Obama-mania meets Legomania

Construction is finished. People are gathered. The motorcade is ready. The White House is ready. Even the porta-pottys are ready.

Yep, the Inauguration Day model is all set at Legoland in California.

What did you think I was talking about? ;)

P.S. If you're interested in the real thing, here's the event schedule. Visit the viewers' guide from the L.A. Times for television coverage, or listen in on NPR.

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Photo by gnislew.

Day tripping

It's good to have travel books when you go to faraway places. However, what you'll probably use even more over time are books about places to visit within a day's drive of where you live.

This is probably more important once you have kids. I would think you'd want to leave less up to chance and know where you're going and what to expect when you get there. Plus, shorter car trips are a great way to start preparing them for more extensive travel in the future.


One book with a lot of information for seeing Arizona is Day Trips from Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff by Pam Hait. There are lots of suggestions for trips you can take - with accompanying maps. The destinations include lesser-known sites as well as the big attractions.

Because it's so packed with useful stuff, we overlook its counter-intuitive organizational structure (i.e. there's more than one "Day Trip 01" and no index). It's worth the extra page flipping.

Everything Inauguration Day for kids

It only happens every 4-8 years, and Inauguration Day is a great learning opportunity. There is a treasure trove of information at Tech Savvy Mama.

They have an insane amount of links on topics that parents or teachers can use to educate kids about historical context, biography, American government, traditions, and even fashion. There are also printable worksheets. Lots of interesting stuff there! You should seriously check it out.

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Photo by Presidential Inaugural Committee.

Pregnancy category PDF - for real this time!

I don't know what happened to the link on my Pregnancy categories for drugs post, but it did not work. (I'm sure it's not my fault. Maybe link gremlins came in the night and chewed on it or something--?)

Anyway, I fixed the actual post. Since you don't probably scan past posts with rapt attention (the way you do with current posts) (right???), here is the for-real link to the document with the pregnancy category information.

P.S. Thanks to Aunty for bringing this to my attention!

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Photo by me.

Behind the scenes with breakfast

I didn't intend to mislead anyone. When I said *Recipes in an upcoming post. I meant I would tell you how I made the items on my Christmas Eve breakfast menu - not that there would be exact measurements involved.

This is the kind of Mediterranean-style cooking which defies recipes. If you go to the Mediterranean coast of, say, Spain, you'll find that people are better at telling stories than measuring precisely, but the food is good anyway.


So, in lieu of precise recipes, I'm going to tell you some stories and trust that it'll still all come out good. We'll start with this...


A Word about Spanish Tortilla

The world is not flat, and neither is Spanish tortilla (tortilla de patata). So get that image out of your head. Instead, think of a fluffy and delicious concoction of eggs and potatoes.

When I describe it to people here in the U.S. they usually go "oh! Like a frittata?"

I'm not really sure what defines a frittata, but the response is so consistent that now I just say "yes."

The preparation of tortilla de patata (as I learned it in Spain), involves a deep pan, lots of olive oil, a ceramic plate-like contraption with a handle on the back and one death-defying Flip, which is designed to transfer the tortilla from pan to plate-thing, so you can slide it back into the pan and cook the other side.

I didn't purchase the ceramic contraption when I had the opportunity, because I naively thought a plate would work just as well. An assumption that was - shall we say - flipping stupid.



The Breakthroughs

Nearly 10 years after learning to make Spanish tortilla, I figured out a couple new tricks:

1. You can avoid a nerve-wracking Flip with an inadequate dinner plate by simply covering the tortilla during the last half of cooking. The result won't be exactly the same. But you lose very little (evenly-distributed potatoes - and maybe some of your Spanish cooking cred) compared to what you gain (freedom from Flip fail anxiety).
2. Sweet potatoes are a delightful substitute, even if they are a bit...well...sweet for the dinner table. They're perfect, however, for breakfast or brunch.

Given #1, I didn't know if I could really still call my concoction tortilla de patata. So I started referring to it as a frittata. Plus, that requires less explanation.

And, when I realized #2, Christmas Eve breakfast started to fall into place.



What Happened That Morning

I got up on Christmas Eve, got the coffee brewing, set out my ingredients, and started cooking.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, E was waking up Christine's brother by singing "Hakuna Frittata."

• One potato: Sweet Potato Frittata

I started by putting a generous amount of olive oil (this is key! Keep that bottle handy!) in the bottom of a deep frying pan, and let it heat up. Then I poured in the sweet potato chunks the Hubs had cut up the night before. Once they were close to being done, I added chopped onion. After a minute or two, I dumped in a bag of frozen spinach and stirred it all together until things were well mixed. I cracked at least 8 eggs into one of those big Pyrex measuring cups with the pour spout, beat them a bit, then poured over the top. I should have put a generous amount of salt and maybe pepper on top at this point, but I'm pretty sure I forgot. I put a lid over it and let it cook until it was set.

When it was all done, I put it on a large plate and stuck it in the oven to keep it warm.


• Two potato: Red Potato Frittata

If you hate chopping like I do, you might be tempted to cut potatoes (of any kind) into big pieces. The problem with that is cooking them will take for-ev-er. So you have three options:

1. Suck it up and think about how the reduced cooking time will be worth it. Really it will.
   
2. Find someone to chop them for you. (Marrying a man who loves to chop helps with this item.)
3. Buy the already chopped up kind.

I don't usually go for #3, since I'm such a bargain hunter (and because I lucked out on #2). However, I happened to find a smokin' deal on chopped red potatoes with herbs. (Woohoo!)

I followed basically the same procedure as above (starting with the olive oil - hey, it's good for you!), only instead of adding onions and then spinach, I just added organic shiitake mushrooms.


• Cinnamon Oranges

I thought some fruit would be a good counterpoint to the heavy, protein-packed frittatas. In addition to honeydew, I served cinnamon oranges, a side dish my mom puts with dinner. It worked great in the morning, though.

All you do is peel the oranges (thanks to Dad and the Hubs for your help with that!), section them up, coarsely chop them and throw them in a bowl. Mix in some cinnamon and voila! Simple deliciousness!


• The Moment of Truth

Once everyone was there and coffeed, we served it all up.

The reaction?

"Hakuna frittatta indeed!"



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Photos by me.

Thanks to the Hubs, Dad, E, Christine, Rebecca and Josh for a lovely morning!

Pregnancy categories for drugs

Have you ever seen prescription medication having a label like "Pregnancy Category C?" I actually just noticed that recently.

I was wondering what that was all about, and I found this PDF that explains it all.

Basically, the FDA has these categories (A, B, C, D and X), which let you know the risk based on past studies (if there are any) and potential benefits.

I also learned a new word: teratogen. According to Wiktionary, it's "Any agent or substance which can cause malformation of an embryo or birth defects." The PDF above has a list those, as well.

Of course, different medical professionals will have differing opinions on medication during pregnancy, but this is good information to check out and possibly a place to start the discussion.


Edited to add: I fixed the link on the PDF - it should go to http://depts.washington.edu/druginfo/Formulary/Pregnancy.pdf

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Photo by abardwell.

CPSIA update

About the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act), I was misinformed regarding the public comment deadlines.

There is still time to speak up for the small businesses who won't be able to shoulder the burden of this overly stringent regulation!


The law is supposed to go into effect February 10 of this year, but there is a lot of opposition to it. I mean A LOT.

It's been called "National Bankruptcy Day", because of the sheer number of small companies - natural children's products manufacturerers, makers of handmade toys (including home crafters), and many others - it could put out of business.

It would not apply in the same way to second-hand stores, and certain materials have been exempted. However, as it stands now, it would still have wide-ranging unintended consequences for small businesses that have never used excessive amounts of lead in their children's products.


There's a fabulous post at Rocks in my Dryer, which explains more about what the CPSIA is, who it will affect and how both businesses and consumers will be affected.

For links to more articles and information, you can check out my CPSIA bookmarks.


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Photos: 1) by cathy cullis. CCL. 2) by scrapbit. CCL.