The E-Wife Blogs Again

Finally, a cookie even I can make

2012-01-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

Confession: I am not good at baking cookies. I know, I know... pretty scary to hear the e-wife utter such words. But it is true. I'm sorry to let you down.

It's really kind of funny, because quite frankly I can whip up a homemade pie with a perfectly flaky crust and you would think that would be much harder than simply baking cookies. You would think. But for some reason, my cookies are notoriously flat and disappointing. I have great equipment and a great oven, have tried countless recipes and followed others' tips. Emma can turn out great cookies with all the same stuff (and has been doing so since age 11). So I have concluded, it must be me - I just don't have the touch. It's okay, I've come to peace with it.

So, all that said, it's with excitement that I share this cookie recipe that even I can make!

My neighbor Alana always gives these bar cookies to us each Christmas, and they are absolutely amazing. I have hinted for years that I'd love the recipe and this year she came through and dropped it in my mailbox! YES. I can do cookie bars. I can layer things and even cut them in straight lines! I couldn't wait to try them. Rich needed a treat for a meeting, so I had a great excuse to bake these.

The recipe title as given to me was simply "Cookie Bars." Ha. I think I'll entitle them "The World's Best Cookie Bars" instead. They are so very good - think Magic Cookie Bars (aka 7 layer bars) but MUCH better. A lovely flaky crust, a beautiful chocolate fudge layer, these just MELT in your mouth. They taste great at room temp and they are even really yummy chilled or right out of the freezer, too (not that I'd know..). If you like chocolate chip cookies, wait until you try these babies! They are so WOW.

And, the great thing is, they couldn't be simpler. Only 6 easy, on hand ingredients. The recipe calls for a can of sweetened condensed milk, but I'll show you how to ditch that nasty Eagle Brand stuff and make your own with 4 simple ingredients in 2 minutes flat in the blender. Scroll down below the cookie bar recipe for instructions.

Alana's Cookie Bars (aka World's Best Cookie Bars)

2 cups flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups chocolate chips, divided (I used semisweet for all, you can use milk chocolate or flavored chips such as peanut butter for the topping part if desired)

1 can sweetened condensed milk (or homemade)

¾ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans - betting macadamias would be amazing)

Mix flour, brown sugar, and butter in a bowl. Set aside 1/3 for topping and press the rest evenly into a greased 9 x 13 pan. I like to line my pan with parchment for easy removal and cutting later.

Mix 1 cup chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan. Melt on lowest heat. When completely dissolved, spread evenly onto crust.

Combine remaining topping, remaining chips, and nuts and sprinkle over the fudge layer in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into small squares.

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

In a blender, combine 1 cup powdered milk, 3 Tbsp. melted butter, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, and 1/3 cup boiling water. Blend until smooth and creamy. Equals 1 can store bought sweetened condensed milk (and it's cheaper and less junkier).

Whatever - Target and little mailboxes

2012-01-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

I haven't recorded any whatever posts in awhile, so here's one.

I went to Target today to buy some of their darling little $1 mailboxes for Valentine's Day at Master's Kids. I had been to a couple of Targets recently, scooping them up, trying to gather the remainder of the 64 that we need, and at each store I've only been able to score a dozen at the most. Well, today I hit the mother lode at a Target in Pasadena, where I came upon about 100 of the little gems. I made a quick decision to stock up for the next couple of years, grabbed around 75 of them and headed for the checkout. I knew that I looked totally ridiculous with a cartload of little pink, red and white mailboxes, but I didn't care. I knew someone would ask "What are you doing with those?" For a fleeting moment, I thought of telling a funny story, like I wanted to be a mail carrier but I got rejected by the USPS, so I was going to set up all the mailboxes in my living room and deliver pretend mail to them. Then I decided that might not be the best idea. So, when the lady behind me asked, I simply stated the truth, "They're for a preschool," to which she gushed "Oh, that is SOOOO cute!!" I then couldn't resist making it even more exciting for her, and answered back, "Yes, and we're EVEN going to put the kids' NAMES on them!!" She gushed again, and I'm pretty sure I made her day.

When it was my turn, I began methodically placing the mailboxes on the conveyer belt, in neat rows so I could use multiplication to count them, when the checker said, "how MANY of these do you have?" I answered that I wasn't exactly sure, but that I was counting them. He said that wouldn't be necessary because he had to ring them up ONE AT A TIME anyway (seriously?) and then proceeded to ask me if I left any back on the shelf. Pardon me? Not sure why he asked, nevertheless I answered that yes, indeed there were approximately 40-50 left. The next thing I hear is him calling on the intercom for a manager. What? Did I do something wrong? I didn't even tell my USPS story, but I still felt guilty.

The manager then appears, and asks me the same questions - how many did I have, how many were left on the shelf.... blah blah blah....then the checker and manager talked together for a moment in a hushed tone. Every so often they would glance over at me and I felt like a convict. The manager then said (rather reluctantly) "OK, she can buy them."

I was just stunned. I can BUY them? I thought I could buy ANYTHING in the store. I'm sorry, but isn't it ALL for sale? I wasn't aware there was a maximum amount of an item that you could buy. I don't know about you, but I've never brought 3 packages of toilet paper up to the checkout and been asked "How many more packages did you leave on the shelf? We here at Target want to make sure everyone has enough toilet paper." Or, "How many Burt's Bees lip balms are left? It's our deepest desire that everyone has soft lips and your purchase of sixteen tubes is sure a hindrance." (Yes, I am kind of addicted to the stuff, but that's besides the point.) To think, that after all these years as a shopper, I falsely assumed that retailers like Target wanted me to buy as many things as possible. But apparently I have come to realize that I don't quite understand their strategy after all.

So, anyways....after I was cleared (phew!) and the checker rang the mailboxes up one by one (and of course bagged them one by one) I made my way back to my car, completely baffled. I was happy that I had my 3 year supply of mailboxes, but I was left with only one response: whatever.

P.S. If you're thinking of scoring some of these mailboxes, you might want to try a Target other than Glendale, Burbank, and both of the Pasadena locations on Colorado Blvd. :-) Just a tip.

Hope

2012-01-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

I went shopping at Costco right before New Year's, and the employee at the door (job title: Costco card checker?) greeted me and handed me the latest sale flyer. As I glanced quickly at it I could see it was covered front and back with specials on alcohol. I politely declined, and walked ahead where I viewed the "hot item" display area that was now filled with gym membership offers, vitamins, and meal replacement drinks. It isn't rocket science to figure out marketing tactics for us consumers at this time of year. First, early in the season (WAY too early) we are presented with holiday food and items geared as gifts, then comes alcohol for New Year's, followed by all ways we can get rid of all the excess that they have sold to us. We're such suckers.

Well, I suppose I fall victim to that cycle as well (well, minus the alcohol). It's the new year, and I am faced with bowls of holiday candy I no longer want around, I'm gladly bidding good riddance to the Christmas tree and all the decorations, and the thought of sweets and rich foods disgusts me. I am ready to turn over to the next chapter, thankful for a fresh start. My new year goals are probably not that different than yours, from the serious to the mundane: Read more (especially the bible), exercise more (3-4 times a week at the gym), eat healthier (and less), take my vitamins regularly, whiten my teeth, simplify, love deeper and live more obediently unto Christ. Six large bags just went to the Goodwill and I've worked out three times since Jan. 2. I am motivated now, but I know that somewhere down the line, my resolve will fizzle. I will become less concerned about my resolutions. After all, I battle my lazy and unproductive flesh. I know I will be lamenting along with the apostle Paul sometime soon, "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15) If the apostle Paul saw himself that clearly, so should I.

Which brings me to the wonderful hope that someday I will be free of the struggle. Life, this life here on earth, will be over soon and I'll be in my eternal home thanks to what Christ has done for me! I have done nothing as a wretched sinner to earn this eternal reward, but Jesus' death on the cross allows God to see me as righteous and accept me into heaven! Is that not a glorious thought? Sometimes I wonder at the start of a new year, "will it be this year?" or as I'm taking the ornaments off the tree "will I be putting these on next year (or will I be in glory)?" I wonder when the time is appointed for my glorious homegoing. I know that only God knows this. Now don't get me wrong, I also agree with Paul that "to live is Christ and to die is gain." Wherever God wants me to be, I will be content and glad. I will continue to strive with hope.

I know someone who finished his earthly journey 8 years ago. My dear first born son Brady spent his last day on earth exactly 8 years ago today. January 4th, 2004 was the last day Brady had to battle sin, illness, and suffering. Early in the morning hours of January 5th, in the presence of Rich and myself, he peacefully slipped from earthly sleep to glory! He is now in his eternal home! How I rejoice! And yet how I envy him. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for Brady's homegoing, and hope for mine.

Wishing you a new year filled with HOPE!

A Blessed Christmas

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

To all my blog readers, I wish a most blessed Christmas.
Here's our family's virtual Christmas card to you!

Paris, April 2011

Make your own See's Bordeaux

2011-12-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

I think See's candy is the best. I've tasted Godiva, and a host of other contenders, but I have never tasted anything that I like better than See's. Maybe it's because I grew up on it, I don't know - but it's really special.

If you haven't been in a See's store, you haven't lived. It is just a great experience. The intense chocolate aroma. The pristine, almost sterile environment. The neatly stacked white boxes. The ladies (only women work at See's) in their starched white dresses that haven't changed since 1811. And of course, the free samples. YES, they still give free samples. And, P.S. did you know you can request what you would LIKE for your free sample? Contrary to popular belief, you are not bound to "the sample candy of the day" that the lady offers you. Just ask nicely, they'll give you whatever your heart desires.

Did that info just change your life?? It changed mine when I discovered it.

Anyways, See's rocks.

I love many things there. Rich loves their raspberry creams, but I'm partial to their Bordeaux bon bons. Whenever I get an assortment box, I go right for the Bordeaux. Mmm, they have such a yummy brown sugar buttercream center - they're the best!

I recently came across this "copycat" recipe for Bordeaux, and decided to give it a try. They couldn't have been easier - simple ingredients and method. Though the chocolate coating doesn't taste exactly like See's - it's about as close as you're going to get. You can use either milk or dark chocolate. See's makes both kinds. I used dark but I think I'll try milk next time, for a softer shell.

I was really impressed when I took my first bite. Rich tasted one and said "well, that works." These would be the perfect little holiday gift or addition to a cookie platter, or for any occasion, really. See's makes theirs with fine chocolate jimmies (sprinkles), but I made mine holiday festive with red and green. And as you can see, mine look nothing like See's but they taste very similar.

The funny thing about finding this recipe this week, is that my sister also found the exact same recipe recently and posted that she was about to try it on her blog!! How funny is that? One time, several years ago, we both bought a KitchenAid mixer - same model and color - on the same day from the same merchant, unbeknownst to the other. We had both wanted one for years too- how crazy is that?

BORDEAUX CANDY
from Taste of Home

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp instant coffee
pinch salt
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
12 oz dark or milk chocolate

Melt butter and brown sugar together in heavy pan. Bring to boil and boil for two minutes. Stir in cream, coffee, salt and bring to boil again. Stir constantly. Boil for 30 seconds and remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add sifted powdered sugar to mixture. Stir in well. Chill until mixture holds shape of a small ball. Roll into 2-inch balls. Melt chocolate according to pkg instructions. Dip candy balls into melted chocolate. Sprinkle with cake sprinkles, if desired. Makes approx. 30 bon bons.

WDW - Starbucks Gingerbread copycat recipe

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Confession: Starbucks gingerbread is one of my most favorite holiday indulgences. I make sure to get at least one piece each season. It's so moist and spicy, and it's my triple-grande-decaf-nonfat-extra hot latte's best friend at this time of year. And if the bread wasn't enough ... the frosting and candied ginger - yum!

However, recently I discovered the ingredient list. Sigh. I highlighted the things that make my skin crawl in green.

sugar, enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), apple sauce (apples, water, ascorbic acid), cream cheese icing (sugar, cream cheese (pasteurized milk and cream, cheese cultures, salt, carob bean gum), palm oil, corn starch, dextrose, food starch-modified, propylene glycol, water, mono & diglycerides with citric acid as preservative, salt, maltodextrin, potassium sorbate (as preservative), polysorbate 60, natural flavor, soybean oil, invert sugar, citric acid, corn oil, beta carotene as color, alpha tocopherols as preservative), egg, unsalted butter (pasteurized cream), ginger (ginger, sugar), orange peel (orange peel, invert sugar, and citric acid), water, orange flavor (orange peel, sugar and orange oil), salt, baking soda, food starch - modified, spices, baking powder (cornstarch, bicarbonate of soda, sodium aluminum sulfate, acid phosphate of calcium), pan spray (soy lecithin, may contain canola oil, palm oil, soybean oil, natural flavor, mineral oil).

Propylene Glycol? As in the stuff in hand sanitizer? Yeah, so anyways, I'm never eating that again.

Thankfully there are copycat recipes out there. Ones you can actually comprehend the ingredients in - ha! I found this really yummy one, but I first tried to make it in a loaf pan when it called for an 8 x 8 square pan. (I keep forgetting that there are reasons why people say to do things a certain way in baking.) After baking, the loaf sunk in the middle and then broke into 10 pieces when I tried to remove it from the pan. I had wanted it to look like Starbucks loaf, but it really is best to make this recipe in the 8 x 8 shape for even cooking. I think it would work well in mini loaf pans as well (and wouldn't that just make a sweet little gift?) Oh, and don't worry, none of those 10 broken pieces went to waste. :-)

Anyways, this recipe is super moist and spicy. If you like gingerbread, you'll love this!

Starbucks Gingerbread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup applesauce

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
chopped candied ginger

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F Grease and flour an 8 x 8 square baking pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Dissolve baking soda into applesauce and mix into creamed butter. Add flour mixture. Mix until smooth.
Pour the batter into a loaf pan.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out just slightly sticky. (Be careful not to over bake, for this cake can dry out easily. Just remember that the toothpick shouldn't come out clean, but a little sticky).
For the frosting, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Frost the cake when it is completely cooled. Decorate with chopped candied ginger. *Note: This recipe tastes best the next day.

Soap Sale!

2011-12-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: The soap sale is now over - all bars are sold! I will be having another soap sale in a few months and maybe even a candle sale. :-) Stay tuned!

Note: I also sell soap in my Etsy store - see link on right. It's a bit more there because of Etsy fees. I will waive the shipping if you live local though!

Today is the day!

This year I have a limited supply of 9 different homemade soaps that I'm listing for sale, so get 'em while you can. I have indicated the quantity I have of each and I will try and update the number as they sell so you can see what is still available. I am cutting my bars a bit larger and I'm now selling them for $3 each. I also made some sample packs just for fun. Each pack has 9 sample bars (1/2 size bars) - one of each kind - for $13.50. What a great way to try everything!

For those of you who may be new to the blog and the whole soap thing, here's the low down. I started making soap for our family a little over a year ago, because I couldn't justify buying this quality of soap at the store - so expensive! You might say I enjoy the challenge of figuring out ways to give my family quality items without spending a fortune. Now that I've learned soap, I usually make extra so I have plenty for gifts and some to offer to you, my blog readers. I'm not interested in having a business, I simply enjoy getting great soap into your hands at a reasonable price. So I've been offering it on the blog a few times a year.

My soaps are made from all natural emollients, essential oils, botanicals, and colorants. They contain no harsh detergents, no artificial anything, and are gentle and moisturizing to your skin. I used to think I had dry skin, but come to find out the soap I was using was just making my skin dry. My soap is like moisturizing lotion yet lathers well just like a commercial soap. It doesn't give that "tight" feel that comes from detergents. I make my soap by the cold process method in small batches, I cut it by hand, and I cure it for at least 4 weeks to ensure hardness. You should know that homemade soap is softer than commercial soap, so be sure to let your bar air dry after use (don't let it sit in a sudsy puddle). I have two types of soaps - both are all vegetable oils soaps but one has the addition of moisturizing goat's milk.

All soaps (except kitchen soaps) are perfect all-body soaps, yet I have also indicated which ones are especially good for the complexion. The kitchen soap gently exfoliates and removes food odors, including stubborn garlic and onions, from your hands.

If you don't live local, I am willing to ship. I can send 4 bars anywhere in the U.S. for $5.20 (USPS priority small flat rate box) and beyond that I'd have to calculate the weight and get you a price. I accept PayPal.

Well, I guess that about covers it. Take a look, and if anything tickles your fancy, shoot me an email at harasick@ca.rr.com.

GOAT'S MILK SOAPS
$3.00 each

Oatmeal Lavender

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, goat's milk, oats, lavender essential oil, alkanet powder (for color).

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

Green Clay, Clary Sage & Lemon

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, goat's milk, French
green clay, clary sage essential oil, lemon essential oil, dried sage leaves.
*great for complexion

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

Peppermint Swirl

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, goat's milk, peppermint essential oil, rose clay.

Quantity: 6 SOLD OUT

Grapefruit Ginger

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, goat's milk, fresh grated ginger, powdered ginger, pink grapefruit essential oil, rose clay.
*great for complexion

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

VEGETABLE OIL SOAPS
$3.00 each

Cinnamon Latte Kitchen Hand Soap

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground coffee beans, cinnamon essential oil, ground cinnamon.

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

Orange, Spice & Calendula

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, calendula petals, orange essential oil, cinnamon essential oil.
*great for complexion

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

Rosemary Lemon

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, lemon essential oil, rosemary leaves, annatto seed (infused into oil for color).

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

Oatmeal Citrus

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, oats, lemon essential oil, orange essential oil, key lime essential oil, annatto seed (infused into oil for color).

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

Key Lime

Ingredients: Saponified olive oil, saponified organic palm oil, saponified coconut oil, key lime essential oil, fresh lime zest.

Quantity: 10 SOLD OUT

SAMPLER PACKS

$13.50 for 9 half-sized bars (one of each kind listed above)

Quantity: 11 SOLD OUT

Make your own body lotion and hand cream!

2011-11-30T09:56:00.000-08:00

OK, I was going to keep this idea under wraps since I'm planning on giving them as holiday gifts this year. But, I just can't keep it to myself. It's too good - I must share!

First of all - a confession: I've been addicted Burt's Bees body lotion and Neutrogena hand cream for years. Problem is, they are expensive, and often when something is expensive I begin to wonder if I could make it myself somehow (i.e. candles, soap, etc...) Often I feel like a complete nut as I know most normal people don't think that way. :-)

Anyways, I came across a neat blog recently - A Sonoma Garden (I added it to my blogroll on the right) that had recipes for homemade body lotion and hand cream. I was fascinated. They seemed easy enough- so I gathered my supplies and couldn't wait to get to work.

So, last night, I tried my hand at making the body lotion and beeswax hand cream. I cannot BELIEVE how wonderful they are. While they were still warm, I slathered them all over and was quite impressed. They felt clean and moisturizing. When I went to bed, I coated my hands and even my eye area with the beeswax hand cream. I woke up nice and moisturized. Be forewarned that the beeswax cream is super rich and goes on greasy, but absorbs quickly.

And they couldn't have been easier to make! Super quick, hardly any mess -I easily whipped up a half batch of each in less than 10 minutes (I did half batches just to see how I liked them). I do like a scented lotion, so I made both with lavender essential oil, which is one of my favorite scents on earth. You can scent them with anything you like. I think I'll try a citrus blend next. The beeswax cream actually smelled sweet like honey and didn't really need any additional scent.

With no preservatives, they do have a short shelf life, so if you are giving them as gifts, just make them right before you give them and tell your recipient to use them right away.

Here are the links for both recipes:

Body Lotion

Beeswax Hand Cream

I ordered my emulsifying wax, beeswax pastilles, and vitamin E oil from Brambleberry. I just used Costco's organic extra virgin olive oil and the organic extra virgin coconut oil that I had on hand. I purchased half pint wide mouth canning jars to put them in. The lotion recipe fills approximately 2 of those jars, and the beeswax hand cream fills approximately 1.

P.S. I'm on Pinterest now! It's SO much fun. Let me know if you need an invite!

Great deal on gift wrap for the holidays!

2011-11-22T18:27:00.001-08:00

When I was a little girl, I loved going to the department store gift wrap department with my mom. We would shop at May Company, or Sears, or Montgomery Ward, and when my mom bought a gift we would take it to the gift wrap department, come back in about 10 minutes, and they would present us with a masterpiece. As a young girl I thought this was magical.

I would become quite enamored by all the gift wrapped boxes on display (remember that they were numbered?) and how amazing the package looked when we picked it up. Always totally "pro" with perfectly tucked in edges and dreamy big bows. I aptly observed that they were nothing like the packages my mom attempted to wrap at home (maybe that's why she took her purchases there). Ah, those were the good old days. I distinctly remember deciding that when I grew up, I would be a gift wrapper at a department store. It just seemed like the most fun anyone could have for a job.

Well, that never happened, but I still like to wrap packages. I have a thing for Kraft handled bags, gingham tissue and raffia bows. I like polka dots and stripes. I love packages that look like they came out of Country Living magazine. I guess I'm kind of old fashioned when it comes to how I like my packages wrapped. I don't like glossy paper, shiny silver or gold anything, but rather a simple package tied with twine and a piece of pine is right up my alley. And I adore organza ribbon.

Just thought I'd share a website that I love for wrapping supplies. They have the best deals on bags, ribbons, and such. I like to keep my wrapping supplies well stocked with a selection of all types of ribbons, assorted handled gift bags, cello bags, and tissue paper. It's much more economical to buy this stuff in bulk online instead of at retail stores, and once you stock up you are good for a long time. You really do save yourself both time and money in the long run. I was looking over my stash recently and realized my supply was getting low and that I needed to get stocked up for the holidays. So I went to my favorite site, Nashville Wraps and did some shopping. Check it out!

Also, on a different subject, but appropriate for the upcoming holidays - I just made these Oatmeal Cookies today and they are the bomb. I have been using a different recipe for years, but lately I couldn't seem to get them right and I was getting very frustrated. I heard someone rave about Ina's recipe and decided to give them a try. WOW are they good. I omitted the pecans and substituted chopped dried cherries for the raisins. I can't wait to let Drew try them, as he loves oatmeal cookies. I'm so excited to have this recipe! They came out beautiful and delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

Thanksgiving Place Setting & Pumpkin Spice Granola

2011-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

We hosted my side of the family (and my sister's husband's side as well) for Thanksgiving dinner last Saturday.

I wanted to make the tables festive (we had 18 guests - I did two long tables). I bought some fall flowers and added some of my roses to make low floral arrangements, and simply added tall crystal candlesticks and some medium size white pumpkins. I like little favors at each place, and first thought of a mini pumpkin but that seemed kind of redundant. I also didn't feel like buying 18 mini pumpkins only to throw them out the next day to make room for Christmas! I will roast the sugar pumpkins and make pumpkin puree but the rest go into the big green bin when the Christmas box comes out. That's just the way it is.

I came up with the idea of tweaking my favorite granola recipe and adding a few spices to go with the season. I put one cup portions into cello bags and made round labels to seal the bags. I think they turned out kinda cute, and the granola is amazing with the addition of warm fall spices! (Why didn't I think of this before?) I added a fall leaf to each plate and voila - an easy place setting.

Can you handle just one more recipe from me with the words "pumpkin spice"?? I promise this is it. :-)

Pumpkin Spice Granola

3 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups chopped unsalted nuts of your choice (I use walnuts and almonds)
1 cup shredded or shaved unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Combine oats, nuts, and coconut in a large mixing bowl. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt coconut oil with brown sugar, maple syrup, salt, and spices. Pour over dry mixture and stir well to coat.

Transfer mixture to two ungreased baking sheets and bake 1 hour or until golden, stirring every 20 minutes. Cool completely and store granola in airtight container.

Makes about 8 cups.

*note - you can easily double the recipe and bake on 3 sheets. Increase baking time by 5-10 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

P.S. Little update: I used this in the shower and my skin was so soft afterwards! It scrubbed away dead skin and left a nice olive oil coat behind. Make some soon!!

I came across this yummy recipe online and just had to make some. It couldn't be easier, and wouldn't this make a great fall hostess gift? You can use it in the shower or even for your face or hands. To get these printable labels click here.

Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 cup + 1 Tbsp. sunflower oil or vegetable oil (I used extra light olive oil)

In a large bowl, mix sugars and pumpkin pie spice together to dissolve all lumps. Add oil and mix until blended (I found it needed a little extra than called for). Spoon into wide mouthed jars and label.

Makes four 8-oz jars

An easy variation is Vanilla Brown Sugar Scrub. Instead of the pumpkin pie spice, substitute 1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract.

Soap Preview

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's almost soap time! Here is what is on the curing rack right now:

Goat's Milk Soaps
Oatmeal Lavender
Green Clay, Clary Sage & Lemon
Peppermint Swirl
Grapefruit Ginger

All-Vegetable Oil Soaps
Cinnamon Latte Kitchen Soap
Orange Spice & Calendula
Rosemary Lemon
Oatmeal Citrus
Key Lime

Soap goes on sale on
Monday morning, Dec. 5th at 7:00 a.m. (PST)
here on the blog!

Verdict Reached!

2011-11-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, it's sure good to be back. We reached a verdict last Friday on the case I was on, and therefore I concluded my Jury Duty! It turned out to be 21 days of actual service, but we had a bit of a delay last week and didn't go in for 4 consecutive days. I was technically under obligation since September 27th, which seemed like a long time!

I have to say, though I didn't enjoy the "workin' woman" schedule and lifestyle, I really had a great time being on Jury Duty. Yes, some days were long, and some parts were tedious and dull, but for the most part, the case was very interesting and I enjoyed seeing our justice system in action. I also enjoyed hanging out with my fellow jurors. We all got along well and had a great time together. And the greatest thing was being treated to lunch with Rich almost every day! We had a great time exploring some fun downtown eats. I think I spoiled him a bit by being there every day. :-) My favorite spot we hit was Ginger Grass. We also enjoyed some rockin' Korean BBQ, a great torta at Grand Central Market, the Friday Farmer's Market, and of course, Phillipe!

The case involved a 20 year-old who died suddenly of complications of Diabetic Ketoacidosis, a condition that can occur when a diabetic's glucose levels go unchecked and skyrocket. This young man and his family did not know he had developed diabetes, but he was taking a mental illness drug by the name of Zyprexa, which has direct links to diabetes. The family claims that there was not sufficient warning about this link in their literature (product label) or in the information the company's sales reps presented to physicians, and that their doctor wasn't negligent but simply uninformed, and/or negatively influenced by Zyprexa's sales reps trying to downplay the serious side effects of the drug. We heard from many doctors, experts, and witnesses, including the parents. It became clearly evident that this young man's doctor fell very short of giving him the care and progress monitoring that was necessary when on such serious drugs. He had him on 8-9 drugs off and on (including 2 other anti-pyschotics), with no monitoring of his progress or side effects. Add to that, parents that failed to recognize his illness signs and you have a very tragic situation.

The parents were suing the drug company, Eli Lilly & Co., because they believed the use of Zyprexa caused their son's diabetes, and therefore, his death. The jury was almost unanimous in concluding that there were multiple factors contributing to his death that the blame could not solely be placed on Zyprexa. In addition, after much evidence we felt that the drug warnings were sufficient, and were such that a doctor would recognize the dangers of using it. We sided with the defendant and awarded none of the $40 million the family was seeking. Here is an article about my case, if you are interested.

I had many thoughts about this case. It was a sad case. Really, the beginning of the tragedy for me was the fact that the parents divorced when their son was only 5, and because he was also Autistic, this was especially difficult for him. His parents' divorce was very unfriendly and they didn't speak nor were they united on his care during the remainder of his life. As he grew older, he got worse and worse in his violent condition until the mother (without the father's knowledge) turned to anti-psychotic drugs to control his aggression. And, unfortunately, she chose a doctor (and stayed with him for 4 years until her son's death) who provided sub-standard care. There were many tragic elements but I couldn't help think that the beginning point was the breakdown of the family. How much our children's stability, well being, and health depends on the strength of our marriages! This case was a sober reminder of that. I firmly believe that if the boy had had a stable family, with both parents working together for his good, that there might have been a better outcome.

Green Street Restaurant Zucchini Bread!!!!

2011-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

See the exclamation points in the title?? That's because I've been on a quest for YEARS to get this recipe and I'm beside myself with glee. Green Street Restaurant is one of my oldest faves in the culinary realm of Pasadena. They are famous for their Dianne Salad but I would eat anything on their scrumptious menu. Alongside the Dianne Salad, you receive a plate of their famous zucchini bread. It is so delicious - soft, dense, sweet, ahhh. I eat it all and lick the plate, and then look around the table to see if anyone in my party has any left on their plate to steal. Yeah, it's that good.

They do sell their bread for $6.50 a loaf, which isn't astronomical, but I wanted to know how to make it at home. They don't give out the recipe, and I've tried many recipes hoping to achieve the same decadent result, but to no avail - until recently, when I found a recipe online that was a copycat and the person claimed it was pretty close. I tried it and it was quite good indeed and very close - but it was just lacking something I couldn't put my finger on. I decided to try adding some molasses to the recipe and PRESTO! I had it. I was jumping for joy!

I promise you that this is the BEST quick bread you'll ever, ever taste!

IMPORTANT NOTES: Don't omit the maple flavoring or sesame seeds! They are what make this bread special. You can get the maple flavoring with all the other *gasp* artificial flavorings on your grocery store baking aisle (usually near the vanilla). It's cheap. Do not substitute maple syrup - it's not the same. And, even though the recipe calls for walnuts, I'm not wild about them in this bread so I omit them. It's up to you.

P.S. I can personally verify that this bread is divine with a pumpkin spice latte. :-) Just add a pinch of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, two packets of sugar in the raw, and a little splash of vanilla extract to your regular latte (dissolve those with the espresso and then pour your steamed milk over). Yum!

Green Street {inspired} Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup salad oil
1 cup each granulated sugar and firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons maple flavoring
2 cups coarsely shredded unpeeled zucchini (about 3 medium-size)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons each baking soda and salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup finely chopped walnuts, opt.
1/3 cup sesame seeds

Beat eggs until frothy; add oil, sugars, molasses and maple flavoring, and continue beating until mixture is thick and foamy. Stir in shredded zucchini.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, wheat germ, soda, salt, baking powder, and walnuts (if using) until thoroughly blended; stir gently into zucchini mixture just until blended.

Spoon the batter equally into 2 greased and flour-dusted 9 by 5-inch loaf pans. Sprinkle sesame seed evenly over top of each.

Bake in a 350° oven for 1 hour or until bread begins to pull away from sides of pans and a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for 10 minutes; then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

WDW - Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

2011-10-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

Two weeks in a row for WDW! Can you believe it? I guess with Jury Duty I crave my creative outlets even more!

I stole this recipe from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen, and yes, I even stole the picture too. Hey, I'm on Jury Duty - don't judge me.

If you like chocolate and you like pumpkin, boy are you in for a real treat. I have put chocolate chips into pumpkin bread and muffins before, but this is a whole different ball game. It's the melding of the flavors and spices in this recipe that is really unique.

These brownies turned out more like a cake. They were too tall for a brownie really, in my opinion, and not the texture of a brownie at all. But, whatever you call them, it makes no difference to me, because they are AMAZING. When I tasted these, I just couldn't believe how good they were. It was like two of my favorite things, pumpkin bars and good chocolate brownies, blended together to make something incredibly delicious. They are actually not heavy at all like a brownie, but light, like a snack cake. I just LOVE these. I would eat one of these every day at 3:00 with a latte if I could. Just sayin'. Enjoy.

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Cut a length of parchment that will cover the bottom and two sides (makes it much easier to remove), and line the pan with it. Butter the lining as well.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Stir and cook until both are melted.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

4. Pour half of batter (about two cups) into a separate bowl and stir chocolate mixture into it. If you find that it is a little thick (as mine was) add a little more batter (a few tablespoons or so) until it is more pourable. This is important because mine was quite thick, and the pumpkin half was quite thin, so I had trouble swirling the two together.

5. In other bowl, stir in the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don’t set.

6. With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Be sure to get your knife all the way to the bottom of the pan–I didn’t, and ended up with a chocolate base, not that it is such a bad thing.

7. Bake until set, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Be sure to test for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

I'm so excited about this!

2011-10-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Check this out - this is very similar to the new sign I just got for my kitchen! (here's my exact one). I am so excited. I found Aimee, an etsy seller, and she custom made it for me out of an old barn door. I even got to pick the door I wanted! I took door #2 :-) It arrived yesterday and it's going to look great on my kitchen wall. Yes - the wall that has been blank for 13 years - finally! It's huge - about 30" x 42" - and will be perfect for that space. I just love unique, one of a kind things, and since my tastes lean toward rustic when I saw this I just fell in love with it. I have always loved this verse in Zephaniah as well. I gave Rich puppy dog eyes, said it would be my Christmas gift, and he said yes. :-)

If you like this idea, but want to choose your own verse, Aimee can accomodate! She has other awesome signs as well. Check out her blog and her etsy shop!

*Think Christmas!*

WDW - "Clam-bows"

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Wow - A WDW while I'm on jury duty? How unexpected is that?? :-)

Actually, when I ran across this recipe online recently, I knew I just had to find time to make it! We love these really junky cookies from the grocery store that my kids call "clam-bows." You know which ones? Those incredibly soft cookies with the best powdered sugar icing? They are just so enticing. I recently inquired about the name with Emma and she explained that the Tubbs girls and our kids formed the word when merging "Clam shell" and "Rainbow." Clambows. You see, the cookies always come in those clear clamshell containers, and as for the rainbow part, I am assuming they are colorful? Anyways, they are SO yummy but you know that they are SO nasty. Anyways, when I came across the recipe I just knew I had to make some. They are easy to make because you don't have to roll out the dough or use cookie cutters. You know what - I like them better than those store-bought ones. I don't miss the chemical taste at all :-)

Mine aren't exactly 'fall' looking, as I made them true to the grocery store style (pink with sprinkles). You could always tint your frosting orange and decorate with some fall motif sprinkles instead. Yum.

Clambows (Soft frosted sugar cookies)

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

4½ cups all-purpose flour

4½ tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature

1½ cups sugar

3 large eggs

5 tsp. vanilla extract

For the frosting:

5 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/3 cup (5 1/3 tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

7-8 tbsp. milk (plus more, as needed)

Food coloring (optional)

Sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

To make the cookies, In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk together to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until soft and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients mixing just until incorporated and evenly mixed. Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. When you are ready to bake the cookies, scoop a scant quarter cup of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the cookies at least 2-3 inches apart. Bake about 10-12 minutes or just until set. (Do not overbake! The edges should be no more than very lightly browned if at all.) Let cool on the baking sheet for several minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To frost the cookies, place the confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter, vanilla, and milk to the bowl and whisk until smooth. Whisk in additional milk as necessary, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Tint with food coloring if desired. Use an offset spatula or spoon to frost the cooled cookies. (If the frosting begins to thicken as you decorate, just continue to whisk in small amounts of milk to keep it workable.) Top with sprinkles if desired. Store in an airtight container.

My Dad's wedding reception - 50's style!

2011-10-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

A few posts back, in late August, I announced that my dad had gotten remarried. Well, at the end of September, my sister Suzanne and I threw him and his new wife Mili a 50's style wedding reception at my house. We had about 125 guests -it was so much fun! We figured that since they met in high school in the 50's, they (and their friends) might enjoy a walk down memory lane. It was a really fun theme to go with.

Suzanne & I wanted to be in the true party spirit, so we got matching outfits! We didn't mind looking ridiculous - it was fun!

And here's a shot of Suzanne's family - the boys were such cute greasers. We didn't have any hair gel on hand so we used coconut oil! It did the trick. :-)

Rich even dug out his letterman's jacket. (How many of you know that Rich was a record holding swimmer back in his day? Yeah, quite the stud. Can you see the dates on his jacket?)

Stephanie and Lindsay looked great in their poodle skirts!

We set up a "photo op" for those who wanted a fun picture.

I think it was mostly the kids that had fun with it...

The bride and groom.

And some of us didn't really need a 'photo op' to ham it up. Love this pic of my sis - she's so fun.

The party started at 5:00 pm and we had Route 66 cater dinner. They showed up around 3:30 and started cooking tri tip, ribs, and chicken over a red oak wood fire barbecue. It smelled so good and the food tasted amazing. I highly recommend them- they exceeded my expectations in every way. They also served Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, and garlic bread which was all super delish. They were fantastic.

We set up the yard with round tables and bubble gum pink tablecloths. Our centerpieces were vintage glass sundae cups filled with Good 'n Plenty candies, which we put on top of an old 45 record. We tied helium balloon bouquets on, but they got blown around so much in the breeze that we had to cut them off right before dinner!

We served old fashioned sodas in bottles. Glad to find these and root beer in bottles at Smart and Final.

Inside the house, we set up a "Sweet Shoppe" with vintage candy for favors. I have always wanted to do this! Suzanne's son Austin made the darling sign for us.

We found some fun vintage candy jars at thrift stores.

Most of this vintage candy was easily found at Smart and Final. We did make a trip to Rocket Fizz in Burbank to supplement a bit, and to get some other old time candy to decorate with.

Dad and Mili liked the old time candies.

Austin also made us some adorable signs for our "diner desserts" buffet.

For dessert, we had pies and cakes which we served on our fabulous homemade cake stands.

The table looked awesome!

Suzanne and I did make some cakes so we could have a formal cake cutting. She made red velvet and I made carrot. We did them 3 layers each so they'd look like the tall diner cakes of old. We used this one for the cake cutting. Isn't it cute? My sister decorated it and I found some vintage decorations on ebay.

Mili arranged for a DJ to play 50's music and we turned our basketball court into an impromptu dance floor. The 70-something crowd were darling dancing to the songs of their day. Here my dad had a few words to say to all the guests. The DJ and his music really made the party special.

And I think the bride and groom had a few words for each other as well. :-)

Mili found the cutest dress to wear - aren't they so cute together?

And they had such a great time visiting with a lot of longtime friends.

The guests seemed to enjoy dinner. The weather couldn't have been nicer for an outdoor party.

After dinner, we had the cutting of the cake on the front porch.

It started off nice with Mili giving my dad a nice little bite of cake.

But then my dad decided to have a little fun. He looked at me and I gave him the thumbs up to DO IT! I think Mili knew it coming by the look in his eyes...

Smash!

Yes, these are 70-ish aged people. Love it.

At least Mili was a really good sport!

We were so happy to be able to celebrate with our Dad.

Before the evening ended, Dad got a dance with his new wife. They danced to "At Last."

We love them and wish them many happy years together.

Photography credits go to the lovely Emma Leigh Harasick

Life as I know it....

2011-10-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

...is gonna change for a short season.

I have been seated as a juror on a "high profile civil case" at the L.A. County Courtroom for a 5 week trial.

Yes, you heard me - FIVE weeks.

I think I'm pretty much over the initial shock, as I had much time to ponder its effects on my life during this week's lengthy and tedious jury selection. The court initially seated twelve potential jurors into the jury box out of a large pool of at least eighty prescreened people. I have no idea how they got their first twelve and assume it was most likely random. I was not selected in that group so I sat in the jury room for two days listening to attorneys on both sides ask endless questions of the group.

Not knowing exactly how the process worked, I did figure however, that these twelve would probably not end up being the final jury. Sure enough, one by one, about half of them were excused and the empty seats began to be filled by people from my group. It didn't take long until my name was called and I entered the jury box for personal examination and cross examination from the attorneys.

Unfortunately for me, they must have liked my responses to their questioning. After I was seated, many others were excused and replaced, but I remained firmly in my seat. I have to admit I was secretly hoping that I would hear the familiar words spoken to me "the court would like to thank and excuse Karen Harasick"... but the words never came. And after four days, the attorneys agreed on the jury and we were sworn in. After standing to be sworn in, the twelve of us sat down, all looking a bit shocked and dazed, though no one dared to let out any audible signs of the reality that our lives had just been turned upside down.

So, I'm a "workin' woman" as Rich says. I leave the house at 7:30 am to battle traffic and be at the courthouse at 8:45 am. I leave the courtroom at 4:30 pm daily, and then battle traffic once again to arrive home around 5:30 pm. A very strange life for a woman who has been a homemaker for 22 years. Just putting on makeup every day is strange enough for me!

I am thankful for God's grace in it all. First of all, I was sicker than a dog this week when we began jury selection. My several ailments were keeping me up at night which resulted in me being dead tired and highly symptomatic in the courtroom. Do you know what it is like to cough, sneeze, and blow your nose every 2 minutes in a solemn and quiet court of law? Embarrassing would be an understatement. I finally went to the urgent care Wednesday night (I despise antibiotics so I tried to wait it out) for an infection I suspected, and the doctor told me what I thought was an additional infection was just bad allergies. She suggested Claritin and it really helped. The next day, one of the jurors commented to me "the courtroom is so quiet - are you feeling better?" I'm glad to know I was so discreet. :-) Anyways, everything is working now, and I'm sleeping again and feeling much better. I haven't been sick for at least 10 years - I forgot how miserable it can be!

I am also thankful, though I would honestly rather be doing something else with my time, at this time I am able to serve. I am also thankful for all the years that I raised my children and homeschooled them that I was able to avoid jury service. That was a huge blessing! It is kind of ironic that now that the kids are off at school, Master's Kids is well on its way and I've stepped back a bit, and my dad's party is through, that I now have this. I thought I'd be settling into a new kind of life with more free time... so much for that!

Oh, and one of the biggest blessings of all about it? Rich works a block away from the courthouse and I have a 1 1/2 hour lunch break everyday! This week we had lunch 3 times - so fun! He is so excited, borderline giddy I'd say, about the prospect of having me downtown. And I'm glad that I have something to brighten my day as well!

So, I'm sorry to say that the blog may be a little quiet the next month or so, since I obviously can't talk about the trial and my homemaking will be limited to survival mode. I'm wishing everyone a happy, cozy fall! Blessings!

Inexpensive Fall Decorating Idea

2011-10-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited that it's Fall! I made a trip to Trader Joe's yesterday for all kinds of pumpkins for my front porch and house, and today Rich unloaded my box of Fall decor from the attic. I'm so in the mood to decorate and bake anything and everything with pumpkin.:-) I think I went a little crazy as my pantry has about a dozen cans of pumpkin in it!

Last Saturday, my sister and I threw a very fun 50's style wedding reception for our dad and his new wife, Mili (I hope to blog on that as soon as I score the pictures from Emma). For dessert we wanted to serve diner-style cakes and pies on cake stands, but found that we didn't have enough between the two of us (we needed 12!). So, while thrift store shopping one day, we decided to make our own cake stands using candlesticks and plates. I think we spent about $10 for 7 cake stands! My sister took everything home and used a special glue made to adhere glass to glass to put them together. She said it took her about 5 minutes to do them all! Score! They turned out awesome.

And, the benefit of making them for the party was that we also got to keep them! I found a few cute ways to use them for easy and inexpensive Fall decor.

This tall one was actually made using a clear Pyrex pie plate. I love these adorable Sugar Pie pumpkins.

This stand is one of my favorites. We made two like this, so we each got one.

This larger one is perfect as a centerpiece for my dining room table. A great way to display my freshly made apple cider candle, too. Yum!

Other thrift store finds make cute pumpkin holders.

And of course, vintage glassware proves to be a great way to display the ~~ridiculous amount of~~ candy I buy at this time of year. I still get excited when I see these come into the store!

Rich's fave.

And ice cream sundae cups are perfect for M & M's. We used a dozen of these (all different ones from thrift stores) for the party table centerpieces. We filled them with Good 'n Plenty candies and used them to anchor our helium balloon bouquets. Now my sister and I will both have a set of charmingly mismatched sundae cups to use for serving dessert.

25 years ago today...

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

....Rich whisked me off to San Diego and proposed marriage at George's at the Cove restaurant in La Jolla! We actually went by plane - it was a short but fun ride. As we went through security at LAX, my engagement ring in his pocket (which happened to be in a metal box) triggered the metal detector and Rich had to discreetly show it to the security officer... I kind of already knew what was going on and that it was "the day" but that was the clincher. :-) We had an exquisite meal at George's and after a long and sentimental expression of his love, he handed me the ring. I just looked at him and finally he remembered, "oh yeah, will you marry me?" As you well know the answer was a resounding "yes!"

We've been back to George's a few times over the years - most recently at our 20 year anniversary in which we stayed at the amazing Lodge at Torrey Pines (a beautiful craftsman style resort which went on to inspire our living room and all our pine cone light fixtures outside). We decided, on the 25th anniversary of the day this year, to go down and spend the day in San Diego and have dinner there once again. Due to my pending jury duty service, we were able to get away Monday and it was a delightful time.

The plan was to first hit one of Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives for lunch. We had been to Hodad's in Ocean Beach once before - getting take out while we were camping several summers ago in San Diego with the Tubbs. It was so busy when we went that time, that I think it took 45 minutes to get our burgers! This time, we decided to get the full experience and dine inside the restaurant.

Their specialty is really their bacon burger. They don't just lay slices of bacon across the burger either, like most you've seen. They make actual thick bacon "patties" which are as big as the burger. In the picture below, it looks like there are two patties on the burger, but one is really just the bacon layer! I love it that they serve "frings" (half fries/half onion rings) and we were sure to order some real Cokes to go with. The burgers are good, but I can't say that they make my top 3 list of burgers (In my opinion, the Apple Pan, Pie 'n Burger, and Bob's Big Boy still rule).

Check the place out! I am pretty sure this one falls under the category "dives."

I convinced Rich to sit at the table that was fashioned out of a hacked off VW Microbus! So fun!

It is very hard to get your mouth around this burger! See the bacon layer?

After stuffing ourselves, we decided to park the car and take a walk around Mission Bay. The weather was so delightful that we ended up sitting on a park bench for over an hour just watching the sailboats on the bay. It was just so pleasant! We then headed over to La Jolla and drove to a vista point that had panoramic city views, grabbed an iced tea at Starbucks, visited some seals at the beach, and drove around some charming yet stunning neighborhoods in La Jolla. We arrived at our anticipated dinner destination around 6:00 p.m.

Goofy self portrait.

We had fun watching the seals! They were so entertaining. When a wave would come, they'd arch their backs, and put up their heads and tails for leverage.

Do you see this cutie? I love the way he looked right into the camera!

One of the amazing homes we drove by.

Beautiful gate. Would have loved to have seen the estate behind it!

So much charm!

Finally, time for dinner! George's has three levels - we like the "California Modern" level downstairs. They gave us a beautiful ocean front table and a complimentary bottle of artisan olive oil as a gift in honor of our celebration. They do things right here.

We began by sharing this gorgeous ceviche appetizer.

This was my entree! Isn't it breathtaking? Seared rare tuna over carrot-miso puree, spectacular veggies mixed with fresh ginger and a tangerine butter. Definitely one of the most appealing and delicious plates I've ever been served. Almost too beautiful to eat. But no worries, I ate every bite.

Here's Rich's entree - a tender braised lamb shank over corn risotto, roasted squash, and a feta salsa verde. Amazing dish as well. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and ultra-flavorful due to the braising. And the risotto was done right.

Boy am I glad my dinner entree was so nice and light. Here's our killer dessert. Fresh, warm cinnamon-sugar encrusted yeast donuts with four different dipping sauces: deep chocolate infused with orange, espresso caramel, mascarpone whipped cream, and chocolate hazelnut mousse. They were all incredible. Fried dough with cinnamon is pretty much my favorite thing on earth, so these sure floated my boat! This was paired with a most delicious cup of coffee - divine. Seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten.

I am so grateful for the beautiful day we could get away and celebrate our marriage - we have much to celebrate as God has blessed us so richly. And, I am infinitely more grateful for the man God has given me to spend every day of my life with. After 25 years, I can truly say I love and appreciate Rich more and more with each passing day, and after all these years, I can recognize in a deeper way what a gracious gift from God he is. There's no one I'd rather have by my side than him. Blessed.

Here we are September 28, 1986 - I think I'm trying to show off the rock!

25 years later on September 26, 2011

Rich wanted me to mention that my hair hasn't changed a bit, but that his has :-)

Easiest Homemade Bread ever!

2011-09-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Don't think you can make this bread? You can, and in just 5 minutes a day!

Remember the bread machine craze? I remember Rich taking me to some warehouse out in Woodland Hills to get a refurbished DAK machine, oh probably almost 20 years ago. It was a beast and took up half the kitchen! The funny thing about it was, that it made a tall round loaf (I think the later models made rectangular ones which made more normal looking sandwich slices). The machine was actually a lot of fun to use, though. I particularly enjoyed the "dough cycle" setting, where the machine would do all the work for you, then you could use the dough it as you wish. Some of my favorite things to make were crescent rolls, pizza dough, and cinnamon rolls.

Well, eventually, the bread machine quit and I never replaced it. Sometime after that I got a KitchenAid mixer, and I tried to make bread a few times in that. However, I always sensed that the KitchenAid wasn't quite up to the task (I don't have the heavy duty one). Maybe it was the smell of what seemed like the poor overworked motor burning up that caused me to set aside breadmaking, but I just kind of stopped making dough and bread completely.

The situation was so dire that I had turned to Trader Joe's for my pizza dough and Costco for La Brea breads...I needed help.

Enter in, this little miracle book:

My sister had told me that a girlfriend of ours had been using the method in this book with great success. She tried it as well, and raved, so I decided to give it a try myself. I checked the book out of the library, and felt quite skeptical as I read. All you do is mix flour, yeast, oil and salt (no kneading), stick it in a container, and refrigerate. Any time that you want to bake bread, you tear off a chunk (1 lb. of dough), rise it on the counter for 40 minutes, and bake. I had to try it. It was about 9:00 at night and I was in my pajamas but I got myself up off the sofa and made the dough (you have to let it sit on the counter for 2 hours first) and put it in the fridge. The dough needs to sit in the fridge at least overnight before first using it. So, I got up bright and early the next day, put my bread out to rise (it takes 40 min.) and baked it for breakfast. I will not tell you how much of the loaf I ate. (OK, half.) Anyways, it was SO amazing. I could not believe how easy it was, and how good it tasted.

I will let you know that you need a baking stone for this method. I have an old trusty, well-seasoned Pampered Chef one that I make pizza on all the time. Also, since you preheat the stone in the oven, you are supposed to rise your bread on a pizza peel and slide it on to the preheated stone. I don't have a peel so I just use parchment paper - it does the job perfectly. I simply place the dough, on the parchment, right onto the hot stone. After baking, you simply pull the parchment away and discard.

And, do you want to know what the greatest thing is? The batch makes enough dough for four loaves, and stays up to two weeks in your refrigerator. And, the dough gets better with each passing day. When the dough is gone, you don't even wash the container out! You just add the new dough batch to the remnants as they act like a sourdough starter would, giving the dough more flavor.

The book is full of all kinds of recipes. You can make pizza dough, foccacia, wheat bread, and even sticky pecan rolls with the many different doughs and recipes. Everything I've tried this far has been amazing. After such success, I decided I needed to buy this book and keep it forever. I also discovered that the authors have a second book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. So,I got that one too. I can't tell you how seldom I buy cookbooks but these are keepers. I cannot wait to try all the whole grain recipes. Who knows, maybe I'll even blog about them! :-) I can't wait for the cooler fall weather so I can make some soup and more of this yummy homemade bread.

Hey Holly...

2011-09-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here's Holly & me... don't we look like dear old friends? Actually, this photo was taken on the first day that we ever met! Holly is a friend of my longtime friend, Tracy, and has been ~~stalking~~ reading my blog for awhile. She once recognized me at Disneyland - but instead of coming up and introducing herself, she called Tracy and gushed "I think I just saw the E-wife!! Find out if she's at Disneyland today!!" Anyways, it's been fun to have a fan and recently we finally got to meet in person. It truly did feel like we were already great friends when we met. Through Tracy, I know Holly is a godly woman and and I look forward to getting to know her better. I thought she'd blush a bit if she actually saw herself on my blog!! So, here's to you, Holly! Thanks, Tracy for the pic!

Good Reads

2011-09-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

This summer, a friend introduced me to Goodreads.com - it's a neat site that you can review books that you've read, and best of all - read the reviews of friends that you trust for books you can read! You can have "friends" on Good Reads, and you can see all the books they've read and rated, as well as make a "to read" list for yourself. So, if you're a voracious reader, or just looking for a good vacation book, you can find what you're looking for. I recently put up a page there, so if you want to see some of my favorite reads, just click here!

My dad got married!

2011-08-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

My devoted mother passed away almost 6 years ago, at the young age of 63, and my dad has found love again! This is Mili (a nickname for Mildred), and she is actually a friend of both my parents from long ago. She was in my mom's 2nd grade class and Girl Scout troop, and went to high school with my dad. My dad and her even signed each other's yearbooks - sentiments that are quite cute looking back. Anyways, they were each married more than 40 years to their respective spouses, my dad losing my mom suddenly to a heart problem 6 years ago, and Mili's losing her husband Ron, 2 years ago to cancer. Each have enjoyed children and grandchildren and lives that never intersected until about 6 or 7 so years ago, when Mili met my uncle at a voting poll in her neighborhood of Huntington Beach. She recognized the name Vida, and gave my uncle her telephone number to give to my folks. My parents actually ended up meeting with Mili and Ron and caught up on the years. Mili came to my mom's memorial service, and a few years later, she let my dad know about Ron's passing. Then, a few months ago, my dad suggested in just a friendly way that they might plan a time to meet for coffee, and as they say, the rest is history. They were married in a private ceremony yesterday in Catalina. My sister and I have the joy of throwing them a big 50's style reception at our home at the end of September.

Meeting Mili was like meeting someone who has known and loved you your whole life. We connected right away. She began by filling us in on her life story, showing us many family photos. She loves my dad dearly and that makes me very happy. He was widowed too young, and had a lot of love left to give, and so does she. I am happy that he won't have to be lonely anymore. I truly thank God for her, she will be a blessing. As she said to me recently, "I love you so much already!" And I feel the same.

Summer Recap

2011-08-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

I've been blissfully silent on the blog this summer. For those of you who haven't given up on me, here's a few snippets of our summer:

First we had a wonderful visit from Emma's dear friend Alyssa. She was so very kind to fly down from Sacramento and come to Emma's graduation as well as spend a week with us. We invited my sister and decided to go on a little tour of Hollywood with our little tourist. We started at the Grove, and even got a bit part on the show Extra (ok, they asked us to walk behind the interview to look like shoppers), ate wonderful crepes at the Farmer's Market, and then went on the convertible "Buddy Fun" bus (basically a hacked off Ford Econoline van)to see the Hollywood sign and stars' homes. I didn't really know who half the stars were but I did swoon over Lucille Ball's house. We finished our day with dinner at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles...it was so fun!

Me and my sweet sis. The tour guide asked if any of us on the bus were locals - we were the only ones who raised our hands! Funny, we've never had our picture taken in front of the Hollywood sign after living here all our lives!

At the end of June, we sent Emma off to the Resolved conference with the high school group for the senior trip. It was a joy seeing her off with these kids, her lifelong friends who just happen to be the kids of some of my dearest friends in life. What a blessing!

left to right: Taylor Dempsey, Kaitlyn Guyle, T.J. Brooks, Emma, Robert Jensen... these kids are such godly young people and blessings to our family.

I'm glad our summer included some food adventure! Good times were had on a recent "Asian tour" with Albert & Alik Lin, as well as their sweet baby Sarona. Albert & Alik are sweet friends, wise beyond their years, joyful and inspiring servants of the Lord. Oh, and not to mention, fine fellow foodie friends!! Because Alik is Armenian, and Albert is Chinese, they have led us to many fantastic food finds from their cultures. Recently on a Saturday afternoon, we went on a 3-stop extravaganza: the best ever egg rolls from the Vietnamese restaurant Golden Deli (also known for their amazing Pho) eaten in a parking lot, then to-die-for dumplings at the Chinese Luscious Dumplings, and finally our last stop for Japanese food at a food court of all places- amazing soup and a yummy rice bowl. We were happily stuffed! Thanks A & A for a great time, we must do it again soon!

Shamelessly stuffing our faces in a strip mall parking lot.

My favorite part of the food tour - the dumplings. See that little bowl of sauce. Oh man it was spicy/yummy. Albert showed us how to do it right.

Little Sarona was completely content the whole time to just watch us eat. Future "foodie-cutie" in training! I just love this sweet girl.

The last stop. Doesn't this just look awesome?

And what summer would be complete without a camping trip to San Clemente? We were blessed to be able to take some of our extra daughters along, our dear Kait and even Catherine Hardy who was visiting from North Carolina. We enjoyed all our favorites: Pedro's tacos eaten on the beach at sunset, mornings at the Bagel Shack, and even found a new fave - the Sugar Blossom bake shop - their macadamia nut glazed buttermilk cinnamon rolls were off the hook!! (fyi -only made on Sundays).

Drew and Steph

Me and my almost college girl! I am actually 2" shorter than her - I must have been standing higher up!

And lastly, though I didn't cook anything new and spectacular this summer - kind of winged most dinners- I did find a new brownie recipe and it is hands down the best recipe I've ever made. These babies are the perfect texture, the perfect taste, and are super easy to make. They truly make you *sigh* when you take a bite. You will want to make these soon. Trust me.

Kristine's brownies

4 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 12-oz package of chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
2 cups of miniature marshmallows

Chop chocolate and butter and melt together in microwave; cool slightly. Transfer to mixer bowl and beat butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add coffee granules, eggs, and vanilla and again bring to a nice fluffy consistency. Add flour, salt, chocolate chips, and marshmallows. Mix just until blended. Pour into a well-sprayed 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool a bit before cutting and dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Lofty Thoughts

2011-07-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

I love this excerpt by Spurgeon! To read it in its entirety, click here.

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, February 27th, 1859, by the
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.

"I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication."—Psalm 116:1.

N the Christian pilgrimage it is well for the most part to be looking forward. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, the future after all must be the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. And looking further yet, the believer's soul can see Death's river passed, the gloomy steam forded; he can behold the hills of light on which standeth the celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than a conqueror—crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with him, made to sit together with him on his throne, even as he has overcome and has sat down with the Father upon his throne. The sight of the future may well relieve the darkness of the past, the hopes of the world to come may banish all the doubtings of the present. Hush, my fears! this world is but a narrow span, and thou shalt soon have passed it. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how short—eternity, how long! Death, how brief—immortality, how endless!

"Oh the transporting, rapturous scene
That rises to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
And rivers of delight.

Filled with delight my raptured soul
Would here no longer stay,
Though Jordan's waves around me roll,
Fearless I'd launch away."

Yet nevertheless the Christian may do well sometimes to look backward; he may look back to the hole of the pit and the miry clay whence he was digged—the retrospect will help him to be humble, it will urge him to be faithful. He may look back with satisfaction to the glorious hour when first he saw the Lord, when spiritual life for the first time quickened his dead soul. Then he may look back through all the changes of his life, to his troubles and his joys, to his Pisgahs and to his Engedis, to the land of the Hermonites and the hill Mizar. He must not keep his eye always backward, for the fairest scene dies beyond, it will not benefit him to be always considering the past, for the future is more glorious far; but nevertheless at times a retrospect may be as useful as a prospect; and memory may be as good a teacher as even faith itself. This morning I bid you stand upon the hill-top of your present experience and look back upon the past, and find therein motives for love to God; and may the Holy Spirit so help me in preaching and you in hearing, that your love may be inflamed, and that you may retire from this hall, declaring in the language of the Psalmist, "I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice, and my supplication."

Perfect Iced Tea

2011-07-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

Isn't iced tea the perfect summertime drink? Actually, at our house, we like it so much that we pretty much drink it year 'round. It's easy to make, inexpensive, calorie free, and full of antioxidants. I make a couple of gallons a week around here.

However, when I serve people iced tea, they often comment, "This is good! What kind of tea is this?" or "How did you make this?" I didn't realize it was such a mystery to so many. Since I've been asked on numerous occasions, I figured it might be time for a little tutorial.

First of all, I use good old plain Lipton black tea bags. I buy them in bulk at Costco but you can find them at your regular grocery store. Nothing fancy, nothing gourmet. For one gallon of iced tea, I use 8 regular-size tea bags. I have an electric tea kettle, which I fill up and bring to boil two separate times, and that fills a gallon-sized jug. I place the tea bags in the pitcher (don't hang them over the side - just set them on the bottom) and pour the first pot full of boiling water over the tea bags. Then, I refill the tea kettle and bring it back to a boil, and add that boiling water to the tea already brewing. At that point, I set my timer for exactly 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, I remove the tea bags and cool the tea to room temperature before refrigerating. At this point, if you like "sweet tea" you can add sugar to your liking and stir to dissolve. But I prefer to leave my tea unsweetened and let people sweeten it to their own liking with a simple syrup. Rich likes it unsweetened with lemon, and Drew likes his heavily sweetened, so it's perfect. (By the way, if you have teenagers that like sweet drinks, sweetened iced tea is WAY WAY healthier than giving them soda, gatorade and the like, and not to mention so much cheaper.)

A simple syrup is the way to go to sweeten tea. If you pour sugar into cold tea, it doesn't really dissolve and sinks to the bottom of the glass. So, I make a batch of the syrup and keep it next to the tea in the refrigerator. It's ridiculously simple to make - just bring equal parts of water and granulated sugar (I use 3/4 cup each) to a boil in a small saucepan over the stove. Turn off the heat, and whisk a moment or two to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved, allow it to cool to room temperature, and pour into a serving bottle (an oil or vinegar type dispenser works well). Mine looks a little tan and murky because I use organic sugar. If that bugs you, go ahead and use the white stuff and the syrup will be light and clear.

Now, since I'm a caffeine-free type of gal, and the rest of the normal human race drinks caffeinated beverages, I brew the regular for them and make my own personal decaf jug of iced tea. I like to use Paradise decaf or Good Earth original, which is herbal. Paradise is expensive and (gasp) artificially flavored, so I don't usually have it too often (but BOY is it good.) Good Earth is very sweet, cinnamon-y and quite unique in taste - if you like it hot you should try it iced sometime. I will say that it's definitely an acquired taste. My boys HATE it and I mean that in the strongest sense of the word! Do you remember the Good Earth restaurant chain? Back in high school, my girlfriends and I used to go there, and would just sit there happily sipping their iced tea and chatting for hours. We would also occasionally order a cashew chicken sandwich or their 12 summer vegetable soup- oh how I miss that place (and Carol if you're reading this, remember all the times we went, and how sad we were when they closed down?). Another "recipe" I like for iced tea is decaf green tea bags and a handful of fresh mint. The mint gives the tea such a nice taste. I usually put in a few squirts of agave nectar after the tea bags and mint are removed (but while it's still hot). Anyways... in all my decaf recipes, I use the same amount of tea bags that I use for the original iced tea, but I tend to brew my decaf teas an extra 10 minutes, since they are a bit weaker in strength.

So there you have it. Perfect iced tea that is super easy to make. Happy summer sipping!

A Great Summer Read

2011-07-06T10:44:00.001-07:00

I purposed a little down time after a busy April/May/first part of June. We skipped the Resolved conference, I took a break from Master's Kids, and didn't put any plans on the calendar. Sometimes, after a busy season, it's just nice to just do the necessary - the cleaning, very simple cooking, and the minimal errands needed to keep things going. No projects, no planning, no preparing for anything. It's been a really nice few weeks to just breathe and enjoy summer.

I thought some reading would be nice. I asked my friend Janet S. for some summer reading recommendations, which she kindly provided! I then promptly went to the local public library's website and put all the books she listed all on reserve. In a week or so, they were in, and I had a stack of five cool books to read. On more than one occasion recently, I have put on my swimsuit, poured myself a tall glass of Good Earth Iced Tea, and sat by the pool to read. It's been really refreshing and relaxing. I hardly ever do that - especially with a (gasp!) fiction book. Well, it was really sort of historical fiction, and I found it to have great value even though it wasn't spiritual in nature.

The first book I started with was Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by author Jamie Ford. Let me just say, I was captivated by this book from the very first page! I became so wrapped up in the story that I found myself dreading the book to end. I don't want to give anything away, but it was basically the story of an older Chinese man named Henry looking back on his life in Seattle in the 1940's during WW2 when Japanese Americans were rounded up and placed in internment camps. When Henry was in grade school, he had a special friend, Keiko, who was Japanese, and it is the story of how Henry dealt with his nationalistic parents who didn't like the Japanese and this friendship with Keiko that he valued more than anything. Also, it is the story of how Henry as an older man must bridge the gap between him and his modern Chinese American son. The story will warm and break your heart all at the same time. It was so well written - I highly recommend it.

I'm on to read the Help now, thanks Janet for your wonderful recommendations!!

Emma's Graduation Video

2011-06-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the video that was shown at Emma's high school graduation from Lighthouse on June 10, 2011. It is set to music so be sure to have your volume on. I hope to get pictures up from the special night very soon!

P.S. Thanks Drew for putting this all together... you're a pro.

Our European trip part 5 - London

2011-06-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

After an interrogative time (unbelievable but typical) at the Tel Aviv airport, we were relieved to get to London late Thursday evening. We checked into a darling bed and breakfast inn called the Cartref House just in time for the Royal Wedding of William and Catherine the next morning! After a good night’s sleep, we enjoyed a fresh cooked proper English breakfast (fluffy scrambled eggs, ham, toast and jam, grilled tomato and pineapple) by our host Allison (British pronounciation: “Allie-son”).

On the steps of our B & B

We had originally planned to avoid the wedding site and the crowds like the plague, but in the morning, as we ventured out, we couldn’t resist the fanfare and excitement in the air. We soon found ourselves amongst the masses hoping to get a glimpse of the Royal Couple. We actually made our way quite close to Westminster Abbey, but our view was obstructed and we could only hear the cheers that must have been the bride and groom’s arrival.

This was our view of the Abbey. We weren't really all that far away!

Later in the day, we got a more close up view.

Britain was so festively decorated for the occasion.

As our B & B host Allison said, "Britain loves their dysfunctional Royal Family!"

We departed the scene after the ceremony got underway, and after a fabulous lunch at Pret a Manger (a chain that puts Starbucks to shame, more on that later), we arrived at the Tower of London for a tour. It was interesting and we got to see the crown jewels – amazing! One of the crowns (“the crown of the Queen Mother”) has a 105 karat diamond! And some are over 600 years old. Naturally, they don’t let you take any pictures, and you must ride on a moving sidewalk thing as you view the crowns (as if you would try to break into one of the glass cabinets and take one with all the security hanging around - nevertheless, they still prefer to keep you moving). Anyways, we then rode a Catalina-type boat down the river Thames, which was really nice and picturesque. We walked around quite a bit, enjoying London, seeing Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Big Ben and more. We also took a few cab rides and they were awesome! All the cabs there are the same; they are specially made cars for cab service. They are very nice, seat 5, and are practically materialize out of nowhere when you need one. And the cab drivers are so gentlemanly; it is a good and coveted job to be a cabbie in London, so you don’t see scary drivers like New York!

Ahh... Pret a Manger... please come to America.

Enjoying a cab ride!

Buckingham Palace. Crowds were hoping to see Will & Kate escape to their honeymoon, but a security guard we talked to laughed and said that they were "long gone."

Later that afternoon, we went for tea at Fortnum and Mason, a delightful and fancy store with a tea room on the 4th floor. It was really over the top… we sat at couches and overstuffed chairs and we each had our own personal tea pot. We filled up big-time on scones, tea sandwiches, and other amazing little desserts. Then, after tea we headed over to see the show Love Never Dies, the new sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, a fave show of ours. Love Never Dies was sensational! If you are a Phantom fan, I don’t want to ruin it for you (the show is most likely heading to NYC next and maybe someday to LA), so suffice it to say you will be surprised by the way that Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote the play to fit in perfectly between the time that the Opera Populaire burns and when the Phantom is visiting Christine’s grave at the end. In my opinion, no music can top Phantom, but the music in this show was surprising good and was quite harmonious with Phantom as well. We really enjoyed it and of course, a visit to the stage door is always a must with young ladies in tow. They happily received autographs and photos with the stars of the show.

One floor seemed to be all candy, displayed exquisitely.

Our tea delicacies. Yum!

The next day, we headed out for a double-decker bus ride around the city. What fun! It was a “hop-on, hop-off” type tour, so we rode most of the day, hopping off to see sights along the way. The tour guides were funny and informative and we really enjoyed it. A tour bus is actually a great way to see a new city in a small amount of time. At one stop we had lunch at Wagamama, a place a friend recommended to us. Weird name, but great food – all noodle based dishes and super gourmet. We loved it.

Wagamama lunch.

Can you guess where this is? It's actually McDonald's. They are quite nice in London, and I noticed that the female workers wear dresses for uniforms.

My kinda place - in the train station there were many shops and eateries.

Riding the tour bus.

London's street performers are commissioned by the city. This lady (right side- in gray dress) was singing opera and had her baby in a stroller next to her.

That night, after some authentic fish and chips for dinner, we headed to yet another show… the day before we had passed the theater where Wicked was showing and the girls gave Rich puppy dog eyes… so we decided to get some tickets for our last night, Saturday. We got cheap, nosebleed seats, but it was still fun to go and experience the show there in London. The girls were so excited!

Tickets!! Yay... thanks Daddy!

Dressed up London style for the show. We all bought hats for London, but Stephanie was the only one who could find hers that day...

Love this shot of Emma.

After our whirlwind trip, it was now time to hop a plane back to America. We flew on an 11 hour non-stop flight back early Sunday morning. The Tubbs picked us up at LAX and took us over to In-n-Out… it somehow felt good to be on American soil.

Now that I’ve taken hours of your valuable time to read through these Europe blog posts… I’ll wrap it up with some of my observations and what we learned about international travel. Feel free to leave now, if you've had enough!

First of all, I’d like to say that it was awesome to see a paper toilet seat cover upon returning home to LAX. You’d be glad just to see toilet paper in Europe and be able to go to the bathroom free of charge. We had to pay a few coins on occasion in France to use the bathroom, but in Florence, we actually paid $1.50 USD per person to use a restroom! Someone joked that your beverages are cheaper going in than out! Ha! At some bathrooms in Israel (particularly in the Old City), the girls and I took one look, and decided that we really didn’t have to go that bad after all! And some were just a hole in the ground; uh, we passed on those ones, too. So, American bathrooms were a welcome sight.

Secondly, you realize how many rules Americans have when you travel abroad. For example, in Paris, they have a bike rental system that enables you to rent a bike right on the street – you just slide your credit card and the bike is yours for the day for one euro. This would never work in California because you have to wear a helmet- it’s the law. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not against wearing helmets, but does it have to be a law? I think it should be up to each person whether or not they want to get brain damage if they fall while riding a bike. You can also park your car pretty much any way you want in Europe, within guidelines of course. Sometimes cars would be parked nose to nose (parallel parked) and a Smart Car would be parked perpendicular to them in between. It was totally acceptable as they were within proper boundaries, but you know in California your car would be towed lickety split if you dare try anything like that. And it would be like $350 to get your car back, as well.

Starbucks – You really can no longer enjoy Starbucks after going to Europe and London. In London, they have a local chain called Pret a Manger (“ready to eat”). Imagine the concept of Starbucks, except pretend that the coffee is actually good and hot, and imagine there are amazing pastries and ready to take out food from a refrigerated area. I’m not talking about Starbucks’ meager offerings of made 8 hours ago, mayo-laden chicken salad sandwiches or soggy granola on yogurt, but REAL food. Twenty or so different sandwiches on lovely breads, fresh fruit cups with things like pomegranite seeds inside, amazing homemade granola bars - these are all made fresh on the premises of Pret a Manger. What a concept! Oh, and I could eat their breakfast porridge and a croissant every day of my life. So good. I grabbed one last croissant and a couple of their granola bars before we departed London, just for good measure. We could do so much better in America – I wonder why we don’t.

Tip - Benadryl is a great friend to international travelers. I first discovered that Benadryl made me drowsy when I took some on a trip to Washington to combat new allergies from unfamiliar trees. I could barely drive after I took some. A friend told me that Benadryl is a very helpful friend when your system gets whacked out from time zone changes or when you need to get some sleep and you’re not tired. First of all, I took it on the way from L.A. to London – I waited until we had about 4 hours left in the flight and popped two. I slept about 3 ½ of those hours and had the sun not come up I might have snoozed a little more. Since Benadryl is only good for 4 hours, you don’t wake up drugged and groggy. I also found it helpful to take a couple Benadryl if I woke up in the middle of the night – that happened to me for the first 3 nights of our trip as my body thought I was in California, not Paris. Very helpful tip.

Your mantra should be: Pack light! Pack light! Pack light! The Harasicks have a hard time with this. Most of our airlines allowed you one 50 lb. bag for free (we only ran into trouble once - from Paris to Pisa - and got smacked with some unpleasant fees as their standards for weight were lower). If you even think you might want to bring home any souvenirs, be under 45 lb. on your luggage at the get-go. We initially all came in around 48-49 lb. which meant all souvenirs had to go in carry ons or risk being too heavy at check in. So, yes, I carried 4 hunks of my cheese in my carry on from Florence on. I’m not kidding. Next time, I will definitely allow for a little leeway in my suitcase.

Cell phones. This took us awhile to figure out. It seemed so complicated at first but was actually extremely simple. If you have an iPhone, all you need to do is turn off your cellular data and roaming, and disable your 3G. You are then left with just a phone. International minutes are about $1.25, so you use your phone only if you need it. We did not text. No need to add special plans or anything. And you just wait until you get on wifi to use your internet. That way, you come home to no surprises on your bill. Using your data in a foreign country can be very dangerous so we didn’t mess with it. We communicated to people back home via email or facebook.

Money. One of the smartest things we did was to get a special Capital One credit card for the trip. Capital One is the only credit card company I could find that offered no “foreign transaction fees.” All other credit cards charge 3-5% on every purchase you make. That can really add up. We also bought some foreign money (euros and pounds) before we left (your bank can order it, but we went to an exchange place downtown). We knew we could get some sheckels in Israel by writing a check at a money changer place that Drew used, so we waited. We used our credit card for most everything, and got cash out of ATM’s when we needed it. I think we only got cash a few times. With the exception of our little incident in Israel (scary restaurant), we never used U.S. dollars at all.

Safety. We were repeatedly warned about safety, and have friends who have been pickpocketed in Europe. We realized that you need to travel in such a way that you alleviate the worry of getting robbed, so you can enjoy yourself. So, for one, none of us used our pockets for anything valuable, i.e money or phones, because we rode frequently on the subways, and walked everywhere. Rich carried a small messenger bag that included all our passports, a couple phones, and money. It was a nice security type one with special two-step zippers that he found at Sport Chalet. No one could walk up and unzip it and take anything. Each of us had a small amount of money (5 euro) on our person in case of emergency (like getting separated and needing to make a phone call or get transportation). Stephanie and I carried no purses, though Emma carried a purse-like camera bag (bless her heart).

How did we plan this trip? I have to say, it took a LOT of time and research. We talked to many people who had gone to the same places, getting their opinions and recommendations. We also perused TripAdvisor.com quite a bit and poured over travel books. Booking our 7 plane flights was especially stressful as I didn’t want to make any mistakes. The foreign sites can be tricky to navigate. We also got as many advance tickets as we could, i.e. train tickets, Eiffel Tower time, Bike tour, London bus, shows, tea time, as well as our airport transfers. This ensured that we had the time slot for things we wanted to do, yet didn’t make us feel like we were on a strict schedule. We made copies of all our tickets, as well as all our passports, and kept them in a separate bag. Also, before we left, Rich typed out our daily itinerary, inserting anything we had at a certain time, just so we had a framework for each day. We brought our travel books along as well, just in case we wanted to browse through for reference, and Rich actually carried one around most of the time. We liked the Rick Steves series as well as the Unoffical guide to ______ (insert place). Rich was amazing at leading us around everywhere. He had the trip planned well enough to be able to do all we wanted to, yet left it flexible enough to let the day dictate what we did. He always led us to the best places to get gelato, too! Thank you, hon, we all appreciate your leadership - our trip wouldn't have been as successful without all you did for us.

Food. Last but not least, you didn’t think I’d end this post without talking a little bit about the food, did you? I have to say, some of my favorite things were just the simple cappuccino and croissant or antipasti bars at certain places. We had good croissants in every country (even Israel) that far exceeded my favorite bakery (Berolina) here at home. In Italy, we did have pasta, and to be honest, it was good but not great. It’s served al dente there and it’s a bit more chewy. And I’ve actually had better risotto at Off Vine (one of my fave L.A. spots). We did have some righteous pizza in Rome though! And the gelato was AMAZING if you hit a good place (others could be so-so). Drew warned us that we might not like the food in Israel, but we loved it! We mostly had schwerma and falafel, which was great. I was really into their tahine sauce- so good! Thankfully you can get good middle eastern food here in the states (we like Zankou). London was great as well. We didn’t have much “English” food per se, but we hit a great place that was recommended to us called Wagamama, which was an upscale noodle restaurant. It was awesome. And, as I mentioned earlier, we frequented Pret a Manger and also had some good fish and chips at a pub. All in all, we all came home actually having lost a few pounds, as we walked so much, climbed to the top of a lot of towers and such, and even biked. We were always moving.

This truly was the trip of a lifetime for our family. Rich and I had never traveled abroad in our lives, and this was a great time to do it with our kids, before they head off to lives of their own in a few short years. We were also extremely blessed to be able to take Stephanie with us. She somehow tolerates us all quite well (!), and it truly wouldn’t have been the same without our sweet "extra" daughter along. My heart is filled with gratitude as I think about the sweet time God allowed us all to have as a family, seeing such amazing places.

I would like to conclude by thanking my sweet Emma for all the amazing photos. All the photos you see on my blog were taken by her. She served our family greatly by lugging her 92 lb. camera around (okay, slight exaggeration, but it is heavy). What you see here is just a smidgeon of the 4000+ images she took of our wonderful adventure. The many photos provide us with fond memories to last a lifetime. Thank you so much, Emms!!

Our European trip part 4 - Israel

2011-06-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Tel Aviv to a very empty airport (it was the Sabbath and also Passover week), we made our way to the Hertz counter to pick up our car. Yes, it’s a little unnerving to rent a car in Israel, but, we got a nice 6 passenger something-that-they-don’t-make-in-the-U.S. vehicle, with an obnoxiously large HERTZ sticker on the side (I guess they like to be able to identify tourist drivers easily). After a quick stop at a (kosher) McDonald’s for fries and ice cream cones (which I learned are NOT dairy, kind of weird), we made our way to the Moshav, near Jerusalem. The Moshav was where Drew had lived since the end of January for IBEX. It’s kind of like a summer camp type of place, rustic and hilly with dormitory areas as well as motel-type rooms for rent. They had a small store/gift shop, as well as a dining room where we had our breakfast each day. Our room at the Moshav was, in Emma’s words, “like a convalescent home room.” She was pretty much spot on, but it was fine and we didn’t spend much time there. In contrast to the mediocre room, was the breakfast spread they put out every morning - totally extravagant. It was a HUGE (kosher) buffet of probably a dozen different salads, hot dishes, fruit, yogurt, all kinds of cheeses, breads and a giant bowl of nutella (did they know I was coming?). Anyways, it really was beautiful. The only problem with it was that Americans aren’t generally conditioned to eating cucumber, tomato and feta salads and the like for breakfast. If you checked with me about noon, I’d be all over it, but not at 7:00 a.m. So, some bread, nutella, and Israeli coffee and I was good to go.

The Moshav. I wasn't expecting it to be so pretty.

Drew was so excited that Stephanie came to see his digs.

It was great to see where Drew lived and went to school, and he was eager to tour us around. Throughout our entire time in Israel, we never felt threatened, but that first night, we had a rather scary experience at an Arabic restaurant in nearby Abu Ghosh. Doesn’t Abu Ghosh just SOUND scary? Anyways, we went to get dinner at a place that was in our tour book and noted as “inexpensive,” but when we arrived we were given the “no prices listed” menu. Hmm. Well, being that the place was rated in our tour guide, coupled with the fact that it wasn’t a nice place by any stretch, we figured it must be reasonable and Drew said he wasn’t concerned. What we didn’t factor in was the fact that the staff was quite savvy in recognizing tourists and trying to gauge them. When we got our bill, it said 120 x 5 = 600 sheckels. Now, that is about 200 U.S. dollars or about $40/person! Outrageous! We only had about 200 sheckels on us and weren’t sure what to do. Drew was accustomed to how much things cost, and he was shocked. He went over to another party of diners to inquire with them if they thought we were being taken advantage of. They said yes, as they had asked about the price of the full dinner and the server told them 60 sheckels, half as much as they charged us. So, Drew went to speak with our server. The server went and got someone else, and more men appeared and were all discussing the situation in Arabic. It seems that they were realizing that we knew we were being ripped off, and it seemed to make them all very nervous and uncomfortable. To make a long story short, I don’t know what my son did, but he whittled our bill down to about $20 a person. We threw in all the sheckels we had and a U.S. $50 bill and fled as fast as we could. I won’t say it ruined our dinner, because it was REALLY good food (best falafel ever), but it sure made all of our stomachs turn with nervousness at the way our evening ended.

Sunday morning, Easter, we headed over to the Old City (Jerusalem). This was a fascinating experience. We parked the car, and first walked through an area with upscale modern shops (mostly American brands – I bought a shirt at GAP there), then right into the Old City entrance where people are selling bread on carts and probably nothing has changed since bible times.

The Gap - no different from the U.S., except that you have to go through metal detectors to go in.

And this, the old city, just yards away from the Gap. Crazy.

The Old City is divided into four quarters: Armenian, “Christian,” Jewish, and Muslim. We took a 2+ mile walk along the City Wall (it’s an attraction- you pay to do it), and were able to observe all the quarters from on high, as well as splendid views of the area including the Mount of Olives and Golgatha. While standing above the Muslim quarter, we were shocked to witness a funeral procession come right through the marketplace. We were immediately struck with the thought that we were not “in Kansas anymore.” We heard a commotion, thought there was a scuttle or a fight going on nearby, but then saw many men rushing through a gate carrying an open casket with a person inside wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. We were all stunned; but then came another, and another- three in all. The men were all shouting and rushing toward a cemetery nearby. We continued to watch and actually saw them slide one of the bodies into an open tomb! That was pretty much it – then they left. We were standing near some American Jews who lived in Israel and they explained that Muslims are required to bury their dead by sundown on the day that they die. So different from America. We don’t really deal with our dead personally – we have mortuaries. In Israel, and if you are Muslim, you don’t mess with mortuaries. You do it yourself. Really, really shocking to see this funeral – just right there amongst people selling goods in the marketplace. In America, you can't even bring a purse-dog into Starbucks, and here a dead body just mosies on by in the middle of the market. We were all speechless and stunned.

Funeral procession through the marketplace.

Walking through the Old City provided more “culture shock.” We seemed to be the only Americans around, and the girls and I were keenly aware that our jeans and t-shirts stood out as the ladies around us were pretty much covered head to toe. They were generally either Muslim or Orthodox, depending on what quarter we were in, and we felt very odd. Drew toured us all around, and we browsed at all the goods. He took us for wonderful schwerma at a place he visited on most Saturdays (yum).

Incense for sale.

When the vendors get bored, apparently they play backgammon.

These cute little boys offered to give us directions (and wanted money for it). Rich gave them a few coins and they escorted us to where we wanted to go!

The Mount of Olives - with the Garden of Gethsemane on the lower right. This view is from the City Wall.

Also on the city wall.

The amazing schwerma from Drew's favorite little food stand.

We also visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the site believed that Jesus was crucified and placed in his tomb. Drew said his professors all concur that this was very likely the locale. Nowadays, it is a gaudy, gold-filled church full of ornate shrines and lit by candlelight, bustling with people wishing to identify with Jesus in a very misguided way. They place their faces and objects on the ground, hoping to come away holier. It was an interesting, but sad experience. Another sad experience was our visit to the Wailing Wall. You even have to go through a security checkpoint to get in. Note to self: don’t buy knives for your nephews in the old city and then go visit the wailing wall. The security guards were not pleased.

The church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This is the creepy shrine inside. The person bending over underneath the altar is touching the ground that Jesus was supposedly crucifed on. When they built the church, they left a little dirt patch there, and people stand in line to touch it.

This is thought to be Jesus' tomb.

The Western (Wailing) Wall. The futility of this made me incredibly sad.

An orthodox man at the Wall.

On Monday, Drew needed to return to classes, and we had arranged for a 3- day tour with Chris McKinny. Chris was recommended to us by a friend of a friend, and what a recommendation! He had been a professor at IBEX for some of the two years he was working on his Master’s degree in History and Geography of Israel at Hebrew University. Who better to take you around? He basically knew Israel like the back of his hand (he used no notes and had no markers in his bible) and beyond that, had an amazing grasp on ancient history and archaeology. He planned an itinerary for us that began Monday morning, included an overnight in Galilee Monday night, and concluded Wednesday evening. So on Monday, the five of us embarked in our aforementioned HERTZ branded rental vehicle, and off we went to see the beautiful country where our Lord walked. Monday we saw many sights and locations, ending up at a hotel in Tiberius (not the nicest place I've ever stayed). However, we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant that Chris knew of on the Sea of Galilee, which was amazing! And so funny! The place was run by Chinese, the menu was in Hebrew, and the music they played was American (Am I really hearing "Dancing Queen" in Israel at a Chinese restaurant?). Love it!

I could go into great detail about all we saw and learned about as Chris filled our minds to the brim with interesting historical facts, but suffice it to say, we were blown away! I cannot describe to you what it felt like to stand on the place where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and read His very words from Scripture. How about visiting Caesarea and standing where Paul made his defense to Herod, or going to En Gedi and reading from 2 Samuel of how David hid in a cave there when Saul was pursuing him. Or seeing the cave that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in? That is just a small sampling. It was just all so surreal and truly life changing, and as Chris said, “you see the bible in color.” We absolutely loved our time with Chris – he was a huge blessing and far exceeded any expectations we had for a personal tour guide. In addition, we got to spend an evening tagging along with Drew's IBEX class to the Israel museum which was amazing!

Here are a few pictures from our incredible time in Israel. First up are some shots from Caesarea, the city Herod the Great founded and where he created a harbor where there was none (a great feat). Pontius Pilate resided there, and the apostle Paul passed through many times in his missionary work. After his arrest in Jerusalem he was imprisoned here for 2 years. I didn't envision Paul having his prison cell right on the Mediterranean, he must have had a pretty rockin' view out his cell window.

Ruins from Herod the Great's palace. See the cool tile? In the back you can see the remains of his freshwater swimming pool. Caesarea was a fascinating place.

This is all that remains of the once great harbor from long ago. Kind of reminds me of Gilligan's Island now.

The Mediterranean Sea was pristine and deep blue.

This is one of the most interesting ancient sites we visited, Bet She'an. Several excavations starting in the 1920s and forward revealed this ancient town. This is one of the most impressive Roman and Byzantine sites in all of Israel. What a thrill it must have been to unearth this city, once completely below the surface.

We also visited the small town of Capernaum. In Matthew 4 this is reported to be where Jesus lived.

He preached on this site at Capernaum, but what is there now is the ruins of a later synagogue.

Beautiful Emma on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

And lovely Stephanie, too.

We took a fascinating trip up to Masada. You can hike or take an aerial tram. We opted for the tram! It was such a hot day. Masada was a city built on a 1300 ft. high cliff, by Herod the Great. It was extensively excavated in the 1960's.

The view from the top. Masada housed another of Herod's palaces. Much later, after Herod died some Jewish rebels took refuge here and later committed mass suicide on top of the cliff, when being sought by the Romans. The Romans built an embankment ramp over the period of about a year, and when they finally entered the fortress they found the 960 inhabitants dead. This is the story relayed by this historian Josephus.

Floating in the dead sea! You can only stay in for a few minutes as your skin starts to sting! I had a rash on my skin for about a month after going in.

The mud that is found in the Dead Sea is supposed to be very good for your skin (the company Ahava uses the minerals in their products). We rubbed some on and then rinsed off in the showers. See the person with a mud mask on the right?! People literally covered themselves from head to toe in the stuff - they looked like walking zombies.

One of my favorite Israel meals. Chris took us to this place, that served falafel, and once you received your sandwich, you were directed to a nearby room full of about 40 platters full of beautiful salads. You could take as much as you wanted! It was so pretty to look at, and delicious too.

The Israeli coffee chain, Aroma, puts Starbucks to shame. Just look at these beautiful beverages that we got on our morning in Galilee. I felt like I was in Italy with the croissants they served. And, each drink comes with a piece of dark chocolate...hello! How perfect is that? We also hit Aroma for lunch the next day - we had the best sandwiches on their homemade bread.

Well, that was really just a small snapshot of Israel, as we visited so many places. And after our 5 wonderful days in Israel, it was time to bid Drew farewell, but only for a short while as he was returning home one week after us. The four of us, Rich, myself, Emma & Stephanie boarded yet another plane and headed back to England, where we began our trip.

Our European trip part 3 - Rome

2011-06-15T06:00:00.002-07:00

We arrived in Rome late morning on Good Friday. It felt like we were walking through downtown L.A. as we made our way by foot (with luggage) to our hotel. Once we checked in, we set out right away on foot to find lunch. Rich had done a bit of research and landed us a fine little place with the BEST pizza. It may rival my favorite Lombardi's in NYC. We asked the waitress if the pizzas were individual sized and she said yes. So we each ordered our own. What arrived for each of us was a pizza as big as a large Domino's! And it was SO good. I think I just ordered cheese or maybe Marguerita, I can't remember - something simple. They also had the greatest antipasti bar, something we saw in several restaurants in Italy. For a fixed price (about $13 at that place) you can fill a plate with as much roasted peppers, eggplant and zucchini, assorted olives, marinated fresh artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and mushrooms, etc. that your heart desires. I loved that.

Emma's pizza. Don't lick the computer.

The antipasti bar. Beautiful.

We were able to take in quite a few sights, despite the crowds and the short amount of time we had. Being Good Friday, they had some big event at the Vatican and a long line snaked around the entire piazza. When we visited the Coliseum later, we found out that the Pope was going to be doing the Stations of the Cross around 9pm on a little knoll there. If we had waited about 4 hours, we would have had a front row seat to the Pope. We decided to pass, but later that evening tuned it in on Italian television in our room. We didn't miss much as the Pope just sat slumped in a chair while others conducted the service in Latin. One highlight of Rome was that we had the BEST gelato (probably the best of our trip). In addition to the Vatican and the Coliseum, we also visited the famous sites of the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, and Spanish Steps. Rome seemed very touristy while Florence was more like living as an Italian. Honestly, neither of those cities were as beautiful as Paris, in my opinion.

The Spanish Steps.

The Trevi Fountain. It's hard to stand in a place where you can get a shot of the entire enormous fountain - it's one of the largest baroque fountains in the world.

Legend dictates that if visitors toss a coin over their shoulder into the fountain, it is supposed to ensure their return to Rome someday. So, I guess either way Rome gets your money (it's estimated that 3000 euros are thrown in each day - about $4300 USD).

The gelato at this place is worth traveling to Rome for. Seriously. I think I had tangerine and dark chocolate together.

This might make a good Christmas card photo if it weren't in front of the Vatican.

Early the next morning, it was time to bid “arrivederci” to Italy. After a tumultuous ride (with the driver going the equivalent of 90 mph - eek) to the airport in a private Mercedes van playing Bryan Adams music (?), we boarded our plane for Tel Aviv. We flew Alitalia, and I have to tell you, they have the BEST airplane food ever! It was so beautiful and might I even say artistic. And very tasty! As you know, it's all about the food to me, and I was already hoping they’d serve the same lunch on the way back. We had about a 4 hour flight to Tel Aviv, Drew's home away from home. Part 4 on Israel next. That one might take me awhile!

Our European trip part 2 - Pisa & Florence

2011-06-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Arriving in Pisa shortly after lunch, we took our luggage to the train station. They have a “left luggage” service and I believe for only 5 euro you can leave your bag for the day. That was really convenient. We then walked through the tiny town of Pisa (it’s mainly shops and a university), until we were suddenly in the large area that encompassed the famous leaning tower and a few other buildings. We had advance tickets to actually climb up the tower – which was a trip! It’s hard not to “lean” as you walk up the spiral steps all the way to the top. It’s a fantastic view from the top, where you can go outside on a balcony and enjoy it.

First stop in Pisa- gelato! This one is nutella flavor, oh mama.

The bridge in Pisa.

Walking to the leaning tower of Pisa through town

Narrow alleyways were off the main street

Rich and Stephanie trying on some of the street vendors' merchandise and doing some akward dance...

Here's the view from the top of the tower -beautiful Tuscany....

There’s not much else to do in Pisa, so we returned to the train station, rounded up our luggage, and hopped a train to Florence (Firenze as they call it there). It was so exciting to pull up to our unique hotel which was located in the well known Piazza della Santissima Annuziata, an ancient religious and charity site. I chose this place, Hotel Loggiato dei Serviti, from our Rick Steves book, and it was actually a former monastery. We just fell in love with the place! Our room was spectacular, with a large first floor and a loft upstairs that had to have been at least 500 sq. ft with lots of pretty furniture and its own bath. The European furnishings were delightful, they reminded me of my Laura Ashley shop days, and I just loved the large living room windows that swung open, affording us a view of the piazza below. Even our key was beautiful with a large maroon tassel hanging from it. Funny thing was, you turned your key in every time you left the hotel – different from what we do here in America with our credit card size hotel keys.

In the piazza of our hotel

The hallway of the hotel

The living room

Drew in the girls' loft bedroom - not sure why he's up there alone?

The upstairs bathroom - bidet included but no shower enclosure or curtain...

The daily breakfast that was included was lovely and quite formal. We dined in a charming room with large windows, at small tables complete with white linen and silver, and there was even a butler-type individual that brought us the most wonderful cappuccinos on earth. I can still taste the unbelievable croissants that they had in a neat little warmer compartment. The breakfast we had in Florence was a typical European morning meal, and consisted of yogurt, fresh fruit, stewed fruit, thin slices of ham and cheese, hardboiled eggs, a roll that is similar to a dinner roll, croissants, and mini packets of nutella which somehow made their way back to the room. :-) I was always quite happy with my cappuccino and croissant each morning. It was simply delightful. I guess it’s just plain nice to be served breakfast – so luxurious.

Our time in Florence was spent mostly on foot, exploring the town, market places, piazzas, and eating lots of gelato. They do not have a subway system and we took a cab only once to see a panoramic view of the city up high. We especially enjoyed the San Lorenzo marketplace (leather goods, scarves, etc) and the Mercato Centrale, a large indoor food market full of vendors where we purchased a beautiful lunch one day. Of course one of the major attractions of Florence is Michaelangelo’s David, which we didn’t actually visit, as you can see an exact replica in front of the Uffizi gallery. And, frankly, we just didn’t want to spend about $20/person to just go see a –well let’s be honest – a large naked man. There are plenty of free examples of that all over the city if that’s your thing. And, plenty of crass souvenirs too. I’ll spare you the details.

The view from Piazzale Michaelangelo above Florence.

San Lorenzo Marketplace - fun place to bargain!

Emma and the leather jacket she bargained for!

The Ponte Vecchio - a bridge over the Arno river that has shops built in.

I love the lone boat in the water. How peaceful.

Each gelateria had their own creative way of displaying their goods.

Best lunch in Italy - culinary delights from the Mercato centrale: prosciutto di Parma, salami, gorgonzola, Parmigiano, freshly baked artisan breads, and antipasti all eaten al fresco.

The outside cafe table settings were so inviting.

And they had so much charm. Just look at the building this one is housed in.

Florence was a really neat place to visit, and I’m glad we chose to spend the majority of our time in Italy concentrated there. We initially had trouble deciding where to spend our 4 days – we considered Venice as well, but after talking to friends decided on a brief visit to Pisa, 3 nights in Florence and 1 night in Rome. I think we made a good choice.

So, after our three wonderful days in Florence, we took the train to Rome, where we would stay one night before flying out to Israel. Part 3 on Rome coming soon!

Finally... our European trip part 1 - Paris

2011-06-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

I have finally found the time to blog about our trip to Europe. I know, I’ve only been home for 6 weeks…. When we arrived home, it took me a week to get back in the swing of things and then Drew came home. Oh yeah, and I had Master’s Kids graduation, my niece’s wedding, house guests, Emma’s graduation, and throw in buying a new car. So here I am now.

I thought I’d put in some of my favorite pictures and also recap each country a little. Here goes, starting with France.

Paris is one place I’ve always wanted to go, and it was even better than I could have ever imagined. The place drips with charm! From the architecture down to the endless inviting outdoor cafes, I was thoroughly enchanted.

We decided to stay at an apartment to be able to all stay together and to have plenty of good space. With the five of us, we would have needed two hotel rooms, so I began to explore the option of renting an apartment. I came to discover that it was actually cheaper than two hotel rooms and I liked the idea of having one space for all of us to enjoy, rather than having to go back and forth between two separate rooms.

I found the apartment through our travel guide (I used Rick Steves’ Paris and the Unofficial Guide to Paris). I found a company called Parissimo, that owns and rents apartments around the city. Through their great website, I was able to actually pick out our specific apartment. It had around 1400 sq. ft., was light and airy, included two bedrooms + a loft, a kitchen, living room, dining room, and two bathrooms. It also had two balconies. There were wonderful photos and descriptions which ensured no surprises upon arrival. We were delighted when we entered, and what was also great about it was the fact that it was in a wonderful neighborhood (very upscale and similar to 5th Avenue in New York). It was also conveniently located close to a metro station, too. The building was ultra- charming, with a super cool elevator that fit only two people at a time (or one and a suitcase!) and had a wooden lattice gate for the door. It seemed a bit rickety but it did the job. There was also a spiral staircase that was in the middle of the building if you didn’t want to wait for the 3rd trip up the elevator. The views from the large windows were incredible. It was just the perfect place and I would totally stay there again.

This was the view from our living room window!

And a broader view. I couldn't get over it!

So, backing up to the beginning….the four of us (Rich, Emma, Stephanie, and I) began our journey by flying from LAX to London, with a brief layover in Chicago. The flight to London from Chicago was about 8 hours. It wasn’t bad at all. Rich took his first Ambien (sleep aid) and fell asleep shortly after take off – which was a shame because he missed the wonderful dinner. I love being served a hot meal on an airplane – it’s so throwback and it’s “fun” food! I love all the little compartments and eating on the tray! Plus it gives you something to do and eating is a favorite pastime of mine. Anyways, while Rich snoozed, the girls and I ate our dinner and read for awhile. I got engrossed in the book, Unbroken (highly recommended read –author Laura Hillenbrand) for a few hours and then distributed Benadryl tablets to the girls and myself. That helped us sleep for a few hours, and before we knew it, we were being awakened with sunlight and breakfast and then we landed shortly thereafter. It was a strange little 3- hour night and we were abruptly ushered into the next day with the 8 hour time change. It wasn’t too bad, as we were all pretty excited!

Upon landing, we retrieved our luggage and made our way through 2 quick trains, finally arriving at the Eurotrain station. We had some time, so we ate breakfast there in the beautiful train station. It was lovely. We then took our train from London to Paris. I think we all slept! Upon arriving at Paris, we took the metro to the nearest station of our apartment, and walked the rest of the way, dragging our luggage through town! That was a big luggage dragging day through all the train stations and many steps. Ugh. One of my favorite things about our arrival was walking down a street, looking down and seeing the Eiffel Tower come into view! It was like "look! there it is!!" That was a “wow” moment, to be sure!

We finally made it to the apartment, where it felt good to unpack, shower and relax a bit before hitting some dinner and making our way to the Eiffel Tower to meet Drew. He began his own journey earlier that day, leaving Tel Aviv and flying to Rome, then catching a flight from Rome to Paris. He then took a cab and met us at the tower at around 11:15 pm that evening. Prior to his arrival, we stood there for about an hour watching every cab, and when the one finally arrived with him inside, we all nearly exploded with excitement. I literally burst out in tears, feeling so relieved that he made it and feeling so happy to see him! It was a magical, unforgettable moment. We walked back to the apartment, talked for awhile and ate the gelato we had purchased after dinner and saved for the occasion!

The girls eagerly awaiting Drew's arrival at le Tour Eiffel...

The next morning we wisely planned nothing; we knew everyone would be a bit tired from our big travel day. Rich woke before all of us did (around 10:00 am) and went down to the charming street, rue Cler, where all the merchants vend their goods on the curbs of their shops. There are patisseries (pastry shops), boulangeries (bread shops), fromageries (cheese shops), fresh organic produce stands, and flower stands, mixed in with a lot of cafes. Rich brought us quiche, some wonderful cheese, strawberries, croissants, pain au chocolat, beignets (little filled doughnuts), and orange juice. He even picked up a pretty bouquet for the table. It was the best breakfast and the best time, sharing the table with Drew for once in a long time.

That afternoon, we did have something planned– which was our 4-hour private bike tour with the company Bike About Tours. We made it out into the city for a late lunch, where we found a cute sandwich shop. We then made our way to the location our tour began about 3:00 pm. We met our wonderful, English-speaking guide, Nicole, got fitted for our bikes, and off we went to explore and learn about this wonderful city. It was so fun and so worthwhile! We learned and saw so much, got a lot of insider tips, were introduced to our favorite bakery, Paul, and even got dinner reservations made through Nicole at the end. Everyone loved it, and said it was a great choice for first activity in Paris.

Lunch, beautiful lunch.

Pausing for a couple of photo ops on our bike tour. This one in front of the Louvre.

And this one on the bridge over the River Seine.

That night, we enjoyed dinner at Nicole's recommended restaurant (9:30 pm reservation – we ate so late there!), which was a darling, intimate place with delicious food. We had a leisurely meal, then made it back to the apartment for a much-needed good night’s sleep.

The last two days kind of blend together –we went to the Louvre (which is ginormous), saw the Mona Lisa (snooze…) and some other notable works. The Louvre is SO big, Nicole told us that if you wanted to see everything there you would have to be there from opening to closing every day for 2 months!

This photo cannot possibly capture the enormity of the Louvre. It is 260,000 square feet inside.

This picture is really funny. The Mona Lisa is SO ordinary and small yet everyone crowds to see it...

...yet this painting that faces the Mona Lisa in the same gallery room is spectacular and nobody even cares!

We continued to visit our beloved bakery, Paul, many times, took the Metro everywhere (so easy to use), saw other sights such as la Sainte-Chapelle (once the royal palace - completely spectacular) and the famous Notre Dame, went up in Eiffel Tower at night (climbing 3/4 of the way down!), and also climbed up the Arc de Triomphe in daylight (amazing view). I feel like we walked and walked and walked. It was absolutely delightful! And we had picture perfect weather. These photos below remind me of the good time we had.

In person, the Eiffel Tower just takes your breath away.

Just another meal at a typical cafe.

The River Seine.

la Sainte-Chapelle - all these incredible stained glass windows represent bible stories.

Walking rue Cler -the street vending beautiful food near our apartment.

The breathtaking view from on top of l'arc de triomphe. The street below is the famous boulevard Avenue des Champs-Elysees. Isn't Paris spectacular?

View from the top of the arc. See the Eiffel tower poking through on the left?

I never got tired of seeing these charming and inviting cafe tables.

Oh, and I loved using my (limited) French! I’ve never had a chance to actually use it – so fun! The kids learned some too, and it was fun to hear them greet people, or say please and thank you.

After four wonderful days in Paris, it was time to take a quick flight to Pisa, Italy…
hopefully I will get that up very soon!

WDW- Lemon Sour Cream Pie

2011-05-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging from my phone right now since my boys have been working on my crashed laptop....
So this won't be too long of a post as I have little patience for my virtual keyboard!

I tried this pie recipe yesterday and absolutely loved it and just had to post. If you love lemons and are looking for a wonderful way to use them, boy is this recipe for you. We have a fabulous Meyer lemon tree that generously gives to us each winter, and tons of ripe lemons are still hanging from the branches. I strongly urge everyone to make this pie as soon as possible!! It's pretty much the best pie and the best lemon dessert I've ever had - and it's super easy to make! In fact, I'm going to go get a piece right now!

http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/lemon-sour-cream-pie/

No longer a homeschooling mom.

2011-05-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

My baby, the graduate.

So, we were eating dinner one night this week, and Emma casually said, "I guess I'm done with high school." She had finished all her classes at home before we went on our trip, but had a science class at Master's College that had continued on a bit longer and had wrapped up that day. I had to smile as it was in true Harasick fashion that she simply stated it - there hasn't been much fanfare at the school milestones. When our kids completed elementary school, we basically patted them on the back and said "good job." No ceremony, no party, flowery card, or gift - nothing. When you're homeschooled, you don't move on to a different campus or even get a new teacher, so 6th grade and 7th grade really aren't all that different.

When Drew graduated high school, we were not part of a home school group at the time. So, his graduation consisted of no pomp nor circumstance. He borrowed a friend's cap and gown for the traditional senior photo op, and had a little celebration at Disneyland with Emma and a few friends. And then, off to college he went, no longer a homeschooler, but a business major in the real world.

We joined Lighthouse in Santa Clarita shortly after that, so Emma will actually have the first graduation ceremony of any of our children. In June, she will don cap and gown, walk down an aisle to that familiar graduation tune, receive a diploma, give a speech, and be featured in a slideshow presentation documenting her life in pictures. I am really looking forward to it, and I'm sure I'll shed a few bittersweet tears. I'm going to miss the years of homeschooling my children. They were wonderful.

I guess it is monumental now because we have just graduated our youngest child out of our home school. Years ago, when Brady was 7, we made the decision to pull him out of the private Christian school he was in, and start homeschooling. Drew started school at the same time, thus "the Master's School" of Sunland (and later Shadow Hills) was born.

So why did we decide to home school our children?

When Brady attended school, it was a unique set up. He attended school Mon-Wed-Fri, and was given assignments by his teacher to do at home on Tues-Thurs. The school was small, and I initially liked the balance. I didn't have to rush out of the house every morning, with Drew and Emma in tow (ages 4 & 2), but I didn't have to home school 100% either, which terrified me at the time. All I did was oversee Brady's work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and get him to school the other days. On the days he did have school, I carpooled with friends on the 405 freeway out to Northridge, rushing to get Brady there on time. I remember one morning in particular, that I was rushing him to class. When I dropped him off (a little late), I saw the teacher already sitting in a chair with the children huddled all around her on an area rug. She was calmly reading the bible to them. There was something ironic about her being the one to teach the bible in the morning (to my child), while I was frazzled from rushing out the door with two toddlers and driving in rush hour traffic. I was a little jealous - I wanted to be the one to read the bible to my child, and I wanted to be relaxed, too. Hmm.

A little later, when Brady was in 1st grade, Rich and I were asked to help select the bible curriculum for the school. So, one July day, the two of us headed off to the homeschool convention at the Disneyland hotel. We were amazed at all the curriculum and books! As we browsed, I think we got excited about the possibility of homeschooling our children for the first time. We talked much about what we wanted our life to look like as our children went through their school years. Did we want the morning drop off and pick up? Did we want the monthly payments (for 3 kids x 13 years)? Did we want someone else (that we may not even be able to choose) teaching our children? We knew the answer to those was no... but did we really want to take on educating our own children? It was a bit scary.

But, the next year we took the plunge. I ordered all the same curriculum that Brady had used at his school, and we embarked on our homeschooling journey.

There is a lot I could say about why we homeschooled, but Rich likes to answer "because we could." That sounds rather abstract, but there really is a lot to what he is saying. We liked the freedom to control our children's education, especially in those formative early years. We knew we wanted a Christian worldview for what was taught. We wanted to spend a lot of time with our children. We wanted to train them all day, not just after school hours. We wanted the freedom to make our own schedule. So, we decided we (or mostly I) would take on their academic education, for the sake of accomplishing our goals with them.

Looking back know, I really would do it all over again. It is not that I was a good homeschooling mother; on the contrary, I lacked in many areas. I think I always felt inadequate, that I wasn't doing enough or teaching enough. I'm sure my children can vouch for the fact that I was too lax, not capable of understanding many of their subjects, or was just too lazy to keep up on the grading. But, what kept me motivated is that I felt that homeschooling allowed me to build a relationship with my children that I couldn't accomplish had I not spent those years with them. Do I think my children could have been better educated? Indeed. Did they miss out on certain things because we homeschooled? I'm sure they did (other people's positive influence, a "normal" life in school, sports, proms, etc.). But, do I think someone else could have done a better job raising them day in and day out- most definitely not. I say this not because of my skill but because they are my children, given to me by God, and my responsibility (well, Rich's, too of course) to raise in the love and admonition of the Lord. And I felt like homeschooling was the vehicle that allowed me to do that.

When the day is done, I don't really care how smart or successful my children are, but I want to have had a gospel influence on them. I used to say that the best thing about homeschooling is that you get to influence your children. But, at the same time, the worst thing about homeschooling is that you get to influence your children! I lived with the reality that each day, my children were being schooled by an imperfect, wretched sinner! However, I was divinely appointed to be their mother, and I pray that they saw in me as a real Christian living her life, having to ask forgiveness when I sin, having to depend on the Lord for my weakness, and having to face life's trials (Brady's illness) with God's sovereignty in view. Those were the real lessons that I wanted to teach.

Do I think homeschooling is the only way (biblically mandated) or that everyone should do it? You might be surprised to find out that I truly don't. I actually respect some families' reasons for putting their children in private or even public schools. However, homeschooling was so wonderful for us, that I am very grateful that we were able to do it. We did it because we could (by God's grace). It was a lot of work, but absolutely worth it all. I truly have no regrets about our decision. We had many great years together, times I will cherish for the rest of my life. Yes, it does feel good to be done, but it's bittersweet.

WDW - Cilantro-Walnut Pesto

2011-05-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

WDW returns today with a fresh springtime recipe. I'm back to receiving my farm box on Wednesdays, and after two shipments since I've returned, I am stocked up with a ton of fresh produce right now! I love it. I have so much that today I made a list of it all and how I could use it. Both this week and last week, I received a large bunch of cilantro, and since I haven't been cooking too much yet, I decided to make pesto out of it and freeze it for later use. I didn't want all that beautiful cilantro to go to waste!

I personally love cilantro. It is a staple in many cuisines. Without it, fresh salsa would be flat and flavorless, and what would a good bowl of pho be like without this fragrant herb to add a bit of freshness? While pesto is traditionally made with basil, I have seen variations that sounded good, incorporating cilantro. So I decided to give it a try.

It's hard to grow cilantro here in southern California, as it is a cool weather crop. I had some growing this past winter, and it did fairly well, but when we had a few hot days, it bolted and that was it. So, I consider it a real treat to get a bunch in the farm box or farmer's market.

If you do buy a nice bunch, or get one in your farm box, the best way to keep it fresh is to treat it as you would fresh flowers. I grab a big mason jar and fill it about halfway with water, place the stems in the water, and refrigerate. Can you tell the difference between these two bunches of cilantro below? One is a week old, and one arrived today - but both are fresh as can be. You can see how fresh it can stay with a little T.L.C. By the way, this is also a good way to store fresh asparagus.

I basically just took my regular pesto recipe (below), substituted the cilantro, and changed out the pine nuts for walnuts. Pine nuts are so stinkin' expensive these days, I hardly ever buy them. Not to say that I don't drool when I walk by the big bag of them at Costco, but when I see the $27.00 price tag, I quickly move past them and get a bag of walnuts or almonds instead. I toasted them in a 400 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes to bring out the flavor. For the cheese, I actually used some that I brought home from Italy (*smile*) but parmigiano or pecorino would be just great.

My trusty old retro Cuisinart - still going strong after 24 years of marriage! I just dump everything in and pulverize with a little olive oil, then add more oil to desired texture.

I usually freeze my pesto in small bags or containers. If you don't have freezer containers, just tuck regular ones (like mine) into Ziploc freezer bags. That makes for easy labeling, too (you don't have to label your containers).

So, what to do with pesto, you ask? I love pesto smeared on grilled chicken, salmon, or shrimp (I have some shrimp marinating in it right now for tonight's dinner- I'll skewer and grill them). It also adds amazing flavor to grilled veggies, is fantastic drizzled over caprese salad(thin with a little lemon juice), or even spread on a panini sandwich (I like rotisserie chicken, provolone and pesto). And of course, you can always stir it into pasta if you like. The possibilities are endless...a little goes a long way ... enjoy!

Pesto Sauce

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
2 cups fresh basil
½ tsp. salt
1 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
Approx. 1 cup olive oil

In a food processor, combine all ingredients except oil. Process until smooth. Slowly add oil to desired consistency.

To store, pour into freezer containers and cover with a thin layer of olive oil.

Makes 12 ozs. pesto sauce. Recipe doubles easily.

So you don't have to look at my feet anymore

2011-05-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to put up a post today so you won't have to look at my feet anymore. I was rather mortified myself when I saw them full screen (they looked kind of cute on my iphone screen).

WE ARE HOME!!!

It. Was. Amazing.

I hope to blog soon about each individual city. I am waiting for Emma to sort through the 3500+ pictures she took, and then I will post pictures and stories from our time. It may take some time...

I'm glad I was able to blog a little bit from my iphone in Paris and Florence. Once we got to Israel, Blogger was in Hebrew, and it was a lost cause (it was in French in Paris, and Italian in Italy, but I was able to muddle through.) And in London, we had trouble connecting with wifi every place we tried. I think the UK is incompatible with our iphones. That's okay, as you know we were quite busy going to the Royal Wedding and all.

This week, I'm just laying low, easing back into life, and dealing with a little jet lag. At night, I'm sleeping like a baby - waking up every two hours!! Benadryl = my middle of the night friend. :-) Hopefully soon my body will realize I'm back on California time.

Meredith & Jonathan (our friends & house sitters) left our house *sparkling* clean and in order so I had no housework upon returning. Even the sheets and towels were washed - our bed was ready to fall into. I can't tell you what a blessing that was after our 11 hour flight and the time difference. Not only that, but Jonathan surprised us by doing all the yardwork, and Meredith left flowers in all the vases, darling cupcakes and a welcome home sign on the kitchen table, and she filled all our candy dishes full! Yah, I have some rockin' friends. :-)

Yesterday, Rich took the day off and we unpacked and hit Trader Joe's. I also got all the laundry done, and we caught up on our Tivo'ed episodes of American Idol!! I'm loving my bed and my shower and the treat of wearing clean, unworn clothes. God blessed us tremendously on our trip, but there's no place like home and living for the Lord here in Shadow Hills.

Happy Feet

2011-04-21T09:41:00.001-07:00

After breakfast, I visited the shoe store a block away from our hotel and got these:

Please excuse my ugly feet but I love my new sandals! They kept my feet happy today :-)
They are made out of Crocs material and so comfy. My kids got them for me as a late birthday gift!

A foodie's playground

2011-04-20T13:08:00.001-07:00

Oh the food!!! After breakfast this morning, we walked a short ways to the tourist trap shopping spot - the open air street market at San Lorenzo. So much fun! They had beautuful leather goods, shoes, jewelry, and lots of scarves. We picked up some great gifts there and then walked into the enclosed Mercato Centrale. It was full of food stalls and it was lunchtime - bingo! We walked around a bit, then settled on the following: ciabatta bread, assorted olives, a hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano (which is not expensive here at all), some wonderful soft gorgonzola, salami, prosciutto de Parma, roasted bell peppers, fresh artichoke hearts (one of my favorite delicacies here), and some dried fruit. It is so easy to buy things as all the merchants speak English well, and the prices are good. We found a nice place to sit in the Piazza and had an impromtu picnic. It was utterly delightful and I love that the kids enjoyed all those foods. And as a bonus, we have about 1/2 pound of leftover Parmigiano in our hotel fridge. Be very jealous!

Then something amazing happened as we left the piazza... we saw Rick Steves!! He was shooting one of his travel videos, but we had to interrupt him, meet him, and get our picture taken with him. Rich was so pumped and even asked him to sign the Rick Steves' travel book on Florence that he was carrying. He has been reading that travel books for months. I'm glad that Rich could have his day made by such an event!

Next we headed over to the Uffizzi gallery, and checked out some pre-Renaissance and Renaissance art. Oh, and a lot of naked statues. Too many naked statues in my opinion, really (well, I suppose one is too much...). We didn't go to the Acadamia to see Michaelangelo's David, but rather just glanced at the exact replica for free near the Uffizzi. I know it's art, but it's still ackward.

We then hit the famous Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge lined with tons of jewelry stores, and we window shopped. Florence is such a fascinating place to take in, it's pretty much the oldest place I've ever been. Around 7:00 pm, we made our way over to a restaurant that was
recommended to us by one of Rich's colleagues as a good sampling of family owned, rustic Tuscan cooking. The place was small and hopping, but we got seated right away. In the kitchen were three ladies that looked like Italian Grandmas! After getting some help decifering the menu, we ordered all our food. Surprisingly, they brought out our pasta dishes right away, and then when we were finished we were brought our salads. Interestingly, the salads weren't as expected - insalata pomodore that Drew and Stephanie ordered was just a plate of tomatoes, and my arugula salad was just that- a plate of arugula with no dressing, served with a lemon wedge. The pasta dishes were simple but good. And the fresh buffala mozzarella that I ordered rocked! The food was cheap and good, but just not what we expected. Very plain, but a good experience.

After yet another stop at a gelateria, we made it back to the hotel. We have done a lot of walking! I really am kicking myself for not bringing a pair of sandals and some cropped pants - the weather has been so warm and I can't stand wearing socks and jeans. I may hit a place tomorrow and get me some nice leather Italian sandals. Arrivederci for now!

Isn't it beautiful?

Stephanie, Drew & Emma taking a granita break after walking around a warm, crowded and stuffy art gallery.

Breathtaking Firenze.