Meet Up

Ozzie is getting to the age where he needs more activities than I can give him so I searched high and low on the web for toddler activities in my neighborhood and stumbled upon meetup.com.

From their website- "Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.

Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference."

I found two great Mommy groups, one is devoted to fitness with your toddler in hand {or in stroller} and is called Stroller Strides. This is right up my alley. I always sign up for crazy bootcamps and other exercise groups. It is a fun workout, I am really enjoying it.

The second is a play group with other moms that live near us. Ozzie loves the kiddos in this group and I have really enjoyed getting to know the moms. We have already participated in so many fun activities in our town. They are a super sweet group of gals without any drama. Just what we both need!

If you are looking for something new to do in your neighborhood or to meet new people, make sure to check out meet up.

Thomasson Family Farm

Fortunately this year, October was full of more sunny weekends than rainy ones. We took full advantage of this and took Ozzie to another pumpkin patch.

This time we went to Thomasson Family Farm in Enumclaw. I can not tell you enough how impressed I was with this farm. First of all, it cost $6 for Ozzie and nothing for Oscar and I to enjoy the activities; and there were A LOT of activities. Aside from your basic tractor ride, pumpkin patch and corn maze that you would expect, Thomasson has a mini-hay maze for toddlers complete with a slide, a corn pit (a corn version of the ever popular ball bit), a petting zoo, tricycle track, a kids korral with slides, bubbles, sandbox, duck race AND a fake cow to milk. All for $6- pretty amazing!

The weather was warm and sunny and a good time was had by all! Below are our pictures from the farm.

In the mini-hay maze.

Bubbles

Ozzie could play on a slide all the live long day!

Ozzie was giving the camera {or possibly us behind the camera} more sour faces than smiles.

Finally the smile we all know and love!

Gotta love the action shot! Looks like he was on a mission to get where he was going.

I love this picture. He looks like he is just about done getting his picture taken.

Yet another slide.

Hooray for farms!

Paella

I recently discovered the television show Everyday Food, by the publishers of Everyday Food Magazine, on PBS.

I instantly loved the show {of course since Martha publishes Everyday Food Magazine} and stopped whatever household chore I was working on to watch the rest of the episode.

The recipes they share, usually three per episode, are very simple and look delicious.

I decided to try the Easy Paella for dinner one night last week. I wanted to try it because turmeric was listed on the ingredient list and turmeric has been in the news a lot lately for its health benefits.

It was truly scrumptious. The creamy texture and Spanish flavor really warmed our tummies on a cold Fall night. This was such a hit, I will definitely be trying more Everyday Food recipes.

Easy Paella

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
3/4 lb. peeled and de-veined shrimp
1 12 oz package chicken sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 c long grain rice
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t ground turmeric
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 14.5 oz cans reduced sodium chicken broth
Salt & pepper
1 c frozen peas, thawed

Directions:
In a heavy 12" saute pan, heat 1 T oil over medium high heat. Cook shrimp until just pink, about 4-5 minutes (do not overcook). Set aside.
Add remaining T oil and sausage to pan. Cook over medium heat until sausage browns, about 2 minutes.
Add onion and cook stirring frequently until translucent, 3-4 minutes.
Add garlic and rice, cook ans stir to coat, 2-3 minutes.
Stir in paprika, turmeric, tomatoes and broth, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan with wooden spoon. Season with salt & pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook until rice is tender and absorbed almost all liquid, about 20-25 minutes.
Stir in peas, cook 1 minute. Stir in cooked shrimp. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Halloween Playdate

Ozzie and I had a play date with my friend, Trinette, and her daughter, Vivi, the day before Halloween.

He is finally getting to the age where he actually plays with the other children at play dates. When he was still in the mirror play mode, he happily enjoyed the other child's toys while completely ignoring them. So it was fun to watch Ozzie and Vivi play and laugh with each other.

He thought she was hilarious in her ball pit and Vivi was constantly offering him new toys to play with; which he happily obliged. I was happy that they played well together since I always enjoy the company of my sweet friend.

We decided to dress them in their costumes in an attempt to get a picture of them together but neither of them would cooperate. I think they still look adorable as we chased them around the house with our cameras.

Here are a few pictures from our fun day!

A lion and a frog

Out of their costumes

Wanting out of the house!

Pumpkin Bread

A few weeks ago Oscar came home from work raving about pumpkin bread that our friend made and pretty much demanded I make it for him ASAP! He even asked her for the recipe and emailed it to me. He said that it was the best pumpkin bread he has ever tried.

I was intrigued. If you know Oscar, you'd know that he is a pretty even keel kind of guy. It is not typical of him to call anything "the best thing he has ever had". Those dramatics are usually left for me : )

So as instructed I made Oscar his now favorite pumpkin bread and I must say that it IS the best pumpkin bread I've ever had!

Thanks for the recipe Steph!

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t each ginger, ground cloves, nutmeg OR 1 1/2 t Chinese Five Spice
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 t vanilla
3 c shredded pumpkin
1 c toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Sift flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Combine both mixtures and fold in the shredded pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.
Once the ingredients are all incorporated pour into a non-stick 9x5x3 loaf pan an top with walnuts, if desired.
Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cook for 15 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.
For muffins, temperature should be 325 degrees F, but bake 30 minutes.

A few tips you plan on making this:
I roasted my pumpkin for a bit in the oven to make it easier to shred.
I used the ginger, cloves and nutmeg mix and not the Chinese Five Spice. I am not 100% sold on the Chinese Five Spice idea.
Also, the pumpkin seeds and walnuts really make this bread, so if you make it add those options unless you are allergic.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

Oscar and I took Ozzie to Bellevue Square to trick or treat this Halloween. It was Ozzie's first year to trick or treat since last year he was only 3 months old.

He didn't really understand the whole process but enjoyed walking around the mall and looking at all the other kids in their costumes. My Mom joined us so he especially loved all the attention from Nanay.

We let him have one lollipop from his loot, which really wasn't much since he visited maybe 3 or 4 stores before he was over it and just wanted to run around.

Here are some pictures of our little frog's first Halloween trick or treating. It's funny, as much as he loved his costume and didn't mind wearing it, we couldn't get one smile out of him that night. Kids!

Happy Halloween!

Speaking of Tea

Oscar came home on Monday with a soar throat and what seemed to be the verge of a cold. I immediately made him a cup of Colleen's Get Well Tea. I saw the recipe on her blog a few months ago and book marked it knowing it would come in handy this winter. The cayenne pepper gives this tea a lot of kick but Colleen swears that drinking this when you first feel a cold coming on will help to fight it off. The result? Oscar isn't sick; crazy I know but I am now a believer.

Get Well Tea via Over Cocktails

1 T fresh ginger, minced
1/8 t cayenne pepper (or less... or more if you can handle it.)
1-2 t honey
Juice of 1/4 lemon

Method

Put ingredients in a mug and pour boiling water over. Let steep for several minutes and then drink your sickness away. Add more honey or lemon juice if you need it.

Another tea that I love during these cold months is a cinnamon tea that Oscar's mom makes. It is a regular in our house now too. It is not known for fighting off colds but Oscar and I still make it when we are not feeling well. If nothing else it is a yummy treat when you are feeling blue.

Cinnamon Tea

2-3 cinnamon sticks

1 T honey

Juice of 1/4 lemon or more if you like a lemony tea

Method

Slowly boil 2 to 3 cinnamon sticks in a tea pot full of water. The goal here is to flavor the water with the cinnamon so the longer you warm the water without it bowling the better your tea flavor.

Discard cinnamon sticks

Coat the bottom of your mug with honey (about 1T), add cinnamon tea and the lemon juice.

So good, it warms your tummy and tastes like a sweet treat.

Lemon Verbena Mint Tea

Oscar and I spent the weekend raking leaves and preparing my vegetable garden for the winter. I had not been back to the garden for a few weeks since I was avoiding my prep duties errr, I mean since I thought all the plants were dead. So you can imagine my surprise to find my lemon verbena and mint plants still alive! It must have been those unusually warm days in the beginning of October.

Knowing neither would last 5 more minutes now that the weather has truly changed to the drizzly Seattle weather we all know and love, I trimmed all the plants down and ran back inside to look up some lemon verbena and mint recipes faster than you can say avoidance! Of course I told Oscar that Ozzie was due for his afternoon nap and high tailed it outta there.

To my delight the first recipe that appeared was this lemon verbena mint tea from Simply Recipes. Perfect for the cold weather right now. I will try it the first chance I get.

Lemon Verbena Mint Tea

Ingredients
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves (not the stems, they're bitter), rinsed, lightly packed (about 20 leaves)
1/2 cup of fresh lemon verbena leaves, rinsed, lightly packed (about 10-15 leaves)
2 cups of water

Method
Bring a pot of fresh water almost, but not quite to a boil. Put the mint and verbena leaves in a teapot. Pour the hot water over the leaves. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Strain into tea cups.

Makes 2 cups.

I am thinking of drying the rest of the lemon verbena for bath salts. If anyone has a great recipe for that, please pass it my way.

*photo courtesy Simply Recipes

Velvet Pumpkins

Remember these lovelies from Ink & Peat that I blogged about wayyy back in July? Oscar and I actually stopped by Ink & Peat on our way home from Cannon Beach and I got to admire these pretty pumpkins in person. I didn't buy one though. I had to hold myself back but I knew I could figure out how to make them myself and I knew I'd have fun doing it.

Well my favorite, Ms. Martha, must have heard me. I'm sure she reads my blog, right? Or maybe it's just that great minds think alike. Either way, in the November issue of Martha Stewart Living, she shares her version and a project "how to" for fabric pumpkins.

Sadly I searched high and low on her website in order to link it up to my blog but no dice! Guess you'll just have to run out and buy the current issue of MS Living.

If I get my act together, I will attempt Martha's version and post pictures of the project with instructions. Just in time for Halloween!

photo courtesy of Housemartin

A Video...

...of Andy rolling down the hill at Kelsey Creek Park.

Oscar, being the awesome husband that he is, went to fetch the car so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way back to it after a long day at the park. So while we waited for him, Andrew entertained Ozzie and I by rolling down the hill.

It's funny kids today totally "get" technology. I told him I was going to take a picture of him rolling down the hill and he said, "No make a video!". Fully aware that my digital camera can take video. Who knows that at 7 years old? Apparently Andy does as I'm sure most children do in his generation. I'll tell you when I was 7 years old, I'm not sure I knew what a camera was let alone a video camera. Wait did they have those in 1982?

Anyway, Andrew wanted a video of him rolling down the hill and since I have the means to publish it {aka my blog}, Andy this ones for you! I love you!