it was bound to happen

a couple of weeks ago i took a long weekend to see my sister's new little baby, nico. THE sweetest thing ever.

bille and her husband, mike, live right down town in san francisco so, like most of the trips i take, the routs of all of our outings were dictated by food.
oh, such great food.

we picked up some sandwiches from a deli in a little specialty grocery store (jenni, i kept thinking how much you would love this store) with the friendliest sandwich makers i've ever encountered.
the guy who made mine kept smiling at me funny and then instead of calling my name when my sandwich was done he walked out from behind the counter into the store and handed it to me saying,
"here's your sandwich, elizabeth"
i tried not to laugh.
it was COLD and WINDY so we walked our sandwiches down the street to tartine and ordered desert and hot chocolate and sat to consume our feast.
oh my! oh my!
The most delicious lemon cream tart with a candied kumquat atop.

and the bread pudding. oh, i'm getting flashbacks.

the sandwiches were amazing. we took turns trading back and forth.

then there was the giant bowl of hot bittersweet chocolate. if hot chocolate is too sweet for your taste, then this is the stuff for you. the perfect combination of sweet and bitter. amazing to the very end.
i will say, we did encounter an iffy food item in japan town when we were forced to scramble for a compromise after we discovered the pizza place we'd made a special outing to was closed to prepare for dinner. bille and i were starving, okay i was starving and we saw a crepe place that looked popular (this was after we found plan B - a great sushi place- was also closed. don't people realize that eating happens at all hours of the day?).
anywho, ordered pesto chicken crepes and i was thoroughly enjoying mine until about two third into my crepe when bille observed,
"this kind of tastes like a hot dog."
dang it. i was so hungry it just tasted good. after that it was ruined to me.
don't get me wrong. i like hot dogs just as much as the next guy, maybe even more, but i don't like hot dog flavored pesto chicken. that's just a mean trick.
a couple of days later my mom came up and it was, you guessed it, more food, mingled with shopping and having makeup done at bloomingdale's by a drag queen, a fact which my mom was totally oblivious to. she said she though a couple of times, "this woman isn't very attractive, but she does herself up nice."
we just laughed at her (my mom).


saturday i went with my dad to his office so he could get some plans and check his email on his dinosaur of a computer.
i made fun of it. but his typing skills have improved. he uses more than two fingers now.



did you know my dad designed the temple grounds at the oakland temple? he's talent.

during a lovely visit with my dear friends bill and toni, whom i've known well since high school, i got a call from wade.

max broke his leg skiing. yikes! it was bound to happen.

so this is what i came home to the next day. he now has a real cast all the way up to his butt, but he's getting around really well on his own now and has done zero complaining. pretty amazing considering how bad the break was.


thanks for the trip, nico. can't wait ot see you again.

curling on my head

the other night we watched the canadians kick butt in curling.
very exciting.
in awe and praise of the sport wade asked,
"what other sport can combine bowling, ice hockey, chess, shuttle board and janitorial skills like that!?"
awesome.

it's that time of year

"what time of year? ", you ask.
the time of year when these are in great abundance on (seemingly) every shelf and in every corner and EVERYWHERE i look as i stroll the aisles of the grocery store intent on keeping purchases chocolate free.
but i fail.
and now the bag sits in the pantry.
unopened.
calling to me.
but it's still unopened.
although, the bag of peanut butter m&ms are long gone (my all year temptation).
so there's a method.
place a perfect pastel egg on the center of your tongue.
now roll it around for a while until the formerly thickish shell is paper thin.
then gently crack the shell off with your back teeth leaving only the sweet milky goodness to slowly dissolve away.
and that is pure bliss.
i'm not kidding.
now don't you feel sorry for me this time of year?

edit: stop telling me about the christmas cad minis and the dark chocolate ones. this does not help me at all.
p.s. the bag still has not been opened.

she prefers shots

at the doctor's today they had one nasal mist left for the girls' booster flu vaccine.
dilemma.
which child to subject to the poke?
whitney or devan? whitney or devan?
so i asked.
"whitney, do you want a squirt up the nose or a pokey shot in the leg?"
not even a split-second later,
"i want the shot mom!"
awesome.
"you know it will poke, right?"
"yup, but it won't hurt a lot."
she watched with interest as the needle went in and the vaccine was injected.
all done.
then she smiled at the nurse.
so weird.
i know the shot really doesn't hurt very much at all, but what kid wants one?

21 balloons

i finished reading this book to my kids a little while ago. this was one of my favorite books when i was little and i wanted to read it to my kids but couldn't remember the title. i found it at the goodwill and instantly recognized it as the "long lost" book of my childhood. the kids loved it (i was worried it might be too boring). Max was the most interested since it has to do with some of his favorite subjects : adventures of flight, hidden treasures, and active volcanos. he kept sneaking the book at night and reading ahead of us. i was surprised at how attentive and engaged even whitney was with the story.
the book is filled with amazing illustrations of the fabulous contraptions and inventions of the people of the island of krakatoa.


the plot line is thrilling, suspenseful and educational all at once and i'm sure we'll be reading it again.