i heart ... spinato's

awhile back i was at the park.
i overheard these two women talking.
one was going on and on about this
kind of secret italian restaurant.
she was like, "it's hard to find.
it's in this dark industrial complex.
you would never know it was there
unless someone told you how to get there."

and then she said,
"i'm from new jersey and i've had amazing authentic italian food
but this is the best i've ever had!"
at that point i was sold!
but i didn't know the name of the restaurant
and the directions she gave the other woman were fuzzy -
and i didn't want her to know i was eavesdropping
so i didn't dare ask her any details.

but then last wednesday i got a lucky break.
while at joe's farm grill with my friends
one of my friends started talking about this
mysterious italian restaurant
in this obscure industrial complex
and i said "hold it right there!
i need names and directions!"

spinato's!

it's called spinato's!

so today i went!
my cousin jennie was in town
and asked me where i would like to go for lunch.

i knew just the place!

we started with the bruschetta

(fresh roma tomatoes, fresh basil, diced garlic, evoo, and balsamic vinegar)

super good!

jennie's baby, journie,

shared some bruschetta sans tomatoes and stuff.

she wasn't loving the balsamic vinegar!

i ordered the baked spaghetti calzone -

yes, a calzone stuffed with spaghetti!

i want to kiss who every thought of this!

genius!

jennie ordered the

fresh spinach pizza
(fresh baby spinach carefully marinated in "secret seasonings”
then baked with fresh roma tomatoes, diced garlic, and mozzarella cheese)

awesome!

and finally for dessert

we had the

pumpkin gelato and peppermint gelato.

journie loved it

and i think that is a good enough recommendation!

sadly, as it turns out,

spinato's is not as mysterious as people thought it was.

it felt mysterious

because, yes, it was hard to find,

and in a totally obscure location,

and in an unfinished building...

but there are actually 3 other locations

in the phoenix area.

nevertheless,

it was sooooooo good

and i'm just going to keep on pretending

it's a special little secret place!

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i heart ... these surprise visitors

today the doorbell rang
and look who it was!

my nieces, paulina & natalia

i love it when they surprise me!

paulina had ridden over on her dora bike

(which is funny 'cause she kinda looks like dora

and she's riding a dora bike!

get it?)

and natalie pushed a stroller full of, like,

a gazillion stuffed animals!

but do you think they were coming to see me?

oh no.

they don't come to see me anymore.

they come to see lucy!

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i heart ... joe's farm grill

last night for visiting teaching

i met some friends at joe's farm grill.

the whole experience was fun.

it was fun being with my friends...

the atmosphere of the restaurant was fun...

even the food was fun!

i had the

grilled peanut butter & banana split sandwich

(p.b., chocolate chips, crushed pineapple,

fresh strawberries and bananas)

it was just as good as it sounds!

hmmm...

now here was something interesting...

my friends said,

"have you seen the bathrooms?

oh, you have to see the bathrooms!"

yep.

barbies and g.i. joes

and some weird puppet movie playing.

your guess is as good as mine.

p.s.

this guy's been there too!

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i heart ... zinc bistro

in honor of president's day

my bff brook and i had lunch at zinc bistro.

okay, not really in honor of president's day

but really in honor of having the day off.

(no disrespect to washington & lincoln. love them!)

to start we shared the

onion soup gratinee loved the gruyere!

for my main course

i had the

crab and truffle omelette

with bearnaise and straw potatoesit was perfection.

nice and simple and light

after the very flavorful onion soup.

our plan for dessert was

tahitian vanilla bean creme brulee

but they were out of some of the ingredients!

oh well.

that just means we have to go back.

so instead we went to grand lux cafe

for beignets.

no complaints!!!

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i heart ... pan-fried onion dip

image from foodnetwork.com

i just made

ina garten's pan-fried onion dip

for the super bowl tomorrow

and oh my!

divine

i cannot wait until tomorrow to eat more of it!

i want to eat all of it right now!

but i also want everyone to try it

so i'll have to control myself.

wish me luck!

p.s.

i would like to change the name of this dip.

it doesn't sound all that appetizing.

how about

caramelized onion dip?

much better, i think.

p.p.s.

so the game is over

(and my team won! yay!)

and guess what?

so sad,

but the dip is not as good the second day.

but it was amazing right when i made it.

so do you know what that means?

eat this dip immediately!

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i heart ... my picture book of songs

when i was a child my mom would sing to me
and my brothers and sisters
from my picture book of songs.
and now my nieces and nephews are enjoying the same songs.
thomas especially loves these songs!
i can't tell you how often he grabs my hand
and pulls me to the piano.

this is his favorite page:

i think the above is his favorite page

because he loves the picture,
not just the songs.

i love the pictures in this book too!

(look at his cute little hand turning the page!)

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i heart ... orange creamsicle trifle

for my niece brennan's birthday dinner

i asked her what dessert she would like me to make.

she said "orange trifle".

well,

i've never seen an orange trifle,

but why not?

you can make a trifle out of whatever you want!

so i thought about it,

then put it together,

and it turned out soooooooooo good!

seriously!

way beyond my expectations!

and it had an orange creamsicle flavor

so i decided that would be the official name.

it sounds more cute, too.

paula's orange creamsicle trifle

2 pound cakes

orange juice (no pulp)

12 navel oranges from my backyard because they're the best!

vanilla pudding (recipe below)

whipped cream

1) section the oranges. you can learn how to do that here. this removes all of the white pith.

2) make pudding according to package directions, plus about 1/3 cup extra liquid to thin it out a little.

3) cut angel food cake into 1 inch cubes.

4) pour 1/2 cup o.j. into a bowl. dip cake cubes in o.j. (don't soak, just quickly dip)

5) layer bottom of trifle dish with cake.

6) layer sectioned oranges over cake (i used 6 oranges for each orange layer).

7) pour half of pudding over oranges.

8)start again with another cake layer,

and continue on with layers in the same order as before.

9) top with whipped cream


vanilla pudding

Vanilla Pudding

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pudding/vanilla-pudding/

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 cups lactose free milk
• 4 beaten egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. In a medium heavy saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat. Gradually stir 1 cup of the milk mixture into egg yolks.
2. Add egg mixture to milk mixture in saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Pour pudding into a bowl. Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap. Serve warm or cold (do not stir during chilling). Makes 4 servings.

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i heart ... 2009

my favorite pictures of 2009

(and it should come as no surprise

that most of these are pictures of my nieces & nephews!)

january

thomas just learning to crawl

clayton & samuel

clayton, paulina, & natalie

february

clayton - the boy with the golden feather!

natalie on the trampoline

clayton finding out he was going to be a big brother again

i've never seen a baby who loves books as much as thomas!

and i'm so happy thomas has a big brother like ammon

who is happy to read to him!

valentine's day party

natalie, brennan, kaitlyn, paulina, & sierra

march

ammon's ginormous orange

sierra through the kaleidescope

ava & paulina

natalie's birthday

april

thomas jefferson attends his first political rally
and totally gets into it!

a visit to my cousin jennie's family

jacey, jaren, jayton, & jackson

may

paulina

my beautiful sonoran desert

have you ever seen a baby so joyous to pet a dog???

thomas

my sister-in-law rebeca's graduation

here comes air force one!

and lookie here...

see who flew in on air force one

to personally congratulate rebeca on receiving her doctorate?

sisterly love

natalie & paulina

memorial day bbq

more sibling love...

clayton & ava

kaitlyn gets beignets for her birthday

thomas' first trip to the library

june

cooling off at nielson's frozen custard

kaitlyn, brennan, & ammon

this is all i've got for june.

i think i was just too hot to take pictures!

july

ava

paulina

ammon & thomas reading, again!

thomas & noah

august

thomas, noah, & samuel at our family reunion

the punk rock show!

brennan, sierra, kaitlyn, & ammon

caleb & ammon

thomas on the saddle from sundown ranch

shelby

noah & ammon

caleb & sierra

stephanie & shelby

sierra - always with a flower in her hair

clayton

clayton - the spy!

eli & ava playing peek-a-boo

september

i love that smile!

thomas

kaitlyn & ammon

a kiss from thomas

brennan

october

(this photo needs no introduction!)

samuel scrambles an egg for me!

noah with a goatee

(or a mishap with a suction cup!)

caleb

caleb is my favorite artist.
oh, and renoir too.

shelby

samuel

oops! i mean, count dracula!

ammon, sierra, kaitlyn, thomas, & brennan

clayton, ava, & natalie

paulina



november

cowgirl kait

veteran's day parade

ammon & natalie

natalie flying her flag for veteran's day

paulina

samuel, clayton, noah, & caleb

samuel

caleb & shelby watching the fountain

all of my nieces & nephews!

when we all were together at thanksgiving time

i took this picture for our christmas present to my mom.

my cousins and i have a picture like this
from when we were children
and i wanted to recreate it,
but by this point in the day the children were so over
having their picture taken!

ava & clayton

paulina, natalie, & ava

thomas & clayton

eli

thomas playing wii.

doesn't he totally look like he knows what he's doing?

he doesn't!

he just copies what his brother & sisters do!

december


this is the first time i heard natalie read!

like, really read! not just for pretend!

natalie's ballet recital

look at the shadow of thomas' eyelashes...

i was driving down the street & look who i saw...

my niece kaitlyn & my cousin summer

bruiser!

a missing tooth and bandaged head.
(clayton)

first a bruiser,

and now a monkey!

the missing tooth & bandaged head are making more sense now!

paulina being her crazy self!

anyone who knows her knows just what i'm talking about!

ava

eli the hedgehog

ava & ammon

as joseph & mary

my new kitty

lucy!

... and that's the end of 2009!












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