Happy Birthday to me

Brett made me an awesome birthday dinner on Thursday. All week he had been asking me what I wanted for my birthday dinner. Since it was a weeknight and we have kids, it made the answer very simple:

"Not a restaurant because that's more work for me to bring food for Pierce and keep the kids happy while we wait for our food. Not some fancy complicated meal that you have to cook and I have to watch the kids by myself all night then sit by myself while you do dishes. Nothing that I have to cook myself."

That left me with one option: something that requires no cooking and no dishes... A French-style meal of just cheese, bread, salad and wine. Perfect!

So, Brett got 7 different cheeses from Southern Season and had the cheese monger arrange them from mildest to strongest. He also paired the cheeses with wine (red for the milder ones and white for the more pungent ones). And he sort of broke the rules by preparing escargots. But all he had to do was stuff the shells and heat them, so it wasn't too much cooking. And they were wonderful.

Dinner was awesome, but I was so stuffed after we (almost) finished all the cheeses that I was actually disappointed when he told me he had dessert! Wow!

Thanks for an awesome birthday dinner, Brett. It matched all my criteria - not in a restaurant, no cooking and (almost) no dishes.

Prayer of St. Francis

A good friend of mine recently posted this prayer on her blog and I really enjoyed reading it. So I'm copying it from her to share with my friends and family. Thanks, Gina! Gina recently went through the RCIA program to become Catholic (like I did years ago). She is an awesome example of a strong Christian and Catholic. Those converts always seem to make the best Catholics! :)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope
where there is darkness, light
where there is sadness, joy
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Congratulations, Dad!

The reason we all went to Spain was to see my dad recieve an Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Miguel Hernandez in Elche, Spain. This award is an extremely special honor bestowed upon someone who has made great contributions to his field of research and teaching. It was a great excuse to get all of my dad's family together, including his wife and her two daughters and granddaughter. We really enjoyed spending time with Knox, Julie, Gemma, Andy, baby Savannah, and Heidi!

Dad's ceremony was really nice. He got a fancy outfit, hat, ring, gloves and honorary degree. They even had a pianist play a marvelous jazz ensemble for him during the ceremony.

Thanks for inviting us, Dad! Great job!

And they're off!

Just the other day I looked at Pierce as he was chasing his sister around the living room and I realized what a big boy he was becoming. It was a nice day out, so I ran up to the attic, grabbed the tricycle and brought it down for him to try. It just seemed like he was ready for it. Well, his little feet didn't quite touch the pedals, but the look in his eyes let me know he was ready to go! He was so excited to ride it and once we got going you could tell how proud he was of himself. What a cutie! Sydney enjoyed taking her brother out for his first ride.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar visits Spain

Brett and I had the absolute pleasure of spending last week in Spain with my brother Ian and his wife Nathalie. We had a wonderful time visiting the cities of Madrid, Toledo, Campo de Criptana, Chinchilla de Monte Aragon and Alicante. One of the things Brett and I were most looking forward to in our trip were quality and uninterrupted meals with no dishes to do and no children to feed! So we ended up eating our way through Spain with enthusiasm and seemingly insatiable hunger! On many occasions I thought about that iconic children's story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We were that caterpillar! Especially on Saturday as we feasted our way through Madrid on a five hour tapas bar crawl. Just as the caterpillar ate one piece of chocolate cake, one slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami and so on until he had a major stomach ache, our meal went something like this:

One spanish ham and manchego croissant

One beer

One glass of port

One bowl of garlic shrimp

One bowl of breaded fried shrimp

One glass of wine

One plate of crispy fried pigs ear (mmm, cartilage)

One plate of olives

One glass of wine

One plate of stuffed mushrooms

One glass of sangria

One plate of spanish cheeses

One glass of wine

And One cone of gelatto!

And after that, we were finally full!

On Sunday we also had a green leaf sort of day to cleanse ourselves from the indulgences of Saturday night.

Eating tapas is such a fun and unique experience. The idea of a social and mobile meal that involves exercise and small portions is such a contrast to the American way of eating. Taking pleasure in food and making it the center of conversation during a five hour meal is really a cultural experience that you have to leave the US to enjoy. We ate each plate of food at a different bar and probably walked over a mile during the meal. We were in the good company of hundreds of thousands of other people (literally!) crowding the bars and streets of Madrid into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

There were many many more adventures to recount from our trip to Spain. I'll try to highlight a few of them on my blog as I find time in the next few days.