Hollywood Hill Talent Show

Sela and Nina wrote and recited poems about dogs for the school talent show a couple weeks ago. Sela wrote her poem a few months ago, just on her own for fun. I found it in her drawer one day when I was cleaning out the kids' "special drawers" and told her how much I loved it! I'm not sure how they decided to perform these in the talent show, but Nina came up with her own cute little poem as well.

For the show, they created actions to each other's poems and while one read the poem, the other one acted it out. We were struggling to come up with a costume to wear (we could only locate one set of doggie ears in our dress-up box) and I just could not muster the energy or desire to run around all over town looking for dog paraphenalia(end of the school year fatigue)! Then I thought of my friend, Francee, from church, and her face painting skills! I called her up and even though she was leaving for San Juan Island with friends, she took the time to make a quick stop at our house on the way to the ferry to work her magic and transform Sela and Nina into little puppies. She was AMAZING and even promised Rollin she would come back and turn him into a big scary dinosaur when she had a little bit more time! She doesn't know, but she truly saved the day.

Sela and Nina were so excited with their look and had fun greeting Zig at the door when he came home. The talent show was so fun. There was a good variety of talent, both serious and silly, and all the kids both in the show and in the audience were so supportive of one another. There were a couple of times throughout the night were you could tell a child either forgot words to a song or got flustered and it was the students who immediately started either chanting their name, yelling encouragement, or clapping. It was really sweet to see.

During the intermission, everyone did the YMCA, and all the kids ran up on stage, those who performed and those in the audience. The place was rockin! What a fun evening! Ruff, ruff.




A Dog’s Heart
By Sela Serafin

All we hear every day
Is the silly words that you humans say.
These words are boring
And not so fun
When you say sit, we want to run.
DOWN! STAY! SIT! ROLLOVER!
It’s time for some new words
I’m getting bored of those!
I understand a lot more than you think
For I am a dog and I have a heart.
I have feelings too, I don’t just bark.
When you talk to me from now on
Make it interesting and let’s have fun!

My Little Puppy
By Nina Serafin

I have a little puppy
He’s no bigger than my hand
Some people think he can’t do tricks
But I know that he can
He can sit, rollover, and even stand
But his favorite place is in my little hands.

Issaquah Kids Triathlon

It's a good thing we had so much fun at the Issaquah Kids Triathlon this weekend, because I'm still doing laundry from the race. Zig and I were up till past midnight getting all their stuff together and packing the car. Bathing suits, bikes, helmets, towels, change of clothes, flip flops and running shoes, snacks, timing chips and numbers. There was a huge downpour on Friday so the course was a muddy mess. That made it all the more fun for the kids, and more of a challenge for the adult races. Our shoes were sopping wet before we ever began our races. But, the SUN did shine! I did a 5K at the last minute and Lisa ran the 10K. My neck and back have been really sore lately so I wasn't sure if I would be able to do anything but I felt fine for the short run. Zig has some problem with his foot so he didn't run at all this time.

SWIM: Here are the kids pre-race checking the water temp.


They all got anxious and excited waiting.


Sela out of the water


Then Nina in the next heat. Poor girl, not an ounce of fat on that body to keep her warm.


Rollin not listening to instructions. He just followed the crowd during the swim (tried to get as little water on himself as possible) and got busy when it came to the bike portion.

Where's my bike?!


BIKE: The kids were all in different heats so it was hard to keep track. Zig had to stay in the transition area until they all got to the run portion so I was trying to snap pictures and cheer them all on.




Rollin had the eye of the tiger. He gave this part his all!




He did well on not getting frustrated if people passed him (we had lots of talks about this on the drive over!), but he was not even near the back of the pack. He was the youngest competitor by 2 years.


RUN: The last part was the run. They were all happy to pass the finish line and receive medals, because I'm pretty sure they'd do almost anything for a medal! And then of course, all the goodies were fun as well. We lost Rollin for 20 minutes because he kept going after the finish line. He ran across the park back to the transition site where no one was waiting. I think he wanted back on his bike.

Nina ran hard and always looked like she was enjoying herself and really focusing!








































Last, and definitely LEAST, I ran the 5K because, well, why not. It was a swampy,soggy, muddy course, but after getting over the inital feel of running with shoes full of mud and slosh, it was fun and a good start to the day. Lisa, a real runner, rocked in the 10K. We all had a GREAT time!

one thing

This is how Zig's car looks every single time he returns from a quick trip to to get "one thing." He can't help himself, I'm afraid. The man loves plants. This trip yielded peonies, chocolate mint, stevia, lots of veggie starts, a lemon tree, and who knows what else.

Poppy

Saturday night Zig and I had one of our best meals at a restaurant called Poppy We almost stayed home as we were both working on projects...Zig in the garden rigging traps for some awful pest that is going to town on our strawberries (I fully expect him to camp out with a shotgun if his current 8 tactics do not yield results...haha) And I was planning a menu and preparing for a baby shower, book club, and dinner guests. But I felt too bad to cancel on our babysitter, so rather pathetically, that's what got us out the door.

We never made it to The Herbfarm while Jerry Traunfeld was the executive chef and I always wanted to. Zig couldn't imagine spending that long on one meal, but he was willing :) It seemed like I was always nursing and the meal starts around 4 and ends five hours later, which required too much planning and stress. Anyway, he recently opened his own restaurant on Capitol Hill so naturally I was eager to visit. Zig isn't a big fan of eating out because two or three days a week he eats in restaurants, good ones, for every meal. He loves to stay home and he loves my cooking, which is good I guess (he's easy to please), but sometimes I enjoy a break and want to eat really good food that I did not prepare, so off we went.

Anyway, how could a restaurant called Poppy not be good?! We had high hopes, and our experience far exceeded our expectations. This, for me, has never happened. I've had wonderful meals, but none where every single thing was a hit. The restaurant is named after the owner's Dad. Our kids call my Dad "Poppy" too. It also has a poppy theme and an abundance of the poppy color in the menus, decor, etc. Poppy and teal are my favorite colors. And finally, the whole concept of Thalis, which are little dishes is genius. Every single dish was pure heaven. Local, seasonal and unbelievably fresh. I had just read an article in a Edible Seattle about sea beans and what do you know, they had them on the menu! So cool.


Between Zig and I, we had Anise Hyssop tea (which, I'm proud to say I came home and made!), Rosemary Lemonade,Green garlic soup, Sea Bean,radish and lemon balm salad, Neah Bay King Salmon with herb sauce, Tandoori Lamb Leg with smashed chickpea,paprika, and green olives, Turnips with clove, cardamon, and peanut, Cauliflower with sesame and dill, Swiss chard and oregano gratin, Rhubarb pickle (so good!), Onion poppy naan, Caraway thyme flan with morel mushrooms, Eggplant fries with sea salt and honey(AMAZING!), Chocolate terrine with ginger salted sesame and cumin cashews, Homemade chocolate mint ice cream, and four other little desserts that I can't remember their names. But they were heavenly.

We talked about the food all night. The herbs, both common and uncommon, are the signature of any Jerry Traunfeld meal. I have his two cookbooks, and after our meal, I came home and spent two hours reading through them in bed until 2am and bookmarking things I want to try. I have herbs all over the place so it's a shame not to be doing a better job using them. They make such a difference. I would never order ice cream for dessert in a restaurant, but the waiter told us the homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream was infused with the herb chocolate mint! I had no idea such a thing existed. Both the ice cream, and the actual chocolate chunks had the infused mint. Of course, Zig bought me a chocolate mint plant two days later. I think I'd rather buy the ice cream from the experts, but who knows, maybe I'll experiment this summer.

When I eat out for fun, I like to try things I wouldn't have either the time or skill to make myself, and certainly I wouldn't have the time to make 18 little dishes. So, yeah for Poppy. The menu is the same for this weekend, with some minor changes...anyone want to go again?!!

While on the topic of food, we tend to eat a lot of soup, and I discovered a new favorite this weekend, Asparagus Leek and Lemon Thyme Soup. I am in the process of getting together a document with my 25 favorite soups and their recipes. Just let me know if you would like a copy...that may spur me on to get it done! When I finish, I'll just send an email with the recipes. Gathering my favorite recipes and go-to meals is an ongoing project, but I've made real progress on it lately!

I never thought I would say this, but I have a new favorite pancake! And this has nothing to do with herbs, but I got the Pioneer Woman cookbook this week and this was the first thing I made.

Sour Cream Pancakes
1 cup sour cream, 7 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Combine dry and wet seperately, then mix.



Then I chopped and chopped and chopped herbs and made this Foccacia Bread from The Herbfarm Cookbook. It was AMAZING, truly. The chopping was so worth it. And this is bad photo, the herbs and bread are much prettier.

Next came the Roasted Asparagus with Fried Sage...you roast the asparagus with sage, you fry little sage leaves for a garnish, and you drizzle a dressing with sage on the top. Go sage! This one is from The Herbal Kitchen, by Jerry Traunfeld.

Then we made Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes...why did I not try these sooner? Steam cauliflower heads, leaves, and slices of garlic until soft. Drain and puree with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 Tbsp butter, 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg, season with salt and pepper. I also cubed and boiled 4 little yukon gold potatoes and added them to the puree because I needed the recipe to make a little bit more. I had a smallish cauliflower.


And I'm hesitant to post this picture because it's not a good one, but this is another favorite soup...white bean and kale soup. So very yum.


And this post has gone on way too long. Then end.

this week

This week was one of those weeks that I looked at my calendar and just had to take a deep breath and plow through. We had field trips, Sela's Pacific Rim presentation, talent show practice, track Junior Olympics, a philanthropy meeting at my neighbor's house, birthday parties, volunteering, teacher appreciation week, tennis, and the list continues on.

It's been a big week for Sela. She finished a track season full of rained out meets yesterday with a 2nd place finish at the Junior Olympics. If you remember her big competition in the cross country final in the fall,then you will understand that 2nd place is still a big accomplishment. She actually came pretty close this year and the race was tight at the end. The other girl had legs about twice as long as Sela (just a slight exaggeration ;) and she ran like a gazelle. Sela ran her heart out and was very nervous the whole day.

What I love most about track and cross country is the comraderie between the kids of all grades. They have such school spirit and are so supportive of one other. It's really quite special. They have an amazing PE coach who is truly one of a kind. Hollywood Hill is a small elementary and they haven't lost a track meet in 34 years (that's how long he's been at the school). None of us are quite sure what Mr. Ed Hogle does but he has a passion for the job and instills such confidence in the kids. He whispered something to Sela when she was lining up for her race and afterwards Zig and I were asking Sela what he told her. She said he gave her a few pointers and then said get to the inside as fast as you can and do your best, buddy. So sweet.

(In the craziness of the day, both Sela and I thought the other had brought the track uniform, and neither of us had.)







The third graders each do a presentation on a country in the Pacific Rim and Sela had Vietnam. Fortunately, our friend, Ti Haynes, had all kinds of clothing, money, books, and information about Vietnam. Sela was in a group with 2 boys who goof off a little bit, so I was proud of her for taking charge. Together they managed to pull off a sound presentation. I went back to Chinatown in Seattle the day before and found a little Vietnamese market for some authentic food to share. Ti told me about this red rice they serve at weddings and other special occasions and we picked some up to share. The rice was so yummy. I think it's cooked with a fruit to color the rice and also coconut milk. Whatever it was, it was good!







At the school auction, which we had to miss, they auctioned off a bedtime stories party with the much loved Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Esping. We were able to get a spot even though we weren't there and this week the party took place. A finer, more wonderful Kindergarten teacher could not be found. Mrs. Esping is exceptional and the kids had a fabulous time playing games, listening to stories, and eating ice cream sundaes.














The family who hosted this event raises Alpacas and two babies were just born. Are they not the cutest things ever?!!





We had a wet field trip to a beautiful farm in Snohomish. It was important for Nina that I chaperone so Zig was able to watch Evan and I had fun being with Nina. There were so many parent volunteers that I was just in charge of Nina and one friend. It's been a wet spring here, but I'm trying not to dwell on it too much.