Monday, May 25, 2009

Homemade Kettle Corn, nice guys, and the end of reality!

Well, I would have to say it was a year for the nice guys on the reality show circuit this season. Even though I wanted Steven to be the Sole Survivor, it was nice to see JT who seems like a genuinely nice guy take the prize. I think Steven was so good at masking his strategy that no one knew he actually had any. Just a little side note, I think both JT and Steven were better looking on the show with their facial hair and rugged outdoor looks.

Jerry and Helen? Really? Never would have thought they would be The Biggest Loser winners. Jerry is another nice guy and another winner. Many would argue that Helen was not very nice staying on the show and sending her daughter home. Without having been in on the full discussion, I would probably agree. Another mother on the show volunteered to go home if others would protect her daughter until the end. Remember Ron? He is not a nice guy and therefore not a winner.

I thought that Tammy and Victor were the nicest of the final four teams left on Amazing Race. And the nice guys crossed the finish line first too.

And I was hoping for either of the nice guys’ duo Danny and Kris to be our next American Idol. To even Kris’ astonishment he pulled it off. I think what is most amazing about his venture is that he really had almost no exposure in the beginning and people still voted for him simply because he is talented.

Another of the nice guys is my son Bryson. He wanted Homemade Kettle Corn to enjoy while watching the finales of some of our shows. Kettle Corn is super easy to make and tastes great too!


KETTLE CORN

2/3 cup popcorn
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup sugar
salt

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet with a tight fitting lid.
Add popcorn and continue to heat until first kernel pops.
Quickly stir in sugar until it is dissolved.
Cover and continue to shake skillet. Be careful so popcorn doesn't burn.
After popcorn is popped, pour in a bowl and lightly salt.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The cards just keep getting cuter!

Once again my cute daughter Ashlee out did herself and gave me an adorable homemade card for Mother’s Day. I am amazed at all the cute designs she comes up with. My mom is also very creative, and unfortunately I think that talent is like my dad’s diabetes that skips a generation. Each card is so clever. Hallmark better watch out! On the inside of the card, she has a fun “green” message. I LOVE IT!

My son’s favorite breakfast

Do you have a recipe that you have made so many times that you know you could actually make it in your sleep? I make whole wheat pancakes at least once a week. My son Bryson does not consider cereal a breakfast food. An after-school or bedtime snack yes, but definitely not for the most important meal of the day. So being the good mother that I am, I fix him breakfast most days. The funny thing is that I make pancakes, French toast, breakfast cake, waffles, scrambled eggs or German pancake almost every morning, and my husband pours himself a bowl of cereal. And my teenagers will grab a handful of wheat thins as they walk out the door. I don’t get someone who would choose cold cereal or crackers when a hot breakfast is ready and available, but I have to love them anyway.




Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 eggs
1½ cups milk
3 Tbls oil
3 Tbls sugar
1 Tbls baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 – 2½ cups hard white wheat flour, depending on the consistency you like. I like my pancakes more on the thick side so I add more flour. If you like them runny, add less. :)


Bryson, being the growing boy that he is, will eat four pancakes. He likes two with syrup and two with chocolate chips mixed in the batter before cooking.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Guess who is going green?

My daughter Ashlee was surprised by her husband with a trip to Disneyland for her birthday. They brought me home a super fun souvenir. I was so excited to add this cute green bag to my collection. Well, it doesn’t go with me to the grocery store. It is way too cute for just holding ice cream and bananas. Most green bags can be purchased for only $1, but this bag was $2.95 to account for Disney’s typical rate of inflation.

My favorite quotes:

“Life is not what you have or what you can keep. It is what you can bear to lose.”

Sarah’s father describes to her how the English scare away the crows from their fields, and compares that to their courts:
“They put pikes all round the perimeter of a field. The pikes are sharpened to a razor’s point. And on every pike, pierced through the breast, is a blackbird. Some yet live and flapping. The crows don’t like it. And as long as any part of the blackbirds cling to the poles the corn stays whole. That’s the English way.”
“It’s how the English run their courts. They sacrifice innocents, thinking to keep evil at bay, and call it a kind of justice. But they are no more just than this pole is a man.”

“I told him I would rather die than wind my days out only plowing and dusting clay off my shoes. Then he said if I were to die, a piece of him would die, too. He said I had to find one thing living that was greater than myself to cleave to, and in that would be my strength for walking upright like a man. A long time ago he was in despair and had sunk so low as to die from it. But he found Mother, and it was her that brought a quickening back to his living. I thought long on what he had said. And d’ye know what I told him, Sarah? I told him it was you. It’s you who are my strength.”

“I understood at that moment fully and suddenly why he would not carry me, and why he had not come to my defense in times past when I was battling for my place in the world. It was not because he failed to love me, but because he loved me so well. He had brought us food and clothing and kind words when we were imprisoned; he did not abandon us. But he would never seek to weaken me so that I could not withstand the burdens and cruelties or harsh judgments of the world. An infant must learn to walk only by cutting his lip on the harsh ground. Only by tasting blood is the toddler discouraged from falling.”

"THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER" by Kathleen Kent