The Good, the Sad and the Delicious

So the last few weeks have been crazy around here... very up and down.

The sad:
My dear Uncle Rex passed away and was found in a bush by some passers-by a couple of weeks ago post mortem.

Well, I guess that's all of the sad news.... but it's really sad so it counts as more. Seriously, I learned so much from him and he led such a humble life. It was great that he was buried next to my Grandma and I am really looking forward to his memorial in October.

The happy:
Paul's sister Lauren had her little baby boy and everyone is good and healthy. His name is Ryan Joseph Haverley. Yea! Abby has a cousin!!!!

Abby is 95% potty trained... FINALLY! She still wears a pull-up at night but other than that, she's doing great. What will that be like when we don't have to buy nappies anymore? It is one phase in her life I will not miss.

The fun:
Abby has had a blast playing with her little friends and we have taken a few field trips: The Living Planet Aquarium and The Hogle Zoo where we got to watch a training session with a tiger. I think I picked up a few ideas for training children; give food rewards (for me, obviously whenever I do some good parenting, and chocolate instead of raw meat, of course) , positive reinforcement for the child and train them to stop making noise when I raise my hand.

The delicious:
We had a Greek/Italian theme for book club this month with amazing results. Almost every dish featured tomatoes and lucky for us... most of them were out of gardens. The difference is amazing- like its a completely different food altogether! I made Greek Lamb Kebabs (BTW... making friends with your local butcher equals happiness) and they turned out great- thank you Martha Stewart. Also, we had 4 different types of hummus! Mmmmmmmmmmm!

After the zoo, I got to try out a DELICIOUS bakery/patisserie in Salt Lake City- Yummy. Here is some advice: When you go to a delicious bakery, it is wise to bring a friend or two so you get to try more than just a couple of things. It also lessens the guilt factor about the money you're spending and the caloric intake. I do not agree with those who consider pastry "bad for you" however. I prefer to look at it holistically. Sure, butter and sugar, etc. have had a bad rap as far as health is concerned, but that is just looking at it from a bodily perspective. I believe the mental and emotional gain more than offsets the negligible health issues. Go forth and eat pastry!!!!

One more thing: I just tried the potsticker recipe from Sunday's episode of America's Test Kitchen and it was FABULOUS! I also have an ATK recipe book and it has NEVER failed me!! I fully endorse anything they do! Yummmmmmmmm.