Blame it on Fidel!

We watched this movie a few months ago and really liked it. The little girl who plays Anna is great, just look at that pout!

Fighting in Catan

We played The Settlers of Catan a few times while we were at Elizabeth and Wade's house. After the hour long {snore} instruction intro we had a really fun time playing the game. Just ask anyone, I can be pretty feisty when it comes to games and I have pretty good beginners luck. I hope we get this game soon.



P.S. Not sure how this buxom lass is going to help those settlers, but I have my suspicions.

V-Day

Happy Valentine's Day my dearest, I love you, love you, love you. I miss you too.

Ida-hida-ho

Wednesday we decided to fly to Idaho to visit my sister. It is cold here. United airlines is the worst airline.

Poland

Earlier this week Mike's grandma died So Mike will be going to Poland next Wednesday to attend the funeral. We stayed with Mike's Grandpa when we were in Poland during our honeymoon, and I was really touched by how much love his grandma and grandpa had for one another. Every day Grandpa {who is 92} would take the train and then walk the remaining half mile to the old folks home grandma lived in .He would spend several hours with her moving her joints, massaging her muscles, and walking her around the room. And grandpa would always bring grandma something sweet to eat.

Snip Snip

This morning

This afternoon

Persepolis

I just finished these books yesterday, Persepolis and Persepolis 2, by Marjane Satrpi. I really enjoyed them. {Boarders has a paperback edition that has combined both books.} They are quick reads because the books are graphic novels, which is a very effective medium for telling a story. The movie came out in limited release, has anyone seen it? I can't wait to see it when it comes to DVD. You can see the trailer here.

An Unexpected Comedy

This has got to be one of the worst movies I have seen in a while, truly terrible. Avoid The Invisible at all cost, unless you are into remakes of Ghost without the Whoopi. I think this picture says it all.

Cafe Rio

Apparently this recipe is very close to the BBQ pork they have at cafe rio. I have only had the real thing once a long time ago so I can't vouch for it's authenticity, however I am a huge fan of BBQ and sweet pork and this is a great dish. Make sure you make the green sauce or don't bother making the dish at all.

CAFE RIO PORK

6 lbs. pork (Shoulder)
1 16 oz. bottle of salsa
1 can of coke
2 c. brown sugar

Place pork in crock pot and fill it 1/2 way up the pork with water
Cook on high for 5 hours. Drain off water. Cut pork into thirds. Mix together sauce ingredients and put on top of pork. Cook an additional 3 hours on high. Shred pork with forks. Leave it on low until ready to serve.


CREAMY TOMATILLA SALAD DRESSING

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Buttermilk Dressing
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. mayo
3 tomatillas
2 cloves of garlic
1 c. fresh cilantro
½ tsp cayenne pepper

Blend all ingredients in the blender. Refrigerate.

Just a note on cooking the pork, I did not cook the pork in a crock pot for 8 hours and I skipped the step of cooking the pork in water first. Instead I went straight to cooking the pork with the salsa coke and sugar in a large covered pot in the oven for several hours at 325, till the meat was tender and I could shred it with a fork.

We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet

While I am very sad to say goodbye to our beloved prophet President Hinckley, I can not help but feel happy for him that he is once again with his beloved wife, Marjorie and with our Heavenly Father. Thank you President Hinckley for your happiness, tireless service and Christ like love.

Boys

These guys belong to Jess and Cat. Needless to say Mike and I feel pretty intimidated about producing cute kids.

Miasma

Here is a good word for you.
Miasma:
1. Noxious exhalations from putrescent organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere.
2. A dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere.


the bog of eternal stench

Family Dog

Like many Grandy family favorites {Dunderklumpen any one?} I don't expect that any one outside our family ever saw this show. I remember that we all were really sad when it got canceled, but thanks to You Tube, Family Dog lives on.



P.S. Tim Burton is one of the executive producers, which really make sense, especially when you look at the kid Billy.

Sing Along

When Mike and I went to the Big Island we listened to the Sweeney Todd soundtrack pretty much the entire time... we did a lot of driving. Don't think we know all the songs? Try us. Anyhow, we highly recommend the music.

Wii Will Not Be Purchasing This

Last night we saw Rob and Sharon and their darling kids. While we were there we had the pleasure of seeing how skilled Sharon is at playing Wii tennis, really quite impressive. We all played for a bit and everyone was pretty good, everyone but me that is. I was horrible at everything, but happy that I proved entertaining to watch. Sharon marveled at how unskilled I was. There is a fitness test you can take and apparently my fitness level is that of an 80 year old. I guess I should not be surprised, my hand eye coordination is not great, but I've never heard of anyone not loving Wii and not being good at it. I guess there are exceptions to everything.

The Complete Jane Austen



From January 13th to April 6th PBS is showing new adaptations of all of Austen's novels and a biopic of her life. Last night I watched most of Northanger Abbey, and I thought is was pretty good. I never seem to get sick of Jane Austen, and PBS does a good job of adapting her books. I missed Persuasion, last week, but I am pretty sure they will do reruns. Check out this site for schedules of the upcoming movies.

Metamorphosis

Yesterday I read Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka. Last night my dreams were filled with giant insects hanging from the ceiling and spiders littering the floor, which I tried in vain to sweep up and out of my room. When I woke up I thought, well that's one thing I won't miss about Hawaii.

Oh You Pretty Things

I have been salivating over this cardigan since I saw it in the J.Crew catalog several months ago. I also snagged this lovely blouse in Ivory. I guess this is my attempt to banish all scruffy tee shirts from my wardrobe.

Big Island

We had a really nice time on the Big Island, although we did a LOT more driving that I had expected. When we got back to Oahu the nasty weather had disappeared, which made leaving even harder and the last few days even more wonderful and memorable. Here are some pictures of our trip, per your request Sheila. I will try and get a slide show going, or post some more of these on flickr.


North tip of the island, and a port-a john behind the shack {thank goodness}.


I picked a lot of guava on this trip


Place of refuge


By far the BEST snorkeling I have ever experienced anywhere, and happens to be where Capt. Cook was killed .


Volcano National Park crater hike


Yellow church on the trail head a black sand beach


Our hidden beach


Punalu'u black sand beach


Mauna Kea, way too cold for me but Mike loved it

Southern most point on the island, and the US

Open empty space

Stealing from Denny's

We are sitting in the parking lot in front of Denny's in Kona stealing their wireless, as we wait for our very early flight tomorrow. Viva sleeping in a rental car!

V is for Vacation



We are on the Big Island till Monday. See you when we get back.

Biscuits

I made these yummy espresso biscuits Christmas Eve. We served them with vanilla bean ice cream. Instead of using ground espresso beans (which I did not have) I scored some decaf instant coffee from my neighbor, JGR, and that seemed to do the trick. Thanks again Martha.

Ingredients
Makes 16

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tablespoon finely ground espresso beans
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.with two racks spaced evenly apart. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together flour, cocoa, and espresso beans; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, scraping down sides of bowl twice.

Roll 2 1/2 tablespoons of dough between the palms of your hand to form a ball. Place on prepared baking sheet; repeat with remaining batter, spacing cookies 2 inches apart. Using a dinner fork, press tines into dough, and gently press into biscuit shape. Bake biscuits just until firm to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Happy Christmas!




I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas day with your family and friends. I am so grateful for our Savior, his life, his example and his love. I hope we can all be more like Him in this coming year, more loving, forgiving and selfless. Happy Christmas!

2:22

The mosquitoes munching on my arm and some gnarly gas woke me up. It is 2:22 am and I want to be a-sleeping.

Movie Night

Last night we went to the premier of The Kite Runner with Anna and Zane (thanks for the tickets guys!). I have yet to read the book, but Anna and Zane thought the movie stayed pretty true to the story. We really enjoyed the film. The soundtrack was beautiful, and the scenery was really amazing. We figured the film was not shot in Afghanistan, where the story takes place. It turns out they shot all the scenes of "Afghanistan" in Kashgar, China. I was reading a little more about the the young actors in the movie and the controversy surrounding the book and the making of the film. Read more here.

You Will Need This

Via swissmiss, a "cheat sheet" for that someone you are buying for. You can download and print these files for boys and girls from her blog. Btw, love, love, love, her blog.

Chinese Finger/Foot Trap

All ye of an ample calf will appreciate this tale. My mom was a really good sport about clothes shopping with me and my sister when we were in high school and sometimes we could convince her to take us to the Haight-Ashbury to shop {thanks mom for rifling through all those dirty racks of clothes and helping us find cute things}. After going in and out of thrift and vintage shops we stopped at this really nice shoe store, where I saw these outrageous boots that I just had to try on. If I recall they were blue snakeskin with some yellow, an updated cowboy boot style with a zipper. So I put the thing on, with a bit of effort to get the zipper up over my ample calf, and decide they were far too expensive {I knew that from the get go, and so did the shoe sales person}. So when the time to take the lovely boot off came I was having trouble getting the zipper to go back down my ample calf. Long story short, someone had to go in the back to fetch the needle nose pliers and release me from the trap I had unwittingly stuck my foot in. I recall being really embarrassed and my foot was all sweaty, but I concluded that this must happen frequently enough for the store to have a set of pliers on hand, and that made me feel a little better. Anyhow, this is not something new, but I remember vividly when J.Crew started making their boots with extended calf sizes. Thanks J.Crew.

Death to Blueprint

Maybe you have not heard yet, but they are killing Blueprint, at least as a magazine you can subscribe to and receive on a bimonthly basis. Sigh. I am SO sad. I really love this magazine. At least their blog Bluelines will still be up and running. Waaah!



{PS Did you see how they totally copied my umbrella post. That's right ladies and gentlemen, finger firmly on the pulse}

Umbrella, ella, ella

I would not mind someone stuffing this in my stocking.

{Via J.crew}

GMAT

Mike is taking the GMAT this Thursday. I am already really proud of him. He has been getting up early to study before work and he has been really boring in the evenings because he has been studying after work too. Good luck Mike, I know you will do well!

Today I Finished...

the Honolulu Marathon! Anna and I have been training for months and it feels so good to have accomplished our goal. We spent the night in Honolulu on Saturday and woke up at 3 am to take the bus to the start of the race. Look how happy we were this morning, completely oblivious to the aches and pains that were ahead of us.







It was pouring rain before the race started, and since we had not thought to get ponchos we used garbage bags to cover ourselves. I managed to keep my feet dry while we waited for the race to begin, and the rain to stop {which it did, for about 30 minutes}. Almost immediately after we crossed the start line it began to rain SO HARD! Our feet were soaked in seconds. So for the entire race our shoes were water logged. By the end of the marathon I had enormous blisters on the soles of my feet, and it looked like my feet had been pickled, gross.





We came home, took a nap and now I am hobbling around the house, happy that I don't have to run tomorrow.



Thanks Mike and Zane for being so supportive throughout our training, thanks for sacrificing your Saturday mornings to bring us water for our long runs, and thanks for sleeping on the floor last night and giving me and Anna the bed. Thanks Anna for being my running partner, and sticking with me for such a long time. Good job!

Short Story

I have never been really burned by an eBay seller, but I have had some minor upsets and disappointments. Then again you can't really be burned if you are not willing to spend too much money on eBay. Today I was listening to the pod cast, KQED: The Writers' Block, and one of the segments was by Kenneth Walton, author of Fake: Forgery, Lies, and eBay. If you have an extra 20 minutes listen to how this guy made a money ripping people off on eBay, by selling, "art, fine and otherwise" . After listening to the segment my interest was peaked and I found out more about his story here.