Lemony Lovliness.

This week I ventured into New Baking Territory and created my very own loaf of lemon bread; yum!
As I mentioned a few weeks ago one of my pals gifted me with a bagful of Meyer lemons and I decided to do something with them for my monthly baked good goal.
After a bit of searching I decided on a bread/pound cake thing with a glaze. It was pretty easy to whip up.

That red juice squeezer/bar contraption made things go quickly for me!

I might have baked it a bit too long because it seemed a bit dry but it might also be that I let it sit out for many hours "cooling".
No matter what, though, it was delicious and made good use of at least half of those lemons. The other five or so have gone into various dinners; thanks Lauren!

Yum! Yesterday's picture.

Have you baked anything new recently? Do you have a fall-back baked good? Mine is usually chocolate chip cookies {a little too often maybe} so I was glad to try something new. Happy almost Friday to you!


PS
Here's an approximation of what I did. 

Cake ingredients:
1.5 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
about half of 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
A little over 1 cup of sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
Grated lemon zest from 1 to 2 lemons
A scant 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice {put some more aside for the syrup and glaze}
2 sticks of melted and cooled butter {salted or unsalted is up to you}
1/4 cup of sour cream at room temperature {I used plain Greek yogurt}
1 tsp of vanilla extract


Syrup ingredients: 
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Glaze ingredients:
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 


Make the loaf!

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• In your mixer {or using a hand-held jobaroo} mix together the sugar, eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice.
• Slowly add in the melted butter {I used a tablespoon to do the trick}.
• Slowly add in the sour cream and vanilla.
• Quickly fold in the flour mixture taking care not to over mix.
• Bake this dude up in a 9x5 {approximately} baking pan. I greased the heck out of mine AND lined it with foil. Do what you will to ensure that your finished product pops out nicely and doesn't break apart in a sad and crumbly manner.
• Cook for 20 minutes at 350 then another 30 to 35 at 325 {though I'm not sure how effective it is to lower an oven temperature in the middle of a job but that's what I did...}. Or at least until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean.
• Let the loaf cool. I usually put the pan with the loaf still in it onto a cooling rack or if you're brave and it's dropped in temperature a bit, put the loaf itself onto a rack.

Now make the syrup!

• Stir together about 1/3 of a cup of lemon juice and the same amount of sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until it dissolves. 
• When the loaf has cooled for about 15 minutes then score the top and sides of the bread. Using a brush {or pour slowly} coat the top and sides of the loaf with the sugar/lemon mixture. Use about half, let it soak in for about 10 minutes and then finish it off. Or do it all at once. Whichever pleases you.

Now make the glaze!

• Mix together half a cup of confectioner's sugar and a few more tablespoons of lemon juice. Mine came out thin so maybe go heavy on the sugar. Pour this over the top and enjoy!!!

xoxo, natty ♥

Wordless Wednesday™.

xoxo, natty ♥

Infected.

Blegh. As of Sunday morning I have an ear infection. Who even gets these except people under seven years of age? I woke up with a horrendous feeling and decided to call in when it didn't get better. For another week or so it's amoxicillin's job to heal me.

Wish us luck!
xoxo, natty ♥

Marvelous Monday.

Voila!

1} I think I'm trying a new pork recipe tonight...yea! I "think" because if I get home later than I'd like to then it's plain & quick tuna melts for us.
2} We're going to Reno!!!!
3} The sun's rising and setting a bit earlier every day {I told you this would be a weekly enjoyment of mine!}.

That's for this week in our zip code.

4} This is the week where I get to start running again...this could be not-so-marvelous if the old patellar tendonitis is still flaring up but then that only means that we can figure out why so all-in-all it's a Good Thing.
5} Lemon Bread...with a lemon glaze drizzled on top...more on this later.


Happy Monday to you all! What's good about this day for you? Did you enjoy a Super Bowl party yesterday? Are you looking forward to longer and warmer days coming up?
xoxo, natty ♥

Crabby.

Last night we went to an annual dinner fundraiser at the school where I work. This shindig is not just any dinner but a Crab Feed. For those not from the west coast, now is dungeness crab season and lots of schools will do a crab dinner-fundraiser. The crustaceans look like this:

Via.

and provide plentiful white meat when cracked. It's a mild flavor made even more delicious with the addition of melted butter and lemon {meyers make it even better!} but also super tasty when plainly cooked with seasonings. 
The student servers bring out bowlful after bowlful of crab that's been cracked just enough to make it easy to eat. It's a fun night for all and the earnings go towards the school which is nice to know.

Also, you get to wear bibs; how fun is that? 

SO much fun!!

We're being crabs.

There's a raffle too which, if you're me, is draw enough. I would go to a roasted dung beetle dinner if there were a raffle {I would just sneak in my own food}. Since there are so many folks at this event we don't usually win anything. But last night, everything changed. That's right.

We're going to RENO!
Look forward to an interesting post about the Biggest Little City in the WORLD.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand:
Go Patriots {minus Tom Brady b/c he ditched a pregnant Bridget Moynahan for Giselle...BLECH!}!
xoxo, natty ♥

A month in pictures.

I started off 2012 with many goals. I also thought that it would be fun to take a picture a day for the year. I downloaded an app although if I were more energetic or crafty I could use some photo editing program to do something myself. Whatever. Here's my January result.

New Year's Day found me napping for a great many hours.

A few observations:

• 4/31 were images of dogs. Three of those four were our own dog.
• I was only in three.
• Eight centered on something that I made.

I think it's pretty cool! I don't love the font or the spacing but I do like how it makes me actually think and remember what I was doing 30 or so days ago rather than just having it be a {not-so} distant memory. 

Have you done anything similar? Many people do a photo-a-day blog but I like doing just the picture since it prevents me from getting too verbose. What irony. 


Happy weekend to you all!
xoxo, natty ♥

Beautiful Beach.

Fact : California hasn't had a very harsh winter this season. 
Fact : I have benefited from this.
Last weekend Mikey and I, for once, acted our age and got spontaneous. I went to watch his soccer game on Sunday {yes, he plays in a men's league and I sometimes go to be his cheerleader...or read a book in the sun with the dog.} It was lovely even if his team didn't do so well. 
Here's where the spontaneity really gets going {don't be put off by our crazy lifestyle here...keep reading}!. We drove to Half Moon Bay after his game. We left Palo Alto at 3:30 ish and got to the coast in less than an hour. Folks, it was just beautiful. It was the kind of day that makes me acutely grateful for this Golden State that I'm lucky enough to call home. I called ahead and made us a dinner reservation at Sam's Chowder House which is where the mobile comes from but there was enough time to pull off at a random beach. We had initially thought it would be neat to see some of the big waves since Mavericks is supposedly going on but the ocean was super calm...not something that happens too often & especially not so in the middle of January.

An off-kilter angle but two happy people!

The hound ran around in the sand and did an epic {for his four inch long legs} amount of digging to nowhere. 

Guinness was frosted in sand after it all...& he looked a bit bewildered.

The Mister and I didn't literally dig but we sure did dig {HA!} the amazing fresh air and ethereal light!

My phone camera {I'm still not using a real one...just deal with it...[that's mostly for myself y'all]} sometimes puts a weird spin on the lighting...it wasn't super yellowy though it appears to be so. 

It was just dang pretty.

Dinner was also delicious - the lobster roll stole the show. We got home by 8:30 none the worse for the wear and totally able to get ready for work the next Monday morning...what in the world keeps us from doing something this fun every Sunday rather than just running errands, laying around and thinking that we must rest as much as possible in preparation for the next five days?Do you have a Sunday ritual that helps to combat the End-of-Weekend-Doldrums? I feel like I've tried many a solution but I can say, without a doubt, that a trip to the beach is one of my top five!
xoxo, natty ♥

Marketplace.

In the past six months a really neat-o place opened up in our fair city. It's an indoor marketplace thing-y; I can't think of a better way to describe it. It's like a smallish indoor mall type place but with only restaurants {and a one-seat traditional barber} and it has a definite independent, local-food, inexpensive gourmet eating vibe to it. There's a large open space attached where there has been a San Jose "craft" fair but I wouldn't think of crocheted tea cozies, it's more like Etsy but only local makers. All in all it's a great idea especially since San Jose usually doesn't get this type of hype {fun [to me], almost hippy, local, gourmet, independent...that sort of stuff}, much-cooler-San Francisco does. 
But I love it so I'm glad this place is here. Not all of the units are occupied yet, it's kind of a work in progress, but there are four little eateries and last week the Mister and I went to try out the pizza place. Pizza Bocca Lupo {Italian for "mouth of the wolf" which less directly translates to "good luck"}. Oh Lordy it was divine.
The inside of the place looks like this. Nothing is actually enclosed except the wine bar so it feels almost like an upscale food court.

Mikey and I sat at the little bar connected to our pizza counter to eat.

We played a game that is available for use. We may have been the oldest patrons ever to indulge in "Poppa's Pizza Pile-Up".

Mike got his favorite Margerita pizza and I got a delicious concoction of fresh mozzarella, parmesan, arugula and prosciutto; yuuuuuuuum. There's a super-cool giant oven that was specially built in Italy for this place & it's where all the pizzas get cooked but I was too shy to take a picture. The above were all covertly taken from my seat.
We had a lovely time and need would like to go back at least four more times in the near future; once for each of the other three eateries {gourmet local cuisine, Mediterranean & the wine bar} and once more to have pizza again.
Thanks for a great date night sweetie!
xoxo, natty ♥

101 in 1,001: February 2012.

***Major disclaimer...this is a DOOZY of a post. If you have not much interest and/or not much patience, either wait until tomorrow or scroll down to the bottom for a brief summary...***

At the start of every month I'd like to write about my "101 in 1,001"; what I've completed in the past month and what I look forward to in the next.

Click HERE to read what this is all about and click HERE to keep track of more up-to-date progress via the Google document. 

January 2012: 0/101 goals complete; 0/101 goals in progress.

Did I begin:

• Number 12 : Ski at least twice every winter/spring season? Yes! Woot! Check out this post HERE. 1/6.

• Number 25 : Get all of my documents and accounts switched over to my new name? I have begun this long and tedious process but much is yet to be changed over.

• Number 30 : Back up our computers? Again, I have begun this long and tedious process but much is yet to be done...although we do have an external hard drive.

• Number 57 : Begin to sew and create something that I can wear, something I can use around the house and something that I can give to someone else? Yes! I made a dish towel!

 
           1/3.
***Attention: these following goals, in hindsight, all belong up above {in the "Did I begin:" category} though they began in the below category {"Did I complete:"}! So...now I know better!***

• Number 1* : Enjoy local nature {hiking, biking, etc.} {local = within a two hour car ride} once a month? Yes, look forward to a post later this week about our excursion to Half Moon Bay ! 1/33

• Number 16 * : Talk to my parents once a week? Yes...they may not be the longest conversations but we do check in. 5/132.

• Number 18 * : Identify 132 things that make me happy {one a week}?  Week 1: the prospect of an entire year ahead of me, especially since Spring is on the horizon. Week 2: warm days even if they’re not that great for out environment. Week 3: it’s finals week...I can go into work each day but since I’m not teaching I can grade! Week 4: starts out with my birthday! Week 5 : a new month is almost here which means my first monthly update! 5/132.

• Number 32 * : Come up with a new way to be green every month? Yes: January 2012: with the new plastic bag ban and being required to pay ten cents a paper bag I’m being very vigilant about using my collection of reusable bags in the stores. 1/33.

• Number 39 * : Walk Guinness in the evenings at least once a week? Yes; lucky dog! 5/132.

• Number 41 : Take an exercise class or play a sport at least once a week for a month, one that isn’t running related? Alas, no...though the thought was bandied about...perhaps February?

• Number 49 * : Bake cookies or breads once a month? Yes; January 2012: easy-bake molasses ginger cookies from Trader Joe’s. Check out this post HERE. 1/33.

• Number 50 * : Cook something new every month? Yes; January 2012: tortilla soup from the Pioneer Woman; yum! 1/33.

• Number 72 * : Go to the movies once a month? Yes; January 2012 : “The Descendants” {SO good!}. 1/33. 

• Number 89 : Continue to uphold and develop our own traditions {birthdays, New Year, Thanksgiving, Halloween, anniversary, etc.}? Yes; New Year: wear new underwear New Year’s Eve through January 1, eat black eyed peas on New Year Day...{was meant to happen but didn’t}, Henry’s Hi-Life for Natty’s birthday

        
        {January 22 though we went on the 23rd}...

• Number 90 * : Blog once a day until June 2012? Well, yes...

• Number 92 : Finish writing thank you notes? Well, yes...though we are not done yet.

• Number 99 * : Read through the “50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind” once a month? Yes. 1/33.

Did I complete: 

• Number 29 : Complete our taxes before March 1^st? Yes! Though it was my man who did so; thanks SO much sweetie! 1/3.

• Number 35 : Sign up for a produce delivery service? Sadly we did not but we would still like to!

• Number 55: Make a wreath? Done and done! January 2012 I made a Valentine’s wreath.

        Then I made two Birthday wreaths; one for me and one for Mikey, still  
                January 2012.

As of February 2012: 2/101 goals complete; 16/101 goals in progress.

Since I started with so many ambitions for January I think that with February I'm not going to add on too many more! 


In February 2012...

I would like to begin:

• Number 21: Purchase five of my favorite books from growing up; 0/5.
• Number 53: Finish my long-ago-began t-shirt quilt.
• Number 56: Plant bulbs. Ideally paper whites that I can do indoors...technically still planting! 

I would like to complete:

• Number 5: Buy a lottery ticket. Why not?!
• Number 12 : Ski at least twice every winter/spring season; 1/6.
• Number 30 : Back up our computers. 
• Number 35 : Sign up for a produce delivery service.
• Number 92 : Finish writing thank you notes.

I would like to continue: 

• Number 1* : Enjoy local nature {hiking, biking, etc.} {local = within a two hour car ride} once a month; 1/33
• Number 16 * : Talk to my parents once a week; 5/132.
• Number 18 * : Identify 132 things that make me happy {one a week}; 5/132.
• Number 32 * : Come up with a new way to be green every month; 1/33.
• Number 25 : Get all of my documents and accounts switched over to my new name. 
• Number 49 * : Bake cookies or breads once a month; 1/33.
• Number 50 * : Cook something new every month; 1/33.
• Number 57 : Begin to sew and create something that I can wear, something I can use around the house and something that I can give to someone else; 1/3. 
• Number 72 * : Go to the movies once a month; 1/33.
• Number 89 : Continue to uphold and develop our own traditions {birthdays, New Year, Thanksgiving, Halloween, anniversary, etc.}.
• Number 90 * : Blog once a day until June 2012.
• Number 99 * : Read through the “50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind” once a month; 1/33.

* denotes a weekly/monthly occurrence.

Wow. If you're still with me, Bless You. Honestly, I suppose that these monthly updates are really and truly more for me and my own accountability. But thanks if you're interested too!
I have felt very energized in the pursuit of my goals. I always tell my students how much more manageable work is in small chunks rather than one fell swoop and breaking down the things that I would like to do in my life into smaller tasks is no different. I also realize how many of my pursuits are ongoing affairs! At the start of January pretty much everything I had in the "I would like to complete:" category should have gone into the "I would like to begin:" area but "oh well". Suffice it to say, I am thrilled to still be thinking about what I began the New Year wanting to do and that is not an easy feat for yours truly. So, let's go February! All 29 of your ever lengthening days!
xoxo, natty ♥