Hazel eating

She skipped the whole baby food thing wanted nothing to do with it. She is starting to get the eating thing.

Pigeons at the Zoo

We fed the birds while we waited for the zoo to open. Well we fed the bird and Rachel if you notice she snacks on the bread too

Blockbuster

My brother Eric works at the same blockbuster that I did. They had a marvel vs. Capcom challenge and everyone dressed up. SO fun.

rainy day

 So it started raining cats and dogs on like mon or tues. Anyway it is so cute how they like to run around in the rain. I remember liking it ...it's just the idea of driving home wet...not fun. That and I don't think Hazel is really up for it yet. They did have lots of fun though. This is what I missed in Utah. Trees and REAL rain.

pop-pops

fireworks

Dirk invited people over to watch some small fireworks in the evening and have some smores and dessert. The kids really had fun Rachel's favorite was probably the pop-pops.

The 4th parade

The parade was really nice this year. Not quite as hot as usual and Brian saved everyone spots. There was lots of candy and cool things like t shirts, Frisbee, footballs, beach balls and the like.

Lemongrass Beef Vermicelli

I like to go over to my parents house and have cooking bananzas occasionally and this time I made my version of Lemongrass Beef Vermicelli. Mom first had it at Hins Garden in kingwood and it became a favorite there. She tried to clone it but finding the sauce recipe was a challenge. I looked through lots of different versions of the recipe and adapted the one from Sonoma to my taste to make my own version. It was a huge hit and we should make it again soon. The only hiccup was Josh was not a huge fan. The Vietnamese thing was just not in his taste yet.

Nuoc Cham Sauce
5 T Fish Sauce
1/4 c Lime Juice
1 Red Chili(Fresh), Sliced
3 T Sugar
6 T water
1 sm clove garlic, grated
Meat marinade
3 stalks lemongrass, crushed and minced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 inch ginger, grated
2 T fish sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
Beef, thinly sliced
For the Salad
Rice noodles, cooked
finely shredded romaine lettuce
1 english cucumber, julienned
2 large carrots, julienned
peanuts, chopped
Cilantro
Basil
1. marinate the meat for and hour or two then cook quickly over high heat. You can grill it or stir-fry it.
2. Make the sauce.
3. Assemble the dish to your taste. Noodles on bottom and then all the fixings and as much or as little sauce as desired.

Rachel's Dance

She just really loved to dance. She insisted that she I record her dance. She sings randomly all the time too. Mostly princess songs but some made up.

video