Family Evje Travels

It may be hard to believe, but last weekend we were entertained by ducks. Yes, wild ducks decided to make use of the meadow in front of our apartment. A nice couple landed there on Saturday morning and enjoyed green, moist grass until Sunday afternoon. It definitely made our weekend. Our conversations were full of ducks. We watched them hang out there, eat some dirt, drink water from the puddle and walk around the yard. Here is the proof. Hope next weekend will be more exciting. Maybe we can see an ostrich or a penguin, or some other fancy bird.

One of our recent culinary discoveries is honey mustard chicken. We both love this perfect combination of tastes. Something sour, something sweet. Something for her, something for him. Like a perfect marriage. When I first made this dish Tyler said that it was the best thing I'd ever cooked. Well, honestly it's really good and really easy to make. Here is the recipe: 6-8 chicken legs 125 ml honey 4 table spoons of Dijon mustard 4 table spoons whole grain mustard (coarse) 4 table spoons white wine vinegar 2 table spoons vegatable oil (sunflower, canola) salt, peper To make the marinade, mix all of the ingredients (except chicken) in a large bowl. To ensure the marinade gets deep into the meat, each chicken leg needs to have three parallel cuts. After you make the cuts combine the chicken with the marinade. Go ahead and use your hands, have some fun :) Leave the bowl in the fridge for at least an hour. Then prepare a medium size glass baking pan. When you are ready place the chic...

Pancakes are one of our favorite weekend breakfast food. It's the best sweet way to start the weekend. They are round and fluffy and are a perfect match with maple syrup. American pancakes are significantly different from Polish pancakes, called naleśniki. Polish pancakes are thin and have a bigger diameter, I'd say around 8 or 9 inches. Most importantly we stuff naleśniki with farmers cheese, fruit preserve, honey or fruit and we roll them up. On the contrary, American pancakes are smaller and thicker and we just stack them together, put a small piece of butter on the top and pour hot maple syrup over it all. Let it melt and start enjoying your sweet breakfast or brunch.

Last month my family paid a long planned visit to California. My mom and dad, aunt and uncle and their son visited us for two weeks at the beginning of February. We were all very excited because it was my parents’ first transatlantic flight. They only had two weeks vacation but enough invention to spend time with us and also to travel while they are here. So we took them to Southern California. Must see's like Hollywood Boulevard and Beverly Hills were on the list, of course. One full day in Disneyland for my 9 years old cousin turned out to be a great adventure for all of us. My first time riding a roller coaster, I even did it twice! To make my family's holidays even more holiday'ish we decided to hit the Hawaii paradise. Indeed, it's a true paradise. For Europeans it’s a distant corner of a planet, but for people living in San Francisco is seems like a logical vacation choice. Hawaii is a unique mixture of nature, people, food and fun. It's the 5oth US State, ...

San Francisco loves showing off. That's why the City by the Bay loves all sorts of parades. There are at least 10 different parades and similar events every year. The biggest one is Chinese New Year's Parade. Not only is it the biggest but also the most spectacular, I'd say. Unfortunately, I didn't go to this year's Chinese New Year's parade because it poured that day. Another interesting parade is organized by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans-gender community. The last weekend of June they celebrate diversity with festivals, conferences, exhibitions and arts. Not so long ago on a sunny spring Saturday I took a stroll downtown to shoot the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Just a couple of days before the actual March 17th, the city turns its green. It's a celebration not only for Irish citizens and their descendants, but for many others. From my own experiences it's yet another reason to get drunk and party until 2 am.