A Bowl of Musical Soup
On growth, new milestones and baking wins
It has come to my attention that we no longer have two dogs. Instead, we have a dog and a pony.
I’ve always joked that I wanted to have four kids, and now I have them. Be careful what you wish for, they say. Two furry babies and two human ones are enough to keep me busy, which is why you are getting this “late” (is anyone actually paying attention though?). Although there are six of us in this house, we each have our own little experiences. Lily, my eldest baby, came home from Outdoor School this week looking slightly flushed from the heat and feeling utterly delighted by the experience. “It was amazing,” she said.
I also went to Outdoor School at her age but remember absolutely nothing, mainly because I had no idea why I was there in the first place. The thought of going into the woods and living with your classmates and doing things with them for a whole week (!) away from your parents is definitely one of the most unique experiences that public schools can give to children on the verge of puberty. I’m not going to lie—having one less child for a week felt thrilling. But in the end, I decided that having one less child also felt a bit lonely, like my own childhood, and thus, having four “kids” isn’t necessarily that bad after all.
One bonus of having my eldest home again is the addition of guitar sounds. This April marks one year that Lily has been playing the guitar and through a combination of diligence and persistence, she has become really good at it…or so I was told by her teacher at the last lesson. I quickly glanced in her direction when he said this and saw that she kind of blushed a little bit but also appeared to be proud of herself.
Here’s a snippet from their last recital.
Now that she’s home, they’ve been trading music notes after dinner, none of which I understand because I don’t play any instruments. They clink and tap the keys on the piano and then she moves onto strumming a few chords on her guitar and it makes me smile because it’s like a bowl of musical soup—comforting and deliberately meaningful.
Of course, Lily’s not the only one making milestones this week. As of this writing, yours truly has made it to 558 days of learning French on Duolingo. I can honestly say that aside from marriage, this is the longest I’ve ever done anything in my life without stopping and frankly, nobody is more surprised than me. I’ve learned more than just the language—I’ve learned, as Lily has learned with her guitar practice, that it only takes a little bit each day to master a skill. Turns out, small bits compound over time, as author James Clear so aptly explained in his book, Atomic Habits.
This past week, I went to the library and scored a copy of Yossy Arefi’s cookbook Snacking Bakes which I promptly took home and sifted through until I found some recipes I wanted to try. Now, here is where I admit that we are *kind of* obsessed with cookbooks. The last time I checked, we have 88 cookbooks of various cuisines, diets and meal types. But now after trying out three recipes with great success, I am definitely putting Snacking Bakes on my To-Buy list.
One really standout recipe is the ‘New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie’ on page 61. I’m not going to print the entire recipe here without permission so I’ll just give you a sliver of an image. You can figure out the rest. 😊
Delightful Discoveries of the Week
Now that we officially have a new pope, you may be interested in watching Conclave, a movie about the process of selecting a new pope. Unlike the real event, which only took about two days, this movie version gives you all the drama and secrets that one could possibly squeeze into a two-hour movie. The acting was excellent and the high tensions between all the cardinals is even better. Highly recommended.
What to Do When Your Friend Unfollows You
I love New Yorker cartoons and this one hits the spot right now. I can’t say that I haven’t done some of these things. Social media is complicated. Online life is complicated, so go read New Yorker cartoons.
Love the cookies