So for the past week I've been complaining to anyone who will listen how I it's very difficult for me to sing, if at all (I'm sorry for all that had to hear my whining!). I am limiting my voice lessons to 1 every 2-3 weeks. Getting through a lesson takes a lot of mental and physical preparation. I have found certain days of the week my body is just to exhausted to sing (for example Mondays and Wednesdays, not sure why these days) but the days I do get some singing in, it's not the amount that I used to do and it frustrates me, I used to be able to put an opera aria play list on and sing through 10-15 arias and or duets, now I am lucky if I can get through 3-4 arias.
I plan to continue my slow practice sessions, but I keep trying to figure out what to do with the other hours of my day. Really my life without music is empty, I find myself being a couch potato or surfing the web, so I thought this has to end, I can not spend the next 2 1/2 months being bored.
So I brain stormed about other hobbies that I love but do not drain me physically as singing does and I realized I put my love of cooking on the back burner (so to speak) for the past couple of months, due to 1st trimester tummy aches and busy holiday traveling. Paul always buys me interesting cook books and I subscribe to a couple cooking magazines, including a Dutch cooking magazine called Delicious. Also while we were in Paris in December I picked up a copy of, I believe, the best macaron making book printed. It's of course in French, but my goal was to translate the recipes as I go along. BUT I thought why not just translate the book now while I have the time so I can make any of them ANY TIME I want without having to take the prep time of translate. My current macaron recipes have some flaws in them, but it seems that the one macaron I made for Christmas that was a huge hit was the one I made from the Macaron book, I can not wait to start making some of the other great flavors
So my goal from now until May is to get my French Macaron book translated and translate as many Dutch recipes from my Delicious magazines....I have saved every issue of Delicious I've received for the last 18 months, so there are many many recipes to translate and put into my family cookbook. It will be nice to get them all written down in the cookbook so I can recycle the magazines, they are really starting to pile up in our kitchen!
Maybe this translation project will help improve my Dutch and maybe I'll even learn some French from this.
Oh and for Valentines Day this year Paul surprised me with a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I can not wait to start making some of her famous recipes, I skimmed through it a bit and I won't lie I am nervous to try and make some of her dishes because they are written out in a way so you can find everything in an American grocery store, but if she wrote this book in France I am sure I can find all these ingredients in Rotterdam!
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