What's for Dinner?

Direct from the garden: Stir Fry.

We were meeting friends at the pool late this afternoon, and I was fretting a little about dinner earlier in the day. I wanted to have it ready when we got home because the kids are usually fried after swimming and I didn't want to cook in the evening anyway. Our CSA box hadn't arrived yet, either, which was where I was planning to get the veggies for dinner. It finally occurred to me that we have a rather large garden right out the back door! I'm also pleased to say it's starting to produce nicely. Above is what I harvested in about 4 minutes in the garden: Japanese eggplant, some carrots, an onion, peas, and a pattypan squash. I could have also picked a zucchini, dug some potatoes, picked kale or Swiss chard, and even picked the very first string beans. And had I needed herbs, I could have gotten flat leaf parsley, curly leaf parsley, one of four kinds of basil, rosemary, chives, thyme, oregano or mint. And in a couple of weeks we'll have tomatoes, too.

Maybe I should start thinking about canceling our CSA box. We love getting the fruit, though!

This is what the above harvest turned into:

My dad introduced us to Tofu Pockets. He keeps us in good supply, which is handy because Rhys loooves them. I make rice and a vegetable stir fry (sometimes with fried tofu), and we fill our pockets at the table. It's one of the meals at which I can pretty much guarantee Rhys will eat vegetables. Yay for the garden and tofu pockets!

Garden Goodies

 

A few of the garden goodies from last week: 

Peas and Kale

I picked the last of the spring beets, but they were bitter. I must have planted them too late. 

The garden is really starting to seem productive: the tomato plants are robust and full of green tomatoes, and the zucchini and pattypan squash plants are large, leafy and full of baby squashes. Even the peas are still producing. And we've had such a nice carrot crop this year!

Las Conchas Fire

We decided to voluntarily evacuate to our friends' house in Cedar Crest, near Albuquerque, late Sunday evening. The smoke was bad, and the fire was growing. We're planning to go home for a while tomorrow (Friday), but the smoke may make us leave again. We also had a crazy thing happen before the fire even started: My parents were visiting last week, and on Friday afternoon the drain to our washer/kitchen sink/dishwasher. This happens about once a year and we call Roto Rooter or the local plumber to come snake the drain. However, since it was a Friday evening, we decided to suffer through the weekend and get it taken care of on Monday in order to avoid a weekend charge. Then the fire started on Sunday, and we have spent the week in the East Mountains. With the evacuations and such, I'm not sure the plumbers are working. I called the one in White Rock this morning and left a message, but I wouldn't be surprised if I don't hear back from them. So, even though we're going home tomorrow, we might not be able to stay long. If it's smoky and we can't do laundry or run the dishwasher, then we'll probably go up to Colorado to spend some time with Grammy and Grampy.

Some interesting facts:
* The Las Conchas fire grew from nothing to about 45,000 acres in less 24 hours.
* The Cerro Grande fire of 2000 burned about 45,000 acres total, over about 2 weeks.
* The Los Alamos fire chief (and everyone else involved) has continued to express amazement at how fast the fire is spreading because of the drought conditions.
* As of sometime today, the Las Conchas fire will exceed the current New Mexico record-holding fire (in the Gila National Forest in 2003) as the largest fire in the state. The Gila Forest fire burned about 94,000 acres. Today, in day 4 of the Las Conchas fire, at least 94,000 acres have been burned.
* The officials are reporting 3% containment.
* We're lucky to live close to the Los Alamos National Laboratory: a LOT of money and personnel are putting out the fire in order to keep the lab safe (the news items are the nuclear waste storage points).
* In the four days we've been watching the news, I think 20 fires have been reported in New Mexico. Six are still burning and are causing evacuations and havoc.
* All of the forests have been closed in anticipation of the July 4th weekend. We're staying with friends who live off the Sandia Crest Highway and have to show our IDs and explain we're staying with friends up the road before they'll let us go by. The governor doesn't have the power to ban the sale of fireworks, but she's doing everything else in her power to try to keep everyone safe and to prevent more fires from starting.
* I personally think anyone who uses fireworks this season deserves to burn up in the fire of their own making.

Yumminade

Alanna currently calls "lemonade" by its much tastier and sillier alias "yumminade", which adds to its overall appeal, in my opinion.


We are also watching very closely the Las Conchas wildfire, which began this afternoon while Rhys, Daddy and I were at the movie theater watching 3D Cars 2 (we all enjoyed it). When we went into the theater, there was nothing to be concerned about; when we came out, there was a HUGE column of smoke to the southwest in the Jemez mountains. Five hours later, the fire is approximately 12 miles from Los Alamos, and over 1,000 acres are burning. We've packed up some emergency evacuation supplies in case we need to leave sometime in the next day or two, and we're crossing our fingers. We'll see what happens.

Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

 While we were on vacation, Grandma and Grandpa (Aaron's parents) came to spend time with Rhys and Alanna. Everyone allegedly had a really great time! The kids were glad to see us when we got home, but I think they'd be willing to have us go on vacation again so they could have more uninterrupted grandparent time!

 Rhys dancing for the camera.

 Rhys shows his car housing complex.

 Grandma dubbed this face Alanna's "Oscarina" face. If you ask her to show you her Oscarina face, she knits her brows and tries to suppress a smile. It's funny and it helps to diffuse the real Oscarina.

Alanna showing off her jumping skills.

 Hanging out in the living room ottoman.

The cat in the box.

 The Alanna in the box.

 Rhys got to go to a cowboy birthday party while we were gone.

 A snakestache.

 Where's Alanna?

 There she is!

Now where have Alanna and Rhys gone?

Playing Piano With Daddy

I couldn't help but notice the similarities between these photos of our kids playing the piano with Daddy. Of course, there are differences: Rhys was not quite a year old and Alanna was days away from turning two, Daddy and Rhys were playing in what used to be the studio and is now Alanna's bedroom and Daddy and Alanna are playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. But both kids spend time playing the piano with Daddy. And everyone loves it (including me)!

Happy Father's Day!

Ride 'Em, Cowgirl!

"Naked Baby" is one of Alanna's favorite modes of being right now. With a big, goofy smile on her face. Bouncing around the room on a blue burro. What a cutie patootie.