Highlight of my day

Usually my work colleagues will speak English with me, even though I speak their foreign language fairly well. But this afternoon, I was the only American in the room and after a few minutes, they dropped English.  We were laughing and joking when I realized that I was following along with no problem, laughing with the rest of them, and speaking their language without hesitating over potential grammar mistakes.  After months of studying until my eyes hurt, stressing over the genitive and dative cases, and worrying about learning every cultural nuance and reference, it finally clicked--if only for a few brief minutes.  

Cooking essentials

David and I collect kitchen gadgets, the more ridiculous and useless, the better. I read every Williams Sonoma catalog from cover to covert.  I could spend hours browsing at Sur La Table. I love cookbooks, cooking magazines, baking blogs, and anything to do with fresh, seasonal ingredients.  Cooking is not only a hobby, it is also a nexus of family bonding, and a means for entertaining friends.

One of the most used items in our kitchen is our set of Le Creuset silicone prep bowls.  We use them for measuring ingredients, during meal preparation, and as snack bowls for Bee.  They are easy to clean and a their bright colors are a cheerful addition to my kitchen.  

Almost every night, I fill the largest bowl (1 cup measure) with frozen yogurt or vanilla ice cream for dessert. It provides perfect portion control, which means I can load up the ice cream with extra toppings!

Essentials

This will be brief as my computer is undergoing a heart transplant right now. My new auxiliary hard drive finally works with the double USB cords (it didn't draw enough power to run it off my laptop before).  I am making a backup copy of my computer and then will be moving a ton of video off, so that I can free up enough space to hopefully make it run normally again. 

It has been raining almost all day and as I was splashing to the market after work this evening I was thanking my lucky stars that I had worn my Dansko clogs.  They are truly a case of "function over form", but despite their less than aesthetic appearance, Dansko has made the perfect shoe for wading across flooded sidewalks and over rain-filled potholes. Plus, I can walk really, really fast in them. I got my loaf of bread home before it became soggy.  

At home, we all ate chicken (hear that, Mom, we ate meat!) soup that our babysitter prepared for us.  It was an easy dinner, and now there is nothing left to do tonight but hope my computer gains new life and fall asleep listening to the rain.

Thunderstruck

Last night, David and I were about to fall asleep when we were both scared witless by a monstrous crack of thunder.  Just one. I don't know why.  It had been raining on and off all day, this wasn't a thunderstorm's rumbling approach. One lonely thunderhead must have been floating by and encountered some extreme shift in the atmosphere.  It sounded as though a portion of the sky had exploded.  

"BOOM!"  David and I both lay motionless, shocked, silent.  Then I said, "Bee is totally going to wake up." David agreed. Sure enough, a few seconds later I heard her pitiful cry of, "Mommeeeeeee."  

I ran to her room and scooped a very shaken Bee into my arms.  She lay with me on the couch for some time, shocked awake. I whispered reassurances. I could feel her eyelashes fluttering on my face as she lay there silently, blinking into the darkness, trying to comprehend what had occurred.  She didn't want to go back to sleep, and I don't blame her. Finally David had to come in and help put her back to bed.  

How do you explain thunder to a small child? You can't.  You can just say, "It was a big noise, but it's gone now, honey."  You can try to protect your child from many scary realities, but thunderstorms are, unfortunately, unavoidable.  

Into Great Silence

I am not a movie person, for the most part. I like big, fat, adventure-filled novels.  I can count on two hands the number of movies I have seen in my life that really moved my spirit.  

David and I just finished watching "Into Great Silence," a nearly three hour documentary about the Grande Chartreuse Cistercian monastery--a hermit-like monastic order of the strictest observance.  

The monks pray the liturgy of the hours, including a three hour middle of the night prayer session, which takes place every night, complete basic chores, and study in their cells.  Every movement, every chore, everything they do gives glory to God; their very lives become an act of ceaseless prayer.  They are silent and separate, except when joined in prayer as a community, at the once weekly communal meal, and once weekly walking excursion outdoors.

We watched the movie on three separate nights. Every scene was beautiful and made me want to do more to strengthen my own prayer life. I highly recommend it.  

Food weekend

I am having a few minutes by myself in the apartment. Max and I just got back from a family run. David and Bee (in her jogging stroller) are going one extra "fast" lap.  Max is the slowest runner in the family.  He likes to be pulled along by his leash like a fat toy boat.  

The apartment is sparkling and still after my nearly 2 hours of clean-up from this morning's Sunday brunch for eight.  

On the menu:

Baked egg casserole with vegetables

Skillet hash browns

Dimply plum cake (it looked beautiful but I think the cake part was a bit dry; recipe found here)

Pumpkin donuts (the recipe was from this month's Cuisine At Home; we were deep fried donut virgins until this morning and they were a revelation)

Blueberry muffins

Bread and cheese board (including a delicious rustic Camembert) 

Our friend Ana (one of Bee's favorite people) brought tomatoes stuffed with eggplant as well as a tray of sweets from a local bakery

There was plenty of food, to say the least!

Preschool at home

Bee is getting to be of the age where she has the interest, and the attention span, for simple projects and learning.  

I have never been the kind of parent who is interested in Baby Einstein DVDs or Leap Pad pre-computer technology.  For one thing, I generally don't buy anything made in China, and for another thing, they feel like a parenting cop-out.  

On the other hand, I don't sit Bee down to make her practice words or counting or review alphabet flash cards either. Her learning is entirely existential.  We count to ten as we walk up the stairs, notice the colors of her Playdoh, and discuss the different shapes in her beloved "trucks" book (yep, Bee has a tomboy streak, she loves to play Legos and trains with her daddy).  In the kitchen, she has a particular talent for stirring muffin batter and crumbling goat cheese (not at the same time, though).

Bee is fascinated by nature.  She and her babysitter go to the park every day and they usually bring something home with them.  The windowsill in her play area is covered with bags of acorns, assorted smooth stones, and a few colorful leaves.  My idea is to create a nature corner or shelf, where I could display her treasure along with a few seasonal books.  I wish, so much, that we had a local library full of books on pumpkins and autumn and craft ideas.  It is so much easier at home.  There is a saying here, "he who never tries, never succeeds," so I think that I will start small, and see whether it catches Bee's interest.