Easter eggs (fun with food-based dyes!), year 2

By Molly | Published: 24 April 2012

six blue, yellow, green, and red eggsNoah and I love experimenting with food-based dyes! This year, we celebrated spring by coloring a dozen white eggs with turmeric (producing yellow eggs), red cabbage (from red cabbage to lavender cooking water to blue eggs), red beets (red eggs), and red cabbage followed by turmeric (in a totally successful attempt to achieve green eggs, one of Noah’s goals after last year’s experiments). Here’s what we did this time:

  1. Get coloring agents in pots. (Roughly chop one largish red beet and put it in a pot; roughly chop about a third of a red cabbage and put it in a pot; pour something along the general lines of a tablespoon or two of turmeric into a pot.)
  2. Add enough water to cover, and to make room for cooking the number off eggs we’re doing. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or so.
  3. Stir in big splashes of white vinegar (I’d guess I’m adding like 1/4 c. per pot).
  4. Gently add the eggs and bring back to a heavy simmer. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand covered 10-15 minutes (I wasn’t really timing it). Uncover pots and let stand until the eggs and liquid are cool enough to be transferred safely to glass jars. Let cool in the jars until the eggs and liquid are cool enough to go in the refrigerator.
  5. Refrigerate until colored as deeply as desired. The turmeric creates color fastest; the beets and cabbage seems like they’re not doing anything at first. We did about five hours in the turmeric solution, overnight in the red cabbage and red beets. For the lovely green eggs, we did about five hours in the red cabbage liquid (until they were definitely blue) and then transferred them into the turmeric solution for a further hour and a half.
  6. Remove from jars. Allow to dry in carton. Eat.

Last year, the eggs were a little overcooked. This year, we adjusted to avoid that–but now some are good and some are way undercooked. I guess next time I’ll be sure to bring everything back to a true boil with the eggs in the dyes, and then simmer them for about 2 minutes before covering/cooling/etc.?

The beet-dyed eggs turned out pink all the way through their whites. This delights Noah but may weird you out, so … heads-up.

child's hand pouring water into pots of red cabbage, beets, and turmeric

eggs in pots of red cabbage, beet, and turmeric dyes

eggs in glass jars with red cabbage, beet, and turmeric dyes

Coloring agents we’d still like to try include:

  • paprika (orange?)
  • green tea (yellow?)
  • frozen raspberries (pink?)
  • coffee (deep brown?)
  • red onion skins (mahogany?)
  • yellow onion skins (orange?)

We have also done:

  • grape juice concentrate (dark purple–these were nice)
  • hibiscus cherry herbal tea (peachy brown … which happens to be the color of the eggs we usually buy …)

Links of interest:

blue, yellow, green, and red eggs in an egg carton

Posted in arts/crafts, fun things to do, recipes/food (vegetarian) | Leave a comment

book review: The Book of Birth Poetry, edited by Charlotte Otten

By Molly | Published: 20 April 2012

I am pretty clearly a part of this anthology’s target audience. I’m a currently-pregnant mother, pregnancy/birth/parenting blogger and scholar, and such an enthusiastic reader that I have a PhD in English literature (as does the volume’s editor). But, I mean, come on: the cover features muted-pastel flowers and a ripe piece of fruit, along with a reference to “the miracle of life.” While none of that is the poets’ or the editor’s fault, it lines up a little too well with what’s inside for my taste.

Most of these poems felt obvious and/or schmaltzy and/or somehow ‘untrue’ to me. I did find about 20 gems amongst the nearly 200 poems, and some of those were worth wading through the others.

A structural complaint: the book’s final section includes poems about both miscarriage/stillbirth and abortion. For people who have dealt with or are dealing with the loss of a wanted pregnancy, this organization seems unhelpful at best. It also conflates the emotional experiences of miscarriage and abortion as both inherently tragic ‘losses,’ a structural conflation further underscored by the particular selection of poems that touch on abortion (which strike me as surprisingly consistently morose–I don’t know what was available, and I guess people probably don’t write a lot of poetry about their perfectly fine abortion experiences, but there are definitely some odd patterns in the poems that show up here).

Here are the poems that particularly stood out as insightful, illuminating, and/or beautiful to me. (I’m following the organization of the book’s sections, which may also give you a better idea of its broader contents.)

“Dreams and Fears of Pregnancy”

  • “Late,” Deborah Harding
  • “The Unknown Child,” Elizabeth Jennings [scroll down a bit after clicking on that link to get to this poem]

“Pregnancy”

“Birthing”

“Male Participation” [side note: I don't get why these poems aren't also in the "Birthing" section]

  • “Birth,” Jeremy Hooker
  • “All Night It Bullied You,” C.K. Stead

“The Sacred Condition”

  • “My Baby Has No Name Yet,” Kim Nam-Jo

“Miscarriage and Abortion” [these poems are both about pregnancy loss, not abortion]

  • “A Thing Like a Baby,” Ellen Wittlinger
  • “The Lost Child,” Paul Petrie [to jump way down to this one, use 'find' to search for the poem's title]

Posted in labor/birth, pregnancy, reading/reviews | 2 Comments

this week in pregnancy (in which I am blessed)

By Molly | Published: 18 April 2012

Yesterday was my virtual blessingway. Only it felt less “virtual” (as in, somehow unreal) than “private” and “peaceful.” While I can imagine how it could be powerful and affirming to be physically surrounded by loving support at an in-person event, I feel so permeable and private at this point in my pregnancy that the whole idea seems rather overwhelming to me. So, this different sort of blessingway … by myself, in my comfortable chair, without having people over or going into someone else’s space … was just right for where I am.

While Eric picked Noah up from school and ran errands, I had a snack, made a cup of tea, lit candles, turned on my oxytocin playlist, sat down, put my feet up.

desk, chair, cup of tea, candles

I opened the box Molly sent me, read her letter, took out her lovely gifts. I touched the smooth rose quartz, held the pendants in my hand, smiled at the candy she included for Noah (who had speculated, when the box first arrived, “Maybe there will be one gift that says ‘Noah‘ …”) and the snacks and tea for me, opened Rediscovering Birth and read her inscription wishing me strength. I read about the labyrinth image and pendant she’d included, that “The journey through birth is like a labyrinth–it has unexpected twists and turns, but it takes you where you need to go. You can find your way blindfolded if you need to, you can walk, run or crawl, and you’ll get to the center [...] in your own time and in your own way.”

five pendants and a piece of rose quartz

I read the notes and poems sent to me by five friends and two people I don’t even know. I, um, possibly cried at what my friends wrote. Maybe. Then I sat and closed my eyes and listened to my music a little longer, until Noah ran through the door and showed me his library books and wanted to know what that box of candy was, and I shared all these things with Eric and Noah, and that was that.

It was lovely. And I am indeed blessed.

pregnant woman taking her picture in a mirror

Posted in navel-gazing, pregnancy | 4 Comments

what I’m looking like these days: belly photos, c.32-36 weeks pregnant

By Molly | Published: 17 April 2012

pregnant abdomen in profile

pregnant person's shadow on grasspregnant belly from below, with open laptop computer on top

pregnant Molly sitting on a rock outside

pregnant Molly in a Japanese-style garden

Posted in body size/shape, navel-gazing, pregnancy | 6 Comments

my birth playlist

By Molly | Published: 13 April 2012

I’m not an especially music-oriented person. I don’t make music, and I don’t even listen to it much. I don’t sing to my child, a fact that sort of blows my mom’s mind. I seem to need a lot of silence, which can be in short supply when you don’t live by yourself.

So, it’s unsurprising that I was utterly uninterested in putting together a tailored playlist for labor/birth during my first pregnancy. It’s far more surprising to me that I’ve had a strong urge to do so this time around.

The playlist I’ve created in iTunes is labeled “oxytocin,” not “birth.” My selection has been based entirely on whether songs inspire that hard-to-describe flying-open oxytocin feeling for me. Love and hope and safety. Rawness. I don’t know and don’t care whether I’ll actually listen to it as I labor. But it’s been important to me to put it together.

It’s sort of a weird mix! “Eclectic” would be a kindness to it. And I’m not saying this is all good music, or, like, cool. But they’re mine, somehow. Here’s what’s included:

ABBA

  • “Honey Honey”
  • “Take a Chance on Me”

Ani DiFranco, “Buildings and Bridges”

All that steel and stone
is no match for the air, my friend
what doesn’t bend breaks
what doesn’t bend breaks

Barenaked Ladies, “If I Had $1,000,000″

The Beatles

  • “All You Need Is Love”
  • “Blackbird”
  • “Getting Better”
  • “Got to Get You into My Life”
  • “Here Comes the Sun”
  • “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”
  • “Let It Be”
  • “Something”
  • “With a Little Help from My Friends”

Billy Preston, “My Sweet Lord” (from Concert for George)

The Blues Brothers

  • “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”
  • “Gimme Some Lovin’”

Bob Dylan

  • “Lay Lady Lay”
  • “Shelter from the Storm”

I’ve heard newborn babies wailin’ like a mournin’ dove
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love
Do I understand your question, man, is it hopeless and forlorn?
“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm”

Bob Marley, “Is This Love”

Cat Stevens

  • “Morning Has Broken”
  • “The Wind”

The Cranberries, “Dreams”

Dar Williams, “I Won’t Be Your Yoko Ono” [I can't explain this one. And yet, here it is.]

Donna Lewis, “I Love You Always Forever”

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

  • “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”
  • “The Nearness of You”

The Indigo Girls, “Power of Two”

Ingrid Michaelson

  • “Everybody”
  • “Mountain and the Sea”
  • “The Way I Am”
  • “You and I”

Don’t you worry there my honey
We might not have any money
But we’ve got our love to pay the bills

Maybe I think you’re cute and funny
Maybe I wanna do want bunnies do with you if you know what I mean

Jack Johnson, “Better Together”

Jeff Lynne, “Give Me Love” (from Concert for George)

Give me love
Give me love
Give me peace on earth
Give me light
Give me life
Keep me free from birth
Give me hope
Help me cope, with this heavy load
Trying to, touch and reach you with,
Heart and soul

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, “If I Were a Carpenter” [One of the sweetest, simplest love songs ever.]

Kermit the Frog, “Rainbow Connection”

The Monkees, “I’m a Believer”

Natalie Cole, “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”

Nina Simone, “My Baby Just Cares for Me”

Pete Seeger, “This Land is Your Land”

Regina Spektor, “Fidelity”

The Rolling Stones

  • “Don’t Stop”
  • “Ruby Tuesday”
  • “She’s a Rainbow”

She & Him, “In the Sun”

Talking Heads, “And She Was”

They Might Be Giants

  • “Birdhouse in Your Soul”
  • “Don’t Let’s Start”
  • “New York City”

Tom Petty, “Listen to Her Heart”

U2, “Sweetest Thing”

Yael Naïm

  • “New Soul”
  • “Far Far”

Zoe, “Sunshine on a Rainy Day”

–

Have you ever compiled a playlist as you prepared for birth? What was it like?

[Although I was already working on my playlist before reading her post, Kristen Oganowski of Birthing Beautiful Ideas inspired me to be brave and share it when she wrote her own "My Birth Playlist" post back in January--so thanks, Kristen!]

Posted in labor/birth, navel-gazing | 10 Comments

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