The Happenings of the Twins

hola familia como estan( im saying that with a thick gringo accent) well its been a while since i have posted on the fam blog. here is the update aka the down low. i am living in Alamosa CO. this upcoming semester i will be attending Adams State College and playing Lacrosse for them. this past semester i was doing online classes at Utah Valley University while i was living in Colorado. i work at Chilis. when the upcoming semester starts i will become a server there. I have a calling in the church as the Gospel Doctrines teacher. im pretty excited about that. this upcoming semester is gonna be really busy for me as i battle school, lacrosse, church, and of course the many women that flock to me. Michael and I live in a very nice house. our roomate/owner of the house is a member who served in costa rica, so thats good. Michael and I are the only two mormons on the team so we have had plentiful opportunities to share the gospel. in a way its like we are on a mission again.

take all the luck in the world and my blessing upon you- Peter el papi moreno

Hey Fam. Well as most of you know, I am living in Colorado right now, I am attending Adams State College. I just finished my first semester, I took 15 credits. My classes were Spanish, College Writing, Intro to Business, Development of Civilization, and Champs NCAA. I really enjoyed my classes this semester, my teachers were a little crazy but i made it fun and exciting. I also have a work study at the school, I work in the Athletic Department answering phones, entering information about the athletes at the school into the computer, and updating all the upcoming sporting events of the week. I have also recently been called to be the Elders Quorum President of the singles ward, it is a lot of work but I have already learned a lot, and it gives me an opportunity to work closely with the Bishop. I am very excited for the upcoming season in lacrosse, we are traveling to San Francisco, and Phoenix. we are also going to be playing in the Denver Broncos stadium for one of our games and that should be very exciting. This upcoming semester should be very busy with school, work, lacrosse, and my church calling but it will keep me busy and should be exciting. well that is about it for now.

Michael

p.s here is a funny video of us during Christmas.

Ravioli-Santamaria Style

So basically I'll give you the ravioli recipe according to what I remember. I have made them (according to how I remember...) and they turn out very good. Of course tio Tito or your father, or tia Mirta or your mom may remember them a little different........ they all taste good anyway!!!!!

DOUGH (makes about 24 or so ravioli)
3 cups flour
1/2 tspoon salt
4 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil

In an electric mixer combine all ingredients, mix until it forms a ball. Continue to knead the dough until elastic and smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

If using pasta machine: cut the ball of dough in half, cover and reserve the dough you are not using. Dust the counter and dough with flour. Roll it through the pasta machine 2 or 3 times, at its widest setting. Now, keep on passing the dough through and reducing the setting, accordingly, until you reach its narrowest setting. The dough will be very thin. (If it's too thin for your taste....... then leave it a bit thicker!)

Dust the counter with some more flour and place the dough on it. Brush the top surface with either water OR egg wash. Drop 1 teaspoon or so of filling every 1 or 2 inches. Fold the unfilled half over the filling. With your fingers, gently press out air pockets around each mound of filling and form a seal. Using a crimper cutter, cut each ravioli into squares.

Cook the ravioli in plenty of boiling salted water for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve as ravioli soup (with the broth where you cooked the ravioli) with a bit of sauce on top OR without the broth, just regular ravioli with tomato sauce and plenty of cheese on top!!!! ENJOY them!!!

Ravioli STUFFING:
(I'm not sure how many ravioli this amount makes.......! But you all get the idea of what's inside the ravioli!!!)

1 piece of beef roast - the cheapest (about 1-2 pounds)
1 piece of pork - the cheapest as well (about 1-2 pounds)
1 - 2 pounds of spinach, cooked in water and drained OR steamed and drained
some fresh parsley leaves
1 - 2 garlic clove
1 egg

The idea here is to make a tasty tomatoe pasta sauce (with onions, garlic, carrots, etc) and in it cook the whole pieces of meat: beef and pork. Cook for about 2 - 3 hours, in low flame. Take the meat out and let it cool.
When meat is cool put it through meat grinder (using the small hole guide): so you grind the meat, the spinach, the garlic and parsley, forming a paste.
If you don't have a grinder, then use a food processor, mixing everything and forming a paste.
To this paste you add the egg, some grated cheese if you want. If it's too thick add some of the tomatoe pasta sauce you made. Stir, forming a soft paste. It should NOT be too dry.
It could be in the fridge for up to 4 days.
And NOW....... to put it all together and make the ravioli!!

Serve with plenty of the reserved tomato pasta sauce and grated cheese.

Of course tio Pedro (nonno's brother) and tia Nina (my sister) loved to eat the ravioli soup with some red wine in it. I never got the taste of it.......

After all this writing of homemade ravioli....... you've opened up my appetite!!!!! Maybe I'll make them for this Christmas. For me, there's nothing so delicious to all my senses as to eat homemade fresh ravioli....... And the memories they bring back........ it's wonderful!!!

~Carolina

December Birthday's

Happy Birthday to the December Birthday's!

Beverly-December 21st

Mirta-December 26th

Jolene's Pie Crust

Pie Crust:

4 c. flour

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 c. shortening

Mix together until it forms course crumbs.

1 c. cold water

1 Tbsp. vinegar (white)

1 egg

Add cold water, vinegar, and egg and mix until soft dough forms. Roll out gently for your favorite pie! Makes enough for at least 2 pies with top crusts.

Odin Bake Time: 2 Months

Hey everyone!

Here is just a fun little update on Odin, Mark and I. Last Saturday Beverly and Marta threw a wonderful baby shower for Odin and it turned out so great! Beverly made amazing decorations and it was so fun to see everyone.

Thanks to everyone who came and thank you so much for the adorable gifts. Mark and I couldn't begin to repay you guys for all that you do for us. Odin is doing great! He is growing at a normal rate, kicking all the time and very healthy. Mark is loving his job. He is very proud that he can do a one handed pull-up. And we are having so much fun getting ready for little Odin to get here.

~Mark, Mary & Odin

Thanksgiving recipes by Marta

Hello family!

I hope everyone is excited for Thanksgiving. I am excited to have Beverly, Mark, Mary & Michael with us this year. But I will miss having Gianni, Jolene and the girls far away along with Peter.

Here are a couple of the recipes I make every year for Thanksgiving.

Turkey:

20 lb turkey

3 Tablespoons salt(roughly)-Rub the outside and inside of the bird

1 lemon-Squeeze lemon all over the outside of the bird

3-4 medium apples-I wash the apples and put the whole apple inside the bird

2 medium sized onions-I just peel them and stick the whole onion inside

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons paprika

I combine melted butter with the garlic powder & paprika and then take a pastry brush and brush the sauce all over the inside and outside of the bird.

Turn on oven to 350 degrees and cook for about 5-6 hours. Right before the bird is done I take off the bag or foil and stick it back in the oven for about 10 minutes so it becomes a little crispy on the outside. Then what I like to do is to take the juices from the turkey and make my own gravy.

Rolls:

I usually double this recipe because my family is big and they like to eat a lot of bread.

4 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon yeast

Combine these 3 ingredients and let it sit for 5-10 minutes and then add 1 tablespoon salt and 2 tablespoons oil if you want soft rolls. If you want harder rolls use 2 tablespoons of shortening instead of oil.

For soft rolls use 8 cups of flour, for hard rolls use 9 cups of flour. Let the dough rise until you see that it doubles in size, which is usually about 15 minutes.

You don't need to knead this dough, just begin to take some dough and make little balls.

Heat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Once I take them out of the oven I like to melt butter and brush the tops of the rolls right away.

I hope you enjoy these recipes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

~Marta

November Birthday's

Happy Happy Birthday to all the November Birthday's!

We hope it's not only a wonderful day for you, but a fabulous upcoming year!

Let's not forget to wish them a Happy Birthday!

Francesca-November 9th

Nicole-November 14th

Paul-November 17th

Bahamian Adventures

Just wanted you to know that i have a blog that i've been writing about my bahamian adventures.

There's not too much going on up on it, but it's there and i would love the family to know about it!

http://islandlifeforme.blogspot.com/

Could you post that on the family blog and tell them I'm doing great!

Love you!!!

~Francesca

Autumn Picnic & Birthday Celebration

Autumn chill in the air, crunchy leaves, mallows, lomito's, herbal tea, family, birthday celebration{Katina's}, & watching Tio Tito and my dad build a fire, what more could one ask for on a Sunday evening?

It was a wonderful time with the family as usual!

xo

~Bev

California for now...

Many of you already know Gianni met with his supervisor (the facility director) recently where he told Gianni that he has decided to step down and let Gianni take over the facility (permanently, not just for training.) So it's been a crazy couple of weeks and Gianni will now take a more active role in running the facility, but he is still in training and still has to pass his test (Nov. 4) before he will be licensed. So the director is going to stay on for the next month or so in an advisory role and basically let Gianni run the show. That means he will be working 12-15 hours most days and probably some time on the weekends.

It has added lots of stress to our lives (mostly Gianni's) and now we know we will be in this area for a few years at least. So if you've ever wanted to visit San Francisco (or the also well-known Petaluma) you might start planning a trip. We live in a small apartment now, but I am hoping that when our lease is up (end of Nov.) that we can find a nicer and bigger place to rent for a while and one that will help us to be better hosts! And one that will have more room for the girls to play, and a bigger kitchen for me to play in.

We do like the ward here and I think it would be great if we were able to stay in the ward. We will see how things go. Housing is a lot more expensive here, but hopefully we can find a nice place that will work out, and how could I forget, it has to have a washer and dryer! The adventure of pushing my laundry in the stroller is one I don't want forever, but I am trying to be patient with for now.

That's how things are going for us. This isn't quite how we thought things would go, but we trust that the Lord has it planned out better than we do and hopefully someday we will know why things turned out the way they have. As I've tried to tell Sara since we moved here, we will be happy wherever we are and there will be good things wherever we go.

Don't forget, I still would love to collect family recipes and make a cookbook. Maybe we can have a goal of next Christmas (2011). To get you excited about this I am going to include a recipe I found on allrecipes that Gianni loves and the girls eat some of! It is now one of our favorites although it is mostly a summer dish. It is called Black Bean and

Couscous Salad:

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked couscous
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 8 green onions, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 2 quart or larger sauce pan and stir in the couscous. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat.
3. Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve at once or refrigerate until ready to serve.

You might want to double the sauce. It is really tasty and we have enjoyed it.

We love all of you and hope you are all well. Take care and we will keep in touch.

Jolene, Gianni, Sara, and Caia

{Pictures of the girls helping in the kitchen & trip to Bodega Bay}

October Birthday's

A very Happy Birthday to all of you October Birthday's!

Let's not forget to wish all of our beautiful family member's a Happy Birthday and well wishes on their special day.

Katina-October 2nd

Gabie-October 16th

Austin-October 18th

Carlo-October 25th

Brown Family Update

I can't believe that the winds of change are upon our door once again as the summer season comes to an end. I still welcome the month of August with child-like anticipation...anticipation of another birthday, anticipation of school commencing, and of that crisp autumn air just around the corner.

It makes it the perfect time to re-cap the summer of 2010 for the Brown's!

The Brown family started off June with a big bang and participated in the Relay for Life Cancer fundrasier at Juan Diego Catholic Center, where we walked for 24hrs straight, in the very cold rain, to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Paul helped set up the "camp site" and the boys helped decorate the illuminary bags in honor of my mother, Paul's mother, my sister Katina, aunt Nina, aunt Susie, and my dear friend Amy O'Grady. It was a very powerful event.

In June, we were also fortunate enough to attended a ReAL soccer game with full "red carpet" treatment, including dinner and drinks with the players, as well as, going out to our cushy seats via the player's hallway! All courtesy of Paul's sister Patti. She happens to be ReAl's PR director--lucky us. The boys kept telling me how they could get use to the VIP status. . We also said good-bye to Paul's nephew, Sean and his family, who were transfered to Austin TX for work--Paul will definitely miss his only BYU croonie in Ute country.

In July, we celebrated the 4th with a great BBQ, parade, and water fight at a friend's house and then headed off to the mountains and spent a couple of days fishing and lounging at Smith and Morehouse with the same bunch. We kept celebrating throughout the month with dinner parties, BBQs, concerts and spending time outdoors. Austin learned the meaning of working while everyone else had fun...he's a cabana boy at Cowabunga so how bad could it really be?...Kohnor had too much fun and time to get into plenty of mischeive. And as for Jack, well he worked on his tan.

We continued on the first several weeks of August celebrating the beautiful weather with family and friends, and trying to get every bit of summer in. But alas, here we are...school started the last week of August bringing with it books and pencils, due dates and homework....and another birthday... welcoming the crisper autumn air awaiting in the wings.

~Giovanna

September Birthday's

A very Happy Birthday to all the September Birthday's!

We wish you all the best on your day and your upcoming year!

Michael & Peter-September 15th

Mary-September 28th

Jack-September 29th
P.S. I believe Nonno's birthday was September 25th from what I have in my list. I didn't have a picture of him on my computer, but a very Happy Birthday to our Nonno as well!

Santamaria Cookbook

We all know that the Santamaria family likes to eat (especially the ones who are first in line at each family gathering!). And we eat really good and tasty food, "muy rico!" (by the way, we really miss sharing that delicious food with you.)

So I was thinking (even before we moved) how wonderful it would be if we combined all of that knowledge and enjoyment in a Family Cookbook. I am willing to head up the project, but I just need help from all the wonderful cooks in the family. I mean ALL! (Yes, each of you need to contribute to the cause!) It would be a great way to share with each other and to share with those who will grow up and enjoy eating all the good food we can make! I know, some of you will say you don't use a recipe because you are so good that you don't need to follow the recipe any more, but we would love to have a copy of the recipes that we enjoy so much together.

So if you could try to write down approximately what you put into your recipe we will take that too. I would love to be able to type everything up and have a real book made for each of us who want one by Christmas. I'm not sure if that is crazy and too fast, or if we can do it. I will need to type them up and get it ready for printing and there is a good chance we will move sometime in November (or maybe December) as Gianni will be finishing up his 6 months of training, so I make no promises, but I will do my best. Now, in order for this to work, I need recipes from everyone. Send as many recipes as you would like to. We need recipes in any category: Main Dish, Sides, Salads, Desserts, Breakfast, Cookies, Beverages, Sauces, Appetizers, Bread/baked goods, Pasta, BBQ,etc. (Does Paella need its own category?) We will make a category for whatever you have.

If you could get them to me by October 1, that would be ideal, but I know we are all busy. If some of you choose not to participate, I will hunt you down until you share! Not really, but I will beg you and bug you because I really want us to share and I think it will be a lot of fun. Thank you in advanced for your participation. Just email them to me at sportsfiendjc@yahoo.com or mail them to me at 253 Lakeville Cir. Petaluma, CA 94954. Hope to hear from you soon!

P.S. If there is a recipe that someone has made that you want to make sure gets into the cookbook, please let me know so I can ask that person for the specific recipe you would like!

Jolene

Updates from Jersey

This summer, so far, has been interesting. In May Francesca graduated from college, she came home for a few weeks and at the moment is working in Alaska, building trails. She'll be back home on the 12th of August only to leave on the 14th of August for the Bahamas, where she'll be working as a teacher at the "Island School". She'll be there until December. If both sides like each other than she may get a yearly contract.
As for Gabie, she finished her year at Simmons in Boston but has transferred to Utah State Univ. in Logan where she'll be studying environmental sciences. At the moment Gabie is in upstate NY, working at Floodwood, a boys scout camp. She'll be back on the 16th of August and will leave on the 18th for Utah. Actually Gabie, Samantha and I will drive Gabie's car to Utah, stopping in Nauvoo first! Can't wait for the road trip!!! Samantha and I will fly back on the 1st of Sept (I think... not sure).

In June Samantha graduated from 8th grade (Junior high) and come September she will be attending the same high school her sister went to (Immaculate Heart Academy...... !). She is at the moment trying to read 3 books and make 3 reports to be ready for the new school year at IHA. We hope she'll be ready before going to Utah!!!
As for Carolina..... I'm spending my summer trying to deal with plumbers, electricians and working in my garden. Back in May they called me to be the Primary President at my Ward........ that keeps me busy tool!!!!! There's never a dull moment around here!!
I'm almost finished bringing nonna's things from Bloomfield to my garage. This past weekend (July 30 & 31) I had a garage sale to sell some things. It went ok (too painful for me and didn't have it on Saturday). However, in looking amongst nonna's things I found a small box full of pictures. I'll bring it to Utah to spend family time going through them. Gianni could use some of them for his blog too.

Love, Aunt Carolina

August Birthday!

A very Happy Birthday to Giovanna on August 26th!

We hope you have a very wonderful year full of great memories and blessings.

Let's not forget to send Giovanna Birthday wishes on her day.

We love you G!

Santamaria's on Holiday

The 4th of July found us all(Carlo & family)reunited in California.

We made sure to keep busy with a trip to Muir Woods, downtown San Francisco, Stinson Beach, lot's of yummy eating, celebrating Sara's birthday and Independence Day.

It was a great time and we were sad to leave.

Until the next happy reunion!

xoxo~Bev