Monday, July 30, 2007

Happy birthday Polly!


Pluot upside down ginger cake
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.
Here's a pluot upside down ginger cake, just for you!

Chinese chicken salad


Chinese chicken salad
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.
Right now I feel like I could eat this salad every day and not get sick of it. Of course, if I tried that I'd probably find out otherwise. Nonetheless, this salad easily rivals that made by Comforts, formerly my favorite Chinese Chicken Salad. Now that I have this recipe, Comforts will be getting a little less business. That said, it's fairly time-consuming to make. But oh so good. Mmm.

Friday, July 27, 2007

What Philosophy Guides You?


You scored as Utilitarianism, Your life is guided by the principles of Utilitarianism: You seek the greatest good for the greatest number.



“The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”

--Jeremy Bentham



“Whenever the general disposition of the people is such, that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things, good government is impossible.”

--John Stuart Mill



More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...

Utilitarianism


85%

Hedonism


70%

Justice (Fairness)


65%

Existentialism


55%

Kantianism


50%

Strong Egoism


40%

Apathy


25%

Nihilism


10%

Divine Command


0%

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
created with QuizFarm.com

Hedonia: Mint julep poached peaches

Oh, good lord. Grandpa Freiberg probably would have approved of this... or not. Hard to know. But he did like his mint juleps. I may have to try this recipe:

Hedonia: Mint julep poached peaches

Monday, July 23, 2007

A beautiful evening in Sausalito

We received an email this afternoon from my uncle Tom Dreyer saying that he and some friends would be playing jazz at Cafe Rustica in Sausalito tonight. What the heck? I was going to make a Chinese Chicken Salad for dinner, but that can wait another night. It was a hot day, promising to be a pleasant night in Sausalito, some light jazz would be lovely, Tommy's birthday is in two days and... well it just seemed like a nice thing to do.



In fact, it WAS a great thing to do. It was an unseasonably balmy and comfortable evening in Sausalito, Tom and his friends sounded great, the food was alright (nothing to write home about) but the service felt very authentically Italian (down to the waiter who obviously spoke Italian as his first language). Bonnie joined us and shared time with me in taking Davey for strolls when he was sick of staying in one place. At one point I took Davey for a walk to the playground at the Sausalito Library, where he swung on the baby swing (loved it!), nursed on a park bench and felt playground sand between his toes for the first time.

All in all, a lovely night.

Happy birthday, Tommy!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Trio of Summer Fruit Ice Creams


Trio of Summer Fruit Ice Creams
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.
What to do when you've got too many strawberries, peaches and plums? Peach ice cream, Strawberry Sour Cream ice cream and Plum ice cream. Organic peaches from our very own frost peach tree, elephant heart plums from my mom's organic orchard and organic strawberries from the local farmer's market. Eat organic, eat locally! From The Perfect Scoop. Thanks David Lebovitz!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Davey devours a peach


Davey devours a peach
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.
I picked today's ripe peaches from the tree and had a pile of them balanced in one arm as I brought them in to the kitchen. Of course a few dropped free and rolled on the floor. I thought I got them all, but Davey came crawling in from the living room and found one. He promptly grabbed it and took a big (for him) bite out of it. He was intent on eating it, so in to the high chair he went. Darn if he didn't eat the whole thing. When the pit got to his mouth, he gummed it and spit it out. When all was said and done, all that remained was the pit and a little bunch of crumpled up fuzzy skin. Someone loves peaches!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

A fun week

Wow, quite a week we've had here! Mark and Prescott got to go to the Home Run Derby on Monday, having a great time but, sadly, not catching any balls. Then Mark, Prescott, Davey and I went to the All Star game. Again, we didn't get any balls, and while the wrong league one, it was a great game and a pleasure to see in person. Davey seemed to have a good time, though the was too distracted to eat very well most of the day.

Also, this was the second week of Davey's swim lessons, and now they're all done. He is now experienced in getting his head under water and has had practice learning how to get out of the pool, how to scoop, kick, blow bubbles, spit water and float on his back. Not that he can really do any of that, but he's been getting practice, and we now know what skills to continue practicing with him on our own.

On Wednesday, Davey had his 9 month well-baby visit. While he is a skinny guy, not even on the weight chart, Dr. Lee says he is, "Very, very happy." As long as he continues on his own weight trend line and growing physically and mentally, things are fine. The facts that he creeps, crawls, can hold on to things and bear weight on his legs, climbs to standing and "talks" a lot all confirm that he's doing great! The 9 month visit was the best so far, because he didn't have to get any shots. The nurse that works there was dancing a happy dance down the hallway, saying the 9 month visit is her happiest. LOL We like her!

Thursday night we went to El Encanto, our favorite Mexican restaurant in town. Davey had seemed to like some pinto beans on a visit earlier in the week, so I ordered a side dish of whole pinto beans for him (and they didn't charge us for them -- thanks!). Davey chowed down on them like there was no tomorrow! I swear he ate half the dish. Plus he ate some of the chicken from my chicken taco salad (minus any seasoning, of course).

Friday he ate a huge lunch at Kabuki Sushi with Polly, Roslyn and Polly's friend, Lori. Chipmunk cheeksAfter lunch, Davey, Rozzie and I spent the afternoon together, getting Rozzie a frozen yogurt and a shave ice for me. Then we went to the Outlet mall to wander around and let Rozzie shop for her birthday present from us. We decided to get her ears pierced -- exciting! Now Rozzie's 9 and has pierced ears with little ruby studs. Very cute and she was a brave trooper during the procedure. Great job Rozzie! After that we went to Pasta Pomodoro to meet up with Polly, Prescott, Mark, Dad, Linda and Gregg for Rozzie's birthday dinner. Lots of good food for everyone... including... more chowing down by Davey! He scarfed down a bunch of whole-grain (sauce-less) penne, grilled chicken breast, broccoli florets, sweet potato, peach, blueberries and a barley biscuit. Phoof, the guy's getting quite an appetite. Yeah!

After dinner, everyone came over to our house to watch Dream Girls and eat Strawberry Sour Cream Ice CreamStrawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Our peach tree is now ripe, which has launched us in to a peach eating and cooking frenzy. We've found that Davey loves peaches, grabbing one out of my hand as I picked them yesterday, and chomping right in to it. He's basically eating a small peach or so at each meal. As it's a still a young tree (4 years old), the peaches are mostly the size of large apricots. And packed with flavor. Mmmm. In the freezer is now peach frozen yogurt and I'm making peach ice cream today for Gregg Parle's birthday (tomorrow). Of course both of these frozen treat recipes are from The Perfect Scoop.

It seems we have a bounty of fruit around our home, either from our (organic) garden or from the store. Yesterday, inspired by this recipe, I made raspberry lemonade for home and a batch of strawberry lemonade to take to a party (the Gibson family birthday party, which was a lot of fun).

Today Mark, Davey and I are going to Mom's for an afternoon barbecue and to practice our swimming.

We wish you all a happy week!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Friday, July 6, 2007

Our little eater

Love this mug! For a description of what's what on that messy face and chair, go to Click here or on the picture.

But for such a big eater, he's still a skinny little guy! We went for his 9 month check-up yesterday, but poor Dr. Lee was out sick, so we had to reschedule to next week. Their phones were also down yesterday, so they weren't able to call us to tell us. Since we were already there, they did take Davey's measurements:

Weight: 15lbs 13oz (under the charts -- less than 3rd percentile)
Length: 28 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 17-1/8 inches (50th percentile)

So... average height and head but skinny! We'll talk with Dr. Lee about this next week. But until then, I can only think that as he's not lethargic, he's hitting all his developmental marks, he's happy and he eats, that he's just a skinny guy. Heck, it'd be great if he didn't get the Freiberg metabolism!

Pineapple & Banana Popsicle


Pineapple & Banana Popsicle
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.
Okay, THIS is the easiest thing I've made from The Perfect Scoop. And it's wonderful!

In a blender, puree:
1/2 a fresh pineapple (cut in chunks)
1/2 cup water
2 TB sugar (it keeps the Popsicles from getting too icy/hard)

Pour puree in to ice cream molds, freeze and enjoy.

And in this last batch, I had 3/4 a banana lying around (Davey had just eaten the top 1/4), so I threw it in the blender. Most tasty.

Rocky Road Ice Cream


Rocky Road Ice Cream
Originally uploaded by jessicafm.
Yowza. The latest and greatest recipe I've made from The Perfect Scoop is... just... well my friend, Rhett, said it best: Oh. My. God.

It's really like a frozen chocolate mousse with toasted almonds and marshmallows. It wasn't the easiest one I've made so far, but not too difficult, either. It's worth the extra time, that's for sure. It's also worth using great chocolate. :-)