recipe plug

If you read my blog you'll notice there is a new tab in my banner: recipe rendezvous.  This is my official plug.  Lately I've been trying a lot of new recipes and in an effort to keep track of them for myself and to have a place to review and suggest recipes, I've set up hyperlinks there.  If I made any adjustments to the recipe or have any suggestions, they are included below the recipe under : notes.

All that being said I thought I'd make a quick list of the things I love when it comes to baking or cooking.  To me these things are essential to have on hand to make almost any recipe.

• buttermilk: I never even knew what buttermilk was until about 10 years ago.  I thought it was the name of a pancake or bread recipe.  It is incredible because it is low in fat and high in protein and adds a wonderful tangy flavor to so many recipes.  When you see something that uses milk or cream, do a quick google search and see if it can be replaced by buttermilk or if there is a buttermilk recipe version out there.  It is creamy and thick and will vary your recipes in an awesome way.  Check out my tab for the buttermilk lemon poppy seed muffins or buttermilk waffles recipes.
• lemons/lemon squeezer:  again, growing up we always had lemon juice on hand but it was in that cute little squeeze bottle.  Once a year we would typically buy lemons for our Thanksgiving pie called the Legend which called for fresh lemon juice.  Now I always buy lemons like eggs, milk, butter or other staple items.  There are so many baked goods that are amazing when lemon flavored or have a wonderful more complex and fresh flavor when lemon zest is added.  If you decide to start purchasing lemons on a regular basis, I highly recommend purchasing a lemon squeezer.  They are about $10 or even cheaper at discount stores (like Ross) and will become an essential part of your baking repertoire.
• Cilantro: it is sort of a joke in our household now that whenever I make a recipe that has cilantro in it that my husband asks if I just decided to add that ingredient.  I tell him, "no, it calls for it in the recipe" although I typically add it fairly generously.  In my experience, fresh cilantro really brings out the other flavors in a recipe and enhances them in a really complimentary way.  Cilantro is almost always on my list like lemons and my other staples.  Some of my favorite ways to use cilantro are:
• cilantro-lime chicken recipe (olive oil, lemon, honey, salt, pepper, cilantro and lime)
• on top of Tortilla soup or fresh black bean chile
• in chicken salad on whole wheat bread
• in tacos or pulled pork burritos with whole wheat tortillas and mozzerella cheese
• Plain yogurt: yet another item that has recently become a staple for me.  It is very handy to add to some fresh fruit and milk in the blender with some protein powder for a delicious smoothie/shake.  Low or no fat options again with lots of protein make this a wonderful choice for your breakfast or even afternoon snack.  Top with toasted granola, nuts, cranberries or other fruit for breakfast as well.  The other reason this has started to become a staple for me is because it is often in low-fat recipes for baking.  It is often substituted in place of oils or butter in baking like in muffins.  Sometimes you have to play with the recipe to get the right texture but it is nice to know (for those of us who are sweet tooths) that there are some things you can do to mitigate the effects of eating too many baked goods :)

getting away (California sun trip)

Aven loved playing on the huge King Sized Bed!

Last day with Grandma Geneva

View from our room, interesting!

Family photo @ Torrey Pines State Park

Torrey Pines State Park hike

The essentials, sun, kid and coffee!

Balboa Park

Zia's Bistro Little Italy San Diego

Ava & Aven

Balboa Theater in Gaslap District, SD

SeaPort Village Carousel

Birch Aquarium at Scripps

Aven and the Jump Jump (Mommy, help me)

Extraordinary Desserts (SD)

Aven entertaining herself on the plane with stickers, sure, put them anywhere!

Fun (or sort of) in the sun/vacation:
A few days after I got back from my quick out of town trip, we went on our first "real vacation" with Aven.  Last year we went to Winthrop but it was only for a few days.  This was a full fledged vacation with plane rides and rental cars and motels and family and tourist activities and nights out on the town!  It was busy and fun but exhausting with a toddler.

Short run down of the trip:

• Left Easter Sunday (had to wake up Aven @ 5:45 am) she did great on the plane although she was tired and a bit restless after having to stay in one place for so long.  Schlepped bags and car seat through the Seattle airport and ate breakfast before schlepping to another terminal with hot coffee spilling all over ourselves!
• Arrived at LAX and rented a car- drove to Huntington Beach to visit Grandma Geneva (Abe's grandma).  Aven had seen her when she was about 7 months old so it would be a lot different this time.  Aven took a 20 min nap the whole day in the car ride from the airport to Geneva's so she was a bit tired that night!  Went to a fun Japanese place with a literal gondola of food!  The servers were so friendly and accommodating of Aven though.  Put Aven to bed and Grandma came over to the guesthouse where we were staying to chat for awhile.
• Took a beautiful warm morning walk to Starbucks for some snacks and caffeine.  Met a nice gentleman from Hungary.  Drove to Laguna Beach for brunch at "The Beach House" a seaside cottage of Slim Summerville in the early 1900's (Hollywood actor) turned restaurant overlooking the water.  Had a wonderful lunch with amazing Lemon basil martini and looked out over the water.
• Drove back to Huntington beach and relaxed for the afternoon with grandma.  Had a dinner of leftovers and relaxed before turning in for the evening.  Put Aven to bed and then swam and relaxed in the Jacuzzi under the night stars and crisp evening air.
• Had some breakfast with Grandma and headed out to San Diego~arrived mid afternoon and checked into our motel.  Out of our room was an interesting logo "Jesus Christ is Lord not a Swear Word"- found out the owner has a trucking business with this name!  Interesting.  After getting settled in and after Aven's nap we headed out to downtown San Diego's Gaslamp district.    Had dinner at The Beer Co.  Cheap eats and good bear.  More of a sports bar and nothing to brag about but we had a great time listening to the early-mid 90's music and sharing a meal together (no baby drama).  We walked around Gaslamp a bit and found some awesome Gelato at Cremolosa restaurant with some very entertaining waiters!
• The next day after breakfast we headed out to Torrey Pines State Park.  We loaded up Aven in the backpack and wandered around most of the trails along the ridge even going down to the beach.  There were some super interesting formations from the sandstone where the water has worn away parts of the minerals.  The whole time we were in beautiful weather and overlooking the beach.  We must have been near a military base because we saw what looked to be bombers and helicopters and all sorts of air crafts.  Aven loved it.  We saw some wild bunnies, all kinds of birds and new flowers and some lizards too.
• That evening we headed down to Seaport Village a little outdoor group of shops right on the water.  It was a bit touristy and some of the shops were cheesy but it was a beautiful evening and the ambiance was great.  Aven even got to ride on her first ever Carousel.  I love the music, makes me feel nostalgic of years past.  After this we headed to San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood.  It is filled with mostly Italian Restaurants and shops.  It has a really neat feel.  We chose Fillippi's a place boasting great atmosphere and a little Italian grocer up front.  The pizza wasn't anything to write about but the place was fun.
• Our last day "on our own" before meeting up with my cousin Gina and her family, we started our day with a breakfast in Pacific Beach at a little cafe.  We sat outside and ate delicious fresh fruit and relaxed in the morning sun.  We ended up befriending another couple sitting beside us with their two kids.  They were down doing some touristy things for Spring Break.  We hopped across the street afterwards to the beach and walked around for a few minutes, taking in the sun.  After this (and I won't go into laborious details about what to do with getting a kid a nap when you have no place to go) we drove about an hour east to Mt. Laguna.  We saw a bobcat there and enjoyed the cool afternoon and then ate our lunch in the car while driving back to SD.  Wandered around driving for (too long) trying to find Balboa Park (found it at last, horrible signs if you are coming from the back side, even with GPS).  Wandered the gardens and buildings, very very beautiful and does truly remind me of Spain.  Ate dinner again in Little Italy at Zia's bistro.  There were linen napkins, live classical guitar and glass water glasses and then then Aven really started to go crazy.  It was about the straw that broke the Daddy's back.  While we had had several nice moments and times there were a lot of frustrations traveling with a toddler and they seemed to come to a head that evening!  On we went though.
• We headed to my cousin Gina's (and husband Matt's) house to stay for a few days. They have a daughter, Ava, who is 1 month older than Aven.  We had seen them when the girls were 7/8 months old but it was fun to watch them again and we had a bit more time to hang out this time.
• Gina and I took the girls to a little play place for the morning so they could do a kid-centered activity and we gave Abe a break.  It was fun to watch the girls play and the place was packed!  Had dinner all together that night and gave the girls a bath together.  The next day we had breakfast all together (with Matt) and then headed out to the La Jolla Aquarium (Birch Aquarium at Scripps).  It is right up on the cliff overlooking the water and there were plenty of new things to see there.  Afterwards we had lunch together and headed home to put the girls to bed!  After getting the girls some dinner and giving them some play time on the Jump Jump the Daddy's put the kiddos to bed and the Mommy's went out for a night on the town.
• Gina and I went to Extraordinary Desserts.  It was a super fun atmosphere and had the most beautiful desserts I have ever seen.  We sat at the bar and talked about motherhood, life, family, husbands, work and just about anything.  It was a really nice evening of just relaxing out together.  After turning in about midnight that night, we set our alarm for 4am (had to wake up Aven @ 4:45) to go to the airport.  She did excellent on the airplane again (the longer trip was first this time) and didn't even get grumpy or cry but she did fall asleep on our final descent down into Bellingham- the girl was tired!
• We arrived home a bit tired and a bit "done" but we all survived and had plenty of good memories to jot down for the record.  It was such a treat to see our family and the sun!

family sundays

In the last month we've had some relaxing family days, namely Sundays.  Two weekends ago we went on a little tool buying adventure to Port Hadlock (near Port Townsend, Wa).  We decided to make a day of it.  We packed up the doggies, the baby and ourselves in our little Forester, bought some big cups of coffee and bagels and hit the road.  We crossed the water on the Ferry (Aven loved looking out at the water, the boats, the clouds and the birds) and then drove down the island to Port Hadlock.  It was a rare February day in that it was about 55 degrees and wonderfully sunny.  The tool was housed at some property outside of town.  While Abe laboured over moving the huge and very heavy tool, Aven and the dogs and I walked around and explored the property.  It was a lovely spot of land with a huge garden, garden guest house, gigantic shop with guest loft, pond, beautiful house with a deck outside facing the sun and grassy paths that led to all of their neighbors.  Aven loved running around and exploring and running after the doggies.  She played in some leftover fall leaves and really got a taste of running around outside.

After this adventure we headed back up to Port Townsend for some snacks and shopping.  We ducked in a few little restaurants and settled on one: the Courtyard Cafe.  It was a little unassuming Victorian house off a side street and had the perfect Sunday ambiance.  I ran inside to check the menu while Daddy, Aven and doggies held down the fort in the car.  It had some sunny seats by the window, live musicians playing flutes and fiddles and calming folk guitar music and huge cinnamon pull-aparts and amazing scones grabbed my eye in the front glass case.  It was the kind of place that makes you happy that you live in the NorthWest.  Unassuming meals at reasonable prices with a lovely and not stuffy atmosphere.  Young and old mixing it up and interacting together and delicious comfort food.

After an early morning and a long day, we dozed a bit in the car on the ferry ride back while we kept our child entertained with Annie's Cheddar Bunnies.

A few weeks before the above named adventure, we went to one of our favorite splurges, Tweets cafe in Edison, WA.  It is admittedly a bit overpriced but is worth the wonderful atmosphere, amazing little treats and fun small town feeling.  In Edison, everyone is friendly.  It is really a tiny little close knit community where everyone cannot help but know everyone else because, well, it is only about 15 businesses long!  The little "downtown" strip has a wonderful store (mentioned before) called the Lucky Dumpster with fun vintage finds and plenty of creative and locally made treasures like animals made from reclaimed sweaters, felt crowns for kids and industrial metal words with new reclaimed wood tops.  You can wander from here to the woodworking gallery of Smith & Vallee and see wonderful local artists from sculptures and paintings to woodwork and metalwork.  It is housed in a lovely old wooden building with old planked wood floors, open beam ceilings and bright white paint on the walls.  Down the street is a truly unique shop that has everything from awesome handmade jewelry to a Walrus head (I am not sure why, but it is there to see).  Then there is Slough Food (a wine, cheese and food shop), Farm to Market bakery, Tweets, Breadfarm bakery and a few other local haunts like the local bar.

Tweets has the kind of ambiance the old coffee shops in Seattle once had and places like Anthropologie aspire to, only naturally.  The outside has a handful of fresh herbs and plants for sale.  The little wooden tables, chairs and stools inside are missing an appropriate amount of paint to see quaint and are pleasantly mismatched and the uneven wood planked floor seems homey and warm.  But the food is delicious and spitefully a bit too good for its own taste.  Their pastries always boast the amazing citrus infused whipped mascarpone cheese and the other delectables are beyond measure.  A decent cup of coffee will accompany anything you order while you sit among locals and enjoy the rain coming down the windows.  On a sunny day you might sit by the roll up door on rickety iron tables and chairs and see the folks walk by and smile or wave.  But you'll never be disappointed by the treats at Tweets (just maybe the dent it takes out of your wallet).

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am just trying to enjoy the small and quiet moments of life.  These lazy Sundays are no exception.  There were certainly piles of laundry at home, dishes to wash and put away, bills to pay, recycling to take out and groceries to buy- but there was also a decent time to be had enjoying the company of my family and the simplicity of a beautiful rainy or sunny afternoon.

what Saturdays are made of

Taking pictures of curious images on buildings in downtown Edison, Wa at

Curator's Shop

The Lucky Dumpster -my favorite place to stop and browse...local crafty things made of reclaimed fabric, cards, wood, paper, vintage fabric, etc as well as fun thrift store finds. Very eclectic collection of items to browse through and friendly locals to chat with while you sip your coffee purchased from Tweets coffee (below)

Great lite and fun vintage sign on turn of the century building

Tweets

coffee & treats, wonderful homemade pies, pastries and coffee- a little overpriced but worth the beautiful drive to enjoy the sights and smells- roll up garage door lets warm afternoon sunlight in and locals roll on through and get their mid-morning or afternoon caffeine fix

Wishful thinking, outdoor seating in Washington....will spring be here soon?

Farm to Market Bakery

amazing pastries and yummy breakfast treats and sandwiches- enjoyed an "odds and ends" cinnamon roll for 1.50 with an unhealthy dollop of cream cheese frosting, polenta cakes saturated in fresh squeezed lime juice, quiche with local eggs and veggies

gosh how I love guilty pleasures....nothing starts my weekend better than a cinnamon roll, latte and my having a date with my husband....

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hope yours is happy too whatever you do