Let's Talk Food . . .

Yes, lets!


If you've read any of my blogs, it's no surprise to you that we enjoy food over here in Fiamengo-ville!  Pretty much everything that we do revolves around where we are going to eat, what we are going to eat and when we are going to eat.  Is that just our household or is it yours too?

That's my mom.  Yes she has two donuts for eyes, is there something wrong with that?  This was taken while on one of our San Francisco trips.  We went to a donut shop called Dynamo Donuts that was televised on The Food Network Channel.  I don't remember what the chocolate one was but the other one is a maple bacon donut!  They are notorious for making creative donuts that you otherwise wouldn't think to eat.  We ordered 3 different donuts but the only one that sticks out in my mind was the maple bacon one.  We like to look up different places that have been made famous by The Food Network Channel and try them out, its fun!  

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that eating is a great thing.  What greater joy in life is there other than eating (rhetorical)?  If you are going to go out on a date what are you going to do . . . most likely dinner and a show or something pretty darn close to that.  If you are going to hang out with your friends what are you going to do . . . most likely dinner and drinks.  If you are going to celebrate a Holiday or a Birthday what are you going to do . . .  most likely make food AND dessert.  Yes, food revolves around a lot of what we do and since we need it to nourish our bodies, why not make it fun!

I'll share with you some of our food pictures . . . since we tend to take a lot of food pictures . . . and I'll share with you the story behind that experience, sound good?

This is the infamous clam chowder in a bread bowl.  Anytime you pass through Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco you have to have clam chowder in a bread bowl!  I don't even like seafood but I'll eat the most seafood-i-est soup on the planet if it's from Fisherman's Wharf, yum!

This is obviously a delicious plate of fries.  Now, the Orange County Fair as I've mentioned before is known for it's food.  Hence the theme of the fair this year being "Lets Eat!"  Perfect!  If you were to people watch at the fair you would see some of the happiest people there are the people who are eating.  Some examples of fair food include, chocolate covered bacon, a stick of fried butter, grilled corn on the cob, fried Twinkies, pulled pork sandwiches, corn dogs, Carmel apples, turkey legs and oh so much more yummy goodness.  What do we do at the fair?  We eat! 

So, this might not be the most exciting food picture ever, but it comes with the greatest experience of all! This is a photo of the food at our wedding.  We had a buffet style dinner with fajitas and rice and beans and all that delicious Mexican food that we all love.  The only downfall of this delicious meal . . . I only got one bite.  The reason why I even got the one bite was because our photographer photographed a picture of Marc and I feeding each other.  Thank goodness he did that otherwise I wouldn't have even tasted the food!  Anyone who has been married should know that eating at your wedding is pretty darn close to impossible because everyone wants to come congratulate you and hug and kiss you and then before you know it you are swept off greeting all of your guests.  Bummer!  Best day ever though, tied with Leah being born of course. 

You've seen these, you know these, you love these!  Of course these pictures are all repeat pictures of previous Mexico blogs.  Although fair food is pretty darn delish, nothing in this world could ever compare to the food we eat in Mexico.  There is nothing better and that's a fact!  Not to mention we get to eat all this food on the patio overlooking the beautiful water with dolphins swimming by and pelicans flying through the air.  Are you starting to see why food makes me so happy? 

Lastly, lets talk dessert! 

These two cakes were from our wedding.  My cousin made them for us and they were by far the best part of the wedding.  The first one is of course Marc's grooms cake from me, have to have the fire truck! Then there is our wedding cake, gasp!  It was beautiful!  I know that I'm biased, but that cake had to of been the most beautiful wedding cake I've ever seen.  Not to mention, Jan's cakes don't only look great, but they taste beyond amazing too! 

Like I said, food often times means a celebration.  In the case of these three pictures, we were celebrating birthdays!  The first being pumpkin cupcakes (my favorite!) for my birthday, the next being a GIANT cupcake for Wesley's birthday that Dylan is eating and the third being a homemade German Chocolate cake for Marc's birthday.  Each of these photos bring great memories with them.  I remember that birthday because my mom gave/made me everything pumpkin related, it was the BEST!  I remember Wesley's birthday because it was his 1st birthday and because Marc was stung by a bee and honestly almost died of an allergic reaction!  I remember Marc's birthday because it wasn't that long ago and because my mom and I tried really hard to make him that cake and although it tasted good, it turned out really ugly, oh well! 

Another one of my favorite cakes by my cousin Jan . . . . 

Baby Leah Fia's Shower cake!  SO cute!  Lemon cake with fresh raspberry filling, yuuuuummmm

Well . . . I could definitely continue on my food rant for days.  We have pictures of just about everything we eat, I think it's safe to say you get the hint though.  We love food!  We love everything that has everything to do with food.  I don't like exercising the food off my muffin top love handles BUT it's worth it so I can experience eating.  I feel sorry for people that don't enjoy food, its one of the greatest things in this life!

Happy Thirsty Thursday!  You are that much closer to the weekend! 

Cheers!

Jen :) 

A Wart

When I was a little kid I used to have warts.  Yeah, gross I know, but whatever.  So when I would go to the dermatologist as a kid and get my warts burnt off I would get to go to 7-11 and get a Slurpee.  Didn't you know that Slurpee's can cure almost anything?  They can . . . at any age in fact.  

Well . . . I don't have warts now but I kinda wish I did.  Instead of having an actual wart I've got a new kind of wart, all of you moms out there know what I'm talking about.

I'm now an official worrywart and it's terrible.

Did you know that a worrywart is an actual word with a definition?  It is, according to Merriam-Webster the definition of a worrywart is : a person who is inclined to worry unduly.

  

The "What-Ifs" in life are going to turn me prematurely grey that's for sure!

I've always struggled with being a worrywart which makes my new level of worrisome a bit of a problem.  The ultimate source of my worry problem:

That pretty pretty princess that is eyeballing me right there.  She is my new number one source of worry.

To be honest, other than my husbands terrible driving skills, I'm not sure what I used to worry about before her?  

My biggest struggle is that if I believe in God, I shouldn't worry since He will take care of me and my family and all of those things that I worry about, right?  Why can't I let myself let go of the worry and just let God carry that load for me then?  This is a question I fear I will ask myself forever, because my worry for baby Leah and any future babies I may have will never ever go away.

The worry de Leah began the day I found out I was pregnant in fact.  Will I be like so many other women out there and have a miscarriage?  Will the baby have a heartbeat?  Will the baby have 10 fingers and 10 toes?  Am I eating the right foods?  Am I gaining too much weight?  Will my labor and delivery be okay? The questions are endless.  So of course, when I found out Leah had pooped meconium inside me and had the cord around her neck as I was trying to push her out, my worry exceeded the worry-o-meter!  Of course, she came out perfect and wonderful, why oh why did I worry so much?  I surly won't do that with my next pregnancy (insert sarcastic giggle here).

Now that Leah is here I get to worry about her in real life flesh, oh joy!  First it was, is she eating enough?  Is she sleeping enough?  Is her poop the right color? Are those noises normal?  Why are her eyes gooey?  What's that bump?  Surely I must go out and buy the 806 page What To Expect, The First Year book right?  I mean, if the book says its normal then it must be normal . . . at least I'm going to believe that so it makes me feel better.  Of course I HAVE to go buy the baby monitor that can alert me if she stops breathing in the middle of the night!  Although, if I have that monitor and she sleeps for more than 3 hours then why am I still going in to check on her?  Hmmm . . . 

The real source of this blog is the fact that my poor baby girl has to go get her shots tomorrow and surprise surprise . . . I'm worried.  I mean, why do they have to inject my little 8 week old baby with 8 different shots through needles and orally?  Is that really necessary?  I know that shots are a huge source of controversy with moms so I'm not going to get into it but I'm just going to say that it worries me.  I hope she doesn't cry for too long, I hope she doesn't run a fever for too long and I hope that her sleeping patterns don't go so awry that it worries me even more.  I hope, I hope, I hope . . . I worry, I worry, I worry.

Ugh, I feel so bad for my mom to have a 28 year old and 32 year old.  That means that she's been worrying for at least the last 32 years of her life!  What a nightmare!  

Well . . . it's time for our bedtime routine . . . bath, lotion, swaddle, eat, burp and sleep . . . with a whole bunch of worry intertwined in it all.

Look at this face, you would worry too:

(We were watching The Price is Right, she loves that show apparently)

(I think she probably just pooped all over the place here)

( I love how her lips get all squished when she sleeps on her belly)

(She just loves tutu's, thanks Auntie Wolff)

Thanks for listening to my ranting and raving of what takes up most of my day . . . worry, worry and worry with a bit of worry in between.  

Enjoy the end of your week blog world!

XOXO Jen XOXO

Summa Time, Summa Time, Sum, Sum, Summa Time . . .

Ahhhh . . . the 5 senses that are summer time!


I just don't understand how some people don't enjoy summer time?  I can't grasp it simply because summer time is the best.  Granted, I love the other seasons as well.  Fall brings me pumpkin pie yogurt from Yogurtland, Winter brings me Christmas . . . and pumpkin spice steamers from Starbucks, and Spring brings me Easter and beautifully perfect weather.  Summer though?  Its brings me so much more!

The smells.


One of the greatest parts of summer are the smells!  You agree?  You know that smell early in the morning when its warm but not hot and you just know its going to be a beautiful day with a bright blue sky?  That's a good smell.  What about the smell of barbeque's grilling all day every day?  The other morning I was actually in bed still and I smelled my neighbors barbecue grilling up something delicious, maybe steak and eggs?  You can't forget the smell of chlorine on every little kids skin . . . or your own skin!  The good ol chlorine smell that even after you shower you can still smell stuck to your skin and in your hair.  Oh, the smell of sunscreen and tanning lotions too!  That coconut and pina colada smell that you just want to eat!  Or even right now, at 11:00pm, I can smell the night blooming jasmine coming through the windows in the breeze.  I'd have to say that the best sense that is summer has got to be the smells.

The sights.


Well . . . you start with beautiful bright blue skies daily, that's always a great sight to see.  Then, there are all the people everywhere.  Generally, I'm not a big fan of people all over the place, but during summertime for some reason its all okay.  Kids are everywhere.  They are riding bikes, playing football in the neighborhood, jumping in the pool and walking down the street.  They are doing things that kids are supposed to do, they are outside, and that's a good thing.  If you know me at all, you know that one of my favorite sights is the beach.  Sure, seeing a good looking tan guy walking down the beach is nice, but I'm talking about seeing things even better than that at the beach.  Seeing the water and all the great things that the water can bring.  The sun shining on the ocean is so beautiful, along with the sunsetting behind it.  The sea creatures that come out because of the ocean water, the dolphins, the birds, the sand crabs.  Ugh, summer is just awesome.  Do you not agree with me?

The sounds.


I'm going to begin repeating myself here but its just all so wonderful!  The sound of kids playing outside is awesome, I love it.  The sound of waves crashing and birds chirping has to make you smile.  What about the sound of the ice cream truck????  Remember that?  Yeah, we still have one that does its tour around the neighborhood, too bad they are slowly dying off though.  Every Thursday in the summer, one of our local parks has Concerts in the Park.  They have a different genre each week and its so fun!  Its like our whole city is at that park and you throw down your blanket and just lay there listening to the bands, those are great summer sounds.  We all know that the sound of fireworks is clearly an indication of summer as well, we all witnessed that last week right?  

The tastes.


Of course, the fair is the first thing you should think of if your town is anything like mine.  It's tradition to go to the Orange County Fair every year and that is clearly a summertime event.  The tastes of the fair just screams summer.  Every fried food you could imagine is at the fair!  For our family the tastes of the fair are grilled corn on the cob, pulled BBQ pork sandwiches and frozen lemonade.  Those are the must-haves every year!  Every now and then we will throw in a funnel cake or a corn dog or some curly fries, it just depends.  The tastes of anything bbq'ed or salads for dinner are clearly summertime favorites in our house as well.  What about the taste of nachos and pretzels from a baseball game?  Though they never taste good, you have to have a pretzel and nachos from the game.  The tastes from Farmer's Markets are obviously a summertime favorite as well.  Sweet potatoes, strawberries, oranges, peaches, all of those delicious summertime fruits and vegetables.  Um, we can't forget ice cream and yogurt too!  Is it just my family that tastes all of these delicious flavors that are summer?

Touch.


When you think of this sense, touch, and you think of summertime, what comes to your mind?  My first thought is . . .  sunburns.  Yikes.  We all lather on that sunscreen but get so caught up in having fun outside that we come home at the end of the day with that infamous summertime sunburn.  It happens every year and there is no stopping it.  Oh, what about the touch of a cool pool or the freezing cold ocean?  Is that not summer to you?  What about the feel of your cool sheets the second you get in bed or flipping over your pillow for one quick second of that cool feeling?  Touching the warm sand between your fingers and toes will bring you straight to summer.  Or walking barefoot in general, whether it be the hot asphalt or a cool tile floor.  Being barefoot happens 90% of the time in my house during summer.

  


I love summer.  I love everything about summer, even those pesky and idiotic June bugs that actually come out in July!

Happy summer and cheers to warm summer nights!


XoXo Jen