Chef Miki

As you have seen before, I like hanging out in the kitchen. Over time, I have progressed from unpacking all the tupperware from the cabinets and playing in Lexi's water bowl (don't worry, to my parents' delight, I have trained a capable and motivated replacement for this role) to actually wanting to help with what is going on. Lately, I have been announcing my plans to become a chef (and no, it is not just to please my sometimes morose Papa, who is the REAL chef of the family at this point) . In preparation for this, I have been spending time in either the real or my toy kitchen. But more importantly, as a savvy business move, I have been posing for all kinds of pictures in various kitchens throughout the world (well, my world anyways). I don't know, I think I might be able to use them on my book cover (because, as I am sure you are all aware, you are not really a chef without at least a couple of cookbooks and of course the mandatory TV show. But lucky for me, redheads do well on TV- look at Bobby Flay or Mario Battali).

Miki

***Parents' note- We have high hopes for Miki. First and foremost we hope he can somehow bring his chef's palate (which certainly exists in his imagination) to more practical use at the dinner table so that he does not immediately announce he does not like something without having even tried it.

Holidays in Budapest

So as I mentioned we spent the Christmas holiday with my family in Budapest. This was my first Christmas there in 23 years, celebrated in my grandmother's dining room with the same furniture, the same interesting painted ceiling, the same christmas tree decorations (and the same cousins :-)). So needless to say, that even with poor Lili sick and in a bad mood, it was a really special time for me. We got to spend time with my grandmother (Mami), and all sorts of cousins and aunts and uncles. Miki had a great time, poor Lili more or less tolerated everything (but was not herself), Mikael ate and drank well (he is not a needy guy). We were extremely spoiled the whole time and are very thankful to all the family who tolerated us eating all their food and having our children run (or in Lili's case crawl) amok in their homes.

Santa Claus? Mikulas? Jezuska?

Yes, I know it is January but the holiday season was very busy, what else can I say? So I will attempt to do a little bit of catching up. Santa Claus is very confusing for us, we have not quite figured out how explain things to Miki yet. This is because really Santa Claus for my side of the family is the day of St. Nicholas, December 6th- this is when you put your boots in the window and you get fruits and chocolate if you have been good or virgacs-a stick to be beaten with- if you have been bad! So this occasion (without the virgacs) was called (by my Mom) little Mikulas (Santa Claus). Then, on a random Saturday, we 'met' the 'real' Santa Claus at the Embassy Holiday party. This was fun but it is always a mess-- too many kids who have eaten too many sugary snacks. And why did Santa Claus come to Rome when it was not yet Christmas? Errr... He has so many places to go, he needed to come early? Then there is Christmas- this is a whole other issue where I, at this point, have officially caved in. Gifts for us are brought by baby Jesus, but this was just too much for Miki at this point, so we are sticking with the Santa story but we celebrate mostly on the 24th. After much preparation explaining that he probably will NOT see Santa, and listening with Mikael for Rudolph's bell, which was my Grandma's bell from her childhood, it all went smoothly. Who knew lying is so much work?

So slowly but surely we are coming up with our own family traditions. For example, Mikael introduced stockings to my side of the family a few years ago and now everyone has a stocking that we tote around the world. This year we had a lovely holiday in Budapest which will be the subject of the next post, which will hopefully appear before February.