Family

That is one of my favorite pictures from my childhood. It was taken in May, on the day of my First Communion during after party at the house of my very special aunt. “Special” is not a compliment in this instance, as, this aunt has a nickname “Aunty Shawl” (Ciocia Etola), because every time she see us, she throws herself around our necks and leaves a lot of damp, disgusting kisses on both cheeks. Twice is a minimum, sometimes it goes to five or more. Then she forgets that she has done it already and she starts the show again. You cannot hide anywhere… She will find you.

Anyway, it was a really nice day (after the scary series of caresses). The entire family was together and there were a lot of us. In the picture in the center is my eldest sister, on her lap is her daughter and I, and the smiling boy is my crazy brother (he is the one who gave Aunty Shawl her nickname). My two other sisters are missing from the picture.

The one sister who is in the picture lives in Canada. Last time I have seen her was during my wedding, almost 7 years ago. She has never seen my daughters (she hates planes), so this year she invited us to visit her. She bought tickets for my girls and we’re going! Actually we are leaving tomorow :) 

It was such a nice Sunday! Spring was really late this year, so now, when she’s finally coming, she’s trying to apologize and she’s doing this in a really nice way. A lot of sun, delicate wind, plenty flavors… We decided to go out of the town and look for a bit of fresh air: 

And then Aurelia started to begging us to let her be in the trunk. She was on her knees, telling that she will do whatever we want if only we let her go there. So, even if it’s illegal (please, don’t call Social Service), we finally let her. “Mummy, daddy, my dreams are coming true. Thank you sooo much!” –that’s what she told us being there.

Dark Restaurant

Today, it was my husband's birthday. I decided to surprise him by taking him to the Dark Restaurant, which technically was a gift for myself, since I really wanted to go to that place.

This was something I was dreaming about since the very first time I've heard that there is a place where they give you delicious food but you cannot see anything. You just have to use all of your other senses. The darkness is complete. There is no source of light of any kind: no windows, no candles, no phones, not even watches. The waiter has a night vision device and he’s the only person that can see the dining room. Everybody else has to use their hands to touch the chair, the table, the plate – and food (a fork is not a good idea :)), and they have to use their sense of  taste and smell to recognize the meal’s ingredients.

That was exactly what I expected. There were four of us and everyone had a three course meal and each of us had a different meal. It wasn’t obvious to guess what we were eating but we did it! For me the hardest thing to guess was spinach – they’ve prepared it in a way I didn’t know. My first thought was that it was cabbage and untill the very end I didn’t know what  it was. However, I was able to guess all the rest: crab sticks on salad, sole with funny cinnamon-rice cakes, lemon tart with pudding and ice-cream. Our friends did quite well, too. Though, my husband had a real surprise on his plate, a special set called Bizarre Food. As you can imagine, on his plate there was every strange edible ingredient you can think of. Riki likes new tastes and he loves to be surprised so he took the risk. “I just hope they will not give me bull’s testicles” –he said. 
 Well, they didn’t. Actually, it was bull’s penis plus some exotic worms. Although we were making fun of him (a lot of not really elegant jokes…), he really enjoyed his birthday.

It's probably because he also got a great bike jacket and a bottle of vodka :)

But seriously, even if it sounds awfull, it wasn't. It was a great, uncommon evening.

Tough topic

-Why are you so sad, honey?

-Oh mummy, I'm sad 'cause you and daddy will die, and it makes me feel so awful... I'm gonna cry, that's SO sad. I really like you, I don't want you to be dead.

-Well, NOW I'm alive, don't think about that.

-Yeah, but you do will die. Everybody dies, did you know that?

-I know but I'm not planning to die yet.

-Oh, so you don't know that dying is not something you can plan? Zuzka's grandma didn't plan it, neither. And what? Now she is dead, she's gone! 

What's risky

What's risky when you have a child (or two, like I have my two girls):

- take a nap without making sure that they are asleep too: Aurelia (6 years old) may get a brilliant idea to prepare some pancakes for your breakfast by mixing flour, baking soda, sugar, salt, nutella, jelly, milk and ketchup in one bowl. If you don't want to risk her disappointment, you'll have to fry it and, worse, try it (actually it wasn't THAT bad);

- keep playing Plants vs Zombies when it's quiet at home; actually every silence at home is very dangerous, Bimbosia (2 years old) is probably eating your lipstick or hamster's food;

- leave Bimbosia with a bowl of coleslaw, she will probably put it in the pot of chicken soup (taste at least strange..);

 - tell Aurelia that you would like to lose weight; a few weeks later she may tell you that your diet doesn’t really work. “you’re not getting slim, mummy, you still fit in the same jeans, don’t you?”;

 - invite Aurelia to do 1000 pieces puzzles with you. There is a risk that she’s better than you (really painful, if you love puzzles and you thought that youe are a master of it);

 - hug your husband. You may hear “Stop doing this, otherwise you’ll make more children”. 

Welcome to my crazy world :)

Start

Well, it's quite risky for me to write anything in English. I'm pretty sure I've never done it before. Nothing creative, anyway. So, that could be a good practice.