Month: March 2021

Can I fly? I have wings.

Looks like that’s a no on the flying.

Maybe I can build a boat. Three corks, a landscaping flag, and a drill. It floats. Nice.

I can wear a costume without trying. Check out this combo. Shorts, long socks, and a donut hole. Doesn’t get better than that. Or does it?

Hmmm. Oh, yes. It does get better and it comes in the form of a pork and beans hat.

It was spring break this past week. I’m not sure what that means besides The Bigs went skiing on a powder day without me. The views were pretty good.

But not as good as the ones that I saw from THE VERY TOP of Mt. Bachelor when I rode Summit Lift this weekend.

It’s like skiing from the top of the world.

Relax, grandmas. It was no problem.

Riley went away for spring break. Guess she missed me…

Food we ate this week.

Spagehtti squash mexicana with tropical avocado salsa,

chocolate-chocolate chip-walnut cookies,

and GG Marie cake. She’s never had it, but we know that Great Grandma Marie would LOVE this coconut-lemon bundt cake.

Michael O’Shaugnessy visited on Wednesday. He left chocolate gold coins, gummy frogs,

and walked through my breakfast oats.

Ready for April showers.

I am still really enjoying making my disgusting concoctions.

Mom tried to trick me into making a concoction that was actually edible. She thought that melting marshmallows and butter and mixing in rice krispies would be strange enough to appeal to me. I humored her.

I absolutely loved the end result, but I still prefer my recipes.

I’ve been asking The Bigs to ride the Skyliner lift. They mumbled things like no beginner terrain, maybe on a nice day, blah blah blah. Well, I did it. This weekend. And it was meant to be. There was a gnome watching over us (just left of the sign).

As for that intermediate terrain. NO PROBLEM. Here I am getting ready to blow down DSQ.

I was cold at breakfast. Nothing a hat and a blanket help together with a binder clip couldn’t fix.

Nan sent me $5 to share. So buying The Bigs gelato and getting myself one too is sharing, right?

I had lemon and boysenberry sorbetto. YUMMY.

Other things we ate this week (The Bigs are working their way through another cookbook):

Cacio e pepe pasta:

braised seitan with brussels, kale, and sun-dried tomatoes and broccoli polenta:

portabello mushroom burgers with carmelized onions and wilted spinach and baby bok choy with crispy shallots and sesame seeds,

banana nut waffles,

and pumpkin cranberry scones.

I bought myself a drill. A real drill. Yes, I’m 5 and The Bigs let me buy and use power tools. We’ve all been exposed to their questionable parenting methods for long enough to not be shocked.

I made dinner again this week. I don’t really believe in recipes. I just give The Bigs a grocery list. I was thinking a pasta primavera with a mashed potato sauce. Mom refused to buy the potatoes and told me it would be too starchy.

I went with an Asian-inspired peanut sauce instead.

Here’s the final product. The Bigs thoroughly enjoyed it,

but I thought the peppers should be crunchier.

My kitchen experiments were not limited to meals this week. I also made glue

The Bigs have really been offloading a lot of responsibility lately . Now they make me make my own lunch – peanut butter and banana for after skiing.

I also make my own dessert. My favorite thing right now is yogurt, strawberry jam, strawberries, and chocolate chips.

I watched a few nordic races recently. I was inspired. I skied for three hours on Saturday and covered almost five miles.

I did have to stop frequently and feed. Here I am devouring The Bigs’ jerky. The pepperoni flavor is super yummy Great Auntie Cheryl.

We did some downhill with Riley (that’s Dad, not Riley) on Sunday. It was grey, but still a good day.

Some other food we made this week. Mujadara (lentils and rice with caramelized onions),

Baja-style, grilled tempeh tacos,

and because 3/14 is Pi Day, chocolate avocado pie.

Pretzel shamrocks:

I got some poles (also know as sticks and sometimes even, pokes) this week:

I have been making medicine from seeds and leaves I collect at school:

Some cross-country skiing Saturday morning:

followed by a bit of gardening:

On our drives to and from the mountain, we have been listening to a podcast by America’s Test Kitchen Kids called Mystery Recipe. Each week they have three shows focused a different ingredient in that season’s recipe. One week was tomatoes, one was olive oil, another onions, etc. At the end of the season, they finally reveal the mystery recipe. This season, it was a one-pot pasta recipe. I made it along with Molly on the podcast:

It was good:

I gave it a thumbs up (I’m still working on this particular gesture):

Stickman on the mountain:

In addition to my pharmaceutical pursuits, I enjoy concocting strange recipes using strange ingredients. Here, I’m making some sort of pancake-like strangeness from coconut flour, sprinkles, mashed banana, oat milk, sugar, and probably some other things I forgot:

They actually turned out mostly edible (I know because I made The Bigs try them):

Words of the day:

Ryan sent me a bunch of shirts. He is so cool:

Some of our food from the week included sushi (Nana! Look, they finally used the plates you gave them – it only took 13 years and the purchase of a rice cooker!):

All-Morning-Energy Bars (that ended up being more blob than bar, but good):

Shredded parsnip and beet salad in a pineapple vinaigrette:

Corn and edamame sesame salad:

This is me in February 2016:

This is me in February 2021:

Pretty much the only thing that has changed is the fact that I am now aware of Mom constantly taking my picture.

This is me and Dad in February 2016:

Here we are in February 2021:

I sure do love my books, so between a trip to the library and a new book from Yaya and Papa, this was pretty much an awesome week. (Dad still has his ski clothes on because I refuse to wait until he has changed to read my new books.)

I also had some time to dress up. Here I am as an explorer:

Steve Jobs,

and Mr. Rogers.

As you can see, I am working on a capsule wardrobe.

I also did some skiing. On Saturday, most of the lifts were closed. Mount Bachelor received 122 inches of snow in February, with something like 2 feet coming this past week. That combined with heavy winds made it hard for them to keep up. We had a breezy, chilly Saturday of skiing, followed by AMAZING bluebird skies and warm temperatures on Sunday.

Here is the lift chair ‘bench’ at the nordic center on January 17:

And here it is (I’m basically standing on it) today:

DAD. Do not let Mom watch any more of the Annie Lebovitz Master Class. She is driving me crazy with the picture taking.

The Bigs don’t make my food anymore. If I say I want a snack, they tell me to make it myself. Lazy. My favorite right now is bagel with a great deal of butter and cinnamon sugar.

Yummy.

Other things we ate this week: refritos and maduros bowl,

Brussel sprouts with browned butter and black garlic,

and dal with Indian rice.

And here I am ripping it up: