One Thing I Hoped I Wouldn't Pass On: Four Eyes

Years ago, long before children were even close to a reality for me, my optometrist examined my eyes, sat back and said, "You better hope for a miracle. Because that's what it would take for your children to not need glasses."

I don't remember how that came up, but I assume I'd asked him about genetics.

No matter. His answer devastated me.

I'd had glasses since I was 12 (back when they were big and thick in plastic ungodly plastic frames). Even though I tried to destroy them all, I'm pretty sure there's a photo of me somewhere like the one on the left, with my broken glasses being held together with tape.

Before this exam, I'd been doubling my prescription each year. Doc Ireland's prediction was that I'd keep on this track until my eyes would stabilize for a short period before I'd need bifocals.

I'd lucked out at some point in high school and was able to get contacts. But those were no good in the swimming pool, where I spent most of my time practicing and competing.

I couldn't imagine passing on the bad eyes gene. But I knew he was right. My dad had rotten eyesight (though not quite as bad as mine), plus a little astigmatism he so generously passed on to me and my sister.

Now we can add my little princess to that abnormally curved cornea legacy.

We learned today that my future farmgirl needs glasses, largely to correct that nasty little astigmatism in one eye...even though she has 20/20 vision in both eyes.

She's been petrified about having to get glasses, so I've let myself procrastinate this visit. But when it became clear that some of her reading troubles may be linked to her ability to focus on words, I set up the appointment.

Sure enough, it's confirmed. My optometrist was right (at least that one of my children needs glasses). That's not to say she'll end up with Coke bottle lenses like me.

Plus...have you seen the glasses kids get these days? They're super cute, come in all sorts of fun colors, with prints and metallic flecks.

And, apparently, kids think that other kids with glasses are smart, honest and, um, cool. All things I will tell my daughter, who is coming around.

We turned the experience tonight into a mini shopping spree and she picked out a most adorable frame for her new glasses. And we celebrated with a trip to get a fast-food meal of her choice, plus milkshake.

Next week, the true test, when we pick them up and get trained on how to take care of them.

Wish us luck.

A Big Ham, a Fat Cat and a Lot of Quality Family Time

Next generation Garfield fans.

There's just never enough time to do all we really want to do when we visit family over the holidays.

Yet, as for our primary objective -- a Thanksgiving feast: Mission Accomplished.

The turkey never thawed in time, so we subbed in a spiral honey ham and served that up with: Sim's famous bourbon sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, marinated carrots, my experimental citrus infused cranberry sauce and rolls.

To drink: Hot buttered spiced cider.

For dessert: Hoosier sugar cream pie, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cream.

For good measure: We served up the big meal on my Grandmother's crystal.

For entertainment: We dusted off the projector and viewed Kodachrome slides from 1980 until my son was born; watched Tangled (rave reviews all around); watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (my first time); visited the Fairmount Historical Museum where the kids especially enjoyed the Garfield (Jim Davis) room; watched Rear Window with the family; then headed to Columbus for a trip to Zaharakos and some shopping.

Of course the best part is always time with family, especially when we're all working together to pull together a meal for which we are all thankful.

'We're Sisters...Let's Work Together...Share Ideas...Share Friendships'

My sister dug up this interview with my grandmother in one of the books in a series featuring "Memories of Hoosier Homemakers."

My grandmother, a Purdue home ec grad, had done several of the interviews for the series. But she was also interviewed and had some things to say about the homemaker sisterhood and club activity.

This reminds me of the problems facing clubs and organizations today:

"So many of the clubs are older women and they have not brought in the younger women. And that's too bad.  There are things that as older women we could help the young women with - things that we have learned in keeping house that would be of value to her.  Instead of looking at us as old women and young women if we would just say - 'We're sisters.  We're all homemakers and let's work at this together and let's share ideas and let's share friendships.' I think this would really instill a lot more interest in our clubs." - Marjorie McDonough, Grant County, Ind.

Dad thinks she was interviewed by the series editor Eleanor Arnold.

Index excerpt.

My sister came across the reference while she and my family were researching a presentation about rural Indiana life in the early 1900s.

Dad says the women on the photo above are ladies modeling hats made in Purdue millinery classes at Crawfordsville, 1916. My grandmother, Marjorie, was the interviewer of many of those quoted in this book.

Photo of book cover courtesy of Hoosier Outsider.

Cast Iron Skillet Naan

Master dough recipe.

My latest happy thing is that I can make naan with the master recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day book.

I'd never read through the entire book. But after the temperature dropped, I dusted off the book and decided to make a batch of yeast dough to use for the week. I was actually looking for Thanksgiving recipes when I came across a recipe at the back of the book for skillet naan.

Who knew you could make naan in a cast iron skillet? Two of my favorite things combined: Indian food and cooking with cast iron.

What I didn't expect was to have about a 10-minute time frame to whip up a batch. But that became a necessity when I realized the frozen naan I had for a new baby gift (a side for the Goan black-eyed peas) was horribly iced over.

So I reached into the fridge for the rising dough I made on Sunday, rolled out some pancakes of dough and slapped them into a heated skillet.

I know you're not supposed to use your friends as guinea pigs, but we did taste the naan before I sent a batch over to the family with the new baby.

My verdict: delicious.

It'd be very easy to add garlic or other spices to this recipe.

I'm also excited to know that this is a recipe that can be executed on a campfire. I could see making a batch of this yeast dough and frying up some fresh bread for some hungry campers.

An Indian-Inspired Family Meal

My sister-in-law headed to India this afternoon on a mission trip to work in an orphanage and an eye clinic over the next couple weeks.

In support of her endeavor...and because we also happen to love South Asian food...we served up some Goan black-eyed peas (recipe from the Indian Slow Cooker) and my cousin's recipe for Honey Curry Chicken.

It's not quite authentic Indian cuisine (and there's nothing healthy about it), but the chicken is delicious.

Honey Curry Chicken

6-8 chicken breasts (or thighs - I remove the skin)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp curry powder

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in baking dish, stir in honey, mustard, curry and salt. Add chicken, coat both sides, leaving meat side up. Bake for one hour.

Serve over rice and with veggies.

Test Kitchen Notes: My son cleaned his plate and even tried the black-eyed peas. But my daughter thought the chicken was too sweet. I'm thinking of cutting the sauce in half next time and seeing how that works out.

Bees Take Center Stage at Living-History Farm

My future farmkids think they've seen enough of working farms, so they're not often impressed with the living-history farms in our area.

But my guess is they'll get excited about the new Honey House at nearby Kline Creek Farm in DuPage County. I know I'm excited to see it.

The building, which was dedicated Saturday, will allow for on-site honey processing. There are some 100,000 honeybees in the farm's apiary.

But the Honey House is meant to have a more important purpose than facilitating retail sales. It's aimed at educating the public about the importance of bees in our daily lives, how critical they are to our food supply and how their populations are at risk because of pesticide use and unexplained diseases.

Dr. Lawrence DuBose is the longtime living-farm volunteer who drove the effort to develop the Honey House at Kline Creek Farm.

"I’m concerned that a lot of industry-funded research is misleading the public about the relationship between pesticides and the health of bees," DuBose told the Naperville Sun in an article about the Honey House's opening.

The formal name of the building is Wanda's Honey House, named for DuBose's late wife. 

Kline Creek Farm, located at 1N600 County Farm Road, is open to the public 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Monday. More information about the farm here and on its Facebook page.

Photo by Hoosier Outsider

Poorly Paid Cocoa Farmers Aren't Keeping Up with Growing Demand

A coworker sent this Gizmodo story to me today as a sign of the coming apocalypse: "We're Running Out of Chocolate."

According to the story, consumers are eating more chocolate than ever and production isn't increasing with demand.

At the heart of the problem is paying a fair wage to the farmer. To make matters worse (for chocolate lovers), there's less and less incentive for cocoa growers to stay in the business. Eighty cents a day just isn't cutting it. So many West African cocoa farmers are turning to more lucrative crops, farming for rubber or abandoning farming outright and taking opportunities in cities.

Does that mean we're all going to have to develop a taste for carob (ugh)? Or will we see $11 Snickers bars?

Gizmodo reports that the big chocolate companies - Hershey and Mars - are on it. They've sequenced the cacao genome and are working to develop more resilient trees.


Photo from Artshooter's Flickr photostream.

Missing The Farm

Garlic for planting this fall.

Ugh. I'm in week two of a virus. I'll admit, I'm not a very good patient...maybe because I have no patience.

I don't like sitting in bed. And the minute I start feeling better, I'm tempted to do things like clean or work.

But the worst part this time around is that this nasty little virus is keeping me from visiting The Farm. Because of school, work and soccer, it's been months since our last visit.

And I miss the place. The irony is that The Farm is the best place for me to go when I need to re-charge my batteries.

Plus...I've been unable to refill my garlic stash. Dad planted a few weeks ago, but promised to hold onto some bulbs for us.

Photo by Hoosier Outsider.

Success with Simple Yellow Lentils

The first time I made the simple yellow lentils from my Indian Slow Cooker book, I didn't find the process so simple.

That's probably because I used the wrong type of lentil. This time I used a moong dal, that broke down within the five-hour time period as expected.

I'm hearing some good feedback on the recipe. And I've enjoyed all four of the servings I've had. This was a great dish to help me recover from this persistent virus...lots of protein and a healthy dose of medicinal garlic and spice to clear my sinuses.

Still, I'm going to start making half recipes going forward unless I'm planning for company. The full 5-quart crock pot versions are too much for us, even when I share with neighbors and coworkers.

RIP Gypsy

Sookie keeps watch over Gypsy and Molly in July, 2009.

Bad news from SoCal. My sister informed me that her prized layer Gypsy was killed on Halloween night by a local predator.

She woke Monday to find the coop open and bloodied...feathers and chicken guts everywhere.

Creepy.

This is her second chicken death this year. The first was an older hen, who died of natural causes.

But there was nothing natural about this murderous attack on Gypsy, a Rhode Island Red she bought in the summer of '09.

My SoCal sis thinks it was probably a raccoon or a possum. Those urban raccoons can be pretty viscous. The creature tore apart Gypsy, but left the other two hens - Molly and Camilla - alone.

Her pen seemed pretty secure. Any ideas how to better protect backyard chickens from creatures of the night?

Sookie could be pretty good at sounding the alarm, but I'd be worried a good-sized raccoon could take her too.

Farming Is the New 'Sexy Profession'

Cannot let another minute go by without passing along this Crain's Chicago Business story about how farming is the new "sexy profession."

Ah, a rock star story about farming. I'd missed those. My last rock star post was in June.

Crain's goes all out, leading with sensational headline, "Farmers are a hot commodity; outdoorsy and nurturing in the new sexy profession."

"Indeed," the business pub asserts, "farmers seem to be the toast of the town these days."

To back up the claim, the publication notes:

1. Over a six-hour period during Labor Day Weekend, Chicago's Green City Market counted a record crowd of 9,000 shoppers.

2. The growing popularity of "farm dinners" served at the farm with the farmer herself at the table.

3. Foodies not only know the names of the chefs, but of the farmers who grew the food or raised the meat.

So who is this new breed of farmer, attracting the media, stirring interest among investors and drawing tourists?

They are young, well-educated and eager to connect with their audience consumers. Oh, and unlike their shy, keep-to-themselves forefathers, they embrace marketing.

The story is over the top, but I can't disagree that farming and farmers are hot.

Photo from h.koppdelaney's Flickr photostream.