I'm Feeling Spooky!

Unlike some people in my family, I'm not usually one to dress up. However, this year I volunteered to help with the games at Trunk or Treat, so I thought it might be a good idea to get creative and wear something in the spirit of Halloween. I was inspired by my nephew M and his mummy T-shirt (which is the most awesome T-shirt!).

I got a cheap white turtleneck and some gauzy fabric and went to work.
Two hours later, I had this!

And the DH was just as scary as he ever is...

FFT Friday -- We Hope

I know it's a day late, but here it is. I've been thinking lately about how polar our political system has become and how hateful politics can sound. I think there is an element of the Right that is trying to push us farther apart, when in fact most people would consider them closer to the middle if they didn't hear so much hateful and dividing rhetoric.

Having already been thinking along those lines, I enjoyed Maira Kalman's latest post, E Pluribus Unum. It is a reminder to me of all that is good and important and historic about our political process. I wish more people understood the whole political process a lot better. It might decrease some of the hatred and fear-mongering. Or at least, it would make a lot of people less suseptible to the influence of others and help them think for themselves.

Music Monday -- Sarah Jarosz

I just discovered Sarah Jarosz and how I found out about her is a little embarrassing. She was featured in Oprah Magazine. I know. How lame am I? The thing is, she's great! She plays mandolin and has a mellow, bluesy, not really blue grass kind of sound. I bought the album Song Up In Her Head and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far.

The only problem is that I couldn't find anything quite as good as the music from the album on YouTube. I think you may have to take my word for it, but the music is beautiful. This gives you a taste, but it's even so much better.

Comfort Food -- Chicken Bundles

As the weather starts to feel more like Fall, it makes me turn to thoughts of comfort foods. I love Mac n Cheese, Beef Stew, and Chicken and Dumplings when it cools off. One other great comfort food recipe is Chicken Bundles. They taste great and really hit the spot on a cool, crisp day. Here's the recipe!

Chicken Bundles

3⅓ cups diced, cooked chicken
6 ounces cream cheese
4 tablespoons butter
¼ teaspoon lemon pepper
4 or 5 green onions, chopped (include part of tops)

Mix butter and cream cheese in a mixer until well blended. Add lemon pepper and mix, then add other ingredients and mix well.

Make your favorite roll dough or use store-bought dough. Let rise once and then roll out into as you would for rolls, but make it thinner and in a rectangle. Cut into about 4-inch squares. Put ¼ cup of chicken mixture in middle of square and bring corners together and seal making a bundle. Dip in melted butter and roll in seasoned breadcrumbs. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 375° for about 15 minutes or until golden. Top with chicken gravy.

FFT Friday

What makes you laugh? There are a couple of things that I can hear over and over and never get tired of. It's like the 13-year-old in me will never die. I guess that's a good thing. This is one of those things that I laugh at every time. Funny stuff.

And the only thing funnier than a nail salon... is bibity, bobity, bacon.

Ahh... Fall

just had the most wonderful mid-day break. I left my office and walked over the hill into Fremont. The air has just a hint of coolness, the skies are overcast, and the leaves are all turning to yellow, orange, and red. I walked along the tree-lined sidewalk enjoying the fresh air and thinking how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful place.

I bought lunch at Homegrown. I think I may be in love. The menu looked amazing from top to bottom, but in the end I got grilled cheese. I know you're thinking I'm crazy, but it was Beacher's Flagship cheese, caramelized onions, and some kind of red pepper aoli sauce. It came with homemade potato chips with salt and pepper on them. The whole thing was so divine! I must return to try other things on the menu, but for now my tummy is very happy.

I took a different route to get back to the office and walked along the ship canal. While I was waiting for the light, a man walked up and made conversation with me about how perfect the weather is today. It made me think that I work around a lot of really nice and friendly people. Then I smiled and crossed the street. I think this day must just be making people happy. Several people said hello as I passed them on the sidewalk and it just felt really good to be out and about on a lovely Fall afternoon.

Music Monday -- Iron & Wine

I'm back from a very hectic week last week and hope to resume blogging more often now.

Early last week, I was on Amazon.com and looked at some of my recommendations. Usually, I already have most of the things they recommend, but this time I happened upon a band called Iron & Wine that I hadn't heard of before. I listened to a few of the tracks and really liked what I heard. As a result, I ordered the CD Our Endless Numbered Days. It arrived on Saturday and I've been enjoying it even more than I thought I would.

The music is fairly mellow with a slight Southern Rock feel to it. It's definitely not music you "rock out" to, but that you listen to on a rainy afternoon or have playing in the background as you work on a project.

Naked As We Came is the second track on the album and I really enjoy the music. I hope you do too.

Monday Music -- A Little Bit Country

With apologies to my family members who hate Country music, I have a soft spot in my heart for it. When I lived in Boise and Hip-Hop was starting to make it big, I just couldn't tolerate the pop music stations that played so much music I didn't like. I turned to the Country stations for solace. Mind you, I didn't have a CD player in my car at the time either. These were extenuating circumstances. I still can't stand the super-twang, which any real Country fan will tell you is the only true Country music, but there are several bands and artists that I still enjoy listening to quite often. I love Trisha Yearwood and Wynona Judd. They really know how to tell a story with music that sticks with you. More recently, I've enjoyed getting to know Brandi Carlile. Her voice is beautiful and she has great arrangements. Take a listen. It's pretty good stuff.

Note: the official vidoes are better, but won't let you embed. You can find this song with higher sound quality here.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I spent some time with my two nephews in Utah this weekend. These two guys are a hoot and we had a great time Saturday aftenoon playing at Discovery Gateway. M and E are five and three years old respectively. They're smart and they like to have a good time. Here are a few of the funny things we heard:

• LA-AME! (I said this once and M thought it was cool and kept saying it the rest of the day)
• I LOOOOOOVE my new walkie-talkies! (The DH and I gave M these for his birthday, so after he said that, Annzie asked if he like the Where's Waldo book that she gave him. He didn't think it was that great. Then today, he had on a mummy shirt that we sent. He told Annzy that it was better than the Where's Waldo book too. Hysterical!)
• You're the king of stupid! (This was actually said by M the day before we got there. Apparently he heard it on Schreck 3.)

Both M and E wanted to stay at Discovery Gateway all day. We only ended up being there for about four and a half hours, but to them it probably felt like 15 minutes. They were so sad we had to leave, but we had to get them fed dinner eventually. They have a farm area with a life-size horse for kids to get on and E decided it was his horse. He spent so much time stacking hay bales, putting away hay bales, putting on the horseshoes, then taking off the horseshoes, and getting on and off that horse. I knew he loved playing cowboy, but I had no idea how much. It was just joyful to see the boys use their imaginations and enjoy themselves.

But here's the real kicker. I've been around a lot of kids. The whole time we were out, all six-plus hours, there was no fighting and no melt-downs. Even when we had to leave, there was a tiny bit of whining, but that was it. Maybe we just got them on a good day, but that was absolutely great!

Friday FFT -- What Is Real?

I've read a talk given by Elder Bednar about Things as They Really Are several times now and I've learned quite a bit from it. He talks about what is real and how important it is to live in the real world and not let yourself fall into activities that remove you from what is real (like spending way too much time writing and reading other people's blogs).

Unfortunately, what is real is often also full of emotions that are difficult to process and it makes going to what is not real seem a lot easier. That way, maybe you can just avoid the emotions. All in all though, that's a bad idea. Today my heart is very heavy and I'm feeling the emotions. I'm praying for my newest nephew, born early this morning and now at Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. I'm praying for my dear brother and sister-in-law, who I am sure are feeling far more emotion right now than they ever knew they would. Please join me in feeling what is real. And if you're so inclined, please say a prayer for baby Nolan and his parents.

Update

Nolan Ray Robertson died late Friday evening.

When I let myself feel it, the sadness washes over me. I ache for my dear nephew, his brothers, and especially his parents. And I know that what I feel pales in comparison to their sorrow and grief.

I Love Lardee

I was just introduced to My Milk Toof blog and I love it. You have to see it. It's just fabulous and I highly recommend it.

Monday Music -- Whip It!

This weekend, I spent some time listening to the new Whip It! Soundtrack. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I heard the soundtrack was good, took a listen, and bought it. I've really been enjoying the music. It's not hard core punk rock, but definitely has a punk rock feel that reminds me of high school and college. I'm thinking it will be great music for the gym too. The song below is "Dead Sound" by The Raveonettes.

Waffles!

This weekend is LDS General Conference. It means listening to church in my pajamas. I love this twice-yearly event and have a couple of traditions associated with it. The first is watching or listening in my pajamas. The second is eating Pumpkin waffles. The waffle tradition started when I lived in Utah and spent conference morning at my friend Camille's house. Her whole family would come over and we'd all eat a big breakfast that included these great waffles. The DH and I will be eating them tomorrow. They're totally worth every bit of effort to make.

Pumpkin Waffles

Waffles
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated
1½ cups milk
1 cup pumpkin
¾ cup margarine
1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine first 6 ingredients. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks slightly. Add the milk, pumpkin, margarine and vanilla. Add the flour mixture. Fold egg whites into pumpkin mixture and then bake in waffle iron.

Buttermilk Syrup
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon Karo syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine first 4 ingredients. Bring to a boil in extra large pan. Remove from heat and sir in baking soda and vanilla. Mixture will fizz to twice its height. Let set, stirring occasionally until fizz is gone. Serve hot over pumpkin waffles.

Change of Seasons

osh, I just love the Fall. This week, the weather totally changed from Summer to Fall and I'm in love with it. I'm not quite sure why I so enjoy the crisp mornings, cloudy days, and shortening evenings, but I do. I like the way Fall smells and the way it feels. I even like the rain, so Seattle's Fall weather works for me. I also enjoy looking forward to Halloween and the upcoming holidays. I'm also a sucker for back-to-school time and really miss that new beginning each Fall. I loved school for all the many years I was either a student or a teacher and I still love shopping for school supplies. That may explain the volume of sticky notes, pens, and notebooks that I have. Someday, it may wear off, but not any time soon.

My New Favorite Pizza

I love this place! If you're in the area, you need to try Delancy in Ballard. I became enamored with the idea of the restaurant reading Orangette's blog. She has a great foody blog and then found out that she was opening a restaurant with her husband. They make their own yummy dough, have an amazing brick oven that the husband built himself, and bring in some of the best cheese ever.

They didn't have a sign up yet, so you have to know where you're going, but it was totally worth the taks of finding. When the DH and I went there, we shared an appatizer of copa and pickled peppers, and then had a wonderful pizza with a very simple sauce, fours kinds of cheese, and their homemade fennel sausage. We also sat at the bar and got to watch them making the pizza. I enjoyed every bite of the pizza and we had a lovely time.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spaaaam, Beautiful Spam

I get the biggest kick out of some of the subject lines I see when I go to delete the rubbish in my Spam folder. Once again, I have to share! I promise you, I did not make any of these up. I did, however, change the order (and delete the ones that weren't funny) and it sort of tells a Spam story.

• Man, don't sit there
• You annoy me by this
• Go and sit somewhere else until you can speak nicely
• I felt hands helping me to sit up
• I flung myself out of my seat
• and began to hover slowly across the ceiling toward me
• Striding down the hall in her nightgown and cap
• But then came the day that Chiang vanished. He had been talking.
• Lying in his grave
• Gleeming angrily
  
• He saw it was open
• There for the night
• Bro, we're missing you!
• Guy, don't leave without me
• Immediately afterwards she remarked
  
• The first daughter wanted a brocade dress

Seriously, do the spammers really think these will make me want to look at the e-mail and click the random links? Someone must be doing it or they wouldn't keep spamming me with this stuff. Hopefully you find it as entertaining as I do though.

Music Monday -- Barcelona

Last week, I went to an event sponsored by a local radio station. They had two live bands and a bunch of food and free CDs. How could I resist? The headlining band was Carbon Leaf, an old favorite of mine, so I was pretty happy to go. I hadn't heard of the opening band, Barcelona, but I was pleasantly surprised by the set they played. They opened with a song heavy on strings (with a string trio on stage) and then started to really rock. It was a lot of fun. I hope you like this song, because I've been enjoying it and the rest of their album, picked up that night.

Baking Goodness

I don't know what came over me, but I volunteered to make 100 rolls for the Women's Broadcast dinner this evening. I don't think I realized it would be two batches instead of just one. I decided to work from home on Friday thinking I could get both batches done, but then I had to go in for an hour in the middle of the morning and that messed up the schedule for one batch. In the end, I made one batch on Friday and then got up early to make the other batch today before scooting off to the church for a baptism at 10:00.

These rolls really are super easy to make. The best trick of all that my mom taught me is to use the pizza cutter to slice the circle of dough into triangles to roll up into crescents. It's brilliant. I wish I could have thought it up, patented it, and gotten rich off of it. Maybe it's not that kind of idea, but it sure makes these rolls easier.

Evelyn's Rolls

2 tablespoons yeast (2 packages, not rapid rise)
½ cup lukewarm water
(Optional - 1 teaspoon sugar for the yeast to eat)
1½ cups milk
1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
6 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
7-8 cups flour (no more than 8 cups)

Mix yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and set aside. Heat milk and margarine together until the margarine melts. Combine eggs, sugar and salt, and add milk mixture. Mix in the yeast. Add flour 1 cup at a time and mix - dough remains sticky. Let rise until double.

Take ¼ of the dough, roll out into a circle (⅜- to ½-inch thick), and then cut like a pie into 8 to 10 wedges. Roll from the wide end to the tip, and shape into crescent rolls with the tip on the bottom. Let rise 1 hour. Can set for 5-6 hours. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush tops with butter as soon as you remove them from the oven. Makes about 36 rolls.

FFT Friday

How much cognitive dissonance are you able to tollerate? I've been thinking it about it lately in regard to work and other activities. Is it possible to love and hate something at the same time? Or can you participate in activities that are good in some respects and not others?

For reference, I'm thinking about things like how hard I want to work to get my team to improve their performance when I'm not sure I'll be able to give them raises at the end of the year (not is it OK to lie or cheat). They want that as a reward for the extra effort they put in, which is totally fair, but I may not have the option to give that to everyone. This is one of the fights that goes on in my head.

There are many more, but sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who thinks about this stuff. It first came up in a Victorian literature class and it's been somewhere knocking around since then. It's fairly normal to have some cognitive dissonance, but we also naturally do things to decrease the cognitive dissonance in our lives. Usually, we either disavow ourselves of some notion or we lie to ourselves about it.

So, is there any aspect of your life where you live with cognitive dissonance? I'm curious.

Music Monday -- The Shins

I first heard The Shins on the radio, but fell in love when I got the Garden State Soundtrack. After that, I had to have an album. I bought Chutes Too Narrow and enjoyed the whole thing. The disc ended up as one of the five in rotation in my car and I listen to it fairly regularly. I love the upbeat tempos and generally positive ethos of the music. It's the kind of thing you listen to turned up loud with the windows rolled down.

Saturday Sweets

Carolyn asked for my Gingersnap recipe after trying them at the Duchess' bake sale. I can't take credit for the recipe, but I will say that they're the best Gingersnaps I've ever made. They come out chewy and stay chewy even the next day. So delish!
Gingersnaps

¾ cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 egg
½ cup molasses
4 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs. Mix in the molasses. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Chill. Make into balls and roll in granulated sugar. (I use the large crystal turbonado sugar with vanilla for fun.) Bake 6-8 minutes at 375°.

Sometimes I Actually Complete That Idea

The DH and I have been married just over four years now. When we planned the wedding, I put aside a few things that I wanted to put in a shadow box. It took me some time to actually buy the shadow box, but I think it happened at least two years ago.

This evening, I finally put the shadow box together and here it is!
This includes parts of our wedding announcement, the rose the DH gave me when he proposed, one of our engagement photos, and the little frame my mom put together with our wedding date in it as a favor at our wedding luncheon. I think it turned out OK.

And here it is in its new home on the shelf in my office. It looks great here and I spend enough time in the office to be reminded of that

Blenders

It's true. The VitaMix is considered the best blender by Consumer Reports. It's hard to believe that I may actually buy one of these.

The DH and I have gone through three blenders in our four years of mariage. It's actually a little entertaining at this point. The latest is one with a square top with completely perpendicular sides that just doesn't do the J-O-B. And this is the one we bought after the last one started smoking. We don't allow smoking in our house, so it had to go.

Buying a VitaMix is especially funny to me, because we all got such a big kick out of it when my grandparents bought the VitaMix. You would have thought it could make dinner for you. Unfortunately, we got dinner made in the VitaMix. It can heat what's in there, so grandma made soup. Then she blended it. Yes. She blended the vegetable soup to a puree so we would eat all the vegetables. It tasted even worse than it looked. On the upside, I think we got ice cream out of the VitaMix too. It wasn't all bad.

The Past Weekend in Boise

This past weekend, the DH and I flew off to Boise to visit with family and enjoy the activities there. We arrived late Friday and didn't do much but chat that evening before hitting the hay. Saturday, on the other hand, was jam packed with fun!

I dropped the DH off for a massage and went to the Farmer's Market down town. It's such a great vibe there. I perused all the produce, artisan breads, baked goods, crafts, and a wide variety of specialty foods. I couldn't leave without stopping by the Mennonite's pie stand and buy a cherry pie for Pops. He was thrilled that I'd made it there.

After picking the DH up from his massage, we headed to Ethan's big soccer game. He's six and plays on a boys team. Today was his day to play goal keeper. We got a kick out of watching him (no pun intended). His team is good enough that goal keeping looked pretty boring. He said he had a good time and he was excited that we came to watch, so it must not have been too bad.
After the first soccer game of the day, we went to Julia Davis Park and looked around at the booths at Art in the Park. It's a large arts and crafts festival that the art museum puts on every year on the weekend after Labor Day. I have fond memories of participating when it was a very small festival. Now it's grown to six or eight times the size it was when I was young. I still enjoy it just as much and it was fun to take the DH there.

After spending some time at the park, we headed back West and went to Abby's soccer game. She plays with the 10 and 11 year old girls. As luck would have it, she was playing goal keeper for part of the game as well. She looked great out there and she really knows how to hustle. It was cool to see her Dad giving advice from the sidelines too.
After that game, we headed back home and the DH and BIL went to the Boise State vs. Miami of Ohio football game while we went to dinner and then headed back to Art in the Park. I ended up buying a couple of things there, including a set of chimes as a house-warming gift for a friend at work. After all that, we were exhausted and headed back home to relax.

Sunday was spent going to church, relaxing, and having my all-time favorite meal. In the early Fall, my mom makes the best fried chicken and serves it with new potatoes, gravy, corn on the cob, and whatever else is in season. It all tastes so good and fresh. I'm not sure if I love it most because we don't eat it just any old time or because it really is that good. Whatever the reason, I promise it was worth looking forward to.

The DH and I flew back Sunday evening and enjoyed sleeping in our own bed again. I love to travel and I love to come home.

Monday Music -- Sasha Lazard

I've been listening to Sasha Lazard for years and wishing she were more prolific. Her album Myth of Red is fantastic. It's opera meets pop and sounds great when she does it. The video below takes some time to get going, but wait it out. It's totally worth it. I promise! A review of this album states:

An ambitious fusion of opera arias, Russian folk tunes, and art songs with beat-driven electronic soundscapes, the album largely succeeds in bridging incongruous musical worlds.

Is that enough to get you interested?

Baked Eggs

This week, we had the missionaries over for dinner, so we decided to make breakfast for dinner. We knew we could get everything together fairly quickly, so it would be easy to feed four young, hungry men without too much prep time coming straight from work. We made baked eggs and pumpkin waffles. Both were a big hit, but I have to really recommend the baked eggs if you're ever cooking for a group. They're SO easy and taste great.

Baked Eggs

12 eggs
12 strips bacon
butter
Mrs. Dash (or other seasoned salt)
Salt
Pepper

Spray cooking spray in the cups of a muffin tin. Place one slice of bacon around the sides of each muffin cup. Sprinkle a little Mrs. Dash in the bottom of each muffin cup. Crack one egg into each muffin cup, being careful not to break the yolk. Put a dab (less than a 1/2 teaspoon) butter on top of each egg. Salt and Pepper each egg. Put in 425 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until eggs look cooked. Eggs can easily be removed from the muffin tin with a large spoon and will keep their shape.

Friday FFT

It's eight years from the terrible tragedies of the 9/11 terrorists. I remember the day vividly. It was so surreal. I wake up to the radio each morning, and time it to hear the news while I'm still waking up. The news made no sense that day. I darted out of bed and turned on the TV. It made less sense. I got ready for work in a fog, not quite believing what I had heard and seen.

At work, there was a TV set up in a conference room. We wandered in and out of the conference room throughout the day, watching the news in disbelief. I cried with Gianna as we tried to process what we were seeing and hearing, still not quite ready to accept the reality of it all.

I read some of the Views of a Day in the New York Times today. It was good.

The World Needs More Inspiration...

You can see more of this brilliance here.

Two Things Money Can't Buy

I've had true love for some time now, but this week I also got home-grown tomatoes. YUMM-O! There's just nothing that compares to the flavor of the home-grown variety. I've had tomato sandwiches for dinner two nights in a row and it's just like a piece of heaven. Right now, I'm even contemplating a tomato sandwich for breakfast.

Last night I processed and froze about eight quarts of the tomatoes we got on the weekend. It was easier than you can imagine. I cut out the parts I didn't want to keep, then blanched each of the tomatoes (for about 15 seconds in boiling water), and then dipped them in cold water so they'd be easy to handle. After doing that, the skins just slipped right off in my hands. Then I cut the tomatoes into quarters, or eighths depending on how huge the tomato was and put them into freezer ziploc bags. Now we'll be able to enjoy the tomatoes in stews and sauces for at least a month or two. I'm looking forward to the rich flavor they'll give to my beef stew, the DH's salsa, and anything else we find to use them with.

Today Is Brought To You By The Number Nine

It's 9/9/09 today, so let's do something special. To celebrate, I'm going to grate more zucchini and process some tomatoes. I'll even have a special dinner of tomato sandwiches (with bacon for the DH). I wanted to celebrate by sleeping until 9:00 and having 9 doughnuts for breakfast, but that seemed like a bad idea in the end. We can celebrate California's 159th anniversary of becoming a state today, and you can all get excited about the Beatles' remastered music release (and Beatles Rock Band release). And don't forget to wish Hugh Grant a happy 49th!

At Home on the Farm

Over the weekend, I took a little blog vacation while the DH and I visited his sister and brother-in-law. They live outside Hermiston, OR in a town called Stanfield. It's beautiful country. They live on the outskirts of town with proporty along the river and plenty of space for the chickens to roam and to have orchards and more garden than anyone I've ever seen without having a full-fledged farm.

The area is surrounded by fields of hay and alfalfa. They grow tomatoes, potatoes, squash, cucumbers, raspberries, peppers of all sorts, apples, and pears. While we were there, we spent most of the time just enjoying each other's company, but we also got some time out in the garden. I enjoyed picking rasperries (at least sort of) and was reminded of how poorly I do it. My mom used to go out after I said I'd picked all the raspberries in the back yard and then come back with half again as many as I'd picked in the first place. I love being out in the garden and seeing everything growing. I think I could really enjoy the rural life in a lot of ways. Then I think about all that work. I'm not one to shirk the work, but I'm no good at bending over picking weeds, thinning vegetables, and harvesting produce all day. I was good for more than an hour, but not for the day and certainly not long enough to be of great use out there.

I think I'd be most comfortable as the one taking care of all the produce when it's brought into the house. I had a great time last night cutting watermelon and canteloupe, grating zucchini, cleaning berries, making more zucchini bread, and trying out a new mini-cobbler recipe with some raspberries. Today, I'm looking forward to processing some tomatoes (after eating a few of them). I'd be happy to make a nice lunch and dinner and lots of yummy treats for anyone with the stamina to work all day in the garden. Doing that, I'd feel right at home on the farm.

Music Monday -- Because It Feels Like Monday

The DH and I spent some time at Bumbershoot over the weekend. One of the acts we watched/listened to was Kristen Ward. We both really liked what we heard. What we saw was also very entertaining, but really not so much about the music. Bumbershoot brings a very eclectic audience together, so the people-watching is outstanding!

The YouTube video is from Bumbershoot and not great quality. The album, however, is great. The style is AltCountry and Kristen's voice is great. It reminds me a little of Mary Chapin Carpenter. She also has a great guitar player with some really good riffs. Take a listen here, but if you like it even a little, go take a listen on iTunes where the quality is much improved.

Mmm... Halibut!

This week, the DH and I tried some of the halibut that our friend Fred caught and gave to us. We have several halibut steaks in the freezer, so I thought it was time to try out a new recipe. I found and then modified a recipe that turned out to be delicious and also very easy.

Pan Seared Halibut with Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons grape seed oil
4 (6-ounce) halibut fillets
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 C dry white wine
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups halved heirloom tomatoes
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves

Directions:
In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the grape seed oil. Season the fish with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Sear the fish for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Add the hyme and juice of 1/2 a lemon and baste the fish with the sauce. Remove the halibut from the pan to a serving platter. Add the olive oil to the pan and stir in the dry white wine and then put in the tomatoes, the garlic and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the parsley. Stir to combine and serve on top of the fish.

Julie & Julia -- My Emotional Response

After watching the movie Julie & Julia, I was intrigued and wanted to know more about both the women portrayed in the book. On the one hand, I was thoroughly disappointed, and on the other, I continue to be inspired.

When I got home, I looked up the Julie/Julia Project blog. I was dismayed. I don't care much about glitzy design on a blog, but I do care about good writing and interesting information. Julie was writing un-edited blog entires, so I wouldn't want to be too harsh, but her writing is no better than my average high-school students. I did see some more polished entries from after the project was completed (assuming she had more time to choose her words and edit herself). My biggest disappointment, however, was that I had absolutely no idea what the real experience of cooking and eating the food was after reading several entries. I love to read cooking blogs. I even have friends who blog about recipes they try and food they make that are far more inspiring that Julie's blog. I realize that her purpose was to document her "project" in her blog, but it just didn't resonate with me.

Julia Child's editor indicated that Julia had read the blog and considered it a stunt. After reading more of it, I completely understand Julia's reaction. Julia would have described the smell of the onions cooking, the texture of the sauce, and the flavor of the final dish in such a way that we would all be chonping at the bit to make it ourselves. When Julie describes her experience, it leaves me thinking about how hard the project is, how many tools it would take, and how expensive it must have been. I'm also thinking about how annoyed her husband must have been most of the time. And I know that Julie was keeping it real with her language, but the F-bombs o' plenty are even more distracting from the food and lower my opinion of her as a skilled writer.

I really wanted to like Julie, to be happy for her for getting a book deal, and even happier for getting a movie deal. In the end, I think Julie is just a pawn of a bigger machine looking for a money-maker. They found it and Julie will have her 15 minutes of fame. I say, good for her. I just wish I could be genuinely happy about the whole project.

Contrast that with my reaction to Julia Child. I did find her inspiring in many of the same ways that Julie found. She was someone who really wanted to find her passion in life. She tried a variety of things that left her lackluster. When she went to France, she was intrigued by the food and fell in love. Then she went to the Cordon Bleu cooking school and found a true passion for cooking. The best part is that she was having a great time doing it. She wanted to share her passion. That is amazing! I want to find something that I can be that passionate about.

I bought her biography and look forward to reading it. I love to bake, but I'm not sure I'm at the level that I'd call Passion. (Notice the capital letter and italics -- that's real passion.) Hopefully I'll find it somewhere along the way. And the good news is that Julia didn't find her passion at 16 or 22. She was in her late 30's when she went to cooking school and older than that when she got involved in her cook book project. Fantastic! I guess I've become a bit passionate about Julia Child and hope I find the inspiration from her to find some pastime that I can be truly Passionate about in my life.

Loving My Car Dealership

Yes, you read correctly. I LOVE my car dealership, Toyota of Lake City. There are a couple of reasons.

First, let me highly recommend the service package offered when you buy a car from the dealership. It costs about the same as JiffyLube if you count up how many times you'll get service and what that costs there, but there are added benefits that I had no idea I was signing up for when I got my service package. I've been in four times now since purchasing my car.

• The first time I went in, they found an issue with a part that needed to be replaced. It was under warranty, so it just cost me an extra 20 minutes in the waiting room (with wifi, so I could surf the net while I waited).
• The second time I went in, they added foam to my front dash to decrease road noise. It was fixing a known issue and would take extra time, so they drove me to work and spent the day on the car, so it cost me the inconvenience of riding in their carpool to work.
• The third trip in required some new belts and windshield wipers, but they are included in the service agreement, so I didn't have to pay for them. I just needed to approve the work. Those are just little things, so it didn't even take any extra time.
• The last time I went in (last Friday), they did my 25K maintenance, so it took a little longer than normal. The found that the water pump was leaking, so they also replaced that. It was under warranty, so I didn't have to pay for it. Because they found it before it was a real problem, I will also never have the inconvenience of the car quitting on me because the water pump failed. I also told them that my tire air pressure light was coming on, but that the pressure was fine. They checked it and found the nail lodged in my tire. I actually had to pay for the tire fix, but I avoided the inconvenience of walking out to my car to find a super low tire that would make me late for work and finding out about the nail that way.

The service folks are so nice and I always feel like they're doing just a little extra to make sure that I have a good driving experience.

The second reason that I love my car dealership is because they like to do the right thing. Last year, we heard about an elderly sister in our ward who had some issues with folks who were providing some care for her. They got access to her bank account and proceeded to buy three cars. They went to my car dealership, Toyota of LakeCity. Of course, the dealership was thrilled to sell them the first car. When they came back the next day to buy a second car, the dealership thought something smelled fishy. They refused to sell the second car and asked the people to return the first car they had purchased the day before. They gave up two (and what could have been three) sales to do the right thing. They also reported the people for abuse and helped nail the case against those folks who were taking advantage of someone who needed protection.

I know most people hate car dealerships and car salesmen, but I want everyone (all three of you) to know that there are some really good dealerships out there who do the right thing and make their customers have great experiences.

Help Someone -- Help Yourself

If you're in the Seattle area, the please think about visiting the North end for two simultaneous and excellent events:

Yard sale/Bake sale to raise money for their adoption. I'll be baking and I'm only making the really good stuff, so you won't want to miss that!

13716 Midvale Ave. N
Seattle, WA

Friday, Sept. 4th and Saturday, Sept. 5th (with a possible encore on Monday)
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.


Also, for the knitters I know...

A Serious Stash Event
The duchess' sister used to own a gift boutique and yarn store. When she shut down to focus on raising her baby, the yarn just stayed on the shelves. She is bringing all that yarn to Seattle and selling it well below cost- because it is just time for it to go.

Rowan, Jeager, Elsebeth Lavold, Debbie Bliss, Kraemer, Louisa Harding, Plymoth, lots of sock yarn. There are sweater quantities in most yarns, and project quantities in all yarns. There will also be needles, notions, patterns, bags- pretty much anything (other than books) that you might expect to find in a yarn store.

The Important InfoWhere: 13716 Midvale Ave. N. Unit B, Seattle, WA
When: Labor Day weekend Frinday Sept 4th, Sat, Sept 5th and Monday Sept 7th
(NOT SUNDAY)10:00 am- 5:00pm (or until we run out of yarn ;)

Julie & Julia -- the Movie Review

While Annzy was visiting, we went to the movie Julie & Julia. The movie goes between the lives of Julie Powell in 2002 and Julia Child in the 50's. I loved Meryl Streep as Julia Child. She did a great job of capturing the voice and mannerisms without being too over the top about it. I also loved the story of Julia Child. I completely understand why she was such an inspiration to Julie Powell. I loved that she found her passion in her late 30's and that she really lived life to the fullest. Julie Powell's story is interesting, but a little more self-absorbed. It's lovely to watch how she learns from Julia Child, but her story paled in comparison to Julia's.

Nora Ephron always does a nice job of creating the time and place and she does that well both in the Brooklyn setting for Julie's story and the wonderful city of Paris, and then Connecticut, for Julia's story. I left the theater wanting to know more about both Julie and Julia and what they have accomplished. I wasn't quite ready to run out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but I was inspired by Julia's love for cooking and teaching others to have that same love.

Sleep! Who Needs It?

The answer to that question is me, that's who.

The DH and I have both taken sleep studies in the past few months. My sleep study revealed that I wake up a lot and have too much brain activity when I wake up, but it's not from sleep apnea. It's from worrying too much. The DH, on the other hand, found out that he has sleep apnea and is awoken some 35 times an hour when he stops breathing. I guess that could be a problem.

To counteract the wear and tear of stopping breathing 35 times an hour, the DH was prescribed a CPAP machine. The idea is that it blows air up your nose to keep the air passages open, so you can't stop breathing. The only problem with that is it's constantly blowing air up your nose, which for the uninitiated, can be very distracting and keep that person wide awake. Last night was night three with the CPAP machine and it's gotten progressively better each night. The first night was pretty bad with the machine getting loud and being terribly uncomfortable for the DH. The second night was a little better, but still uncomfortable.

I'll admit that I like to share the bed with the non-snoring version of the DH, but I also appreciate the non-hooked-up version of the DH. We've agreed that he will absolutely wear it for the first five nights, but then all bets are off. If he doesn't feel like the benefits of feeling great during the day outweigh the discomfort during the night, then he's done.

Mostly, I just want the DH happy and healthy. I know many, many people who swear by the joys of CPAP, but the DH needs to feel it himself. If not, then we'll return to the snoring and I'll keep loving the white noise machine.

Music Monday -- Grizzly Bear!

I just picked up a new album from the band Grizzly Bear called Veckatimest. Curios what a veckatimest is, but not enough to actually find out. I listened to several of the tracks on iTunes and enjoyed what I heard and now I've listened to the whole album a couple of times. It's a lot more mellow than I expected, but I really like it. I think my favorite track right now is Two Weeks. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Who I Want to Be

I'm still deciding what I want to be when I grow up, but I do know who I want to be when I grow up. I actually really like who I am. I'd just like to be a more fit, organized, intelligent, comfortable version of who I am today. To that end, I've been thinking about what I need to do to become who I want to be. I'm really not all that good at making and keeping goals, but I realize that it's an important part of becoming who I want to be. For this reason, I've set a goal to do the Danskin triathlon next summer. That should help with the "fitter" part of who I want to be.

I've also made a goal to blog more often. This may not seem like such an important goal to many, but it really is a great outlet for me. I love to write, but I waste way too much time when I sit at the computer. My goal is to only read or write at the computer moving forward. That means no more Mah Jong. Really. It's such a waste of time and it sucks me in for embarrassing amounts of time. There. I've said it. Now I can move on. I don't think that writing every day will get me a book deal or land me some sweet job, or become a job itself, but it will help me organize my thoughts and produce something that is of value at least to me.

My other goal is to de-junk my office. It's a shambles, but it will help me to be more organized to get everything in its place and to get rid of the things that are no longer useful. I also want to organize my time better, but I'm still working out how that will look in some measurable goal.

And finally, I'm going to figure out Photoshop and Lightroom. I need to embrace being a life-long learner. It's what keeps our brains agile and our spirits young. I want to be that person who is alway learning something new. The new thing that will be of value to both me and the DH will be learning to use Photoshop and Lightroom. It's a lot easier for me to learn than the DH, and I fear he will never get the knack if I'm not able to help troubleshoot along the way. They're complicated tools, and totally not in my comfort-zone, so it will be fun and challenging. And then, maybe I can make my own blog banners! Fun for me and you.

Putting out there into the bloggosphere is my way of writing it down. Go ahead and help keep me honest. I won't be offended. That's part of the fun, right?

Onion Tartlets

While the DH and I were in Portland, we picked up the Farm Chicks In the Kitchen for Annzy. She really wanted the book, and we found a better than average deal on it at the wonderful Powell's Books.

While I was in possession of the book, I read it cover-to-cover and enjoyed all the anecdotes and pictures, but I try any of the recipes. I waited until Annzy showed up in person, and then let her try the Onion Tartlet recipe while she was visiting. We all loved the recipe, so I had to try it out myself after she was gone.

I've made them now, and the recipe is super easy and the results every-so-tasty. The DH suggested adding bacon bits-the fairy dust of the food world-so we did and it was a pleasant addition.

Also, let me just tell you that you really should pick up this book if you are even remotely interested in this or any of the other Farm Chick's recipes. They are fabulous and looked fairly easy to make. It's a recipe book that I know I would use many of the recipes in, so it's well worth the cost.

The Farm Chicks' Onion Tartlets

3/4 cup butter, softened
3oz cream cheese ~room temperature
1 cup flour
4 cups thin sliced onions (about 3 large onions)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg

Heat oven to 350'

Cook the onions: Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1/4 cup butter, stirring till melted; then add the onions, stir in the sugar and salt, and saute over medium-low heat until golden brown and caramelized, ~20 minutes.

Make the crust: Combine 1/2 cup butter and the cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the flour and mix until well combined. Scoop the mixture into 24 heaping teaspoonfuls and roll each into a ball. Press each ball into the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased mini-tart (muffin) pan. Divide the onion mixture evenly between the 24 tartlet shells.

Bake the tartlets: Combine the cream and egg in a glass measuring cup and whisk until smooth. Pour into the tartlets, dividing evenly. Bake until the filling and crust are golden brown, ~22 to 24 minutes. Transfer the tartlets from the baking pan to a serving plate and serve warm.

~enjoy because the real secret ingredient is love!

Wishing I Had Taken Pictures

I really like food, so I like to talk about food. The DH and I had the most wonderful dinner last night that I just must share with you all. Our meal was at the Sumbling Goat Bistro in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood. We shared two appetizers and then each had our own main dish.

We started with a seasonal cheese plate. The cheeses were Bleu d’ Auvergne raw cow’ s milk from France, Isiguy Ste Mere Camembert pasteurized cow’s milk from France, Crottin Affine pasteurized goat milk from France, and Castelrosso pasteurized cow’s milk from Italy. It was served with Port glazed figs, pear, candied nuts, and house-made crackers with a sprinkling of sea salt. I know! It all sounds so complicated. A picture would have been so much nicer on all of you. The flavor of the Bleu was the favorite of both the DH and me. It was SO good! I really don't have the vocabulary to describe how the cheese tasted, but know that we both enjoyed it immensely.

The second appetizer was Wild Boar Rillettes with a chutney and two mustards. I'm sure you're asking yourself right now what Rillettes are. First off, it's singular. Second, according to dictionary.com, it's an appetizer made usually of pork or goose meat that is diced, seasoned, cooked, and then pounded or ground to the consistency of a spread. In other words, it's kind of like liverwurst, but it was made out of wild boar's meat instead of some goose liver. It sounds a little odd, but it was very good. The meat had been cooked with a variety of herbs, but had a distinct flavor of clove in the mix. It was served with bread to spread it on with the chutney and mustard. The flavor combinations were lovely.

The DH had pan-seered halibut and I had braised rabbit and papardelle with a tomato sauce. Both were prepared perfectly and we were so satisfied with the whole meal that we didn't even eat dessert at home.

Friday Food For Thought

The Best Years of My Life

Four years ago today, the DH and I were married in the Seattle temple, had a wonderful luncheon at Ivar's Salmon House, and then had a great party in our back yard to celebrate with all of our friends. It was a fantastic day! I couldn't imagine that I could be more in love or happier than I was on that day.

What a surprise. I really am more in love and happier today than I was four years ago. The DH has been a wonderful influence in my life and helped me to live a more full and enjoyable life. I love him and I'm in love with him. It's a great place to be.

In the last four years, we've traveled to Victoria, B.C., Hawaii, Idaho, California, church history sites, the Oregon coast, and all sorts of lovely places in Washington. We've totally changed how we manage our funds and save for a rainy day. We've gotten new callings in the church that have helped us grow in different ways. We've worked in the yard and shopped at Costco. We've learned to sleep with each other's snoring (I love you, white noise machine!). We've watched friends get married and divorced and felt the joy and pain that go with both of those. We've gone to more live music performances than I can count.

We stick up for each other and we rub each other's feet. We love more now than ever. All of these things have knit us together.

Happy Anniversary, DH!

Update -- The DH sent beautiful flowers to me at work. He knows how much I love fresh flowers and it was a very happy surprise.

Please Make It Stop!

This morning I had a dentist appointment and had my teeth cleaned. I was relaxed in the dentist's chair when the horrible noise started. There are three work stations and I was in the middle one. To the right, was the high-pitch sound of the dentist drilling a tooth. To the left was the lower hum of someone having the polisher on their teeth. In the middle was me, hearing the scraping of plaque from my teeth.

It was torture.

I'm sorry you had to read that, but I felt the need to share my pain.

Annzy's Visit

I had the rare pleasure of my sister Annzy visiting for the weekend. She showed up Thursday evening and we played until she left on Sunday afternoon. The highlight of the weekend for me was disecting Julie & Julia. I'll post more on that another day, but it was great to talk to Annzy about it and think about the movie and its message.

I also loved shopping with Annzy. She's a pro! We enjoyed U Village, the Phinney Ridge Farmer's Market, Pike Place Market, K-Mart, and the grocery store. Every trip was better with Annzy there. Of course, the best was the trip to K-Mart. It's always an adventure there. We discovered that the Martha Stewart line seems to be going out. That's a bummer. We also found silly gadgets that we discovered we couldn't live without. Who knew? I'm not sure how I survived until Saturday without that meat thermometer that I picked up.

It was super fun to hang with the family here and see how excited the nephew was to have Annzy there to show off his stuff to. He's such a great kid! I was fascinated by his interest in rocks (and the brother's ability to answer the tough questions). It was like a Geology test that I would have flunked. Good times! The Brother passed with flying colors, though.

The final highlight was making Onion Tartlets with Annzy. We got the Farm Chicks cookbook for her at Powell's when we were there a few weeks ago and the cookbook is loads of fun. We had brunch with the family, so Onion Tartlets seemed like a good choice for that. Even though they may sound wierd to some of you, they really taste wonderful and are a good savory addition to any menu. They were pretty easy and super yummy. We all agreed that bacon bits could be a welcome addition to the recipe, but they were great without too.

Annzy! Send me the recipe! I must post it here for my bloggy friends to try!

Listening On My iPod -- The Decemberists

For my many readers (all three of you!), I'm sure you'd like to know what I'm listening to lately. The DH and I saw The Decemberists live last month and it was even better than either of us expected. They played a lot of music from their new album and they did a great job of the live performance.

As soon as I got back from the concert, I went right out and logged onto iTunes to buy the album. I've really enjoyed it. The sound is something that I can listen to actively or just have in the background. Either way, they're great and I hope you like them too.

Whirleyball and Ouch!

Last night, we were invited with a group of friends to play Whirleyball. This game is a riot and we had a lot of fun. It's basically the rules of basketball, but using a whiffle ball while riding in a bumper car. The games are 15 minutes and move really quickly. See the short YouTube video below to get an idea of how the game looks.


We were invited by some friends to add to the team. You have to have 10 people to play for an hour and a half, which ends up being about four 15-minute games. We also had three extra people so we could sub in and out. The bumper cars make for a jarring game, so I was happy to sit out for one of the games.

I have to say, the best part of the game last night was the group we were with. The group was made up of a couple that we're friends with and their grown sons and daughters-in-law and a couple of random other friends. Most of them had played several times, were athletic to begin with, and were very good at the game. Me -- not so much! But these great folks made sure that I played as much as anyone. They didn't hog the ball or get too aggressive or so competetive that it took the fun out of it. They just added to the fun by really enjoying it and including everyone.

It's such a far cry from the one other time I played. I got bored because the two competetive guys on the team just hogged the ball and got really angry if anyone missed the ball or did something they thought was "wrong" along the way.

The only down side to playing Whirleyball is the painful after effects. I'm sore today and expect it to last until tomorrow. Between getting hit too many times to count and trying to reach in wierd ways for the ball, it uses muscles you didn't know existed.

Thanks, Lo, for the invitation!

Twilight Fun

While the nieces were here, we headed to the peninsula and went to the Hoh rain forest, Rialto Beach, and Forks.

Anyone who has read the Twilight series of books knows that the story takes place in Forks, WA. It's a little hole in the wall town, but still fun to go see.

I'm happy to go to Forks, but mostly because I really like the rain forest and beach and Forks is on the way.

Enjoy this lovely little spoof on Twilight if you have time for it:

Family Milestones

A few summers ago, the DH and I went to Idaho Falls to celebrate my Granny's 90th birthday. This weekend, we've spent a few days East of Sacramento celebrating the DH's father's 90th birthday.

We flew into Sacramento late Thursday and spent the night there, then drove to Oakland to attend a temple session with the DH's parent, sister and her husband, two step brothers, and a couple of aunts. We had a nice time there and I was happy to meet some new family members.

We then drove back to Sacramento and picked up the DH's younger son, Rory, from the airport and took him out to dinner before driving to Jackson, CA where we were spending the rest of the weekend. We had great food at Rudy's Hideaway in Folsom and then stayed up talking to more family members at the DH's parents house.

On Saturday, we spent a good part of the day celebrating the 90th birthday. The DH's step-mom put together a great party. There was plenty of food, a wonderful slide show of pictures from over the last 90 years, and live music from some of the more talented members of the family. We also spent a lot of time talking and reminiscing about old times. I got to meet all of the DH's step-brothers and many of his neices and nephews. With the merged family, there were a lot of brothers and sisters and plenty of people for me to meet and get to know. I'll admit that the DH may have more interesting characters in his immediate family. It made for a very entertaining couple of days.

Today, we looked around the town of Sutter Creek, then had lunch with the family and I go to see more pictures of the DH when he was younger. It was a lot of fun. Then we headed back to Sacramento to fly back home.

Fabulous Reading!

I just finished a delightful book. I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The story takes place in post-WWII England starting in London and ending in the Channel Islans of Guernsey.

This was a very quick read and perfect summer reading. The story has some serious points, but is mostly light and fun. There's romance and a little intrigue (though mild at that). The whole story is written in letters, so you get to know each of the characters both by how they write and by how they are described by others. I especially liked that the main character is herself an author and discusses her own works and her love of other authors. It makes for a great literary adventure. She refers to Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy often and looks for love just as Elizabeth did. You'll have to read to find out if her story ends as happily as Elizabeth's.

Because You Asked So Nicely

Several folks have requested the Spitzbuebe cookie recipe, so here it is for anyone who'd like it. Note that I just use the mixer instead of blending in the flower by hand.

Spitzbuebe
1¼ cups sugar
6 cups flour
2 eggs
1 pound butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 pinch salt

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

In a mixer cream the shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, a pinch of salt and the vanilla. Beat until thoroughly mixed. Using your hands, mix in the flour but only until it is incorporated into the mixture. Just fold the flour into the batter. The result will be a very sticky batter. DO NOT OVER-MIX.

Spread flour on a large surface and scrape the batter onto this surface from the mixing bowl. Sprinkle with flour and being to spread the dough with your hands to flatten it out. Then use a rolling pin to push the dough flat to about ¼ to ⅜ inches thick.

Cut cookies into desired shape. Make sure there is an equal number. In half of the cut out cookies make a smaller middle hole. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350° for 10-15 minutes. The cookies should be a beige color and not brown, if in doubt break one to see if it is done.

Let cookies sit overnight, then prepare by spreading jam on bottom cookie and covering with top cookie. Sprinkle powdered sugar over cookies.

My New Goal

OK. I'm putting it out there for everyone to see. I have 54 weeks to train. I've signed up three times and not done it, but next year, I'm signing up and DOING the Danskin triathlon.

• There's a new spinning class at my gym on Monday mornings.
• I started running intervals again last week.
• There's a pool at my gym (if only I could find a time when all the lanes didn't have three people in them).
• My friend Kathleen has decided to train too.

Aren't these all good reasons to do it? I also think it will be enough time to get me there with the 54 weeks to go.

Annzy, are you in? ALL in?!?

Catching Up -- Cookies!

A couple of weeks ago, we had an activity at church where we all came and talked about a country we love and know about (other than the US). I shared some fun and interesting info about Switzerland.

Everyone got a kick out of seeing the cows with flowers on their heads and the beautiful alps, but the best part of sharing my experience in Switzerland was sharing the food. I made cookies that my family calls Bullseye cookies, but are called Spitzbuebe in Switzerland. The name is the word for a precocious little boy, I'm sure named that because the three holes in the top look like a little face.

First I made the dough, which is a lot like a simple shortbread cookie. They have to be rolled out and cut into tops and bottoms. The bottoms are just a simple circle, but the tops have three holes cut out. At least, this is the traditional look of the Spitzbuebe cookies. I've made them at Christmas with stars cut out of the top, but I only ever saw them in Switzerland with the three holes. The DH decided to call them Bowling Ball cookies.

After they're baked, it's best to let them sit overnight to kind of mellow. I'm not sure why, but they're definitely better if they sit for a while.

Once they've sat overnight, they get the yummy jelly filling. It goes on the bottom cookie and then the top goes on and powdered sugar on top of that. In Switzerland, some bakeries put powdered sugar and some put a really thin glaze. I like both, but it's just too much work after everything else to add glazing to the process, so mine always get powdered sugar.

The end result is yumm-o! These are definitely my favorite cookie. I only make them about once a year because they're a bit more work than most cookies, but it's worth the effort every once in a while. And my Swiss friend at work was delighted to share this treat with me.

Weekend Away...

This weekend was the DH's company picnic. His generous company pays for everyone to travel to Portland and puts everyone up in a hotel for one night. So, Saturday morning, we headed South to Portland. It took us just over three hours to get there and traffic wasn't too bad. We went to the picnic where we enjoyed the heat, had very good food, played some games, and enjoyed a lot of good company. We had a really nice time, but finally gave up when we were just too hot. At that point, we went and checked into the hotel and had a rest in the air-conditioned room.

That evening, we went with the Stahl's to shop at Powell's Books and then out to dinner. We had a great time at Powell's and didn't quite break the bank. The DH and I both found a couple of books we wanted. Annzy called at the most opportune time and even she got a book in the process. it was actually kind of funny. She wanted a cookbook that she didn't know the name of. She gave me a brief description that I gave to one of the people there, who quickly handed me the exact book she wanted. I love a bookstore where the people working there actually know the books.

We then went to dinner at Clyde Common, recommended by one of our Mathlete friends. It was a really great choice and all four of us were very happy with all the food we had. My only regret was that we were too full for dessert. I guess that's not exactly a problem though.

We got up and had to get breakfast before heading out of town, so we went to get the best breakfast around at Mother's Bistro. Fortunately, we beat the rush and were able to enjoy fantastic food again.

Of course, it's good to be home again, but we had a great time on our mini-excursion.

The Anniversary of My First Memory

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. The lunar landing was televised on our black and white TV, and watching that report is the earliest memory I have. I would have just turned 3. My older brother loved all things scientific, so it's no surprise that my memory is of sitting on the floor a foot rom the TV, next to him. We were in the L-shaped family room with linoleum tile on the floor, long before walls were built to add another room and wall-to-wall carpet was installed.

Beauty is Not Optional

Beauty is not optional, but it is often crowded out by the day-to-day activities that make up our lives. We are pressed by things that are important in the moment, but not of import. Getting to work on time is important in the moment. Noticing beauty in our lives is of import.

If we are not deliberate in our lives, we may miss out on much of the beauty that could come our way. Beauty comes to us in many ways if we are aware — a smile, an article, watching the evening sun go down and noticing the firey red clouds, the touch of a good friend — these moments of beauty are all around us if we are not distracted by other things.

The following poem expresses this thought beautifully...

If I had time to find a place
And sit me down full face to face
With my better self, that cannot show
In my daily life that rushes so:
It might be then I would see my soul
Was stumbling still toward the shining goal;
I might be nerved by the thought sublime —
If I had the time!
-Richard Burton

Muslih-uddin Sadi, a sheik who lived more than 720 years ago, wrote the following verse entitled Gulistan

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft
And from thy slender store two
loaves alone to thee are left
Sell one and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed the soul.

That which is beautiful truly does feed our souls.

Terry Tempest Williams, a noted Utah author, was in New York City to see the editor of the New Yorker Magazine. To help break the ice, she had purchased some flowers for the editor. It was very cold as she walked down 43rd Street and caught sight of a woman who was sitting on the subway grate wrapped in a blanket with only her eyes showing and those eyes were focused on the flowers. Terry didn't give the flowers to the woman because that would be patronizing, but in the next block, she found a flower shop and went in and bought some big yellow mums and went back to the woman. As she handed the mums to her, the woman said: "I am eating, but nobody gives me food for my soul – beauty is not optional."

Given this, I was fascinated with the social experiment put on by the Washington Post in April 2007. You can read about it in the article Pearls Before Breakfast. It's a fairly long read, but well worth the time.

And watch the video from YouTube below:

Holiday Weekend

Last weekend, the DH and I took a much needed vacation. It was my birthday, so I told the DH that I really wanted to visit Granny (my paternal grandmother) for my birthday. She lives in Idaho Falls, ID, so it took some planning, but we got to have a great visit with her.

We started our vacation by flying to Boise. I got to visit with my old friend Rochelle (who I've known since 4th grade) and then we had dinner with my friend Andrea (who I've known since I was 2) and her husband. After dinner, we played games with Andrea, Ben, and my parents. It was a wonderful way to spend a day.

On Saturday, we celebrated my birthday by eating cake and ice cream for breakfast. I did some sewing and then we went to Five Guys for hamburgers (YUM-O!) for lunch and headed out to the freeway to go to Idaho Falls. We got there around 6:00 and went to cousin Aaron's house for a nice BBQ dinner with almost all the Turner clan. It was great to catch up with Aunt Beth and Uncle Bob and see what all the boys and their significant others are up to. After dinner, we went to Granny's place and visited for a couple hours before heading back to Aaron's for a few fireworks and a good night's sleep.

On Sunday, Aaron made Abelskivers for breakfast before we went back to visit with Granny again. It was such a delight to talk to Granny, hear her stories, and enjoy her great attitude. I don't know many people who just turned 93 who are so pleasant to be around. I'm very thankful for such a wonderful example in Granny. After that short visit, we headed back out of town, but on the highway instead of the freeway. Our next stop was Craters of the Moon National Monument. The DH had heard about it and really wanted to go. The nicest surprise about the trip was how green and lush everything was and we loved seeing all the wild flowers. It's been an unusually wet spring in Idaho, so the flowers are in bloom much later than usual. We explored the lava flows, cones, and tubes and met a lot of nice people along the way. If you're ever planning to drive to Yellowstone or Teton National Park, it's definitely worth the detour to see Craters of the Moon. From there, we headed to Sun Valley where we checked out the town and spent the night.

On Monday, we drove up through Galena Summit where we saw a spectacular view of the Sawtooth mountains. It really was an amazing view. From there, we went to Redfish Lake and took a turn about the lake and tried out the fishing. The fish weren't biting, but I didn't care. It was so lovely and peaceful that I enjoyed myself entirely without caring about the fish. From there, we headed through Stanley and Lowman and then over through Garden Valley to Hwy 55 and back to Boise. We had a great visit with my brother and sister and their kids and then went to bed tired. It had been a great drive around the southern part of the state.

On Tuesday, I finished up my sewing and we had lunch with the whole family before heading back to Seattle. I was reminded why I miss Idaho and the DH was introduced to new landscapes that he really enjoyed as well. On our last day in Boise, we started planning our next road trip. We think the next one might be in southern Utah. We'll see!

Feeling Independent

I love Independence Day! I'm sure you just assume it's because it's my birthday, but there's more to it than that. I'd actually be fine if my birthday were any other day, though it's kind of funny when people find out my birthday is on the 4th and wonder what my parents were thinking when they named me.

I love small town parades. We went to Malad, ID at least once when I was young and I had such a great time at their parade. They really went all out. It was cool to see what seemed to be ancient men in the bed of a truck proudly waving VFW flags. Those men were proud and you could see it. Provo, UT also has a great 4th of July parade. The kids end up with handfulls of candy by the end and there's a great sense of community along that parade route.

I love seeing the flag flown. When I lived in Boise, a scout troupe in my neighborhood put flags in the yards of anyone who signed up on all the flag-flying holidays. There were a lot of them and made me feel great to see them all. I miss that in the neighborhood I live in now. I don't see quite as many flags as I'd like, even on the 4th.

As a kid, I thought it was great that we lit fireworks almost all day (it seemed!), then ate rootbeer floats and stood out on the deck to watch the city fireworks. It was fun to walk over to the bench and chat with friends while watching them from there, too.

That sense of belonging to a community that loves this country we live in is pretty great. I'm looking forward to a(n extended) family BBQ and family and city fireworks this 4th of July. I think I'll feel great!


This is one of my favorite renditions of the National Anthem. Jennifer Hudson rocks it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Loving My Country

Last weekend, the DH and I spent time in NE Oregon enjoying a lot of the landscape. This weekend, we'll be heading to Idaho to tour a portion of the Southern part of the state. It's my home and I have a certain longing for that landscape. I'm looking forward to sharing that land that I love with my DH.

I've also been thinking lately how much I love my country. We forget so often how very blessed we are and what a great land of opportunity we live in. Even the worst off among us are better off than many in war-torn or third-world countries.

I can't get through the national anthem without tearing up. I loved seeing the original Old Faithful being restored at the Smithsonian when I was there last. I may even be a bit of a sap when it comes to thinking about the ideal of America, even knowing it's only an ideal and that for many it is far from their reality. I truly love this land of mine.