Tonight, we played Settlers of Catan with some friends. It’s been a recent obsession for Brett and me; I’d played it a few years ago with our friends Katie and Jon but Brett had never played it until a few weeks ago. The day after he played it for the first time, he insisted we go out and buy it for ourselves. We did, and now we’re hooked.

The only way to describe it is that it’s like a cross between Risk and Monopoly, and, in my opinion, a million times more interesting than either of those games.

There’s something so compelling about it: the logic, the strategy, the planning that’s required as you play…and yet, there’s the element of randomness in terms of what numbers are rolled that makes it truly interesting. I’ve played some really awesome rounds and some really terrible ones. Like tonight. I got hemmed in on all sides by other people and I couldn’t build anything else so I just gave up after a while.

Anyway, you are supposed to have at least three people to play but Brett and I have been playing with just the two of us as we learn and become familiar with how to play. It’s led to some really fun evenings lately!

It seems like the kind of game that we’ll just keep playing over and over for years to come. I’d imagine there’s always something new to learn as one plays it. So if you’re looking for a new board game, or for something new to do with your family, and you enjoy strategy-based games, I highly recommend it!

Today, since we are victims of a cold at our house (even our houseguest Nate has caught it…I feel awful about that), I’m asking for your favorite natural cold remedies, especially ones to help kids who are too young to take OTC medication.

Here’s what we’ve been doing: Brett and I have been using slippery elm lozenges alternated with elderberry/zinc lozenges, drinking tons of tea with honey in it as well as other liquids (like elderberry juice), and eating lots of garlic. I’ve also done the apple cider vinegar mixed with honey drink, which seemed to help.

He and I are holding up okay (in fact I feel better today than I have all week) but poor Elanor is just not doing so great. She’s really congested, and now she’s coughing a ton. I just got her down for a nap and in the 30 minutes she’s been down she’s woken up twice because she’s coughed so hard she started to gag.

For her, I’m trying to push fluids, too (juice, tea with honey, water, nursing), give her warm baths in a very steamy bathroom, and try to prop her torso up while she sleeps. But other than that, I’m kind of at a loss. I’ve been trying to get her to just eat honey off a spoon but she won’t…I may try to have Brett do it later. Maybe if he tries she’ll do it.

I’ve heard that Eucalyptus Radiata oil, put into a bath, can help. I may run out and get some tonight. I’m also toying with getting (or borrowing, if I can find someone with one locally) a vaporizer.

Does anyone have a tried-and-true remedy that’s safe to use on little ones? I’d really appreciate it if you’ve got any ideas for how I can help her. I hate seeing her feel icky.

Anyway, Elanor and I went to the grocery store today. Now, before I go any further, let me tell you t hat San Francisco has very few grocery stores other than Safeway. And I really dislike Safeway. They never have the brands (organic/natural) I want, their produce is expensive and not very good, and the one near our house is tiny and unorganized and always has the longest. lines. ever.

So if I’m going to avoid Safeway, my options are limited. There are a couple of Trader Joe’s, a Whole Foods, an awesome co-op, and the FoodsCo, a sort of discount grocery store. You know, the kind of store where it’s always packed with a very, um, interesting array of people, and where you bag your groceries yourself.

Well, Elanor and I went to FoodsCo to get staple things: beans, canned tomaotes, flour, pasta, etc. It’s great for those sorts of items — I can get a bag of pasta for a quarter — but that is about all I get there. They have some truly weird stuff in that store, lots of overly-processed foods that we just don’t eat, and a ton of off-brand beauty products and cleaners, which we don’t use. But I can’t beat paying $35 for enough canned beans, pasta, and flour to last a couple of weeks, so I put up with its eccentricities.

Today, we were in line to check out, and I was loading our groceries on the conveyor belt when I saw that the people in front of me had a very uniquely-named bottle of shampoo among their items. Being the good blogger I am, I totally obviously surreptitiously snapped a cell phone picture.

Ummm….really? Really? REALLY?!?!?!? You see what that says, right?

Placenta?!?!?

I mean, I belong to some crunchy circles and all, with some, erm, not mainstream ideas about what to do with the placenta, but shampoo? Surely, I told myself, it must just be in another language where it means something different.

But then, I asked Google, and I found that it actually does mean that kind of placenta.

Wow. Just…wow. That’s all I’ve got left to say here. Wow. I guess I learned something new today. (Don’t worry; I’ll be sticking with my non-placenta beauty products in the future.)

This is my mom’s recipe, and I have no idea where she got it. She’s always made it at Christmas, and up until we moved to Maine and I made it for myself, I never liked it because my mom always puts nuts in hers. (I hate nuts in baked goods.) But after we moved, it was cold, I was lonely, and I wanted to bake it, so she emailed me the recipe and it’s been a staple for us during the winter ever since.

It is by no means healthy (the amount of sugar and oil make me cringe every time, although I have replaced some of the oil with applesauce with no noticeable change in taste) but it’s really, really good, especially when it’s still a little warm from the oven.

Enjoy, and let me know if you make it!

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Apple Pound Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups peeled, cored, chopped apple
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325. Combine dry ingredients. Beat oil, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture in three parts, beating well after each addition. Stir in apple, and, if using, nuts and raisins.

Spoon into a well-greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done; test for doneness by inserting a clean knife into the center area. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Cool in pan, remove to cake plate.

*My notes: It’s really easy to overcook this cake, and part of the beauty of this cake is in the way the top crust gets when it’s perfectly done, so you don’t want to burn it. I usually set the timer for 50 minutes and then check it every 5 minutes from that point; that way I won’t let it go too long and risk overcooking it. And, for what it’s worth, I always put raisins in mine instead of the nuts, although my mom considers adding raisins and omitting nuts to be a sacrilege.

Brett: You look cute today, with your cute shirt and frazzly hair.

Me: Frowzy hair? Thanks a lot.

Brett: No, no, Frazzly hair. Like Frazzle Rock?

Me: [rolling eyes] Uh, you mean Fraggle Rock? [laughs uproariously]

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Sorry for yesterday’s disjointed post. I heard Elanor wake up on the monitor as I was finishing it so I just hit post without editing it much.

Oh, and a shout-out: Happy Birthday to my friend Emily!! I’m so happy we are friends!

Last year was the first year I actually posted every day, and I was pretty proud of myself. We’ll see if I can keep it up this year. I’m slightly nervous; we’ve had a really rough week around here, with an awful bout of the stomach flu that’s been passed from Elanor and then to Brett. I haven’t had it yet and I’m terrified that I’ll get it in the next day or two. I really hope I don’t, but if I do, then I’ll just have to see if I can keep up with NaBloPoMo.

Otherwise, I hope to post about several things, including some kid/parenting-related stuff, some photo posts, and some fall-ish recipes.

Let me know if anyone else is doing NaBloPoMo again (Annie? Kris? Molly?) and I’ll be sure to check in with you this month!

So, there you have it. NaBloPoMo completed, in a very fade away-type fashion.

I hope you enjoyed it. I am going to take a blogging break for a few days but I will be back soon! Thanks to everyone who has been reading and commenting. I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs and your comments here.

I copied this recipe from there, although I should note while most of the text is verbatim, I did change a few things, primarily some simple Americanizations that I made because the author of the blog is British.

Channa Masala

• 2 T olive oil
• about 1 tsp each of Cumin seeds and Onion seeds
• 2 16-oz cans of chickpeas rinsed in a colander
• 1 16-oz can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 large onion, chopped into long thin strips
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 T minced ginger
• 1 minced pepper (I usually use jalapeno or serrano, depending on how spicy I want it)
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 teaspoons of ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons of garam masala
• 1.5 teaspoons of haldi (turmeric)
• water
• fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat the oil in the pot until hot. Add the onion and cumin seeds and watch them pop and fizzle for around 20 seconds. Then add the chopped onions and fry until they are lightly browned. Then add the ginger, garlic and chili. Stir fry on medium heat.

Then add the can of chopped tomato and stir-fry for about 5 mins on medium-to-high heat until the oil starts to separate from the onion/tomato mixture – and then add the salt, coriander, garam masala, and turmeric. Stir it all thoroughly on medium flame.

Then add the chunks of potato – stir until well coated in spices. Then add around 3 smallish glasses of water [Leen's note: I usually just eyeball this, so I can't give you an exact amount] into the pot – and put the lid on and bring to boil. Let it simmer on a very low flame for around 20 mins with the lid on. This will soften the potato.

After about 20 mins – check to see that the potato chunks are soft – and then add the drained (already-boiled) chickpeas. Stir it all up – and add another small glass of water to the pot. Bring to a fierce boil and then turn the flame down to simmer the pot for a while – with the lid partially on.

After about a further 15 mins of simmering – add some freshly chopped fresh cilantro and stir it all in. Keep it simmering for about 10 mins more. After that – turn off the heat – put the lid on tight – and let it it stand for around 15 mins while you make some basmati rice – or warm some pita bread etc.

Enjoy! As always, if you make it, let me know what you think!

This year, I feel that sentiment even more keenly. All of the major things I was thankful for still make my list this year, but topping that list is one that wasn’t there last year.

Above all, I am so very thankful that I am alive this year, to enjoy all of the other things I’ll list below. I realize more and more as time goes on how close I was to not being here to enjoy the many wonderful things in my life.

That’s a perfect segue into the next things I’m thankful for: Brett and Elanor. I said last year that Brett and I only seemed to grow closer in the previous year, and that has proven true in this past year as well. I love him more than I did a year ago, and in a more free, deep, amazing way than I thought possible. Seeing him be a father to our gorgeous daughter is incredible and wonderful.

And Elanor, oh, that girl. I love her in a way that I never dreamed possible. She is a joy and a blessing and I am so, so, so very thankful that I am here to be her mama and see her grow and change and get big and do all of the things babies do.

I’m also so thankful that I am at home with her. I’ve known for a long time, maybe about 9 years, that I wanted to be home with my children when I had children some day. I never knew how it would work, but I knew that was what I wanted more than any career. And now I am doing just that.

Again, there are many more things to be thankful for, just as I listed last yaer: family, friends, our home, our church. All of those are true blessings as well.

But at the end of the day, I am most thankful just to be here, to be with my little family, and to be able to love and care for them.

Yes, it’s a good evening, and I have so much to be thankful for. But, of course, more about that tomorrow. For now, I’m going to enjoy this evening.