Day 3: 30 Days of Beauty

the first little buds from our Santa Rosa Plum tree (that we finally pruned)  I’m hoping for a little sneak peak of spring inside in the next week.  Fingers crossed.

 

Day 2 of 30 Days of Beauty

Our first orange of the season …..

It always tastes better when you grow it yourself.

 

30 Days of Beauty Challenge

Erin at Blue Bird Baby  has posted a photo challenge… 30 days of Beauty.  I love a challenge and with all the rain that we’ve had I am up for finding beauty around me.  I am going to be totally realistic – I may not do a picture everyday (I will try) but I’ve learned to not to over commit. 

So here we go – day one…

the first of our nasturtium seeds we (the preschoolers and I ) planted.  My first glimpse of the seasons to come.

I would love to see what you find beautiful in the next 30 days.  Happy Photographing

 

how we love our bread

We LOVE bread!  Definitely a carb family.  I have been making it a goal to NOT buy bread but to only make it.  I feel if we are going to eat bread – it should be homemade.  I know I’ve written about my new found LOVE of the bread machine but I will remind you about that LOVE.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I’m not a fan of baking the bread in the machine – but to make the dough in the machine – walk away and then pull it out and put it in a loaf pan and bake it – superb!  You don’t get the weird hole from the paddle, the weird shape from the bread machine pan, but for a busy mama who wants wholesome homemade bread – this is the perfect solution.  Trust me – I like to have my hands in the dough and kneading it – but reality sets in – I can make a dozen loaves in the time I can make 1 (not truly) but you know what I mean.  So this is how we are taking the little shortcuts to having homemade wholesome bread.

I made a loaf the other day and it truly was the BEST loaf yet…… Is this weird that I am so excited about a loaf of bread?!  Even if it is, I’m going to run with it – it was YUMMY!  It was a honey wheat bread – but of course I had one drop of honey left in the pantry, so I used agave nectar instead and I added a couple teaspoons of flax seed – OMG – so sweet, moist and delicious.  It took about 3 minutes to drop the ingredients in the pan and then turn on the machine and walk away until an hour and a half later, you remove the dough, place in the loaf pan, let rise until double and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (give or take).  There you have it.  Anyone can do it.  No excuse now for buying preservative laden bread anymore.  Try it and you’ll see just how simple it is. 

And what is better than the smell of fresh baked bread? Not much.

Honey Wheat Bread

1C Water plus 1 T warm water

1 egg

2 T Honey (or agave nectar)

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 C bread flour

3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 package yeast

(sometimes I reverse the whole wheat flour and bread flour amounts- you get a bit of a denser bread)

put the ingredients in the order above in your bread machine and turn it on to the dough setting and walk away.

once the dough cycle is complete – remove dough and place into a greased loaf pan, let dough rise to desired height

bake for about 30 (+/-) minutes at 350

slice and enjoy

 

The Conservatory of Flowers

What to do on a rainy day in the bay area – go to The Conservatory of Flowers!  How absolutely amazing!  The plants, the flowers, the exhibits – just incredible. 

(this is the miniature of the conservatory)

Right now there is a train exhibit that is cool for the kids (and the adults as well).  It was miniatures of different landmarks in San Francisco – including the Golden Gate Bridge, The Giants Stadium, The Port of San Francisco, The Conservatory, and more.  And all the exhibit pieces were made out of recycled materials – The Port of San Francisco building had a cheese grater on top with a kitchen timer as the clock tower and then it had forks going around the top and scrabble pieces spelling out The Port of San Francisco.  The Painted Ladies found on Russian Hill were made out of cereal boxes – it was so cool. 

Each room is a different climate and habitat for the specific plants and flowers inside.  Very cool!

the dracula orchid

Of course afterwards we had to hit a thrift store!  We must visit thrift stores in every town we go too!  This one was great – just not enough time to explore it

Great way to beat the rainy day blues.  We were hoping for a little break so we could go across the park to The Children’s Playground - which is just incredible in Golden Gate Park – but no such luck.  Another time.

And to boot – we spotted a rainbow on the way to the city and on the way back !  What a great day

and of course, always a crowd favorite is the “rainbow” tunnel as we leave the city – and it looks like it just got a fresh coat of paint…

what are your favorite rainy day activities?