Baby Watermelon

The garden. Dave has attempted to kangaroo-proof it, using chicken wire, bird netting, branches, etc. I am looking forward to eating our produce! Good job, Dave!


A baby watermelon has watermelon stripes already! How cute!

Hot Tamales! (Photos)

Meredith talked me into making tamales. Usually I'm the one with the adventerous ideas! You can see the recipe we used here.

Cooking the pork in the slow cooker.

Lightly frying the dried chiles.

Shredding the meat.

Softening the corn husks.

Meredith frying the pork with the chile mixture.

Me making the masa.

See, I can use a mixer!

Meredith rolling a tamale.

Putting the masa on.

and the meat.

Rolling it up. Doesn't she have pretty hands?

In the steamer...

Steaming for a few hours...

Finally done!

Yum!

Tamale Recipe

 Tamales

 

 

Ingredents

• 1 ¼ lbs. boneless loin or shoulder of pork or beef, or chicken
• ½ onion, sliced
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 ½ oz. chile pasilla (1 package)
• 1/8 cup cooking oil
• ¾ cup water
• ½ Tbls salt
• 16 corn husks

 

Tamale Dough (Masa)

• 2 cups Maseca
• 2 cups lukewarm broth or water
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening

 

Place sliced onions in bottom of crock pot.  Place meat on top of onions.  Combine broth and garlic and pour on top of meat.  Cook on low heat for 3 hours or until meat is done.  Allow meat to cool and then shred with two forks.  Set aside. 

 

Separate husks and place in a large bowl of warm water.  Put another bowl on top of the husks to hold them down.  Soak the husks in water for 1 to 2 hours.  Rinse the husks.

 

Remove stems and seeds from chile pods.  Lightly sauté pods in oil.  Place pods in a blender and add the water.  Blend until smooth.  Set aside.

 

Place the meat in the oil used to sauté the chile pods.  Cook the meat in the oil on medium heat until it is browned.  Add the chile mixture and salt to the meat and cook for another 7 minutes.

 

To make the dough combine Maseca, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  Work in broth with your fingers to make a soft, moist dough.  In a small bowl, beat shortening until fluffy.  Add Maseca mixture and beat until dough has a spongy texture.  Set aside.

 

Take a corn husk and spread masa to one side and half of the large end.  Place a tablespoon of the meat mixture down the center of the masa.  Tightly roll the tamale and fold in the small end of the husk. 

 

Place tamales in a steamer with the open end facing up.  Cover the bottom of the pan with about 1 inch of water.  Bring to a boil, and then lower the temperature.  Cover the tamales with a wet cloth and the pan's lid.  Steam the tamales for about 2 hours, checking the water level occasionally.  Tamales are done when masa is firm and easily pulls away from the husk.

 

Summer Days

Dressed for church

Enjoying the morning sunshine

Cucumber- best teething toy ever

Who's that baby?

Spending an afternoon in the pool.

6 Months Old!

Asher is 6 months old.
He...

• can roll over, clap (kind of), sit unassisted for a few moments
• loves the sounds of Zzzzz and Vvvvv
• enjoys gnawing on cucumbers
• has one tooth and another nearly here
• likes chewing on and playing with his feet
• has started having stranger anxiety
• loves bath time and playing in the little wading pool with Mommy/Mummy holding him
• enjoys screeching (like a demented seagull or baby hawk)
  
• giggles at things he finds funny (as opposed to people, he giggles at them too)
• stares at everyone's food and makes them feel guilty for not sharing!
• smacks his lips and chews while other people eat
• enjoys peek a boo, tickles, and having his belly wobbled
• enjoys his 'solids' and has tried sweet potato, green beans, bananas, apples, peaches, and peas, cucumber, and baby cereal
• still has not taken a bottle or pacifier, but will drink from a cup or glass
• babbles

Check out:

• 1 Month Old
• 2 Months Old
• 3 Months Old
• 4 Months Old
• 5 Months Old

4 weeks and 40 weeks

Just looking through old photos.

First Tooth 16 July 2011

Cute explanation

That mean tooth, a comparison of teething remedies

According to the child health nurse, Asher's been teething since he was four months old (not cutting teeth, mind you). And I thought, teething isn't too bad.

Now, 1 1/2 months later, with drooling, fussiness, pain, crying, lack of sleep- all the things he hasn't done until now- I am waiting for that mean tooth to come in, already. He wakes up every 2-3 hours at night, looking for comfort and often a feed. (Up until yesterday, when he started sleeping through the night again, shhh,...) Of course, some of this was compounded by strep throat. Poor bub.

So, he doesn't like teething rings, cold wet washcloths, gum massages, and chewing on hard things makes him scream in pain sometimes. So we considered our options.

Humphries teething pellets.
1-3 pellets dissolved in water applied to gums or under tongue. Contains miniscule amount of belladonna, a poison, but widely used in medicine. Tried a few times, worked once, but generally didn't make much of a difference. (I only used 1 tablet, though, each time.) It was hard to use because it was so runny, even when dissolved in a drop of water.


Baby Orajel.
Contains benzocaine, which the FDA says should not be used on children under two unless advised by a doctor, as it carries a risk of methemoglobinemia which results in the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream being greatly reduced. The doctor said it was fine, however, I used it and was very uncomfortable with it!


Hylands Teething Gel.
Contains belladonna, same as Humphries Pellets. Very runny and hard to apply, but could be applied every 15 minutes as needed. Didn't seem to make much of a difference.



Orajel Naturals.
The active ingredient is clove oil, and can be applied up to four times a day as needed. Thick gel, easy to apply, and seems to work well for Asher. I don't feel worried about what is in it, and it makes him smell all clove-y afterwards. So far, our favorite. The only drawback is we had to order ours online!


His little tooth just needs to come through already! But he has been happier in the last few days than he has in the last week, and I can feel that tooth just very nearly here. (But then, I keep thinking that every day... the tooth is nearly here! nearly!)

Twins

The Garden

Last year we accidentally self-seeded a tomato plant. This year we decided to have a proper garden. Dave took a bobcat to the pindan and dug out a garden, and put in soil. We have corn and watermelons, capsicum (bell peppers), tomatoes, eggplant, and some other things I don't remember (Dave will remind me soon).

It is a rather small garden, which we attempted to fence off from the kangaroos, echidnas (my spell check would like to correct that to enchiladas), rabbits, etc. That is our rainwater tank behind the garden.
...
This is our herb garden- parsley, mint, basil, spring onion, peppers, and I can't remember what else!
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These are birdflower bushes. I outlined the "bird" part of the flower in the second photo.
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And here is the birdflower bush itself.
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Our house. On the farm. In the middle of nowhere.