Suburban Homestead

Our Easter Sunday

I know it's bad form to post holiday pictures two days after the actual holiday. (And I know it's also bad form to open a story with a negative.) But that's kind of where I am tonight: 48 hours behind, and too beat to deny the truth or spin it into something else. Thankfully, these pictures do a pretty good job of telling a sweet story about our Easter. 

We hosted Easter brunch in West Marin for all our families this year. Somehow, we managed to do little beyond opening the front door and providing ample seating for eveyone. Twelve kids and ten adults and it all worked out just fine. Our kids were lucky enough to have all their cousins on both sides for a day. 

Unlike our Easter parties in the past, I did very little prep or cooking this year. In fact, if heating up a Sun Farms ham doesn't count as cooking, then no, I didn't cook. The most effort I was planning on putting into kitchen sports, was making a couple boxes of these as a nod to my in-laws from NOLA. But when all our family arrived carrying bags filled with of warm quiches, lemonade, *spicy fruit salad*, rainbow jello cups, cookies and deviled eggs, we decided we had enough. I can't believe how little I got away with! Thank Peter Cottontail for the invention of potlucks and the blessing of a functional extended family!

My mom's deviled eggs are damn fine. She couldn't even tell you (or me) how she makes them. It's just something she feels her way through each year. And she'll wait until you're hooked and mid-moan with deep appreciation before she raises on eyebrow and nails you with a, "Ya know I only use French's yellow."

Our (Presidential) Homeschool Classroom

I asked the 9yo this week what his favorite subject is to study. He said history. While not all together surprising, it was the first time I actually heard him articulate this. American history has been a long, thick, continuous thread through our first year of homeschooling, but it came about quite by accident. I didn't exactly set out to give my son this foundation, but I saw him drawn to it, I fed it, and together we've devoured it at every opportunity. Reading, listening to audio books and podcasts, boardgames, a broadway play, documentaries, movies and at trip to DC have made our learning rich and memorable. We haven't followed any Common Core coursework/curriculum since day one, and we have not practiced any writing in a couple months. Math is still a sore subject. But I'm not worried at this point because my son left the public school system ahead of his grade level and so I feel we have a good year of cushion to study whatever the heck he wants. History, science, engineering, mechanical arts - who's to say this isn't meaningful learning? 

The painting that hangs in our dining room/classroom is one entitled Martha George Washington by local artist, Julie Sutherland. It's Martha's facial features on George's presidential portrait. I fell in love with it and brought it home six months before our dining room was converted to a place of learning, half a year before my son discovered a passion for our first president. I like to think of it as an early indicator of the change coming to our family. We brought the learning home and couldn't help but fall in love with our country's history. 

We Love You, Gong Hey Fat Choy!

Happy Everything! So much culminates on this weekend - Valentine's was Friday, the Chinese New Year celebrations wrapped up last night in SF with the big parade, and tomorrow we celebrate all our great favorite presidents.

We did some really fun things this week in hopes of bringing all these important celebrations full circle, at least Valentine's and CNY. (I, admittedly, dropped the ball on everything presidential.)

I often tell people how homeschooling has become a sort of healthy addiction for me. I crave and seek out creative ways of make learning 210% fun for all of us. It's what I focus on and research late at night (instead of blogging). The ideas bring me energy, and the entire process of bringing it to my kids has fueled a new learning for myself. We could argue all day long about who is loving homeschooling more.

Our Tuesdays bring us into the city where the 9yo takes a three hours science course at the Exploratorium. This week, life cycles and germination were discussed, plants and fruits were dissected. 

After class, I grabbed a couple books at the gift shop and we walked to Chinatown where we visited the Golden Gate Fortune Cookies.

Located down a barely-marked alley, this "factory" consists of little more than two women and a man running a very sweet (and crunchy) show. We hung out, marveled, paid a couple quarters extra for the privilege of taking pictures, and then we stocked up on vanilla and chocolate fortune cookies and headed home. 

Back home, after we devoured a huge platter of Chinese food from Trader Joe's, we gathered together all our fortunes and I read through them with the kids, challenging them to understand the deeper meanings. I convinced myself that this was in some way good for them, and counted towards some sort of learning block. ;)

 

But my favorite part of this weeks Valentine's/Chinese New Year/President's Weekend focus was the 9yo's and my crafting of Chinese fortune cookies from scratch. It started with the idea that we would make one of his favorites, pot stickers, as a project that studies not just food and culture, but math and chemistry. When I realized how difficult they are to make (hence the name "stickers", I suppose), I opted for fortune cookies on the heels of our exciting factory visit. The first recipe we followed...and tripled (read: math), was a late night disaster followed by a young boy's pleas to "try again" because this was "the best night EVER". I acquiesced, we changed course to this recipe and found great success! Our second attempt produced what are likely to go down as the BEST fortune cookies either of us have ever had -- like crispy, pancakes folded-up in to bite-size-goodness. Part of this project called for The Kid to create his own fortunes that would be applicable to the friends he planned to share them with in him nature class the following morning. I told him he would get invisible, bonus points for relating them to both nature and love. 

Our Christmas Cioppino

We hosted Christmas dinner at our house and for the first time in YEARS, I made the most incredible cioppino recipe, a long-standing favorite of mine, originally from Rose Pistola restaurant. There appears to be several Rose Pistola cioppino recipes online, spanning the last decade. The one I always use is from 2003, the same year Rose Pistola won the Best Cioppino in San Francisco award by SF Weekly. You get where I'm going with this, and so, you need to try this.

Here is my modified version which is laid out a little differently much better and in a way that is easier for people *like me* to prepare. This is not a simple dish, but it is quick if you prep everything before turning on your burner. It should also be said that it is best on day two, which is why it works so well on a big holiday.

 

Rose Pistola Cioppino, 2003   Serves 4-6

 

Bowl No. 1:

- 1/2 cup olive oil

- 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion, rinsed

- 2 tablespoons leek, white part

- 3 oregano springs

- 2 bay leaves

Bowl No. 2:

- 1 garlic clove, minced

- 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

- 3 anchovy fillets, chopped

Bowl No. 3

- 2 Dungeness crabs, cleaned and cracked

- 10 oz rockfish fillet

Separately:

- 1 cup dry white wine

- 4 cups chicken broth

- 2 cups tomato sauce

Bowl No. 3

- 16 black mussels, well scrubbed

- 12 oz cleaned squid, bodies cut into rings

- 6 oz rock shrimp, shelled or not

1.  In a large, heavy saute pan over high heat, saute ingredients of bowl No. 1 until onions are translucent, about five minutes. Stir in ingredients of bowl No. 2.

2.  Add crab and rockfish and stir until rockfish cooks and begins to break-up. Add wine and cook to reduce slightly. 

3.  Add chicken stock and tomato sauce and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Taste and adjust if needed.

4.  Add fish in bowl No. 3  and a healthy drizzle of olive oil. Cover and cook 3-4 minutes until mussels open up. Turn heat off and discard any unopened mussels.

5.  Serve immediately or next day for a more developed flavors. Excellent with a big, hot loaf of garlic bread for dunking.

 

After dinner I served this Buche de Noel (phenomenal!) and decorated it with toy woodland animals because I didn't have time to craft them myself out of marzipan. Ha! Also seen on our Christmas table was peppermint bark, my sister's homemade fudge...store-bought cookies, more homemade cookies and Hershey's Kisses.

Needless to say, I consumed only water and raw kale today. 

The Night Before Christmas

Several years ago, our family decided to have our annual Christmas Eve crab feast several days early. Permanently. It just got to be too much with the huge dinner and all the small kids, the late nights leading-up to an early morning. 

My sister hosted the crab feast on Sunday night this year. It's always a great time with ten or so adults, and eight cousins. Which meant tonight we had no commitments, no big plans, no huge dinner to prepare or clean-up. Instead, we were that odd and lonely looking family occupying the one table in the restaurant that is normally busy. 

And that was it. My mom joined us. We had plans to look at some of the crazy-decorated houses but gave-up after one. No point in driving all over town when the kids were begging to go home and get to bed. Tomorrow will be a big day with me hosting the family at our house for another big dinner.

I took some pictures of the kid's rooms before bed. This year is special because we got them each an artificial tree which I'm kinda giddy about. Been wanting to do this for several years now. I always had a tree in my room growing-up and have such fond memories of my room all *aglow* throughout the season. 

You'd be hard-pressing trying to convince me that the 9yo still believes, but Daddy certainly tries. He plays along well and has never asked any questions. My guess is Frijoles is on the fence at this point. Mr. Noodle is all magic and stardust. They worked together to get the cookies, carrots and milk on the table. Then my mom gave us a gift to open - her grandmother's cast iron Boston Terrier doorstop from the '30s. Both my parents had Bostons growing-up and the little guy (pictured above center) has been in our family since before I was born. Tonight he comes to our house. Permanently. 

From our family to yours - Happy Holidays!

Cookies + Code

Our days have been full. It is December, after all. And while I'd like to think I've got this season nailed down to a science, I seem to flail every year. I thought to simplify the 2013 holiday season and play my get-out-of-jail-free card by skipping the holiday card mailing, but this strategic move offered minimal relief. We've still been gleaning fruit from friend's trees, canning for gifts, socializing with friends and family, exploring local open space, celebrating birthdays, learning to read, daydreaming, designing, cooking comfort food, experimenting with new interests, on and on and on...

I've yet to do much Christmas shopping. :-/

Yesterday was another big winter weekend day as we did our annual cookie decorating party with good friends in our old neighborhood. 

Former neighbors, and good friends for life, the mid-western contingency always provides the best treats -- and they rarely involve any added heat. Here they are shaking-up some Puppy Chow. 

After every last piece of dough was baked, iced, sprinkled and plated, the kids sample the leftovers and fuel-up on sugar before we all set out to make our deliveries. 

 

Because it's all about giving. 

From one party to the next, we regrouped at our (former) next-door-neighbor's house so we could get on board with the Hour of Code movement taking place this week. Having absolutely nothing to do with the holidays, this will definately go down as a highlight of our season! Why they planned this Week of Code during the holidays, I have no idea, but we pulled it off and all parties loved it! Simple, easy and fun to do. Please take a moment to explore the movement to get our kids coding by visiting code.org. 

P. stepped-up and prepped the kids about what we planned on doing with them. He engaged them first with an inspirational discussion, followed by some of the videos available on the website. He was awesome - a born teacher! We stopped for a quick lunch before breaking-out the laptops and P. got us up to speed on what he's been doing within our school district to bring robotics to our elementary school kids. Thank gawd for enthusiastic citizens like him who make our communities what they are. Our future depends on the brilliance, sacrifice and dedication of parents like him. 

And then it was time to code! Between the five kids that were actually able to navigate the online lessons, 495 lines of code were written in less than an hour!

I love that this mama is a programmer. A great personality and strong fashion sense can really work well with computer science. ;)

Because most of the Puppy Chow went out to neighbors, B. shook-up a second batch for the kids and called it Coder Chow. Too cute. 

 

Their work! :D

In Anticipation of The 4th

We jumped on the patriotic food bandwagon a little early this summer. With a full house this past weekend (seven kids and seven adults) I couldn't help but go to all the trouble of making Ina Garten's Flag (Ginormous) Flag Cake. When you have that many guests at the table, it's always fun to bring out the big guns.  This cake is nothing short of insanity, and I love making it every summer. It helps to make a Costco run before as it uses lots of cream cheese, butter and fresh (organic!) berries.

And on a slightly less organic note, I threw these red, white and blue nachos together one night with veggie taco leftovers. I picked up the chips at Cost Plus for a holiday treat and have to admit, they were pretty fun in this instance...despite the neon food coloring. ;)

We've also been cooking up lots of the usual summer fare - bbq ribs, cheese burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches with pesto, and tacos. One vegetarian visitor cooked up the most incredible polenta-based veggie lasagna that had us all running for seconds. I hope you too are enjoying good food, great friends and hot summer heat this week!

Sentimental Gifts from Friends + Family

When visitors come up to the cabin, they often bring with them something special to contribute to our time together: a horseshoe game, a couple loafs of banana bread, some jars of canned treats from their garden back home. All of them mean something special to us, but I wanted to share my absolute favorites to date - some photos of the landscape, as well as a sweet poem.

The images here were taken over the weekend by our good friend (and former neighbor), Peter G. He loves photography as much as I do but has a much better grasp of the technical side. These images of the river and super moon were taken using a technique called HDR - High Dynamic Range. It's basically when you take one exact shot at varying exposures, then merge them all together so that the best lighting attributes from all images come together into one very intense image. You can see more of Peter's work here.

And then there is this sweet poem from *Vince*, a very special sort of Thank You after a long, Thanksgiving weekend last year:

Heavy traffic and a few winding twisting roads,

Deliver us to a place far away, yet so very close


Warm knotty pine ceilings and cool granite tops,

Sounds of the river flowing and an occasional champagne bottle "pop"


Warm turkey wrapped with bacon and mashed potatoes galore,

Corn bread with mushrooms... who could ask for anything more?


Mornings with strong coffee and cool cloudless skies,

Finding interesting curly bugs and studying a chopper that doesn't fly


Lively discussions and games without personal attacks,

Debates about politics, presidents, and voting democrats


A holiday weekend with family but without the ringing phone,

Far away from work and cities, but certainly not alone


We watched the bouncing kids and few happy wagging tails...

Had some driveway walks and explored where there are no people trails


For me, a rare holiday, that ended too fast and was gone way too soon...

We can't express enough thanks for the family, the food, and the warm wonderful room!

Cinco de Mayo Party

1. She dressed herself and wore it well

2. Taco platter from our local supermercado

3. In intimate circles he is known affectionately (and respectfully) as Señor Thomas

Cinco de Mayo and el Supermercado

Hola! It's been a while, I know. I am finally emerging from a curious funk that plauged me for over a week. This will likely sound like a lame excuse but I've been exhausted, and for no more reasons that the ones we all face everyday. I was unreasonably groggy, like jacked-up on elephant tranquilizers groggy, first trimester groggy. It was awful and I'm not sure why. I finally crawled to the store and purchased some iron and B12. I don't know if that was what did the trick, but I'm all better now.

And no, I'm not pregnant.

I have so much I want to share! Friday's dessert, final thoughts on our trip to Mexico, our trip to a local goat farm, my spring garden - it's all on my radar. But right now we are getting ready to head to our friend's house where we will be having a Mexican Spring Break Reunion Party. I am in charge of re-creating the coconut smoothies we all became addicted to while in PV last month. 

The withdrawls have been brutal. This gentleman told me on our last day just how the hotel made these incredible drinks (they basically double as milkshakes/desserts): piña colada mix, ice, shredded coconut and coconut cream to finish. I'm going to give it my best shot today.  Fingers crossed.

While preparing for today's task, I thought it the perfect opportunity to go explore our local supermercado - Mi Pueblo. It was super cool and such a fun experience for the kids too. They loved seeing the unusual foods like cactus and pig parts, hot pink cookies and the worlds largest display of hot sauces!

This guy was over the moon when he discovered a horchata mix that would allow him to enjoy one of his all time favorite drinks by just adding water. Imagine that! (Although I did warn him it probably wouldn't taste nearly as good as the real deal.)

I will hopefully get some good pictures this afternoon of the prepared spread our friends are picking up from Mi Pueblo. Until then, here are some pictures of last years Mexican Spring Break Reunion Party which our travel companions also hosted on Cinco de Mayo.

We dined on fresh fish tacos and horchata made from scratch.

Our Easter Sunday

Easter has always been one of my top two favorite celebrations - next to Halloween. That is, of course, until the "The Holidays" roll around and then those takes pole position... OK, I guess I just like any excuse to celebrate with family.





Whenever possible, I try to host an Easter brunch. The front lawn at our old house just begged for small kids and stuffed plastic eggs. It was usually an event for family and neighbors, two years ago I got very brave and it got even bigger - an egg-ceptional afternoon I will never forget! Last year we were on a road-trip for Easter, so I was excited to get back to tradition this year at the new house. Knowing I would be traveling for work all of last week, I kept it to just family this time, and gave a shout out for help. Everyone brought a dish (or two!) which made the whole thing managable with little time for me to prepare.







All the cousins (on my side) are growing up so fast and this year I had to threaten retribution to get some of the big kids to participate in the hunt (so as not to make the other kids feel tinier than they already are).







It takes some planning to find egg stuffers that meet the satisfaction of kids aged 3 - 13. I always do some candy, but I also stuffed eggs with things like 18" bendy pencils, mini tape dispensers, unusual hair bands, moustache stickers, etc. I love the challenge and am on the lookout for good fillers all year long.



Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

New Year's Resolutions

The kids are back to school tomorrow and so it feels like the right time to get going on the resolutions. Here are mine:

1. Cook More. Ever since we moved I've been slacking. I can't quite figure out if it's that I'm busier now with work projects, or if it's that I just miss my old kitchen and garden and all that they inspired in me. Regardless, it's time to cook more.

2. Bring Back Fabulous Fridays.  FF was an idea I had a while back where I wanted to cook a new dessert every Friday that would carry us through the weekend with smiles and sugar highs. I had dreams that my kids would be that much more excited to get out of school for the weekend, running home to see what surprise was waiting for them. I haven't done jack in like a year-and-a-half. Time to give it another shot.

3. Consult My Pantry More Often. I need to get better about meal planning by looking first at what I need to use up, before deciding what to make for dinner. My shelves are lined half-full bags of things like unsweetened coconut, herbs de Provence and raspberry vinaigrette, just to name a few. I threw out a bag of expired food products this week and it tore me up something awful. Enough is enough.

4. Play More Music in the House. This one is really important. I love music but simply forget to turn it on at home. Kids are naturally drawn to it, plus one of mine seems to have an extra special connection to it. I need to help him with that. There will be plenty of time for popular music in their futures, I plan to play everything else.

5. Establish Clear Rules and Responsibilities for Kids. Outlined, posted, monitored and rewarded. We got off to a good start with this in August but it all fell apart when the kids decided they weren't motivated by money anymore. Ha! Our kids need to start helping out more and I need some tools to help me get through the loud hours. I got some great ideas thanks to a good friend and we begin implementing tomorrow morning at 7AM. There is a whole post about all this coming in the near future. All good stuff!

Thank you's and Happy New Year's

Happy New Year! We wrapped up our 2012 quietly, and have been getting a slow start on 2013. One by one, we have been knocked-out by strep and so, for the most part, we've been cooped-up inside for two days. The good news is this lockdown has allowed me the opportunity to develop a fun and hassle-free way to get small kids excited about writing their thank you cards.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to knock-out the task, but realized it might be a lot easier to just do one at a time. So every hour, on the hour, the set timer would alarm us that it was time to gather at the kitchen table. I would pick one family member and each child would write them a personal note. Low stress...it was just one! Easy to do and doing it in small batches allowed each child the energy to be thoughtful. Grandpa was first, Aunt J. was at noon, Nana at one, and so on and so on. By the end of the day, we had all our notes written, sealed and stamped. I can't believe how easy it all was. I can't believe we accomplished so much while being under the weather!

DEAR GRANDPA - DER GRIPU

"Tha you!"

Our Christmas

Christmas was good to all of us this year. It started with the kids sleeping in until 7:30 and then waiting patiently for us to brew coffee before starting in on their stockings. The kids were all spoiled again. Despite swearing up and down the street each year that we won't do it, it seems we always do a bit too much. Home runs were made with the delivery of a trampoline and the adoption of a hamster. Both are proving well worth the consideration and investment.

My favorite moments were spent watching my mother help the nearly six-year-old stitch a bed for our new rodent family member, Wellington. My mother began teaching me to sew at about the same age and so it was endearing for me to watch. I have high hopes for me, my girl and that little purple machine.

The day carried on into the night at my sister's house where we once again all gathered to feast on my brother-in-law's gumbo and a chocolate mousse torte that Mr. Noodle helped me prepare after gift opening.

Much love to you and yours!

Crab Feast on the Eve of Christmas Eve

My family has long been celebrating Christmas Eve with a crab feast hosted by my mom. It has evolved over the years from an intimate gathering of mostly adults at her house, to what is now a party of nearly twenty, half being grandkids, and hosted at our house where we have more room to move about. Several years ago we decided to celebrate the 24th a day or two early in hopes of lightening the already heavy load of Christmas Eve. This year, we came together on the 23rd.

When all the grandparents, sisters and cousins began filing in around 5 o'clock, this little guy got very shy. I spotted him looking forlorn and walking down the hallway towards his room, saying "I'm just shy, Mommy. I'm shy of the cousins." I followed him, telling him I could help, but he just continued in, sat on the edge of his bed, put his head down on his nightstand and said, "It's OK, Mommy. I'm shy, but I still love you." Sigh.





The Nanas. These ladies are so fun to watch in action. To the left is B., paternal grandma. To the right is my mom, and in the center is Granny A., also known *affectionately* as my father's second ex-wife.

This metal rooster was a hostess gift from my sister. How awesome his he? He was the perfect addition to the colorful kiddo table.





All the cousins ate a spaghetti dinner before us adults sat down for crab. I had to document the difference between the three-year-old's plate next to that of is seventeen-year-old cousin's. Big difference in the way those boys eat! My mom also prepared little Christmas themed Jell-O molds for the kids, which I thought was so clever.

After dinner we all played a white elephant game with ages ranging from three to eighty-one. My favorite moment was when Mr. Noodle, decked out in the swim gear he insisted on wearing so he could comfortably go outside in the rain and jump on the trampoline, opened the biggest box to discover a cow piñata. He clearly thought he had died and gone to heaven, and so Daddy yelled out "Rule number three, nobody takes the piñata from the kid!"

Hope your holidays were magical too!

Great Dickens Christmas Fair

We traveled back in time again yesterday, revisiting Victorian-era London at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair, this time in costume!





I absolutely LOVE this fair and all that it offers. The food, the games, theatrical performances and music all come together in the most enchanting event. You can read more details in my post last year.



Daddy and Tiny Tim!





Because we entered the fair shortly after opening, we were able to get a family portrait without waiting - something I've always wanted to do. Here we are with my father:





The low lighting makes it difficult to get good photographs, but I was able to grab this one of a great game we played - Boot the Cat. For a couple bucks you can lie on the bed and throw boots at the wooden cats meowing in the window. Knock down all three and win a prize!





Read about our first family trip to the fair in 2011 here.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Decorating Gingerbread

This will be our first Christmas in the new house and so everything about this holiday season feels a bit brighter...more exciting. At least to me.

I had originally planned to spend yesterday alone with the kids decorating gingerbread men, women, soldiers, dogs, angles and polar bears. Everything was going along as planned until Friday night when I learned my friend M. was flying solo with his girls too.

Invite extended. 

Of course that meant I had to call C. to see if she and A. wanted in. Everyone was free and so Little Miss helped me bake a double batch. I had plenty of powdered sugar and just enough powdered merengue. We squeezed colorful icing from clear plastic bottles and loaded on candy confections until they overflowed onto the floor beneath our bare feet. M. decorated gingerbread women to resemble C. and me, all while entertaining us with stories of being a solo parent to two kids, and taking morning showers with conference calls on speaker phone (and mute), until he hears his name, has to turn off the water, jump out to the phone and answer a question like he's paying any attention.

Good times. :)

Grandma's Turkey and Parmesan Soup

This is not Grandma, nor am I making my Grandma's turkey soup recipe. That is my dad, enjoying the incredible weather we are having up here at the cabin today. I love this picture and made sure to capture his belt-buckle when I snapped it (Paul).

Right now I'm making soup from yesterday's leftovers. My friend Nicole passed this recipe on to me a couple years back and I'm thinking we need to make this our own family recipe. It's still simmering on the stove-top, I'll post a finished picture of it later, but I wanted to get this up right away in hopes that you might be sitting around wondering what to do with your bird's carcass. I hope this reaches you in time.

  

Grandma's Turkey and Parmesan Soup

INGREDIENTS

• Turkey carcass
• 3 - 5 Whole Carrots
• 3 - 4 Whole Celery Stalks
• Medium Yellow Onion, quartered
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 or 2 eggs & water (at room temp)
• 1 - 2 C Parmesan Cheese (powder, not shredded)
• Acini di Pepe Soup Noodles

 

DIRECTIONS

1. Place turkey carcass in a large pot with unchopped vegetables and seasonings. Add water, covering about 2-3 inches over carcass - cover and bring to a boil.
2. Once water comes to boil, turn down and simmer 2 - 4 hours. 
3. Strain. (If you wish, you may want to take some of the whole vegetables, chop them into 1/4" pieces and add them back in soup. The original recipe did not call for this, but I added it.)
4. Bring broth to a boil, add some leftover shredded turkey.  Taste broth and adjust seasonings to liking (add more salt, white pepper or poultry seasoning. [You can add 2 - 3 chicken bouillon cubes if needed]).
5. Add 1 - 2 C Acini de Pepe noodles (depending upon amount of broth) when at a boil. Cook about 7 - 9 minutes until tender.  Remove from heat.
6. Beat egg(s) in a bowl with a small amount of water (I usually use 2 as I end up with a lot of stock from a Thanksgiving bird).  Mix 1/2 - 1 C Parmesan cheese with eggs.  GRADUALLY add mixture to soup while stirring so it does not curdle. 
7. Taste and season as needed.

Serve hot with Parmesan sprinkled on top and a side of crusty bread.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well our 14lb. turkey rubbed in 2 cups of sage butter, wrapped in a pound of bacon and drizzled with maple syrup is finally in the oven and three generations of family is about to sit down and relax before the final push.

May your home be filled with love, laughter, beautiful music and incredible food tonight.

(A Pilgrim cookie creation by the five-year-old, atop one of our favorite desserts - Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Spice Cookie)

Lazy Mom's Flag Cake

If you've been on Pinterest this week, you most certainly saw this cake pinned.

Again. And again. And again.

My friend Jill and I tried to make something similar, but with a lot less effort involved.

Don't assume us unpatriotic. We just prefer to spend our summer days floating in the river, chatting.

Pictures of a Father's Day

Happy Easter!

We hope your Easter is filled with sunshine, blooming flowers, and of course, lots of chocolate eggs.

I'm a tad bit sad that we aren't having family and neighbors over for our annual Easter brunch, but we are off on a wild adventure this morning instead. I can't wait to take you all along with us! xo

This day last year: "Egg-ceptional Day In The 'Burbs"

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Two lifetimes ago, I worked in a restaurant. Many restaurants, actually. And out of the hundreds of evenings I spent walking the floors, slinging giant white plates of hot French/Italian/American food at people, there was one night (just ONE!) when a special Tarte Tatine was offered with, not the predictable vanilla ice cream, but cinnamon ice cream!!!

It left quite the impression on me. The flavor was not subtle at all - it was big - VERY BIG! In fact, it reminded me of a creamy, frozen version of my mother's go-to breath freshener in the '70's - Big Red gum.

Being too young at the time to know an ice cream maker from crock-pot, I bought a half gallon of Dreyer's ice cream, let it soften until I could blend in heaping scoops of spice, and re-froze it. In the morning, I ran to the freezer, (maybe I'd have ice cream with my coffee,) but was shocked to find my half-gallon of ice cream had shrunk during the night to little more than a pints worth. That morning, I was awoken to an undeniable reality of cheaply made, mass produced food: additives. In this case, the additive was a lot of air!

That was a long time ago now, and since then I've tried several brands/versions of cinnamon ice cream, but found them all to only *hint* at the spice. For me to be able to relive that first taste of cinnamon ice cream, that creamy cold scoop of *Big Red*, I needed to take matters into my own hands. Thankfully, it's simple. Here's how I do it:

 

Cinnamon Ice Cream

1 cup of very cold whole milk

2 cups of very cold whipping cream

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients and turn in your home ice cream maker per manufacturers instructions. (My ice cream maker is by Cuisinart and I mix it for about 20 minutes before storing it in the freezer for several hours before serving.)

Vine-Ripened Tomatoes in January?

I don't quite know what the deal is on this one, but I harvested about 50 Sun Gold and Cherry tomatoes on New Years Eve.

Did this happen for anyone else in Northern California? I ripped out most of my tomato plants months ago and only had two still planted (for no other reason than shear laziness). I had been walking past those remaining two for ages, never really allowing the visual information of colorful fruit to fully register.

Duh.

And then it just sort of hit me. So I tried one and it was delicious. As I went to pull them off the vine, I hardly had to put a bit of effort into the harvest. It was as if my approaching body heat gave them cause to jump ship themselves - they were literally dripping!

I baked a large pasta dish that night and just threw them on top before finishing it all off with bread crumbs and baking. Such a treat!

This day last year: "Olive Oil Muffins"

I Love This Guy

As I finish packing up the last of the Christmas decorations, there is one item I've decided must stay out all year.

This little incense smoker is too cute to only enjoy one month out of the year. He's staying out here with me.

Light up a little incense cone to fit inside him and watch the smoke rise out of his tiny mouth - just like he's smoking a pipe.

He's made in Germany by Erzgebirgische Volkskunst. Check out their full line of smokers here

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