For Ama and Granddad

I was going to send you pictures of the kids in their new shirts. But I forgot to take one of Clark. So here he is in Grace's tutu. He obviously loves wearing it.

Here are the girls. They love their shirts. And you can see Camille's chin, which is almost not purple anymore. Love you!

Super in the Morning

Twenty-Something

On the eve of my thirtieth birthday, I can honestly say that I have been truly blessed. I can only hope that the next thirty years hold so much joy and opportunity.

Like Buttah

I just got my knives sharpened the other day after 6.5 years of owning them. I think they are sharper now than they were when I bought them. It makes cutting things so exciting! Cutting up a pineapple was like slicing butter- I'm not even joking. I think that I will be a knife sharpening junkie from now on!

Now We're Cooking

I just finished reading Julie and Julia and although it's pretty racy and uses lots of bad words, I liked it quite a bit. I got me thinking about cookbooks, and about which cookbook or cuisine I would cook for a year if I had to. There are so many cookbooks out there that I haven't seen, but one that I have that I'd like to cook more out of is Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. Doesn't hold the challenges of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but it sure is tasty. I should do something trickier, though, like Indian food. Wouldn't it be great to know how to cook really great Indian food?

What about you? What cuisine or book would you cook for a year?

Oh, I can also recommend Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which I just checked out from the library. If you think that cooking vegetarian is hard, this is an excellent place to start. It's given me tons of new ideas, and is definitely written for both the novice and the experienced cook. You might be familiar with Bittman's blog, and his style of cooking, which is uncomplicated, fresh, and open to interpretation. This doesn't work for everyone, but it's the way I like to cook, generally, and I'm excited about this new (to me) resource. Oh, also check out his book Food Matters which I read at kind of a turning point for me a few months ago and which has changed much of the way that I eat and has helped me shed quite a few pounds. And for someone that is generally healthy and eats little meat, this is saying something.

What is this, an informercial?

Some Christmas Pictures

Again, in reverse order- our Christmas pictures:

This is how you spend Christmas day in So. Cal and it's amazing.

Frolicking

The girls got scooters for Christmas. Grace refuses to ride hers so I do instead. I think if I didn't have to push Clark around in the stroller I'd ride around with them everywhere- it's pretty fun.

Joy Boy on the swings at the beach park.

The whole family going for a ride on the bee. Hey! It's more spacious than our Civic!

Looks about the same messy as any other day...

Camille and Grace got to pick out a present for each other. They independently picked out ponies for one another. And that was their favorite gift of all of Christmas.

Christmas morning excitement- Clark's still in bed.

At the ward Christmas party with our pals. Anna (on the right) is Clark's best friend. Just ask her.

I made these dresses. Lucky you can't see them up close because then you could see all the mistakes and last-minute errors. But they look cute here!

I've got a thing for babies in overalls. These were my sister's when she was a baby.

Under the kissing ball

With Santa- who says that it hurts when Clark pulls his beard.

Doesn't this look classic? Grace respectfully (tearfully? tantrumlly?) declined to sit on Santa's lap, although she accepted a candy cane from his helper.

The whole fam! Merry Christmas!

Loving the Pregnant Look

My sister and her husband came to visit us over Christmas break. She is pregnant with their first baby, who will be named Lucy. Rachel has been so much help to me with all of my kids, that it kind of breaks my heart not to be able to go and help her come March. But, something tells me that bringing my 3 kids to their leetle 1 bedroom apartment would not be much help. For the amount that they've babysat for us, though, we almost owe Lucy a whole college education. So, we signed her up for her associates degree at University of Phoenix- class of 2030.

Rachel, I'm so excited for you to have your own little pup. And if watching my kids for days on end wasn't enough to dissuade you, then I know that you'll be a very excellent and patient mother.

Love!

Curried Tomatoes and Eggplant

So, good thing I'm not a food blogger, because my cooking pictures are atrocious. I am, however, a food lover, and a busy cook (have to feed my food passion, you see) and tonight I cooked the best thing I've made in recent memory. Although Paul would disagree and say that the standing rib roast last night was better. Anyway, if you want to make a tasty food, here's what you do:

Peel, cube, and salt an eggplant. The normal kind.

Squeeze out the moisture and saute in 2 Tb oil.

When it begins to brown add 1/2 of a chopped up onion

When those things are soft add a chopped up clove of garlic and a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger.

After a few minutes, add a teaspoon of tasty curry powder

Then add a quart of whole canned tomatoes- crushing each in your hands as you go (so satisfying to crush- you'll see.)

Then simmer until it's all saucy and tasty. And eat on top of rice with a little spoon of whole-fat yogurt.

I may eat it all tonight.