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Thursday, November 28, 2013

Family food and Football: Hawaiian Edition

T-minus 20 hours until we leave for Hawaii, it only makes sense that we do this theme.


Ok I know it looks like baby octopus, but it's hibiscus flower in the champagne. Remember our games are usually at 10AM


Papaya


Pineapple and....


Did I mention The Zimmers are moving back? Woot... Liver watch out!








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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Family, Food and Football: Italian Edition

A win against the Lions today!

I explained the premise of our Sunday Foodie Football days to a colleague at work (and a Raider fan) and his eyes lit up and he said in a patronizing tone, "ooooohhhhh the Steelers haven't had a losing season in so long that you are JUST learning to cope now- as a Raider fan, football has not been stressful for a while"

Menu: Caprese salad, meat and cheeses, meatballs, eggplant parmigiana and tiramisu. And Chianti.








And crazy kids
The cousins trying to overtake Bob





This is how Zara sleeps...





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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Family, Food and Football: Thai Edition

Go Steelers, nice win today over the Bills. We are 3-6. Thank goodness we can focus on the food.
Menu today:
Mian Kum (Shrimp lettuce wraps), Tom Kha Gai (chicken coconut soup), Yam Woon Sen (glass noodle salad) and of course Thai beer.
The glass noodles were interesting. We told the kids they were "jellyfish legs" and they surprisingly wanted to try them and ate a bunch.
After cooking this weekend, I realize I don't really care for "fish sauce" and when I eat my Thai dishes and think they are too salty/sour that is what I taste. Blech. Btw if you are wondering what fish sauce is... It's the RUN OFF liquid collected from barrels of fermented anchovies. Yeah.
Heidi's cookbook

It wouldn't Steeler Sunday without a cousins princess party
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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Family, Food and Football: Japanese Edition

Well, you can't win when you have 2 missed field goals, 2 turnovers in the red zone and a 93 yard run back for a TD. Seriously, Suisham, you make just ONE of those "chip" shots and we had a tied game...
Kinda fitting that our nickname for the last couple years, of the player who blew it today, is "Sushi".
Ahhhhh but I digress from my losing rant... that's why we are focusing on the food this year - but seriously STEELERS. Do you know how hard it is to live and work in the Bay Area??? With BOTH 49er AND Raider fans??? Ugh...ok now I'm done.





Sushi from Sushi Confidential in Downtown Campbell


Udon noodle and mushroom soup


Green tea cakes. Heavier yet more fresh than we expected.


Japanese cheese puffs. Just as gross as US cheese puffs. Real Karl cheese FLAVOR. (Whatever that means)


Beers of Japan. For anyone wondering, Sapporo was just too obvious.



My Steeler mermaid.


Compromise. She gets to wear her "Ariel Tail" if she sports some Steeler pride.

No pics of the kids together because they were off doing their own thing. I commented to Gabriella and Ayla that I thought they were very good girls today... Gabriella said, yes they were but they were SO BORED.

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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Family, Food and Football: Polish edition

Kielbasa, sauerkraut, potato pancakes and pierogi.
Of course Kenny also found Polish beer to complete the feast - Actually the Steeler Win completed the day!!





Cabbage and apple slaw.


Next week: Japanese food.

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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Family, Food and Football: Chinese Edition

A couple years ago, the title would have been football, family and food... But, this year, to take our minds off the miserable Steeler season, we decided to focus on the positives like spending time with family, letting the cousins play, laugh, cry, repeat AND exploring different cuisines of the world. We will explore a different one each Sunday this season.

This week was Chinese.
Dim sum, crullers, Mu Shu and Tsing Tao. Yum. It was a success and the Steelers actually won!


Heidi had learned how to make Dim Sum when they lived in Singapore.





It's never a complete cousin visit without Princess dress up time...


Gavin too...


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Friday, October 4, 2013

Tech Museum

Bob's dad and Nancy visited so we hopped on the light rail outside of Ayla's daycare and headed to DT San Jose to tour the Tech Museum...

Ayla got to build a robot, and dress it (the most important part)


Connecting her inputs and outputs





Dancing in front of heat camera


Interactive dance floor - this was pretty cool


Programmed a computer to spell her name...

YouTube Video

Adding to her robot

YouTube Video

Earthquake simulator of actual earthquakes in history

YouTube Video

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Saturday, September 28, 2013

Beach Day Cheerleading competition




Today our team took first place at the first competition of the new school year. Last year, 19 of my 23 girls moved onto high school, and we had to rebuild. Last year's team was very special in so many ways. But this new team has also showed so much heart and growth it's been fun. They are very young and eager and I am so proud of the performance they put out on the floor today. We even had to sub in an alternate last minute for a sick team member and the team took to the changes like pros!


How cool is this setting? Sun, sand and surf surrounding the raised performance floor set in the middle of the beach and next to the boardwalk which hosts roller coasters and rides. To anyone from Pittsburgh, I would describe the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk as KennyWood meets Ocean City.
Mama's Beach beauties.






Daddy and Ayla had fun on all the rides and running in the sand. A couple of my girls saw Bob and Ayla and thought they were so cute together so they candidly took a photo and sent to me


Beach Baby





Zara and Ayla around same age/ same hat... Kinda look a like, but not really- the shape of their heads is completely different.


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