San Francisco with Hagen

Today Hagen and I headed southwest (Jim made me say this-I wanted to just say south) to San Francisco to meet up with some good family friends who had come to the city for the weekend from Texas..  Hagen and I started our day early this morning to visit Japantown.  I wanted to show Hagen the area plus I wanted to stop in at Kinokuniya Bookstore.  I love checking out their knitting and crochet books.  I was torn between two crochet books but finally settled for just one.  Now I just need an interpreter to figure out the patterns.

Peace Plaza, Japantown

We wandered around awhile then headed to Pier 39 at Fishermans Wharf to meet up with the Chan's.





Hagen and Alex

After lunch at the Boudin Bakery Cafe of clam chowder served in a bread bowl we headed down the wharf to see the sites.

Sea Lions

Apparently this one is a loner.

Along the way we stopped by to look in at the window of the demonstration bakery for Boudin Bakery.

Bread bears ready to rise and be baked

Bread turtles ready to be eaten.

Fortunately we had just eaten otherwise the wonderful smell of baking bread would have caused us to stop for food.

Our final destination was Ghiradelli Square where we stopped for some ice cream.

I had a wonderful time catching up with Grace and Joe along with Alex. 

Corn, Buttermilk and Chive Popovers

I follow several cooking blogs.  One that I enjoy is Smitten Kitchen.  Her most recent post is about corn, buttermilk and chive popovers.  Yes, I own a popover pan and I have chives growing in the herb patch so I just couldn't resist.  I did use frozen corn that I  defrosted because I wanted to save my corn on the cob for the grill.  Maybe next time I will grill an extra cob to add to the popovers. 

 The popovers went great with our barbecued ribs, grilled corn on the cob and Caesar salad.

And here is a little video of the attack dog taking care of a weed.

Delta Pear Festival

As the social director of the house it was my job this weekend to find outdoor entertainment for Sunday.  Initially I had thought about going to the Gilroy Garlic Festival.  We are major consumers of garlic.  Unfortunately it is a three hour drive to Gilroy.  I put that on the calendar for next year and will plan an overnight trip with some stops along the way.

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Instead we headed out for the river delta town of Courtland for the 39th Delta Pear Fair which is an easy 45 minute drive.

 After we parked we wandered through the Classic Car Show admiring some wonderfully restored vintage cars.

 I found my next car - a 1948 Chevy Coupe- it even seats four.  It is the most gorgeous purple color.

We then wandered around the grounds checking out the different informational booths along with the art and crap crafts area. I got a schedule from the Cooperative Extension of the University of California Master Food Preservers and I think Kelsey and I will be attending a demonstration while she's visiting on pickles as mine are starting to mature.

 Finally the most important part of the day, the food.

 The boys had pear sausage for lunch.

 While I had the more nutritious choice of pear pie. 

  The highway leading up to the fair was lined with pear trees loaded with fruit.

A mixed bag of Stark Crimson and Bartlett pears came home with us. 

Baby Booties

I'm not really getting much knitting done lately but Jim came home the other day asking for a baby blanket for one of his coworkers whose baby girl was born five weeks premature.  Knitted blankets from me are for family and really good friends so I suggested a hat and booties. 

I had some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and made a simple baby hat and Saartje's Booties by Saartje Bruijn.  They will be delivered tomorrow.

And here is the latest picture of Millie. 

Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies

Fridays if I'm not working I am knitting with friends.  This past Friday Deborah brought Lemon-Lime Basil Shortbread Cookies from "bon appetit". They were delicious. The lemon and basil are very suble and the cookies are light.  Hagen has been going with me to Friday knitting so he can have lunch at Rubio's ( he reads, the rest of us knit) and I think he ate half the cookies.  Obviously I needed to make these cookies.

Mine are Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies.  I did not have the lime to zest.

 I also did not have sanding sugar so I used turbinado sugar.

 This recipe says it makes about 16, I made 18.  As quickly as these cookies are eaten, the recipe needs to be doubled in my opinion.

Nothing to do with the cookies, just a cute picture of Millie.

Get use to it people, you'll be seeing a lot of pictures of her.

New Family Member

Now that Rachel is settled in an apartment the plan is to send Murphy back to Texas.

Clearly I needed a replacement.

Meet our newest family member.

This is Millie.

 I don't know how it happens because I don't mean to do it but I've managed to name another one of our animals starting with the letter "M".  She is actually named after Jim's middle name Miller.

 She likes to play ball.

 The guess is she will become a dark sable brown although she is more black right now.  This is one of her favorite positions.  I love her white tipped back feet.

 She is a registered shih tzu and she should be less then 8 pounds when she becomes an adult.

Nose to nose.

As for the rest of the dogs, Mei Ling doesn't care, Jake who she loves to follow is tolerant and Murphy is jealous.

I'm not sure I'm ready to have a baby in the house.  She really didn't like the idea of spending the night in her crate by herself.  Yes,she ended up in bed with us last night and yes, I was up early this morning because she was ready to play. 

I see a lot less sleep in the next few weeks for myself but she is a cutie!!!

Happy July 4th!!

I talked to my favorite oldest daughter today.  Life is throwing her a few curve balls but she is dealing with it in stride and maturity.  Of course being the Mom I am I need to be a little taunting.

Rachel and her very wonderful BF Brad

 BBQ Ribs

 Homemade potato salad

 Watermelon ( Really for Hagen)

Love You Chiquita.

Happy 4th of July.