Fair #2

I spent yesterday morning babysitting the Indoor Exhibits at our local fair. 

 This is the building that houses the 4-H and FFA projects.

  Babysitting this building simply means keeping people from touching things like the cakes to see what they are made of...and asking little children to not climb under the ropes to pick things up and then giving the oblivious parents the stink eye.  

Actually, there was only one stink eye given.  

The rest of the time was spent people watching. 

 I adore people watching.

As I wandered the room, I was so thankful for being in a town that still values the basics.  

Our FFA and 4-H clubs are active.  

There is a lot that I would like to change in our local schools, but in the long run, they do a lot correctly as well. 

We still have awesome music and art programs.

Shotgun Wedding

We still have agriculture, woodworking and welding classes in our high schools. 

Horticulture is valued.

These trades are important in the real world.  

Not everyone is cut out to attend college or work in an office

Cooking and and sewing are skills that need to be passed on to our children.

Active clubs help keep these things alive as well.

FFA from one high school demonstrates knowledge of electrical circuitry.

  Another shows skills in knot tying.

  (Obviously MY photography skills could used some work!)

Fun things like cake decorating open kids' minds to their creative side.  

Besides, being able to make a great birthday cake for your child is an awesome skill...

one that I did not learn.

The same young lady made this last year

So as our local fair,
(which is completely funded by the private sector...NO government money AT ALL)
winds down this weekend, I celebrate and thank all of the teachers, parents and mentors that pour their hearts, knowledge, time and money into the youth of our community.
These adults know the future is in our youth and take their jobs of preparing them for the world very seriously.

A Slider Tutorial

I made sliders for Lollipop Pop's birthday last month and my nephew very nearly drooled over them and the sauce I made. 

 His Mom and I tried to explain to him that seasoning plain ground beef and forming it into shapes would would give him the same results. 

 He looked doubtful.

D is a freshman in college, lives in an apartment and has begun experimenting with cooking for the first time. 

 Recently, Shaggy had to take a test and spent the night at his cousin's place so I sent a batch of sliders along for them to BBQ. 

 Two pounds of ground beef + 2 packages of Hawaiian Sweet Rolls...gone in one sitting.

So, D you CAN make these.

(Sugar Plum Fairy used to call her cousin "D" and her brother "Dye"...no idea why, but baseball games were fun to listen to..."Go D!"..."Great catch, Dye!")

  

I promise you can and I have never led you astray.

 I thought a tutorial for new cooks might be fun...so here it goes.

Step one...this is a bulb of garlic. 

 It is found next to the onions.  

   

Pry a bit of it apart with your hands until you have successfully separated two of these...these are cloves of garlic. 

 You can smash each of these with the heel of your hand.

The paper covering will peel off.  

Chop two cloves of garlic until very fine...I will get you a tool called a garlic press this summer...every kitchen must have one.

Now, D, you take two packages of Baba's hamburger and let it thaw. 

(My in-laws have always purchased their ground beef from a local locker service.  It is pre-formed into 1/4 pound patties, frozen and wrapped into 1 pound packages.  My mother in law is called Baba...hence, Baba's hamburger) 

For anyone without access to Baba's hamburger, go to the store and purchase two pounds of lean ground beef.  

I have not tried this recipe with turkey yet, but it is on my To Do list.

Put in a bowl.

Add:

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon thyme 

(that is the green in the picture.  It is an herb.  Go to the grocery store and find the ethnic aisle...around these parts, it is in the Hispanic food area or near the produce section....there is usually a large rack with plastic bags...these herbs are MUCH less expensive than the jars in the spice aisle...good tip for poor college students)

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard 

(poor college students could also use regular mustard or the yummy chipotle mustard that said poor college student's aunt sent to him)

Now, take a deep breathe, wash your hands and smoosh everything up together.  

Make sure everything is incorporated well.

Ta Da!!!!!

You now have seasoned, ground beef with which you can make a multitude of things.

I have a kitchen scale and weigh out 1.5 ounces of meat.  

Roll into balls.

Here is a visual of what that looks like with something you can relate too.

At this point, you can freeze in this shape and have meatballs ready in a flash. 

Bake, thawed, 350* for 30 minutes...

Stick in a pan with marinara sauce and Voila, done.

(Freeze like this on a tray until hard.  Then place in a zip-lock bag and store in the freezer.  They will stay separate from each other this way)

For sliders, take a ball and flatten sides with your fingers.

Press down on each and you have sliders!  You can freeze these just like the meatballs.

Now, the sauce that you drooled over, D.  

This is truly something that you will have to perfect by trial and error. 

 I don't measure. 

I go by color...but for you, I did measure the mayo so you can get a visual on the other amounts...sort of.

This is 1/4 cup of mayo...I use the light.

Add a largish spoon of sweet pickle relish

a largish squirt of ketchup 

and a medium squirt of chipotle mustard.

Mix well...adding a touch more ketchup or mustard to get the right color. 

Store in a jar or covered container.  

It will last a long time in the fridge.

My family likes the sliders on Hawaiian Sweet rolls, but any bun would work. 

 Wrapping the meat into a large, lettuce leaf works for a great low carb version as well.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Fun Field Trip

Last week, I had the pleasure to accompany Sugar Plum Fairy on  her field trip.  We took a bus to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I went on this trip before, when Lollipop Pop was in the same class way back when. 

 My baby was 6 months old at the time and it was the first time I had left her for the day. 

Time sure has flown.

There were children who had never seen the ocean. 

That is always fun to witness.  

They played and touched and explored and learned.

I asked her, when I saw this photo, if she was pretending she was in the kelp forest...

Somewhere, I have this same photo with her sister as the pearl.

The anemones and jellyfish were my favorites.

Spending the day with this  child and being part of a wonderful memory that she made was magical.

Senior Memories

Shaggy has been working on his Senior Memory book in English for the last semester.  

There was a topic given for each chapter. 

Once the chapters were written, photos had to be included. 

 I found his choices of pictures to include, fascinating.  

It gave me insight to what he valued and remembered most in his first 18 years of life. 

Our kids have been very fortunate in the travels that they have been on.  

We wanted to expose all three of our kids to the world.  

The much larger world than our own backyard. 

 We have been able to do that  and the shots he chose echo that fact.

Sammy and Romaine 2010

Washington DC 2008

Malta - 2010

Nice - 2010

Washington Monument 2008

New York City - 2008

Corsica - 2010

Monte Carlo Casino 2010

Add caption

Returning from Pisa 2010

Tunisia - 2010

There were sports memories...

Catching the first pitch of the Little League Season from his father

He wrote about his life as an adorable, sweet little boy (my words...I am sure not his)

There was a topic that included people you miss or wish you could see again.....

Avo with Shaggy(left) and Cousin D on the right.

Avo and Shaggy

Friends and family.....

State FFA Degree with Chris B...childhood friend

Shaggy and his Grandma...Baba

The cousins

Lollipop Pop's Birthday Party...Shaggy is in the hat

Easter 2005

School over the years...

County Science Fair Winner....alternate to State 2008/09?

FFA Scholarship 2013

Scholastic Medal Winners 2013

Scholastic Medal Awards 2012

The High School Years...

Just plain fun and funny stuff...

His home...

And us...

I loved this project...even with all the scraps of paper, glue sticks, scraps of paper, scissors and scraps of paper everywhere.  

Getting a glimpse into my teenage son's mind is priceless.