eat pray love

As a Christmas present to ourselves, we have come to beautiful Bali, and it is so much better than the Julia Roberts movie (which, yes, we watched while captive on the 20 hour flight here).  It's true, there  really are those verdant rice paddies and markets laden with rambutan, durian and papaya.  But thankfully no one here appears to be suffering from a bad case of mid-life crisis.

Ed has been trying to plan a trip to Bali for almost a decade.  But Nicole consistently rejected those plans because of anti-foreigner bombings in 2002 and 2005, anti-Chinese laws and violence or general Acts of God.  This year, however, our friend Jean-Marc opened up a touring company in Bali and, given that the whole world seems to be on a constant Orange Alert, we thought we'd give it try.  So far, it has been a holiday of eating, praying and loving.  But mostly eating.

Here's how we spent our first full day in Bali:

* eat:  We start every morning with a full Indonesian breakfast of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) or Mei Goreng (fried noodles) and fresh juices.  As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Until you get to lunch.

* pray: We first visited a local priest's home where he receives visitors, conducts ceremonies, gives blessings and answers questions about your future.  There are actually four families that live in their compound and two priests.  We wore traditional sarongs and were blessed with coconut water infused with plumeria blossoms.  The priest said that Nicole and Ed were born on sacred days for Balinese Hindus and that we were a good life match (whew!).  He kept asking if there was anything we wanted to know about our future but, honestly, we feel pretty good about the general course of our lives, and knowing the future doesn't seem particularly helpful.  That's ok, too, he said.

* love:  Well, at least admire.  We next went to visit the Njana Tilem Gallery which was the wood carving workshop of a father and son who were famous for their modern, multi-dimensional sculptures in the 1930s and later the 1960s.  Indeed, over the years, hundreds came to apprentice themselves and have become masters in their own right.  The Tilem family and students carry on the tradition with enormous generousity, including providing materials and tools to students who cannot afford it.  They also gave us a lesson using soft soap and their carving tools.  Sophie was a particularly adept carver.  Ed sliced his thumb so that we could make use of our Neosporin.

* eat again:  Then it was time for our cooking lesson.  We learned how to make chicken satay and ground pork steamed in banana leaves.  There is a lot of elbow grease that goes into grinding the spices (even the pepper!) by hand.  Then, we ate.  Again.  And it was delicious.

* love again: This time in the form of massage, which both Ed and Nicole truly love.  We went to Spa Hati -- the commercial arm that generates income for the Bali Hati Foundation, which in turn provides job training and public health education for local Balinese.  How's that for good karma while working out the knots in your shoulders?

* eat, of course: At Bebek Bengil -- or, the Dirty Duck Diner -- which is much more appetizing then it sounds.  We had an exhausting day and only managed to get a block from home before finding this lavish outdoor restaurant laid out across a traditional garden.  The owners named it after a flock of ducks walked over their newly laid floors with muddy webbed feet.  Of course, it specializes in traditional Balinese fare and delicious fried duck.

We are fighting our jet lag, but having a wonderful time.  Here are pics from the first day.  We'll send more soon.

Messages washed up on the beach

Christmas Eve on the beach.  Messages of love and thankfulness for soccer and family.

Overheard

at our dinner table tonight discussing the existence of God.

Anna:  "I think I believe in God.  But, I mean, what does he look like?  Is he some guy tap dancing on the moon?  I just don't know."

Best fact ever

Let's be honest.  You probably don't remember much about President Taft.  Not that he was the instigator of "Dollar Diplomacy" or that he was the only President to also later serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or that, at 300 pounds, he was the heaviest President to ever hold office.  And, in honesty, maybe you don't really care.

But we are thankful for at least one act of the Taft Administration: in 1909, President Taft had the foresight to protect Zion Canyon as a national monument, thus preserving magnificent 150-million-year-old sandstone formations so that Sophie and Anna could oooh and aaah over them last week.

Ok, but all that history was just to whet your appetite.  Here is the best fact ever:

Rain water filters down through these pre-historic sandstone cliffs until it hits a bed of impermeable slate and then it starts to move sideways.  That's what we see as "seepage" or "weeping" from the rocks.  Like this:

Scientists estimate that the water is between 800 and 1200 years old.  What!?!?!  How cool is that?

And if you think that's neat, you'll be even more impressed to hear that the girls walked more than a mile in 100 degree heat to stand in the shower of these ancient waters.  To keep cool, we did a fantastic hike (recommended by our friend, Mike) through The Narrows, which is a hike through a river and between sheer rock cliffs.  You need special but unglamorous shoes like these:

In some places, the girls were up to their chests in the water which made for a cool walk in all senses of the word

Anna & Sophie in the river:

And on the rocks:

 
 And sunning themselves like lizards:

And for those who like live action:



It was all spectactular.  See our full album of Zion here.

Can't believe our summer's already coming to a close!  Hope you're all enjoying your last days too!

Leaving Las Vegas

We've been waiting all summer for a fun family vacation.  So, like good parents, we took the kids to Vegas.  And, as better parents, we beat a path out of there within 36 hours.  What can we say?  The Southwest tickets were cheap.

We did see a couple shows (Phantom of the Opera on the way in; O on the way out).  In fact, there were a lot of sights that we don't ususally find at home.  Billboards for babes, guns and bail bonds, for example.  Sophie saw a billboard for "The Thunder Down Under" with a lot of bare-chested men in tight jeans.  "What's that advertisement for, Mommy?" she asked.  "If they're trying to sell clothes, they're not wearing very much of it."  What is there to say?  "Good point," I told her.

It was 108 degrees in Vegas and we hit the pool at 8 am -- a pool that is only 3 1/2 feet at its deepest and lined with beach chairs at the shallow ends.  Which is to say, these are pools in which to be seen, not to swim.  That, of course, explains the boys with the rhinestone-studded D&G sunglasses and the girls in sequined bikinis.  "Why do the girls wear so much make up?" asked our observant daughters.  "It will just come off in the pool." Yet another good point.

By mid-day, even the pool was too hot, and the girls were tired of the craps tables, so we headed out to Hoover Dam.  Other than being 115 degrees outside (but a water-cooled 75 degrees inside), the dam is very impressive.  Although it generates enough hydroelectric power to serve 1.3 million people in Nevada, Arizona and California, the electricity is just a by-product.  The primary purpose of the dam is to manage ebb and flow of the Colorado River, ensuring that desert inhabitants in those three states keep their golf courses healthy.

After a day and a half, Ed made the excellent decision to leave quickly and get on the road to Zion National Park.  Phew.  Grungy hippies in Keenes, carrying their eco-friendly Sigg water bottles.  Not a rhinestone or sequined bikini in sight.  We felt so much more at home.

Da kine surf

We wish it were endless summer, but it's all passing too fast.  We spent Fourth of July at the beach, bringing our friend Louis along for the ride.  Sophie, Louie and Ed took some longboards out at Cardiff State Beach.  Sophie caught just about every wave.  Mom is thinking sponsorships.  It's kind of tiny but, check it:

Poetry Cafe

April was National Poetry Month.  In case you missed it, Anna wanted to share a poem she wrote for her Poetry Cafe.

Inside My Heart

Inside my heart live two crazy hobbling cousins

One creative sister

One absolutely charming mother

Two gladly giving great grandparents

One chuckling dad

One super loving grandmother

And one awesome grandfather

All with me!

Overheard

after seeing Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:

Sophie: How old is Johnny Depp?
Mommy: Oh, he's older.  He's probably around my age.
Sophie: Well, that's not old at all.
Mommy: I love you very much.

Aloooooha!

 
It is warm and beautiful in Hawaii!  The girls had not been here since they were toddlers and had no memories of it.  So, we made many of them on the Big Island, from hiking to Akaka Falls and Volcanoes National Park to snorkling in Kealakekua Bay.  Check out our album.

Here are some things we learned about Hawaii:

* Hawaiian is a fascinating language.  It has only twelve letters (a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m n, p. w) and an okina (which is symbol to pause).  To pronounce words correctly, you have to slow down and pronounce EV-ER-Y SYL-LA-BLE.  If you really want to challenge yourself, try pronouncing the name of Hawaii's state fish: humuhumunukunuku'āpua'a.  Yeah, go ahead and try again.  It means "fish with a pig's nose."  Or you could just call it a Triggerfish.

* The Big Island is home to the world's largest astronomical observatory, Mauna Kea, with telescopes operated by astronomers from eleven countries. The combined light-gathering power of the telescopes on Mauna Kea is fifteen times greater than that of the Palomar telescope in California -- for many years the world's largest -- and sixty times greater than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.  We had a nice chat with the lady at the Visitor's Center in Waimea but you can actually tour the observatory located at 14,000 feet (which we didn't do this time).

* One of First Lady Barbara Bush's finest acts was to advocate for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the single largest conservation area in the United States, and one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.  It encompasses 139,797 square miles of the Pacific Ocean (105,564 square nautical miles) - an area larger than all the country's national parks combined.  We stumbled upon the Education Center in Hilo (while on the hunt for fresh sugar cane which, sadly, we did not find).

* Notwithstanding the Bush Administration's contributions to Hawaii, the people love their hometown hero, Barak.  There are a lot of Obama bobble-heads stocked on the shelves.

Oh, it wasn't all so educational.  We did a lot of lounging at the pool and chatting.  We amended the rules for pre-dinner desserts, which you can read about on our dessert blog.  And here, you can eavesdrop on one of our breakfast conversations:


We had bunches of fun and hope to go back soon.  Happy Spring Break!

We have a dream

...that one day our daughters will have the table manners necessary to dine at the White House.  We may not get there with them, but we have seen the promised land.

After bidding Aunt Dee and NYC a fond farewell, we boarded the Acela down the Northeast Corridor to Washington, DC.  It was a whirlwind trip through the Nation's Capitol, but here are some of the highlights:

* The Capitol Building Tour:  Years of polarizing and cynical shenanigans have left us largely distrustful of our nation's politicians.  But in the great rotunda of the Capitol, we were reminded that this country was founded with an enormous optimism and ambition that the people should rule themselves.  It's a complicated and messy system, but on the whole, we are very proud to play our part in it.

* National Air and Space Museum:  Sophie has been asking how airplanes fly, and Mom and Dad didn't have very good answers.  Which is to say, they didn't know.  But the museum had a whole exhibit about how things fly (remember: drag, lift, thrust, weight).  We also saw the 3D movie of footage taken by astronauts and cosmonauts on the international space station.  A must see.  Here's an important lesson: you can cut your hair in space with vacuum hair snippers, but it is not recommended to eat popcorn in bed because the kernels float all over the place.

[Culinary note: Don't plan to eat at the museum.  Their onsite restaurant is a McDonald's/Boston Market.  Our organically-attuned children won't eat McDonald's -- even when we plead with them -- which made for a trying meal.  We hear the food at the National Museum of the American Indian next door is far superior.]

* International Spy Museum:  We adopted "cover" identities and proceeded into training.  All those gadgets in James Bond flicks and Get Smart shows?  They really had that stuff!!  Even a phone in a shoe!  We thought it was just Hollywood, but real spies have fantastic imaginations.

* National Museum of American History:  This is Mommy's favorite museum.  The hall of the Presidents is fascinating and Sophie and Anna stood at a mock podium for the POTUS.  There was also a great demonstration on how to conduct a sit-in at a lunch counter.  Among the pop culture artifacts, we saw Judy Garland's ruby slippers and Kermit the Frog (Apolo Ohno's skates were there too, which is interesting but, with all due respect to Apolo, feels a little pre-mature.  How can that place in the same exhibit with Evil Knievel's Harley-Davidson?).

* Dinner with old friends:  We got to catch up with Mommy's college roommate, Kat, Chris and kids.  The girls had a great time playing with Jules and Oliver and they ate multiple helpings of Kat's excellent coq au vin.  Thanks so much for the lovely meal and making us feel at home!!

* The Lincoln Memorial:  On a cold and blustery day, we ventured to the majestic Lincoln Memorial.  The park ranger was friendly and knowledgeable.  Here are a few fun facts: the statue of Lincoln has one hand open and one hand in a fist.  Apparently this was to reflect the President's character of being open and fair, but determined.  His chair is flanked by bundled rods representing the strength of individual rods bound together -- much as the states are stronger as a union.

From the steps of the memorial, looking out over the Reflecting Pool in the place that Martin Luther King, Jr. let freedom ring, Anna delivered her first address.


We're planning to come back soon.  We still want to visit the White House and we're working hard on table manners for the occasion.  In the meantime, here are memories from this President's Week.

Frolicking in the aftermath of Snowmageddon

Ok, this post is long overdue and we actually thought about back-dating it.  But that seems kind of like the blogger's form of cheating.  The fact is that we had a wonderful President's Day week on the East Coast and we were just too busy to write it all down.  So, here's a snapshot of our first stop in New York.

We spent four fantastic snowy days with Aunt Dee in NYC.  Really, really snowy.  We imagine that after being dumped on for the first half of February, New Yorkers were probably pretty sick of it.  But not us.  We like to watch it, walk in it, feel it land on our noses, roll it into snowballs and hear it splat solidly on Daddy's back.  Here's a video of our high tea experience and a view of the white doughnut of Columbus Circle.
 

The girls are at that magical age where they can really appreciate New York.  We were all agog at the view of the Empire State Building when we drove into Manhattan (this is probably because we've read so many Percy Jackson books that we really do believe Mt. Olympus is on the 600th Floor).  We sang along to Mamma Mia! at the Winter Garden (yes, we know all the words to ABBA's greatest hits, thank you very much).  To see the real New York, we also visited with Dad's friend, Anthony, and his family (mmmm, home-cooked lasagna!) and later spent hours in Anthony's magical bead shop, Metalliferous.  Well-supplied, the girls made beautiful necklaces and bracelets (Differing aesthetics: Sophie likes to make things in randomized sequences of complementary colors.  Anna likes a strict pattern embellished with a dramatic central piece).

In the middle of the Big City, we discovered wild life (that was no longer wild or live) at the Natural History Museum (see Sophie's "safari" photos here).  Anna celebrated her 7th birthday in high style at Cookshop in Chelsea.  In accordance with the new dessert rules, it was the Birthday Girl's prerogative to have dessert before dinner, but she decided to have her main meal first and savor Cookshop's yummy handmade candybar as her last taste.  Happy Birthday Anna Banana!

Why wait until the end?

Over the last few months, we've had many "blogworthy" moments, but the holidays finally motivated us to re-boot The Honeychurch Chronicles.  There's New Year's Resolution #1: start blogging again.  Happy New Year, everyone!

We celebrated post-Christmas in Palm Springs with a wonderful family dinner.  It was a fancy dinner with candlelight and cloth napkins and whatnot.  So, of course, Anna wore her red flannel nightgown with a faux cheetah fur poncho.  We are at the height of fashion.  But back to the dinner -- it was multiple courses with superb wine and, most impressively, sorbet served in between courses.

Sorbet!  In the middle of dinner?!?  The girls are absolutely flabbergasted that we've kept this culinary highlight from them for all these years.  Why don't we eat dessert in the middle of every meal?  Why doesn't everyone eat dessert in the middle of their meal?  Why should anyone wait until the end?

That was when we had a family brainstorm:  we should start a dessert blog focused on sweets that go well in between courses.  And we're going to call it "Why wait until the end?" (That was Anna's genius contribution.)  Ok, so it's a bit of a niche audience, but the research requirements alone make it a worthwhile endeavor.  Watch for it here.  There's New Year's Resolution #2: eat more dessert.

2009 was a tumultuous year for the world, but on the whole a very good year for our family.  We spent a lot of time together this past summer.  While some of our family have had some health issues and we've lost some dear relatives, we have also grown closer, made new friends and gained a stray cat named Lulu and a North American box turtle named Noodle.  We are happy, healthy and thriving.  New Year's Resolution #3:  keep doing that.

Here are the rest of our resolutions.

Sophie's Resolution: Sophie had an absolutely tremendous soccer season last fall.  She plays offense and defense and is a real thinking athlete.  Her New Year's Resolution is to score a goal off a team other than the Cheetahs.

Anna's Resolution:  Sometimes it is hard getting up in the morning. Or finishing our breakfast.  Or brushing our teeth.  Or finding an outfit that suits us.  Or finding a pair of socks that feel right.  This can make us late.  Anna's New Year's Resolution is to get to school on time.

Daddy's Resolution: Ed juggles many, many things.  From running his company (watch out Razor) to coaching Anna's soccer team (go Falcons!) to exercising every day.  His New Year's Resolution is to work smarter so that he has even more time to get things done and play with us.

Mommy's Resolution: Nicole tweaked her back over the holidays.  And it wasn't doing anything glamourous like tripping the light fantastic or something noble like saving a child from a well.  She was lifting the Thanksgiving turkey.  That's just sad and lame and there's really no other explanation than that she's getting old.  So, Nicole's New Year's Resolution is to exercise at least twice a week.

We'll let you know how the resolving goes this year.  Hope you all find joy and laughter in 2010!

P.S. Thanks to Aunt Dee for the beautiful holiday photo above.