Things I learned on my honeymoon

How to figure out where we are on the map using the instruments on the plane and a scale.

That I shouldn't expect a steakhouse to be a really swanky joint just because I'm told they have the most amazing steaks ever.

That it pays to have a bro/sis that are wine club members at the places you go tasting - sometimes the winery will give you their discount.

That brewers up in the Santa Ynez Valley have heard of and are impressed by Bootlegger's Brewery (yes, I brag about my bros, can you blame me?).

That if we stay at the Radisson when we fly in to Santa Maria airport, we can call the concierge as soon as we turn off the engine and have them send someone directly to the plane with a luggage cart.  Transient parking is directly out their back door.  And they offer a AAA discount.

It seems like everyone in Santa Maria has some connection to Orange County.  As least everyone we talked to.

That I love Linguicia.  Not too surprising; I'm a nut for sausage.

That AT&T's coverage sucks in Los Olivos.  And by sucks, I mean it's non-existent. 

That if you tell people you are on your honeymoon, they'll get excited and sometimes give you stuff.  Or at least get really cheery (I find this often works with birthdays too).

That you have to do more than use that steering wheel to make a turn in a plane.  Or even maintain straight and level flight.

That I actually like Danish mustard (even though I HATE mustard), especially on Danish sausages (I told you I like sausage).

That I'm super glad we didn't buy a Sleep Number bed when we chose our mattress (We already have an air mattress, thank you).

That "Santa Maria-style BBQ" means steak, beans, and salsa.  Sometimes with saltine crackers.

That Hearst Castle has its own runway, but we aren't allowed to land on it.

That I actually like beets, especially on a salad with ranch dressing (no, I never ate a beet before - adventurous as I am, I still sometimes fear the unknown).

That Capt. G. Allan Hancock was an accomplished dude: http://www.hancockcollege.edu/Default.asp?Page=687

That I need to go back to Santa Maria again soon.

I'm Marching for Babies

On April 24th I will be walking 6 miles around Riverside with Da Gavinators team in the March for Babies.  I'd really like to raise $500 this year, and any contribution you can make would be greatly appreciated.


The March of Dimes March for Babies mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.  (You can click here to see the March for Babies video.) The money raised for March for Babies will help:

• support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects
• educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby
• provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care
• push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children

Contributing to my walk online is fast, easy and secure. You can donate directly from my personal webpage with a credit card or PayPal. My personal Web page address for donations is... http://www.marchforbabies.org/ABarkenhagen

Or just click the image on the right!

Taking (most of) the day off

I'm tired. Tired of working, tired of cleaning, tired of driving all over, tired of stressing. I really enjoyed spending time with family over the holiday, but I'm even tired of all the commotion involved with that.

Sitting pouring myself another cup from my new teapot, I have decided that after I finish a few basic tasks, I'm going to try to take it easy today. So far my plan for the day involves taking Abbey to the farmers' market, and teaching Emma how to make spaghetti. Not just noodles and a jar of sauce, but from scratch. It's easy enough, and she loves spaghetti. She's shown a lot of interest in learning how to cook, and we've started with stuff that she likes that is easy. I've noticed she's been more willing to try new foods the last few months, which is really encouraging. I think seeing how it's made and helping make food has helped that a lot.

Christmas really was lovely. We spent lots of time with both my family and Bobby's, and time with friends. Had visits from family we hadn't seen in much too long, and even met family we had never met before. Went to see Avatar together (great movie - a tad predictable, but beautiful and very entertaining. we all enjoyed it very much, and Emma left the theater wishing she had an avatar).

Instead of a big Christmas dinner, we had a big Christmas brunch: Belgian buttermilk waffles with whipped cream, bacon, sausage, eggs scrambled with mushrooms & leeks, chorizo & eggs. And I made my grandmother's Pecan Rolls.

Pecan Rolls

Can takes up to 5-1/2 - 6 hours when you have a stand mixer doing the kneading for you.

Starter:

1/2 cup hot mashed potatoes

1/2 cup warm water from boiling the potatoes

1/2 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup flour

1 pkg. or 2-1/4 tsp. yeast

Mix the mashed potatoes, potato water, milk, and flour. When temperature drops to between 100 and 110 degrees, stir in yeast. Let rise 45 min - 1 hour.

Dough:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

Starter

Approximately 3-1/2 cups flour

Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add salt, and beat in eggs, then starter. Add flour in 1/2 cupfuls until a good doughy consistency. Knead by hand or with dough hook until dough is smooth. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise at least 1 hour.

Filling:

Melted Butter (1/2 stick or so)

Brown Sugar (1/2 lb. or so)

Cinnamon (just sprinkle it around)

Raisins

Flour your working space, and roll out the dough into a large rectangle, so that it is only 1/4" thick. Brush entire rectangle with a generous amount of butter. Spread with a layer of brown sugar - not a thin layer, it should be a solid layer so that you can't see the dough underneath. Sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins to taste. Roll up dough and pinch edges. Slice roll into slices approximately 1" thick.

Topping:

Butter (1/2 stick or so)

Brown Sugar (1 to 1-1/2 cups or so)

Raisins (1 to 1-1/2 cups or so)

Pecans (1/2 lb. or so)

Cinnamon (a sprinkling)

Combine topping ingredients and mix well. Grease two 8"x8" or 9"x9" pans with butter and spread topping around bottom of the pans. (If you try to use a larger pan, you'll wind up with a center that isn't cooked through and edges that are too browned.) Arrange roll slices among pans - they will swell quite a bit when they rise, so give them plenty of wiggle room. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour.

Bake at 375 degrees until they brown on top and look cooked through in the center. These rolls leak, especially when crowded in the pan, so you probably want to put a large sheet pan underneath to catch dripping brown sugar/butter. Start checking after 20 minutes. When finished, remove from oven and immediately turn out onto foil. Wrap up in foil until ready to eat.

Best eaten when still warm from the oven - the edges toughen a little when reheated (reheats much better in the oven or toaster oven than in the microwave). They will stay warm longer if you put them in a long flat basket lined with a kitchen towel and cover with another kitchen towel. And if your rolls don't swell enough to catch all the topping, there will be people picking the leftover topping directly out of the foil.

I'm sure we received too much stuff altogether, and I only wish we could have given as much as we received. We got a Wii, and a Wii Fit Plus, which I'm really excited about, but my guilty pleasure the last few evenings has been Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. I think I'm about 20% finished with the game already.

When my mom's family got together for Christmas in early December, we did what we often do - everyone brought a dish that my grandmother used to make often. Some people have one recipe, other people have others. But they are scattered. I brought Pecan Rolls, Lisa made lasagna, Kevin made coleslaw, etc. We decided that we needed to assemble the recipes and distribute them so that we all had a copy. Jessica decided that would be her Christmas present to the family - she would assemble family recipes, not just Gma's but as many as we could send her, and make binders for everyone with them inside.

As we were emailing recipes around, I confessed that I'm looking for the perfect Mac & Cheese recipe. My favorite mac & cheese is the creamy kind, not the baked. I hate to say it, because I'm really trying to eat less processed foods, but my guilty pleasure is in those blue boxes. Lucille's has an excellent mac & cheese, and I really want to figure out how to make something like that from scratch, using real ingredients. Keith recommended I try the recipe in Cook's Illustrated The Best New Recipe, but it turns out his older edition has a much different recipe than my version. He's a little too far away for me to swing by and borrow it, but he did send me pictures of the pages.

But before I could try that one out, I was watching Jamie at Home on the Food Network, and at the end of this segment, I had to make this pasta right away.

Of course, I had to make crème fraîche first, and that took awhile by itself. But I finally got around to it, and oh-my-goodness it was delicious. I'm now eager to try it using cheddar and fontina. Cannot wait.

Quiet Morning

I convinced Bobby to sleep in this morning. Dad was here at 6:30ish to drop off the cement mixer and pick up the pipe threader. I went to bed at midnight, but Bobby didn't get to bed until 3am. This is his third night in a row with little sleep. Once I'm up, I'm up, but I've slept enough. So the house is quiet. Even Abbey is asleep. It's a nice morning, too. Not cold, but not yet hot... just a nice ambient temperature.

We've been really busy the last two and a half months, which is great. Business slowed to a near stop the first half of this year - just because construction in general slowed way down. But Bobby spent the time bidding his butt off, and it started to pay off mid June. Since then, I'm not sure where the time has gone.

Abbey completed all her basic training - the beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes at PetSmart. I really need to be working with her more, but it seems we've been so busy, and when I can stop, I just want to drop. It means I'm lagging in a couple areas.

My vegetable garden this year was basically non-existent. Some of that was Abbey's fault, since she kept digging in it, but it's my fault too - I didn't water nearly often enough. Even the grass in the back yard has a brown tinge to it. But I started over last week - planted a cooler weather tomato, some broccoli and cauliflower, poblano chili, orange bell, crookneck squash, snow peas, beets, carrots, more thyme... Abbey hasn't dug anything up yet, and I find she's less likely to do so when I actually water it. Something about soggy dirt isn't as pleasing to her paws, I suppose.

Bobby and I spent a couple Sundays ago reclaiming our courtyard from the overgrown vines and tree/bushes. It looks tons better, but it needs to grow back some more to be just right. After that I went on a sort of pruning binge, and decided to tackle the Pride of Madeira in the front yard. Turns out that meant I was standing on an ant hill... and they weren't too pleased with me. I escaped with only a couple bites, but I still complained about it quite loudly I'm sure.

It's still quite warm, and supposed to be in the 90s today, but I'm really looking forward to the weather cooling off soon. It seems I'm always looking forward to the seasons changing. Fall gives me an excuse to make soups and bake bread and wear boots and scarves. And since Abbey just ate my last pair of flip flops (okay, she only ate one of them), I'm glad that soon I'll be in socks and sneakers or boots. I know that in 6 months I'll be daydreaming of sundresses and sandals and the beach, but for now, bring on the cold weather and rain.

For a week now, I've been wanting to make my Butternut Squash Zucchini Bread. Emma has been wanting me to show her how to cook some things, so maybe we'll make some tonight or tomorrow. When I was making pancakes the other morning, I set my recipe book, the one I write down recipes I really like in, and the page with this recipe stuck to the counter and ripped so it is now unreadable. So I looked up the base recipe (I remember how I changed it), and wouldn't you know, I posted it exactly one year ago today! Seems it was already cooling down this time last year.

I love spice breads - banana, pumpkin, zucchini. Last year I had butternut squash for the first time, and thought it tasted similar enough to pumpkin for baking purposes. I find I actually prefer it. I'd started with a recipe for Pumpkin Walnut Bread, but found that I wished for a more moist bread. Zucchini Bread is really moist, so I thought I would add some zucchini. Then, to make up for the fact that it's more like cake than it is bread, I decided to replace half the flour with whole wheat flour. And replace a little more with some wheat germ. I don't love walnuts, so I added some hazelnut flour instead.

To make butternut squash puree - halve a butternut squash lengthwise and peel it, then slice it crosswise into thirds. (You may only want to slice off the amount you need to make the 3/4 cup, or you may want to roast the whole thing, depending on what you want to do with the rest.) Lay out the sections. Add a half cup or so of water into the bottom of the dish for moisture. Bake in the oven at 350 or so for about an hour, or until the squash can be easily mashed with a fork (because this is how you'll probably mash it). Smaller sections will cook through faster. Let cool at least enough to handle, then mash it up.

Butternut Squash Zucchini Bread

1 cup (5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup (5 ounces) whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup (2 3/4 ounces) water

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar

3/4 cup butternut squash puree

3/4 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup neutral-flavor vegetable oil (such as canola)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup hazelnut flour (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F and position an oven rack in the center. Lightly coat the loaf pan with melted butter or high-heat canola-oil spray and line it with a piece of parchment paper that extends 1 inch beyond the edge of both sides of the pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, and salt until thoroughly blended. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and water. Add the sugar and blend well. Add the butternut squash puree, grated zucchini, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract and blend well.

Add the squash-zucchini mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until blended and smooth. Add the hazelnut flour and stir until evenly distributed. Use a spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and level the top. (I sometimes sprinkle some more wheat germ on top hereto give the top some texture)

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the bread is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. To serve, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices by sawing gently with a serrated knife. Any leftovers should be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Makes one loaf

Our Little Graduate

Today was Abbey's final day of Beginner Obedience Training - and she passed her test with flying colors. She's really improved her performance in class in the last few weeks. She even got to wear a ridiculous little hat!



In truth, she does better in class than she does at home. When I have the treat bag and clicker in my hand, then she listens when I say "Leave It." But if I don't have that treat bag in hand and she sees the cat wandering around the room, "Leave It" is really just a noise she ignores. More work to do.

We'd like to sign her up for the intermediate class soon, and continue with the advanced class and maybe even the click-a-trick class. And then, one day, maybe we'll sign her up for a tracking class - put that nose of hers to work....

With every dog I've had in the past, the alarm going off in the morning has been their signal that it's okay to lick your face until you get up and play with them. And food in the bowl meant they ate immediately and until it was gone. Not with our little girl. She's very like Bobby in this way - not a morning doggie, and not ready to eat until a few hours after she's been up. When I get out of bed to start the coffee pot and tea kettle, she doesn't follow me - she takes my spot and cuddles up to Bobby.

Reading a little about a relative dog breed on Wikipedia, I came across this statement:
"They love to nest and cuddle. Getting a walker hound out of your bed,off your couch or away from your fireplace will be a feat in itself. They love to sleep after a long day and are the perfect dogs for watching television."

That so sounds like her!



We've been to the dog beach with her a few times now. The first time we let her off the leash she bolted about a quarter mile out of pure excitement, but she mostly stays close now, and gets better each time we go. She wants so badly to play with all of the other dogs, and is often quite vocal. We clearly have some training that needs reinforcement.

Leaving the house is really exciting for her, because it means we are going someplace fun. Sometimes it's PetSmart, sometimes it's the dog beach, and at least once a weeks it's Bobby's parents' house where she can wrestle around with his brother's labrador, Jaeger, for at least a few hours. Everytime she sees us getting ready to leave, she gets really excited and camps out in front of the nearest exit, and jumps into the car as soon as we open it. And after a long day playing with Jaeger or on the beach, she sleeps - all the way home and once we're there.

Wild Women of Wine Country

Today was the Wild Women of Wine Country 5K Run/Walk, so Mom and I woke up extra early this morning and drove down to South Coast Winery in Temecula, CA to meet up with Freida and her other recruits.

I was surprised by how many women (and a few men) showed up to participate. It looked like it could have been more than participated in the March for Babies in Riverside last weekend, but that could also be because there was less open space in this parking lot.



When I checked the weather last night, it said something like 67 degrees with a 65% chance of rain, but once again the sun came out for our walk. It was still a little on the cool side that early in the morning, but that was appreciated after we'd been huffing along for a bit.

I particularly enjoyed walking so close to (and sometimes between) the vines. With my home vines in mind, it was interesting to analyze the way they grow the vines.

The walk was fairly brief - once we got started it took less than an hour, so we were done by 8:30am. When we decided to stay and have breakfast, I realized just how brilliant it is for South Coast Winery to host this walk - not only is it good PR, it brings in a huge amount of business pretty early in the morning. At 9am, there was an hour wait for a table for breakfast. Women were everywhere - eating and shopping... and having mimosas at the bar.

Mom and I received coupons for 2-for-1 wine tasting, but decided to save them for a day when Dad and Bobby can join us. We'd had some mimosas, but felt it was a tad early to drink any more than that...

The Food Network

I came across this article a couple weeks ago, and it made me think about the value of cooking shows. I watch the Food Network a lot. In fact, Bobby has complained that's all I watch. And it is, mostly.

I like cooking, but that didn't really start until I was in college. My mom taught me how to make a few things - scrambled eggs, pancakes, spaghetti, boxed mac-and-cheese and rice-a-roni. Were I out on my own, I could feed myself, no problem. But I actually learned about how to cook via the Food Network.

The shows may make everything look easy, and that may be false representation, but it also makes you a little more willing to try it out. And then there's the fact that they are often showing a technique that you can use when cooking similar foods - Rachael Ray tought me what a roux is, and I learned about tempering from Alton Brown. It's that kind of knowledge that allows me to better understand what's happening when I watch people cook now.

We Marched

I raised $160, and my team raised around $1,000. You can still donate - it's not too late!

Upcoming Charity Walks

A couple years ago, my good friend Freida participated in her local Susan G. Komen 3-Day, 60 mile walk. If my memory serves, she raised close to or just over $2,000, and started training months in advance. Like me, Freida worked in an office, and 60 miles would be quite a lot of walking for her. She blogged about the whole experience, and it was obvious that the experience was a spiritual one for her, as much as it was a charity event. I decided that the next time she participated, I hoped I could join her.

I don't know if she's doing the 3-Day again this November, but she is participating in two upcoming charity walks: The March for Dimes March for Babies (6 miles) on April 25th, and the Wild Women of Wine Country 5K Run/Walk on May 2nd. I've just signed up to join her on both of them.

I'm really not active enough, but Abbey and I usually walk around 2.5 miles when we go out, so I'm not too concerned about the 5K, and I think I can work up to 6 miles by next month. Who knows, maybe I can keep it up and work up to the 3-Day in November. (Bobby is convinced I can't do that much - said I should try 10 miles first.)

My fundraising goal for the two walks is $250 and $100 respectively. If you'd like to donate, you can donate to the March for Babies through the link on the left; unfortunately, there is no easy link for the Wild Women of Wine walk, but let me know if you'd like to donate.

An Update

Working from home is a lot of work.

I work all the time. I sleep a little later, and I sometimes work my chores into the middle of my day instead of the evenings or weekends, but I'm busy almost nonstop. I am amazed that Bobby was able to get any bidding done with the amount of other stuff that needed to get done. He's been getting a lot more bidding done since I've been able to work on all the admin stuff, and it's a good thing too - with the slowing of the economy we have needed to get more bids out to keep work coming in.

Then, to make everything a little more hectic, I decided to add a little to my load. As you know, my brother owns a microbrewery in Fullerton, CA - Bootlegger's Brewery. He's realized he needs someone to help him out at least a few hours a week, so I'm now working for him Friday mornings as well. I like being able to help, and I can tell he needs someone around that thinks like I do.

I have also tried to make sure to take some time for myself. I introduced Bobby to yoga and we try to get to a yoga class at the gym at least 1-2 times a week. Also, Abbey and I walk for about 45 minutes each day - down to the park and back. She and Lucas still aren't the best of buds, but they are slowly getting better. Well... she is getting better about accepting that he doesn't want to play, and he's getting better about not minding so much when she walks in the room. I know it's a long shot, but I long to see them cuddled up together. I could be waiting a really long time.

She's mostly housetrained now, but she likes to bring our shoes and clothes outside to play with and chew on. And she mouths us a lot. We are trying to tell her no, substitute her toy for our arm, and/or put her outside for a time out when she just won't stop. She's a normal puppy, and requires patience. She has picked up some commands already, but her consistency drops significantly when we don't have a treat in our hand. We start an actual obedience class on Sunday.

I'm making both lunch and dinner almost every day, so we are eating out rarely. I feel better when we eat in because we save money, I end up eating smaller portions, and I also feel like I have a better idea of what we are eating. I'm also a big fan of courses, which is easier with smaller portions, but I'm having a little trouble finding desserts that are easy to make for just two or three people (Erica is with us many weeknights).

With as busy as I am, I've had less time to read the many food blogs I subscribe to, so I haven't been as adventurous lately - making more tried & true recipes. I did, however, make a mushroom bourguignon recently that was heavenly. Bobby would be perfectly happy if I made huevos rancheros every single day (in fact, he asks for it most days - but I skip the cheese and add sour cream and avocado as well). Mom gave me a ton of lemons from the tree at the Chino house, so I'm trying to find uses for them outside lemonade.

Since I have a beautiful, bright red KitchenAid stand mixer now (Bobby bought it for me for Christmas), I have this desire to make stuff that requires kneading, like fresh pasta, pizza, and yeast breads. With the weather I've been craving soups and stews and other warm, hearty meals, but the weather was really nice yesterday and I started thinking about lunches on the patio and grilling and chilled white wine. In fact, I decided to have a little salad, fresh baked bread dipped in really great olive oil, and a glass of chilled white wine for lunch.

You know those rare moments when you feel totally at peace? When you feel like there isn't something that you need to do right this moment, and there are no thoughts just tugging at your brain? As if you can just be still, and rest, and feel peaceful? They are so few and far between that I can recall those moments with complete clarity - sitting on the top of a deep sea fishing boat just feeling the movement, waking up to the sound of distant mariachi music on a beautiful Saturday morning when Bobby and I lived in the apartment, and lying back in the hammock on our newly built patio, drinking a glass of chilled white wine after a nice lunch the afternoon Mom and Lisa and I stayed home to be with Gma when she was starting to get really sick.

Chilled white wine on spring-like days reminds me of that afternoon. It was one of those days when the temperature and breezes are so perfect that you throw open every window and door in the house. Lunch had been perfect, and it felt so good to spend time with my Gma, mom, and aunt. We ate well but didn't over eat, drank well but didn't get drunk, and everyone took a nap mid afternoon in hammocks or skychairs or wherever they fell.

Something about just the thought afternoon naps is calming to my soul. Like that scene in Stealing Beauty when Lucy arrives and everyone is napping (4 minutes in). I want to be there, sleeping on one of those chaise lounges.

Today was overcast and drizzly, but I think, perhaps, more warm spring-like days are not too far off. The buds on my grapevines are starting to burst. Yesterday I saw that a couple had just burst, and today they are already shooting out leaves.

Emma had a Home Depot gift card (she won it at a casino party my parents threw a few months ago - we taught her to play Blackjack) so we went down to their garden center recently. Between the two of us we came home with quite a few plants - as always, she with mostly flowers, and me with plants that will later feed me. My problem is that I always think of all these foods I want to eat, but forget that I don't have much room for the plants. So I've recently planted some tomatoes, cabbage, lettuces, blueberry, blackberry, and concord grape, and now I have to find a place for an Improved Meyer Lemon tree. Luckily, I left the avocado tree at the store.

I'm really looking forward to all the green that comes with spring. I have more to plant - leek, chervil, parsley, and Brussels sprout seeds, and I need to pick up some basil and thyme. Now that the rains have soaked the earth pretty well I feel like I need to get out there and put some plants in.

Welcome Abbey

Bobby and I have wanted to get a dog for a long time, but we both felt pretty strongly that we should wait until we had time to spend with a dog. Time for walks, and time to play, and time to train. This December, with the thought that since both of us would be working from home come the new year, it was finally time.

Then the search began. We initially hoped to find a pup by Christmas, but we had a long list of criteria, and decided it was important to find the right dog, even if that meant waiting. It had to be a breed we liked the look of, but it also had to do well with cats and children, and we preferred a pup less than 6 months old (both for training purposes and due to our cat, Lucas). Bobby's tongue-in-cheek description of the kind of dog he wanted was, "Floppy ears... and could kill a man." But would love the cat, obviously.

Bobby, Emma, and I made a number of visits to shelters over the last few months, looked online, and called breed rescues. We watched Dogs 101 on Animal Planet a lot and took a few mental notes about breeds we liked. This Saturday, we picked Emma up and decided to go to the Riverside County Animal Shelter.

We only had a vague idea of where it was, so I checked Google Maps on my phone for a location. Instead of the Riverside County Animal Shelter, we wound up at the Riverside Humane Society, but decided to look at the dogs anyway.

As we were looking for parking, Emma and I were looking at the kennels that faced the parking lot. Upon seeing the first dog, I said, "That's the one!" We hadn't even gotten out of the car yet.

We made sure we saw all the dogs they had, but there were really only two we were considering - the first dog I'd seen, a 5 1/2 month old Bluetick Coonhound, and her cell mate, a 1 1/2 year old Basset Hound.

When we asked about the dogs, we mentioned that we already have a cat, and that it was important to us to find a dog that is good with cats. The coonhound had not been cat tested yet, but they agreed to do one with us there.

We first met with the coonhound, Soleil, and as soon as we were in the visiting room, she walked up to me and gently crawled the front of her body in my lap to let me pet her. When she got down, she did the very same to Bobby. She was a very happy, playful puppy. Emma was in love, and already begging us to take the dog home. (She's easy like that though. Every place we went there was always a dog she was madly in love with).

After a while, they brought in a cat carrier with a jet black cat named Phantom inside. I had been wondering how they go about choosing a cat to do the cat tests - obviously you don't want to stress any of the animals out too badly. Apparently this cat loves dogs, actually prefers to be caged with them than with other cats, and has been their cat test bait for as long as she's been there. Soleil was mildly curious, but not agressive in any way. After a little time, they let Phantom out of the cat carrier and he wandered around the room a bit. Soleil followed him around, very curious. The cat was finally irritated with all the sniffing, and gently batted the dog, and she just backed off.

The staff member we were talking to informed us that Julie had been cat tested, and she is okay with cats that do not run from her. Apparently if the cat bolts, Julie chases. I was a little uneasy about that, but we decided to visit with her anyway.

Julie was much mellower than Soleil. Again, a sweet dog, but more reserved, perhaps even lazy. If she needed to move forward just a little bit, she'd just drag her backside instead of getting up to walk. Bobby, who never thought he would like a smallish dog was really taken with her, and when they took Julie back we had a tough decision in front of us.

Bobby wanted Julie, but liked Soleil too. I wanted Soleil, but liked Julie too. Emma waffled back and forth (really, she wanted to take a dog home NOW, and it didn't matter which one). I was still concerned with how Julie would act towards Lucas, and the fact that she was an older dog. Bobby really liked Julie.

We eventually caved to our indecisiveness and decided we would get both. They seemed to do so well together in their kennel and it would be good of us to save them both right? And how nice would it be for each of us to have a dog? Emma was ecstatic.

Thankfully, the staff at the Humane Society held us back a little. Since we have a cat, and both the dogs were hounds - dogs with a strong prey drive - and since Julie was already predisposed to chase cats, they said we could only take one home that day. Take one home, acclimate her to the cat, then maybe see about another. That way Julie doesn't teach Soleil bad traits right away.

We tried to talk them out of it, but they were firm. We were back to having to make a decision. Finally, Bobby relented, and we decided on Soleil. He reasoned that it would probably be better to go for the puppy, and if we want a Basset Hound, then we can try to find a puppy in a few months. Better not to scare Lucas with two dogs all at once, right?

I liked the name Soleil, but Bobby didn't care for it, so we started thinking of other names. It didn't take long for Bobby and Emma to decide on Abbey. His family is full of Beatles fans, which is why her name is spelled the same as it is in Abbey Road. We filled out the paperwork, and picked out the collar, leash, water and food bowls, a toy, food, and some treats. Then we piled in the car and brought her to meet Jäger.



Jäger is Bobby's brother's labrador. We were understandable aprehensive about their first meeting - Jäger is a rather large, powerful, and somewhat uncontrollable dog, while Abbey is rather petite. It was clear rather early on that Jäger was simply enamored with this new girl. She walked around sniffing the yard while he just followed her around as if he were the puppy.

It was a breif visit, since it was time for us to be heading home. The closer we got to home, the more worried I was about how Lucas would react. We were fairly confident that Abbey wouldn't attack him, but he often disappears when there are people over he doesn't like - what if he just takes off while she's there?

As soon as we pulled the car in the garage, I jumped out to check to see if Lucas was in the house. I was hoping we could introduce them that night, since I didn't want them to surprise each other while we were all sleeping. Luckily, he was right there in our bedroom waiting for us to come home. I quickly closed up the exit we leave open for him. We brought Abbey in, but Lucas was already under the bed. She was so excited that she went right past him to explore the rest of the house.

After everyone settled down a bit, I closed the bedroom door and pulled Lucas out from under the bed. He wasn't really all that happy with me, but he loves me and never strikes out. I held him in my lap and pet him, while I called for Bobby to leash the dog and bring her in.

Abbey reacted the same way she did towards Phantom - extreme curiosity. It was clear that she wanted very badly to sniff and play with the kitty, but Lucas wanted none of it. He did hiss once and growl a few times, but over all he did remarkably well. He still avoids her as much as possible, but if we pick him up and bring him into a room with her, he will sit somewhat tensly in our lap and warn her if she gets too close. It will take some time, but I think they'll get used to each other.

The Rain

Boy did it pour here today.

I am fully aware that I live in Southern California, and that "it rained a lot here" doesn't compare to a great many other places, but for SoCal, it rained A LOT!

Emma is learning the clarinet, and she had her first show today.  The school had planed 2 assemblies in the morning, and a show for the parents in the evening, but Bobby had his last final that night so we planned to make it to the 9:20 assembly.  I took the day off, and planned to take advantage of the free time and get a haircut as well.  We were, as usual, running a bit later than preferred, and Bobby was driving a little faster than I would like, but we made it there safely, and just at 9:20.

But as we were walking up - there were parents walking away, saying that the second assembly had been cancelled due to the rain.  You see, the kids were to be sitting on the floor of the cafeteria, and with the rain they would be tracking in water and mud that the faculty didn't want them to wind up sitting in.  They'd already sent all the kids back to class, so we asked if they could get Emma out of class so we could at least say hello and tell her how bummed we were that we couldn't see her play.  She was obviously super excited to see us, but didn't seem upset that we missed the show.

So we hopped on the freeway to travel the one exit from near Emma's school to near Bobby's sister-in-law's mom's salon where I was going to get my haircut.  It took 40 minutes.

A smaller semi had rammed into the back of a FedEx semi, and the FedEx semi had wound up jacknifed across all the lanes of the freeway.  After my haircut, we got onto the freeway to head back home so Bobby could get to a job inspection he had scheduled.  On the way, we saw two more jacknifed semis.  The cabs of both had clearly swung all the way around on the driver's side to ram up against their trailers, because the driver's side doors of each were well dented.  There were also two autos that had spun out, and traffic overall was quite bad.  I was glad I would be staying home the rest of the day.

Thanksgiving Part Deux

There was something wrong with me today.  I could feel it.  Bobby had to drive out to Crestline for work and wasn't going to make it, so I was home alone most of the day.  But my brain was feeling fuzzy.

My mom's family did Thanksgiving today, and I was set to bring Spinach Artichoke Dip.  We were skipping the turkey dinner and doing lasagna instead - with salad and garlic bread.  Gma always made great lasagna.  I had also decided to give my Gma's Pecan Rolls a try, but I hadn't told anyone because I didn't want to get any hopes up.  The recipe card she gave me leaves quite a lot to interpretation and guesswork so I had no idea how it would turn out.  

I roasted the garlic last night, so I only needed a few things - paremsan cheese, box of frozen chopped spinach, and mayo.  There were a couple other things I needed to pick up for the house, but that was essentially my list.  For some reason, pulling out the driveway, I had this ominous feelign like I was going to back into someone, or had left the stove on, or left the fron door unlocked... something.  I made it to the store, found my items, reviewed my list to make sure I'd gotten everything, and made it home okay.  I unpacked, and realized I'd forgotten the spinach.

I'd reviewed the list, and still forgot the spinach.

Mom had mentioned reheating and bringing the leftover Cauliflower and Brussels Sprout Gratin from yesterday, so I was about to just give up on the dip altogether.  But mom called and asked if I needed her to bring anything, and I asked for spinach.

The pecan rolls seemed to be coming along, but it was becoming clear that with all the rising involved, there was no way I was going to get these done in time.  No worries, I would just eat them myself.

Mom & Dad arrived and I put the gratin in the oven, mixed the spinach into the dip and put that in the oven too.  We prepared a caprese salad while everything warmed up.  When I went to put the leftover spinach in the freezer, what did I find but a bag of frozen spinach.  Yep, my brain is really not functioning.  I rolled out the pecan roll dough, then rolled it with butter, brown sugar, and raisins, and cut it into slices and lined the pan.  It was supposed to rise again, so it would have to do that while we ate.  We headed to the nursing home.  I was still feeling weird, so I just tagged along with them.

Lunch was delicious.  Lisa made some awesome lasagna, and all the extras were great too.  I'd forgotten how good the spinach dip was and ate more than I probably should have.

When we got back, the pecan rolls had definitely risen - almost out of the pan.  I will have to do smaller slices next time around, but I threw it in the oven anyway.  About 20 minutes later, I pulled the rolls out of the oven and turned them out onto a sheet of aluminum foil.  The center collapsed, and clearly wasn't quite done (probably because they were so fat), but the outer edges came out quite nicely.  Mom, Dad, Nigel, Lisa, and I all tried some of the peices that were done and agreed it was a worthy first effort.  Next time I'll get those right.

Bobby didn't get home until nearly 6 pm, and at that point I was curled up on the couch watching Devil in a Blue Dress (great movie, check it out).  I felt blah, and he was exhausted.  So he collapsed and I just stayed there.

I love this streaming Netflix through the XBox.  I can't wait until they have more title available for it.  Rewinding and all that could obviously still use some work, but for what it is, it's great.

Going to head to bed now.  We know it's early, but it's been a long pre-weekend.

Thanksgiving

In my last post I was complaining about how slow it was.  Last week was completely different - I was super busy.  So busy that I didn't even have time to read the blogs I follow, let alone post my own.  And yet, I still made it out of work before 1pm on Wednesday so I could get my holiday grocery shopping done on the way home.

And it was truely quite a bit of grocery shopping.  I, of course, have favorite places to shop for particular things - Whole Foods for most produce, Trader Joes for particular items (like mixed pearl onions, mixed baby yams and sweet potatoes, and spring mix), I had a stop to make at Target for a spring form pan.  After stopping at a reprographics place to buy paper for our plotter and picking up and delivering a prescription fo my Gpa, I finally made it home at 4:30.  That's right, over 3 1/2 hours of grocery shopping and errands.

There was still lots to do.  Thanksgiving dinner was to be at Bobby's parents house, and my parents would be joining us.  Bobby's mom was oven roasting a turkey, making regular stuffing and gravy, and warming up the dinner rolls, his sister was making pumpkin soup, sister-in-law making cranberry sauce, and his brother was deep frying a turkey and making mashed potatoes.  I was feeling ambitious, and had signed up to make:

Wild Mushroom & Spinach Stuffing

Roast Sweet Potatoes, Pearl Onions, and Butternut Squash

Green Beans, Pearl Onions and Slivered Almonds

Mixed Green Salad

Cauliflower and Brussels Sprout Gratin with Pine Nut Breadcrumb Topping

Mushroom Leek Soup

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Bobby was convinced I'd purchased way too much food, but I knew that once we started preparing it the bags would condense down.  It would still be too much food, but that had more to do with the fact that we were making so many things.  I knew his parents' house would be busy and crowded, so I went to my parents' to prep food while Bobby went out with his brother.  Dad even helped by trimming Brussels sprouts.  Mom and I spent the evening trimming and peeling and chopping.  Then we sat down to watch The Colbert Report.  

Bobby came home during the show, and I expressed my surprise that he was home so early.  I'd expected him to be out quite late since it is so rare that he can go out with his brother.  But he said he was tired and that the bars out there don't have the kind of beer he likes.  Just not a Bud Light fan.  C'est la vie.  So we drank wine together and watched the end of the Report, and then crawled into bed.

I had decided to only make a half batch of the Wild Mushroom and Spinach Stuffing, so in the morning I took some of my excess mushrooms and shallots and cream and whipped up a little mushroom and shallot egg scramble with cheddar and jack cheese on top while mom made bacon.  Breakfast has always been a meal I love and it was nice to sit down to it with my parents.

After breakfast I went back to my prep work while Bobby worked on a plan.  We knew that if we went to his parents' house we would be less productive.  The kitchen would already be crowded, and everyone else would be bustling around the house cleaning up and preparing for company.  So we stayed at my parents' and worked there.

For the Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Pearl Onions, and Butternut Squash - everything was just cut in bitesized peices, tossed in butter, salt, and pepper, then baked for an hour at the same temp everything else was - 375.  For the Green Beans - just threw some butter and a little water in a saute pan, added in the beans and halved pearl onions, and covered and cooked until just tender.  Everything else was according to the recipes, except that I only blanced the Brussels sprouts and cauliflower for 3 minutes, not 3 and 5.  I like them a little crunchier.

Timing turned out to be just about perfect.  We took everything out of the oven and headed over to his parents' to arrive right on time with hot food.  The turkeys weren't quite ready yet, but my part was done now.  Mom brought some really nice red wine, and Bobby brought a bottle of port to go with dessert.

Everything was delicious.  Both turkeys came out moist and tender, and sides that came out especially well were the pumpkin soup, cranberry sauce (which I normally don't care for), and the wild mushroom stuffing.  Brian's mashed potatoes and my mushroom leek soup were delicious as always.  Both the babies fell asleep right at the table, while chewing their turkey, but woke from their nap in time to watch Wall-E while we ate dessert and had coffee or tea.  In addition to my pumpkin cheesecake (which was good, but in my opinion not as good a a slice each of plain cheesecake and pumpkin pie), there were pumpkin, peach, and pecan pies.  All went nicely with the port.

Of which I had a tad too much.  Along with the wine.  Bobby finally had to gather me up and take me home.  We knew we'd be back Saturday morning so there was no need to worry about taking leftovers home with us just yet.

Waiting for the minutes to tick by

What a waste of a day.

Last night I was giving serious thought to staying home.  There was plenty I could do at home, but work was going to be slow.  With next week being a holiday week, I'm slow this week, and will be super busy next.  So today, I've done near to nothing.  I really should have stayed home and done something productive.

Instead I'm window shopping.  Lately I've been a little obsessed with the things my kitchen needs, or more accurately, things I want for my kitchen.  I don't need a KitchenAid Stand Mixerwith cool pasta roller attachemntsor a new egg beater(mine is functional, but ancient with only one speed, and the blades sometimes slide out), but I want them.  I have this vision of all black and chrome appliances, enough all white table settings in the event that my whole immediate family came over for dinner (I figure 20 place settings), a full compliment of cookware...

I actually have a fairly nice set of copper bottom/copper-clad stainless steel skillets that my Gma left me, and one nice cast iron pan that mom gave me.  But I don't have a roasting pan.  Until now, when I want to cook a chicken I've used a baking dish.  When I make a tri tip or rib roast - I use the pan that came with my toaster oven, which is a little small.

So days like this, I build my imaginary kitchen repertoire.  In my mind I buy stuff I don't have (like a food processor,cutting board with one of those grooves so the meat juice doesn't drip all over the table when I cut it up,or a nice Dutch oven), and replace all my stuff that isn't as good as I want it to be (like that egg beater or my garlic press).

I can't buy anything right now, but hopefully soon I can start buying one piece at a time.

I'm so sore

We spent the weekend trimming trees.  There are pictures here, and a video of a rather large branch coming down below.  Despite the headline on the video, it wasn't an accident.  The branch was tied, just so long that once it was cut the end of the branch hit the roof.  That's why it just sort of hangs there next to the house afterwords.

I was really sore at the end of the day yesterday - just walking around took effort.  Today I'm starting to feel better.  It was two days of work, and a lot more physical activity than I'm used to.  We filled an entire 18 ft. roll off dumpster, and had to compact it down quite a bit to get it all in there.  Even Emma was helping.  There's a picture in there of all of us - not sure if you can tell just how dirty we are, but my face was so dirty I had raccoon eyes when I took my sunglasses off.

I'm Back

I know, I have been very neglectful of my blog.  In fact, I think I've been very neglectful of a great many things lately.  Life has been super hectic in general - running around here and there, the two weeks spent without a car, and drama at work.  I can barely get my grocery shopping done.  We've been sort of living off of the food in the house, only running to pick up some meat or veggies when we must.

I haven't been very adventurous with my cooking lately... difficulties getting to the grocery store, the fact that many of the dishes I wanted to make would take hours, and there are only so many weekend days I can be adventurous, unless I want to spend the evening pressuring Emma to eat her dinner.  If we are even home.  Oh, and if my adventurous, long cooking meal happens to be chicken... I have to listen to Bobby complain a bit too, because he thinks he hates chicken.

Jessica and Nathan came out for a visit just before my birthday.  Alora is very young right now and not familiar with us, so she was very clingy to her mom and dad.  We had a birthday dinner for Malachy on that Thursday at my parents' house.  Bobby's sister Erica and sister-in-law Jessica came by with the kids and all the kids played in the back room, running around and tossing a ball back and forth.  It was one of those rare moments when all the kids not only get along, but the normally crazy ones are actually quite calm and considerate of others.

That Friday Jessica, Nathan, my parents, and my aunt Lisa and uncle Nigel came to our house for dinner.  I had been wanting to make this Provençal Rack of Lamb, but mom bought pre-seasoned lamb racks, so we improvised.  Dad grilled the lamb (okay, he torched the lamb, and part of my tree), and I made roasted potatoes and tomatoes.  

I chopped smallish white potatoes and sweet potatoes into bitesized peices, sliced a few cloves of carlic, and tossed it all with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I spread it out on a pan and put it in the oven at around 350.  I halved and seeded the tomatoes, salted the open side and set them open side down for about 10 minutes.  I put the ends of my loaf of Oroweat 7 Grain Bread into my little Cuisinart Mini Prep Food Processor and ground it into crumbs, then mixed that with some kosher salt, pepper, and olive oil.  I turned my tomatoes cut side up and put a layer of my crumb mixture on the top, then spooned a teaspoon or so of Gorgonzola on top each tomato.  I pulled the potatoes out, and nestled the tomatoes right on top of them and stuck the whole thing back in the oven.  The potatoes cooked for probably 50 min-1 hr, the tomatoes around 30 min.

It all came out quite delicious, and even though the lamb was charred on the outside, the center was a nice medium rare.

We also got around to some pumpkin carving.  On my birthday, Emma and I went to Target to complete her costume and check out their pumpkin selection while Bobby and his brother went to get some supplies for a project they are working on.  Turns out Target has a pretty decent pumpkin selection for pretty good prices.  We ended up picking out two medium sized pumpkins and one small pumpkin.  The small one was so I could try out making pumpkin puree.  Which I did, but not with that pumpkin - that one I still have.  Mom gave me another pumpkin, and I not only made puree, but I made more pumpkin bread with it.

I did go to two Halloween parties (on the same night, two weeks before Halloween), then had a Halloween party at my place the night of.  It was just a small group, but that is what I prefer.  Especially when it is at my house.  Steve came out and DJed for us, and he's a pretty awesome DJ.  We set up the projector on the back patio and played movies on the pull down shade - it looked so cool, Erica, Bobby, and I decided we needed to have movie night on the patio regularly.

Mom had purchased some zucchini for our lamb dinner, but we didn't get around to using it.  That is, until Sunday morning when it hadsat in my fridge a few days and I, fresh off my pumpkin bread kick, decided I should make Zucchini Bread.  Zucchini bread is one of those breads that doesn't sound delicious, but really is.  I used to buy slices of it in college.  Tea with milk and zucchini bread.  Mmm... so good on cold gloomy afternoons.  My bread came out lovely.  Bobby tried it and said he really liked it... but wasn't sure weather or not he liked it more than the pumpkin bread.  He'd have to eat more of each before deciding.

Sunday afternoon I did get around to making a new something for dinner.  Rather ambitious I thought: Beef Provençal.  I cheated a little - I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of smooshing canned whole ones, and I didn't know what to put in the "sun dried tomato tapenade" so I just put some jarred sun dried tomatoes and capers into my Cuisinart and pureed it.  It was all mighty tasty, and since the roast was only like $6.50, the meal was pretty inexpensive as a whole.  And considering the whole thing was easily 6+ servings, I may have beat KFC's $10 challenge.  OK, the cognac may throw me over.

This morning I put a little of the leftover meat, veggies, noodles, and saucy juice into a tupperware, added a little water, and I'm eating it as soup right now.  Still very tasty.

I already voted today.  I will be really glad when the day and the election are over.  The presidential campaign has been too long and emotional, and all of the propaganda about Prop. 8 is really upsetting to me... not only do I not support such intolerance, but I also find the lies the Yes on 8 campaign is spreading such as the idea that churches will be sued for not marrying gay couples, or that schools will suddenly teach your kids to be gay.  Ridiculous.  Again, I will be glad to see it all end.

My month is not going well

3 years

Today was Bobby and my third anniversary - we have been inseperable since the day after I came back from my European Vacation in 2005.

Bobby and I went to high school together our freshman year, and then he switched schools.  At the time, he was dating one of my good friend (Emma's mom), and I was seeing one of his best friends.  Along with one other couple we spent a summer as an insperable group of friends, out nearly every day.  After changing schools, we fell out of touch.  I did have him in a class during my first semester at community college, but I never went to that class so we fell out of touch once again.

Then came MySpace.  Lacee had finally convinced me to create a page.  I spent an evening looking up old friends, and Bobby was among the ones I found.  There was a polite hello, and then no contact again for months.

But that was back when I liked to post bulletins, and occasionally Bobby would respond to share his laughter, or to say how much he liked my posts.  Then one post, something about a conspiracy theory involving 9-11, made him call me and suggest we hang out.  Apparently he likes conspiracy theories.

Wouldn't you know, we only lived less than 15 minutes from one another, equidistant to Disneyland (we are both fans).  I was on my way home when he called, and was able to just meet up with him for dinner at Heroes in Fullerton.  We spent the evening catching up, telling old stories, and filling in the blanks.  Reuniting with old friends can sometimes be awkward, but we spent a good four hours hanging out, eating dinner and then watching Team America: World Police on his giant projector.  But after that, aside from forwarding funny emails, we didn't talk again for a couple months.

Among the things we'd discussed was an affinity for jazz, and he suggested I check out the local cafe, Steamers.  They have live music every night, and there's no door charge during the week.  Jessica and I went a couple times and loved it.  So one night I messaged Bobby to see if he wanted to go with me, and he did.  Again we hung out for hours.

After that we hung out a few times before Jessica and I left for our trip, and I think I emailed him every other day while I was gone.  Okay, sometimes it was every day.  Once I came back from my trip, I was with him every day, and have been since.

It is very rare that we spend longer than 12 hours away from one another, and I know it sounds sappy, but we get a little mopey when we do.  In some ways it feels like we've been together longer, and in other ways it feels like it hasn't been nearly that long.  Coming home to him at the end of the day always makes the day better.

We spent a quiet day alone together.  Aside from going out to breakfast, we didn't leave the house at all.  I made a nice salmon dinner, and we watched a movies together on the couch.  Nothing super special, but it was relaxing, and we both feet good about the day.  As uneventful as that sounds, I am happy.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Normally, Friday evenings consist of Brian coming over so he and Bobby can jam until I'm tired and make them stop playing (usually a little after midnight).  This Friday was a tad different.

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, Jon was having a party at his place, that was to eventually morph into bar hopping in downtown Fullerton.  So Bobby, Brian, Jessica and I got dressed up like pirates and joined the festivities.

We had a great time.  Jessica and I were obviously more dressed up than the boys, but Joh, and Steve, and the others made sure we weren't the only ones in pirate attire.  Bobby and I agreed that we should do it again sometime soon.