If the Christmas Carol Train comes to your town, you should plan to go. It is a lot of interesting fun. This November Disney will be introducing its remake of the famous Dicken's tale featuring Jim Carey.
We toured the train which had five cars with all kinds of neat exhibits from the making of the movie.
In the last train you could have your face superimposed onto that of a character from the story. Later on you would get it emailed to you. Our friend's images arrived a few days later. Mine never showed up. I am not sure what happened to them. Either way, it was pretty cool. Here's Ellie as Tiny Tim.
The last activity was a very cool 15 minute cut from the movie. It was shown in a giant blow up building that holds almost 100 people. It made me feel like I was in a jumpy castle as I wore the 3D glasses you needed to watch the flick.
On another note, I thought I might share a simple, tasty and easy to make recipe:
Mike's Bean
1 bag or about 3 cups Dried Beans (today I am using Pinto Beans)
7-9 cups water
4 Bay Leaves
1 tea Salt
1 tea Cumin*
1/2 tea Mustard Seed*
1 tea Coriander*
1 - 2 tea Paprika
1-2 tea Red Pepper
Rinse the beans and pick out any bad ones. Place them in your crockpot with the water, Bay Leaves and salt. Let it cook on med. over night or on high for about 4-6 hours. Check to be sure that there is still water with the beans.
* Concerning the spices - you can use whole spices which you roast in a skillet and grind up before adding to the beans. You can also use preground spices.
Add in the spices, stir well and serve. They can be served over rice and topped with cheese. Left overs can be mashed and used in burritos.
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:
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.
Today we ventured into the mountains for an unusual wedding. Midge and James are our neighbors who have their own style. They went for a wedding with a twist. They arrived at the primitive site a few days ago and prepared the place for their wedding. They dug a pit in which they roasted a pig. They built several tables and many benches from plywood and fallen trees. A friend who was helping them even built them a giant throne. For a touch of levity the boys wore 3D glasses. Midge had thought about wearing her signature boots under her wedding dress, but opted for white shoes with rhinestones instead.
Marin and Mia (James' girls) gathered wild flowers for decorations. How cute they are.
Here Ash (James' son) and his cousins enjoy the giant throne.
The weather had threatened a bit, even rained for a while, but mostly passed the wedding party by. As we drove out to the highway we saw that significant hail had fallen just a few hundred yards away. Perhaps it is a good sign of luck for the newly weds.
On an entirely different note, I'd like to mention my friend Mike. She is the mother of two kids that my kids race with. Her son Rhys is Ethan's age and Laurel is a year older than Ellie. Mike and I visit at bike races. We thought it would be fun to spend some time together so she drove up from Colorado Springs on Thursday and did crafts with Ellie and I. Laurel, a super athlete, broke her arm in two places during a ride with her father last week. That means that she will not be able to take place in Road Nationals, Triathlon Nationals and one other important sporting event. She is exhibiting and amazing attitude. We decided to bust out the Cricket machine and make her a lovely, highly embellished name banner. We worked on it as we chatted all afternoon. It was so much fun to make, too bad I forgot to photograph it before sending it home with Mike.
Mike and I talked recipes a lot. We are like two peas in a pod. Here's one recipe that she told me off of the top of her head. It was a hit"
Mike's Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Shrimp and Cheese
1 large jar of Roasted Red Peppers (you can also roast your own) drained
16 oz. Evaporated Milk (or cream, or even regular milk)
1 tea. Olive Oil
Salt to taste
Shrimp (grilled or sauteed with butter and lemon)(we had about 1/3rd pound per person)
Pasta cooked al dente
Blue Cheese or Feta Cheese
Turkey Bacon (cooked and crumbled, about 1-2 pieces per person)
Create the sauce by blending the drained roasted red peppers with the evaporated milk, olive oil and salt.
Cook the pasta.
Grill or saute the shrimp.
To construct the dish place the pasta on the plate. Top with the red pepper sauce, the shrimp, a bit of cheese and the turkey bacon on top.
We had the Suter Burgess family over for dinner. They've had us to their house many times and I was happy to plan a party. I was going to do a taco and burrito bar, but Ethan really wanted a baked potato bar. I love the Colorado Broccoli Salad that they sell at Safeway, so I searched for a similar recipe. I was going to do a few other items such as Gouda with Rigatoni and Root Beer Cupcakes, but time did not allow for them. We had a lovely time. The food was simple, but nice.
Here's notes on preparation and the recipe:
Baked Potatoes
Clean Russet Potatoes and stab them with a fork in several places. (This allows the steam to escape)then bake them in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. This produces baked potatoes with a slightly crispy crust outside. Another method is to clean and fork them, then coat the potatoes with olive oil and a bit of sea salt, wrapping them in foil. The foil method results in a different, softer potato texture after cooking. I transferred them to a large crock pot that was turned to medium.
Baked Potato Toppings:
Butter
Sour Cream
Bacon, crumbled (2-3 pieces per person)
Ham Cubes (cut from a ham steak)
Cheddar Cheese
Salsa (no one used this topping)
Broccoli Salad
2 heads Fresh Broccoli (cut the head into small pieces, discard bottoms or save for some other use)
1/2 pound Bacon, cooked and cut into small pieces)
1 -1 1/2 cup Grapes (sliced in half)
1 cup Almond Slivers (Cashews would be very lovely. Sunflower seeds work, too.
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Sugar
2 TBL Red Wine Vinegar
Combine the Broccoli, Bacon, Grapes and Almonds in a large bowl.
In another bowl, mix the Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, Sugar and Red Wine Vinegar. Mix well, then mix with the broccoli mix. Make at least one hour ahead of time so the flavors can blend. Many people like a 1/2 cup of chopped raw red onions added in. I left them out.
Today I am tired, or rather, parts of me are tired from raking leaves and cleaning up from the near tornado hit that struck our school on Monday night. I will write about that soon, just as soon as I get around to preparing a few of our many photos of that event. In the meantime, we'll go back to our regularly scheduled event - the weekend.
Last weekend was a wonderful blur, just as so many of our weekends are. Friday we had a lazy day capped off with a movie night at home complete with hot fudge sundaes with all of the toppings. It was wonderful. We watched "Son of Rambow" which turned out to be a much better movie than I had expected. It is a sometimes sweet coming of age story, one I recommend.
Saturday we were off to the races. This weekend we had the Mount Evan Hill Climb Colorado State Championship. Ellie was nervous. Ethan was excited. It seems that something has really click for him lately and he is much faster, with better form than before.
Last year hill climbing was Ellie's be event since she was so small. She hardly had any weight to pull up the 11 miles up hill. (Yeah - 11 miles with lots of switchbacks - can you imagine? That's my strong girl!) This year she is much taller and more muscular, but also heavier. When we practiced a few weeks ago it did not go well. She had too many new things (shoes, cleats, drink and protein bar) and something went wrong. Near the end of the ride her throat began to close up. We were worried that it would happen during the race. We went back to all that is predictable and she did well, cutting nearly 22 minutes off of her time from last year. This was within 5 seconds of the winner's time (in her category) from last year. She earned third and was okay with that. She is relived to be done with it for this season. I am most proud of her attitude about the whole thing.
I was the junior clothing vehicle driver so I was one of the first adults to the junior finish. He surprised me when he flew past me much earlier than I had expected. He cut about 21 minutes from his time from last year. That is pretty remarkable since he is nearly 16. Like I said, things are clicking for him this year. He had a great ride and energy to spare. After crossing the finish line he rode back down the hill to find his team mates and cheer them on. I am proud of him for making that choice. He could have simply sat at the finish and waited. I love to see how my boy is growing up and blossoming into a thoughtful, caring man.
Sunday Ellie and I went on a camping trip with just the girls. It went even better than I had hoped. It all came about because Christy had never been camping. This summer she is stretching her wings and taking in many new adventures. We really wanted it to go well so that Christy would have a good experience. I had hoped to get a spot in the Mizpah campground that is next to the river. This campground, located in the Arapaho National Forest, is still untouched by the pine bettle. The tree are still lush and lovely. The river is clear, crisp and lovely. The campsite is only 10 minutes from a small town that has anything we might need. I had four more backup campgrounds in mind just in case we could not get the spot I wanted. However, our camping karma was good and we got just the one I had hoped for.
I thought we would have fun, I never expected to find that our little adventure would be so empowering. In the absence of the bigger brothers, the girls did it all. Ellie and Christy put their own tent up and everything arranged in about 10 minutes. I had expected to have to do it. What a joy that was to see. Later in the evening Ellie and Anna started a fire for us to roast marshmallows. They explored, they chatted, they made a remembrance spot for Michael Jackson who died unexpectedly just a few days ago. They had fun. It was especially cool to see the photos she was taken. I can see her artist's eye developing. Her shots of the river will be great Photoshop textures.
I had fun, too. It was lovely to get uninterrupted time to visit with Laura and Connie. We sometimes hung out together. Other times we hung out with the girls, eating, telling stories and painting our nails. Even before we were half way through the night, the girls were already clamoring for another trip.
On the way home we stopped for treats at the Sweet Shoppe in Empire.
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I read Ali Edward's blog each day. Today she was inspired by another blog, Days With My Father. This is a link worth following. It is a loving chronicle of a man celebrating the life he had with his father who had no short term memory. It takes a while to load and is bitter sweet, touching, and very worth the time it takes to visit it.
Another site worth visiting is the Shutter Sisters. Their Project Hope is very moving.
Finally, a really moving example of how we combine the art we love, the passion we hold, and the children we love. This is LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay) - Piano Cello - by Jon Schmidt. It is the arrangement he made for his seven year old daughter who loves the song by Taylor Swift.
Playing in the creek is part of what summer is all about. When I was a kid I would go down to a small ditch by my house and catch crawdads. One time I took home a ton of them and put them in the kiddie pool that I had at the bottom of the slide on our playset. I had taken nail polish and labeled each one with a name. (I had not intended to kill them - I was too young to know what the polish would do to them.) I even tied bows onto some of them. My sister Amy came whizzing down the slide and into the pool full of crawdads. At first I thought her screaming was from joy. You see, my sister seemed to almost always be screaming about something, so this was not unusual. What tipped me off that she was unhappy was the jumping up and down from one foot to the other accompanied by the flailing arms. I tried to look innocent. I had not intended to upset her. I had plans to start an aquarium. I was going to sell tickets out of the window of my playhouse. I would be open on Sunday afternoons. I was worried about the crawdads, not her. I was also trying not to laugh. That would only make her more mad. I felt both sad and sneaky silly at the same time. I imagine my mom tried not to laugh, too. It was gross when they started to die and rot in the pool. I did not want to clean them up, but I did.
But I digress. This is not the river where the crawdads were. This is the Platte near the REI Flagship store in Denver. The kids thought it would be nice to cool down. Reisha had a different attitude. Someone forgot to tell her that dogs are supposed to like the water. A few others were paddling around. Reisha woofed at them to tell them they should get out. They ignored her. She turned to me, pleading. "What did I do to deserve this?" her eyes said. I took pity on her and let her hang with me. I stood on the shore and watched the kids. Occasionally I caught a glimpse of the schools of young fry testing the waters. --------- I love funky movies. Here's one that you can rent. It makes me wish I had Netflicks:
Phoebe in Wonderland
Here's another video that you might find interesting:
I've been working through the free class I am taking over at JessicaSprague.com. I think her classes are wonderful. I had intended to do each day's assignment on the day it came out, but I fell behind. Today I caught up. Here's what I created:
Cool places to get textures and inspiration for altering photograph in Photoshop include:
Skeletal Mess in Flickr.com
Sheispretty in Deviant Art
PhauntActions.com/blog (especially the masking tutorial on April 21, 2008)
KimiKreations.blogspot.com
FudgeGraphics.com
Here's the video that the kids love today. It is Stop Motion with Wolf and Pig. I think it is pretty incredible. Enjoy!"
