happy birthday gigi

just something about this pose reminded me of my mom's

good ol' cheerleading days...modeling poses...etc.

so a happy happy birthday to you

today!

even if its a bit late.

those chubby legs miss you here in phoenix.

pancakes for dinner?

i dont think ive made these since the restaurant closed.

i guess they do involve roasting/cooking sweet potatoes,

and that doesnt happen too often. so perhaps that is why.

i was cooking some up for the hungry dec the other day

and thought it was be fun to do breakfast for dinner.

anyhow, here's the recipie if you are feeling sweet potatoey.

or if you just missed these and need a good soothing

recipie for a fall breakfast, whip these babies out.

the story behind them is that we thought we were going to

be opening in the fall, and it ended up that we opened

up in july instead.

so whatever, it all worked out as it should.

sweet potato pancakes

ingredients:

1 c. flour

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. nutmeg

2 T. sugar

dash salt

1 T. baking powder

2 c. (or one large) roasted sweet potato

1 c. whole milk

1/2 c. buttermilk

1 egg

1/2 stick butter, melted, cooled

1/2 c. crushed pecans

maple syrup for serving

mascarpone topping:

1/2 cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)

large dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

2 T. powdered sugar

splash vanilla extract

method:

• combine dry ingredients in bowl
• in cuisinart puree sweet potatoes until smooth. add milk and buttermilk. mix well. add egg.
• add flour mixture to sweet pot mixture. whisk to combine
• slowly incorporate melted butter into batter. careful not to splash up in your face.
• cook on griddle according to the size of your liking. warning: they take a while to cook. be patient.
• mix mascarpone ingredients.
• serve pancakes topped with mascarpone mix, sprinkled with pecans and drizzed with warm maple syrup.

thats all folks.

hope your weekend is a little less rainy than mine.

too tired

just really too tired to think right now.

so nothing like cowboy boots, polka dot buns and a tutu

to end my night.

i'll be more interesting tomorrow.

i may have fallen asleep while standing today.

is heaven just going to be full of cozy beds so we can take naps?

this morning

so this is where ive been cooking

a la early am.

the downtown location.

best coffee you'll ever have in your life.

i promise.

try the pour over
if you are a hot coffee drinker
or the insane amazing clover.
just trust me on this one.

we're currently working on putting together
a more elaborate breakfast and lunch menu
and some other special touches...
but for now we have a daily tarte and quiche, as well as
don't you worry burritos.


this morn:
tarte...carmelized apple.red onion.bacon and honey creme fraiche.
quiche...spinach.mushroom and chive.
deelisha roo skee.

all in all its good to be back in the kitchen
even if its a rough go getting up,
im diggin it.

yellow balloon

the other day ruby and i spotted this yellow balloon

from her window upstairs.

it was stuck in a tree by the freeway

and most likely from some car dealership or bee themed

birthday party.

anyhow, we decided to go 'catch' it and enjoy a bit of outside

before it go too terribly hot.

balloons are a big hit around here

and as you can see provide some serious happiness.

we actually recently made a sweet tennis court

in the front room with painters tape

and blew up balloons for no reason.

have you ever tried balloon tennis?

it rocks.

just ask my brother pete.

gosh i wish the weather was nicer

so we could be outside more.

dec was so incredibly pumped about the slight drop in temp

that brought us outdoors.

much arm flailing indeed.

as an aside:

how hilarious is it when kids think you can't see

them b/c their eyes are closed?

ruby walked into the room the other day with closed eyes

and said something to the effect that i could not see her.

she is the imagination queen lately.

more on that later.

hope all had a fabulous and relaxing weekend.

monday here i come.

yummy waffles

testing out some recipies for the menu

im working on.

what do you think?

would you go downtown and order this:

vanilla buttermilk waffle

rasberry creme fraiche

house whipped cream

fresh fruit

i thought it was mighty tasty
and decadent deluxe.

hat update

jazzed up the hat a bit.

it has become a 'very merry unbirthday' hat

i dare say.

this pic above taken while ruby is 'workin'

at the computer....

that is... browsing the burchjerks' photos.

and then there is this guy,

my exercise regimen.

did you know climbing under tables could be so fun?

and of course a lovely modeled photo

of the back of the happy hat.

hats off to you and your tuesday!

may you find joy in the little things...hasta luego mes amies.

hot hot market

the kids and i made our way to

the downtown market

on saturday morning.

wow, i have never possbily been that hot and sweaty

within 10 short minutes in my life.

i thought i might keel over.

the heat warnings are not messing around.

we stocked up on veggies from maya

and then quickly booked it over to the snow cone stand

and ran inside to the haven of the indoor market.

ruby made some business calls while

i sipped on some cool coffee.

i know, coffee, hot weather....but i needed a jolt.

i felt a little guilty about the blue syrup intake here

but i was going for a quick cool down by way of the ice.

seemed to work out just dandily.

we did actually make it home, starved of course.

so i made some tasty 'market eggs'

as i call them.

veggies from market + fried eggs + local tortillas = delish

i sauteed some okra and pepper,

topped with fresh chopped tomato and chives

on our eggs and it was a lovely time.
i felt much better.

nevermind the giant messes surrounding me in every corner

and laundry beckoning at me as it continually grows

ever larger.

i am going to invent a laudry shrinking powder i think.

or dissapearing might be more like it.

hope you had a lovely

not so hot as here

weekend.

paper hats

oh trader joes grocery bags, you make fine hats indeed. this was the craze before the super craze of running around, chasing, laughing and screaming that led into dinner.

highlights from today:

laughing too loud in the kitchen this morning...

seeing the 'jellyfish' in the sky downtown on a walk after work and soaking in the bubble fountain...

maybe slightly falling asleep while overhearing ed teach ruby how to hop on one foot and 'hop scotch'

declan's squatty tiny little legs...just looking at them while he stands on things makes me want to chomp on him....

having a salsa 'thrown down' bobby flay style at work this morning...ending in delicious eggs for breakfast...

making myself on a bed on the ground after dinner when i was sure declan was ready for bed, but was indeed not, and dozing off while the kids ran around and laughed really hard...ruby tried on all her shoes and was having so much fun she had an accident...

ed coming home from work. goodnight.

lists

i need to go to 'LA' i think. some sort of lists makers annonymous for overusage of list making in the home.

too too many lists...

of blogs i like, things i like, books i'd like to read, all the things i need to get done and should be getting done but never do.

and then there are really problems when i make lists of lists or just rewrite them so they are more organized on better looking paper and then look pretty.

i could seriously just put together a book that is a collection of my lists.

i know. its a rediculous problem. the ones where i actually accomplish things and get to cross them off are indeed my favorite kind.

i used to think all that stuff on the list in college was intense. huh.

be happy

just a little craft i put together to hang in the house.

a little reminder that its ok

to be really tired.

ok to be overwhelmed unsure about things.

summer can be rough when you have little guys

and its unbearably hot outside.

so long days inside start to get to you after a while.

then you think, i should go somewhere. but where?

so you play imagine games with ruby.

we went to the movies, had popcorn and m and ms...

then to the beach for swim...

and followed this up with dress ups

and fake names.

and yet

i will say there have been a lot of

un-happy

moments lately.

this little lady is just a bit firey these days,

still full of sweet moments

but we'll just say she has a strong will

and a strong stomping foot.

so i just will keep up this little reminder

for all those moments throughout the day when

the course of action is so unclear.

so funny how you grow up always thinking

mom's know just exactly what

needs to be done always.

they always have the right and perfect answer.

and then you grow up

and realize what was really going on all those years.

hehehee.

a reason to love summer

is that you can top anything with summer fruit and its instant happiness.

strawberries are super cheap at the grocery right now

so i can not get enough of them.

then there are white nectarines

and ruby's favorite current snack of choice, apricots.

summer just plows on through with endless buckets

of delicious fruit....peaches...plums...berries....on and on.

for some reason it always makes me want to bake,

cakes, crumbles, buckles, etc.

last summer it was plum and cinnamon sugar buckle,

topped with homemade whip cream.

this summer it has been orange or lemon scented cake

with creme fraiche and berries,

or recently cream cheese frosting and strawberries.

i mean why not when ruby requests

to 'make sumping'

The above cake was moist delish-ous-ness, and i might add

super dooper easy.

so if you're feeling like you need a quick easy dessert to spice up your life, go make this.

and eat it for breakfast perhaps, b/c that is my favorite time to indulge.

french style yogurt cake with lemon

adapted from that book i cant get enough of. every chapter makes you hungrier and ready to jump into your kitchen and make something delicious.

1 1/2 c. a.p. flour

2 t. baking powder

pinch of salt

2 t. grated lemon zest (i used orange b/c that is all i had and it was still deelish)

1/2 c. well stirred plain whole milk yogurt

1 c. sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 c. veg oil

• preheat oven to 350
• butter and flour 9 in round cake pan
• in medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. add lemon zest and whisk to mix well.
• in large bowl, combine yogurt, sugar and eggs...stir to mix well.
• add flour mixture. whisk to combine.
• add oil and incorporate well. dont splash the oil up on your shirt like i did.
• bake 25-35 minutes, until set and cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

top with cream cheese frosting (once cooled and removed from pan)

frosting:

in mixer combine 4 oz cream cheese, 1/2 stick soft unsalted butter....with paddle attachment on high speed until incorporated. add 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar. mix until sugar is no longer visible. add 3 T. whole milk. mix well.

Top with sliced and lightly sugared strawberries. I slice them and let them sit and stir a bit while making the frosting so they soften up a bit. Rasberries would also be lovely.

Have a super monday! Can't wait to share some exciting happenings in the culinary world. I am working on a breakfast and lunch menu for a local spot. Will keep you updated as it comes along, so be on the lookout! And thanks for following along...you mean so much to me!

projects

some projects

DO get accomplished.

even if it took us months to finally lay

that grey paint on the wall.

so nice to say goodbye to the blue tape that graced

the walls for too long.

we still need some love on part of the walls...my mind is reeling,

but i am pretty pleased with our new charcol grey walls

in the paaarlor.

and then there are those projects that just lay on the table
and beg to get some love.
hmmm. oh dress making how i will get to you eventually.
hopefully before someone spills juice on you.

where i've been

so many years ago,

i am not sure when,

my parents began a tradition of bringing us all together

for the 4th of July

over in much cooler southern ca....ahhhh the beach.

it has grown tremendously over the years

and only gets better and better....and more different.

anyhow, needless to say i have been out of the blogging loop.

and since arriving home i just told ed i feel like

a salmon....

just swimming upstream and and not getting anywhere.

i guess it doesnt help to have a 7 1/2 mth old

gaining speed by the minute.

so while away...

we went on many a walk along the bay

admiring boats,
picking up shells and driftwood,
and actually finding a starfish

picking flowers along the side of the road

(a quirk i will never grow out of...

a perfect bouquet is wild and whimsy)

enjoying lots of sweatshirt and jeans weather...

i mean it was really cold

eating one too many hippo cookie

treating ourselves to ice cream night after dinner

watching a few fireworks

before booking it back to the house

b/c it was too loud for miss rubes

making our way down to the beach for a misty

chilly birthday on the beach party...

surprise balls and all!

opening surprises

and but of course.

enjoying our very first pedicure.

blue was the color of choice.

HOpe all Had a Wonderful fun family filled 4th!

until next year!

soooo good to be back!