Author Archives: Vale

Breakfast Cereal

03 Mar 2011

Cereal is a Big Deal in this house. Not for me, but certainly for the two guys, and Lucy might be following in their footsteps (hard to tell with her bottle still being a dominant factor at that hour).
Back to cereal. ‘Life’ is king around here. Otherwise known as “Daddy cereal”, it is the perennial cereal of choice. Oscar can only have it by request, sometimes, and always after eating some of his own cereal first. This limitations on Life began in the early days when I didn’t want Oscar to consume so much sugar. He had Cheerios, and other non-sugar cereals. Now he has other cereals that I’m pretty sure have as much sugar as life. I guess we keep the Life restricted out of tradition, and to make sure there’s always some around for Mark. Oscar consumes at least 3 small-to-medium sized bowls of cereal every breakfast.
Weekends we do other breakfasts, but weekday mornings are 99% cereal.

Taken this morning (Click to see larger):

I have not come around to the cereal thing – for myself. But I do benefit from the ease of not being involved in the main course of breakfast! (I make juice and fruit for them.) My breakfast is always different, and I eat after dropping Oscar at school. Cereal is okay, but I prefer granola. What’s your favorite cereal?

Raffle Tickets, Get’cha Raffle Tickets!

02 Mar 2011

Oscar would like to announce his Clarendon Second Community Auction Raffle!

Tickets are $5 each, or five for $20.

This year’s Grand Prize is a seven‐night stay in Tuscany, Italy. If you win, you will escape to “Casa Tre Leoni”, a 2 bedroom house located in the beautiful town of Sommocolonia, in the Garfagnana region of Tuscany.
You can see more details at http://www.sommocolonia.com
The Prize includes round trip airfare for two. This is a great opportunity to practice Italian, visit nearby Tuscan destinations: Pisa, Lucca, and Firenze, and immerse yourself in Italian culture!

Second Prize is a Two Night Stay at the Atlantic Casino Resort & Spa in Reno, NV ($200 value).
Third Prize is Two Tickets to your San Francisco Symphony concert of choice this summer ($140
value).

A drawing will be held at the Clarendon Second Community Auction on Saturday, April 16, 2011. You need not be present to win.
The Fine Print: Grand Prize package includes 2 roundtrip air tickets from anywhere in the continental U.S. or Canada, to Europe. The SCPA will reimburse house, flight and car rental costs for the grand prize, up‐to a $3600
maximum total cost. There is a $2000 alternative cash prize. Valid for 12‐months from 2011 Auction date.
Reservations subject to availability.

Let us know if you are interested!

More About The Prize:
The fabulous house is in the Tuscan city of Sommocolonia. Sommocolonia means “the colony at the summit” and was founded by the Romans some twenty centuries ago! It is a lovely hilltop town, where on a clear day it does appear you “can see forever!” Wondering what to do in the Tuscan region of Italy? There are so many places to hike in the Tuscan mountains and picnic near its picturesque lakes. You can enjoy ancient ramparts and thermal baths in the nearby town of Lucca. The Grotta del Vento (the wind caves) in the Garfagnana region are not to be missed! Or why not take one of many offered cooking classes in the area and learn to make bruschetta, porchetta, and Paneforte, three of Tuscany’s famous mouth watering dishes!
Want to take a day trip? Pisa is only 40 miles away! Go see its famous leaning tower and eat some gelato. The city of Firenze (Florence) is just 70 miles away, and it is here that you can see Michelangelo’s statue of David along with several Botticelli’s at the Accademia. You won’t want to miss the world famous Uffizi gallery or the Duomo either.

Come on, help a kindergartner out!

Oscar’s Cake For The Oscars

28 Feb 2011


(Our Homemade Invitation for our family Oscar Party (a.k.a. Academy Awards and dinner)

Mark got a screamin’ deal on the Honey Baked Ham, because he is very good at that kind of thing. Nanu brought homemade Mac-n-Cheese, and Madie and Alex brought “Bomb Salad”, as in, ‘it’s the bomb’ (it was).
We realized Kiera wasn’t going to be able to join us . She was busy in NY!

Oscar had a idea for a cake topper he wanted to do. Nanu was making tiramisu, which turned out boozey and delicious. However I still needed a cake that Oscar could “top”. Normally Kiera would be all over that bad boy, but instead, I would just try to make something serviceable. My shortcut: Yellow cake from a box.

All of which gave me a realization: I am officially a cake snob. So spoiled by SK these days, I was not hungry for this faux cake! It’s just not yummy enough {sniff!}. Good thing for Nanu and the tiramisu!

Our frosting was lemon butter cream (no I will not stoop to frosting from a can). This came out a little too strongly lemon because I cavalierly threw in a ton of lemon zest with no measurement whatsoever. But the cake toppers were fun! Before we cut the cake, Oscar ceremoniously bowed the swan’s head into the frosting, and the king reined supreme.

Everyone filled out their ballots before the show. Some tried hard, some, not so much. Some convinced others to vote one way, and then changed back without saying! We circled our correct guesses as the show went on. In the end it was a close race for victory, which Alex clinched by predicting Best Director: The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper). We had fun -I hope to always watch the awards this way! Congrats to The King’s Speech for Best Picture as well!

Photo by Cole, with the point’n’shoot.