Requested recipes

NANAIMO BARS

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup graham wafer crumbs
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

Melt first 3 ingredients in the top of a double boiler. Add egg and vanilla, stir to cook and thicken.
Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press firmly into an ungreased 8x8 pan.

Second Layer

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons cream or milk
2-2 1/2 tablespoons vanilla custard powder or instant vanilla pudding powder
2 cups icing sugar

Cream butter, cream, custard powder and icing sugar together well. Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer.

Third Layer

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate (1 ounce each)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Melt chocolate and butter over low hear. Cool. When cool, but still liquied, pour over the second layer and chill in refrigerator.


AND I'm too lazy to type out the recipe for the homemade samoas bars. SO check it out at Bakingbites.com (homemade girl scout cookies: Samoas Bars.

Not that this is appetizing but I have "liquid snot" running out of my nose and need to go find some medicine.

Good night

How I became twice the woman I use to be...and maintain my weight

Yes, it's true. I feel like I am truly twice the woman Dave married. I like to reinforce to people that it is NOT easy maintaining this weight of mine, it takes alot of work. And below are two examples of how I maintain my weight.

Nanaimo Bars!
The husband of a dear friend of mine had major surgery and when I asked what I could do to help them, my friend said that Nanaimo bars would surely make her husband feel better and help decrease her stress. Just before I left for the store to get three of the ingredients I was lacking up home, Sheila called and when I told her that I was going to make Nanaimo Bars, she said, "Wouldn't it be easier to just pick some up?" Well, I'm not in Canada any more, and I can't just go to Costco and pick some up. I actually have to make them from scratch because they are something that are Truly Canadian! They are so common, that Sheila and Darrell had no idea that they were a Canadian delicacy.

Next are something that are Truly American.

Samoas (at least a homemade bar version of the Girl Scout classic)

For my fellow Canadians, what do you think of when you think of Girl Scout cookies? The option of vanilla or chocolate wafer cookies right? Well, was I surprised when I experienced my first February down in the USA and a list and pictures of the Girl Scout cookies to preorder. My favorite is the Samoa, a donut shaped shortbread cookie topped with a layer of coconut and caramel topped with a drizzling of chocolate, and resting on a thin bed of chocolate. I have been known to order MANY boxes with plans to freeze them to enjoy throughout the year...they may freeze well, but they don't last throughout the year... (I don't know who gave me that idea)

Well, I found a recipe online and had to try it out. If I make them again, I would make alterations like halfing the shortbread portion because the layer was just too thick. Nicole said that it tasted like a Samoa but I found it to be lacking in flavor (maybe because of the excess cookie). But as I have discovered over the years, I need more seasoning/flavoring than I use to need to be satisfied but, I could feel the richness of the bars after eating one...okay, two.

Remember as a child creating suction with a cup and thinking how neat it was to have the cup stuck to your face...the longer the better? ...come on, I know I wasn't the only one...

Well, it's one of those things that doesn't get old with kids, it's a classic, like spinning around until you get dizzy, or jumping rope. Here's Blade with his marking. I'm just glad that he didn't leave it on so long that he had a "hickey".

Later I realized that a hickey would have been better than what Blade added to his face later in the day. While I was talking with Sheila last night, he was playing with a dining room chair and the chair flipped and his tooth met the inside of his lower lip...luckily it didn't cut through and there were no loose teeth, just alot of blood. But Blade is a tough boy and minutes later he was fine and ready to jump around again. The lip is abit swollen today but not too bad.

Something Canadian eh?

Did you know that Canadians like their potato pearls? I didn't but apparently they like them so much that a company down here packages them especially for the Canadians, notice the maple leaf AND the English/French wording. I haven't seen that for long time!

see...directions in French and English.

My friend Krissi brought them over yesterday because she knew that I would get a kick out of it. Her husband, Kevin, is a food broker and when he saw this at his company, he thought of me...of course. I have the greatest friends! And I do love potatoe pearls!

Here are the missing pictures.
I don't know why the pictures didn't show up the first time but now you will have to coordinate the pictures and comments yourself because that's just too much for me to do right now... sorry.

I won't flatter myself...

So, here is the picture of me scared to death and wondering how I am going to get over the railing...

...this is reality, nothing touched up here...

...and another view...

It doesn't look that high but, when I was standing up there it was definitely TOO high!

Chay is just playing around in the next shot earlier he had the same stance as Dave and was holding the plywood at the same time.

Another Blade injury earlier this past week end. Blade was doing his spinning around using up energy and unfortunately found out that the freezer handle on the fridge is the same level as his eye. Ouch! Alittle swelling and bruising occured later but, due to icing the area for a minimum of 10 minutes every hour and keeping the head elevated, the bruising and swelling was kept to a minimum.

Again, Blade is such a tough kid. He was right back at it later and his eye didn't even bother him. He cries for a few minutes and then he's off to do whatever a young boy needs to do. It's amazing, even if he gets hurt, it doesn't matter, he'll do the same thing again...like he says "I'll do it this time..."

If only I could be more like Blade. There's no such thing as failure, and you don't waste time thinking about what wasn't accomplished...you just do what you were trying to do before something annoying got in your way.

This is how we do it...in SLC

(there's really 5 separate posts for this 1 entry... so continue on even though it looks like the end)

I finally completed the faux painting on the upper walls and ceiling! Dave and Chay worked together high on the boards to move more boards and the plywood to higher levels and back and forth. And then I just dove in and did what had to be done. There is a picture on Dave's camera that shows me about to move from one scaffolding to the next and it looks just like how I felt...scared and about to cry... Luckily for me, that camera is downstairs at the moment.

Blade's teacher "made my day" ( as Dave puts it), by commenting that everyone is jealous of Blade's lunches and the kids say "I want my lunch to be like that". I keep it simple, I'm not recreating Picaso or cartoons with rice.

Friday is half a day for Chay and there wasn't any snowboarding after school and so Dave and I took the boys to Discovery Gateway. The meter had a max of 2 hours on it so we had our time limit. Our great friends Kris and Kevin gave us a 6 month pass for Christmas.

All boys like to play with water, and my "3" weren't any exception...

...climbing the walls...

...and the inspiration for the title of this entry...
At the Neilson's people are on real horses but, here in SLC, this is as close to getting on a horse as we get. Sad but true...

This is like my favorite "The Price is Right Game", PLINKO. There were different pictures in the different sections on the bottom and Chay had me pick the picture that the ball would land in. It was a great way to get me involved in the activities, and I was taking it seriously...it's a good thing money wasn't involved.

The section with the balls simulated a beehive and how tunnels connected everything and Chay was turning a wheel that would move the balls from the bucket Blade put balls into and then a suction would carry the balls to the hive.

What is it with males and turning wheels/cranks? Dave was having fun doing his share turning wheels to turn other things...

The rock climbing became easy and so Chay and Blade had to make it more challenging...

Special news break... Chay and Blade got along well the entire time we were at Discovery Gateway, and Chay did a great job making sure that Blade was having a great time.

The wait for a chance to pilot the helicopter was insane because of two girls that wouldn't get out. What is it with parents that have no consideration for others and the concept of taking turns, especially when there is a line of other kids waiting?

All the fun things to do at Discovery Gateway, and we had the hardest time tearing Blade away from playing on the railing. I'm sure that it's because it reminded him of being at home playing on his private scaffolding.

AND we completed our adventure with time to spare...

It's my party...and then some...

Thank you to all of you that added positively to my birthday! Family and friends is what is it all about. I had a nice relaxing birthday and it was complete by talking with Mom and Dad, Doug, Sheila and Sharon at different times during the day.

Chay picked out a nice chocolate cake for me and the sugar flowers were so nice that I could have worn them as a corsage if I needed one.

Mentally I don't feel my age but, in the past week I have noticed that my eyes have taken on a different look...an Asian slant sort of thing (I'm turning Japanese...yes I think so....).

Chay also picked out a beautiful orchid for me, I love orchids. I still have the one from last year and I'm hoping that it will blossom again this year.

Nicole had been craving chocolate covered strawberries since Valentine's Day and last night my dear friend Krissi made her happy by delivering my birthday present...which included 3 chocolate covered strawberries! Very delicious!

We picked Alana up on Saturday and we ate a lot while she was here. We went to Chinese Gourmet one day and then adventured out and tried a restaurant we haven't been to before. We have done that before and have been disappointed in the past but this time we were pleasantly surprised, and we were all so stuffed when we left.

We started out with an appetizer...

...attacked it...

...and kept attacking it...Nice homemade rolls with a cinnamon/honey butter (?) There was something different in the butter but, I couldn't quite place it but the kids seemed to enjoy it!
We left with leftover containers of food and that's always nice because it means snacks later. The manager also came to the table while we were eating to make sure things were going well, and since it was our first time there, he gave us a package of "Texas peanuts" and a coupon for a free appetizer for "next" time. We discovered however, that after the buns and eating an appetizer, that's pretty much all you need.

Then we played games...Pictionary, which is a favorite of mine from the BYU days, Mad Gab, which is definitely Alana's game because dang, she can get those sayings quickly without any help, and a chopstick game which tested our Japanese genes. And I must say, I received the most penalties for dropping my log before I made it to the tower...and that is why I eat with a fork...

Chay thought that we should have some heart shaped cookies for Valentine's Day and so he found a recipe, put out the ingredients, and Blade and I made the cookies.

...Someone "broke my heart"...

How does she study like this?

...but it must work because she does well in school.

I recieved some bento box supplies and was very excited to try the egg shapers. (sorry Doug, it's back to food again but, it's Japanese stuff so it might take you back to the years you spent in Japan)
The peeled hard boiled eggs before placement into the "shapers".

A cold bath for 10 minutes.

...the revealing....

AND our fish and car shaped eggs! I likey!
(I'm copying that phrase from Angie who obviously got that from Grandpa!)

Blade's lunch with the new toys (I'm a novice now but just wait...)

I made some quick cookies for a party at work and my trusty assistant was there beside me. He helped mix and was in charge of the colored sugar. He knew exactly how he wanted the sugar and did not need nor want any help from me. He is becoming quite the baker!

(can you tell that he's MY son?...and I think we STILL have the same hair style)