Newest Obsession: Food Blogs

Lately I've been reading blogs alot more often than writing (as if that weren't already obvious).
Like the title says - I think I'm kind of wandering around trying to decide what it is that I want to do when I grow up. 'Course at this point, it's what I want to do when my kiddos grow up - since that's when I'll really start having some time for myself again (at least that's the theory I'm working on...).
My little iGoogle page is kind of the barometer of where my life is, all the baby/mom blogs started to give way to craft/garden blogs and those are starting to give way to food blogs (with the standard tech/geek blogs always remaining as they are the constant in my life). Food writing is fun to read for so many reasons, but the best reason is that food is fantastic - to make - to eat - to look at - to smell - to read about - well, you get the idea.
In the tradition of blogs, one leads to another, leads to another, until suddenly I have 12 food blogs that I'm reading and mixing and matching and enjoying.
This was a really long setup - but all of these blogs led me back to what a friend introduced us to a couple of years ago: GRILLED PIZZA!
Yep - totally crazy - but I actually even think it was Martha Stewart who was the initial inspiration for these.

And since my children (especially my son) will eat pizza more than anything and LOVE to help roll out the dough, we celebrated the 20th sunny-day-in-seattle-in-a-row by grillin' up some 'za! The kid-caveat here is that they don't always like the burned parts of grilled food, and they didn't get to build the pizza themselves since the grill is hot-ish but it was still a pretty huge success.

My treat was that I got to fill up my pizza with whatever I wanted! I used up all my farmer's market treats (in Seattle, the Spring Farmer's Markets are a little slim pickins). Here's what we did:

Roll out your pizza dough (either pre-made or bought) into round-ish shapes and let it rest for a little while.
Heat up the grill so it's REALLY hot.
Grab a pizza peel/non-edged cookie sheet and sprinkle some corn meal or similarly-textured flour (semolina) on top and load up the dough.
Slide the dough onto the grill and close it. Give it a couple minutes to puff up a bit and get brown, then flip it and let the 2nd side do the same.
Then TURN OFF THE GRILL! (otherwise... burn marks)
Dress your pizza time!
Our kids: prefer just tomato sauce and cheese.
Hubby: tomato sauce, cheese and any cured meat - preferably Salumi
Mine: olive oil base, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, gruyere and bleu cheese. I think if I could have fit more on, I would have!

I think we'll be grilling lots of pizza this summer.

I'll keep reading food blogs for ideas, and maybe even find a few more to pass along.

until next time...
yum

Cool Kid Stuff (part 1 of many)

The other thing I do way too much of, is read a bunch of blogs. Some have really cool kid stuff, some have crafty stuff, some have techie stuff.
Here's some cool kid stuff.

This is one of the coolest plates I've seen in a while. A bit pricey, but it's "made from hotel-quality, food-safe, high-fire ceramics" so there's less mom-guilt involved.
super fun...

inspiration

I was talking to a girlfriend yesterday about how I'm "friending" a few writers lately and the old dream of being a writer was bubbling up a little bit. She has a similar writing bug and we both talked of our blogs, how we enjoyed writing, even for bits at a time, and how neither of us have touched our blogs in months. In my case, it's been nearly a year!
I think sometimes it's easy to fall into a rut, it's easy to get too busy, and it's hard to come up with material deemed good enough to write about. I've decided to take some of the pressure off. I'm hoping to just post about things I'd like to remember, or enjoyed reading, or just made me stop and think. I have plenty of things like this, but I'm going to try to stick to one a day (or so).
Today, is the word "Remission". A friend of ours was surprised with a large tumor in his colon - actually he wasn't all that surprised, what was surprising was that it took so long to be discovered even after spending time in the hospital and being diagnosed with diverticulitis. Months after that hospital stay, he was still feeling ill and a coke-can-sized tumor was found and removed from his body. They also found cancer spots on his liver, which meant he had Stage IV cancer (Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.).
His prognosis was pretty grim, and considering he was a pretty healthy-living 44-yr old with two young sons, this was a big shock.
He had no intention of giving up or giving in.
He went on an all juice diet (read more, and more), started running/training for a marathon, went through two rounds of chemo (with one more to go) and is now hearing the word "Remission" as his current diagnosis.
Amazing, inspiring, heart-warming, stunning, and a million more words I don't have the vocabulary to write down.
I'm honored to know this person, and inspired to do things that matter, that make me happy, and that keep me close to the people I hope to keep close to me, in times of happiness, sadness and everything in between.
until next time...

girl's night

I know - I've talked about being busy before. And I wasn't kidding, or exaggerating then. But it just has NOT slowed down!
I'm sure it's because we're pretty social beings. We like hanging out with friends and watching all the kids play together and have fun. We (SM & I) also like trying to find time to just hang out together, try to have a conversation, remember why we like each other and put each other through the ringer every day. Then there's "Girl's Night" (or Boy's Night when they finally get around to scheduling it). Those are too few and far between, and too short every time. What is it about having children that has suddenly made being with my girlfriends so important?! It's really amazing. I mean, if I had my choice, I'd still choose to spend time with SM - it's impossible to get good quality time with him so it's definitely first choice. But considering that it's quite a bit easier to just ask him to babysit than try to coordinate babysitter/grandparent's/Parent'sNightOut - the girl's nights are easier and F.U.N.
A group of us went to see Sex and the City last Friday - along with nearly every other female in the city - and it was great. I think the reason it resonated so well with me was because I (and my girls) am THE target market. We're all mid/late thirties, all love the city (yes, I still wish we'd been able to make the NYC move a few years ago...) and all have "issues"/"baggage" whatever... and being with your girlfriends really helps. They listen, they b*tch and moan, they get catty whenever it's required, they offer great shoulders to laugh or cry on.
It's night's like those that make me wish for more girl's nights, and movie's like those that make me happy to have the SM that I have.
I'm pretty sure this is like the millionth blog entry about how great girl's night is since SATC opened, but since I'm a recent "convert" to the whole concept - so I'm adding to the madness.
And can I just say - SJP was MADE to play that role. She IS Carrie, even if she really isn't.
I hope they make more.
I like girl's night.

until next time...
cheers ladies

coolest. kid. sofa. ever.

Quick post - but this is one to share.
These are possibly the coolest kid sofas ever! They have all sorts of color combos and styles - all to look like old cars.
They're expensive, but not "Pottery Barn Kids" expensive. ;o)
If you get one - let me know.
until next time...
let's hope they make an adult version!

we have a master bath... how cool!

I thought our kitchen remodel was amazing (and it is) but the master bath totally rocks.
I wonder how long until I take a hammer to that wall (in between our bedroom and bathroom)!

short post... it's friday
until next time...
thanks dad
:o)

what a mariners weekend!

We had tickets for BOTH the Friday Night AND Sunday Mariners games this weekend (and yes, those were the 2 of 3 against the A's that they lost) and what a fun time we had!

 

We picked the kids up from school and headed down to Pioneer Square to park in my garage. Once we got there, however, we realized 2nd & James is actually a pretty far walk for a 2 & 4year old, so when we spotted the pedicabs we decided to hop on and enjoy the ride.

Roxie enjoyed hanging out and playing with her new necklace from Morgan & Mikes.

 We were all pretty bundled up, it was a night-game and although it started out sunny, it was super cold by the time we left - @ the end of the 6th.

 By Sunday's game, it was much nicer outside and we arrived in plenty of time for the kids to get their Felix Hernandez jerseys... woo hoo!
I've decided to let go of the fact that we missed the Ichiro bobblehead. It's just a bobblehead after all, and we had a blast.


Add in a birthday party on Saturday morning, hanging out and dinner with my folks on Saturday night and had friends over for brunch Sunday morning and that equals one BUSY WEEKEND!

It was great and filled with family time.

so until next time...
rest at the office during the week for big weekends at home
:O)