Pet Peeves: there are always more of them.
She likes to be near me even when I'm feeding and hanging out with the hens.
Photography Pet Peeves:
a) Why do all pregnant women insist on misty photographs being taken of them holding their stomachs? We all know there's a baby in there and that you're excited but for God's sake, can we please come up with a new pose that tells the world how maternal you're feeling? Always the hands on the belly. Oh, and then there's the other one everyone does (everyone but me and Philip) where both prospective parents have the hands lovingly cupping the belly.
b) When the infant is finally born it proves irresistible to recreate that image of parents finger with baby's hand wrapped around it. Oh, or to put ridiculous headbands on baby girls with bows and/or flowers. Sometimes really giant flowers. I hate, have always hated, headbands on babies. Sweat-bands were never chic on adults, why replicate the ridiculous style on babies? If you want flowers on their heads just put a damn hat on their head!
This reminds me of how much I LOATHE sun visors. Which is a visored hat with the crown removed. They look stupid. Just wear a hat. Or sunglasses and sunscreen. But I suppose the worst of all is when people wear those "hats" that have the full wide brim but are completely missing the crown. This style invites the evil genius to perform some sort of experiment on the wearer's exposed head. The style practically screams out "Mess with me! Grab the exposed hair on my head...I don't care as long as the sun don't shine in my eyes!"
On to other things...
I am obsessed with pocket food. I now understand why the freezer isles of the grocery store are packed with all kinds of foods wrapped in dough. Pizza pockets, salami pockets, cheese pockets, ravioli, calzones, pot pies...
What food isn't improved by being hand-held? I made two batches of calzones this week that turned out so good I'm thinking of them all day. Imagining filling up my freezer with them to make convenient lunch food for Philip to take to work or for me to drag out of the ice for a fuss free lunch at home.
The calzones I made were filled with ricotta and winter squash mixed together with caramelized onions seasoned with oregano and nutmeg, with some jack cheese spread underneeth. The first batch I made the dough with all white flour and glazed the tops with an egg wash. The second batch I made with part multi-grain flour and didn't do the glaze. The first batch was better.
In other food news...Max actually asked to try a blueberry shake* (he will usually only drink strawberry) and he liked it! Well, the next day he enthusiastically asked for another one and then claimed it was funny tasting and suggested it was because of his cold. But for one shining moment there my son actually consumed some antioxidants! And he also spontaneously asked to try something new. In the life of an extreme picky eater- this is pretty amazing!
I'm off to pour some more coffee and look around for my next favorite thing to photograph.
Have a great Wednesday!
*We also engaged in a discussion on the true definition of a shake and Max insists that a shake must have ice cream in it. He thinks the "strawberry shake" I make him is really a smoothie. While he may be perfectly correct, most smoothies I've ever met don't have any added sugar because the concept is to keep them healthy. My "shake" may not have ice cream in it but it has milk and sugar in it which is largely what goes into ice cream. The only real difference is that it's the frozen fruit producing the thick cold frostiness.
a) Why do all pregnant women insist on misty photographs being taken of them holding their stomachs? We all know there's a baby in there and that you're excited but for God's sake, can we please come up with a new pose that tells the world how maternal you're feeling? Always the hands on the belly. Oh, and then there's the other one everyone does (everyone but me and Philip) where both prospective parents have the hands lovingly cupping the belly.
b) When the infant is finally born it proves irresistible to recreate that image of parents finger with baby's hand wrapped around it. Oh, or to put ridiculous headbands on baby girls with bows and/or flowers. Sometimes really giant flowers. I hate, have always hated, headbands on babies. Sweat-bands were never chic on adults, why replicate the ridiculous style on babies? If you want flowers on their heads just put a damn hat on their head!
This reminds me of how much I LOATHE sun visors. Which is a visored hat with the crown removed. They look stupid. Just wear a hat. Or sunglasses and sunscreen. But I suppose the worst of all is when people wear those "hats" that have the full wide brim but are completely missing the crown. This style invites the evil genius to perform some sort of experiment on the wearer's exposed head. The style practically screams out "Mess with me! Grab the exposed hair on my head...I don't care as long as the sun don't shine in my eyes!"
On to other things...
I am obsessed with pocket food. I now understand why the freezer isles of the grocery store are packed with all kinds of foods wrapped in dough. Pizza pockets, salami pockets, cheese pockets, ravioli, calzones, pot pies...
What food isn't improved by being hand-held? I made two batches of calzones this week that turned out so good I'm thinking of them all day. Imagining filling up my freezer with them to make convenient lunch food for Philip to take to work or for me to drag out of the ice for a fuss free lunch at home.
The calzones I made were filled with ricotta and winter squash mixed together with caramelized onions seasoned with oregano and nutmeg, with some jack cheese spread underneeth. The first batch I made the dough with all white flour and glazed the tops with an egg wash. The second batch I made with part multi-grain flour and didn't do the glaze. The first batch was better.
In other food news...Max actually asked to try a blueberry shake* (he will usually only drink strawberry) and he liked it! Well, the next day he enthusiastically asked for another one and then claimed it was funny tasting and suggested it was because of his cold. But for one shining moment there my son actually consumed some antioxidants! And he also spontaneously asked to try something new. In the life of an extreme picky eater- this is pretty amazing!
I'm off to pour some more coffee and look around for my next favorite thing to photograph.
Have a great Wednesday!
*We also engaged in a discussion on the true definition of a shake and Max insists that a shake must have ice cream in it. He thinks the "strawberry shake" I make him is really a smoothie. While he may be perfectly correct, most smoothies I've ever met don't have any added sugar because the concept is to keep them healthy. My "shake" may not have ice cream in it but it has milk and sugar in it which is largely what goes into ice cream. The only real difference is that it's the frozen fruit producing the thick cold frostiness.
Comments (9)
Yeah for Max on trying something new and blueberries...I just love them. We planted three bushes last year so hoping for a few berries this year. I usually go down the street to my elderly neighbor and pick them. She takes what she wants and tells me I can have whatever I want. It is hard not to just stand there and eat them right off the bush.
Hats drive my head crazy but I can manage a sun visor for awhile. My sunglasses (fit over my glasses) don't offer enough sun protection so the visor adds to it. Not really a fan of them but it offers what I need and can tolerate.
Robin
Posted by Robin | February 24, 2010 11:18 AM
Posted on February 24, 2010 11:18
You lucky lady for having blueberries so close to you to pick for free! I have 7 blueberry bushes that are several years old but they've been kind of abused and transplanted so they aren't yet reaching their full potential. I can't wait until they get full grown.
Now, about the visor...oh Robin. Why has no one told you that what you really need is a young slave-boy to carry a parasol for you? That would not only shade you without bothering your head but would make you look VERY important!
Posted by angelina | February 24, 2010 11:50 AM
Posted on February 24, 2010 11:50
I, too, loathe visors, and am considering going to my parents' house when they're not home and STEALING the one my mother has and THROWING IT AWAY. Because it's evil.
Also? Those things on baby heads are, as far as I can tell, garters. Of the cheesy tacky wedding variety.
Posted by Blaize | February 24, 2010 8:26 PM
Posted on February 24, 2010 20:26
Let me plead some clemency for sun visor wearers of the South. It's hot and humid down here and you can't believe how glaring the sun is here this much closer to the equator than you are. On our hottest days a hat will just make the sweat run down your head. We need head ventilation but we also need to protect our eyes. Solution: sun visor. Sorry--but comfort has to trump fashion for us practical gals.
I love your suggestion of a parasol. They were very popular in Japan even 20 years ago. I'm surprised they haven't caught on here. Sometimes I see people substituting an umbrella. They're not really the same.
Posted by mss @ Zanthan Gardens | February 25, 2010 1:55 PM
Posted on February 25, 2010 13:55
Angelina I will bring that up with John...do you think he would follow me around with a parasol? Maybe not...need to find a sweet young thing to do my bidding. I'm likeing that idea of looking important!
Robin
Posted by Robin | February 25, 2010 3:17 PM
Posted on February 25, 2010 15:17
when I was very pregnant I took a picture with an evacuation notice posted on my belly. so there. tee hee.
yay for slave boys!
Posted by Sharon | February 25, 2010 8:52 PM
Posted on February 25, 2010 20:52
MSS- at one time I had an oiled paper parasol from Chinatown in SF and I have no idea what happened to it but the next time I'm there I think I'll buy one or two as souvenirs. They aren't expensive but are so useful for shading one's self from the sun. I don't usually think of myself as a person who "suffers" for fashion but perhaps this is one of the situations in which I do. When it's dreadfully bright and hot out I wear a straw hat. Light weight straw hats might not be as comfortable as a bare head with just a visor-
wait a minute...they are for me. I'm remembering walking around on Masada in the harshest hottest sun I have ever been exposed to and I wore a straw hat the whole time because it was infinitely more comfortable than going bareheaded. A parasol still would have been better I think.
But then, some people's heads are comfortable with hats on and some aren't. Max, for instance, can't bare to wear hats. Though he'll pull his hoodie over his head and not be bothered. But hats, he says, make his head hurt.
Yay Sharon! I love that and would love to have a copy of that picture to post on my blog! That is so much cuter and funnier and more interesting than the soft focus dreamy ones. Sense of humor about babies is more appealing to me than dreamy crap.
Posted by angelina | February 26, 2010 8:29 AM
Posted on February 26, 2010 08:29
Hey there!
I have to say, you are touched by genious! Your blog made me laugh out loud - brilliant! I am so with you about headbands and visors...
I'm going back to the start and am going to read all your blogs.
Thank you for brightening my day!!!!
Emma
Posted by Emma | March 1, 2010 12:31 PM
Posted on March 1, 2010 12:31
Sun Visors! Remember all the Stepford Wives at Proctor? Gym togs and visors with ponytail protruding. I hard there's a new-more like us- mom there now who gapes every morning at the clone parade. In December they all arrived donning Christmas sweaters and she shrieked (really loud and in front of all the kids), WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON!!!?" I really want to meet her. NAah loves hand pies - asks for them for her lunches. I encountered my first one at the Rennaisance Faire in the 70's and have been making them ever since. I found a beautiful red umbrella with a Baekelite handle at a garage sale in October. It has an East Indian shape to it. I use it when I go to the Steam Punk festival or other outdoor events that are hot and sunny.
Posted by Lucille | March 7, 2010 10:07 AM
Posted on March 7, 2010 10:07