Fish Curry - who knew?

One thing about living in a small town (that is actually the biggest town around) is the lack of ethnic food.  We have a Chinese restaurant and another pan-Asian restaurant with ok sushi, but no Mexican, no Thai, and no Indian.  Sigh.  It has driven me to begin cooking more ethnic foods, which isn't a bad thing I suppose.

Tonight I pulled some cod from the freezer and my Madhur Jaffrey cookbook from the shelf.  I decided on a fish curry and rice noodles with brussel sprouts.  All those yummy spices were required: ginger, garlic, turmeric, brown mustard seeds, paprika, and curry leaves.  Oh, and dried red chiles, which I didn't have.  But no worries, I pulled some frozen chiles from last summer out of the freezer.  The recipe called for four dried red chiles, so I substituted two green chiles, thinking that would be safe.  It turned out they were habaneros.  Yowsa - it was hot.

So I told the girls that they didn't have to eat it,  but they both said they'd try it. They both ate several pieces of fish and some noodles.  No complaining, no forcing.  I was shocked!  Since we've completely stopped pressuring them to try things they've really widened their horizons.

I think I'll build a telescope

These are words I would never have said as a child.  It's one of those times when you ask yourself, "Where did this child come from?"  It must be Bridges' genes.

Clara's creation actually telescopes, with three separate moving sections.  I think it's pretty cool for a six-year-old.

Chicks 2013

They arrived, all nineteen of them, at the post office in a little tiny box that went "cheep, cheep".  The number nineteen is due to the fact that they threw in a free exotic for us.  That would be Andrew, the yellow guy below who is almost certainly a rooster.  He's pretty cute with feathers all over his feet.  We'll see what he turns out to be!

The girls are having a good time, although they're not spending nearly as much time with them as they did two years ago when we did this.  That being said, we did do some of schoolwork in the basement the first few days because they couldn't stand to be away from them.

Lee has taken on her role of Protector of Chicks, and acts as a proud mom.

This involves lots of scolding of Clara for being too rough, which explains the expression on Clara's face below.  "What, me?  Have I done something wrong?"

Great Snowshoe

High White Belt

Lee had her first belt promotion in Tae Kwon Do last night.  She and Bridges started in September, and she has really enjoyed it.  They both attend the beginners class at 6 pm and then Bridges stays for the advanced class.  It's twice a week opposite swim, so it makes for a busy week, but she seems to love it.

Here she is breaking a board with a pretty good kick.  She's got a lot of focus, and it seems it might be a good sport for her because size doesn't matter so much.  Master Lamy is himself pretty small in stature, so he's a good role model for her.  And Master Lamy Ma'am, although a fifth-degree black belt, is confined to a wheel chair as a result of a car accident, so she's a great role model too because she is an incredibly positive person despite her challenges.

Bookworms

Many an hour now passes in our home in this manner.  It's pretty hard to get their attention sometimes.

SNOW!!!

Do you remember that first snowfall of the year?  You woke up at first light, looked out the window, screamed "SNOW!!!", jumped up and down with unbearable excitement, ran downstairs and got on your winter gear, and went outside.   It was just as thrilling as Christmas morning, even if there was only an inch on the ground.  

And there was your mom, looking on and thinking "I remember feeling like that."  What a treat to get a glimpse of it as an adult.