One Dad and His Blog

Strawberries....

2011-04-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

....Strawberries everywhere, and all of them could be eaten. Today Miranda, Quinn and I visited Tanaka Farms which is a 30-acre farm nestled beside one of the busiest freeways in the nation...though once you're on the farm you would never realise suburbia is a hop, skip and a jump away. We went with a bunch of other parents and kids from our family support group, Long Beach Little Ones, and it was loads of fun.

We got to ride aboard a wagon which was pulled by a tractor, and every so often we would stop and sample whatever was growing in that area. These veggies were fresh and organic and the kids and adults seemed to love them. Miranda ate bok choy, carrots, a baby onion (yes, an onion...roots and all), sugar snap peas and celery. All along the route we were given some interesting facts and trivia from our guide - for example, did you know that California is responsible for 85% of the nation's strawberry production?

Toward the end of the tour we stopped at the strawberry patch and this is where you are allowed to pick your own berries. What's more, you can eat them whilst picking! Miranda filled up her container and jumped aboard the wagon with big, red strawberry lips ready with more questions for our guide.

We had a great time at the farm and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun day out with their kids. Thanks again to Andrea for taking the time to organise this veggie field trip.

Working on her chopping skills

The results of Miranda's harvest - strawberry shortcake

1st Birthday...

2011-03-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Quinn's first birthday! I can't believe a year has passed already. In the last few months he has started to crawl, point, babble and now he's actually walking. Wherever we go he's always grabbing the limelight and laps up the attention given to him by people everywhere.

His party had an outer space theme and Maura used Paper and Cake for the decorations.

You can visit there site and browse through the many choices of celebration paper ware. Once you choose the one you like It can be personalised to suit the needs of the party, then all that need's to be done is to print and cut.

I added a few other items like the cupcake stand which I made using Styrofoam, blue paint and some glitter ribbon for the edge. The rocket was made from a packing tube I bought at the post office, some more Styrofoam, foam sheets for the boosters and some other simple decorations. We also picked up some solar planet pictures from a teacher's supply store and hung them from the ceiling.

I made the cupcakes using a Trader Joes cake mix for the base which I thought was really good and the frosting recipe came from here, http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

The frosting is definitely a keeper and was sweet but not sore on the teeth and most importantly held up well and was really easy to use. To turn it into chocolate just add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to a batch of the classic recipe.

Now to start planning his 2nd birthday.....

Cupcake spikes from Paper and Cake

Lawn dots

Dude, this party is Raaaaad!!!!

Achoooo.....

2011-03-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a busy one and It just had to be the one where I felt like I had been run over by a truck. On Saturday we had a garage sale along with two of our neighbours and we had a lot of people stop by. Our friend, Chris McClain also came over to see if she could sell some of her large stash of kids clothes.

Halfway through the selling I had to take Miranda to T ball. She had to have her team pictures taken. This season she will be playing for the Yankees with her first game on March 12th against the Red Sox.

Today I felt better, even the crazy muscle spasm I picked up at T ball by sneezing was feeling more loose. I know It sounds weird but I blew the biggest sneeze and felt like my right shoulder had been pierced by a javelin pole.

Sunday started with some shopping at Whole Foods for my ingredients to make a Thai chicken curry for dinner. If you ever need coconut milk try their 365 brand. It's the best I've had yet for the price. I tweaked this recipe from Epicurious which didn't call for any lemon grass or chilli's (?) A Thai curry needs these two things and plenty of them in my opinion.

Sell It, they will come.

Thank goodness for the tents, It got really hot.

Chris- "Maura, this plant looks awesome!"

Maura- "I'll sell you this green purse for $10"

I know first base is around here somewhere.....

Team Yankees

My sous.

I know I said a chicken curry and It was but I added a few of these huge shrimp.

Hey Mom, can you get that piece of rice from my chin?

Oscar Night.....

2011-02-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

So when Maura, Miranda and Quinn got dressed up to watch the Oscars I planned a special dinner for all of us. I really like to braise meats right now. This is a form of slow cooking but can only be called braised if the meat is seared before being put into the slow cooker. Enough of the trivia, I purchased some lamb shanks from Bristol Farms. The shank is a relatively inexpensive cut of meat because of the long time it takes to be edible but after 3 hours of slow, loving simmering you have meat which melts in your mouth. If you don't have any major plans It's the kind of meal you can set and forget.

The shanks being seared

After 2 hours of cooking

I made some blue cheese mashed potatoes with truffle oil and of course butter and cream

Aquarium.....

2011-02-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to an activity night at The Aquarium. It was not a night to be down by the ocean with the storm gaining strength by the minute but luckily we chose to have some dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp which is right next to the Aquarium so we didn't have to walk far in the rain. My girls had sneakily told our server that my birthday was coming up soon and If anyone has been to this restaurant you will know all the servers get together and sing a very loud birthday song at your table. As if I was not embarrassed enough there was some lyrics regarding "shaking the booty", which I obliged by smacking my tush to the rhythmic hand clapping of the serving entourage.

Baking Day.....

2011-02-16T23:50:00.000-08:00

I usually help in Miranda's class on Wednesday's, I have been dubbed the baking dad by the teacher and we try to make something simple in a very short space of time. It's mostly an exercise on counting with a little science and if the kids get to vote for their favorite item then we will make a graph and see which item was the winner. Today baking day was cancelled, they have a math test tomorrow and focus was on that which was fine by me, tests are important.

As I had no class I spent my time trying to get some items from the store and this is where my reasoning came from regarding the red velvet. Now this cake is my all time favorite and as I was mindlessly pushing Quinn around I spotted a piece, It looked really good and I went to pick it up and thought, wait I'll pick up Miranda from school and we can have our own baking day at home, genius!

Now I could have pulled up a recipe on my phone and looked around for each ingredient but right at this time Quinn started to practice his highest falsetto in an already quiet store. I checked out with some strange looks and headed over to Cost Plus where I knew I could find a half decent box mix. I know, It wouldn't usually be my first choice but Quinn may be a future opera singer if his voice dosen't break.

Anyway Miranda had fun and the cupcakes were actually pretty good...

Please raise your right hand....

2011-02-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

And repeat after me......

Last Friday I went to my swearing in ceremony. This was my final step to becoming a citizen of the United States and I figured I had better go to this one as I had cancelled two previous ceremonies which resulted in me having to go back to "the office" to explain why I keep finding reasons not to attend, like.....helping at Miranda's school and looking after my kids while Maura was working in New York, you know the little things.

Anyway there I sat in a giant hall with 900 other eager beavers, each with there own dreams and Ideas to better or further themselves with the help of Uncle Sam. The location was a country club in Montebello and my 1pm ceremony was the third that day, each time swearing in 900 citizens giving a total of almost 3000 people in one day. There are other locations such as the L.A Convention center and The Fairplex. These are bigger places and each event can swear in 3500 people multiplied by 3 ceremonies that day. Do the math, the country is growing fast!

Because this location was not a federal courthouse, the hall we were in was officially turned into one where all courtroom rules applied. The judge started the proceedings and we went on to say our Oath Of Allegiance. After that we were officially U.S citizens. There was plenty of screaming and hollering, lots of little flags being waved and generally a lot of relieved people in my opinion.

Now I will apply for my blue passport and be able to vote in all elections, though the jury is still out on who will be getting my little black X on the ballot. I am still allowed to keep my own passport and I will still use it when travelling back to Scotland. Miranda and Quinn also have dual nationality which I think will benefit them when they are older and start to travel.

I did have more pictures from inside but they turned out terrible, I think our camera is on It's last legs. I put it on the chair a couple of days before and came back into the room to see it on the floor and Quinn with a look of, "What, was that something important that I just dropped?"

Our nice jokey Judge, not Judge Judy at all!

Done!!

My favorite pic but I can't seem to get it to be portrait? When I finally exited the hall and saw the family waiting, Miranda rushed up to me, gave me a hug and said with all sincerity, "Daddy...welcome to California"

They can't kick me out now...

The golden ticket.

Gingerbreadchipcaramellynutty loaf....

2011-02-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't blogged in along time and what better way to get back into it than with food. I was going to make my first blog be from Miranda's school pancake breakfast at the weekend but like any good blogger....I forgot to take the camera.

Today as I was rummaging in the cupboard I saw the box of gingerbread mix which I bought at Trader's a long time ago. Today was the day it was going to meet some new friends, Mr egg and Mrs oil and be born into the cake it deserved to be, but I have a habit of doctoring things up. Sure I could have stuck to the recipe and had myself a nice piece of dry gingerbread for supper, wait why the hell should I? So after some more foraging around I found multiple bags of nuts all of which had probably 2 tbsp in them each, a small amount of white choc chips and wait I knew there was a half jar of butter rum sauce in the fridge.

Guess where these useless amounts of ingredients ended up......

2010....

2011-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

And so another year departs. I cant really complain about 2010, lots of good things happened like the birth of Quinn amongst many other memorable events. I hope 2011 is going to be a safe and happy one for all and a big thank you to everyone who take the time to read my stories and look at my many pictures of food.

So from us to you have a great new year!!

What a great day....

2010-12-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

Well Santa came and Santa went. Everything went smoothly and Miranda and Quinn seemed to have a blast this morning. I was expecting Miranda to come through and shove me out of bed a little earlier than 7am though.

Maura and I were still in bed when Maura was awoken by Miranda's voice coming through Quinn's baby monitor. She was trying to explain that her insulin pump was alarming due to a low battery. I got up and met her as she was sort of hanging around in the dining room. "Why didn't you just come through?" I asked, to which she replied, "I was scared Santa hadn't been yet". My smart girl chose to contact us using Quinn's sound monitor instead of just coming into our room. Wonders will never cease.

Upon realising Santa had paid us a visit the quiet morning was shattered by squeals of excitement. She went through her checks, reindeer food sprinkled on the driveway, gone. Santa's cookies and Rudolph's carrots, gone. Messy footsteps leading from the doorway, It must have been him.

It was time to get my coffee brewing.

Her choice gift this year was an American Girl doll and has hardly let her out of her sight all day long. Quinn scored with a nice new drum, which Miranda also likes to play with strangely enough...

Merry Christmas

Matching pajama's

As if we didn't have enough excitement, Miranda lost her first tooth. It has been threatening to drop out for days but we'll never forget this date!

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Dd and Uncle Chris

Lamb!

Miranda would put her new doll down in very random places. I decided to try and capture the travels of her new best friend

It just gets better with age...

2010-12-24T23:48:00.000-08:00

I can definitely see a difference in Miranda's outlook on Christmas this year as opposed to last year, and I faintly remember thinking the same thoughts last year. She has been a complete ball of excitement all day long asking questions about Santa and where can he be. Keep in mind this started at breakfast time on Christmas eve.
Every year we gather up her Aunts, Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa and go out for dinner on Christmas eve. The past few years have taken us to 555 Steakhouse in Long Beach where the food is out of this world. Afterwards it's home to lay out the treats for the man in red and his trusty animals. Tonight Miranda wanted to sprinkle reindeer food out on the driveway which she made at school from oats and glitter and we watched the sky for any untoward sightings that may have been something other than the passing traffic heading into Long Beach airport. When she was a couple of years younger I had a conversation with my brother who had expressed concern about having to carry on with this tale of Santa Claus with his daughter. I can see where he was coming from, but now I'm not too worried about it, Miranda is just knee deep in Christmas cheer and I can see the sparkle in her face, almost shining as bright as the Christmas tree.
This year we are blessed to have Quinn with us for his first Christmas and he on the other hand has a look of bewilderment on his little face, but I know it wont be long until he will be asking the same questions as his sister.
Christmas is a great time of the year and I have lots of special memories from when I was growing up but becoming a parent has opened a whole new set of memory doors now. Watching my children's faces light up and seeing them gasp and squeal on Christmas morning is truly a gift which cannot be bought anywhere.

Merry Christmas.

Feeding the neighbours

2010-12-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

The time had come for us to wish our neighbours a merry Christmas and thank them for always being there when we have called upon them over the past year. We're quite lucky to have such a kind and kid friendly street and the way we show our gratitude is with baked goods of course. This year I made a batch of oatmeal cranberry cookies and then they were passed over to Maura who had bought some cool little boxes from Cost Plus. She filled them with the swag and made them all pretty with some ribbon. Finished off with a tag made from one of the awesome pictures from our photo shoot with our friend Miranda, http://mshantiphoto.com/ and they were ready for delivery. The elves in charge of distribution were little Miranda and her friend Devon who braved the rain and made sure the boxes made it to the front doors safely. A great team effort by all.

The recipe I used was from The Joy of Baking.

3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (210 grams) packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (105 grams) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups (260 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup dried cranberries, cherries, or raisins or 1 cup white or dark chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the nuts, oats, and dried cranberries or chocolate chips.
For large cookies, use 1/4 cup of batter and space the cookies about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the baking sheet. Then wet your hand and flatten the cookies slightly with your fingers so they are about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick. Bake the cookies for about 12 - 15 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges but still soft and a little wet in the centers. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

We can dance if we want to....

2010-12-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we spent all day over in Santa Fe for Miranda's Irish dance Christmas Feis (Fesh, a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival) This was her first time actually performing on a stage and although I do see Hannah Montana and ICarly dance routines in our house regularly, I was interested to see how this was going to go down in front of a real audience. My fears proved to be unjustified and after her first jig she was unstoppable, even practising some steps whilst waiting for her next call. This meant a lot to me because when you look around the hall at the other dancers not on stage, they are all still moving their feet and jumping around, seriously they cant stand still, and I think this gave her a certain amount of confidence to go ahead and try to be like them.

Miranda has been attending The Celtic Gold Academy in Garden Grove for some time now and the teacher and owner, Miss Doireann runs a tight ship. All parents must stay in a front waiting room for the hour of class so I don't really get to see how much Miranda is learning or how well she may be doing. I do see her perform at home and I know she is definitely learning something but when Sunday came and I seen her on a stage I knew the monthly fee was going to good use. To see her up their gave me a huge sense of pride. She danced magnificently and had no problem being in front of an audience. I would love to see her in more competitions and I think this feis gave her a taste for it.

She ended up coming home with three medals and although this was not an official nationwide or even worldwide competition those medals haven't left her side since Sunday. I can tell she's proud and she deserves to be in my opinion.

A little bit of a Zoolander look.

Pointing that toe.

Working with the boss, Miss Doireann.

Mr Quinn who endured a whole day watching sister perform.

Miranda and two of her class friends watching the older kids on stage.

Mr Claus again.

Miranda doing the six hand, a dance where dancers are chosen at random so older kids can end up dancing with the little ones.

The costumes looked amazing and can run from $850 used to $2000 new

So proud of her!!!

The weekend of...

2010-12-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

Entertainment. On Saturday we attended our traditional visit to The Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach. This tucked away nature never land is situated by Cal State Long Beach and hosts a Christmas event every year. There are crafts for the kids and grown ups, breakfast, tours of the historic Rancho house which dates back to 1790 and of course Santa Claus is there to help with some memorable pictures and wish lists. The Rancho hosts events all year round and this time we ended up signing up to become members. Most of the events are kid friendly and they really do a good job of keeping the little ones happy. I remember attending a story time last year where different stories would be told in secret locations over the sprawling gardens with each story linking up with the next one. This year we linked up ourselves with The Wilson's, Brian, Erin, Claire and Audrey Mae and the girls had a lot of fun watching the singers, making some Christmas crafts and of course meeting the formidable red suited hero they call Mr Claus.

Looking crafty?

Quinn enjoying his breakfast...

The girl's inspecting the giant tree

Claire and Miranda with Santa

Who needs racquet's?

The Wilson's

I Wish..

2010-11-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

I had taken more pictures of our thanks giving celebration and not just of the food as spectacular as it was but more so to capture the relaxation and happiness on every ones faces. The day went very well and we were delighted to have Mr and Mrs Mancuso joining us for the first time. Guy and Carin are the parents of Lindsey Mancuso who was married to Maura's brother Ace earlier this year, It was a pleasure having you both. The wedding was actually my very first blog post and you can look it up to see pictures of that amazing day in San Diego.

This year I was in charge of the turkey and also decided to make some bread and dinner rolls using the no knead bread recipe I have been using lately. This time I was trying to emulate a certain bread we used to sell at work for this time of year. I started off with the basic recipe and added loads of mixed nuts and dried cranberries, some cinnamon and topped with brown sugar for a crunchy crust. When the bread finally came out of the oven it must have weighed at least three pounds. You can see in the picture below that it's packed with fruit and nuts and tasted pretty darn good along with some butter I mixed with orange oil and zest. It was chewy and hearty and very like its competitor which sells for $$$. The dinner rolls were another simple dough recipe but I added some fresh rosemary to them. All of the other sides and appetizers which were generously brought by the rest of the family were excellent and by night time I was truly beat and while I waddled off to bed, Maura decided to hit the mall for the sales. That turned out not to be such a good idea, way too crazy and much more sane early Friday morning.

I do feel a little bad that I did miss out on a lot of opportunity to take some snaps but I know for sure that I'll never forget this years thanks giving, with or without pictures. Thanks to everyone who made such an amazing display of food and I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.

Roll on Christmas, this time I'll be ready with that camera.....

Thanksgiving.

2010-11-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

Yes I do have another recipe on here. This started out being a blog about my antics and happenings with the family after becoming a stay at home dad. Well it still is but I do like to cook and oddly enough take pictures of that food much to the amusement of Miranda who wonders why I'm snapping pics of her dinner. There are many food blogs out there and I don't know what reason the blogger's would give as to why they document there cooking exploits. I'm sure theres an element of proudness and genuine love for food. I think food is much more than just an object which goes in your mouth, chewed and forgotten about, it's almost sensual in many ways. Every day I think about what I can make for that evenings dinner and rarely plan a day in advance, call me crazy but I usually go to some kind of grocery store everyday. Maura thinks I'm mad and would rather I done one large shop per week. I say how can you do that if you don't know what your going to make?

In between all of the grocery trips and kitchen photography I do still find time to look after Miranda and Quinn. Miranda is doing well at school although she may need a reality check on her bossiness in the very near future according to her teacher. Kindergarten is tougher than we thought it would be. Quinn just keeps growing and is enjoying his solid foods now,all of which I make myself. He is almost nine months old and started to crawl last week trying to reach and grab for anything that catches his eye. I had forgotten these milestones but now they are returning with great eagerness. With an upcoming week of no school we are going to get ready for thanksgiving with the rest of the family, which means more trips to the store....

The recipe below is definitely a keeper. The beef was fork tender and the sauce which came from reducing down the liquid was deep and intense. If you make it give yourself some time. It's pretty easy once all of the prep work is done and you can do all of the cooking at the beginning in a large saute pan if your dutch oven or casserole dish is not stove top friendly, just make sure it's in the oven heating as you don't want to add the veggie mix to a cold dish. I made some mashed potatoes with loads of butter, milk, salt and pepper and added a little truffle oil.

Here's the recipe adapted from Simply Recipes.com

1 (3 1/2 pound) chuck roast, boneless

Salt and ground black pepper
4 oz pancetta, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 medium onions, chopped medium (about 2 cups)
2 medium carrots, chopped medium (about 1 cup)
2 ribs celery, chopped medium (1 cup)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 (750 ml) bottle Zinfandel wine (can substitute Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes , drained
1 sprig fresh thyme leaves , plus 1 teaspoon minced leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
10 sprigs fresh parsley leaves

Adjust oven rack to middle position; pre-heat oven to 300°F. Pat beef dry with paper towels. Place pancetta in 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Cook pancetta over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel-lined plate and reserve. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from the pan. Place pan over medium-high heat. Heat until the fat begins to smoke. Add beef to pot and cook until well browned on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Transfer beef to large plate; set aside.

Reduce heat to medium; add onions, carrots, celery, and tomato paste to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften and brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, sugar, flour, and reserved pancetta; cook, stirring constantly, until combined and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine and tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits; add thyme sprig, rosemary, and parsley. Return roast and any accumulated juices to pot; increase heat to high and bring liquid to boil, then place large sheet of foil over pot and cover tightly with lid. Set pot in oven and cook, using tongs to turn beef every 45 minutes, until a fork easily slips in and out of meat, about 3 hours.

Remove from oven and transfer beef to cutting board; tent with foil to keep warm. Allow braising liquid to settle about 5 minutes, then, using wide shallow spoon, skim fat off surface. Add minced thyme, bring liquid to boil over high heat, and cook, whisking vigorously to help vegetables break down, until mixture is thickened and reduced to about 3 1/2 cups, about 18 minutes. Strain liquid through large fine-mesh strainer, pressing on solids with spatula to extract as much liquid as possible; you should have a couple cups strained sauce. Reduce sauce further until you have 1 1/2 cups. Discard solids in strainer. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Frying the pancetta

Make sure you buy two bottles and keep one for while the roast is in the oven.

I don't have a dutch oven so I use the ceramic inside of a crock pot. I done all of the mixing in a large saute pan first whilst pre heating the crock pot in the oven.

31/2 hours later, rich in color and the meat reminds me of an alligator rising from a swamp.

After straining all the veggies and other bits this is all you have left. Boil it high and reduce it down by half,season it and the flavor is amazing, after all theres a full bottle of wine in there!

Tender, sticky, flavorful, I could go on and on....make it!!!

mangi,mangi

2010-11-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

I was going to make chicken tacos with the left over rotisserie meat but I decided to take the road to The Leaning Tower and this is what I came up with. You cant really go wrong with pizza and there's so many variations you could decide upon. Follow a few simple rules like not overdoing it with the toppings and rolling that crust out super thin and many faces will be smiling around the table. Not a lot of us have wood burning stoves in our kitchen so crank that oven up high and place the pizza straight onto the oven deck. I use a flattened out serving platter as a means to scooping the pizza up and transferring it to the oven. Keep turning it if you have to prevent it from burning.If you decide to make your own try the dough balls from Whole Foods, you can get them over by the deli where they use the same dough to make the store pizzas, they are way more original than Trader Joes and I am a fan of TJ's but their dough is terrible. Once you get your dough leave it out at room temp for at least 30 minutes. This makes it easier to roll out and makes for a nice chewy crust. Make sure to par bake the rolled out crust in a 450 degree oven for 5-7 minutes and this will make it strong enough to hold those toppings.

The dough ready for its first bake with an olive oil glaze

My choice of sauce

After the first bake

I used some smoked fontina cheese

Ready for the oven, 450 degrees

Topped with some fresh basil

Ready to eat

Diabetes walk

2010-11-07T21:19:00.000-08:00

Today was our day to walk for The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on behalf of my daughter, Miranda. Our 18 strong team strode around Dodgers Stadium eventually taking our last lap around the actual field. The weather was perfect and the camaraderie was amazing. A huge thank you to all the people who took part today and to all the generous people who donated to our team. We set a modest goal this year of $2000 and we ended up raising just over $3000! Without people like you our kids would not receive the care and research from JDRF that they deserve.

Claire Wilson

Uncle Chris and Quinn

Skyler and Miranda

Quinn

The team in all it's glory!!

Jill and Judith

Super Moms

A well earned lunch at El Cholo

Pumpkin and ginger scones

2010-10-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

If you like food as much as I do, then this time of year is a great chance to give your taste buds a workout. So many seasonal items are in abundance right now and none more so than the grandmaster of them all, the pumpkin!

I'm going to come right out and say it. Yes one of my choice coffee's would be Starbucks. Wait before I'm booed and pelted with rotten gourds I'm not attracted by the company and their alluring shops and I'm definitely not a latte frappe doppia kinda guy. I just like their strong fresh bold blends and also the pumpkin scones they push out at this time of year. Yes those scones which inspired me to make some today. I actually came across the original recipe for the Starbucks scones and then I adapted it by throwing in some chopped up pieces of candied ginger which I need to move out of the pantry. I just ate one and I was pleasantly surprised at how similar they actually were to the ones on sale. The only difference being the thickness of the frosting. Also don't be shy with the spices, I added some extra just because I like that fall flavor.

So here's the recipe adapted from Food.com,

2 cups all purpose flour
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger (if you like it)
Powdered Sugar Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
Spiced Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
3 Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
4 In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
5 Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.
6 Bake for 14?16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE:.

Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.

When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

AS THAT WHITE GLAZE FIRMS UP, MAKE THE SPICED ICING:.
Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour).

Spelt and flaxseed bread

2010-10-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

This was made by using the same basic recipe for the no knead bread. I used spelt flour this time and added some flax seeds. It turned out well and tasted great. The lack of rising in the bread is due to spelt creating a tighter dough so the yeast gases cant expand the dough. Spelt has a higher protein count than wheat bread and is easier to digest, making it a good choice for people allergic to wheat. It does contain gluten though.

Fall festival

2010-10-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we made our way over to the fall festival which was being held at Miller Children's Hospital. The festival was for the families and patients of the Endocrine Center, where Miranda receives her diabetes care. It was a whole lot of fun and Stephanie Stembridge done a great job organising and setting up the event.

Miranda and Quinn with two of LBFD's finest

Miranda meets Millie

In her best Dorothy pose

Tossing some rings with Ma Hudson

With Dr Nagpala, her endocrinologist, wow look at that tree!!

This is Stephanie who organised the day. The picture is a little blurry as Stephanie cant stand still for one second

Puppy Quinn

You knead to..

2010-10-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

try this bread recipe. It's called no knead bread and it's been around for some time now. I have always wanted to try it, so I did. Everyone thinks bread is difficult to make and requires a lot of nurturing and special equipment. This might be if you wanted a nice sliced square loaf but if all you need is a rustic European type of bread then it's a whole different ballgame. You can be quite rough with it and have a more daring approach without expecting your venture to turn out like a rock. This recipe has only 4 ingredients but the most important one is completely free, it's called time. This bread takes almost 16 hours to make, wait!! don't scoff and mouse on over to the top right corner. To actually make the dough takes about 3 minutes and the rest of the time it rests until the last few hours before it hits the oven. I added fresh rosemary to the dough but the possibilities are endless, you could try adding olives or cheese with chile's, maybe some dried fruits and brown sugar and cinnamon, fresh herbs. The house smelled amazing and it was gone that night along with some great cheese and wine, perfect......

The base recipe is courtesy of The Amateur Gourmet,

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (Trader Joes, 3 pack for 99cents and this will make about 75 loaves)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1.5 cups of water

Mix all the dry stuff into a large size bowl, it's going to rise and then add the water,semi warm and mix roughly with your hands. Cover and leave for at least 12 hours or more if you can. After that turn out the dough onto a well floured work surface and roughly turn into itself to form a ball, cover and let rest for 15 minutes. Spread a clean towel with cornmeal and sit the dough on top. More corn for the top of the dough and another towel to cover. Leave for another two hours. Mean while 30 minutes before the two hour mark, turn on the oven to 450 and put in your dutch oven/Pyrex/ceramic dish and lid and let it get hot in the last 30 minutes. I used the inside part of a crock pot which for me is ceramic. At 2 hours pull out the dish and plop the dough in, lid goes back on and in the oven for 30 minutes. Take of the lid and bake for another 20 - 30 minutes until nice and golden. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes and listen to it crackling and popping as it cools, then eat with some good cheese, butter or olive oil.

After the first mix. The dough will be really sticky and seem like it's hard to manage,remember this bread is very rustic, don't worry!

12 hours later, if the wrap looks like its going to explode, just prick a small hole in it to release the gas

Ready for the towel

On Friday...

2010-10-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

I had an appointment at the federal building in Santa Ana. It was a pretty special day for me as I arrived to be interviewed for my U.S citizenship. I was feeling nervous but not sure why, maybe it was the fact that all interviews are a little nerve wracking, had I studied enough to pass the politics and history test or was I just scared to lose the $700 it cost me to go through this unifying process? After all I didn't even need to be a citizen I could just keep myself on a green card status but without the few privileges which citizens share. I chose to become a citizen for a few reasons, when my children are older I don't want them to ask me why I never became naturalised, I don't think there is any valid answer other than laziness or procrastination, two traits I hope they never pick up. I would also like the family to be a unit, all for one and one for all. There are a few other simple reasons like not having to separate from each other when going through customs and of course bragging rights due to having two passports.

Immigration offices are very interesting places I think, and looking around the waiting room on Friday really made me think of how much of a casserole this country really is. There were nationalities of all kinds, INS officers were calling people by names I would have absolutely no idea how to pronounce but to them it looked like just another day at the office. I was finally called on time which was astounding, and made my way to a small office where I proceeded to tell the truth, the whole truth and not much else. They say it can take up to two hours for this appointment to be completed. After a few verification questions it was time for the test. I had studied a lot and they can ask you 10 questions from a choice of 100, you must get 6 correct or you fail. Well the officer fired those first 6 questions and I fired the answers right back at her all correct. Next was the reading and writing test which didn't phase me, been doing that for some time now so if I failed this part something serious was wrong. The interview ended with a "Congratulations I am approving you for citizenship" I did it and all it took was around 20 minutes. Now I have to wait for my swearing in ceremony instructions and it will all be done.

Due to security I couldn't take any pictures of this day so please enjoy these below

Also here are the six questions I was asked, how good is your American politics and history, answers at the foot of the post.

When was the Declaration of Independence drawn up?

Name one of the longest river in America?

Who is the Speaker of the House?

Who lived here before the settlers?

How long is a Presidential term?

What do we call the first 10 amendments of The Constitution?

Swearing in, I doubt mine will be as cool as this.

Trees a Crowd

2010-10-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

Recently we were asked by a good friend, Stephanie Stembridge, the family advocate for Miller Children's Hospital here in Long Beach to help with a project to celebrate the hospitals fall festival. Some of you may remember this is where Miranda first received her treatment when diagnosed with diabetes. We had a choice of painting some signs or making two trees. Well Maura decided to choose the tree option and little did we know at the time how much of a brain twister this was going to turn into. You can see below the steps I took to make the tree and then Maura, who could make a party happen in the space station rallied some friends who helped us put the finishing touches by making the leaves which would be glued to the branches. The kids and Brian had a great time creating their own designs.

Many thanks to these amazing families,

The Weems

The Wilson's

The Gallagher's

The Summers

The trunk started out as a cylinder for holding concrete to set painted brown. I placed a tomato cage on top to build the branch section and also making it a two piece structure for easier transportation.

The roots were made from rolled up craft paper.

I used chicken wire to form the branches.

After all the wire branches were made I wrapped them in more brown craft paper. The lower part of the trunk still has to be wrapped in paper to make a more traditional looking trunk.

Ready to have the leaves attached.

Claire with a great looking offering.

Finn taking a well earned break for some food.

Erris loved the noodles

The production line is in full swing now

Sorry, I'm done I only build I don't decorate

Future tree builders

At last, one of the finished trees. Great job guys!!

Bananadrama.

2010-10-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Miranda asked me for a snack today. Hmm let me see what we have. Look here, what about a banana? She looked at the banana and then looked at me. Her face was a picture of disbelief. I tried to tell her that the banana was at its ripest and would taste really good. This didn't work so I thought about what I could do with the fruit instead of throwing it in the trash. Banana muffins for Saturdays breakfast sounded good so the deal was sealed.

I threw in some walnuts just because lately Miranda has been eating them like they were going out of fashion and bananas love walnuts. You could even use some apples, pears or press a dollop of peanut butter in the middle before they hit the oven, maybe with some good chocolate chips.

13/4 cups all p flour

3tsp b powder

1.5 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1/3 cup ground almonds

1/3 cup brown sugar

2-3 large ripe bananas

2 eggs

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup milk

3 tbsp honey/agave

Sift flour, b powder and cinnamon into a bowl. Stir in nutmeg, sugar and almonds.

Mash bananas in another bowl and add eggs, oil, milk, and honey.

Add to dry ingredients and stir until complete.

Spoon into muffin trays and bake in a 375 oven for around 20 minutes or until springy.

Serve warm with knobs of butter and some more honey/agave.

California Dreaming

2010-10-03T20:55:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday I had a small win from the California Super lotto so on Sunday I hurried on over to a car show being held at The Los Altos Methodist Church. Ever since I have been able to drive I have always steered towards the older cars owning many back home in Scotland and whilst watching my friends buy newer and more reliable cars, I always stuck with the pre 1975's which would either never start or needed major work done to them. Now here I am living in the land of the true muscle car and temptation is worse than a monkey working in a banana factory.

I wasn't able to buy anything at the show, first of all no one was selling and did I mention how much my winning ticket was? It was $11.

What, I said it was a small win didn't I? Here are some pictures of the cars I was salivating over.

Friday at last!!

2010-10-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

Whats going on with this weather? I really cant complain because it motivates me to keep up with the raw food menu here at the casa. Tonight I made some raw tacos and served them with the left over spinach soup. For dessert we had raw pumpkin cheesecake. The reason I keep wanting to make more raw foods is simple, the flavors are amazing and I'm finding it more manageable than I thought it could be. I don't have a dehydrator (yet) and the taco "meat" you see below is walnuts! That's right people, walnuts thrown in the food processor and then mixed with some cumin and coriander and a little un-pasteurized soy sauce. The flavors and textures are out of this world. If you have these 4 simple ingredients in your kitchen go ahead and try these tacos because once you taste them you'll laugh hard at how weird and tasty this can be. I served them with fresh romaine leaves for the tortilla and some guacamole, salsa and chips with hemp and chia seeds from TJ's none the less.
As for the cheesecake well I just finished my second piece. Made from cashew nuts, the taste makes you think twice about the traditional cheesecakes that are out there.
Right now I'm a raw food makin' fool and even Miranda is in my team for this! I'm not sure how long it may last but until then I'm just going to enjoy freaking out my taste buds and confusing the family.

As I was downloading the pictures from my tired looking camera I noticed a bunch of Quinn and Miranda so I added them to this post.

Raw! no way dad. (I make his food also ,next up, green beans)

Raw food does NOT make you crazy!

Tonight's double rainbow.

Pumpkin cheesecake

The taco filling.

Taco Mix from Rawvolution in Santa Monica,

1 1/2 cups raw walnuts
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp nama shoyu

Blend the nuts until coarse
Mix in rest of ingredients
Serve on a romaine leaf

Pumpkin Cheesecake from

CRUST 2 cups soaked pecans
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon organic vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup of dates, unsoaked

Process nuts, spices, vanilla and salt in a food processor until fine; add dates. Continue to process until well incorporated. Transfer the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan and press evenly onto the bottom. Place the pan in the refrigerator until filling is ready

FILLING3 cups of cashews, soaked for 1 hour to soften
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup carrot juice
¼ cup raw agave nectar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
Mix cashews, lemon juice, carrot juice, agave, spice and vanilla in blender; process until smooth and creamy. Make sure the filling has no lumps. Pour the cheese mixture onto the crust. Place the cheesecake into the freezer for 4 hours or until firm. Let come to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Raw Innocence.

2010-09-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

We had been given prior warning from a friend that Miranda's teacher was very big on parent class participation. So it came as no surprise to find myself in front of 22 wide eyed, toothy cute kids this morning. My job was to teach the kids how to make an apple crisp as Wednesday is bake day and this is apple week. "First thing we do is sanitize" explained Mrs Barnett, "I want to see surgeon's arms in the air". I took my spot at the semi circle table and proceeded to layout my ingredients, I looked up and all the kids were staring at me with their arms raised like a surgeon ready to perform a triple bypass, they were not allowed to drop these arms or touch any classmates for fear of contamination.

Back to my ingredients from the Betty Crocker box mix provided for me,

1 bag of crumb mix-check.

1 can of apples-check.

1 bottle of water-check.

Yes, that is all it takes to make these kids Oooo and Ahhhh endlessly. First I hit them up with some apple facts. After all this still had to be educational, right? Their little imaginations were running amok and everyone did their best to stay with the subject of the day though I did hear how one girl had a chipped nail and how an other's mom stirred way faster than me, the quote of the day for me though came when another teacher helper came into the class and Mrs Barnett asked the class to thank Mrs Chee Chee for dropping of some popsicles, "That's my dog's name" cried one little girl innocently speaking of the lady's unique name. Ten of the kids had been given front row baker's seats for providing outstanding behaviour that morning, the other twelve had to make do with standing and looking over their shoulders missing out on a chance to help stir with the golden spatula. It pays to be good. Twenty minutes later the apple crisp was done and ready for the oven. It was a whole lot of fun and I go back in tomorrow for some more apple trivia.

I remember when we received our mommy meals when Quinn was born. This was the greatest thing ever, no cooking for weeks and hot food being delivered free to your house, score!! All the meals were fantastic and greatly appreciated. One meal did introduce me to something new though and it was a raw meal made by the amazingly talented Laura Gallagher http://www.crookedmoonmama.com/ . I really enjoyed the dinner and swore I had to eat more raw food. This is harder than it sounds though because to buy it from the store costs an arm and a leg and to make the majority of the recipes one needs a dehydrator, which can also cost the same arm and leg. Today I was determined to find some non-dehydrator recipe and after subscribing to another blog http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/ I was on my way to creating tonight's dinner. I was impressed by the flavors and even more impressed by Miranda asking for seconds of the spinach soup and telling me "Man this is good" when she tried the lemon bar.

The blog has lots of easy recipes and I cant wait to try another, food tastes completely different when eaten in this form, Thanks Laura this one's for you!

Cream Of Spinach Soup

½ head spinach leaves, washed

½ cucumber, peeled

1 tomato, in wedges

¼ cup water

1 avocado

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons nama shoyu or soy sauce

½ teaspoon sea salt

dash cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Blend all ingredients until smooth

Lemon Bars

1 cup almonds

1 1/2 cups pitted dates (Medjool, khadrawhi, or other semi-soft date)

Seeds of 1 vanilla bean

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup dried shredded coconut

In your food processor, chop almonds into small pieces. Use some of this nut powder to “flour” the bottom of a 9 inch square baking pan.Add remaining ingredients and process some more until well mixed.Press into baking pan.To serve, chill for a couple hours until firm. Then cut into squares

From this.

To this.

Green, White and Gold

2010-09-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday I take Miranda to her Irish Dance class. She attends The Celtic Gold Academy, in Garden Grove. Miranda has been dancing there for almost a year now and the owner, Doireann O' Maoileidigh (pronounced Deeran O Ma lady), has been Irish dancing since she was also Miranda's age. Her father, Maitiu O' Maoileidigh, was responsible for founding the original school back in Dublin 50 years ago along with his associate teacher, who is now the choreographer for Lord of the Dance. The family name is well respected in the dancing world.
Anyway, Doireann has very strict rules stating that parents must wait in a front room so as not to distract the children. This is fine with me except that I'm always wondering how Miranda is doing and is she any good? These are the exact opposite rules from her last ballet class where hordes of googly-eyed moms and grandma's, and the odd dad or two (OK, one dad and it was me) would watch their kids through a window which looked onto the dance floor. Children would constantly be in and out of the room, thus making it hard for the teacher to keep the dancers focused.
It turns out I have nothing to worry about in regards to Miranda's Irish dancing. We have watched her at home and I think she is actually pretty good at it and I'm not just saying that as a proud dad, she really can do a great slip jig. This coming December she will be in a Christmas Feis (Fesh) which is a traditional Gaelic celebration and I know she'll do just great.
Having her in an Irish dance class is just another Celtic connection in my life. There are a few more such connections as the Scots are very close to the Irish, only being separated by 212 miles of the Irish Sea, a mere 45-minute plane trip. Being this close to such a beautiful place does have its benefits such as my birthday falling on the day before St Patrick's Day. This meant that almost every year myself and my boys would combine my day and Patrick's special day and make it last for a week. Ahh, the memories. Here is where another Celtic connection comes upon me. Whilst celebrating one night in the place known as Templebar, an area of Dublin which is solely bars and restaurants I stumbled upon my future wife. Kisses, numbers and addresses were all swapped and here I am, eleven years later in California. It's interesting to note that as our two worlds collided we were watching a group of Irish dancers perform on stage....

Eat...

2010-09-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a great night with friends. Kids playing and having fun, good food, wine and beer under a beautiful southern Californian sky. Maura took Miranda and Quinn to Grandma's today eventually ending up at a Greek festival where Miranda feasted on Octopus tentacles of all things. I stayed at home preparing dinner and dealing with some errands.
I cooked up some ribs with skillet corn bread. I added ears of corn basted with thyme butter and baked beans. To top it all off I made a chocolate ginger pudding pie, recipe courtesy of Arti's Party of the Food Network.
Some people might think my blog is slowly falling towards being a food blog. I can see why but it's still going to remain a family blog, an output for me to document what I get up to in a world where my bosses are MM&Q. The fact is I like to cook and now I have a little more time to plan what I get to cook makes it more enjoyable, a hobby maybe. Eating food is something the whole world has in common, wherever you travel or visit you know food is always going to be in your mind.

Eat, drink and eat a little more..........

school days

2010-09-15T16:58:00.001-07:00

Miranda has really taken to kindergarten. I'm really pleased as it hasn't been the easiest couple of weeks for a 5 year old. She started her new insulin pump regime, had to go to numerous doctor appointments and started school all at the same time. One thing I really like is being able to walk to school and luckily she is just as motivated to walk rather than drive.
All I have to do now is switch to the jog stroller and trade the flip flops for some sneakers......

Homework time

Brownie Olympian

2010-09-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Working for Whole Foods Market always brought plenty of samples from vendors eager to get their product on the shelf. So when I was given a Cabernet brownie I thought this was the best idea I had seen in a while. My favorite wine inside a brownie, what could possibly be wrong with that? Well it was more of a cake consistency and I like my brownies more fudgy but the idea stayed in my head. Today I looked at the bottle of wine on my kitchen counter top and thought to myself there wasn't much left from last nights dinner, but wait, what about if I use it for the brownies. A quick google and I came upon a recipe courtesy of Cookie Madness. Remember I like my brownies on the fudgy side so I tweaked the recipe a little and I have to say I like them. They are soft yet easy to cut and I like the fact I can taste some wine in the mix, but not overpowering. These would be great with a red wine tasting.
A note about the wine, It was a gift from my brother in law, Ace and his wife Lindsay. They just got back from a honeymoon on the Spanish Island of Menorca. Thanks guys it went great with dinner and helped make these brownies. Now to search the booze cabinet for my next creation!

Dinner time...

2010-09-12T20:53:00.001-07:00

I decided to go ahead and make something a little special for tonight's dinner. I like to think of Sunday as the day of the week where a little extra time is spent in the kitchen. Growing up I would watch my mum preparing a Sunday roast or ham and it would be the only time we would try to sit around a table and eat at the same time. The rest of the week didn't quite work out like that.
I was inspired to dig out my Bouchon cookbook due to Maura being invited to her friend, Kimberly Ohlson's birthday party last night. Whats the connection you ask? Well Kim's husband Ken just so happened to be a high school friend of Jeff Cerciello, executive chef for Thomas Keller owner of the famed French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley. Jeff and another friend are about to open a new restaurant in Beverley Hills called, The Farmshop. Ken somehow struck up a deal to have Jeff and his friend cook a private dinner for some of Kim's closest friends at his home in Malibu and try some of the menu items to be served at the future Beverley Hills Farmshop. Well the limousine came and picked up my exquisitely dressed wife last night and I watched them drive into the sunset...that's right I was on babysitting duty with Miranda and Quinn. Now I'm not trying to sound bitter as I would have LOVED to be going for this kind of special treatment, but I had a great night eating dinner in front of the television and watching Dr Dolittle with Miranda.
So to cut a long story short I was given this cookbook, written by Thomas and Jeff as a gift from Kimberly and Ken and have never used it to its full potential until today. Next time I wont let it gather so much dust.

We started with Mussels and braised leeks

I turned these into a ragout of shitake, oyster and cremini mushrooms

A simple roasted chicken with some chicken au jus and thyme

Cauliflower gratin

The finished plate

Sour cherry tart and vanilla bean ice cream, not from the book and not made by me, I'm fast but not that fast...

Catching up

2010-09-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been that long since my last post? It has been a very hectic couple of weeks mainly due to Miranda starting kindergarten this week and also going live with her new insulin pump. This cell phone-like device will hopefully make her syringe poking days be distant memories and give her more freedom to eat, play and live like a true five year old should. Many thanks and credit to Maura for pulling the mountain of school paperwork together which includes additional doctors orders for the school nurse. Not an easy task being as busy as she always is. Hang in there babe I'm working on date night for us!

I have posted some pictures of our last trip to Disneyland. Our annual passes had been blocked all summer and I wanted to get one last fun trip in before school started. We certainly managed that, Miranda and I arrived at Disneyland at lunchtime and left at 10pm. I never thought she could last that long, or me but she just kept going and it was the best trip we have had their in a long time.

Quinn just had his 6 month appointment and continues to grow like a little weed. He is becoming funnier everyday and him and big sister are having a blast together.

Life inside a watermelon

Quinn and his buddy, Annabelle

Ready to go

The Boss, Mrs Barnett

Miranda's mug shot

First day is so much easier when your best buddies from pre - school are also in the same class!

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

2010-08-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Every morning I decide what's going to be served for dinner that day. I don't like to have too much food on hand and I make trips to the store every other day. Maura can't understand why I don't just fill the freezer and be done for the week. Sorry love, old habits die hard. Today had to be a chicken day, and being tired of the same old pasta tricks I looked up one of my handy phone apps and found a recipe for Thai coconut chicken soup. This meal has only a few ingredients and wasn't too expensive either. Coconut milk is $1.50 per can and is the heart of the meal. It was easy to make and how I usually gauge how good homemade food tastes is as if it had been purchased from a restaurant. Well for this meal, I would have been very happy to pay for at my local Thai kitchen. Here's the recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman.

4 cups coconut milk, (2 cans)
1 cup chicken stock
1 pound chicken breast cut into strips
3 stalks lemongrass (Bristol Farms)
10 thin slices fresh ginger
2 minced fresh chile's if you like it hot
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper
chopped cilantro to garnish.

Combine milk and stock and bring to a boil, add chicken and cook for 10 Min's. Take out chicken and keep aside. Add smashed lemongrass, ginger and chile's to milk and simmer for 15 Min's. Remove these 3 last ingredients and add chicken back to milk. Add mushrooms and simmer for another 5 Min's. Turn off heat and add fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. Season with salt and pepper, adjust taste with more lime or fish sauce and spoon into bowls. Garnish with fresh cilantro. I chose to add some rice on the side.

The main ingredients.

The milk being infused by the lemongrass and ginger.

Finally, ready to be eaten. I omitted the whole chilies in the main dish as I'm the only one in the family with a taste for hot spice. I just added dried chili flakes to my own plate and it worked out well.

Beef and Guinness Stew

2010-08-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

The meat which cooked for two hours.

Plenty of garlic.

I didn't quite use all of the beer but guess where the rest went?

Half way through cooking, garlic added then lots of beef stock, sausages, mushrooms and Guinness made the final casserole deep in color and rich tasting.

These cookies should have been for the camping trip but sadly they never made it.

Big Bear

2010-08-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

It was long overdue for a camping trip so when this one eventually came around, I was more than ready. We went to Hanna Flat camp ground located just outside Fawnskin, across the lake from Big Bear. Accompanied by two other families it was the perfect three day play date for the kids. Three years ago wildfire had devastated this area but luckily the campsite was rebuilt and
is now looking great. We rented a boat and cruised around Big Bear lake which was fun and not that expensive. Lots of good food,wine and of course a few too many smores made for a good weekend!

Captain G and First Officer Miranda.

Even Quinn enjoyed getting his water legs.

Story time.

The Three Stoogies.

Bizzy days

2010-08-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

So today started with a visit to the dentist. All went very well and we learned that two front teeth will be leaving us soon.
Going to the dentist can go either way. It could be a battle to get there with lots of tears, screaming, throwing stuff around and that's just me, you don't even want to know how stubborn Miranda can be. Or it could be a really pleasant drive with no complications and lots of questions about teeth and gums and sugar bugs. Not until the examination is over, can you cease walking on the egg shells. It does help though to pull that ace from your pocket and throw in the "reward" word which I only like to use for times like these where any upset could be like a giant Japanese firework going off in the back seat. I had been promising to take Miranda to build her own bear at the conveniently named store and this became the reward for being excellent in the chair. If you choose to take this advice and use the reward scheme, tread lightly using it only a few times in a year as it may come back to haunt you.

Miranda helping build "Katie" which she named after the employee shown here.

Almost all stuffed, and doesn't Quinn have a lovely crown?

The finished bear. "Katie" is on her way home.

Katie is not impressed with Mr Vader.

Afterwards we planted some new herbs.

I even had Miranda help me rack my wine. Don't worry "pew" was her only thoughts on this stuff.

Quinn has recently been promoted from bouncy seat to high chair at the dinner table. You can see his happiness at this family decision, right? This is a huge novelty for Miranda to have her brother sit right beside her, did I say right beside her? I actually meant righhhhhttt beside her. Seriously she wont leave the little guy alone and takes forever to eat her own dinner. I'm not complaining, shes an excellent panda manager.

Finally, I was given some styling instruction from her majesty and this is what I created. I based it on a Jennifer Anniston look and I think I pulled it off. It also reminded me of my time in the eighties when I had my fringe hiding one eye, yip the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

Have a nice weekend!!

08/02/2010

2010-08-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

A good end to a good day.

Riding on Chris's lap.

A Tyranna..... I forget.

She made it look so easy.

Miranda listening to Coach Johnny.

Touching a sea cucumber, which felt just like jello.

A great white jaw bone.

All alone, it felt like we were vip's.

The week began with a trip to the aquarium. It opens at 9.00am and it definitely pays to be early as we had free run of the exhibits until around 11.00am. After this it becomes full of school kids on field trips and your chances of seeing any fish up close decrease dramatically. Take a picnic and lie on the grass by the lighthouse, feed the birds and watch the sailboats.

Miranda's first T Ball class has started and she seems to really like it. I was so proud of her holding her own in a class full of boys. This class was learning to run the bases.

Tuesday saw us taking a trip to the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History in Exposition Park. I fought my way through the millions of kids on field trips and made it to the front desk getting my nine dollars ready and expressing my happiness to the clerk that Miranda and Quinn were free. Little did I know every first Tuesday of the month the museum is free for everyone, donations are gladly accepted though. So that was why it was as busy as LAX. Afterwards we also spent some time in the California Science Center. Again a picnic is best unless you fancy some MacDonald's from the Science Center.

There are some good deals at the Orange County Fair and after purchasing our unlimited rides wristband for $25 Miranda set off with her friend Sky and her mom, Chris to maximise their fun. I tagged along with Quinn. Chris was a lifesaver as Miranda would never have had the chance to enjoy herself as much as she did if it was just the three of us. The fair opens at noon, Wednesday through Sunday and parking is $7, cash only. Check their website for daily deals.

August 7Th was my ten year anniversary being in the United States, so after swimming in Grandmas pool we went for dinner at a small seafood restaurant in San Marino. I found this place using a really cool Yelp application from my iPhone. It has never failed us any time we have needed to find a restaurant. The place was called The San Marino Seafood Market and I recommend it to anyone who may be in that area. The fish was fresh and the service and location was amazing which can be hard to find these days.

Sunday Funday

2010-08-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

I remember going to the circus with my dad when I was a kid and having a great time. Now years later, going to the circus can open a whole can of controversial worms regarding the treatment of the animals which perform in the show. I did think about this before buying the tickets but went ahead and pressed the purchase button anyway. I really didn't think much about it before or during the performance but became well aware of it afterwards on our way back to our car. Protesters had positioned themselves outside of the Honda Center in Anaheim and a few of them were exhibiting their right of free speech. I was approached by a girl who asked me if I would like a brochure on the treatment of circus animals. I politely refused and she said thank you and wished me a good day. Now I can respect her opinion and it almost sounded like she respected mine, shouldn't this be the way we honor each others beliefs and opinions instead of being bullied into someone else's life choices? I experienced the exact opposite after crossing the street where my ears were subject to some mindless verbally abusive screaming from another protester in front of my family and putting a perplexed look upon Miranda's face, who later asked "why was that lady shouting at us?" I have zero respect for that kind of protester who, in my mind is accomplishing nothing towards her cause. We all choose different things in life and have our own opinions. I'm tired of that guilty feeling when leaving grocery stores and being bombarded by kids asking me if I want to save the ocean or support women's rights. Don't get me wrong, the foundations for which they are fronting are extremely worthy causes, but their are better ways to build solid public support.

I realise that not everyone may agree with me, I can respect that but this is my blog about my life as a dad which is why I am writing about it and posting a few pictures. I would not be true to myself if I only wrote about the noncontroversial things in life. I did enjoy the show and it did bring back memories of when I seen my first circus show with my own father who was just trying to give me a happy day. Little did he know that I would duplicate that day with my children. I hope I was as successful as him.

This Week

2010-07-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

I decided to post some pictures of Quinn, the
poor little guy wasn't mentioned below.

Its been another busy week. Wednesday took us back to Miller Children's Hospital, luckily though this time it was for fun. For anyone who doesn't know, Miranda was diagnosed with type one diabetes in March 2009 and Miller is where our pediatrician sent us to be educated and initiated into the world of blood sugars and insulin. We have become good friends with various people at the hospital and anytime public relation work has to be done, Miranda is usually called upon. Her picture is on the covers of brochures and has even done some work with The Mayor of Long Beach, Bob Foster. This time the hospital was making a social media video and Miranda had to play the part of a child preparing for surgery. Myself and Maura also had to look the part of very relieved parents speaking to the doctor afterwards. Very simple but lots of fun and nice to see some familiar faces at Miller.

Thursday kept us on the diabetes train as we had a meeting with an insulin pump representative from Animas. We have been yearning to get Miranda on a pump as it will make her life so much easier. For example, in a typical month she might receive one hundred and fifty actual needle shots. If she goes on the pump that number will decrease to ten! Technology is changing and the pump is smaller than an iPhone.

Today was Miranda's last day of preschool. I don't think she has quite grasped the concept of never having to walk through those gates again. We have been telling her for a while now and I know its going to hit her eventually. Now we have summertime ahead of us and hopefully I will be filling this blog with all the wonderful and crazy things we end up doing. I cant believe how fast she is growing up. I'm so proud of what she has accomplished in five years and how she continues to amaze me everyday.

Sticky rice recipe

2010-07-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the recipe should anyone have a desire to make it.

1 1/2 cups glutinous (sweet) rice1 1/3 cups well-stirred canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large ripe mangoes (chilled whole in refrigerator)*
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted lightly
Edible flowers or mint leaves for garnish

To prepare the sticky rice: Working in the sink, put the rice into a large bowl with plenty of water; stir well by hand. When the rice has settled to the bottom, pour off most of the cloudy water, refill and repeat until the water runs fairly clear. Soak the rice in plenty of water (so the water is approximately 2 to 3 inches above the rice) for 6 to 8 hours, preferably overnight (the grains will absorb water and grow in size). When ready to cook, drain rice well in a sieve. Set sieve over a large deep pot of simmering water (sieve should not touch water) and steam rice, covered with a kitchen towel and a lid, approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender (check water level in pan occasionally, adding more hot water if necessary). When rice is translucent and somewhat tender, it's done.
in a small saucepan bring coconut milk to a slow simmer, stirring constantly (hard boiled coconut milk will curdle). Add sugar and salt; stirring until sugar is dissolved; remove from heat. Keep mixture warm. Reserve approximately 1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut-milk sauce; refrigerate until cool and thicken slightly.
Transfer hot cooked rice to a bowl and stir in coconut-milk mixture. Stir well with a spoon to make sure all the grains are well coated. Let rice stand, covered, approximately 20 to 30 minutes, or until coconut-milk mixture is absorbed (the rice should be a little mushy). NOTE: Rice may be prepared up to this point 2 hours ahead and kept covered at room temperature.
Just before serving, peel mangoes and then thinly slice by cutting lengthwise through flesh to the stone; discard the stone.

The finished dish can be kept, covered at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. Do not refrigerate or the rice will harden!

Weekend Fun Times

2010-07-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Not quite ready.

Lazy River.

The smallest life vest we could find.

Quinn riding the rapids.

All Tinkered out.

We were assured by the lady in front of us that they were wearing underwear, how she knew was beyond me.

Demonstrating how kilts were utilised.

Large scary man with huge scary drum.

Ready to jig.

Sticky mango rice.

Wow, what a weekend! It began on Friday with our traditional visit to the concert in the park provided by the city. We meet with a bunch of good friends and have a huge pot luck whilst listening to the band and letting the kids run around until they drop of exhaustion. Lately the potlucks have had different themes and this Friday was required to have an Asian influence. Lots of good food arrived and I took along some Thai sticky rice with mango. This is Maura's favorite dessert anytime we eat Thai food, which can be quite often. The recipe was fairly easy to make but the ingredients were a little tricky to track down. I ended up buying the special sticky rice from a little Thai market in Norwalk. After finding the place I unloaded Quinn from the car into his stroller and manoeuvred around the aisles of this tiny store looking for my ingredients. Eventually after finding everything, I made my way to the register and after being rung up, found that they don't take credit cards. I put Quinn back in the car and then I had to drive around looking for an ATM. I found one at a gas station in a very questionable area, grabbed my money and took off for my booty being held at the store, unloaded Quinn again who by this time must have been a little fed up with all the jostling he was receiving, I paid for my rice and left. A good night was had by all and I look forward to next weeks theme.

On Saturday we made our way to The Ford Theatre where we watched a band called The Wicked Tinkers. The Ford is presenting music from a different culture each week and The Tinkers represented music from Scotland and Ireland. You know that foot tapping kind of music you might hear in the local pub. The band took some time to explain the history and origins of the instruments which they were playing and even I learned some interesting facts from them. After the Ford it was back home to get ready for Maura's sisters beach party at Huntington Beach which ended our Saturday adventures.

Sunday was a day at Wild Rivers Water Park in Irvine. We met with Judith and her kids, Andrew and Sheridan and had a blast riding on some of the slides and playing in the pools. Even Quinn got in on the action and at five months is showing signs of loving the water like his big sister. Somewhere in between all of these events I found the time to start making my own wine. I have made it a few times before with moderate success. The first time I made it was when I still lived in Scotland and I was having some trouble trying to find some of the proper equipment, mainly a large fermenting vessel. I'll just have to improvise ,I thought, and I used a large plastic water carrier purchased from a garden center. After mixing the ingredients I left it to ferment. When I looked into the closet a week later to check its progress the water carrier had went from being a cube to almost completely round and was probably hours from exploding chardonnay all over my bedroom. My buddies and I went on to drink that wine demolishing bottles of it before we hit the town. What it was to be young!

Cookie Class

2010-07-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

Trying to make a cookie meatball.

And the mess begins.

This is easy as pie...or cookie.

Thinking about when she can eat some.

The frog looks worried.

I know, I know!

I'm ready dad.

So while speed shopping in Trader Joe's the other day I spotted figs on sale. Wow I haven't had figs since I was a nipper, I put some in the cart thinking there must be something I could make with these juicy Mediterranean jewels, hmm... I should have put a little more thought into that idea. Anyway I came upon the fig cookie and summoned my helper. After she donned the appropriate kitchen attire we were ready to go. Now I love to have Miranda help me in the kitchen whenever possible but I am guilty of treating her more like an employee rather than a lackadaisical ball of five year old , hey the kitchen is a dangerous place and after all her first visit to the emergency room was because of an accident in the kitchen! I have been getting better though at just letting her do her own thing and not stressing about the end result. So what if the cookies don't turn out, we would still have fun, right? It pains me just to write that sentence.

I think my turning point was when I was watching Bill Granger on The Cooking Channel (highly recommend this channel) and he was baking with his five year old daughter and having so much fun that I thought I must change or Miranda will be a microwave queen growing up. I think as you look at the pictures you will be able to tell we definitely did have a fun time, though by the end I had to take some deep breaths and pour some more wine as small pieces of cookie dough came flying at my head!! Have fun.

Introduction and San Diego wedding

2010-07-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

The happy couple.

One of the few unique traditions from the brides family.

Me being rode upon.

All done.

Miranda getting some flower girl treatment.

Rehearsal dinner speech.

Today was Maura's first day back at work after taking four months of maternity leave. I on the other hand left my job two weeks ago and have been enjoying these last few weeks together almost like we were on vacation. As Maura enters her corporate world again I feel like today is my first day on the job, a new job where I make myself have to get out of bed at a set time and try to think twenty steps ahead of what I am doing at that moment. I have new priorities now like getting Miranda to school on time and making sure Quinn gets the attention a four month old requires,which can be a lot, tidying the house, laundry, dinner and any other mishap which may arise throughout my day. Today was a good day and I look forward to the future and my new job as a stay at home dad.
I started this blog because I am very proud of my kids.They make me laugh everyday and say the funniest things, more so Miranda right now as Quinn is more of a coo'er. He does have his moments though and I swear some of his coo sounds actually sound like real words.

So sit back and let a very happy SAHD share some of these strange and funny moments in our life with you and I hope I can make everyone laugh as much as we do.
Here are some pictures from Maura's brothers wedding which took place at the El Cortez building in downtown San Diego, congratulations Ace and Lindsey!