French Pastries

I spent this afternoon with a good friend of mine who shares my love for sweets at the French Pastry School of Chicago as part of a private event. Didn't know there was such a school here...well me neither. It's the only one in the US.

We were given a tour of the school, sampled some delicious pastries and watched a documentary, Kings of Pastry, about a coveted pastry competition in France held every 4 years. The film follows chef Jacquy Pfeiffer’s journey from the Chicago’s French Pastry School to France in his preparation for the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France. The MOF (as it is called) determines the best craftsmen in France. This event includes all different kinds of trades...carpentry, florist, etc. Jacquy was obviously there for pastry in all its stunning forms.

This afternoon was particularly eye opening to me. I love to eat pastries but until today had not given the making much thought. This trade art runs through these chefs veins. The passion, inspiring and extraordinary. The film was raw and seemed to capture the authentic emotions of this nerve wrenching 3 day event. Awesome.

TIP OF THE DAY: It's a no no to store chocolates in the fridge Water is the enemy which causes bacteria and accelerates the shelf life. Exception (because there aren't many bright line rules in life)--chocolates with cream filling. They are ok in the fridge but only for a few days.

Mussels Galore

One of M's favorite meals is mussels in garlic white wine sauce. I know....this is coming from a girl who will not touch potatoes! Tonight we discovered that Arose has followed in her big sis' footsteps. I never thought to have her try them before. Tonight she demanded the mussels and I had to stop her at 10 so that we all would have some:-)

Cool kids!!!

Taste Buds: 101

This is how my conversation about taste buds went with M earlier this week at dinner.


Me:   M, why aren’t you eating your carnitas?

M:     Because my taste buds don’t like it.

Me:   Oh, really. What do they not like about it?

M:     See (honest to goodness, she said this with the–let me educate you mom—tone), taste buds are all    kinds of different colors and they only like foods that are the same color as they are. This is what I learned in that science book that daddy read to me last night.

Let me just say that I am the first to admit that I don’t know much of anything even remotely involving science. I generally leave that up to the resident science geek. But after this conversation, I may need to intervene :-)) That said, in her defense (and Chris’), I think she may have been talking about color perception—how certain colors may alter our perception of what the food may taste like. And, heck, maybe different taste buds prefer different colors. I have no idea.

As for correcting her about the colors of our taste buds, I just couldn’t. She will figure it out eventually. I actually LOVED her response!!!

And, so goes the conversations with 5 year olds……

Neigh by ARose

6.12.11

Naperville Tri—Take Two.

Well, here we go again. I’ve just signed up for the 2011 Naperville Triathlon. It was a no brainer since I had a medical rollover from last year. I’m hoping that I can get through my training (and I use that term loosely) without any major injuries so that I can actually participate in the triathlon this year. My goal has changed from last year which was to finish the race with a decent time. This year my primary goal is to be healthy on the day of the race so that I have an actual shot at finishing the race :-0

Snowman by M

Wow! At the beginning of the school year M could draw stick people, hearts, rainbows and butterflies. That was about all she would try. It wasn’t that she couldn’t draw anything else; it was that at her sweet little age of 5 years old she was already afraid of not drawing something “right”. (this makes me sad!) She would venture out a little with her coloring and her stick people but there was only so much we could do as her dad and I aren’t the most creative people in the world. We knew she had a bigger imagination than stick people. And, this picture along with the others—Rainbow Bear, Zebra, Panda Bear, etc.—illustrates this great imagination.


What has really made the difference for her? Art class at school. It’s probably a combination of her art teacher and peer pressure. No matter the cause, I think it’s great! This snowman makes me want to bundle up and brave the cold, blustery winter to make a snowman (if we had enough snow on the ground). And, that’s saying A LOT for me as I love to be WARM!

Sleepover

M entertained for the first time last night--sleepover style.  Since the kids had a day off today we thought it would be perfect.  She had her best friends, Em and Bell, over.  These kids were super duper excited which kind of has a viral effect!  It was low key--- horsing around in the basement, watching a movie while munching on some popcorn and juice tucked away in their sleeping bags and actually sleeping in the basement.  Arose even joined in the fun which was really surprising to me.  I don't know why but I wasn't really expecting it but she followed every step these girls made and certainly made herself part of the fun.  She didn't get to stay up late like the "older" girls but she was OK with it.  Fun times!!

Hitting the Slopes

Over the holidays, we took M for her first snow skiing lesson in WI.  She was excited but a bit nervous.  You can see by this clip (look for pink ..you can't miss her) she lost the nerves pretty fast. 

I don't know much about skiing (my only encouter with skiing ended in a torn ligament in my left knee!!) but I think she did great. Much better than her mom. We are planning to make a few more local ski trips before the season ends this year. While she was taking a lesson, I stayed back in the lodge with ARose. Chris hit the slopes (only the second time in his life) ending with a few runs down the black diamond. Did I mention he has only done this twice in his life and no lessons at all. This guy!!

The Dollhouse



One of the main reasons my parents left their house in Mississippi on Christmas Eve at 1 AM (yep, that's my dad for you!) driving for 12 straight hours is because of this AMAZING dollhouse. It took up their entire trunk not leaving room for much else in the car. My mom started working on this dollhouse two years ago. Let me just say that these pictures do not do this house justice. The detail is insane. Most of the cabinets and drawers open, there's a potty for Barbie and her friends complete with toilet paper holder. They have a beautiful family room to watch TV in--Nanny and Papa TV...she framed a picture of them to use in the TV, a bedroom that little girls dream of and a professional triangle layout, eat-in kitchen. See why it took two years? She was even written up in the Chickasaw local paper.

This was a perfect gift for M (and ARose in about a year...we've had to place it on a table off of the floor for the time being since she was trying to get inside the dollhouse!). The house has already supplied hours of entertainment for M and her friends. Today I asked M what her favorite part of the dollhouse was and she started pointing out all of the rooms, furniture, accessories. She couldn't pin it down to one thing. Finally, she said "everything, mom!".

Thank you so much, Mom.! We all feel the love behind the making of this house. It's a really nice reminder every time we see it. You're the best!

Christmas Day

Merry (late) Christmas!

Family Times

I'm back.  I took a little break from updating my blog over the holidays.  I wanted to enjoy every single second of this holiday with my family and friends.  And, to be honest, I barely mustered up enough energy each night to brush my teeth much less type:-)). 

We had a lot going on this holiday and it was the BEST!!!!

My parents drove up from MS for Christmas.

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents, the Pfours and another great family from the neighborhood.  This has become a tradition with the Pfours which I look forward to each year.  This year though was bittersweet because it will be the last Christmas Eve we spend with the Pfours since they are moving to WI in 2011.   I have been in denial  for some time about this change but coming to the realization that this is the last year for our little tradition has jolted me out of this denial.  We will simply have to come up with another tradition for us and the Pfours.  That will be easy!

My older brother and his family drove up from MS the day after Christmas.  This was their first time to OP. I think they had a good time.  I know we certainly did and are looking forward to a summer visit once Tony recovers from the "big city" venture and Jes' bum thaws out!

We then rang in the New Year with our friend Ed and Ti and their little girls in Sheboygan.

And, last, I spent tons of quality time with Chris and the girls.  Time, which is the best Christmas gift in the world (although the new ipad from Chris isn't so bad...ha!).