AHG - Cooking Badge - Making a Pie

Amber is finishing up her AHG cooking badge tonight. Her last cooking requirement was to make a pie, with a homemade crust. She made Great-Grandma Joie's recipe and did it perfectly! Sadly, I neglected to get photos of her with dough mushed between her fingers and flour up her arms, but she went through the process twice to make a bottom and top crust. I demonstrated how to roll out the crust by doing the bottom, and she did the top.

She chose a 4-fruit pie recipe from one of our Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and decided against putting in the apple, and we didn't have rhubarb, so we added extra blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. The contents of the pie were all mixed together and then she plopped on the top as if she'd done it before. There were a few rips, as the rolling job wasn't completely circular, but it still worked! She was excited to get to the crimping phase.

Crimping all the way around, trying very hard not to put her thumbs into the top of the crust.

Oops, little bit of a hole. Ian caught her just as she said, "Drat!"

Adding the ventilation holes ... and her own decorative touch!

Now the pie is completely baked and sitting out cooling. Doesn't it look delicious? We shall have pie when the boys return from their scout meeting tonight :)

Ready to be served ... with a smile!

Tsunami warnings in Pacific

Most of my family is in bed at this hour. It's 11:38 p.m. Japan was hit about 2 hours ago with an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunamis have hit their shores and Russia, Hawaii, and Guam are on alert.

Daryn's in Guam. He has a friend who has a house a mile inland and thousands of feet above sea level. He's headed there now. I did manage to call him. I'm terrified. I'm scared. I'm beside myself worrying for his safety. I don't know if or how I'll get any sleep tonight. My thoughts are solely on him right now and his safety and the safety of the men who went with him to do this training mission for AT.

The kids have no idea there have been earthquakes in Japan the past few days. Of course, they have no idea about this one tonight (well, our night). I am praying so hard we hear from Daryn again by the time they get up and hear they are safe. The local news has stopped covering it for now and say they will have complete coverage tomorrow morning.

In the mean time, I'm shaking.

If Daryn can get on his 6 a.m. flight, which is 16 hours from now, then he'll be headed toward Hawaii. Hawaii is also under tsunami warnings for 13-30 foot waves as well. If he is able to take off, will he be able to land? Will he be able to catch his connecting flight?

Lord, please bring him home safe and sound!!!!

* * * * *
3-11-11 (3-12-11 Daryn date)

It's 7:53 a.m. local time. I last heard from Daryn about 2:23 a.m. local time. He was finishing his packing and going to bed. He'd checked on his flight info and his plane had left just prior to the earthquake and was due to be on schedule in Guam.

News stations are saying nothing about Guam. Daryn's messages last night said there was no news on local Guamanian tv stations. He was getting his news from CNN. He also wrote there were some waves that came up the beach, but the tsunami expected did not come. Of course, mother nature has no watch. At this point in time, I have no idea how things are in Guam or if planes are still scheduled to fly. Hawaii has been covered a lot more on the news.

Our local news has tsunami advisories and warnings up and down the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts. It is advised everyone stay away from the areas around the Puget Sound as well. This is mostly because of currents, not necessarily waves.

At this point in time, I have not decided what to tell or not tell the kids. Ian noticed I wasn't quite right this morning and asked if I was okay and I said no. Ethan asked if I was thinking about Daddy, and I said yes.

I sit and wait for a text message, or an e-mail or a phone call.

* * *
3-11-11 (3-12-11 Daryn date)
11:45 a.m.
After waiting on pins and needles I finally heard from Daryn about 15 minutes ago. He'll be boarding his plane to Hawaii (at that time, in 40 minutes). I am so relieved. We should have him home by this time tomorrow if he makes all his connections and there are no flight delays.

* * *
3-11-11 (3-12-11 Daryn date)
1:44 p.m.

Daryn's still sitting on the tarmac on Guam. Apparently they are waiting for 16 more passengers. This is about a 2 hour delay. Not sure how this will effect his connecting flights in Hawaii and California.

American Heritage Girls

Amber and I have embarked on a new adventure together - American Heritage Girls (from here on out known as AHG).

Since her box arrived, complete with uniform items and book, Amber has had her mind set on one particular merit badge, dance. It has not been a difficult one to achieve, but it has also not been a "gimme" badge! Although she's dance most of her life, she did have to do some additional research for this badge. She has completed all but one element, which is choreographing two dance pieces to two different types of music. She has been working steadily on one already and needs to find a different type of music for the other. The biggest hurdle was the research: pick two countries and learn about a style of dance from that country and the costumes and traditions associated with that dance style. She chose the dances first, and then looked up their origins. The first dance style she chose was Salsa which came from Cuba. The second dance style was ballet, which came from Italy. Ballet has a rich and broad history. Her initial thought was that it came from Russia! We learned quite a bit on that one together, as I thought France!

Today we are working on her Cooking Badge. A couple of the requirements are for her to make a casserole for dinner and a salad. So, she is making those for dinner this evening. She also has requirements to make cookies and a pie! The boys are awaiting her dessert choices. Perhaps we'll get some sort of dessert made while they are at their scout meetings tonight and we'll have a treat when they get home and we all settle down to watch Chuck together.

The casserole recipe Amber chose was Pot O' Gold Pork Chops from our Gooseberry Patch Best-Ever Casseroles cookbook.

4 pork chops (we had 6)
1 T. oil
2 T. onion, chopped
2 T. butter
1 t. salt
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 c. sour cream
2 15.25 oz. cans corn, drained (we didn't have any, so we used frozen corn)
1/2 pound bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled (we used 5 thick slices)
2 T. green pepper, chopped

Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet; brown chops on both sides. Remove from skillet; set aside. Saute onion in butter until translucent; blend in salt and flour. Stir in sour cream until smooth; add corn, bacon, and pepper. Spoon into a greased 13"x9" baking pan; top with pork chops. Bake at 350*F for 45 minutes. Serves 4.

Browned pork chops (we cooked the bacon first, and used that grease instead of oil to brown the chops).

Chopping the bacon; thick slices don't crumble easily.

Stirring in the sour cream until smooth.

Adding the frozen corn.

Next in the pan is the bacon.

The corn mixture is in the pan and the chops go on top.

We already started dishing it up when we remembered we needed to get another photo. It smelled so wonderful and everyone was ready to eat.

This is Amber's plate (photo by Amber).

** It's 9:43 p.m. and she is one tired little girl. After dinner she began making gingersnaps! We took the boys to scouts, stopped to get gas for the car and then brown sugar for her cookies, and we baked until 7:50, when we headed back out to go get the boys. She completed her cookies after we got home ... only to find our program wasn't on this evening :(

The cookie recipe Amber decided on was Gingersnaps from our Betty Crocker Cookbook.

1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

Mix brown sugar, shortening, molasses and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (We didn't do this ... we forgot!) Heat oven to 375*F. Grease cookie sheet lightly. Shape dough by rounded teaspoons into balls. Dip tops into granulated sugar. (We rolled them around completely ... oops, didn't read very well!) Place balls, sugared sides up, about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or just until set; cool. About 4 dozen cookies; 80 calories per cookie.

Rolling dough in sugar.

Making gingersnap balls.

Another into the sugar bowl.

Getting the first batch ready for the oven.

Her pork chop casserole was amazingly delicious. She wanted to save the leftovers for Daryn, but as he won't be home until the weekend, it is probably not a good idea. It'll probably be dinner for one of the boys some time this week (dance schedule).

Ethan's 12th Birthday

Right after breakfast Ethan asked if he could please at least open the letter from Grandma Val and Grandpa John. (The rest of his gifts had not yet been wrapped.) His generous gift was a $25 check. Later in the afternoon we went to the bank to cash it.
Amber used her money and bought Ethan a package of "dessert" gum. It's a new thing. Amber has had the key lime pie and one other. This one is mint chocolate chip.
Ian decided to make his gift big and heavy ... as you may have guessed, it was not a big and heavy gift!
Out came the extra paper for stuffing ...
... next came the hand weights ...
... and then the small CD. It was something he has been asking for for quite a while. The music from his favorite movie ...
How to Train Your Dragon!
Evyn gave him a little black and white cat ... a Webkinz. He has a bit of a cat collection going on. As he's allergic to real cats, this is the next best thing for him.
Daryn and I gave him the rest of his gifties: a tablet of paper, followed by this book on how to draw dragons.
We also gave him a new deck of Magic cards,
as well as some booster packs. I also made him some shrinky dink markers (they are in his hand). Ian helped me select the pictures to put on the markers. He was thrilled.
We are also members of the Barnes and Noble Kids Club. They sent a coupon in our e-mail for a free cookie. Off we went to Silverdale ... he wanted to have his free cookie. He also got a book of his choice.
Later in the afternoon his friend, Ely Dawson, came by to play and give his gift ... a dragon!
Lastly, his cake; lemon with vanilla frosting and chocolate piping. I was also lucky enough to find this dragon earlier in the day when I went for "French Vanilla" ice cream (his request).
The presentation of the cake ...
... could he be any more excited????
I was so glad he was happy with his cake!
Make a wish, blow out the candles, and don't talk while you eat your cake! (Otherwise your wish won't come true!)

Lanthir Lamath - the hooded scarf

Amber was kind enough to model this for me this morning before I started to block it. The sun is out, but it is doggone chilly. It would be a great day to wear this on a walk.
Here it is. It soaked 15 minutes (probably 20) in the sink in Soak (that's the name of the soap), and then I pinned it to my new knitter's blocks. Hoping the sun will dry it this afternoon.

First Batch into the Bottles

Daryn has decided he wants to try his hand a making home brew. He started with frozen apple juice concentrate. Last night he began his bottling process.

Smells ready ...
Yup, smells very, very good ... time to bottle!
He had purchased a new container to syphon off the clear liquid from the sludge in the bottom.
Half way done with the transfer from the original brewing tank.
Now he's tubing his brew into the prepped bottles, readily waiting in the kitchen sink.
Still syphoning ...
Pretty little bubbles in pretty brown bottles ...
Almost ready for capping ...
Yeah, I think he's already had a taste, don't you? Capping process now. Labeling will come at the end, I think.
Almost ready to box up ...
And there they go, into their brown box to go into hiding in a dark, cool place ... a cooler in our bedroom closet.
Of course, everyone had to try to cap at least one bottle!
Not as easy as it looks. Leverage is the key, I think!