More things to make when it's raining

Yes, we Californians are whiners. We can't take more than a couple of days of rain. Everyone is in a horrible mood. Now I totally understand why coffee became so popular in Seattle.

Found this pot of herbs at Trader Joe's! Much cheaper than buying them separately at a grocery store. This culinary pot has mint, oregano and thyme. I also bought a container of basil.



Here's what I made with the oregano (the red pesto) and the basil (classic pesto recipe).


Red pesto just has garlic, sundried tomatoes, parmesan/romano cheese, fresh oregano and olive oil (no pine nuts). It's great on hot pasta or as bruchetta topping.

EDIT: Forgot to add that you also have to put in a few fresh tomatoes with the red pesto :-)

What to do when it's raining

Make apple pie filing:

Mmmmmm, can you smell it? Using up the last of the organic Fuji apples my aunt and uncle gave us, along with that Saigon cinnamon I recently got at Costco. Go get some - it's really good!


Then I used some of that pie filling to layer in between the cake and crumbs of this great Crumb Cake recipe. Look at that thick layer of crumb topping! Just like the crumb cakes I used to eat at Old Ebbit Grill in Washington, DC.

Go ahead and double click the photo - you might just get a whiff of that fresh-baked crumb cake!


Gigi's Nothing Crummy about this Crumb Cake (adapted from Nick Malgieri and Martha Stewart's recipes)

Crumb Topping
Melt 1 c. butter (2 sticks), set aside and allow to cool slightly

Combine the following in a large bowl
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (10 oz)
1 c. brown sugar (8 oz)
2 tsp cinnamon
- pour melted butter over mixture and mix until large crumbs form; set aside

In a medium bowl, sift together:
3 c. all-purpose flour (12 oz)
1 c. sugar (7 oz)
1 Tblsp PLUS 2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp. salt

In another bowl, whisk together:
2 lg. eggs
1 c. milk (non-fat ok to use)
4 T. vegetable oil
1 Tblspn PLUS 1 tsp vanilla
- Fold in the dry ingredients until JUST combined - do not overmix!
- Spread batter in a greased/floured 8x8 or 9x9 squre baking pan;
- Spread 1 c. of canned or homemade fruit filling (*optional*; peach and apple work best);
- Top with crumb topping, making sure crumbs are evenly distributed
- Bake at 325 degrees, for 45-50 minutes or until crumb topping are slightly golden and toothpick inserted in batter comes out clean.
- Let cool then dust with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Yarn Crafts

Lots of crocheting going on at my house:

Rose scarf pattern found on Lion Brand Yarn webpage:


Heart pillows and crocheted flower pillows inspired by this creative blogger.



Heart pillows are cut from fleece and yarn is worsted weight yarn.

To make pillows, create a heart template then cut out fleece. Sew with yarn using a large needle, making uniform blanket stictches all the way around. Leave opening for stuffing. Stuff heart pillow firmly then close up the edge. Using a crochet hook, crochet single crochets all the way around, adding extra sc on the curved part of the heart, on the blanket stitches. For the next row, do scallops in this manner: *sc, sk 1 sc, on the next sc, do 5 dc, sk sc, then repeat from * pattern all the way around.

Would that be stealing?

Last week I put out a bunch of donation items on our curb for a local charity to come and pick it up. A friend came by and asked to put some stuff out she wanted to get rid of and so she left it on our front yard. I left shortly after to pick up the kids - I was back in less than an hour and half the stuff she put out was taken! We live in a "good" neighborhood so this was totally unexpected. Granted, the stuff was bound for donation but it was supposed to go to the needy and not neighbors seeing something they wanted! I really think they should have come to the door and asked me for it and not just take it - it's not like I had a "free" sign on the stuff.

When I put the rest of the donations outside, one of the yard maintenance people did come to my door and asked to take the bookcase. I let him - he asked and figured he could use it. Throughout the day though, stuff started to slowly disappear from the pile. Someone even had the nerve to open up the boxes and sort through stuff they wanted. By the time the charity truck arrived later that afternoon, only a few boxes remained. I feel sorry for the needy - they didn't get what I intended for them to get.

Still Believes

Here's what my 6 year old wrote on her own for Santa....



"Santa" though, forgot to eat the cookies and drink the milk next morning. Had to think up of a quick damage control reason. Our reason? We have 3 fireplaces and so we reasoned that Santa got confused and must have gone down the other fireplace and missed the cookies and milk completely! They believed it!

My Dad passed away shortly before my daughter's birthday so I had a lot of making up to do when I returned. My Mom and I decided to have a very girly birthday party for her and made everything pink and white. My Mom was the clown and the theme was "Fancy Nancy". They decorated straw hats with flowers and feather boas while the boys decorated pirate hats.




Here's my birthday girl with Pearl!

Life...

...goes on.

How we spent our Christmas:

Feeding our "pet" Muffin the Mallard. He's the perfect pet - the kind that stays outside and don't have to take for a walk or scoop up poop.



Happy 2010. May this be a happier and healthy year!

Next post - lots of craft photos (if blogger behaves!).

We will miss you Dad

With a heavy heart, I'm sad to tell you all that my Dad passed away November 17th. He bravely battled Myelofibrosis but the chemo treatments he received this year weren't enough to prolong his life and his blood disease led to acute leukemia.

What hurts the most is that we were never told how much time he had left. We'd like to think that his oncologist was being very optimistic by always leaving it vague when my Dad asked him. I truly expected my Dad to walk out of the hospital with me when I flew down last week.

We all take comfort in the fact that he is now home in heaven and having a grand reunion with all our other loved ones. I told my little boy that Mommy and Grandma were coming home soon and he wondered who would take care of Grandpa. When I told him that Grandpa was not going to get better, he broke down and cried. When he asked his Dad the next morning if Grandpa was now in heaven, he was very happy for his Grandpa as he knows God restores ones soul and takes away all the hurt and pain. He knows my Dad is watching out for them and for the past couple of days, attributes any luck and success to his Grandpa helping him out.

I will miss you very much, Dad. We love you and may you rest in peace.