An Urban Girl

For over a decade I haven't lived with cable Television. Since right about the time of moving out of my parent's place to my own apartment in downtown Vancouver, when almost all my paycheck would go to mortgage payments... and the tiny left over to paying for expensive colorful drinks on the nights we'd go clubbing! And  just when I moved up the ladder high enough to reach the TV knob, I fell for and married my Mr. Urban, a deeply principled man who does not believe in "passive consumption of commercial programs". OK. And now, owning a Toddler and all, more and more I believe that not having access to cable is a good thing for our family.... EXCEPT, once a year on OSCAR night. I start the day cursing the day I bought into the DARN NO TV philosophy.  I fret the whole day, and by mid afternoon, an anxious Mr. Urban says, "Sweetie, next year just get cable for the occasion." "I Will!", I reply rather brat-ishly, and knowing full we

One of my favorite secret talents of Mr. Urban's is his way with languages. Pick any word in the English language for example and he will tell you its dictionary definition as well as its spelling. It's amazing to me, as he only picked up English in the eleventh grade (Junior year as its called in the US), as his forth or fifth language, after Farsi, Arabic, German, and before or possibly after Latin... Nevertheless, he is a devout English speaker...  having never cut any corners in acquiring it. I asked him once how he became a walking Webster and in his always down to earth way, he casually replied "SAT Flashcards" as though it was the easiest of things.  Recently, I gave myself a gift of SAT Flashcards.  I have yet to use them, but each time I look at the box my heart flutters at the thought 500 or so beautiful words sitting pretty in there. The other day I  was reading a chapter on language and communication in Mind In The Making .   A great book whic

Often there are words in Persian that cast a more endearing, more benign light on their English brethren.  I take refuge in those words, when the going gets slippery (that is if I can remember in the moment that in fact I am bilingual). English words or terms like "Difficult", "Terrible Two's", "Tantrums" describing temperaments of toddlers or even teens have Persian relatives like "Sheytoon (Spirited)", "Javoon (Young and Foolish- in describing rather difficult behaviors in Teens) or "Sertegh (a very endearing term for a young  person who insists on their ways)" that tickle your heart when you need them the most. These Farsi words that describe the very behaviors that look quite bleak in an English dictionary, are almost always said with a smile or a light-hearted tone.  When you talk of them to a friend, they always  bring a chuckle to the conversation, in a way that a tale of a tantrum may not... More and more I see h

Remember the other day I told you that the space bar went mysteriously missing from my keyboard? Well guess what, N has now gone the way of the space bar. I find it so funny every time I look at that keyboard, slowly metabolizing itself.  Mr. Urban reprimanded  me for laughing so hard.  He detected a slight look of pride on the face of the tiny suspect, perching quietly atop her folded knees on the too-tall kitchen stool viewing the evidence. Anyways, all this started when the UrbanToddler discovered the Word Processor and decided to write a Very Big Book in Large Pink Font . It takes me forever to type anything now.  So I have taken up Pinterest , where you only have  to point and click to get things accomplished. On Valentine's day, I had the beautiful idea for the UrbanToddler and I to make a country chocolate pie from scratch.  I had not consulted a recipe before settling on the idea. That morning, we assembled the general chocolate pie ingredients and started Goog

I am usually not a head in the clouds type of girl.  But for the past few days I want nothing more, than to daydream...    A few days ago, I was told by my trusty little assistant that my "Compooter" mysteriously lost a button. A pretty big and essential one.  But I still type away....  I don't even notice it gone.   I am telling you, my head is deep in the clouds... The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, by Shel S. A friend gave us a bag of the most delicious chocolate coated Almonds from FreeHeart Farms, for Valentine's day.  I opened the bag late Monday night when Mr. Urban and I rendezvoused for his early Valentine gift from me, the entire second season of Downton Abbey.... If you remember tasting a piece of chocolate that stood out beyond any other random chocolate that has ever graced your palate, then you can imagine what these Almonds taste like.  Problem is, if you have a case of head-in-the-clouds-itis, they can be pretty dangerous to have around....

The stars were almost all aligned last night. Last minute Valentine dinner party was planned.   Babysitters were lined up. My UrbanToddler graciously agreed to push up her bedtime by a whole hour, despite detecting heart shaped confetti sprinkled on the dining table.  A French inspired menu and play list were selected: San Francisco Bay Crab Cakes, La Regalade's Muscles, a Gourmet magazine roasted game hen with Provencal oil cured olives and fresh herbs, cheeses and cured meet, a beets and chevre salad, a spinach, pear and Roquefort salad and Pink Martini's Pandora Radio. French 76 cocktails mixed by Mr. Urban and special bottles of red wines from St. Helena, Hungary and Santa Cruz Mountains brought by friends added the right spices to the dim lit evening. I was quite busy worrying about the flakiness of the crab cakes which had too much crab meat and too little egg white... so I forgot to sprinkle chopped parsley onto the muscles as they were being sauteed and p

Having grown up in Vancouver, Thursdays are for me the start of the weekend.  When I lived in Vancouver, Thursdays were great days for meeting up with coworkers at one of the swanky downtown pubs after work, leaving Friday nights wide open for other possibilities... Thursday nights were also the funnest nights to go to some of the best night clubs.  You would go around eleven without having to wait in a line, visit with friends, dance until two, eat a hot dog at the gourmet hot dog stand around the corner, walk home and a few hours later, showered and dressed in your Friday casual wear you'd walked to work, with a double shot latte at hand.  If you didn't live in Vancouver you may find this odd.  But downtown Vancouver is a walkable, safe, lovely cluster of apartment buildings, beaches, restaurants, office buildings, spas, night clubs, gyms, cafes and shops.  It's heaven on earth for young urban professionals.  I feel lucky to have been young and in Vancouver once u

Our day started out early and kept on going until we returned home to a lovely Spring evening.  The temperature outside was a pleasant  60.  Flowers and Blossoms in bloom.  Birds happily singing in the distance. A happy adorable Doctor is in the house giving Angelina-the mouse a check up.  Pandora radio set to the Pink Martini station, blurts out soft jazzy tunes of Ella Fitzgerald and Bebel Gilberto, who come and go caressing the mood inside. My heavy eye lids shut as I take in all the goodness in the air. It's the perfect time to take joy in some pealing and cutting and chopping and dicing.    Cutting Tofu into Triangles Soon a little Chef flutters in to offer her assistance.  Yesterday, after her discovery of the Word Processor she had announced "For my occupation I will write a book".  We settle on making Triangle shaped Herbs de Provence Grilled Tofu and Oren's Hummus inspired Greek Salad .   And when all is washed and dried and tucked in, Mr. Urb

Juicy Pineapples Freshly Cut by Toddler and Mommy   Puzzles Warm Milk for Nescafe and Coco

Much has happened.  Much happens all the time I suppose, but some times the happenings keep you so glued to themselves you can't get away... you know, like getting one of those sticky rubbery hands in your hair... A couple of weeks ago, Mr. Urban and I decided that it was time to bid farewell to our beloved home at Le Coeur de la Ville to venture out to greener pastures, literally.  Some place where our girl can roll around in the grass, Mr. Urban can have undisturbed conference calls and ponder on the state of technology to his heart's content, and our friends and family can come and stay a night or two without waking up to our extracurricular after dark activities (have you heard of a fun game called musical beds?).  In a day's time a new family came to fall in love with our home and soon we will pack up our memories and leave it to them to make new ones of their own under this lovely roof. We really enjoyed our time here in downtown Los Altos, where we became a fa