Suddenly Stepmom

Wind change

2010-06-27T10:46:00.000+01:00

This blog is starting to look abandoned! I assue you it is not, but I am thinking about taking it in a new direction. The thing is, I'm just not that keen on talking about my family life in a huge public forum like this...not that I ever did it that much, anyway! I've been sewing like crazy lately and I might start talking about that a bit more. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, there won't be any hard feelings if you unfollow me. I'll still be as much of a stepmom (or stepmum) as ever, but I'll be talking about it less.
Speaking of sewing and my stepchildren, look at these duvet covers I recently finished for the guys. I'm so proud of them and I might make a future post in which I share the pattern, because I mostly made it up as I went along.

From this awesome football fabric, purchased on my last trip back to Seattle, I made...

This duvet cover for my younger stepson.

And from this fabric, which is perfect for my older stepson...

I made a duvet cover for him, too.

I'm very proud of these and the boys love them. And on that note, I'm off to work. Did I mention I'm working in a fabric store when I'm not touring? It's a dangerous place to be, let me tell you...

On the road again

2010-04-11T20:18:00.000+01:00

Hello from Iran! I'm one week into my first tour of the season and it's going pretty well. I have a small group (only six people) and they're all first-time travelers to Iran. The local guide is a woman I've worked with before and she's becoming a very dear friend of mine. I wish we could see each other more often, but we're averaging twice a year now and that's more often than I get to see some of my family and oldest friends, so I guess we're doing all right.

It feels like I've been traveling for ages. Last month I had my trip back to Seattle, which was brilliant. I didn't overextend myself by trying to do too much and because of that, the trip proved to be very rewarding. On my last night in town, I had a pub night where I invited all my local friends to drop in at their leisure and have a good laugh with me. Quite a few people dropped by, including three former neighbors of mine whom I hadn't seen since I left Seattle. We had a great time together, and it was so nice to see all these people I know from different circles interacting at the same table. It was sad to leave, but I'm getting better about it. Of course I still long for my old friends and even certain aspects of my old life at times, but I feel a bit more adjusted than I did last year at this time. Long may this continue.

From Seattle I flew to Phoenix with my mom to attend the wedding of a family friend. The most exciting thing about this portion of my travels is that my husband got to join me for it! He flew into Phoenix the day after we arrived so we could all attend the wedding together and then have our belated honeymoon road trip across Arizona and over to New Mexico. We had a great time at the wedding, but I had to laugh at what a cold weather girl I've become; even though the event took place in the sweatbox that is Phoenix, I was still surprised to arrive at the venue and discover that the ceremony would take place outside. When I pictured the event in my mind beforehand, it was always indoors. It turns out that my husband had pictured it the same way, so we had a good laugh about that.

The day after the wedding, our honeymoon began. We took the long road up towards Flagstaff in our rented Hyundai and hit Sedona right before sunset. For the record, sunset is the perfect time to be in Sedona. I've been there before, but it was even better this time. When I get home later this month and can have access to Flickr again (it's blocked by the government here), I'll post a few pictures.

The next few days were a whirlwind of open road, country radio stations, roadside motels and quality time with my wonderful husband. I only wish the trip were longer, but I wouldn't change anything else. When it came time to fly out of Albuquerque, I felt like we'd really had our honeymoon and done a damn fine job of it. As soon as time and resources allow, we want to go back and pick up the trip where we left off, heading further east this time. Someday.

When I say it feels like I've been traveling for ages, I really mean it and here's why; when we got back to Glasgow, I had one full day at home before I had to go right back to the airport and fly to Iran. Yikes! And it's not like I could just take the same suitcase with me; because of the dress code here and the fact that this is a work trip, I had to completely repack my suitcase and start fresh. But somehow or another, I managed to pull it together and here I am...in a desert town called Kerman in southeast Iran. I'm glad this portion of my travels is going well, but I'll be so glad to be home again. One thing I'm really looking forward to is to get started on my big summer sewing project: duvet covers for the boys. I bought some great fabric in Seattle for this task (which the boys haven't seen - it's a surprise) and I'm going to make them both patchwork duvet covers for their beds for the start of the new school year. I can't wait to sit down at my machine and get started.

But until then, I hope all is well with you. Thanks to those of you who found me through my feature in the paper. I see that it's now online, so if you want to read an interesting article on "non-traditional mothering situations" and learn a little more about my story, click on this link. However, I must say that I was misquoted in the last paragraph about Step-Mothers' Day. I told the interviewer that we observe American Mother's Day (which is in May) for me and leave British Mothering Sunday (in March) to their own mum. That seems to work well for us. Otherwise, I felt well represented by the article. Take care and I'll post again as soon as I can.

Marching on

2010-03-02T01:17:00.000Z

Lo, March has arrived at long last. I've been waiting for March for what seems like ages because this is the month I get to go home for ten wonderful days. Home becomes more of a relative concept by the hour for me, but when I say home this time I mean Seattle. It's not the place where I was born and it's not where I live now, but it's where I grew up and because of that it will always be home to me. Here are ten things I can't wait to do in the U.S. of A.:

1) See my parents, my brother and all my old friends. It's been a year, and a year is far too long for this Glasgow girl.
2) Eat some quality Mexican food. Sorry, Scotland, but you're just too far from the true source to hit the nail on the head.
3) Walk on all three beaches in Edmonds with my three best friends in Edmonds.
4) Buy a cup of coffee in a restaurant and HAVE MY MUG REFILLED FREE OF CHARGE. Ditto for soft drinks. There's no such thing as a "free refill" here. I owe my Bachelor's Degree to bottomless coffee! It should be celebrated!
5) Watch Jeopardy! every weeknight. Man, I miss that show so much.
6) Enjoy the ever-so-slightly warmer weather in Seattle. And the much warmer weather in Arizona and New Mexico.
7) Take advantage of the lower prices on consumer goods and buy the following: a nice pair of shoes, lots of fabric and yarn (don't tell my husband) and possibly a netbook to take with me on tours.
8) Drive around late at night with the radio blasting and no particular destination in mind. I don't miss many things about being single, but I do miss that!
9) Sew with my mom. She promised to help me with the neck facing of a cute top I'm making, so I'll bring my unfinished top for a mother-daughter tutorial. I can't wait.
10) Just be a local yokel and enjoy the everyday Seattle things I used to do (minus the work, of course).

A refreshing getaway

2010-02-08T23:02:00.001Z

I'm deep into my low season now - it's been months since I've had a work trip and a while yet until I get to lead another tour. These are the days when I start to get itchy feet. To cure my wanderlust, I went to Ireland last week. Ryanair had a fabulous sale in January and I was able to get a round trip ticket to Dublin for a song...okay, more like a couple of albums, but you get my drift. I had never been to Ireland before this trip, and the fact that I'd been living just across the water from the Emerald Isle for a year and-a-half without making a visit was really starting to bother me. I just had to go!

I had such a lovely time. I stayed at a hostel that I wouldn't recommend for luxury or funkiness (good or bad funkiness, really), but it served its purpose well. And it was super cheap - a big plus for a tour manager stepmom in the depths of her low season. The hostel is called Paddy's Palace, if anyone's interested. It was safe, pretty clean and within easy walking distance of the touristy part of the city center. I'd definitely stay there again on my next solo visit to Dublin.

Most of my time in Dublin I spent on my feet - walking around, enjoying the city, people watching and exploring yarn and fabric stores. Ryanair has the strictest baggage allowances, so I just bought one light fabric remnant and called it good. I was able to get out of town on one day, taking a tour through the Wicklow Mountains to the medieval capital of Kilkenny. It's weird to be on guided tours because I feel like I'm at work. I don't make a habit of booking bus tours, but sometimes it's a good way to keep my own skills sharp. Here are some pictures:

Cemetery at Glendalough

Customs House by night

On the front steps of Kilkenny Castle

I adore my family and I must state for the record that my husband is a wonderful travel partner, but I also love to get out on my own every once in a while and have a little adventure just for myself. The very best part of this whole trip was coming back home a refreshed and de-stressed wife and stepmom. My fun-o-meter shot way back up to unprecedented levels after my return. I'll do my best to keep my sunny new attitude even after this Irish glow wears off. The fact that the days get lighter and lighter all the time certainly doesn't hurt. And they tell me it will eventually get warmer around here, too. I can't wait.

Are there any other solo travelers out there? It's not for everyone, but it can be tremendously rewarding.

Broccoli and white cheddar soup

2010-01-04T16:00:00.000Z

Happy New Year, everybody! I hope you all had pleasant celebrations and are starting 2010 off right. I started this year much better than I ended the last one, but we'll get to that later. For now, let's have a bowl of the best broccoli and white cheddar soup you've ever made.

This is my own take on a recipe I found at the grocery store. It cooks up very easily and is perfect midday eating on a chilly day, especially when paired with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Here is the list of ingredients. Metric equivalents are given in parentheses.

New Year's Broccoli and Cheddar Soup
1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil
1 tablespoon (15ml) butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large head (600g) of broccoli
3 cups (750ml) vegetable stock
1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup (100g) creme fraiche or sour cream, whichever is available, plus a bit more for serving
1 cup (150g) mature white cheddar, grated

Ready to cook? Here we go...

Chop, chop!

First things first, cut up all your veg so you can have it ready as soon as you need it. Next, prepare the broth. If you're using pre-made broth, all you have to do is open up the can or box. But if you're using bouillon cubes, boil up your water and mash in 1.5 Knorr cubes (or amount as designated on package) until it's all dissolved. Whatever you're using, have it ready to go so when the time comes, you can just pour it in to the pot.

The beginning of a fabulous soup

For this soup (and all stick-blended soups, if you ask me), you should use a large, deep stock pot - the bigger, the better. Your soup itself won't need that much room, but there's a lot of splashing and flinging of soupy bits when you begin to mix it up with the stick blender. This is when the high, protective walls of a big stock pot come in very handy.

Back to the ingredients. Heat up the big pot (low to medium) and add the oil and butter. When the butter is melted, throw in your onions and let them sizzle for about five minutes until they look nice and soft.

A big pile o' veg

Once the onions have achieved niceness and softness, add the broccoli, potato and pour the stock over everything. Leaving the heat at the same level, put a lid on the pot and let it all simmer for about 15 minutes. By this time, the broccoli should be quite tender. If you can easily stab into the stalk with a fork, it's tender enough. If not, give it five more minutes and another stabbing.

And now for the really fun part: turn the burner off, dip your stick blender into that stock pot and whizzzzzz your mixture until all the big bits have succumbed to the green soupiness. It should be an even consistency when you're finished blending. Yes, it looks great, but you're not done yet! Turn the burner back on to medium low, add the sour cream (or creme fraiche) and bring the soup to a simmer. When that happens, remove your pot from the heat, stir in the cheese and add a bit of extra sour cream or creme fraiche when serving. Voila!

Soup-erb!

This recipe makes about six hearty bowls of soup. I often double it up just so we can have seconds the next day. It reheats very well. I should also mention that it tastes really good with low-fat cheese and sour cream, if you've made THAT kind of New Year's resolution.

Now, back to why my 2009 didn't go as well as it could have. In short, it's because I spent too much of the year being a homesick killjoy and I often lacked patience with myself in this still-active process of settling into my new home and my new life as a wife and stepmother. My resolution for 2010 may sound completely trite to you, but I'm doing it anyway and it's going to be great; I'm keeping a diary of happy thoughts. I decided to do this because my stepsons gave me a very sweet week-at-a-glance journal for 2010 with a picture of a kitten on the cover. Since I had already purchased a boring maroon day planner for my deadlines and dental appointments, I've decided to put the kitten journal to good use by using it to remind me of the happy and uplifting things in life, of which there are SO MANY. So I'll be writing in that every day without fail (4 days strong now!) and maybe I'll share the occasional entry here.

All the best to you. I'll be back for an update when I'm able.

Resurfacing...again

2009-12-13T11:15:00.000Z

Oh, look what happened - I stopped blogging again. I'm here now, but my life has been so busy, I'm not going to promise any regular appearance anymore. I might just rear my head every once in a while and offer a recipe or just say hi. In addition to all the other things that keep me busy and sometimes stressed out, I'm starting my own business. I know that some of you who read this are in business for yourself and I just have one thing to ask you: HOW ON EARTH DO YOU MANAGE?! The amount of work that goes into starting your own business (or at least the amount of work/research/money/sweat I've put into mine so far) is staggering. I won't say much about it now because there are many details not yet finalized, but this is a business venture that will allow me to combine and share two of my biggest passions. More on this later.

All is well on the family front. The boys are practicing their lines for their Christmas plays and they're both doing a marvelous job. I won't be going back to Seattle for any holiday celebrations and I'm trying not to get too down about that. The reason I'm putting off a visit is that there's a bigger trip in the works for March; I'm flying out to Seattle for ten days on my own, then I'm meeting my husband in Phoenix for the wedding of a family friend and the two of us are going to have a little southwestern honeymoon because we never had a proper one after we got married. We'll have five days to get from Phoenix to Albuquerque and then we fly back to Glasgow from there. I am beyond excited! Since I moved away, my plan has been to pick up one unvisited U.S. state per trip back home. I've been to Arizona before, but New Mexico is indeed new to me, so I'm very excited to have a road trip wth my husband *and* to get my one state checked off the list.

If I don't manage to get back online for a while, I want to wish you all happy holidays. All the best to you and your families for a safe and beautiful season!

End of Tour 1

2009-10-06T21:06:00.000+01:00

Time to myself on tours is always scarce, but I have practically none in Iran. Because of the strained political relations between the U.S. and Iran and the fact that we don't have an embassy in Tehran anymore, American tourists are subject to tougher rules than other nationalities. So what I'm saying is that I'm with the group ALL THE TIME, for every meal and all throughout the day until we part ways after dinner. That hasn't left me much time to update.

I'm now back in Tehran after nearly three weeks of traveling all over Iran with the group. The tour went well, but it hasn't been without its problems - no tour ever is. I can't really go into details, but I will say this; sometimes I wish I could run my tours like a traveling version of "Survivor," where the group votes one person off the tour each day. Whoever's left at the end gets deluxe rooms and a privately guided tour for the remainder of the itinerary, plus some fabulous prizes. But enough about that.

Tonight we had our farewell dinner and said some kind parting words. Now we all go our separate ways. Most of my travelers will go back to the States, but I will be in Azerbaijan tomorrow with two of my group members from the Iran tour and three other Americans I haven't met yet. I must say I'm really looking forward to having my first glass of wine after such a long dry spell. Iran is under strict Muslim clerical rule and we can't drink here! Azerbaijan is also a Muslim country, but thanks to decades of godless Soviet rule, the Azeris are known to imbibe.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is being able to dress more freely. As a woman in Iran, I am required by law to follow the Islamic dress code. I must wear a headscarf and a loose fitting outer garment to hide my shape. Only my hands and face may be exposed when I am in public, so you can imagine what a weird tan I'm developing. The whole ensemble is called "hijab" and though I don't mind it so much while I'm working, taking off my scarf after I close the hotel room door behind me is such a relief. I have a hilarious picture of me in full hijab wading in a river a few days ago. I'll share it when I get back home.

Now I'm off to get some sleep before starting Tour 2 tomorrow. I'll be so ready to get back home to my family by the time it's over.

On Tehran time

2009-09-19T16:33:00.001+01:00

Hello, blog buddies. You're in luck! Facebook is now blocked by the Iranian government, so since I can't while my internet time away over there, I'm going to come here and make an update. Much to my dismay, YouTube and Flickr are also blocked. Once the tour starts in earnest tomorrow, I won't have much time for internet anyway. Keeping track of a dozen retirees on vacation doesn't leave me with much energy at the end of the day.

I arrived at the crack of dawn and immediately set to catching up on all the sleep I missed out on while I was up packing my suitcase until 3:00am on departure day. There's not much to say just now. I slept most of the day and then went out for a walk. Now I'm tired again - thank you, jetlag. Oh, there's a talking bird here in the lobby lounge. He squaks "SALAAM!" at regular intervals to folks passing by. I'll try and get a video, but of course I'll have to wait to upload it because of the whole lack of YouTube thing.

My copy of "The Package Deal" didn't arrive before I left. I was really hoping it would, because it's so nice to have a good book to read a bit of each night before bed. I brought "The Life of Pi" instead and I'm not enjoying it as much as I feel like I should. It's for book club when I get back to Glasgow, so I'll carry on reading it, even though I'm finding it quite directionless and just generally blah. At least I know "The Package Deal" will be waiting for me when I get back. That's one more thing to look forward to!

Some of you have asked about pictures. I was going to give you a direct link, but I can't get into Flickr to pull up the set. So here are the long form instructions on how to see my Iran pictures from last April: go to http://www.flickr.com/ and search for "devinshire" - that's me, and then click "view sets." Iran is in there, as well as pictures from the other places I've been.

I might not be back on the blog for a few days, but I just wanted to pop in and say I'm here and safe. Take care, everyone.

Leaving on a jet plane

2009-09-17T21:45:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone,

We just put the guys to bed and I'm now taking deep breaths and collecting my thoughts. I know I promised you all some broccoli and cheddar soup, but I've been massively busy these days and I can't deliver on that just yet. Tomorrow I leave for a five-week work trip: three weeks in Iran, and two weeks traveling over Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. In my other life when I'm not stepmothering, I'm a tour manager, which means that I go on holiday with groups of American tourists and make sure that everything goes smoothly for them throughout their trip. It's a great job, but it's also hugely stressful, because I basically get to do all the worrying for a large group of people while traveling across sometimes unstable parts of the world. I won't be updating my blog while I'm away, but I'll report back when I come home in late October.

Looking forward to seeing you all on my return,

Suddenly Stepmom

P.S. Aw, I must have subconsciously picked the title of this post as a little tribute to Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, who passed away yesterday. Rest in peace, Mary.

Life's hard, you know (oh way oh) so strike a pose on a Cadillac...

2009-09-09T10:20:00.000+01:00

...or in our case, a Renault Clio, because that's the car we bought to replace our stolen Fiat, which was recovered, but deemed not worth repairing because of extensive electrical damage done to the car during the break-in. What a week it's been for us! Ugh, what a YEAR! They say the first year of marriage is the hardest and for us that's definitely been true so far, but only because of all the steaming piles of poo (figurative poo, thankfully) that have been thrown our way. Starting out our life together in the middle of a deep recession has been a character-building exercise in adversity, if nothing else. Our first anniversary is in less than three months. We're both hoping for fewer bumps in the road ahead.

I'll have a post about a good cheesy broccoli soup in the next day or two. I just wanted to pop in and say hello in the meantime.

Not-so-grand theft auto

2009-09-02T22:30:00.000+01:00

Our car was stolen today in the early hours of the morning. We learned about it by way of a 1:45am visit from the police. I won't go into any protracted details because that's not what I came here to post about, but I will say the following:
1) the car has been recovered and is safe and sound in a garage across town, but it's not driveable because of damage to the ignition during the attempted hotwire.
2) I've been tired and cranky all day because of the worry and interrupted sleep.

Earlier this evening, my elder stepson was working on the computer and asking for my help on saving and linking to images. I think my answers were a bit hurried and distracted because he asked me, "are you tired?" He didn't ask it in a mean way or a sarcastic way - just in a genuinely curious 10-year-old way. Still, the question bothered me because I don't like being tired. I remember what "tired" meant when I was 10. When I heard that a grown-up was tired, that meant they were to be left alone. It translated directly to "no fun." But without thinking, I told my stepson that I was quite tired and worried about how we were going to deal with the car situation.

I hope I haven't become the boring, serious grownup with the crease in my brow I always said I wouldn't turn into, but it's so hard not to worry about money in a country as crazy expensive as this one. And nobody likes to be the victim of crime. So for the time being, I'm walking around with a creased brow.

At the end of the rainbow

2009-08-31T15:46:00.003+01:00

Thanks for your lovely comments about my last food post. Those take a while to put together, so it's nice to hear they're being read and appreciated. I'm going to aim for about one of those per week to keep the flow of recipes and culinary encouragement going.

My family and I went on a camping holiday in the Peak District over the weekend. We camped in Buxton, which is in Derbyshire (pronounced Darbyshire - silly me, I spent months thinking Derbyshire and Darbyshire were two different places!), about halfway between Manchester and Sheffield. This was our first camping holiday as a family and we all rated it a big success. I would have loved to spend one more night away, but that's the only thing I'd change for next time. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Double rainbow

When we saw the double rainbow out the car window as we headed toward the campsite, we knew we were in for a good trip. The weather was mostly good, but the nights were quite chilly. You can't have it all!

All aboard the miniature railway!

On Saturday, we went to a large Victorian park in Buxton and met up with a family I know from elsewhere on the internet. There were eight of us together - four adults and four kids - and we had a great time. The park had so much going for it: well-tended grounds, an indoor swimming pool, several duck ponds, two play areas and, best of all, a miniature railway! My husband and I just had to accompany the kids on their train journey (you know...to make sure they behaved). What fun! I wish we had a miniature railway in our local park.

Super campsite

For the most part, we were very pleased with our campsite. We had to move on the second night because a drunken party atmosphere had set in while we were at the park. Moving was a bit of a hassle, but our effort was richly rewarded by a much quieter corner of the campsite.

The Three Stooges

Another perk of our new location was a visit from some friendly fowl. This trio came right up to the door of our tent and posed for this photo.

Stalac-tastic

What family camping trip is complete without a visit to some spectacular caverns? Certainly not ours. On the way out of town, we stopped at Poole's Cavern and took a tour of the caves there. I love caves! I might even love them more than I love miniature trains. Following a super cave tour, we had a picnic lunch before getting back in the car for the big drive up north. On the way back home, we stopped at Old Trafford, the stadium of Manchester United, so a certain eight-year-old stepson of mine could see it with his own eyes. He was asleep as we approached the stadium, so it must have felt literally dreamlike for him to finally be seeing a place so iconic to him. What a great trip all around!

When we got back home, I sadly discovered that "Reading Rainbow" has been taken off the air after 26 years. I'm not sure about any of you, but I grew up watching "Reading Rainbow" in the '80s and I used to dream of being on the show one day and talking about my favorite books. One of the PBS guys in the article said that the beauty of "Reading Rainbow" is not that it taught kids how to read, but why to read and and how to truly enjoy reading. That's exactly what I took away from the show. So goodbye, "Reading Rainbow." Here's the opening sequence. Watch it with me for a bit of nostalgia:

One good piece of bookish news I received on returning home is that I won La Belle Mere's book giveaway! As the winner, I'll receive a copy of Izzy Rose's book, "The Package Deal: My (not so) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom." I am so excited to read this book because it seems like it's closer to my actual story than any of the other stepmom books I've seen out there. Watch this quick video to see what I mean:

What a long post! There certainly was a lot to catch up on. I hope you all had a good weekend and that you're enjoying better weather than we are right now. That's all for now!

Thursday night dinner

2009-08-28T00:58:00.016+01:00

The bacon, pea and basil macaroni turned out to be a quality family meal, but with a few lessons learned. Of course I have a report. We've moved since the last time I posted cooking pictures, so the kitchen are a bit different (welcome to our new flat!). Here's how it all went down tonight:

Chop, chop!

I did all the chopping first so I could just grab ingredients as needed. Do you like my internet-fabulous tea towel trick here? It hides the countertops so well! Clockwise from the top in this picture we have six bacon rashers that I snipped with kitchen scissors, two leeks, shredded cheddar cheese, frozen peas and fresh basil (though using dried is totally not the end of the world).

It's starting to sizzle

After chopping everything up, the first step in cooking the dish is to put the bacon and leeks in the hot frying pan with a tablespoon of vegetable oil and let them cook for ten minutes or until the bacon is golden - I cooked the bacon on a low temperature until it just started to take on a golden hue. Next time I make this dish, I probably won't put the leeks in with the bacon right away. They wasted away as the bacon cooked and you could barely tell they were ever there by the end. Next time I'll put them in about 3-4 minutes before the bacon is finished cooking so they have some chance of staying partially intact. I'll also use a bigger pot altogether, because it got a bit crowded at the end. Every meal is a learning experience!

A two-burner meal

I added the peas and let them cook through and my water has still barely come to a boil. Another tip for the future: start the macaroni earlier! To avoid burning the bacon, leek and pea mixture, I had to turn that burner off while the pasta cooked.

Oven-ready!

Finally, the macaroni cooked all the way through. I stirred it all up in the frying pan with some of the cooking water, half of the shredded cheddar and a small tray of soft cheese (this is cream cheese - please refer to my brief "Americanization" at the end of this post if you're in the States and want to cook this without going crazy or doing all the converstions yourself). Once all the ingredients were well worked in, I sprinkled the other half of the cheddar cheese on the dish and put it in to grill. Our grill (broiler) takes a bit longer than others I've seen, so I decided to serve up the soup while our pasta dish developed a nice, slighly crusty top.

For starters...

This is the carrot and parsnip soup that I posted about two days ago. Doesn't it have a lovely color? And it's so smooth! This soup is easy to make, packed with nutrients and a big hit with the family. That's what I call a keeper. I served up this soup with a bit of my signature "everyday garlic bread," which is wheat toast with a thin spread of butter and a tiny bit of garlic salt sprinkled on top. You can use white toast, if you prefer, but wheat is better for you and I'm sure you already know that. Okay, I'm done preaching. So we ate up the soup while the pasta baked away and when we were done...

A super cheesy pasta bake

The pasta finished baking! What a super dish. It went down very well with the stepdudes and it wasn't hard to make at all. I'll be doing this one again in the next few weeks, that's for sure. However, I'll ditch the frying pan next time. Bacon cooks up just as well in a bigger pot and it would make it so much easier to stir everything up if I had a bit of elbow room to work with.

One word of advice: if you plan on cooking this recipe for your family and you're thinking of skipping the mustard so your mustard-hating kids will like it better, don't! Both of my stepsons are big-time mustard-haters and they gobbled this dish up like crazy, despite the fact that I put a huge dollop of yellow mustard in the dish before grilling it. I strongly suggest keeping the mustard...just make sure your youngsters don't see the jar on the kitchen counter!

I hope you enjoy making this dish. For any of you U.S. readers who want to try this, here is an recap of the ingredients list with any relevant "Americanizations" in bold:

6 rashers streaky bacon , chopped (8-10oz. regular bacon)
2 leeks , finely sliced into rings
1 tbsp vegetable oil
140g frozen peas (3/4 cup)
400g macaroni (3 cups uncooked macaroni)
200g pack soft cheese (8oz. tub of regular or low-fat cream cheese)
85g mature cheddar , grated (3/4 cup)
1 tbsp English mustard
small bunch basil , shredded (1 tsp. dried basil is fine, too)

And for the reserve water you draw from your pan of macaroni to add to the casserole dish, 150ml = 3/4 cup. Enjoy your meal!

Why I love blended soups

2009-08-26T16:18:00.000+01:00

Last night at the store, I spotted parsnips on sale for next to nothing. Being American, I've never cooked with parsnips before in my life, but this deal was really too good to pass up. So I bought several parsnips and decided to comb the internet for recipes as soon as I got home. After just a few clicks, I found this very simple recipe for a blended carrot and parsnip soup. With so few ingredients, how could it possibly go wrong? It couldn't. The soup was positively delicious. After simmering all the ingredients together for half an hour, I whizzed it up with our stick blender (Do you all have a stick blender? You totally should.) and it turned a wonderful light orange color and took on a smooth, thick texture. The best part about it is that there's plenty more to store in the refrigerator for later.

I love keeping soup in the fridge. Knowing that a hearty blended soup is there, especially during the colder months (and they're just around the corner), makes menu planning so much easier. It also adds a touch of handmade goodness to a meal that might not be as wholesome on its own. For example, my husband and I had burgers and fries last night for dinner - not part of our normal meal plan, it must be said, but my culinary creativeness is a bit low at the moment. It happens to the best of us from time to time. But I digress. With our sinful burgers and fries, we had this fabulous, nutrient-packed soup which really rounded out the meal. We're certainly not going to do this every night, but it is a nice option for those hurried dinners we all have sometimes.

So my dinner plan for the guys tomorrow is to have the carrot and parsnip soup (probably the last of it by that point) with a first-time recipe, bacon, pea and basil macaroni. I hope this goes well. We grow basil on the windowsill and the guys are good about eating peas, but that's a lot of stuff in one dish. In my experience, the more ingredients that go into a dish, the less likely youngsters are to enjoy it. Am I playing with fire here? We'll find out tomorrow night. I'll take some pictures and give a report for those of you who are interested. I'd be so happy if this goes down well because one-dish meals are great to have in the recipe file.

My blog is fabulous!

2009-08-25T16:46:00.000+01:00

And I have the badge to prove it! Thank you, Dad's Second Whatever, for the lovely award. I'm meant to list five obsessions and five blogs I enjoy, but can I do three and three? I'm still getting my bearings in this little corner of the blogosphere.

My obsessions:
1. My family. Moving halfway across the world and settling into my new role as a wife and stepmother in a new country hasn't exactly been a cakewalk, but my family back in the States and here in Scotland have been so supportive of me as I make this transition. Extra points must be awarded to my husband, who routinely goes above and beyond in his supportiveness and wonderfulness (that's now officially a word). I'm so lucky to have found him.

2. Learning new skills. I am truly obsessed with picking up new skills. Languages are a big love of mine (I speak Russian, am currently brushing up on my once-fabulous Spanish skills and trying to learn some conversational French) and so are music (I'm okay at guitar, flute and piano, building up my banjo skills) and cooking (I just love it!). The only problem is, it's hard to get really good at any one thing when I keep getting distracted by new skills to learn! Could I have adult ADD? Don't answer that.

3. Travel. I'm lucky that I get to travel for work, because I love just about every part of it: being in airports, staying in hotels, and learning firsthand about other cultures. I could do without the jetlag, but every occupation has its downfalls. My only wish is that I had more time/money for personal travel with my family. There are all kinds of places we'd love to explore together. Someday!

Blogs I enjoy:
1. Dad's Second Whatever, and not just because she gave me a lovely award. I'm still in my first year of stepmotherhood and still trying to figure everything out. She's been at it for a while longer and are quite an inspiration to me in that respect.

2. Family in Bloom. I just found her about an hour ago, but I like what I've read so far. I look forward to reading more!

3. La Belle Mere. She's British (I'm not, but I'm here on this island, too!) and we're friends on Stepchicks. I admire her energy.

A balancing act

2009-08-24T19:33:00.002+01:00

My family and I went to Edinburgh on Saturday for the Fringe Festival. This was my first Festival and certainly not my last. We had a great time, but I wouldn't go back without glancing at the events schedule first. Upon arrival, we secured a catalog of happenings and it was intimidating! About the size of a phone book, this one catalog contained all the scheduled events for Fringe. We scoured the children's section for something fun to do with the guys and decided on a storytelling session about a half mile away.

We walked across the crowded capital to the venue, purchased tickets and discovered almost immediately upon entering that we were in the wrong place. No, we hadn't unexpectedly walked into an adult film convention or a symposium on hazardous waste disposal - the storytelling session we paid for just turned out not to be what we had expected. Though the event was advertised "for ages 6+" in the catalog, our guys were the only kids in the whole joint who were over four! There were pillows on the floor for toddlers who wanted to flop around or take a nap. My husband and I noticed the potential age-inappropriateness of the event right away, but quietly decided to tough it out for a little while and see how the story shook out.

The story, about a bear who traveled all over the world and had many adventures in his eventful bear life, was just bear-ly age-appropriate for my eight-year-old SS, but not at all right for my ten-year-old SS. My husband and I were sat right behind them and we could see how much they were straining to maintain the illusion of being interested in the story. Poor guys! They were as well-mannered as could be for two young dudes who had clearly been mismatched with this event.

My older SS will be eleven in just a few weeks. Storytelling hours with stuffed animals and pillows on the floor are totally not his thing anymore. It's a transitional time for both of these guys and their dynamic together; one is teetering on the verge of adolescence and the other isn't yet, but he's certainly too old for babyish story hours. They're growing up, yet they're both still little boys in many ways (though less and less all the time). It's weird and exciting to watch them grow and go through their changes.

So in closing, Festival was super, but we'll chalk the story hour up to a learning experience not to be repeated!

Friday night game night

2009-08-21T22:32:00.005+01:00

Now that school is in session again, we're right back into our school year routine of hectic mornings, storytime before bed and Friday night game night! I know "Friday night game night" sounds a bit redundant, but that's just what we call it. When school is in session, we play a game almost every Friday evening, and tonight it was Junior Scrabble. My younger SS and I were on a team against my husband and older SS. Our team won, but I'm still sore about the fact that "moox" isn't a real word.

I'm cutting this one short because the guys are off to bed and my husband and I are going to have a Friday night movie night with "Burn After Reading." Before I go, here's a headband I finished yesterday and wore for the first time today. I got two compliments from moms in the schoolyard this morning - not bad!

Evergreen headband

Still catching up, apparently

2009-08-21T14:24:00.004+01:00

So here's the story. I had started "Suddenly Stepmom" on another blog site, but I never really felt at home over there, so I moved to Blogger and started transferring my posts to the new blog. Then things became ridiculously busy and I dropped off the face of the earth for six months. Fast forward to the present...I'm finally blogging again and I just had a look over at the other site and realized I had a couple of posts that hadn't made it over during "the move," the second of which ominously refers to an impending hiatus - I'll say! I've backdated them to their original post date, so if you'd like to see what's new in the archives, the posts are here and here. Enjoy!

It's good to be back

2009-08-20T21:51:00.007+01:00

Hello, fellow stepmoms and friends. It's been quite a while (6 months!) since I last posted, but I had a lot of catching up to do here in my new life in my new country with my new family. I went back to the States in February to get my UK spousal visa and that whole process went just fine, even though it was terribly expensive and the visa only lasts for two years before I have to renew for another exorbitant fee. No gripes, however. I'm here now and I'm legal. That's plenty of reason to celebrate!

The guys are back in school now - what happened to the spring and summer?! Wherever the time went, we enjoyed ourselves even though we didn't get to go on a big family holiday. These are just tough times and I'm sure you're all feeling it to some degree. Next weekend, we're going to the Peak District for a two-night camping holiday. That's about as far as we're going to get from home for a while, so you'd better believe we're going to make the most of it. I hope the weather cooperates. We could really use a bit of sunshine around here. It's been raining nonstop all week here in Glasgow.

On a more domestic note, dinner tonight was breaded fish and chips with steamed carrots. I'm just trying to keep track of what I'm doing for dinners so I don't run out of ideas. It's inspiration for future meals when I can't be bothered to plan in advance! Though I try to avoid pub fare at home (burgers, fish and chips, etc.), it always goes down a huge treat with the boys and requires the least amount of effort. Of course, the trade-off is that these ever-so-popular meals aren't as healthy as the ones I lovingly prepare from scratch. I always try to maintain a good balance and so far, I think I'm doing a pretty good job.

My brother and I were chatting on the phone last night and he asked me what my stepsons call me. "Do they call you Devin or Stepmom...or what?" I laughed and said that they sometimes call me Devin, but most of the time they call me Hon, because that's what my husband calls me. He thought that was hilarious. We're a house of hons.

For those of you stepmoms out there, what do your stepkids call you?

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T14:51:00.004Z

It's my first Valentine's Day as a stepmother! This morning, two boys woke me up with coffee and cards. They gave me one from the two of them and one from their dad and sat on the bed while I read both. I thanked the boys with hugs and shouted my thanks through to the kitchen to my husband, who was making up our usual Saturday batch of pancakes. What a great start to the day!

I received Friday the 13th flowers last night

I've been quiet on the blogging front lately because things have been quite hectic in our already busy household - we're moving! In addition to all our moving preparations and challenges, we have immigration hurdles to jump through before I can get my UK spousal visa. Our days have been filled with manual labor and red tape. So while I am intent on getting this blog going, there might be a hiatus on the horizon. Please stay tuned. :)

Shepherd's Pie in detail

2009-02-06T14:35:00.008Z

We had the Italian-Style Shepherd's Pie last night. This is a great meal for four with a bit left over for lunch the following day. I’ll describe the steps I took to make this dinner. Experienced cooks might find parts of this explanation a bit pedantic, but it’s important to remember that not everyone is completely comfortable or intuitive in the kitchen and some of us need a bit more hand-holding. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! There were many holes in my culinary knowledge base when I first moved in with my new family and I roved the internet for hours on end looking for inspiration and ideas. That’s pretty much the point of what I’m doing here. So on with the dinner…

Do this stuff first!

The first thing I do when I'm cooking anything, but especially a first-time recipe, is go through the list of ingredients and make sure I have sufficient quantities of everything I need. There are few things as frustrating as having a dish halfway cooked and then realizing you don't have something the recipe calls for, so take the time and get it right before you start. Once I'm sure I have all my ingredients together, I do all the chopping and measuring first. As you can see in the photo above, I chopped all my veggies ahead of time so they would be ready to add exactly when I needed them.

The heat is on

Once all the ingredients were properly chopped and measured, I put the meat, onions, carrots and spices in a skillet to cook for about 5 minutes. The recipe calls for seasoning salt, which isn't available in Scotland, so I cobble together my own little mix of spices that's a bit different every time: salt, a couple of dashes of cayenne pepper, garlic salt and cumin. This blend doesn't resemble actual seasoning salt, but it seems to work well in all of my dishes. Once the meat browned evenly, it was time to add the last ingredients to the filling.

A fine filling

For the final step of preparing the filling, I added the mushrooms and a 350 gram (14 oz. is fine) jar of tomato and basil pasta sauce. You can add whatever kind sounds good to you. As I mentioned in the earlier menu planning post, I use real mashed potatoes in this pie, as it's more economical than using the flakes, not to mention MUCH healthier and better tasting. It requires a bit of extra work, but it's well worth the effort. I dropped 6-8 medium peeled potatoes into a pot of boiling water just before I chopped up all the veggies. While the filling mixture simmered away, I mashed up the potatoes.

A fluffy layer of mashed potatoes to top it off

The dish is nearly ready to pop into the oven! I poured the filling into a 13x9 casserole dish and then spooned mashed potatoes evenly over the top. If you don't have enough mashers to coat the whole dish, don't worry. You can try spreading the potatoes a bit thinner, or even leaving a hole in the middle! Remember, the recipe only calls for 8 dollops of potatoes around the edge. I just like to coat the whole dish for aesthetic reasons and to keep more moisture in the pie while it cooks. Plus, it increases the potential for leftovers. Once the dish has been coated in potatoes using whichever style you choose, sprinkle a thin coating of parmesan cheese over the top, place it in a 375° (190°C or gas mark 5) oven and check it after 25 minutes.

Italian-Style Shepherd's Pie, finito!

If the top has turned a nice golden brown with maybe a little crust forming on the side, your dinner is ready. The thing I love most about this Shepherd's Pie and other dishes of its ilk is that they are one-pan meals. It has veggies, meat and potatoes all in one casserole dish, which means less fuss in the kitchen overall and not as much washing up to do at the end of the meal. Plus, veggies seem to go down easier with kids if they are part of a dish rather than their own side. So it all adds up to a winning dinner in my book. The family gave it high marks, too - an all-around good dinner.

Dinner Pictures

2009-02-04T10:29:00.007Z

The tartiflette went well tonight. I made a few on-the-spot recipe changes and if I'm being honest, I should have allowed for a bit more baking time than I did. The potatoes could have been just a teeny bit softer and the top just a little crunchier. But c'est la vie...it was a late dinner anyway, so if I jumped the gun, it was only to get all the hungry mouths fed faster. Here are some pictures of our Wednesday meal:

Bed of Potatoes

First, I peeled and boiled two pounds (~900g) of potatoes for about 10 minutes. Then I chopped up an onion (no onion pics, I was too busy crying) and put them in a hot pan with a spoonful of oil to fry while I cut up the softened potatoes. After slicing them thinly, I spread them across the bottom of an ungreased 13x9 dish. A 13x9 dish has a 3 litre capacity and the recipe called for a 2 litre dish. I still don't have all my conversions down pat, nor do I know how many litres all our baking dishes hold, so I'm making up a lot of this as I go along! This is one of the main reasons why I augmented tonight's recipe. The other big reason is that I made it for five last Thursday (Grandpa came over for dinner) and there was just enough for everyone. I happen to be a fan of leftovers, so I decided to make more this time.

Oven-ready dinner

This is probably the least appetizing of the whole batch of dinner pictures. My apologies. Everything in the dish is cold and it hasn't had a chance to melt into potato and cheesy goodness yet. But you can see the potential! The oven is hot and ready to bake this dish into a fine dinner.

I mentioned above that I fried up an onion while I was layering the pan with potatoes. Once the onion was nice and soft after about 10 minutes of frying, I added the cut up bacon. The easiest bacon to find in Scotland is thick rasher-style slices, rather than the thin strip bacon that's most common in the US. I must say, I prefer the rasher bacon and that's what I'd encourage using in this recipe.

After the bacon had about three minutes to fry with the onions, I added just over a cup of wine and brought it to a boil, per the recipe. Next time I make this, I'll try a non-alcoholic wine and report on its effectiveness in the dish. As soon as it reached the boiling point, I poured the wine/bacon/onion mixture over the bed of half-cooked potatoes. Then I spread about four big spoonfuls of creme fraiche (sour cream) and 150 grams (~1 3/4 cup) of cheddar cheese on top of the mixture and popped it in the oven. The recipe called for Reblochon or Teleggio cheese, but I couldn't find either at my local grocery store, so I just went for a white mature cheddar. It works just fine, trust me.

So we let it bake for about 25 minutes and...

The finished product

It's ready to go! As I said at the beginning of this post, I really should have let the dish cook for just a few minutes longer because the potatoes were not as soft as they could have been, but it went over very well anyway. I was the only one who seemed to notice this minor shortcoming (well, and my husband, but this is only because I was grumbling in his ear about it for the first few bites) and it was a hit with the kids, which makes for an easy evening all around.

Plating up

So there you go. Add some steamed carrots and you have a hearty winter dinner with some good leftover potential, too. This is a nice easy meal with a name that's SO amusing to say: tar-ti-fle-tte. I think it's supposed to be pronounced with three syllables (like pirouette), but I say it with four, adding a fake flourish at the end. It's more fun that way.

Menu plan

2009-02-03T20:24:00.001Z

Today is my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! It’s also Tuesday, the day I start thinking about our meals for the rest of the week. On Wednesday, we get the boys and we have them until Saturday, which is when they go back to their mother. This is our routine every week without fail. With that in mind, I usually take some time on Tuesday to come up with a menu plan for the nights we have the boys. Since we're still in the midwinter freeze, it will be hearty fare this week for sure. Here's my plan:

Wednesday: Bacon and Cheddar Tartiflette with steamed carrots. This is a new favorite of ours, and it's SO easy. It's like eating a big baked potato, but only the very best bites.

Thursday: Italian-Style Shepherd's Pie. I do mine a bit different than Betty Crocker by using REAL mashed potatoes and covering the entire dish with them, not just dolloping. There's a big difference! This is a great, hearty dish and since it already has lots of good veggies in it, there isn't any need for side dishes. So it's a very meat-and-potatoes type of week lined up for us until we get to...

Friday: My husband's homemade pizza!

No matter what kind of culinary masterpieces I prepare in the kitchen throughout the week, Dad's Famous Pizza is always the crowd favorite, no contest. A big part of the appeal of my husband's pizza is that it is not only eaten with the hands in front of the TV (a special Friday-night-only concession), but of course it's a hit because it's SUCH GOOD PIZZA!

So that's the meal plan for the next few nights. I'll try to take a few pictures of these dishes as they're cooked. They're so easy and very popular with the kids.

First Post!

2009-02-02T19:53:00.008Z

Hello and welcome to Suddenly Stepmom! Today is Groundhog Day and even though it isn't celebrated in Scotland, I woke up this morning with thoughts of hibernating rodents. It's snowing here in Glasgow, but not steadily. Still, if the past week is any indicator, we're definitely in for six more weeks of winter. It's not time to put away that second down blanket just yet!

In the time it took me to set up this blog, it has already snowed heavily three times and each snowfall has been interspersed with periods of amazingly bright blue sky above. If I weren't from Seattle, this non-committal weather might drive me crazy, but instead I find it rather comforting. Each quick glance out the window yields a completely different view. Just like home!

Because of today's special "holiday," I thought of the groundhog-themed crafts we used to do at school and did a little googling with that in mind. Look what I found:

It's a groundhog that pops out of a Dixie Cup! I'm sure I made this very project in first grade and brought it home to proudly show my mother. Other fun activities I found include a groundhog mask that loops over the ears, groundhog word searches and connect-the-dots and my personal favorite: a groundhog on a stick that sees his shadow...or does he?

The boys aren't with us today, but when we get them on Wednesday, I'm sure we'll have some groundhog-themed conversations. They'll probably be the only kids in their school who talk about groundhogs at home this week. It's great to watch them learn, and holidays, even silly made-up ones like Groundhog Day, present great opportunities to help kids learn more about themselves and the world around them. Just last month, we talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Burns. This month we obviously have Groundhog Day, followed by Queen Elizabeth II's Accession Day (one that will surely be more interesting for me than the guys around here!), Presidents' Day and Valentines' Day, just to name a few.

It's snowing again, ferociously this time. A quick check on Wikipedia's Groundhog Day page tells me that Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. That sounds about right to me.

This is the first post of my blog. For now, I'm just going with the flow a bit and trying to find (or carve) my niche along the way. Things might change in the future, but family, food and fun will be my main talking points for now. I hope that's okay with you. :-)