RIP Reego the Hamster

We found our last surviving hamster dead in his cage this morning. His fate was sealed last night when Pai remarked how amazing it was that Reego had outlived all expectations and was such a lively hamster.

We chose an appropriate Lipton tea box for a casket, and burried him in the side garden, behind the tile bench where risk of future gardening or digging is slim.

Here he was enjoying life to the fullest, on holiday in the Polly Pocket cruise ship

 what a cutie he was

 a portrait by Zita

Reego will be missed dearly.

One-on-One Time

Yesterday afternoon Freddy had me all to himself. I felt so light and so free. I felt like I could paint, or craft, or undertake messy cooking with only one child underfoot. Zita went home with a friend, and sadly Moojie does not compete with Freddy to spend time with Mummy anymore. Freddy chose reading books with me in our "salinha," (little living room)  which is the most formal room in the house, traditionally reserved for cigars and man-talk when the house was built over 120 years ago.

I dusted off the Halloween picture books and we read Pumkin Soup by Helen Cooper. He adores this book despite the lack of dinosaurs or mechanized modes of transport. I can count on him giggling and covering his mouth when I get to the line "Then there was trouble, a horrible squabble, a row, a racket, a rumpus, in the old white cabin" Then I heard a murmur in his tired, raspy Friday afternon voice..."a rumpus!" What a great word that is.

We also read Room on the Broom- the only Julia Donaldson book we were missing in her entire collection. Suprise hand-me-down books are such a treasure.

I like to get at least one new Halloween book every year. Any good suggestions?

Things I want to remember...

...that happened this week

Zita almost breaking, but not breaking, but could have still broken, her arm at school.

Knocking on the kitchen window in an effort to bring the kids inside, and shattering the glass, getting shards stuck in my knuckles, and bleeding profusely all over the kitchen.

Freddy locking himself  in the car because of aforementioned broken window incident.

Snuggling up every night with Freddy and Zita to read a chapter in Beverly Cleary's Socks, with our own Blackie between us, purring away.

Watching Zita's love affair with her kittens, and what good care she takes of them.

The long bike ride I took with Freddy and Zita on Wednesday night, making me a "fun Mummy" for at least one day.

Driving in the car and catching a glimpse of Moojie walk out to lunch with his big group of friends, happy and grown up.

The early morning walk I took with Pai.

Freddy falling asleep in my lap like a baby, with hot red cheeks, and one pudgy hand gripping my finger.

The "kittens" are starting to look more like cats.

Persimmons!

 Persimmons are all over the place so I was determined to diversify the fruit bowl and try something new. This week I experiemented with persimmon cookies. The kids each ate one, and didn't beg for more. I thought they were good, but I think persimmons are more suited to bread. Here's how I made them : I pureed 2 persimmons in my food processor and mixed it together with a little less than 2 sticks butter (the Açores Mantegia in the silver foil for PT readers), 1 1/4 cups demerara sugar, 2 eggs, and vanilla.

 I eyeballed 2 1/2 cups flour using an IKEA kids cup, and mixed until the consistency looked like regular cookie dough. Then came the seasonings: see below (that's cinnamon on the left), and 1 cup golden seedless raisins.

They would have been a lot better with walnuts. I love using Anise seed and cardamon in non-chocolate cookies. It always gives them that cozy up by a fire in scandinavia feel.

What makes me happy?

Labels.

More Fall Finds

We got this dress for Caroline as a wear-in-winter-with-leggings-and-boots dress, but she wanted to wear it last weekend for tea at her great-grandmother's house.

 Again, please note my progress in the hair department.

 I can't decide if I love this picture or if the hair looks too much like she's fresh out of a polygamist cult.

My commentary on skirt lengths in the store rubbed off on her for sure. We were passing by the park and Zita said "geez, some of these mothers just wear the most inappropriate dresses."

This appropriate dress is from El Corte Ingles in Lisbon.

Turkey Lasagna

Since last week's menu was really no inspiration at all, I'm going to share my turkey lasagna recipe.
My approach to lasagna is this: it's not a recipe that one should grocery shop for, it's a way of using up what you already have. Substitue anything below and it will surely turn out fine. I almost never make a lasagna the same way twice, but this is my basic format.
For 12 portions you will need:

fresh lasagna sheets

mozzarella ( fresh is better, but this is what I had in the fridge)

mascarpone  

4 turkey breasts

1 onion

2 small cloves garlic

olive oil

basil

1 cup cooked spinach

2 cups tomato sauce

2 tomatoes (optional)

wine

fennel seed

oregano,

crushed red pepper

cayenne red pepper

black pepper (I know- it seems like a lot of pepper, but it's not at all spicy if you use just a pinch of each)

salt

1. Put onion, garlic and cooked spinach in a food processor until very finely mixed, but not liquid. I do this because my children don't like big onion or spinach bits. In fact, they don't even realize it has spinach or onion.

2. Cook onion, garlic and spinach in a large pot for as long as it takes you to food process the turkey breast. You can buy ground turkey, but I think meats that are already ground are gross. Seriously, what are all the white bits?

3. Add turkey, wine, fennel, oregano, basil, black pepper, crushed red pepper, cayenne red pepper, and salt, and cook for around 10 minutes until turkey is thoroughly cooked.

4. Remove from heat and stir in the mascarpone. I know it's super fatty and rich, but 1 cup divided by 12 can't be that bad, right? You can also do half ricotta, half mascarpone.

5. Pour a little bit of water in the bottom of a large pyrex dish and layer the lasagne and the turkey mixture. 

 6. Depending on what your children will eat, you can add sliced tomato here.
7. After you've finished layering the lasagna and turkey- it should be 2-3 layers- put the top layer of pasta followed by your favorite red sauce, mozarella, and more fresh basil leaves. It's not pizza so don't go crazy on the cheese. Here's how it looks out of the oven.

This really is so basic and so easy that I shouldn't even call it a recipe. I'm posting it because it's a crowd-pleasing dinner that strikes a compromise between the creamy european lasagnas and the red sauce versions we eat in the US.