Daily recap/capper

Since we have another VERY EXCITING houseconcert coming up (this one with fiddle and mandolin wiz, Jake Armerding), today was a kind of get-ready day. Bo and I did some shopping, first to the local thrift store.

I had kind of started losing faith in the thrift store, because their book prices have recently increased. Kind of a bummer. I used to go in and buy a stack of books for our schooling for .50 and .25 each, and now they're individually marked. There was a Shakespeare that I've really wanted, and it was marked $3.00. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I passed up an annotated Sherlock Holmes set because I only had a few quarters in my pocket, and they were a dollar apiece. So I don't go out with armloads of books like I used to, but I still do get to find treasures now and then.

Today, I found a lamp for Monet's room. It was a little more than I wanted to pay, but he's been asking for one, and we likely won't do Christmas gifts this year, with the exception of whatever I can thrift. He needs the lamp now, so I didn't wait. I also found a little alarm clock that will be very nice for us. We're currently sharing one between us all! If someone needs an alarm clock, we unplug and reset. This is a cute little vintage wind-up clock, so no unplugging is necessary, no resetting. Nice.

But the real bargain was this: a bottle capper! We've been trying to get things together to make our own sodas--ginger brew, root beer, apple brew, whatever. I have the bottles, which were donated to me by a friend, but I didn't have the capper. While talking to a friend who works at the thrift store, I happened to catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye, and it was ...a bottle capper! At $4, it wasn't much cheaper than eBay, which has one just like it for $4.99, but I saved on shipping, though the caps are included in the one on eBay. I can't wait to get some caps and start brewing!

Actually, the realio trulio bargain was 10 gallons of whole milk, and I do mean whole, whole, whole. I love watching Bo fill the bottles from the great big tank, loading them into the car, filling up my fridge, straining the cream off the top, drinking very , very yummy organic, raw milk, complete with all of the bacteria our bodies need to fight the nasty allergies our culture has begun developing since we started pasteurizing everything.

We spent the evening making homemade potato chips, playing various instruments--Bard played piano very nicely, and working with Flash animation (that's Monet's new thing, given to us by a friend).

Oh! And I had fun perusing through my stack of Country Living and Country Home magazines that I got for .10 a piece at the thrift. Excellent! Lots of great ideas.

In the morning, we will be visiting a new church with friends. I'm really looking forward to this new experience.

And with that, it's time for bed. Bless your socks, friend!

Stranger than Stranger than Fiction

It's not like I try to find metaphors in mainstream films.

Okay, maybe I do.

But some of them just jump out at me. Like when I saw Lady in the Water. The metaphors just mobbed me right and left. I tried to just watch the nice little fairy tale, but it was useless. All I could see was how the metaphor either worked or it didn't. It's kinda like solving a puzzle.

You wouldn't think I'd get attacked by a metaphor during a Will Ferrell movie, but I did. Nuts, ain't it?

Tonight, Bo took me to see Stranger Than Fiction with the aforementioned Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman. I was simply expecting the regular funniness of Ferrell, my favorite Elf. And, in many ways, it was.

But in other ways, it wasn't.

I seem to be more prone to attacks by religious metaphors than any. STF was no exception. I couldn't help seeing the Messianic symbols: Emma Thompson as God (Ha! Can you imagine that?!?); Dustin Hoffman as John the Baptist, complete with prophecies and water baptism (he was the volunteer lifeguard at his academic center), and Will Ferrell as the Messiah character, knowing that he will die, asking--begging, even--that this cup would pass by him, yet in the end accepting that he must sacrifice his life to save another.

What can I say? It's not my fault. It's like a strange, uninvited gift. :-/

It didn't help that Emma Thompson spoke the line (and I paraphrase), "Here's a man who knows that he's going to die and has the power to stop it, yet he chooses not to. Isn't that the kind of guy you want to keep around?"

The movie kept me entertained, with the quirky cinematography, Will Ferrell's funniness, the intriguing plotline and Emma Thompson's role as a slightly touched author in conflict with herself and her main character. There were some flaws in the logic, some decent-sized plot-holes, but it was, for the most part, well-written.

I have no idea if the writers really intended the Messiah metaphor, and you probably won't see it at all.

But if you do, let me know. You may have that uninvited gift, too. Maybe we can form a club or something.

I give the movie four stars. ****

Beautiful

This is what "beautiful" means to me. I look at this photo of Bard from last year, and I'm just struck with the beauty. Does she believe it? No. She questions herself constantly.

And I understand, because I question myself, too.

I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about daughters, about how much they question their worth and their beauty. "We all want to be worshipped," she said. I think there's some truth to that. It's frustrating to be a mom, to see your child do well at something, to see her loveliness and yet hear her doubt. Where does it come from? When does it go?

I know it hasn't gone from me. Not a day goes by that I don't criticize my appearance, aloud or silently, and wish that I could change "just this thing."

Yet I know that changing "just that thing" wouldn't make me happy.

Today, I pray for my daughters, and your daughters, and for you, daughters, that you'll see yourselves the way our Heavenly Father sees you.

You're so breathtakingly beautiful.

D-Squared

Bard, Houdin and Sweetheart wrote this song and shared it with Don Charles and Deb Gessner of D-Squared after one of our houseconcerts. Deb and Don loved the song so much that they decided to add it to their repetoire. This is snippet of Deb and Don performing it for the first time at a folk fest in Arizona. How cool is that??

The BEST Quiche Recipe

Wonderful recipe. My son, Monet, is craving this today. So I just may have to whip up a batch. I can't alway find Gruyere, so sometimes I use Asiago. I love using the Pate Brisee because it contains no shortening.

Bacon and Onion Quiche

Makes 5 four-inch tarts

1/2 recipe Pâte Brisée

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 strips bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 medium onions, cut into small dice

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

6 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough less than 1/8 inch thick. Use a 5-inch fluted cookie cutter to cut into rounds. Fit into five 4-inch nonstick tart pans. Transfer to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 375°. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add bacon, and cook until fat renders and bacon is crisp and brown, about 8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to paper towels to drain. Add onions to the same skillet, reduce heat to medium low, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are dark golden brown, 30 to 45 minutes. Combine onions and bacon in a small bowl; set aside.

3. Divide half of the cheese evenly among the pans. Sprinkle with bacon and onion mixture, then top with remaining cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs, and egg yolk. Season with, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Divide evenly among pans, pouring over cheese. Transfer to oven, and bake until just set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before serving.

Pâte brisée is the French version of classic pie or tart pastry. Pressing the dough into a disk rather than shaping it into a ball allows it to chill faster. This will also make the dough easier to roll out, and if you freeze it, it will thaw more quickly.

Ingredients

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 ts salt
1 ts sugar
1 c cold unsalted butter, cut
1 into small
1 pieces
1/2 c ice water

Instructions

Place flour, salt and sugar in the work bowl of a food processor. Add
butter pieces and process for about 10 seconds, or just until mixture
resembles a coarse meal.

With machine running, add ice water, drop by drop, through
food-processor feed tube. When dough holds together but is not wet or
sticky, stop adding; do not process for longer than 30 seconds. Test
dough by squeezing a small amount together. If it is still crumbly,
add more water.

Divide dough in half and turn out onto two large pieces of plastic
wrap. Press dough into flat circles (this makes rolling easier than
if the pastry is chilled as a ball). Wrap in plastic and chill for at
least an hour.

Recipe By : Martha Stewart Living November 1994

A Life Saved

The Baby the night of Bard's birthday square dance
A couple of people asked me whose life I'd saved as a result of this post.

We were at Bard's sixteenth birthday dance, with commotion and music and laughing going on everywhere. Every once in a while, I'd look around to find that The Baby was missing. I'd go searching for her, and she'd be down in the basement of the grange hall, alone, munching on the chips or celery that were set out for the dinner after the dance.

Towards the end of the dance, I headed downstairs to get the food set out. I was chatting with another woman when I heard a strange strangling sound. I looked down, and there was The Baby, her eyes bulging, her lips blue, choking on some unknown object. I grabbed her and slammed my fist hard into her back, and out popped a round, juicy grape tomato. She sputtered, breathed and then wailed. And then I held her tight, keeping an incredibly close eye on her from then on.

Even now.

I'm so grateful that I was there. I had thought that she'd been upstairs with Bo at that point, and I think of all of the times that she had snuck downstairs to nibble when no one else had been there.

Still gives me chills.

The lineup