Visitors!

We were very happy to have our 

friends Josh & Tim stop by this week.

Z went to school with both of them in 

Chicago, where Tim still lives.

He was in Cali to visit Josh in Long Beach

& lots of other folks, too!

We went to Moo Creamery for lunch

and then gave them the grand tour of 

town, ending up at the bluffs overlooking

the oil fields.

Thanks for including us in your crazy Cali road trip/vacation, 

Tim! We had a great afternoon with y'all!

On how we got a free pie.

Z & I live very close to downtown, 

and we frequently walk the same route 

to get to our favorite local spots.

The other night we were walking home

from the coffee shop.

As we passed a little mom-and-pop

restaurant we heard, 

"Hey kids! Do you live in the neighborhood?"

We turned.

"Um..yes, we do."

A petite woman in the restaurant's kitchen entrance

moved out toward us.

"Oh good. Would you like a pie? I hate to

throw them out, and we have one of our peanut butter pies 

with whipped cream leftover...it's one of our most popular!"

"Well...if we have to...", says Z, 

his mouth already watering.

 He can never say no to peanut butter.

The woman disappears & then returns with a

simple pink paper box. She introduces herself

as the owner (with her husband), says she has

seen us walking by, but wanted to make sure

we lived nearby since she'd like us to 

return the pie tin after we're done.

We thank her for her generosity & agree to stop in

for some food & bring her the pie tin soon. 

Again, we head back into the night

toward home, 

 but this time, we have pie.

Yum.

Head Gear

I've been busy crocheting up lots of hats

& new styles lately.

 Here are a few photos.

 The bow on this one is actually adjustable

& sits just over the ear...too cute!

 My college colors were orange, purple, & white.

I really love that color combo on this hat.

 My oldest nephew recently demanded a new hat, 

so this one's for him!

 Another new style for me, a cloche with a rolled brim.

I used a super soft yarn since this one is a chemo cap.

 Another super soft, but really simple hat.

This one and the next are for my brand new niece!

 I love how the rosette & ruffled edge makes it look

like a little cupcake top.

I'm loving experimenting with new patterns,

& coming up with some of my own.

More hats & other projects are already in the works!

Love birds

Mr. Wilson typically starts his day

with a little time to roam around the backyard.

This morning was no different,

but when I opened up the door to let him back inside, 

I was delighted to find this:

 Two pairs of birds 

settled into our orange tree

for a Valentine's feast.

I hope you enjoy these beauties

as much as I did, 

and that you are having a wonderful day!

Post-Edit:
I did a little research and discovered
that these birds are
Rose-ringed parakeets.
So interesting!

On my love of food.

I love food.

I mean really love food.

Lately a lot of my time is 

spent thinking about grocery lists,

flavor pairings, & new dishes I want to try.

But it wasn't always this way.

When I was little I was one of those

ridiculously picky kids who had to be

bribed to eat much of anything.

I didn't really care for the taste of meat, 

so one day I just stopped eating any of it.

That was 19 years ago.

I know for most kids this wouldn't work.

Thankfully my parents are vegetarians

 & always served both veggie 

& meat options to my brother, sister, and me.

They made sure that I had a healthy diet, 

getting plenty of protein & vitamins.

My dad is a pretty fabulous cook.

The older I got, the more I appreciated

his creative dishes, 

began shedding my picky-eater habits,

and started doing a little cooking of my own.

Fast forward to life in Chicago.

Z& I had a 1 bedroom apartment with a tiny, narrow kitchen.

There was no room for a microwave, 

so we inadvertently joined the slow food movement.

We started eating more fresh food & fewer processed items.

We were forced to think more about what and when we were eating.

When we moved to California

we decided that we would maintain our

microwave-free existence.

I have really grown as a cook, trying new recipes 

& experimenting with lots of ingredients.

I've also discovered the joys of baking, 

making breads, doughs, and sweets from scratch.

We are definitely healthier overall than we were before, 

but we still enjoy some treats.

I mean, homemade fudge brownies & salted caramel

are just too darn good to give up completely.

But, I know exactly what's in them & can

add in an extra workout or two that week!

So...pictures?

Here's some cheese bread that I made recently.

Very tasty, but next time I'm going to make them

into smaller rolls & leave out the cheddar.

 A super simple lunch of spicy capellini &

spinach with a mustard vinaigrette.

I'm still trying to figure out how to overcome

my kitchen lighting issues to 

get better pictures of what's cooking

to share with you all.

I'd love to hear your favorite recipes

or your thoughts on food & cooking!

When the going gets rough, write a blog post.

Well, y'all...

life is certainly not boring.

It's been one of those 

weeks where lots of small,

stressful situations

have all hit us at the same time.

But this blog is no place

to dwell on negativity, 

so I'll share some of the good

things that happened this week.

First, Z & I are trying to find

new/more things to do around here.

We know one of the baseball players

on a local college team, 

so we took in a game the other night.

 Then, I got a call from our favorite store, 

Trader Joe's.

When you take your own shopping bag

*at least at our local TJ's*

you get a raffle ticket.

Every so often they draw a name 

to spin the prize wheel & get a free item.

So in the midst of my crazy week

I got to spin the wheel & won some

free TJ's frosted flakes!

I also hosted

9 people from church for

a dinner/committee meeting.
The food was good
& my house is clean.

And thankfully the weather

has been lovely during the day

so I'm enjoying taking my

Mr. Wilson for walks 

around the neighborhood.

When I'm stressed, I like to try to 

do something productive, so I've 

been crocheting lots of new hats

& trying out new patterns & stitches.

I'll be posting some photos of them soon!

Breaking through the fog

 I know it's no comparison to the heaps of snow

or bone-chilling temperatures many of our 

friends are dealing with right now, 

but winter in the valley

is colder & grayer than I'd anticipated.

For a place that gets above 110 in the summer, 

I admit that I didn't expect to see the 30s in the winter.

Besides the temps, though, there is often a heavy 

blanket of fog/smog, 

and honestly, 

it can be really depressing.

So we try to take advantage of our sunny days.

Below you can see Z & Mr. Wilson

hanging out on the front porch

while Z does a bit of old-fashioned writing.

A few days in Long Beach

The day after the Chile vs. USA match

we headed down to Long Beach for a few days.

The official reason for the trip

was to attend the annual

Bishop's Colloquy

for our church's synod, 

but I have to admit that the warm weather, 

sunshine, visiting with friends,

and staying at a nice hotel were definite

highlights of our LB experience.

The colloquy was great, too, though.

The keynote speaker was 

Mark Hanson, 

the presiding bishop of the ELCA, 

and it was great to hear him speak

in such a small setting.

I enjoyed meeting Bishop Hanson, 

but I just adored his wife, 

& ended up talking to her for a couple of hours.

What an amazing lady.

Then, while Z was in some

(less-than-interesting) sessions, I took a stroll

over to the harbor for some photos.

Beautiful! It was difficult to return to 

the dense, winter fog in the valley

after all that sunshine.