Columbia reunion weekend

We had a friend from College that passed away from leukemia last november.   His name was Brad and he sure made an impact with everone.   We all got together and purchased a seat for him at the Columbia College basketball gym.  We (all the friends) decided to get together the weekend of February 16th for a game and to honor Brad and we made a Columbia weekend.

To start out our weekend, after dropping the boys at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Aaron and I met Beth and Curt (american sis and bro) at Booches for lunch.  It was so much fun, we just sat there and talked for about 2 hours.   The burgers were delicious.

Beth and I

Burgers and Beer

After lunch, we headed to Columbia College to meet up with everyone and watch the guys basketballs.  Columbia College is very different now, with many new buildings.  For some reason it didn't make me miss college time.  Perhaps because I am still in touch with my friends?  Or because I feel too old for college?  Maybe I am happy with my life?  It was just so good to see everyone.  I do still miss high school  for some reason though :).

Aaron and I and the gang watching hte game!

Brad's friends and family

The seat turned out pretty good

After the game, we met with our friends and husbands for dinner at Blue.   I don't even remember the last time we all got together.  Everyone is good, married with kids!  We just always have so much to talk about.

It was good to be out....

Stephanie, Brooke, Danny, Chris, David, Max, Aaron, Carolina, Beth, Jamie and Allison

After dinner, we did a quick stop at a popular irish pub that we used to go allt he time.  I can't believe that is like 10 years ago already.  Time flies....

We went home early since we still have the boys early in the morning, but it sure was such a good time.

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The next day we hang out at grandma and grandpa's house for the morning and headed to famous Shakespeare's pizza for lunch to finish our weekend in Columbia.   We were all pretty tired including the boys.

Noah making Dino pizza

Sam making dino pizza

Sam and Grandpa watching the guys making the dough

Galette Bretonne Crepe Recipe (Breton style buckwheat crepes)

When we were in Quebec in the summer of 2011, Aaron and I had these amazing crepes in the main Montreal market, Marche Jean-Talon.  It is called Galette Bretonne, from Brittany, France.   We purchased them from this little cozy place and we found a table outside.  Of course, since Aaron is a chef by heart, he had to replicate the crepe on an ordinary day in February of 2013.

Sam likes to help papai shredding the cheese



He does such a good job!



Galette Bretonne Crepe

We also had a sweet crepe for desert made with nutella and bananas, which we were too busy eating and not photographing! Aaron did such a good job!

Galette Bretonne (Breton style buckwheat crepes)

These are the salty and savory crepes from Brittany that we had in Marche Jean-Talon in Montréal, Quebec.

Ingredients

For crepes:

2 eggs beaten

1/3 cup water

2/3 cup buckwheat flour

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 quarter teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon melted butter

For filling:

Good quality organic egg, Poached, (one for each galette)

Sautéed spinach

Emmentaler, Swiss or other similar cheese (shredded)

Thin slices of Jambon de Bayonne (or any Spanish or Italian style dry ham)

 How to make

Gently mix all the crepe ingredients to make a thin batter.  You can make this up to a day ahead of time and keep in a sealed container in the fridge.

Premeasure the amount of batter than will thinly coat the size of pan you are using.  A fairly large frying pan should work well, as these tend to be large crepes.  Heat the pan and some oil until it is moderately hot.  Pour in batter and swirl pan to evenly coat in a thin layer.  When one side becomes firm and starts to brown in spots flip over using your hand (be careful as they are delicate, a rubber spatula will help).  Remove from pan when other side cooks.  Repeat until out of batter, recipe should yield 4 large crepes. 

To fill the crepe, add shredded cheese, spinach and ham while it is still hot from the pan. Fold over edges to form a little purse and top off the open area with the poached egg.  Break yolk at table before eating, and enjoy.

Grito de Carnaval!

Carnval begins in Brazil today.  It is onne of the biggest parties in the planet!   I had my carnaval time (during my teenager years) and had lots of fond memories, so as of right now I do prefer the quiet time now at home with the family.  I do however, know that Carnaval is such an important Brazilian tradtion that I want to introduce it to the boys.  We have Brazilian TV at home (Sam is getting the idea of Carnaval on TV), so I think it is important for them to grow up knowing about Carnaval.

We have a brazilian association in town that promotes events throughout the year about Brazilian Culture.   We decide to take only Sam this year, since Noah was just recovering from his little procedure.  Usually in Brasil, the kids will dress up (like Halloween, but it is like 90 degrees weather there).  There is always a band playing music and everyone else is dancing.

Sam dressed up like a knight (of course) and the Brazilian Carnaval took place on a church in Maplewood.  You had to pay to get in, and  they had drinks and brazilian snacks which was a plus!



Sam dressed as a Knight dancing some carnaval music


The band playing all kind of rhythms, Sam thought it was very loud at fist, but he got used to it pretty quickly and even wanted to try to play the drums!

The Band



Sam playing the drums- very focus!



Brasileirinho/little brazilian



Sam with brazilian friends



We had a good time, we think it is important for the boys to learn about brazilian cutlure and hopefully they will have this event every year!  This weekend, we will be watching on TV.  Oh, Kim Kardashian just arrive in Rio for the Carnaval parties :).

Noah's tongue tied

On Friday Feburary 1st, Noah had a small procedure to get his tongue clipped.  Noah was born with his tongue tied.  Our pediatrician was not pro-clipping unless absolutely necessary.  For example, if he couldn't eat or talk, etc.  Noah was breastfeeding like a champ so we had no issues on that territory.   He is now 2 years old, and lately we noticed that he had more trouble talking than Sam did at his age.   Our pediatrician told us that he is only two, so still ok if he doesn't talk as much as Sam did.   He said usually the second kid is more delayed, since his big brother would speak for him!  He is also a big fan of his pacifier.  Sometimes he even has three in his mouth at the same time!  Plus he is also bilingual which can delay a little bit the speech.



Noah with his tongue tied



However, he referred us to a ENT doctor to take a look and decide if we should do anything about it.   The ENT doctor was very impressed by his tongue tiedness and said even though is not related to non-talking, it would help with pronunciation (Especially if he will be bilingual), so we decided to go ahead with the surgery.

The hardest part was that Noah could not eat or drink after midnight.  The surgery was set to 8:15 AM and we needed to be there by 7:15 AM.  It was a little tough to keep him entertained for that long with no snacks/drinks.   After Noah tried to escape the room a few times, the nurses finally changed us to a room with a TV and that kept him a little bit entertained, but he was just getting tired by then.  Finally when the nurses came to get him for surgery he was almost falling asleep and he went with them with no problem.   The surgery took about 15 minutes, Aaron and I waited in the waiting room.   After the surgery the doctor came to talked to us and still mentioned how his tongue tied was very impressive and it took 3 stitches!  So, we feel that was a good thing that we got it done now.   

We came back to the room and Noah was sleeping, he was so cute:

Noah's sleeping after surgey

After he woke up and drank some apple juice we took him to Bread Company for breakfast.  We were hungry too!  He ate some muffins but was read to go home.   The rest of the day, he was pretty wild (maybe from the anesthesia?) and we kept him on tylenol.  He was drooling a lot!   He did ok.  Saturday his grandparents and aunt came to visit and we went out to lunch.  He was a little bit cranky but not too bad.   Monday he was good and happy to go back to his normal life!  He is not too much interested on his pacifier as much, which might be a good thing!



We went to Bread Company after surgery for muffins



New tongue- new life!