sillychili

B is for Birthday Boy!

... and brownies! On 9 January, darling baby Milo turned 1 - a whole year old! Where did the time go? Milo pretty much smiled his way through the year, and at the milestone age of one is hell-bent on learning to walk even though he's a speeding machine on all fours, knows how to get off the bed on his own (thanks to Daddy teaching him to go backwards), loves his sister to bits, loves music, still nurses and reminds us everyday just how lucky we are to have such a beautiful family!

Daniel and Milo, on his birthday; Maia (aka Snow White) having her way with the sprinkes
To celebrate, I made my first ever brownies from scratch (no cake mix has entered my Bogor kitchen to date) and goodness gracious me, I had NO idea how much sugar, eggs, and butter go into brownies! All you weight watchers out there, stop that hand in mid-air the next time you reach over for one. There's a double dose of everything in that fudgy square taste of heaven! I had to use half brown sugar and half whole wheat flour in the recipe to reduce the guilt factor... And then closed my eyes as I let Maia throw sprinkles all over the cream chocolate frosting (it was a birthday after all!!!).

We kept the celebration very quiet - just us and the rest of our household - and it was excactly how we wanted it. It was a time to be grateful for having Milo in our lives, to be a family and to see where life takes us together. A happy and prosperous new year to all!

Happy Diwali!

At ISB, the largest nationality contingent after the Indonesians are the Indians, so it was only natural that the PTFA would be asked to put on a celebration presentation for Diwali. As a member of what is looking like our default all-female cultural group (i.e. same group that did Cinderella), I was invited to join as the narrator. I was thrilled - not least because:

1. I'm a closet thespian and any stage will do.
2. I can look Indian - every Indian tailor I've been to without fail tells me I look like their sister, cousin or niece (the day they say I look like their mother is the day I stop going to Indian tailors).
3. I secretly want Maia to marry an Indian (OF COURSE I'll let her choose who she wants to marry, but how else am I going to find a reason to wear a sumptious Sari before I die?)
4. I don't go out much so any excuse to get all dolled up and wear a bindi is good enough for me!
5. I got to play the bongo drum and LOVED it. I discovered I could play! Who knew??

We had loads of fun. The set and make-up were fabulous as always, thanks to Pak Viki who moonlights as Gloria "I-Will-Survive" Gaynor on weekends. The pre-show potluck was yummy, the kids enjoyed throwing flowers at the end of the play, effigies were burned and did I mention that I was the one playing the bongo drum?

At first Maia was very suspicious of the whole thing and hated seeing me in make-up. But since then, she's asked to see the video (special thank you to Daniel who filmed it!) at least 8 times and has made me tell tell her the story of Prince Ram again and again and again. Turns out my daughter is my biggest fan!

Happy Diwali to one and all!

 

(Clockwise from left) Shilpa as Ravan; Aarushi as a little demon; Preeti as Hanuman, the monkey god; Luca as one of the monkey army

The token non-Indians in the play: Josie as Lakshman, and me

Seema as Princess Sita, Bhavna as Prince Ram, and Josie as Ram's brother Lakshman

Aarushi, me and Milo, looking a wee scared of Aarushi

The effigies that were burned after dark

No Stepford wife am I, however...

It used to irk me that the title stay-at-home mom came tagged with the unglamorous title of housewife or the grim-sounding homemaker. When I was pregnant with Maia, there was no question that I would stay at home with her, but I wasn't so sure I was ready to trade in my old life for "housewife", too.

When Maia was 8 months old, we moved to Berkeley for Dan's masters and adopted a new title - broke student family. That was hard. But after a year, I got offered a lucrative job back in Manila. I was tired of scrimping here and there, so when Maia was 20-months old, I became a working mom.

Working was surprisingly great, a walk in the park after full time motherhood. But I missed Maia terribly. I wore flat shoes so that I could sprint out of the office at the end of each work day. Halfway through, I became pregnant with Milo, and then that nagging question came back - should I be working while the kids are still small?

The answer rang clear in my head - NO WAY. The workplace is never going to miss me, but I know my kids would, and anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm miserable without them.

So here I am, at home, proud mama of two, and no matter what other title I choose to call myself - housewife, home engineer, domestic goddess, mom-on-the-run - I've learned to embrace every gorgeous and frustrating bit of it.

10 signs I've settled into domestic bliss:

1. I exchange recipes with other moms, talk about where to get the best stuff and on occasion declare, "did you know that vanilla is grown right here in Indonesia, in the Sulawesi highlands??"
2. I can’t shut up about the awesome deal I got on a second-hand exersaucer for Milo (I swear, it's practically brand new!).
3. The 2 top items on my wish list are a Vitamix high-speed blender and Singer sewing machine.
4. I stared with envy at my friend’s 12-cupcake Tupperware container, and then complained how our Ace Hardware branch doesn’t carry them, nor Bundt cake pans.
5. I spent a mini fortune on online books in September and the categories were: children's books, cooking, sewing and early childhood education (see a few in My Booklist on the right).
6. I brew my own glass cleaner and natural ant repellent, and soon will make our own home-made floor cleaner.
7. I shop from home: I'm hands down one of the best customers of fellow mom friends who sell food, women’s clothes, clothes for kids and catalogue cosmetics.
8. I run such a smooth household that friends who show up unannounced for lunch get fed, very well.
9. I was over the moon when a friend gave me a bottle of good white wine – not to drink, but to use for cooking (what can I say? alcohol is pricey here!).
10. The other night at a dinner, when the hosts took out my homemade chocolate fondant, a friend declared, "Mireille makes the best desserts!" And I'd never baked before 2011.

Happy birthday, Mom!

You have always been anything but typical, Mom, and we love you for that. You never stop learning, sharing and trying new things. You have given me the confidence and strength to do things differently, and compassion for the world around me. Because of you, I am the mother I want to be.

Steve Jobs narrated this ad back in 1997 for Apple, about the crazy ones who dare to dream, to question, and simply, to be. With his passing and your birthday falling on the same week, I thought I'd post this for you.

 

May we always push ourselves towards excellence, making everyday count, making a difference in our lives, and in those of our family and those whom we care to call our friends. Happy, blessed birthday, Mom!

A gingerly moment

I'd say about 92% of the time Maia hates having her photograph taken so I'm lucky if I can get a good shot of her, especially when I want to catch her doing something funny or cool. At the supermarket today I saw these giant ginger stems, the biggest I'd ever seen. I handed one to Maia then whipped out my iPhone to take a shot. I love the bewildered look on her face as she's holding it, until she figures out what Mama's up to, then turns the unwelcome ginger into her shield. I had me a good laugh right there in the fruit and veg section!

Getting my green on

On the volcanic slopes of nearby  Mt. Salak, an hour's drive from Bogor, there's an organic farm, arboretum and rustic getaway called Vila Botani. It was started from scratch 6 years ago by Alex Korns, a tall American from New Orleans who loves oatmeal raisin cookies. Alex is a statistician by trade with no prior experience in organic farming or land management, which makes me think that maybe I could become a sewing and baking diva after all.

Once I'd gotten over having nature (and mosquitoes) all over me and shaken off my city-girl scales and fangs, I was able to begin appreciating our rural surroundings. Over lunch I listened avidly (and stared longingly at the bottle of excellent South African red) while Alex told us about his 15-year plan for the arboretum, how he started the organic farm (all self-taught!), the 40 different bird species in the area and the fantastic sunrise view of Bogor from the guest house.

A few weeks ago we started regularly buying vegetables from Alex so I was thrilled when he took us for a small tour of his property. I'd never been on an organic farm. There's much to be said about knowing where your food comes from, and even more when it's being farmed sustainably.

With Maia's school friend, Jasia and her parents, Rini and Krystof, a colleague of Daniel's at CIFOR

A simple life

After reading my recent posts, some friends emailed me saying what a beautiful life we have. It's not something I think about, at least not in that sense. Coming to Bogor for me has been about breaking life down into what really matters.  I don't have the visual and audio noise of a big city. We're surrounded by trees and family life. When I walk to pick up Maia from a friend's house, I'll often pass children climbing trees or flying kites, mothers gossiping happily with their babies in batik slings and men crouched alongside the road, happily smoking their kreteks.

It's just life, simplified.

But yesterday my life did feel a bit beautiful. After dropping Maia off at school, with Milo in the baby bike seat, we rode to meet Anna, the yoga teacher who moved to Bogor last April along with her Dutch husband, Robert. They own a gorgeous Dutch colonial home - the type I had hoped we would have, but sadly, majority of the rentals here are rather run down. Their tropical garden is exquisite, coupled with the gentle sounds of water trickling from a fountain. They moved from Jakarta to escape the heat, pollution and stress. Wise choice for them, heaven sent for me. My life in Bogor is almost complete.

Yoga classes are outdoors

Anna exudes a warm and generous energy and I took an instant liking to her. We talked about yoga for a bit. I explained that I haven't done yoga or pilates since pregnancy with Maia (nearly 5 years)... Okay, that's a little white lie, I haven't done much exercise since meeting Daniel, but 7 years sounds unforgivably lazy. She invited me to a cup of tea and we talked about the usual lovely things one discusses over tea.

Where everybody (almost) knows your name

You know you go to a place an awful lot when the staff start greeting you by name. The other day we walked into Ace Hardware and they called out, Hello Pak (Mr.) Daniel! Yes, I know, the sad truth is that we go to Ace way too often, every weekend practically. We love it so much that on the way there I'll clap and sing their theme song in the car, which Maia gets a kick out of and will yell "Sing again, Mama!" We sometimes even sing it during bath time.

It's the perfect family outing when we go to Ace. Daniel gets to show off his manhood testing drills and other handyman gadgets, Maia opens and sips all the Disney/Nickelodeon themed cups and tumblers (something I pray no other kid does) while watching Dora episodes she's memorized on a small flat-screen, Milo gets oogled at by the staff, while I get lost in the baking aisle and the mecca that is the tupperware wall. As a housewife and contrary to what Husband says, it is my firm belief that one can never have too many lidded containers.

Truly, there's very little you can't find at Ace. Maia and I even bought our snazzy biking helmets and my cool desk lamp there!

It was only natural that we would sign up for Ace's rewards program, because let's face it, we may just want that remote control electric fan or automatic outdoor lamp for free once we've bought up everything else in the store. But then we found out what the folks at Ace really think of us when we received our official member card last week:

Oh Ace, where IS the LOVE?????

110%

There you have it, I have joined the ranks of thousands of mothers before me. I am officially a member of my child's PTFA (as in, Parents Teachers and Friends Association). It's not enough that we put in 100% at home raising the kids, we have this ridiculous desire to be involved in their school life as well.

In the one week since I joined the PTFA, I have (1) quit the chairperson position (friends of mine bizarrely thought it a good idea even before I attended my 1st meeting to nominate AND vote me in); (2) made 40 sandwiches for last Saturday's soccer community brunch; (3) appointed myself the official event photographer for said brunch, and (4) wrote, co-directed, and played a part in the PTFA skit presented at the end of ISB's book week! Never mind that am exhausted and can now use a PTFA-cation, I have to confess, it was rather FUN!

The skit is my favorite activity so far. The audience was in tears laughing and the kids were so responsive. Not too shabby considering we had a mere 3 days to prepare! It was called "The Unmaking of Cinderella".  I'm Cinderella (but I never get the gorgeous dress) and the rest of the cast are ISB mothers (see the video after the photos below - or see it bigger directly on youtube here).

No play is complete without stage make-up!

(Left) What would we do without Pak Viki? (right) Darling Josie (stepmother) and me

The sweetness of home

We move so often that we try to work extra hard at making where we live feel like home. This means that our stuff goes where we go and within days of moving into a house, it becomes our little oasis. So although it takes much longer to actually feel fully settled in a new place (in my experience, at least 6 months), at least we get to go through the motions in a home we love.

Our current little house already boasted lush gardens in the front and back, but was rather blah looking on the inside. But a thorough paint job and some creativity has transformed it into a cozy, child-friendly little abode. Maia has a separate playroom and craft space and adores playing outdoors. Our bedroom and guest room are still a work in progress so I'll post photos of those another time. In the meanwhile, enjoy the tour!

The front garden and front door
Our living room, the first space you encounter when you enter the house
This is Buttons, a handmade doll from our neighbor, sewn from an old, well-loved Batik skirt