KitchenArt Class... Learning and Yearning

Last night I went to a KitchenArt cooking class.  (KitchenArt is a local gourmet cooking shop.  I luuurve it.) This class was about Le Crueset cooking.  Actually, it was more about cooking with cast iron cookware, but it was hosted by Le Crueset, the king of enameled cast iron cookware.  It was not a two hour sales pitch, which was nice.

At KitchenArt cooking classes a professional chef comes and shows you how to prepare several dishes.  It's fun to learn the kitchen tricks they have picked up over the years.  Last night's chef was Frank Farmer, of local fame.  He was pretty good and friendly, although he didn't really seem that prepared, which was a little disappointing.  (Sorry, Frank.)

The best part of the class is that you get to taste everything that is made - and the food is always excellent.  Last night's menu included:

• Buttermilk cornbread
• Cheesy Potatoes with Bacon and Cream
• Chicken Chasseur (Hunter-Style Chicken)
• Shrimp Gumbo
• Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

The best, hands down, were the potatoes.  Oh mercy, were they good.  I think they might be replacing our traditional 'funeral' potatoes that I usually make on holidays.  With bacon, cream, cheese, and potatoes, is it any wonder that they were so good?

Along with the wonderful food we also got a small goody bag.  In it included a Le Crueset catalog (no surprise there!), a Le Crueset Silicone Spatula (mine is red), and a Le Crueset Petite Au Gratin Dish (mine is white).

There was also a drawing for a stoneware baking dish (nice, but I have some stoneware), and a 5 1/2 quart enameled cast iron French oven.  In red.  My favorite.

Oh. My.

I wanted that French oven So. Very. Much.

Want want want.  Lust lust lust.  Mine mine mine.  Yearn yearn yearn.

This was a piece of cookware that would last literally for generations.  I could use it every day for the rest of my life (and I would have!), and still been able to pass it on to my grandchildren.

Ohhhhhh I wanted that pot.  Because at $230 I just couldn't justify buying it for myself that night. (Pesky children needing food and clothes and such.)  I wanted to win it.  I thought good thoughts and crossed my fingers and imagined myself winning it and hoped and, well, I don't know that I prayed to win it, but I really wanted to.  That's how much I Wanted. That. Pot.

But I didn't win. 

Sadness.  Crushing, crushing sadness.  Oh, the bitter disappointment!

I cried all the way home.

Okay, no I didn't.  I drove home thinking about those potatoes and how I just had to make them for Easter this year.  I also thought about wants versus needs and how some day I might be able to justify buying that pot or maybe someday I wouldn't even have to justify it, I might just be able to buy it and not even have to worry about dropping $200 on a single pot.  But until then I'll just have to wait.  And I'm okay with that.

Wait and yearn.

Self-portrait Tuesday: Seedlings

I actually sat down to blog a bit about my seedlings and then randomly remembered it's Tuesday.  So there's my portrait.  A pillar of decorum, that's what I am.

Anywho, this is the first year I've started some of my garden veggies from seed.  I'm surprised at how easy it's been so far!

I put them in the office, and apart from a few pokes from curious, chubby fingers, the seedlings have done quite well. 

I have three types of peppers, two types of heirloom tomatoes, and some rosemary that I wasn't sure would grow since the seeds were kinda old.  The rest of the stuff for my garden I'll just buy as starters in a few weeks.  I thinned them out today; the ones in the cups are a few that I thought I'd try to save for friends.  Because nothing says friendship like free garden starters.  (Hint hint to anyone out there who'd like to trade. ;)

I also have some things in my herb window I'm trying to grow.  I thought I'd try some parsley and sage.  So far... nothin'.  Which is weird because I always have success in this window.  Maybe these seeds are just taking an extra long time to get to work.

I can't wait to get out in the dirt.  One of the things I love most about Indiana is that just about anything grows here and grows well.  Seriously - the dirt is so rich and dark and forgiving.

Anyone else starting on their gardens?

Easter Bags

Storage space is becoming a premium product around here lately.  Three little boys and two adults = a lot of stuff.  (Even when momma is diligent in getting rid of things we don't need/use.)

So when I saw the Josh and Spencer's Easter baskets in Cole's closet* earlier in the year, and realized that I would now need to buy and store yet another one, I decided it was time to switch from baskets to bags.  Bags take up much less space and do the same job as baskets; in this case, hold any and all Easter loot the boys find after the Easter bunny makes his appearance.

After searching the interwebs for a while I decided to go with this pattern.  I changed the pattern only in that I used interfacing instead of fusible fleece, I doubled the size of the bags, and I added one big handle instead of the little tabs.

Here's how they turned out:

I think they're really cute!  Lance might think they're a little girly, but oh well.  I'm a girl.  And there's no such thing as cute, masculine Easter fabric.  At least not at Hobby Lobby or JoAnnes (the only two places I looked).

*It being designated Cole's closet only by the fact that it is, indeed, in his room. Not because any of his stuff is in it.  Sorry, Cole.

New Chapel Groundbreaking

Yesterday we were able to participate in our new chapel groundbreaking.  It was really exciting! We've waited for years for this new building; we really need it.  Right now there are four different congregations meeting in our one Stake Center.  (Crowded!)  What a blessing it will be!''

Here is a map that shows where the new chapel will be in relation to our house.  We timed it and it will take about 6.5 minutes to get there - waaaaay better than the nearly 20 it takes us to get to our current building!

We were out in the middle of a field; digging in the dirt with sticks was inevitable.

Spencer and his good buddy Logan.

President Connolly (our stake president) gave a brief history of the church here in Lafayette.  Did you know that Mormon missionaries were here in Lafayette as early as 1831?  One of those missionaries was Hyrum Smith, brother of the prophet Joseph Smith.  Hyrum actually preached in the old Lafayette court house.  The church members who were here later migrated west to Utah with the rest of the Saints.  (Saints is like a nickname given to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)  Then there wasn't a congregation in Lafayette until 1947.

Morgan and Melissa Asay painted this picture of what the new chapel will look like.  Aren't they talented?

Our current stake president and two past stake presidents break ground.

The current bishops of the four congregations here in Lafayette.

From left to right: Bishop Timothy Gibb (2nd ward), Bishop Christian Reiner (3rd ward - my ward!), Branch President Miguel Cervantes (Spanish branch), and bishop Ralph Munguia (1st ward).

Look - our bishop is totally working the hardest. :)

Brother Dave Miskin and Bishop Reiner (Brother Paul Cramer was out of town)

Some of the members who have been here in Lafayette almost since the beginning.  (The beginning of the earlier congregations, not the beginning of Lafayette.  They're not that old!)

Spencer and his good Primary buddy Ethan.  I like how both of their heads are tilted at the same angle.  I also like how they look so sweet and innocent.  (These two are trouble!)

The cutest baby at the ground breaking.  No, I'm not biased.  We all took a vote.

Our family's turn to help at the groundbreaking.  Josh was so excited to get his hands on a shovel he could hardly stand it.

 

Then it was my turn to wrangle Josh out of everyone else's pictures.  He decided that if he couldn't keep using a shovel then he would stand behind the sign and keep bonking his head on it.  Weirdo.  It was a very Joshie way to end the event.

 

A local news crew was there as well.  Here's the short clip they made:

Dairy Farm

Since it's Spencer's Spring break I thought it would be fun to take a special trip to Fair Oaks Dairy Farm.  (A large dairy farm about an hour north of us.)  We went with our good friends the Souths, because everything is more fun when the Souths are involved!  (Plus we like the looks of amazement/amusement/disbelief when people see us with five active and loud little boys in tow.)

The weather was just beautiful, so we started with a picnic outside.  Then we headed inside to learn all about cows!  Here are a few of the fun facts we learned:

- Cows can drink 30 gallons of water, eat 100 pounds of food, and produce 10 gallons of milk every day.

- Getting a picture of five little boys all looking at the camera at the same time while standing in front of a large fiberglass cow is impossible. Impossible.

- Did you know that there are such things as alpha cows?  The largest and strongest cows are usually 'in charge' of the herd.

- Cole is not impressed with large fiberglass cows.  (He prefers chewing on his socks.)

- Cows have four stomachs.

- Little boys think it's grand to go on the cow bus for the cow tour.  But that does not mean that the three year olds will behave themselves or smile for pictures.  (I don't think anything could guarantee that three year olds would behave themselves!)

- A calf is born front hooves first, then head, then the rest of the body.  They are on average between 80 and 100 pounds.

- Little boys will actually stop running around and being loud while a baby cow is being born.  Amazing.  But that does not mean they will look at the camera when we try to take a picture of them with the calves.

- Cows can give milk 10 months of the year.  The two month 'dry period' occurs during their last two months of pregnancy.

- A slide is much more fun when it's in the shape of an ice cream cone!

- A happy and content cow is a cud-chewing cow.

- Ice cream tastes its best when eaten at a dairy with friends.  (It took Dominic a while to stop fussing about the flavor his mom got him - hence the back to the camera.)

Kitchen Shark

Tonight while I was making dinner I kept being attacked by a small, chubby kitchen shark. 

The shark would scoot or army crawl his way over to me, wrap his arms around one of my legs, and proceed to chomp on my feet.

I have no idea why.

When asked, the shark would just look up at me and grin wildly as drool rolled down his chin.  I tried to get a picture of the attack, but the small beast would just stop and ham it up for the camera.

Making dinner has suddenly gotten much more dangerous.

Maren Fun Facts

Yesterday's Cole Fun facts made me decide that I should do a few fun facts of my own.  Mine aren't so current as Cole's, but I've been around a lot longer.  And I can't really remember if I've shared some or all of these before.  (Guess that's a side effect of having been around so long...)  Anywho...

1. I'm not allergic to mosquito bites.  Seriously.  They bite me, but I don't get itchy little red bumps.  I used to be, but around 12 or 13 it stopped.  I'd return from a week at girl's camp looking absolutely normal while everyone else looked like they had the chicken pox.  It's a pretty sweet deal.

2. I've been skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee.  You read that right.  I went on semester abroad to the Jerusalem Center in the summer of 1998.  As part of our travels we spent several weeks at a kibbutz on the Sea of Galilee.  Hmmm... I just realized that my grandma reads this blog.  And my dad, who paid for the trip. Um... sorry.  Why did I do it?  Wellllll... it was really hot, and all of my best (girl) friends were doing it, it was midnight and super dark and we knew we wouldn't get caught, and it seemed like a good idea at the time... and we were all young and foolish.  And I would totally do it again if I had the chance. :)

3. I can't roll my R's.  Which made high school Spanish especially excruciating; my poor teacher.  (Not really - she was an awful teacher.)  More like my poor class for having to listen to me!  My accent is just terrible.  Seriously, in my head I know how it should sound, but it just doesn't come out the way I want it to.  It's a good thing I wasn't born in a Spanish speaking country.  Wait - are there native Spanish speakers who can't roll their R's?  If there are, is this considered a speech impediment?  Hmm... something to think about.

4. I was student body president in the 8th grade.  Impressive, no?  I don't really remember much about it, but that's okay because I don't really remember much about the 8th grade.  I do remember that one of the 7th graders I carpooled with didn't believe that I was president (someone else had told him), so it was especially gratifying after I spoke at the first rally.  Nice.

5.  I've hiked to the top of Mt. Sinai.  It was part of my semester abroad mentioned before, and it was awesome.  We left around 4 in the morning and watched the sunrise from the summit.  It was amazing.  There's a joke that the miracle wasn't that Moses saw a burning bush - the miracle was that he saw a bush at all!  (That place is barren.)  You could see why the children of Israel weren't too keen to wander around there for 40 years.  Anywho, it was great, I loved it, and on the way down I was charged by an angry camel who's owner stopped the wild beast just before he chomped me.

6.  My favorite animal is the camel. No really - it is!  I've even ridden on one.  Bumpy.

7.  I've had a 33% success rate in guessing the genders of my babies.  I knew for sure, right away, that Spencer was a boy.  With Josh, I don't know if I really thought he was a girl or I just really wanted him to be.  (So does that count?  Because really I was just lying to myself.)  And with Cole I really and truly did think he was a girl because my pregnancy was so different compared to the other two.  But then again, just before we walked in for his ultrasound I knew - knew - he was a boy.  Maybe the Lord was just preparing me so I wouldn't cry in front of my kiddos.  (Not that I was sad - but crazy pregnancy hormones and all...)

8.  I was born with congenital hip dysplasia.  I was in a full hip cast until I was 12 months old.  My poor parents had to lug me around in that thing, change my diapers through an opening in the back, and give me sponge baths.  On the plus side, they could prop me up in the corner with a few toys and there I'd stay, happy as a clam.

A Few Cole Fun Facts

1. Cole is the overachiever of the Madsen progeny.  Remember a while back when I mentioned that my kiddos are late bloomers when it comes to crawling/walking/teething?  Well, Cole blew away the crawling competition (Josh - 11 months, Spencer - 12 months) today when, at 9.5 months, he decided it was time to start moving.  And when did he decide to start crawling?  At church during Sacrament meeting.  Poor Lance nearly had to crawl under the pews himself to catch Cole, who was zipping along at a nice clip, thrilled at his new-found freedom.  Right now it's more of a modified army crawl, but he's getting the leg action in there.  Between that and his mad rolling skills, there's nowhere he can't get to now.  Heaven help us all.

2. Cole is a wiggler.  And when I say wiggler I mean that kid can WIGGLE.  And he is STRONG.  Wicked strong.  And he no longer likes to lay still to have his diaper change or clothes taken off or put on.  It's like wrangling a wild... well... there's really no comparison.  Unless you've tried to dress a baby of Cole's size and strength you will never understand.

3.  Cole loves peaches 'n pancakes for dinner.  And who doesn't?

4. As the poor forgotten third child Cole doesn't have as much routine as I would like.  And so far, he's been a really good sport about it.  But there is one routine he refuses to give up - his after dinner bath.  As soon as he's done eating (whether the rest of us are or not) he starts his "It's time for my bath" whining, which doesn't end until he is naked as the day he was born and in that tub!

5. Cole has port wine stain birthmarks on his forehead and the back of his neck and head.  So did Josh, but his faded; I'm assuming Cole's will, too.  Spencer didn't have anything like that; weird.

6. Cole has a capillary hemangioma on his back.  It's like a cluster of capillaries on the outside of his skin.  It'll keep growing for a few years and then start shrinking until it disappears.  It doesn't hurt him, and it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with him.  (For more info, see the Wiki entry.  Wikipedia - the source of all internet knowledge.)  Spencer and Josh are both a little grossed out by it, and therefore also very impressed.  Maybe it's what's given him his super-early-crawling powers. :)

A Happy Afternoon Outside

Spring in Indiana is a fickle mistress - 62 and sunny one day, snowing the next.  (Seriously - it's supposed to snow this weekend.)

Anywho, we're enjoying the glorious weather outside while we can.  Cole is in heaven when we're out - he's been an 'indoor' baby his entire cognizant life, so being outdoors is a wonderful adventure.  Especially when he gets to watch his two crazy older brothers.