The Winter Social at AVS + Sopa Seca (Spicy Mexican Spaghetti, of sorts, Recipe) and a Few Videos Worth Watching

Today is another glorious, sunny, blue sky, puffy white cloud day in Colorado. This morning I so productive. I got the main floor of the house clean, I made blueberry muffins and burritos. All to the music of Elton John. It was just that kind of morning. I also perused the photos Ellie took at the Winter Social at school.

Ellie wore a super cute 1950's vintage cocktail dress that I tailored to fit her. We also brought some sparkly jewelry and silvery sparkly heels to complete the look. I think she is lovely, of course. I am sure that Kohlton agrees.
It was the last school dance that Ellie and Christy will put on as Christy is graduating in May.

I love that Ellie took a great photo of her father. He rarely gets photographed.

She also took a photo of Kohlton that I love. I have spent some time today trying to capture it in pen and ink. (I am not ready to share it, yet.)

On a totally different note, another friend link a from a blog that I think is worth reading, especially if you have a daughter. It is a letter from a father to his young daughter, but it is a message every woman, regardless of age, should read.

And a few videos that I thought you would enjoy:

An incredible performance of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" on cellos.

Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser of the popular music duo 2CELLOS release their cover of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck". Interpreting Baroque-style musicians with a modern cello expression, they don period costumes provided by the Giostra Society of Croatia.

This African tribal cover of "Let It Go" will blow you away.

Singer Alex Boye puts a creative spin on Disney's hottest song by performing an Africanized tribal cover of "Let It Go" with the One Voice Children's Choir. They are joined by 11-year-old future star Lexi Walker, who plays the lead role of Elsa.

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I am also making the following recipe today. I had it at a friend's house and thought it was great.

Sopa Seca (Mexican Noodle Casserole)
Via: Saveur Magazine

SERVES 4

¼ cup canola oil, plus more for greasing
8 oz. fideos (available at mexgrocer.com) or vermicelli noodles, broken into 3" pieces
4 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15-oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed
½ small white onion, roughly chopped
½ cup chicken stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup crumbled Cotija (available at mexgrocer.com)
¾ cup crema (available at mexgrocer.com) or sour cream
2 tbsp. minced cilantro

1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease an 8" x 8" baking dish with oil; set aside. Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Working in two batches, add pasta and cook, stirring, until lightly browned and toasted, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain; set aside.

2. Purée chipotles, garlic, tomatoes, and onion in a blender until very smooth, at least 2 minutes. Return skillet to heat, and add tomato purée; cook, stirring constantly, until almost all liquid is evaporated, about 18 minutes. Add stock, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add noodles, stir to combine, and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to baking dish, and cover with foil; bake until pasta is tender and sauce is absorbed, about 10 minutes.

3. Divide among serving plates, sprinkle with Cotija, and drizzle with crema; sprinkle with minced cilantro before serving.

Handmade Jewelry for the AVS Charity Auction

Every year I made some jewelry for the Alpine Valley School tuition assistance fund benefit.

(I see I have to make these match - good thing I caught that!)

This year I incorporated some elements, mostly crystals, that are from 1930's vintage costume jewelry. I had making them. I hope someone else loves them, too.

A New Flyer for AVS

It is good to have new PR materials from time to time. That time had come for AVS, the small private school that my husband and I, along with a wonderful group of people, started 17 years ago.

I spent the last few late nights putting these together. It is designed as a two sided flyer. I, being a person who adores color, had created a color saturated flyer.

Larr wanted to have an option with a bit less color. Ethan feels like the one with the white background allows you to focus on the photos.

I am not sure which we will use, if we use any at all.

Beads for School - Silent Auction Items I've made

I had a fun time making jewelry for the silent action at AVS. I hope people bid on them.

Two sizes of green, yellow, orange, red and opal seed beads on illusion filament. This is inspired by the colors on some of my favorite skirts from Coldwater Creek.


Purple, Lavender, and Dark Purple Swavorki Beads interspersed with silver chain. Purple is my favorite color and, like a raven, I am always drawn to the shiny beads when I visit a bead store. This style is fashioned after the most often sold necklaces that Bead Haven makes to sell. She tells me she can never keep them for more than a few days before they are sold.


Funky Silver metal beads with black Swavorski crystals. I love funky, unusual earrings. These remind me both of some very old, fun earrings I own as well as my young friend Ari who loves to do the whole Steam Punk scene. I think he would appreciate these.


Funky triangle swirls with silver hearts and lavender swirl beads (Matches the necklace below.) I love anything with swirls so these begged to go home with me.


Modern beaded necklace with lavender swirl beads and a silver medallion with fauna drawing. (Matches the earrings above.)This is fashioned after a friend's necklace. Kirsten wore it to Snow Mountain Ranch and I was distracted when I talked with her because I wanted to examine it. She graciously lent it to me so that I could fashion a likeness with what I had on hand.


Floating Magic Bead Necklace. This one is inspired by a necklace with fake pearls and rhinestones that I purchased for Ellie to wear with one of her cotillion dresses. Like the crystals, I seem to have to have some of these each time I go to the bead store. Once upon a time they were easy to find, now I am lucky to find even a few.


Which do you like best? I'm finding it hard to place a beginning bid price.

Hail No or How It Feels to be Near the Edge of Where a Tornado Touched Down

Last Monday night the local weather took an odd turn. It started out like a typical, lovely summer evening. Until, in the span of about 20 minutes the sky when from a pinky sunset to a pea green grey sky. The rain which began in small sprinkles quickly transformed into sheets of horizontal rain. In other part of the city Hail pummeled the trees, gardens, vehicles and buildings.

Our own home fared well with only an intense and aggressive watering. Two blocks away at my mother's house people got about 2"-3" of hail. West of us they got more hail. Hail and rain so aggressive that nearly everyone will need new roofs and siding.

Down in Wheat Ridge, where our school is, seemed to have gotten the worst of it. You can see where the tornado or nearly tornado went. It left a trail of destruction in its pathway. On the north end of the school all of the windows that were still glass (many are plexiglass) were blown out. The wind whipped through the side stage, past the stage in the theater, and through to the other side stage. Luckily the floor was covered in thick black plastic for a performance. It surely would have been ruined. It was incredible to find leaf bits in the main hallway. The wind took off part of the roof cap and striped the plants of their vegetation. In a Land of Oz like fashion we found that a piece of someone else's fence took down our fence. I am not even sure of where it came from. The building flooded in parts.


The area looked like, well, a tornado had hit. Huge trees were pushed down, their root balls exposed, turf pulled up like a blanket on a bed. Cars and trucks were crushed under their falling. Houses had most of their windows blown out. One house was pulled up off the foundation and flung elsewhere. Amazingly, I did not hear of anyone being injured during the storm.



Larr and Ethan went over around 10:30p.m. and stayed until about 1:00 a.m. trying to secure the building. Larr called service offices at midnight so we would be on the top of their duty for the day schedules. Many people from the school community showed up with brooms in hand. We got the cleaning done that day.

The woman who owns this house just sat, crying. She said she didn't even know where to begin. Within the last two years she had the entire house redone and lanscaped. Her house and yard were in terrible shape.

Ethan helped some of the older neighbors by cleaning the leaf clutter off of their roofs so that they would not be pulled off from the weight. The girls and I offered to help other neighbors clean up their messes. While it was a devastating event for many, it was also an opportunity to come together and create a sense of unity, as well as accomplishment.

Here's a great video of an Italian Coca Cola ad that is inspiring:

coca-cola encounter on Vimeo - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

We also had a wonderful dinner of Coconut Chicken Tenders with Honey Marmalade Dipping Sauce. The recipe is from the Tasty Kitchen, a subunit of ThePioneerWoman.com blog that I love.

Coconut Chicken Tenders with Honey Marmalade Dipping Sauce

* 2 pounds Chicken Tenders
* Salt And Pepper
* 1 cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut
* 1-½ cup Panko Bread Crumbs
* ½ cups Orange Juice
* ½ cans Sweetened, Condensed Milk
* 1 whole Egg
* Peanut Oil For Frying
* ½ cups Honey
* ½ cups Orange Marmalade

On a cookie sheet, season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix orange juice, condensed milk, and a beaten egg until your “wet” mixture is well incorporated. In another bowl, mix coconut and panko crumbs.

Heat peanut oil in a medium pan or skillet on medium-high heat. Fill pan to about 1/2″ of oil. Dip and fully coat each tender in the egg mixture first and then the panko/coconut mix. Set each coated chicken on a cookie cooling rack.

Fry each tender for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Serve with Honey Marmalade dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Honey Marmalade Dipping Sauce Instructions:
In a small bowl, add honey and marmalade. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir everything until well mixed and serve with coconut chicken tenders.

Of Graduates & tears, of Rain and Naps, with a Little Creativity Thrown In

In order to graduate from AVS you must write, present and successfully defend a thesis that you are developing the skills to become and effective adult. It is a big deal. Each person gets a night to him/herself to present and defend. After one of them this year Ellie turned to me and said, "Mom, I am a little worried. I am not sure what I will say at my thesis defense." I replied by saying, "Don't worry, love, you have six years to think about it." I love that my kids take these events to heart. After they are done, we have a big graduation celebration. This year's celebration was this last Sunday. While they are all emotional, this one was especially deep. One of the graduates has been with us since we opened our doors. The others have been part of our community for a long, long time. It is hard to imagine the school without them. During the celebration a rain storm began. It grew and grew, thundering, sending down light purple lightening and buckets of rain. By the end of the celebration the school yard was a lake. If you opened the door you invited a river into the main room. My Ethan saw this as a problem and took it upon himself to send the buckets back out. He didn't seem to mind getting wet. He just wanted everyone to have a fun, dry time.

Once home, we wanted to stay there. The weather was cool and the rain made a lovely sound on the roof. Here's what the cats thought of it...


Monday I spent some of the free time to make my contribution for the AVS silent auction. Last year's jewelry was a hit, so I took it up a notch. I made lots of earrings and a few zipper pulls. I am hopeful that they will sell well.