Singapore - Take 2

So I ended up taking a 2 hour Colonial Tour of Singapore, which was nice. The guide was highly entertaining and informative. Basically showing some historical aspects of the city center around the river and encouraging us to shop shop shop, as there are quite a few malls, all interconnected underground, so if it does end up raining, you don't have to know it. It included a short boat ride on the river, just before it started to drizzle. He pointed out some statues (the famous lion-fish and some kids jumping in), private housing vs government housing, and gave us tips on our short stays in the city.

I flew on to Kuala Lumpur - I managed to sleep briefly on the short flight. The KLIA Ekspres from the airport directly to KL Sentral was amazingly fast and convenient (for 35 RM). I got a budget taxi to Christina's roomate's (Indhu)'s grandparents (further hereby known as grandpa and grandma). I'm not sure where they live relative to the city, but according to one other friend it was 'old posh' - as in, they moved there in the 60's and it was now an extremely nice and expensive place to be. Grandpa absolutely amazed me. He was born in Tamil Nadu but raised in Malaysia. Indhu's dad was born in Bangalore and met her mom (Grandpa's daughter) and they raised Indhu in the states. It was an interesting mixture of culture and countries. It was an easy transition into the household having just come from South India - I had some sambar for dinner, along with pickled mangos. The change was in a bread-upma - an invention of grandma's that was one of Indhu's favorites as a kid. Grandpa shared a lot of his thoughts on religion, politics, healthy living as well as a healthy dose of his sense of humor. Grandma was very caring and thoughtful. At the age of 84, they were surprisingly active and still able to drive around the city. Christina found Grandpa's driving a bit rash, but coming from India buses and auto rickshaws, it seemed fine to me.

I also met Christina's high school friend, Hani, who is Muslim. She and Tarik shared their wedding album - a mostly traditional Muslim wedding. Quite different from the albums I saw of the Hindu weddings from India. Everything was beautiful and they explained the traditions and where they broke from tradition (Hani sat in to watch her to-be accept her father's giving of the daughter). Hani's mother had also just recently gotten a new job and therefore at the last minute had to invite quite a few more guests, including a sultan. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it but sent his son instead. Given his importance, when he was present, he was sitting between Hani and Tarik in all the pictures taking on center attention. I shared a nice dinner with them at Little Penang in the Petronas Towers mall - I forget the name of my dish but it was a traditional Malaysian dish - with noodles and spicy fish sauce.

Later I also met a family friend of Indhu's - Lavinia - who treated us to an amazing lunch - a typical Malaysian (?) breakfast/brunch, made of rice, tofu, veggie-chicken (everyone is vegetarian), eggs, toasted peanuts, an incredibly tasty spicy sauce (what was in it? I need to find out), fried potato strips, fresh cucumbers, and maybe a few other items.

ok, onwards to the next activity. more later.

In transit in Singapore

Checking in with my 15 minutes of free internet access at Singapore airport. I had a lovely flight on Singapore Airlines - my first time on 5 star service - and it was excellent. Too bad it wasn't a longer flight. This airport is pretty posh - with a free movie theatre and free 2 hour tour of the city for passengers in transit. I have a 9 hour wait between flights and I think I will either get my 8 hours of sleep here, get sucked into a movie, or take a city tour. I'm still hoping to hop into chinatown to get some dumplings for lunch, but after the filling plane dinner, I'm not so keen on the hunt for food anymore.

Last minute ticket purchase

I just purchased my ticket to Malaysia - with it being just a day later than I wanted. I guess everything is flying off the shelves with it being the holiday. Being in a predominately Hindu country, I sort of forget that Christmas and the ensuing holiday madness is coming. So Jet Airways and Air India and Malaysia Airlines were all out of tickets - but I got an indirect flight through Singapore Airlines. The other option was Indian Airlines, but after reading so many bad reviews I decided to fly in 5-star luxury instead. Hopefully all will go well.

My cousin in Melaka reports that the flooding in south Malaysia is much improved and it is safe to travel again. She's given me the go-ahead and I hope to meet up with her and my aunt at the end of next week.

Today I biked around Pondicherry, did some shopping and mostly struggled to find these Malaysia tickets. I had a nice thali lunch at Bombay Anandha Bhavan (on Mission St, on the same block as Nilgiri's) and a pongal breakfast at Saravana Bhavan (on Nehru, just east of MG Road). I'm much more impressed by quality at BAB and we've had quite a few lunches there already. They give refills on veggies, exact amount of rice, some chutney powder and a roti (all things that SB doesn't do).

[post edit]

Final days in Pondicherry

Again, checking in, this time from Pondicherry. My internet access has been quite infrequent until now and I've gotten a few emails from people wondering if I'm ok. I'm doing quite well! I've gotten over several health issues (thank goodness I picked up some cipro before I left) and am feeling great. I should be going to Malaysia next week some time - hopefully ticket prices won't be prohibitively expensive.

Having spent over a month in India now, it's a bit hard for me to write up anything now. Overall it's been an incredible experience and I'm looking forward to coming back!

Picture taking came to a near halt a couple weeks ago - I'll have to post later as these cafes are still slow speed (though I seem to have found one not effected by big power outages) - along with more details about what I've been doing. For now, I'm off to the store in search of chinese food ingredients - a difficult task in south india.

(ps Chewy - you're right - no news is good news - but tell me it's the same for you in Seattle!)

Checking in from Tamil Nadu

Internet time is extremely limited and slow so here's a quick check in to say I am still alive. The stay has been fabulous so far, with great food, warm weather, and incredible hospitality. We've been to Pondicherry, Trichy, Tanjore, Trivanduram, Vazhkala (sp?), and Coimbatore. Yesterday I saw the wooden chariots for Deepam being pulled around the temple in Tiravunamalai. We are waiting for the 10th day (final day) before heading back to Kerala.

I will have to share more stories and pictures later. As of now, I am playing travel planning by ear - any plan we do make seems to not happen, but it all ends up well in being a great experience.

Hope everyone is doing well - happy thanksgiving to those in the US!

[post-edit]

Preparing for India

I'm not even in India yet and I've encountered trouble. Last night when I went to check on my Kingfisher ticket - the reservation had disappeared! Luckily, my friend and host in India were able to call the office and get some more information. Unfortunately, they just said it hadn't been confirmed and was on the verge of being canceled. This despite the fact that it was confirmed when I bought it! After a lot of hassle, I finally gave up on them and bought a new ticket with Jet Airways. It's more expensive, but hopefully will offer higher quality service.

Travel Note: Jet Airways currently can't book online with a Visa. Use Mastercard.

So I am almost done packing, quite nervous and also quite excited. I have no idea what is ahead of me, but we'll see what happens. Subsequent blogging will likely be delayed, but the camera is charging now and I'll make an effort to take a few pictures. My int'l flight is to Mumbai, and then I have a flight to Chennai.

Thanks to Shaykat, Kiran, Dave, Peggy, Karla and Mia for the last words of support on chat. It's helped to calm my nerves. Kiran advised me to get Bisleri mineral water, being higher quality than others.

I welcome all advice - for my immediate travel in India, and future travel in Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, and in general. So please comment if you have anything useful. I've just finished packing, with 2 bags weighing in at 10.1 kg (22 pounds). This is just about as much as Hugh weighs - he must have known and purposefully gained weight to help me prepare for my travels. Thanks Hugh!

I'm off to have some lunch with my family, and then head off to the airport. Wish me luck!

[post edit]

Last 2006 weekend in France

Today Maddie and I made some low fat pumpkin muffins to use up some of the pumpkin puree leftover from the pie. This is a great recipe for kids. It only requires simple hand mixing and has lots of mixing steps that keep a 4.5 year old happy. The adult is in charge of measuring and spooning into the cups (and of course, the baking). This recipe is supposed to make 6 muffins, but I ended up with 7, putting the extra bits in a mini tart pan (that took the same amount of time to bake).


Pumpkin Raisin Muffins
These muffins rise over the top of the pan, so be sure to grease the surface of the pan. They are very moist and low fat! You can sprinkle the tops with pumpkin seeds or slivered almonds as well.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup light olive oil or canola oil
1/3 cup brown sugar (lightly scooped)
1 egg
1/3 cup yogurt (plain, vanilla, non-fat or full fat all OK)
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree
1 cup raisins, plumped

1. Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Grease a 6-cup muffin tin with butter or oil spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
3. In another bowl, whisk together oil, sugar and egg. Mix in yogurt. Stir in pumpkin until mixture is smooth. Fold in raisins.
4. Incorporate wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients, and mix just until blended.
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling them to the top. Bake about 25 minutes, until muffins are lightly colored and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then unmold from pan and allow to cool completely. If you didn't use muffin liners, then you may need to wait for the muffins to cool completely before being able to remove them easily.

While we were waiting for the muffins to cook, we played a simple game with markers, paper and a divider. We took turns saying an item to draw and a location on the paper to draw it (on the left, in the upper right corner, to the left of the flower, etc). The divider kept us from looking at each other's work. We also had to share markers and each time one of us wanted a color the other had, we would have to give a marker in return. After a few items we would remove the divider and look at each other's work. There was enough time to play three rounds of this and Maddie really seemed to enjoy the game.

After dinner, bath and stories, I had some time to use the rest of the pumpkin puree leftovers. This time I made a loaf of bread and the recipe follows...

Pumpkin Raisin Bread
This recipe has a much lower sugar content and much less oil than a typical pumpkin bread recipe. It also uses whole wheat flour for some extra nutrition. If you don't have any, you can just use all white.

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 t soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup brown sugar, lightly scooped
1/2 cup milk + 1/2 t lemon juice
1 egg
2 T butter, softened
1/2 cup raisins

Mix dry ingredients (up to ginger) in a large bowl. Mix remaining (wet) ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix wet into dry, stirring just until flour is moistened. Pour into 8x4 greased bread pan. Bake at 350 F/175 C for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done.

Thanksgiving...early

My sister decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with the kids while I was still here. So we prepared a special dinner today and taught Maddie a little bit about being thankful. Honestly, I think the part about being thankful went over her head. After I listed half a dozen things I was grateful for (being with my family, having a wonderful meal in front of me, etc), Maddie mentioned one thing she didn't like. She seems to be in a phase of pointing out her dislikes, much to the chagrin of my sister.

Anyways, 2 weeks early, but it's the thought that counts. And as the Hsu family tradition goes, we had chicken instead of turkey. This brings back memories of my mom's cooking - I remember having chicken for many years, and then eventually switching to a full out chinese meal. My sister's reasoning was that a whole turkey for just 2 adults and 2 kids (Edo is out of town) was unnecessary. So she got a small roasted chicken - and it ended up not even half eaten. Perhaps because it was the only dish not homemade. The other dishes included stuffing (my sister's favorite), gravy, green beans, a baked yam and potato casserole (using swiss instead of mozzarella and an additional spoonful of pumpkin to the flour-broth mixture), and a fresh pumpkin pie (I roasted and pureed the fresh pumpkin yesterday) in a butter pie crust (I don't like to use shortening).

Maddie set the table, we lit some candles, and dug in. My belly ended up being about as big as Charlotte's (she is like a normal little person with a balloon for a belly). My sister and I were basically tag team cooking and taking care of the kids all day. She got a bit more done around the house since I zonked out with another headache in the afternoon. But by the end, we had ourselves a pleasant meal that will provide leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. I'm not sure the pumpkin pie will last very long though.

Feeling bored?

If you're reading this blog I'm guessing you want to know what I've been up to or you are just plain bored (or perhaps a combo). If you're in the latter group, I thought I'd feed the fire and give you more to look at. This post is sprinkled with links to other sites.

For those of you who are interested in the blog for stories about kids, This American Life has some funny ones, as suggested by my friend Peggy. It's an NPR radio show with a glimpse into Americana, far and wide. The kid related ones are "Kid Logic" and "A Little Bit of Knowledge" (use the search tool).

I recently watched this movie about 9/11. This one should keep you busy at an hour and a half in length, but I do warn you that it is quite depressing. You can search for "9 11" on google video to find it as well.

For something a little more light hearted (and much shorter) check out the Hippo and Dog shorts. I watched the first minute of The Lion Sleeps Tonight with the kids and they got a big kick out of the dancing dog. And this one embedded below I really enjoyed and it's in French...



During my travels I am planning on meeting my college friends Christina and Tuyet. We'll be touring different parts of SE Asia together, and maybe even Australia. They each have their own blogs about life in Adelaide and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively. I'm also hoping to meet my friend Angie in Thailand. You can see pictures of her teaching English to cute little thai kids and her own travels around the area.

A couple Seattle friends also have blogs. My friend Theresa is continuing her training for a half marathon and raising money for cancer research to boot. My friend Kat is actually living in San Diego now, just temporarily. Her blog seems to have a little less activity now that she's moved, but still has great pictures of all the wonderful food she's cooked.

Under the weather

I've been feeling under the weather lately - I think the cold weather shock and the dryness from having the fire going all the time have me feeling a bit off. As such, I haven't been as active, either alone or with the kids. Hopefully I'll be able to kick it before the week end.

I made a favorite recipe yesterday, Ham-Spinach Sandwich ring. But the dough didn't behave properly - the yeast didn't give enough rise. So I made an alternate dinner which turned out tasty enough. I finished the ring after the kids had gone to bed and we had it for lunch today. My sister stopped drinking cow's milk after reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD. So I substituted in soy milk. This just didn't work out as well as the dough ended up crisper. It was doable, but definitely better (softer) with milk.

I've been talking less since my throat hurts. This means I'm listening more and Maddie can really go on sometimes. It's a wonder what goes on through kids' heads. The other day she put some things in a plastic bag. I asked her what was inside and she said I couldn't see it because it was special. "It's more special than a wedding dress." "Wow, that's special," I replied. "It's more special than jeans, and it's more special than a jacket." Hmmm, I thought to myself. Your scale of 'specialness' perhaps does not have a direct correlation to my own. "Ohhh," I said out loud.

On Sunday, Edo left for Gabon. Above, Maddie had made a pretend birthday cake out of giant legos and invited us to sing to her. Tao and Wubby were off to see a doctor and the chicken pot pie was cooking in the oven (ricotta made an excellent substitution for lack of heavy cream). For the last 3 days Maddie has been making pretend birthday cakes for herself and asking us to celebrate.

Ham-Spinach Sandwich Ring
(special thanks to Emery for getting this recipe from my cookbook and emailing it to me)

Serves: 12 to 16 (or 5 hungry people)
Do-Ahead Note: Wrap, label and freeze ring up to 2 months.
Microwave Reheat Guidelines: Microwave one 2 1/2" wedge uncovered on medium (50%) until hot, refrigerated bread 1 1/2 to 3 min, frozen bread 4 to 5 1/2 min. Tested in microwaves of 625 and 700 watts.

1 pkg active dry yeast (2 1/4 t)
1/4 c warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 c warm milk (105 to 115 degrees)
2 T sugar
1/4 c butter, softened
1 1/2 t salt
2 eggs
4 1/4 c all-purpose flour
Ham-Spinach Filling (recipe below) or your own favorite filling
Butter, softened

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl; stir in milk, sugar,margarine, salt, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed 10 min, scraping bowl frequently.
2. Stir in remaining flour; continue stirring, scraping dough from side of bowl, until soft, sticky dough forms. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hr.
3. Prepare Ham-Spinach Filling.
4. Stir down dough by beating about 25 strokes. Turn onto well-floured surface; roll or pat into rectangle, 20" x 12". Cut dough into 2 strips, 20" x 6". Spread half of the filling down center of each strip. Bring long edges of dough up over filling; pinch edge and ends to seal. Stretch rope to 22" and make even. Place ropes side by side; twist gently and loosely. Shape into ring on lightly greased cookie sheet; pinch ends together. Cover and let rise until 1 1/2 times original size, about 30 min.
5. Place oven rack below center of oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brush ring lightly with butter. Bake until ring is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped, 25 to 30 min. (If ring is browning tooquickly, cover loosely with aluminum foil.)
6. Brush with margarine; cool slightly.

Ham-Spinach Filling
This is the suggested filling, but you can substitute just about anything.

1/2 c chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 T vegetable oil
2 c chopped fresh spinach (about 4 oz)
1 c chopped fully cooked smoked ham
1 c shredded Swiss cheese (4 oz)

1. Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil until tender.
2. Add spinach. Cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted; cool.
3. Stir in ham and cheese.

Power Outage

...right when I updated to the new blogger version and was trying to choose a new template. Just as good, as I can focus on content instead of style. Nothing much to report on daily life here. It's the same old same old, playing with kids and eating a lot. It's gotten quite cold and we've started using the fireplace - it gets the place nice and toasty.

Today, Maddie and I made an Apricot Almond Bread. It turned out delicious and looks like a low fat recipe, with only 2 T of butter (see recipe below). My sister has loads of dried fruit and nuts in the cupboard that I thought I'd help use up. And Maddie loves to bake - she's good at mixing things and dumping things into the bowl from the measuring cup/spoon. In this picture you can tell that she has done her own haircut - she cut her bangs so short it looks like a mullet!

On Wednesday, we went on a walk and spotted Coffee, a local cat. The girls preferred her to the dogs that were nearby. Wubby is slowly overcoming her fear of dogs, I believe. She was comfortable petting a nice, big one for a bit on the bridge. She loves walking to the bridge because there are always some ducks there that love to be fed. Edo brought some stale bread, but the girls always eat it for themselves - they don't understand that it's really old bread (and shouldn't taste that great). We try to lead by example but after a while just ended up throwing the bread ourselves.

There is also le ragondin - there was some discussion as to how this is translated in English. The best guess was a muskrat, but the concensus was that this wasn't right. We came home and looked up and the common name is a coypu or nutria. Never heard of either! Not that I really knew what a muskrat looks like. Anyways, they are both semi-aquatic rodents that are similar in appearance - except for the tail.

Maddie does a lot of drawing and coloring. Her people tend to look the same with 2 eyes, a nose marked by a straight line, outlined hair, a short torso, incredibly long legs, and a belly button. However, she did a really nice one a couple weeks ago that seemed to have a lot more character. It reminded me of some other work I've seen by adults. Another day she was coloring in a picture and these words came out of her mouth: "This is going to be more beautiful than the sky, and more beautiful than an Indian, and even more beautiful than a chinese person."

For life outside of France, I've finally gotten some tickets to leave and will be going to India in a couple weeks. My return tickets to Paris are for mid-March. The in-between bits are still unclear but I have confidence that things will work out.

Apricot - Almond Bread

40 min to prepare, about 1.5 hours to bake
Yield: 1 large loaf, or 1 medium loaf and 4 muffins
Moist and tart with apricots and crunchy with almonds, a little sweet, but not too sweet.

butter for the pan
1.5 cups thinly sliced dried apricots
1.5 cups water
2.5 cups flour
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 T softened butter
0.5 cup real maple syrup (or honey)
1 egg, beaten
1 t vanilla extract
0.5 - 1 t orange rind (ok without)
1 cup finely chopped almonds (or thinly sliced)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F or 175 C. Butter a large loaf pan.
2. Place apricots and water in a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 min. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and allow to cool for about 15 min.
3. Sift together dry ingredients (except nuts) in a separate bowl.
4. Stir the butter plus honey or syrup into the cooled apricot mixture. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
5. Add the dry ingredients, oragne rind, and almonds. Mix minimally but well.
6. Spread into the prepared pan and bake about 1.5 hours, or until a probe inserted all the way down comes out clean. Try 40 minutes for muffins. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then rap the pan firmly a few times on its sides and bottom. The bread should slip right out. Cool at least 15 minutes more before attempting to slice.
   

Halloween

Tomorrow is a national holiday so everyone will be home. All Saints Day is the day after Halloween. The girls turned into a bunch of blueberry monsters this morning as their faces, tongues, and hands turned blue. The banana pancakes that followed toned down the intensity of blue on their tongues.

During the day we did more drawings. I did a little one about a Turkey. Yesterday's was one about a witch. I feel that my lessons on limerick writing in elementary school are finally paying off. I'm also getting better at kid management (as much as the difficulty of it is increasing). Today I used the Turkey story to coax Maddie into being a good girl for the rest of the day (no whining, no crying, saying Thank You and Please, and cleaning up after herself) after an afternoon nap. She saw me drawing the pictures but didn't know how they related to each other. I told her if she was good all day, her mom would read the story at bedtime. She did an excellent job, even volunteering to clean up after her sister. Note: This trick won't work for kids who know how to read.

Before dinner, the kids turned into a couple of monkeys.

And then after bath time I spotted Obe Wan Kanobe's long lost twin - Obe Wan KaWubby.

I also found a way to charge my laptop and camera and get the wireless router to cooperate - which explains the sudden increase in posts. I will retire the night with a little more reading of Malgudi Days by Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan.

Finally, here is a delicious dinner recipe using Pumpkin to celebrate Halloween.

Pasta with Pumpkin, Spinach and Pine Nuts

(I've been enjoying quite a bit of fresh spinach here after being deprived of it in the U.S. for several weeks due to the e.coli scare)

1 small pumpkin (about 700 g), diced into 1.5 cm cubes
2 large handfuls baby spinach
50 g pine nuts, toasted
cream (optional) - just a gloop
freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
200 g pasta eg. farfalle, penne, spirals
freshly grated Parmesan

1. Place the pumpkin on a flat baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for about 20 min, or until cooked and starting to turn brown at the edges.
2. When pumpkin is cooked, wilt the spinach in a pan, and add the pumpking and the oily juices.
3. Add the cream if using.
4. Carefully stir through cooked pasta.
5. Add some pepper, nutmeg and Parmesan, and server.

Variations: Add sliced onion, sliced mushrooms, and/or chopped pancetta at the start.

From the Message Cookbook, submitted by Libby Renton. The pumpkin should remain in cubes, but if the variety you have is soft, it may end up in a mush.

About Samois s/ Seine

My friend Karla asked me about Samois sur Seine - it is a small town in the Fontainebleau forest, where Napolean had a chateau. I went there on Sunday and saw it from the outside. Parts of it seems to be in ruins, with broken windows and missing floorboards. Outside was well maintained and included a pond with enormous carp swimming beneath some swans and ducks. Just a short walk away was where Napolean had stood delivering a final speech as he stepped down from power in the early 1800's.

In the town we visited a favorite chocolate shop (une chocolaterie) of my hosts and a crepe shop (une creperie) for lunch. The lunch and dessert crepes are two dishes I can not live without in a visit to France. Unfortunately (fortunately?), the meal crepe was so filling I couldn't order the dessert. I got mine filled with champignons, epinard, tomates, et goat cheese. There is also a great farmer's market that beats anything in Seattle. It took a while to get used to prices in Euros per kilo instead of Dollars per pound.

I've also taken several walks around Samois with my sister and a varying number of kids (...which is a reason that I am stronger now, as Maddie and Wubby get quite tired from walking and I have to carry them around. In fact, even Hugh is a workout, as he now weighs in at 20 pounds!). I've seen where Django Reinhardt lived (a famout jazz musician) and heard about the festival held every June. This brings a large number of gypsies in town - it's essential that you lock everything down to prevent it being stolen. And since you can't lock down cherries, you're lucky if you get a good handful before they're gone from the tree in your yard. Another threat are the wild boars, which might run and tromp through your garden.

The routine is usually wake up, say bye to Edo as he leaves for work, eat with the kids, drop Maddie at school (a short walk away), play with Wubby, soothe Hugh, take a walk, prepare for lunch, pick up Maddie, eat, play, drop her back off at school, play, put Wubby and Hug down for a nap, read, wake up the kids at 4, pick up Maddie from school, play, hold Hug while Mom makes dinner, wash the hands, get the plates, eat, bath time, story time, sleep time, say hi to Edo on his return from work, chat with him over his dinner, handle any kids that are unable to sleep, chat some more in the sitting room, and then off to bed. This routine is interrupted lately from Maddie's two weeks off from school. So for the last 4 days it's been gym class, a halloween party, playing outside, assembling IKEA furniture, and lots more playing.

Other regular activities include a visit to the local horse and pony club, where Maddie has a riding lesson every Saturday. I've taken a bike ride around the river, and noticed a similar establishment on the other side. On Wednesdays both girls have gym class. Before I arrived, Tao and Edo had picked two large buckets of mushrooms from the forest. Elena would have a field day in this forest!

Life here is family oriented (or maybe that's just my skew on things) and quite peaceful.

Life without an adapter

I have run out of juice in my laptop and camera batteries (with no adapter in sight) - which means not many photos and not enough travel research. However, I've managed to upload the last ones I took and have sprinkled them throughout this post. The full album is available on my picasa album.

In the meantime, I've continued my full time work as Aunt and part time pleasure of reading. The latest books are India The Golden Jubilee (a collection of stories) and What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson. The former had many interesting tales about Partition, Ghandi, general life written by both foreigners and natives of India. The latter was a glimpse into 50 people's lives and their struggle to answer the title question - something that runs through my head quite often.


"This is the pattern of my life, both professional and personal: every time I am about to follow my heart, I am offered enormous temptation."

"How can I find something that moves my heart, so that the inevitable crap storm is bearable?"

Life In France

Bathtime conversation today:

Madeleine: You be the king.
Lin: OK, then are you the queen?
Madeleine: No I'm the princess.
Lin: Then is Charlotte the queen?
Madeleine: No, she's the serf.

I didn't know serf was part of a 4 year old's vocabulary.

I got here Monday afternoon (after meandering my way through the RER B and A and a train to Bois Le Roi). Life in Samois s/Seine is much different than life in Paris, and I like it quite a bit. The entrance into Fontainebleau was really nice - and reminded me a bit of home in CT. It's nice to be surrounded by the forest. This is my first time to the house (the previous attempt with Theresa 2 years ago was a complete failure) and they've done some renovations that make it much more homey.


I've spent a lot of time with Wubby and Maddie and my arm is already sore from carrying Hug around - at 3 months he's a hefty 8 kilos (about 18 pounds). Charlotte is even cuter in person than she is in the pictures. Maddie has learned to play with other people nicely and I've met some of her school mates (Sofia and Izzy). My sister basically cooks for me and I help her look after the kids - which is really just playing with them full time. I've pushed them on the swing set, helped them climb the ladder and hang from the rings, ride their tricycles around the back, showed them how to jump rope (still too complex a move for them to do), do air jumps, help them use the potty, walked them to school and today we did drawings. Maddie did a really nice one of her and Charlotte sleeping in bed with Baby Bunny. "Baaaaby Bunny" is Charlotte's favorite stuffed animal that she asked for throughout the day whenever she is tired, excited, or in a time of transition.


After our naps, Charlotte came up the stairs without any pants on.

Lin: Charlotte, where are your pants?!
Charlotte: (silence, she can be a bit grumpy when she wakes up, as in the picture from when I first arrived)
Lin: Maddie, where did Charlotte's pants go?
Maddie: Don't call them that - you should say "trousers".

She also says 'book' with a British accent.