Queen of Spades

In the week before Saphira arrived, we were on a rush against the clock to do as much as possible with my mom in the city so that her trip wouldn't just be a view from our apartment and the hospital window. We did ok - we got to the Andrew's descent, took her to the village to see the mud hut (she thinks we're crazy), had a quick walk down Kreshatik to Independence square while getting documents translated - and even fit in a trip to the opera.

We went to see Queen of Spades - appropriate in that not only was it a fun trip to the opera - but it was a Russian opera by Tchaikovsky at that.

One thing that strikes you when you go to the opera - even in a language that you can understand - is that you really can't catch too many of the words anyway. I wonder if back in the day when Opera was the main source of entertainment if people were accustomed to catching the words- or if the melody and performance was the main attraction.

The story was great - a typical opera tragedy - but an interesting plot and theme that came from a short story originally written by Pushkin- why it hasn't been drawn on for a Hollywood version is probably only due to the fact that it is Russian.

The only downside to the performance is that the piece is apparently very challenging for the main character as he appears and sings in every scene. Therefore, the only scene that he sang in full voice was the last (apparently the most famous song and scene in the opera)- and that was wonderful - but for most of the opera you could barely make him out. Other than that we had a great time and mom got to see the opera house and attend her first ever opera.

Debute

Saphira made her public debut into the world at 12 days old when she attended church with us. This may seem a little late by US standards - I made an appearance at 6days old myself - but in Ukraine Babies in public before a month old (except for the daily 2 hour stroll) is unheard of. The risk of germs etc - is too great. On the one hand, its nice, it is one less thing that the mother needs to worry about - on the other hand - how long do they expect me to sit at home? Another side note, people wondered why I wasn't in the hospital a week before my due date waiting for the bay to arrive. It was enough torture waiting at home for the baby to arrive - what am I going to do in the hospital all that time?? Esp if she had been past her due date?

Anyway - everyone loved seeing the baby - but no one asked to hold her (she is too small and germs etc). Everyone was aghast that she had bare legs (she was very warm in the onesie, dress, sweater, and socks - believe me - her legs were not suffering and there WAS a blanket) and the most common comment was - oh she is so small how many "months" is she? once again demonstrating that it is uncommon for a baby to appear in public earlier than 1 month - 40 days after its birth. One woman - when I responded that she was 12 days - took a GIANT step back from us and said we were very brave.

Saphira took it all very well - slept through the entire service and only proceeded to fuss once we got home. We don't know how we managed to get such a nice, mellow baby- but are very thankful for her.

Changes

Well, as of April 13th, we are a family of three :- )

For anyone considering giving birth in Ukraine, I highly recommend ISIDA. We found the care top notch, cheaper than the equivalent in the US and really above and beyond the call of duty. Most importantly - they were willing to listen to pretty much all of our requests and were slow to do interventions despite the fact that I had a not so normal delivery since my water broke before contractions started. (When we came into the clinic at 1:30am - the doctor looked at me with this "how could you do such a thing" look and said - so are you the one whose water broke?- Which I found humorous, like I can control when my water broke?!) Anyway - we are thrilled and very pleased with the entirety of care we received at ISIDA and recommend them 100%.

My mom has been here to help out - which is a God-send as I don't know what the house would have looked like or what we would have eaten the first 2 weeks. Now, I am slowly able to do things - a load of laundry on my own and dinner were my achievements of yesterday - though I missed having a nap.

1st impressions of parenthood? Well - we were given lots of baby clothes and blankets- and I didn't see how we could possibly use them all. However - over the last three days we have soiled 7 blankets, 1 crib sheet, and 10 baby shirts/onesies etc. I had no idea. I mean 7 blankets!!

The next observation is swaddling. Somehow - in all our blankets - we didn't have one that was really acceptable for an American style swaddle - they were either too small to be effective or too heavy to be comfortable. However- in the hospital - they showed us a different swaddle - a Russian swaddle. After finally obtaining a decent sized swaddle blanket (Thanks Dawn!) I have decided that still the Russian swaddle is not only easier - but more effective. It can be used with both square and rectangular blankets (and a smaller size as well - even the receiving blankets worked for the first two weeks until she started stretching her legs out more) and so can be used as the baby gets bigger if you use a long piece of rectangular fabric. It is easier in that you don't have all this holding of the arms down as you fold fabrics and make little tucks and pleats. The main key is pulling the arms tight and making sure that when you wrap and "tie" the legs, that the arm fabric is trapped underneath the leg wrap.

Unfortunately - I have only found this one video demonstrating the "Russian Swaddle" method - but as I don't have a lot of time right now - and in the interest of spreading the ease of a tightly wrapped swaddle - I am including it.

Wear'n o the green

So it's not St. Patrick's day - in fact it is 10 days late - But Alister was gone for St. Patrick's Day and though he isn't Irish, he does like St. Patrick (who doesn't) so today we are having green cake.

The cake isn't Irish either - in fact its Japanese, but it is delicious. Even if you do something wrong and it doesn't turn out lovely and fluffy, it will still be delicious - it is just that type of cake.

Sorry - you'll have to use a scale because I haven't converted the measurements from the recipe my Japanese friend gave me.

Green Tea and White Chocolate Cake - or Green Tea Gateau Chocolat

Ingredients

180 - 200 grams white chocolate (about 2 large bars)

100 grams butter (about 1 stick)

2 Tbsp rum (optional - and have never added it)

1/4 cup heavy cream (have substituted skim milk with no ill-effect - but you do lose slightly on richness)

30 grams flour

1 tsp baking powder

30 grams (may add extra) green tea powder (you can grind your own using a coffee grinder - but you want an extra fine grind so that it looks like flour)

3 eggs, separated

30 grams sugar

30 grams sugar

1) Preheat oven to 350 F

2) Grease and flour a single round cake pan

3) Separate eggs and set whites aside

4) In a Medium saucepan add: Cream, white chocolate, butter, and 30 grams of sugar. Add rum if desired.

5) Cook on low heat while stirring with a whisk until everything is melted and well blended.

6) Temper egg yolks and add to chocolate mixture

7) Add flour, green tea powder, and Baking powder to chocolate mixture and mix well (tip - you can ensure the dry ingredients are more thoroughly mixed by mixing them together separately before adding them to the chocolate mixture)

8) Set mixture aside.

9) Beat egg whites to make meringue, gradually adding remaining 30 grams of sugar. Beat till stiff peaks firm. You may add a dash of salt or cream of tartar to aid in the meringue process.

10) Gently fold half of the meringue into the chocolate mixture

11) Fold in the remaining meringue (doing it in parts helps keep the meringue fluffy while ensuring a thorough mix)

12) Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes - if you don't get the meringue right - your cake will be slightly more compact and more brownie than cake like - Alister actually like it better that way. If you have leftovers - you should store them in the fridge.

The cake is served without icing - but to make it fancier - try drizzling white chocolate on top or serve with ice cream:- )

Spring at last

Finally - the snow has melted and some days - the sky is even sunny. Even though for now the scenery is still dull and grey (and now a bit muddy!) the thrill of no snow is exhilerating. I no longer cringe with dread with the thought of going outside. Soon the grass will begin to come in and the trees will begin to bloom. I planted basil and rosemarry on the balcony and we'll see if the mint comes back or not - I bout a package of catnip but am debating about planting it - I wonder if Haggai doesn't have enough energy :-)

Yes, spring is finally here - The only thing missing is a box full of baby chics or ducklings :-)

O'Henry

Alister is in Wales and so I am taking the opportunity to clean, cook and listen to books on tape. Today, I listened to some O'Henry short stories. I loved O'Henry when I was younger -I remember that the stories were engaing and often full of the ironic. Today, listening to them read, I realized for the first time that O'Henry wrote with Rythm and Rhyme. - his stories are definately prose, but his writing has a natural, conversant flavor with enough description and cadence that you can actually hear a rythm and a rhyme as the text is read - I specifically noticed this in the Elsie in Manhattan story - in fact the ending was quite disspointing because the final lines broke the cadence.

It's interesting the things you notice when you hear a text vs. just reading it.

Pet Peeve with a capital B

In my general writing, I have to admit that I am not a grammar, spelling, or punctuation queen. I know the rules - but when I am just typing something off I fall into the pitfalls of the over-computerized, text message and e-mail generation in which we live - no caps, no spell check, no complete sentences. Still - there is a time and a place for properly punctuated and extrapolated thought.

One of those places should be online articles. I write occasionally for Helium, when I have time and either feel strongly about a particular subject, know enough about it to write a decent article in a short amount of time, or think I know enough about the subject to earn money for it.

In this way, I've ended up with quite a few articles in the Religion and Spirituality Channel. Helium is like a writers co-op - you provide feedback on articles rating them good or bad and the more you rate the more profit share you get. It's in their interest to have you rate articles and so they refer you to articles in channels you have written for - so I see a wide breadth of "Religion and Spirituality"

Which brings me to my Pet Peeve with a capital B

A growing number of people are failing to capitalize Bible.

While it is true that the Bible, when used adjectivally (such as biblical or Julia Child's cookbook is the bible of for French cooking in America) whenever it is used as a noun referring to the Word of God - it should under ALL circumstances be capitalized.

Says who?

Any style guide you refer to

http://www.libraryonline.com/default.asp?pID=48

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/592/1/

More disturbingly, I have also been seeing this trend in some online magazines and newspapers.

I believe this directly reflects society's opinion that the Bible is not the Word of God - in fact, in some feminist theological writing I was recently reviewing to help Alister with his paper - the Author deliberately began using the term Bible as a lowercase word in her later writings, reflecting her own progression in view the Bible as a non-sacred text.

But guess what - no matter what your opinion of the Bible is - to not capitalize it is wrong because it refers to the name of a book, thus making it a proper noun. It would be just as wrong to talk about reading the catcher in the rye, war and peace, or horton hears a who (which, by the way is doubly wrong because not only is it the title of a book, but also contains a 1st name which must be capitalized as well).

So it's Bible - with a capital B