Tender hearts

Since the tragedy of shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut, I have been having mixture of emotions and thought as I am sure many people have. I kept thinking how the families of those who lost their lives are spending this weekend, this holiday and on. I have a 3 year old whom I cannot imagine living without. I am so grateful for her, and t the same time feels tremendous pain inky heart for the families of the victims.

I am experiencing waves of emotions particularly because I am a therapist by profession, and I work with a lot of teenagers and young adults who suffer from mental illness. Whenever there is a tragedy like the one on Friday, it is more likely the person is suffering from a mental illness. And I believe this case was not any different, according to the media. We all ask why this young man engaged in such a violent act. Is that the mental illness he was suffering, family environment, his up bringing? "what really happened in his mind that day?" Is all we want to know, but we will never know.

My husband and I have had an extensive talk after the tragedy about what is happening in this society we live in, what we need to do to protect our children, what we need to do as activists and advocates for our children and peace, the conversation will continue, as we do not have the right answer.

All I know at this time, is that we all have a choice how we take this tragedy and how we make changes in our lives from now on. We may choose to not change anything or we may choose to make a dramatic changes. It is all up to each one of us. I do hope that whatever you choose to do will contribute to more peaceful society for our children.

30 mins to a wonderful biscuits on weekend.

On Sumday morning, I usually wake up a little bit earlier than everyone else (except my 2 yr old) and bake something for breakfast. Usually some kind of fruit muffins or biscuits and it really takes 30 minutes from start to end. This past Sunday, Ely and I made biscuits and ate with home made easy peach jam.

Simple plate in summer

With bounty of summer veggies at Farmer's Market, I made a very simple snack for myself.

You will need...

Heirloom Tomato sliced
5 leaves of basil minced
Salt and pepper
Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Bon Appetite

Corn salsa... With produce from CSA basket this weekend

Recipe to be posted soon...


Organic corn, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic.
 Even Ely likes it with her chips.

Thoughts on Food.

I recently found out about the epidemic of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in Kern county. Department of public health reported that 44% of school age children are overweight and 1 in 4 children are overweight before they reach 5 years of age. Our generation is the first generation that our life expectancy is shorter than the one before us.
I am not a nutritionist nor am I a doctor.  But I cannot help but wonder what we eat and what we feed our children have much to do with this health problem.
Growing up in Japan, my parents rarely kept cookies and chips at home. I remember sodas were truly a "treat" for special occasion such as birthdays. We ate family dinner every single day and every meal had some vegetables with it. My parents took us out to eat maybe once a month and going to a fast food restaurant was very rare. As I grew up, how we eat also has changed in Japan. With the change, came more health issues such as cancers, diabetes and allergies. One thing that has not and will not change in my parents' house is that we have family dinner every day. If I am to visit them in Japan, I (along with whoever comes with me) am expected to be at the table at dinner time.

Now that I have a family, and I am the primary cook for the family, I became more conscious about food for my family, especially for my 2 & 1/2 years old daughter. Even though we are not too strict with Ely's diet, we make sure she has ample amount of fruits and veggies every day. When she was a baby, I made baby food from veggies and fruits from local farmer's markets, and because they were so fresh and delicious, there was no need for me to "cover" the taste of veggies with sugar or anything else. We also make sure we have family dinner every day.

That is why I truly thank all the farmers and vendors at our local farmers market to provide us with such variety of fresh produce. I started going to farmers market regularly when I lived in Chicago 7 years ago. When my husband and I moved to Orange County 5 years ago, we continues going to many local markets and gradually reduced the amount of produce we buy at grocery stores. Since we moved to Kern County in October of last year, we are slowly but surely getting to know our farmers here.
For our family, it is priceless to be able to picture the faces of people who care about what nourishes our body and mind. My hope is for our children to know what is in our tomato sauce and that food comes from plants, trees, and animals, and not from boxes or jars, and not from shelves at the grocery stores. And of course for our children to be healthy and to have a long life.

Salmon with mini tomatoes, green onion, and lemon with herbs of Provence, salt and pepper. Grill it on the grill, or in the oven.

These white nectarines are amazing. Ely brings it to me and asks me, "mom, can you wash it?" and bites into it and tells me, "it is juicy!".
On Sundays, I make family breakfast. With these, I made rosemary home fried potatoes, with feta cheese and basil omelet.

The vendor told me that it takes three types of hens to make this beautiful and colorful tray of eggs.

Celebration for the family with local produce

It has been a long week since last Saturday. My sister-in-law and her family moved from Orange County, and we had 4 family get together since then. Last saturday, we celebrated one our cousins' return from Thailand. Wednesday was 4th of July. We got together twice for my husband's 38th birthday on Thursday and Saturday (his actual birthday). We did make it to our farmer's markets to get our fruits and veggies.

When my husband's friend was grilling, I tried a new way of making red salsa. Unfortunately, I did not take any picture while I was making it, but I will make sure I do next time I make it (and it will be sooner than later). But here is what I did.

I wrapped tomatoes (individually), onion (the whole one without skin), garlic (the whole one with skin), jalapeno peppers (grouped them together) in foil, and put them on the grill. Cover the grill for about 50 mintues or so. Check them time to time to  make sure they are not burnt. When they are done, tomatoes will look bubbly, onion will be soft, and garlic will be soft. Jalapeno should have some burned marks on it.

Let them cool for a few minutes.

Combine them in the food prosessor. Garlic needs to be pushed out of the skin. Make sure they are not too hot. It will push out very easily and looks almost like paste. See jalapeno peppers unless you like your salsa extra spicy., but save the seeds in case you want to add a little kick later on.

Run the food prosessor for several seconds until salsa reaches the consistency of your like.

Add salt, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. Taste it and if you like it bit more spicy, chop some jalapeno seeds and add it in the salsa.

On Saturday for my husband's birthday BBQ, I made beef kabobs, shrimp kabobs, guacamole, and red salsa. Everything except beef, shrimps and chips came from farmer's market.

Hope you are having a wonderful July, too!

Visiting Farmhouse Farm

Last week, we visited From the Farmhouse Farm. April and her son, Cody showed us around, and Ely got to meet their baby chickens, baby pigs, mama pigs (huge!!), turkey, and adult chickens. The farm produces all organic vegetables and fruits. April told us, "If I don't want to eat food that has chemicals, why would I want to sell them?" They are always at the Saturday Farmer's Market on "F" street. You can find out what other farmer's market they go on their Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/fromthefarmhousefarm). April makes fruit jams and flavored almonds that are so good. You can buy them at the farmer's market, too.

April gave us Armenian Cucumbers, and I made Cucumber Agua Fresca at home. I learned about this drink when I was working at a Domestic Violence Shelter in Chicago. One of the women made this and I could not believe it was from cucumbers!

Cucumber Agua Fresca: recipe adopted from "put 'em up!" by Sherri Brooks Vinton

Cucumbers (I used two big Armenian Cucumbers, but you can use any kind. If you are using regular cucumbers, make sure you peel them and seed them. With Armenian, I did not have to do this).

Filtered water

2 table spoon of sugar (or to your like)

lime or lemon juice

Set a fine-mesh sieve or colander lined with dampened cheese cloth over a bowl.

Puree the cucumbers in a blender, and pour them over the cheese cloth. Let drain fully for a few minutes (might take about 10 minutes or so)

Pour the cucumber juice into a pitcher and add water, sugar and lime/lemon juice and stir together. Chill it in the refrigerator.

On Sunday, Ely, nephew Jeremy, and I met up with grandma and cousin Blanca at the Sunday Farmer's Market on Ming Avenue. Here is what we got.

At home, I made Peachy Guacamole. I usually make this with mango, but mangos are not in season yet. So I used yellow peaches. It is super easy and delicious!

Peachy Guacamole:

2 ripe peaches

2 avocado

2 tomatoes

1/2 onion

juice from 1/2 lime

handful of chopped cilantro

salt

Chipotle Chille (if you like it a bit spicy)

Mince onion and soak in water for one minute. Drain and put it aside

Dice peaches and avocados and tomatoes.

In a bowl, combine onion, peaches, tomatoes and avocado. Add salt to your taste (1/2 -1 tea spoon). mince Chipotle Chille if you are using it and add to the guacamole. Add lime juice and cilantro. Mix them together until they are all combined together. Taste it and add chille, salt, lime juice or cilantro if you need more. Enjoy it with your choice of chips.