July 20, 2011- Impossible Taco Pie

Our church is a sponsor of Family Promise, an organization which helps homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence.  This week we hosted a family of 7-- mom, dad, 4-yr-old girl, 3-yr-old boy, 1-yr-old boy, and twin 2-month olds.  I cannot even imagine having that many children, let alone having them all under the age of 4 and without a home to take care of them in.  This family from Eritrea, a country just North of Ethiopia, was very happy and friendly, despite their difficult situation. I have to admit that I had not heard of the country before this week.  

Katie and I, along with our friend Nancy and her niece, provided dinner for this family at the church tonight.  I made two Impossible Taco Pies.  The five adults and four children consumed 1.5 of the pies I made.  Guess what Katie and I will be eating tomorrow night? :)  Nancy made a wonderful salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, pumpkin seeds (also called pepita), avocados, and peaches.  The dressing for the salad was delicious too, but I can't tell you what it was made of.  She also made a divine chocolate cake with fresh ginger in it.  Topped with fresh, homemade whipped cream, that cake was a winner. 

After the meal concluded, the kids ran around, played, danced, and colored together for more than an hour.  It was great to see Katie playing with them.  She desperately wanted to be included and didn't want to go home. 

July 4, 2011- Cake and Ice Cream

Kate, Spencer, and Jennifer had to leave this morning.  Ben, Katie, and I are staying an extra day so that we can avoid the holiday traffic. Hopefully not everyone else has the same idea;)

We had a small breakfast, and then ended up having a big late lunch.  We stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Tumalo and filled up on nachos. I had hoped to get a grilled hot dog at the golf course snack shop, but it closed early due to the holiday.  We went back to Jennifer's house and fed Katie a small meal of deli meat, cheese, and grapes for dinner.  After we got her to sleep, we sat out on the porch and had left over chocolate cake and ice cream.  Yes, we did indeed have dessert for dinner, and it was good.

July 3, 2011- Steaks, Asparagus, & Baked Potatoes

Jennifer and I have been planning a surprise bridal shower for Kate for several months.  We wanted to have it this weekend in Redmond since many of our close family friends usually spend holiday weekends there too.  Well, in the end, we were the only ones in Redmond this time.  So, we hosted a shower for Kate and Spencer with just our immediate family.  It was quite nice:) 

For dinner, Jennifer purchased lovely tenderloin steaks.  I brought a tin of Aromatica Organics Nebraska Prime Steak Seasoning with me, which was rubbed on the steaks.  Ben was in charge of grilling them, and he did a fantastic job.  The steaks were all cooked perfectly for each of our preferences.  So, the combination of the great meat, the delicious rub, and the careful grilling resulted in excellent steaks.  We grilled asparagus and baked potatoes to enjoy with the steaks.  

After dinner the dogs were walked and then the shower continued.  We played a couple games-- "Future spouse trivia" and "Name that white baking ingredient".  They were fun even with our small group.  After the games were over, we enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries. And, no bridal shower would be complete without a few presents:)  It was a perfect evening!  

Well, I should be honest and say that Katie puked just a little bit while eating cake, but we cleaned it up so quickly that it was like it never happened. Other than that, it was a perfect evening.

Monday, 4/11/2011

Ben took today off to extend our vacation a bit.  Even though I had to work a couple hours this afternoon, it felt like an extra day of vacation with him home.  Tomorrow Ben and I are going to start an Atkins diet.  I'm addicted to carbs right now and need to cut back.  I can only seem to cut back when I follow a strict plan.  Since Atkins worked for me before, I know I can do it.  I am thankful that Ben is willing to try it with me.  It would be hard to follow it while making him foods I can't eat.  Since tomorrow we will have to cut out almost all carbs, we went out for the last carb-loaded meal we will have for a while.  

We finally had a meal at Jak's Grill.  We've heard nothing but great praise for this restaurant.  We got there just after 5:00pm and were seated right away.  Ben and I each had a burger.  I went with pesto mayo, bacon, and cheddar on my burger.  Ben stuck with the standard red pepper mayo and added bacon and blue cheese.  The burgers were outstanding.  The Seattle Metropolitan magazine ranked them in second place behind Zippy's Giant Burgers for the best burger in Seattle.  We do not agree.  Jak's should be #1.  There really is no comparison.  We both opted to upgrade from french fries to potato pancakes.  The pancakes were good, but I preferred the fries I swiped from Katie's plate.  Katie had chicken strips and fries for her dinner.  For dessert, Ben and I each got a chocolate mousse layered cake a la mode.  Yes, we could have shared, but I didn't want to.  Katie had a single scoop of vanilla ice cream.  

I am sufficiently STUFFED.  I think I will be ready to cut out carbs tomorrow:)

Wednesday, 2/16/2011

We had beer battered halibut from Costco with a fruit salad for dinner.  Yes, this is a pretty common meal for us.  It is hard to goof it up.  The fruit salad was made with a banana, strawberries, and a pear. 

And, just to follow up on the frosting I made for our Valentine's Day cake, microwaving it for 30 seconds did indeed melt the fats enough to drizzle it on the cake like a glaze.  Thanks for the advice dad!

Monday, 2/14/2011

This afternoon, Ben and I had the pleasure of shooting his brother's engagement photos.  Whoo hoo for Kate and Spencer's upcoming nuptials!!!  Ben was the official shooter, and I was the light stand;)  We strapped Katie on my back in the ergo baby carrier and took off for a couple hours of shooting at Pike Place Market.  It didn't take long for Katie to become tired of being on my back.  After listening to her shout "down" and "walk" in my ear, I reluctantly gave her my iPod so that she could watch "Toy Story".  That was the best decision I made all day.  She didn't drop it and was mostly content with it.  

After the shoot was over, we picked up asparagus and steak at the market and headed back to our house.  I still had some work to do, so Ben was in charge of dinner.  He got the steak and asparagus on the grill and Spencer made up a batch of roasted garlic and herb couscous.  Other than a pretty big meltdown from Katie right as the food was ready to eat, we really enjoyed our meal.  We finished it off with chocolate cake.  

I used a Duncan Hines Decadent Triple Chocolate Cake mix, baked in a bundt pan, and made my own chocolate frosting.  The cake was delicious.  YUM!  The frosting was very tasty, but the texture wasn't what I was going for.  It was very dense.  I used butter, whipping cream, melted unsweetened chocolate, vanilla extract, a couple dashes of salt, and powdered sugar.  My dad recommended heating it all in the microwave for a few seconds to get everything to melt a bit.  That way, it could be spread on and would set as it cooled.  I'll have to try on the left overs;) 

Monday, 1/17/2011

I made my standard salmon cakes tonight, but something was off.  I was a bit short on salmon, so I added some more panko bread crumbs.  When I started to shape the cakes, I realized the mixture was really wet.  I think the partial lemon I had in the fridge must have been more than a half a lemon.  The outsides of the cakes were crispy, but the insides were still a bit juicy.  The flavor was still good, but they were not as good as normal.  

I also tried to make a salad similar to the one we had at our potluck on Saturday.  I added diced yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, and crushed tortilla chips to spinach leaves and topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.  I avoided too much dressing by not putting enough on.  Ben thinks including the apple slices would have helped the flavor balance.

Friday, 12/17/2010

My mother-in-law, Jennifer, and brother-in-law, Spencer, are spending the weekend with us to celebrate Katie's 2nd birthday.  They both arrived tonight and had dinner with us.  I made Spicy Peanut Chicken with a Balsamic and Pear salad on the side.  For the salad, we used just a teaspoon of the vinaigrette.  It was plenty for the four of us.  Spencer doesn't care for craisins; so, I added those to the salad after he had taken his helping.  

After getting Katie to sleep for the night, I worked on decorating her Elmo birthday cake.  It was definitely a challenge to get the deep red and black colors for Elmo's face.  I ended up using an entire container of gel food coloring for each of those two colors.  I first applied the red frosting so that it was pretty smooth. Once I had full coverage, I roughed it up with my finger tips so that it looked more like Elmo.  I did have to make two batches of the butter cream frosting.  I used butter flavored shortening in the first batch and it made the base frosting too yellow.  In order to avoid a yellow-eyed Elmo, I made another batch with plain shortening. 

Friday, 11/5/2010

Our friend Sydney babysat Katie tonight while I joined Ben for his alumni dinner at the Bellevue Hyatt.  When I left the house, Sydney was heating up chicken nuggets for Katie.  Katie dipped the nuggets and apples in ketchup.  Yes, she dipped her apples in ketchup.  It is gross, but I guess there is technically nothing wrong with it.

Ben and I pre-ordered the chicken meal for dinner.  It was a roasted chicken leg in a bed of orzo with some kind of gravy-like sauce around the plate.  It was delicious!  For dessert, Ben had flan and I had chocolate cake.  The cake was good, but nothing compared to my dad's cake:) 

Saturday, 10/30/2010

My parents, our friend Gail, and Ben's brother stayed at our house last night following my concert.  Ben's mom drove up from Portland, Oregon, this morning to spend the weekend with us too.  After she arrived and we had lunch, we drove up to The Farm at Swan's Train in Snohomish, Washington, to check out a pumpkin patch.  It was raining, but we didn't have many other options since Halloween is tomorrow:)  We had a great time despite the rain.  Katie tromped in the field, tried to pick up large pumpkins, and looked adorable in her raincoat and mittens.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from our pumpkin patch outing.

Today I got to celebrate my birthday for a second time. Lucky me!  We went with an Italian meal for our dinner.  I made bucatini pasta with my KitchenAid pasta attachment.  Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through it.  Ben was in charge of making the roasted red pepper and bacon sauce.  We had a caesar salad and soft breadsticks on the side. 

For dessert, my dad brought his blue ribbon winning whole wheat chocolate cake.  It was delicious and definitely deserving of a blue ribbon.  We had mint chocolate ice cream to go with the cake.  Katie wasn't very interested in cake, but she could have eaten twice as much "hih-cream" as we let her have. 

Monday, 10/18/2010

Happy Birthday to ME!   

What a fantastic day I had!  It started with a trip to Downtown Seattle on the West Seattle Water Taxi.  Ben went in to work a little late this morning so that the three of us could eat breakfast at a Starbucks near his office.  Katie really enjoyed the boat rides:)  Here are a couple photos of us this morning.

Katie and me waiting for the water taxi.

Katie and me on the water taxi.

Katie and Ben after breakfast at Starbucks.

Our friend Sydney and Ben's brother Spencer joined us for a birthday dinner at Porterhouse.  This was our first time eating at this restaurant.  We were really pleased with it.  We shared the house fries as an appetizer.  We thought one plate was going to be enough, but they were so fantastic, we had to order more:)

House Fries w/ Parmesan-Truffle Salt and Curry Ketchup

Me & Sydney

Katie and I each ordered fish and chips, although, I substituted a caesar salad since I already had fries for an appetizer.  And, Katie substituted apple slices for her fries.  Ben and Spencer each had a steak sandwich with a side caesar.  Sydney had the tuna melt.  It was the first time I had seen a tuna melt with asparagus on it.  She said it was great! 

Steak Sandwich w/ Caesar Salad

For dessert, Ben and Spencer both had Porter Floats.  Ben said it was good and that he was glad he tried it.  But, it wasn't something he will order again.  I wonder if Ben ordered the float knowing that he wouldn't be forced to share it with Katie:)  I would definitely order my chocolate lava cake with chocolate ice cream again.  It was divine--just as a birthday cake should be.  Katie chanted "cake" in such a cute way, that I couldn't resist sharing with her.  

Chocolate Lava Cake w/ Chocolate Ice Cream

Wow, it was a truly wonderful day.  Thanks family & friends!!!

Saturday, 9/4/2010

Our dear friends Karen and Michel invited us all, Matt, Jenna, Braelyn, Ben, Katie, me, Jennifer, and Spencer, over to their home for dinner tonight.  Jennifer is in town to celebrate Spencer's birthday tomorrow.  They had a lovely spread of veggies, crackers, cheeses, cured meats, fresh berries, and wine ready when we arrived. 

For dinner, they roasted potatoes and carrots, had mixed salad greens and a variety of dressings, jalapenos bread, corn on the cob, and roasted pork tenderloins.  Everything was delicious!  At the end of the evening, we enjoyed a fantastic birthday cake for Spencer.  

Michel got the cake at a local French bakery.  The cake was chocolate; the filling was chocolate mousse; the outer frosting was unlike anything I have had before.  Without knowing for sure, I would say it was a French buttercream.  I think it was made with shortening, instead of butter.  All I know for sure is that it was fantastically delicious.  Ben had to share quite a bit with Katie...she loved it too!  Not only was it wonderful to the taste, but it was beautiful too.  I just love the lettering on the cake. 

Saturday, 8/28/2010

It's party day...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER!!!

It is my mother-in-law's 60th birthday today.  Ben, Spencer, and I are throwing her a big party along with her friends Chris and Larry.  They graciously agreed to let us hold the party at their home in Oregon City, Oregon.  Thank you Chris and Larry!  After a delicious coffee cake breakfast, the three of us took off to run errands and prep for the party.  Katie got to stay behind for some Grandma time.  Maybe I should say, Katie stayed behind so that Grandma could have some Katie time:)

Our first stop of the morning was JaCiva's for the birthday cake--chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling, and butter cream frosting.  Spencer forwarded a photo of the napkins we purchased for the party to be used as cake decoration inspiration.  They did a fantastic job matching the colors and overall floral theme.  The cake was quite yummy, although, I did eat too much in the end.  I planned on sharing my large corner piece with Katie, but then she wouldn't eat a bit.  So, I ate the whole thing by myself.  Later, Katie really did want cake and insisted on sharing it with me.  Yes, I ate a lot of cake tonight.  And yes, I had it with vanilla ice cream too. 

Once at Chris and Larry's home, we arranged flowers, decorated, arranged tables, washed potatoes, stuffed peppers, chopped rosemary, sliced citrus fruits, prepared appetizer dishes, and got ready for the wine and cheese tasting.  We were busy!  For the first two hours of the party, we served appetizers and had a blind wine and cheese tasting activity.  Yesterday we shopped for wine and cheese at New Seasons Market, located not far from Jennifer's home.  Ben did pairing research ahead of time and took his list of 10 wine and cheese combinations to the store.  He and Spencer did their best to pick out the right cheeses first.  Then, they talked with a wine steward who helped pick out the right wines to pair with the cheeses at the right prices.  After the wines were selected, the cheese expert was back from her break and helped tweak the cheese selections a bit.  In the end, we were under budget on wine and cheese and super pleased with the service we received.  Just so you know, if you buy a case or more of wine at New Seasons Market in one purchase, you get a 20% discount.  That is huge!

For the tasting activity, we covered the wine bottle labels and numbered them.  I made the cute covers:)  The cheeses that complimented each wine were cute into bite sizes and piled in front of the bottles.  We made a large poster that listed the wines and cheese in random orders.  If the guests were interested in participating in the activity, they could take a stab at guessing which wines and cheeses they were tasting.  I am very proud of myself for guessing 8 out of 10 wines correctly.  Unfair advantage you say?  Nope...I left Ben alone for his research and didn't pay any attention to the wine steward while he recommended the wines.  I'm just that good ;-) We purchased a wine glass for each person who said they were coming.  I made personalized tags to circle the base of each glass.  With 28 adults expected, we did our best to avoid wine glass confusion.  I think it worked well! 

We had quite a few appetizers to choose from.  Chris prepared stuffed jalapenos and a fresh veggie dish with a Peppercorn Parmesan dip.  I made a Hot Mango Chutney Cashew dip, a Spicy Lemon Veggie dip, and roasted elephant garlic.  Ben blanched a pound of sugar snap peas to go along with the veggie dip.  We served sliced french bread baguettes to spread the chutney cashew dip and roasted garlic on.  The dip recipes and peas I made are included at the end of this blog entry.

For dinner we made Pollo Pibil--citrus spice marinated chicken, roasted potatoes with rosemary, and our standard household spinach, mandarin orange, and goat cheese salad with balsamic vinaigrette on the side.  For the salad, we ended up using about a pound of spinach, 1 1/2 small cans of mandarin oranges, and a 1/3 of a pound of crumbled goat cheese.  Follow the imbedded link for the chicken recipe, previously posted on this blog. The potato recipe will be at the end of this blog entry too.  

At the end of the day, we feel like we threw a great party.  The guests enjoyed themselves and Jennifer had a wonderful time.  It was a lot of work, but TOTALLY worth it:)  

Jennifer, Spencer, Katie, Ben, and me

Here are the recipes:

HOT MANGO CHUTNEY CASHEW DIP- from my friend Taran


Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup sour cream
3-5 tsp curry powder, depending on preference
1/2 cup hot mango chutney
1 cup chopped cashews, divided

Directions:
Mix together all ingredients, saving 1/4 cup of the cashews for later.  Spoon into a serving dish and top with the reserved cashews.   Spread on slices of french bread baguettes or similar bread. 

Notes: I doubled this recipe due to the high number of guests expected.  With the amount of food available, we ended up taking home one recipe worth of the dip.  I'm not complaining, but it is worth mentioning.  It is a rich dip. 

SPICY LEMON DIPPING SAUCE- from Alton Brown's cookbook "I'm Just Here for the Food, volume 2.0"

Ingredients:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
Zest from one lemon, chopped fine
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and tarragon.  Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

Notes: This really is a spicy dip.  The spice hit on the tongue is a bit delayed.  The recipe calls for 12 ounce of sugar snap peas.  I have found that you will end up with 2-3 times more dip than you need for 12 ounces of peas.  So, either have more peas available or make a smaller batch of dip.  

SUGAR SNAP PEAS- also from Alton Brown


Ingredients:
Heavy pinch kosher salt
12 ounces of sugar snap peas, trimmed and rinsed (approximately 4 cups)

Directions:
Bring 2 quarts of water and the salt to boil in a 4-quart saucepan, covered, over high heat.  Add the peas and cook uncovered for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.  Drain the peas and immediately plunge into ice water.  Drain and set aside.  The actual time of course will depend on the peas.  These aren't big ole green beans, and few things are as awful as limp sugar snaps.  So stay right with them as they cook.

Even if the dip is perfect and the peas are dead on, the dish will fail if the peas are wet.  Once they've chilled down, dry them well or the dip just won't stick...and that would be sad. 


ROASTED POTATOES WITH ROSEMARY- from the Safeway brand Produce Stand fresh rosemary package

Prep time: 10 minutes--for one batch;)
Bake time: 25 to 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 pounds small (1 1/2 to 2-inches) red skin or White Rose potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt, course type preferred
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Scrub potatoes, dry well and cut in half lengthwise.  Pour olive oil into a rimmed baking sheet into which the potatoes fit comfortably.  Heat in oven until oil is hot, about 3 minutes.  Swirl to coat pan and place potatoes cut side down in hot oil.  Sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until cut side is golden brown.  Remove from oven, turn with a spatula, sprinkle with rosemary and toss to coat.  Serve immediately.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Notes: We made approximately 9 pounds of potatoes for the party.  Thankfully, Chris and Larry have two ovens.  With two full baking sheets in each oven, the potatoes were ready in 30 minutes.  Be warned, the oil heats up quickly in 450 degrees and starts to smoke.  Keep your fan running when you open the oven door to reduce the risk of a smoke detector going off. 

Monday, 8/9/2010

I made salmon cakes tonight.  I must say, they were simply delicious!  They could be served in a restaurant and people would like them.  Well, at least we would:)  Anyway, I stuck with the same recipe I've used in the past.  For the salmon, I purchased 6 ounce fillets at Fred Meyer--2 plain and 1 seasoned with lemon and pepper.  The recipe only calls for 2 cups of salmon, so there was a little left over for Katie and the kitties to munch on:)

I made a green salad with raspberries, pear, and glazed walnuts to go with the salmon cakes.  It was not the best pairing, but it was what I had available.  Ben thought the salad was too sweet overall and that the lettuce was blah.  I agree that the lettuce wasn't anything special and that it was sweet, but I really liked it.  The salad was dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. 

Friday, 7/30/2010

Whoo hoo...it's date night for the Ackers! My mom graciously agreed to take care of Katie this evening so that Ben and I could go out on a date. We went to SIP in downtown Seattle for dinner. When Katie was around 6 months old, we ate at the SIP in Gig Harbor. I'm glad we could enjoy it at our own pace this time:) For dinner, we shared a fantastic caesar salad, sweet roll sliders, and potato frites with sage and garlic. Yes, that is just a fancy way to say french fries. They were really good frites! With dinner, I enjoyed two glasses of Malbec, Ksana, Mendoza, Argentina, '06. Ben had a cab, which doesn't seem to be listed on their online wine menu. For dessert, we shared a crepe cake with hot fudge drizzle. It was literally a stack of thin, sweet crepes, cut into a wedge like a slice of cake. It was tasty for sure, but not something I would order again.

After dinner we watched Inception. It is a good movie that I don't need to see again. Ben, on the other hand, says he will definitely see it again. Thanks Mom for the date!

Saturday, 7/24/2010

Happy Wedding Day Laura and David!!!

We started taking photos of the big event at 1pm today and didn't stop until just before 10pm. It was a beautiful wedding. Laura was stunning, and David was very handsome. What an honor to record their special day in photos.

The reception was held at The Hall at Fauntleroy and was catered by Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes. Our wedding reception was held in the same place and catered by the same company, so we knew the food would be good. Thankfully, there was a good break during the reception during which we could get some food. I had a green salad with dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette, a watermelon, blueberry with mint salad, salmon, grilled asparagus and peppers, and bread for dinner. Ben opted for steak instead of the salmon.

Laura and David chose two different cakes to serve their guests. Ben and I both had a piece of chocolate cake. It was divine! I can't be sure, but I think the filling between cake layers was a chocolate butter cream or mousse and the frosting was cream cheese. What made it so amazing was that the cake was chilled. The reception hall was quite warm, so the chilled filling and frosting made the cake quite refreshing:) I believe Laura said the cake came from the Macrina Bakery.

Although the dinner was delicious, the best part of the catered food was the double chocolate chip cookies that were served around 9:30pm. Laura's mom told us that they were her favorite thing that they ordered. She was soo right. They were outstanding!!!

Tuesday, 7/6/2010

Every five years, the Moser side of my family gets together for a reunion. This would be for the descendants of my Grandma Jean and her four siblings. We gathered at the Zephyr Conference Center in Liberty Lake, Washington. This is the first time the reunion has happened someplace other than at my grandparent's home. I am pleased that it was such a success! We had 60+ family members there. Some people stayed on site in the two lodges, other stayed in hotels nearby, and we stayed with my parents at their home in Spokane.

My dad's cousin Judy took on the responsibility of purchasing food for breakfasts and lunches. Families were assigned to prep and clean up for those meals. We had the camp cater the dinners for us. Tonight we enjoyed a taco bar. Soft and hard tortillas were available along with ground beef, rice, and all the fixings. Katie enjoyed pulling rice out of a taco and would occasionally let me put a bite of beef in her mouth.

For dessert we had delicious chocolate cake. There was some debate about whether it was cake or brownies. Ben says it was cake; so, that's what I'm sticking with:)

Tuesday, 6/1/2010

We hosted our PEPS gathering this week. It was a little crazy trying to pull it together after just getting back from our vacation, but we did it:) I got a package of chicken drumsticks from Costco and rubbed them with our standard bbq rub. Ben worked the grill and got them perfectly cooked and coated with bbq sauce. They were spicy and a hit with the group! I opened up a package of mixed greens and put out a couple salad dressings for people to choose from. We had our first corn on the cob of the season. It will get better for sure, but it was still very tasty. And for dessert, we had angelfood cake with berries and whipped cream. I filled a clear salad bowl with 3 layers of berries- blueberries, sliced strawberries, and blackberries.

For the kids, I had Ben grill a couple plain chicken breasts, and I steamed some broccoli. Katie ate so much broccoli at the Chinese restaurant the other day that I was sure she would eat a bunch of it. Nope, she only played with it. Yes, it was all over the carpet. UGH!

Boy, those kids were soo cute! We hadn't been with the group for a month, so it was fun to see how much each of them has changed. I think they are almost to a point where they will play with each other. We put Katie and Ronan in our arm chair together for fun. Ronan has been known to feed Katie food during our gatherings:) Here's a photo of them together. They were grooving and clapping to Casper Babypants.

Monday, 5/24/2010

This morning we drove to San Francisco. Again, we had a pretty big lunch, so for dinner we decided to go for drinks and dessert:) We went to an Italian restaurant, just a few blocks away from our hotel, called Cioppino's. Once there, we just couldn't not have bread too. Ben and I ordered garlic sourdough bread, and Spencer ordered bruschetta. I must say, that bruschetta was amazing. I'm usually not one for raw tomatos, but I LOVED the garlic, oil, and herbs mixed in with them for this appetizer. Ben, Spencer and I had margaritas with the bread, and I think Jennifer had a glass of wine.

Spencer and I shared a chocolate lava cake with ice cream. Jennifer had tiramisu, and Ben had triple chocolate mousse. They were all delicious. We definitely had a great non-dinner at Cioppino's.
Here's a fun picture of the drink diversity at our table:

I should point out that we got real food for Katie, but she didn't eat much of it. We ordered her a separate kids meal for about 1/2 of our meals. She rarely ate enough to make it worth the extra expense.

Saturday, 5/22/2010

Tonight Ben and I had dinner at a wedding! Our friends Lauren and Tim tied the knot in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, and we were thrilled to join them for the wedding and reception.

CONGRATS TO MR. & MRS. FLOOD!!!!

After the outdoor ceremony, there was a cocktail and appetizer hour. The crab cakes were YUMMY! They were sitting on little round pieces of bread, SOAKED in butter. Ben joked that the crab cakes were sitting on bread soaked butter;) The chicken skewers were tasty too. For dinner we each selected the chicken and salmon option. Our friend Mckenzie was kind enough to give Ben a bite of her steak. He said the sauce on it was good. I wish I could remember more about the dinner, but honestly, I had too much to drink.

I do remember that Lauren and Tim had a couple different cake flavor options. We sampled them both...white and chocolate...and they were delicious.