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.

Say Hello to Our Paper Airplane Champion!

Happy Science Week, everyone. At our school, that means it's time for the annual Family Science Night Competition, which is always hotly contested.

The first year, the Spaghetti Challenge, I nearly had a nervous breakdown because Thing Two just wanted to eat all the marshmallows and I couldn't figure out how to do it. (Important Note: the point of the evening is that CHILDREN learn about science, not that adults do it for them. However, sometimes it's hard to not jump in.) Needless to say, we lost.

The second year, the Egg Challenge, went much better for us. When I say "much better" I mean we won it, which was awesome. The challenge was to create a container that would protect an egg when it was dropped from different heights. We did a parachute/double-cup with shock insulation contraption, which helped the egg survive the first drop, from 10 feet, the second drop, from 15 feet, and the third drop, from the school's first-story window. The competition ended there because the school doesn't have another floor. The winner was chosen by lottery from all of those that survived the third drop. So you might say that our victory was not a pure one, but a victory is a victory, I say. 

Last year, the Car Challenge, was a disaster for us. You had to make a car out of the materials provided. For a family whose favourite show is Top Gear the fact that we couldn't construct a car that would win, let alone get across the start line, is a cruel irony. The less said about the competition, the better.

Finally, this year, we had the Paper Airplane Challenge. Again, you had to use the materials provided to make a paper airplane that flew the farthest. But Thing One knows the value of preparation, and he had spent the previous day reading our book about paper airplanes to figure out which design would be the best. We tested several models, and then he reached his decision. "The Professional" is the one that works best. Thing Two then memorized the instructions, so he could do it for the challenge. We were ready, but I kept telling the boys we had already won once, so we didn't have to win again. 

We got to school, gave our team the name, "The Empire Strikes Back," Thing Two's contribution, and Thing One got to work. We had 20 minutes to get the plane done, but he had it all folded and ready to go in under five. (Here's a tip for future Paper Airplane Contestants: Good Folding means Good Flying). There were several heats and our little Professional kept on winning.

At last, it was time for the final three: Our Little Professional, a huge Concorde-resembling plane, and another that resembled a 747. The whistle blew, and off they flew. But the Professional and the Concorde seemed to flown an equal distance, so we replayed the final. I could barely take the suspense. Again, the whistle blew and off they flew, and when all the dust had settled, the winner was US! Whoo-hoo!

But I have to say the thing I loved most about this victory was the fact that the work and the victory was completely down to Thing One. He did the research, he memorized the design, and he flew the plane. He is very proud of himself, and I am even more proud of him.

New Imax: Legends of Flight

We love the Science Museum. Always have, always will.

Last night, we took advantage of our Science Museum membership to see the European premiere of the new Imax film, "Legends of Flight".

("Oh! Another premiere!!" Thing One said. I really have to stop this, as they're beginning to think it's normal.)

I was really looking forward to it. I thought it might be like my first-ever Imax film I saw in the late 1970s, "To Fly!" which was shown at the at the National Air & Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"Legends of Flight" is predominately about the development of Boeing's new airplane, the 787. It also shows some other historic airplanes, such as the Constellation and the Harrier jet.

In some respects, it was like the best bits of "To Fly." There were several scenes of amazing cinematography, especially when the glider is flying over what appears to be Alaskan glaciers. They also used animation pretty well, showing the structure of a plane versus the physiology of a bird.

But the film also certainly marked a cinematic milestone: the use of Imax technology to show a business meeting. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. They actually had several (not just one) Boeing (or should that be boring) meetings about the development of the 787. Is that really the best use of Imax technology? I think not.

The boys loved it, and both awarded it a thumbs-up. I might have given it a thumbs-up if there had been less meetings and more flying.

Yet again, I am either a good mother for taking them to something exciting, or a bad mother, for not getting them home until 10:30 p.m. on a school night. It's a toss up.

"Legends of Flight": if you'd like to see a business meeting through the magic of Imax, this is the film for you.

Halloween 2011

They can't help but smile because they love Halloween, but they're not in character.

See below for the "in character" photos.

This year marked our 12th Halloween in the U.K. We celebrated in high style: we scored the biggest pumpkin from The Creaky Shed, we had nearly 50 people for Halloween hijinks on Sunday afternoon, and we finished it all off with trick or treating on Monday night.

The costumes the boys created this year were more nuanced than previous years, but believe me, a LOT of thought and discussion went into the assembling of them both. For example, it would appear that Thing Two is wearing only a suit. However, upon closer inspection, his "Hello My Name Is" tag says, "Lex Luther." He spent weeks thinking about the details-- he wanted to wear cufflinks and a tie clip, just like Lex Luther. He had Daily Plant front pages in his pockets which he had marked with an X and had crumpled up in Lex Luther anger. We got him a bald cap, so he could look most like Lex Luther, but after trying it once, he didn't want to wear it. He found it too uncomfortable. (Where is his devotion to his art, I ask?) When I asked him when he wanted to change his large green Green Lantern ring into a Krptonite ring, he said, "Mom, I don't want to provide TOO much detail."

Thing One was a Hard Man, complete with a backward baseball cap, tattooed arm and an axe in his head. Perfect. He too, wasn't too keen on additional accessories, such as scars or makeup. Maybe he wanted to streamline his Halloween operation, knowing that he'd have to rush off to trick or treating following rugby practice and then dinner. The tattooed arm-- or "sleeve" to use the proper tattoo terminology-- was an awesome purchase from Hong Kong earlier this month. It looked pretty realistic, if you didn't look to closely at it.

He's not smiling because he was in character.

So that's another Halloween done and dusted. At this point, we're starting to wonder how many more years Thing One will be up for participating. At least I know I've got three solid years with Thing Two before I need to worry about it. We had a blast on Friday night-- on our way to the Science Museum Halloween Party-- looking at all the pictures from previous yeras. If you want to see the collection yourself, click through to here.

Happy Halloween!

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.