Clone of a Cinnabon

With a title like that, how could you not try out the recipe? Although it was for a breadmaker, I kept the ingredients the same and proceeded. I had high hopes, but the recipe didn't quite deliver. It got late, so the second rising was overnight in the fridge. I wonder if that's where I went wrong. It just wasn't fluffy as I wanted it to be. Still tasted good though, and better than my last attempt. Anyone have a good recipe?

Expanding My Cooking Repertoire

There's been a few foods that has been David's thing and so I never touched them. Mostly crockpot dishes, beef stew, chili, lentil soup, and split pea soup. Crockpot cooking seems more like an Western thing, I can't recall my mom ever cooking with a crockpot, although I've seen one lying around the house. (Must of been a gift.) But in the past couple years, I've started cooking with one during the winter. It makes the house smell so nice, and it's nice not having to slave in the kitchen all day.




There had been one dish left that I hadn't make yet, split pea soup. And I just knocked it off the list. Quite simple and tasty.


Served along some crusty French bread rolls. These rolls came out really good, possibly one of the best rolls so far. The crusty crust was just so good.

Oh So Good

One of my favorite treats is Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate covered Caramels. It is soooo good. Usually around X-mas, I start craving these. Unfortunately, the nearest Trader Joe's is an hour away.

This year, I decided to try making candy instead of cookies for x-mas. Making cookies stress me out since I make about five different ones, all in one (maybe two) day, since they just taste better fresh. Candies can be made in ahead, and just have a longer shelf life, so I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, I had to try making dark chocolate covered caramels.

Made the caramels first. Rather simple, and very delicious. Came out a little on the soft side, next time I'll just increase the cooking time.

Then dipped them into dark chocolate. Since the caramel was soft, they didn't quite hold their shape as much as I'd liked, but still tastes great. Very comparable to the ones from TJ's. Usually when I'm taking pics of my food creations, my kids usually want to get in the picture. Here's Sage being goofy.

The kids ate them, enjoying every little bite. Is there going to be any left for us? Like they don't have enough candy...

This candymaking thing might turn into a new hobby... Up next, toffee.

South Fork Trail

It's been a while, (bad weather, laziness, and other priorities,) since I've hiked. I was starting to feel like a big slug. My treadmill was turning into a clothes rack, and my body was beginning to prepare for winter. But I was missing hiking, and we finally got a chance to go out.

There was snow still on the local trails, so we drove down lower to the South Fork Trail off Hwy 74, to some dry land...


Looking at our snow capped mountain...

The weather was nice, not too cold...

Some snow still hanging around...

The trail descended to the South Fork of the San Jacinto River. It's always nice to see some water... A possible location for some primative camping...

Walking down means walking up. Good thing this part wasn't too long. But my knees weren't too happy. I could definitely feel my out-of-shapeness...

It was nice to get out and exercise, and spend some time with David.

Better Seen Than Said

It is just better to just watch this instead of describing it. It is too cute and funny! And you can make your own too! We made some with some funny pictures and were laughing our heads off. This is a cute one, though: ElfYourself

Kim Marcus

Every now and then, you meet someone really interesting. Emi's American Indian friend, Mallory's dad is one such person. He's a Serrano/Cahuilla Indian, who lives on the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians reservation. He is very knowledgeable in the local edible plants and have slowly been educating me about what I can pick around our mountain. He's also a Bird Singer and performs at various functions. He's made a sweat lodge in his backyard, and makes baskets, among other cool things. It's rare to find someone so connected to his roots. He has a website for some of the things he crafts by hand. Check it out: http://www.californiaindiancrafts.com/index.html (link also on sidebar)

Emi's 1st Quilt

Emi joined the Jr. Quilters this year. It's pretty cool, they taught her how to use a sewing machine. Hopefully this will open more doors for her...

The class is only once a month, but after 4 months and a little work at home, she finished her first quilt. It's a 'Christmas Quilt.' I was really impressed at what she's accomplished in such a short time.

Watching Emi sew made Abby want to make something out of fabric...

So she made a picture out of cut out fabric. She wants to do everything Emi does, but she's just too young for some things. She must think it sucks to be the youngest, but one day she will realize it comes with its own advantages...

More Snow

Woke up this morning, it had snowed more during the night.

It's our 4th winter here, but the beauty still makes want to take pictures.

Icicles!

My car looking like a huge snowcone...

A little marker that tells us how much it snowed. All the way up past 12 inches. Jimmy, if you're reading this, we still have it! We should get you guys one too...

Forced exercise...

View off our back deck...

Looking up at our house from our backyard...

Sledding away... how nice to have our own private slope...

We made a pretty long run, with jumps. It was so much fun. The snow was so powdery it didn't matter if we fell...

Don't eat the snow! But it tastes good ma...

Dr. Angry and Mr. Smile

What is the expression of the man on the left ? And the woman on the right? Now, take a few steps back or squint your eyes: how do their expression change?

On a close-up view, you can see that the man on the left is frowning and on the woman is calm. right face, a woman with a placid facial emotion. But further back, the faces change expression and even genders! If you squint, blink, or defocus, the angry man turns calm (left) and the calm woman turns angry… and male (right).

Wavy Beans

Look at the image below. As your eyes move around the image, it appears to move in waves. This is not an animated image; it’s just your eyes playing tricks on you.