halloween night

 owls and black cats at the halloween party . . 

 finally everyone arrived and we all went out together.

 morgana took some pictures from the window upstairs.

 it was a busy night . . i had never seen so many trick or treaters in my neighborhood before.

 chanda's friend dressed up as sherlock holmes . .

the last house had left out a bowl of treats . . afterwards we went back to my friend's house for chili and apple cider and delicious brownies that morgana had made.

halloween day

 chanda dressed for ballet class as a black cat . . 

her ballet school usually cancels class as the halloween parade passes right by their front door and the crowd would make attending class impossible. however, with halloween on a saturday this year, all classes were finished by parade time so everyone really enjoyed dressing up.

 back at home morgana made two apple pies . . 

 i made the pie doughs and mixed the filling and she peeled, cut all the apples, and put the pies together.

 they look so good! apple pie is my favorite.

 when chanda returned the three of us sat down for a quick dinner before going out to our friend's halloween party. greg was at work all day as his company was moving from the time life building (where they've been for fifty six years) to battery park city. it's a big move that they've been preparing for all year . . (korrina was at work too).

 we had a dinner of chili and apple pie . . 

chanda dressed as a jedi knight for the party . . 

a birthday hat

angus liked his hat and wore it home after ballet class this evening!

more audition video rehearsals

fortunately, there was an hour available in the studio that chanda will be filming her audition video in, so today we went to test out the floor quality for pirouettes and pointe work, and to space out the allegros.

hmmm . . the floor is a little noisy . .

practicing pirouettes . .




across the floor . . practicing grand jeté . .

practicing piqué turns . . (wobbly doubles) . .


maybe just singles?

rainy . . all day

 morgana made brie and fig jam sandwiches for her friend's birthday picnic today. there was just one problem: she bought orange fig jam thinking it was the regular fig jam. the jar looked exactly the same. hopefully, she won't have a reaction after having eaten a whole sandwich already!

 amelia's stationery kit . . 

 she walked downtown along the river with camille and they met up with everyone at the seaglass carousel. i think they ate their picnic on the staten island ferry. it was a rainy day but didn't really start pouring until 4:15. (morgana has just corrected me . . she says it was raining aaaalll day . . when they walked there it was raining, when they got on the ferry it was raining, when they got off the ferry it was raining, when they rode the carousel it was raining . . )

amelia on the carousel . . 

the music is from saint-saëns' carnival of the animals which the girls have danced to with their modern teacher (she choreographed several pieces to the music).

 meanwhile chanda and i finished reading cyrano de bergerac which we really enjoyed (and she finished sewing up her fingerless gloves). we watched half of the 1950 movie with jose ferrer this evening.

 dinner tonight was another austrian recipe (based on a bone marrow broth i usually make in the fall and winter). however, i put it together on my own since morgana was babysitting. it came out very good. i added angel hair pasta, a vegetable bouillion cube, carrots, beef hot dogs and meat and marrow from the bones along with fresh chives. everything was set on the table in separate bowls so that everyone could add what they wanted to the soup broth. this is the way it was served by her austrian family.

 greg got home very late and missed out on the add it yourself phase . . i dumped everything in for him . . except the chives.

hermione wanted to eat, but then lost her cookies and will now fast with only water until her stomach is better.

catching up again

 this week i've been in a chocolate brioche and english breakfast tea phase . . 

 and i finally used up the viennese sugar morgana had brought back from austria. sadly. 

 chanda made a hat for her ballet teacher's son whose birthday it was on october 10th. he's five now.

 and morgana made a ballet bag for one of chanda's friends who had a cooking class party on saturday, october 24th. 

 i was supposed to have pulled out the wider ribbon to fold over the rim of the bag, but i wasn't aware of this difference so the thinner ribbon was used instead . . it doesn't look quite as clean, but i guess it isn't too bad . .

 the finished birthday gifts with the card . . chanda made a pair of fingerless gloves and i picked up a pink flower hair accessory at bigelow pharmacy. everything went into the bag. it looked very pretty, and chanda says her friend is now using the bag for her pointe shoes, which is what it's for . . so that's good!

the cooking class birthday party held at rustico cooking.

 last night morgana made a tyrolian salad. she baked a few carrots and potatoes and diced them with mortadella, egg and apple. she made a fresh mayonnaise to go over it all. it was incredibly delicious!

 it's dinner time for the cats. they're hoping she'll toss them a few tidbits (she didn't) or at least feed them (she didn't . . but i did).

 stirring the mayonnaise into the salad.

 i almost forgot to bring out my cousin's bowls that i inherited. i purposely wanted to make the salad to serve in these bowls. i remember eating delicious salads like these in germany when i was there, and i remember my cousin serving salads in these bowls when i was at her apartment many years ago here in ridgewood, nyc (she was my mom's cousin and much older than me) . . so i wanted to combine the two memories . . and voila! finally . . 

 morgana also made homemade rolls . . 

 it was a very delicious meal.

 now what is she doing?

making brownies for her friend's impromptu birthday celebration today.

 here she's making the gift: a stationery set with homemade envelopes and paper. (chanda is working on her waldorf class lesson).

here's the maison kayser chocolate brioche bread for morning tea . . i've been visiting all the different bakeries in the neighborhood for their different chocolate breads . . chanda prefers the one from "fred" in the top picture.