A painter in to his work

A painter in to his work, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

We broke out the finger paints for the first time today. As you can see, Davey got in to his work. Yes, we had an earlier than usual bath this afternoon. But he sure is cute and he did seem to enjoy it and get it with very little guidance.



We'll have to do more of this!

Tongue worthy dinner

Tongue worthy dinner, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

What a cutie-pie

The only way he likes his vitamins, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

I've found another dish Davey loves: baked apples. I made a few for dessert last night and, thinking I'd share one with him, I started giving him bites of mine. He ended up eating the entire apple by himself in under 10 minutes. I've never seen him eat so much so quickly.

Tonight I made pasta (another of his favorite dishes) and served the last left-over baked apple from last night. He ate well tonight, as evidenced by his FACE.

First scraped knee

First scraped knee, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Awww. One particularly beautiful afternoon earlier this week, Davey was playing in the back yard in shorts. He was on the driveway under the maple tree when he stumbled and fell, scraping his knee. What a rude shock it was for him! He cried after a moment so I went to him and snuggled. Within 20 or 30 seconds he'd stopped crying and was fine, curiously poking at his knee with his index finger. What a trooper.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dessert, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

For Valentine's Day this year, Mark surprised me with a gorgeous dinner out. Mom babysat and Mark told me to be dressed up and ready to go by a certain time. Then we headed off and he drove us to our destination. Only when we pulled up did I realize we were going to Fleur de Lys, one of the best restaurants in San Francisco. It was quite a delight. We started with a cosmo for me and a red martini with red rose petals for Mark. They brought around a warm, fresh bread selection of fig and pistachio, french baguette and olive bread. The meal was a prix fixe with simply a choice of the main course and everything else chosen for you. Everything was delicious. For the main course, Mark chose the Waygu beef cheeks and I chose the marinated noisette of venison. Yum! Of course they started us off with a d'amuse bouche which wasn't listed on the menu and the desserts seemed endless. With dessert we each had a glass of 1993 Rothchilde sauternes. Mmm.

Sadly the only camera we had with us was our iPhones, so no flashes. But this will give you an idea. :-)

Thank you Mark, I love you!

A hard day's work at the Porsche shop

A hard day's work at the Porsche shop, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Vietnamese caramelized ribs over brown rice medley

Vietnamese caramelized ribs over brown rice medley, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Vegan banana chocolate chip muffin

Vegan banana chocolate chip muffin, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Vegan chocolate chip cookie

Vegan chocolate chip cookie, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

So far, the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook is proving to be a great buy. Every recipe I've made from it has been tasty!

Tonight I baked these chocolate chip cookies and not only did Davey and I like them but when Mark got home he exclaimed, "THESE are VEGAN?!" Yep, they are!

They're very sweet, and now that I've made them once, I'll likely experiment with adding oats and/or raisins in a future batch. But if you follow the recipe you'll get classic tollhouse style cookies.

YUM.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
4-1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
6 TB water
1 C non-hydrogenated, non-dairy butter, softened
3/4 C granulated sugar
3/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 to 2 cups nondairy semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non-stick baking sheet.

in a food processor or blender, whip the egg replacer and water together, until it's thick an creamy. Blending it in a food processor or blender results in a better consistency than beating by hand.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Add the egg replacer mixture to this wet mixture and thoroughly combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it begins to form a dough. When it is almost thoroughly combined, stir in the chips.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes (it took 17 minutes for my oven) or until golden brown. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

The recipe says it makes 1 dozen cookies. I, however, used a 2TB ice cream scoop to measure out the dough and it made 2 dozen good-sized cookies.

Rendezvous with jackie at SFO

Rendezvous with jackie at SFO, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

On Monday night I had the opportunity to see my very good friend, Jackie. She now lives in Sydney, Australia, her home town. However, she had been in Boston on business for a week and had a few hour lay-over at SFO on her way back to Sydney. So I hopped in the car, left Mark to put Davey to bed, and I met Jackie in the International terminal. We slurped on noodle soup, traded gossip and the latest goings on and checked out the exhibit about Warner Brother's Studios. After a couple hours it was time for her to head back through the security check and for me to get home so I could get to bed so I could get up at 5am for an early day in to the office.

It was totally worth the drive. Great seeing you Jackie!!

Yes we can!

I like his views and I love the sense of hope that he brings to the political race. I'm wholeheartedly endorsing Barack Obama and will be casting my ballot for him on Tuesday. I hope you will, too!

Oooo!

Sunny morning in the kitchen, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

Ooo! Oooo! It's not raining, can we go outside?

Ah, my boys.

Davey and Daddy, originally uploaded by jessicafm.

I do love them so!