Adiós 2011 It's been fun

2011 was a great year! here are 11 highlights from 2011
1. Hiking a lot in the winter
2. Galapagos in March
3. Guatemala in June-July
4. Finding out we're having a baby!
5. Staying at the same school 2 years in a row
6. Great times with family
7. Fun times with friends
8. Camping trip fun
9. Cooking a lot
10. Parties at our House
11. Amazing times with my husband!

Can't wait for all the new adventures 2012 is bringing!

Here are some of pictures from 2011!












technical difficulties with the pics and they are way out of order... but there's some of the fun times we had this year!

Fry Baby!

Dave got a fry daddy for Christmas and he was very excited for this new gift.
Tonight we tried our hand at frying with one of out favorites- polenta fries.
I tried to make some in disk shapes (the tube kind of lends itself to it) and also some in more of a french fry shape.
They turned out ok- pretty good for our first time frying... next time, we will definitely make them all in sticks they turned out the best with crispy outsides and soft insides.
DISCLAIMER: they tasted much better than they look in this picture!

Now Dave is on a mission to see what else he can possibly fry in our house- apparently he thinks there are no limits. He has mentioned bananas, all veggies, potatoes, fish, chicken and basically everything else.

new stuff!

I realize since I became pregnant I got boring and all I do is talk about being pregnant and my baby plans but it really is hard to not be absorbed when your body is being taken over! We've also been super busy lately!

I tried to update some pages this week while I had some time off- I found a new list of 100 places to see before you die (added to the bottom of my Bucket List page) and also I've been working on going to more of the restaurants on the Best Restaurants of 2011 (from Willamette Weekly) and then I decided to try to go to all the tasting rooms in the Dundee Hills (once I'm not pregnant obviously)

If by any chance you do care about the developments in our life- including our babelet- follow me at http://babeletbaberstein.blogspot.com if not, I'll try to get more exciting and update here again about our Adventures in Life, Cooking, and Travel

Holidays!

Last night was our annual holiday party and cookie exchange! It was great!
However, I was rushing around and had my phone plugged into the speakers (for Pandora Christmas station) and I forgot to take pictures- woops!

It was the first time I didn't make food to serve, I've just been too tired lately. I hit up Trader Joe's frozen appetizers and they were a big hit... maybe I shouldn't slave for days every time I have a party! I bought the little pigs in a blanket (I think they were called Parmesan Pups), Spanikopita, Mac and Cheese Bites (delicious), Spinach Artichoke Dip, and Fondue. We also had chips/salsa, hummus/pita chips and a veggie tray. It worked out well and we had the perfect amount of food.

The cookie exchange went well but I still have a ton of cookies! YUMMMM my friends all brought great cookies. I think about 8 of us participated in the exchange. I bought myself an icecream cake too since my birthday is next weekend and I always need an excuse for an icecream cake!

Last weekend we escaped our busy life and went to the coast for 2 nights. It was PERFECT. We had a groupon at The Inn at the Prom in Seaside for an oceanfront room. The place has been recently renovated and has new ownership- they did a great job. The Inn at the Prom has a perfect location on the Promenade, a block from the main street. Our room had a fireplace, couch, kingsize bed and kitchen! We could see the waves and the sunset from our bed which was nice since it was cold but sunny! We were able to relax, walk the Promenade, walk the main street, eat at Pig n Pancake (yum), and hang out. Dave even was able to get a nice run in. The coast on a sunny day is so beautiful!

Next up- flying east for a wedding and to celebrate the holidays early! Let's hope the flight is nice and easy for me!

Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for this year!
My in-laws came into town for Thanksgiving so I cooked dinner for the 4 of us. Cooking for 4 is difficult because if you have all the food you want- you have way too much!
2011 Thanksgiving Menu:
- Salad
- Bread
- Ham (with my brown sugar coating-yum)
- candied yams (the caramelized kind, not the marshmallow)
- Amazing Spanikopita
- Green Beans
- Pumpkin Roll
- Blueberry Pie

It was a quiet Thanksgiving- Dave worked all day while we cooked then we ate around 5. I did miss my family on Thanksgiving but it was a nice day!

Holidays!

Wow the holidays really came up quick this year!
I know it's been forever since I updated my blog and I even started a 2nd one... that's kind of dumb since I barely can keep up with one.
Truth is- my adventures have been: work, sleep, repeat, work, sleep, repeat, work, sleep, repeat. I'm finally feeling better and am back in the kitchen today- it only took 20 weeks! You can follow my (late) baby updates here

Since I don't have the energy I used to, I decided to break up my holiday cooking this year over the next month. Today is cookie dough day... I'm making the dough and freezing it, then I'll turn it into cookies and bake them in the next few weeks. I'm having a holiday party and cookie exchange on December 10th so definitely before then.
Today's Menu:
Roll Out Cookies- these are some of my favorite to make- it makes it feel so Christmas-ey
Spritz Cookies - I just got the sprtiz press for Christmas last year so I've only tried it once. It will be fun again this year
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies- From Grand Central Bakery (in Portland's) cookbook. These are AMAZING
Peanut Butter Blossoms- the ones with the Hershey's Kiss... such a classic
Still on the to-do list:
I'd like to make some of my favorite Cranberry Nut Bread but I'm not sure if I'll have time. I like to serve it on Thanksgiving and Christmas morning so hopefully I can get some made.
I'm planning to make homemade caramels again this year
I think I'll make my famous cheesecake for our holiday party next month!

Big Changes!

It's been forever since I've blogged and I know I've been slacking. Life has changed a lot in our house in the last few months.

At the end of July, I was offered a position to be a First Grade Dual Language teacher at the school I taught at last year. It's been quite the adventure- the 6 year olds have a ton of energy and I must collaborate very closely with my teaching partner (who teaches in Spanish)

Then, in early August I found out that I am pregnant and that we'll be welcoming our new baby in April 2012. We are very excited to begin this chapter of our lives.

So, for the past 3 months- I've just been working, sleeping, and barfing... my morning sickness is pretty bad but I'm thinking it's about to pass (I'm 14w). I hope so because it's wearing me out. I haven't cooked a meal since early August and finally have my appetite back (as of yesterday, let's hope it lasts).

The next 6 months are sure to be busy and I'm very excited.
In October, we're visiting Penn State for a football game. We haven't been back since we moved to Oregon. I'm excited about PSU memories, good food, and seeing some family.
In November, I'm flying to LA for a girl's weekend- I'm really looking forward to this! I love hanging out with Jordan and Mel!
December we're heading back to PA for a wedding and my birthday. I think we're celebrating my bday in NYC with a Broadway show- one of my favorite things to do in the city. We'll also see our family before the holidays and eat a lot of food
January- possibly a baby shower in PA (TBA it might be early Feb, depending)
February- BabyMoon in San Diego- can't wait
March- nesting
April- Babelet arrives!

just a heads up- my posts will probably become more family related because that is where life is taking me but of course it will still be about my adventures in life, cooking, and travel- just with the extra challenges of a babelet.
Hopefully I'll get better about posting!
adios!

menu for the next few days

I usually menu plan for the week on the weekend. Now that my CSA arrives Tuesday I have to switch that up... it's more challenging than it seems since we usually end up at the farmer's market on Saturdays. The next bunch of weekends we will be out of town so it might be easier.

Saturday night we had tacos- used some of the lettuce and onion we got this week and picked up an amazing heirloom tomato at the farmer's market

Sunday we're having steaks and veggies on the grill. In the grill basket will be: onion, summer squash, potatoes, and possibly some broccoli

Monday is old school- hot dogs, GG's coleslaw (best recipe), mac and cheese - yum!

Tuesday our new CSA will arrive but most likely we'll still be finishing off this one. Maybe chicken, salad, veggies depending on the contents of my fridge

Wednesday- we're going out with friends

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Tuesday is Erika's birthday and I wanted to make a pie to take to summer school lunch. I picked up some rhubarb at the farmer's market (I bought 4 pounds so I could freeze some before it isn't picked anymore).

I decided to try this recipe and make a strawberry rhubarb pie. Usually I'm against combining rhubarb since I love it plain but the stalks I bought were more green than red and needed some sweetening :)

I'll update on Tuesday when we eat it how it went. It smells delicious though!

Raspberries!

I love berries... blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are definitely my favorite.

Because of our cold (crappy) summer so far- berries are pretty late. Strawberries have just finished (and I missed them because I was gone), raspberries and blueberries are just starting.

Saturday I went and picked some raspberries. Unfortunately, the farm I went to only does raspberries, loganberries, tayberries and boysenberries (no blueberries here) so I'll have to go to a different farm later this week.

I picked about 8 lbs of raspberries for my first round of berry picking.

I wanted to eat some, freeze some and make some jam. Last year I think I made too much of each type of jam so the 6 jars I made of raspberry were perfect. I used a different recipe this year and it came out well. Definitely more sour than last year's raspberry jam but that was a little too sweet. With peanut butter, it's the perfect sweetness. I used Pomona's Universal Pectin (instead of Ball brand) and the recipe with 1/2 c honey instead of sugar. Next time- more honey!

PS I hate the upload picture option in blogger! For the life of me, I can not get these in the order I want! Oh well, it's a game for you- put the pictures in order :)

Goal: No Waste!

One of my goals this summer is to have less wasted food. We do eat most of what we buy but my husband is often a little trash-happy and throws away food because it might be a few days old.

Today we had stirfry to use up some broccoli and cabbage and I could've probably added some more veggies but no worries.

I had strawberries that were about to go bad too (I ate over 3 lbs but that last pound...) so I made a strawberry pie. It looks good! I can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

Update: The strawberry pie is AMAZING. Yum. It's pretty sweet, I could probably cut the sugar a bit!

Between the compost and my goal of no waste hopefully i am helping out!

CSA Week 5

OK so this is my first FULL week of my CSA. Last week was tough because I didn't get home until late Thursday night so it was a rush to use all the veggie Fri-Mon

Week 5:

• 2 summer squash
• 1 head red leaf lettuce
• lots of snap peas
• 1 head green cabbage
• 1 small head of broccoli
• 4 onions

I'm struggling with what to do with the cabbage. Last week I sauteed some in butter, made coleslaw and STILL had some left. I'm going to flash freeze and keep some for soups in the fall.

I guess we'll be having some stirfry this week with the cabbage, peas, onions and squash!

what's cooking? CSA week 4

So this week was our 4th week of the CSA and the first week I was home for it! Over the past few weeks it's included: lettuce, onions, pinto beans, arugula (plant), calendula (plant), rhubarb, and some other stuff.

This week we received:

• 2 heads of leaf lettuce
• snap peas
• green cabbage
• beets
• onions
• cilantro (plants)
• strawberries

Since I was away I'm trying to catch up now and cook it all before next week's box arrives on Tuesday.

What's cooking you ask?

• Leaf Lettuce- I'm using for salads
• Snap Peas- I love to just snack on them
• Cabbage- I'm making one batch of my GG's coleslaw and another batch of it sauteed in butter and salt (recipe from the farmer)
• Beets- roasting with some carrots and oil, salt, and pepper
• Cilantro- planted the plant in our garden for now
• Strawberries- dave ate them before I got home or they would've went bad. He did buy me 4 lbs at Costco though
• Rhubarb (I froze it the first week)- I made a delicious variation of Martha Stewart's rhubarb crisp. I didn't have oatmeal (I realized in the middle of the recipe) so I used Bob's Red Mill Museli mix and it gives it a great flavor. I also changed it by using wheat flour and only half the rhubarb (1 lb instead of 2) because that's all I had. I LOVE rhubarb- it's so sour and sweet. I'm definitely in the camp of rhubarb without strawberries- it doesn't need them!

I'm looking forward to next week's Harvest Box (arrives on Tuesday) because this week I'll have the whole week to cook with it!

welcome summer bbq!

My BBQ was great, I had a lot of fun and remembered how much I love to entertain. It was the first party we've had on our deck (in the year and a half we've lived here) and it was perfect.

I had too much food of course but oh well! The leftovers will be great.

summer!

Not much has changed besides that I haven't posted in forever!

I did quit (or "retired from" as I prefer to call it) running and everytime I do try again my knees are bothering me. I think it's weight gain because why else would both knees hurt at the same time?

Oh well... life has been insanely busy- I'm trying to finish out the school year, finish out spanish class, prepare for a huge trip to Guatemala, apply/stress for jobs for next year, maintain my house to a point, and not pass out. I've been exhausted everyday.

I'm having a party/bbq tonight and I'm excited for that. I've never had a party on my deck before but I love entertaining. I've been cooking all morning!

The Menu

Meatball Sandwiches

Chicken Apple Sausage Sandwiches

Chipotle Bean Burgers for the Vegetarians

Corn on the Cob

Variety of Salads (my friends are bringing them)

Mini Cupcakes: funfetti and my mom's whipped cream cake recipe

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Cream Puffs

Hummus, Salsa, Chips, Dip, Cheese/Salami tray

Wine, Beer, Iced Tea, Lemonade

Decisions...

I made the decision this week to not run the half marathon next month. I actually decided I'm not doing any more long runs. Training was giving me a lot of anxiety and I was starting to hate running. My next goal is to run to enjoy running.

I'm still going to Boulder for the Bolder Boulder but that's all of the runs I'll be doing.

I feel free :) My weekends are back!

I love springtime!

Well after a very rainy March- we hit a record: 28 of 29 days of rain (march 6 and 31 it was dry)... I'm happy to be done with March and into April. I know it will still rain but now it should be more springlike and less winterlike! I do love when I see the sunshine and appreciate it more now.

I haven't posted much but I haven't had much new to say...

RUNNING... I just got back into running after a hiatus. I did 2.5 miles on Friday and 7 yesterday. It was rough but my half is now only 5 weeks away so I have a pretty aggressive training plan for the next month

COOKING... this week the goal is to eat what we have- our freezers are full but next week I'm hoping to cook up some lunches

TRAVEL... We had an amazing trip at the end of March to Ecuador. We explored Quito and the Galapagos Islands. It was pretty cool. I do have a lot planned for the next few months- LA at the end of April for a girl's weekend, back to CO for Memorial Day to run the Bolder Boulder, then studying Spanish in Guatemala for 3 weeks in late June/early July. It seems like the calendar is filling right up. In August my family is coming to visit and we're going to the San Juan Islands in Washington- I'm very excited about that!

WEIGHT LOSS... I'm pretty disappointed on the WL front this week. I lost about 5 lbs on our trip (Ecuador isn't very bingeworthy) but I am now back to where I started :( I was hoping that I could keep it off but I have been starving this week (I'm on a RX for ear infections that is making me hungry!)

March is here!

I have been slacking with my blog posts. I guess I've just been slacking in general.

Life has been busy with the usual- work, spanish class, after school tutoring, trying to run, trying not to eat everything in sight... blah!

I'm so excited March is here. I love spring and it's finally feeling (and looking) more like spring everyday! Some daffodils and crocus plants are blooming and I haven't had to wear a jacket much lately (except a rain coat-ugh!). We have had a lot of rain but I guess that's what you get in the PacNW since we don't get snow.

I was planning to do a study abroad/language immersion program in Guanajuato, Mexico for 3 weeks in July. This week I changed my plans and am now going to Huehuetenango, Guatemala for 3 weeks as soon as school lets out. It will be cultureshock I'm sure since this is a rural town in Guatemala (compared to a nice, cultural city in Mexico). It's definitely going to allow me to practice my spanish and increase my conversation skills. I'll be living in a homestay, taking 4 hours of spanish a day, and volunteering in a local school. Dave is coming to visit for a week too which is great!

RUNNING... what's that- oh yeah it's that thing I suck at. I've been trying to get at least one run in a week but my pace has been super slow. Like 14 minute miles. I have the Shamrock Run (8k) tomorrow and last year had a 12 minute pace on it. I hope my legs speed up but this weight gain in the past year really has me dragging.

TRAVEL... we are going to Ecuador next week and I'm excited but not sure what to expect. I usually just wait to get there and then let all the experiences seep in. I'm excited to practice my spanish and see another country. I'll have to let you know when I get back :)

COOKING.... I'm really into cooking lately and it's a new found love for me. I am trying to do a massive cook-day about every 3-4 weeks to feed my lunches for a month and a bunch of dinners. Last time I made lunches for me of mac and cheese , tomato bisque, cheeseburger soup (mostly for Dave). I also made 6 meals of Spaghetti Pie, 4 batches of Ritz Chicken Nuggets, tacos and some other stuff. This leaves gives us a good base of dinners and then we fill in with steaks (easy on the grill), egg burritos, pizza and other quick options. It really makes dinner time more enjoyable for us.

We subscribed to a CSA this year! It starts in June and I'm pretty excited to try out new foods and cook healthy meals. This is something I never thought I would do but it's pretty cool! I hope I love it. I'm not good with uncertainty, I hope a box of veggies doesn't give me anxiety! lol

Super Bowl Party/Food

I love parties. I'm excited we're having some people over for the superbowl tomorrow. I just started some of my cooking and will do the rest tomorrow morning.

The menu:

- Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes (Dave's favorite cake so I'm making them for his birthday). I can't wait to use my new cupcake tree I got from Melody for the GGroup Secret Santa exchange.

- Wendy's Chili

- Spinach Dip (with veggies and bread as dippers)

- Chocolate Covered Strawberries (using Allison's recipe)

- veggie tray with hummus

- beer

- wine

- etc

I'll probably add some more stuff at the last minute. I tend to freak out that there won't be enough.

I also made my lunches for the week: Cheesy Broccoli Soup. I added more of each veggie than the recipe calls for to make it more WW friendly. YUM it's good. I made 14 cups of soup so that's good for my lunch for the next 2 weeks! I made this last month and it was amazing. Dave's been begging for me to make it again. This time I used way more broccoli and it looks like green slime. That's ok, it tastes good.

Happy February!

Wow, January flew by... I'm thinking most of this year will- it seems to go by faster as I get older.

Last weekend we had an amazing time in Bend, OR with some friends. We went snowshoeing on Saturday then skiing on Sunday and Monday. It was beautiful there and we had so much fun!

WI this week I maintained- which considering what we ate in Bend was a miracle. To reach my goal I need 7 lbs in 7 weeks. I know I can do it. I need to just make sure I'm back OP first thing Monday morning (I really struggle with socializing on the weekends)

Today I went back out there for a (Very Slow) 4 mile run. Tomorrow I have 6 scheduled. I need to get in some exercise during the week, not just plow out the long runs on the weekend. I want to make sure I don't get injured. I'm still torn about my gym membership... I'm not really using it but I hate to quit - just in case... I really do love to swim and have intentions of going

A few weeks ago we went on a hike in Forest Park (practically our backyard)- what an amazing place! We've been lucky and have had great weather here in the Pac NW in January. It's 50 today :) I'm excited to explore more of this huge city park this year! Hopefully we'll have a lot of time to hike this year!

We had scheduled a trip to Egypt for Spring Break about 3 days before all hell broke loose there. Rebooking and replanning a trip was super annoying and stressful (Not to mention their banks are still closed) but I'm very excited we're now rebooked and going to Ecuador for Spring Break. I''ve always dreamed about going to Egypt so I am pretty bummed but Ecuador should be pretty cool too. We're going to Quito and the Galapagos and I can practice my Spanish!