A phenomenal, historical event happened 20 years ago today!

Yes, this was most definitely a significant event:

Phenomenal, historical, and inspiring.

But as news of fall of the Berlin Wall made its way to San Diego that day, I was busy with more… well, pressing matters:

Just after 6:00 in the evening that day, with the operating room radio announcing the incredible world events unfolding across the world, Aleks and Kat were born via C-section.  They weighed in at 7 lbs, 6 ounces and 7 pounds, 1 oz respectively… healthy full-term twins!

I told them that if I could give them anything for their birthday this year it would be a trip to Berlin.  How incredible would that be for them – grandchildren of a German Jew – to celebrate that milestone with the people of Berlin?

Where did the years go?  How did 20 years pass so quickly?  It seems like just yesterday…

 

 

 

  

 

Happy birthday, Kat and Aleks.  I love you soooooooo much!

Playing house in quintessential Seattle

Elisabeth and CJ will be house-sitting here for four months from January to April, but they do short house-sitting stints on and off all year – including this weekend when they invited us for a one-day-early celebration of Aleks and Kat’s 20th birthday.

The view OF the house is pretty darn nice, but the view FROM the house is quintessential Seattle!

I’ll give you the same tour that we got. 

Shall we?

This is the garage with the garden house below…

…and the pool house above.

Inside the pool house there’s a beautiful kitchen and sitting area and two identical shower rooms. 

The pool area is essentially in the front yard --which used to be the backyard when the front entry was in what’s now the backyard… which is the location from which I took that very first picture. (Confused yet?)

This is taken from directly inside the front door (which used to be… oh, never mind!).

And looking the other way…

And when I turned around, standing there…

Here’s the formal living room…

…and the less formal great room…

And the kitchen…

That dog is Tiger, an adorable Golden-Doodle.  Shasta was so jealous!

My favorite room is downstairs.

(Need I say more?)

Actually, if closets count, maybe my favorite room was upstairs, off the master bedroom:

Unlike my current closet, there would probably be room for my shoes in this closet.

Oh wait – I take it back. My favorite upstairs room was this one.  My nightly bath would take on a whole new dimension here!

And the view from the master bedroom ain’t half bad…

There’s a balcony off the master bedroom too.

I forced the birthday twins to pose for a very Seattle mini photo shoot. 

TWENTY?!  When did that happen?! 

While we were touring the house, the birthday strata and cinnamon rolls were in the oven.  Time to make a fruit salad – and mimosas!

Blow out the candles on your… birthday cupcakes!?

After brunch I forced the family to have a hometown family photo taken (thanks CJ!).

It was a wonderful pre-birthday celebration!  Thanks Elisabeth and CJ, for inviting us to not-your (and not-so-humble) quintessential Seattle abode!

We definitely plan to visit again, perhaps walkingdown Queen Anne hill to Seattle Center and doing our favorite thing that I never get tired of – playing Seattle tourist!

Bekah’s not-so-beautiful (but fabulously tasty) bisque

My office mate Rebekah often brings delicious lunches to the office.  I know this because – well, there’s no way you could not know it if you share an office with Rebekah.  She appreciates her delicious culinary creations with every sense and every muscle in her body. 

“Mmmmmm…” she’ll begin, eyes closed and spoon up in the air to add emphasis.  “Do you even want to know how delicious this is?”

“How delicious is it?” I ask, appeasing her.

“You have no idea!”

And then she’ll savor her meal.  Loudly and dramatically. Rebekah will always generously offer me a taste, but most of the time I decline her offer because I couldn’t possibly deprive her of a single morsel of her savored treat.

Last week, however, she forced me to have a spoonful of her soup.  No, it was more than soup; it was bisque.  She absolutely insisted.  And I am so glad she did! 

Mmmmmm…” I proclaimed, eyes closed and spoon up in the air to add emphasis.  “Do you even know how delicious this is?”

But of course she did.

I asked Rebekah for the recipe and tonight I made my own bisque.  You will definitely want to try this – preferably on a brisk Autumn day like today.

There’s no recipe per se, so pay attention.

The cast of characters is simple and healthy: 2 – 3 sweet potatoes, 2 onions (or more), lots of garlic, a large crimini mushroom, a poblano pepper (for more kick, add more pepper; I used only a strip of the pepper), and some chicken or vegetable stock – which I forgot to put into the photo.  Obviously, the quantities in the photo are off.  Do as I say, not as I show in this photo!

First, peel and cube the sweet potatoes and onions.  Then dice the mushroom and the pepper (NOT the whole thing or you WILL be sorry!).

Pour about 1/4 cup of olive oil into a large Ziplock bag.  Add salt and pepper.  Toss each ingredient together until well coated.

Lay everything on baking pans in a single layer and bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes…

…until it looks like this:

Now put everything into a blender (you might need to do this “in shifts”).

To the blending vegetables, slowly add chicken or vegetable stock until the bisque is of desired consistency.  (Apparently mine was a bit too thick; Tom said it was the consistency of “hair mousse”!)

Once all the veggies are blended to desired thickness, put the soup (er, I mean bisque) on the stove and cook it over low heat for a while.  (30 minutes worked fine.)

It might not be pretty, but it is definitely TASTY! You’d definitely think there’s cream in here, but nope – just healthy veggies and stock!  I served this with a Caesar salad and Hawaiian sweet rolls.  It was a definite hit!

From now on, when Rebekah insists her lunch is incredible and delicious, I will not only believe her, I’ll get the recipe!

Happy birthday, Laura!

Just a few months after coming to live with us in Fall 2005, Laura, our German exchange student – we like to call her our “third daughter” -- celebrated her 17th birthday with us (here with Aleks and Kat).

Today Laura turns 21!  Has it really been five years?  My current home office is in the room Laura lived in, which we still call “Laura’s room" and probably always will, even though it’s also been Kat’s room and Elisabeth’s room.

We just called Laura who was busy celebrating with friends in Freiburg, Germany where she’s currently in medical school.  When we talk with her, it’s as if no time has passed, but I’m sure the day will come when Laura calls to tell us that she’s getting married… or having babies… or that her kids are going off to college.  I just hope we’ll stay as close through all those years.

Some of my Facebook friends have been asking what we use to make the spaeztle that we cooked last night and that I mentioned on my status update.  Slight coincidence here: we use (and love!) the spaeztle maker given to us by Laura’s family for Christmas, 2005.

Happy birthday, Laura!  Come back soon!  We love you and miss you!

My shallowest post ever: my take on the Jon & Kate debacle

When a badly broken ankle confined to me to my bed and to my house earlier this year, I spent an inordinate amount of time watching Jon & Kate Plus Eight, something that I wouldn’t have done before I got hurt and certainly haven’t had time to do since I went back to work full-time in the early Spring. Still, I developed an odd attachment to the show – probably because there was a time when I had four kids under the age of five and I could relate to some of what the Gosselins experienced.

Mostly, though, I watched because I really thought those kids were adorable. They were cute as toddlers and just kept getting cuter and cuter as pre-schoolers. I have a feeling the filming is ending when they’re at the pinnacle of cuteness, which is a good thing.

Honestly, I found Jon and Kate and their antics to be distracting from the beginning, but I must admit that I got sucked in along with millions of other viewers. I cringed when Kate would tell Jon not to “breathe so loud” and when she’d chastise him constantly, no matter what he did. She already had eight kids to mommy and boss around; did he really need to treat Jon like a ninth kid?

When the fervor of their crumbling relationship hit the tabloids, I was spending quite a bit of time in physical therapy and I’ll admit right here (but nowhere else!) that I would look forward to my 12 minutes of TENS therapy, People magazine in hand, drooling over the gossip like the rest of the gossip-crazed reality show addicts out there. (No wait – this was the only reality show I watched… that doesn’t make me an addict, does it?)

And now, six months later, the whole Jon and Kate thing is still in the news! So here’s my take – especially after watching TLC’s interview with whiney, delusional Kate last Monday:

1. Jon is right to put an end to filming. He is correct in his assertion that the kids are being exploited and that it’s gotten to the point that it’s detrimental to the kids.
2. Yes, he signed a contract and yeah, he should be a good citizen and abide by it. But his protectiveness of his kids and his belief that the whole media frenzy is causing harm obviously outweighs his sense of legal obedience. There’s something kinda admirable about that.
3. Kate, on the other hand, seems to care only about herself and her celebrity status. My god, she doesn’t resemble the Kate that started down this road in any way – physically or behaviorally. It’s obvious that she’s in this for herself, kids be damned. I find that disgusting.
4. When asked why she doesn’t just quit the limelight, she said because her kids “deserve life handed to them on a silver platter” and that she must keep herself and her kids in the limelight because that’s the only way to pay the bills. Really? Are you frikkin’ kidding me?
5. I think Kate should go back to school, get a degree, and go to work. If she wants to do occasional appearances with the kids, fine, but limit it to twice a year and the rest of the time work for a living like the rest of us. The kids are in school; this is a very viable option – and would probably repair quite a bit of “future damage” when the kids start understanding and looking back at the whole media craziness.
6. The kids should be everyone’s primary focus. They are not the ones who messed everything up and, although they are why there was a show and why there’s money and fame in the first place, they don’t deserve to be burned because things went so terribly wrong. Right now they need a normal life. It’s the ONLY thing, I believe, that might save them from having some major issues as they grow up from being adorably cute and naive, to being kids who blame themselves and their parents and the media for some real tragedy.
7. I think both Jon and Kate should legally agree to take the media completely out of theirs and their kids’ lives for at least a year. They have enough money to live comfortably for a year, don’t they?

And there you have it – my absolute shallowest post ever! I feel so cheap.