Friday, November 04, 2005
New Favorite
Miss M's new favorite book: The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss. She got it for her birthday and has been asking me to read it over and over ever since. She asks for 'tewwit seed" and she laughs at each page as everybody tells the little boy that his carrot seed won't come up. It must be two-year-old humor?
Posted by
LNL
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11/04/2005 09:38:00 PM
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Categories: Miss M
Brother L's Beowulf Character
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You scored as The Dragon. Ancient, chaotic, and a bit mysterious is the Dragon figure. Awakened from your happy slumber upon a pile of gold, you go about the country slaying its occupants. Beowulf manages to kill you, but not before you ensure his death. Congrats.
If You Were in Beowulf... created with QuizFarm.com |
Posted by
Tim
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11/04/2005 05:18:00 PM
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The Beowulf Quiz
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You scored as Grendel. Anti-social and cruel, you are Grendel. When the Danes started having a little too much fun in their fancy-pants Golden Hall, you decided to take them down a few notches by killing bunches of them...and yes, eating them. Some upstart Geat named Beowulf rips off your arm, though, and you slink off to die alone.
If You Were in Beowulf... created with QuizFarm.com |
GRRRRR!!!
Posted by
LNL
at
11/04/2005 05:11:00 PM
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If I Were In Beowulf...
You scored as Wiglaf. Loyal and brave in your own right, you are Wiglaf, one of Beowulf's Geats. You are the only one of Beowulf's hand-picked troop who stood by his Lord's side as he faced the dragon. After Beowulf's death, you rebuke those who fled when they were needed most.![]()
If You Were in Beowulf... created with QuizFarm.com |
Posted by
Tim
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11/04/2005 04:16:00 PM
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Staying healthy
From I Have to Say - herbal health remedies for avoiding viruses this season.
Posted by
LNL
at
11/04/2005 04:11:00 PM
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Categories: Diet
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Baby's Got Bible . . .
This was on a message board I frequent. It's a rap music video, very funny!
http://www.unc.edu/~shoyle/BigBibles.wmv
Posted by
LNL
at
11/03/2005 08:46:00 PM
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Categories: Christianity, Fun
The New Doll
Miss M is enjoying being a little mother to her "l'il bay-bay." My sister gave us a toy high chair and cradle that her own girls had played with, and we brought those upstairs this evening. She knew exactly what to do with them! The cradle used to be mine, it was a Christmas present when I was a girl.
These are pictures are from just before she had a fit of frustration because the tray for the high chair won't stay up.


Posted by
LNL
at
11/03/2005 07:46:00 PM
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Categories: Miss M
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Narnia Feast
Periodically, the kids (my boys and their friend) like to do a Narnia Feast. They dress up in Medieval costumes and make medieval-type food, usually using some recipes from the Narnia Cookbook (we got it a couple years ago new, but it went out of print and used copies are now selling for $150!). The kids decided to schedule a feast for yesterday. This time, they did a lot of the planning, preparation and cooking. It was a little last minute, and we still hadn't decided which house to do it in by that morning, but it went off well, and was pronounced "the best Narnia Feast ever."
Boys with friend. (No, Anna Popplewell didn't come over; the face is superimposed to protect the identity of those who may wish to remain anonymous.)snack: oatcakes and oatmeal cookies with apple cider
First course: salad with herbs and olive oil/vinegar dressing
Second course: cock-a-leekie soup (chicken, leeks, prunes) in bread bowls (we used kaiser rolls)
Main course: meat pie (turkey, chicken, nuts, raisins), baked salmon, round loaves of bread
grape juice in pewter goblets
dessert: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, M&M's, hot chocolate and, of course, Turkish Delight!







Turkish Delight

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup hot water
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons fresh juice from an orange
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
about 1/2 cup 10x confectioner's sugar
Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water.
Bring sugar and 1/2 cup hot water to a boil, add gelatin dissolved in water, simmer for 20 minutes. (The gelatin stinks during the simmering period.)
Cool for 10 minutes, add orange juice and lemon extract.
Pour into a pan (or tupperware) that's been rinsed with water and is still wet, but not dripping. Cover and chill overnight.
The next day, use a hot, wet knife to cut it into squares. Roll squares in a plate of confectioners sugar.
Turkish Delight absorbs the confectioners sugar, so you have to eat it soon after making it, or re-roll in more confectioners sugar. The sugar coating can turn into a soggy, sticky mess if you wait too long to serve it.
Re-rolled, it keeps for a long, long time. We had a tupperware of Turkish Delight in our refrigerator for two years before it started to show signs of mold.
Meat Pasty
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup lard or cold shortening
5 Tablespoons water
Mix first three ingredients. Cut in shortening, mix in water with a fork. Work the dough as little as possible. Chill one hour.
1/2 lb top round, minced or chopped in food processor
2 small potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes (to make 3/4 cup)
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove minced garlic
1 small onion, chopped (to make 1/4 cup)
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cover potatoes with boiling salted water, bring to a boil, simmer 10 seconds, then rinse with cold water.
Saute onion and garlic in butter.
Combine meat, potatoes, sauted onions, parsley. Salt and pepper.
Roll out pastry to 1/4 inch and cut out 4.5 inch circles. Brush edges with egg, add tightly-packed meat filling. Fold circles in half to close, press edges to seal. Poke steam holes.
Bake 10 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees, bake 30 minutes more.
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The Narnia movie is due to be released Dec 9, and we hope that Harper Collins will republish the Cookbook, maybe adding images from the movie.
Posted by
LNL
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11/01/2005 01:45:00 AM
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Categories: Fun
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Ode to Green Smoothies
To answer a question that Amy asked in a comment left to a prior post:
When I make smoothies, I don't peel my green apples. I cut the apple into chunks or slices, depending on my mood. I do remove the core, though! There's nothing more disgusting than the tough part of an apple core, and some seeds can make a smoothie bitter. I sometimes add about a half cup of water or pineapple juice. Sometimes I don't, though. I use a big carrot to push everything down instead. If the carrot gets nicked from the blade in the blender, it's no big deal, it just means I have a bit of carrot in my smoothie. I don't add any honey. Extra pineapple and banana makes it sweeter. When I need it extra sweet, I add as much as an entire half of a pineapple --I buy the already peeled whole ones in plastic containers at the grocery store; it costs the same as an entire pineapple that hasn't been peeled ($5). I add LOTS of greens to mine - 6 huge leaves of green leaf lettuce plus a handful of spinach, or, if I'm trying to wean myself back to the diet, I'll buy the bagged baby greens and throw in the whole bag, since I can't use the to-lazy-to-rinse excuse to forego my green smoothie. They say that variety is best - you should vary the kinds of greens you use, maybe using lettuce and kale one week, lettuce and spinach the next week, etc.
The following article has been passed around quite a bit lately on health message boards, and has spurred a lot of interest in green smoothies. Alissa Cohen, who was recently on Good Morning America promoting a raw diet, said that starting your day with a green smoothie for breakfast is the single most beneficial change you can make to your diet.
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Ode to Green Smoothies
by Victoria Boutenko
http://www.rawfamily.com/articles.htm
http://www.rawfamily.com/articles/odetogreen.pdf
As the Russian proverb says: New -- is something old, that has been long forgotten. This summer I re-discovered green smoothies. What do I mean by green smoothie? Here is one of my favorite recipes: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 big cup of water. Blended well. This smoothie looks very green, but it tastes like fruit. I like green smoothies so much that I bought an extra blender and placed it in my office, so that I could make green smoothies throughout the day. More than half of all the food I've had in last several months have been green smoothies. I have so much more energy and clarity that I have removed green juices from my diet. (Juicing has been something that I've been doing regularly for years.) Green smoothies have numerous benefits for human health.
Green smoothies are very nutritious. I believe that the ratio in them is optimal for human consumption: about 60% - ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% - organic green vegetables.
Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, all the valuable nutrients in these fruits and veggies become homogenized, or divided into such small particles that it becomes easy for the body to assimilate these nutrients, the green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your mouth.
Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.
Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children. I always make extra smoothie and offer it to my friends and customers. Some of them eat a standard American diet. They all finished their big cup of green smoothies with complements. They were quite surprised that something so green could taste so nice and sweet.
By consuming two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough of greens for the day to nourish your body, and they will be well assimilated. Many people do not consume enough of greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. The molecule of chlorophyll has only one atom that makes it different from a molecule of human blood. According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, to consume chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion.
Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. Many people told me that they do not consume green juices on a regular basis because it is time consuming to prepare green juices and clean the equipment after juicing, or to drive to the juice bar.
Green smoothies are perfect food for children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old when introducing new food to them after mother's milk. Of course you have to be careful and slowly increase the amount of smoothies to avoid food allergies.
When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.
Regular consumption of Green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. Several people told me that after a couple of weeks of drinking green smoothies, they started to crave and enjoy eating more greens. Eating enough of green vegetable is often a problem with many people, especially in children.
Green smoothies can easily be freshly made at any juice bar, restaurant or health food store for the great convenience of health-oriented customers.
I encourage the readers of this article to start playing with green smoothies, and to discover the many joys and benefits of this wonderful delicious and nutritious addition to the menu.
(See website for specific suggestions and recipe ideas for green smoothies!)
Posted by
LNL
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10/29/2005 12:48:00 PM
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Categories: Diet







