Week 7 & 8 of 2024 (In Review)

Even writing week in review posts is proving to be challenging but it’s a special exercise this year only so I hope you are enjoying them so far! The past two weeks brought us Valentine’s Day, which is always a fun week to observe. It was a little bit cold and windy but I had a little coffee date with my Little Man in the monastery courtyard. It was fun watching him wander around. He’s in that phase right now where he’s discovering walking around outside and every single thing is new and exciting. The other day we all went on a family walk to a playground — the first time we left the house without a carrier or pram — and every door, stoop, gate, car in a parking lot was thrilling.

We took a day trip to Pisek to go to Sladovna (childrens’ museum) last weekend so Mouse could play at the Pilařiště – a special baby and toddler play area designed just for little ones to crawl around in and discover. It’s fun just to get out of town and go on an excursion in the winter for a change of scenery.

Starting again at my teaching job (as I mentioned doing one day a week) felt… like pushing play on something that has been on pause for two years. I am teaching the exact same class(material, albeit different students) that I taught exactly two years ago. Feels very… normal and teaching [big classes] again was not something I had to get used to, really.

Now that March is on the horizon and the first flowers of the year have bloomed, it’s a reminder that winter will soon be drawing to a close already. I’ve adopted the outlook of relishing winter as a time to recharge in the dark coziness for all of the bright activity to come this year… so it’s time to embrace the candles, hot chocolates, winter walks, books, movies and television shows a little longer. To make special time to rest. If only I could bank rest… I know that our youngest family member will be rising early with the sun as we head into spring. (Last year was a bit rough!) Hopefully this year will be better.

What We Ate

I recently purchased some Solid Starts cookbooks as they will soon be switching to an app format and I have enjoyed the dinner cookbook so much over the past ten months. The reason I truly love these cookbook guides is that the recipe makes meals for the whole family and they tell you any specific modifications to make for the toddler’s meal. They are simple, fresh and recommend ingredients that I wouldn’t have necessarily thought to cook with, which obviously aims at introducing the toddler to many new foods and broadening their cuisine horizons. Our meals over the past few weeks have been heavily influenced by it and can’t recommend it enough if you have babies or toddlers. (Yes I realize I am very much in my mom era, thanks)

Kitchadi (My New Roots inspired) which is an Indian large batch rice-mung bean dish, even better with some sambal oelek sauce. I often eat this for days.

Falafel patties with cheese (Halloumi or mozzarella for our little one) and a chopped salad of cucumbers and tomatoes with lemon juice. The DM falafel mix is just gold.

Quesadillas – an absolute go-to easy meal. The best ones are with refried (or mashed) beans, cheese, sauteed spinach and red pepper and served with avocado slices and a sour cream or yogurt dip. So easy and good for a quick meal.

Kimchi Fried Rice (inspired by the Solid Starts lunch cookbook). White rice, kimchi, green onions… I like to add in an egg for more protein.

Blender Muffins from the Toddler Healthnut Cookbook. Muffin batter made in a blender. Then add blueberries, pour into tins and bake. It does not get easier and I love that it uses almond flour (GF!), oats and hemp hearts. Definitely will be remaking these over and over.

Wearing

Heavy coats unbuttoned whenever possible to let in the sun and warm breezes! Layers. Tights. Baseball caps. Big chunky boots when it’s still cold (which it often is).

Watching / Reading / Enjoying

I’ve been trying to go out more recently as there have been some excellent cultural events here recently. I loved the Marjari and Lenka Dusilova Band concert. Lenka Dusilova, who I’ve seen maybe three times now always brings it. It was the best show I’ve seen since Iceland Airwaves 2022, for real. Never miss her show if you live in the Czech Republic.

We watched When Harry Met Sally for Valentine’s Day weekend and I enjoyed that immensely! The fashion! The physical comedy! The unbeatable, unforgettable moments. Perfect winter watch.

We also saw The Holdovers (good!) which is inspiring some kind of Alexander Payne film retrospective for us here at home after Oscar season, I think. There are still many films of his I’d like to see.

On my nightstand lately has been Germany 1923, a thick non-fiction about Weimar-era Germany, (far bleaker than I had assumed!) particularly this eventful year that set history in motion and we see how exactly the conditions were set during this time for the National Socialist party to flourish. It’s not a quick read but it’s fascinating. We all should be reading and learning from history – exactly why I love reading Jamelle Bouie’s New York Times weekly newsletter which Alex turned me onto. He excels at this from an American perspective about the history of our own country and how the events happening now actually have similarly occurred in our past.

Newsletters are a real thing in this age, aren’t they! On one hand, I love that I have it “forever” in my email somewhere but on the other hand there are so many limitations with newsletters that blogs or websites don’t have… plus they are just sent to you whether you are ready for it or not.

On My Mind

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about authenticity and integrity – both areas where I feel very true to myself offline, but when the internet is thrown into the mix get a little confusing. It is so easy to lose these values on the internet when you’re trying to play into what the algorithm thinks is hot right now. That “if you’re not making video content, you’re losing out” as the message Meta is trying to send us right now. I had mentioned wanting to make a Day in the Life post and had considered even making a reel about it to try my hand at video, but after listening to some voices that I really respect, I wasn’t quite sure that this aligns with my values. I don’t like the idea of bowing to whatever the hot new thing is on social media (can you tell? as I still write in this blog?) just because it’s popular to do so and to not do it means some kind of failure. Although the prospect of video content creation seems alluring, in the end I am not sure it aligns for me. I much prefer the written word and photography, even though I absolutely love watching videos myself. With blogging I feel that there is more control over privacy and who is invited to your space. I admire the content creators who make these fantastic reels but I need the privacy more. It’s not worth it to me to make myself so vulnerable to strangers. I truly wish I were the kind of person who could be a YouTuber or feel okay about going viral on Instagram but I am not, I can’t change that, and that is just who I am.

I do love getting real on Instagram and sharing thoughts on the grid there because it has been so fun building a little community and meeting like-minded people there. The thing is… without sharing and being a little vulnerable online, you won’t have that community. So a little bit of vulnerability, I am comfortable with.

What do you think about integrity and authenticity on the internet? What is important to you when putting yourself online?