Rattlesnakes

Within 24 hours of being back in the great state of Oklahoma I had eaten fried okra and attended the rattlesnake roundup. Stereotypical maybe, but true nonetheless.

The fried okra I got at Cracker Barrel. We don't have any in California and it was a treat to eat there. Did I mention I got me some delicious fried okra??

The rattlesnake event was in a small town close to Altus and man it was huge! Along with a safari to go find them, a tent full of them, cages with even more and a place to eat the snakes, there were carnival rides, tons of food, and a flea market. It was huge and actually pretty fun sans the snakes. I got fresh squeezed lemonade and a funnel cake and dip n' dots.

Saturday night we made up for our fair food with turkey burgers and roasted broccoli at our friends house. We enjoyed the nice weather and a fire pit and a lightening show. I haven't seen that much lightening or heard thunder like that in over 2 years. It may be April, but the temps here are already in the 80-90's and the spring storms are raging. Lets just pray the days J is scheduled to fly for his school are calm and quiet. With no broken planes.

Silent Sunday

First time I amde Grandma's raspberry cream pie =D

Big Books Catch-Up!

 The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II  While this was interesting, I didn't like the author at all. I found the writing very disjointed; jumping between people, events and time periods for no apparent reason. The book had no flow. The author also was very bad at introducing characters, explaining who they were/are and why we should care. I found myself struggling to get through it. There have to be better books about the subject out there! Disappointing.

 The Death of King Arthur  Having never read the original I have nothing to compare this book to. Overall I liked it, but as much as I wanted to I didn't love this retelling.I'm hoping it was just the version? I thought it read like short stories. It might be fun to read allowed to kids. A big things was I had no idea how religious this book is. I'm going to read the original!!

 Casino Royale  The book was more dark and detailed, but less dramatic and drawn out than the movie. I wasn't sure about it in the beginning, mainly due to the writing style, but I liked it by the end. Better than the movie for sure! Unfortunately I didn't find an amazing new series, but I will probably read more "Bond" books sometime in the future.

  Heart and Soul  After a string of "eh" books I loved this one! Binchy can be hit or miss, so I'm glad I read a hit. Characters I know and love from previous books were back and I got to know more about them. I put Whitehorn Woods on hold to read soon because that was the book she wrote just prior to this one. reading this also made me want to somehow put er books in chronological order to re-read her books that way. LOVED.

 The Emerald Atlas  This started off a lot like Harry Potter/ Chronicles of Narnia. The more it went on, the more Lord of the Rings I got. My first reactions were kinda "eh", not very original. But it's a really fast read and as I got into the book I found myself really wanting to find out what happens next and getting to know the characters. I think I really identified with them because there were three siblings, 2 girls and a boy and I could identify with being the oldest girl. I liked it, not my favorite kids/fantasy book ever but I'm sure I will finish the series. It's good. Would be a great read out loud book too.

Oklahoma ... again

J left a few days ago for good old Oklahoma (our favorite state donchya know). He's back at Altus, the C-17 school house, for PCO, aka. Upgrade, aka. AC school, aka. aircraft commander qualification. Enough names for you?

He and his 5 bags made it all in one piece. He only has forgotten one thing so far, his blue A cap (or every day uniform hat). He bought one on the first day and now he's set. He's stuck in the oldest, worst dorms there. We're hoping that's temporary and he can get into a newer dorm with a kitchenette today or tomorrow. Yes, we're hoping because I'm headed that way myself at the end of the week! Just in time for what I hear is the social event of the season, the rattlesnake roundup. People watching anyone?!

Yesterday J had 3 different dinner invites. We've got several friends stationed out there now, and the C-17 community is smaller than you realize. It's always a big reunion out there because someone is always back there for some type of school and you're continually running into folks you knew at another school or a different base a few years back. Actually a lot of fun. And I'm not going to lie, it'll be nice to have a few straight weeks back in training command. No trips or missions or TDYs!! J will be busy (since he's also working on the final project for his current master's class) but he'll be "home" every night. Awesome! Which is why I'm going out there to spend time with him and see friends.

We even bought a special piece of luggage to pack a whole case worth of Napa wine! So if you see a cute blond with 3 bags (one of them being all wine) in a California airport later this week, it's me!

New winery

This past Sunday we went to Napa after church for lunch. We were also shopping for friends who have moved away from Napa and we get to visit in a few weeks. usually we just stop at the places we are members of, but Sunday I talked J into stopping at a new one! it's called cakebread cellars (what an awesome name!) They have good wine and some awesome events as well. can we say cooking classes?!

Lunch was, of course, Rutherford Grill and it was fantastic as always.

The photos are from the last stop of the day, Mumm :)

weird weather!

OK, it's crooked, I know. So turn your head and deal with it.

The first picture is out our back window. The second is out our front window. These were taken at the same time, same day. A nasty rain/hail storm was rolling in. We even got a bolt of lightening and about 3 peals of thunder! That's a major storm out here. :)

New Menu

DAY ONE

I started April's menu the day before we ate it be making the cake.

I looked into buying egg whites instead of a carton of eggs, but the plain old eggs were cheaper.

However, after cracking a dozen eggs those egg whites were looking pretty good!

Finally done with the messy, egg cracking part.

Here are my eggs at the foamy stage

And my extracts. I really need to buy a good almond extract to go with my vanilla.

The cake pre baking

This is my chicken after I gave it a good pounding with the meat tenderizer.

And my first ever attempt at homemade breadcrumbs. What a pain! The stale bread just didn't get crushed fine enough. And it left a powdery film everywhere. Urgh. The not stale bread was a lot cleaner to deal with, but it still didn't get as fine as I wanted it. I think despite the rants against store bought crumbs I will stick to it next time around! At least panko crumbs.

Here's my cake. I think I pulled it out a few minutes too early... but it still tastes good.

 

DAY TWO

My chicken was flat and had marinated over night. My breadcrumbs were ready. My cake was baked. All I had to do was coat and fry the chicken and make the veggies.

Look at those knife skills.

I have grated ginger in a little jar, but I decided to go with fresh.

And here's the final product. (Yeah, the breading on the chicken mostly stayed in the pan...). WARNING! Watch the oil. I felt like both recipes called for too much oil. The chicken and veggies were greasy. Way greasy. I liked the flavors of both things, but next time I'm eye-ing how much grease I use to cook and it wont be nearly as much!! Also, I knew those stupid homemade breadcrumbs weren't worth it. Next time I will use panko crumbs and keep the rest of the recipe the same.

Mr. #2 wasn't sure about the celery salt flavor. I loved it! You might try cutting it in half if you're not sure. The few crunchy bits we had were lovely.

I think this is a keeper menu (well, maybe not the veggies since it's a bit of work for something my husband wont eat) but I have to make it again with a few tweaks.

Silent Sunday

The strawberry stand out the back base gate is open again for the summer!! =D

Estate Sale

I went to my first ever estate sale this morning. For $100 I purchased the following two items:

I have been wanting a rocking chair for a long time but could never bring myself to pay for one. But at $50 it was a steal! Most chairs I've looked at are at least $100 (or more) new. The jewelry cabinet was an impulse buy. A little dusting and possibly some new fixtures and it will be good as new. I don't really have that much jewelry, but what I do have has no good spot to live. Again, when it's $50 compared to the $150-250 price tag for a new one, it's a steal. I'd say my first sale was a big success.

Now I just have to make J see that I saved over $100 when he comes home tonight and wonders what the heck I bought...

Chicken marinade

I had two chicken breasts thawed for dinner last night and no idea what to do with them... so I googled 'chicken marinade' and found this recipe.

 

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil                                                    

3/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 

1/2 cup red wine vinegar                                               

1/3 cup lemon juice                                             

2 tablespoons dry mustard                                             

1 teaspoon salt                                    

1 tablespoon black pepper                                               

1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley

 

Fantastic! I cut the recipe in half and it was more than enough for two very large pieces of chicken. We grilled the chicken on the george foreman, made a fresh fruit salad, roasted tomato bruschetta and peas with quinoa (I use chicken stock to make my quinoa instead of plain water). It was a really easy, fast and fantastic meal!

Book

 Mockingjay is the final book in the hunger games trilogy. I'd been having mixed emotions/reactions the entire time I read these books. I was really anxious to see how it would all end (as evidence by reading each book in about a day!). I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but lets just say I was really disappointed here. This author knows how to leave you hanging and dying for more ... she does not know how to wrap it up!! Big bummer and probable my least favorite book of the three. But I can now say that I read them all. And despite these not being my favorite books, I will probably re-read them in the future.

Laundry

I rigged up a laundry line in our back yard. No tools or hooks or nails or poles. I just bought some utility cords and wound it as tightly as I could around the top of some fence posts. Now I just have to go buy more clothes pins!

Silent Sunday

Happy Easter

Books

It seems like I've been reading up a storm this past month, more specifically the past week or so. I'm keeping an accurate record with my GoodReads.com account and in my bibliophile. So I will just share the basics here.

The Hunger Games

Yes, yes, yes. I've been hearing all the hype and resisting. Who the heck wants to read about a messed up futuristic society where a bunch of kids have to fight it out to the death? Not me! Besides, the last craze I caved in to was Twilight. Shudder. I made it 1.5 books before I had to stop. Hated those books! However, I knew I was going to be made to see the movie and I just can't see a movie knowing there is a book out there and then not read the book first. So I read it. And I mean I read it in like 2 days. I couldn't put it down. I had to know what happened. It twists and turns and the whole time I'm thinking to myself, "self, why are you reading this violent, morbid, disturbing book?!" But guess what, the last book I'm posting today is book 2... so like it or not I'm hooked.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of A Woman

This 625 page behemoth was an excellent book! Surprisingly fast read as well. Despite knowing virtually nothing about Russia, it's history or monarchy I was instantly drawn in, got well acquainted with a plethora of oddly named characters and was able to keep everything straight. What a great author! I felt like I learned a great deal, and at the same time it had the page turning quality of a novel. I will be looking up his other books and reading them all! Excellent!

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

This was an OK book. After so much hype I was expecting more. Not very strong or interesting writing. And since we've all heard the story before, and know how it ends, it needed a great storyteller to really bring it to life. I felt like it was rushed and skimmed the surface, but never got deep. You never connect with any one character. But it was short, and easy to read. Wouldn't really recommend it though.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Strange... Not being a parent I wasn't personally invested in this book in the way I'd imagine I could be had I raised a child of my own. The author is blunt and harsh in her criticism of "Western" parents/parenting and their subsequent offspring. Her life, her values and the way she raised her daughters is all so vastly different from my own experiences it was hard to relate or even find her believable at times. my biggest complaint would have to be her haphazard writing flow. Pages and pages of praising the Chinese way of parenting and then, randomly, a chapter about her dog. Not quite sure. But it's intriguing, and it kept me reading!

Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)

Book two. I read it in 1 day. This one is different, not as directly violent in some ways... I think more of a nail biter, but then in other ways it's just a giant repeat of book one... Yeah, without a bunch of spoilers I just can't really talk about it. Needless to say I already started book 3. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars.

Greetings April - Silent Sunday

My splurge this week