Staying up late

Tonight I am trying to keep myself awake so that I can go pick up Grant and Victoria from a friends house. They were privileged to go to the friends gym night. They have volleyball, basketball, etc. the first part is for the younger kids then the big boys play basketball for the last half. Gets to be a bit late for this mommy, but I so appreciate the time they get to spend with special people! Of course the kids love it, but we will pay the price tomorrow in spite of the promise I make my kids give me. Half smile.

Saying goodbye to some of the ugly.

This is not the ugly, but now we have a clearer view of this beauty.

This is may be ugly, but is was very useful, and had a surprising amount of sentimental value attached for the guys who had shared years of lunches eaten together in it.

Gentry had to pull it out for the buyer, it was squished back in between the trees. I am liking the basement shop more and more if we can remove things like this from our eyes. Have we mentioned how much we like Craigslist?

Creative Intelligence

You must watch this!

The most impressive shopping trip...

Gentry cannot complain, and in fact was so impressed with our latest shopping expedition that he went around telling everyone. We were looking for the unusal torilla press. I personally have never seen one in any of my shopping trips in the past, not that I had my eye out for one either. We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, and I told Gent that it shouldn't take too long (but knowing that in a store that big that getting what I want is time consuming and I can never find someone to ask, so I said that with some trepidation.) We go in, there is someone right there at the entrance who asked us if they could help. I asked for the press (feeling pressed myself to make this quick!) and she says, " Well, we have one more left and it is right here...it is being discontinued." So she goes and grabs it out of a nearby cart, and I asked if it had a special price since it was a discontinued item...yes, it would be 20% off. Fabulous, we pivoted on one foot, paid for our press and off we went on our way. In and out in 5 minutes. Yeah, that always happens when I go shopping!

Very very lucky!

There were some hesitant recruits set up to make tortillas! They became experts in no time flat! (Pun intended) We had originally planned on cooking them all outside on the grill, having the grill run by the appropriate gender also, but alas we had no gas. So...imagine our galley kitchen being used as a tortilla expressway with ladies bringing in tortillas (the runners) on the palms of their hands and slapping them down on the griddle on the stove. The chaos added to the whole adventure and bonding happened many times. There were a lot of folks in the kitchen at one time.

Still smiling! A double batch of corn and a double batch of flour. They were delicious! (We found a tortilla press which worked for the corn but the flour ones still needed to be rolled out.)

We had shrimp tacos, a spicy salmon and mango salad, homemade tortillas, beans, guac., picadillo, enchiladas, Spanish rice, and all the toppings! For desert we had flan, the polvorones, and Tres Leches cake (traditional mexican cake with three milk syrup poured over the top...frosted with whip cream and strawberries)! We all were so very lucky to partake of these pots!

Joe and the Big Truck

The day Gentry needed a big helper, Joe was quick to be on the job and working. He knew that a job this big would need his full attention and concentration.

An Uncle in need is a thing to heed, so he grabbed onto the stick and started lifting. The instructions were clear, there is no room for fear and a hard-working kid must do his share.

The work was confining, but it needed to be done. What else could Joe do but work till the project was finished.

Next time more dirt will need to be moved for this young man to really feel satisfied with the days work. For now we feel content about a job well done.

Hot Tortillas Arrruuuba!

I watched many videos on Youtube before I attempted this, there are many different recipes and methods. The little senoritas making them over a comal were so lovely to watch. They were very appealing, and make it look like a labor of love. Flour tortillas were fairly easy. I rolled them out with a rolling pin. They were very tasty-I got rave reviews (seemed a little too easy, but I liked them too.)

Cast iron is definitely the way to go.

Must have refried beans!

Dough for corn tortillas.

These are the ones I rolled out between two pieces of plastic wrap so the edges are very uneven, but that doesn't bother me, it makes them look "hand crafted". I think I may like the hand tossed ones a bit better, they are certainly thicker so they take a long time to cook.

Very very good, I won't be easy to settle for store bought ones now. The corn ones are tasty, healthy and fairly easy to make. I want to invest in a tortilla press now. I know we would use it.

Flour Tortillas:

2 cups Bread Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

1/4 cup Lard, chilled

3/4 cup Warm Water

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Add the lard and mix in with your fingers until you have completly crumbled it in. Slowly add the warm water and mix witha large spoon. Take the ball out and put on a floured board and knead 3-5 minutes until elastic. Store in a warm place inside an oiled, plastic bag for 1 hour. (I skipped this step but will try it next time to see if there is a noticable difference) Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a golf ball (1 inch) and let rest 15 minutes. Roll the balls into circles approximately 7 inches in size. Cook on a HOT griddle, turning only once. Remove to a basket lined with a cloth towel or put between a towel until cool. After the tortillas have cooled completely store them in a plastic bag. Yield: 9-10 tortillas.

Corn Tortillas

4 cups Masa Harina

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 1/2 cups hot but not boiling water.

Place the masa harina and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and mix with your hands to make a dough that comes together in a soft ball. Continue mixing and kneading until the dough is elastic enough to hold together without cracking, about 3 minutes. Divide the dough into 18 equal portions and cover with a damp towel.

To form the tortillas, place a portion of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. press with a tortilla press or roll out with a rolling pin into a circle 6-7 inches in diameter. Use your fingers to smooth any raggedy edges. (Skipped this step-oops.)

To cook the tortillas, heat a heavy skillet, griddle or camal over high heat until it begins to smoke. ( I am thinking of trying my grill on Sunday.) Peel the plastic wrap off a tortilla and place the tortilla in the pan. Reduce the heat to med-high and cook for 30 seconds. Turn and cook on the other side for 1 minute. Turn again and cook until the tortilla puffs a bit but is still pliable, not crisp, about 30 seconds more. Remove and continue until all the tortillas are cooked. Serve right away as this is when they are the best.

I noticed in the videos that the women would wet thier hands with water and that worked real well. This kind of hands on cooking with doughy yummy things is a good way to relax I think.

Renaissance Day

Rather than think about that fact that it is income tax day or for some it is tea party day, I thought we should think about the brilliance of Leonardo, who's birthday is today.

Trails

Gentry and I went for a walk tonight and took the proverbial way less traveled. It was delightful, we found trails and more trails just down the hill from us and you could probably walk for a couple of hours following them. It was the highlight of the day, the sky had cleared some so the clouds were beautiful pinks and oranges when we got into a clearing. How fun to explore new country. The poisonous oak or whatever it was is burning in an inconvenient spot but I will so go back and this time stay on the trail!

Hope

Buds are out on the Asian pear and the apple trees, bright green leaves are popping out of the maples, and all is hopeful that Spring will come. It was necessary to remember the hope yesterday when it poured down liquid sunshine hard all day long. The birds are singing and building nests like mad, and it sounds like our local woodpecker has been building an addition onto our house. I am hoping for another bathroom! Life is busy all around this time of year.

Fun fun fun! Sweet and Red, cherry flavored.

Not having enough fun in your life? I can help.
You will need:
1 Costco commercial size Maraschino Cherry jar, opened with lid on but not securely fastened. Place on upper shelf in very back of your refrigerator.

Plastic bags galore of assorted vegetables, and as many jars and containers as you can stuff in all the shelves below.

Bread if you have it on the bottom shelf, preferably a little open.

Ice cream for said Maraschino cherries.

Toothbrush.

Now make sure that you have a houseful of guests, and smallish helpers to find the almost opened large, somewhat slippery, jar of maraschino cherries out of the very back of the refrigerator. Hopefully all will work out for you and you will have it tipped over, lid falling off, juices glugging out and the small helpers looking on in amazement as your refrigerator and all it's contents turn bright red and cherry flavored. It is a thrill to watch!

For more fun let some of the juices that are hardest to reach sit for a week. Wow, now that is another adventure of reaching beyond, climbing the highest peak and so on. A tremendous feeling of well done will wash over you when you realise that hardened sticky red stuff is all scrubbed out of every corner with the toothbrush.

I am off to Costco right now to get all my replacements....fun usually does have a price! Have a great day!

Polvorones

In preparation for our upcoming Mexican Fiesta potluck, I have been trying out some new recipes of authentic Mexican cuisine. I really enjoyed these Mexican wedding cakes or polvorones, and they look so sweet that I wanted you to try them too.

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 cup pecans, toasted, coarsely ground

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended. Beat in flour, then pecans. Divide dough in half; form each half into a ball. Wrap separately in plastic; chill until cold, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups of p. sugar and cinnamon in pie dish to blend. Set cinnamon sugar aside.
Working with 1/2 chilled dough, roll dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between palms into balls. Arrange balls on heavy large baking sheet, spacing 1/2 inch apart. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.
Sift remaining cinnamon sugar over cookies and serve.

I am also going to try making homemade tortillas, so if anyone has any advice, let me know.

House work

I am so very happy that something is being done to the upstairs. It has seemed a very long time coming, and may not get completed for awhile, things being what they are and all. Thats life.

Tim is working on replacing the window, we are putting a smaller one in that will offer a tad bit more privacy and allow for a closet on one side and a dresser or what have you under it. Now looking at the picture I see there is plenty of yard work to do also. I have been going up and down stairs moving all my art supplies, linen cabinet items, and pantry down to the basement or out to the garage. The best part is that we are down sizing the junk pile. Yeah! There has been much to be happy for this week.

Spring Break

Spring break went speeding past. We had a play time with the W. kids (masterpiece post) followed by a wonderful extremely rainy day of pajamas, reading, playing games, and just having a nice easy time. Then we had a major shopping day and were very successful shoppers for the kids. Then my favorite: a day of organization! We then got out of town for a couple days of snowmobiling. We saw some great sights (forgot my camera of course! Argh!) and the best one being the SUN! It was waiting for us as soon as we popped over the summit. It is so exquisitely beautiful to see the sun on a snow covered mountain. Hurts the eyes. Coming home we had a day stuck in traffic. A two hour trip turned into a 7 hour trip trying to get over the pass- avalanche control they called it. It looked like it was a piddling amount so it must have been one guy with a shovel. Frustrating but the scenery was nice. We capped it off with a very nice Sunday. Karissa came over for lunch and g. meeting. Troy and Beth et all came over after meeting and we ate some of their Sunday potluck leftovers....dog food (yum! and so funny to hear Joe ask for more "dog food!"), mockamoli, etc. They had April Fools day in a big way over there. A very laid back and mellow Spring Break. And now back to work.