Mmmmm, pesto!

Before getting to the topic of this post, I want to point out that the new song on the top of my blog playlist, is probably my all time favorite that we sing at our church here. Two Sundays ago it was included in the service and since that was the next to the last time we would be there, it felt like a little gift from God. Since music affects me strongly, I know that anytime I hear that in the future, it will take me mentally right back to Grace Community Church, though I don't know that I've ever heard it anywhere else. Listen to the words, if you haven't already. LOVE the chorus and the bridge parts!!!

(Pretty sunflowers brought over by a neighbor a few weeks ago.)

These few moments really should be used to scramble around here with the packing, which is getting down to the wire now, but this will be fairly quick!

We managed to get a good crop of basil this year and about a week ago, I harvested most of it to make pesto. There were about 9 lightly-packed cups of leaves in the end, which was enough for 4 & 1/2 batches.

Yum! Yum! Yum! I'll eat pesto straight out of the bowl, or on many, many different things. Last night I dipped some leftover sweet potato fries in it for dinner. A little unusual, but not bad!

Fa la la la la!

Yesterday was a day full of MUSIC! And a fun visit with friends, too.

The kids each performed with their Suzuki group classes at a recital that was very nice.

(All the other pictures I took included other children and therefore are not "postable.")

Then we came home for a dinner of soup and bread with another family and all decided to go back for the dress rehearsal of the Nutcracker. We have seen bits of it each year at the local Lollipop concert, but the children were mesmerized throughout the whole thing last night! I feared they would be wound up being there with their friends, but all eyes were glued, and mouths were mostly silent. Peanut fell asleep in her chair at the very end for about 5-10 minutes, right after telling me that the scene they were on (flowers? dew drops? somewhere in the midst of the sugar plum fairy section) was her favorite.

Music

I found this gadget to play music after enjoying some songs on another person's blog. Hope you enjoy! It's a random collection. Do you know what movie the first one is in? Raining & OK is a friend's band.

If you don't want to listen to it while you're reading, you can click the "play" button to turn it off.

Last week was one of the most "social" ones I've had in over 3 years! It was fun, but would have been nice to spread it out a little!


Among other activities, it included an apple-processing afternoon at a friend's house (not sure why L is hiding from the camera, but she and her friend are enjoying a sample of the applesauce), some progress in the development of a family and friend "folk" group (here they are working on "Boil Them Cabbage Down"), and a much warmer and more enjoyable day for soccer Sunday! She just melts me! Only one more week of soccer! Woohoo! Hopefully the warmer weather holds out for it!

Saturday morning it rained for a while. This is a rare occasion back at home, and two little girls were quite delighted to go play in it, especially since puddles were involved, which we almost never get at home. L comes bouncing in the door: "This is TOTALLY FUN!!!" The rest of the day we worked and played around here. The results included three pies. Here is what we had for dinner that night (which my dad declared a balanced meal):

We always try to land here during sweet corn season and pretty much gorge on it. My brother's friend grows it about 1/2 mile or so away from here. Doesn't get much fresher! Unfortunately, we're going to miss out on the tomatoes - they're not ripe yet - and as my aunt put it, "I hope you get to have some Indiana tomatoes before you go back. They are the best!!" It's true. You haven't lived till you've had one straight from the garden here.

That second pie is what came from our cherry picking outing. Really good, but a LOT of work.

The baby finally exited the jungle of grass.

Another not-so-great picture from the SWAMP performance. But check out the organ pipes behind the scenery. I love going back to this church I grew up in. For one thing, they still play the organ. There is just something about singing hymns with the organ, the building vibrating with the music, choir backing it up, that stirs one's soul a bit.

One aspect of coming back for visits at church that I felt I handled inadequately yesterday, is what I will call "social juggling." There are so many people to greet and speak with all in that few minutes before and after church and only one of me (also trying to track down three children - the two oldest ones were stuck in Sunday school for quite some time after the service, with some gracious and patient teachers). Many people receive our monthly letter and pictures, so they remember and recognize us and know a little bit about us and what is going on in our lives, but we don't usually have the reciprocal opportunity. Anyway, even though the service was a blessing, I left feeling a little discouraged at how I handled some of the conversational juggling. PTL for God's grace - praying He covered for my blunders yesterday.

After church and lunch, we stopped by my grandparents' graves for a bit. There are cemeteries everywhere around here and the kids have been asking about them, so we took a field trip, and the opportunity to clean them up a bit. B worked diligently cleaning the dirt off of her namesake's marker and made a rubbing afterward.

Hymns

A while back I tried a "meme" for which one of the challenges was:
"For each letter of your name, write the name of a song that is fitting for your life somehow."
Well, that was too complicated, although I think my life theme song could be "I'm Not Cool" by Scott Krippayne. It's a really good song - you can read the lyrics if you click on the title right there.

In keeping with that theme (not being cool) I have a confession to make.

I really prefer hymns in church.

Perhaps it is due to nostalgia - growing up in a (formerly) traditional, fairly large church with a wonderful organ and tremendous organist along with a large choir. I loved that you could feel the music as the air filled those pipes and the whole church and even get "goose bumps" sometimes.

Somehow hymns bring me to a place of worship in a way that most modern music never quite does. Both the music and the words affect me in a more meaningful way. I don't listen to them very often, but happened to pop in a CD with some on the way to church this morning. (Geoff and little G are out of town, so only the girls were there to hear.) Just before we arrived a very rousing, majestic rendition of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" played.

Then the message was on I Corinthians 10 with a theme of God being faithful. And the first song of the closing set was..."Great Is Thy Faithfulness." I was sort of getting the idea God was trying to get my attention on this subject today! Apparently the lyrics to this hymn are still copyrighted, but you can read them here.

beignets for breakfast and cooking in style

There has been a request for more food-related content, which I would be happy to indulge, as well as enjoyment of "March of the Tools." One thing I have wondered about in regards to the food area is copyrights on recipes. Anyone know how that works? For now, I will link to the recipe if I can find it online somewhere. If not and I mention something you'd like the recipe for, let me know and I'll email it to you.

Cooking in Style

For the two friends I know for a fact are reading this: Have you ever made dinner in something like this? No further comment because you never know who might be reading and if they might do so! It was in the paper today and Geoff pointed it out.

Beignets

But back to the previous topic, let me see if I can expand your waistline with a picture of our breakfast treat. These are "Chocolate-filled Beignets," the most recent experiment from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. Here is the definition of beignet from the book : " Beignet is French for fritter, or as we Americans like to call them, doughnuts. They're made from rich, yeasted dough, fried in oil, and then covered generously in powdered sugar. What's not to love?" So the biggest sin about the other things I've made from this book is the pure white flour content. But not these babies. I picked the less-rich of the two dough options, challah, which had 4 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, and 1/2 cup of honey, besides the white flour. (The other choice, brioche, called for 3 sticks of butter, 8 eggs, and the honey. I think I gained 5 pounds reading the recipe.) Just FYI, I can probably count on one hand, and definitely on two, the number of times I have deep fried something as an adult, and a few of those were frybread for Geoff's school events.

This book is going to have to go back to the library for now. Someone else probably needs more help being unhealthy than we do. And Geoff just read in the paper this morning that wheat prices are tripling, along with gas and all (watch for that info in my next post). Wonder if we could possibly coax anything to grow in our high-altitude, desert climate, short growing-season back yard this year? Probably not. We've tried and all we end up with is a big water bill and frosted plants in June or early September.

Music

Celtic Spring was cool! If you have any interest in Celtic music (and even if you don't but don't mind it) you would probably enjoy this group. Check out their website to see if they might be in your area. A family of six kids (and the parents on keyboard and drum) fiddling and dancing and enjoying themselves, and doing it all pretty well. The only down fall was that it went till almost 10:30. B slept off and on but held out without a meltdown.

Wikiup (sp?)

And just for fun, here is Gabe's creation in the backyard a few days ago. It is a model of a wikiup which is a type of transportable home that certain tribes of Native Americans used in the past.

accomplishment, bread, book, and more

G, B and I are going to see Celtic Spring. If you click on their name there and watch the video, you're in for a treat! After seeing that, the kids wanted to go so much that they offered to buy their own tickets! Should put us in the mood for St. Patrick's day. On that note, we've been collecting a series of books this year that tell about the life of the person behind the holiday. We're waiting on this one now. Hope it gets here by Monday so we can read it while we're having our corned beef and cabbage and these St. Patrick's Day cookies I'm going to try.

I packed up the dress-making material and plan in a moment of realism, after writing the previous post.

I did manage to (finally) finish all the kids' year-in-review pages last night. I found 12x12 frames at Michael's (FYI, they're on sale 3/21 & 22, 2/$9 if you want to do this, too) a while back, so if no other pages ever get made about last year, at least they have the highlights at a glance for their future enjoyment. I'll add some shots of the pages soon.

It seems like cupcakes are popping up everywhere. I know they're kind of "in" right now, but I've seen several the past few days, like here (these are just nice to look at - I wouldn't even need to eat them) and here is a whole site devoted to them. I've got to stay away from cupcakes for now because I'm still going through the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes book I mentioned here.