Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

from this wonderful blog

Love this. Love it by itself. Love it on bread. Love it on ice cream. Love it on anything, anytime.

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tb vanilla extract
• 5 tbs agave
• 1 ts oil (hazelnut oil, canola oil, olive oil)
• a pinch of salt

1. Roast the hazelnuts at 350° for 8-10 minutes until they darken a bit and smell fragrant
2. Transfer the hazelnuts to a towel and rub off the skins if you can (I didn't have a lot of luck with this)
3. In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts to a smooth butter, about 5 minutes, scraping the sides as needed
4. Add the cocoa, agave, vanilla, oil and salt and process until well blended, about a minute
5. Store in a glass mason jar in the refrigerator

Mung Bean Sprouts

So, I sprouted mung beans... Now what do I do? Any ideas?

Today I ...

Today I had a date with myself.

I took the Goldline to Memorial Park, walked a block and bought a $3.50 salmon skin roll, walked to the park, sat in the grass under a tree and ate. I watched a guy in the tree next to me meditate. He was sitting cross legged up on a branch. Then he laid on his back with his arms out.

I laid in the grass looking up, listening to music. I didn't have anywhere to be. I didn't have to watch the clock.

I walked to the library and got lost in cookbook and photography sections. I checkout way too many books. They were so heavy to carry home.

I came home on the train, cleaned a little bit. I made a few things in the kitchen. We hung out outside on the porch.

I love Fridays. It was/is a good day.

Breakfast of Champions

A toasted English muffin, topped with avocado, with a poached egg. Yum, yum, yum.

Afternoon on the Grass

Abel & Oscar. A relaxing afternoon, hanging out in our front yard. We have a front yard - it's so nice to have a YARD.

A few more photos from our trip

Two Years

Justin & I celebrated our two year anniversary with a camping trip at San Simeon State Park - beautiful rolling green grassy hills, patches of foresty pines, creeks, the ocean: the Central California coast is some what of a promise land.

It seems every where we go we meet people. Most of the time this happens because Justin is so friendly, and he loves to talk to people. This time, these people found us. Here were two experiences:

**We stopped by a coffee shop in Morro Bay, while putting cream in my coffee a man in the corner asked, "Is that your natural hair color?" (I get asked this question frequently.)

"Why, yes it is..."

He said, "That is so great. You see people with red, brown and blond hair, but you don't see anyone with purple, green or blue hair. Your hair is just electric." I wasn't sure what that meant, my hair is purple? I am never sure how to respond to these comments, I believe he was trying to compliment me. So...

"Thank you?"

This opened the way for a good conversation about nature and being outside... He encouraged us to keep "getting away" from the city. Be out in nature, be away from the craziness, "become man again."**

________________

**While we were unloading our car at our campsite the neighbor came out of his motor home, with hand waving in the air, and said, "Hey welcome to the neighborhood! Would you like a cold beer?"

"YES, PLEASE!" we responded.

We chatted for a bit, found out he and his family were from Modesto. We told him we were celebrating our anniversary and he told us they have been married for 20 years. He said, "Keep at it. It's good to have a friend in this world."

Later that evening when Justin and I were sitting around fire, on a very chilly evening, our neighbor came over again to share a trick with us: He shoveled out some coals from our fire and put them under our chairs. Instantly our back, butt, and legs were warm! It was so amazing!

The next morning while Justin and I were sitting at our table eating our trail mix for dinner, the neighbor came over again and offered us breakfast, eggs, potatoes, tortillas. Ours mouths started to drool, but for some reason we graciously declined. Which we regretted almost instantly. We were so touched by his kindness, you don't many people like him. He gave us hope that this world still has kind people in it, and he inspired us to be kind as well.**

Inspiration

from flickr

1. littlegirlblue 2. mr sqwiggle 3. abless
4. mr sqwiggle 5. clare.photography 6. littlegirlblue

Butter

This weekend I had a bug in me to do and make a lot of things... Butter being one of them.

I was inspired by this beautiful blog to make to it... So, I did. And, it was wonderful. We had it on our bread with poached eggs, on our waffles. Oh Dear Lord, I love butter.

It was so easy that everyone should give it a try, its so not intimidating. This is what I did:

I filled up a mason jar half way with heavy cream and I shook the thing for 15 minutes. Done.

After a few minutes I thought that there was no way it was going to change forms and instantly become butter, but sure enough, 10 minutes later it was butter! And, the left over liquid is buttermilk. Amazing.

This weekend I also made Cashew Milk, Cashew Curry and AMAZING frozen yogurt. Man, I LOVE the weekend.

Rain + Sunshine at the same time =

Salton Sea

What a I saw this weekend:
Two incredible sunsets on the sea (more photos here)
The North Shore Yacht Club
A baby owl (we watched it for 20 mins)
Salvation Mountain


What I smelled this weekend:
Sulfur stench rising from the sea
Roasted garlic
Brownies cooking


What I heard this weekend:
Leonard Knight sang us a song, Flower Tree and You
The impromptu music of my friends
Bird sounds of the Sea
Lots of baby laughs/sounds (I love that we have kids in our group, makes it feel like a family)


It was a great weekend.