Cheesemaking is back!

Does anyone remember when I made cheese right out of college in the little house on I Street? 

Well, I've got a new office and studio space with way more room and I've rekindled my love of cheese and all things cheesemaking. 

I had forgotten exactly how time intensive cheesemaking was or all my failures in cheesemaking at the I Street house. But, in hindsight, I failed more than actually was successful. 

Cheesemaking requires its own cheese cave or cheese fridge. We have two at the studio just for cheese; one for blue cheese (since it contaminates everything it comes into contact with and the mold spores go airborne) and all the other cheeses. 

All the cheese require different kinds of molds and need between 1 and 3 days of draining/turning before they can either be put to rest and curing or, pressed for another day. 

The Bramble Berry team has been SO much loving all the cheese experiments since I certainly can't eat all this cheese on my own.

They especially enjoyed the soft cheese, Robbiola. It's an Italian style creamy cheese made out of cowmilk. 

It was paired with a spiced raspberry jelly and devoured almost instantly. 

The salted beer cheese curds went about the same way. They had both beer and salt as the flavoring. Fun fact: when you're dry salting cheese, you rub the salt all over the cheese, put it back in the fridge (covered) and by morning? All the salt is absorbed into the cheese. Salt is a key component for cheese. 

This is a big wheel of Brie cheese. It needs to age for a few more weeks before I can determine it's a success.

The mozzarella (one of the easiest of the cheese to make) was a success. 

The blue cheese tasted great on day 1 but then, I didn't baby the wheels for a couple days and by the time I got to them again, the mold had overtaken them ... and not the good kind of cheese mold. But, it was delicious on Day 1 and we all enjoyed it.

Pumpkin Patch Forays of Fun

Oh we were SO happy to go to the pumpkin patch with the kiddos and family this year. Aunty Cheriss found a new farm that was (dare I say it?) (whispers) better than the one we normally go to.

There were multiple +1 reasons that we loved this farm: 1) an entire fenced in tactile area for kids that had rubber ducky water experiment/races, a bouncing area and some other sensory experiences. 

2) Um, rain barrel cars? Yes. The kids were just delighted to go on this farm contraption and loved every second of being in the driver's seat (and how clever are these little cars that each kid gets to be in the driver's seat?!)

Lily and I had the most adorable exchange this morning at breakfast. I made her two egg banana pancakes and rolled them up like little crepes.  I put them on a plate, and when I gave them to her, said: "I'm giving you two egg banana pancakes but if you don't want to eat both of them, your brother might want one." As she took the plate, she said, "Thank you Mama. You're so generous." Then she spun on her little sassy Lily heel and flounced off. She has so much verve, that little one.

We just did parent teacher conferences. Lily's went well. She's got a best-best friend named 'Thomas' and she and Thomas are so close that they often have to be separated at circle time. Apparently, they sit so close that you couldn't fit a paper between them but that's not the issue. The issue is that they talk to each other but then the other one shushes the talker, extremely loudly. "Shhhhh! You're talking too loud!" "I know! Be quiet! I'll talk more quiet!" "You're not talking more quiet!" "I know, because you haven't stopped talking yet!" and so on. 

Jamisen's parent teacher conference was good beyond expectations. This is his first year in the 6 to 9 year old classroom and he's in first grade. He's being introduced to a whole host of new things (including scheduling his day, Spanish, yoga, math and reading). It was wonderful to hear the teacher talk about how self-aware Jamisen is for his age, how diligent he is in the classroom, how hard he works and how impressed she is with his natural industrious and self-driven nature.

Chris continues to be the hilarious goofball of the family and our children seem to have picked up that wry, dry sense of humor. They've definitely got the Funny Face skill down!

Jamisen is an incredible helper lately. He's always had a genuine desire to be helpful but it's been amped to the next level. The other night, we hosted friends over for dinner and he insisted on setting the entire table himself, right down to the thoughtful napkin choices for adults vs kids and name tags on the place settings. 

The kids play so nicely together and Lily and Jamisen have both started caring for each other (as opposed to just Jamisen taking care of Lily). So when one is in a bad mood - so long as the other one didn't cause it - they try to cheer each other up. It's kind, thoughtful and compassionate. 

The entire family very much enjoyed the pumpkin patch and it was so nice that Grandma and Grandpa Faiola could be with us for the excursion. 

There was a cool horse drawn old fashioned carriage that the kids liked riding in. 

Baby Alise is so easy going and fun. Her language skills are coming along rapidly and it's fun to hear her interact with the kids. It's also super nice from an adult standpoint to know what she wants or needs when she asks for things. She and Lily especially loved playing with the rabbits at the farm and got right in the cage with them (alas, no great photos of that). 

Galapagos Trip with Mom

It was such an amazing opportunity to take a trip to Ecuador with Grandma Faiola. 

We went to the Galapagos Islands. The impetus came from a 1, 2 punch: learning that we spend 80% of our time with our parents before we're 18 and talking to one of my 50'ish male friends about a trip he made to Italy with his Mom. His enthusiasm (from a merger & acquisition attorney; literally, the man is the most monotone of speakers with very little inflection in his voice ever)  was so inspiring that with Grandpa's help and an understanding, kind, and generous husband, the trip was booked within just a few days. Then, the best part was surprising Grandma with the trip. The second best part was actually going on the trip. 

We flew into Quito, Ecuador and spent a night there, getting acclimated. Grandma took altitude sickness pills to ensure she wouldn't get sick because Quito is so high above sea level. Then, we boarded another plane to fly two hours into the middle of the ocean to the 60-island archipelago chain. 

The diversity of the islands was incredible. Each island was completely different. Some were just 100% lava (like, literally, they would drop us off of the zodiac onto an island for 4 hours that had only lava ... and like two shrubs). Some were lava plus a few trees. Add in some iguanas and sea lions and we had quite the party for four hours. 

The islands were fascinating; like the most amazing, crazy interesting experience. Each one had small but meaningful differences. One island would have iguanas that couldn't swim, another would have iguanas that could swim but couldn't climb trees (we saw several of them dead, waiting for fruit to fall off the cactus's because ... yeah, no climbing).  

Even the sand was different from island to island. It went from crushed beautiful fine pink hued sand to dark black/purple sand that was made from spiny sea urchins (really, crushed, tiny spiny sea urchins). There were multiple hues of sands on the same island based on what kind of shells and creatures grew in the ocean directly beside the island. Try not to imagine all the little crustacean lives lost to give the sand rainbow colors. 

When we first got to the islands, we were amazed and astounded at all the diversity of birds, iguanas, and the seals and sea lions. It was like magic. By the end of the trip, we were basically stepping over the creatures in the natural habitats, and wondering why they were cluttering our perfect photo shots. Okay, that's an exaggeration but really, the wildlife was plentiful and not at all scared of us.

Thanks to a major hurricane (and did I mention the tsunami from the Mexican earthquake that hit us while we were on the boat?), Grandma and I got the lucky privilege to stay an extra day in Ecuador.

We spent that extra day searching the rainforest for the amazing toucan. It was very successful in that we spent eight hours hunting around in a rainforest for a very elusive bird that we saw literally on the car ride back to the hotel (2 hours away) from basically a football field away. And just his beak. But that was enough for us both. We squealed like giddy teenagers who had won the lottery and aced our finals all at the same time.

Our trip was perfect. We spent 13 days together, 8 of that in 225 square feet on a boat, and came back happier, more grateful and more connected than ever. It was the trip of a lifetime (thus far ... here's to hoping the best is yet to come). 

Arizona Trip with Grandma and Grandpa Faiola

We were so happy and excited to get a trip to Arizona with Grandma and Grandpa Faiola. How lucky are we that we got some Vitamin D in the form of natural sunlight during the cold and dreary months of a PNW winter. 

Grandma and Grandpa took the kiddos to Legoland and the acquarium for an afternoon of exploring. It was interesting to note that Jamisen remembered distinct details from his trip there last year. 

Family vacations and time together is always such a privledge but when you're self-employed, there's never really any time away so Chris and I took turns doing pool time while the other one worked. This year was less work than ever (for me) though. Last year, I was studying for an exam and writing a book and this year, I was promoting the book so there were several interviews to do from AZ but thanks to modern technology, they could happen anywhere. 

The kids slipped right into the routine of late nights and late mornings. They loved the relaxing days spent in the water, playing games and connecting. 

Grandpa introduced them to shuffleboard and Jamisen seemed to understand the game pretty well and executed some strategy that showcased his ability to think a couple steps ahead. 

Grandma joined in on the fun. The kids were so appreciative that Grandma thoughtfully bought them new pajamas to wear for the trip too. 

One night, we had dinner out in the courtyard. Grandma and Grandpa's dear friends joined them in Arizona and they graciously cooked a wonderful salmon dinner for us. It was so nice to eat outside, under the stars with balmy temperatures. That's something that only happens a couple months out of the year in Washington.

The kids very much improved their swimming ability while we were therre. By the end, Jamisen was comfortable in the water without a life jacket but always under the watchful eye os an adult.

I don't want to misrepresent who went in the water with the children by this photo because Chris spent 90% of his time in the water and I read 90% of the time. His skin is still pruned up! We had a wonderful time, ate too much food, and didn't work out enough ... which is probably exactly what we needed. Thanks for the fun family time, Grandma and Grandpa Faiola.