Pre and Post Bronte Weekend

Life hasn’t been dull here in Londontown so far in 2010.

School, of course, keeps everyone’s calendar moving, especially w/ coffees. ASL seems to have a coffee venue going at all times.

Last month I popped in for my cups of joe at the 2nd grade meeting. Reading was the hot topic of this one: why kids this age should be reading age-appropriate material rather than the Harry Potters of the world. Word to selves: back off from the over achieving and let the kid get the themes, fluency etc. through books geared for them.
That doesn’t preclude reading Harry Potter w/ child (though around here Harry hasn’t piqued Claire’s interest).

In other news, gone are the dinosaur card catalogues (of course) and on with interactive library space, wherein kids can suggest books to friends, critique books, make book wish lists, etc. All fun and capsizing on the online community/technology this generation embraces. I’m already feeling left behind.

Other coffees:

One about raising girls. Hot topics: perfectionism, eating issues, the “good girl” paralyzed to step out and be herself/excel creatively for fear of misstepping, the “mean” girl myth (usually there isn’t a “mean” girl – there may be an ugly group dynamic or a girl your child views as a threat due to her ability, popularity, etc.). Lots of points to ponder. Including one comment about a 4th grader on a diet… let’s take a step back, people.

I recently also had coffee w/ Abercorn’s class room parents. Nice to catch up w/ a wide array of people – I continue to be amazed/impressed with Abercorn’s international community. Ava’s class has Russia, Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Great Britain, Nigeria, New Zealand, Australia, Cyprus and the U.S. represented.

I did also get to appear in Ava’s class as mystery reader. Some mystery: Miss Waters announced to the whole class the day prior that I would show up to read. Hmm!

And while on the Abercorn topic, I got to escort two students along on the tube/train station field trip last week.

Off we all went, with nearly as many adults as 4 and 5 year olds, to the tube, then to Paddington Station. I’m happy to say we didn’t lose anyone, though one child got her shoe stuck in the escalator at Paddington. She’s fine, shoe didn’t appear to be worse for the wear, either.

Ava and Oduko held hands and ran around the train station in the cold (we had a wicked cold snap last week, naturally on the day we all set off slowly on this trip). I’m not exaggerating when I say half our outing was spent crossing streets, getting everyone re-grouped and counting heads. No wonder home schoolers fly through material. No lining up.

On the agenda for the tube/train station trip: a treasure hunt around Paddington station, wherein kids had to find signs/objects corresponding to their sheets. When they’d checked them off we met at Krispy Crème by Paddington bear for doughnuts. And yes, KK tastes just as good here as at home.

The theatre scene of late took Joe and me to Misanthrope and Oliver.

The former was very well done, very smart, great language but not really my thing. After that and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof I’ll stick to the lighter side for a while.

Oliver was more up my alley; I really enjoy the amazing musicals we can take advantage of here. From the costuming to the music, the acting and dancing to singing, it’s all so professionally executed, and with such warm enthusiasm time and again – how do they do it?!? In Oliver the cast includes many young people (Oliver himself, naturally, and numerous orphans/scamps). Their talent is already amazing.

Other bright spots of late:

- A lunch cooking class at Divertimenti, a culinary store in Marylebone. The theme: Middle Eastern (quick and easy). Lamb tagine (fabulous), a wonderful marinated chicken dish, chick pea salad and rose water ice cream. (Pass on the rose water.) Everything else was delicious and the chef leading the class passed on some great tips and tricks. No cleaning of quails, thankfully!

- Book group – we read and discussed An American Wife in January (how much of it is really “centered” on GW and family, one wonders) and Diplomatic Baggage: The Adventures of a Trailing Spouse by Brigid Keenan. The former was about 150 pages too long, in my mind, but an easy read. The latter wasn’t a great book to discuss but the anecdotes are fun and easy to read; some of the woman’s third world adventures made me laugh out loud.

- Turkish lunch – one of the parents from ASL hosted a big Turkish lunch get together, complete w/ the Turkish ambassador’s wife. We enjoyed wonderful food, can’t begin to tell you the names of dishes but it was all delicious. The best were little tiny meat-stuff dumplings that Turkish women get together and make for special occasions. We even got a demonstration on how to make these delicate, labor-intensive things.

- Topsy Turvy! Claire had a day off recently, so rather than run to a museum and get cultured up a group of us gathered at one of those indoor play places where there are no doubt germs galore. A few hours later, the kids re-surfaced for greasy food, then dove back in, ending the day tired, dirty and happy. We’ll be back there again this week, I suspect.

- Claire’s poetry café. ASL’s 2nd graders presented their poetry works last week, introducing them with video clips. They ended their presentations with animated slides they’d created. Each child’s topic related to a place they enjoyed/had fond memories of (back yard, home country, room, etc.). Claire’s was remembering riding in Kansas City a couple years ago.

- Chinatown! One of the Abercorn moms is half Chinese, so she corralled a group of us to enjoy lunch recently w/ her in Chinatown. It didn’t take much convincing to get me there…so for a few pence (cheapest lunch I’ve had here so far) we all ate tons of Chinese food at the Crispy Duck.

The place is cheap and cheerful, I’d go again in a heartbeat and we rolled out of there stuffed. Afterward we hit the Chinese grocery store across the street with Asian friends Heather and Helen, who regularly shop there. It’s so much fun to peruse all the exotic ingredients (pigs heart, anyone?).

With a recommendation for a “finer dining” Chinese experience, Joe and I made a reservation for Friday evening at Plum Valley, also in Chinatown. We had a fabulous meal there after I hit one of those infamous grocery stores for five spice powder and some other Chinese ingredients (I’m jumping on the Chinese New Year band wagon and making an Asian duck dish later today. That, and chocolate brownies, are on our food agenda -- must celebrate the Chinese holiday and Valentine's!).

Might I add that I was the token white chick in the Chinese grocery store, which was PACKED with Asians as they were preparing for their big holiday.

- On the art end, ASL recently gathered a group to go to a special Indian photography exhibit. All black and whites, the photos – taken by Raghu Rai -- were superb and brilliantly curated at the Aicon Gallery near Piccadilly Circus. Another similar exhibit is opening this month and I’m hoping to go – this one will be larger, featuring works from Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as India.

- Walk in the mud. Last week I set off with 15 other women hikers and our wizened guide, Hugh, to hike 9 miles in Kent. (It sounds exacting, doesn’t it…9 miles. Let me just say the pace was a nice walk.)

This time the weather and ground conditions left much to be desired. Cold and snow flurries (far better than cold and rain or sleet). The ground was muddy, as in that kind that sucks onto the soles of your shoes, making them weigh several pounds. This you could argue merely adds to the exercise quota of said excursion. Or in my case, makes you concerned your shoes are simply going to be sucked off into the abyss of of rural England, and you’ll be forced to trudge back to London in filthy socks. Imagine the looks on the tube as beautifully coiffed business people seek small spaces in which to circumvent your soiled-ness.

Well anyway, suffice it to say I didn’t lose my shoes (they are pretty filthy, though – that would represent a hiking coup I guess; you aren’t really an outdoorsy person if your gear hasn’t fully been inaugurated).

Hours of squishing through mud later we did return to London, having had our fill of fresh air and nature. Our respite: a lovely little pub lunch at mile 5. Oh and a much enjoyed cup of coffee as we waited for our train to take us home.

We were definitely the dirtiest passengers on the return tube trip! Might I also add thank heavens for hot baths.

I’ll await warmer temps for the next sojourn out into the British countryside.

- Belated birthday celebration. Last week we finally pulled Claire’s belated b-day party off at a paint your own pottery place in West Hampstead. She and her 12 friends seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves as they painted pets on plates, then segued into cake and ice cream. Today we’ll shlep up to the place to pick up said plates…the only downer on this expedition is that one plate ended up with a hairline fracture (which apparently is a huge rarity and the entire staff at the place is “devastated”).

Naturally Murphy’s law kicked in and the damaged plate is the birthday girl’s.

We haven’t broken the news to her yet as yesterday she tried out a dance class she was very excited about, only to be disappointed because it is so "not her style."

And yes, she will have the opportunity to re-do her plate, free of charge, etc.

- Burns night. I must say, I’m ignorant of the writings of Robert Burns but apparently he’s Scotland’s most renowned poet. And in 1801, on the fifth anniversary of the death of Robert Burns, nine men who knew him met for dinner in Burns Cottage in Alloway to celebrate his life and works. The meal centered “on a fine fat haggis; with recitation and singing of Burns’s works and a toast (in verse) to the memory of their friend and hero.”

Today Burns night is celebrated every January 25 in various locations throughout the world, and I happily attended my first.

We – an Abercorn parent group – gathered at a local pub to toast Burns – with Haggis and roast beef. (I opted for the latter.)

I don’t know if accompanying each course with whiskey was the traditional Burns celebration, but that’s what our group did. Or I should say I smelled each whiskey, took a tiny sip and passed it down to a big guy a few seats over who drank his, Sarah’s and mine. (I wonder how his January 26 was.)

More on Burns night:

Apparently since the first Burns supper was such a jolly evening, all agreed to meet again the following January for a Birthday Dinner for the bard, little knowing that they had invented a global phenomenon that we know as the BURNS SUPPER – which still broadly follows the Reverend’s original plan.

Burns’s popularity grew rapidly after his untimely death and the idea of meeting annually to share his poems and songs in the bonds of friendship caught the public imagination. Some Ayrshire merchants in Greenock followed with the first Burns Club Supper in January 1802 and the West coast towns with strong links to Rabbie reached out and joined in the new festival: Paisley, Irvine, Kilmarnock and Dumfries.

Typically, a dozen or more men sat down to dine – as often working men as the middle classes – sometimes in a bar Rab had frequented. But the real link was his poetry with its message of love, freedom and the essential value of humanity. Many early suppers were organised by Burns Clubs who exist today, but a big boost in participation came with the big literary Burns Suppers, the original organised by Sir Walter Scott in Edinburgh in 1815 with Hogg the Ettrick Shepherd giving the Immortal Memory.
So now I need to seek out Burns’ works and get up to speed for next year’s Burns event.

On that note, I will leave you (but not before I tack on a recipe I very much enjoyed making and eating recently – simple, fun and quick to the table for a weeknight!).

Lamb Meatballs

1 lb ground lamb
½ c. fresh parsley
2 T onion (chopped)
½ c. feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup kalamata olives, chopped
2 eggs
1 t. Italian seasoning

Mix all, make into 16 meatballs, broil 3 minutes on each side. I served this w/ cous cous. And yes, the kids did eat the meatballs. (Fun food!)

Have a great week, all. It’s mid term break here, with both kids off, so we’ll be hitting the theatre, stables, movies and topsy turvy. And ending things with a brief sojourn to Dorset. May the weather improve rapidly!!!