I want a taga...

I have always considered myself as extremely spoiled with my stroller. My sweet mother gave us the magnificent Stokke stroller, which doubles as highchair when you go out at a restaurant or something.



The Stokke, a Norwegian model, just radiates European design and we have received many compliments on it. That aside, it just is a very good stroller, although the price would have been too steep for us to consider. I have many times tried to convince my mother that a cheaper option would do, but she had her heart set on giving this to us and I must admit I have loved it, even though it takes a while to get the collapsing mechanism in your fingers.

I thought the Stokke was the pinnacle of design and engineering. That is.. until I stumbled over the TAGA on the blog of a fellow immigrant from Belgium.





A bike and stroller and 'cart' in one. If it weren't for the little detail that this wonder of engineering costs 2500 dollars, I would be signing up today. I can already see myself with Joseph in the little seat, riding off to the supermarket. Hopefully these stroller innovations will come down in price over the years so that they are accessible for all moms. Wouldn't it be great if we could forgo short car rides and instead bike our children the way they do in the Netherlands?

Food

I love food. Call it my Belgian heritage perhaps, but I love good food. Healthy... non healthy, gourmet, simple homecooking, cultural foods, chocolate, salads... I love them all.
And even being busy chasing an overactive todler all day, I think I manage to put a decent meal on the table in the evening. My husband does not want anything more than a bowl of cereal in the morning. Lunch however is my big challenge. My lunch, Joseph's lunch and Bill's lunch. Now my husband never complains, but I really want to give him an atractive, healthy and yummy lunch. Not just throw some left overs in a box. Problem of course is that he loves left overs most, and that I don't have much inspiration. THe same problem is there for my own lunch. I often end up grabbing something less than healthy because I simply go brain dead.

The big problem for me is that lunch just does not 'inspire' me as much as dinner. Recently though, I have been bitten by the Bento bug. Just the use of a cute container seems to go a long way in getting my creativity going. Plus, bento inspires me somehow to use a greater variety of ingredients due to the different divisions in containers etc.
I also try, whenever possible to include Joseph in the cooking. Most of the time, I only do very simple projects, like letting him empty the packages of Truvia into the jug for lemonade, or letting him stir something on the floor if the bowl is big enough. A few days ago though, we made a more ambitious project: apple crumble in Joseph's own little mini cake pan of his kitchen set. We even heated it in the toaster oven.
He liked the little adventure.

On retreat

Yes, I dissapeared again. Not just from blogging this time,but from the entire internet. I spend a week at Mepkin Abbey in Monck's corner near Charleston. The surroundings were absolutely beautiful and living along with the monks was a truely special experience. I got up at 5 am (they rose at 3.00 am as did my husband, but I just was not that courageous). I joined into the prayers at 5.30 am, then Eucharist at 7.30 am. There was a short prayer at noon, then another one after lunch. In the evening we had another pray at 6 am and then we ended the day with Compline at 7.30 pm.
In between that there was silence, nature, the oportunity to pray, read, knit on my prayershawl and spend time with my husband.
No internet, no cellphone (except for a short call once a day to my little one who was being spoiled by his grandparents), no distractions.
I feel recharged and ready!