Pumpkin Waffles

While in San Diego we went to breakfast at this awesome little cafe called Cafe 222. I highly recommend it if you are ever in San Diego...

Anyway, my favorite was their pumpkin waffles. One of the girls found the recipe. Here it is:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron

• Accompaniment: warm pure maple syrup

• Special equipment: a waffle iron (preferably nonstick)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.

Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices.

Whisk eggs in a large bowl until blended, then whisk in milk, buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth.

Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.

The restaurants website also has other delicious recipes. I think we ordered one of everything on the menu!

www.cafe222.com

Exciting Week

We have had an exciting week and it is not even Halloween yet. Here are some highlights: Last night the young women put on a party for the primary. It was quite fun but also quite possibly the longest hour and half of my life. I got into the spirit with my witch hat!

The cutest was that our group put on musical chairs... there were a few boys who would try to offer their chair when a little girl did not get one. Apparently chivalry took precedence over competition. Someone is raising those boys right!

Oh, here I am in the hat again! Carson and I went to Gardner village with all the cousins, aunts, nana, great grandma and crew! They have witch displays everywhere! It was a great time. I, of course, picked up another witch hat and started stylin' it.

Here we all are at Archibald's. If you ever go there, you must try the Garlic Lemon Chicken... fabulous! Carson ended up eating most of Liesel's mac n cheese. I brought my hand grinder and we were all set.

Lesson that I learned this week: Gone are the days of laying him down for a nap and he is out. I heard him chatting away and this is what I discovered. He was pulling off his red socks and wacking the little animals on his mobile. Since then I have found that white socks are not quite as tempting.

He also waves bye bye to his mobile animals as they pass by. He has loved them since day one. As soon as I turn the mobile on he starts flapping his arms and getting SO EXCITED!

We also had to raise up his crib this week since his attempts at climbing out.

That's my little mister!

Girls Weekend

Just returned from an absolutely fantastic 4 day weekend in San Diego with my book club friends. What a fun book club, huh? Loving our Charlies Angels pose?


Highlights of the trip:
80 degree weather
Jake and Dante-our rejected Hollywood actors turned Haunted Tour Guides
Animal print purses
Hotel Circle Drive--or should I say 'loop' since we never got anywhere on it!
Pumpkin Waffles
Californios
Ida Bailey's History
"The Women" at Balboa Park
Duck Pond at Seaport Village
Anchor Poses
The Pregnant Lady having more energy than all of us
Ice cream in Old Town
Sunset in La Jolla
Jayna securing a parking space against all odds
California Dog Craze



oh, and of course the seals. Wait, those were surfers!

Autumn

The weather is absolutely perfect today. 70 degrees and a great breeze. I realized most people say Autumn goes too fast so I need to enjoy every moment of it.

Carson and I hung out in the backyard. Since yesterday he is becoming an avid crawler. He gets very excited about leaves, usually holding onto one for an entire day and once in a while proudly holding it up for me to see. Now that he is mobile, anything is possible in his little world.

When I brought him out back he practically flew because he was so excited about all the leaves. He grabbed one quickly into his death grip and would not let go. Then, he discovered his shadow. The more he saw his active shadow attempting to take flight by waving his arms, the more vigorously he waved. At one point, I was convinced he might go airborne.

I thought about my "career" days in my past and could not think of one day that rivaled today.

After getting out all possible energy, I laid him down for his nap. He threw his cute little bum in the air and fell fast asleep. I just went and checked on him. Clutched tightly in his left hand, one crumpled leaf.

One more pic

This was J's favorite pic, so I thought I would add it.... from this distance you can't see the frostbite forming on the poor kids' fingers

Pumpkin Patch

Last night we went to the Pumpkin Patch. If you only knew how long I have waited for the moment(most women visualize and plan their weddings, I visualized and planned my pumpkin patch trips) that I could bring my kid to the pumpkin patch. Of course, things don't always live up to the expectations you have in your mind.
We rushed through dinner and bundled up...and arrived only to find out it closed in 10 minutes. Since I had volunteered to also get 6 pumpkins for Young Women's we had a short amount of time to pick pumpkins, take pictures, and get out of there. We also needed our pumpkins too and usually like to find the biggest ones (last year we found a 42lber)We sat Mister (Carson) in a wagon filled with pumpkins as we scrambled feverishly. When I went back to grab him, I realized the poor kid was shivering violently and freezing! Easy going as he was, he did not make a peep.
We truly did have a great time but it may be worth it to make it back one more time before the season is over.

Food Storage

No, this is not a picture of my food storage. Wouldn't you have been so impressed though?

The truth is, we are just now starting to focus on our family food storage. Better late than never right?

Up until recently, we had several 72 hour kits, two buckets of dehydrated foods from Costco ( I highly recommend in case of a grab and go emergency) and that was the extent.

So, I went online to www.lds.org , filled out the calculator and form for the basic items we would need for 3 months and figured I could just go pick it up at the Distribution Center. Right? Wrong. It is much much more complicated.

I am now in the research and act mode and need your help! We did go to Macey's the other day and purchased some things but I am SO overwhelmed.

Comment about ideas, suggestions, things that worked for you. I will update my blog and hopefully help someone else as I journey on my quest for adequate food storage.

In the meantime, if you have a one year supply...give me your address so I can include it on the list of homes to camp out at in an emergency!

Yummy Avocado

Last weekend I needed an avocado or two. I did my shopping at Reams and all of their avocados were rock hard. I was shopping on Friday and needed them for Saturday. Hmmm..what to do.

That is where friendly Mr. Produce Guy came in. He told me to put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana and they would be ripe by the next day. I was skeptical to say the least.

When I got home I realized I did not own a paper bag. At this point, I thought, well it is not really worth it and they are really hard. But, I did lay them next to the bananas overnight.

Guess what? Perfectly ripe the next day. No Kidding! What was weird is the pit was still not ripe but the avocado was.

My friend solved the amazing mystery. Apparently the gases emitted from the bananas ripen them.

That being said, I may try an experiment next time and put them next to my husband overnight.

My Little Canadian

Because I couldn't resist....

Tagged by Jayna

I have been tagged.

7 Random/ Weird Things About Me

1. My feet get claustrophobic and if covered, can send me into a near panic attack at times
2. I LOVE the smell of sulfur
3. I still pride myself on my spelling bee success in elementary school (I mean seriously, get over it) and kick myself for not making it to national
4. I hate "collections" or when people collect things! It drives me crazy
5. If you pop your knuckles around me, be assured... I just threw up in my mouth
6. My two favorite ice cream flavors (because who can really choose one?) are German Chocolate Cake (only offered at BR during the Fall) and Bubble Gum
7. I am absolutely, totally tone deaf and uncoordinated but dream of being in a theater production one day

I tag:

1. Jessica
2. Natalie
3. Karen
4. Britney
5. Esther
6. Kristin
7. Beth

Bottled Water

For the person who found the 24 pack of water I left at the bottom of my cart in the Ream's parking lot....

Enjoy it. It was paid for.

Pedoodles!

I love these shoes! These are designed for new walkers, with a soft sole which is better for their forming feet. Check out the website:http://www.pedoodles.com/section.php/11/0/These two are my favorites. You can enter to win a pair by going to:http://nowenteringmomville.blogspot.com/2008/09/pedoodles-shoes-giveaway.htmlAnd if you have a girl... there are a ton of cute girly shoes too!