Hartwick Pines June 2014

 

This was my mom's first ever real camping in a real campground at Hartwick Pines State Park in Grayling, Michigan.  We had a nice sunny day for travel and for setting up of the camper.  Had a few nights listening to rain or woke up to rain.  But we luckily always had a sunny day to just walk the trails or stroll downtown.

 

We walked the trails while the dad ran.  Went shopping in downtown Grayling where I bought a dress, the kids bought stuff toys and the dad bought duck decoys.  We had a meal at the 50's diner "Dawson and Stevens" which has now become our yearly stop as well. 

During rainy mornings, we played LCR, Apples to Apples, built log cabins, had indoor s'mores, and other indoor games or just hang around.  This was the first time we used rectangular shaped marshmallows.

 

Thank you for stopping by.  Till the next adventure.

 



Memorial Weekend Camping

 

 First camping for 2014 and we had my mom join us.  We spent Memorial weekend at my mother in law's lakeside property.   We kayak, pedal boat, fish, and other outdoor activities.

We each made our own pizzas.

 Watched bald eagles flying over us as we played in the water and just hang around chatting and catching up with family.

Observed baby snapping turtle.

 

This weekend was my mom's first time to sleep in a camper.

 

 



Turkey and Poblano Chili

 



From real simple.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 poblano pepper, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 15.5-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 cups shredded roasted turkey or chicken
• tortilla chips (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion and poblano and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften, 4 to 6 minutes; stir in the cumin.
3. Add the tomatoes (with their juice), the beans, 2 cups water, 1¼ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 12 to 15 minutes.
5. Add the turkey and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, if desired

Dow Weekend of Races

 

Lyn and I joined our first ever 1 Mile race this weekend and had great fun.  She wanted to sprint most of the way but I needed more practice.  I can't even jog the whole way but rather walked most of the mile.

 

 

This was Vyn's second 1 mile race and he did better than last year.  He planned to do better next year and beat his current time.

 

 

The dad, decided to do the half marathon for this race and did better than his half marathon in the Lansing Half Marathon a couple weeks ago.

Fried Morel Mushroom

 

 

 

Vyn spent the weekend with a friend's family and went morel mushroom hunting among other fun activities.  He can't stopped talking about the weekend.   They were able to find some morel mushrooms and Vyn brought some home.  Thank you very much "J".

 

I searched for a recipe online and found this from allrecipes.   Made it for dinner and we all loved it.  It's crunchy and tasty.  The aroma while they were frying was mouthwatering.

 

Fresh Morel Mushrooms, rinsed and cut into halves ready for flour and frying.

 



First Race for 2014

 

First race the hubby joined for 2014 was the Lansing Half Marathon.  This was our first time to go to Lansing for a race and we get to go with my mama who came from the Philippines for a visit.  We also visited Lansing the first few times mama came for a visit.  She get to see how the capital city improved through the years.  Since Vyn was just there for a field trip a few weeks ago, he was very excited to described and gave info of the things he learned from his trip.

 

We walked around downtown Lansing which is the capital city of Michigan and took pictures of the Michigan State Capitol Building and surrounding areas and buildings.  While the hubby was running, the kids, my mom and I ate at Biggby which was the only place that we could find that was open Sunday morning.  After the race, we drive around the Michigan State University Campus in East Lansing and stopped at the Oriental Market.

 

 

Random picture of people getting ready at the starting line.

 

 



It was a cool sunny day.  Definitely a great day to run and be outdoors.

 

 

The finisher medal.

Volcano Meat Loaf



This was a hit in our house today.  A friend mentioned she can't imagine anybody who don't like meat loaf except her kids.  Mine are both as picky too.  I got this from Mr. Food and they cleaned off their plates.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

1/2 a 10-1/2-ounce can condensed cream of tomato soup

1 (1-ounce) package dry onion soup mix

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup water

3 cups warm mashed potatoes

What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.
    
2. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, tomato soup, onion soup mix, bread crumbs, egg, and water; mix well.
    
3. Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal amounts and shape each section into a miniature volcano mountain. Place in the baking dish and bake for 1 hour, or until cooked through.
    
4. Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. "Frost" each volcano meat loaf with mashed potatoes, creating a crater in the potatoes at the top. Return the volcanoes to the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the mashed potatoes are golden.

Notes

• Serving tip: Let the kids fill the craters with gravy or ketchup to make lava flows from the tops of their volcanoes

• Racking your brain for something your kids will want to eat for dinner or lunch? Then check out 15 Kid-Friendly Ground Beef Recipes today!

 

 

Pink Ombre Heart Cake for Valentine's Day!!

Since I made an ombre heart soaps, I decided to make an ombre heart cake as well.  This is the first youtube video I found and I made it.  Mine did not turn out as pretty as his but the family liked the look of it.  I only did a two layer cake which is more than enough for us.

Here is my version of this cake.  I don't have a heart shape mold, so I just used my round mold and cut a triangle off on one side.

The cake I made was just a box of red velvet cake mix.


Hubby said:  are you going to do that all the way up?



Yes, all the way up and more.

My 5 year old helped with the mixing of the colors and she had fun doing it.  There are still streaks of the color not totally mixed in but the ombre idea is visible. 

Buttercream icing from Wilton

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract       
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons milk

Makes

About 3 cups of icing.

                     
Instructions:

Step 1

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

Step 2

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

Step 3

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

Step 4

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes

Ombre Heart Soap

 

My first attempt at ombre heart design using melt and pour soapmaking technique. 

 

 

 

The project took less than an hour to finish.  I used red and blue soap colorants, clear and white soap base and added a dash of candy fragrance.





Labelled

 

 

These label templates are from Bramble Berry's website.  I like the process of making soaps but is not creative enough to design logos and labels.  These are just perfect for my needs.  Thank you Bramble Berry.

 



First Trouble in Paradise

As you all know, I am now into soaping.  I like the fact that I don't have to rely on a machine to perform well to get a good result for my hobby.   Quilting was great and I am not stopping but the sewing machine sometimes don't like me.  With soaping,  I should be able to just learn from mistakes and try not to do them again.  For my first two handmade from scratch soap, I have found two troubles.

 

These are the soaps that are right now curing on my windowsill.  They are curing nicely but things are not looking as good as I had expected.  The swirling are looking fine and gives that handmade look.  You can  also tell the different techniques used.  But the texture of the soaps are not what I like to see.

The above picture is of my first batch of soap and the dried buds did not stay.  To get the soap drying uniformly I have been rotating them and they kept on falling off.  I must have sprinkled them at the wrong time.  If you look at them closely, there are shiny glittery speckles on top that were not meant to be there and the dried buds that had fallen off left dark brown spots.  Not pretty at all.

 

For the second batch, the swirls turned out just fine but if you look closely, a lot of white powdery substance is lining the top and specially in the grooves.  I hope this is only cosmetic.  I will have to go check for any remedy for this.  Still have 2 more weeks to wait and I can try the first batch out and check on how they will perform as soaps.



 

Anybody who knows about these problems are very welcome to give me your suggestions and recommendations so I don't repeat these mistakes.  Thank you very much.

Now I am off to read about trouble shooting.

Update February 6, 2014:

I panicked too early,  except for the brown stains from the fallen buds, the glittery stuff and powdery stuff are showing signs of clearing and they are just cosmetic according to soaping experts.  They are things I can just wipe off. These are not "real" failed soaps.   In fact, I learned that most soapers encounter these a lot.  Still have 2 to 3 more weeks to wait, then I get to try how they will perform.

 



 

 

Spoon Swirl Cold Process

This recipe came from The Everything Soap Making Book.  After reading this book and watching a few more youtube videos, I just can't wait for my first batch to cure.  The temptation to try another recipe and another swirling technique is just too much and I finally gave in. 

Ingredients:

Lye 4.8 oz.
Water 10 oz.
Olive Oil 1 lb. 2 oz.
Coconut Oil 8 oz.
Palm Oil 6 oz.
Castor Oil 1 oz.

I used up all of my Olive oil from Bramble Berry and had to add some of  my kitchen olive oil to get the weight needed for this recipe.  My excitement change to anxiety when I poured all the olive oil and still it was not enough.

Learned to line my mold in a way that my soap came out without folds this time.  It was a little tedious since I don't really know what I was doing. 



My colorants did not blend well with the oils I used to dilute them in.   So I just added more colorants to the divided traced batter instead.  The episode with the olive oil then the colorants made me forget to add the lavender essential oil I planned to add for this soap.  So this batch is going to end up being an unscented soap batch.  Hopefully it will still be as moisturizing as it should be.


Before swirling
 

After spoon swirling