She’s only recently started using a spoon by herself and she loves that control. She really concentrates and gets into it. The picture above caught her in a rare moment of looking up from her food.

This was actually my first try at polenta. I’ve always been a little afraid of it the way I used to be afraid of risotto – I fear neither no more! Polenta is so easy as long as you’ve got a moment (actually many, many moments) to stir. It was a good thing Claire was already in her high chair because Aaron was manning the grill (another fear of mine). I used a recipe (from Bon Appetit) that was nice and creamy, which was perfect for Claire to eat. Easy to spoon or grab – and either way she was shoving it in her mouth.

Creamy Polenta
serves 6
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (Gasp! I used this before I gave it to Claire for taste. It’s not that much so I didn’t feel too badly about it.)
1 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal)*

Bring milk, water, and salt to boil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Gradually whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to low; simmer until smooth and thick, stirring almost constantly, about 18 minutes.

*I used regular cornmeal and it worked out just fine – just only cook it for about half the time.

About three blocks from our house is a French-Vietnamese bakery, Artisan Boulanger Patissier (the website doesn’t do it justice), that is run by a husband and wife. It’s a quiet, unassuming place. It’s not a cafe (although they do attempt a little atmosphere, but not much); but when you go in, the smell is so comforting and usually there’s a slight fog of flour floating in the air. It’s not quite Paris in the Springtime, but when I eat their croissants, I’m taken back to my Spring holiday there. Plus, the people are friendly. I always get into a conversation with Andre, the baker, and he’s always willing to share a madeleine with Claire (on the house – though I do go in there almost every other day).

I usually get a multigrain loaf, a beautiful brown poof of goodness, that is a little expensive ($5) but worth it. It doesn’t last very long because Aaron and I are always looking for meals around it. And Claire loves it. They didn’t have them today; I went a little later in the morning. I highly advise going as early as you possibly can because they sell out of things quickly and, while they post hours, they close when they run out of goods. So today I bought a country loaf. This gorgeous thing (ok, I’ll try to limit my use of gorgeous and beautiful in describing food – in this post – to once; but, you’ve just got to see this bread) only cost me $2!! That’s at least half of what I would spend on the grocery store, high-fructose corn syrup, lumps – I mean – loaves.

It is food like this that makes me not too concerned about nutrition and what is ‘best’ to eat. Good, real, just out of the oven white bread is better than any over-processed brown thing at the grocery store.

For Mother’s Day celebrations, I decided that I wanted to have the mothers here at my house. I’ve never hosted a holiday gathering. Before we moved to South Philly our apartments were either too far or way, way, way too small to have more than four total people in them. Now that we’re in a house, we can have a small crowd. And a small crowd it was: my mom, her husband, his mom, and Aaron’s mom. Of course there’s the three of us. Not too many; but, still, it was Mother’s Day and I didn’t want to get overwhelmed – at least, not completely.

We opted for a classic American Mother’s Day meal, that included, yes, a crock pot. This crock pot was a hand-me-down to my husband that is probably older than we are (I think it used to be avocado green but it’s since faded into a dreary pea soup). But it works. And since we were going classic American, by which I mean a throwback to old seventies-style meal, I turned to the queen of classic American: Martha Stewart. Now, I’m not a big Martha fan (I will admit I have watched her show in the afternoon but she’s just so awkward and I’m not that crafty or motivated or clean to be a big fan) but we are never disappointed in her recipes. On the menu for Ma’s Day:

• Pulled pork sandwiches with tangy red cabbage (courtesy of Martha)
• Potato salad
• Spinach salad (courtesy of MIL)
• and for dessert (a household favorite, also courtesy of Martha): Carrot Cake, which we made that morning (ok, maybe we were a little overwhelmed but once you’ve tasted this cake it’s so worth it.

The pulled pork sandwiches were quite tasty although I thought they could probably use some spice doctoring. I like my meats a little bolder but if you want standard (and super easy) pulled pork sandwiches, I’d certainly recommend these:

Ingredients
serves 6
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
coarse salt and ground pepper
3-pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
Tangy Red Cabbage (see below)
6 crusty white rolls, split in half horizontally

1. In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, stir together 1/2 cup ketchup, sugar, garlic, sage, oregano, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cut pork in half lengthwise; add to slow cooker, turning to coat. Cover, and cook on low until meat is very tender and falling apart, about 8 hours (or on high for 6 hours). Meanwhile, prepare Tangy Red Cabbage, if desired.

2. Transfer pork to a large bowl. Using a large spoon, skim off and discard any fat from surface of cooking liquid. With two forks, pull meat apart until shredded. Pour any juices from slow cooker over pork, add remaining 1/4 cup ketchup, and stir to combine; season with salt and pepper. Spoon meat onto bottom half of rolls; add red cabbage, if desired, and top of roll.

Tangy Red Cabbage In a medium bowl, toss 1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage with 2 tablespoons cider vinegar and a little coarse salt. Let stand until soft and bright in color, at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

The meal went over well with the moms. For a large group it was great to have a crock-pot, buffet style, help yourself because I’m done with cooking for the day meal. What was even better was that we had leftovers, which lasted until last night. We put some of the pork in the food mill for Claire and she enjoyed it – though probably not as much as we did. I’m finding Claire to like just a little meat but not too much. I’m not sure if I can handle a vegetarian in the house!