Housewarmings and Fudge

One of my friends from high school and her husband recently became first time homeowners so when I received the house warming invitation I was quick to accept to be there to celebrate their achievement with them. Then a couple days ago I mapped it out so see how long a drive it would be... 1 hour and 40 minutes. She grew up in a small town nearby and her commute to get downtown for high school was one hour. I know she laments how much her hometown has grown unrecognizable with all the new development. And she has been living in a suburb since graduating college. The Metro area is experiencing so much growth and density that one really has to go the distance to find that small town, rural feel, but, boy, she is really out there!

I wanted to get them something useful and local to welcome them to their new town so I looked up the local hardware store in Willamina to see if I could get them a gift certificate. As new homeowners one quickly learns that something is almost always in need of repair and it is beneficial to know your local hardware store. I explained what I was looking for and why and while they didn't have formal gift certificates, after consulting with another shop keeper told me they could write up something for me. That is good customer service.

It was so nice to see my friend and get a tour of their new home. Her husband was handing out beanie babies to all the children in attendence so my two were thrilled. We don't get to see each other often with our schedules so I am so glad I was able to have this opportunity to chat and catch up. I was also able to catch up with her family whom I haven't seen since her bridal shower I hosted a few years ago. Their new home is perfect for them and I am so happy.

It seemed a shame to drive so far and not make it a compound journey so I decided to make a side trip to the Brigittine Monastery to get some fudge. I love their fudge and I buy it any time I see it in a store or at a festival like Oktoberfest. I haven't been out to their monastery gift shop since before I had children. When we arrived I explained that we wanted to be respectful in this sacred space. As we were walking through the garden Deuce was so filled with the spirit that he knelt down to say a prayer by the statue of Mary.

He read the sign for Our Lady of Consolation and we had an opportunity to talk about what that meant and add it to their vocabulary.

A monk met us at the door of the main building and led us to the gift shop where we were able to sample the fudge. I could go crazy in there but decided to limit us to two boxes.  Deuce decided his favorite was the extra dark chocolate fudge. I picked the hazelnut chocolate fudge because what is more Oregon than that?

It was a very long day of driving in the car and I really appreciated their patience and pleasant attitudes. They totally earned their fudgey snacks today!

A Meal About Nothing

For several years now I have been thinking about doing a Seinfeld themed meal for the Memorial Day camping trip. On the long drives home Mr. W and I will talk about what we will do the next year based on all our wisdom gained on that particular trip, and inevitably we generally forget by the time the next year rolls around. But one thing I never forget is how perfect a Seinfeld meal would be if we got partnered with the Fs for a lunch. Big salads! Soup! Babkas! Junior Mints! So many options! This year we finally put our request in before the meal assignments were sent out, although we were still assigned a dinner rather than lunch. That just led to Mr. F deciding he should make marble rye sandwiches.

I had SO much fun putting this one together. At some point I realized I did not want to try to fit in making a chocolate or cinnamon babka so I was able to find grocery store on the west side that has kosher selections and babkas imported from Brooklyn. I even found 30th anniversary Junior Mint boxes.  This was also a good excuse to break out my Seinfeld DVDs and re-watch old episodes. Part of the fun is dressing up in costume to go with your theme so Mr. W would be Jerry, and I ordered him a puffy shirt. Mr. F would be George, and wear a gortex coat, and since Mrs. F was choosing to stay home with their elderly dog, I would be Elaine. I had planned some of the long skirts and blouses I wore in high school when Elaine was my fashion icon and I was going to give myself big hair.

It rained all that afternoon as we were getting ready for dinner. I made little signs with quotes from the show for all the foods. I tried to set up early and get some good pictures but everything was so wet. This was our menu:

Appetizers

Pretzels

"These pretzels are making me thirsty!"

Cereal

"His whole life revolves around Superman and cereal."

Chips & Dip

"You just double dipped the chip! You dipped the chip, 
you took a bite, and then you dipped again."

Peaches

"The Mackinaw peaches, Jerry! The Mackinaw peaches!

Oh right, the ones from Oregon that are only ripe for two weeks of the year?

I wait all year for these. Oh, this is fantastic!It makes your taste buds come alive. Like having a circus in your mouth."

Peas

"These peas are bursting with country fresh flavor!"

Soups

"Soup’s not a meal, Jerry."

Mulligatawny

"Well, a bowl of mulligatawny would hit the spot."

Lobster Bisque (I made this ahead at home)

"I met this lawyer, we went out to dinner, I had the lobster bisque, we went back to my place, yada, yada, yada. I never heard from him again.

But you yada yada’d over the best part.

No, I mentioned the bisque."

Salad

Big Salad

"She didn’t BUY the big salad. I bought the big salad.

Imagine, her taking credit for your big salad."

Main Course

Pastrami on Marble Rye

"I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted, cured meats."

"You stole the marble rye?"

Desserts

Babkas, Chocolate or Cinnamon

"No, but they got the chocolate. We’ll be going in with a lesser babka.

I beg your pardon? Cinnamon takes a back seat to no babka. People love cinnamon. It should be on tables in restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime anyone says, Oh, this is so good, what’s in it? The answer invariably comes back, Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Again and again. A lesser babka…I think not."

Black & White cookies

"Look, Elaine, the black and white cookie. I love the black and white. Two races of flavor living side by side in harmony. It’s a wonderful thing.

Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet still somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie all our problems would be solved."

Junior Mints

"Well, who’s gonna turn down a Junior Mint?

It’s chocolate, it’s peppermint; it’s delicious! It’s very refreshing!"

Jujyfruit

"So you heard that I was in an accident, and then decided to stop off for some Jujyfruit?."

Snickers carving station

"Mr. Pitt eats his snickers bars with a knife and fork.

He probably doesn’t want to get chocolate on his fingers. That's the way these society

types eat their candy bars.

I am eating my dessert. How do you eat it? With your hands?!"

Drinks

Snapple

"Snapple?

No, too fruity."

Schnapps

"You can tell me. I’ll put it in the vault.

No good. Too many people know the combination."

It was such a wet, wet day that I never changed into an Elaine outfit. Mr. W did wear the puffy shirt, but no one really saw it because he was wearing a rain coat and only briefly took it off for this picture. The lobster bisque was a lot easier to make than I anticipated, I would definitely make it again and I bought the lobster tails at Costco so that was nice. I mean, who doesn't normally have lobster bisque while camping?

Boat People

Back in November while sitting in a coffee shop before his OT appointment I asked Deuce what he thought we should get Daddy for Christmas. His answer was an immediate and unequivocal, "A boat!" I laughed becasue Mr. W IS always joking about getting a boat or about how Mr. M needs to buy a boat and take us out in it. I told him that we can't afford for me to buy Daddy a boat for Christmas. So then he asked if we could get him a canoe instead. That actually seemed more attainable and as we googled canoes I realized that I might be able to pull off the funniest Christmas gift ever, especially with Black Friday pricing. So I bought a boat. But I didn't buy any of the accessories for it like oars, life jackets, or a trolling motor because I wasn't actually sure if Mr. W would want to deal with the undertaking of being boat owners.

A comical outing ensued when I decided to save on shipping costs by going to pick up the canoe myself from the store in our pick-up truck while Mr. W was out of town on a business trip and then having to enlist a neighbor who works form home to help me offload it into the garage. And then telling Mr. W that he wasn't allowed into the garage for a month. (We have a detatched garage so this wasn't as unreasonable as one might image.) The children did an excellent job of keeping the surprise. Then on Christmas morning he finally was allowed into the garage after we opened all the other presents and he definitely was not expecting a canoe.

For months Deuce has been not so patiently waiting for Daddy to take him fishing in the canoe. Our schedule has been crazy, and he has been traveling a ton, so the annual Memorial Day camping trip was our fist opportunity to try it out. This year we were at Timothy Lake which isn't so far for the Portland contingent. It only seemed right that Deuce would be the first one to go for a canoe ride with Daddy. The look on his face was pure joy.

Later T-Bone and Little Miss got to go out with him. He was positive he was going to catch some fish and she was super excited to go out. It rained a lot this weekend so after over an hour of them being out on the lake I got a little worried. What if they had capsized? Would it be too difficult to get two children safely out of the boat on the dock? I thought it wouldn't hurt for me to walk back down there to see if I could offer assistance. Good thing I did because T-Bone was pretty miserable and started yelling, "Help me!" when he saw me on the shore. Mr. W asked me if I would take him back with me. Then he decided that he would actually like to get out of the rain too. Then Little Miss was upset because she wanted to stay in the boat and keep fishing.

The next day I got to go out on the canoe too and Little Miss came with us. She really is our Adventure Girl. She couldn't wait to be handed a fishing rod and then later wanted to paddle. She did not think we gave her enough time with the oar. After we went up and down the near shoreline Mr. W wanted to paddle across the lake and then drift back across the dam. I thought that was too ambitious given the clouds. We headed that way a bit and then the sky opened up on us and he agreed to go to the dock instead.

It was really great being out on the lake and I am looking forward to more opportunities to take it out. I think we just might get that trolling motor to help out when grouchy tweens don't want to help paddle into the wind.

Impromptu Fatima dinner party

I'm several days late with celebrating OL of Fatima with a meal at home. But better late than never, right. During the interim of my break from blogging my friend Mrs. V developed a women's group at our parish. I ended up in charge of both the social committee and the faith formation committee which are basically the same thing in my opinion. The 100th anniversary of the appearance at Fatima also occurred and my same friend made a pilgrimage to Portugal. I gave her all my Christmas money to buy me some souvenirs including a really nice, non-resin statuette. We also planned some family friendly rosary recitations; I hosted the first one at my house and we had a small potluck. I made this Portuguese Beans with Linguica recipe and I remember that Mrs. V made a sautéed linguica appetizer. I really liked the bean dish and have made it again.  I pinned this recipe for a dessert but never got around to making it. I would just run out of motivation; I think I was psyching myself out about a jelly roll type of recipe.

So, even though the 13th was Monday, I didn't get around to making dinner until Friday night. It did give me the opportunity to collect all the necessary ingredients all week long including the linguica which I can always find at Otto's. I had just finished adding the last ingredient to the bean soup when I received a text from Mrs. F wanting to know if she could arrange for the little brothers to play. The recipe does yield a lot and sharing it would be more fun than ending up with lots of leftovers so I invited them to join us and she added a loaf of crusty bread and a green salad to our menu. And I knew this would finally be the motivation I needed to make the orange dessert.

I had already decorated the table with my pretty wooden OL of Fatima statue,some rosaries, and a prayer card. To begin the meal I asked T-Bone to lead us in the prayer. The Fs are Jewish and it had not occurred to me to pre-read the prayer first so when he got the part about conversions I had to lean over to Mr. F and say, "We're not trying to convert you!" And then afterwards their oldest son asked 'What's a virgin?' so it was a very educational experience.

We promised the big boys that we would play Clue with them. And the orange dessert was so easy to make, there is no flour in it so it turned out nice and spongy. I lined the jelly roll pan with parchment paper and that made it totally easy to roll up. I sprinkled it with powdered sugar to make it pretty.

Lilacs for Mother’s Day

Earlier this week my sister and I went to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens with our mom. My sister had been wanting to go and lilacs are my favorite flower. They have the best scent.

Our tradition for Mother’s Day is to have a picnic in a public park and we alternate garden years with view years. This year I was hoping to return to Duniway Lilac Gardens because the weather was going to be so nice. The last time we were there years ago it rained and while we tried to salvage it by sitting on a bench tucked under some evergreen trees, Mr. W was not pleased at my choice to proceed with the picnic. This year we had fantastic weather.

The day started with breakfast in bed in which Mr. W had exquisite attention to details (balled melons!)

And I received a card which included a sash which plays Tina Turner’s Simply The Best and various cards and drawings.

Every year I have hoped to receive a corsage that I can wear to Mass and then wear for the rest of the day. I have never received a Mother’s Day corsage. This year I finally got one. I love it; it even has chrysanthemums which are our shared birth month flower, I don’t think that was on purpose, but I am going to pretend that it was. 

Then we came home and saw the Blazers win game 7 and advance to theWestern Conference finals and the Fs came over for dinner and we ordered take out. It was a very good day and Mr. W is so generous and thoughtful. 

May The Fourth Be With You

The school auction was on Saturday night and they picked such a fun theme based on the date. Mr. W was scheduled to be out of the country so I knew I would be going solo. (See what I did there?) Once I knew that I decided that Princess Leia on Endor would be the easiest costume to pull off, especially since I am hair and make up challenges. So this was the look I was hoping to replicate.

I originally though I would buy some plain canvas and then spray paint it a bit to get that temperate rainforest camo look. I had a bolt of fabric an was on my way back up to the register when I found a lime green batik fabric that was on display, hence why I didn’t see it as an option when I first peruses the batiks. It has that water color look to it which mimics the softness of the colors in Leia’s poncho. I began with 3 yards of this hoping to turn it into a hooded poncho. 

I began by using a hood on a sweatshirt as a template and then sewed that together before I decided I ought to watch the scenes from Return of the Jedi to get the details just right. In hindsight I ought to have done that first because I think the hood actually could have been a tube of fabric attached to the main rectangle. Instead I cobbled together a rectangular piece which I sewed down kind of like a photo corner so that it matched up with the neck opening from the hood. In the end This was my finished project. 

ILeia’s belt only goes around the front of the poncho. I used my dad’s old hippie belt from the 70s and the army surplus ammo bag that I used as a make up bag when we went on my City Slickers 40th birthday cattle drive. (Which I never blogged about.) I decided that my riding helmet would pass for hers. So now I just needed to fashion a blaster. They don’t sell toy ones for whatever reason, and I disn’t Feel like investing in a LARPer quality DIY kit so I decided to spray paint a water squirted we had laying around. Then I fashioned a holster out of felt (lots of trial and error with that!)

In the end I think it came together nicely, who knew I’d be able to repurpose cattle drive accessories for Star Wars? 

May Crowning

I was a little late to school Mass today as I was taking someone to the dentist, but we did arrive in time to catch some of it. I love this tradition of May crownings, I don’t remember them happening often in my own childhood, but I’m glad me children get to experience them. I cut off branches of lilac blooms to send to school with the other two children who were arriving on time. Such a pretty assortment of garden blooms!

(And not to be missed in the background is the red sanctuary lamp. I'm noticing them everywhere now!)