Five Foot Two

sunsets and ice cream....

The first Fall day came to a close in my neighborhood.

 

We happily greeted the first cool breeze and crisp air with a walk to the ice cream store at dusk. This picture was snapped right outside my local ice cream shop,

where the dh and I were sharing a chocolate ice cream soda. 

 We recently found out the locals on east coast call an ice cream soda an egg cream soda.....

Sorry there isn't a picture of the dessert delight, it was consumed without abandon.....

But, I did get a picture of the moon with my iphone camera. Not too bad.....

 

Bring on the Fall evening walks at dusk!!!

my favorite

Especially when the route takes me to the candy or the ice cream parlor!

Honeycrisp apples + caramel = heaven

I promised.....

some photos of the yummiest (is that a word?) fall apple yet!

Honeycrisp. 

You don't even need to add a little caramel, but when you do... watch out.

DELICIOUS.

Thanks Angie for running out with me to get some! I am trying to only eat one a day. Luckily the DH has not found my stash in the fridge. yahooooo!! Keep eating those clementines and bananas honey.

I want to send a shout out to my big brother. Kick some hiney tomorrow SB. He is tied for second in the Illinois PGA player championship golf tourney.

I also want to give a pat on the back to my DH (darling husband) who has the course record as of yesterday with a score of 60 at Los Lagos Golf Course. I owe you dinner. i know.....

I will get off the computer and take you out to dinner.... geez.

Raspberry sorbet sunset...

The sunset tonight out my bedroom window. delicious...

It goes really well with the red raspberry sorbet I made for the hubby. 

From fresh berries I bought at Costco, to the frozen delight in the ice cream maker.

I had two definite fans of the sorbet tonight.....

What a nice summer evening.

Olallieberry jam

Well, remember this post, where I went berry picking? You know I had to post a follow up about the first attempt at making jam....

Here it is. I followed the low sugar sure jell recipe for blackberry jam. It went well. It was just a lot more work than I thought it would be. silly me.

 It was messy, really messy. Thanks for the tip M about covering the counters with newpaper before you pour the hot jam into the jars. That saved loads of time on the clean-up.

 

The olalliberries made very seedy jam.

 Even though I strained half of the berries of their seeds. : (

I think I may make some again, sometime. Not anytime soon. The timing is everything, and that stresses me out a little. But all of them preserved. So that is good. The process was fun and  I am enjoying giving them out as presents... isn't that what it is all about anyway?

Is it cake or a cookie?

My long standing favorite sweet from the grocery.......

A delicious cookie that tastes a lot like a piece of cake with butter cream frosting. It just melts in your mouth....

I was delighted to  find a fresh batch on the counter when I came home from work one day. My honey had picked them up especially for me. (He doesn't touch them!)

So thank you dh, you know how to brighten my day!

The flowers in the picture above of my buffet were made by me from a kit from Paper Source. They look really hard, but they aren't. I did have to buy a special paper book binding glue. You would think with all my scrapbook stuff, I would have had a proper glue. But, I love the new glue! It feels like elmer's glue but it dries in a minute!! I have been loving using them as present toppers! I even made one for a bridal shower present topper, and it went into the traditional rehearsal bouquet of ribbons. fun.....

Double dark chocolate sorbet...

I wanted to make the dh (darling husband) some homemade dark chocolate gelato. It is his FAVORITE. Well actually dark chocolate and raspberry together are his favorite. My favorite is lemon and raspberry... yummy!  (sweet and tart). But this post is not about me..... well, it kind of is, but it was not meant to be. i promise.

Back to the gelato attempt.....

I have a Cuisanart ice cream, yogurt, sorbet maker. I have used it once. I actually purchased it myself, it was not a wedding gift. No comment about this post, where I had only used my kitchen aid mixer once as well. Shame on me. I am trying to be a better housewife. gag me. oops did i write that? 

Back to the gelato attempt....

I was looking online and I found this recipe for dark chocolate sorbet. I decided to give it a whirl. It is the middle of summer, it's warm out, the timing is perfect for home made ice cream. I had great expectations so I bought the ingredients for red raspberry sorbet as well, from this recipe I found.

I had frozen the bowl from the maker.... very important. All was going well until I had to add in the cocoa powder. 

Bottom line, I think I ended up with four times the amount of cocoa than was needed. I had trouble converting cups from ounces.--------- Let's not talk about the fact at work I convert ml's, cc, ounces, grams, kilograms, milligrams, micrograms on an almost hourly basis.--------- So what happens when i leave work and enter my kitchen? My brain turns to ______.

Okay so back to the gelato attempt.....

I realize I have done something very wrong when the sugar solution is soooo so saturated with cocoa, I can barely stir it.

I decide to double the recipe to at least make it out with only double the amount of cocoa...... 

The end result was loved (not really- but so sweet in trying to pretend that it was good)  by the dh, who could only have four bites because he feared he would be so wired with caffeine he would not be able to sleep that night.

Meanwhile the girls at work want me to bring in my super chocolaty dark chocolate sorbet to share. i am embarrassed.  i don't want them to taste it and get grossed out. So we will see. They keep hounding me to bring it in.....

I am going to try a new batch this week. With the appropriate amount of chocolate. geezzzzzz. 

I never got around to making the raspberry sorbet because someone (who shall remain nameless, DH) ate all of the fresh raspberries on his cereal this week. errrrrrr. But this post was not about me, was it?

Berries anyone...

 

Last week a group of friends from work, gathered together to go Olalliberry picking. The Olalliberry is a California berry that is a cross between a youngberry and a loganberry. If you want to read more about it, here is a link. The berries are ready to pick in the months of June and July.

We journeyed up the California Coast Highway One north from Santa Cruz. We watched for signs that read "berry picking" and pulled into a darling spot really close to Ano Nuevo State Park. The whole experience was wonderful. It was peaceful and productive. I plan to make some jam. PLAN to make some jam. My Mother in law is a resident expert in canning. Do you remember she made the jam as the favors for our wedding? Anyhow, she wants to help me. I think I really need to take her up on it. So look forward to a later post about my adventure in olalliberry jam making. ehh gadds..... now i really feel like martha.

We then drove north to the town of Pescadero and enjoyed lunch at the famous Duarte's tavern. I had been there before with the DH's family. We made a special trip just for their Abalone sandwiches. Yep, you guessed it... i passed on the seafood. This visit, I was adventurous and had a taste of thier delicious warm Artichoke soup. It was yummy, even for this picky eater. 

One of our favorite places...

We were at a San Francisco Giant's game the other night, and I kept taking photographs the whole night. I ended up with a day and a night shot, that are really similiar. I <heart> them.

I love the coke bottle because it has a killer slide inside of it. I still can't get the hubby to slide down it, (can you say chicken) but it is a lot of fun. If you are ever in the area, there is nothing like SF Giants game in the summer time! 

We had watched a family pull out hot dog after hot dog from their bags last year at a game. It turns out they hit a local costco for $1.50 hot dogs and then bring them into the game. We loved the idea. Not only because the hot dogs at costco are yummy but, you see, my hubby eats his way through the entire game. So the food bill does tend to add up. We tried it, and it worked out really well. Besides the fact that we were so hungry when we showed up at costco, that we had to sit down and eat a hot dog (and a churro) before we even GOT to the game. hilarious. We did not starve. The night concluded with a great find. I ordered caramel popcorn. oh boy..... Turns out it was hand tossed caramel popcorn. I saw the girl pour heaping spoonfuls of warm caramel all over the steamy popcorn herself. I should have taken a picture. She piled it high in a giant chinese foot container (<heart> the presentation) and we were in heaven. oh, it was delicious! 

P.S. The Giant's beat the NY Met's (the hubby is proud I remembered) 

Candy and Me...

Powell's sweet shop- all about candy.
That is my name. I LOVE CANDY! Insert the song now....
I was so excited to learn of a neat little candy store in willow glen last year. It was perfect for the hubby and I. There are a million types of candy in this neighborhood candy store, and for the hubby they serve delectable gelato. yum. His favorite is a combination of dark chocolate and raspberry gelato. My favorite is a combination of lemon or (limon as they call it), and raspberry along with a bag of sour jelly bellys, cherry fruit sour balls, sour gummy worms, sugar babies, and an old fashion taffy stick. This makes for our traditional outing. We walk and eat and chat and eat some more. The darling husband (DH) is usually finished with his gelato before me. He INHALES it. I use a tiny taster spoon and slowly savor every bite. We then usually hit the movies to enjoy my new candy stash. If I am feeling generous, I will share. just kidding. (but not really). The DH does not fault me for my fatal flaw as a candy hog. He learned early on I was serious about my candy. This was about the same time I learned he can INHALE gelato. So when we were out this weekend we ran into a brand new Powell's in Burlingame. Did I mention they have a non stop showing of willy wonka and the chocolate factory, complete with old fashioned movie seating. The DH and I just sat on the bench and watched child after child enter this "sweet heaven". Their eyes grew as large as thier smiles. For this was the first time they had been there. Oh, what a delight!

Here is another lady who is so serious about candy that she wrote a book about it. It is called Candy and me, a love affair. I loved reading this novel. It felt like my life as well. If you get a chance to read it, it will bring back memories of childhood, experiencing the joy of a sugar high.

So as I sit and munch on my starburst jelly beans, and rejoice in the coming of easter soon (that means more jelly beans readily available in the local stores), I have taken on a new knitting project. I saw it on someone's blog last week, and thought it might be something fun and challenging to make.
Darling baby sock mary janes.....
I am on the third row, and I have already used my new knitters handbook twice. Not really a good sign. Wish me well! I have a ton of baby gifts to give away soon. yikes...
So get out and get yourself something sweet!