New transport and new fuel.

Saule can almost always be talked into eating rice and beans. Its really fun to play with the colors and make different patterns.  This morning for breakfast we talked about things being balanced, and made a yin-yang rice and beans. YUM! Another great recipe I tried recently was beet chocolate cake- I modified this recipe, I didn't use the full sugar and I used cocoa powder rather than bakers chocolate. It was for Pollo and myself, and so far as chocolate cakes go it was very moist and yummy!

This is my experimental recipe, and boy is it good! A bowl of garlic mash potatoes, make a well in the center and put a raw egg in, bake it till the egg is cooked to your liking. Melt cheese on top. When it comes out hot make a salad on top, I used our home grown sprouts, tomatoes, yellow pepper, onion, olive, and a hot pickled pepper.  Top with plenty of dressing (I used pressed raw garlic, crack black pepper flake, olive oil, apple cider vinegar) Enjoy! The soft hot at the bottom and the cool crunchy on top is divine!

This is Saule's version, she didn't want any of the sprouts, and she prefers black olives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is our new family vehicle. Since we arrived here 2 months ago we have taken Saule all over the city and she stay snug as a bug in her little enclosed space. She brings snacks, books, and toys, and has blankets and pillows inside. Sometimes she prefers just to watch the world go by. I go a minimum of about 6 miles a day, usually about double that when I go to the pool and zoo. It feels easy since its fairly flat here in Copenhagen and there is always a bike lane. The pressure to go faster is always on when little old ladies and women in high heals zoom past.  My hope is I will be in good enough shape to do the same miles plus hills in the USA when we get back.  That would mean we only need to use a car for long trips.

Saules Garden and other Projects

WeI have started to expand our garden past sprouts- which we do non-stop now with much success. We have had success with Arugula and Lettuce in window boxes. We made the boxes from cardboard boxes which we cut and lined with plastic, then decorated.  I have also had fun re-growing Romaine lettuce stumps, you can get seemingly endless leaves out of one stump. 

This is a woven hanging nest we found at the zoo in their compost pile.  We brought it home and talked allot about different kinds of nests. Online we were able to watch birds building all types of nests, and looked at variations in eggs. After all we brought a branch home and re-attached the nest, hung the branch from the top of our book shelf, and made paper leaves (which gave us a chance to talk about tree parts again). We made a tiny baby bird from a cotton ball with googley eyes. 

Saule is an expert with puzzles- and loves to hide the last piece. She has several puzzles that we do daily- all of which are missing the last piece (the last piece to them all is hidden in her bunny cave under the couch :) 

This is our Brontosaurus. Saule has another imaginary Orange dinosaur named Pepe who sleeps on our couch.  Don't worry- they both are herbivores. 

Here is the view out our front window. We have lots of animals  right now amongst our panting projects. 

This is one of our first pea sprouts- it's about 6" high now- I read in several papers online that peas can do well with a long photoperiod in low light conditions. In the meantime we are enjoying the greenery.  Right now we get 13hours of daylight which will increase to 17.5 hours of daylight by June,  but our windows only get about 1/2 a day direct sun.

Our second crop of Arugula.

Saule's art

Sun Flower

Marching.

March is here and in Copenhagen, windy and  low 40's with a chance of rain. A days have been really nice and we didn't hesitate to take off our jackets and feel the sun on our skin for the first time in months.  This is the view from in front of our building. Saule got a new bike of her own, after months of telling me "there is a pink bike coming in the mail for me!" I just had to make it come true. Her and I took a bus out into the country side to get it, into a small village with a little white church and thatched roofs. It was left at the gate for us and when she saw it the look on her face was priceless.  We have since moved all the furniture against the walls in our apartment to accommodate her velodrome. 

Tete has recently accembeled a fixie to pull the trailer when he takes her out. His road bike was getting to much wear  with the weight and salt on the roads.  Saule loves working on the bikes with Tete, and often take out his tools to fix things that are "broken". She is on a sticky tape extravaganza as well and everything with a hole or crease has sticky tape on it. 

Saule and I have been spending time at the zoo. On March 3 we arrived just moments after this little lady was born, and have watched her almost daily since. The father and older sibling (who is 4 years old and also still nursing) often cuddle and caress the newborn. We usually brings books and art supplies to the zoo, find a quite place to sit and stay a long while. This week we have been studying marsupials and yesterday we ate near the Tasmanian Devils and Kangaroo. Saule knows everything about where they come from, what they eat, how they care for their young. Its a very different experience to sit a study the animals then it is to quickly pass through the zoo on a day trip. 

We had a great visit with pro-chuta and Uncle Julius when they came. They took the boat over  from Lithuania and happened to come on a VERY windy wavy day. We had fun exploring Denmark together with them.