I Do ID

The paper trick to keep arms attached to the sides. The teacher says that the girls have to concentrate on not dropping the paper and they forget their steps. Eventually, the arms go automatically where they're supposed to and the dancer can concentrate on just dancing.

This is body adhesive--or in ID lingo, "Sock glue." The dancer should roll-on a ring around her calves where the top of her sock comes. This keeps the sock from slouching down.

Our school likes the long socks that come just below the knee. Some use the shorter socks but I think they kind of look like they are slouching down. Ellery likes to tie her own ghillies so I let her eventhough she doesn't do it quite "right." You're supposed to loop around the front through the stays, cross around the ankle, cross again in the front and tie around the arch of the foot. This gives the foot some support and you don't have messy criss-crossing up the leg. She's getting there though.

Sorry little blog

I have been neglecting you. But I have kept you in mind so here goes a week's worth of life in one tidy post. And a peek at why the below pose is Cyler's favorite.

Chocolates in bed Mother's day morning. Soren made me a Borax crystal heart and Ellery wrote and performed a song for me. Cyler found Celaborelle Phoenician Buffet and we ate there. Check out the Shabeit, Labni and Khubez--$8.95 pp all you can eat, fresh from the menu. M!

African Arts night at Ellery's school. They just received 50 African drums from grant $ so I donned my Ghanian traditional dress and entered the tasting table recipe contest--and won. yay

Moroccan Chicken Tagine al Janna
Serves: A hungry nomadic family and a few guests visiting their tent. Their beloved Arabian horses who sleep in the tent with them always try to eat the apricots!

5 lbs chicken pieces
2 lg yellow onions, chopped
2 sticks butter
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lb dried apricots (or less if you prefer)
10 Tbsp honey (more if you like it sweeter)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ peeled almonds
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Oil

In a large pot, melt butter. Fry chopped onions till soft, and add chicken pieces, salt, pepper, turmeric, and cinnamon sticks. Add enough water to cover chicken (about 2 C). Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer till chicken is done, adding water if necessary. Remove the chicken pieces.

Add apricots and simmer for 15 min. Add ground cinnamon and honey, stir and cook till sauce has honey-like consistency. Add more honey if necessary.

When sauce is almost ready, sauté almonds in oil over low heat. Drain most of the oil from pan and toast sesame seeds in the remaining oil.

Return chicken to pot and reheat. Place chicken in a serving sheet, pour sauce on top. Top with almonds and sesame seeds.

Serve with couscous!

My friend Becky had a bday lunch at Sushi Sam's--we laughed and ate and laughed. I wish I could do that everyday. How is Sacramento Becky?

Thursday is gymnastics and then Irish Dance. Does 2 consecutive, demanding hobbies in one night constitute as abuse? I wonder. But it's convenient.

Irish Dance tip--to help little ones keep their arms in place, put a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" notebook paper under each arm. They have to squeeze their arms against their bodies to keep it from falling while dancing. Also, have them hold a quarter in each hand so they keep their hands in a soft fist.

This weekend was our church's men's camping event. When I asked Cyler why he didn't want to go he said that only 1/2 the priesthood was going to be there (ok, now roll eyes at the subtle non-complicity with systematic gender segregation). When pressed about why he really didn't want to go, he said it was like camping in an ant infested Walmart refugee camp. He's somewhat (ok, a lot) of a camping snob. So our gender integrated family went to Cleburne State Park with our friends the Miles'and I saw fireflies for the first time! Magical.

We also did the safari drive through Fossil Rim and fed giraffes from our car.

We swam and hiked and sang songs around the campfire while Cyler or I played the guitar. "I can see clearly now," "SpongeBob Squarepants Campfire song," "Hey Lolly," "Brown Eyed Girl" was the repetoire. This was the first time I cooked mainly on top of the fire.

Camping Menu/Tips:

Grilled chicken legs--tip: At home, place drumsticks, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and fresh rosemary in a ziploc bag. By the time you get your site set up, they are ready to grill over the fire.

Tinfoil veggies--tip: At home, cut up veggies (potatoes, onion, corn, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli) and put in Ziploc. At campsite, drizzle olive oil, salt, garlic and rosemary in the bag and shake. Place 1C in each double folded foil "nest" and partially close top leaving a small opening for steam to escape. Both are done in 30 min on a grate over the fire.

Eggs, saugage, hashbrowns (on the propane stove)

Hoagies, chips, pickles (take 3-sided costco box for dry goods like bread. Put in the car at the end of the night to keep away from raccoons and critters.)

Venison chili--tip: make the spice mix at home and put in a plastic baggie. M!

And thank you to Doug at Showdog who named my latest Showdog litter--the girls were named Tipitina and Tchoupitoula. The boy is Dr. Longhair. Names inspired by a New Orleans juke joint.

Kid Talk

I picked Soren up after he volunteered at our local food pantry. I asked how the ladies treated him. He said, "Those old ladies were sweet but tough. They're not all sugar and butter. (I guess in keeping with the sugar/spice, snakes/snail dichotomy.)

He hauled some adult diapers while he was there. We chatted about that too since he didn't realize adults needed this type of product. I told him under which circumstances they do, hoping not to traumatize him, thereby rendering him unwilling when the time comes for him to put one on me. He said, "Oh. I thought they were just being lazy. Or maybe that they were trying to beat a high score on their video game."

And then there's Ellery. We were at Blockbuster looking at movies to rent. She comes around the corner while I was looking at Brideshead Revisited (Dad, why would you think I would like this movie--the gay guy, the ostentatious show of wealth, the negative stereotype they portray of religious people? Ok I did like it but that doesn't mean I agreed with its premise. OK I digress.) and she shows me the cover of Fiddler on the Roof. "Mommy, mommy, I know what I want to watch. This one, this one." My shoulders straightened and I thought how sophisticated my daughter's taste was for her age. I asked why, thinking she was attracted to Broadway singers, as I pictured her on stage someday singing "You're Gonna Here From Me." She turns the case around, points to the pic of Jews with bottles on their heads and says, "Look, Irish dancing!!!"

NTIF

What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening!! The North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas is a great event. And Ellery's school performed so well. Here she is after the performances, just winging it out in front of one of the local Celtic rock bands, Needfire.

At any one time, dancers would come out from the audience to jig and reel. When the band played faster and faster, Ellery would keep up, her head bobbing up and down at the ever increasing speed.

I know the wigs may look strange to 'non' Irish dancers, but it is widely accepted. And the girls like the dress up effect. I made Ellery wear hers to church (sans headband) so I didn't have to do her hair in the car. She didn't want to at first, but after the attention she got, I wonder if she will want to wear it next week. She kept looking at herself in the mirror, striking poses so I told her about the Greek boy named Narcissus that came to a sad end because he fell in love with his own reflection. She said, "I fell in love with my reflection too." (oh no)

Ellery, Riley and Kileigh. It was fun to see her teachers dance too. One got all around world champion in Ireland for 2009.

She cracks me up. The ironic thing is that when she was performing, one of my favorite bands, Seven Nations, was performing on another stage. I saw 2 minutes of their last set. I hope they come back next year. Their fiddle player is amazing.

Ellery's gettin' jiggy at the Feis (say "fesh")

Michael Flatley, eat your heart out! Ellery had her first Irish Dance competition today. It was fun to see all the girls in their glitzy solo dresses doing their reels and jigs. Ellery is a beginner and has to earn her dress. I love looking at her little Ghillies (soft shoes). Her skirt had a row of blue embroidered triquetra knots. Lots of the girls wear pre-fab ringlet wigs to Feiseanna, but we just did the curler thing. I guess the idea is that after Sunday mass in Ireland when the girls were in their Sunday best with curled hair, they would have a Feis (dance party). We went au natural like any good Mormon girl pretending to be Catholic for a day would. There was even a showmom airbrushing a tan on her daughter's legs (yucchy!). The dancer list went something like this: Margaret Blackerby, Tara Bridgeman, Mary Crone, Ceara Daly, Liam Dhooghe, Kelly Donovan, Shannon Murray (You get the picture). Ellery did great winning several medals. Mostly we just had fun doing it and watching the dancers do their thing. Maybe next Feis, there will be pics of Mom too? (Hop 2 3 4 5 6 7)

Afterward we went on a Mom/daughter date to McDonald's and to buy her parakeets Ellery has been saving for. She chose an all yellow one and named him (?) Lemondrop. The white one with a bit of yellow on his (?) crest, blue belly, and black stripes on wings and cheeks is Kimono. I hope they last!