My love of Shamrocks

My mom loved her shamrocks, and because of her, so do I. She had two ginormous plants in our dining room, and when I moved to DC and got my first place, she took some from her pots and hand carried them on the plane when she came to visit.

I promptly killed that offspring, and after watering the dirt for a few weeks (mom's suggestion) - one lonely stalk came back. She promised it would grow. Then I shut my blinds at work and accidentally clipped the pot, chopping the fledgling stalk in two. At that point I gave up. Maybe they aren't so lucky for me....

I was shamrock free until Saturday when I saw this fat plant at Trader Joe's. I'm going to try it again. Wish me luck....and Happy St Patrick's Day Mom :-)

My failed (1st attempt) at French Macarons

I've been wanting to make French Macarons for a while, but after reading up about all the issues people have had with them, I've been procrastinating. Unlike brownies where you just mix and bake, macarons require some solid technique. Technique I apparently don't have. My goal was to make salt caramel macarons. I was off to a good start with the salt caramel filling....

....and it seemed like the macaron shells were ok (though a bit big given my limited piping abilities)...


But when it came time to assemble the baked cookies, it was clear something wasn't right. Some of the cookies had the desired "foot" while others didn't, and they were crunchy like meringue. Not crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Plus - some cracked while others didn't. Sigh. They taste ok, and they appear to be sucking some moisture out of the caramel filling, but I may just have to buy my macarons in the future. Either that, or obsess until I get it right.

Our new kitchen island

Ok, Ok. I know most people don't get excited about things like kitchen islands, but for me, I was thrilled when this was delivered from the local restaurant supply company. It gives us TONS of work space, is virtually indestructible, cheaper than Ikea, and it reminds me of my volunteer days at cooking school. Perfecto!

High Tide

Brett and I are getting used to the large variations in the tides at our rental. On a normal day, the deck area looks like this:


On Saturday, it looked like this, and water was half way up our side yard! According to the tide charts, the highest tide will go 5 inches higher than this. Crazy.

Oh Canada!

In Toronto last week a colleague pointed out the Olympic donuts Tim Hortons was selling in support of the Canadian team. Donut with little maple leaf sprinkes anyone?

Hairy melon, pigs blood jello, and side of sofa

First let me say that I always respect anyone trying to do business in a foreign country. That said, I still giggle when I see things like this on a menu (as I did at a Chinese restaurant in the Toronto suburbs this week).

First up, hairy melon. I have since learned that a hairy melon is not a translation issue. It's a real term - but it doesn't sound very tasty at first.


Next up, pig blood Jello. I'm not a huge Jello fan to start with, and the addition of pig blood isn't really doing it for me.


Last, I think we found either a typo or a translation issue - unless sofas are the latest side dish. Bon appetit!

My first "borrow a kid" trip

Brett and I don't plan on having our own kids, so years ago I made a deal with my brother where I could "borrow" his. My nephew turned 10 last fall and for his first trip with us, he chose San Francisco.


He's a huge Lego fan, so our first stop was the Lego Store in San Mateo.


We also stopped at Stinson Beach. It was an unplanned stop but we needed a place to recover from some vomit inducing curves in the road along the coast. Brendan had a ball chasing the waves and being chased. He'd never seen anything quite like it and loved playing with the sea foam, waves and sand.


The enormous redwoods at Muir Woods National monument were also a hit.

But a lot of the fun was had just hanging around our house playing Wii, hugging Holly...


...and digging in the sand along the marsh.


Brendan also had the pleasure of taking the maiden voyage in our hot tub.


Overall it was a great trip. We also went to Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, Lombard's "crooked" street, and to a hill so steep there are stairs in the side of it. I even made 2 souvenir photo books for him at Kodak Gallery and had them printed by the lab so we could pick them up. After all that, we asked Brendan what his favorite part of the trip was. His answer: The Lego Store.

Check out his photo books on Kodak Gallery using our new project sharing feature. My Pictures The ones Brendan took.