An Evening at Berryhill & Co

My all-time favorite restaurant is Berryhill & Co. I discovered them tucked away in low-rent strip mall behind a Firestone Tires shop. Back then they used to do primarily catering - like for business luncheons downtown and box dinners at the Idaho Shakespeare Co summer performances. Now they have an actual, honest-to-goodness restaurant space downtown on 9th, and it's pretty snazzy. They still make amazing food.

Matt, Jacinda, Zeph, Mom and I had a great dinner there and finished it off with tiramisu, Berryhill style...

Settlers Showdown

Settlers of Catan: Infamous game of trechery and greed.....

 ...plotting the undoing of your opponents...

... complete with snacks!

 

Sorry Jami, no Ghoul Lash for you this time, either!

Post Turkey-Day Gathering

We had our Thanksgiving one day late with the family. It was a great dinner, made all the better by delicious contributions by everyone.

Luke is in the front, Matt behind him on the couch with Zeph between (not seen). Ben and his friends are on the other couch.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Carol, Lyric, Stacie

Matt and Teri, Samantha (getting cheesecake)

Jacinda and Zeph, Mom

Post-Turkey Day Recipes, Part 2

Brownie Cheesecake

3 packages (24 oz) cream cheese
3 Tbsp sour cream
3 Tbsp half-and-half
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Hershey's chocolate syrup

1 package of brownie mix (plus 1 egg, water and oil)

Mix up a box of brownie mix per package instructions. Pour just less than half of it into a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. It should cover the bottom of the pan and be 1/2 inch deep. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.

With a hand-mixer, blend the cream cheese, sour cream and half-and-half, and sugar till very smooth. Add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour over the brownie crust and drizzle Hershey's chocolate sauce over the top. Use a knife to marble or drag through for a decorative pattern.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes, turn off the oven and let it sit inside for at least another 45. Let sit on the counter till completely cool before chilling in the fridge.

Post-Turkey Day Recipes

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

3/4 cup butter softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp soda
1/2 salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream

Beat the butter, sugar and eggs together till creamy. Mix in the vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in alternately with the sour cream. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9x13 inch glass pan. Pour in the batter. Cut 1 cup of sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup flour into 1/2 cup cold butter till it makes fine crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs all over the batter and bake for 60 minutes.

Just Dance!

My mom got a new Wii game.... highly addictive and so fun! You can't help but dancing when you hear some of the songs, and the Warhol-esque characters (as mom calls them) are hilarious.

 

...and great for posting blackmail videos to YouTube!

Brrrrrrrrrr

After a long (and bumpy) plane ride, I'm finally back in Idaho. Mom, Luke and Jami came to pick me up in the nice warm Impala. Good thing, because the high today was 16 degrees - that's Fahrenheit, not Celsius!!! This wintry blast started over the weekend with snow, and will continue through the end of the week. It almost makes 80 degree weather in November seem not so bad.

Broadway!

So many treats today! Matt took me down the block to get Indian "wraps", Roti rolls or Kati rolls. Zeph had a rough morning, but he was much happier once he decided to take a bottle. He was wide awake and watching every light and person passing as we walked around the streets.

Then we went to Broadway to see if we could get tickets for a show. Matt, dad and I each threw our names into the bucket for the lotto for front row tickets. Unfortunately, if your name is drawn you can only get 1 or 2 seats. So dad and I got to see "In the Heights." What a great show! Thanks for the recommendation, Matt and Jacinda, it was a great musical, very high-energy and entertaining, and a commentary on the wonderful diversity within New York City. After the show, Jacinda met us for coffee while Matt fielded a late-night conference call.

New York, New York

Matt's and Jacinda's (and Zeph's!) apartment in New York overlooks the corner of 34th and 7th, where the first Macy's story is located. You can even see the Macy's Christmas Tree from their apartment window.

And by day...

 

Jacinda and I did a little shopping this morning at Macy's, and Dad was nice enough to follow us around and hold our coats. Then we came back for some lunch before hitting the MOMA. It's right around the corner from Radio City Music Hall.

Most of the art was interesting. Some of it was pretty ridiculous. However, I was surprised and so pleased to walk around the corner on the 5th floor and find the gallery with impressionistic art, including original Cezane, Picasso, and even Monet. For a brief, shining, sublime 30 seconds, I had the water lilies wall panels all to myself...

Zeph was such a good boy! He really enjoyed the MOMA... especially zooming around in Jacinda's arms like a little fighter pilot!

After the museum, we tried to get into one of the Broadway lotteries for tickets but had no luck. Instead we met Matt at Juniors for dinner. The cheesecakes there were amazing! We sampled chocolate mouse, devils food, and strawberry shortcake varieties.

Early Thanksgiving

Matt and Jacinda had a few friends over from their fellowship group on Sunday for an early Thanksgiving dinner. It was so wonderful to meet people near and dear to their hearts and celebrate all together. Thank you!

Zephania was a Bullfrog!

Slept in this morning, what luxury! Jacinda, Zeph, and I hung out and had a peaceful morning awaiting Matt's arrival. He had fun playing and splashing in the bath.

I started singing, "Zephania was a Bullfrog" - but Jacinda corrected me, she says she had sung the same thing to him, except she had said Bulldog instead. The nickname has stuck, as Grandma Joan and Grandpa Wally have already got him a cute bath hoodie and cap for the little Bulldog.

Matt got home about noon and spent the next several hours glued to Zeph. Zeph didn't mind at all - he missed his daddy. We all walked down and had lunch at the Korean BBQ. Thanks mom, it was a great suggestion!

Philadelphia

Getting to the ASHA conference in Philidelphia was no easy trick. After being re-routed and staying over night in Seattle, I made it to Boise with the kids, then on to Newark. The trains after midnight don't run that frequently, so I waited till 1:30 to hop the NJT to Penn Station in New York. Jacinda and Zeph graciously greeted me, and I got a couple hours sleep before hopping on the 7:17 Amtrak down to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, that train ended up being delayed a couple hours, so I didn't get to the conference before 11am.

The ASHA conference was overwhelming - so many people all converging, trying to be heard and seen. There was only one session I was able to attend, but it was a good one. The presentation was over the current state of research on causes of Autism. Briefly, what she contended was that it lie in genetic coding for brain (grey and white matter - but more white matter) development that "unfolds" over different periods during childhood years. It was really encouraging how insistent she was about the plasticity of the brain and how much environmental input can benefit kids (and adults) with Autism. I also got a chance to do my poster presentation with Dr Seikel, whom I have been anxiously waiting to see again. He's great! Such a positive person, and a real mover and fountain of ideas and productivity. I think his vita must be about 12 pages by now...

Anyways, after the conference I had a couple hours before I could get on the return train to NYC. I took in a quick turn around the block by the conference hall and walked by the Old City Hall (below), Ben Franklin's house, and grabbed a bite to eat at a posh Indian restaurant called Bindi (NOT the Hard Rock Cafe - Sorry, Luke! But at least I got a pic of it for you!)

Ponies!

The four Connemaras made it down from Idaho all in once piece. Welcome Bushmills, Felicity, Fleur, and Verity!

Riding Lessons

Eli and Abi got to ride this weekend, as we are out helping get paddocks ready for the ponies. Eli also got to practice for the kid agility class....

 

 

Eli at the Museum

He asked for the 'museum' at the beginning of the week, so we've been gearing up. While Eli enjoys the Natural History Museum, it's so echoic and crowded, he gets overwhelmed quickly. Aunt Pat, Carlean, Sherri, Cora, Mia, and Abi and I joined Eli there this weekend after attending the Fiber Festival in Torrence.

The Voyage of the Stair Treader

Continuing the epic Lego adventure....

Eli has lately taken to playing with Luke's old Dragon Lego set. He and Abi built this ship. I helped him add the sails. He decided not to have the full set or the crows nest or other rigging.

But Eli did remember the names of the sails from our "tall ship" adventure (Foremast and Mainmast on his ship).

The Real Reason for Having a Balcony

Eli discovered this morning the real reason for having a balcony. So you can lower stuff down and pull it back up, of course! He and I played back and forth, and he didn't even want to stop to eat breakfast. I had to get a little creative, "Pull up the VitaGummy"... and he actually liked it and started expanding the game, "Pull up the baby pumpkin cupcake. Pull up the rice crispies."