warm kale salad with apples and raisins

it's funny how certain foods get popular. it makes me cringe when i see hipsters wearing t-shirts with kale slogans, or certain hot sauce roosters. at some point the popularity will wear off, but we're talking about food, not bell-bottoms. the fact will still stand that kale has wheel-barrow amounts of stuff that we need. interestingly, kale also has more protein per calorie than beef. so let's not discard it just because we may be sick of hearing about it!
but let's face it, even if we know it's good for us, and even if we think that eating it might make us cool, if we just don't like, how long will our determination last?
I like kale, but I like kale with things, in things, and with other things on it. like this salad. when i eat this for breakfast i feel satisfied without feeling heavy. and it's delicious.
tip: you don't feel satisfied after eating veggies for breakfast? chew. chew a lot. there is a lot more texture in a kale salad than in a fried egg with toast. take your time eating and give your brain a chance to catch up.


1/2 of a head of green kale, leaves torn from the stems
1/4 onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 green apple, peeled and diced
dressing:
1/4 cup white wine
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
2 tsp maple syrup
walnuts

warm the oil in a large pot with a lid. add the onion and saute uncovered until it's soft.

add the kale and wine and put the cover on. turn up to medium-low or medium depending on the strength of your stove. you want the wine to steam the kale, but you don't want it to 'cook' on the bottom of your pot. mix together your dressing

check it often, giving it a stir to mix in the onions and move the kale around. when the kale is bright green and a still a little stiff add in your raisins and apples, stir and cover again for just a minute or two.

move it all to a bowl and drizzle your dressing over the top, and add as many walnuts as you like.

serves 4 as a side, 2 as a hearty breakfast.

goes well with goat-cheese/hot pepper jelly sourdough toast

9nth Anniversary - Subways, Tall Buildings, and Sharks

NINE YEARS. HOW. CAN. THAT. BE.
This February was our second time sharing our anniversary with the kids. Not that it's ever extravagant, we just usually tried to take some time to be alone. But last year we went to a science museum in Manchester and had such a great time we decided to repeat the process. London has been so into ocean creatures lately, we decided it would be a perfect time to visit the Boston aquarium. It would be London's first city trip, and let me tell you, she talked about subways and tall buildings for about a week in advance.

As we made our plans Tyson's mom, Sallie, mentioned that everyone from their family had been to the aquarium at one time or another except her! Naturally, we invited her to come along. It isn't the largest aquarium, we've been to, but it's very easy to navigate so you can really focus on looking at the tanks rather than trying to keep track of where you are and where your group is. I didn't take many pictures inside, I was too busy soaking it all in. But if I had, I would have taken waaay too many pictures of the jellyfish, the leafy sea dragons, and the sea horses. And the shark.

When we left around 2 in the afternoon it was in the mid-60's, and sunny! The last weekend of February and we were trying to shed layers! It was so nice to feel the warm sun that we took the long way back to the subways, and as we're wandering through the sunny streets of Boston, Sallie asks which street Mike's Pastry is. We stop. She's never been to Mike's Pastry, either! That had to be remedied. Oh, Mike's Pastry, Oh, the cannolis. Oh, the eclairs. Thank you, Sallie, for giving us a reason to walk to Hanover Street.

So another year, come and gone, faster than all the others, adding memories all the way!

Camping with the "Pros"

Camping is something that our entire family enjoys. Having kids that are 10 years apart in age, that's a valuable thing! Finding things to do with both of them is such a challenge. They really are troopers about it, but at times I can just tell they both feel that they've gotten the short end of the stick. NOT SO WITH CAMPING!

So when our good friends, and experienced campers, Richard and Bette asked us if we would like to go camping with them the first weekend of September we said "YES, no matter what else we had planned, yes."

Bette found the Stillwater Campground in Groton, Vermont. It is an hour outside of cell-service, and it sits on the Stillwater Lake that you can see in the picture below. We had campsites next door to each other, took turns with dinners, walked to the lakes beach every day and took a six mile hike to this outlook. And everyone enjoyed all of it.

London said "This tiny tree makes me look really big!"

This really big rock makes Spencer look tiny..

First week of September, first signs fall.

We got there Friday night and stayed until Monday morning. Richard and Bette shared their tradition of going out to breakfast the last morning of a camping trip so your kitchen stays put away and the tent has a chance to dry out before you pack it up. We drove 20 minutes to the nearest breakfast spot, a classic diner attached to a truck stop. It sounds sketchy, but it was very clean and packed with locals! And they make the best cinnamon raisin bread I have ever had.

A few more campsite photos... London took this one.

Smores

Mutual Vacations

For the past five years whenever I've been with my immediate family only half of us have been on vacation.When I'm visiting them my Dad is still working, from home, but full-time.When they visit us Tyson is working. Plus, just being in your home environment keeps you from completely turning off and just enjoying your company.
But last week we were all on vacation at the same time, in the same place. And it was so nice. We all just drank each other in, We took walks on the beach, and sprawled in the living room. Cooked big dinners, and loaded everything into the dishwasher (a luxury for me!). We had days of nothingness, but also took a couple little jaunts. It was possibly a perfect vacation considering the number of people we had, and you know, things can get complicated. But they didn't! Thank you, guys, for all the parts that you played in a great week!

 Next few photos are the ferry ride to Ocracoke...

 Another day we walked around Manteo...

  Visiting a lighthouse in Manteo.

 And every night we got our walk on the beach...

...and some soccer. 

The eternal quest for shells... 

 London was attached to one of her Tia's (aunt in spanish) at all times

Everyone got naps.

Someone say "WHISKEY!"