Chef's Inc.

For our wedding some friends gave us a really awesome gift - a gift certificate for a cooking class! Aaron and I were slackers when it came to selecting a class and signing up, so here it is almost two years later and we just finally used it. We signed up for the "Summer with Friends" meal - potato crusted sea bass, salad, minted snap peas, and some sort of cherry dessert. The experience was really fun. There were 6 other people in the class - none of whom we knew - and two chefs. More or less it was like cooking in a huge kitchen and having an assistant who took out all your ingredients, brought you all of your utensils, cleaned up after you, and answered any questions you had about the recipe.

The people with us were two high school girls and a family of 4 (two sisters, one husband, and their high school aged son). Aaron and the other husband bonded reminiscing about their alma mater's sports history - Go Bruin's - and the rest of us just had a really nice time chatting, getting to know each other, and hanging out.

I have to say that the meal itself wasn't terribly difficult to fix. All of my 4-H training as a kid taught me most of what we learned in the class. But I can see if someone was incredibly scared of cooking and was truly awful at it they would have walked away after this class feeling like they were Rachel Ray. I enjoyed it more for the interaction with the other diners. You don't get to know new people like that when you go for a meal at a restaurant.

Winner, winner, winner!

One favorite Sunday afternoon activity at the Schneider household is house hunting (just looking to look, not to buy). Los Angeles real estate on it's own is interesting and so overpriced, but to make things even more exciting we make a game out of it. This afternoon we convinced our good friend Darren to take a bike ride with us all around the Mar Vista area of LA and play along. We check out a house and before we look at how much it's listed for we take our best guess and see who is the closest. I may have found my next career: real estate appraiser. I was the closest to the listed price almost everytime we found a house to look at! Next time we might think again about neighborhood choice... Mar Vista has so many hills that we had to climb on our bikes. But we did get a nice workout from it.

Whoa - what a difference

It's the end of my work day on Monday and things just seem really good. I have two theories about why:

1) I can finally breathe out of both nostrils for the first time in several days (I had caught one of those super annoying summer colds)

2) I went to yoga this morning for the first time in many weeks. The 6:10 wake up is brutal, but I always feel so good when I'm done.

LIfe is good. :)

Trying to do too much?

Nah! Just enjoying everything we can! This past weekend Aaron and I were busy busy people. In addition to all of the time we spent working on the backyard and putting in the new planter box we also managed to fit in a birthday party Jane Austin style, kayaking in Long Beach, and Aaron's Sunday basketball league game. On paper it doesn't sound so full... which is partly how we (I am more the culprit) end up with such a busy calendar. But in practice we can easily end up feeling like we are bouncing all over the place. It's definitely worth it though.

Freecycle is awesome!

I like to think of myself as a 'green' person and I try to be kind to the environment where I can be. After all, I am one of the few people I know who enjoys occasionally taking the bus in LA to work. And yes, I am willing to admit that I can be a little cheap too. So, imagine how excited I was to learn about Freecycle.org. It combines my passions for saving two kinds of green!

Since discovering Freecycle, I have given away a few things and received a few things. Things given include a number of ring boxes to a recycled jewelry maker (why I was holding on to them to begin with, who knows), a slightly worn out canopy (why keep the ugly green one when we can borrow beautiful white ones from my in-laws?), and the box springs to our brand new mattress (our bed frame is one of those kinds with the wood slats, so no need for the box springs).

I've received many good things, too. A camera case for my new camera from a photographer who was upgrading to a new/larger case, some sawdust to go into our composter, and most recently a beautiful huge (10'x3') garden planter box from a couple who just bought a home and were bequeathed a backyard that they were transforming to something more their style. We strapped this puppy to the roof of our (hybrid) SUV on Friday evening and got it into it's new home safely where it will hopefully make this novice gardener very happy for several years rather than it's would be fate of landing in the dumpster.

One side benefit to my little Freecycle hobby is that I get to enjoy a mini cultural/social anthropology lesson each time I give or pick something up. It ends up being a quick moment of insight into a fellow Angelino's life. And that little pat on the back that mother earth gives me feels good too.

Memorial Day weekend

Our three day holiday weekend was spent exactly how it should have been: with friends and family....

On Saturday morning we met up with Aaron's grandmother's friend Barbara who is from Berlin and was kind enough to give us some insight into her home town before we go there later this summer. Afterward I went to a baby shower in Huntington Beach for my friend from college, Kim, while Aaron spent some time with his grandma.

On Sunday we headed up to Pasadena to watch the Lakers game with Dr. Dave and some of his friends where I took a break from cheering on the Lakers (yes, I have become through osmosis a Lakers fan, though clearly not hard-core) to stop in at my grandma's for a visit. Later that evening we helped our friend Raj celebrate his birthday at his bar in NoHo.

Monday we went to the south bay for a bbq at Willis & Debbie's place. And in between all of this back and forth all over the southland we of course spent some time in the backyard planting an herb garden, straightening out the apple tree, putting in more irish moss, and adding vinca minor.

Millions of peaches!

Aaron's parents have a very fruitful peach tree in their yard which is *loaded* with peaches right now. We are in the first of only a few key weeks when we can harvest the fruit. So, Aaron and I stopped in on Friday evening and loaded up a bag full to take home with us. I found tons of recipes for things to make with peaches... by the end of the week I was starting to feel like Forest Gump talking about all the things you can make with shrimp.

Yummmmy - fresh peaches!

Amaretto Peach Ice CreamPeach & Blueberry Galette

Balsamic Peaches & Roasted Chicken

Chicken Curry with Peaches

Spiced Peaches in Phyllo doughPeach & Jicama Salsa I also made some peach muffins but somehow forgot to take a photo.