Yummy Sushi Recipie

This one was given to me by my sister. You are awesome Sis! I would agree with this recipie but I would wrap the fruit roll up inside like it is the seaweed though but that is just me!

Cake Experiment

I originally made this cake for Valentine's Day but I just never got it posted here.

Take a plain white cake mix and mix as normal. Then take frozen strawberries a table spoon of sugar and about a cup of water and blend it like you would a smoothie. Add water as needed to make it not so thick.

Put the batter in your cake pan and then just drizzle the strawberry puree on top in an sort of fashion you want.

Then just take a knife or something and just swirl it around in the cake mix. Then just bake it like the white cake mix instructions say to. You may have to cook a few extra minutes depending on how much puree you put in it. The old toothpick comes out clean trick gives you the best idea when you get it out.

As for frosting I bought the cream cheese frosting can and just mixed in two drops of red food coloring and got it to be pink to put on top. Mmm Mmm Good!

Pose Never Gets Old

This pose really never gets old at all for some very good reasons.

#1 every parent just loves their child

#2 chocolate..duh

#3 there's just something funny about messy faces

#4 did I mention chocolate?

#5 pj's and chocolate with daylight means sneaking breakfast while dad is studying

My kids especially love chocolate and in fact love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They actually prefer the original after one time seeing it.

Case of the Yummies!

We had the desire to stay close to home on a day off today so we did. We found ourselves doing nothing. Then our thoughts turned to this chocolate store off an farm just outside of Hollister. DeBritos has some yummy stuff for sure!

How can you resist a chocolate novelty store with this as their door decal? I still dont know cus these people really know how to cover their fruits in chocolate! :)

It is the off season for apples, cherries and just about all other fruits in the area. The whole valley around here is garlic, cherry, strawberry, and apple heaven! I guess I really am at home. Since it is the off season this is the scene at the farms!

Feel free to click the picture to make it bigger. Dont know why blogger loaded it so small!

Day Out...Window Shopping?!????

We took the afternoon off as many other families do and headed to the mall. More on the reason we went later.

For some reason my brain malfunctioned and remember that people here in Cali are still Mall Obsessed so the parking lots are literally rush hour traffic with no open spots.

We did eat at this Japanese place though which was good.

Here is a funny pic of Baby J who was bored as you can tell from all the walking and window shopping. We walked into Old Navy and he started screaming No No No and turned and started to run out. I dont blame him cus that is what I do when I see fancy pants over priced stuff. I mean come on $20 bucks for a sweater you wear over another shirt! No to mention that sweater is gonna shrink in 2 washes anyway.

I have a general rule that I dont pay more than $12 for any item except pants which I wont pay more than $20 for. Perhaps I should just fly to NYC once a year and buy all our clothes in bulk from the street fairs.

When the Dog Bites, When the Bee Stings, When Im Feeling Sad

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when im feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things.

Kids in 50 degree weather wearing winter coats and flip flops. Way to go Idaho!

A little sippin of the Country Time Lemonade!

Makin' myself a "case-a-dilla"

Hollister Trip

We took a trip to Hollister, CA. Yes that is right, Hollister like the clothing company. Once upon a time 2 friends lived in Hollister, after a falling out (early 1800's) one moved to south Santa Barabra and set up shop there giving us Hollister clothing today.

Hollister is a step up from a hole in the wall town. All around the town is fields and orchards and 3 huge piles of maneure! Yes thats right, it sits right along side Route 25 on your way into the town!We stopped by recommendation to a chocolate factory run by a family in the middle of an apple orchard. DeBrito Chocolate factory is full of yummy goods including chocolate covered cherries, blueberries and apricots all grown locally. It also has candied apples with various methods of coating on the outside. We will let you know how they are once we bite into them.
Here is the self of the wrapped candied apples. Dont they just look delish! I sure think so. I dont remember even eating any candied apple in my lifetime so this is going to be a real treat for me.
Of course Im back in CA so I had to stop at this family favorite. I remember man a night going with the family to get chocolate dipped ice cream cones at a place just like this. Fosters Freeze is unique to CA. Of course my kids used a ton of napkins with the ice cream, which recalled memories of blue trays in my old home town with a mountain of used napkins! Kids sure get messy with ice cream.

Dinner with the Girl

So I did the most disgusting thing and made my own hamburger patties from ground beef! I just hate touching that stuff and Im a guy! Anyway grilled them on the good old George Foreman and then put cheese on them. Mmmmh!

Here are some tomatos from a local farm that we picked up and cut. They were so good. I do seem to prefer garden fresh but these were much better still than the store. I put some in a salad too and it was numms!
And here is my angel who I get to have around all the time. Isnt she lovely. Take after her mom of course because her mom is just absolutely stunning! This was her before church this morning. Mom took extra time to make her hair curly! Mom does a wonderful job!
Here is the hair from the back. So curly and fun! My level of domestication hasnt reached the able to do daughters hair yet, I can do clips and ponytails that about it!

Me and Banana Bread

So the last few days I have been cleaning up some places that have just accumulated stuff and I noticed my bananas were going black. So I hit up some friends for a recipie and found a very good one! Of course the dishes were dirty so I used this pot as a make shift mixing bowl since all the large ones were dirty. Of course I had to make 2 loafs cus there like Lays chips "bet you cant eat just one!"

I was a little over excited probably and added in some cloves, ginger and vanilla extract to liven up the plain old bread. In my mind I was thinking of nutmeg but put cloves in it instead. But nextime. Either way my big worry was it wouldnt rise and would be too gooey. It wasnt either so it was an overall success.

My first mistake was to not mash the bananas before, but the beater did a good job and after eating some it was like fruit on the bottom. In the end I did too much cloves because it is a bit over powering but not bad that you cant eat it. You just have to eat it a piece at a time.

If you want the recipie you will have to post a comment because i like comments and I dont get many so this will make my day! :)

Cooking and Eating Machine

So in lue of my domestication I have started up cooking. Mostly since the budget is tightened and that means more inside meals. Which Im ok with since I can make them more healthy. Guess these pictures arent of healthy stuff though.

Here is my lovely machine beater and my pot, which was the only clean bowl large enough for a mixture for 2 banana breads! more about that HERE. I took several more of this but this one was the only one where you could see the tiny bits of flower on the beater and it was an interesting angle for me.

Of course pancakes are considered a staple at our house. Its a wonder if I will ever lose weight we have them so much and you have to smother it with butter flavored syrup.

Me Makey Panda

So as we are on this even tighter budget thing and Im into my own domestication now I decided hey when not burn an arm with some hot oil and make my own sweet and sour chicken. Sure love it when I get it from panda express but then its orange chicken and I didnt have a recipie for that.

So here it is cooked and cut chicken up. I used the george foreman grill which I regret now but it cooks it fast. Then just use corn starch and cover the pieces like shake and bake. Put in 2 tablespoons of oil into pan and head up and then carefully drop the chicken in for a minute or so on each side, basically till they are light brown...not like the picture below. I wasnt fast enough sometimes.

Here is the sweet and sour sauce with 1/4 cup of water and a can of pineapples. Mmmm! Yes I cheated and bought a bottle of the sweet and sour sauce. Im still not totally domesticated yet so find your own recipie. :) Just kidding I didnt think I could make that first try so i bought one.
Add your chicken pieces in and simmer for 20 minutes and then let cool down just a bit till the sauce thickens and then serve it with fried or steamed rice...w/e is your preference.

Over and Under Done

As of late I am feeling like I am over doing home work and underdoing everything else! Guess it is somewhat true because I have done a lot of things with family this week and paid a lot more attention with the kids. It has helped me be more patient and they have listened better, but it proves to be harder with school. But as family is first, I will figure out a better homework schedule. Something that allows me to get to bed before 3am!

Good example of over and under done is this dinner. At Santa Cruz yesterday we picked up some fresh salmon caught that morning. Guess it actually came from Alaska not over seas. At any rate I didnt leave it in long enough so it wasnt done. We ate veggies and fruit first and then the salmon. After I took it out again the sides were a little too dry and the middle still wasnt done! I didnt think it was possible to over do and under do something but I did it! But It sure looks pretty good eh?!

Recipie:

Tinfoil in pan

place salmon in drench it with lemon juice enough to go halfway up the meat. Pepper the top and then cut fresh lemons and place them on top of the salmon! Cook 400 degrees for about 30 minutes (more or less time may be appropriate based off of size) this was just under 1lbs. and 30 minutes wasnt enough for the middle. Also keep in mind Im at a much lower elevation and things cook different where you might be.

Another Day in San Fran

Today we went out to free admission day to the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The park is crazy with tons of people and cars. No parking anywhere but it is nice that it is there and great for survival in the city life around here.

The Academy of Science is like a museum/aquairum/mini-zoo. It is fantastic. It was crazy busy there as well. We waiting in line for the rain forest exhibit. It was really nice but hot like it would be in a real rain forest. There were iguanas, geckos, birds, butterflies, frogs and other creatures from different rain forests around the world.

I will post all the pictures on photobucket so you all can see them as well. They will also be on the slide show on the side here as well. Afterwords we went to Ghiradelli Square. We only browsed the shops though and didnt look around at anything else. We got a free sample of chocolate as well which is essential there.

We walked along the piers there and stop at a street vendor who said "everything on sale". Which is quite funny because it is a street vendor everything is already on sale. But we got Baby J, J'alee and I a San Fran fleece sweater. K got one already so it was our turn. They were quite cheap and kept us warm.

We also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. It is kind of a rock culture iconic place to eat but I could have done without the food to be honest. Guess it is really just the experience. I got to see a lot of famous people's guitars and outfits on the walls there from Bo Diddy, B.B. King to the Police and Nirvana.

We walked Pier 39 and saw a few shops. There was a little stage that was closed but the kids stopped there and took the time to dance. I joined in for a bit and you can see that video on my youtube channel or on the video bar on the side as well.

It was a lot of fun. We love San Fran despite missing a turn and ending up on the opposite side of town for a while. That was interesting, though not as interesting as the rainbow flag billowing in the wind off Market Street.

Humor and Memory Photos

As part of another blog I write in to stretch my photography skills and my thinking I have taken a few pictures and found that some are just funny. One night after chinese food I took this picture and said its a TV Dinner.

Driving around town the other day I saw a sign for a gas station. It took me back to a conversation about gas stations and convenience stores and their owners. Needless to say the name in the following store came up as an owner of one near my last job in Utah. It just reminded me of my friends at work.

This last photo makes me just feel good and it is quite funny as well. You know how in primary the teachers ask kids questions as part of their lessons. This question was how their parents sometimes help them. Here is a picture of my daughters answer. It works out good for her and for me too!

Discount Dining

For all of the readers in Utah I wanted to take this time to let you know about a special that is going on. You can try one of our family favorite restaurants at a discount. You do need to have a print out of the email which I can gladly forward to anyone interested. It is called MacCool's. There is one on Foothill in SLC and one near Jordan Landing and also one in Layton just down the street from the Hilton off restaurant row.

It is an Irish restaurant. They have Gaelic furniture and decor and menu. They have some unbelievable lamb ribs for an appetizer which are so yummy! We like the citrus chicken and the salmon they have. Those are our favorites. It is quite a nice place and reasonable on the pocketbook.

The deal is you print out this email and bring 1 friend and get 10% off your bill adding 10% for every friend you bring up to three friends. So thee people could go in together and get 30% off combined bill. That is nice! You will love the place.

Here is city search review with picture of the Foothill locale. If you want to go and need the email just email me and I will forward it too you. Make sure you cut out the part that shows it was forwarded before printing!

Down on the Boardwalk, down by the sea...

...on a blanket with my baby, that's where I'll be. Well we weren't on a blanket it but we did mosey on down to Santa Cruz beach and boardwalk. It was quite fun. We saw some sea weed, lots of sea shells and even walked in the ocean a bit. It was very very cold so with only 60 degree weather it isnt the greatest time to be in cold water.

Of course both of the kids ran right to the water as soon as their shoes and socks were off. A higher tide came in and made Baby J lose his equilibrium and he fell soaking his shirt quite a bit. I picked him up and just let him run around in his diaper for a while while his overalls dried. We collected a nice array of sea shells.

After that we went on the boardwalk. There was a lot of different stores and diners there. Under the boardwalk there were sea lions resting on the sticks and framework. You could see some even swimming under there and even out a little way in the ocean. We saw high tides and surfers too.

We then drove up Highway 1 which runs right along the coast. The sun started to go down and we stopped in a few places to get pictures along the way. It is a great stretch of road if you ever get a chance to drive down it. There were many different places to pull off to explore.
We pulled off again at Scott's Beach just north of Dansville (I think it was anyway). The sun just dipped below the clouds and the waves were taller than me crashing together and rolling up the beach. We saw little birds, running down to find food and then running up the beach and the tide came in and then again back down and up. I think they were sandpipers but I'm not entirely sure.

We found a lot of crabs that were pecked our of their shells and even some shrimp. It may have been a prawn but I'm not sure. I asked King Triton for a sand dollar because I have always wanted one but with no success. We did find a half of one in Santa Cruz though. We did find an old clam with had a pretty thick shell as well and a whole muscle which I promptly came home and boiled to eat. When it popped open I saw what the meat looked like and thought better of partaking and threw it away. Sorry I'm not french!

We continued in the dark up to Ano Nuevo which was closed and then to Half Moon Bay and stopped at a diner called Joe's. It was fantastic, the waiter was great and the food was pretty good too. Then we drove on home and missed all the traffic.

You can see the complete photos on the photobucket link and I will try and post the videos probably in a day or two on the family youtube channel.

Sibling and Dad Trip

I took the kids out today while K sleep from working two 12's in a row. She is a trooper. They were getting noisy and we needed dog food anyway so out we went. It was the 6th day of rain so we took an umbrella which J'alee got a kick out of. I did too watching her try and hold it in the wind.
We went to Chevy's because kids eat free on Tuesdays. The food was alright, but the service wasnt that great (which is probably just the waiter). Anyway they brought out chips and salsa for us and it was pretty good. Baby J got into the action as well. Then he started to choke on a chip, which he resolved himself and then immediately puked up water and chips all over me and himself.
Wonderful joys of parenting!
Other than that I lost the battle with the dog. Since it has been raining she doesnt like to go potty outside. So I get really wet and cold or she doesnt go and then before I can take her out again she goes inside the house. It hasnt been a fun time, needless to say I lost the battle of course and we are moving on. Good thing that there is sun in the forecast.

Trying New Things

Well growing up I was always known as a picky eater, which I was. My dad always said that he wanted me to go to another country so I would have to try and eat all the odd foods they have. Well I did go on my mission and among the strange things like ox tails, Hmong fish soup and others I tried it all.
My Grandma J while she has been with us introduced me to something new. I'm calling it homemade mint lemonade. You light squeeze a lemon as if you are juicing it, though you dont poke any holes in it. Then you cut a small home and insert a peppermint stick. Then you just suck away. At first it was really strong lemon, but then as i sucked a little slower it was like a minty lemonade and it was fantastic! I recommend you all try it.

Other then that my weekend was spoiled. 60 degrees all week and we had to get below 30 today and get some snow. Sad! Oh well it should be gone by Monday night because the weather will get a bit warmer thankfully!

Food and Fun

For our 5th anniversary we wanted to do something together that would be fun and we would remember forever. K's coworker told her about a place called The Melting Pot. It is a wonderful place. Valet parking, nice atmosphere close to the town Christmas lights you can see.

It is a fondue place. You sit at a table and in the middle is a place to put a fondue pot that is headed by controls on the side of the table the waiter can turn.

You start with 4 choices. First you choose your cheese fondue (top right). Then they bring out bread, fruit and veggies for you to dip into the melted fondue pot. It is wonderful. There were apples there and the waiter told us that it is quite common to put apples with cheese, which Im not too familiar with. But it was ok. We got a spinich cheese fondue and it was fantastic.

Then you choose the type of brew you want your main course cooked in (left). There is an oil base, caribbean blend or a vegetable stock type flavoring. We chose the caribbean one and it smelled fantastic. They brought it out in another fondue pot and the aroma was just fantastic.

The third thing is to select what kind of course you want. The picture just to the right is a lobster tail that was included (right middle). Im not a big fan of lobster but K is. Shrimp, chicken, pork, fillet mignon were the ones I liked. We chose to get something with a variety of meats. They also brought out veggies and a few pastas. You put them in the fondue pot to cook for approx. 2 minutes each and they are done. It was very good!

Then the last choice you have is what kind of chocolate fondue to have (left). We chose a chocolate and carmel kind and it was so fantastic! Fruit, rice crispy treats, brownies and cheesecake were brought out to dip into it (right).

I have pictures of each and Im sorry they arent better but I forgot my camera so I only had the low quality pictures from the cell phone that I had with me at the time. Thanks to uncle N for watching the

kids while we went out.

We would definately go back after we budgeted in for it or we were on top of debt but it was a good experience for a one time thing. So if you go it is excellent, fun, nice atmosphere but on the pricey side.