Apple Nachos

During the party season, you might want to consider taking these delicious treats to an event. They are called Apple Nachos, and there isn't really any prescribed recipe, but I found the idea here. I'm sure you could substitute caramel topping for the peanut butter if calories are not an issue, but these have just the right amount of  sweet in the chocolate chips for me. I took them to a party on Sunday and left some with the hostess who put the leftovers on her oatmeal the next morning. She said, "Outstanding! Setting me right."

Calder at LACMA

Somehow I got it into my head that it would be fun to take a swing by LACMA after our afternoon in Westlake Village. I had seen the ads for a new exhibit of Calder mobiles, and I just love his work. Now that I have a membership to LACMA, it makes sense to drop in, even for just 45 minutes, since we can get into the exhibits for free.

Of course, the 35-minute drive from the edge of Ventura County took over an hour, and by that time we were starting to feel the effects of that 8-mile hike. Nonetheless, I am glad that we stopped in to see the art. The exhibit was not huge, so we could take our time in enjoying each of the pieces. I wish I could have taken photos because the shadows cast were pretty cool as well as the art itself.

However, here are some images for the blog anyway. The first one is one of the permanent Calder sculptures that sits outside at LACMA. I took this photo back in June.

I had never seen Urban Light at night, so I snapped this shot. They need to replace one of the lights….

This is the cover of an invitation for new members to attend a reception for the Calder which is this Wednesday - not a great time to get into LA for us.

Hiking and Peru Friends

We call them our Peruvian friends, but only because we met them in Peru. Yesterday was our second reunion since our August trip, and we met out in Westlake Village for hiking and a meal. The hills just south of the 101 offer great trails for a good workout and some nice views. When T asked if we wanted to go on the 1 or 2-hour hike, I volunteered for us all for the 2-hour version. I probably should have asked him how many miles, because I might have chosen the shorter hike. The 2-hour hike turned into 3 hours because it was nearly 8 miles, and I know that I cannot walk 8 miles in 2 hours when part of it is hiking uphill.

However, it was a great post-Thanksgiving workout, and we not only enjoyed the exercise and fresh air and friendship, but the meal afterwords was delicious (and so delicious that I forgot to take any photos). T made pisco sours that were just how we remembered them in Cusco, and HK cooked up a few Peruvian dishes. TO brought a quinoa salad and we brought that most Peruvian of desserts, Portugese bread pudding from Euro Cafe. 

View of Anacapa Island and another Channel Island

Joys of Home Ownership

The photos below are not for the faint of heart….

If you are like me, and you have a dishwasher, you probably don't look at it too closely. But a few days ago, I noticed a spoon had slipped out and when I reached to get it from the bottom of the dishwasher, I noticed that the part that traps the gunk was, well, disgusting.  Since we seem to like home projects on holidays, we (read I) thought it would be a good idea to dismantle the appliance and clean it out but good before the onslaught of Thanksgiving dishes. It took longer than I thought it would, and we couldn't completely take out the bottom part, so I had to improvise on how to clean between the thingies. First I worked on it with a screwdriver, then H thought I should squirt water on what was leftover with the water pik from the bathroom. Then we ran a few short cycles with distilled vinegar.  In the end, it was 95% cleaner than before I started, so I was happy. I think I'll check on it more often now...

Before

Disgusting

Much better!

Thanksgiving

What a delightful Thanksgiving 2013! We had some of the very best Thanksgiving food ever. Not many of our traditional recipes (except for the zwiebach), but rather new versions of old favorites. I think I mentioned earlier that C had a board on Pinterest devoted to recipes to try, and this is basically what we had. 

Instead of a roasted turkey, we had a turkey breast that was rolled and filled with stuffing. The mashed potatoes had crispy shallots and some amazingly delicious mushroom gravy (B had made the stock from scratch). We found a recipe from Real Simple magazine for cheesy sweet potatoes, and the pumpkin pie had a praline topping which was, in turn, topping with fresh whipped cream (and a little brown sugar and bourbon).

It's a good thing we went to the gym this morning and then had a nice 30-minute walk through the colleges after dark. I may not need to eat tomorrow....

Raffle Winner!

On Saturday we went to Dale Brothers Brewery for a Movember fundraiser. Mostly we went to see our friends and have a pint of Pomona Queen, one of my favorite beers.

Before we left, I bought two raffle tickets and on Monday I got a call from one of the organizers of the event to tell me that I had won one of the raffles. He dropped off my little basket of goodies which includes a grunt (small growler for filling with beer), a gift certificate for filling the grunt, a glass, a bottle opener and a coaster.

Fun!

Cherry Birthday

Happy Birthday to my guy! I was looking through H's family photos today and found this one which I like for several reasons. First, I love his and his sister's intensity with the candle-blowing. Second, I like the cake pedestal that is a family heirloom that we now have in our kitchen. Third, I am reminded of the kind of cake that H always wanted back then - a white cake with whipped cream for frosting and then cherries poured over the top.

These days, H's favorite birthday treat is a cherry pie, and if he can have a piece after lunch and dinner, then he is a happy birthday boy. Last night we enjoyed dinner with C and B, and they brought over a homemade cherry pie for dessert, and today we still have some pieces left.

Goodbye Millikan!

Pomona College's Millikan building, home of the Math, Physics & Astronomy Departments, took a bit hit this week as the walls started tumbling down (on purpose). Built in 1958, it has been one of the older buildings on campus and has been in great need of updating. You can read about the project and see an artist's rendering of the new building here.

You can also see more photos at my friend's blog here.

Looks like an ancient ruin here

Quizlet

We have discovered a great way to create and use flashcards to work on our German vocabulary. The site, quizlet.com makes "simple tools to let you study anything, for free." You have a choice of creating flashcards for yourself (for any subject), or mooching off of looking at sets that others have created. For foreign language vocabulary you can have the flashcards show both languages at once (seen below), or either language hidden which flip over with a click to reveal the other side. You can star any card to create a subset of words to concentrate on. One added bonus is audio where you can listen to the pronunciation of the words.

Quizlet was started by a 15-year-old boy in Albany, CA who wanted to learn French vocabulary.

Currently I am working on the 100 most common German adjectives, 29 of which I have starred.

Interpreter of Maladies

Quite awhile ago Jhumpa Lahiri's short story collection Interpreter of Maladies was recommended to me. Considering that I have enjoyed The Namesake and The Lowland, I'm surprised that it took me so long to get around to it. I bought a copy at the church rummage sale last month, so I had no excuses, and having recently read The Lowland inspired me to put it at the top of my reading list.

It's good. Glad I got around to it!