Weekend in Review: Failure to see Thomas

This weekend really I had one big goal... bring Arin to finally see Thomas the Tank Engine *in person* down at the Edaville Railway. Last weekend it rained, so that was out, so bright and (sort of) early Friday we got in the car and headed down. Mom even left work so she could come with us and enjoy the fun of riding on a real life Thomas.

Sadly, things did not go as planned. Instead of taking 495 which I had intended, we took Julie's advice to go 95-93-24 which was disgustingly congested the ENTIRE way. The trip was supposed to last 1:45 total, but after two hours spent in hot, sweaty traffic (my car A/C is dead) and not even close to our destination we realized ... I had forgotten *my camera* at home. This is a vital component of any trip I take. I STILL cringe to remember the weekend in Cyprus that we went to the Troodos mountains and I forgot my camera... it was the most beautiful, exciting scenery ever and I missed it and it haunts me to this day. Honestly.

So we stopped at a BJ's to use the restroom and you know, BUY a camera. Until we brilliantly figured out that even if we did, the battery would not come charged and we were out of luck. Then it started thundering, and considering how late it already was and how far we were from the place still, we decided to throw in the towel and aim for another day. Of course, since we were so far south, we decided might as well stop at the Wrenthem Outlets for lunch and shop a bit!

We ate lunch at Cracker Barrell. I don't know why but I freaken love that place even though nothing I get usually tastes good. Bobo was extremely cranky and throwing stuff, so we decided to skip the Outlets, let him sleep in the car and then... go up to Costco buy a Wii instead! We had talked about it on the way down and decided that we needed the Wii Fit to get in super sexy summer shape, and that our house needed something fun.

So, we've been using the Wii a LOT over the weekend. Bobo loves watching the little Mii's run around, especially when they squeak or play tennis or something bouncy. And man, my hips are hurtin' from all that Hula Hooping. We used to have a Wii at the apartment when they first came out, and I really miss it, especially playing doubles tennis... only problem is I want to play Zelda again and this Wii didn't come with it! I guess spending my time on Wii Fit is more productive than slashing orcs with my sword though, so I'll live...

Saturday, which turned out to be the day it did NOT rain (until evening) we didn't head down because we thought it was going to rain... what a waste. We planned to go down this morning (Sunday) but then at the last minute decided that no, the forecast said it was defininately going to rain and why waste the extremely long car ride. Well, it didn't really rain until evening AGAIN, but I'm telling myself down there it was pouring all day... And tomorrow, which is the last day, guess what the forecast is? RAIN.

So, we will probably just go to the town field and watch the elephants set up the circus instead. I don't think Bobo will sit still for the circus this year (it was really hard to get him to not run off last year, and he was a lot less mobile then!), but anyone can go and watch them unload the animals and put up the tents... in the rain. :)

Evening at the Playground

These were taken a while ago at the sledding hill playground in South Nashua... the one near Lilac Blossom (to which we went for dinner tonight, but alas it was raining AGAIN so no playground time for Bobo). It's just about a minute away from our old apartment in Royal Crest, and I didn't even realize there was one there until Mom mentioned it.









Bobo had a great time! There was enough stuff kids his size (under 2) that he could run around and do things and not get into too much trouble... but of course then he wanted to climb on EVERYTHING, including the big structures that have steep drops and very tall slides!











We're going to go back as soon as the Great Flood ceases... it's been raining for almost 40 days straight here, talk about a fun way to spend a June... and on the two non-rainy days we've had the bugs outside have been RAVENOUS and will attack anything that moves, so that's no fun at all. :/

My Little Bookworm

Arin loves books... he loves to read them on his own, flipping through and looking at all the pictures and pointing out what's what... and even more he loves being read to. He can't get enough of his books, and has been this way ever since he was a teeny tot.



Here we are in our pajamas reading the Little Critter Collection book... we also have a bunch of these single books in paperback, which were mine when I was little. I found a lot of my old books, though there are still many more that I'm searching for. One set that he really likes are the Berenstain Bears. We just found them the other day, and I forgot how much *I* loved them too. We only found two, so I went on ebay and ordered five more, not to mention an ebook that Alex found for us.

Now all I need is some kind of storage solution for these books that Bobo won't rip apart in five seconds flat... whenever I put his books away the next thing you know they are all back in a messy pile on the living room floor... it has just become a decorative feature now! I don't know that a bookshelf would help, but I read somewhere that old magazine holders might work, the kind where you can see the fronts of all the books like in doctor's offices. I don't know, I just know something has to be done... we need more room to play on our Wii Fit now!

Cardamom Cookies

We were at the Indian store the other day to buy some masala spice mixes for my cooking. Bobo came in and was not having a good time, even though I was! Go figure. So in order to distract him while I was weighing the pros and cons of cumin and ginger to ground mango powder and chili, my mom grabbed a bunch of little cookie packets which were on special. One packet she grabbed was... CARDAMOM flavored.



If you've ever tasted cardamom... well, I wouldn't say exactly that it belongs in a cookie (or anything, imho), but that's great about trying food from other ethnicities, right? Well, I thought they were gross tasting, but Bobo LOVED them! Guess that's his Bengali roots showing through. :)



Even better than the weird flavor which Bobo scarfed down with delight... was the design of the cookies. As you can see they featured active sport shapes on the front and back... almost as if to show that if you eat enough of these cookies, they will make you good at sports!



Well, something that tastes so nasty has to be good for you, we always say. :)

Playing Cat's Cradle with the Sofa

Designations of Creamy Deliciousness

So as I was pouring the last of our farm-fresh ridiculously expensive glass-bottled heavy cream (which we got while strawberry picking) into my hot cocoa, I once again pondered the various types of cream and dairy products. I could never get a straight answer as to what the difference between heavy cream and whipping cream was. I tried to look it up before and things were still unclear, and finally tonight, wikipedia cleared it up for me! Hurrah!



So here in the US, this is the differences between creams:

• Half and Half (10.5–18% fat)
• Light, coffee, or table cream (18–30% fat)
• Medium cream (25% fat)
• Whipping or light whipping cream (30–36% fat)
• Heavy whipping cream (36% or more)
• Extra-heavy, double, or manufacturer's cream (38–40% or more), generally not available at retail except at some warehouse and specialty stores.

So... heavy cream may or may not have more fat than whipping cream at the store, depending on who's making it... but if it says both heavy AND whipping then you know its the hard stuff. :)

Also, more fun dairy products:

• Clotted Cream (UK) is 55% fat and soooo delicious, mmm!
• Butter is about 80% fat depending on the type
• Plugrá is 82% fat and a type of butter my dad is obsessed with
• Sour Cream (12-18% fat) is soured with bacteria until thick
• Cream fraiche (28% fat) is only slightly soured and less thick than sour cream, mmm!
• Malai (India) is similar to clotted cream, its heated slowly to thicken

So there, the fruit of my research! Now I could go for a nice scone with jam and a big dollop of clotted cream... anyone else?

And for fun, check out this chart of the progression of various dairy products from milk and how they are all connected.

Attack of the Great Blue Goo

Eww!



Bobosaurus Vs. the Blue Goo from Beyond (sounds like one of those Godzilla sequels)...




It's actually just blue Go-Gurt gone awry... Bobo likes these things but you don't get as much as you do in a yogurt cup, and I have to sit there and constantly squeeze it up for him... what a pain!

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

Bobo and I were dancing the other day, right before we went out somewhere and Bobo loved it! He thought dancing for the camera was the best thing ever... but most of the shots came out blurry and just deleted them in the camera... not realizing that I deleted all but one of the Bobo! So here is mostly me (following Miz Booshay's rules of getting in the picture more often)! :)

Jane Austen Heroine

Take the Quiz here!

Before I started this blog I would always see fun little quizzes and memes that would go around everyone else's blogs, and wanted to join in. Now that I am actually posting on my blog, no one I know has posted any!! But, I found this one on a site I came across and decided to do it. Especially since I haven't been posting lately.

We've been busy and the rain has just sucked the life out of me... three weeks now of ucky rainy days... and I LIKE rainy days. It's just too much, we need some sun, and to finally get into the pool which is sitting there all clean waiting for us! Maybe then I'll have the energy to post up some pics. ;)

One I Love

" When the fire to ice will run
And when the tide no longer turns
And when the rocks melt with the sun
My love for you will have just begun "

Posting is like Jumping off a Really Big Rock

Ok, so not really... I'm just doing a bunch of other stuff! I have millions of Bobo photos to put up, seems once again I'll never get around to everything. We've been doing a lot of projects/summer cleaning around the house and I've been spending a large percent of my 'computer time' doing stuff related to my summer class... which I'm finding pretty challenging compared to the previous two. Heaven help me come fall when I will be taking FOUR, including the super deadly horrifyingly impossible DBA III class (if I even get into it... eek).

On the Bobo front we're moving steadily into shrieking season and tantrum city, but also getting the joy of hearing a ton of words and a lot more comprehension of the way the world around him works... really amazing to see the little wheels in his mind turning! He is showing increasing knowledge about time, night/day, nice/mean, which foods he prefers, and how to express what he wants. I can't believe he's almost two, and it seems he gets bigger and smarter every day! He's a completely different creature from the little cuddle munchkin he was a year ago.

Travelogue Project

A project I have been wanting to do for a loooooong time was to finally put all our travel photos up in one place... over time I put various trips up on various websites and that's all fine, but I want a place where I can leave them as large as I want, and write stories about what was happening in each one if I felt like it...



So finally I settled on the brilliant idea about making a new blog for my old travels. Yey. Now just comes the actual doing... That's what this picture is from, I'm going through my hard drive and cd's, looking for where to begin and came across this. It's from Pompeii, an old withered tree growing in an ancient roman house, reaching desperately upwards towards the light of day. I find it symbolic for this project. :)

I'll post a link to the new blog up on the top of this one next to 'HOME' and 'FLICKR' once I get a few entries up over there. Stay tuned!

Mexican Cinnamon Sugar French Toast

When my mom came home from Mexico, she told us about this amazing french toast she had for breakfast there, and how it was to *die* for. She was going to recreate it for us, and bought a loaf of thick Texas Style bread to do so. She didn't quite get around to it, so I decided to give it a try based on her description... so here is my Mexican Cinnamon Sugar French Toast:



First start with some thick bread, my mom found this Texas Style bread at the store. Then whip up some french toast batter... throw in a few eggs ( I think it ended up being almost a whole egg per slice of toast) and... *heavy cream*. I know, super extravagant... but this is a very rich breakfast. Add a splash of mexican vanilla and whisk together. Then dip in your toast, let it soak up a bit on each side, and fry up on a buttered pan.



While your french toasts are sizzling, pull out your blender and make a quick batch of whipped cream... using the heavy cream again! But, as a fun twist, add some mexican vanilla again, and also some white sugar and some cinnamon. Don't add too much or your whipped cream will be flat, but make sure you put enough cinnamon in to get some flavor going.



Okay, now shake some white sugar and cinnamon onto a dish, and when your toasts finish frying up (you might want to butter them again before this step, to get them nice and sticky... dredge them into the cinnamon/sugar mixture until the entire outside is coated. Mmm. Then let them cool for a few minutes before putting them on a plate and topping with a dollop of the cinnamon whipped cream. *Pure Indulgence*!



Be warned, this french toast is extremely rich... you probably won't be able to eat more than a slice per person. Bobo could not even finish his slice, and I barely polished mine off! Serve with some fresh fruit and you have a lavish breakfast suitable for any amazing vacation resort.

Sarah's Wedding Bands - Joolie's Jewelry

Here are the wedding bands I mentioned a while ago... the ones my sister made for Sarah and Brian... they're finally done! I took a few pictures for her, so here they are. The bands have an outer layer of white gold with design cut-outs which show the inner ring of yellow gold, also visible from the top and bottom. It's hard to tell in the pictures because I took them at night and our lighting was... sub-par, let's just say.






The design on Sarah's band reflects the detailing in her engagement ring (which Brian designed and contains 3 diamonds... one from his mother's ring, one from his grandmother's ring, and a new one for Sarah, how absolutely romantic is that??). Brian's design is an abstract dragon, which Sarah was sweet enough to let him have because he loves them!





Sorry, in these last two photos the rings are upside down! :) Julie's giving them to Sarah tomorrow, I'm sure she'll love them and be so happy to finally have her REAL rings instead of the silver prototypes they've been wearing all this time.

Mutant Strawberry

In one of the boxes of strawberries we got we found this crazed mutant one...




I just handed it to Arin for a second so he could see how big it was, and was going to take a picture of it in his tiny hand... well guess what he did before I could snap the photo? Om nom nom!





I was a little concerned he might become a mutant alien himself, but it's been a while and he seems fine. Maybe he'll get super Spiderman powers when he reaches maturity, and I'll know where it came from...



In the end, after he had taken a few bites out of it, I cut it up (the top was a little ucky) for some strawberry shortcake with cream. Mmm!

My Early Morning Critter

Peekaboo, I See You!

Two Peas in a Pod

I was going through my pictures and just happened to notice that in both these shots, Arin is making the same face my dad was! How funny is that?



Bobo doesn't really mimic people yet, and I'm pretty sure it was just a coincidence that they happened to be doing the same thing at the same time = too cute!