Road Trip 2011 and a True Kodak Moment

28 days later (not the movie) we're back from our long road trip. Seeing beautiful places, hanging out with family, revisiting old friends, and eating delicious food along the way was just as you expect it to be -- perfect. And driving in a car for a total of 50 hours was exactly what you expect it to be -- not so fun. Baby Maria  did say her first sentence during one of our long driving stretches and it was, "That is MY iPod." Had it not been for our electronic devices (thank you iPad for having a 10 hour battery life!) the 50 hours in the car would have been downright miserable. I know because when the battery on our electronic gadgets died, during one of our long driving stretches, I wanted to die with it. Thankfully we all survived and even enjoyed being in the car (at times) thanks to the beautiful scenery, audio books (Hunger Games Trilogy, Bossy Pants, and Me Talk Pretty One Day, in case you were wondering), movies and games on the iPad for the kids (email me if you really want a list), and our handy dandy 18 year old cousin who was permanently stationed in the back seat so as to get the kids water, food, and break up fights. For the record we did not have Gabriel with us on the last 17 hours of our trip and he was greatly missed by all.

We're now back in Sacramento. Christian just spent hours cleaning the car, high-five Christian! If the car could it would of given him a hug and thanked him, there is only so much filth even a car can take. The kids are in heaven because great-grandma Mimi and Aunt Karen make their home heavenly with their generous spirits and endless supply of fun toys, books, and popsicles. I'm also in heaven because after almost a month of traveling I finally get to sit down relax and edit pictures and even write a decent post, oh my.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program with Kodak Gallery I was asked if I wanted to create a photo book of my road trip so I could try out Kodak Gallery, a free online service that lets you share, create, and save all in one place.

Still on the Road

One month ago today we were celebrating our anniversary in Mexico. Now we're in Washington. Tomorrow we're off to Oregon. Last week we were in Utah and the week before that we were moving out of California.

I love Summer.

Curry Fries, thanks to Alexia Foods pushing me to do more than just dipping my potatoes in ketchup

A week ago we were all in Midway Utah eating French Fries. Now I'm in Clarkston Washington without a single French fry to enjoy. I'm also without my sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews, brothers-in-law, and sweet Pammy-- Christian's mom.

Our family reunion in Utah was fantastic. Gosh we had so much fun. A week ago today we were making fries, lots and lots of fries, and we seasoned it up and down with all sorts of different concoctions. My sisters-in-law Amy, Bekah, and Courtney were oh so helpful with their ideas and taste buds. Amy deep fried a poblano pepper and then threw in some fries, so as to infuse the oil with a little kick. It was subtle and so great all at once. Bekah suggested dill and lemon and I know I'll make that variation again, I loved it!

However, after a few different tries the winning flavor was curry, curry and sea salt to be exact. We tried curry with cinnamon and we tried curry with cinnamon and chili powder. We tried curry and wasabi. We tried plain wasabi and then went back to the curry. We tried curry with a lot of different things but it seemed pretty unanimous that the flavor we kept going back to, the one we quickly got addicted to was plain curry with a dash of sea salt.

I'm stoked that I found my flavor. Am I hopeful that Alexia Foods will pick it up and make it their next winning flavor. You bet I am. Who can resist curry and potatoes? If the answer is no one then trust me when I say that curry with deep fried potatoes is the bomb-diggity-bomb.

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This is the fourth post of a 4 post series sponsored by Alexia Foods as part of the Reinvent a Classic Campaign.

Taste Testing Fries with Family

For the last week we've been hanging out with family, a lot of family. Christian has 5 siblings. All of the siblings have children. And when we all get together it's a cousin party that never ends. At night when the kids are finally asleep we talk adult stuff, like french fries flavors.

This is the third week of the Alexia challenge to reinvent a classic and it's been fun doing it in the presence of the fam. Everyone has an opinion, everyone has a method, and everyone has different taste buds to contribute to the testing process.

But I think we have a winner.

I'll let you know for sure next week. There is just one more flavor I want to try out tomorrow. One last batch I need to make to be sure that the winning flavor from today is really the champ.

Lets just say that this whole process has been way enjoyable, mostly because I have so many people to share fries with.

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This is the third post of a 4 post series sponsored by Alexia Fries

Cool Treats for the 4th of July

I made this flag popsicle for my kids about 2 weeks ago and wish I was taking my zoku instant pop maker to Utah so I could make it again on the 4th of July for all the cousins. I'm a fan of the traditional 4th of July BBQ, but I have to admit it's mostly because of the cool desserts. 

Here is a list of some coldy desserts to keep you cool on this 4th of July

// Creamy Blackberry Frozen Yogurt

// 4th of July Ice Cream Sundaes with Cookies

// Berry Parfait

// Red White and Blue Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

// Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

// 4th of July Ice Cream sandwiches

// Watermelon Blueberry Popsicles

// Pomegranate Berry Popsicles

// Cherry Limeaid Slushies

Have a wonderful long weekend.