Curried Hummus

For all of you curry lovers out there, I thought I would share this hummus recipe I found online. The only thing I would change is to process everything except for the water and then add the water at the end to get your desired consistency. Well, I guess that's not the only thing I'd change...I also added an extra teaspoon of curry. Yum!

INGREDIENTS:

2 (15.5 ounce) cans chick peas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 garlic cloves, crushed 4 teaspoons curry powder

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/2 cup water Salt, to taste Hot sauce, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Serve (drizzled with olive oil, if desired) with pita chips.

Bringing 2009 to a Close

Sorry for the long break from blog posts! The holidays proved to be incredibly busy this year...here are some photos of the latter part of December.....

Christmas at the Thorkelsons

Nana and Grandpa T with Henry.

Auntie Laura and Henry. They match in their Norwegian garb.

Hoken enjoying his glasses that double as as straw. :)

Christmas at the Rosas

The clan at Marcia's house. Henry wasn't cooperating for any of the photos.

Christmas at the Millers

Marvin loved his new bike from Ya Ya and Bubba. All the other presents paled in comparison to this one. We all got a pretty good laugh when he opened up a present of clothing and then continued to look under the tissue paper for the "real present"..."Hmm...maybe the toy is under here...hm...no..."

My big Christmas present from John...a hot pink Snuggie! Score!

The hostess with the mostess, Anna, and Henry.

Just some fun photos

Just a cute photo of the little guy.

He can finally hold his head up well enough to sit in the Bumbo seat. Yay!

Aw...Dad and Henry showing each other some love....looks like Walter was also showing Ardy some love in the background. Hm. I wonder about those two dogs sometimes....

Rosettes and Krumkake...oh my!

After Henry's appointment yesterday, we went to Laura's house for some holiday baking. We took on the challenge of the Thorkelson traditions: krumkake and rosettes. Yum!

We fried up some rosettes in lard (mmm....lard). Pictured below with us are John, the chief quality inspector, and Laura, the hostess with the mostess.

Mia helped out with the Rosettes when she got home from school. And let me tell you, her rosettes were the best looking out of all of them. She's a natural:

Henry supervised from the chair:

Eric was the master krumkake pastry chef (notice his fine technique in how he prepares to scoop the batter...no one can compete with that...well, okay...maybe Laura could do better ;):

Some of the most fun yesterday came from the one and only Hoken. He was rather mesmerized by Henry. His first question when we walked in the door was whether or not Henry had learned any new words. Not yet...he's still working on holding up his own head! Here's an adorable photo of Hoken, Trygg and Henry:

Two months and counting

Henry had his 2 month well check yesterday and everything went as expected. He was alert the whole time and was quite the trooper with the vaccinations (although, it was the first time we actually saw tears come from his little eyes...poor thing). The only somewhat unfortunate news from the ordeal is that the little red spot above his left eye is here to stay for up to 3 years and that we are battling quite a bit of eczema. But, all in all, we feel blessed that these are the only two "issues" as it could be a heckuva lot worse.

Now for the stats...he is quite the big boy! His height is currently 24.5" (90th percentile) and his weight is 12 lb 14 oz (75th percentile).

Here is a photo of him before the big event...

In preparation...

...for Henry's 2 month vaccinations tomorrow, we dressed him in his "tough" shirt. We're sure this article of clothing is just the thing he needs to be strong for the doctor (although, the look in his eyes tells us something different...We believe he is saying, "Something fishy is going on...."). Stay posted for an update on where he stands in regard to his height and weight percentiles.

The Nutcracker

Ah, 'tis the season... Eric and I went to The Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker last Friday. We were a bit naive and thought that we could just waltz into a restaurant for dinner before the show. Oh boy were we wrong! Everywhere was absolutely packed! We were looking at a two hour wait at most places, or we could have hovered over someone's bar table to wait for them to leave and then snatch their spot. Since we were both in an optimistic mood, we continued to search for someone who would let us in (we thought this was also very Christmas-y as it resembled Mary & Joseph's story where there was no room at the inn...;). Anyway, we walked into McCormick & Schmick's to find that they were booked as well...oh wait...no! they had a table! Yay!! Thank goodness. The best part is that we were able to watch the Holidazzle Parade go by as we ate. And let it be said that the Alice in Wonderland this year was definitely not as lively as I was last year. Seriously, she needed to put some oomph into her walk. After our dinner, we hustled over to the show. It was great to see so many people dressed up for the holidays. It really put us in the Christmas spirit.

Photo of us at dinner...

Brrr...it's cold out there

Another fairly eventful week in the Thorkelson household. Not only did Henry grow out of all of his 0-3 month clothes, but we also set up the Christmas tree. Both are clearly very big events. ;) But really...the last week was fun-filled with....

...a visit from Lacey and Colin. Brunch, a walk, and great conversation. We miss you guys! (By the way, Walter would not leave Colin alone and was quite sad when they left).

...Nana and Grandpa T brought us some yummy Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch one day. Henry wasn't cooperating with the camera and thought it would be best if he kept his eyes closed...now only if he thought that during nap time...

...Northfield's Winter Walk. Oh man, it was coooold outside. We had to get Henry all bundled up for the occasion. He wasn't too fond of the million layers his over-protective mom put him in under the snowsuit (note his stressed out face below). He looks kind of like that kid from the Christmas Story, doesn't he? Anyway, the Winter Walk was great. They had the street lined with candles, Rudolph and Frosty running around, carolers, and the shops were packed full of people. This definitely is going to be a Thorkelson family tradition for years to come. One of my favorite parts of the evening though was when a random woman saw we had an infant and she (a) advised us on every thing we can do to soothe him and (b) proceeded to try and sell herself as our nanny. Um, no thanks. :)

...another bath, which is one of our favorite activities. His face was so sweet in this photo...I had to share it.

Cue the Christmas Music

Thanksgiving is over...and that means one thing: the Christmas season is finally here! Not only is the Christmas season here, but it's Black Friday. I remember the days of fighting the crowds and getting all of my holiday shopping done in hours and at a deep discount. My elbows were always sore afterward from nudging my way through the deals and lines. But that's the price you pay for an insurmountable shopper's rush! This year, I'm fully taking advantage of the 2009 technology and shopping online for the deals. I'll miss the competition to get that last cashmere scarf that's 99% off, but it's much more fun cruising for deals in my PJs with my coffee in hand. Ahhhh...coffee. :)

In any event, Henry and I had a great time at Bubba and Ya Ya's yesterday celebrating Thanksgiving. We went non-traditional with the food and dined over Italian (lasagna galore!). Eric, on the other hand, had gas station nachos. Poor guy. I'm sure if he closed his eyes and thought hard enough that they would have turned into a turkey dinner.

Mini Santa Clause

Here are the twins: Bubba and Henry

Six Weeks

Six weeks already...yikes. Time just flies by with this little one (although, we are definitely singing a different tune in the middle of the night...those don't seem to go by fast enough!). Henry has been getting weighed each week when we go to Northfield's Baby Talk (the first ECFE class) and it's always a fun guessing game. Will it be just a couple of ounces? Half a pound?! Ooohhh the anticipation!!! :) This last week Henry weighed in at 11 lbs 10 oz! Keep in mind that this is with his clothes on, but that is still not too shabby! Ahh...they grow so quickly...it's so bittersweet.

Here are some more photos from the past week or so....

Molly holding Henry: Doesn't she look like a natural?! I think Henry kind of looks like a doll in this photo...freaky.

Grandma Kathy (a.k.a. Ya Ya) and Henry: Biiig yawn! That yellow mitten has his 6 wk weight on it.

Dad's plane (too bad you can't see the winglets). Watch out for those mountains! ;) Wish you were home!

Mom and Henry: He's wearing the adorable outfit that Mary bought him (thanks, Mary!).

We'll miss you, Gigi

You'll always have a special place in our hearts. We'll miss you.