Napa to Oakland to Burbank to Santa Barbara and Back

We went to So Cal on a little business and mostly fun. We stayed with M & L and baby C at their new place.



Monkey was quite excited to finally play with someone younger and SMALLER than her considering her world is filled with people older and BIGGER than her. She was in charge and there was nothing he could do about it.

The power went out for several hours due to some fuse blowing that lots of people thought was a gun shot. The kids loved it, and M was vindicated from accusations by us earlier that day that she is over prepared in the way of lanterns and flashlights.

You may notice that Fancy has had a dramatic hair cut. She wanted her hair short so that she wouldn't have to deal with snarls and blow drying and all that other hair maintenance stuff.



Baby C is asleep in the moby on his daddy.

You win some you lose some.

This is my favorite kind of recipe...simple. Asparagus, pancetta, leeks and EVOO. That's it! Except salt and pepper. This is from Chiarello's Casual Cooking. Super yummy and light.


Homemade butternut squash gnocchi with a sage brown butter sauce. I liked it but Fancy preferred it raw over cooked. Drat.

Since we had so much butternut squash left over we made soup. The recipe called for leeks and potato (two items we also had in our box) and recommended it be put through a sieve. Well, we now know that it must not have meant a Fine Chinois because all we were getting was butternut milk. Once combined back together it turned out quite yummy.
Not featured is my latest red cabbage recipe. I still have two more red heads of cabbage to get through so there is time to find a good one.

Nov- Dec

Everything is done in excess at our house.


Monkey enjoys visiting Fancy's school.


Fancy enjoys hanging upside down at school.



Since Fancy's gym class is a class of one, she often gets lumped into other classes. It does not bother her one bit that they are older, in fact I would say she thrives on the challenge.


She is a busy little kid. Also loves dance.


Rootbeer tasting on x-mas eve.

Keeping track of these guys is a major challenge in the rows of x-mas trees.


Pumpkin patch mayhem.

Fancy's good friend and the one she learns all her climbing tricks from.




Monkey still squeezes into the doll stroller.

Brussels

This is an old one for me now. It is the only way I like brussel sprouts but I LOVE them this way. Baked some up for lunch today. Cut in half, tossed with EVOO, salt and pepper then baked cut side down at 400 for 25 minutes until starting to brown a bit. They come out soft and yummy.