Start Spreadin' The News...

Today we took the first step in making Family Summer Vacation 2008 a reality.

Yep, Yankee Tickets.

We will plan a nice excursion to the Big Apple around these tickets, but the game had to come first. Last season in the original Yankee Stadium and all that. We're also trying to swing a stadium tour, but one thing at a time.

We went for the day-game-against-a-non-threatening-team in hopes of getting better seats. I'd say that was good thinking on our part. Check out our view of the field:

We'll be chatting with Bobby Abreu in right field, and possibly Hideki Matsui, if he backs up a few plays. Maybe catch a home run ball. We're sitting right about where Jeffrey Mayer sat, so maybe we'll create a scandal of some kind. Any of you Yankee fans remember Jeffrey Mayer?

What's for Dinner?

Tonight it's Lemon-Dill Chicken. Possibly my favorite meal of all-time to cook and to eat.

You start by sauteing an onion in olive oil over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, salt and pepper three or four chicken breasts, then dredge them in a mixture of flour and a goodly amount of dill. When the onions are good and soft (but before they get brown) add the floured chicken breasts and let them brown on both sides (the onion will be getting brown right about now as well). Add about two cans of chicken broth (enough to almost cover the chicken), a few glugs of white wine, the zest of a lemon, lemon slices, and a fair smattering of salt. Cover and let simmer for 20-25 minutes or so, depending of the size and thawed-ness of the chicken. Turn the chicken occasionally. Serve over rice.

When you're hungry and it's cold outside, it doesn't get much better. Mom taught me this one. I owe her.

Movie Quotes

As with any relationship that crosses long spans of time, Mark and I have developed our own language. Many of our catch-phrases come from movies - not big blockbusters, necessarily, just regular old movies that we saw on dates or in the early married days that have stuck with us for some reason. We say these things all the time - do any of them ring any bells with you?

1. "I'm sayin' what I'm sayin'."
2. "No really, what are we going to do?"
3. "Did he say...funky butt-lovin'?"
4. "He shoulda armed himself, before he decorated his saloon with my friend."
5. "Up yer butt, Joe-Boo."
6. "Now you listen to me, Mr. Manfredchensen..."
7. "I dry-gulched him." (We don't really quote this one exactly, so much as we use the great phrase "dry-gulch" as often as applicable.)
8. "Barnekey! Barnekey! That guy owes me money!"
9. "It doesn't hurt here or here so much. Just right along here."
10. "Oh wait. Was she some great big fat person?"

Conversations With God

I spent this weekend in at the 44th Annual Gatlinburg Missions Conference with my church youth group. We had four different small group speakers, all from different mission projects. They were all good - I learned something from each one. It is so refreshing to hear about people who dedicate their lives to doing good. To something other than the pursuit of wealth and fame.



One of the small group speakers was from the Samaritan's Purse ministry Operation Christmas Child, also known as their shoebox ministry. It reminded me of an experience I had with our shoeboxes last year, which I wrote about for our church newsletter. I'm posting it for your reading enjoyment:


*****************************************************************************

Conversations with God
Or
How I Learned to Properly Put God in a Box

“Well Lord, it’s shoebox time again. How many should I pack this year?”
How many empty boxes can you fill?
“Let’s see, I have five empty shoeboxes in my closet – how about three?”
Five.
“Four? You want me to pack four?”
Five.
“Five? That’s more than I wanted to spend. What if I pack four big ones?”
Five.
“Oh, alright. Five. Now. Let’s make a list. What should I put in them? Toothpaste, toothbrush, washcloth, comb…”
A Bible.
“…Band-aids, soap, notebooks, pencils…”
A Bible.
“…candy, a yo-yo maybe, a flashlight, some batteries…”
A Bible.
“Will you stop with the Bible talk? We go through this every year. What are the odds that my boxes will go to kids that can speak English? They won’t be able to read them.”

Noah once asked me how all the animals would get to the ark. I told him to keep building, and let me worry about the incidentals.
“But it’s a waste of money! The kids can’t read English. Bibles will just take up space in the boxes.”
Ask your son.
“Ben? OK.”
************************************************
“Hey Ben – what do you want to put in these shoeboxes?”
”How about Bibles?”
************************************************
“Ok Lord, you win. A Bible it is. But I’m way over budget here. How about you help me find five Bibles, real cheap? Maybe like those New Testaments with the Psalms? Those must be cheap.”
A Bible.
“Right. New Testament and Psalms it is. Let’s go shopping.”
************************************************
“Let’s see – here’s a New Testament for $5. That’s $25 total if I buy five. I guess that’s doable, if that’s what you really want.”
No. Keep looking.
“Here’s one - $3.99 each! Even better.”
No.
“Oh wait, they only have three. I need five.”
Keep looking.
“Look at this! Wow! Big, soft cover Bibles for $1. Are you kidding me? And they’ll just fit in my boxes!”
Told you so.
“Wait, these are King James Bibles. Isn’t that kind of hard for a young boy to understand….I’m thinking an NIV would be better. What’s that noise? Are you…are you rolling your eyes at me?!?! That’s really loud. OK, I’ll get five of these.”
************************************************
“Did you see our shoebox dedication this morning? Pretty cool, wasn’t it? What a great ministry. I guess that’s it until next year.”
You’re not finished.
“Not finished? What else can I do? The boxes are gone. My part is done.”
You’re not finished.
“What do you want me to do?”
Pray.
“But I already have prayed. At the dedication. And before the dedication, for that matter. I’ve already prayed for those boxes.”
Pray more.
“What should I pray for?”
What do you want?
“I want whoever receives those boxes to be blessed by them. OK then, I’ll pray for the boys who receive the boxes. I pray they will be blessed by them.”
What else do you want?
“What else? I want their families to be blessed as well, I suppose.”
What else?

”Umm…what else? Oh – I know! I want the Samaritan’s Purse workers to be safe as they travel and as they serve.”
What else?

”That’s all. I can’t think of anything else.”

What do YOU want?

”Me? I don’t want anything. This isn’t about me.”

Yes it is.
“Me? Really? Well, I would like to know who gets my boxes. Who they are, where they live, that kind of thing.”
How can you know that?
"Ummm…they could send me a letter? That’s it! I would like a letter from them.”
OK. Pray for those things every day.
“Every day?”

You make me repeat myself a lot. Every day.
************************************************
“What’s this?”
Open it.
“It’s a letter from France. Who do I know in France? I thought I was boycotting France…”

Open it.
“Wait, there’s another letter in here. This one is from Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso!!! That’s in Africa –did you know that?”
Are you serious?
“Right, of course you know that. This must be from someone who got my shoebox!”
Open it.
“Right. It says….what does it say? Oh my gosh…it’s in French. I can’t read French!?!!? Wait a minute… are you…are you LAUGHING at me??”
You just said you wanted a letter, you didn’t say it needed to be in English.
“You think this is funny, don’t you?”

Hilarious. What does it say?

”Didn’t we just establish that I don’t speak French?”

But you took French in college.
“OK, let’s not go there. How can I read this letter if I don’t speak French?”

Look it over. What does it say?

”Well….I think it says thanks. I think it’s a thank-you note.”
It is. I told you not to worry about languages and understanding.
“Wait a minute! There’s a web site that will translate this for me! Did you know that?”
Are you serious?
************************************************
“Ok, I’ve translated the letter. The shoebox was received by a boy named Trene. Do you know him?”
Of course.
"He’s about to finish school. I’m glad I included a notebook and pen and pencils and stuff. Maybe he can use them.”
Yes, he can.
“What about the Bible? Is he using the Bible?”
What do you think?

”What do I think? I think…I think… I think I’ll pray about Trene and his Bible. How’s that sound?”

That sounds great to me.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Of course.
“Why did you choose to bless me in all of this? Isn’t this ministry about helping others?”
It is. But I’m just as interested in you as I am in them.
“You are? Wow. Thank you.”
Vous êtes bienvenu.

********************************************************************************

These are pictures of the letter, and the picture that was painted and glued to the stationary. I have it framed in my living room now. It reminds me of the power of prayer.

My Valentine's Day

So, this post is a week late. Couldn't be helped.

I had a great Valentine's gift this year. But to really explain it, I have to go back to my birthday in 2006.

I'm the only girl in the house. Which means we don't do a lot of manicures and shopping. Lots of throwing balls and wrestling. And that's OK - I'm not the girliest girl on the block, by any stretch.

But for my birthday in 2006, Mark and the boys decided to do something they had never done before. They bought me jewelry. And to insure they wouldn't completely botch the whole thing, they took my mother-in-law along as an advisor when they did the shopping.

On my birthday, they very elaborately presented me with their gift: a beautiful gold circle of life necklace with matching earrings. Earrings that dangle. I really, really loved it.

My mother-in-law pulls me off to the side and tells me "You don't know what went in to this. Your youngest son made that saleslady take EVERYTHING out of the cases so that he could inspect each and every item they had in that store. He was not satisfied until he found the perfect thing. It was the sweetest thing I ever saw." The image of Daniel taking such care to pick out a gift for me moved me to tears. Still does. I'm crying right now thinking about it.

The next day, we left for my parents' house for Thanksgiving week. I wore the necklace and earrings all week, and on Friday, I lost the earrings.

I know I had them on that morning, because my mom pointed them out to Natalie at breakfast. When I went up to shower that night, they were no where to be found. We had played an impromptu game of kickball that afternoon, and we can only assume that they fell off some time then. We searched every inch of that yard that night with flashlights, and the next morning in the daylight. And then we had to leave. Without the earrings. We never found them.

I have made some humdinger mistakes as a wife and a mom. Things I regret saying, things I regret doing, things that kill me to think about. But the thing I feel the most guilt over is losing those earrings. It was the most careless thing I have ever done. To have my family give me something that meant so much to THEM, something they put so much thought into, and then just to lose it like that. In less than a week. I never forgave myself.

Some things have value because they cost a lot of money. But some things have value because of the feelings and the sentiment attached. Those earrings had a lot attached to them.

Then a week or so before Valentine's, a friend at work mentioned my necklace (I still wear the necklace all the time), so I told her the whole horrible saga. And apparently she mentioned it to Mark in passing. And apparently, Mark didn't know I still carried so much guilt about it.

So guess what I got for Valentine's this year? Yep. New earrings. Only this time, they took me along to pick them out. (See, picking out some jewelery was one thing, picking out earrings to match a necklace was much more of a challenge. Too much of a challenge for my guys.)

We found some gold hoops with the same gold pattern. Not an exact match, but workable. And these earrings have a clasp - a really tight clasp. I was so happy - I wore them out of the store.

It feels like we completed a circle somehow. A circle with a really tight clasp.

The Joy of Raising Boys

We've made great strides lately in getting the boys to keep their rooms picked up and their clothes neatly put away. For example, look what I found in Ben's closet tonight:

My Liquor Store Find

I am somewhat of a novice in the wide world of libation, so if this is old news to anyone, please excuse. But I am so excited about something I found in the liquor store recently - I had to share!

See, I love to cook with wine. But I don't drink wine. So I end up buying a big bottle, using about half of it, and tossing the rest because I couldn't use it fast enough. Big ole bummer. But, my new best friend at the liquor heard my plight and directed me to what you see pictured left: mini-bottles! And I thought that was just for the hard stuff.

Turns out, Sutter Home makes a four-pack of mini bottles of their chardonnay. I set one next to a standard sized apple so you could get a feel for the size (they don't give the ounces - 187 ML - who the heck knows the metric system?) Should be just enough for about two dishes, which is just about all I need in a week's time. How sweet is that??

I bought two four-packs. One bottle is open in the fridge. I put the others in the basement. I like to pretend I have a really tiny wine cellar.

Smokin' Good Ribs

The ribs were overdone on the outside - we should have pulled them off way sooner - but past that tough exterior was some awesome meat. We tossed them in Tennessee's Best Apple Butter Barbeque Sauce and lived the dream.

After this bad boy cools, we'll be pulling it off the bone and saving it for sauce and sammies next week.

We had a few bumps along the way, and learned some lessons, but the ribs were more than edible and we should get some decent meals out of this big ole' butt. Good times.

Hit Counter Hit

This is not so much a new post as a cry for help. I'm noticing hit counters all around the blogosphere are inoperable. I plan to do what I do in any emergency - report the issue and let people smarter than me come back and tell me what to do. Comments are requested - where is my hit counter?

Man Food

Me man. Me cook meat.

We broke bad at Lowe's yesterday and bought a charcoal smoker. We have no idea what we're doing, but we have some instructions, and a grasp on the basic concept that meat, heat and smoke will produce a fair supper. We are currently smoking two racks of baby back ribs (which we hope will be tonight's supper) and a pork butt roast (which we hope will be BBQ sandwiches for various and sundry meals next week.) We are approaching this as a learning experience, which means two things: we didn't buy very expensive cuts of meat, and we have a back up plan to eat at church tonight if necessity dictates. I will keep you posted.

Cub Scout Memories

Ben's first Boy Scout meeting is Monday night. As a Boy Scout, he has to remove all of the adornments he enjoyed on his uniform in Cub Scouts. Mr. Miller was kind enough to make Ben a means to display all of his awards, patches, belt slides, etc., and yesterday we put this together:


I couldn't keep the flash from reflecting on the wood, but you get the idea.

Weekend Baking

I love to get in the kitchen on the weekend and play around. This weekend, I did some things I'd been wanting to try for a while.

I started on Friday night with homemade pizza. Didn't really break any new ground here. Pizza is pretty much a staple on Friday nights these days. Both Ben and Daniel had the same second grade teacher - Mr. J - who prior to becoming a great teacher, worked for General Mills as a miller. As such, he learned a whole lot about baking and flour and gluten and...you get the idea. During both years the boys were in his class, we got to go to special baking classes he hosted for school families. We learned how to make bread, yeast rolls, and of course, pizza. I have to say, it's better than any pizza you get at restaurants, and a whole lot better for you. The crust uses wheat flour, you make your own sauce, and you use as much or as little cheese as you want. It doesn't look like all that in the picture, but trust me, it is tast-ee.

This morning, I did an experiment with one of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes: Banana Crunch Muffins. I've been reading a lot about King Arthur Flour's white whole wheat flour, which is touted as having the same effect on baked goods as plain all purpose flour, but with much more nutritional value. I've used it quite a bit in recipes that call for it, but had never taken the plunge and subbed it in a recipe that called for good ole white flour. I have to say, I couldn't tell the difference. These muffins are full of banana chunks, walnuts, and granola, and now they're full of fiber and other good stuff as well. Breakfast just got better at our house!

Finally, I tried a recipe this afternoon that I found in Cooking Light Magazine: Cardamom-Lime Sweet Rolls. I had never had cardamom, but the idea of lime in a sweet roll intrigued me. Sad to say, I think I killed the yeast (they didn't rise at all) but they did taste pretty good. I'll definitely try again and be more careful with the yeast. I used the white whole wheat flour again (I figured if I'd never had them before, how would I know the difference?)

What I'm Reading Now

Run, by Ann Patchett. I've only just started this one, so I can't say for sure how good it is. But I'm excited about it because Ann Patchett wrote Bel Canto, which is one of the best books I have ever read. Ever.

I've found that some books are good because they tell really good, really unusual stories. And some books are good because they tell very normal, everyday kinds of stories in a beautiful way. Bel Canto did both.

It's the story of a party held at the South American Vice President's house. He brings in an international opera star, and multiple foreign dignitaries, to celebrate the birthday of a famed Japanese businessman. All things are going as planned, when a group of terrorists break in and take everyone hostage. Only they aren't terrorists in the modern sense; they are actually a rather humanitarian group whose goal is the release of a comrade who is imprisoned by the government.

All of these people are locked up in this house together for something like forty or fifty days. Wonderful things begin to happen - that's all I'll say. Bel Canto is some of the most lyrical prose I've ever read. Read it if you haven't. It's a rare treat.

I have also read Patchett's The Magician's Assistant - not as good, but definitely in a similar style. I really like her stuff. Let's hope Run lives up.

Speaking of Cheesy Shows I Watched As a Kid

http://www.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//video/trailer/me60811758/

Good times!

The Mixer

I can't believe in all this time I haven't blogged about my mixer yet. It is my most prized kitchen possession. Pictured atop my side bar, it is a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer in chrome. I almost went with the candy apple red, but then decided chrome had a much more classic feel. Boy did I call that one.

These mixers are ridiculously expensive, and it took me a long time to talk myself into taking the plunge. A long time, plus a rebate offer, a 20% off coupon, and $150 in gift cards cashed in from a couple of different credit card rewards programs. You might say I wanted it bad.

It is the greatest small kitchen appliance of all time. It's like having another person in the kitchen, but one who just does the mundane stuff and doesn't get in the way. I carve the turkey, the mixer mashes the taters. I prep the pans, the mixer finishes up the cookie dough. I'm hardly even a factor in kneading pizza dough anymore. I just stand there and take the credit.

Funny story: Before I got the mixer, Daniel and I baked cookies using a hand mixer. When I told him I was getting this super-powered stud power tool, he was actually sad. He said "You won't need me to help bake cookies anymore." Thinking quickly on my mommy feet, I replied "No, YOU won't need ME to help bake cookies anymore. " (I know, that was one of my better moments.) So instantly, he gets excited about baking cookies all by himself.

I buy the mixer on a Monday night, but we get home late and can't bake. The next night, I have Bible study, and can't bake either. But Daniel is so pumped I don't want him to wait anymore. So I do the smooth hand-off to dad and say "Just measure out the ingredients, turn the mixer on low, and let Daniel do the rest." And so he agreed. When I got home, I asked "How was it? How did the mixer do?" I hear Mark from the next room, "That thing is AWESOME! We didn't even have to scrape down the sides of the bowl! Not even once!"

Ah. The joy of cooking.

Editor's Note: Special thanks to Ferdlings for fixing the picture. Looks much better now.

Daniel

No, not that Daniel. The Prophet Daniel.

I missed my Bible Study last night because of the Cub Scout banquet, and I watched the video tonight at home to get caught up. Our topic was Daniel in the Lion's Den. It was pointed out that when Daniel was put in the lion's den, a stone was rolled over the entrance to the den so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. (Check it out for yourself - Daniel chapter 6 - I had never recognized the significance before.)

Of course, this would not be the last time that someone tried to roll a stone over something in an attempt to keep it unchanged. But we now know, if God wants in, no stone is going to keep Him out. No situation is unchangeable.

Blue and Gold Banquet

Tonight was the annual Blue and Gold Banquet for our own Cub Scout Pack 37.

Daniel's Rain Gutter Regatta cake brought $30 at the cake auction.

Ben's Tollhouse Boy Scout brought $32 at the cake auction, even though it was technically a pie.

Daniel earned his Bear Badge.





Ben crossed over to Boy Scouts in a very nice ceremony. Ben also received the Arrow of Light Award, the highest honor in Cub Scouting. Ben is pictured with Mr. Miller, den leader and part-time cake auctioneer.

We are very proud of our scouts!

A Matter of Trust

One of our favorite board games to play with the boys, or with friends, is Shadows Over Camelot. You get to be one of seven knights in King Arthur's court. You could be Sir Galahad, Sir Tristan, Sir Gawain - you could even be King Arthur himself. You and the other knights work as a team to complete a variety of quests - the search for the Grail, the hunt for Excalibar, warding off the Picts and the Saxons - you could even battle a dragon if you choose. This is what makes Shadows Over Camelot so unique - it's cooperative. You and the other players work to defeat the game, and not each other.

It's not cheap - it retails for $49.95 (you can get it cheaper on ebay) - but it's worth every penny. We have played it more times than I can count - it's a different game every time and it requires a lot of teamwork and strategy to win.

But there's another element to the game. It's optional - you don't have to play this way, but if you like, you can play with a traitor. At the start of each game, you each choose a loyalty card. Your card will tell you if you are loyal to the realm, or if you are a traitor. You don't show anyone your card, and you don't tell anyone what you drew. Typically, if you have five people, you would use six loyalty cards - five loyal knights and one traitor. So you play the game with the possibility that one of you is secretly working against the others. If the team loses, the traitor wins. Tricky stuff.

It is recommended that you play the game several times without the traitor, until you get the hang of how it's played. And so we did. We played probably four or five games with everyone loyal before we introduced the traitor. Keep in mind we only introduced the possibility that there was a traitor in our midst - there was also a chance that no one drew the traitor card and no traitor was present.

Here's the great life lesson I learned from this game: as soon as the possibility of the traitor was introduced, the entire feel of the game changed. Before, if someone wanted to go get Lancelot's armor, we said Great, go to it, how can we help? But when that person might be a traitor, all of the sudden you question his motive. Why do you want the armor? Why shouldn't I have the armor? Or, Why did she do that? Was that just a tactical mistake, or is she plotting something? It blew my mind how differently the game was played when no one quite trusted any one else.

Ironically, we played twice with loyalty cards before anyone actually drew the traitor card. The first two games we just sat there and accused one another and in reality, no one was actually doing anything disloyal.

Strange thing, trust.

This Week's Poll

I would like to direct your attention to a new feature here at mixin' it up: the poll.

No, not a person from Poland. That's a Pole. A poll, as in, "Hey, I'm taking a poll...." Public opinion and all that nonsense.

Anyway, my plan is to change up this poll about once a week (hence the name, This Week's Poll) and ask lots of gut-wrenching, soul-searching questions. Or maybe I'll just go for easy laughs - we'll see what happens.

So far, we're about four days in to our first poll, and I'm honestly surprised at the results. Out of six voters, half of you would chug a latte with Moses. Neil Armstrong is running a close second. I don't know why this surprises me, but it does. See, as fascinating as these two guys are, there are no guarantees that they would be good at conversation. I don't think Moses even speaks English - did you think about that? You'd be out five bucks for the latte and none the wiser. Just some things to consider.

If you haven't voted yet - it's not too late! Visit the side bar and let your voice be heard!

Happy 40th Birthday, Crazy Uncle Paul!

What I'm Reading Now

Body Surfing, by Anita Shreve. She's one of my favorites. The Pilot's Wife and Fortune's Rocks were great books. She's had a couple of duds as well, but this one is good so far. She sometimes tries the unconventional - Body Surfing is written in a series of short, almost understated, paragraphs, and it gives the feeling that you're not quite getting everything. In a previous book, she told the story of a romance in reverse order. I didn't care for it, until the very end, when I got it, and it all made sense. ("Ohhhhhh.")

The one thing she does that I really, really like is she sets many of her books in the same house. Fortune's Rocks, Sea Glass (if I recall correctly), The Pilot's Wife, and this one are all set in the same house on the coast of New Hampshire (Or is it Massachusetts? Somewhere up there). They make mention of the people who lived there before them, but they don't know anything about them beyond the basics. (But we do!) After the first two books, I realized she was making the house a character almost - a really interesting element in her stories. Good stuff.

guysread.com

Since most of my readers are guys, or are raising guys, I thought this would be of interest.

We got Ben a really cool book for Christmas - Guys Write for Guys Read. It's an anthology of essays and things written for a web site called guysread.com.

Guysread.com is devoted to literacy for boys. It offers great suggestions for books for boys of all ages - from just being read to, to completely grown up and still reading. It focuses on titles that boys would like - titles like The Day My Butt Went Psycho and The Stupids. The man who founded the web site, Jon Scieskza, is an elementary school teacher, children's book author, and just happened to grow up with five brothers. He knows a thing or two about boys and reading. He created the web site out of a concern for boys' dwindling excitement about reading as they get older, and from the theory that boys would read more, if they had more "boy stuff" to read.

The anthology was created in support of the web site - guy writers and illustrators of all kinds contributed their thoughts about reading and writing - for guys. David Shannon shares the origin of No, David! (he wrote it when he was five). Avi tells of a comic book drive that he organized when he was a kid to get reading materials to patients in a veterans hospital (he couldn't stop reading the comic books himself long enough to send them to anyone). Richard Peck, Rick Reilly, Stephen King - they're all in here. Ben is really enjoying it (he told me the Avi story on the way home from school today.)

So check it out. There's a lot of good information out there.

Let's Play Tag!

Apparently, I've been tagged in some bizarre blog game. These are the rules:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.
Tag 5 people.

So, the nearest book to me right now is Southern Belly by John T. Edge (for more information, see previous post about this book). Page 123 gives details about a Starnes' Barbeque in Owensboro, Kentucky. My three sentence are as follows:

"They might do their meat different, their sauce different. It's all different out there. But we do it the way we've always done it, cooking over hickory for ten to twelve hours."

At this point I am supposed to tag five people who have to perform this feat of posting as well. However, George already tagged almost all of the other bloggers I know, so I am simply going to tag you if you read this and have a blog. Get posting, people!

Just How Stupid Are We?

Ok, so I bought this gift card (one of you will be learning more about this card in the coming days). Anyway, as I'm preparing this card for mailing, I notice the following instructions printed on the paper backing:

Remove tab and fold in thirds.

Tuck tab into slot to close.

Personalize and present gift.

Present gift? Is this a truly necessary part of the instructions? I only ask because I know that all safety warnings come from someone actually doing the foolish thing in question (yes, someone apparently used a hair dryer in the bath tub, and yes, someone apparently strapped their baby into an exer-saucer and sent him sailing down a snowy embankment). So I have to assume that somewhere out there, some guy returned a gift card to the store saying "This is a piece of crap! It doesn't work! It just sits there on my dresser and my friend is still not happy!"

Are we truly that stupid? Are we moving to a point where we have to spell everything out for everyone? Do grocery store cashiers need to start telling shoppers "You know, you're gonna want to consume those tomatoes eventually." Where do we draw the line?

So what say you? What evidence of the growing stupidity of man have you seen lately?

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Recap

I finally finished the Kingsolver book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It was quite good. A little bit tedious at times, more than a little preachy at times, but definitely worth my time.

This family of four moved to Southwest, VA and pledged to eat nothing but food they could grow themselves or buy from local farmers. Their goal was to a) see if it could be done and b) be greener. (See, we burn a lot of gas transporting strawberries from Florida to Minnesota in January.)

They quickly determined there are some things you just can't grow and produce yourself, at least not on a small farm in Virginia. Coffee. Olive Oil. Most spices. So for the things that they couldn't live without and couldn't grow, they made allowances, but thoroughly researched who they bought from (how far did it travel? did it come from a country practicing fair trade? etc.) before agreeing to purchase anything.

Otherwise, they grew it or raised it before they ate it. And did a fair job of canning and storing to get them through the winter. It was a pretty impressive undertaking.

I learned quite a bit that I didn't know - the whole local food movement was new to me (they call themselves locavores), but now I see evidence of it everywhere. I learned not to trust labels until you thoroughly research what things like "organic" and "free range" can include - for example, "free range" chickens can live in a building no where near big enough for the lot of them, as long as they can go outside in a small pin once a day for about an hour (sounds like a maximum security prison). I learned that seventy percent of the commercial farms in this country grow corn or soybean, which means we have to find uses for all that corn and soybean (read: corn syrup and fillers) to keep the farmers going. I learned that cheese is not hard to make at home - all you need is the equipment (unless you just happen to have bacteria lying around.)

I would be interested to read some opposing arguments on this topic (as I said, she was a bit preachy at times) but I enjoyed the book. Am I planning to start raising turkeys in my back yard? Not likely, but I have been inspired to at least consider the idea of a small garden. Herbs maybe. If not to be greener, just because locally grown food tastes so much better. And it's good to dig in the dirt.

So check it out if you're interested. And if you're interested but you just don't want to read the book, you can visit animalvegetablemiracle.com for information on local food sources (farmer's markets, commercial farms that sell direct to consumers, etc) and some interesting recipes.

Happy Birthday Mark!

My wonderful husband and best friend is 41 today!

Have a great one - I love you!

My Superbowl

Buffalo wings. Chips and cheesy sausage dip. Chocolate wafers with peanut butter icing. Cheesy doodles. Push-ups (the sherbert kind, not the physical exertion kind.)

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Tom Petty. Good times. How old was that bass player?

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So the guys asked what we could do with all this extra coin, and I'm like "I'm rentin' a clown!"

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Daniel: "Why is Peyton Manning clapping?"
Mark: "He's cheering for his brother."
Ben: "No, I think he just hates Tom Brady, mostly."

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Go Giants.

More Where in DC?

I don't think these will be nearly as fun, as they were ruled out of my original post for being "too obvious" (that, and we aren't in any of these pics). Let's see if I'm right....the last one also takes us out of DC proper, to one of its outlying attractions.

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Where in DC?

In the spirit of Kyle's Where in SC? series, I give you Where in DC? These are all pics taken on our vacation to our nation's capital last summer. Can you tell where exactly we are?

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Brining...It's Not Just For Turkeys Anymore

One of the best things Alton Brown ever taught me is the beauty of brining meat. Not just chicken and turkey...pork roasts, beef roasts, steaks...he even recommends brining shrimp, which I have to admit, I haven't tried yet. But once I started, I never went back.

AB explains the brining process very scientifically in his book I'm Just Here For the Food. It has something to do with cells trying to equal salt levels by bringing the outside water in and sending the inside water out. Or something. It was really over my head. All I know is....it rocks. Every time. For two reasons:

1. It flavors the inside of the meat. You know how salting food while you cook it makes it takes more like itself, but salting food after it's done just makes it taste salty? Same principle. You get all this salt flavor inside the meat, but it doesn't taste salty. It just tastes awesome.

2. For those of us who like our meat more on the done side, brining allows you to cook the meat longer without drying it out. It takes in so much water, that you could cook it for days and it would still be juicy.

So here's AB's basic brine:

• Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
• Once boiling, dissolve 1/2 cup kosher salt and 1/2 cup sugar in the water.
• Once dissolved, pour into two cups of ice (this increases the water by 2 cups, and cools down the boiling water so you can put the meat in it without cooking it).
• Put the brining solution into a big ziplock bag and add the meat.
• Squeeze out all the excess air before zipping closed.
• Refrigerate for eight hours or overnight. If you don't have eight hours, or didn't plan ahead, you can still brine for a shorter period of time, but more is better.

It's that easy. Once you get used to this brine, you can change it up some by adding other flavors, but I love this one so much that I haven't changed it. I use this amount of brining solution for a whole chicken, pork tenderloin, or eye of round roast. If I'm brining something thinner, like a flank steak, I usually reduce the salt and sugar by half; otherwise, it can get salty. If I'm brining something bigger, like two chickens or a turkey, I increase the salt and sugar by a quarter or so and double the water (you'll get the hang of it after a while).

I don't know what this solution does to the nutritional value of the meat, and I don't want to know. I can't go back now so why bother with all that bad news.

So next time you're having the in-laws over and you really want to wow them with your meat skills, throw your main course through a brine before cooking. You'll be glad you did.

How Great Thou Art

Then sings my soul

My Saviour, God, to Thee

How great Thou art

How great Thou art