Suburban Homestead

Deadly Mushrooms in Backyard!

My good friend Brian recently posted some spectacular photos on Facebook of him and his friend foraging for mushrooms in West Marin.

I was titillated by the imagery, and instantly jealous of their confidence and know-how.

When I spoke to Brian about the experience several days later, I was in the car with the kids and he was on speakerphone. We got the quick download on how to safely forage for mushrooms - the quick bit I took away is that all toxic mushrooms have white gills. This information stuck with the kids too, as they've mentioned it several times since.

So imagine my excitement today when I stumbled upon this mound of mushrooms while delivering leftover crab and half-eaten chocolate cake slices to the girls in the coop.

Woo-hoo, I thought. Let's make backyard mushroom risotto! Let's do a little research...

Now let me first say that I would NEVER eat a mushroom I just found. I know nothing about this stuff (except that when done wrong, you can die) and am too willy-nilly to even think of going there. I think it is as cool as all get out to know such stuff, but I don't. Still, I thought it would be fun to do a little online checking.

When I showed the 7 year old the underside of the mushrooms (read: white gills), he started to hyperventilate. I'm glad he was paying attention.

It turns out that that beautiful cluster of fungi out back is "the world's most dangerous mushroom."

Woops!

From what I can tell, I'm thinking these are Death Cap mushrooms! They are very common here in the Bay area, often found this time of year at the base of oak and cork trees. Right now, they are growing right where an oak fell last year.

We will dig them up in the morning and dispose of them properly. But in the meantime, I've got to wonder why the heck am I so special that I get a bunch of these in my backyard? Geez...

My Mom's 80th Birthday

We celebrated my amazing mother's 80th birthday at Nick's Cove in Marshall this afternoon!

Doesn't the cake just say it all?!

We ate oysters and flatbread, fish and chips, crab sandwiches and cioppino!

It was a great time with everyone. Thanks to Jackie for making it all happen!

xoxo

This day last year: "Brining Olives - That's a Wrap!"

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Five years ago today, my little *Beanie-Love* came into this world wearing nothing more than a sweet, little smile...

...and a few hundred long black eyelashes that she liked to bat at her daddy whenever he looked her way.

The SF Nutcracker

Last night, on a whim, I purchased tickets for myself and Little Miss to see the second-to-last performance of the San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker.

It was absolutely SPECTACULAR!!!

If you haven't gone yet, you must go next year. In the mean time, go to the website here and watch a short video preview that will leave you in a dream state.

 

This day last year: "The Spirit of Papa"

Christmas Brunch

This Christmas morning, we ate the same tart I made last year, only I used my recently-made pomegranate jelly instead of quince. And instead of topping the tart with circular cuts of pie dough, I used *North Pole Animals*.

Of course, there was also eggs, bacon, sausage and coffee. But you can't really form any of those into cute, cold-weather loving animal shapes, now can you. Enjoy your food!

My Favorite Gift

All the presents have been opened, and we are now happily doing the things we love: playing, napping and blogging.

This Christmas was egg-ceptional in that the kids initial reactions to seeing the Christmas tree this morning were, for the first time, satisfying and rewarding. In years past, I've always found myself a bit saddened that they never seem as thrilled with their surprises as I'd hoped. "Hey, Mom. Look. It's a pink bike."

Wa-wa-wa-waaaaa.

This year they were great -- thrilled, gleeful, thankful, surprisingly patient.  :)

But what I really, really, really want to share is the most incredibly thoughtful, generous and creative gift my kids received from their Granny.

You may have heard of Heifer International, an organization that provides livestock to families in the third world to help improve nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways.

I've been familiar with this incredible organization for years, and have held onto their catalog as a reminder of a great gift to give.  I just haven't ever done it yet, for reasons I now know to be silly.

See granny gave my kids the gift of a pig - donated to a poor family in need, and did so in their names. And to mark the gesture, she gave them several pig related gifts so that they could "remember all day the pig present" that they gave to another family in a different part of the world.

I have tears in my eyes (again) as I write this. What an incredible Christmas gift for anyone to receive, but to give it to children, in such a fun and creative way, was absolutely heart-warming. I will have to steal this idea and encourage you to as well!

Their piggy gifts included bacon gummy candy, piggy bath scrubs, piggy booties for a baby doll and piggy banks filled with chocolate coins.

Thank you, Granny Alexis!!! You are the absolute BEST!  xoxo

We Love Bouche de Noel!

I have always admired the whimsical Bouche de Noel (aka Log Cake), although I've yet to bite into one.

That will all change TONIGHT! I signed us up to bring one to Christmas dinner at my sister's house and if the reactions from licking the bowls are any indication of how this is going to go, I think Mommy has a new Christmas tradition.

The kids and I had a blast yesterday morning making all the holiday desserts. They loved making the marzipan mushrooms.

I also rolled out some Christmas lights in marzipan, a trick I stole from our grocery store's log design. The almost-five-year-old made the mushroom below on the right - which I love. It's true to form with all the baby mushrooms shooting up on the big on.

I used this recipe but reserved 1/3 of the frosting recipe to use on the exterior of the log - something that wasn't actually called for. I will serve it up at my sister's house surrounded by leaves and dusted with powdered sugar, like this photo.  I'm already thinking about next year's cake - I'm going to dress up the log with little gnomes, red capped mushrooms and tiny presents. Happy Holidays!!

Holiday House Tour

We are so lucky to have several extraordinary houses near us that go all out on the Christmas decorations for everyone to enjoy.

Above is Nisja's Bear House, located at 383 Quietwood Drive in San Rafael. The entire yard is decorated with lights and moving figurines that all compete for your attention while a train zooms here and there. Just around the corner...

...is our favorite - Linda's Snow Village - which less about a decorated house and more about a big glass box in a woman's driveway, housing a miniature electrical town. Located at 563 Miller Creek Road, San Rafael.

Favorite Gifts to Give

Every year, Daddy receives holiday gift baskets from various business associates. Occasionally, there will be a lovely box of Harry + David fruit and nuts, if we're lucky. But more often than not, the boxes contain mass quantities of not-worth-the-calories dark, chocolate fudge, brownies and cookies. Right now I have a 12" pecan pie, "Made in Texas", that I'm wondering what to do with.

And it always makes me wonder, who is in charge of ordering this stuff?

I'm guessing whoever is in charge of ordering is just sending out the same thing to every client. And I understand why this must be, but at the same time, I just cringe at all the waste.

I have never asked Daddy what his office sent to their clients in the past, half-scared to know the answer. Instead, I offered to take over the ordering this year, in an effort to lighten the world a few more mommies having to dump seven pounds of mediocre dessert food (to their chickens).

Walking through the San Francisco Ferry Building recently, I got the idea to send out gifts from local producers.  Not only would we be sharing our favorite foods from home, but we could keep the money local while supporting small business.

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!

Here's what I sent:

If you are a business associate of my husband, and you have 2+ kids, I sent you Miette Bakery's Valencia Hamper.

Gosh - I wish someone would send us one of these! (Anyone? Anyone?!?)  I know it is on the sweet side, but it's Miette, so that makes it OK.

If you are an associate of my husband and you are married with a grown child or two at home, I may have sent you a Cowgirl Creamery Holiday Collection,

or a sampler from our favorite local spot, Rustic Bakery.

For small offices with several people on staff, I sent the Miette Holiday Box.

If you are a single woman, or mom, I sent you a selection of body products from McEvoy Ranch, as well as a bottle of their olive oil.

And if I couldn't figure out much about you, I probably sent you a little taste of California in the form a gift box from my favorite olive oil producer, California Olive Ranch.

On a more personal note, I also wanted to give gifts to all the wonderful service providers in our immediate life: the dog walker, the gardeners, etc. In the past, I have always given them cash but with the introduction of Milly's dog walker, who takes her for an amazing 4-5 hours a day, 2 days a week, and with whom I have more of a personal relationship with, I wanted something a tad more thoughtful. So to all these people I gave $25 gift certificates to Rustic Bakery. I love that I get to share one of our favorite spots while supporting a local business, owned and operated by women supporting our local agriculture.

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!

Happy Holidays! 

Wordless Wednesday

This day last year: "The Island of Misfit Toys"

Teddy Bear Tea

I'm going to sound entirely like Fancy Nancy when I say this, but we went to a Teddy Bear Tea today. And it was at the Ritz-Carlton.

*Nana* took a gaggle of us girls as her guests and we got to dress up!  Little Miss wore her party best, and I wore a vintage blouse my mother sewed in the '60's from silk fabric my uncle brought back for Japan. (Epic, Mom.)

Neighborhood Cookie Decorating Party

Anyone who scrolls the front page of my blog these days might be hard pressed to believe we eat anything but cookies.

It's true, there have been a lot of cookies in our life lately. And if you can believe it, there are more to come.

Chicken Pot Pie

Growing up, I remember four rotating dinners upon my TV dinner tray: Kraft mac-n-cheese, fish sticks, spaghetti marinara and chicken pot pie.

Three out of four came from a box.

I loved them all, but there was something special about those chicken pot pies -- they were all mine, and I didn't have to share the contents of my little tin tray with anyone. There were no family style dilemas to be had while eating pot pie - it allowed for total culinary independence, and that was empowering. I ate a lot of those little pies, served up on a folding fiberglass TV dinner tray, inlayed with maple leaves and little gold squiggles. Janet, Chrissy and Jack Tripper, along with George and Weezie Jefferson, were there with me for every last bite.

Flash forward thirty years and I still love me some chicken pot pie comfort food in the winter! The only difference now is, I make my pies from scratch.

Cookie Decorating Class

I recently hosted a cookie decorating class, instructed by my friend Kate, and opened it up to all my friends with early morning availability.

Kate baked cookies for nine, and brought all the necessary elements for decoration. For 2-1/2 hours she instructed on how to make piping and flood, how to correctly prep all your tools and lastly, how to decorate gorgeous holiday cookies. (I, of course, couldn't help but throw in lunch - Ina's Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette... of course.  ;)

Wordless Wednesday

This day last year: "Quince Jelly + Membrillo"

The Dickens Fair!

"Welcome to London!!" bellows the hearty woman after taking our tickets and ushering us in. We had finally arrived at our destination - Dickens' mid-19th century London.

And just like that, the magic began! Our early morning preparations of recounting the story of Scrooge and the good lessons learned, of discussing the evolution of the English language with our small kids (read: "People used to talk funny!"), of contemplating top hats and hoop-dresses, and the pin-pointing on London on a map - had all been for this moment. And as we enter the Cow Palace, all aglow with soft lighting and the hustle-n-bustle of a Victorian era London street scene, we are truly transported back in time, to a place best traveled with the eyes and hearts of small children.

Our first stop - Mr. Fezziwigs, to watch a dance routine while snacking on warm, sugar-cinnamon toasted almonds, served up in a paper cone.

For over 30 years I have carried the most wonderful memories of attending the Dickens Fair as a child. I remember the dark, damp air of a covered pier at Fort Mason, it's original location. I remember eating a giant, frosted sugar cookie that tasted like the finest Christmas dessert and strolling the streets among lively actors in costume, and performers on stilts. I have visions of fog lying low to the ground - a memory I'm not certain is even accurate. Were there really fog machines? Or has time allowed sweet memories to grow even sweeter? There were no fog machines during yesterday's visit, but I was far from disappointed. For three and a half hours I had a smile ear-to-ear, regretting only one thing - that I had not shown up in costume myself.

Not that popcorn is any barometer for fine food, but I was impressed with the quality of everything we ate. Bangers and mash with peas were "just like home", and the chocolate covered shortbread cookies were just like, well, just like that awesome bakery in SF!

We played games, games, games - darts being the least creative of all of them. You could also try your hand at throwing a boot towards wooden cats outside your bedroom window, or whack a hammer on a board that would catapult a stuffed chimney sweeper into a chimney. If only my knowledge of low-light photography was a bit more advanced I could share all this. But I still have a lot to learn, which is evidenced in a whole lot of blurry and deleted photos from our day.

My favorite moments were spent watching the kids go around on a six-seater carousal of stuffed African animals while a bearded man in colonial safari wear serenaded everyone with vintage tribal instruments.

  

We sat in on great juggling, fencing, musical and theatrical performances.

Even Father Christmas was there, which thrilled our Tiny Tim!

We finished our day with an elaborate craft project, decorating a fairy house in hopes of inviting a little magic into our garden. You've just got to believe!

For more information visit: www.dickensfair.com

MALT + Marin Organic Holiday Open House

We did something a little different tonight. My girlfriend and I loaded up all six of our kids (!!!) and headed out to West Marin where MALT + Marin Organic were hosting their holiday open house.

I learned about the event because we are members of Marin Organic and receive emails about these sorts of opportunities (check out this one and this one).

It was a sweet little party, one that was probably extra special for those living in Point Reyes Station, and who were there seeing the familiar faces of friends and neighbors. My girlfriend and I only knew each other and had our hands full with with the kids, but I'm still glad we went. The food was incredible, catered by Pamela Ferrari Catering - the same woman that catered our wedding nine years ago! I loved how they had no paper products beyond napkins and how everyone got around eating all the fine food regardless.

There was also live music, and for the kids there was decorating of little sugar cookies cut into farm animals. I love my town!

This day last year: "Community Olive Oil Press at McEvoy Ranch"

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Wrapping

I'm sitting here with a heavy heart. The seven year old casually told us tonight that he had been in the (forbidden) basement.

"Oh," I responded, trying desperately to channel Buddha, "when did you do that?"

"On Thanksgiving. I was playing hide-n-go-seek with the cousins."

And that was that.

There was no mention of the big red firetruck for his baby brother, of a pair of Lalaloopsy dolls for his sister, or of the giant roll of brown craft paper that has always been Santa's signature wrapping. Just a nonchalant kinda "Hey, I finally got to see what's on the other side of that door that's always locked."

(sigh.)

I can take it all back and start over, I just hope he still *believes*.

On the bright side, I had not yet started my *signature wrapping* which means I can actually still return the items.

My *signature wrapping* is where I remove all the commercial packaging from the presents, so that Christmas can be less about twist-ties, locating buried screwdrivers and piles of trash, and more about the joy of a much desired new toy. Here are some photos I took last year, but never posted.

'Agrarian Chic' Remodel Update

I just got an exciting email - an image of the progress in the clubhouse at the Colorado property I've been working on! (click here to get up-to-date on what the heck I'm referring to).

If you go to my original post on this project, from back in June, you'll see a before image from this exact angle. The above image is where they are today! The bat and board has been applied to about 75% of the clubhouse walls, the remaining with be smooth, accent color walls. The stucco ceiling was covered with corrugated steel panels to give it the effect of being in a barn. We built out the plaster covered beams in the ceiling to look like solid wood, therefore adding to the *agrarian chic* look. I just love to see it all coming together so quickly!

Stay tuned for more pics!

Pretty Little Boxes

I wanted to share some great *fun food* finds that are out for Christmas and that have found their way into our kitchen.

Peppermint Stick Clif bars for my peppermint obsessed kid. A box of 7 was only $5 at Target - a far cry from the regular $2.50/bar at the grocery store.

Trader Joe's Gingerbread House - $7.99. It's just cute.

As is the Trader Joe's Gingerbread Man for $3.99. Every kid gets their own!

And tucked away in the back of the broom closet is a little something for mom and dad - chocolate covered Oreo cookies in various flavors - like peppermint (for mom) and peanut butter (for dad). This things are so amazing, I just can't be asked to share.