Memorial Day

While most people spend Memorial day at a Picnic or Swimming, we decided to take a slightly different direction - literally.

UP - to the mountains.

We went to Tahoe for a day of skiing.



This time, at a new resort for us, Squaw Valley. Many of the other resorts in the area are already closed for the season, but this one is at a higher elevation - it stays open longer.



Memorial Day was the last official day of the Ski Season. There was still plenty of snow including a fresh 12" from just a few days prior.




It's quite an amazing place filled with history. Where the 1960 Winter Olympics were held. Very cool to see the ice skating arena where Olympic medals were won and the treacherous Black Diamond slopes where the worlds best ski.



The base of the resort is at 6,000 feet, and the snow has mostly melted.

But a quick ride on the Gondola up to High Camp at 8,200 feet, and there is plenty of powder.



Yep - that's a swimming pool in the background. Yep - there were people swimming. Nope - not us (but only because we didn't bring our suites).

Didn't I tell you it was cool?



We might have to invest in some gear of our own - this is not a cheap sport.



A walk around the Olympic Village at the end of the day.







All this, less than 2 hours from home. Did I mention how much I love living in Northern California?

School's Out.....for Summer

I have the urge to break out into song, feel free to hum along.....

note: Alice Cooper lives in Phoenix (more accurately Scottsdale) Arizona, near where we used to live. I've never met him personally, but apparently he is quite an upstanding and philanthropic member of the community. So much for his Shock Rocker image of the 70's.

Little K finished up school last week and her class decided on a Movie Star Party to celebrate.

That celebration was in addition to the other activities that have been going on at school in the past few weeks:

Field trip to the Aquatic Center
Music Recital
3 Day Overnight Trip to Coloma, CA
(where gold was first discovered)
4th Grade Water Play Day

Phew - I am definitely ready for summer vacation after all that!

As much as I wanted to do all the planning for their Movie Star Party, Little K's teacher convinced me that the kids were more than capable of taking care of most of the details themselves.

As a perfectionist amateur party planner who has control issues - those are fightin' words.

In retrospect - the kids has some amazing ideas for their party and did a great job pulling it all together.

I managed to take control of making the cupcakes. This was a perfect time to try out the Popcorn Cupcakes from the Hello Cupcake book.

I used a different technique for the popcorn than described in the book.




Bowl of popcorn?
Nope - they are made from mini marshmallows, cut and squished to look like popcorn kernels.

I used the yellow mini marshmallows (from the pastel bag) and also white mini marshmallows.



With a pair of scissors, cut into each of the marshmallows (about 1/2 way down). I used a different number of cuts for each. (in the photo above from L to R: 3, 3, 2, 4)

Then dip the cut marshmallow in powdered sugar (because the inside of a mallow is very sticky) and squish it with your fingers (also dipped in powdered sugar). Squeezing the bottom uncut portion of the marshmallow so it opens up like a flower, and then flattening each of the cut sections.



I added the popcorn marshmallows to the frosted top of vanilla cupcakes. If you plan on making these - be warned. It takes a lot of marshmallows to cover the cupcakes, so mine ended up looking a little sparse after making enough for 30 students.

Given more time, I would have found/made red and white striped cupcake papers, but I still think they turned out cute - a little plain, but cute.



I made a few mini cupcakes and put them in a popcorn box - just for fun.



Now that I think about it - real popcorn would have tasted good as well (sweet and salty)



The Movie Stars loved them.

All the Party decorations were created by the students (with some on-sight supervision - I just couldn't stay away).



The classroom was dressed up with the Hollywood Hills, Stars from the Walk of Fame, and a Red Carpet covered in balloons and bordered with red paper chain ropes.



They collected autographs from their movie star classmates.



And we put together simple prize buckets for some of the games.

The paparazzi was on hand to snap pictures of all our Stars including Jack Black, Hagrid, Harry Potter, Jack Sparrow, Charlie Sheen, Bethany Hamilton, Quinn Fabray, Taylor Swift and Brittany Pierce. Even their teacher got into character and came dressed as Rapunzel.

It was a great way to end the year. Looking forward to summer relaxation, if only the weather would cooperate.

Tired and Uninspired

I've been a bit uninspired when it comes to packing Little K's Lunches lately.

I still pack nearly every day - but I don't often take a picture. The last time I made a post about them was over a year ago.

I'm not quite sure why I'm losing my motivation?

Maybe it's because she's been more picky in her food likes lately?

Maybe it's because she really dislikes the school lunches - and I'm feeling the pressure to have to pack every day?

Maybe it's because I've been making them in the mornings, and I feel more rushed (instead of at night like I used to)?

Could be any - and all - of those things.




This is one of the better ones I have created lately. Back in April when we had a string of nice sunny days and I was inspired to make a Spring Themed lunch.



But more often they look like this. At least the added flower and cut out cucumber makes it a bit more photo worthy.



Or this - down to just a flower - not even a cute cut out shape.



Leftovers from the night before - and a dish of crackers. How lame is that? At least I had a homemade brownie bite to include.



The dinner leftovers in this one were not even home made - KFC chicken strips.



But then I decided I need to cut myself a break!

I have to remember what my goals were when I first started packing Little K's Bento Lunches:

ONE - to do my part and reduce waste
TWO - to give my daughter healthy and nutritious lunches

While they may not always be the cutest (or photo worthy) lunches, I think I'm still accomplishing my goals.

By the way - I packed my first Laptop and Bento Lunches over 2 years ago. For those of you that know what a short attention span I have - I'm pretty proud of myself.

I don't even want to count how many bentos I've packed in that time - or how many plastic baggies I've kept out of the landfills.

While I may not post about the lunches I make - I often add them to my flickr gallery that you can see here - or over on the sidebar in "My Bento Lunch Gallery".

So what do you think - should I start taking pictures of even the not so clever or cute bentos as well? It's kind of fun to see how my style has changed since I started. Maybe some day I'll even add up how many I've made.

Anybody else tired of packing lunches yet?

Strawberry Shortcake

We stopped by the farm stand on Saturday and picked up a flat of fresh berries. I had planned on making some Strawberry Kiwi Jam, but that will have to wait because we ate them all up...almost.

Strawberries remind me of summer. They were my favorite fruit as a kid. They were always ripe around my birthday in June (when we lived in Pennsylvania). Here in California, they have been in season for at least a month, so I figured it was time to indulge in a taste of Summer.



I have to admit. I usually make Strawberry Shortcake using that container of pre-made red gel that they sell in the produce department. But this time, I didn't have any - and I knew there had to be a way to make something better from scratch.

I was quite impressed with the results.


Strawberry Shortcake Fruit Filling

4 pints of berries, tops cut off, washed and quartered
1/2 cup sugar (more or less to taste if needed)
1/4 cup of pomegranate juice (any fruit juice will work)
1 tsp. almond extract
Cornstarch and water

Combine 2 pints of the berries and sugar in saucepan and stir to coat. Allow the berries to sit without heat for approx 15 minutes until the berries begin to release their juices. Add fruit juice and cook mixture until fruit is bubbly and soft, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and carefully puree fruit mixture with a stick blender. Continue cooking on medium heat.

Mix a few tablespoons of cornstarch with water until dissolved. Add cornstarch to fruit mixture (in small batches) stirring continuously until thickened. Add additional cornstarch mixture as needed depending on how thick you like your sauce. The berry sauce will look clear and shiny (not creamy or opaque) when done. Remove from heat and stir in almond extract.

Allow sauce to cool - add remaining 2 pints of cut and washed berries.

This sauce is so yummy. The addition of the almond really makes is special. I can think of dozens of uses for the sauce alone (without the berries) - in lemonade, on waffles, as an ice cream topping, with splash of vodka on the rocks. I may have to make another batch.



For the Shortcake portion - I use the recipe on the Bisquick box. My only change is that I use cream instead of milk, and maybe a bit more sugar.

The trick is to not overwork the dough while you are mixing it, or forming it into biscuits. It will be sticky and crumbly, and that's OK - they are supposed to look rustic. I also brush the tops with some butter - because everything is better with butter (and bacon, but I couldn't work that into this recipe).

We enjoyed these little beauties with dinner tonight - and have just enough to have another serving tomorrow night - or maybe for breakfast?

Now if only the rain would stop - it would really begin to feel like Summer. Hope you all had a great weekend.