Arroz con Leche

Posted on January 25, 2013 by casadeberry

I foresee so many double-workouts as soon as my mom leaves.

We had some family over on Wednesday night and mom had made her super easy, super yummy, rice pudding. The good news is that everyone loved it. The bad news is that she taught me how to make it.

I am so screwed.

To make it, all you need is:

1 1/2 cups rice
2 cups water
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 can condensed milk

That’s it! Start cooking the rice in the two cups of water. When most of the water has been absorbed, add the evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Once the rice is fully cooked, add the condensed milk and stir until combined.

At that point, divvy it up in some ramekins or whatever small bowls you have. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top and add raisins. Now, I’m a purist and don’t like raisins so I eat it warm off the stove, but you could add something like pecans or walnuts, or even candied orange peel.

This makes about 6 – 8 servings.

Enjoy!

Warm and cozy gifts

Posted on January 23, 2013 by casadeberry

My mama loves to crochet. She makes hats and scarves for everyone she meets. Seriously. She’s met people and an hour later she’s giving them a scarf, or hat, or both. I am enjoying a lot of new accessories lately

But I’m not the only one sporting new head gear:

Alex loved his new little hat and insisted on wearing it while watching Minecraft videos. Anyone else’s cache taken over by youtube Minecraft videos?

I’m already sad that mom leaves in one week, but for now I’m enjoying her company!!

Camping in Yosemite

Posted on August 29, 2012 by casadeberry

We spent a fabulous four-day weekend camping in Yosemite – it was the boys’ second time camping and they had as much fun as the first time, which is to say, A LOT!

Our day started early on Thursday, I think our oldest could have used a couple more hours’ worth of sleep

Our youngest got right into the spirit of the thing and started carrying manly amounts of fire wood:

He also loved helping daddy set up our tent:

Dinner that first evening was basic camping goodness:

With one twist:

Dear auntie L. had a birthday so we got her favorite cake – German chocolate!!!

Friday was Dirt Day. Or Filthy Friday. Or Messy Monkey Day. Or something.

I swear I wiped them down about 56 times that day, but five seconds later they were filthy again.

It was a losing battle.

But the food was awesome.

Breakfast rocked — hot and fluffy pancakes, yummy fresh fruit, and bacon, lovely bacon.

Dinner was delicious flank steak, asparagus, salad, and baked potato (I didn’t have one).

The squirrels were in love with our food:

Even diving into the trash can to retrieve bits of it!

Our friend K made the most stunning, the most amazing (yes, I love MasterChef!) the most refreshing gazpacho. Seriously, it took all my willpower not to grab her plastic container and run with it into the woods:

But the tracker jacke–, I mean, the wasps, were kinda scary.

Lovely port.

Don’t remember much after this shot ;D

More camping adventures later this week!

Is your bar ready for summer?

Posted on June 15, 2012 by casadeberry

So, first of all, we are wine drinkers. No beer for us, occasionally a mixed drink, hardly ever Champagne. We served a Moscato at our wedding so people could toast and enjoy their cake with it.

Our little bar was a wedding gift from dear Peruvian friends and it fits perfectly in the corner of our dining room. Recently I decided to go through it and restock it with some essentials for summery drinks.

Rose’s Grenadine Syrup for a Tequila Sunrise, lovely Myers’s Rum for mojitos and mai tais, although we get the Trader Vic’s mix which you can spot behind the red hibiscus. We served mai tais at my younger son’s Tiki party a couple of years ago and it’s everyone’s favorite party to day. I am sure it was because of the coconut shrimp, not the booze, ahem.

Behind the rum is a bottle of tequila, which I usually avoid except in mixed drinks where I cannot taste it. It does not like me and the feeling is mutual. Behind the tequila is a bottle of Castañeda sangria from World Market. I initially got the sangria because it happens to be my mom’s maiden name, so I brought it over and she and my dad loved it, then the rest of my Castañeda family here in the area liked it as well, so now it’s a staple in our house.

The leeeeetle bottle in front is Peruvian pisco. I have bigger bottles but our little bar top couldn’t handle it You can make a Pisco Sour, or a locally (SF) invented drink, the Pisco Punch. My brother happens to be a bartender at the Hyatt on Union Square and gave me a pisco recipe I will share with you next month. July is Peruvian Independence month and I will be sharing some recipes and tidbits about my homeland. If you’re REEEEEALLY curious, here are the pics that went along with the article on my brother.

On the right is a sweet mini chest of drawers given to me by another dear friend, on top are my favorite yellow napkins, wine bottle opener, and foil top cutter, along with some cocktail stirrers below.

We have tons of red and yellow hibiscus in our front yard, they are so festive!! The glasses are fleur-de-lis double old-fashioneds from World Market. I LOVE how they look, I HATE how fragile they are. I bought 6 and have three left, and while I can be pretty clumsy, the many reviews on the WM site will tell you that it’s not me, it’s the glasses. So once these three are gone I’m getting sturdier glasses.

There you have it, my summer bar — I look forward to good times with good friends, some mai tais, some Pisco drinks, and awesome food and company.

What are your favorite summer drinks?

She loves me . . . She loves me not!

Posted on May 23, 2012 by casadeberry

She Loves Me

1. My sweet new nephew – it will be months before I ever get to meet him, since he lives in another continent, but I can’t wait to squish the little guy and cover his sweet face with kisses!

2. New scented candles – just received this one as a gift and it’s so yummy! There’s also a little hint as to what we’ve been working on.

3. That my boys are almost done with school – I can’t wait for summer and all the fun we are going to have together! Have you seen this great summer photo checklist from Simple as That? Full of great ideas to capture those fab summer moments!

She Loves Me NOT

1. I will admit I am dreading the summer heat. I don’t do well in heat or direct sun. A big floppy hat (like this one from Target) is always my best friend in these months.

Joining Michaela Noelle’s linky party!!!

My mother’s day

Posted on May 14, 2012 by casadeberry

Our Sunday was a relatively quiet one, the boys ran around and did their own thing while we (me and my in-laws) enjoyed on the wonderful lunch my husband put together.

But first, it was present time!

I got a sweet, handmade “vase with flowers” from each of my boys – one was on a paper plate and the other was made out of a pasta sauce jar. I’d asked my husband for light summery jammies and he bought me a bunch – thanks, honey!

The food was delicious – the corn on the cob didn’t even need butter!

My burger:

My husband’s burger:

His momma’s burger – she was very adventurous!

Enjoying lunch under our little gazebo

And then — oh my goodness, came the dessert tray:

Strawberries, mango and kiwi dipped in chocolate, and fresh-from-the-over brownies. So good!!!
I had asked for something chocolatey for dessert and boy, I got it!

It was a wonderful day, full of love, and I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day, too – or a great Sunday, if you did not celebrate.

A new mommy to congratulate!

Posted on May 11, 2012 by casadeberry

My new nephew was born at around noon (CA time) yesterday. It was evening time in Sweden, where my sister-in-law, K, and her Swedish husband live, and I am glad everything went well. No name or other deets yet, but I am so incredibly happy — a little bummed that it will be months before we meet our Swede new relative (see what I did there wi . . . never mind.) but so, so happy at the thought of sweet newborn toes, the soft downy cover of hair on his little head, the soft cheeks.

I decided to be up most of the night so I can sympathize with the new mother — not really, I’ve been up with my youngest since 1:45am. Yeah. My oldest told K to not name the baby until they visit us

Anyway, wishing a super Happy Mother’s Day (a couple of days early) to the newest Mommy I know! And to all the other mommies I know, and my mom readers. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Our trip to Disneyland, part 2

Posted on May 2, 2012 by casadeberry

Our trip to Disneyland continues with some collages I made of the boys:

My boys LOVE Tarzan’s Treehouse – I went up that thing once and decided that was the last of it for me. My back started to kill me and it took two rides of the Indiana Jones Adventure to fix it. That thing is better than a chiropractor, I swear. I went on it once when my back was pretty locked up, and when it was done I swear half the pain was gone, so of course I went on it again. It worked like a charm. Worth the price of admission right there ;D

Ssshhh – don’t tell them it used to be the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

If you liked Cars, you will love the new Cars Land opening in June, they’ve recreated Radiator Springs and have several attractions and shops almost ready to go – a friend of my husband’s is an Imagineer working on this project and s/he showed us the preview room (open to everyone) which includes some of his/her work. Don’t want to get anyone in trouble so that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Alex decided he was getting overwhelmed by it all so he and I went back to the hotel room after lunch and we just hung out, played on my laptop, and I caught up on a new cookbook I got.

More about our trip in the next post!

Things my kid has said

Posted on April 18, 2012 by casadeberry

Yeah, this is going to be a “isn’t my kid funny?” posts, so if that sort of thing makes you want to gag, feel free to hit the Backspace button

My oldest has inherited his daddy’s gift of gab (and of arguing his way out of situations!) so since he started talking, he’s come up with some funny ways of expressing his thoughts with his limited language.

The first one I remember was “nose sauce” — back when he was 2, I think.

He was very aware of his body and things that happened and wanted to name everything. Since he didn’t know the term “runny nose” he came up with his own.

Another one was “sky car” — vehicles have always been important

The funny thing is, he said “vroom vroom” for car, but an airplane was “sky car”. Our backyard is right under a landing path for the local airport, so in the evenings we used to go out back and just watch the planes go by. They still do, of course, but it’s not as important now, LOL.

One of the latest terms, and the reason I started thinking back to other stuff he’d come up with, is “armpit grease” — seriously, the kid runs around like a maniac most of the day, so of course, he gets sweaty. I am SO not looking forward to the teenage years with my boys, mostly because every friend I’ve watched Bridesmaids with points at me when this scene comes up. My only comment is, it’s “graduated FROM high school”, thank you.

Not looking forward to the blanket-cracking years.

Taking a moment

Posted on December 16, 2011 by casadeberry

We’re going full throttle around here. It’s the holidays — there are things to do, things to clean, things to make, things to buy, things to cook — and life is busier than ever. Which is why it’s important to me, in the midst of all this wonderful chaos, that we take time to simply be.

As much as I love Starbucks’ Caramel Brulee Latte, I’m not willing to plunk down $4 every morning, so I’m using our Caramel and Vanilla Torani syrups to make a reasonable copy. Then my darling husband got me this and I’ve been LOVING my morning coffee:

It’s non-alc, yo, so don’t freak about my driving the boys around in a Real Happy mood ;D

Always – ALWAYS – dreaming of my favorite city in the world. I’ve been here a few times, never when it’s snowed, though, so when one of my favorite bloggers posted this today I just had to snag the pic:

I mean, seriously. Wrapped up in a (faux) fur jacket, walking arm-in-arm with my sweetheart, then ducking into a cozy cafe for some warming up and people-watching. Someday.

I recently gave in to my tingling little hands and grabbed some beads. I used to have a jewelry business and although I do not have one now, once in a while I feel the urge to make something pretty. So I made something with this:

I’ll show you in a few days ;D but how perfect is this? A pendant with a map of Paris, in turquoise. Hello?!?!

Enjoying a few days with my mama, she’s spending some time with us and we’re having a great time. It would be better if I hadn’t been sick most of the week, because this nasty cough and sore throat thing is annoying me to no end. At least the stomach thing is over. You really don’t want to know.

Enjoying my family. The boys are off for two weeks as of this afternoon so I mean to take lots of pics, do lots of crafts, and just spend lots of time hanging out with them. I love that my youngest is a total snuggle-bunny, and my oldest, although a self-proclaimed big boy, is still sweet enough to want to cuddle with me. My husband and I have some alone time planned as well, nothing super romantic but just being able to hang out and talk without the chaos of life is gift enough.

So, I hope you have a great weekend, and I hope I get rid of the last of my germies, too!

Casa de Berry

Category Archives: family