{ina garten's rugelach}

 
Last night, our friends Josh & Heather invited us to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah with them and enjoy some home-made latkes.  We were asked to bring a dessert and I decided to make a traditional Jewish dessert.  Since I'm not Jewish, I enlisted another friend for advice on a good/easy Jewish dessert and she suggested I make Ina Garten's Rugelach- you can see the recipe here.  While this is not the prettiest looking dessert, what it lacks in charm it definitely makes up for in taste (there is cream cheese in the dough- how can this be bad?).  The best part of this dessert is that you can easily tailor it to suit your tastes with different fillings or toppings.  We made two different types, one with raspberry apricot preserves with cinnamon sugar on top and another with a mystery home-made jam a friend gave us (we think it maybe have been strawberry rhubarb). This was my first time celebrating Hanukkah and I think we will probably invite ourselves back every year just for the latkes alone!

{weekend photos}

Growing up in Huntington Beach, the 4th of July is a BIG deal.  We usually spend the day riding bikes around the parade, BBQ-ing, lounging by the pool and then watching the fireworks on the beach.  On top of all that, this year we also got to go to an early 4th of July celebration on Saturday in Venice Beach at our friend's neighborhood block party.  Here are a few photos from the weekend:

 {patriotic dogs}

 {chris grilling at the block party}

 {terra, dugg-e & mortie ready for the block party's pet parade. yes I said pet parade}

{Chris' invented this great way to save sprinkles}

 {razoring and roller skating with muji}

{lounging poolside}