Thanksgiving Break

Family photo with Brea and newly purchased frisbee golf disks.

Ahhh...Thanksgiving. A time for family, food and a good Frisbee Golf tournament. What? That's not normal? Well it wasn't for us either, until this year.

Carrying on the Lopez tradition on Thanksgiving day...my mom created a feast to please a king. From ham to pot roast, sausage stuffing to corn casserole, pecan pie to pumpkin, we were all rolling in a food coma for hours after the feast. I am absolutely baffled by the Quantity and Quality of my mother's cooking...Ami and I ponder why we aren't fighting to lose an extra 300lbs gained through childhood (an easy feat if you have tasted her cooking). My cousins LeAnne and Lauren flew in for the weekend and joined the gathering; a treat even more so than the food before us. All 15 of us caught up, chatted and shared stories late into the evening.

The following day, my adoring husband had the genius idea of walking off some of those "extra bites" and "just one mores" through a game of Frisbee Golf. We rounded up the Evans and Davis clan and headed out. Just 5 miles from our home is a 48 "basket" course, with varying levels of experience; from amateur (me, me and me) to professional (just about everyone else). Just a little history here, I am not the hugest fan of said game. Begrudgingly (by me of course) Nick and I have ventured out to the course here in Bellingham and when it's my turn to tee off, somehow the disk somehow lands BEHIND me half the time. Needless to say, Frisbee Golf is not my sport. However when there are 11 of my favorite people all gathered together, how can I resist? Then when my 18 year old cousin Matthew rolled up with a carrier bag, I knew I was in trouble. He had multiple drivers, mid-range and putters...all different colors, full of "integrity." (Matthew taught me a lot that day). Our fearless leader obviously had high expectation for his followers as he guided us off to tee #1 of the PROFESSIONAL course. Matthew started us off. I wish you could have seen him throw...it was a work of art. Then Lauren (cousin) stepped up (also carrying a disk holder) and the whaled it. Then Nick...it flew. Then out of no where, brother in law Matt, chucked it like it ain't no thang. Unbelievable. I was shaking in my timbers, mostly because I didn't want to injure the spectators standing behind me. Thankfully it flew forward, only to hit a tree 15 feet away and went tumbling to the ground. Luckily, I wasn't the only one...a few family members (names withheld of course) were on the same par as me (no pun intended).

I'll spare you gruesome details of our 2 hour game and sum it up by saying shockingly enough each one of us walked away with all extremities, no concussions (I dare you to play with 11 people and not get smacked in the face with a flying disk) and bellies ready to be full once again with Thanksgiving leftovers.

The Lopez family had so much fun, we ventured out again after church on Sunday (following a 45 minute pit stop at JOE'S for new disks) and played another round.

So go ahead...buy a $7 disk and give it a whorl. I guarantee you will be better than me!

Shot of Nick half-way successful at beating the photo timer..I couldn't resist.

The feast that mom (and others) created.

The fam after the meal (well...2/3 of it anyways)

The joy of brushing

I LOVE brushing my teeth. For some reason, I have an unusual high need for that fresh, clean, shining smile whenever possible. This doesn't mean that I carry my tooth brush everywhere I go, being sure to brush 100 strokes every hour on the hour. But I have been known to stop in the middle of a project (scrapbooking to chopping wood) to dash to the bathroom for a quick brush. What can I say? It is just really, really refreshing! Anyway, today was a day that all dental hygiene fanatics covet: Going to the Dentist! Due to the move to Bellingham, we were in need of all new doctors. So, I asked around and luckily got into Dr Clough's office (thanks Terps!). From the moment I walked in to the moment I stepped out with goodie bag in hand (4 things of floss AND a toothbrush!!!) my experience was nothing but exceptional. Not only were they incredibly personable and friendly, they were fully equip with state of the art X-Ray equipment which is totally digital, using 80% less radiation and no harsh chemical (for the processing). Then Scott (yeah, that's right...first name basis) came in to check up on the teeth. He complimented me on my their condition and I couldn't help but beam with satisfaction...the new Sonicare is really doing it's job! Then we dove into a ten minute conversation of just how can we motivate all people to pick up their brushes and go to town (at least TWICE a day). We decided that it is all about education...healthy dental hygiene starts right now...brushing in the morning and at night (that's only 5 minutes a day!). Then floss...yep, it takes 30 more seconds, but it is the best for preventing those roots from rotting and losing teeth at a younger age. We can't just walk in there at age 50 saying "fix my teeth," and expect them not to shake his head and say it's too late. Now, I certainly don't mean to be on my soap box making you feel guilty about your brushing habits if they need improvement. I just wanted to share how inspiring that appointment was for me to continue what I have been doing and not slack off (especially about wearing my retainer). Even when I am in transition from the comfy couch to our snugly bed, I will pull over in the bathroom for a quick brush and floss. It's worth it. Plus I would rather spend the money I am saving on other great things like shoes or hiking gear from not needing crowns, fillings or root canals. Oh and you already know that Nick will be right there behind me. His passion for brushing is a weeeeeee bit lesser than mine, but no worries, he's coming around. Especially since I learned that one person's poor mouth habits can influence even the most dedicated of brushers (when in mouth to mouth contact of course). Always a good pointer for you friends who are dating. I am sure it would fly as a first date question: "So...how often do you brush your teeth?" Fits right in right!
Now, get to brushing!

Figaro and Figgy

The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
Joel 2:22b

Saturday morning brought a great surprise to the Vann household. I woke up at a typical weekend time of 8am...ready to hit the day running. Nick and I had a list longer than Santa's packed with chores, errands, and really, really fun tasks like reading the Voter's Pamphlet so we can be educated voters. Woohoo!!! (you may detect just a hint of sarcasm there) Either way, I rolled out of bed and headed towards the kitchen. A few feet into this journey, I spotted a leaf in the hallway. This took me by great surprise considering the smallest crumb on the floor has a very short life span in our house. I looked a bit closer and realized this leaf was not brought in my a gust of wind...it had a purple sticky note on it with my husbands beautiful writing on it. I quickly demised that I had entered some rendition of a scavenger hunt. Commence the squealing: "Nick, Nick...there is a leaf in the hallway with a note on it!" Due to my excitement of the fun game I just stumbled upon, it didn't even register that stating the obvious to Nick was purposeless...obviously he was responsible for the leaf and was well in-the-know with what was going on. But because he is so wonderful, he just nodded and encouraged me to continue to through the series of notes. Each one created a leafy path through the living room, kitchen, mud room, then outside between the garage and house, to conclude in the side yard. Each leaf had a note just as the first...leading to some clue regarding "a treat that will come in the Spring, after a little TLC..." After picking up the last leaf, I looked up to find an adorable mini-fig tree planted in our yard (note: a very ugly and sad looking dead tree use to reside in this exact same spot). I was flooded with exhilaration for our new foliage as well as dumbfounded with adoration for Nick. You see, the last few months I have seem to be obsessed with figs. They have only recently been introduced to me, and I have felt like it was my personal mission to make up for the past 26 years of non-fig eating. From the Farmers market in San Fran to our delivery bin, I have been eating as many figs as I can get down. Since Nick was savvy to my new fruit addiction he decided to surprise me with two different species. We declared their names to be Figaro and Figgy and very much look forward to the fruit they will produce. That is, after I read all about them so I don't kill them off. Ahhh, I can just see the fig tarts cooling on the counter right now.


My leave notes (two wrapped in ziplocks to protect them from the rain...he's so cleaver!)

Figaro...the fig tree that my trail of leaves lead to.

Figaro even had paper fig cut-outs on him with "harvest related" quotes.

I planted Figgy yesterday...don't laugh, he may look a bit twiggy, but he will grow to be a beautifully LARGE fig producing tree!

Cooking Seasonally

For the past few weeks, Nick and I have been receiving an organic vegetable & fruit bin from Dandelion Organic Delivery (http://www.dandelionorganic.com/). Every other Tuesday a bin is delivered bursting with about 13 different varieties of local, fresh organic treats. I greatly anticipate its arrival each time...it is almost like Christmas! I open up the bin and squeal with delight (doesn't take much to excite me I guess). I pull out it's contents and begin to store it appropriately: butter lettuce, fingerling potatoes, snackjack pumpkin, fugi apples, figs, kale, sage, carrots, pluots, carnival acorn squash, fuyu persimmons and on and on and on. The purpose of receiving the bins are to diversify our fruit and veggie consumption. I felt as though we were in a rut...each trip to the grocery store would result in the same purchase: Apples, bananas, spinach, tomatoes and onion. We decided it was time to breath new life into our antioxidant supply. With each delivery, I am forced (happily) to prepare a more diversified meal. And I love it! It has been my personal mission to not only use every single thing before the new delivery shows up, but to branch out and try new recipes with (scary) new vegetables that I used to so easily pass up while walking up and down the isles of Fred Meyer. The great thing is, Dandelion Organic helps me with this. They provide an orientation flyer with each new bin. This gives a brief description of it's contents and a few recipes for the not-so-common veggie...things like dandelion greens and fennel. So the last few weeks our dinner table has seen: Horta, Braised Bok Choy, Sauteed Mustard Greens and other great things that actually taste great!

Yesterday, I felt a calling to use the two pumpkins recently delivered, which only purpose thus far has been to decorate our home for the Fall. I cut into them, roasted the meat and the seeds in the oven, then just let it all sit there until I figured out what I wanted to do. I decided on Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli with Maple Sage Sauce; a recipe from last week's newspaper. So this morning I went to town in the kitchen; sauteing the meat with butter and garlic then stuffed each wonton wrapper (yeah that's right, I cheated and used a premade wrapper...I don't have to make everything from scratch!!!) with the contents. They are resting now...the sauce will come later.

I really love the whole system because we are feeding our bodies food packed with various antioxidants on a regular basis, we get to support local farmers, and I get to go grocery shopping less! You should give it a whorl if you can!

(The Kirkland. Bellevue, Seattle area also has an organic delivery program: http://www.ilovetiny.com/)

The Pumpkin mash on the wonton

It all sealed up

The final product...all 24 of them!

My workspace with the sun shining in!!