You may ask why we are talking about Halloween here in July… it all started way back in September of 2011 when Mira entered a contest held by Oeuf NYC to design her dream costume. The winner was promised that their dream costume would be brought to life through the hands of Oeuf’s amazing artisans.
We were on a routine visit to Moomah (who closed its cafe recently, sadly), and one of their staff members strolled by and plunked a contest entry form on our table. Mira grabbed the form, broke out some crayons, and designed how she envisioned her dream costume: The French Artiste, complete with mustache, stripy socks, red beret, and a graphic flower on the tunic.
Not long after Halloween we received an email from Oeuf that Mira had won!!! Wow, she was so proud!
Oeuf’s owners, husband-wife team Sophie Demenge and Michael Ryan, went to Bolivia with Mira’s drawing, and a few months later, a special package arrived for Mira. Her eyes got huge when she opened it.
“It’s my design! It’s my design! They even have the mustache!”
Finally, we had a spare moment to go outside and photograph her costume, mustache and all. How amazing of a job did they do?!?!?
Merci, Oeuf!
Liev, former owner of gigantic adenoids and even huger tonsils, had surgery to remove both this week and is now, thankfully, on the mend. He was super brave and, despite a bit of fear as he was coming off the anesthesia, he handles it better than most adults might have.
This week has left both me and Sean raw. There is nothing in the world like realizing just how vulnerable you are watching your son in pain and knowing that you can do very little to take that pain away. Even though both of these surgeries are routine and even though we had a wonderful doctor and hospital, we are so grateful to be on the other side. Thank you to all of our friends and our family who sent prayers and love and good juju our way! We will truly never forget it.
Now Liev is on to Phase Two: Recovery. This involves liberal amounts of spoiling from his family, TV, movies, the traditional popsicles, ice cream, and jello. Since Liev is very fond of savory items, too, we also made some special parmesan mashed potatoes to aid in his healing. It is a simple recipe, but then comfort often comes from the simplest places.
Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
- 5 medium russet potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks, and covered in cold water
- 3-5 T. butter
- 1/2 c. organic whole milk
- 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
- coarse salt for the cooking water
- In a large, heavy bottomed pot, place the potatoes covered in water and salt them with about 2 T. coarse salt.
- Bring to a boil and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked all the way through. You can test this by pulling a potato chunk out with a slotted spoon and pricking the middle of the potato with a fork. If it falls apart, you’re golden.
- Meanwhile, warm and stir the milk and butter over low heat till the butter melts. Set aside.
- When the potatoes are cooked, drain them well, and return them to the (hot) saucepan. Either rice them with a potato ricer or mash them with a potato masher.
- Add the milk mixture, the parmesan cheese, and the milk mixture. Gently stir everything together and season to taste.
- Feel better!
Have you heard the harrowing tale of “Little Rabbit Foo Foo”? It’s all about a very naughty little bunny who goes about scooping up creatures and bopping them on the head. Unfortunately for Little Rabbit Foo Foo, there’s a Good Fairy watching this whole business, and she is not amused. The Fairy gives him three chances to change his bad behavior with the threat that, if he does not make major personality adjustments, she will turn him into a goon. Well, Ihave to tell you, the worst happens. Foo Foo keeps bopping, expends his three chances, and is turned forever more (or is there a sequel?) into a goon.
As an art and music school, Liev’s Pre-K did not just do your average graduation bit. Instead they put on a show, complete with a score written by their wonderful music teacher. The kids made their costumes themselves out of poster board, up-cycled bits, and lots of artistic expression. My fave? The wiggly worm.
The day they were set to perform it was incredibly hot here in NYC, and the power went out in the entire block around the school. At first they were going to cancel the show. Not wanting to let that happen, we all pitched in to get “Foo Foo” ready in a new location with natural light. The show must go on after all, and so it did.
Performing the title role in his Pre-K’s rendition of the story of Foo Foo was Liev, who enjoyed each moment of his acting- the hopping, the scooping, the bopping, and the not learning a lesson and repeating his past actions. Total Ham. In fact all the kids hammed it up and looked as though they were having the time of their lives.
Thank you to Amanda and Millie, to Kute and Meredith, to Sabine and Richard, and too all Liev’s school friends who made this year feel like a party. There’s not a single goon among you.
Happy Magic Seven, Mira! You are so loved.
Last week we were invited to come celebrate the work that Mira’s first grade class has done this semester. Peeks into her classroom life are always fun, but this one was doubly so since we had been out of town for the winter celebration.
We were led through their frog study details: Can you spot the frog hopping? Catching flies? Mira showed us her non-fiction book study (Air), too, and all the meanwhile I tried to take in the details of what she has been doing as a first grader. She shares so much with us about what her days are like. She came home excited about the jack-in-the-box made out of an old Kleenex container she and two friends gleaned from the classroom. It was a present for her first-time-mother-to-be teacher. She cried about the boy with a crush who was bullying her. She didn’t crush back, but she wanted to be a good friend to him. She worried about little problems with her friends and also laughed like crazy remembering that some of her guy friends had pulled their pants down in the lunchroom just a year before.
“They were so crazy then!”
She has read and read and read and fallen in love with it. So much like her mama in that way. She writes, too. I see the way she works through her problems or concerns through her writing as she has always done with her drawing. Now there they are, side by side: The story and its imagery.
“How do you spell ‘freaking’ as in ‘freaking out'”?
“The jinx machine is out of order. Take it back, or pay a quarter!”
“Papa-paparazzi!”
How do these years go so fast? Hop! And, I am left trying to carefully measure just how far my biggest little girl has leapt.
