A big congratulations to Danny and Trina on the arrival of their beautiful little baby girl Ava! She was born in the wee hours of the morning on May 20th. She arrived weighing 7lbs 15oz and measuring 22 inches long.
We can't wait to meet you Ava!
Since being here I've been going crazy wanting to try every single new pastry, biscuit, candy bar that I see. Thankfully for the few pairs of jeans I brought, I haven't been giving in to that urge as often as I have it. I did however, try a Ginger Crunch at the Empire Cafe shortly after we arrived and it has remained one of my favorite things in recent memory. It's a ginger shortbread with a dense, smooth ginger icing. I shared it with my children and Sophie was literally licking the crumbs off the plate once she was done.
I decided to try and make them last night. Of course, I hadn't planned ahead so I was short two ingredients. That didn't stop me from substituting and improvising though! The result was not the ginger crunch I was looking for but the bars were something decadent that we'll make again. If I am good.
Crust (base)
200g flour
100g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
125g softened butter
40g crystalized ginger (I didn't have this last night but really wish I would have)
Icing
150g butter
4 tbsp honey (the original recipe called for golden syrup which I don't have but will pick some up)
270g powdered sugar, sifted
1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp ground ginger (I think this could be doubled next time)
Juice of two small lemons
Preheat oven to 180ยบ C. Line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and powdered ginger. Then cut in the butter until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs. Mix in the crystalized ginger. Press this mixture into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and place on wire rack.
Before the crust is out, melt the butter, lemon juice and honey in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. Add the powdered sugar and ginger and continue to cook for 1 minute. Pour this over the recently removed crust while it is still hot. Shake the pan to make sure the icing is distributed evenly. Allow the crunch to cool and the icing to set before slicing. I placed mine in the fridge over night then sliced it in the morning.
I remember this being a joke amongst other parents but I've been experiencing it first hand the last couple of days. What I'm talking about is at the end of every sentence you say to Josie, she asks "Why?". What a curious little girl. I heard her doing this to Jake yesterday morning and chuckled a bit as he went through various explanations, trying to work out the actual and most basic reasoning for each answer.
Jake: You have to put your shoes on.
Josie: Why?
Jake: Because if you go outside without your shoes on you could get an owie.
Josie: Why?
Jake: There could be something on the ground and you could step on it.
Josie: Why?
Jake: Because it might be sharp and poke your foot.
Josie: Why?
Jake: Just put your shoes on.
She started on me today, and it was all about going to the bathroom. As I was explaining why we have to eat and then excrete, I wondered what would ever satisfy her questioning without just shutting her down? Is there an answer she is looking for? Could I ever come full circle in answering the reasons for things and we'd get back to where we started so she would understand the whole process? I decided to let it go and time the question/answer session and see if we ever made it to the original point of discussion. 9 minutes later, after Josie using the bathroom, getting cleaned up, a fresh diaper and a snack, she became distracted by something else and stopped asking me. Not really the result I was looking for but it was interesting to see that she would stay engaged for that long. I doubt my patience or curiosity will last as long next time.
Jake: You have to put your shoes on.
Josie: Why?
Jake: Because if you go outside without your shoes on you could get an owie.
Josie: Why?
Jake: There could be something on the ground and you could step on it.
Josie: Why?
Jake: Because it might be sharp and poke your foot.
Josie: Why?
Jake: Just put your shoes on.
She started on me today, and it was all about going to the bathroom. As I was explaining why we have to eat and then excrete, I wondered what would ever satisfy her questioning without just shutting her down? Is there an answer she is looking for? Could I ever come full circle in answering the reasons for things and we'd get back to where we started so she would understand the whole process? I decided to let it go and time the question/answer session and see if we ever made it to the original point of discussion. 9 minutes later, after Josie using the bathroom, getting cleaned up, a fresh diaper and a snack, she became distracted by something else and stopped asking me. Not really the result I was looking for but it was interesting to see that she would stay engaged for that long. I doubt my patience or curiosity will last as long next time.
Ok, this is delayed a bit but I have a great excuse. :)
So, our littlest peanut is 2. Someone asked me if it felt like 2 years and I had to be honest and say yes. Josie is a dear, sweet little girl but she is fiercely independent which makes life interesting. I've had more near heart attacks in the last year than I have in my entire life.
Here are some things she loves at the moment.
Food:
Apple juice
Cheerios
Triangle Cheese
Rice
Risotto
Beenana
Crackers
Peanut butter
Carrots
Butter Chicken (an Indian dish which makes mom happy because now we can all have Indian Take Away!)
Apple
Kiwi Fruit
Mandarins
Pork
She pretty much eats anything we put in front of her. We are enjoying eating our meals together as a family and the girls are used to eating what we eat so it's easy.
Things she likes to say:
Sorry mommy, didn't mean to.
Do it mineself.
That not nice.
That a good idea?
Please play in the little house? (she wants to go out to the tree house in the yard)
I yuv you Sophie.
Any request followed with "right now". It's lovely.
Key Yoda which is actually Kia Ora, the New Zealand greeting.
Party in the car. This is a request to turn the music up loud, and dance and sing and act silly thanks to our relocation agent, Marilyn.
I'm Josiephine.
She loves singing and her current favorites are "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, "It Ain't Me, Babe" by Johnny Cash, The Pepper Song (actually Jackson) by Johnny Cash, and The Tree Song (actually All I Want Is You) by Barry Lois Polisar from the Juno Soundtrack.
Her favorite things to do are "push it da button" or push the button on any technological thing that you don't want her to touch. I swear to God this girl understands my computer better than I do. Often if I can't hear her talking to her sister I'll come in to find that she has climbed up on the coffee table and is opening my laptop with a wicked grin on her face. Remotes? She eats em for breakfast. Power buttons, cell phones, iPhones, Wii IR receptors (Sorry Steve)? All in a days work. She loves playing store and cook. She likes to make me breakfast while in her new playhouse. Often I get Beenanas, oatmeal, toast and eggs. She also likes to take orders at her store and her favorite things to sell are water, hot dogs and ice cream. Following and emulating her sister continues to be her favorite past time. Anything Sophie does, Josie has to try. Oh! and she loves to swim. We took her to the aquatic center last week and she followed a couple of 5 or 6 year olds around and copied everything they did, including diving under the water. She wasn't phased by it at all. She'll lay on her back, stand under a shower, crawl on her hands, put her face under. She loves every minute of it!
She's been showing a fear (I know, hold the phone) of hairy things, spiders, certain stuffed animals, things that growl (like mom or dad pretending to be a lion). She asks me to "just be mommy" when that happens and runs into my arms.
The biggest thing that I have to remind myself everyday is that she is only two. I often forget how young she is. It's a wonderful age and she is discovering and exploring more each day. Our little sweet and sour baby!
So, while our cat Eliot is staying with our extended family up in Ithaca (thanks Kim and Kev!) we have been a little heartbroken here without our animals. Our little gray lovie has been missed and it's almost like (although I don't really know) those ghost feelings you have when an arm has been amputated. I think he is here when I get home or when I sit down on the couch I am expecting him to jump on my lap. Apparently there is some sort of feline network, I like to think of it like a long game of telephone, which our cat has used to send some kitty love our way. Our new house comes complete with a neighborhood cat, Fooky (actually, it's Spooky but Josie calls him/her Fooky). Fooky showed up while we were signing our lease. He/she (this is going to get tedious, let's just assume Spooky is a boy because that is what Eliot would want) ran right up to Sophie and rubbed against her leg. She loved it! Josie on the other hand tried to chase Fooky and he ran off.
Since that day, Fooky has been showing up regularly during the day to lay in the sun on our deck. He will sit at our back door and wait until someone takes notice then rub against the window, tempting the girls to come out and play with him. I think he knows that once they are lured out, I will follow and if that happens, he's likely to get a treat. We bought some wet cat food when we heard that the previous owners fed the kitty now and again. I like to think of Fooky as our local "Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp. He wakes up and decides where he will head today. Or perhaps he gets fed in the morning across the street then once the older kids go to school he heads our way for a little attention and a treat. Then it's off to our elderly neighbors house for a visit indoors or maybe to help her with hanging out her wash. I also like to imagine him dining on some chicken bones behind the our Indian Take Away restaurant, or maybe the butcher leaves some treats out some nights.
Fooky does show up every evening trying to get in the door. Thank goodness the girls are already in bed because it would break their little hearts to have him begging to get in. We were airing the house out the other evening as it had been hot that day and was a bit stuffy when we heard a loud Meow and looked over to see that Fooky had entered and announced himself. He was ushered out but it was quite cute seeing him stroll in. He's definitely patched a very sensitive wound we all have living here on the other side of the world. Thanks Eliot for pulling some strings.
Since that day, Fooky has been showing up regularly during the day to lay in the sun on our deck. He will sit at our back door and wait until someone takes notice then rub against the window, tempting the girls to come out and play with him. I think he knows that once they are lured out, I will follow and if that happens, he's likely to get a treat. We bought some wet cat food when we heard that the previous owners fed the kitty now and again. I like to think of Fooky as our local "Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp. He wakes up and decides where he will head today. Or perhaps he gets fed in the morning across the street then once the older kids go to school he heads our way for a little attention and a treat. Then it's off to our elderly neighbors house for a visit indoors or maybe to help her with hanging out her wash. I also like to imagine him dining on some chicken bones behind the our Indian Take Away restaurant, or maybe the butcher leaves some treats out some nights.
Fooky does show up every evening trying to get in the door. Thank goodness the girls are already in bed because it would break their little hearts to have him begging to get in. We were airing the house out the other evening as it had been hot that day and was a bit stuffy when we heard a loud Meow and looked over to see that Fooky had entered and announced himself. He was ushered out but it was quite cute seeing him stroll in. He's definitely patched a very sensitive wound we all have living here on the other side of the world. Thanks Eliot for pulling some strings.
Things didn't quite go as planned with our Friday afternoon internet hookup (is anyone else starting to feel I shouldn't have been surprised) but my resourceful wife managed to pull a rabbit out of her hat and voila! Here I sit on the couch doing a post on a Saturday morning, while last night Brandie sat here reading through the mountain of email that had piled up while she was off-line. Things are right with the world again.
The Juice has a bit of a cold and is sleeping in (still a Grade A champion sleeper, that one!) while Sophie & Mama are making "waddles" (the penguin-shaped waffles that have already appeared in our photo album - clearly a hit). We're planning to hit Spray or the zoo this morning, out to Ngaio for a birthday party this afternoon and Brandie is attending the Food Show with some friends tomorrow. It already sounds like a fun weekend!
Email either of us to setup some Skype times - we're internet- and video-enabled again.
The Juice has a bit of a cold and is sleeping in (still a Grade A champion sleeper, that one!) while Sophie & Mama are making "waddles" (the penguin-shaped waffles that have already appeared in our photo album - clearly a hit). We're planning to hit Spray or the zoo this morning, out to Ngaio for a birthday party this afternoon and Brandie is attending the Food Show with some friends tomorrow. It already sounds like a fun weekend!
Email either of us to setup some Skype times - we're internet- and video-enabled again.
This weekend is the 48 Hour Film Festival here in NZ, with less than 10 hours remaining things appear to be reaching a fever-pitch. I've seen lots of planning and coordinating going on and expect we'll see lots of people out on the town this weekend - good luck to everyone!
A big "Happy Birthday" shout out to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Denny, whose birthdays it was - I tried to post some video singing from the girls but had some difficulty without our setup at home. Very soon all that will be remedied, we hope.
On the home front, we're finally getting internet service today so we'll be seeing more posts from Brandie and she'll be able to reply to all those emails sitting in her inbox! I know she's been feeling disconnected from all her friends so be sure to send her an email to welcome her back online - have a good weekend everyone, we miss you!!
A big "Happy Birthday" shout out to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Denny, whose birthdays it was - I tried to post some video singing from the girls but had some difficulty without our setup at home. Very soon all that will be remedied, we hope.
On the home front, we're finally getting internet service today so we'll be seeing more posts from Brandie and she'll be able to reply to all those emails sitting in her inbox! I know she's been feeling disconnected from all her friends so be sure to send her an email to welcome her back online - have a good weekend everyone, we miss you!!
Apologies for the radio silence, we're still working on getting internet access at home so Brandie has been unable to check her email. If you need to reach her just shoot me (Jake) an email and I'll relay.
In the meantime, enjoy some new pics of our new home, the Spray Aquatic Center in Kilbirnie and our beautiful princesses!
We're celebrating it on his time zone, as it's actually tomorrow here already! Hope you have a great one, enjoy the Saranac for Chris & I along with spring in upstate New York - we miss it!
Apple's iPhone to be offered in NZ - NZ Herald
Thanks for the heads-up, Chris!
'In a surprise announcement to the UK Stock Exchange, Vodafone PLC has included New Zealand on a list of countries which will sell the much-lauded iPhone.'
