This is one of the few salads that is actually just as good the next day. If not better. This is perfect for a make ahead lunch. A delicious blend of olives, cucumber, red onion, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, parsley and delicate orzo pasta….
Salade Niçoise
This salad, ubiquitous in the South of France where I was a missionary is endlessly adaptable and adjustable. To make it vegetarian or vegan omit eggs and tuna- it is amazing even without both. (I’ve actually never had with tuna.)…
Foundry Grill’s Autumn Salad
This is another re-creation of a salad I had in a restaurant- the Foundry Grill at Sundance. I loved it so much I just had to figure out how to make it! With roasted butternut squash, toasted pumpkin seeds, bleu cheese, and craisins it is a perfectly autumn-y salad but very rich. Make sure to use arugula or other bitter greens as the dressing which is very sweet needs a balance…
A Few Little things
Friday night I was putting Anna to bed. As we were snuggling and talking I asked her what was the worst possible thing that could ever happen? She said, “Kissing a frog and then turning into one.” The best thing she could imagine? Being able to snap her fingers and things just happening. Like Mary Poppins snapping her fingers and the room cleaning itself.
Also Friday night I was in charge of picking up one of the judges for Lizzie’s Irish dance competition (feis) held the next day. Our studio was running the feis and parent involvement was needed. I picked up a charming woman from upstate New York who had never been here before. She asked me to tell her a little about Utah. I told her about the culture, and climate (she wanted to know if it was as grey-skied as her hometown) and mountains. We also talked about the many recreational opportunities here. Then, kind of out of the blue she asked, “Tell me about Salt Lake. Is it a dry county?” I replied, “Well, Utah is considered a cold desert, and we really do not get much rain, so yes, it is generally pretty dry around here. But we do get more moisture in the mountains.” She exclaimed, “I’m not talking about rain! I’m talking about booze! Can you get booze here?” We both laughed and I replied, “I guess the nature of my answer probably indicates how ‘dry’ it is around here, doesn’t it?”
Saturday was Lizzie’s feis. She looked strong and graceful. She wasn’t happy with her results but I think not getting medals was good for her. I am pretty sure she is getting to the point where natural talent isn’t going to be enough for her to advance into the next level. I have been encouraging her to practice for some time now and I think Saturday’s results (her perceived “failure”) really helped her to see that if she is interested in progressing in Irish Dance, she ought to practice. This was just another confirmation that my nagging will never push these children to excel as much as their own conviction of the importance of hard work.
Fifteen years ago while Grant and I were living in New York we saw “Aida” on Broadway. Aida was performed by Heather Headley, a Trinidadian-American daughter of a pastor. Her voice in that performance utterly blew me away. (Think the vocal equivalent to the richness of quality dark chocolate.) She also played Nala in Lion King, and is one of the few singers in the world able to play Whitney Houston’s role in the musical “The Bodyguard”. She has toured with Andrea Bocelli, and has released several albums…in other words, she is a VERY accomplished singer. I recently stumbled across a blog post by her that made me laugh:…
Vegetarian Caesar Salad
Say goodbye to using anchovies forever! This wonderful salad is so simple and so delicious. I have always loved how the tart dressing clings to the homemade croutons. We’ve been enjoying this recipe for over ten years….
Some Parental Re-assessment
Lately, I have noticed that my interactions with the children have been pretty negatively charged. I have felt that I am nagging over all the things that seem important to me and that I feel should be important to them. Those areas are (not in order of importance): Chores, music practicing, and schoolwork. What is so difficult for me is that I feel that all of these things are so important for our children and for their success and happiness. I want to save them the pain of consequences. In other words, I feel like if I don’t nag them to do their homework, or if I allow them to procrastinate, or not prepare for their tests, then they will not go to a good university, and they will be unemployed for the rest of their lives! Or if I don’t nag them to prepare for their music lessons they will waste their talents, and feel that awful feeling of guilt you get when you show up at yet another lesson unprepared. (I remember that feeling well!) Or they will quit playing their instruments altogether.
I guess it is pretty natural for a parent to want to save their children from pain and failure. But am I doing them any favors? Especially if in trying to shield them from those things I am sacrificing good relationships with my children for relationships of contention and anger. So what did we do? I find that everything gets easier when I enlist Grant’s help. He and I started discussing my frustrations tonight and then Sam and Lizzie joined us and we had an amazing talk where we were all brainstorming about how we can make things better. We listened to the children and they listened to us. We decided that it was time to let them experience natural consequences. I was going to back away from nagging over school work. Thankfully, the children are all good students (some are even GREAT students), but just need a little experience in figuring out how to use their time better. If our children are not prepared then they will get the bad grade, but it will no longer be my responsibility to save them from that. I am firing myself from the job of school nag and homework enforcer! And if they don’t have good enough grades to get into BYU (their dream school and mine) then I will be there to commiserate and console, since I was once there myself! (I ended up having to go to a Jr. college for 1 1/2 years in order to get the grades I needed to be accepted by BYU. It was a very sobering reality check the day I got that rejection letter!)…
Christmas Drink
This is just a very pretty drink with perfect red and green for Christmas. The cranberries do not change the taste of the water and the mint leaves only add a hint of flavor. This drink is mostly for looks….
$200 Water
I got roped into getting a very expensive massage at the Trump Tower in Chicago. The massage was mediocre but the snacks they had to munch on while relaxing after were amazing: trail mix, herbal tea and this tasty water. The company, two of my sisters was best of all….
Flour Girl’s Hot Chocolate Mousse
This is served at a friend’s local bakery and café. She most kindly shared the recipe! It is certainly a lot more work than adding hot chocolate powder to some hot water, but is the most decadent hot drink I have ever had!…
Flour Girl’s Spiced Cider
This spiced cider is served at a friend’s local bakery and café. She made it for us at book club and I actually had a dream about it afterward! I love the taste of this so much but rarely make it since it has sugar in it….
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- …
- 38
- Next Page »