39th Birthday

Jim's 29th, oops 39th, birthday was on a Saturday this year! So we got to stretch out the celebrations and food over the weekend. On Saturday morning, he took the older boys out for a walk on campus and then to the library. In the afternoon we had cake and played with the new Lego bricks.  (When I asked Timo what we should buy/make for Daddy's birthday, he said, "Legos!") There was also endless chicken dancing thanks to the musical birthday card from Mom G. Yes, mom, thank you so, so much for that card.

Notice some presents on the table, including a huge red cast iron pot (from Mom H)!!!

Devil's food chocolate cake, with decorations by T&M

Sunday was church in the morning, and then bike riding in the afternoon followed by birthday supper - new recipes, of course, according to our tradition: riced cauliflower and almond butter teriyaki stir fry with tofu and green beans. Both dishes were very easy and fast to make (key in our lives right now) and were really yummy. After the meal, Mattias asked, "What kind of rice is this? ... Cauliflower rice. I like it! Do you like it?" So I'd say that I will be making this again regularly in the supper routine! We do like cauliflower but I've only ever roasted it or put it in curry. I'm glad to know a new, easy way to prepare it.

Pizza!

It's not a weekly tradition yet but boy did we have fun! And I'm excited to have found a dairy-free mozzarella cheese that actually tastes good, and veggie sausages (Trader Joe's brand).

In my dreams we have an outdoor wood-burning brick oven for pizza and bread - but in the meantime I guess we'll content ourselves with the electric oven...

Our favorite 3rd grandparents

Phil and Gayle Woody: who joined us for a Saturday joint birthday breakfast to celebrate the boys!! (We also invited another family, but they got ill and had to cancel.) Gayle brought a bin of hand me-down Legos and dinosaurs for the boys - brilliant!

Cinnamon rolls and applesauce and sausage, of course!

This is his Very Excited face.

Thank you, chef, for making these this morning!

 
After breakfast, a bit of time to play tee ball and enjoy the mild fall weather we have had so far. Our Japanese red maple (in the background) turned a bright magenta this season and was beautiful.

After using the tee balls, Mattias insisted on trying with the basketball.

Rusk Time

No surprise here... the newest member of the family also likes rusks!!

Mats is gnawing on a cardamom rusk and doing a very respectable job of turning it into mush.

This particular batch of rusks has a mysterious story. Our normal homemade rusks (or should I say, Jim's) is the South African version. We LOVE these, and Jim makes several very good versions. They are hearty, mostly-healthy, very crunchy - perfect for dipping in coffee for a quick breakfast or an afternoon teatime. (It's possible that I am snacking on one right now with my afternoon coffee...) Plus we have lots of good associations with them because we ate them on a daily basis while in Cape Town. 

The Rusk Tin, which I got at a second-hand store in Cape Town

 

 
However, this last batch (which, shockingly, I made - I never make the rusks; Jim is so good at it) was another style, called "Cardamom Rusk". We have had the recipe in our box for a while but never made it. They are more a Dutch style or American style - sweeter and not as crunchy, though still extremely yummy. The recipe was given to us and says "from M Cox" on it, in her handwriting. Now for the mystery. I thought a family member gave us this recipe from her collection, which was written out by her friend, "M Cox." But, no! The person from whom I thought we were given this recipe says that indeed she didn't pass it on to us. So - who DID? Where did this recipe come from? Who is "M Cox"??? Any clues out there from our faithful readers?  

*Note: to make a vegan version of the Cardamom Rusk, I substituted soy buttermilk (soy mixed with apple cider vinegar) and flaxmeal for the egg.

And for fun - photos from the archives of the older two at this age. Boy, we sure do have round-headed, dark-eyed, sparsely-haired (is that a word?), cute children! Gemma wins for chubbiest wrists. Timo wins for most hair. And Mattias wins for tallest.

Gemma at 6 months - first rusk!

Timo at 7 months

Happy happy birthday birthday!

Our new birthday tradition, to match the number of years: 

Say that 35 times, as fast as you can: "Happy birthday! happy birthday! happy birthday! happy birthday! happy birthday! ..."

Well, no, not really. But it was still a celebratory bash! Jim arrived back from his 2 weeks in Cape Town on the evening of his birthday, Aug 26th. So we celebrated with birthday dinner and presents on the 27th (and a full day at home together even though it was a weekday, since Jim didn't have to return to work on his first day back). And of course we continued our real, long-standing tradition of "surprise birthday dinner" featuring new recipes.

(The dancer on the left was drawn, upon request by the featured girl, by Jim.)

Hanging out while Mom prepares dinner

Sweet potato fries with crunchy spices: sea salt, cumin, coriander, and brown sugar

Spinach salad (plus feta, blueberries, sunflower seeds, croutons) with tahini dressing

Gemma helped bring bread to the table

Steelhead fillet (with black grapes on the side)

And here's birthday Jim with his dessert! (once the kids were in bed) Icebox strawberry pie with pretzel crust!

Add caption

Good-bye to Durham

A little bit more looking back - 

It's the last week of July: the moving truck is packed; lots of stuff has been sold on craigslist as we continue to downsize; we've moved out of the basement apartment and are staying our final days with Dad & Mom Hawkins...time for one final date (coffee and a croissant in downtown Durham - just the two of us) before we depart. 

Naturally, we had to go rub the Bull's nose and take a picture in front of 'Major', an iconic piece of the "Bull City", the name for Durham originally taken from Bull Durham Tobacco company.

Below, selecting a few delicious items from Loaf, one of my favorite newer bakeries downtown. They have a huge brick oven in the bakery that you can observe. And the most amazing gougère (peppery cheese puffs) - and they even sell Nanaimo bars!! Of course we got one of each of those, plus some yummy flatbreads to share with everyone else back at 1406. Fun fact: did you know we had homemade (by Mom) Nanaimo bars at our wedding reception in 2001?

 

Weekend highlights

Memorial Day Weekend highlights: being outside! and homemade food! (yes, we're a week behind here...)

A walk through the neighborhood and down the trail to Northgate Park (in which Gemma insisted on taking 'baby' in her stroller, as well). We love that we are within walking distance of 3 different parks - more actually, but so far we've only been to these three. And right now the weather has been lovely, not too hot yet to prevent us from being out during the day.

And the next day was homemade pizza (with homemade dough and sauce). Gemma spent a very happy 30 minutes playing with a ball of dough (see pic below) while I was making the pizza and forming rolls from the leftover dough. She poked it and pounded it and rolled it and snuck little bites and spilled flour on the floor and had a grand time.

Oh, and the pizza tasted pretty good, too.

Bananas and Books

Breakfast time: bananas for Timo - so yummy and sticky and sweet.

And a cinnamon roll for Gemma. (Thank you, Jaja, for keeping us well-stocked with weekend cinnamon rolls!) "Delicioso!" says Gemma (learning some Spanish words from Dora the Explorer).
 

...followed by reading book after book in Daddy's lap. This one in the pic was Shel Silverstein's poems of  Where the Sidewalk Ends.
 

Wait a sec, Timo, you're too young for coffee.

Jim's job: Foster's Market & Catering

I'm now working part-time at Foster's Market, a longtime Durham eatery that is well-known in the Triangle area and throughout the country. Since opening the Market in 1990, Sara Foster has added a second location in Chapel Hill and authored four cookbooks. Visitors come literally from far and wide in order to experience Foster's firsthand! I've met folks from New York and Philly, Arizona and San Diego, all of whom gushed about how much they loved Sara's cookbooks and were so excited to finally visit her restaurant in Durham. There are also our regulars, for whom Foster's is a part of their daily routines.

It has been fascinating to see the insides of a coffeshop/bakery/restaurant, especially one that is managed very well and serves high quality food. They make as much of it from scratch as they can: the baked goods, the mayo and all the dressings, plus house-roasted meats for sandwiches and salads. I've learned a lot and I'm thankful to work with and for good, interesting, fun people. Sara herself works nearly everyday.

Scones, muffins, quick breads, cookies, and New York style coffee cake are baked daily. My favorites are the chocolate chip peanut butter scone, the whopper (a chocolate cookie with walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, and a dash of espresso), and the coconut macaroons.

It took some time to learn the system for taking orders: each item on the menu has a special code and an individual price, and as you can see from the green boards hanging from the ceiling, there are a LOT of items.

Foster's also sells various unique foodstuffs, such as local/organic/gourmet dressings, spreads, chips, bakery kits, chocolates, candies, baskets, beer, and wine.

Yes, the cakes and pies are baked daily, to, and they are Yummy! Cakes: chocolate, carrot, coconut, German chocolate. Pies: mixed berry, apple, pecan, french silk, lemon chess, chocolate chess. Even though I don't usually go for cheesecake, the oreo chocolate cheesecake looks amazing...I want to give it a try sometime.

One of our signatures is the plethora of salads made fresh each day using the best ingredients available. Tarragon chicken salad; roasted new potato salad; tuna salad; sesame roasted veggies; watercress with tomatoes and bleu cheese; ceasar - these are just a few on offer. All are extremely tasty!

Come for a visit and we'll make a trip to Foster's!