UNTITLED

I'm not sure what to title this blog post. I think "Week One" has been played out.

This was a crazy-busy week. We found a house, looked at said house, applied for previously mentioned house, showed my mom and Jacob the afore-mentioned house, then were chosen as the new tenants of the...uh...house! It's the perfect house: a mile to Jacob's dad's house, a block from the Little League fields, close to the bus line for Jacob's school (he starts Junior High next year, and even though I am completely capable of driving him, he wants to take the public transit. Yeah, that won't last long.) It's in a cute little, out of the way neighborhood, walking distance to the Alameda Creek Trail and the historic Niles District. It's also walking distance to several of our good friends' homes! It has a beautiful view of the hills from the back yard, which will be lovely to look at while we're floating in OUR POOL!

We're excited about the pool for many reasons. And not just the obvious one (the opportunity to sip drinks with umbrellas in them with good friends while the bbq is warming up). Jacob can actually (finally) have friends over now without me having to import them from a far away land, and how much fun will they have in the pool? We're also excited because it's long enough to do laps in and Rob and I both love to swim. What a great new exercise opportunity! And we can even swim naked if we want to! (I think Rob is most excited about that last one).

The house itself is pure awesomeness. It reminds me of the family cabin; exposed wood beams in the vaulted, planked ceilings, lots of light, old wood floors and some cedar plank walls in some of the rooms. Definitely some "crunch" and old world charm, but also a nicely updated kitchen. The yard has TONS of plants and trees: kiwi, apple, two cherry, fig, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tingo, blackberries, boysenberries, raspberries, green grapes, red grapes...I'm sure I left some out...Trumpet flowers, honeysuckle, bougainvillea, too many to list. The owner (and our new landlord) is a retired Ethiopian engineer with a penchant for proper relaxation and an Italian wife who loves to plant and cook fresh food. I am beyond excited to get there and start roaming, picking fresh flowers and plucking fresh fruits and berries, and cooking in my new kitchen.

With all this excitement - I did manage to lose 2.5 pounds this week!

I did some cooking. Our new favorite is too good to properly describe but I'll try. It's like a medley of wonderful sweet and spicy flavors, co-mingling in your mouth, all vying for your favor. But you can't choose because you love them ALL. It's called Bobotie (pronounced "buh-BOO-tee"). It is a South African Meat Pie made with ground beef, onion, apple, carrots, raisins, and a spice mix of cumin, curry, coriander, cloves, chili, salt and pepper:

Throw in some red wine and mango chutney:

 top with milk and egg:

And:

Oh my gosh...best thing I ever ate! I served it with a cucumber and melon salad with a mint, lemon juice, yogurt dressing.

I also made a wonderful Cioppino which we planned on eating for a few days (made with a small fortune in sea food), and our fridge died! No more Cioppino.

Another night we had Stuffed Grape Leaves (which I forgot to photograph), but were so delicious that we accidentally ate 6 servings between the two of us. I'm pretty sure it was 6 servings if it was eaten as an appetizer. We ate them as our main meal...so....right?