Lake Affection Bomb

Jeff had a party for a few his Adrian College football teammates. I made a Devil's Food bomb filled with Hudsonville Lake Affection Ice Cream. Lake Affection is a Limited Edition blue mint swirled with vanilla ice cream. I coated the chocolate cake with ganche and then dusted cooled icing with powdered sugar. The Bulldogs loved didn't leave a crumb behind. OH SO Yummy. Sorry for the blurry pictures, I get so excited about desert.

My Little Elves

HA! For the Christmas season Office Max provides a program to make music videos. Kadie put these together. We had loads of laughs trying out different pictures and selecting the right video.

Enjoy!


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/px1aB3V0pOeJuMvVD7aZ


http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/LigaAFzBawcmnmPtV4zb

Need comfort and Joy

Life has been full of concerns: mammogram retakes (all is well for now), brother-in-law's cancer is spreading, mother had a mini-stroke (looks like she'll recover), my former-students are missing (horrors), and my niece's husband Joe passed away suddenly at age 36. I'm feeling numb.

Hearing, trusting, and responding appropriately have been the subject of my thoughts. I hear and acknowledge, but I don't always trust my feelings or what God is telling me, therefore I don't always respond appropriately. Also, I am guilty of under reaction rather than overreaction.

Speaking of not responding appropriately . . . I saw two movies recently that deal with autism. Those with autism have a difficult time reading emotions and responding appropriately. The two Movies were Adam and Mary and Max. I'm posting a photo from a foreign trailer because it shows both characters in the movie, but the film is English speaking. I really enjoyed Mary and Max. Quirky and poinent. Who hasn't felt at sometime in their life tlike they are on the fringes of society? And then to be struck or marked by something that makes your journey through life difficult, because we are just learning to be a empathetic society . . .

Little things . . .

These are my new mopping shoes I found at Meijer. I where them when I mop and I use them to scrub tough spots or to speed up the drying process.


This one of my "new" lamps and shades. I bought the lamp at the resale shop and I purchased the shade at Hobby Lobby. I bought the lamps and the shades at 50% off.

I haven't gotten around to posting about the dips I made for Thanksgiving. I made a white bean, roasted red pepper, and roasted pea puree. All three are super yummy.

Way to go Meijer for making pumpkin ravioli. I served it with sage walnut butter, a recipe I found in the October 2010, Food Network Magazine.

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 t. honey
1 bay leaf
2 packages of ravioli cheese or squash
6 T. unsalted butter
1/3 fresh sage leaves
1 c. roughly chopped walnuts
3/4 grated Parmesan cheese
Cook ravioli according to directions.
Combine vinegar, honey, and bay leaf in small saucepan until syrupy, 4-5 minutes. Cover to keep warm.
Melt butter in a large skillet, add the sage and walnuts. Cook until the nuts are toasted about 3 minutes. Increase heat to high and add a ladle of pasta water. Add ravioli and toss to coat, add water add needed. Remove from heat and toss with Parmesan cheese. Serve with balsamic syrup drizzled on top. YUMMMMMM

Part 2 Gingerbread with Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwiches

My sister-in-law gave me this nifty mini rolling pin. I used it to make little gingerbread pumpkins which I filled with the pumpkin ice cream.

Hudsonville Pumpkin Ice Cream

Hudsonville Ice Cream comes from Holland Michigan. It is some of the yummiest, creamiest ice cream available. They have a few limited editions available at the moment. Including this wonderful Pumpkin Ice Cream. The ice cream begs to be served with imagination. I put some of mine between my special gingerbread. My gingerbread is ultra soft and soulfully spicy.

I'll report later if these autumnal ice cream sandwiches make the grade during this true Indian Summer. It was in the low 60's today, and down-right hot in the sun if you were working.

This is a pic of Randy and me with Jeff at his LAST home game on November 6. It was a sad day for us. He isn't a starter, but he played. He hopes to be a coaching assistant next year. He has an analytical mind and understands the esoteric nature of the game. Yes he has a mullet. His hair was in cornrows, a fro etc. He likes to keep it interesting. I say get wild with it while you can you'll be growning up soon enough.

The Veteran I Knew was a Loyal Soldier to . . .

This year marked the tenth anniversary of my father's death. He has been on my mind a lot.

My family takes a lot of pride in my father's military career. They went with him as he zigzagged across the country and to Europe as he served and pursued a military career. Beyond visits to the post to buy groceries at the commissary and goods at the PX, I have no memories of life connected to military service. But I feel better off for knowing the man my father became after his military service and I know that his time in the Army helped to form the man he became.

When I think of my father I think of loyalty.

He was fiercely loyal to his country. In addition to his military service he was active in politics and served on the boards of many community organizations.

I knew him to be a soldier for Christ. He was fiercely loyal to his church and dedicated himself to cultivating a spiritual life. While he was a man of unique character (too few like him these days) he had his foibles. He had his sorrows and struggles which he owned with humility, and then tried to correct in the ways he knew best.

In the last years of his life he took the time to babysit my children. Those moments allowed us to have some spontaneous and soulful discussions over those things troubling me or him. Sometimes after bearing his soul he would apologize for burdening me with his concerns. I suppose I might have had a surprised expression on my face, only because I was feeling honored by his willingness to disclose his thoughts to me.

Kadie was only person I talked to on October 21. She quietly sent love to me. Like her grandmothers she remembers the important dates (I'm still a fledgling in such matters). Like her grandfather, Kadie is fiercely loyal to friends, family and God. Like him she is competitive, hardworking, and holds a deep abiding faith.

My father was given religious training growing up, and I once thought his military service, helped him to be courageous for Christ. It made him able to confront the spiritual enemy. Perhaps it was the other way around. Perhaps it was his faith in Christ that helped him to be a good American soldier. Certainly he was a better soldier at the end of his life, following his Commander courageously into death, knowing the battle was ending and that peace waited ahead.

HA HA HAlloween

Kids if I embarrassed you, well I'm sort of sorry . . . I'm over it.

Go have some scary flashbacks here.

I have been thinking a lot about fears lately. Fear is beneficial in that it protects us from harm. But some fear is irrational, can result in stress, anxiety, phobias, avoidance, neglect.

I have a fear of Numbers - Measuring and sums or bottom lines seem constricting. I do have a favorite equation that is considered a paradox. In the equation one can see our relationship to GOD. It is a sacred equation.

I have a fear of Wasting Food - It seems unconscionable to waste food. However, sometimes throwing away food points to the Divine. There are times when food seems so miraculously abundant that it reminds me of Jesus feeding the five thousand. We seem to throw away more scraps than food brought in to share.

I have a fear of Wasting Time - I think people don't have a healthy respect for time.

I have a fear Appearing Ostentatious - I abhor inflated ego and appearing like I care more about stuff than people.

Snapshots of the Prosaic

Yeah, I know this blog looks like a lot of fluff. I don't spend a lot of time ruminating over deep philosophical issues, hashing over my griefs, and voicing my concerns. I do that off the page - in small doses. Fact is God has given me the eyes and heart to appreciate the little things. There is only now and NOW provides me with sweet moments.

Today I took a walk with Jake and Aireanna down Front Street. It is the prettiest street in town this time of year.

On our walk we saw Kitler. He's not very friendly.

Jake brought over one of his new belt buckles for me to see.

My cat must have had some guilt because she jailed herself in my planter.

I forgot to share that I went raspberry picking a few weeks ago. So I can have raspberry, Asian pear, candied walnuts, and blue cheese on my salad. Yummmmmm

I found some old lunch sack puppets I made of a Pharisee, Timothy, and Paul. I love their feet.

I painted these old gears to use as bases for my bowling ball "jack-o-lanterns." These make me happy!

Gwen gave me the coolest decorative eggplants to hang on my porch. They are really elegant.
Yay for fall.