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Here is Dad near the end of the Great Nordeen last weekend. It was 9 degrees when he finished.

We were in school for two full weeks since our last day off, so we clearly needed this Thursday and Friday off. On Thursday, I went to Cold Weather Survival Camp. We pretty much built igloos, but it was fun.

This is all of us inspecting the course before our race this weekend.

This me during my slalom race. I love it.

I made salmon with miso-orange sauce (from the “What is Umami” section of The Complete Cookbook For Young Scientists from Great Auntie Cheryl), for dinner this weekend. It was a hit.

I’m watching The Great British Baking show. Last night we saw them make vol-au-vents. (A vol-au-vent is a small hollow case of puff pastry typically filled with a savory mixture). So, imagine my surprise when I went to buy a cookie at Thump and they had ‘savory squares’ – which were, in fact, vol-au-vents.

On occasion, The Bigs still do things around the house. This week they made Forbidden Rice Salad with Blistered Broccolini and Miso Dressing (also from a cookbook from G.A. Cheryl):

and Kung Pao cauliflower.

It was a big week. I had my first private tennis lesson,

did some bread baking,

started making my own stuffie,

and did a lot of reading.

It was also the weekend of my first ski race. I am racing for Team Germany. Here we are with the flag on the lift.

The race was only one run, so we did some skiing afterwards.

We tried one new recipe this week, ben ben noodles.

Nowadays, you’ll find me reading a good book

or doing some calculations (love the calculator, Uncle Chris) when I am at home.

When I am not at home, I am skiing. Here I am skiing GS,

waxing my skis (yes, The Bigs continue to farm out work),

and backcountry skiing.

I had Monday off, so we went for a backcountry ski near Todd Lake.

They don’t make backcountry equipment my size, so I wore cross country skis to get to the hill we wanted to ski and Dad carried my alpine skis and boots on his back.

Here I am heading up to the top of the ridge.

And here I am coming down.

Dad and I did an extra lap. For this one, he towed me up…

I was a pooped and hungry camper when I got back to the car.

The Bigs are back to work, so the exciting new meals have slowed down. Only one new recipe this week. Coconut dal with tomato sambol.

On Saturdays, I ski with MBSEF from 9 am until 2:30 pm. The Bigs drop me off at 9 am and take off. I find this hard to believe, but they seem to have fun when I am not around. Here they are enjoying some telemark skiing in amazing powder…

I started nordic lessons this Sunday. First days can be kinda lame. They have to figure out the best groups for the kids and we don’t get to do a lot. But now they know that I am The Emmett things should get better.

A quick internet search indicates it took eight years to build the colosseum. I think I am going to do better, but that still remains to be seen. I finished the first box of five this weekend.

The Bigs have been cooking up a storm. Udon noodles with red cabbage and cauliflower.

Brussel sprout nasi goreng. Nasi goreng is Indonesian fried rice.

And, caramelized onion and chile ramen with overnight soy eggs.

We had a few more great days at Silverstar. We did some nordic skiing,

ice skating at Brewer’s pond,

and more alpine on an awesome powder day.

Here are some pictures from the village. Nice tree lights,

a view of our ‘home’,

and, my favorite, POUTINE (french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds).

On our way out, we stopped and did a snowy nordic ski at Sovereign Lake Nordic Center.

Now that we are home, I got down to the serious business of enjoying all my Christmas gifts. Here I am training on my rock rings,

planting my hydroponic garden,

tumbling rocks,

creating electrical circuits,

and reading my new Kindle.

All while looking super handsome in my new fisherman sweater.

I also got in some great powder skiing at Mt. Bachelor.

Here I am attacking ‘The Cone’.

The Bigs are super excited about a new cookbook Aunt Cheryl sent and have picked out a bunch of things to make from it. First up: caramelized fennel and carrot salad with mung beans and herbs.

Santa brought them a spiralizer (I thinking bringing a ‘gift’ that takes away my beloved pasta and replaces it with zucchini was Santa’s sneaky way of bringing me ‘coal’) so they are spiralizing everything. Here is a roasted sweet potato salad with a red pepper vinaigrette.

And pesto zucchini zoodles with baked rice with tomato and garlic confit.

For New Year’s Eve, I set up one of my bars. Choices included gin, champagne (why did The Bigs have that in the cabinet for nine years?), hard cider, and Spindrift and

The Bigs made our traditional New Year’s Eve meal of posole.

Merry Christmas!

Now that I can read, the world is my oyster (cookie). For example, I can read recipes.

I made these double chocolate mint cookies from start to finish by myself.

On Wednesday, ski camp was cancelled due to high winds, so I got to ski with The Bigs. It was a bit frosty. Look at old Bill Healy.

On Thursday we started the long drive to Silverstar Ski Resort in British Columbia. It looks like a well-timed trip. Back home it is raining, even at the mountain, but here it’s just snowing.

The village and all the lodging is mid-mountain. You can ski to everything.

They converted the original lodge into guest rooms and suites. That is where we are staying.

I had my first ever t-bar ride at the end of our first day of skiing.

On Christmas Eve, I threw a party. We had dried apricots, dried figs, Christmas cookies, and hot bouillon to drink.

Santa was still able to find me despite the change in location.

My stocking had an awful lot of writing utensils in it. Mom said Santa wanted to make sure I was well-equipped to write thank you notes for all my Christmas gifts.

I made The Bigs a Christmas diorama.

Here I am headed out for a Christmas morning ski.

We started with a run on Christmas Bowl, of course.

Frozen Snickers. The perfect snack.

There are nordic trails right out our door too. Here, Mom and I are making the last climb of the day back up to our place.

See you in the new year!

This week, I went to my first concert.

We saw Patrick Lamb’s Charlie Brown Christmas.

Unlike many of the other attendees, we dressed appropriately for a show. (Do I need to tell how much Dad and I enjoy having our picture taken?)

Hadley came over one day and we did some construction.

After all my skiing and play, I told Mom I needed an Epsom salt bath. 7 going on 70.

Soba noodle salad. Not a new meal, but it looked so good in our cool new dish, (thank you, Yaya) it deserved a pic!

And a new meal, japchae ( a Korean dish with sweet potato starch noodles stir-fried with vegetables).

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On Saturday, I skied with MBSEF

while The Bigs enjoyed lots of fresh powder and Mom tried out her new bindings and boots.

After skiing I met Saxon and did some ice skating.

On Sunday we woke up to even more snow.

I did some nordic skiing in my fancy new coat.

I had my first day of skiing with the MBSEF team this weekend. The mountain just opened this week, so it was to be my first day on skis for the year. I was so ridiculously stressed about it all week that the Bigs pulled me out of school early on Thursday and took me skiing to calm me down. It worked. I had a good time on Saturday. Plus, everybody got a Thursday afternoon of skiing.

Saturday was also the Birthday of the Mother. I got to take a few runs with her to celebrate.

I also made her a seasonal birthday arrangement using various twigs from the forest.

Birthday dinner was poke bowls at Poke Row. Dad had the Tyler Bowl: spicy tuna, salmon, tuna, cucumber, edamame, carrot, mango, sweet onion, sesame soy, spicy mayo, seaweed salad, tobiko, ginger, furikake, fried onion, and avocado.

Mom had the NWX Bowl: tuna, shrimp, salmon, mango, sesame soy, spicy yuzu, green onion, sesame seed, crispy noodle, toasted seaweed, and avocado.

I, of course, created my own bowl: shrimp, mango, edamame, pickled ginger, and crispy noodles. So good. Want to try?

After dinner we went to the Nutcracker.

We got Mom a mini cheesecake to enjoy after the show. It was not good.

Sunday I went Nordic skiing with the Bigs. Here I am on my brand new classic skis:

I have been studying ancient Greek mythology lately. A few of my drawings:

Nan and Pop came for the week. We did many things – like eat donuts

and go to Hola and El Sancho.

We also played laser tag,

tennis,

and went to see Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (and then I made Nan read me ALL the books).

Nan and Pop took Mom to Spork for her birthday dinner.

You know with all the non-stop activities they have to do each day, I need a glass of wine (or bottle) after a day running after them.

Nan and I made a turkey,

but not to eat. For Thanksgiving dinner, we had a grilled, spatchcocked chicken,

roast squash and red onion with a tahini sauce,

lemony brussel sprout salad,

marinated mushrooms,

bread,

and a french apple tart.

I waited until the day after the day after Thanksgiving to become Christmas man and then I pulled out all the stops. I even threw Nan and Pop a Christmas themed going away party – complete with open bar

and soba noodles with seared tuna, baby bok choy, and avocado.

Afterwards, I set to work preparing the sled. What for? To transport the Christmas tree we cut down out of the forest.

I cut the tree down all by myself.

I also decorated it all by myself. What do The Bigs do? Good question. Don’t ask it too loud or the one typing this blog won’t keep doing it :).

I didn’t stop with the tree. I also decorated the mantle,

the hallway,

my room,

the front yard,

and the backyard.