New Year's Eve!

Here we are at the end of another year!!  Not much has happened in our lives, but we'll try to catch up a bit here anyway!  School finished up with lots of homework due right at the end.  Of course!  And there was lots to go over for the final, too.  During that time we decided to get Christmas Dinner planned which was to be French cuisine this year.  In order to do it up right, my French co-chef needed his hat and apron to be appropriate.  I think he looked dashing, don't you?!

And these are some of the awesome braised onions he created for our Beouf Bourgninon.

The table was set with a Parisian theme - menu included!

We had not one but two desserts.  The first was a bûche de Noël ...

...and the second was cremé bruleé.  That was really fun to watch when Kent burnt the tops of the cremé!

After a satisfying meal we played B-I-N-G-O and Catchphrase and had an enjoyable day into the late evening!  It was so nice to have this group with us!

That did require that we head out of town for some rest and relaxation, though, so on the Sunday after Christmas we went up to Bellingham and checked out that area, including the little Dutch village of Lynden and up into Canada!  The funny story with that was that at the border the US patrol asked us if we bought anything other than the Tim Horton's donuts that he saw on my lap.  We told him, that Yes! we bought potato chips, too.  He said, "Ketchup?"  But of course!!  Only in Canada (at least on the West Coast) are Old Dutch Ketchup Potato Chips available!  Only the best chips out there!
Now, we're on to a New Year, new opportunities and new paths in life (we hope!)  2013 should bring us (God-willing) 2 graduations, an au-pair and a nursing student.

HAPPY 2013!!!!

 

Sunday Dinner

Today I made a standard pot roast that ended up being anything but standard!!  I started off with The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  And, in my humble opinion, took it to heights sublime!  She suggested using simply onions and carrots.  As far as I'm concerned, that's just not enough!  I added parsnips, celery, whole garlic cloves and potatoes.  As she suggested, I browned the onions, carrots, and my added parsnips and celery as well.  After searing the beef I deglazed the pan with a bit of red wine.  I put the meat in the pot, poured in the broth I made (boxed onion soup mix!) and added all of the veggies to the pot.  I had to cook it over low for a bit on the stove because I had my breakfast meats still in the oven at a much higher than 275º temperature.  After the oven cooled, I put the Dutch oven in the oven and let it do it's thing during Meeting.  The most delicious meal I've made in a long time!  I could have used more garlic.  Those things are like CANDY when they cook that long.  The only thing is the veggies were very soft, but VERY tasty, infused with marvelous flavors!

A new recipe!

So, it's been awhile since I've posted anything, but I found this recipe while I was cleaning up the kitchen and I want to make sure I have it to make it again someday!  I made these to go with the BBQ ribs we had for our anniversary dinner (20 years!).  They were quite tasty.  The only thing I will do different is leave the seeds in next time!

Cheddar and Jalapeño Biscuits
1-1/3 c. (175g) flour
1/4 c. (45g) polenta or fine milled corn meal
3 Tbs. (45g) sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch cayenne pepper
6 oz. (1-1/2 c. packed, 170g) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided (1-1/4 c. and 1/4 c.)
2 Tbs. diced fresh jalapeños (more or less to taste)
3/4 c. + 2 Tbs. heavy whipping cream (200 mL), plus extra for brushing

Preheat oven to 425º (220º C).  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, salt, sugar, cayenne, and baking powder.  Stir in 1-1/4 c. of the cheese and the diced jalapeños.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  Pour the cream into the center of the well and use your (clean!) hands to gently bring together the ingredients.  If you need to add a bit more cream, then do so in a tiny trickle at a time.  You just want everything to get wet enough so that the dough will be sticky and clumpy.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead the dough just a few times - maybe only 3 or 4 pushes.
Form the dough into a disc about 3/4" to 1" thick.  Use a biscuit cutter, or small juice glass to cut round biscuit shapes out of the disc.  Combine the leftover dough and keep forming small round biscuit shaped until the dough is used up.
Place on a Silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheet, with at least an inch or two between the biscuits.  Brush the tops with a little more cream.  Top with a sprinkle of the remaining cheese.  Bake for 11-12 minutes or until golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Makes 10-12 biscuits
from Simply Recipes

Wedding-like photos

My co-worker was married while I was off gallivanting around in Pennsylvania.  Her photographer didn't get any ring photos and was now too sick to finish the job. I told her I could do it if she'd like.   I did play around with a bit of enhancements, but these are what I came up with.  I kind of like them!

A Day At The Fair

Last Saturday we ended up having a beautiful day at the Puyallup Fair.  There'd been a threat of rain, but it turned out to be just gorgeous!  Here's a few pictures taken on my cell phone.

View of the Midway from our lunch spot

That cart is a Fire Truck!

The Watusi -- this guy is only 1, but his horns will GROW! See next photo.

This Watsui is a bit older and it seems he can't hold his head up!

Yes, that is a look of disgust about Dad's hat!

Senior Year

Well, Senior Year is here!  Seems like just yesterday we brought a beautiful baby home from the hospital and soon she's going to sprout wings and fly!  And that first day of Preschool?  That was only late in yesterday's evening and now...  Tiana and I had fun looking through lots of photos yesterday in the hunt for the pieces of this collage.  I can hardly wait to get the print I have on order at Costco!

Well Hello There!!!!

How fabulous to see your smiling face here!  SOOO much has happened since we last met here.  Let see, right after that last post, Tiana flew to Alaska for 3 weeks and I started my summer quarter.  Now, then, we have a 17 year-old in the house and it is officially my summer vacation.  While Tiana was in Alaska, Kent and I took a road trip over to Eastern Washington.  We took in a Western Themed town, did some hiking up to some caves and stuck our feet in Soap Lake.  We went to Meeting with my cousins in Tri-Cities and saw a number of young people at a birthday get together for another cousin.  We drove home by way of Mt. Rainier State Park on the scariest road I've even ridden on!  We are both VERY sure we know why they close that road in the winter!  In case you haven't see them, and if you are at all interested, here are the links to the pictures from that trip:

• Day 1 - Over the North Cascades Highway to Winthrop
• Day 2 - Winthrop, Grand Coulee Dam, Steamboat Rock
• Day 3 - Leftovers from Day 2, Hiking Lenore Caves and Dry Falls
• Day 4 - Heading Home

We also spent one more Saturday on the road where we went to Mima Mounds State Park, the Capitol Forest and stopped at Nisqually for some serious photo ops.  Those pictures are here.

After Tiana got home we went to Oregon and spent the weekend with my parents.  We took a nice hike to Silver Falls and stopped on the way home to pick blueberries and raspberries.  Was SUPER fun and a great day!  Our raspberries sort of smashed so we made freezer jam that was so good!  The rest are in the freezers! ☺

Since being home, now we've done even more berry picking.  There seems to be a bumper crop of blackberries this year and I've picked more than just a few.  Those have an awesome price tag, too!  FREE!!!!  Ivona and co, Tiana and Bug and I all went blueberry picking the other day.  Ivona ended up with 8 pounds and we had 10.  I froze most of them and plan to make a blueberry sour cream pie.  Today I made a blackberry cobbler that was FABULOUS!  I found the recipe at Pioneer Woman.

We've also been to convention and enjoyed good days there.  We got to see some long-time friends of Kent's and so that was fun to catch up with them a bit.

So, I think that's it in a very large nutshell.  Hopefully it won't be so long until we meet again!  Soon it will be time for me to fly away to the East Coast where I will spend a few days with some friends and paper!  Just like a couple of years ago I will go to Pennsylvania to do some scrapbooking.  I'm quite sure that family will be glad not to be there! :)