I'm really not a cook.... and believe me... I don't have an ounce of the talent I need to turn this into a foodie blog...but...

I have to tell you about this.

Because it will make your summer.

A friend of ours brought it over to my parent's house. 

And the rest is history.

I like eating. I sometimes like to cook. I sometimes like to bake. 

I like easy things that don't have a bazillion million ingredients. 

Gets me all confused. 

I try to keep it healthy. 

Except when it comes to these right here...

I buy a package.

And I sneak a few frozen raw cookie dough pieces every once in a while. 

They never see the oven. Poor guys.

Well... one night I fell asleep before my husband and he came in and started feeling my stomach.

"What the heck are you doing???"

"I wanted to see if I could feel the cookie dough in there." 

ANYWAYS...

sidetracked.

The recipe. 

2 cans of chick peas. drained. 

about 3/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese.

1 red pepper. chopped.

1 red onion. chopped.

one head of broccoli. (just the good stuff... you know... the stuff that looks like the tree tops). chopped.

(you can see my expertise lingo coming out. I try to contain it)

about 1/3 cup of Newman's Own Caesar Dressing. (or more) 

and if you like greek olives... dice a few of those. throw 'em in. 

I don't know what it's called. 

But it's good. 

Boston Romance: Part 1

My parents gave us a night at a Bed and Breakfast in Boston for Christmas. We could schedule our stay whenever we wanted. And so, at the tail end of winter... we figured it was time. So, our baby boys were well looked after... and Daddy and I were free as birds.

 It's a good thing to get away. And it's even better to come home.  

Our room at the Inn was all taken care of. (Thank you Mom and Dad!) And it was a beautiful room.  I'll tell you about that later. Quaint. Quiet. Romantic. But eating out in Boston can get pricey. So... you gotta have a plan. 

Plan A: Groupon.com

Plan B: Restaurant.com 

If you have yet to hear about these gems... go to them right now. It's a wonderful way to support local restaurants AND save money. 

So, we printed off our "coupons" and carried them proudly around the city. And instead of ordering "water" ... we ordered "wine". Smile. For we were high rollers at 50% off. 

And our first stop was the North End. The narrow and winding streets house the best Italian Restaurant's of the city. A friend of mine lives in the North End, and tells me that everyone there knows everything about everyone... and that she's never felt so safe. I guess that it's a very tight-knit Italian neighborhood. Riccardo's Ristorante was our lunch destination. And the Chef's mother came in to eat lunch and sit with her son.

The wine was yummy. The food...delicious and warming. And we were the only ones in the joint.

We sat looking at one another and took slower breaths. We didn't have to talk about day-in-day-out stuff. We didn't have to cook dinner. We didn't need to wipe butts. All we had to do was to look at each other and laugh while we tried to order: 

  

Our view out the window: Paul Revere's House.

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Ethiopia in Boston

Another Groupon.com find... the Addis Red Sea Restaurant. When you have Ethiopian children... it's the best place to be while you are away from them. Yes, of coarse, we brought pictures of the boys and showed as many as possible. We bragged. We reminisced. We said, 26 times, "Wonder what the boys are doing right now?" (They are sleeping, dummies). 

And I have to admit... it was VERY much like the real thing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. almost. 

Ethiopian Injera. Never heard of it? It's an Ethiopian STAPLE. It's a spongy-sort-of-bread that is used as the "base" of most of their meals (and as a utensil!). The meat and veggies are placed on top of this sour, spongy-flatbread. Wash your hands and dig in... rip off pieces and use it to "grab the grub" ...  Here's how to make it. In Ethiopia... we were a bit skeptical... yet it has since grown on us. Last night... we almost finished the entire thing. Last night, we felt like proud Ethiopians. And in a way... we were. And always will be.  

Flatbread and Friends

We had the joyous experience of celebrating our dear friend's birthday! My sister came over after work and took care of our little ones (thank you Seester :)). And we made our way to a New England "treasure". We sat laughing, loving, sharing, eating, and drinking. This "treasure" is called "The Flatbread Co." There are a few of these gems scattered all over New England, and one in Hawaii.  

If you ever have the chance to visit the Flatbread Co., take it! It will be a most wonderful experience... although our experience will always trump yours... for we were celebrating one of the most precious people on the planet. 

Skydive lovin' and living in the present

I used to think they were nuts. They jump out of perfectly good planes just for fun (and for a living). They strap this parachute on them (that hopefully was packed well), they pull a chord (that hopefully deploys the chute), they jump out of a plane (that hopefully the pilot knows how to fly). THEY ARE CRAZY... this cousin of mine and her man. Or... so I thought. 

And then I experienced something. My husband and I went over to their place for dinner. Ohhhh... did we have fun! GREAT food. GOOD wine. GUITAR hero. YOU TUBE videos. Music. Friendship. Family. Laughter. And I noticed something about them that I wanted for myself. They LIVED in EVERY moment. They were fully present in the "now". Passionate living is what I'd like to call it. And yet I think it's even more than that.

I have a feeling it has something to do with jumping out of these perfectly good airplanes. Not that you have to jump out of planes to really experience life... but that there is something absolutely essential to really "getting life", really "grabbing a hold of what you have"... really "living in every moment"... 

YOU GOTTA LET GO.   

"Keep walking, though there's no place to get to. Don't try to see through the distances. That's not for human beings. 

Move within, but don't move the way fear makes you move. 

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.

Don't open the door to the study and begin reading.

Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do. 

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

-RUMI

After we left their house that night... they went out on the lake, laid down in the snow, and looked up at the stars.

Here's to skydiving. Here's to family. Here's to the eternal present. 

Maybe one day I'll muster up the courage to jump.

Life takes balance

So, I used to be a gymnast. I was born with quite a bit of muscle-mass (thank you Daddy). Well, I thank him now... but for a good portion of my life I HATED my muscles. I looked more like a boy! One time... in the 5th grade... I was in the girl's bathroom... and a girl came in and yelled, "Ah! A boy in the girl's bathroom!" Talk about scaring. My mullet didn't exactly help the situation. But it was the style! (Don't worry Mom). ANYWAYS... about being a gymnast. My most unfavorite event was the balance beam. Go figure. I still struggle with balance these days.

I'm one of those types that get REALLY excited about something... and also REALLY brokenhearted. I think it's a blessing and a curse. Knowing this about myself means that I have to take particular care to find balance.

I was reminded of this when a friend asked me this weekend, "What are you going to do when you are invited to meet a friend at McDonald's or something?" This question came after our conversation about nutrition. I was REALLY excited about this new smoothie that Dr. Oz gives his kids each morning. I was telling my friends all about it... and whipped one up for them. I was on a health food kick. And the question made me think, "uh oh... am I balanced?"

It's a good question to ask every once in a while. Was health food becoming MY LIFE? Like anything good... it has the chance of becoming "too much" and then turns into something bad. So anyways, it's a good thing to check my "balance-meter" every now and then. Yet, also to remember that sometimes a little unbalance is a GOOD thing too. I think it makes us who we are.

With that said... here are the ingredients in that "Smoothie concoction" that I give my kiddos every morning (with some variations):