Halloween 2009

Happy (belated) Halloween, all!

All three girls went trick-or-treating this year, dressed up as
various permutations of the fairy-princess theme.

As always, it is both enjoyable and challenging to sew costumes
for them. In previous years, only Emily has been old enough
to dress up and head out. This year Jenna went too and we
thought it was safest to assume Kate would insist on going as well.

I think it is a terrible shame the girls never ask to dress up
as Eskimos, or Nordic skiiers or anything that remotely suits
the climate in these parts. Instead they always want
costumes better suited for Singapore's climate -
ballerina, fairy, princess. Still, I like a challenge.

Emily went as The Sugar Plum Fairy this year. Long-sleeved,
high-collared, ankle-skirted fleece fairy, I mean.





She and Nana (Grandma Karen) spent the morning decorating
her wings and she is very proud of them.

Jenna went as Cinderella-who-lives-in-Siberia.
Same story: long sleeves, high collar, etc.


Little Kate went as a green wood sprite.
With long sleeves, etc. etc.


The girls did a quick photoshoot this afternoon

before an early supper and heading out to collect candy.

Tomorrow: Jenna's birthday party.
The festivities never end around here!

Fall Updates

We have had a wet, sick fall so far. A lot of rain and some snow.
And then last week we were all sicker than dogs. Only Dave was
spared, but he got to take care of all of us, which couldn't
have been very exciting, either.

Because the summer was very dry, the fall colors this year
weren't as dramatic as in past years. And the snow confused
us all even more. One thing remained constant, though -
the leaves did fall off the trees.

First they were green



and then, as we got a little bit of color


we had some yellows

and finally the browns and ochres.
This was today's leaf pile




and today's bare branches
and today's (fleeting) brilliant blue sky.

Unrelated, Kate has been using the potty. At first we were
dismayed that she would get in the bathroom and play with
the potty chair Jenna uses. After a while we realized
she was on a mission, so we played along. She is happy to
sit and if we peek in at her, she says to us, "private". Today
she successfully used the potty three times at least, and for
a variety of er.. needs. We are proud of her, and slightly
taken aback that we now have two children in potty-training
and no pull-ups that can be bought in the 18-month size.

Discovery

Banana Bread + Nutella = Rather Good.

Who would've thought?

Late Night Jennaism: Gender Observation

Jenna was sitting on the sofa with me after everyone else had gone to bed. Initially very talkative, she finally quietened down. After a long time of being silent, she suddenly spoke.

"Ladies have purses but mans don't have purses."

"What do men have?" I asked.

"Mans get to have cameras on their necks."

Then she settled back into contemplation.

Halloween Baking

More kitchen adventures this week. First a big pot of chilli,
some to eat and some to freeze. Next some cookies to
stretch and tone our baking muscles for the upcoming
big food holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas
and - the biggest of all baking seasons -
Chinese New Year.

We make these giant candy corn cookies each year. This year
I took pictures to briefly illustrate the process. We got this idea
from an issue of Family Fun several years ago. We used our
favorite sugar cookie recipe for crisp, not soft cookies.

First we divided the dough into thirds, and tinted one third
yellow, one third orange, and the other brown (with cocoa powder).

Then we rolled them out into long snakes about an inch
in diameter with our hands, and laid them, sides touching,
between long sheets of wax paper.

Then we rolled them lengthwise with a rolling pin so the
snakes merged and formed a long and narrow sheet about
4" wide and 1/4" thick.

Then we cut triangles out in a zig-zag pattern

and baked them.

The frosted cookies in the top picture were made with this recipe.

No sign of sugee cake yet, but I think I have narrowed
it down to which semolina to buy! Excited!

Asian Food as Interpreted by Jenna

Pulut Hitam = Raisin Soup, "because it has raisins in it".

Jenna and Her Owies

Jenna is continuing in that odd phase in which she interprets any skin blemish as an owie.

Some days ago, she was instructed to clean up a part of her room. Suddenly she pointed to something on her leg and started to moan that it was an owie. It was found, upon inspection, to be a miniscule mole.
"But it hurts!" she said, pitifully.
"When? Does it hurt now?"
"It hurts when I clean the room!"

Sneaky.


Today in the van, Jenna was examining her hands. Suddenly she began to complain that she had an owie on her hand.
"Where's the owie? Show me the owie, Jenna," I asked.
"Here!" she said, sweeping the finger of her other hand over the back of the supposed injured one.
"Where? Can you show me?"
She pointed miserably to the little lines on her fingers.

"Those are knuckles, Jenna. They're supposed to be there. They help your fingers be able to bend in the middle."


I will miss these conversations when she gets to be a teenager.

Fall Meets Winter

Taking a short break between cooking lunch and boiling
up a pot of pulut hitam* to show you what greeted us
this morning (again). The leaves have
barely begun to turn

and most of our trees still have their leaves, green ones at that

and our deck is still pretending it is summer

It will all melt really soon, of course. But had to dig out
the girls' snow clothes today, which felt weird.

* Pulut hitam: black glutinous rice dessert. Has the consistency of tar and completely delicious. Finally made a trip to procure gula melaka so hurrah! Only in Asia, I think, is the amount of sugar measured in inches. My recipe reads: When rice is tender, add in 3" of gula melaka. Ha ha ha!

Not a rumor!

'Tis true - the first snow today.
Took these pictures early this morning.

A very light dusting, so it doesn't really count.
And it was all gone by afternoon.

Cold today. Ah well.

On The Street Where We Live

I will never tire of the view from the top of our street.
It was what made me desperately want this house (and
neighborhood) way back in 2005 when we were house
-hunting. Dave took this picture today - after a whole
week of cold rains and grey skies, it was colorful
outdoors again. We took two walks today, to make
up for being shut in the past week.

'Tis rumored there might be snow this weekend. Drats.

Baseball, as explained by Jenna

The Twins have just won their division after a fantastic 12-inning game tonight against Detroit (Tigers). We had the radio going all evening, even in the bathroom while the girls were having their bath. All very exciting. Even Emily got into the mood and let out an occasional cheer. Jenna, it turns out, was less than thrilled and clung tightly to me, with a look of panic on her face.

Jenna: I don't like the baseball game, mom.
Me: What don't you like about it, Jenna?
J: The tigers. They're scary.
M: Why are they scary?
J: They're scary animals and they live in the jungle!
M (deciding not to explain the truth, and letting Jenna tell her story instead): But what's scary about them, Jenna?
J: They go in front of the twins! The tigers go in front of the two kids when they are going in the jungle!

Had to stifle laughter and finally explain things to poor, frightened Jenna. Finally she conceded, "I don't like the baseball game because it was so loud."

Fall Cooking Has Begun

Fall/Autumn is here. And I am friends with the kitchen again. Today Dave worked from home, and it was raining, so it was the perfect day for soups (and the good bread from the French Bakery down the road). Went a bit crazy and made two soups - cream of chicken and wild rice, and cream of broccoli/cauliflower and cheese. Made enough to freeze for future cold rainy/snowy days. And since the kitchen was a mess already, I thought I'd keep going and do caramel rolls for tea. What is it about cold dreary days that makes a person want to bake and cook (and eat)?

The last quarter of the year brings with it many of the lovely holidays we associate with baking, particularly theme cookies. So over the next few weeks we will take our cookie cutters out, roll out the dough and bake up a storm (Kate permitting).

And some time this winter, I will make mee siam. Yes, I will.
Am tired of it haunting my dreams. Also sugee cake.

Kate is 18 months old

Midway between one and two. Loves books. Easily gets attached to particular stories and wants them re-read and re-re-read. "(A)Gain!" she says, bringing Silent Kay and the Dragon (which she calls Jenjit)" to us for the hundredth time. Sings Emily's preschool song Icky Sticky Bubble Gum - her version is "Ick Kee Kee Kee Gum Gum la la la". No longer sucks on marker nibs, and now is occasionally allowed to handle markers, with inevitably disastrous results. Loves apples. Loves being swung in the air. Eats her meals in her high chair with one leg hanging out over the side. Has inherited Jenna's car seat so no longer fights Emily for hers. Replies, "I do! Want!" to almost any question we ask beginning with "Who". Proudly says her name, thumping her chest Tarzan-style, "Kitty!" Our little Kate - she is spunk personified.

Good news!

No, we are not having another baby. We love babies, but our lives are disorganized enough with three, thank you.

Today I accidentally discovered, very close to home, a little Indian grocery store. Yes, Indian! Like curry-paratha-papadom-muruku-chapati-naan*-Indian! It is always interesting to find new Asian grocery stores here, but usually they are Vietnamese-Thai in emphasis. Something Malaysian (like my favorite Asian grocery store downtown) is much more familiar. I like that I can go there and say words like "gula melaka" and people produce what I want and don't look at me funny.

But Indian! Ah...........

Found non-expensive green cardamom pods, fresh curry leaves and semolina flour - both the yellow cornmeally sort and the pale sooji that I have no idea what to do with. This means sugee cake! Or, rather, it means maybe sugee cake once I ask mum which type to buy.


* foods that are not Chinese, thank goodness.