table

I have been in total planning mode the past few days, which is why I haven’t posted as much as I have wanted to.

Projects

1. recovering two thrifted chairs (I will have before and after shots)
2. sturdying an old stool and repainting with red milk paint (I will have before and after shots)
3. planning to do some mixed media work with fabric and paint on canvas
4. planning for Chick’s birthday
5. thinking about valentine making

Oh, and we also bought a table on craigslist.com. I am such a stick-with-my-decision kind of person, especially when it comes to something that is so not a big deal – like a table. I promise! But, upon arrival, this table was so much bigger than expected and, really, it is so room filling and enormous. This is all relevant because I have been really busy coming up with big table jokes. Like about how I can’t find my seat because I didn’t mapquest it and “Okay, everyone, squeeze in so I can have room.” Within hours of bringing it home, I was on craigslist re-listing it so someone else can smoosh it into their kitchen.

As of today, I am realizing that maybe the reason I re-listed so quickly has more to do with the fact that it is replacing my small round table than with its ridiculously big size. This morning, for the first time, I recognized that maybe I am a teensie bit sentimental about our old kitchen table. After all, I ate all of my meals on it from the time I was wee. It is one of the few material possessions that has been schlepped during all of my moves and squeezed into cars and moving vans (thanks Chris & Tracy). I played cards and dominoes and whatever else around it in my first apartment, I fed both of my babies off of it, and now a HUMONGOUS intruder is trying to take its place. This new table is really big. And, rectanglish. And, when I touch it, I’m a little lost. I think I really do need a map.

So, this morning, a few new super lovely friends came over for breakfast. We sat around (can you say that with a rectangle table?) it, and for the first time I felt myself willing to begin mapping it out. There was discussion, laughter, joining of ideas, and learning. And, biscuits with jam. At one point, my friend noticed that Miss Mouse’s head fits just underneath – that her hair grazes it when she breezes under. This was its first reference point. It was the beginning of the map – the beginning of creating a new kind of permanence. Isn’t that what change is all about? In the meantime, I have stopped being so snarky, and decided that maybe it can stay for a little while longer. You know, until I am ready to decide if it is right for our family or until Chick takes the old one to college . Whichever comes first.

Cornmeal Biscuits (served on my new table)

2 cups white flour
2 cups wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 T baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
7 T chilled butter (in tiny pieces)
2 cups low fat buttermilk
1 egg white
2 t poppy seeds
2 t sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 450˚. Mix flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in large bowl and stir. Cut in butter with pastry blender (or 2 knives). Turn dough out onto floured surface and roll out until 3/4 inch thick (be sure it isn’t too thin). Cut biscuits with a 2 1/2 inch cutter. Place biscuits on a lightly oiled pan, brush with egg white, and sprinkle seeds on top. Bake for 9 minutes or until golden. You will end up with 24 (sometimes 25) biscuits. I usually spread jam on them and eat them for breakfast, but, really, they are the perfect snack for anytime.