Life is a mishmish

Exorcise

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:08:00 +0000

The time has come, my friends. There is no escape. You know what i'm talking about.

It's time to get back into my pre-pregnancy body. I can't procrastinate any more.

Actually, i've started about three weeks ago. Signed myself up to a course at Studio C, in hope to get a better body without sweating too much. So far, everything has been going quite well. I think that in a few months i'll actually be able to put my foot on the bar, like the rest of the women in class. I like the way the class is going: everything is relaxed. Nothing is done in a hurry, and you can really feel the work on all the muscles. At this rate, i might actually look quite good for A. and M.'s wedding in August.
Thing is, the instructor incouraged us to try the Aerobics class they give there. I went this morning. Boy, was THAT a mistake! I mean - WTF with killing yourself in nightclub music, nightclub volume, and an instructor who is like the energizer bunny on speed? I stopped after some agonizing 25 minutes of nonstop junping/bouncing/doing intricate things with your legs and arms. I think I damaged my knees. And worse of all, I had to eat a stack of mediocre pancakes with terrible can whipped-cream to make up for the suffering.

He was right, my friend Mo, when he said "Fat is Beautiful". Also was right Garfield the cat, in his notorious reply to John's idea that he should get in shape, "Round is a shape".

Anyway, wish me luck. I really have nothing decent left to wear anymore.

I wish I was an ETSY girl.

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:18:00 +0000

IF I only had the stamina. Just look at it!

Because I have so many good ideas. Great ideas, even.

Ah well. One day.

Purim!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:56:00 +0000

One of my favorite holidays, despite its connection with killing other people, is Purim. Which was today (same day, it appears, as one of the greatest's birthday - J.S. Bach). The party person that I am, I couldn't resist forcing my fancies on the one person who doesn't have a say in it. yet. Baby G.
So I made him a costume - yesyes, hand made and all! Take in the small detail of the faux-buttons and the real pocket sown there.

Yes. He is my little chef. It's never too early to start using a knife properly!

Happy Purim, Ya'll!

Techination

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:25:00 +0000

Check out my new widget, down and right!
Featuring: Dilbert!

Gorsh, I just love the word widget.

the three months mark

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:41:00 +0000

Well. We have reached the three months mark. Baby is still alive, and is even growing and he seems quite happy, so I probably haven't done too much damage.

To commemorate the happy occasion, I started working on my PhD again. I'm telling you, it was so weired, dropping him off at his bubby L.'s place and going home to work. It's not the first time i'm leaving him with grandparents and going off to do stuff, but it's the first time i've done it in order to get some work done. I don't mind telling you I felt quite the separation anxiety.

Also, today we have the Special of the Day! quick schnitzel and noodles, which came out really good. Here goes:

marinate some flattened chicken breasts in a mixture of plum sauce, soy sauce and garlic, for about an hour. after changing baby's diaper, feeding the baby and changing him again, dip the breasts, without wiping, in flour, then in beatten egg, then in panko (extra crispy japanese bread crumbs) and fry. While all this is happening, cook some quick noodles - I have a pack of odon noodles for this occasion and see why baby is crying.
Leave baby in other room. Sit down and eat. Very good with mustard on top.

For dessert i'm having krembo. Top first. so there.

Note added:
Of course, i'm talking about dipping the chicken breasts in flour etc., not your own! Babies don't take fried food yet at this age...

surfacing for a while

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:06:00 +0000

Hi all.
It's been a while, hasn't it? The little mishmish is a week shy of three months old, and I don't know where time flies.
Our days are all the same: feeding, diaper changes, playing on the activity center, napping. His napping, not mine. Every now and then, if the weather permits, we go out for a walk. I already have the shopping mall coming out of my nose.
And the scariest part:
In a week or two I shall have to go back to working on my PhD. Yes, I know, i'm working on it from home and don't need to go far for it more than once a week. Still, I don't know how i'll be able to pull it off. It's not like I manage to do other productive activities around the house except some laundry every few days and a bit of cooking, about once a week.

Uch, so many whines.... I should give myself a decent shake. Chocolate shake.

Whew!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:02:00 +0000

Sorry folks, for not logging in for - what is it? three weeks?
Well, the big even has happened. Last Tuesday, on December 11th, I gave birth to my wonderful little baby boy.

Gil arrived at quarter to three in the afternoon, weighing 2.95 kilos. He got a bit of jaundice, so they released him from the hospital only this Sunday, and we already had the Brith yesterday.

He is truly a wonderful little boy, and do you know what? he's also a kind of mishmish. especially with them cheeks of his, which are rosy and sweet and slightly fuzzy, and OH SO EDIBLE!

His daddy, as well as the happy grandparents, are in seventh heaven. Pictures shall arrive soon, when happy daddy wakes up from his catnap. He deserves it, poor man.

In the meanwhile, I am open for social visits. Just give me a call, you guys! If I don't answer the phone, I'll get back to you later - no phone conversations while feeding, you know...

Full of zest

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:33:00 +0000

Really, I do not know what befell me. After nearly a week of being heavy and tired, not to say sleepy and pained, today I woke up ready to conquer the world, preferably the multy-tasking way.

So what's on the agenda? Cooking and baking!
I have already put in the oven a large batch of Fairy's granola, with cranberries instead of raisins, and right after that I shall make a few personal-sized rhubarb and raspberry torts. Recipe to that will arrive after they're made, when I decide exactly how to do them.

Also, all the wonderful soup recipes from the "stirring the cauldron" venture made me feel like souping, and so I am making some underground soup - potatos, sweet potatos, onions and leeks, carrots and mushrooms, will all combine into a thick, wintery soup for tonight. Also in store: sirloin strips in fresh mushrooms and guiness gravy (I reserved some in the freezer from a previous cooking craze).

Now, I know what I promised you. Some pictures of the latest craftiness that had attacked me last week. Here it is, then:

for mom and dad's kitchen

For little niece's room

and for little Ponchik's nursery

All presents have been delivered, and were well received. The only one left to still experience all the pressies is little Ponchik, of course. He's due in about two and a half weeks, and I know he's as impatient as I am for us to meet face-to-face already.

Well, back to the kitchen. Lots to do!

Today is the day! Soup Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:15:00 +0000

Remember this? It's joint soup day on Tufinim et al.! And what a day for winter soups! it's cold outside, grey and raining. I do believe this initiative has invoked the winter Gods from their slumber....

Today I'm going to share with you one of my ultimate winter soups - My mother's pea soup. It's hot. it's chunky. it's full of peas. And it has real-life clouds in it, just like a real winter! what else do you need in life?

Cloud Pea Soup

ingredients:

3 medium sized onions

1 pack of frozen peas (800 g)

2 eggs

some white flour

salt, pepper

preparation:

1. Chop onions thinly and fry in a pan until golden.

2. Fill a pot with water - about 2 litres. Boil, and add the fried onions with a bit of salt.

3. In a bowl, lightly whisk eggs with some salt and pepper. Add flour, a spoonful at a time, and mix well, until you get a thick consistency, like heavy cream. Then add some water - get it back down to the consistency of yogurt.

4. When the soup in the pot is boiling, lower heat and drop in 1/3 spoonfuls of the batter.

5. Cook for another 15 minutes, then add the peas. You don't have to thaw them in advance, but you can. Cook until peas are cooked, about 10 minutes more. Taste and fix the seasoning before serving.

That's it. I don't have one ready, so no mouth-watering pictures, I'm afraid. But I can see into the near future, and from here it looks soupy. And peay. And cloudy.

And don't forget, all you Hebrew readers, to go check out the other blog entries on this yummy venture, via Tufinim website....

A hi-IQ entry, to balance off the previous one...

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:12:00 +0000

I had just finished reading Neil Gaiman's novel "Anansi Boys" this morning. Boy, can the man tell a story! I have to say, his scary short stories fill me with dread. When I tried reading "Smoke and Mirrors" I quit in the middle, and couldn't stop crying. But his novels I love.
If you're into folklore and storytelling, this book is for you. Now I can listen to the radio version, only just released. So can you, on this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/world_drama.shtml

May I say, thanks again, Neil! I love reading your novels, as well as your blog. You rock. Maybe one day I'll even get that much-craved autograph, for which I couldn't be bothered to stand in line for over an hour....

beurocratic newsflash!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:23:00 +0000

Good morning, faithful readers!

We have finally managed to install a "subscribe to blog via email" widget. Scroll down and look to your right....

I am now officially the most brainless geek I know. Hopefully, some brain functions shall be returned to me after the baby comes.

Have a great Dane!

Busy day

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:30:00 +0000

Today I am crafting away. There is nothing like a clean and ready nursery to prompt one into making decorations. Last night the nursery was finally emptied and washed, the carpet was laid and now it is ready to receive some furniture and some decorations.

So since morning, I've been making little pictures to hang on the walls, as well as a big nursery clock - something to hide away the unsightly ventilation duct they put in the room when it was built.
My theme is Brian Paterson's Foxwood Tales. I got some extremely cute paper napkins with drawings from the book, and also a few canvasses. The idea is to glue the picture layer of the napkin on the canvas, thus getting a ready-made base picture. On it I shall probably add all sorts of embellishments, and finish off with a coat of water-based varnish.
For the clock, I'll poke a hole in the middle of the canvas and attach a clock mechanism.
Also, since I'm already in the mood, a couple of pictures are being made for my darling little niece - one themed "coffee cups", the other "butterflies".

Pictures are to follow once I'm done, I hope.

Weekend in Eilat

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:11:00 +0000

Last weekend we went down south for a bit of R&R. Relaxing, feet up, in the hotel's swimming pool, onlookers would have been able to see this:

Yes! it is the little guy and myself, tanning our white patches and training our brains on some link-a-pix.

The paper bracelet thingy you can see on my right wrist is the hotel's "all-included" tag. And boy, did I include! :-)

Expecting a new family member

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 11:16:00 +0000

There's only a month left, after which our family will be accepting its newest member. All the feelings are mixed and confusing. I can't wait to meet the little guy already, especially when now he becomes so heavy, and moves around constantly. I'm also afraid i'm going to mess him all up. What do I know about motherhood?

So I concentrate on the things I do know about. I'm preparing his room. I'm washing baby clothes. I eat good food and cook a lot for the freezer. and I make crafty decorations. A little cross stitched poem about angels is getting framed, the quilt is done, and i'm contemplating making some paper craft toys, too.

How can I wait another month?

Stirring the cauldron

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:46:00 +0000

Mona from Tufinim has published a venture for joint winter writing. The subject is winter soups. To all my overseas readers, we haven't actually reached winter here yet, and hopes are high that communal winter-soup writing shall bring the desired season closer to us.

So: look out for winter soups in all your favorite foodblogs, coming this november 20th!

The Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:31:00 +0000

Welcome to my new blog!

This blog will be about the good things in life: food and drink, beauty, and, quite possibly, but don't catch me on my word here, cats and babies.

I'd like to apologize to all my Hebrew readers: I know you know enough English to tackle this. Just think of all my English-only readers who'd miss out on my pearls of wisdom if I wrote in Hebrew.

I hope you enjoy reading, and do feel free to comment. Sit back. Have a coffee and some home-made cake. I'm about to start rambling!