Winter | hansonfamily

Winter

Meanwhile, as the kitties were settling in to our family, our lives at home during the pandemic continued. We had some excitement with the water heater in the garage, when we heard regular “foom… foom…” noises from the garage. Our heater was flaring. We figured out who to call, and got a new water heater. That new one also had problems, however, so we called for a follow-up appointment. A higher level guy came out this time, and he criticized the installment work of the previous guy, and installed a second new water heater. This second guy did a great job, so then we were up and running again. That paragraph sounds quite straightforward, but realize that this meant going four days without hot water, which meant FOUR DAYS WITHOUT A SHOWER OR LAUNDRY for any of us. By the end of four days we were all feeling pretty gross. It was a huge relief to get a new heater working properly so we could take a shower, omg. Mike’s winter crop started to come up, and he checked it frequently. There were lots of little shoots of lettuce and gai lan, and they grew so fast that they visibly changed from day to day. Marie-laure’s Christmas packaged arrived during this time, and we opened and enjoyed our gifts. Our long-awaited coffee table arrived, too. We wanted a big square one, so it could be another activity center for family games, crafts, and projects, and we wanted it to be supported by legs that allowed us to put our own legs comfortably under the table. This turned out to be a challenge – it meant either a pedestal or a leg at each corner, with no crossbar. We also didn’t want anything too bulky because this would be a large piece of furniture that could dominate the room if it were too visually heavy. Turns out it’s hard to get a coffee table with a leg at each corner right now (who knew?). We finally chose a table by Ballard Designs which was basically a 4-foot square of walnut, supported by a pedestal frame in the center, so that the table top looked almost like it was floating. Perfect. It took many months to arrive, but it finally did, in January. We assembled it and it was perfect – exactly what we were looking for, with all the multi-use functionality that we hoped it would have. We helped Owen with a science projects at home, like a chemical reaction in a ziplock bag and putting a stick of celery into a glass with food dye in it to watch the dye be drawn up the stalk. Lela interviewed an astrophysics grad student over zoom as part of a school project, and wrote it up. She also did some cooking sessions over Zoom for the culture component of her French class. Mike ran another session of his D&D campaign over Zoom with Lela, Londyn, and Sydney, and tended to his raised beds in the garden, and installed a new panel over the electrical switch in our bathroom. He spent most workdays in meetings in the home office. I improved the organization of our entryway closet, and I did a bunch of cooking as usual. I went through a bunch of cookbooks to pull out the seasonal recipes that I wanted to make, which is something I do every season. I made Iranian pierogis – yeasted buns stuffed with lamb or spinach – which were a big hit. I also tried several different types of rye. And in the aftermath of Biden’s successful inauguration, I cooked a week of celebratory meals, with dishes from Persia, China, Scandinavia, Thailand, and many more. I wanted to celebrate the many people who have come here, including our ancestors and those of our friends, who have brought their cuisines with them and made our country a richer and better place.

Lela got her paper dragons up

Picture of Ellie's distance learning schedule, 7th grade, CMS

Wonton soup

All of Owen's storm troopers

Annotated Lego figurines

Creating the winter's menu and finishing Christmas letters

Our new water heater

Molting continues

Mike's shoots are coming up

Two sourdough loaves and a cornbread

Owen's science experiment: baking soda and vinegar

It puffed up and popped!

Triple butterscotch cake

Beans with chorizo, and sweet potato pancakes

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Blanket monster with both Ellie and Owen inside

LOADED market cart

Mike running a D&D session over Zoom

Cascabel bean soup and fresh bread

Experimenting with a rolling toy for our upcoming kitties

Opening Marie-laure's package

Ellie with a little game

Owen with the Expoding Kitties game

Nailing Owen's calendar to the wall, finally!

Winter favorite with bok choy, tofu, and miso ginger sauce

Watching Lela's origami video for public access TV

I folded this crane along with Lela's origami tutorial!

Beans and celery with glass noodle salad

Jelly Bean up at the farm

Henrietta's calf

Beet salad, barley and greens soup, marinated olives

Sweet potato pancakes on kale with avocado

Migas and breakfast loaf

Bird in the house! I caught it and took it out.

A winter favorite: frisee with poached egg and lardons

Owen's book

Delicious recipes from Flavor

More from flavor, with chard stems

Carrot loaf

Woodpecker with stash

Bits and bites for lunch

Pepper, onion, and chorizo medley

Mushroom soup and glazed turnips and carrots

Big pot of mushroom soup

Lela interviewed an astrophysics postdoc over zoom

Owen hauling the hay to the cows

And tossing it over

Giant shattered pumpkin for the chickens to enjoy

First Iranian stew to celebrate the inauguration!

"Before" picture of the space I'm trying to organize

And the bench

Too many shoes underneath

And the closet bins

More closet bins

Looming piles of stuff in closet

Persian herb stew and roast cauliflower from Flavor

Thai papaya salad and open faced Scandinavian sandwiches on rye

Cascabel beans, Persian walnut stew, Deborah Madison cucumber salad

Close-up of a single plate

Cascabel beans with the open faced sandwiches

Beet galette. All part of the weeklong celebration after inauguration

Weird sticky rye dough

Rye loaf, docked

Mushroom soup and cascabel beans

Rye and two sourdoughs

Some kids shooting paintballs over the neighborhood

Roast cauliflower

Sumac cauliflower and bean, beet, and quinoa salad

A newt up at the farm

The calf and Jelly Bean, who is looking skinny

Jemaine peeking over the partition at me

Persian walnut stew and green salad

Ellie practicing with the new kitties

They seem comfortable. See kitty-specific pages for more.

Mike demonstrating a tuning fork

Mike with the stuffed Persian pierogies

Which were a HUGE hit

With a Persian chicken stew. Definitely making these again.

Cauliflower kuku, pierogi, rye with salami & cheese, and with tuna salad

Persian stew and quick green salad

Lela heading off to town on her own

Loaded market cart

I may have overdone it a bit

Take-out tacos from our favorite place

Two pastries from the market

Owen dropped his hat on a walk

Wontons in red oil, Sichuan cucumber salad, and artichokes

Stem soup and carrot salad with toppings

Mike and I assembled our new coffee table

Mike and Owen putting their feet up

It's perfect! Owen is mid-bounce

Watching a curator at the British Museum talk about an Anglo Saxon sword

We printed out daily worksheets for Owen

The new kitties on the puzzle

And in their new tree

Batting at each other

We really got into French impressionist puzzles this winter. They're harder

Owen with his celery science project

Place stalk in colored water, watch the dye climb the stalk

Cutting it open a few days later

Look at the tubules where the dye climbed!

Rainbow of citrus

With fresh bread in the foreground

Finally found a use for leftover chocolate filling: in little sandwich cookies!

Persian stew and shaved fennel and celery salad

Borough market grilled cheese, citrus, and a sandwich cookie

Owen doing another science project for school

Writing it up

Pizza-type buns with toppings

Mustard green soup and two half buns

Tacos at home

Mike's first lettuces

Bits and bites: deviled egg, carrot salad, veg medley, itty bitty salad, kuku sabzi

Saag with potatoes and beans, stir fried broccolini, tiny bowl of bean soup

Sick bird

There's a disease going around during the migration

Green shakshuka

Green shakshuka with eggs

The family with shakshuka

Lela cooking with her French class

She's making crepes

Success! We all got some

Owen doing at art project for school

Just another day in remote learning

Mike replaced the electrical panel

Success!

Whole wheat multigrain loaves proofing