'calendar'

Two pretty cool collages by Sadie.

rapunzel?

Entitled, 'Me and My Little Baby Sister'

in the style of mc escher

Woah.  That's a lot of hearts and flowers.

anchors aweigh?

Some sort of new-school Shirley Temple getup...

children of walmart

The funny thing is...we actually are at Walmart. Guess she'll fit right in.

whiteboard art

Note cool skull face at the top.

another fabulous outfit

Perfect for the farmers market.  Two people asked her if she was coming from ballet class.

The shirt is three sizes too big so I had to hold it together in the back with a hairclip.  I have officially given up.

i had nothing to do with this

They're not allowed to wear scarves around their necks at school (safety before fashion, you know), so Sadie has started wearing them around her waist. I'm glad she's going to school today because I sure don't want to be seen in public with her. And to think she doesn't even have the shoes on yet!

hairstyles of the young and sassy

"Sadie, how do you want your hair today?"
"Like a unicorn!"

This was the best I could come up with.

frameworthy

One of my favorite paintings ever by Sadie. I love the Rothko-esque color block/fading in the center.

love note

Just found this on Sadie's art table after she went to bed. How sweet is that? I love all of the little hearts around her name...

may recap

To say that May was a busy month is the understatement of the century.  All told, we were gone nearly 3 out of 4 weeks, and I'm looking forward to a little downtime around the casa.

I celebrated my 40th birthday in Cabo, where we spent 11 glorious hot and sun-filled days for Darren & Christy's wedding.  On that trip, Rachel talked me into using Picasa for photo-sharing, which is a million times easier than any other sites/tools I've used and will save me the trouble of reposting all of the pics here.  You can find the Cabo pictures here and here.  There were so many I had to post them in two groups!

After a few days back in Bend, we packed up our passports again for a trip to the French Riviera with Reid's family.  It was a whirlwind 9 days. After landing in Nice we hopped aboard a cruise ship, making stops in Portofino ITL, St. Tropez, and Monaco.  Despite all of the picturesque seaside locations, I'm a city girl at heart, and our two days in Nice were the highlight of the trip for me.  There was minor disappointment when the Michelin-star restaurant I'd planned to visit was closed (don't visit Nice on a Monday), but that was easily assuaged by an outrageous, delectable bottle of Bordeaux.  Pictures can be found here.

It sure has been hard to get back to work.

fish out of water

That's my little Aquarius for you---as uncomfortable IN the water as most fishies are out of it.  Seriously, the kid would not even get her face wet in the bath.  But that was 3 weeks ago,  before we met Miss Mary.

This woman is nothing short of a miracle worker.  She's a tough-love, hard-assed, no-BS drill sergeant of a swim teacher who, by god, WILL TEACH YOUR KID HOW TO SWIM.  The first few lessons, there were a lot of tears and a lot of screaming.  It was traumatic for everyone involved (except Miss Mary, who apparently sees such behavior on a regular basis and doesn't even bat an eye, just drags your child kicking and shrieking back into the pool).  But let me tell you, they respond to this approach.  Swim or die.  It works.

I wish I had video of the first lesson when Sadie could barely be convinced to get her foot wet.  But now, here's what she can do:

Backfloating:

Diving/Crawlstroke:

And diving in the Deep End!

swim lesson

Hopefully not as traumatic as the last time...

push it

Wow.  Just wow.

more warren miller

Here's Sadie and Ava rippin' it up on Dilly Dally Alley last Saturday.  Check out those banked turns--I think they're ready for the halfpipe.

kitten santa puppy

Because what could be better, right?

cinderella

Our new after-breakfast cleanup routine.

recipe confidential

Although I DO love Anthony Bourdain, he's not the subject of this post.  What is--is the amazing dish in the background.  On a recent business trip to Seattle I was able to spend my long layover in Vino Volo, a wine bar/bistro that makes airline travel actually worth the hassle.  Here, I tasted two things that in the past month I've been unable to forget:  Chickpea and Chorizo Chili, with a Tutto Rosso by Brian Carter Cellars.


The 30-plus days that followed have been spent combing the interwebz for the elusive chili recipe, which is really more of a moroccan-inspired stew.  I've found countless other blogposts and reviews singing its praises (Vino Volo can be found in several major airports nationwide), but no recipe.  That's when it became clear I'd need to replicate it on my own.  I found a similar-flavored creation on someone else's foodie/travel blog and modified it best I could.  What follows is the end result--and one that did not disappoint, if I do say so myself.

CHICKPEA AND CHORIZO CHILI

• 1 red onion finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• olive oil for cooking
• 1 tbsp of Moroccan harissa paste (buy prepared, or make ahead by combining 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil and blending to a paste)
• 1 tsp fresh minced ginger
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (no salt added)
• 1 cup canned tomato puree
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 cans of rinsed chickpeas
• 3-4 chorizo sausages
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt, freshly-ground pepper
• cilantro to garnish

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat.  Add the carrot, garlic and onion and saute until the mixture becomes translucent.
2. Add the chorizo with the casings removed, breaking it up into smaller bits with a wooden spoon.
3. Add the harissa paste and ginger and stir for 5 minutes until aromatic
4. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato puree, and chicken stock. Season with a LITTLE salt and freshly ground pepper.  (the chorizo is already quite salty)
5. Allow the mixture to come to the boil and then set it on a low heat.
6. Let it simmer for at least 1.5 hours, allowing the liquid to reduce.
7. Add the chickpeas in the mixture. Allow them to cook and heat through about 15-30 minutes.
8. Before serving, stir in the juice of half a lemon.  Spoon into bowls and garnish with chopped cilantro.  Serve with crusty bread.

The finished product:

Although the recipe was almost spot-on, it will take another trip back to Vino Volo (oh, darn!) to compare my results with the original.  I wasn't so lucky on the Brian Carter Cellars sangiovese blend however, which it turns out does not have distribution outside Washington state.  The wine rep at Whole Foods swore she'd try to order some, so we'll see.  In the meantime I'll be looking to all my Seattle buddies (you know who you are!) to bring some back from their next visit.

Enjoy!

stegasaurus

schuss

I think she's ready for the giant slalom.

out of order

I worked backwards through the photo downloads, so chronologically this page makes no sense.  For the most recent posts, scroll to the bottom.

Or come to think of it, maybe it does make sense--if you haven't seen any of these yet.  Whatever.  Enjoy!

christmas recap

...including the last-ever documented photo of Sadie sucking her thumb.

the event of the year

How many no-more-thumbsucking parties have you been to?  Well, let me tell you--they are quite an event, at least in this household.  After an elaborate series of progressive bribes, beginning with candy at week 1 and toys at weeks 2 and 3, the four weeks of no-thumbsucking culminated in a party at Bouncing Off The Walls, complete with pizza and cookies for all 10 attendees.  Not a small deal at all.  Unfortunately for us, Sadie decided to stop sucking her thumb exactly a month before her birthday, resulting in TWO parties the same week.  Oh well---a bribe is a bribe.

backlog

When I downloaded pictures from the camera last night, there were 779 of them.  It took 2 hours to go through and remove all the blurry/dark/crummy ones, and I still have almost 400 left.  Needless to say, I'm not going to attempt to comment on them here.  Christmas, beer tasting, no-more-thumbsucking party, birthday, and Valentine's day---whew.  Here are some from Sadie's birthday party at the Pottery Lounge.