My Small Group

Some times you have to stop and thank God for the people he puts in your life... I love my small group - God is so good to give us just what we need when we need it...

Eating our way through the fair...

Last Sunday I went to the LA County Fair with Sheri and the kids. Our friend Maria came too...and we had a blast! It took us hours to get through the endless fun - luckily the multitude of food sustained us as we walked...

We ate mini donuts with Bavarian cream dip -

And Nachos -
Corn on the Cobb -
Spicy Mexican Soup -
Ham and Cheese stuffed baked potatoes -

Cookies -

Awesome Blossoms -

A Turkey Leg -

And of course a funnel cake!

Okay okay we did a lot more than eat at the fair! (in random order) -

We went into the petting zoo which was a little gross but pretty fun at the same time... Sheri and Bryce weren't into it so they stayed back while Maria, Catherine, Paige and I played with the little ones - they were so cute... Maybe this one will be my wife? what do you think Nicole, will Grandma Sofia approve?

Next to the animals were tractor rides for the kids -

Then we went on to the snow exhibit - there was snow play and sledding inside!

The LA County Fire Department had a huge display teaching kids about fire safety...

We also learned about flowers and bugs:

And of course there were the fun rides...

Needless to say we were all tuckered out at FULL by the time we left... Chalk it up to another fun time with good friends -

Sunday School Madness!

This week my Sunday school class was super fun... I had a large group and the kids were just great.

For one of the games we pretended to put on a birthday party (as we learned about God creating man). I gave the kids some streamers and birthday hats. As I was getting ready for the parents to arrive I turned around and the party had exploded all over the room - it was so much fun! We had to hurry to get the room cleaned up before the parents saw the mess...

Lettuce Wraps

I have had lettuce wraps at The Yardhouse many times and loved them so I made them for myself the other night. Along with the ground chicken I put serrano chiles, carrot, pine nuts and celery.

I used my new Santoku knife to do all the chopping. As you can see it works beautifully for chopping fine to coarse...

I topped them with spicy tapatio.

They came out just wonderful...

Santoku!

So I have waited for this day all my life... I finally have an amazing knife like the contestants on top chef and the pioneer woman -

This week I bought my first santoku knife! It was $140 but SO worth it! I may marry it... I dedicated an entire drawer to it...

Wonderful Family Weekend!

This weekend Aunt Jane and Uncle Charlie came out from Florida to visit. Jane helped Lisa pick out her wedding dress. The girls were shopping all weekend. On Friday Doug and I took Uncle Charlie and my little buddy Bryce to Bass Pro Shop. Bryce got to pick out a present for his 5th birthday (a 5 foot long stuffed snake) while the men looked at boats and hunting gear... grrr, yerrrr arrrgggg <=Manly man sounds

Seems like in between shopping, church and naps all we did was eat. Then we ate, and after that it was time to eat again. We took them for sushi, Mimi's Cafe, steak at Dad's, taco salads at Lisa's, and BBQ chicken at my place. It is such a blessing to be around family - as I get older I realize how important relationships with others are, especially family! These pictures are from the dinner at my house Doug's parents and Uncle Ron were able to come up for BBQ also - everyone had a real nice time.

Mini Burgers...

I have been dreaming about making mini burgers lately. It seems many restaurants have added little burgers to their menus recently so I wanted to give it a shot. I got some nice hard rolls from Albertsons which I buttered and caramelized. I cooked up small hamburger patties about the size of the rolls and set out to build my mini burgers. I decided to make 3 varieties all which came out amazing.

First and my favorite was mushroom swiss - My friend Jill at work hooked me up with amazing mushrooms in sauce...

Next was bacon guacamole with pepper jack cheese - spicy and flavorful...

And finally blue cheese with creamy blue cheese dressing and melted blue cheese crumbles

Although they looked small, three of these little guys was enough to fill me up!

Green

I got these bags for free (set of 4) from the food show a couple weeks ago. So in a delayed reaction to Nicole's Going Green, I have been using them instead of plastic grocery bags. Every little bit helps and I can actually fit 4 plastic bags worth of groceries into two of these which makes them easy to carry when I have my gym bag and backback at the same time.

Chicken Soup for my tummy!

I have been doing really good with my eating this week (except for some fried chicken on Monday) and going to the gym for spin and yoga so I thought a nice light meal of chicken soup would be a tasty dinner...

I had a whole chicken that I grilled on the rotisserie outside and there was pretty much bones and shreds of meat left so I threw it in a pot of boiling chicken broth

Then I added leeks, carrots, green beans, and a serrano chile -

it was so good - I gobbled up a bowl over the stove and have enough left for lunch the next day!

Bag Lady...

Mimi is so ghetto... The other day Barb and I went with her to lunch and she gets out of the car with this hideous wonder woman bag for a purse... What is she thinking?!?

The last concert of the summer...

Boy it seems like summer is just flying by doesn't it? Last night was the last concert in the park and the J family joined us for fried chicken and alternative rock. It was fun! We played on the playground after dinner for a bit, then Catherine and I climbed a tree.

The music was a little weird but there was one cool dance song we all bopped to...

I could live on ciabatta...

I just love bread - and bread just loves me - it's a great relationship... recently I found the most delightful ciabatta rolls at Fresh and Easy so today I grilled up some chicken breast and made this amazing sandwich with mayo, jalapenos, lettuce, mustard and a lightly toasted ciabatta. I swear I could eat these for EVERY meal and NEVER get tired of them...