A girl and her dog

Ouzo pasta

With memories of the Greek isles now quite far behind us, we still pine for the food.  So, Zeric tried his hand at making the ouzo lobster pasta we had on Sifnos.  Substituting shrimp for lobster and curly pasta for spaghetti, it was fantastic!  Made us wish Rachel and Juan were here to eat and drink with us!!

Knights of the Oval Table

You might remember that Eben celebrates his half-birthday every year so that he can have a party with his friends.  This year, he wanted a knight theme and a sleepover (citing Jaffa's mega sleepover for her 7th birthday).  We agreed not really understanding that 10 boys comprises far more raw energy than 19 girls of the same age.  Probably better that we had no idea what was coming..

 

  

King Eben

We had a lot of activities lined up to keep them busy, which was a good thing.  The story went like this:

The Kingdom of Kemang had recently lost all of its brave knights in a big battle, and it was looking for new brave and worthy knights.  To become a Kemang knight, you had to prove that you could work together as a team and get 500 points in the next day, facing a number of challenges.

The knights were all assembled around the oval table, explained the Code of Chilavry and the point system, and given navy and gold smocks and helmets (silver plastic trash can, where we cut out the faces).  We were smart enough to omit the swords, though some brought their own (that quickly got hidden after several brave knights got whacked with them).  We had two damsels among us too.. who smartly spent most of the daylight hours out observing nature.

 

The first challenge was to slay the dragon

(drawn freehand in about 30 seconds by Jaffa the night before).

 

 

275 points later (wow!), they came in and decorated their shield and goblets, and made mini catapults.  By then it was time to eat the Royal Pizza.  Once the pizza was eaten, it was time to launch marshmallows at the castle cake using the catapults.

 

 

They had all eaten so many marshmallows by the time they had launched them at the cake that they had no room for cake!  They did get another 100+ points.  Then outside for flashlight tag.. and in to watch Maleficent (it has knights and kings).  They were asleep by about 10:30.  And so were Zeric and I.  That was the longest 6.5 hours of our lives so far..

The knights-to-be arose with the sun, at 6am, promptly donned their smocks and shields and went out to scream around the neighborhood (waking surely appreciative neighbors, confident that the compound was safe from enemies and dragons).  When we were able to get them back inside, they demolished four dozen (pre-made and heated, smart Zoey) waffles with nutella.  Then, off to the pool to burn some more energy.

They got their 500 points with a few games of knights and crocodiles (sharks and minnows), and so they became knights!  That didn't stop us from setting up the last challenge: water balloon jousting!

 

It quickly evolved into a battle..

 

In which Zeric got pushed into the pool!!

Phew!  By the time the knights were showered and changed, it was time for another movie: Justin and the Knights of Valor. We had had boxes on standby for making a castle.. but apparently they are much more useful for sitting in.

It was a super fun party (albeit exhausting for the grown-ups).  Eben said it was the best yet!!

Happy half birthday, King Eben!

 

Hijab babes

 

In preparation for Eben's half-birthday-knight-themed party, I went shopping at one of the local markets.  I wandered around, looking at sooooo many things.. trying to think of what would work for the party.. one of the things I found was the Muslim headwraps that would be just the thing for the princesses under their pointy hats.  Jaffa gave one a try (without the pointy hat accompaniment).. and it was just a little freaky, to be honest.  Devout Indonesians do put these on their little little girls, some with Hello Kitty and other with little animal ears.  I hadn't really ever thought of Jaf as a little Muslim girl before.

 

I then decided to model the idea (with Lou's help holding it all on!).  Hmmmmm..

Gleeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Jaffa started Glee class on Saturdays two weeks ago, and loves it!  The first class, parents were allowed to sit in.  We got kicked out the second class :(  She needs to pick a song to perform and she's deciding between West Side Story's "I feel pretty" and Fiddler on the Roof's "Miracle".  In the meantime, they are performing songs from Matilda and Annie.  It's great to hear her sing.. she loves it and she's so confident! And.. she memorizes lyrics really, really quickly.  A thespian in the making??

Rabutan

No big surprise.. another one about food.  It's rabutan season so there are vendors all along the sides of the roads.  Rabutan are fabulous to look at.. red and furry (but soft).  Inside they are much like lychees.. white and sweet with a pit in the middle. Yum!

Baguette

I love that lots of our friends love cooking as much as we do, and they share their secrets too!  My friend Isabelle did a class on baguettes, pate and salted caramel sauce.  Awesome!!