mirror, mirror

Oh. My. Deity of Choice.

This wrapping business is clearly getting out of hand. It started off as yet another Mama does research on gear instead of on the dissertation, and now it's sucking me in via the local wrappers. I keep meeting people who think like me, who find my parenting strategies (ha! strategies. That's rich) make sense, who will eat my food...but now things have gone a little too far.

Today, I think I met my doppelganger. She has two boys, she's into organics, homemade cleansers, cloth diapering, babywearing, nurse 'till they quit, has a kid with food allergies, co-sleeping...and her name is the same as mine, bar ONE consonant.

And she showed me this . Omigod (see above), and they are cheaper on eBay.

And today, this came - the Maija. Used, of course, and way cheaper than new. And ooh, the Christiane, and I'm ogling the Claudia - and the Kristen looks like a beautiful hat the MIL knitted for the Man for Chanuka, which he would NOT let me steal and oooh ooh ooh.

On a slightly less gushy note - if only because this subject sternly resists gush - today's mail also had a package of these . I tried an all-cloth weekend, and in under two days we were out of cloth and falling back on the flushable gDiaper inserts. In, mind you (to give them their due), the cute gDiaper pants. So Kim over at Montana's Diaper Store was very patient and found me these. Hopefully, they'll work! They'd better - the Man is already reading me a budgetary riot act, and is rarely pacified by 'but I returned that, and used the money to buy this.' In his mind, spent is spent - and there are no do-overs.

But this is all irrelevant! Tonight is Column Night, and tomorrow is Polish, Look Disgusted and Send It Off Night. This would all be simpler, of course, if I weren't trying to write the thing in five minute intervals. I keep it in a folder marked 'Professional Writing,' if only to remind myself that this is Work with a capital 'w,' Official and Wage-Earning.

Note: the series of capitalized words in the above sentence have nothing to do with a lapse into Elizabethan English, but rather in an attempt to persuade the author - if not the reader as well - that this is Serious Business, and should not be Taken Lightly. Ya dig?

Damnit. The Serious Business is 178 words too long. That's not me being wordy, that's me tackling a topic too big to fit. And it's too late to start over...sigh. Back to the coal mines, folks.

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I'm taking a break from the column to offer up tonight's dinner, which was fast, fabulous and a little fattening, alas. Still, the Y chromosomes were happy, happy people, and it's been a while since I've seen a pot that empty. Hm.

Coconut Lime Lox Pasta (say that five times fast! Okay, so it's not that hard. Fine.)

Serves 4.
Bears a rather vague resemblance to "Pasta Bows with Smoked Salmon and Dill," from Pasta Entertaining by Linda Fraser, pg 26.

1 bag Tinkyada pasta (rice pasta)
2 scallions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and squashed
1 Tb olive oil
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 can light coconut milk
1/2 cup mirin, or rice wine for cooking
2 broccoli crowns, cut into florets of medium size (not too small, or they will cook too quickly)
12 oz smoked salmon, or lox, cut into bite-sized bits
2 Tb fresh dill, chopped, or 1 tsp dried
4-6 kaffir lime leaves (sorry, Anon., but yes, kaffir) or juice of 1 lemon

Cook the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, heat oil and toss the garlic into a big sauteeing pan (it has to be big enough for everything to end up in the pan once you are done, pasta included). Saute until the garlic starts to brown, then add wine and let it steam furiously for a minute or two. Dump in the coconut milk, the broccoli and let it boil down for a few minutes.

Add lox, kaffir lime leaves (not lemon juice - if using lemon juice instead of lime leaves, add just before serving or it'll get lost). Stir. When pasta is cooked and drained, add everything else.

Toss with pasta and serve. Serve yourself first, or you risk getting edged out by the other omnivores at the table, including the ones that have been refusing broccoli steadily for the past month, not to name names - you know who you are.
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P.S. sorry about the lack of photos - the camera broke! Agh!