Sophie the Pig

We've been reading Olivia to Sophie for as long as I can remember. I used to read it to my preschoolers all the time and when our friend, Christine, got the book for us for our shower, I was more than thrilled. I remember reading it to Sophie while she was still in utero, those early months when all she could do was sit in her bouncer and stare intently at my efforts to read to her, and now, when Olivia makes a frequent appearance on our rotation of bedtime stories. The precociously sassy pig who loves building sandcastles, museums, and books and who tires out everyone around her - it's like Ian Falconer was describing Sophie :)

And so, during one of her more tenacious Olivia phases, Sophie and I decided that she would dress up as Olivia for Halloween. I wasn't about to pay an arm and a leg for a custom made costume, and so went about figuring out how I could put one together (see post from last Halloween- there was no way I would be able to sew the entire thing on my own). Thankfully, we already have a pair of black and white striped tights and matching shoes (not intentional); after much scouring, I found a plain red dress at our local children's resale shop (you can't believe how hard it is to find a simple red dress that doesn't make it look like Sophie's dressing up as Santarina); bought the ears from this lady who makes the entire outfit but sells the ears separately, and... wait for it... sewed the collar. By hand. I followed this tutorial and actually managed to make it work even without a sewing machine. Yes. I rock.

I'm pretty proud of myself- it's not exactly like the Olivia in the book, but for how much I spent on it (ears + dress + fabric from Joann's = $12, maybe? $15 at the most), I think it came together fabulously :)

Most importantly, Sophie had a WONDERFUL time. According to her teachers, she's been talking about dressing up as Olivia for weeks and today, she was so excited to go trick-or-treating, she sat so still and quiet as I put on the layers of clothing on her (it was really cold out), and patiently waited for everything to come together. And the moment we got outside and the parade started, it was like we couldn't stop her. Oh, she didn't bolt and run every which way like we thought she would. In fact, she was extremely purposeful and methodical, making sure she hit every house that had candy available ;) At the end of it, even though she could only have the lollies and gummies in her haul (which just means more chocolate for Dada and Mama...), she was such a happy little camper, I suspect we'll be talking about Halloween for a long time to come :)

1. Lolli!, 2. Pig on a mission, 3. Hanging out with Andrew before the parade, 4. Walking the parade with Dada

Birthday weekend getaway

To celebrate my birthday-- and because we found a Groupon for a bed and breakfast there-- we took a quick trip to Saugatuck this weekend just for the fun of it. It's about a 2.5 hour-drive away and right on the coast of Lake Michigan.

On Oval Beach

We didn't have a set itinerary and just wanted to relax and see something different, and it was different alright... Apart from gatecrashing the town's Halloween parade, the highlight of the trip was our little jaunt to Oval Beach. Consistently voted one of the most beautiful coastlines in the country, I hear it's a bustling beach in the summer. But being the end of October, it was pretty much empty save for us, a few hardcore joggers, and some other tourists who promptly bundled back into the car from the cold. This time of the year, it's probably not everyone's idea of a pretty beach, but Jude and I loved it. There's a sparse, stark beauty to it that reminded us a little of the Northern Californian coastline. Looking out across the expansive waters, it was actually hard to imagine that it's Lake Michigan before us and not an ocean.

And as for Sophie, she basically treated the beach as one giant sandbox that she didn't have to share with anyone. It didn't even matter to her that it was 38F (3C) with windshield- with a warm jacket and fleece hat, she was oblivious to the elements and more focused on the structural integrity (or lack thereof) of her sandcastle, of which she built several.

What's a bit of cold?

She also had fun climbing up and down (and sometimes, through) the smaller sand dunes surrounding the beach.

Sand dunes rock!

It was soft, fine sand and so we had no worries that Sophie would fall and hurt herself. Besides, honestly, it was so wonderful seeing her embrace the natural surroundings so fearlessly and gleefully that we didn't have the heart to stop her even after her nth climb. She probably carted half the beach in her shoes and backpack after we were done building more sandcastles, picking rocks, and chasing the waves but it was worth it seeing how happy that made her :)

Favorite photo of Sophie from the trip

See rest of photos here.

I know we're early, but...

I take my holiday cards very seriously. I used to make them by hand way back when chasing a two-year old was merely a speck in the horizon of my imagination. And there were no e-cards then and so sending and receiving Christmas cards in the mail was a huge part of the whole holiday ritual for me. These days, most people send e-cards or post on each other's Facebook walls when the holidays roll around, and I suppose that's the eco-friendly thing to do. And yet, mailing out paper cards is still something I hold on to doing. I don't handmake them anymore of course, but it matters a lot to me how the ones we send out look.

Before Sophie came along, I had (and still have) a soft spot for the letterpress holiday cards from Elum Designs (I love letterpress anything!). But since we had Sophie, we've turned to the photo holiday cards that are so popular with families here in the U.S. I guess they're a nice way of putting all your favorite pictures together and to send loved ones a holiday greeting while you're at it. There are tons of websites out there that do this, of course- Shutterfly, Snapfish, Tiny Prints (where we got Sophie's birthday invites last year), just to name a few. But this year, I discovered MyPublisher.

And what makes MyPublisher different than the bagillion other photo card sites?
- FREE shipping
- FREE envelope liners in a variety of colors and patterns
- FREE return address printing (which I love because this means I don't have to write our names and addresses over and freaking over again...)
- FREE deluxe envelopes
- FREE paper options — satin, matte or linen — and they’re all much thicker and luxe than most photo card sites. Some reviews have said they feel almost letterpress-esque (yay!)

Basically, it has better design options (colors, fonts, layouts) than any other site I’ve used. Here are some of my favorites:





I love the clean lines and uncluttered format- nothing too bright and fussy, but still festive and fun. Best of all, I found a discount coupon on a mommy blog. If you're interested, use the code Babble30 to get 30% off your entire holiday card order. This discount is only valid until Nov 5 for the first 1,000 readers of the blog so I'm not sure how many discounts have been claimed by now. I know it's still a full 2 more months before Christmas, but guess who's already put in an order for her holiday cards? :)

"May I have more chippy chip chips?"

My snack today

I'm not a natural vegetable lover- my family can attest to this. For the most part, I eat veggies because I know they're good for me, not because I love them. But today, for snack, I couldn't stop eating one of the sturdiest, heartiest, greenest, veggie-est of all vegetables-- kale-- not because I ought to, but because I actually liked it. A lot.

The reason? Kale chips.

Basically, you de-stem the kale, cut or tear it up, toss it with a bit of oil and bake till crisp. An amazing alchemy takes place in the oven where something densely leafy...

turns into something impossibly light, with a nice depth of flavor from the oil and salt. It was amazing...

Of course, the greatest test was whether or not I could get Sophie on board. We actually don't have problems with Sophie eating her vegetables (except maybe raw salad, which I can't imagine any two-year old getting excited about anyway), it's just that she has her days (as with all things toddler). On some days, she'll happily eat her green beans and broccoli as they are on her plate; on others, the only way I can get any vegetable into her is if I hide butternut squash in pasta sauce or drown spinach in her favorite miso soup. So who knows how well she'll take to crunchy kale?

Thankfully, well enough to ask for seconds, actually :)

Child labour

How do you make your toddler earn her keep?

1) Tell her you have a very special project that you need her help to put together.

2) Omit the fact that it's assembling a shoe rack.

3) Try to sound super enthusiastic.

4) Clap loudly and praise effusively every time she does something right, even if it's just handing you a bolt. And especially if she manages to hold on to anything without flinging it across the room or putting it in her mouth.

5) Watch her beam with pride when she knows she's made a real contribution to a tangible, usable product.

Seriously though, it was amazing to watch Sophie and Jude put the shoe rack together. There was no complaint, no tantrum and she intently listened to every one of our instructions. It sounds silly but it was quite a special thing to see. And best of all, she was *really* a great help to Jude who managed to put the rack together in less than 20 minutes. We were so proud of her and I think she knows it. And now, every time we get ready to leave the house, she looks at our shoe rack and declares proudly, "I help Dada do that!" :)

Pumpkin patch kid

Click for album

I guess we could have just walked into the supermarket and bought a pumpkin for Halloween, but what would be the fun in that? No walking amidst pumpkins of Brobdingnagian proportions in the blustery autumn wind; no watching Sophie try to stay standing on said pumpkins and then laugh at herself for losing her balance; and no seeing her try to hug, push, shove, carry, hide behind, and climb over those crazy giant pumpkins.

Visiting the pumpkin farm was as much an experience for Sophie as it was for us. She got to go on a hayride round the farm which she really enjoyed while Jude and I marveled at how incredibly ginormous the pumpkins were. I mean, Sophie could barely see over the top of some of the really big ones! At what point of the evolutionary process was it advantageous for pumpkins to grow this big??? All the better to be harvested and carved? I don't think Sophie appreciated the sheer size of those things- right now, I have a feeling that as far as she's concerned, those pumpkins are how real pumpkins look and the "regular" ones at the store are probably miniature in her mind :)

"I love you, pumpkin."

Random daycare daily report #18

Practising her "cheese!" for Picture Day today

Sophie sure was ready for Picture Day today. When I asked what we'll be doing, she said, "I say "cheese!"" And later, as we were waiting to have the pictures taken, Sophie turned to me and said, "Erin, we have to show our happy face!" Yes, we do Sophie!

Ballerina explorer

Don't you have one of them in your house?

I hear they come in particularly handy when one finds a safari in the middle of a dance recital. Because you know, that happens all the time...

[The costume's from the Olivia Dream It Be It Role Play Set Jude found at Target in the clearance section. Dada score!]

Random daily daycare report #17

With Uncle Piao's headphones when the family visited over Christmas

Today, we put some new noise-reducing headphones in our classroom. Sophie LOVED them! She put on a pair and I said, "Sophie, can you hear me?" After that, every time she put them on, she would come running up to me saying, "Erin, can you hear me?" She looked like a little D.J. with them on! :)

Shamu love

Showing off her new Ann Arbor whale tee

It started when we randomly showed Sophie a video of a killer whale show at SeaWorld. She was completely fascinated (even more so than usual) and wanted to see it over and over again. In passing, I told her that it was the Shamu show (even though the real Shamu died in 1970, SeaWorld retained its name for the show), and ever since then, she pretty much uses 'Shamu' and 'whale' interchangeably. When we were in the aquarium in Boston, all she wanted to see was a whale, but because the whale tours were closed because of Hurricane Irene, the closest thing we saw was a whale skeleton that hangs on the third floor. Still, that made her happy enough.

Since then, we've read books about whales, borrowed a BBC documentary about ocean life from the library and watched some of that with her (without any of the prey and predator bits), and as you can see from above, populated the house with all things whale (bath toys, stickers, books, t-shirts-- she now has TWO, a puzzle, and even a hair clip).

Sophie's favorite Shamu item is a whale bath toy that she carries around everywhere with her. Apart from being her bath companion, it is also often her picnic guest and food taster. Oh, and she talks to him all the time:

Please don't squirt me with your blowhole, Shamu. I getting wet!

Shamu, would you like some cow's milk? [gives him a toy milk carton] I cannot have cow's milk. You drink.

Shamu, are you a good helper? But you have no fingers!

I bring you to Gretchen's House, Shamu. Don't get lost!

[What she was saying as I took the photo above] Good morning, Dada! I wearing Shamu shirt. With blowhole!

Even her teachers at daycare know all about Sophie's Shamu love. According to them, they found out about her obsession last week when the kids were taking turns listening to one of those spiral conch shells. The teachers asked, "Can you hear the ocean? Can you hear the waves?" And when it came to Sophie's turn, apparently she said, "I hear Shamu! I hear Shamu!"

Thank god Sophie's-- ok, with some goading from me-- already decided what she's going to be for Halloween. I'm sure if it was completely up to her, I'd be figuring out some way of sewing a whale costume for a 2 year old...

Schmaltzy maltzy

Bye bye 12-18 month clothes

This weekend, I cleared out Sophie's wardrobe for the season. I brought up her Fall sweaters and long-sleeve tees from the basement (when sales roll around, I buy things for her up to two sizes bigger and just keep them in the Too-Big-For-Now box) and sorted out what she's now wearing into piles. What you see in the picture is what was left after setting aside everything else that could possibly be re-worn, re-sold, or passed on to my sister as she expects her baby girl in a few weeks (!!). You can't really tell from the photo but these pieces have been lovingly and thoroughly worn through. They're all faded and/or stained but still I'm having a hard time discarding them. Call me schmaltzy and sentimental, but I actually viscerally reacted against the thought of putting away the dress she wore on her first birthday (which she has long outgrown but that I still put on her as a blouse). And I can't possibly throw away the pajamas she wore when she took her first steps, right? Right? Her first steps, people!

It's probably the time of the year (leaves falling, colors changing, etc.) or maybe an overall pensiveness as I approach (in mere weeks) my mid-thirties. Whatever it is, putting away her used clothes just reminds me that Sophie is really no longer a baby. And yet in so many ways, she is still our baby. This is the girl who, after I tuck into her crib, will sometimes-- with all the pluck she can muster-- say, "Mama, can you go outside? I sleep all by myself." But she is also the same girl who on other nights, will plaintively ask Jude, "Dada, can you stay in my room with me?"

I'm keeping the dress she wore at her first birthday. Maybe I'll make it a thing and keep every dress/outfit she wears at each birthday. It'll probably start getting a little creepy when she's ten (or maybe even earlier), but for now, let's just all agree that it's me being sentimental as opposed to borderline obsessive...

What do you mean it's October 1 already?

Oh, did I mention it's also 47F (8C) outside?

Who loves Kipper?

One morning earlier this week, before I could fully open Sophie's door to wake her up, she looked at me sleepily from her crib and said, "Duck play in the playground. Like Kipper." I had to smile- I guess this is what it's like to be a 2-year old, when you go to bed and dream of your favorite orange cartoon beagle :)

We started to let Sophie watch Kipper on our trip to Boston when we knew we had to occupy her with something during the flight and long drives. Our friends Amy and Eric recommended the series glowingly and now I see why. It is exactly what you would hope for in an animated show for toddlers- soft, warm colors; characters who are gentle and loving and who speak slowly; sweet and simple plot narratives; and the greatest trauma any of the characters have had to endure is losing his sippy cup- something any 2-year old can identify with. Kipper and his buddies Tiger, Pig, and Arnold (Sophie's favorite), amble about in a genial, self-amused manner, often chuckling infectiously to themselves about their mildly mischievous adventures. There are occasional moments of slapstick comedy but it's high on cuteness, and like I said, low on angst and violence.

Although speaking of angst, we did have a moment yesterday when Sophie was watching an episode she had already seen before, about Kipper being visited by a baby goose. As the video ended, Sophie suddenly burst into tears. And I mean a full-fledged wail, complete with giant globs of tears streaming down her cheeks. I turned to see what was happening on screen- Kipper's new friend was flying away and Kipper was waving goodbye. Sophie was inconsolable.

Later, as I was putting her to bed, I asked her why she cried earlier. Sophie's answer? "Because goose fly away. I sad." Our sweet, sensitive Sophie... This makes me think to never show her the first 20 minutes of Finding Nemo or the second half of Bambi, for a while at least. Until she is of suitable age, Sophie will believe that Finding Nemo begins with Nemo's first day at school and that Bambi ends with the whole family escaping from that first hunting expedition intact. If a goose flying away reduced her to tears, I don't think Sophie can handle watching someone losing a parent on screen. You can watch the full Kipper episode here, complete with the traumatic farewell...

Random daycare daily report #16

Converse Cat in the Hat high-top sneakers, or what Sophie calls, "my fancy dancing shoes" 

Sophie is sure excited about her new** shoes. She's been showing them off all day :) When we transition from one activity to another, we'll always ask the kids how they want to move (like a bunny, like an airplane, etc...) Today, when we asked Sophie, she said, "With my new shoes!" :)

** Even though Sophie's had these shoes for a while, they've been a little big for her and so she didn't get to wear them very often. And she never wore them to daycare till today, so as far as she's concerned, they're new :)

In case I ever forget

After her bath tonight, Sophie threw herself into my arms and gave me a hug. And as she nuzzled into my neck, she said, "I'm happy, Mama. I'm happy."

I asked her why.

"Because Mama is hugging me."

An apple a day

Eating her weight in apples

It couldn't have been a more beautiful Fall day for the quintessential Michigan apple-picking experience- sunny, crisp, and just chilly enough to make fresh donuts and warm cider the perfect treat after all that walking and foraging. The Cooks, Cooneys, Sophie and I (Jude was doing a bike tour in Detroit) visited Wasem Fruit Farm where the Fall picking season had just begun two weeks ago. MacIntoshes, Cortlands, Jonathans, and Honey Crisps were ripe for the picking and Sophie for one, couldn't wait to sink her teeth in almost each and every apple she managed to either pick from the tree or off the ground.

Chomp chomp chomp

She had a wonderful time running about with the big kids, stomping through the apple trees, crawling under the foliage for lower-hanging fruit, and just basically reveling in the experience of being able to pick something off a tree and then putting it straight into your mouth without having Mama take it away from you because it wasn't edible (for instance, a quarter or a bulb syringe...) It didn't matter that her pants were getting wet from the dew-damp grass or that she kept falling over the apples strewn all over the ground- she could RUN and there were apples to be eaten, and that was what mattered :)

There were raspberries too and those were even more fun for Sophie because unlike most of the apples which were too high for her to pick on her own, the raspberry bushes were the perfect height for her to look at, touch, and pick.

Sweet raspberries

Squishing it in her hands

Sophie also had apple cider for the first time. I wish she could experience fully the whole warm-donut-with-hot-cider-after-apple-picking experience, but she didn't seem too bothered that everyone was having donuts except her. I think she was just happy to have done something new, fun, and exciting. And the fresh cider was also probably tasty enough to distract her from the fact that she didn't get to have any fried dough.

More importantly though, she got to spend time with friends (both the kids and grown-ups) and so couple that with being out in the wide open orchard with copious amounts of apple literally within her reach, it was just the most perfect way for a two-year-old to spend a beautiful Fall morning.

Julianne and Finn- the best babysitters-in-training ever!

More pictures here.

Pizza vs. Cereal

And so we made pizza for dinner tonight :) No cheese, of course.

Thanks to pre-made fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's (vegan, yay!), all we had to do was to prepare a bunch of toppings:

Broccoli, thinly sliced potatoes (tossed with olive oil and garlic), sliced ham, sweet peppers, and caramelized onions

Sophie was super-excited about pitching in- every time I told her she was going to help me with making the pizza, she'd add, "And Sophie will eat it!" She's not the most refined of sous-chefs, I have to say and her preferred method of topping the pizza was of the throwing variety...

Sous chef at work

And in the 15 minutes that took us to assemble the pizza, she ate her fair share of toppings- mostly the caramelized onions and sliced ham.

Sneaking bites in between "helping"

Caught red-handed!

As the pizza was baking, Jude came home and Sophie declared excitedly, "We have pizza! You'll love it, Dada! It's delicious!"

And it was really tasty, although in the end, a little too adventurous for Sophie's palate, I think. I rolled the dough fairly thin and so it wasn't the chewy crust she's used to at school or what she's eaten from a proper pizza place. Plus she got frustrated picking out the broccoli and sweet peppers that after about 10 minutes of fiddling with her plate, she was ready to call it quits. People say you shouldn't prepare anything else for your child if they reject their meal but I just couldn't bear to send her to bed with just four bites of pizza crust and a handful of ham slices. So while Jude and I polished up the rest of the painstakingly assembled and gorgeous looking (if I should say so myself) pizza, Sophie happily scarfed down two portions of cereal with cold milk.

*Sigh*... we will endeavor again...

Herman the Worm

Having a sister who's 17 years younger than you (and therefore spending pretty much most of my late adolescence and early adulthood babysitting her), and teaching Sunday School for six years and preschool for a little more than two, I'd like to think that I have a fairly extensive repertoire of children's songs and rhymes.

Then, moments like this come along to prove otherwise:



Sophie randomly broke out into this song after dinner and I had NO clue what she was singing/saying. I was giggling so hard at her enthusiastic rendition (you don't hear me in the video because literally, this was the fourth time she was at it- I was still grinning from ear to ear though...) plus you have to admit, she looks so darn precious singing it (channeling Debbie Gibson/ Tiffany circa 1988 with that side pony-tail), so I had no choice but to look the song up online:

Herman the Worm

I'm sittin' on the fence post,
Chewin' my bubblegum (make chewing sound)
Playin' with my yo-yo (do-whap, do-whap)
When along came Herman the Worm
And he was this big
And I said "Herman, what happened?"

According to the various websites, there's more to the song, but it involves Herman eating all manner of things ranging from a ladybug to his own sister (??!!) so maybe Sophie's daycare-- which is the only place she could have learned this- stopped where they did to avoid the macabre aspects of Herman's genocidal tendencies...

Random daycare daily report #15

Busy painting with Wesley

Sophie enjoyed large group painting today. She sat down at the table and asked, "May I paint, please?" She's been using such polite words lately! Later, she wanted a toy a friend was using and she said, "May I have that toy, please?" Sadly, her friend didn't appreciate her courtesy enough to give up their toy, but what a pleasant way to ask! :) Then, during clean up time, I heard her on the "phone" saying, "Have to clean up- bye bye!" She's too funny!

Photo booth in your living room

Maybe I’ve watched Amelie one too many times but I really love the look of the black and white prints taken with an old school photo booth. Sadly, the only one I know of near us is at the mall and we rarely make a trip out there. Which is why I love the site Photoboother that turns any of your uploaded photos into that familiar strip we all love. Check out some of the printed results below. They look so genuine!

How to get to Sesame Street

HomeGrown Ann Arbor

Usually, it takes Sophie about 20 minutes or so to fall asleep. She lies in her crib and me on the futon next to it- I tell her stories, or she rattles on about everything and anything that goes through her precious little mind (last night, she pretended that her teddy bear had a poopy diaper and enacted the entire diaper-changing routine, complete with asking me for wipe wipes, diaper cream, and a clean diaper...). But tonight, her head barely hit the mattress and I think she was out like a light, although not before declaring, "I'm happy, Mama. Are you happy?" :)

And that's because we had just spent the last 2 hours at the HomeGrown Festival in Kerrytown. Basically a celebration of local farmers, growers, food purveyors, and makers of all things local, it was a wonderful event filled with good food, music, dancing, and just a vibrant atmosphere of community and cheer. Whether it's turkey, tomatoes, or tofu, all the ingredients used by the vendors came from local farms (see links to specific farms here) and so there was a definite sense that we were supporting the people who grow our food. Between Jude and I, we shared duck confit and BBQ brisket sandwiches from Tracklements and a chicken/chorizo/okra stew from Grange- astoundingly good. Sophie wasn't as concerned about the food (although she didn't complain about her slice of vegan pizza and chocolate chip cookie) and alternated between riding on my back on the Ergo and running around with Jude. What she enjoyed most- the dancing :) There was a music stage set up and different local bands played throughout the night. Sophie LOVED the music and spent most of the night twirling, spinning, jumping, hopping- basically grooving to everything that was playing. She especially liked Saints of Soul playing James Brown- in the words of Jude, "She's getting her mind blown by Soul..." :) She-- and her parents-- was also enthralled by The Appleseed Collective, an Americana-jazz-folk foursome whom we've actually heard playing at Selma Cafe when my parents were here over Christmas. A little gypsy, a little dixie, they've got a wonderfully eclectic sound that got all three of us quite smitten. This video doesn't do them any justice but Jude felt compelled to record down a little of what we were enjoying (not in video- Sophie kicking her feet and bobbing her head to the music as she sat on my back on the Ergo):



Speaking of all things local, today was our first pick-up from Harvest Kitchen, a prepared foods CSA that we just signed up for. Two years ago, we signed up for a farmshare with Tantré Farms (see here), and while it was a great experience, it also got a little overwhelming during those weeks when we were just overloaded with too much produce (there's only so much sweet peppers I can handle over a 2 week period, or all those tomatoes and basil!...) What Harvest Kitchen does is to get around that by preparing meals for you using the same locally-sourced, organic, and sustainably-grown ingredients you might otherwise have gotten through your CSA. Everything on their menu comes from local farms so you know that you're supporting community agriculture. Every week, you get enough food for about 3 to 4 meals which really helps us since both Jude and I both now have full-time positions and making good, healthy dinners has become tricky business. We're hoping that with Harvest Kitchen, we now need only to plan dinners for a few nights per week, or make something simple (like a carb or salad dish) to augment what we've gotten from them. Best of all, the food tastes like what we would make for ourselves anyway- curries, stews, pasta, soups, etc. We didn't get a full share last week but we did buy a portion of lamb curry which was delicious. You could tell that it was definitely homemade- the flavors were fresh, delicate, not too salty/sweet/aggressive like what you would get at a restaurant, and there was the plus of knowing that everything came from Michigan growers. This week, our full share consists of black bean corn salsa, chicken chili, baked beans with pork, verde rolls, beef and potato stew, and corn griddle cakes.

Our share this week

Every week is inspired by a different cuisine-- 2 weeks ago was Italian, last week was Indian, and this week's Southwestern. We haven't tried anything from this week's share yet, but as I packed the food into the fridge (photos here), I got really excited just reading the labels of what each box contains.

And it's things like this-- and like HomeGrown-- that make us grateful for Ann Arbor :)

Yup, that's our Sophie alright...

Feeding Nicky the guinea pig at Liz's in February

Sophie's daycare was closed for three days last week and our friend, Liz, and her daughters, Hannah and Divya, wonderfully agreed to help us babysit Sophie for a couple of hours while Jude went to school for an important meeting. Hannah had a riding lesson and so Liz brought Sophie along with them. Here's the email we got from Liz that night:

"While Hannah was in the barn caring for her horse, Sophie wanted to roam about. Instead of keeping Sophie on tight reins, I let her go on her own, wondering when far would be too far. I'm afraid I never got to see that. She kept going and going and going. Finally, I had to protect her from falling in a pond, so I kind of tried to redirect her away from the hidden pond and that's when she started in earnest - "I want to see the ginny pig!" She had a couple of moments where she laid on the ground face down, but thankfully I saw that at your place last time we visited and knew that she'd be fine. I would pick her up and tell her that she could cry on Auntie Liz's shoulder - and she would manage the funniest "crying" face but would forget to make the crying sound.

After Hannah was done with her lessons, Divya got a turn riding the horse. When Divya came close to us, Sophie informed the instructor "It's Sophie's turn to ride the horsey." So we put her on the horse, and she demanded for the helmet. I'm glad Sophie cares a lot about protection of her head. She was brave enough to even feed the horse, though she didn't seem too fond of them at first.

On the way to and from lessons, Sophie would join us in many sing-a-long songs. She didn't sing "You Are My Sunshine", but she did lead us in "Head and Shoulders".

At home, she did have the orange and would have eaten two or more if I let her. While she was eating oranges, Divya was sitting on a chair in the playroom eating a peach. In a bit, Sophie managed to tiptoe and reach an apple that was sitting on the kitchen counter. Before I knew it, Sophie was sitting in the same chair Divya was sitting in and had her little teeth marks in her apple. She wanted to eat a fruit just like Divya was eating a fruit.

I didn't realize Sophie was expecting a report of the day, til she got in the car and started reading to Jude her notes from Gretchen's House and said, "I had a great time at Auntie Liz's house"."

And that, ladies, and gentlemen, is totally our daughter in a nutshell :)

Cantaloupe love

Thirteen months ago, Sophie discovered how to use a fork and began her love affair with cantaloupe:



It has turned into an enduring love...



It's so lovely that even though she's grown so much in 13 months, so much of her still remains the same... Oh sweet, sweet child :)

Let's just say, we ate well.

Not everything on our Boston trip was for Sophie, of course. Specifically, her parents are too consummate of foodies to let her dictate their meal choices (if she did, we would have spent the week eating various permutations of cold pasta, chicken nuggets, miso soup, rice, bread, green beans, french fries, tofu, corn, hotdog, chicken noodle soup, and cantaloupe). There were several places we knew we wanted to (re)visit and some others that we stumbled on a little more serendipitously. Like a Korean restaurant in Westborough we just decided to go into on our first night because it was next to the grocery store we went to get Sophie's necessities. Imaginatively named Westborough Korean Restaurant, this placed serves hands-down the best Korean food we've ever tasted. Even though we only ordered the soondubu jigae (seafood tofu stew) and pork bulgogi, they were enough to blow our minds. Oh, and did I mention the ELEVEN side-dishes that came with our meal?...

Count and weep... 

Breakfasts were basically a wash on the trip since 1) we wanted to take our mornings easy and rushing out to get in line for breakfast somewhere just didn't make sense; and 2) we had bought one of those single-serve variety pack cereal for Sophie and she wasn't going to be able to finish a 12-pack all by herself.

We lucked out for lunch our second day when our friend, Jenn, helpfully told us that Flour Bakery, one of the places on our list, is conveniently located next to the Boston Children's Museum. And so after Sophie had all her fun, it was her parents' turn to indulge. Even though the roasted lamb sandwich and chicken burger special we ordered were delicious, it was the sweets that had our hearts a-singing.

Behold the swoon-worthy crème brûlée and sticky bun at Flour

We didn't forget about Sophie- we got her a vegan chocolate muffin as a tea-time snack that I then had to fight her for because it was SOOOO delicious. I nearly took it away from her because I didn't think there was anyway something so moist and rich could be vegan...

Obliterating her chocolate muffin

That night, dinner was with Jenn at Summer Shack, where we all ordered a lobster roll each (except Sophie, who had chicken noodle soup, a butter-less corn on the cob, and several dinner rolls...). The lobster roll wasn't anything to write home, which only made Jude and I even more determined to have a good lobster roll before we left New England.

Our next good eat after that was not a meal so much as a treat. It was the day of Hurricane Irene and we stayed in most of the day (and ordered room service for lunch). By the evening though, everyone was going a little stir-crazy and we decided to go for a walk/drive around Cambridge. Pretty much every other shop was closed, but thankfully, not Toscanini's, and so in we popped for yummy gelato while Sophie got a strawberry sorbet. The last time we were here, I got a honey lavender gelato, the memory of which still lingers in my mind. They didn't have it this time, so I settled for a combination of burnt caramel and malted vanilla. So different, but still oh so good...

Yummmmm...

Our rather rich room service lunch (fish & chips and a steak sandwich) on top of that gelato meant that we didn't really need a heavy dinner. Jude suggested some kind of soup and as I searched Yelp for recommendations for good soups in the area, I found several good reviews for Le's in the heart of Harvard Square. Jude and I never came across a bowl of pho we didn't like but we were still really full and so we decided, just one large bowl for the three of us. We ordered it to go, together with a couple of desserts from Finale, which we knew we wanted to return to after our last trip. The verdict? If our daughter had her way, she would have finished that bowl of pho all by herself. It was flavorful, hearty, and thoroughly satisfying- perfect for a stormy, rainy day. And the desserts, I think they speak for themselves:

Crème brûlée

Ultimate chocolate cake

And testimony to how good they were? We bought the EXACT same ones again the next night!

We satisfied our lobster roll craving the next day when we finally made it to Alive and Kicking for their lobster sandwich. Nestled in a tiny neighborhood, this fishmonger is located on the same street as where our friend, Terence used to live when he was at Harvard and when we visited him in 2007, I trudged 2 long city blocks to get to it. But they turned me away because it was too early in the morning. Let's just say it was worth the 4-year wait... It doesn't look like a lot of lobster nor does it appear to be as impressive as the stereotypical New England lobster roll but this is the REAL DEAL, folks. Fresh, succulent, and nothing added to it but just a tinge of mayo- no fillers or celery. Jude and I chomped our sandwiches down in complete silence. It was OUTSTANDING.

So worth the wait...

One thing we knew for sure we wanted to go back to was Sapporo Ramen in Porter Square. Oh ramen- how you have a hold on our hearts- the one noodle dish we love more than pho... Thankfully, they had onigiri on the menu for Sophie- I don't think we would have given up eating there just because Sophie can't have egg noodles (we would have just bought her something from one of the other Japanese food vendors). I was enjoying my Tan Tan ramen so much I didn't remember to take a photo until I was more than half-way through.

*slurp*

That was our last dinner in Boston. Our flight was at noon the next day and I figured we probably won't have time for any foodie excursions in the morning. But a combination of efficient packing the night before and an early rise for everyone meant we managed to squeeze in one last excursion to Flour on the way to the airport :) We got Sophie a vegan cinnamon-cranberry muffin and we bought a sticky bun and sticky bun bread pudding for the flight. But what got a resounding, "Holy cow!" from Jude at 9.00 in the morning was this ingenious creation:

Flour's idea of a breakfast pizza

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a breakfast pizza with smoked salmon, herbed cream cheese, roasted peppers, capers, and get this,... a half-baked whole egg. Yes, you read that right. And it tasted as amazing as it sounds and looks. Crazy good, that's what it was.

Crazy good...