Birthday Bang!!

Hey my genuinely fierce followers!  Sorry it's been so long, honestly I've been recovering from a cross between the flu & a double dosage of birthday mania.  So bear with me now & I will give you a little recap of my ultra-cool birthday.  

I'm sure I'm not the only mom who practically bypasses her birthday.  There just doesn't seem to be enough time to do anything celebratory esp when your daughter has her birthday the day after.  I'm usually busy making a cake for her anyway.  

So on my birthday of birthdays, my friendly family from the far regions of Chiba came for a visit (a rarity as it is).  I threw together a mean chilli and enjoyed the company of my fairly normal family.  I must admit that I am of a suspicous nature & can sniff out a scheme like a stanky diaper.  But I totally didn't see this one coming. 

I didn't even get it when I asked DH to run to the store for lemons so I could start on Miss#1's birthday cake.  He basically turned me down by weirdly saying, "The don't have lemons at that store, I'll get them tomorrow".  Next thing I know a crowd of happy looking friends are tearing through my geinkan bringing cakes with them.....like, ACTUAL CAKES!!  For MY birthday!  Seriously I know this is juvinille but I haven't had a cake since I don't know when. 
It was frankly one of the cutest things that ever happened to me.  I was ordered large doses of beer & shoved unceremoniously out of my kitchen where they took over decorating the cakes
This was really the funniest thing ever even DH got in on the action.

Really now, is thta not just the sweetest!  It was a darling cake, thank you Aich.  I really can't remember the last time anyone's made a cake for me.  But that's not the best of it.  The best of it is that the whirlwind that came in so suddenly, also suddenly left -- dragging my 4 oldest kids out the door with them.  They had schemed with my DH to have a sleep over with all their friends & I got to have 75% of my kids taken off my hands!  FANTASTIC PREZZIE that only a parent would think of.  Thanks Oli, Lilly, Aich & Mike!
 So the next morning I get to treat myself to indulgent breakfast & hang out time with my sistahs!  Yeah, this is the "motherload" breakfast, a grilled cheddar & camembert egg muffin with pesto mayo and french mustard!  
 DUUUUDE!  That looks good!  I am seriouly going to need to do that again.  And I actually made it just for myself!

 Cousins played in PJ's while I churned out coffees & capachinnos for the big peoples.  You have no idea how brilliant it was to have only the 2 youngest kids.  BRILLIANT! 

 Cousin Shelly occupied Mr. Ban while my dear techno-savy Daddio set up my new birthday IPod touch.   THANK YOU DADDY!! All the while grumbling all the way about how my poor ancient computer should be flushed down the nearest toilet.  


Let me just say that, after that things started getting pretty loud pretty fast.  Kids came home along with my birthday girl whose 12 now!!  (Good God!!  I'm a mother of  a preteen!)  Along with yet more friends who dropped by so, heck why not have them all over for dinner & of course throw together a cake of love!  
Vanilla Angel food cake with whipped cream & decadent caramel sauce.  And when I say VANILLA....I mean VANILLA!!  I ground 1 empty vanilla bean pod with 3/4 a c of sugar in my blender to make a vanilla sugar!  Good stuff.  As for the caramel guests were seen attempting to BE the spoon & "physically" dive right into the bowl of left overs.

 If you're thinking the cake was big...you're right.  It actually fed 12 adults & 13 kids.  I KID YOU NOT!!  

After this fun filled day I promptly collapsed into a happiness induced coma.  Could also be the fact that I was (literally) in the kitchen ALL day!  

But, it was great.  Kids, Chaos & Cake, just the way it should be!  
And, I'm I am told, also a happy birthday for Laner-bananer-fi-fi-fi-laner-baner!
So thanks everyone for a great birthday.  I've got lots of food I want to blog about & I'm gonna be having a great FOODIE give away soon.  Already told some of you what it is so stay tuned!  

Lova lova you!  

WHY ESPRESSO!!!

THIS ONE GOES OUT TO ALL YOU BUSY MOMMIES!


a) TIME SAVING: You can down it like a shot

b) SIMPLE: you don't need to add milk & coffee

c) INDULGENT: you can console yourself with a piece of chocolate to balance the bitter espresso & calm your borderline freak-out session when you see your 2 boys trying to empty daddy's wallet content into their sock drawer & your 3 year old girl trying to cut her own bangs.

d) PRACTICAL: no kids will dare ask you for a sip for fear you'll actually let them have one & photograph the horrific face they make when they do.

And the winner is.....

Hey Fantastic Followers! (Arg, that has an odd repressed childhood ring to it)

I'm terribly tickled by your "Giveaway" comments. I'm just having a blasty-blast reading through some of the more ghastly home remedies ever. (If I could give the prize for genuinely terrifying home remedies, Silver Princess wins, hands down!)

Seeing as I got so much feedback & enjoyed your great comments & great ideas (and not so great ideas) I've decided to pick 2 winners, so here you go.

I dragged this fresh looking young man out of bed & forced him to rummage around in a hat while he was eating breakfast, for some reason unknown to him.

"K-a-r-i" & "R-y-a-n"

There ya go! Congratulations! Kari & Ryan! Hope you like your humble little prize (100% homemade & free of alligator urine) Ryan, lemmie know how would be best to get you your prize. And Kari, I'll be seeing you soon hopefully.


Thanks everyone. I've got some spiffy foodie ideas for another giveaway soon so stay tuned!

Fragrant Giveaway!

So maybe you don't know this about me but I'm a bit trippy when it comes to natural beauty products. I suppose it's the fact that so many wonderful things in the kitchen can be put in your mouth & smeared all over your body. (Hurrah for messy eaters). I'm not a vigilante about natural health products but you have to be daft to not know that there's a load of crap in consumer beauty products.

I used to think my sister was out of her mind when she'd walk around with banana & oatmeal smeared on her face like a freakin' alien but reeeeally, you can't deny the joy in smashing stuff up, grinding it up & the walking around looking like Frankenstien much to the horror of your DH, who you then hold down & force to don the same concoction.

The more you look into it the more you realize that you can start a whole spa in your kitchen. (minus the L.O. pasta).

So in celebration of God's green earth I'm gonna give away 1 of my favorite winter body products. Lavender & TeaTree Salt & Sugar body scrub.

Anyone who gets dry skin in the winter months will love it. It's the easiest thing to make:

cup of sugar or salt (I used both cuz' salt is a bit too coarse for my liking)
enough carrier oil to turn it into a slushy paste, don't overdo it on the oil. (I used grapeseed but you can use whatever you like, probably not EV olive or cooking oil, ewwww)
10 drops or so of your favorite essential oil (or a blend of oils) I used 7 lavender 3 tea tree

Voila!!

SO! If you wanna take a swing at this giveaway, here's the dealio:

1) Leave a comment answering two questions. What homemade natural product do you use or make & what's the weirdest homemade/natural product you've used or know of someone using (no enema stories please, tx)

2) Significant other can comment for you (or for themselves) to up your chances.

3) Come back on Mon morning on the 28th to see one of my kids randomly picked your name.

4) Sorry but I can only ship within the country :( But we'd still love to hear your whacky ideas


That's it folkies! Comments are now open!

Things we must contemplate.......

- Why didn't I just resist the temptation to start watching "Top Chef"?

- How hard would it be to start a micro-green garden on my window sill?

- What kind of a person would actually enjoy cooking using "molecular gastronomy"? My personal guess is, MASA!!

- Why does composting seem like it's a two faced evil-doer, on one hand it has the ability to be extremely eco-friendly & simple yet also have the potential to be a huge steamy pile of stinkin' mess?

- If my kitchen mixer is named 'Bruce the Mighty Mixer', what shall my sleek blue & translucent glow in the dark blender be called?

- As a cook should I speak up when someone puts mayo on a meal I made that did not call for MAYO as a condiment? (let's just not go here)

- Why am I blogging when I'm supposed to be making bread for tomorrow?

- What would I need to do to get one of you to sneak off with me to Italy....har har! (seriously, if you have any super plausible getaway plans & elaborate cover ups lemmie know....you're my new best friend)


One last contemplation:

Giveaway coming soon..........as soon as I figure out who keeps stuffing marbles into my boots!

--- Ciao

Blessed Bread ALONE: Focaccia

Recently someone asked me how to make Focaccia & I directed them to my blog saying that I had posted the recipe. But after searching I realized that I had NO such recipe posted yet. I mean.....REALLY? I've been making this recipe nearly as long as I've been making pancakes! Great balls of steaming ooger! The time to post is now. (though technically this draft has been sitting on my dashboard for months)

Now, If I may let you in on a little secret:

You have permission to be a mediocre cook but if you can bake a loaf of bread you'll pass as a kitchen genius.

Try it, next big meal take a little time to try out some bread and you'll have guests grabbing hold of your ankles refusing to leave. How do I know this? I am yet trying to shake off ankle holders now. (they are roughly between the ages of 5-1)

Honestly, people. This bread was one of the first breads I tried making & believe me, there's nothing like being hailed a genius when the only things you can actually make in the kitchen is scrambled eggs & focaccia. Observe:
Here I am posing as an impostor cook, looking smug, & mismatched. It's pretty obvious the only thing I've actually accomplished in the kitchen is drink several beers, make bread & successfully convince people I can cook. I admit I even pulled this on my boyfriend and he is yet still my boyfriend.

So please, pretend that you're not paranoid of yeast & get cracking: (Hint, the secret to a good focaccia is in the triple raising)

5 c of bread flour or all purpose flour (use 1/2 extra tsp of salt if using all purpose flour)
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2/3 c olive oil (You only need 3-4 tbsp for the actual dough, rest is for topping)
2 c warm water (40 c) (Set aside 1/4 of the water for yeast)

Dissolve sugar in warm water in a bowl sprinkle yeast on top & leave undisturbed for 10 min. Sift flour, salt together in large bowl. Make a well in the center pour yeast/water in & mix till blended (there will be lumps & crumbliness) then make another well & add olive oil & remaining 1 3/4 c warm water. Mix with wooden spoon till it comes together then turn out onto floured surface & knead for 10 min. (If you have a stand mixer you can knead for 6-8 min)

The dough should be soft but not too soft to handle. Add more flour as needed. Turn the dough into a oiled large bowl & set in the oven or warm place (covered with towel) for 1 1/2 hrs till it's doubled in size.

Lightly oil two baking trays, or of you like use two 9" cake pans (this will give you a much fluffier, thicker focaccia), punch dough down shape into two balls roll or press into the pans, cover the pans with towels & let it rise again for 30 min. Preheat oven for 200c (400f)

Using your fingertips press dimples all over the dough's surface. Drizzle the remaining oil over the bread. Sprinkle generously with seasalt.

The most traditional topping is rosemary sprigs. But there are heaps of toppings that you can choose from & or improvise with some ideas are:

sliced red onion
coarsely ground walnuts or pecans
black olives halved
sun-dried tomatoes
cherry tomato halves
sprinkling dried basil
fresh basil leaves
brown sugar (about 1 tsp per loaf)
bits of anchovies
parmesan cheese

Let the dough sit again for another 30 min then bake for 20-25 min till golden brown. And that's about it. Cut & serve warm.

I try not to let my foccacia get too "busy" with toppings. Usually pick 2 or 3, max, besides the olive oil. Of course if you add a pizza sauce & cheese before the toppings then "BAM" the evolution of pizza.

Also if you have a bread maker you can set it to "dough" and put the ingr. in according to the maker's instructions till the first rising

Well, that's it & as you can see I have no actual picture of the finished product & that is because no matter how much I make there is almost no left overs at all. EVER! Sneaky guests have been observed sneaking back into the kitchen at midnight with their head in the fridge eating left over focaccia straight out of a ziplock bag. (yeah, you didn't think I knew it was you, didja?)

Afterthought about bread sticks:

PS. If you wanna make bread sticks divide the dough after the first rising into walnut sized balls & roll out to about 10 in sticks. Leave to rise for 30 min, then brush with olive oil & sprinkle with whatever topping you like. (caraway, dried basil, oregano, sesame seeds, poppy seeds etc..) & bake for 15-20 min till golden.

PPS. A simpler option to toppings on bread sticks is to add seasoning to the dough before kneading.

FAIL.........

Just thought I should share......yeah! So that's curry! What am I saying....that WAS curry a LONG LONG time ago. Just when you think you have all your bases covered & you've slapped together the best "cheat" meal ever (Japanese curry) so you can take the kids out to play. Just for the record "Curry" (that comes in blocks) is made in this house about as frequently as we go to McDonalds ---- only when absolutely necessary.

Let's just say someone did not turn the burner off.

Well just thought I should share. In case your wondering......sadly, it was edible enough for us to have to consume. It was like eating horrible-burnt-curry-humble-pie. -- And yeah, I was about as thrilled as I looked in the picture that I had one of my girls take. Just for you! Cuz' it's important that you know that I can burn it like a pro. :)

Well, gotta run, meals to burn, kids to chase.

Opening Birthday Season.....

This handsome firstborn son turned 8 and we are happy to ring in "birthday season" as it's become known. Unfortunately we weren't as prepared as we should've been. (eg. only 1 candle for the cake) other minor hickups in our otherwise "spotless" birthday record. (eye rolls)but it wasn't a bad cake. Simple cheesecake using no recipe in particular & adding little extras & my own midnight spins (after all no one really likes baking at midnight when they should be asleep) This is a good old fashioned "Cheese Monkey" picture from us two Cheese Monkeys...with our cheese cake, no less. I'm not sure why Ryan wanted cheesecake but he sure was happy with the outcome, glory be!As you can see we're really "big" on birthday hats here. (Don't ask me why) Someone felt compassion for the poor little guy who couldn't make his own & (literally) slapped one together for him before the final crucial "cake-bringing-out-song-singing" moment when all who are not wearing birthday hats will be banished forever from the party. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but this man is REALLY big on food.

Maybe you can tell now. This is after we tried to hide the left over cake. Someone needs to learn how to take rejection.


That's it for now.

Oh...afterthought. I tiny little speckle in my brain is contemplating the idea of putting up some cooking videos. Not as glorious as SBJ but....it's a thought, -- we'll let it simmer for a bit.

Playdough Dinner with LOVE!

Don'tcha just miss playdough? The smell the feel & the way it would linger under your fingernails for weeks esp if you came from a large family & didn't get your nails cut that often.

I was deeply impressed by the imagination of my not terribly artistic 5 year old man. This is no ordinary pile of play dough. This is a full course dinner he made for me choosing what he thought was my favorite foods. And he took time explaining each thing to me in GREAT detail. And I will in turn explain to you in great detail because apparently that's what mothers do at times. So that is what I shall do. READY?

(Snail looking thingie) Cinnamon Bread roll, (flat thingies, riddled with holes) sourdough flatbread, (pile of business) mashed potatoes with butter, (long skinny thingies) lady finger biscuits, (little marble thinga-ma-bobs) cucumber/tomato salad, (balls in crumpled up tissue) apple cinnamon raisin muffins.

Ain't that just the sweetest thing? If I coulda eaten it I woulda!

Lemon Mint Green Tea

Listen up all you men-folkie. If you wanna score great big brownie points with your lady-fair give this simple drink the once over.

I already talked about my mint mojito kick a bit but I also wanted to try something a little more "AM-ish" with the mojito mix. I tried this out first on my whiny little sister who wouldn't let go of my green tea cookbook but paced back & forth in front of the me in the kitchen waving, pointing & smiling like a doofus till I promised to try it out. I didn't get the lemon/green tea ratio right the first time but the 2nd time around I think I got it pretty good. Here's how:

1 tbsp sugar
15-20 mint leaves (a few good sprigs)
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tbsp dried green tea leaves steeped in 1/3 c of boiling water (cool)
ICE

use a muddler/ wooden pestle or the end of a wooden rolling pin (what I used cuz' my mug was pretty deep) to crush the mint into the sugar. At this point you must restrain yourself from just licking up all the minted sugar from the bottom of your mug like a total sugar addict. Add the lemon mix well to dissolve the sugar. Add ice.Strain the cooled green tea into the glass & garnish with lemon/lime wedge & mint sprig & loose your mind completely while you relax sipping on this total refreshing summer treat.

The girly-ness of this drink is too wonderful to describe......if you are of the female variety I promise to make one of these for you when you come & visit. :)

Enjoy your last days of August.

Vanilla Poppy Seed Cake

Good Morning Everyone. Sorry it's been ages since I last posted. Nothing like a summer school break with lots of action to keep me exhausted.

These mornings have been cool but still sunny. This morning I even had a hot coffee on the patio taking a moment to stand under the trumpet blossoms & hang out with the latest tenant turtle dove whose built his nest in our trumpet vine about how things are going in his part of town. Somehow his red eye with that little beady black dot in the center makes me think he's got insomnia. And he never seems to leave the nest or I'd climb up there & sneak a peek.

I haven't baked in ages n' ages. I'm not sure why. I just don't feel like firing up the oven if I at all possible but birthday season is upon us next week starting with the #3's 8th Birthday on the 4th of Sept. So I'm trying to scratch my brain for ideas.

And...as promised a recipe. I made this one awhile ago & would certainly make it again. Reducing the sugar from 1 1/3 c to 1 made it passable as breakfast fare esp when served with fresh berries or fruit. Course if you start with adding cream then I feel you're venturing into the "coffee break num-nums" territory.

In anycase....hope you enjoy it the way a hoard of hungry children did when they scarfed it down. :)
Vanilla Poppy Seed Cake (from my beloved "Joy of Coffee" book)

1/2 c poppy seeds
3/4 c milk
1/2 c plain yogurt
2 1/3 c all purpose flour
1 tbsp b. powder
1/2 tsp b. soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
3 large eggs seperated
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F (165 c) Grease & flour 10" tube pan

In small bowl stir poppy seeds, milk & yogurt set aside.

Stir together flour/b. powder/b. soda/salt in medium bowl.

In large bowl with electric mixer cream together butter & sugar till well blended, @ 2 min. (stand mixer works fine too)

Add egg yolks & vanilla blend thoroughly about a minute.

Add flour mixture alternating with poppy seed mixture, starting & ending w/ flour.

In separate bowl whisk egg whites till stiff, stir spoonful of whites into batter to lighten it gently stir in the rest

Pour batter into pan. Bake 50 min till cake is golden & toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire rack completely before removing from pan. Serve sliced at room temp. Refrigerate covered for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 4 mo.


Voila!

Lazy I AM!

Heya heya! Howz business on this fine roasty toasty day? As promised foodie pics, and now I shall deliver. Beware if you were expecting details & recipes for each picture below because I just don't think I can pull it off. I'm clean & cool sittin' here in my airconed dining room smelling my bread bake & my tummy rumble because I believe I contracted some kind of a bug-thingie that has been causing my stomach to speak to me in dark menacing tones & cause my 3 year old to give me a equally sad, detailed description of her toilet happenings. (and she can get VERY descriptive)

But I do feel a little bad that recently I have thrown out so much food pics & not much in the way of links/recipes etc... I'm gonna try to just post more tidbits esp in the way of recipes I've stumbled upon & quit trying to only post recipes here.

But for now here are the pics, some from the visit some of food:
Erika feasting on her very own temaki-zushi. I will give this restaurant two thumbs up. BEST IDEA for a kids meal. All of her own tiny utensils had her sitting there making her lunch till well after we adults were done.
I rustled up this basic recipe for Mint Mojitos. I think it speaks of summer perfectly & will be caught drinking one at happy hour (aka: roughly starting 1/2 hr before the kids get home from their afternoon fiesta of energy burning w/ DH) If you don't have this GODLY weed growing somewhere in your garden YOU OUGHT TO!
Proof of a successful visit!
Salad idea that made my day today: Ordinary salad of lettuce, tomatoes & cucumber sauted kuri-kabocha (those tiny, extra sweet & nutty tasting goodies) then mushrooms in butter, cooled & tossed in salad with olive oil & lots of freshly ground pepper & sea salt. If I had pumpkin seeds I belive it would have been too wonderful & I would've just cried. Unfortunately my poor DH nearly cried when he saw it on the lunch table.

Foccacia my faithful friend....I can't believe I don't have a recipe for this on here, gotta do that soon. Simplest bread with great power to impress at a pasta meal.
Apple sauce in it's embryonic stage, spiced with cinnamon/clove & cardamom. My attempt at a non-sugar applesauce cake was mediocre. I would actually have to classify it a bread rather than a cake. I followed this simple allrecipe.com recipe but didn't use any sugar substitute so naturally even though the applesauce by itself was like candy -- mixed into the double sifted whole wheat & other ingr. seemed to loose it's sweetness. Also beat the egg whites to keep it's body but I probably should have done an extra 2 egg whites. My kind sister approved but I'm still miffed about how anyone can survive on a "sugar/refined flour/dairy product-less" diet. I salute you!
My (quite frankly) pitiful attempt to record the fact that we ever had a barbecue at all. I was (not surprisingly) the only one who seemed amused by my "placenta" jokes about the raspberry & fruit jello. (Come on', at least Mr & Mrs Marrington would be laughing, right?) Maybe ya'll already knew this but if you soak corn (in the husks) for 2 hrs in salty water you can throwm' right on the coal & wait till the husks are near blackened & the inside will be pristine & perfect.

More hasty foodie business soon. Till then, be genki!

Alive & kicking one leg

Hey stranger! In case you thought that I've taken the long walk off the short blogging pier, sadly you're mistaken. This certain actor came to my house to stay.

Along with most of my siblings & parents. (actually all of my parents --that I know of came) And with a whirlwind of positive energy & lots of silly games we managed to have a ballistic time of fun & foolishness. I've learned some handy new skills such as essential lavender oil sniffing & h0w to make whole wheat & rye bread a weapon of mass destruction.

Once I get some time I shall bombard you with unwanted & irrelevant pics of our time together because that is what I must do.

As always a majority of my time was spent in the kitchen doing deeds of kindness like sorting through the trash because I never bothered labeling them & everyone kept mixing them up or keeping the coffee bar open so various persons could get their fix of disserono laced cappuccinos.

Ooooh, I did a lot of firsts actually. Because who better to experament on than members of your immediate family:
- I finally got to pull off my big lebanese dinner (you'd be so proud Ves) falafels, tabuleh, kebabs, hummus, labne & flat bread. I was genuinely loving it.
- crushed mint/lemon/green tea
- non sugar & whole wheat applesauce cake
- Fattoush with my own pita

Being the sheer genius that I am I of course did not take any actual photographic evidence of any of these events but hopefully something will turn up soon from some of the other cameras. And I will also try to post some links to some of my new found & favorite recipes.

But for now I shall bask in the glow of my newly developed beer belly & try to appease my greedy sleep debt which seems to be taking over my last marble of sanity.

-- Ciao!

At Home with Nature & other nonsence.

Chocolate Mousse Pie: a belated act of love for my DH. Dark bitter chocolate bomb of happiness & indulgence.
The Muncher concurs! (note the glisten of a tear after he begged for just one more bite, I gave in, hence the smile)
This not so little buggie made it's way into our home so we fed him melon & he became Hunter's new pet & he walked around all evening with the container. (though he wouldn't dare touch it).

I was actually not expecting him to burst into tears the way he did when we had to let the poor thing go. Here he's explaining the torture of letting his "buggy" go.

Mr 4#. AKA: The Travster has gotten on a writing kick. He took the liberty of labeling our "Curious George" video cassette. (Yes, some people still use those)

And in case there's any question on who should be the one to record Curious George on Saturday mornings, just a little clarification.

Another puzzling sample of his handywork. Apparently this is a menu of dinner. It (supposedly) reads, "Lettuce/Salad/buscuits/ketchup". Gotta work on that spelling. But anyone who knows Trav will testify that this is a massive step of litterary progress.

We've been spying on a birds nest outside our window. The wary parents seem to fly away no matter how stealthily we try to peek out the window. Of course to get a good shot I get to hang out the window like a lunatic mother doing a flying arabesque to her doom with a camera in one hand & pulling back branches with the other.

I try to warn the kids about peeking in on them too often but the mother in me can't seem to help checking on how things are going. Are birds psychic? Everytime I even get close to the window even if it's closed & the curtains drawn I see the mom's eye looking at me & she flies a second later. Then just this morning....

They hatched! Trav spotted an open mouth. Must be brand spankin' new cuz' they don't even cry aloud yet. I had to hold a broom out the window to pull the branches back & put each kid in positon one at a time to take a look. I'm hating the cornyness but I must admit I'm terribly happy & proud of our little babies.

The other two sibs hatched somewhere between lunch & naptime & don't they just look like a perfect little pile of blind bald & nekid birdies?
Sweet Lil' Baby Jesus! That has to be one of the cutest things EVER!!! And I'm sure my sista Elaina will concur. :) Unfortunately my 3 yr old doesn't think so. She just walked in here, "Eww, that's just so yuck. They're just hugging their naked little bodies till they're stuck together, isn't that just so gross?"


More later. Ciao, my roasty toasty friends!

HOW TO VIDEO w/ SBJ: Cup Lamen

May I introduce the very first video clip on my bloggie, EVER!!

This was just too good to pass up. Brought to you by the very talented very cheese loving SBJ crew, more than ever I would love to see them do another. Steve's sincerity is most appealing & Mas' "easy" method of water pouring is pure genius. So get on your aprons & get cooking with SBJ.