I'm not as far along as I thought I was, for some reason, keeping track of the weeks is proving difficult. Peanut M&Ms are proving dangerous.

I’m going to figure out how to upload a sound file, so we can listen to the baby's (aka, the construction project in my womb, CPIMW) heartbeat together. 'til then.

dive into a new book.

find the back up power cord for my computer.

Upon returning to Amsterdam I headed directly to the post office where I picked up a package from Greece. It's always a treat to head to the post office when you know that at the end of the errand something delightful awaits you.

Shalimar , my secret food sender prepared an excellent package. It was loaded with various (and thankfully not terribly perishable) goodies each ribboned and unique.

A detailed note with ingredient name and directions on how to use was included:

3 sorts of traditional cookies: A savory white knot, a cinnamony round, and an anise/sesame cookie (my favorite of the three). I have been nibbling away at them over the past two days and now remains only one which I will dip into my coffee. The anise/sesame one was my favorite. Similar to a biscotti in texture, rich in uncommon flavor. If I could get the recipe on this one...

A package of organic orzo, pasta shaped rice. It's like my thoughts are out there in the open ready for anyone to read. I mean the ones I haven't written down yet. Growing up we would eat Near East Rice Pilaf a lot, we loved it. Since moving here, every now and again I get these cravings for foods I cannot find, generally some package and some sentiment. The past few months it had been this rice pilaf, so I got it into my head to try to recreate it. Likely with this Greek orzo I can make and even tastier product.

A jar of capers and a sack full of mountain tea, both which grow wildly everywhere along Greece.

Many long sticks of cinnamon, which Shalimar says are often used in Greek sauces. Frankly, I have never seen them so long and look forward to finding various recipes to use them in.

Two sorts of Nougat. The package reads Nougat Pita, which is a pretty good name for it since it's like a delicious Fluffernut filling sandwiched between two very thin wafers. I haven't had nougat like this in the past, I look forward to eating up the second package, perhaps dessert for tonight.

A bit of candy for Easter. Tootsie Rolls being my senders childhood friends

And, delightfully a bottle opening depicting the traditional Greek dress.

A million thanks for this!

To read about the package I sent, go meet Kel. I was half thinking of hand delivering this package since I was in Barcelona over the weekend. I regret doing so since he blog is so great, but I had not time to think or read or coordinate this at all. Another trip there is forthcoming.

A week or two before classes began my mom and I met with a guidance counselor to select a course schedule for me. In addition to other things, there was a music requirement for all students in the middle school: you could choose from music theory, the chorus, or from playing an instrument in the band or orchestra. In Israel I sang in the school chorus and liked it a lot, I even had a pretty decent voice (I don't anymore). But when asked how I would like to fulfill my music requirement at Welsh Valley Middle School I said music theory thinking that surely that's what the cool kids were going to take. I remember quite clearly my mother was a bit surprised by my decision and I should have headed that warning because of what I can freely acknowledge now that I would have denied with my dying breath back then, Parents Know Best.

So music theory it was. That error, combined with several other critical errors made in the first three days of school, branded me for a long time after as the Lamest Person Ever.

Needless to say that once the opportunity came about I switched to chorus, nonetheless remaining branded until a few years later when I chose to not care about it since despite it all I made a few very good friends, friends I have maintained throughout my teenage years, one who is still among my closest friends in the world. (Don’t you love when a sentence is so long it becomes a paragraph?)

For the past several years there has been a song that pops into my head from my days in the chorus. I could only remember a few of the verses but I sang it anyway, making up words as I went along. I turned to my friend Jessica, who in addition to risking her own reputation to become my friend very early on in the game, was in the chorus.

Jessica tells me everything I want to know about this song. That its first line comes from Walt Whitman. That the song is from the musical Fame. That she too has a Branded for Life feeling about this song - she had a solo part in the song, a solo for which she one time missed her cue, for which she was called a Mic Hog by another girl. And of course, Jessica fills me in on the lyrics:

I sing the body electric
I celebrate the me yet to come
I toast to my own reunion
When I become one with the sun

And I’ll look back on Venus
I’ll look back on Mars
And I’ll burn with the fire
Of ten million stars
For in time, yes, in time
We will all be stars!

Oh! The lessons we could learn from these lyrics if only we had the sense back then that we do know.

What a lovely life I have.

I bought you ten grapefruits and you bought me this day. Thank you.

I wonder, where else in my life I could spend an hour primping and get such gratifying results?

The weekend was spent with dear friends on our lovely little island in the North Sea. We rented a great house complete with sauna and a top of the line bath tub. We gorged in the usual way on delicious fried fish and incredibly fresh and meaty herring. We played very many games.

It's quite a funny thing about games. I take it so personally. I learn games quickly and quickly become good, I am at times unlucky. Those moments of unlucky playing cloud my spirit, I become upset, I forget that I'm playing a game and games are about fun. If someone else is doing better, instead of being happy for them, I get upset since I must be doing poorly. Players around me fall into the same trap - perhaps I've set the stage. If I do well, I can't be happy or proud since someone around me is upset. Since among equal players winning proves nothing, why can't playing a game be a win win situation?

A classic in every way, delicious the next day too.

Cook al dente:
1 pound elbow macaroni
Drain well, set aside

Grate 12 oz. cheese, I used a combination of Gruyere (5) Gouda (5) and Parmesan (2)
Set aside

In a sauce pan make a roux using:
3T butter
3T flour

When slightly turned color, add and bring to a simmer:
1 c broth
1 c milk
1 T paprika
1 t cayenne pepper

Remove from heat and melt cheese into the sauce. Add:
2 - 3 heaping T minced garlic

Combine well with the pasta, place in baking pan and broil until top has browned.

Serve hot with a nice bottle of white wine. MMMM

We celebrated 200 days of marriage.

It's been a wonderful experience. New emotions, new opportunites, doors flung open. Oh a new haricut!

Now if only we could sleep through the night...

The family has grown in wonderful ways in 2005. This a happy group - happy to be celebrating a turning point together, happy to be in the cold after a long opera.

It was one of those funny weekends which you plan, get really excited for, buy tickets, and make reservations. None of those things matched in a moment of the greatness of just being together. It's a tough thing for me to just have fun when around my family, I put so much pressure on myself I forget to be nice to the nicest people I know. I wonder if it's because of the newest member of the family that everyone just had fun.

Thanks for turning 60 Ma, it was a wonderful trip.

As such, I am renewing the contract with myself. I will make time on a weekly basis to incorporate my list into my agenda (number 84 on the revised list). In taking stock, I have reviewed and revised and filled out the list (since I haven’t entered 100 items yet). I have gotten started on a few of the items, some are about to get launched, some have been completely forgotten. Good to review.

I am determined to improve my energy this year. I need to flood my mind with positivity, desire and will. To that end, I am doing some coaching exercises, so perhaps we are moving in the right direction.

Successes this year include getting married, increased hours consulting, and having made two contacts for Pampoosh Clothier.

Failures this year include not contacting friends more often and allowing several relationships to slip.

Relationship
1. Write one letter a month to a friend and work my way up to one letter a week.
2. Give more gifts.
3. Send photos to Savtot and Saba
4. Send a care package to a long-distance friend.
5. Write thank notes.
6. get closer with five people (I already who they are)
7. Rekindle relationship with three forgotten ones (I know these too)

Skills to learn
1. Take a course on different cuts of meat.
2. Learn one new Dutch every day.
3. Read a novel in Dutch.
4. Find a Dutch conversation tutor for once-weekly meetings.
5. Make bread once a week for a month

Recreation/hobbies/personal growth
1. Bake a cherry pie.
2. Make a doll.
3. Make cake stand.
4. Participate in one Is My Blog Burning, or other food related blog event. Euro Parcel by Post October 2005
5. Participate in one Back-Tack
6. Have afternoon tea at the Amstel Hotel and again at Blakes.
7. Attend one opera. – Tickets for Jan 7, 2006 in NYC
8. Attend one ballet.
9. Take singing lessons
10. Take ballet lessons at least five four three two one times. If after this time I don’t like it, try another form of dance and take five classes
11. Spend days with nothing but my camera
12. Volunteer a few hours of my time to a cause that's important to me.
13. Read 10 books from the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels list. Re-reading books I read in high school or college doesn’t count. The list can be found here.
14. Re-read some of the books I read in high school and college
15. Pick a week, and spend at least 30 minutes a day on writing for three days of that week.
16. Attend one event a month found in the UitKrant
17. Attend one even at the new Concert Gebouw
18. Pack a picnic lunch to eat in the park.
19. Visit all the museums I haven’t yet in Amsterdam
20. Go bowling.
21. Learn to dive into the deep end of a pool or lake without fear.
22. Go see a football game at Amsterdam Arena.

Organization
1. Organize iPod, and fill it with lots of music – Done, including adding audible.com books
2. Print photos and organize photo book.
3. Find a place for all my things.
4. Complete list of 100 tasks.
5. Back up crucial e-mail/files at least once a month.
6. Put together scrapbooks from my letters and other forget-me-nots
7. Weekly meetings with myself to review and plan week and month ahead. The goal being to not neglect this list.
8. Organize recipes from clipping, computer, cards, to one book.
9. Find a place for all fabrics and miscellaneous junk that's currently piled haphazardly on the floor and other surfaces of my studio.
10. Back up all computer files once every three months. 12/03/2005
11. Merge and systematize our cd collection

Dreams and Aspirations
1. Compile a list of Mundane Journeys in Amsterdam, seek to publish it
2. Learn to sing Midnight Train and perform it.
3. Submit 3 writing samples for Girl at Play Amsterdam edition
4. Buy digital camera of my dreams
5. Build a portable Japanese Tea House, host one tea ceremony
6. Research possibilities of a local Wine and Spirits Competition
7. Take a course at Cordon Bleu

Physical Environment
1. Paint inside of TuinHuisje
2. Paint outside of TuinHuisje
3. Plant a flower patch in TuinHuisje
4. Buy a house. Find a relator and see at least 2 houses a week.
5. Get a dog
6. Have a baby

Career
1. Create a portfolio of a clothing line.
2. Take a pattern making class.
3. have my clothing in five four three two one shops
4. Participate in two collaborative sales, not in a shop.
5. Meet five designers and work together to build a sale/show collaboration
6. Spend one whole day and one hour three days a week in my studio
7. Research and land one consulting job that I don’t already have.
8. Gain expertise in SPSS

Health/Physical Appearance
1. Have a facial once every three months, no that’s not excessive.
2. Practice Yoga at least once weekly, working up to three times daily
3. Have rock hard abs, 60 sits up daily and 30 push ups
4. Take a tennis lesson.
5. Change my hair. 12/20/2005
6. Find a climbing partner and go climbing together one day a week.
7. Stop eating meat for two one week periods in one month
8. Cook more with tofu

Financial
1. Make a financial calculator for Alec
2. Keep up to date account of credit card expenses.
3. Work with A. to set up individual and joint budgets for month-to-month and future expenses.

A few recipes have already started to arrive, and I've posted them below. I'll keep posting as new ones trickle in, and eventually test them all.

1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps thinly sliced
4 scallions, cut crosswise into thirds, then lengthwise into julienne strips
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Soft-leafed lettuce for serving

Bring 1 1/2 inches water to a boil with ginger in a deep 12-inch skillet and add chicken. Poach at a bare simmer, turning over once, until just cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer chicken with a slotted spoon to a plate and when cool enough to handle, finely shred.
Whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil in a large bowl to make dressing.

Heat vegetable oil in cleaned skillet until hot but not smoking, then sauté mushrooms over moderately high heat, stirring, until golden, about 6 minutes. Add scallions, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste and sauté, stirring, until scallions are just softened, about 1 minute.

Add to dressing, then add chicken and cilantro and toss. Serve chicken salad with lettuce.

Makes 4 servings.

Aunt Suzi’s Brisket - One dish wonder…

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup firmly packed DOMINO Dark Brown Sugar
3/4 cup chili sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 to 3/4 (1.4-ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
1 (3- to 4-pound) BEEF Brisket
15 small red potatoes
1 1/2 pounds baby carrots

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 325°. Stir together first 4 ingredients; gently stir in beer.

Place brisket, fat side up, in a large Dutch oven or roasting pan; pierce several times with a fork. Arrange potatoes and carrots evenly around brisket; pour beer mixture evenly over brisket, potatoes, and carrots.

Bake, covered, at 325° for 3 1/2 hours, basting occasionally with sauce. Remove from oven, and let brisket stand in pan, uncovered, 20 minutes. Remove brisket from pan, and cut into slices. Return slices to pan with potatoes and carrots.

Bake, covered, 30 minutes or until tender.

THAI SHRIMP CURRY

(made w/mom 2005)
8 servings

- 1 tblspn peanut oil
- 1 cup thinly sliced onion
- 1 cup chopped green onions (about 8 small)
- 1 to 2 tblspn Thai green curry paste
(we used 1 1/2 tsp & it was still spicy)
- 1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 cup low-salt chicken broth
- 3 tblspns Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
- 2 tspns sugar
- 1 cup diced plum tomatoes
- 2 lbs uncooked large shrimp, peeled, deveined
- chopped fresh cilantro
- lime wedges

heat peanut oil in heavy large skillet over med-high heat. Add sliced onion, stir fry until soft & beginning to brown, about 4 min. Reduce heat to med. Add green onions & curry paste, stir until fragrant, about 1 min. Add coconut milk, chicken broth, fish sauce, & sugar, bring to boil. Add tomatoes & boil 2 min. Add shrimp & cook just until opaque in center, stirring often, about 3 min. Transfer curry to lg shallon bowl. Garnish w/cilantro. Serve passing lime wedges separately.

Serve w/rice.