The Espresso Machine (and more Melinda adventures)

I took this at Jon's aunt and uncle's home in Oakland/Berkeley (I believe the address is Oakland but they pay Berkeley utilities...or something like that). It was an amazing home. Anyway, I was absolutely excited and in awe of their fabulous home and all the fun things they had to shoot. Like the espresso machine above. To them, it was just their regular everyday countertop appliance, but to me it was a fun photo waiting to happen.

Fun and hazardous.

Okay. So I have no idea how to use an espresso machine.

And that black handle in the middle of the photo looked distracting...all protruding awkwardly outward and whatnot....

So I grabbed that black handle and twisted it to the right in order to gain a more "pleasing" angle. That big hunk of metal came completely off, FLEW out of my hand and rammed into one of the little brown cups before promptly stopping a short distance from the rest of its dismembered body.

My heart was beating. Oh my gosh. I broke something.

I froze, saucer-eyed, with my shoulders stiff and hunched. The sound of the little brown cup crashing against the green tile echoed in my ears. The noise had been so loud!!

Whew. I'll tell you what:

1) It's a good thing the owners weren't home.
And
2) That little brown ceramic cup must've been made of steel. Nothing broke.

Jon came in from the other room, "What'd you break?!!"

Silly me.

Note to self: those "handle-jiggy thingers" on espresso machines can come off.

Plane Series 3

Another installment of plane wing pics from my flight from Portland, OR to Oakland, CA.
Click on the pic to get a larger view and click your browser's "back" button to return to the blog.

Favorite Shot from CA (amongst many)

Jon and I stopped by Dean & Deluca while we were in Napa Valley. Dean & Deluca always reminds me of the show Felicity. I loved that show. Especially the first two seasons. I don't love a lot of shows (I barely ever watched Friends and only watched Seinfeld when others were watching it), but I absolutely loved Felicity. It made me smile and laugh out loud. I really identified with her. It was always a great story, always captivating, and always a good, meaningful time.

Berkeley Home

Some pics from the sweet home we stayed at in Berkeley, CA. I had so much fun enjoying the home that I didn't take as many pics as I should have. They had this great balcony in the front of the house and the backyard had three tiers of fabulous greenery and landscaping, perfect for watching the sun go down over the city. Oh, and the teenagers' rooms were full of color and fun decor. I love colored walls!

Front Hall

Dining Room

Living Room

Den, 2nd Living Area

Backyard

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm really not that big a fan of chocolate chip cookies but there's just something irresistible about fresh-baked, warm, chocolate chip cookies with the chocolate morsels all drippy...Ummmm!

Thanks again to Raylene for the awesome cookie rack.

Scrumptious Snacks

1 loaf Wild Oats Organic Pan Bigio Parisien Loaf
1 container Emerald Valley Greek Olive & Roasted Garlic Hummus
1 jar Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Julienne Cut Tomatoes marinated in olive oil and herbs
Equals:
A quick and tasty, utterly scrumptious snack.

Chocolate Chunks & Pirouettes

Yum. That's all I have to say. Yum.

Teacups

"Cups cups cups cups cups" said the silly little fairy from Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" as she looked around for the proper utensil to make Aurora's birthday cake.

What a great movie.

I watched "Sleeping Beauty" over and over when I was a little girl, sighing at the courage and manliness of Prince Philip as he fought his way through the thorns to the castle where Aurora lay imprisoned in sleep. Oh, and the part at the beginning when they first meet. I love how he surprises her by singing and dancing along with her. That's right, sigh with dreamy eyes.

It amazes me how, for the majority of females, this innate desire for romance and a dashing prince starts at such a young age. I babysat a little girl who was not yet 2 years old and already she delighted in taking me upstairs to her room, opening her dresser, and showing me all her clothes, shoes, purses, hair bands, and other accessories.

And this past Sunday at Costco (why did I go there on a Sunday...), right as I walked in I saw a little girl trailing behind her mom, holding a baby doll up to her shoulder as she tenderly patted it's back as if it were a real baby. I rolled past with my cart, observing, completely amazed, thinking, "Wow, so young and yet already training to be a mommy."

I Love Bread!!

So, I made my first loaf of homemade bread a few months ago and it actually turned out like real bread! I was so excited that my first batch
(I made 2 loaves) turned out so usable and delicious. It really made our entire home smell good, too!

Unfortunately, when I tried making bread a second time a couple weeks ago, I got busy and left the dough to rise in a cabinet for a day and a half. I know, I know, how nasty am I to leave the dough out for that long...
When I finally got to it, the dough smelled like wine. Completely fermented. But, I baked it anyway just to see what would happen. Sure enough, when it was finished it still smelled strong like wine and tasted just like it; kinda bitter. Ugh. Totally not edible.
-But- It still looked pretty enough for a photo so I left the brick, I mean bread, on the counter covered with some plastic wrap. Days later, my mother-in-law came over and, since she's super hungry, decided to unwrap the brick bread and eat a mouthful even though I specifically warned her it was fermented and not edible.

Well, what can I say. The woman's got a mind of her own. I watched, incredulous, as she shoved a chunk of fermented brick-bread in her mouth and started chewing. I gotta hand it to her though, she actually chewed it for about 7 seconds before spitting it out in the trash. Seven seconds is way longer than I would've chewed it. I tried it. It was gross.

So even though the poor brick-bread was a failure at feeding starving people, at least it was a winner when I photographed it.

Which one is the brick loaf? Well, I'll let you decide which loaf was full of alcohol.

Spinach Dip

On a sidenote, Jon came up with such a great little snack the other day. He bought a fabulous uncut loaf of whole wheat bread at Wild Oats (kind of like a Whole Foods) which he thinly sliced, toasted, then spread with some tasty garlic and herb hummus, and topped the entire thing off with a layer of julienne-cut sun-dried tomatoes that'd been marinated in olive oil and more herbs...
It was so yummy and easy to make!!! What a genius. We ate it too fast for me to get a picture but I'll have to recreate it one of these days for a shot. Oooo, it was sooo yummy!

Oatmeal and Sliced Strawberries

Needless to say, oatmeal is not my favorite thing to eat. I'm a Malt-O-Meal girl myself. However, I do like strawberries. They always make things look edible, even it is oatmeal. :)

Lifehouse Everything Skit as seen on GodTube

This video is amazing. I saw it on a friend's site yesterday and it made me cry. The skit dramatizes what really goes on everyday in our lives and it is so awesome to see such a dramatization and remember how wonderful God is to us. He really is fighting for us every step of the way but there are just so many distractions in our lives. We easily go astray yet he is constantly beckoning us back, ready to welcome us no matter what we've done.