Basil season!

This year, we actually decided to do something with the miniscule front "yard" that we have. I planted flowers, and, as an afterthought, some basil, a jalapeno plant (for the hubs), and some rosemary.

The jalapeno had cute little flowers, and now has 7-8 potential peppers already growing! The rosemary is growing well. The basil, however, has taken off. It is literally thigh-high on me. We have used it in spaghetti sauce, on pizza, and in caprese salads. I have also started to make pesto. Massive amounts of pesto (well, at least compared to the none I was making before).

I love this recipe from allrecipes.com. So easy - you just throw everything in a blender or food processor.

I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was a hit!

In the words of Lu'au

We've been having a lot of fun as a little family. Lu'au is walking (running!) and learning to talk. It's exciting to be able to know what she thinks and to see her personality a little more clearly.

• She opens a basketball "egg" from Easter (it was for Daddy), and sees that it's empty, says sadly, "No chocolate. No chocolate."
• She says "cosas" and I can't figure out what she means until she says it again and adds "moo". Obviously, "Cow says moo"!
• She coughs and if I don't say anything to her afterwards, says to herself, "Bless you, Lu'au".
  

Marinade for Chicken Recipe

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It's a simple marinade made with ingredients I usually have on hand. It's quick, delicious, and gets better the longer you marinade your meat. It's a winner!


Marinade for Chicken -from user jillypooh

Ingredients 

I halved the recipe to only make 2 cups marinade

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon finely minced fresh parsley *I use freeze-dried from a jar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir in mustard powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Use to marinate chicken before cooking as desired. The longer you marinate, the more flavor it will have.

Update on Goals

Goals for 2011 - revisited in March

1. Find a church we like.

We have visited a church in our neighborhood a few times and like it. It has a family service at a time that’s good for Lu’au’s naps. The people are friendly. It’s not perfect, but neither are we. Hopefully we can get plugged in soon.

2. Visit Europe (hopefully we can make this happen!).

Just bought tickets today to go to London! I’d like to work on an itinerary, and to figure out if we should take Lu’au or not (I've never been away from her for more than 4 hours!).

3. Make at least one new recipe per month and document it. (Make at least two recipes from the book Erinn gave me (Ready for Dessert).)

I’ve been making new things (potatoes, tilapia, cookies, chicken marinade…). I need to get better at documenting.

4. Continue taking one picture a day and posting it on a blog.

So far, so good! It’s been really fun.

5. Attend at least one photography workshop or class.

I have one workshop scheduled for May!

6. Finish Lu'au's quilt.

Done! I love how it turned out. Now to start two more – Isa’s and a new niece.

7. Visit Ashley and David in Atlanta.

We went in February and had a blast! We love hanging out with them!

8. Memorize the entire chant - Nā 'Ōiwi 'Ōlino

Well, I have most of the first verse down. Only four more to go.

9. Eat at Restaurant Eve (probably not the 9-course pre fixe, lunch or restaurant week is more like it)

I’m looking for an opportunity to go sometime soon. Preferably without Lu’au. We’ll see.

10. Craft more, internet/facebook less.  

I’m bad on this one. I’m on the internet WAY more than I need to be. How do I cut back on this? Any suggestions? I may be addicted. This is bad.

11.  Drink more liquids. Eat more fruit and vegetables, preferably raw.

           There’s definite room for improvement again here.

12. New- Exercise 4 times a week.

I really need to start exercising regularly again. Any ideas on how to motivate myself?

My daughter in 30 seconds

 

 

 

Sleep deprived

Lu'au has been a horrible sleeper lately. She doesn't want to sleep in her crib. We sometimes put her in her crib and let her cry it out. She then projectile vomits. She doesn't want to go down for naps, and takes about 45 minutes to go to sleep, if we're successful. She wakes up during the night, and again around 5 each morning. It's kind of rough, especially because she's been such a good sleeper before.

At least in the morning, she will often take a bottle and go back to sleep. I know it's probably a bad habit to get back into, but at this point, sleep is more valuable to me.

The other day she woke up. I was dazed and confused and had no idea what time it was. I asked CO what time it was, as the clock is on his side of the bed. He grumbled and managed to reply "four." I quickly (or what seemed like quickly) calculated that it probably could pass for bottle time, and, eager to get more sleep, I stumbled over to get her. I picked her up, carried her downstairs, and started to make her a bottle. It was then that I looked at the clock myself. I grumbled at my sleeping husband, stopped making the bottle, put the baby back in bed, and went to bed myself. Yes, dear, four was part of the number you read on the clock. The time? It was 12:43. Apparently I have to ask for all of the numbers next time.

Daddy!

We try to keep a bedtime routine for Lu'au. We eat dinner, we let her play a little, we give her a bath, Daddy reads her stories (while Mama makes the bottle), Mama feeds her a bottle, then she goes to sleep. Or at least that's the plan.

Last night was no different in our routine. We ate dinner. She played. I took her upstairs and started running the bath water. Daddy finished dishes downstairs. She noticed his absence by the bath, went to the door, opened it, and yelled "Dad-dy! Dad-dy!" It was adorable. She knew he was gone and how to get him to come upstairs. It worked.