Ward Halloween Party

 This was at our Ward/neighborhood Halloween party.  This man is so awesome.  His name is Bill Cruiz.  He is actually the Bishop's executive secretary!

 Ok, so neither of the pictures turned out of me but I just loved Bill's costume!  I was supposed to be an old fashioned robber.  You can kind of see the dollar sign on my bag.  I have a black beanie on as well.

 Here is my brilliant son and one of his best friends, Sam Schmuhl.  They were "men in black" although lots of people thought that they were the "Blues Brothers" as well.  I just loved that they still wanted to dress up.

 I could hardly get a picture with these two let alone one with Derek.  They are both so NOT into pictures.  I know the pictures are blurry but this was all I could get from the camera shy guys.

My sweet Hannah was at "Fright Night" at the local amusement park, Lagoon.
After the party, Derek and I went to see the movie, "Meet the Mormons"  Derek gave it a 10 out of 10.  We had a great time watching the show and it was a great movie, I would highly recommend it!

Recipe: Louisian Cooking

 Well here is round 1 of my attempt to bring home a little of what we had in New Orleans.  I feel like it will be a little hard because lots of the spices they use are not store bought and many others are local and seasonal.  But, I am getting more brave to try things as my kids are giving me encouragement and are very kind when things don't work out.  Speaking of not working out, the soup on the bottom was not one that the kids wanted again.  But as I said, they were so incredibly kind and built me up even while they told me this.  I on the other hand liked the soup but told them I was actually glad they didn't like it as it was a very expensive soup and it had lots of fat and calories.  So I am totally fine with not making it again. 


These little meat pies are called, "Arnaud's Meat Pies"  Everyone liked these, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

1 lb hot pork breakfast sausage, or ½ lb pound sausage and ½ lb ground beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
½ medium red bell pepper, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small Louisiana yam, (or sweet potato) peeled and coarsely grated
1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped
¼ teaspoon Cayenne
¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
¼ teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
3 sheets puff pastry, 9×9 inches, from the grocery freezer section
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water for egg wash

Preparation

Place a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the meat, crumbling it into small pieces as it cooks. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan and add the onions, bell pepper and garlic and cook until soft. Add the grated yam and cook 10 to 15 minutes. Add the basil, pepper and Worcestershire and stir well. Remove from heat. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to 1/8 inch thickness. Using a 4-inch plate as a guide, trace and cut out 4 circles of pastry from each of the 3 sheets. Transfer the 12 pastry circles to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling and press with fingers or the tines of a fork to seal securely. Brush each pie lightly with egg wash.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes, then serve on a doily-lined platter, if desired.

The soup is called, "New Orleans Shrimp and Artichoke soup"

     64 oz Artichokes, drained

2 Cups Chicken Stock

5 Green Onions, Ends trimmed, slice thin green and white parts, reserve a TBS for garnish

1 TBS Fresh cut Thyme leaves

1/4 Cup Flour

1/4 Cup Butter

4 Cups Heavy Cream

1 Pound Medium Sized Shrimp (reserve a few for garnish)

2 TBS Cajun Spice Mix

1 Pinch Paprika for garnish

Cooking Directions

1. Combine Artichoke, chicken stock, green onions, Cajun spices, thyme leaves
2. Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 12 minutes.
3. Combine butter and flour in a large saute pan over medium heat and stir for 5 minutes to make a roux. It is very important to stir constantly while the roux is cooking.
4. Stir in heavy cream to roux and whisk til mixed
5. Add the roux/cream mix to the simmering pot...
6. Continue simmering for 10 more minutes
7. Add shrimp and simmer for 3 minutes only (shrimp cooks FAST)
8. During the three minutes, in a small saute pan over medium high heat, melt 2 TBS butter and combine with 1 TBS of Cajun spices. Saute the remaining few shrimp (to be used as a garnish) in the butter/spice mix.
9. Serve with Green Onions and parsley for garnish...
10. Add a little extra heat (Cayenne Pepper) if desired.
11. Garnish with the spiced shrimp and a bit of paprika
12. Serve HOT and ENJOY!

I will try some more recipes from Louisiana another day!

Having fall fun

Here is my amazing, crazy fun daughter having fun raking the leaves.

Thank you so much for your help my dear.  So far you have been the 1 and only raker this year.  Derek and I are having allergies so you are saving us.  And I really appreciate you showing how much fun you are having being of service to your family.  What a great daughter!

Koda having so much fun with the leaves.  It was hard to get her she was moving so fast and all over the place.

It is also good to see a contrast in seasons with the leaves turning color and falling and the flowers still surviving for the most part in the back ground.

Fun with Derek's friends

Derek just LOVES pictures, "you'll thank me later" (quote from one of our favorite T.V. shows, "Monk")  Hee, hee. 

This is Sam Schmuhl, Nick and Derek and of course Koda.  Nick loves to call me his "spirit mother"  I sure do love that.  I love being able to have a close relationship with my kids friends.  What a unique and honored privilege.

Derek once again showing how much he loves his mother taking pictures of him.  I love seeing Nick laugh at this.  What a great group!

Fall Break New Orleans

This is the start to our latest adventure together.  I LOVE adventures.  I still get nervous every time I go someplace new, but it makes it so much easier when I go with my great friends that help me not to stay inside my shell and not venture out.  Thank you my wonderful friends!

 

This was our plate of our first New Orleans feasting.  YUM!  Wow, what a city.  The food is AMAZING!  We discussed that if there is another city with so much uniqueness to it we don't know what city it is.  It seems to be it's own little country.  It has it's own unique food, music, and architecture. 

This plate had frog legs, (yes, frog legs, and we all tried them, they tasted like a combination between halibut and chicken).  There were also calamari, blacken alligator (we all loved this!) (how fun to be adventurous), There was also stuffed fried mushrooms, and meat pies.  The restaurant was called "Mulate's"

 At our hotel, the Embassy Suites, there was an amazing concierge that helped to plan out our days and get reservations at truly wonderful restaurants.  We were so grateful for her help to make our adventure even better.

Now that we are back I have been searching the internet for Louisiana recipes. I am going to try some out this week.  I hope that I remember to take pictures of them and write about them. 

The kids having a good time with the size of the glasses.

We went here for our last meal and I am so glad we did.  We went in the evening and there was live jazz music, the kind that has accordiens and wash boards.  We LOVED not only the food, but the ambiance as well.  There were people that went out and danced on the dance floor as well.  What a simply enchanting night to share and cherish.  So blessed.

Ok, so this is up close and personal (sorry not focused too well) of the frog legs.  I know this is old school and only people who grew up in my era and or kids that enjoy the old Muppet Movie, but it just reminds me too much of Kermit the Frog.  I still tried it but I had a hard time eating it.  Kind of odd I know but, I just couldn't help but think of all those poor frogs on crutches. (Again, a reference to the old Muppet Movie, I guess you had to be there . . .)

This was the first stop in our adventure.  We took a swamp tour.  This was the Honey Island Swamp. We have had this on our list to do for a couple of years now and were so excited to finally have the opportunity to do this.  Again I am so grateful for my job that helps me to have the time and flexibility and the unique flight benefits!

My two best buddies about to get on our boat to tour the bayou

This is our "captain" on the left.  He was so great.  He was, well, "down home" and very knowledgeable.  People sure can make a difference.

Just starting out on our way.  Boats and house boats in the background.  We were able to see so much history on this trip.  We saw many places that were devastated by hurricane Katrina back in 2005.  It was good for the kids.  We have never seen up close the literal devastation that happens after a colossal natural disaster.

Take a look at some of these homes, they were put up high for a reason.  In many areas of the city and surrounding area the flood waters reached above 12 feet.

Derek took this picture of us enjoying our precious time together.

Introducing one of a couple alligators.  They actually had names for some of the more notable ones such as Scarface, and Grumpy.  We loved that they personalized this part of their home

 

 

In some of these pictures you will see the captain enticing the alligators to come close to our boat and let us see them eat

This was just before he lunged up out of the water.

A fairly good shot.  I am not a camera expert and this could have been better, but to be quite honest, I'm pretty pleased that I got this at all, it happed so fast!

Up close, shudder . . .

Wow, even more respect for these prehistoric creatures!

That gives a shot how close the gator was to the boat.  Look at the bottom row of teeth.  Actually, we were LOVING it!  We felt safe the whole time.

 

Just a shot of the beauty of the Bayou

Kind of out of focus but it was great to see not only the alligators but other life as well.  We saw snakes, fortunately I am not afraid of snakes, spiders on the other hand, I would have walked on water to get OUT of there!  We also saw raccoons and a lot of birds, which we have pictures of and are coming up later.

 

 

It is hard to show the beauty and uniqueness of this area we were in.  That is what I was going for in the next couple of pictures.  I wished we could have come back in the evening to see the fire flies on the water and in the swamp/bayou.  It would have been an expensive view though not being able to see the plants and the animals.  But I still would have LOVED to have seen the fireflies.  They just have a nostalgia to them and a sense of mystery and wonder which is weird because I did not grow up with them, so I'm not sure where the "nostalgia" comes from and, I also DO NOT like bugs as a general rule.  Only a very privileged few make the list, and a firefly definitely makes the short list. (also lady bugs)

 

Well, this isn't exactly the "scenery" shot that I was talking about (they are still coming up) but these guys were definitely a part of the scenery and a huge reason why we came to New Orleans, to see, and . . . sorry guys, but to eat.  By the way, they taste fabulous.

 

Not sure if this is Grumpy or Scar Face or Brutus or one of their friends, but, there ya go.

 

 

Ok, so this is one of those scenery shots.  It still does not do it justice.  I love the moss that is hanging down, it gives it such an authentic look.  (as if it wasn't already authentic enough with the gators, snakes, turtles, raccoons, etc, I know, I know)

 

 

 

more wild life.  Shear awesomeness.

It was great to be so close to everything.

 I love this shot.  It was so beautiful

 

Kind of the same shot as the previous one, but slightly different.

We are downtown in the French Quarter.  I was expecting it to be muggy and hot but it really was not too bad, we were pleasantly surprised.  I love this Cathedral.  We didn't have time to do a lot of things, and visit this Cathedral was one of them.  Oh well, we will have to go back again.  If I didn't say before, the food was amazing!

 

Not able to see the Cathedral in this view but you can see the uniqueness of the French Quarter with the balconies and the iron work.  Loved it!

 

Just had to get us together.  Derek was more than happy to take the picture. (did I ever say he is getting VERY tired of having his picture taken?)

One of our family traditions with our pictures.  It amazes me every time we are able to get this shot in.  We started in Chicago with our pictures by a fire engine.  No reason other than it was just a different shot and we have continued the picture in almost every state we have visited, Washington D.C., Disney Land (ok, I know that is not a state, but you get the idea)New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Disney World (that I can remember)

This is the first time a fire fighter got in the picture with us, kinda cool. 

They can't bury any of their dead under ground because New Orleans is above sea level and the ground would not be able to contain them.  The tour director said that it would start the "resurrection" and NOT in the good way!

Wow, talk about getting fancy, I don't understand why they would spend so much money on such elaborate mausoleums.  The one that looks like a castle was over $480,000.  Oh, my heck!

Here, here is the crazy one. 

This was on the "city tour".  It was very informative and I'm glad we went but I won't go again if we go back to New Orleans.  I wish we could have gotten off the bus more.  Although, it was already a 2 hour tour.  It was interesting, when we were going to go into this cemetery we were warned not to go on the grass because of the fire ants!

 

We were able to see many homes that still had the spray paint markings from the National Guard with the date that they came to try to rescue the people and then the number of any survivors that they found.  Some of the dates were weeks after the hurricane.  It would be so scary and lonely to have to wait that long to be rescued.  Again, I was so glad that my kids could see first hand, even 10 years later rather that just learn about it in school.  The best learning is by seeing and doing.  I am so grateful for our opportunity.  Some of the areas had over 12 feet of water when it hit.  It was erie and sad and made Katrina all the more real to see that the devastation was still very real and the affects felt there in that area.  We saw homes that were boarded up, all the windows and doors.  This was so that critters, animals would not infest them.   

There were some stories of hope that the tour guide told us.  He took us to a neighborhood that a Jazz musician, Harry Connick Jr. helped to pay for and restore for musicians.  It was such a colorful neighborhood.  It was great to see the hope as well as the reality of a natural disaster.  I was glad to hear of the generosity that came out of it.

We also went to the Garden District.  Talk about a contrast!  This area was very expensive and very old with so much history.  (as much as we can in the United States with our relatively young history).  I loved to see the architecture.  They were all very grand, very old stately homes.

 

I was wishing so much that my Mom and Dad could go with us . . .

Just a shot of the cemetery and showing a pretty good shot of all the people with us.

These 2 next pictures were just nice backgrounds.  We are still on our city tour stopping at a park.

The tour guide told us this tree is over 700 years old!  This reminded me of our adventures in Whistler Canada with my brother Stuart.  We loved that trip.  That is a place we would like to go back to.

 

Yup, a rare picture with my son, I love it!  He is getting out-a-control-tall!  I love this shot of me looking up to him.  I sure do look up to him, in so many ways, he is a great example in so many ways!

Had to get a bit closer.  Thank you my son for appeasing  your camera happy mother.

This is at a restaurant called "Court of Two Sisters"  This picture does not do it justice.  There was a lot of marble and fountains.  We also loved hearing the live jazz music performed just to the left.  This was a buffet style which made it a lot of fun to pick all the new and interesting food they had to offer that we normally do not get.  A lot of craw fish, jambalaya, shrimp, gritz, alligator, and so so much more.  This would have been a lot of fun to come in the evening as well because I noticed that there was a ton of little white lights strung up.  We loved just relaxing and eating slowly and enjoying the great ambiance of the restaurant.

 

I'm not sure, but I think neither child of mine wanted a picture taken of them. . .

This was a cruise on the Steamboat Natchez down the mighty Mississippi.  Not what you would call exciting but very monumentous, as it was on the 3rd largest river IN THE WORLD!  And very historic from American literature.  Although none of this information could change the children's idea of a relatively slow if not boring 2 hour cruise.  It made me remember the many times that my parents tried to share informative or educational or historical or of a nature aspect with me and I was to say, less than thrilled.  I remember specifically one time when my poor wonderful and well intentioned father took all 5 of his children (with their amazing attitudes - not!) to Yellowstone, and we at one point said over and over, in very whining voices, "If I see ANOHTHER antelope I'm gonna die!"  Poor dad.  I have to say, "thank you dad for trying to give me experiences and expand my horizons and have memories as a family.  I salute you and your patience.  Although, there is also something to be said regarding the wise quote of Albus Dumbledore, "One of the biggest mistakes we make as we grow older, is to forget what it is like to be young."  I did try to remember this and not force them to enjoy it.  You know the quote of, "the beatings will continue until moral improves".  I didn't employee this wisdom, I took more to Dumbledore's advice.

 

After Derek and I explored a bit I looked up trivia questions for Harry Potter and Disney and Derek looked up trivia for Lord of the Rings and we incorporated teenage fun with historic Americana and made the trip much better.  Modern technology sure does have its place if used wisely.

 

Just to show you how "exciting" our scenery was . . .

Derek barely containing his excitement

"No more pictures mom! For the love of Pete!"

 

Derek and I about to embark on our swashbuckling adventure of exploring the Steamboat Natchez.

And, our adventure comes to a close.  Good by Steamboat Natchez

Ok, this is the last picture of our adventures in the strange and wonderful land of New Orleans.  We will miss you and hope to come back again.  Both kids said that they would fly all the way there just for lunch, and that's saying something because neither of them enjoy flying and it's not a short flight.

I had them take this picture for my mom.  One night we got lost getting back to our hotel.  (I know surprise surprise, because I am well known for my map reading and my natural sense of direction) A young women came up with her bicycle taxi and we asked hesitantly if we could get her to take us home.  We didn't know if it was possible because of the size problem.  She smiled and said, no problem.  We hoped on and the poor girl biked us to our hotel.  As I was sharing our day with my Mom and Dad my Mom laughed and said that would have been a great picture to see. 

Again, I  am so grateful for so many memories we have built up together both big and small with trips and just being together at home.  I love my children and their friendship.  It is so heavenly to be with people that you can tell genuinely enjoy being around you!  You guys are amazing, you two are my sunshine!