Tag: family

Boba Tea

Teenagers sometimes know the best places to buy inexpensive, delicious, and fast treats. Add an international student with to the mix, and you can get their opinion of some of the The Best Boba In The Area. Tapioca Heaven in Mira Mesa, on Black Mountain Ave. and Mira Mesa Blv. is high on the list, it seems.

IMG_7685Our newest member of the family wanted to treat me to one of his favorite spots to get a boba tea, and he chose well- a honey dew for me and a taro for him. I liked both. There is something about the sweet fruitiness and squishy tapioca pearls that raises this drink to the level of a dessert. I did like this boba better than the first one I had at the Thai place a few weeks earlier. I think the sugary tapioca goodness works better with fruit flavors than the coffee flavors I tried initially.

Thanks for the boba, Willy, it really was delish! And welcome to our home. :o)

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On Being Flexible…

The setting goals is always an interesting endeavor. We often accomplish more, we are encouraged to do better… “Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” (Norman Vincent Peale) We need goals and drive to accomplish them.
But, we must also be flexible. In being flexible, we are open to surprises and blessings we might otherwise have missed! “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” (Albert Einstein)

I’m temporarily setting aside my month’s goal of attending to home fixer-upper chores this month. There will still be time to repair the damage from barstools gouging into the wall under our kitchen counter, and I will eventually repaint my stair risers to cover up six years worth of scuffs. Instead, it looks as though we will be swapping over my two teens’ rooms and adding on a third one. Teen, that is, not rooms- oh my GOSH, I don’t think I could put up with remodeling a home… I’ve heard the horror stories.

We have never played host to an exchange student or any houseguest for more than a month at a time- usually, it has been my mom and we have had a ball with her long stays. But my parents, on the other hand, many years ago they have had a few of my friends live at their home for one, three, twenty-five months at a stretch. They made me proud. To know that my parents were ready, willing, and able to help out a friend gave me such a good feeling about my family. They taught me well.

If we can, I look forward to having one of my teen’s friends hang here for his senior school year, as my parents did for my friends.

It will be a pleasure.

Old Movies, Bugs Bunny, and Tricks from the “Official Teen Wrangling Handbook”

It is usually pretty easy to get The Boy to sit down and watch something with me, you just have to use the basic “Teen Handling Maneuver #24,” which, if you have consulted your Official Teen Wrangling Handbook, you know read as follows:

“If you want your teen to hang around to watch TV or a movie with you, just sit down, hit “play,” make yourself comfortable, and begin enjoying the show. If uninvited, your teen will probably hang around out of sheer curiosity. Teens are very curious. Offer nachos, if necessary. WARNING: this will not work if you invite them to watch with you, tell them how great the movie is, or if they have any of the following: a vehicle, keys to the vehicle, gas in the vehicle.”

Click for the IMDB link...
Click for the IMDB link…

Tonight I got him to watch a great old movie with me- The Canterville Ghost, 1944, with Charls Laughton, Robert Young and a very young Margaret O’Brien. It was a fun oldie, and even The Boy pronounced it “good.”

We finished up with about half a dozen Bugs Bunny cartoons, our all around favorite, no matter how much Bob’s Burgers kills us, Looney Tunes are the best.

If you have the square dance song memorized from this one, you have my respect:

Does life get any better than watching Bugs Bunny with your kids? Thank you, Netflix and You Tube!

Little Personal/Family Victories… yea!

Just a short post about how I’ve wanted to see my friends daughters perform ever since we met at our children’s school six years ago…

Finally!

While we may have missed the opportunity to see one of their fabulous flamenco shows as they have moved on to a different dance company, we were rewarded with an outstanding show this afternoon.

Lovely young men and women, with these two my favorite stars!

Whoops- only snagged one of the girls in costume.
Whoops- only snagged one of the girls in costume.

Rainbow Carrots… Magically Delicious, Maybe?

A couple of weeks ago, a bag of miniature rainbow carrots caught my eye at the grocery store- it is funny how my attempt at finding new things to do each and every day has me looking for the novel in my every-day activities. I picked up the carrots thinking my kids would like these more colorful versions for their lunches… nope. The carrots couldn’t compete with the end of the year parties and activities and got shoved to the back of the vegetable drawer.

Cal-Organic's Rainbow Carrots
Cal-Organic’s Rainbow Carrots

About ten days later I rediscovered the bag and they became the side dish at dinner. The rainbow carrots did not taste any different than ordinary, every-day orange carrots, but they looked really nice! As with other carrots, they are available in the pre-peeled bags as baby carrots, but are about half the price if you buy them by the bunch. Really, for a couple of bucks, this makes a nice change at dinner and was an inexpensive way to try something new. I’d buy them again- maybe the next time I volunteer to bring the vegetables and dip at a potluck?

Microwaved for 5 minutes, ready for the oven after seasoning...
Microwaved for 5 minutes, ready for the oven after seasoning…
All done! They keep their color, but taste the same as ordinary carrots.
All done! They keep their color, but taste the same as ordinary carrots.

Roasted Carrots
Serves 4

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

  • 1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped about two to three inches long… “baby carrot” sized
  • 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
  • Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper, just a sprinkle of each
  • 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

Toss carrots and olive oil together in a baking dish such as an 8″x 8″ baking pan. Sprinkle brown sugar, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder over the carrots and toss again. Bake carrots for 45 minutes to one hour… I like my vegetables well cooked and go for the full hour, usually. If you are more pressed for time, you can reduce the baking time to 20-30 minutes by microwaving the carrots alone for 5 minutes, then toss in the oil and seasonings.

Until trying them roasted, I never cared for cooked carrots. Yum!