BecAndKyle.com

This week:

I knit a hat. It was small, Cordy size.

The Bigs forgot it was St Patrick’s Day and tried to pretend they didn’t by making me green oats. Lame, Bigs, lame.

I started soccer. It was warm and sunny for practice during the week.

But it was cold (44 F) and rainy for our game.

It was the last week of MBSEF. We took a team picture.

I skied a kombi race.

Then I hit the slopes with The Bigs.

After skiing I had a hanker for savory muffins. I found a recipe online from cheesy savory muffins and made it.

On Sunday, we had spring camp for cross country skiing. We had quite an obstacle course we had to ski around!

After skiing I snacked on my savory muffins. They turned out really well, so I think it is A-OK that I made a bigger mess than the Swedish Chef making them.

After a hard swim lesson, I like to hit the hot tub.

This week we had a DSM skate night. My friends were there. They wanted to skate with me, but I made Dad skate instead.

Mt Bachelor received 30 inches of snow in the past 72 hours. I had GS training on Saturday, and The Bigs had powder run after powder run. I think I heard them say ‘in some spots the snow was too deep’. Silly Bigs, there is no such thing.

Mom’s legs must have been tired. I can tell by all the nature pictures. She pretends she’s trying to document the beauty, but I know she’s taking a break.

Sunday was the day I’ve been waiting for! BIATHLON! From Wikipedia: The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. First round:

Second round, a little more comfortable:

Third round, preparing for the 2034 Olympics…

Last Sunday, I concocted a biscuit recipe and also made some creme patissiere. I combined the two into what I referred to as a ‘cream puff’.

I ate a few bites and then decided that, like whipped cream, I also don’t like creme patissiere.

The Bigs have decided that something I do like to eat, based on my face when I get home from school, is dirt.

A crew of DSM students have been building tunnels during recess and aftercare. Tunneling out? On this particular day, I brought most of our excavation home in my boots – see the huge pile of dirt next to my boot?

I am also big into the Greek Gods right now. Here I am creating a poster that describes Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

It has been snowing a lot and conditions are great.

This week was the Mini World Cup slalom race.

Here I am ripping it up.

Ha.

Afterwards The Bigs and I did a few runs.

It was sunny.

Until it wasn’t.

On my Monday off I went to lunch with Mom. I ate the all but one slice of the pizza you see i front of me and two meatballs. Can you say growth spurt?

I also made Victoria Sponge from Paul Hollywood’s cookbook.

It turned out pretty well. Unfortunately, I decided I don’t like whipped cream, so not too much got eaten.

Mom needed some help getting ready for lab class, so I did some wiring and programming for her.

On Saturday we had one of another bluebird day.

It snowed all week, but they weren’t able to open the Summit Chair due to weather. Looking at the back of the lift house, you can see why…

Because they couldn’t open the lift all week, when they did open it on Saturday, that meant there was fresh powder to be skied. The Bigs dropped me off at MBSEF and took off to see if they could enjoy some before it got all skied off.

After MBSEF we skied a run together so I could show Dad my moves.

While we had an amazing, sunny Saturday, Old Man Winter is not done with us yet. Here we are on Sunday.

After skiing The Bigs had some work to do, so Mom asked me to find something to do. I decided to do some experimenting in the kitchen (silly Mom – be careful what you ask for). I made up a recipe for a biscuit and then baked it and, then I decided to try making creme patissiere from Paul Hollywood’s cookbook. The clean up was intense. Mom was not happy.

Watch out Rafa. Four tennis lessons in and my forehand is looking good.

I come home and teach The Bigs everything I learn, because, in my opinion, they know nothing and are not very athletic.

I actually went to school all week, so there isn’t much to report. The good news is that I have tomorrow off and big plans for another Paul Hollywood recipe, so next week there should be some good pictures.

Besides tennis, I did some swimming and some skiing.

And Mom went spiralizer crazy…

She made a lot of Mediterranean sweet potatoes with avocado and tahini sauce. She learned an important lesson…

Don’t double a recipe before trying it.

I have been polishing some rocks with my rock tumbler (thanks Uncle Jim) for the past few weeks and they are finally done. I made myself a necklace with my favorite one.

I was sick on Tuesday, so I stayed home and watched Heidi and Mary Poppins while The Bigs worked. I still had some time to kill so Mom gave me Paul Hollywood’s (of The Great British Baking Show) cookbook and told me to make something.

I made scones.

And enjoyed them with butter and jam. I think I would not have to leave the tent.

After many snowy weekends, we had one of these days.

It was pretty great. I practiced skiing GS on Saturday morning

and then skied with The Bigs in the afternoon.

Sunday we had another gorgeous day for nordic skiing.

I grew a LOT of lettuce this month.

I made myself some pretty sweet salads

and let The Bigs use some to make asian lettuce wraps.

I also made egg tamago rolls with wasabi mayo and mom made sweet potato cakes with kimchi mayo one night.

I had to make a mailbox for my Valentines. The Bigs had to twist my arm to do it, and only after much grumbling, did I make this.

I made a pretty cool card for Great Grandma Marie, so I just copied the design for my school Valentines. Here is the front.

You have to use the back to figure out what it says.

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.