The Softer Side of Pensiero

So, it's been a while. Here's what I've been up to since the last time we talked:











That was the picture version. In words it goes something like this: I worked, baked muffins, cleaned a little house, visited Capitola (geno spoke at The Well's Jr. High retreat at Mission Springs), got pretty darn sick, and then became a cat with a lime rind helmet on.

The important thing is that I'm back!

We were privileged to have our friends Luke and Sarah over for dinner this weekend and they brought us this present (thanks, guys!). The pentagonal box had me at hello, but when I found out what it was all about I nearly soiled myself.

Sentences. Sweet, delicious words all melanged together to express a thought. Could there be anything more plumpening to both the intellectual and the comical parts of my mind grapes than a game about sentences? I think not.

Basically, everyone has to choose 10 cards at a time and you create sentences from the words that are printed thereon. For example, a card (also pentagonal in shape) may have five different tenses of the word "dig". Or five different names. Or even five different connecting phrases ("before the", "off of the", "around the"). And you do your best. And it's FUNNY because if your sentence is stupid or grammatically incorrect, the other players can vote to veto it and then you don't get any points for that round. I love creating sentences, I love justifying my decisions and I LOVE taking points away from other players.

What an excellent find! Cheers to the Mundys.

We here at the Pensiero household love our breakfast. And by 'we', I mean me, and by 'love our breakfast', I mean my lovable husband (who is usually un-hungry for many hours in the mornings) indulges my affinity for this first meal of the day practically every weekend. (Thanks geno!) That's not to say that Saturday breakfast is always grand. But a raspberry scone here, some pumpkin muffins there, or some buttermilk pancakes from scratch will certainly satisfy my cravings.

But there are days when my own attempts in the kitchen will not suffice. And on those days, we go to Valhalla's. A delightful danish restaurant in Visalia, Valhalla's has the one thing that I must have, which nobody else has: aebleskivers. Aebleskivers...what a beautiful sound...hear it dancing in your ears...beautiful spherical pancakes which entice even the most staunch of pancake resisters. MMMM.


And now to the point - what should I find under the tree this Christmas, but my own brand-spanking-new aebleskiver pan!! My thoughtful beloved strikes again. So the day after I got it (which was December 21st - long story), I whipped that puppy out and started a batch. But my confident hopes were dashed as each aebleskiver turned into a lumpy rendition of what it was originally intended to be. But not this weekend! Not this weekend.



This weekend we were triumphant! Thanks to an invaluable tip from my mother, who once watched the owner of Valhalla's make the darling things (quarter turns, quarter turns!), we made much headway. Just look at that beauty (below)! That was my best aebleskiver. I only hope to improve as the Saturdays go by.


Let the delicious weekends continue!

Right now, AS I TYPE, something like THIS...


...is in my dear friend BABE's tummy! A thousand congratulations!!! We at the pensiero household are leaping with excitement at this joyous news. Our friends babe and jonathan are officially expecting their first child - who can believe it?!? I LOVE IT!

So congratulations, Whitmores! We eagerly await the end of August. WE LOVE YOU!

Today my mission, should I choose to accept it (and I have), is to create reusable shopping bags from these little pretties:


I wasn't necessarily on a quest for beauty or cuteness when gene and I picked these out, I was on a quest for durable fabric at a reasonable price. And when I say reasonable, I mean I was looking for the best deal out there because I just LOVE a good deal. And we got a great deal! Joann's was having a major sale. Anyway, although 3 of them are just solid prints, don't you just love the elephants??


It's like a Mary Poppins-esque carpet bag, only without the bold floral print. Check back for the finished product soon.