Doll's House

I wouldn't mind being the doll that lives here!

I don't live with many regrets. In fact I'd say that I probably have only one thing that I would have done differently in my 34 years.  It's not a significant or life changing regret in any way, but it is heart-wrenching when I think about it... So I try not to think about it.

When I was a little girl my father built me a dollhouse in our unfinished basement workshop with his very own hands. He got the plan from a book in the library. He sawed and measured and glued each piece together and even put shingles on the roof and working electrical lamps in each room. It must have taken hours upon hours and was surely an act of great love.

similar to the one my dad made me

In my mid-teens, during a time when I was very disconnected from my past or my future I agreed to l the dollhouse in a garage sale.  At the time it felt like a liberation of a large object of clutter that I didn't use anymore. I didn't have any foresight.

I didn't know my father would die and that that material proof of his love for me would become such a symbol of loss for me.... As if had I not given up the dollhouse I wouldn't miss him as much.  I also worry that he was saddened by my letting it go so easily. I hope that he had never read anything into me having sold it and I hope the child that subsequently got to play with it has fond memories of it as well. In a way having something my father created out there in the world somewhere is a comfort as well.

Unless the family broke it down for firewood... Which is possible too. I hope the glue fumes didn't asphyxiate them.

Since Sera will never play with my own childhood dollhouse a substitute must be found!  Ideally my hubby will become a carpenter when the time is right and built his own version of a dollhouse for his little girl and when she turns 16 I will stop her and remind her that she too will have children one day and that hand-made items are by default family heirlooms.  But he's not all that crafty or carpenterish. But I guess anyone can learn!

There are also loads of gorgeous dollhouse kits on the market and I suppose that could be an alternative with just gluing things together in the right order. We could work on it all together.  Or there are the classic store-bought versions. They come in all shapes and sizes but lack that personal touch that having a parent built it adds in. 

GLENN HOWELLS design for A Doll's House Auction

If you would prefer a dolls house that you can leave out in your lounge and that doubles as a work of very exclusive art you nab one this November at the A doll's house auction You'll also be helping a great cause as all the proceeds go to a children's charity called KIDS. The 20 houses up for auction are designed and built by some of the best current architects in the world, but be prepared to pay upwards of £1000,00 for any of them, and the bidding has just started.  

Paleo-AIP 'Taco' Lettuce Boats

Now that I've been on this diet for quite some time I'm getting more confident in experimenting.  Today I had a delicious lunch experiment go well and I thought I would share.

This recipe is AIP-Paleo and gluten free

What you'l Need:

-450g minced beef -1 iceberg lettuce -1 yellow onion -1 large carrot -1 medium zucchini -1 stalk celery -1/2 head of cauliflower - lemon juice

- 2 cloves garlic -1inch cube fresh ginger -powdered turmeric -salt -dried oregano -5 radishes (optional, adds a bit of heat) -coconut oil

In a food processor* chop the onions, garlic and ginger cube until very very fine but not so much that they're a sauce.

In a large pan fry the onions, garlic and ginger for around 10 minutes being very careful not to burn them... just until they're transparent.

Add your beef and brown it while breaking it up with a wooden spoon. As it's cooking add 1/2 teaspoon oregano, a dash of turmeric, a spritz of lemon juice (about a teaspoon) and a bit of salt.

Back in the food processor chop the carrot, zucchini, radishes (if using) and celery until about the size of a coarse rice and add that to the pan making sure to stir regularly as if it were a stir-fry.

Lastly, in the food processor, chop your cauliflower until the chunks are the size of grains of rice and add that to the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes and taste to make sure you enjoy the consistency (the less you cook, the crisper) and add a bit more salt if needed.

Serve hot on large leaves of iceberg lettuce.  You can wrap the iceberg around the mixture for a crunchy taco-like meal but make sure you have a spoon on hand to scoop up anything that falls out right into your mouth.

This would also go great with a nice AIP-Paleo guacamole or even just fresh slices of avocado if you're looking for more of the good fats in your diet.

Enjoy!

*I don't bother to rinse or wash the food processor between the various vegetables to save time.

A Funny Thing Happened - My Beginners' Italian (anche in italiano!)

Woody Allen by Kerry Waghorn

AMICI ITALIANI!!! - VERSIONE ITALIANO IN BASSO!

I'm lucky enough to hear compliments on a regular basis on my fluency in Italian.  Either it's because Italians are very kind to foreigners learning their language or it's because I've actually mastered the language after living here for the past 9 years.

People often continue in the conversation to say how they're envious and would love to learn a second language themselves, but that it would be too complicated or they don't have time or that they're just not language minded. They tell me it's too late.  First of all, if you're still breathing I don't think it's ever too late to try something... even if you don't succeed at it.  Secondly, no language doesn't come to everyone easily and at times it can be embarrassing, but eventually with persistence, patience and a sense of humour it will come

Here is an anecdote from my own personal journey towards my current level of Italian:

I was studying 3D computer graphics shortly after arriving in Italy and all my classes were held, amphitheatre style, in Italian.  My way of following the classes and learning what I needed to know for the exams consisted of me writing everything down in notebooks, even the words I didn't understand, for review later on at home.  The notebooks from those days are classics and I with I had photographed them now to share with you. Every word is spelled incorrectly, every word misunderstood.
One of my courses was Film History.  I sat through the invention of Cinema and the Lumiere brothers and up through Charlie Chaplain without any trouble having done it all before.  The course was going OK and I felt confident that my Italian was also improving.
One day the teacher came in and started his lecture about the films of Woody Allen.  I was a bit surprised because I didn't realise that Woody Allen, though a great film maker, merited an entire 3 hour lecture to himself.  'I film di Woody Allen' this and 'I film di Woody Allen' that. The teacher went on and on.  I put it down to cultural differences.... maybe Italians LOVE Woody Allen??
When the next weeks lecture started much in the same way.... with 'I film di Woody Allen' I was confused and worried.  Surely a culture couldn't be obsessed with Woody Allen.... I peeked over to a neighbours notebook and to my horror found these words:
I film hollywoodiano
The translation is not the films of Woody Allen but rather the films of Hollywood.  That's why the lectures made no sense.  I was certain that Woody Allen had nothing to do with 2001 a Space Odyssey.

And on that note, as a special treat to my Italian readers I will attempt to translate this post, as best I can into my adoptive country's language... please forgive me.

If you also want to learn Italian here's a good place to start.

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Sono molto fortunata perché ricevo spesso i complimenti sul mio Italiano.  Non so se è perché i italiani sono generosi con i complimenti oppure perché veramente sono bilingue dopo 9 anni di residenza qui a Milano. 

I stessi che mi fanno complimenti dicono che sono invidiosi e vorranno imparare anche loro una seconda lingua (sopratutto Inglese). Dicono che non c'è tempo oppure non sono bravi ad imparare. Dicono che è troppo tardi, ormai.  Nel mio parere, se respiri ancora non e mai troppo tardi per qualsiasi cosa nuova... almeno di provare anche se i risultati non sono quelli che aspetti.  Poi credo anche che imparando una lingua nuova è difficile si, ma con pazienza e un senso di umorismo si può fare.

Adesso vi racconto una piccola storia di una mia prima esperienza in Italiano.

Appena sono arrivata in Italia ho iniziato un corso di Grafica 3D. Parlavo il minimo Italiano immaginabile.  I miei corso erano in una grande Aula con tantissimi studenti.  Ho deciso di seguire i corsi scrivendo tutto quanto che sentivo passare per le orecchie su un quaderno e poi a casa mettere insieme i pezzi del puzzle nella mia mente.  I quaderni di quei tempi sono pieni di parole miscelati, scritti male e tradotti in maniera brutale.Dovevo seguire un corso di storia di cinema.  L'ho seguivo dal introduzione dei fratelli Lumiere a Charlie Chaplain e oltre. Mi sembrava che tutto stava andando bene. Ero contenta che finalmente cominciavo a capire Italiano.Un giorno il docente inizia a parlare dei film di Woody Allen. E parla, e parla, e poi parla ancora dei film di Woody Allen.... ero un pò sconvolta perché anche se Woody Allen e un bravo filmaker, non pensavo che meritava 3 ore di classe.  Magari i Italiani AMANO davvero Woody Allen?La settimana dopo la lesione inizia nel stesso modo. I film di Woody Allen. I film di Woody Allen. I film di Woody Allen.  Non potevo credere!! Guardo il quaderno del tizio al mio fianco e inorridito vedo queste parole:
 I film hollywoodiano.Al mio orecchio Inglese i due frasi erano uguali.  Adesso ho capito il motivo per quale le lezione non avevano senso.  E poi ero quasi sicuro che Woody Allen non avevo da fare con 2001 Odissea Nello Spazio.

Allora, amici italiani.... sto facendo il mio meglio per condividere questa esperienza con voi per farti vedere che siamo tutti idioti mentre impariamo nuove lingue e non dovete temere niente!  Al massimo fai un gaffe... ma la vita è troppo breve per non provare... per avere de rimpianti... o per dubitare.

Se vuoi imparare inglese davvero, farlo.... se no, smetti di dirti che vorresti farlo.
E se vuoi farlo puoi provare con questo sito. Sto usandolo per migliorare il mio Francese ;-)

The Tallest Building In Italy - Torre Unicredit

We were lucky enough to have a guided tour of the tallest skyscraper in Italy this past weekend, the Unicredit tower.

The construction of the tower, designed by César Pelli was completed in 2011 and has only recently opened its doors to the 4000 Unicredit employees who will be working there. The whole work is actually 3 towers in a circle with a gorgeous fountain and completely pedestrian piazza below measuring 100 meters in diameter.  The piazza currently houses a bookshop, cafè, some shops and a Gelateria (find out the difference between Ice Cream and Gelato here). There are thousands of tiny solar panels in the piazza helping to power the buildings. The complex has won global sustainability awards and can boast a reduction in energy consumption of 37%.

The tower we went up in was tower A (The Unicredit tower) and is the tallest in Italy, clocking in at 231meters or 758 feet. We were allowed to visit the rest area on the 25th floor just before the spire begins (the entire tower is 32 floors high).  As soon as the elevator opened I felt nostalgic for my days working in a cooperation as a graphic designer in London....Of course it differed from my days at Blackfriars in considerable ways due to the newness of everything and the spectacular 360° views of Milan and in the distance the majestic alps.  I jokingly said to hubby that I almost wanted to work there he replied that he's look into it (... I really was just joking... I didn't really mean for him to start scouring the wanted boards for Graphic Design jobs, but oh well, the view is nice).

Sera had a great time pressing her face up against the glass and leaving the cleaners with tones of sticky fingerprints to clean up. On the way in she was gifted a giant lollipop which she proceeded to crumble and stick all over the new carpeting and on the way out they gave her a pink balloon. She thought she was in heaven.

Even if you don't have the opportunity to get to the top (or near top in my case) of the Unicredit tower you should definately visit the Piazza Beneath it and the whole renovated Porta-Nuova, Garibaldi, Corso Como area if you haven't already.  I'm glad to see that Milan is doing its best to try to up its international presence in a lead-up to EXPO 2015 and that they have had such a success with this beautiful project. I was sceptical and wrongly so before I went to see it for myself but am glad to have been pursuaded otherwise.

Rendering of the entire PortaNuova plan with
the Unicredit towers in the middle

 **All photos in this post except for the rendering copyright Fabrizio Lingesso 2013**

The right choices for our children

trying on the dress-up clothes on the first day of school

I mentioned last week that Sera has been having a hard time adjusting to her new daycare. There have been tears and tantrums and nightmares and emotionally it's exhausting.  I leave her in the morning and then go back the the car with a heavy heart and need to spend a little while centring myself again before I can start my day.

Yesterday I was at a friends house and she asked me how it was going and I started to spew out all the negative things that I have seen in her new school in comparison to the old. More kids per teacher, less space to play physically, less structure, less attention to hygiene, less organised activities, infrequent diaper changes (yes, she's back in diapers... Forget about all my potty-training attempts), over-administration, strict and loud teachers and of course, Sera telling me she preferred the one from last year.

Well it's still early days as it's only been 2 weeks, but I realised while talking how much I'm disliking the new school, as well. I've been trying to ignore my negative sensations because I have been wanting to give it a chance. Also, it is significantly cheaper than the school she went to last year, which is definitely a motivating factor.  I'm also worried that by pulling her from this school and returning to the old one she will learn that if you don't like something you can just quit.... But is that true or just a paranoia that I'm harbouring? She's only 2,5 does she really understand that school is supposed to be for 10 months instead of 1?

Today was a bit better. We went in with dad too so I could get his opinion.  He confirmed that it's different from the old one but said it didn't seem too bad. Sera was happier than other days and though she cried a bit she stopped before we left and seemed excited to start the day. I also saw a sculpture she had made (some goo on cardboard) and felt a bit relieved that they're doing some creative work with her. 

My question is, do I pull her out and put her back in the old private school or hang-tight and keep her where she is? And how do I know which decision in right? Everyone says to 'do what's best for the child' but that's not always so clear.

I don't want to be the crazy over-protective mum who doesn't let her child face difficulties but I also don't want to be the mum who prefers to have a new pair of shoes or two over the quality of daycare of her child.

Mums! Please leave comments! I need your advise! What would you do???!