From thefridayfive:

1. What was a skill you were proud to learn as a kid?

   Cooking! I remember proudly writing down the recipe for Caesar salad in a little exercise book when I was probably still in elementary school, and rolling out a full meal of Indian food from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook one summer Friday as a young teen.

2. What's something you used to be good at, but can't do any more?

   Contortions — I'm still pretty flexible but I have a shoulder that limits my ambition (and I'm middle-aged now).

3. What's something you haven't done in a long time, but you could pick it right back up again with some practice?

   Snarkily, as a manager: coding in SAS :) Maybe also downhill skiing, but I'd be worried about that shoulder again.

4. What can you teach others to do?

   I've gotten nice feedback on how I teach HTML and related geeky stuff. I have also taught D&D to a few people now.

5. What would you like to learn next?

   I think there's a lot of psychology, organization and productivity for me to learn. Maybe as much training those "muscles" as picking up wildly new skills.

Easy Ginger-lavender scones

Vivien at the park.

• Vivien turned one, and then took her first steps on the pine forest floor the next day.
• I swam in the pond every full day we were there.
• I won the "Wooden Chef" contest by acclamation with my green pepper stuffed with camp leftovers and raspberry-beer sauce — I guess everyone else was busy or had insufficient stuff in their coolers by Sunday night. This means I get to judge next year!

Zucchini come in waves, especially given that we grow some and our CSA does too (not to self: more pumpkins and acorn squash next year, one zucchini hill, tops). It is nice that these loaves work fine with frozen shredded zucchini, too. Elizabeth makes these more than I do, but we both enjoy them, as does my friend's mum, Anjuu, who is providing the impetus to get the recipe shared. The recipe is adapted from the Bon Appetit Cook Book (Fairchild, 2006), which is a massive tome similar to the Joy of Cooking, but a little fancier in general. These loaves have a nice light inside and a toothy crust.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two loaf pans.

1 cup

whole wheat flour

1½ cups

unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon

salt

1 teaspoon

ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon

baking soda

¼ teaspoon

baking powder

3

large eggs

1½ cups

brown sugar or white sugar (both variations are tasty)

1 cup

canola oil

1 teaspoon

vanilla extract

2 cups

coarsely grated zucchini (about one zucchini caught before it gets unwieldy)

1 cup

chopped and toasted walnuts

Whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.

Beat eggs in a separate bowl until foamy, then gradually add sugar and keep mixing until well mixed and thick.

Beat in oil gradually, then vanilla.

Stir in mixed dry ingredients, bit by bit.

Fold in zucchini.

Fold in walnuts.

Pour into pans. Bake about 90 minutes, until knife in centre comes out clean.

Let cool in pan; we just serve from the loaf pans.

These loaves stay moist for a day or two in the bread box, and can be frozen.

Cross-posted to omnomnom, my journal.

I've been thinking a little bit about chores that usually leave me in a better mood than when I started. Maybe this sort of counts as a gratitude journal, of the sort I've seen floating around lately. Here are some fun tasks that come to mind:

• Driving: I should be careful not to enjoy this gratuitously, but I do like driving, for the most part. For now, it's one of my unique powers in the household, and because we rent whenever we need a car, it's often with a new-to-me vehicle (although I do have my favourites in the local Communauto fleet). I like driving reasonably well, and focusing on the task, or having that slow-paced driving conversation when Elizabeth can make it to the front seat.
• Hanging laundry: Especially outside — it's going to be breezy, sunny or both and dry if it's hanging-outside weather; it can be quiet or I can eavesdrop on or converse with the neighbours or just be alone with my thoughts or a sleeping baby in the carrier. There are just enough finicky details I like to get right that it's not drudgery.
• Cooking supper: I've sort of adopted this task most nights. I love improvising with what's in the fridge, riffing off something tasty I've had or read about. I like cooking with the radio on.
• Carrying sleeping toddler: I seem to have the touch for this one, and getting Oscar to sleep on purpose is still often a bit of a battle, so when he's passed out en route somewhere, this is satisfying and useful. I'm losing the touch for carrying sleeping toddler during the day, though.

This recipe is sort of a mushrooms Bourguignon, fairly easy to make and good comfort food. The original is double the size and considerably sweeter; I cut out the brown sugar and added a little flour to thicken the sauce. It's about an hour from start to finish, but 45 minutes of that is letting it simmer down.

Mushrooms Berkeley

Adapted from Anna Thomas' The Vegetarian Epicure

1/2 lb

Crimini mushrooms

1

Bell pepper

1

Onion

1/4 cup

Salted butter

2 Tbsp

Flour

Sauce

1 Tbsp

Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp

Worcestershire sauce (I used Tom's vegetarian version)

1/2 cup

Red wine (fairly dry)

lots of

Black pepper, freshly ground

Start by melting the butter and chopping the vegetables: onions coarsely, mushrooms halved, peppers into chunks about as big as the halved mushrooms. When the butter is melted, put in the onion and flour. Cook over medium heat until the onions are starting to get translucent. Meanwhile, mix the mustard and Worcestershire sauce well in a bowl, then add the wine, mix well, and grind copious amount of black pepper on top (so that it almost forms a crust on the sauce).

When the onions are starting to become translucent, add the mushrooms and peppers, stir and let cook a few minutes until they start to darken a little. Then pour the sauce over it all, and cook over medium heat for about 45 minutes, until sauce thickens and everything softens.

Anna Thomas says the resulting dish will be "dark and evil looking," but I prefer to think of it as hearty and rich.

Cross-posted to omnomnom

I'm a little late in posting it, but here is evidence that Oscar basically gets spoons (with mashed potatoes in this case, which is about as close as he ever got to eating pureed stuff willingly).