ignition, and boom, it was running! Could this be a trend, I thought? I walked into the kitchen and put the dishwasher in rinse mode. Lo and behold, water was swishing out the the sprayers. Yippee! I filled the dishwasher with cereal pasted bowls, relieved that I won't be scrubbing them by hand and retired the lobster pot to the pantry. 

It's amazing how we take the every day things for granted, like cars, and machine-cleaned dishes. Today, I give praise to Mother Nature for thawing things out around here just enough to make life a little easier.

Window Crayons

The aftermath of our home's art exhibit: "Window Art by Goose and Goose's Friend," has been messy. The exhibit has been up for about a month, and has taken that long to remove. Window 1 took a herculean effort to clean, involving myself, a spatula and Clear Power. It's still a streaky mess. Window 2, which is a lively abstract, is half-way clean. This time, I was creative and used Goo Gone, plus the methods listed above. Bits of window crayons have made their way onto the floor, too, decorating the wood with streaks of color. Joy! 
When Goose and her friend began coloring our windows, I held my breath, bit my tongue and decided against being a buzz kill party pooper.  "Their having fun!" I said in my head. My husband loves the privacy factor of the art, which has transformed the windows opaque, rather than see-through. I prefer a clear view.
Don't get me wrong, I encourage all creative endeavors, just the less messy, difficult to clean ones, unless I can bring a power washer into my house without flooding us out. Until this happens, which never will, I'll keep crayons, markers, pencils, paints, and paper well stocked and within reach for the youngest artists in the house. 

Window Art

Food, Glorious Food

Today's all about food. Because of the snow, I see no reason to gallivant around, so I'll be snowed-in with my youngest, and we're both hungry! I plan to make chili mac, which my son loves, and later, some sort of chicken dish. I have homemade chicken stock, chicken breast, and other provisions, so possibly a soup? We'll see. I'll post pics later. Happy Tuesday!


Recipe for Chili Mac (my kids love this winter comfort food recipe!):
1 pound ground bison, turkey or beef 
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with juice (only use half can, about 7 oz)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can Kidney beans, rinsed
1/2 cup elbow mac, or Ditalini
2 heaping tsps of chili powder
1/2 to 1 tsp of sea salt
1/4 cup of H2O
Shredded cheddar/monterey jack blend


Cook meat and onion together in Dutch Oven until meat is cooked through. Drain fat, if any. Add diced tomatoes, sauce, H2O, chili powder, sea salt, beans and pasta. Gently stir to avoid demolishing the beans. Bring mixture to simmer, then cover--simmer until pasta is tender. Uncover. Sprinkle about 1/2 Cup of cheese blend, cover until cheese is melted. Serve.

Yoga Pants

I just recently started yoga again. Bending this way and that, twisting here and there, has been extremely therapeutic both physically and emotionally. Last Sunday's class was Athletic Yoga. After the the challenging Kurmasana pose, it was finally time for the Savasana, or Corpse pose. As I was lying there focusing on my breath with eyes closed, my instructor, Francesca came over and placed her lovely hands on my hairy ankles to correct my pose. The poor woman. What was I thinking! I felt really dumb, but then I rationalized the situation by creating scenarios in my head like: "oh, she'll just think I'm earthy." But then I started getting paranoid and was imagining her telling Kelly, the studio owner, that she touched my hairy ankles. That's it, I'll be the laughing stock of the studio! Crazy, right? Finally, I composed my inner world, stopped the madness, and ordered some yoga tights to cover my legs. Obviously, capris are inappropriate for winter.
It's not that I don't shave during the winter, in fact, at the moment my gams are as smooth as a baby's butt--I just don't shave as often. Now I'm going to take a few yoga breaths and forgive myself for this indiscretion. Namaste.

A preview of things to come

Snow Big Deal

It's snowing outside. I'm sipping hot English Breakfast sweetened with agave and it is still quiet around here: my husband is out for a run, and the kids are still asleep. Last night, we got the call from our superintendent: no school today! Needless to say, my second grader is thrilled. There will be lots of winter gear to wiggle on the kiddos which will begin immediately after breakfast. My husband will be working from home, that's if he's still alive after dodging plows during his run, and as for me, I'll be cooking for most of the day. Still haven't figured out what to make yet. I have navy beans soaking so maybe some kind of soup. I have chicken thawing, too, so possibly a piccata for dinner, though I ran out of capers and parsley. I will most likely make scones with the kids today incorporating barley flour into the recipe. There, of course, will be the cliche snowy winter's day hot cocoa, but I'll get fancy and use chocolate from VT. I'm just gonna get all June Cleaver on y'all. Heck, I may even mop a floor or two. Happy snowy Wednesday! 

Nice Little Bugs

Probiotics are my friend. I've been sans probiotics for 2 weeks and my belly is protesting. These nice little bugs help digest all the food I enjoy preparing and prevent loud sounds coming from my body. They make the rumbles go away and prevent illness from camping out in my intestines. Like any good friend, they're there at my moment of need. My kids enjoy them, too. When they drink kefir, they have no idea that there are friendly little "bugs" in their delicious fruit smoothies, so they blissfully drink away with no complaints. When my furry little dog digests something less than favorable, I open a capsule and spill the contents onto his food to make his poop solid again.
I finally remembered to buy myself a bottle at WF today. It'll take a week or 2 for my intestines to recolonize this good bacteria. I just know my intestines will welcome these helpful little "critters" with open arms, and my belly will finally be at peace.
P.S. I'm well aware that probiotics aren't bugs. But hey, if you take a peak at them under a microscope, they move like bugs!

Tea Luxe

I worship the ground tea leaves walk on, or the hot water they steep in. What have you. I'll drink it with milk and honey; I like it strong, flavorful, and will either chug it down in a mug, or sip it in a dainty, bone china cup. Whichever suits my mood. I like ceylons, whites, greens, Earl Grays. Just pour me a cup, and I'll try it. Tea is the first thing to hit my lips in the morning, and I prefer loose leaf tossed in a pot rather than bagged. Tea is life, sanity, pleasure. Tea is never pain and rarely lets me down unless I run out of it. I'm more or less obsessed with it and will daydream about the next flavors to try. I'll meticulously plan the time, and date to buy my next package, or call UptonTea to place an order. Tea symbolizes all that is good, simple, and achievable in life. You can buy it anywhere, have it your way, any time of the day, and is good for you, too! All this writing about it has brought on a mad craving for decaf English Breakfast, so off I go to make a pot.

Hey : )

This is my first post, so I'll make it brief, then I'll get to the good stuff later. 
I'm a true blue New Englander that loves all NE has to offer--4 seasons, the ocean, the mountains, the lakes, and the food! I love sharing all of this with my family: my amazing husband, 2 sweet children, and our fluffy cockapoo, Ronan. As far as taking care of myself and my family goes, I gravitate toward holistic practices like using herbs, homeopathy, yoga, and seeing a chiropractor. I truly believe in the whole body approach to healing the mind, body and spirit!  I'm also a Boston Globe published photographer, so I'll be incorporating the occasional images into my blog postings. Have a happy, and enjoy my ramblings : )