Onigiri

I've been threatening to make onigiri for a long time andI finally did it. I made them last night and they turned out pretty nicely. I was a little apprhensive about  making sushi rice but it came out fine. I don't really have anything to compare it to, but it worked for me. I put small chunks of salted tilapia in the center of my onigiri and then used strips of nori as a garnish/decoration. I think I made them a bit on the large side but that's ok. They were quite tasty - both fresh and warm and cold the next day.

The onigiri I made for Steve.

Laural asked that I not put nori on hers.

Micah tasted it but he mostly just wanted to have his picture taken.

The verdict is: I will probably make these again. This isn't the case for the Thai Beef & Noodles I made a few nights ago. I used noodles made from sweet potato starch and the texture was something I don't think I could get used to. May w I will try them with a different sauce to see how I feel about them then.

Muffin Tin Monday

It's Muffin Tin Monday - at least it was yesterday. My internet was down for much of the day so I didn't get out muffin tin meal posted in a timely manner, so here it is today.

Summer means no set themes and we decided not to have a particular theme, just food. Well, I decided not to have a theme. Laural was not happy that we didn't have a theme. When I suggested she might want to leave the table without eating, suddenly not having a theme wasn't an issue anymore.

Top: PB&J on sandwich thins, vanilla yogurt with fresh blueberries, chips, grapes, steamed broccoli & carrots.

Laural ate everything. Micah had the sandwich, some chips & the yogurt but he refused to eat the berries. He's so picky! I hope his pickiness fades before too long. It can be so hard to feed him.

In the Park

It's been several weeks since we've been in the Grove City Memorial Park. The last time we went, we took the kids to play for a little while in the playground. Today, we had time to kill, so we drove back through the park, past the girl scout building toward the ball fields and we were shocked by what we saw. Almost all of the trees in the center area where the road goes back and comes back around were gone. All that was left was sawdust. I couldn't believe it! That small bit of forest was so awesome the way the trees were so straight and close together. Walking through there, I could easily imagine it being the setting for stoies about fairies and unicorns and magical things. How sad that it was gone! I found out a little later that there was some sort of blight on the pine trees and they all had  to be removed. What a heartbreaking thing. I hope I still have some of the pictures of that little wooded area.

The area deer didn't seem to be too put out by the missing trees. There were two grazing in the open and didn't even flinch as we drove through. Kf the trees were still there, we wouldn't have even caught a glimpse of this guy.

Winkler Family Reunion

Today was such a gorgeous day! The perfect day for a family reunion, even if it wasn't really our family. My grandparents have been friends with Herman & Anna Winkler and their family since forever and my mom was best friends with one of their daughters, Patty. So even though we aren't related, our families are like family. 

Herman & Anna Winkler

The reunion was in Emlenton at the home of Erik & Carol Clevenger. Carol is the grand-daughter of Herman's brother - I think. I have a hard time keeping how people are related straight in my mind. It turns out that Erik went to Commodore Perry and graduated in 1987. His brother Earl was just a year ahead of me. It's funny that I went all the way to Emlenton and ran into a CP grad. On the way to their house, we passed by the place where my mom lived when she was a young girl. The house has fallen in and there are big trees grown up all around it. It's hard to even see the house from the road and it's not that far back. If you weren't looking for it, you probably wouldn't notice it there. We stopped so I could snap a few pics from the car. We also passed by the church where my parents got married - Nickleville Presbyterian Church. We didn't see it though because there were a bunch of houses in the way.

 What once was home to my grandparents and mom.

The gathering of family.

One of the things that this reunion is known for is all the baked bread. They made 35 different loaves of bread and 6 pizzas. There was an assortment of homemade jams, jellies and peanut butter for spreading. Yummy! There was all kinds of food - burgers and dogs, salads, fruits, veggies, deviled eggs - just about everything you can think to bring to a picnic/cookout. There was also an amazing selection of desserts! I had strawberry pie and some sort of chocolate mousse/cake thing. SO GOOD!

After eating, one of the relatives broke out a mandolin and my dad got his guitar out. They led a sing-a-long for a little while before having the family meeting.

My parents doing what they love to do - sing & entertain.

Grandpa & Grandma

Our family.

The kids had a wonderful time. Laural and some of the other girls picked blackberries to eat. Later, she got to climb a tree with the other kids. She was so thrilled. She actually has been asking me for weeks if she could climb a tree and today, she finally got to do it. She didn't get up too high - maybe about 6 or 7 feet - but she was up a tree. We also went to visit the chickens they had there.  

Laural & the kids in the tree.

Checking out the chickens.

Micah just had a ball running around and playing in the sand. He would have liked to have a chance to get up that tree, too. At one point, a very cute little blond girl came over to "visit" with him. It was too cute. Steve took Micah for a walk so he could see the chickens too. 

 In the sandbox, kicking back with a drink and flirting with a little blond.

We stayed a little longer than I had hoped. Mom wanted us to leave when they did so we could stop by the Nickleville Presbyterian Church. We got out and looked around. I took a few pics of the church and also of the gravestones of some relatives, including my great-grandparents - my grandpa's parents. They both died before I was born. 

There were a bunch of gravestones in the cemetary that were quite old. Some of the people were born in the 1700's!  The earliest I saw was somebody born in 1788. I can hardly fathom that. I was standing above the remains of a person born 222 years ago. Wow. 

Some of the really old grave stones.

Before we left, I took a couple pics of my parents standing in front of the church steps, just like they did on the day they were married nearly 40 years ago. I need to find and scan the photo from 40 years ago to compare.

Mom & Dad, at the church where they were wed, 40 years later.

As we drove home, I saw a Little Caesar's pizza place that advertised pizzas ready to go, so we stopped and got pizza to take home for dinner. Poor Steve had to get some sleep before heading out to work. I think the kids were wiped out too. They played for a while and I nearly fell asleep on the couch. I managed to stay awake and get them bathed. They were gloriously filthy from all the outside play. After they fell asleep and Steve left for work, I heard some booming, looked outside and saw fireworks going off. I forgot that they usually have fireworks at the end of the mini fair here every year. They were going off pretty much right behind our house and I was sure that it was going to wake the kids up since their window is open, but they must have been seriously tuckered out because they didn't seem to stir a bit.

Fireworks pics taken with my cell phone from the back porch.

What a long and wonderful and beautiful day! How awesome is God to bless us with such a wondrous day!

Happy 4th of July!

Today started off pretty slow. Since both kids have been sick with coughs and stuffy noses, I decided to keep them home from church today. We didn't want to infect anybody else. They were getting a little stir crazy so I decided to start dinner a little early and then maybe go outside to play. As I was making dinner, my mom called to invite us over for a little cookout if the kids were feeling better since we missed yesterday due to Laural's fever. So, I put away the dinner fxins and started getting the kids out of their pajamas. We had a nice dinner outside at my folk's. Rob & Amy and the kids were there. Laural and Micah had a fantastic time running around with their cousins. They played in the sandbox and the old swingset and just ran around the yard. When Amy came over to Micah to say goodbye, she noticed he had a ton of sand in his hair. Well, knowing we were going to be out late with the fireworks, I figured the kids might like a little water play so I got the hose out. It was warm at first, so I took advantage of that and rinsed as much sand out of his hair as I could. He was not pleased. But his hair was nearly clear of sand! Laural got doused too. After getting them dried off, it was time to head out for fireworks! 

Grove City was packed by the time we got there. We missed last year but the year before that, it wasn't nearly so crowded. They do it quite nicely though, having marching bands play patriotic music in the college football stadium up until fireworks time. The fireworks started 1 minute late. I was a little worried about how Micah would handle it since he was not a happy camper at the Disney fireworks displays. At first, he kept his eyes tightly shut and didn't look happy at all. I told Steve to plug Micah's ears and after that he relaxed a little. By about half way through, he was pointing and oohing and ahhing over the bright lights. We got home around 11:15 PM and I got the kids right into bed. They were fast asleep within 10 minutes. The only thing I wish was different about the day is that I wish I had remembered my camera to get some pics of Micah & Laural enjoying the fireworks. I'm so mad that I forgot it! I guess there's always the Stoneboro Fair fireworks in September.