"The most beautiful world is always entered through imagination.”—Hellen Keller
Imagine our surprise when Lyla recently came dressed up as a firefighter with a yellow jacket and trousers with reflective stripes and lettering, a toy radio, working whistle, an official looking helmet and firefighter axe. Ever since a 50,000 square-foot vacant office building on the edge of one of my favorite biking trails was consumed by a four-alarm fire on March 18, Lyla has shown an interest in fires and firefighters. The smoke was so thick, the odor wafted to her pre-school and became the talk of the town.
It is amazing to watch the magical transformation that occurs when a child puts on a costume and becomes a first responder superhero. She went through a long period of playing doctor and has now expanded her interest in a new direction thanks to her parents, Kyle and Michelle who lovingly indulge her interest in healthy fantasy play. It is a good way for Lyla to express her positive emotions and curiosity about the future. By dress up role-playing she—like most children—get to imitate what they see around them. Lyla allowed her baby sister Emmy to try on the fire fighter’s hat, and Emmy didn’t leg go of her barbie doll the entire evening.
Dinner is served:
Jason made a pitcher of Lemon Drop cocktails. Cecile prepared an appetizer plate including cheese, tricolor carrots, macadamia nuts, morsels of pretzel bread, fresh figs, anise, and crackers with a freshly made Muhammara Dip consisting of roasted red pepper, isot chili, walnut, pomegranate molasses.
She also prepared side dishes of corn and tomatoes, asparagus, and farfel, a small pellet or flake-shaped pasta used in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine made of a Jewish egg noodle dough that was toasted before being cooked.
For the main course, I barbecued a Trip-Tip Fred’s Steak from Schaub at Stanford Shopping Center with their super secret marinade, and chicken drumsticks. We had miniature chocolate-covered vanilla cones from Trader Joes for dessert. Jason brought his dog Daisy which Emmy is captivated by and follows her wherever she goes.
