The Visit (and it wasn't from Santa)

This morning the Institute Director came to observe my seminary class. At least this year I didn't break out in hives. Perhaps not having much advanced notice helped. The kids were great, as always, and the director should be feeling pretty confident in his job security. Hopefully there will be only 1 more visit, and that in the distant future:] Time for a nap.

Felted Soap

Yes, felted soap. It does sound weird, but here they are-and they are amazing. They are bars of soap that you wrap wool roving around and then rub, rub, rub, until the wool is nice and snug around the soap, forming a non-slippery, beautiful scrubby thing! They would be perfect for a family activity or achievement day/young women or even cub scouts-just imagine camo covered soap:] Let me know if you need directions. Now, what to do with them?!

Dutch Babies!

No, not this kind of Dutch baby! I'm talking about those delicious, crispy, golden, eggy dutch babies that we make for General Conference morning. They are super easy and the results are impressive. They just might have to become a conference tradition at your home too! Here is the recipe:

5 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter (use the real thing)

Preheat oven to 425' .

With a whisk, mix together the eggs, flour , milk and salt in a bowl. While this rests, place the butter on a jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet and toss it into the oven. When the butter has completely melted give the egg mixture another good whisk, take the pan out of the oven and tip it around so the batter covers every spot and then pour the batter into the pan. Pop it all back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. It should be puffy and well browned. Cook longer if you think it needs a little extra time to reach this stage of perfection. Cut into pieces with a knife, or as I prefer- scissors, and top with your favorite things.

Some suggestions are:

powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon, very traditional

jelly

whip cream and berries

chocolate, any type

(Hint: sometimes I spray my pan with Pam before the butter goes in, just for safety's sake)

Dig In!

I found something fun to do this weekend- the Slow Food group is organizing the "Great American Dig In", a day of community service this Saturday to support local food production. There aren't too many activities in Southern California, but there is this one:

Santa Ana, CA - "National Service Day of Action: Dig In!"

CONTACT: Heather Westenhofer, Slow Food Orange County (Click here to RSVP)

2115 W. McFadden Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92704

9/25/10 9.30am-1pm

Building a raised and terraced bed in the Grain Project community garden in Santa Ana and preparing serving and sharing lunch with the group.

There are fun things going on all across the country. I liked the one in Sacramento where you go see a movie about kids in a cooking competition to improve their school lunch menus. The proceeds go to area lunch programs. Here is the web site for more info:info@slowfoods.org (the link wouldn't work}

Maybe I'll see you there! If you want to car pool, give me a jingle.

Remembering our past

It has been only 90 years since the struggle for women to vote was successful. My mom sent me this link to an interesting set of photos and information about the terrible situations many of the women faced for speaking up for their rights. Unfortunately, I can't get it to copy, so if you want to read it, let me know.

Mr. Fox

He is done! A photo amid the chives and basil seemed appropriate-I read Fantastic Mr. Fox about 20 times as a youth! Time to dig my well thumbed copy out and make it 21.

My knees are still knocking!

We went up to Chico for a wonderful visit with Mike and Chelsie this Labor day weekend. We were busy shooting the guns, ( yes, I can hit the clay pigeons!) visiting the farmers market, checking out one of the top 10 quilt shops in the U.S. and Canada (items to be shown off at a later date) walking around Bidwell park and of course, fishing. The fishing trip is where the knee knocking comes in.

Mike had asked his very nice friend, Scott, about a place to fish. Scott, being the consummate outdoors-man, knew just the place. It was a short drive into the Sierra's, and down, down, down into the Feather River Valley. It was more like a gorge. The mountain sides were steep, craggy granite cliffs-it is a beautiful place. The Feather River is a good sized river and our destination was near the bottom of the hydro-electric dam. From our parking spot the river was quite a bit below us-straight below us. I figured there must be stairs, or some kind of a switchback type trail to get to the bottom. As an advanced-easy hiking Trail Tickler, I'm pretty confident about my hiking abilities. But this was not a hike to the bottom, this was a rope and piton cliff/rock climbing adventure-without the rope or pitons! There were a few places where I thought I was going to have to stay on the little gravel ledge for the rest of my life. Thankfully, Scott must be part mountain goat, and was able to help me get down in one piece. He wins the award for best Sherpa EVER! Once at the bottom, everyone put in their hooks and started having fun. David caught 3 fish on his first 4 casts. Number 4 cast was an 18 inch rainbow. I found a patch of blackberries between 2 big boulders, and feeling quite brave after my decent into the jaws of death, climbed, ungracefully, to do my bit of gathering while the others did the hunting. Too quickly the time came to head back up the cliff. I will frankly state that I was terrified and had to pray pretty hard for strength to make it up. It is hard when your legs feel like rubber and your heart is beating out of your throat! There were just 2 very awful parts and one rock slide and then we were all up to the top. (The majority of rocks being loose and wiggly added to the adventure.) Scott led us to another great fishing spot, which he assured us was easier to get to. I believed him, really! But I was happy to sit in the car and work on my knitting while listening to "The Prairie Home Companion" on the radio. Truth be told, my knees were still shaking! The rest enjoyed another hike down to the river and caught some beautiful fish. I enjoyed watching the sunlight fade from the mountain crest and the stars pop out from the sunroof of my jeep. It was the most memorable fishing trip to this point in my life. I am a bit proud of myself for pushing through my fear of heights and steep places so I could experience this beautiful part of California with my family. And our Sunday trout dinner was an excellent prize for all of our efforts.