Eli’s Grandma & Grandpa got Lyndsey and I season passes to the World Famous San Diego Zoo for his first birthday present. This way Eli can see all the crazy wild animals as much as possible. Since the zoo is only 15 minutes from the house or less, it is a great gift. Lyndsey [...]]]>

Eli’s Grandma & Grandpa got Lyndsey and I season passes to the World Famous San Diego Zoo for his first birthday present. This way Eli can see all the crazy wild animals as much as possible. Since the zoo is only 15 minutes from the house or less, it is a great gift. Lyndsey and Eli have already been a couple of times, but the whole family finally got to go this weekend and it was a blast.

I played to tourist and took as many pictures that I could, along with some video. The video and images are in chronological order of our walk through the zoo. I hope that you enjoy!!

P.S. I had to update the video because Youtube informed us that there was apparently a copyright conflict with the original Bob Dylan song that we put on the video. Go figure. I hope you enjoy the new score to the video as it is a little more upbeat. M79 by Vampire Weekend.

Eli’s big 1st birthday is just around the corner and I have been dreaming up a fun party theme and decorations to go with it. Awhile back I ask Ricky what we should do as a theme, and he said “Taco’s”. Well, I don’t really think Tacos is much of a theme, so I added [...]]]>

Eli’s big 1st birthday is just around the corner and I have been dreaming up a fun party theme and decorations to go with it. Awhile back I ask Ricky what we should do as a theme, and he said “Taco’s”. Well, I don’t really think Tacos is much of a theme, so I added “Lucha Libre” aka Mexican Wrestlers to it.

Here is a pic of my first cake attempt, I the whole thing from scratch! I have always wanted to use fondant icing on a cake before but never really got around to it. After consulting with my Mom, we decided to have a practice round first. I think it came out really nice, now all we need to do is taste it to find out.

Homemade Marshmallow Fondant

16 oz marshmallows (about 1.5 packages)
2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons water
vegetable shortening for greasing

Use the shortening to grease a large microwaveable bowl for the marshmallows, the mixer bowl, your dough hook, and a sturdy rubber spatula.

Sift the powdered sugar and reserve about one cup. Put the rest into the greased mixer bowl.

Put the marshmallows into the microwaveable bowl and add the water. Microwave in 30 second intervals until melted, stirring with rubber spatula in between intervals.

Add the melted marshmallows to the powdered sugar. Lock the mixer and cover the opening with plastic wrap to keep powdered sugar from coming out. Turn mixer on low and allow dough hook to do its thing. Keep mixing for several minutes until the sugar seems to have incorporated for the most part. If still sticky, begin adding reserved powdered sugar, you may use it all, you may not, depends on your weather conditions. It’s really humid here, so I used it all.

Fondant is ready when it balls up around your dough hook or when you can touch it and it’s still pliable but not sticky. Remove from the mixer and wrap in plastic wrap. Allow fondant to rest for a minimum of 2 hours, I think overnight was best.

To use the fondant, knead it several times, like you would bread dough, to get it to a workable consistency (much like that of Play-dough).

To add coloring, do not use liquid food coloring. Use paste or gel colorings to a handful of fondant, then mix that piece into a larger batch.

Cover work surface with cornstarch. Roll out fondant to 1/4″ thickness.

The tomatoes took their time coming in this year, but it was worth the wait. Starting three weeks ago we have been in hog heaven with some of the best tomatoes we have grown yet. I decided to take a walk in the garden and pick what was ripe this morning, after filling up my [...]]]>

The tomatoes took their time coming in this year, but it was worth the wait. Starting three weeks ago we have been in hog heaven with some of the best tomatoes we have grown yet. I decided to take a walk in the garden and pick what was ripe this morning, after filling up my t-shirt two times it dawned on me that maybe we should open up a farmers market stand.

We have been getting batches like the ones photographed here a couple of times a week. We have been harvesting Romas, Cherokee Purples, German Greens, Pineapple Tomatoes, Golden Pear, Cherry, Sweet 100’s, Early Girl, and a few other volunteers that we are unsure of the exact strain.

Needless to say our friends and neighbors are very friendly to us these days. And it goes without saying why. Some of the tomatoes that we are harvesting, especialy the heirlooms go for over $6 lb at the Trader Joes down the street. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me.

Some of our favorite dishes to use the tomatoes in are the Caprese Salad and an Afgan Recipe that uses Tomato, Red Onion, Cucumber and Mint.

Caprese Salad

We have enjoyed a Caprese Salad almost every afternoon with fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden mixed with mozzarella.
Ingredients

• 2 large red or yellow tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 pound POLLY-O Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, drained, sliced
• 1 bunch fresh basil leaves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Arrange tomato, cheese slices and basil alternately overlapping on platter.
2. Whisk oil and vinegar together. Pour over tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tomato, Cucumber, Mint & Red Onion

I made  a cucumber, mint, red onion and tomato salad last Sunday from our garden for a BBQ and it was off the chart if I do say so myself.
Ingredients

• 2 large cucumbers – halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 large tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup coarsely chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss together the cucumbers, vinegar, sugar and salt. Let stand at room temperature for an hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Add tomatoes, onion, mint and oil to cucumbers and toss to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Lately Eli and I have been visiting the baby park down the street every morning before the big kids show up. He is loving the swing and the slide the best.

A couple of days ago we started “Ferberizing” him. Which means letting him cry it out in his crib until he falls asleep. Up until [...]]]>

Lately Eli and I have been visiting the baby park down the street every morning before the big kids show up. He is loving the swing and the slide the best.

A couple of days ago we started “Ferberizing” him. Which means letting him cry it out in his crib until he falls asleep. Up until now he had been co-sleeping with us in our bed which worked great when he was young, but is not so ideal know that he is older. The first night he cried for an hour before he went down for the entire night. WOW, we thought, this is awesome, he has NEVER slept through the entire night! The following night he cried for all of 2 minutes before he went down and “STTN”.

On the downside, he has not been napping during the day which makes for a VERY unhappy and cranky and CLINGY baby. Bummer.

At this age they can go through a phase called separation anxiety, and he definitely is. He won’t let “Mama” go anywhere without him, preferably holding him the entire time. But I love this boy, and I know it is just a phase. Pretty soon he’s not going to want me to hold him and cuddle him so he can go and do his own thing.

Time is flying by.

Last Friday we took off to Old Mans to celebrate our friend Sean Leonard’s Birthday. We had such a good time and so did all the new little ones running around the place.

Eli Telling Stories

Five years ago when we were at Sean’s last b-day party at Old Mans things were quite different, [...]]]>

Old Mans

Last Friday we took off to Old Mans to celebrate our friend Sean Leonard’s Birthday. We had such a good time and so did all the new little ones running around the place.

Eli Telling Stories

Five years ago when we were at Sean’s last b-day party at Old Mans things were quite different, there were no babies around. Now there are more kids than adults.

Eli & Ford Negotiating

Eli had a great time hanging out with freinds and playing in the sand.

Eli & Dad Hanging out

Well so far it has been a pretty uneventful summer here in San Diego as far as beach days. This is because the sun has been shining about as many days that you can count on one hand. If the sun isn’t shining it has been pretty gloomy, cold and gray. [...]]]>

waiting for the sun...

Well so far it has been a pretty uneventful summer here in San Diego as far as beach days. This is because the sun has been shining about as many days that you can count on one hand. If the sun isn’t shining it has been pretty gloomy, cold and gray. It is not that much fun at the beach if you can’t go in the water and have to wear a sweatshirt. So needless to say we have to find other ways to enjoy our free time. However when the sun is out we try to take advantage of it as much as we can. That is why we were very excited when the sun finally broke for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon for Eli’s friend Sydney’s 1st birthday party.

i thought this was suppose to be a beach party?

any thing in there for me?

who wants to go for swim?

We really have not seen that much of the sun over the past couple of weeks. June gloom has turned into June/July Gloom.  Eli and the plants do not seem to mind as they continue to grow, sunshine or not.

The Zucchini’s that we have been harvesting this year have been ridiculous. They just seam to get bigger and [...]]]>

We really have not seen that much of the sun over the past couple of weeks. June gloom has turned into June/July Gloom.  Eli and the plants do not seem to mind as they continue to grow, sunshine or not.

The Zucchini’s that we have been harvesting this year have been ridiculous. They just seam to get bigger and bigger.

Still waiting for our tomatoes to turn red. We have one plant that is pushing almost 10 ft now. I am not quite sure how I am going to harvest the ones from the top yet.

“Summer is here and are gardens are almost in full bloom! Our guys have been toiling away in the garden for months now [...]]]> A couple of weekends ago we sent out an email to a couple of our neighborhood friends to see if they’d like to partake in a garden party tour. Here’s what it said,

“Summer is here and are gardens are almost in full bloom! Our guys have been toiling away in the garden for months now and it’s time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. I know all the guys think that their garden is “top dog” so lets give everyone a chance to show the yards off in the first annual Ocean Beach Garden Tour!!!! Ricky concocted an idea that would include visiting each house for a 1-2 hours for beverages and hors d’oeuvres then riding our bikes to the next house. Let’s try and use some items from our gardens for inspiration in our dishes! Everything should be “easy and premade” so we can enjoy being outdoors We can start at the Coburn’s Water Wonderland first then head over to the Wilson-Harding Hilltop Manor, and then finish at the Bohemian Belmont Garden. So chime in and let me know whats up, and we’ll get this event under way!”

Needless to say it was a major success! It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and now we are looking forward to next year.