Mi Casa - San Diego

Monday, October 25, 2010

Fall -- Apple Cider Recipe!

Look what I picked from my garden just yesterday!

Not bad for the end of October!

Fall is here!

And it seems that this time of year is always busy.

School is in full swing.

We are getting ready for the holidays!

(I would have uploaded more pictures but I am having some technical difficulties.)

I would like to share a recipe for Apple Cider.

It is a family favorite this time of year.

It makes the house smell great!

And it warms you up.

Perfect for Halloween night after trick-or-treating.

Hot Apple Cider

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 quarts apple juice

1 t. whole allspice

1-1/2 t. whole cloves

2 sticks cinnamon sticks

Put brown sugar and apple juice in crock pot (if you don't have a crock pot just put it in a pot on your stovetop.) Add spices, if desired wrap whole spices in a cheescloth. Cover and cook on low 2 to 8 hours in crock pot. On stove top bring to a simmer and it will be ready in approx 45 min.

I reuse the dried spices....you can just keep adding more juice and brown sugar as needed.

Happy Fall!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Random Update

I have not posted in AWHILE!

What have I been up to?

Nothing too exciting...

just keeping up with the everyday stuff.

Kids, kids activities, cooking, cleaning, organizing.

Thinking about all the projects I WANT to do, but not making to0 much progress.

I will have to correct that.

The next two weeks the big kids are on fall break.

Ellie is off this week.

What do we have planned?

Well, Ben went here with his Academic Decathalon team.

Do you recognize the skyline?

I have never visited this city...just the airport.

It is Chicago. He left yesterday and will be back on Saturday.

I am sure he will have lots of fun!

Madeline and I will be going to San Francisco for a quick over night visit.

We definitely plan to go here.

We also have reservations for Alcatraz.

We also want to hit Union Square, Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, ride a cable car...

I think we will have plenty to do.

I finally got brave enough to trim "E"'s hair!
It had grown very long!
She has only had one trim...
before she turned a year old.
Her hair was turning quite green on the ends.
We were calling it mermaid hair.
I may need to have someone fix it up in a few weeks...

But, I think it went pretty good for MY first hair cut!

Yesterday we went to what has become Ellie 's favorite place.

The New Children's Museum in San Diego.

She really wanted to bring her big sister (unfortunatley I did not take any pictures of her yesterday :(

They have this really cool rainbow tunnel jumpy that has become her favorite!!

She would have nothing to do with it the first visit.

There are many other fun things to do there...

very focused on hands on art, there is a rain house,

a rock wall, clay, chalk, paint, chariots....lots of fun, not your typical museum.

Have great day!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

New Show --- "Mad Hungry"!

Have you heard of the new show Mad Hungry?

It is part of the Martha Stewart entourage

but don't let that turn you off!

(I know some of you are not Martha fans, I for one do like her for the most part. I like to dvr her show that way I can skip the segments that do not interest me but I digress.)

Lucinda Quinn is the author of the book Mad Hungry.

It came out last year or maybe early this year.

She has been on the Martha show many times, and is one of the hosts of Everyday Food.

Now she has her own show which began on Monday.

It airs on the Hallmark Channel that is 343 for Cox Cable Viewers in San Diego.

Her emphasis is family dinners, and she even has her "boys" in the kitchen with her.

Yesterday she made a great Flat Roast Chicken you can find the recipe HERE.

It looked easy, and because it was flat it is a little faster than roasting a chicken.

Today she made these great bagel sandwiches you can find the directions HERE.

She had a good tip for bacon.

She cooks a big batch in the oven. Then freezes it, and wraps it individually, that way you

can pull a piece of bacon out to put in your sandwich without having to actually cook the

bacon everytime....it is already PREpared beforehand.

Doesn't that look yum!

Let me know if you check out her show!!

I think it has potential for some good recipes and tips.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Pretend Play...

"E" is proving to be my best "pretend" player!

She cracks us up everyday!

Most recently she wanted a guitar!

So I quickly put together a paper towel holder, a shoe box and some rubberbands!

And guess what?

She loves it!

(I didn't even do a very good job...I was in the middle of making dinner.)

She wants to take it with her everywhere!

She took it to Sports Authority and "strummed" some songs for the employees.

Grandma picked this flapper costume up for her for Halloween.

It doesn't look like she likes it does it?

This is her chef's costume my friend Wendy got her last year for her birthday!

She still wears it all the time!

This picture was taken just last week.

Her older sister has gotten involved and they have gotten creative in coming up with costumes, but my teenager would not be too happy if I posted those...they are pretty funny!!