Fair time
We haven’t been to the state fair in a couple of years, but we thought we should take Hannah.
We took her to see lots of animals.
We introduced her to lots or different foods. Such as Wisconsin cheddar cheese nuggets and mozzarella cheese sticks.
Bill and Justin tried pulled pork parfaits and brisket parfaits. It is layered meat, barbeque sauce, and mashed potatoes. They liked them. These are new items at the fair this year.
I tried fried banana pudding. The pudding was on the bottom. The banana was rolled in a thin layer of pastry, then deep fried. It was pretty good.
We also watched the pig races.
OC is home
We moved Will into the dorms at OC on Tuesday.
He didn’t have nearly the amount of stuff that I remember taking to school.
We didn’t move him far, but it brought back a lot of memories of my mom bringing me to OC. She took me 850 miles from home and I only knew about 3 other students. At the time my mom wasn’t very impressed with the campus.
I also thought a lot about a mother and a father that went back to China and left their daughter Hannah to live with our family this year.
I’m glad OC is home.
Noodles
My classes made noodles last week.
I’ve never made noodles from scratch before, so I made some on Monday night at home before the lab on Thursday.
When I made them at home, I cut them by hand, but at school I borrowed a friend’s pasta cutter. It’s really pretty easy. It reminds me of making pie frust.
More food lab results
Last week, Melissa Norwood, who I met last fall at Thanksgiving Day in the City, came and taught my students how to decorate cupcakes. These were some of the best.
Before spring break we made pies. I hardly eat anything they make, but this group of students brought strawberry rhubarb filling for their pies. Rhubarb anything is my favorite. It was so good.
The road less traveled
The only thing I don’t like about my new job is the drive. It normally takes me 25-30 min. to get back and forth to work. The fastest way to work is using the interstate system. I’ve found an alternate route that takes me past hay, sod and beef farms. It only takes about 5 min. longer, but I’m sure it cuts down on my stress level. Yesterday when I drove home in the snow it seemed extra powerful.
This is what 3 to 4.5″ of snow looks like in our front yard.
This is what the backyard looks like.
Time for cooking
I’m enjoying my new job. Some of the things we’ve made are rolled out sugar cookies, spaghetti, we made the sauce from scratch, brownies, pizza, pretzels, taco salad and fruit smoothies.
Here’s some of the pretzels.
We made pumpkin pies, starting from a raw pumpkin. We roasted the seeds, then roasted the pumpkin, made the filling from the roasted pumpkin, and made pie crusts from scratch.
I had a new friend from church I met at Thanksgiving Day in the City, come and talk about being a baker. She brought cupcakes and had edible sugar my students could sprinkle on the cupcakes. She’s coming back in March to teach them how to decorate.
I meant to take pictures of everything we cooked, but sometimes I got busy and forgot.
Almost white Christmas
I took this picture Christmas morning at my parents. It was pretty warm while we were there, so there wasn’t much snow.
Christmas means family
Our first Christmas dinner was with my mom’s side of the family the 21st in WI. This is Jemma with her great grandma, Grace Harrison.
This is my mom with her sister Sharon Schaefer.
My mom playing a game with Jemma and my nephew Ethan.
Mason and Ethan hanging out with Jemma.
Friends from Brazil
Thais and Bruno are members of the church in Campinas, Brazil. We met them this summer while in Brazil. We spent quite a bit of time with them in Brazil because they speak English.
They are in the states for their first wedding anniversary. Bruno’s brother also lives in Moore.
We got to see them at church on Sunday, then spend part of the day on Monday with them. We took them to Sonic, Braum’s and Dollar Tree. We also got to relax at our house. It was great spending time with them.
Puppies
I started dog sitting for my sister. She has 4 dogs, so we are taking care of one for her. Little did I know that she was going to have babies. Three to be exact. Now I have 5 dogs!