Under the Table and Dreaming

I love that (most of the time) all of my kids can play nicely with one another. It just so happened that today they decided to play under their table. I thought it was cute!

Brendan gets a buzz

This is the first summer that I have decided to give Brendan a buzz. His hair just grows so fast and it really is hard for me to talk him into getting a haircut. So instead of fight him and have to coerce him into getting haircuts as often as I cut Neil's hair, I buzzed it.

He is tryingto keep his mouth shut here to kep the hair put. It really took me a long time to get used to it and I think it makes him look really old. Ok...another confession is that I had just rented The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and watched it. With Brendan's big brown eyes, doesn't he look like Shmuel? I'll have to admit that it was pretty eery for the first few days.

Cruise Night in the Amazon

This past weekend we had a ward activity where we went to the Amazon on a cruise. It was really fun, but stressful at the same time because I was in charge of all of the food. They have this activity every year and have gone to places like Alaska and Italy. Since their first idea for the menu was fajitas of some sort and I spoke up saying that they don't eat tortillas nor know what they are in Brasil, I was put in charge of food. Note to self: never open your mouth! But we had a really fun time making Feijoada and Farofa. There was a request that we serve a hunk of meat (even though I would have preferred to eat Feijoada as the main dish instead of a side) so I found a really yummy Brazillian garlic and lime marinade. We then broiled the meat for about 8-10 minutes on each side. We got quite the compliments on everything (even from people that had also served in Brasil on their missions) so I just thought I would share this all with everyone...

we got to add a piece of grilled pineapple, too...

and the salad was much more than this.

This picture is my practice round for my family.

Mmmmm....yummy!

Brazilian Garlic Lime Marinade
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp. coarse salt (kosher or sea)
¾ cup lime juice
½ cup white grape juice
2 TB red wine vinegar
1-2 tsp tobacco sauce
3 TB fresh snipped flat leaf parsley
2 scallions finely chopped (use all of the green, too)
1 TB chopped fresh rosemary or mint

Place the garlic and salt in a bowl and mash to a paste with the back of a spoon. Add the lime juice, grape juice, vinegar, tobacco sauce, parsley, scallions, and rosemary and stir until all the salt is dissolved. The marinade tastes best used within a few hours of making.

Makes 2 cups enough to marinate 2-3 pounds of meat

Feijoada (Black Bean & Meat Stew)
8 main course servings
Beans
2 lb dried black beans picked over
¼ cup olive oil
1 large Spanish onion chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh garlic
4 bay leaves
12 cup water
2 ham hocks

Adobo
¼ cup ground cumin
¼ cup ground coriander
¼ cup kosher salt

2 TB ground cayenne pepper
1 TB adobo-style seasoning

Meat
2 TB olive oil
1 lb breakfast sausage links
1 lb smoked sausage links
1 lb chorizo sausage
1 lb beef tenderloin cut 1" cubes
1 lb pork tenderloin cut 1" cubes

For Serving
8 cup hot cooked white rice

Make the Beans: In a large bowl, add the beans and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Let the beans soak in the refrigerator overnight. Drain.Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 8 minutes.Meanwhile, make the Adobo: In small bowl, whisk together cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne, and adobo seasoning.Add the garlic and bay leaves to the onion and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beans, water, ham hocks, and half of the adobo. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender, about 2 hours. Remove the ham hocks and pull and shred the meat. Add the meat back to the stew and discard the bones. (The stew can be made up to this point up to 3 days ahead.)Make the Meat: In a large bowl, toss the sausages with the remaining adobo.Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Working in batches, brown the sausages and transfer them to a plate. Roughly chop the sausages and stir them into the stew. Return the skillet to high heat and, working in batches, brown the beef and pork and add them to the stew.Return the stew to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes more.When ready to serve, arrange a mound of rice in the center of 8 plates and spoon some of the stew over the top of each. Sprinkle with the farofa and chopped scallion and garnish with orange wedges.

Farofa
1 cup chopped bacon
½ cup chopped Spanish onion
½ cup tapioca
8 TB unsalted butter
¼ cup chopped scallions
Kosher salt to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until its fat has rendered. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add tapioca and cook, stirring, until toasted. Add the butter and cook, stirring, until absorbed. Add the eggs and scallion and cook, stirring, until scrambled. Season with salt, to taste. Transfer to the farofa to a bowl and let cool slightly. (Makes about 2 cups)

P.S. Couldn't have pulled this all together without the help from my husband and friend Maria...THANK YOU!!!

Long time no blog...

A million things happened during the month of May...and I thought about blogging them...and never got around to it. So here is an update:

Brendan just got back from the Father and Son camp out this past weekend. It was the first time that he has gone and spent the night and he was pretty apprehensive about it all. When I got up the next morning I found his blanket sitting on the couch in our family room I was hoping that he survived the night ok. But he had a GREAT time and loved it. He did say that he missed me though and that makes me feel important. They went to Ensign Ranch (that famous one that we were stopped next to on our way to Maple Valley) and rode a horse, went in a canoe, went fishing, got to see a snake...all things boys and I heard that they threw lots of rocks-not at each other, but into the water. :) At family scripture study we have been letting the kids read a lot more. They love to repeat what we read, but lately Brendan has been wanting to read by himself. He tells us about the lions and zebras and everything else. What is funny about that is that we have been in the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi. Maybe he understands it better than us and is interpreting it into our language?

Eliza is such a beautiful princess. While Dad and Brendan were gone we got together with some friends and had a girls night with our girls (and baby boys, of course). We stayed up late talking about Fancy Nancy and eating chocolate cake at 10:00pm and scrapbooking...and just giggling! She is just so cute these days. Her eyes (which hid behind her hair most of the time) are such a deep, beautiful brown. I love looking into them. She has such the sense of humor, too. I can often find her in her room surrounded by books and reading one out loud. And if you interrupt her reading time she gets really upset. (She must be related to me because I am the same way when I get into a good book.) Her favorites are still Fancy Nancy and Curious George.  Sometimes she even falls asleep! I'm glad that she loves learning so much. The other day I was opening up the curtain in the morning and we get the bright morning sun through our windows in the morning. She said, "No, it's too shiny!" The sun was really bright but I don't know if she knows that word, yet. I don't know how she couldn't know that word because she has mastered so many others. It is fun to see her reading the scriptures and the hymnal at church. She will point out letters and gets so excited that she is recognizing them. I am pretty excited, too. Oh and something else is that she is on this kick where she wakes up and asks for Wheat Thins (specifically). I am ok with this as long as she doesn't go back to asking for chocolate pudding...Cwazy gwill! Favorite movie by far, right now, has to be Peter Pan. She loves it when they sing Following the Leader.

Lincoln is on all fours-no crawling yet, but I know that it is just around the corner! And he is eating solid foods now. When I say solid, I mean solid. He is anti spoon and it really is driving me crazy! I have made all of my own baby food with Brendan and Eliza and was all geared up to start with Lincoln (I have frozen mango cubes in the freezer) and he won't have anything to do with pureed stuff. He wants to grab something and put it in his mouth by himself or for me to put it in with my finger. He gags and throws up EVERYTHING else. This has been kind of hard for me...but I am learning-AGAIN-that every child is different and has their opinions about everything very early on. I love his giggle though. I find him laughing with the kids so much. They get a kick out of it, too. My heart has taken a picture a couple of times when I look at them playing together, giggling together, and communicating on their own level with each other. I really can feel a little bit of heaven in my home and that is a good feeling. It makes me feel like I am doing something right.

Neil is almost done with his classroom school year. We made a paper chain a couple of weeks ago and the kids love tearing one link off every day that he gets home. This is his last week of lectures and then next week is finals. YEAH! We are so proud of him. And he still finds time each week to go to his garage sales and get screaming deals! He has actually made some money reselling some things. The kids love to see what he brings home for them from the yard sales. I think that they think it is the coolest store or something. He is amazing and we are excited to honor him on Father's Day in a couple of weeks.

Life is good and we laugh a lot!

Random Pictures from May

Brendan is starting to write his letters. He was so proud of his B!

Eliza is starting to write, too...only this month it has been on herself!
It took a week+ to wear off

We sure are glad that she loves her baby brother so much. Lincoln is getting so big. We love his even bigger smiles!