A weekend in Utah

Jared and I spent last weekend in Utah visiting grandparents and friends. It was nice to see some winter. It's been 70° and clear sunny skies in California. I'm really sorry to everyone else who has endured a harsh winter. If you get sick of it just come out to California.

The day after our arrival went up to Ogden and spent a nice afternoon with my Grandparents. They have a gift for anticipating your every need. On the drive up I was thinking how pizza sounded good and then we rolled up to a yummy Italian place in my Grandfather's Audi. Oh it was perfect. Then my Grandfather gave us a tour of his art studio (the cleanest one I've ever seen. I think he'd be horrified if he were to see my art space.) On the way home I was craving chocolate but also dairy. Low and behold we were offered ice cream and delicious truffles. Then I was feeling a bit tired and Grandfather suggested I take a nap. PERFECT! I did, for about an hour. Waking up to needing something sweet. Grandfather sensed this and offered me a glass of orange juice. I don't know how he does it. It's amazing.

That evening we were back in SLC and went to dinner at a Thai place with my Aunt Susan, Uncle Tom and cousin Pete and his wife Thea who is due a week before me and is also having a boy. OH JOY! (Bytheway, spicy food hasn't effected me yet during this pregnancy, I'm still loving it and so does the baby.)

The next day we rolled on down to Provo to visit Jared's Grandmother. She was such a doll and showed us photos of Jared growing up. He was always smiling or wearing running clothes.

Then we stopped by bYu for some memories and...

THE BEST CHOCOLATE MILK EVER from the BYU creamery. Oh how I love this stuff. I could have drank 5 bottles, but I settled for one. Jared got their new cookies and cream milk...YUCK is all I have to say.

Jared wanted to wander around the CS and Math buildings...then we headed to the HFAC (art building) so I could reminisce.

Back up to SLC that evening to see Meredith and her husband Baptiste who we haven't seen since Paris in Nov. of '07. We ate at Cafe Rio. I wish so much that they lived in California.

(why am I not looking into the camera, I dunno...but the other photo was blurry so it wasn't post worthy.)

OK, probably one of the highlights of our trip was cousin Lucy. We stayed with my Aunt Stephenie and Uncle Scott with their three children. Oh Lucy was such a delight.

Lucy pulled me down to the floor only because she wanted my scarf.

Then we turned around and saw the scarf around her shoulders and she was checking out her reflection in the oven. It was so cute! Later she came over to me will a little smile and a wave trying to charm me into giving her my camera. When I said "no" she tilted her head, beamed a big smile and signed, "PLEASE." It was so funny. This kid's got personality.

The cutest church outfit EVER!

Ben, Grace and Lucy all dressed up for church.

On our very delayed, via Las Vegas (sitting in an airport tring to read your book while listening to slot machines is highly irritating) flight home Jared got some beautiful shots of the sky. I didn't bring my nice Nikon with me so all of these photos aren't quality and I had to do some redeye patrol.

Postcard blog

I am contributing to a blog with some friends of mine from college. It's a postcard swap. Check in every month for new postcards created by my incredibly artistic friends and I.

http://papermail.blogspot.com/


I will also be updating my art blog more often. I no it's been a while.

http://coloraccidents.blogspot.com/

Sweet Potato Biscuits

A lot of people have been asking for the sweet potato biscuit recipe. It's from Food 2.0 by Charlie Ayers. He is a former Google chef and I highly recommend you buy the book.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
MAKES ABOUT 15 PREP TIME:3O MINUTES COOK TIME:15 MINUTES

1 small sweet potato, cut in small chunks
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut in 5 pieces
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp wild-blossom honey

>Cook the sweet potato in boiling water until soft, about 6 minutes.
Drain and mash well. You need about 1/2 cup.

>Preheat the oven Io 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone
baking mat or parchment paper.

>Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a
bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry
blender (or use your cool fingertips to rub it in) until the mixture
resembles coarse crumbs.

>In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, mashed sweet potato, and
honey. Mix the potato mixture into the flour mixture until just combined

>Turn the mixture onto a floured board and knead gently, one or two
times, just to bring the dough together. Press out into a round about
1/2 in (1cm)thick. Cut out biscuits using a
3in (7.5cm) round cutter or
g1ass. Knead the trimmings and cut out more biscuits.

> Arrange a little apart on the baking sheet. Bake until the biscuits are
golden, about t5 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool slightly. Serve warm
or at room temperature, split open, with butter and honey.

Sweet potato Quesadillas

My mother has this incredible talent of taking leftovers in the fridge and whipping them up into something fabulous. Once I was over and she made sweet potato quesadillas with goat cheese. Well I made my own version the other day. I happened to have a Japanese Sweet Potato in my fridge and some sun-dried tomato tortillas. So I put that together for our Sunday evening meal.

I used up the gorgonzola instead of goat cheese.

And carmelized some onions.

Charms

I always hang these charms that I've collected over the years. I finally go around to putting them up. One of them is a mobile I got in Africa.

Art Shelf Project

I'm working on a project to get my art corner set up.

First coat too yellow. Gonna go back to the hardware store and have them add more blue.

Don't you wonder what I'm doing with these?

All I can say is thank goodness for s husband who has precise measuring and cutting skills.

The Nursery

Lots of you have been wondering about the nursery for our baby. Well here it is. We figure with all the books our boy will be a great scholar! There's a rocking chair there in the corner that my mom is letting us borrow. If he can't sleep at night he'll have easy access to the internet to research programs from the best Universities to apply to.

This corner is where the crib will be. I guess I will have to move some of my art supplies.

Miles and Matthew

When I was at my parents house last week I was rummaging through a closet and look who I found? Miles and Matthew. They'll be staying for a while.

I thought Jared should get used to having a kid in his office since it'll be the babies room also.

Cooking some more

It's fun to make up new combinations for salads. This is, a pear, cranberry, walnut, avocado, chive and gorgonzola salad.

I reduced a cup of balsamic vinegar and added a tad of oil, honey and dijon.

Sweet potato biscuits.

Brussels sprouts sauteed in butter and dijon with some herbs, I can't remember which ones I added though. I might have added a bit of honey also.

I didn't win

I entered this writing contest to win $3000 in hopes of buying Jared a new bike...but I didn't win. Here's the story in case you're interested.

The Best Day

I was nervous earlier that week because it had been raining, and I wasn't sure if we would have clear skies in Zermatt that weekend. I checked the weather five times a day. It was very important to me that the weekend be perfect. I wanted beautiful views of the mountain, and I wanted the sun to be shining brightly because that's what my father would have wanted. He loved the mountains, he loved trains, and he always dreamed about going to Switzerland. He had a photograph of the Matterhorn up in his study ever since I could remember. My father would have loved the gorgeous train ride from Zürich, through luscious green valleys and beneath jutting peaks.

Friday evening my mom and I met Jared at the train station. It was still really light at 7pm because it was mid-June, my father's favorite time of year. He loved the sun, the heat, the long days. It was still light enough to see the beautiful rocky cliff faces rising up on both sides as we traversed the valley floor. We switched trains twice, and the last train traveled up steep terrain into Zermatt, Switzerland, the small mountain town where the Matterhorn lay.

Two years ago, a few days before my father died, after a three year battle with a rare form of lymphoma, he made me promise to go visit the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland for him -- an adventure I didn't realize would come sooner rather than later. In June, on the first anniversary of his death, I married my sweetheart Jared. Soon after, Jared was reassigned to Zürich, Switzerland. The following year, my mother decided to come and visit us, to spend my father's favorite time of the year in his favorite country. We planned a trip to Zermatt for my father's birthday, also in June, to honor him.

The morning after our evening train ride, I woke up to perfectly clear blue skies. I opened the window to see a beautiful view of the extraordinary mountain. We got dressed and hopped out the door. The sky was a cerulean blue, forming a beautiful dark contrast with the bright summer-green foothills. We took a cogwheel train up a mountain opposite the Matterhorn for a great view. As the sun rose in the sky, the temperature climbed -- just how my father would have liked it. We went into the tiny chapel nearby, lit a candle for him, and set it apart from the others because my father was a bit of a recluse and loved his space. That’s partly why he so enjoyed spending time in the mountains.

We gazed in awe at the mountain from as many angles as possible that weekend. Being there with my husband, noticing the similarities between him and my father was a wonderful experience. My husband is calm and peaceful, and he likes to withdraw to a tranquil setting to read or to run, like my father did. When my father and I summited Ayers Rock in Australia seven years ago, I remember seeing him sitting cross-legged, away from the crowd, taking in the solitude of the desert. On this day, atop a mountain opposite the Matterhorn, my husband did the same.

Each view of the Matterhorn revealed a unique and striking aspect of its character. As the sun progressed across the sky, it cast new hues upon the mammoth mountain, much as the years had revealed my father's many quirks and strengths to me.

"Dad would have been in heaven here," I told my mother.

"He already is," she replied.

More of Jared's 31st Birthday

Jared asked for a yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday. Which was absolutely perfect because I've been craving that same cake for a few weeks now.

I made one cake and thought that just 2 layers would be wussy. So I made another one and ended up with a 4 layer cake. The first time I've ever done a layer cake. It was fun.

Half way through I ran out of frosting and had to make more. I'm not so great in the estimation department. Good thing I had a back-up bag of powdered sugar.

We had a few people over to celebrate. I don't know if I was singing or taking a deep breath while Jared blew out the candles.

Oh it was good. So one of the cakes was marble cake. Close enough to a yellow cake I thought.

Jared turns 31!

Last weekend Jared turned 31 and since he worked so hard this fall and didn't really get a good break over the holidays (too many events) I thought it would be a good idea to surprise him with a getaway weekend where we could relax but didn't have to travel much.

He didn't know anything about where we were going. I picked him up a bit early from work and we drove down to Half Moon Bay to stay on the beach. It was the most perfect weekend. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was 65-70° the entire time.

Here is our hotel by moonlight.

As soon as we checked in we headed out for a brief walk.

Then we returned to change for dinner and found complimentary strawberries dipped in chocolate for Jared's birthday. Little did they know I brought my own strawberries that I dipped in chocolate for Jared. Mine were better.

Jared getting comfy:)

The next day we casually got ready (of course Jared went out for a run first) then wandered around downtown Half Moon Bay.

Found some random shops.

And a kite store. Jared bought himself a kite for his birthday.

View from our room.

Another shot of our hotel.

Jared sets up his kite.

We sat on the beach for a while and read until I got uncomfortable and then headed back to our room to change and go swim some laps. Then we drank hot chocolate and watched the sunset while being serenaded by a bagpiper.

I got some relaxing in also!