The White Board

For those of you who may be wondering what I'm doing since I quit Wildflower, this post is for you. I started working at Midtown about 2 months ago. At first I was working on sorting and organizing inventory, but then there was an opening in screening and I started working there. That has been going well, the crew we have is excellent. Since it is baseball season, our busiest time of year, I got to jump in with both feet and already have learned how to wash, emulsion, and burn screens, as well as getting to do some of the screen printing. I just learned how to use our six pallet machine today, which means I've now used 3 of the 4 machines we have. Also today, I got my name on the board! This is where Greg, the head of screening, writes what everyone is supposed to do that day. I'm official now.

Between

 Jaime and I took a walk Friday to enjoy the time between rain storms. Everything was green and smelled delicious.

When we got back, she casually threw a dart and hit the bullseye, shocking us both!

Enjoying Spring

I was inspired at Heather's house after school this week. Their flowers were blooming and I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

More Birthday Fun at Disneyland

On Wednesday, Jaime and I met the Nickells at Disneyland to celebrate March birthdays; Jaime's, mine, and Evan's. Jaime and I got there first and went to Disneyland, where we rode one of our favorite rides, Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we met up in California Adventure, where the kids wanted to take us on the Toy Story ride. The wait was long, but it was a great ride. We got lunch together, then split up. Jaime and I went back over to Disneyland.

We went on the Jungle Cruise



Big Thunder Railroad

and saw a pirate ship from Tom Sawyer's Island! We also went on the Haunted Mansion and got a frozen lemonade.

 We met up with the Nickells again for dinner and birthday cookies. Evan's birthday was Wednesday, so we made cookies that said "Happy" "b-day" "Evan" and everyone got a cookie with their name on it.

After eating, Jaime and I returned to California Adventure to use our FastPasses on Tower of Terror. It was a great ride! Then we found spots in our viewing area for the World of Color show. We were there 40 minutes early, but we still didn't get a great spot. The show was impressive. When it was over, we went on the Toy Story ride again and got to see some of the fireworks from Disneyland while we were in line. After the ride, we hopped back over to Disneyland one more time to use our FastPasses for Indiana Jones. We still had to wait awhile for that one, especially because the ride broke down for about 15 minutes, but it was a good one to end the day on. We headed out to the car and took turns driving and sleeping on the way back, arriving home at 3am.

Pottery with Evan

For Evan's birthday, I took him to ArtZone on Monday to make a piece out of clay. We were hoping to throw on the wheel, but the wheels weren't there so we decided to pinch pots by hand instead. It was a fun project to work on together and we both ended up with little bowls. They will fire them for us, then we get to go back and glaze them, then they get fired again before we get to pick them up. That evening, the Visalia Rescue Mission was having its second annual Empty Bowls event. Mom, the Nickells, Jaime, and I attended; for a $25 donation to the Rescue Mission, we got to pick out a hand made stoneware bowl made by local artists to take home and we ate a bowl of soup. 

You can imagine how excited we were that the potter's wheels from ArtZone were there and they were letting people throw on them! Especially because my friend, Andy, was one of the artists there helping people throw. Evan was brave enough to try it and he did such a good job, it was so cute. This is much harder than he makes it look.

Birthday Dinner

Since Evan and my birthdays are only 4 days apart, we celebrated together with a family birthday dinner on Sunday. We had spaghetti with sausage, garlic bread, and Caesar salad.

We had no trouble agreeing on what to have for dessert: apple pie!!

We each got to blow out candles on a pie.

Then it was time for presents; don't worry, I got some too :)

French Baking with Brenna

Our friend, Brenna, came to visit us this weekend and it was so good to see her! Heather and I were talking about baking before she arrived and because Brenna studied in Paris, speaks French, and went to France with Jaime and me, we thought it would be appropriate to have a French themed baking weekend. So, our baking menu included French Macarons, baguettes, and crepes. On Saturday, Heather and the kids came over and we got started with the macarons. First, we had to make almond flour by food processing almonds and then sifting them. This turned out to be quite the chore, but we finally got enough for our two recipes.

While Heather finished up the flour, Brenna and I started whipping and coloring the egg whites.

Our egg whites whipped to stiff peaks.

Next, Heather folded the egg whites into the dry ingredients.

Then she piped them onto the cookie sheets while Brenna and I worked on the second batch.

Piping the second batch.

Coming out of the oven. We had to cook each pan separately.

Brenna and I started on our second project, baguettes. This recipe was much simpler.

Micah helped knead the dough, look at those precious little hands!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the kitchen, Heather was frosting the macarons. 

Then she had a photo shoot and got some great shots.

Here we are with the finished product. The macarons were tasty, but a lot of work.

The baguettes were also tasty, we had them with our dinner of almond crusted chicken and broccoli.

The next night, the whole family came over for Sunday night dinner and we made crepes for dessert.

Heather mixed up the batter and Brenna and I did the baking.

The results were delicious.

Chocolate Molten Cake

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pie on Sunday (Again)

Last fall we thought it would be fun to have Sunday night be pie night. For some reason or another, that didn't end up happening very many times. We decided to revive the thought for tonight at least. This is a chocolate peanut butter pie from my favorite cookbook I've used called "Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie" by Ken Haedrich. It was a Christmas gift from the Nickells in 2005 and has resulted in many delicious pies that don't disappoint. Tonight's pie was no exception. It had an Oreo crumb crust, a peanut butter/cream cheese filling, and a chocolate mocha topping; rich, creamy, and delicious, plus easy to make!

Wine and Chocolate

An after dinner treat, combined with strawberries and oranges dipped in chocolate.