Must-Do List for San Francisco, California

In 2001, almost a year after my husband graduated from his residency, we decided to take a road trip around the United States. We had 2 months and a little Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck with a camper shell.

Occasionally we stopped in a bar at night to visit with the locals. And so often we would discover that the people that had lived in that particular area their whole lives had never been to the landmark we had just seen that day. We were at first shocked but then after talking about it Erik and I realized we had never been to Alcatraz!

Erik has lived in the bay area before he started elementary school and I am like a 6th generation Californian native. I have lived in the bay area my whole life and neither one of us have ever been to one of San Francisco's biggest landmarks. So last year Erik and I took care of that problem, and had a great time.

I am telling you this anecdote because my friend Barb sent me a list of Must-Do/See for San Francisco. Embarrassingly enough I haven't done a lot of these, so I need to get to work. I couldn't resist some commentary.

Eat a hot fudge sundae at the St. Francis Fountain, open since 1918 on lower 24th Street in the Mission District.

Stick a penny into "Susie the Can-Can Dancer" at the Musee Mecanique.

Watch jet planes roar over San Francisco Bay during Fleet Week.

Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Build a sandcastle at Baker Beach.

Rent a rowboat at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park.

Step inside Mission Dolores, the oldest intact building in SanFrancisco.

The neighboring Cemetery is the final resting place for numerous Ohlone, Miwok, and other First Californians. (I did not know that, very cool)

Play in the water at Julius Kahn Playground in Presidio Heights.

Take the Alcatraz tour. (I finally did that)

Pick out a pastry at La Victoria Mexican Bakery on lower 24th Street in the Mission District. (Mexican pastries are too hard)

Fly a kite at Crissy Field. (Kites don't like me)

Hike the Coastal Trail where some of the most intact natural habitat in the Presidio harbors rare plants. (Done that)

Visit North Beach's Washington Square in the early morning and watch the groups practicing Tai Chi. (I can see that at my gym)

Enjoy a picnic at Dolores Park. (And pick up a used hypodermic needle)

Ride bikes along the one-mile Lover's Lane in the Presidio. U.S. soldiers once used the trail to visit their lovers in the city. (Soldiers or sailors?)

Look for the wild parrots on Telegraph Hill. (Seen those)

Wade in the Bay at Crissy Field Beach.

Visit the kittens and puppies at the SFSPCA. (No way! I would come home with some.)

Check out books from the Children's Center at the Main Library. (And not return them.)

Slurp up a bowl of pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) at Turtle Tower in theTenderloin. (Yummy!)

Gaze at the Foucault Pendulum until it knocks over a pin at theAcademy of Sciences.

Step inside City Hall and stand under the dome, which is the tallest in the United States, 42 inches higher than the one in the nation'scapital in D.C. Look up and scream "Wow!" (Scream?)

Take a walk down the Mission District's Balmy Alley, the most concentrated collection of murals in the city.

Look for turtles in the pond at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. ( I love that place)

Climb over the moon bridge in the Japanese Tea Garden.

Attend a sing-along movie at the Castro Theater. Sound of Music always plays over the Thanksgiving holiday; other favorites include Mary Poppins and Mamma Mia. (Of course)

Shop for vegetables in Chinatown and use them to make a stir-fry at home.(If you like melamine)

Ride the cable cars all the way from Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf.(very cool)

Walk the one-block stretch of Lombard that twists and turns betweenHyde and Leavenworth.

Zip down the slides, climb up the rope structure, and swing across the

monkey bars at Golden Gate Park's Children's Quarter, originally built in 1887 and recognized as our nation's first-ever public playground. (I didn't know that either. Bring your kids or you will look like a child molester)

Attend the Meet the Animals presentation put on at the Randall Museum every Saturday at 11:15 a.m. Pet a snake, feed a turtle, feel a rabbit's soft coat.

Explore Cayuga Park in the Excelsior. Gardener Demitrio Braceros has transformed this spot right next to the Bart tracks into a wonderland with winding paths lined with wooden sculptures and flowers.

Go out for dim sum. (My fave thing to do in S.F.)

Shop for art supplies at Flax on Market Street.

Lick an ice cream from Mitchell's in Noe Valley.

Drive to the top of Twin Peaks.

Fill up on blueberry pancakes at The Ramp's weekend brunch.

Stroll Ocean Beach in the early morning and look for sand dollars.

Buy chocolate malt balls at Miette in Hayes Valley.

Check out the Fire Department Museum where you can see an engine from 1810.

Spend your savings at Ambassador Toys in West Portal.

Order the Bullet Train children's meal at Mifune in Japantown. It comes with cold soba noodles and tempura served on a toy train.(Which I would eat while my kids play with the train)

Zip down the 25-foot tube slide at the Yerba Buena Gardens Play Circle.

Glide across the ice at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating Center.

Knock down some pins at Yerba Buena Bowling Center.

Ride the carousel at Golden Gate Park.

Watch the 4 p.m. giraffe feeding at the San Francisco Zoo.(And get eaten by a Tiger)

Hike the Land's End Trail, from the Cliff House to the Palace of theLegion of Honor. Looking down at the rocky shoreline, you can see the remains of three shipwrecks.

Grab a dozen donuts at Dynamo on lower 24th St. in the Mission District.

Ride to the top of the tower at the De Young Museum.

Check out the Presidio's Battery Chamberlin, the last six-inch"disappearing gun" of its type on the West Coast. On the first full weekend of each month, take part in demonstrations of the gun.

Visit Fort Point and attend the Cannon Loading Demonstration and learn how soldiers were taught to load and fire a Napoleon 12-pounder cannonduring a Civil War artillery drill. (Hee hee, my dear sister-in-law's own in-law's fire a homemade cannon on their ranch a few times a year. Way more entertaining to watch drunk men shoot bowling balls.)

Attend a Family Art Encounter on some Sundays at the Asian Art Museum.It's a drop-in class in which parents and kids create art related to the museum's collection.

Say hello to the sea lions at Pier 39. (Done that)

Catch a Giants game at AT&T Park.(Did that with my MIL and we had awesome box seats)

Ride a ferry to Angel Island State Park.

Volunteer at the San Francisco Food Bank.

Attend a service at Glide Memorial Church in the Tenderloin.

Marvel at the 100-year-old giant Imperial Philodendron inside the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.

Visit the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory in Chinatown.

Chow down on pizza at Giorgio's in the Inner Richmond.

Watch the trains circle round the tracks maintained by the Golden Gate Model Railroad Club in the basement of the Randall Museum. Saturdays only.

Suck on a fruity popsicle from Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission District.

Step aboard the Balclutha at the Hyde Street Pier. The 1886 three-masted ship once transported cargo between California and theBritish Isles via Cape Horn.

Tour the Cable Car Museum.

Get a free balloon at one of the city's many Cole Hardware stores.

Create gigantic bubbles at the Exploratorium.( I highly reccomend this)

Visit Coit Tower--and ride the elevator that takes you to the top of the 210-foot tower in the elevator.

Watch the break-dancers at the Powell Street Cable Car turn-table.(Michael loved that)

Listen to the ocean's song at the Wave Organ, just east of the yacht club on Bay Street. When the waves crash over sculpture of PVC pipes sound is created.

Watch the remote-control model boats sail around Spreckels Lake inGolden Gate Park.

Walk by the Painted Ladies, a row of elaborately painted Victorians facing Alamo Square Park on Steiner Street. Afterward, play in the park.

Catch one of the free summer performances at Stern Grove.

Read inspiring words from Martin Luther King Jr. behind the cascading fountain at Yerba Buena Gardens.

Attend a family concert at the San Francisco Symphony.

See a Concord Coach used by Wells Fargo in the 1860s at the WellsFargo History Museum on Montgomery.

View the Diego Rivera mural, "Making a Fresco," at the San Francisco Art Institute on Russian Hill.(Done that)

Order an ice cream cone at the first-ever Swensen's on Russian Hill.(Done that)

Take a docent-led tour of the Haas-Lilienthal House, the city's only Victorian house museum.

Zoom down the Winfield Street Slide on a piece of cardboard, nestled away amongst the trees and curvy hills of Bernal Heights.

View the collection of works by El Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt, Monet, Matisse, and Picasso at the Legion of Honor.

Savor scones spread with clotted cream and finger sandwiches at Lovejoy's Tea Room in Noe Valley.

Explore Justin Herman Plaza's Vaillancourt Fountain with walkways that allow you to walk over, under and through its waterfalls.

Chow down on a burger and fries at one of the city's old-fashioned Mel's diners.

Kayak along the waterfront.(Sure I will get right on that)

Go for a hike and watch the hang-gliders at Fort Funston.

Sit on the dock of the bay at India Basin Shoreline Park in Hunter'sPoint, known for its sun, birds, stunning views, and fishing dock.

Take the ferry to Sausalito.

Pay your respects to artist Keith Haring's "Three Dancing Figures"--an abstract sculpture featuring brightly colored figures with their arms and legs intertwined- -at Moscone Center between Howard and Third.

Eat a burrito at La Taqueria on Mission Street.( Oh Hell yes. )

That is a perfect note to end on.

Touching Blog Award

Ok so for you non-bloggers here is a little thing we like to do. We like to give each other awards. I have always thought they were cute and silly time-fillers, and I am so down with that. It gives you something to write about and lets you honor your other blogging buddies. Tonight something different happened. I was given an award by a person I have never met and the reasoning behind the award really touched me.

The person who gave it to me has a blog called Tasha's Truth. I can't remember how I found her blog, but I loved it. She is a teacher in a juvenile jail and writes about the youth she works with. I used to manage group homes and I can relate to her stories and the feelings they evoke in her. So I started following her. And then Tasha came to my blog and read it and left me a comment. I am para-phrasing right now, but it said something like I can't believe I have that much in common with a Jewish, married, mother. I read that comment and started looking over my shoulder and then realized she was talking about me. When I looked at her photo I connected with my inner twenty-something and then remembered I am not.




This award is given because:
1) The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.
2) The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.
3) There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.
4) The Blog is refreshing and creative.
5) The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

I'm passing it on to:

1) Tasha, this is not a tit-for-tat kind of thing. I read your blog often and am usually too rushed to leave a comment. When you wrote that you yell at your students with your eyes so you don't have to raise your voice, I was struck by your excellent writing, and it made me try harder not to raise my voice to my kids. The eye yelling I already have down to a science.

2) Clare, you are sweetness and light, you are a dark horse. I met your husband before you, but not long before. We all met while we were all still in high school and now we are all "mums" as you would say. You come from the U.K. and you have adapted well, but there is a part of you that won't let go. And that is fine, honor your roots. I love your blog because most of the time it's light and fluffy and then you give us a glimpse of the deep Clare. The powerful Clare. And then you move on again. You remind me of grafitti I saw on a bathroom wall at a pub in London once, it said, "An American girl has to start a Harley by sucking on the tailpipe, an English girl just smiles.". Bitch that so describes you.

3) Meghan, when I was a little girl I wanted to be you. By the time I reach 50 I still don't think I will be as cool as you are. And bitch you aren't even 30 years old yet. You have it all: cool party chick with a career, laid back mom who honors her son's distinct personality, loyal friend, involved citizen and philanthropist, married to a hilarious husband who respects your choices. Your blog is matter of fact, here is my cute family, here is some stuff that makes me happy, if you don't like it then just move on. But for the love of G-d will you get rid of that song!!! LOL, I am not into country and it slows down your blog bigtime.

Great idea Tasha.

Swine Flu Cupcakes

Actually we made Orange-Chocolate Cupcakes but they were inspired by Swine Flu. I was sitting around with a recovering sick child and one on the brink of illness and I was stressing out because I was thinking it was Swine Flu. I was thinking that it was Swine Flu because my brother was just here from San Diego and him and his wife were sick and because I watch too much cable news. I was really stressing out because I am supposed to go see Chelsea Handler next weekend and I don't want to be home with sick kids instead!!

So here I am on a Monday afternoon freaking out and realizing I am being an idiot and that I need to do something to calm myself down. Baking and cooking usually helps and I had an excess of oranges. I had already made orange chicken the night before so I decided to make orange-chocolate cupcakes.

When I get inspired like this I make up recipes, but not really. My math skills are that of a 3rd grader so there is no way I could technically make up a recipe. So I usually just look at what I have on hand and then go to my cookbooks or allrecipes.com and find matching recipes. Then I draw a chart like the one below. The first column is the main ingredients, the second column is how much the 1st recipe uses of those ingredients, the third column is how much the 2nd recipe uses of said ingredients and the fourth column is how much I am going to use or what I am going to substitute. So for instance I didn't have plain yogurt or sour cream so I used vanilla yogurt and reduced the amount of sugar in the cupcakes. I used butter instead of oil and added Triple Sec. I also used whatever I had leftover of some Nestle Quik and then bulked it up with unsweetened cocoa powder and once again took notice of the sugar content.

Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes

10 Tbs. softened butter (That's a cube and 2 Tbs., this is not a W. W. recipe)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
juice from 2-3 oranges
zest from 2 oranges (Pampered Chef zester came in handy)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. Triple Sec (optional and next time I am using more because you really couldn't taste it)
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup Nestle Quik powder (that's all I had and then I bulked up with cocoa powder to make 2/3 cup, if you just use the unsweetened powder adjust your sugar)
enough Unsweetened Hershey's Cocoa powder to make 2/3 cup
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Combine first 7 ingredients, and Triple Sec if using, and beat until fluffy. At this point I was ready to stop and eat it with spoon. Add all dry ingredients and beat until color is even but don't overmix.

Batter will be thick like chocolate frosting. Add to paper cupcake liners in cupcake pan. Fill 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes. Should make 24 if you don't eat too much batter. Let them cool until they are warm and poke with toothpicks, drizzle slowly with a Tbs. of fresh squeezed orange juice until absorbed. Makes them even more moist and orangey tasting.








This is where I had to hide the batter while the first batch was in the oven and I had to get Jake out of his crib after naptime. Mike and Bekah would have been on it like flies.

They didn't sit there the whole 20 minutes

This is the best pic you are going to get. I flunked photography in high school because I spent all my time partying in the dark room instead of developing pictures. Trust me I wasn't partying by myself.

As for the suspected Swine Flu in my house........Bekah woke up with a 103 fever this morning and I asked my husband if he thought I would be stupid and paranoid if I took Bekah to our pediatrician. My husband said, "I would never think you are stupid.". Fine, paranoid I can handle. And I am so glad I took her because even though she does not have Swine Flu she does have a double ear infection and now she has a scrip for Amoxycillin. Yay!!!

Did I mention I am going to Chelsea Handler this weekend?

Pic of Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Hey I actually got around to posting a picture for one of my recipes. Those cooking blogs make food photography seem so easy, it's not!!

Weekly < 30 minute Recipe #15

OK I am going to continue to plagirize myself. I wrote an email a year ago to my old mom's club, before I blew it up, that was all about easy grilling recipes. My goals are: easy, fast, and healthy.

Grilled Mexican Chicken





1 cup favorite salsa
3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup or less chopped cilantro
4 palm size chicken breasts
desired amount of lettuce

Stir salsa, cilantro and vinegar together. Reserve 1/2 cup for later. Pour other 1/2 cup over chicken breasts. Marinate for 2 hours or not. Pre-heat grill to med-high heat. Discard marinade so you don't die. Grill breasts 3-5 minutes per side. Slice against grain and serve over lettuce with remaining sauce. Per serving= 4 Points! Add some cheese or chips if you can have more points. Drink a beer with lime. A lite Mex. beer with lime is 2 points. Happy Cinco De Mayo.

Weekly < 30 minute Recipe #14

So last year I started reading this blog that had a brand new crock-pot recipe everyday! And I thought, "Hey I can do something like that but every day is too much so I will post one recipe a week. And I will have pictures too!". Uh, no. Once again I am behind so I owe you 2 recipes this week. I did get around to posting a pic of chocolate covered strawberries though if you want to check that out.

Let me tell you that food photography is almost as hard as taking pictures of children. I would take a picture and look at it and think, "Ewww look at that stain on my counter.". So I would wipe that up and take another picture, "Oh shit I left that knife laying in the background.". So I put the knife in the sink and take another picture, "Uh, if somebody showed me this picture it would not make me hungry.". So I try a different angle, etc. etc.

Anyways, my awesome friend Barb sent me a list of grilling recipes that I typed up and emailed a year ago! And forgot about! So now I can plagarize myself and just figure out the Weight Watchers points.

So this is what I do all summer. I marinate some meat during naptime (or not) and then after naptime I drink beer (or iced tea) while monkeys play in the yard with the hose and then I grill meat while supervising them. Then I cut the meat in slices and serve over lettuce. Simple. Kids get to play, I get to cook, husband gets to eat, it's a win-win.

Grilled Mediterrean Chicken

Work with me on this one. It requires mixing salsa and spaghetti sauce, I know that sounds weird but I am not asking you to add raisins or anything so just trust me.

1/2 cup salsa, ( I am using Ortega thick and chunky salsa to obtain points, but most salsas are the same)
1/2 cup jarred spaghetti sauce ( I am using Bertolli Marinara because it does not give me garlic burps, a 1/2 cup is 2 points and not all jar sauces are the same so check your label)
4 palm size chick breasts
desired amount of lettuce

Mix salsa and spaghetti sauce in bowl scoop out a 1/2 cup of mixed sauces and reserve for later. Pour other 1/2 cup over breasts and turn to coat, you can marinate for 2 hours or not. Set aside and pre-heat grill to med-high (work fast to make this under 30 minutes). Grill each breast 3-5 minutes per side.(discard marinade so you don't die) Slice on the grain and serve over desired lettuce with remaining sauce. You can have sauce chilled, room temp., or warmed up. If you have time add chopped Basil leaves and lemon slices on side.

Ooops I published this without points, so here we go again. 1 serving of breast with sauce on top of lettuce is 4 points!! That's really low. You can have some wine, beer or even pasta or rice.

Paranoia, Deep Destroyer

I just have to get this off my chest so I can get on with my day. And since there are no other adults present right now I will just have to put this on my blog.

This Swine Flu thing is freaking me out. The World Health Organization just raised their pandemic alert to a level 4 which is 2 levels short of a full-blown pandemic.

These are the main reasons this is freaking me out:

1. My bro and wife were here this weekend and she was sick with the flu. Fever, sore throat etc. They live in San Diego which is next to Mexico.

2. My oldest woke up with a 102 fever on Saturday and it peaked at 103. He was lethargic, had headache, sore throat, achy body and a cough. Now it's Monday and he's fine and my other 2 are fine. I have been lethargic all weekend and now my stomach is having some issues. Hopefully it's just P.M.S. and as for the lethargy I thought I was just depressed because my brother had left.

3. I am supposed to go see Chelsea Handler this weekend and stay in a fancy hotel as a Mother's Day gift. I would be so upset if that has to get cancelled!!!!

4. I also wanted to go buy something cute to wear this weekend but now I am chicken-shit to go to the mall. Last time I went to the mall some spazzy kid smacked Jake on the hand. No biggie, toddlers hit, I know this. The part that freaked me out was that his mom showed her apologies by kissing Jake and rubbing her hands all over his face! Who does that to somebody else's kid? That scared Jake more than the little boy smacking him. Sorry, now I am rambling.

Phew, I feel better thanks.

I bought too many oranges last week so now I am going to go make orange and chocolate cupcakes. I am making this recipe up so wish me luck. Writing and baking always calms me down.

Stuff on my other blog

Sometimes it looks like I post the same things on both blogs but I really don't. Just stuff I have to share with the universe. I did just this weekend, post 2 things on the N.E.O. Moms blog that I think you should read.

1. Something my bro wrote, he isn't the only funny one in the family.

2. My beauty goals.

California Academy of Sciences

While my brother Bill was visiting last week we took a field trip the California Academy of Sciences.

We had a blast but we didn't see the whole museum because it's sooo big and there is no way my kids' would have lasted. But it was ok because kids aged 6 and under are free. This is Jake running around the living roof with a Fig Newton.



Here is a better picture of the living roof.

Here is a not very flattering picture of my Dad and Step-mom, it was windy up there.

San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world even if it's foggy all of the time.

Pretty blue butterfly. There is a rainforest section that gives you really frizzy hair.

Giant brown and yellow butterfly. Bekah talked to all of the butterflies she encountered.

Underneath the aquarium.

Rare White Alligator, this is what my nightmares are made of, especially if he hisses.

Thanks mom we love field trips!

See what the rainforest did to Bekah's hair?

Jake passed out almost before we left the parking garage, he was exhausted.

My Brother Bill's Visit, The Details

Because I know you can't sleep at night until you know how the visit with my brother went. Bill just got back from Iraq and drove up here from San Diego with his beautiful wife Ari.



My oldest, Michael, loves Uncle Bill, but Bekah is all about Aunt Ari.



That's the living roof at The California Academy of Sciences. We had a field trip there last Thursday. My Dad and awesome step-mom came along as well. My poor husband had to work though. That's what happens when you own your own business. We did see the guy who gave my husband a vasectomy, his wife, and all 4 of their kids. That's what happens when you are an urologist and your wife is a dentist. You get to take all 4 of your kids to the a museum on a Thursday. I am not bitter, I just wish my husband could have been there.

Aunt Ari loves me even if I take off my pants and scratch my mother's face hard enough to draw blood.

Jake gets jealous if I show attention to anyone but him. Did I mention that he scratched my face hard enough to draw blood? Little a-hole. We were having lunch at the museum and he decided to throw a classic 2 year old tantrum. Don't worry my tetanus is up to date.

Bill asked Michael to help carry his back-pack out to his car. Michael said, "No, because that means you will be leaving faster.". When Bill and Ari drove away Michael turned to me and said, "I'm sad.". I hugged him and said, " I am too.".

Swine Flu

Have you read/heard about this Swine Flu? Click on Swine Flu to go to the most recent info I have found about it, at 9:40a Saturday April 25th. Just gotta love that word pandemic.

I am not a germ phobic person but........when you have 3 toddlers living in your home......... Well we all know that preschoolers get sick often because of their notoriously poor hygiene and mouthing everything (both my sons still stick everything in their mouths). And to top it off my oldest, Michael, woke up with a 102 degree fever this morning.

Also my dear husband is on-call for the hospital this weekend, so he is just waiting for the phone calls from the citizens of San Ramon wondering if they have Swine Flu. When the Anthrax incidents were happening after 9/11 he got a ridiculous amount of phone calls from people thinking they had been exposed to Anthrax. Even though none of them had been exposed to any white powders and had no symptoms at all. The difference with this Swine Flu is that the symptoms are exactly like the seasonal flu. Below is from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) website:

What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Have a nice weekend.

My Brother Bill's Visit

Here are some pics of my brother's visit this week. I will post more pics and details later but I really need to get off my ass. The picture below I am looking kind of chubby so I definitely need to get moving and grooving.

Jake was getting a little jealous.



Bekah is sitting on Aunt Ari's lap. Ari is Bill's wife and Bekah is Ari's shadow.

Bill playing Scrabble. I won 1 game, my Dad won the rest.

My Brother is Coming Today

Four-twenty, 4/20, 4-20, April 20th 2009

Ok so I live in the bay area, San Francisco Bay Area. Most of the time I feel like I live in a normal, albeit gorgeous, part of our United States. And then there are days like today. I felt like it was a holiday, a Federal holiday. Traffic was light, people were goofy, and my favorite radio stations were constantly playing music inappropriate for my kids. Damn. "Mommy, what's a bong?"

What the hell are you talking about, you ask? Uhm, click on the uhm. Read the definiton on Wikipedia and come back to me.

I am deadly serious when I ask my readers, does this happen where you live? Do your favorite rock stations play bong hit sound effects all day? Doobie Brother's songs? Skits from Cheech and Chong? Do you get to hear the original, Rainy Day Women at least 3 times in an 8 hour period? While running errands today did you hear more than 5 Grateful Dead tunes?

Don't get me wrong I have done my fair share of partying, but when I am driving my toddlers around all day and my 4 year old starts singing, "Smoke Two Joints".....I am not amused. Because today is a school day and we have been on spring break and now he is going to Pre-K singing songs about weed!!! I finally resorted to a painfully annoying kid's music c.d. , arrrghhh.

I love, love, love being a California native. I am a 6th, or 7th generation California native, depending on what relative you talk to and how much they have had to drink. But it can be rather isolating. If you never leave the bay area or don't give a shit what happens outside of the bay area, then you are sitting pretty. But I have lived in other places. London and Houston, if you want to really get outside of the box. The Dead was on tour in Europe when I lived in London, so I found kindred spirits. But Houston, Texas...............Nuke 'em.

When I lived in Houston, Texas, Jerry Garcia died. I was sad. I went to work that day and my colleagues asked,
"Why are you sad?",
I said, "Because Jerry died."
"Who?"
"Jerry Garcia!"
The 2 comments I got after that were, "Who?" or "So?"

I felt so alone, so far from home. I could only stand there with fists clenched and my eyes bugging out.

And recently Texas was reported to want to secede from the Union.....Buh Bye!

My Brother is coming to visit this Tuesday #1

My brother is coming to visit this Tuesday and I can't wait!!! Have I told you this already?

Weekly < 30 minute Recipe #13

I am giving you the recipe for the easiest and best (healthwise) dessert ever! Chocolate-Covered Strawberries!!! People always get so intimidated by chocolate-covered strawberries that they don't even try to attempt them. They look so pretty sitting on a platter, all red and plump, covered with silky chocolate and a perky little green stem sticking out of the top. Just begging to be eaten. They must be hard to make right? Because nothing good in life is easy right? Usually that's true except for chocolate-covered strawberries.

People want to make them extremely difficult too, so if you look up a recipe it's going to call for a double boiler, 2 kinds of chocolate wafers, maybe even some butter. That is ridiculous!! Guess what I use? Strawberries, chocolate chips, microwave and wax paper. Does that sound difficult?

And the best part.............1 point each!




Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
12 large strawberries
Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips
some paper towels
wax paper
microwave
a bowl

Rinse and COMPLETELY dry the strawberries. Line pretty platter with wax paper (or put wax paper on your kitchen counter, who cares?) Pour 1/4 to 1/2 the bag of chocolate chips into bowl and microwave for 45 seconds. Stir nuke some more if not melted. Don't let it turn into lava though. Once it's melted, grab strawberry and swirl into melted chocolate leaving enough space under stem so that when you pick them up you don't get chocolate under your fingernails. Lay them on wax paper. Repeat process with all strawberries and you may need to re-melt chocolate as it sets up, add more chips if you need to. Put in fridge until they are set, which is like 10 minutes. Lightly top with plastic wrap if you are not going to eat them right away so they don't take on the flavor of your fridge.


1 point per strawberry, Yummy!!!

Me On CBS 5

Excerpts of my blog, published and discussed on CBS 5 Eye On Blogs.

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose

This week is spring break for my monkeys. That just means my 3 and 4 year old don't have preschool. Unfortunately my nieces, and my kids' monkey friends, had spring break last week! So I had to do a field trip solo.







I decided to take my 3 savages to places that I haunted as a child. I grew up in San Jose, California, long before it was Silicon Valley. So I decided to take my kids to lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory and to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.



Here is Jake enjoying his dessert. His entree was spaghetti with meat sauce but Jake looks like this after drinking water. He is just a messy dude, and goes through more costume changes in a day than Cher at a concert.













After our cheap, yet tasty lunch we headed over to the museum. The museum is a historic building that has lifts for wheelchairs, but no elevators and I would feel like an idiot using the lifts for the stroller. So I left the stroller in the van, which means I had no hands to take pictures inside the museum. I was on high alert with 3 toddlers and glass cases full of artifacts.

Mike pointed to one of the paintings on the wall and asked what it was. I told him it was a Pharaoh and he launched into singing, "Pharaoh let my people go....". We just celebrated Passover so the evil Pharaoh was fresh in his mind. I cracked up laughing, and Mike got a couple of weird looks.

The museum has a replica of a tomb and we got there just in time for a docent to give us a brief talk. Michael was totally into it, especially since it was dark and she had a flashlight. Toddlers go crazy over flashlights for some reason. When her talk was over, Mike immediately raised his hand and said, " I have a question, what happens when the mummies come back alive?". So she launches into this speech about resurrection, which was way over his head. He was thinking about the Scooby-Doo movie he saw.

Then Bekah, who has to copy everything her big brother does, says, "I have a question.". So the room full of people look at her and she does a pirouette and says, "Wheeee". OK folks the tour is over. Everyone laughed but I wanted to escort her out before she got out of control.

We didn't last much longer inside the museum, which was fine because kids 5 years and younger are free. I only had to pay for myself so I wasn't looking to stay there past their attention spans. We headed outside where they have beautiful gardens, and I let them run around before heading back to San Ramon.

As you can see by Bekah's hair it was very windy on Tuesday and us curly-haired chicks don't do well with wind. Jake eventually got soaked up to his elbows in that fountain.

There is a sign on that sphinx that clearly says, "Do not climb.". But it was just killing Michael, he wanted to sit on it's back sooo bad. With Mike wanting to climb everything and Jake wanting to go swimming in the fountain it was time to head home.

I am in another newspaper

The Post Chronicle picked up another one of my "articles". I better go change a poopy diaper before I get too conceited.

Captain Rescued from Pirates

Ever since I wrote the post last week about shy pirates I have been kind of nervous. I didn't realize the Captain of the ship was going to let the pirates take him as ransom! I didn't want people to think I was an asshole for making light of a hostage situation. But now thankfully some studly Navy Seals came and shot up three of the pirates and freed the Captain. Phew.




And of course since everything is all about me, I started thinking about my brother and how proud of him that he is a Navy Seal. Even though he had absolutely nothing to do with this rescue mission, and was probably surfing all weekend in San Diego. I am just super excited because Bill, and his wife Ari, are going to come visit in about a week and I can't stop thinking about him.





My brother Bill just got back from Iraq less than 2 weeks ago, but he did a stint as a Navy Seal Instructor awhile back. The book pictured below is about the training process it takes to make a Navy Seal. I could go upstairs and scan pictures of my brother from this book but that would entail dragging my ass off my couch, walking upstairs, turning on my upstairs computer, turning on the scanner, getting the book off the bookshelf..................I am entirely too lazy to do that.

I think this image below is from this book but I can't remember. That dude standing in the surf is a Seal instructor, but he's not my brother. My brother left a shirt like that guy is wearing at my house and now I wear it as a pajama top. My brother is always leaving stuff here when he visits, and for somebody who is in special ops., that doesn't seem to be a very stealth thing to do.











I actually googled my brother looking for images of just him. I know he has done a couple of commercials for the Navy because my husband and I actually saw one while watching t.v. Erik paused the commercial and said, "Holy shit that's Bill!". And it was! My brother just kind of forgot to tell us he had filmed a couple of commercials. Today I couldn't find those ads but I did find two articles quoting my brother. The first article was about a Surf Competition that benefits a charity for the widows of special operations servicemembers. Another article was about the San Diego Chargers visiting the Buds training facilities (that's what they call Seals before they graduate). My bro is a huge football fan so I am not at all surprised he was present, and quoted, when the Chargers came to visit.

For all my lady friends who think my brother is hot, I promise to take lots of pictures of him when he visits.

An Arrest in the Sandra Cantu Case

Read about it on my other blog.

Passover 2009

We had our Passover Seder at Aunt Rabbi's house in Oakland. I was so proud, my kids sat through the majority of the Seder, which is a very long dinner reenacting the Jews escape from slavery. Not an easy task for toddlers to endure, and they did fabulous. Michael even yelled out, "Barack Obama!" and made everyone laugh. I don't know why he did that, but it was funny none the less.

Below are my 2 nieces, Kaitlyn and Haley. The blond is Haley and the brunette is Kaitlyn. They are 17 months apart just like my Mike and Bekah. And when all 5 of them are together they look like siblings. Haley took most of the pictures you are going to see below.
I love the Rabbi's house in Oakland, it's beautiful. It's so old it even has a basement, which is a rarity in earthquake prone California. That's Kaitlyn lifting Bekah into the air and Mike and Jake running around aimlessly.

That's my main squeeze posing with out firstborn. Mike has some stretchy pink bunny he got at preschool in front of his face. Can you see the beautiful kitchen behind the French doors? Some day I will have nice things when my kids are old enough not to destroy everything. Those French doors would last less than an hour at my house.

This picture is a little blurry but I just wanted to show off Bekah's cute dress. The belt has an orange butterfly on it.

That sheep goes everywhere with Jake.

Me and my girl. Thanks to Auntie M for lending me those pants. I am not as slender as her so I had to suck in my gut and then I was paranoid as hell I would stain them. I don't own any white items of clothing for obvious reasons. The next day they immediately went to the dry cleaners and even so I might owe her a new pair of pants.

Mike and that damn pink bunny.

Attempting a group photo. Where is my husband you ask. Inside eating my matzoh ball soup. Asshole! We rarely fight but I was pissed about that. And then he gave me shit for having a buzz on, well duh when you drink wine on an empty stomach that's what happens! I have forgiven him now. We made up on the living room floor. Our living room floor not the Rabbi's.

See Mike and Jake's pants? If there is wet grass, puddles, mud etc. my boys will find it. Bekah is more civilized. Even though she did spend 5 hours naked yesterday. It was inside our house, and she was wearing a shirt, but she had no interest in putting on her panties or any other item of clothing. Oh well.

Happy Passover!!!!

Pirates

On the way to taking Bekah to preschool this morning we were listening to the news on the radio. The lead story was about Somali pirates who took over a cargo ship with an American crew. Michael immediately perked up:

"Pirates?!" He yelped.

"Yes, these are bad pirates who took a ship with Americans on it."

"Bad pirates?"

"Yes, there are bad pirates, and good pirates..."

"And shy pirates?"

"Uh, yes there are shy pirates.". I have been laughing about that all morning. I just keep imagining a pirate hiding behind his mommy.


Then we launched into a conversation about how Scooby-Doo and Shaggy are afraid of pirates and that we should go to "Block-Bluster" and rent a Scooby-Doo movie.

Numbers 2009

I have 3 kids. My husband and I did not realize when we got married 5 years ago that we were incredibly fertile. So I ended up getting pregnant on my honeymoon, that would be Michael. Then I stopped nursing Michael and got pregnant immediately, that's Bekah. Then I was on the birth control pill and my husband was planning on getting a vasectomy and well that would be Jake.

Michael and Bekah are 17 months apart. Bekah and Jake are only 15 months apart. So every year at springtime my kids' ages are blam, blam, blam. Right after another.

So last year, I was having a long, rainy, stay-at-home-mom kind of day when I got this idea to make numbers, representing their ages, and take pictures. It started off with them holding the numbers, a huge disaster, so I taped them to the wall. Much better. It still took 65 pictures to get this cute one below.
I then sent out an email with some of the pics to friends and family. Wow! I had no idea that the grandparents would send this email across the universe. And now I am committed to doing this project every year at springtime as long as I grace this planet. Below is the best one from this year's batch.

I have included outtakes/bloopers from last year and this year. Look how much toddlers can change in one year, pretty amazing. Jake wasn't even walking yet. And Bekah's hair was so curly.

Just in case you are a new reader to this blog, my son Michael, now 4 years old, has a GIGANTIC personality.

It's impossible for that boy to hold still.

Jake loves that stuffed sheep.

Can you see why taping the number on the wall makes more sense?

We ended up putting Jake in his high chair because he was trying to escape.

I don't know how professional photographers do it.

I have no idea what happened here.