tomatoe soup

Remember all those tomatoes I had from my mama's garden? Well how do you make them into a flavorful meal without many spices because they're still on the sea shipment coming from Switzerland and you're too cheap to buy expensive spices in America?

You roast everything to bring out the flavor.

Peppers and later roast the garlic.

Mix in fresh basil and oregano and blend.

Serve with potato/rosemary bread from TJ's and broil with bit of olive oil, basil and top with Jarlsburg cheese.

Invite someone to dinner.

Sprinkle some cilantro on it.

Made-up recipe:
roast-
tomatoes
peppers (after roasting put them in a paper bag to steam and then peel once the skins have loosened)
garlic

add in some vegetable stock
a bit of cream
salt/pepper
1/8 C cream
a bit of paprika (to liking)
fresh basil
fresh oregano
blend in cuisinart or blender


simmer for about an hour to let all the flavors mix fuse together.

Heather came to town!

My best friend Heather was in town last week and I got to see her:)!!!!:):):):)

Cooking this week

Jared and I really love plain yogurt. Well, what's even better is homemade frozen yogurt!

Urban Dare

Saturday Jared and I hopped on BART (so much slower, louder and not as smooth as Swiss trains) and headed to S.F. to do Urban Dare. It's a series of trivia questions that lead you around the city to either a Dare or a place where you have to take a photo to prove you were there. I had the perfect teammate.

This guy was there also. Dean Karnazes. He's the guy who did 50 marathons in 50 states. He was doing this with his son. If we hadn't stopped for pizza at Blondies then we would have beat him. (We weren't really trying too hard to win.)

Here is Jared doing one of the dares. It was pretty easy.

Setting off to our next stop.

For one of the dares I had to find bubble gum in a pile of whipped cream and chew it and blow a bubble.

It's harder than it looks. You try it.

Overall we walked/ran about 6 miles. We ran into one of Jared's old buddies from Google and we joined their team. We were pretty lackadaisical about finishing. At the end we had to do a puzzle in a pub. WE were pretty disappointed that the dares weren't more challenging but it was a fun activity and we got some great exercise and got to see most of the city.

Cooler than a fanny pack

This morning as I was walking the Stanford Dish with my friend Liz we were talking about her upcoming trip to Paris. I mentioned how I wish fannie packs were cooler to wear. They are comfortable and handy, especially when traveling. When Jared and I would travel around my shoulder would start hurting a ton from my purse (especially since Jared would load it up with snacks, water and things he bought, we soon started making him carry the backpack.)

Anyhow, today I found a much better solution for your money and knick knacks.

Johnny really likes Star Wars

Hudson is cute

Hudson is a happy boy

I really need this

I am the queen of the snooze button. This would help me get up in the morning.

Johnny sings Star Wars

Hudson the Grasshopper

Hudson is showing us how to be a grasshopper in Tahoe this summer. "Alice can you jump super duper high like me?" - Hudson

Sun Jar

A couple of Christmas's ago Jared gave me this glow brick. I love it. Well, I remember around the same time I was trying to figure out how to make this sun jar. And you can on instructables. That's how I found out about the throwies and we made a while back. (We should make some more:) Anyhow, they now have this sunjar available at Urban Outfitters. I really need to get a job.

Cute hat

I think this hat it so cute. I was returning something to Urban Outfitters the other day and tried it on. I couldn't bring myself to buy it because I don't have a job yet but my friend agreed that I look pretty good in it:)

Good ol' fashioned toilet brush

I have been on the look-out for a normal toilet brush. One shaped like below. I need to do some cleaning and have looked high and low for one. Target and the local hardware store were big time disappointments.

This is all anyone had. I don't want one shaped like this, I really don't think they clean well. Plus I don't like to keep the grimy disgusting toilet brush sitting in a stand in my bathroom. I think it's tacky and hideous.

Goodbye Fabian

Our friend Fabian who we knew in Zürich and was at Berkeley for a bit working on his PhD has now gone back to Switzerland. Thus we shall meet again because he's decided to do a postdoc in San Diego:) We had a humungous goodbye party for him at my parents house (that's where he was staying for a bit.) He made so many friends in the 3 months that he was here.

Jared and Bubblegum in Croatia

Saw this on a friend's blog and am trying it out:)

Jared runs!

It was a beautiful evening in San Francisco for the annual JP Morgan Corporate 5k challenge. Jared had run it in the past with Google who usually win it every year since they've entered (of course.) However Jared coerced some of this new co-workers at Kaching to run it. Since the company has only 8 employees, there were 3 of them.

Alcatraz. We've swam from there a couple of times:)

I dropped off the guys and then went to go park. Only to later find that I was looking for a needle in a haystack (Jared=needle, sea of over 5,000 people=haystack.)

When I heard that they were lining up for the race by pace I immediately went to the front of the line where all the sub-6 min pace milers would be. Yup, that's where I found Jared.

Here he is waiting to take off.

There were a few corporate characters there.

And they're off!

Here is Jared finishing in the top 50 out of over 5,000. I only had to wait around for 19:52 mins. His first mile was 5:05. CRAZINESS. And that's with a bum knee and without training too much. He's 30 and still near his HS pace. I barely got a shot he was running so fast!

That's my man! Wearing one of the t-shirts Jared drew in the car on the way up with his company logos. (At Google you get nice dry-fit shirts.) I guess you do with what you can when working for a start-up.

Two Jews and a Mormon. One from Israel and the other from Switzerland. So great!

Here's Jared's trophy for running such a great race...me and brownies:)

Blue Eyed Freckle

My friend Katie from college is one of the most creative people I know. She can made something fabulous out of nothing. Check out her etsy shop.

Gaggenau Steamer

I would love to have one of these someday. Such a healthy way for cooking. You can also re-heat food in it instead of zapping it in the microwave. I'll wait until we have a house because there's no room now. I also need to win the lottery...or that writing contest I entered a few weeks ago.

Prep bowls

I WANT THESE.

Everything in it's right place

For the first time in about 7 years I am completely unpacked!

Reminds me of the Radiohead song "Everything in it's right place."

Tomatoes GALORE!

Every summer my mother's garden produces an abundance of tomatoes. Oh they're so yummy. I love the contrast of the complimentary colors of blue and orange.

A sink full.