Monthly Archives: June 2011

Camping: S’more Goodness

21 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by in baking, camping

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The first campfire of the season along with the first roasted hot dogs, marshmallows, and the best of all – s’mores.  Make sure you watch the video below!

I decided to see what was said about s’mores on the internet.  Here is Wikipedia’s definition of a S’more and where they might have originated from.  You can decide whether it is true or not (where they originated that is.  They have the definition pretty bang on – except for variations that people have created over the years.  You will see ours later in the blog.)







Definition:
A s’more (sometimes spelled smore) is a traditional nighttime campfire treat popular in the United States and Canada,[1] consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker.  

Etymology and Origins:
S’more appears to be a contraction of the phrase, “some more”. While the origin of the dessert is unclear, the first recorded version of the recipe can be found in the publication “Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts” of 1927.[3] The recipe is credited to Loretta Scott Crew, who reportedly made them by the campfire for the Scouts.[4] It is unknown whether the Girl Scouts were the first to make s’mores, but there appears to be no earlier claim to this snack. Although it is unknown when the name was shortened, recipes for “Some Mores” are in various  Girl Scout publications until at least 1971.


Recipe to make the perfect S’More
Watch the video and see for yourself!  Enjoy!  Be sure to attend at least one camp fire this summer and be sure to try out this s’more goodness recipe to have the perfect s’more every time!  Your friends will be amazed!  

By the way, don’t be too nervous about balancing the s’more on the end of the stick (necessary to have a two pronged stick for this!).  Be careful when you take  off the s’more … it’s hot.  We had a drop because of this.  I am happy to say while balancing and roasting the s’more we had none fall in the fire.  If you do not have a steady hand, find someone at your camp fire who does!  

 hile these S’mores were not made while camping, it is a camping must, so it is now part of the Series: Camping.  Check out more posts on camping here.

Morning Love

19 Sunday Jun 2011

Posted by in Me and God Time

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I’m visiting my wonderful friend, Kristin, and her family.  Although one is missing because he just got married last weekend!  Congrats!  Anyway, it is so peaceful at their house.  It is surrounded by woods and whenever you are by an open window you hear some wonderful noise of the outdoors.  Whether that is thunder while the sun is still shining bright or the sound of the crickets at night or the sound of the many birds chirping in the morning.

Mike and Ruth themselves make it very peaceful.  They are so kind and loving and have such tender hearts.  You can’t help but want to be around them.

I’ve discovered I love the porch in the morning.  There is a wonderful green love seat with two corduroy pillows.  Just perfect for the morning to hear and admire God’s creation, to read his word, pray, write a blog, read, drink tea or coffee and enjoy.  That’s where I am right now.  This is what I need.  A spot I can go to.  A spot I can be refreshed ever day and be in God’s mysterious creation.  I feel joy and peace and close to God in these places.  This makes me wish I had an apartment with a balcony, because I am sure I would be on it every morning.

The last two days I have enjoyed morning love on the green couch enjoying nature and the one who created it!  Where do you feel closest to God and/or find joy and peace in your life?

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Bollywood Dance Class

15 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in exercise

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I know that you have been waiting to hear what I have been doing on Wednesday nights!  Well, at least one person has been waiting for me to post this blog!  😉

Bollywoodworld.com says, “Bollywood dancing is a commercial name for modern Indian dancing. It’s a combination of classical Indian dance (which is the base), folk dancing such as Bhangra and sometimes has a Latino and Arabic influence. It’s fun and very expressive and there’s a lot of deep meaning behind music in the films. You can actually express what the music means, through the graceful movements of the body.” 

The past three weeks I have been learning how to dance Bollywood style.  If you have never seen a Bollywood film or the dance, then check it out on YouTube.  Better yet, here is a video of my dance instructor – the amazing Faith – from a previous class she taught.

I have never taken dance lessons before.  I have never done such weird moves before that apparently doesn’t matter if you look silly doing them!  It definitely is fun and expressive and I need to just have fun with it.  Yes, I do need to learn the arm/hand moves or feet first and then add them together or I get confused.  I’m not that coordinated to do both together right away.  It took a couple of weeks to realize this was ok.  We learn a move slow.  Which is great.  And I get it.  Then we have to do it fast.  I lose it!  Then I just start to get it a bit better when it’s fast and we have to change sides.  Learning on the right – good.  Changing sides to the left – not so great!

Tonight will only be week 4, so I think I am doing all right for never doing something like this before.  The dance has been recorded up to a certain point so we can practice at home.  Perhaps I should do that!  I did it once – but have been busy and then I think about it on Wednesday before class!

All in all it is a lot of fun.  Check out Down Hips Dance Studio if you want to take a class. I love different cultures – especially their music and dancing.

What is Bollywood?
Learn How to Bollywood Dance

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Maple Chicken Curry

09 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in Cooking

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Maple CurryI cannot believe that I have not written about this wonderful dish before!  Probably because I started making it before I created this blog and it is one of the few food that I have never photographed … until today.

This is such a great recipe because if you make it mild even  people who do not like curry or hesitate to try new things will Continue reading →

Tennis Tuesday’s

08 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in exercise

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I have a tennis racket.  It’s been sitting in my closet for a long time.  I’m surprised it wasn’t dusty.  A couple years ago (maybe more then that) I went and played with a few friends from Heritage, but we only went once.  Really, I haven’t played in YEARS!!!    And when I did play I didn’t really know what I was doing and I could improve my game big time!

Last week my friends and I planned to go this week.  It was great.  We didn’t really follow the rules.  One of my friends had never played before so we just hit the ball back and forth and tried to get in as many rallies as we could!  It was a great way to get in exercise, but it didn’t really seem like exercise because it was so much fun.  I do enjoy exercise with others.  It makes it exciting and not as boring.

Julie  – Sue  –  Erin  –  Judi

The four of us in the picture are all friends and we all live in the same building, which is great.  There is also Justin who is taking the picture.  We are looking for another guy to play with us (or girl) to make an even number.  If you are interested, let me know!  We will also have to find a court that has two instead of just one and that we can use for free!

The net is made of fencing.  I guess that is so that the net can be left up all the time.  But as you can see from the picture it causes the ball to get stuck.  It only happened twice.  The first time by Judi and the second time by myself near the end of our playing.

Now we have Tennis Tuesday’s!  I look forward to it.  I’m excited about all of the activeness that I will be doing this summer!  Thank you to my friends for being motivating in getting out there and getting active!

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6 KM

01 Wednesday Jun 2011

Posted by in exercise

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I went out around the Big Block again tonight.  The weather seems to have changed so dramatically the last two days that I forgot to take water with me tonight.  I was fine without it last week, but not tonight!  I didn’t get as much jogging in because of it.  Thankfully the church is on the way home so I stopped in for water.  Saved!  Although, I still walked the rest of the way home!

So how far is it anyway?  A whopping 6.2 KM.  Now for some of you this might not be a big deal, but it is for me! Some of you are probably thinking I’m crazy to go that distance.  I encourage you to get out there and get active! Start with 2 or 3 km.  Anyway, as I drove around I kept guessing how many KM it was going to be.  (I’m not that great at guesstimating distances or crowds or really any type of situation with numbers.)  I thought it would be at least 5k, but didn’t think it would be over 6k!

“Will you really keep the goal of being able to jog it by the end of August?”, you ask.

Great question!  I’m so glad you asked!  Here’s the thing.  6.2 KM is a lot!  Last year I ran in a 5K race and I was dying by the end.  Mind you, we only were training on a 4K route, therefore I wasn’t really set to do the full 5k.  With that, I’m going to change my goal a bit.

The new goal:  To jog 5K of the Big Block.

1 day down and 2 more to go this week!  I really need to get up earlier in the morning before the air is smog filled and sticky and suffocating!  And bring water!

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