Tina and Rufus Visit
Bonnie and Kyle came over for dinner and Cranium tonight. Tina and Rufus came by as well! Butters wasn’t too happy about that. He poofed up double his normal size, hissed and tried to attack both dogs but luckily there was a glass window between them so no one was hurt. We put Butters in our bedroom, and the dogs were eventually allowed inside and were very well behaved house guests, huddling around Bonnie while we finished our Cranium game. Good times!
Frosty Paws
If you’re searching for summer time treats for your dog, look no further than your grocer’s freezer! Right next to Breyers (for human) Popsicles is Peanut Flavored Ice Cream for Dogs at $4.99 a box! Arf arf!
Butters in a Pose
I caught Butters in this thoughtful pose while in the kitchen. Right after this he ran away!
Orzo Radicchio Salad
Today was Cooking Club Tuesday, and the theme was salad. Unfortunately only Carrie and I were the ones who participated this week! Carrie made a Thai Peanut Salad. I got the recipe for an Orzo Radicchio Salad from Taylor. It is like an italian pasta salad. Very yummy! The bitterness of the radicchio is complemented well with the freshly grated parmesean. Definetly makes a great appetizer or lunch!
Orzo Radicchio Salad
1 ½ c dry orzo (about 10 oz)
1/3 c sun dried tomatoes, drained and diced
5 T extra virgin olive oil
¼ c balsamic vinegar
¼ c kalamata olives, diced
1 c radicchio, chopped
½ c oasted pine nuts
½ c resh basil, chopped
½ c grated parmesan (or more to taste)
2 garlic cloves, minced
Cook the orzo according to package directions. While pasta is still warm, mix the first set of ingredients. (You can prepare this up to a day ahead and store in fridge.)
When pasta is at room temperature, combine with rest of ingredients and serve.
Cranium Characters
These are the crazy lookin’ characters in my new WOW Cranium game that John gave me for my birthday.
Dyson Ball Vacuum
So i joked with Jeff that I wanted a new vacuum cleaner for my birthday…but he didn’t get me one because it was not appropriate gift. But we so desperately needed a new one because the one we currently had was a Dirt Devil that did not pick up anything! Kitty litter would fall out from it as you swung it back and forth on the carpet. My friend Christina mentioned on Facebook the other day she was in the market for a new vacuum and her friends suggested a Dyson ball vacuum. Christina went to Sears and purchased one and said it was a great vacuum. So today I asked Jeff if we could go and buy one and he said yes! $500 dollars later and here we are – spic and span carpets! It feels SO NICE! I love my new vacuum that actually works! The ball thing works really well, and the chamber is easy to dispense. We filled it up twice with our first vacuuming of the downstairs area.
Fourth of July
Renee and Wayne invited us over for a Fourth of July BBQ. I believe they host it annually, but the last time we went was a couple of years ago when Jeff and I had first begun dating.
I brought over two kinds of tortilla pinwheel appetizers – Spinach and Sun Dried Tomato. For dinner we had smoked tri tip sandwiches made from garlic bread, beans, corn on the cob and a upside down pineapple cake for dessert.
Yum yum! We spent the day hanging out, drinking beer (water for me), chatting, and hanging out by the fire. It was a nice day, not too hot, with a nice breeze and some sun peeking through the a few clouds.
Jeff and the boys played horseshoes and I tried my hand at bocce ball. I beat Renee!
We ended the night with a “safe and sane” fireworks show. When we were driving back to our place, we noticed the illegal airshow going on in our backyard but just seemed to be a bit late to watch all the action which was a bummer. But Jeff lit off our fireworks, strobe lights and smoke bombs and celebrated the rest of the night with Butters.
San Juan Grade
Though the office was closed today, I went to work to catch up on projects – mainly the Shakepseare Santa Cruz Playbill. The day went by really fast and pretty soon it was time to call it a day. Susana texted me mid-afternoon asking me to sub her 5pm TKB class, and as usual I was happy to do so. I was already a little late leaving work a after 4:30, when i hit the south-bound 101 on-ramp and I see cars backed up all the way to Gilroy. Fourth of July traffic! I had to “flip a bitch” as they call it here in Cali (make a u-turn) and take the good ole San Juan Grade road to Salinas in order to even have a chance to make it to class on time. Its a narrow winding, hilly road that passes through farms and such. There was a train of cars in front of me who had the same idea. I got to the gym about 15 minutes past 5, which is totally late, but we usually start about that time anyway. The class was small since it was a holiday, but got a great workout in!
Amish Friendship Bread
Carrie and Roger gave us some Amish Friendship Bread! It is like “chain baking” – I have heard of it before but i haven’t actually participated in it. So i was kind of excited to get it. But I totally slacked and was supposed to add to the batter a couple days ago… but only ended up doing it today.
Of course being the nerd i am, I had to do some research on this topic because I didn’t believe for a second what was written on the instructions that came with it. Here is a link to more information on Amish Friendship Bread. Apparently “only the Amish” know how to create this starter…(myth) and what totally “gave it away” to me was that you needed to add “1 box of instant vanilla pudding” to make the bread. Um, do Amish use that? Don’t think so!
Coupons Much?
You know at Safeway, how they monitor what you buy and give you coupons based on that? Well i have been carefully monitoring the coupon offers lately, and noticed that whenever i buy a box of Lean Pockets, they give me a coupon for 75 cents off the purchase of 2 boxes of Lean Pockets. When i buy 2 boxes (with or without the coupon), they give me a coupon for 75 cents off 3 or more. When i buy 4,…. i think they only give me a the same coupon. But yeah, its weird. Like they know how much you buy and specifically target you to buy MORE next time! It’s totally creepy.
And as a side note to this photo – i love when the checkout lady forgets to tear off the coupons from the printer and give it to the customers for a while.. and then all of sudden they just bunch it all up and give it to one person when they remember. TODAY WAS MY LUCKY DAY! Totally. Score!