I had a nice long weekend. I had completely forgotten than Monday was a holiday since Chris' work does not give them the day off. What a pleasant surprise, and thank you Veterans!
I spent the weekend cooking and shopping. Let's talk about the cooking. On Saturday I made a dinner of little foods, using recipes I got from Dr. Stonielove (a cooking blog I read) though I tweaked them a bit:
- Black Bean Sliders -
I halved the recipe since there's only two of us; I used regular cheese; I didn't use caramelized onions because I had a lot of other foods to prepare and didn't want to spend the time; and I topped them with the usual burger accoutrement (lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes to keep things little, ketchup and mustard). These were great!
- Mini Spring Rolls -
The only thing I changed here was using ready-made sweet & sour sauce since I have little packets in a drawer, but that still fit in with my little foods theme! These were really tasty.
- Taco Bites -
I only made about ten total and cut down the recipe as needed. I also omitted the rice and added some textured soy protein instead. Then I topped them with diced tomato and some cilantro. The soyrizo was really good in this recipe.
- Mini Corndogs -
I didn't make these, but Morningstar Farms did! I've seen these little corn"dog" poppers in the store and have wanted to try them since I used to love corn dogs, and they didn't disappoint!
I had also bought a little lemon meringue pie (serves two). I used to make a really good lemon meringue, but after three or four of them I just can't do it anymore. They turn out with an odd flavor and I can't figure out why. So instead I'll drop a couple bucks on a little pie that's probably better for us since we don't have a whole pie beckoning us from the fridge. I consider my little foods night a great success.
Sunday night I made two pizzas. I usually make my own pizza dough but since I was going to Trader Joe's anyway I picked up a bag of their whole wheat dough and a bag of their garlic and herb dough. I made a Bechamel sauce and put that on the garlic/herb crust with sliced mushrooms, frozen chopped spinach, sliced onion, sliced garlic, and a shredded Italian cheese blend. On half the wheat dough I put pesto, sliced marinated mozarella, sliced tomatoes and garlic, and more of the Italian cheese. On the other half I put some leftover homemade veggie-laden tomato sauce and a ton of shredded cheese with cheddar. These pizzas were a hit and we've been having them for lunch since! I really liked having the different types all at one time. And its pizza, how could we go wrong?
Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Too busy eating. :)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
On the road again...
We spent a long weekend on the road this past weekend. Friday morning Ayla and I headed up to my parents' place in Nevada. We didn't do too much that day - went to the market, helped Dad haul numerous 60lb. bags of sand from the truck to the back yard for their new marijuana-factory greenhouse, and just chatted. Mom and Dad grilled veggie burgers and Mom made some awesome fries for dinner. Chris arrived later that evening since he couldn't leave until after work.
Saturday Chris left for Greg's place in Mammoth. Mom, Dad, and I headed in to Carson City to do some running around. I got more yarn and a needle roll at Michaels (yippee!) and Dad came this close to adopting a 7-year-old Lab/Dalmation mix from an adoption event outside Petsmart. He was such a sweet old man and had it not been for Phantom's old age (he turned 14 on Halloween!) and their cat Precious' asthma which seems to be particularly bad with stress, and the fact that they couldn't tell us if sweet old Casey was good with cats, the Larson's might have had an addition to their family/zoo. Heartbreaking indeed, but it turns out Casey was adopted the following day to a family with multiple cats. Here's hoping to a loving home for him!
Then we stopped by Lowes where Clay works and I gave him a big hug in front of his coworkers, thoroughly embarrassing him. :) Later that evening Clay joined us for dinner at Indian Garden. They had tons of vegetarian options (yippee again!) and I got to introduce them to the mouth-gasm that is Ras Malai - fried cheese balls soaked in sweetened condensed milk and flavored with cardamom. I've had it served cold, but these were hot and oh so tasty... excuse me, I'm drooling on my keyboard...
Chris went all over Crowley and Mammoth with his brother. He got to drive his little Toyota up around Rock Creek, which he's wanted to do since before he even got the car. Greg showed him his mad archery skillz and they BBQ'd at Greg's spacious place that night. Now that we know Greg has plenty of room for all of us (twice the size at least of our condo! not fair!) we'll all head up to Mammoth next summer! Chris really enjoyed spending time with his brother - its really a shame that we're all so far apart.
Sunday Chris watched and Greg caddied while their dad played in the Bishop Country Club Championship. He unfortunately did not win, but I hear he had a good time and its great that his sons were able to be there. Meanwhile, Mom and I went to the newer mall in Reno and did some shopping. We had a great time checking out the stores (I bought Mom lip gloss at Victoria's Secret, she has sexy lips!) and had a nice light lunch of Chai lattes and a fruit and cheese plate at Starbucks. We drove back home through Virginia City, which is a cute, tiny little town with a lot of history. Maybe next time I visit we can go up and poke around more.
Eli arrived shortly after Mom and I got back. The Larson's place is a convenient stopping point whether he's flying in to Reno to visit his family in Bishop or driving through from Kansas, as he did this time. Welcome home Eli! We're glad you made it safe and sound! Chris also got back from Bishop that evening and Mom and Dad made a big spaghetti dinner for everyone.
The next day Chris and I leisurely headed for home back in San Ramon. It was a really nice trip, as always. Thanks again for hosting us and the random friends and family that tend to show up with us, Mom and Dad! Love you guys!
Saturday Chris left for Greg's place in Mammoth. Mom, Dad, and I headed in to Carson City to do some running around. I got more yarn and a needle roll at Michaels (yippee!) and Dad came this close to adopting a 7-year-old Lab/Dalmation mix from an adoption event outside Petsmart. He was such a sweet old man and had it not been for Phantom's old age (he turned 14 on Halloween!) and their cat Precious' asthma which seems to be particularly bad with stress, and the fact that they couldn't tell us if sweet old Casey was good with cats, the Larson's might have had an addition to their family/zoo. Heartbreaking indeed, but it turns out Casey was adopted the following day to a family with multiple cats. Here's hoping to a loving home for him!
Then we stopped by Lowes where Clay works and I gave him a big hug in front of his coworkers, thoroughly embarrassing him. :) Later that evening Clay joined us for dinner at Indian Garden. They had tons of vegetarian options (yippee again!) and I got to introduce them to the mouth-gasm that is Ras Malai - fried cheese balls soaked in sweetened condensed milk and flavored with cardamom. I've had it served cold, but these were hot and oh so tasty... excuse me, I'm drooling on my keyboard...
Chris went all over Crowley and Mammoth with his brother. He got to drive his little Toyota up around Rock Creek, which he's wanted to do since before he even got the car. Greg showed him his mad archery skillz and they BBQ'd at Greg's spacious place that night. Now that we know Greg has plenty of room for all of us (twice the size at least of our condo! not fair!) we'll all head up to Mammoth next summer! Chris really enjoyed spending time with his brother - its really a shame that we're all so far apart.
Sunday Chris watched and Greg caddied while their dad played in the Bishop Country Club Championship. He unfortunately did not win, but I hear he had a good time and its great that his sons were able to be there. Meanwhile, Mom and I went to the newer mall in Reno and did some shopping. We had a great time checking out the stores (I bought Mom lip gloss at Victoria's Secret, she has sexy lips!) and had a nice light lunch of Chai lattes and a fruit and cheese plate at Starbucks. We drove back home through Virginia City, which is a cute, tiny little town with a lot of history. Maybe next time I visit we can go up and poke around more.
Eli arrived shortly after Mom and I got back. The Larson's place is a convenient stopping point whether he's flying in to Reno to visit his family in Bishop or driving through from Kansas, as he did this time. Welcome home Eli! We're glad you made it safe and sound! Chris also got back from Bishop that evening and Mom and Dad made a big spaghetti dinner for everyone.
The next day Chris and I leisurely headed for home back in San Ramon. It was a really nice trip, as always. Thanks again for hosting us and the random friends and family that tend to show up with us, Mom and Dad! Love you guys!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Just a Little Something...
Friday, October 5, 2007
TGIF
I really enjoy my Fridays. I get off from work a little early and usually grab Ayla to go have fun somewhere. Most of this past summer we went to Shadow Cliffs, part of the East Bay Regional Parks system. The main lake has a swimming beach, fishing docks, boat rentals, grassy picnic grounds, and probably a ton of other stuff. But I haven't really been there, because if you go over the hill on the other side of the parking lot there's a bunch of little lakes and dogs are allowed to be off-leash. That's such a rarity, the grail search of dog owners out here, a place where your dog can run unfettered by nylon or leather leads.
So today we headed out to Shadow Cliffs for what will probably be one of the last trips till next season. Ayla loves going here. She really likes swimming, or her approximation of it. She often makes friends with the other dogs we see and I've met some interesting and mostly nice people. They're not always nice though.
A couple of weeks ago we went, and there's one beach area that Ayla can use to get in the water. All the other areas have drop offs and she's a bit wonky and can't handle them. So we're playing fetch in the water, she's splashing about and having fun, when two fishermen come up behind us. One sets his tackle on a table a ways back while the other continues on. I nod my hello and continue playing with my dog. A few minutes later the remaining fisherman comes up behind us, rod in line. In disbelief, I ask is he's planning on fishing here, to which he responds, "Yes, its the only clear space [its not the only one, he didn't want to walk farther]." I say, "Yes I know its a clear space and the only one where my disabled dog can get in the water." "Hmmph," he says, readying his cast. "Well, I guess we'll leave," I say. "Oh you don't have to," he responds. "But I don't want my dog getting hooked on your line," I say. "Hmmph." "We have to go now, Ayla," I say and lead her away while she's looking behind her.
What? Why would a fisherman want to fish where a dog has been swimming? There's not going to be any fish there! And why would someone push their way in where someone else already is? What happened to first-come first-served? I was just flabbergasted and left, though I wish now I had said something and stood my ground. Anyway, we walked a loop around and came back, by which time he had left, and resumed playing in the water.
That rant aside, it really is a wonderful place. Here's a little slideshow of pictures I took today:
Its been a nice relaxing day and a good start to the weekend. After Shadow Cliffs we came home and rested, then I did some grocery shopping. For dinner I made Giada De Laurentiis' Veggie Meatloaf with Checca Sauce, which I watched her make last weekend and have wanted to do since. It was tasty but turned out more like a casserole. I think there's probably twice as much rice and lentils in the recipe than there needs to be. Two measly eggs and some mozarella isn't enough to bind it all together, like Giada's was on the show. Chris liked it and the checca sauce, so I'll play around with the recipe and get it to work right. Oh, and don't serve it with mashed potatoes. Can you say carb overload?
So today we headed out to Shadow Cliffs for what will probably be one of the last trips till next season. Ayla loves going here. She really likes swimming, or her approximation of it. She often makes friends with the other dogs we see and I've met some interesting and mostly nice people. They're not always nice though.
A couple of weeks ago we went, and there's one beach area that Ayla can use to get in the water. All the other areas have drop offs and she's a bit wonky and can't handle them. So we're playing fetch in the water, she's splashing about and having fun, when two fishermen come up behind us. One sets his tackle on a table a ways back while the other continues on. I nod my hello and continue playing with my dog. A few minutes later the remaining fisherman comes up behind us, rod in line. In disbelief, I ask is he's planning on fishing here, to which he responds, "Yes, its the only clear space [its not the only one, he didn't want to walk farther]." I say, "Yes I know its a clear space and the only one where my disabled dog can get in the water." "Hmmph," he says, readying his cast. "Well, I guess we'll leave," I say. "Oh you don't have to," he responds. "But I don't want my dog getting hooked on your line," I say. "Hmmph." "We have to go now, Ayla," I say and lead her away while she's looking behind her.
What? Why would a fisherman want to fish where a dog has been swimming? There's not going to be any fish there! And why would someone push their way in where someone else already is? What happened to first-come first-served? I was just flabbergasted and left, though I wish now I had said something and stood my ground. Anyway, we walked a loop around and came back, by which time he had left, and resumed playing in the water.
That rant aside, it really is a wonderful place. Here's a little slideshow of pictures I took today:
Its been a nice relaxing day and a good start to the weekend. After Shadow Cliffs we came home and rested, then I did some grocery shopping. For dinner I made Giada De Laurentiis' Veggie Meatloaf with Checca Sauce, which I watched her make last weekend and have wanted to do since. It was tasty but turned out more like a casserole. I think there's probably twice as much rice and lentils in the recipe than there needs to be. Two measly eggs and some mozarella isn't enough to bind it all together, like Giada's was on the show. Chris liked it and the checca sauce, so I'll play around with the recipe and get it to work right. Oh, and don't serve it with mashed potatoes. Can you say carb overload?
Monday, October 1, 2007
Fine weekend... fine wine
Stef and I went to Napa this past Saturday for a beautiful day of wine tasting and catching up. We took a random road off of Highway 29 to get over to the Silverado Trail and away from the overly crowded wineries along the main route. Luckily it presented a very nice photo opportunity:
We started off at Mumm Napa Valley. Their tasting experience is a lot different than I've seen before. We saw a lot of people sitting at tables and thought it was a cafe, but realized no one had food. You actually sit on a nice patio at tables with umbrellas and they bring the tasting to you. Nice! Stef tried their Pinot Trio and I had their Signature Sparklers. They give you a lot of wine too:
I really liked the Cuvee M and came home with a bottle. It was my favorite wine of the trip!We headed to ZD next, just down the road from Mumm. This is one of Stef's favorite wineries, and where I took the grapevine picture at the top. There is a grapevine arbor on the path to the tasting room, ending with a fountain. The tasting room was very pretty too, with two big chandeliers that remind me of Mom Schafer. The wines were nice too, though I don't remember which we tasted (I meant to take pictures of the tasting menus, but only got Mumm's - oops!). Here's the two of us under the arbor:
Then we went to lunch at the Silverado Resort, where Stef holds her big work function each year. The food was very good - we both had the onion soup, I had a vegetarian wrap (made with spring roll wrapper, yum!) and Stef had the French Dip. The service was incredible too. As soon as we appeared to have our minds made up on our orders the waiter appeared. As soon as I put my soup to the side it disappeared (I didn't even see them do it!). Good service always impresses me at a restaurant. The resort was very nice too - casually elegant without being pretentious.After that we were ready for more wine. We headed to Darioush, with its building modeled after a Persian royal palace. The building definitely stands out along the Trail, and inevitably draws more crowds as there were many people in the tasting room. The wines were fine, though I wasn't trilled with them (but I don't really know anything about wine - I usually buy pretty labels).
The last stop of our trip was Clos Du Val, another of Stef's favorites. I liked the label. :) We called Liz outside of the tasting room to tease her that we were drinking wine and she can't, because we're mean like that. But we really wish you were there Liz!We drove back to San Ramon and played with Ayla a little. Then we went out to dinner in downtown Pleasanton at Pasta's Trattoria where we sat on the patio since the evening was so nice. There was a breast cancer benefit walk going on, so streams of people wearing bras decorated with lights and everything else streamed by, reminding us to get mammograms and protect our ta-tas by megaphone - it was interesting. The dinner was quite enjoyable nonetheless.
It was such a wonderful and decadent day, I had to recuperate on Sunday! Chris and I took Ayla to the local park to play some fetch. Then we just hung out at home and relaxed. I hope your weekend was at least half as good as mine!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Marco....
I haven't written in ages! Time to rectify that! I'm not going to try to remember everything that happened between July and now - I'll just tell the stories as they come to me...
First of all, big congrats to Lizzy-poo and thanks for giving me an excuse to knit baby stuff!
I also have to brag a little bit about how great of a wife I am. :) Chris got his 30th birthday present a little early (August instead of February, but whatever!)
I bought my husband a convertible! Its an '03 Toyota MR2 and the little thing is a totally fun to drive, when I can wrestle the keys out of his hands. It also means he likes driving more and I get to be a passenger, since I used to do most/all of the driving. Now I get to sit back and enjoy the scenery. We actually piled the three of us in there and went for a drive, but Ayla didn't like sitting partly on the floorboard and partly on my lap too much. I can't say that I did either, but its tolerable. We can do short little trips to the park and such, but my Jetta remains the doggy-mobile. I'm not sure if we'll ever take it on a trip since we couldn't take Ayla and there's no storage to speak of, just a little bin behind the seats suitable for a tiny overnight bag (engine is in the back, spare tire under the hood), but its great to do little errands in and for commuting to work.
Its been a good summer, though quick. We spent a lot of time in one of our favorite places, our patio. Here's a little photo story courtesy of Ayla I'll call "How not to sleep on a dog bed"
This looks like it might be comfy...
Wait, I'm not doing it right...
Yeah, definitely not right...
What, you're gonna laugh at me? Buy me a bigger bed!
That's all for now. I'll do my best to keep this current. Toodles!
First of all, big congrats to Lizzy-poo and thanks for giving me an excuse to knit baby stuff!
I also have to brag a little bit about how great of a wife I am. :) Chris got his 30th birthday present a little early (August instead of February, but whatever!)
I bought my husband a convertible! Its an '03 Toyota MR2 and the little thing is a totally fun to drive, when I can wrestle the keys out of his hands. It also means he likes driving more and I get to be a passenger, since I used to do most/all of the driving. Now I get to sit back and enjoy the scenery. We actually piled the three of us in there and went for a drive, but Ayla didn't like sitting partly on the floorboard and partly on my lap too much. I can't say that I did either, but its tolerable. We can do short little trips to the park and such, but my Jetta remains the doggy-mobile. I'm not sure if we'll ever take it on a trip since we couldn't take Ayla and there's no storage to speak of, just a little bin behind the seats suitable for a tiny overnight bag (engine is in the back, spare tire under the hood), but its great to do little errands in and for commuting to work.Its been a good summer, though quick. We spent a lot of time in one of our favorite places, our patio. Here's a little photo story courtesy of Ayla I'll call "How not to sleep on a dog bed"
This looks like it might be comfy...
Wait, I'm not doing it right...
Yeah, definitely not right...
What, you're gonna laugh at me? Buy me a bigger bed!
That's all for now. I'll do my best to keep this current. Toodles!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Playing Catch-Up
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I had all of last week off!
Sunday, June 30, Chris' dad came to visit us. We grilled steaks, showed Don around our home town, and chatted. Monday morning the boys had a 9:00 tee time at The Bridges Golf Club, which is pretty much right behind our condo. Both said it was probably the most difficult course they've played, but very beautiful. When they got home I grilled some pizzas, we went swimming and rested up, then went to dinner and saw Live Free or Die Hard. I thought it was a great action flick.
Then Tuesday morning the boys had another tee time at the golf course in front of our condo. We're surrounded by golf! The course was easier, and still beautiful. More swimming after, resting, grilling, then we played mini-golf. I think the guys were worried when my first shot was a hole-in-one. I didn't win, but I hung in there with them and had a blast.
On the 4th Don went golfing at our local municipal course; Chris was wiped out from the previous golfing since he doesn't actually get out on the course very often. We had a nice time resting at home and getting ready for the show. We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, with my macaroni salad and baked beans on the side. We watched the broadcast of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition (Kobayashi has fallen!). Then we watched the fireworks show right from our patio. It was a good show, and Ayla just watched, not scared at all like I thought she would be.
Thursday morning we drove up to my parents' place in Nevada. For the first time Chris and I took the Pioneer Trail route around South Lake Tahoe, and what a difference! I really dislike going through the town, and this bypasses almost all of it. My life has been changed!
My dad, brother, and Eli (on leave from Iraq) were golfing at an Arnold Palmer course in Dayton. They got home and we got to catch up with Eli, hear about his experiences, and enjoy ourselves. We had a lasagne for dinner that I had made and brought from home, then went to see Transformers which was a lot of fun. Then we dropped Don and Clay off at home and headed up to Reno to hit some tables. See, we had to stay up all night since Eli had to be at the airport at 4:00am, so why sleep? We lost at El Dorado to a dirty blackjack dealer (he was a perv!), took Eli to the airport for his 3-day journey back to Iraq, and finally got back to my parents' house at 5:30am.
After a few hours of sleep I got up and hung out with my folks. Don had already headed home by then. We were too tired to do any more driving, so we stayed in Dayton that day. We all had fun playing in the pool during a lightning storm (hello, I'd like to be fried now!), napped throughout the day, and relaxed. It was really nice. Chris and I headed home around noon on Saturday and spent the rest of that day and Sunday repairing from so much fun on our vacation.
So, now we're back at work and I'm playing catch up with all the emails in my inbox. The weather's been cool the past few days, but the weekend should warm up again. I'm looking forward to some time at home over the weekend. The laundry sure is piling up! :)
Sunday, June 30, Chris' dad came to visit us. We grilled steaks, showed Don around our home town, and chatted. Monday morning the boys had a 9:00 tee time at The Bridges Golf Club, which is pretty much right behind our condo. Both said it was probably the most difficult course they've played, but very beautiful. When they got home I grilled some pizzas, we went swimming and rested up, then went to dinner and saw Live Free or Die Hard. I thought it was a great action flick.
Then Tuesday morning the boys had another tee time at the golf course in front of our condo. We're surrounded by golf! The course was easier, and still beautiful. More swimming after, resting, grilling, then we played mini-golf. I think the guys were worried when my first shot was a hole-in-one. I didn't win, but I hung in there with them and had a blast.
On the 4th Don went golfing at our local municipal course; Chris was wiped out from the previous golfing since he doesn't actually get out on the course very often. We had a nice time resting at home and getting ready for the show. We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, with my macaroni salad and baked beans on the side. We watched the broadcast of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition (Kobayashi has fallen!). Then we watched the fireworks show right from our patio. It was a good show, and Ayla just watched, not scared at all like I thought she would be.
Thursday morning we drove up to my parents' place in Nevada. For the first time Chris and I took the Pioneer Trail route around South Lake Tahoe, and what a difference! I really dislike going through the town, and this bypasses almost all of it. My life has been changed!
My dad, brother, and Eli (on leave from Iraq) were golfing at an Arnold Palmer course in Dayton. They got home and we got to catch up with Eli, hear about his experiences, and enjoy ourselves. We had a lasagne for dinner that I had made and brought from home, then went to see Transformers which was a lot of fun. Then we dropped Don and Clay off at home and headed up to Reno to hit some tables. See, we had to stay up all night since Eli had to be at the airport at 4:00am, so why sleep? We lost at El Dorado to a dirty blackjack dealer (he was a perv!), took Eli to the airport for his 3-day journey back to Iraq, and finally got back to my parents' house at 5:30am.
After a few hours of sleep I got up and hung out with my folks. Don had already headed home by then. We were too tired to do any more driving, so we stayed in Dayton that day. We all had fun playing in the pool during a lightning storm (hello, I'd like to be fried now!), napped throughout the day, and relaxed. It was really nice. Chris and I headed home around noon on Saturday and spent the rest of that day and Sunday repairing from so much fun on our vacation.
So, now we're back at work and I'm playing catch up with all the emails in my inbox. The weather's been cool the past few days, but the weekend should warm up again. I'm looking forward to some time at home over the weekend. The laundry sure is piling up! :)
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