Homegrown Texan

Paris Hilton fans need not click.

That's what Nathan said this morning after he and Michael had sang a blessing on their breakfast, which goes something like this:
Blessings on the blossoms
Blessings on the roots
Blessings on the leaves and stems
Blessings on the fruits

Yes, one of the things they are learning from their Waldorf education is to take time to appreciate the food they are eating.  Which I think is a good thing.   I'm not particularly religious, and for me traditional prayer in the form of talking out loud to God doesn't really work.  It doesn't make me uncomfortable for others to do it, but for me to lead my family that way would be entirely fake.  So I've pretty much neglected this aspect (prayers before meals) because I wasn't sure how to structure it in a non-formal-prayer fashion.  I like what the school is doing in this regard, and I like that it forces everyone to take time to think about what a blessing a meal is.    (And besides, their little voices singing this stuff sounds darn cute!).  Plus it's a tradition, and I like traditions, even though, again, I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to establish them since I'm not religious at all, and most traditions we have in this country are at a minimum loosely based on religion.  I'm getting there, though.  Waldorf has some good ideas that we're incorporating (have only gone through one year, so I can't call anything a tradition, yet).

Of course, when my dad, Mr. Meatatarian was here (not that I don't enjoy a good steak or burger), his immediate comment was "what about 'blessings on the cows and chickens...'?"  I told him to leave the kids alone; there are a lot of vegetarians/vegans at their school and while I have no plans on joining their ranks, I don't need the kids offending them, either.  (He was teasing, by the way).

When we were hiking in Northern Arizona a couple of weeks ago, my son Michael cautioned us to watch out for "poison owie" (i.e., poison ivy).

That is all.

...I found this on a friend of a friend's journal and decided on an attitude adjustment instead.  Love to all my (LJ, non-LJ, and real life) friends.

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

So for whatever weird reason, I'm craving some kind of whole grain.  As I perused my pantry shelves, my eyes landed upon a box of organic bulgur wheat that I bought from Trader Joes (when I was, again, craving whole grains; I had no idea what I was going to do with it when I bought it).  I've never cooked this before, but a quick search on the internet told me I could basically make a pilaf.

"This shouldn't take too long," I thought.  Quick chop of some onions, saute in butter, add 1/2 c bulgur wheat and 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth.  This is the proper ratio of cooking liquid per the package directions (directions say to use water; I used the broth for more flavor).  The directions state "bring the water and bulgur wheat to a boil.  Reduce to simmering, cover, and cook for 10-12 minutes.

It's now been 20 minutes and there is still so much damn liquid in there, it's more like a soup.  Now I'm *never* going to eat lunch.

Edit: It *finally* got done, after an hour.  I added some pine nuts, freshly grated parmesan cheese and creamy goat cheese.  Topped with a sprinkle of chipotle chili powder.  Mmmmmm.