Yoho, yoho, a pirate's life for me

I just couldn't think of a better way to start Friday than with pirates and Johnny Depp. Plus that picture is quite funny. Can't wait for the 3rd installment!

Can't wait

Yesterday Mr T.'s yogurt exploded in his lunch box and Miss A. had a "wardrobe malfunction" :). I just can't wait for them to come home today. I certainly hope that chemistry was not on anybody's schedule.

Banana Shockproof Vest

First Day of School was a pretty god day in all. The only casualty was my son's banana that exploded in the lunch box making everything soggy ( not very surprising when you see what he does with his backpack). So, last night he requested " a more sturdy banana" in his lunch. Mwahaha, a more sturdy banana! If anybody has developped a patent regarding shockproof-bulletproof ( at least, maybe even atomic bomb grade) banana vest, please contact us.

First Day of School

Miss A. ( 7 years old ) and Mr. T. ( 11 years old in a few days ) are at school right now. All summer long I've waited for that blissful moment when the house is silent, and I can use MY computer without having to negotiate which usually goes like that:
Me - Darling, I need the computer.
Mr T. - ...
Me - T.? Did you hear me?
Mr. T. - mmmm?
Me getting a wee bit irritated ( although at least I know he is still breathing which you couldn't be absolutly certain since he looks catatonic )
-I need the computer for work.
Mr T. - But I'm mining!
Me - So?
Mr T. - I can't just stop!
Me - Well let's see it his way, if I don't work we'll have to sell the computer to buy food.
Mr T. who is only half listening putters a wwhaaatttt??? and promptly returns to mining.
The evil mother manually removes the child who then mutters all day long that he is oppressed. The mother then mutters all day long that Mr. T. has won a one way ticket to Africa to work in a mine and then we'll see he is still feeling oppressed etc etc...
So why then do I have a pit in my stomach since last night and why do I both want them back right now??
I hope they are both having a good first day. After all, I don't want other people to oppress my children. It's MY job.

Bad habit

My husband reads the paper every morning while having breakfast, I guess like most people. I can't do that. It makes my blood pressure go up first thing in the morning and I'm in foul mood for the rest of the day. Instead I like to spread it out during the day when I'm very busy and don't have too much time to reflect on the stupidity of human beings. Well anyway it works kind of, I still rant a fair amount for hum, some time after I read someting particularly outrageous. Perfect plan for me. Spreading the rants. Now, today was supposed to be a beautiful day in spite of a chopped up sleep last night. I was just sitting to baguette, quince jam and about 2 liters of the blackest coffee when he blurts out: "I just read something really dumb". Theatrical pause. Wearily glancing up at the spread out newspaper, I sigh and say : "mmmm, what a surprise. What? " Well, yes I'm human after all, and who at that point wouldn't say "what?". Husband continues: "They did a study in Africa about AIDS and circumcision and found that you have a lesser change of catching it if you are circumcised. So now they are telling people in Africa to get circumcised." Long silence while I examine in my head all the implications of this statement. The only thing I could come up with was : " who is the stupid idiot who thought that saying this to people who believe that having sex with a virgin is going to CURE them of AIDS was a good idea? I mean we all know how it is going to be interpreted: Oh, I'm circumcised so I can have sex safely with whomever. And I'm not even going to mention the very high risk of infections due to this surgery. Now, again, how do stupid people like that get to be in charge of anything, and especially how do they get to be in charge of life and death situations like this. Africa is a beautiful country that I fell totally in love with many many years ago. It's full of amazing people that are poor, yes, but are also smart, very resourceful and hardworking. They are not helpless and they don't wallow in their misfortune. They need to be helped intelligently not put further down by the white people than they already have. It reminds me of this article I read years ago where, again, stupid dumb " white experts" backed up by well known makers of formula, declared that babies in Africa should be fed formula instead of their mother's milk. Similar to what they did in the seventies in the western counries. The result: scores of babies dying or being very sick. Anybody with half a brain and who would have been in Africa for half an hour could have foretold this. You need clean water to make milk from formula and a lot of peolple there don't have that luxury. You need money to buy that expensive powder. Since they didn't have money they reduced the amount of powder they had to put in each bottle. If the baby didn't finish the bottle right away they didn't have a fridge to put it in. It would spoil and be covered in flies in minutes. Too expensive to throw away. Ah yes, and what about sterilizing the bottle?
Now, you think that maybe that endless post would mercifully come to its end by now, right? No, no such luck. Because husband hasn't finished to read the paper. Nope. So now comes a very small article, which really, in normal circumstances, I probably would have rolled my eyes and no more. Ah, but I'm fired up today. Here it is: " a NASA official insists that the crystal clear tapes from the Appollo mission of first man on the moon are not lost. They just don't know where they are." Ok, I said, chuckling, we all know what that means. Now comes the outrageous part: " most of these tapes have never been reviewed by anyone, even at NASA." " What?" ( yes I know I repeat myself a lot). " You are telling me that after spending billions after billions they don't even review the data??" Now I'm asking this: how would the world fare now if these billions had been put toward helping humanity instead of a silly little race which only goal was to plant a flag and do a silly little dance so that they could say: I'm first, I'm first like a first grader racing to be first in the line. Cause obviously it wasn't knowledge they were after.
Ok, now it's done. Yes I'm ending the post. Finally. And I promise not to read the paper anymore today and to stay clear of anyone with a newspaper in hand. Hopefully I'll post again today. A more pleasant post. Hopefully. And nobody better cross me today or it won't be pretty.

Food for stressful days

Some days are stressful enough. A lot of people have take out on these days because it's stressful for them to think about dinner and to make it. Call me nuts, and some people have :), but I'm the total opposite. Cooking is stress relieving and calming to me. I'm lucky that my children are not picky and I love to try new food. Fennel has been a long time favorite of mine and this recipe is very simple with a minimum of prep time. I found it in this book

Pasta with golden Fennel

2 or 3 large fennel bulbs, including the greens
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 galic clove, minced
3/4 to 1 lb fettuccine
Parmigiano-Reggiano or dry Monterey Jack cheese

_ Slice the fennel thinly. Heat water for the pasta.
_ Melt 1tbsp of the butter with the olive oil in a wide skillet. Add the fennel and saute over high heat, stirring occasionally, until brownd in places, 7 to 10 mns. Season with 1 tsp salt. Toss with the lemon juice, then add 1 cup water. Reduce the heat and cook, covered, until the liquid has evaporated. Add another 1/2 cup water and continue cooking in this fashion until the fennel is very soft and deep gold in color, about 25 mns in all. Season with pepper. Chop a handful of fennel greens ( about 1/3 cup) with the garlic and lemon zest and set aside.
_ Add the cooked pasta to the fennel. Add the chopped greens.

Serve with the grated cheese.
It's melt in your mouth delicious.

Bon appetit!