deconstructed eggplant parmesan

Hell might be freezing over folks.  I can't get myself pumped about making dinner these days.  I know it stems from the stress of moving and the supplies in my kitchen are dwindling.   The last few weeks at post require creativity to put together meals that don't require purchasing new or exotic ingredients.  It's at this time you have to just start cooking whatever is in the fridge and cupboards.  I'm going to share with you a super easy recipe that took so little time and so few ingredients.  Both requirements for me right now.

My sweet friend Emily and I share a love for cooking and food.  She's a mom to a son with allergies and just a healthy eater in general.  She introduced me to Vegan with a Vengeance months back and I was in love.  Then, for Mother's Day she surprised me with a copy of Isa Chandra Moskowtiz's gorgeous new cookbook, Isa Does It.  This cookbook is loaded with great vegan recipes and for those of us who aren't vegan, but just love the idea of cooking new and interesting things, I find this cookbook really inspiring.  The photos are amazing and Isa is hysterical.  A gal I'd love to be cooking and drinking with at home.

Most of the recipes in the book will have to wait until I can get settled into a new kitchen and stock it full of all sorts of fun ingredients required.  But her Eggplant and Breadcrumb Fettuccine recipe stuck out to me as the kind of meal anyone, and I mean anyone can throw together any night of the week.

I had to make all the components of this meal, like the tomato sauce and bread crumbs.  My quick homemade tomato sauce can be tossed together in minutes and I just let it simmer away.  It's so easy I won't ever buy jarred spaghetti sauce again.

Deconstructed eggplant parmesan (adapted just slightly from Eggplant and Breadcrumb Fettuccine)
Olive oil
2 medium eggplants peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch half moons or quarters
salt
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp cumin
pepper
1 lb bow tie pasta
tomato sauce homemade or jarred.

Make your sauce* and let it simmer.  Toast your bread and pound it into crumbs.  Then start on the eggplant.
Heat a large cast iron or nonstick pan on medium heat.  Add a drizzle of olive oil, Add eggplant and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and another drizzle of olive oil.  Cook, flipping the eggplant here and there for about 15 min or until the slices are nice and soft and slightly browned in parts. I put a lid on for a few minutes to let the steam really cook the eggplant through.  Add a bit more oil and add the bread crumbs, cumin and a dash of pepper to the pan, stir to coat the eggplant. Cook for a few more minutes until the crumbs are browned a bit.  Turn off the heat and let the eggplant stay warm.

Cook your pasta as directed for al dente pasta.  Spoon some onto your plate, layer on the tomato sauce and then eggplant breadcrumb mixture.  If you're a cheater like me add a tiny bit of shredded parmesan and enjoy.  It's delicious and exactly the same flavors as eggplant parmesan minus all the fuss of frying and layering and baking.  Such a quick perfect meal.

* I used to be intimidated by the idea of making homemade tomato sauce.  As if it wasn't worth doing unless you had your great grandmother's prize winning recipe or something.  But making your own sauce doesn't have to be an all day affair and my recipe is quick enough that you can do it on any given day.  You could make a huge batch of this and freeze some OR you can make just enough for one dinner.  My disclaimer for this recipe is that I really don't measure anything out when I make my tomato sauces and I use what I have in the fridge or cupboard.  So I am approximating on these amounts BUT the great thing is you can't wreck the sauce, just taste as you go and add this and that to your taste.  Always error on the side of less salt in the beginning.  You can always add salt at the end if needed.  But there is nothing worse than realizing later on that it's too salty.  Then your stuck!

Sara's homemade quick tomato sauce.
3-4 medium to large ripe tomatoes cut in quarters
2 medium onions cut in quarters
4-6 large cloves of garlic peeled
olive oil
salt
1 can of plain tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes (choose one without any added sugar)
red pepper flakes
oregano
basil (fresh or dried)
vinegar (balsamic, red wine or cider)

The quickest way to throw together this recipe is with a food processor.  You can hand chop the tomatoes and onions if you like but I wiz mine in the processor so they are chopped finely and quickly.

Heat a dutch oven or pot over medium and add about 2 tbsp of olive oil.  In your food processor, add the onions and garlic and pulse until chopped.  Not until it's pulverized but just fine enough.  Add the onions to your hot olive oil.  Stir and add a large pinch of salt.  Turn the temp down just a tad. Add more olive oil if it starts to look dry. You don't want the onions to brown, let them saute for a few minutes.  Food process the tomatoes until nice and fine, there will be a lot of liquid.  Add them to your pot and let the mixture simmer, stirring frequently.   Put a lid on and let simmer 5-10 minutes or so.  Add the can of tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes.  You don't have to add this if you don't want to.  If you want to only use fresh tomatoes just add a few more large tomatoes during that first step.

Add a dash of pepper flakes, oregano and basil.  Then add about a tablespoon of vinegar and stir.  Add another large pinch of salt and turn the temp back to medium or a bit higher.  Let it get nice and bubbly and then put the lid on and turn it down to low.  Let it simmer for however long you can, and don't forget to stir here and there.  An hour is probably the minimum for the flavors to blend.  Sometimes I let it simmer all day.  If you want the sauce smoother you can use an emulsion blender to puree it.  But I like mine with identifiable bits of onion and tomato.  After it's been simmering for some time taste it.  Add salt or spices if needed.  When I have red or yellow peppers I like to roast them and throw them in the sauce too for a roasted red pepper flavor.  

Next overseas post: Jakarta, Indonesia

Note: the photos in this blog post have absolutely nothing to do with the topic.  I just find them funny.  Addie informed me that "mustaches are popular at school right now among the 4th and 5th graders".  So we made some!

I'm not sure why I haven't written this blog post until now.  We've known about our next destination for almost a year now.  I guess as we get closer and closer to our new post, it seems vital I make an "announcement".

When we moved to Manila in 2008 we thought living in the Philippines for three years would be a good change of pace for us. We were not enjoying the rat race of two working parents and a baby in daycare full time. Life was not as enjoyable. We told our family we'd be home after Manila, and at the time we really thought we would be.  Then the opportunity to move to Ethiopia came up and we decided to go for it.   We'd definitely be home after two and a half years in Addis Ababa!  But when the time came to look for the next position we were eager to see where else in the world this adventure could take us.  To be honest, all the options available to Justin looked good and I was willing to move to any of them.  When we got word that he got the job in Jakarta we jumped for joy!

So our three year adventure has morphed into almost 9 years overseas.  I promise, after Jakarta, we're coming home!  At this point I've turned into the boy who cried wolf.  So maybe you won't believe it until it actually happens.  Fair enough! But this time really, I mean it.  We're moving back to Virginia after Indonesia.

There are lots of things we're excited about Jakarta.  We loved SE Asia while we lived in Manila.  The travel is wonderful, the food is great, people are friendly and love children, the lifestyle is not as difficult as living in Africa.  Culturally, Indonesia will be very interesting to experience. We've never lived in a mostly Muslim country so this will be new and exciting.  Indonesia will also be the most developed country we will have lived in (outside of the United States).

We've been assigned housing in South Jakarta (where we requested, which is closer to the schools, not the embassy) in a four bedroom high rise apartment that is close to the Jakarta American Club.  It has the benefit of a gym and pool on-site which is a great perk.  Ashlynn's preschool will be within walking distance from our apartment. This is huge!  One of my babies won't be commuting too far.  The apartment appears to be fairly new (although we all know that construction in the developing world can deteriorate quickly), newness isn't really an important factor for me.  The aesthetic of the apartment really isn't of interest to me either.  But the space seems big enough and livable for our family.  Most importantly the kitchen looks great.  It's very reminiscent of our housing in Manila.  Cold hard marble floors, lots of bathrooms, large windows, balconies to terrify me.  Overall, the place is absolutely livable and it will be fun to get creative with making the space our own. That's one of my favorite things about the blank slate of a new home.

If you're keeping up with International School news, you will have heard the tragic news about recent incidents at Jakarta International School (JIS).  It's a well known and highly touted school.  Both Addie and Bella (hopefully) will attend.  Right now, we have a Montessori school KG program as an alternative for Bella if it comes to that.  We're hoping it won't.  I've had it in my mind for a year now that my two older girls will be at the same school and ride the bus together.  The school situation has been the most stressful so far.

Another stressful issue with a move to Jakarta is taking into account the epic traffic and commute times we have awaiting us.  We're in for a rude awakening and I'm sure we will be humbled about what we considered "traffic" in Manila and Addis.  Both of which have pretty nasty traffic, if I'm being truthful.  But Jakarta traffic is in a whole new category of awful.  Addie, unfortunately has been placed at the JIS campus which is slightly farther away from our apartment due to space issues.  On google maps the distance is about 5km but the commute time on the bus we are told is anywhere from 40-60 minutes!  Our one desire for this post was to give our children a short commute to school.  As it is now, they both commute long times to and from school here in Addis (Addie 60-80 min one way, Bella and Ashlynn 30 min one way).  It was the same in Manila.  Kids at this age should be able to walk to school or take a bus ride that is about 15 minutes for elementary school.  Sadly, our girls have commute times that are more in line with grown-up nine to five office jobs.  It sounds like it will be the same in Jakarta, as much as we tried, we failed at getting them placed at the school campus that is only a 15-20 minute commute from our apartment.  I still find it unbelievable that it's so difficult to live close to school overseas.  Americans are used to having an elementary school within a 4 mile radius of their home, no matter where you live (in most suburban areas).  Throngs of kids walk to school or take yellow school buses short distances.  But not overseas.  I've decided that it just simply isn't the norm for international schools. At least it has not been our overseas experience. Or maybe at one time there was enough housing close to the school, but growth has changed that.   To be quite honest, I am heartbroken that my kindergartner and second grader will once again be sitting on a bus for more than two hours a day.  It just seems wrong on so many levels.

But the bright side to this situation is that the long commute to school isn't new to my girls.  They are accustomed to it.  They are troopers and will manage well.  I am sure of it.

Commuting from our apartment in South Jakarta to the US Embassy which is downtown will take anywhere from 40-60 minutes in the morning and anywhere from 60-90 minutes on the way home on a good day (non rainy season, non flood season, non protest season) the distance is 12.6 km.  Traffic is likely to be the single most difficult thing about adjusting to our life in Indonesia.  It's good we've had some practice traffic in Manila and Addis.  We're not newcomers to the challenges of driving in a developing country that happens to be developing faster than the infrastructure can handle.  I'm planning to use the commute time to work remotely.

Yes, work!  You heard me correctly.  I have been chosen as a candidate for a job at the embassy.  Which basically means I've been selected for the job but have some rigorous security clearance processes to go through before I can be officially offered the job.  But anyway, there is much more to say on the topic of me going "back to work" -as one says.  I am thrilled, terrified, and nervous all in one!  Probably to be expected.  It doesn't help that my daughters groan and protest at the mention of me going to work "like Daddy".  More on this topic later.

Also, the silver lining in commuting horrendous amounts of time to work for two years in Jakarta, will make ANY commute in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area, either on the beltway or on 267 seem like a walk in the park.  We will laugh in the faces of whiny DC commuters after Jakarta!  Here I go with the bright side again!

Every one of our overseas moves has been a new adventure.  Both Manila and Addis Ababa have deeply shaped me as a person.  Both our posts have allowed me to grow in different ways.  I am certain that Jakarta, Indonesia will do the same.  I am thoroughly excited for this new adventure with my family.  We are eager for those first few days upon arrival in a new country where everything is new and a little scary and unknown.  But we get to look around and discover our new life and make it our home.  

home stretch

We have 16 days until we depart Ethiopia. Eight days until pack-out.  Eight days is not a number that means I can comfortably sit around and tell myself I have plenty of time to get things packed up.  And yet, it's also not a number where I need to be running around putting my kitchen in a pile for the movers or putting my girls shoes in suitcases.  We're in the in between days where our minds are on the move constantly but we still need to use all the things that need to be packed!

For weeks and weeks we've taken the time to go through our home and trash the things that are not worth donating or selling.  It's been a blissful process.  De-cluttering my life has to be one of my favorite uplifting activities.  As we get closer to our "pack-out" dates, (essentially the days that the moving company comes in and packs both of our shipments.  UAB-a small shipment we will get about 6 weeks into our arrival at our next post and HHE-all the rest of our belongings that will arrive anywhere between 2-4 months after our arrival at our next post), the more serious our organizing and sorting has been. We have a room that has been taken over by our suitcases and UAB pile.  When I think of something else that can go in either shipment, I just walk it up the stairs.

There are lots of theories and methods of how best to get through pack-out.  This is our fourth pack-out and in some ways it gets easier, but in a lot of ways the same things are challenging just as they were the first time around.  There are two things making this pack-out easier on us.  One is that we aren't moving with an infant this time around.  Having babies or kids still in diapers with special requirements of stuff, makes pack-out tougher.  Two is that our next post is not as difficult in terms of the availability of things.  So if we want to toss our old trash bins in Ethiopia we will be able to buy more when we arrive in our new country.

Many people say or think, "How hard can it be? A moving company comes and wraps and packs everything for you.  What are you whining about?

We are very lucky to have moving companies to help with our moves.  The whining comes with the stress.  It takes careful planning to get it right.  Let me try to explain.

The timing of having access to our personal belongings is very interesting.  All of our worldly goods will be packed in HHE and shipped to a storage location in Antwerp.  Our UAB will fly to our next post and wait in the airport for our arrival.  When we arrive at our new post (in August) we will obtain our appropriate resident paperwork which will allow our UAB to be issued to us.  This takes about 6 weeks after our arrival at post.  HHE comes months later.  So the big problem is having to think ahead about what we need to pack in our suitcases that we will need not only for our home leave in America this summer, but also for the first six weeks at our next post in August.  I have to set aside the items that we would like to receive first in our UAB.  If I forget something we need right away at our next post, we won't see it for 5-6 months.

Not your average suitcase full.  This one has our beach bag and arm floaties, important move documents, boxes of unused checks, dog leashes, my bridesmaids dress for my sisters wedding and all our chargers.  

For example, I am bringing my daughter's school backpacks, lunch bags and ice packs with us in our suitcases back to America because these are things we will need to have access to right away at our next post since we arrive only one week before the school year starts.  All of our original documents like our birth certificates, marriage certificates, medical records, school records and tax information all have to go in our carry-on luggage!  Can you imagine loosing such things in a lost bag? My carry-on will also hold our external hard drive, camera and my best jewelry.  We've also decided that since we aren't loading an entire suitcase full of diapers and baby items we are bringing our bottle opener, spherical ice cube tray, milk frother and French press in our suitcase.  These are must-haves.

Most of the every day kitchen supplies I use are going in our UAB.  I hate not having a well stocked kitchen and waiting even 6 weeks for all those items to arrive will be hard for me. The mixer, food processor, coffee maker, emulsion blender and waffle maker are all making the UAB cut this time around as well as our personally owned voltage transformers so we can run all these gadgets right away.  A formal ball gown and my husband's tuxedo will go in our UAB as well so we will have something to wear to the Marine Ball next November.

The current UAB list.  Note the "Adult" work clothes and "Frozen" dolls next to toys.  Both crucial!

I keep detailed lists of all our shipments to try to avoid forgetting everything.  I keep them in a notebook I've used for all our pack-outs so I can refer to the items that went into each shipment years ago.  Lots of the basics like towels and sheets stay the same but our first UAB shipment contained Addie's excersaucer and high chair!

Even with all my lists and all our organizing, preparing for pack-out is challenging mostly because all this prep is simultaneously happening along with every day life.  The kids are still playing and making messes.  Every meal still needs to be prepared and cleaned up.  School routines are still happening. Justin is still working. I was still completing orders (up until last weekend). Friends still want to play.  We're still getting invited to BBQs where we should bring something.  Life is happening like normal around us.  But in 16 days our life gets turned upside down.

We have not been home to the US in two and a half years.  We are thrilled to fly home and spend time with our family and friends.  During this "home leave" we will stay a portion of the time on the East coast and a portion of the time on the West coast.  We're so excited to be home but it's hard to forget that for the duration we are essentially homeless.  Bunking with friends and family, living out of our suitcases.  It's not ideal but it's all we've got.  Sometimes being in America but without a home to call our own makes me even more homesick.  Does that make any sense?  Maybe it's the desire to settle and be settled.

I've decided to post some photos of the silly things that have made it into our suitcases and UAB this time around.  I do believe the hoarders mentality I've picked up since living in Ethiopia, will take a while to dissipate.  But there are some things I simply cannot toss away.  For these two and half years, we've carefully rationed things like sunscreen, shampoo and even ziploc bags.  I can't help but stash a few things like this in our suitcases since we cannot have any liquids or gels in our shipments to our next post.

What?  You don't bring parchment paper with you on home leave?

Yes, I am bringing Halloween decorations in my UAB.  Yes, my cupcake liners and frosting tips are going in my suitcase!

TP, Halloween decor and our espresso maker.  Those blue striped towels Justin has had since college.

Frozen birthday party

I like to think hosting a birthday party for twenty kids and twenty parents is a good way to keep some semblance of normalcy during the terribly stressful period of transition in foreign service life.  Either that, or I'm completely nuts.  We hosted the party in between Addie and Bella's birthdays so both girls could have a special birthday with their friends one last time in Ethiopia.

They are all obsessed with the new Disney Frozen movie (me included, who isn't?) and it was a fun theme to plan.  My parents had send treat bags and homemade lollipops from a candy shop on the Oregon coast. Bruce's Candy Kitchen makes candy that is not only beautiful but it's also delicious.  The twirly pops went well with our frozen theme as a take-away gift.

We spent the Sunday prior to the party hanging balloons and streamers and snowflakes.  I purchased Frozen character decals to place on the walls.  For the party activity, I fell back on my usual craft of decorating sugar cookies.  I just didn't have it in me to be creative so the kids were given pretty bags with two snowflake sugar cookies and sprinkles to decorate them. I made my favorite sugar cookie frosting that dries nicely and let the kids dig it out of little dishes with a knife.  For the Christmas party I took the time to put the frosting in bags for piping (Good Lord am I nuts?).  I decided that was too time consuming. The craft was a hit.  Ultimately, I've decided the main reason kids (and grownups) love this so much it because frosted sugar cookies are a wonderful indulgence.  I spotted lots of moms and dads stealing bites of their kids creations.

Bella and her best friend Teffase decorating cookies.  These two ate the entire ramekin of frosting together.

The day of the party ended up being one of the rainiest, non-rainy season days I've seen in Addis!  But we weren't deterred.  I scanned our must-drink-before-we-leave liquor cabinet and came up with two cocktails the parents could enjoy during the party.  One contained a gorgeous espresso granita and Kahlua.  Delicious!  The rain didn't seem so gloomy when you have something sweet and boozy to drink.

Lunch was Mediterranean beef kofta and chicken kebab sandwiches with hummus, tzaziki sauce  and homemade pitas. I spent a good part of the week prior planning and prepping the meal. The kids enjoyed baked mac 'n cheese with broccoli.  If I'm being real, the parents enjoyed the pasta as well.  I had splurged on American sharp cheddar cheese.  After eating local cheese for so long, American cheddar tastes super salty and sharp and just plain rich!

The cake was the real hero of the party.  I wanted this cake to blow my girls' minds and I was rewarded greatly when they saw the final product. I planned this cake for months.  I ordered the Frozen figurines as well as the sugar snowflakes.  The three tiered cake was frosted with light blue vanilla buttercream and vanilla meringue frosting for snow.  The bottom tier was chocolate with caramel filling, the middle tier was orange with orange curd filling and the top was chocolate with strawberry filling.  The blue tinted sugar "ice" was made with the same technique as I used here.  It was much easier with simply shattering the candy.  This cake required a lot of labor but every single minute was a labor of love for me.  You can see some more detailed photos over at Ladytroupe Sweets blog.

The party was so much fun and the kids all had a great time.  It was the first party where Addie wanted only her girlfriends from her class to attend.  Bella had a few little boys from her class that are her close friends but for the most party the party was very girl-heavy.  It was sweet and a little less loud and crazy.  I find that even at first grade the girls and boys get in groups at parties and get one another all riled up.  It's so funny to see at such a young age.  Anyway, I'm certain we have lots of girls only parties coming in our life.  That is until it suddenly is cool to invite boys again.

It was a relief to have this party finished so I could get back to my organizing and sorting for our move.  But truth be told, I am also a little sad that we won't be throwing parties in this house anymore.  It's been a great house for entertaining and we've thrown some seriously epic parties in Ethiopia.  It's been a good entertaining run for me.  I will miss it.  

homemade cheese crackers

My kids love crackers as much as anyone's kids do.  Only trouble is that we don't live in America: land of the entire-isle-at-the-grocery-store-devoted-to-a-million-varieties-of-crackers.  We live in Ethiopia and yes, we can buy a few Greek or Italian brands of crackers on the local economy and the commissary at the embassy has Saltines, Wheat Thins, Ritz, and Cheez-Its.  We used to order large shipments of crackers through my favorite online grocer netgrocer.com and our family was nice enough to send boxes here and there.  But here we are 3 weeks away from departure, so we've been buying at the commissary more.  There just isn't time to get shipments here.  Long story short, the commissary is a great option but it's super expensive.  It's about $6 USD per box of crackers.  Frankly, I'm tired of the small selection offered.

So I made my own and I'm going to share the recipe with you.  These homemade cheese crackers are a better tasting Cheez-It.  No, truly...they taste way better.

Yes, this will take a bit of time.  The time consuming part of this recipe is the rolling and cutting and baking.  The dough is a piece of cake to throw together.  So here's my recommendation, make a double or triple batch of the dough, refrigerate or freeze a portion so you can take a hunk out here and there to roll and bake.  Or if you have the time, roll and bake a double or triple batch and just stash them in your pantry in ziplocs.  I got the original recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks The Homemade Pantry, and she says you shouldn't store the baked crackers for more than 7 days at room temp.  These crackers are so good, it's not likely they will last the 7 days.

Last night, Justin came home and does his kitchen sweep to see what's been cooking and baking all day.  He immediately finds the bag of crackers and I have to tell him not once, but twice that they are for the girls' lunches so don't eat them all.

So here's my other plan, these crackers are so good that they are begging to be made for a grown-up cocktail party or BBQ.  These would be perfect in a bowl or scattered on a cutting board with a little bowl of pesto dip or even a sweet bacon and date relish.

Homemade Cheese Crackers (Original recipe from The Homemade Pantry.  I've added a good amount of spices to this recipe to amp them up.  Probably because I can't just use a recipe as is.  I have to adjust something, it's just my nature.)

3 Tbsp unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups flour (try it with a bit of whole wheat if you want)
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or Gouda cheese
2 tsp dry mustard powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp rosemary chopped finely (I used dried but fresh is good too)
1/4 tsp course black pepper
2 tsp cider or white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1 ice cube

In a small bowl, combine the water, vinegar and ice.  Set aside to get cold.

In your stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the flour and spices and salt.  Add the butter and let it mix until it's combines well.  Add the cheese and mix for a minute to combine well.

Add 6 Tbsp of the cold water vinegar mixture to the cheese flour mixture in the stand mixer.  Mix until combined.  Slowly add more of the liquid, 1 Tbsp at a time until the dough clings to the paddle.  Remove the dough and coat the outside with a little flour so it's dry to tough.  Seal in a ziploc or plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate for an hour or two until it's cold and hard.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Take out dough and let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes.  Prepare two large baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.  Flour your surface and roll out the dough a portion at at time into a thin (1/8 to 1/4 inch).  It's like working with a pastry or pie crust.  Yes, there will be breaks and it won't all be perfect on the edges but if you roll nice and thin, you'll be fine.  Make sure to add flour underneath the dough so it doesn't stick to your surface.  Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into small one inch squares.  If you want smaller or larger crackers no problem.  Peel away the rough edges, ball them up and roll them out again until you've made crackers out of all the dough.  Place the squares on a baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart.  Bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes, rotating the pans once in the middle.  Watch the crackers at the end, you don't want them too brown.  If they start browning, turn off the oven and let them sit for another 10 minutes inside.  You can adjust your baking time and resting in the hot oven time based on how crunchy you want your crackers.  Then take them out, let them cool and try to keep your family from immediately eating them all.

I've been thinking about a few variations on this cracker.  Try adding 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper for a spicy cracker, or leave out the rosemary and add curry powder instead.  An Italian version with oregano and basil would be lovely.  Or maybe even dill if you want to serve them with a smoked salmon spread.

Happy baking, and munching!

Arabella Jun turns 5

It wasn't long after Christmas when everything was put away, that the girls started asking about their birthdays.  In our family, Justin and I have birthdays in March (neither which I blogged about, but both were wonderful), then Bella's is in April and Addie's in May.  It's birthday season in the spring.  Birthdays for the girls happen to fall very closely to our departure preparations.  The plan this year was to celebrate Bella's birthday on her actual birthday, then host a joint Addie and Bella party in May, and then have a small family celebration on Addie's actual birthday.  Usually we host two big kid birthday parties a month apart and I simply couldn't get that to work this year.

So on April 29, 2014, Arabella Jun turned 5.  She was thrilled to see a little banner I made for the mantel and she chose a mint chocolate chip cake for dessert.  Burritos for dinner were also her choice.  The smartest thing I did was make a little 6 inch round cake which was plenty of cake for the five of us and enough for second helpings the next day.  But there weren't leftovers for days.  Wonderful!

Arabella is a pretty awesome 5 year old.  She's made remarkable progress at school this semester.  She's starting to read site words and pay more attention to her art work.  She's focused and even has close friends.  Last year, she floated about from friend to friend.  This year she's socially moved on to a best buddy.  She's obsessed with the new Disney Frozen movie (the theme of our big birthday party this year) and sings at the top of her lungs to the soundtrack.

Bella has a very dynamic personality.  She can be very clumsy and un self aware at times. She barrels through things and buldozes through her life.  But then on the other hand she's very sympathetic and compassionate and mindful about her play.  She has a wonderfully sweet pleasing nature about her.  She is quick to give gifts and special little prizes she finds outside (snails, flowers, rocks) to her family.  She loves to sit and play by herself, singing and dancing and acting out elaborate scenes with her toys.  But then she also engages her sisters in lengthy play for hours on end.  She seems to fit in the perfect middle-child mold.  She really is multifaceted and seems to mold herself to the current environment.

She's still our tough child and we still joke that she always will be.  She'll be the one we pray a little extra for.  Her clumsiness leads to disastrous injuries at times.  Thankfully nothing too serious.  Her tendency to get dirty and put things in her mouth leads to a significant amount of tummy troubles.  She is particular about her clothing, shoes, hair style, and even the way she gets washed in the bath. She huddles under her bed covers with 50,000 stuffed animals and toys.  She literally buries herself in her things at night.  We find all sorts of strange things in her bed like scarves, bug spray, the door stop, books, etc.  She is knob kneed and skinny and tends to eat small portions of things.  Getting her to finish her meal can be a challenge, unless it's in the middle of a growth spurt like right now, and she's eating eggs AND pancakes for breakfast.

Arabella is a joy.  She's cause of much frustration and heart ache but it just makes her more lovable somehow.  She's precocious and silly and sweet and funny all wrapped into one.

She's most often the first girl out of bed in the mornings.  She pulls her blanket and stuffed turtle, along with which ever toy or doll is her current favorite to the couch in the TV room.  She reads a book or just waits until Justin or I come downstairs to start the day.  She always greets me with the sweetest "Good morning Mommy" and big hard hug and it warms my heart every morning.

Happy Birthday Bean!

Ashlynn Olivia all grown up

There have been some fairly awesome milestones met in our house.  The most exciting being that Ashlynn is entirely potty trained!  This happened simultaneous to the time she started preschool two days a week.  Also, a huge milestone.  I had been pretty adamant about starting Ash in a preschool program at the age of three.  But the busier I got with my own work, the less time I had to engage her in the mornings and the more she was playing alone.  Now, playing alone is  a fantastic ability to have for a kid but I finally relented and decided to enroll her at Head to Toe for two days a week.  It's been a few months now and she's enjoying it.  At first she never spoke and seemed sad but now her teacher says that she's engaged and chattering away at school.  It was a good decision.

A wonderful byproduct of preschool was the potty training.  I knew she was ready but honestly hadn't devoted much time to the project.  When she started taking off her diaper every time she went, it was time to get busy.  Within maybe two weeks she was wearing big girl panties and not having accidents.  Now, she doesn't need diapers for her nap time and wakes up most mornings completely dry.  She gets her self to the toilet and as long as there is a stool she can get her self seated and go without any help.  It was a miraculous day when I finally removed the changing table from the nursery dresser.  We placed a lamp on top and some books and finally, we don't have diapers.  I put away all the cloth diapers for a friend and Ashlynn happily picks out her panties in the morning.

As a side note, I'd like to say something about my commitment to cloth diapers.  After using cloth diapers for 2.5 years, I am very happy with the decision.  Yes, they were more trouble and yes, scraping big girl poop off them was disgusting, but it saved so much money that we would have spent on shipping in disposable diapers. When Ash was under a year, we washed at least once a day.  As she grew it moved to every other day.  I used a diaper pail to keep the soiled diapers in.  I found that if I placed the soiled diapers in a basin full of water and let them soak and stay wet, they washed better.  One thing I didn't forsee about the cloth diaper thing in Ethiopia is having enough hot water.  Cloth diapers need to be washed in very hot water and our hot water heater in the laundry room is very small and is shared by our guards shower.  I  had to get clever about when to wash the diapers.  Sometimes late in the evening was best when there was a full tank of hot water.  But forget trying to get more than one load washed with hot water.  If the hot water or water entirely was out at the house (yes, we have plenty of water shortage days where there simply is no water) the diaper washing became a priority and sheets sat for days.  These few issues are very unique to a third world living experience.  In the first world, most people can do as many loads of laundry as they want to each day.  What a luxury!

The best part about the bumGenius all-in-one diapers was the infinite snap/size options and the dual inserts.  The snap options let the size of the diaper change as the girls grew and the dual inserts meant I could place two in the pocket when Ashlynn was old enough to make a ton of pee at night.  We have very few wet sheets.  It took Bella longer to stay dry at night (each kid is different, man!) and she was able to wear the cloth diapers at night during that time as well.  They truly were used in our house for both girls for years.

They held up too.  Out of 21 diapers, I have two that have elasticity issues.  The rest are fine.  It was such a great investment.  Remember when I first reviewed them here and here?  Ashlynn was so tiny!

So Ashlynn started preschool, is wearing underwear and is sleeping in a toddler bed.  We're actually leaving the toddler bed in Ethiopia so she will move into a twin size bed when we get to Jakarta.  She's very independent and is dressing herself entirely as well as recognizing letters and numbers and using a pencil and scissors correctly. She speaks as well or better than Arabella. She plays right along with her sisters.  Make believe and all.  Bella and her have always played nicely, but I think Bella gets more enjoyment playing with Ashlynn now that they can have more detailed play.

We gave away all our baby items, the clothes, crib, blankets, toys, all of it.  There were fleeting moments of sadness for me.  But overall, I'm really excited for this milestone for our family.  No more babies.  We now officially have three kids and it's pretty marvelous. Each of our girls get more amazing with every passing month.  It's such a privilege to watch them change. Everything is easier; from dinners out to the bath time routine.  I loved my girls as babies. LOVED! But Justin and I have no desire to go back to that chaotic, exhausting time in our family existence. Right now, Ashlynn is at a wonderfully cuddly squishy toddler stage that just might possibly be my favorite.  But it is so nice to be out of the baby phase.  We're moving on!