A Whirlwind of June

Where did June go?

I know it started with Doug's birthday, which I'm pretty sure was just yesterday. But how in the world is it already over? Can a calendar lie?

From Doug's birthday came the knowledge that living with a pasta maker is a very delightful thing. The ravioli attachment was a bit harder to get the hang of, but I think once we learn about it a little more (figuring out the exact perfect thickness for the dough, the right consistency of the filling etc) we will really love it as well. Homemade ravioli puts everything else in the world to shame.


My dad came to visit for a week. He brought with him two very exciting things for me. The first was our wedding video, the next a box full of slides. Our wedding video was taken with my dad's brand new HD video camera- a technology that, three years ago, was pretty stinking new. So new that the video has been stuck on that camera ever since, waiting for the world of video editing and personal bluray burning to catch up.

I've worked with too many important digital files to feel any sort of ease with them until there is an official hard copy made and that stinking wedding video has stressed me out ever since I knew it existed. I'm happy to say that my dad now owns some video editing software that can work with HD- which I went through hours of tutorials to learn how to use for the sole purpose of editing our movie while he was here with his laptop. The sad part is that after a week's worth of editing nonstop I have the entire thing done, I just can't burn a DVD of it (this being a Mac problem, no longer an HD problem) so the hard copy still does not exist. Sigh.

The project involving the box full of slides went a little better. All my life my dad has insisted on taking so many pictures that I could practically make a flip book of any given event. And all my life I'd never actually seen one picture that my dad has taken. I'm not exaggerating. It's mostly because before the invention of digital cameras my dad had all his photos developed as slides which all sat in a box in my parents closet. I guess I could have pulled out the slide projector and checked them out, but I never did.

So on this visit my dad brought some of the slides (there was no way he could pack all of them) and he sat and digitized them while I worked on the movie. It was the first time I'd seen any of them. Who knew there was a picture of me the day I was born and then another on my first birthday? It was pretty exciting. I'm excited to go out there in the fall and help the digitize the rest of the box.

My dad's visit was just great. He kept me company all week long and kept our kitchen stocked with amazing food. We love to have him visit. I'm growing impatient for the day when cross country travel becomes more efficient so the visits can come more often.

All in all June seemed to be a great month. I'm pretty sure more things happened- but who knows what they are. I swear it's still only June 15th.

Happy Birthday Doug!

I think Doug's birthday is one of my very favorite days all year. A lot of that is because it's the one day all year that I can justify making an overly extravagant cake. (a point proven by the fact that three out of the four pictures on this post are of the cake...) And because it's a day when we get to celebrate Doug. And I happen to really like Doug.

We began our celebration of Doug on Monday with his birthday cheesecake- toasted almond crust, a layer of creamy cheesecake filled with oven roasted strawberries (who knew they tasted so good that way?) and topped with a vanilla bean layer. Mmmmmmmmmmm....

Wednesday, Doug's actual birthday, was as full as a grown up birthday typically is with work and church meetings and such. I offered to bring cupcakes to his engineering team but for some crazy reason Doug didn't want me to.

We did manage to get in a fun lunch- takeout from Cafe Paesan during Doug's lunch break. SO good! It's a new restaurant that just opened up in Orem and was created by the same people who made Cafe Rio. It has an Italian influence where Cafe Rio's is Mexican- and lives up to all of Cafe Rio's glory. Amazing sauces, fresh herbs, homemade noodles, incredible flat bread. Mmmmm... I highly suggest the tuscany flat bread sandwich with pork.

Last of all, because this is apparently a food inspired birthday post, here's a little snapshot of Doug's bday present- a beautiful pasta maker complete with ravioli attachment. (and for the record, Doug DID ask for a pasta maker out of his own free will. I didn't just buy him something I wanted in the kitchen. Though, I will admit as soon as he suggested it I knew exactly what I would get him. I'm not one to pass up an opportunity such as that!) We're both so excited to try it out.