It's spring time!

One of the great things about living in California is we get to feel the spring a bit earlier than many of the states in this country. That comes with abundance of fresh produce available. This weekend, Ely and I (and my big belly), went to a farmers market that we have not been for a long time. We are indeed lucky to have three (!) year-around farmers market in town. Two of them are managed and cared by the same manager and farmers/venders. And the other one is run by different farmers. I honestly love both of them, and we have friend at both markets. We have been going to the one closer to our house during the winter, but I received an e-newsletter about what is happening at the other market early last week, so we had to go check it out. Wow! What an abundance of fresh produce!! We caught up with farmer friends and bought a lot of greens, strawberries, eggs, and potatoes. There was also a new vender, a dairy farm/creamery! I have been looking for a local dairy for a while since we moved here, and I was very excited to see them at the farmers market. They are still about 90 miles away from our house, but they sell their milk in glass bottles, and has variety; whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and root beer milk. They also sell ice cream. We bought one 1/2 gallon whole milk, and 1/4 gallon chocolate milk.

The reason why I was looking for a local dairy was because I want to make homemade yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. For cheese, I needed to find pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) or raw milk. Many of the milk at a store are ultra-pasteurized in order to prolong their shelf life. But this one I bought today, is pasteurized. I am a bit nervous and has not had the courage to make cheese at home, yet. But I did make ice cream. I am lucky enough to have an ice cream maker, which makes ice cream making so much easier. I just followed the recipe came with the instruction booklet. But there is no comparison in taste and quality. Homemade ice cream not only allows you to know exactly what goes on into your ice cream, but also tastes much much better and creamy. The recipe does call for heavy whipping cream, which I had to buy at a store. But I am going to make frozen yogurt next time with homemade yogurt. I also made Lavender Lemon Sorbet adopted from the recipe for Lemon Basil Sorbet from the same booklet.

Simple vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream adopted from Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker instruction booklet.

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chip

In a mixing bowl combine whole milk and sugar. Whisk it until sugar is dissolved into milk. Add heavy cream and vanilla. You can cover it and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to over night. I did not do this because I could not wait!

Turn on the ice cream maker, pour the mixture into the frozen bowl and let it mix until thickened. After about 15-20 minutes, add chocolate chips and run it for a few minutes. If it is too soft, put it in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

Business of giving birth...

Yesterday, I went to my 32 week check-up at my OB/GYN office. The Nurse Practitioner did all the measurements and checked the baby’s heartbeat. Everything is good. Then, she told me that it would be a good idea to go ahead and register at the hospital. I gave her a confusing expression because my OB/GYN office is in the hospital and I have been here for the past 7 months, but since my doctor/nurse is telling me to do so, it must be important, right? So, I walked to the main building and told the admission that I have to register to give birth. The person gave me several documents to go over, and an application to fill out. The documents explained when and which number to call, where to enter the hospital when I am ready to give birth, who is allowed to accompany me.. etc. The last document caught my attention. It was about “financial policy”. The paper first congratulates us for the baby, and thanks us for choosing their hospital. They hope that the time we will spend at the hospital is pleasurable and enjoyable. Then it says, “enormity of cost” for health care, and the hospital hopes to work with us and make it manageable. First of all, they will not charge extra for BILLING SERVICES. Second, all deductibles and co-payments are due one month prior to the birth date. Third, if you do not have insurance, you are expected to pay everything prior to the birth date, and that they will provide payment plans. And lastly, here is the cost of giving birth at this hospital if you do not have any insurance.

                Normal Vaginal Birth (discharged within 24 hours) $12,000 – $15,000

                Normal Vaginal Birth (discharged between 24 hours and 48 hours) $15,000 – $18,000

                C-Section (3 days of hospital stay)

                Infant Screening ($8,000 - $10,000)

WHAT?

I have been paying a little over $300 every month for the last 6 months at the OB/GYN office, so I asked the admission person if this cost is included in the payment plan I set up at the OB/GYN office. She said, “Oh, no. That is different. This is for the hospital”. But, my OB/GYN is in the north wing of this hospital… She said that this is solely for the time I will stay giving birth, and not for the cost of “medical care” provided by the doctor. She smiled and said to me, “but this is what it would cost if you don’t have insurance. We will run your insurance and let you know how much it will cost you, if any”.

I left the admission office dumb founded. When I arrived home, the first thing I told my husband was, “I am so disgusted by this whole thing”, and started explaining the “business of giving birth”.

So basically, in order for a woman or a family to have a baby at the hospital with prenatal care, which the government and medical professionals recommend, would cost at least $25,000, if you do not have any insurance. It would be more because I have a PPO insurance and still I have to pay $300 monthly for my deductible. This is to have normal and natural birth. Women have been giving birth all over the world, and we have been doing so for hundreds of years. Pregnancy is not an illness or disease, it is a natural thing. It is what we, human beings, do for procreation and survival of our specie. In any religion or cultural belief, procreation is one of the most important things we do. Still, in this country, it would cost almost or more than our annual earning.

When I had my first baby, I had different insurance where the monthly premium was much higher, but I did not have to pay anything when I gave birth at their hospital. No hospital cost, no infant care cost, nothing. I am sure the cost was as high as the one this time, but I just did not see it because it was set it up like that, and of course if I do not see it, I did not think it existed. I had a natural birth. Meaning that I did not have any “medical procedure”. I had a Nurse Practitioner midwife, a nurse, a doula and my husband attending the birth. No Pitocin or Epidural. And my birth was perfect and my baby was/is healthy.

Now that I am at 8 months pregnant, I am faced by this disgusting reality of the “business of giving birth” and feeling dumb founded. I remember when I went to my first prenatal appointment in October, before even seeing anyone, they sent me to their financial department. The financial advisor ran my insurance and printed out the cost of prenatal care. It was even before they told me “congratulations!”. I had to sign the payment contract to be seen by the doctor. I should have known… I should have talked to other people. I am beating myself up now because I wanted a homebirth, which would cost us about $3000, approximately the same amount of money we would pay at the hospital. But at that time, we did not know the cost of “hospital care” that just emerged (to us, anyways) yesterday, we thought it would be $1900, which is much less than $3000. So partly, for financial reasons, we decided to give birth at the hospital, but it is too late. We do not have another $3000 for homebirth and I am already 8 months pregnant.

Birthing is something we, women, naturally do. Of course, I am aware of the possible complications that requires medical attention. I am grateful for it to be available. I know a few close friends who needed that medical attention, and their children are perfect, but aside from that, I strongly believe that women KNOW HOW TO GIVE BIRTH. Birthing should not be medicalized and not be treated as business.

I just hope that our experience at the hospital in two months will be “pleasurable” and “enjoyable”.

Dilemma of a step-parent

I have a confession to make. Even though I am a big advocate for local fresh food and homemade family meals, if you look into my freezer, you will see... (Gasp!) hot pockets and burritos you can pop them in a microwave, and in the pantry, you will see a box of Honey Bunches of Oats, and canned ravioli. No, they are not our "emergency food". They are for my step-daughter when she come over on weekends. Yes, I am guilty of feeding my 13 year old step daughter something that I would not give to my 3 year old. But you see, you need to understand that I came into her life when she was already 7, and she comes over only every other weekend. She has her home with their own rules and culture and who am I to change or even question them? But I do feel guilty and feel as if I am neglecting my step-daughter when I allow her to pop one of the frozen foods in the microwave for her lunch while I am making black bean quesadilla with mango salsa for my daughter. I do like to assure you that she does not mind, actually, she would rather eat those than what I normally cook. In the beginning, I tried to cook "kids friendly meals" such as spaghetti with meatballs, Mac and cheese (with mixed vegetables), chicken noodle soup, etc. and green smoothies my husband asks her to try...but she would not eat it. All she would eat was beans and rice with chips, pizza, french toast, waffle, or plain hamburgers (no ketchup, no veggies). We did not have another child then, so that was all we fed her with. I would cook "adult meals" for us, and she would eat pizza. When we had Ely, I was nervous how our family meals would be. Over the years my step- daughter started to eat some meals we prepare, including pasta with homemade tomato sauce, salmon with rice, fried fish, spinach ravioli from Costco (without sauce for her, with sauce for us). But still no veggies of much kind. We do take her to farmers market every weekend that she is with us, and I ask her to help me cook sometimes. We always ask her if she wants to eat salad, or broccoli, or creamed spinach, or whatever I am cooking. The answer is 99% of time, "no, thank you". And I also have to point out that she is not doing this out of defiance at all. If I may say as her step-mother, she is one of the most respectful and caring teenagers I have ever seen. And I work with adolescents and so does my husband.

We do, however, have family dinner when she comes over. I just have to make sure I prepare things that she would eat. Or, I would make sure that if she eats cheese or pepperoni pizza, I make veggie pizza for us and our three years old, or if she eats frozen burrito, I make black beans burrito for our three years old. If we have spaghetti, I have a big bowl of salad for whoever wants it.

So, you see, my friends, I do understand your frustration when your child or you partner would not eat healthy as yo would like to. I do understand how you want to say, "forget it, I am not gonna try to change them" and also feeling, "I am worried about their health in the future..." I am reminding myself that even for her to eat our pasta with homemade tomato sauce (I am taking about using 10-15 tomatoes) is a big progress. In fact, we kind of make sure that we have it for one dinner while she is with us.

We are truly hoping that as she grows older, going to college, to the world, and be exposed to different cultures, she would not feel so eerie about food that she will encounter. And somehow with maturity she will one day try new things...

Just hoping we are planting a little seed of curiosity...

Monday mornings...

I love my (our) Mondays. There is no story time at the library or farmers market to go to on Mondays. I do not have to get us ready to leave for daycare or work. When I first reduced my work days to 4 days per week, I used to take my daughter to her day care so that I could have my own time, mostly doing housework, running errands and bit of watching TV. But then I started to keep her with me at home a few months ago. While I still have to do house work and run errands, we also go to parks, play in backyard, and visit friends. Maybe I am preparing for ourselves to stay home when the new baby arrives in 2 months. The more I stay at home, the more I want to stay home after my maternity leave. I know this is a very luxurious idea/decision for many of us. Certainly for me, who went back to work only after 7 weeks of giving birth to my daughter. I needed to. We needed to because my husband was in school. This time around things are a little different and there is an opportunity to stay home with our children. Besides, in order for me to go back to work, it will cost nearly $1500 for daycare for two and gas money to go to work. But financial issue put aside, I really enjoy doing things with my daughter, including cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. She is at the age where she wants to do everything I do. And I let her most of the time, closely supervising for her safety of course. And she always surprises me for what she can do. She is into cracking eggs and folding towels now. If anyone asks her how she learnt to fold the towels so well, she would tell you, "at a folding factory"...

Monday morning breakfast... Dutch Baby Pancake

Ingredients:

For 2 servings

2 table spoon unsealed butter
4 large eggs or 3 jumbo eggs
1/2 cup in bleached all-purpose flour
1/2 whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
For topping: maple syrup, powdered sugar, honey etc.

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 F
Melt butter in cast-iron skillet on low heat. You can use oven safe cake on or pie plate put in the preheated oven for a few minutes to melt the butter. Do not use microwave to do this. As butter melts, make sure all the bottom and sides are coated with butter.
While butter melts, mix together eggs, flour, milk and salt until well blended. I just used a whisk but you can use electric mixer or blender. Just make sure there is no lump in the mix.
Pour the egg mixture into the warmed and buttered skillet or oven safe dish. Place it in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins. Don't get alarms when the mixture "blows up". It is ready when the center is set and the edges are golden brown.
Dress it with topping of your choice.
Happy eating!
CopiedImage.png topping: maple syrup, powdered sugar, honey etc.

I am not afraid any more... Of bread making...

Bread making scares me. I have tried several times, using a bread machine, kneading it by hands and using food processor. None has come out great. A few were okay, but never so great that made me want to try the same recipe again. Bread making is one of my mother's hobbies. She started taking classes when I was in junior high school, and kept going to classes for at least 7-8 more years. Every time she came back from her classes, she would bring back new tools and bags of specialty flour, chocolate paste, cinnamon paste, etc. and her bread is the best kind I have ever tasted. She makes regular sandwich bread, dinner rolls, French bread, German bread... You name it. Whatever you see in the specialty bakery, she can make. I asked her for recipes, and I tried it myself. But for some reason, the result is always disappointing. My mother told me it is because of the kind of flour I am using, and I do not have a good kneading machine. I gave up bread making all together a while ago and decided to just purchase them at markets.

Recently, I came across recipes of NO-KNEAD BREAD. I have heard about this NO-KNEAD BREAD in the past, but never paid any attention because bread without kneading... Come on, it cannot be good. I was so skeptical, I did not even read the recipes. But I saw it mentioned in one of my favorite blogs, and in a book I was reading. So I went to the original source of 2007 New York Time Magazine, and read a few more articles related to this bread. I also checked a few YouTube posts. And it sounded and looked promising. So I gave it a try.

It is always exciting and anxiety provoking to try a new recipe. But cooking is 90% confidence. It was helpful to see YouTube posts, because when I was mixing ingredients and saw how wet it was, I was a bit scared. I did not take any pictures because I started this in the evening on my working day in-between making dinner, doing laundry, and giving bath to Ely. The good thing about this bread making is that it is so labor conservative. My hands-on time with this bread was about 30 minutes all together. But it takes a long time to make it. From the time I mixed the ingredients to putting a piece in my mouth took 26 hours. It needs slow-rising for 12-18 hours, preferably more. And then another 2 hours right before you put it in the oven. So I started it at 8pm on Tuesday, and finished at 10 pm on Wednesday.

The result?

Unbelievable. It is unbelievably amazing because how little effort it took from me to make this rustic bread. This is indeed an artisan bread where the more you chew it, the tastier it gets. This is not a fluffy white bread. This is the bread to savor each chewing, and if you eat a lot, your jaw gets tired but you would still want more.

I took the bread out of the oven at 9pm. The kitchen and living room smelled wonderful. It was time for us to go to bed, so I wrapped it loosely with a baking paper, and let it sit on a rack to cool down. It was very hard to resist my desire to cut it, but the recipe said to wait for at least one hour. When I took it out from the oven, the bread was making this tinkering noise. Ely was also excited to see this bread out of the oven, and I told her to put her ear close to it because it was singing. She was disappointed that we could not eat it and we had to go to bed. Soon after, my husband came home, and I heard him in the kitchen un-wrapping the baking paper. He came in the bedroom, and said, “that bread looks great!”. It was 9:40pm. Ely was still up. So we decided to cut it and taste it. It tasted like a French Bread from a fine bakery. Tonight, I am making a creamy potato-vegetable soup to go with it.

Here (this, this and this) are some links to the recipe I used. I will make this bread again soon (this weekend?), and will take some pictures and post them here. It is important to leave it for one hour after you take it out of the oven. The crust is very hard when it is just out of the oven but softens while it rests.

Fruit of Paradise

We had a beautiful weather this weekend here. 80 degrees and we just entered March. My daughter believes that it is summer already. With this weather, and unfortunate Influenza outbreak at our house with our nephew, we stayed out of the house most of the day. On Saturday, Ely and I went to the library for story time, and farmers market to stock up and boost up our immune system with vitamines and antioxidants with fresh veggies and fruits. Then we went to visit friends of ours who have a grapefruits tree and a lemon tree in the backyard. The trees were full of round evidence of California sunshine! Grapefruits have a botanical name so perfectly fitting, Fruit of Paradise, packed with vitamin C, and disease-preventing properties such as carotenoids, Limonoids, Pectin Fiber and other minerals.

We were going to get “some” but ended up with more than 50 grapefruits and more than 30 lemons.

We juiced them, made lemonade, lemon pound cake, and vegan fruit jello.


Vegan Fruits Jello

300 ml of water
3 teaspoons of Agar Agar powder
⅓ cups of sugar
300 ml of freshly squeezed grapefruit juiced (from 4-5 medium grapefruits)
1-2 cups of diced fruits of your choice (I used grapefruits, strawberries, and pineapple)

Mix Agar Agar powder and sugar in a pot

Add water slowly whisking rapidly, making sure there is no lump in the mixture

Put the pot on stove top whisking continuously to make sure that there is no lump

Turn the heat down to low once it reaches boiling temperature  (you will see it bubbling)

Continue whisking on low heat for about 1-2 minutes

In a different pot, warm the grapefruit juice for about 1-2 minutes

Turn off the heat of both pot, pour warmed (not hot) grapefruit juice into Agar Agar mixture whisking continuously (DO NOT DO THIS WHILE IT IS HEATED ON THE FIRE - the mixture will not get firm if you continue to boil it)

Add diced fruits into the mixture and stir lightly
Pour the mixture into the dish(es) of your choice. You can use one glassware or jello cups if you have them available.

Once it cools down, put them in the refrigerator for one hour or so until jello is firm and plump.

Enjoy!

Blog posts from the past.

I wanted to transfer some of my old posts from my old blog, but I could not find the way to do it. So here is the link to my old blog with recipes for...
Oatmeal cookies
Peachy guacamole
Carrots soup
Cucumber agua fresca
Blueberry muffins

http://onemealtime.blogspot.com

Package from Baba Chan

It is finally here! A package from Baba Chan (aka. My mother)! We have been waiting for a few weeks... maybe even a few months since my mom in Japan told us that she is making pajamas and dresses for us. She emailed me last week that she has sent it, and since then (because I told her her Baba Chan did so), Ely has been waiting and waiting patiently. I was sure that we would get it on Monday or Tuesday but we did not, and Ely cried, "is it still in the airplane?" So when I saw a slip in my mailbox on Wednesday, I was disappointed that I was not home to get it. So, yesterday, I picked it up from the post office 2 minutes before it closed. In the package, there were pajamas for me and Ely, three dresses for Ely, and some food from Japan. Ely was ecstatic!! As soon as we got home, she wanted to wear one of the dresses. She tells everyone it was from her Baba Chan. And I tell her, "she loves you so much". It is sad that my family does not get to see her in person because they live in Japan. But they sure know how to let Ely know how much they love her.