a hippie with a minivan

Coconut Vanilla Tapioca pudding

What more can be said.

Fresh and creamy… This is such a classic recipe with a small twist, the coconut milk adds such a great dimension to the custard. The flavour of this pudding is my ultimate comfort food and it is so simple to make.

Here is what you need…

3 cups coconut milk (or another milk if you want the more classic version)
1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
2 extra-large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup cane sugar
1 vanilla bean, split along the length (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Pour 3/4 cup of the milk into a thick-bottomed pot and add the tapioca and let sit for an hour.

Whisk in the egg yolks, salt, sugar, and the remaining milk and then scrape the vanilla bean along its length with a knife and add those little “seeds” to the mixture along with the bean itself (if you are using vanilla extract only stir it in at the very end, after the pudding is completely cooked).
Over medium heat slowly bring the mixture just barely to a boil, stirring all along and then reduce the heat and let the mixture fall to a simmer and keep stirring until the tapioca is cooked (they become translucent) and the custard is thickened.

Let cool and serve (it is delicious both warm or cold)

My daughter is official!

I received the papers confirming her registration today…

Well, technically, I received them on Monday but they had misspelled her name, so I called them right away and they changed it and sent me the new papers.

Registration after a planned unassisted pregnancy and birth is not an easy thing to do by yourself here in Quebec. Though the law doesn’t ask for medical papers etc. the government doesn’t make it easy to go that route. For those I know who have decided to fight the fight, they have had long and drawn out battles and threats of going to court. I was not willing to do that, the stress of not having her registered, having problems getting benefits were just not worth the fight for me, neither of course was I willing to go to the hospital or see a doctor to get the papers, so I called the midwife friend of mine and asked her to write me a letter attesting that she saw there was a new baby and that I am a mom that had given birth soon before.

However, besides the letter written and signed almost 2 weeks after she was born, all the information shows that it was a planned unassisted birth. There is no doctor’s name, no agpar scores, no transfer information, our address as the birthing place and I wrote my name in the space that asks the name of the person that helped me deliver.

So it is done, getting the letter feels somewhat like a completion of the birth. I can now travel with my daughter without worry, we can breath and relax knowing that everything is done.

(5 weeks old)

I'm going on a trip!

A few weeks ago Simon talked about looking into tickets for me to go on a trip to BC to see Annie. I brushed it off a bit thinking that we could never afford it.

But the thought of it was just too great to brush off completely.

I looked into ticket prices but then stopped again when I realized how expensive the trip from Vancouver to Prince-Rupert was, more expensive even than the cross country flight from Montreal to Vancouver.

But after a few weeks of thinking about it and after a conversation about people using their Air Miles to make it more affordable, I decided to look into it and see if I had enoughAir Miles to cover that portion of the trip and to my surprise, I had more than enough. Suddenly, the trip was a bit more realistic price wise.

Of course, then came the idea of leaving Khéna behind… A little more than a month ago, when the idea first came up, Khéna was still nursing many times in the day and always cuddled on my lap. He nursed to sleep and was very much a mama’s boy… but with the birth of his little sister, something happened.

He isn’t asking to nurse as often, even sometimes going without nursing for a day or two. He hasn’t nursed to sleep since her birth either, instead he just lays down next to me or for the last two weeks goes into his bed and lays down with Simon next to him and falls asleep all by himself. He hangs around with his brothers more and goes to see Simon when he gets hurt. He is not the same little boy that I had a little more than a month ago. He is now a kid, a big brother, and though I know that I will miss him and he will miss me, I also know that he will be perfectly fine staying with his Dad and brothers while I take this oppurtunity that might not come again anytime in the near future.

So we decided that I should do it….

So, I am going on a trip! I bought my tickets this weekend and will be flying out to Vancouver on the 29th of March with Wilhelmina. My mom will be in Vancouver also at the that time, so she will be meeting me there and we will be hanging out together for a few days. Then, on the morning of April 1st I will be flying up to Prince-Rupert and hanging out with Annie for 3 weeks!

I am so excited (and quite nervous to be leaving my family and home for three weeks). Simon has things planned for himself and the boys so they won’t have too much time to miss me… I can’t believe that we were able to make it work and I am actually doing it!

Evening out…

A few weeks ago I asked my mom to come visit and watch the boys for an evening while Simon and I went out for supper. We were going to stay around here and maybe try out the new restaurant that opened last year but when Simon told me that he would want to go see a movie in Montreal I decided that it would be fun to head to Montreal instead and we could go out for supper and then I could hang out with Wilhelmina while he heads to the theatre.

We got ready and I decided to dress Wilhelmina up for the first time in a little dress… it felt so weird to put a dress on one of our children, I am so used to having boys that it just didn’t look right for a minute, but she was so adorable and I can see how dresses will be great for ECing…

(all dressed up and falling asleep while I was getting ready)

We left soon after my mom arrived, and headed to Montreal deciding on the way to go to a little Tibetan restaurant that we used to love to go to together in our early days as a couple. After we drove around trying to find a parking space in the heart of downtown Montreal, we finally decided to just get a space in an expensive parking lot right near the restaurant. It was just after 6pm and we got there just before the restaurant started to fill up, and with about a dozen tables, it doesn’t take long for it to do so.

We started out with “po cha” (Butter Tea) which is made of red tea, butter and milk and is rich and a bit salty and then ordered cheese momos (steamed buns with a sweet cheese blend inside) which come with marinated veggies and curried potatoes and we also took a side of steamed bread and smaller beef momos.

Wilhelmina slept soundly in our arms while we ate and talked and just enjoyed our supper, ending with a complimentary pot of green tea and we were planning our next move when Simon decided that he wouldn’t go to a movie after all and that we would go walk a bit together and find a place to sit and have a coffee and dessert…

We headed onto St-Denis to walk and as soon as we hit the corner we heard loud bangs and then realized that it was fireworks in the old port which we could see from the east side of the street. Of course even without the fireworks, Montreal is alive in the dark and the people and lights make for an atmosphere that is stimulating and never boring…

While we walked and looked into store and restaurant windows we noticed a little restaurant/pastry shop with the most delicious looking treats and decided to head in on the way back. We kept on walking and of course being in Montreal, the city of Festivals, we walked right into a mix of two festivals. The Festival of lights which was in the old port (hence the fireworks) with light shows on buildings at various places in Montreal and a Québecois film festival that included a replica of the snow fort from the classic “La Guerre des Tuques“…

The light show on St-Denis used a church as its canvas and the images and colours were impressive to see…

We then started to head back for coffee and dessert and a bit of warmth, though it was not too cold, it was humid and the warmth of the pastry shop felt nice.. I ordered a bowl of “Café au Lait” and Simon had an espresso and we shared a chocolate mouse/praline cake and the largest rum ball I have ever seen…we talked with each other and a couple sitting next to us and sipped our coffee and warmed up until we decided to start back home…

Though I don’t miss living in the city and love having a yard and space for the kids to play at a price that a single income family can afford, I do miss being close to the life that Montreal has to offer. The amazing restaurants, the night life, the people and all the things that are always happening…

It is rare that Simon and I go out without the kids but it really felt good to slow down and enjoy a relaxing meal, a walk and a treat… knowing that the boys were in great hands and happy at home with my mom and I am so glad that we did it…

I am also looking forward to bring the boys to Montreal more this year, sharing this great city with them… walking and soaking up the festivals, the people and the scenery that makes Montreal an amazing city to be in…