Pickled Pigs Feet

I can now add pickled pigs feet to the unusual foods I have tried.  Compared to hagis pickled pigs feet are disgusting, I actually like hagis.  The worst thing about ppf is a rubbery slimy texture.  Yuck!  This all came about because Jacob and I were chosen by an FHE group to select two unusual food items for them to compete in FHE Iron Chef.  (Iron Chef is a reality TV show where real chefs are given random unusual ingredients and they have a time limit to come up with something good to eat.)  We thought it would be fun to see what they could come up with given ppf and sprouts.   What a challenge, huh.   However, we both failed to remember that we were also chosen to be the judges of the finished product.  So we were the lucky ones who got to try each delectable dish with 20 people viewing our reaction.  Serves us right, eh.

We were so amazed with the results.  All the groups actually did a great job coming up with something to make.  We tried sprout bread.  The author of this recipe actually memorized her banana bread recipe beforehand as they were not allowed to use any recipes or lifelines to others.  Then we had pickled pigs feet pot pie.  Very creative, don't you think.  This group also made ppf puffs.  There was also a ppf salad.

Rules of the game:  For FHE Iron Chef a third party will pick the same 2 food items for the two groups to use to prepare at least two dishes by the end of the evening...this may be a main dish, side dish, salad, or dessert.  The food item should be as close to it's raw form as possible (i.e. squash, meat, nuts, etc.).

Night of: The third party will have the food item to the meeting place of the groups by 7 pm on the night of the competition.  The finished food must then be taken to the third party's home (the Andersen's)  to be judged and must be there no later than 8:45.  There can be no cook book, or online cooking recipe, or Blackberry or IPhone, or any such device consulted once the activity has begun.  No lifelines to mothers or friend experts can be used either.  There can be no shopping done once the food item has been delivered from the opposing team.  The food you are allowed to use to make your dish is anything in the kitchens of your FHE group members.  So stock your fridges and let the games begin!

Judging: Judging will be done in the following categories:

• Palatability


• Creativity


• Presentation

Making Bread w/ Debbie

Debbie is little Miss Domestic and she was kind enough to give me a bread making lesson.  She shared a recipe that her mom invented.  It is so yummy and so healthy.  There is NO white flour in it, 1/3 cup of honey instead of sugar, and it even has sunflower seeds.  I discovered that I love sunflower seeds in my bread.  For being so small they add such a nice flavor and a nice crunch.  So now I am well on my way to my own domestic title.  All in the same week,  I have canned 18 pints of cherries and made 4 loaves of bread.  Wow!  Look at me go! :)

Canning Cherries

Before you can 'CAN' cherries you need to pick them!  How fun is that.  I am always talking to Jake about finding wild berries and picking them.  Doesn't that seem so Anne of Green Gables.   Alas, these cherries weren't wild, but they were FREE and we still had loads of fun.  The Bishop offered us some of the surplus from his cherry tree.  Once again we are reaping the benefits of Mani's hard work.Next came the canning part.  I must admit I was a bit nervous to can all by myself.  I looked online forever and found this great youtube video on canning.  The Bishop also lent me a cherry pitter.  (See below)  So much fun!  Cherries may be my favorite thing to can.  It is so easy and fast.  Just wash, pit, and can.  No blanching, no removing skin, and no slicing.   Piece of cake, man.  And so yummy!

However, the bad thing about cherries, I have learned, is that they stain counters (at least mine) really bad.  I tried everything to get the pinkish purple stains to go away.  I tried the normal cleaners like Fantastic and then Baking Powder paste.  But they didn't make a bit of difference.  Great, now that we are about to sell our house, I go and ruin our counters. :( Finally, online I discovered a story about George Washington making a cherry pie and being embarrassed about having dyed fingers afterward and how he used lemon juice to remove the stain.  I figured I would give it a shot.  This remedy worked the best so far, but I still had some faint stains.  What really got rid of everything easily was...da ta da da ta da...Mr. Clean white erasers.  These things are a miracle worker.  And it came off so easy with it.  I didn't even have to scrub.  Just a quick wipe with the miracle eraser and it was all gone.  I am so sold on this product I could do a commercial for them.

My dirty cherry stained counters

Father's Day / Fishing

Candid pictures are the best: Jake has his face stuffed and my mom looks Chinese. :)

The man of the hour, my father.  Doing what he does best, or at least what he is dang good at.  I caught one fish, Jacob caught two, and dad caught 20!

Home Improvements

This is what our front flower area used to look like.

Jake and I took a Saturday morning and ....

Voila!  It looks so much better.  I can't believe the difference.  We got the bark chips at the city recycle area for $15!

Jakes 29th B-Day

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I love Free Things!

"I saw a moose, I saw a moose, I saw a moose, hey, hey, hey, hey!"

So this is what it looks like right across the street from our house, moose and all.  I love the location of this house because I still enjoy all of the conveniences of living in the city, yet with all this across the street I feel like I am living in the country.