The Best French Dip Sandwich Ever

I am a French Dip expert. If French Dip is on the menu, I order it. Almost every time.

When I graduated from high school, someone actually wrote in my yearbook about my love for French Dip -and posed the question - who has the best French Dip? I remember thinking it was a bit sad that the one thing this person would remember me for was my love of a sandwich.

I've thought about that question now and then when eating out. I have been determined to one day declare the best French Dip sandwich. I have not kept track of all of the places I have eaten French Dip, but my guess would be that I've tried it at 40 or 50 different locations, maybe more.

And this weekend, on Valentine's Day, I found the answer. I cannot overstate my excitement over this finding. Ben and I went to L.A. for Valentine's Day and our 7th wedding anniversary. Today is our anniversary - I love you Ben! I should probably post something about our relationship, but the French Dip is all I can think about because I'm hungry.

At the restaurant, I looked at the menu, and wanted to order a steak or prime rib. But then I saw the French Dip. Like I said, if French Dip is on the menu, I almost always order it. Even if it is at a somewhat fancy place on Valentine's Day.

Then I ate the best French Dip sandwich I've ever had. It feels so good to finally be able to declare the winner. There are still many other places I could try, including a restaurant in L.A. that claims to be the inventor of the French Dip. But still, I am declaring this the best one I've ever had.

Houston's. Houston's is the winner. Perfection.

Baby Blessing

Thought I would just update our blog quickly by posting a link to another family member's blog.

The newest member of the family, Matt and Alex's baby girl, was blessed at church in Utah today.



We are sorry we missed it - welcome to the family baby girl!

Favorite Commercial

I crack up every time this commercial comes on. It makes me laugh and I just saw it on TV so I thought I would post it.




By the way, I have the Blackberry Pearl, and I have to agree about the butt dialing. For me it is kid dialing, or purse dialing, but still. You can lock the keys, but when it is locked if you press some combination of numbers it automatically makes an emergency call to 911. I've done this by accident, and so have the kids. It is quite embarrassing. Next time we do it I'm going to tell the dispatcher, sorry, it was my butt dialing to tell me I need a flip phone. I wonder if they'll get it...

Superbowl Success

Well, the food anyway.

No pictures, but I want to remember what we had for next year, so I'm recording it on the blog.

Steak bites

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

Chips, salsa, and homemade guacamole

Little Smokies

Wingers-style Wings (not quite like Wingers, but a decent first try)


Oh, and if anyone wants a new dinner recipe to try, last night I made Pioneer Woman's Ranch Style Chicken. Not a healthy recipe, but it tasted really good. I will make that one again and I think I can modify it to make it a little bit healthier.

First Trip to the SD Zoo in 10 Years

The above picture helps me to understand why people often ask if they are triplets.

What is that you say? I post pictures of the zoo all the time? Ah, yes, that is true. But Ben hadn't used his membership until we went to the San Diego Zoo on New Year's Day. He somehow escaped all of the trips I've taken to the Zoo/Wild Animal Park this summer and over the past few years and had not been since he took me when we were 18 or 19 years old. On this lovely day, Isabel woke him up so darn excited to go to the zoo that he just had to come with us.

New Year's Day was the perfect day at the zoo and we had great weather. The kids are at a great age for activities like this - they make it so much more fun!

Adam, happy to see the giraffes with Grandpa. And there is Ben in the background - proof he was there.

Anna on the bus tour.

The bus tour again - I'm not sure how much they could see, but at Adam said, "I love this bus Mommy" so I guess they enjoyed the ride.

Anna and then Adam in front of the panda.

Best parts of the day that I don't have pictures of:

1. The elephant peeing. Have you ever seen an elephant pee? It is quite a sight.
2. Taking a bus up the hill to see the polar bears. I told Kevin it was a horrible steep walk and we were taking the bus. He walked. We waited 10 minutes for the bus, went up a hill maybe the length of half a football field, and got off. I didn't realize it was that close :)
3. Our stop at Wood Ranch Grill. Have I blogged about Wood Ranch yet? It is our new favorite place. It is out of the way in South Corona so we now stop there on our way back from trips to San Diego.

O.G. Izzy

Holiday Hangover

Can I blame not updating the blog on a holiday hangover? We had too much fun and now the kids are spending most of our days playing/fighting over their new toys. Santa now realizes the girls need to get the same exact things for Christmas.

We had a wonderful Christmas, and we didn't take any pictures with our own camera. There are some on Kevin and Sabrina's camera though, so I'll try to get those soon. We also celebrated Grandma Mary's 90th birthday. John took pictures of that one so as soon as I get permission to steal some more photos I'll get a post up.

We went to Sea World last week but yet again, didn't bring a camera. The battery is out and I can't find the charger. But luckily I got a new point and shoot camera for Christmas, so next time I'll be able to use our back up.

Happy New Year!!

Holiday Favorites

Our current holiday favorites are:

• Frosty, the movie. And Frosty Returns. Someone requests it every day, sometimes more than once.
  
• Singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
  
• Practicing Anna's Christmas dance for her dance class.
• Blended egg nog (used to buy it at Starbucks but now make it at home by simply throwing egg nog and ice in the blender and topping it with whipped cream). This is my favorite and now I've converted all of the kids.
• Christmas lights of course. Adam still gets excited about the ones on our own house whenever we come home at night.
• Shopping for presents. Anna thinks that should mean finding something in the house and wrapping it up rather than buying something new. She wants to give Adam a train that is already his. However, I think she would be sorely disapointed if she got all things she already has for Christmas.
  
• Getting ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

It's been a few weeks now, but Marlene and I took the kids to the Festival of Trees and Festival of Lights in Riverside. Last year we went on opening day, and this year we went the day after. Just going one day later made a world of difference - it wasn't so crazy busy and I enjoyed it more. Hopefully it will become a tradition.

Adam can be a bit of a scardy cat, so he got his picture taken in front of a fake train instead of with Santa. We've seen Santa numerous times this year and he still won't go near him. Not even for candy.


The girls were perfectly happy to sit with Santa though. And they both told him they want baby dolls. How original! Isabel decided to show us her belly for some reason. Sorry about that.


These were our futile attempts to take a posed picture in front of the Mission Inn. It is so beautiful this time of year! But the kids were not into the whole smiling all at once thing.



Last weekend my Mom and I took the kids to the Norco Christmas parade. I didn't bring the camera that time, it would have probably been too dark anyway. They put lights on all of the horses and carriages and do the parade at night. The kids loved it.

Also, my Dad visited last week and the kids got to open presents from him. So we have a few new toys to tide us over until Christmas.

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Making Thanksgiving rolls with Grammie - and they turned out delicious!

Stuff

As I read this article, I wondered if this woman will ever see the error in these words. She is giving up designer jeans to buy her daughter a bunch of presents for Christmas.

“I want her to be able to look back,” Ms. Hunt declared, “and say, Even though they were tough times, my mom was still able to give me stuff.”

Really? You want her to look back and say, "my mom was able to give me STUFF?"

I don't know where to begin - but that is really sad. How about hoping your kids will say, "Even though they were tough times, my mom was still able to give me LOVE."