The French Chef: Getting The Onion Out

I have stumbled upon a great treasure. We subscribe to Amazon Prime and one of the perks is the ability to view many old movies and tv shows. I've been able to watch Downton Abbey, All Creatures Great and Small, Antiques Road Show, Star Trek: The Next Generation (did I really just sdmit that?) and Thomas the Train for Wesley. And to my great delight I've found The French Chef, Julia Child's cooking show! Ive kearned so much from her just by watching 3 episodes! So I thought I'd share some tidbits that I learn from her from time to time. Here's the first.

Julia says that after chopping onions, rubbing your hands with salt and then washing them makes the onion smell go away.

So, I tried it and it worked! It only takes a little salt, maybe half a teaspoon or less. I didn't measure; I just sprinkled some in the palm of my hand, spread it around, especially at the finger tips where the pungency seems to be the worst. Then I gave my hands a rinse. There was no lingering onion odor. Hurray!

I can't wait to see what else I learn.

Our Dear Wesley

Finally, I have a bit of time to devote to a blog entry about Wes. I am going to start posting on this site as well - the same thing on his blog.  

Wes is growing in to quite the cute little boy. He’s already 2 yrs and 3 months old! He is still very talkative and more and more we can actually understand what he’s saying! It is so, so fun to actually be able to communicate with him now. 

Enjoying a bit of Nutella, an occasional special treat. :)

He has such a cute personality. He has a playful personality and laughs a lot. He can also be quite serious and very curious. He’s always asking, “What’s that?” He loves going on walks and adores playing outside. While outside he helps Mamma water plants and pull weeds. He also loves to pull his wagon around the neighborhood and ride his big wheel on the deck. A new thing that he enjoys is playing with a tub of water and the hose - pouring water from different sized cups to others and playing with some of his bath toys. (He loves doing this inside at the kitchen sink as well, making for up to an hour of entertainment and a big mess!)I can’t wait till it warms up a bit more so he can play in his little swimming pool. He also just enjoys watching the birds at the bird feeder, listening for the different kinds of birds, digging for worms and chasing ants. Of course, if the neighbors are out he MUST say hi to them. Wes also loves trying to find the helicopters and airplanes when he hears them flying overhead. 

Pulling his wagon around the neighborhood

We keep this little riding toy inside most of the time so that he can have something to scoot around on inside. 

He is more social than ever, never meeting a stranger, especially if he initiates the greeting. He loves to be read to and enjoys picking out the books for us to read. He likes Mamma to sing to him when he goes “night-night”. He likes to sing and pray at breakfast time too and frequently reminds us when we forget. He loves listening to music, especially classical and bluegrass. Also, though we try to limit how much tv he watches, we do let him watch a little bit most days. He loves to watch Thomas the Train, his favorite and ours (because it is so simple and slow-paced), as well as Curious George, and Bob the Builder. When he wants to watch something he points to the tv and asks, “Trains?” or “Girge? or “Bob?” 

He’s been asking to sit on the potty and will read books for quite a while on the potty. Occasionally he goes on the potty. He definitely doesn’t like wearing a diaper though. 

Just recently we purchased a zoo pass. He loved watching the gorilla, elephants and polar bear. He also loves to swing and slide. We go to a “toddle time” at the community center every now and then so he gets to ride around on a bunch of different riding toys and interact with other little people. Coloring is a new interest although he still thinks it is more fun to eat and break the crayons than to actually color with them. He’s recently acquired some train track for all of his trains and he has a great time playing with those in his room. He’s also gotten really good at building things with his blocks, especially cars. 

This is something he gets to play with from time to time. It is a mix of  dried pasta, lentils and chick peas with various kitchen utensils. I loves it but it makes a big mess! We save it for rainy days.

He is doing okay with his new little brother David. He can be so sweet with him, telling me when he’s crying, giving him kisses, but then he’ll just whack him with something out of the blue just to see what happens. He is quite concerned for him as well though. He tells us that he’s hungry or sleepy and makes sure that we don’t leave him when we go somewhere. Once we were all out for a walk with his wagon. I had David in a sling but I don’t think Wes could see him. About 3/4 of the way through the walk, Wes shouted, “Beeby?! Beeby?1” as if to say, “Wait, where is the baby? Did we leave him? We must find him!” I had to show him David and then he was okay. 

Yay! I was finally able to grab a picture with the two of them together. 

We’ve enjoyed a couple of visits from Grandpa and Grandma Taylor and from Aunt Elizabeth. He even got to stay with Grandpa and Grandpa by himself for several days. He had a blast riding on a four wheeler, going to the park and Grandpa’s building and just playing with his grandparents. 

This was taken at Grandpa and Grandmas but just not with them. :(

Though he definitely has the traits of a two year old - testing all boundaries and desperately wanting independence, he is an absolute delight! We have so much fun with him!

Popcorn has become a new favorite snack. He asked for it frequently after his nap.

He loves helping Mamma cook, especially cookies.

What I'm Reading

I always like to know what books other people are reading. I enjoy asking friends and family what they are reading and I love to spy what bloggers I follow are reading. It spurs me on to read and learn more and get ideas for more reading material (as if I really needed it!). So I thought I would share with you what I am reading now. Most of these are sitting on my nightstand. It is a bit cluttered. :) I pick one up and read it a while and then read another for a while and so on. Sometimes I read two or three different ones in a day. It's so fun!

Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery. This is the 3rd book in the Anne of Green Gables series.

Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney.

The Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot

Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck

Don Quixote by Cervantes. (This is for a Facebook sort of book club thingy. Unfortunately, I'm cheating and reading a super abridged version.)

Making the Terrible Twos Terrific by John Rosemond - a frequent reference! (A must for anyone with a child between 18 and 48 months!)

So I'd love to know what you are reading.

Link to picture of girl reading

Welcome Our Sweet Man!

Well, finally I am able to take a few minutes (or hours) to write another blog entry! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. We found out we were pregnant in June! Things went really smoothly for quite a while, hardly sick at all, just tired. We even took a trip to Colorado Springs in September and did some sight-seeing and hiking. However, in October I was told to limit my activity due to an "irritable" uterus - I had 15-30 painless but really annoying contractions an hour! This continued for the entirety of the pregnancy. I was placed on bedrest for 12 weeks beginning in Nov. At 36 weeks I was able to resume more activity thinking the little guy would come super fast but not so. He was so comfy cozy that he had to be induced at 39 weeks and I labored for 18 hours, almost two of which were me trying to push the little booger out!

Just born!

So David Elliot Taylor arrived at 6:39am, Wednesday, February 8, 2012. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Now he is about 10 lbs and 23 inches and he coos and smiles. He has the happiest little smile and the sweetest, quietest coos. He has the sweetest cry, though he rarely cries except when he's hungry (but not frantically unless you wait too long) or if he's really tired. When he starts getting hungry or tired he just gives out a few quiet, sounds like happy coos that eventually progress to an all out cry if you don't respond to him after a while. And usually when you pick him up he gets quiet and waits patiently. However, again, if you wait too long he just gets mad at that point. Enough is enough!

Grandma got to come for a long visit! Hurray!

Wesley came for a visit too!

Look at those grasshopper legs! :)

It was quite a rough road the first month! We came home from the hospital on a Friday. Eric turned right around and took Wesley to the doctor that day because he had been running a high fever for a few days. He had the flu! On Saturday we had to take David to Children's Mercy Urgent Care because he was a bit too yellow for my liking. They quickly wanted him in the hospital because of his bilirubin level in combination with a rapid loss of weight. Yikes! So he laid under the lights and received fluid through an IV for about 20 hours. At the hospital it was confirmed that he had a tied tongue that needed to be clipped because he was not breastfeeding well at all. On Sunday we brought him home. On Monday, we had to take David back to the doctor for a recheck and I started feeling terrible and had a fever. Then Eric had to take my mom to the doctor because she was sick. Though she wasn't tested for it, we suspect she also had the flu. My breast pump, which was vital to increasing my milk supply because David was such a poor feeder, also broke that day as well. That was a bad day! On Tuesday, I went to the doctor and tested positive for the flu! So Eric was taking care of all of us and was thoroughly exhausted. I was in a complete flu and postpartum fog for the rest of the week. I had to take David back to the doctor again on Thursday for a recheck. Wesley and I had a terrible cough that took weeks to go away!

Under the lights

He got a little crazy with his feet!

Eric called this his batman mask.

Thankfully they had a bed for the adults and meals for MOM. :)

The next Monday was my first day without help. David had his tongue clipped that day. On Tuesday, he had another recheck. On Wednesday, Wesley had his two year doctor's appt! The next Monday I had to take David again for a recheck of his tongue. That weekend, David developed a cough that sounded similar to Wesley and I. So on Monday I took him to the doctor AGAIN. The doctor said he sounded fine and had no fever. Well, that night he was roasting hot. He had a fever of 103 and not even 4 weeks old! We called the doctor and they said go to the emergency room! They took us back very quickly and started an IV and tested him for everything in the book. Poor guy has been poked and prodded quite a few times in his young little life. He tested positive for RSV and had to stay in the hospital for two nights. The little man had 3 leads that posed quite a challenge to this mommy who already had trouble trying to breastfeed him. Needless to say, after staying up all night with the little guy, I was completely exhausted and emotionally strung out! However, the RSV never really got worse. He started eating better the next day and was allowed to go home earlier than anyone expected. Hurray!

Add caption

Look at those long legs!

In the ER waiting for a room.

Finally in a room, the same room as before, just a different bed. Poor guy. It was so sad to see him hooked up to so much.

It didn't seem to bother him too much though

Since then things have been easier. It has certainly been a huge adjustment to having another little one around. Wesley was and is still not too keen on having this little thing vying for his attention. Occasionally, he finds it necessary to vent his feelings on David by conking him on the head with wooden trains, scratching his head and poking at his eyeballs. He's also conked me on the head and screeched very loudly in my ear when trying to feed David a bottle (I had to give up the breastfeeding). I've been informed though that this is perfectly normal. I've also just been trying to figure out how to get anything done. Now that David sleeps through the night, most nights, I feel so much better! I can think so much clearer and get so much more done. I am actually enjoying this new phase of life.

David seems really laid back and just goes with the flow. I was very on-schedule with Wes, feeding him every three hours on the dot, give or take 5 minutes. But if I went much past that I started to get frantic. Well, try as I may, the schedule for David is much more lax. For one thing, he just doesn't demand to be fed. I often still have to wake him to feed him and he's fairly happy for a while without being fed. Even in the hospital he was like this. So he isn't really on a three hour schedule and whereas we fed Wes at the same times each day, it changes from day to day with David. However, he is generally in the bed at night around 9 or so.

One of the unique things about David is his gift of burping! He has some really loud, deep burps that sound like an adult male's burp. However, there are a few times that he has let out these scary burpy things that could be heard across the street! The last time he did it, it was so loud that I started to tear up because it scared me so much! He did too! Then I just started laughing. How could something so, so tiny make this enormous sound that I've never even heard an adult make! So with Wesley it was projectile spit-up. With David it is scary belches!

Hi mamma!

Well, that's all for now. I will be writing more soon about Wesley and maybe adding some recipes and a snipit about my time on bedrest. Thanks for your patience!

Princesses

I've had friends who have little girls tell me of the struggle with the princess phenomenon. I would love to have a little girl someday but I don't look forward to contending with this princess movement. It's been nice knowing that Wes is content with dirt and trucks.

Below is an article that was linked to one of my KC friend's blog. I think it really sums up the problems with promoting this princess mentality and gives an alternative attitude for our girls and for ourselves as adult women following Christ. The article quotes largely from another writer. That writer had read a book that I read with my small group several years ago. There were some things I questioned about it then and since then, more and more questions have come up. It is good to know that others felt the same way about the book. I'd love your comments!

http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2011/06/02/why-disney-princesses-are-bad/

Taylor's Table - Chicken Stock

I've been watching the movie Julie & Julia this evening while giving my first go at hand quilting. As for the quilting, I need a lot more practice. Since what I am working on is a real quilt I plan to use on my bed and not just for practice, I took out what I had tried. It just wasn't very pretty. Now, if only I could sew a straight line on my sewing machine! Even with lines drawn! All I have to do is connect the dots, so to speak, and still, I can't manage a straight line! It does look better than the hand quilting attempt though.

Anyway, while watching the movie and after this attempt at hand quilting I was inspired to finally write an entry on making homemade chicken stock. I've been meaning to do this ever since I started "Taylor's Table." Here are some things you might be wondering... Why make homemade chicken stock? Isn't it a lot of work? Is it really worth all the trouble? I once wondered these very same things. After learning the benefits of this scrumptious staple and having worked out an easy way to make it, I rarely, if ever, buy chicken stock from a store. I'm a homemade chicken stock snob. :)

Why make chicken stock at home? Have you ever read the ingredients on store bought broth or bouillon cubes? Here are the first few ingredients in beef cubes - salt, hydrolized vegetable protein, corn syrup, sugar, beef fat, monosodium glutamate. Need I write more? On the other hand, homemade stock is VERY good for you. It has natural ingredients which feed, repair, and calm the small intestines, it heals the nerves, improves digestion, reduces allergies, relaxes and gives strength. For more information on this read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Furthermore, making stock at home saves money and is the backbone for many recipes. Not to mention, if you cook the whole chicken in the broth, you have all that cooked chicken you can use in other dishes like chicken pot pie, chicken casseroles, chicken tacos or burritos, pizza, etc. (Stock is made only with the bones of a chicken which makes the broth more clear, whereas, broth is made with the meat as well and is not as refined and more cloudy. Stock is what professionals use to make sauces and other things that Julia Child would make that I haven't venture to try yet. Sometimes I make stock; usually I make broth.)

Isn't it a lot of work? Surprisingly, as you will see below, chicken stock/broth can be very easy to make and store!

Is it really worth all the trouble? Besides all the benefits that I wrote in the response to the first question, homemade broth tastes really good!!! Also, because it makes so much, you almost always have some available. By the time you run out, you need more cooked chicken meat anyway.

So how do you make it?

1. Purchase a good chicken. I either buy a rotisserie chicken, an organic chicken if the budget allows, a grass fed organic chicken if I really have a big budget (these are much better for you! but I've only bought one) or just an ordinary chicken from the local mega-chain store for .98 a pound. Honestly, there is not really difference in outcome where taste is concerned.

2. Clean the chicken. If you want to make a stock, roast the chicken first (I'll post a recipe for this later) and eat it, or take the cooked meat off the bones and use it in a variety of ways.

3. Put the whole chicken, or the bones of the chicken in a stock pot. Fill the pot with cold water. Then, chop up a few carrots and celery, add an onion cut in big chunks and add a bay leaf or two. To save time with this, when you use the vegetables for other dishes on other days, take what is left over after chopping (the onion skins, the ends and peelings of the carrots, etc.), toss them in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer until you make stock. Then, pull it out and simply dump it into the water with the chicken.

4. Bring the water to a boil. When it starts to boil, use a large spoon to scoop out the foam. Then, reduce heat and simmer for at least 2 hours. Keep in mind that the longer you cook it, the more flavorful and nutritious it becomes. I have cooked it as long as perhaps 12 hours and as little as an hour.

5. Strain out the chicken, vegetables and bay leaves. If needed, you can use the broth right away; however, it might be kind of greasy.

6. To take out the greasiness, put the whole pot in the refrigerator for a day or two (I've left it in the fridge for as long as two weeks and it somehow still smelled and tasted wonderful!). The fat will coagulate on top. Simply skim it off the top.

You will probably have way more broth than you will be prepared to use right away. I have made as much as 20 cups of broth at one time. So, after a few failed attempts and broken jars, I've found an easy way to store the broth for later retrieval. Here's what you do... Pour your broth into ice cube trays. Pop them in the freezer until the broth is frozen, then store the cubes in a ziplock bag especially for freezers. 8 cubes make a cup, give or take a bit. This way, if you need two cups or eight, you can easily get what you need without having to thaw out way more than you need.

And that's it! Enjoy!

Addendum to a Previous Entry

Earlier I wrote a blog entry entitled "I'm Just Wondering" kind of as a vent of my frustration over the lack of availability of quality, simple toys. I just want to write to say that I have found some great toy stores that do sell quality toys.

Some of them are local to this area, just little shops in the villages tucked in and around the big trees and big houses of this great city. Another great store is called The Learning Tree that I also found tucked here and there around our area. I think it is more of a nationwide chain but it is still not one of those mega toy stores. It was quite a pleasure to look around in there. So, I don't feel quite so frustrated with the toy selection out there. Check out the Learning Tree and/or look up local toy shops in your area for a better selection than you will find at Target, Walmart and Babies R Us/Toy R Us.