Six Months, Valentine's Day, Carnival, and Tarte Tatin

Saturday

Arthur's got Valentine's Day down - "I give you flowers, you give me a BJ"

Arthur woke up at 7:30 on Valentine's Day, so it was a rush to feed the hungry beast without any tooth brushing or anything. Which was a bit unfortunate, because Miklós had laid out a beautiful homemade Valentine's Day Miffy Connections challenge for me to solve, which I was only able to admire as I frantically made a cup of tea before running upstairs to nurse.

Arthur was a bit restless even during his morning feeding session, and his breath still stank. Maybe I'll start only seasoning things with cinnamon and mint from now. Despite his bad breath, however, the little charmer did receive a romantic Valentine's Day card from his true love, Sonja, who probably wants some more nose jobs from him. He also got some fancy baby food.

The Stinky Cheese Man refuels

He was in a pretty good mood in the early afternoon though, and quite giggly. I gave him some more of that cauliflower-onion-green onion-kefir purée, which smelled even more pungent the second day around. He seemed to really like it though, and ate spoonful after spoonful, banging his spoon on the table and grunting when he wanted more. He's getting better and better at holding the spoon on his own, although he doesn't generally want to relinquish it when I try to refill it. He actually got quite a kick out of playing tug-of-war with the spoon and Mama!

While his parents enjoyed a fancy Valentine's Day dinner (recipe for that below), Arthur got his own treat: more egg! It was the same leftover scramble he's had the past couple of days, with egg, turmeric, garlic powder, cooked in ghee. Once again, Arthur guzzled it down, banging his spoon on the table and grunting as a very polite and sophisticated means of letting us know he would like some more, please.

Don't let the Cupid get-up fool you - he foiled his parents' special time together

So, on Saturday, Arthur ate:

• cauliflower

• whole-milk kefir

• green onion

• onion powder

• egg

• turmeric

• garlic powder

• ghee

Sunday

Sunday was Arthur's six-month birthday!!! It kind of blows my mind. On the one hand, it really does feel like we were in the hospital with him just a week ago. On the other hand, I really can't imagine life without him at this point.

He woke up around 7:45 on his big day, and was in a pretty good mood in the morning. He was even chill in his crib while Mama attempted to cut Papa's hair. It was the first day of Carnival in Maastricht, so we dressed him up in his bear suit from Kaila, popped him in the sling, and went out to see the festivities around 11. We had ordered some noise cancelling headphones for him, which I put on him under his bear hood. He slept a bit while out, but did get pretty fussy at one point, so we didn't stay out terribly long. We tried later in the stroller, and he was a bit more content, but with all the noise, smoke, chaos, and very cold windy weather, we didn't stay out too long. Still, it was fun to see all the costumes! Our favorite was a couple dressed as a giant fly and fly swatter.

Setting out for the festivities!

When we got home, we noticed that the ear muffs had left quite an impression on Arthur's head. Maybe that's why he was fussing. So, next time, looser.

For snack time, Arthur finished off the bean purée from a couple of days ago. He seemed to have mixed feelings about it this time, but did eat all that I offered him, finishing it off with a massive poop. You know what they say about beans...

He seemed to have something bothering his throat after his afternoon snack, so I opted to skip the solids during dinner time. So the only solid food he had on his big day was that bean purée.

Birthday crown + birthday owl (Pig)

Which means Arthur's half birthday solids came to:

• cannellini beans

• lupin beans

• garlic

• Parmesan

Sunday dinner, again, is Miklós's territory, but I wanted to try something special for Valentine's Day dinner. Pumpkins were on sale, and I'd been intrigued by this tarte tatin recipe on a lovely French website I'd been perusing recently. So, I thought I'd give it a try! As usual, I made a couple of edits - dry thyme instead of fresh, hemp hearts instead of pumpkin seeds, kefir instead of yoghurt in the crust, and a bit more cheese (but a light version, so, you know, it's all good). I was thrilled with how it turned out; it looked beautiful and was super tasty! And it wasn't hard to make at all. I'll have to make it again, maybe with other veggies; the recipe poster also has a leek version that looks nice. Anyways, here's how I made it:

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Pumpkin Cheese Tarte Tatin (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 1 Hokkaido squash (mine ended up being 640g when seeded and peeled)

• ½ tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp syrup/honey

• salt & dried thyme, to taste

• 150g light white cheese, cut into small pieces

• 2 tbsp hemp hearts

• Crust:

  • 150g whole wheat spelt flour

  • 130g homemade kefir

  • salt, to taste

Instructions

1. Seed and cut the pumpkin into small pieces.

2. Microwave the pumpkin pieces for 5 minutes to make the skin easier to peel.

3. Peel the pumpkin.

4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

5. Spread the oil and syrup evenly on the bottom of a tart tin. Place the pumpkin pieces on top, making sure there are no gaps, and overlapping if necessary.

6. Sprinkle with salt & thyme, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

7. While the pumpkin is in the oven, prepare the pastry dough by mixing the three ingredients.

8. Roll the dough thinly onto a floured surface.

9. Take the pumpkin out of the oven, once it's partially cooked, and sprinkle with ¾ of the cheese. Top with the pastry dough.

10. Put it back in the oven and bake for another 25 minutes.

11. Remove from the oven, and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cover the tart dish with a plate or cutting board, and carefully and quickly flip it over.

12. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, hemp hearts, and some more thyme, and enjoy!