25 November 2011

Katerina Day

Here she is working on her tractor, she always gets distracted when I get the camera out but I told her to start her work again and to pose for the camera and that's when I got the shot below.
My pretty little girl.
Both kids love each other and for the most part play very well together, here Nik is giving her a hug and she's like hey not so close. But she always gives him a hug in the morning and when he comes home after being at KokaRoka.

Today was name day Katerina, so we got several calls from our Greek relatives to wish baby Kat many happy years (Xronia Polla). The Greeks celebrate name days more than they do birthdays, it does make things a little easier you don't have to remember birth dates you just call the person or visit on that persons name day. So if you know several Katerina's you can go to each of thier houses and get little cakes or some kind of refreshment. This is baby Kat's first name day since technically she has not had a name until she was baptized and that was on Oct. 16th. She will be 1 1/2 on December 8th, but I always think she is so much older because of her intelligence and her physical abilities. She can pretty much do everything her brother does and is an even better writer than him and holds a pen perfectly.

22 November 2011

No more sugar

In my attempt to stop eating sugar I made one last great dessert, a beautiful carrot cake. It was super delicious and the best I have ever made, you can find the recipe here. I want to limit my intake of sugar, starting at my 4 teaspoons of sugar in my morning coffee. But I have found the task difficult and my cravings for the white stuff border on addiction.
In the last ten days not only have I found myself eating half of the cake, but I also made brownies, chocolate cookies and this morning I am making cinnamon rolls (got the idea from Angela) plus I need to use the leftover cream cheese frosting from my carrot cake. Wish me good luck in my battle of the bulge by first getting rid of sugar, my personal poison.

20 November 2011

My pretty hair

Thank you for all of the compliments, I also really liked my hair and am so happy that I finally found a hairdresser who knows how to do hair. It took me four people to get the right hairdresser, the first three had a problem about cutting the hair unevenly and I always came home a little disappointed and then Arthur found this lady that he knew in high school and she had just moved back to town. Since seeing her she has always cut my hair correctly even without me being able to communicate with her, and when I told her I was going to my daughters baptism and she just did my hair like this. I had it done on Saturday and the baptism was on Sunday, my hair still looked good on Tuesday but I just had to wash it, even though I was tempted to leave it just to see how long it would last.

08 November 2011

Katerina's Baptism

This is a long time due, sorry Aunt Jeanie, I have been a little lax in my blogging. Katerina had her baptism on October 16th, she pretty much screamed the whole entire time, as pictured above. Her godmother is Ero, she is 26 and can speak 4 languages, she works on an Island during the summer in a hotel and this winter she is taking foreigners up to the mountains to ski.
Struggling to hold on to Kat as the priest prays over her.
Finally calmed down a little bit because she was allowed to walk around, she is wearing a dress that was mine when I was a little girl. Amanda (my half-brother's wife) gave it to me when I was in Denver, she helped the family clean out my grandparents house and gave me a few things that were mine when I was little.
Arthur trying to distract her with his phone, this does usually work but not today.
Ahh now the dunking, in lukewarm water covered in olive oil, not the favorite part for the kids, Nik also was quite upset during this part.
The priest tried to pry the pacifier from her hand but she had a death grip on the thing and would not let it go, so it was also baptized with her.
This photo was taken before the dunking and you can't tell but she was actually trying to leap out of my arms because she wanted to get in the water. Ero on the left, her mother, Nik and myself with Kat.
Before she was undressed and very interested in getting in the water.
Nik trying to protect his sister, he was a very good boy during the ceremony.
The below picture is after the dunking and the priest is trying to anoint her with special oil, he also took 4 snippets from her hair in the shape of the cross. She has been dressed in her new clothes provided by Ero and her father is required to hold her, once again not happy about any of this.

Finally we are done, the below picture is taken just inside the church, Vaso (godmother's mother), Ero the godmother, Katerina the grandmother, Arthur, Mara and Katerina the baby. Above we are outside and she is happy to be eating a cupcake that I had made to hand out after the ceremony for all of the people who attended.
Vaso and her son George (the brother of Ero), Vaso and Ero live in Larissa, George lives with his wife in Athens.
We had the after party at KokaRoka, Grandma Katerina and Arthur did all of the cooking with a little help from Nik's godfather's mother - Nikki.
So happy to be on familiar turf, we had a cousin who was one year older than Nik and also a family friend who has a daughter who is 2 years older than Nik so the four kids had a great time running around the table of adults eating. We had pork steak, potatoes, coleslaw and little burgers.
Arthur and I finally kind of relaxing, that is Nikki to the right (Niks godfather's mother) or you could say she is family also.

09 October 2011

BFF

Mom's Best Friend Forever is getting baptized next Sunday on the 16th at our favorite church down the road by a distant cousin of Grandma Katerina.Here she is eating one of Mommy's and now her favorite candy a Hot Tamale, I still can't believe that she likes to eat them I think they are a little spicy for someone so young, I brought back 5 boxes. she would like to type fbbh fghhhhhhhhhhhhhhkkccc cc c,mf fh hhhhg vgvhjjjjjjjjjjg, she is such a electronic bug anything that turns on and she wants to touch, Nik is so not interested in the computer but baby Kat most definitely is.
Both kids also inherited my like for raw cookie dough and cake batter in fact they like licking the spatula and beater but not eating the cooked cookies or baked cupcakes.

07 October 2011

American Food pics

Okay not really American food but food you can find in America, for example the Waffle below, I think this is a Belgium created food. I had blueberries (not found in Greece) and raspberries (can find every once in a while) plus a whole lot of whip cream, butter and syrup on mine, yummy. On the Islands you can find some restaurants who serve waffles and this is because of tourism, not because Greek people like to eat them.IN-N-OUT, I like to vote it the best fast food hamburger out there, but that's just me, lovey yummy goodness, food I think always taste better when it is someone else cooking. By the way if you didn't know they now serve chili peppers on the burgers if you ask for them, super yummy especially combined with the fried onions, regular onions and pickles, at least that's the way I eat it. Arthur cooks a pretty good burger, the beef taste delicious but our buns are sadly lacking in taste quality.
Had to have a shake and fries with that, oh and you can get it protein style for those of you looking to avoid wheat (no bun, covered in lettuce).
I had the opportunity to be in Roseville on the day they re-opened the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, pretty good, but still just way to expensive for my taste buds. I do cook doughnuts at home and they are okay with either a sugar/cinnamon sprinkle or just dipped in honey, so I like my cheaper option, cause flour, sugar, yeast and water don't cost to much.
Ooohhh, Aaahhh, Blueberry muffins, Leslie made these and I think Sarah and I ate them all, yummy! They carried blueberries (frozen) at the super market when I first moved here and if I had known they were going to discontinue them I would have stocked up the freezer like i do with strawberries and peaches.

Chines food, yippee! This delicious creation was courtesy of House of Nanking in San Francisco (ate there twice) the beef was so tender it melted in your mouth, then they had fresh mushrooms and tomatoes on it, but what gave it the great flavor was the massive amounts of basil they tossed into it. You should always try there fried calamari, it is the most tender calamari I have ever tasted and in a light and refreshing spicy lemon sauce.
PIZZA, what can I say I had to eat pizza, Greeks do not know how to cook pizza and I would really suggest that you try to avoid it while here, we have only found one good place at that's in Thessaloniki, so if you are going there we can give you directions.
Bar-B-Q, I had it a couple of times and while I make a killer Bar-B-Q ribs recipe, like I said it's nice when someone else is cooking. These little bundles of Barby where yum, jalapeno's stuffed with shredded beef and wrapped in bacon and covered in barbeque sauce, yumyumyum!Bar-b-q ribs and baked beans at Grandma and Grandpa's retirement home, pretty darn good food and not bland at all and I asked for double portion.

Mexican food, once again not found in Greece, I like it.
These are my food travels while stateside, I missed eating a lot of foods but I got to enjoy a lot that I don't get to eat while here, good travels.

29 September 2011

And I'm Back

SO here are a few pictures of the people I got to see on my trip, and what a whirlwind trip it was too? Some of you I only got to see for a few minutes and others I was so tired I hardly talked but nonetheless it was wonderful seeing all of the people I was able too and once again a tragedy if I was unable to see you. Because I really would have liked to see everyone but maybe next time and then I will be with the whole family so that will be nicer. My pictures got all turned around and are upside down so here it goes, above is cousin Lettie with husband Wade and the new great grandbaby Bridgman, Jesse. We ate Chinese food in Chinatown San Francisco and then went for some Gelato in Little Italy, man I love these big cities (as long as I don't have to live in one of them). It's not the most flattering shot, sorry Lettie and Wade, I caught you walking and eating.
Little Jesse at 6 weeks and such a sweet dinner partner, he slept during the whole affair and then Lettie drove me to the airport for my departure out of the States.
My friend Percy drove me into SF to meet up with all of my friends, traffic was tough so once again thanks for the ride, I also got a chance to hang out with her on the previous Friday and Saturday so we had a good time.
My only picture of Rhonda (sorry), she is giving Bella, dog lessons at the park in Lincoln. After the dog lessons Rhonda and I made a lavender cheese cake, I ate it hot since I had to be on my way to SF but I thought it tasted pretty good. Percy brought a quiche and Rhonda made a salad so that was a yummy lunch.
My friend John joined us for dinner in SF with Lettie and Wade, it had been a very long time since we talked so it was great seeing him.
My only shot of Leslie feeding Owen and Sarah, Andrew eats like a little bird and had left the table already. I didn't get any pictures of Eric, (he's probably glad that I didn't get any butt shots) even though he was the one who picked me up and dropped me off at the airport in Orange County. I arrived on Thursday night and Leslie made tacos and then on Friday morning she made blueberry muffins and for lunch a chicken salad sandwich. I remember when she first married Eric and didn't know how to cook anything, Leslie has a come a long way and everything was delicious. On Friday night we splurged and ordered Pizza, then on Saturday Eric took me to the airport.
The kids played so well together and it was really fun seeing them, on Friday morning Eric and I dropped off Andrew and then Owen at their schools, then he took me shopping at Micheal's, Whole Foods and Target. Then he dropped me off back at the house while he went to work and I hung out with Leslie and the kids for the rest of the day.
On Thursday I was taken to the Denver airport by Uncle Allen and before that I was with Grandma Doris and Grandpa Percy in Greeley at their retirement home. I also ate lunch there, Bar-B-q ribs and beans, good food.
I stayed the night with Aunt Karen and Uncle Bill (his picture somewhere below) it was super early for photos so I apologize for looking a fright.
This picture was taken on Saturday in SF a very brief hello and talk with my friend Birgit, her husband Brian and thier daughter Milena. they had just gotten back from Germany 2 days before so they wanted to get their daughter back on US time table, she's 1 1/2.This is my half brother Sam and his wife Amanda, Sam picked me up from the airport in Denver and that was a relief since I wanted to see mom and the Super Shuttle was going to take over 2 hours to get to her position. We ate at my favorite dinner place in Denver, Casa Bonita, Mexican food, the three of use ate the all you can eat and I got $3 off on each plate, it was a super deal. Plus they have live entertainment with divers and mexican music, a little loud but totally fun. I had a great time meeting Amanda and she brought some pictures of me from when I was little I will have to share them with you and two of my dresses as a little girl, Katerina will show them off when she gets bigger.
Thankfully I got to see mom even though it was only for about 5 minutes, she handed off some of her famous chili and a box of clothes for the kids. She was traveling back to New Mexico after a week in Washington and we timed it to meet in Denver, she had Terry, the dog Bonnie and Miss Kitty the cat in the car with her. I ate Bar-B-Q with Dad and also went out to eat Mexican food with him and his dog Bella, he kind of had to drive me around since I couldn't find a rental car all weekend in Sacramento.
My friend Renee picked me up when I landed at SFO on Thursday, we did some Secret Shopping and then ate Bar-B-Q before she dropped me off at Dad's. She also drove me around on Friday to all of my appointments.
My uncle Bill in Greeley, see I told you his photo was somewhere, why they didn't go where I put them is unknown to me.
Some people that I did see but didn't take a picture of for one reason or another.
Rhonda and Eric, it was great seeing them.
My friend Lyn http://HealthChoices4u.com who is my essential oil contact and giver of all things healthy.
My colonic buddies Angela http://angelaburleson.com/ and
Dawn http://www.fountainofhealth.com/index2.php , you understand why they don't have a picture on here.
And my Acupuncturist, Tian Li Wu, http://tianchaoherbsandacupuncture.com/