2 Year Check up

Got the Priorix vaccination. IN January, need to get the Chicken Pox booster.

Stats:
Weight = 12 kg, 50th percentile
Height = 88 cm, 75th percentile
Head cirumference = 48 cm, 50th percentile

And anything called "Furry Trapper Hat" has my vote. This is from The Gap:



Imagine if I had a girl! I wouldn't be able to put her in hats like these...or would I have????

Lasagna Genovese

I can't believe this. I can't find a recipe online. In English.

I am looking for Lasagna Genovese, which we had in Rome. It's a lasagna that isn't made with a tomato based meat sauce. It's made with the standard cheese/cheese sauce and layers of pesto instead. I know pesto isn't everyone's favorite thing...but I LOVE IT.

So I'm going to keep going. If The Google can't find it, I don't know what I am going to do. I might have to try to make it myself without a recipe. Interesting, but doable. But DEFINITELY not stupid proof

Has anyone else used The Google and not found what they are looking for? This is a first for me.

40 minute meal

Growing up, I don't think anything we made at home took less than 45 minutes. Asian cooking is involved, but as a result, it is quite tasty as well!

However, as a mom, I don't have time on the weeknights to make involved dinners so I enjoy any shortcut cooking that I can! My friend recommended to me Everday Dinners by Martha Stewart and I tried my first one last night!

It's light sesame chicken with broccoli and rice. It was delicious, easy, and only took 40 minutes total. That's the time from when I turned the pot on to boil water to the time dinner was plated on the table! Not bad! And I don't chop as fast as Rachel Ray either.

Here's the link if you are interested:'
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/lighter-sesame-chicken?autonomy_kw=sesame%20chicken&rsc=header_5

Love,
P

What's in a name?

Did any of you catch the last episode of the Office, The Baby Shower?

Cuz if you did, you just got a sneak preview of the girl name Brian picked out (if we have a girl, which we won't). ASTRID. Not ASTIRD.

Things to be thankful for today:
1) I won't ever be having a girl. Much less a girl named Astrid.
2) Brian did not propose ASTIRD as a girl name to me.

Love,
P

Parallel Lives with Rick Steves

We are leading parallel lives with Rick Steves! He visited the same fois gras farm we visited in Dordogne. His article here in the latest Travel News:
http://www.ricksteves.com/news/tribune/dordogne.htm

And check out our October 2008 - Dordogne album to see our pictures! I guess it's easy to lead a parallel life with Rick Steves if you do everything he tells you to do in his books. I assume he takes his own advice! ;o)

Now, if we could only get Brangelina and their brood of children off our tail!

French Health Care

While in Sarlat, I ended up going to the emergency room to check out my foot that I couldn't put any weight on. After my visit to the emergency room, xrays, and doctor's visit...I got the bill in the mail.

A whoppin' 81 euro. Not too bad for an emergency room visit. In the states, the Copay alone is $100!

I'm not trying to take sides or anything or push for government regulated healthcare. I am just stating a fact about how cheap medical care is here.

That's all.

P

Absentee ballot

We got our absentee ballots in the mail yesterday! There were 4 sheets of paper in two different colors in 2 different sizes. There were 2 different envelopes in 2 different colors in 2 different sizes.

And then so much Spanish that I had to hunt to find the English. I find that appalling.

But we are excited to send our ballots in!

P

Parents in Paris!

If you had a choice, which one you pick? Hurricane destroyed Houston? Or 3 weeks in Paris? My parents chose 3 weeks in Paris. And luckily, their house was spared enough so that they could leave it!

We are having fun eating and running around the city! Here we are on a nice Sunday morning at the Luxembourg Gardens before heading to Chinatown for Dim Sum. Michael was JUST not in the mood for pictures:



On October 1st, we decided to explore the lovely Dordogne region of France. This southern area of France is known for truffles, strawberries, walnuts, and the controversial fois gras. We stayed at this cute rental house with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, pool, and TONS of toys for kids. They had badminton, pingpong, and bikes! Plus movies! It was amazing. Here's a pic:


The first day, we arrived in Bordeaux and drove the 2 hours to Sarlat. Along the way, we stopped at an adorable little town called St. Emilion, which is known for wine. Shocking right? No pictures though because I left the camera in the car!

Anyways, we learned a bit about the best years for St. Emilion and stocked up on some wine to drink for now and for later. For those who are wondering, 2000 was a good year and 2001 was also excellent. Ready to drink now. Buy a 2005, the vintage of the century, and save it for at least 2 years to drink for later. The Grand Cru Premier Classe cost 280 Euro so we bought some Grand Cru instead.

We checked into our bungalow and then rested for the evening.

On our 2nd day, we explored the prehistoric caves around the area, which are famous for its cave art that is 14000 years old. No pictures either of this because cameras are NOT ALLOWED!!!! :o(

We visited 2 caves. The first was Font de Gaumes in Les Eyzies, which was amazing. It is the only original cave art open to the public. When you enter it, it is really a cave. A very small dark confined space. This German woman opted out and left about 4 steps in. The guide showed us these amazing paintings which were so faint you would never have seen them had he not pointed them out. The cro magnon man used the natural curves and indentations of the caves as part of their animals that they drew and painted with water and natural substances. It was amazing. I learned a lot more things about cave art so if you are interested (which I know you are not), you can post in comments and we can discuss more there.

The 2nd cave is the most famous, the caves of Lascaux. The original Lascaux caves were shut down due to the level of calcite that had built up on the original paintings due to human exposure. So we saw the replica, which is supposed to be amazingly accurate. It was absolutely awesome to see these HUGE animals being drawn on cave walls. At one point, the guide turned off the lights and held up a small lighter so we could see what the paintings would look like in the original lighting and it was amazing. They were painted to where they looked like they were moving if you had a flickering light. And it was indeed just that. Good ole wikipedia for pictures of cave art for ya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

What was impressive too was that for the first tour, Brian and i understood almost all the French. For the 2nd one, about 50-75% of what we could hear. We were pretty happy with that!

Anyways, we ended our day at a fois gras farm where we learned about the process and how it is made. Brian got to feed some geese. Michael was not too impressed.

The geese are bought as geeslings (?) and then fed normally until 5 months old. At which point, they are force fed for about a month. Then, slaughtered for their buttery fat livers. This is then canned with salt and pepper. After which they are sterilized in hot water, which also cooks the interior of the can. Not for everyone, but we adore it.

The 3rd day, my angelic parents took care of Michael in Beynac while Brian and I canoed down the Dordogne. That definitely earned the 3 stars in Rick's book! My parents took a river cruise with Michael and Brian and I canoed for 3 hours from Vitrac to La Roque Gagaec and finally to Beynac, where my parents were. Here are some of our views:
Brian being the steering for our boat:
We only went around in circles 4 times and never got beached so I consider that to be quite successful!

We drove and enjoyed touring the French countryside. We stopped near a walnut tree and took pictures. This is my parents before we got a finger shaking at us for trying to gather up walnuts to take home!

Our last day, we went to the Saturday market in a little town named Sarlat. It is the most amazing market I've been to yet in France. It was magical.
They had LOADS of gorgeous and sweet strawberries. Tons of tins of fois gras. Bottles upon bottles of Walnut olive oil and truffle oil. And a walking band to provide the music. And that was just the food market! My parents explored the clothing market and loved every bit of THAT!

We found this funny statue of 3 geese in Sarlat. Had to take a picture of that! Family picture at that!

We spent the last day strolling around Sarlat and headed home for a calm evening full of games and movies. But then I was chasing after Michael, stepped wrong, and did something to my left foot and couldn't put any weight on it.

So instead of enjoying enchanting Sarlat at night, Brian and I went to the emergency room to make sure nothing was broken. I did this once to the same foot in college and had a fracture and had to wear a weird blue shoe for 3 weeks. So we wanted to get it checked out before we headed back to Paris and I'm running around pushing a stroller and wearing my carryon sized backpack like a pack mule. Luckily, nothing was broken and I am hobbling much better everyday!

That was it! We had fun!

P

Earmuff it

I'm standing around the other day and Michael comes running up to me and says "Fock!" I thought, oh geez, I thought I'd curbed that sort of thing. So I turn around to reprimand him and he's sitting there smiling at me holding a fork. Relief. Temporary.

Today we were on our way to throw out the trash and the road was lined with little rocks. Michael points to a rock and says fock. I say no, it's a rock. And he starts yelling like a machine gun, fock fock fock fock and pointing to the rocks. Luckily we were in the country.

But then we went on the train today and I hear him in the four seater next to me saying fock fock fock. Apparently he was trying to say 5.

It looks like we have a good deal of work ahead of us.