previously this summer...

I was thinking back on the fun we've had this summer and realized I'd never posted all the pictures from our trip home. So here are quite a few of them. Good times indeed!

Ode to Summer

As I put the little ones to bed the other night, I noticed that it was a touch darker than usual and thought perhaps we were getting to bed later than I thought. Nope, not the case. Instead, I realized that the days are starting to get shorter; summer is coming to an end. My camera is in the shop again (it evidentally wasn't repaired properly during it's previous fix up and I'm now left without my memory preserver for another couple of weeks!) so to entertain you, I have will post a bit of bad poetry for you.

Ode to Summer

Oh dear summer, how did your days pass by so quickly?
Is your end really drawing near?

We spent your days at the swimming pool,
splishing and splashing away most afternoons.

We enjoyed the peach pies and cobblers; ice cream cones a plenty;
fresh fruits and BBQs,
slushies, smores and corn on the cob.

We read books, grew a garden,
went on trips, enjoyed friends.
We slept in, stayed up late,
went to movies, even had a date!

Must this season come to an end?
Must we really hang up our towels?

Oh, summer we love you. We can't wait 'till you come 'round again!

Looking for more recipes to try

I'd love to try some of your favorite recipes. E-mail me at alyssa_wahlquist@hotmail.com Thanks!

New Favorite Recipes

I want to share my two new favorite recipes from the summer (not that they are "summer recipes," just things I've made this summer).

The first is for Spanish Rice, which I love but don't usually ever make because the mixes for it are SO high in sodium. This is not only better for you, but it SO tasty and SO easy! Another thanks to Danina for this great find!

Spanish Rice:

saute:
2 TBSP oil
2 TBSP chopped onion
add:
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice (NOT minute rice)
Cook until lightly browned.
add:
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup of your favorite salsa
...and I like to add 1 or 2 chopped tomatoes from our garden

Stir to a boil. Cover and cook on low 20 min.


My next new favorite recipe is for Oatmeal White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies.
(Anyone who knows my taste buds must be surprised that these are on my fav. list since they sound all fancy. I questioned them in name only but LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to eat them.) Trust me, they are amazing! Thank you to Jenn for my new cookie obsession.
Jenn's mom has an awesome website filled with such delights as these at: www.barbarabakes.blogspot.com. I recommed checking this site out if you are looking for something fun to make.

Oatmeal White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups flour (or 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/4 cups oats
1 cup craisins
1 cup white chocolate chips (Jenn suggest Nestle brand are the best)

Cream butter and sugars. Mix in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients (except oats). Slowly add to wet ingredients. Add oats, craisins and white chocolate. Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Key Lime Pie

My cousin Danina challenged me to bake a Key Lime Pie with her, and so I did. Here is the result:



It was SO delicious! We ate it too fast to take a picture!
(Adam even liked it and he's not the biggest fan of key lime.)

Here's the recipe for any else who is up to the challenge:

Ingredients:
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
2/3 cup toasted coconut (optional)
1/3 cup key lime juice* (the girls loved helping me juice the tiny limes)
2 1/2 teaspoons key lime zest
9 inch round graham cracker crust

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300. In a large mixing bowl, using your electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, lime juice and zest until the eggs are creamy. Slowly add condensed milk and toasted coconut and mix until well combined. Pour into crust and bake 15 minutes or until the pie is "set" and no longer feels liquid to the touch. Cool on wire rack, refrigerate.

How to toast coconut: (We didn't use coconut and it was still great.)
Preheat oven to 350. Arrange shredded/flaked coconut on a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until light golden brown. Stir and check frequently to prevent burning. Remove from oven and allow to cool before using.


CRUST: (This crust was SO yummy!)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
Cooking spray


To prepare crust, combine first 3 ingredients, and stir well with a whisk. Add melted butter; toss until moist. Press the remaining mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray; lightly coat crust with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, and remove from oven

***For visual appeal, I added a few drops of neon green food coloring before we baked it and then served it topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with key lime zest. It looked so pretty...I still can't believe I didn't get a picture!

A trip to the Underground

Adam's parents and sister and bro-in-law drove all the way out to just to say hello this past weekend. (Now that's love!) They got here Friday in the late afternoon and we packed in as much fun as we could before they had to leave Sunday morning. We did some shopping, some eating, the adult girls got pedicures! :), we went to "As You Like It" in the park under the stars and also visited the "Underground Gardens." This place was really cool! It was built by an Italian immigrant in the early 1900's who had a dream of having a citrus plantation like his father had in Italy. He came here, where the land was cheap but upon discovering the awful heat, got the idea to move underground. He single-handedly carved out over 10 acres of tunnels complete with living quarters and the beginnings of his plantation. His trees grew from the underground receiving their sunlight and rain water from skylights. He dreamt of even having restaurants and a resort where people could come to visit and escape the heat. Sadly his life, and his dream were cut short before their completion but what he did accomplish was magnificent...and without any formal education on farming or architechture. So here is your "sneek peak" at the underground: Thanks for the visit guys! Can't wait until next time!

Taquitos!

The most traditional meal my family had during my growing up years would have to be cheese taquitos! The "grown -ups" made them for most every family get together on my dad's side. (I always got to help roll the cheese into the tortillas but never help with the frying because of the hot oil.) I'm surprised to admit, but until yesterday, I had never actually made them myself and when I did, I had a real "I did a grown -up thing" moment. I put on my apron and rolled up the cheese and fried the tortillas. It was so great! It was so strange to have the feeling of doing something I'd never done before. You get to having a husband, three kids and a house to look after and think you've done all the grown -up stuff. Nope - for me there was still this and it was a thrill...and they were absolutely delicious! Thanks for the tradition, family! I will now be passing it on to my kids and hopefully having you over for chesse taquitos at my place sometime soon!

Updates in July

We have been having a great summer! It has been HOT but that means lots of swimming, which we love! We have really just been enjoying "hanging out." We were excited to have a quick visit from Adam's brother Danny and his wife Heather last week and look forward to a visit from the rest of Adam's family this weekend. (Drive Safe!)

The kiddos have been causing all sorts of humorous trouble around here. Let me share a few examples:
*Allie -She has entered "toddler-hood" and is way more excited about it than I am. She has officially been corrupted! She has been learning to count to three at Aubrey's promptings to jump off the couch with her (on the count of three); she throws all the books off the bookshelves, laughs when I pick them up, then runs back and does it all again; we can't keep her off the counter-tops (from which she throws drying dishes and steals chocolates); and she has an opinion about what she eats and drinks. She also does cute things like trying to sing "Happy Birthday" and telling us "po-po" when she wants a diaper change. She is growing up SO fast!

Satisfied after getting into yet another piece of chocolate!




*Aubrey -She has kissy lips! Her nursery teacher informed me she and her supposed boyfriend were caught kissing on the lips during class on Sunday! Yikes! We had a little talk about it when we got home but really, try explaining why we don't kiss other little boys to a three year old! They just don't get it and I'm afraid there really isn't a good explanation. She also recently got very upset at me when we were picking up some books in the playroom. She was SO mad at me! Evidently the books were her baby's pillow. I apologized and told her I was just picking up and didn't know they were "pillows." She responded, "That's because you didn't see!!!" Through the eyes of a child... I'm making a renewed effort to see with my kid vision just for her. It's like that story where the parent scolds the child for not staying out of the street like they were told and the child says, "mommy, what's the street?" There is much we don't understand about each other!

*Alexis - She is always up to something. She has been entertaining us with the elaborate tales of her imagination, puppet shows, and craft projects. This week she has also been using scraps of fabric to cut out quilt pieces which I am to sew together should I have the time to make a blanket for her baby. :) She is very proud of the reading she has been doing this summer and the "tricks" she has been doing in the swimming pool.

Would you do this for free Chick-fil-A?

Yesterday was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A. They offered any customers who would come in dressed as a cow, a free meal. I came upon this happy information just as I was about to start marinating some chicken for dinner. Instead, I started cutting out "costumes" for our free night out! Adam was a great sport. He declared that "no self respecting person would dress like a cow for food!" and then he proceeded to adhere black paper spots to his shirt. It was SO worth it too! Each member of our family got to pick any meal off the menu; it came complete with waffle fries and their fabulous lemondade! What a treat! The restaurant was all decked out and it was fun to see everyone in their different versions of cow attire (and of course the funny faces from those who weren't dressed up but secretly wished they were.) The girls had a good time being silly and the only truly embarassing moment was when Adam and I realized that the girls had taken their "gid-up" off and only he and I were left with our cow ears on!

Happy Fourth of July!

We spent the fourth of July at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and had an absolutely fabulous time!

not for the faint of heart

We rode our bikes across the Golden Gate bridge -twice!

We got this crazy idea that it would be fun to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge, so this past weekend we did...and we barely survived! If we had known what we were in for we would never have done this but as my mom said, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" And in the end, we are glad we did it, but it was a whole lot more than we bargained for. We didn't know about the two massive hills we'd have to go up (which we could barely walk up let alone pedal a bike towing 50 pounds of children); we didn't know how much harder it actually is to remember how to ride a bike after 10 or so years; we didn't know Lexi was going to get an ear ache and cry all the way across the bridge (and back); we didn't know about the crazy wind blowing against us that nearly defeated us; we didn't know we wouldn't be able to make it to the last ferry back across the bay (which meant we had to ride ALL the way back -yeah, I very nearly just sat down and cried!); we didn't know there was no such option as a rescue helicopter when we wanted to give up; we didn't know we'd end up riding almost 12 miles!!!; we didn't know we'd be bruised and aching for days after (I took a few swiggs of the children's tylenol we bought for Lexi to help ease the intensive aching in my legs -it helped!); and we didn't know what a sense of accomplishment we'd have after surviving all that! It truly was breathtaking (not just because of the wind in our face)! We are glad we did it and enjoyed the downhill ride back to the city during which we could reflect on our triumph. I will recommend to anyone with the same crazy desire to bike across the bridge to ride a ferry to Sausilito and then bike back to SF across the bridge from there. It would be mostly downhill and a delightful ride. For us, this trip made the top of the list for both the worst and the best of our many "weekend warrior" adventures.

At Long Last!

I have been wanting to see the waterfalls at Yosemite since we moved here and finally got my chance a weekend back. They were spectacular, as is the Yosemite valley in general! What a beautiful world we live in!