So, after spreading word to family and friends that we had a blog that we tried to update approximately weekly, it was inevitable that we would then proceed to nearly fall off the face of the earth and abandon our blog for nearly two months with the exception of a quick post from Elsbeth somewhere near the middle. Thanks to her for all of the posts thus far though. Nevertheless, it's time for my first contribution to this little project of ours.
I suppose catching up on the backlog is in order before we get to the happenings of this past week. Elsbeth is through the trial period at Becker's Bakery in Manhattan Beach and has been working a regular schedule there for the past month now. She's also been bringing home plenty of bakery leftovers, much to our enjoyment and the detriment of our exercise regime. Ha!
In addition to the bakery, and after many weeks of no news, Elsbeth also has her first student for tutoring. She's been helping out a local high school student with Spanish 4 for two weeks now. Hooray!
I've been busy at work as well. Things have picked up and I've got lots of interesting things to fill my time. As well as the occasional trip to Rancho Bernardo for meetings.
Two weekends ago Mom and Dad came out for a long weekend visit and we enjoyed plenty of Beach Club time and had a chance to catch up with Jo and Meg too. Thanks for coming! We had a great time. :) And in the midst of it all we discovered an awesome little neighborhood gastropub called Hudson House that's walking distance from our apartment! Thanks to cousin Scott for the recommendation.
Last weekend we were finally able to slow down a little bit and catch some R&R with a pretty lazy weekend in. Elsbeth was able to catch up with her sister Aleta up in Silver Lake to see the new kitten, Jinx. And Aleta came down last weekend for some more sister time to make Halloween candy.
And just this past weekend we picked up a few pumpkins to carve for Halloween next weekend. Fortunately, Sprout's had them on sale for $0.15/lb and we picked out two nice ones for a total of <$3.00 Much better than the $17.00 pumpkins at the local patch on Catalina Ave. 
This past weekend was another pretty low key one with a little bit of shopping and whole lotta cooking. We finally got around to making the Moon Cakes that we were planning on making for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival about a month ago. Mmmm! Adzuki Bean and Pastry! Thanks for the recipe Kristina.
We had lots of fun Asian market shopping all over Torrance back when we schemed this up, but we missed the boat on the molds that we found on Ebay around the actual date for Mid-Autumn Festival. So a 1/4c measuring spoon had to do. They taste pretty good even without the fancy Chinese characters on top. :)Our Sprout's shopping also produced a whole organic chicken on sale that we couldn't pass up, and most of the day Sunday was devoted to breaking it down and prepping it to turn it into Chicken Marbella tonight. A fairly famous recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso.
Here's the aftermath of the battle yesterday...
And the reward tonight...
Another lovely dinner at home...
So that's all the news that's fit for print. The weather's been pretty glum and drizzly lately but every now and again the sun pokes through. Here's a quick one from my run tonight along the strand.
Until next time.... Hopefully sooner than last time. :)T & E
