Another great day

Friday was another one of those perfect days. It started out with a trip to the zoo. I took Isabella, Melanie, and Maddie (Isabella's best friend). It's especially fun when a friend comes along due to how Isabella lights up around her playmates. The fun started on the drive over. Isabella and Maddie were both in the back seat and this conversation started completely spontaneously -

Isabella - "I'm going to be a monster for Halloween."

Maddie - "I'm going to be a mermaid for Halloween."

Isabella - "I have the movie 'The Little Mermaid'."

Maddie - "I have that movie too. It's at my cousin's house."

Isabella - "I have a cousin named Travis."

Maddie - "I have lots of cousins."

Isabella - "I have 7 cousins!"

etc.

Then, later in the drive, we drove over a bridge. Maddie suddenly said "We are going over some water. We have to ROW!" Isabella and Maddie then proceeded to pretend to pretend to row while enthusiastically singing "Row, Row, Row the boat" over and over and over again. Kids are so silly and fun.

At the zoo Isabella and Maddie continued to delight in spending time together. They even held hands while we walked around.

First we went to see the Lions. I've been to the zoo about 20 times but this was my most up close and personal interaction with the king of the jungle himself. He looked right at me for a long time and I could tell he was thinking "food". Then he started roaring continuously for a while. After a few minutes of roaring Maddie said "I don't want to look at the lion any more. He's scary." I had to admit that was a healthy fear, so we moved on.

Next up was some time hanging with a peacock (they walk around freely at the zoo). Check this one out. So amazing! I've seen peacock's before but was newly impressed with their incredible beauty. Wow.

We then went to see the monkeys. Near the live monkeys was a monkey sculpture that the kids could climb on. Maddie looked right at one of the fake monkeys and said (very seriously) "I'm a zookeeper and I will take care of you."

After the monkeys I asked Isabella and Maddie what they wanted to see next. They said "Lets look at the map", studied it together, and decided where we would go. So grown up!!!

Next up - the hippos (both real and bronze).

And of course, no trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the historic carousel.

On Melanie's end, she was happy as long as she could cuddle up to her mom in the baby carrier. I like cuddling with her too.


All in all, another fun day at the zoo. Yay for motherhood!!!

The joys of motherhood

Melanie has been pretty sick for the last few days. The other night she kept me up a lot as sick babies tend to need to nurse more often, plus she was coughing constantly and I'm a light sleeper. I was so out of it the next morning that I literally got into the shower with my shirt on. I was standing there for a few seconds thinking "Something isn't right.... what's different?" until I finally figured out what was going on.

Then later that day I had an extra special sick-baby experience. Melanie had been vomiting frequently simply because of all the coughing (when a baby coughs a lot it's shocking enough to their system that they often throw up whatever is in their stomach). Thus far I had been pretty skilled at detecting the pre-puke-face and would tilt her off my lap so that she puked on the wood floor (easy to wipe up). This time, though, I wasn't so lucky. She puked so much that it got in my hair, all over my shirt, down my shirt and into my bra (!), inside my belly button, on my pants, into my pants and onto my underwear. She didn't get my socks because, well, I wasn't wearing socks! Needless to say I threw everything I was wearing into the washer and took a shower. Ew!

Ah, the joys of motherhood!

The incredible shrinking Holly

I am now 50 lbs less than the day before I gave birth to Melanie just 6 months ago. Here are my weight loss tips -

1. Eat as much as you want, all the time. Include such items as home made ice cream, cheesecakes, bacon, and whatever else seems delicious and full of extra fatty goodness.
2. Breastfeed
3. Do yoga every day
4. 1-2 times a week take your baby (or someone else's baby), put him/her in a baby carrier, and hike up Tiger Mountain

It's as simple as that!

An idyllic day

Anyone who has kids knows that there are good days and bad days. You shrug off the tough days while savoring and embracing the good ones. Yesterday was a very good day.

I woke up early in the morning and taught back to back 90min yoga classes from 6-9:15am. Yay for yoga! I then went downstairs to find that John had already taken Isabella to pre-school and was home with Melanie. I was very tired and only had a couple hrs with Melanie before a noon event at Isabella's pre-school, and magically Melanie went down for a nap right away and I was able to sleep with her. Yay for sleep! The gods were truly smiling on me. Melanie and I woke up at noon, went to Isabella's pre-school for a party celebrating some French holiday (something involving kids under the table and a crowned king and queen for the day), and then went to the grocery. Amazingly, Isabella did not run away from me or knock anything over at the store. Astounding! Anyway, we came home and played around in the living room. Melanie spent a bunch of time on the floor working on crawling. She can't crawl yet, but is just barely learning to push into her arms so that she scoots backwards. When it's your own kid you celebrate every new movement, every new skill, and so I delighted in laying around on the floor, petting Ellie, and watching Melanie grow.



Eventually I put Melanie down for a nap and had some 1:1 time with Isabella. Every afternoon Melanie takes a 3-4 hr nap (yes, really that long) and I get wonderful time to focus solely on my first born. On this particular day I suggested we make paper bag puppets. I'm not very artistic, but this seemed to be a project w/in my grasp.



I let Isabella cut out the teeth for my puppet. The result was wonderfully fierce and vampire like.

Then, Isabella and I went up to her room to read books. Recently we put an extra comfy reading chair in her room. I love going up there, just the 2 of us, to cuddle and read as Melanie naps. She goes to her shelves, picks out her current favorites, climbs into my lap, and leans her head against my neck. Pure bliss. Here is a self portrait -

After about 10 books I made dinner, then Mary came over to watch the kids while I taught my 2hr advanced evening class. During the class I was reminded of how much I love my students and of how healing it is to share my studio with them.

Yet again, I am filled with gratitude for all that I have.

Why is it...

Why is it so incredibly hilarious when Isabella tortures the dog?

or so incredibly endearing when Isabella and John 'fix' the sink together? Isabella saw John working on the sink, carried her play tool bench all the way down the stairs, and said "I'm going to help you, Dada. Can you move please so that I can use my tools? My turn, Dada, my turn!"

or so endlessly sweet to see your kids cuddling, no matter how many times you have seen it before?

I love my family.

Sweet yoga

This evening I sat in my studio, doing yoga, gazing upon the falling snowflakes.


I was reminded that my life is perfect, and that any imperfections are simply slight variations on a diamond that is so much more beautiful for being unique and non uniform.

I guess that is what yoga is all about - connecting, centering, filling with gratitude for all that one has, letting go of all that needs to be let go of.

Abyss

Recently I took Melanie and Isabella to my parents house in Andover, MA for a week.

My parents have a large and beautiful home that is full of many beautiful things. My mother is an artist and so the walls are covered with her paintings, the floors are covered with beautiful painted canvas floor coverings, and the spots in between are used to display her huge collection of sculptures from Indonesia and New Guinea. In addition to being an artist my mother is really really REALLY into kids. She had 5 of her own and currently has 9 grandchildren. She loves having these grandchildren over and so she collects lots of toys for them to use when they are around - a play kitchen with baskets of play food, an indoor see saw, a full sized ski ball machine (!), a play tool bench, infinite art supplies for kiddie projects, shelves and shelves of kids books, blocks, balls, multiple tricycles, miniature doll houses, the list goes on.

The result - lots and lots of STUFF. I say this all in good fun, knowing my mom will read it. Mom - I love you and all your stuff! Anyway, lots and lots of stuff.

At one point Isabella lost one of her slippers. I searched and searched but couldn't find it among all the stuff. Isabella said "Where is my slipper?" I said "I don't know... the Abyss swallowed it."

Wow... I would soon come to both regret and celebrate the introduction of the topic of an "Abyss". The day went like this -

I: "What's an abyss?"

H: " Um... an abyss is a great expanse of space... so great that it can swallow things up and they disappear forever."

I: "Does it have a mouth?"

H: "No... it doesn't have an actual mouth... stuff just sort of falls into it."

I: "Does it have eyes?"

H: "No"

I: "Will it eat me?"

H: "No it won't eat you!"

I: "Why?"

H: "Because you are too big."

I: "Will it eat Melanie, since she is smaller than me?"

H: "No, the abyss doesn't eat people."

I: "Why?"

H: "Because people make sounds, and if you fall into the abyss then we could find you when you make a sound."

I: "Will the abyss eat this turtle ?"

H: "Yes, the abyss could eat the turtle."

I: "But the turtle makes sounds."

H: "Yes, but the turtle only makes sounds when it is moving, and so it could be swallowed by the abyss and we wouldn't know it was there since it wouldn't be moving."

I: " Could the abyss eat the pool table?"

H: "Yes"

I: "But the pool table is too big!"

H: "Yes it is big, and usually big things are less likely to be swallowed by the abyss, but in this case you can see that the pool table is starting to get swallowed up by all the stuff on top of it, so much so that you can't actually use the pool table, you can barely even see it, so in this case the pool table might get swallowed by the abyss."

I: "But it is too big!"

H: (repeats last answer)

I: "Is there an abyss under my bed?"

H: "No, there is no abyss under your bed."

I: "Where are all the abysses?"

H: "There is one around the pool table, one in Grandma/Grandpa's storage area, and one in their fridge."

I: "Do we have an abyss at home?"

H: "Yes, behind our couch."

This went on and on ALL day. She asked perhaps 100 questions, trying to get the concept of an 'abyss'.

Then, that evening, Isabella knocked her spoon off the table while eating dinner. I said "Where is your spoon?" She said "The abyss ate it!" Later on she called her dad on the phone. During the conversation she came running over to me and said "Mama, Dada says there is an abyss in the garage!!!"

And then as I was tucking her in - "Mama, will the abyss eat me while I am sleeping?"

Days later, the questions are just starting to wane. Yay for inquisitive kids.

Truffles

Recently, John and I immerse ourselves in holiday truffle making.

Truffle making is a huge undertaking. Even when you are experienced, it never stops being a ton of work. Here's why -

A truffle consists of an inner ganache and an outer shell. A ganache is basically chocolate that is flavored and softened in some way - so it could be white chocolate softened with cream and flavored with cherry oil, or dark chocolate thinned with amaretto, or even milk chocolate spiced with cayenne pepper. The tricks to making a good ganache are -


1. Don't burn the chocolate! Dark choc will burn at 120 degrees, Milk at 115, White at 110. When you melt chocolate in the microwave (which my truffle making teacher told me is the best way, better than on a double boiler due to risk of water/steam messing up the chocolate), the chocolate can get hot FAST. You won't even know the chocolate is burnt until you mix in your cream, integration doesn't happen, the chocolate freezes up, and you stand there going "What the f$$## happened?". If you reach this point, then your chocolate is ruined and you have to throw it in the garbage. If you were mixing in cream that was already flavored in some way (such as with citrus zest that you spent 30min micro planing), then you have wasted a LOT of time and money. The best way is, of course, very time consuming - heat the chocolate for 30 seconds, scrape bowl with a rubber spatula, then 15 seconds, then 6 seconds over and over and over again. It can take a long time and the urge to speed up the process can be overwhelming, but resistance is critical!


2. Don't burn the chocolate! If you are mixing in some sort of flavor infused cream, make sure the cream is sufficiently cool. If the cream is warm or neutral to your skin then it is ok. If it feels hot, then it might burn your chocolate.



3. Not too thin, not too thick - learn how to make your ganache the right consistency.

• If you are pipetting the ganache into a molded shell then you need it runny or it won't flow. Do not refrigerate the ganache else it will be unusable. You must have your shells ready so that you can pipette the ganache in fairly soon after the ganache is made.


• If you are rolling your ganache into balls for hand dipping then you must refrigerate the ganache to make it firm. Some ganaches (such as white chocolate ganaches) benefit from longer cooling periods (overnight), some (such as dark chocolate varieties) benefit from shorter (3 hrs or less) times in the fridge. You have to play and practice so that you can learn your ganaches, as they will all behave differently. You will mess up many times and will have to try, try again. You can't force ganache to work the way you want it to. If a white chocolate ganache isn't firm enough then game over - it just won't dip. This can happen even if you are using dark chocolate, as some flavorings (such as mint extract or amaretto) will make the ganache very thin. Try, try again.

Anyway, once you have successfully made your ganache and rolled it into balls (we will skip any discussions of molding for now), you are ready to dip!

Here's the kicker - you can't just melt chocolate and then dip the balls, else the chocolate comes out all crumbly and streaky. Chocolate has to be tempered. Tempering is a process by which you melt all the 'bad' crystals and get the 'good' crystals to grow. If you play your cards right, the chocolate ends up shiny with snap. You do it like this -

1. Chop chocolate into small bits using a chocolate breaking fork.


2. Put chocolate in microwave, melt carefully (in stages, scraping in between, so that it doesn't burn, per above instructions)


3. Using a digital thermometer, get chocolate to 115 (110 for white) so that the 'bad' crystals melt out.


4. Put melted chocolate on a marble slab (a heat sink) and agitate (scrape) it repeatedly as you bring temperature down below 84 degrees. The agitation is required, and you shouldn't cool it too quickly else the chocolate will get 'shocked' and will harden (i.e. make sure your marble slab isn't too cold before you start).


5. Once chocolate is down to 84 degrees, you must bring the temperature back up to 88/89 degrees to melt any remaining 'bad' crystals. So pop it back in the microwave. Don't let it exceed 91 degrees, else go back to step 3 (because you will have melted both the bad and good crystals and need to go back through the agitating and cooling step to get the good crystals back)


6. Your chocolate is now tempered! You have about 8 minutes before the chocolate cools enough for it to go out of temper, so dip FAST!


7. Wait for dipped truffles to dry and then you will find out if you messed up any of the above steps. If you made any mistakes then all of your truffles will be streaky and unusable. You will feel like smashing your marble slab over your head.

---OR---

1. Buy a chocolate tempering machine. Turn it on, put chocolate in, wait for the beep, put a bit more chocolate in (as seed to kick start the good crystals), wait for next beep, then dip. You can now take your time dipping, as the machine keeps the chocolate agitated and keeps it at the right temp. VOILA!


2. Dip truffles, observe the perfect temper that the machine produces every single time! You will be loving life.

Needless to say that after many tempering joys (and pains) with the marble slab, John bought me a tempering machine. Back then I was way too cheap to buy one for myself, so he gave it to me for Christmas in 2003. We have never looked back.

This year we made 3 kinds of truffles in the following quantities -

1. White chocolate citrus ganache dipped in dark chocolate - 138 truffles


2. Dark chocolate raspberry ganache dipped in dark chocolate - 125 truffles


3. 2 layer bar truffles - milk chocolate coffee, dark chocolate hazelnut (dipped in dark chocolate) - 110 truffles

The white chocolate citrus truffles have always been my favorite and are made as follows (recipe is for 120-130 truffles, I recommend doing 1/4 this many if it's your first time) -

1. Micro plane zest the peel off of 6 oranges, 4 lemons, and 4 limes.


2. Pour 2 cups of cream over zest, bring to boiling on stove, boil for 1min, turn off heat, let steep for 10min


3. While cream is steeping, melt 2lbs white chocolate


4. Using cheesecloth, strain out citrus bits so you are left with the flavored cream


5. Verify that cream is not too hot (so that it won't burn the chocolate), whisk cream into melted chocolate


6. Put ganache into airtight container and refrigerate overnight. Air tightness is key, as chocolate loves to absorb yucky scents from the fridge


7. Scoop ganache into balls, roll balls in hands so that edges are smooth


8. Dip ganache balls


9. Melt 2oz white chocolate, drizzle over top of balls
   

The dark chocolate raspberry truffles were made in the following way (recipe is for 120-130 truffles, do 1/4 of this if attempting for first time) -

1. Put 3lbs frozen raspberries on the stove, cook for 5-10min so that raspberries thaw and explode their juices


2. Use a fine sieve to strain out the seeds


3. Put the sauce back on the stove and reduce until VERY thick (this could take a while)


4. While sauce is reducing, melt 2lbs dark chocolate


5. Pour reduced sauce into bowl, let cool to 120 degrees


6. Whisk sauce into chocolate


7. Add 4Tbs butter, 8Tbs cream, 4Tbs chambord, whisk


8. Put in fridge for 3 hrs


9. Scoop ganache balls, roll ganache balls


10. Dip
    
    

Phew. 2 full weekends of work. Fortunately, Isabella helped. By "helped" I mean "helped made a mess and did lots of licking"

The result - 47 people were "Truffled" with 5-8 piece boxes labeled "Chocolates by John and Holly". Yay!