Wonderful Wednesday!

The day started with a very cheerful baby Tiras, which is not always the case. He seems to just instinctively bolt to his feet when he wakes and start fussing and hollering for us to come get him. To walk into his room and find him smiling and cooing in the crib was a delight.

And, for our fourth week in a row, my two compound neighbors and I have gone on a fun outing. Today we hit the craft market. There are so many wonderful wood carvings, stone carvings, pieces of jewelry, and etc. I intentionally brought along only a small amount of money with the intent to purchase handmade cards and only handmade cards. I ended up borrowing money from one of my neighbors so I could purchase some stone carvings that really grabbed me. Also, I am really horrible at bargaining. Really. Horrible. But, like my deficiency in driving courage, my lack of bargaining prowess helps the local economy. So there's that.

I also have some successes on the cooking front. Over the weekend, I discovered I had some plum tomatoes that needed to be used up. Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics cookbook, I made the most delicious tomatoes I have ever eaten. Bar none. These tomatoes were roasted with a bit of balsamic vinegar (plus olive oil, sea salt, sugar, and pepper) and were so very delish. The tomato drippings started smoking up our kitchen and we had to race around opening windows so as not to set off the fire alarms. At one point Micah ran out to inform the guards that we had smoke in the kitchen but everything was o.k. However, his reassurance had the unintended (but forseeable to me as I raced out behind him) consequence of actually alarming the guards and I had to explain that we were just cooking and there was smoke from the cooking and Micah just wanted them to know we were o.k. They looked a little startled and skeptical, but no further drama ensued. And, all's well that ends well, which is to say that I was not alone in my tomato love--Deron declared the recipe well worth the smoke filled kitchen and looked forward to having them again!

We also tried another Food Network slow cooker recipe, this time a Chinese style rice soup (or jook) and, using some of the commenter suggestions to guide me, I had our family savoring a very gingery and delicious soup which garnered high, high praise from Micah, who wanted to eat it for breakfast this morning. Thanks to Ina Garten, I have also learned that it is not just my imagination that my poached chicken is rather dry. She also seems to share the opinion that roasted chicken is a zillion times yummier than poached, so I roasted the chicken for this soup and it was soooooo good.

Also on the food front, our compound received a flier from a local organic produce grower who makes home deliveries. How many happy dances can I possibly convey on this blog entry. Add one more because having fresh herbs and veggies and fruits delivered to my house on a weekly basis will be so great! Especially since they are growing some produce like red leaf lettuce and snow peas and strawberries! (which range from not easy to impossible to come by out here thus far)

And on the mom/school front, how much am I loving having a kiddo in Pre-K? This is such a fun stage! Micah loves doing number and letter worksheets and loves to practice cutting and it is so fun to watch his joy and enthusiasm. I even have fun ordering Kumon workbooks for him because I know how excited he is about doing them. Yesterday, I worked on the budget and he happily worked alongside me on his school materials and he is so proud of his accomplishments! It it is pure joy to behold!

I also ordered him his first set of personalized pencils AND I got a Preschool through 12th Grade School Days memory book for Micah and for Tiras. My mom had such a memory book for me and for my sister when we were growing up and, while this is not the exact same version, it is the same premise and I am just so elated to be starting this adventure with Micah and so excited to imagine filling those pages with all the experiences yet ahead. What will he love? What subjects will be his passion? What friendships and fun moments await?

Also in the realm of education, I may be tutoring one of the fellow expat kiddos in U.S. history since that is not covered here. I ordered a number of really promising looking books and also the Schoolhouse Rocks DVD with the history snippets. I am excited to share these materials with Micah as well and think he will enjoy them. I am really looking forward to doing some lesson planning and teaching.

This past Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving (and our local Nakumatt carried frozen turkey breast and drumsticks in honor of the occasion). While I am not myself Canadian, I surely have had a week filled with many thankful moments!