Tomato paste

The conversion goblin has struck again!

During the two hours it took me to get Lauris and myself ready and out of the house yesterday, I did once think “maybe I ought to convert those quantities,” but since it did take us two hours to get out of the apartment, I shrugged off the thought and we headed to the store.

I had popped over to google translate to find the French words for several of the spices and ingredients I needed, and found almost everything I had on my list. Still missing the baking soda and baking powder; I will have to ask one of my French friends what they are called, I believe the translations I wrote down may be literal.

The main goal was to pick up the ingredients for lasagna, and as I’ve made this particular recipe a few times before, I thought I would be able to get the correct quantities of everything between quick mental conversions and visual guess-timates.

1 pound = 16 ounces = ~ 450 grams

Maybe I should get a tattoo.

Fast forward to dinnertime, and to a lasagna that doesn’t hold a candle to the frozen ones that require 1/10^th of the effort. I ended up with half the required ricotta and double the amount of tomato sauce. I didn’t even use all the tomato paste I came home with, but I think the problem lies in the lack of crushed tomatoes. Since I hadn’t translated “crushed” I went by pictures, and figured a large can with pictures of chunky looking tomatoes on the label would be it. Turns out, tomato paste comes in all shapes and sizes; the box I bought thinking it was tomato paste is in fact tomato paste but is in a tube, what I believed to be an unseasoned tomato sauce is tomato paste, and the “chunky tomato label can” was… tomato paste. And the labels all say something different!

Sorry honey, I won’t serve you tomato paste for dinner again… well, after tonight’s leftovers, that is.

Lauris is toad-ing a fine line at the Jardin Lecoq

Chestnuts

Buckeyes, horsechestnuts or chestnuts in the US, conkers in England, kastaņi in Latvija, châtaigne in France... Polished brown nuts wrapped in spiky green shells, the ones here in France aren’t edible, only collectible. We’ve had fun searching for them, sifting through the shells, leaves and grass. At first we only split open a few husks, and took home the pairs of glossy chestnuts nestled inside. Next time around we filled the little cupholders on the stroller with them, and left them behind on the way home, like a trail of breadcrumbs. Another batch made it all the way back to the kitchen, where they’ve joined the collection of bowls, plastic containers and spoons that have their place on a shelf at just the right height for a junior chef. While mom is washing dishes or preparing food, they get poured from one container into another, skidded across the floor, counted and recounted one by one from bowl to bin back to bowl again.

I’ll admit the last search was more for mom than for son. There aren’t many signs of autumn yet here in Clermont-Ferrand, only a slight drop in temperatures and shorter daylight hours signal the arrival of fall. The cyclamen on the dining room table brightens what otherwise could be dreary days, and now this bowl of silky chestnuts reminds me of the season I grew to love so much while living in Michigan. I’m still hoping for that crisp autumn air with the crackle of leaves underfoot, or maybe a few brightly colored yellow or red maples and hickories among the brown London planetrees, but for now I’ll settle for the silky smooth nuts hidden in the grass and husks like Easter eggs.

Happy autumnal equinox!

On Sunday we headed east towards Thiers in our search for fall color. I thought the Parc Naturel Régional Livradois-Forez was as good a place to start as any. It took us a bit to get everything packed and out of the house, but the weather was lovely, the roads clear of traffic, and in no time we were exiting the highway.

The Durolle river that flows through Thiers is what enabled the paper and knife industries to thrive in Thiers. The Durolle in turn flows into the Dore, a tributary of the Allier. Dore has a long history of paper mills as well, but it was the surrounding forests which drew us to the area. Our first stop was the Château d’Aulteribe, a castle rebuilt in the 19^th century just west of Courpière. Although we didn’t enter the Château, we strolled the grounds and admired the lovely landscaping and enchanting property. Lauris spent quite some time collecting buckeyes and rocks while I snapped away with my camera. Although we didn’t find the fall color I was searching for, the carpet of cyclamens, the gardens and the fields provided a colorful landscape all the same.

We continued on through Courpière where during the summer months visitors can take the Livradois-Forez tourist train along the Dore valley. A side road took us to Sauviat, a village situated high above the Dore with some wonderful views. After winding our way back down to the valley we reached Olliergues, with an old 15^th century bridge.

By this time Lauris had enough of the carseat and my stomach was rumbling, so we found a nice picnic area on the banks of the river for lunch. Still no fall color, but the mountain scenery was refreshing after a long week in the city. Another stop in Ambert allowed Lauris to spend some more energy and Roberts and I to quickly locate a geocache. A quaint little town with a history steeped in the paper industry, there were supposedly more than 300 mills in the area in the 16^th century.

From Ambert we headed east, past old houses and paper mills, evidence of the industrial importance of the Lagat valley, the tributary we were now traveling along. At one point we turned north and wound our way over the mountains to the next tributary north, Valcivières, and on this trip we finally found the first of our fall color. The majority of hickories and maples had not started to turn, but here and there we could spot yellow among the green, and bright red apples, pīlādži (sumac) and flowers provided splashes of color in the landscape. There were magnificent views along this stretch of road, especially once we reached the Cirque de Valcivières, with little towns, fields and streams dotting the mountainside.

Our last stop was Col des Supeyres, the pass on the eastern edge of the Park at the elevation of 1,336m (4,481ft). Although trails crisscrossed the high pastures, we opted out and settled for another scenic viewpoint. With a sleeping Lauris in back and one tired mamma in front we decided to head home. Hopefully by next weekend there’ll be some more fall color for us to find.

1 week = 7 days = 168 hours = 10,080 minutes = 604,800 seconds

This week has been rough. Partly due to smaller things like the smell of paint in the dining/living areas from continued elevator installation, tumbles resulting in fat lips, colds and runny noses, however the main cause is a business trip; Roberts is in the US, so it’s been just the two of us all week.

My husband has always traveled on work-related trips, before there were three of us I sometimes even welcomed these little breaks in routine. No guilt over a frozen pizza for dinner, or an evening spent wrapped up on the couch with a book.

But with Lauris the situation is completely different; Roberts is my back-up, my 10 minutes peace in the evenings, my midnight (and sometimes 2am, 4am, 6am) riser, my “let’s order out for dinner” after an especially rough day, the one to reassure me that however difficult raising two children abroad sans family nearby may be, we will survive and our children will thrive. A week without him is daunting, no matter how many times I think to myself that women everywhere raise children alone and one week shouldn’t be such a disaster.

And we have survived, despite Wednesday night and the 4 hours spent trying to rock/walk/sing/shush Lauris to sleep, despite the extra loads of laundry caused by the “reorganization” of clothing Lauris deemed was necessary (reorganized straight into the dirty diaper pail), despite the shortened naps, shortened energy levels and shortened patience. Most evenings I have just left the mess, it can/will be dealt with eventually, and ignored the dishes until the next day as those too can wait. The days have been spent outside enjoying the beautiful weather (a.k.a. tiring Lauris out), meeting up with other moms, and stretching everyday chores such as a trip to the marché or pharmacy into hour-long adventures. (Who ever knew folding laundry could take three hours and elicit that many giggles?) The weekend was spent at the brocante and on a road-trip to Auchan supermarket. We came home with a bunch of little cactus plants to soothe the pain of the failure of my porch garden. Tuesday was market and park day, merci beaucoup to the mom that met me and listened to me release the pent up conversation that had been stewing since Saturday. Wednesday a playdate at another wonderful mother’s house that included much needed contact with grown-ups and a wonderful lunch. I almost didn’t survive Thursday, but here we are, already Friday and tomorrow he’ll be home.

Honey, jet lag or not, I hope you’re ready to spend the weekend with our son. Because I’m going to be a little busy regaining my sanity. (And please don't forget those dark chocolate mini-Reese's peanut butter cups...)

My moment of zen

Saeimas vēlēšanas

For summary in English, please see below

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17. septembrī notika Ārkārtas 11. Saeimas vēlēšanas. Pēdejā gadā ir bijusi nenormāli interesanta politika Latvijā: maijā Prezidents Valdis Zatlers ierosināja Saiemas atlaišanu.Viņu arī atvietoja ar Andri Bērziņu, bet vēlāk tauta atbalstija Zatlera ierosinājumu; 94,3% nobalsoja par Saeimas atlaišanu, un tā arī radās vajadzība šīm vēlēšanām. Mums tuvākais iecirknis bija Parīzē, četras stundas prom. Zinājām jau iepriekš, ka divu iemeslu dēļ nevarēsim tikt uz Parīzi šinī dienā, tamdēļ arī Roberts jau iepriekš izpētija kā pieteikties balsošanai par pastu. Pieprasijām no Belģijas vēstniecības (tuvākā vēstniecība kas piedāvāja pasta vēlēšanas materiālus) vajadzīgos dokumentus nosūtot iesniegumu balsošanai par pastu no ārvalstīm un mūsu Latvijas pases. Nedēļu vēlāk pienāca materiāli. 

Pirms vēlēšanām vairākas latviešu organizācijas un politiskās partijas organizēja kampāņas, mudināt ārvalsts latviešus uz vēlēšanām. Cik esmu lasījusi, ir kautkur starp 50,000 un 200,000 Latvijas valsts pilsoņu, kas dzīvo ārzemēs. Man vēl arvien ir divejādas domas par vēlēšanu. Esmu pilsone, un tamdēļ tā ir mana atbildība balsot, citādīgi kamdēļ kļuvu par pilsoni? Tomēr, nedzīvoju Latvijā un man nav sekas no valdības lēmumiem par veselības apdrošināšanu, skolām, ceļiem utt. Bet es atšķiros no daudziem ārzemēs-dzīvojošiem pilsoņiem ar to, ka ne es, ne mani vecāki nav dzīvojuši Latvijā. Es ļoti ceru, ka nesen izceļojušie latvieši izmanto šo iespēju balsot; tās ir balsis kuŗas gribētu lai dzird, tiem latviešiem kuŗi ir izvēlējušies atstāt Latviju dēļ iespējām ārzemēs.

2006. g. Čikagā

Beigās nobalsoju un nosūtiju vēstuli ar vēlēšanu materiāliem atpakaļ uz Belģiju. Kaut neesmu vēl nolēmusi vai man ir „tiesības” balsot, patlaban esmu nolēmusi tā; maniem vecvecākiem nebija iespēja balsot visus tos gadus kamēr Latvija bija okupēta, un man tagad ir pilsonība, kas saiet roku rokā ar atbildību balsot vēlēšanās. Labprāt gribētu dzirdēt citu arzemēs-dzīvojošu pilsoņu domas par šo tēmatu.

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Sestdienas vēlēšanās balsoja apmēram 870,000 pilsoņi Latvijā un ārzemēs. Saskaņas centrs saņēma apmēram 29% no balsīm. Otrā vietā ierindojās Zatlera Reformu partija (21%), tad Vienotība (18,5%), Nacionālā apvienība „Visu Latvijai!” – „Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK” (13,6%) un Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība (12%). Saiemas sadala tad būs šāda; Saskaņas centram 34 vietas, Zatlera Reformu partijai 22, Vienotībai 19, Nacionālai apvienībai 13 un Zaļo un Zemnieku savienībai 12.

  

On September 17^th Latvia had a Parliamentary election following the dissolution of the Saiema earlier this year. Then-President Valdis Zatlers suggested this dissolution back in May, and the Saiema elected Andris Bērziņš to the Presidency afterwards. Then the country headed to the polls, and 94.3% of voters voted to dissolve the Parliament, hence Saturday’s elections.

Our closest voting station was in Paris, and as we couldn’t make the trip we registered to vote by mail. I was torn over the feeling that although I have citizenship, whether I should vote; I do not live in Latvia, and although laws and regulations might influence me in terms of buying property, the day-to-day things like health care, schools, roads etc. don’t influence me. There are 200,000 citizens living outside of Latvia, and I would be interested to see more statistics on how many of those have recently emigrated, how many were born elsewhere, and how many voted.

I finally voted, with several points in mind. First, I am a citizen, and it is my duty to vote. Second, during 50 years of Soviet occupation my grandparents did not have the right to vote, it is for the sacrifices they made that I have the life I have today. Third, I might as well give up my citizenship if I don’t care to vote.

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On Saturday about 870,000 citizens cast their ballots in Latvia and elsewhere, a record high since 1993 for votes cast outside of Latvia. The results were as follows; Harmony Centre received nearly 29% of the vote, followed by  Zatlers Reform Party with 21.5% of the vote. In third is Unity  with 18.5%, then the National Association with 13.6% and finally the Union of Greens and Farmers with a bit more than 12%. (The remaining parties did not receive enough votes to top the 5% threshold for inclusion in the Parliament.) The 100 seat Saiema will therefore have the following division of seats; Harmony Centre 34, Zatlers Reform Party 22, Unity 19, the National Association 13 and the Greens and Farmers 12.