Family vacations
As long-time readers might know, for the last 5 out of 6 summers we’ve rented a cottage alongside members of Carl’s family for a clan vacation. Lots of memories there - in the early stages of pregnancy with Emily; the summer after Emily died. Boyfriends past and present; drama past and present. But always a lot of sun, water, barbeque, and a chance to get to know people beyond the rush of a day here or a dinner there.
Packing this year has been insane. It’s less fraught than it was when I was packing for the Briars in March: I feel like whatever we forget, we will be able to manage without (or to find in the area). Noah’s more resilient and we’re more experienced. But there’s a lot: linens, water toys, safety stuff for things like plugs and cupboards, and food.
And President’s Choice screwed me over when it comes to food. Noah hasn’t had a lot of jarred baby food except for lazy days and meals out, but we had been blessed with the PC Organics line of food. And when the Organics was out, the PC regular baby food was pretty much the same. Our staple for meals: sweet potato and chicken with the ingredients: sweet potato, chicken, water. At least until three weeks ago, when suddenly and oddly everyone sold out of first the Organics and then the regular. And no new food appeared. Until finally… it did in a new jar, same name, but the following ingredient list: sweet potato, water, apricot puree, chicken, rice flour.
!!
Not only is this 7 gr of sugar over the original 4 and stupid (get those kids hooked on overly sweet entrees now!), but - Noah hates it. I hate it too. The texture is gelatinous. It’s gross. And guess what? Earth’s Best Organics has the same list (surprise, surprise… I sense megafoodcorp monopolies at work).
So I bought a mini food processor and I hope it works all week (for $8, I’m suspicious). But it’s annoying; I wanted to have some jarred stuff for back up because, you know, it’s a cottage - the fridge may not be as cold, we might be running around. And now I’m stuck with single ingredient jars or the lentil &vegetable mix (but Noah can only tolerate so much lentil, right now, before he gets a rashy bottom). Not just because most of the “meals” contain things he either isn’t eating yet (corn) but because he does not like them.
Of course I have only myself to blame, because we’ve been pretty hardcore about feeding Noah “real food” (i.e. stuff we’ve pureed) and that’s what he likes, now. It’s kind of amazing that already he has preferences and already our food habits have affected him.
He’s still not too too close to “eating what we eat” which was my ped’s goal for the one year mark, but we’re getting closer. He eats rice pasta and veggie sauce with ground chicken or beef or lamb (ground meaning by me; not the ground from the supermarket, I’ve been too paranoid about that stuff. I blame Fast Food Nation.) although he doesn’t eat a lot of tomato yet, it gives him a rashy bum too. He eats almost all the vegetables we do (he doesn’t like broccoli or cauliflower much) and he’s now eating small amounts of mild cheddar cheese and yoghurt, and small amounts of wheat like the occasional cracker. Most of the standard fruits except berries (except he has had blueberry). Lentils but not chickpeas. No nuts or eggs. He eats rice and oatmeal and barley just fine. Nothing processed or salted like ham or sausages though. And no soy yet, which would help a lot but we’re being slow on the legumes ’cause of allergies.
I am paranoid about the grinding of meat and mashing/chopping of things though. It’s that asphyxiation fear again and I decided if it makes him picky about texture, then it does. After seeing Emily come out grey/blue, I get leeway on anything involving airways for at least another year.
While we’re gone I leave you with some pictures. Click for the larger image; these thumbnails will be a little distorted. :)
Carl and Noah at the splash pad at the zoo
Noah and Emily (I erased our last name from the picture)
Noah trying out his trike (he can’t really get on it himself)
The ravine path on our walk
The trees at the edge of the hidden park on our walk; those are very aggressive vines climbing up the willows, which I am also constantly having to weed out of our yard.
summer hours around here
I am hoping to do some updating tomorrow! But in case not, on Saturday we are off for a lovely Internet-less week at our rental cottage (the usual-except-for-last-year family thing) in beautiful Prince Edward County… on the shores of the same lake I visit every morning now. The view has less appeal, but the extended family has more as Noah will get to join into the tradition of cousins hanging out with each other.
So hopefully chat at you tomorrow but otherwise after we’re back!
Irresponsible hairdos
More on Noah later (11 month birthday!). But today, the entry is about meeee. Because this afternoon Carl watched Noah while I ran away to the circus… I mean got my hair cut.
I couldn’t take it any more. Not only had the nice haircut I once had grown out to heck, but all the hair I’d lost after Noah was born was growing back in, so I had little short bits of fuzzy hair growing in under the long bits. And my hair is generally a bit of a pain - okay with a good cut it works fine for about two weeks. But it has waves and if someone doesn’t cut them just so it sticks out oddly and yes, it’s possible to blow dry and product it into submission but I generally don’t, unless there’s some adrenaline creating reason for it. I’m that lazy. It was bad enough before Noah but after Noah quite frankly if I have four minutes to myself I would rather not spend them fussing with my hair. I never did, before. anyway.
So I got it cut. Impulsively. It’s short. Very, very short. Someday I will take a picture maybe but for now just think really short. I’m still adjusting. People in the system were a bit miffed. I am not sure it was my most brilliant idea, but at least it won’t be hanging there limply. I may have to get it dyed red or something at some point though.
The point of all this is that I realized, as I was sitting in the chair getting all my hair hacked off, that with Noah I try very hard to make conscious, thoughtful decisions all day long. Not that I succeed. But I try. And with trying to make new mom-friends and all that, I have also been policing myself in what I say and whether I run my turn at playgroup right, etc. And with work I have been procrastinating and communicating badly, mostly because I’m frozen at trying to take the right approach to not going back full-time and probably not at all.
I’m getting a bit tired of the all-adult channel, all the time, you know? I mean god - I am not suggesting that it’s a terrible awful burden to function in a grown up way.
But I sort of miss the days when I could make a decision and it would impact on - me. And perhaps a few other people, none of them dependent on me. Like I could stay up late late into the night for no good reason, and it wouldn’t mean that I was a crap mother to a helpless human being the next day.
So after 15 minutes of freedom getting to the mall, I just kind of flipped out in my somewhat usual for me manic way and went and said: off with the hair! Because if you’re going to be free enough to get your hair cut, you may as well take 7 inches off.
And then I sat and worried that Noah would not recognize me and he would cry and mourn for his lost mother forever, you know, the one with the long messy hippy hair (i.e., some version of Lyria). And then I thought fuck! I’m turning into one of those mothers where everything is “about the baby” but this isn’t, it’s about my hair and my hacking it off just because I could. It’s just about me. And a haircut. And chill the fuck out.
When I came home Noah gave me one quizzical look and then went on with the usual greeting dance involving much gesturing.
I got the feeling that maybe I could risk a bit more and be a little less responsible here and there. In baby steps.
Today’s moments
- Noah rejected the rice cracker and waited expectantly for me to hand him one of my wheat ones. (He isn’t technically eating wheat yet, but he got one the other day because I’d spilled them… they also had sesame seeds and I was all freaked out that he might have an anaphylactic reaction to them and - nope, it all went down fine.) I didn’t, because of the sesame seeds, hand him one. And he threw a fit, crying and holding his hand up in utter disbelief that I would not hand one over. My god. He’s only 11 months old (tomorrow). Can he really be doing this already? And does this mean he’s going to be an asshole sending plates back at restaurants?
- (scatological) He also has discovered his penis, and his own poo. He likes to play with both. I suppose you’re not really allowed to install little baby handcuffs on the change table. Even if Lynn would find that amusing.
- As if that weren’t enough, he found Moo, Baa, La la la again. I had not precisely hidden it, I just put it in the midst of camoflage books. I read it to him eight times. In a row. Each time I put it down he cried. I have no idea what he absorbs from it, but it was a little scary that he seems to already have book obsessions. Today, Moo, Baa, La la la. Tomorrow it’s going to be canon cop arguments on PernMUSH!
(Okay my twisted brain is now making up fan arguments for Moo, Baa, La la la. “Not everyone can be a singing pig! That’s why the page after ‘three singing pigs say la la la’ says ‘No, no! you say. That isn’t right. The pigs say oink all day and night!’ You have to be a FEATURE to be a singing pig! Don’t be a Mary Sue!” Err, what the fuck ever.)
(Scarily I now have the whole book memorized.)
- At the pool Noah stuck his face in the water. Again and again. No matter what I did, he leaned over/twisted/whatever until his face was in the water. Sadly, he does not have the idea of closing his mouth or say, not breathing. I thought if he choked once he would stop, but no such luck (does this make him a slow learner?) I am not amused. The deal was that his head and face would stay out of the water so he won’t get the chlorine-induced asthma or whatever. And yet it was put his face in the water, or pitch a fit. Our instruction thought he was being prodigious, but I told her he was just being obsessive today. And finally I left a little early.
- He put both hands on my cheeks today and said, “ma BA BA ma.” I translate this as “Mum, I’m being a badass, but it’s your genes at fault.” Well, okay then.
Still not the hardest job.
Wow
Sounds like Dark Personalities for New York mums.
I enjoyed the article very much and felt no desire to check out the site. I’m learning!
Up and down
(I’m still procrastinating on this thing for work. I hate hate hate asking for things. I think it’s a hugely important skill (handling the rejection, too). But I hate it. Okay enough about that.)
Yesterday up until bedtime I had about the best at-home day ever. Noah and I were in sync, dancing and laughing and playing, and he was relaxed so I could also get a few chores done in between, and we found a new path leading away from the park to a cool hidden park (more on this later). And then in the afternoon we had swimming and I found I still have my special ed skills, ’cause there’s a kid there who is dangerous every. class. He’s around 4 and his mum brings him to his preschool class and her tot to the mum & tot, and every day he spends the time between family swim and the class doing things like… climbing the lifeguard stations, or hitting people like me (he did this precisely once, the first day). Yesterday he was climbing up on the table in the snack area - my table, in fact - and his mum, who’s always worn out by then was weakly protesting from the deck. And I just reacted - I looked him right in the eyes, leaning forward, and I said in my teacher voice: you. heard. what. your. mother. said. And he went and sat down.
And we had a fabulous class and although bedtime was a bit rough in that Noah didn’t go down ’til 9, it was a calm not-going-down and alas, pride goes before a fall.
Because today has been just the opposite. I’m working on being able to leave Noah with like, a babysitter, and today it seems like it might be all too easy, if you know what I mean. He shrieks if he gets near a playpen or an exersaucer or anything that resembles at all closely somewhere you know, safe and confining that might mean I could go to the bathroom or hang laundry outside. And he doesn’t want to dance or sing or play or nurse or read books, much. He wants some nebulous thing, probably to be bigger or walk or compose operas or something. And he didn’t want to go for a walk and how DARE the yappy little dog yap!
And then the kicker was he found he did want to play with the door stopper, which is currently perfectly safe, so I let him and I was a whole 3 feet away. But then he tried to turn around too fast and toppled onto his side, against the door so it closed with him on one side and me on the other. But he had toppled! So he cried! And I had to open the door a little veerrrrry slowly and carefully and then push him back to open the door. And OH MY GOD he could not believe there is a universe where you could be crying with a (very very minor) owie and your mother would push you back!
So he screamed in anger and attached himself to me angrily and wouldn’t let go for about 10 minutes. And then he nursed like there was no tomorrow and then we had a little walk and he fell sound asleep. And now I could do laundry but I feel burnt out - and it’s only 1:45! We have hours to go!
So I choose to vent instead.
It is quite amazing how quickly he’s moving towards toddlerhood these days. I can see the frustration welling up in him - he wants more information and control. He wants to feed himself. He wants to pull his diaper off. He wants to be included in conversations (whatever that means to him). And then all of a sudden, the skies will clear and he’ll be more like a baby - smiling and wow!ed at every little thing.
It’s trippy.
~~
About the new path - so our nice open park by the lake ends at one end with some overgrown wilder bits at the edge of a ravine - lots of wildflowers and sumach-type bushes and weeds and vines and trees. I had followed a path a few times right at the edge of the ravine but I hadn’t noticed that if you go up alongside the backyards there’s a second path into the wilder bits that, as it turns out, goes way way up the ravine (let’s say the equivalent of 5 or 6 blocks up, although it twists), past the train tracks (although I have not yet ventured beyond). It’s shady and cool back there, and with backyards on one side and ravine on the other it’s also very quiet. At some points there’s only about 3 feet of ground before it dips pretty seriously down to the creek/runoff and at other points there’s quite a bit of land - even one spot where it opens up into a whole field with a baseball diamond at one end, despite there being no access to the road there (I haven’t figured out how the city mows it, but it’s clear they do, unless it’s the homeowners there doing it).
I really like going up along there. It seems pretty clear of anything truly noxious, like poison ivy, and although it’s a little buggy in the morning, during midday it’s really not too bad. Yesterday we went twice, and the second time Noah watched a huge Monarch butterfly for about 5 minutes.
And that’s so important to me, that he get a chance to connect with nature even if it’s just a city ravine.
And yet… see, this path is relatively secluded and quiet and as I said there are bits where you need to be a little cautious about the ravine. And I look at these things with new eyes because eventually Noah will venture out alone from home and these will be his stomping grounds, and - eek! Ravine! The bluffs along the lake were bad enough, but I figured it was reasonably straightforward to teach him not to go too close to the edge (I mean obviously supervise him for years, but eventually). But a ravine and a hidden park are worse - not just the climbing/break your ankle/neck hazards, but the pervert-in-the-bushes hazards.
It will be an interesting balance to find, room to explore and grow and just go and -be- and examine fungi and stuff, vs. protection. So many parents I know have chosen to keep their kids in the house and I find that makes me feel very sad, because that exploring time was so important and healthy for us. And yet do I want to be an exception and have my kid back at the ravine alone at the age of 10? I don’t know. I really don’t. Luckily there is lots of time to think about it.
But when I take him out as a matter of habit I wonder if I haven’t already made my choice, a little.
Parenting philosophies are to parenting as…
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
- Baz Luhrmann, Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
I’ve decided to stop reading so much about being a parent.
I mean, I’m an information junkie, plus I may be doing some writing in that area, so it’s not like I’m going to stop completely. But. I’m going to wean myself off Googling so much. Instead I’m going to goggle at my son.
This came to me on a walk yesterday. When I was a teenager and even a young adult I read a lot of magazines - Seventeen, when I was like 12, and then Cosmopolitan and Elle and so on and so forth. It was partly entertainment, partly curiosity, but also a lot about trying to figure out who I was as a woman, including a sexual person (or to use snootier language, a sexual agent).
The thing about the beauty magazines is there’s an implication that there’s always something you have to change - better blow jobs, more eyebrow waxing, whiter teeth, or whatever. That’s because beauty magazines are driven by the beauty industry, and they want to sell you stuff and if you were fine the way you were, you wouldn’t need the stuff.
Even as a teen I knew that, but I read them anyway, because how else were you supposed to know you were supposed to bleach your arm hair? In my family I had no knowledgeable older sister or aunt and my mother didn’t know these things, and when she did she chose very embarassing ways to bring them up some of the time. (Occasionally though, she did a bang up job. She did with basic sex ed because she just bought every book on it out there and plunked them in my room, which was the best way. Really. For me.)
I’ve realized that a lot of parenting information falls into the same category. I do want the information as I hit the transition to parent. I appreciate knowing what objects can choke my child and that you shouldn’t give egg whites before two years of age and all these things. I desperately do not want to fuck up, and things that give hard information are useful in my quest.
However.
The parenting industry thrives on the same anxiety as the beauty industry (and the wedding industry). And lately I find I’m spending a bit too much time worrying and a bit too little time just listening to my gut, and observing my kid.
Time to step away from the information superhighway, on this topic anyway.
July insanity/Celine’s
A quick catch up post:
- Noah’s decided not to sleep between 1 and 4 in the morning. Or at least he had; he may be coming out of it (fingers crossed!). He was also nursing ravenously at 10:30-11:15. And at 5:30. This did not leave me many hours of sleep and I have been woefully sleep deprived which has made regular old life a lot harder. On the weirdly plus-side of things, when he is ready to go to sleep (after nurse and walk and such), he now sometimes lies down in his crib and… goes to sleep. Such a big boy. Of course now that I’ve said that he won’t do it again until he’s 20.
- The week was crazy! Crazy! If you’ve ever worked as a nanny or babysitter and had a crazy day, that was my week except I never got to leave. Carl was doing a weird work downtown all day/at home ’til 2 am thing. Monday I think was normal ish, but Tuesday we had playgroup and then swim lessons; Wed I went downtown in the pouring rain on the subway (I thought I was too tired to drive but I regretted it) to do therapy with Anna, baby in tow, and we had many public adventures. Thursday I washed the floors the hands and knees way during Noah’s nap, then we had a pool get together that was way fun. Then we came back and played and read and dinner and everything and then he went to bed (luckily) and tired I… smashed a bottle of balsamic vinegar all over the kitchen floor. Grr.
So yesterday I’d tried to keep the day clearer but got sucked into lunch out and then I decided since I was out I might as well do a few errands before coming home and collapsing. Noah was a trooper, putting up with lunch in a restaurant and then looking for a booster seat and hitting the grocery store. So our reward in sight, a few hours at home playing, I turned on the radio in the car… to hear that the GO trains were all cancelled because of a derailment. So I got home, put the groceries away, called Carl, and headed downtown to pick him up because I’m nice. (The subway was working but packed.) Unfortunately that pushed Noah way past his tolerance for sitting and we had a sad 20 minutes before he fell asleep. It was good he did ’cause I made the mistake of taking Lakeshore through the downtown core and it took 27 (!!!) minutes to get from Jarvis to York. (that’s like, 10 blocks)
Of course that screwed up Noah’s sleep and he was up ’til 10:30.
But we did stop for dinner at Celine’s Garden, which is just a couple blocks from Carl’s and my old workplace. We used to eat there pretty much every Friday when we worked together - it’s a Chinese-Canadian restaurant, the unpretentious kind where you /can/ get red sauce, although some of their dishes are much less mall-steam-tray type Chinese. Basically you & your date can get stuffed and even have a beer (one of four kinds that they offer) for $20, and they have a TV and have game shows on while you wait for your workaholic… oh wait. Anyways. Then when he still worked near there I’d meet him after my work, and then because it’s not that far from the base of the DVP, we still met there even after he changed jobs. So for like, I don’t know, 8 or 9 years we ate there quite a lot. And were good tippers.
And I almost always ate the same thing which was rice noodles with a black bean sauce, although sometimes I’d have the vegetarian version and then once Lyr’s edict came off, the beef. I am not always a creature of such habit but at Celine’s I was, although I’d sometimes vary it by getting appetizers and then basically just taking the entree home.
Post-Emily I think we ate there once and it was weird because I’d pictured taking Emily there to our haunt, and of course, did not happen.
So we took Noah there and it was trippy, in a nostalgia, a bit sad, and fun way. And sure enough, when Daisy came to take our order she looked at me and said “beef and black bean sauce on rice noodles and a gingerale.”
Got it in one. Now that’s a neighbourhood joint.
Noah liked the rice noodles, sucked clean of the sauce. He also ate steamed rice, and some of the mango from Carl’s dish. And I’d bought some jarred Heinz baby food at the drug store across the street, since I hadn’t thought to throw dinner in the car as I didn’t expect to get caught on Lakeshore for a half an hour and then on Front for 20 minutes (why did we meet at Union, the more fool us). But Noah categorically refused the chicken. He would eat the sweet potato but I’d mixed half of it with some of the chicken in an attempt to make it palatable.
But no dice. He may have developed a taste for real food already. Go him. Of course in a few years he’ll probably be begging me for Kraft Dinner.
Note to self:
Do some of Noah’s meals we’ve been making next. Whine about how we’re not really close to the “eat what you eat” stuff yet. And how baby intestines need time to adjust to lentils.
Food, glorious food
Too tired to be productive; too wired to go to bed yet. So I have decided to document some of the things we’ve been really enjoying lately, food-wise. Lyr’s renewed presence in our present becomes obvious in some of the choices, I think.
Hummus: we were lazy and bought hummus from the organic farmer-cook women and my god is their recipe ever good. It has no olive oil in it, just chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon, and sea salt. We will be trying to duplicate (only because at $3 a smallish jar, it’s out of our league and we can get the organic components if it is that important to us). Without the olive oil or a lot of water it stays solidish so not very dip-y, and so we’ve been eating it on sandwiches made with hardo whole wheat bread which is a somewhat dense (”hardo,” get it?) and sweet Jamaican bread, with butter and slices of cucumber. Delish.
~~
I adapted a Cooking Light macaroni salad as follows:
1 500 gr package whole wheat macaroni
2 cups frozen peas or, of course, fresh peas
2 red peppers chopped reasonably small
fresh green beans (this one time, don’t bother with frozen)
two stalks of celery chopped reasonably small
1 cup grated old cheddar cheese
3 rashers bacon, cooked and crumbled -or- 8 slices salami chopped up -or- artichoke hearts -or- capers (you’re going for something a bit salty and/or with meaty mouth feel, here)
cook pasta, add peas and green beans for last couple of minutes, drain and mix with about a quarter cup (or a bit less) olive oil
dressing: (we just mix components right into the salad)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (can be low-fat)
1/4 cup yoghurt
2 heaping tablespoons of dijon mustard
1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
dash of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
additional olive oil if it’s dry
It’s very creamy and yummy. Kind of fatty-decadent due to the mayo & cheese. And it’s a huge batch.
~~
Our every-summer’s-backup-meals for too-hot-too-cook days are:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can sliced black olives, drained
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
3-4 roasted red peppers, sliced &/or two tomatoes diced &/or cherry tomatoes
feta cheese to taste, crumbled
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
balsamic or red wine vinegar to taste (it depends a lot on your vinegar)
generous heap of oregano and/or basil
eat with whole-grain toast
or:
1 can black beans
1-2 cups frozen corn kernels, rinsed until unfrozen or, of course, leftover corn from corn on the cob the night before - bonus if grilled
3 green onions sliced into small round slices and all separated out to make little onion bits
2-3 tomatoes diced
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (you can substitute others but for some reason this vinegar picks up on the sweet corn and hits the cayenne really nicely. Don’t ask me why; I wouldn’t put cayenne on apples)
couple tablespoons olive oil
1 teapoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
salt to taste; black pepper if you must
Mix all together. If you will be letting it sit, beware adding cayenne; the heat builds overnight.
If feeling decadent, serve with tortilla chips; otherwise this goes amazingly with cornbread or sourdough. And of course either of these goes well with some barbecued meat thing, but we don’t currently own a barbeque, plus we’re fine with it alone.
~~
We’ve rediscovered homemade fruit salad, what with the bounty of the season. Carl’s trick: a third of a can concentrated white grape juice (which includes sugar). My version doesn’t have that, just a couple tablespoons of lemon juice if there’s no citrus fruit in it to keep it from getting brown. wash and chop tons of fruit and mix with the above. Voila. Ahaha. :)
~~
Despite the heat I use my crockpot all the time since I can fill it up when Noah’s napping in the morning, or at least when Noah’s fresh. I’ve recently discovered that butternut squash goes amazingly with tomato and spicy things; it’s sweet without being too sweet. My last stew was:
4 hot Italian sausage (yes, I know, nitrates etc. but buy them from a reputable or organic farmer. Or substitute some red pepper flakes + oregano + basil + tvp in this recipe if you want more of a chili and something vegetarian)
1 butternut squash, cubed into largish cubes (incidently, if you prick the squash and microwave it for 2 minutes it became hugely easy to peel and seed!)
two zucchini cut into about 1/4 inch thick slices (aren’t I nice doing this in imperial?)
1 large (28 oz) can diced tomatoes + 1-1.5 cans of water
two handfuls of lentils
1 handful of barley
a generous shake of black pepper & some salt
Cook for 8 hrs on low; break up sausages into little chunks and eat with bread. Note that the sausages are providing a lot of rich in this recipe, but since it makes about 6 servings it’s not that much sausage per. This really is more of a fall recipe though.
~~
Edit: one more ’cause this is somewhat new. Couscous curry salad:
2-3 cups cooked couscous, or a little more (couscous being nearly instant to make)
1 can chickpeas
1 cup raisins
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons or more to taste madras curry powder (yes, I buy it premixed/ground)
Very yummy. A variation is dried cranberries, and two tablespoons orange juice an a bit of salt instead of the curry. Toasted pine nuts or almond bits go amazingly in either.