Italy Series: Rome: Saint Peter's Square

Set up for Papal Audience - Vatican Rome

With Pope Benedict XVI about to celebrate his last mass as Pope, I recall my visit to the Vatican. It is vast, massive, beautifully detailed, extremely captivating and very intimidating. As you approach it depending on your location, your perception of the piazza is different. If you approach from Via della Conciliazione which is a street roughly 500 metres (1,600 ft) in length,which connects Saint Peter's Square to the Castel Sant'Angelo and is the primary access to the square, you will immediately see the immense collanade that flank the Basilica but will not feel the full size of the piazza until you reach the end of the road and actually enter the Piazza. I visited St. Peters Square about four times while we were in Italy and each time I felt more captivated by the magnitude of the Architecture, the crowds ( not your average tourists, the intensity of the space. It was probably the most profound and contested public space in the world. Although I never actually participated in a Papal Audience, I did get to witness the preparations for it one morning. 

I visited the Vatican three times in the four months we lived in Rome and each time it still remained dynamic both experientially and phenomenally.

Evalie Anaïs' Baptism

We finally got ourselves together and Baptized Evalie this weekend. Unlike with Arielle, we knew we would do it but we were just really slow to get to it. A few years ago, we Baptized Arie at the age of 2 1/2 which was strange but because we were not sure as parents what religion we would teach and how to go about it. We are now both pretty sure we will try to expose the kids to both ( as opposed to non, which was our original strategy) and hope they benefit from the ideals that religion can instill in a child but remain open to either or even to select a religion that fits their beliefs when they are older. The Catholic church does require its members to maintain "membership" by keeping up with ones Sacraments and Baptism is the first of them. Evalie did very well was very cranky really because the ceremony was at 11:30 which is her nap time. She cried and squeals throughout and screamed when the Priest poured water over her head. She batted his hand out of the way each time he tried to bless her and basically was not letting him (or anyone) near her. So I suppose in hindsight, doing this with a much older child is easier. Anyway, our families gathered and we celebrated with good food, treats and a beautiful cake made by my favorite patisserie (she's made cakes for us since Arielle's first birthday.

The ceremony was quick and some people were late and missed the entire thing but I was fine with it. When it was our turn to come to the basin, we all gathered and my sister held Evalie over it. Arielle was just tall enough to see over the rim and she stood there watching cautiously to see her sister get baptized. It was actually really cute to see how worried she looked when Evalie started screaming from being startled by the water streaming down her face. Once that was done, we sat down and my brother did the candle lighting and brought it over to Evalie, she starred at it and then tried to grab it. He gave her the box and she started eating that!...By the end, at 12:30 she was so hungry and tired I had to immediately feed her to calm her down and by the time we got home ( 5 minuted away, she was sleeping so I put her to bed.

The day before, I had taken off from work so I could shop and do some little things around the house to prepare. I cooked some food, made cupcakes and favors, Austin and Arie cleaned the house and we were ready to have a great party. I really liked the idea of a white dessert table so I set that up basically with a centerpiece of spray painted branches. The cake, cupcakes and favors were also on that table along with white chocolate covered pretzels, almonds, cream puffs, Sfogliatelle and powdered donuts. 

We had some antipasto platters, chicken wings, sushi platter, chips and dip, dried fruit etc for appetizers while everyone settled in.  

Horrible Clients // design

AFTER (MY DESIGN)

BEFORE

I always loved to design, I went through almost almost seven years of higher education in undergraduate and graduate school to become an Architect and now I have the ability to design and orchestrate projects from start to finish and sign and seal them but I can't! WHY? Well I've come to the realization that the general public is really unaware of the value of an Architect (or any designer of the built environment), and has no idea what an Architect really does and more importantly has no respect for our profession and that really gets me mad. So called contractors  attempt to design slap things together and people accept and pay for the crap. I never intended to make this blog about my misfortunes but something that recently occurred has put me in a bit of a tizzy. Very simply, we were contacted by a person who wanted to design a salon in Hoboken, she interviewed me  grilled me on the phone for over an hour. I sent her a proposal for her job outlining what we intended to do and a fee, a few days later she hired us. We sent construction estimates etc. We drove out to her space and met with her for 5 hours on one of the coldest days we've had this winter in a space with no heat. When we left I was excited to have what I thought would be a great little project even though I was starving and could not feel my feet the entire ride home. 

I started designing the project, doing drawings and renderings to prepare to meet her the next week ( she stressed she needed it done fast). When we met the second time, we brought an engineer with us to check out some questionable conditions and give his opinion as to how we should proceed. I left that meeting with a strange feeling. That evening I sent her 2 floor plans to be approved and she never responeded but I kept working. THREE days later, I get a call saying we're off the job..she found a cheaper architect! WHAT! we had a contract, we agreed on it, we had already started work but she found a guy who "has dinner with the building inspector and will get her job done for her"..that is doing some backdoor deals to get the work done rather than following the approvals process in place and abiding by the LAW! WTF. I was so so angry and took many days to not feel anger towards random women who even slightly resembled this "horrible client". So a few weeks pass and I've stopped wishing her bad and she emails to ask if the retainer she gave us was worth the work we had already done and apologized "sincerely" for leaving us high and dry. I resisted unleashing weeks of anger on her and simply said that it was our fault for not collecting the entire contract cost upfront and so we would take it as a loss. I really wish there was more of market for design in this country, it seems like people just don't see any value in our work and would rather cut corners. What a disappointment. 

7 Months Old

I see the baby in her slipping away so fast, she is the sweetest, smiley little bundle of chubby love. She is my little baby who is now 7 months old. Evalie has had a very tough month, she has been sick for what seems like 6 weeks. She been on 4 different types of medication at a time, as at one point had to take in more medication than food. As a result, she has lost a few ounces this month, she has lost her appetite and was up until a few days ago waking up every two hours for hugs and love and very hard to put back to sleep. This is unlike her and has taken a toll on us all, we've been tired but also really missed out friendly daring little bubble. Over the last few days, I have seen a dramatic change in her which has really been great, her nanny even remarked on Friday how much fun she had and how happy she has been. It tough to leave a little one here with a non-family member and only hope she exhibits as much patience, love and care as I would especially in the situation we have been in. I do think she has though because she seems to be very aware of even the littlest signs of change in Evalie..things only mothers notice or care about. Speaking of things only a mother could love..poop has also been a real issue or the lack there of! She just stopped going for weeks but alas I think this has also resolved it self...

Now onto the good news, Evalie eats real food now and rather prefers the non pureed versions of things...yes..yes..yes..I monitor her while she eats and I serve only things in little pieces such as her dinner the other night was Turkey Bolognese with alphabet pasta. She loves it so we will be trying other things this week..one at a time and 3-4 days apart to check her reaction to it but its another reason I started out the post the way I did..shes really growing up.

Evalie is extremely verbal, she talks and yaps and squeals and shrieks while she plays..she also groans when she wants your attentions or doesn't like what you're trying to do to her. She's still working on getting herself comfortable with the bottle but I think we are all convinced she is being selective, the nanny says she drinks the bottle very happily while I'm gone but I've never seen it happen because she won't take it from anyone else, not me, not dad, not grandma, not aunty..

Arielle is really surprising me everyday, she is very careful and cognizant of things her little sister needs, her non-verbal communication with her is beyond anything I could have imagined. They play together and Arielle protects her so much. I really am thankful each day that they remain close and happy, Arielle no longer feels any form of jealousy, she sees her as a partner in crime..Evalie looks up to her.
At her last appointment, Evalie was about 18 lbs and 27 inches in a slightly lower percentile for her age 90th instead of 95th but still doing great. The doctors are happy with her progress and development. She's thinned out a bit, her hair is growing rapidly ( see the mini-fro) but she's got the cutest little feet. She seems to like music, she bounces on her bum and flaps her arms over and over when she excited, its really funny. She laughs at most things..like her sister acting like a jackhammer..(you have to be there)!

Now for the big news..she is MOBILE...she crawled for the first time yesterday, she actually moved herself a few inches..not by stretching, not be rolling bot backwards but actually crawling on her hands and knees..it was really great to see her do it. I was so proud of her! We were all sure she was going to just walk instead of crawling because she showed no interest in being on her tummy instead she is always looking for something to grab onto and prop herself up. She cruises along low puffs, tables and stands at her discovery box instead of sitting now.. As you can see..even during my photo-shoot..she was hard to keep down.. she wanted to stand surf..on a rocking chair! So I am a happy mama to have my cuddly little cherub back.

To My Valentines// 2013

I love you two more than words can say...Happy Valentines day.

Beef and Lentil Curry

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbs ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2-3 bay leaves
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. freshly grated ginger
1 1/2 pound top sirloin, trimmed of excess fat and cut into bite-sized chunks
1 medium tomatoes, chopped
2-4 cups water
1 cup dry lentils
kosher salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cups cooked jasmine rice

1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and peppercorn and bloom for 20 seconds. 
2. Toss in the onions and bay leaves to saute until soft, 4 minutes 
3. Crush the garlic with the grated ginger, along with a pinch of salt, to form a paste 
4. Add beef and brown, 4 minutes each side 
5. Add garlic-ginger mixture , turmeric and cinnamon stick to skillet 
6. Add chopped tomatoes and a good pinch of salt. Cook 8 minutes, until spices start to become fragrant. 
7. Add the water to cover beef and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until beef is tender, about 30 minutes. 
8. Add lentils and simmer until they are cooked through about 20 minutes. 
9. Serve with cooked rice.