July 8: National Chocolate With Almonds Day

So what does one do when they don't have a chocolate almond candy bar?

Well they make their own obviously!

Throw a couple of sliced almonds on top, and call it good!

July 7: National Father Daughter Take A Walk

Today, my dad and I took a walk. I realized it's lucky that I am a daughter and that my dad is a father, unless I wouldn't know how to celebrate this day.

I guess I could have taken a photo of a random father and daughter walking together. But that would have been weird.

My mom came outside with us to take our picture. That is when my neighbor appeared on his bike. We talked to him for a little bit and then mom casually said, "I'm just out here to take a picture of them walking."

He looked quite confused and I quickly had to explain. We all got a good laugh out of that.

I am aware that I don't look like I am walking in this photo. I look like I am mostly standing. I promise you that my dad and I did take a (short) walk. There is a chance that we both have our eyes closed. It was bright outside and we didn't wear sunglasses. But let's focus on the fact that we are walking and that it is a beautiful day. Mom insisted on taking the photo in this direction so you could see the mountains. You can't really see them. But do you see that big tree in the center? If you look two trees to the left, you can see a little bit of a mountain to the right of that second tree to the left? Confusing. Good grief. That was hard to explain. Just look closely.

June 6: National Fried Chicken Day

I celebrated today by eating a chicken nugget. Which isn't quite fried. I baked my chicken nuggets. I wasn't about to fry some chicken. I don't even know how someone would go about doing that.

They don't have a KFC anywhere near me. And I'm a little mad at them because the last time I went there, I specifically ordered a sandwich because it had bacon on it. I got home and it was missing the bacon. It was almost a tragedy.

Anyways, sometimes you have to make do with what you have. And sometimes you just have a chicken nugget. Good enough for me. So hopefully it's good enough for you.

July 5: National Graham Cracker Day

My mom used to have this little car that I will call Old Blue. And it always smelled like graham crackers. This is probably due to the fact that as a child I ate a lot of graham crackers. I also ate a lot of snacks. I also ate a lot of snacks in the car. Therefore, I most likely ate a lot of graham crackers in that car.

But there are a lot of worse things that Old Blue could have smelled like so I won't complain about the graham cracker smell.

Today, I don't eat a lot of graham crackers. But I still eat a lot of snacks and I still eat a lot of snacks in the car. (But we don't have Old Blue anymore.)

I decided to celebrate today by spreading some marshmallow cream on some graham crackers.

It was sweet, gooey, and crunchy at the same time.

I made my mom a S'mores cake for her birthday. Besides being amazing, it contained graham crackers. And marshmallow cream. And a chocolate ganache sauce. Yeah, (let me brag for a moment), it was pretty fancy. Even though the toppings kinda glopped off of it, the gloppings looked pretty still.

But I'll let you judge that for yourself.

Let's just say that I will be making this cake again. And again. And maybe even again. It was unique and so so good. Just the right amount of sweetness. And it was unique, because it didn't have frosting, just the marshmallow cream, chocolate ganache, and the graham crackers.

July 4: National Independence Day and Spare Ribs Day

Happy Birthday America!

I spent the day working. All day. And then I went out to dinner with my parents and some family friends.

That's when things got interesting.

We were going to eat at a BBQ place. I had never eaten at this restaurant before. Neither had my dad. We get to the restaurant (or I should say, we thought we were at the restaurant.) I remarked that the inside looked like a Mexican restaurant. They had a lot of tequila bottles decorating a shelf.

We get seated about 15 minutes later and they had baskets of chips on the table. This is even stranger considering this is supposed to be a BBQ restaurant.  But I was hungry and started eating them. It is then, that my mom realizes this is not actually the BBQ restaurant, this is in fact, a Mexican restaurant.

Yes, we were at the wrong restaurant.

We burst out of that restaurant and I was dying. I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face. We walked right next door, to the correct BBQ restaurant, and met our friends.

I realized later that I had already eaten some of their chips. Oooops.

We finally ended up at the correct restaurant. Where the server was fascinated with the scent of my hand sanitizer. I let her smell it. Then the whole table had to smell it.

Because you know, I can never have a normal experience.

Anyways, we ended up at my brother's where we watched the fireworks.

 
It was a perfect view. The best part, (and many would agree with me), was when the butte the fireworks were being shot off of, caught on fire. This happens every year.

Except this year we could actually see the fire's flames! Now that was something.

They had the fire put out almost immediately. But it was exciting while it lasted.

Sadly, I don't find fireworks that spectacular after working at Disneyland and seeing them almost every night. They were still good though. And they made me remember the good old days at Disney. Which I liked. 

We had spare ribs, you know, to celebrate National Spare Ribs Day, but we had them the day after. Because we were going out to eat BBQ anyways. (Do not tell anyone this.) (This is not considered cheating.)

My dad barbecued them. Because I don't barbecue. I don't know how to, and if I am being honest, I am probably not the safest person when it comes to barbequing.

Notice how he is drinking wine?

 My dad however, is a very talented when it comes to barbequing. Except for that time he left the extra grease in the barbecue in the middle of winter, and a hungry mountain lion kept stopping by because he could smell the grease. And then my parents went to see a movie and the mountain lion appeared again on the back porch and I locked myself in the bathroom crying and called my parents and my mom had to suppress a laugh as she explained to me that mountain lions can't actually get in the house as they don't have hands to open the door. But that's a story for another day.

Happy 4th of July!

July 3: National Eat Your Beans Day

Eat your beans. That's probably something you have heard your parents say.

Or maybe they say, "Eat your vegetables." I'm not sure. One of those two things.

But actually, beans, could be referring to green beans, which are a vegetable.

I didn't eat green beans today though. I ate baked beans.

But they are beans, which is what matters.

So go eat your beans.

July 2: National Claire Day

Gallant. Brave. Adventurous. Sweet. Kind. Funny. Silly. Loveable. Fashionable.

These are the words that first pop into my head when I think fondly of my dear sweet friend Claire.

Claire passed away a year and a half ago.

She was 21. I was 21.

She was the first person I knew well, who was my age, to die. And that sucked.


Today is supposed to be National Anisette Day.

It's also Claire's birthday today.

So I am declaring today, National Claire Day.

Claire was a talented and brilliant writer.

And you know all these delicious treats that I bake? Claire's baked goods were spectacular. Her baked goods would blow my baked goods out of the water. One winter, she arrived on my door step wearing an elf costume, hand delivering her own peanut butter cup dessert things. I'm still not sure exactly what they are, except that you couldn't prevent yourself from eating at least three in a row.

When Claire did something, she went all out.

Her heart was as large as the sun and her smile was as wide as the ocean.

She battled health issues almost her whole life. And she rarely complained. She had every reason in the world to be mad and bitter and to complain, and she didn't.

And she had this way of kicking ass at life. If Claire wanted to make something happened, it happened. And she did a lot in her 21 years of life. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn't afraid to go after it.

I only hope, that when I look back at my life, I have no doubt in my mind that I lived like Claire.

She was the first to jump off rocks into a lake. Or to try a new food.


She was The Queen of high heeled shoes and could sniff out the best bargain while shopping.

She had a flair for theater and a singing voice like few I have ever heard.


And so today, on National Claire Day, please be kind. Please smile at strangers. Put extra sprinkles on that cake you are baking. Get a bigger size coffee than you usually do. Eat ice cream straight out of the container.

And please, please, toast to Claire tonight.

Because you bet, that on today, I'm eating cinnamon rolls, I'm eating cake, and I'm having a drink in honor of my much loved friend.

Because if Claire taught me anything, it was to live life large and completely.

Happy Birthday Day Claire!

I miss you and love you so much.

Because this photo just makes me laugh.

I'm sending love and positive energy to her parents and siblings today. I hope you'll do the same. She loved them so much.

P.S. - Claire's wonderful sister Erin, is currently hiking the PCT. Please send her positive energy also. Erin - we know you are kicking butt out there!