And now for a little musical interlude....

Charlotte started studying violin at her old school last year.  We have continued her musical education with private lessons since her new school does not have a violin program.  She has shown some real progress this year with private lessons and I am so proud of her for sticking with it, even though practicing is not very much fun sometimes.

Recording this to "show my friends" was her motivation to practice yesterday.

Thanks for helping us!

I know, it's been a while.

Happy New Year!  Christmas and New Year flew by in a flurry of food, family and, unfortunately, illness.  A horrid virus swept through the house right after Christmas and had us all flattened one by one.  I am just coming up for air now.

I knew my energy was coming back when I decided last week that my kitchen cupboards and our home office needed to be sorted and purged RIGHT NOW. 

This cuts into blogging time.

So, can I welcome you back to my blog with a story?

We tried to take the family out for a new experience.  Our city is hosting a cultural fair this weekend and as it turns out, Richard is crazy for Ethiopian food so we took the boys over to the Ethiopian pavilion to experience some authentic cuisine.

Things I learned tonight:

• I loved listening to the music being played in the pavilion. To my untrained Caucasian ear I heard hints of Egypt and India in the rhythms and instruments.

• Ethiopian coffee is the best.  Sorry, Italy. Your Espresso will always hold a place in my heart ever since my lovely in-laws gave me a gorgeous machine for Christmas. You force my eyes open all the way every morning,but the Ethiopian coffee ceremony is something very special and the coffee is so. very. tasty. 

 If only you could smell what is happening in this video...

• In addition to coffee, I also enjoyed a Dragon Stout.  Dragon Stout is a dark beer that was on the list of Ethiopian Beers at the bar at the pavilion. Upon inspection of the label I found out it is actually brewed in Kingston Jamaica at the Red Stripe brewery.  Google told us when we got home that Ethiopia and Jamaica are connected through the Rastafarian movement. It is a strong but mellow beer.  I have recently started expanding my beer horizons and surprised myself by enjoying stout as much as I do.  (that is another blog post!)

• Matthew caught on very quickly to eating with injera.  I shouldn't be surprised. I beg him to eat with utensils all the time.  For once, it was OK for him to eat with his hands! Emmett was very overwhelmed by the loud music, unusual food and general commotion.  He spent the evening hunched over Angry Birds with the hood of his jacked pulled right over his head.  Charlotte was away for the weekend so she missed the whole thing.