Today I decided to start letting A. play out front a little bit without direct supervision. It is kind of a scary thing. While I know that the chances of her being kidnapped or even really bothered on our street are pretty darn slim.....it just seems like she is really little still. But she is anxious to do it, so we sat down and had a long talk about the rules. She may not leave our driveway or front yard. She may not speak to anyone if we don't know their name before they start talking, even if they have candy and/or a puppy. And all the windows and the front door must remain open, so I can pretty much hear every darn thing she is doing because our house is small and my daughter is not a delicate, quiet girl.
She is pretty good rule follower, especially when rule following nets her privileges she REALLY wants, that will swiftly be removed if the rules are violated. Our neighborhood is safe, a check of a year's worth of crime data in the area shows that anything but property crime is almost unheard of, and honestly, I am still checking on her every 3-5 mins while she out there so it is more like the illusion of unsupervised play.
We found a rope swing I had forgotten about in the garage and hung it up on one of the front trees, which was the real draw for the front yard, and she spent 30 mins happily swinging within arms reach of the house window. Most of the time she wants to play out front she has the neighbor's son with her so I am pretty confident that the novelty of the situation will wear off soon. Until then the new swing and the ability to ride her scooter around the parked car in the driveway that my husband enlarged to roughly the size of a basketball court will keep her entertained and looking to be on my best side.
But this newfound independence along with the fact that she starts Kindergarten in the fall only drives home that the point of parenting isn't to hold on tightly, but to teach them to fly so that they can be adults one day. It just wish the flying lessons didn't start so soon. And I wish that the world was such that I could let go this little bit without having to explain that not all people are nice and kind to children, and it is hard to tell from a first glance who is and who isn't.
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And while A. was exploring her new swing, I was busy making dinner. Braised Crosscut Shanks over Polenta with wilted Chard. (Do they even sell Crosscut Shanks at stores? I certainly had never cooked with them before I started ordering my meat on the hoof, but they are a tasty part. You can sub short ribs if you want or really any other braising bit of cow.)
This is not a quick fix dinner for the faint of heart. I started cooking the shanks when I was making lunch. A quick brown in some oil for flavor before they were pulled out of the pan, then some carrots, onions and celery sweated in the same pan before a deglazing with about a cup of red wine. (The dregs of a bottle that had been on my counter for 3 days.) I shoved the shanks back in and added some chicken stock to cover them about 1/2 way and turned the heat to low and left it alone while I did some work cleaning out my garage. (Why is my garage constantly full of stuff waiting to go to Goodwill?)
The shanks went on for a while before I added my polenta pot to the stovetop. Polenta is a labor of love. It takes about an hour and a half for it to be really done, and requires frequent stirring (like every 5 mins) so it is not for those busy days when you have tons to do, or for weeknights when you are rushing home. But it is easy and mindless as long as you put in the time. 6 cups of liquid get brought to a boil. (I tend to use chicken stock or stock and water, but some people use milk.) Whisk in 1 cup of polenta (or cornmeal). I like Bob's Red Mill course ground cornmeal because it is whole grain and doesn't taste any different, but they sell polenta in a bag with a pheasant on it in the flour aisle too. Turn the heat to low, and whisk a lot for the first 5ish mins. (Almost constantly) But then you can change to every 5 mins, toward the end you can even go a bit longer. If it starts to get so thick it is hard to whisk, add a 1/2 cup more water. My afternoon went something like, whisk the polenta, chop some veggie, check on A. Rinse, lather and repeat. The nice thing about polenta is that it is just as easy (hard) to make a big pot as a small one, and if you have leftovers you can pour them into a baking sheet and let it set up into a firm porridge. From there you can put it in the fridge and use the leftovers to make fried polenta by cutting it into squares and giving it a 4-5 mins on each side in a lightly greased pan. So one day cooking, two (or more) nights of side dishes.
About 20 mins before dinner is to be served, remove the lid from the meat pot, so that all the water can evaporate turning the wine, stock and melted fat into a lovely glaze. Grate about a cup - 2 cups of parmesano-reggiano and toss it into the polenta. About 10 mins before, take the chopped up garlic and shallots and throw them in olive oil in a skillet with chopped greens and wilt. Dump it all into the bowl and viola you have done your best Sunday Italian Grandma impression.
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