5 observations and salt cod fritters (torrejas de bacalao)

1. One of my students gave me the fruit pictured above as a gift. It is a malay apple. Here in Panama it's called marañón curazao and in Costa Rica we knew it well as manzana de agua. This particular specimen was darker than I had seen before, but it tasted the same as it's rosy red brothers. It's a delicious fruit.; it's like crunchy, fragrant pear.
2. I still hate spelling. My daughter's weekly spelling list seriously bums me out. She is a terrible speller and we need to drill spelling words every day. Her spelling is improving, but the thought of a new list every week until the end of the school year makes me peevish.
3. My kids have brought Beyonce into my life. I would not know, or care too much about her if it were not for them. Last night, while I was running I realized that I love the song Countdown, not just like it in passing, but love it. It was the highlight of my playlist. Of course Radio Disney still makes me want to gnaw my arm off, I have my limits.
4. The mosquitos seem to have subsided. Which is great, but I'm pretty sure the reason is that the broken pipe that was puddling water all over the street, is now a small river running down the street (mosquitos prefer standing water).
5. This is song always makes me happy:

I love anything made with salt cod and I always take advantage of it's availability during Lent to make these:
salt cod fritters (torrejas de bacalao)
1 small fillet of salt cod
4 large starchy potatoes--cooked
1 cup of milk
1 egg
pepper
oil for frying

Start the day before you plan to make this by soaking the fish in water. This is to remove some of the salt --you should change the water regularly.
Rinse the fish and put it in a small pan with the milk. Let the fish simmer in the milk for 15-20 minutes.

Drain the fish and let it cool. Flake the fish with a fork.

Mash the potatoes. Add the fish and the egg and the pepper. Mix all the ingredients together.

Heat the oil. Form the mixture into little patties and fry until golden.

Enjoy them with hot sauce!

5 observations and plantain melts

1. It rained a little and a little white flower popped up on our dry lawn. The rainy season is coming.
2. Friday errands are a nightmare in this city. The traffic is the awful. I think everyone goes for lunch or gets off early. And don't even think about getting a taxi... I had to go out yesterday and spent a ridiculous amount of time in the car. 
3. It was open house at my kids' school yesterday. It's really nice to meet your kid's teacher and find them to be enthusiastic about their subject, and concerned about your kid. The last teacher I saw had been talking to parents non-stop for almost two hours, and she still described what the kids were doing in class with such pleasure and energy. It was cool to see.
4. I took my (older) daughter to see The Hunger Games last night. We are fairly serious fans--she was wearing her girl on fire T-shirt. We loved it. Of course it's not as good as the book, but I thought they did a good job and I thought it was a good set up for the sequel--I think the second movie will  probably be better than this one and with a good director could be better than the book. Mother-daughter bonding over dystopian science fiction--it doesn't get any better than that!
5. This is good:

We have a bunch of ripe plantain right now. When it's really ripe my favourite thing to do with it is fry it and melt cheese on it (queso fresco). It's really the best thing to do with ripe plantains.

looks weird, but tastes good

5 observations and orange banana bread

such a handsome fellow

1. I think the greatest pleasure we get from our cats is watching them sleep. A day does not go by without one of us exclaiming at the decadent, sprawled repose of one the cats.
2. I've practiced driving, I'm enrolled in a course (a prerequisite for getting a licence here in Panama) I have a car. This is really going to happen people!
3. We have been having terrible mosquitos at night. Our house is quite open so it's difficult to escape them. The city has fumigated several times but it hasn't helped that much. There is standing water somewhere nearby and it's not being dealt with. This is frustrating.
4. An iguana fell out of the big tree in our yard yesterday. It made such a thunk when it hit the ground. Thankfully the cat did not chase it into the house this time. I prefer not to have large iguanas hiding behind the fridge.
5. The big music news this week (well if you're me) was that Fiona Apple debuted some songs from her new album at SXSW. I am super excited about this. Have you seen the title for her new album? She totally wins. There's footage from SXSW on youtube, but  I'm going to post the video for "Not About Love" from Extraordinary Machine because it has Zach Galifianakis in it, and I certainly had no idea who he was when this video came out, and now he's probably more famous than Fiona herself. Also it's pretty funny:

I make a lot of banana bread. We are banana bread people; we eat it for breakfast and with coffee in the afternoon and my daughter takes it for lunch. I have already posted my standard recipe, but I've been messing around with a new recipe. This recipe is bigger--it makes a bundt pan.

Orange Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar--a combination of brown and white is nice
3 whole Eggs
1-1/2 cup Mashed Ripe Bananas
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup All-purpose Flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
3/4 cup pulpy fresh squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup coconut milk (not sweetened)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour bundt pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each addition. Beat in mashed bananas and orange rind.

Add dry ingredients and juice and coconut milk alternately to the mixing bowl. Beat until all combined.

Pour into bundt pan and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5 observations and peanut butter chocolate chip bars

blooms at the beach

1. Hey, I got my braces off this week. It feels so good. Of course I'm pleased with how it looks (I was always pretty self-conscious of my crooked teeth). But mostly I'm enjoying to eat again. Eating with braces is uncomfortable and sometimes painful and usually gross for your dining companions. I'm very happy to finally have them off.
2. We took the kids to a local production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night. It's a well-loved book and movie around here and the girls really enjoyed it. I will have the Oompa Loompa song in my head for the next month.
3. The kids had the concluding show for their summer theatre classes last weekend. They had so much fun in their theatre classes this year. I'm really grateful for the summer arts programs my kids have done over the years here in Panama. It is one of the great things about living in this city.
4. We are in full school-year swing. Every afternoon is a mad dash of homework, swimming and work. My older daughter started junior high this year and her homework has definitely increased. That girl pretty much swims and does homework. She seems to relish it though. She's usually asleep before her little sister.
5. Andrew Bird's new album is out and I predictably love it. Here's a great song from it:

and to see a video go here:pitchfork.com/tv/city-of-music-andrew-bird


A school-lunch favourite:
peanut butter chocolate chip bars
1½ cups all-purpose flour (or 3/4 whole wheat 3/4 all-purpose)

½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup peanut butter
½ cup butter (room temperature)
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips (semisweet or milk chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9X13 pan.

Sift and whisk together the flour, b. soda and salt and set aside.

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and continue mixing.  Fold in the flour and chocolate chips.

When it's mixed press it into the pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Start checking it at 15 minutes.

How not to be a sweaty mess (from someone who's totally been there)

hot in the city

Of course a tank top and shorts are perfect for this climate, unfortunately they are not proper for all situations. For example, my kids' school has a sign at the entrance reminding parents to dress appropriately (no gym clothes etc..) when entering. I wouldn't say Panama is particularly conservative in dress, but there are definitely expectations and people notice. People here look well turned out: shirts pressed, shoes polished. I have found this equally charming and intimidating. As a foreigner there's a certain amount of leeway(people will kind of expect you to be a slob) but it's never fun to feel underdressed or worse, like a sweaty mess.

Being a teacher, and having to attend functions as a parent I've figured a few things out. I know I will never be as elegant and fabulous as Panamanian woman and I'm totally okay with that--frankly, it looks like way too much work. It's possible that this list will seem really obvious. But honestly, having grown up in Canada, I didn't know. Also, I suspect I'm sweatier than normal people. So keeping that in mind, here are a few things I've learned about dressing in the heat:

• a sundress with a light short sleeved cardigan is a great combination for any event. You can take the cardigan off if you need to walk somewhere or if you're outside. It will give you some protection from frigid air conditioning. You can put it on if you don't want to show too much skin. Also, the cardigan will cover any pit stains. 
• Chinos are more comfortable than jeans. I find they need to be pressed, but it's worth it because they are light and they look good.
• Get a pedicure. It's cheap here. And you won't look like a total slob in your flip flops at the school open-house (where all the other mothers will be in heels).
• If you have to walk even just a block, you will arrive sweaty. There's a small window of opportunity before the sweat transfers from your body to your shirt--my strategy is to duck into the bathroom and take my shirt off and blot myself dry and put the shirt back on. It sounds like a long procedure, but it only takes a couple of minutes and it really helps. 
• Light cotton with a print is your friend. It dries quickly and the print won't show sweat.
• Tissue tees and silk seem like a good idea because they are so light, but they never work for me. The slightest dampness shows and if you're really sweaty it will be horrifying.
• Carry a shawl in your handbag. The air conditioning in some places can be brutal. Movie theatre are particularly bad (you might even want a sweater for going to the movies).

5 observations and cinnamon buns

Esterillos Oeste, Costa Rica

1. I found myself looking at lunch boxes this morning. Summer holidays will be over before we know it. We are having so much fun--it makes me sad to think of it ending and of having to buy new lunch boxes.
2. I practiced driving this week. I felt pretty good (my impression is I haven't forgotten--I'm just rusty) but also nervous. I never liked driving but now I really need to. It's kind of funny that I'm going to start driving again here in Panama, because the traffic is CRAZY. 
3. I'm doing some volunteer teaching for a foundation. I really love it. I'm working with some amazing women and it takes me into Casco Viejo twice a week... it's perfect.
4. My older daughter is swimming again. She was on a swim team a couple of years ago and kind of burned out. I had a hard time letting her quit at the time, but in the end I couldn't ignore her misery. She's ready to give it another try and I'm glad. 
5. Etta James died today. My oldest was born at home with a midwife. I had a bunch of music that I'd chosen for the labour and birth and it included some Etta James. In fact the only music I remember from that labour and birth is Etta James. Rest in peace and thank you for helping me bring my daughter into the world:

This is my mom's recipe. I've actually cut her recipe in half because the original recipe was insane.
Cinnamon Buns
3 cups warm water
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
3 eggs beaten
1 tbsp yeast
10 cups all-purpose flour

for the cinnamon filling:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2-3 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup butter


Stir the yeast, water,  and half the flour together. If you have a mixer with a dough-hook mix it for five minutes. I use a stand mixer and just go do something else for a few minutes. If you don't have a dough hook you can do this with a wooden spoon. I would say 150 strokes (circular and folding if you know what I mean). The idea is to develop the gluten and add some air. Let this mixture rise for 20 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and knead together. Keep the dough as sticky as you can stand. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes. Let the dough rise. I usually punch it down and let it rise twice, but one big rise would be fine.

Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Divide the dough in two. Roll one half into a rectangle and spread the sugar mixture as evenly as you can on the rectangle. Roll up the dough and cut into buns (around an inch thick). Put the buns on parchment-lined pan. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Let the buns rise for half an hour and bake in a preheated (400°C) oven for 20-25 minutes.

Let them cool upside down so the syrup doesn't all get stuck on the bottom.

5 observations and cookies

1. I am suffering from some terrible hay fever this week. All that runny-nosed, self-pity has kind of dulled my senses--forgive me, I haven't been very observant this week.
2. I am tired of taxis. I flagged down six taxis yesterday before finding one that would take me home. Taxis here charge by zone, so it's much better for them to make lots of short trips in the same area. It is challenging to get a taxi to go across town at rush hour. I had to plead with the sixth taxi.  Please, my kids are waiting for me to get home. I felt pathetic but it was effective.
3. My eight-year-old has discovered the telephone this vacation. She spends hours on the phone with one of her friends. It's cute (like when she tells her friend about the boys at camp), annoying (a discussion about the plot of Sponge Bob) and a little alarming (isn't this teenage behaviour?) all at the same time.
4. I am tutoring an eight-year-old boy. The goal is conversational fluency, so we pretty much spend the hour playing board games and reading. It's fun.
5. This helped me get through this itchy-nosed, watery-eyed week:

This is the recipe I regularly use for chocolate chip cookies(it's stuck to the side of my fridge). I usually use all whole-wheat flour:

5 observations and cranberry carrot bread

1. The bird watching in my backyard has been particularly good lately. The birds and bats helped themselves to a papaya and it's been fascinating to watch them.
2. On Sunday night Noriega returned to Panama. I was out for a run, when suddenly (about the time he was arriving at the prison) there was an explosion of clanging pots. (People banged pots to show their opposition back when he was in power.) It gave me a strange shivery feeling, that clamour in the night. There were only four or five people banging, but the sound rang so plaintively through the night air... When I finished my long run I went home and read (until late) all about Noriega, and Oliver North and the 1989 invasion.
3. Some books are just for fun. We are reading Attack of the Vampire Snowmen. It is ridiculous and so frothy after The Graveyard Book. I guess I'm teaching my kids to distinguish between high and low culture (or something).
4. I hope it stops raining, mostly so I don't have to deal with wet, muddy running shoes every day. My daughter is in day camp. They play soccer and volley ball and go to the pool. It is excellent and she is having the best time. The only problem is her shoes. This morning found me trying to dry them in the oven. I don't mind the mud, but I'm a little worried about trench foot.
5. Every year I look over the 'best of' lists and find something I'm not nearly cool enough to have discovered on my own. This year was no exception. I love this:

I might have bought the last bag of frozen cranberries in Panama yesterday (probably not, but possibly the last bag in my supermarket). I love cranberries; they are one of a number of gringo indulgences that I partake in this time of year.

cranberry carrot bread

4 tablespoons butter (room temperature), plus more for the pan
2 cups flour (I did a combination of 1½ cups all-purpose and ½ cup whole wheat)
1 cup brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup milk
¼ cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 egg
1 cup grated carrots
1½ cups frozen cranberries


Heat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with butter.

Stir together the dry ingredients. With a mixer, add  the butter a tablespoon at a time. This works great with a stand mixer.

Mix together the milk, orange zest and juice and egg add the grated carrots. Pour into the dry ingredients, mixing just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix until the batter is smooth. Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for about an hour, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing.

5 observations

1. It was Mother's Day here in Panama yesterday. I had a nice relaxing day. I didn't cook anything and I finished my book. It was very nice.
2. Bad service in a restaurant can ruin a perfectly nice meal. We went out for brunch yesterday. While we had bad, but not terrible service, the table beside us was a disaster. After bringing out food for only half the table, a different waiter came to placate them and spilled a drink down one woman's back. Honestly, it was painful to witness. I am pretty tolerant of bad service (people have bad days, are inexperienced) but this was total incompetence.
3. My kids finished school on Wednesday. We are officially on vacation.
4. I finished work this week and I am so glad. Traffic gets really crazy here in December and it becomes impossible to find a taxi. I will be staying close to home until this seasonal craziness subsides. 
5. This is pretty good:

5 observations and banana almond swirl ice cream

1. Clean water is such a gift. Yesterday morning it was announced that the water here in the city was finally safe to drink. In the afternoon, when I went to fill a pitcher for the fridge, the water that came out of the tap was basically mud. The water seems fine this morning, but yeah, we'll put in a filtration system when we do our kitchen reno. 
2. The seasonal goodies are out in supermarket. Because of my Argentine husband, we love panettone and always start buying it at the end of November. If you don't know, it's a sweet bread with dried fruit (which doesn't sound that great, but trust me it is). Sweet baked stuff makes me feel yucky and is definitely a migraine trigger for me. But I'm having a very hard time resisting the panettone and I dread all the other yummy things that are coming. We'll see if I'm able to break my Christmas day migraine tradition!
3. I learned something new in Spanish. I had heard the expression ni un real, which I would have translated as something like, "not one dime." But, I discovered yesterday that a real is a nickel! I always got that reales referred to small coins, but I never clued in to the fact that it was a specific coin.
4. The last holiday in the month of November is on Monday. We should, and hopefully will, get to the beach this holiday weekend.
5. This video makes me very happy:

My favourite running fuel is a banana smeared with almond butter and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. This does not upset my stomach and keeps me energized for a long run. The salt is because I sweat a disgusting amount and I love the crunch of sea salt on anything. When I learned that you can make decent ice cream out of frozen bananas I thought of my salty almond butter running treat.

You can make a pretty nice ice cream with just bananas. You slice three or four ripe bananas and freeze them for a couple of hours. Then you you process them in a food processor. The result is creamy and delicious. To this you can a bit of honey (but not at all necessary) and some vanilla. You don't even need an ice cream freezer for this. The consistency is very nice, seriously you'll be surprised.

So to this base of banana ice cream I added a swirl of salty almond butter. I folded a couple of pinches of sea salt into 1/4 of almond butter and swirled it into the bananas.

So simple and so good!

5 observations and pictures of my lovely girl (you probably don't need a recipe for soggy nachos)

1. I was actually really excited to watch a program of folk dancing. The kids put on an amazing show on Thursday night. Any time I see a folklore presentation here I always think, wow, I need to learn more about this. The dancing and all the different devils, and la reina... it is a fantastic spectacle. And my girl looked great on the stage.
2. I am slowing down. I had a very hard time keeping up to this week. I am dragging my feet because there are only three weeks of school left. The mad rush of December is just around the corner and I can't get out of bed.
3. I enjoy playing office. I am teaching some corporate classes and I like putting on my slacks and writing grammar structures on the whiteboard in the conference room. But I'm also glad I'm not an accountant, because I would be terrible at that.
4. Panama is looking a little yucky this week. I don't know what's going on with garbage collection other than that it's not happening. All the trash and the rain are pretty much making Panama's streets unwalkable these days.
5. It has definitely been an Aimee Mann kind of week.

I have no recipe this week. In fact it's kind of a miracle that I have a blog post at all.

Here's hoping I'm a little less lame next week.

5 observations and reese's pieces cookies

1. Kids are amazing storytellers. The above picture is of the epic my daughter and her best friend are working on. It's Shakespeare. There are fart jokes, and references to characters from video games and there are characters from Hindu, Egyptian and Greek mythology. They are totally blowing my mind.
2. I get a little too caught up in local politics and I drive my husband crazy by talking about it all the time. With all the corruption and intrigue it's like a novel. I am riveted and usually a little indignant.
3. Our home is beginning to look to look a little like a farm (or zoo). The guy who cuts my grass offered to sell me a couple of ñeques (agoutis). Of course I told him no, as there really are enough animals in my house, and also I'm pretty sure it's illegal to have ñeques as pets.
4. Look up. For the past couple of weeks the skies have been full of birds. The raptors are migrating South and it's been an awesome sight to see them.
5. Not surprisingly, this is good:

Yesterday was a national holiday (Nov. 10 marks the date of the first cry of independence--from Spain) so we had a house full of girls. My two favourite eight-year-olds made these cookies:

They used this recipe:
Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Cookies

5 observations and mummy meatloaf

1. Rabbits don't seem to mind the rain as much as I thought they would. There's really nothing more pathetically cute than a wet bunny.
2. The city is empty which is always nice. I wish we were at the beach (although the weather hasn't been great). But an empty city has its own rewards. 
3. I am regretting my decision to have a second cup of coffee this morning. The heartburn and coffee jitters are making me feel horrible. I love coffee but I'm such a lightweight.
4. It's November. What happened to this year? The Christmas merchandise is out in full force at the stores. People here really love Christmas and in a week or two some people will even be putting up their Christmas trees. The thought fills me with dread--I haven't finished everything on my 2011 to-do list.
5. This song is playing in my house right now. I am fond of '80s-era Bowie.

I made a mummy meatloaf for kids on Monday. I used this recipe: Halloween Mummy Meatloaf. It tasted fine but I didn't fuss with the noodles very much (I tried but I don't have tons of patience for that kind of thing). Mine looked more like a meatloaf monster:

5 observations and last minute brownies

1. Watching groups of kids dance elaborate, and impressively costumed routines will make you happy. There's nothing like seeing the usually shy kid, or even better the sullen kid, totally and joyfully get down with the group. The comparsa is a long-standing tradition at schools here in Panama. In my kids' school grades six to twelve participate in comparsas. Each grade prepares a dance routine for a competition. It's usually a mix of hip hop and latin. The parents for each grade all wear the same colour (they're called the 'barra') and try to cheer the loudest (including whistles and air horns) for their group. It's really fun and you can see how comfortable the kids get with the dancing by twelfth grade.
2. I'm not much for make-up, but I do enjoy a pretty manicure. If we ever get invited anywhere remotely fancy I get a manicure. It might be incongruous with my bare face and messy hair, but I am a sucker for a pretty nail colour.
3. Teaching can be kind of political. A student asked my why I was teaching firefighter instead of fireman. I said, because a firefighter could be woman. He looked at me knowingly and said, ah you're a feminist. I actually teach it this way to introduce the verb "to fight," but whatever.
4. Running has been so good since the half marathon. I've been maintaining 30 km a week and it's just been fun and easy. I think I'm finally feeling the benefits of months of training.
5. I love this video. It's not my favourite song on the album (I have way too big of a rock and roll crush on Carrie Brownstein for that). Spazzing out in outfield--I can totally relate to that (except I'd never catch the ball).

I have somehow given my daughter the impression that home baking is effortless. And thus, I found myself at 11:00 pm, scrounging through my fridge and cupboards for ingredients. She wanted brownies (well actually she wanted cupcakes but settled for brownies). I had enough flour, butter and eggs but no sugar, only powdered sugar and an odd assortment of chocolate (semi-sweet, unsweetened and a couple of tablespoons of cocoa).  I also found a bag of marshmallows. I figured I could add some marshmallows to sweeten things up--you're supposed to double the amount of powdered sugar when you use it in place of regular sugar.

Here's the original recipe:

Brownies

These are cakey rather than fudgy. In my experience, kids prefer them like this.

1-½ cups flour

½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoons salt

⅔ cups butter

1-½ cup sugar

4 Tablespoons milk

2 packages semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 Ounce Packages)

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and mix to combine. In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar and water. Bring just to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in one package of the chocolate chips and the vanilla extract. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly blend in the flour mixture, and then add the remaining package of chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 9×13 pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

So, I made this with 12 ounces of chocolate (four ounces were semisweet, the rest was unsweetened and cocoa) and two cups of powdered sugar. I folded in two cups of cut up marshmallows. They turned out great.

5 observations and a recommendation rather than a recipe

representing Canada and looking a little dishevelled (what exactly was going on backstage)

1. I'm pretty good at managing things on my own. My husband has been away on business all week and it's been fine. Well, until this morning when I couldn't find my keys. Houses here have security gates so you're not just locked out, you're also locked in. I wish I could say I kept my cool but, oh my god what if there's a fire! We found the keys of course, but not before I had worked up a good anxiety sweat.
2. I invented a national costume for Canada. My kids' school celebrates United Nations Day and has a parade showcasing national costumes. So my kids were tapped to represent Canada. I told the organizers that there wasn't really a national costume. They didn't believe me so I invented one. I don't feel bad about this; the little girl representing England dresses up as the queen, and I saw a kid going into the school in a toga and laurel crown (Greece?).
3. My youngest daughter does not feel particularly Canadian. She doesn't like International Day. She was born in Costa Rica and has never lived in Canada, so it's weird for her. She doesn't like it when people ask her where she's from. She used to say Costa Rica because she was born there. But she can't remember living in Costa Rica so that doesn't feel right to her either. She really would have preferred to wear a Panamanian costume like the rest of her classmates today. 
4. The Graveyard Book is fantastic. We are loving this book so much. It is just the right amount of scary according to my eight-year-old. She is fascinated by the graveyard universe in this book and frankly, so am I. I'm glad we are reading it before the inevitable Hollywood adaptation.
5. This is good. Feist sings "Undiscovered First" in the back of a London cab:

Instead of a recipe I have a recommendation. Make chocolate chip cookies on a rainy weeknight and eat them warm out of the oven with your silly, giggling children. Just use the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. You will not be disappointed.

5 observations and vanilla cupcakes

wet

1. The hem of my jeans is always wet these days. The streets of Panama do not favour walkers at the best of times and when it's wet like this, it's pain to have to walk anywhere.
2. Clearly our rabbits are male and female (we couldn't tell before). So far I haven't found a vet who will fix them. This means we will have to get another cage and separate them and this makes me sad because they are pals.
3. This last season of Breaking Bad was good. I just watched the finale and thought it was one of the best episodes of the season. I really appreciate the careful plotting of this show. The acting is good, but it's the writing that really impresses me.
4. Hot black coffee with something sweet is one of the great pleasures in life. I fell in love with coffee all over again while enjoying a cupcake the other day. I don't eat many sweets and I've cut back on coffee and it was amazing how much pleasure this little indulgence gave me. I don't really miss sweets and coffee (I really feel better without them). But this particular cupcake and cup of coffee were heavenly.
5. I like this song.  I didn't so much at first, but it has grown on me:

The most impressive thing I did in the kitchen this week was the birthday cupcakes. I really liked this recipe and the one bowl technique. I can't get cake flour here, so I just used the whitest all-purpose I could find an the texture was very nice. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart. Make sure you watch the video and see a fellow who is very enthusiastic about cupcakes!

Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes

5 observations and chocolate muffins

the road ahead

1. I love reading to my kids.  Sometimes I'm lazy and slow to get there but it's the best.  We are finishing The BFG and are going to start the The Graveyard Book next.  We started The Graveyard Book once before but the opening scene is so scary we stopped.  My younger daughter loves stories about ghosts so we're planning to try again (maybe we'll skip/skim the murder scene).
2. This is probably the last time I'll have to drill the multiplication tables.  My youngest is on the threes this week (why is 3x9 so particularly hard?).  I don't really enjoy math flash cards, but this is it so I should enjoy it (or something).
3. My almost twelve year old cannot seem to get enough sleep.  It's freaky how tired she is (I keep getting paranoid that she's sick).  I read somewhere once that adolescents actually need more sleep (contrary to their love of staying up late) because of growth and hormones and I can totally see that.
4. My cats do love me after all.  I was lamenting the other day how little my cats like to be held and snoodled, but then I noticed that they're always around.  They seem to like to like to  hang around me (laundry, bathroom, kitchen, wherever), they just don't like to be touched very much.
5. Laura Marling is totally impressive (can you believe that she is just 21?).  I like her new album and have really enjoyed hearing her interviewed lately.  But this song from her last album is still my favourite:

This week's recipe is for chocolate muffins.  This is what my kids request when they want something fresh-baked.  I oblige them because this is so simple and fast and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  I sometimes do half quinoa flour to improve it nutritionally.  My kids could do this recipe on their own and next time I'll likely let them.  Also, even though it's not a huge recipe, there's always left-overs for the lunch boxes.

Chocolate Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (save 1/4 cup for sprinkling)
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat the oven to 400°.  Line 12 muffin cups with papers.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar (sift, if your kitchen is as humid as mine), and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Mix all the liquid ingredients into another bowl. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together.  Don't overmix. Spoon into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are springy.

5 observations and banana bread

the rocky side of Isla Iguana (pretty isn't it?)

• The qualities I most admire in my children are the ones I don't have. My girls are both good at math and I struggled with math in school. I don't know if they have better teachers and curriculum, but they excel and I am so proud and pleased.
• Hot days = more laundry. It has been so hot and humid here that you break a sweat reading the paper. I need to change clothes three times a day and the laundry pile is perpetually massive. I'm used to being a soggy, sweaty mess but it's been a little ridiculous. My running clothes are disgusting and I mostly run before or after the sun comes out (I may have to burn some of them). Thankfully it rained yesterday afternoon, and it seems rather less sticky today.
• I like the new public campaign against throwing garbage on the street. It is disgusting and it would be good if people started thinking of it that way. I hope it works.

• Making a new playlist is a calming, constructive activity.  I've been working on my playlist for Sunday's half marathon and it's been a fun distraction from fretting.
• These songs from Iron and Wine's, Kiss Each Other Clean (my favourite album title of 2011) are not on Sunday's playlist, but are perfect for this rainy rest day.

This is my go-to, hands-down-favourite, banana bread recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.
Banana Bread
1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe mashed bananas--I don't use the monster (genetic freak) for-export ones--the smaller ones are tastier.
1 teaspoon dark rum
1 cup toasted, shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

Mix the dry ingredients together (not the coconut).  Cream the butter and beat in the eggs, bananas and rum.  Stir the wet mix into the dry (don't over mix).  Fold in the coconut.

Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes.

5 observations and sweet almond spread

1. Kids do not judge birthday cakes by how elaborate or arty they are.  They judge them by how much candy is on them, with bonus points for marshmallows.  I made the above cake for my daughter's birthday yesterday, planning to make something more elaborate for her sleepover tonight, but she was so pleased, she asked to save this cake to share with her friends.  I did not complain and we celebrated her birthday with chocolate ice cream.
2. At forty, I can still muster all the self-righteous indignation of twenty.  While running the other night, there was a Porsche parked on the sidewalk in front of a "spiritual centre."  The thought of someone looking for enlightenment while being so oblivious infuriated me (I have some enlightenment for you, don't be a dick).  Every time I passed that car, my fingers twitched with vandalism.  I did not act on my juvenile impulses but was kind of impressed that they were still there.
3. Eight is a great age.  My baby is eight and she's more like a person every day.  I mean, she thinks about stuff and feels empathy.  It really is an incredible privilege to watch kids grow up.
4. Roald Dahl is so great.  We are reading The BFG and enjoying it, especially the language.  Jumbly and scrumdiddlyumptious should totally be real words.
5. This is a great song, and was my daughter's favourite when she was three.  I will never forget her having us obsessively play it over and over for her, as if if she were trying to memorize it.  I figured it probably meant she would grow up to be as cool as Kim Deal.  So far so good.

Instead of a recipe I have a link this week.  There is a sleepover in my very near future, and I still have a few things to prepare.  I've made this spread a couple of times and it is really good.  I am a regular reader of the Healthful Pursuit blog, but I haven't made many of her recipes because all those health food store ingredients are so expensive here.  This recipe is simple enough and it's delicious.

sweet almond spread

Enjoy!

5 observations and beef shank soup

1. My kids are ready for a little break.  There's no school next week and we are all very happy about it.  This week seemed to drag on and on.   It's only Wednesday?  why is this week going so slow?  Well, it's finally Friday and I am possibly as happy as they are about it.  I'm looking forward to a fun lazy week next week.
2. I am so sick of my braces.  I'm in the home stretch (just a couple of months to go) but sometimes I fantasize about prying them off myself and never going back to the orthodontist.  I will be so happy when I can eat spinach in public again.
3. I adore Haruki Murakami.  I finished a short story by him this morning, and I thought, It's like Borges, but with more sitting on the sofa and drinking beer.
4. My kids love it when I make stuff for them.  This week I made some party invitations for one daughter and a sheet cake for my other daughter's class.  Their proud pleasure in these kind of things always surprises me (I always wonder, in the throes of one of these projects, wouldn't store-bought be better?).  I need to do it more often.
5. This is a great song for a Friday and a holiday week:

Soup doesn't seem very tropical but they make really good soup here in Panama.  It's because of the culantro.  Culantro has brought me around to all kinds of meat dishes that I didn't like before.  It totally changes and brightens something dull like beef stew.  The other thing that has really gotten me into soup is plantain.  I love plantain in soup.  It really holds up to the long cooking time of the beef shanks and it's just slightly sweet (so nice against the brightness of the culantro and if you add some hot sauce--heaven).

Beef Shank Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 bone-in beef shanks
1 medium onion chopped fine
1 handfull of culantro chopped fine
2 carrots cut into large chunks (3 or 4 pieces/carrot)
2 plantains cut into large chunks (4 or 5 pieces/plantain)
5 cups of potatoes, ñame, otoe, yucca cut into large chunks (if you cut it too small it will disintegrate by the time the meat is tender)
10 cups of water or stock
salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot, over a high flame, quickly brown the shanks in the oil (I put a little salt and pepper on the meat at this point).  Remove the meat and add the onions and culantro to the hot oil.  when the onions are soft, add the other vegetables and the stock or water.  Put the beef back into the pot.  Partially cover and bring to a low boil.  Turn the flame all the way down (I move the pot to the smallest burner with the lowest flame at this point) and simmer for 2 to 3 hours.  Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, I take the shank out and cut up the meat and remove the gristle.  My kids like it with a bit of white rice.  But personally, I think the rice is totally unnecessary.  The typical hot sauce here is made with habaneros and it goes very well with this soup.