Family Love (plus donuts and full stomachs)

We flew down to SoCal this weekend for Rosha and Ahson's SD wedding. As always, the trip is a bit rushed, and there are so many more people we'd like to see when we make it down here; however, we prioritize family.

Pepper joined us for the trip

K's sister Katherine, who picked us up from the airport, took us by the Donuttery to try a SoCal trend of the "Cronut," a cross between a croissant and a donut. Mmm mmm breakfast.

Mochi donuts were our afternoon snack

 

Having been up since 3:30 a.m., we napped and then geared up for a big family dinner on a Lenten Friday which, for Catholics, requires abstinence from "meat" (seafood is ok).

Delicious clams, which Theresa made

Fried fish for spring rolls

Chocolate Trifle, by Kenn, for my mother-in-law's recent birthday

(with Angelina, K's little cousin)

We took some family photos...

(K, Subi, Kenn, Lisa, Theresa, Kat, Angelina, me + Pep)

with Mom and Dad

Four siblings

with Kelvin's uncle/aunt (Tu and Thu) and their kids Angelina and Subi

 with the other "little ones" on her lap (love Kenn's expressions!)

We briefly hung out with Tina, Elise who is now down here, and Chamreun at his wine-and-cheese party before hitting the sack after a long, but food- and family-filled fun day.

And speaking of family, Happy Birthday to my Dad!!!

Oscars III

We hosted another fun "Night at the Oscars" last night which has become an annual tradition. We had more people in our house last night (?20) than we ever have!

Our menu included pizzas, and snacks including cocktail meatballs, stuffed mushrooms, coconut shrimp, veggies, apples, and popcorn. (Those are my evil-but-delicious salted caramel bars on the right plate of the three-tiered display). We had sangria, non-alcoholic punch, sodas, cider, etc.

 

Pepper Vu looks really excited pre-party, doesn't she? 

 I think she was a bit overwhelmed with all the guests.

We again encouraged our guests to dress up in costumes from this year's films, or in black-tie attire.

Lisa and Scott made homemade costumes from "Gravity," a film which we have yet to see, and again went above and beyond

Their attention to detail and creativity is always incredible!!

KV dressed as the "Wolf of Wall Street" and I was a slave (although you can't very well see my linked chains in this pic) from one of the year's most powerful films and Best Picture, "12 Years a Slave"

Josh, in period attire from "The Great Gatsby" (with his own bourbon, I think)

Jenna and Sean (from movies "Kick-Ass 2" and "Pain and Gain")

Susana and Amanda, from the animated film "Despicable Me 2"

NCC goofiness

 Bernal and Emily Anne (a Hobbit) crammed to fill out their ballots 

 These mini-Oscars awaited our winners of trivia, Oscars categories, and best costumes...

 

The gang filled our living room!

Jenna, Sean, Emily Anne, Amanda, Josh, Susana

I was happy with the category winners this year, and think that the Academy nailed it for the first time since I've been watching the Oscars (which is since I've known Kelvin).
"12 Years a Slave" won Best Picture and I was thrilled for Lupita Nyong'o, a first-time star who won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Patsey the slave. I thought Cate Blanchett absolutely deserved Best Actress for "Blue Jasmine," a heartbreaking film about charades, trust, scams, and appearances which we recently watched on Netflix. I can't wait to see "Dallas Buyers Club," an apparently devastating movie about AIDS which stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, who won for Best Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively, and delivered two of the best speeches of the night. I haven't get seen "Gravity," but will one of these days.

A few of the other great moments from this year's Oscars were:

1. Ellen Degeneres hosting, and the "Most re-tweeted photo of all time"


2. How John Travolta butchered the name of "Idina Menzel" who performed the anthem "Let it Go" from "Frozen"
3. How Jennifer Lawrence was very Jennifer Lawrenc-y this year (and adorable, although she didn't win an Oscar this year)

And our winners were:

Josh, taking home the Trivia award (for yet another year running)

Alyssa, who got 21/24 of the category winners correct!

Of course, Lisa and Scott won for "Best Costumes"

Can't wait to see what they come up with next year!

Until next year...

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

(emphasis on the BUTTER).

I rarely blog about cooking/recipes.
I rarely bake (Recall my NYE cookie fail).
My baking outcomes usually turn out like these (although I don't use Pinterest, I appreciated these hilarious pictures of things of people who "NAILED IT!")

However, we have an Oscars gathering coming up this weekend and I thought I'd try my hand at some salted caramel butter bars from a recipe I got from Lisa, who we met at our weekend in Chico last month. I love the sweet/salty combo, and they were heavenly when she made them. (Original recipe here from Alyssa, the Recipe Critic).
(I also bought some brownie dough as a baking-backup in case the bars didn't work out.)

While they weren't the quickest to make due to the from-scratch dough, it was totally worth it! And
while I cut them a bit too early while they were a bit soft and gooey, they now taste perfect.

Enjoy!!!

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• 1 14 oz bag caramels, unwrapped or 11 oz unwrapped Caramel Bits work great
• ⅓ cup whipping cream
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp coarse sea salt (ok to use a little less for a less intense salty taste)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Lightly spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter, sugar, and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Mix in the flour and combine until it forms a soft dough.
3. Press half of the dough in the bottom of a 9×13 dish and place the other half of the dough into the refrigerator. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the oven and melt the caramels, heavy cream and ½ tsp vanilla in the microwave for 1 minute (it was more like 4 minutes for me!). Stir together until smooth. Pour evenly over the hot crust. Lightly sprinkle the coarse sea salt over the crust (may be a bit less than 1 Tbsp). 
5. Take the remaining dough out of the refrigerator and crumble over the top of the caramel. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until filling is bubbly and the top is firm. Let them cool completely (i.e. for 12 hours!) before cutting.

DELICIOUS!!!

Petersen Rock Garden: pebbles & peacocks!

After 2 days back at work, I need another 4-day weekend....

Needless to say, we're back home now, but before leaving Bend, we stopped by one more attraction-- the Petersen Rock Garden, which per the online reviews was deemed either "cool" or "creepy." Either way, I was enticed and thought it worth a visit. We also were granted a reprieve from winter/rainy weather and enjoyed some sunshine.

The garden (now on the National Register of Historic Places) is the handiwork of a Danish immigrant, Rasmus Petersen, who moved to Central Oregon in the early 20th century and by the 1930s and for twenty years was creating mini monuments using local rocks.  The property, situated north of Bend just a few miles from our hyggelig room I discussed in a prior post, still remains in the family.

 

I was quite puzzled by this sign!

 

Free-roaming peacocks also graced the property, which interested Pepper greatly 

beautiful creatures!

(and Denmark!)