New beginnings.

There's something really refreshing about the beginning of a new year, isn't there? Even though January 1st is really just the continuation of this thing we call life, if feels like so much more. As if the slate has been wiped clean, as if anything and everything is possible, like being born again in a world where we can be or do anything. And whether it's just a mental trick we play on ourselves or not, I intend to ride this wave of the new and the now for as long as it hangs around. 

In past posts I've mentioned that I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do have some things that I'd like to work on in 2015, and here are a few of them:

1. Become a pie making master: This Sunday will mark the beginning of what I'd like to affectionately call "The Pie Project." Making pies has always seemed so very daunting to me, mainly because the process of making the dough has always seemed so strict. As someone who relishes in making everything that I can from scratch, this has weighed on me. However on Thanksgiving I finally took the time to really research the process, thanks to several pie making blog posts from smitten kitchen. I was amazed with the results, but I know I can do better with practice. I plan to add a few more simple tools to our kitchen tool box, like a bench scraper and shaker, to help with the process. There are so many different washes to experiment with, methods to try, ingredients to swap in and out, and hopefully all will end up delicious, if not at least edible to accompany a cup of hot coffee.

2.  Get back on my mat: I've been neglecting my yoga mat the last year or so, and my joints are not happy about it. I'm not going to sit here and blame it on becoming a mom and "woe is me I'm so busy and tired now", because that's not actually the case. Home practice has always been something that is difficult for me, and I sorely miss the warmth and community of a supportive Bikram studio, like what I had all those years in Philadelphia. I always feel so much better once I start, I just need to get into a good routine again. 

3. Yoga for Smaug: I'd like to begin to expose Oswin to yoga as well, and it only seems natural since she inadvertently does yoga poses all the time. Pigeon, downward dog, babies seriously are born as natural little yoginis, and I'd hate for her to lose that. If anyone has any resources on introducing an almost 15 month old to yoga, I'd love if you wouldn't mind sharing.  

4. Get knitting/crocheting: This is one of those goals that comes up every year and I never get to. But I really want to learn how so I can make lovely little warm and fuzzy things for our family and friends.

5. Clean out my closets: Clear out your closets, clear out your mind. I've done a really good job this year of beginning to filter out the extraneous stuff, but my closet is still a bit of a mysterious wonderland. I want to surround ourselves with only the objects we love, the objects that hold sentimental meaning, the objects that bring us back to certain places or times in our lives. I want to clear out the rest of the extraneous goods to surround ourselves with the beauty that is our lives, and nothing else. This is a continual project, and I plan on 2015 being the year that I make some major progress on this general life goal. Make your life beautiful, whatever that means for you, your family, and your home.

How about you? What are you going to write on that newly cleaned slate?

Wishing you and yours a beautiful, happy, and healthy 2015!

A la prochaine friends...

Honey

Bonne Année!

 

Happy New Year dear friends!

 

Sorry I've been a bit MIA lately, but things have been a bit on the busy side here in SwitzerFrance. Between my parent's trip out here and one followed shortly after by Doc's mom, we've been hosting or traveling pretty much all of November and December, and I've got about a million pictures to go through and share with you guys. I can't wait to fill you in on everything we've been getting into!

 

For now though, while I sit and sip some Veuve Clicquot while trying to make our little miss laugh, I'll just say Happy New Year! Wishing you and yours all the best for the coming this year. Can't wait to see where 2014 takes all of us!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey (and Doc and Oswin aussi!)  



New Year's 2013 in Omaha.

Of our three and a half week trip to the US, ten days of that were spent in Doc's hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
 

{Cool western store, incredibly pushy and annoying salespeople...what a shame. I'll buy my turquoise cowboy boots online thank you very much!}

{Treats at Caffeine Dreams}



We spent time catching up with family, watching Bowl games and college basketball, and eating some really good food...

 

...and there were cupcakes.

 

Cupcakes!

 

We don't get cupcakes in France, unless we make them ourselves, and even though I am much more of a savory loving than sweet loving person, I do love me a well made cupcake.

 

I'm very particular about cupcakes, kind of a cupcake snob if you will, and at the moment, since my favorite cupcake joint in Philly closed, my new favorite cupcake magasin is hands down Jones Bros. in Omaha.  They've got your typical flavors like chocolate, vanilla and red velvet, but they've also got killer cool flavors like maple bacon, sweet and salty (my personal favorite), caramel apple and tiramisu, among others. (There's an Elvis Special that I'm also dying to try!)

 

One of our other favorite places in Omaha, and dare I say one of my favorite burgers in the US, comes from a little dive bar called Dinker's...

 

...it's nothing fancy. But what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in delicious, juicy, incredibly reasonably priced burgers and pitchers of beer.

 

Something we did not get to do enough of in Omaha? Thrift store shopping. There are TONS of thrift and antique stores (as well as used book stores) in Omaha, and we only got to one. Le sigh. But I did find a pretty sweet Pyrex divided casserole dish for $6, as well as an adorable/horribly kitschy squirrel sitting on top of an acorn cookie jar at Caffeine Dreams (they have a small little handmade and vintage section of the coffee shop), so that helps the thrifting withdrawal pang a bit.

{I mean seriously, who can possibly be this happy at the airport at 5:00 am?!}

We ended our Omaha portion of the Duggan US Tour with a 5:45 am flight out of Omaha (oie veyishmeir). The plus side? Three trips to Omaha in three years and I've only just discovered the old school Pac Man arcade game in our terminal - SCORE!

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



Traditions.

Bonne année mon amis!

Can you believe we're already 5 days into 2012?! I can't, but maybe that's because I've spent the last 6 days in a jet lagged haze. Regardless, we're back here at I'm an Outlaw, Not a Hero, despite some time away and technical problems (aka my computer bought the farm, if ya know what I mean). But it feels really good to be back, and I can't wait to get caught up on all of our adventures, past, present and future. I missed you all!

But first, I'd like to talk about traditions. Doc and I realized that this past New Year's Eve/Day was the fourth we've spent together, with our first being spent in my native city of Philadelphia, then the next in Omaha, Nebraska, and the last two in Thoiry, France. Some traditions have crept in under our noses, and I'd love to share some of them with you.

1. Seafood: The first New Year's Eve that we spent together we decided to stay in and cook ourselves a big ole' feast, rather than drop a ton of money for a ticket to a big celebration. This involved a life scarring experience of Dan boiling alive (read: cooking) 2 lobster while I hid upstairs because I wanted no part until the eating part (RIP Bitey and Pinchy). I didn't think I'd have a problem with all of this until we got to the lobster tank at Reading Terminal Market and I saw their cute little (read: delicious) faces. I had to walk away and let Doc pick out our dinner, and every time I opened up the fridge for the next couple of hours I swore the lobster bag kept moving. Regardless, I was unaware at the time that seafood on New Year's Eve was a french tradition as well, and since moving to France our New Year's Eve has involved boiled shrimp, salmon, oysters and caviar (don't get excited, caviar is a lot cheaper here than in the US). I especially like that we've incorporated the boiled shrimp and a side of radis concept, as we had that at the home of my belle-mere and beau-pere on New Year's Day in Omaha in 2010.

2. New Year's Day Brunch: Brunch is a major Philadelphia tradition which we take very seriously. And if this Philadelphian can't brunch and attend the Mummer's Day Parade on January 1, then this Philadelphian is sure as hell gonna brunch it up to the nines. Combining traditions from aux etas unis and our time in France has been a lot of fun, so our New Year's Day brunch has involved mimosas and pain perdu for the last two years running. (Sidenote: Pain perdu is all that french toast wishes it could be but isn't, and we're thankful to our fellow Thoiry-sians for sharing with us this bit of french awesomeness at last year's Soupe de Noel dinner.)

{Mummer's Parade 2009}
 

3.The Mummer's Day Parade: As if they need an introduction...well ok, maybe at least an explanation. The expression "real men wear dresses" is one that Philadelphians hold true to heart, for on this day since 1699 (yep, before the US even technically became the US), men have been donning skirts, makeup and tiny umbrellas to strut their New Year's best in a pair of golden slippers. (Or Timberland's spray painted in gold as is often the case nowadays...) The parade starts in South Philly at an un-Godly hour on New Year's day, and ends at City Hall on Broad Street...at least until the party continues for sometimes several days later on 2 Street...

Pic via here.

It's the only day in Philadelphia where it is ok to drink on the street, and Philadelphians comes out in droves to get down with some mummery. Now that we've moved abroad we keep this tradition alive by watching it on the tv. It's not the same as walking up and down Broad street with a six pack in a backpack and buying pretzels off of a guy selling them out of a shopping cart warmed by hot coals, but it is a hell of a lot warmer!

How about you guys? Any New Year's Eve or New Year's Day traditions? I'd love to hear them!

Happy 2012 from Doc and I!

A la prochaine friends!

 

Honey