Chad and I have been pretty avid soy drinkers mostly from a partially lactose intolerant point of view, and we’ve also introduced it into Ben’s diet, but it’s been somewhat of a bad wrap weekend for soy for us. We read a passage from Suzanne Summer’s book about soy being linked to brain atrophy and another book which pointed out that too much soy can cause an acidic body environment, a typically carcinogenic factor. Upon some googling, there is quite a lot on soy-based infant formula possibly having a type of estrogen hormone.

I decided to find out what the Canadian Paediatric Society had to say and turns out their literature review cannot find any conclusive evidence one way or the other. Phew! Still, food for thought though. I guess all we can do is not eat too much of one thing…

This morning I write in my pajamas from the warm shade of my Dad-in-law’s deck overlooking the calm waters of Shuswap Lake. The cigarette boat drivers are probably still sleeping and hung over from last night’s drinking escapades, so the waters are still quiet. Chad just pointed out a humming bird not more than 4 feet away from us, and last night, we spent much of sunset watching each star make an appearance, pointing out constellations, satellites and shooting stars. I could get used to this.

It’s hard to think about going back to work on Tuesday with all that has been going on with my Dad-in-law’s health, Ben’s growth into more independence at daycare, and overall, suddenly just missing my family that I haven’t seen in years. Feels like times were a lot simpler when I was a kid. I’ve started to realize even more how much my parents did in the background now that I’m a mom…makes me wish I could take back all those (single child) temper tantrums I threw, and am secretly hoping Ben won’t put me through some of the ordeals I put my folks through.

Two of the things I wanted to do during this year off was - improve on my French, and improve my cooking. Well, one out of two isn’t bad I guess. So here is a healthy scone recipe I’ve been working on. So quick and easy to make!

Lemon fruit scones

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk (or vanilla soy)
• 1/4 cup melted butter (or same amount olive oil)
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or multigrain flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh fruit (we like blueberries or raspberries)
• 1 vanilla pod

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425F. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Beat egg and add milk, butter, vanilla. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking pwder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Form a well in the middle.
• Pour liquid mixture into well and mix until well blended. Add fruit.
• Divide fough into 12 balls on cookie sheet and brush with olive oil.
• Bake 12-15 minutes (or until scones are well browned)

Bread baking tips:

I’ve also really enjoyed baking bread (and making pizza dough) for Chad, Ben and myself. Nothing like fresh healthy bread non-preservative bread whenever you want it! Here are a couple of tips I’ve learnt that have made my bread pretty yummy:

• Bake bread (or pizza) on pizza stone on a gas BBQ at ~450 to 500F  for wood oven taste
• For light bread, use 1 tbl real lemon juice for 4-5 cups of flour (I haven’t actually tried this one yet)
• For nice crust, spray bread with water after ~5 minutes of baking (or heat a pan under the bread and fill with water after you place your bread in the oven).
• Cutting in ~40% multigrain flour into the white flour is a good ratio to keep things fluffy. Better yet, you could cut the white flour even further with ~20% rice flour.
• A minimum 2 rises is best, but 3 is better

Ben has started to get cabin fever - He will actually get cranky when we’re inside for too long, and it’s probably a good thing to get me out of the house. Great for Ben, not so great for the housework So we’ve discovered the play area at Brentwood mall! He loves being able to crawl around on the bouncy carpet-covered floor (and not hurt himself if he falls), pull himself up and cruise along all the toys, turn all the spinny things, crawl through tunnels and slide down the slides (with mom’s help, of course).

I’ve had a blast watching him ‘run off’ to check things out,  and love that he turns back to make sure I’m still watching. Then he’ll smile, wave and keep going - boy, it tugs on your heart strings. The other mothers (who always look like they’re just happy to get a break) must know I’m a rookie for tearing up.

It’s been interesting to see him interact with the other kids, as well as how other kids interact with him. There are older girls who think of him as a ‘toy’ (much like the dentist’s neice in Finding Nemo - needless to say, this needs supervision), then the slightly-older-than-Ben kids who like to come check him out and make him giggle. Lastly, the kids that Ben likes to approach that tend to shy away from him.

Yesterday though, Ben had his first run in with a playground bully - a 4 year old boy and his older brother who almost seemed fixated on Ben; running circles around him, secretly chatting and pointing at him, at one time standing over him while he crawled to pin his waist down, and finally ending with a’run-by’ and a sideswipe with the knee to Ben’s right temple.

While I was just a few steps away from Ben, it’s tough to know when boys are just being boys and how long to let them play before intervening, and ultimately, Ben will need to learn to fend for himself.  He just looked so innocent and unphased by the situation, while it felt for me that those kids were just being…well…a**holes (forgive my choice of words to describe child, but it’s hard to think of another word when you’re an upset mother!).

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that there is a very good chance my little guy will often face these kinds of people in his lifetime, but all I can do is give him the right tools to become confident in himself. When does he have to start daycare again? Maybe I could convince Chad to let me stay at home with Ben until he’s an adult…

Life has (very suddenly) become even more hectic now that Ben is mobile. It seemed like he was trying for months to lunge forward into a crawl and then in the space of 2 weeks, he was crawling, sitting, standing, cruising along furniture…and teething! Needless to say, the added excitement for him together with 2 new teeth (total 8 ) has meant some seriously sleepness nights in the York household.

It’s starting to dawn on me that my time at home with Ben is coming to end. Emotionally (together with the fatigue), I often feel like a frayed nerve when I see little things that mean he is learning to be independent too - choosing solid food over breastfeeding, wanting to crawl off and play with something that has caught his eye, wanting to be held by other people instead of me. Sigh. I know I know…all these things must happen *Timbit wipes a tear from her eye*

Ingredients:

• 800g flour + 200g semolina
• ~4tbl olive oil
• ~1tbl seasalt
• 2 packets yeast
• ~500ml water

Couple of tricks I learnt:

• Make a well in the middle of the flour to pour the water into and slowly mix the water into the surrounding flour with a fork.
• Par-cook the pizza dough on the BBQ until the crust hardens (literally takes a minute or so) before baking in the oven

A few weeks ago, Chad and I stumbled upon David Rocco’s Dolce Vita that had been accidentaly PVR’d from the Food Network, and we’ve been hooked ever since. He’s a bit cheeseball, but his recipes and tips from Italy always leaves us salivating and wanting to visit the Italian country side.

Check out his site which not only provides his recipes, but also his favourite places to visit and eat at in Italy.

Saw a really interesting / scary episode of ‘Doc Zone’ a few weeks ago about how chemicals in our every day products affect more than we think. Here is a synopsis from the CBC site:

The Disappearing Male is about one of the most important, and least publicized, issues facing the human species: the toxic threat to the male reproductive system. The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer.

At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia.

The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world.

Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called “hormone mimicking” or “endocrine disrupting” chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development.

To read more, click here. You’ll also find a link to watch the full 45 minute episode on the home page.

If you happen to be at Gourmet Warehouse, be sure to drop by the Latin Organics Cafe right beside it for a healthy lunch. Mostly a distributor of Columbian coffee and local organic food, they recently opened up a cafe serving what they distribute. It’s probably on par price-wise with your local Artigiano, but I have to say, I’ve never eaten such sweet tomatoes on freshly baked bread before. Really worth giving it a try =)

If you’re interested in local food communities too, be sure to check out Edible Vancouver.

Yield 24 cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake for about 17 minutes or until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Bailey’s Frosting

3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes until fluffy and light.. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
Ice and decorate.