Quiet Musings...

On your part, that is.

I know you read this and you think - now, what the heck is the deal with Sarah's OBSESSION with the Pioneer Woman?

Well, aside from the AHHHH-MAZING giveaways, which I WON'T link you to, because seriously, why would I shoot myself in the foot like that?

She's got INCREDIBLE recipes. Now I'm talking all out - she gives "homestyle" cooking a new definition. Here' s an example. My good friend, Aleycia, and I both have her recipe book and we are always experiementing out of it! When we get together and have a recipe by her, the first thing we ask is "How much butter is in that?"

Well, this blog entry in dedicated to Aleycia. Because she's at work right now and I can't immediately call her and tell her - "OH MY GOSH - just look at what the Pioneer Woman came up with this time!" and I know she'll come home from work and see my post!!!

Here goes:

Heck, I couldn't paraphrase and I couldn't even link to it just in case you were bored and didn't have the energy, so I just cut and paste - now read all of it!

Sep 17 2010
The Bread

Posted by Ree in All PW Recipes, Breads, Tasty Kitchen Featured

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Whenever I have a friend or family member over for dinner, they will ask the following question:
“Are you making The Bread?”

And I always smile and say:
“Yes. I am making The Bread.”

I smile because it’s a foregone conclusion that I will be making The Bread.

I smile because The Bread is so darn delicious and no one who tastes it can believe it contains only two ingredients.

I smile because it’s probably the easiest, simplest, effortless thing I make.

I smile. Because butter is involved.




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Split a loaf of French bread in half, then spread one stick of room-temperature butter all over the surface.
That’s one stick per half loaf.

Yes, you read that right.




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The idea here is that every speck of the surface of the bread needs to be coated.




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Next, you put the bread into a 350-degree oven for ten minutes, long enough for the butter to melt and the bread to warm. When the butter has melted into the bread, this stage is done.

Now crank on the broiler.




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This is a couple of minutes under the broiler, and this is not brown enough. The goal here is to broil the bread to the point that the butter becomes very dark brown and, in just a few areas, begins to burn.

When that happens, the flavor shows up.

If you don’t take it to the next level, it will just be buttered, warm bread.

Which is fine, and all…but it’s not The Bread.




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That’s more like it. Oh, yes.




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This is where the flavor is. And it’s not even a butter flavor—it tastes seasoned. It tastes indescribable.

Oh, baby.




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When I serve this, I slice it on a cutting board into relatively thin (because it’s so rich) strips.

I serve it with tenderloin. Pasta dishes. Soup. Chili. Chicken Spaghetti. Stew. Salads.

It’s the perfect crispy, crunchy, flavorful complement to so many things.

Try it this weekend!

Love,
P-Dub


Well, folks, there you have it!

Aleycia - what's for dinner tonight?

Trying to stay healthy in the Tundra,

Sarah

We might have a slight problem...

First off -

***DISCLAIMER***

Bad quality photo's. Couldn't find Sam's camera which has the right lens...

Ok. Here's my problem. I heard VERY loud banging noises on the floor and so I checked to see what exactly Gabe must have been playing with and what did I find?

Now, where might two D batteries come from? I asked myself the same question. I back tracked through the sun room where Gabe has boat loads of toys laying around and didn't see anything till I walked up the stairs to his room and this is what I found!



Now, if you look closely, you'll see how the battery cover goes on with screws. So. Answer me this? What have we gotten ourselves into? And how did we get such a braniac miracle child who unscrews the backs of toys before the age of 1?!?!

Ahhhh!!!!!!

Trying to stay on top of things in the Tundra,

Sarah

Que the music...

CHORUS
You're the meaning in my life
you're the inspiration.
You bring feeling to my life
you're the inspiration.
Wanna have you near me
I wanna have you hear me sayin':
No one needs you more than I need you.

You know this song??? From Chicago? Well, anyway, the people have spoken. My inspiration is renewed, maybe I WILL keep on blogging!

Although, I did decide that if I am going to keep on blogging, I am going to change some things.

#1 - the font definitely needs to change!!! I hardly liked looking at it myself. I think this is much more pleasant, don't you?

#2 - I will keep my paragraphs smaller.

#3 - I will try to get myself organized enough to put more pictures in. (Stay tuned for "mound of laundry!" - Just kidding. I like y'all better than that!)

#4 - I will try to stop making lists.

#5 - I was just kidding on that last one. It helps me stay organized. This way you MIGHT and I mean MIGHT be able to follow my train of thought!

#6 - I already forgot. See what I mean about making lists.

#7 - Enough about all that - let's get on with some pictures!

Ok, here you go, eat your heart out Pioneer Woman! I might not be able to win your giveaways, but I sure can make your Cinnamon Rolls! Sam says they taste like Cold Stone Creamery - hot. I guess you wouldn't understand if you haven't ever been to Cold Stone Creamery. All I can say is....yummmmmmm!!!!

And of course, for some updated photos of the little Gabe man!

This is Gabe at 10 months. He and I went down to visit Grandpa and Grandma in Virginia while Sam was in the Boundary Waters. So this is Gabe's first "taste" of the salt water! He loved it!

And finally,



This is his 11 month picture, we were at Phelps Mill in Minnesota over Labor Day weekend and I just LOVED the way this picture turned out.

Ok, I have to run, but thanks for hanging in there with me!

Rushing around like crazy in the Tundra,

Sarah

Top 10 lessons learned

I check in with THE Pioneer Woman on a fairly regular basis. For the most part, looking to win a giveaway - I threw that in for my husband! It's not really true, ok, maybe a little! Anyway, she just posted today on the top ten things she's learned about blogging. It inspired me to write about the top 10 things I've learned about blogging.

#1 - Seems a lot easier than it really is.

I mean, seriously.

#2 - It's hard to get readers.

I mean, seriously.

#3 - Who really wants to read your ramblings?

I mean, seriously.

#4 - Technology does NOT cooperate with you.

I mean, seriously.

#5 - It's fun!

Seriously!!!!

#6 - Even if no one reads your blog, but yourself, when you pretend to read back over your entry to "check for grammatical errors," all the while really cracking yourself up!!!

#7 - I'm bad about blogging frequently, but I'm trying to organize my photos to get them uploaded along with my post, because seriously, who wants to read without seeing pictures?

I mean, seriously?!

#8 - I've decided I haven't blogged half enough to learn 10 things!

Speaking from the heart, seriously, in the Tundra,

Sarah

Busy like a bee.......

It's that time of the year again... What time? you might ask? Time for Sarah to start blogging again? Yeah right! HA! I had such good intentions of creating this amazing blog that people from all over the world were just waiting on pins and needles for the next edition.... But it turns out, I don't exactly think I'm blogging material. First off, you have to do it a little more often. Second, you kinda have to have a purpose. And thirdly, you have to edit your photos BEFORE you post them on your blog for people to actually see stuff. I have been working on lots of projects... for instance: Gabe's nursery. It's finally finished...kind of. But when do I blog - during his nap when I think about going in there to take pictures... Doesn't really work that way. Otherwise, my project include writing a big long list and marking them all off - plus I don't think you want pictures of my mound of laundry - before and after. Or maybe the "before", 15,000 ears of corn that Sam buys because they are on sale and then the "after", it's all chopped off the cob and safely stored away in two cup amounts in the freezer just waiting for Mexicali corn to come into fruition.

One thing I do have a picture of that I've been working on - S2 Photography has been at it again...

Here is a collage of Ali.... Isn't she beautiful?



And here is Erinn!!! She's quite a beauty too! It's not hard to take great pictures of such beautiful girls!



So I'm in the midst of doing some editing for a family and I'll get those up. These two girls are Seniors this year and it's been tons of fun to get pictures done for them. We get to meet with both of them for a few more shots in the coming weeks, which will be great! It's awesome that we have so many people taking chances on us and our emerging photography skills!

One of the great things is that I finally got my Digital Rebel! So I'm very excited to come alongside Sam and really learn from him. With every person or family, we are learning so much more!

On another note, the little Gabe man turned 11 months a couple of days ago - can you believe that???? I can't! I'll have to upload some new pictures of him, the summer has been busy and we've been all over the world between the three of us... So hopefully things will settle into more of a routine... One of my problems is that we are still on the one computer, so whenever Sam is home, he's usually using it for painting and he's got a show coming up pretty soon. He's been painting like a maniac. The other night, he started painting at 10pm and finally finished up around 6am. I know right, crazy!! But that's the time with the least amount of distractions for him. Maybe y'all can pray for us. He still needs some sleep! Thanks.

Well, from my research, this entry is already about 100,000 too many words and waaaaay too little photos. So I'm going to be working on that. Hopefully learning a little more about blogging and getting a little more user friendly sight or at least to LOOK a little nicer! Let me know what kinds of information you'd like me to include and I'll see if I can make it happen!!

Trying to keep up in the Tundra,

Sarah

A long sabatical....

Good morning, I mean afternoon, friends.

Got some pictures for you. I will let you know what we've been up to lately....

Sam spent a couple weeks in Guatemala with 28 other Sr. Highers, College students and other adults....



to be continued.....

A little bit of updates!

Well, it's been a while, I know. But the summer is like that around here. But my folks have been here while Sam is away in Guatemala and let me tell you, they are some serious inspiration for getting projects done! I can in no way even pretend to compete with Amy and her deployment projects!!! By the way, if you have a little bit of time, (more than you think) you'll want to check out Amy's blog!!! She's absolutely amazing. Her husband is deployed, she's a homeschool mom and just take a look at her amazing work!!!! Anyway, she's been counting her deployment projects and she's over 100+ projects!!! Like I said, she's amazing! Anyway, in our humble home, we have built one entry way bench, fixed another bench, painted two frames, fixed the refrigerator, defrosted the freezer, been to Walmart about 100+ times! :) Getting ready to plant some planters, enjoy the pool with the little man, played some Settlers of Catan, squeezed in a bit of sleep and tried to keep up with the Love of my Life on facebook!!! Also getting ready to repaint the coffee table! Of course, do I have pictures of all of this - no, not really. Not right now. Besides, how many of you really want to see pictures of the inside of my refrigerator NOT LEAKING?!

Anyway, I'm pretty confident that Sam doesn't check this site and I didn't want to give it all away. I'd like to take him on a tour when he gets home! But I did have a couple of pictures to share - and these are actually pictures that you will want to see!!!

8 months a little late....



And a 9 month picture to boot! He's growing like a weed - just can't even believe it!



Well, keep on tuning in and don't forget to check out Amy's blog at Design Interventions!!!! Seriously, if I had an ounce of her drive and creativity - I'd be an unstoppable force!!!

Enjoying Summer in the Tundra,

Sarah