Experiments with gravity

The faces of Nora

My Backyard

Scott's yellow jacket trap vs store bought:
We originally tried hanging some salmon, didn't get much result. Then a cat came along at night and ate the salmon. Yum, even tastier than birds!

Later, I hung a piece of peach. I sweetened the water with sugar and, of course, added a couple drops of soap as a surfactant. This makes it so the little creatures sink if they hit the water. I had taken a bowl of cantaloupe scrap out in the yard and noticed the yellow jackets liked it, so I dumped the bowl of scraps into the basin also.
I was watching today. actually saw two yellow jackets bump into each other while hovering, then both fell into the water and couldn't get out, One did find it's way to the cantaloupe and crawl up on it. Still have a lot of yellow jackets buzzing around in the bush on the arbor. Haven't found the nest, but clearly, the home-made trap is much more effective than the store-bought.

I thought this was kind of cool, I have a whole bouquet of roses growing on one stem. I should cut it and put it in a vase.

More pics

Splish Splash I Was Taking a Bath

Nora was very grateful to Grandma, who bought her this awesome ducky pool to play in :)  She even got to take it back to California with her for future fun!

Nora's New Favorite Toy...Her Carseat

More Nora!! (eating a lemon and playing peekaboo :)

Nora loves menus!

Strawberries

We took away this strawberry soon after the video ended--it was becoming a choking hazard.  She screamed as loudly and intensely as we have ever seen her scream.  Scott rushed over another strawberry.  She immediately shoved it in her mouth and vigorously sucked/chewed through post-sob hiccups. 

Look Auntie Em! Another baby to play with!

Belated Nora Pic

Nora looks very uncertain about the attire necessary for a brief walk in the rain.  I would caption this as saying: "I thought Uncle Mel was still in Seattle, but this smell would suggest otherwise."

Our cooking class!

On Monday, Ryan and I went to a cooking class at Tony Caputo's. http://www.caputosdeli.com/classes/ It was AMAZING!  It was sponsored by Emily and Cameron as their Christmas gift to Ryan and me.  What an incredible gift!  They showed us how to make each of the following dishes and we got to eat a plate of each.

Caputo's Eggplant Lasagna:  There are no noodles in this.  The "noodles" are actually eggplant.  The garnish is a little salad made exclusively from basil and parsley leaves, red onions, and oil and vinegar.

Next was Caputo's Simple Vegetable Salad.  Given that the only ingredients besides oil, vinegar, salt and pepper were asparagus, green beans, and potatoes, I was thoroughly impressed!  By the way, look for a common theme in these dishes: OLIVE OIL...and way more of it than I'm usually comfortable with.

Next is my favorite of the courses: "Caputo's Greek Lentil Salad."  Tony Caputo is Italian and his wife is Greek.  I gotta think they both had a hand in this dish.  It is made with green lentils, beets, oil (surprise!), onions, garlic, fresh mint, and feta cheese.  It is beautiful and very tasty!

Caputo's Summertime Pasta:  My least favorite of all the things.  It tasted like regular pasta with tons of oil and a few tomatoes.  Meh.

Alright, Caputo's Procini in Lemon Sauce has incredible potential.  I think there is just something it needs in addition.  Perhaps some parmigiana!  Tony Caputo did teach us a lot about mushrooms while preparing this dish.  In particular, any mushroom you buy in the grocery store is actually just cardboard that resembles a mushroom.

Finally, Caputo's Roated Bell Pepper Salad.  I'm pretty stoked to make our own roasted bell peppers.  They are way to expensive in the store.  And kept in oil, these keep for months.  Delicious.

If you want any of these recipes, let me know!  Total 100% credit given to Tony Caputo's Market & Deli

Keys are more interesting than mom

Our new home

This apartment search has been quite harrowing for Ryan and me!  On the bright side, I can now confirm that my husband does occasionally get very very anxious and nervous and stressed!  On the brighter side, that anxiety and stress is now hugely decreased.  The place we ended up getting is only $1550 a month, so we will still be able to eat out once in a while.  It has 2 bedrooms, and is only 2 blocks from the North Berkeley BART station.  It is one mile from the building I will be working in on campus and in the "Gourmet Ghetto" (which I hear talked about ALL THE TIME but still really don't know what it is).  We are across from a park and in a neighborhood that I can feel safe running in at anytime of day.  On the downside, it looks like a piece of crap from the outside and the kitchen is minuscule.  But, we are really just so relieved to have a place.  The renter's market is highly competitive and we were continually turned down for our smaller income and my student status. So hallelujah for having a home!  Moving date: August 11!

 

Fall Down!

So we tried to record the fall down game.  The video is cute, but she wasn't playing along this time.