pesto pasta

we had our friends over who just came back from austria where they saw morgana. she had been telling them about making pesto . . so today we had them over for a visit to make pesto!

after mixing the basil, pine nuts, a clove of garlic and the olive oil in the food processor, we stirred in the parmesano cheese.

we spread the first batch on a pizza crust from whole foods and added artichoke hearts and fresh mozzarella cheese (oh! and of course a generous sprinkling of oregano).

then we made another batch with baby spinach, a tablespoon of lemon juice and a teaspoon of lemon rind, and once again: pine nuts, olive oil and parmesano.

we also had small goat cheese ravioli and cheese tortellini that i had bought from raffetto's on which to spread the sauce . . 

. . . and a spinach salad with orange slices, apple slices, toasted pepitos and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. it was a very green meal!

buon appetito.

afterwards we face-timed with morgana on stefan's phone.

and then morgana went to sleep (it was about eleven o'clock at night her time) . . 

and we had dessert: strawberry ice cream, whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

the younger people played rainbowland which was a favorite of the girls when they were little. korrina helped with remembering the rules before she ran off to work.

it was a fun night.

dinner and skyping

 it was a day busy with schoolwork and ballet class.

 chanda has been slowly getting her oral report about italy onto paper for her lesson book.

 we had leftovers for dinner along with chicken that i picked up from the local butcher.

and yesterday morning we skyped with morgana. she's been busy with teaching dance classes, skiing and attending her german language class twice a week. we always talk for a few hours and the time goes by fast.

another grey day

 it was another grey wintry day today. chanda did her morning schoolwork (typing, italian, math and latin) before heading out to babysit, followed by an hour helping with one of the younger ballet classes, and then her own ballet class.

 when she came home she found me skyping with morgana.

i let her finish talking while i finally got dinner on.

turning twenty one

 we celebrated korrina's twenty first birthday this morning . . 

 skyping with morgana . . 

 morgana remembers the birthday song we sing every year . . i usually change the lyrics each time as i never remember them exactly.

 batman sheets!

 greg ran off to work and we talked with morgana until it was time for her to go and teach her dance class.

 holding madeline up to say good-bye . . 

 and then i read aloud a little . . 

 while chanda continued to work on her rose window.

 around 1:30 i went with chanda to gaynor minden on 16th street. i looked at the children's leotards and she was there for a fitting. she received another free leotard! she owes another fitting for it.

 it's such a pretty boutique in a beautiful old building.

 here's one of their sketches they have in the bathroom (the rooms are so warm from the steam heat).

 in the evening korrina and i had a quiet dinner together at eataly. we shared a pasta dish (bucatini with eggplant and tomato sauce) and antipasta (cheese and salami), and a glass of wine for each of us since she's twenty one now.

 it's very cold again, though i hear it's supposed to warm up over the weekend.

 in front of the art display on the bottom floor of the flat iron building.

well, two birthdays down, thanksgiving and a homeschooling craft fair to go, and the christmas decorations are up in the local park. even though this time of year always feels hectic and chaotic to me, i enjoy it. now to try and get to sleep before midnight.

cooking with morgana

 greg was up at 5 am to skype with morgana, a more reasonable hour not being available as he's at work all day. (of course i woke up too . . )

 it was 11 am by her and she was putting the dinner together before going to her german class.

she was making dumplings. she used a crouton package mix from the market to which she added water, cheese, vegetables and wurst. (shhhhh! she also added flour which she wasn't supposed to do, but she had to compensate for putting in too much water . .  hmmm). she shaped several of the dumplings with a cookie cutter and others she just rolled out. 

a little one came by . .

 i think her meal inspired me for i finally opened up my bread starter which has been sitting in the frig for months . . i had to let much of it go, but i'm working on freshening it up. i think it'll be ready to work with tomorrow.

i also made granola . . i usually only crave this in the summer. maybe the warm weather is to blame, though it's supposed to get cold again.

dinner this evening was a salad and split pea soup with leftover meats (pork and beef) and scallops that korrina had grilled at school. they were very tender and very good.

schoolwork, skyping and supper

 this morning in our day book, chanda and i read about william cullen bryant, an american romantic poet who was born in massachusetts but lived his adult years in new york city. it's always interesting for me to find out about a public figure after i've known his name for a long time. for years we have been ice skating at bryant park, but never investigated the origin of the name. william cullen bryant was a prominent figure in new york city. he worked for fifty years as the editor in chief of the new york evening post where he wrote many editorials championing the rights of immigrants, religious minorities, and the rights of workers to unionize. he was also an outspoken critic of slavery and introduced lincoln at cooper union in 1860, where lincoln gave his cooper union speech outlining his views on slavery and solidifying his nomination for the presidency. bryant also supported the creation of central park and the metropolitan museum of art, and was one of the founders of new york medical college. his poetry focuses on nature and i was happy that laura berquist's the harp and the laurel wreath had one of his poems (chanda did a dictation):

to a waterfowl

whither, ‘midst falling dew,
while glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
thy solitary way?

vainly the fowler’s eye
might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
as, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
thy figure floats along.

seek’st thou the plashy brink
of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
or where the rocking billows rise and sink
on the chafed ocean side?

there is a power whose care
teaches thy way along that pathless coast,--
the desert and illimitable air,--
lone wandering, but not lost.

all day thy wings have fanned,
at that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,
yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
though the dark night is near.

and soon that toil shall end;
soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
and scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
soon, o’er thy sheltered nest.

thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven
hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
and shall not soon depart.

he who, from zone to zone,
guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
in the long way that i must tread alone,
will lead my steps aright.

 also put her iroquois report into her lesson book,

 and we began re-reading the fourth harry potter book in preparation for book five . . 

 suddenly in the midst of the day morgana emailed asking if we wanted to skype!

 of course we did and we all took turns talking to her.

 this is dinner preparation at 7 pm . .

we had leftover mashed potatoes that korrina had made at school the night before along with a salad put together by chanda, and breaded chicken breasts (again, compliments of korrina - i was happy for i didn't cook tonight so of course dinner was delicious).