Dr. Schmidt & August Check-Up

We went and saw the wonderful Dr. Schmidt at UCSF yesterday. Pat is doing great and staying healthy. Yay! Dr. Schmidt is one talented guy. I wonder if he knows how amazing he is. Yes he has loads of experience, awards and letters after his name, but I think he really knows his success when he sees patients like Pat.

Dr. Schmidt, Thank you for working so hard and
for making the world a better place -
oh yeah, and for saving my husband's life. xoxo

Movie Night

On Friday we had a fun movie night with Camryn and Connor. Our gym showed Madagascar 2 on a big screen out by the pool. It was so fun to watch a movie outside on a summer night.

FYI Madagascar 2 is hilarious!

Greek Salad

I saw this on the food network over the weekend on Ina Garten's show Barefoot Contessa. I made it and both Pat and I love it! He likes anything with calamata olives. : )

Ingredients
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 yellow bell pepper, large-diced
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, sliced in half-rounds
1/2 pound feta cheese, 1/2-inch diced (not crumbled)
1/2 cup calamata olives, pitted
For the vinaigrette
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil

Directions
Place the cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.
For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Still whisking, slowly add the olive oil to make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta and olives and toss lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/greek-salad-recipe/index.html

Tasty Treat - Pumpkin Bread

Recently I have tried a few pumpkin bread recipes and I decided this one was my favorite. It is by no means one of my healthy recipes, but come on, it is a baked good! It makes two loaves, one for you and one to share (in my case to share with my unborn child). : )



INGREDIENTS
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 7x3 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Check with a toothpick.

Book Review - The Help

I just finished this book and thought it was great.
A friend recommended it and I'm glad I read it.

Briefly it is about black women who work as maids for white women in Jackson Mississippi in the early 1960s. I really enjoyed the characters and complexities of the relationships between them. I don't want to give too much description because I always enjoy books more when I don't know the detailed plot. I love getting a glimpse at other times in history through novels and this book was really interesting and touching.

Baby Bump

Getting bigger! 21 weeks and feeling great!

Arizona Weekend

Pat and Some of His Grad School Friends
at Four Peaks Brewery

Pat and I made a quick weekend trip to Phoenix. My sorority friends have a reunion once a year and this year it was in Phoenix. It was so great to see everyone, I just wish we would have had more time to hang out. We also squeezed in some time with Pat's family and his MRED grad school friends. We have so many great people to see when we are in Arizona, sometimes I wonder why we don't live there. Then I remember the 30 degree difference in summer temperature and I remember why we live where we do. : ) It was a perfect 80 degrees with a slight ocean breeze when we got off the plane in Oakland. Good to live where we do, at least in August. (But I miss AZ all the same!)

Tri Delta Reunion