Old School

 It`s photo day at my kids school today......pretty sure they won`t look like this!

1974 - Preschool

Pinetown Convent - Sister Virgo

Pinetown Convent - Amazing armless teacher

1980 - Epworth - Summer uniform

1981 - Epworth Winter Uniform

1984 and glad the dark background doesn`t show my eighties hair!

 Some of my friend are not going to love these being public.....ha ha ha......those were the days!!

Loving my Kids

I spent most of Saturday with my daughter Lindsay (15). We had a great time eating, walking, shopping, chatting.

It was purposeful, intentional girls time.

It made my heart so glad.

I decided I needed an intentional time with my son too.

Too often our family with one daughter and one son divides down gender lines - Allan and David do soccer, Lindsay and I do dance etc.

Recently Lindsay has been doing alot more with her Dad cycling, woodworking, cooking. (helps that Mom worked all Summer and Dad, who also worked but was more available and at home more often, was around to hang out with).

I notice my son David easily drifts off....with a book, with his iPod, on the computer, watching TV.  Maybe its that he is the only not first born in the house that he is so much better at disengaging..... while the rest of us keep busy.
 

Maybe he doesn't care to compete. 

Maybe he needs to be asked to join in.

So on Saturday afternoon I told him I wanted to cook or bake with him on Sunday.  He spent some time pouring over recipes and picked a recipe that required pastry.  While it is my desire to train up my son in every good thing (and I think we can all agree that pastry is a good thing) it is outside of my skill set.  So he looked again now with his mothers limitations in mind, and picked a crisp choc chip cookie from Martha Stewarts cookie cookbook.

So on Sunday he helped me make a shopping list, I did the shopping while he prepped the kitchen and then we baked.  I let him do most of the work, keeping an eye on the measuring and giving some tips as we went - passing on my limited kitchen wisdom - trying to screen out his sister's "suggestions" - trying to build his confidence in the kitchen.

And he made very good cookies for a week of lunches.

I read this on a blog today and it resonated with me.....all this trying to be a good Mom (hauling around working mother guilt) can be exhausting. 

I don't know about you, but I can feel overwhelmed at times with all the to-do's of parenting.  The list of what needs to be accomplished seems never ending.  "Don't lock the keys in the car."  "Pick up your dirty clothes."  "Don't leave dad's tools outside."  "Feed the cat."  "Take out the trash."  "Don't forget to put a new bag in the trash can."  "This is how you make a cursive g."  "Go read."  "Do your math."  "Do you have everything you need for school today?"  "Yes.  People really brush their teeth this often." "You're wearing two different socks."  "Your shirt is on backwards."  "For the five hundredth time - don't leave food in your back pack."  "It doesn't seem like you were being very kind to your brother." "Don't follow the crowd."  "Who cares what they think."  "You are beautiful and perfect just like you are."  "Don't make comments about someone's appearance."  "How do you think that made her feel?"  "You can't flush that."  "You can't put that in the microwave." "Money can make people do terrible things."  "Sometimes the only reason we can forgive is because we've been forgiven for so much."

Sure - it would be great if half of what I feel busy teaching our kids would make itself at home in their souls, but isn't what I want most for our kids is for them to walk away from this season at home knowing they are deeply loved. More than the lessons about life, and even more than the lessons about faith - shouldn't love be the banner over it all?

Doesn't love cover a multitude of mess-ups?  Won't love cover up all the lessons we forgot to teach and the ones we taught all wrong?  If love is the goal, then won't these days feel less like a constant countdown and more like an incredible, daily opportunity?

(Read the whole post here - especially if watch Parenthood on TV which I don't.)

Maybe instead of being so busy with my children all weekend I should have just hugged and cuddled and chilled and let them know how much they are loved?

I hope that, by some grace, they know that all I did with them this weekend is a pale pale reflection of my deep and abiding love for them both.

Harvest

 The end of summer harvest from out veggie garden has been so rewarding.

After the early despair I detailed here and the early summer bounty that ensued it has exceeded my expectations.

We ended up using all the lettuce (2 varieties) and did a second planting (of 2 different varieties) which we are just beginning to harvest now.

We had a bumper crop of carrots (I may have forgotten to thin them when they sprouted) and we have had to harvest them all as the puppy eats carrots as a snack and when he discovered there was an entire planter full we had "trouble".

About half the crop

Our tomatoes have been the best ever and we have tons left on the plants trying to ripen in this late September sun but we may have to ripen then inside (you can do that right?).  Our red onions were so pungent - a great success.  We also have had the best ever pepper crop too - red and green.  Such little bushes produced so many peppers - also so packed full of flavour.

Last weekend I cut up all the veggies that were ready (and a zucchini from the farm) and made some pasta sauce for the freezer.  It will be like eating a mouthful of summer when we use it so I am saving it for the darkest, drearierest January day.

We also harvested an abundence of herbs, washed, dried and froze them for use through the winter.

There are still leeks and potatoes in the ground  - I feel a soup will result one of these days!

Its been a great veggie season....better than some.  As usual we didn't plan far enough ahead to have a full Fall crop ...... next year, next year.

Oh....and..... our rain barrel lasted all summer (so far) dry as it was......such a great investment.

Did you grow a veggie garden this year?

Down home hospitality

Photo Credit: Leigh Langman

We LOVE to entertain at home.

We were given the gift of a house that, after a big renovation, is perfect for entertaining, especially in the summer.

It's not perfect...... there is so much more we could do, might do....one day when degrees are done and puppies grow up.....one day.

I dream of backyard makeovers with lovely stamped concrete and a stone clad chimney....a hot tub? Lovely patio furniture.....

I love getting the house ready - choosing a theme for the table and setting the scene.....

And yet....in so many, more important ways, it doesn't matter.

What matters is the people we get to have a meal with.

And the food, the food matters.

And the wine ......

Photo Credit: Leigh Langman

Photo Credit: Leigh Langman

We had the joy and privilege of having several memorable evenings in our backyard this summer - and this late summer sun is affording us a few more.

In the end its the conversation, the laughter, the debate, the craziness, the delicious food that lingers in my mind

And makes me so grateful for my family who all pitch in and are so good at hosting and helping, family that lives close by, for wonderful friends who cook and eat and visit, for the sweet little people who cuddle and run and add such vibrancy to our evenings.

So many blessings

So blessed.

Wordless Wednesday - Come sit awhile......

Embracing my Inner Asian - Part 2

 As my last post indicated I was made an Honorary Asian by my friend Jennifer.....and so named.....

This added to my Zulu name "Khethiwe" given to me by my friend Nosipho - I am now clearly an "International Name Gatherer" ....... it's a thing ...... trust me people ..... YOU can join if you have at least three names officially bestowed on you. 

Email me for an application (did I mention the $25 joining fee?).

Of course Jennifer went above and beyond and gave me a gift to go with my new name and status - my very own chopsticks, in their very own case.... red, of course, and beautiful. How lovely!!

This Asian food adventure I am currently on has some key ingredients:

• Asian friends - 1 who speaks and reads Mandarin, 1 who speaks and reads Cantonese
• Asian friends who are foodies
• Asian friends at your workplace
• Pregnant Asian friends at work 

( BTW I am now on the look out for Vietnamese/Malaysian/Filipino Early Childhood Educators)

One other key ingredient, of course, was one white girl with a sense of adventure and an appetite........ and boy am I the perfect candidate for that!

I have lived here in Richmond and eaten "safe", "typical" "Chinese" food......from places that have English menus.  And deliver.

Tourism Richmond recently hired a food blogger to write a daily account of dining in Richmond for the next 365 days.  Lindsay Anderson has done a fine job demystifying Asian and other ethnic dining.  Her fearless diving into restaurants I would never have thought to go to and her detailed descriptions of the food certainly peaked my interest and broadened my food horizons right here in my hometown.  I started to keep a mental list of local places I wanted to go and food I wanted to try.

All it took at work was for me to say "I really want to try Pho" and the adventure started.

It was SO good.   It makes me look forward to winter - almost.  The hearty broth and tasty noodles and the perfect beef..... forget chicken soup white people - we have been duped!!!  When you get a cold this winter get Pho.  Just do it.

The other revelation of Pho was that a huge bowl of it was $6....I challenge you to find a cheaper, larger lunch than that with as much flavour. 

My friends were encouraged by my enthusiasm but they were blown away when thanks to Richmond 365 I casually dropped into conversation that next on my list I had my sights on XLB's.  These little dumplings of goodness turned up on my desk along with Shanghai noodles...... just.like.that.

SOOOOO good..... I dream of them now.......the vinegar with the plain noodle and the pork filling with a little broth.  It's like a little initiation in the Asian Food Hall of Fame to pick those little puppies up with chopsticks and put the whole thing in your mouth without a) dropping it or b) piercing it and dribbling the broth down your face like a fool.

The Shanghai noodles also so good.

I easily declared that we were on to Hainanese Chicken next and the Asian Food Mafia at work kicked into high gear - this white girl was definitely serious now and the Hainanese chicken was pushing the envelope.  They made sure I knew what I was ordering, that the chicken would be cold...... I gave then a suitably withering look. 

Next day it arrived on my desk........after Jennifer braved Aberdeen Centre, at lunchtime, to get it.....a true sign of devotion to my Asian education.

It wasn't WOW but it was good......so good.  The chicken was so tender and gently spiced with green onion and ginger - ultimate comfort food (Asian answer to chicken soup maybe?).  The rice and bean sprouts were awesome.  My daughter Lindsay (aka Rice Girl) would have been jealous.

After that it was time to get serious - time to push the comfort zone - bust it to the next level.

Dim Sum.

Oh my - I tried to seem enthusiastic - I wasn't about to wimp out now (and Allan had been waxing on for months about a Dim Sum lunch he had) but I was a little nervous now.

This is the restaurant logo.......

 It may actually be a diversionary tactic to deter white wimps, like me, from tasting the delights of dim sum.

So I breezily said "Order whatever you like, I am sure I will like it all, just no chicken feet".  Lisa (Foodie extraordinaire) smiled enigmatically, which made me nervous.

So when this showed up......

I tried a bit of everything ordered and even Lisa was impressed with my boldness.

It was a real test for the senses and I can honestly say I liked it all but I had trouble with the texture of some of it.  But the dim sum barrier is broken, the dyke is breached.......there is no stopping me now even with creepy chicken logos....

How lucky am I to have such food mentors as these lovely ladies I work with?  That they order for me and pick it up and deliver it to my desk......and wait anxiously for my verdict?

SO SO lucky.

Onward, ladies, onward........AND Thank you!

Embracing my "Inner Asian" Part 1

On my Summer 2012 "Bucket List"  was #3 - Visit the Richmond Night Market.

(You can have a bucket list for a summer.....of course you can... don't let anyone tell you different!)

It took me all Summer to get to #3.......but on September 1, 2012 - I checked it off my bucket list!

On David's 13th Birthday evening the whole family caught the skytrain to the River Rock and got in the loooong line-up to get into the Night Market.

 

I admit, such skeptics were we, that we ate a bit of a snack before we went.

When I saw the line I felt good about that decision.

However the line went super fast and in a few minutes we were in.   We followed the crowd to the "back" of the market to the food area and employed a divide and conquer approach.... someone get seats, someone get in the line for Rotator.....someone else get other food...someone else take photos....


It was about this time I realised that I had forgotten my camera and only had my iPhone...after feeling crushed for a moment I decided to embrace the restrictions of the iPhone camera and go for it.

It was also at this moment I totally regretted eating before we came. Stupid white rookie move. UGH!

It was so exciting wandering around all the stalls - the smells so enticing.  Some vendors had amazing systems for moving customers through quickly - like the rotator folks - they have it down!!  And the Dim Sum..... but the Roti guy was overwhelmed and I didn't wait.....the bubble waffles were slow too....but who walks away from a chocolate bubble waffle......????

 

 

 

Having eaten and snacked and unable to justify any further food purchases - not to mention the place was now packed.....in a cheery and friendly sort of way..... we took off to see what the rest fo the market held.

In short........
iPhone case stalls  - tempting - hilarious....... but no thanks

 

I do think if Allan really loved me he would have got us these matching cases.

Hello Kitty - everywhere

Beauty products  - interesting / dubious / OH MY children avert your eyes

 

 

Household products - Buy one Samurai sword get one free - Bonus!

Techno gadgets - iKnockoffs at amazing prices. Also violent DVD's with subtitles. And laser pointers

2 Psychics   - one busy, one not (how would you know who was better?)

 

And one healthy fruit stand.

We had a great evening - lots of fun.....my photos are ok..... Allan's are much better...... :)

We are going again this weekend - with empty tummies......MMMMMmmmmm.

And all this led to an exchange with my friend Jennifer........

Honorary Asian!!!!!!  Nicola Bai.......... *blush*

More on my Asian education and induction into the "White Girls Asian Hall of Food Fame" coming up soon......