Good Fun

As always, summer weekends are busy, busy, busy! But I love that we've had the opportunity to get together so often with family and friends. Last weekend, we celebrated my sister's birthday-
would you believe my parents had NO birthday candles in the house? I guess it's time to buy them a box!
AudioDad's been busy with a project I've been wanting done for so long- we removed our gross, old, broken hot tub (hasn't worked since before we moved here) and he's ripping out this multi-leveled deck that left Munch with small, odd spaces to play. I didn't have to ask twice if he wanted to use the hot tub at my parents' house-
Since we were off to see Gina and the boys the next day, I decided to skip the commute home and stayed the night. Munch loved having a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa's house. What was really nice, though, was that my brother and sister were both there too- we couldn't remember the last time we were all home at the same time for dinner together and we enjoyed our Chinese take-out (yay! no cooking!) on the deck overlooking the San Francisco bay on a gorgeous summer evening-Munch was especially relaxed after a nice dinner
The next morning, Munch and I headed off to Gina's parents' house, where she's staying while visiting from Hawaii. They have an incredible backyard and the kids quickly climbed on to the swing together
Next we loaded them in the wagon for a walk to the park After kids got good and tired out we came back to the house for a delicious lunch and the kids tried on the adorable grass skirt and coconut bra that Gina brought for Munch Good fun! But I'm starting work again next week- the summer goes by way too fast!

Don't miss a bite- Become a FOLLOWER!

Too Many Recipes!

I have a problem. I cannot help myself when it comes to collecting recipes. I clip them from magazines or newspapers, get them from friends and coworkers, and print so many off the web. They are tucked away into piles and binders and envelopes all over the house. And I haven't yet mentioned the many back issues of Martha, Bon Appetit, Cook's Illustrated, and so on- I CAN'T just toss them- what if there's a recipe I might want? But finally I had to face it- my "cookbook" had become too unwieldy, too full for any more recipes. I guess I've been tackling this project for a while now. About a year or so ago I cancelled all subscriptions- no more was allowed to come in until I got a handle on what was already here. Then I started working through the little stacks of magazines and clippings that were squirreled away all over the house. This week I looked through my binder and decided I needed to separate the good stuff- my tried and true favorite recipes- from the stuff I hadn't even tried yet. Out of my recipe binder went clippings for everything that I'd never cooked- many actually ended up in the trash since I found I was no longer interested. Everything I still wanted to try got transferred into 2 smaller binders to flip through for when I'm in the mood for something new. The result is this-(I'm thrilled that the covers actually close!!!)
and this-because I told myself if it was going in the "to try" binder, I really had to do it. These cupcakes were inspired by the delicious passionfruit cupcakes I get from Kara's. Gina kindly brought me a couple jars of passionfruit jelly, which I made into a curd-which I used to fill a yellow cake recipe clipped from Martha Stewartand I frosted it with a meringue buttercreamThe verdict? The passionfruit filling turned out perfectly! I now can use the same technique to make fruit curds from jellies if the primary juice isn't readily available. The cake recipe is nice, but not necessarily a keeper- I think I'll keep looking for a basic vanilla cake recipe- I have a few others in my to-try binder. Making a buttercream from sugar syrup was easier than I thought, and it made a nice, not-too-sweet frosting, but it still wasn't better than my white chocolate buttercream. Because ultimately there IS a method to the madness of my recipe clipping- I don't have a wide-ranging repertoire of things I like to cook and bake, but I AM determined to find the best recipe for those few items.

More Fun With Gina and the Kids

Next stop of favorite blog trips for Gina & I (with kids in tow) was Scientopia and lunch at Oxbow Market. It was a pretty quiet morning and we were lucky to have Scientopia almost to ourselves for the first hour. The boys headed straight to the train tableand the digging pitwhile Munch painted and beaded.
All the kids had fun in the dramatic play area with puppets, costumes, and instruments.
At lunchtime, we headed down the street for lunch. Munch had her standard ham & cheese mini arepa with yucca fires from Pica Pica and I had a cachapa filled with steak, plantains, and black beans.
After lunch we walked around. Munch loves checking the tanks at Kanaloa Seafood, so we made sure to stop therebefore heading off to Kara's for some delicious cupcakes (thanks again Gina!)

Old Pals

I haven't posted much (at all) this past week- I've been running around the Bay Area, Munch in tow, with just 2 (!!!) weeks left before I head back to work. My very dearest friend is visiting from Hawaii (rough, I know) and I've been grabbing the opportunity to have lots of time with her and the kids. What's especially fun is that we've been meeting up at so many of the places I regularly blog about. Last week, we took Munch and Gina's oldest to Marine World (Discovery Kingdom- what a random name! I just can't get used to it, and when I do use it, no one around here knows what I'm talking about!)
Anyways, I never can get over how much our babies have grown every time we get them together.It's so sweet to see the kids go through the same routine every time- the first few hours are spent warming up to each other. Munch and I talk about her Auntie Gina and the kids all the time, but we only get together a couple of times a year. But the kids quickly fall into their own little friendship, especially now that they can play independently and both chatter away with each other more.
We did the usual- Thomas Town, Looney Toon land, the butterfly building, the fountain & rides in Jungle Land, but especially fun was that Munch's friend M. was tall enough to go on Cobra- one of the "real" coaster rides and her very favorite!

Summer School- Letter V

Last week we did V day, Munch's special day- because it's the first letter of her name. So we covered her letter collage with pictures of her, of course-
The art project for the day was a splatter painted volcano. We used a squeeze dropper to squirt paint over the top of the mountain. Munch added more fire with orange and red markers, along with the requisite fireman and firetruck-Snack was a simple instant vanilla pudding, but since Munch really hasn't had pudding before, it was quite a treat!And afterwards I sent Munch out to pick flowers to put in her own little vase- she loved doing that and carried that vase with her everywhere, until bedtime when she put it on her nightstand. She keeps it refreshed with lavender and a fresh rose from the garden.