Christmas: Horse ride, skating, Burmese mohingya soup

Nanny and Papa gave Alice a horse lesson for her birthday. And, each lesson starts with the grunt work Alice loves as much as riding - the grooming. The horse's name was freckles.

See that look on her face? That's a horse-loving bliss you see.

Ice skating at our favorite, intimate rink - Port Jefferson. It's outdoors, not usually crowded, and has a gorgeous view of the harbor.

View of the Long Island Sound Harbor from Port Jeff rink building.

Grif looks remarkably at ease and speedy on the ice these days, like he'd never taken a sabbatical from ice skating when in Malaysia. A mom even made a mild, camouflaged complaint about his cutting in and out of people on a crowded day on the ice.

Boom learning to skate with me spotting him behind, usually holding onto his jacket to keep him up, at least in the beginning of the skating session.



Look, no hands, Papa! It felt like a real privilege to help Abraham learn to skate, especially since he's so willing to experiment because he's not so worried about falling. Click HERE to see the milestone moment when he first started skating on his own. Warms my heart to watch it, even now.



Taking a bow. Getting a bit cocky.

Our table set for our Mohinga Burmese soup dinner. Usually, though, the Burmese eat it as breakfast, since most don't have electricity, so it's easier to cook by the morning light than at evening.

Mohinga Burmese soup is a fish soup, usually with catfish that's stewed for hours, tasting better the next day since it's steeped in garlic, lemongrass, ginger, onions, and more. And, you add rice vermicelli at the last minute.

You choose your toppings. These are our American version.

The Burmese love eggs on top.  Most are too poor to eat meat so eggs are a great source of protein for them.

Chopped green beans as toppings. Above the beans are fried chickpeas.

The fried chickpeas

The Long Island sound harbor view, just a few blocks from my parents' home. We walk or run along there for exercise.

December 27, 2011

Alice's blog: When I was horseback riding, I practiced galloping. Sometimes I rode the horse around in circles. I was practicing steering the horse. When I galloped on the horse, I had to push with my feet to bounce up and down. It was very tiring. I had to hold on very hard to the reins. All the time, I had to push down with my ankles to stay balanced. When I was done, I was very tired and felt like I was 2000 years old.