Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Monday, March 23

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Jasmine is blooming everywhere...
and flowering trees...magnolias, lemons, plums, crepe myrtles, oranges, tababoulias...everything smells good.

last week was rough...but God showed me a LOT about Himself throughout it. i learned about how much fear i harbor (i didn't think i could possibly have needed to know more about that), how fragile i am (again...i thought i had that covered), and how much i need my brothers and sisters in Christ to keep me straight and accountable.

yesterday, Sunday, was one of the most beautiful days ( i think) that we've had this year. it rained early in the morning, leaving the skies clear, clean and full of magnificent deep, thick clouds in brilliant contrasts of light and dark. the sun shone most of the day, but a chill breeze blew as well, making scarves and jackets a necessity.
though, for a few hours in the afternoon i refused my sweater... content to let my arms soak in all the different warms, cools and breezes in the air.

after church the whole clan went to lunch at pei wei, including anna, the meyers, even dave came and met us, fresh from SLO.
gwen discovered she loved a tube of lip gloss i had in my purse.

afterward mom wanted to see jeff's house and the work he was doing on it, so while the two of them talked home improvement, i sat on wren's front lawn (as they are next door to each other) and enjoyed the previously lauded weather. i was joined on and off by sarah and alec, and at one point, reid and cam--who enjoyed a bit of tag and wrestling.















i hung out around there most of the afternoon...eventually getting coffee with wren, anna, robin and my mom. then we went and bugged jeff, who had just laid down on his couch for a nap.

in the evening i stuck around with jeff and mom took my car home. we decided to go to Whole Foods to get dinner supplies, deciding we wanted to create a vast array of delectable delights to graze from. we were there for the better part of an hour choosing cheeses, fruit (apples and cantaloupe), prosciutto, salame, olives, bread, crackers, chocolate, tea...and a nice bottle of something that, once empty, could hold a bunch of jasmine. after a long, store-wide search, we were left with 2 obvious choices: a really pretty blue sake bottle, and a rad beer bottle with an owl on it...we decided to go with the sake.
we also went by bed bath & beyond because jeff needed wine glasses. he also bought a new trashcan. he was super excited about it.

once back at his place, we prepared the food and listened to the Sweet Hurt whilst doing so. i spent most of the time wrapping the prosciutto around the melon. wren and cam came by and sampled a few things. cam also spent a good amount of time perfecting his form sliding across jeff's still empty new hardwood floors.

once jeff finished the sake i went outside and shivered as i clipped a bunch of jasmine from his vine. around 9:30 jordan came over with a few more things, we did pushups, and then sat down to enjoy our spectacular array of food while watching james bond.
how do i know it was an awesome evening?

because i forgot to take even ONE single picture.

~~~

Monday, February 23

dance parties and take a break cookies

reeeeeally quick...

i like the mountains. i also like the clouds on them.

alec and sarah had a belated birthday (alec's) and dance party last weekend. laura and thad were there, and alec's friend dave. the pictures make me really happy.
this one is just so rad. you must enlarge it.
sliiiide
AND VIDEOS!!

(thad is sitting down because he just had an appendectomy :(...)


last thursday at work, brie came by and saw pip and dropped off home-made cookies for everyone...they were gone by the end of the day.
thank you brie :)

okay. gotta get to work now.

Monday, October 6

Sundae at the Soda Fountain (10.1)

with Pip, Andrew and Cassandra






yum

~

Tuesday, June 10

fon-DO

Ariel's graduation dinner at the Melting Pot...

first off, Reid's amazing message to her on her card from the Pikes...

and more photos.






cam and reid are just way too cool for school


the lovely aunties...


so good. amy doesn't look very excited, i know. that's because she knew i was taking her picture. as soon as i put the camera down you should have seen that lobster disappear. so very good.


yes, it's raw. that's because you cook it in the boiling broth. good.


chocolate




chocolate on the quote book




reid & cam






hooraaay


~~~~~~

Friday, June 6

3 basic and obvious facts of life

Sarah makes amazing cake

tea parties are simply marvelous

and water balloons kick ass.


just thought you should know.



~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, March 23

Happy Happy Easter

Sarah and Alec are making a traditional Easter Sushi dinner.
Laurel is here in her new dress.
Some cool stuff.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, March 17

(creepy singsong) it's such a pretty day...outside...today

once again, i will direct you to a post on Ariel's blog that i particularly liked. or you can click here. or here. or even HERE

you should really read it.

i am on spring break. i just realized i've been so busy i haven't really thought about it.
yesterday Anna chopped my hair off again so it will grow back in all blonde...it's the shortest it's ever been and it feels amazing. i trimmed the sides this afternoon so it has almost a faux-hawk-y look. :D don't worry...it's fairly subtle.
i slept in a few hours and then went running this morning...which was horrible and really great.
Sarah and i had lunch sitting in the warm light feeling the cool breeze in our amazing blooming spring backyard. i sunned my shoulders and she knitted a sweater in a straw hat. we looked at the budding vegetable garden. Dad swatted at hornets.

Sarah has been into making bread and she just handed me some of the best sourdough i've ever had...right from our oven. she's amazing...

there are a lot of things going on that i don't want to deal with and i have a terrible lot of school work over the next 6 days...but right now i just want to look at the Azaleas.


~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, November 19

i want a blowtorch for christmas

Friday night was the most fun i've had at work. For those who don't know, i do set up and clean up (i.e. i'm a dishwasher) for the Laguna Culinary Arts school. The perks of the job are that i get i get free amazing food, for every 4 times i work i get to take a free professional cooking course, and it's literally across the parking lot from my studio. So all-around it's great.
On Friday i got to watch a class on cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Not too exciting, i know. But add to that the fact that it was 4 couples taking the class, they were all very loud (might i say...boisterous?) and by an hour into the evening they were drunk off their heads. Oh, and they were carrying around knives and stirring boiling things on the stove. Laura (the girl i was working with) and i were in a constant state of bemusement and panic as we laughed at the chaos while trying to keep up with the washing and steer clear of the knives (which of course they carried pointed straight out in from of them...whoops! watch your back there!)







For dessert they made pumpkin Creme Brulee. Marlene (the chef) demonstrated how to caramelize the top using a blowtorch...





The best part of the night is when everyone dishes up their creations and moves out into the dining room to enjoy the fruits of their labor. That is when us workers get to break and eat and goof around. I had had very little to eat that day...so turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green bean salad and cranberry sauce was like heaven.




There were also two dishes of the Creme Brulee sitting on the counter but no one had caramelized the tops. "I guess we're going to learn how to make Creme Brulee," said Laura. She didn't want to go first so i picked up the blowtorch and pushed the button. Blue flame shot from the nozzle and after about 5 seconds the top of the custard began to sizzle and burn brown. it was very exciting.
After a few minutes Laura and i took spoons and cracked the tops and tasted them. I swore then and there that i was going to start making creme brulee...mostly because it gives me a really good excuse to get my own blowtorch at Home Depot.

~


Saturday evening i drove home, grabbed Sarah and our friend Amber and headed out to LA to visit Laura (longtime friend) who had just moved into her new apartment. For my birthday a few weeks ago she had bought a pinata and we never got to use it...so she threw together a Colleen/Sarah birthday party and when we walked in, there it was, shining in all it's glory.
Also there were my mom, Jan, Wren, Ginger, Anna and Keitha (Thad's mom). They had made a wonderful dinner (Sarah made spaghetti) and for dessert we had cake. And then...it was time for the anticipated event we had been waiting for all evening (okay so that was a little redundant)...



i was first...




then it was Sarah's turn





then lovely Anna


Amber...


My mom finally smashed the thing to pieces...i have an awesome video of that.


look at us in our fierceness...


yes...


~


Sunday was a beautiful day (still not quite cold enough), and Sarah, Alec and i drove to church together. On the way we listened to a Christmas song he is working on. It sounds lovely...it's going to be amazing...but he wants me to write the words! i had a go at it last night and got something started that's pretty interesting...but i just hope Alec likes it. i don't know. we'll see what happens.
It was a great meeting at church. Bob spoke and gave a message that was important to me in many ways. As usual, Ioni was the picture of perfect cuteness...

i didn't stick around long because Edan was super sick. i drove straight to Laguna and spent the afternoon there. i brought him tissues, fruit and gatorade, i dyed his hair back to dark, and we watched Eddie Izzard.

~


I got to school this morning around 10 and have been madly working to try and finish a painting i'm doing for Joey. Distractions haven't been too helpful...at 11 an artist named Marc Trujillo gave a lecture, after which Sarah (from school), Krystyl and i were pining for lunch. We drove to a vegan restaurant called "The Stand". It's actually really good. And i like meat a LOT so that's saying something.



Krystyl and Sarah


camera war


poor Krystyl...


...stuck in the middle

I was so excited...i ordered a half avocado sandwich, Have'a Chips and Hummus. Krystyl went wild and got Chips, Hummus and a plate of waffles.



happy about the waffles






Now i need to get back to work. i'm almost done Joey, really! All i have left is Caid's hand holding that dang rhino.

Finishing a painting is so hard for me to do...i'm just never satisfied with it.
Plus i'm super tired. in many ways body, head, heart...
i'm glad i have the week off after tomorrow because i'm already burnt out.

but it's okay.

i'm not worried...a lot...

i just hope i hold my head up and not focus on how confused i am. isn't everyone...?

Man i can't wait to eat some pie on Thursday...




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~