Flan Uruguayo

Eva made a flan for us during our visit to Spokane.  It was so good I requested she make it again - not only to eat it but also to learn the process.

My first introduction to flan was disappointing, a fellow student brought a watery lumpy box mix version to our cultural food day in Spanish class.  But now it is the new family favorite.

6 eggs
1 qt. half & half
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar + 12 TBS.

Heat 12 TBS of sugar in a frying pan over high heat and add a little water if needed. The sugar will caramelize but watch it closely and turn off the heat as soon as the color starts turning because my first batch burned and over powered the flan with bitterness. Pour this into the bottom of a flan dish, Eva did hers in a beautiful bunt pan. Place the flan dish in a bigger dish.

Mix the eggs, half & half, sugar and vanilla. I often reduce the sugar in recipes - this I did with 3/4 cup sugar. Run this mixture through a sieve to eliminate clumps of eggs then pour on top of the caramelized mixture.

Place the big dish holding the flan dish into the oven then pour boiling water around the bottom and fill to the same level as the flan (careful not to spill any water into the flan). Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until firm. Let cool a bit then cover and put in the fridge. When ready to serve, carefully flip onto a serving plate.

Zoo Babies

We don't live too far from the zoo so our visits are weekly.  Most of the time it is just before the gates close and we have the place to ourselves.  Because of this, my kids feel like they know the animals personally (they also refuse to enter if they count more than 5 school buses).  

James has been following Christine the elephant closely ever since he read in the Hogel newsletter about her IVF treatment.  That was almost 2 years ago (gestation period for an elephant is 22 months) and we kept watching to see if she was getting bigger.  We even asked a caretaker whether it was a success - the poor employee had no idea what we were talking about.  To our delight this summer we read a posted announcement celebrating the arrival of a new baby elephant.  To our greater delight baby "Zuri" was released to the viewing area just last week.  Typically we spend no more than 5 min on any given animal but this last visit we were entertained by baby Zuri for almost 20 minutes.  Henry clapped his hands and squealed, Maryanna tried climbing over the fence, and Peter announced he no longer wanted a goat for our future farm, instead he insisted "a baby elephant would be more fun".

Zuri wasn't the only addition to the zoo this summer.  We have already been following and watching the baby giraffe, meerkats, snow leopard, and tigers.  Some of them barely look like babies anymore but it sure has been fun.  William noted that there was similar behavior between babies humans and other animals.  I agreed as I watched the elephant try to climb on its red ball, roll off clumsily then run to the safety of its mother's leg.
  

Dinner Help

This is kind of reminds me of an Amelia Bedelia story.  I asked my dinner helper to prepare the potatoes by pricking them each with a fork.  This is what I found waiting to be placed in the oven.  I chuckled as I pulled the forks out and my dinner helper explained how he thought they were intended as handles.   

This is Me Journal

My oldest had his own scrapbook, my second had half a scrapbook, my third has a purchased yet empty scrapbook.  I have resorted to photo boxes in hopes of putting something together for each of them before they leave the nest.

In the meantime though I picked up a bunch of these journals my friend Carrie created.  I originally planned to only do this with the girls because the boys keep their own personal journals but when they saw Maryanna working on hers they insisted they all needed one.  So the plan is to give each of them one for their birthday to complete over the course of a year.

A few of my sisters also ordered a bunch but they plan of giving them to each of their children for Christmas and will begin them the first of the year. 

Maryanna got hers as a belated birthday present and had so much fun with the first entry that she has requested to work on it everyday - I think I'll keep it out of reach though and pull it out only on special days or just regular days when we need something special to do.  This should be fun for all of us, especially in 20 some years when we are looking back through them.       

Fair Wear

Monday was homeschool day at the State Fair - the whole family got in for $1!  Too bad we spent well over that amount at the concessions.  You'd think after seeing Food Inc. last Saturday night I'd refrain from such garbage but after petting all the well groomed cows and pigs the corn dogs didn't seem so bad.  Still I should have been wise like the other homeschoolers who packed bags of trail mix and raw veggies.

These skirts were perfect for the fair, they were fun, fluffy and in constant motion with the live music.  I made them a few weeks ago and they were so simple I made 6 more, one for a friend and 5 for my nieces (from ages 2-15, this is a fun look for all ages).  I didn't use a pattern and I think anyone could make these just as long as you have the right fabric and a few measurements.

For the first one I used an old orange dress with small polka dots for the underskirt then brown English netting for the over skirt. Cotton Lycra was used as the wide waist band with a casing for the satin ribbon. The other skirt I experimented with tulle over a cotton print and a rib knit as the waistband. By the end of the day the tulle was tearing and the rib knit had lost its ability to keep the skirt up. I kept having to retie the ribbon in order to make up for the stretched out knit. I suppose I could add some elastic into the casing but only if I take apart the waistband and replace the tulle with English netting. Or I could just keep it as a play skirt and not worry about the flaws - it was worth the experiment and now I know what not to do next time.

But if I do get around to making another I'll post the instructions.      

Modern Pioneer Wear

When you are living in a small space with six young children it is important to get out everyday.  One of our favorite field trips is This is the Place Park.  Every time I go there I get the urge to sew up some costumes but then there are so many other things I'd like to sew and there isn't time for it all.  I suppose they look pioneerish enough in these dresses I finished for them just last night.

These dresses were from a Japanese sewing book (more about the pattern here) and there seems to be a prairie like trend in my most current books.  I have yet to post much of what has been sewn for the girls this fall but all of it fits into a similar trend.  I was discussing this with my sister Suz and wasn't sure if it was a) because my hopes to find a farm for our family, b)  I've been following the Duggars too closely this summer, c)  I'm just off in my style because I haven't been shopping in a while and living in tight quarters, or d)  I've been looking at too many Japanese sewing books.  Suz made a trip down the Zara's in downtown Mexico city and reassured me there were similar styles on display there.  She mentioned that she personally didn't like them, that her eye wasn't use to most of it but must not be far off if they are selling it at Zara's.

I like this particular style with the neutral colors because it offers a fall feel in a cut that is more comfortable while the weather is still hot. But we can easily add tights, turtle necks and even a cardigan when the weather cools off. I have to admit that dressing these little girls almost makes up for all their naughtiness.            

Let no scraps be wasted

I never thought I'd be sewing my girls' underwear but I had to try it after seeing this pattern from that darn kat on multiple blogs.  They were actually quite fun to sew and I was more than happy to use up the scraps from my summer sewing.

Working out the kinks and other considerations:
 
These are very briefy.  They fit much better after I trimmed 1/4" from the front rise.   Marie' said they remind her of children's underwear from Japan because of the thickness of the fabric and the full coverage.

Also, I had a variety of different knits in my scrap pile and you need to test the stretchiness before cutting the length of the bands.  For example I used a rib band on the purple pairs and it was too stretchy to pull back in and tighten around the waist.  I trimmed 2" off and stretched it as far as I could but that distorted the width.  So for the purple ribbing I had to cut it wider and shorter in order to get the desired fit.  I also experimented with interlock for the bands but that did not work at all.  The cotton lycra worked the best.  I suppose she may have written this in the instructions but when I'm excited about trying a new pattern I have a bad habit of not reading the instructions. 

I am very happy with the end results and after making these it will be hard to go back to buying packs of thin bikini underwear that start losing their elastic after just a few washes.  For some reason I never had as much trouble with the boys' store bought underwear but I may try some boy briefs just for fun.

One more funny thing. I purchased this pattern several months ago but never got around to it. It was a few weeks before my computer crashed.  The guy at the Apple genius bar was very helpful and succeeded in retrieving most of my files.  At the first attempt though only two files appeared on my desktop one was titled boys undies and the other girls undies.  The guy helping me kind of blushed and gave me a funny look, I reassured him that it was not what he might think and then I explained to him how much I enjoy sewing and it was just a download from Etsy, the lady sitting next to me started laughing and in the end we all were laughing and I couldn't have been happier when he retrieved most of my files.  This undies pattern is definitely a file worth keeping.    

Good Air

This was the third year in a row that we spent Labor Day weekend with my brothers in Spokane to watch Michigan's opening game.  The first two visits turned out to be disappointing with Michigan losing.  James declared he would never again visit Spokane if he had to witness yet another Michigan loss in Uncle Rob's living room.  But all went well and the little fans (and the big one) in our family were more than satisfied.

I like Spokane because of the fresh pine air. Before we loaded into the van for our return trip Peter filled a sandwich size ziplock with this fresh air. He said he wanted to save some Spokane air for Salt Lake City. I suggested he open it up in the van when things got stinky. He replied, "No, I'm saving it for next Saturday and am going to open it during the Michigan game for good luck".    

Keeping the little guy happy

Poor Henry remained restrained throughout the entire drive.  He has yet to master the car seat escape and was unable to join the others in free roam of the van.  He screamed a lot, and it was loud.  The toys got thrown, the snacks got dropped but we found one thing that kept him happy - it was the atlas.  We flipped through the States and he was surprisingly entertained.  The older boys in the back are usually the ones requesting the over sized book but now we've got another fascinated by maps.  The girls on the other hand would have it ripped and scribbled on in no time.  I think I'll keep the atlas in the car even on short trips because Henry screams a lot then also.

Joy School Reunion

Marie' and I first met in Philadelphia while our husbands were attending business school.  We each only had two children at the time and formed a Joy School with another friend Nary (I sure wish she could have visited).

During our time in Philadelphia the church had lent our family a '95 green aerostar Ford mini van for the use of helping transport church members to activities and meetings. When transporting the youth it was called the "ghetto bus" because we circled through several ghetto neighborhoods and packed in as many kids as we could fit.

When off duty we called the van the "joy school bus" and took it on several outings, field trips, and errands with our joy school clan.  On this last visit together we piled all our kids in and chuckled about how both our families and van have grown in size.  It was the return of the "joy school bus".

Unfortunately we became joy school drop outs because us moms spent more time together shopping, cooking, and serving in the branch than planning and executing lessons. But those were great times and planted the seeds of great friendship among both the children and the moms. Now if we could only plan a cross country trip and cram Nary and her kids in the big van - that would be a true Joy School reunion.    

Friendships and Projects

Our first stop was Pullman, WA to visit Marie' and her family.  The older boys have been friends since they were 2 and it is always a joyful reunion when we are together.  Just like their moms, they enjoy similar interests, Legos, science, art, and math.  During their last visit with us in UT they stayed up until 12:00 am discussing topics such as cube roots and variations of the preamble.  This time they stayed up late playing "infinity" questions (kind of like 20 questions) then woke up early to crack open their math book where they got the idea to make a paper icosadodecahedron (32 sides including 20 triangles and 12 pentagons).  These are two very unique boys and we still laugh at the memory of them age 3 arguing about who liked broccoli more.  Here they are engrossed in their own project.       
Here's what the moms were working on, wardrobe planning, designing, and pattern tracing.

The younger kids worked on making all sorts of messes but we were too busy crafting that we didn't get a picture of that. The visit was too short and Maryanna was in tears when it was time to leave her little friend Kai.

There is nothing like great friends who share similar interests and have kids that love being together. I sure wish we lived closer!
 

Free Range Kids

We have returned from our first road trip in the big van.  Besides for the fact that the CD player jammed only half a mile into the trip, the big van proved to be a great road trip vehicle.

Even without the entertainment of a DVD player or distraction from multiple CD's the kids were less whinny and less restless than they were on any of our previous road trips.  

The problem was they roamed the van as if the the fasten seat belt light had been turned off.  At one point during the drive I couldn't spot Peter and the boys reassured me he was just sleeping.  But where?  I asked.  I had to climb over two benches to take the above photo of him all curled up with his elephant on the floor under the bench.

Maryanna wasn't as restful, she took the liberty of unbuckling herself as soon as she saw me doze off.  I would wake just minutes later to a laughing and thumping as she perfected her flip over the benches (let's hope she doesn't attempt this this coming Sunday on the church benches).

The older boys were actually quite helpful with their seat belts unbuckled. They were able to pass out snacks, retrieve dropped toys and even buckle back in younger siblings.

It wasn't until the last 200 miles that I finally got through to them about the importance of staying buckled up. I don't know if I actually got through to them but each of them earned the Junior Mints that were promised to whoever stayed buckled. I suppose it may be hard to convince them especially after sharing all my childhood memories of traveling in a similar van.