Thankful

We had a wonderful holiday yesterday thanks to our friends Tom and Julie and their family, who shared their Thanksgiving feast with us. Oh my, what a spread it was! and a pleasure to meet Tom’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. It was nice to be in a family environment.

What I’m Thankful For…

• My husband who is dedicated to working hard to provide for me and Ellie and is very patient with me and my little moods. I love you G
• Our beautiful healthy daughter who has brought a whole new dimension to our lives and makes our hearts soar.
• Our family- parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who provide so much love and support we would be lost without them.
• Our dogs who are loving companions (Chip) and trouble makers (Adah)
• Our gang of friends who we can be silly, creative, and adventurous with. We have a good tribe
• Our health

Gobble Gobble goo and Gobble Gobble giggle

As I sit here and type this Gary and Ellie are watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Ronald McDonald just floated by and Gary made sure to introduce him to Ellie as “Dirty Ron”, Gary’s favorite reference to McDonalds. Yesterday Ellen watched patiently as I baked some pies. I guess I’m not that skilled at multitasking because it was a trick to watch over the babe and get the pies done, by the end of the day I was a bit frazzled. Picture the classic women in the kitchen with flour everywhere her hair a mess and the baby crying. We persevered and the pies are turning out well so far. I have to bake them today so they are fresh for the taking. I went with the traditional flavors Pumpkin and Apple. I like to put a little twist on the pumpkin pie and make it with a gingersnap crust. I also like to use fresh ginger in the filling. I must admit I borrowed the gingersnap crust recipe from Letty, Debbie, and Steve at the Deer Valley Bakery. I do love to bake, and I spent three years in the bakery at Deer Valley. I don’t know maybe Steve can correct me, but I was feeling pretty confident in my baking skills by the end of my three year term. Yesterday humbled me a bit, though. I just can’t pull it off as well in my home as I did in the awesome professional DV Bakery. I think it’s a psychological thing and I am my worst critic. I did do some things right, stuff my brain absorbed at work and stuff I like to do at home, I’ll share them with you…

• Mise en place It’s French meaning “everything in its place”. This is key for pulling off any project. It’s all about prep in the bakery we would gather the ingredients we needed and prep things first like zest lemons, peel apples, cut butter, and so on. I also learned to mix all the dry ingredients together first.
• “Clean as you go is the sign of a pro” Letty always used this catch phrase and it’s true. Nobody likes to work with a messy baker. At home I try to always have the sink ready to wash so I can clean off my utensils and use them again instead of pulling out another bowl and another spoon and having a huge pile of dishes to deal with at the end of the day. Take a break and clean between each phase of the recipe make the dough then clean, make the filling then clean, put them together then clean. You can never clean too much. Oh how I long for a dish washer. Actually, it’s a little therapeutic to slow down and wash the dishes in the sink.
• I like to add a bit of whole wheat flour where I can. For instance the crust for the apple pie uses 2 1/2 cups of flour so I use 2 cups white and 1/2 cup of whole wheat. I think this adds some nutrition to the pie. Be careful when altering recipes though too much whole wheat flour can make the dough tough. I also like to use flax seed when appropriate that stuff has good omegas, and we can all use some omega in our diet.
• Go to the source. Use a real pumpkin, fresh ginger, fresh fruits etc. This sounds like more work but it doesn’t always have to be if you Mise en place and plan ahead. I roasted a pie pumpkin on Tuesday peeled it that night and whalla I have fresh pumpkin instead of pumpkin from the can.
• Finally, don’t forget to eat lunch. I made the mistake of working right through lunch yesterday hence the frazzle. It pays to sit down and make a well rounded lunch instead of snacking on the sugary treats you’re making. That way you keep your wits about you and you wont be spent by the end of the baking glory.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Helen’s Greenhouse

Ellen and I met our aunt Laurel today for lunch. We went to a great Mexican Restaurant in Midway called Tarahumara. If you are ever on the other side of the Wasatch I highly recommend this place excellent south of the border fair.

After lunch I made an appointment with Chuck and Helen Warren. Two Heber locals who worked very hard as engineers in the career world to retire and enjoy their love of botany. Gary and I had met them over the summer at the Heber and Salt Lake Farmers Markets. They have three beautiful greenhouses. Helen led Laurel, me, and Ellie through each greenhouse pointing out all the fine details. Each one has a different climate according to the plants needs.

The first house was set up to keep most of her succulents and a few fruit trees with warmer temperatures during the day and cooler at night, as well as the most sunlight and humidity. We were thoroughly impressed with her Pineapple plants which have actual Pineapples fruiting from them. She also had some Lemon and Orange trees as well, amongst the greatest collection of Succulents my eyes have seen.

The second house was set up for houseplants it was cooler with a more consistent 24hr temperature and more shade. This house had an impressive Banana Leaf Tree and a misbehaving plant from the mint variety that wouldn’t grow so well in the pot but prospered once it dropped on the ground.

The third house was what Helen called the “Heritage House”. Named for a few heirloom plants she had from her mother. It had a whole wall full of Orchids one of my personal favorite plants as well as some Lilies, Amarilis, and an Aloe plant that was in bloom no less. I have never seen an Aloe in bloom. Needless to say we walked out of there extremely impressed and with a natural high from all the pure oxygen we had taken in.

For all the Mama’s Out There (and Papa’s too)

This is a somewhat lazy post because I’m actually referring you all to someone else’s blog post from yesterday. I found this wonderful blog one day when I was surfing around in what I like to call the Etsy vortex. I tend to loose myself and and get bedazzled by all the crafty items and inspirations on this site. Anyhow one fine day I came across this very talented mama: Amanda Soule (SouleMama). I’ve been a little too bashful to post any comments to her site but man I really admire her skills. So please check out her blog and read her post titled “Acorns are Fun“:

Sometimes, we do chose to spend a little bit extra to have the toys/tools we like best – those that come from natural materials, those that leave room for imagination, and those that are made in a way that fits our values – but that also means we buy less, evening the cost in the end. Buying less also means we have less – which I believe is always more when it comes to toys and imagination and the growth of our little ones.

She sums up the philosophy on toys that Gary and I would like to take with raising Ellie. Pretty much she nails it, exactly what Gary has been trying to express to everyone about toys for babes. I’m off to buy some acorns now…

Baby Beluga

A few years ago after I graduated from USU I had the opportunity to do some field work with my friend Liz for the USGS. We were collecting data from forest fires in Manitoba, Canada. Anyhow, one weekend we decided to treat ourselves to a weekend trip up to Churchill “The Polar Bear Capitol of the World”, so we bought train tickets and off we went. The train was great for the first few hours (it was slow due to frost heaves from the tundra). There was a little boy that was seated near us and he sang the children’s song “Baby Beluga” for what seemed like the entire trip. Needless to say my brain absorbed that song and it comes around and haunts me every now and then. The problem is I don’t entirely know the words and all I have in my head is what the kid kept singing over and over again, Baby Beluga, Baby Beluga, Baby Beluga you get the picture. So one day when I was holding Ellie those wonderful words got stuck in my head again. So I’m challenging my self to learn this cute little tune. Here are the lyrics so you can get it stuck in you head as well.

Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and you swim so free.
Heaven above, and the sea below,
And a little white whale on the go.

Baby beluga, baby Beluga, is the water warm?
Is your mama home with you, so happy.

Way down yonder where the dolphins play,
Where they dive and splash all day,
The waves roll in and the waves roll out,
See the water squirting out of your spout.

Baby beluga, baby Beluga, sing your little song,
Sing for all your friends, we like to hear you.

When it’s dark, you’re home and fed,
Curl up snug in your water bed.
Moon is shining and the stars are out,
Good night, little whale, goodnight.

Baby beluga, baby Beluga, with tomorrow’s sun,
Another day’s begun, you’ll soon be waking.

Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and you swim so free.
Heaven above and the sea below,
And a little white whale on the go.
You’re just a little white whale on the go.

So it Begins…

Well, here I go, this is my blog. It will showcase my family, projects, and life in general. Wish me luck!

I’ll start by sharing my Birds Nest Day. I noticed we had a bird’s nest in the sad little maple tree in our front yard last week. So, curiosity got the best of me and I retrieved it by standing on our old subaru and using some kitchen tongs (for extra reach). I’m sure it was a funny sight. Ellie was watching me from her seat on the porch. Anyhow, we both enjoyed checking it out up close.

View the larger photos at Flickr…