Give me 15 minutes

Calamari on the fly

One thing I have learned since moving here to Malta is how easy it is to create a whole fresh tasting meal using fish you froze some weeks or months ago! We needed to make space in our freezer and remembered the squid, a few hours after taking it out and my husband had whipped up some delicious and very fresh tasting calamari! He just cut it, fried it in garlic and oil for around ten minutes till it changed colour and the juices come out and thickened, set it aside and added some fresh chopped parsley, squeeze of lemon juice,  salt and pepper.  You can toss it with some fresh pasta or over a salad, such an easy and tasty meal. Growing up in the midwest, I thought Calamari was suppose to be like rubber but ahh no, it is tender and so delicious when cooked properly!

(Kid comments while watching their papa cut the squid included- "....but really where is it's nose?  how does it eat? Is that plastic inside?  "

It's not yet fall weather here, mdina strolls for ice cream, rooftop barbecues and trips to the sea side are all still happening (but probably not for much longer).

Cup of tea anyone?

Seriously considering a present to myself, who would not feel complete with one of these to greet you in the morning. Found here.

Morning stroll

Maltese Doors

A few, just to wet your appetite (for those that appreciate doors).

School Days

Feels like we really are back in the school year  here, maybe it's me or my memory but I swear I don't remember having so many notebooks when I was a kid, last night we were up til late covering (I counted) 16 little notebooks (thats just for the 5 year old). I really don't think I had Math homework when I was five (little Mr. T has 5 notebooks worth and three large workbooks just for math). Maybe he has a 'special' kind of teacher this year.

She certainly is specific, the Maltese notebook has to be covered in red plastic, the Science green, English blue etc. . The other thing was all the labels!!!! From paint brushes to glue sticks to folders (even his own little box of tissues was instructed to be labelled) , have schools lost the art of teaching sharing to kids?  I realised that I wrote my sons entire name (which is no short name) 32 times on these various labels. There is a good chance I may sign his name next time I go to the bank.

A loss

I heard today that Mercedes Sosa died, the Argentinean singer, at age 74. Since first hearing her music while at University I have been taken with the power and emotion in her voice (and the beauty of the lyrics). She has been in some ways one of the  'themes' of this last year as little destructo has become addicted to hearing the ' ah ha' (as she refers to it song) ,  which is the song Maria Maria... she will not stop requesting it until she has heard it, I can safely say that I have heard this song well over 100 times over the last six months . I do however still like it.  Am saddened by the news of her death, and think I shall take some time today to hear her other songs.

(by the way ignore the video that goes with this song, it was the best sounding version I could find online)

Nice weekend of picnics and country walks here. Hope you all enjoyed the weekend too.

Quiet

So we begin, it is still here, a soft calm after a night of raging winds, rain and lightening. I am alone with my little Stella and school days have started in earnest for the older two. The small still moments, of coffee hopeful thoughts of plans for the day and soon a view from the rooftop (laundry to hang while the sun peeks through). May you all be having some moments of peace and daydreams as you make your way through Friday. - J  

Or Perhaps Paris?

Oh the joys of FIP, I so love the utter randomness of this station. Today I came across this song and oh like a good cup of tea or glass of wine it is a pleasure. Her name is La Fiancee sadly she is not coming to Malta to perform any time soon, hmmm maybe we just need to go to Paris. If you want to hear some of her other songs go here.

The joys

Little Destructo

of parenthood sometimes are beyond measure, there are some lows however and today (which should have been my sons first day of  'big kid school' ) was one of those not so joyous days. He and my little destructo are sick with a cold/flu type thing, not pleasant I admit, but I had to go out and do a few errands with them (bread, milk, Medicine and garlic).  Mr. T (who is our most dramatic family member) decided that a small crowded pharmacy would be the best place to stage his dying moment, hands on his throat he gets on his knees and starts yelling- ohhhh I feel a like  I am going to ...BURP, NO NO  I think i am going to THROW UP!!!! I rolled my eyes and tried to have my cash ready to go, being next in line (having seen him 5 min earlier begging to go on the swings and asking for a crackers) I had a sneaking suspicion he was NOT going to throw up (he had also been saying this for the last two hours). Meanwhile little destructo had reached out of her pushchiar and was one by one pulling the bottles of hair conditioners off the shelf, reaching down in a flurry to gather them back up I then turn in time to hand the woman behind the counter the doctors prescription, and ask to buy some hand sanitizer..(maybe it's time to start carrying this in my purse) Bird flu seems to be on everyone's lips lately here. As the pharmacist  is reaching over with it I see the womans face go a little stiff, (this is mind you a minute after my sons throwing up declaration while splayed out on the floor occurred)  to the annoyance and alarm of customers in the que behind me. Just then I look down to see she-who-lives-for-sweets  L. (3) quietly running her mouth (open) along the  counter... so much for keeping the kids free of germs with hand sanitizers! Who knows how long she had been doing this before I noticed her. Yes- we were a spectacle no doubt about it. Never a graceful exist either with three,  trying to reverse a pushchair in a small glass shelved crowded space with a kids holding on to either side, and no one leaning forward to help with the door. I won't bore you with the further adventures of our walk into town but there were many.

p.s. Needless to say little Mr. T never did throw up and today (wed) his fever has gone AND he lost his first tooth! The school will not allow him back without a doctors letter however so back to the pharmacy we go (thats where doctors do their private hours), won't they be happy to see us again!

Wistful wanderings

Maybe it's fall setting in a bit here, maybe it's having had visitors from Germany these last two weeks, but (Mostly Berlin)  has me yearning to travel, to bring a book and wander through Berlin.. visiting some of the cafe's this blog has written about. I still have that tiny residue of Seattle with me I suppose, the love of a really really good latte, playful decor and a cafe that takes it's barista with total seriousness.

Post colour week : bit of blue

As suggested by Not Only in Thailand, a post colours of fall day- weekend blue.  It's Sunday here and we have just returned from five days in the North of Malta, in a small flat by the sea. 

The first picture is a bowl of peeled prickly pears ready to eat.  Am impressed with the shades of magenta, yellow, orange and green you find on the insides.

The sky skapes on Thursday and Friday were quiet spectacular, as the thunder storms rolled in.

Last beach days I think, the children had a blast. School begins here on Monday. May be time to put the buckets and spades away. It's been a good long summer.

Colours of Fall: Day Five

PLUM

Not sure if it totally counts but there are some nice shades of purple in this fabric by Heather Ross, and how sweet a name, Underwater Sisters (but really it's the octopuses that are the clincher for me) . This Fabric can be found on Etsy here at Uberstich.

Colours of Fall: Day four

BROWN

Not the most creative am afraid, we are at a flat by the sea right now, it's all blues, grey and big skyskapes of storm clouds. Decided to share this pillow, captures a bit of the feel of autumn for me.

Fall Colours : Day Three

YELLOW

What girl goes without a bright yellow pair of shoes right?!  I think Malta must be having an effect on me, am going for bolder colours these days.

Here is day three of Elsie Marley's colours of fall week.

They are quiet a lovely mustard colour in real life but appear lighter in the photos.

Colours of Fall: Day two

BURNT SIENNA
Certainly makes me want to get on a train and travel off into the sunset.

Not feeling totally satisfied with this, I looked back at some old photos and realised that for me

fall makes me think of my daughters, for they were both born during this season and I connect it to 

those last days of being pregnant and then the settling into winter with a new born. 

This is a photo from my older daughters birth, she was born at home, in Malta

(we were renting an old house in a place called Zebbug which means olives). 

This was our bedroom, the early afternoon light had an unusual effect on the room. This was one of my favourite things about this house.

Autumn Colours Day One

I am joining the colours of fall week suggested over at Elsie Marley and today is the start. In ode to the colours of fall I am missing, here is a picture of a fabric I am taken with and what comes to mind when I think of fall... a comforting cup of tea.

Changing seasons - Rummien

They say here with the September rains, it's the sound of the thunder that cracks the pomegranates open and then you know it's time, they are ready. While passing under it's tree on our walk today, we spotted our first cracked open one.

It's the small things sometimes

Like today, I set aside all major projects, cleaning tasks and to do list of errands and took all three children on a long walk to Birgu (equipped with a stroller and a picnic lunch). We had such a good time, trying out some unknown side paths, spotting not three but six little salamanders (or so they call them), test flying Tano's little paper model plane, going up and down on the see saw, the children were so good, with all the walking, heat and tricky streets to cross they did not complain once (not usually the case). One of those days you so enjoy being a parent and getting to spend time with your children. I wish this was true every day.

The pictures, while A. was away in Portugal last week and I was on my own with the kids, the Zabbar feast was in full swing. I took the kids through the crowded streets, to the band marchs, fire works, little stalls (am not normally much of a crowd person) but I managed and this was one of my favorite parts.... strolling round a familar little piazza to find an angel, or rather a tall painted wooden statue of some angel, they suddenly appear all over the city during the week of the feast. There is something uplifting to me me about turning a corner and seeing an angels wing or the bare foot of a temporary statue. Here are some close ups.

2 minutes

I stepped away for a moment, just a minute... and whalaa two cups of milk added to the playdough...nice. Needless to say that was the end of the playdough, which perhaps was good timing- it was all looking the colour of a dirty toad. As much of a pain as playdough is (the tiny bits you find squashed on the floor, in carpets, on shoe bottoms, hidden inside legos weeks later) it does certainly keep my gang very occupied.. I would go as far to say an hour.. which is an eternity with my lot. Am sure there is some flour based make it yourself recipe out there I can find on line. I hope!

Till the next posting, a song that off and on gets stuck in my head -Don't Fence Me In by Cole Porter , (only ok sounding version I can find at the moment) the horse bit is a little creepy.

Can I visit?

Although we have bought our old house and are still slowly setting things up here in Malta, I seem to have caught the house design bug and stumbled upon this site the other day DWELL. Without meaning to, a broom and the mop to my side (dinner dishes and the kitchen floor to attend to as A. had bed time honours with the children). I got a bit side tracked and before I knew it a good half hour had passed. Maybe I am missing Grand Designs (admittedly one of the shows I miss from the UK). Here are some pictures of houses I wouldn't mind visiting. The last one is from a section called scrap houses, all made from scraps of material- love it.