Explosion of Activity

It seems as though her four-month checkup spurred some kind of “firsts” explosion. When we took her in on Friday, we were telling the doc that she hasn't rolled over yet. The doc said “she will soon enough, she's showing signs of it right now.” She was too, doing her darndest to disprove us right then and there. She also caught up the tongue depressor the doc had lying on the table and proceeded to pass it back and forth between her little hands, something we hadn't really noted her doing before. And that very night, she reached her goal and rolled herself from back to tummy just as she was drifting off to sleep. She wasn't a bit pleased about it either and fussed until we got over our amazment and turned her back over. Continue reading “Explosion of Activity”

Tourist Weekend Pt 2


Sunday was hike day, of course, but our group doubled in size since we were watching Liam and FeBe and Kelly and Erica tagged along. We went back to Corwina Park which is now officially one of my favorite hikes. You go through such variant terrain and I love the babbling brook that's along the trail for the first mile or so. It was a nice hike made more difficult for me because of the step class I'd attended on Sat. Still nice though.

Afterwards we got ice cream and took the babies home for naps. Soon enough, it was time for Kelly's birthday dinner at The Fort.

And just like that, the weekend was over. Loads more photos here and here. Sorry for the slight darkness in the photos. The camera was set wonky and they were slightly under exposed. I'm too lazy to correct them all though. Just imagine them brighter.

And the tourist fun continues next weekend when we head to Mesa Verde and Sand Dunes.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

from: Martha

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups packed fresh mint leaves
2 1/2 cups fresh lime juice (about 20 limes), plus 4 limes, thinly sliced crosswise, for garnish
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar

Directions
Bring granulated sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium pan over high heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Add sugar syrup and mint to a blender; puree. Pour through a very fine mesh sieve into a large serving container; discard solids.

Add lime juice, superfine sugar, and 2 quarts water to a serving container. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 1 day.

To serve, add ice cubes to fill and garnish with lime slices.

from: Everyday Food May 2006

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
4 scallions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 t dried oregano
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
coarse salt & ground pepper
1.5 lbs frozen large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 T chopped fresh mint plush more for garnish
4 oz feta cheese

Directions
Heat oven to 475. With rack in upper third. Heat oil in a large skillet over med. Add scallions, garlic and oregano; cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 min.

Add tomatoes. Cook over med stirring occasionally until no liquid remains in the skillet, 10-15 min. Season with salt and pepper.

Add shrimp and mint to skillet. Stir to combine; transfer to an 8-inch square (or other shallow 2 qt) baking dish. Crumble feta over top.

Bake until liquid is bubbling, cheese is beginning to brown and shrimp in center of dish are opaque, 15-20 min. Serve with orzo and green beans, sprinkled with additional chipped mint.

Nutritional Info (with orzo and green beans, 1/4 recipe(
563 calories; 20.5 g fat; 46.6 g protein; 47.9 g carbohydrates; 5.7 g fiber

from: Everyday Food May 2006

Ingredients
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 C orzo
8 oz green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T olive oil

Directions
In a med saucepan of boiling salted water, cook orzo 4 minutes. Add green beans; continue cooking until beans are tender and orzo is al dente, about 5-6 min.

Drian orzo and return to saucepan. Mix in lemon juice and oil. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper.

from: Everyday Food April 2006

Ingredients
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Place butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes; remove bowl from pan. Add sugar; mix to combine. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). On a cutting board, using a dampened serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

from: Eddie Deckard

Ingredients
1 can (29 oz) pumpkin
4 eggs
1 can ecaporated milk
1.5 C sugar
2 t cinnamon (up to 2 T if you like)
1 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 C butter
1 C chopped nuts
whipped cream or cool whip for topping

Directions
Beat first 7 ingredients and put in an ungreased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture. Pour 1 C melted butter over cake mix and sprinkle with 1 C chopped nuts. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, no longer. Top wth whipped cream or cool whip.

Tourist Weekend Pt 1


We had the opportunity to play tourists in our own state this weekend because my sister's friend and roommate from college, Erica, is in town. We started off the day with a trip to the Paris Street Market. It was way hot and though we enjoyed looking, no one bought anything.

After a quick lunch, we gathered up Matt and went to the highest auto road in North America, up to 14,127 feet on Mount Evans.

Loads of photos, here and here.

Happiness is …

♥ a freshly washed, vacuumed, windexed and waxed car (for $15)
♥ my sis turning 25 tomorrow, and being as amazing a person as any 25 year old out there
♥ a quiet office
♥ a beautiful day
♥ a free (pir@ted) copy of the new Fountains of Wayne
♥ laminating things
♥ lunch with good people
♥ seeing my baby girl in T minus 3 hours
♥ a night at home with my darling Matty
♥ sudoku on my gameboy
♥ finally finding my cellphone
♥ Fridays!

Recycled, Cheap Book Mooch Packaging

Before I sent my first book mooch, I was trying to figure out an economical way to package the book. What I really wanted was one of those little sleeve things that Amazon uses when they send out books and other small rectangular objects. But all I had was some cardboard … here's what I did:


Gathered up all the stuff … cardboard, book, tape, utility knife. Continue reading “Recycled, Cheap Book Mooch Packaging”

Busy Busy Weekend

This weekend I
– drove way out of my way to have a great meal
– went for a pretty sucky hike (way hot, no tree cover)
– saw one of my best friends from childhood get married
– had good sushi
– watched my little girl go nuts over a toy
– failed to find a copy of the newest issue of ReadyMade at Barnes & Noble
– caught up with some people from my past
– got exactly 1 thing on my to-do list accomplished
– had a great time!