Wordless Wednesday: Grilled Cheese

This Sunday, April 12, is National Grilled Cheese Day!  Grilled cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods, and thanks to our beloved panini maker, it's so easy to make.  Whether it's grilled ham and cheddar, bacon and cheddar, tomato and cheddar, gorgonzola and fig, chevre and cranberry, brie and pear, swiss and mushroom, or any other combination of cheese and flavor kicker, there's nothing like it

Wordless Wednesday: Cake

Today, November 26, is National Cake Day!  To celebrate, I've posted a photo of the adorable Minion cake that The Pea baked and decorated when she was 12, as well as a link to a recipe for one of my favorite kinds of cake, chocolate mousse cake. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Nuts

Today, October 22, is National Nut Day!  No, not the crazy people kind of nuts, the yummy, nutritious snack kind of nuts.  To celebrate, I'm posting a photo of one of my favorite kinds of nuts -- pistachios -- as well as a link to my recipe for Nutty Howloween Cookies_.  Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: National Cheeseburger Day

Tomorrow, September 18, is National Cheeseburger Day!  My favorite cheeseburger is In-N-Out, what's yours?

Wordless Wednesday: Guess where we're going?

Haven't quite gotten it?  Okay, I'll give you another clue....

Don't know who she is? Okay, last hint. Surely you'll know this character!

Different Airplane, same Activity

A couple of Wordless Wednesdays ago I posted a photo of the kids on the airplane. Here we are again on our flight to the UK, and they're still at it. I know, it looks bad -- but honestly, they have not been on the PSP nonstop between airplane photos! That said, it was a 10-hour flight from San Francisco to Heathrow, and we were stuck inside a pressurized canister, hurtling through the skies with hundreds of people, all breathing in and farting out the same air. In circumstances like that, I let the kids play all the PSP they want if it keeps them from screaming with boredom, or worse, panic.



This is my Wordless Wednesday post. For more WW posts, click here.

At the Airport

When you've got an hour and a half delay at the airport, watching planes for 90 more minutes just ain't gonna cut it. Thank goodness Sony sent us this PSP to review!


This is my Wordless Wednesday post. For more WW posts, click here.

On the Plane

Since we didn't have preassigned seats for today's flight to Chicago, I had to sit several rows away from the kids. The airline rep managed to get them all seats in the same row, so they didn't care. It was actually great to be able to say, "Sorry kids, you'll have to sort all your squabbles by yourselves, I'm all the way up here and I can't get past the line to the bathroom"! They were good as gold, keeping themselves busy with their activity books and the PSP:




It looks like some other parents had the same idea -- the 3 boys seated across the aisle from my kids were flying solo, and each of them had a PSP!




This is my Wordless Wednesday post. For more WW posts, click here.

American Girl Place, LA

When my sister and I went to LA for the American Idol finals at the end of May, we had a free day to see the sights and hang out. I told my sister there were only two things I was really interested in hitting given the limited time we had: Grauman's Chinese Theater and American Girl Place. Not exactly the stuff that fills up travelogues, but I've already been to the AG Places in Chicago and New York, so I figured I'd round it out and get an American Girl Place hat trick (if you don't know what that means, brush up on it because you might be hearing that phrase a lot during the upcoming World Cup 2010).


I think the American Girl Place in LA might be my favorite of the Big Three. The inside of the store is similar to the other two, but the store is located in The Grove, an outdoor shopping center that screams of chic, relaxed SoCal lifestyle. Walking around is an absolute pleasure, and when you see the familiar red awning, you know you've arrived at little girl heaven.


The front facade is not all that different from the other two stores I've been to.


But the outdoor veranda is what makes this place unique. The American Girl cafe is on the second floor, and looks out onto The Grove. It all looks so luxurious and special, I can only imagine what it must be like sitting down to lunch or tea or dinner up on that balcony.





Sadly, they are no longer running any American Girl productions. The theater was closed, and who knows when it will open again. It would have been fun to take The Pea to one of their shows (hmmm, maybe I ought to focus on taking The Pea to the actual store first).


I quickly stuck my head into the cafe and snapped a photo. I love the black, white and pink decor! Note the French doors that open up onto that lovely veranda.


I don't remember seeing a Girl of The Year display in Chicago or New York. I really enjoyed seeing all the dolls for each year lined up, from 2003 (Lindsey) to 2009 (Chrissa). I wonder how much those dolls are worth now.


One corner had a Lainie poster with a small flowerbed in front of it so little girls -- and, in my case, big girls -- could stand and pose with 2010's Girl of the Year.


Even my sister got into the cute AG Place LA souvenirs (not that she needs much excuse to shop -- I think it's in our blood). She got some caps for her girls and I got a floppy sunhat for The Pea -- they only cost $15, which is quite reasonable for any kind of hat, let alone a hat from American Girl -- and now our girls have a nice souvenir of when their moms went crazy at American Girl Place in LA.


Now I have to figure out an excuse to visit Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, and Minneapolis. And start a petition to get an American Girl store out here in San Francisco (Hello, American Girl! Why are you not in the Bay Area yet? Do you know how many dot-com millionaires there are in Silicon Valley just dying to spend their money on their darling daughters??). Hopefully I'll get to cross some of those off my list before The Pea outgrows American Girl. Oh, well, there's always the grandkids.


For more photos of the American Girl Place in LA, check out my American Girl photoset on Flickr.


Wordless Wednesday: Click herefor more Wordless Wednesday entries. Feel free to leave the link to your WW post below, I promise I'll drop by!

Not-So Wordless Wednesdsay: Creatures

I know I haven't updated in a while, but with the daylight savings time change, school volunteer work, review blogging, birthday parties and nicer weather (which translates to more outdoor time), Bonggamom Finds is getting neglected again! We did find some time to visit the Aquarium of the Bay last Sunday, and since today is Wordless Wednesday, I'm leaving you with some photos of the weird and wonderful creatures we encountered at the aquarium:


Hello, human. Welcome to the San Francisco Aquarium of the Bay. I'm just the first of the bizarre creatures you're going to see. Or, if I could just figure out how to remove this invisible barrier and sting you, I could be the last thing you ever see....



Okay, these bat rays are just bizarre. I thought their eyes were supposed to be on the tops of their heads, yet you can clearly see a humanoid face on its underside. Maybe he got a tat?


When I see jellyfish, I think, beautiful but deadly. When my kids see jellyfish, they think, oooh, can I touch? Didn't they learn anything from Finding Nemo?



I pasted the little cartoon octopus onto this photo to cover up the glare of the flash shining on the aquarium glass. Also to show everyone how the cartoon version is so not like the real version. Check out the crab in the jar; we saw a video of an octopus actually twisting the jar cover open so he could get to the crab! I wonder if the octopus would try to twist the dome off if he saw Jammy standing underneath it?





After seeing all those weird-looking, slimy creatures, it was nice to find a cute and cuddly creature for a change. Oh, yeah, and that gecko-thingy is kind of cute, too.

Wordless Wednesday: Route 66

Welcome to my Wordless Wednesday post! This month I'm featuring photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon. Click here for more of my WW / Grand Canyon photos.

We spent the last night of our Grand Canyon vacation in Flagstaff, AZ. Flagstaffers, please forgive my ignorance: I had no idea that your city was right smack on the route of Route 66. You'd think the directions from Google maps that said "Continue onto Historic US 66 W" would have given me a clue.

Eventually, it did dawn on me that we were on the famous "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" highway, and fortunately we figured it out before the sun set. So we were able to pull over and take this photo. We got tooted a couple of times so I'm guessing that might not have been quite a legal thing to do. I guess I have to apologize to the Flagstaff highway patrol as well. Oops!

Visit the Wordless Wednesday site for more entries. And don't forget to leave your links below so I can visit your entries as well!

Wordless Wednesday: Painted Desert

Welcome to my Wordless Wednesday post! This month I'm featuring photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon. Click here for more of my WW / Grand Canyon photos.

One of the nicest surprises we received during our Grand Canyon vacation actually occurred after we had left the Canyon. We drove east on highway 64 and got to see the western edge of the Painted Desert. It was just about sunset as we drove through, so the colors were especially beautiful. We were experiencing the usual "back-to-reality" feeling that comes at the end of a vacation, so getting to see such a lovely sight really lifted our spirits.

Visit the Wordless Wednesday site for more entries. And don't forget to leave your links below so I can visit your entries as well!

Wordless Wednesday: Elk

Welcome to my Wordless Wednesday post! This month I'm featuring photos from our trip to the Grand Canyon. Click here for more of my WW / Grand Canyon photos.

In case you didn't know, that's an elk. I'm not trying to be condescending, just helpful. I had never seen an elk before, either. Until one showed up outside our front door.


These things are HUGE. They're as big as horses, with antlers. Sharp, scary antlers. From the way it stood, peacefully eating grass, you'd think elks were as gentle as deer.


Apparently not. There are warnings all over the park about elk. You're not supposed to go within 45 feet of them, especially during mating season, because they'll run you over and gore you through.


This elk wasn't 45 feet from us. He was more like 5 feet from us. And he had friends nearby.


They are freaking AWESOME.


Visit the Wordless Wednesday site for more entries. And don't forget to leave your links below so I can visit your entries as well!

Wordless Wednesday: Grand Canyon

We seem to have an excess of photos from our Grand Canyon vacation two weeks ago, so for each of the next 4 Wordless Wednesdays, I've decided to feature a different photo from the Grand Canyon. After all, when you've got over 400 shots of one of the world's most scenic places, you've got to share them.



The thing with the Grand Canyon is, photos don't do it justice. Especially crappy photos like the ones I take. None of the photos I had seen previously had prepared me for the colors, the vastness, the majesty of it all. You'll just have to take my word for it that it's an awesome sight.



If you don't believe me, then maybe you'll trust the opinion of a couple of pretty picky travelers. They give the place Two Thumbs Up!


Visit the Wordless Wednesday site for more entries. And don't forget to leave your links below so I can visit your entries as well!

Wordless Wednesday: Arrrrr!

3Po and Jammy have been set on their Power Rangers Halloween costumes for months, so I was taken by surprise when they decided they wanted to dress up as pirates for last weekend's Halloween party. But I quickly rallied.

I simply opened up my "old clothes" bin and took out a couple of shirts and trousers that the boys had outgrown. I cut up the ends of the pantlegs and shirtsleeves into zigzags, and pieced together the cut-up sleeves to make headrags. Then I threaded some beads onto elastic bands and looped that over their ears to make dangling earrings. I got creative with Jammy's shirt by slitting the front, poking some holes on either side of the slit, and threading through some black string to make a lace-up front. Slip on an eyepatch, wrap a black scarf around their waists, and Avast! A wondaArrrrrrrful homemade pirate costume!


Visit the Wordless Wednesday site for more entries. And don't forget to leave your links below so I can visit your entries as well!

American Girl Place, NYC

Two weeks ago I got visited New York City for the first time in almost a decade. In the past, when I've traveled to NYC on business, I've always tried to spend some of my free time soaking in the best of what the city has to offer. This time around, I had about a day and a half of free time. And what did I do? I went to the American Girl Place on 5th Avenue. This is what being a parent does to you. I could have seen a play on Broadway, or gone for a run in Central Park, or walked among the beautiful works of art at the Met, but no, I had to go and look at overpriced dolls and fantasize about buying the whole lot for The Pea.

But enough about my ambivalent feelings about American Girl; this is supposed to be Wordless Wednesday. Here are some photos of the store.

Other than a few souvenir items, this AG Place has the same stuff as the AG Place in Chicago (I actually posted photos of my visit to the American Girl Place in Chicago several Wordless Wednesdays ago) . Only the layout and the storefront displays were different (although I'd guess the displays change periodically and it's likely that the displays in Chicago are identical to the ones on NYC at the same point in time). I personally like the storefront of the Chicago branch, with it's tall glass windows.

It's nice to see the Golden Gate bridge. Not so nice to see Julie's 70's pantsuit. I have vivid memories of wearing clothes that looked even more hideous than that.

I love this little witch's outfit. It almost looks as though I could sew it myself.

This is something you don't see in your everyday public toilet stall: a place to hang your doll. I was enchanted enough to take a photo (I did make sure I was alone in the restroom because I didn't want people to think I was some kind of perv). I suppose a doll holder takes up less space and breeds less germs than a doll toilet alongside the real one.

I love Kit's treehouse, and I'd love to put this under our holiday tree this year. But we'd need to buy a bigger house in order to store it. And we'd need to be rich enough to buy a bigger house in order to be able to afford to buy the treehouse.



For more photos of the American Girl Place in NYC, check out my Flickr photoset. And click here for more Wordless Wednesday entries. Finally, please leave the link to your WW post below, I promise I'll drop by!

Wordless Wednesday: Ugly Babies

A couple of nights ago we saw Ricky Gervais on Conan O'Brien's late-night talk show, promoting his upcoming movie, The Invention of Lying. It's set in a world where people are incapable of lying, so they say things like "Yes, that dress makes you look fat", and "Your baby is so ugly, it's like a little rat".

Let's pretend we're in Ricky Gervais' Land of Truth. Aren't my babies the tiniest, cutest little bundles you ever saw?

It's ok. You don't have to answer.

I have never thought newborn babies are cute, although I did make an exception for my own kids. I swear, it must be all those maternal hormones that keeps mothers believing their children are the most gorgeous things in all the earth. And it's a good thing, too......


... because in a couple of months, they will be.


And they still are.

Wordless Wednesday: The Grapes of Wrath

Today I promise to be less wordy with my Wordless Wednesday post than I was last week. Here's a photo of Alfie admiring the grapes during our Napa weekend in August.

And here's a photo of Alfie doing the very same thing, nine years ago.
Not much has changed since then. Okay, maybe the hair is a bit sparser and shorter, but he's still my Alfie.

For more Wordless Wednesday participants, click here.

Worshipping at the Temple of American Girl

I never did get a chance to blog about my visit to the American Girl Place in Chicago, but since I officially disapprove of these expensive dolls, I thought I'd better not rhapsodize about how cute everything was. Instead -- and since today is Wordless Wednesday anyway -- I'll let the pictures do the talking.



When I visited in July, the outside display and front of the store was devoted to the newest American Girl doll, Rebecca Rubin.



The first floor has the Girl of the Year, Historical Line of Dolls, Bitty Baby and Bitty Twins. The Historical section has life-sized displays of furniture and objects that might have been used by girls during the time period.



They have lots of beautiful displays, all designed to make little girls beg their parents to open their wallets.



The second floor has all the Just Like Me Dolls, along with all the American Girl of Today outfits and accessories, and all the Dress Like Your Doll merchandise. These Just Like Me dolls remind me of the Children of the Corn, all staring forward like that, although I'm sure the little girls squealing over the display won't think they look lifeless and soul-sucking whatsoever. The doll in the very center is one that The Pea got for her seventh birthday. That model has since been discontinued, so I'm glad she was able to choose the doll that looks the most like her while they were still making it.



The second floor also has the Doll Hair Salon and Tea Room. In most cases, I pay less for my own haircuts than you would to style your doll's hair over here.



Last, but not least, for the second floor is the Craft section, which has what I think is one of the best bargains in the whole American Girl Place. For $10 you can customize a shirt for your doll -- you pick the color and style of shirt, you pick a shirt design, and they will heat-transfer the design onto the shirt. They even packed it for me in a little doll-sized American Girl Place shopping bag, which The Pea loves since her dolls can do their own dolly shopping with the shopping bag.



I wish I could have taken The Pea and her brothers to see the store, but I had to be content with snapping all these photos, including one of me in the store so that I could show The Pea that I actually went there.

Yup, I'm not a fan of American Girl dolls. That's my line, and I'm sticking to it. Oh, who am I kidding, I hate the fact that they're little cash-suckers but if I ever won a million bucks I'd probably get The Pea the Kit doll, Kit's Treehouse and a horse to go with it.

Click here to see the entire photo set on Flickr.