Day One

The little one started preschool on Tuesday.  At three and a half, she is ready.  In fact she was very excited.

The first day, my husband and I brought her to school a 8 o'clock.  I have planned to take a picture of her in front of the school but she ran straight to the classroom.  And once inside I could not make her pose for the camera.  She was so happy and very very excited.  We lingered around a little bit to see how she is all taking it and then made our exit.  She was brave. Not a tear was shed (well except the ones by me).  Like how I read in books I said my goodbyes casually.  She must have misunderstood and replied, "but mommy, I wan't to stay here!"-- to which I responded that she is staying but I have to leave. She smiled at me, gave me a kiss and a hug, as if she's assuring me that it's going to be okay.

I left the school teary eyed and with so many thoughts running through my head. It all felt like back when she was born, being overwhelmed by the responsibility of taking care and raising a child. I had to remind myself that this is just preschool and what's important right now is that she is happy and gets to play with other children.  Still I couldn't help but think. And why not? She is in her formative years.  "Early lessons have lasting impact", they say. I pondered on what I wanted her to learn - letters and numbers, how to write and read.  Awhile back I mentioned that I want Sophia to indulge more in play than academics in her early years.  However, some days I find myself worrying that she has not learned how to read yet.  Pardon me but I blame the existence of Facebook that now it is easier than ever for parents to brag about how smart their kids are. Maybe it's just me but I do feel the pressure!  I am proud though that she can spell her name right and can write it down, even if it is crooked.

Still I believe that while academics are important, at this age I want more for her to learn how to make friends and interact with others, how to be independent, how to think, how to behave properly, how to pray.  We picked our church's preschool for a reason- because their philosophy aligns with our family values.  The fee and the hours does not fit well into our budget and schedule but we are willing to do the sacrifice we need to do to make it work. As I left the school parking I felt at peace with our decision of sending her there.

At the end of the day, I was excited to pick her up and eager for her stories on how her day went.  She didn't want to leave the school but at the same time she was delighted to see me when I walked in. She had so much fun, she even gave me a tour of the classroom before we left.  However she was a little disappointed that they spelled her name wrong. She couldn't stop talking about it.  {Thankfully it was fixed the next day.}

And then comes her story, "Mommy, there's this boy sitting behind me. He said I have cute shoes!"

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Slow down, sweetheart. Not too fast.  No boys until you are 30, okay?  

Baked Branzino

My husband is picky with seafood.  I might have mentioned that before.  He is more picky than our 3 year old daughter who when asked what food she likes proudly responds, "fish and rice!"  But finally, for the record, I got dear husband to eat fish off a baked whole branzino that I cooked.  What I mean is usually he would only eat filleted fish.  For some reason he cannot stomach the sight of a whole fish with head, bones and tail served on the table  However on one of our dinner dates at Angelini Osteria I was intrigued when he said he would want to try their branzino dish one day, a whole branzino baked in a crust of salt.  His comment gave me hope. I thought perhaps I could entice him with grilled whole fish in the form of branzino.  I had a feeling he would be more open to trying branzino because he saw it prepared in a fancy restaurant and also because it sounded Italian.  Silly, I know.  But I do think he is racist when it comes to fish.  No kidding.  He dislikes tilapia which he usually sees swimming inside fish tanks at the Asian market.

I brought up the suggestion one day, mentioning that I saw some fresh looking branzino at Whole Foods. However I had to promise him that if I cook it whole I would debone the fish first before plating his. He agreed.  I was smiling from ear to ear, the guy have no idea how delicious the meat is near the bones (which is going to be all mine).

So I went to Whole Foods to get the branzino.  I think it has become a regular on their iced cases.  The price was right, $11.99 a pound, and the fish had gleaming clear eyes which means they are fresh.  Each branzino ran about 1 to 1.5 lbs each.  I bought 2 pieces because I  was not confident one would be enough for the three of us considering the 3-year-old could easily eat half a fish.

Whole fish is easy to cook and cooks quickly.  You need only to drizzle some olive oil, salt and some herbs, throw it on the grill or oven and that's it.  I would prefer mine grilled but on this day we ran out of propane to fire the grill so I had to cook it in the oven.

Baked Branzino with Gremolata

1 bunch cilantro (1/2 portion coarsely chopped)

1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated (thinly slice green parts)
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup drained capers
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lime, zested and juiced

1 lime, thinly sliced
extra virgin olive oil
2 whole branzino, about 1-2 lbs each, have the fishmonger scale and clean the fish
coarse sea salt and black pepper

1. Prepare the gremolata by combining the chopped cilantro, sliced scallions,  jalapeño, capers and garlic in a bowl.  Finely grate the zest of one lime and then squeeze in its juice.  Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Cover and let sit until needed.

2. Cook the fish.  Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Pat dry each fish with paper towel then drizzle olive oil over each fish to coat.  Season each fish inside the cavity and outside with salt and black pepper.  Divide the lime slices, remaining cilantro sprigs, scallions (white part) between the two fish. Transfer fish to baking sheet and place in the 450° oven.  Cook fish for 15 to 20 minutes or until just opaque and flakes easily when pierced with a fork.

3. Serve fish with gremolata on top.

*A good side for this dish is a mango salsa

make your place

i invested in this book by raleigh briggs.  it is loaded with hand-written recipes for sustainable and natural nesting. it presents simple instructions for concocting all-natural products from tinctures to facial cleansers.  any person who wishes to go back to the basics and get rid of toxins in their household will benefit from it.