She's Ready For Her Close-Up

South Wales

Pembroke Castle

This year Pedro's annual birthday trip involved a foray into South Wales. We wanted to take his 4X4 vehicle on its first roadtrip through somewhat rugged territory. Our plans were a bit spoiled by a brakedown that lasted almost three days and extended our trip by an extra day. But despite the car troubles, we did a bit of hiking along the coast and probably sat around a bit more than we would have otherwise.

Pembroke Castle moat

When we got restless we took taxis. The villages are pretty close together so it wasn't too bad.

Welsh cheese: Caerphilly, Welsh Brie, Red Devil (spicy!), and Harlech (with horseradish)

We stumbled upon a gourmet food shop in Pembroke; it had a huge selection of Welsh cheeses so I had the lady behind the counter put together a little picnic selection for us.

We stayed at a self-catering cottage (no-frills country house) in a village called Freshwater East. The local pub had delicious food (local fish, mussels, and pork) and put together a special ice cream sundae for Pedro. Plus, they had a huge fish tank that kept Isabella absolutely transfixed.

We only managed to get in a good coastal hike once - and it was absolutely stunning. Pedro had Isabella on his back in the child carrier and we hiked up and down the rolling hills along the coast from Freshwater. There were spectacular views. The scenery reminded me a lot of Cornwall, and also of how much I want to go back!

Our last day was spent wandering around in the village of Tenby - in the rain. Thank goodness the child carrier closes up like a little capsule and keeps Isabella out of the wind and the wet. To matters more uncomfortable, the place we were staying had closed, so we couldn't even go back just to get out of the rain. After enduring too much frustration from the mechanic ( who could never give us an estimate of when the work would be done), we decided to take a taxi to the garage and give them the evil eye until they got moving.

In all, the trip had plenty of high points and at least we were never at each other's throats! I'll post a slideshow in the margin soon.

Isabella the Flower Girl

We have been planning my good friend Kathryn's wedding for the last year. My role as a bridesmaid included making the flower girl dresses so that they would match the bridesmaids gowns. So I sent swatches of fabric and Pedro's mom was able to find just the perfect material in Puerto Rico.

Kat and I made the crowns for the girls and the end result was totally adorable. They looked like two little fairies flitting about the church and the field where the reception was held. My friend Amanda graciously offered to do my hair, even though she was dealing with a house full of boxes only one day after moving.

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, the couple opted for a cheese tower, using traditional British cheeses. Isabella kept robbing it of its grapes throughout the reception. We were experiencing one of the hottest days of the summer and this cheese tower got pretty ripe before the night was over.

It was one of the most beautiful weddings I have been to. The weather was unbelievable. Isabella was a perfect flower girl - she spent over three hours dancing on the dance floor, up WAY past her bedtime, but happy the entire time. Seriously, we couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Cooking with Kids - Cheese and Pizza!

First thing in the morning yesterday, we made mozzarella cheese.

It takes a lot of milk to make one ball of mozzarella cheese (3.8 liters - or one gallon of whole milk - the fattier the better!).

Paloma added salt, citric acid and rennet to get the whole milk to separate into curds (solids for the cheese) and whey (the liquid left over).

This is what it looked like once we poured off the whey. We then had to heat it up enough to get the curds really stretchy, in order to get that rubbery and slightly stringy texture of fresh mozzarella.

At first, it was too hot for Paloma to handle so I got it started.

Then Paloma worked it into a ball, folding the cheese in on itself until it was shiny and smooth on the outside.

Paloma claims not to like cheese unless it is on pizza....so we made pizza! We used the warm whey left over from the cheese to make the dough. It was a scorcher outside so we filled the kiddie pool and swam until the dough was ready.

She decorated her personal pizza with pepperoni and tons of the fresh cheese she made herself :).
We used the whole ball of mozzarella and had a pizza picnic in the backyard.

Cooking with Kids - Elderflowers

elderflowers

Our neighborhood has a plethora of things to pick and eat - as you may have seen we often pick things like nettles, wild garlic, and berries (sloe and blackberry). This year I have made it my goal to follow the seasonal foraging opportunities presented in a book I bought at the Eden Project last year (Seaweed and Eat It). The book chronicles the foraging adventures of a small family with two little girls who pick and prepare anything from wild crabs from the English coast, to sloe gin (which I actually made last fall). This year, I am right on track, having made special dishes from nettles and wild garlic. We are now full into the season of blooming elderflowers.

Paloma La Fritolera

We went for a short stroll through our village to find and pick a bagful of elderflowers - enough to make fritters (as you see Paloma doing) and elderflower cordial (a syrup used to flavor carbonated water or even white wine - though the syrup itself is alcohol free). Paloma was all over helping me pick the flowers, and I think she was especially excited by the prospect of getting to eat what we were picking.

the fried flowers

We sprinkled them with sugar and served them up with applesauce and jam for dipping. Isabella wasn't so sure about them, but Paloma ate more than half of the flowered stems that we cooked. Supposedly she is a picky eater - not too much evidence of that here.

ahhh, lovely donut-flavored flowers

and for good measure, look at this beautiful face!

Father's Day

I have been talking hundreds of photos in the last few weeks but there has been little time to update the blog. I know, I have had complaints :).

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all the good fathers in our lives. Our kids are lucky to have such a legacy.

Our family on this side of the pond spent Father's Day at the Haycock Hotel, where we had a traditional, full English Sunday lunch. The food was beautiful and delicious. Paloma especially loved dessert - some decadent chocolate tart.

And Isabella especially enjoyed the little fountain, conveniently located alongside our table!

Llegaron!

They got here yesterday and it feels like we have already done so much.

This morning we went for a short hike in the surrounding farmland. Then later this afternoon we all went to Haycock Hotel to sit in their gardens for a drink and to watch the girls play in the flowers and all the pretty things they have growing there.
Paloma and Isabella get along so well - it has been wonderful!
Isn't she just the cutest? She has been so excited being here and seeing such a big difference between England and Puerto Rico - it's nice to see because we no longer notice the differences as much.

In Her Own World

She likes to organize my plants.

Discovering the wonderful smell of basil - on her own.

This morning she was totally in her own little make-believe world with this very special cast of characters.

Tracia was involved. Maybe more than what wanted to be, but she didn't complain.

Los abuelos and cousin Paloma are coming - two days to go!!!! There is talk of a trip to Vienna...

27 Months

Finally the weather is starting to get warmer again. We're still using our heater. We had about a two week reprieve from winter, then it began to get cold again. That hasn't stopped us from getting out, however, Pedro was in Slovakia for work last week so Isabella and I got a lot of bike riding done. I now have a fantastic child seat installed on my bike - which I hadn't really ridden since she was born. I am horrendously out of shape - it's clear that my fit army days are well behind me (my sporadic yoga doesn't seem to have cut it!). With this new mobility, I'm finding so much more to see and to explore.

Today I took her foraging for wild garlic leaves and flowers. We got tons of it - so much that by early afternoon I was ready to throw it back outside because it was making the whole house smell terrible. I put it into a rice and pork chop dish and it ended up being like cooked spinach with a garlic flavor - really good!

Anyway, Isabella is 27 months old today. She's as smart as a whip and amazes me with all that she can say (and also all that she refrains from saying when she's having a wordless tantrum). Still waiting on those two-year molars!

Exploring

I took Isabella to see a scarecrow competition in a local village but there was only one scarecrow left standing! She loved it though. We spent the morning walking around and exploring...

Then we came home for a lunch of miso soup with a bunch of veggies. It went over somewhat well, but she really enjoyed trying out some chopsticks! Not too bad!

Easter - A Very Late One

But better late than never, I say! Because we were gone for Easter, I stubbornly wanted to celebrate it anyway and made big plans for an Easter get-together three weeks late. Odd, I know, but that's my personality for you!

So today we had a few of our friends with families over for a potluck lunch and egg hunt. It turned out so well that we'll just have to do egg hunts for the kids more often (just kidding). But it was really great - we had tons and tons of empty plastic eggs that we filled with jelly beans, chocolates, and other tooth-rotters and we hid them all along a trail next to our house. We had eggs up in the trees, in the bushes, and under leaves. Isabella was confused at first, but once she caught on she kept saying "huevos! more huevos!". There were five little kids running around frantically seeking out those little colored eggs - it made me so happy. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy holidays with kids?

As for the food...my friends went all out - there was moussaka, coconut chicken korma, mini-cheesecakes, treacle spongecake with custard, lobster salad, and nettle and feta savory pastries - to name a few.

Growing