Missing France

With the drizzle outside, I'm finding that I miss being on vacation. Holly and I have been reviewing photos to print to make a condensed version of a photo album, since all the photos we want to print got super pricey, real fast.

Overlooking the French Riviera in Nice, France.


The King & Queen of America in Monaco.




Exploring the palace gardens in Versailles, France.


On the bridge, in the sun viewing Notre Dame Cathedral. Did I mention the sun was in my eyes and I could not see anything!


Atop the Arc du Triumph in Paris, France.


Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.


Rodin Gardens in Paris, France.


In front of Notre Dame, our first night in Paris after we got bitched out a by a street vendor. "Beesh, Beeshes." I want a Nutella crepe so I can chuck it at someone! :)

Happy Birthday To Me!

I had a wonderful birthday on Friday! I got to talk to my super cute niece on the phone who told me it's no fun I have to work on my birthday (I totally agree with her). I had an excellent dinner with my sweet husband and our good friends followed by cake and, my favorite, peppermint ice cream. Dan spoiled me rotten by giving me an iPod Nano which I am having tons of fun loading music onto. Plus a fun crafty holiday stamp, great cards from family and friends and a gift card from my mom to go shopping. All in all I couldn't ask for anything better.

Attitude of Gratitude

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I feel like I have a tremendous list of things to be grateful for in my life. So many people in our families, neighborhood, city, the world in general are really struggling and having a hard time. I wish we could do more than what we are doing. But despite the challenges that anyone of us could be facing, we all have an extreme amount of things to be grateful for. Here are a few things I'm grateful for.

1) Holly first and foremost. What a privilege to be living life with your absolute best friend. We laugh with each other every day, and have so much fun together and trying what life has to offer us.

2) Our families are amazing. All the different personalities really play into immediate family diversity. I'm grateful for all the experiences and learning situations I have with all my family members on both sides.

3) I'm grateful to be in a job that I ACTUALLY like, and an industry that I actually feel like I'm making a difference in. I also have amazing colleagues that I get to spend a good portion of each of my work days collaborating with. Sure, every job has it's politics and bureaucracy to deal with, but I'm genuinely happy in my change from financial services to health care services.

4) I'm grateful Holly and I both are financially conservative. We both are on the same page in that saving for the betterment of our future, our pending kid's future, unforeseen rainy days, church service opportunities down the road in retirement, is more important than the latest and greatest vehicle and wardrobe or other self indulgences.

5) Our warm house and warm bed with all the pillows and blankets. I was just laughing out loud last night, at how much I love our nest and taking a nap and burrowing under all the covers and cuddling.

6) Great friends of varied ages and backgrounds.

7) The freedoms of this nation, and freedoms of practicing whatever religion I see fit, as well as aligning myself with any political affiliation I see fit. This list could go on and on.

Happy Birthday Holly Honey

Today is Holly's Birthday. So I want the whole world to know that I am the luckiest man alive, and have the coolest girl in the world as my best friend and wife. Here's wishing you a fantastic day, and many more years of fun filled memories together. It is an extreme blessing in my life, to be able to live life together with you. I love you! Happy Birthday!

Savory Baking Treats

It's that time of year for yummy breads and desserts made with pumpkin and other spices of the season. I was looking through an old email today and found this recipe from back at my pot luck days at WaMu staff retreats. I had tried a bunch of recipes to get this one exactly to where I like it. I think I'm in the mood to make this, this upcoming weekend. Given our change in eating habits, I'm sure I'll be giving a lot of this away.

Dan’s Pumpkin Bread

1 & ½ C sugar
½ C oil
2 eggs
1 C pumpkin
1 & ¾ C flour
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
1/3 C water
½ to 1 C raisins, dates or dried cranberries
1 C chopped walnuts

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour into 1 large pan (takes about twice as long to bake) or 4 to 5 small loaf pans. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Small loaf pans are typically 3” by 6-7” long. Raisins and/or nuts are optional if you don’t really like them. Use what you have on hand and mix to taste.

Antique Cake Plates & Silver

While visiting family a week ago, we were very much surprised to find ourselves with a box of priceless family heirlooms. Since Mom's passing in 2006, my eldest sister and her husband have been helping to settle the estate of my grandmother who passed a few years before my mother and lived in the house next door to us growing up. We were given one of a kind, hand painted porcelain china plates and baby bud vases. My grandmother loved to paint china among many other home inspired hobbies.

To me, the real heirlooms of this family packed weekend came from my own mother. My Dad decided that he wanted all his children to have some of the beautiful things that he and Mom collected early on in their marriage, and throughout their adult lives together. Holly and I now have beautiful antique cake plates to adorn our own home, as well as pieces of Mom's sterling silver service set, pieces from her porcelain tea cup collections and the soup tureen from their wedding china to accompany our yearly tradition of making soups for our friends and neighbors in the fall. My Dad painstakingly ensured that each and every piece that was given to all of his children, were pieces that we each had connections or sentimental attachments to as a child or adult. What I refer to as the "baby cake plate," is a very simplistic modern looking glass cake plate. As a child, I remember during the holidays walking up to the side board in our dining room on Christmas Eve and looking eye level at the various homemade chocolates that were wrapped in green and red foils and displayed on this "baby cake plate." As a kid, the cake plate and candies seemed huge, and I know the look on my face was even bigger as I awaited to have my piece of candy, or more than likely simply snuck one and tried to rearrange the remaining candies to look like no one had snuck one. The porcelain tea cup and saucer from her collection is the set she made Postom for me in, the night before I went to the MTC on my mission. Mom and I stayed up most of that night talking as I was getting ready to leave for two years. All of these things, Dad ensured we could relate to with distinct memories. These items may have not cost a lot when they were acquired by my parents, but to me, these items are beyond valuable. They are priceless.

It was very emotional to be given these items, and to bring them back to our home in Seattle. I still have a hard time being in my parents home, looking at all the things Mom created for the home of our childhood and not being able to find her their creating or having a conversation with her like we use to. Mom exists in every nook and cranny of my childhood home and the memories flood extremely deep as soon as I step foot outside of the car when we go to visit my Dad. It's reassuring to know that Mom exists very deeply in the homes of all her children as well, even though she no longer gets to visit us all.

I feel the most grateful that my family absolutely loves each other to pieces, and we love spending time with each other. Not are families are that lucky or make the effort. It is an extreme blessing to have the relationship with my family and Holly's family that we both do. I honestly have mixed emotions about using these heirlooms from my Mother, as I don't want them to ever get broken or damaged. But I know she would want us to entertain with these, and use and love these pieces as much as she did. I look forward to using these pieces in the decades ahead, and eventually sharing them with our next generation.

Chocolate Immersion

The second we stepped into my sister-in-laws house I knew it was going to be a good weekend. We were welcomed with the luscious fragrance of chocolate, what more could you want? I'll tell you. How about 700+ chocolates all lined up in a row freshly dipped and begging you to taste one.






That's pretty much how the weekend went, we dipped some, they set up, we ate some. We ate some more, and then packaged them up. It was great! Dan was in his element dipping away and perfecting his technique and learning how to put bottoms on the chocolates while I applied the crushed candy cane.


Notice the apron..."Damn Good Cook."




Of course everyone helped out. It was a good way to make the work go faster and learn from each other.










We had a great time laughing, making a mess and eating. I love that we do this every year!

A Quick Read

I'm almost done with my food industry book from Michael Pollan, and am still unsettled on what I want to eat for the time being. I'm definitely not touching industrial raised beef for a while. I've decided that my next book needs to be more simplistic in nature, and not require any thinking on my part whatsoever. So I've decided to read Eragon and the two subsequent books in this fantasy series based on my brother-in-law's recommendations. I have not read the Harry Potter or Twilight series, but the sci-fi of fire breathing, human eating dragons could be very fun. OK, maybe he/she [not sure the sex of the dragon yet], doesn't eat people. I'll have to read it to find out.

Nine Wonderful Years!

Holly and I celebrate nine wonderful years of marriage today. It's like we've always been a part of each others lives, and at the same time nine years has flown by quickly. Together we have experienced many things from deaths in our families, to layoffs, purchasing our first home, the challenges of expensive schooling, and most recently the pursuit of adoption to expand our family here in Seattle. Holly is the rock in our relationship, and is my absolute best friend. I love you more and more each day. Happy Anniversary!

Since we have our temple commitments this evening, we celebrated last night by going to Volterra in Ballard. The contemporary Italian menu was amazing. I tried organic wild boar for the first time, and holly had some free range organic chicken. Both dishes were to die for. Volterra makes it's own salamis and other cured meats on the premise and we had some of these meats and fresh Italian cheeses for a starter. Our salads and desserts were also amazing. I am becoming addicted to pickled or roasted beets on anything. Anytime I can have espresso and rum or madeira soaked tiramisu, I'll jump at it. We definitely will go to Volterra again. The quaint atmosphere is perfect for any special occasion, or if you just want really good Italian food.

I Feel Sick!

We've had a busy weekend, making fondant centers and dipping candies, all while going through 70 pounds of chocolate. We are going home with 300 candies and this is just the start of what Holly and I will dip this holiday season. We have already eaten our fair share of chocolates, and are now in SERIOUS need to go back on our diets! :)

We've had a great time visiting with both our families, enjoying the cold brisk winter air, and seeing the fresh snow. I forget that we are in the mountains when we come to visit family. We'll post pictures later in the week.

Candy Making Weekend

It's that time of year when my siblings all gather together and make home made candy and other confections for the upcoming holiday season. We started this tradition in 2006 after Mom's passing. We all have come to look forward to this weekend every November where we can get together, tell lots of fun stories, reminisce about mom and the holidays of our childhood, and of course make all these great candies that we learned from Mom. We love keeping the tradition going of making beautiful home made candy, packaged perfectly for gift giving. We can't wait to see everyone this year!

Holly and I making treats at home in Seattle last year.





Wrapping candies and creating custom packaging. Holly has amazing skills as a graphic designer, and has come up with a great color and packaging scheme each year. From the traditional CDs we make for everyone, to the gift tags and box packaging. I'm excited for the holiday season to be approaching.

Optimistic For Real Change

I'm absolutely ecstatic that Obama won the US Presidential election. I think this country will finally see some progress and real change occurring in a swifter fashion. My hope is that our national political leaders can really come together in true bipartisan governance going forward. The incessant counter productivity often associated with our national government can correlate to this unwillingness. With the current financial and mortgage melt downs, and health care costs spinning out of control, and no hope for any social security when WE retire, a united approach is a must...particularly for our country to compete internationally. If our country doesn't get their act together and start cooperating, we'll be eclipsed by the European Union in the short term. Part of the reason I have declined from voting in the past, is that the two major parties can never seem to work together to move anything forward. The same issues keep churning over and over again, and no real headway is made. However, I can be proactive and try to do my part to support and encourage the change. The flaw of the past eight years [in my opinion], has been the lack of willingness on the Republican Party's part seeking the viewpoints and suggestions of the Democratic Party. The more I get involved in politics, the more I align myself as an Independent. So, in my independent viewpoint, I think [and have to hope] that Obama will truly tackle the large issues with the best practices and ideas that both major parties can bring to the table. Regardless of what truly transpires over the next four years, what an amazing historic event we have all just witnessed in our lifetime.

Rethinking Mass Produced Food Consumption

I have been reading “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” from author Michael Pollan, a New York Times bestseller. In this book he follows the industrial food supply chain from the inception of corn centuries ago, to genetically modified corn being in everything from food to gasoline to medicinal products for humans and antibiotics for animals and insects. The more I think about the industrial food chain we rely on so much, the more I realize that the US FDA “approved” practices for beef, chicken and pork production and consumption are in fact very counter productive to your overall quality of health. Since the late 1980s, evidence continues to mount and directly points to the increasing trends of e-coli, mad cow and other human intestinal disease development and propensity for weight gain. This stems from the practices of raising animals for food consumption to keep pace with inflation and increased demand for “cheap” nutritionally inadequate food products and shelf stable snacks.

The old adage, “you are what you eat” truly can affect your short and long term quality of health, your overall wellness and your propensity to develop lifetime health issues. We both have been making a concerned effort to avoid processed foods, and incorporate healthy locally grown and sustainable farm fresh organic produce without all these chemicals and byproducts. I’m HORRIFIED at what I’m learning is acceptable in this country for industrial food chain produced beef, pork and chicken. Last night I was disgusted with government agencies, mass producers of product and chemical companies all involved to make food more shelf stable, and to make it cheaper for the growing masses in this country and around the world. I don’t think I’ve quite decided that I’m a vegetarian, but I will be eating meat products a lot less frequently, and will only do so if they are certifiably organic, raised in a humane fashion and not full of the crap [literally] that is acceptable in today’s FDA regulated food chain industry.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to dive deeper into the processes and practices of today’s economic driven food circles. It’s rather shocking. I’m looking forward to his follow up novel on this topic.

Only 53 Days Left

This past weekend felt like the day after Thanksgiving, with all the holiday sales. I know retailers are kicking into high gear earlier this season to make up for the anticipated shortfall in consumer spending. But good grief! We were at Macy's on Saturday running some errands and all the holiday decor is up and they are putting lights on all the Christmas Trees. Or at least the unhelpful sales associates were putting up decor. The mall parking lot was even a complete zoo and I could feel my blood pressure rising. I'm a little perplexed that the busy shopping season is here already.

Of course, Holly and I fell to the retail marketing temptation and we too hit the sales and did some holiday shopping ourselves. We purchased some ornaments for our Christmas trees and a few others things. I even came home on Saturday night and made three batches of fondant for home made chocolates and other Christmas Candy. Why can't the mall close for just the two of us, so we don't have to be bothered by all the other people? I'm sure most of my holiday shopping will be done online, in my own comfort, and shipped directly to the destinations at hand. I guess I'll start telling people Merry Christmas this week.

I LOVE My New Hat!

A huge, HUGE thanks goes out to "The Duchess" for making me this super cool hat for the upcoming winter season! I have never had anything knit for me before. Let alone anything that is hand made by the textile artist as well. The handiwork on this is AMAZING and it fits my big noggin perfectly, and allows for my ears to be all tucked in and kept cozy warm. This is the coolest thing ever. THANK YOU!