Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Doin' the pigeon

I love Sesame Street and the Muppets. In fact, I think I may have been a Muppet in a previous life.

Jim Henson was a genius.

All of this said, if I had to pick a Sesame Street/Muppet song to have stuck in my head all day, this is not the song I would pick (even though it is funny):

It's true, organic is better

Last Sunday, the Times on Sunday ran a story about a 4 year study funded by the European Union has found that organic food is better. It found that organic foods generally have a higher nutritional content than their non-organic counterparts. For instance, organic milk was found to have higher levels of vitamin E than non-organic.

At last, evidence that supports why I've been so insistent on buying organic whenever possible!

Eat your words, all who scoff at organic food

Official: organic really is better

Next step, I want to finally sign up for a box delivery scheme that will deliver local, in season (and mostly organic) produce to me on a weekly basis. I've been wanting to sign up for this for ages, but I just haven't gotten around to doing the research to figure out which company I want to use. It seems that there two companies that offer this service for my area, but I haven't figured out what the major difference between the companies is. Interestingly enough, I think the prices are reasonable -- I think I spend a similar amount at my local grocery store. Plus, for me it is a benefit not to have to go to the store because I find that I often purchase things on impulse that just end up going to waste. Having my fresh food delivered to me (I can also order milk and meat through this service), I avoid being suckered into purchases that I wouldn't have otherwise made.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Friends

I'm a very lucky person.

I have made some really good friends here in London, and I also made some good friends during my short stay in New Haven.

Then I have good friends from my law firm days (friends who made that experience infinitely more bearable), and I have good friends from my law school days (in fact, one of them introduced me to Carlos). Luck was in my corner at McGill, too -- I made some very good friends during my four years in Montreal.

However, Lady Luck really outdid herself with my oldest friends -- the "Ladies" (aka, Alice, Alison, Joanne and Liz). We have all known each since kindergarten, except Liz, the newcomer, who we've known since 3rd grade. These women are an incredibly special part of my life, and I value our friendship immensely. We may not see each other very often since it is hard to coordinate schedules and since we live all over the place (Seattle, NY, Boston, DC & London), but as soon as I hear one of their voices or see their lovely faces, I feel like no time has passed. In fact, as I'm sure they would readily attest, I often feel rather juvenile when I'm with them.

Last weekend I had my first weekend away from la familia. Solo. Alone. I had forgotten how easy it is to travel when you are only responsible for yourself. It was nice. I missed the girls and Carlos (I missed the girls a bit more than I missed the hubby), but it was nice to get away. It was especially nice to get away to see the Ladies (minus Joanne ... sadness). Alice, Alison and I descended upon Liz's house in the Boston suburbs, and basically behaved like complete nerds the whole weekend. Poor Joanne was feeling icky and couldn't join. So, we phoned her a lot and pestered her to the point that she probably was glad not to see us! It was really wonderful to get to hang out and just talk about everything and anything.



I hope Lady Luck is as generous with my girls as she has been with me.



Here we are at the end of the weekend (all a little squinty because we were looking directly into the sun).


(from L to R: me, Alice, Liz, Alison)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Nose knowledge

Elsa definitely knows her nose.

If you ask her: "Elsa, where is your nose?" She will smile, point at her nose and say "nose".

If you ask her: "Elsa, where are you eyes?" She will smile, point at her nose and say "nose".

If you ask her: "Elsa, where is your mouth?" She will smile, point at her nose and say "nose".

I think you get the picture. Despite the nose obsession, Elsa is starting to say a lot of words and some short phrases. For instance, one morning when Carlos left for work very early, Elsa was looking around asking "Where Papa?" She seemed mystified that he had disappeared before she could give him her early morning snuggle.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

birthday

Happy birthday to Carlos!!

Picky picky picky = Picky picky picky DNA

Here's the New York Times weighing in on the picky eater debate: Picky Eaters? They Get It From You.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

No willpower

I know Halloween is a few weeks away, but I couldn't resist putting their costumes on for a test run. I totally caved on the "no more Disney princess" stance. Anna got a Snow White outfit from Marks and Spencer. I have to say, the reason I changed my mind was that the M&S costume was really good quality -- especially when you compare it to the quality of the outfits from the Disney store (which I think disintegrate as soon as they make epidermal contact). Anna LOVES this outfit. I think she would wear it all day every day and all night every night if I would let her. Unfortunately, due to some unbelievable tantrums and bad behavior, the Snow White oufit is now locked up, waiting for Anna to earn it back (and boy, does she want it back)!

Here's my little snow fairy. Poor Elsa only gets hand-me-downs from Anna. So I got her a dressing up outfit all of her own. She was in heaven! Elsa paraded around the house in her fairy outfit telling anyone who would listen how nice she looked. Doesn't she have the most mischevious eyes you have ever seen?!?!
Here's the dynamic duo - ready for action!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Did you know?

Naan bread makes an excellent pizza base for homemade pizzas. Thanks to Nigella Lawson, now I know. We made naan bread pizzas for dinner over the weekend and they were delicious (especially the ones made with garlic & coriander naan).

Carlos just bought Nigella's new book (Nigella Express) for me, and we've been working our way through a bunch of the recipes. I have to say that so far all of them have turned out pretty well.

I've been on a bit of a recipe book kick lately. I've been taking out various popular recipe books from the library to see if I can find any new recipes that the girls will eat. I feel like I am in such a rut with them, always feeding them the same old stuff (especially in the veg department -- cucumbers and baby plum tomatoes are the only things that go down with no fuss). So far, I haven't really hit on any winners with the girls. However, I found out that I quite like turkey meatballs (out of the Dinner Lady cookbook) (but making them wasn't so much fun - I don't like the texture of ground turkey). Anyone have any recipes out there that their kids love???

Monday, October 01, 2007

What would you do with a corn kernel?

The answer, if you are Anna, is: stare at it, push it around your plate, bargain with Mamma as to what you can get for eating one kernel of corn, and shove it to the side of your plate and leave it.

The answer, if you are Elsa, is: pick it up, play with it, figure out that it is roughly the same size as your nostril, pop it into your nostril, stick your finger in there to make sure that you get the corn kernel sufficiently far up the nasal cavity to cause you discomfort, sneeze 8 times in a row, and sneeze a 9th time causing a corn kernel to come flying out of your nostril (missing Mamma by mere millimeters).

Yikes. Is Elsa going to be one of those kids that I'm going to be taking to the doctor's on a regular basis to get things extracted out of her nose?!?!

Two good reads

Two excellent things that I read over the weekend. Worth having a look.

NY Times Op-Ed by Thomas L. Friedman: 9/11 is Over.

Sunday Observer Magazine column by Barbara Ellen: A 21st Century Problem: The Too-Smart Woman [I love her column]