a favorite professor comes to dinner

After a quarter and a half of trying to schedule dinner with Dr. Braden, we all finally agreed on this past Wednesday evening, and Dr. Braden came over with her husband, Zhenya.
Kathleen and I had met a couple days before to discuss what to make for dinner. Zhenya is Russian [he and Kathleen have a very cool story of how they met], so we thought we should make something authentically Russian. we decided to make Piroshki, because it would require all of us to sit at our table and prepare it together. it's a bit labor-intensive, but delicious!

Zhenya and Kathleen

Piroshki is made by forming dough around a filling. Dr. Braden prepared a cabbage, boiled eggs and onion combination for our Piroshki. so we each took a section of the dough, stretched it out with our fingers while forming it in a circle shape, filled it with a spoonful of the mixture and then pinched it shut by bringing the sides of the dough up over the filling. we arranged about 15 little piroshkis on a greased baking pan and brushed the tops with butter for a golden finish.


Zhenya and Kathleen also brought over some Russian chocolates and Russian soda. Dr. Braden even wore her Russian apron!



after dinner, we had coffee, made in our french press from beans that Ben's cousin gave us (thanks again, Jess!), and triple-chocolate cake. it was a really fun and relaxing evening.
we want to host more people who are important to us but and don't usually have the opportunity or time to visit.

celebration of Richard's birth

Richard's birthday was February 12th, so we decided it would be fun to tour Fremont with him. We walked from our house to the Troll on top of Troll Avenue.



Richard thought it was "a waste" for the statue to be crushing a VW Bug.

Then we walked to the Lenin Statue and then to the DINOSAURS! [if you haven't seen the dinosaurs, you must a.s.a.p.!] They're located on Canal Street, near where Richard is interning during his stay here in Seattle. Sadly, he had already seen the AWEsome dinosaurs and wasn't that impressed, because he rides his bike past them each morning. haha. Our final destination was Coldstone Creamery for some ice cream. Lucky for him, it's free on birthdays!

heather, lindsey, richard


cory congratulates richard on his birth


this is our house


cory, ben, abby

When we returned home, Cory iced a cupcake, Ben added a birthday candle, and Lindsey wrapped Richard's gift. We walked into the dining room, sang "Happy Birthday," and had Richard make a wish [another "American tradition"]. He unwrapped Heather's gift of some Dove chocolate bars that were wrapped in a Anime portrait of Richard. classic. then he unwrapped his early Valentines Day gift, big chocolate LIPS! he thought they were really funny, thankfully. :)

french toast feast!

tonight OurHouse had many wonderful people in its body.
they came, with eggs and friends to make and eat french toast together. sweet! and savory!
we ate together, played music and danced. ben, josh and i took some photos, and challah [jake's puppy] danced around our feet, hoping for a piece of challah french toast to fall to the floor.


jake's playing banjo while alex sews a filsons patch onto his jeans.


this couch = becca.challah.ben.greg.rachel.


aaron is playing the metal dust pan with a spoon.


richard is teaching my brother, josh Japanese.


lindsey is wrapping gifts for her Urban Involvement team at SPU. this one is a giraffe.


andrew is holding our new rabbit, Nora. heather paid $15 for her on craigslist. she's our new beauty.

we'd love it if you came to our next feast.
we always dumpster Challah bread on Sundays at Essential Bread Company and eggs from Trader Joes.

the first and third Thursdays are Community Dinners at our house. come! and bring a nice edible something.