MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

We decided it was time to take a Christmas photo this year... the cats did not agree. 

Have a wonderful day full of Christmas joy, family, food... and laughter! :-) Many blessings to you and your family!

BLT Grilled Cheese

What is better than a gourmet grilled cheese? YUM!!! This one is based on the classic BLT, with bacon, tomato, spinach (in place of lettuce), and 2 kinds of cheese.

The best part of recipes like this, though, is making them work with what you like (or have on hand). I would have loved to add some avocado to this! The key to cooking a perfect melty grilled cheese when it's this thick is simple: slow and steady wins the race! Keep the heat low! It's not a light meal, but it definitely hit the spot on this chilly snowy day!

Christmas Cookies, Take 1!

Hooray for cookies! I figured this is take one, since I'll probably make some more at some point when I'm with family for Christmas!

With my new apron on, snow falling outside, and Christmas music filling the house, it was a perfect day to bake cookies!

Here are the two recipes I made today:

First, was an Andes Mint cookie from Mrs. Clark's Kitchen. Karen is the mother of a good friend from college, and I can tell you without even trying them that I recommend everything on her blog! She has great tips for this cookie - there really isn't much to add. They are DELICIOUS! Here's how mine turned out:

The second recipe I made was a shortbread cookie. This was one of the top shortbread recipes on allrecipes.com, called Melt-in-your-mouth Shortbread, and it truly does! One tip for this site if you haven't used it before is to always look at the reviews! Some people rate the recipe very well, but make a lot of changes. Some people have tips that may have been left out of the original recipe, as well. Luckily, they are sorted by which are most helpful, so by reading the first 10-15 reviews, you should get the information you need. With the help of some of these reviews, my cookies turned out great!

If you're in town, come see us, because we have plenty of cookies to share!!

Thankful

I am so very blessed! Sometimes, in the craziness of life, we have a tendency to forget that simple fact. From friends and family to the little things around us, it is important to see those blessings for what they are. So, for Thanksgiving, I like to challenge myself with a list of (some of) the wonderful things I have to be thankful for (in no particular order). This year, I get to share it with you!

1. Good health
2. My cats, and all of their crazy antics
3. Unexpected hugs from children
4. The power of music
5. Testing negative for celiac disease :-)
6. Christmas music (I started a few days early... couldn't wait!)
7. The support and friendship I find at TGR Fitness
8. Having Cassie (a good college friend) living a block away this year!
9. Sunshine
10. Audio books - they get me through every work day!
11. Cozy slippers and sweaters
12. Having people all around me who believe in me and my potential
13. The girls in my Girl Scout troop, and the opportunity to learn with them
14. A home, and the relief of knowing it's already sold!
15. Trees and pretty fall leaves
16. All of the people who have given up so much for our freedom - Thank you!
17. Beautiful outdoor spaces, near and far
18. Brothers whose antics growing up gave me character ;-) And who can now be friends!
19. Doughnuts.
20. Family (near and far) who I know love and care about me
21. Camp Tahigwa - a place I call home - and the many people who continue to fight for it
22. My clients, their families, and the joy they bring me
23. A group of wonderful friends from college who continue to get together and love me even when I fail at keeping in touch.
24. A wonderful job I truly enjoy!
25. All of the awesome people who make me laugh
26. Good deals
27. National Parks
28. "What Does the Fox Say?" ;-)
29. Pie.
30. All of the women who give their time as Girl Scout Volunteers - especially those in Ames/Gilbert who I get to work with!
31. Grandparents who have always been involved in my life and who are still healthy!
32. Seeing big smiles from kids when I come to see them for music!
33. The ability to keep making progress and trying new things as an aerialist
34. My lovely husband, and the fact that I'm still his favorite wife after 3.5 years! ;-)
35. Random YouTube videos that provide laughter, tears, and entertainment
36. Games!
37. The Ames Public Library
38. A family I can be goofy with
39. The stars, and the joy of photographing them!
40. My Mom sewing me a music therapy bag made specifically for my needs!
41. Slow cookers
42. Modern medicine, and the miracles it helps make possible every day
43. Kid President
44. Performance opportunities with the TGR goddesses
45. The funny things kids say
46. Those days when I know dinner will be ready to eat when I get home - Thanks Brian!
47. Parks, their parking lots, and their bathrooms. Great for a girl who works from her car.
48. Flowers
49. The anticipation of not knowing what's next - it keeps me on my toes!
50. The hilarious fact that one of my clients has started saying "My name is Molly" to EVERYONE! I call him my newest advocate for music therapy!
51. The opportunity to connect with other aerialists through the (opening Black Friday!) AAFA
52. Freebies
53. Days that I cross a lot of things off my to-do list
54. Days to do nothing
55. Celebrating holidays with my family, and all the traditions that accompany that
56. Laughter
57. Instant communication!
58. People who pursue what they are passionate about
59. Good books
60. Plants Vs. Zombies.... a guilty pleasure
65. Hugs from Mom/Dad/Grandma/Grandpa/etc, after time apart
66. Seeing people I love, in love!
67. Babies! My Facebook is full of them!
68. The parade!
69. Learning something new
70. IPTV
71. Music therapists who share their experience and expertise with others through blogs and CMTEs!
72. Local businesses
73. Living close to family
74. Snow
75. Getting mail
76. Silly songs
77. My mom's family being closer together after years of being so spread out!
78. Friends who I know are always there, no matter how long it's been since we last talked
79. Story People
80. Space Heaters
81. A close-knit family of in-laws to gather with!
82. Ibuprofen
83. Clean water
84. A computer to type this on!
85. My amazing parents who have always been there in every way
86. Santa!
87. The group of ladies helping me plan Women of the Wilderness at Camp Tahigwa
88. Dance parties - especially the impromptu kind
89. Bad jokes
90. Google calendar
91. Lunch with friends
92. Lotion - my skin is already feeling this winter weather
93. Cuddling with the cats - all 30+ lbs of them!
94. Hot cocoa and hot apple cider
95. New recipes
96. Scarves
97. Disney movies
98. Leftovers :-)
99. Everyone who took some time on Thanksgiving to give back to their community!
100. The fact that I have people in my life to share this with! Thanks for being a part of my life!

Apple Cranberry Sticky Buns

Talk about heart-warming fall food! YUM!

I got the idea for apple sticky-buns from the Pioneer Woman, who made a caramel apple version. Her version, however, is a little more time-intensive than I was up for this weekend. So, I found a bread-machine version of sticky buns, and added my apples and cranberries to the topping! The recipe I used is here. Instead of the pecans and raisins, I used 1 apple, finely chopped, and a sprinkling of dried cranberries (sorry, I don't measure things). Everything else I followed as written! Here's how they turned out:

YUMMMM!!! The sauce turned out quite a bit thinner than a typical "sticky bun" but it was really yummy that way! The dough also didn't rise as much as I would have liked, but I don't know if that's because of the dough or user error :-) Overall, really delicious, and I will definitely make these again!

Glacier National Park: Backcountry

...and here we are at the most exciting part of our trip! We spent only 2 nights backcountry, but you could easily spend a month and still have so much more to see. My overall thoughts and experiences: the trails are very well-kept, and very well marked. You know where you are at every intersection, there is a map of each campsite, and always somewhere to hang or store your food (you do still need your own rope!). There were little log bridges over every creek (if the creek was too big to jump over), and while we didn't see a bear, we saw a moose, lots of marmots, jackrabbits, and more! The campsites were all full, which made for a unique backcountry experience: one where you share conversation around the "dinner table" and share your experiences with other campers. I very highly recommend a backcountry experience in Glacier National Park, and I especially recommend the route we took. We were told time and time again that we got the best 2-day trip possible in the park!

This was our basic itinerary:
Day 1: Many Glacier to Poia Lake
Day 2: Poia Lake to Elizabeth Lake Foot (via Red Gap Pass)
Day 3: Elizabeth Lake to Many Glacier (via the Ptarmigan Tunnel)

Day 1: Many Glacier to Poia Lake

Brian and I were all packed up and ready to go after lunch. We left from the Poia Lake trailhead, near the trail to Apikuni Falls.

Day one was a full half-day, 6.4 miles from the trailhead to Poia Lake. The trail is beautiful, but unlike I expected. Lots of flowers and mountain meadows, as well as wooded areas.

Here is an example of what you see when you get to a backcountry campsite:

Clockwise from top left: Actual campsite (there are multiple of these at each larger campsite), the map that shows you where everything is, campers' food hanging on the pre-strung line, the food prep/eating area.

Poia Lake was beautiful, though it was a windy day! We spent the evening enjoying the view before having dinner. While eating, we met some other campers who were headed the same direction we were. We decided to travel the next day as a group.

Day 2: Poia Lake to Elizabeth Lake (Foot) via Red Gap Pass

Luckily for us, the wind had died down some for day 2. It was a beautiful day, and our new friends set quite the pace! This day was a total of 10.2 miles with a GREAT elevation change - up and down! I was completely worn out, but boy was this worth it. A few tips for this stretch of trail:

• There is no water in the middle of this day, so make sure you have enough for the day before you leave, or fill up before you get too close to the top of the pass.
• The top of the pass is very windy and quite chilly! Make sure you have enough warm layers, and a wind-blocking layer.
• There is a peak off to the side of the pass if you want to take a side-trip in the middle of this long day, but it is farther up than it looks! There are multiple false-peaks before you reach the real one.

And the view from the top of the pass? SPECTACULAR! Worth every step!

There is seriously no beating this view! After all the hard work to get there, your jaw just drops at the beauty and vastness of it! We had the perfect day with the high puffy clouds and sun shining!

We finished our day around 1pm, thanks to our friends' crazy pace, had a late lunch, and lounged around the rest of the day at Elizabeth Lake. We played cards (I always bring a deck backcountry), enjoyed the rocks on the beach, and Brian even tried making a fishing pole. One of my favorite parts of being able to eat with other campers was hearing their recommendations for other places to camp (both at Glacier and other parks), and their tips on gear, food, etc. We stayed up past dark (which really isn't that late) playing cards, which we scored with rocks.

Day 3: Elizabeth Lake Foot to Many Glacier via the Ptarmigan Tunnel

Day 3 was another doozy! 10.1 miles with similar elevation change as the day before. I wasn't sure I was going to make it another day, but the trails are so well-graded, and the views amazing as always! The Ptarmigan tunnel is a tunnel through the mountain that is about 250 ft. long. It had just been opened the day before we left on our trip, so we were some of the first visitors of the season! Here is the tunnel, and the view from either side:

The foot of the lake on the left is where we camped the night before.

The way down from the tunnel to Many Glacier gets busier and busier the closer you get. There are many other things to see along this trail, so it is a popular one for day hikes! The trail is a piece of cake the rest of the day, but started to feel long once I knew how close we were! Arriving at Many Glacier, we celebrated with some beer (for Brian) and huckleberry ice cream (for me)! If you need a place to hang out at Many Glacier while waiting for a shuttle or ride, the picnic area is a great place. We set up our tent to air out, washed up a little in the bathrooms, and even took a nap!

Cheers to another great adventure!

Trailer for Sale!

Well, we spent the last 24 hours deep-cleaning our trailer in preparation for vet-school interviews this week. We knew there would be interviewees who would want to come take a look at some potential living spaces, and we had 4 people planning to come over the weekend. We cleared out some space by taking some large tubs out to the shed last weekend, and finally taking a trip to Goodwill to drop off a few large bags of clothes. I inhaled way too many cleaning fumes, and the cats were getting worried about what was going on, but we made it "shine like the top of the Chrysler building!"

... and it paid off!

We showed the trailer to 2 different people today, and already sold it this afternoon!

It is crazy to be taking these first steps toward moving in May, but it has been a long time coming! Brian has multiple interviews set up and has been talking with a variety of places about jobs, but it is a process. I will be a lot more ready to take the next step when we know where we're going! It's just one more adventure in life!

Glacier National Park: Day 3

Day 3 will be a short post! While we spent our morning day-hiking, we left for our backcountry adventure right after lunch. Since our backcountry trek will be covered in another post, there's not a lot to write about day 3! We headed up to the Many Glacier area today. There are beautiful lodges, some great campgrounds, and lots to explore in this area.

Swiftcurrent Nature Trail

Swiftcurrent Lake is a beautiful sight! One of the lodges is right on the lake, and there is also a trail that goes around the edge of the lake. This is the 2.5-mile Swiftcurrent Nature Trail. It is basically flat, and it's short, but it was a beautiful walk! If you're looking for something easy to take a load off for part of a day, it's a good choice. Here are some of the sights:

There is also a picnic area just off of the Swiftcurrent Nature Trail, which is a great place to stop for lunch. This is where we stopped to eat before heading off on our amazing backcountry experience!

Happy Halloween!

While my actual Halloween will not consist of much excitement this year, I was still able to celebrate in a few different ways over the past couple of weeks!

1) The studio where I take aerial classes had a Halloween masquerade party! I got to dress up (one of my favorites) and perform (another of my favorites), as well as enjoying a great night with some wonderful people! I was a spider (which went with my performance) and my wonderful husband enjoyed wearing a mustache (a little too much). Here are couple of photos from the evening:

2) I got to have Halloween themed music classes! Part of my job is teaching early childhood music classes at daycare centers, and I love when I get to break out the Halloween songs! If you are looking for some Halloween songs for groups of any age, here are some of my favorites:

Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
The Monster Mash – Bobby "Boris" Picket
I Put a Spell on You (Jazz Song)
Love Potion No. 9 – The Searchers
Ghostbusters Theme
Grim Grinning Ghosts – From Disney’s Haunted Mansion 
The Addam’s Family Theme
Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
Thriller - Michael Jackson

3) Pumpkin carving!! This is definitely one of my favorite parts of Halloween! My husband and I have so much fun deciding what our pumpkin will be, and creating our masterpieces. We usually make a yummy fall meal (soup or something in the slow cooker), then roast pumpkin seeds while we're carving, too! This year, Brian created an Angry Birds pumpkin:

 And I created an aerial masterpiece:

Lastly, Brian created a fun pumpkin for our front steps:

Happy Halloween!!!

Glacier National Park: Day 2

We started day 2 much more rested than the day before, having actually slept in beds! For this day, we drove up to the East end of Going to the Sun Road and drove from there. Our adventures started with a beautiful rainbow over the mountains before we even reached Going to the Sun Road! We had another full day with lots of great stops, and plenty of photo ops! In addition to the trails listed below, we stopped at many other places along the road to take pictures and enjoy the view. From waterfalls to lookouts, and wildlife sitings, every single stop is worth it - take your time and enjoy the drive!

Hidden Lake Overlook

Our first stop of the day was the Logan Pass visitor's center. From here we hiked up to the Hidden Lake Overlook. Even in July, with the warm temperatures we were experiencing, this trail was covered in snow! I was amazed how many people were hiking it despite this fact - it was VERY busy!

This picture really doesn't capture the vast number of people who were on this trail, but it sure shows the snow!

These were some park workers who were digging out the real trail from under the snow.

Despite the snow and the people, this trail was well worth it! We saw lots of wildlife:

And not only was the view of the lake spectacular, but there were amazing views all along the way, as well.

One of the mountains we hiked around on the way there

The view from the hidden lake overlook

St. Mary Falls

This wasn't in our original plan, but we heard someone talking about it (actually, they were saying there had been bears sighted there in the morning), and we decided to give it a shot! It's an easy hike (1.6 mi round trip), and the falls are beautiful. Definitely a good trail for just about everyone!

Sunrift Gorge

This gorge is right off the road, but completely worth the stop. The photos are some of my favorite from the trip. There is a trail headed up from the gorge that is supposed to be great for wildlife and wildflowers, but it is pretty much straight up.  It is not an easy hike. We went up the first quarter to half mile and saw some great views from there, but after a full day, we weren't willing to go any farther. 

New Bases for Delicious Meals!

This month I got really gutsy and decided to try a few new bases for meals that I had read about (and maybe eaten at a restaurant), but never made. These are new to us! My other favorite bases: pasta, of course; couscous; rice; and even mashed potatoes. We love making a simple onion/pepper mix, or a meat with a thick sauce, or even just opening a can of Chunky stew, and serving it over one of these bases. The possibilities are endless - use what you have and like! The slow cooker is a great way to make your topping, too! Now, without further ado, our newest delicious bases:

Polenta: Pan Fried

Polenta is basically just cooked corn meal, but you can buy it already cooked,in a tube, like this:

I did have some trouble finding polenta in a tube, but finally found it at HyVee. I'm sure any specialty or health food store would have it. To pan fry, just slice up the polenta from the tube, coat in cooking spray (Pam), and toss on a skillet on the stove. They did take longer to brown up than I expected them to, but that was good because I knew they were really heated and cooked through. We tried both plain and flavored, and both were delicious.

Our topping for pan fried polenta:
Italian sausage (removed from the casing), onion, red pepper, garlic and tomatoes

Polenta: Creamy

So, since polenta is just cooked corn meal, the other way to make it is by cooking corn meal! I used a recipe and instructions from thekitchn.com and it was great! Super easy to follow and doesn't make you stir for 40 minutes straight. I will note that I don't think I stirred quite long enough at the beginning, because I got some of the polenta stuck to the bottom of the pan, and it was very hard to clean off. So stir a little longer than you think you need to, and if you do get it stuck to the bottom of the pan, make sure to get it in water to soak when you're done cooking! I tried the cooked polenta before adding the butter and cheese at the end, and I would say it's nothing to write home about, but with the mix-ins and the topping, it was wonderful!

Our topping for creamy polenta:

Pulled pork (we made a big batch awhile back and had some frozen, but use whatever meat you have), sweet peppers (green, red, etc), onion, garlic, and fajita seasoning (cumin, chili powder, paprika)

Risotto

Last, but certainly not least - one of my new favorite foods of all time - Risotto! Risotto is a creamy rice, and while it is a little time consuming, it was not difficult, and totally worth the time! I again used a recipe and instructions from thekitchn.com, which were wonderfully easy to follow. You do need a special kind of rice for risotto - I got Arborio. I found it in the specialty food section of my local HyVee. It wasn't on the shelf - I had to get it from the dispenser things. Also, to me, the parmesan is a must for this recipe - it's the perfect finishing touch!

Instead of a topping for our risotto, we mixed in cubed acorn squash from the farmer's market during the first step with the onions. It was perfect with the parmesan and creaminess of the rice.

Now go!! Make something new tonight!! 

Photos of Iowa

I love to take photos! I love capturing awesome moments, great places, and wonderful people through the lens! ... and as I have gotten better, I have been enjoying it even more! I am learning better photography skills through simply being out there with my camera. I have a long way to go, especially in editing, but I love sharing my photos with others along the way. Most of my photos are of nature, because I love using my camera as an excuse to go be in nature. I also love to take pictures of children, though I don't have those on hand to photograph on a daily basis :-)

This week, I entered my first photos into a real photo contest! The contest is for Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and is about photos of Iowa's natural land. I decided to wait to reveal the photos I entered until I find out more about how I did, but here are of few of my "rejects," which really just means I had too many photos I wanted to submit! If you'd like to see more of my photography, you can check out my flickr.

Glacier National Park: Day 1

And so continues my adventures in Glacier National Park! We arrived by train early in the morning, and the first thing I noticed was the smell! This may seem odd, but the smell of pine and fresh air was overwhelming as we stepped off the train. Incredible! We stayed at the Whistling Swan Motel in East Glacier, and the owner was wonderful! They set us up with a rental car, and had everything ready to go for us every step of the way. The rooms were small and simple, but clean and comfortable. Exactly what we needed for crashing at the end of a busy day. East Glacier is a very small town, but has a nice strip of restaurants and shops along the main road. We could walk to everything, which was great.

To start day 1, we drove around south of the park and over to the west entrance. We stopped at Apgar Village to look around the shops (a really neat area!), and then drove East on Going to the Sun Road. We drove just to the edge of Lake McDonald on this day, and did two day hikes along the way:

Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake

Trail of the Cedars is a short trail that is kind of like a boardwalk. It is accessible and goes through a beautiful cedar forest. If you continue past this loop, you can follow the trail to Avalanche Lake. The trail follows Avalanche Creek, which is a loud, rushing stream down in a little gorge: 

The trail is beautiful, and was a great way to start our trip! We saw multiple mule deer:

And if the trail wasn't great enough, this is your reward at the top:

This is a great place to eat lunch or stop and take a load off. It was pretty busy, but by walking away from the main "beach," we had plenty of space to ourselves for lunch. I would put this hike on a "must see" list for Glacier National Park for sure!

John's Lake

Okay, there really isn't much to tell here. John's Lake was not impressive, and our plan was to go on to McDonald Falls, but we couldn't figure out where to go (we didn't have a good map with us - we thought we knew where we were going), and we eventually gave up. Note: we were not the only ones on that same path looking for McDonald Falls, so I guess the moral of the story is, "If you want to go to McDonald Falls, make sure you know where you're going!"

Our day ended with a dip in Lake McDonald:

I highly recommend doing this whenever possible during your trip! It really eases the muscles and joints at the end of the day. I have bad knees and did not have any problems during this trip. I credit this to 1) knee braces, and 2) "icing" them in mountain lakes/streams whenever possible!

Christmas Tree Splits - Before

I found that it was difficult to create a blog that focused on one aspect of my life, so this new blog is perfect! I can share my fun craft ideas, but also share everyday happenings and more. This portion of my blog is dedicated to my aerial life. I have been taking aerial classes (think Cirque du Soleil) for over a year now, and have loved every minute of it! This week in class, we all decided to take part in a challenge called the "Christmas Tree Splits Challenge." The idea is that you take a picture of your splits "before," then practice every day and take a picture of your progress in front of your Christmas Tree on Christmas morning! We decided our before pictures needed to look sad, as they always do on the infomercials... I feel the need to explain the "lovely" faces I'm making! Without further ado, my before pictures:

Glacier National Park: Amtrak Travel

We had the great pleasure of traveling to Glacier National Park this summer! Our goal as a couple is to eventually make it to every National Park in the country, but we have a long way to go! This is park #2, only preceded by Hot Springs National Park (hard to call this one a National Park - more like a historical site or something. I will post on that adventure another time). We traveled with my in-laws, so we had 4 in our party, and this is one trip I did not plan myself! I thought rather than making a huge long post about our trip, which was INCREDIBLE, would split it into different parts, starting with our trip there!

Our trip started with a drive up to Minnesota, to catch the train!

We took Amtrak there and back, and while it wasn't a short trip, it was a lot of fun! Many people have asked me whether I recommend taking the train for travel. Here's my take:

• Don't take the train if you need to be somewhere at a certain time (a wedding, a graduation, an important meeting, etc), unless you are planning to get there like 3 days early. Our train was 10 hours late getting to Glacier. As long as you're on a flexible schedule, that's just fine! 10 hours late is not normal, but 1-2 hours late is considered "on time."
• If you want to be able to enjoy your trip, and your company, the train is great! If you just want to get there, fly! The great part about a train is that, while it takes about the same amount of time as driving once you figure in stops, etc, you can move around, play games, etc, while you're on your way! So as long as you are willing to just chill, go with the flow, and enjoy yourself, go for it! Kids can get up and walk around instead of having to stay in their seats, and everyone can join in the fun instead of the driver getting left out.
• I loved the friendly atmosphere on the train! When you fly it is all rules, stress, and "let's get this over with!" Everyone is on a time-frame, and while you might have a good conversation with the person next to you on the plane if you're lucky, most people are ready to just get in and get out. On the train, everyone (including the staff) is quite friendly! At meals in the dining car, they combine parties to fill each table. My husband and I had a wonderful meal and conversation with an older couple from Wisconsin. It was such a joy! My husband took Amtrak along once, and he was playing games with other passengers, talking with them, etc. 
• You can take more luggage on Amtrak, and more items that are not allowed on planes. There are technically limits on bags, but they are not very strict, and include a lot of luggage. We checked a few bags, but were able to carry on our backpacking packs, which would have been more difficult to check on a plane (and nerve-wracking with all those straps and everything!) There are luggage areas in the downstairs where you can leave things that you don't need/want by your seat, but you can still get to them if you needed to. We had a couple boxes of food, and a cooler!
• I will admit I was a little stir crazy by the time we got back to MN (about 5 hours late), especially when I realized I still had hours to go in a car! However, I would definitely do it again! If you have the time to spare and the patience to not care if it's running behind, it's a great trip!

Messy Fun!

In addition to my real job, I am a Girl Scout Leader for a wonderful group of Brownie Girl Scouts. We do a lot of crafts in Girl Scouts, and I will be sharing more of these on my blog. I often enjoy these projects as much as the girls do! A couple of weeks ago, we had our first overnight at a local Scout Camp, and I thought it would be the perfect time for some messy craft time!

Oobleck!

Cornstarch + water is all it takes to make oobleck. Try adding a little at a time and stop when you like the consistency. It will dry out as you play with it, so be prepared to add some more. Oobleck is sometimes a solid, but sometimes a liquid.


Super fun, and almost mesmerizing to play with!

Gak!

Gak is basically a stretchy blob, and the girls really enjoyed playing with it. You need glue, water, and Borax to make this one. Borax was a little hard to find, and only came in a large box. I guess I'll be using Borax to clean from now on! Here is the site I got the recipe from: http://lilluna.com/homemade-gak-recipe/

Yorkshire Pudding Surprise!

My husband brought up wanting to make Yorkshire Pudding a few weeks ago, and I can honestly say, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was interested to find out, though! The first adventure of making Yorkshire pudding: finding a recipe that isn't in metric, or converting a metric recipe.

Here's what I ended up using:

1 cup flour with 1 tsp salt added

Beat in 4 eggs until smooth

add 200ml milk, gradually

That's all that's in the batter. You add it to the cups after heating a small (very small!) amount of oil in each cup. Everything I saw just said "a small amount." I finally found a site that listed "a pea size amount of lard/drippings" or "1/4t. of oil." Bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees.

While I knew they were supposed to puff up, I was so excited when I went to the oven to check on them! This would be a really fun recipe to do with kids - seeing them all puffed up in the oven is pretty cool! Here's how ours turned out:

They are quite good! An egg-y bread as a perfect side to a meat or soup dinner. Enjoy!