projects for today

after an eventful week of working in the field,
learning seductive and traditional dances from adolescents in the village

and eating rich and filling romanian mitiei sausages, chicken, pork, rice I need a nice night to relax

I have been served a handful of Romanian traditional borș [borsch] 'soups'.
And have have re-learned my true love for soup.
Its so hot out, but I dont care. Fall isnt here yet, but again I dont care

I LOVE SOUP!!

project one

making a delicious 'throw in whatever you have in the refrigerator' soup

ingredients consisting of:

-zucchini

-sun dried tomatoes

-lots of garlic

-onions

-carrots

-cabbage

-green peppers

-lentils

-rice

-turkish spices

-lots of white pepper

let me say, that the outcome was fabulous and perfect for what i was wanting

a photo of the soup may make it a bit unappealing however
i will show you my pride and joy found in the local village of Adâncata.
sold by a family of grandmothers and young children, it was amazing to buy fresh produce directly from the farm

a cabbage and a kilo of green peppers.
these are vegetables of perfection.

project two

after watching many episodes of Project Runway over the course of the past week

I have become re-inspired to create! Thus,

after venturing out into the 36C degree summer day, i found my local book store not open on the weekend.

what

after contemplating returning back to the lovely airconditioned apartment, i decided, to take a chance

maybe get lost

but search for the much anticipated carturesti bookstore and oh so much more

sounds like [car-tour-eh-sh-t] and is fabulous

the bookstore/librarie have taken over a beautiful old mansion in the centre of bucharest, located right off of Piata Romana. Only a 20 min walk from where I live.

This was a true treat with a full fledged cafe outside, a basement wine celler and travel book section, ground floor of childrens books, romanian novels, fiction and school books, an upstairs of cards, papers and CD's, an attic of coffee and teas, english books and science fiction and a second attic FULL of art supplies
I got lost a few times, saw a Dutch friend named George with his little jack russel terrier, and walked out with water color paper, children's water colors and crayons.

as gift to my host's Anita and Robert Delhaas once they have returned from Malaysia,
i wanted to create something that has captured our time in Bucharest and in Romania
I wanted it to be real, and resembling what we see each day, but the idealist in me wants it hopeful

my progress so far...

perhaps you'll be lucky enough to see the finished product

plans for tonight

skyping with the the dan who is visting the robinsons in dana point

before they're off to the horse races, it will be great to connect with them, even though much of me wants to be there, physically. how i miss the talking, gabbing, joking and just carrying on with them

to celebrate, i bought champagne, white wine and sparkling water [for spritzah's!!]

does skyping while drinking qualify as not drinking alone?

have a great saturday america and friends everywhere  :]