Some recipes

Do you have certain go-to recipes that you use over and over?  Do you have them practically, but not quite, memorized?  Then do you spend 20 minutes searching for the recipe either on the internet or in your recipe file?  Yeah.....me neither.  But if I did, and if I had a blog, I think it would be a good idea for me to put them on my blog so that I could find them more easily, and other people could too.  Kind of like this....

(Oh yeah...I'd also tag the recipes so that in the cool sidebar thingie to the right, I could just click on "recipe" and be able to find all my posts that have recipes in them.)

Cheese Straws
1 jar (5 oz) Kraft Old English cheese spread
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (I'm a pansy, so I barely do the 1/4 tsp.)

Preheat oven to 395°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  (Paper may ignite at 400°)

Add cheese spread, softened butter, and cayenne pepper into a mixing bowl and beat at high speed until fully combined.  Add in flour gradually and mix with a dough hook attachment.  Additional flour may be needed in certain weather conditions.  Dough should be moist but not sticky.

Press through cookie press fitted with a star tip into long logs.  Cut into 2-3inch pieces.  Bake at 395° for 14 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool on baking sheet.



This is my favorite coffee cake recipe.  Soooo delicious.

For cake:
1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

For streusel:
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. butter, melted

For glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. whole milk

Preheat oven to 350°.  Generously spray a 12-15 cup bundt pan with nonstick baking spray with flour.  Sprinkle pan with granulated sugar as though you are flouring the pan with the sugar.  Tap out excess sugar.  Set pan aside.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar, for 3-5 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sour cream and vanilla, beating until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating just until combined. Spoon half of batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar, and melted butter.  Sprinkle half of pecan mixture evenly over batter in pan.  Top with remaining cake batter, and sprinkle with remaining pecan mixture.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and milk, stirring until smooth.  Drizzle over cooled cake. 




This was the cake I made for my birthday this year. I garnished it with mint and fresh orange slices.

Fresh Orange Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (Adapted from Paula Deen's Best Desserts magazine)

For cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsps. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. orange zest (freshly grated)
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 3 (9-inch) cake pans with nonstick baking spray with flour.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add oil, orange juice, eggs, and sour cream. Beat at medium speed with a mixer until smooth. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

For frosting (makes about 5 cups):
1 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp. orange zest (freshly grated)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
8 cups confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, beat butter, cream cheese, and orange zest at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. Add orange juice, beating until combined. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth.

Other Tricks of Rebecca

Because the last picture I posted of Rebecca has tortured my mother, here are some of a happier Rebecca doing some more-appreciated tricks!

On Wednesday nights in the summer, Chino Hills has concerts in the park.  We've only missed one so far this summer, and we all enjoy them.  Rebecca loves dancing to whatever music is playing.  It usually cools down in the evenings, so much so that we usually need to bring jackets!  This week, however, it was still hot and humid for the concert.  In addition to the dancing, she also likes to use the opportunity to practice doing flips.  I have to say, she's gotten very good at doing them!

While I encourage creative play and artistic expression, this isn't exactly what I had in mind!

Rebecca was playing downstairs after lunch today, while I was upstairs beginning the task of closet re-organization.  I'd checked on her and she was playing in her kitchen, and I let her watch Nick Jr. for a bit so that I could get some stuff done.  I checked on her again and discovered this.  She had gotten a permanent gel ink pen and used it as lipstick and then basically just kept smearing it around her mouth and on her hands and legs.  She knew she was in trouble as soon as I came down the stairs.  We did a scrub down with baby wipes (the alcohol in them is supposed to break down ink), then with vegetable oil (the oil is supposed to break down the ink) and again with the baby wipe.  Most of it was gone, but she still had lips that looked like a teenage emo-goth kid.  I had her look at it in the mirror, and it made her very upset. When she realized I wasn't going to get it all off and that Daddy would see it and that her friends at dance class would see it, she weeped and wailed, "I don't wanna look ugly!"  She was apologetic and acknowledged that she had known she was going to get in trouble for it as she was doing it.  She was even more sorry when she didn't get to watch her movie while she fell asleep for naptime!  When she woke up from her nap, she remembered it and didn't want to tell Daddy about it and asked if she was still in trouble.  I reminded her that she was not, and all was well with the world again. 

I love these two

The nicest thing about being done with internship is that I get to spend so much more time with Rebecca.  I've also found that I also have a lot more time to spend with Ramy, since I'm not working later than him and I'm not writing reports at night or preoccupied wondering if one of my clients might kill someone overnight.  This past week has been really fun for me playing happy homemaker.  I've actually cooked a real dinner every night this week, much to Ramy's pleasure.  Rebecca and I have played, had tea parties, danced to music, made pancakes for breakfast and cookies to take to the concert in the park, did art projects, slept late, and took naps.  Even better - this week was a three day week, surrounded by two three-day weekends for Ramy!  He was off today, and we woke up and went out to breakfast.  He had an eye appointment in the afternoon in Arcadia, so I took advantage of that opportunity to get in some mall time.  I think we're staying in tonight with a movie, and I'm about to put something sweet in the oven. 

Dance Recital

The week after my graduation was another special occasion...Rebecca's first big dance recital.  I was a little concerned that she might be afraid and not go through with it when she got up on a big stage and there was a lot of darkness and a lot of people in the audience.  Not my girl!  She did wonderfully!  She performed her dance like a little champion.  She had lots of fans in the audience: mommy, daddy, Grammy, Grandma, Auntie Myrna, Uncle Ed, and Jessica. 

They danced to "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid.
Here were the three little mermaids getting ready to go onstage:

Since this was the 2.5 to 3.5 year old Intro to Dance class, anything was possible!  As it was, although all three of them ended up doing a lot of their own thing, they all performed with no tears!  THAT made it an incredible performance.  Of course, Rebecca was the best one.  That's a purely objective opinion of course!She actually knew what she was doing (even if it wasn't part of the official choreography) and actually followed the appropriate routine a majority of the time. 

Look at this form!

Keen on following directions, Rebecca was often looking offstage to see what Miss Heather was showing them to do.

On toe!

In case you didn't notice it below, here's the video again:

Graduation Party

Ramy and Rebecca hosted a graduation party for me at Louise's Trattoria (my favorite restaurant) in Pasadena after the graduation ceremony.  My mom ordered a beautiful cake to match the invitations and some lovely flowers for a centerpiece.  She also did my kindergarten graduation pic with my Ph.D. graduation pic.  It was a fun time to celebrate with all our friends.

Rebecca would have made her great-grandmother proud, because she was happily playing the hostess!  She enjoyed introducing her cousins to her friends.  She had the best time sitting with all the other kids and not with mommy and daddy! 

Graduation day (or..my Independence Day)

Commencement was at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 13, 2010.  This meant that I had to be in line at Loma Linda at 7:00 a.m., which meant that my mom and I left our house at 6:00 a.m.  She was going to be saving seats for the rest of the crew. Jessica, Ed, and Myrna joined her in line around 6:45 and Ramy arrived with the rest of the gang at 7:00.  Rebecca had a gorgeous dress and was excited for the day.

Here's my crew waiting for the ceremony to begin:

Marching in...We carried our hoods until it was time for the hooding.

There was a speaker, but I can honestly say that I have no idea who it was or what he talked about, because I wasn't listening.  I just wanted to commence with the commencement.  Finally after the conferral of the degrees by the dean, it was time for the hooding.

Waiting in line with the other Psychology Ph.Ds. for them to call my name to be hooded.  Unfortunately, the person reading our names just randomly decided to not use the cards we handed them, so he didn't read my maiden name (or anyone else's, which kinda sucked). 

Walking across the stage, as they're reading my name and my degree. 

As they read the title and abstract of my dissertation, I was hooded by Dr. David Vermeersch.  He was my director of clinical training, my dissertation chairperson, my academic advisor, and my first clinical supervisor.  Who else could have hooded me?  This was a great moment.  I think it really kind of hit me as I stood there and Dr. Jenkins (department chair) was reading the abstract of my dissertation and I was getting hooded.  I realized, "Oh my goodness, I really did it!  I'm finished!"  It had better have been a great moment...I'll be paying for that moment for the next thirty years. 

What a great day it was!  I was so happy to share the day with so many good friends.  My friend Randy played How Great Thou Art on the piano for the ceremony, and it was the one single moment in the graduation that I teared up just a little. 

Here I am with Julie.  I'm not sure I would have made it to this day without her!  I think these pictures show that we were both giddy with excitement!

With Dr. Vermeersch:

This was a milestone event for everyone in the family.  We ALL graduated!

It was so special to have my buddies and other family here to celebrate with me.

Next, it was time to party!

Graduation visit from friends

Of course, the highlight of June was my graduation from Loma Linda.  My mom flew in the weekend before, and three of my best friends came in a few days before to celebrate the big occasion. 

Brenda, Lisa, and Scott arrived in LAX on Wednesday, June 9.  I picked Scott up around noon, and we hung out in Culver City.  While we were there, we got to hang out with a bunch of paparazzi who were stalking Brad Pitt at Sony Pictures Studio.  We also saw the hotel where the Munchkins stayed while they were filming the Wizard of Oz in Culver City.  Apparently those little people had some wild shenanigans going on! 

That evening, we met up with Ramy, Rebecca, and my mom at LAX to retrieve the girls.  Then we went down to the seaport in Marina del Rey for dinner that night. 

We took them back to Chino Hills to the hotel they were staying at across the street practically from our house.  I hung out with them for a bit, until we got so loud that we got a call to shut the heck up.  So I decided I better go home!

On Thursday, the whole group came over for breakfast.  Then we hit the road to Los Angeles.  We drove around in downtown to see the famous sites there and then kept heading west . The first stop was at the Griffith Park Observatory.  We took lots of shots of the Hollywood sign and enjoyed the views.

Scott particularly enjoyed the James Dean statue, while Rebecca was more interested in running and jumping.

We also hit the other famous sites in Hollywood, including Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Kodak Theater. 

On Thursday evening, we got fancied up and went into Orange County to attend the theah-tuh (imagine theater with a heavy aristocratic British accent).  We saw The Lion King musical onstage at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and it was wonderful.  Rebecca loved it, although she didn't particularly care for Scar.  It was a blast!

On Friday morning, everyone else got the opportunity to sleep in for awhile, but I had to be up and hit the road at 7:00 a.m. to make it to Loma Linda for rehearsal for graduation.  It was a complete waste of time, other than that it gave me the opportunity to talk to some of my colleagues who I hadn't seen in awhile.  After the graduation, Julie and I met up with our collective families for brunch in Rancho Cucamonga.  Rebecca was overjoyed to be reunited with her friend Addie.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time for Julie and myself to have our usual leisurely shopping adventures.   After brunch, we had an outing to the nail spa and got mani's and pedi's (well, not Ramy...but everyone else!).

On Friday afternoon, we drove up the coast to Malibu.  We had a blast on the beach there!

Rebecca was a little bit scared of all the waves, but with some coaxing, she was willing to get her feet wet.

She still much preferred playing in the sand....and covering me with sand!

There on the beach at Malibu, we had dinner at Gladstones.  I hadn't been there since the summer that I was pregnant with Rebecca, when our friends Brian and Stephanie were visiting us.  Thankfully, I wasn't nauseated the whole time this time!

Brennie and Lisa got down to business on a few pounds of king crab legs. 

That night, the girls (minus Mom and Rebecca) went to see Sex and the City 2 at the movies, while Ramy and Scott went to see some guy flick. 

On Saturday morning, the out of towners slept in again, and I took Rebecca for her photographs for her dance recital.  In the afternoon, we went to Huntington Beach to soak up some more rays. 

After beach time, we drove south into Los Angeles again and had dinner at Lawrys.

After that, it was time to get a little bit of shut-eye for the big day....