a peek inside the fishbowl

If my spouse really wanted to impress me, he …

Salads like this make me long for summer. This original recipe is from Homemakers magazine. It’s actually called “Korean-Russian Carrot Salad,” but when make it I always think that calling it something like Carrot Ribbons would be much prettier. 

Happily for me, this is a salad I can always make because I always seem to have a lot of carrots on hand and I can scrape together the other stuff fairly easily. 

It has a unique taste that I really enjoy. We had it with chicken burgers and sweet potato fries (recipe at the bottom of this page) last night.

You will need:

500 g carrots, peeled (about three or four large ones)
2 cloves garlic
1 hot pepper, seeded and cut in fine threads
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp vegetable oil (I use olive oil instead… a notch healthier, non?)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp light/low-sodium soy sauce

With a vegetable peeler or mandolin, cut carrots lengthwise into thin ribbons. Transfer to bowl; toss together with garlic, hot pepper, sesame seeds, sugar, paprika, coriander, salt, vinegar, oils, and soy sauce. Refrigerate, stirring once or twice, for at least two hours before serving. Letting it sit really soaks up the flavour. I sprinkled some crushed peanut on this last batch. If I had a bit of green onion I’d probably throw that in too.

(Make ahead: refrigerate for up to three days.) Makes six servings.

Emma dresses herself in the morning. I usually put her clothes out the night before. We’ve been doing it this way since she was a toddler. It totally cut down on any dressing issues, sped things up, and made our mornings MUCH EASIER overall.

I can’t recommend this technique enough.  

Anyway, I would like to point out that the clothes I choose tend to, um, match. And I’m not just talking about colours. But I like to match within the season in which we are currently living. This is all about fabric, and the weight of the fabric. Here in Ottawa we have four distinct seasons (can you imagine the array of JACKETS we need to get by every year?) including 30 degree summers and -30 degree winters. That’s a difference of sixty degrees.  I mean really, sometimes you can’t wear a lightweight sleeveless dress with a fat bulky turtleneck underneath it. (At least I wouldn’t!)

So without further ado… this is what Emma wore to school today:

There’s some lightweight summer cotton in there, woolly knits, and heavy leggings. Oh, and a hairband in Easter pastels. Not exactly matchy, is it? But I do like to see how she’s beginning to express herself in her choice of clothing. It’s fun watching your kids grow up and become actual people. It’s kind of satisfying really.

Internally, I am debating how much input a mother should have into her kid’s wardrobe. I’d love to hear your thoughts.