One for the Grandmas: Daffodils 2010

Our annual tradition. Enjoy.

Things I Wish I Knew When I Was 15*

To my 15-year-old self:

Please listen to this advice . I know some of it sounds crazy, but I know what I’m talking about here. You’ll thank me later.

• Don’t believe your hairdresser when she tells you that a perm would be a good idea. It’s not.

• In two years, a company called Microsoft will have its IPO, with shares selling at $21. Buy some.

• Grandma is right when she says you ought to have a Plan B for both boyfriends and life. This advice will serve you well.

• You may think these are the best days of your life, but they’re not. (But they are the best days of the star quarterback’s life. He becomes an appliance salesman.)

• Wear a bikini every day. Even in snow.

• You think you know everything. Trust me, you don’t. And believe me about the bikini.

You’re welcome.

*This is my winning entry in a recent writing competition sponsored by Spread the Word, a U.K. writing organisation, where I recently attended a workshop. I was limited to only 150 words, thus the short length. If I had to write down everything I didn't know at 15, it would be a VERY long list. The prize was a gold chocolate bunny (much happiness from the family), and a book, "How to be an Artist" (must happiness from me). I hope you like it.

My Mother's Day Present: Learning to Ride a Bike

Five days later, he's still talking about it. I don't blame him. As someone who it took an entire summer to learn how to ride a bike (and picked up seven stitches on the way), I know how hard it is. Well done to Thing Two.

World Book Day 2010

King Midas (Thing One) and the Mad Hatter (Thing Two) celebrate World Book Day 2010.

Oscars: 4:37 a.m.

OK. In the final stretch now. I feel like I should win an Oscar for being up to stay up so late and resist the chocolate tart.

Looks like Sean Penn just parachuted in to present the Best Actress award. Lucky him. He didn't have to sit through the interpretative dance routine.

Sandra Bullock wins, as expected. "The Blind Side" hasn't been released here yet. She's doing a nice shout out to all the other nominees. She forgot to thank her husband, though. She'll pay for that later.

Kathryn Bigelow wins for "The Hurt Locker." The camera cut away before I could see if she got a hug and a kiss from her competitor and ex-husband James Cameron. THAT would have been worth waiting up for. James Cameron seems to be smiling graciously, but maybe he's an actor too.

Finally! Best Picture! Might get to bed before 5 a.m.! Indeed I am, because Tom Hanks didn't mess about: he just did it.

Kathryn Bigelow looks like she's about to hyperventilate, have a heart attack or both. I don't blame her. She's got an Oscar for each hand.

Until next year...

Oscars: 3:50 a.m.

Doing a large dance sequence for the Best Original Score award is not a bad idea IN THEORY, but it only makes me want to break down and finally have a piece of chocolate tart. I resist, though.

Glad that "Up" won again, if nothing else because I finally got to see the Ellie Badges that the entire "Up" team is wearing. I want one of those.

Now I know why Matt Damon had to stick around: he was presenting the award for Best Documentary Feature. Cunning move No. 2, Oscar organisers.

Shabby editing tonight. I keep spotting seat warmers, when I've never noticed them before.

I believe that the hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have changed their tuxes, but the fact that I noticed speaks volumes about the quality of this show (read: not very exciting).

Minor upset: Neither "The White Ribbon" or "A Prophet" win Best Foreign Film, instead it goes to "A Secret in Their Eyes". You would think if they're going to cut off the Argentinian because his speech is too long, the orchestra should play some sort of Spanish tango.

Had to think for a moment about the connection Kathy Bates has to "Avatar" but then came up with it: She played Molly Brown in "Titanic", another bad James Cameron film that made bazillions of dollars.

Finally, a big one: Best Actor! I really hope The Dude wins, even though we haven't seen the film yet (it either just opened here, or will open next week). Colin Firth sure is dreamy, and he was terrific too. He's been in Greenwich now three times for filming, and I STILL haven't met them. It has to happen some day. It's meant to be.

I like these personal introductions for the main awards, though it does add to the length.

Jeff Bridges wins! Now have to wait for a Dude reference. It's bound to come. He gave props to his mom and dad, though, which is nice. Several "man" interlocutations, which seems very Dude like.

Oscars: 3:16 a.m.

Kristen Stewart is there to introduce the Horror Movie montage. Hey, Kirsten, it's the Oscars, would it kill you smile? Would it kill you to smile EVER??

Morgan Freeman is teaching me all about Sound Editing, which is actually interesting, but isn't going to get me into bed any earlier. They're showing scenes from "A Dark Knight." Do you think this is the Academy's way of apologising that it wasn't a nominee for Best Picture last year?

Kathryn Bigelow just stood to congratulate the winner of Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. Every time I see her, I think, "Really? You're almost 6o? Could I please have the name of plastic surgeon or your oxygen chamber supplier?"

(Note to self: Really must go see "The Hurt Locker." Should probably see, "Inglorious Basterds" too.)

Big mistake by Sandra Bullock, who looks as nervous as all get out. She says, "And the winner is..." rather than the now encouraged "The Oscar goes to..." (because EVERYONE is a winner, after all).

Now for the "I See Dead People" montage: one way to get around the clap-0-meter to see who was the best linked is to have James Taylor sing. Cunning. How does Michael Jackson get in there? I know he was an International Superstar, but he was hardly Oscar material.

Oscars: 3:06 a.m.

Avatar finally wins an Oscar. Honesly, though, if it wins Best Picture I will have to boycott next year's ceremony, because I thought that film was TERRIBLE. I know millions of people disagree with me, but hey, I still think it was a bad movie.

Oh! Fashion faux-pas! Sarah Jessica Parker in Chanel Couture presenting alongside Tom Ford. Surely she knew this ahead of time and should have asked him to throw something together for her?

Sandy Powell, winner for Best Costume Design for "Young Victoria" is wearing a fetching hat. A woman after my own heart. I think she was also helped by the fact that it was partly filmed in Greenwich, but she didn't mention that in her speech.

Charlize Theron presenting for "Precious." OK. I can't think of ANY connections AT ALL between her and the movie. As I cast listlessly about for a connection, I guess I'll just have to look at the Look At My Boobs dress.

Oscars: 2:47 a.m.

Oh! There's Matt Damon!! I read on my Twitter feed he was going home after he lost in the Best Supporting Actor category. I guess he changed his mind.

A really good speech from Mo'Nique, who wins, as predicted, for Best Supporting Actress in Precious.

Can someone please tell me what Colin Firth's connection to "An Education" is? Or did they think, "Oh, he's British. They all know each other over there, don't they?" OK. Just thought of a tenous link: He starred in "Fever Pitch", based on the book by Nick Hornby, who adapted "An Education". (You're welcome, my American friends.)

Oscars: 2:29 a.m.

Seems slightly inappropriate that Carey Mulligan and Zoe Salanda enter to the tune of, "Thank Heavens for Little Girls." I think both should get an Oscar for navigating those stairs with those shoes and those trains. Any time they saved by not singing all of the Oscar songs has now evaporated due to the over-long introduction to the Animated Shorts Oscar award.

Oh no! Wallace and Gromit lose! This is terrible. More long faces at the breakfast table tomorrow morning.

Ben Stiller as Avatar. Are they ever going to let that poor man come to the Oscars in a tux? He is funny. Ironic that he's doing the Best Makeup award in makeup for a movie not nominated for it.

Time for a Dodgeball reference, just because I can: "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball."

Oscars: 2:02 a.m.

Sweet merciful God: it looks as though we're not going to have to listen to all of the Best Song nominees in their entirety this year. Maybe we will finish up before 5 a.m. this morning. I REALLY would like to get to bed before Mr. MarathonMum gets up at 5:10 a.m.

T-Bone Burnett just wins, which has got to be the greatest name of a winner ever, though not the best name of a winning song. That honour would go to: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" (2006).

Tina Fey and Robert Downey Jr. are pretty funny. Man, I wish "30 Rock" was on a regular time on a regular channel, rather than channel 129 at 10 p.m. on random days.

Hurt Locker wins its first award, and I'm cheered to hear that the writer who won is a former journalist who wrote

I just thought, "Who is that with Matthew Broderick." Oh! Molly Ringwald, and they're both doing a nice tribute to John Hughes. I'm sure this is making all of us Children of the 80s choked up

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off": Definitely in my Top 10 favourite movies of all time. "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Now a nice assemblage of the Class of John Hughes (Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hal, Matthew Broderick, Mac Culkin and Judd Nelson). It has to be said: Judd Nelson hasn't aged well.

Oscars: 1:46 a.m.

OK. Best supporting actor is out of the way, but we're already on to the only category this family cares about: Best Animated Feature.

We all voted for Fantastic Mr. Fox. Don't get me wrong, Up was great, and I won't be disappointed if it wins, but I thought Mr. Fox was, well, Fantastic. I've seen it three times now in theatres, and it holds up: it's clever, it's hilarious, it's inventive and it's faithful to the book.

The winner is: Up.

OK, that's all fine, but I still think that Fantastic Mr. Fox was better, and I say this as a HUGE Pixar fan. (Note to self: Does this mean that our "Up" art book, signed by director Pete Doctor and another name we can't decipher, is now actually worth more?)

Maybe this is why George Clooney seems grumpy: he knows he'll be losing out on all of the awards that he's up for tonight.

Sadness at the breakfast table tomorrow, I have to say.

Oscars: 1:03 a.m.

It's time for the Main Event. Sky just warned us that this program, "May contain sparkly diamonds and flashing images." Funny.

But 30 minutes later, I'm still waiting for things to start. Really, they should warn people of this so we could use the time to do something useful, like make coffee or have a piece of chocolate tart. Hooray! Finally starting!

Nice new touch: lining up all the Best Actor and Best Actress nominees. Might as well have them up first thing since we won't see them for another five hours anyway.

Look! There's Doogie Harris, M.D. Obviously trying to recapture the lightening-in-a-bottle success of Hugh Jackman singing and dancing last year. Only one big problem: I can't hear him. This broadcast will not be winning anything for sound, it looks like.

Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin descend from a large crystal ball. If only I could make an entrance like that...

Vera Farmiga gets to sit next to George Clooney all night long. Lucky woman. But it looks as though George is in a bad mood, and he certainly isn't enjoying the jokes directed toward him.

Wow. A reference to "The Jerk." Now one from me: "The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!"

Poor Sandra Bullock. She looks SO nervous.

Finally. The first award of the night, only 45 minutes in. THIS is why I will be up until 5 a.m.

Oscars: Red Carpet Coverage (Part III)

George Clooney, always charming, looks awfully tired but is being very charming with the innane SkyOne interviewer. But he did say he hopes Jeff Bridges wins for "Crazy Heart." Classy.

Serendipity! Here's Jeff Bridges now, also being interviewed on SkyOne. Even though I haven't seen Crazy Heart, I hope he wins because he's awesome in everything he's ever been in. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury I submit to you: The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Fisher King, The Big Lebowski, even Fearless (seen by about six people, including me and Mr. MarathonMum). George Clooney was fantastic in "Up in the Air," so Jeff Bridges must be pretty good to beat George. We'll see. Bonus Points if he works in a reference to "The Big Lebowski" in his speech if he does win.

Kate Winslet looks very pretty, but I also worry that she seems to be disappearing. Are they letting her eat these days?

Charlize Theron: Big Mistake with the "Look At My Boobs!" dress. This will not go over well, I predict.

Cameron Diaz just waltzed in at the last minute, but finally, after years of wearing really kooky dresses to Oscar night, looks like the former model that she is. Maybe she fired her former stylist.

Wow. I can't believe it. The pre-game show is over, and it's on to the Main Event. I haven't even had a coffee yet. Might be time to do that now before things kick off.

Oscars: Red Carpet Coverage (Part II)

Just got my first look at Sandra Bullock, who looks like might win Best Actress tonight. She looks, at a very brief first glance, that she's impersonating a little gold Oscar herself in her gold dress. We might have to file this dress under the "Hillary Swank 2005" dress, where it would only looked good from the back, i.e. if she had to go up to the stage and collect the Oscar

Diane Kruger, usually impeccably dressed, is not so much tonight. It's some sort of odd pink-silk-pleating dress with a black neck and touches. Oh, goodness, no. Big mistake.

Ryan Seacrest is now talking to Quinton Aaron, the star of "The Blind Side" who was working security before be got the call to be the star on the movie. Tim McGraw has the best line of the night so far when he says, "People don't know how good an actor this guy is because he's actually a 5'8" white guy."

Nick Hornby is being interviewed on Sky-- you have to know that Ryan Seacrest wouldn't even know who he is, let alone stop him for an interview. He is living my dream, because let's face, it, the only way I'd ever get to Oscar night would be for writing, as it certainly won't be for my acting.

Wow. Sarah Jessica Parker, who's wearing Chanel, has A LOT of hair. Her dress actually looks quite comfortable, but I have to say her face looks a little tight. Maybe she's had some work done?

Colin Firth is being interviewed by SkyOne, but what I really want to know is what his wife, Livia is wearing. She's been trying to wear ethical fashion all awards season, which she's calling the "Green Carpet Challenge" for Vogue. Her dress is actually made from offcuts from other designers, and is unbeliveable, especially since it is, in essence, recycled. Now being interviewed by Ryan Seacrest, he made Colin Firth show the label on his tux to prove that he's wearing Tom Ford. He is, but like I said, I think Tom Ford makes a better tux than a movie.

Oscars: Red Carpet Coverage

Vera Farmiga, who was fantastic in "Up in the Air," is here and just said she's wearing Marchesa in magenta and looks great. She just plugged Kathryn Bigelow to win Best Director for "The Hurt Locker", and then realized she should have said Jason Reitman, who was the director in, um, THE MOVIE SHE WAS IN. I feel bad for her.

Ryan Reynolds is here now but where is his wife, Scarlett Johansson? Why are they never pictured anywhere together? Or pehaps, in the grand tradition of Hollywood marriages, they've already broekn up, 16 months after they married?

There's now a traffic jam of people waiting to talk to Ryan Seacrest: James Cameron, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elizabeth Banks and Sigorney Weaver. Only on Oscar Night.

I'm now toggling between E! Live from the Red Carpet with Ryan Seacrest, Jay Manuel and some annoying woman, and Sky One coverage, who has someone neither you nor I have ever heard of trying to get whoever she can to stop and talk to her on the Red Carpet. It's painful, but I have to go somewhere during the commercial breaks.

Hate to say, but it's back-to-back dresses I don't like: Maggie Gyllenhaal's dress is too busy-- prints on Oscar night could be daring, but it doesn't work-- and Elizabeth Bank's dress, while beautiful, is also gray. Gray! On Oscar Night! Are you kidding me?

Tom Ford, director/writer/producer of "A Single Man", who also happens to be a fashion designer. I think he should stick to fashion: the movie felt like the first offering of a film school student, though Colin Firth was fantastic. Get this: Tom Ford just said he is wearing Tom Ford!

Oscar Night 2010

After a hiatus of one year, live Oscar coverage on MarathonMum is back! Welcome back, all two of my readers!!

Oscars 2010: Will it be the year of "Avatar"? (Hope not). Will Sandra Bullock beat Meryl Streep? (Looks like it.) Will "Fantastic Mr. Fox" pull an upset over "Up"? (Probably not, but everyone at our dinner table hopes so.)

We're only 15 minutes into Red Carpet coverage, so it's still minor stars-- supporting actresses (Anna Kendrick), people who won the Fame Lottery this year (Sam Worthington, star of Avatar) and Zac Efron.

Oh goodness. Ryan Seacrest is interviewing the mayor of Los Angeles, and they said Nicole Richie and Joel Madden up next (talk about punching above your weight). We really ARE in the early minutes of Red Carpet coverage.

Roll on, Oscar night!

Bocca di Lupo: Our Best Lunch Ever

The alchemy of a fantastic meal is difficult, but not impossible, to define. Is it the anticipation? Is it the company? Is it the surroundings? Is it the service? Is it the food? Likely it is a combination of all of these things, but the formula is never the same. But when you have a truly memorable, astounding meal, the joy of the experience will last several days.

Our recent lunch at Bocca di Lupo left me so full of good food that I was happy for two days afterward. It was that good.

To get there, we traversed Leicester Square and walked past Chinatown, and took a left to get to this small restaurant on a side street in Soho. We were greeted warmly and enthusiastically, which helped enormously on a cold day in February. Unlike Locanda Locatelli, where it seems as though you have to take a Hipness Test just to secure a table, there is no attitude at Bocca di Lupo.

As we could only get a reservation at the counter, they asked us if we would like to be close to the chef. We thought that would be great fun, so we said "Please." When we got to our seats, I thought it would be terrible, because we were on the end where all of the waiters go to pick up the food. How wrong I was. They were the Best Seats in the House.

As Head Chef Jacob Kenedy wasn't there, we could see the handiwork of David Cook, the second chef, up close. We could see him discard a dish because it had too much parsley on it. We learned as soon as he did that they had run out of the brioche dessert. We saw him yell at one waiter that he was rushing the diners, and then he told us he was talking about us. We could ask him questions about certain ingredients. We could see what dishes were the most popular-- Cream of Langoustine Risotto went through the pass several times-- and the ones that were hardly ever ordered-- Coda all Vaccinara (braised oxtail).

Bocca di Lupo could be described as Italian tapas, because you can order either the small sized dish or the large dish. We ordered seven small dishes shared between the two of us, and that satisfied us until breakfast the next day. The highlights were the Spaghetti & Parmesan Frittata (fresh eggs + careful preparation = gorgeous dish) and the Crescentini (fried bread) with finocchiona, speck and squacquerone (a fresh runny cheese with a big salt kick=delicious).

When we return, and you better believe we'll be back, we'll probably sit at the counter again just for the Food Theatre. The chef never measured anuthing with a measuring cup, he did it all by handfuls, tastes and smells. When we asked about the squacquerone, we agreed that it was sublime but probably also not very healthy."If you're going to pick your poison," I said, "I want it to taste good."

We finished off with a build-your-own Cannoli and a Bombe Calde (freshly fried donut with a chocolate cream filling). By then we were very fully, very satisfied and very happy.

Once we recognized during the meal that this was going to be one for the record books, we took a trip a down memory lane ranking our favourite meals out. In the Top 5 were the Connaught Hotel with Angela Hartnett for our 10th anniversary in 2005, a place in Dijon we went to on our honeymoon in 1995 and will never find again, any night at Pastafina in Chicago (our local when we were courting and beyond (1991-1998), grilled halibut fresh off the docks in Homer, Alaska (1996), and Bocca di Lupo (2010).

The science of alchemy is a mystery, just like the variables at work in our Top 5 Favourite Meals of All Time. But when you get it right, it's pure gold.

Bocca di Lupo, 12 Archer Street, Soho, London W1D 7BB. 020.7734.2223.

Why I Think Gordon Brown Is Not a Bully

Occasionally, there are news stories here in the U.K. that just go on and on and on for no discernible reason. This week that story is "Gordon Brown is a Bully."

Gordon Brown, you see, is our prime minister. A new book has come out by the Observer's political editor that recounts some scenes that show that our prime minister has a bit of a temper. Shocker! Someone with one of the most stressful jobs in the world gets angry from time to time. Stop the presses! This is big news!

Soon after the book's excerpts were printed in the Sunday Observer, Christine Pratt, the head of the National Bullying Helpline, claimed that her charity had received several calls from staff at Downing Street. She then made appearances on every major news show in the U.K. to recount the claims. Ms. Pratt, it would seem, got her 15 minutes of fame.

However, I don't think this story passes the smell test.

First, think about people who are lucky enough to work at Downing Street. Surely they must appreciate the stress the prime minister is under, and he may get angry from time to time. I get angry from time to time and I don't even have to worry about running a country. Surely they wouldn't have felt the need to get support from a helpline? A helpline, incidentally, that is only open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Secondly, the charity is incredibly small. That's not to say that people wouldn't have called it, but surely if people had concerns about being bullied at work, they would have used better known avenues to vent their frustration and concerns. According to the Charity Commission website, the charity only had revenues of £1,818 in 2007, and the accounts for 2008 are 209 days overdue.

In fact, if you Google "Bullying at Work," the charity's website doesn't appear in the first 100 search results, or the first 10 search results pages, though it does top the list in news results.

Finally, even if they did call the helpline, isn't that an egregious breach of confidentiality? Wouldn't Ms. Pratt's claims make future clients reluctant to call the helpline, for fear that their information would be shared in the national media?

I don't doubt that the charity did good work, albeit on a small scale. But I just don't believe that they got the calls. The helpline has been suspended, as most of its patrons have now resigned, and it needs to figure out what to do next.

Please, U.K. news media, can we move to another story now?

For my friends under a blanket of snow...

p.s. At the moment, it's coming down in London, too!

Lego Portaits: Best Use of the iPhone

I jest, of course, because there are a million useful things you can do with an iPhone. But this is our new fascination, which is turning pictures of ourselves into Lego portraits. I entertained four children for 30 minutes at the pool yesterday with this, and if that's not worth the price of the app (free!), then I don't know what is.

The new Lego Application: Get it, and become a star among the Under 11 set.

The Last Decade, in Magazine Covers (Very Cool)

What it Feels Like in the U.K. Right Now

(As taken by NASA's Terra Satellite on Thursday)

Christmas Snow in London

Thing One enjoying the icy slopes at Greenwich Park on Sunday.

"It looks like my face has been warped," he said.

(Position in lower left corner due to slow shutter speed of the iPhone.)

Greenwich Advent Windows 2009

Candy Cane Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Thanksgiving Turkeys 2009

Happily made by 24 Cub Scout Beavers in London

(Thing Two did the one on the right)

Last night, I had to go to Thing Two's Cub Scout Beavers meeting to talk to the boys and girls about the most exotic of things: How Americans Celebrate Thanksgiving.

I had done this, once before, for Thing One three years ago. Luckily, I even still had feathers left over from the last time, handily stored away in our Party Box. In any case, we made the above turkeys using apples, pipe cleaners, feathers, toothpicks (or cocktail sticks, as they say here) and tape. I was pretty pleased with my handiwork.

I started off the evening by giving the Beavers a brief history of Thanksgiving. Here's a summary:

"The Pilgrims left England. They went to Holland, but didn't like that either. They finally found two boats (The Mayflower and The Speedwell) to take them to the "New World." Only the Mayflower made the whole journey. There were 102 passengers by the time they landed in Massachusetts on 11 November 1620. One baby was born en route. November is not the best time to start a new life in New England. By the time their first year was out, 50 people died. Their brave commander was Captain Miles Standish. The pilgrims were lucky to have help from the Indians, who taught them how to farm and what they could eat. The first Thanksgiving in 1621, about one year after they landed, was a three-day feast. The pilgrims even drank liquor!! Thanksgiving became a national holiday when George Washington was president in 1789. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in 1862 that Thanksgiving will be celebrated forevermore on the fourth Thursday of November. FDR fiddled with it a little bit during the depression, to make it earlier in order to give beleaguered retailers a longer Christmas season, but public outcry led to a Congressional resolution which set Thanksgiving officially as the fourth Thursday in November. Americans have been proudly eating and drinking to excess on that day ever since."

Since we don't have the day off here in the U.K. today or tomorrow, we will formally celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday, when we can eat and drink to excess, as our Founding Fathers intended.

Hope you all enjoy my most favourite holiday of the year.

Halloween 2009

Max from "Where the Wild Things Are" and Einstein get ready to party.

Taking a Chance in Lisbon

Mr. MarathonMum and I got to go away to Lisbon for a "dirty weekend" (as they say here, and I have to say, I do love that expression). The weather was sunny and hot, the people were nice and the legendary custard tarts at Antiga Confeitaria de Belem, were, quite simply, one of the best things I ever ate.

It was our last night there and we wanted to have a really special meal. Our less than impressive hotel, which came with our British Airways package deal, recommended a local restaurant. Mr. MarathonMum was skeptical, but I told him we should try it. It was late, I was tired, and I didn't want to spend my night tromping around the streets of Lisbon looking for a restaurant.

But Mr. MarathonMum was right: the restaurant was awful. I think it's safe to say that if the menus are laminated and you're not in Denny's or a diner, it won't be a good dining experience. So for the first time in our life, we made our apologies to the waiter and told him we wouldn't be eating there after all, and walked out.

On the way to Disaster Dining, we passed a pretty unassuming restaurant that proudly displayed its fresh meat and fish in its front window. It looked promising, so we decided to go there, after rejecting two other restaurants on looks alone on the way there.

It was the best decision we've made this year. Although they didn't speak much English, they spoke enough. Not only were the menus not laminated, I'm not sure they had menus at all-- instead the waiter just told us what was fresh and good for the day and then they grilled it for us.

This restaurant would probably never make the cut for a guidebook. (Though I was amazed to find it on the Interweb.) It was truly a local restaurant for local people, and the food was delicious. It was one of the best meals we've had all year.

Almost 10 years ago, I went to Rome with my friend. I remember walking about 30 minutes to get to a restaurant that was recommended in our guidebook, and I distinctly remember saying to her, "It's possible that we're passing loads of restaurants that would be just as good. We're slaves to the book!"

I know that travelling can be daunting and sometimes difficult. It's just easier to rely on the words and advice of people who have been to the cities before to figure out where to go, but especially where to eat. But as our experience in Lisbon shows, sometimes taking a chance can be the best decision of all.

Thing One Turns 10!

Thing One with his birthday Ferrari. (He wishes!!)

Ten years old! Double digits! Now that is something else, for both Thing One and his parents. It's such a cliche to say, "Wow, time has flown by," but honestly, time really has flown by.

He's so big now, I was left wondering yesterday if I could still pick him up. After all, he's only a head shorter than me at this point-- so last night I tried to do it. Luckily, I can still pick my beautiful boy up, but only just. He's all limbs and angles now, so it's not nearly as easy as it was when I bundled him up in his bear snow suit in 1999 and carted him all around London.

Usually on the birthdays of Thing One and Two I like to summarize the things that they've accomplished this year, and the things they love to do. Thing One still loves science, aerospace, Boy Scouts, swimming, Lego and all things electronic. This year, to his delight, he won the paper airplane flying competition at Science Night at school, he also passed his first cello exam, among other accomplishments.

But the thing he did this year that makes the proudest doesn't come with trophy or a certificate. One Monday, one of Thing One's best friends told me that their cat, Nelson, had been run over by a car during the weekend. His friend, who has got to be one of the toughest boys I know, started to cry. Later that afternoon, Thing One and I started to talk about death-- of both people and beloved pets-- and what that means for people, and how sad it can be.

Thing One gave it some thought, and then he suggested that maybe we would want to get his friend a stuffed cat that resembled Nelson. I said that might make him even sadder, so then Thing One suggested that we stop by the bookstore and get his friend a funny book to cheer him up. We did that, returned home and then Thing One got busy making his friend a card.

Thing One wanted to deliver the gift straightaway, and luckily his grandpa was here from the U.S. so they could walk over together. I don't know what the card said, or what transpired when he got to his friend's house. All I know is the next day, his friend's mother came up to me in the school playground and said, "Your son is unbelievable. He has got to be one of the loveliest boys I know."

I couldn't agree more.

Thing Two Loses First Tooth

Thing Two has been telling us for weeks that he has a wobbly tooth. However, given his propensity to liberally engage with the truth, I did not post a Wobbly Tooth Watch, as I did with Thing One. But even the Boy Who Cried Wolf eventually did see a wolf, and, so Thing Two really was telling the truth.

Thing Two, who we also call Mr. Movie for his love of things cinematic, was, appropriately enough, at the movies watching "Night at the Museum 2" when the tooth finally fell out. It obviously had been wobbling for quite a while because there was no blood at the scene.

Sharp-eyed readers also will notice that he is wearing is Gryffindor tie. This is not because he wanted to look smart for the tooth fairy, but because we were attending a reading awards ceremony sponsored by the library, which Thing Two won.

So all in all, a big day for our little man, who is one step closer to growing up.