Fanno Lodge Has Been Invaded!!!!!!!!!!!

By a bookworm! Dacia Grace is a true book worm and has been since she was about nine months old. She loves her books. A trip to the library is a weekly event. We live just 1/2 mile from our local library....this was one of the HUGE selling points when we bought our house last summer.

When I was a little girl every summer was filled with the local library's reading program. It was a much anticipated time for me. The summer between second and third grade I read over 150 biographies. I still remember reading those and enjoying my "quiet time" in the hot St. Louis afternoons reading in my room by a fan.

I knew that I wanted Dacia Grace to enjoy the summer reading program as well but thought that I would need to wait until she was able to read. Not so. They now have summer reading programs for even the littlest of "readers"...i.e. babies. The prize is a new free book. The parents or the child chose a goal for the summer and they read aloud to achieve the goal.

Well this year, I asked Dacia Grace how many books she would like to read. Her response was so unusual.....I want to read this many Mommy! as she held her hand up to above her head. YEP! She wants to read a stack of books that is as tall as she is! We actually have to wait until the end of the program or until her book stack reaches her height to find out just how many books that will entail. Currently we have read almost 60 books! For a 3 1/2 year old....that's a lot of books!

Currently her favorite book is Oops a Daisy by Claire Freedman. If you have not read the book, stop by the children's section of your local library to take a peak. It is quite cute!

Fish Chowder!!!!

Last night I made a wonderful Fish Chowder.....that is quite economical....you can use whatever you have on hand for the veggies AND a can or two of tuna. I used some "fresh fish" that I had frozen several months ago.....I knew its taste would be sort of flat so I just steamed the fish and added it to the chowder.....so Yummy!

Potato Tuna Chowder (Fish Chowder)
Serves 4 - 6 people

2 1/2 c diced potatoes (divided)
2 c chicken or veggie stock
2 T finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp paprika
Dash of white pepper
1/2 c sliced carrots
1/2 c green beans, cut into pieces
1/2 c sliced celery
3 c milk
1 (6 1/2 oz) can tuna fish, drained and broken into chunks.

1.) Combine 1 c potatoes, chicken stock, onion and salt in large saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
2.) Add sage, paprika and pepper to saucepan; with fork, mash potatoes in saucepan.
3.) Add remaining potatoes, carrots, green beans, celery, and milk to mashed potatoes in saucepan; bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until veggies are tender.
4.) Add fish to saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes, until well heated. Serve at once.

That is the recipe as listed in the book. Now here are my modifications/notes:

1.) Used one medium to large sized Yukon Gold potato.
2.) Since I had no Sage or White Pepper on hand, I used Summer Savory, Oregano, Basil, Marjoram and Black Pepper.
3.) While the potatoes were cooking, I steamed my fish by placing it in a shallow frying pan on a rack and adding some water, fish sauce, garlic and fresh grated ginger. Steamed until fish flaked. Took out and let it cool.
4.) No green beans on hand so I threw in some fresh asparagus, broken, some sliced mushrooms, fresh chopped parsley (coarsely chopped).
5.) Served with grated colby and a Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad.

There are many possibilities with this recipe. You can use any canned fish or oysters that you can find on sale. You can use whatever fresh veggies you have on hand or use some frozen veggies. Don't be limited by what the recipe says....use what you have on hand..... This can be quite economically ladies!

Original recipe from Creative Cooking: Fish and Other Seafood. Ottenheimer Publishers, Inc. 1992. Page 18.

Cheer Hero!

Love the Dacia-isms that come my way on a daily basis....

After catching a floating balloon, Dacia asked me "Am I your cheer hero?!"

What a great word. We should all use cheer hero. It combines the best of two wonderful words.....cheerleader and hero. I pray that as her mommy and as Arthur's wife, I will be their number #1 cheer hero!

Side note: Please keep me in your prayers as I am battling a nasty, nasty cold! Hence no pictures or updates about our vacation. Just trying to keep my family feed and taken care of on a daily basis is a huge challenge!

Home Sweet Home!

We are home from a two week trip to southern California to visit Arthur's family as well as have some family time ourselves. We started on May 7th with a 30 hour train ride from Portland to Los Angeles. We were not sure what to expect from Dacia Grace. She did wonderfully! She had no problem sleeping on the train...neither did Arthur which is no surprise! On the other hand, I had some troubles sleeping....no surprise there either!

I fell in love with riding the rails! I am a big fan of long car trips but riding the rails beats the long road trips in my book. I am ready for another one SOON!

We arrived refreshed and ready to start vacation....not at all jet lagged like normal. Yes, we are some of those people who get jet lagged even travelling in the same time zone.

We went to La Quinta, California which is out by Palm Desert for a few days where we enjoyed the sunshine and the pool. Then it was back to HOT Los Angeles for a few days of family time where we visited Auntie Maxine's workplace....Disneyland and California Adventure. Thank you so much Auntie Maxine!

Then it was Torrey Pines, California which is just a few miles north of La Jolla, California. LOVED IT! We were even able to find the exact place that I had visited while in college...I was there for just an hour or so but fell in love with it....so nice to go back....La Jolla Cove, California. If you are ever able to visit, make sure to look up Brockton Villa which is this wonderful quaint restaurant overlooking the cove. We were able to enjoy the pelicans, the cove, the park and the seals!

Finally it was time to take Arthur's Mom and Dad to Los Vegas. We were prepared for hot Vegas weather. The day before we arrived it was 108 degrees in the shade. The day we arrived it was 69 degrees in the sun and WINDY! So we managed but did not spend as much time in the pool as we had anticipated. We enjoyed the Bellagio fountains and the time together as a family. I am still not that comfortable with all that Dacia Grace's little eyes and ears took in there but I am confident that God will cover her with his grace.

Saturday the 24th we flew back to Portland. The flight was fairly easy and comfortable. But it felt so good to be home....even when we realized that both Arthur and I had come home with an unexpected souvenir and an unwelcome one......a spring cold! UGH!

I will post the pictures soon! I have to recharge the batteries....both the camera and my body ones!

Human Treasures

Here Dacia Grace models her human treasures! This was the only picture that was not so completely blurry....she was very busy twirling in her skirt and dancing and singing for me. She sat down for just a moment with this very pensive look...."I don't think that I have enough human treasures!"

Scissors!

Dacia Grace was so excited that she was a big girl!

Such joy about learning a new thing!

May you always find joy in learning!

Pure Craziness

Okay, this may not be craziness to some people but for me it is......I just went out and bought 50 pounds of white jasmine rice.....now why do would I consider that crazy....well, I just never imagined that I would ever buy that much rice at one time. So for me it is pure craziness...the stuff that other people's lives are made of.....people with much larger families than I. Ah well........

The reason I bought it was because I could not find anything smaller.....I guess that adds to the craziness. When I was out shopping today for the rice, I talked to the grocery store managers to see if they knew what was up with the rice just flying off the shelves.

"If people would stop listening to the paranoia perpetrated by the news media, there would be rice on the shelves" I was told over and over. This just confirms what I have been thinking all week. The real reason the rice is flying off the shelves has more to do with the news media than with a true lack of rice.

It was also confirmed by one of the local wholesale grocer houses (here in Portland, Oregon the public can shop at the wholesale houses just like small business owners and restaurateurs) that another reason for the rice flying off the shelves is because of the price of gas, many distributors are increasing their shipping and delivery rates. It is more cost effective for small business owners and restaurateurs to do their own shopping. They come in and buy everything that they can get their hands on at Costco, Winco, etc. thus causing "a run on rice". He also said that gas prices are causing all of our groceries to increase in price. The news media is failing to report that it is the gas and oil prices that are driving up the grocery prices. Rather they are focusing on the "crisis" and the "shocking" rather than the truth. Hmmmmmm..

So ladies, keep your wits about you. Shop smartly but don't let the news media pull you into the paranoia of the day!

On another note: The shop owner where I purchased the rice wondered if I was a professional weight lifter because I was carrying the bag of rice on my shoulder! I laughed! ME!