lonibelle's Profile

1/2 hour day of screen time per day, exclusive of a family event. we let it slide for sleepovers and illness. any more than that and they/me start displaying addictive behaviors.

Lovely, I just spent a few minutes this morning looking at beautiful iittala and Marimekko goods. From what I can see you have nailed the best in Finnish design.

charming, I love art in the kitchen!

Philosophically, I not only want my kids to be aware of their food and to appreciate it; but I also want them to know we are all part of the natural cycle; carnivores, omnivores or herbivores. They've fished and gutted. Collected eggs, milked, and seen me slaughter, pluck, and gut chickens. They've weeded, and planted and harvested. They've also helped me deal with pests in the garden, so they know that almost no food is possible without a certain amount of killing. They are also all gentle souls, who treat even ants with respect. Being around farm animals and gardens has made them realize that much commercial food production is needlessly cruel, unsustainable, and only motivated by profit.

Oh, and my favorite filling is grated sweet potatoes sauteed with onion and cilantro and layered with Jack cheese. Second favorite is caramelized onions and brie. Both old Bon Appetite recipes?

We buy a quarter (about 100 lb.) about every 9 months or so for our family of five. We have teenagers and I cook beef once a week or so. There is great variety in hung weight of beef cattle. I would recommend buying some meat by the package from the farmer if possible. This would give you an idea of how well the meat is trimmed and packaged. I prefer vacuum sealed meat.

fourhats, I save the bones from ham steaks until I have four or five, since I fix a ham once every three or four years

excellent! I find for myself that consciously practicing gratitude helps me live both frugally and abundantly.

I think cooking/eating is the perfect metaphor for the transitory, yet enduring flow of experience. I can't cook or eat chicken soup with cauliflower as well as carrots and celery without remembering Omi. Cake on Sunday afternoon, compote for dessert, the circle of family at the table; all those connect the past to the present in a way more personal than the cycle of liturgy and more daily than the round of holidays. The meal has an eternal element that so little of life has anymore.

try for "Irish" bacon instead? my local stores carry it.