Thanks, Dad.

Now that Easter is over, I feel like this is bloggable. Something about the Sabbath and Easter made this feel every shade of wrong. The Monday after Easter, I feel like it really only covers half of that spectrum. And that, friends, is grounds for blogging.

I call this collection "Freaky Easter Bunny: Childhood trauma."





(Credit goes to Huffington Post and The Daily Caller, and my Dad for filling my inbox with these photos Sunday morning.)

I don't have children but I like to make mental notes sometimes about what I will and won't do when I have them. Taking advantage of photo ops with demonic bunnies is my most recent addition to that list. It's right up there with saving them from the horrors of velveeta.

If only

Fortune cookie

Every once in a while, both of us are too far past exhaustion to cook anything for dinner. Sometimes, we pick up orange chicken from a local Chinese place called Hunan Garden. It's sinfully good.

This happened a few weeks ago, and I headed out to pick it up while Harry stayed back and wrote his three (yes, three) papers.

I think the girl at the register thought all the orange chicken and rice was just for me, because there was but one solitary fortune cookie in our bag (which I discovered when I got home). Fortune cookies hold a special place in my heart. I have very fond memories of making them from scratch with my brother Cam, and they also played a role in how Harry popped the question.

We were only slightly peeved at the one fortune cookie, so we decided to share it.

The fortune we found inside too fitting.

Jude and Ian Waffles

I meant to post this around Valentine's Day. It's not as relevant now as it was then, but I still want to put it out there.

The morning of Valentine's day I woke up extra early and made my husband a Valentine's Day breakfast of magical delight.

(Necessary back story: Right before Christmas break in 2009 we went with a bunch of law school peeps to Stacks in Menlo Park-- a scrumptulescent breakfast place. The current special was bacon waffles. Harry got them and we were both immediately smitten with them. Ever since then I've been searching for a good duplicate recipe. I finally found one on epicurious.com!)

That rainy Valentine's Day morning I made them secretly, while he slept (meaning, I banged around the kitchen with my pots and pans and electric whisk with frequent noisy cabinet squeaks).

They turned out to be everything I wanted them to be and just a little bit more. This commonly happens when bacon is involved.




An extra exciting and (fitting for Valentine's Day) LOVEly factoid is that my sister M's first baby (a boy!) was born that morning at 4:00 am! I got the fateful text as I was setting the table of bacony delectations.

My other sister E gave birth only 10 days prior to a boy. And the two baby cousins will be happy, roly poly chub monsters together and I'm so excited!

Since my newest nephews were on the brain while I was making waffles that will clog your heart and simultaneously make it swoon with delight, I have renamed them. They are Jude and Ian Waffles. Recipe is below.

Jude and Ian Waffles

(also known as Crispy Cornmeal-Bacon Waffles, Bon Appétit | February 2004)
Yield: Makes 6 servings

8 bacon slices
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled
Additional melted butter or nonstick vegetable oil spray
Additional pure maple syrup

1) Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels. Crumble bacon.

2) Whisk flour and next 3 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Whisk buttermilk, egg yolks, and 3 tablespoons maple syrup in medium bowl to blend. Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks.

3)Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; stir just until blended. Fold in beaten egg whites. Fold in 1/4 cup melted butter and crumbled bacon.

4) Preheat waffle iron (medium heat). Lightly brush waffle iron with melted butter or spray with nonstick spray. Working in batches, spoon batter onto hot waffle iron, spreading evenly over grid. Close waffle iron and cook until waffle is brown, crisp, and set, about 6 minutes, depending on type of waffle iron. Transfer waffles to plates. Serve with maple syrup.

And, for those of you who like to know how many calories you're putting in your mouth:

Per serving:

370 calories
55 carbs
16 grams of fat
14 grams of protein

(this is including 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup drizzled on top of the finished waffles)

Happy Valentine's Day to all, and to all a good tummy full of Jude and Ian Waffles.

Harry in his birthday suit

First of all, shame on you for reading this far past the title. You clearly think you're going to see pictures of my husband in the buff. Sicko.

He did, in fact, get a suit for his birthday. And I love him in it. I feel like he's Cary Grant from "North by Northwest" in this suit. I can just see him hanging on for dear life off of Mount Rushmore while well-to-do gangsters shoot at him because he's uncovered their evil plots.



The pose/picture above screams "70's" to me. We plan to edit it accordingly.







It's so versatile! It even allows him to do battle with our perpetually-breaking screen door.

I love me a good birthday suit.

Imagining Dragons

The obsession continues.



It's the best when Imagine Dragons comes through town.

We saw Imagine Dragons with some friends last week when they came through San Francisco, at the Bottom of the Hill. Arcade Fire and the Strokes are some of the big names that have played there in the past.

They played such a great set- I love when I get to hear "America" live. They bring such a powerful energy with them. They're currently touring with the Parlotones- they make a fantastic line up.







The lead singer of the Parlotones jumped in for a bit. As you can see.







A clip from "Hear Me." At the end you can catch a glimpse of Harry workin it.



A fantastic time had by all.

Testimony.

The Relief Society in my ward is doing something pretty cool. Everyone has been encouraged to handwrite or type up their testimony of the gospel, and submit it so that all the testimonies can be bound together into a book. Everyone will get a hard copy. That way, years down the road, when we're all in different places (we have a very transient ward- many people are only here for a few years for school, internships, etc.), we can look back at this snapshot of our ward, and the powerful testimonies of everyone in Relief Society.

I was typing mine up, and I realized something. I don't share my testimony publicly all that often, because it's something that's very sacred to me and close to my heart. It's hard for me to bring it up casually, or in an "everyday" setting. However, a testimony is made stronger in the bearing of it, so, I'm going to share it here. I have it linked below to the typed PDF that I'm sending in for my ward's Relief Society book.

I know the few people who read this blog are friends and family, who know that I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many of the things written in this testimony aren't things you've never heard before. Even so, I have learned over and over in my life that it's often other people's testimonies that have strengthened mine, not because they were eloquent or wildly entertaining or remarkably strong, but because they exist, and they were shared.

Also, if you happen to be someone I don't know, or someone who doesn't know what I believe in, and you were curious, here it is.

Testimony.