Favorite Things Friday

Today's favorite is two-fold.  The first is my grandsons' drawings (or just kids' drawings); the other is a plan I have.

First, the drawings. I don't know why I had these in my bag, but I did, so I decided to scan them and realized just how cute they are. 

When Mikey was learning to write, he couldn't get "grandma" down so he would write "Gimop".  So cute, right?

 

I think these were all done during his Spiderman phase ...

And this one is by Andrew, at the same time -- I'm guessing Mikey was 4 and Andrew, 2.

Note to self, always, always, always date their drawings.

Second, the plan.  There is an app/thing called Storycorps, which is about talking to people and telling their stories. You can read about it here.  Anyway, I was thinking it might be cool to talk with my grandchildren, yearly and ask them questions about life.  So I'm going to do that with Mikey and Andrew this year, maybe Cooper.  And hope to do it regularly.  I'll let you know how it goes and maybe bring the videos here, if they turn out.

New Hike - Pulgas Ridge Preserve

So, Nevada and I took another new walk (yay!).  We went to the Pulgas Ridge Preserve (link to their website here. Another dog friendly place.  No bad smells this time. Although we got a late start (I overslept), it wasn't overly crowded.  Not that many dogs either.

Nice view too!

 

We even brought a dog.  She got a little tired and had to be carried some of the way. :)

After the walk we went for breakfast .. though by the time we found a place it was after noon.  We had brunch at Bistro Vida in Menlo Park. Had another eggs benedict - they were pretty good.  Much better than last week's (the Prolific Oven).

No walk this week.

Soup #9 - Tomato

As you know, I have tomato plants in my garden and we've been harvesting the tomatoes.  However, we haven't been eating them very quickly. So, last week I saw this video on facebook ...



and decided I knew what I was going to do with some of those tomatoes.  So, I took all the tomatoes sitting in the kitchen ...

 

and peeled them

 

 blended them and cooked them in a pot ...

rolled out the mushy white bread (we cut the ends off and made croutons!) ...

rolled the cheese up in the bread and fried it ...

used some fresh basil from the garden as garnish ... 

and here it is!!

 

recipe from here. 

It was great.  I learned a few things and might use a different recipe next time, but it was great.  Loved the little grilled cheeseys and again, one I will definitely do again.  I think the little boys will like the grilled cheeseys.

Cocktail Wednesday - Guam Honey - Guoney??

It's almost time for another Cocktail Wednesday (it is Wednesday after all), but I thought I would get this posted before tonight.  Last week, while we were waiting for our carpet to be installed, we had Cocktail Wednesday at my YD and SIL's new apartment.

The cocktail was one that my SIL had tasted in Guam on his most recent trip there (for work) and wanted to try at home.  Recipe from here and renamed by us to be Guam Honey .. a little weird otherwise.

Ingredients:

• Vodka (2 oz)
• Amaretto (1 oz)
• Honey (watered down) (0.5 oz)
• Star Anise (1)
• pepper (dash or two)
• pineapple juice (2 oz)

We mixed the vodka, amaretto, honey, juice, and pepper in a shaker with ice and then poured into the glasses, put the star anise on top - put some fire to the star to cook it a little (?) - and added a dash of pepper.

It was really good.  I will definitely have this one again.  (even if the star anise does look a little like a bug in my drink).  The more you cooked the star, the better the drink tasted.

Some more pictures ...

Remembering

Coyote Hills Regional Park

So on Saturday, Nevada and I walked at a new place.  Coyoto Hills Regional Park.

It was a nice park and dog friendly.  The park is along the San Francisco Bay.  It was an easy walk -- could have been harder but we took the easiest path.  On the water-side of the walk it smelled pretty bad .. the other side no smell but no breeze. 

Things I learned in August ...

1. blending wine is fun .. but tastes better as you blend (not so much a month later)

2. it's harder to run outside than on the treadmill

3. you don't lose weight if you eat tons of fried foods

4. big dogs and little dogs don't always get along

5. it takes a long time to listen to a long book

6. you need to be careful when putting your bag up in the overhead bin on an airplane

I learned other things too ... but this is it for now.

Cocktail Wednesday - Cosmopolitan

So, this past week we had cosmopolitans.  Recipe from here.  This was one of the first cocktails I ever had and enjoyed (though when I was very young I had a rum and coke and slo gin fizz (the same day with disastrous results)).

Ingredients:

• Vodka (1.5 oz)
• Triple Sec (0.75 oz)
• Lime juice (0.75 oz)
• Cranberry juice (0.5 oz)
• Ice

 

To make the drink, put the vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juice in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Then pour into glass.

Nevada's mother joined us .. from Nevada ...

and this is ours ...

 

by the time I took pictures ...

 

Very yummy!

Corn Chowder - Soup #8

I'm finally getting back to finishing up some of my "goals" for this year.  I made my first soup of the year, corn chowder.  Recipe from here.  I had had it on vacation and thought it would be a good one to make.  It was.

 

and in the pot ...

 

It was easy to make, fairly quick, and very tasty.  Will definitely do again ..

Along with the soup, I had some sauvignon blanc .. very nice.

 

and I definitely got wibbly wobbly .. it's a timey wimey thing you know.  

so wibbly wobbly I got the type of wine wrong ... fixed now!