My Other Blog - New: Bilingualism

Wanted to post a quick note about Eve's new blog on bilingualism. Discussions for parents and others interested in encouraging bilingualism in kids. See bloggingonbilingualism.com. Thanks for your support!

Chocolat Rôti

Axel and Luka received new stuff animals / teddies (no, not that kind!) / nounours / doudous at Easter.

Axel received a bunny he named Chocolat rôti. So, in his little head, does that mean roasted chocolate (sounds kind of good), or just chocolate - roasted, or chocolate followed by thoughts of roast pork or chicken (ick). Axel is an imp, so I vote for the last one.

He also had a darling little curly sheep from Easter Bunny (that would be Nat) that he named Mouton Volant (flying sheep). Maybe he is trying to count sheep at night? With Axel, I don['t think so ("No, not tired!") Don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

Luka's first bunny: Fraise (we were eating strawberries at the time). His second one--from Easter Bunny Nat (cuter than the old one I dug out of the closet, I must say), he is still thinking about. Ah, what a thoughtful little man.

Easter and Skiing

We had a very fun Easter weekend with our friends Nat, Jeff and Max. We had raclette on Sunday night at our pad in Leadville, and then yummy crepes at theirs Sunday morning.

The boys had lots of excitement discovering what the Easter Bunny had brought them. (Now that we have curtains installed at the condo, Eve had to wake them up at 8:30 a.m. and tell them we'd had a "vistor." Previous weekends [sans curtains] Axel was happily waking us up at 5 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings - argh!)

They also had tons of fun with the egg hunt that Easter Bunny (that would be Nat and her mother-in-law) hid for them outside in the snow. Max (our 8-month old buddy) waited patiently inside for his pals while they located their loot.

Good skiing at Copper Mountain. Luka did five (count 'em!) black runs with Reynald, Nat and Jeff. Axel did awesome right and left turns and snow plow on the bunny hill (look Ma, no teather!) with Eve. He chased Mommy while she ran down the hill - go, Ax!

Recipe: Quick Bibimbap

Quick Bibimbap

3/4 cup soy sauce
6 TBS toasted sesame oil
4 TBS light brown sugar
1 lb. ground turkey, beef or pork
2 TBS vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 cups cooked rice
Assorted veggies (shredded carrot, canned baby corn, spinach, bean sprouts, red onion, etc.) steamed or raw
Toasted sesame seeds

Mix together the first three ingredients; set aside.
In a pan, brown teh meat in half the vegetable oil, about 5 minutes. Add half the soy-sauce mixture and continue cooking until the liquid is absorbed, 3 - 4 minutes. Remove from heat a cover.

In another pan, fry the eggs in the remaining vegetable oil, 4 - 5 minutes.
Divide the rice among 4 bowls. Arrange some veggies, some meat and an egg in each. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, then drizzle the remaining soy-sauce over the top.

Recipe: Tomato Fish Stew

Tomato Fish Stew

Onion, chopped
Garlic, minced
fresh thyme
white wine - 1/2 cup
8 oz chicken broth or clam juice
28 oz of diced tomatoes
white fish filet with skin removed (approx 1 lb) such as cod, tilapia, hake, haddock, halibut or sea bass (estimate at 1/2 lb for each adult and 1/4 lb for each kid)
optional: shrimp, mussles, clams, mini-scallops

In large soup pot, sauté a chopped onion in 3 TBS of butter over medium heat.

Add minced garlic to taste and chopped fresh thyme.

Sauté until onion is golden, about 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup dry white wine. Cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in 8 oz. of chicken broth (or clam juice) and a 28-oz. can of diced tomatoes.

Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cut the fish tino 2-inch chunks. Add them to the broth; cook for 3 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook until the fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes. You can also add up to a pound of assorted shelffish (like shrimp, mussels, clams, etc.) in which case cook until the shrimp are opaque and any shells have opened.

Try serving with garlic bread. Yum!

New photos

We posted some new photos to our Flickr account and to Eve's Facebook page. Sledding, skiing and general fun. Can't believe school year is almost over for Luka! 2 more months to go, and they will go fast. Winter is winding down and summer will be here soon. (Good and bad...it gets too hot for me).

Speak French or Die?

Funny commercial for a French language school - watch and you might be convinced to take language lessons in Paris (oh, you really needed a lot of convincing, right?). In French with English subtitles.

La bise - kissing in France

If you speak French or want to practice your listening skills, watch this amusing and perceptive video on the social rules (or lack thereof) when it comes to la bise (to greet someone by kissing - I think we call that "bussing" in English - see definition of this word).

Pizza Party

We had a party to celebrate Reynald summitting all the 14'ers in Colorado with a bunch of friends. We served homemade pizzas. Here are the pizza topping combinations we had - yum:

Crust we use: Eve's whole wheat pizza crust.

Pizza 1
- cut ham
- pineapple
- tomato sauce

Pizza 2
- goat cheese
- fresh spinach
- tomato sauce

Pizza 3
- olive oil
- feta
- fresh spinach
- fresh garlic, cut up small
- red onion
mix oil, garlic - rub on dough. add feta, spinach, onion.

Pizza 4
Olive Oil Garlic
- chopped garlic
- fresh parsley
- mozarella cheese
- artichoke hearts
- fresh tomatoes
- olive oil
mix oil, parsley, garlic - rub on dough. add other items.

Pizza 5
- fresh tomatoes
- fresh mozarella cheese
- tomato sauce

Pizza 6
- coooked, bulk sausage
- cooked yellow/red peppers (carmelized)
- tomato sauce

Pizza 7
- pepperoni
- mushrooms or black olives
- mozarella cheese

Mom's Famous One-Bowl Fudge Cake

Mom's Famous One-Bowl Fudge Cake

1-2/3 cups Wondra flour (long skinny blue cylinder – sold to thicken gravy)
1-1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

350 degrees. Grease and flour pan. 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Or two 8” or 9” round pans. Or cupcakes.

Measure all ingredients into a large bowl. Blend half a minute on low mixer speed, scraping the bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes at high speed, scraping occasionally. Pour into the pan. Bake oblong pan 35 – 40 minutes. Or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack. For cupcakes, use paper lined pans and fill half full; bake for 20 minutes.

Samsam Fan

The boys are currently in love with Samsam. A French superhero whose motto (translated) is: "The smallest superhero." There is a TV show (episodes of which we watch on DVD), books and magazine. The love it and play "Samsam" often. Luka even made his own "Samsoucoup" (Samsam's super duper flying machine - "SamSaucer" in English) out of paper, cutting out his great design, along with a hole for his head, so he could tape it to his head.

Here is Samsam in French:


I found an English version of Samsam here for you non-French speakers:


-

You can get the scoop on the English (British) site about Samsam and his friends: SamSam, SuperTeddy ("Samnounours"), SamMummy (SamMaman), SamDaddy (SamPapa), SuperJulie and others. See Taffy's site (English-language media company for Samsam) for full list of the creative and fun characters.

Late Summer and Fall Fun

Axel funny face

Luka confetti hay

Ooo! Scary dudes!

The family at the record-breaking Denver rally for Obama with 100,000+ attendees

Luka's birthday with fellow-birthday boy Connor

Luka at 1st day of school!

Leadville Boom Days Spiderman fun

Axel's 3rd Birthday Party

The Ax Man having fun on Boulder's Pearl Street Mall

For more photos of our last few months and Halloween fun, check out our Flickr account. You can see a slide show or just view a few. The most recently posted photos are Fall 2008 and Late Summer 2008.

Here are some photos of late summer and fall fun this year. We celebrated Axel's birthday (August) and Luka's too (October). We had a great time in Leadville where we have our new condo and also some great camping.

Reynald finished his 12-year quest to climb all 59 14'ers in Colorado (peaks over 14,000 feet) and we (Eve and the boys) hiked in 2 hours (the boys hiked by themselves on the way up) and camped with him at Geneva Lake at 10,900 feet, from where, the next day, he started the the S-Ridge route for summitting Snowmass mountain. He carried in a bottle of champagne (along with the dehydrated spaghetti and tuna salad!) to celebrate with some friends who met him there and one of whom was also finishing his 14'er list. For more pictures and description of this event, written by Reynald's fellow 14'er finisher, go here: 14ers website report.

In October, we decorated lots of pumpkins, went to the pumpkin patch, did lots of trick or treating (the night of Halloween and the weekend before), went to the mountains and had other fun.

Luka and Axel were both excited to be Black Spiderman (Luka) and (red) Spiderman (Axel) again for Halloween. We did save money on costumes that way!

The Christmas season has started already. Perhaps a bit earlier for the rest of us, but the kids were excited to see snow flakes, stockings and toy soldier lights hanging from lampposts already near Luka's school. Axel keeps asking if he can go skiing -- we just need more snow!

More to come soon from our winter adventures...

Palin SNL Video and Anchorage Comments on Palin

If you missed it on TV (like I did), here is the Saturday Night Live skit with Tina Fey as Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary in its entirety. It was hard to find in full on the Internet, so use this link.

Go here http://www.hulu.com/collections/99 and click on the first video. (It doesn't seem to allow embedding so just click on the link.)

HILARIOUS!

Also check out this Anchorage-based women blog for some (anti) Palin commentary. It is interesting since the writer has an "inside" perspective.

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/

As a born and bred Alaskan now living in Colorado, do not get me started on Palin or you will need a few hours. Life and background are complicated matters that shape our views--I guess you can't escape your roots. I am not voting for her (her stance on social issues are too way out there for me among other things), but do think she is impressive and have some perverse Alaskan pride in her rise.

You gotta love this election!!!

Eve

Lost in Translation

Clever film showing the risk of using web-based machine translation.

The original text was translated through various languages and back to English. Here are the hilarious results.

Popsicle Report

After visiting our friends near Lyon, France this summer who made lots of yummy homemade popsicles, the boys were into them, so I have been experimenting with popsicles since our return (see our earlier entry about our France trip report and photos!)

Here is what we went through to find the successful recipes stateside, below!

Experiment #1: A lot of recipes suggest using vanilla yogurt and mixing with various things. First experiment was to mix with mini chocolate chips and also, separately, with fresh, mashed strawberries. Result: the choc chip one was weird. It was too hard and when it started to melt, it was, well, like yogurt. I like the strawberry ones (taste is really good), but they are too hard for the kids.

Experiment #2: Second experiment was "chocolate pops" cool whip (to make popsicles softer when frozen, as I would never buy this normally - ick), some milk, and 3 oz. pack of instant chocolate pudding, from a recipe online. I should have gone with my first instinct, because these were yucky. The chocolate had that fakey taste, like instant chocolate pudding, I guess. My kids' taste buds are too sophisticated I guess, because they were not too keen for them either. ;)

Success Story #1: Then, I made the tried and true approach that Cathy in France had used. Went to liquor store to get fruit syrups (very common in France, and you can buy at liquor stores in US). I bought grenadine and orange syrup. They have lots of other flavors. The kids really liked these. They are a bit hard too, but not so bad and more appropriate for this type of mixture.

Recipe for Fruit Syrup Popsicles
2 cups water or fizzy water
1/3 cup fruit syrup

Pour into popsicle molds and freeze overnight or 4+ hours.

Success Story #2:

Watermelon Raspberry Popsicles
2-1/2 cups seeded diced watermelon
1/2 cup fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened, thawed
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon crème de cassis (black currant-flavored liqueur) or light corn syrup

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor; puree until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds or paper cups, dividing equally. Freeze overnight. These worked really well--the consistency is also very good--and are so tasty!

Variations: use strawberries instead, use jam if you have no fresh fruit, add some fresh mint. Use chambord instead of cassis. Leave out liqueur if for kids (I guess - would one TBS really matter?).

Tips:

Consistency: I read on the Internet that the main problem with homemade popsicles is that they are too hard, which our experiments have born out. The use of corn syrup (or liqueur) is used to counteract this (see watermelon recipe above).

Molds: I ordered shooting star molds and they are nice. But, they are also kind of big (big serving for kids for sure). I also have used kid-sized paper cups. You can either freeze part way and then insert wooden popsicle sticks, or cover each filled cup with plastic wrap. Cut a small hole in middle of plastic wrap with point of a knife and stick popsicle stick in there. It will hold it in place as popsicle freezes. Make sure the sticks are straight up after you place them in the freezer.

"Stats" on Our Trip to France 2008

Click here or image above to see photos from our 2008 trip to France.
27 hours time spent in Paris: Bâteaux Mouches, admiring the Eiffel Tower, taking the escalators up in the Centre Pompidou to see Paris from above, playing in the funky fountains outside in Beaubourg, walking the Champs Elysee, taking the metro.

3 different sets of friends seen in Paris - Mommy's friend Carolyn, Nicolas and family, Fabrice and family.

1 rental car and 3,000 kilometers driven in said rental car.

2 grandparents for lots of fun.

16 days: time Reynald spent in France

1 night spent at Pascal's in Metz visiting with him and his family

7 cousins 15 or under, seen and played with

3 nights in Treport at the Baie de Somme in Normandy - kids in RV with their grandparents and Eve and Reynald in a very nice B&B - the Manoir de Beaumont: http://www.demarquet.com/

48 euros per night for two at the Manoir! How inexpensive, even if you are spending dollars!

3 number of times we took the funicular with the kids (twice up and once down) on the cliffs at Treport.

2 people (Reynald and Luka) playing in the waves at Treport while laughing like deux petits foux.

2 stitches Luka got in his chin at the emergency room in Metz. Oops!

3 types of currants growing in Jean-Claude's garden (plus raspberries, cherries, questch and mirablelle, too. Yum!)

4 kinds of lettuce we eat from JC's garden

2 Game Boys that Luka got from his cousins (first one broke, second one is still going strong)

2 aliens, 2 monsters on stilts, 4 donkeys, 5 lambs among various renaissance fare, seen at the Renaissance Festival in Bar-le-Duc (or http://festivalrenaissances.com/)

1 juggler that wanted to brush Axel's teeth with a broom (!)

2 fishing ponds at Mandre (camp ground owned by Reynald's aunt and uncle)

3 horses that Axel got to pet (chevaux de trait)

1 postcard Luka and Axel received while in France (from Eve's friend Diana in Japan)

8 T'choupi videos on the iPod downloaded from YouTube.

3 Trotro DVD's waiting for the kids on arrival in France

3 times the picture radar flashed Reynald while he was driving - ouch, those speeding tickets hurt. (See this posting for more info.)

4 evenings at the campground for kids and grandparents while Mommy out of town.

2 training wheels that are no more - Luka learned to ride a two-wheeler on his own at the campground. Yay, Luka!

5 fantastic days in Frontonas with the Henry Family near Lyon: friends, fun, pool. 3 children in their family: Mathilde, Pierre, Claire. 4 times the kids got to go in the pool! 1 birthday party while there. 5 hours and 2 trains to get there (St Dizier - Dijon - St Verpillier).

1 relaxing day in Nancy with Edith (just Eve)

3 nights for Eve in the camping car - Mommy's "secret cachette"

50th Fourteener climbed by Reynald in Colorado while the kids and I were still in France ;)

Eve in Spain !!!!

Some Spain pics and the scoop below.

Eve and colleague Eduard in Barcelona - the city view behind us

Colleague Eduard showing off his home city
Eve with bike from Barcelona bike tour
Tapas - little works of art!
Original Roman columns in a hidden courtyard.

Famous Gaudi building - dragon (St George) theme

July 10: Mommy trip to Spain! Luka and Axel are having fun taking care of Reynald´s aunt´s campground with their grandparents and sleeping in the "camping car", Daddy is back to work at home, and Mommy is in Barcelona (yee ha!).

My colleague, Eduard, has been giving me the personal tour of the city. It is great to have a personal guide who is a native of the city!

Today, we are working which is very interesting too (if you like all that technical stuff like we do :)

July 11: Spa visit today, took tram up to see great panamoric view of Barcelona, some exploring the city, and real Spanish tapas for dinner at a hip restaurant. Fun, fun!

Tips for eating tapas in a real Barcelonan tapas bar (courtesy of Eduard educating Eve at one of the currently most popular tapas restaurants in town): everyone stands, like at a reception. Take a clean plate from the bar--you can share the plate with others in your party. Select tapas that look interesting to you from the many plates of gorgeously presented little masterpieces.

Push your way in among the many people at the bar if needed, or ask the bar man to pass you a specific plate of tapas you cannot reach. Here in Barcelona, there were many fish tapas, but also crab, chicken, cheese, vegetable, olives--lots of different choices. Eat as many as you want. Keep all the toothpicks from each tapas you ate. When you are ready to pay, the server will count all the toothpicks you have and charge you accordingly. Have fun!

July 12: A great guided Bike Tour of Barcelona for half the day; tapas again for lunch ;) with some friends made on the bike tour at a good place recommended by the guide (I saw dessert tapas here as well: small, satisfying morsels of sweetness to finish off the meal.); visit to the Cathedral of Barcelona with a visit of the roof top as well; relaxing pedicab drive to Gaudi's church. First purchase for the condo back home - for the boys' room. A lovely dinner at Cafe Princesa. The food and service at this restaurant were excellent. If you are in Barcelona and want fine dining, check it out: http://www.cafeprincesa.com/.

July 13: post cards to write and then it's leaving, on a jet plane and back to France.

Language fun: All public signs and things like newspapers are bilingual in Spanish and Catalan. It is fun to read the signs and try to figure out what you can from both Spanish and Catalan, and note the differences (even if you speak neither).

I was not able to learn any Catalan words (but Gracias - spelling? which differs from Spanish in pronunciation and probably the spelling as well), though my friend was very helpful and is, himself, bilingual in both languages, I got by with a few key Spanish phrases since my Spanish is basically non-existent. Resulting in....

Eve's list of essential Spanish phrases:

Tapas - Tapas
Cidra (spelling?) - hard cider in bars
Servicios/lavabos - facilities/restroom

Sangria - well, you know that one. ;)

Yes - Si
No - No

Thank you - Gracias

Hello - Hola (when entering stores)

Goodbye - Adios (when leaving stores)

Good morning/good day - Buenos dias

Good afternoon - Buenas tardes

Good evening/night - Buenas noches

See you soon - Hasta luego

I don’t speak Spanish - No hablo Español

(Knowing the numbers 1 - 10 and mutiples of 10 is also helpful.)

This list got me far, as many people speak English and are very friendly. Even when there is no common language, it is fun to communicate and be successful at getting the point across, even if it is with gestures. Or, even if someone speaks English, it is polite to say "thank you" or "goodbye" in the local langauge. Web sites and guide books will give you a more complete list of "essential" phrases, but this is what worked for me.

Little known fact about Barcelona:

Eduard told me that he saw in the city's laws that it is not illegal to walk the streets naked. So, if you decide to do so in Barcelona, you may make a splash and have people pointing and laughing at you, but you will not be arrested! Something to add to your "must do" list?

New Tips for Traveling in France

Tip #1:
Safe Kid Car Seats in France

If you are traveling with a child still in a 5-point harness (infant or toddler), if you are bringing your own car seat, be sure to bring the metal clip provided so you can block the car's seat belt.

Cars in France do not have locking seat belts and you need it to keep the child seat actually restraine and not sliding freely even though it is in the seat belt. Or, you can rent a seat at the rental car check-in (or buy one at Cora, Auchan or LeClerc for the same price). French kid car seats have a built in way to block the seat belt.

Tip #2:
Avoid Speeding Tickets

All through France on the highways, there are automated radar machines that take pictures of your car if you are speeding, even slightly over the speed limit. Be aware of this and don't learn the hard way. This is a new initiative in France the last few years and we were surprised by it (and have several tickets to pay!). You must respect the speed limits or you will pay the price!

Even if you rent a car, the rental company will eventually charge your card once they are notified of the speeding tickets by the French police (through the mail).

Luka's Graduation Ceremony

Luka - kindergarten graduation boy!

Luka and his teacher, Miss Melissa

Luka and friend Kristin

Luka and assistant teacher, Miss Jessica

Luka's school had a wonderful kindergarten graduation ceremony on May 29th, the last day of school. (He will start summer camp on Monday.)

Above are pictures of our little graduate.

Next year, he will repeat kindergarten again (public school requires it), but we are excited that he will be attending the new arts magnetic school in our district, where they purposefully integrate music, performing arts, art and language arts into the curriculumn to contribute to the overall learning process. Yay!

Amazing Hiking in Boulder

While the moms were at an all-day translation seminar, the dads took the kids to Boulder to go hiking. They were amazing -- Luka, Ada and Axel all hiking on their own, up and back, to the Royal Arch in Boulder at Chatauqua: 5 hours round trip! Luka and Ada did it effortlessly as they played along the trail to get to their goal, and Axel was determined to do it on his own, and not once did he say "Carry me, Daddy!" He also insisted on using one of Reynald's trekking poles the entire time!

Will these guys climb Everest next?