Bun

Vietnamese cold noodle salad. Oh my. It has become such a treat in this house. The last time I made it it was for friends at a make shift bun party. (bun, pronounced like a scottish man says fun). Its so good! I got a recipe in one of my fine cooking magazines. I tried making it, but it wasn't until I actually went to a vietnamese restaurant and ordered it there that I got the hang of what it was supposed to taste like. I am in love.

It is made in layers. First, there is an herby, cold, leaf salad placed on the bottom of the bowl. I used lettuce, cilantro, mint and basil (the cilantro and basil were from my garden YAY!) Then, a bunch of noodles are placed on top (not too much though, I use Soba noodles or Udon sometimes. Both are readily available at Ocean State Job Lots of all places... and  cheap!) On top of that goes the searing hot protien of choice. I love the pork. I actually veered from their recipe for this because I didn't want to make the caramel every time. So I used their recipe for the marinade, and then just dumped a bunch of brown sugar in and let it sit. On the barbecue, it sears and caramelizes and becomes something incredible.

The one oddity in this recipe is the fish sauce. Its used in the marinade and in the Nuoc Chom (the amazingly good sauce that you poor over the bowl of bun right before you eat it.) Fish sauce smells incredibly bad.... like rotten fish, because it is rotten fish. But don't fear the fish sauce!! It, when used in correct proportions of other ingredients, becomes this deep, umami, yummy flavor that deepens the taste and rounds everything out. Also, it never goes bad. It sits, unrefrigerated, in a cabinet in my kitchen and has been there for two years, and will be there for many many more. Until I run out I guess. That, and a little bit of crushed, salted peanuts sprinkled over the top, and you are good to go! Oh Bun, how I love thee.

fields of sun

Henry and Nora came with me this morning. Its funny, they were looking for the grasshoppers from a few days ago and were kind of disappointed that they weren't there. I am feeling the sumer slipping away. This one seemed to go faster than others. Summers are a gift. I know that I don't make a whole lot as a teacher, trust me, I know, but the summers make it worth it. Its forced, unpaid time off, but man, a couple of months of straight out bonding with my kids. I can't get enough.

I find myself hunting for the same experience that I had as a kid, that kind of never-ending summer feeling, where you run out of things to do and it doesn't matter because that's what summer is for. Where you spend all deep in the woods, only showing up for a quick sandwich for lunch and then back for dinner. Where (and this somehow epitomizes it for me) you are so absent from expectation that you get caught up in the little dust particles floating in the sunbeam shining through your bedroom window... spinning... floating. Well, I can't seem to find it. I always have obligations. Summers have become times for getting things done. Building sheds, painting bathrooms, making sure the kids are having a good time. As I am learning, my time is really not my own, not like it is when we were kids. It's ok... kind of. Maybe it comes back at retirement? I don't know. Or maybe I don't want that back. It is primarily selfish after all.
floating
spinning

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Listening to the small things

It has been a while since I have been able to get out by myself. Jenny has been working in the morning, and I have been staying up late for some reason or another. It's funny, if I don't get up before everyone else, I don't generally go out with Chaucer. I guess its something about commitments. Even if Jenny is home, if the kids are up and aware, I feel obligated to be there for them. I have this inner feeling that if I leave the house, things may go awry. I guess that's a lot of psych stuff to be carrying.

I loved the silence this morning. It was 57 degrees out. The horseflies don't fly when its that cold. The mosquitoes are kind of past. I walked and thought. I miss this time. I need to retrain myself to get up early again, especially in the light of school starting in a couple of weeks. I feel that too.

The peeper (frog) had climbed up to head level on this milkweed. Just part of the chorus of sounds that hold me in the morning. The caterpillar didn't really contribute, but it was so.... raggey? It looks like someone knit it out of wool or something. The caterpillars are out now. I love em, bright and crazy looking, eating everything in sight.

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My kingdom for a microbe!

We bought Henry this Microscope for Christmass this year from a medical overstock website, and we have yet to actually see anything living under it. Jen even pricked herself and put her own blood on a slide, but by the time we prepared it, everything was completely brown and stagnant. We went to Comet Pond today and swam in between thunder strikes. We saw some old friends there (Hi Dave if you are reading this entry) and I made sure to get a sample so he could check it out. Well half an hour and three preparations and..... nothing. Some algae, I guess that counts as living, but nothing moving. Henry boldly proclaimed discoveries, "Its a Water Bear!" No Henry that was a piece of sand. "Dad... I think that's a Hydra!" Nope, that's a plant fiber. "Dad... is that a Donut?!" That's a bubble.
Tomorrow I am going to go down and scrape some of that snotty green stuff that grows in the river behind our house and smear it all over several slides and find something that moves. Well, that's the plan any way.

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Two things I have never seen

Well, I have been sick again. The Norovirus hit us again. Twice this year. It put all of us down for three days now. I could go into detail, but I promise it wasn't pretty here. Henry got it somewhere a week or so ago and then gave it to the rest of us, who came down with symptoms three days ago. It hit like a brick wall. Within one hour, I went from perfectly fine to amazingly sick. Three days later and I am still dizzy and I haven't really eaten anything but brothy chicken soup. So... that's whats up here.  This post is actually from a few days ago.

The morning of the day that I got sick, I went on a three hour hike through the park. It is a route that I have taken before, and one that I particularly like. It winds through open pasture, deep pine woods, huge oak trees, narrow bogs and its circular (something that I really love). I love it when I can out-hike Chaucer. By the end (well not the very end where he jumps into the river before getting back into the truck) he was completely dragging his feet. One new indispensable item that I have loved taking with me recently is this electrifying racket thing that zaps flies out of the air. My parents gave it to me. I shunned it as overly gadgety for a while, but man, the sharp zap and burnt popcorn smell of frying the crap out of any horsefly that dares fly around my head is worth the embarrassment of not "roughing it."

I saw a couple oddities today, one of which completely stumped my knowledge of nature. (We'll get to that one later) First, I thought that these ducks were a bunch of female mallards all congenially chumming around with each other all lined up on this log. But, upon a bit more research, I think these might be Mexican Ducks. (No lie). I guess they are a derivation of mallard that has lost the male's coloration. New to me....

By the way, a couple of things before we get going, first, please remember that you can click on any of these pictures to get the big version, and second, if you click the title of my blog, it will take you to the whole blog and you can scroll through old entries. I actually enjoy doing that quite a bit. Right, now for the stumper. I was way in the woods aspect of my hike (about two hours in) when Chauc tromped off on a little side path like he always does. I followed him in a bit and I found this tree. It's hard to see in the picture, as it was in real life. Take a close look though, its growing in an arch. Both sides of this maple are rooted into the ground. There is nothing bending and holding down the top. It's rooted there. A natural, growing archway in the middle of the woods. I wouldn't be honest if I told you I didn't walk through it half-expecting something crazy to happen. Well.... I guess the norovirus did hit us that night... maybe its cursed. Who knows............

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80's rock and paint fumes

Jenny took the kids to Templeton Center today, and I stayed home and painted the new shelves and actually the whole bathroom. I am actually pretty happy with the way the shelves and the bathroom came out. I also touched up a few things upstairs: the window sills, the doors, etc. It took about five hours to finish up today. I still have a couple other places to paint, but that will have to wait for another day.

It was nice to work at things by myself. Just me and Van Halen... and a tiny bit of Van Hagar. Painting is like weeding a garden, if you let it, it can be somewhat soothing. It was good day, I am proud of how the bathroom came out.

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Swim Lessons

Pieces of conversation I heard the lifeguard (my ex-student) Sean say to Henry as Henry tried to convince him not to take him into the pool.

1. "Ha, you're right Henry, you don't have any blubber, but you still have to go in."
2. "No the water isn't attacking you Henry."
3. "No, I don't know how water striders stay on the surface of the water."

Needless to say, Henry doesn't like his swim lessons. He had a pretty rough day yesterday. Jenny and I took the kids canoeing on Long Pond in Barre. Henry did NOT want to go in the Canoe. He pleaded, and actually cried, and I learned something about helping Henry get over his fears. Don't be convincing, just be calm. I had in mind that archetypal coach figure that calmly faces difficulties and is unshaken, unexcitable. I certainly never had a coach like that. I must have seen an account of one on tv or something. Unemotional, reliable, calm. Its not that he needs me to explain why things aren't scary, he just needs me to be unafraid, and unexcitable. He finally allowed me to get him in the canoe and to progressively go further down the river with him. He said he found it to be calm and nice. Thank god it was different experience than the bikes.

Then, to top off his two terrifying experiences, Henry got that throwup thing that's going around last night. He slept it off and was fine the today... although, he did say he was too tired to go to swim lessons  :)

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