raw fish-less in seattle

This is Rob, he's great for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is that he's really good at mini golf.

Another reason is that he gives great birthday gifts. We had been talking about learning to make sushi for a while, so he surprised me with an entire sushi kit! And not just one of those boxed kits, he actually went out and collected the mats, chopsticks, rice, wasabi paste, etc. separately. That just makes it more thoughtful, you know?

Here we are pre-roll.
(He's reading from the perfect little how-to book that he found)

Mid-roll.
We just made veggie rolls because we're not quite ready to commit to raw fish. I've surprised myself by trying all sorts of sushi at restaurants, but preparing it seems like a whole other thing.

Aren't these just perfect! We also made inside-out rolls, because we are that good.

Oh, and he also humors me when I want to take pictures like this:

Our next sushi will be "frushi"(fruit rolled in sweet rice) and "cushi" (curry rolled in rice - there's no such thing, ours will be the first).

old friends

I remember when it all started. I was the hugest fan. I watched Friends almost every Thursday night the first couple seasons (until my mission). After my mission I wasn't as die hard. I think it was still funny at times, but could get sketchy. I missed a lot of the later episodes and still have never seen the series finale. Now days I occasionally catch a rerun, and sometimes see a good one. Thus was the case tonight "The One With Ross's Teeth." It was pretty funny, I laughed out loud a few times. I miss these old friends sometimes. Tonight reminded me of the good times we used to have together. Thanks guys.

dinner at the farrars

It's a hard job...

Sometimes I feel a little frustrated and burnt out with my job...

And sometimes because of my job I get to wake up to this:

And this:

I'm in Barbados for the week working with a technical working group to adapt a PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV) curriculum. Should be an adventure!

a favorite recipe

BANANA-CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not over mix). Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes.Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Makes 12.

*I usually make mini-muffins with this recipe, only takes 14-17 min. Also, I melt butter first in the bowl I am going to use and reverse the order a bit. Butter, mash bananas in bowl, add egg and milk then dry ingredients, then you only have to use one bowl. Easy. (Also it helps to have all of the ingredients BEFORE you start baking-thanks upstairs neighbors for 2/3 c. sugar and an egg!)

a while ago

Remember when I had the best sandwich of my life? Yum. I want it again.

New Hair

So, I tried a new hairstyle this week. I somehow got the two bobby pins in my hair (just like Monica showed me); unfortunately it only lasted a couple hours. I crisscrossed the 2 bobby pins, but overtime they separated. Are they supposed to stay or do you have to constantly take them out and put them back in? ‘Cause the problem was that when I took them out I couldn’t get it looking the same the next time I put them in my hair. Augh. I guess I just need to practice.

Leah n' Bling

Natalie won some fabulous jewelry in our family bingo game on a recent camping trip. We played dress-up with Leah, but she wasn't as excited as we were about it.



That's until Natalie had her own round of dress-up, which is when Leah wanted it for her very own.



Baby dress-up in a tent: another reason to love camping.

Me n' Bing

So I decided just to do it. Here's the first post.

Rob and I just got back from Spokane, here's who I saw when I was there:

I also saw his Oscar, his coloring book and his childhood home. I didn't even know that Bing Crosby was from Washington until about a week prior to this when the Experience Music Project taught me. Turns out I should have known this piece of information all along because practically the entire Gonzaga University and much of Spokane is a shrine to him. Also, Spokane usually has a white Christmas.