Vintage Earrings. How Many Days?

Recently my brother-in-law lost his last grandparent, Grandma Brink.  She was a fantastic lady and will be quite missed.  My sister, brother-in-law and family helped with the obligatory sorting though of her possessions and apparently thought of me, because I received a visit from Scott on Tuesday with a bag full.  I received in my bag, a huge amount of vintage clip on or screw back earrings.  There were so many I didn't even count.  This all sounds rather morbid, but I think of it as a celebration of someone with great style.  So, I'm not sure how long these posts will continue, but I intend to wear each pair and post them in honor of Grandma Brink.

Day 1

Sassy Blue set that I loved immediately!

Freddy's Birthday

Freddy was officially 18 on March 25, which is oddly enough only one day different from our first exchange son, Felipe's, whose is on the 24th.  Eighteen for a Finnish kid, doesn't mean a whole lot here in the US, but when he gets back to Finland he will be able to drink alcohol.... legally.  It was a busy weekend but we squeezed in lots of birthday activities.  The morning of his birthday we had American breakfast, pancakes & sausage, before school.

That night Freddy had a birthday party with friends.  Saturday we went to Birch Run for some birthday shopping and a birthday lunch.  We finally went to Tony's.  It's famous for HUGE portions.  Freddy got the BLT (bacon lettuce tomato sandwich) with 1 full pound of bacon!  He ate much of it but could not finish it.

That night we had a family birthday dinner.  Freddy chose and we had steaks, frites and salad.  Huge sirloin steaks of which Freddy ate the entirety of.  Mike and I split one.  The frites were sweet potato and I made a smoked paprika butter for the steaks. Very delicious meal.

Sunday we had birthday cake.  When we asked Freddy what kind he wanted, he stated that he wanted an American cake.  Isn't cake American period??  No?  Oh okay.  Epicurious was a big helper and I found a decidely American cake, Devils Food Cake.  We topped the three layers with a caramel frosting and it was mouth watering.

 The final part of the celebration was the following Wednesday.  We bought Red Wings tickets for Freddy's birthday present.  We had a great time even though the Wings got slaughtered.  Not a bad replacement for the drinking birthday that he would have had in Finland.

Sushi!

Mom & I with our hard work.

Many, many years ago I took my first trip to NYC with my now Mother-in-law to pick up my now sister-in-law, Patricia, from college and do a bit of sight seeing.  We ventured to Rockefeller Plaza and ended up getting lunch.  Patricia wanted to get sushi.  She got a harmless California Roll.  I, after just having discovered a slight liking of fish, was obviously curious but very frightened.  "Isn't it raw fish?" I asked.  Of course, I tried it after many "Fear Factor" faces and was not pleased to find that it was very very fishy tasting.  "It's too fishy for me," was all I could muster to say but in my head I was saying "Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!"  I came to learn after giving it a try again and again once back at MSU that it actually was the seaweed not the fish that had put me off that first meeting with sushi.  Though I couldn't have predicted in NYC, seaweed and I are now friends and sushi and I have become the closest of friends.

However much I love cooking, sushi is a bit intimidating.  It takes a lot of skill to do what chefs do at the best of sushi restaurants and I do not think I have the education to be able to achieve the artistry that is on my plate at those restaurants.  That however will not stop me from trying to learn more about this yummy food.  Not too long ago my Mom called to tell me that a local chef was doing a sushi class and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her.  Without a doubt I was going.

We had a great time and I earned a ton of confidence making three rolls all by my lonesome.  Our teacher was good and took much of the intimidation factor out of play.  The scariest was flipping the rice covered nori to make a roll with the rice on the outside.  If a drum roll could have been conjured it would have been quite appropriate as I stared down at my soon-to-be spicy tuna roll trying to work up the courage to flip it over.  Of, course my rolls were not restaurant caliber, but they were tasty!!  I cannot wait to get some sushi rice and start practicing on the boys at home.

Adventures in Finnish Cookery

I really love to cook and my husband might let you know that with recipes I have the attention span of a gnat.  I hardly ever make the same thing twice, I'm awful at following recipes (I'm always improvising due to pantry supplies or food allergies) and I always like to try something new.  I'll make/try anything once.  So, it is no wonder that along with our exchange students come new cooking adventures for me.  I wonder if my sons ever get tired of me asking how things taste, if they've had anything similar before and what kind of recipes are close to it in their country.  I'm so curious about food and I love to eat!

So, below are some of my adventures in Finnish cookery this year.  I haven't done a ton of Finnish cooking, because one of Freddy's goals is to try EVERYTHING American.  But, it has been really nice to try some special things at Christmas and recently for Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday).

New Apron and Oven Mitt from Finland for Christmas.

Christmas I made something that was a wide step outside of my comfort zone, Gravlax.  For a very long portion of my life I never liked fish.  Sounds ridiculous now, but I think I only did fish sticks a couple times as a youngster and I decided that fish and I would not be friends.  My Dad wasn't a fan either, so I never thought it was a weird thing to pass on food with scales.  When I got food allergies, I realized how fortunate I was to be able to eat any food, so I took a new position in my food life...  try everything that I'm not allergic to at least once.  That philosophy has had a hand in leading me to the land of fishes and while I like most of them, salmon is just not one that I'm a fan of.  Gravlax is cured or marinated salmon.  I'm currently wrinkling my nose thinking about salmon.

But, fortunately for me, once finished Gravlax doesn't taste very salmon-y.  I liked it quite a bit.  At Christmas time we also made the traditional gingerbread, rutabaga casserole and Christmas pudding.  Pictures coming....

Freddy's parents sent me a note telling me of a Fat Tuesday pastry that they normally have and how much Freddy liked them.  They offered to send me the recipe if I wanted to try to make them.  Really... did they have to even ask?  Below are pictures of making the fastlagsbulle.  Freddy said they were great and Mike rather liked them too.

 Then on Sunday after our drive back from Columbus we told Freddy that he had to cook dinner for us because he has not cooked a thing here in the US (really we were just feeling lazy!).  The closest he's gotten to cooking is stirring something for me on the stove and putting together peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.  He said he had the recipe for Macaroni Casserole that he hadn't made.  We of course all went into the kitchen and made it together.  Quite tasty.

Freddy even made his own "head chef" hat.

Doing dishes while Freddy was watching the stove.

The finished product!

December Gone & January Going... Going...

December and January have flown by.  Wedding, hockey, holidays, work and training have gulped up the days and I just finally got my act back together this week.  Hopefully I can keep it together for the next two months and then the pace shall slow down a bit.  (Only a bit, mind you.  Too slow and I'd be restless.)  Hockey is quite a commitment for all of us and it has been taking over the majority of our time besides work.  Yes, work, don't forget that!  It is my busy season and my desk is drowning in paperwork.  This week began with an attack of misfortunes and phone call after phone call of unpleasant things in the office.  I've pulled some very long days and today I am reaping a bit of reward from them.  I'm sure my relief will not last long, as I can now still only see 33% of my desk.  But, I must savor it while it lasts.

Well, December started off in spectacular style with, my brother, Ben's wedding.  It was a big homestead affair and went wonderfully.  The ceremony was cold but incredibly romantic and the reception of around 400 people was a great party!  Freddy had his first taste of a big American farm wedding and even found a couple of girls to dance with.  Although, I will say that he could use a few dance lessons.  He needs some more groove.  Unfortunately though, our camera quit working after one unfocused photo at the wedding.  Not sure what's wrong with it because I haven't had time to find out!  So, we've been getting by with Freddy's camera... When he remembers it!  Hopefully I'll be able to look at the warranty information tomorrow and get it sent in to be fixed up.  We'll never have enough pictures if we're relying on Freddy's picture taking skills.

December then disappeared into a whoosh of hockey games and holiday celebrations.  The hockey games went well and Freddy shared time with Alex, the other Senior goalie.  As some of the teams they've played weren't too challenging, Freddy kept saying that we hadn't really seen him play yet.  We finally got that pleasure when we watched DSJ play East Grand Rapids.  Whenever the puck heads down towards Freddy I get all tense and say things like, "Watch out Freddy!"  or "Heads up Freddy!", which of course Freddy can't hear but it makes me feel better saying.  Freddy blocked so many goals this game I was practically talking to myself the entire game.  Luckily for us and them, Mike's parents happened to be visiting that weekend and we all got to root Freddy on through a terrific game for him.  They ended up losing in overtime, but they would have never made it to overtime without Freddy.  Good fun and certainly the upside to driving all over Michigan for hockey games!

To be continued...   

Football, Golf, Hockey, Football, Parties and Some More Football

It's obvious that my absence from the blog-isphere is palpable every time I get too busy, but fear not I will always return eventually.  (My attempts at wit are quite palpable as well and I hope they don't wound you.)  Freddy has been keeping us hopping but it has been a fun few months.  Football and all kinds of other things made the time fly by.  I'm so used to being busy on weeknights that I have a very sad tale for you.  My mind has become slightly addled by it.  Tuesday evening this week I was driving home from work and I realized this very fact.  

The only way I can give you an accurate picture of what happened in my mind that night is to re-create my internal thoughts.  Stop reading now if my too-long stories bore you to tears, because I can assure that this will most likely drag on a bit too long for most sane people.  I had a pretty normal long day at work and left the office about 6pm.  I was headed north and flipping through the radio stations looking for tunes because NPR wasn't too interesting at that moment.  I was thinking about the creamy leek dish that I had gotten the ingredients for that day and what else I was going to make with it for dinner.  I then realized that Freddy was at practice until 9:30pm and that I had nothing else scheduled for the evening.  For some reason in my brain this was not okay.  I was thinking up errands to run, people to see and things to do...  When realistically I was all caught up on my social calendar, errands and most of the chores about the house.  I began to think that it was going to be such a boring night to be home with nothing to do!  I almost tweeted how boring Tuesday was, when I finally snapped out of it.  I'd been commenting for weeks that I needed more time at home because I'm so busy all the time, blah blah blah.  I finally got it and what did I do?  I regretted it!!  I thought, "What is wrong with me?"  You are supposed to enjoy down time.  I actually had to talk myself into thinking that one night... with 3 hours of nothing at home was okay.  I had to convince myself?!?  If I had remained in the earlier mind frame, I just might have gotten the riot act from my husband when I got home.  Instead of that unappealing sounding option, I thankfully got my wits back together, went home and warmed up leftovers with my hubby and relaxed on the couch.  Whew.

Now back to what has made me slightly addled.  September held the DALMAC, Mike's annual golf vacation with college buddies, a cooking divas trip to meet Tyler Florence,  exciting football games and two bridal showers.  October held more football, a 5k, Mike's first bow kill, homecoming, a MSU hockey game, a MSU football game, making apple cider and a birthday trip to the islands of Puerto Rico and Vieques.  November is almost half way though and we've already had the end of football, the beginning of hockey, a visit from Hilary and Lego Robotics.  And, really these are just the major events.

The great news is that we've really been enjoying every bit of it and especially having Freddy making us busy and having him enjoying our already busy lives.  We have really become a well oiled little family unit in the last month or so.  Freddy makes me laugh more than I laughed all year, and I laugh a lot!  He always knows when to cheer me up and it has been really fun to be a football mom for 3 months.  On to conquer hockey Mom-dom.

DALMAC - Year 2

Well, we started September out with an exciting bike trip.  We rode the DALMAC for the second year.  (Do you like how I just pretended like it's still the beginning of September and didn't mention the fact that I'm a month behind in blogging??  Pretty sneaky right?)  This year Samone selected a new route for us to ride, the 4 day East Route.  Last year, you may remember, we did the 4 day West Route and we rode about 323 miles.  It was an amazing experience and it made us want to do it again this year.  This year on the 4 day East we were scheduled for approximately 260 miles.  We didn't train nearly as hard this year, but seriously, I'm not sure that it would have made any difference whatsoever.  It was a rough ride all around.  We got all prepped in the weeks before.  We rode, gathered equipment, tweaked equipment and generally tried to get everyone organized.  I bought a new pretty road bike, a Dawes Shelia.  We borrowed an older bike for Freddy to ride and we got new tires and all kinds of other miscellaneous things.  Last year it was only Samone, Mike and I riding.  This year it was a large cast including, Samone, my brother-in-law, Scott, Mike, Freddy, Cheryl (Scott's sister), Steven (Scott's nephew) and of course, me.  A much bigger group to wrangle!  We finally got everything together though and Freddy, Mike and I headed over Wednesday evening to pick up our registration information.  Registration was interestingly different for me in comparison to last year.  Last year I was so nervous and worried about the whole thing and this year I barely wondered about our route.

The next morning, Thursday morning, was Day 1!  Freddy had his second football game on Thursday, so he was out for the first day.  Mike and I got up about 5am and got ready to go.  We left much earlier than necessary because we were meeting Hilary and Ricardo in East Lansing for breakfast before we began.  They were in town for the weekend for Hilary's brother's wedding and this would be the only chance we would have to see them.  You know me, always trying to do everything!  So we had a very nice breakfast at O'Neils and then headed towards the MSU Pavilion, where we would begin our journey.  We arrived and the rest of our rag-tag crew was there and ready to ride.  We kissed our supporters goodbye and we hit the road.  We had a nice ride down through the MSU campus and headed north out of town on Park Lake Road.  Mike and I especially enjoyed the ride through campus... just like the old days.  About 30 minutes into our ride, just north of town we ran into our first few problems.  Namely, Samone had something wrong with her tire and it was beginning to rain.  We all pulled off together and Mike fixed Samone's tire by trading it out with his own (foreshadowing).  Off we headed again and Scott and Cheryl were treated to a few small hills.  I'm pretty sure that they were wondering what they had gotten themselves into!!  This first day, we decided to all ride together in the morning to our lunch stop at my Mom's and then we would ride our own speeds and meet up at the stopping point for the night.  We made it all the way to Ovid when the tire that Mike had traded out from Samone's bike went down and I mean way down (See how effective foreshadowing is?).  We waited as Mike then proceeded to change a flat tube.  With the new tube in place, we were up and riding again all the way to lunch at Mom's house.  We had some delicious homemade pizza for lunch.  Pizza on the first day has become our tradition and I plan to keep it on every multi-day ride from here to eternity!  Sooo good!  Mike spent much of our lunch break tweaking bikes with everything from changing tires to adjusting seats and handlebars.  I, on the other hand, spent my break looking over my last minute purchases that were delivered to my Mom's place and eating way too much pizza.  In particular I was excited to see some energy gels in my package.  One that I bought was the brand GU and was Chocolate Outrage in flavor.  I was really looking forward to trying it out.

After lunch we had a nice flat land ride all the way to Midland... in the pouring rain.  It was pretty disappointing to ride in the wind and rain, but as we would discover in the days to come, this was the easy day.  Once we all arrived at the Bullock Creek Middle School, we commenced with showering and eating, two of the most important things to you when you ride over 50 miles in a day.  

Then Samone and I decided that we would be the two elected to drive one hour back to St. Johns to watch Freddy's football game and then take Freddy back to Midland with us.  Samone and I were feeling the days ride on our drive to the game, but we both perked up once we got there.  We had pretty good weather, no more rain and not too chilly.  The team played great and killed Jackson Northwest 34-7.  Then Samone drove us back to Midland while I tried to stay awake to monitor her driving.  It was tough for me to stay awake!  Freddy helped by chatting from the back seat.  Once back, we had a snack and headed to bed.  Mike and I elected to take the tent with the huge queen size air mattress, which was incredibly comfortable.  But it also turned out to be extremely noisy. A huge thunderstorm came through that knocked down tents and trees throughout the night.  We luckily only had to deal with a few drips and the crazy noise.  So to sum up Day 1, late start, crappy weather, lots of delays and a restless night.  You can imagine how much we were hoping that Friday would be a better day...  to be continued.     

 

Auntie-Nephew Weekend 2010

Well I'm a couple of weeks behind, but it's because I've been so busy!  That means I have a lot to catch you up on!  Two weekends ago we had the annual Auntie-Nephew Weekend 2010.  We went to Freddy's football game in Charlotte on Friday and then we headed up to the ORV trails near Baldwin, MI with the dunebuggy and the jeep for Saturday and Sunday.  The crew that we headed up north with included the two nephews, Walker and Joe, myself, Mike and Freddy.

Friday, I picked up the boys after school shopping with Freddy and my mom in Birch Run.  We ran up to the high school because Freddy had to be dropped off for the first football game that evening in Charlotte.  Then Walker, Joey and I all stayed to help with the team dinner.  It's kind of funny, but I really am learning all kinds of new things about a sport I've known my entire life.  I never had a football playing brother, so I guess I just missed many of the things that go along with having a football player.  It's a very interesting learning experience.  I'm also learning all about the St. Johns community and school traditions.  We've lived in St. Johns for over 5 years and you miss out on a whole portion of the community activities and traditions without kids.  I knew that all along, but I guess it's just more fun than I thought it would be.

Let me give you an example.  For the team dinner we worked quickly to get the food all ready for the boys and coaches.  At the appointed time the team all filed in very seriously and silently.  I was very surprised at how quiet they were and then I was quickly informed to be extra quiet as well.  The captain gave the marching orders to the rest of the team as to how they would proceed through the line (seniors first, of course) and said a really heartfelt prayer.  Then the boys came single file through the line quiet and polite, each saying thank you as they got their food.  We gave them more water and they finished up eating.  Then another surprise!  I was quickly told that each player gives each of the Moms a hug after eating.  I stood with a huge smile, told each boy good luck and received about 40 hugs.  I loved it!

On we went to the football game.  It was fun.  St. Johns killed Charlotte 54-21.  Freddy even got to play!  He went in on defense in the 4th quarter.  He got tripped up his first play in and then came out to talk to the coach.  Then he went back in for the next play, where he was actually close to getting a tackle.  But instead of a tackle, he got a 15 yard personal penalty!  He followed the offensive player right out of bounds and apparently the referee thought he pushed the opposing player once out of bounds.  We don't tend to agree, but oh well, at least he got to get in the game.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early so that we could head up north and go offroading!  The boys were bright eyed and excited through the whole 2 1/2 hour drive.  We got to the trails about 11:30, unloaded and headed out.  We had so much fun.  The jeep was a lot to handle with the big tires, so Mike drove it pretty much the whole time and I drove the buggy with rotating passengers.  I had a lot of fun ripping around the corners and up and down the hills of sand.  I must say we all looked pretty sweet in our skull bandannas too!  I think people were jealous.

After a good long day of riding, we "kinda" broke the dunebuggy.  We had a leak and ran out of clutch fluid.  Mike was able to put most of the brake fluid in the clutch pedal so that it would work better, but that left us with no brakes.  Whoops!  Freddy, Walker and I headed out to the nearest service station to pick up more fluid and Mike and Joey headed back to the parking lot with the buggy.  It was evening by then and time to head to the cabin.  We loaded up the crew and vehicles and headed to the little cabin we had rented.  We all had showers (much needed), dinner, a little campfire and then we headed to bed.  

The next morning I made pancakes and the boys packed up the truck.  We all ate and then we decided to drive to Lake Michigan near Ludington to hit the beach.  Mike found this fantastic little beach where the boys found a geocache.  Then we swam in the frigid lake for a few hours and had a picnic lunch before heading home.  Freddy had football practice that we had to hurry back for or else I think we all would have liked to stay on the beach a few hours longer.

It was a wonderful weekend with the boys, we really enjoyed our time with them.  And for the record... Joey and Walker won the cow game, despite my best efforts to sabotage them. 

 

Weekend on Old Mission

One of my favorite places in the world is right here in Michigan, Old Mission Peninsula.  Mike and I were excited to be able to visit it last weekend and share it with Freddy and Becky (Mike's cousin).  Ken and Janet are amazing friends and are always so happy to have us for a visit.  Their home is beautiful and relaxing and their friendship always warms my heart. 

We drove up Friday night as I mentioned in my previous post and on Saturday Mike and I let Becky and Freddy sleep in and we went for a punishing 23 mile ride on the peninsula.  It was tough!  Then after some breakfast we all headed into town to accomplish some things.  Freddy joined myself, Janet and Becky for a downtown shopping jaunt and Mike and Ken went to visit some bike shops and look at boats.  Freddy and Becky found some excellent souvenirs and Janet took me to a great delicatessen shop.  I made a couple of cheese purchases that I look forward to trying out this week.  A peccorino romano and a spanish blue cheese that I can eat!  Yummm.  We all met up a couple of hours later at the famous Moomers.  Moomers is a ice cream place just outside of downtown Traverse that was voted #1 in ice cream on Good Morning America recently.  Quite an impressive resume, so we had to try it.  It was sincerely enjoyed by all.  I had a yummy draft orange soda, as I have ice cream allergies, while everyone else snacked on the creamy ice cream flavor of their choice.  Freddy tested out blue ice cream because he had never seen BLUE ice cream before.  We also stopped on the way back to pick up some bread from a local bakery for dinner that evening.  Dinner was exciting, both because it was delicious and because while grilling the chicken excess grease in the bottom of the grill ignited and shot flames 4 feet high!  Some of the chicken breasts needed some trimming to remove the... umm, charred bit, but it still was delicious.  Janet made a very yummy spinach salad to go along and we had a great dinner on the patio.  Then we cleaned up in a hurry and zoomed off to do a few more errands before we went to the drive in theater!

Our Saturday night activity was a visit to the Cherry Bowl drive in theater.  We saw a double feature of Despicable Me and The Other Guys.  We all loved Despicable Me, but The Other Guys was only so-so.  We didn't get back until 2 am and we all were very sleepy.  

Sunday morning we vowed to take another ride and so we were up bright and early to head out.  We took a flat route this time and it was very enjoyable.  Janet joined us and we rode with her for a bit.  When she turned around we rode on and totaled about 18 miles.  We would have went further, but there were a number of biking events going on and the roads were very congested.  After we showered up, I made us all crepes for brunch.  We put together several fillings and everyone filled their own crepes with the items of their choice.  After packing up and helping Janet a bit more with her computer we left Ken & Janet with many thanks and kisses.  We shot up to the lighthouse so that Freddy and Becky could see it and we waded around in Lake Michigan a bit.

We meandered home taking small highways showing Freddy a bit more of northern Michigan.  We stopped for dinner in Cadillac and then finally made our way back home.  It was an exciting weekend and we all wish we were still gazing out Ken & Janet's windows on to the bay rather than back to work and practice.  We're hoping to get another visit in before the winter.   If not, we'll definitely venture back after it snows.

The New Adventures of Old Becki & Mike

Well, last week we started a new adventure with a new son from a new country.  We have been going non-stop ever since.  Freddy joined us from Finland on Wednesday, August 4th and will be staying with us for a whole year.  The only reason I have time to write in my blog is because I am starting my new hobby as a hockey/football mom tonight.  We are at the ice rink so Freddy can meet his coach and some of his new teammates.  He just walked past me and he was the size of the stay puft marshmallow man. 

Freddy has been settling in very well and has made friends fast.  It is what we expected from him because been talking with him since April, but still it was great to see it actually happening.  After arriving, the very next day he went to a football conditioning practice.  Then by Sunday night at midnight he was an official part of the St Johns football team and he started 2 a days.  We have officially tired him out which I thought would take a bit longer, but we did do a number on him.  

Thursday was a day for him to unpack and poke around the house while Mike and I were at work.  He got his bearings quickly and on Friday we picked up Walker at the farm for a full day of activities.  Walker gave him a complete tour of the farm that took almost an hour!  Walker left no equipment unexplained.  It was great!  Then we spent the rest of the day running errands with Walker, Sarah and CJ.  We went to the market, out to lunch and to Sam's in Lansing.  Friday night and Saturday were spent getting ready for the party Saturday night.  The welcome cookout was fantastic and Freddy got to meet many of our best friends and family.  It was a wonderful party into the wee hours of the morning.  Freddy slept in on Sunday and then Sunday night he headed off to football practice.  He said the first night/day of practice was pretty confusing, but today he said he actually knew where he was supposed to be running when they called out the play numbers.  Monday night we wanted to see if we could all ride together efficiently for the upcoming DALMAC, so we went on our 20 mile loop around Rainbow Lake.  It was a great ride and Freddy was feeling pretty good afterward, so he thought that it would be a good idea to meet up with the hockey team tonight.  It appears that he was wrong.  He is tired!!!  Good thing we have nothing planned tomorrow and Thursday.  I think he will need the evenings to recover a bit.

We have a fun weekend upcoming.  We will be at the pond for our annual community group campout.  Freddy has practice on Saturday and we are planning a longer bike ride for Sunday.  Maybe 40 - 60 miles.  We'll see what Freddy can do.  One thing is for certain... he will not be gaining any of that "American Weight" if he keeps this up!


The adventure continues...

He that is busy is tempted by but one devil; he that is idle, by a legion. - Thomas Fuller

We are so busy that I'm not sure if any devil can catch us in order to tempt us. If he did,  I'm sure we'd blow by the temptation with all of the things keeping us busy.

Two more very busy weeks/weekends have passed and they were filled with work, dinners, a graduation, a wedding, cycling, projects, parties and even a little bit of sleep. Two weekends ago we attended Lisa's graduation and had a delicious German congratulations dinner for her.


At the dinner I attempted my first try at Spaetzle. In the end I prevailed, but it took many tries. I owe big props to Chef Martin Block as I watched his video instruction as a primer that day before I tried to do it myself. Lisa said it was great and that she had never had homemade Spaetzle before!! She also said it was way better than the Spaetzle that they had when they dined in Germany in Epcot. Haha! Disney Chefs! I have prevailed over you!! Suzzy made an awesome beer braised brisket that I could eat for every meal for the next decade. It had an amazing flavor. We rounded it out with stuffed kohlrabi, a green salad and some other things that I have forgotten. What I haven't forgotten though, are Mom's 3 loaves of beer bread each made with different grains. One was an ancient grain mix, one was spelt and the third was oat. We have some exciting things happening in the Moore girls' kitchens.


Then on Saturday we worked in the yard and attended Caleb & Teresa's wedding. It was a good day/night. The ceremony was early and very close to my favorite burger establishment. So after a drink with the family at the sports bar we jetted off to Birch Run to get Jeanna open toed shoes and to get me some Halo Burger! It was delicious and I finally talked Mike into buying a t-shirt for me. It says, "Seven days without Halo Burger, makes one weak." I love it! We had a great time at the reception and we had a "few" beers. See the pictures for the full definition of what a "few" means.


Sunday we finished off the weekend with some relaxation and a little buggy work/barn cleaning.  No one faint, but Charlie convinced Mike to clean up the barn.  It looks great!  Charlie & Mike have been at work ever since turning our extra buggy frame into the Sageman-mobile.  CJ is very excited!

To Be Continued...