From this....
May 17th
September 7th
I can't wait until the mums start opening up.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
A Scary Thought!!
Today I renewed my drivers license - it is good until the year 2014.
When my dd heard that, she remarked: "Hey - maybe by that time I will be able to get my license and we can both go and get our licenses together!" The thought of my daughter driving in only 6 years, is unbelievable! She says that she plans on getting her license AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so she can have some fun ;) Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll decide that she wants to wait until she is 27 and married, and then she will have her husband teach her to drive (like mom did!)
Dd turned 9 in August, so six years from now she will have just turned 15 and Missouri law does allow driving at 15 when accompanied by a qualified driver.
I checked out the MO law and this is how it reads: "Under age 16, you may drive only when accompanied in the front seat by a qualified person, grandparent, or qualified driving instructor."
My question - does that mean a "grandparent" is NOT a qualified person?
When my dd heard that, she remarked: "Hey - maybe by that time I will be able to get my license and we can both go and get our licenses together!" The thought of my daughter driving in only 6 years, is unbelievable! She says that she plans on getting her license AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so she can have some fun ;) Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll decide that she wants to wait until she is 27 and married, and then she will have her husband teach her to drive (like mom did!)
Dd turned 9 in August, so six years from now she will have just turned 15 and Missouri law does allow driving at 15 when accompanied by a qualified driver.
I checked out the MO law and this is how it reads: "Under age 16, you may drive only when accompanied in the front seat by a qualified person, grandparent, or qualified driving instructor."
My question - does that mean a "grandparent" is NOT a qualified person?
Authentic Mexican Soup - Product of Mexico
It must be authentic because that's what it says on the package!
I don't remember where or when I purchased this soup package...it might have been at the little Mexican Grocery Store, or the world food store, or it could have just come from the "international" section of our local Shop n Save.
The soup had a mild tomato taste but was not spicy or very flavorful. It was quite salty - and if I, a great salter of foods before I even take a bite to see if it needs it, say it's salty - it must be plenty salty. Probably didn't help that I crushed in some salted crackers.... There wasn't much "bulk" to this soup - very thin broth - but it was fine for the children's lunch along with some crackers and apples smeared with peanut butter.
We all enjoy uniquely shaped pastas, so I think the attraction of this soup was primarily the little pasta stars floating around in the bowl.
The kids loved it!
Ds "Mmmmm this is good."
Dd "Fun to swallow without chewing because they are so small - it's great!"
I don't remember where or when I purchased this soup package...it might have been at the little Mexican Grocery Store, or the world food store, or it could have just come from the "international" section of our local Shop n Save.
The soup had a mild tomato taste but was not spicy or very flavorful. It was quite salty - and if I, a great salter of foods before I even take a bite to see if it needs it, say it's salty - it must be plenty salty. Probably didn't help that I crushed in some salted crackers.... There wasn't much "bulk" to this soup - very thin broth - but it was fine for the children's lunch along with some crackers and apples smeared with peanut butter.
We all enjoy uniquely shaped pastas, so I think the attraction of this soup was primarily the little pasta stars floating around in the bowl.
The kids loved it!
Ds "Mmmmm this is good."
Dd "Fun to swallow without chewing because they are so small - it's great!"
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sarah's Speech
Just have to say how much I enjoyed Sarah's speech last night. I am totally not "into" politics (but yes I do vote and know what's going on) and usually cannot bear to listen to long-winded speeches or to listen at length to others discuss politics - but I was enthused about Sarah speaking.
I also enjoyed seeing her little children in the audience...the little girl holding her baby brother, was sweet...at one point it looked like the girl was putting the baby's pacifier in her own mouth and another time she was licking her hand and trying to flatten the baby's hair - cute!
I've never been too thrilled with McCain and think the Republicans blew it by not having some better candidates to begin with...but with Sarah by his side, he looks a lot more attractive.
Peter Rabbit's Natural Foods Cookbook
I came across this cute looking cookbook at a recent library sale. Twenty-five cents was the price.
I've always had a place in my heart for Beatrix Potter works - I'm not big on animal movies/books but her critters are so cute, and yet not overdone.
I thought this little cookbook would be a fun book to use in teaching the children to cook. The recipes have such endearing names like "Pigling and Pigwig's Hot Rice Breakfast Treat" and "Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise's Spinach Salad" and "Samuel Whiskers' Roly-Poly Pancakes."
I have had some frozen bananas mouldering in the freezer for a couple of months...my dd only likes bananas that are hard and greenish (shudder), ds won't eat a banana to save his life, and I only like bananas during that brief window when they are no longer green, but not mushy either. Thus we tend to have bananas mouldering in the fruit bowl before they are thrown into the freezer.
Yesterday I was cleaning out the freezer to make room for some bread and saw the blackened corpses of the bananas and knew that I just needed to go ahead and do something with them. Banana bread - something I rarely make - sounded very tasty.
In the Peter Rabbit cookbook there was a recipe for "Squirrel Nutkin's Banana-Nut Loaf. Looked easy so my daughter and I got to work. The recipe seemed pretty standard but then to then in parenthesis it said you could use a mix of white flour/whole-wheat flour/oatmeal and wheat germ. I'm all for making it a bit healthier so we used the alternative ingredients (minus the wheat germ that I was out of).
Well I was disappointed in how it turned out. It was NOT banana bread...at least not the banana bread I was thinking of...the dark, speckled look was missing and the sweet, full banana flavor was missing too.
Then I looked again at the title of the book
"Peter Rabbit's Natural Foods Cookbook". The title of the book should have given it away. Probably if I had never, ever tried REAL banana bread before, I could be convinced it was OK. That's part of the problem when switching from unhealthy eating to healthier eating...until you get used to it the healthier stuff doesn't taste as good, doesn't taste quite right.
Having said all that - there are just some things you ought not to mess with and banana bread is one of those things! I'd rather have no banana bread than "faux" banana bread.
I've always had a place in my heart for Beatrix Potter works - I'm not big on animal movies/books but her critters are so cute, and yet not overdone.
I thought this little cookbook would be a fun book to use in teaching the children to cook. The recipes have such endearing names like "Pigling and Pigwig's Hot Rice Breakfast Treat" and "Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise's Spinach Salad" and "Samuel Whiskers' Roly-Poly Pancakes."
I have had some frozen bananas mouldering in the freezer for a couple of months...my dd only likes bananas that are hard and greenish (shudder), ds won't eat a banana to save his life, and I only like bananas during that brief window when they are no longer green, but not mushy either. Thus we tend to have bananas mouldering in the fruit bowl before they are thrown into the freezer.
Yesterday I was cleaning out the freezer to make room for some bread and saw the blackened corpses of the bananas and knew that I just needed to go ahead and do something with them. Banana bread - something I rarely make - sounded very tasty.
In the Peter Rabbit cookbook there was a recipe for "Squirrel Nutkin's Banana-Nut Loaf. Looked easy so my daughter and I got to work. The recipe seemed pretty standard but then to then in parenthesis it said you could use a mix of white flour/whole-wheat flour/oatmeal and wheat germ. I'm all for making it a bit healthier so we used the alternative ingredients (minus the wheat germ that I was out of).
Well I was disappointed in how it turned out. It was NOT banana bread...at least not the banana bread I was thinking of...the dark, speckled look was missing and the sweet, full banana flavor was missing too.
Then I looked again at the title of the book
"Peter Rabbit's Natural Foods Cookbook". The title of the book should have given it away. Probably if I had never, ever tried REAL banana bread before, I could be convinced it was OK. That's part of the problem when switching from unhealthy eating to healthier eating...until you get used to it the healthier stuff doesn't taste as good, doesn't taste quite right.
Having said all that - there are just some things you ought not to mess with and banana bread is one of those things! I'd rather have no banana bread than "faux" banana bread.
I compared the recipe from Peter to a recipe I found on a popular recipe website to see what was the missing link:
Peter's recipe:
2 bananas
3/4 c sugar
2 T shortening
1 egg
3/4 c milk
3 c flour (or the 1 c white/1 c whole-wheat/3/4 c oatmeal/1/4 c wheat germ)
Online recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Bamboo Rice
I found this jar of Bamboo Rice at Target, of all places. It was on sale for about $1.50. We love trying new types of rice - so we were eager to try the "green rice".Bamboo rice is not a particular variety of rice, instead it is white rice infused with the juice of young bamboo plants. “While milling the rice, the chlorophyll from the bamboo is added. This process causes the rice to be high in vitamin B, and gives it a flavor and aroma much like that of a jasmine green tea.”
I personally couldn't tell much difference in flavor between the bamboo rice and the regular rice we eat - but the kids liked it - whether for the taste or for the cool color, I'm not sure.Monday, September 1, 2008
Laboring on Labor Day - 14 Mile Ride!
Nothing like bringing yourself to the end of your physical endurance in order to celebrate Labor Day...
We left around 7 AM and our destination (we hoped) was Creve Couer Park - approx. 7 miles one way. We attempted the ride once before - but turned back when we still had a couple of miles to go.
When we were a mile or two from the park, we stopped at a little roadside park and had a break. We fortified ourselves with some Jelly Belly Belly Flops :) and water. At first we thought the 9 yr old would just ride on to the park with her dad, but after the sugar, the 6 yr old thought he could go the rest of the way.
We made it safely to the park. We were going to attempt to find a letterbox there, but changed our minds after we figured out that our chances would diminish greatly of making the ride back home if the kids walked a few miles at the park.
The ride home was harder as the weakest links were worn out. We stopped quite a few times, walked a lot of hills, and had some tearfulness. But all persevered to the end!
We made it home safely!! It was hard to get the boy to smile for a photo...but within 10 minutes of being home he was fine. A great accomplishment for the kids!
We left around 7 AM and our destination (we hoped) was Creve Couer Park - approx. 7 miles one way. We attempted the ride once before - but turned back when we still had a couple of miles to go.
When we were a mile or two from the park, we stopped at a little roadside park and had a break. We fortified ourselves with some Jelly Belly Belly Flops :) and water. At first we thought the 9 yr old would just ride on to the park with her dad, but after the sugar, the 6 yr old thought he could go the rest of the way.
We made it safely to the park. We were going to attempt to find a letterbox there, but changed our minds after we figured out that our chances would diminish greatly of making the ride back home if the kids walked a few miles at the park.
The ride home was harder as the weakest links were worn out. We stopped quite a few times, walked a lot of hills, and had some tearfulness. But all persevered to the end!
We made it home safely!! It was hard to get the boy to smile for a photo...but within 10 minutes of being home he was fine. A great accomplishment for the kids!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
