Little White Church

I've blogged in the past about the clogging workshop we went to in the spring, Garden State Stomp. At that time, I had no pictures or videos to share. Today, as I was browsing You Tube for some other videos, I decided to see if anything had been added. I found this clip. It is actually from the after party from this year's workshop. Enjoy!






I haven't figured out yet how to add more than one video from You Tube, so tomorrow I'll add another one that I like.

Greece Someday...Maybe?

I've seen a few movies that are based in Greece lately. The scenery looks absolutely gorgeous and inviting. Cities on hillsides, culture, the food, the people and their daily activities. I know that the movies make it look peaceful and restful and usually don't show the difficult stuff. But, I'd still like to see it.

There is so much of the world that I would like to see before I die. And to experience it with Steve would be awesome. I know that it will probably have to wait until the kids are grown and on their own. So, that's my dream today. To see more of the world with my best friend that I married. It might be fun to see it with some of our friends too. I'm looking forward to growing old with Steve and hope that we get to travel as much as we would like to.

Restablishing Routine and Hibachi Night

I don't know about you, but it has been a whirlwind of activity in my household since May. I have a lot to catch up on here. It was nice to hear of some people missing my blogs and asking if I still am blogging.....thanks Jennifer! I've jokingly told Bev and Betsy that at times I feel like I should carry a small notebook around with me to write down the blogging ideas that come to me so that I don't forget them. Yes, I know I can do that on my phone, but I like the idea of seeing that on paper and being able to flip back and forth between pages. I know I still have to blog about the Oreo truffles.



We have had homeschool convention, 4 H Public Presentations, County and State Level, clogging performances and 4 H Farm Fair. We have also attended VBS and Family Camp. And we had a vacation in Hershey/Lancaster, PA area. Now the summer is coming to a close and it's time to get back into our homeschool and normal life routine.



We also just updated/upgraded some of our equipment and it is taking some time to familiarize ourselves (myself) on the new technology. I have pictures to upload from the camera too and some of the planned posts are suppose to have at least one or two of those pictures.



In the meantime, Steve and I went out tonight to Mikado for Japanese Hibachi dinner. It gets expensive to go to those places, so we don't go often, but it sure is a fun experience! I hope that someday we will be able to take all of the kids and not worry about Courtney's allergy. I think they would really enjoy the experience. Clarissa went to this particular restaurant with our church youth group in the spring of this year. She loved it so much that she said daddy and I needed to go sometime. The most memorable part of her experience was that the chef had a little boy figurine that holds a liquid (I personally think it's water) and when he squeezes it, the little boy "pees"! I think it's water, cuz it seems to be a steaming effect and the chef does it after the seasoning of the food. Clarissa said that daddy would get a kick out of that - he did! I love the show that comes with the dinner. Our chef flipped a piece of broccoli into our mouths...Steve got the first one...the chef had to try a second time for me! We ordered rolls for appetizers. Steve got a beef negamaci (?), essentially beef rolled around scallions and pan fried in a sauce. I got an Alaskan roll, smoked salmon, avocado, cuccumber and mayo. We tried each other's and they were both tasty. Steve ordered chicken and NY Strip steak. I had Filet Mignon. Both meals were very good as was our show. We decided to have desserts that I would probably not make at home. Steve had banana tempura with green tea ice cream. Bananas were dipped in Tempura batter and then fried, drizzled with honey and served with the green tea ice cream. I had a chocolate caramel pyramid. It essentially is chocolate mouse with a caramel center, dusted with cocoa powder and topped with whipped cream and a marachino cherry. Both were very good desserts. A good time out together.



I will be back soon with more blog posts!

Mexican/Indian Night

I was on a hunt for a really good rice pudding recipe. I started to look through one of my older cookbooks, one that's as old as me and was my mom's, and found a recipe that I might try soon. Across the page from it was a recipe for Baked Indian Pudding. Hmm...it looked interesting and you know I just had to try it! It is made of cornmeal, milk, butter, light-brown sugar, dark molasses, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and light cream. It smelled good baking. Steve thought it tasted like ginger snap cookies. I thought that was a pretty good description. All but one of the kids tried it (she didn't get to try because she didn't finish her dinner) and liked it, even said it was blog worthy!

Since I was making Baked Indian Pudding for dessert, I had to have something close to complimentary for dinner. I decided on Taco Casserole. That was a hit with four out of the five kids too! After they finished, I informed them that they had enjoyed mild taco sauce and diced green chilies! What a mean mom, sneaking spicy food into them! They said it deserved a spot on our favorite meals board!

I like a night that ends with happy tummies - at least a majority!

San Marzano Sauce with Linguine a la Nicholas Sparks

I finished reading True Believer by Nicholas Sparks on Sunday. I really enjoyed the book. In the story, the main characters eat an authentic San Marzano pasta sauce with linguine. It sounded so simple and yet divine, that I just had to try it. All it is, is two large cans of San Marzano tomatoes, 1 stick of butter and 2 onions cut in half. Bring to a boil and then turn down to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. I cut the onions in half across the width. It smelled insane!

The San Marzano tomatoes were whole, so I thought that over the 1 1/2 hours of simmering that they would breakdown a bit and they did. I thought it was interesting to put the onions in the sauce in the large halves. I used Vidalia onions. I thought that the onions would soften up and maybe separate during the simmering. Pretty good guess! Not all of the onion separated, but enough did. I would have never put onions in like that, except that the character of the book stated that dicing the onions would ruin the sauce that she learned to make from her restaurant owning grandmother. The onions had a texture that no store bought sauce could match! It was so good! Apparently, I was raving about it through dinner...at least that what my daughter said!

I served the pasta with a salad and biscuits. I will definitely be making this again!

Another Birthday Celebrated

We recently celebrated another birthday here! We have a tradition that the birthday person gets to pick the meals for the day. So, my dear son decided that we were going to have Cinnamon Blintzes for breakfast, Jambalaya for lunch and Papa John's for dinner! Definitely some favorites around here. He said that he chose those meals because we haven't had them in while. He also wanted a Bakugon Cake. That was going to be a challenge for me since I couldn't order one from the bakery.



Cinnamon Blintzes are really, really good and really easy to make. But, they do take time. I didn't think about taking any pictures of them, mostly because I was busy making them.



Jambalaya is wonderful! A friend of ours who happens to have a Creole background introduced us to it. I haven't looked for a recipe to make it, but have use the mix by Zatarain's. I did two pots. One mild, (picture on the top) made with smoked beef sausage and the other, (picture on the bottom) spicy Creole style with Andouille sausage! The kids absolutely love the mild version, except for my youngest with the severe food allergies. The birthday boy tried the spicy version and really liked it, but the second serving ended up being a little too much for him.










I don't need to say much about Papa John's except for the fact that the order got a little mixed up. But, after I called to let them know of the mix up, they sent the correct pizza, so we got 3 for the price of 2! Can't really complain about that!



Now the Bakugon cake had me a little baffled! I go to the local Party City store to get the specialty items that I can't get at Target, Walmart, or the grocery store. Nobody had any cake topper type stuff for Bakugon. So I got an idea while I was standing in the isle at Party City. There was a large Bakugon key chain. I figured, well, I could use that as a topper and put it on a doilie so as to not contaminate the cake. Yes, I actually have to think of that. I think it worked pretty good! At least he was pleased with it! He specified a triple chocolate cake, and that was what he got!



All in all, a fun day!

A Movie I Watched and an Old TV Show I Want to Share With the Kids

I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic the other day. It was a pretty good movie! I think it is based on a book, so now I want to read it.

I also recently discovered that our local library has copies of the old tv series, The Land of the Lost! Anxious to see what the kids think of that! Then, maybe we'll consider watching the remake.

Neeley's Cookies and Cream Cake

I made the Neeley's Cookies and Cream Cake the other day for the most recent birthday and it was really good! It was so good, that it lasted the night of the birthday and one more day. It is now gone! I served it with a bit of cookies and cream ice cream on the side. Empty plates! Worth making again! I think it was the first birthday cake I've made from scratch. I've always used the convenience of the cake mixes or the bakery. It was easy to make. After icing the bottom layer, it looked a bit like an Oreo!

I decided to pour the icing over the top of the cake. I had several people talking to me while I was counting the cups of powdered sugar, so I was either right on or just under. The icing turned out to be pourable. I need some practice on writing freehand on cakes though.

I need to make those Oreo truffles again. I thought I took some pictures, but haven't been able to find them.

I've done some cookies and cream brownies recently too that I'll have to make again.

Chive Risotto Cakes

We have tried the Chive Risotto Cakes and they are really good! They require time sitting in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight. I chose overnight. That means that I prepped on Monday night. Oh did it smell insane mixing the ingredients together Monday night! I had each of my kids smell the mixture in anticipation, before putting it in the fridge! I unfortunately had about half to one-third of the chives called for in the mixture, due to a little curious one tipping the container of the rest of the chives on the floor that needs to be mopped. There was no rescuing that!


There are a few things I learned through this experience. Snipping chives with kitchen scissors works well for garnishing, but "mincing" this many chives really works better with a chef's knife!! I used the suggested amount of panko breadcrumbs, but needed to add more for my satisfaction. They sure make a nice crust! It is important to have the burner at medium-low, because if it's not hot enough, the crust won't develop right. If you have it too high, you'll burn the cakes and you don't want that either! So, just to clarify for you, medium-low is that one notch just above medium. I also learned that either my burner element has hot spots or it is not level. I had some cakes in each batch turn out beautiful, while at least one seemed a little under golden. Still, all in all, they were very good. My pickiest eater started and finished before the rest of us were sitting down at the table to start our meal together. I figure, if she eats it like that, it's a keeper recipe! My picture would have looked better if I had dressed it with the balsamic vinaigrette before taking the picture! I realized that after I had already started eating. If I had had some extra chives, I would have garnished with a dollop of Greek yogurt and two strips of chive draped across. I think it is better as a gourmet lunch than dinner though, so I'll probably make it again on a weekend for lunch.






We had strawberry shortcakes for dessert, using the recipe on the Bisquick box. YUM!

Clogging Workshop

Have you ever watched clogging? I saw a bit of clogging in Ithaca, NY, as a teen on vacation with my parents. I also saw some clogging at Tweetsie Railroad in North Carolina several years ago, on a family vacation. Both of which I would consider to be more of the mountain style of clogging.

About 3 years ago we learned that there is a local 4H group of Cloggers. Our neighbor had been involved with the group that year. The following Fall, my two oldest children joined the group. We haven't looked back! They have so much fun! I get so much joy from just watching them! The following year, the next child joined and this year, my second youngest joined. My youngest needs to wait 2 years to be old enough to join.

Yesterday my three oldest and I attended a clogging workshop. This was our second time attending. It is such a fun day! They start instruction at 10 am and break for lunch and then have more instruction in the afternoon until 4 pm. Then, there are exhibitions in the evening. Our group has tryouts for this exhibition. They learn the steps to a new routine, that their leader(s) has choreographed, over a period of several weeks. Then, about six weeks before this workshop, they have to try out for the routine. If they get through the try outs, they have four weeks to perfect the routine.

This year the routine was a difficult one. They did a tribute to Michael Jackson with Motown. They worked so hard on the routine and were still struggling with a few sticky parts in the afternoon before the exhibition. It's a large group, so precision and synchronization are a big deal. They did such an incredible job and NAILED the routine! I wish I could post a video, but there's a lot involved in that, particularly getting permission from the other parents. Then, there's the sad, sad fact that somehow during the night, I had pressed the record button in between routines and didn't realize it. So, instead of actually recording their routine, I have a shot of the closed curtain! Oh, was I frustrated with myself! Fortunately, my friend I was sitting with, who also is a clogging mom, got the routine on her camera! She's going to make a copy for me, so I can have something to show the rest of the family!!! Next year I'll pay closer attention. I have all of last year's exhibition recorded.

I have to tell you, that my totally unbiased opinion is, that our group is in the top three groups that have performed this year and last year! I wish there was judging so I could tell you just how awesome they are!

Is There Such a Thing as Food Lust??

I like to catch the shows on Food Network every now and then. There was a period of time that I watched it as much as possible (when we first got the channel). I haven't watched as much lately, because it got to a point where there were a lot of reruns. And then, kids grow up and need your attention more, because they actually hold conversations. Anyway, I caught a couple of shows the other day. Let me just say, they got me to lusting after the dishes they were making. Let me explain that a little more, lest someone think wrongly of me. I looked up the definition, because the definition I knew of was the sinful one we all know of. I wanted to make sure that there was another definition than that. And there is! According to my copy of the Third College Edition of Webster's New World Dictionary, it also means "intense enthusiasm; zest" and zest is defined as "keen enjoyment; gust". So, yes, I think there is such a thing as food lust and I don't necessarily think it is sinful. Unless it gets you into big trouble.



How would I describe it? Well, have you ever walked by a display case of food and felt your mouth start to water and you want to taste that food that is causing your mouth to water so much? Or, have you ever watched a cooking show as they assemble their creation and thought "man, I wish this television was smell-o-vision or taste-o-vision"? I mean, it looks sooo good, that you just have to have a taste! Yes? Well then, you know what I mean. As I watched these shows, I told my daughter that she needed to finish up on the computer so that I could print up these recipes. Let me clarify that I wasn't just idly sitting there watching, I was also correcting schoolwork or working on scheduling schoolwork.



So what are these dishes that got me salivating so bad? Well, Ina Garten was making Chive Risotto Cakes. Oh they looked so good! She served them with a simple salad. Paula Dean was making cookies for a cookie swap. All of them looked divine, but I can't make all of them since some of them had nut ingredients. However, I can make her Loaded Oatmeal Cookies and just eliminate the walnuts, maybe add a few more raisins or some craisins. The Neely's were making some good food too. The dish that caught my eye was their Cookies and Cream Cake. That just might be the next birthday cake we make here. Just so happens that I had to go to the grocery store that night. I picked up the supplies I didn't already have to make the Chive Risotto Cakes. I think I already have all the supplies for the Loaded Oatmeal Cookies and the Cookies and Cream Cake. I'll be working on these recipes soon and will try to post pictures of how mine come out.



So, I don't think that food lust is such a bad thing, as long as it doesn't get out of control. Let me know if you try any of the recipes!

Food Coloring and Colored Sugar

It's been too long since my last post. I will be spending the next few days trying to catch up.

We've been playing with coloring our food around here lately! Yes, playing with our food! Lorianne's birthday was last month and Clarissa wanted to make her cake. I ask the kids for a theme they are interested in for their birthdays (we keep celebrations small and pretty much in the family for my sanity) and do my best to find things with that theme. It's a little challenging, since we can't go to the bakery for the cake, so we do what we can. This time Lorianne wanted polka dots and stripes. Clarissa helped me pick out the plates and napkins. The cake was made and then came the time for the decorating of said cake. We did our best to match the colors of the plates and napkins with the frosting. Now, if you looked at the cake without the plates and napkins, it truly looked odd. But, we were amazed at how good the cake looked on the plates! We couldn't have done a better job matching the colors! This was Clarissa's first time decorating a cake freehand!

After playing with food coloring for Lorianne's birthday, I colored cookies for St. Patrick's Day! We had green sugar cookies with green sugar! I had been on a hunt for a sugar cookie recipe like this one for a while. We love the taste of the famous Lofthouse Cookies, but we can't buy them due to Courtney's nut allergy. I think I finally found a recipe that comes close enough for me! These cookies are sooo good, that they are bad!

I made the same sugar cookie recipe for Easter, separated the dough into two bowls and colored the dough in one bowl rose and the dough in the other bowl orange. I decided to bake the orange dough first and then use the same scoop for the rose colored dough. The result of doing that gave a few of the cookies a sherbet looking color! That was cool! Again, they were sooo good, that they were bad!

So, sometimes it's good to play with your food! It's got me thinking about making some edible play dough in the near future.

Reflections on Life: Beginning, Middle and End

Beginning: Birth
Middle: Leaving home for college, marriage and sometimes having your own children
End: Death

I've had the opportunity to reflect on life for the past 4 weeks or so. That is part of why I haven't posted in a while. My family has witnessed quite a few endings to life during this time. In a way, it bothered me. I remember a time, not too long ago, that we attended or were invited to and unable to attend, many weddings. Birth is always a time of celebration. Steve and I have had 5 such occasions ourselves. Friends of ours just had twins and finally were able to bring them home from the hospital. Other friends of ours have 4 girls and are now expecting a boy. All reasons to celebrate. We celebrate life a lot. But what about death? Death can bring so many emotions of varying degrees.

A month ago we literally celebrated the life of a friend, the father and father-in-law of very dear friends. I can honestly say it was one of the best funerals I've ever been to. This friend died young of cancer, but he left quite a legacy. We know for a fact that we will see him again in heaven some day. Not long after that, my parents informed me of the death of a lady who had quite a significant impact on my childhood. She wasn't that old, she was in her 70's. I don't know what she suffered from, but read in the obituary that she had been in a nursing home. Then, a few days later, my parents again informed me of the death of another lady of significance from my childhood. I was really young, but I remember her house. It made me think of a castle. It sat on a hill facing a bridge that crossed over the river of that town. I imagined secret passageways in her house. She was the age you expect life to end. Then, last Wed., we got word of Steve's great uncle passing away. He was 95. We expected his time would come, but was very surprised when it did. His health had been worsening over a long period of time, but because he was hanging on for so long, it seemed like a shock. That night, we got word of someone we knew in college (I actually knew him and his wife before college, when they were dating) had fallen to his death in a construction accident. All of these people I have known through a connection with church. I'm confident that I will see them in heaven.

We went to Uncle Bob's funeral (Steve's great uncle) over the weekend. It was a priviledge. We got to hear stories we've never heard before. We got to see people we haven't seen in a long time. We got to watch him receive Military Honors. Our children got to experience this and had questions, all very good questions. It was another funeral of celebration. Uncle Bob had impacted many people. It was bittersweet.

Steve's Uncle Buck has been dealing with cancer for a couple of years. A week or two ago we learned that he is now on Hospice. We stopped to visit him on our way home from Uncle Bob's funeral. It was a hard visit, but a very good one at the same time. He was set up in a hospital bed in the family room. The last time we saw him he was walking around. The biggest change we noticed was a look of peace on his face and a difference in the way he conversed with us. Aunt Peggy wasn't home when we stopped by, but Cousin Joyce was taking care of Uncle Buck. It was a hard trip home. After we got home, we talked with Steve's mom for a bit on the phone to let her know we got home safely and to talk about our visit. I told her what I noticed and asked her some questions. After we hung up the phone with her, Aunt Peggy called to see how we were doing after the visit. I told her what I had noticed too. My suspicions were right and Uncle Buck had asked Christ to be his Lord and Saviour. So, we now know that we will see him in heaven some day too. That eases the pain, but it is still going to be hard. There was such a peace in Aunt Peggy's voice that we've waited a long time to hear. She had been praying for Uncle Buck for a long time. We have one more trip planned to see Uncle Buck, hopefully before he's gone. They've asked Steve and I to sing Till the Storm Passes Over at the funeral. I have a tendancy to cry when I sing something meaningful. I'm hoping that we both can make it through the song for our friends and family, before we lose it. My friend Theresa said to me "it's hard to sing at a funeral, but the songs are to comfort the friends and family". So true.

So, it's been busy around here. I have a few posts to catch up on. I've promised Bev and Betsy to blog about a few things and I will.

I'll leave you with this for now.

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping, for killing and healing, destroying and building, for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing, for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting. There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving, for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking. There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Using the Knowledge Absorbed from Watching The Food Network

We had another snowstorm today. Steve's office closed just before lunch due to the heavier snow they will see. I decided to use the day to catch up on some housework. That means that I hadn't given dinner any real thought.



So, looking for some inspiration I asked Steve, while he was finishing up his day's work at the table, what he would like for dinner. Ususally he doesn't know, but bless his heart, he wants to make it easy on me and asked me if we had anything quick to pull out. I looked in the fridge and said, "well, we have some leftovers from last night and other meals". We had spaghetti last night. We really didn't like the idea of having that again though. Fortunately, when we have leftover spaghetti or other cut pasta, I generally pack the pasta separately.



I had some baby bella mushrooms and some shallots, as well as balsamic vinegar. I decided to make a side dish with them. While they were sauteing, I started to pull out the spaghetti sauce. Then I looked at the mushrooms and shallots and got an idea! "Steve, what do you think about having the mushrooms and shallots with the pasta?". "Sure!" So then I tossed in the cold pasta to warm up in the pan with the sauted mushrooms and shallots! So proud of myself I said loudly "I'm using the knowledge I've absorbed from watching The Food Network all these years!" Clarissa, my oldest, proceeded to laugh at me! It turned out quite good! Although as I'm typing this, I realize that I forgot all about adding the garlic! Oh, that would have been good! I did top it with grated parmasan though! The kids had other leftovers, but that's fine, because this was just enough for Steve and I!!

Tomorrow is apparently suppose to be another very snowy day. I plan to use tomorrow's "snow day" as a school admin day. Hopefully I'll manage to make some time to make those Oreo truffles too!

Reading Cookbooks???

First of all, I was thrilled yesterday to receive my box a day early!!!! I opened it yesterday and flipped through the cookbooks and my other book!

Betsy posed the question to Beverly and I a few days ago "who reads a cookbook?" I admitted to her that I have done that before and was in the process of reading The Flavor Bible, to see if it was worth owning my own copy. I have the library's right now. When Betsy arrived in France, they had a small apartment that they stayed in for a few days and no tv, so she started to read MAFC. When I looked at my copy (and I'm excited to have the same exact copy as Betsy), I saw that it is indeed a good idea to read first before trying a recipe. It's sort of a cookbook textbook. I'm okay with that. I'll be self educating in more fancy cooking without having to go to a school! Apparently the recipes increase in difficulty as you learn the techniques. I have to admit to you right now, that I don't have the time to go through this cookbook in one year like Julie Powell did. I also can't make every single recipe due to some of the food allergies in our family. But, I will try as many as I can and will post my experiences.

I also need to read through the beginning of AB in 5 Min. a Day because it's also new techniques. Therefore, I will be spending some time reading and preparing for my first recipes in these books. I'll try to post about other things I'm trying out in the meantime.

I was going to make some Oreo truffles today, until I found out that the bulk box I had bought to do this no longer has the amount of cookies I need left. I will have to wait until I go to Costco again to pick up more. Maybe before the week is over, since we may have another winter storm coming our way and I just may need to do a stocking up run again.

I found a recipe for Curried Meat in one of my other cookbooks yesterday. It is bascially a master recipe with variations to change it up. I may try to make some curried chicken before the week is over.

That's all for now. I'm going to watch some Olympics and knit for a while.

While I'm Waiting for the Cookbooks to Arrive....

Friday I did my Costco shopping. They sell a dehydrated mushroom blend. I've looked at it nearly everytime I go through that section. I want to find something to make with it. This last time I looked at it and wondered if I would learn anything new from Julia Child about cooking with mushrooms, if she uses a variety of mushrooms, or if I might have to do some research on that on my own. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, to open that box with the new cookbooks and another book I'll probably tell you about later.

Why Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, when there is a Panera Bread, Costco Bakery and a Wegman's bakery only 15 minutes from my house and in the same plaza? Well, because I can't buy their bread....literally. My youngest child has a life threatening allergy to all tree nuts and peanuts. I'm getting tired of reading labels when I shop. I've decided that my time is probably better spent making what we like rather than reading the labels of all the short cut items available. That means I need to find ways to make good food quickly and maybe create my own short cuts. I like really good bread and Steve likes having fresh homemade bread in the house rather than store bought. When we heard about AB in 5 Min a Day from 2 different people who don't even know each other, well, isn't that a good reason to give it a try? We think so! The concept seems to be about making a wet dough in bulk, that you store in your fridge and then all you have to do is take out the amount of dough that you want to use that day, shape it, let it rest, then bake it! Well, that all sounds good to me! So, I'm just as excited to have this book! I'll probably still use the bread machine that I have too. It's all about options right now.

Saturday night, Steve and I went out for dinner and a movie. Indian cuisine rocks! Paneer Tikka (cottage cheese seasoned to perfection), Butter Chicken, Lamb Roganjosh and Gulab Jamun! What a dessert! Fried dumplings in a rose & cardamom syrup! I did NOT make the food. However, I love Butter Chicken and want a good recipe for it to make at home.

Steve & I were blown away by the Gulab Jamun! How in the world they made that syrup with rose & cardamom - we, or rather I was trying to figure it out. Steve humors me. I don't know if they use a rose infused water or honey....I've used cardamom before and like it but am stumped with the rose bit. The syrup was incredible, light and simply divine!

Steve & I were expecting the little cottage cheese curd that we are used to and were wondering how that would be.....but, this cottage cheese was more like 1" x 1/2" blocks of mild cheese cooked on kebobs with what I assume was a curry seasoning, served with onions, peppers and carrots - delectable!

Monsoon opened almost 2 years ago. We noticed their grand opening sign and visited within a week or 2 after that. I think last night was our 4th time eating in the restaurant and we've done carry out once or twice. We've liked everything we have tried there.

Avatar was a really good movie! I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I will say, we both agree that it will be added to our dvd collection! Really worth the trip to the theater if you haven't seen it yet!

I Think I Want to Blog, But What Do I Blog About and the Friends Who Inspired Me

I have 4 Friends who were my primary inspirations to blog. I've known Theresa for about the past 14 years or so. We met through our husbands who grew up going to camp together. It's only been in the past 6 years or so that we've really had the opportunity to develop our friendship to the point that I now consider her a sister. I met Peg through Theresa about 4 years ago. Peg taught me how to knit in August of 2008. I have learned that knitting with friends creates a special bond that's hard to explain. A little over a year ago I learned that both Theresa and Peg were blogging. I was interested, but unsure about blogging myself. So, I enjoyed following theirs.

Then I joined Facebook and loved it, thinking that it could sort of fill that desire to blog. It sort of did, but not completely. During the time since I joined Facebook, I reconnected with 2 sisters that I grew up going to camp with, Beverly and Betsy. Beverly and I were the oldest in our families and as far as we can remember we started playing together at camp somewhere between the ages of 8 & 10. Betsy was/is Beverly's younger sister. It has been a lot of fun reconnecting with them! Betsy has been blogging for a while too, so I started to follow her blog. The blogging bug bit again. Betsy just moved to France, so Beverly asked her if she had seen Julie & Julia. Lo and behold, she had and she also has Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I had wanted to see the movie but now had even more reason to, because of this new connection and understanding that Betsy had of Julia from this movie. Beverly told Betsy to blog about it, so she did. If you are curious, you can check out her blog. After reading Betsy's blog, I decided that I just had to see the movie sooner than later. The blogging bug bit again! Especially since Beverly was now considering blogging!

So, I finally made the decision. I REALLY want to blog! But, what do I blog about? I can't do what Julie Powell did, but that is a good starting point. What am I going to blog about then? Well, I am a homeschooling mom who likes to read, knit, bake and cook. Mostly I'm going to blog about my culinary adventures and maybe a bit about the other stuff I like to do too. I wanted to get MAFC so that I could connect in another way with Betsy while she is in France. Who knows, it may be the only way I'll get to experience France in this lifetime. I bit the bullet, so to speak, and ordered MAFC along with Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, which was recommended by another childhood friend of mine as well as a co-worker of my husband's. They are due to arrive this Tuesday and I can't wait!!

Why Kristi's Kafe Around the Korner? Well, the way I think about it, when friends get together at a local Kafe (changed the C to a K to match my first initial) they not only eat and drink coffee or tea together, but they also talk about their hobbies, what's new in general and what's going on the the world. A big thank you to Beverly and Betsy for the help in picking a name for my blog. And a big thank you to Theresa and Peg for the encouragement to go for it and have fun! I love you guys!

And there it is. Now you know why I want to blog, what I will blog about and who inspired me. I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I think I will! As soon as Beverly gets her blog set up, I will add her to my Blog List!