Our Christmas eve dinner

My first attempt at Tam Ki chicken rice was a resounding success. I only took one photo of the chicken above before it was devoured in a flash.

We have been relentlessly consuming heavyweights such as foie gras (which we love), smoked salmon, air-dried ham, bûche de Nöel (sans déco), Merveilles.


As we went to gather final ingredients for our Xmas menu we stumbled upon half-price turkey in our local supermarket. A bargain we could not resist...moreover because Shrek has been yearning for a turkey many yonks ago for festive occasions. This time we struck gold. We could not forgo this deal but decided that the 10 kgs turkey was too big and would be a gluttonous greedy choice we will regret later hence we settled on getting the medium sized 3+ kgs turkey because that was ideal for our family of 6.

Our Xmas eve dinner consisted of Tam Ki turkey rice which was a recipe I modified and tweaked from Tam Ki chicken rice.



Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N could not contain their excitement and upon discovering the unwrapped presents under the Xmas tree gloated like greedy children in a sweets shop. They both ruined the surprise Papa Nöel left for them and opened all the pressies in a flash eventhough I heard the unwrapping noise and paper being torn and sighed a little because I had planned on taking a photo as a souvenir of all the presents nicely sitting under the tree.

Shrek painstakingly explained to them that next year they will have to wait to unwrap the presents one by one with all the family gathered and not selfishly attack the packages.

BricoNöel

Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N fabricated and crafted Christmas ornaments avec soin. They were for the most part decorative candle holders (bougeoirs) and an apéritif centrepiece crafted out of pâte à sel aka salt dough. There was a guirlande punctuated with a dried orange slice, felt heart-shaped jingle bell as well as a felt Xmas tree ornament which doubles as a perfumed wardrobe/closet scenter and finally a pretty pot of pine cones. Little baby Taz did contribute one candle holder which he decorated haphazardly with pebbles and stones.

There is no greater way to show my appreciation for their efforts than by proudly displaying their handiworks.

I am a very proud mummy and what better time than the festive season to display their triumphant crafts(wo)manship.

Carrot boy

Baby Taz should be renamed as Carrot boy as carrots are the only vegetable he consumes with glee and abandon, especially when it is mushy. Baby Taz tends to prefer mush over chewy food.

BabTaz suffers from constipation because he refuses to eat veggies or fruits hence stunting his fibre intake and aggravating his condition.

He is on 'caca-watch' as we keep a close eye on his caca-tendencies in an attempt to alleviate the problem before it becomes chronic.

Award scheme

The stickers for good behaviour is all swell but there is an incentive that even a 6 and a half and a 5 year old cannot pass up: it is tadatada what else but money. The seeming preoccupation with monetary gain starts as young as when they realise that everything has a price but that the most important things in life are priceless : love and personal pride.


At this age though thankfully they do not know the difference between 5 cents and different monetary units or loose change as yet. The differentiation and distinction/ ability to distinguish values will come soon enough and I will as a result have to devise a proper reward scheme which might goes something like
1 Franc or Dollar (depends on where I live by then) for each household chore
1 or 2 Francs for a good mark and more for a good report card (carnet)

Career prospects

List of possible careers that Petit Suisse envisages include :

1. footballer
2. policeman
3. pharmacist
4. basketballer

I am sure this list will evolve and become more elaborate or complex the older he gets. I cannot wait to compare this list with one in a couple of years time. It is interesting to see if any of the above remains after the age of reason has kicked in.

Geneva

Depiction of the famous Geneva landmark Jet d'eau and the graceful swans swimming in lake Leman. This was taken in glorious sunshine around summertime to offset the current grey, foggy and groggy overcast sky.

Superhero dream

Petit Suisse is a dreamy fellow. He has said more than once

"Je ne peux pas m'arrêter de penser et rêver que je suis un superhero"

Dream on child...dreams are what keep us from drab reality.

Cheesy halt

My overzealous and over exposure to cheese has waned my desire to eat it altogether.
Respite from dairy and cheese is quite impossible as there are too many tempting and ridiculously cheap bargains that I find too good to resist and pass up.

I must limit my shopping expeditions and bargain hunting ventures in order to curb this crazy accumulation of cheeses. One major reason is that other than Shrek and I the children are not consumers of fromages. They refuse steadfastly to eat anything other than Beurkkkk Ba-ba-by-bel or in the case of Baby Taz La vache qui rit (which is Shrek's worst nightmare).

Henceforth Shrek and I (especially me) have to finish off all cheese that I buy on a whim.

Early or late, your call

When running late for the bus, it will leave early. When you are early for the bus or any event, others will arrive late and so will the bus. One cannot be on time on the dot as you are either late or early. Being on time is a Swiss myth.

Shrek is especially uptight about being on time.

He is always saying to me : One minute late is too late.

or

You must leave on time to be on time.

In some ways it is good to be on time as that would be meeting people's expectations and in professional environments it is an obligation save emergencies. The simple and most important reason for being on time at work is that others who count on you can rest assured that you will arrive on time and hence carry out the days tasks. Customers or clients or patients or business partners all need certainty and predictability when it comes to timeframes but in personal spheres and circles it is important to be flexible and allow for some transgressions because let's face it when it does not involve or revolve around work who wants to go to all lengths to be on the dot ? It takes the fun, spontaneity and enjoyment out of social gatherings.

Thanks to Shrek I have probably improved my timeliness.

Shrek needs to be reminded though that it is only a detail sometime and he needs not be too didactic and inflexible or dictatorial. This same attitude can also extend to other aspects of his personality. Dictatorial pointiness is not desirable. I can attest to that !

Susceptibility to laziness

As human beings we are all and without exception prone to laziness. We are motivated by material gain, survival instincts and desire to attain credibility and relevance.

If left to our own devices and if we could afford to pay someone else or depend on others to support us financially and otherwise we all would.

Life unfortunately is cruel and hence we have to work in order to survive. My philosophy is that we are all born lazy and in order to overcome inertia one has to make an effort. Shrek's inertia and tendency to procrastinate needs lots of nudging and nagging. Shrek would happily sleep, eat and fulfil his pleasure if things were left up to him. He is more than capable of simply lazing around, fortunately I am there to push Shrek and my children into action. Allez hop allez hop.

We have a saying in our household : Get up you lazy lump of lard and hop to it !

Potty torture

JE SUIS DANS LA VRAIE MERDE !!!

Literally speaking. Let me elaborate further.




I am sort of regretting my early insistence on toilet training Baby Taz. Everytime he is about to or has already soiled his nappy with stinky poo he will undo the velcro attachments on either side of his nappy, pull said soiled nappy down and proceed to eeeeeek step on the poo or sit on it and immediately thereafter run havoc all over the place thereby spreading poo and rendering the floor wrenched with a stench and impressioning his faeces laced footprints...making it easy to trace a path of where he has been.

The odour and mess is just astounding. He has done this a few times and Shrek and I are really horrified by it. He is a lil terror and more...indescribably full of hyper energy that he burns off by getting into mischief and vexatious behaviour. He has the potential to be a prankster.