girls only

hosted brunch for my lovely ladies in early february...love little parties like these and miss doing them in CA with my other girls ;)

the youngest were invited too, and they had their very own mini-table...it was fun to watch them choose what they wanted and make comments about the food...i hope they felt special and like big girls for a little while

mimosas, rosa regale, brie with caramel sauce and slivered almonds, spinach dip, egg-cheddar quiche, egg-cheddar-sausage quiche, cucumber-dill-cream cheese tea sandwiches, sonoma chicken salad (costco!) mini croissants and fruit salad. found this great recipe for sour cream coffee cake in the silver palate cookbook and it was not too sweet...left the nuts out just in case and highly recommend!

cheers to the girls at what i always enjoy being a girls-only event...the frou-frou, the catching up, the savory and sweet and treating yourself, and the unspoken bonds and love between friends

three and to the four

that old familiar day came and went and everyone made it so exciting and such a great celebration - the whole weekend!!! thank you to family and friends for all of the planning and activities - and generous gifts :)

friday - A surprised me with a group italian dinner at this local spot...felt like we were in new york in a sidewalk restaurant, including the owner's funny comments and vibrant spirit because he clearly loves what he does...BYOWine, fantastic fare and great people...gotta love drinking wine out of coffee cups on the patio! went out with the girls later and made it an even later night with C, M, V from the SHS days...fun, fun and more fun!


saturday - went to a fabulous cooking class and since it was so close to valentine's day, the theme of the night was chocolate! there was chocolate in every dish, whether it was white chips or cocoa powder and everything we made was to die for...first, he gave us a bunch of tips and tricks while in the kitchen (e.g. toast your spices before you use them in your dish to release the aromas and flavors)...then we split up in to teams and my team made mexican wedding cookies with lime zest...in total, the group made 7 different dishes and we got to try all of them sitting down at our tables...great experience and felt like a gourmet chef!

the menu:

• chicken mole tortilla soup
• kahlua cocoa glazed salmon skewers
• whiskey chocolate chili with sweet tomato salsa
• rice and sweet corn pilaf with white chocolate crumb topping (my favorite!)
• chocolate bruschetta (#2!!)
• individual mexican chocolate cheesecakes
• mexican wedding cookies with lime zest

some recipes:






















sunday - celebrated with the family by driving down to a favorite valley restaurant/experience...D gave us some toffee treats for v-day that were the best i've ever had; very inventive flavors as well...a perfect breakfast and perfect weather for the next stop!

didn't know there was a chihuly installation (desert towers 2008) at the entrance and had a great time walking through the different sections of the garden, taking photos, watching the birds and hummingbirds, and admiring the changing landscapes...everything looked like art with its intricate designs, patterns, colors and symmetry.















a totally awesome, vibrant, loving three-four...nothing short of spectacular!! :)

sugary

had a date night - well, okay not a date - but a night with some of my favorite munchkins who are getting so big...started off with a visit to the park nearby, down the little fiberglass slides, across the monkey bars, up and down on the teeter totter and back and forth on the huge-spring horses...back home for oven pizza and then out to the grocery store to get the remaining ingredients for chocolate chip cookies - after G made our grocery list, of course...forgot how excited i used to get going to the store and it was fun to go with kids and experience it through their eyes...E wanted to sit in the cart and barely fit...found our items, weaving through the store...let them each pick out a toy from the cheesy toy bin near the cosmetics ;)

on the way to check out and exchanging our bag of flour for a different size, G threw the smaller bag in the air to catch it but he missed...it landed on the floor and, surprisingly, only busted open a little...he looked shocked and went to put it back on the shelf, but i told him we couldn't do that because someone might pick it up and have it explode everywhere...we took it to the cashier and i made him put it on the conveyor and tell the cashier what happened so that it wouldn't make a mess for someone else...could barely keep a straight face the whole time.

went home and made the cookies from scratch as a team, which included lots of unsanitary steps but made great cookies...funniest part was that whenever the white or brown sugar would be spilled onto the counter, one of the girls would try to eat it by sticking their fingers to it and then licking their fingers...mmmmmmmmm, SUGAR! could not stop laughing and just let them keep doing it...isn't that how you become a favorite aunt, anyway???? bring, make and dispense sugar in all forms????

down from the sugar low, they all crashed on the couch watching a movie and just like i had done in the past, i picked them up and carried them to their rooms....only this time they were a lot bigger than they used to be ;) ...will have to try something salty next time and see if they're interested in those scraps as well! xxxxxxx to the [big] munchkins and for making it a friday night i will never forget.

little nuggets...

...just not necessarily of the wisdom variety ;)


"nothing is really work unless you'd rather be doing something else."
- peter pan, james barrie


"life is hard, but it's worse when you're stupid."
- john wayne


from dog-ku: very clever haikus cleverly written by very clever dogs

i don't feel so well.
i think i'll eat some tall grass.
ack! puke. that's better.
***
my picture outside.
luscious food on the inside.
not a doggy bag?
***
you keep asking me
why i climb up on the couch.
because it is there.
***
i don't shed that much.
just enough to decorate
your brand-new dress pants.


'mackarel sky' on the way to work...called my mom when i saw it in the east and told her to go outside and look...she told me it was called a mackarel sky because it resembles the markings on an adult king mackarel fish...she also told me she remembers her dad saying "mackarel in the sky, three days dry"...it occurs between 8-20K ft and can lead to dry or wet weather depending on moist air moving into that layer of clouds or not.


caffeine can linger in the body for up to 12 hours

lower back pain is said to be a cause of worrying about money

5 million red + 5 million white blood cells can fit on the head of a pin, we have 9000 taste buds in our mouth, 5 million nasal receptors and an estimated 100 trillion cells in our body (with each cell containing information equivalent to that of 90 volumes of an encyclopedia)

artwalk

checked out the artwalk downtown with A&J one friday night (apparently it's the nation's largest self-guided artwalk)...started in a very cool, concrete-floored high-rise lobby with a live dj and airbrush artist + some wine...walked down to the galleries and on the way went in to an old brick, one-story building and talked to two women who use a printing press from 1922 to make their beautiful stationary. they showed us how it works and seeing things like that not only transport you back in time but they make you appreciate how much effort went in to production of all sorts; the creation of equipment like that to an iphone today are interesting and i love that if the mind can conceive it, it can probably become a reality...one of the women told me about this association and i had no idea it existed so it was a gift. didn't care much for the art in the galleries but A came across one gallery with dark blue painted walls and suspended, upside-down glass jars filled with water and at different heights; strategically placed beneath each hanging jar was a jar to catch the water dripping from it, and the room was dark except for a few lights here and there. the effect was water drops at different times, sometimes making it into the jar on the floor and sometimes splashing onto the ground, plus the shadows from the suspended containers and light reflecting off of the liquid. it was pretty cool and surprisingly calming even though people were weaving in and out of the tiny one-room gallery.

next up is artwalk closer to my 'hood with more variety in artists and mediums!

going back to cali

had 2 weeks off around christmas and headed back to cali for a visit...drove out and started in sd...saw friends at hswri, saw the fish and the new setups and headed to K&C's...awesome chips and salsa made with things from the garden like cilantro and jalapeno, and C made some very flavorful steak...great to finally see their first home and all of the love [work] they have put in to it, great to catch up, great to see old friends in a new life.

coffee with K bright and early and coffee with KM near my old house...can't believe i've been gone for more than a year already; missed the area and how you could walk or ride a bike anywhere and get to something you loved...loved chatting with K and the people you meet in life who are just genuinely kind and honest souls. sat by the pier before lunch with T at her house and rain, rain, rain all day. the view through my sunroof by the pier:



headed north and met up with K for a quick visit...miss seeing my old friend and our little coastal hikes...many positive thoughts for K&S in difficult times that we all make it through and out of. xxxxxxxx

had fun hanging out with T&C further north...laughing at how C puts on a show, scrunches up his nose and squints his eyes; quite the little charmer...awesome thai food to celebrate her bday in a quaint restaurant all to ourselves...always love being with T...witty, funny, creative, good and an old soul. next day at the garden and a million funny pics of C in discovery mode...never sits still and cracks you up constantly...plenty of exotic-looking plants and flowers with perfect weather and an ocean view, a nice stroll amongst a variety of shapes and colors. still not sure what these are:


up to oc...met the twins for the first time and loved the feeling of them sleeping on my chest...so tiny, so perfect, so hungry, so loud ;) everything wrapped into a silky-skinned bundle with a whole life ahead of them and endless possibilities...the beauty in the creation of a life forward in the years to come, learning about humans and the world around them, and including self-reliance so opposite their initial experiences...still can't believe how much parents do for their kids and it's no wonder they look at us the way they do sometimes. :) dinner with M&J, J at our fav with lots of laughs and inappropriate jokes, hopefully not too loud...bar with J later on and life chats with a good buddy!

got my ink fixed and got some fresh ink that M&D loved when they finally saw it {lie}...hurt like hell and not sure how i would survive something bigger like L, M have...crazy, weird pain especially in that location...thank goodness it's okay to curse like a sailor while the buzzing continues and the heavy metal plays on in the background.

good times with C&B&M and the rest of the crew for nye...too much good food as usual and with everyone pitching in in all ways...9 kids to just a few more adults and a lot of fun dancing to top 20 hits with them singing along and a game of apples-to-apples with some really bright, hilarious little people...church and lunch in seal, always a great combo with C...baby time and more baby time and i could just watch them looking around and exploring all day long. okay, maybe not all day but it is always fascinating from pureed plums all over the face, neck and ears to little squeezes or finger-clasping...so happy to see C&M as the wonderful mothers i always knew they would be.

incredible brunch at K&J's gorgeously remodeled house in their joyful, playful spirits; a real treat to see a magnificent piece of art on loan there too...lunch at my fav [for the must-have balsamic roasted veggies and gouda on a sourdough roll] on the way out of town and back on the road to a not-so-new-anymore home out east...love and xxxxxxxx to everyone always and plenty of gratitude for hospitality and friendship along the way

spicy

so awesome...protein, fiber, a little crunch and great to have them a different way...would be good as an appetizer or snack, a side dish or added to a salad...

spicy roasted chickpeas from everyday food magazine

• preheat oven to 450 degrees.

• pour 1/4 C. extra-virgin olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet and place in oven until oil is hot, 3 minutes.

• in a medium bowl, combine 2 cans (~15.5 oz each) chickpeas [aka garbanzo beans], rinsed, drained and patted dry + 1 tsp cayenne pepper + 1 TBSP ground cumin seed. season with coarse salt and toss to combine.

• place chickpea mixture on hot baking sheet and spread in a single layer.

• bake until chickpeas are crisp, about 10-12 minutes.

• with a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and let cool slightly.