Summer Endings...

Have you noticed the sun setting earlier these past couple of days? Just another sign that summer is on its way out and fall is soon to arrive. I love fall, so I welcome this season with open arms!

But, back to summer. We've had a very busy summer, so I've been told. We didn't go anywhere, but it was still busy. Lots of little things here and there. However, I can't seem to tell you a darn thing that we did. It has buzzed by and somewhere between June and August it all became a blur. I know we spent a lot of time with family and stayed cool in our air conditioned house, Jae mastered his bike, we went to several birthday parties, Hannah blossomed before our eyes, Jae rode the MAX for the first time and LOVED IT, Jae was in T-ball class (and didn't love it so much), we attended the annual Brew Fest, Anna turned 30, Bill celebrated turning 34, Barb and Jake bought a house, and I just tried to stay afloat.

But the best thing about this summer, we learned we were going to have a nephew! It doesn't get any better than having little babies around. Can't wait for September to arrive.

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer...

Danish pancakes (Ebelskivers)

Ebleskiver's are traditional Danish pancakes. They are made in a special pan called a monk's pan (see adjacent image).

For Christmas, Barb and Jake gave me an Ebelskiver maker. It all came about because Barb was looking for a gift for someone else and asked to get mine and Stacey's opinion about it. I told her that I would want one because it just looked cool and who doesn't like pastries with fillings inside?

So when I opened up my gift, surprise, it was the Ebelskiver maker!!! Everyone thought that it was an egg poacher, but no, it's supposed to make yummy breakfast pancakes with filling or nothing at all. I thought this would be great for Jae to a) help make since it's pretty much just pancake batter, b) insert the middle filling, c) have fun eating! Well, he didn't really do any of these three, this time.

With all things, practice makes perfect. Bill and I attempted to make the recipe that came with the pan and there was enough for about a couple dozen. We forgot to cut the recipe in half or quarters, so we had a whole big bowl of batter. Since it was our first time, we limited the help that we would need from Chef Jae, which didn't really make him happy. We just needed to focus and make sure we were doing it right. We followed the instructions that came with the pan and it started out really well, but once we put the filling in, that's when it started to fall apart.

For our first attempt, we tried chocolate, jam, and peanut butter. The chocolate was good, but we didn't have any morsels in the house, so we ended up using some dove chocolate pieces. It was dark chocolate and didn't melt that well and we ended up burning one side b/c we hadn't quite mastered the temperature. The jam was a disaster. We put the filling in and added more batter on top and then flipped it over when it was ready, but the jam had gotten too hot and oozed out of the other side, so it made a mess in the pan and started burning. The peanut butter just never warmed up. So needless to say, we didn't really have ourselves an Ebelskiver breakfast.

We decided to stop making these after the second batch and instead made regular pancakes with the batter. Luckily we had some m&m's in the house, so Jae got pancakes with m&m's in them.

We will try making these again until we have perfected them! Wish us luck.



This is what they look like.

A Grunwald Christmas!

For the first time (I want to say ever) we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Grunwald clan. In the past, we have always split the two days between the Grunwald and Im family, but I think Bill received his Christmas wish this year to have Christmas dinner with his family.

Our tradition for Christmas Eve has been to go to Kathy and Bill's house and each household would bring a couple of appetizers and dessert and of course, the wine! This year was a little bittersweet in that Anna was out of the country in Costa Rica, so we were all missing her, but Josh flew up from San Francisco and Cousin Caryn came to visit, which was quite enjoyable. There was plenty of food and Eric made bacon wrapped scallops, which were very tasty. We played Buzz Word where the Others (those that are not Grunwald's by blood) kicked some butt! We eventually headed home so we could get ready for Santa's visit.

On Christmas day (afternoon), we loaded up the car and headed to Stacey's place to open gifts and have dinner. We watched Jae open up all his gifts and then Hannah opened up a couple. The kids are so lucky to have such great family in their lives. Opening all of the gifts must have made us hungry (or maybe just me), but I was starving and waiting for that yummy roast to be done! Hannah gave me the best gift of all this holiday, napping so I could eat my dinner in peace. It really was wonderful. I ate my meal in piece and savored every bite. Even Jae ate his food!

The next day was a repeat of loading up the car and driving to my parents for Christmas #2.

For pictures, click or cut and paste the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/patty.grunwald/ChristmasWithGrunwaldsAndIms?feat=email#

Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins!

Fall is my favorite season without a doubt! I love the crispness in the air and just bundling up and getting cozy.

With Halloween only three weeks away, we decided that it was time to get ourselves some pumpkins! We went with our friends the Ly's and Arbuthnot's and also met a new family, the Vogler's (Lynn's neighbors and they are very nice). We went to The Lake View Farms in North Plains. It was the first time that we've been there and for the most part we were impressed. They didn't have a pumpkin popper, but the other activities made up for it.

They have a boat ride that takes you to the pumpkin patch and a little train that brings you back from the pumpkin patch (or you can go to the pumpkin patch by train and return by boat or use the same mode of transportation for each way - so many options)! In the water they have a shark that comes out and pirates on a boat and and on the train, they take us through a tunnel that is decorated in a fall/halloween theme.

We had to do a little searching, but we picked three pumpkins! I have to say, for being a boy, Jae was worried about getting dirty and he was complaining that it was too sunny (oh, he will learn soon enough about it being 'too sunny' in Oregon)! He seemed to like pointing out the pumpkins that were rotting more than he did the ones that weren't. LOL. After we picked our pumpkins, the kids played on the hay bales and just enjoyed the open air!

A great time was had by all. Even Hannah was very well behaved..although, I'm sure she was tired from the night before..but that's another story in itself..teething. Enough said.

If you're interested in checking out The Lake View Farms, here is their website. http://www.thelakeviewfarms.com/

The mamas..

Mommy and Hannah

Jae and his long lost brother...LOL!

The kids...

Click or cut and past URL to view the pictures from the Pumpkin patch.
http://picasaweb.google.com/patty.grunwald/PumpkinPatch2008#

Sole Support for Parkinson's

Most of you know that supporting Parkinson's is a cause that is close to the hearts of my family. September 14th was the annual Sole Support for Parkinson's walk at the Willamette Park in Portland and the family put on their tenni-runners to to a little walking. We have participated in this event for several years now and it's a great way to raise awareness and money to help find a cure for this debilitating disease.

The family had a great time and met friends of my M-I-L. We definitely felt the comraderie amongst all the families that were participating.

If you would like to learn more about Parkinson's, please go to http://www.parkinsonsresources.org/

Jae and Hannah are big supporters!

The Art of Making Korean Food

Patience! That is the key to making Korean food. Most of you locals know that there is a new Korean market in Tigard called H-Mart. For Bill's birthday, I got him a Korean cookbook, so he could make ME some meals. Ha! We had been talking about making something for a couple of weeks now, but weekends get hectic and it's hard to cook an elaborate meal during the week. So with the Labor Day Weekend here, we decided to give it a shot.

Setting: Monday afternoon, going shopping at H-Mart. Not as crowded as last time and the kids are in a really good mood! We buy the ingredients we need to make Beef with Dangmyun Noodles aka Chopchae and a spicey tofu soup. We head home and hysteria ensues in the kitchen..actually, just a crying baby and two adults trying to get stuff done.

I start my soup since this can sit. Mine is simpler and just requires a couple of ingredients. After I am done, Bill starts his Chopchae..only we didn't realize that's what it was until I was stirring the noodles around. I finally looked at the page with the recipe and sure enough the second word was chopchae. I'm like "Bill, you just made chopchae, I wondered why it was looking so familiar!" So Bill was like WTF when I said this and proceeded to sit down on the couch and sigh. Here we thought we had made some meal that we'd never had before!

All in all, dinner was good. Definitely not my mom's cooking, but edible. Although Bill says that ours tasted better! Unfortunately Hannah bear woke up from her nap and needed attention so we were not able to eat the meal together (one thing I'm looking forward to leaving behind). After the meal was done, we both looked in the kitchen and was like "wow" what the hell just blew through here? Pots and pans and dishes everywhere! Perhaps we need to cook Korean more often so we'll learn how to minimize the dishes used or just not cook it anymore at all?

The Spruce Goose

This post will be big, just like the Spruce Goose!

We went to see the Spruce Goose on Sunday instead of our scheduled trip to head to the coast. We decided to stay inland and went to the Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville because Hannah got sick and we didn't want to expose her to the weather at the coast, so we made an executive decision to go somewhere that was indoors and dry. This way Jae wasn't cooped up in the house all day.

Well, the morning started out with Hannah waking up with a nose full of snot (actually, the sniffles started on Saturday evening). Her nose was dried and crusted, but surprisingly, she was still smiling. In anticipation of this trip, Bill and Jae went to get the oil changed and a car wash and also a new pair of shoes (see the previous blog)! The morning started out great and then it was time to depart for the Air Museum.

First off, I'm a parent and should know this by now. Don't leave the house with a hungry child, who also hasn't had a nap. So we are driving and Bill brings up stopping at Calamity Jane's (CJ) for lunch. I ask him if he's sure and surprisingly, he is. Normally Bill is the 'to go' kind of guy. While driving I look back and could tell that Jae is sleepy. Hannah is already knocked out by this time. So we approach CJ's and the parking lot looks busy and both of our kids are sleeping, so we decide to pass it up and keep going. We are approaching the museum and Daniel (our British GPS guide) gives us wrong directions and we have to backtrack a little - note: don't always trust those darn GPS devices.

We arrive and start the process of waking Jae up and just like we predicted..cranky Jae. He had taken off his new shoes prior to falling sleep and didn't want to put them back on to go outside, he wanted to walk barefoot. He was crying and didn't want to get out of his seat and the whole time Hannah is just staring at him with the "what's wrong with him" look. She of course was looking angelic..Ha!

So we finally get him out of the car by showing him one of the planes outside. He proceeds to walk towards the plane and we start taking pictures. He turns around and says 'no pictures' I'm like, what are we the papparazzi or something, who is this kid? Now I'm just waiting for the hand to come and push me out of the way with some expletives in the background!

We get into the museum, proceed to pay $13/pp (thank goodness Jae was under 5 y/o = free)! We suggest eating something at the cafe, but Jae will have no part of that. He just wants to see the planes. Yes, we've got our old Jae back. Well, we start walking and he's pointing at the helicopters, planes, trucks, and we want to take all of these pictures but once again, he holds out his hand and says "no pictures"! What, how am I going to document this day? So needless to say, the photos that I have of the air museum are of the back of his head, pointing his finger. I did buy a shirt that says "I saw the Spruce Goose and it was THIS BIG" - semi inside joke. LOL.

Overall, the museum was great with all the old planes, the history! The Spruce Goose is huge. Jae and Bill went in and got the brief tour and they also got a tour of a B-17 Bomber - for $3 dollars (Bill, where's the change from my $10?). Bill even got to do a little wine tasting. By the way, the Spruce Goose Vineyard makes a very yummy pinot noir sparkling grape wine..I would definitely go again when Jae is in a better mood!

Two thumbs up.

Rainbow Trout Farm

On Saturday morning, the family packed up the car and made our way to Sandy, OR to the Rainbow Trout Farm. We had never been there before, so didn't know what to expect.

The day started out cold and pretty much stayed that way except when the sun would peek out for a second or two and I was a bad mother and dressed my kids (and myself) for 80+ degree weather. I saw that the weather was going to be 68 and sunny, but I seemed to focus on the sunny and didn't realize that this place would be surrounded by trees, which did not allow the sun to shine on us. The whole time I had Hannah bundled in a blanket and Jae was just freezing. His nose was red and his hands cold as ice. But that didn't seem to stop him from wanting to fish.

So we get there and the lady gives us a brief intro on the ins and outs to the place. We get our poles, bait, and bucket and go on our way. We ended up running into my friends Lynn and Janet and their families, so that was a fun surprise. So we wanted to catch the big fish and head right to a pond that has some larger fish. We didn't realize how easy and quick it would be to catch a fish. Within a minute of casting our pole, we had caught a fish. This happened for Stacey, Bill's dad, and Barb. It was hilarious watching them reel the fish in. It's been so long since I had been with my dad. It brought back a lot of good memories for me.

We decide to move to a smaller pond so Jae could catch some fish and I have to say that I actually put a worm on the hook. I was very proud of myself! Bill helped Jae cast a line and he caught one very quickly. Jae was very proud of his catch and went to catch two total.

We had caught six fish by then and decided that was enough for the group. So we found our picnic spot and set up for a nice meal and family fun. We had the farm clean our fish for us and Eric was kind enough to season them (which meant he got his hands all fishy). We forgot to bring foil and oil, so we went to the Farm's office and bought the foil for $2 dollars and also paid $2 dollars for the USE of their oil. The running joke was that everything in the store was $2 dollars!

The boys put the fish on the grill and then we sat and hung around and chatted with my friends Lynn and Janet and watched all the kids playing together. The fish was done and we got our grub on. There were some yummy sides and we ate till our tummies were full. The brownies were the highlight..unfortunately. =)













It was a great experience, I may do it again, but not for a while. I will remember to pack extra clothes and I would still go in the off season. It wasn't that busy, which I liked. Oh and one more thing...I've decided that I'm not a big fan of trout!

The Last Hurrah before Summer is OVER...

I feel as though I've been neglecting the blog. It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I had a couple of proposals due and an interview to prepare for. Thursday is here and now I'm back to my regularly scheduled workweek..my kind of show!

The end of August is here and that means BACK TO SCHOOL! Granted my kids aren't part of the public school system quite yet, but it still makes me think that we should at least have one last hurrah before September is here and it's something else that consumes our lives.

So, because I want to make the most of the three day weekend and tire myself and the family out, we've got several things planned.

Weekend Warriors...(including a little of Friday)
Friday - Bill and I are going to my co-workers wedding at the Chinese Gardens. I'm super excited about it. The kids will be hanging out with the Aunties for the evening.

Saturday - The Grunwalds, Poirier's, and Pollingers are going to the Rainbow Trout Farm (www.rainbowtroutfarm.com) out in Sandy to spend the day catching some fish and having a picnic. I'm excited to see Jae's reaction to actually fishing, instead of the playing with plastic fish.

Sunday - The Grunwald's are heading to the coast for a day of family bonding. This will be Hannah's first trip to the coast and Jae will have ventured out there for the first time this summer! I'm excited to take pictures. I know the weather will be just OK, but at least we'll be together.

Monday - This is the day of dread. Why you ask? Because this just means that Tuesday is a work day and summer is over and back to reality. This is the day that tells me that there is only ONE MORE WEEK until Bowling starts..good lord! This is the day that tells me I'm about to turn one year older...BUT on the Flipside of things, this is the month that Stephanie will be visiting! Knowing that Kelcy will be getting married in less than two months and Bill and I will be heading to Maui! And that my favorite season..Fall, will be here soon.

Here's to September..

Cheers!

PS, don't forget..NO WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY!!! who made up this silly rule?

Saturday

Today was a pretty busy day for the Grunwald Clan.

Jae had swimming lessons this morning. This time he was accompanied by Daddy and Uncle Jake (but not two daddy's). Bill said that he actually did BIG kicks today and put his face in the water (for like 1 second). This is quite the accomplishment for our Jae-man.

The three guys then drove to the Columbia Edgewater Country Club to watch the LPGA Safeway Classic Tournament. Jake (through his sister Anna) acquired some VIP passes to the tournament and was nice enough to extend the invite to Bill and Jae. They had a great time and enjoyed all the complimentary food and beer, seeing all the golfers, and the VIP parking (if you talk to Jake, I think this was the highlight of the day for him)! Jae was tuckered out from all the festivities and slept the whole way home.

While the boys were out and about, Hannah and I had some girl bonding and went shopping! She was such a trooper and was passing out smiles everywhere we went! We met Aunty Barb for lunch and then she got a little fussy b/c she wanted to eat too.

Bones and Brew

The day after Bill's b-day party, the family decided to check out Bones and Brew. Located in the Pearl along NW 15th-16th and NW Glisan, it was a chance to just relax and enjoy some bbq and beer (pretty much what we did the day before, but in better weather). We went with the Poirier's + Bennigan, Pollingers + Anna, and Bill's coworker Niels met us there.

This was the first time that we had checked out Bones and Brew and I have to say that we were a little surprised that there weren't more "bones" vendors. But I guess we should have realized this when we read that it was only three blocks. There were (I believe) only three vendors and from what I was told by our table, the food was just "OK". We've had MUCH BETTER BBQ at RUSSELL STREET BBQ (check it out on NE Russell Street and MLK)!!! LOL!

I did not really sample any of the ribs at Bones and Brew..instead, I indulged myself to a hot link on a stick..and boy was it HOT! Then we had a couple of trays of fries (which Jae inhaled) and Jae had a huge Hawaiian icee - grape flavored (this was bigger than his head). Bill wandered around and had some ribs and of course sampled the beer.

There were some stands with various activities and items for purchase. Jake and Jae wrote on the ground with chalk and Bennigan got a bath at one of the stands and sampled some treats as well. It was a pet friendly function so we were able to see all kinds of pets!

The weather was great and it was just a great opportunity to hang outside.