Ethan's Trip to Thailand - Bangkok + a Great Waffle Recipe

In January Ethan spent time rock climbing in Thailand with a few friends that he has from his time on the tall ship, the Lady Washington. It took him three flights to get to Bangkok. He flew out of Denver to San Francisco. From there he took a plane to Tokyo, Japan, where he had a lay-over for a few hours at the Haneda Airport.

The final plane took Ethan to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. I think it Ethan was traveling for about 23 hours.

Ethan met Alec and Emily at the airport. From there they took a train to their next location. Ethan had a chance to snap a few pictures during their brief time in Bangkok.

On part of their journey through the city, they took a long tail. It is a long boat that sports an awning and a diesel engine.

They also had lunch, some of it coming from a floating market.

There were many styles of dwellings and homes seen from the boat.

Ethan, Emily and Alec also took a tour of the Grand Temple which I will feature in the next post.

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Waffles
via: Allrecipes.com

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.

2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

Right Now + Red Grits & Shrimp Recipe

This photo is of some of the flowers that Ellie is making for her next cake, one for Kohlton's aunt who will be in town this weekend. I love being able to get a glimpse of her creative process and creations.

The flowers are cut from white fondant that has been shaped and left to dry. Some of them have been sprayed with edible spray color, while others have had color applied by brush. The extra details were done by hand as well. Each flower will have a colored dragee center. (I think dragees might be my favorite cake decorating thing.)
Ellie will make the cake today and decorate it tomorrow. I am excited to see what it will look like. Every cake is a surprise, like getting a present, even though they are not for me.

For me, this feels like it has been such a long, drawn out week. I feel a bit over-peopled. It's not that any of those people have been bad, or unkind. No, it is just that I have not had enough time to myself. There have been too many meetings, commitments, etc. I am going to have to fix that this week.

Earlier in the week Ethan applied for a job at a place that he has noticed and admired since he was a young boy. The interview went well and the manager expects to hire him as soon as the paperwork can be processed. He says that if Ethan is on time and does as well as the manager expects, it is possible that he could get promoted pretty quickly. Ethan is thrilled. He has ordered a new pair of steel toed work boots. He will get a uniform from the company. In the meantime, Ethan has designed a set of shelves to hold his stuff. He has been working on the shelves for several days. He thinks he will be able to install them soon.

On Thursday I made "Red Grits and Shrimp." Kohlton declared it to be one of his new favorites. Ellie was not too kean on it as it is not the kind of flavors that she likes. Ethan liked it, too. Here's the recipe:

Red Grits & Shrimp (modified)
via: Tasting Table

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
(1 pound Andouille Sausage, cut into coins)
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 cup stone-ground grits (I had to use quick, 5 minute, grits)
1 bay leaf
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
(1 can Black Beans)
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
½ cup white wine
Salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
12 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley


1. In a medium saucepan, warm ¼ cup of the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion, sausage, half the garlic, ½ teaspoon of the chile powder and ½ teaspoon of the paprika and cook until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the grits and bay leaf and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the crushed tomatoes, corn, ¼ cup of the white wine and 3 cups of water. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the grits, stirring frequently, until the liquid is absorbed and the grits are creamy, about 25 minutes. Discard the bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice with 1 tablespoon of the remaining olive oil, the remaining ½ teaspoon of chile powder, the remaining ½ teaspoon of paprika and the shrimp. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature.

3. In a medium skillet, cook the shrimp and remaining garlic over high heat, stirring, until just pink, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the remaining ¼ cup of white wine, the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, the cherry tomatoes and the cilantro and parsley and cook for 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Divide the grits among 4 shallow bowls. Top with the shrimp, tomatoes and sauce and serve immediately.

Making Art at Two Hands

Every once in a while I get a chance to help make the art that graces the window at Two Hands. Last night was such an event. A group of volunteers gathered to help create paper shapes that artist. Before we started she demonstrated the trace monotype method that she used to create the shapes that we would be cutting out. (Click here for information about her workshops.) Jennifer Ghormley will use in the installation.

During our recent storms Jennifer, who is trained as a printer, created each of the images that we cut out, folded and glued. I would imagine that she created around 650 of the shapes.

I started out cutting and folding. Eventually all of us were gluing. The cones kept their shape with the help of paper clips that were removed after about 10 minutes. It was fun to talk about and imagine how Jennifer will install these. She is not even entirely sure herself. She says that her ideas evolve over the entire time from initial idea and the finished installation.

I am thankful for the opportunities that I am given to be part of such events. When I am there, making stuff, I forget about the stresses of home and work life. Sometimes I imagine what my life would be like if I were a professional artist instead of a teacher. Jennifer is happy, but her life is very simple. She lives in tiny spaces, sleeps on a futon, does not own a couch or enough furniture to allow her to have her friends over to her. However, she does have a press. Everything she owns can fit into her vehicle. I admire her dedication to her art. I am not sure that I would have that kind of dedication. Still, it is a fun idea to think about. I love that it brings her joy. She says that she is very low maintenance; I think that is a gift.

She makes her living selling her art at shows and events. I am excited to see what the installation will look like.

Sunshine & Nice Weather = Dog Park Fun!

A week ago the event that I was going to go to was cancelled due to a snow storm that was moving in. This week is it all sunshine and beautiful weather. After so much snow, the people and dogs were all ready to get outside.

This past weekend Ellie and Kohlton took the dogs to Remmie's favorite dog park, the one in Golden that is like a wild forest, complete with a stream and snowmelt puddles. Remmie loves those. Bradley is not so sure.

Ellie tells me that Remmie would run and jump energetically into the puddles, some of which were around 6" deep. Bradley mostly stood at the edge. Sometimes he would go in the part that was just a few inches deep, but since he is a little dog, that was a pretty big deal. By the time they were done playing, or at least by the time they needed to go back home, both dogs were happy, tired and filthy. That meant that they both had baths that evening. I am sure that was not their favorite part of the day, but I am sure they felt that it was worth it.

Celebrating Ellie's 18th Birthday, Birthday Crafting +an Almond Cake with Raspberry Filling Recipe

Ellie turned 18 on Friday. We celebrated with a small family party. We had a potstickers for dinner as they are Ellie's favorite. We had ice cream and sprinkles as well, but we never actually got around to eating it.

After dinner she opened presents. Kohlton give her a picture on a wooden cradle frame, a red star shaped marque and a set of shelves shaped like hexigons. We gifted her with fun white and gold foil paper goods, another set of hexigon shelves and a smaller ukelele that had a bunch of great things included such as a tuning tools, extra strings, a case, a polishing cloth, etc.

Ethan also gave her a "Life" game, which we promptly played that evening. It included lots of silly actions.

As far as she knew at that point, we had a dinner plans at a nice restuarant for Saturday night. The truth is, I had been secretly planning and executing a surprise birthday party. I was pretty sure that she had figured me out and was just humoring me since she knows from personal experience how much work it is to put on a surprise party. She began asking me lots of questions about where we were going so that she could figure out what she should wear. We told her that it was not at Taco Bell and that she did not need to wear a long ball gown. She seemed to grow nervous. Kohlton tried to get me to tell him where we were going. I told him that it was for his own good. I knew that if he knew and he smiled even just a off, she would know and she would get the information out of him.

The next day we had a really nice, casual family breakfast. I told Ellie that I was going to have coffee with Natalie and that we could go for manicures later that afternoon.

I then raced over to Grandpa Don's house where I decorated the cake that I had baked on Friday. I had also started to decorate earlier in the week and was at the point where I needed a tall person's help to put up the rest of the decorations. I wanted the entire main floor to be decorated and exciting.

During my lunch hours and during a day off of work due to a snow day (and she still had school) I made gold sequin streams, a birthday banner, tassels, feathers dipped in gold paint and glitter and 18 himmelis.

I made a three layer almond cake that was supposed to have raspberry filling, but I forgot that at home and so it had apricot filling instead, which worked out nicely. (I have included the recipe below.) Ellie loves hexigons, so I hand cut about 300 of them out of fondant that I sprayed with edible gold food coloring. I also made a bunch of tiny flowers that I forgot to use. I had planned on cover only part of the cake with the hexigons and then incorporating some flowers and swirl designs made out of dragees, but it did not work out, so I ended up with what you see above. I added a touch of fun by dusting it with an iridescent edible glitter.

I also made Parmesan chicken that was supposed to go with spaghetti with a garlic cream sauce, but I did not have the time or energy to make the pasta part. I was also ready to make garlic bread, but ran out of time and energy to make it, too.
I felt bad that I could not execute the entire plan, but at that point I was out of energy. It had been an intense week at school with parent/teacher conferences, 3 after school meetings and standardized testing.

final stages of decorating and food prep. took long than I had planned, of course, and so I did not make it home with enough time to get our nails done at a saloon. Ellie was good about it, but I was feeling bad that I had disappointed her two days in a row by taking so long to return home.

Later that afternoon Ethan and their friend, James, went over to the house to take care of the guests and make sure their cars were not in front of the house.

Ellie continued to worry that she would not be dressed correctly, but we assured her that it would be alright. She was worried that the people at the restaurant would not make a spectacle of her. By the time we were ready to leave, she seemed very concerned. We tried to assure her that it would be okay, that it was just about having fun.

We told her that we needed to go over to Grandpa Don's house to pick up Ethan. Her mind quickly started to think about where we might be headed on that end of town. Once we arrived, Larr, Ellie and Kohlton zipped into the house. I was a bit slower and missed her reaction to the crowd of people jumping out and yelling, "surprise." Later I found out that she was truly surprised, that she did not suspect anything until she started up the walk way to the door. It was a lot to take in.

Lots of our friends join in for the party. The house was pretty full. There was food in the kitchen, snacks in the living room and games taking place in several rooms.

We ate, sang and had a great time.

She also received some nice presents, like concert tickets and earrings, and silly presents, like an eagle had mask made of rubber.

We all stayed up later than usual and had a great time. I think it was a grand success.

Almond Wedding Cake Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling
via: Shugary Sweets
** This recipe made one 8x8 round cake layer. I tripled the recipe to make the cake for Ellie's party.
For the Cupcakes:
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp buttermilk
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp almond extract

For the Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
4 cup powdered sugar
For the Filling:
1/2 cup Raspberry preserves

For the cake, whisk together the egg whites, almond extract and 2 Tbsp milk in small bowl until combined. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes on medium. Add in dry ingredients and mix until combined. Slowly add in egg white mixtures. Beat in remaining milk.
Fill cupcake liners half full with batter and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-17 minutes. Remove and cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Fill a pastry bag with raspberry filling. I used a small star tip and poked it into the top of each cupcake. Give a good squeeze, you will see the cupcake rise at is fills. Remove and continue until all cupcakes are filled.
For the frosting, beat butter and heavy cream in mixer for 3 minutes. Add in almond extract and powdered sugar. Beat an additional 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Pipe on cupcakes. ENJOY!

A Birthday Cake for Glenn - Peregrine Falcon Feathers

Ellie's newest cake is a tender white cake with raspberry filling with edible Peregrine Falcon feathers. The cake is for Glenn, who is a falconer.

Each of the feathers were made by hand from thinly rolled fondant. After the feathers dried for a few hours, she painted them by hand using food coloring that was thinned with vodka. The rocks on the edge are made of chocolate. The color on the frosting is also applied using a brush and food coloring.

I love the way the top looks, too.

With each cake, Ellie expands her talent and her cake decorating options.

The Good and the Needs Improvement

We had a snow day yesterday and I was a bit surprised by it. It was nice to have an unexpected day off.

When I got up, I was motivated to get some extra schoolwork done, but once Ethan was awake, that plan changed. Ethan and I decided to have a relaxing breakfast together at the Starbucks in the REI store near our house. We had a lovely time talking about his future, his options, his trip to Thailand, etc. I am so thankful that I have the chance to have these deep, reflective conversations with my children. I had a gift card that had been given to me for my birthday, so having a free breakfast and beverages for both of us made it extra fun.

After we were done eating, we did a little shopping as I was in need of new shoes to wear to the gym. I have short, wide, hobbit-like feet, so buying shoes is never easy, fun or fashionable. I attempted to shove my foot into several pairs of shoes in the adult footwear section, but had very little luck. I did fit into a pair of shoes that had aggressive tread. I carried them around for a while and then put them back thinking that they were too much for the gym. (Now I wish that I had purchased them as they would be good for trail walking in the summer time. I may go back and look for them again. They were on the clearance rack, so who knows if they will still be available.) I was trying to talk myself into accepting the need to pay $150 for a pair of ugly shoes with a curved sole because they were the only ones I could fit my foot into. Then, just for fun, we walked over to the kids' department where I struck gold, of sorts. I was able to find fun, patterned Bogs rainboots. I also scored a pair of purple athletic shoes and a new pair of purple Tevas. Everything was on sale and so I purchased 3 pairs of shoes for the price of less than one pair at the normal price.

I spent some of the time back at home getting things picked up and in order. I took out the dead flowers from the arrangements and remade some of them anew by combining them. I spent time think about and planning for Ellie's upcoming birthday. I sort of got lost down a rabbit hole on Pinterest. Usually I am much more self limiting with how much time I spend looking at stuff, but yesterday I had fun taking a ton of ideas in.

I also went to the gym and worked out. The trainer put together a 3 day rotation plan for me which includes doing abdominal muscles every day. Yesterday I did all of the free-weight and machine exercises on my list, but I did not have enough left in me to be able to do the cardio. That made me feel bad. I simply could not get it done. So, I sat in the locker room and the shower crying for a while. I feel bad that I cannot do it all. Intellectually I know that it is not reasonable to feel like I am not doing well, that I am afraid that I am approaching failure. The emotional side of me feels the sting. When I was in high school (so very long ago) I was strong; I could lift a lot for a long time and then run for long distances. I was not fast, but I had endurance. Now I lift small amounts and I am very slow at the cardio. I know that I need to work up to it. I know that I went from doing nothing, to going to the gym fairly often. But I also know that I am afraid to fail. I have failed at trying to lose weight so many times. I don't want this to be just another time.

I also feel a bit dumb about not having figured out how to do all of the locker room stuff efficiently. I trudge over to the stall with my towel, my shampoo, my conditioner, my body wash, etc. I feel like I look like I am moving out since I am carrying so much stuff. There has got to be a better way to do this.

At this point some of the fingers on my left hand and tingly, most likely from a pinched nerve or swelling in my "funny bone" in my elbo (I will ice it this evening and see if that helps.) My ab.s are constantly sore and I feel just as fat as ever. I am glad that I am working out alone because that means that I am not slowing anyone else down with my inability to complete the program.

On the other hand, my kids and Kohlton are very supportive. They remind me that they see me as brave for taking this on. They remind me that it is not reasonable to expect that I can go from zero to sixty in one month worth of work outs. It is nice to know that my kids are supportive, instead of embarrassed. I will most likely continue to look like a Hobbit Mom, but at least I will be a more healthy one. I just have to get past my struggle with feeling like failure is lurking around the corner.