Bagels for lunch

My sister inspired me to bake bagels.  As today was house work day (ugh), I thought it'd be a nice thing to do between mopping floors and dusting surfaces.  Unfortunately, all the online recipes seem to have been written by non-bread makers.  They barely allow time for their dough to rise and do not give consistent boiling and baking times and temperatures.  This meant my attempt today was a lot of guess work.  I've never made bagels before, how do I know what the boiling is going to do?  I have an inkling it helps the dough to rise.  I forgot to add sugar to the water which would've surely put the yeast into a spin of delight.   I'll have to give them a few more tries before I perfect them but today's attempts were chewy and delectable.  I had one with bacon and eggs. 

I guess I was spoiled by Julia Child's excellent teaching skills when I made those croissants last week.  Do any of you have any tips for me?  Or suggestions for what I should make next? 

Our Fellow Kiwi

Yesterday afternoon we went to a baroque concert put on by New Zealand's own James Andrewes and some of his friends.  James is the fourth kiwi we know in Bloomington.  Years ago he was the concert master of the New Zealand Youth Orchestra while Jbird played solo piano and sat in the viola section (at different times).  

The concert was pretty tasty stuff with the well known Correlli Concerto Grosso (Op. 6, No. 8), J.S. Bach's Concerto for two violins, and the less familiar Handel Concerto Grosso (Op. 6, No. 6).  All in minor keys as Jbird pointed out. He joked about coming home and playing a major chord to help cheer us up.

We studied baroque music throughout high school.  I've only seen it played on authentic baroque instruments a handful of times.  It was fun for me to note the awkward, small baroque bows with the lighter bow hold.  A few pretty carvings on finger boards.  The violins sans chin/shoulder rests.  James was the only one to have much left-handed shifting in the second slow movement of the Bach.  It was dare devil type stuff, shifting positions while merely pressing his violin against his neck.  I felt sure he'd drop his violin but he assured me he was used to it.  They were playing on gut strings, which can be hair raisingly hard to produce good tone quality.  They survived without too much squeaking.  

The concert hall was a small church which made for an appropriately intimate setting, surrounded by stained glass windows with the weak winter sun streaming through.

Part Intuition / Part Guess Work

While living in Bangladesh, I became quite the scone baker.  Good bread was hard to come by so I'd often whip up a batch of scones for a Saturday afternoon treat. I've always used the Edmonds Cookbook recipe but in recent years I haven't been able to bake them without that salty flavour.  As the recipe calls for 6 teaspoons of baking powder, that's not surprising!  I've tried sieving the dry ingredients and giving them a good whipping before cutting in the butter - it's still salty. 

The saltiness is easily disguised with plenty of butter, jam, and whipped cream if you have some.  We got our cream from the German butcher in the Bangladesh days (see this post).  But I felt dissatisfied with this - why should my guests have to pretend the scones are great when they're not?  Here in the States, I've taken to buying biscuits in a can when I find them on sale but they're full of artificial butter and flavourings.  Though they're delicious, I'm dissatisfied with that remedy too. 

As a little girl, I remember having scones which were rumoured to be made with a can of sprite and a cup of full cream.  They left a strong impression on me as the most incredible scones ever: smooth, creamy, and delicious.  I was excited to find somebody who knew the recipe this year, but then I returned to the States, to the land of the 'wrong' flour, so I never made them.  This morning I thought I'd try a little cooking science and I managed to adapt the recipe.  I'm feeling pretty chuffed - they are the same as my hallowed memory.  I didn't add raisins this time because I wanted to get the basic mixture right first, but raisins, or even cranberries, are my favourite addition to make.  I've included the recipes below, for comparison sake.  You'll see that the NZ recipe is much easier because there's already sugar in the sprite and it calls for self raising flour but I never have any of that stuff.

Cream Soda Scones in the USA

Ingredients
1/2 Cup soda water - I didn't have any lemonade

1.5 teaspoons sugar water - I'm not sure why I didn't just put in granulated sugar

1/2 Cup heavy whipping cream - Yes, that is the title used for normal cream here in the States

1.5 tspn baking powder

1/4 tspn cream of tartar - I don't know why I included this, I've just seen it in lots of recipes and thought it might do something good

pinch of salt

1 1/2 Cup flour - I started with 1 cup but needed to add another. I kept it a really sticky batter.

Directions

1. Sift dry ingredients

2. Gently fold in wet ingredients

3. Plonk onto tray  - You never want to touch your scones too much, they'll turn out dry

4. Cut as best

4. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 + minutes. Should make about 7.

Compared to the:
Lemonade Cream Scones in New Zealand

Ingredients

4 Cups self raising flour

300 ml cream

one can lemonade/sprite

pinch of salt

Follow the directions as above, except there's no need to sift the dry ingredients, and you'll need 220 degrees Celsius. Should make about a dozen.

Book Club Time

I just attended my second ever book club meeting.  I hosted but I decided not to go all out with the snacks.  I made biscotti a week ago and boxed fudge-brownie that very night.  With tea and coffee, I thought that was enough.  I'm glad I made that choice because one of the ladies brought some delightful coconut cupcakes which could really shine.  

We had all read the book March by Geraldine Brooks.  It's pretty great, and horrendous, all in the same breath.  In reading the book I felt that I learned a lot - about human nature, the American civil war - so I enjoyed our brief discussion.  She writes from the perspective of the father and the mother from Little Women by Louissa May Alcott.  It's such an idyllic, beautiful, romantic classic.  I loved the way Geraldine put a spin on that, showing us the reality in amongst all that perfection. 

p.s. I'm reading "the Jane Austen Book Club" which is a lovely light read, about a book club which only reads Jane Austen books.  It is a great portrayal of personalities as they combine to create a book club atmosphere.  A nice read.

Fancy Husby and His Sis

Have you seen much of my fancy little-sister-in-law, Soph?  (Click on her name to see the link).  She's the one in the black top, with the blonde curly hair.  It's always nice to see her and/or Jbird involved in any great musical opportunity like that one (he's not in that group).  The competition is fierce for them both, and they work hard for it.  My heart actually swells with pride when I get to view anything like this, in the flesh, or on tape.  I'm glad to be here and I can't wait to find out what this semester has in store for them.

And that's all I have to say about that. 

Savings Galore/It's All About the Moolah

I spent the first three years of my working career hating Mondays.  This bled into Tuesdays and Wednesdays and then a general dread of Sundays because Monday was the next day.  I was hating a larger portion of my week than I enjoyed so I decided that I would have to start looking for something good in every day of the week. 

My good thing about Thursdays is grocery shopping.  As a redeemed shop-a-holic, it's a little release for those old feelings of joy on finding a good bargain.  

Today, I found two great bargains on things that I know would normally take up a third of my budget.  The first one was 100 loads of washing detergent, the Pyrex hypoallergenic kind, which my skin doesn't hate me for, for just $5.39.  Wow.  It was a close out sale and I was tempted to buy two.  However, that big bottle will last us nearly two years, as it is, and what if we don't end up sticking around for that long?  I'm a little skeptical - what have they put in that stuff that makes them need to close out?  I thought it was golden, apart from normally being a little bit pricey.

Bargain number two: I was in dire need of razors.  I have put off buying them for a long time because I hate the cheap disposable ones, and the other kind are super expensive.  Well.  There was another closeout sale AND I had a $2 coupon.  I bought a fancy venus gillette with three cartridges for just $4.86!  It's normally at least $12 and maybe even closer to $20 in NZ.

I was happy to use another coupon for some B6 tablets, saving a glorious $3 from the cheapest ones I could find online.  I was even happier to splash out on artichoke hearts, blackberry jam, nutella, and a (reduced price) lovely steak for our valentines meal.

After a projected savings of $30 (including the other store savings), bringing my bill down from $95 to $64, I feel as though Kroger were paying me to shop.  Of course, this is the problem with us shop-a-holics - we see 'saving' as free money.  It's not.  $64 is actually a little more than we budget for.  Luckily I only spent $40 last week.

Baking Croissants

Would you like to know the difference between baking an ordinary white loaf of bread and baking croissants?  According to Julia Child, it's a stick of butter (112 grams), excessive amounts of resting time, and a special rolling/folding technique.  My romantic notion of baking my own croissants and having them fresh for lunch, stuffed with ham and cheese, was soon forgotten.  They took me the entire afternoon.

 I found The French Chef Cookbook at a book fair, and have her dvd set.  Though I find many of her recipes too rich and impractical for every day use, it's fun to watch her and then try that recipe when I feel like I'm up for some kitchen entertainment.

I didn't follow her exact resting/proofing times as I was impatient.  Despite this, it took me 5 hours.  I enjoyed allowing myself to wallow in smashing and mashing up the butter with the rolling pin, and my palm.  To spread the butter through the dough, she folds and rolls, folds and rolls, rests the dough.  And then does the same again.  The result is 82 layers of dough and 81 layers of butter.  

How do I express my delight at the end product?  After two years of making croissants out of the can or buying them at the super market (both of which use vegetable oil), these were infinitely better.  Light, buttery, delicious, fresh.  I've put half of them in the freezer, not yet baked, to enjoy hot from the oven one day for breakfast with Jbird.  What a treat!  I put some ham and cheese into a couple.  Unfortunately I have a tendency to snack on our chocolate chips so I was out of luck for making chocolate ones this time.

What a delight to have the time to indulge. 

Sleepy Man Banjoy Boys

Holy Cow.  This youtube clip blew my mind yesterday.  Do those boys do anything but play?  I guess they must, see their toys in the background?  They are amazing!

We walked down the aisle to some fun celebratory bluegrass after our marriage ceremony.  I was the one who chose the song, and I was smiling anyway, on that happy happy day.  Yet I remember it making me laugh out loud in a fresh, surprised way.  

I was hoping we'd see a lot of bluegrass while we're here but we haven't seen much.  Just a few buskers at the farmers market and on the street.  Maybe it's time I started looking up the festivals to see what we can get to. 

Fruit Cake Postlude

I wonder if you've been reading long enough to remember the two posts I wrote about Christmas fruitcake, here and here.  I thought I would let you know how the American versions turned out, I haven't had any reports regarding the New Zealand one.  We finished the first one last week and we've made a start on the second one.  They are crumbly and rich.  The crumbliness is because I used a NZ recipe and guessed on the required flour quantity, obviously not decreasing it quite enough.   

We have so many treats - timtams, biscotti, and fruitcake, I hardly remember to get to the latter.   Unfortunately I normally add it on at the end of lunch and it makes me feel a tad ill, it being so rich and me being partially full already.  I'll have to try for my afternoon tea snack tomorrow with a cuppa.  

Here's to a month of fruitcake!

Bejewelled Fingers

For my birthday (last week), my parents-in-law gave me cash and instructions to buy something for myself.  The possibilities were endless.  After much debate, Jbird and I decided I should find a ring.  I had been given one for my 21st by my sister and brother-in-law.  Sadly, the gold holding the amethyst had worn away, causing the amethyst itself to chip and crack.  

The stores here are limited to Sears, Zales, and Kay - I didn't find anything much there but did learn a bit about gold quality, sizing, and stones - so I started shopping online.  I soon found myself entrenched in so many decisions.  Ebay seemed to be the cheapest option, if I could win an auction.  I lost a beauty because I didn't realise someone would outbid me right in the last second of the auction.  I had bid 5 minutes too early.  It was 14k yellow gold (I'm a yellow gold gal) with a nice sized sapphire and two little diamond chips.  

Tonight I managed to win an auction!  I would have preferred a higher quality gold but it should be an every day wear as my old one was.  It was a good price, 10k yellow gold band, with 8 small sapphires in a swirly pattern.  We'll have to wait to see it before we know if the picture holds up to its true self.

Icy Winter Wonderland

I know I have been posting about the weather a lot recently but it kind of rules my life at the moment!  The passed two days have been still, heavy sky days.  Snow was forecast constantly but never came through, it was just cold.  So cold I couldn't go out without mittens on.  Then last night it rained and froze.  The pavements are frozen over, our bikes have icicles hanging off them, the grass snaps when we walk on it.  Soph had to go to a rehearsal and she spent ten minutes trying to get up a little hill outside her house.  She kept sliding down so she gave up and went back inside.

It's kind of a bummer for Jbird and I as this is our busiest work day.  We normally have students in the morning and this afternoon I'm babysitting.  Unfortunately, our students had to cancel - they couldn't get here safely.  I don't know if I'm more disappointed about the loss in income or the fact that my little one practiced, a lot, and might have had a great lesson.  

Here's hoping for a slight rise in temperature so that everything can defrost, and life can continue.

Not an Island

I am going to make an addendum to yesterday's post.  In this cold cold weather, with not much to do with my not-summery-summer-holiday, I am extremely grateful for the small activities which engage my days, particularly ones that force me out of the house.  Though I said they were, "books and coffee" are not enough, not for me anyway.  I need book club, my non-practicing students, babysitting, church, grocery shopping,  the library, other people.  

In the great words of the English clergyman, John Donne, "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main." 

Practice Schmactice

My students only come once a week, for 30 minutes or an hour.  The best type of lesson follows a week of at least 2 or 3 practice sessions at home.  Without that, nothing that was taught in the previous lesson is consolidated, little to no improvement happens, and the student's motivation levels teeter.  

I had two interesting lessons this week, where a certain 5 year flatly refused to continue with their lesson just five minutes into it.  Another where a young adult had a bad week at work and didn't manage to practice at all.  I felt like I was a DVD on repeat.   

We all live complicated lives, don't we? We strive to advance through our own progressive stages, but we're not always able to.  I wonder if these students are facing the winter blues, I know I am.  Luckily I have my coffee and my books. And I don't have to go to any violin lessons...

Brrrrrr...

Oh boy, I was caught off guard when I went out today after being nice and cosy in our little place.  Jbird and I needed to pop out to the shops so we checked the weather to see if the sunny sky and warm apartment were any indication of how cold it was outside.  We are trying to follow Fahrenheit temperatures so that we can converse with people and understand the forecast on the radio.  The internet told us it was 22 degrees.  I figured that meant a little below zero so I put on some long johns and off we went.  I wish I'd also double-socked, tucked in my mittens, wrapped my scarf better and remembered to put up my hood over my hat: that was a cold bike ride!  

The frozen puddles outside our place were a pretty clear indication of what 22 degrees means, had I only noticed them. 

A Surprise Gift

The problem with drinking coffee everyday is that your expectations keep rising.  Jbird is not a coffee drinker and he recently wondered why I often comment on the quality of my coffee that day.  I explained about beans getting old, adding too much water or milk, or not enough, drinking it at the right temperature, and the peculiarities that come with each different coffee making device.  

My espresso machine only produces steam for the milk froth as the coffee drips through.  This means I need to add exactly the right amount of water at the beginning and be ready with the milk as it starts dripping.  Also, the beans that I use are always pre-ground and a little old so I've taken to storing them in the fridge.  This doesn't provide the best brew but it will extend the life of the beans a bit...sort of.  Don't forget that we live on a tight budget so replacing older coffee isn't an option.  Buying a grinder isn't an option either.

 

I got a lovely birthday present in the post today - a coffee grinder AND a plunger!  It's not often such an exciting surprise arrives.  I love plunger coffee, it's rich and oily.  It may just be my favourite kind of coffee and I am excited to have a change in my usual coffee making routine.

Slow cooker goodness: yum yum yum

Because we bought the slow cooker in the summer, I may have overdone it a bit in those hot months and almost forgot to use it for its intended purpose - warm soul food, a must for the winter.  I pulled it out this week, when I was feeling particularly lackadaisical about cooking and it has revived our evening meals.  Thick, juicy beef stew, beef and bean chili con carne (or simply 'chili' as we call it here), and chicken tikka masala.  A yummy, hearty meal which smells divine while it is slowly cooking and then is always ready without much fuss.  With only two of us, it always stretches to at least two meals.  

I'm going to go and make some corn bread for tonight's chili.  My stomach is growling at the prospect.

Gang of Four

Gang of Four is a fun card game which title alludes to the four leaders closely associated with Mao Zedong of China's cultural revolution.  It's a game that I have a love/hate relationship with.  I tend to lose, with a terrible score, but I'm highly competitive so I find it hard to brush the many losses off my back.  I don't know if it's a lack of skill or a lack of good hands but I'm determined to improve so that Jbird can stop grinning across the table at me.  Anyone for a hand?

Happy Birthday to me

It has been a happy birthday.  There was a bunch of great food: chocolate delicacies coming out of our ears (please read yesterday's post), a madebysomebodyelse coffee cake that didn't taste like coffee, tasting instead more like blueberry muffin in cake form, belgian waffles, blue cheese and pear, some mighty fine coffee...It snowed prettily all day - not so much to keep us indoors but enough to enjoy watching the flakes dance.  I got some pretty nice pressies.  AND I had two of my favourite people to chill with all day.  

But do you know what the very very best bit was?  The Bloomington KiwiBirds bike gang.  

It is the most fun when the three of us bike together at night.  It was chilly but we were bundled up in our warmest clothes, and we didn't have far to go.  There were a few up-hills and a lot of down-hills.  The snow was still clean and pretty, covering the yards.  The flakes were flying at us, landing in our mouths, as we whizzed down the hill, breathing hard.  The. Most. Fun.

Snow and Chocolate

It didn't snow for Christmas but it did for my birthday!  It snuck up on us when we least expected it.  We three Bloomington kiwis are pretty happy about this because we haven't had much snow this winter.

I got the book: Intensely Chocolate out of the library yesterday so we planned a chocolate baking party this afternoon for some pre-birthday fun.  We made mocha-walnut cupcakes with dulche de leche frosting, bitter-sweet chocolate multi-flavoured buttons, cranberry-walnut semi-sweet chocolate bark, and semi-sweet chocolate mousse with blackberry compote parfait.  Yumbo.  A lovely way to spend a flurry afternoon.  

Smarty Pants

Recently I started an online discussion with a couple of friends.  Jbird and I were talking about how it would work and we decided it would have to be through a thread of emails.  I wasn't entirely happy with this as the discussion can become hard to follow.  

When I got around to starting the discussion, I had the idea that I could share it as a google doc.  If the other members of the discussion can work out how to use, it will be like working on microsoft word, on the same computer.  Jbird thinks we will even be able to view others editing if two of us happen to have it open at the same time.  I think it's ingenious!  I feel pretty chuffed that I knew how to do it, too. 

Mindlessly Vacuuming

We’re lucky to have vacuum cleaner, none of our student friends have one – it’s the last thing you want to buy when you’re in this transient lifestyle.  A ‘grownup’ couple that we got to know in Baltimore gave it to us when we were moving here and every single time I vacuum, I think of them and feel grateful.  

The first year we were here, we bought a dustbuster.  That thing kind of worked but somehow we lost the filter and it was useless without it.  In those days our house was more of a room with a bathroom than a house.  The next year we had wooden floors so we kind of got by with sweeping and mopping.  We were given an ancient hoover.  It didn't have a very strong suck and the rugs we had were like Velcro for my hair.    

I recently discovered which plug I can use so that I never have to change plugs and I can vacuum every corner of our house.  It’s the little things that can make me happy.  

plug (NZ) = outlet (US)

Another new student

I recently started another student.  He has an interesting violin history.  He studied violin with a teacher for a year during high school.  A year or two later he played in an Irish pub where he was performing often without any input, even from the band members.  Their instructions were: just play!  We talked today about how the latter must have been a steeper learning curve for him, as he was forced to perform regularly, thinking ahead as he played, with no rehearsal time.  It was exciting, fun, and scary.  Think of the adrenalin rush! lt would have been far more motivating than practicing for lessons.

In my experience, many adult students are very excited to learn but life often runs its own course.  I am faced with the interesting challenge of gaining his interest, trust, and respect, and therefore maintaining his motivation.  I guess in the long run, it's going to be up to him too.

Good Reads

I have been ensnared by a book:  the Piano Tuner.  It is based in England and colonial Burma (now Mynmar) and I love the aspects of it that cross a little into my life.  

Jbird tunes pianos and I have sat through many tunings and discussed tuning at length with him.  The repetitious movements, and harsh sounds that are so necessary for the desired outcome are described at length within the book.  

I have not been to Myanmar but I have been close.  I once travelled to the southern most point of Bangladesh and saw refugees from that neighbouring country in camps on the riverbed.  The book describes foothills similar to those of the Himalayas in India or Nepal, sticky translucent rice like that in Laos, and that curious reaction from locals to any oddity: the crowds, stares, and cheeky children.  It covers the political state between the colonising British and original cultures which might be compared to many countries around the world.  Gun power was the main feature, while love as a was tactic met by the invaders with unease and disbelief.  The local lengthy festivities described fit with cultures of that part of the world yet are curiously their own.   

I am transported back to those times as well as the times of my own travels as I contemplate the improbability of a piano surviving such high humidity, heat, and isolated travel. 

Fluffy fluffy pancakes

I grew up eating crepes as pancakes, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  My favourite topping was ice cream and jam as a dessert.  We only occasionally had what we called 'griddle cakes' as the fluffy pancake Americans know.  We often had the kiwi favourite, pikelets, for afternoon tea which is very similar.  But different.  

I have never kept a standard recipe for fluffy 'American' pancakes.  Every time we want them, I end up looking online for a new recipe.  I find unique flavoured recipes fun but I'm never that interested in revisiting them, maybe because they require special ingredients.  For example, carrot cake pancakes or cranberry ricotta pancakes.  Recently, I came across a great recipe which had very normal ingredients but it also added 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda.  This made them fluffy fluffy fluffy.  I was nervous that they'd be too salty so I used the sieve for the dry ingredients and they were awesome.  I think I've finally found my go-to recipe. 

Putting in the hard yards

Following that cold snap I complained about earlier in the week, we have had some gorgeous, mild afternoons.  This inspired me to get back in the garden.  If you saw our garden, you'd say to me: "What could you possibly have to do in that?"  At the moment, it's merely a 4m by 3m by 3m triangle of dirt and remember, we're in the middle of a (possibly) snowy winter.  

Unfortunately, the dirt is not in the best of condition.  I keep finding more broken rocks, so I'm trying to remove them all, piece by piece.  There are a few weeds that have also been making the most of this lovely weather which I'm pulling while they're small.  Jbird was given some secateurs for a late birthday present so I pruned a vine that had been a tangled mess by our front door.  Hopefully it will grow back prettier in the spring.  We don't own a spade and it's roots seem to run too low to completely remove.  There's a mysterious orange root I keep hitting.  I don't think it's the poison ivy I know is hiding there somewhere, I wonder what it could be?  I stabbed our compost with the trowel yesterday and it is looking lovely and rotty at the bottom.  I cannot wait to spread it when I plant some seeds.  In the meantime, stay away vermin!  I have only ever seen a few worms, I hope they dug down deep enough to survive the freeze we had.

If you have any ideas of things that would help my garden, please let me know!  I'm hoping that these little bits of work will pay off, come spring.  

The Baconator

When I lived in Bangladesh, a Muslim country, there was only one place to get bacon, known as the German butcher.  He only sold American style bacon.  I didn't eat it often but I always had some frozen in my freezer, just in case.  The smell of it must have permeated my poor non-bacon-eating neighbours when I cooked it.  It has a really strong smell, which is merely delicious if it's an every day food.

I have to say that during those two years, and even for the first 18 months living here, I did not understand American crispy bacon.  I have seen it on cartoons and movies, served as stiff rectangular objects with fried eggs.  I'm sure I've also read about it.  But coming from a country which offers bacon from a different cut of pork, where it's a juicy, thick piece of meat, crispy bacon has been a hard concept to muster meaning for.  For a long time I longed for NZ bacon and would under cook the American stuff.  It would be okay but not ideal when at least 50% is fat.

Slowly, as I've observed true-Americans cooking it and eating with them, I've come to an understanding: make it crispy by cooking until a good puddle of fat remains in the pan.

Life is always good with a little bacon, but it's even better when it's crispy!

A Beautiful Portrayal

We saw a really nice movie the other day.  It's called 50/50 and it's about a young guy's battle with a rare cancer.  The guy is portrayed by the youngest cast member of Third Rock from the Sun, Joseph Gordon Levitt.  As he goes through this life changing crisis, he reaches a point of complete alone-ness.  He comes out of that to see there are people who love him and were simply showing their love in ways that he couldn't always identify with.  I found myself having a little lady crush on the psychologist too - she is so cute and acts her part so awkwardly.  It's perfect.  I don't want to say more than that because I think you should see the movie.

It was such a human and yet beautiful portrayal of love.  I wonder if I am able to find that love in my life, without needing a near death experience.

NB: If you are sensitive to language from today's popular culture, you may be distracted/upset by some content.

Tetchy to get out

Rain and snow has the ability to dictate our movements at the moment, especially as we don't own a car.  Yesterday it unexpectedly snowed.  The weather forecast was unable to predict the amount of snow there would be so I kept thinking it would clear and I'd be able to keep the date I'd made with Soph to go downtown.  It was a really windy day so even though there was snow for most of the day, not much of it piled up. But it was the worst kind of weather to be out in.

This left me feeling very unsettled.  I couldn't make myself sit still for very long and do any of the activities I know I want to do yet feel uninspired by.  By the time evening came I was a crabby goose.  I know I shouldn't be impatient, and instead feel pleased that I don't have to be anywhere.  There's nothing worse than being forced out on a day it's just too cold to be out in.  But this is the nature of my head.

Despite all this, I'm hoping for a big dumping of the stuff, with a beautiful clear day following the dump, making the outside world surreal.  That is my favourite type of snow.

A Desire for Security

When I face a crisis in my life, particularly with close relationships, I often use some kind of personality descriptor to find out why I have been so affected.  I'm not dedicated to doing the tests or remembering much of what I learn but I do find it helpful when getting through the crisis.  After a recent 'crisis', my mother and I were perusing the Enneagram types.  I've never before been able to pinpoint my number, even after taking a test, but my mother pointed out she thought I was a six, which I found I was able to relate to a lot.  

Number sixes, in particular, desire strong boundaries and organisation, within which we find a sense of security.  I'm probably more flexible than I used to be but if boundaries are continually broken, I begin to find it difficult to operate happily and comfortably.  It was nice to know this, as Jbird and I tidied up a certain aspect of our relationship.  In the tidying, I felt in control again and my sense of self worth grew.

I'm no self-help writer.  Just interested.  I'm also glad that we're all different yet are still able to function together.

A Wintry New Year's Day

Jbird and I worked hard on New Year's Eve.  We taught and then babysat five little ones.  It's a reminder of how different life is here.  At home, as teachers, we'd be at the beach on our Summer Holiday.  Work would not be on our agenda for either the 31st or the 1st. I don't have many opportunities to work here, so when I do, it is a privilege.   Even better: to be able to work with my husband.  We finished at 9pm and we had a party afterwards, with Soph.  It was a blast.  I didn't regret our decision to work on a day that might normally feel like a holiday.

I'm not good at making and keeping New Year's resolutions.  This year, I have only one but it hits all facets of my life.  It is to remain focused on the important things.  That may sound vague to you, but my life isn't too complicated so they're easy for me to see.  They are: my role as a wife, sister, daughter, friend, and teacher; being good with our budget; my study; church; and building new friendships.  Crafts, this blog, music, and making food, are incidental, lovely parts of my life, but they're not too important.  Sounds simple, huh?  I have a sense of excitement about this coming year.

Happy New Year!