noisy cookie

el bosque profundo

We went hiking today in the 'deep woods' above my in-laws' house.

We learned about Mommy's favorites: mosses, lichens and liverworts.  CS just calls them all tiny little plants and leaves it at that. 

We had fun passing in and out of the drifts of ferns that are growing taller than we are in some places.

We all had so much fun that even J was willing to smile for the camera. 

I'm sure we'll go again soon - lunchtime came, and we were forced to leave one or two pine cones under-investigated.

flowercopter

CS is highly interested in anything mechanical and flying these days.  He has a bag that he uses to carry his 'aircrafts', and it goes everywhere he does.  He excitedly pulled me outside the other day to look at a 'lodda eecopters!'.  I looked up, but he was looking down.

He is especially keen on this type of helicopter, because each one comes with its own landing pad.

t. boone

T. Boone Pickens has just announced a new plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. 

It's worth taking the time to check it out - right here. 

happy boy

Some days, we just wake up feeling happy.

Like we've spent the whole night dreaming up the funniest stories, and we can't wait to wake up and tell each other.

And then run away giggling.

These are my favorite kind of days.

rule-y

Not Martha
Doane Paper
Coptic Binding class
Marimekko pvc coated cotton

cebollin

There are these little onions that grow here, falling somewhere between a scallion and a regular onion, with a taste that is more delicate than either. They are perfect for cutting up to stir fry with mushrooms and white wine. I also think "soup!" when I see them pop up out of their little pots, which they always do right around this time of year.

So I've been clicking around looking for good soup recipes in the past couple of weeks. And I have found a few, though none call for delicate spring onions. My favorite thus far is this tomato soup recipe on Delicious Days. It is mellow, sweet and spicy all at the same time.

Because I live in the Place Where Nothing is Easy to Find and All Stores are Closed on Sundays, I had to take a slightly DiY approach to making the soup on the day I finally decided to do it. I ended up making my own garam masala and roasted(!) vegetable stock. This was kind of aggravating and hugely satisfying all at the same time. And my house smelled great.

I made the recipe exactly as it was written, and it was good in the way that that Mexican hot chocolate with that little bit of cayenne is good on a snowy evening in front of a fire. Or even better, like you came home and your whole family was there waiting to surprise you. And by that I mean that I have had soups that tasted this good in restaurants, but I have never known what that magic ingredient was that made me want to order the entire pot. And now I do. Well. I still don't, but at least I've narrowed down the variables.

flip flap

Today, I was clicking around looking for a good way to make custom board books for the little people. I was surprised to find that there aren't that many options out there. I did find a great Instructable on how to make a custom lift-the-flap book, though. The link is here.

Picture from SteveGerber's flap book Instructable

paris: day four

I have been a little slow to get the rest of our pictures from Paris up, because upon arrival back home I was immediately flattened by the annual spring allergy mallet. But here are a few pictures from our morning tour of Paris. Our guide, Pierre, was slightly less than enthusiastic, but it did not dampen our enjoyment of driving by and walking through some of the more beautiful neighborhoods and monuments in the central city.

Sadly, we didn't stop at Les Invalides as we expected, but we did stop at Notre Dame, and we were able to cut the line at the Eiffel Tower, so the tour was well worth the investment. CS loved riding in the bus, and was excited to go up in the tower once he was reassured that he would not have to climb it! He could have watched 'the wheels that make the orange elevator go up and down' all day long, and, of course, Mom and I really enjoyed the rainy-day view.

paris: day three

On our third day in Paris, we decided to hit a couple of museums and got to a park. We went to Les Tuileries, which is bookended by the Louvre and l'Orangerie. Between our apartment and l'Orangerie, CS stomped in every puddle he saw, and found some ducks to honk at. So he had already had a pretty good morning when we stumbled upon a carousel for him to ride.

After the carousel, we went to l'Orangerie to see the large Monet waterlilly canvases. It was lovely, and CS made a small friend while we were there.

After a lunch in one of the garden cafes, made memorable only by the pound of greenbeans that were presented as a side dish, we proceeded back down the park to the Louvre. Since it was nearly closing time, we found it to be a complete madhouse, and decided to just have a quick coffee and head home from there. We would save that for another day.

paris: day two

On our second day in Paris, we went to the Champs-Elysees. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, and just walked up and down the street a bit to take it all in. We had lunch at l'Atelier Renault, which is the perfect combination for a tired traveller with a toddler - a showroom with cars to look at, a place to buy small cars to play with(vroom!), and delicious food served in comfortable pod like chairs that are just the right size for a tiny person to take his small siesta.

We topped off the afternoon with a little bit of shopping and some pastries from Paul, and it was a good day.