Birthday Bash

Our son's birthday party was this weekend. Because he has a summer birthday, he chooses to have his party outside each year. This year, like last year, he asked to have it at the beach. We all love spending a day at the beach, so we're more than happy to plan a party there. It's really one of the easiest parties to put together - just bring food and the entertainment is provided by the location.

This year, Mike grilled Fred's steak to make steak sandwiches. It was fantastic and every bite was eaten right away. We also had hot dogs for the kids, fruit, vegetables, brownies (our son doesn't like cake) and we made ice cream there. We used an Ice Cream Ball last year and it was so much fun, that we bought a second one to be able to make more at the same time this year. It's a great way to have ice cream at a picnic.

I got down to the beach at 8:15 that morning to get a covered picnic area. By the time I got there, all of the pavilions were taken and we were only able to get 2 picnic tables and a grill. Luckily, we had a sandy area right next to us, so we were able to spread out there. Mike stopped at Target on his way down (he brought the kids a bit later) and got 2 shade tents and a tarp and we created our own pavilion. It worked out fine, even if it wasn't exactly what we had planned.

The kids played baseball in the sand, did some boogie boarding, built sand castles, and just generally played for the day. There were dolphins just offshore all day, feeding and playing, so we had an impromptu show for everyone as well. Our guests came and left at various times, until it was just us and one other family. Our kids were all playing in the sand and we were talking until one of us looked at a watch and realized it was 6;45 and we really needed to do something about dinner. Mike noticed that one of the nearby grills was still hot, so he added more charcoal, got it cranked up, and we pulled out the leftover hot dogs, fruit, and brownies and made dinner for us and the kids. We finally left the beach at 8:15 when the rangers came through and told us we had to go.

It was a great day and we all had a lot of fun. Check out the pictures below to see what we did.

Our Little Fish

Our youngest loves the water, and is a good swimmer for a 2 1/2-year-old. Her brother and sister were much the same at this age, but most people didn't get the chance to see them doing these kinds of things when they were little. The kids swam for about 4 hours the other day, so not only do they love it, but they have amazing endurance!

I shot some videos while we were at the pool and created my first movie so you can see what our little one does in the water. I need to work on the whole editing thing, but it was fun to give this a try.

Round-to-it Recommends - Make It and Love It

You may have noticed I added a button to the left side of this page. It's for a craft site called "Make It and Love It" and they have some great craft ideas. They also do some terrific give-aways. Right now, they are doing one for a new sponsor called "Beautiful Baby Boutique" that has the cutest hair clips I have ever seen. Really creative and great prices. Check it out and see what you think!

And if you're looking for gift ideas for my girls...

Family Day at the Ballpark

Our son has been to several baseball games this summer and has become a big baseball fan. His sister had heard all about these trips and was dying to go to one, too. We finally managed to find a home weekend day game that we could bring everyone to, so this Saturday, we all went up to AT&T Park to watch the Giants and the Cincinnati Reds.


I've been to a couple of baseball games, but it's been a very long time since the last one and I'd never been to this field. First off, this is a beautiful ballpark. Parking for it is in an old wharf building on San Francisco Bay and as you walk to the park, you look over McCovey Cove into the park. Just an amazing view before you even get to the park. The ballpark itself is great - a really neat building, with great seating, a kids' play area, and LOTS of bathrooms. All critical features when you're taking young kids to a ball game.
















We got to the game early enough for the kids to play a bit and burn a little energy after the long ride up (We got stuck in traffic caused by street sweeping, on the highway, on a Saturday morning. I still have to ask if that was really necessary.). Our son tried out the batting cage, which he apparently does every time, and he and his sister did the slides - our youngest was too small to go on them - both of which they really enjoyed. Then we headed to our seats to get settled before the game started.


The game itself was fine. The older kids had pizza and the little on had a hot dog, they all drank lots of lemonade - it was HOT in our seats since we were in the sun the whole time - and they finished off with ice cream and snow cones. I believe we set a record for the most number of trips to the bathroom during a baseball game. At one point the score went from 1-0 to 4-2 and I have no idea how it happened. Let's just say that going to a ball game with 3 kids, 2 of whom have no real interest in the game, is not the most conducive way to see one. We managed to stay for the whole game, though, which the Giants won, giving a great ending to a fun trip.

Our youngest passed the time by drawing

Pasta Pomodoro

My garden has produced absolutely fantastic tomatoes this season. I think having them on the front porch where they can get the maximum amount of sun has made a huge difference in the flavor and quality of the tomatoes,m and we've been enjoying them immensely. But as often happens with a garden, we had an overabundance and needed to use the tomatoes we already had in the house before we could harvest the next batch. I decided to try making tomato sauce, using this recipe. My tomatoes are quite sweet, so I omitted the sugar, but followed the recipe otherwise. It was incredibly good and makes me never want to eat jarred sauce again!

lafille’s Pomodoro Sauce (see the original at the above link; my modifications are below)

Ingredients:
6-8 ripe Roma tomatoes (or any fresh tomatoes), diced (Some people insist they must be skinned. This is riDONKulous.)
1 medium-sized onion, color of your choice, diced
3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed, chopped, or thinly sliced
2 tbsp. olive oil
small handful fresh basil
2 tsp. sugar (depending on sweetness of the tomatoes)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, cook on medium heat for five minutes or so. Toss in the garlic, lower the heat, cover, and cook for ten minutes (stirring occasionally), or until quite soft.
2. Add the tomatoes, basil, sugar, salt, and pepper, cover and let simmer another ten to fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook your pasta.
3. If you don’t want a chunky sauce, throw it in the food processor. If you are a person who likes good things, skip this step and eat that stuff in all its chunky glory straight from the skillet. Feel free to add red pepper and Parmesan cheese to the finished product.

Dinner at Parcel 104 - Again

I am the world's worst food blogger. Every time we go out, I mean to take pictures of the dishes so you can see how wonderful they are, rather than just relying on my descriptions. Instead, we get about halfway through the meal before I remember, and then I start to eat each subsequent dish before I again remember to take a picture. So I've got one picture of a half-eaten plate of foie gras from last night that definitely doesn't do justice to how fabulous that dish tastes.

With that in mind, here is what we ate last night. I have no idea what was actually on last night's menu since we never saw it - we sat down at the counter by the kitchen (my favorite spot and where you should really plan on sitting if you go) and Chef Anthony and Chef Carlos just started bringing us food. I don't know how they do it, but I think it gets better every time we go.

Amuse buche: Corn mousse topped with arctic char roe (beautiful little yellow spheres that tasted of the ocean), topped with herbs, served on an interesting curved silver spoon.
Course 1: Dungeness crab salad with avocado and cashews, rolled in thin slices of cucumber with a drizzle of green curry sauce.

Course 2: Pan-roasted salmon with summer vegetables. I could eat this every day. It's still one of favorite dishes.

Course 3: Northern California seafood plate: two steamed mussels; one raw Tomales Bay oyster; one Monterey Bay spot prawn; one steamed Sacramento Delta crawfish; one squid, separated into steamed tentacles and the body stuffed with potatoes that were mashed with the concentrated liquid from the mussels; a piece of fish, called mero, or Japanese sea bass, that was coated in salt and pan-roasted; and uni; all topped with some kind of foam and garnished with seaweed. This is a new addition to the menu and honestly not something I would have ordered if I had just seen it on the menu. It was absolutely incredible, though, and I'm so glad I ate it! I had never heard of this fish before and it is the most flavorful, succulent fish I've ever eaten. I hope Chef Anthony uses this fish more often, because it is really amazing.

Course 4: Barbecued foie gras, served with cranberry beans and corn dumplings. We've had this several times before, but Chef knows it's one of our favorites, so he always serves it.

Course 5: Round steaks cut from the cap of the ribeye, served with thinly sliced and layered potato and fresh garbanzo, butter, and cranberry beans. So simple, yet so incredibly good.

Course 6: Watercress and nectarine salad, with pluot sorbet. Something nice and light to move us into dessert. The sorbet was fantastic!

Course 7: Carrot cake "sandwich" with cream cheese filling, vanilla bean ice cream, and candied carrot.

Course 8: "Coffee" A small glass of Bailey's Irish Cream, an espresso cup of coffee ice cream with a small piece of cake and foamed milk on top, and coffee creme brulee. This is a new one for Chef Carlos and the creme brulee was fantastic!

Course 9: Trio of sorbets: peach, raspberry, and mango. My favorite was the raspberry.

It was, once again, a fabulous meal. It's always fun to see what the chefs will come up with and to chat with them throughout the evening. It's also amazing to watch the kitchen in action. Everyone works so well together and there is a wealth of talent putting the food together.

If you ever go, let us know what you think of it.

Pictures from the Week

My poor bruised toes. They've been a lovely shade of purple for about a week now.

The kids had a fun time at the park on Thursday. Lots of time on the swings, running around playing tag, going down the slides, and playing in the sand. It was a gorgeous day, so it was great to be outside enjoying it.

I have a small cooler with a pump that circulates ice water through a pad on my food. It's much easier than constantly switching out ice packs. Zatarain discovered he could flip the lid open on the cooler and have his own bowl of ice water right there in the family room.

The girls came downstairs thie evening dressed in their finest. When our older daughter, who loves to help Mike with the grill, found out that we were grilling for dinner, she asked, "Can we be your flower grill fairies?"

We have a very small backyard. This picture actually makes it look bigger than it is, but that doesn't stop Mike and our son from practicing baseball while the ribs are cooking. Our daughter was the cheerleader in the background.

The Week in Review

It's been an interesting week, in spite of the fact that I still have to take it easy on my foot. I went back to the doctor on Monday and got the bandage changed. He gave me a boot cast to wear when I'm out and about, which makes it easier to walk, but is really heavy, hot, and uncomfortable. Needless to say, I only wear it when I have to and stick with the very attractive shoe the rest of the time. On the down side, I do end up yelling, "Don't step on my foot!" an awful lot.

No one was in camp this week, so it was me and the three kids entertaining ourselves since Mike went back to work on Monday afternoon. They got a bit stir crazy and watched more TV than they normally do, but we survived. Our son did an evaluation for a pre-competitive swim team on Tuesday and will be able to start swimming with them in September. He was very excited to watch the huge number of kids in the pool (there were probably 20 lanes swimming at the same time between 2 pools) and can't wait to join in. I don't know how thrilled either of us will be when he's swimming in the dark in November, but we'll give it a try for the fall and see how it goes.

Everyone had swim lessons on Wednesday morning. I couldn't go in because of my foot, so I paid a friend's daughter, who is in high school and is a swimmer and a lifeguard, to take our little one in instead. It was fun to sit back and watch all 3 of them for once. I also found out that she will be old enough to take lessons on her own starting this fall, so it's the last session of lessons that I will have to be in the water. It's the end of an era - I think I've been in the water with one kid or another for the better part of 7 years!

Our son has done tae kwon do at school for the past 3 years, but they dropped the program at the end of the year, so we need to find a new studio for him. His old teacher recommended 2 places, so we checked one out on Wednesday evening. The class they had us sit in on was their basic class, where they work on discipline, basic skills, and their core values. It was not at all what our son expected and he absolutely hated it. I'm hoping I can get him to check out their forms and sparring classes to give it a fair shot, but he wants nothing to do with it right now. We may go see the other studio and see if he like it any better. I'd hate to see him give it up because he's actually quite good at a lot of the skills and he's worked hard at it for a long time now.

Thursday we went grocery shopping. Under the best conditions, it's no fun to take all 3 kids to the store and with my foot in the boot, I really wasn't thrilled with the prospect. I decided to take them to the park first to burn some energy, with the understanding that I was going to be sitting down the whole time. They managed to find a little girl to play tag with them and had a great time running around. Shopping went well after that and our son got to play Safeway Scavenger Hunt while we were there. I send him out to find things from my grocery list, and he has to hunt them down and bring them back to the cart. He's gotten pretty good at it, but we do seem to end up with more bags of chips than I sent him out to get.

The older kids went to Great America with friends on Friday. I didn't tell them about it until Friday morning, and my son's reaction was, "Are you serious?" Being the smart ass I am, I of course responded, "No, I'm kidding." He looked very confused, so I reassured him that it was true and that he needed to get his stuff together for the day. I kept our youngest and our friends' 17-month-old for the day, which our little one loved.

I took the girls to the Y for my Pilates class, my first exercise since having my foot done. It was so good to do something besides sit around! I had to modify some things, but found I could actually do a lot more than I had expected. I'm dying to do some kind of aerobic workout, but this will have to hold me at least until the stitches come out on Tuesday.

Today we just stayed at home. Mike cleaned out the garage, I cleaned up the garden and the dog run, and the kids and dog ran around like the lunatics they are. We had dinner together - ribs, potato salad, coleslaw, garlic cheese bread - and watched the Giants game (they won!). The night ended with fireworks from Great America.

So it's been a good and busy week. Next week, our older daughter is doing a gymnastics camp and that will be the last camp of the summer. Our son's 8th birthday is Monday and he and his sister are beside themselves excited about it. It should be another fun week!