sausage, mushroom, monterrey

It's the weekend. Time for me to blog about pizza. Pizza so round...symbolic of wholeness, unity, celebration, inclusion, life.  Pizza- a relaxing, reuniting, togetherness ritual

Thanks to Pizza Pie Cafe Express for the text special.  I got two, two or three topping pizzas for five dollars each. Also picked up a cheese for Bethany and a pepperoni for Grant.

Here's the Canadian bacon and pineapple....that's for Mary.

 Friday evening I dropped Ben off at a friend's house down by the university, then drove over to PPC express.

I ordered, then sat down on the bench to wait...self-toasting by the big silver ovens, relaxing to the vibrations of the slow moving conveyor belts, breathing in the cheesy warmth.. the wonder of the so savorable pepperoni and the sugary-tang surprise of PPC's speciality, raspberry desert pizza..  The guy handed me my four hot boxes. I could smell the layers...the salty and sweet of one, the  milkiness of another...and on top, I was sure, was my favorite: the sausage, mushroom, and red onion.

Smells, so closely linked to memories, and sausage pizza, in particular, remind me of my high school summers at Sonny's Pizza.  I thought about pizza all the time then.  I thought about people in terms of pizza...tried to size them up by way of veggies or no, thick or thin, medium or large, whole or by the slice.

  I loved browsing in the paper goods closet. I guess I'm easily fascinated, because I'd find myself daydreaming about the large boxes of straws, napkins, Styrofoam cups. Loving the abundance, the preparedness, the suppliedness of it, I had a vision of myself running my own pizza place with my future family, in some other small coastal town, driving an old green pick-up...maybe like an '82.

Some place like Monterrey.  My senior year Mr. Biggle, one of my best teachers, took the physics and chemistry upperclassmen up to the physics museum in San Fransisco and the Monterrey Bay aquarium.  I'm grateful for that memory...though sometimes I forget to think about it.  So in Monterrey, there was a little pizza place, never knew the name, maybe that's the prototype of that particular fantasy.

Here's the sausage...spicey, mushrooms...earthy, generous in presence, and red onions...colorful and caramelized... pizza.

Last week was one of the quickest I can remember. Update on the exercise goal: followed up well with Sam, but had to give myself an okay to do some homemade yoga moves right before bed clause, because I just couldn't take the time to go out. I really wanted to make some progress in a few other areas of my life.

Like getting the house in order for one.  The kid consensus was: Monday was maybe the worst holiday on record.  All we did was clean.  I'm not really sure we had much to show for it at the end of the day, nothing picture worthy.

We ended MLK day with a small celebration, at least.  Ben talked me in to letting them use up our two gingerbread house kits .It wasn't like I'd been saving them for Valentine's...so I agreed... also hoping to gain back some bit of popularity.

This house wouldn't stand on it's own so we had to do a little engineering.  We're not perfectionists, as you can see.  It's all about snitching for most of us.

Ben is our artist.

Here's a midweek sunset that Sam photographed.

So Friday night, with Ben and Kyle off with friends, and Sam at a student leadership activity all night, and Bethany at a Irish Dance performance with Granddad and Judith, there was a new dynamic. Olivia grinned from ear to ear to learn that she was the oldest kid at scripture time.  Grandma Martha was over to share in our pizza night and catch up on some laundry. She introduced me to her favorite soap opera from Mexico, as no one had clout enough to stop the adults from choosing the programming, for a change. I happened upon the very episode where the priest learns he has an eighteen year old daughter.  Good thing it was in Spanish.

Saturday morning I was back to another unapologetic day of only cleaning.  First day of feeling like I'd made a difference.  Remember the pantry?  Looks better now.

I love the zen of empty shelves.

The laundry room is stabilizing. It almost makes me feel functional.

Made the kids help me till the little flower bed in front of the house, since the temperature was above freezing. Maybe I'll get the bulbs in the ground this week.  The basement is still a disaster.

Sarra per un altra volta.

all about october

I love October in Beijing. The weather's been so pleasant and it's been big on holidays with Chinese national days and the mid-autumn moon cake festival that fell in October this year. I was grateful that Rob was also home for Columbus day too.

We don't like to travel during Chinese festivals. It's too crowded. I was happy to spend most of our week off at home organizing the garage. The kids were happy to play with friends at River Garden. We planned short outings for two days.

On Monday October 5th, we took all the kids to the plant market not far from us. They have a variety of houseplants and cut flowers and little creatures like fish, turtles, frogs, worms, even some scorpions. We bought Ben's turtle a new companion, since our replacement turtle passed away.

I've been trying to begin my morning pages with a scripture each day. It is always interesting to how the verse fits into my day. Monday I copied down Doctrine and Covenants 59:18

"Yea all things which come of the earth in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart."

I wish we had brought Rob's camera. I love seeing the children peer into the tanks at all the varieties of fish. The girls helped me pick out an assortment of flowers to make a mid-autumn bouquet for our kitchen. Here's a picture. William is peeking out behind it.

So the next day I read from Mosiah chapter 2 and recorded verse 32 in my morning pages.

"But, O my people, beware lest there shall arise contentions among you...."

It was a verse well suited for a day of travel into Beijing with a van full of children.

We were headed for the Beijing Zoo. We've been there before. The kids can't remember. It was back in 2004 when we accompanied Rob to Beijing on a TDY. I took the kids by myself. Our favorite part that day was the tropical bird collection. It's nice if you're expecting more floral than fauna, more people than animal watching, and, if you don't mind being "the watched." I knew that would be a challenge on a Chinese holiday.

As it turned out we didn't make it to past the parking. The gates were overflowing with people and the traffic surrounding the zoo was so dense, it was clear that parking would be very limited. Some profiteer motioned for us to come park with him, "just 100 kuai, same price for everyone."

To "avoid contention" we just changed our plans and headed for the Blue Zoo.

I wrote about the Blue Zoo last April. Here are few pictures from this visit.

The kids love riding the moving passageway through the aquarium tunnel. Kyle is feeding the fish through the hole in the glass. They nibble on the kids' hands.

We stopped to buy candied hawthorn on our way to van.





Everyone was ready for Kro's Nest pizza, just like last time. Only this time, since the weather was so beautiful, we sat outside. That's the best pizza in Beijing.

I was grateful to have Rob's company on Columbus Day. The big kids were all in school, of course. Rob helped me with Grant and William so I could dig my way through the mess in the girls' room. I've almost finished (two weeks later) just the puzzles left to sort through. I should take an "after" picture, since the "after" is sure to be brief.

they're not bugs

Wednesday pictures from Bethany's field trip to the Beijing Natural History Museum.

Back to Monday. What I love most about the Beijing International Branch is how much we enjoy being together. Monday night we were all gathered in the playground right outside our house to celebrate that Griffin's adoption will be finalized in Guangzhou this weekend. Its been a unique opportunity to watch a shy nine year old boy, who spent his life with baby girls in a Chinese orphanage become, not just a part of his own family, but a sweet addition to our branch family. We love him.

It felt so American. Hollee MacKay opened up the tail of her Suburban and we layed out all the cupcakes and cookies and Nan's famous chips and Salsa. All the Mormon kids playing together into the night, letting lots of mosquitoes in the house, pounding on our drumset, Kyle showing off his haunted house in the garage, everyone have a great time of it.

Tuesday. A blurr.

The ayis arrived early this morning so that I could take the bus to school with Bethany. After their morning routine we loaded back in busses. The ride there took an hour and a half in heavy traffic. None of us moms knew to what part of Beijing we were headed. It turned out to be near Temple of Heaven. I enjoyed talking with Emily's mom about our life experiences. I love meeting moms from all over.

It was great to watch Bethany in heaven among the insects, "not bugs."

I think I could write a chapter in my book of experiences called "Creepy Aquariums around the World." Rob will remember the first creepy aquarium of our married life was in Morro Bay, California...the very sad octopus. Sounds like Eric Carle. There was the aquarium in D.C. I'll always remember because we walked and walked around it the day before Olivia was born, and Sam got his finger caught in the security x-ray machine's conveyor belt. It's creepy and not so much for the nation to boast about.

Now aquariums of Beijing...as I said before, the Blue Zoo is pleasant, but the Natural History Museum aquarium goes in the creepy chapter. Old soggy sea monsters in too small murky tanks.

But Bethany and her friends spent a surprising amount of time down there (I hate acquariums in basements) among the fish. While they were examining things I chatted with a mom from Korea. She is expecting a baby soon. She told me that she is afraid she didn't make the right decision to have another baby. I told her I don't think she will worry about that after he is born. She told me she is afraid she won't have the patience for three children. I told her she probably won't. Don't we all lack patience?

Patience comes in unexpected bursts like a cool gust of wind on a hot day.

I am grateful when little things work out. Jessie called me to change our music time to tomorrow right when I was wishing I had brought her phone number along. It was nice to enjoy my time with Bethany without having to worry about getting back by two o'clock.

When I got back to River Garden, Caitlin and Mary were ready to be picked up from Emma's house. I pulled Grant to Emma's in the red wagon. We took Emma to tireswing park. Its a nice place to play on a cloudy day but today was bright and the hot sun reflects off the black top. I noticed a bunch of yellow wildflowers growing in a shaded green patch of grass. I was grateful for a breeze.

We went up to the bus stop to meet the big kids. Caitlin and Mary and Grant were feeling pretty squished in the wagon and fighting over a bag of goldfish crackers. Sometimes I lose it. And sometimes patience is remembering the wildflowers and the breeze and being grateful that I have a DVD player that I haven't pledged not to use.

Tacos for dinner. Yea for Jenny Lou's and their random "big Promotions." I bought six boxes of taco shells, cheaper than in the U.S.

Qing Ming

April 6, 2009
Today is Monday, Qing Ming, a traditional Chinese festival that became a national holiday in 2008. “Tomb sweeping” is the most important aspect of Qing Ming. People take flowers , fruit, wine or other items to the graves of deceased family members. Qing Ming means clear and bright. It is also a celebration of Spring’s arrival. Rob and the children were off of work and school and everyone was ready to get out of River Garden and go on a family adventure. We decided to go to Beijing’s aquarium, The Blue Zoo.
We managed to do a quick clean-up around the house and still be in the van around 10:00. We stopped at the little strip mall around the corner. I ran into Jenny Lou’s to buy water, bananas and pretzel bread and Rob took orders for what we call egg sandwiches made by the local vendors with their hot plates on carts on the back of their rusty bikes. Spicy or not spicy. Our second breakfast. We started into town.
Spring has arrived. All throughout the countryside and city there are white tulip trees and mauve tulip trees, soft pink cherry blossoms, and bright yellow forsythia, and lime green, tender and new leaves on branches. Even the sun is yellow today! If we don’t have rain soon the sky will turn light brown with Gobi desert dust, but for today we were happy to see these signs of Spring back dropped by a bright blue sky.
We didn’t check out the price of the aquarium before we left so we were a little nervous, but it wasn’t too bad. The cost was 75 yuan for adults and 50 yuan for children, kids under one meter were free. Our oldest, Sam, just qualified as a child. His twelfth birthday is a few weeks away. Caitlin, Grant, and William were free.
The aquarium was nicely arranged and housed the usual favorites…big sea turtles, sea horses, exotic, colorful poisonous fish. The kids’ favorite thing was the walkalator that we rode through a glass tunnel as sharks and eels and tuna swam overhead. We made it to the end more quickly than expected, but the kids were happy to go through again. It was fun to see the Chinese tour group of old men in matching hats file in around lunchtime. We left the main building and walked up some steep stairs to an older section that housed a seashell collection and a tank of fish that will come and nibble on your fingers…a crowd pleaser.
For lunch we had promised Kro’s Nest pizza, a favorite among Beijing ex-pats. The kids love the western atmosphere and the man flipping the dough almost to the ceiling…they swear, and the pepperoni, not salami, and the pizzas as wide around as your arms. The always beg us for root beer and we always say, “Not in China, it would cost more than the pizza.” Overall, the day was a success…a few tantrums here and there but most of the time we were happy and cooperative. What a blessing!