Crissy Field with Kayak

We had a beautiful morning at Crissy Field with Kayak, Mike and Carol today.

Wallace is Smitten!!

I brought Wallace to a Smitten Ice Cream store today. (We asked before we went in, and the staff said he was allowed inside.)

Smitten ice cream is made to order!! They put the ingredients in and combine it with liquid nitrogen to make the ice cream.

I ordered "Joyous Almond" today. Vanilla ocean with coconut, almonds and chocolate Chips. Yum!!

Let there be light!!

Well, this is embarrassing.... last week, Dick and I noticed that SIX of the ten lightbulbs in our kitchen were out. I have no idea how long they've been going out. Maybe years? Maybe they all went out within the last few weeks? Who knows?!

We ordered replacement bulbs and received them today. We just replaced the burned out bulbs. We can't believe how much brighter our kitchen is!

Seriously, how did we not notice this before?

Happy 50th, Sis!!

What a milestone! Happy 50th Birthday to my beautiful and wonderful Sis!!! We had a delicious celebratory meal at Roy's tonight.

Go Giants!!

Wallace got a cute new Giants baseball jersey from my parents. He's ready for baseball season to start! I don't have the heart to tell him that he's going to have to wait a few months...

Glassybaby Seconds Sale

A long line is a First at the glassybaby seconds sale at Berkeley!! No complaints here. It's a gorgeous day, and heck, I've been in the lines in Seattle. This is nothing. Enjoying my time hanging out in the craziness with all my friends. 😊

I showed great restraint today: I bought one exotic (Lucky Penny) for myself. Got one as a gift for a specific person and three as gifts to have on hand.

Sent from my iPhone- please ignore any inadvertent  autocorrect typos. :)

How Doodle You Do?

I'm loving my Belated Christmas gift from my Sis and Graham. I've been covering this door mat for a while!!! ❤️🐶

Dinner with Michael & Philip

Michael was in town from Montreal for a quick business trip. He marched in Cavaliers with Philip in 1988 and 1989. Michael and I met at WGI a few years ago. We figured out quickly that we have a ton of mutual friends, and we became fast friends immediately. It was wonderful to see him tonight!!

Cinnamon Rolls: Best Batch Yet!!

A couple of weeks ago I made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls. The recipe makes 12 cinnamon rolls in total, so I decided to freeze half. Dick doesn't eat many sweets so he probably wouldn't eat more than one, so I have to be careful of how many I bake at time.

Alisa and Yuki came over today, so I pulled the frozen cinnamon rolls out of the freezer last night to bake in the early afternoon. They rose even more while they were thawing and sitting at room temperature. I baked them at the suggested 15 minutes, and they were absolutely the best batch yet. They were cooked all the way through, and were fluffy. In the past, I don't think I let the dough rise enough, or come to room temperature enough for them to bake properly.

I sent Alisa home with two cinnamon rolls for her to share with Sophie, which leaves me with two. That seems like a reasonable amount for me. 😊

Tsunami Warning Alert

Nothing like waking up at 3:00am to a Tsunami Watch Alert.

The entire West Coast was on alert from Alaska to Mexico and Hawaii after a 7.0 earthquake (downgraded from 8.2) off Alaska.

I managed to fall back asleep, as I wasn't terribly concerned. We live a couple of miles from the Ocean, and also have Twin Peaks in between.

I woke up again later to find that the alert had been cancelled around 4:40am. I haven't seen any reports of any tsunamis at all so I hope and assume everything is okay.

Sent from my iPhone- please ignore any inadvertent  autocorrect typos. :)

Morning Commute

I tagged long on Dick's morning commute today. I had an appointment Downtown and the timing worked out for us to go together.

We walked down to the Muni Metro subway, took it to Powell Street then caught the Cable Car up to Sutter Street. We made a quick stop to McDonalds for breakfast (Dick goes there once a week or so, and I haven't had a McMuffin in ages) then went to his office to eat.

It was fun following him in his morning routine!

Lazy Sunday Morning

Beet, Carrot, Apple Ginger Juice!

When I was in Bellevue last month, I had breakfast with my friend Debra and tried a really delicious juice made up of beets, carrots, apples ad ginger. I really loved it and realized that it should be something I could make at home.

I looked up a recipe online and found this:
https://minimalistbaker.com/juice-without-a-juicer-apple-carrot-beet-ginger-juice

It's a pretty easy recipe with the right tools in the kitchen. I double the recipe since it takes the same amount of time, and so that we can have an extra serving the next day.

Here's what I use

2 beets, rinsed, lightly peeled and quartered
2 apples, peeled, cored and quartered
2 Tbsp size piece of fresh ginger (skin removed)
a couple handfuls of baby carrots
unfiltered apple juice

Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, adding a splash of apple juice if needed to get it moving. I probably added about 1/2 cup.

Then, place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the juice over. Use a rubber spatula to press the pulp down and squeeze all of the juice out. Let stand for 5 minutes so you get most of the juice.
Discard pulp and pour your juice into a serving glass. Drink immediately or chill for a bit. Will keep in the fridge for a day or so, but will taste best when fresh.

So, until this morning, I was using the strainer method, which works pretty well, but takes time. Dick didn't love how much pulp from the vegetables were left after being strained. He was certain that we could find a way to squeeze more juice out of the pulp for less waste.

I found this nylon cheesecloth bag meant for straining juices (among other things). We tried it this morning for the first time to great success! We probably got 1-1/2 to double the amount of juice as we had strained before.

The juice is delicious, and has lots of good nutrients in it. Dick and I both love beets and the ginger gives it a nice zing. I've been making this a couple of times a week for the last month or so.


My Blendtec jar filled with deliciousness: 2 beets, apples (I usually use two, but only had one today), ginger, carrots and apple juice


All blended together. I seriously love my Blendtec!!


All the blended veggies/fruits poured into the straining bag


Dick is squeezing out the juice through the bag


We yielded about 4 cups of juice today!

Instant Pot Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

Dick has been on a quest to find Biscuits and gravy as good as Voula's, our favorite in Seattle. We've been all over San Francisco, and have found a good one in Sonoma, but none have been great yet.

I found this recipe for Biscuits and Sausage Gravy for the Instant Pot:

https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-sausage-gravy/

It turned out really good!! Not as good as Voula's, but Dick liked it more than any other that we've found. The consistency of the gravy was great, and the flavor was really nice.

I knew it would be all about the sausage. I used fresh breakfast sausage patties from Whole Foods. It was good, but not quite what we are looking for. There was a sweetness to it from maple syrup mixed in. I think next time I'll make it with their Italian Spicy sausage that we use for some recipes and we like. Does anyone know what the difference is between breakfast sausage and other sausage? I think it may be what we're really going for.

I made biscuits from Bisquick, which I haven't made in a long time, but I used to make all the time. I may experiment with other homemade biscuit recipes just for fun.

Sent from my iPhone- please ignore any inadvertent  autocorrect typos. :)

Waffles for Breakfast!!

I ordered a Casper Dog Bed for Wallace and it arrived this week. I'll post photos and info about it this weekend.

In the meantime, I wanted to share this fun picture. The delivery box with his bed in it also included a stuffed waffle toy for Wallace. He loves it!

New Olympic Sport?

Synchronized Treat-Chewing.

Yuki and Wallace are working hard perfecting their routine!

Rainy Day Play date with Yuki!!!

Look how cute little Yuki is in her red rain coat and her matching red rain boots.