How distrubing

At our local speciality grocer, Corti Bros, I discovered haggis in a can, for $10.49.
Just the concept disturbs me.

New Canton

The girls wearing their matching outfits. They are growing larger, day by day.

Family dinner at New Canton, with all kinds of things on the lazy susan in the middle. We had clams, flounder, fish cakes, scallops, Mu Shi and more. It's a reliable Hong Kong style banquet hall, with a few Macau dishes on their menu too.

Fathers Day Pix

So for Father's day we combined it with Mitsommer, a traditional time to eat crustaceans in Sweden. I actually found a crayfish restaurant in South Sacramento ($10/lb, shell them yourself) but we decided to lobsters instead.

So off we we marched to the fresh Vietnamese seafood market, where we picked out 3 big and cranky three pounders, that had arrived that morning.

I set two large stockpots boiling with salted water, and grabbed the snapping beasts with my tongs. While this was going on, J and her mom made steamed beets and a side of dilled creamer potatoes, along with herring and cardamon crisps.

And then after cooking for 15-18 minutes, I shelled and shucked them into the white bowl. We had so much leftover that later J. made me dill & lobster salad sandwiches on brioche for lunch.

A very nice first Fathers Day and Mitsommer feast.

We will be in NYC in August

We are planning to be in NYC from Aug 18-24 for a friend's wedding, as well as the girls christening.  The plan is for the girls to be christened at Holy Trinity (65th & CPW) on Sunday, Aug 22, exact time TBD.  Afterwards we will have a picnic in Central Park.

 

Next weekend we'll be visiting grandparents down in the LA basin, so if you are down there as well, let us know and maybe we can meet up.

 

All the small ones in the house are doing well, and we are getting ready for a heat wave to strike this weekend.  I will post some more pictures this weekend.

 

Happily, I have found an excellent local Corvette mechanic, and he has gotten the car running well.  I had tried a different one at first, but didn't have that much confidence in their expertise with the quirks of this model.  Electrical gremlins are tricky to hunt down, so I decided to call for a specialist.

 

Tonight looks like some seared ahi, with soy and scallions.  With summer officially here , it will be time to start making some cool ceviches as well.

 

Sitara comes to visit

Our family friend Sheela came to visit, bringing her newborn daughter Sitara recently. Sitara was born just a few days after our girls, so I'm sure their lives will be intertwined during these childhood years.

Here are all three girls together. Three monkeys "See no evil, hear no evil, and do no evil".

One of the cats has started batting the baby swing when its motion. He also likes to bat the curtain ribbons and pull cords for the blinds.

First visit to Ikea

...and not surprisingly meatballs (kottbollar) made an appearance.

 

This pic is not from my fancy new camera, but J's phone.

 

Camera phones are handy, but the image quality from the receptor is not so great.

Pablo sniffs the twins feet

So yesterday we popped into my mom's house, to see my brother, who is recovering from ACL replacement surgery. The girls cheered him for a while, while the dachshund tried to lick their ticklish feet, at least until he was banished by my sister, wielding the spray bottle of barking deterrence.

We also saw our friends Bill & Linda, and had some lamb shanks from the slow cooker, along with some fluffy mashed potatoes. That yellow/brown/ochre colored cheese in the middle of the table is the hard to find gjetost Norwegian cheese made from goat whey. It is strangely long lived and popular with skiers.

It has been quite hot the last few days -- 95F -- so we are having a cold shrimp salad (remoulade, fennel, and chives) for supper along with some crusty bread and salad.

Barbeque Day

Zam the cat is getting concerned about all the stuff he sees coming into the house, none of which is for him. So he has resorted to expropriating things he covets like the monkey gym play set. We are making an effort to give the pets some TLC each day too.

The twins had their 2m check up on Friday, as well as their immunizations, which made them grumpy for a few days. Fortunately, they continue to grow well and are trending up the height/weight curve. Most of my family came over today for a barbecue, where we grilled up skirt steaks, chicken, burgers, and portobello mushrooms. Afterwards, J. made her strawberry trifle with homemade topping (a blend of cream and creme fraiche and a pinch of lime zest). It was a good summer dessert, just right for a 91F day.

New stroller

Sea trials for the new side by side stroller. Crew finds it snoozeworthy.