BecAndKyle.com

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:

Presidents’ Day yoga with the Cosmic Kids Yoga. Mountain pose:

Boat:

Table-top:

I get to choose one dinner each week. This week, it was waffles!

Sunny powder day on Saturday:

Skiing powder in the morning, jumping my bike in the afternoon:

Saturday’s sun was replaced by Sunday’s rime:

But, I got to ski with Riley!

Tico breakfast – gallo pinto and maduros:

It’s anatomy month in the Blossom Room. We dissected a sheep heart! (Not sure why Aubry is giving me the stink eye.)

In other exciting news, I got a new bike! It has disc brakes, gears, and a shock!

Come on, Dad. Hurry up and get this thing put together. We’re burning daylight here.

No problem. I have a headlamp:

Glad I got a few rides in before the snow came:

Powder!

I made a very exciting purchase this week: my own set of three whisks! Thank you, Nana. Here I am testing them out, making chili sauce for the bibimbap:

I also used them to make heart-shaped cakes for Valentine’s Day. Thanks, Nan and Pop.

Some other things we ate this week: balsamic, asparagus pasta,

and banana bread with two-ingredient chocolate, banana ice cream:

It was a busy week and exciting week.

After some saving and more waiting than is fair to make a five year old do (come on UPS), the remote control car I bought with my own money came. It is AWESOME!

I played with it a lot. I’m getting to be a pretty good driver. I also made some jewelry for mom,

did some serious construction work,

cat sat for Becky,

skied,

played dress up with Hadley,

made messes with Hadley,

went skiing…

where I met up with Riley. Over here, Ri!

Latest skiing video:

Phew. I wasn’t too busy to do some work in the kitchen. Now that we have the brownies worked out, Mom and I started work on perfecting a layer cake.

We also made a yummy kale salad with a warm cranberry vinaigrette.

Sweater day:

Exploring the woods at the Nordic center:

I had some candy money burning a hole in my wallet (thanks, Nan), so I hit the Market of Choice bulk section after skiing. So many choices:

I chose gummy worms, Swedish fish, cinnamon gummy bears (too spicy), and gummy frogs:

Counting out my money:

and getting my change:

Baking makes me thirsty. Not to worry, we have plenty of beer:

I saved another bottle for the recipe, cinnamon chocolate-chip beer bread:

After baking bread, I made some chana masala

and sumac pickled onions:

Yes, I have two saucepans going at the same time:

The finished products:

As if that weren’t enough, I also made some Valentine’s Day cookies:

Snowy Sunday:

This week I, you guessed it, cooked and skied. Here I am making the tomatoes

for couscous, cherry tomato, and herb salad.

I skied four miles on Saturday morning. I asked Mom to take a picture of the beautiful view. She made me stand right in the middle of it.

It snowed in town. Dad built a little snowman.

I built a ski resort.

It doubled as a ski jump.

Even I will admit I was a bit tired after all that skiing and constructing, but we still had unfinished business in the brownie world. Last week’s brownies were too dry. We had to try again.

I am happy to report that after a delicious bowl of ramen

the Bigs had the world’s best brownies for dessert. I was already in bed. Hey!

Don’t worry, I got one the next day and I made a cool snowman too.

Here I am working on my turns:

Some cross-country skiing at Bachelor on Saturday:

What’s the deal with this chair? I thought it was supposed to take me back up the hill. I think it’s broken.

Sunday was a big day. We went ‘pine skiing, and we finally caught the rainbow chair!

This was without a doubt the highlight of my life so far. I’m afraid it may all be downhill from here.

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking. I find safety glasses prevent my eyes from tearing when working with onions.

I let Mom help with the barley vegetable soup with homemade croutons. She messed something up:

The Bigs are watching the Great British Baking Show after I go to bed. Despite this complete and utter baloney, I still made Paul Hollywood’s brownie recipe for them.

We would be leaving the tent. Overbaked.

The Bigs also took the Yotam Ottolenghi Teaches Modern Middle Eastern Cooking Masterclass at night after I went to bed. This inspired a mezze feast this weekend. We had garlic confit:

hummus, Aunt Cheryl’s beet muhammara, and wheat sourdough.

Tonight I prepared Tofu and Haricot Verts With Chraimeh Sauce (also Ottolenghi) for dinner. You don’t think I made it do you? Silly readers. Never doubt the Emmett. Here I am cutting the green beans,

preparing the sauce,

frying the tofu,

and bringing it all together.

First bite.

I did good.

The Bigs FINALLY picked up on my hints. I started with some subtle ones in November. ‘Remember the fisherman sweater I had when I was in the Big Seed room? It was nice’. That did not work. It must have sunk in when I told Mom ‘I really want another fisherman sweater’.

It was Great Grandma Marie’s birthday this week. We made a gingerbread cake with lemon glaze to celebrate the big day. Happy birthday, GGMarie!

The Bigs went skiing without me again. Guess the karma lesson from last week didn’t make the impact I hoped for.

Check it out. I got a microscope.

Whoa.

Something is not right.

All better. I can’t believe I was using my microscope without my lab coat!

Take the ornaments off the tree. Take off all your clothes. Why not?

Hadley came over. We did some cooking.

We did not make lentil stew

or Dolsot bibimbap.

Mainly we just made a mess, but we had fun and that’s what counts, right?

We did more skiing this weekend. That was fun too.

Guess who?

A few weeks ago Mom tried to explain karma. More on that in a minute.

On Thursday, The Bigs went skiing without me. It was a powder day. I was not impressed. They sat in an hour of traffic and got two runs in over the course of two hours due to wind closures of lifts and large crowds.

That’s karma, right Mom?

This week we had Indian fried rice

and lemon brussel sprout pasta.

For New Years we did not have our usual posole. Instead we had pizza. The Bigs had mushroom and cashew ricotta. I had PEPPERONI.

We did have our usual margaritas, though.

And for dessert, we had chocolate avocado pie.

The next morning we had gallo pinto (Costa Rican rice and beans) for breakfast

and then hit the slopes.

For dinner we had watercress and chickpea soup with rose water and ras el hanout

and avocado toast with coconut bacon for breakfast the next day.

I ‘helped’ out in the afternoon.

Most people cook wearing an apron, long johns, and knee socks, right?

This is why helped was in quotes,

but you’ll clean it up won’t you, Mom?

Was the mess worth it? Yes, we were making Grandma Marie’s Greek cookies (yes, we know there are supposed to be candied cherries on top. They taste good anyway!):

Today we ALMOST made the rainbow chair. So close!

That’s right. NO green circles needed for this guy.

Good-bye 2020. We will never forget you.

How will you challenge yourself this year?

We wish you a VERY Happy New Year.

What? The Bigs had a Christmas guest? Hahaha, this is The Bigs we are talking about, people. It’s just me. Like my disguise?

While it may look like it, this is not a disguise. This is just what I wore on Wednesday.

Time to prepare tapas for Christmas Eve. Cooking chickpeas for hummus:

I let Dad make the bread and baba ganoush:

Time to open presents!

Silly Bigs, there is no such thing as too many gifts.

Seriously, stop grumbling.

Check it out. A superhero apron with a pocket. SO COOL.

New track suit and fire boots:

Christmas breakfast. Coffee cake and Christmas smoothies.

Christmas ski. Santa brought some powder to the mountain.

We worked up a hunger. Christmas dinner time. Tomatoes roasted

for hot charred cherry tomatoes with cold yogurt:

We also made Uncle Jim’s recipe for individual beef croustades:

and a Pan co’ Santi:

We also had a couscous with a pear, walnut, and arugula pesto. I chose the sides. I don’t actually like the tomatoes. The Bigs think my choices were driven by a desire to have a red and green theme.

For dessert we had yule log:

You may be thinking, boy, they eat a lot. I wonder if they are getting chubby. Nope!

Back to the slopes on Boxing Day. Mom took these pictures on the ride up to the mountain. Don’t worry, Dad was driving.

I was in a rush to get there. I was meeting Riley (or as I like to call her, Ri Ri).

We had more fresh powder. The Bigs eventually had to tell me we had to leave.

It was a tiring day. Good thing I have my new husband for lounging…

I didn’t lounge for long though. I had a dinner date with Meera. Her dad made dal. I was in heaven.