How d'you make a Swiss roll?

Throw him down the Alps, of course. 

Or: take three fresh farm eggs (and some other ingredients); mix 'em up and stick everything in the oven; stick it all back in the oven when you realise you set it too low because you were following a British recipe (which uses Celsius not Fahrenheit); roll it up and let it cool into shape; unroll it, add the whipped cream and roll it up again...

...and voila!  A slightly rubbery Swiss roll!  The Girl asked for a second slice, so it can't have been that bad.  By the way, it's a chocolate Swiss roll, so it's meant to be that colour.  And there are still plenty of eggs (and cream) left for a requested "classic sponge cake" later in the week.

Welly weather

It has been a very dreary day here, just like a British winter: cold and grey and damp and drizzly.

The Boy went off in the afternoon and did some biking with his buddy.  The Girl returned from a sleepover at lunchtime and spent the rest of the day recuperating on the couch.

And the Man and I took ourselves back to Five Rivers for another hike - less ice this time, but a lot of squelch.  I was glad of my wellies.

Getting in trim for Spring

As is sometimes the way around this time of year, the Girl got herself an invitation to spend some time at Indian Ladder Farms today.  When we went to pick her up she was muddy and happy and had learned how to trim goats' hooves.  We were presented with two cartons of fresh eggs, so the Girl is now expecting quite an awesome birthday cake in a few days time.

The weather is a little warmer, and the Boy was inspired to wander down to the local diner with his buddy this afternoon for a plate of fries and a hot chocolate. The Man and I expected the trails at Five Rivers to have thawed out a bit, but the one we chose this evening, the Vlomankill, was still treacherous.  However the stream was in full spate with all the melted ice - which must (surely?) be a sign of spring.

School of horrors

My friend and favourite Middle School Social Studies teacher has produced another movie, a sequel to his 2012 epic.

It was another tour de force.  If it perhaps lacked some of the element of surprise of the last movie, there were still some impressive performances (one of the Girl's friends had a leading role as Hermione Holmes, ace detective) and many laughs.  The scenario this time was that the school had been taken over by vampires and werewolves, and there was much use of dodgy props and shaky special effects - it was a lot like the good old days of Dr Who.

This was the third and final screening.  Ticket money is being divided: half will be spent on a new shed for the school's organic garden, and half will buy science supplies for a school in Uganda.

Global dining

Great joy - tonight was the annual Multicultural Food Festival at the Middle School! 

We tried all kinds of food, arranged alphabetically around the room from Argentina to Vietnam, with all sorts in between: there was Chinese chicken, French crepes, German kugel, Ghanaian "jolly rice", Israeli falafel, Pakistani pakoras, Polish perogies, Swedish pastries... and so much more.  For our contribution this year we brought chickpea poppers (a spicy Indian snack) and shortbread.

When I say "we tried", I'm not really counting the Boy, who only "tried" a brownie and several cups of soda.  The Girl made up for him though: by the bloated look of her at the end of the evening, I'd say she probably tried everything.

It was a great, good fun, sociable event.  Best of all, I didn't have to cook dinner.

Fairy busy

It is still cold here and today has also been very windy, so I've stayed in.  I've found plenty to do, but not much to write about, so although I didn't make these today here you go:

No make-up elfie

                                                                                                            

Text BEAT to 70007 to donate £3 to cancer research.

A hard shoe shuffle

The Girl and some of her fellow Irish dancers are now advanced enough to progress to hard shoe dancing.  That's like tap dancing but with more kicking and stomping, and it requires new shoes with hard heels and toes.

I was looking at some online this afternoon (there's nowhere to buy them locally).  Hmm.  They don't run quite as expensive as good ice skates, but we're still talking three figures.  And I've never liked the idea of buying shoes online, anyway, because you really do want them to fit... Anyway, by good fortune we found out tonight that the one girl in the class who already dances hard shoe has just grown out of her pair and they're a perfect fit for our Girl.  So we got lucky there - luck of the not-really Irish, maybe?

Just skidding

It was a cold, bright afternoon so the Man and I decided to go for a walk at Five Rivers.  Ha!  More like a skid - the paths were frozen hard and super slippery.  Still, we managed to make it round, slowly, without mishap.

We also checked out one of the buckets set up to collect maple sap (it's the month for demonstrating maple sugaring at Five Rivers).  It turns out the sap had frozen, too.

In spite of the cold and the ice, and lingering snow on the ground, it is beginning to feel just a little bit like Spring - there's a hint of buds on the trees, and (our clocks went forward a couple of weeks ago) the evenings are staying light for longer.  It's suddenly possible to imagine that this hard winter might actually come to an end some day (though, OK, according to the forecast - not this week. Sigh).

Nice on the ice

I took the Girl to Troy for a skating lesson today.  Very unusually, and to her great delight, she had the ice to herself.  In the ten minutes or so before her coach arrived she enjoyed it fully, skating up and down the length of the rink and making the most of all that space.

From the rink to the airport - we picked up the Man, back from his North Carolina trip.  It was lovely to see him, but he didn't stick around at home for long.  Several weeks ago he had booked himself a two hour curling session, and it happened to be this afternoon.  So he had a turn on some ice, too (although not alone but with quite a crowd of other novice curlers).

From a brochure on curling etiquette I have learnt: "One of the nicest curling traditions is that players and spectators compliment a good shot by either side while not remarking on a poor shot or a competitor's misfortune."  And, "Curlers play to win but never to humble their opponents. A true curler would prefer to lose rather than win unfairly."  I think perhaps this used to be true of all sports, but now - ah, not so much.

Brits R local

Haven't we been here before?  Well, no, not exactly - this is a new branch of Brits R U.S., much closer to home on Central Ave. in Albany.

It stocks all the same goodies as its Pittsfield namesake, and (glory of glories) they'd just got in a shipment of Hula Hoops - they opened up the box for us.

Apparently the shop is doing well and getting repeat customers.  However, all those alluring British sweeties don't come cheap and I plan on us only being special occasion visitors.

On our way out we noticed some squeezable jars of Marmite.  Seriously?  Whatever next?

Spring, stretch and crash

So here we are again on that day in the year when the media announces the official first day of spring, and we all turn to each other and say, "Yeah, right."  We had icy rain last night, there's still snow on the ground, and we're promised yet another temperature plummet for the weekend.

After avoiding it for several weeks, I ventured back to yoga class this morning.  I'm still a bit jury-out on the whole concept, but I guess I'll give it a few more goes.

This evening, an unscheduled pleasure - two smallish guests!  Exile #4 and E51N visited us while their big sister performed in a choral concert.  My kids were definitely happy to see them and they all enjoyed crashing about in the basement together.  We have to make the most of those Exiles while we can, I fear, as their move to Maine seems to be quite imminent.

Otter nonsense

Today was not as hectic as yesterday.  Here's the otter from last night.  Looking good, but he needs to wax his whiskers or something.

Community service day

There are days when I have not so much to do, and then there are the other kind:

Morning - a meeting at Five Rivers.  Followed by helping out refugee friends for an hour or so. Then home for back-to-back Fair Trade conference calls.

Next, a trip to Troy, where the Girl had a skating lesson (our local rink has closed for the season). Home again, and just time for some dinner before going round to the elementary school for a summer camps fair. The Girl was helping out at the Indian Ladder Farms table, and at the Friends of Five Rivers stall the Boy was assisting me in the way he does best - dressed as an otter (much to the surprise of his former school principal).

So we've all done our bit today.  There's even a photo, but I'll have to add it tomorrow because it's on the Boy's gadget and he's already gone to bed.  Speaking of which, I'd better head that way myself now.

Shamrocked

I had an early start as I was meant to drive the Man to the airport before the kids were up for school.  However, it being one of the Man's trips, it soon went all wobbly on us.  We were hardly out of the garage before he found out the flight was delayed due to snow en route.  He did catch it eventually, though, and has made it safely down to North Carolina where he'll be for the rest of the week.

It's St. Patrick's Day proper. "Great," said the Girl heading to school this morning, "Just what I need to start my day:  500 people dressed in green."  For that tends to be the way to mark the day in this town where almost everyone is sort of Irish, if they're not sort of Italian (or sort of both).

Definitely the crowd at the library this evening favoured green.  They were there to watch the Girl and her fellow dancers high-stepping their jigs and reels in honour of the saint.  It was a nice show, followed by (of course) green-iced cupcakes.

The Man adds...here I am leaving Washington soon after the airport re-opened after morning snow.  And tonight North Carolina is suffering from the combination of drizzly rain and below-freezing temperatures that leaves everything caked in ice.  Even in the South, winter drags on.

 

Irish eyes positively beaming

St. Patrick's Day is nearly upon us.  The Girl marked it yesterday with a step-dancing gig at a local senior citizens' home.  She then had to hot-foot it to the Y where (nothing to do with the Irish saint) she was also taking part in an ice show.

After all that, and having farmed out the children to friends, I accompanied the Man to Derby, CT, and celebrated the feast day in style at the very jolly Irish wedding of one of his colleagues. Unfortunately, due to the ice show we missed the service and arrived just as a kilted piper was preparing to pipe the newlyweds out of the church. But at least we made it for the party.

Plentiful food, cheerful company, entertaining and moving speeches (unlike English people, Americans can do sincere and really mean it, and it doesn't make your toes curl). The music was lively and VERY LOUD.  The bride and groom looked as happy as two people can be - their married life is off to a great start.

Connecticut connection

We're back from a wedding in Connecticut - will tell you more, perhaps, tomorrow, but for now here's a picture of the very happy couple:

Speakers' Corner

The Man came across this sign in Muir Woods the other week, which we share with you now for your interest.  If you ever felt like sounding off in the woods, apparently this would be the place to do it.

Crystal Anniversary

Looked out of the window when I woke up and saw that a couple of inches of snow had fallen.  Meh.  Snow is so old now.  However, I'm glad I'm not somewhere in Vermont where they got 26 inches last night in their heaviest snowstorm of the season.

Because the snow had fallen on top of ice, local schools had a two hour delay, which made for a pleasantly relaxed start to the day.  The side roads in particular remained messy for the rest of the day, though, and it has been beastly windy and cold.  Just in the time it took to fill the car with petrol I thought my toes were going to freeze off.  

I was out and about buying a present for a wedding we'll be attending this weekend, and thinking about my own wedding to the Man - wow, fifteen years ago today.

Stairmasters

We had a day of cold and rain that eventually turned to sleet and freezing rain and has left the the trees sparkling with icicles and the road surfaces slick and slippery.  Tonight there will be snow again, tra-la.

The conditions deterred the Man from visiting the Y for a run this evening, so instead he ran up and down the stairs several times before dinner.  The Boy is never one to miss out on a bit of aimless running around, so before long he was running up and down the stairs, too.  

It was all quite diverting, but not unfamiliar. I actually do this myself quite frequently during the day - I go running upstairs and then wonder "Why did I do that?" So I run down again, only to remember why and have to run straight back up again. 

Warm before the storm

It has been strangely and pleasantly warm today - it has to be the first time in months (not counting that brief week in California) that I've wanted to be outside without my winter coat on.  Likewise it was the first time for ages that I felt like doing the long walk (half an hour) round the block rather than an alternative much shorter scamper.  And while doing the long walk, instead of carefully avoiding icy patches, I had to paddle through puddles.

The Boy meanwhile felt inspired (again, for the first time in months) to wander down to the local ice-creamery with a friend.

We had good reason to get out and enjoy the good weather today - tomorrow's forecast is for every kind of wet/freezing rain, snow and slush.

To prove that I don't just bake cookies, here's a photo from a few days ago, celebrating with the Boy's belated birthday cake.

It's life, Jill, but not as we know it

I listened to a fascinating broadcast on NPR today: Rocket Girls and Astro-nettes, about women working for NASA in the early days of the Space programme.  If you have an hour, follow the link and give it a go.* It's full of "Woaah! They got away with treating women like that? Seriously??" moments - as when the reporter questioning a traineee astronaut asks her "Shouldn't a pretty girl like you be worrying more about finding a husband, not going into Space?"

Yikes!

And what was I doing while listening to these amazing pioneers, reaching for the stars and inspiring women everywhere to break through the boundaries of expectation?  Since you ask, I was cleaning the kitchen and baking cookies.

Sigh. Where did I go wrong?



*Start listening at "3.Segment A"

Still waiting for Spring

 

What's your flavourite?

The Boy was lured to an online competition today by an advert he found on a packet of Lays potato chips - Do us a flavor.  Chance to win a million $$!  He's been having no end of fun with it, all day.

Basically you get to come up with a new flavour for crisps.  You pick up to three ingredients to go in it, justify its existence in 140 characters or less, then set it free on the internet and see if anyone Likes it.

He started out with Chocolate Chilli (3 likes).  Then (apoplectic with laughter) he tried to enter Roadkill - but it wasn't allowed. A screening message popped up querying what his mom would think of that idea (actually, she'd suggested it).

His most popular (6 likes) effort, devised with his buddy, has been American Burger - it conveniently combines the flavours of hamburger, cheese and French fries.  No-one seems to fancy the Break-up Chip (garlic, onion and garlic) or the exotic Florida Favorite (orange, tequila and alligator).  But Hillbilly Squirrel has had at least one like (and would surely have had more if he'd left out the mustard).

In other news, two quiet but intense members of the household had an Othello face-off today.

California Dreaming (4)

The Man writes...for my last day in San Francisco I was keen to repeat a hike I did in Muir Woods on my very first visit to the States, almost exactly 25 years ago.

Muir Woods is only 16 miles north of the city, but getting there by public transport took some careful planning. Three buses were required, one of which only runs every three or four hours in the "winter season". (How could it be off season when it had been perfect weather and in the 60sF for the last two weeks?). However, it all worked out fine and was a bargain at $4.50 each way.

I got off the bus on Panoramic Highway and hiked about a mile down into Muir Woods.  Declared a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt, this is one of the last remaining forests of coast redwoods. These trees are taller and thinner than their inland cousins, the giant sequoia. In Muir Woods they are up to a 1000 years old and 250 feet high, and truly spectacular.

I headed deep into the woods away from the crowds. When I emerged about three hours later I expected to see the Pacific below me. Instead I found myself above a sea of mist, held back magically on the shore line and at the entrance to San Francisco Bay.

About another hour later I got to Stinson Beach, just in time to meet the last bus home. 

California Dreaming (3)

The Man writes...after a memorable couple of days in San Francisco with Albaniana and the kids, I waved them off very early for their flight home and, frankly, wondered what to do next.

First I caught a dazzling double decker train back into the city:

Then I visited the De Young Museum.  To make me feel at home there were paintings from the Hudson River school and a Georgia O'Keefe exhibition which was recently at the Clark, and the entrance hall was for some reason decorated with an enormous image from an electron microscope:

There was an interesting photographic exhibition of the building of the Bay Bridge in the 1930s, and panoramic views of San Francisco from the Hamon Tower:

However, I was anxious to be out and about enjoying the fine weather. I walked through Golden Gate Park to the coast and stayed to watch the sun go down.

It really is a beautiful city!

California dreaming (2)

The Man writes...the second night of our recent California trip was spent in a cabin in Big Sur park. The sky at night was as black and clear and full of stars as anything I have ever seen. The next day we took a walk through the coastal redwoods to a waterfall:

Then we drove along the coast enjoying the views:

And finally we took a (hazardous) hike to a pebbly, windy beach.

California dreaming (1):

Another cold day in our neck of the woods.  I spent an enjoyable chunk of it catching up over coffee chez Exile #2 (thank you!).  I walked there and back - briskly.

This evening we're thinking warmly of California's stunning coastline... Were we really there just two weeks ago?  Our holiday began with sunrise over San Francisco Bay.

We drove to Half Moon Bay...

...past Pigeon Point...

...and on to the incredible Big Sur coast south of Monterey:

Going for cold

I had to switch gears today, from thinking intensely about Fair Trade campaigns to thinking intensely about Friends of Five Rivers fundraising.  A group of us met at Five Rivers this afternoon to start focusing on a particular project.  We have quite a bit of work to do, but it should be an interesting challenge.

Meanwhile, the cold keeps us in its grip.  We are all so tired of it, especially now that we're into March.  Mind you, after comparing notes this weekend with conference attendees from the Midwest, I feel like we shouldn't complain.  It has been one of the harshest winters on record in many parts of the States this year.

Under one roof

And...finally we're all back under one roof.

I had another day of conferencing in NJ.  It has been a worthwhile weekend.  Plus I met a woman who lives with a bed bug exterminator ("It's OK - he never brings his work home with him," she reassured us).

The Girl and a friend had another day at Genericon.

The Man and Boy had a cold but bright afternoon of skiing at Jiminy, which included snacks in the Summit Lodge.  It's good to see the Man again after his week in the West.  He appears to be none the worse for his adventures.

A taste of the Garden State

I'm pleased to report that the Man did make it safely back to Albany, and was last heard of at the comic convention in Troy - perhaps not his first choice of places to be after only three and half hours' sleep, but he'd promised his daughter...  He's a good dad.

Meanwhile I've had an extremely full day of meetings at my conference - very interesting (the Fair Trade communities movement in the USA is in the process of evolving, and this is quite a fascinating time to be involved), but my head was throbbing by 6pm - and we still had to go out to dinner.  But the meal, at a family-style Italian restaurant, was great fun.  It's enjoyable getting to know people whom I've previously only "met" on conference calls.

Since people are attending the event from all over the country, I've enjoyed listening to some great regional accents.  But none can compare with the local accent in our host state of Noo Joizy - you could cut it with a knife.  Judging by some of the waitresses we've had, the accent comes with a refreshingly forthright attitude (which you might not want to get on the wrong side of).  

The Man writes... my day started unexpectedly at this man's airport in Washington DC:

 

On the short flight north I enjoyed great views from first class comfort:

 

before rushing on to spend 9 hours at "Genericon" with the Girl and her friends and a host of mainly RPI students, nearly all dressed as anime characters (with a few Dr Whos).

Here's one more (rather dramatic) TV report for those of you who are beginning to think we make this stuff up...watch carefully.