Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Spring Break - Part 3

A highlight of our trip was seeing the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Crystal Bridges Museum. When I was growing up, my grandmother subscribed to the Saturday Evening Post, so I grew up looking at the wonderful illustrations on the covers. Taking a two-year-old through an art exhibit brings its own pleasures—like when she pointed at the crying baby on one magazine cover and said, "That baby needs a hug." And, the scruffy clown painting she saw and said, "Somebody needs to clean him up." It was fun to see how much of the exhibit she actually took in.

But the very best times we had were just doing regular grandparent things—

...like getting ready for bedtime,

...picking out books for bedtime stories.

Daddy-O did things with Baby Sister, too.

She had her first hands-on lesson in using tools.

And our last night was reserved for dyeing Easter eggs. 

Somebody forgot to tell Baby Sister not to peel the eggs first. 

How different she is this year! Last year she just watched. 

This year she could do the eggs by herself. Sort of.

It was fun to hear all the new things she's learned to say since we last saw her. Phrases that regularly peppered her conversation—"Oh, my goodness!" "What in the world?" And my favorite, "Hmmm, I wonder....." that she said as she walked around her huge block structure trying to decide how to add one more block. How quickly they change.

We stopped by and woke Baby Sister up early (sorry, Mommy) for one last hug before we headed home. Won't be too long before we see her again, I hope.

Spring Break - Part 2

Since Big Sister was out of school for an entire week, we "girls" packed the car and hit the road. They are fairly new residents in their part of the country so exploring the surrounding cities as been a regular activity since they moved. Today the car headed to Kansas City, Missouri. This was my first time in that state.

I have said before that when I hear the word vacation, I think of beaches. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that you can have a great vacation smack in the middle of the country. 

Kansas City was a beautiful place. There were public sculptures everywhere. And there are enough fountains that you could even take a "fountain tour" of the city.There are many museums, too. 

But our trip was planned for Baby Sister and Big Sister. The first thing on the agenda was the aquarium where Baby Sister met the "meow fish"—which is toddler speak for "cat fish."

I had fun just watching everyone "watch." I don't get to see them often so that was pure pleasure for me.

There was so much that we didn't have time to do. Legoland and Hallmark's (headquartered here) Kaleidoscope for young visitors and the Crayola Cafe will have to wait for another time. 

But we did have lunch where our food was delivered by a toy train. And we made time for frozen custard before we left Crown Center. 

Remember the short sleeves we were wearing at the St. Patrick's Day parade just days ago? Well, the weather changed. We had fun at the Kansas City zoo, but the most exciting part for me was getting to see snow. Mommy pointed out that we knew we were not in South Carolina when bus loads of school children walked through the zoo paying no attention at all to the falling snow. Here at home any falling snow would have school officials beginning to think about school dismissal and all the mamas would be headed to the store for bread and milk.

Another day we went to the Science Center and the Planetarium at Union Station. The Science Center had activities for kids of all ages. Baby Sister loved spending time in the preschool room where she could touch and play with everything.

Big Sister talked me into paying $2 to go in the tornado booth with her where we enjoyed standing in 78 mph winds for a few minutes. Trust me, there are no photos of us coming out that booth. What grandmothers will do!

The funniest moment was in the railroad section. We had been through rooms and rooms of railroad displays. The girls had played with the model train display and climbed up into an engine car. But when we rounded another corner Baby Sister shouted, "Daddy-O!" She saw it before we did. The cattle car exhibit included a cowboy —

—a cowboy complete with a mustache. She didn't want to leave this "Daddy-O." So funny. But she had to leave him and we all had to leave Kansas City. There were still more things to do at home. My trip was only half over.

I promised I would share a few recipes from my trip. Here is one from Mommy. She made this yummy appetizer one night while we were there. And this first tray disappeared so quickly, she had to put together another batch.

She said she didn't have a recipe per se, but saw a picture of this appetizer on Instagram and figured this was close. The photo of the ingredients is pretty much the "recipe." It's a great combination of tastes and textures.

EASY SMOKED SALMON HERB APPETIZERS

1 package rosemary sea salt French rounds

1 container Boursin light garlic & herb cheese spread

1 package smoked salmon (she used nova lox)

fresh rosemary

Spread the Boursin cheese onto the French rounds. Top with the smoked salmon. Add a tiny sprig of fresh rosemary to each one.

The French rounds are crunchy which pairs nicely with the creamy cheese. And this is ready in minutes. If these exact ingredients are not available in your store, you could adapt this recipe to whatever version of these ingredients you can find.

Spring Break - Part 1

As my friends here who are teachers and parents get excited because spring break starts tomorrow on Good Friday, I'm looking back at our spring break memories from the past couple of weeks. Evidently spring break in the midwest follows a different calendar because everywhere we went (the week before Holy Week) there were hundreds of families and children enjoying time off.

I was so happy to see my family when I finally arrived after spending most of the day in airports. And Baby Sister was happy to see me. And my iPhone. She calls my phone "Old McDonald." It was a constant request while I was there—"See Old McDonald?" That's the first app I added for her. But she can zoom around that phone better than I can now, hardly slowing down for the actual Old McDonald any more.

And with this smile, I can't resist handing it to her almost every time she wants it. 

Mommy had a full calendar for my time out there. First thing on Saturday morning was the St. Patrick's Day parade—my first one ever. Baby Sister liked it all except for the "fireplace" that was too loud and made her cry. In two-year-old language, fireplace = fire truck. 

Several times she talked about the "loud fireplace that made her cry." But then she would go on to say after that then she was happy when they threw necklaces and candy to the crowd.

We also stopped by the most unique shops I've ever seen. There was a semi-circle of Airstream trailers, each housing a different business. We checked out the pie shop and the flower shop. It's so much fun to see things we don't have at home.

We did a little bit of shopping that afternoon, too. Big Sister and I got new Toms shoes. And Baby Sister picked out new glasses.

Daddy grilled his famous salmon that night and Mommy made this yummy dish for dinner on Sunday night. It was originally called a "casserole" but we renamed it a "hot dish" since Daddy doesn't eat casseroles. Whatever you call it, it's delicious. (The directions are long, but it's super simple.)

LAZY SUNDAY HOT DISH

1 (14 oz.) package turkey kielbasa or smoked sausage, cut into 3-in. pieces & split lengthwise
1 pound potatoes
1/2 pound carrots
1/2 bell pepper (red or yellow)
1 large onion
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp oil
freshly cracked black pepper
1-1/2 tsp Italian herbs
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar 

Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut each potato in four pieces. Peel one large or two smaller onions and cut them in wedges. Remove the base and stalks of the fennel, and cut into wedges. Slice 1/2 to 1 bell pepper in strips. Place everything in a big roasting tray.

Use a big bowl to combine the oil with the Italian herbs, grated or chopped garlic, and chicken broth. Season with a generous amount of salt (kosher salt would be great) and cracked black pepper. Cover the tray with aluminum foil and pop it in a preheated oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes the potatoes and vegetables should be fork tender. If they’re not, cover the tray with the foil and pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes. If they are fork tender, place the sausages in there and pour the balsamic vinegar all over. Place the tray back in the oven, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes. 

Take it out after 15 minutes, flip over those sausages and ladle some of the juices from the bottom of the pan all over the vegetables and sausages. Put it back in the oven for the remaining time, until everything is nice and brown. 

Check out the original recipe if you would like to use fresh sausages.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jog

Looks like today will be totally dedicated to doing laundry we brought home from our visit to Baby Sister and her family. It was a wonderful visit. We saw lots of snow falling. We ate too much good food. And we played lots and lots with Baby Sister. 

Give me a day or so to catch up around the house and get my photos moved from one device to another. Then I'll share a little of what we did on our trip. I also have recipes (made in Mommy's kitchen) for you. As always, easy and delicious.

Sisterhood Of The Traveling Grandmas

This was my favorite email a couple of days ago. Well, Baby Sister—today's the day!


From:  Mommy
Subject:  Friday
Date:  March 13, 2013 4:11:26 PM EDT
To:  Mimi

The second thing out of Baby Sister's mouth this morning, was "SEE MIMI TODAY!" Still working on sense of time, but nice sentiment. :)

What is your eta on Friday and flight number? Counting down!

A couple of weeks ago I was in the car with three other grandmothers on an outing to an upstate yarn shop. Of course, much of the conversation was about grandchildren. And as I listened, I thought about how different grandparenting is for us than it was for our own grandmothers. One friend has grandchildren in Texas, one flies to Florida to see her grands and the other has family in Colorado. And  I have several other friends with children and grandchildren that reside in foreign countries. (If yours live nearby, be glad. And enjoy.) 

So I guess I am right in style, as I get ready to board a plane today. Daddy-o will hold down the fort here at the farm. But I'm headed for a hug!

Song Of Soup

I am blessed to have several interests that give me great pleasure (told you about the knitting yesterday.) I also spend a good bit of my time with assorted music activities—much of it with my ukulele band. I have gathered many friends with each of these interests. I have knitting friends scattered across the country and I have many ukulele friends from coast to coast and even in Canada.

I also love to cook. Sometimes it is just a necessity beacause we have to eat and sometimes I feel totally creative when I'm in the kitchen. Anyway, a few days ago I saw a YouTube post from a ukulele friend. Complete with recipe. I love it when my interests happily collide.

Now, I have recipes I've collected that were jotted on a napkin or the back of an envelope. Recipes that were ripped out of the news paper and magazines. And there are about a zillion recipes pinned on my Pinterest boards. But I've never had a musical recipe. Until now.



I made UkesterBrown's soup this week and thought it was good enough to share here. We've been trying to focus on fresh foods here and step away from processed foods and ingredients you can't pronounce. But canned vegetables usually don't have many of those "big word" ingredients. Most times it's just a vegetable, water and salt. The salt/sodium can be a concern, so we look for low-sodium or no-salt-added products on the grocery shelf.

For a recipe that mostly involves dumping cans into a pot, this was pretty good. There are days when you have time to really cook. And there are days when you need a recipe like this. We put two quarts into the freezer for later.

UkesterBrown said it's the fresh cilantro that "makes" this recipe. But we live in a cilantro-free zone here. Daddy-O cannot abide it. (Have you heard about genetic reason for this?) So I just left that out and figured topping the soup with a little cheese and sour cream would make up the difference. It worked for us.

I used one can of mild Rotel tomatoes and one can of original Rotel. It's was pretty zingy! So pick your Rotel to suit your taste. Here is UkesterBrown's recipe:

BLACK BEAN SOUP 

2 tablespoons oil

½ cup diced carrots

½ diced celery

½ diced onion

2 (10-oz) cans diced tomatoes w/ green chilies

3 (15-oz) cans black beans (I used low-sodium)

1 (11-oz) can Mexican style corn

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro 

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in soup pot and then add 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup celery and 1/2 cup onion. Cook about 15 minutes or until tender.

Add diced tomatoes with green chiles, black beans, Mexican-style corn. Don't drain anything.

Bring to a boil and then let simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro and serve. 


One member (she's a whistler, too) of our ukulele band saw this recipe and told me she had a wonderful black bean soup that used dried black beans and ham. I will see if she'll share her recipe. And on a day when I have more time, I'll try hers, too.