fruit

My boy is 11 year's old now.  He is a crack up! Both my boys are actually (at least I think so).  And a bit of a rag a muffin.  He is going through a scruffy phase of not wanting to cut his hair.  There are worse things.

Today I was in the garden pruning up all my roses for winter.  He came out and asked me if he could make a fruit salad.  I know he loves to eat different foods, but this was a new request.

Apple, pear, grapes, and maraschino cherries (with the cherry juice). And yes, he did make it.  He is good with a knife thanks to boy scouts.  Isn't it just gorgeous!  Much like himself.

the cook

When I was married 18 years ago, I didn't really know how to cook. When Jeff and I were first dating, he made me a wonderful dinner at his apartment. Chicken breast stuffed with bleu cheese and steamed artichoke. I was impressed by his choice of the artichoke. I decided to return the favor and brought him to the frozen food section of the grocery store and told him to pick out anything he wanted. I wanted him to know exactly what he was getting into. I guess I wasn't worried about trying to impress him much!

One time I put pasta into a big pot of cold water on the stove. Then I would bring the water to boil. Jeff saw me do this one time and freaked out. It was kind of funny. He taught me how to do it the right, correct way.

Now I know how to cook. And I enjoy doing it. But so does my husband. It is his hobby now and he really loves it. When we go to a potluck, the ladies all ask him about what he made. It's cute, and he takes great pride in it. I just make sure they know he is unavailable!


Well, this is a special meat loaf dinner that Jeff sweetly made in memory of my Dad. He liked making it like this himself with the hard boiled egg in the middle. I have never seen it made this way before. He died 13 years ago. And we still miss his presence.

writing

I'm watching one of my favorite shows as I'm writing this. Room Service with Sarah Richardson. She is going (decorating style) Indonesian. Interesting. This was one of my early trips. 24 years old, my first year of marriage I went to Indonesia for 2 weeks pretty much by myself. I didn't even know where it was. I remember calling my friend Michele and telling her that in 4 days I was taking a 20+ hour flight to Sumatra. She got out her globe to tell me where it was (above Australia). How crazy! I went because a free ticket came up from a friend out of the blue and I had a current passport.

It was so interesting spending Easter in the largest Muslim populated country in the world. And it was during Ramadan. The Muslim time of fasting. I learned a lot about an interesting and beautiful culture. One of my favorite memories was breaking the fast with a Minangkabau (Indonesian) family. They are known for their hospitality and their spicy hot food. The hotter the better. And it is totally different spicy that what we are used to here. Any way, sitting on the floor, eating family style, with our hands. And me eating a lot of rice to temper the hot pain going on in my mouth, and drinking a lot of warm water. Which I think might be boiled to get rid of some of the bad germies. But the family was generous and gracious and took pity on me!

Good times. Good times.

arizona

I still have to tell you about my trip. First of all, it was so great to be there with my son Q. He was so funny on the plane asking about why the seats float and what the yellow life vests are for and what pops out from the panels above our heads. All these questions were asked at a louder than normal voice. So everyone else sitting around us could hear these questions and, more importantly, my reply! No saying the word "crash". These things are used for if the plane is landed in the water. He thought they would be used for jumping out of the plane like his cousin Victor.

Q also had the window seat and brought his binoculars to use and look down on the world. No those really aren't ants. He was a lot of fun to be with and I love being his mom. He really did seem to mature over the six days that we were away.

There was also a lot of great food. My sister Judith is a great cook. I love it how her cooking looks effortless. She makes great Thai food. We have a great time going to the 17th Avenue Market in Tuscon. A lot of great international food. I always buy something with Hello Kitty on it! We also went out to a fantastic Mexican brunch, with the Sanchez family (I love them!), at the Uno Mas Lounge. That is the name of the bar, I can't remember the name of the restaurant (Judith if you remember the name, leave me a comment). It was all authentic Mexican food, which I had been dreaming of since I made my plane reservations. The kids all ate hamburgers of course.

And then there was the party food. Which is also a favorite of mine. I love to nibble all day on the little bits and get a chance to talk to everyone. Who all thought I was my sister Judith (I hadn't met most of them before)! Which, while she is older than me, she is thinner. Any way, the day after the party, leftovers are great too. With margaritas.

The shopping. I went to a quilt shop with my sister Mary, called The Quilt Market. I bought a lot of fat quarters of fun fabrics from Kaffe Fasset, which I can't really find to much of here. The colors and patterns are so vivid and wild, I love 'em! They are so un-katie jean.

Need more pictures? Check out my flickr. And thank you to friends Karen and Kronk. And thank you family, Grandfather, Gram, Jeff, sisters, and my brothers. Next trip might be Idaho or maybe Nebraska. I know, Wild Thang!