ooh la la, paris!

I mentioned this on my twitter/FB, but somehow I neglected to mention it here :: I'm going to Paris in 6 weeks! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited! I've never been to Europe, and wasn't expecting to go until next year (for our 10-year anniversary trip to, hopefully, Portugal).

The trip came together rather suddenly and quickly, thanks to my in-laws. They've invited me + Ian for a 6-day stay in Paris with my sister-in-law + her boyfriend. Which means Rupert + Maya are staying home. Yes, you heard read me right :: I'm vacationing sans husband + daughter ... to Paris ... during my birthday!

In preparation for the trip I'm going to put together a travel scrapbook with all the necessary information plus space for journaling, ephemera + photos (I'm making a simpler one for Ian too). I've opted to decorate the journal with pages from picture books (I have in my library) that take place in Paris :: Madeline (by Ludwig Bemelmans), Hugo & Miles in I've Painted Everything: an Adventure in Paris (by Scott Magoon), Crepes by Suzette (by Monica Wellington), and This is Paris (by Miroslav Sasek). I'll post pictures of it as soon as I assemble it.

I'm also poring over the guidebooks I have, trying to decide what I want to see, what Ian wants to see, what wouldn't be good for Ian (i.e., twenty million museums in a row), possible daytrips outside the city, what I want to eat (very important!), and potential shops to visit (particularly food/cooking shops, stationery stores, and antique stores/stands). I found a few guidebooks from the library but they're all at least ten years old, so I'm only going to rely on those for sightseeing. I own a couple of new guidebooks (with maps, which I love) and checked out Clotilde's Edible Adventures in Paris (by Clotilde Dusoulier). One book I've especially enjoyed is French Milk (by Lucy Knisley), which is an art/comics journal about Lucy's four-week stay in Paris with her mother.

We're staying at the Hotel Pont Royal in Saint Germain des Pres, which is a great location. I imagine walking to the d'Orsay, the Louvre + along the Left Bank (while browsing the many bouquinistes) to Notre Dame and then to Ile Saint-Louis for ice cream at Berthillon. Lots of idyllic walking and exploring of the city. But I'm sure what will happen is mostly crazy, rushed sightseeing, and a lot of crowds + waiting in lines. But it's nice to dream while I can. ;)

REPOSITORY OF PARIS SITES + SHOPS (more to come) ::

My Google map for the trip

Book Stores ::

• English-language book stores

Cooking Supplies ::

• E.Dehillerin

Museums ::

• d'Orsay
• Louvre
• Picasso
  

Stationery Stores ::

• Duriez
• Le Temple du Scrap
• Marie Papier
• Melodies Graphiques
  
• Muji
• Papier+

ack! already?!

the other day, one of ian's best friends came over to play. as they're sitting at the table waiting for dinner to be served, i hear them playing "truth or dare."

A :: truth or dare?
I :: truth.
A :: who do you like?
I :: like, kiss-kiss like?
A :: yeah.
I :: um, my mom.
A :: no. it can't be someone you're blood-related to.
I :: uh ... uh. i don't know. no one.
A :: c'mon. someone.
I :: i don't like anyone.

and so the conversation continues; A is very persistent with his question. clearly he likes a girl (and he freely shares who his crush is), but ian is so not into girls yet.

but hearing that A likes a girl makes me truly realize that it won't be long before ian develops a crush. i hope it starts off as a sweet puppy-love kind of crush, because i can't even begin to imagine the craziness that goes with teenage hormone-induced crushes. yikes!

43 months.

maya @ 43 months :: june 4, 2009

• participated in her first "talent show," two dances for parents' night at her preschool. she danced to "99 red balloons" by blondie + "rollercoaster of love" by the ohio players. when rupert found a youtube video of "99 red balloons" afterwards, maya stopped what she was doing and immediately started dancing to the music.
  
• slept through her first semi-major earthquake. she experiences the second one (a couple of days later) at school; she got a nice lesson on dropping and crawling under a table. the earthquake doesn't seem to phase her much.
• no longer pretends to be a cat. instead, she crawls around on all fours barking. i wonder what animal she'll be next?
• caught her saying "jesus!" when she made an exciting discovery. (i can't remember her exact wording, but it was something akin to, "jesus! i like those stickers!") i had to somehow explain to her that it wasn't a bad word to use, but it wasn't the right word to use either. i blame rupert because i would never take the lord's name in vain, even though i'm not christian.
• opens the fridge in hopes of reaching the bottle of "pori pori" (probiotic pills).
• her drawings of people now have eyeballs and torsos are becoming an option.
• caught her first real cold (i.e., lasting longer than 24 hours).
  

chinatown randomness

this past weekend we met up with my best friend from kindergarten, J, and her family in chinatown to have dim sum. afterwards we decided to wander the kitschy part of chinatown, half a block from the restaurant. as we were leaving we hear jazz music coming down the street.

sure enough it's a new orleans-style jazz band playing in a funeral procession. kinda strange + random but we stop to watch and listen. the band is playing boisterously and we wonder who the deceased is (the funeral car procession looks long). finally, the convertible classic car with a photo of the deceased slowly rolls by. i have to giggle because it's a photo of a chinese dude in a cowboy hat! okaaay.

the funeral procession continues to slowly go down the street, including a whole line of classic cars driven by heavily tattooed guys in wife beaters. i'm confused as to whether they are part of the funeral procession or they're a classic car club that just happened to get stuck in the middle of the procession.

all the while, a homeless lady not 10 steps away from us is spewing profanities about killing someone's family.

it was completely surreal; you can't make this stuff up.

what i made for dinner :: edamame corn chowder

this is really a story for another day, but rupert + i were kinda annoyed at each other this past weekend because we're having a difference of opinion on our roles at home. (or maybe i'm just annoyed and he's not? who knows with him ... i'll have to ask.) anyway, because of that, i wanted to spite him and show him that i'm capable of being super-mom. and what better way than to try out a new recipe, which i haven't done in quite some time.

luckily, a new recipe from everyday food appeared in my inbox and it seemed just the dish to make for a cool evening after freezing our butts off at ian's baseball game :: edamame corn chowder. [and, as an aside, please stop pronouncing it "eda-mommy" -- it's "eda-mamé".]

the ingredient list is simple and it's easy to assemble. but, like most soups, you need to give it some time on the stove to really simmer so the veggies can soften. i also found that, for a corn chowder, it's not super corn-y. my personal preference would be to add another can of creamed corn or fresh corn kernels, but rupert said he could taste the corn as is. the key to this dish, though, is the bacon. don't omit the bacon! in fact, i cooked up twice the amount of bacon it called for, and i recommend that you do the same. the soup greatly benefits (as most dishes do) from the saltiness and crispness of the bacon.

i served the soup with a salad and multigrain rustic bread. it was the perfect almost-meatless meal.

42 months.

maya @ 42 months :: may 4, 2009

• when we used the compost for planting our garden, maya discovered the wonders of the earthworm. she digs them up from the compost and carries one around the backyard. she continues to try to bring them into the house, but the threat of the earthworm's demise convinces her to return the worm to the earth.
• her people drawings now have more hair, appendages sticking out of the head, and more details like eyelashes. i suspect she'll start drawing torsos very soon.
• there's been improvement on writing her name. if she gives herself enough room she spells her name correctly in capital letters, but if she runs out of space she puts the last "a" in front of the "m" so she becomes "amay."
• she's a pasta-freak.
• she had a good time at her "boyfriend" domenic's birthday party. apparently, domenic threw a fit when he found out maya's invitation went to the wrong girl. good thing rupert was willing to take her to the party at the last minute instead of going to the festival of books with me and ian.
• she says she wants to cut her hair like mine but i wonder what would happen if we actually took her to a haircut place?
• she's finally completely potty-trained! no more accidents! and wakes up on her own in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom! yay!

41 months.

maya @ 41 months :: april 4, 2009

• is really getting into the powerpuff girls dvd. she would totally shake her booty during the song between episodes. she doesn't seem to like mojo jojo very much.
• to delay bedtime even more, not only does she come out of her room at least twice to go potty, but she insists that she's scared of "bears, ghosts, witches, and mojo jojo." i have to tell her that the mommy bear, mommy ghost, and mommy witch have sent their kids to bed already and maya is the only one still awake and she better get her butt into bed.
• she's cutting with scissors quite well now. but i have to remember to tie her hair back when she uses scissors so she doesn't accidentally snip off some of the hair that's dangling in front of her face like she did the other day.
• loves to sing songs. now that i've lifted my own ban of singing to her in english she's really gotten into "old mcdonald had a farm." she also makes up songs, although the lyrics usually consist of her repeating one word (maybe two) over and over again [see below].
• identifying letters everywhere we go; a good sign that eventually she will, in fact, learn to read despite our earlier worries.
• got a new pony stuffed animal while we were staying in ojai. she named it "beauty" all on her own -- it's black.
• loves her friend domenic at school. so much that she sings a song about him incessantly if reminded about him at home. the song is just her repeating "domenic" over and over again in a semi-melodious way.
• so happy that her uncle aaron and auntie anne visited for grumpa's 60th birthday.
• she still whines but i think she's getting better. i truly believe it's helping that i'm interacting and parenting in a much calmer way. i rarely raise my voice at her and i try my best to explain everything to her in a clear and simple way. she responds positively to this and seems to be making an effort to follow my directions. now, her relationship with rupert, on the other hand ...
• but there are days when she is very liberal with her out-of-the-blue "mama, i love you!"s, which does make my day.
• drawing people with bodies (a line) and, on occasion, arms, but still no legs.
• loves animals (cats, especially) and is enjoying looking at her animal encyclopedia and identifying the ones she knows.
• when rupert pulled out the chinese take-out menu she immediately said she wanted, "chicken and bwok-li, and two rices." um, maybe we get take-out too often?
• her teacher said she has perfectionist tendencies, which really surprised me. i totally thought she would be more laid back and relaxed than ian (we're having some issues with him), but it appears she cares very much about her work being just right. the poor kids take after me ... on the bright side, her teacher did say she's doing quite well in most other areas of her school work. this particular teacher calls her maita, which is so cute and true!
• potty training is definitely not complete :: she'll go quite a few days withouth an accident and then she'll have several days of accidents in a row, especially while she's sleeping. we just have to keep working at it.
• she has a thing for wednesday; maybe she just likes to say it?

kids (and artists) say the darndest things about elephants ...

so, for my third graders this week, i'm reading ballet of the elephants by leda schubert. it's about john ringling north asking george balanchine to choreograph a ballet for 50 elephants in 1942. balanchine asks igor stravinsky to compose the music and, voila, circus polka is written. no, seriously, it's a true story.

as i read the book i tell the kids that my favorite conversation of the day occurred between balanchine and stravinsky:

balanchine: "i wonder if you'd like to do a little ballet with me."
stravinsky: "for whom?"
balanchine: "for some elephants."
stravinsky: "how old?"
balanchine: "very young."
stravinsky: "all right. if they are very young elephants, i will do it."

seems sort of odd and random, doesn't it?

but i was mistaken about that conversation being the best of the day. turns out the best one happens after i finish reading. i'm showing the kids a photo in the back of the book of the 50 elephants performing the ballet; they're in tutus (yes, even the bulls) and have their front legs on the elephant in front of them all in a large circle around the circus ring. one of the boys raises his hand and asks, "are they humping?" i unsuccessfully suppress my laughter and tell him, "no -- weren't you listening? they're dancing!" and then, not a second later, another boy raises his hand and asks, "are they getting ready for war?" wtf?? "no! they're dancing!"

ah, boys ... only sex and fighting on their minds.

what i made for dinner :: asparagus, mushroom, and tomato tart with ricotta and petite jurassic cheese

yumminess of the week 3 was asparagus, mushroom, and tomato tart with ricotta and petite jurassic cheese. well, it was yummy to me + rupert. no surprise the kids picked off the mushrooms and tomatoes (it's a good thing they eat asparagus, even if it does make their pee smell funny). i just can't seem to find many recipes that appeal to all of us; there's always something wrong with an ingredient or two that makes someone say, "ick!"

anyway, we tried to sell it as "fancy pizza" to the kids but they didn't fall for it. the dish is a tart with a puff pastry bottom and a ricotta, egg, and asparagus puree as a sauce. there's sliced cured meat and veggies on top. i also added extra shredded gruyere cheese to the crust, which gave a nice crispy, cheesy, nutiness to the flaky crust.

i think i might make this for my father-in-law's 60th birthday party in a couple of weeks.

what i made for dinner :: white chicken chili

[i forgot to take a picture of my chili but you can see what it should look like at seriouseats.com where i got the recipe from.]

new dinner numero dos this week was white chicken chili. the weather was a bit on the cooler side this week so it was nice to have another hearty meal. because of the kids i omitted the jalapeno and green chilies, and i'm sure those ingredients would've given the dish the wee bit of oomph i felt it needed.

i think the other issue was that i doubled the recipe and it turns out i used too much chicken broth, which made the chili too soupy (despite mashing up the beans as the recipes suggests), so i added another can of beans ... without adding more spices (although i did salt + pepper accordingly). for the most part, however, this is a super-simple (especially if you use pre-cooked chicken), tummy-warming, and filling dish, which i will probably make again.

i served it with corn chips and the leftover cheddar from the shepherd's pie. next time, i'll prep some onions, cilantro, and avocado as a topping.