Sorry little blog

I have been neglecting you. But I have kept you in mind so here goes a week's worth of life in one tidy post. And a peek at why the below pose is Cyler's favorite.

Chocolates in bed Mother's day morning. Soren made me a Borax crystal heart and Ellery wrote and performed a song for me. Cyler found Celaborelle Phoenician Buffet and we ate there. Check out the Shabeit, Labni and Khubez--$8.95 pp all you can eat, fresh from the menu. M!

African Arts night at Ellery's school. They just received 50 African drums from grant $ so I donned my Ghanian traditional dress and entered the tasting table recipe contest--and won. yay

Moroccan Chicken Tagine al Janna
Serves: A hungry nomadic family and a few guests visiting their tent. Their beloved Arabian horses who sleep in the tent with them always try to eat the apricots!

5 lbs chicken pieces
2 lg yellow onions, chopped
2 sticks butter
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lb dried apricots (or less if you prefer)
10 Tbsp honey (more if you like it sweeter)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ peeled almonds
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Oil

In a large pot, melt butter. Fry chopped onions till soft, and add chicken pieces, salt, pepper, turmeric, and cinnamon sticks. Add enough water to cover chicken (about 2 C). Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer till chicken is done, adding water if necessary. Remove the chicken pieces.

Add apricots and simmer for 15 min. Add ground cinnamon and honey, stir and cook till sauce has honey-like consistency. Add more honey if necessary.

When sauce is almost ready, sauté almonds in oil over low heat. Drain most of the oil from pan and toast sesame seeds in the remaining oil.

Return chicken to pot and reheat. Place chicken in a serving sheet, pour sauce on top. Top with almonds and sesame seeds.

Serve with couscous!

My friend Becky had a bday lunch at Sushi Sam's--we laughed and ate and laughed. I wish I could do that everyday. How is Sacramento Becky?

Thursday is gymnastics and then Irish Dance. Does 2 consecutive, demanding hobbies in one night constitute as abuse? I wonder. But it's convenient.

Irish Dance tip--to help little ones keep their arms in place, put a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" notebook paper under each arm. They have to squeeze their arms against their bodies to keep it from falling while dancing. Also, have them hold a quarter in each hand so they keep their hands in a soft fist.

This weekend was our church's men's camping event. When I asked Cyler why he didn't want to go he said that only 1/2 the priesthood was going to be there (ok, now roll eyes at the subtle non-complicity with systematic gender segregation). When pressed about why he really didn't want to go, he said it was like camping in an ant infested Walmart refugee camp. He's somewhat (ok, a lot) of a camping snob. So our gender integrated family went to Cleburne State Park with our friends the Miles'and I saw fireflies for the first time! Magical.

We also did the safari drive through Fossil Rim and fed giraffes from our car.

We swam and hiked and sang songs around the campfire while Cyler or I played the guitar. "I can see clearly now," "SpongeBob Squarepants Campfire song," "Hey Lolly," "Brown Eyed Girl" was the repetoire. This was the first time I cooked mainly on top of the fire.

Camping Menu/Tips:

Grilled chicken legs--tip: At home, place drumsticks, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and fresh rosemary in a ziploc bag. By the time you get your site set up, they are ready to grill over the fire.

Tinfoil veggies--tip: At home, cut up veggies (potatoes, onion, corn, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli) and put in Ziploc. At campsite, drizzle olive oil, salt, garlic and rosemary in the bag and shake. Place 1C in each double folded foil "nest" and partially close top leaving a small opening for steam to escape. Both are done in 30 min on a grate over the fire.

Eggs, saugage, hashbrowns (on the propane stove)

Hoagies, chips, pickles (take 3-sided costco box for dry goods like bread. Put in the car at the end of the night to keep away from raccoons and critters.)

Venison chili--tip: make the spice mix at home and put in a plastic baggie. M!

And thank you to Doug at Showdog who named my latest Showdog litter--the girls were named Tipitina and Tchoupitoula. The boy is Dr. Longhair. Names inspired by a New Orleans juke joint.