alison

Happy Birthday, Alison!

chickpea salad

You may have noticed more variety when shopping for produce. It seems spring is on its way...maybe here? While the weather has gone back and forth from warm, hot, freezing-cold and rainy, there has been a consistent growth in fresh foods...tomatoes, eggplant, peppers...We enjoyed this spring/summer chickpea salad last week. It tasted like warmer days. It reminded me that I'm excited for those days, which is funny, because I want everyday to be a breezy fall day. Change is good...seasons are one proof of that.

Chickpea Salad

by Sarah Ikegami

2 cups cooked chickpeas

2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 red onion, sauteed

1 cup fresh parsley

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped

olive oil, balsamic & red wine vinegar, salt & pepper

Mix first four ingredients together and toss with dressing. You don't have to saute the red onion. You can keep it raw. I just happen to prefer cooked onions.

Enjoy!

DMBLGIT? (again, 2)

It's here again....the latest DMBLGIT? photo contest is being judged right now. To view the gallery of January 2007 food photography, click here. Confused? What is DMBLGIT? Learn more here.

2.23.87

Happy Birthday, Juliet!

found

While visiting my family a couple weeks ago, I found this list of favorite things. I wrote this about three years ago. My, how things change...and stay the same....but mostly change. In fact, almost every single thing has changed...almost, not all.

The list may be hard to read since it is so small. If squinting and hunching isn't your thing, click on the list and it should become enormous.

baking book

Currently Baking from:
Just made his Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins...about 400 more recipes to try.

follow-ups, 5

Here are the most recent follow-ups:
Follow-ups refer to former posts...they include pictures, articles, reviews, results, etc. I have included the month these posts refer to...in case you wish to review the original thought/idea to the follow-up:

DMBLGIT? (again) (January 2006)

orange tree (January 2006)

retro rob & sarah (December 2006)

girl steffens (November 2006)

nutella

Everything about Paris is romantic and fabulous. Rob and I were lucky enough to visit Paris on our honeymoon in June of 2005. We loved it. We talk about moving there one day. Who knows. It may never happen...but we like to think it might and get excited when we here of people who live there...or go there...or want to go...or if we see a picture of it...anywhere. One aspect of Paris we fell in love with was chocolate. It's the best. In fact, I'm pretty sure Rob didn't even like chocolate until Paris...and I'm sure that after Paris I only liked Parisian chocolate.

We didn't explore the city too much while it was dark, partly because we started the day early and walked a ton so were tired at the end of the evening, but mostly, because it didn't get dark until about eleven o' clock at night...so even if were were out at night, it wasn't necessarily dark or feel late. We did, however, walk to the Eiffel Tower, just a few blocks from our hotel one night. It was gorgeous. While we were in awe at the sparkling tower, we enjoyed chocolate hazelnut crepes...otherwise known as, nutella crepes. They were delicious. After Paris, we found that people either love or hate the famous chocolate hazelnut spread found in grocery stores around the country. That's fine. You can love it or hate it...or not even care. We happen to think it's good.

We recently made these Martha peanut butter-chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies and filled them with a chocolate hazelnut spread found here. They were good and reminded us of Paris...which we like.

antoinette

Happy Birthday, Aunt Antoinette!

holly

This is Holly Worsham, sweet, kind, thankful, hilarious friend.

2.14.84

Me, 23 years ago.

valentine candy

We all have favorites. My fourth grade teacher's favorite food was lobster. She told the class it was expensive and difficult to eat. Because of this, she only had lobster once a year. This made no sense to me. The concept of enjoying your favorite meal only once a year was strange. I certainly did not go without my favorite food, pizza, for a whole year...why not more lobster? Or at least switch your favorite food. Then my teacher said something profound. "I suppose lobster is my favorite food because I anticipate enjoying it just once year. I eat it with my husband for a special occasion." Hmm. Ok. I think I get it.
These cherry heart candies are my lobster...er...my favorite valentine candy. Actually, they were my mom's favorite valentine candy...and I think she discovered them through my Grandma Marilyn. My mom claims to have eaten alot of these candies during her pregnancy with me. This explains alot. Hearts, cherries, Valentine's Day...it's all coming together. Anyway...it's tradition to search for these candies each year. They are hard to find. I searched three stores last week and was unable to find anything even remotely similar. I was delighted when I found a bag as a gift from my family last weekend. How sweet.
Buy a bag if you are lucky enough to spot these love spell gems. Share them with your family and friends. They only come once a year...probably why they are my favorite valentine candy.

norah jones

Currently Listening via iTunes:

katie

Happy Birthday, Katie!

menu

My mom has made menus for as long as I remember. A typical weekend afternoon would involve my mom with a sheet of white paper. It would be cut in half. One half was to write out a menu for two weeks worth of dinners. The remaining half was to write out a grocery list so we could actually prepare the menu. She would post it on the side of the fridge. She was very organized. She was also flexible, which showed itself in the lines and arrows we often traced on the menu when weeks were busy or the family had a change of plans. For the most part, though, we followed the menu. It was a family effort making sure food was available to prepare, making sure it was fresh, thawed if it needed to be, etc. It was also our responsibility to check the menu when we were browsing the pantry and fridge to be sure we didn't eat the menu...or in the opposite case, our responsibility to replace something needed for a menu recipe. Her plan was brilliant. It was easy. It allowed the family to help out in the kitchen and made grocery shopping trips purposeful. I have followed my mom's example and make a menu each week for Rob and I. I usually make it on the computer (used to print it off, no longer do) and scribble a list on a post-it note. It seems to work, either because it's habitual for me...and it's plain awesome. Rob and I usually stick to the menu but leave plenty of room to be spontaneous. I try to make the menu and list by Friday. I ask Rob each week if he has any ideas for the menu. Every week he says lasagna. Then I ask if he has other ideas...or I make some type of lasagna. We're interesting. After he gives ideas and I check the overwhelming stack of ideas in my recipe binder, I browse ideas on the web, pick enough for the week and shop. It's pretty ordinary and creative at the same time. I like it.

bethann

This is Bethann Hardy. We went to college together. We lived on the same hall all four years and served as student leaders for two years. Bethann is very dear to me. Learn more about her life as a governess all the way in Virginia here.

girl co-workers

Girlfriends I get to work with:

Megan, Shannon, Hollie and Erin.

sugar...2

These snickerdoodles are still one of our favorite cookies to bake/enjoy. You may remember I posted these in August 2006...well, here they are again, but with a new photograph.

jake shimabukuro

Current Concert:

Quite possibly the best ukulele player in the world. Seriously. Fabulous show...even at midnight.

melissa

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

rice pudding

Sweets are not hard to find this time of year. While there are many tasty treats available in stores right now, sometimes its nice to make a little something yourself. Here's an idea...rice pudding. Rice pudding is incredibly easy and affordable to make. Its traditional ingredients consist of arborio rice (good choice of rice because it absorbs liquids, making a creamy pudding), milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sometimes it has cream or egg in it. Often people will put brown sugar or raisins in their rice pudding. Here's a simple rice pudding recipe...vary it as you wish:

Rice Pudding

by Sarah Ikegami

1/2 cup Arborio Rice

1 cup water

Cook rice till done, about 20 minutes.

When rice is cooked, add:

1 1/2 cups Vanilla Soy Milk

3 tablespoons of sugar (can be left out, but won't be as sweet/good)

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. You can add any flavors that you like. We added the traditional flavors mentioned above. This treat can be served hot, warm or room temperature.

jordan

Happy Birthday, Jordan!

makaha sons

Madge and Tom came to visit us last weekend. We had a nice time together. They took us with them to see the Makaha Sons, a talented trio of Hawaiian musicians. They put on a fabulous show.