Evie: “They had plain yogurt there! It was called, ‘plain’.”
Sara: “Alex, did you know someday you’ll get to try yogurt?”
Ollie: “And someday you’ll die.”
Sara: “Evie, can you go to Alex…”
Evie, rolling her eyes: “Ugggggh!”
Sara: “…and read your book out loud to him?”
Evie, complete reversal: “Okay!!”
::later::
Evie: “Is it okay to read scary things to Alex?”
Evelyn’s class has been experimenting with having a university student come in periodically and discuss philosophy with them. This is not just idle chatter; they get into some really deep issues:
We will examine such topics as: What is wisdom? Where do we come from? Why do people suffer? Is it always wrong to tell a lie? What rights do animals have? What does it mean to be human? What is real? Will there ever be world peace?
Evelyn is just the perfect age and temperament for this and she has taken to it like a fish to water. Naturally, the first thing she wants to do is test her newfound philosophical skills on her brother.
The number of times we have had a discussion in the house like:
Evie: “Oliver, are you alive?”
Ollie: “Yes.”
Evie: “But how do you know?”
Ollie: “Because I’m breathing.”
Evie: “But how do you know you’re breathing?”
Ollie: “Evelynnnnn!”
Evie: “Well, how do you know you’re breathing?”
Ollie: “Because my chest is going up and down.”
Evie: “But how do you KNOW your chest is going up and down?”
It goes around and around like this for some time until Ollie is in tears. At one point we had to forbid her discussing philosophy with Ollie because he was waking up in the night terrified with existential dread. It was too much for a 5 year old to handle: What is the meaning of life? Is anything even real? HOW DO WE EVEN KNOW IF WE’RE ALIVE AND NOT JUST A FIGMENT OF EVELYN’S DREAMS???
You can imagine.
Sometimes I think, “What must it be like to be her brother?” but then I think about similar things I did to my younger siblings, and I think it was probably pretty similar. They can chime in, but I’m pretty sure I probably did this kind of thing to them too.
Anyway, I think Ollie’s finally gotten over it (or at least it has gotten so commonplace as to be boring), because this morning at breakfast I heard this conversation:
Evie: “Oliver, is that your real name?”
Ollie, wearily: “Yes Evie, a mad scientist didn’t poke my brain.”
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
Ollie’s class has been “eating the alphabet” this year. From his teacher:
C was Chana Masala, an Indian chickpea curry dish. And the kids GOBBLED it up. They loved it. We insisted that everyone take at least one bite – and a good deal of the class ate and ate and ate.
Well, we’ve made this a couple of times now, and his enthusiasm hasn’t waned.
BUT I CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO COOL IT’S TOO DELICIOUS
I love Indian food as much as the next guy, and I never seem to eat it often enough. By which I mean, no matter how often I eat it, it could always be more.
It is almost comedic how many spices are in this. Here is a picture of the aftermath, and believe me, this wasn’t all of it.
(My favorite part of this picture is the spray of red in the lower right corner there. Did the paprika get out of control in the madness of supper prep? Did the cayenne explode in an ecstasy of flavor? Did Ollie have to cut someone to get an extra helping? We don’t know.)
::sigh::
This is a good recipe, but I just have not been able to master making Indian food like a native. I understand I didn’t exactly grow up making this kind of food, but…there’s something I’m missing. Maybe the chickpeas need to cook longer? I don’t know.
In the meantime, Ollie sure doesn’t seem to mind this as a suitable replacement.
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.
Today’s earworm: Genghis Khan by Miike Snow.
Cannot stop singing this song. Cannot stop watching this video. Cannot condone spelling Mike with two ‘ii’s.
As long as we’re talking guilty pleasures, I have to admit that I have been going back to watch the Bruno Mars dance segments of the halftime show. Just don’t tell Evelyn that Bruno Mars and the boys out-danced Beyonce…sore subject in our house.
Here you go (edited to completely ignore Coldplay):
So…I started this post 3 months ago, with the idea of showcasing the baby things we knitted in preparation of Alex’s arrival. Somehow I only managed to do a post about the sweater *I* knit, but never quite highlighted all of the things that Sara knit.
Just to prove how late I am in posting this, the astute among you will probably notice the one in the middle is no longer necessary since Alex ended up being a boy. And in fact it is already out of date, since Sara has knit some additional things since Alex was born (I guess that can be a future post!)
Many of these things have shown up in pictures already, such as the outfit Alex wore home from the hospital, and others have not, even though Alex wears them quite frequently.
The blanket is certainly the highlight, in my opinion. It is one of the most beautiful and unique blankets I have ever seen, and if anything, it looks better in person. Definitely a great keepsake, as baby blankets should be.
Sorry it took me so long to get this one up! Better late than never!
Shane Halbach 