Gone To The Sea : Cinque Terre

My sister complains a lot about how randomly Italian businesses in her area will close because the owners have gone to the sea.  There is no indication of when they left or when they will be back, just that they have gone to the sea.  I thought she was making it up until we went to her favorite restaurant and found that they had went to the sea.

So the Italians love the sea.  Well, we do too, so we decided to hop on a train and head for Cinque Terre for sea and hiking.

It did not disappoint! 

We stayed in an apartment style Inn above Riomaggiore, the first town.  The views from the cafe at the Inn were pretty nice.

The views from our room were, er, interesting.

This guys spent hours working out in his tiny Speedo right outside our room.  Thankfully we figured out how to close the shutters. The inside of the room was homey.  We had our own kitchen/dining area and the couch was really a single bed.

The first night we took it easy and had dinner at a lovely cafe with a lovely view.  I had my first langoustine.  I always see them on Iron Chef but have never had one.  They are mini lobsters that look related to shrimp.  See:

image

I can’t find the picture of me eating one of these creepy guys but I can tell you it was delicious.  On the second day, Micah and I decided to hike the five towns but unfortunately the some of the paths were closed so we only hiked three. 

We started at the last town and worked our way back while all the Italians were at the Sea.

The views were worth the hike though.  I think this is the fourth town – Manarola.

  After a brief refueling stop, we continued on.  More hiking in the humid heat – YAY!

There were lots of stairs.

A LOT of stairs.

I actually can’t remember which town this is because from the ground they all look similar.

See.  Pretty similar though they are different towns.

After a few hours, we finally finished the hike and we were both ready for some food and a shower but were happy to enjoy the view in.

We spent another day there just bumming around and relaxing.  We spent a lot of time in the cafe at our Inn taking in the views and drinking cappuccinos.

On the way back Micah snapped a picture of my sister and I together.  it’s the first time in a long time I can see how similar we look.  People always point it out but we never believe them.  This might have us convinced though.  I’m on the right.

Sunday Suppers : Homemade Mango-Coconut Ice Cream

So before I tell you about the ice cream, I was wondering, how do you eat a mango?  A few years back I was cutting into a mango (my afternoon snack) when a co-worker asked me what I was doing.  Clearly I was cutting a mango….duh.  He said he’d never seen anyone cut/eat into a mango the way I did.  This is how I cut a mango.

I do a tic tac toe cut on each side of the mango and either spoon the squares out or flip it inside out and eat it when it looks like this.

Apparently my co-worker used to peel the mango and sliver pieces off.  He said he never bought whole mangoes because he couldn’t get much flesh off it.  I think I changed his whole mango world view when I showed him how I cut a mango.  I asked Micah how he cuts a mango and he said he wasn’t too sure.  He usually enjoyed his pre-cut.  Thank goodness he married me. 

We ate A LOT of mangoes growing up and usually the Manila/Champagne variety (see below).  I know you can get the green/pink/orangey ones at most grocery stores but they just never get sweet enough for me and they tend to be more stringy.  The Manila Mango is smaller than the other kind but definitely better.  I love the Manila Mango – I may be my favorite fruit.

Anyway, the ice cream.  About a week ago Momager brought over 6 golden Manila Mangoes for me.  She bought a case and knew that she wouldn’t get through them fast enough.  YAY for me.  About 2 weeks ago, I borrowed the ice cream maker attachment for the KitchenAid mixer from our friends Dani and Jer.  I’ve been toying with the idea of buying the attachment but wanted to try it out first.  You know where this is going right?

Sunday dinner this week wasn’t anything huge.  It was warm out and we decided to have something light and easy.  We went with Panzanella salad which helped us get rid of a lot of random things in our fridge.  It’s my favorite salad.  For dessert I decided to go with Mango-Coconut Ice Cream.  I had mangoes and a can of coconut milk in the pantry and only had to buy half and half.

The ice cream was a partial success.  I say partial because I haven’t quite mastered the texture/temperature but the flavor is AMAZING!  I don’t usually say things I’ve prepared are amazing but this is.  It took all my will power to not shovel the entire thing down.  Honestly, so good. 

I found the recipe online and made a few slight modifications.  You can find the original recipe here. 

Here’s my version:

Ingredients:

• 5 very ripe cubed manila mangoes
• 1/3 cup plus another 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 - 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I used 2 1/2)
• 1 3/4 cups half and half*
• 1 1/4 cups coconut milk

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, combine the cubed mango with 1/3 cup of sugar. Cover and marinate for an hour in the refrigerator.
2. In a saucepan over medium-low to low heat, simmer the mango pieces with the sugar syrup. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove and cool.
3. Puree the mango and sugar syrup mixture in a blender or food processor. Add the lime juice and process again. Cover and chill for an hour.
4. In a large bowl, combine the half and half and coconut milk with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the pureed mango, not beating but stirring gently to mix in. If you like, do a taste test and add more sugar if desired (I added 1 tablespoon).
5. Chill in the freezer, stirring occasionally until hardened, or prepare in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. If after preparing in the ice cream maker, you find you want a firmer consistency, pack the mango ice cream in a airtight plastic container and place in the freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving.

I didn’t use as much sugar as the recipe because the mangoes were REALLY sweet.  I like the natural sweetness better.  I also used brown sugar instead of granulated sugar because we ran out of granulated sugar.  My big boo boo in making this wasn’t checking the temperature of the freezer.  The KitchenAid attachment asks for the freezer to be set to zero degree.  Ours was on setting 4 (whatever degree that is).  When we took the ice cream out 2 hours later, it was really soft but of course we still ate it.  I turned the freezer down to 6 and the ice cream was too hard.  I think 5 is clearly the right setting. I’ve almost sold on the ice cream maker attachment.  I want to try something like dark chocolate ice cream first.  Any recipes you recommend?

Are You Mint(ed)?

I shared our budget last week and this week I’m looking for help with our budget.  We’re trying to figure which tools and institutions we should use to manage the budget. 

First, the tools.  We were using a Google Spreadsheet but it take a lot of work to make it as flexible and user friendly as I’d like.  The two options we’re thinking about are Mint.com or good old fashion Quicken.

I use Quicken occasionally when I’m working abroad.  My NGO’s field offices run all their financial management through Quicken.  Momager uses it a bit for Dadtractor’s business.  I like it OK, but it just doesn’t do it for me.

A few people have recommended Mint.com and I’ll admit, I’m interested.  I like that it’s user friendly.  I like that I can set goals.  I like that there are a lot of graphic for us visual learners.  I’m kind of sold but I want to hear from real people that they like it.  And does anyone use the iphone App for it?  That would be the big seller for us.

Second, the institutions.  Right now, our savings goes into the savings account associated with our checking.  It pays crappy interest but the nice thing is that the savings is accessible when we need it.  I have a personal high interest savings account online with bank that doesn’t have a lot of branches on West Coast.  I had the account in England and converted it to a US dollar account when I moved home.  It pay 3.2% or something like that.  I don’t usually have to tap into that account so it’s no biggie that it take 2 days to access the money. 

I’ve been thinking that we need to open a second savings account.  What I’d propose is that money that goes toward a rainy day, travel and property tax go into the high interest account and the rest and any monthly surpluses go into the savings we currently have.  Ideally, I’d love it if I could have one savings account and then sub-divide that account into different categories without having to open 5 separate accounts.  I don’t think that exists, does it?

So here’s the questions for everyone, do you like Mint.com or Quicken and why?  What are the best features.  Also, any one have a suggestion on our savings account(s) options. 

Map? Check!

A few weeks ago I did a post about all the ideas I was inspired by from the weeks of Apartment Therapy I missed.  I thought I could easily knock a few things off the list and then of course I didn’t.  I did get #5 done (hanging vase in a frame) and will show you soon.  On Saturday I managed to sort of get #2 (a map) started.  I found this beauty via Apartment Therapy (of course).

You scratch out the countries or areas you’ve been to.  We’d still have flagged pins for visitors.  I wish it had more cities marked on it but it’s not a huge deal.  I ordered it but the map is on backorder until July 30th.  I can’t wait to get it.  Now the question is where to put it.

Slow But Steady Wins The Sloped Race

Say that 10 times fast. 

Over the weekend we decided to tackle our side of the slope.  We headed to Home Depot to get some plants that were perennials, hardy but pretty and tolerant of shade.  we’re coming to the close of the summer planting season, so our picking were slim, but we managed to get a few plants we really wanted and few we really needed.  I really wanted Columbines but they were expensive online and I couldn’t find them in the big box garden stores.  We’re not experienced enough for the boutique garden store quite yet.  We did manage to get some lavender, dahlias, creeping myrtle, Japanese bleeding grass, and few other flowering plants.  Our friend Cliff just dropped off a a few containers of flowering bushes he scored for free.

Micah and I went for the assembly line approach to planting on the slope.  I marked holes, he dug them, I planted.  It worked well and after 2 hours, the slope looked like this:

With a few more plants and a little sun and rain, we hope it will be fuller and less brown by the end of the summer.

I tried to get Izzy to help but she just gave me a look and retreated to the warm grass.

Momager is coming over on Saturday with some plants she’s been saving for us.  We hope to get them in the ground and finally finish the raised garden Micah’s been working hard on all summer.  Do you have garden projects this weekend?

Owning A House Costs Money

People always tell us how lucky we are to own a house and not be paying rent.  It’s an interesting comment.  Yes, what we would be spending on rent is going towards something that will be ours.  And yes, we can invest money into making the house look better without feeling like we’re making a donation to a landlord, but a house costs a lot more than a loan payment.  For those thinking of buying a home, this is for you.

First, I should note that everyone’s costs are going to be different based on lifestyle, city, type of home and income.  Second, the amount we use to budget from isn’t our entire salaries.  We take about 20-25% for 401ks (pre-tax), IRA Roths and mutual fund investment.  We also each get $300 of play money.  I don’t want to have to tell Micah how much I spent on craft supplies and shoes, and I don’t need to know how many CDs or bike parts he’s purchased.  That said, I want to make it clear that we don’t make a HUGE amount of money.  We each hover around the average salary rate for Seattle.  Micah works at one of the lowest paying private high schools in the city (private schools pay a lot less than public) and I work for a non-profit – enough said. :)

image

Now for the budget.  If you followed me on Weddingbee (Mrs.Joey), you know I’m budget crazy.  I’ve worked and re-worked this budget about 100 times since we even toyed with the idea of building a house.  So here’s our latest budget.

Line Item	Percent of Budget
Home Loan	46.73
Electric	1.97
Water, Sewage, Garbage	1.48
M’s Student Loan	4.96
Natural Gas	1.38
Cable/Internet	2.58
Sewage Use	2.80
Phones	3.15
Food	5.31
C’s Gym	0.79
Izzy	0.98
Car Insurance	0.83
Property Tax Contingency	1.97
Savings	10.03
Misc. House Needs	2.16
Dining Out	2.50
Entertainment	1.48
Health/Beauty	1.18
Fuel	1.28
Gifts	0.59
Travel Savings	6.89
Budget Buffer	0.98

I told you I was budget crazy.  I should have been an accountant.

The Home Loan/Property Tax Contingency:  OK, let’s talk about the mortgage.  We live in a large, 3.5 storey house in Seattle.  As you all know (since you’ve been reading along), we built our house from the ground up on a piece of land that was already in our possession.  Basically this means that we took out less money than house and land are worth.  We took out roughly about 300k give or take 10%.  I’m not worried about sharing that because if you know us (and our entire mailing address), you’ll be able to find all the data on our home on Zillow in a month or two.

Having said all that, it’s clear this is our biggest expense.  We actually pay about 15% more than we need to.  We have the money and have no other debt besides Micah’s student loan.  The home loan also includes the actual loan plus interest, home insurance and property taxes.  Property taxes can fluctuate, so we also save a little on the side just incase.  You don’t want to get to November and have to shell out an extra $1000 you didn’t plan on.

Utilities (Electric, Natural Gas, Water, Sewer, Garbage):  We budgeted on the high side for utilities.  In the winter, our highest electric bill was $110 and last month it was $30.  Hopefully after a year of billing history, we can get the utility companies to put us on a budget plan but in the mean time I’d rather budget for more than less.

Cable/Internet:  Our services are bundled and I think we’ll need to look at the cable package we’re getting as our costs are on the high side even though we don’t watch a ton of TV.  Micah insists on getting Fox Sports NW which doesn’t come in basic cable plans.  I’m OK with it because we’d end up watching Husky sports at bars and spending way more.

Sewage Use:  This is interesting.  So, in addition to paying to replace the sewer pipes (during construction) and paying sewage, we have to pay for the existence of the sewer pipe.  Yes, seriously.  It’s something like $4,500 total.  You pay it once (or in monthly installments) and that’s it for as long as the house exists.  This line item is nuts.  It’s like the TV license you need in England.  Yes, you need a license to own a TV in London.  Ask me about it later.

Phone:  We have iPhones – need I say more?

Izzy:  Izzy is a new addition to the budget.  She doesn’t eat a ton, so we’d never spend more than $25 on food a month.  The other $25 goes towards shots, vet visits, etc.  Anything we don’t spend on her now, we save towards her needs in the future.

Savings:  Besides saving for retirement, we save towards a rainy day, future major purchases (new car) or unplanned unemployment.  You can never be too safe, especially now.

Misc. House Needs:  Sometimes you need curtains or dishwashing detergent or plants for the slope or amazing dishes from Italy.  I feel a lot less guilty buying pretty dishes or fabric for pillows knowing we budgeted for pretty house things.

Dining Out: We need to get this under control but it’s hard.  We used to budget less on it and would go over every month, so I adjusted it.  What hits us hard is the occasional cup of coffee.  It seems cheap at $6 a visit (for both of us), but then you do it 5 or 6 times a month and you’ve made a nice dent in the budget.  It’s really bad in the winter.

Entertainment:  We do Netflix and pay for it out of this line item.  If we go hiking and had to pay for park fees, it would come out of this too.  Movies, concert, plays – it all comes out of this line item.  What we don’t spend this month, we save towards next month.

Health and Beauty: Shampoo, vitamins, razors, contact solution -- we pay for it out of this line item.  We also pay for the fancy Crew hair stuff Micah uses and the Origin moisturizer I use out of this line item.  We don’t buy them every month or even every other month, so we rarely go over budget.

Fuel:  I take Lightrail (which is free for me) and Micah drives to a Park and Ride and carpools to school (which is far).  Right now we don’t have a huge budget for gas because we don’t really need it but Micah’s South Seattle carpool is virtually gone, so unless it gets new members or he joins the North Seattle carpool, we have some adjusting to do here come fall.  (POOP!)

Gifts:  Mother’s day, Father’s Day, Birthdays and Christmas all add up.  We put a little something away each month so it doesn’t hurt so much come Christmas.  We don’t buy for each other out of this line item. :)

Travel Savings:  We love to travel and have made it a priority.  We either do 2 small trips a year or 1 really large one.  We have an Alaska AIrlines card and it’s annual fee comes out of this fund.  I love our Alaska Airlines card.  If you need convincing, just ask me. :)

Budget Buffer: Sometimes you need a little more grass seed or you’re planning a dinner party and go over a little on the monthly food budget.  We planned for this so we wouldn’t have to dip into the savings.

So that’s the budget and it’s REALLY changed since we moved from our apartment.  We spent $1000 on rent (for a 3 bedroom) and about $100 on utilities.  We only spent half what we do now on misc house needs because we didn’t have a yard to take care of. 

In total, for less than half of our current mortgage, we paid for rent, utilities and misc house needs.  It’s quite a change.  We have people over more because it’s cheaper than going out.  We’re more selective about little things like movies and we do a lot less impulse buying.  But after everything is said and budgeted, neither of us would give up the house in favor of renting.  We like having control over everything.  But sometimes, I miss renting.  I miss not having to cut the grass or pay the water, sewage or garbage bills.

Questions?  Am I missing an expense? 

Izzy’s New Life

Despite recovering from surgery and having a slight cough, Izzy seems to be adjusting to her new home nicely.  Every morning she takes me to the lightrail station:

She’s still half asleep as it’s usually 6:30am.  Turns out she’s a really good car dog.  She pretty much sits like that or lays down the entire ride.

I’m working from home today so she kept me company on the deck (a.k.a. the summer home office).

Last night Micah had some friends over to help me celebrate my belated 30th birthday (my birthday’s actually on 7/4) and Izzy made a new friend, Max.

This picture looks a little aggressive but the situation wasn’t.  Izzy came up to smell Max’s face and he loved it.  Then put out his hand and Izzy licked it.  He just finished dinner.  Max just fell over and Izzy was coming to check on him. :)

See?  Friends.  Max and Izzy are only 2 months apart.  Max was AWESOME with Izzy and she tried to be a lady in front of her new friend.  Tell me that isn’t the cutest thing.

Also, it turns out Izzy aspires to be a lap dog.  I think she sat on 4 laps last night and loved every minute of it.

Not a bad life, eh?

Gardening Blues and Gardening To Dos

While we were gone our garden started to take off…sort of.  Our Patty Pan Squash sprouted and started to spread and so did the corn.  Of course, they didn’t get far since the weather while we were gone was awful and cold.  We did manage to get radishes and arugula but unfortunately the snails got to them first.

So the big question is how do I get rid of snails without poisoning the food?  I read I need actually catch them by putting out dog food or grapefruit peels.  Another site I found told me to sprinkle salt in my garden regularly.  Something tells me that would disturb the PH of the soil (whatever that means).  So, any suggestions out there?  How can I keep these slimy buggers of of the garden?

We did manage to find areas untouched by the snails and Micah said the arugula was really good and peppery.  That’s a minor victory right?

Our big gardening to do is filling the slope with plants.  Currently it looks like this:

and we’d love it to look more like this:

OK, maybe not as busy.  This is a slope garden about 2 block from us. We walk by the house all the time and we rarely see anyone tending to it.  It seems like the owners have chosen to plant low maintenance shrubs and flowers that are colorful.  That’s what we want.  The slope is tricky and I wouldn’t want to spend too much time on it.  Were thinking of planting some rosemary plants we got at our house warming, some daisies Momager gave us, and a few varieties of lavender.  I’d love some colorful plants that are perennials.  Seattle is in zone 7, which limits our selections.

Right now I’m really loving Columbines.  They come in a bunch of colors and should work for our climate.  I' mean look at these colors!

source

I work from home on Wednesdays so I’m hoping to get into the garden and start planting what we have during time I’d usually spent commuting.  We’re suppose to get some good weather this weekend, so maybe more gardening will happen then too.  Any suggestions for other flowers shrubs that are low maintenance, perennials and good for zone 7? 

What’s Black, White and Brindle All Over?

This girl…

This is Izzy and she’s the newest member of the Forty Twenty Four Family.  Izzy, or the idea of Izzy, was Micah’s 30th Birthday present to me.  I got a card with a “coupon” inside redeemable for a calm, medium-sized, not long-haired dog.  I’ve been wanting a dog for a while and Micah’s been hesitant since he’s mildly allergic to them.  I think he came around after our stay with my sister and her dog Giacoma.

Izzy is a beagle mix, about 20ish pounds and a little over 9 months old.  We planned to get an older dog but all the ones available at the Humane Society were long haired and large.  I was actually interested in another dog who wasn’t available and it was Micah who spotted and fell for this little lady first.

The first 3 days of Izzy have been an adventure.  First, who knew how expensive dogs could be?  I mean I knew about the vet bills (I had an amazing but sickly dog growing up), but the treats, the kennel, the leashes and collars?  Wow.  Second, Izzy isn’t completely housebroken yet.  She’s only had one accident since Friday.  All the books I’m reading say that housebreaking a dog is easy and can be done in three days.  Are they for real?  How long does it take for a none-professional dog trainer to housebreak a dog?  That’s what I want to know.

The next battle(s) are crate training Izzy and leaving her alone.  We tried to leave her alone and she screamed bloody murder.  We could hear her down the block so I went back.  It seemed like it was too soon for her.  We are slowly trying to crate train her so she can be left alone but comfortable during the day.  It took 2 days but she finally went into the bottom of her crate without me having to lure her in with a treat.  That lasted about a minute and then she was out of there.  Micah’s home during the day until school starts, but we would like to be able to go out for a few hours without her before then.  We had to have Dadtractor and Momager over to watch her on Saturday night so we could attend a wedding.

Speaking of Dadtractor, the man is absolutely in love with her.  He called me twice yesterday to find out how she’s doing.  He’s already volunteered to watch her for week if need be.  He’s done for.  I mean look at this face.

We’ve been reading books on good manners, training and puppies and are praying that by the beginning of August we’ll be able to leave at home during the day.   We’re encouraged by the crate progress yesterday.  We’re all set to attend behavior classes at the beginning of the month too.  It was included with our adoption along with a voucher for a free first check up with our vet.  We’ll be using it sooner than later as we think Izzy has kennel cough. 

Yesterday I finished brushing my teeth, turned around and saw this:

Last night, she gave me this face when I wouldn’t let her hangout in the band room during practice.  She gave me that look for 5 minutes. 

She made 5 new friends yesterday and by 9:30pm she was drained and went straight to bed and slept through the night.

So, dog owners out there, do you have any advice for us?  Supplies you love, treats she’ll like (she doesn’t like our first round of selections) or training tips?  We’d especially love to hear from folks who work 8 hours a day and leave their pooch at home.  Or, you can just comment and tell us how cute you think she is.  We’ll read her the compliments tonight before bed.

Playing Catch-Up

The one good thing about being sick in bed for a few days is that it allows you to catch up on a lot of blog and website reading.  I think I spent an entire day catching up on all the Apartment Therapy posts I missed while on vacation.  I bookmarked about 8 posts that had to do with items on our house to do list.  Some of them (most of them) are small decorating tasks and others (just 2) are bigger house projects.  Here’s my list.

1. The Front Door.

We really want to paint the inside facing part of the front door and install a window in it – something mid-century modern-esque.  We’re thinking red.

 article

2.  A Map

I have this idea up putting a map up somewhere marking it with pins of place I’ve traveled, Micah’s traveled, we’ve traveled together and then extras for visitors.  The visitors would put a pin in the cities they are visiting from.  I’ve been on the hunt for a nice world map that would match our decor.  I suppose a globe would work too.  What do you think?

 article

3. The Strawberry Plant Container

Momager gave us a huge strawberry planter that hasn’t been touched for months.  It’s a little late for planting now but I’d like to paint it and have it ready to go for next year.  I love this green one. 

article

4. Bookends

I’ve been looking at bookends lately and can’t find the right one.  Maybe I should just make my own.  Maybe out of cement?

 article

5.  Frame/vase project

I have a bunch of frames and a really cool hanging vase thing I’ve wanted to put together like this.  I have everything I need and it would only take 20 minutes but I just haven’t gotten to it. 

article

6.  Stone Garden

We’ve decided to go with a stone garden on the street side of the house.  It’s a long story and requires it’s own post.  I’m thinking something similar to this but with a lot of potted plants.

article

7.  Cork Rain Mat

This is Seattle and every home needs a place for wet clothes and shoes.  I’ve been thinking of making a rain mat for some time.  We have lots of corks laying around, maybe that’s what I should use.

article

8.  Origami Decor

I think a few hanging origami figures could occupy some very empty space in the a few rooms.  I have paper. I have folding instructions. I have fishing wire.  I just have to commit some time to this project.

article

The temperatures in Seattle are suppose to cool a bit this weekend, so we’re hoping to get some yard work done.  I have a few projects I really want to complete this weekend like the painted house numbers and DIY roman blinds I started last night.  Maybe I can fit #5 or #8 in too.  What do you think? 

Happy Friday!!