Slap Your Mama-They're So Good-Cupcakes

Seriously, they are that good! First I made, from scratch, devil's food cupcakes. Then I filled them with cherry pie filling and frosted them with homemade cream cheese frosting. There are a few chocolate jimmies sprinkled on top of each one just for a little contrast.I took these to the Chili Cook Off we have each year at our church. These are so luscious and were the perfect end to all that spicy chili!!!

Mozzarella Cheese Please

Finally found low pasteurized milk so I could try and make mozzarella cheese. The whole milk is not homogenized and comes from a dairy in glass bottles. Too cool. So one gallon of milk makes one pound of cheese. Really expensive cheese. I found out that this process has a really big learning curve. Requires some special ingredients and a lot of time watching a thermometer. Plus kneading of really hot curds (burns) and having to guess when enough was enough. I think I guessed wrong but....

It does look pretty good. I thought I added too much salt and it was a bit drier than I expected. But I think I will try this again now that I know what not to do.

Love Hate Relationship

Let me begin by saying that we really like having our roads plowed. Really. Would not be happy if we had to drive in a foot or more of snow. Love that snow plow! But......ever since we have lived here we have had an unwelcomed surprise waiting for us after every snow storm. A totally destroyed mail box. We are on our third mailbox and that is not counting all the repairs done in between. And in case you think our mailbox is sitting too close to the road, hidden by snow, etc., making it's demise unavoidable, nothing could be farther from the truth. It sits back from the road, (and has been moved even farther back one mailbox ago), and is visible with reflective numbers. And yet we still seem to be a target. We believe that if he actually misses it the first pass, he backs up and tries for another shot at it. This last time I tied it to the pole and the next morning the mailbox had been hit again, mail in snow and me just a bit peeved.

So Ron invented a plow proof box. It is on a lazy susan base....so if he hits it, it will swing around and avoid too much damage. Yippee! I can't wait for the plow to come at this!

Here it is swung a quarter turn but still attached!!

And here is a pic of the underside with the box back in it's proper position. Works good in trials. so have at it Mr. plowman, we're ready for you now!

Dinner With Debi!!

How great it was to see Debi and her two boys while we were in Watsonville. Ron's two brothers, Debi and her two boys and Ron and I went to a local restaurant for dinner our last night in Calif. Nick and Mikey were too funny and we had a great time.

Phil's

If you are EVER, ANYWHERE NEAR Moss Landing, you MUST go to this great fish market/restaurant called Phil's. It is the best, best, best place to get your fix of fresh seafood!!! Shrimp cocktail with their homemade sauce....mmmm!

Unbelievably delicious fried artichoke hearts.

Fried prawns, calamare, oysters and scallops. Fried, fried, and more fried.

After rolling out of our chairs, we took a walk down to the beach. So beautiful!

Pikes

On Wednesday, Ray's birthday, we all met in Madera for a picnic with Ron's family. All the siblings and Ron's father were able to be together for the first time in years. There were also many cousins able to be there. One more thing, for those of you in the midwest, are you noticing the short sleeves?

We took Mark's boys and they had such a great time. Afterwards we were going to take them to an amusement park called Storyland. When we drove up to the gates, we learned they were only open on weekends. Opps!
Thank goodness for Chucky Cheese or the boys would have been so disappointed.

The Little Pike Boys

We spent the last week back in Sunny California visiting family. Can you believe it was in the 60's everyday! Mark's boys are such a hoot! But I had forgotten how much stuff little kids need whenever you go somewhere. Diaper bags, treats, car seats, drinks....This day we were off on an adventure! All three boys' car seats fit into the back of the rental car. Odin is in the rear, Ronan the middle and little Archer is in the foreground. We took them to Manzanita Lake to feed the ducks.

There were a few Canadian geese in the mix. Archer loved the ducks and geese and wanted to be right in the middle of all the fun.

Odin showing a big grin. He was having fun feeding bread to the ducks.

Ronan was hilarious. He would not stop chasing the ducks because he loved the feel of the air their wings made when they took off.

By the end of the day Ron and I were exhausted......