Even though it's been months since I've done an "On The Table" post, I decided to compile some of the miscellaneous food snapshots I took this month into one post. I notice I tend to post a lot of food photos on
Instagram. I'm not sure why, but food photos tend to overpopulate that app. Here are some that I shared there as well as one or two I haven't posted anywhere except here.
Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies. My favorite part is the stem. Sometimes I feel like I'm alone in this, so I posed the question "Stem or Crown?" on Instagram and overwhelmingly, most people prefer the crown. Only 1 friend likes the stem, too. How about you? Do you eat the stem or just prefer the crown?
Trader Joes is my favorite grocery store. I think most of my California friends feel the same. They have a great cheese selection. One day last week I saw this "Chocolate Cheddar Cheese". Hum...sounds...interesting. But I had to try it. I looked for the smallest piece because...well...what if I didn't like it? Well...turns out...that I didn't like it. It was...weird. Odd. Unusual. The cheese was good sharp cheddar, except that it was too salty. It was the dominant flavor. Then out of the blue I'd taste the dark chocolate and it's like "what the heck is that oddball flavor mixed into this salty cheese???" Sometimes the chocolate flavor would be subtle, I'd almost be like "huh, what was that?" but then the next bite I'd be like "yikes! what was that???". Plain and simple: No sir-I don't like it.
I went 6 weeks without getting my Farm Fresh To You box because my delivery fell on Christmas Day so they just cancel the delivery all together. But I was very happy with this winter box: 10 Mandarin oranges, 2 navel oranges, 2 meyer lemons, 4 apples, 1 butternut squash, bunch spinach, 4 bunches bok choy and a bunch carrots.
So after making 6 batches of caramels in December, I felt like Jimmy and I needed a little sugar detox for the month of January. Not completely stop eating sugar because, well, it's me and Jimmy and that'd be like cutting out air. But just lower our sugar consumption by a bit. I'm not sure how well we succeeded, but we made a little bit of an effort most of the time. Except when we went out to the movies one friday night with our movie buddy and saw Zero Dark Thirty then went across the street to the diner and we all had milkshakes. We've lived here 2 1/2 years and that's the 1st time I've been to that diner. And it was the 1st time I've had a black and white milkshake. Which, if you don't know, is chocolate and marshmallow. I had no idea. When I ordered and the waitress asked "you know that's chocolate and marshmallow, right?" I played it cool, nodded and said "yea." {liar}. But I like chocolate and marshmallow so what the heck. Well it was OMG delicious. But hopefully I'll try to limit it to once every 2 1/2 years. Because seriously. Anyone who knows me IRL (in real life) knows that I consume enough Ghirardelli ice cream that I can't afford to add another type of ice cream based snack to my already very long list of vices.
Someone in our household caught the flu. The other person in our household made homemade chicken soup and was constantly disinfecting every surface and washing hands. It helped. I had 1 bad day and now I'm not entirely sure if I actually caught the flu or just had a 24-hour bug or really bad allergies or what. But, knock on wood, I've managed to escape the nastiness that kept Jimmy home and sick in bed for 4 days last week. He's still not 100%, but he's better.
Since he really doesn't eat veggies, he's been eating more fruit to try to get more antioxidants. I have a love/hate relationship with pomegranates. They're kind of a cool fruit and their seeds are pretty tasty, but you seriously have to have patience to de-seed one. Trader Joes sells them in a small carton already de-seeded, but they're not as good. I learned a little trick that helps a bit. Cut the pomegranate into quarters, then hold it in your hand, seeds down, and wack the skin w/ the back of a wooden spoon. It helps loosen the seeds. But it can be super messy if the pomegranate is overly juicy. Martha Stewart wacks it till all the seeds fall out. I just wack it 10 times or so. Almost 1/2 of the seeds fall out, and the rest are loose so they're easier to pull off. It still takes 15-20 minutes, but that's about 1/2 the time it used to take me.
Do you take a lot of food photos? If so, join me on my "On the Table Monday" meme. Of course, it's not limited to food...
My bbf of 30+ years nominated me, who of course, I am so thankful she's been a huge part of my life all these years. We're lucky if we see each other every other year (I haven't seen her since 2012), but we text at least 3-4x a week, just to say hi and that we're thinking of each other.
1. lots of nieces and nephews and friend's kids, who are like family. Their parents are pretty awesome, too.
3. finding whole sand dollars at the beach. They're so fragile that 99% of the ones you see are broken. So it feels like you've found a real piece of treasure when you find a whole one.
"Today I am Thankful" to be able to spend the day with almost all of the peeps above and 16 more...39 of us together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Now that's a big 'ol blended family!
...the smell of pie baking all day.
...a safe drive down to Southern California
...my closest family and friends are all on the west coast. Sometimes it's tough to see my cousin as often as I'd like to because she's in a different state, but she's only a 2 hour plane ride away. Everyone else is here in California and I so appreciate that my support system is close.
...music.
...naps in the car after a night of not enough sleep
...a heater, warm clothes, down blankets, socks and Ugg boots. It's gotten significantly cooler this week, getting down to the high 30s at night. We're off to the hideaway tomorrow and it's suppose to snow.
A few weeks ago I was lamenting to my friend KB I didn't know what to teach at our stamp club. She told me about the pumpkin idea she posted on her blog and we thought that it could be a good project to show. I also made one into a Christmas ornament by stringing ribbon through the middle of one made with red cardstock. At stamp club tonight, we came up with the idea of making a snowman out of 3 scallop 'balls' by using a 1" scallop for the head, then a 2" & 3" scallop for the body.
I needed another project to teach for stamp club because the scalloped pumpkin/ornament would be pretty quick. When I saw a similar sample of this Stationery Card Holder-Folder at my local crafting store, I knew I could figure out the dimensions on my own. Inside, it holds 4 handmade cards and envelopes that match the outside theme. It ties closed with ribbon. I think this would be a cute hostess gift or teacher gift or something fun to sell at a craft bazaar. I made this one with a winter/holiday theme since it's that time of the year, but it would be cute with Thank You cards or Birthday cards or general No Theme cards.
...a beautiful afternoon in the city.
Jimmy had to go to SF for a quick conference, so I tagged along. While he was there, for a whole 32 minutes, I did some window shopping around Union Square. Got a few ideas for Christmas presents.
When he called to tell me he was done, we walked to Pier 1 and sat by the water, chatting and watching the ferries come and go. We were only "in" for a couple of hours, but as always, enjoyable.
...the husband, who puts up with my shenanigans yet keeps my mind growing every day.
...line-dancing class at Campbell Rec. Lots of knee slappin' fun! Yeehaw!
...a peaceful, quiet day...no errands, no chores, just hanging out at home w/ the husband.
...a comfortable home in a beautiful city and a warm bed to sleep in every night.
...a fun evening crafting w/ friends. Made such cute cards. Getting ready for Christmas, people. Are you?
Today I am thankful for the apples our hideaway neighbor gave us
the tasty strudel I made with a few of them.
Here's a fun meme that's going around on Facebook that I wanted to share here: