106/365

Tonight we were invited over to some friend's house for a shrimp boil! Everything was super yum & it was a great evening.

74/365

The husband got up early & made the kids blueberry & white choc chip waffles for breakfast! What a guy! When I came in the kitchen this is what I saw: the boy had gone thru & eaten only the blueberries & choc chips. This is where you either say, Ah kids, gotta love 'em or What a turd.

ISO 250 f2.5 1/60

73/365

My newest addiction. Dark choc. The darker the better. I have been trying to find 76% & above.

ISO 125 f2.5 1/60

68/365

Happy Lent! This marks the first of our Fish on Fri-days. I prefer to go to the fresh fish market but when time doesn't permit, I just hit the Japanese grocery store.

ISO 250 f2.2 1/160

65/365

Have you ever eaten one of these? I had never had one until today. The husband tells me they are kumquats but whatever they are, they are delish. I ate them till my tongue was numb.

ISO 200 f1.8 1/160

61/365

Mmmmm. It's that time of year again. You haven't tasted a strawberry till you've tasted one from Okinawa. They are seriously like little bites of sugar. On base they are so expensive (sometimes $8 a carton)! But off base you can find them for much less.

ISO 500 f2.2 1/100

51/365

joy of LOVE 20: when they're home

When the husband is home he loves to make us lots of yummy treats. This morning he got up w the kids & let me sleep in & when I woke up he was making the kids breakfast pizza from scratch! Home made dough, pan gravy sauce, bacon, eggs & cheese! Good morning!

ISO 250 f3.2 1/160

29/365

This picture is being posted a day late but I'm pretty sure you didn't even notice. :) I find that, while I may be able to take several pictures on Saturdays, editing/posting them is something I run out of time to do. I had tried to take several pictures of my brownies resting nicely next to a glass of milk but none of them came out the way I hoped so they were deleted. Boo. Luckily I had this lovely salad last night. Fresh spinach w goat's cheese, toasted walnuts & cranberries. I topped it w my favorite home made maple-mustard dressing. This salad is a fab meal when you top it w chicken!

ISO 160 f2.5 1/60

28/365

Today the girl helped me make some brownies. Of course, from scratch! I intend to compile all of my paternal grandparent's recipes into a cookbook so I would like to try & make as many of them as I can bf I print them out. These babies took abt 20 minutes longer than the suggested cooking time but turned out really nice. She loves to help me do anything but oh, how messy cooking w a 3 yr old can be. At one point there was melted butter all over the floor, which meant not only did I do some baking today, I also did some cleaning.

ISO 400 f2.2 1/160
In an editing note, does this picture look a little cool? I can't quite decide.

26/365

I don't follow a lot of blogs but one I do try & catch is Life's Ambrosia. I love the recipes & the food photography is awesome too! Her slow cooker pulled pork is my go to recipe bc from one roast I can also make her enchiladas & her bbq pulled pork sandwiches! For Christmas I made her chocolate mint truffles & they were a big hit! Tonight I made Buffalo Chipotle Chili & it was my first time ever using these chipotle peppers! When I opened the can they smelled SO good I had to taste the sauce so I put one tiny fingertip on the can lid & took a taste. It took abt 3 seconds for me to go into a coughing spell that had me flinging the fridge door open & chugging the carton of milk! Yikes! These babies are HOT! The recipe only calls for two but this chili is so good, the boy proclaimed me the 'best chef he knows' & we all had two bowls! The baby even ate some beans out of my bowl! This will definitely be added to my monthly (winter) meal rotation.

ISO 160 f1.8 1/100

13/365

I've been drinking loads of green tea lately. Like, 3 cups a day. I took this picture, which isn't all that spectacular, but what I'm really excited abt is how good I was able to make the tea look. With some editing, I was able to make a murky, grayish yellow tea look like a delicious, refreshing green tea. The husband questioned why I was even drinking the stuff in the original picture!
Bottoms up!

ISO 1000 f1.8 1/200
I'm submitting this over at CIUAN's weekly 'I learned' just bc I'm so jazzed abt my editing. Check out what everyone else learned.

11/365

Soup du jour.
When you're 7 months old, this is what your dinner looks like. Peas & prunes.

ISO 2500 f3.2 1/200