Posts made in February, 2009

丼 Donburi (Japanese rice bowls)

Posted by Michelle on Feb 28, 2009 in food, Recipes | 0 comments

Donburi or Japanese rice bowls are one of my favorite quick comfort foods. It is a big bowl of rice topped with meat cooked in a salty-sweet savory broth. There are also donburi that include raw fish such as tekkadon (fresh tuna) and my personal favorite, negi-tori don (fresh fatty tuna with scallions). (Though I love to cook, I’d never make either of these two donburi at home. There are certain things that I will leave to the experts and raw fish/meat dishes are among those. )

Popular cooked donburi combinations include:

• 親子丼 – oyako don (literally parent/child rice bowl) – chicken & egg
• かつ丼 – katsudon – fried cutlet (usually pork)
• 牛丼 – gyuudon – beef bowl

Donburi is a quick meal for those days/nights that you want something filling and comforting with minimal effort. It is just a matter of stirfrying your ingredients, adding the sauce, simmering and then pouring over rice. I try to keep a supply of tare (the broth that the topping is cooked in) on hand in the freezer.

Donburi Sauce (Tare)

3 1/2 c. dashi (Japanese stock)
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)
2 tbsp sugar

Mix to combine.

HINTS

• If making ahead, pour into ice cube trays, let freeze and then pop out cubes and put into plastic bags for later use.
• Use instant dashi (dashi no moto) to simplify the prep. It can be found in the Japanese food section of your local Asian market. Low sodium chicken broth can substitute.

Here’s a concotion that I call 何でもいい丼 or the “Whatever You’ve Got is Fine Bowl” because, literally, whatever you want to add into your donburi is your choice.

1. Prep your ingredients. I cut the veggies (bok choy and carrots) into little pieces. My beef was already in thin slices.
2. Heat a small pot over high heat and stir fry your veggies and protein.
3. Add broth (I use about 1/3 c. for one serving) and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Pour over rice. DONE!

Mobloggin

Posted by Michelle on Feb 27, 2009 in blogging, Techie Mama | 0 comments

Testing out the WordPress iPhone app, complete with a gratuitous TLE photo. Have to test the photo feature after all This is fun! More when TLE isn’t messing with things she shouldn’t be…

The Twiddle Monster

Posted by Michelle on Feb 27, 2009 in Breastfeeding | 1 comment

The Little Empress has always been what you could call, uh, an acrobatic nurser. As she became more mobile, it seemed to be fun for her to turn nursing into some sort of infantile gymanstics event, twisting, turning and generally getting herself into some truly odd positions. She also has a habit of practically somersaulting from boob to boob, as though she’s trying to decide which side tastes better.  As she’s grown, these gymnastics routines have been increasing in frequency and weirdness to the point that one of these days, I’m expecting her to nurse upside down, balancing a sippy on her foot. I’m sure that experienced toddler moms will assure me that this is, for all intents and purposes, all in toddler-day’s work.

As strange and gravity defying as these nursing routines are, they do not bother me. In fact, I welcome them because they show that The Little Empress is becoming more mobile and creative. (I had never really thought that “jungle gym” was in a mother’s job description; I guess I just never read the fine print.) Sure, there are days when I wish she would just lay there like the mostly-compliant lamprey newborn she once was but hey, it is a part of growing up.

What does bother me is the fact that TLE insists on twiddling whatever nipple she is not nursing on. Every. Single. Time. No matter how I try to cover up or protect myself, a free hand will come out of no where to twiddle. This is especially annoying in the middle of the night when she wakes up to nurse. No sooner than she latches on will that hand come up. In my head, I hear the Jaws theme as her free hand pats the boob, looking for her toy of choice and then… TWIDDLE! AAAAAAH!

Much to my annoyance, TLE is just a twiddler and try as I might, nothing will stop her from twiddling. Nursing necklaces offer no distraction — she simply eyes them, scoffs (I swear, she does scoff!) and then, with a maniacal glint in her eye, she goes after the nipple with even more gusto. A boob tucked securely into a  shirt, bra, tank top or combination thereof, is also easily defeated. A hand shielding said nipple will get pulled at or otherwise she’ll try to force her hand under mine. A very persistent girl, TLE is. If I do not relent, the boob currently in TLE’s mouth will get chomped with enough teeth to injure before she moves on to bite the hand. OW!!

*sigh* At this point, I know there really isn’t much I can do to stop Ms. Twiddler. Something about twiddling settles her and like it or not, I think I have to just let it be. She’ll outgrow it. Maybe. At the very least, she will not nurse forever and someday I’ll laugh at it. But for now, all I can do is roll with the twiddles. Gyah.

Simple joys

Posted by Michelle on Feb 25, 2009 in Life, Photography | 1 comment

After several weeks of feeling stuck in a rut, I decided it was high time to climb out of it by finding the time to do things I truly like. Today that included taking some photos while at our weekly playgroup and then finding the time to leisurely edit those pictures. Here’s a photo of The Little Empress from the playgroup shoot.

I even got to enjoy a cup of coffee and a brownie while I edited the photos. Aah, simple joys.

ADDENDA: I haven’t enjoyed a good cup of coffee in months. I had decided to cut it out in the spirit of being healthy but you know what? I missed my daily caffeine rush. So now I am more than happy to welcome coffee back into my life. It helps brighen my day. So YAY! Welcome back coffee!

Into overtime

Posted by Michelle on Feb 23, 2009 in Breastfeeding, Parenting | 1 comment

I am so lucky to sit here with The Little Empress in my lap, having nursed herself to sleep as she has for the past 11 months. Mainstream recommendations to establish seperate sleeping routines without nursing down be damned — my daughter is happy and healthy and loves to be with her Mommy. In spite of the comical lack of propriety that only an 11 month old can get away with (as well as the utter lack of privacy since The Little Empress is ALWAYS with me), I am happy to breastfeed. I know that this relationship between myself and TLE is as precious as it is temporary and as a result, I treasure every moment of it. (Yes, even when she’s biting me.) Because I know that far too soon, she will eventually wean and the snuggles of a babe at my breast will be only a sweet memory. But just as importantly, I hope that this bond between her and I strengthens, to pave the roads of communication and trust that I know she will need when she hits her turbulent teenage and early adult years.

But enough with planning for the future — it is time to enjoy the present. As we approach the one year mark, there are many nursing mothers who would consider weaning their child if they haven’t already. Honestly, if I were still working, I probably would have weaned at 6 months though it would have pained me to do so. It wasn’t any secret that I hated pumping. It wasn’t the taking time out of my day that I hated but the fact that it made me feel inadequate as a mother. I never pumped well and after three daily pumping sessions, I was lucky to get a measy 5oz of milk for her which was barely enough for one feeding. I tried every trick in the book including looking at photos, bringing her clothes, massage, Mother’s Milk Tea, specialized pumping equipment, etc. Nothing worked. I am sure that had we continued, my milk supply would have slowly but surely dried up. As it was, during those few weeks, my daily supply began to diminish.

In response, TLE began to reverse cycle, taking more of her feedings at night when I was home. While this was good for our nursing relationship, this also meant that she began holding out as long as she could between bottle feedings during the day. By the last two days leading up to my leaving work completely, she had gone on a complete bottle strike. She simply would not drink from a bottle even though she was starving. It got so bad that after nearly 8 hours of refusing, The Hubster(tm) drove TLE 40 miles to my former workplace so that she would eat. On my last real day in the office, The Hubster ™ and TLE drove to work with me and sat in the parking lot all day while I ran out every 2 hours so TLE could nurse.

(Oh, the stories I will have to tell this child when she grows up I fully intend on embarrassing her in front of her friends with “When you were little…” stories. Isn’t that one of the perks of parenthood?)

Luckily, I was able to become a SAHM soon after and TLE has thrived on the Breastaurant ever since. For better or worse, TLE has never had a lovey unless my boobs count. I have the distinct feeling that TLE would bring my boobs with her, wherever she went, to snuggle on (or bite) as she sees fit. (Come to think of it, so would The Hubster(tm) however he has not been able to have quality time with the boob because, well, the baby is stuck to them. all. the. time.)

As we prepare to enter overtime (by American standards, at least,) I find myself thinking back to the first few weeks when each nursing session was a challenge. She had a poor latch and a weak suck and was a very sleepy newborn. I remember going to the lactation consultant for the first time a week after she was born, revealing very raw, injured nipples due to her poor latch. It hurt so bad but I refused to give up.  I am so grateful that I didn’t.

As TLE has grown, so has our nursing relationship. The days of the sleepy newborn are long gone, as are the nearly hour long nursing sessions. (Thank god!) These days, nursing sessions aren’t so much sessions as they are quick pops in and out on her part. Picking her up and putting her on my lap will reveal whether or not she wants to nurse. If she does, she’ll simply push up my shirt and help herself. And god help me if I don’t want her to nurse because she will if she wants to, even if it means throwing herself to the side and pushing up my shirt despite my attempts to keep covered.

Sometimes, she’ll decide that she wants a quick top off in the middle of playing, in which case I find myself doing this:

She’s well on her way to toddler nursing. I am so happy to have gotten this far and can’t wait to see how far we will get.