My Appalachain Culinary Education

We have just returned from a week in West Virginia. A good friend of mine was there visiting her parents for a few weeks and invited us to join her. Her family was very generous and hospitable and welcomed me and my kids and treated us just like family.
In addition to the gorgeous mountain views, the fresh cool air, the huge yard for the kids to run and chase butterflies and lightening bugs, and the chance to sleep in once in a while, the best part was the three meals a day placed in front of us that I didn't have to cook. That in itself made it worth the 10 hour drive. Even better, they were usually made from scratch homemade meals that my kids would actually eat. Unfortunately, I think I gained about a pound a day while I was there.
Each day I was asked, "Have you ever tired...." or "Do you like....." and then was presented with a new eating experience. I thought it would be fun to journal the things that I ate while I was there. If I had to find a way to illustrate good country cooking, I think this is probably the menu I would put together.

Beans and ham with fried potatoes and something green in a frying pan that I didn't try
Lasagna and green salad, made with vegetables pulled right from the garden by curious little kids
Chicken, fried green tomatoes, and home bottled green beans
Biscuits and gravy
Elk steak with tomato sauce, creamed potatoes and peas- new potatoes and peas served with white sauce, dug straight from the garden earlier that day
French toast and eggs
Wild turkey cutlets and trout fillets, fried in seasoned flour, and fresh broccoli with cheese sauce
Paper cupfuls of blueberries picked right off the bush
Ice cold lemonade, made without the use of any powdered or frozen mix
Chicken pot pie

Throw in some fishing, four wheeler rides, nature walks, deer sightings, bird watching, and rain dancing and I'd say we had a pretty good country mountain experience. Did I mention we slept under the watchful eye of a mounted boar's head?

Thanks Rosetta, Wilma, and Tim for a fun week! The kids are already talking about going back next summer.

It's Official

First I thought I had mono. Then maybe the flu. Then perhaps a chronic stomach virus.
However, it turns out I have none of those things. I have felt like I was dying for the past two months thanks to a millimeter-sized organism that has been growing inside me at an amazing rate.
I am 12 weeks pregnant.
And now that I have made it through the worst of it and I can cross the stomach virus symptoms off the list, we are all pretty excited about it. Lovingly nicknamed "Little Peanut" by its future older siblings, #4 should be arriving about the first of February.
We have been trying for nearly a year with no success. Apparently, the secret to getting pregnant has nothing to do with cycles and timing. It's all about getting prepared.
First, I set a goal to lose those last 20 pounds.
Then, I gave away several boxes of baby clothes and gear to a friend who was starting from scratch.
Then I lent my bassinet to a friend who managed to take it with her when she moved across the country.
Then I bought new running shoes and a jogging stroller and set a goal to run a 5K by the end of the summer.
I booked trips to two different amusement parks with the intent of riding every roller coaster I could this summer.
Finally, my baby turned into a crazy temper tantrum-throwing toddler who convinced me that I should never have more children. That seemed to do the trick. Hopefully my fiery little red head will make it through without driving us all over the edge. I think we all have suffered hearing loss to a degree thanks to the ear-piercing screams she lets out when I mention naps or bed time or tell her no.
However, after all that I am so happy and grateful for this blessing. I will trust that Heavenly Father knows best when it comes to timing and that He will help me to get through the hard parts.
And my running shoes still work great for chasing down runaway kids in Walmart and the library.

Starting over

We recently experienced a death in the family. It wasn't entirely unexpected. It had been a long, slow, drawn out process. There were signs for weeks, even months leading up to the final moments. The symptoms were classic- countless viral illnesses, memory loss, blackouts, paralysis. It was a power surge caused by the summer heat that finally did it. Mike tried CPR, shock therapy, even transplants and brain surgery, but nothing could be done. Our 5 year old desktop computer was pronounced dead at 5PM on a Wednesday afternoon, approximately 2 weeks ago.

A replacement arrived in the mail a few days ago. It is interesting starting fresh. No picture files. No documents or old primary lessons or preschool plans. No downloaded programs for picture viewing, webcams, toolbars, or games. No favorites or bookmarks. Nothing.

Strangely, I don't miss it all. I had Mike back up the pictures about a month ago, and rest are on the camera still, so no loss there. Everything else is gone, but I don't really need it. All the documents I was never going to open again. All the clipart that I used once then never touched again. And dozens of "favorites" that I just had to keep up with regularly. Blogs, recipes, websites, and other time vacuums. Two weeks later, and I really don't miss them at all.

I wonder why they were so important in the first place? I was prepared to spend a few hours hunting out the urls and replacing them all, but I think I am going to leave them alone in cyberspace. I wonder what else I can virtually declutter from my life?

In a Jam

How to make strawberry freezer jam- an un-tutorial.

1. But a bucket of strawberries from your local farm stand. Try not to eat them all on the way home.

2. Wash the berries. Try one or two to make sure they are good.

3. Have mom cut them up, even if you think you can do it yourself. Throw them in a big bowl.

4. Smash them up with a potato masher. Awesome! Try not to rocket them out of the bowl on to the floor too often.


5. Dump in the sugar and pectin and stir. Then lick the spoon while you wait. Quality control is important, make sure it tastes good!

6. Put it in a jar. Fill it all the way up!

7. Show off your finished product.

8. Give it to your teacher on the last day of school, for the "berry best" teacher ever!

Goal!

This year we thought it would be fun to sign both kids up for soccer as well as keeping up with activity days at church and ballet classes. I think I left the "thought" part out of the equation.

We were incredibly busy, especially after I was promoted from team mom to head coach of Andy's team when no other adults would step up. Thankfully, the boys were young enough to not notice that I had no idea what I was doing- the only rules they needed to know were: no hands, stay inside the lines, and kick it that way. I could handle that! We ended up with a small team, just 6 players compared to the 10 or 11 on most teams we played, but that just meant more playing time for everyone. By the end of the last game, every boy on the team had scored at least once. I figure that is as close as you can get to a successful season at that age.

Lenna played for the second time this year. Her team did much better than last year and Lenna really did well as her confidence grew. She scored her first goals, took a turn as goalie, and by the end was "Lightening Lenna" all over the field. She is growing into her long legs and is a really talented runner. She managed to keep up with her busy schedule pretty well but we both decided one extra curricular activity at a time is all we can handle.

It was also wonderful that Mike was out of school this year and was able to see many of their games and practices, as well as help me play taxi and keep Becca off the field while I ran Andy's practices. The kids loved having another proud parent there to cheer them on.

At the end of last game, everyone got a medal. We had a few extra from our team, so Becca and I got one, too. I think we earned them after four nights a week of soccer games and practices! Hooray for soccer, and hooray for the end of soccer season!

What happens when you cook in someone else's kitchen

This is what a plastic cutting board looks like after it has sat in a preheating oven for 30 minutes while you put the baby down for a nap. When you are at some else's house and try to be nice and bake dessert, but don't ask before turning on the oven. And neither of you notice it until the whole house smells like melting plastic.

The oven rack and cutting board were lost, but after we got the oven cleaned up lunch and dessert turned out great. I guess I am the only one who has never stored something in the oven to get it out of the way for company.

Oops. Sorry. I know what your house warming gift is going to be!