PICKLE CHATTER

Kids and Cameras

2012-01-23T08:16:00.001-05:00

I love when friends of mine come up with some thing ingenious and then ask if I want to tag along! Last summer a friend came up with the brilliant idea to partner with our local TV station and create a news program run by kids. It was launched in September with a core group of kids ranging in age from second through eighth grades. Each month kids pitch ideas, anchor the desk, produce feature stories, man the studio cameras, and much more.

January's news program focused on the exciting world beyond our little hamlet so my two eldest produced a feature story on what an adoption trip to China is like. So for those of you who don't have access to our tiny little TV station, here is the segment. (the beginning and the end were filmed with my iPhone off the TV so I could show you what the story looked like paired with the studio bit)

I loved working on this with them. The most magical trip of our lives from the point of view of an 8 and 10 year old.

Enrich yourself

2012-01-13T08:05:00.001-05:00

If you are like me, you appreciate living in the US for its perks of freedoms, democracy, cheeseburgers, and baseball. But you also wish you lived close enough to other cultures allowing them to seep into your life enriching your soul and adding color to your existence. I have been that way for as long as I can remember. At the age of 9 I read a news paper article about a set of summer camps in Minnesota that immersed kids in foreign language and culture. My mother was able to find out who ran them {even without the internet} and off I went for a two week stint at French Camp. Five summers and 3 languages, including German and Chinese in addition to French, later, I learned quite a bit about how connecting with people from other parts of the world can satisfy one curiosity but almost always spark another.

It is this spark I hope to pass on to my children while also keeping it well alive within myself. So how to do this with kids? In the States?

Have your kids start learning a foreign language. School curriculum be damned. You can just seek it out on your own. If you don't know of a connection in your area you can try searching for one at WyzAnt (wise ant). It is like SitterCity but for tutors. I am sure you could find someone looking to offer introductory foreign language instruction for children.
Send them to French Camp! Or Swedish, or Italian, or any of the 15 languages offered by Concordia Language Villages.
A friend just sent me a link to what looks like a collection of awesome summer experiences for teens around the world. Overland Summer Programs seem to run the gamut but they have foreign language and field study programs in Europe, South American and Asia. Check 'em out if this seems up your alley.
Look to your city's yellow pages to see if there are cultural centers. Boston has L'Alliance Francaise, Chinese Cultural Center, amongst others. They have programs for kids and adults alike.
Check to see if your local museums have cultural programs. A few of ours here will be putting on some fabulous Chinese New Year celebrations soon.
And finally, don't forget the power of food. There are tons of ways you can give your kids a tiny bit of cultural experience just at dinner. Dig deep into your heritage and cook some things from your elders. Learn how other cultures prepare, eat, and enjoy meals and try it at your house.

Do you have any other ways of welcoming foreign culture into your home? I'd love to hear!

New Year Resolutions and Attainable Goals

2012-01-11T08:17:00.001-05:00

It is pretty hard to believe it is 2012. Which means 12, TWELVE, whole years have passed since the whole Y2K thing scared us about turning the corner into a new millennium. Do you make resolutions? I do and I don't. I make them pretty often throughout the year as well so the ones I make in January are usually just a starting point. They are usually things that help me focus on achieving bigger, loftier goals that sometimes I think are a pipe dream. But it's good to have ~~dreams~~ goals. And in fact it is good to write them down. I am in the process of trying to write down some new ~~dreams~~ goals because about 4 years ago I wrote this little section on a personal website page and slowly but surely they started to get crossed off.

The last things she needs is another project.....

2011-12-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

hum. a project. I love projects. I love making change and starting something anew. The mere mention of that word sends my husband off to hide though. He's not a lover of things crafty, homemade, redone, or refurnished. He won't really admit he HATES my projects, but I can see the trepidation in his face when he asks on Friday, "so what are your plans for this weekend....????" I love the hard glance my dining room table gets when he sees the sewing machine is out. But the sewing machine is not out right now and the paint cans are safely stored away in the basement {in case you are reading this at work hun} so nothing is having a makeover at the moment.

I am thinking about starting up a project with my photography though. A personal one. Not one geared towards clients or gigs or growing in ways I want to grow professionally but rather one just for myself. I was thinking I'd start a 365 project on 1/1/2012 so I could have a whole year of photographs to look at by this time next year. But I'd have to have a slant, a focus, a thing to hang my hat on so to speak. I just read an article HERE about being fearless in your photography. It is a piece of advice that is universally needed by all photographers and perhaps all other artists. We find our safe zones and we stick with that and we love that we are successful with it and then it becomes formulaic and then before we know it we are in a rut. Thankfully, I am not in a rut. But I am feeling curious and creative at the moment and want to give myself a little push down a less traveled path. The advice in this article falls into two categories: don't look at the work of your peers, but keep looking at art. Seek out other genres and soak in the visual. Inspiration can be found everywhere. And the second suggestion she gives is to give yourself a personal project. And that was just what I was thinking about doing.

I don't have a direction yet but this article reminded me of my college days when I was asked to pick one very specific thing to photograph over the course of 10 weeks. I had a hard time coming up with my subject for this project. A really tough time. And then one day I came home to find my roomates watching MTV and a video was on of a popular song that year {and for the life of me - which includes a google search- I can't remember the name of the song. Although I can vaguely hum it.}. What I remember about that video was the richness of color and beautiful imagery of hands. Yup, hands. And I was so moved by the beauty in the music video that I decided to pick hands as my subject matter. My photography professor did not seem too jazzed about it when I told him but since it was my project and my grade, he just shrugged his shoulders.

The project was a little harder than I thought it would be but I managed. I produced enough work which I either liked or loved. And interestingly enough, about 3 weeks ago we found these four frames arranged on SweetPea's bed. I asked her where she found them and she said at the top of her closet. Then she said, "I just found them when I was looking for something else and I don't know where they came from but I like them". They are of course, part of my hands project from college and it reminded me of a time when I forced myself to get seriously focused with my photography. There are a lot of technical errors in these pictures but I love that because it reminds me of how much I have learned and grown. Of course these were taken with film and developed in a lab so part of my growth has been to make the leap to digital which wasn't all that easy for me. And how lucky we are to be able to see our shots so instantaneously now. There are lots of things I knew back then to correct but I couldn't see the image until the scene was gone.

So who knows what my next project will be. Maybe I should pick something like international spice markets and convince SJ that I will need to travel to exotic places to grow my craft. she says with a smirk.......

What is it about Christmas??

2011-12-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

Okay. I am going to admit it. Christmas is my least favorite holiday of the year. Depending on your faith, there are maybe 5 biggie holidays of the year and from the outside, it would seem that Christmas holds the top spot for those of Christian descent. I was not raised with much religious structure so for me Christmas has never been anything but the big ass day of gift giving. I find this December holiday to be fraught with pressure, guilt, anticipation, and very often let-down. The latter can be in the form of a child's heavy heart when all the gifts have been opened and IT IS OVER. Or it can be the feeling that you didn't get what you hoped {or asked} for. Christmas day is like a sugar high, it feels good when you are in the thick of it but once it is over you are exhausted. And why all the exhaustion? I refer back to the first three reasons why I don't like this holiday, pressure, guilt, anticipation. I like holidays that are just about food. I know. Huge surprise.

If you have children you know you want their holiday to be magical. Many of us fall prey to the Pollyanna-ic ideals of making everything perfect, shiny and bright. You want to make sure that the stuff under the tree makes the children happy, that the party you throw to feel all warm and fuzzy with holiday cheer comes off perfectly, and that you have a smile on your face as you pretend to enjoy the radio station that only plays Christmas music. Your company is at year-end and you are either still slaving away to make plan, or you are required to spend every night entertaining clients or you are still traveling like a lunatic to pull in last-minute contracts. All the while, you still have to be saying "yay Christmas". It is kind of a lot don't you think? I do think there is pressure to pull off a great holiday for your loved ones. I do think there is guilt if you can't or you don't. And I do think the anticipation of it all can lead to some pretty major disappointment. I dare you to deny that this holiday comes with expectations. And at the end of it all, I wonder how many of us don't harbor some negative feeling. I wish I could have done more. I wish I got what I wanted. I wish I didn't feel taken for granted. I wish, I wish, I wish.

And the reason I think for all this is that we feel the need to connect with the people around us more deliberately at this time of year more than any other. The neighborhood party that is full of cheer, the holiday cards you send, the special gift you buy or make for someone, and most importantly the holiday spirit you try to share with your children to add to the magic and joy of Christmas. Last night I stumbled upon a TED talk from the summer of 2010 by Brene Brown who talks about the primal need for human connection and the instinctive feelings we all have that can unravel it. From there she brings up some really interesting theories about who the people are who connect well with others and why. She theorizes that it is fear and shame that prevent people from forming authentic connections. And yes, I know how heavy handed that sounds but.....think about it for a minute. I mean doesn't everyone's life seem perfect on Facebook?

"Is there something about me that if other people know it or see it that I won't be worthy of connection?"

She then goes on to highlight that "shame is universal and that the only people who don't experience shame have no capacity for human empathy. That no one wants to talk about it and the less we talk about it the more we have it." It is funny because I would have defined shame as something pretty major that you feel guilt over but I guess it could be classified as any negative feelings of not having been good enough in any area of life.

She dissects it even further to explain that vulnerability and worthiness are the underpinnings of shame and that people who form the best connections in life are those who innately feel worthy and also embrace their vulnerability. It is a head scratcher of a 20-minute talk and I challenge anyone to listen to it and not walk away with some positive feeling of how they can make their life better.

Every year I wish I could enjoy this holiday with less snark as I wrote about here, here, and then here and more joy. I am going to work on that but after rereading those three posts, I have to say I got a good giggle out of it all. So grab a cup of coffee and take 20 minutes at lunch today to watch this.

Wreath Making

2011-12-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

There are two reasons why I tend to opt for the DIY option in nearly every scenario. The first, but not the most significant is that I am cheap. Or rather that I love a cheap thrill. I adore finding things for less than they normally sell for. The hunt is so much fun for me and when I find what I am looking for, whooooo weeee, I just about get a high from it. The other is that I am really picky about how I want things to look. I do not have an amazingly decorated house with perfect pillows and smartly adorned shelves but when I decide I need something for the house, I get in my mind what I want before I start looking and then nothing ever fits the bill. Both cases I think my husband would call a disease. Although he is pretty happy that I like cheap stuff.

When it comes to plants, I am a perennial person. Annuals, while pretty, are just a waste of money in my book. But then again I live in the NE and when it comes time to planting spring flowers I never really know when it is safe to put those pretty little pansies in the ground. It could just as easily snow in June and kill them all so you see my problem. Anyway, the same goes for seasonal decorating at holiday time. I hate spending tons of money on stuff that is just going to die. With one exception. I have to say, I don't mind dropping some cash on a Christmas tree. A good one. From a farm. That won't be dead by December 25th. This year we were not able to get to our farm before they sold out and had to resort to our local garden center and we have had unspeakable horrors with this tree. After some therapy I might dive into it here on PC.

As for a wreath, I like mine not so plain but not overly done and tacky. I don't want a gazillion silver balls on it or branches sticking out in every direction. I want something to look cute and Christmassy without being totally over tone. So last year I got together with a bunch of friends and we made our own wreaths. A friend ran down to a local floral wholesaler and bought tons of materials and then one evening with wine and desserts we gathered in her garage to make wreaths together. It was lovely and festive and you all should try it.

Last ~~April~~ January when it was time to undecorate, I tossed the wreath but saved all the elements I made. I am so happy I did that because this year I was able to make the wreath just how I wanted it in about 15 minutes. My poor husband saw me pulling out all the stuff about 25 minutes before we were supposed to leave the house and he was all are you really going to start that now!?! And of course I was totally NOT smug when I was done a full 10 minutes before we had to leave!

So what is in my arsenal for decorating a wreath? First off, a nice big red bow. a few red and ivory ornaments, a few small pieces of silver to catch the light, little red berries, and some seashells to represent our area. And this year, I grabbed some fresh eucalyptus at the garden center to add for some lighter green contrast.

Really you can use anything you want that you can either twist with wire or glue with a gun onto one of these green floral picks.These guys have wire attached so you can just wrap the wire around your item and then shove it into a tight spot in your wreath.

So start with a plain wreath. This one was $17 at my garden center and is 20" wide.

Tie a bow how you like.

Then wrap the wire on a pick around the back.

Attach by wire or glue all the little bobbles you want to include in your wreath. This year I grabbed some fresh Eucalyptus.

I put the bow on first and then the eucalyptus. I used all the bobbles on picks to hold down the eucalyptus. We live in a pretty windy area so I have to really pin it all down well so it doesn't fly off the wreath.

Have you made a nice wreath for any part of the year? I'd love to see so leave a link in the comments if you have one!

Seasonal Affective Disorder and the Elusive Holiday Gift

2011-12-09T15:33:00.000-05:00

OMG can you tell that I am coming down with seasonal affective disorder? No not that SAD, the other one. The one that leaves you tangled in Christmas lights and up all night thinking about HOW and WHEN you are ever going to get those holiday cards in the mail! I have some fun projects planned for the weekend and should the weather cooperate, I'll share them next week. But for now I thought I'd share a recent purchase I made that rocks my world.

In an effort not to be that mom who says there are no pictures of her third child because they are, well, the third child, I am trying to get some images of Cici framed and up on the walls. For the past few months I searched high and low for some frames I both like and can afford and frankly, most of them suck. I had some paintings I bought in China custom framed and after dropping a freaking WAD of cash on that I thought there must be a better way. There. Must. Be!

And then out of no where my friend Lisa posted on her blog that she had ordered a few canvases from Easy Canvas Prints and she loved them. I adore Lisa's photography and totally respect her style so with her endorsement I was ready to take the plunge into frameless framing!

I ordered two 12X12 pictures of my gorgeous daughter {and come on, look at that face! Cute beyond words} and was knocked off my feet when I got them in the mail this week. ECP has lots of sizes to choose from but will also do custom sizes. I chose a square because one of the pictures I wanted was a Hipstamatic shot and those are square by nature. And yes while I could have cropped it in Photoshop, I am kinda gettin down with the square foto. The composition is a bit different on a square image and I like the natural draw to the center because of the equal sides. Okay, I am getting ahead of myself and completely losing you aren't I?

So enough of my blabber. Here are the canvases I received this week and you can see that I did not wrap the image but instead added a color edge that is a neutral. Lots of options over on ECP. And if you like them on Facebook you can get lots of discounts. I just ordered an 18x24 for $34. That would be my THIRD order in less than a month with them! My second order is a series of 5 prints, all from China in B/W. One 18x24, two 8x8s, and two 8x10s for a wall in my dining room. And I got word yesterday that those prints have shipped. YAHOO!!! I will post a picture of the wall when they arrive and I have a minute to hang them.

Do you have anyone left on your list you still need to buy for? Two lucky people on my list are getting a nice big canvas from ECP. YAY!

Let it Snow: 10 Year Old Girls' Night In Birthday Party!

2011-12-06T10:51:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

As I have said before, my careful family planning efforts never really worked out as I had hoped. What's that saying about hearing God laugh? I am sure I have him roaring on most days. I always intended on having three beautiful children and definitely one of each gender and all of them would have late spring or summer birthdays so we could have really fun birthday parties in the backyard. There would be balloons, and ice cream, and running around, squeals of delight and bare feet. But alas, my first two children {the ones who's timing I seemingly had control over} are cold weather babies.

Over the years I have struggled to find the right mix of entertainment and creativity to plan parties both the kids and mom enjoy. Last week, SweetPea turned 10. It is beyond me how I have a TEN year old. We decided to have a Girls Night In sleepover complete with warm fuzzy socks, movies, popcorn and nail painting. With her birthday falling just as the true winter season kicks off, we decided to do a let it snow theme to the night some style and beauty. And then it was 60 degrees here in the should-be-frigid Northeast!

At 4:00 pm on Saturday we welcomed 5 of her friends over had a fun filled night of activities. The big girls rented a movie, gave each other mani/pedi's, and hopped around to music in SweetPea's room. I also got each of them a pair of fleecy soft socks and we did a Yankee Sock Swap. None of them had done a Yankee Swap before and were so puzzled with the stealing of other people's item. In the end everyone got the color sock they wanted and they giggled their way upstairs.

Pizza and cake are requisite parts of a sleepover birthday party. SweetPea had a special request for a cake this year. She wanted an ice cream cake but wanted it in the flavors of Neapolitan ice cream. If you are not familiar with Neapolitan, it is vanilla, strawberry and chocolate layered in stripes in the container. A perfect choice for the indecisive child. But hum, how to translate that into a cake!?!
Then it hit me, vanilla flavored cake with chocolate and strawberry ice cream layers.

And then as if Duncan Hines could read my mind, I was asked to use one of their products for a holiday themed Girls Night In party.

Perfect timing people. Perfect timing!

The perfect part of all this is that I was really running out of time to prepare the whole party. I was offered a photog gig at the end of last week too so time was scarce. Cake mix and prepared frosting was definitely going to save me. I ran out and grabbed a box of Duncan Hines' butter yellow cake, some vanilla frosting and some glaze which I had never seen before. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to frost the ice cream cake and ideally wanted it to look frosty and snowy. In the end I was able to use the glaze to get a melting snow/ice look to the cake and SweetPea LOVED it.

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

with bells on

2011-12-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

This weekend was party party party {and party} for us. Four events to either attend, coordinate, photograph, or be guests of honor at and we are pooped! It was a fabulous festival weekend here in our little town as well. Thankfully mother nature gave us gorgeous days full of bright sunshine and crisp enough air to feel the season that is upon us.

Today I am spending the day catching up but I have lots to show you from the weekend so stay tuned.....

Oh and in FAB news, the Coach Purse raised a good bit of money for Half the Sky so I am very grateful to all of you who participated in Lisa's giveaway! And there is still so much more to be given away over there and at the two other blogs in my sidebar! I'm gonna go take a peek now, come join me......................

Lunch with Cici: Squash two ways

2011-12-02T08:25:00.000-05:00

This week I have been focused on pointing you all to a big fundraising event to support 3 charities that are near and dear to my heart. I hope you all have had a chance to stop by the blogs to see what kind of giveaways are happening and I am so grateful to those of you who have donated. If you still haven't had a chance to peek, the links are just to your right in my sidebar.

I thought I'd take a minute to show you a quick little dish I made for lunch with our Thanksgiving leftovers. And while you are probably sick of hearing about what to do with leftovers, you should know that this particular side dish is one I make often throughout the year and decided at the last minute to add it to my Thanksgiving menu. So really it is regular food and not holiday food. Does that make it better? I know, we are all getting sick of holiday food. I'm with ya.

So which side dish am I talking about? The Sweet and Spicy Squash one. This has been a staple to our fall and winter dishes for many many years now. It is roasted squash with the sweetness of caramelized brown sugar, the heat of crushed red pepper, and the brightness of thyme. It is as simple as that and we happen to LOVE it around here.

Then in a quiet moment when just Cici and I were home, I turned it into a delicious savory risotto for a mommy and baby lunch date.

Ingredients

4 C of 1" diced squash (I used Butternut and Delicata)
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/4 C brown sugar
~1 T crushed red pepper (i use a red pepper grinder instead of the bigger flakes) You should adjust this to your liking.
5 sprigs of thyme

For the Risotto

1/2 C Arborio Rice
2+ C chicken stock, warmed
1/4 C minced pancetta
1/4 C diced onion
splash of white wine
extra thyme
knob of butter (1-2 tsp)
1/4 C total grated parmesan and gruyere cheeses
salt and pepper
1 C leftover squash warmed or at room temp

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Toss squash with EVOO and some kosher salt
Spread out on a silpat lined baking sheet and scatter sprigs of thyme throughout. You may need 2 baking sheets.
Roast at 425 for about 10 minutes. I roast them until just the very top layer of the squash has some give to it when it is pricked with a fork. The interior should still be fairly raw.
Take them out of the oven, turn the heat down to 350 degrees
Sprinkle brown sugar and red pepper over squash and toss to coat. Shake pan so they are once again in a single layer.
Put it back in the oven and roast until squash is soft but still has some bite and the sugar is gooey but not burned.
Depending on your oven, you may need to reduce the heat so the sugar doesn't burn. You may have to watch this a little.

For the Risotto

Saute pancetta in 1 tbs of olive oil over medium heat until crunchy like well done bacon.
Remove from pan with heatproof slotted spoon and turn off heat.
Toss onions into pancetta drippings (yes, now we're talking!) and cook over medium-low heat until soft and translucent.
Add rice and some thyme leaves (maybe 1/2 tsp) and cook (well toast actually) the rice for about 2 minutes.
add a splash of wine - enough to make it all wet but not enough to cover.
Cook until wine is absorbed and you hear the pan crackle once or twice.
Now start adding your warm stock - ladle in enough to cover, and cook until it is all absorbed.
Repeat until the rice is al dente - a bit of a bite to it. At this point taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to your liking.
Cover with stock again, cook for 2 more minutes
Add butter, cheese, cheese, and squash - turn off heat, cover, and go pour yourself a glass of wine.
After 5 minutes, remove cover, stir to incorporate everything. Check for seasoning and adjust if needed.

Yay. Two dishes out of one! The sweet heat of the squash paired with the salty pancetta and earthy cheese is beyond delicious. You gotta try this.

Wanna win a Coach Purse???

2011-11-30T10:20:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

I have a favor to ask you on this lovely Wednesday morning.

I am helping three of my favorite bloggers raise money for three different charitable organizations. Each one focusing on helping China's orphaned children. My friend and inspiration, Lisa, over at Long Road to China is raising money for Half the Sky, an amazing outfit that is building orphanages, hiring and training nannies, and feeding children in China. Everyone who as adopted from China knows that if your child was in an orphanage supported by HTS, you would be thankful.

When I heard about this three pronged effort to raise money for all the little babies left in China's orphanages, {all of whom I'd adopt if I could} I knew I had to be involved. I have donated a new Coach purse to be given away on Lisa's blog today. A donation is not required to enter the drawing but I am asking with all my heart for you to head over there and click the link to HTS and make a simple $5 donation. It would mean the world to us.

You know this purse is perfect for the upcoming holidays.

And you know you want it!

So please spread the love, make a small or large donation to Half the Sky and enter to win the contest.

Good Morning 10 Year Old

2011-11-29T08:34:00.000-05:00

Our family gets to bookend the month of November with cake, goodies, frosting, balloons, and all around delicious smiles. My birthday starts off the month on the 3rd and SweetPea closes it out on the 29th!

today

she

turns

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh dear can it be true! Double digits already?

I am not going to write much because I will happily be baking a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting to enjoy after our celebratory dinner tonight. She has asked for a Curried Thai Fish Stew for dinner so we will be having that over Japanese rice first and then it will be on to CAKE!

So happy birthday my beautiful girl! Your smile makes me melt. I love you to pieces.

Holiday Charity

2011-11-28T09:28:00.000-05:00

{The Fill Their Stockings charity event was paused over the weekend to work out some glitches and is relaunching today! Time to head on over to visit one of the three gals listed below to see what their blogs are offering today. One of you lucky donors will get a really good CyberMonday deal!}

Today marks the official start to the holiday shopping madness. I am sure plenty of you out there set your alarms to get up for Black Friday deals and hopefully you got'em. For me, today I am trying to focus on holiday magic and not madness. I can't for the life of me get up to do middle of the night shopping. Don't get me wrong. I love a good deal and I adore shopping but I like sleep better. So instead I am going to point you all in the direction of what could turn out to be the deal of the century and will also make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the same time.

The long and short of it is that 3 of my favorite bloggers have collected donations of AWESOME items to be given away in 12 days of giveaways. The only way to buy a raffle ticket is to make a donation to the charity associated with each of their blogs. Each of the charities supports children orphaned in China.

Starting November 25th (TODAY) and running through December 23rd, each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Stefanie, Diana, and Lisa will feature a special product on each of their blogs. That means 3 items each giveaway day, for a total of 9 items every week. The gifts will range from $50-$500 in value – and all of them are fantastic.

For a chance to win the item featured that day, all you need to do is leave a comment on that post and then click a button to donate $5 to the organization that we each represent: Stefanie for An Orphan's Wish, Diana for Pearl River Outreach and Lisa for Half the Sky. Your donation will go directly to the charity featured, and they will be notified of all donations made. For every $5 donation you make, you will be entered to win the item posted. If you’d like more entries, just make a larger donation! If you make a $25 donation, you will get 5 chances to win, and so on. And yes, if you’d like to enter on all three of our blogs on any given day to win one of the three items we have featured, feel free. The more the merrier!

So, you get a chance to win an exciting gift for yourself or someone special on your Christmas list and, at the same time, you are helping to make a difference in the lives of orphans in China, halfway around the world.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

I was happy to donate a Coach Purse which would be perfect for the holidays. You can see it in the teaser on Lisa's blog. And on that teaser it also looks like there is an iPad to be given away! Yikes! That is awesome!

So please head on over to these three blogs often over the next few weeks. I believe it is a grand total of 36 crazy awesome things will be given away.

DON'T MISS OUT!

(and you can always find your way back to the three blogs from here. I have included a link to each of their blogs on my sidebar with the 3 stockings graphics.)

Giving Thanks

2011-11-23T08:24:00.001-05:00

It should be no surprise what we are thankful for this year. In addition to having a beautiful new daughter in the house I am so thankful for the friends I have made along this long journey. Watching so many of you become parents for the first time or add to a growing brood of children has been a gift. I cherish all of you who stood by us during our wait and cheered us on or provided a shoulder to cry on.

I hope each of you has a wonderful day celebrating all that you are thankful for.

Thanksgiving prep

2011-11-22T01:08:00.004-05:00

Suit up. It's time!

Are you ready?

I am!

This week I am doing some pretty serious pre-holiday calisthenics so I can enjoy my family and not injure myself on game day. After all, we have two family members celebrating their first Thanksgivings so I want it to be as relaxed and enjoyable as possible. Soooo today and tomorrow I am planning on doing most of the heavy prep so I can just saunter around my kitchen casually stirring things and basting birds while trying to teach my cute-as-a-button daughter to walk.

I love this holiday. I started hosting Thanksgiving the year we bought our first house and with the exception of last year, I've been doing it for 11 years straight. I love that this day is just about making a meal to share with family or friends. No presents or fictional people are involved. There is no stress or major preparation beyond how to perfect your game from last year.

First up was to figure out the menu. Here it is. These will be printed and on the table for our guests. We don't really have guests, I just like saying that. Well no, that's not entirely accurate since my parents come but it is hardly like having guests- you know the kind you get a little nervous about hosting. No, just Nana and Papa will be here to relax and enjoy the day with the kids. No pressure.

Then it is on to the shopping part. I did this yesterday thinking it would be less crowded than it might be today or tomorrow and dang it was wall-to-wall people in there. The state of the parking lot as I pulled in, had me catch my breath a bit. You know that feeling when you think to yourself, under any other circumstances I would turn around and come back later. But no, this was the time I had carved out to do these errands based on available help with the baby and big kids in school. So it was a take a deep breath and grin and bear it sort of situation. Thankfully I survived in large part due to my thorough list separated by store section. phew!

Last up in the pre-game drills is to figure out what can be done in advance. I have spent far too many holidays chained to the stove while my family is having a nice casual day on the couch laughing and enjoying each others company. Not this year. My master plan is to knock out much of what needs to be done today and tomorrow so I can also hang with the fam and watch the parade. I wonder what Cici will think of those giant balloons in the air? Hopefully there will be an Elmo one. She calls him mo mo and thinks he's the cat's meow. So here's my prep list for the next 48 hours.

And lastly, just a few internet odds and ends. Here are some links to resources I have found useful. I will be using the Pioneer Woman's brine recipe this year. If you want some basic dos and don't s, take a peek at Michael Chiarello's video on brining.

You will also notice on my menu that in addition to the Cheesecake which you can find out more about here, there is also Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie and Brown Butter Apple Pie from Pickwick Baking Co. My lovely friend Ali Ryan is currently working her little tail off at culinary school getting a professional degree in pastry. AND on the side she is catering. Um. Yeah. How lucky for me is that? AND I am getting to photograph all her food. (and you should know that while I photograph I nibble on the scraps. It is a great gig.) Ali and Pickwick can be found on Facebook and on the web where she keeps a blog. Take a peek, cuz in addition to making yummy things she is funny as all get out.

Okay peeps. Game on.

Thanksgiving and a Book Review

2011-11-21T07:56:00.001-05:00

About 5 years ago we were heading into our first Thanksgiving after filing our adoption paperwork with China. The big kids were still small at the ripe old ages of 3 and nearly 5. Our days were a mix of pre-school drop offs, arts and crafts at home, and fun events at our town library. It was that year that I went to check out a few Thanksgiving related books and came home with a really nice surprise.

I hadn't flipped through this book before I checked it out of the library so I was caught by surprise as I read the pages aloud to the kids.

That year I had wanted the kids to start recognizing what they were thankful for and I thought this book might be a good introduction to going around the table voicing our tokens of appreciation. We had already made construction paper hand turkeys and wrote things we were thankful for on the tail feathers. But I wanted the kids to be able to say something at the table on this Thanksgiving Day in 2006.

So one pre-holiday afternoon, the three of us snuggled up on the couch and started to read this book. And just a few pages in, I am hit with this.

I immediately lost my composure and frantically tried to wipe the tears off my face while the kids are chanting in their little voices, mommy mommy what's the matter?

At that time I was still so hopeful and excited about our impending adoption but was starting to become fearful that the process might take longer than expected. I knew I was crying out of the love I had in my heart for the daughter I hadn't yet met but was also crying because the wait was continuing to lengthen and I didn't think I could bear the thought of a possible two year wait.

And now after having waited half a decade, I finally get to read this book to my new daughter on Thanksgiving Day. Even if you don't have someone special from China at your Thanksgiving table, this is a really cute book for little kids. And if you are so lucky to have flown through the night for your child like we did, you must rush out to your nearest bookseller to add this to your book collection.

**and tomorrow I will be sharing our menu and my game plan for Thursday!!**

The very best cookie recipe: 10 year scientific study proves it

2011-11-18T01:16:00.009-05:00

Okay I don't know if it was exactly 10 years but I am guessing we are in the right ball park with that. I've been making an Oatmeal Cherry Toffee Chocolate Chip cookie for about a decade now and it is the absolute, very best cookie on earth. I meticulously conducted a very scientific study starting in about 2000 when I first saw this recipe prepared on the old Martha Stewart show. You know, the pre-taped half hour show on CBS that was quite popular in the late 90's? A little old lady from Maine came on the show one day to share her cookie recipe with Martha.

I am pretty sure I made them that night in the kitchen of our first home, and holy hot damn these were keepers. We plowed through the entire lot just the two of us and realized this was cookie meth and we were going to need help. So the next ~~day~~ week when I made more, we kept a dozen at the house and sent 2 dozen into work with my husband. This is where the scientific study comes in. As expected, they were a huge hit with his group. Pretty soon, I was being begged to send in my cookies. At that time I worked as an event planner from my house and had no children. Spur of the moment cookies were a common occurrence. Every person I have made these for takes a bite like they are expecting your run of the mill oatmeal raisin or chocolate chip cookie. And the face they make when they realize it is cookie heaven is fun to watch. So if you are involved with a cookie swap this holiday season or just want to leave Santa something extra special, you've got to try these! You'll thank me.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup toffee pieces, (5 1/2 ounces)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and baking soda, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add egg, and mix on high speed to combine. Add vanilla extract; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour a bit at a time on a low speed until well combined. Add oatmeal, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine.
Divide dough into three equal portions, and roll into logs using plastic wrap, approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter. To bake, cut logs into 3/4-inch pieces. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer to a baking rack to cool.

Suggestions

chop your chocolate into chunks. The varying size of chocolate bits is fun.
when you buy dried cherries make sure you don't accidentally buy sweetened ones. I did that once. YUCK.
divide the dough into 3 equal portions and roll into 2" logs. I get about 36 cookies from this recipe.
wrapped well, the logs store in the freezer for a good long while.
make sure your oats are steel cut and not quick cook ones.
in the summer ,sandwich some vanilla bean ice cream between two of these bad boys for an out of this world ice cream sandwich.

Recipe: Martha Stewart - well actually, a little old lady from Maine

Feeling blue and flying planes

2011-11-16T01:51:00.005-05:00

Do you ever feel like you are in a funk but can't quite put your finger on it? Family is good. Career going well. Kids succeeding at being kids. And even your dog is content. But you have that weird uncomfortable feeling that things are not all completely right. When I get that feeling I usually chalk it up to needing a different hobby which is why it can sometimes feel like mayhem around here at PickleChatter. One day I'm cooking, another day I'm refinishing furniture and then you pop on here to find I've cheated on you and created another blog.

Okay I digress.

No, this is not about all that.

This is about what just hit me as I was driving to pick-up SweetPea from school. As I pulled into the carpool lane I began to notice how lovely the bright leaves looked against our very grey, pre-rain, sky. And as I was looking up at the storm clouds I noticed a big jet flying across dark sky. Its colors too were vibrantly visible against the stormy grey and I am pretty sure it looked like a Korean Air jet. When I see planes I stare at them. I always have. Even as a kid I was mesmerized by the way they gracefully slid across the open sky. On the kinds of days when jet planes would leave contrails behind them, I would try to watch the white lines dissipate into the blue sky for as long as I could see them. And I would always try to guess how many people were on the plane and where they were coming from or going to. I know I am not alone in saying that my days of getting completely lost in watching an airplane in the sky were forever changed on 9/11/2001. But today I noticed that I have been watching and wondering again with less fear about fire in the sky. Today I longingly wondered where they were coming from. Our town is often in a circling pattern for Logan Airport so just checking directionality doesn't really tell you much. In the summer I like to sit on the beach and watch the planes take off from Logan, fly north and then start to bend East. I know those people will be enjoying scones, croissants, vino or some other European treat in less than 12 hours. And without a doubt, I am always jealous. There is nothing more I love to do in this world than travel. The anticipation of travel gets me through my non-traveling periods and the act itself feeds my soul like nothing else.

Yesterday, I read a great line on a blog I frequent,
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Shannon's Thanksgiving Salad

2011-11-14T01:07:00.002-05:00

I got an email from a friend yesterday asking what I was cooking for Thankgsiving next week. The next week part nearly gave me a heart attack. I quickly flipped to my calendar and sure enough, we are 10 days out from my favorite holiday. The holiday I love to cook for and for which I reluctantly give up hosting duties. I love that it is just about food and family and not presents and me me me. The latter is Christmas' job.

But OMG November has slipped through my fingertips and here I am 10 days out and I haven't even ordered my turkey!! I am going to race to my community store today to see if I can order my usual bird and seriously if I am too late you are going to find me face down in the parking lot crying. I've been ordering my fresh thanksgiving turkey from the same people for nearly 10 years and I just can't do a T-day dinner with out it!

In an effort to light a fire under my ass, I will share with you some of my favorite dishes from the past that I am likely to do again. First up is a salad I served one year in an effort to cover my ass timing-wise when some other stuff in kitchen wasn't cooperating. And it was so freaking good that it became a staple at our holiday table. It involves pancetta, a hail mary ingredient when you are trying to save your ass at a dining table.

It became known as Shannon's Thanksgiving Salad. I know, a creative and original name. Don't get too jealous of my recipe-naming-ingenuity. If you feel the need to rename it for me, leave a comment. Coolest name wins. (con't for recipe)

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back in 5 minutes

2011-11-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

I know.

I was absent today.

If you don't find me here in the future, check here.

A new thang for me.

Meal Planner. Recipe Organizer. Life Saver.

2011-11-08T09:20:00.004-05:00

Finally, some help in the kitchen!!

- PepperPlate.com

PepperPlate is by far my favorite meal planning software ever! As you all know I adore messing about in the kitchen and putting a yummy meal on the table. But with three kids, a dog, a husband, the PTO, and oh yeah, me and all my crazy other interests, getting a plan together while also having the right food on hand is a challenge. I am always a sucker for that new meal planning device or app and frankly none of them have ever worked out.

Until now!

This is an app that I have on my iPhone but it wirelessly syncs to the website to update new recipes, menus, and calendars. It has enabled me to....


my recipe list

New look for and old hutch

2011-11-07T08:15:00.003-05:00

A few months ago I decided I wanted a very bright conversation piece in my dining room and had the desire to paint my mahogany china hutch bright turquoise. Since the hutch was a hand-me-down from my mom, I had to understand when she nearly fainted at the thought. So out with the old and in with the new. I started my hunt for just the right piece last spring and it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I stumbled upon it. For me, the thrill of the hunt is as much fun as getting a new pretty thing to look at in my home! I found a hutch that had all the right proportions, lots of great details like beveled edges and carvings, and had the option for open chicken wire doors or glass! Now we're talkin'!! And I tried not to burst into a toothy grin when the shop owner told me she'd give it to me for $200 if I would just get it out of there!

A week later, we arranged for the piece to be delivered and we tucked into a corner in the dining room next to the old china cabinet that needs to be delivered back to my mom. Seeing them side by side was interesting because I hadn't noticed in the store that the waist line of my new hutch was much lower than the one I currently had in my house. To me a larger top on a cabinet just feels a bit more European while the other one feels very Colonial. I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase. Now, I just needed to get it refinished without screwing it up!!
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Christmas Gift Idea

2011-11-04T10:19:00.002-04:00

Don't get me wrong here. I hate that Christmas seeps into the rest of the fall holiday season and threatens to kill off all those b-list holidays. It's as if it thinks it's better than all the other holidays and that they are just the preamble to it as the main attraction. Oh I know it isn't Christmas' fault. It is all those greedy retailers out there who even before Halloween clear out prime floor display real estate to make room for Christmas trees! {yes Target, I'm talking about YOU!}

But I can't help but show you a really cool gift for any little people on your Christmas list.

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Photographs and your family memories

2011-11-03T10:01:00.001-04:00

When you think back to your childhood, are some of your memories visualized by the photographs your parents took? Does the picture of you standing next to a bright yellow bike with a banana seat and a big red bow pop into your head when you think about your childhood birthdays? I grew up in a shutter happy family {actual darkroom in basement} and although we had wallpapered walls (really good 70's wallpaper I might add) we might as well have had bare walls because they were so covered with family photographs that you could barely notice the large format blue gingham print behind the frames. When I think back to 8th grade graduation or my neighborhood friends or that ski trip, I immediately think of a picture my mom took that is likely hanging somewhere in our house.

I love that pictures do that for us. I love that we are able to freeze time through a lens and preserve it for the future. And I love that the photographs I take today will hopefully color my children's memories of their childhood. I carry a DSLR with me pretty much wherever I go but thanks to some pretty cool technology, it doesn't require a keen eye or a fancy lens to get a special picture these days.

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Money and Little People: The Conversation

2011-11-02T14:43:00.000-04:00

This post was underwritten by BMO Harris Bank, which offers a matching $25 on a new savings account opened for your child through their Helpful Steps for Parents program. Learn more at bmoharris.com/parents.

A few years ago I found myself completely bewildered when my then eldest child was having trouble with the concept of money in her first grade currency unit. And when I say she had trouble with money, I don’t mean she had trouble with addition or was feeling the weight of mountains of credit card debt, she had trouble identifying the actually pieces of currency. We spent endless nights doing homework with her saying things like, no no the BIG one is the quarter and the LITTLE one is the dime. Once she was able to identify all the coins, it was yet another task to learn what each of them was actually worth.

Dear God! By her age I knew exactly what a quarter looked like and what it was worth because it could get me a WHOLE candy bar.

But these days, treats, whether they are candy bars or Pokemon cards, are scooped up at the store with the swipe of a magic plastic card. And it dawned on me during those first grade years that my kids needed to see me using more CASH to really understand money and spending. Please tell me I am not the only mom out there who just never carries actual dollar bills.

Money is a slippery slope these days with our dodgy economy and job market so who knows what it is going to look like when my babes are released into the free world in about 12 years. As a result, we talk about money as often as we can at our house. I want my kids to understand how it is earned and how it is used. It took them a little while to understand that money doesn’t just come from an ATM machine and that we can take out only what we put into that bank of ours.

We do not have a general weekly allowance here at our house. I want our kids to grasp that the amount of money they get as an allowance is directly related to the amount of work they do. And some jobs pay better than others. We have what we call the pearl system. I have a large jar of pearls and each pearl is worth 25 cents. For each chore they do, they get a certain amount of pearls in their individual jars. The first day of the Pearl Program I told the kids, I needed someone to empty the dishwasher and someone to pooper-scoop the back yard. I’ve never seen two kids actually fight to unload a dishwasher. Before they were officially assigned their chores, I asked if they wanted to know the pearl value for each job. Pooper-scoopering would garner more pearls than the dishwasher. Hum. Now there was something to think about.

I am always on the look out for ways to engage my kids in a healthy discussion about money. I was excited to be chosen by BMO Harris Bank to do a post about kids and money because it is a topic I hadn’t thought of bringing here. I think it is a great conversation for parents to bat around so we can all learn from each other. How do you guys talk to your kids about money? I’d love to hear your ideas!

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about BMO Harris Bank, visit their website http://bmoharris.com/parents.

babies, sharing, and dogs

2011-11-01T01:12:00.004-04:00

Let me just put it this way. When my one year old is sitting in her highchair and she reaches for a piece of food, my also one year old labradoodle very diligently sits with rapt attention. Yes, if you've put those pieces together you have realized that my baby is feeding the dog, the other baby in this house, from her highchair.

We have been trying very hard over the past year to teach our puppy to sit, wait, leave it, and drop it. The first two we have down pat. The third is hit or miss. The fourth however seems to be a lost cause. Once he has something he'll run for his life with it.

And because we like to up the ante, we also now have a baby in the house again who speed crawls EVERYWHERE looking to get into everything. We are working teaching her where she can go and what she can play with versus what she can't. i.e. please don't tip over the dog's water bowl because here is a giant bin of toys to play with right here. When we say no, no, no both the dog and the baby look at us. Fun times.

Then there is that quandary about the fact that my baby has no friends.
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Halloween firsts and lasts

2011-10-31T01:12:00.003-04:00

I am far too sentimental of a person not to have a hard time saying good bye or letting go. As I mentioned in this post here, this is Buddy's final year in our sweet elementary school. I have been very involved over these years with our PTO as I try to lend a hand where ever and whenever I can. That has become much more difficult these days with a little napper, squealer, and otherwise get under your feet person. I was so happy to be able to celebrate Hallween over the weekend at Buddy's very last school Halloween Monster Carnival since Halloween itself will be on a school night this year. This carnival is the talk of our little town and is always a huge hit. The parents who organize this event each year, knock it out of the park and I am always in awe of their effort and creativity. While I am heavily involved with parent organized events over there, this is the one event I have not been involved with so I can shout from the roof tops about what a wonderful job these parents do without feeling like I am giving myself a boost at the same time. Seriously. It rocks and those parents are freaking awesome.

Once the sun went down it got cold. I mean really cold and our little Tigress, who was dressed as a tigress, was shivering up a storm. I decided she would escape with SweetPea and me to the warm car for the next event of the evening. As I buckled her in, she gave me a look like, where are we and why do I feel like this?. Yes, this little Southern China beauty has never felt close to freezing temps so this was a big shock to a little body.

In addition to our last Monster Carnival, SweetPea had her very first school dance the same night. Cici and I drove her over, walked her in, and after discussing pick-up procedures she disappeared into a sea of brightly colored characters goofing around sporting big ass smiles. As I drove away, I thought to myself, did I really just drop my daughter off at a dance??

By the time we got home, all the in's and out's of the car while trying to buckle her in over a puffy tiger costume had driven Cici over the edge. I don't blame her. She had had it. But a warm cup of milk along with a little dinner helped smooth things out for her and she spent the rest of the evening cracking us up. She even stayed up past 9:00 pm so she could hear about her sister's first dance.

The night was a huge success for everyone and I was thankful that the next day was Saturday and I didn't care who's costume was lying in the middle of the living room floor.

So happy Halloween everyone. Hope you get lots of treats and fewer tricks tonight. If you live in the Northeast, Mother Nature has given us the biggest trick of all with the snow. Hope your snow boots go with your costume!

Favorite Photo Friday: Beach Time on a Fall Day

2011-10-28T10:11:00.000-04:00

Thought I would join in Lisa's fun over on The Long Road to China this morning by posting a few of my favorite photographs. As you know, Cici and I recently had a little beach photo session and it yielded so many cute photographs that I kinda need lots of excuses to share them! I love pointing my camera at this little girl with her big brown eyes and gorgeous face.

Quick treat to make with the kids

2011-10-27T10:01:00.003-04:00

Tis the season for sweets. With Halloween coming up fast I have candy on the brain. It seems my three kids are all set for costumes with a WHOLE five days to spare between now and trick-or-treating. If you and your goblins are all set to spook the hood and are looking for something fun to do over the weekend, here is an easy treat to make. It takes virtually no time, little prep and is something you can hand out to your neighbors and friends as they come round on Monday night.

Making lollipops, especially when a friend is over, is always a huge hit. Here is a foolproof way to make something pretty and wow your kids in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

Original Jolly Rancher Candies
Lollypop Sticks
Small Clear Candy bags

Preheat oven to 200°
Line cookie sheet with foil as flat and wrinkle free as possible.
Lay candies out in a pattern you like.
Place in oven gently and melt.
Keep watching until the candy is fully melted and connects.
Remove from oven and immediately roll a stick into the soft candy.
Watch your kids smile!

Pin It

For Christmas I am thinking about doing just red and green lollipops! I mean really, who doesn't love a Jolly Rancher?

Ginger and a timesaver!

2011-10-26T09:11:00.006-04:00

When we lived in Paris for two summers there wasn't much eating out going on for our family of four. In addition to the trials of living in an already expensive city, trying to stretch euros converted from dollars, wasn't easy. Therefore, it was critical to find apartments with suitable kitchens for cooking (because despite what you might imagine, not all French people like to cook) and ones that were close to shopping and markets. We lived in three different Parisian apartments over the course of two summers and all of them were fortunate to have great food markets located close by. Cooking with food you buy a few times a week from open air markets is a bit of a thrill for someone who likes to make and eat food. But there was no way we could get by without regular grocery store runs.

As a lifelong francophile, I was acutely aware of the different grocery and department stores that dot the city of light. But when we arrived that first summer, I noticed there was a store I had never heard of called Picard and as I peered through the windows it became clear to me I needed to investigate. Picard sells only frozen food. And I chuckle when I tell you this because I don't frequent the frozen food section of my own grocery stores so it seemed odd that I would be so intrigued by one that sells exclusively frozen food. I find that I end up spending more money when I buy already prepared food than if I construct it myself. So really, I'm just being cheap.

Picard stores are generally small, very quiet, and have both chest and stand-up freezers to hold their products. They have some of the most interesting frozen food I've ever seen and one week when the lamb chops were on sale, I discovered they also have very good flash-frozen meats. But after busting my butt during summer number one to find stock, broth, or concentrate but could only find bullion cubes, I discovered in our local Picard early in the second summer something called Fond. We often refer to the caramelized sugars and proteins on the bottom of our roasting pans as fond and those bits are what we scrape up when we deglaze a pan with wine or stock in the process of making a sauce. Picard sells little white bags with frozen 1oz cubes of fond in various flavors. Some in basic stock flavors and others in complicated, already made sauces. I started using these as I needed stock but I quickly realized that all I had to do was toss one in after I removed meat from a roasting pan and in minutes I'd have a terrific sauce for my dish.

The reason why I am telling you all this is because I am starting to see good little frozen gourmet short-cuts in our grocery stores here. While I have not seen the magic fond cubes, I suspect they might exist on this side of the Atlantic but that I just haven't found them. What have found, and have fallen in love with are Dorot's frozen seasoning products. In particular, I am ~~loving~~ absolutely adoring, their frozen crushed ginger cubes. I love using ginger but peeling those gnarly little suckers and then either slicing, dicing or crushing the stringy material is so time consuming. Each Dorot cube measures 1 tsp and they are so easy to pop out of the container and toss into your pot.

A few of my new favorite recipes call for ginger so this makes getting those meals on the table that much easier on our busy nights. Do you have a favorite time-saving food product?

LET THEM BE LITTLE

2011-10-24T01:00:00.002-04:00

Cici's first time in the sand.

We decided to squeeze in a little end of the season beach time before SweetPea's 3:00 PM soccer game yesterday. The dog needed to run and the mild temps combined with an overcast sky made me want to take some pictures.

Cici does come from a seaside town in Southern China but I am pretty sure that this was the first time her toes touched sand. She's not so sure about the feel of grass or pavement on her bare feet but she loved the feel of the soft silky sand.

Dad and the big kids were watching the dog run around the great big beach, making new four legged friends, and dashing in and out of the water.

Unfortunately when we got SweetPea to the field, we realized her 3:00 game was really at 2:00 pm. Whoops! But we had a really nice time at the beach so I don't feel too too badly.

If you want to see more cute entries on this week's them of Let them be little visit i heart faces at the link below!

Neverending Onions!

2011-10-21T09:52:00.001-04:00

All week we've been enjoying the onions I caramelized last weekend. We've been using them as the star ingredient in some meals and just a quick enhancer in others.

Yesterday our weather started out all gloom and doom but by mid-day, blue sky and sun were out in full force. By late afternoon we were having some unseasonably warm weather and it made me want to fire up the outdoor grill one last time before the weather really turns cold. So I ran out and grabbed some fat steaks and made a quick pile of mashed potatoes. Simply grilled steaks flavored with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt topped with a heap of caramelized onions, served with luscious mashed and a salad was a perfect dinner for my soccer playing, busy day surviving family. I had intended to save some potatoes to reheat for the baby today but they didn't last. I think bowls and spoons were licked.

And now I am nearly to the bottom of my 5 lbs of caramelized onions. I will probably be able to toss them in a quiche over the weekend and perhaps one more dish and that will be it. I could freeze them but frankly I'd rather eat 'em.

Chalk Paint and the Quatrefoil

2011-10-20T09:24:00.002-04:00

There is nothing like staying home with a baby who crawls around your living room to make you notice all that is wrong with your house. Much to my husband's dismay, I've started once again with the, things must change around here mantra. New furniture, new curtains, new rugs are all happening and happening fast. There is also nothing like having a baby around to help you get totally decisive with what must stay and what must go. I just don't have time to waffle over things I once loved and can't decide if their time is up. I am pulling the plug on much of what we have around here, it is just finding the replacements that has been difficult. I am not without a limited budget so I have some constraints on what I can add to this little house of mine. I also have a habit of figuring out what I want before I start shopping and then I get frustrated when I can't find it. Which is how I end up in the oh I'll just make it situation so often. And it's not like I have all these mad skills for making things, I just have a pretty good knack for figuring things out and fudging it until it looks right.

I have a few projects in mind on which I have been tempted to use Annie Sloan's chalk paint. There are two things to know about chalk paint, it is very different than regular latex paint and it is damned expensive. With shipping it was nearly $50/quart. But it comes in a color called Paris Grey so really, I had to give it a try! Chalk paint is a latex based paint that is useful when going for an antiqued look because it sands really easily. I had seen some pieces done by this chic online whom I admire and then when I read this, on the Annie Sloan website, I was totally intrigued:

This is THE paint to use for the painted French and Swedish look on furniture where the paintwork shows a patina of history. The paint is soft and easy to patinate taking wax to give it a beautiful mellow and protective finish. The colours have been inspired by European 18th century furniture and have been made bright and rich, bearing in mind that they will be darkened with wax. Like all annie SLOAN paints none of the colours except Graphite contain black pigment, allowing for combining colours, further mixing and layering without the paint dulling.

For Floors - use a roller to paint the floor. You may need one or two coats depending on the colour of the wood or concrete and the colour of the paint. Light colours will need more coats generally. Varnish with Hannant's Extra Strong varnish.

For a Blackboard that's not black! - apply three coats of paint to wall or wood. Allow to dry overnight. Clean with a slightly damp cloth

For Garden furniture - paint over wood, metal, matt plastic or terracotta and leave to harden overnight before exposing to rain. No need to varnish or wax Matt walls - use on walls for a completely matt effect but remember this is best for anywhere that is not going to get a lot of wear and tear.

On a practical note, the woodwork NEEDS NO PRIMING, NO PREPARATION as it will stick to almost everything -old waxed pine, melamine and varnished wood included. Knots on new wood need to be sealed with Knotting solution. Great coverage but does depend on what you are painting,but a rough guide is 13 square metres. The paint allows walls to breathe and is a simple eco friendly water based paint. Wash brushes out in water.

Annie Sloan is based in the UK and is sold here in the US through stockists. You will need to head to the website to find a stockist in your area. I don't have one within easy driving distance so I ordered my paint from the closest stockist to hopefully save a few shekels on shipping.

I ordered the Paris Grey color because I fell in love with that blueish grey color you see all over France. It is on everything from very refined pieces in the city to beautifully weathered pieces in an old farmhouse in the country. It is also the color you see so often on Swedish Antiques which I began coveting years ago.

My first project would be a test piece since I had no clue how this well this paint applies, dries, sands, and then finishes. I found a mirror at Marshalls with a black/brass finish, missing one glass spacer, and a few chips in the mirror. But it was a loose quatrefoil shape so it had some character. And it was on clearance for $35. PERFECT!

The quatrefoil is one of my favorite shapes. It so easily pairs with pretty much everything. I love it as a stand alone piece. I love it in a running pattern. This and any kind of lattice, I just can't seem to get enough of. It originates in Gothic times as a decorative shape adorning architecture. It is supposed to represent a flower or a four leaved clover with its four seemingly overlapping circles. My mirror is what I'd call quatrefoil-esque as it does not employ the exact form of a quatrefoil because the circles are interrupted with scrolls.

So eager to start my project, I forgot to take a before picture!! But you can see some of the black finish that was part of the original mirror. The paint went on really easily and dried lightening fast. I applied two coats in under an hour and used so little of my paint. From what I had heard, Annie Sloan's chalk paint goes a long way, making the price per quart a bit more palatable! I sanded the piece giving it the patina I wanted that afternoon.

I applied the finish wax the next day. I will write more about the wax and how to apply that in my next post about my adventures with chalk paint.

Here is the finished mirror....

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Leftovers Pizza

2011-10-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

On busy school nights I love to have dinner ready and waiting by the time everyone gets home so all we have to do is grab a seat at the table and catch up.

With Caramelized Onions in the fridge and pizza dough in the freezer, I decided to whip up a few pizzas in the afternoon before school pick-up. For the kids I made a simple marinara, prosciutto, basil from my garden, and mozzarella pizza. For the big people, I used a bunch of stuff I had left over from the soup & sandwich night. I used the Mornay Sauce as base, topped it with creamy goat cheese, red grapes, prosciutto, caramelized onions, shredded gruyere, and a little bit of the moz I used on the kids pizza.

I baked them at 500 degrees until the crust was done and the cheese was starting to brown. Easy right? Totally.

I then let them come to room temp and stored them in my cool oven until dinner time. Then I just cranked that oven to 300 degrees to warm up the pizzas. Once they were done, I topped the goat cheese and onion pizza with some spicy arugula. Yum!

Serve this up with a small side salad and some fruit and it is an easy hit on a busy weeknight!

Stretched Dinner: Carmelized Onions & Gruyere Cheese

2011-10-17T10:49:00.002-04:00

Caramelized onions go a long way in the flavor department. While they take some patience and time to make, they are super simple and warm up a brisk fall day. I like to caramelize in big batches and store the onions for use during the week. Honestly, food becomes dreamy when you add in caramelized onions. You can refridgerate the onions for up to 1 week and you can freeze them for several months.

I decided to caramelize 5lbs of onions yesterday to use over the course of this week. They are such a versatile ingredient and they take even a basic meal to a whole new level, making them great to have on hand.

To caramelize the onions, I chop them in half-moon slivers and while many people like to cut their onions very thinly before caramelizing, I don't. I like to cut them about 1/4" thick. Melt 6 TBS of butter in a heavy bottomed pot (cast iron is best) and then add all your onions. Stir to coat the onions with the butter. If the butter doesn't coat all your onions you can drizzle a little olive oil on them. I then sprinkle some salt over the onions to help them release their sugars while they begin to cook. I then cover the pot and cook over very low heat to allow the onions to sweat for a bit. I sweat the onions for 20 minutes and then take the cover off. At this point I stir the onions, scraping up the brown fond on the bottom of the pan. At this point you will need to watch your onions to make sure there is enough heat to caramelize the onions but not too much causing them to burn. You will want to continue to scrap up the bottom of the pan and distribute the flavor throughout the onions. Cook the onions until they are a rich brown color and smell heavenly.

With this huge batch of onions, I have a ton of options open to me for dinners over the week. As the leaves and the weather start to turn, I find myself craving soups and warm sandwiches. First up must be Soupe a L'Oignon. While this soup will be a huge hit for my husband and I, my 8 and 9 year old kids will not be thrilled with it. Since Soupe a l'Oignon requires crusty french bread and gryere cheese, I am going to stretch the ingredients to make croque monsieurs for the big kids and a simple grilled cheese for the baby. The big kids will have a no-thank-you helping portion of the soup.

SOUPE A L'OIGNON

2.5 lbs caramelized onions (I just used about half of what I made from the 5lb bag)
7 cups beef stock (I prefer low sodium)
1 cup of a dry white wine
1 TBS dijon mustard
Packet of thyme and a fresh bay leaf
2 TBS Brandy (optional)

With the onions already done, the soup will only take 20 minutes or so to make. Add all the liquid to your pot, whisk in the mustard, tossed in the herbs and bring it to a boil. Then add your onions and reduced it to a simmer. Let it cook for 10 minutes at which point, you should taste it to know if it needs salt. The beef broth is the biggest variable when it comes to the salt in the soup so I would advise letting the flavors marry a bit, taste it and then add salt if you need to. Whether you've made your own, use a concentrate, or buy it in a box or a can, they are all going to have different amounts of salt. I buy low sodium concentrate so I can control the salt. Occasionally when I have the time, I make my own stock. Add some fresh ground pepper to taste at this point. Let the soup simmer 5-10 more minutes or until you think the flavor is right.

Now about that Brandy. You should add the brandy at the end but if you are cooking for kids as well as adults, you may want to skip the brandy. What I like to do is add a few drops of brandy to the adult's bowls before I ladle in the soup. This way, we get the flavor and the kids don't get the alcohol.

While your soup is simmering, cut 1/2" thick slices of crusty bread and then use either a large round cookie cutter or your serving bowl to cut out a round shape of bread that will fit into your bowl. I like to give my bread a quick toast so it doesn't get soggy too fast.

Once the soup is done, ladle it into your bowls, gently place your bread on top of the soup, add a mound of grated gryuere cheese and put under the broiler to melt. You will want to be using oven save bowls for this and have them on a baking sheet so you can turn them around in the oven to help them cook evenly.

CROQUE MONSIEURS

These are super simple! (recipe for 3 or 4 sandwiches)

6-8 slices of crusty bread
3-4 slices of ham
thin slices of gruyere cheese - enough for each sandwich
Mornay sauce* recipe below
Grated gruyere cheese for the top

Start by toasting your bread under the broiler. While you may be tempted to just stick them in your toaster, you really want them toasted on only one side. Watch them carefully so they don't burn. Once toasted, place ham, and a layer of sliced gruyere cheese on a non-toasted side of 3-4 of the slices. Cover the sandwiches with the other half of bread, toasted side up.

Now to make the Mornay Sauce.
I am pretty sure traditional Mornay sauce uses a gruyere or other kind of swiss cheese. Since the CM has so much gruyere in it already, I use parmesan in my sauce.

2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 grates of fresh nutmeg
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Pinch of salt
Fresh ground pepper

Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat, add flour and whisk until it turns light brown, and thickens to look a bit like wet sand. This is a roux. Then add milk and whisk over higher heat until it thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Take it off the heat and stir in your cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Assemble your sandwiches
Spoon the mornay sauce onto the tops of your sandwiches. Don't drench them. But just cover the tops. Then add grated gryuere cheese, slide under broiler and let the cheese melt all over the sandwich.

For dinner the kids had Croque Monsieur sandwiches with a small no thank you helping of the soup. SweetPea ate most of her soup claiming it reminded her of her time at French Camp this past summer. Buddy, needed some, let's say, encouragement, to eat even a few bites of his. But he did. My husband and I had a nice big bowl of the soup with a arugula, endive salad with walnuts and a sherry and shallot vinaigrette.

** word to the wise- Soupe a l'Oignon is even better the next day so this is a fantastic make ahead meal.

At the end of the meal SweetPea said she missed Paris. That this meal reminded her of being there. I am so glad food can trigger such good memories for her as it certainly does for me. Ahhh, Paris.

The Stretched Dinner: A family time-saver for food lovers

2011-10-14T11:16:00.000-04:00

My passion for cooking when I was younger stemmed from my love to please and entertain people. I wasn't always a great eater so I am not sure I can claim that my desire to know how to make hollandaise sauce at the age of 15 was out of a need for a delicious bite of food. But watching people at my table enjoy the food I made has always been a great love of mine. At some point in my mid-twenties my cooking became more of a passion for what I wanted to eat. Not what I wanted to make for others.

These days it is no longer fancy dinner parties I use to flex my culinary muscles. I'm cooking for kids now. When my two eldest children were little I remember feeling flummoxed by having to make a toddler meal and then a grown-up meal 2-3 times a day. It got frustrating and exhausting. I was so grateful when they got older and we could all eat together as a family when dad got home from work and we could all eat the same things.

Thank goodness I no longer need to see those smiles at my table to feel good about my food because so often I get the you made what for dinner? We are a two-bite rule and if you're hungry enough, you'll eat it kind of family. I don't feed my 8 and 9 year old kids fois gras, I don't make heavy sauces, but I don't make tacos either. (and for the record I happen to love a good taco) For the most part we sit down to a family dinner at.the.table each night and spend 45 minutes or so catching up on the day over a hot meal. A meal, that much to my husband's dismay, has made my kitchen look like we were either robbed or bombed. I want my kids to stretch the limits of their palates and learn to enjoy food. I also would like my kids to understand what food can do for them and also how it can work against them. But I also want my soccer playing/homework doing kids to eat enough that they don't crash on the field or at their desks.

When we got home from China I realized that I was back in the land of 4 pm dinner time. A world where multiple meals are made for several different groups of people. I feed the baby her dinner at 4:30, and then immediately go into dinner prep for the rest of us while she plays in her PJ's before her 6:30 bed time. All the while I am juggling homework questions, reading through school paperwork, or dealing with a last minute PTO task.

In an effort to streamline the...

getting dinner on the table

finding time to answer homework questions or change that diaper

continuing to feed the kids healthy food that they enjoy but which also expands their palates each day

and oh yeah, satisfy the foodie in me....

I have come up with what I call the Stretched Dinner. It's not a new concept by any stretch (yes, I had to go there) of the imagination because it incorporates tactics many busy parents use to get dinners on the table. What it does do though, is allow for you to bring good food to the table and keep everyone happy. I have been using it for a few weeks now and I am happy to say that I've been stretching ingredients to keep my 1 year old as happy as her 8 and 9 year old siblings. And at the same time, putting sophisticated enough food on the table to satisfy their parents.

I will be starting to throw Stretched Dinner ideas into the rotation here at PickleChatter for those of you struggling to feed baby, big kid, and yourself without dropping to the floor by 8:00 pm each night.

A rainy day project

2011-10-13T14:49:00.004-04:00

Well, I have lots of them.

Things like chalk paint, wallpaper, and fabric have been ordered. Sewing machines and finishing wax will be put to good use to spruce up this neglected house. I will show them all to you one by one over the coming weeks.

But for now I'll show you some cute footage of Cici on her first swing. I shot it with my iPhone and edited it up with some other gonna-make-you-smile footage for a short and sweet movie to warm up a rainy Thursday.

And now I'm off to slice onions -waaah- so I can caramelize a BIG batch for a few dishes I've been craving.

A long and beautiful weekend

2011-10-11T10:02:00.004-04:00

The wait brought on too much mystery for me to ever feel comfortable in the present. There are times when I feel grateful for the long wait for Cici though. Our family of four got to experience some pretty incredible things, many of which would have been very difficult with a baby. But the thought of when and who was omnipresent for 5+ years and it made its mark on who I was.

Family time feels different these days. For so long we'd do things over long weekends or breaks from school and I'd wonder how it would be with a baby. Now all the wondering is gone and we are just living. It feels good. And it frees up so much of my brain to do other things.

Over this past holiday weekend we decided to head to Vermont to get ready for the ski season and enjoy the foliage and the gorgeous weather. The three day weekend was full of apple pie making, beer-fest enjoying, dancing to live bands, big kids running around the resort on their own feeling oh-so-big and of course it felt so complete because we were doing it all with a baby in a backpack! We are finally the family of five I'd been dreaming about and I wonder when the novelty of it will wear off!

There are lots of families with a connection to China at the resort we frequent and it is so nice to wander around and chat with people who are reliving their experiences with China adoption when they see Cici - a new baby! The thing about the wait is that new babies from China are not so common any more. There are fewer and fewer of them arriving each year so I love stopping to talk with parents or grandparents of school aged girls from China who are chomping at the bit to tickle Cici's feet. As you can imagine, she gets an incredible amount of attention when we are out. Her cuteness CANNOT be ignored! A close second is the amount of attention Parker the chocolate labradoodle- gets while we are out. People are mesmerized by his color and general cuteness. That is until he offers to show them his special skill of barking for very long stretches of time. He is still a pup which we always need to explain. He is also need of a trainer - one who isn't me.

THAT IS COOKIE ALL OVER HER FACE. MY OFFERING TO KEEP HER ON THE TABLE SHE WAS SITTING ON!

SweetPea continues to be a huge help with her baby sister. And if I ever thought I needed this baby just to complete me, I was dead wrong. She completes SweetPea in ways I never imagined. A sister is such a blessing and I am so glad I have given one to my eldest.

The weather was so magical this weekend that I think it went to SJ's head. He discovered there was a North Face Race to the Summit. He signed up as fast as he could. Sunday morning we all fled the house earlier than we normally would have on a longweekend morning and enjoyed the mountain as the sun began to warm up the resort. He was told to factor in 1 minute for each year of age. He was spot on at 43 minutes. So now you know his time, AND his age. Sorry sweetie - it's out. And yes, he's older than me ; ) I'll always be the younger woman!

As the race took off, I realized I was standing with all the other moms with strollers. I got a chuckle out of the unison of voices yelling, good luck daddy or go daddy go! The two big kids took off running to explore and have fun while Cici and I searched for coffee. We then took refuge under one of the big white tents which are usually great places to take pictures because of the diffused light.

This is one of my favorite faces. This is her giggle-smile face. I'm so happy and aren't I darned cute face. We see it often.

How was your long weekend?

The secret's out...

2011-10-06T09:14:00.002-04:00

By January 2007 we knew something was amiss with the speed and ease of China adoptions. People with July 2005 log-in dates (LID) waited a WHOLE year for their child match and 6 months later things looked worse, not better.

But the time the first anniversary of our LID rolled around, people in the IA hood were talking two years for a child match from China. Some lunatics in the community were even whispering, three. I was beside myself. I am NOT going to wait three years! That's absurd!

This week marks the 6th anniversary of this fateful post. Yes, six years ago we decided we were ready for a third child but the universe had other plans. Over the course of the wait, through all the ups and downs, I looked for signs. Were we on the right path? Was this meant to be? Every time we got Chinese food I'd rip open my fortune cookie hoping for some sort of message that indicated we were meant to get this child from China. I even formed a secret group with friends. No, not like a oh don't tell anyone secret group. A group that met to discuss the theories behind The Secret - a practice, that Oprah had been touting was how she got everything she wanted. And let's face it, that woman certainly got everything she's ever wanted. Some people in our group wanted happier marriages, some wanted better jobs, some wanted a different house, and I wanted my baby.

The basics of practicing the secret is to tell the universe exactly what you want and the universe will give it to you. The when and the how is not really up to you so being patient and grateful are key elements to practicing the secret. There are lots of different ways to communicate with the universe but they all involve the power of thought and intention. Many followers of this theory use what they call visual boards to help bring the specifics of their desires to their thought each day. Some of us in our ~~secret little group~~ little secret group decided to make visual boards for ourselves, myself included. I bought cork boards and hung them in our bedroom and tacked up all that I wanted the universe to hear. After about a year, I decided that the boards did not help the already ailing design state of our master bedroom and moved my visual board online. I have another website, mostly private for friends and family, where I post pictures and home video for those living afar. On this site, I made pages for each member of our family with up-to-date information about new developments in their lives. On my page, I wrote down a list of 5 things I wanted to do before I turned 40. I will be 39 (holy crap she told us her age!) in November and as of last spring I had been able to cross four of the five items off! I am sure you can all guess that now, finally, I can cross off that very last thing I wanted to do before I turned 40!

On this site, I also made a page for Cici. I included all the information about our timeline, the process we had to endure to adopt from China, and then I put up my own little digital visual board just for the universe. I included some guesses about her birth date, the province she'd be from in China, and after lengthy searching through a gazillion images on the internet, I included a picture. I went through countless photographs of little asian girls and downloaded the one that spoke to me the most. That picture has been up on my website since the summer of 2008. I was so drawn to her big eyes. I wanted her to be mine.

When we got Cici in China, there was something about her that was so familiar to me. I couldn't place it. She looked so different from all the other babies in our match group and she quite frankly, looks very different to me than any other Chinese baby I've seen through all my years of following China adoptions. And then it dawned on me, I thought for a moment that she looked like the baby I put up on my digital visual board. So I pulled up the website in our room at China hotel and I was awestruck.

Over the years, I changed the dates but never the location nor the picture.

Over the years, I've had what I call little secrety things happen. But this one has made me a believer.

And finally, as I mentioned in this post, on her first birthday I served everyone chocolate dipped fortune cookies. Being the busy cook and hostess, I didn't have a chance to eat mine that night. And being the food-aholic that I am, I love chocolate for breakfast so I ate mine the next morning. After the big kids went to school, and the tigress went down for her nap, in the quiet of my kitchen, I opened this.....

Éclairs

2011-10-04T08:40:00.000-04:00

For years I would have classified myself as not much of a baker. Don't get me wrong. I love sweets. But the savory side of the culinary world has always had a stronger pull on my palate, which may be, in part, due to the kitchen in which I was raised. Growing up our family had a kick-ass muffin recipe which everyone loved, cheese cakes appeared from time to time, and chocolate cookie batter rarely made it in scoops to a sheet pan. Brownies were always made from a box, pancakes from a mix, and cakes, hum, cakes were bought. Preferably from Alden Merrell. But my mother was known for her curry dishes, lemon garlic salad dressing, and something our family affectionately calls chicken and peaches. There just simply wasn't much baking going on.

Spending our first summer in Paris sparked an interest in me to bake. After all, who can resist all the yeasty and sugary creations this city produces on every corner and several places in between. No other country can top France in a competition to produce incredible baked goods. In fact, rarely have I had even a simple baguette outside of France that rivals the delights of it's skinny loaf. This was especially puzzling to me when we returned home after 3-months of Parisian pain and I could not find a single breadmaker who could pump out a baguette that was simple, tasty, fresh and not weapon-like. Well except in Fairfield, CT where there is a wonderful pair of French bakers at Isabelle et Vincent. But these bakers, and I assume their ingredients as well as their secrets, are imported. Why though can't we replicate the french baguette, I wondered. The challenge started to consume me and I realized that if I was ever going to tackle a good loaf of bread, I should first become a baker. So I've spent quite a bit of time baking more than I ever have and have enjoyed every minute of it.

When we arrived back in Paris for our second summer, I was on a mission to take as many baking classes as I could. Who else could teach me better than the French? Last year I never found a place that was offering the kinds of classes I was looking for, at a time that was convenient for me, and in an environment I liked. I prefer classes that are less about a recipe and more about technique. There is always a nuance to creating something that books just can't convey. It is rewarding to learn the basics of something and then be able to tweek and change it to suit your desire.

The Macaron class at La Cuisine Paris was so fabulous that I decided to see if I could attend another class. Luckily, I was able to find a sitter and signed up for an afternoon Eclair class. I dropped my kids off with their new sitter at the playground in Le Jardin du Luxembourg and I scooted over to a 3-5 pm class just up the street. It could not have been more convenient.

We learned the basics of Pâte á Choux and I had a great revision on Crème Patissière. We learned the technique of piping the dough and then filling these delicious creations. A few people dropped out of the class at the last minute so we were fortunate enough to be just three students. As a result, I really made a batch of these goodies all by myself. It was a fabulous hands on experience. We made chocolate filled éclairs with a chocolate Glacage topping and apple flavored ones with a caramel topping. I also asked the chef if I could make a few round ones just to see how they'd turn out.

A smelly 8 year old boy

2011-10-03T18:35:00.001-04:00


Sweetpea outside our holiday apt in Caux, France. France = wine. right?

My poor husband reached through my 8 year old son's school backpack over the weekend looking for his water bottle and found something miserable. Apparently something soft and squishy. Yes, my 8 year old does have a lunch box. Will he use it? No. Lunch goes into it. Lunch barely gets eaten. And then lunch ends up at the bottom of his backpack where it goes unnoticed until it stands up and announces itself.

Armed with a bottle of 409 and a bottle of Febreze, dad removed the offending remains of a lunch from definitely WEEKS ago and disposed of it in the garbage. I hope the 409 did a better job of disinfecting (until I can toss the whole thing in the wash next weekend) than the Febreze did of removing the odor. A stench followed Buddy around as we left for school and it feels as though it has left a permanent odor in my car.

Now back home I realize that the garbage is wreaking with the smell from all the paper towels used to clean the backpack so the bag has got to go. But each time I open the garbage drawer, while I find myself recoiling from the smell, I also find something appealing about it.

Ugh.

What could be appealing about rotting food?

Well it was a bag of rotting grapes. And now I realize that the garbage, my car, and my 8 year old son now smell like the cellars of a vineyard. If you've done any wine tasting or touring, you've certainly encountered the distinct smell of fermenting grapes. SJ and I spend as much time touring vineyards all over the world as possible, and happen to love that smell.

When we were teenagers, my younger brother (now an MD) brewed beer in our basement while he was in high school under the guise that it was a science experiment. Yes, it did fly with my parents. Also doctory sciencey people. Perhaps Buddy will start making wine. Will that fly with me? Sure. It's science. Right?

Boo Boo turns 1

2011-10-02T21:24:00.000-04:00

I need to stop comparing how I did things the first time at the raising-a-baby rodeo with how I am doing things now. I had all these grand plans for Cici's first birthday but quite frankly there was not a chance in hell it was going to happen. I had visions of a big party with all our friends in the back yard under twinkling lights. There would be Chinese lanterns strung from the house and gorgeous food on the buffet table. But somewhere between getting home from China during a hurricane with children starting school imminently and trying to surface from under the weight of my PTO life, I realized this party was just not going to happen. About two weeks ago I started to wonder why I was having such a hard time pulling it together. I thought back to my other two 1st birthday parties and between the custom made cakes in the shape of bathtubs with rubber duckies or a 3-D barn with animals and the sit down luncheon (for 15 one year olds) I started to feel guilty that I was having trouble pulling this off. And then it hit me.

The girl has no friends.

Ahhhh poooooor Boo! Seriously. She has no friends. By the time the first two turned one, they each had a gaggle of friends that we met with once a week for play groups. But we've only been home a month with Cici and frankly I have not had the time to get her into anything that might generate a friend or two. I mean really, she naps all morning, we then have lunch and when that is over, we have maybe an hour to get 1 thing done before we have to run for the first of our two school pick-ups. And then once the big kids are home, we are off and running to after-school activities.

Now that I have analyzed why she is friendless, and really, I'm okay with the reasons, I begin to wonder when the heck we are going to find the time to get her some friends. Oh gawd, am I going to have that kid who is clearly lacking social skills? The one who bites in preschool???? No probably not. She has a great relationship with her big brother and sister. She plays and laughs and shares toys with them. She will be super social. Her siblings will teacher her all the right things. Oh shit, maybe she'll be that kid who says inappropriately sophisticated things in Kindergarten and horrifies all the mothers' whose eldest child is in her class! Okay, I am getting ahead of myself.

Back to her turning 1.

We had a perfect little celebration with family. We hung lanterns in the air. We had twinkling lights on the table. We ate homemade Moo Shu Pork and Curried Thai Cod and Shrimp for dinner and of course had cake for dessert. The big kids dipped fortune cookies in chocolate, decorated them with sprinkles, and then put three in a little pink Chinese take-out box for each person at the table. My fortune cookie had a crazy fortune in it which I will show you in another post!

Two Weeks!

2011-09-29T11:04:00.002-04:00

The CCAA has magically done 2 weeks worth of matches!!!

And yes, I know the number of families included in what seems like a very large batch is not much more than the usual. HOWEVER, we have not seen them match this many LID days since perhaps 2007. So regardless of whether this is technically a BIG batch, it moves everyone forward in giant lunging- make you gonna hurt the next day- steps.

And most importantly 4 of my precious friends have been included in this batch when it was really a long shot for the CCAA to get to them in the September batch after only getting to the 14th last month.

So 3 cheers for two weeks!!

1 Year Ago Today

2011-09-27T09:43:00.002-04:00

I am sure the circumstances were terrible. Was there pressure from other family members? Was she alone? Did she hide herself for 9 months hoping someone wouldn't notice? Or was this a treasured pregnancy that in the end did not give her what she needed?

China is 12 hours ahead of us. I am sure that while we slept, a woman exactly half way across this great big world remembered a little girl today. A little girl she gave birth to and had to let go. I shudder at the thought of her pain. I would love to tell her that her daughter, my daughter, is being celebrated today in the biggest of ways. She will have cake and balloons and presents, and a big family who loves her.

So for her other mother, please know that the little girl you left in such a safe spot, was found quickly, and is a happy little girl. She has a big brother and sister who race home every day from school to see their boo boo. She dances to the sound of my mixer. She kisses our dog. She claps for nearly anything. She's got a funky little laugh and loves to blow raspberries. She does not like oranges or peaches or the feel of grass under her feet. And she is beautiful. I will never know how much of her personality is a product of you or our loving home. But her beauty is all your doing.

So Cici, today you turn 1. We are so lucky to be able to celebrate this day with you. You are the gift of a lifetime.

Lets go finish that cake....

Pearls and other goodies!!!

2011-09-22T14:05:00.000-04:00

Pearls!

Well I've been promising you all some details on where I went shopping for Pearls while we were in China and Hong Kong. I bought 1 very long strand of pearls on the front end of the trip in Hong Kong but wanted to see what we found in mainland before buying more. I did buy a few things in Guangzhou but felt the quality was better at my place in Hong Kong so on the back end of the trip we went back and bought MORE!

In HK my mother took me to a place called Rio Pearl, a place a friend of hers who lived in HK for many years buys her pearls. The VERY long strand of pearls I bought on the front end of the trip was a strand of fat oval fresh water pearls - and when I say very long I would say it hangs from my neck past my waist. It is the long strand on the form in the picture. It is double-looped in the photo. I planned to end up having it broken up into necklaces and bracelets for my two girls when they got older. It was $160.

Then while in GZ we went to the pearl market with our guide Jason which was a mall-sized building with shops only selling stones, beads, and pearls. Jason took us up to the top floor to a store in the back which I would NEVER have walked into on my own and had everyone buy pearls there. This was the one and ONLY time I questioned his judgement. I found the people there squirrely and the product to be expensive and not as good quality as Rio. It may have been a little less expensive than Rio but there was a lot less to choose from than at Rio and I think Rio's quality is higher. Just my own opinion. I bought a few things there and feel I was taken. I bought the necklace with large black beads which I was told was lava stone. I also got some small studs for the girls for when their ears are pierced.

I did buy a very cool necklace on the first floor of this building with really odd shaped pearls. It is the other white necklace on the form in the picture. The clasp is already turning green if this is any indication of things at the Guangzhou place. My clasps from Rio are not.

Then on the back end of the trip I went to Rio again and bought a gorgeous bracelet which they made for me right there. I was looking for a specific size pearl for a bracelet and they could only find it in a necklace so they restrung it into a bracelet for me and only charged me for the number of pearls they used. I also bought another odd shaped pearl piece. It is the pink bracelet. On this second trip to Rio I bought two bracelets for me, a pair of pearl studs, and 2 bracelets for the girls for when they are about 14. The bracelets for the girls were about $35. All these are on the red box.

The people at Rio are VERY helpful and the show room is gorgeous. My friend Anne bought an opal ring for her daughter as that is her birthstone. I am attaching a map of where Rio is in HK and it is within walking distance from the most of the big hotels in Kowloon if that is where you are staying. They are at 39 Mody Road on the 3rd floor. They also have a jade store across the hall but I didn't go in there.

If you go to RIO please please tell them Shannon/Trish/Victoria sent you as I promised I would send all my friends. You can mention I was the one who went twice on the adoption trip, once in the beginning and once at the end with the baby.

Another piece of shopping advice I would like to share with all the families about to travel is to consider doing some children's book shopping in Hong Kong. As you know English is an official language there and as expected there is a good selection of Asian themed books. I was able to get Cici lots of books with Chinese illustrations and story-lines that are NOT adoption related. I think it is important for her to be able to flip through books and see her face reflected back on the pages. But I don't want the majority of those books to be about adoption. I just want her to have a good fun story to read. I found a great bookstore in one of the malls in HK called DYMOCKS and you can click here for a link directly to a list of their HK store locations.

Macarons Citron et Framboise

2011-09-20T08:48:00.008-04:00

Many years ago I was standing in the kitchen of my friend's New York City apartment when she offered me one of, what she claimed were, her favorite cookies in the world. She looked around to make sure there were no children about who might ask for one too as she reached into her cupboard and pulled out a mint green box with gold embossed lettering. She opened the box and showed me the vibrant colors of beautifully perfect round sandwiched cookies and told me that her husband had brought them home for her from a recent trip to Paris. A macaron she called them. I can't remember what flavor I tried but it was incroyable!

During one of our summers in Paris, I was given Laduree's Sucré book as a gift and since they seem to be one of the big players in the Macaron market, I figured I'd give it a try. I am pleased to report that my lemon macarons with a raspberry filling were delicious. I should also admit that it took not only the Ladurée cookbook but two other sources for me to wrap my head around the process.

Using the ingredient list from Ladurée as well as some of the instructions, some of the step-by-step photo instructions from i ♥ macarons (a book written by a Japanese pastry chef and sent to me by my wonderful sister-in-law) and some inspirational suggestions from Cannelle et Vanille, a blog I read, I was able to tackle these elegant and tasty cookies. The cookies were actually not that difficult. I think arming myself with all this information reduced my chances of failure. Oh, but there were little failures along the way but in the end I got a beautiful cookie with a crispy outer shell and a soft center, that tasted of lemons, sugar, and raspberries. What could be better?

I am not going to provide a recipe or instructions because nearly every source indicates something different. I will, however point you to the pieces of information I found particularly helpful.

♥ Most sources point toward a butter cream filling, but I wanted something more fruity and Ladurée's Confiture de Framboises fit the bill perfectly.
♥ All sources will tell you to tap the cookie pan on the counter after you pipe the cookies to help form the pied. As you can see, I got a great pied on my cookies!
♥ Spelling out differences between Macaronnage and Macaronner in i ♥ macarons was very helpful. Macaronnage is the French term for mixing flour and meringue to make macarons. Macaronner is the verb for mixing the batter until firm and dripping slowly. Too much macaronnage can lead to oil staining on the cookie and this book spells out exactly how many times to beat the batter.
♥ Cannelle et Vanille, aside from the beautiful pictures, gave me a gram measurement for the eggs which was helpful since I had some whites sitting in the fridge from another baking project and also made two key suggestions. 1. use old eggs, separate them and leave them in the fridge uncovered for a few days. 2. Leave the piped cookies out in the air to dry for more like 30 minutes instead of 15 as suggested in other sources.

So there you have it. Macarons are definitely worth a try and I will be incorporating them into my regular repertoire around here. My daughter loved them and took one to school to show her friends...and of course for a sweet bite after lunch.

PS. Those little mistakes I mentioned earlier? The ones I will try to fix for next time... are shown here....

1 Month Ago Today

2011-09-15T09:48:00.000-04:00

One month ago today, I got up, showered, blew dry my hair (probably for the last time), got my two kids dressed and went down to the largest breakfast buffet I'd ever seen. I wish I took a picture of the buffet at the China Hotel. It was krazy. That's right, crazy with a K. Of course all the fresh fruit was off limits. I didn't eat anything that couldn't be pealed or wasn't cooked. SweetPea and Buddy went nuts. We had to give them their own table so they could pile up all their dishes.

One by one, our fellow travel-mates filed into the buffet and looked at the spread of food with a mixture of bewilderment and nausea. One month ago today we were preparing to drive over to the Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou at 2:00 pm to get our babies. There were lots of people in the dining room with babies in highchairs who were getting ready for their consulate appointment. They knew the congregation of American parents without little babies were off to get their children that day because babies and parents are united once a week in Guangzhou, on Mondays. They came over with knowing smiles and gave us a wink and a nod wishing us luck for our happy day. The following week, we would be those parents with babies in highchairs wishing the bewildered parents well on their HUGE HUGE day.

We had meetings. We tried to eat lunch. At 2:00 pm we boarded our bus and the 20 minute drive to the office was friggin strange. It was so weird taking a bus to meet my child. It was so weird to just calmly walk into a waiting room and be handed forms to fill out all the while being told to make sure everything was right and not to make any mistakes! Were they under the disillusionment that I was operating on more than half a brain cell?

And then it all happened so fast.....

1month later I get a daily thrill to see her thriving and growing. She is learning new things every day and it is wild to see a baby blossom so fast. We are starting to love all kinds of food - even with weird textures and flavors. Just a few days ago I would have said she was going to have to go to college surviving on Cheerios. But now we are eating yogurts, pastas, avocado, banana, oranges in addition to a huge selection of baby foods. She's pulling up on stuff all the time and standing for nearly 5 minutes. She's able to do the pincer finger some of the time which is also a huge improvement. Last week at this time she was still hoovering cheerios off her tray. She figured out if she just put her face to the food she could avoid those stinkin hands that don't work so well. She is 80th percentile for height and 25th for weight. Hum. I'd like those stats thankyouverymuch!

And best of all, she is starting to call me mama! She's been a babbler since day one but now she is really directing her words. Na means bottle which we figured out after SJ's cantonese friend told him that Na means milk and babies will say it for their bottle. But two days ago she really started saying Mama a lot and yesterday and today she's been saying it when I pick her up or if she is trying to get my attention. She also says Da when either fun daddy or the dog is around. So much fun!!!

Two weeks home

2011-09-10T21:32:00.001-04:00

My first time at the plate in the raising-a-baby game was so much different. So much of it was a blur and I blame that on the fact that I had two babies in two years so between being pregnant, delivering, and nurturing newborns I was in the thick of it for 3 straight years. I don't remember it being difficult but then again, I don't remember being able to revel in every little moment.

I am sure you can imagine how much fun I am having focusing on one baby at a time with Cici. She is doing so well since we've been home. Every day, and I mean every single day, we see a new side of her. We see her open up and become more comfortable with her new family and her surroundings. From day one she was a fantastic sleeper but during the day when she was not napping, she really wanted to be held ALL.THE.TIME. Oh and part of the requirements of being held were that you were moving. Forget about sitting down. Not allowed. Once we got home, we started off the first few days with those rules. We also had to add in the handicap of jet lag, a massive hurricane, and older kids starting school. so that was wicked fun. But after about 7-8 days that particular version of fun was over and we really started to feel like she was finding her groove here.

She no longer screams at us when we use a 3 or a 5 point harness. I swear she was tossing out obscenities in very high decibels that first week when we put her in the highchair, stroller or car seat. We can now put her down on the floor to happily play with her new toys or to crawl like mad around the house. She never even flinched at the dog. She will push him out of the way when she needs to and is never phased when he is looming over her with great curiosity. She is also eating pretty well considering when she came to us it was clear she had never been given anything but liquids. Anything solid was completely rejected. It seemed to be a textural thing- you could just tell the food was uncomfortable in her mouth. But now we are exploring new things with some success. She loves her cheerios and is finding some love for noodles. She DOES NOT like forks though so we've been using chop sticks. It is very cute!

Every day we are having more and more fun together. I can't get enough of her. And as much as I would love to be showing you pictures of how cute her smile is or how long her hair is getting. I am either spending too much time playing to pick up the camera or she's moving too fast and all I can capture is this...

Big Brother. Finally.

2011-09-06T11:42:00.000-04:00

The one person who never faltered in our wait for Cici was Buddy. He never got jaded. He never lost hope. He just waited.

and waited.

Over the many, many years of waiting, we'd often be going about our day running errands or shuttling to or from school when I'd hear Buddy say from the backseat, when Cici comes are we going to....?

He never really questioned whether she was going to join our family but often questioned when she was going to join our family. And now at the ripe old age of 8 and 1/2 he has finally become a BIG BROTHER.

He is always there to hold her hand in the car and I often hear him telling her how much he loves her. Last night he was remarking about how weird it felt to be someone's big brother. It was cute.

Today he starts 3rd grade. The last stop in our elementary school. He and his buds are the kings of the castle this year and I can't believe that time has gone by this fast. I am so proud of my caring, sweet, generous, little boy who is quickly turning into a big kid. I tried to give him a hug and a kiss goodbye this morning and he wriggled right out of my arms and turned his head so I could only kiss his hair as I went to leave the school.

I love you my sweet boy. Never change. You are simply the best.

Oh yeah, where's my coffee?

2011-08-31T09:09:00.000-04:00

Coffee pot chirps that a fresh pot is done. I walk into the kitchen, rinse out the mug I've been using to drink reheated yesterday's joe, and fill up with the new hot stuff. I shuffle over to the fridge, grab the milk, pour a glug or two into the mug and put the milk back in the fridge. Between putting the milk away and closing the fridge, (yes, I know a mere nanosecond) I seemed to have forgotten why I was in the kitchen in the first place. At this point I was near the cabinet where I keep medicines and other non-child friendly poisonous things and decided to take off the chippy, make me look like a whore, nail polish I've now been sporting for 3 weeks. With freshly cleaned nails I proceeded to pick up baby toys scattered all over the first floor since she is fast asleep for her morning nap. Half way through, I think to myself, oh yeah, where's my coffee? I walked back into the kitchen to find my mug and was psyched when I realized I had already milked it and just needed to add the sugar.

Ahhh, life with a baby again.

make-you-want-to-barf jet lag

2011-08-30T05:51:00.000-04:00

I finally got mostly a full night's sleep last night- first since wednesday. This weekend was a mess, one I'd gladly never repeat. Trying to prep for a hurricane and get a 4th grader ready for her first day of school after traveling for over 26 hours straight, dealing with make-you-want-to-barf jet lag and a very needy 11month old is mind-bending. But miraculously, it all got done, we had no water in our basement, and we survived. We do have a HUGE tree limb, the size of an actual tree down in our back yard that we have to deal with but it fell on nothing but grass. It could have wiped out our swingset or destroyed planted gardens that edge our yard. But fortunately it had the grace to fall smack in the middle of the yard onto an already ailing patch of grass. This is when you really do believe that the universe does give you what you can handle and I am pretty sure the universe was down with the fact that property damage was NOT something this very tired set of parents could handle!

And there is nothing like adding a baby to the mix to make your other children look, big-ass BIG. And then they go and start 4th grade at a completely new school and handle the transition and change and massive chaos like champs. I am so proud of my big girl. She had a whirlwind summer complete with 2 weeks away at summer camp HERE in Minnesota which as you may know is not next door to us and then was home for only 4 days before we left for 2 weeks in China. Between all the travel and 5 extra days of school in June due to snow days, this poor flower of mine didn't have much time at home enjoying our little beachy town. But I think no matter how disappointed she may be in some of the little things about starting school 1 week earlier than her brother and missing the 4th grade ice cream social cuz we were flying home on Friday, she is so elated to have a sister that nothing else matters. SweetPea is a smart, energetic, social, girl who is great at being a leader and taking charge. She can handle nearly any situation I throw at her. Watching her love and cherish her new sister with such care and tenderness has made my heart melt. The baby has brought to my FULL attention how fast my other two are growing up and I just want to yell STOP! Hang on a minute. Let me just catch up for a second. But I know there is no stopping time and instead I am just going to remind myself to be fully present all the time to absorb these growing-up years.

So SweetPea, I wish you a brilliant 4th grade year - I hope you enjoy your new school and you soak in all that it has to offer- and show everyone there ALL that you have to offer. Your smile lights up my world.

xoxo
Mom

The China I expected

2011-08-28T13:19:00.001-04:00

As the train pulled out of the Guangzhou station, jammed with what felt like 1000 Chinese people, 10 Italians and our little American family, it really hit me that we were taking Cici away from her place. The place where she was born. The place where she has who knows how many blood relatives. All week questions began to swirl in my head about her story. Was she really from Yangxi? Or was she taken there to be found because the orphanage takes good care of the babies and many of them are placed for international adoption. Did someone in her family know this and want a better life for her? As the highspeed train to Hong Kong began to pick up speed, I thought hard about the person who let her go and who I am sure has been wondering about her for the past 11 months. And so I began to whisper all my promises to this little girl, mostly into Cici's ear but really I wanted the words to escape into the universe for her other mother.

Watching the flashes of China pass by as we hurtled through small towns on our way to the southern coast of this country, I felt a pang of disappointment that I didn't connect as well with China as I had hoped I would. I had visions of photographing markets, beautiful architecture, and people with expressive faces. But none of that happened and it wasn't only because I was a mom of a baby again but because our location didn't offer much in the way of those scenes. I was sad I didn't find the China I expected. I was sad I didn't have the time to go find it.

The train took less than 2 hours to reach Hong Kong and 15 minutes after collecting our bags, we were pulling up to the Salisbury YMCA. Yup, you read that correctly. We stayed at a YMCA in Hong Kong. gasp. Why you ask? Well Nana left us for Croatia by way of Italy and without our third adult we found ourselves for the first time in our lives, outnumbered by children. Both China and Hong Kong have strict rules about how many people can stay in one room and most HK city hotels do not have rooms that sleep 4 and would require us to book 2 rooms but at the same time would be unable to guarantee that the rooms would be connecting. Lucky for us the adoption crowd is particularly chatty and loves to offer advice and one family I knew of who traveled recently with their large crew, stayed at the Salisbury YMCA because they had FAMILY rooms as well as regular guest rooms. But what really sold me was that they had HARBOR FRONT family rooms. After verifying with a few people that this place was not a flea bag hotel, I booked a family room for a very reasonable price and after we checked in, we were delighted to find a gorgeous view of a completely lit up harbor. So as strange as it felt to be checking into a Y.M.C.A, I was comforted by it being in a super cool neighborhood, right next to the Peninsula Hotel, and a 20 second walk to the Star Ferry which shuttles passengers every 8 minutes between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Our 2 days in Hong Kong proved to be just what I needed. We found our stride as a family of 5. We put Cici through the paces of what it is like to be a part of this crazy traveling family and she passed with flying colors. We rode a crazy long and super high tram across nearly 6km of Hong Kong's mountainous terrain, explored back alley food markets, and haggled with vendors at the kitchy Cat Street market which felt like a Chinese Brimfield Fair. In the end, I found my China and then we left with the best part.

Hong Kong cityscape from our hotel room!


HK Landscape - Lantau Island- from the tram on the way to see the big buddha

Playing with her reflection in the window of the tram

View of Buddha as we arrive at the mountain top

Inside the Buddha there were offerings to ancestors and what looked like these name plates.

Offerings usually include fruit and other foods.


Walking back to the tram from the Buddha through the park. Very pretty but with all this stone and very little shade, it felt hotter than the sun.

Food markets on Hong Kong Island

A worshiper at Man Ho Temple on Hong Kong Island. We watched locals come and go as they took the time during their busy work days to worship. Buddy was very interested in trying it so we bought some candles. We lit them and did the bowing.

PS For those about to plan their adoption trips, I wanted to offer this advice. getting around HK with a stroller is surprisingly easy. The metro is very clean, each station seems to have elevators, and the trains run very smoothly. Find the family/handicap entrance for a wider turnstile though. The people at the info booths we talked to had very good English. For the Star Ferry, ride on the less crowded but more expensive upper deck. Tickets for the decks are bought on the levels used for their entrances. So to buy an upper deck ticket go upstairs at the terminal. Have some coins ready, they were $2.5 HK (about $0.30US) for an adult and $1.5HK for children between 3-11.

My next post, I will reveal some info on my Pearl shopping and where to go!

In Hong Kong

2011-08-24T07:40:00.000-04:00

We are in Hong Kong having a wonderful time. This city is so cool! We have limited Internet access while we are here so my full blog posts will have to wait. We are at a restaurant with free wifi so I'm emailing an update from my phone.

Cici is doing so well. She has blossomed even more since leaving mainland China. She loves traveling. She handles everything so well. She's a little tired of the stroller but when you let her loose to play on the floor she is such a riot. We are in heaven.

Sweetpea misses Nora and Gracie from GZ so if you girls are reading this, we will have to connect soon!

I miss so many of our travel mates. We had such a good group. Lucky lucky. Xo to you all!

SPY

Sent from my iPhone

Goodbye Guangzhou

2011-08-23T01:27:00.001-04:00

We leave Guangzhou this afternoon for Hong Kong. I am not quite sure how I feel about leaving. I think the strongest feeling I have is one of trepidation about traveling in Asia with my newly adopted baby, two older children and NO guide! Yikes! But in all seriousness, we are leaving the birthplace of my daughter and it has me a little turned around.

For those of you reading this blog, who are planning on coming to China soon for your own adoptions, I think I will take a few seconds to share some details about my stay here at the China Hotel.

1. Look into the executive level. There was a great hot breakfast served up there (but each room comes with breakfast for 2 people) but there was also a nice cocktail hour and non-alcoholic beverages all day. SJ was able to grab a few cans of beer to store in our fridge down in the room and we also grabbed some to take to the pool to watch the kids swim each afternoon. If you are putting more than 3 people in your room (aside from the baby) you will need to buy a breakfast ticket. We were able to use fewer of our breakfast tickets by eating in the executive lounge some mornings. And while there is no food service during the afternoon, there is a good selection of cookies and gummy candy which was a nice perk while Cici was napping. Case in point, my husband just brought me a cappuccino while I type this up. We did not buy a single Starbucks coffee from downstairs in our entire 10 day stay. And the nicest thing was that we never ran out of bottled water. We'd each grab 2-4 bottles on our way out of the lounge each time so we never had to buy a case of water. I think if we added up what we would have spent on Starbucks, beer or wine, water, snacks etc, we'd net even on what we spent for the exec level. Just sayn'

2. Those of you traveling in larger groups interested in booking adjoining rooms, you may be told there are no adjoining rooms. Just to arm you with some very specific info, we are in room 1602 which is a 1 bedroom suite and it is connected to room 1604 which is a standard room. The suite has a living room, king size bed, 1.5 baths and a nice sized office area. The standard room has 2 double beds and 1 full bath. Our view is a nice on over the city and a little over the park across the street. Some of our friends on the 8th floor had not so nice views from their rooms.

3. Go to Prime (steakhouse) here at this hotel with a group of about 10 people in your group. Ask for the private room. Last night 3 families got together for a final dinner and we got a sweet private room at Prime with a huge round table and wicked comfy arm chairs. It also has a private bathroom for changing babies should you need.

4. Bring plastic pants in addition to swim diapers for the baby. The pool here requires it but it is enforced without much regularity.

5. I figured this out WAY too late. There is a bakery on the first floor that sells bread. There is a convenience store on the first floor that sells PB and J. Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda.

6. IMO the McD across the street is horrendous. Fries are okay.

7. SJ thought the hamburger off the room service menu was good. Pizza wasn't bad. If you order the potato skins and don't want the glop of guac in the skin, ask for it on the side. We were told that the fried rice off the menu was good too.

8. There is an HSBC bank attached to this hotel with one of their ATM machines in the hotel. Front desk changes money easily. Friends of ours had massive trouble with travelers cheque.

9. We have been able to plug 2 prong electronics in without an adapter as they have outlets that take most of what the rest of the world uses. We almost brought our Apple TV but at the last minute SJ figured it wouldn't work. There are plugs by each TV that suggest it might be possible but who knows. The Apple TV is small enough that you might want to try it if you have one so you can watch netflix etc.

10. One night we decided Cici was to cranky for a restaurant and both Prime and Food Street said they would pack up a dinner for our room. The room service menu does not have items from those restaurants on it. One night we also took a cab to Shamian Island to pick up chops we had done for the kids and grabbed Cow and Bridge to go and ate in the exec lounge. (another reason we liked the executive level) Our guide suggested the Cow and Bridge was losing its luster but we ate their twice and loved it.

11. Join Marriott Rewards. Free internet and oh yeah, points.

Okay so that's my top 11 for now. Got to pack up a few last minute things, like this computer before we head out. Not sure if I will have access in HK so if not, I'll see you on the flip side.

Love to each of you who took the time to follow along with me on this amazing journey and I can't tell you how much I appreciate all your posts.

xoxo

SPY

Consulate Appointment

2011-08-22T09:47:00.000-04:00

Today we had our consulate appointment. Our CCAI group 1751 had a 10 am appointment at the US Consulate for the Swearing in Ceremony. We didn't really know what to expect. We got on the bus at 9:00 am, rode to the consulate where we presented our US Passports to get in and then rode the elevator to the 5th floor to gather in the waiting room for the oath. We went through security and then took a seat in a room with some chairs and teller windows. At 10:00 a woman appeared in the window and through the microphone asked us to raise our right hands and repeat after her. It was basically an oath swearing that we gave them truthful information. She said congratulations and that was that. It was sweet though and I cried. So did Debbie! After that, we had to pay for the visa and then submit the paperwork and Cici's Chinese passport.

I am exhausted today so I am going to keep it short. Here are a few pictures of Cici in her stars and stripes outfit for the US Consulate....

Thread Count

2011-08-20T19:11:00.000-04:00

As soon as we received our referral we immediately joined our daughter's orphanage Yahoo Group. From there I was able to get lots of information on this particular SWI and also find links to videos of the facility and pictures of the surrounding area. I was also able to learn from these BTDT Yangxi parents that the babies are given a wash cloth to go to sleep with at night. Their version of a lovie. And since the girls slept on wooden planks, it won't surprise you to learn that Cici does not go to sleep without her lovie (now a giraffe blankie) under her face. She is a tummy sleeper which is why most of her hair is in good shape and not rubbed off. The first day we had her she got so upset and we could not console her...until I remembered that thing about the wash clothes. I grabbed on out of the bathroom and she grabbed it from me and stuck it in her mouth. She immediately calmed. It is her version of a paci. But over the past week we have found her grabbing and stealing hotel napkins and we are joking that she now has a taste for expensive linen. She will always be a girl fond of textiles but now that she has experienced 800 thread count, she's not going back to terry cloth!

Here is a picture of the group of moms and Cici sucking on her cloth. She is like a little treasure box, every day we find something new.

We wore these big and little t-shirts to the safari park on Friday. At one point a Chinese girl walked up to SweetPea, pointed to her shirt and said "Jei Jei." Which means "big sister" in Chinese.

Yangxi Girls on the Red Couch

2011-08-20T09:29:00.001-04:00

Today we had a mostly free day. One parent is asked to be back at the hotel by 2:30 to fill out paperwork for the consulate appointment on Monday. SJ has agreed to do all the in-China paperwork so I can focus on the baby. This is a long one though, 90 minutes of filling out forms. OUCH.

All our CCAI friends who were with us in Hong Kong have returned from Nanchang and Changsha. We waited in the lobby for them after dinner last night and were able to greet the CCAI bus. That was lots of fun. I think arriving at the China Hotel in GZ after a week in another Province can be a relief to some. I met one guy who hated the city he had been in for his provincial work and while lounging in the pool here at the CH, said he felt like he was in Hawaii! The Nanchang people had travel delays due to thunder storms so I am sure they were thrilled to get to the hotel and climb into the comfy CH beds.

This morning we woke up before my mom and the big kids so we quietly slide out of the room to go up to the executive lounge for breakfast. They have a high chair up there and since Cici hates high chairs we figured it is better to try her out in them in the lounge where we have a relatively private back room to sit in versus having her scream downstairs at the big buffet and upset all the other babies. So today we ran up for breakfast very early -essentially in our PJs- so we could see if having the first bottle in the high chair was more acceptable to her. And it was. Well, it was the bottle and being put firmly in front of a TV with CNN International on. She quietly sipped her breakfast, did not fuss, and got up-to-speed on the situation in Libya. We were thrilled!

After breakfast we came back to the room and got ready for the day. The Nanchang and Changsha groups had their medical appointment today. Our Yangxi group decided to head over to Shamian Island for red couch photos which I keep inadvertantly calling red carpet photos. Either way I think is appropriate. We intended to meet up with the other two travel groups for a photo but it seems that their medical took a little longer than ours and they were not at the hotel by the time the Yangxi girls had had enough. Our photo shoot ended with lots of tears, dirty diapers, babies needing their 11:00 am bottle and many of them fast asleep.

So we left and walked shopped around Shamian Island until about 1:45 and then we grabbed a cab back from the White Swan to the China Hotel. It is really easy to go from hotel to hotel by cab. It takes about 10 minutes and costs about 18 RMB.

I have another post not yet ready to go about yesterday... we did the Guangzhou Safari Park which I have to say, rocked! We all loved it. It is a mostly open - free range- zoo which you can walk around from exhibit to exhibit but there is also a safari ride you can do which is loads of fun as well. I would highly recommend this to families traveling with older kids. Our guide arranged a van for us, there were 11 people (not including the babies) and it cost 900 RMB including tip for the ride. The entrance fees were 150 RMB for adults and 120 RMB for each of my kids ages 8 and 9. I have lots of photos but haven't sorted through them.

We have started calling Cici the Tigress. She is year of the Tiger and has a fantastic personality. I swear she is so full of charisma and character. She doesn't warm to people immediately but once she does she is ready to party. She studies things with her enormous eyes and is constantly looking around taking absolutely everything in. She is a lot more comfortable in her stroller now and she was totally fine in the cab both ways to Shamian Island. So that is a very nice improvement. She hasn't loved the carrier but I think that has more to do with the friggin heat than anything else. It is a sauna here.

Medical

2011-08-19T04:00:00.001-04:00

A China adoption trip always includes a medical exam at a medical office on Shamian Island. Yesterday all the girls had an appointment at 9:30 am and it was the first time I had been to Shamian Island. We drove by it the other day and I could tell it was beautiful, but being there yesterday made me realize how relaxing it is. It is quiet there. Few cars, beautiful buildings, and clean surroundings. Oh how I wish we were staying there.

Before the medical appointment, we zipped in to the photo store to have the girl's passport photos taken. The photo store was actually a children's clothing store with a stool in the back where the kids were placed for a quick digital photo. Being at the end of the alphabet, we are always the last called to get logistics done. By the time we were called for the photo, Cici was fast asleep. Grrr. We had to wake her and she was sooo not happy. We took about 7 shots all of which she was screaming bloody murder. And then for one brief moment, she closed her mouth and opened her eyes and we got this picture....

Here are the kids waiting outside for the photo shoot....

SQUEAKY SHOES!

After we got the photos, we went over to the medical office to this room......

Where we had 3 exams, ENT, Height & Weight, Medical and Surgical. The latter was a respiratory and physical exam. The exams went really quickly but we waited a ton of time to just have the paperwork done. Everyone did well though including the very bored big kids. Cici is now 17.8 lbs and 28".

After that we were whisked off to the Pearl Market which I have to say was the cheesiest thing I've done in a long time. I bought Lily, Cici and I pearl stud earings and a few other non-pearl items but felt the quality was not that great. Stuff was relatively cheap but the whole thing seemed yucky to me. I'm going to go back to the place in HK for more pearls on the back end of the trip.

After we got home, SJ took the big kids to the pool while I stayed with a napping Cici. Once she was up we got her dressed in her killer red swim suit and matching hat and took her to the pool. She LOVES the water. Hates cars but LOVES water. Guess we're going to win some and lose some. I knew she loved her bath but she was so smitten with the pool too! Yay!

Here are some cute pictures from our afternoon!

Pictures!

2011-08-17T19:39:00.001-04:00

I will admit, we've seen a lot of this face. We know her cry well. She doesn't like to be put down. She does NOT like the bus. But to quote Dreyfus from The Inspector Clouseau movies, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better."

Her improvement each day has been remarkable. She's crawling everywhere, pulled herself up to a stand today and babbles baby talk incessently. She is however only on a bottle which bugs me out. I want her to be putting real food past those 4 teeth she has but she won't stand for it.

We'll just wait for her to be ready. She isn't interested in what we are eating so that is a cue she's not ready for food.

So I will leave you for the day with a mountain of photos.

Love,
Shan

Yesterday morning we went to the park across the street. It was huge and beautiful with lots to do and see!

Julie, Debbie and Anne with their daughters. I am very thankful to have these wonderful women in my travel group! Friends for life!

Off Island

2011-08-16T18:06:00.000-04:00

If you are in the China adoption world, the post title definitely means something to you. As I have said before, everyone who adopts here must pass through Guangzhou at some point on their trip. In the past most families chose to stay at the White Swan or the Victory Hotel both located on Shamian Island. From what I hear Shamian Island is like a little oasis in Guangzhou where the US Consulate used to be located. People have compared it with Savannah, GA with all its Spanish Moss and beautiful Pearl River views. The White Swan isn't getting such a good rap these days on review boards like Trip Advisor for its outdated, dingy rooms with unsleepably hard beds and moldy smelling lobby. So not having been here before I was less than enthused about staying at the White Swan and had pushed to stay at the supposedly more comfortable Victory Hotel. Next month the White Swan is closing due to renovations and at the 11th hour our agency decided to pull the group from the Swan and put us at the China Hotel which is a Marriott located off island in the heart of Guangzhou.

For me, the explorer, I was thrilled. A more authentic experience. I was beginning to write Shamian Island off as the artificially disneyesque land of adoption.

After only 3 nights here off island, I am craving the security and stability of that disneyesque place called Shamian Island. Our first night here we took a walk around the entire block that surrounds the hotel. Not only was there not a single place I'd eat but there were times I was definitely not comfortable. Inside the hotel is like a palace. The whole thing is beautiful, with great shops and tons of places to eat. However, I have yet to have a good meal aside from the gigantic buffet breakfast we flock to each morning. We've ordered room service the past two nights and last night when I got off the phone, SJ asked what I ordered for dinner. My reply was, "I have no idea." When the food comes most of it looks largely inedible so I pick at the sides. For the most part I have survived on fried potatoes since we've been here. Hash browns get me through breakfast and french fries are often what is for lunch or dinner for me. SJ just mentioned that he has never had such a hard time finding decent food in China and is shocked that the Marriott is not serving up better fare.

And here is the crux of it, most of what we are getting has chicken in it. Having butchered chickens day in and day out for weeks while training at the restaurant, I know the parts of a chicken like the back of my hand. I can take apart a chicken in 3 minutes with my eyes closed. And yet, when I look at these pieces of chicken, bone-in or boneless, either one, I can't frigging tell what part of the chicken they are coming from. I have visions of some sweaty man in a dirty back room wielding a bloody meat cleaver. If it is even chicken to begin with.

This afternoon after our appointments (of which I am getting really tired) our family is going to venture to the Island to see what we can find. I'll report back.

{Oh and for my girls...the laundry question.....our guide Jason said he has made arrangements to bring our laundry back to the place they've always used on Shamian Island. The shop owner will come to the China Hotel to pick up our bags and bring us our clean stuff 24 hours later. We have not had it done yet but will let you know how it turns out as we hope to send some out today.}

Cici Day

2011-08-15T08:52:00.000-04:00

I don't have words yet for today.

It was overwhelming.

All the Yangxi girls seemed to handle the transition really well. Cici wasn't thrilled with how we prepared her bottle when we got home and lost it for a while. She and I took a nap and she's coming around again. She's very suspicious of all of us. There are times when I can see the grief coming through full force.

I am going to just post some pictures b/c I need to make a second attempt at a chinese bottle.

More later or tomorrow!

the final countdown

2011-08-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

Well I actually slept last night. Not a full night's sleep but 6 hours jet lagged and expecting a baby is pretty good.

It is 8:30 am on Monday.

Baby day.

Breakfast was crazy. There were three families down there with us and we are all freaking out. Jitters today. Jittery excitement is felt all around. We are all over analyzing what we should wear, how many nannies will be with the girls, and how we are all going to get pictures of everything. Another father and I have video cameras and little tripods so we are thinking we will set up the cameras in the room to shoot the entire thing. We are already talking about trading still cameras for each family's event. This wild ride just got crazier!

We are now waiting to go down at 8:50 for a meeting with our guide.I assume we will be back in our rooms by 11:00 am to then sit tight for 3 hours!

UGH!

3 Hours!!!

And then it will be 2:00 pm and we will board our bus and go.

Guangzhou

2011-08-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a day.

Honestly.

Really.

What. A. Day.

We are in Guangzhou right now which is probably the single unifying city of all Chinese adoptions. Some people use Beijing as a port city. Some people use Hong King. Most people travel to one of China's provinces to adopt their children and then EVERYONE comes to Guangzhou to finalize things from a US immigration standpoint. We, however, were referred a baby from Guangdong Province (Guangzhou is the capital city for that province) so we will spend our ENTIRE trip here.

We said farewell to our new CCAI friends who are traveling to Nanchang and Changsa today and boarded a train at 1 pm from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. The train station was a little crazy. We checked most of our bags through but once we went through ticket control, we then had to go through security before passport control. Security was, well, not very secure. We put our bags through the x-ray machine and then had to walk through a metal detector. However, both of us were wearing money belts loaded with more cash than I have ever had on my body....EVER. I didn't want to take the belts off and put them through the x-ray and since the metal detector didn't seem to be staffed by security, I decided to walk around it and not through it. No one noticed.

Passport control took a while but by 1:05 pm we were all on the train and we were pulling out of the station. 2 hours later we disembarked in GZ and went through a very thorough passport control to enter China.

Once we had our bags, we met our guide Jason who brought us to the bus and handed us our CCAI Group 1751 Schedule for the 10 days that we are here. We have 6 families in our group and 5 of us are adopting from Yangxi and one family is adopting a 10 year old girl from another Guangdong city. He told us that he spoke to the Yangxi director and said our girls were doing well but that they had never been in a car so we should expect the possibility of car sick kids. He then told the parents of the 10 year old child that she was very shy and didn't like strangers so they would have to be patient. Later most of us confessed that when we heard that we nearly cried on the bus.

Just take a moment to think about this. My nearly 10 year old daughter is going to see a peer adopted into another culture, race and language. If you are reading this, and you have a 10 year old, think about what they know. Think about who they are already at 10. And think about what kind of change that might be for a young lady. And lastly, I will leave you with this... we learned that she is the very last of her friends at the orphanage to find a forever family. I want so much for all this to go well for them. All of them.

We are staying at the China Hotel - a Marriott. The place is crawling with adoptive families and their new babies. And each time I see a new family I think, holy shit that is going to be me tomorrow! Our guide told us that CCAI has recently switched from the White Swan to the China Hotel because the WS is scheduled to close next month...for a YEAR! I hadn't heard a year but that is what Jason said.

Word to the wise.

The China Hotel does have connecting rooms. We struggled with what kind of room set up to book for my family of 5 soon to be 6. I didn't want my older kids sleeping down the hall and while the Marriott here has 2 bedroom suites, they are incredibly expensive. And in addition to that, while they sleep 5, they only offer amenities for 2 people. So our party of 5 would have to pay for 3 extra breakfasts each day and 3 extra memberships to the executive level. So I got cheap. I yanked our plans for the more comfortable, but going to screw with my bank account 2 bedroom suite and booked a 1 bedroom suite and a standard room directly across the hall. And you may ask, why across the hall? Why didn't you ask for connecting? Well, we called CCAI and they contacted their reps who confirmed that this particular hotel does not have connecting rooms. I then called Marriott who put me on hold (twice) to confirm with the property directly about the number of connecting rooms they had. The answer was always NONE.

So much to my surprise, we have a 1 bedroom suite with a standard room CONNECTED. We have a huge living room, 1 bedroom with a king and 1 bedroom with two full sized beds and 2.5 bathrooms. Honestly we could not be more comfortable and we did it for a reasonable price! I am so so so happy!

So. Tomorrow.

2:30 we get our girls.

2:00 we hop on the bus from the hotel and we drive to the civil affairs office.

And before I say goodnight, I need to send a huge congratulations to my friend Whitney who welcomed a baby girl into the world yesterday. Life is good.

Entrance to our 1 bedroom suite. There is a 1/2 bath off this hallway.

Entrance into living room

Living room


Bedroom in suite

Bathroom in suite

1/2 bath off hallway

From bedroom into bathroom of standard room

Bedroom in standard room

Long day in Hong Kong!

2011-08-13T09:39:00.000-04:00

I've never been so tired in my life. Between the heat, the jet lag, and the touring around Hong Kong I seriously think I might collapse. It is almost 7:00 pm here and I rested my eyes for only 30 minutes today determined to kick this time zone adjustment before we get Cici on Monday. I mean really, if I have to wait 5 years for a baby, I should at least be well rested when she is placed in my arms.

This morning the whole family popped out of bed at 5:30 am. I'd been up since 4:30 desperately trying to will my body back to sleep but it was a no go. I only had 4 hours of sleep but between the time change and the sheer excitement about being here, I was up. SJ and I went to the gym, showered, and gathered the troops for breakfast around 7:30. We met some of the other families in our group down at the enormous only in Asia breakfast buffet. I really like this group and feel fortunate we've gotten to travel with so many people. Debbie and I were thrilled to add Julie to our travel group after CCAI released their travel network for our travel group. But there is another couple here too who had a 7/6 LID and has a daughter matched from Yangxi. They are lovely people from Florida. There are two other travel groups with us here in Hong Kong - 1 group going to Nan Chang and the other to Changsa. They fly out tomorrow while us Guangdong families take the train. The Nan Chang families all receive their children tomorrow. We supposedly are going to get Cici on Monday. In our group of 4 Yangxi, Guangdong families Cici's friends will be Katie, Livi, and Ava! All are within a month of each other. Livi is joining an older sister from China while Katie and Ava will be their parents' first child.

After breakfast the group of 47 people (!) met int the lobby to hop on our tour bus with our guide Matthew to tour Hong Kong Island. We drove up to Victoria Peak, down to Aberdeen to see a fishing village by fishing boat, then onto Stanley to see the beaches and hit a market (we drove by Jackie Chan's huge house). We finished up the day at 2:30 back in Kowloon for a late Dim Sum. It was so much fun. I will say though that the winding roads up the mountainous terrain on Hong Kong Island in a large bus had me feeling motion sickness more than once. And then to step out into the unbearable mid-day heat was pretty tough on this jet lagged lady!

After lunch, my mom, Debbie, Ann and I went to my mother's favorite pearl shop here in HK and we all walked away with a bag of something! I got a very long strand of pearls that I intend to wear for a while but then have restrung for my two girls. I'm thinking maybe 8th grade graduation or something. We'll see. I doubt this will be our last pearl shopping excurision.

SJ and I are downstairs in the lobby trying to caffinate up ourselves and sugar-up SweetPea to get us as far into tonight without dropping. Buddy is a lost cause and is going to be in trouble tonight when he wakes up at 1 am and everyone else is asleep. If he wakes me up, I swear he'll never get another allowance!

So here are some pictures from today...........

View from Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island


Debbie and I on Victoria Peak. Debbie and I have been chatting for nearly 5 years and we met for the first time this morning! AND our girls are coming from the same orphanage and are only 5 days apart!

SweetPea and her new friend N. N's family and we flew together from Detroit! Both are 9 and finally getting their baby sisters!

SweetPea, N and Buddy on Victoria Peak.

Lots of little foos adorned the lookout area.

Daddy and his two - soon to be three kids!

One of our final pictures as a family of four!

Next stop after Victoria Peak was Aberdeen to see a fishing village. We rode these boats around the harbor to see HK fishing life.

Not in focus but I really like the picture...

Some of our CCAI group.

This is an enormous floating restaurant!

And Matthew said when we went around back and saw the kitchens we'd understand why we were not eating lunch here!

Buddy and Daddy

Our boat driver...

When we got off the boats there were people putting paper into large barrels of fire and someone was setting off firecrackers. We went over to see what was going on and it appears to be a celebration with an ancestral offering. Matthew told us that while today is August 13th on the western calendar but it is July 13th on the Chinese calendar which is a day they believe ghosts come back. So paper offerings were lit on fire to send up to their ancestors and food was put out for them.

We are here!

2011-08-12T11:16:00.001-04:00

We landed in HK an hour early which was great! The flight was over 14 hours long which is hard for adults to wrap their brains around, nevermind kids. Buddy kept asking how much longer and I would have to quote it in movie time segements. We were about 8 hours away from arrival and he asked how much longer and I just replied "4 movies". The kids fell asleep shortly thereafter and we had to wake them for landing. They are such good travelers!

I didn't sleep much and am currently in the lobby of the Regal Kowloon having my second large beer of the evening trying to get myself sleepy enough to crash for the night.

We have a pretty big group of CCAI families along with us. We will have a tour tomorrow of HK Island with our awesome guide Matthew and then have Dim Sum in the afternoon.

Mom and I may be pearl shopping tomorrow. F.U.N!

Will check in tomorrow afternoon with some pictures I hope!!!

xo
from Hong Kong

We are off!

2011-08-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

Airport antics

2011-08-11T07:43:00.002-04:00

Well, we are at Logan! Never had an easier time waking up at 5:00 am. It was very hard to say goodbye to Parker the puppy dog. He's in good hands though. Our dog/house sitter is wonderful.

The only issue to resolve now is seating. We have no seat assignments for any of our legs and we are hoping they can put us all together. Cross your fingers for us!

Xoxo
SPY

Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love you. Tomorrow. You're only a day away!

2011-08-10T08:46:00.000-04:00

Well it seems the time has come. After 5 years of waiting it is definitely surreal to be boarding a plane to go to China to get our daughter.

We leave for China tomorrow and return on 8/26. The whole family is going and my mother is coming as well to help us with the older kids. We will travel to Hong Kong where we will stay for a few days and then we travel to the capital city of her province. Our itinerary is as follows:

8/11 Depart Boston
8/12 Arrive Hong Kong
8/14 Depart Hong Kong by train to Guangzhou, China
8/15 We meet Cici and take her home with us
8/23 or 8/24 we Leave for Hong Kong
8/26 Depart HK for Boston

We are so thankful for our dog/house sitter who will be taking care of our furry friends while we are away.

Today will be a hectic day. Lots of last minute details to button up before we head out. I will try to check in on Thursday from the airport(s)!

Typhoid made me do it.

2011-08-03T08:27:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning while trying to get my son out the door in time for camp armed with a packed lunch, slathered with sunscreen, and stocked with appropriate gear for swimming, running, jumping and climbing trees, I was on the phone in a heated conversation with a medical office regarding the typhoid shot for my kids. I was also unfortunately trying to take out the garbage as Tuesday is garbage day here. And if you could see the amount of Amazon boxes and product packaging that has accumulated around the house as we prepare for new babe, you'd know getting most, if not all, of it out the door to the curb was important from a fire safety standpoint.

Not that I am sleeping, but when I awake with a start I think perhaps I must have been asleep at one point. The panic was a result of realizing I must have thrown out an unpacked Amazon box that had bottles and other small baby set up items. We are a divided household when it comes to breaking down boxes. My other half is very keen to flatten anything and store it away, preferably in the garbage. I however take the ~~lazy~~ easy approach and just bring the damn boxes to the curb. Hey, someone may want to use them. Yes, I am hiding behind the very thin veil of recycling and reusing. Did it work? Not sure.

I called our pediatrician last week to ask if we could talk about medications to bring to China for SweetPea and Buddy in case they come down with something. The conversation went so off the rails that it was really hard to get back to the actual request and by yesterday I realized, in fact, we never really did get back to the point of the original phone call. Amidst her asking me what kind of medicine I'd want for what kind of illnesses we might encounter and me trying really hard not to say what I wanted to, which was, "you're the doctor lady, you tell me", she also asked if I had been looking on the internet to figure out what I wanted. I felt like I was at McDonalds with no menu. How am I supposed to know what to ask for?? And before we could get to the fact that, yes the kids may get strep throat or an ear infection while in China and yes, I would like to be able to give them medicine we bring from the States, she sort of went into full panic mode of quizzing me on whether they've had all their shots. It is always an interesting scenario when the doctor gets worked up but the parent is still calm. I think it was just about this point in the conversation when we stepped off the rails and veered down a prickly path. She then said "what about typhoid?". Now you should know that in November, yes LAST November, I called their office asking about the shots needed for China and in my notes from that conversation - because I am just that kind of person who can track down notes from a phone call made last November- I noted that they were unsure of the typhoid shot and I needed to consult a travel doc.

So early this spring SJ and I went to our travel doc for lots of shots and lectures about how to be safe while traveling to countries like China. We asked about the typhoid shot for the kids and the answer was that since they were still young they were not likely to be adventurous eaters and the shot was, in her opinion, optional for them. A month later I went with SweetPea to her annual appointment and spoke with her ped- the panicky one I described above- and there was a shrug. A, well, if you want to but it's not totally needed shrug. A few weeks after that I went with Ben to his annual and saw a different doc and asked the same question only to get the same response. So considering the lack of enthusiasm from the medical professionals that our children needed the shot, and my children's extreme dislike for injections, we decided not to do it.

Then all hell broke loose with panicky pedi last week who derailed our phone call to hang up on me and make a personal call to HER travel doctor to see if she could get us an appointment in short order. About 10 minutes later a panicky travel doc admin called me and I had to talk HER off the ledge. In fact I believe I said these words "Listen, since I am the parent and I am not panicking, could we please have everyone else calm down?!?"

She takes my info. Books an appointment for Buddy for the following Wednesday (today) at 4:30 pm. I tell her I pick him up from camp at 4:00 and will scoot as fast as I can over to their office. We make an appointment for SweetPea on Monday b/c she is still at sleepaway camp. The problem is that this vaccine takes 10 days to become effective so SweetPea will have a lower immunity than Buddy which sucks. And this is why I am pissed at my pediatrician who completely dropped the ball!

Then Monday afternoon I get a message from the travel doc administrator telling me that they would like to have us come in at 4:00 because she is afraid we might be late, and because they don't get overtime, if we were even 5 minutes late, they would cancel our appointment. I reminded her that Buddy doesn't get out of camp until 4:00 (and comes by boat so I can't grab him early) so I could not get to an appointment at that time. She basically shrugged her shoulders and said that I had better move his appointment to Monday with his sister. I told her I'd call her back Tuesday morning.

So in the midst of getting Buddy and the ~~garbage~~ needed baby supplies out the door, I was on the phone with the travel doc office speaking to a new admin who was confirming the whole won't stay an extra 5 minutes due to lack of overtime story. Before I let her rebook Buddy for the following Monday, I said the following: "So just to be clear, you are canceling my 4:30 appointment on the hunch that I might be 5-10 minutes late and your medical professionals (might have to strike that last word) will not stay 5 minutes past closing to give an 8 year old a typhoid vaccine because you would not make overtime on those 5 minutes? And that you would rather have him get a shot too close to travel to be 100% effective because you would not make overtime on 5 minutes?" And she replied, "Yes, that is correct." I wanted to call her a loser. But I didn't.

Now, I could have kept him home from camp today to get to this appointment on time but last night was his first camp sleepover. All the kids were invited to stay the night on the island in tents and do the whole campfire singing songs thing. So to not have him go to camp today would have meant not letting him do his very first camp overnight. And since they are on an ISLAND (which this woman was well aware of) I can't go get him early. I am trying very hard to keep everyone's life normal as we hurtle closer to the day when everything changes. I am trying to allow my big kids to do all the big kid things they want and not have to get yanked around and miss things on account of their little sister. So he will get the shot on Monday with SweetPea and I will tell the medical people (after the shots are administered) where they can shove it.

I got home from dropping him off at camp really worked up and placed a phone call to my pediatrician asking for a call back from a nurse since panicky pedi was not in on Tuesdays. When the nurse called back I let her know I wanted amoxicillen prescribed for both kids and scabies cream prescribed (kind of required for this trip) for the baby. She started to give me the run around but I had had it and told her we were not going to have this conversation that she was simply going to call everything in to CVS. By the end of the call she realized there was no wiggle room with me on any of these issues and said everything should be ready on Wednesday.

Now, about those bottles...

okay fine. I give up.

2011-07-29T23:16:00.002-04:00

About 8-9 years ago I started making some pretty swank movies with Apple's iMovie and Final Cut software. A few years later, Apple redesigned their iMovie software and it just didn't sit well with me. I hated it. I refused to learn new ways. And for all the years that followed, I kept a computer with the wicked old version of iMovie just so I could edit in peace. Well today I decided to give myself a little "new" (which is really not so new) iMovie bootcamp tutorial. Why? Well I can't very well drag my desk top to China just so I can easily edit short video clips for the blog.

Here is a quick test of some video I took yesterday morning as I dropped Buddy off at camp. Well, not his actual camp because his camp is located on an island and this is the boat he takes every day to and from the camp. Pretty cool, eh? I took it with the iPhone so it is a bit shakey but pretty good for a phone I'd say!

Travel Dates Set!!!

2011-07-27T17:59:00.005-04:00

Wow things are moving fast now! Our agency got our consulate date for 8/22 so we will be leaving on 8/11. Two weeks from tomorrow! Thankfully we have friends who will be staying at our house with the animals! I can't believe it is all happening so fast after it dragged on for so long! The change of pace really has me spinning!!!

{update} Glinda has asked me to quickly explain the process from referral to TA to travel and comment on our time frame. No problem!

Our referral came on 6/30 as they are now normally coming at the end of the month. Because it was a holiday weekend we had some extra days in there to sign our Letter of Acceptance (LOA). With our agency, I think you may have a day or two to get this back to them. But in our case, we got our package on Saturday 7/2 instead of Friday, 7/1 because FedEx lost our package. Remember that? That was fun, right?!? Character building I like to say. Anyway, our agency asked us to have the LOA returned to them no later than Wednesday, July 6th (happened to be our LID). So with Monday being a holiday, I overnighted the LOA on the 5th, FedEx did not lose it, and CCAI received it on the 6th. They then sent our LOA off to China requesting travel approval. Then we waited. Well, I never really wait, I research, dig, sort through information, plot charts, and while my husband is looking at baseball averages, I am looking at referral to TA averages. In the 6 months prior to our referral it seemed that TAs landed at my agency about twice a month. What I couldn't tell was who those TAs were for...so I had to go off the only bit of information I did have which was I knew that some people who got referrals on 5/30 got their TAs on 6/22. That's about 3 weeks from referral to TA. Which then got me counting days on the calendar and going into sheer panic because my two other children would be starting camp the last week of July into the first week of August. One of whom, requires a tin can in the sky to get home should we have to break early to flee to China. Many of those people who got their TA's on 6/22 traveled on 7/6. Five weeks from referral to travel people! Holy pickles, that's fast and it made me jumpy. Don't want to disappoint the big kids by yanking them out of camp. Don't want to rearrange already booked airline tickets for the return trip home from camp. I know, rearranging already booked air travel is such a joy, I don't know why I wouldn't want to do it! {snicker}

But all was well, in the end. Our TA came on Tuesday 7/26, our agency requested Consulate dates, and then the Consulate informed them on Wednesday 7/27 that our Consulate appointment is for 8/22. And the answer to that math problem is 8/12. That is the date our agency would like to see our smiling faces in Hong Kong! So I dropped everything that afternoon and booked tickets for 4 people. My mother is also coming along on this magic carpet ride but she's riding on a separate, much fancier carpet which happened to be nearly free! She's going on miles, on a different airline and because of the FAA/Gov't snafu, the airline was not able to charge her taxes on said mileage seat and as a result she's traveling first class from mumble mumble to HK for $20.

Glinda, one last thing, the agency does not allow us to book return travel sooner than 2 days after the CA because it can take a day or two to get the child's visa back from the consulate. So we are not allowed to leave any sooner than 8/24.

TA!!!

2011-07-26T20:31:00.000-04:00

Lots going on here at our house! Too busy to write but I will catch up. Just got both kids settled into camp this week so hopefully I'll have more time for the bloggosphere! I started to work with someone to help update some stuff on the blog and then it fell completely off my lap. I've been swamped and overwhelmed these past few weeks. Just trying to hold it all together has been more than a challenge! Going to try to catch up in the coming days as we get ready to travel because we're going to travel SOON!

We got our TA today!

Not sure of our travel dates but we did make it in under the August 1st deadline for the new post placement rules. That is an added perk to the whole thing!!!

Care Package

2011-07-15T09:05:00.002-04:00

Today I gathered the final things to send off to Cici in her care package. It includes, a few toys, two little lovie blanket type things, a onesie with my picture on it upside down so when she looks down she will see me, a disposable camera, a book with family photos, and some candies for the nannies. I had Ann at Red Thread China translate a letter for me explaining everything in the package. I hope the orphanage will take some pictures for us and give us the camera back but my agency tells me that Guangdong orphanages typically do not return the cameras. Oh well. But speaking of pictures, here is one of what went in the package.....

Summah Time

2011-07-13T09:24:00.001-04:00

Amidst all this paperwork and craziness, summer is in full force here. The weather has been great and we are trying to get out and enjoy it every moment we can!

SweetPea, her suitor and her brother in the back. I could arrange this and lock in the deal now, I would jump at the chance!

I wish his eyes were open. I love the reflection off the sand in this.

We have some extra lovely flowers climbing over our fence this year courtesy of one of our neighbors!

Visas!

2011-07-12T20:43:00.001-04:00

It isn't easy finding a day when ALL the people in this family are home and not imminently traveling overseas. Both my husband and my mother seem to live on airplanes and are often on trips requiring them to leave this country with passport in hand. So the thought of having to apply for a visa for China stressed me out a bit. The passports would be gone for about 10 days and frankly between those two, I wasn't sure I'd find a ten day stretch with them both home and NOT using their passports. Well interestingly enough, they both finished their international travel just in time and neither one has plans for an overseas trip until August.

Perfect!

Today, fresh off a plane from somewhere, my mother arrived at my house ready to tackle the visa application process. Simple, right? Just a few forms and we'd be at the pool by noon relaxing.

Um. No.

It was a 4 page form requiring detailed information we didn't have. It was complicated. I would fill out one section and then discover that either the visa courier or my agency would want me to put something different. I printed and reprinted these 4 page applications so many times.

I wanted to cry.

In the end I mailed them off with a hope and a prayer that they would be sufficient to get us visas.

UPDATE: They were submitted on Thursday and we hope to get them back next week. Cross your fingers!

Five Years.

2011-07-06T10:15:00.002-04:00

Five years. I remember feeling stunned at the thought the wait would extend to 2 years. But 5? Whoa.

But damn, how fun that I got my referral just a few days shy of 5 years!

So, yes, time to celebrate...

HAPPY LIDVERSARY to me.

And hot diggity she's cute.

Lucky me!

And many thanks to the lovely cricket who hopped over with this the other day as we celebrated another wee one joining our clan!

Sparkles

2011-07-05T14:33:00.002-04:00

Did you have a sparkly Fourth of July?

We certainly did!!!

Celebrated not only this country's independence but also a dear friend's birthday. Luckily said friend has a prime location for firework viewing. We are lucky to live in a beautiful town with land surrounding a beautiful harbor. The firework barge drops anchor right outside the harbor so our town is really one of the best places for watching the night sky light up on the 4th! And just because I am all for supporting evidence proving my point {cuz yes, I shur luv to be right...just ask my husband}, I'll point out that Coastal Living also agrees that we have a spectacular show on the 4th of July.

Despite a little rain, we had a great night for sparklies in the sky. The rain cleared out right before the sun set so we had some pretty colors in the clouds before darkness set in. Here is SweetPea with one of her best friends, a cousin of sorts, sitting on a fence waiting for the fireworks.

Once it got dark enough, the birthday girl handed out sparklers, which in this day and age of recalls, safety standards, and age/weight limits, my kids have not tried before! I checked over-protective mama at the door and just let them have fun. Hey, I survived them. It was sweet to watch their faces as the sparks flew in their little hands.

Back on track!

2011-07-02T15:23:00.001-04:00

Over the years I've watched people receive referrals and then take a photo of the FedEx guy who delivers the package. I always thought I'd want one of those pictures. Unfortunately, yesterday's experience has left me wanting nothing to do with FedEx ever again. Knowing the package was on its way, I left and went to a friend's baby shower. Simon was a good sport and took a picture of the FedEx driver who delivered the package but it wasn't our regular nice guy. It was a dude with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth trying to toss the envelope out the window of the truck to Simon. Simon asked him to pose for the picture I think in part just to piss him off and he complied

And inside the package were our beautiful pictures and all the files needed to keep this train moving!

For your child

2011-07-02T06:56:00.000-04:00

If you are a parent you know that you'll scale walls and leap over mountains for any one of your children. There isn't anything that could prevent me from protecting any one of (I almost said "either" but now I have 3) my children no matter where they are. This adoption has been an amazing thing. Five years of waiting for a fantasy baby is a strange strange ride. You sort of know what to expect but you don't. The "when", the "where", the "what" is such a mystery until someday it just happens.

I only had Cici's photo for about 12 hours when I discovered her package was missing. About 6 hours later it seemed it was really missing and that is when I learned that this could prevent us from traveling as soon as possible to get her. The ferocious mama bear was out in full force yesterday to protect a daughter I had not yet met, but had only seen once in a single photograph. MY DAUGHTER. Mine! My daughter is sleeping on a wooden planked crib in an orphanage in southern China. From what I have learned she is in an orphanage that has great nannies and the children come to their families having been well taken care of. But that does not mean I want her to spend one single extra day sleeping on a wooden plank. No. I want her to start knowing that people care for her because she is a loved daughter and sister and not just a number in an orphanage. I do think that the nannies care for our babies but they are in charge of SO MANY babies at one time. I want Cici to learn as soon as possible that she doesn't have to compete or wait for attention and love.

So yesterday was a nice little exercise in finding out exactly how I feel about this baby. It didn't take me long to make her "my kid" and as the other two know, watch out when someone makes mom mad!

I finally heard from my friend and travel mate who is away this weekend but also received a match on Thursday night. She didn't discover her package went missing until late yesterday and then she immediately called me. Luckily she has a friend very high up in FedEx management who went to bat for us last night. When her friend tracked our packages, she was impressed with all that I had done yesterday. I believe the words were "girl, your friend's been busy!" I guess there were pages and pages of notes in my file and I had managed to trigger some elite group of FedEx package finders. She said I had managed to get my package marked in a way that requires an overnight search of all 160+ planes. So Cici, if you are reading this someday, this was the very first time I had the PLEASURE to protect you my dear. Nobody, absolutely nobody, gets to mess with my kids without taking abuse from me!

And this morning I woke up to this tracking record...

So they apparently found it overnight in Memphis and it is on a plane right now up to Boston...I think.

And all of this leads to a question many of you China Moms maybe asking yourselves, "do I take the infamous FedEx picture or not?"

More pictures!

2011-07-01T14:56:00.001-04:00

So it looks like my package is definitely NOT coming today. I seriously hope someone at Fed Ex can pull it together and find my referral by tonight or tomorrow. In the mean time CCAI has emailed me the photo copies of what was in the package and there were two extra pictures. She is even more beautiful in these!!!

(I tried to enhance them in photoshop by lightening the dark spots and then dressed it up a little)

Fed Ex! Please find my referral package!!!!

2011-07-01T12:50:00.001-04:00

My agency sent all the documents overnight via FedEx last night so I could take a look at Cici's whole file. They also sent extra pictures of her in addition to the ORIGINAL DOCUMENT from China that needs to be signed and returned to accept this referral.

FED EX HAS LOST MY PACKAGE!!!

I called CCAI and it seems that if the package does not surface, they will have to reissue the acceptance letter and I will then miss my travel group and have to travel alone. You can't even imagine how mad I am right now. If anyone knows anyone at Fed Ex I'd love an "in" to see if someone can move things along. With Monday being a holiday, I'm up against a wall right now.

Thanks!

Our Daughter!

2011-06-30T18:27:00.002-04:00

Um. I was supposed to get the call tomorrow. And based on that information this VERY organized girl decided to zip into Boston to pick up her husband's passport to literally kill time. On the way home I get a call from CCAI and I answer and it is Beth E on the other line. I say to her "is this THE call??" and she laughs and says "yes, we decided to surprise everyone and call tonight!" OMG I was so not ready!!!! I had a fancy dancy call sheet ready at home and wanted to video the whole thing but I was sweaty and in my gym clothes in the CAR or as we say here "ca". So I put her on speaker and got some little details and then asked if we could call back when we got home so I could video the call. So here are the important details...and I think more pictures will come tomorrow!

Her Chinese name is Song Xiao Yin. She is in the city of Yangxi in the Guangdong Province in southern China. She was born 9/27/10 so she is 9 months old. her name means dawn and bed of grass. Song is her last name and a front runner for her middle name.

We are not entirely sure of her full name yet. Stay tuned!

Love. Love. Love!

Dream

2011-06-30T06:35:00.000-04:00

I woke with a start around 6:00 am this morning having just wrangled myself from an awful dream. I had a dream that we got our referral and the way they sent the referral was via snail mail in a giant binder with everyone in your travel groups referral. So I get this huge binder and start madly flipping through to my section and when I find it there are no pictures. I keep scanning and scanning the pages for a picture and can't find one so I start reading the information. I immediately find out that our referral spontaneously burst into flames when it reached CCAI so they lost all her pictures. Our daughter's name was "Cassie" so there's the "c" part I was hoping for but she was born in September 2000 so she was nearly 11. She had bounced from foster care to foster care and had been referred 4 other times but they were all denied. Finally at the end of a long two pages of information I couldn't believe I was reading, there was a small faint picture that seemingly had partially survived the fire. And she looked like this:

Now that's a bad dream.

Agency Weekly Update

2011-06-29T16:19:00.000-04:00

It is amazing how painful the silence is when it is your LID swirling around in the rumor bowl. My agency does weekly updates on Wednesday and today they posted on their internal website that matches were indeed complete but that they don't know when to expect them.

So what does that mean?

Beats me.

Tomorrow?? Friday??

Please, please, just don't make me wait it out over the holiday weekend. I beg of you.

Rumors!

2011-06-28T11:03:00.003-04:00

Well I asked and I received. We awoke to rumors this morning and they are of the JUICY variety. Tasty, delicious, juicy rumors that are saying matches have been mailed and that they go through July 6, 2006!!! We are LID 7/6/06. And if this is true it is ironic b/c 5 years ago today my dossier left my agency in Colorado to fly east to China. How wonderful if my match was flying west to CCAI exactly 5 years later.

So it seems the stork may be in the air, as soon as I hear confirmation, I'll post it here!

**6/29 8:00 am UPDATE** Boy it sure seems that all the other times a rumor leaked matches were already mailed, we saw them landing in Europe before now. I was waiting for the our agency said they have a package on the way rumor to show up yesterday or how about a referrals have landed in Europe rumor this morning?? Nothing but crickets!! Arrrggg. It is 2 pm in Europe already so if something was going to show up today, we would have heard about it already. Boo hoo!

End of June is FINALLY here!

2011-06-27T23:26:00.002-04:00

With all the snow we had this winter we are finally of school for summer! Our last day was Friday so it hasn't felt like V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N until today! And thankfully mother nature cooperated. We spent the day swimming, sunning and of course grabbing an ice cream at every chance!

and yes, we are hanging in there. It is the LAST week of June and we hope to be up next for a referral. This time last month we had rumors already actively swirling around the globe. So we are crossing our fingers that rumors start and that July 6th is in.

Why did I wear mascara?

2011-06-25T13:45:00.001-04:00

I knew enough not to wear my contact lenses because they itch when I cry but somehow I didn't have the same forethought when putting on my eye makeup this morning.

At 11:00 am I walked into a building I hadn't been in since the summer of 1987 when I attended a dance there with all my classmates after graduating from 8th grade. The boys were all in sports coats, ties and white pants and the girls were in a bevy of Laura Ashley dresses with tiny flowered prints and poofy sleeves. I am sure we were a sight to see.

But today I walked in to to say goodbye to a friend from that time in my life and while we kept in occasional touch over the years, time, place, and circumstance had separated us for most of the past few decades.

The service was lovely. The slide show was difficult. Baird was 37, would have been 38 this coming August. He left behind an adoring sister and a heartbroken mother. As a parent and a sister, so much of today was unbearable. I stood there with many of our classmates as we tried to digest this incredible loss. We were part of a tight-knit group of 40 kids who spent the K-8 years growing, bonding and finding out who each of us was. And sadly, this is our second loss from this group. We had to say goodbye to another dear friend 8 years ago. Phoebe was thirty, about to get engaged. Diagnosed with non-smokers lung cancer and succumbed to the disease 6 short months later. I can't even let my mind think about the life she has missed out on.

So wherever you are today, reach out to the people you love. Especially the people you've been meaning to reconnect with. Say I love you when you think it. Say thank you when you feel it. Hold people dear to you close.

And for me, my dearest friend who spends most of her time working all over this great big world is coming home in July and I cannot wait to hug her.