Pamir Kabob House

A friend and former student of mine, Erin, has been recommending Pamir Kabob House to several of us for a couple of years. Once their customer and now a summertime employee of Pamir Kabob House while she finishes her nursing degree, Erin is passionate about good food and knows of what she speaks. She is an amazing baker and chef in her own right, gracing our house with strawberry blueberry jam and fresh bread. All of us who have been lucky enough to eat Erin's food know that she has a discerning palate and appreciates clean and yummy flavors while keeping an eye on presentation and aesthetic.

She was absolutely correct about Pamir Kabob House: it is now my new favorite restaurant in Temecula, Calfornia.

My bestie Rosa came through town today on her way to visit her sister. Rosa is getting to be well-known in the blogosphere as The Catty Critic, the consummate foodie who writes eloquently about her dining experiences and also practices her own recipes on her meat-and-potatoes-loving hubby. Just last night she enjoyed a much-sought-after reservation at one of Chef Ludo Lefebvre's LudoBites. When she had me nearly salivating at her descriptions of his food as we talked at my house, we decided we'd better head to lunch.

I knew Rosa would be the perfect companion to take to Pamir Kabob House. She is a fearless diner with wide experience and an open palate. Sharing a new cuisine with an adventuresome eater is one of life's delights.

She will no doubt write up a much more comprehensive review of our meal, and it was a new experience for me to dine with someone who takes beautiful pictures of our food as it arrives (I've dined with Rosa many times before, but not since she got her new camera---she got some amazing photos today). I really had to restrain myself from digging in, for one thing. We are of the same temperament when it comes to sharing: order a vast selection and taste as much of the menu as possible by sharing all the dishes. This way, we get to know the restaurant quickly.

We began with the appetizer sample platter. It came with sambosa (fried pastry stuffed with ground beef, coriander, and potatoes with yogurt and cilantro sauce), bulaunee (a turnover stuffed with leeks and potatoes), borta (like a baba ganoush---blended eggplant), hummos (hummus), mantu (steamed pasta shells filled with ground beef and topped with peas and yogurt), Nan (an Afghan bread).

A real test of any restaurant for me is how my daughter Katie reacts. This was her first experience with Afghan cuisine, as well, but knowing how she loves strong flavors, I thought she would enjoy it. And she really did. She loved the hummos of course and the nan, and she also devoured her portion of bulaunee. The mantu was to her particular liking as well, and she had some bites of sambosa. Only the borta did she leave relatively untouched.

Then we moved on to a cold cherry blossom tea. Erin recommended this specifically, and now I am craving more. The dominant flavor was cardamom, which I love, so this was definitely a treat. Katie had a few sips of this as well.

For our entrees we ordered: apricot chalow with lamb, served with a sweet and sour basmati rice and a combination platter of beef and chicken tandoori kabobs.

All of the meat was fall-apart tender. I have never been the biggest fan of lamb---until today. My whole relationship to lamb changed forever the moment I put that delicate apricot infused morsel in my mouth. In fact, the apricot chalow with lamb might be one of my new favorite dishes EVER. Katie---who adores meat, our little carnivore---absolutely ravished her chicken and beef pieces and also tried lamb for the first time and liked it. The consistency of the meat was so tender that I had no reservations about giving it to my toddler. Delicious.

Dessert. We had to. We ordered Afghan baghlawa (very similar to baklava---a pastry filled with crushed nuts, primarily pistachios, spices, and honey) and also the ferni (pudding topped with pistachios and spiced generously with cardamom). Rosa seemed to prefer the pudding, and I loved the baghlawa. Katie also tried both, but was feeling too full to eat much. She indicated a stronger liking for the baghlawa, as well.

Our meal was highly satisfactory, and the service was excellent. The owner came to speak with us several times, and our server was attentive and generous with water. They seemed to have a good lunch crowd, and yet we were able to walk right in.

I am absolutely plotting my next return!

Pamir Kabob House
951-296-9100
www.pamirkabobhouse.com
41257 Margarita Road, Suite B101
Temecula, CA 92591

They are right next to Macaroni Grill.

Projects

This has been a weekend of nesting and putting together some last sewing projects before Eric arrives. I know that I am in the phase of pregnancy---especially for me---during which he could come at any time.

With that in mind, I finished a couple of sewing projects this weekend for the kiddos.

Katie really has wanted a red ballet skirt. Since I had experience with sewing the first one (and with more difficult material), her new red tulle skirt went together in no time. It only took about 2.5 hours from start to finish---with lots of attending to Katie in between. Once I cut the fabric, the hardest part was keeping the tulle from catching on itself while pinning it into the skirt shape. Once I had it pinned, the skirt practically sewed itself. I handstitched the little sparkly rosettes on while we finished the latter part of The Princess and the Frog (which Katie really loves right now).

Looking at her new ballet skirt.

Doing one of her stretches.

Excited and getting ready for one of her jumps.

Arms out wide

As pleased as I was with the skirt, however, I was disappointed in my attempt at a new Boppy cover for Eric. A Boppy is a special nursing pillow, and I wanted Eric to have some covers of his own. With only a ballet skirt (I made this before sewing Katie's red skirt today) and a quilt to my name as a seamstress, I think I got a little ahead of myself on this project. I somehow fancied that I could make a Boppy pattern of my own and simply sew it...wrong. I took one of my existing covers and traced it on newspaper to make a pattern, amply enlarging it---or so I thought. And let me not even get into the sordid details of trying to account for, and sew around, the many curves of this pillow.

Looking at the picture below, you will see that by some miracle, the cover actually fits the Boppy and even manages to close; however, upon closer inspection you will see how ill-fitting the "fit" really is. Also, let's just come out with it: I took a picture of its more photogenic side, I admit it. I won't belabor the horrifying details, but some of the seams (especially on the back) look as though an 8-year-old tried to do a home ec project and got turned loose with some fabric and a machine and some scissors. Not my best work and it wouldn't make the criteria to give a duplicate as a gift, but good enough for those 1 AM feedings, perhaps...

The Boppy cover.

So with those projects completed, I will now return my machine to my upstairs sewing table (it has been on our kitchen table in the nook) where it will await the next phase of life in which I feel wakeful enough to dally with patterns and projects. I want to make Katie a dress this fall, but that might need to wait until Eric sleeps more.

The summer of sewing has come to a pause, and now I will turn my attention toward slower days with Katie and making sure everything is truly ready for Eric's arrival.

Almost Time to Meet Eric

If Eric follows his big sister's timing, then he will be born fairly soon---possibly within the first few days of August. I am all a-flutter and hubbubbing about in anticipation of this and with the nesting instinct. People say that women's nesting tendencies seem to increase right before labor, but I've been in a nesting mood for about a month...so who knows? I don't think I have had that final burst of energy yet. With Katie, though I didn't know it at the time, that energy was poured into writing 40 recommendation letters for my seniors, into fashioning my Halloween costume, and into playing Guitar Hero for several hours. Ha...if only some of that had been poured into packing for the hospital, cleaning, and feathering my actual nest. I have learned the second time around. ;-)

Still, I knew when Katie dropped before Dr. Elfelt told me she had, and I don't think Eric has dropped even though he is head down and oriented. I knew right at the miraculous moment when he implanted originally and felt him start life, so I think I will/should know when he actually engages. Katie dropped, and then she was born a week later. I really am excited to meet Eric and another few weeks seems so long to wait; on the other hand, I very much want him to stay in my womb longer than Katie did and really finish all the growing he is meant to do.

Even so, this weekend's tasks are to clean and straighten the house, to pack my bag, and to speak with Katie more about our specific plans for her care during my stay with Eric. On Monday I am going on one last Babies R Us foray to pick up some last items: Dreft, a double stroller, pacifiers, Lansinoh, etc. I want to finish the intense nesting at the start of this week.

I am also relieved that I have finally, finally settled upon the first song that I will sing to him once he is born. Serendipity was on my side when I first received Katie back from the nursery that first night, and my heart inuitively landed upon "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. I have always been so thankful that that was our first special song together. It became the theme for her first birthday party, and it so much encapsulates my philosophy about life: looking for goodness even when life seems darker.

The question with Eric, of course, became: Do I use the same first song, or do I have a unique special song with each child? Fairly early on I decided to give them different songs (though I have questioned that a couple of times since) so that I have something uniquely special with each of them. Yet I also wanted the songs to connect in some way, whether thematically, via genre, or by virtue of being from the same score. I have been thinking about it for months and have entertained all kinds of ideas, from old standard lullabies, to The Beatles, to songs from other musicals, etc .

A few days ago, however, my heart just finally knew. His song is going to be "Sound of Music" from The Sound of Music:

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears

My heart wants to beat like the wings of a bird
That rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
From a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls
Over stones on its way
To sing through the night
Like a lark who is learning to pray

I go to the hills when my heart is lonely
I know I will hear what I've heard before
My heart will be blessed
With the sound of music
And I'll sing once more

There are many reasons why this is the right song for my son Eric and me to share. It is inherently connected to Katie's song, for starters; its themes are a part of who I am as his mother and are the same themes I hope to surround him with during his life; and his namesake loved The Sound of Music and shared time in Austria with my mom and extended family. I know it is the one that is meant to be...

In all other respects, I am feeling really good. Since women are designed to be pregnant, we are capable of handling it well---and I am thankful that my side effects have been transitory for the most part and not something on which to dwell. I am so grateful that the rather incessant pelvic pressure that was a factor in my life for a couple of months has now subsided. I tried not to mention it much to Bill or to my mom (primarily because I don't believe in making any aspect of pregnancy negative), but toward the last couple of weeks of it I actually had had enough of it and let a few comments slip out about it. Right at the moment when I was really, really hoping to feel alleviation from that constant achiness, the pressure was lifted. We are not given more than we can bear. My feet are tender at times, mainly because I have a real personality issue (affectionately called in our family "The Matics Way") with sitting down for very long---there's just so much else to do!!! Bill always rubs them for me, though. As I enter the last stretch, I am feeling some tiredness return, but I fight it as much as I can. Yet I have been trying to remind myself that resting might actually be more responsible in the long run, especially this month. I just have to clean my house first and pack and do a couple more things and projects with Katie and then I will rest on the couch more... maybe.

Yesterday I was fortunate indeed to have a beautiful and thoughtful family shower hosted by my cousin Hannah Lambert. She thought of every detail, from red velvet cupcakes (my favorite) with Eric's name iced on them, to baby boy linens and onesies decorating the patio, to a baby shower keepsake booklet, to a million other details. Mostly, though, I just loved being with my family and to feel the love and celebration for my Eric. We also poured joy onto Katie for ascending to the Big Sister role. I could not ask for more than an extended loving family who is excited to see itself grow and realizes that each child who becomes ours is part of its whole legacy and continuance. I never expected a second shower in a million years, not having been raised on them, and so I didn't register or anything like that. Yet still my family blessed me with several items I needed---and thought of Katie, too. Just a luncheon truly would have been more than enough. I am so grateful that I have this memory to share with Eric now.

Katie greets Skya at the shower. Her t-shirt says, "I'm the Big Sister."

We used my Great-Grandmother Sarah Matics' (the original!) china with some china supplemented from my Grandma Joan McGee's collection. That was a special touch. Hannah even thought of herbal teas so that I could enjoy without over-caffeinating Eric.

Some of the ladies at the party. Katie loved Rosie, the new little puppy sitting on KD's lap.

Sitting together! I wore the same skirt I wore to Katie's shower a few years ago. The only difference is really my blouse: I wore pink in this style for Katie and blue for Eric.

The pretty cupcakes!

I had so much fun organizing his linens and clothing and bathing materials last night. He officially has a "side" in the children's bathroom. My mom finished a lush and beautiful quilt and I draped it over the glider. I need to pack some blankies for Eric and of course his coming-home outfit. I bought some newborn diapers, ointment, lotion, and powder the other day and arranged them in the basket on the edge of his changing table/dresser. I am ready for him to be here, and I am also continually working on reminding myself to enjoy even the tiredest of moments that will happen when he is a newborn. With Katie my mood really was all over the place right after her birth, and I have been quite worried about that happening again---to the extent that I am actively working through meditation and other behavioral means to establish some mental processes now that will help me navigate through that postpartum time more easily. I was so completely shocked and awed by how much a newborn completely changes one's life when I had Katie (people told me but you don't really know until you are totally responsible for one). Even though those changes were all good, I was not truly prepared on the deepest levels and it took me a long time to catch up to my new life patterns and rhythms of being. Basically, I had to understand how little room there is in motherhood for my previous selfishness and all my other flaws. I think and hope I will naturally be more adaptable with my second child.

Eric is still quite active and loves to move, though some of his movements register a little more subtle now---probably since he is bigger and has less room to really move. I still get some big kicks now and then, though. I have my next OB appointment this week!

Good Things

For the first time in weeks, I am vegging in front of some very shallow TV, surfing around online and ready to skim some pregnancy magazines and a Bon Appetit. I had some vague notions about working on another project, but I am doing exactly what I need to do right now while Katie is snoozing in her bed.



This morning we booked our Disneyland Hotel rooms for Katie's birthday month trip. Amie and Boppa will have an attached room, and I am so excited. Making the reservations, I loved including Eric in our list of guests---he will be a solid two months old by then. We're staying for a couple of nights and have plans to enjoy the pool, a character dinner, and early admission to Disneyland. So much fun! We figured we should take advantage of the kiddos both being under age three as long as we can: they are free until age three! We want to do something extra special for Katie, too, since she will be adjusting to her new brother by then. I have no idea how I will do Disneyland on little sleep and nursing, but you know what? It's all going to work out. It will be time to have fun and have a can-do spirit.



I also finished my pre-registration at my labor and delivery hospital this afternoon. I know Eric will be here in just a few weeks!



Eric and I also had our OB appointment this afternoon. I am going to be starting my once-a-weeks now! Whoa! Eric's heartbeat is strong, I had my GBS test, and he is facing downward... thank goodness! He is ready to go. I am so excited about labor! I still have little twinges of poignancy when I think about how I will balance my time still with Katie---I don't want her to feel alone or to feel like I have turned my attention away from her. I am anxious about making sure both children feel equally loved and cared for. I know I will give my all to both of them...but for example, I think of how much I want to hold Eric all night in the hospital for the first time, but then I think about how much I will miss holding Katie and cuddling her before bed while I am in the hospital! I want one arm around each of them...forever.



Other Goodnesses:



* I woke up really early again this morning for awhile (4AM) and enjoyed my warm-milk-nutmeg and Jane Eyre combination again.



* Loose maternity jeans and rings that still fit (by this time with Katie's pregnancy, I had to take my rings off---I am actually doing well on my weight gain and I am keeping salt low)



* Jamba Juice with Katie after our appointment---she was so happy, and she cuddled against my neck while we watched it blended. She gave me kisses all over my face.



* Teaching Katie various hand-clapping games and watching her laugh



* Costco's fiesta salad mix (and falafel, too)



* Telling the story of Romeo and Juliet to Katie (and hearing her sing Taylor Swift's Love Story). She is also really liking the story of Tristan and Isolde.



* A fun week ahead (installation of Toastmaster officers, my family baby shower)!





Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Monet Lesson Plan

"I am following Nature without being able to grasp her...I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."

- Claude Monet


Katie and I have recently been studying the art of Monet. Earlier this spring we covered Mary Cassatt (Lesson Plan 1) and Van Gogh (Lesson Plan 2), though it has been awhile since we've done a project. I am happy that my three-step method of reading about the author, looking at several examples of his or her work, and finishing the unit with a hands-on project appears to be working well and that Katie is truly learning. About a week ago, we were in the craft store to have a mat cut for my cross stitch and to purchase a frame. Katie was looking at some posters nearby, and suddenly she called out, "Van Gogh!" Indeed, she was pointing to "Starry Night."


I never tire of planning lessons for my own child. I love to teach, and I love to create experiences of learning. I've been pondering the best way to do a Monet project for quite some time. I have seen some other lesson plans, but nothing had all the elements I really wanted, and some were too complex for Katie's age. A few days ago I finally figured out how to form the project, and today's culmination activity was born.

MONET-INSPIRED WATER LILY PROJECT

I chose to focus on water lilies with Katie, since Monet is known for his water lilies. He spent something like twenty years painting water lilies, and his paintings of them epitomize his style.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1 large piece of blue construction paper
1 large piece of green construction paper
watercolors and brushes
tissue paper in any color (we used white and pink)
glue stick
white glue

Before beginning the project, if you have a younger child, prepare the lily pads and leaves by cutting out those shapes (you can free-form it) from the green paper.

Steps:

1. We have been reading about Monet for awhile and looking at examples. Start the project by reviewing what your child knows about both Monet and the elements of his art.

2. Have your child glue the water lily pads and the leaves onto the blue construction paper with the glue stick.

3. Let your child place the shapes wherever she wants. It's her project, after all!

4. Use watercolors to give an "impressionistic" feel to the art project. We've talked about some of the ideas behind Impressionism already, before this project.

5. To direct her to the next step of the project, I asked Katie: Do you like to tear things? I showed her how to tear and then crumple up a piece of tissue paper in her hand.

6. Katie glues on her lily flowers. I helped her dip a bigger paint brush into some white glue, and she would put a little dab of glue wherever she wanted a flower.

6. Katie's water lily project!

This lesson plan was really easy and hardly required any prep (both my Van Gogh lesson and my Mary Cassatt lesson required much more). The whole lesson took about an hour, and I hardly had to help her at all. I just sat by her and gave her vocal direction and praise and doled out the materials she needed at the right times. She really loved the painting portion, as I knew she would, and she was also quite enthusiastic about the tearing and crumpling of the tissue paper.

In a few days, I will follow up again with questions about Monet and what we learned---to make sure the knowledge has really formed.

We had all kinds of other fun today, too! Katie helped to make lemonade and loved putting the lemons on the juicer. We made chocolate chip cookies (we make fractions of batches so that we only have a few in the house at a time---besides, it is the making of them that is the best part). We also held our own "music class" this morning and reviewed many of our songs from Miss Kara's class and also danced. We also read several books and poems. We have needed a day like today to work on our usual things. Katie told me in the middle of it, "This is such a happy day!"

With my exam and then all of the holidays and family get-togethers going on lately, we haven't had much time to work on our workbooks or projects as much. Katie always seems to be happiest when her mind is busy and when we are engaged in learning together. She calls some of her projects her "homework"---interestingly, a term I have not really used with her. She must have picked it up from Bill's discussions of his students. Anyway, she says things like, "I love doing homework!" We will be successful as parents if we can maintain this love for learning that is already inside of her.

I started my day at 4:30 AM, though not by design. Katie woke up thirsty, and I was wakeful after helping her. I have been getting up near 5:30 everyday anyway (my body is on its own timing lately). Most days I work on my hobbies and stay awake all day, but today I started re-reading Jane Eyre just for fun and sipped some warm milk with freshly grated nutmeg---and then found the desire to return to bed. I crawled into bed with the cuddly Katie and went back to sleep for about an hour and half. It is so cozy to fall back asleep after reading (a luxury I used to have every weekend of life before children and which I rarely do now), and it is especially cozy to wake up with my daughter's head nuzzled into my neck. So our day began well.

One last picture: Katie is enjoying one of our cookies outside. She loves the little Katie-sized chair Boppa found for her! We played outside for quite awhile this afternoon, pretending to make pies and soups for the dwarves.

Hooded Towel Project

Some weeks before my real estate license exam, I happened across the idea of making hooded bath towels for my kiddos. I found a couple of sites here and here that more or less explained the process. I promised myself that this project would be one of my treats to myself after passing my exam.



Although each of my sources had slightly different instructions with respect to how to make the towel, the concept is easy enough to visualize without too many directions. I needed only one hand towel and two full towels (one hand towel can make two hoods). As far as the actual aesthetic and the issue of pleating, I ended up doing my own mash-up of the directions and took what I liked from both sites. I did my pleating a bit differently, although it isn't really required at all. I also added some different embellishments. I love ric-rac, which I put around the hoods and the bottom of the towels. I also used some grosgrain ribbon to make a trim where the hood meets the rest of the towel and to make Eric and Katie's first intitials on the backs of their towels.



Although I would make a couple of adjustments in the future (such as sewing the hood just a bit higher up on the towel), I was fairly happy with how these turned out:

I love that they have brother-and-sister towels hanging side by side in their bathroom now!

Katie wraps up in her towel after her bath tonight.

In terms of time, this project was quick. I started and did most of it this morning before Katie woke up. I worked on it a couple more times during the day, but we had plenty of time to make blueberry muffins together, have a leisurely family breakfast, work puzzles together, and play with her action figures, so by no means did the project take all day. I would have been done really quickly had it not been for the initials. If I make them more towels someday, there are some really cute iron-on appliques I found at Joann's. However, I really wanted to put their initials on the first set of towels.

I want to note also that a hooded bath towel at Pottery Barn Kids costs anywhere from $20 to $30 depending upon the style and presence of monogramming. I bought all of my towels at Costco (and could probably have gotten them even more cheaply at Walmart or Kohls), and even with the trimming and thread for sewing, I was able to make BOTH towels for less than the cost of the hooded towels at PBK. Not too bad!

Movie Night in the Park

A few weeks ago, my mom was paying attention to Temecula's calendar of events and noticed that the recreation department of the city is hosting its Friday night movies in the park series again this year. The events are free, and when my mom discovered that last night's movie was Hotel for Dogs (featuring Katie's very favorite animal), she suggested we go. Before the movie, the city invited Disc Dogs of California to come out and put on a live dog-and-frisbee show. We also had time to play on the play structure and enjoy some snacks before and during the film. Katie did not want to go home when the movie was over! Tonight she was asking if we could go again after our bathtime...

Katie and Amie watch the frisbee show.
Katie watches the border collies jump and catch.

Petting a new friend. After the frisbee show, the owners came around with their dogs and let the children pet them. Katie LOVED this part.

Very excited!

Katie and Amie share a snack. You can see that there was quite a turn out!

There are many reasons why I love living in Temecula, and the city recreation department is one of those reasons. Katie and I have had such an amazing year with their programs. Although our classes do cost a substantial enrollment fee, the classes are often contracted for less per session than going directly through the business providing the lessons. Yet, most events---especially family events, such as our Hullabaloo concert and others---are only a few dollars per person or even free. We had a fun night last night creating more memories!