Domestic Adventures

People often ask if Emmie and Micah are twins. Any wonder?

During our nightly Bible stories, Emmaline has been learning about the tabernacle and more recently, the temple. She’s getting a big picture view of the Israelites’ history that I didn’t grasp until I was in college, and it’s amazing to see her soak in all that understanding. Not because knowing the names of kings or stories of judges is so great, but because together it tells so much of God’s character and grand plan of salvation.
Memorial Day, Emmaline declared our car an airplane and we took off for Israel, aka The Holy Land Experience. We saw a replica of the tabernacle (where Emmaline became best friends with the priest), a model of Jerusalem approximately 30AD, a replica of the garden tomb (at Emmaline’s request, we acted out the resurrection about 12 times), and of course ate ice cream, because the day was spectacularly hot. Unfortunately, we missed the Scriptorium as our kids were definitely not up to a 55 minute guided tour after everything else, but the day was still full and fun.

“I’m a sweet pea, but Micah is a slop pea. All baby brothers are slop peas.”

Micah can be very intense and in your face when expressing his desires. “I need coffee! Want hold it!” Rather reluctant to make coffee just for my two year old to have a sip, I gave him a coffee cup instead. Maybe just holding the cup would be enough. Almost. He smiled, then held it up and asked for “more!” I poured juice into his coffee cup, and this, fortunately, was enough. He walked around happily sloshing juice onto the kitchen floor for a few minutes, and his coffee craving was apparently satisfied.
Micah’s coffee drinking career began when he was about a year old and he wanted a sip of my coffee. I figured giving him a taste would discourage him from further begging, because surely he wouldn’t like it. I was very, very wrong. Now I can’t have coffee without him asking for some and he enthusiastically announces, “coffee!” every time he sees a Starbucks logo.
He also has his coffee buddies. In the car one day, he broke into tears,”No want go home! Want go Tricia’s house. Want coffeeee!”

A couple of weeks ago our Tuesday night Bible study group resurrected one of my favorite games, Dutch Blitz. It had been so long since I’d played I needed a quick review of the rules. Just as I remembered, it’s the most fun card game out there. In case you’ve never played Dutch Blitz, it’s pretty much chaos and speed. Everyone plays at the same time, all waiting for the right opportunity to slap down their cards before someone else. You have to pay attention to everything and be very, very fast.
Our Tuesday night crowd played again last night, and I am reminded how much I love game nights. So often, I’m tempted to just watch a movie together - no thinking, just relaxing. Games are for getting to know each other, for maintaining camaraderie, for teasing and talking and all that stuff that takes energy, but is worth it. Yep, I think we need more game nights around here - even if it’s just Trent and I.

My bread making plans today were thwarted when I realized I had nothing that passes as a loaf pan. Despite quite a bit of driving around today, I still have no loaf pans. Sadly, the restaurant supply store I was counting on seems to be gone! Either that, or I’ve completely forgotten where it is, because it’s not where I thought it was.
I finally gave up on local stores and ordered two of these pans, recommended not only by Susan of A Year in Bread, but also by my friend Rebecca, a trusted source for anything kitchen-related.
I hope to test my bread making skills in five to ten business days, when my pans arrive.

I’ve found myself reading a lot about food lately, and I’m developing a nice little list of bookmarks. Right now, bread is at the top of my list to experiment with, inspired by A Year in Bread. Pretty much all of my bread making experience has involved a bread machine thus far. Hope to change that soon.
From there, I wandered over to Farmgirl Fare and In My Kitchen Garden, so now I’ve got a whole list of things I want to plant in my garden come cool season, including beets and swiss chard- I know, crazy.
For foods and cooking far and wide, check out Wanderlust and Field to Feast, both full of interesting dishes from cool places.
A lot of the foods described in these blogs are things I’ll probably never make, but reading about them inspires me to get up and make something - anything. So tomorrow, I’m thinking of trying one of those bread recipes. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Saturday was a day full of delicious finds and treats. We started at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market where we ate a yummy breakfast of spinach pie and homemade sweet potato bread. Trent said the sweet potato bread was more like cake, but I counted it as breakfast anyway. I’ve always been intrigued by the cheeses for sale at the Farmer’s Market, so we bought a half pound of Port Salut, which is mild and creamy. Very nice, but I want to try something stronger next time.
Wandering among the fresh produce, I found I wasn’t tempted to buy anything at all since all my lovely Orlando Organics produce awaited me at home, but we did discover Winter Park Honey. After a couple of samples, we chose the blackberry honey as the best. It’s locally produced and the flowers and hives are pesticide free.
Of course, we never leave the Farmer’s Market without kettle corn. It’s tradition.
Later in the afternoon, we happened upon little gourmet shop, Cavallari Gourmet, in Oviedo. They’ve been there for a couple of years, but we had never heard of them before. The shop carries all kinds of wonderful foods, both readymade and raw ingredients. Lots of wines and cheeses and aged vinegars, as well as an extensive selection of meats. It’s probably a good thing we weren’t headed straight home or we would have over-bought. As it was, Trent ordered a sandwich and I had an apple tart along with Capt’n Eli sodas. Ginger Beer for Trent and Blueberry Pop for me. I’m now in love with Blueberry Pop and need more!
From there, it was on to my parents’ house, and no matter where else you eat, it’s always good to have a meal with family.

My cucumber vines are growing wonderfully! I love the beautiful, large leaves, and tons of yellow flowers. Once the cucumbers start forming, they grow so fast you can see them changing day by day, so Emmie and I have been checking their progress each afternoon. I never knew cucumbers had spines before growing them!
I think we’ll be having lots of cucumber and tomato salad, marinated cucumbers, and salted cucumber slices soon.

Coffee and popcorn; the breakfast of champions.