Eliana's 6-yr-old Birthday Party with Friends
Eliana turns 6 this year. To celebrate, she asked for a "tea party" themed birthday party with her friends. Her first gift was from us, a brand new tea party dress and hat. She was very happy and smiling widely after putting on the new dress:

Kristy kept the party pretty simple. We set up just two tables (in the garage): one table for an activity/craft, and a second table for the tea party lunch Eliana is hosting.

Her friends were asked to attend in a fancy tea party dress and bring their favorite doll. Here is a picture of each of the guests:

Before lunch was served, Eliana and her friends used special markers to decorate white tea cups. After the marker dries, the tea cups are baked to set the ink. The kids had a lot of fun.

Time for tea!

Fortunately, the very best waiters were available for the tea party.

Time for dessert! And there was plenty to go around, including petit fours, macaroons, mini cream puffs, divinity, and chocolate covered Oreos.

Before dessert could be served though, there was the small matter of the birthday song and blowing out the candles.

After dessert, the presents were opened. Each guest posed with Eliana for a quick picture:

Sometimes Less is More
A few days ago I posted an article about making better bread with less kneading. As I confessed in my comments on the article, I don't always knead my wheaty heartier bread doughs to "windowpane" status. My stand mixer has a handy timer on it that I just set for 10, 12, or 15 minutes. Today I went down to 8 minutes (daring I know!), yet the final product was just as lovely and tasty as any loaf I have baked in the past. Check it out:

Madeleines
While we were in Paris, the kids quickly developed their favorite pastries and/or confections to eat. For Eliana it was a chocolate éclair, Berkeley loved the pain au chocolate, and Olivia could devour several madeleines in one sitting. I don't think I have the patience to make the former two desserts, but madeleines are simple to prepare. Today, the Chicago Metallic nonstick madeleine pan I ordered from amazon showed up at the doorstep. On the pan's packaging was printed this recipe... I thought I should preserve it before I toss the cardboard in the recycling bin.

⅔ cup flour
¼ tsp baking powder
½ cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup powdered sugar

For orange madeleines:
½ tsp orange extract
½ tsp orange peel

  or
For lemon madeleines:
½ tsp lemon extract
½ tsp lemon peel

  or
For strawberry madeleines:
½ tsp strawberry flavoring
1 tbs finely chopped strawberry rind

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray pan with PAM or other non-stick spray. Sift together flour and baking power in a small bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat eggs, orange extract, orange peel (or alternate flavoring) on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in powered sugar. Beat another 5 minutes or until thick.

Gently fold in flour mixture, then melted butter. Mix until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the cups, filling about ¾ full. Bake approximately 8 minutes, or until edges are light brown. Cool in the pan around 1-2 minutes. Loosen cookies with a knife, then invert pan on a rack. When cool, sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar.

Note: almond extract and finely ground almonds can also be used as a flavoring, but I'm allergic to almonds so that is right out for me.

Trololol
I asked my sis-in-law Kathryn (who served an LDS mission in Russia) to explain this:

She was speechless.

Editing RAW Images on Linux
I have a confession. I almost never shoot RAW. However, after reading a bunch of articles (and chatting with a few folks that are far better protographers than I am), I downloaded several RAW processing software packages that are available on the Linux platform (one of which is bundled with a plugin for GIMP), these include: UFRaw, Raw Therapee, and RawStudio. Of these, Raw Therapee is the most feature-rich IMHO, but UFRaw works right inside of GIMP. I'll probably end up using both for awhile until I get a better feel for them and then pick one or the other.

I shot a picture today in the RAW, which I then processed using Raw Therapee to convert it into a JPG. I then post-processed the JPG using GIMP. That is my workflow right now - a bit clumsy, but it works. See below... viva springtime!

(Update Fri Mar 12 16:39:56 PST 2010 // I'm using Raw Therapee almost exclusively now.)

February 2010 Photos
The February 2010 photo galleries for Berkeley, Eliana, and Olivia are now closed. We took quite a few pictures in February... both abroad while vacationing in Paris and here at home. The galleries can be reviewed at Berkeley's web site, Eliana's web site, and Olivia's web site. Or just access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's February 2010 Gallery ... (7 years, 7 months old)
Eliana's February 2010 Gallery ... (5 years, 11 months old)
Olivia's February 2010 Gallery ... (3 years, 7 months old)

Better Bread With Less Kneading
I read an article in the NY Times today that de-emphasizes the importance of kneading: Better Bread With Less Kneading.

Better Bread With Less Kneading

By HAROLD McGEE
Published: February 23, 2010

WHEN I started making bread back in the 1970s, whether an establishment loaf from James Beard’s “Beard on Bread” or a countercultural one from “The Tassajara Bread Book,” it was a hands-on workout, kneading a stiff, elastic dough for what felt like a very long 10 to 15 minutes.

[...]

Labor-saving bread books are nothing new, but the current crop includes several by respected professional bakers, and a consensus that kneading just isn’t necessary for good homemade bread. Most proclaim the virtues of doughs that are too wet and sticky to knead, nothing like the resilient doughs of the past. What happened to the idea that prolonged kneading works a dough’s gluten proteins into alignment, making it more elastic and capable of rising higher into a lighter loaf? Is it really true that less work can make better bread?

To find out, I baked variations on the same loaves daily for a few weeks — firm and wet, kneaded and not. Then I got a professional’s perspective from Michel Suas, founder of the San Francisco Baking Institute, a school nearby.

[...]

Several things became clear from my experiments. Wet, unkneaded doughs can make very good bread. Manipulating them for 10 to 15 minutes usually didn’t affect the results. Firm doughs do benefit from a few minutes of kneading, but only because it helps mix the flour evenly with the smaller proportion of water. Prolonged kneading didn’t make much difference in the finished loaves.

So why did we ever bother to knead? Mr. Suas explained that like supermarket breads today, homemade bread in the 1970s was modeled on English pan loaves, with a tight, even, fine-grained interior ideal for tidy sandwiches.

A firm, well-kneaded dough makes good sandwich bread, but not the open, irregular interiors of “rustic” loaves now in vogue. These are best made, Mr. Suas said, with a looser, wetter dough and gentler handling to preserve the pockets of gas from the yeast fermentation. The elastic gluten network develops slowly as the dough rises, and the baker helps out by occasionally lifting the dough edges and folding them over.

Some wet doughs can still benefit from kneading. [...] Whole grains tend to absorb more water and produce weaker gluten networks, and I found that kneading, [...] gave a lighter, loftier loaf.

I wasn’t happy with all the wet doughs I tried. While some held their shape and baked into beautiful loaves, others would flatten out and turn themselves into something like a focaccia, with a thin crust and a coarse interior that seemed more gummy than bready.

Mr. Suas said that these disappointing recipes were too wet. “Water doesn’t give you any flavor or structure, so enough to hold the flour together is enough,” he told me. “Any more and you don’t get bread, you get thick blini.

e recommended choosing recipes under 75 percent hydration: a weight of water that is 75 percent or less the weight of the flour. (A calculator is handy for understanding baking.) His favorite hydration for a workable dough that produces a well-aerated, crusty loaf is 68 percent. Some recipes that I tested exceeded 90 percent. James Beard’s basic loaf was 60 percent.

[...]

Look for recipes that give ingredient weights, and avoid measuring in cups and spoons, which include variable amounts of empty space. This will also let you calculate dough hydrations and avoid overly wet recipes. Just divide the total liquid weight by the total flour weight, and if the answer is much above 0.75, expect a relatively flat loaf.

If your bread comes out bland, as a number of mine were, check the salt, which is essential for good aroma as well as taste. Mr. Suas said wet doughs need more salt than firm ones, around 2 percent of the flour weight. [...]

It’s easier to get a good oven rise and an open, airy interior with elongated loaves or small rolls instead of a large round loaf. These shapes also give you more surface area for a flavorful crust.

And there’s nothing like cutting into a loaf of bread you’ve just made and seeing the signs of its exuberant rise captured in every slice.

I have to admit that I don't always follow my own advice when kneading my own sourdough breads. In fact, more often than not I will not knead my bread dough enough to pass the "windowpane test". I typically will knead my breads anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. For doughs that are "lighter" (white flour only), this is typically enough time to create a very elastic and soft dough that will "windowpane" just fine. However, for any recipes that include whole wheat flour, I usually end up with an "underdeveloped" dough that looks a lot like the one featured in the NY Times article (above). So, I feel that this article somewhat vindicates my own laziness.

Ward Game Night
Here are some pictures that a friend took of our kids at the Ward Game Night. It was a good time. We rented an inflatable for the kids, played rock band on the stage, and various board games on tables set around and about in the gym. The kids had loads of fun.

Berkeley's Basketball Pictures
We received Berkeley's basketball prints today after his game.

In the team picture:

Back Row: Jackson, Fox, Coach Devine, Luke, Berkeley.

Front Row: Trevor, Carson, Carthic, Chris.

Not Pictured: Joshua, Rishii.

Not a bad looking squad.

Eliana Showing Off Her Smile
I was just playing around with the camera this afternoon (shooting RAW) and took this photo of Eliana. She was doing her best to show off her smile, but she has had very low energy since we returned from Paris... she may still be affected by the jet lag. Still pretty:

Movie Review: Terminator Salvation

Using a low, scratchy voice for dramatic effect, Christian Bales does his best impression of Batman, er... I mean John Conner, to lead the rebels in their assault aginst the main robot base located in the silicon valley area of San Francisco. Connor must also find the young man that will become his future father (or is it past father?) who has been taken prisoner. Erstwhile, a new Terminator emerges who is part human (complete with a human heart and other organs) and is infiltrating the rebels (or is he?). Well, I'll spoil it, the Terminator really has a heart (*sniff*) and turns on his creators in defense of his fellow(?) human soldiers. Not compelling stuff... but the action and special effects were top notch.

Tutorial: Exposure Blending Using GIMP
While traveling in Paris, I took some bracketed exposures of interesting architectural features with the intent of combining them into an HDR photo. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn on the "RAW+JPG" setting on my camera. Oops. But I still have the three different exposures of the images.... but just in JPG format. So I did a little research and found a very handy exposure blending plug-in for GIMP that will blend three different exposures... it is super simple and super easy to use.

First you need three different exposures of the same scene: one short, one normal, and one long. Like these three:

To blend three different exposures into one in the GIMP, first download and install JD Smith's exposure blending plug-in. Restart GIMP and perform the following steps:

Step 1. Create the In the main GIMP toolbox, click on the "Xtns" menu and then hover over the "Photo ▶" menu item until the "Photo" sub-menu items are showing. Click on the "Exposure Blend..." sub-menu item (shown in the screen capture at right) to open the "Exposure Blend" dialog box.
Step 2. In the "Exposure Blend" dialog box, select the three exposures using the file browser buttons and then review the options available for building the blended image. It may be helpful to read the documentation about the options and then play around with options to get a feel for how tweaking the settings affects the final composite image. After adjusting the settings (or leaving them alone), click on the "OK" button to build the blended image.
Step 3. The blended image will include three layers: "bright", "dark", and "normal". The base layer will be the normally exposed image. The "bright" and "dark" layers will be overlaid on the base image with masks created based on the settings (above). You can change the order of the "bright" and "dark" layers to allow the "bright" or "dark" layer to take precedence.
Step 4. If you snapped the exposures on a tripod, then the pictures will all match up perfectly. However, if you took the pictures by hand then you'll notice that if you zoom in you'll see that they don't line up perfectly and will be a few pixels off. Hopefully, the exposures will just be off on the X and Y axes (translation) and not off on the Z axis (rotation). Zoom in on the blended image in various locations to review whether or not the "bright" and "dark" layers need some adjustment.
Step 5. It is trivial to align the layers on the X and Y axes using the built-in "viewing modes" of the exposure blend plug-in. (Addressing rotation around the Z-axis will not be covered here.) To align the "bright" layer with the normally exposed base image it is helpful to activate the "align bright exposure" viewing mode. To do this, right click on the image to open the GIMP pop-up menu. Move the mouse over the "Filters ▶" menu item until the sub-menu items pop-up. Then move the mouse over the "Photo ▶" sub-menu item until exposure blending sub-menu items appear. Select the "Align Exposure Mode: bright" menu item (as shown at right).
Step 6. After the "Align Exposure Mode: bright" has been activated, the "dark" exposure will be turned off and the "bright" layer will be overlaid on the base exposure using a "difference" method. In this mode, it will be easy to spot misalignment of the "bright" exposure by examining the image anywhere that edges are present (see image at right).
Step 7. To translate the "bright" layer (or the "dark layer below) along the X and Y axes, select the "Move Layer" tool from the GIMP tool palette. Be sure the "Move the active layer" radio box is selected. Then use the right-left-up-down arrows on the keyboard to align the layer with the normally exposed base image.
Step 8. In order to align the "dark" layer with the normally exposed base image it is helpful to activate the "align dark exposure" viewing mode. To do this, right click on the image to open the GIMP pop-up menu. Move the mouse over the "Filters ▶" menu item until the sub-menu items pop-up. Then move the mouse over the "Photo ▶" sub-menu item until exposure blending sub-menu items appear. Select the "Align Exposure Mode: dark" menu item (as shown at right).
Step 9. After the "Align Exposure Mode: dark" has been activated, the "dark" exposure will be turned off and the "dark" layer will be overlaid on the base exposure using a "difference" method. In this mode, it will be easy to spot misalignment of the "dark" exposure by examining the image anywhere that edges are present (see image at right). Repeat Step 7 to translate the "dark" layer (or the "dark layer below) along the X and Y axes. With the "Move Layer" tool active, use the right-left-up-down arrows on the keyboard to align the dark layer with the normally exposed base image.
Step 10. After the 'dark' layer has been aligned, reset the viewing mode by right clicking anywhere in the image. Then mouse over the "Filters ▶" menu item until the filter sub-menu items pop-up. Move the mouse over the "Photo ▶" sub-menu item until exposure blending sub-menu items appear. Select the "Align Exposure Mode: none" menu item (as shown at right).
Step 11. If you had to move either of the "bright" or "dark" layers, then there will be areas around the edges of the image where not all three of the layers overlap. To trim the the image to only the areas that overlap, right click anywhere in the image. Then mouse over the "Filters ▶" menu item until the filter sub-menu items pop-up. Move the mouse over the "Photo ▶" sub-menu item until exposure blending sub-menu items appear. Select the "Trim Image to Overlap Area" menu item (as shown at right).
Step 12. Before flattening the image, adjust the opacity of the "dark" and "bright" layers such that the image doesn't look as flat and surreal. The "bright" layer will almost always need to be adjusted.

That's it. Now just flatten the image and enhance the image using GIMP to bring out some of the color. Here is the final result of the image I used in the example above:

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the normally exposed (enhanced) image with a blended image of three exposures. It is clearly evident that the blend brings out a lot of details in the shadows and softens the hard light in the highlights.

Wheat Parisian Daily Bread
Same recipe as the white parisian daily bread I made yesterday, but split the flour roughly in half - using a bit more white bread flour than white whole wheat flour. To be precise, the ingredients include white flour, white wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast in baker's percentages of 54/46/68/2/1.

270g (1¾ cups) unbleached white bread flour (King Arthur's)
230g (1½ cups) unbleached white whole wheat flour (King Arthur's)
340g (1½ cups) tap or bottled water, tepid
10g (1½ tsp) finely ground sea salt
5g (1 tsp) yeast

Mix the dough. In a bowl combine the water with the flour and mix by hand until the water is absorbed and a rough dough forms. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes to hydrate the flour. Place the dough along with the salt and the yeast in a bowl of a stand mixer (like a KitchenAid).

Knead the dough. Using a kneading attachment (dough hook) mix the dough on medium speed (4 on a KitchenAid mixer, 5 on a Cuisinart mixer) for 10-12 minutes. The dough will be soft and tacky, but should clean the sides of the stainless steel bowl. Test the dough using the "window pane" or "membrane" test. To test, take a golfball-sized piece of dough and flatten it slightly. Put the fingers of both hands underneath it and very gently stretch it. If the dough can be stretched such that the center is thin enough to see through, then the dough is ready. If not, knead for another 2-3 minutes.

Ferment the dough. After kneading, form the dough into a ball. Spray the inside of a square food storer with a little olive oil (or Pam). Place the dough ball into the container and cover. Place container in oven (with oven light or pilot light on) and let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Turn the dough. After 1 hour of fermenting, dump the dough out on to a floured surface. Gently pat the dough into a square that measures roughly 8 inches by 8 inches. Fold the flattened dough into thirds, first one way (like a business letter) and then the other. Place the folded dough back into the container. Place container back in warmed oven until dough has doubled in size... about 1 more hour.

Shape and proof the dough. Turn container upside down on floured surface. Knead gently and then divide into thirds and form the dough into the baguettes. Place formed baguettes on a perforated baguette pan. Cover lightly (like with a damp paper towel) and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. The dough is ready to score and bake when you press your fingertip into the dough slightly and the resulting indentation springs back slowly.

Prepare the oven. Preheat oven to 450°. If using a baking stone, place stone on middle rack and preheat for at least 30 minutes. Also place a cast iron skillet on the lowest rack (to aid with steam generation later).

Just before placing loaves into the oven, score the baguettes using a lame or a sharp serrated knife (lubricated with olive oil if necessary); make cuts approximately ¼-inch deep.

Bake the bread. Place dough on the baking rack or baking stone. Put about a 8-12 ice cubes in the skillet to produce steam. Close the oven door immediately. Add additional ice cubes if required during the first 10 minutes that the loaves are baking. Reduce heat to 400° and bake using convection heat until internal temperature has reached 200°. The crust should be golden brown and the bread will sound hollow when tapped.

You should end up with something like this:

White Parisian Daily Bread
Inspired by our recent trip to Paris where we ate crispy baguettes with butter nearly every day, I made this simple Parisian-style bread by following a recipe in my favorite baking book - Local Breads. The ingredients for the bread are nothing but flour/water/salt/yeast in baker's percentages of 100/68/2/1.

500g (3¼ cups) unbleached white bread flour (King Arthur's)
340g (1½ cups) tap or bottled water, tepid
10g (1½ tsp) finely ground sea salt
5g (1 tsp) yeast

Mix the dough. In a bowl combine the water with the flour and mix by hand until the water is absorbed and a rough dough forms. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes to hydrate the flour. Place the dough along with the salt and the yeast in a bowl of a stand mixer (like a KitchenAid).

Knead the dough. Using a kneading attachment (dough hook) mix the dough on medium speed (4 on a KitchenAid mixer, 5 on a Cuisinart mixer) for 10-12 minutes. The dough will be soft and tacky, but should clean the sides of the stainless steel bowl. Test the dough using the "window pane" or "membrane" test. To test, take a golfball-sized piece of dough and flatten it slightly. Put the fingers of both hands underneath it and very gently stretch it. If the dough can be stretched such that the center is thin enough to see through, then the dough is ready. If not, knead for another 2-3 minutes.

Ferment the dough. After kneading, form the dough into a ball. Spray the inside of a square food storer with a little olive oil (or Pam). Place the dough ball into the container and cover. Place container in oven (with oven light or pilot light on) and let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Turn the dough. After 1 hour of fermenting, dump the dough out on to a floured surface. Gently pat the dough into a square that measures roughly 8 inches by 8 inches. Fold the flattened dough into thirds, first one way (like a business letter) and then the other. Place the folded dough back into the container. Place container back in warmed oven until dough has doubled in size... about 1 more hour.

Shape and proof the dough. Turn container upside down on floured surface. Knead gently and then divide into thirds and form the dough into the baguettes. Place formed baguettes on a perforated baguette pan. Cover lightly (like with a damp paper towel) and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. The dough is ready to score and bake when you press your fingertip into the dough slightly and the resulting indentation springs back slowly.

Prepare the oven. Preheat oven to 450°. If using a baking stone, place stone on middle rack and preheat for at least 30 minutes. Also place a cast iron skillet on the lowest rack (to aid with steam generation later).

Just before placing loaves into the oven, score the baguettes using a lame or a sharp serrated knife (lubricated with olive oil if necessary); make cuts approximately ¼-inch deep.

Bake the bread. Place dough on the baking rack or baking stone. Put about a 8-12 ice cubes in the skillet to produce steam. Close the oven door immediately. Add additional ice cubes if required during the first 10 minutes that the loaves are baking. Reduce heat to 400° and bake using convection heat until internal temperature has reached 200°. The crust should be golden brown and the bread will sound hollow when tapped.

You should end up with something like this:

Chopped Spinach
I made this very simple preparation of spinach following Julia Child's recipe a few weeks ago. To my surprise, the kids will eat it (Eliana especially loves it) despite the very green appearance. Super easy to make.

2 lbs of fresh spinach, washed
2 tbs butter
1-2 tbs deglazed steak or chicken reduction (or 1 tbs chicken or beef broth)
salt and pepper

Drop the spinach in handfuls into a large stockpot of boiling water. Blanch spinach for 2 minutes until tender. Drain away hot water and immerse in spinach in cold water. Squeeze water from spinach and coarsely chop. Set aside.

If serving with chicken or steak, sauté meat in a skillet. Deglaze skillet with ¼ cup stock, bouillon, or white wine and boil it down rapidly until it has been reduce to 1-2 tablespoons. Add butter and swirl until melted. Increase heat and add spinach. Cook spinach about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

Grilled Tuna
It's that time of year when Costco is carrying some very fine fresh sashimi-grade tuna steaks. I've broiled tuna steaks in the past, but today I decided to use the grill.

two 1½-inch thick tuna steaks
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs soy sauce
about 1 tsp fresh ginger (or ½ tsp dry ginger)
1 tsp minced garlic
5-6 sprigs of fresh cilantro
wasabi paste to taste

In a mortar add the ginger, garlic, and cilantro. Smash into a fine paste using a pestle. Add oil, soy sauce, and wasabi and thoroughly mix to combine. In a ziploc bag place the tuna steaks and the sauce, marinate several hours or overnight.

Prepare the grill. Ignite the grill burners and turn to the highest setting. Place a piece of aluminum foil over the grill, leaving about ½-inch gap on either end. Close grill and let stand for about 10-15 minutes; this will superheat the grill plates (mine will turn white hot). Scrape grill thoroughly and spray grill plates with PAM or brush with a paper towel drenched in olive oil. Immediately place tuna steaks on grill. Sear each side for 2-3 minutes. Remove from grill, slice, and serve with sushi rice and steamed veggies.

Variation: I watched a video about preparing tuna steaks using coconut oil. Sounds like a worthy substitute for the olive oil!

(Update Thu Feb 25 09:18:44 PST 2010 // added picture)

Theater Review: Lost in Yonkers
We shrugged off our jet lag and attended the local production of Lost in Yonkers tonight at The Village Theater. Set in 1942, the plot concerns a father (Eddie), his young two sons (Jay and Arty), and the overbearing paternal grandmother (Grandma Kurnitz). The mother of the two boys has recently passed and her terminal care imposed a great deal of debt on the family. To pay it off, the father is forced to leave the two brothers with their formidable grandmother and their mentally unbalanced and eccentric aunt (Aunt Bella) for a period of several months while the dad goes out on the road as a traveling salesman in order to pay off the debt. The boys also must work in their grandmother's candy store located downstairs from the apartment to earn their keep.

The story is told through the eyes of the boys and both young actors do an exceptional job with their roles. The younger actor that plays Arty, Nick Robinson (13½ years old), delivered an especially solid performance. The understudy that filled in for Jay tonight (Elias Higham) also did very well. The best performance belong to Suzy Hunt, who played Grandma, who pulled off the role as being both a heavy-handed and sympathetic character. I was less impressed with Jennifer Taylor, the actress who played Aunt Bella. Her performance seemed a bit silly at times for the seriousness of the subject matter. The roles of Eddie, Uncle Louie, and Aunt Gert weren't on the stage long enough to really be memorable.

Product Review: Tamrac Velocity 6x Camera Sling Pack
For the benefit of a recent trip to Paris and based on the recommendation of my friend Khan, I purchased a Tamrac Velocity 6x - Compact Sling Pack from amazon. The bag is perfectly sized for my Canon 30D with the 2.8L lens attached (if I ever go full-frame I may have to get something bigger). My 430EX speedlite fits on one side, and my 50mm prime on the other side. There is also a front pocket where I kept the battery charger, extra memory, and some spare change. The sling strap allows you the bag to be worn "backpack style" or it the strap can easily be rotated to bring the bag around to the front, remove the camera, snap a picture, stow the camera, and return it to your back... all without taking the bag off.

Highly recommended travel camera bag. Very handy and compact.

Mid-Winter Break In Paris: Returning Home and Postscript
We made our way back to Seattle today by way of Salt Lake. We flew on Delta which wasn't quite as nice as Air France. The extra connection on the way back was not fun either (90 minute delay, 3 gate changes). All in all the experience was well worth it. I think the kids had a great time and (hopefully) it will be an experience that they remember... at least until we return.

Before we went to Disneyland yesterday, we asked each of the kids what their favorite part of the trip has been. For Berkeley it was the Catacombes, for Eliana is was the Eiffel Tower, and for Olivia it was the Opéra. I'm glad we saved the Disneyland visit for the last day. If you ask any of them now their favorite part of the trip, they will all respond "Disneyland" (Olivia is quite specific - the "Peter Pan" ride at Disneyland). Though we half-heartedly attempted to talk the kids out of going to Disneyland, it was a good way to end the trip. The kids did thoroughly enjoy the time spent there.

For anyone that is planning on traveling to Paris with kids, we did learn a few lessons.

1. Fly Air France... direct if possible. The SEA->CDG Air France flight was great; easily justifies a small bump in price.

2. Paris is colder than we thought it would be in February. Kristy prepared us well and packed coats, scarfs, boots, hat, and gloves. If we were to go again, I don't think we would go in February. But if winter travel to Paris is unavoidable, then pack snow pants, ugg boots, and extra gloves (between the 5 of us, we lost 3 pairs of gloves while we were out and about). Bring your own rain ponchos for Disneyland; if you are caught in bad weather inside of Disneyland... be warned, Disneyland prices are exorbitant.

3. Buy the "Paris Visite" Métro pass for the zone that you will be traveling in. There is a formula somewhere on the net that calculates how many times you must take the train to break even on the Métro pass. However, the calculation fails to consider the wait time in lines to buy individual tickets and the convenience of just having a buy-once-use-anywhere Métro ticket for any public mode of transportation (e.g. including the bus). We may have come out ahead from a cost standpoint if we had bought individual Métro tickets, for each different segment we traveled... but you really can't put a price on the convenience and hassle saved from having that Métro pass.

4. Research "kid-friendly" restaurants ahead of time. When the kids got hungry, we just walked around wherever we were until we found something that looked like the kids would like. Even then however, a couple of places turned us away because they would not seat young children. I think we ended up eating at decent places, but there were a couple of misses. Had we planned ahead, we probably could have dined at much better restaurants.

5. Definitely bring along a collapsible umbrella stroller for any child under 5-years-old. There is just so much walking that small legs tire quickly. Expect to carry the stroller (with the possibility of a sleeping child inside the stroller) up and down flights of stairs; not every Métro station is stroller-friendly and the museums are often easier to navigate by stairs rather than circling around looking for elevators. Bring ibuprofen along for your back. It will get sore... especially at my age (40).

6. Prepare your kids for the trip in advance by reading children's books on Paris and seeing children's movies set in or about Paris. Kristy did this and, as a result, the kids knew a lot about the monuments and museums that we were going to visit ahead of time. This helped them get excited about going to sites that they may otherwise have been disinterested in.

7. Travel lightly around town but be prepared. Kristy kept a bag over her shoulder that was well stocked with a water bottle, quick snacks for the kids (we had baguettes with butter), band-aids, umbrella, ponchos, toilet paper, tissues, maps, emergency meds, money, travel books, and a pocket french dictionary. (Kristy kept her passports and credit cards in inside coat pockets.) I carried a Tamrac Velocity 6x that I bought just for the trip. It carried our DSLR camera, two lenses, camera battery charger, extra memory, my wallet, and some euros. Both bags were compact and were tight against our body (beware of pickpockets!) and unobtrusive so that we could still carry the kids in tight quarters when the umbrella stroller was not an option.

8. Bring a couple of grocery tote bags. The supermarkets in France (at least the ones we visited) do not supply bags for transporting food. We used these to carry fresh bread and pastries and food back to our hotel from the local town square merchants.

9. Don't buy pastries in grocery stores, buy them fresh from the locally run patisserie. On our first day, we bought a bag of pain au chocolate from the supermarket. The quality was not even close to the fresh stuff baked daily at the nearby patisserie. Any money saved by buying in bulk is not worth the dramatic drop-off in quality.

10. Potty breaks, potty breaks, potty breaks. Take advantage of clean museum bathrooms when possible; some of the alternatives are a bit scary. For our wait-until-the-last-minute-I-really-gotta-go-Dad-now(!) kids, we were trained early in the week to have the kids stop for potty breaks when the potty was close... instead of waiting for the cues from the kids.

11. Pre-purchase tickets to museums/monuments/parks etc ahead of time to avoid lines.

12. Visit the Paris Opéra in the morning when there is less of a likelihood that the self-guided tour will conflict with a rehearsal.

13. Visit Versailles... it's worth the train ride. Pre-purchase tickets or buy the tickets in town just across the street from the train station. The line to buy tickets at Versailles is very long. Also, view the gardens in the morning when the line to enter the palace is very long. And take the mini bus - the place is huge! In the afternoon, we were able to walk right into the palace as the lines had long since dissipated.

14. Visit Disneyland last... or try and talk your kids out of going. It ain't that great; Disneyland California is far better.

15. Take a river cruise during lunch (or in the afternoon). The lunch cruise was much more appropriate for fidgety kids.

16. Expect to take unscheduled breaks. Kids tire easily. We stopped at cafés for hot chocolate, snacks, potty, etc much more than we thought we would. If you consider the amount of time it takes to de-bundle and re-bundle-up three kids for the weather during these breaks, it can quickly eat up an hour. Really. We planned to do 4 "big" things per day when we were sitting here in our home doing our pre-trip planning. However, when the rubber hit the road... we really could only fit in 2 "big" things per day.

17. If attending an LDS service, the Paris Ward that meets in on 12 rue St Merri in the 4th Arrondissement was an ideal location. Translation in English is available, the location is central, and the sacrament meeting start time is 11:20am (giving ample time to travel).

18. Check the foreign transaction fees of the credit cards you carry. For example, after calling American Express I found out our Costco AMEX card incurs a 2.5% fee for each transaction made outside the US. Yikes! Our AMEX card issues by UBS charged 0.5%, so we used that when possible. When we had to use Visa, it was helpful to know that our Schwab-issued Visa card charged a 1% foreign transaction fee compared to the 2% we would incur by using our UBS-issued Visa.

19. Buy foreign currency at a local bank (in the US). Several local banks (including US Bank, Wells Fargo, etc) will have a branch where you can go buy foreign currency... that is, if you have a bank account opened there. We do not have a personal bank account with a local bank, but Kristy's business account is with Wells Fargo. So she was able to go up to the Redmond branch and buy about €500 at the most favorable exchange rate for that day at no commission. It was nice to have the spare cash on hand when the occasion demanded.

(Update Fri Mar 12 17:01:07 PST 2010 // added note on foreign transaction fees and foregin currency)

Mid-Winter Break In Paris: Day 7: Disneyland
Ah, Disneyland... in Paris. Basically the same as Disneyland in California: same rides, long lines, loads of people - but no sunny weather. Well, the sun was out in the morning when we entered the park...

... and here we are in front of the castle:

But not long after, the rain came... and it didn't deter people either. Everyone (including us) just put on their rain ponchos and carried on about our business of walking and waiting. Most of the queues are covered, so staff (as well as patrons) must expect a certain amount of foul weather. In fact, we were chatting with a family waiting in line with in Autopia. They were from Ireland. About the weather, they made the comment: "The weather's better here than it is at home!"

Despite the weather, we had a good time... especially the kids.

Leaving for home tomorrow. I'll write a postscript after we are back in Seattle.

Mid-Winter Break In Paris: Day 6: The Catacombes and The Louvre
This morning we traveled into Paris for the last time on our trip to visit the Catacombes of Paris. To get there we took our RER A line from Paris Disneyland into the Châtelet - Les Halles station where we transferred to the RER B line and took that down to the Denfert-Rochereau station. I love the Paris Métro - it's a wonder. Once at the Catacombes, we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes before we could enter the Catacombes (only 200 persons are allowed in the Catacombes at any given time). While we waited, Kristy found bought us some Petit Fours and other yummy pastries at a nearby bakery/restaurant Paul. Here are a couple of pics taken outside the catacombes:

Once inside, we descended down more than 100 stairs to about 60 feet below ground. Then we walked the tunnels and viewed some of the millions of remains deposited in Paris' famous underground ossuary.

After the tour was complete, we ascended back to ground level. We walked so far that ended up two Métro stops away at the Alésia station on Line 4. From there we made our way up to the Paris Opéra to see if we could see the Opéra hall, but alas it was closed for recital again. We had a small bite to eat (at another restaurant Paul in the Opéra train station) and then headed down to the Musée du Louvre:

Once inside, we took a self-guided tour and hit all of the famous spots. Here are a couple of pictures, one of the Mona Lisa and one of the Ruben's room.

We toured the Egyptian part of the Louvre to see the mummies and the sarcophagi as well as the old foundations of the Louvre. We saw the crown jewels, the Napoleon apartments, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and a host of other artwork. The Louvre is massive. Here are a few more pics:

The kids were done with the Louvre after about 2 hours, but we managed to stretch them out to about 4 hours. From the Louvre, we toured the nearby Carousel du Louvre and snapped a couple of pictures at the inverted pyramid there:

We had dinner at the food court there and Kristy picked up some chocolate eclairs from La Maison du Chocolate. At about $5/each they were super spendy, but were also super yummy:

We exited the Carousel back through the Louvre to have one last look at the pyramid, and our last look at Paris:

Disneyland Paris tomorrow. (Unless we can talk the kids out of it!)

Mid-Winter Break In Paris: Day 5: Versailles
Almost everyone we spoke with before we left to come to Paris insisted that we must see the Palace of Versailles. Versailles is not in Paris, but located about 30 minutes to the south (by train). Since we are staying about 40 minutes to the east of Paris (by train) near Paris Disneyland, we had to travel for a little over an hour to reach Versailles. Once there, we were greeted by King Louis XIV himself... on horseback:

Once inside the gate, we found ourselves in the Royal Courtyard where we snapped a few pictures.

The exterior detail and beauty of the palace is jaw-dropping. The gold leafing extends all the way around the courtyard. And the place is H-U-G-E, huge! The little pamphlet we were given states that the surface area of the roof was 11 hectares or - wait for it - 27 acres! The expansive roofs cover more than 550,000 sq.ft. of floor space! Incredible. There was quite a long queue waiting to enter the Palace, so we walked around to the rear of Versailles and caught a tram to the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, and Queen's Hamlet... all located in a secluded section of the the Gardens of Versailles. The Gardens are expansive... covering some 800 hectares, or almost 2000 acres. The scale of this place is absolutely mind-boggling.

We toured the Grand Trianon first, here are just a couple of pictures:

After a small tour of the Petit Trianon, we walked along the winding paths past the "Temple of Love" to the Queen's Hamlet. The hamlet is a small rustic retreat that was built for Marie Antoinette who would, with her attendants, dress up as "common folk" and pretend to lead a more ordinary life. Here are a few pictures of the buildings of the Queen's Hamlet:

After our walking tour of the grounds and the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon, and the Queen's Hamlet, we returned to the Palace of Versailles itself to have a look and see what all the fuss is about. We started on the chapel side of the Palace and work our way around counter-clockwise. The chapel is stunning. I'm beginning to think that I should convert to Catholicism for the architecture alone.

Room after room inside the Palace is completely and utterly and unbelievably ornate and sumptuous. The ceilings - in each and every room - are amazing. Here are just a few:

After about the first dozen or so rooms like that, I realized that it was pointless to shoot any more pictures. Each room was nearly indistinguishable (yet completely gorgeous) from the next... that is, until we came to the Hall of Mirrors. This is one of those must-see-in-person-to-believe places. I snapped a picture of each of the kids:

All told, I'm not sure how far we walked today... but it was quite a distance I would guess. Olivia was understandably exhausted, and fell asleep in the stroller on the walk from the Palace back to the train station.

On the way back to our hotel we stopped in the 7th arrondissement, walked the streets around the École Militaire looking for a place to take supper. We found a place on Avenue Bosquet called "Le Bosquet" and had a nice dinner to finish off the day (I had the Châteaubriand, Kristy had the lamb). Tomorrow... the Catacombes and the Louvre!

Mid-Winter Break In Paris: Day 4: The River Seine and The Opera
While we were in Paris two days ago at the Tour Eiffel on Saturday, we booked a cruise on the River Seine for today (Monday) with Bateaux Parisiens for lunch. We took the RER train to the Arc and then hopped on Métro Line 6 to the Trocadéro and walked down to the Seine. Since had to walk past the Palace of Chaillot we snapped another picture of the kids with the Eiffel Tower in the background:

Once aboard our cruise ship, we we seated at our table:

Just before we set sail, we placed our orders from the lunch menu. We picked at least 1 of every option from each course hoping we would find one or more that the kids would eat. For the first course, we ordered the scrambled eggs for Berkeley and Olivia, and the salmon for Eliana. Kristy had the beef tail and cheek terrine, and I had the lentil soup with foie gras mousse. I think the consensus (between Kristy and myself) was that the soup was the best of the bunch. For our main course, we ordered the pollack and rice for Eliana, the chicken for Olivia, the duck for Berkeley and Kristy, and I ordered the pork filet. I had some of each and everything was wonderful. For dessert, we ordered the chocolate (and coffee) cake for Eliana and Berkeley, the lemon tartlet for Olivia, the pear for Kristy, and the crêpes suzette for myself. All were very good, but Kristy's poached pear was the best.

While we dined, we enjoyed the wonderful scenery of Paris as viewed from the River Seine.

The kids were well behaved for the most part, but Olivia got a bit restless after about the main course and engaged in some table-side dancing to the live violin and piano music provided by the cruise:

After the cruise, we walked to the nearby RER train station at Champs de Mars with the intent of transferring to the Opéra National de Paris. We took the RER C Line to Invalides and transferred to Métro Line 8 and rode that to the Opéra. Here is a picture of Kristy and Olivia waiting at a typical Métro platform:

The Paris Métro is absolutely magical. It transported us from the Champs de Mars to a stop immediately opposite the incredibly beautiful Paris Opéra. The sortie from the Opéra train station is a stairwell that faces north and terminates at street level to a point just to the north of the Opéra itself. It was quite stunning to walk from the underground station, up the stairs, and then turn around to see this:

I snapped a picture of Kristy and the kids in front of the Opéra:

Inside the Paris Opéra is even more captivating than the outside. The grand entry staircase is inspiring. I took a few pictures with my 24mm lens (1.6 crop factor makes it about a 38mm) posted below, but even zoomed all the way out... I really couldn't capture the massive cavernous size of the space (but please refer to this one on wikipedia).

Unfortunately (for us), we were not able to see the hall as it was closed for a recital. This also prevented us from visiting Phantom's box. We'll try and return another day as our tickets are good for multiple visits. During the rest of the tour, the kids would stop at various points that we didn't think were of much interest (by comparison to everything else). Kids are funny that way... "Dad, look how big this fireplace is!" or "Dad, look at the round chair!"

The pièce de résistance of the tour was the Opéra's Grand Foyer. Opulent doesn't even begin to describe it:

What a day... and we really didn't do that much. But it felt like a lot. We traveled back to our hotel from the Opéra and restocked our kitchen with fresh bread and pastries from the nearby boulangerie:

Mid-Winter Break In Paris: Day 3: Walking the 4th Arrondissement
It's Valentine's Day, 過年 (Lunar New Year), Mardi Gras, Carnival, etc. It also happens to be Sunday. We made plans to visit the LDS Church in the 4th Arrondissement on rue Saint Merri. And since Sacrament Meeting didn't start until 11:40, we figured it was a good one to shoot for given the distance we have to travel. We made it on time without any problems. We were a bit worried we wouldn't be able to find it, but we walked right to it from the "Châtelet - Les Halles" RER Métro stop.

The LDS ward there is a strange amalgamation of French, English, and Mandarin Chinese speakers. In fact, there were several missionaries there called to the Paris France Mandarin Chinese speaking mission - they had name badges in Chinese characters and everything. The services were translated from French into both English and Mandarin. All of the headphones for the English went rather quickly, so I grabbed a pair of headphones and tuned into the Chinese version of the Sacrament Meeting. Kristy speaks a bit of French, so she listened without the aid of an electronic device. The kids colored. Olivia eventually became bored (typical) so she and I walked around in the enclosed courtyard. The Church building was quite lovely, probably built in the 1700s or so I would guess.

After Church, we walked over to a restaurant called "Cavalier Bleu" located across the plaza from the nearby George Pompidou Centre. I had the quiche lorraine, Kristy had a baguette ham sandwich. My food was quite good; Olivia ate a lot of it and was quite fond of the quiche. While we were eating in the cafe, we were struck by how charming the neighborhood was... lots of locally run shops that included plenty of options to eat, small bakeries, cheese shops, fruit stands, and the like.

After our lunch we visited the museum inside the Centre Pompidou where an exposition of modern art by Pierre Soulages was being shown. Berkeley enjoyed the abstract art very much. The girls were not as impressed (they loved riding up the escalators though). After we toured the exhibit, we stopped by the kids area and made some crafts. Unfortunately, because of the cold weather the whimsical Stravinsky Fountain (and pretty much all other outdoor activities usually held in the plaza) were closed.

We left the theater and intended to walk over to the Notre Dame. We took a round-about way (unintentionally) but we were able to see a few interesting sights along the way, such as the Saint-Jacques Tower and the Palais de Justice.

After a nice little walk, we turned a corner and found the unmistakable towers of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Wow. If I was ever to convert to another religion, I would convert to Catholicism for the architecture (not the jokes). To say that the Notre Dame is impressive is an understatement.

After milling about in the courtyard for a bit and considering the length of the line to enter the church (that stretched across the courtyard lengthwise... which is about the size of a football field), we eventually got in line to take the free tour of the interior. After a short wait we were at the front of the line; where the two towers of the Notre Dame hovered over us. Once inside, we took the lovely self-guided tour and snapped a few pics:

After our tour of Notre Dame, we walked north along rue d'Arcole up past the Hôtel de Ville:

In front of the Hôtel de Ville was a double-decker carousel, we stopped and let the kids rest and take a couple of rides.

Just as the kids finished their carousel rides, a combination Carnival/Lunar New Year parade (which terminated at the Hôtel de Ville along rue du Renard) showed up. So we took a spot on the sidewalk curb and watched a Lunar New Year dragon as well as a host of Brazilian Carnival dancers, bands, and revelers walk past. Serendipity.

After the parade, we walked back up rue due Renard to the intersection of rue Saint Merri and had dinner near the Centre Pompidou at a little place called the "Paris Beauborg" (I had the sea bass). When we eventually finished our dinner, it was already past 8pm. Quite a day.

Oh... Happy Valentine's Day Kristy! Including our time dating, this is our 19th Valentine's Day together. This one will be hard to beat.

Product Review: Albert Ménès Marmelade d'Orange et Citron
I found my new favorite marmelade and I only had to travel to France to find it. Before I proceed, first recall how much acclaim and praise I gave the Bon Maman Orange Marmelade that is widely available in the States. Yesterday I bought a can of Marmelade d'Orange et Citron Écorces fines manufactured by Albert Ménès at the nearby market. When I saw the bottle, my first impression was that the marmelade appears in texture and color to be the very same stuff served at Le Pichet back in Seattle. One taste and it was confirmed. This is marvelous stuff. Everything I said about the Bon Maman marmelade, take that and multiply it by 10. And as I noted in my Le Pichet review - Kristy likes it too. The stuff is expensive though. The French market sold the Bon Maman stuff for about 3 € (or $4.50) per bottle, which is about what it sells for in the States. The price of the Bon Maman brand is at the high end of the US supermarket grocery prices for jams and jellies. Now consider that the Albert Ménès jam sells at this French market for about twice that of the Bon Maman, or around 6 € ($7.40) per bottle. Very steep indeed! But the stuff is so heavenly, it is well worth the price. I'm smuggling as many bottles of this as I can back home to the States.