Friends and family mean a lot to us. It wasn’t surprising then that we schlepped 160 miles to attend a FIRST birthday party for one of Sophia’s little friends and what great fun we had. We caught up with friends whom we haven’t seen for a while and had a chance to observe Sophia interact with other children. She was a little reseved –> she’s a selective friendster.
We lodged at my in-laws who went out of their way to make us comfortable. I felt like we were at a B&B getaway where besides cooking the meals, the hosts entertain your child and make great conversation, too. A trip to the Elmwood Park Zoo completed the activity-packed weekend.
This zoo is another first for Sophia and she loved looking at all the animals.
The bottom line of all this togetherness is that there is no greater feeling than to seeing your child loved. Period.
Believe you me — I didn’t want a big to-do. I thankfully didn’t have a big party… and lets face it: putting thirty candles on a cake may have set it and the house on fire. Sisters think alike that way you see, and that is why my sister baked not just one cake for me, but two. She realized that putting all those candles on one is a fire hazard 🙂 and decided to divide the candle burden so to speak.
I know, you are dying to get all the details on the cakes. The chocolate one is a fourlayer cake with ganache filling and poured chocolate on top. That beauty right there just became my all-time favorite. The non-chocolate cake is a russian napoleon cake that consists of well over a dozen layers with a vanilla custard filling and crumb topping. Can’t go wrong with that — trust me.
Party or not, but a family dinner is de rigueur when hubby and I are visiting. Besides baking the cakes, my sister also marinated meats for the most succulent BBQ. My dad grilled. There were several side-dishes that my mom made while I played with Sophia… there is never a shortage of delicious foods when we visit my family. Despite the casualness of it all, I was happy to know that (Sophia, hubby and) I mattered and that people made time for us on a Friday night.
We visit my family quite a bit. In turn, they visit us often too. I’m always touched when I see Sophia’s slightly unsteady run toward our kitchen’s sliding door when hubby or I exclaim that Baba and Deda are here. Likewise, I’m always overcome with a sense of peace/relief when I peer through the window in the front door of my parents’ home and see my dad’s enthusiastic jaunt to open it for us.
Shortly after we arrive home to Delaware, it is becomes obvious that our favorite dishes are are on the stove. My mom is quick to point out that she made a few things for Sophia and that she wants to see what our little girl thinks of them. The house is filled with quiet excitement — a few precious days together.
As we usually arrive in the evening, we catch up and plan the next day or two over dinner. The next morning after hearing Sophia rouse, we invariably hear a faint knock. One of my parents is asking for the baby, offering for us to sleep in.
At first, I resist giving the baby to them, knowing they worked all week and could use the rest. After a few minutes, I relent but find that sleep evades me, anyway. I dress and come down to watch how Sophia plays and coos in my mom’s lap. I smell freshly brewed coffee, run for a hot cup and continue to catch up with my mom. I ask her why she goes to such great lengths when we come. Time and again she says that this is how it was when she, my dad, sister and I visited my Baba and Deda and this is how it should be when kids come home for a visit. She is quick to add that she wishes she made this and that: more of hubby’s favorite dishes. I’m quick to ask what about what I like?! She laughs and says that she likes to please her sons. “I don’t have to impress you; you will forgive me always”.
The time to go home creeps up and I or hubby find ourselves playing the role of Inspector General surveying goodies heading home with us. I try to limit what goes in the goody bag(s) being conscientious of the labor that goes into cooking or buying it and not wanting to take advantage. When we leave, my husband and I reminisce on yet another 5 star, all-inclusive experience. We will be back. We will always be back.
What makes the whole experience so irresistible, so amazing, isn’t the food or stiff, clean linens. It is that we simply feel expected, welcome, and thought of.
Today is International Women’s Day and there is no better time to honor the leading ladies in hubby and my lives.
My Mom: an incredibly strong woman who gives unconditional love with effortless grace. Oh, and she is the best home cook, the most devoted grandmother. We call her Baba now and our Baba sprinkles tough love everywhere she goes.
Hubby’s Mom: a passionate, engaged, caring mom who is a lifelong educator and the biggest supporter of the littlest people (our kids). She loves, cares, asks and always helps. She goes by Grammie now that Sophia is talking. Grammie makes the best, best, best-est chocolate cake and an amazing Thanksgiving spread.
Our Bubbie (in reality, hubby’s Bubbie — but I never feel that way): A classy mom who does everything with style and care. Her humentashen (that she posts iin the mail) make us feel at home wherever we are.
Our Grandmom(also hubby’s Grandmom — but I also never feel that way): Shines constant and unconditional love. She makes us smile when we hear her voice — always.
My sister: my other Mommy. She makes doing it all look easy. She’s my role model (most of the time :-)).
Hubby’s sister: brings an air of quirky, young and fun wherever she goes. She’s getting married sometime next year and we are excited to see her transition into the next chapter of her life.
Not with us today, we remember my two grandmothers. My mom’s mom (Baba) was … unbelievable, indescribable — just LOVE. My dad’s mom, I unfortunately never knew. I am told that in addition to carrying her name, I have inherited her personality. She had a joie de vivre about her and was passionate about everything and everyone.
As has been a tradition for the last few weekends, this post once again documents our precious time off. Our weekends seem to fly by faster than all the other days of the week even though we try to take it easy. This weekend was extraordinary; we got a chance to get out for some hubby and me time and we got to catch up on less thrilling things like taxes, laundry and shopping.
My parents came down to visit with us and spend some time with their granddaughter. They brought dinner — many nights worth of dinner, in fact and I provided dessert.
The Northeast region is digging out of a huge snow storm and even though we didn’t get any snow, we still decided to take it slow this weekend. My sister and her family came out this weekend and we had a lovely time together. After all, how can you not have the best time with guests who arrive with a poundcake and brownies in tow?!
Some things are best described in pictures… here is how the weekend went.
That’s right… that’s homemade bread made from scratch which we started with a biga yesterday morning. It is an almost no knead recipe we’ve used for years. I am happy to share the recipe with anyone who wants to try it. The best thing about it (besides it being no knead), is that the crust is magnificent, just like you’d find in Italy.
I am grateful for a lot of things in my life on a daily basis. I usually start my day thanking anyone and anything responsible for a non-terrible night with Sophia. (I am NOT thankful for that today… worst night EVER). I am then thankful for light traffic on the D.C. beltway as I make my way to work and thankful for having such great coworkers and friends with whom I work on newfangled inventions.
On Thanksgiving however, I always sit back and think about a comprehensive “especially thankful for” list. Counting down from *
8. The internet because I can shop without facing the angry mobs of the stores on Black Thursday Friday.
7. Celebrating thanksgiving with hubby’s family and mine; everyone together for Sophia and no driving on Turkey day.
6. A healthy, happy and civil (:)) family; especially on Thanksgiving.
5. Delicious food and family gatherings, laughter.
4. My sister and brother-in-law & sister-in-law and her boyfriend.
3. OUR parents who help out how they know best whether with amazing toys, books, videos, advice, blintzes, chicken soups and strudel.
2. My daughter and nephew who teach me to see the world from a beautiful, innocent, optimistic perspective.
1. My amazing husband who cooks, cleans, takes care of baby, loves me dolled up in ball-gowns, glamorous in spit-up and who gave me the best role of my life – Mama.
We planned a nice celebration what with Sophia turning one. Although not exceptionally girly, I decided that a little tea party was in order to toast her with our family and friends. We sent out proper invitations and planned to serve tea sandwiches, scones and the likes. The day finally came last Saturday. All in all, after recuperating from the exhaustion of prepping and the hard work of celebrating, we’ve got pictures to look back on.
The blog’s been quiet for the last week or so. That is mostly due to a self-imposed moritorium on all things computer and a much needed getaway to Virginia Beach with my sister, her family and my parents.
Beach getaways were a staple in my family when I was growing up. In fact, living in Baku, my mom would pack supper and we would head to the shores of the Caspian on a daily basis in the spring, early summer and fall. In the summertime, we headed either back to visit my maternal grandparents or to the shores (e.g., Batumi) of the Black Sea in Georgia. There is something magical about the sound of the waves, the breeze, the clean, salty air that refreshes even the most tired souls.
Sometime during the cold, dark days of last winter, we all all decided that a getaway was a must and picked our dates for mid-July to hopefully make sure that the Atlantic water had a chance to warm up. We also decided to deviate from our usual Ocean City, NJ/MD, Sea Isle City, NJ destinations and head further down south to Virginia Beach, VA. There was a certain risk involved driving 4.5 hrs with a 9 month old and I can now say that we persevered.
My parents drove down from Delaware on Saturday (7/14) morning and we all piled into my little C-RV and drove down to the shore. The drive that was to take 4.5 hrs took almost six hours due to heavy traffic and a mandatory, must feed hungry Sophia stop. I must also admit that our car (as was my sister’s) was packed to the brim. I drove, my mom sat in the front passenger’s seat as she gets motion sick easily and my dad and hubby were the entertainers du jour for Sophia. She took a 1.5 hr nap and spent the rest of the car playing with an occasional outburst that could only mean “ARE WE THERE YET???” in her own little language.
We rented in a small beach community that was blessed with a family-friendly atmosphere which meant no restaurants, no supermarkets, no cafe’s, no … no nothing but the surf, sun and relaxation. We cooked and prepped all our meals, snacks and everything ahead of time and planned to spend very little time in the kitchen. In addition to our meals, I also prepped and cooked all of Sophia’s meals.
Once we got there, we quickly discovered how peacefull Sandbridge, VA was and how calm, clean and warm the ocean was. We spent the days in the water and playing with Sophia. I must admit, she is not a fan of the heat or humidity. She is also not a fan of bright sunlight but by the end of the trip was happily sploshing in her little ducky tub filled with ocean water. In the evenings, I practiced knitting and was able to knit a few things for Sophia. I’ll post a few pictures soon.
This vacation is a steep departure from our previous vacations where hubby and I happily galavanted all over the world. It was, however, especially meaninful and marvelous because we got to spend time as a family, disconnected from all the troubles and cares in the world and unwound in our little cacoon of the quiet shusshing sound of the ocean. Relax, refreshed (well… as one can be with a child who doesn’t sleep longer than 3 hr at a time at night), we are back to reality and pining for out next getaway.
Saturday has come and gone and it was pretty much a whirlwind. We hosted our family for a BBQ which came together quiet nicely. If you recall, I had put together an ambitious (with having a 8 month old at home) menu and was myself surprised that I was able to execute every single item on it and even add a summer corn and jalapeno succotash to boot.
The strategy I had was simple: I was not going to work past Sophia’s bedtime on Friday and instead relax and unwind so that I could get up early on Saturday and finish things up. I also focused on making dishes that were easiest, kept the best overnight and most fun to make first. I will say that our family was great. My mother-in-law came on Friday afternoon and took Sophia off my hands and my parents came Saturday early afternoon and helped clean up afterwards. We spent Sunday loafing and puttering.
