are we there yet?

3 day walk for the cure: susan g komen

20 miles a day

3 days in a row

60 miles to find the cure for breast cancer

countdown

thurs night my friend c and i were in a hotel for one last night in a comfy bed (or so we thought) before braving the camping on the beach.

and what is a road trip south without passing by our fav place to eat:

and my teammate:

waffleface

day 1

opening ceremony started at some ungodly hour like 6am, and the shuttle to the start was at 445am.

so with our bags in tow, and just a bit sleepy, we began with opening ceremony

there was a wall to write your goals. here is my friend placing her goal on the wall.

and a furry friend to support the walkers

and we're walking

rest stop number 2

making friends with the local police

finally, we arrive at camp to meet some lovely girl scouts who set up our tent as we retrieve our things

camp is on the beach

day 2

rain, rain, go away....

but it didn't

and we were drenched

finally going back to camp, we found our tent wet. very very wet. (and most of our belongings wet)

and decided to pack it up for the last night after hearing reports of another heavy shower headed our way.

and of course as we're getting ready to leave camp...

beautiful

day 3

amazing start

the front of the line

with the weather improving we passed by a man dressed up as a gorilla passing out bananas

and our first rest stop had wonderful beautiful delightful people giving us small cups of starbucks coffee and girl scouts handing out thin mints... HEAVEN

lot of oranges to prevent my fear of scurvy ;)

and some friends we met along the way

the melon men

you know who he is

cheerleaders

the men and women on motorbikes were our crossing guards and they certainly dressed up for the occasion

and finally closing ceremony- with our new t's

getting ready for the parade

what a night

a tribute to the survivors and the friends we've lost

hubby, and friends a and t met us at the end where we promptly decided to drink and eat some wonderful greasy food at the nearby chili's.

thanks to all that donated and gave us their support. it was an amazing experience.

Halloween 2010!

Halloween 2010!!

we stayed home this halloween to experience the madness of many trick-or-treaters coming to the door in crazy costumes!!

here we are, my friend t and i preparing for the big night!

jack o' at night

lil jack's at night

V peers out (strobe light behind him) so not very incognito

New 8 legged friend, watch out! he'll hit you in the head!

we are currently experiencing an influx of cartoon characters, dead people, comic book characters, pumpkins, fairy tale princesses and pirates!

hope we have enough candy! (candy candy candy)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

mini break- san fran & napa 2010

a long weekend in photos




aaaaallllcatraaaaazzzzz
sadly we didn't get to go. all the tours were booked up for two weeks ahead!



chocolate chocolate chocolate heaven




the sea lions catch some sun
wish i could have one as a pet but don't know how edgar would react




fun with bread at the bakery!






city lights bookstore




saying goodbye to the golden bridge and on our way to napa



our B&B- The Candlelight Inn in Napa, CA




our first wine tasting: Rubicon Winery (FFC's winery)
Beautiful!!






second day, we took a tour called platypus wine tour. they drove us around all day to four wineries, provided us lunch and dropped us back at our hotel. it was a lot of fun!

the first winery came with a cave tour!!







the third had their own goats! Cafe Neustra




the last was the big tourist attraction- a real castle
Castella di Amorosa





the bar



on our last day, we stopped by the hess collection


we explored the two floor art gallery before making our way over to the tasting room
i think overall, it was my favorite tasting
i loved all the wines i tried there, and the guy that helped us was extra nice, friendly and wasn't in a rush to serve or sell to a bunch of people.
also, the grounds were beautiful.




Thanks for reading!

weakness

hooray!

everyone, big, small, tall, short, we all have weaknesses.

there i said it.

one of my weaknesses is the color yellow. my kitchen is yellow and if i can help it, my appliances are yellow (my kitchen aid standing mixer is the perfect shade of yellow)

so, it comes as no surprise that when i see an appliance that is yellow, i want it.

YELLOW!

wandered into sur la table and there it was...

oooooooo! aaaaah!!

that's right. i never wanted/needed an ice cream machine before. my father has one and he makes delish ice cream. i even have an old copy of his old school ice cream cookbook (with detailed pictures of how to churn perfect ice cream) my friend p has an ice cream maker and she has made amazing ice cream. me? i don't know the first thing about making ice cream.

but there was in sur la table, with a great big yellow ice cream maker clutched in my arms because one of my favorite things in the world, alongside pizza, is ice cream. (weakness number one)

i just never thought about making it from scratch before!

and it's yellow!

(weakness number two)

i also love books. all kinds of books. so what was the next thing i had to get after buying my amazing ice cream maker?

an ice cream book

even though i already had this one

LOVE books

(weakness number three)

i decided to make chocolate ice cream, a classic (weakness number four) and after calling my mother so she could confirm that dutch cocoa was the same as unsweetened cocoa (close enough) i made my way out of Vons to go home and start making some ice cream

silly me

i thought making ice cream was like making cookies. you throw it all into the ice cream maker and watch it churn and bam! ice cream

boy was i wrong

first you have to melt, stir, whisk and create a light airy custard that has to cool

then, after 12 hours (i did 24 to make sure it was cool), you put it in the ice cream maker to churn and puff up.

before:

and after:

beautiful!

i froze it for a couple of hours but couldn't wait. it's still a little thick and not frozen enough. seems to be the consistency of thick frozen-y (that's a word i just made up. deal) mousse but it is damn good!

SUCCESS!!!

summer is here. it's the perfect time to experiment with frozen treats, don't you think!?!?