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This is the first of a series: WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER.

When I was 10 my mother, a fifth-grade teacher then, went with two fellow teachers on a two-week summer teacher certification trip to California and Hawaii. The trio were able to get state teaching accredited hours toward geography and history. It seemed a big trip to me with my mother gone for two weeks. My father seemed to fix hamburgers every night and by the fourth night setting the table with ketchup and mustard I was wishing I was along with my mom in the lush tropics, this place of glamor and excitement. It’s where the Brady family went on a work vacation and even the Angels found trouble in Paradise!

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We just went new shoe shopping and here’s what my daughters picked out. No scuffs, yet. I’m learning my daughters have very different shopping styles. Read the rest of this entry »

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We returned from the grand city that is the one and only New York City.
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fish2Traveling can be tough. No explanation needed. Sometimes little surprises make a world of difference — especially when a family member is on the other side of the world.

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Tomorrow is the World Cup final and while I’ve hinted to my husband that I’d love to have a watch party, he grumbles in his sleep-deprived state that watching the final counts as work and he’d rather not entertain. Therefore, I just plan to make small tapas (in honor of Spain naturally) with some Dutch-inspired final treats!

Seems there’s a spanish dip called romesco with nuts, tomatoes, olive oil and red peppers, but this similarĀ Cooking Light dip might make it’s way on our bar during the big game. The magazine lends more inspiration in this article here. So with some flatbread and pitas, veggies and omelets, I think that lends some sunny espanol flavor!

The Dutch food guide for about.com says apple sauce is common on the Dutch plate, so apple sauce will likely find it’s way on our dessert table! The holiday cookie of the Netherlands is called speculaas (a spiced cookie that is usually in the shape of windmills. The recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice, which I just happen to have in my pantry! Here’s another recipe that seems similar at all.recipes.com

For decorations, I wonder if my local Costco will have some Holland tulips for the dessert bar and I’ll get my daughters to help me make vibrant, large tissue-paper flowers for the tapas bar and room! I might need to find some cheap orange crocs (if there is such a thing as CHEAP crocs!) to fill in for the fabulous orange Dutch clogs! And we’ve got the real vuvuzelas for decoration, if not actual game-time party horn as we cheer/eat/work during the final with the Netherlands and Spain.

I’m excited to share my interview with Hawai’i’ native, cookbook author and mom, Susan Yuen, whose ideas for bento box lunches make cooking for kids as carefree as the…

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I promised my youngest daughter we could watch a movie of her choice this afternoon. Unfortunately that’s also when the USA takes on Ghana in World Cup Soccer Round Two. I’m not sure she’ll think watching soccer (football!) is a treat. She just sees me yelling and thinks I’m crazy.

IF I could find a vuvuzela for her I think that would make her excited. Joy to all but those with actual working ear drums! But I’ve read they’re not to be found in our town — which has to be a very, very good thing! Just the sound (like a BP oil-sized swarm of crazed and dazed bees) makes me think I need a malaria shot.

So if I had more time I’d bring you a meal from Ghana! Well, I can offer up these links to info about Ghana HERE! I think Ghana is a republic, but I’m not sure what that means in Africa! (I’m reading Peter Godwin’s “When a Crocodile Eats the Sun” a memoir about growing up in Zimbabwe that also hints at the unraveling of the nation under a dictator. For a chaser, I’m going to need to go back to Alexander McCall Smith’s series about the wonderfully charming and cunning Precious who runs the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

Since cocoa is the main export in Ghana, I’ll sip some hot chocolate while watching the game. We already finished our South African Milo candy bar! (It was yummy!) Stews are also popular, but that sounds a bit too much for summer. I think a nice rice dish would suffice. (I can always find a bag of rice in the deep recesses of my frig, since I’m not likely going to make it to the grocery store!)

World Cup games start this weekend and while I’m not a big soccer, er, football fan, I love the idea of countries battling it out on a world stage — away from the United Nations and away from the Olympics. So to kick off (pun intended) a summer of international exploration, I gladly plan to base some of our exploration on World Cup matchups!

So for the 2:30 p.m. (Central Daylight Time) Saturday (June 12) clash of England versus U.S.A. we bring you the best of England.

TUNES: Pick a British band, just make sure they’re from the mainland of England and NOT Wales or Scotland! Also see the Wikipedia entry for football chants here!

I had no idea the English teams had so many variations of songs. But I do recall a lot of face-painted, clog-wearing, country-flag draped, beer-in-hand jolly fans SINGING and CHANTING throughout the stadium when I was at the 1994 World Cup qualifying in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. Forget the teams on the field, there’s as much electricity and festivity in the stands and in the crowds of FOOTBALL FANS streaming to and from the stadium.

picture-2BACKGROUND READING: First, a tip of the hat to good friend Chuck Culpepper (We miss you Chuck! Come visit!) who wrote about learning the nuances of English soccer. Click here to buy Chuck’s book!

EATING: Anything by Jami Oliver is a great start! Bigger bookstores have Jamie magazine, which is fun to read because of the recipes calling for mililiters and grams and anchovy fillets. And the turn of phrases which are oh-so-colourful like mum, meringues, cottoned on, peas, lovely, chutneys, courgettes, programme, gasman, milkman, fish pie and the like. Yet not as strange as my butchering of proper English probably sounds to the English!

Anyway, my fave new cookbook right now is undoubtedly Jamie’s Food Revolution. It’s fabulous! In the first week I received the cookbook (thanks dear Hub) I made half a dozen recipes. My daughters were to the point of exclaiming, “What’s for dinner? Bet it’s something from Jamie Oliver.” After watching his Food Revolution I got to the point of replying “Yes loves, et is” in a very bad English accent.

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FILMS: I think “My Fair Lady” might be a nice movie when the girls get tired of watching football.

RECIPES: Check out Emeril LaGasse’s recipe for Toad in the Hole — a very English breakfast popover from his Th

ere’s a Chef in My World! cookbook. I love the name!

For lunch try Jamie’s Mini Shell Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce (from page 52 in his new cookbook.) We swapped turkey bacon for the richer stuff.

And for dessert, try Emeril’s Summer Pudding with white bread (or challah bread) and lots of berries. I suggest trying a classic pudding, it was the one thing I liked when I ordered dinner at the famous Rules restaurant in London. (So I didn’t realize the kidneys in the steak and kidney pie were REAL kidneys. I thought perhaps they might be referring to kidney BEANS. No such luck!)

But for this tamer, pure English menu, it might be enough to get us to root for England!

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MENU: Mambo Italiano Homemade Pizza

RECIPES: Impasto Per Pizza (Fresh Pizza Dough) and Salsa Di Pomodoro (Toscana’s Homemade Tomato Sauce)

AFTER DINNER READ: “Pete’s A Pizza” by William Steig (author of “Shrek” and other fine children’s books)

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DESTINATION: Italy (in spirit) if not originating in New York City and influence from Los Angeles

MENU: Mambo Italiano Pizza with fresh mozzarella. If you’re gonna make your own pizza, use fresh mozzarella cheese or don’t make it at all!

BACKGROUND MUSIC from my iTunes Library:

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Island-inspired keiki (kid) fare is coming up, but I want to introduce our new THEME with a night that will likely become a standard at our house: Italian Night with homemade hand-tossed pizza. (I’ll provide THE easiest homemade pizza dough recipe in my next post!) Yeah, never mind that pizza really started in New York not Italy.

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