20 November 2006

Baci

Do you eat Baci? (it's Italian for kisses...) They are delicious chocolates featuring a slip of paper inside the wrapper with a quote about love. Sometimes they're corny, but I liked the one I got today, as it made me think about Anya:

Love me when I deserve it the least, because that's when I need it the most.

17 November 2006

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Well, thanks to lavish praise and encouragement, and our new springy mattress, Anya became airborne this week. This followed just a couple of weeks of hopping from one leg to the other in an effort to "unstick" her feet from the ground. After making the breakthrough on the parental bed, she progressed to jumping on the floor and has been doing it with verve ever since. I was very excited, since this is six months early compared to "normal" development -- and those who know us well, know that David and I are not exactly the most coordinated people in the world.

09 November 2006

Love Yoooo?

Every Thursday, Raema (Anya's Grandma) minds Anya for the day. Today was extra special as the first time Anya said, "love you" [aw-w-w-w]. Raema was so thrilled, she got Anya to repeat it all day so that she'd remember how to say it when we came home.

The funny thing is that Anya says it like a question with a drawn-out "you" so that it sounds like "love yoooo?"

02 November 2006

The Punishing Schedule

For my own amusement I've set out the punishing and rigorous schedule that Anya followed today:
3 am - cry suddenly and get taken into Mama's bed [in Anya's defense, this is an unusual occurrence]
6 am - toss and turn until Mama wakes up
6:30 - visit Grandma's bedroom and potter around the unit on important bubby matters
7 am - eat half a bowl of porridge, then abandon it
7:30 - eat some of Mama's pancakes
8:30 - the beach: digging, and flirt with the notion of swimming
10 am - visit the downstairs unit, and insist on bringing 2 more pint-sized chairs back upstairs
10:30 - playing with the table out on the balcony, accidentally fall over backwards hitting head on the railing post; cry lots then abruptly demand to see the Wiggles
10:45 - get into Grandma's lap, snuggle in and fall asleep
12:15 - lunch: 2 entire bananas, few slices of cheese, and peanut butter (leave bread for future amusement)
1 pm - drawing
1:30 - bottle of milk
2:30 - the beach again: running straight into the waves with joyous abandon; getting in and out of the "bath" (a hole Mama and Grandma dug)
3:30 - afternoon snack: inspect sandwiches like a customs officer (do not eat)
4 pm - more drawing, followed by a good cleaning of all chairs, tables, balcony railings, etc. [I kid you not!]
6 pm - dinner
7:30 - bottle of milk and out like a light

01 November 2006

Recipe: Zucchini Fritters

This recipe is from a local newspaper's weekend magazine. The fritters were quite tasty and we had them as lunch as well as to supplement other meals afterwards. Below the recipe are some notes, as I think it cam be improved. Anyway, here is the original recipe:

Lightly grease 4 egg rings with some butter. Combine: 2 small zucchinis, coarsely grated; half a small red onion, finely chopped; 1 egg, lightly beaten; 50 g freshly grated parmesan; 1 Tbs flour. Heat 2 Tbs olive oil & 40 g butter in a pan. Place the 4 egg rings in the pan and fill with the mixture. Brown on both sides, about 2 to 3 minutes altogether.

Place half a round of matured chevre on top, and grill until browned. Also grill some endive sprinkled with butter and brown sugar. Serve fritters with grilled endive on the side and zucchini chutney. (I skipped all this but the recipe included directions for making zucchini chutney, which basically looked like a sweet ratatouille to me, with onion and tomato.)

Some notes: the zucchini started to release liquid as soon as they were mixed in, which made the second batch of four sloppier than the first. I might try variations to firm up the mixture next time I make these, as the egg rings were not terribly effective, and I ended up browning the fritters under the grill to finish them off a bit more. Some options I've thought of are: less egg; more flour; grated potato; ricotta cheese. I also happened to have a bunch of coriander when I was making these, so I chopped up a generous amount and included it in the mixture, which tasted great.