BfD

When I ask my boys, "Should we have pancakes for dinner?" and they reply in the affirmative with a resounding cheer, "Yay!!!" I think, "I have the best kids in the whole world!"

And the Not-As-Exciting...

While J was in the Pacific Northwest being Mountain Man, I took the boys to New Mexico to see my parents. Here are the Monkeys and Grandma Kim. So happy to be there...


Grandma, H, and O built this awesome ranch in the family room. H didn't want me to take his picture.


We drove to Albuquerque and visited with my friend Rita and her husband Sne.


We went to Explora Children's Museum. It is the coolest place. I highly recommend that you go there the next time you are in Albuquerque. S put together this gear system, complete with elastic and handles.


O worked on this one by himself,


and H made a friend who helped him with his.


In addition to our Albuquerque trip, we went to church in Gallup, played with the coolest toy ever invented -- namely Legos -- splashed in G Kim's kiddie pool, ate our fill of yummy homemade Korean food, read lots of books, and watched "Toy Story 2," "Night at the Museum," "The Sound of Music," "Mary Poppins," and "7 Brides for 7 Brothers." I was reminded of my mom's crushes on Captain Von Trapp, Howard Keel (Adam Pontipee), and Frank (you know, Frankincense, 'cause he smelled so sweet) and my own crush on Gideon (ah, Russ Tamblyn, you cutie!)

This is summer to me:




And the partying isn't over yet. We have G & G Kim coming into town on Thursday and my wonderful friend Emilia coming on Friday. Ahh summer!

New Favorite Cookie

Here is a link to the recipe for my new favorite cookie -- and it's not even a cookie!

If you like Thin Mints (the Girl Scout cookie) you will love these! It is so easy and so so yummy. The blog it's from is my friend's sister's-in-law and it's a great resource for all things food storage.

Annette, this is mostly for you to repay you for the cinnamon toast recipe. I can't thank you enough for introducing that bit of yumminess into my life!

A Running Update

In case you were wondering...

I went running last week and OUCH. Sore for a few days.

I had a podiatrist appointment on Monday, and he said that I won't be doing any damage by running on it as much as I want (within reason), even though it may feel like I am damaging it quite a bit. I can handle the pain. I took that as the go-ahead and ran 2 miles on Wednesday. Not a lot, but I'm planning on 3 tomorrow and 5 or 6 by the end of next week. I'm kind of on the accelerated plan since the Wasatch Back will be upon us before I know it.

J took me up to Striders (a running store) in Layton on Saturday. They have a really neat foot analysis thing where you step on this mat and it sends all the information -- pressure, contact, etc. to a computer. Then they can see what really happens when you walk/run and can recommend the best pair of shoes possible. I came home with a new pair of running shoes and a renewed excitement to run run run! Now, the homemade strawberry ice cream I just ate is trying to talk me out of the 6:30 run tomorrow morning, but it will not win. It will not win. Well, it might win. I'll let you know.

For Erin...

Here is a super yummy recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Even though there are inordinate amounts of butter and sugar in it, it still feels healthy to me because of the oat flour.

Combine:
1 C butter
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 C oat flour (dump 3 C oatmeal in the food processor, turn it on, and voila!)
2 C white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
chocolate chips

Bake in 375 degree oven 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown

Early

The Holidays started early for our family this year. G & G Kim showed up on our doorstep on Thursday -- three days earlier than originally planned. We didn't tell the kids that they were coming, so I was silently giggling as I listened to O's reply to my suggestion that he see who was pulling in our driveway: "It's just S, isn't it?" followed two seconds later by the shriek, "It's Grandma and Grandpa!!! Mom! H! Grandma and Grandpa Kim are here!!!"

When S arrived home, Grandma presented the Monkeys with gifts -- a book and a notebook each:

The next day they were able to participate in our family pictures (more on that later):

They even had a sleep-over in the front room on Friday night with all the boys. J and I had a great little date night of our own in our room watching the most recent episodes of "Glee" and "The Office."

On Saturday after my mom and I bought gifts for O's birthday and our kids' Christmas, S, O, J, Grandma, and Grandpa went climbing:
,

and then to Pirate Island. While there, they celebrated O's upcoming birthday by getting balloon animals:

They even had one made for H, who stayed home with me to nap. During those three hours of nap and blessed solitude I made 2 quarts of pumpkin ice cream, one pumpkin pie, and 4 dozen cookies. It was a great afternoon.

On Sunday morning after cramming a turkey into my crock pot, our little family left for church. Grandma and Grandpa stayed home to enjoy the quiet. When we burst in the door three hours later we were greeted by the wonderful smell of Thanksgiving.

At 4 o'clock on Sunday, we had our Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey so tender it fell apart, mashed potatoes, corn, homemade cranberry sauce, rolls made from scratch, rice, kim chee, and home made root beer (a brief bragging post on the dinner to come):

O and Grandpa bonded, Grandma was adored (as always!), and we began our holiday season with a bang just a few days early.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

(On a side note, I really liked having Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday before. I actually had forgotten that Thanksgiving wasn't over yet and was puzzled for a minute at the grocery store today as to why there were so many turkeys left in the freezer thing. For me, now that S is out of school for the rest of the week, it's like the week-long vacation after Christmas! I love it!)

Thanksgiving Dinner

I don't usually brag about my accomplishments, really because they are few and far between, but I'm really pleased with how Thanksgiving dinner turned out.

Let's reminisce...

10 years ago J and I had our own little Thanksgiving Dinner. Well, that was the plan. In reality, we choked down a few pieces of charred, burnt turkey and swallowed some cold, lumpy potatoes. Poor J -- newly wed, sitting down to a horrendous dinner, probably wondering if that is to be his fate when it comes to food for the rest of his life. Brave, patient J.

So we took a 10-year break from doing our own Thanksgiving Dinner.

Back to the present...

I don't know why more people don't cook turkey in the crock pot. It's magic. The only drawback is that the turkey comes out so tender it falls apart and is not browned and pretty, but who cares? When the white meat is as tender as the dark and just as juicy, pretty doesn't matter. At least not to me, but that's the way I roll in general -- function over fashion. Anyway...

The rolls came out great. I know this to be true because it's all my pickiest eater ate for dinner. He easily devoured 4 rolls in one sitting. We don't need to reminisce about my bread making attempts -- they're better forgotten!

My mashed potatoes have been extremely popular fare ever since I invested in a potato ricer. Go get one today -- totally worth it.

And the rice and kim chee? Standard side dishes for any extra-special holiday meal if you grew up in the Kim household. Easter ham + rice and kim chee. Christmas duck + rice and kim chee. Thanksgiving turkey + rice and kim chee. It's not a major holiday without rice and kim chee. If you're brave enough to try it, join us for Christmas and experience dinner Kim-style!

That's all. Oh yeah, the pumpkin pie and pumpkin ice cream rocked. End of dinner-bragging.

Stressed?

This morning H crawled into bed with me at 5:30. S's alarm went off at 6 and 5 minutes later, fully dressed, he crawled in with us. O awoke, got dressed and headed downstairs. S promptly leaped out of bed, ran down the stairs after him and scratched him on the back. Apparently O was supposed to wait so he and S could go down together. Wailing ensued. Over the next 2 hours we went through administering hot pepper powder, top-of-the-lung singing at breakfast, drumming on the table, whiny piano practice, and fighting in the car on the way to school and back. In the hour and a half since we've been home from school I have made 2 batches of cookies and 2 quarts of ice cream. I think I'm stressed. Counting down the days when J'll be home from his week-long business trip...

Anniversary Weekend

J and I are coming up on our 10-year wedding anniversary, so this past weekend we headed up to the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City for some good quality alone time together. The FJ took up most of Friday afternoon, but once all that was settled, we headed to The Pie Pizzeria for dinner. Then to REI to pick up a jacket J ordered for me (and won't stop throwing water on while I'm wearing it because of its awesome water-proofing properties). Finally to the Stein. We'd been there once before for an anniversary and loved it, so we knew what to expect. We weren't disappointed. Here are the chocolates we found as an anniversary gift:

They look almost too good to eat. The best chocolates we've ever tasted.

The balcony with the hot tub overlooked the mountains. Comfy bed, sofa, beautiful kitchen, and most of all -- so wonderfully quiet.

We spent Saturday in Park City and then hit Ruth's Chris Steak House for dinner. Steak -- yum. My husband, creme brulee snob that he is, pronounced himself well satisfied with their version of that delectable dessert. I had the banana cream pie with the caramelized bananas on top -- oh, heaven! Ok, enough food talk...

Sunday was so nice and relaxing. I don't even remember what we did, but the best part of the weekend was not having to rush back on Sunday. When we made our way home just after lunch, I realized that the weekend had been perfect -- rejuvenating, relaxing, and reconnecting with my sweetie. A great way to celebrate 10 years!

I've Been Domesticated

When J and I first got married, I was no stellar cook. I liked to think that I was a rather inventive cook, but the inventions were just barely edible. I also grew up eating rice and kim chee at least once a day and don't mind the repetition or left-overs. J, on the other hand, likes variety -- and tasty variety at that. He had to have a lot of hope to stick with me through those early years of our marriage when our meals were definitely not "a thing of beauty and a joy forever."

Well, here we are, almost 10 years later. I've added variety, aesthetics, and more vegetables. When I ventured into bread making last Fall, I had prepared myself for lots and lots of practice runs before anything edible came out of the oven. That turned out to be true. I also cycled through many different recipes before I settled on a whole wheat one that I liked. Maybe I should've chronicled my journey, but usually I was too anxious to think about running for the camera. This time, though, well, see for yourself.

And, as an added bonus, it tasted really good too. "Toot! Toot!" (That was my own horn.) Here's the link to the recipe:

http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2009/06/another-whole-wheat-bread-in-mixer.html

I halve the recipe because my mixer can't handle 4 loaves. Maybe one day in the not-too-distant future when the boys are teenagers and eating me out of house and home I'll spring for a Bosch.

Food, some more

The Ragnar was grueling. A total of 17-ish miles, no sleep, port-a-potties (not a fan, but grateful nonetheless), stinky people in a van for 30 or so hours. But the worst part? Food. Trying to figure out what to eat and when and worrying about when and how it will come out.

We packed bagels, Pringles, homemade chewy granola bars, grapes, bananas, oranges, fruit leather, Starbursts, Dum-Dums, Cliff Bars, cherries, yogurt, granola, and water (of course). Now I have a kitchenful of bagels, Pringles, homemade chewy granola bars, grapes, bananas, oranges, fruit leather, Starbursts, Dum-Dums, Cliff Bars, yogurt, and granola.

There was a high school that sold a spaghetti dinner, complete with whole wheat roll, salad (Don't eat the salad! It will come out too quickly!), corn, and fruit cup. It was a good refueler, but who knew that the timing had to be so perfect? I, thankfully, timed it alright (stop eating 5 hours before the next run), but others weren't so lucky. We saw a guy running off the road into the bushes to take care of some business. So glad that wasn't me.

After the race was all over, I was finally able to eat whatever I wanted. Did I? No. I was too tired. J and I ordered Outback Carry-Out and made it through half of our meals before we decided to just hit the sack. Even today, two days out, I don't feel like anything, but I'm eating anyway. (Whole 'nother story to that one. The Emotional Eating post is yet to come, and I'm warning you -- it'll be a doozy) So now I ask myself: how healthy is running anyway?

Creme Brulee

J made creme brulee for Mother's Day. Actually, he started on Sunday night and finished on Tuesday. I think it may have just been an excuse to buy a blow torch, but I'm glad he did. It was wonderful! Smooth, mellow custard and a yummy, crunchy top. Mmmmmm. We shared it with our neighbors (didn't really want to have to run off 2 cups of heavy cream!) who liked it better than the creme brulee they had at a really fancy restaurant. J is an awesome cook. His dinners are intricate and delicately flavored affairs. He's well acquainted with the herbs and spices and seems to have an innate sense of what would taste good with what. He is just venturing into desserts, and I have mixed feelings about it. Of course they are delicious and mouth-watering, but I'm fighting hard to run off the back fat. Does he really want more of me to love?

Food Thoughts, Part I

Doesn't that just make your mouth water? You know you want some. Hot, sticky, moist rice, a pair of chopsticks, and kim chee.

I've been thinking about food lately. I think about it a lot. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. This is Part I of an infinite-part series on food.

Today, I think food is ok. Last night I made a big Korean meal for a family in my neighborhood. I really like Korean food. Despite the fact that I fried about half the items on the menu, I feel like it is really healthy. Just a little meat, lots of vegetables, a good, hearty, spicy soup, no butter, yummy rice -- you can't go wrong. There is an objectional smell associated with kim chee, but when you ferment cabbage with with green onions, garlic, and red pepper, what do you expect? Korean food is my comfort food. I could eat rice and kim chee, maybe some jang jo rim thrown in for variety for every meal. I think I'm turning into my dad.

Sometimes food is my enemy. I am running a race in June. I run 4 days a week. When trying to be fleet of foot and aerodynamic, some foods are not friends.

Brownies,

cookies,

Skittles,

S'mores,

Twix

mmmm. There's that moment. You know the one I'm talking about. You're contemplating the treat. Looking at its sweet beautiful form. You think,"I'm going to have to run you off tomorrow. Will it be worth it? No, I won't do it. I'll have an apple instead. No, I went for a run yesterday, I think I can handle you. You are so desirable and yet I hate you too. What's that all about? Should I do it? Yes! No! Here I go..." And really, it usually turns out to be so worth it. After all, life is to be enjoyed, right? Anyway, I've been told and have found from my own experience, that your appetite changes after you consistenly exercise for a while. It's really true. My body craves healthier things now, but once in a while...

I think I'll just go make dinner.