One Local Summer: Meal 1

Okay, so I'm participating in an online group called One Local Summer. You make at least one meal a week from local ingredients and post the results on your blog. Since we live in farm country, it's not too hard to eat locally, and it's something I've wanted to do more of. I like the idea of supporting my local farm stands and grocers.

Our first meal was as local as I could make it, but it certainly wasn't organic. We had burgers from the Masonic Home farmer's market (Elizabethtown) on Martin's potato rolls and chips, both from Chambersburg. We also bought lettuce at the Masonic Home farmer's market for the salad (no local salad dressing, we didn't get that in time). Other things that we had that weren't entirely local was Hatfield sausage (Hatfield PA), A Treat root beer (from Allentown), and corn on the cob from Delaware. I kind of got all of this together on short notice -- hopefully I'll be able to do better next week.

Dun Dun DUUUUUUUNNNNNN

Hello folks, this is Amy with all your retarded and random news for the day.

Anywho, I was watching G4 last week at the beach with my cousin Justin, and we saw this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs

It's really funny when you say something before he turns around. Try it. I know you're sorely tempted. Just give in. It will make you feel so much better!

"Think of it, little friends! All of the power, the influence you could have. I am there for you, faith in your heart or not. If the wider path be dammed, then so be it. We've got nachos, where they offer breadsticks! I've got answers for what you lose sleep over! No more confusion, fear, or anything to make you question the value of it all! All of this for only a small registration fee! What do you say, dear friends?"
~Senior Diablo
SQUEE'S Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors

Have a happy bumble bee of a life!

Luau 2007

It was impromptu luau time for us this past weekend! I'm making it sound more exciting than it really was. Onil and I were discussing what we wanted to grill and we decided to do steaks and shrimp. It was Onil's big idea to make it a luau theme, so we went to the party store and got a couple of tiki torches and some flower leis. Anna got a straw island hat. We all sat out in the yard while we grilled the steaks and shrimp, along with sausage, pineapple and peppers. Because we're total dorks we took a bunch of pictures, too. You can click here for a brief slideshow. Also, Kitty loves Anna's hat. Onil said she was staring at it for like twenty minutes this morning.

Next barbecue theme: Cowboy Rodeo!

On a side note, I would just like to give big ups to my husband for his weight loss efforts. Back in April he went to the doctor for some bloodwork and found that he had high cholesterol and was dangerously close to becoming diabetic. Since then he has drastically cut back his sugar and fat intake. For the most part, the only sugar he eats is in fruit. He also switched to brown rice and whole grain bread and pasta and cut out his sugary drinks, instead drinking tons of water. Here are his before and after pictures. Whoooo! Go, baby!


BEFORE: November 2006



AFTER: June 2007

This Just In: Ronald McDonald Attacks Manhattan!

I was surfing around and found this picture, and thought I'd share it with you. It's from the 2005 Macy's Parade, but it looks like Ronald McDonald has decided to take over from Ghostbuster's Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and conquer Manhattan.



I found the image on this site, which has plenty of other cool images: Satan's Laundromat

Asher's Graduation Party - Revised

This past weekend was my nephew Asher's high school graduation party. We had a lot of fun and some great food. It was so good to sit around with my mom and my sisters again and make each other laugh. Jeanne had everyone cracking up with her imitation of my mom putting on her Aquanet hairspray in the 60s (with her bouffant) and of mom complaining when we went on the boardwalk in Sea Isle City NJ that the shore was just horrible for her hair. I brought up the story of my sister, Bev, and her husband, Bob, going to Home Depot for something. When they got out to the car Bev said, "Do you have your nuts?" To which Bob replied, "Yes, do you have your tits?" Good times! My mom joined in on the fun -- for some reason or other she started talking about a rapist in Center City Philadelphia who, after raping his victims, will suck on their toes. This was truly disturbing and really brought the room down. Not because a guy is sucking women's toes, but because my mom was talking about it. Um... gross much? On the plus side, she was totally flummoxed that someone would do that as a sex act, so at least it's not like she told us that she's got a new boyfriend and that's what they're doing. I think that would send me screaming from the room. Ew. I just really creeped myself out.

Anyway, Onil didn't really take very many pictures (and I guess I didn't either, but I don't really like the camera). The only picture of Asher is in the accomplishments picture. You'll see a photo of him in his band uniform on the table with his diploma and awards. And there are no shots of the guests. Enjoy what little is there, though, and look how cute my mommy is! I love this picture of her.

Click here to see a brief slide show of Asher's Graduation party.

Faith's Birthday 2007

This past weekend was my big birthday weekend, and it was great (for me, anyway)! Here's some of the stuff we did:

We started off Saturday morning by going strawberry picking. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of us actually picking strawberries because it was a spur of the moment thing and we didn't think to bring the camera, but here's a brief slideshow displaying the fruits (ha!) of our labor. I froze the strawberries individually and put them in a bag, and Onil's been using them to make his awesome slushies. He just blends up frozen fruit and some milk, and it comes out like an awesome fruit milkshake. He made a strawberry banana slushie for me on Sunday and it was delish.

On Saturday, we also:

cooked chicken on the grill,


opened presents,


and had cake.


Here's a slideshow of the cake and presents, and here's a boring video of me blowing out the candles on the cake:



As a side note, I have to say that I feel really good about this cake. When I first saw this recipe in one of those little supermarket checkout recipe books from Betty Crocker, I was very intrigued. I love anything with bananas in it, so this was right up my alley. Unlike some foodie snobs I know (I'm looking at you, Lita), I have no problem with boxed cake mixes. Go ahead and call me Sandra Lee, but using a boxed cake mix means that there are less ingredients to deal with and I don't notice any awful "boxed cake mix taste". However, the big problem with this recipe was the fat content; I knew 20 grams of fat would make me want to throw up. So I cut out the 2 tablespoons of oil and increased the banana count to 3. I also used egg whites instead of whole eggs. Then I used fat free sweetened condensed milk, light coconut milk and fat free half and half, followed up by some fat free whipped cream for the topping. I don't really know how many grams of fat I saved by doing this, but I'm sure it was a lot. Also, we didn't have that "I'm so full I'm going to throw up" feeling, which is always a plus in my book. Okay, go ahead and scoff, but it was really tasty.

Another cool thing that happened this past weekend was that Onil got his learner's permit and is now on his way to learning how to drive! We went out Sunday morning to a somewhat empty parking lot and he drove around to get the feel of the car. He's not ready for the roads just yet, but he did great for his first time behind the wheel. Anna took a video from the back seat of Onil's first driving experience, and here it is. At the end you'll hear me crack up and demand the camera from Anna, because I saw this sign and wanted to take a picture:



Here's the video of Onil driving:






If you're unable to see the videos I've imbedded here, click the following links to access the videos on You Tube: Faith's birthday and Onil's first driving lesson.