“The cake to end all cakes.” More like, the cake that has enough calories in one slice you’re better off eating at McDonald’s every day for 30 days.
Two pies inside of two cakes? And enough frosting to kill a small dog. I like to try wacky things but this doesn’t even look good to ME!
It feels like all we ever do is work in our yard. But it’s not true. It just feels that way because instead of surfing every other weekend or paddling, we’re weeding. But, the weather has been less than cooperative so technically, we’re home anyway. And the weeds are there so really, it’s something to do.
We have gotten away from the weeds a few times in the last few weeks and each outing has brought me back to memories in college and high school and even grade school. Please join me for a little stroll through memory lane.
New Kids on the Block. Oh yes. I went to their show (again), this time headlining with the BackStreet Boys. I didn’t want to go. Once of NKOTB was enough for me. But growing up, my sister was obsessed with the boy band. So obsessed, she put a giant poster size puzzle together and glued it and put it on her wall. It’s still in the basement of our childhood home and haunts, er, greets Kevin and I every time we go home for a visit. I will admit, I loved belting out BSB “I Want It That Way” with thousands of other adult women, just like I do on long drives with Mar and KMJ. And the most hilariously awesome part is how much they play up the sex-appeal. I was embarrassed FOR them with all the hip thrusting and self touching going on. Not attractive (although thousands of other screeching adult women would surely disagree). Anyway, the good news about this concert viewing was it got my sister and her family to Seattle – which doesn’t happen often enough.
Soundgarden. We just got back from the Gorge late last night where Chris Cornell sang his face off. According to Kevin, his voice was meant to be heard at the Gorge just as Eddie Vedder’s was meant to be heard at Benaroya (that was also an awesome show, by the way). It took me back to highschool where a lot of my friends were “grunge” and wore flannel on 90 degree sweaty hot days, wore holy jeans and wrote nonsense all over their jansports with a sharpie. I was only sort of grunge. My Mom wouldn’t let me put holes in my jeans or write on my jansport or smoke pot or sneak booze into class AND DRINK IT. I did listen to ”grunge” music though. It was an awesome combination of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, STP, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Aladdin soundtrack in my five-disc CD player. I was so cool.
And then in college, I actually remember Spoonman playing in Red Square on my long walks to Balmer. I picture him everytime I hear that song.
Sonics Night at the Mariners. We really could have cared less about the game. The draw were the Sonic legends. The Sonics that don’t exist anymore because Howard Schultz sucks (but his bagels are awesome!). The championship that now belongs to OKC Thunder because Clay Bennett is a liar. It wasn’t until this night that I realized how much I miss the Sonics. Working there was definitely the coolest job I’ve ever had. How many people can say they did on-court promotions during half-time, ran in circles with giant flags that spell “S”, “O”, “N”, “I”, “C”, “S” in the 4th quarter of a tight game to get the crowd pumped, told Charles Barkley he should lay off our donuts since he had a game in an hour, watched the end of games from the cat-walk to drop T-shirt parachutes on unsuspecting but grateful fans, collect sweaty seat covers after the games and watch the same fans come game after game to cheer on their beloved team? Not many. I am lucky.
Seeing the Sonics greats reminded me of the good friendships I developed from working game nights and their influence of a basketball stadium tour that is halfway complete. And it reminded me of how much I loved basketball. I was never really good. But I loved to play with my Dad on summer nights. I was so much in love with basketball, in junior high, I would set up a TV outside with full on extension cords and a TV sun block, so I could watch NBA Inside Stuff and the games to follow while doing homework outside in the sun. Those were the days of the Dream Team, Clyde the Glide, the Mailman, John Stockton in his short shorts, David Robinson and Muggsy Bogues, Grandmama (LG) and Shawn Kemp. Basketball just isn’t the same anymore. And it’s even less the same without the Seattle SuperSonics.
Our recent trip to Paris (please refer to previous posts) was also a walk back. My sophomore year in college, Gramma, Krista and I went to Paris for a week with my mentor Mary Ann Sanger and a group of students from SFCC. One of the students in the group was Marisa. I had known Marisa because we were both awarded the same scholarship our freshman year. But we were acquaintances. Because of this trip, we became friends and have since been all over the world together. Paris reminds me of some of my favorite people and my first trip to Europe….where it all began. I credit Gramma and Mary Ann for instilling the travel bug in me. For that I am forever grateful.
July was full of weeds. But better, lots of good memories, new and old.
Our raspberry bush is insane this year. I’m not sure what we did differently last year (maybe all this rain was a good thing? Ack! I can’t believe that just came out of my mouth.) but we’ve got berries coming out of our ears! What to do with cups and cups of berries? Jam!
I’ve never tried canning before but it’s kind of fun. Kind of fun after the stressful parts. What if I cook it too long? What if the lids don’t seal? What ? How? Why? Bah! Stressful!
Then you hear a “pop” of the lid being sealed and all is well. And after that you get to eat it. Then it’s fun.
I tried this recipe because I like vanilla. Needless to say, I didn’t use mixed berries. It’s all raspberries, all the time in the Charboneau backyard. The jam turned out really yummy! One batch down, another on the way and who knows how many more after that. Don’t be surprised if you get jam for Christmas!
Does anyone else LOVE this song?
I think the more I listen to it, the more I like it. In fact, I just listened to it three more times while writing this post – and I can’t stop smiling.
Maybe it’s the whistling?
What’s better in July than strawberries? A strawberry cake!
Nope. Actually, this strawberry cake is kind of disgusting. The frosting (cream cheese & Grand Mariner!) was delicious, but the cake was really dense and didn’t have much strawberry flavor to it. If I made this cake again, which I probably won’t, but if I did, I would add a lot more strawberry puree.
It’s pretty though, right?
Most mornings we don’t get going until about 10am. And that’s ok here because nobody else is up either. Today, we got up early to visit Notre Dame.
We walk by Notre Dame everyday. Sometimes a few times a day and it is always vibrant, full of people - even at midnight. We wanted to go in but didn’t want to wait with the masses. Thus, the early morning visit. It was a beautiful way to start the day. Notre Dame is immaculate all on its own. Add a picture perfect morning and very few people, you get the most amazingly serene experience imaginable. It was like we were in a different world. A calm, peaceful, tranquil world. A world we really enjoyed; so we slowly took in every single stained glass second.
Soon, the tourists started to flood in, loud talking and cameras flashing – which was our sign to head back to our apartment….and take a nap. After all, we had a couple of hours until Berthillon opened.
Berthillon is considered the best ice cream in Paris and bonus, it’s on Ile Saint Louis, three blocks away from our apartment. Between their limited hours and our long days, we hadn’t been to Berthillon yet! And this was our last day. So, we were determined not to miss it, therefore sharing ice creams for breakfast. It was the best breakfast we had in Paris. And the best ice cream ever. I really didn’t believe the hype that it would be that much better – it so was. We were so sad we hadn’t made a breakfast run every morning!
Satisfied, but still hungry for food food, we went to Colette. Not necessarily a restaurant but a strange cross between an upscale Urban Outfitters and Ikea. Ikea only because you can shop and eat there. The restaurant at Colette was a “water bar” which Kevin was excited about, reminiscing about his days at Glacia Nova. Nope, there was no Sly Water or Serac on the menu!
Our afternoon took us to Versailles. We had both been to Versailles our last trip to Paris (13 years ago) but we never really explored the gardens. I remember being really dis-interested in the gardens then. Mostly because we were on a tour and we had just gone through the entire palace and more walking was not appealing. But now, having our own out of control yard, we have an entirely different and new appreciation. The Gardens of Versailles are beautiful, incredibly maintained and insanely huge. We walked through the tall hedges, admiring all the hard work that must have been put into the unending flower beds. And discussed how we might be able to turn our little crop circle into an outdoor ballroom, like Louis XIV. Like the other parks we visited, the gardens were packed. Full of people picnicking, biking, canoeing and enjoying the sunshine. We shared another ice creams and soaked in as much sun and people watching as we could.
On our walk home, we walked by Shakespeare and Company, which moved in 1951 to its new location, but is still run in the same manner, allowing young writers to live and work in the shop. We recognized it from Midnight in Paris.
And then we made our love and marriage officially official. We locked up our love on the Pont de l’Archeveche and threw away the keys into the Seine, ensuring everlasting love. Had we known all it took was $3 euro, we may have skipped the wedding! It’s a silly custom – but we love silly customs.
It’s our last night in Paris so everything we did was with the utmost intention. Dinner at Les Philosophes, a bustling cafe we’d been eyeing all week. And then we shared another Berthillion and watched the sunset from the river bank right in front of our apartment.
This is why we picked Paris.
…I went to the Eiffel Tower and took my picture in the other direction.
You can find Kevin’s new twitter account at @imsoballer.
We started at the ferris wheel near the Louvre. We just kind of wanted to. Whee!
Walked to the obelisk. When we were in Egypt, we learned the obelisk was stolen from the Egyptians. The Parisians say it was a gift.
We walked down the Champs-Elysees to Laduree. It was as pretty inside the store as their awning outside. Like Pierre Herme, their macarons were very flavorful. They seemed more simple to me, which I liked. And their counter of treats and rows and rows of macarons was impressive in color and beauty. I could have looked, and drooled, all day.
We eventually made it to the Arc de Triomphe.
Today was the big day, the day all you readers have been waiting for. Today was the day we visit La Tour Eiffel. Today was also the day it got cloudy and windy and even rained. Bah! It didn’t happen until later and only affected the pictures at sunset Kevin hoped to take, but still, very sad.
We had another picnic in the park – I could get used to this! Wine is much much cheaper here than water or soda.
Took the obligatory pictures of ourselves.
And people watched until we decided to get in line to go up the tower – right about when the wind kicked in. We have both been to the Eiffel Tower during the day so we took a shot at what the city was like at night.
It was pretty amazing.
We spent the first half of our day on Velibs in the 6th arrondissement. We are LOVIN’ the Velibs!
More friend recommendations led us to Pierre Herme, for fancy macarons – with flavors like asparagus and hazelnut, passion fruit and chocolate and rose. They were very rich in flavor and very delicious. They were almost too rich for me. I found I enjoyed the giant pistachio macaron from a corner bakery a little better. I know. Weird, right?
We took our Velibs through the neighborhood to Jardin du Luxembourg. Translation: we biked to the Luxembourg Gardens; walking through the beautiful grounds and watching kids play with their boats in the fountain.
The Pantheon is right across the street from the park so we decided to check it out. It sounds like it should be something of importance with a name like Pantheon, right? But we had to remind ourselves, we’re not in Rome. It’s a mausoleum, which is important mostly if you are a distinguised French citizen that’s buried there. Linking up the wiki page, it looks beautiful inside – maybe we should have went in. Oops.
The latter half of our day we took the metro up to Montmarte and Sacre Coeur. We both had fond memories of the area and were excited to sit on the hill and watch the sunset over the City of Light (not the City of Lights). Sadly, it was really disappointing. Montmarte was a lot of fun to wander around; we did a self-guided walking tour of the neighborhood. It’s hard to go wrong when the sun is shining, you’re in a foreign country, walking through a neighborhood lined with cobblestone roads. There were a lot of tourists, but the energy was vibrant.
Conversely, Sacre Coeur seemed really run down. There were a ton of kids just hanging out, music playing, mouths running to anyone who would listen. It was the Westlake Park of Paris. The grounds were also very unkept. Cigarette butts, beer bottle tops littered every inch of the grass we had hoped to watch the sunset from. There had been an event two days earlier. And that may be why the place was in the condition it was. There was a record breaking, inline skate jumping event. At Sacre Coeur. I found some video on the event and dang it, doesn’t it figure, it looks pretty cool. Had we known about it, we probably would have went to check it out and my post would be in an entirely different tone. But for now, my tone is – who holds an inline skate jump at Sacre Coeur? Shame on you.
We just weren’t feeling it. The cigarette butts were too many to sit on, the illegal vendors were every other person offering you beer and then running away for the police, only to come right back ten minutes later to try again. The sun was to set so far behind us it didn’t look to be as magical as we expected; so we went back to our lovely ile and enjoyed the beautiful summer night with ice cream.
