Without further adieu, our past week recap.
As I'm sure many of you know March 14 is Pi Day because if you write that date out numerically it is the first 3 digits of pi (3.14). In celebration we made a pie for dinner and for dessert. Shepherd's pie and a blueberry pie with homemade ice cream because that's just how we roll. Everything was delicious. We even had some friends over to enjoy the blueberry pie making it that much sweeter.
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| Pre-baked pie. |
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| Baked pie. |
Usually by Thursday we've sort of run out of steam to make dinners so it's either make-your-own, breakfast cuz that's always quick and easy (and delicious!) or leftovers. Well this Thursday Kiersten suggested to Scott that we go out to eat at a burger place we've been told to try on numerous occasions. The place in question is called Santa Gula and like most places they are only open for dinner. However they open at 6pm so we could actually go with Mackenzie! So we did just that. We met up with our neighbors who insisted on taking us our first time and we had a great night! We did sadly get home much later than anticipated which put Mackenzie's bed time at 8:30. Next time we'll get a sitter.
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| M found these coins from Mom's wallet and that entertained her for 20 minutes! |
Friday was a wonderfully fun day once again filled with delicious food. Scott and Kiersten have been taking advantage of having Alicia home with M while Scott gets off early on Fridays by going on a lunch date. This week we tried a new restaurant! It's called Rolandi and it's a very fancy Italian place. White table clothes, Maitre D in a tuxedo and the servers wearing tux shirts with long white aprons. The menu was even in English under the Spanish. So many things looked great it took us a while to settle on our lunch. Then for dessert we enjoyed a freshly baked molten lava cake. We will be going back!
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| Exterior shot of Rolandi's. |
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| Butternut squash ravioli for Kiersten and four cheese gnocchi for Scott. |
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| The molten cake! We waited for this for 20 minutes. It was definitely delicious but not sure if it constitutes the expression, "worth the wait". |
In the past week and a half we haven't been receiving packages for whatever reason but on Friday we got about 6 or 7 boxes. Christmas in March! One of these packages was the expansion for our Harry Potter board game which you all know we love so much. After Mackenzie went to bed that night, we finished off the rest of the blueberry pie and played a round with the expansion. It was definitely harder but also a little confusing. We might have been too tired to fully appreciate the new rules. We'll play again very soon.
Saturday morning Kiersten had plans to go with Brenda and another American member to learn how to make chipa, Paraguayan cheese bread. The class had been unexpectedly canceled so since we had the whole morning off from husbands and children, we went to breakfast at an adorable cafe called El Cafe de Aca (The Cafe of Here). It was so cute and rustic and reminded Kiersten a lot of Argentina. And the food options! So many! But the best part, they are open all day, every day! Win!!
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| A pitcher of pureed pineapple with mint. |
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| A surprisingly delicious breakfast of hummus on toast topped with carrots, cabbage and tomatoes. |
Once K got home she was in the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon making our Irish St. Patrick's Day feast. We invited a few friends over to celebrate the holiday with us and we enjoyed homemade Shamrock Shakes from our neighbor and soda bread and beef stew by Kiersten and mac and cheese (for the kids *wink). Then for dessert, more pie! Molly brought a scrumptious peach pie while Kiersten made two grasshopper pies. We were all extremely stuffed but happy. Food and friends. It doesn't get much better than that.
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| Super easy soda bread with beef stew. And I'm sorry to say we didn't take a picture of any of the pies. |
Sunday morning off we went to church where Scott gave a talk! In Spanish! He did a fantastic job. Many people commented to him afterward how wonderful it was and how much they appreciated his hard work in giving it in Spanish when it was difficult for him. Way to go! Primary continues to improve little by little each week. It is a blessing and its becoming a joy to work with these young, spiritual beings.
Dinner was an unplanned chicken enchilada and Spanish rice meal made by Kiersten. We've said it once before but our kitchen is usually stocked with everything needed for a Mexican meal and Sunday was no exception. Don't you just love those meals that come together unexpectedly and everything is delicious? This was one of those meals.
Choir rehearsal was from 3-4 then we came home to chat with the fam at home and abroad. Love that modern technology. Scott got a hair cut after Mackenzie was in bed then we ate some pie while planning our trip home this summer. Getting pretty excited about things. Only 2 more months!
Monday has been back to normal. Not as much food but after this past week we kind of needed to press the reset button. We've all been there. Mackenzie played with Alicia while Kiersten went for a 3 mile run which was fantastic! Highly recommend listening to a funny podcast or book while running. Makes the time fly. Hopefully tonight we will actually book our trip. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Misadventures in Baking:
- So Kiersten made two grasshopper pies. Why? Not because there would be 8 people to eat them, no. Because the first pie she made was first off not green! And second because she included creme de menthe and creme de cacao which are alcoholic and she was worried they didn't cook out (because they didn't!). So she made a second pie with mint extract and green food coloring which honestly turned out MUCH better than the first.
- Shepherd's Pie, which technically is called a Cottage Pie because it used ground beef instead of ground lamb, was so delicious! We got the recipe from The Art of the Pie book. Four thumbs up!
Warm and hearty like a Shepherd's/Cottage Pie should be. - Sunday's impromptu Mexican dinner. Delish!
Quirks of Paraguay:
- The Colonel. There is a man we've noticed who stands outside of a house three down from us on our block in front of a Mercedes all day. When our neighbors came over on Pi Day we asked about him and they said, "Oh, that's the Colonel." Apparently his daughter lives in the house and he comes over everyday to "keep an eye on things". And that's his Mercedes. At first it was creepy to see him there everyday but now we find it comforting to have our own personal neighborhood watchman. If that's how he wants to spend his retirement, fine with us.
The Mackenzie Update:
- She's sick. It's been a rough week for our little lady. She woke up with a runny nose on Tuesday and it's s-l-o-w-l-y gotten better as the week goes on. She's been rightfully cranky everyday but that has also worn us down too. Hoping she gets better this next week!
These chocolate popsicles were a big hit though this week. - Due to our late night out on Thursday the rest of her nights were equally terrible. Friday she went down at 7 but cried until Scott got her. We tried again an hour later but she didn't go to sleep until 9. She then had a MASSIVE poop two hours later to which we had to wake her up, stick her in the shower and change everything in her crib including the bumpers. Yeah, huge. Saturday she also decided not to fall asleep until 8 and then poop again. Not as big as the night before but we still had to interrupt her. Does she sleep in after these interruptions, you ask? NO! NEVER! Finally on Sunday night she got almost 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep and is much happier today. We could all take a lesson on sleep from this anecdote.
- She is starting to become aware of herself. When we give her something or do something to her, if she is unsure of the thing (like this week it was the nasal spray to clear out her nose) she'd say, "Momma" or "Dadda" and we'd do it to ourselves first to "show" her then she'd point to herself and say, "baby", then happily do the same thing. She does it with her food, toys, books, games, etc. She is putting things together!
She likes to color with us and she's getting pretty good at it now.
Thanks for reading along with us this week. It was a longer, more wordy entry so thanks for sticking with us. By this time next week we hope to have our flights to DC and London booked and ready to go! Wish us luck!
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