Category Archives: Flashbacks

Tuscan Memories

While I was sitting waiting in the jury room exactly two weeks ago, I thumbed through LOTS of magazines. Magazines from 1986. The periodicals in the jury room are ancient. I reread of Brangelina’s twins births. How old are they now? If you have a room full of even semi-current magazines and don’t know what to do with them, may I suggest donating them to the Chatsworth Courthouse. Anywhoo, I came across a Pasta Fagioli recipe in a Family Circle and wanted to share it with you.

 This soup reminded me of a soup that Jay and I, along with a few friends, slurped on a cool early November afternoon in San Gimignano almost 9 years ago to the day. We were touring the fortress city on the last leg of our Italian vacation and took a break in a small restaurant and shared conversation over the most amazing, warm, regional bowl of loveliness. There is something about being so tired and hungry in a foreign country and appreciating the food like it’s your last meal.

This is a hearty, healthy holiday soup if there ever was such a thing.

{via}

Pasta Fagioli

2 tbsp EVOO

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1-14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with basil

2-14.5 ounce cans reduced sodium chicken broth

8 ounces {2 cups} small pasta shells

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 bunch fresh kale, discard tough stems and chop

2 cans small white beans, rinsed and drained {I used cannellini}

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Cook onions and garlic in olive oil. Stir in tomatoes, broth and 3 cups water. Simmer over high heat, add pasta and Italian seasoning. Cook 5 minutes. Stir in kale. Cook 5 minutes. Reduce to medium heat. Stir in beans, tomato paste and salt & pepper. Heat through. Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan cheese. Serve with a nice big chuck of crusty bread for dunking if you’re not worried about carbs!

I cannot wait to make this again. I may add a touch more water. The leftovers were a little thick, but still delish. If you’re worried or turned off by the kale {aka salad bar decor} you could certainly substitute spinach. I would have done that, but there has been several spinach recalls in these parts and the kale sounded healthier…it cooks up nicely and looks a lot like spinach anyway!

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I love when a dish or meal brings back wonderful memories with wonderful friends.

What recipe does that for you?

Do You Know The Way To {Santa Fe}?

Once upon a time, there was a restaurant/bar in Seattle’s university district called Rain Dancer. I would eat there with my dad and sister when visiting the Pacific Northwest.

They had the most amazing sandwiches on their lunch menu, but my sis and I would always get the same thing ~ the Southwestern grilled cheese.

However, when I would place my order I would always call it the {Santa Fe} grilled cheese. The waiter always knew what I meant….

One time we went over for lunch, parked in the rear parking lot, walked up to the back door and…..gasp! The door was locked. We went to the front. Rain Dancer was no mas.

Sad, sad day.

I have been wanting to recreate this sammie for AWHILE now and this afternoon I finally did…

Brought back LOTS of memories.

This is a pic of Jay’s…he requested cheddar rather than the traditional pepper jack….gasp! I would have taken a picture of mine with the {proper} queso, however when I went to flip it in the pan, it got all jacked up and was no longer as photo worthy as this one. BUT it was still delish!

All you need is some sourdough bread, butter, black bean and corn salsa {just some black beans, corn, red onion, cilantro, cumin, salt & pepper, lime juice and a tad bit of olive oil}, tomato slices, avocado slices, and cheddar pepper jack cheese. Butter one side of each piece of bread, put on a slice {or two} of cheese, spoon on some of the salsa, add your tomato & avocado slices, put more cheese on top of that to act as glue to hold the whole thing together. Preheat your grill pan or skillet on medium and grill away! I put a lid over it to help with the melting process. Maybe 3-5 minutes on each side and you’re good to go.

You could most certainly add some turkey or use guacamole instead of sliced avocado. I thought about smashing the beans a little {kinda like refried beans} because they tend to spill out of the sandwich when grilling and flipping…

These would be great to make as minis for an appetizer of sorts, too.

SO yum!

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This is my 700th post!

Wow.

SEVEN HUNDY!

Two year bloggy anniversary is coming up on November 1st…I have a little giveaway in the works. Please check back soon for the deets!

Thanks for reading! I cherish each and every one of you!

{BIG hug!}

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Linking up over at Gingerbread ~ Sweet Saturday

Come on over and browse!

XO

Do You Dim Sum?

Have you ever been to dim sum? If not, you really should go…

Little carts come around with dumplings, potstickers, noodles and pork buns/siopao {my fave!}. The even deliver boba teas and coffees on these little carts.

So fun.

When we lived in the Bay Area we found a place in SF’s Chinatown that we loved, Great Eastern Restaurant.

Here are a few pics from over 3 years ago ~ September 2008 ~ just before we moved back to So Cal…

{Holden 19 months}

{Elliott 3.25 years}

{SF’s Chinatown}

{yesterday’s picks at Empress Pavilion}

{Chinese flip flops!}

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So glad my mother-in-law suggested this. It’s the perfect Sunday afternoon outing.

I love exposing the kids to different cultures and having them try new foods ~ they’re already great with chop sticks!

Go to Yelp and find a dim sum restaurant in your area.

Sit down, sip some tea and sample little Chinese bites.

It’s Here….

My favorite season.

Happy first day of FALL!

{Thanksgiving 2005 ~ Elliott was just 6 months old}

This was our first family Christmas card taken in my in-laws backyard in South Carolina.

It has always reminded me of a beautiful Fall day…

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Looking forward to lots of pumpkin recipes, caramel apples, candy corn and crock pot meals in the next couple months.

Of course I will share them all with YOU!

XOXO

Recipe Box

One of my Pinterest girlies recently pinned these potatoes…

{Baked Hasselback Potatoes}

Since my Dad/Popsi is visiting from Seattle, I figured it was a good excuse to try them. We ate them alongside Ina Garten’s Turkey Meatloaf and garlicky green beans.

These taters were full of flavor in every little nook and cranny!

I also prepared one of our other family favorites ~ Chicken Marsala.

Just thought I’d go back into the recipe box and {re}share these in case you missed them the first time around. They really are good ‘ol stand-by comfort foods.

Perfect for Fall ~ coming in just about 3 days!

Hope your Monday was a happy one.

XOXO

Oh, Say Can You See

Ten years ago today I was driving down Fairmount Avenue on my way to work when I heard {the news}.

We were all sent home and I remember being glued to the TV, in disbelief, for hours and days following.

I visited Ground Zero about 10 months after {that day}.

There was silence…nobody could find any words.

Since September 11, 2001, I have never worn or regarded the stars and stripes with more pride.

I cannot listen to or sing the National Anthem, Proud To Be An American, America The Beautiful or You’re A Grand Old Flag without tears streaming down my face.

I couldn’t have been more proud while listening to the darling first graders sing {Proud To Be An American} on Friday morning for Patriot’s Day…..waving their handmade construction paper flags.

I can’t wait to take my children to Ground Zero someday ~ tears will be streaming just like that beautiful fountain.

We’ll NEVER forget.

Red, White & Blue.

Tried-and-True.

Aqui

I’m {here}!

Back from the East side…we spent 2 glorious weeks in the Carolinas and now we’re here to spend the last few weeks of summer on our turf.

More pics to come, but first I need to share this easy recipe for refreshing Watermelon Agua Fresca.

No, we didn’t sip this in the south, but since we DID overindulge heavily, my first stop was to pick up a cart full of fruits and veggies to get us back on track with our {attempt} at eating healthier!

One of our favorite restaurants in Nor Cal was Aqui, nestled in the adorable Willow Glen area of San Jose. Aqui serves aguas frescas out of big jars and was a must to wash down their delicioso fare and the perfect thing to sip out on the patio.

It’s a breeze to make and I chose watermelon as my first attempt. Just picked up a personal sized {Dulcinea} watermelon and used about half of it for the drink {4 cups, chopped}.

Add the chopped melon to 4 cups cold water {I did it in 2 batches in my blender} and process until smooth. Run through a fine mesh strainer, pour into a pitcher, add 2 tablespoons sugar, stir and serve over ice with a squeeze of lime.

{umbrella optional!}

Other juicy options….cantaloupe, mango or honeydew cucumber ~ just follow the same process.

Next time I think I’ll add honey as the sweetner.

Salud!

Mommy Pick-up Joints

Once you have kids, it becomes quite easy to meet other mamas. I have met women at Costco, San Diego Int’l Airport, Barnes & Noble and Wendy’s among other places. You meet a nice woman and her child{ren}, chat it up and find yourselves at that awkward state of, “OK, ba-bye! It was nice talking to you!” or “OK…uh, well…we should try and get the kids together for a play date sometime.”

Tonight as I was fixing dinner, I was thinking about all the {unusual} meeting places I’ve encountered over the past 5 or so years and compared the Nor Cal vs. So Cal contenders.

So Cal wins hands down.

Apparently my Nor Cal mama {friendships} left something to be desired.

The first one is kind of funny. One Saturday evening Jay, Elliott {8 months} and I were in the Costco on Rengstorff right before close. We went in for a rotisserie chicken for dinner. They were fresh out and we had to wait 15 minutes for the new batch to come off the rotisserie. As we were waiting, I started talking to a woman who was with her daughter that was about a month or two older than Elliott. Of course we had TONS to chat about while our husbands stalked the rotisserie-chicken-packaging-guy. Several other people had lined up and were ready to pounce on some hot poultry. All of a sudden Jay comes back empty handed and this woman’s hubby comes back carrying a plastic container with his chicken. She felt so bad that we didn’t get one that she INVITED US TO HER HOUSE FOR DINNER! They seemed nice enough and lived near us so we said what the heck! Needless to say, this couple was very sweet, but we only got together with them a couple times before things fizzled.

Then there is the time I was in San Diego when my grandmother passed away and Elliott {10 months} and I were on our way back to San Jose. While we were waiting to pre-board, there was a couple with their daughter who, too, was a month or so older than Elliott. Again, we chatted, boarded the plane and exchanged numbers at the baggage claim at Mineta. We hung out several times for about 6 months or so before I got annoyed and decided to channel my energies into some more positive friendships. The tipping point was when she borrowed a brand new Target umbrella stroller {still in the box} for a trip to NYC. No biggie. I am a good sharer. But when she returned that thing looked like it had been run over by 16 taxis. No biggie. I understand. New York is dirty. It was just the way she handled it. Offered to replace it but didn’t. Not the way I would’ve handled it, but whatever.

Then there was the time she complimented the color in our house and wanted to borrow our can of leftover paint to do a test patch on her walls. No biggie. I can share. I don’t remember the circumstances, but I drove 30+ miles to deliver the paint to her and never again saw my paint can. I believe I asked her about it, but never did she drive the 30+ miles to return it.

Needless to say at that point, I was done.

When we moved back to So Cal almost 3 years ago, I met my dear friend Karen at Barnes & Noble. I’ve also spoken about her here.

Then one day over a year ago, I met a gal in Wendy’s one afternoon who has two kids almost the exact same ages as E & H…older girl, younger boy. We exchanged digits and have had several stress-free play dates over the past year and a half or so. Turns out we have some mutual friends, as well!

50% ain’t bad, but it looks like So Cal won this one.

So glad to know you, Karen & Kristie!

To all my Mama Floppers out there, where are some funny places you’ve been picked up on?

I Left {A Bit Of} My Heart On Story Road

When we lived in the Bay Area, the kids and I would frequently visit Happy Hollow Zoo with our friends, the Cohens.

Each time I would exit the 101 onto Story Road, I would quickly notice it was littered with {Vietnamese Baguette} shops. I never really gave much thought to it other than the fact that there were so many.

I recently came across this post on Not Without Salt. Ahhhhh, Banh Mi! It immediately clicked that this was the baguette sandwich pictured in these store windows. I knew I had to make it…just by reading the ingredients alone, I could tell that this sandwich was right up my alley.

Sriracha. Cilantro. Basil. Garlic. Meatballs. Baguette.

I chose to do more of a slider version and picked up these rolls…

The only changes I made to the recipe were substitute the fish sauce with soy sauce, use jarred jalapeños, and didn’t sear the meatballs in oil first ~ I just baked them from the get-go…about 22 minutes to be safe. Also, I made 11 meatballs instead of a dozen.

I slathered on the Sriracha mayo then halved one meatball and put both halves on one roll.

Added the colorful toppings…

…took a bite and almost died.

This sandwich was beyond amazing…the soft rolls soaked up the juices from the meat and the rice vinegar and literally molded the bread to the meatball. The carrot and radish provided crunch. A million things came together in this meal and if I knew then what I know now, I most certainly would have pulled off at one of these little Vietnamese eateries, ordered a banh mi and enjoyed it in the shade of a tree with my good friend, Nancy, while the kiddos ran around and played in the HH park {or watched the weird puppet show as we occasionally did while eating our lunch}.

Story Road took me to and from Happy Hollow many times. The memories of these visits with Nancy are some of the happiest days of our time in the San Jose area. The kids would run free, see all five animals at the mini zoo, ride old rusty rides, freak us out and disappear in the maze for a minute, laugh and play while Nancy and I chatted about this and that.

Nancy, I miss you terribly and would love it if we could share a banh mi and get caught up sometime soon!

XOXO

Teeny Weeny Bikinis

Elliott and her very first girlfriend, Miss C, at swim lessons ~ sporting their matching Janie and Jack bikinis.

This is one of my all time favorite photos….

Taken over FIVE years ago.

{wah!}

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Happy {official first day of} Summer!