Current faves

So the Big Yam is Big Verbal right now - he can basically parrot anything you say (which can be dangerous, as in the case last night on the bench at dodgeball when he repeated the key word in my phrase, "your mama's playing like s**t tonight" - SPOILER ALERT: the key word wasn't "tonight"), and it leads to funny moments like when he says, "sixty bucks" or when he mimics my exasperated, "hello?!?" that I often yell up the stairs at a lolly-gagging Dotytron, who has invariably told me that he's ready to go but then keeps me waiting at the door while he listens to a Sonny Rollins record in his room.

One of my faves is when he gets so excited by what he's seeing that he can't formulate the words.  Last night on the way home from dodgeball we pulled up alongside a bus and he goes, "Mama! Baba! -----" and you could tell that every synapse in his brain was firing with "BUS!" and his body was vibrating with excitement but he was SO pumped he couldn't actually get the word out.  He pointed out the window and and tried to get the word out and it was the cutest thing.

Another fave is me teaching him about being "cozy."  In the morning, I've built in enough time (because I wake up at 5:45am thanks to a certain someone) that when he gets up I can scoop him into bed with me and pull the covers over his legs or pull him onto the couch with me and his bottle of nai-nai and pull Nany Dotytron's afghan over our legs and tuck the coverings in around his feet and tell him that we're being cozy.  Now he asks for it and it's the sweetest.

Final Big Yam fave.  Ever since he's been a wee bobbin, if I was wearing him in the carrier or strolling him in the stroller, I would periodically stop abruptly and say, "Guess what?  I love you."  Last week I was wearing him on my back on our way to daycare and I stopped and said, "Guess what?" and he said, "Lallooo" and it's the cutest, dearest thing ever.

Recently we watched the documentary, Marley.  It's an extremely well-produced and entertaining documentary that offers a glimpse into Bob Marley's early years and historical context for the creation and popularization of reggae music.  If I had one critique, it's that the documentary doesn't critique his womanizing (and his wife, Rita's, tacit enabling of it) or the deification of him.  First-hand testimony from his wife, some of his mistresses, his kids, and people like Bunny Wailer and Lee Scratch Perry alongside archival footage and still shots makes up the bulk of the documentary and while I still feel that Bob himself is a bit of a cipher at the core of the film, the doc is extremely well produced and interesting.  Like, hello, Rastafarianism, much?!  And what's with believing that Haile Selassie is the second coming of Jesus?  It's insanely interesting and has lead to some homework on our parts figuring out the religion and where Selassie fits in, which in turn has lead to looking up Marcus Garvey and reading up on the pan-African movement and the repatriation of Jamaica.  Fascinating stuff.

One of my favorite things from the doc was listening to early Wailers tunes - before reggae was created,  when it was ska and the unique sound that developed from the Jamaican attempt to replicate the 50s/60s doowop sound.  I particularly loved this song called "Selassie is the Chapel" which I had never heard before, but it's this sweeping, beautiful ballad with gorgeous, thrumming, swooping harmonies.  It's just gorgeous.  What the film made me realize was just how prodigiously talented Marley was and what a colossal shame that he died so young.  I mean, we've all heard the tunes off of Legend a million times over, and I am definitely guilty of feeling like they're played out, but situated within the context of musical history and culture, I have a new found respect.  Let's face it - the tunes are catchy and poppy as all get-out and they deserve to be played as often as they are.  Digging deeper into earlier catalogue is also rewarding.  Peep these two tunes:

Tuesday night's dinner was kimchi fried rice topped with a fried egg.  I've switched over to pan frying in coconut oil and I'm a total convert!  It burns clean, is loaded with good fats, and bonus: your house smells all coconutty when you heat it up (but no coconut flavour is imparted to the food).  I'm sold!  This was made with kimchi made by our neighbour's mom, who we call halmoni (the Korean word for grandmother)

Last night's Greek mac'n'cheese

Tonight was leftover night. 

Fin.

I didn't forget about Dre.

I swear! I've been taking an extended hiatus to work reeeeaaaalllllyyy hard on finishing my LAST PAPER OF FIRST YEAR MPPAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's done done done! It's in in in! WAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I'm freeeeeeeeee! Free to spend the summer with my boys and chilling out maxing relaxing all cool. Free to spend my afternoons swimming, visiting with friends, crafting, thinking about cottage fun times, cookings, farmer's marketing, bike adventuring with the Dotytron. FREE.

So my extended absence from chinotto hating land was well warranted, methinks. This does leave me with a big hodgepodge to tell you about and a recap of last weekend on the cusp of this weekend...but so what? The last weekend was delicious. We had a park picnic with kdubsguelph crew at Riverside Park in Guelph:

We played ladderball (BEST. GAME. EVER.) and the girls changed the Big Yam's diaper while I was playing catch and he was apparently quite traumatized by it - to the point of trying to crawl away from them with his bare butt in the air while they all laughed. LOL! Then we came home and were obviously pooped from a day spent outside. Sunday we had a bbq at Xtina & Buns' home to see baby H.

As Tillers puts it, leaning babies up against each other is never not funny. Look at these three hooligans! You've got H looking like a dad in his dad jeans, Big Yam looking like he's having the time of his life, and sweet mullet V looking like she's ready to cut someone:

We came home on Sunday and I was working on the computer when I saw someone coming up the shared driveway and rummaging in our neighbour's recycling bins. I wasn't sure what was going on so I watched for a bit, until the person started rummaging in our recycling bin. Then I told the Dotytron to maybe go outside and let the person know that we put out our recycling on Tuesday, so if he could come back then to collect recyclables for cash instead of showing up in our driveway, we would prefer that. So the Dotytron went out there and told him and was super nice about it, but OF COURSE the guy was an old Asian man and I immediately felt guilty for shooing him away and I started crying cuz I was all worried that he wasn't going to be okay. The Dotytron loves it when I cry over stuff like this. Mainly because he and Dr. Rei both love nothing more than when I drop my tough-guy routine. LOL! Anyway, I kept crying about it off and on all Sunday evening. To the point where on Monday, the Dotytron turned to me and said, "remember when you were weeping last night? THAT was an awkward display of humanity." LOL!

On Monday I made us a dinner of baby new potatoes tossed warm with creme fraiche, salt and pepper and chopped scallions, with roasted lemon-oregano stuffed sea bream, and a side of roasted asparagus. Didn't get a photo of it, though. Tuesday I made us lamb kofta in a harissa-kicked sauce with sweet-sour Moroccan style eggplant on top of whole wheat couscous with raisins and grated carrot. This was a big hit:


Last night we had dinner with our Discerning Coyote friend and his new ladybird, N. We went to Bairrada on College. I suggested it based on the fact that it has a gorgeous, giant patio and lured by the promise that Wednesdays are "roasted pork on a spit" night. Anticipating big hunks of juicy pork, I was chagrined to find that they saw off little wee plates of dry pork brushed with piri piri. When we saw that suckling pig was on the menu, we tried to order that, but it was sold out! Then our meals and apps took forever to arrive (they comped us an app and our second round of drinks though) and when the food did arrive, it was underwhelming. Don't think I'm actually a fan of Portuguese food, to be honest. As the Dotytron summarized, "nice patio with dry stuff." It was true: everything we had there WAS dry.

One of our favorite nighttime rituals now is on our way to bed, to go and "take a peek" at the Big Yam while he's sleeping. We tip toe into his room, peer into the crib, behold him looks all peaceful and pouty in slumber like this:



...and then turn to each other and smile all welling up with love and happiness and cute overload. It's my favorite part of the day. Seriously - how can you not love looking at that?!?

I also kind of like going into the room when he's wigging out and peering in the crib and seeing him all distressed clutching a stuffy - it's also cute with his two little (soon to be four) Chiclet teeth poking out:

The Dotytron went into work today to clear out his classroom and attend meetings. He should be home earlier in the afternoon and then we're planning on heading out to Metro Hall to hear some big band free outdoor concert thing. More likely, I'm going to splinter off and hang out with Dr. Rei while the Baba and Boobla listen to big band. Pingy comes into town tonight! Then tomorrow is a Supper Club Canada Day picnic on the Island, maybe more hanging with Pingy in the late afternoon, and then up to Markham to visit with my family because my sis is coming into town - it's Little Ze's birthday today and my Poh Poh's 89th birthday on Sunday. Yay! Family time. Fun time. Sun time. Bliss.

Fin.