Did you know that when someone says, "To make a long story short..." they are in no way about to shorten the long story currently being told?

JULIE & JULIA!

-at home in the kitchen with Erin and Si.

From our gourmet tables to yours-

Day 4: GazpachoI was set back a bit today. Gazpacho. I decided to make it for the first time and I bought a great french loaf from a bakery at our local farmers market yesterday to go with it. I was excited to get a lot of healthy vegetables in my family's bodies. However, upon going to print it off today, I read the words SERVED COLD. I hate to admit, but I've never had gazpacho and didn't know it was a cold soup. My feelings were: Who Wants A Cold Soup? No one! I certainly don't want a cold soup. So, with those assumptions, but with ingredients already bought, I plowed ahead into the unknown world of... gazPAchooo. (said mysteriously and stressing the 2nd syllable.)

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Today is now Monday. I also didn't read ahead of time that you have to chill it for 4 hours up to 2 days. So, it is in the fridge chillin and we ate panini's for Sunday dinner instead. And Now.....The Verdict On the Cold Gazpacho....

If you like cold soup, you'll like it. If not, you uh won't. Simple as that. I never buy v8, never drink tomato juice, never eat raw cucumbers even. So, for me, this was a one-time make. It's weird, because the new gourmet cook Erin, would TOTALLY have known that gazpacho was a cold soup. Like, duh. I could feel badly for people who didn't know that. The old me, however, the sort of good cook Erin, just didn't know enough info about this recipe darn it.

It's OK. I'm sure Julie made some of Julia's french recipes and passed on them the next time. I decided that tomorrow, I will pick a dessert as a reward for doing this. Si emailed me her very favorites so I will have all hits from now on.

oh and I have a new job! Brett has a 2nd job! I am now an English tutor and Brett is a Geometry tutor for the greatest 9th grade girl named Ali. I'm excited. We mostly work at night, usually late. Oh, Brett just got off of his shift so I'll sign off! e

WE HAVE FRIENDS!!!

We have friends. This photo proves it. See, when you do things with other people, they are called friends. So this photo proves that we have at least 5. They invited us to be their friends. No one ever says, "Do you want to be my new friend?" Instead, they say things like, "Hey, we were wondering if you want to come and watch the BYU game with us. We are having a few people over and thought of you guys." Translation: "We desperately want to become your new friends. We are courageously calling you to ask you to our house for a perfect 'becoming new friends' occasion: a BYU Football game." It so happens that the Hansen's (our new future bffs I'm sure) daughter was sitting with Spencer at that very moment at the said BYU game. LIVE. IN PERSON. The other couple(our future bffs also), as well as almost all other couples in our entire ward (our future bffs) are BYU fans whose kids go to BYU. How refreshing! I finally am surrounded by people who appreciate the greatest school on earth.

Speaking of BYU, the best birthday present Brett got was the announcement that BYU was going independent. This means that we now get to see BYU on ESPN every single game. This is huge. No more Mountain. 10 million times more enjoyable to watch. Better reporters. Lots of national exposure. HD. This also means that we get to play cool teams. They are lining up great games. We are very very very very excited.

Day 3: Best Ever Fresh Blueberry Muffins

JULIE & JULIA!

-at home in the kitchen with Erin and Si.

From our gourmet tables to yours-

Trust me on this one, make these muffins. They are sooo good. Si and I recommend them completely, and as a gourmet cook now, I would suggest that you take my recommendation very seriously when it comes to good food.

JULIE & JULIA!

-at home in the kitchen with Erin and Si.

From our gourmet tables to yours-

I love writing -from our gourmet tables to yours-. It's so pretentious and lumps me in with Si.

Day 2: Fresh Corn and Tomato Salad

This was perfect. It's so fresh and screams summer. I don't want to let summer go. Maybe I won't have to here. It will be interesting to see how summery the winters are. Julianne, who grew up in La Canada, said that the fall here lasts forever. I guess that makes sense. In Utah, the leaves are gorgeous for about a week until a wind hits, or a super cold night and then it's all gone. So fleeting, but beautiful. Julianne said that the plethora of trees here all stay beautiful for a really long long time. I'm excited to see it.

This salad was so good. I'm also still thinking about how good the pear flatbreads were. I'm going to have to make these again and see if now that I know how to make them, I can cut the prep time down.

Brett is off of work today!! Kate and I get him all to ourselves all day. We're celebrating his 43rd b-day. Oh and I made the best peach pie that I've ever made last night. Not to brag, but it was the best. I complimented myself about 6 times. Flaky crust, juicy peaches, vanilla bean ice cream. mmm. I knew he'd want that over cake.

We walked Sydney to school together this morning. All parents walk their kids to school here. I have yet to see one child walking alone or with other kids to school. All families are out walking and each one also has a dog. The dogs stop and socialize (which the parents take very seriously.) Brett and I joke about how if we go out and about with Kate, we get stopped constantly as people ooh and ahh over her. People love babies here, maybe because they don't see them a ton. However, if we have Kate and Rudy together, Rudy trumps Kate. People love dogs even more than babies. We laugh at that.

Kate won't let me even near Brett today. (He's been gone since Monday.) She wants nothing to do with me and pushes me away if I try to hug Brett in front of her (which I do just to get her to push me.) I say, "Hey! Cut that out!" and she laughs. He's in there singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her right now while watching the 'Baby Can Read' dvd. I wish every day could be like this.

The girls are still struggling trying to adjust to the increased workload at their schools here. So much more is expected of these kids here, I can't believe it. When I think about how Spencer glided through his senior year and how that would never happen here. It's good and bad. Not as fun for sure and my girls are hating it. However, they will actually learn more and be better prepared for college which is good. If they survive :)

Welcome to Day 1 of:

JULIE & JULIA!

-At home in the kitchen with Erin and Si.

From our gourmet table to yours-

I love this woman. Isn't she beautiful? Isn't she hip? I love that she's wearing more color these days. She has a LOT of black in that closet. Here's Si drinking out of her super cool hot chocolate cup. Love the scarf. These pictures make me wish I could be in her kitchen right now just talking to Jacob and her. Jacob teases me mercilessly with an occasional, "Jacob!" thrown in by Si when she feels he has gone too far (which he never does.) It is great. I must have a big sign on my forehead that says TEASE ME. I CAN TAKE IT. I don't know.

I will report each day on what I made the day before off of her blog abountifulkitchen.com. For Day 1, I made Si's Spiced Pear Flatbreads with Goat Cheese and Mustard Cream.

As she said herself, total chick food. Good thing I had all chicks in the house yesterday. Brett's out of town and Spencer...who was Spencer? Did I have a Spencer? Ha! Good riddance!

This was a great dish. Everyone loved it! I loved the tartness that the mustard cream and the goat cheese created. I loved the softness of the pears and feeling good about including spinach for my healthy body needs. However, it's not really a quick meal. The flatbread takes a while to rise, then punch down, then puff up again. You make these 9-inch flatbreads one at a time, so that takes some time too. If you have time, it's totally worth it for a shi shi poo poo chick meal.

*Question for Si* What is the difference between kosher salt, sea salt, and table salt. Does it really matter? I didn't have kosher salt, so I used sea salt for it all. Did that matter?

Brock. Kim. Jackson. Ellie. Jane.

I'm still grumpy, but if I don't blog, I'll be even grumpier. Must. Blog. Often. It was so fun having Brett's brother, Brock, and wife, Kim, come for 2 days. Perfect end of summer. I love their little kids. The best thing that happened was that Jackson pulled his mom aside and said, "Mom. I LOVE it here!" That was after a full day of swimming and playing with Syd in the 2nd house, which he thought was pretty cool. I loved that he loved it.

We showed them Beverly Hills, then went to the Grove in Hollywood.

Supposedly the best doughnuts in L.A. I'm kind of obsessed with doughnuts right now. Not eating them, just thinking about them and once in a while eating one, but wishing I could have twenty with no consequences.

That night, the four of us went on a date to the birthplace of the French Dip Sandwich, opened in 1918. It's called Philippes and it was a no nonsense kind of place with rooms everywhere and people just eating, eating, eating homemade pies and french dip sandwiches. Supposedly, in 1918, the cook accidentally dropped the bread in the juices of the meat and the customer said, "that's ok. I'll take it anyway. " The next day, he was back with friends requesting the same thing. The rest, as they say, is history. Coffee was 5 cents until 1977 when it went up to 10 cents. It's still cheap. When I read about its history, I was so glad we went there! I want to go back now. Who wants to go?

There must be 8 rooms like this...plain tables, sawdust floors and people just eating. I read that the counter workers been there for over 20 years. The sandwiches don't come with au jus though. The bread is already slightly moist with juice. It's just right without having to dip.

Then we drove to Alhambra for the best hot fudge sundaes around according to Brad Kofford who grew up in Arcadia. It's called Twoheys. It's also been there for a long time and is a gathering spot for the locals. This was our 2nd time and it was good. Finally, we took them to L.A. Live and saw everything set up for the Emmys, which was the following night. It was weird to see the red carpet set up off of a major street. It looked so normal. On TV, it looks so, I don't know, glamorous. Every tv show had their own little booth set up back to back. It was interesting.

Brock and Brett in ESPN Zone at L.A. Live. All of my kids do that same tongue thing Brett is doing. How does that get passed down through DNA? I'm sure Brett won this game.

Today was the 1st day of school here. This long, but good, crazy, but good, lonelyish, but good summer is finally gone. When I think back to things I did at the beginning of the summer before moving, I feel like it has been the longest summer ever. We have experienced a LOT of stuff!

So, yesterday, Maddie kept saying, "I wonder if I'll get toilet papered." Then a few hours later, "Some junior girls get toilet papered by the Senior girls." Then again, "I wonder if someone will toilet paper me." She was gone with Ali at the store last night and I could hear giggles outside. I knew it was happening. It was really happening. I was never so grateful to be toilet papered in my life!!! Yeah!!! I wanted to yell, "Toilet paper everywhere girls! Make it good! Throw it up high in those pine trees so we can't get it down, I don't care. Have a good time! I love you for doing this! Cookies anyone?" They would have thought I was weird.

When Maddie got home, this is what she saw.

One thing I like about this place is the following:

This is a little town with one main street. Not a lot of big stores. In fact, there are no big stores. Those are all a 5 to 10 minute drive in either direction. In the middle of L.A., it is a quiet, safe, little town. So, the entire town is one school district with one high school. Everyone in the whole town goes to this high school. This high school is big on tradition. Things have been done for years and years. The kids are probably going to the same high school their parents and even grandparents went to. Today, the cheerleaders were wearing saddle shoes with knee high white socks and full pleated skirts. They looked like Sandra Dee out of Grease. They have had one of their uniforms be this "classic" one, a throwback to the good old days that they wear at homecoming and on the first day.

The senior girls all write all over their cars SENIORS RULE and stuff like that. They even had t-shirts made that said, "We go gaga over senior girls," and every girl wore them. No policemen were out ticketing kids who were toilet papering last night. They were nowhere to be seen, and the next morning, the homes of junior girls are changed.

Seminary begins tomorrow, which starts at 5 stinking 55 a.m. in the morning. How are they going to do this? That is SO early to be at a class, ready to learn, looking ready for school. Yikes.

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It is 10 a.m. the day after school started. Here are Sydney and Ali's pics. I didn't get one of Maddie. I'm mad! Trust me, she looked good.

4th grade

9th grade, and high school

All of the babies in L.A. dress like this.

I don't know what to say about the first day, except that it set them back again on their "happiness journey" here. I'm exhausted. Homework until 10p.m. which felt like 1 in the morning. Starting over is sure exhausting. I think I'll sign off for a while until I can be positive. Maybe I will pay the $700 water bill I just received today. Really? Water can cost $700? What do they think I'm watering, all of China? Then I'll call AAA and see if they can bring me a new battery to the dead car sitting in my driveway currently. Bye bye now.