Atauro Island

Luka decided to treat auntie Becca to a trip to the local island about an hour off the coast of Dili.  Here are a few photos from our recent visit to Atauro island.  The jist of it is a small eco resort with five cabins, solar power, pit toilets, bucket showers, good food, plenty of sunshine and cold Tiger beer.  What's not to like?

Friday had us chilling in the cabin, swimming and watching Luka trying to feed himself spinach.  On Saturday we wandered out to the local market where we had a fish meal and some local cold drinks, and ventured out on the back of a tuc-tuc to the local Italian restaurant (note: order the morning you plan to have lunch there or prepare to wait 2.5hours for a pizza - fortunately we were forewarned). 

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend teething, cold and broken down water taxi on the way back notwithstanding.  

Luka hanging out with auntie Becca

Fishing nets adorn a local eatery on the beach

Enjoying fresh coconut milk from the source

Luka's voyage out on local transport a la tuc tuc. 

Chillin in my swim trainer out front of our cabin

Pre-bedtime bath

Blessed family

Sunset over our cabin and beach cabana

Weekend island getaway

It might seem like an oxymoron to go on a weekend island getaway, considering that we live on a fairly small island...but that's exactly where we are. After recovering from our Thanksgiving feast (photos to follow soon) we hopped a water taxi to Atauro island, about an hour's ride off the North coast of Timor and booked into Barry's Eco Resort. A lovely group of 5 thatched huts, the resort runs on solar power, pit latrines, good food, cold beer, and friendly staff. Activities include daily trips out to the reef by boat for snorkeling, hikes, a trip to the local doll factor, dinner at the Italian restaurant and dive trips can be arranged. The weather is great, its quiet and the water is 20m away from the porch. Can't wait to come back!

Luka's first Thanksgiving

As has become a bit of a tradition in our household - Chris and I once again hosted Thanksgiving supper for (mostly) American 'orphan' expatriates spending this holiday far away from the warmth, hospitality and food of their families.  I happened to read through our thanksgiving escapades of two years ago in Kabul (see post here) and chuckled at what Thanksgiving pre-Luka looked like, versus this year.

Now if you have ever been at our Thanksgiving table it probably means that you have lived either in Baghdad, Kabul or Dili.  For the past six years, we have hosted probably close to 150 people for Thanksgiving - mostly Americans, with the odd foreigner* (sic) thrown in for good measure.  So it was that we co-hosted our first Thanksgiving in the USAID compound of the Green Zone in 2006.  This entailed four ovens, 3 turkeys, 50 guests, and an insane amount of booze.  The following year in Kabul was our first solo attempt.  We made due with a bird we found through a friend of a friend, were forced to use a can of old cranberry sauce I found on a derelict shelf in a local supermarket, and had to opt for mashed potatoes over sweet potatoes that were not available.  Despite these shortcoming, we hosted 25 very happy friends for a wonderful meal.  Enter 2009, the year of our most legendary of Thanksgiving feasts (and the topic of the link above).  As we cooked our way out of the daily grind of war-torn Kabul, we procured birds, and even made a special trip to Dubai to smuggle in fresh cranberries, celery, sausage, and sweet potatoes. The result was a wonderful Thanksgiving where we hosted 35 guests from American interns to American legend in Afghanistan Nancy Hatch Dupree.

Luka inspects the imported organic turkey, cranberries and
locally procured sweet potatoes

The turkey surgeon at
work to butterfly the
yuppie bird. 

Fast forward to our current island home where we hosted our second Thanksgiving for about 12 friends and colleagues this year.  As with our last island feast, we BBQ'd a bird (well, one of them at least), but it was not just any bird.  I mean, others had turkeys alright.  No, but this was not some Singapore-based, Australian contractor-procured frozen butterball.  No ma'am.  For our feast this year, a friend actually flew in a fresh (not live thank you!), organic turkey from a gourmet butcher in Bondi Beach in Sydney.  That's right.  When I picked up my dear friend and Oxford classmate at the Dili International airport on Wednesday morning at 0700, I was faced with a slightly shellshocked customs officer holding a turkey in one hand and a bag of something I couldn't quite make out in the other.  Rebecca exited the arrivals hall, close on the heels of the customs officer who was by now clasping the turkey in one hand while frantically dialing someone (presumably his supervisor) on his mobile phone.  After a quick dash back to the car to store Ms. Becca's heavy bag, Luka and I rushed over to the quarantine office (me secretly hoping I didn't recognize anyone from our cat import fiasco).  I stormed into the quarantine office and came face to face with the clearly overwhelmed customs officer, still not able to reach his supervisor and started firing off in Tetun explaining that tomorrow is an important day in America, and that I am going to need that bird.  "Bon dia maun, aban iha loran bo'ot husi Amerika, entaun hau presiza ida ne'e" pointing at the bird....oh, and 'by the way, I'm going to need those eight Scotch Fillets as well!'  Fortunately, we walked off with the bird and the steaks.... oh, and the cheese, celery, cranberry relish, five bottles of wine, corn syrup, fresh pecans, and of course Tim Tams.

On the menu this year was thus a BBQ'd butterflied organic yuppie turkey from Sydney, one oven-baked butterball (donated by a friend at the US Embassy), our sausage and sage stuffing (made with chorizo for lack of other sausage), maple glazed sweet potato casserole (made with local honey for lack of maple syrup), simple green beans with sun dried tomato and pine nuts, corn bread muffins, gravy and our 53% density organic cranberry sauce.

And yes, there were pies.  While it goes without saying that I now believe pastry chefs have one of the most difficult jobs in the entire world (perhaps after POTUS and mom) and yes, we may or may not have wasted about 4kg of failed butter in the dough - we did in fact successfully string together 2 sort of holding on butter pie crusts and one crisco backup - but pies we had including home made pumpkin pie (from real fresh pumpkin) and awesome pecan pie thanks to the Australian-procured nuts - I mean, how wrong can you go with pecans, sugar and some egg??

We give thanks!

Okay, I just realized that we are six paragraphs into a post without a mention of Master Luka - so most importantly of course - this was Luka's first Thanksgiving - and as it were, the topic of our thanksgiving this year.  So with friends and colleagues gathered around a table in Dili, we gave thanks for friends, family far away, and especially, so very, very especially, our little Luka.

Good and sad day: Farewell Dr. Nichelle

Baby Security Council trying to draft a Resolution banning
Dr. Nichelle from leaving Dili

Today was one of those really happy and really sad days all at once.  It is a spectacularly happy day because our lovely little man turned eight months today.  But it was a similarly sad day because our beloved Dili Doctor, Nichelle Geary, departs post for new adventures elsewhere in Asia.

To say that she has touched the lives of many (okay, most) of the new Dili babies and their moms (and remember, we are close to a rugby team for Class of 2011) is an understatement.  For most of the moms, she was the healthcare professional that got to share the most wonderful news with each of us as we sat nervously in her trailer-cum-consultation room on the Australian Embassy living compound.  From there, she was the one who did our monthly check-ups (to the best of her ability with the limited resources here) which generally included talking the overly-controlling thirty/forty-somethings through so many of our fears and concerns.  She patiently weighed us, listened to the little bubs, checked our well-being, diet, vitamin intake, and monitored our progress diligently.

My visits to Nichelle was truly something to look forward to.  As anyone who has ever been pregnant can tell you - it is a weird and wonderful time all at once.  Consider that there is no sonar in her office, it was mostly an opportunity to visit and talk about how you feel, what you have been experiencing, and ask her any questions you have.  Which, for the longest time, as someone with a spectacularly uncomplicated pregnancy, was a special time I looked forward to.

So happy after the big scare.

Of course, my love and respect for Nichelle was irreversibly cemented in when things went wrong.  On that fateful Monday morning when I went from low-risk, uncomplicated, healthy and fit pregnancy, to 'you have to leave Dili now' pregnancy, it was Nichelle that shepherded me through the process and on to the plane (literally).  From monitoring my 'cramps' to finally deciding that I had to evacuate Dili ASAP, including arranging for my special medical visa through the Australian Embassy, and then, perhaps most importantly, communicating with the hospital in Darwin and administering the life altering (and I don't mean this lightly), steroids that allowed Luka's lungs to develop to give him a much, much, better start in life, she has touched Luka's and our lives forever.

And so it was that we hosted the wonderful Dr. Nichelle as she is known to us, for some coffee and treats at our home this afternoon.  Working moms came from the office, stay-at-home moms, dads and nannies all came to pay our respect to a fantastic doctor, and a beautiful person.  Seeing her surrounded by seven of her babies this afternoon was something to see.  Watching her listen to each mom's recollection of her impact on her pregnancy was amazing.   From breaking the news to one mommy that she did not in fact test positive for the Malaria she suspected, but rather for pregnancy - to reliving the experience of her checking my blood pressure one last time before I boarded the flight while in labor (not telling the airline of course) - it was a special few hours of reminiscing about some of the most significant moments in our lives, and she was central to so many of them.

Nichelle, you will be so sorely missed.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart, I salute your courage, your patience, and your most beautiful self for caring so much about each and every one of us.  Your new post is so lucky to have you.

With deepest gratitude Lovely Lady.

Hard to believe this is the 30-weeker Nichelle really
did not want to meet in Dili in March. 

Baby Recipe: Fish, Potato and Bok Choy

So we're pretty much decided to pull out any stops as far as feeding Luka.  We figure if we introduce him to interesting food now (we hope) he will be an adventurous eater like his mommy and daddy (and know a little bit more about how to prepare food when he one day gets married than either his parents did).

This week, Chris prepared him an array of delicious food (seriously, you could serve it to guests) including
this delicious boiled fish, potatoes and bok choy (not kidding).

To prepare:
Boil some potatoes on the stove, when soft, remove the potatoes from the water and set aside
Add some deboned white fish (Dory, Tallapia) to the potatoe water, boil until cooked
Steam some bok choy (add some fresh garlic)
Mix all together with a hand blender/bar mix
Spoon into ice trays, freeze overnight
Dump the cubes into a ziplock or Tupper, label and date

Note: each cube is roughly equivalent to 1 tablespoon (Tbs)

To serve:
Remove desired number of cubes x number of feeds, place each feed into a small tupper with a lid and thaw on the counter. refrigerate as needed.

Bubba Brunch Club

Since moving to our new house in town, we have thoroughly enjoyed simple pleasures such as going for a walk down to the beach, to a favorite cafe for breakfast, and especially in hosting again.  Yesterday saw the first 'Bubba Brunch'.  We invited two other couples with young ones about Luka's age, as well as another couple with a young son.  It may seem unnecessary to state this fact, but it is great for parents with babies to visit other parents with babies.  There are the obvious benefits (changing table, wipes in case you forget), but also the more important - comfort.  Watching the other two moms constantly bouncing, walking, standing while eating, dodging spit-ups, breastfeeding, changing nappies, all the while having a great conversation, makes it all seem so normal and acceptable.  I am not saying you can't visit someone that does not have a baby, on the contrary - but it is nice to know if your bub is a little fussy because of teething or tiredness, that everyone will understand.

As for brunch, everyone knows that babies do best in the am.  Add to that the fact that most parents do best after 9am, and you pretty much end up with a timeframe of between 10am-4pm - which is pretty much almost as long as our brunch lasted yesterday.  Truth be told, Chris and I did jump out of bed at 0700 to go for a 30km mountainbike ride (my first in over a year), thanks to a babysitter that showed up at 0730.  Once home, we had a shower, then started preparing brunch which included 2 home made breads (whole wheat and french), a spinach, mushroom and cheese strata (prepared the night before by Chef Chris), home made yogurt and fruit (the yogurt, not the fruit), roasted beef sausages with apricot chutney, and Susan's (well, with a little help from Alice Waters) whole wheat buttermilk banana pancakes.

The beauty is that sometime during brunch all the bubbas (most of them at least) will be down for a nap, and when they are awake, they are delightful and interested in everything and everyone (in Luka's case this means mostly the food!).  The food is great (who doesn't love a brunch?), and by the time your guests leave (and the cleaner does the dishes) you can run out for a nice sundowner walk to the beach with bubba in a stroller (and yes, return in a torrential downpour) just in time for bath time and bed time.

Perfect day to spend a Saturday.  Unfortunately, I was not organized enough to snap a photo of yesterday's festivities, so watch this space for photographic evidence of the new Bubba Brunch Club.
   

Luka's first dive lesson

Luka's favorite PADI SCUBA Instructor had him in the pool for his first 'confined water' lesson.  

Lesson number 1: 'Always blow bubbles'.   

http://youtu.be/w8Mndb5tNsk

Lesson 2:  Have a GREAT time.