Trip to New York - Part 5

This is the final post about our trip to New York.

Mom and Dad saying good-bye.

Windmills in western NY

 The greenness in New York and the nearby states was amazing.  I don't think I ever appreciated it as much as I did during this trip.  Here in Texas green is fleeting and brown is much more common.

We got to see a beautiful sunset our last night in NY over Lake Erie while we were driving.  It's hard to believe how well these pictures came out considering I took them while we were driving.

Our last morning we stopped to see Lake Erie.  Unfortunately we were unable to go down by the water.

Here's a fun hole to put my foot in.

We left NY and went to Indiana visit some friends from college, who we haven't seen since their wedding 9 years ago.

All the kids had fun making new friends.

We would have loved to spend another day or two visiting with Jeremy, Missy, Liberty and Mercy, but it was time to head home.

 Parts One , Two, Three and Four.

Ratatouille

Ever since we've seen the movie Ratatouille Jeff has wondered what ratatouille is.  I decided to try making it and see how our family likes it.  I'm not a fan of eggplant, but am often willing to try something new, never knowing when I will like something prepared differently.  After looking several recipes over I found one that would work for us.

We tried this recipe.  I changed the sauce slightly by using only 1 clove of garlic and about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of onion, 1 yellow pepper and fresh oregano.  I also didn't use the vinegar or the pepper flakes.  I didn't have any yellow squash on hand, but I did have an eggplant so we layered tomato slices, eggplant slices and zucchini slices.  Kaomi and Felicity helped with lots of looking on from Kent and Katy.  The sauce smelled really good after it was all blended up.

It's pretty.

We covered it with the sauce and baked it first thing in the morning.  I thought baking it would help the flavors blend and then I wouldn't have to run the oven as long later in the day when it was hot.  We refrigerated it and rewarmed it in the oven for supper.  The flavors did blend, but it took almost as long to reheat it as it did to bake the first time.

We served it with these yummy gluten free rolls and a small bit of sausage.

I thought it was okay, it reminded me of my mom's zucchini parmesan.  None of the kids liked it, but they did a fairly good job of eating most of what I served them.  Jeff wasn't real fond of it either.  He thought it was very citrusy.  I thought it would have been better with a good serving of parmesan cheese sprinkled over it.

Over all the flavors were good.  It just doesn't seem to be a fit for our family who has people who dislike tomatoes and zucchini.  It's definitely not a good main dish for us.  Will I make it again?  Maybe, but probably not for a year or so.  I like to give everyone a chance to forget, so if I serve something that hasn't gone over well in the past they've had a chance for their tastes to refine.  I would also probably decrease the onion I added by half.


          

Kitchen Flop

Kaomi checked a cookbook out of the library and picked out a recipe for Russian Honeycake.  Unfortunately, we used our gluten free flour mix and I forgot that there was already baking soda in the mix.  It overflowed the pan majorly and all over the oven floor.  It actually tasted fairly good, but was extremely sweet.

Bountiful Basket #1

I found a produce co-op that has a pick-up place fairly close to us.  It is called Bountiful Baskets.  I thought I would try it out since there are no long term commitments and if I didn't like it there was no obligation to return or money lost on something I wouldn't continue with.  I like that you can place an order when you want to.  The sign-up to order your basket is a short period of time, so you do have to plan ahead a little to make sure you place your order early enough.  There are only a limited number of baskets available at each pick-up point, so you may have to sign up as soon as possible to get one.

This is what I received this weekend.  I ordered an organic basket and an Italian Veggie Pack.

Included was: cantaloupe, red and yellow onion, garlic, parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, eggplant, zucchini, raspberries, broccoli, corn, mangos, romaine lettuce, red kale, arugula, bok choy, carrots, peaches, apricots and tomatoes.

I also went early and volunteered.  I have 2 cantaloupes because someone didn't want one and I traded some radishes to her that someone else hadn't wanted and I took.  I had fun and was impressed with what we got, so I will probably sign up for another basket soon.  I also received a box of mushrooms, but knew we wouldn't use them all so I gave them to someone else who mentioned she likes them.

I really do have things to write

but...

this week has been busy with:
-taking Kent and Katy to VBS and picking them up again a couple hours later.  They are having fun.
-trying to keep up with everything I usually do, but my schedule is so out of whack
-thinking I want to write about ___________.
-knowing I have some pictures on my camera to download and realizing by the time I download them it will be a little late to write a post about July 4th, etc.
-being tired
-trying to love on my kids
-enjoying listening to my kids play with the neighbor kids who stopped over at 5:55pm yesterday and Kaomi invited them for dinner, fortunately I heard her and had already made the necessary adjustments in case they did stay, I told them it was okay and they asked their mom and we all enjoyed pancakes, scrambled eggs and strawberries.
-trying to finish the little details that I want to finish in planning to start back to school.  We start on Monday.
-trying to keep up with laundry, which has been a challenge lately all by itself and adding fewer hours in my morning to get it done.  Laundry and I don't seem to mix in the afternoon very well.
-Jeff gave me a gift card to Mardel's a while ago.  I thought it was for $20, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I only owed 10 cents when the total rang up $25.10, and I actually had a dime in my wallet.
-Jeff being really busy at work and going in earlier and working later (some days).
-Trying to stay on top of the dishes
-keeping up with kids chores, as they have to start them earlier since they are going to VBS
-realizing that maybe the reason we start school the week after VBS is because we spend the week of VBS making sure we are up and out of the house with breakfast and most chores done by 8:30ish, so we are beginning a new schedule this week after having had some flexibility in when we've done things over the past few weeks.
-etc.

-Ya'll could pray for me and the kids as we start school and try to find a new groove next week.  Pray for peace for us all and adaptability and positive attitudes and smiles.

Maybe I'll get some pictures downloaded and some posts pre-worked on this weekend, but don't count on it.  I'm busy Saturday starting at 7 am.

2012 Trip to NY - Part 4

We also got to visit my Grandma at her cabin and see Grandpop and Grandma when we were at my parents' home.

Grandma P.

All the kids with Great Grandma

Uncle Phil and Auntie Diane

Clark with Great Grandpop

Clark with Great Grandma

Lissie with Aunt Olive

Clark with Aunt Karen

Building a dam in the creek.  Kent, Katy, Caleb, and Ryan.

We went to my brother Tim's Wedding.  He and Joni had a very nice wedding and Kaomi and Samarah were the flower girls.

My Brother Ben and his wife Cathy and their children spent several days with us at my parent's home.

Pa and Mimi with all their grandchildren.

Aunt Rebekah with all her neices and nephews.  (Uncle Sean had just started a new job and wasn't able to come.)

Ben and Cathy and Jeff and I with all our children.

Parts One and Two and Three.

2012 Trip to NY - Part 3

Parts One and Two.


We left Long Island and traveled on to go to my parent's home in Upstate NY.

The home I grew up in

We fit right in working in the kitchen and playing with Pa and Mimi's toys.

Watching baseball with Pa

Petting Miffen

Bible Time with cousins.

Playing by the creek.

Planting a "Texas" garden with Mimi

HOD Blogroll 2012-2013

I've joined a Heart of Dakota blogroll with others who use the same curriculum.