Monday, October 29, 2007

It's Pomegranate Season

Fall is such an exciting season for produce!
Just when the peaches disappear and the watermelon gets expensive there is a whole new crop of exotic autumn wares. Even the most boring of grocery stores are carrying all those beautiful gourds and squashes not to mention the quince and persimmons, but tonight I purchased the king of fall fruits, the Pomegranate. It is such a manly fruit, all red, tough skinned and difficult to open. And what other fruit is both juicy and crunchy at the same time?

In honor of it's arrival, I've listed out a few tips and suggestions for enjoying the sweet and tarty Pomegranate.

Part of the fun of a pomegranate is opening it up, you want to get to the juicy seeds, but you don't want to pop them all over yourself in the process.

  • Never slice through it with a knife, instead gently insert knife into the bottom an inch or so and then pry it open with your hands. It should just crack apart leaving all those juicy pods intact.
  • Fill a large mixing bowl with water and submerge pomegranate and hands into the water, now you can gently pop off the seeds into the water without squirting juice everywhere.
  • Do several at a time and then save the seeds in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
While they are great just eaten from a bowl there are many other ways to enjoy their heart healthy goodness.
  • Juice them in the food processor then pass through a sieve to get rid of extra seeds.
  • Add them to vanilla ice cream.
  • Fruit salad with pomegranates. How gourmet!
  • I wonder if they would make good jam, think I'll have to try that.
  • They are a hit in holiday fruit baskets.
Official Happy Housewife Recommendation
  • Pomwonderful fruit and juice are truly superior to other brands, especially the juice. To my knowledge they are the only company who juices both skin and fruit which produces not only a deeper richer flavor but more concentrated health benefits as well.
Pomegranate Trivia
  • In greek mythology it was eating a pomegranate that doomed Persephone to spend three months each year in the underworld.
  • I once heard Martha Stewart say that she loved to sit up in her white bed with a knife and a pomegranate as an evening snack, as if she was defying the fruit to get her sheets stained.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Dinner at Home

I make dinner for my husband every night. After taking care of the kids, I consider this to be my most important task. All of the other daily chores can be shirked, but dinner must be served. Forgive me if I sound archaic, but I make it for my man. The children and I would all rather have cereal and fruit and on the nights when he's not home for dinner that's exactly what we do. Sometimes I have to drag myself into the kitchen and stare blankly at the cursed freezer, what could I possibly make with that mess? Sometimes I get all excited to try out some new recipe or technique, but usually my level of excitement lies somewhere in between. But one thing I know is that he is the only one at work (male or female) who consistently comes homes to a hot meal waiting for him. Whatever happens during the day, he can come home to share a table full of food with his family, and I think that means a lot to him.

Except for last night when I had him bring home some chicken.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Halloween is for the kids, too

Halloween was not a big holiday in my home growing up, last minute costumes were worn to church functions and candy was the most important goal. After I got married it became even less important, one year I went shopping at the mall for a new suit and we made sure to keep the house dark to keep from attracting the odd trick-or-treater.

It's a BIG deal now. The beginning and end of Halloween for me? My kids have to have the perfect costumes. Thanks to a costume contest at our church it is my general obsession from the first day of October. Ah, healthy competition brings my creative juices like nothing else. My poor daughters are forbidden from being "princesses" which is always their first instinct.

"What are we going to be for Halloween this year?"

"A princess!" shouted with genuine cheer.

"Well...all the other girls will be princesses." We must first kill this banal instinct, then nurture my choice for costume. Last year I put all my contest eggs in one basket, the four year old. She was given a genuine antique kimono when she was born. Finally it fits her.

"Let's go upstairs and look at your Japanese princess costume." This was the beginning of my plan to flatter and convince my four year into something she wasn't interested in. It worked and she looked amazing, but alas a little scarecrow girl won and I had to admit she deserved it. Her costume was homemade, creative and impeccable.


I had high hopes this year: one homemade green velvet Scarlett O'Hara, one homemade Strawberry Shortcake complete with giant straw hat and one prepurchased Darth Vader for the 10 month old, too cute. But alas my life is way too busy (and sick) this year I'm just gonna have to let go and let the kids have all the fun.

A Perfect Place to Start

I had hoped to begin this blog several weeks ago, but illness has plagued me and my family almost nonstop since then. Nothing catastrophic or tragic, just all those nagging little viruses and infections that come with fall and the beginning of school. We have been attacked one by one over the past few weeks, until this weekend when we were all hit en mass with a stomach virus.

So, I sit here beginning a blog dedicated to domestic bliss, housekeeping harmony, organization and just an overall enjoyable quality of life, while my home and person are completely neglected. Ah, what a perfect place to start! I hope this blog will be a real discussion and reference for all of us trying to maintain a genuine "happy house" with all of its pitfalls and pleasures.