Quinoa Power!

My New Roots - How to Cook Quinoa from My New Roots on Vimeo.

I like to cook and eat quinoa (KEENwah) way more than my family would like me to cook it. Let us say that they are not fans. So when my friend Kate shared this video from My New Roots, I got pretty excited. THIS, finally, was the marketing campaign quinoa needed in my household! Quinoa is cute! Quinoa is groovy! Quinoa is beautiful! I love every part of this video. It's so cute that my teeth hurt in a totally organic, wholesome way.

"Guys, guess what, I have this fantastic video to show you! It's gonna knock you right out of your socks!" That's how excited I was when I called the boys to the computer.

OK, fine, the truth is that they were underwhelmed and not converted to quinoa through cuteness.

But on Mother's Day, the mother in this house wanted two things for dinner: beets and quinoa salad. (If I had included mushrooms and anchovies we would have hit all the most hated food items in this house.)

So we made a little quinoa movie of our own, with original music used with permission by our very own, talented, 13 year-old friend, Jamie. As always, Jonas was my gracious and patient iMovie tutor and filming assistant.

Ladies and Gents, (do we have gents reading this? come on gents, make a comment if you're really out there)... I give you Quinoa Power!

recipe for a fine summer day

me and my pink grapefruit sorbetto

Start the Sunday morning with sourdough pancakes.

Totally fudged the recipe, added a little yeast, milk and butter, along with a couple of cups of flour the night before, some eggs, salt, and more flour and milk the next morning. They are divine, so light, so delicious...

While cleaning up the breakfast dishes, begin preparing dinner (love that). What's on the menu? Quinoa salad with peas and radishes, mint and cilantro, based on Heather's great recipe. Quinoa takes a lot of coddling (rinsing it beforehand, dry roasting it, rinsing it in cold after cooking to minimize the mush factor), but I think it's worth it. And so good for us.

And also, Baked Sweet Potato Falafel from 101 Cookbooks. My new favorite vegetarian food porn site. Here's what it looked like on the plate tonight, served with a side of cucumber-dill-mint yogurt salad, and fresh greens from our garden:

Sylvan had three helpings of quinoa salad, no Sweet Potato Croquettes (as we called them to avoid the gag reflex on the word "falafel" for the boys, you know "feel awful"). Jonas avoided the quinoa but ate the croquettes. Hey, both are delicious and good for you, so who cares.

Between breakfast and dinner we went to Damariscotta to the bead store for Jonas (who makes great earrings and he's taking orders to finance a portion of his ski pass), for a swim (my first of the season), and the fabric store for me to remedy one of those awful mistakes that we sometimes make. That would have made me swear a BIG BAD swear, had Jonas not still been awake.

Is the addage "Measure twice, cut once" one that crosses cultural borders? Probably, since idiocy knows no bounds. So I KNEW that I needed to cut the fabric for E's PJ pants a certain way. I thought it through twice. I laid it out. And cut it completely the wrong way. Argh. *&(*@!!!! See how I had the iPod all set to go for the pinning and cutting last night? (And that adorable little bag, a gift from E. and her mom, just because. Just because they thought of me when they saw it. I love that sentiment, the bag, and them!)

Also while in Damariscotta, we stopped by North Cottage Coffee for some outrageously lovely handmade gelato. This place is worth a stop, for coffee, gelato, sweet and savory treats, and a great cafe atmosphere. Above is pictured the blood orange sorbetto. I chose the pink grapefruit, which might possibly be up there as my new all-time favorite, up there with Jake's homemade strawberry sorbet. Great color, texture, and flavor to die for. And please notice these cute cups they serve the gelato in, and those plastic spoons? Totally great design, although made of plastic, they fit in your hand and have a nice small spoon-head, perfect for shaving off tiny nibbles of these delectable frozen treats.

Finally, our new peeps went outside their enclosure for the first time this evening. Just a little bit of fresh grass and flying bugs. They were a little unsure, a little nervous about the idea. Kept going in and out.

Notice that buff cochin at right, above photo? I love her fluffy little botto and feathered slippers! There was some aggressive behavior we observed, and we are hoping that we are not seeing the beginnings of roosters. We still have them separated from the "big" girls for now.