Favorite Food Discoveries of 2009

This year marked a new era for my taste buds. They were ready for something more adventurous. Most things were there all along and I just had to try them. What did the world have to offer?

1. Amazing Grass--this is the only way I know of to get 9 servings of vegetables per day with an added dose of probiotics. Yucky, but worth it.

2. Tandoori Naan--bread Indian-style and so delicious after heating 2 minutes in the oven with hummus or good ole' buttah...

3. Multi-grain sandwich flats

4. Laughing Cow creamy Swiss wedges--Could a snack be any more fun to open? Eat plain, on French bread, crackers, and combined with the above sandwich flats they do wonders for a cold cuts.

5. clementines--tiny oranges packed with juice and flavor.

6. whole, organic, shelled almonds--vitamin E in a delicious crunchy capsule

7. Kookaburra black LIQUORICE--Get a little more Iron in a soft chewable form. I never ate black licorice in my life without gagging until my friend told me to try these. Yum! and all natural ingredients!

8. California Pizza: move over pepperoni these frozen pizzas have all kinds of fun toppings from BBQ chicken to alfredo and spinach.

9. 100 percent tangerine juice:a tangy twist to regular O.J. like the name implies.

10. roasted pine nuts--Ooooh. these bring back memories of Christmases past. They are expensive and only available in the winter harvest. So just get them and definitely roast them--it's worth it.

11. Chocolatier Blue truffles--for a mere $2 a truffle you can experience heaven. Don't eat and drive. You'll want your full attention to savor these. Available at Tony Caputo's deli in Salt Lake in the most exotic and exciting flavor combinations like "passion fruit caramel apple." Aren't they beautiful???

Unfortunately, we were unable to find one of our dear favorites...maybe it has been discontinued this year and if so....we are begging Breyer's to PLEASE PUT IT BACK ON THE SHELVES....

Bubble Yum ice cream.

What are your new favorites?

Gifts for the small-brained.

Was it snowing big beautiful snowflakes today where you live? The kind that make you want to run outside open your arms, twirl, and catch them in your mouth. Or maybe that kind of weather makes you want to stay inside, make gingerbread houses, drink hot chocolate and snuggle...I've been watching "Elf" way too much. We did the former. Today we read a story called "The Tree that Trimmed Itself." It is about a little pine tree that gave gifts of nature to all the animals in the forest. So we bundled up and trekked to the "forest" aka city park to find the perfect tree. We found a bush-y thing, and got busy decorating it. We smeared pinecones with PB and sprinkled on seeds for the squirrels and birds. We also found some very decorative bean pod things which looked like great natural tinsel and put dried berries on them for the mice. How grateful the forest animals will be when they venture out on Christmas morning to find their gifts! Probably as grateful as Santa will be for the fudge we're going to leave for him and for the hay and sugar cubes we have for the reindeer...(if Buddy doesn't get to them first) MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL..young or old, rodent or human!

Before I forget...

Remember all that cleaning I was complaining about? Well, it was worth it. We had a very fun and memorable Thanksgiving weekend. My parents came from SLC as well as my oldest sister, her oldest son Ben and youngest daughter Annie who has a husband and toddler. Not a huge group but one that fit snugly around our table.

Thanks to pop-up timers and turkey oven bags the meal turned out pretty darn delicious--especially the sausage stuffing.

We went to the park and played some football (way) after the meal, which by the way is a very rough game. I think I got a slight concussion when diving for the ball but, I recovered enough to be able to eat pie later and play our new game "Imaginiff" with everyone back at home.

Three generations of women headed for the Black Friday sales...at 11am. I passed up that 50- inch plasma T.V. and opted for $3 p.j.'s for the girls. We hiked in the red rocks above town, went swimming at the hotel pool, played more games, and had some Prime Rib at the local steakhouse (which was awesome because I didn't have to cook it or pay for it!)

My niece Annie and her little family stayed and extra day and they were rewarded for it. My very kind neighbor made her dreams come true by taking her and her husband horsebackriding. He only had a couple of extra saddles and well... there is someone who loves horseback riding even more than me.

How do you thank someone for making your niece's dreams come true? Ask if they will make your dreams come true also...one of these days...pretty please... and then add a little card and giftie.

Great food, great family, great fun. I loved Thanksgiving this year.

Insanely Domestic

I cleaned the oven today. What a messy thankless task.
I didn't want to kids to have to evacuate with one of those harsh chemically sprays so I researched some practical at-home rememedies. I found one about mixing equal parts baking soda, salt, and water to make a paste. Then I spread it all over those "tough stains." Next I baked it all in at 500 degrees for one hour. Eeek! It looked like the sand dunes in there and I think I saw a statue of Lot's wife.
Turns out I created WAY more of a mess than my oven already was!. Scraping, vacuuming, wiping... Obviously, I don't recommend this method. My advice would be to keep foil liner on the bottom of your oven so you never HAVE to clean it!

Oven-cleaning is just one of the many ridiculous domestic tasks I am doing to prepare for Thanksgiving at our home. I also cleaned out and organized the fridge, the cupboards, the drawers, and the kitchen garbage. Of course, I tried to get the kids to help in this. They were helpful for about 30 minutes and then set about making messes in the rest of the house.

The cleaning out of the cupboards reminds me of another piece of advice. When you are putting away your groceries and your Karo syrup container falls on the floor and gets a crack in it, don't be cheap and try to fix it with duct tape. Just consider it a total loss and throw it away--better to save the hour it will take to CHIP away at the mounds of hardened syrup on the cupboard floor later. I learned too late that melting them with hot water was much quicker.

I really don't like housecleaning but, in honor of the holiday, I'm going to say that I'm THANKFUL that I have a house to clean. And I'm thankful that I have 4 great kids who make it look lived in. I'm also THANKFUL that my family will be coming to help us celebrate. I really do love having company and decorating and cooking for them and having the origami towel animals ready to greet them on their beds (or maybe at least some leftover hotel shampoo samples. ) It's just that housecleaning is a real hang-up...which is why I'm asking for a housekeeper for Christmas.

Do you like cooking or cleaning better? (don't tell me if you like both.) And forgive me for getting ahead of myself with the holidays but what do you want for Christmas? Go ahead and dream big...

Mom, Where is my Crocheting?

The latest craze at our house involves a hook and yarn. The girls have been learning to crotch-it (as my mom calls it.) She was able to give them some pointers last week when we stayed with her and my dad at a condo in St. George.

Brynn made this twirly scarf which was supposed to be for her but ended up being a perfect fit for her Julie doll.




To me, St. George is a heaven for shopping (I hit the 3.99 rack at Children's Place Outlet.) And with a couple of National Parks, it is a great place to enjoy nature.
Some of the cool places we visited:

Snow Canyon This place was mountains of fun. We climbed and climbed until we were too hot and tired to climb anymore. Kate thought it would be pretty funny to hide in the bushes while me and Adrie were finding our way down the trail. She jumped out acting like a rabid dog to get a good scare out of us. I should have known...she tries to scare or play pranks on someone in the family at least once a day! I don't get that. Adrie and I don't like being scared so we have made a rule that Kate pays us a quarter each time she scares us. Win win!

Sand Dunes: I wish we could export some of this super-fine sand to our backyard. If we just filled our shoes enough times...

After the seniors and children went to bed, BD and I snuck out in the evenings for some late night ping pong tournaments. We had some good rallies but I still can't seem to win a game! Ever heard of pickle ball? Q and T joined us one night for a double date on the courts. Very fun sport whether you can get the rules down or not!

Euro-Park?

We had a whole lot of fun with Q/T family at this park where Scandinavia playground technology meets desert. Forget regular old swings and slides, these apparatuses were so much fun; I was just wishing the kids would get off them so I could give them a try. I was able to spin myself sick on the one Adrie is pictured in above. T and T were doing the same in the other photo.

Thanks for another fun visit St. George! See you in the Spring for Sister's Week!

Firsts and Lasts

First snow day of the year!
And great day to celebrate with "snowman juice." Adrie was not amused when she found out that meant a glass of water.

Last day of gymnastics.
That will not stop them from practicing every day in the living room.

First time ever for me:
I was on the radio! Our local art gallery had an open house and invited me to be their "live music". While people strolled through, ate refreshments, and bought paintings, they could hear my solo cello playing and fill a hat with $ if they felt so inclined. (I did not know that I would be playing for tips when they originally asked me but that is how it worked out and luckily there was enough generosity to make it worth it)
Anyway the morning before all that, I was interviewed along with 2 of the featured artists on the local radio station. Had I known it would be easy questions like, "What kind of music do you like to play?" I wouldn't have been so nervous. "umm....Classical? and like other cool stuff?" Okay, I didn't really say that--but whatever I said, it was very sophisticated even though Brandon said I sounded young with my high nervous/excited voice.

Along those same lines and another first:
I brought in an income this month--enough to cover a few date nights anyway, and not just from playing for tips but a couple other gigs. It was like having a part time job--a super fun one. How wonderful that even in this down economy some people are still able to hire a string quartet to play for their birthday party:)

Definitely a first and probably a last:
Brandon hit a 450 yard drive on a par 5 hole. For those of you who don't speak golf-- that means he hit the ball really super far--it basically bounced off the pavement walkway and came to rest 30 yards from the hole. His intention that weekend was to go to the temple but, when he got there it was closed for repairs!!! He was able to make lemonade out of lemons by going instead to Palisades golf course.

Annual field trip to the pumpkin patch--

Great time, only the farmer guy made a less than cool decision to yell out profanities about how homeschoolers end up on welfare????!!! I'm still figuring that one out...anyway and Luckily, for him I was not right there to defend us (by throwing a pumpkin). I only found out later from my sweet neighbor who took the brunt of the verbal beating. Technically, we were there with our "online charter school" but sometimes it's easier just to say "homeschool," which is the word my neighbor chose to use. Obviously, it doesn't fly well with some people?? Still trying to figure that one out too...
Maybe that will be the LAST time we patronize that peck of pickled pumpkin patch! Phooey, I'm over it.

Accepting Fall

Having had such a wonderful summer and with a beach trip still fresh in my mind, I have had a hard time accepting that Fall is really here. But, I found out today that the best way to cure yourself of the never-wanting-summer-to-enders disease is to drive up into the mountains and enjoy the foliage. It is pretty cool that we live in a place where we get to see Autumn in it's full glory-- fiery red maple leaves and gold and green scrub oak.We packed up some field guides, bags for collecting, and snacks and headed to this little canyon 20 minutes away for some "nature appreciation."

I'm going to get a bit nerdy here and tell you all what we learned in our nature field guide.

You can eat the seeds of those maple trees raw or roasted. You can also tap a spigot 2 cm into the bark in the early winter and boil and eat the syrup that drips out. It's a good source of B vitamins unlike it's storebought counterpart. What? you already knew that?!