the beach and the best italian food ever

The beach sounds awefuly good this time of year, with 100+ temps already here at home.  So off we went.  San Diego did not disappoint.  The beach and water were chilly, but a welcome kind of chilly, you know?

Molly spent hours in the frigid ocean - boogie boarding to her heart's content.

 Owen had his own version of boogie boarding.

 Jonah loved it too.

Grace spent hours building sand castles and perfecting her running long jump skills.

The babies were content to play in and eat the sand. And chase birds.  They were not interested in the water, thank goodness.

We also discovered the most delicious Italian restaurant: PIATTI.  I can safely say, it is my new favorite, Italian or not. Bar none. Everything about it was perfect: the bread and dipping oil, the food, the decor, the white tablecloths - everything! I had the RAVIOLI AL LIMONE: House-Made Ricotta & Basil Ravioli Served w. Lemon Cream or Tomato Sauce. I ordered half lemon / half tomato sauce, but quickly wished I'd ordered all lemon.  It was to die for. I have dreamed every night of Piatti and that ravioli. I am not kidding.

This was really a fun trip and a great way to kick off the summer.

what shall i do with my shallots?

I first heard about the Backyard Farmer from my sister-in-law, Alice. Then, I Heart Mesa bragged about it too. I decided to try it for myself.

The backyard farmer sells and delivers locally grown produce. Officially it is not organic, because of the red-tape requirements. But UNofficially, it is.

Last week, for $40, I got tons of yellow, purple and orange carrots, multi-color baby carrots, golden potatoes, red cherry tomatoes, purple cherry tomatoes, cilantro, big bag of mixed baby greens, romaine lettuce, snow peas, sugar snap peas, tangelos, garlic, one huge red onion and shallots. AND, there was no delivery fee.

I made stir-fry for dinner that night and the veggies were delicious! We're still eating from the backyard farmer's bounty {salsa, breakfast potatoes, salad, smoothies...}.  And I got to choose everything I bought - no surprise turnip greens that we will never eat. I love this new-found service. It's like a farmer's market at my front door.

I really should plant a garden. That's next on the "soon" list, but for now, I love this alternative.

live to eat, or eat to live?

Thanksgiving was good.

I live to eat.

just peachy

Don't you love that peaches are everywhere right now?  We ordered a big box from a friend who has a Utah-peaches connection [thank you Erin], and we've spent the last few days dreaming about peach pie and peach smoothies and peach sorbet and just plain peaches.  Today I froze some [with Fruit Fresh and sugar] to make smoothies later.  And Sunday, I made peach salsa.  It was so so good!  I found a basic mango/peach salsa recipe online, but changed several things and it was definitely a hit with [almost] everyone.  

• Molly raved, "this is AMAZING!"
• Grace took one bite and immediately spooned up some more.
• Mark poured it all over his burrito.  
• I just wanted to drink it like I do the green salsa at Tia Rosa's.

Here's the recipe:   


Peach Salsa
5 large peaches, peeled
1/4 - 1/3 large red onion
2 or 3 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste


Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse, just a few times, until everything is evenly chopped.  Or chop all ingredients by hand.


We ate ours with tortilla chips immediately, but it was good chilled the next day too.


I didn't measure, but it seems like this recipe made about 2 1/2 cups salsa.
ENJOY!


Here's a link to the original recipe.

This is our peach box that sits atop our counter, and George's sippy cup.  I followed Becky Higgins' advice and took some pictures with the camera sitting on the floor and on the counter - AS IS - no tidying up - to get a different perspective on the everyday.  Here are a few more.

it's like baby, baby, baby, ohhhh

Life with 2 babies:

• We have not had to buy wipes at all for Hank and George, thanks to very generous friends who gifted me wipes and diapers before the boys were born.  I may NEVER have to buy wipes.  Seriously.  Amazing.
• The diapers lasted until the boys were 7 months.  [Except for 3 packs of newborns when we ran out of that size and they were still too little for the bigger diapers we were given.]  Do you know how many diapers that is?  We feel so grateful to all who stocked us up.  How wonderful is it to use the last diaper in the pack, and not have to worry if we have any more.  'Cause we did - stacked high in the closet.  Blessing.
• H and G love to read books.  Thankfully, we have lots of readers to assist.
• We do not own 2 highchairs.
• We do not even own 1 highchair. [Except for a strap-on-an-existing-chair type.  And I'm not pulling it out because we don't have an extra chair.  And that wouldn't do me much good to have only one chair to feed in.]
• I'm getting very tired of feeding babies in their exersaucers or just on my lap.
• Buying highchairs is like buying vacuums:  some have their favorite, some don't care, and I can't decide.  [This is where my mom and Emily roll their eyes.]  But if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.  I want to buy 2 nice looking chairs.  Yes, looks matter in this department.  If I have to have 2 of them in my kitchen and trip over them everyday, I want something that looks good! - I don't want any cartoon characters and the like.  I've found some seemingly functional ones, but some reviews say the tray is too far from the child, causing messy baby-lap, or other problems.
• I'm stressing about Halloween costumes for these two.  Lots of ideas, but do I have the time/desire to make them?  I don't think so.
• I have 3 quilt tops waiting to be quilted, but no time/desire to get them done.  That's because when the boys are sleeping, I am on the internet blogging or something unproductive like that.
• The babies at church and cousins the same age are much more advanced in the eating department than H and G.  They still struggle with cheerios.
• I always know the condition of my floors because the boys' knees and tops of feet tell the dirty story.  Sigh.
• I am so so thankful for friends at church who are willing to hold a baby - for 2 hours or more!  What would I do without Deb?
• I have never taken the boys to the store by myself.  Even with Mark, it has only been a handful of times.
• We still have just one crib.  In our room.  We have big plans to move the boys to the play room or to Jonah and Owen's room, but it just hasn't happened due to a need to get rid of an existing bed and, oh yeah, TIME.  And we will be getting a 2nd crib.  They are seriously all over each other.  Well, George is the guilty party there.
• I finally put up our 2008 family photo.  It's very big and I didn't have a frame for the longest time.  Owen wanted to know why Hank and George aren't in the picture.  
• Hank and George are seriously so easy going and happy, I just can't get enough.  Except when I need to sleep and they are both up at 5:30 am.

you know you want some

A few days ago, I mentioned the delicious dessert our friends brought over. On this particular occasion, Erin was helping her son fulfill his cub scout duty. At a cub scout fundraiser last month, he promised "Sunday night dessert with free delivery" to the highest bidder. I couldn't pass on the free delivery part so I bid and won. I expected a plate of cookies (which would have been great - this family knows how to bake a good cookie), but instead the Greenes went all out and delivered homemade cake with raspberry sauce. It was so so good! Several people have asked for the recipe, so with Erin's permission, I give you:

Erin's Lime Pound Cake Cake: 3 1/4 C. cake flour 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 18 Tbs. butter (at room temp) 8 oz. cream cheese (at room temp) 3 C. sugar 6 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla 3 Tbs. fresh lime juice (about two limes) 2 tsp. lime zest Glaze: 1/4 C. lime juice 3/4 C sugar Raspberry Sauce: 12 oz. frozen raspberries 2 tsp. lemon juice 3 Tbs. sugar 1. Preheat oven to 325* and position oven rack to lower one third of oven. 2. Thoroughly grease bundt pan 3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside 4. Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth 5. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture and mix until light and fluffy 6. Add eggs one at a time and beat on medium high between each egg 7. Beat in vanilla and lime juice 8. On low speed add dry ingredients and mix 9. Fold in zest 10. Spoon batter into greased pan, making sides about 1” higher than center 11. Bake about 1 hour 10 minutes until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. 12. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan. 13. Brush hot cake with glaze To make raspberry sauce, combine ingredients in blender and blend. You can serve this cold or at room temp on the side or drizzled over the cake.

you don't have to be from Utah to love Jello

Last night I was telling Alice and Debbie about a yummy dessert I had several years ago. I have not made it myself, but I thought I would post the recipe, to clarify what I really couldn't remember last night. My kids loved it. I loved it. I know. I know. It's jell-o. But it really was good. I gave it a new name that better represents its delicious flavor. Doesn't it sound better than "Creamy orange jello?"

Orange Creamsicle

 3 oz orange Jello
5 oz lemon pudding, cook
1 cup milk
3.5 oz lemon pudding (instant)
8 oz cool whip

Mix orange Jello (as directed) and put in 9 x 13 pan. Don't refrigerate yet. Cook, according to directions, large lemon pudding. Pour into orange Jello and wire whisk together. Refrigerate until set. TOPPING: Mix small box of instant pudding, milk and Cool Whip. Stir together and spread on top of set Jello.

the rocket man and avocado pizza and orange fennel salad - oh my!

Stephen and Leone (bro- + sis-in-law in Seattle) gave us a gift card to La Grande Orange for Christmas. It is one of our favorite places to eat. I am really happy.
Oh, and did you know about La Grande Orange Cafe in Pasadena, CA? Me neither. Good to know.

the many faces {and braces} of molly

for this girl, nothing was greeted with more anticipation than the day she got her braces last year. that day was recently trumped - the day she got them OFF!

congratulations molly! we hope you enjoyed your celebratory corn on the cob, popcorn and apple-bobbing.

pizzelle (pronounced with tz sound like pizza)

I'm adding this to my must have-list even though it doesn't jive with my no more kitchen gadgets-list. Then there's my childhood memories at Grandma's-list. 2 to 1: I win.

twins

Did anyone watch Amy Finley's road to becoming "THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR?" I caught bits of it here and there. In short, she was in the final three. The judges voted her off, then invited her to come back after one of the other contestants left. Apparently, he was caught in a web of extensive lies on his resume/interview. (Said he had formal culinary training, didn't. Said he served in the military in Iraq, didn't, etc.) Frankly, the judges took the show way too seriously. It's food, people! It's not like you are choosing the next American Idol or America's Got Talent baton twirler! PLEASE!

Anyway, I'm glad Amy won. She seemed the most genuine and unpretentious.

Not unlike my sister-in-law, Jessica (on the left), who could be her twin! Even their mannerisms are the same. Jessica now has really stylish short hair, but this longer version looks more like Amy. AND, Jessica is a FABULOUS cook herself! We're talking gourmet. And though I've never actually eaten her food because she lives in Philadelphia and I don't get to see her very often, my brother can vouch for her skills. Oh, and she asked for Gourmet Magazine for Christmas. Enough Said.

I would say she should try out to be next year's FNS, but Jessica is the Director of The Kelly Writers House at The University of Pennsylvania. Pretty impressive stuff! No time for the Food Network's blubbery.