friends, friends, friends...

A really randon pic of friends, family, cousin and girl we just met- posing for a team basketball picture in the living room :)
Lovely Hershey gals reuniting at Liberty Park in SLC
Jill, Micki, Caroline, and Me

Aimee and little Liza- my college roomie and best friend when I moved to Utah in high school
My Family at the PF celebrating some summer birthdays!
The Francis Ladies (minus Amanda who happened to get married that day)
My long lost friends from Pullman at our 10-year Reunion- love you girls!

Kelly, Brandy, Me, Evie, Beth and Heather

if I was having a bake sale...

I would make these items because I have made and eaten them this week and I thought they were TASTY!!



Sugar Cookies- Raegan Kritzer’s Mom’s Recipe

3 ¼ Cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ Cup softened butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
½ Cup thick sour cream (as in not low-fat!)

Mix all ingredients together, roll out into shapes and bake at 350º for 8-10 minutes.
It’s that easy and they are yummy!!

Zucchini Bread from Jean Francis

Beat Together:

3 eggs

1 Cup. Oil

3 tsp. vanilla

2 Cups Sugar

2 Cups grated zucchini

Add:

3 Cups Flour

3 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 Cup. chopped nuts

Grease and flour loaf pans. Bake at 350. Larger loaf pan- 1 hour, Medium loaf pan- 45 min Small pan- 35 min. I usually add chocolate chips and this time I did chocolate chips and walnuts together and it was pretty tasty! I usally make mini loafs too that bake for about 15-20 min.

French Bread- Maurico Salan (an awesome Missionary here in New York and an excellent baker)

3 1/2 Cups Bread flour (King Arthur is a great one!)
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. of active dry yeast (not quick rise)
1 ¼ Cups of luke warm water
Oil (preferably canola)

Instructions:
Mix the luke warm water with the yeast and put it in a bowl that already has the sugar, salt, and flour. With your hands start mixing all the ingredients, except the oil, mix until it becomes consistent dough. Pull out the dough from the bowl and begin kneading, knead from 15-20 minutes straight, then shape the dough in to a ball and et it rise for 30 minutes with a damp cloth on top of the dough for more effective rising.

When done rising, cut the dough in half and with a roller, roll out all the air in a forward and backward motion, so you have a stretched oval shaped piece of flat dough. When done rolling, grab one end and roll it until the whole piece of dough is rolled up.

Seal both ends of dough, and repeat the same procedure eith the other half of the dough. Put them together in a greased pan (grease with butter) and with a brush gently cover the two baguettes with the oil, let it rise with the damp cloth again for another 30 minutes after putting the oil on the bread. After 20 minutes preheat the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350º. After preheating the oven, make three slices on the baguettes, put the baguettes in the oven for 30 minutes. When done baking ENJOY!

Glaze for the French Bread (optional)

Ingredients:
- 1 egg white
- 1 TBSP. water

The Glaze is something I highly recommend, because is not only adds to the presentation, but it also adds to the flavor.

Instructions:
Mix the water and egg white, right before you put the baguettes into the oven, brush each baguette with a little bit of the glaze and then put the baguettes into the oven. When the baguettes have been in the oven for 20 minutes, pull them out and brush in the rest of the glaze on both baguettes evenly, when you are done applying the glaze, put the baguettes in the oven for another 10 minutes. When done baking, ENJOY!

PIZZA DOUGH III- Phyllis from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar


DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes

I used 3/4 cup water and added garlic salt and thyme and it was great- the kids and their friends all ate about 3 pieces and wanted more :) I just topped it with jar pasta sauce and fresh mozzarella and wha-la!

lovin' our new neighbors

Stay-at-home moms (SAHM) are hard to come by around here, so you can imagine my joy as the Guymon family moved into the building next door with 3 girls and two awesome adults, one being a SAHM. It is so great to have friends so close and we have already traded babysitting, cooked each other dinner, borrowed drills, spices, etc, they have watched my kids a number of time and have already put them to sleep- no sweat, we've gone to the Beach, Coney Island, music in the park, and a number of BBQ's and Zanna and James, Zanna espcially, loves having girls her age to play/color/dress-up/apply lip gloss with etc. When we first moved here we kept telling Zanna that we would "find" new friends and after a few weeks of not meeting any little girls her age, she said, "where are they, Dad, I just can't find them!" So, now we have found them and every morning she asks if we can play with Bailee and Olivia- thanks for being our great neighbors and friends!


Rachel and I seem to have a lot in common, so much that I had to jot down a few:


1- we both have dark hair
2- we both have been told we look like Jennifer Connelly
3- we both played basketball in high school and love playing sports
4- they drive a minivan and a '97 Nissan Altima, we also drive a minivan and '97 Nissan Altima
5- both our husbands are residents
6-we both have brothers named Brett
7- we both get headaches a lot
8- we both love to exercise and do the double jogger thing
9- our kids have have had similar eating struggles
10- we own a lot of the same movies
11- they went to BYU, as did we
12- she is easy going about switching car seats, taking 5 kids to the park etc.- just chill like that
13- our blogs had the same backgrounds when we first met
14- we both attended our first belly dancing class tonight! (it was Friends and Family night, so she came to check out the gym and after that class I don't know if she'll come back- actually it was a lot of fun and a can't wait to get a jingle belt!)
15- our styles of cooking are similar and our desire to cook is similar as well
16- they also believe in the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" :)

...there are more similarities, and of course many differences, but I will leave it at this- it's a little weird, eh?

Since Dave has been gone so much lately, I have been "third wheelin'" with them and Jim is always so nice to stay with the kids so that we can both get a break- so I just want to say THANKS and Yay for our new friends!

Manhasset... to live or not to live

Here's a little tale to give you a glimpse into the area where I live:

"Neither town nor village, Manhasset is four square miles of suburbia. It contains three villages and parts of three others, and shares a peninsula with Port Washington. Once considered an ideal cow pasture, it has been home to some of the nation's richest and most powerful people."- newsday.com, July 30, 2008

So, I live in Manhasset, NY (that is part of my address) but the minute any Manhasset residents find out that I really live in the resident housing of North Shore Hospital on Comunity Drive- I am looked at in a whole new way... and it is geting OLD!! So what- my husband is a resident and only makes $$$$$ instead of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$- can't we still use the library and go to the park? I say this because even though I live in Manhasset, I am technically in the Great Neck School District and Library district- so I am allowed to use the Manhasset Library but I get put on all the waiting lists for childrens' classes and am allowed in after all the Manhasset Nannies (I mean moms) and kids. I would glady go to the Great Neck Library but it is about 5 times further away and I don't want to drive all that way, when there is a beautiful library about 1.5 miles from my house. The other day I called to sign James up for a class and the librarian was so overly nice and "excited about having him." The second she asked for my library card # and realized I held a Great Neck card her voice went from overly- sugary sweet to a flat "we'll call you if he gets off the waiting list"- and I am not even exagerating at all-really! Manhasset does offer a lot of great prpgrams- festivals, music in the park, children safety day with ice cream and face painting, a cute little main street and a grea train station- but I just have to remember to keep my address to myself, say "my husband works at North Shore Hospital" instead of "he's a resident at North Shore" and bring my gucci bag to the park!



Also, even to go the parks in great neck, you are supposed to have a "park card" to prove you are worthy enough to go to their parks, AND to swim in most of the pools around here you have to have a "leisure pass" proving you are a Long Island resident cause heaven forbid anyone from Queens touches our water!



there are probably reasons for all these things (safety, taxes, prejudice, social stigma etc. ) but it is ANNOYONG! Why can't we all just read books, swim and get along!

These are a couple of pics with our friends from recent little events around the town, village, community- or whatever it's called!

i lost my friend...MAC

I miss Dave, but I really miss our MAC Book Pro! Dave took my best friend with him to Baltimore and now I have no one to hang out with night. MAC entertained me and kept me nice and warm at night. MAC helped me keep in touch with others and was always so quick to respond to my needs. Now I am stuck with PC who just sits on the desk all day and night and seems to be so slow these days. PC doesn't even "breathe" and freezes up when I ask just a little too much of him. He has been trusty over the last years, but now that I've gotten to know MAC- it is hard to go on without him. So, if my posts are few and far between for the next few weeks, please know that I am going through MAC withdrawls and am awaiting are happy reunion in late August.

This was a funny conversation:

Mom: "Zanna, just because James did it, doesn't mean you need to. If James jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff?"

a couple seconds go by...

James (popping his head around the corner): "Mom, what cliff? What CLIFF?? I don't want to jump off a cliff, that's dangerous!"


Dave left for Baltimore today and he will be gone for a MONTH! The kids and I walked him down to the car and it was sad to say good-bye, more sad than I thought it would be. I told him the only good thing about him being gone is that our room won't be freezing cause he always turns the AC up way too high. Although he isn't home that much, it sure makes a difference when I know he's coming home at night, even if it is after the kids go to sleep. I'll probably never make dinner this week and we'll just live in our jammies and play games all day- not really, but that would be fun. We are going out the Utah next Sunday and will be gone for a couple of weeks. We get to see Dave out there for about 24 hours (that's as much time as he could take for the wedding) so we will just have to look forward to that! I love you babe and miss you already!

flour girl

Why does Zanna love to eat flour- isn't that weird? Do any of your kids eat flour by the spoonfuls? Whenever I am making something with flour she always wants her own little bowl of it- I guess it's better than a whole bowl of chocolate chips or something, but anyway... I just think she cute with this little quirk of hers ;)


This is the french bread I'm obsessed with making right now. A missionary, Elder Salan, in our ward taught us how to do make it at Enrichment and I've made it A LOT since then for people and just to eat. You have to kneed it for about 20 minutes so I get a good little arm workout, but other than that it is easy and delicious! We made this bread and homemade butter to celebrate Pioneer Day at Young Women's the other night and it was a big hit! One of my goals this summer was to become a better bread maker- so Thank You to Elder Salan for the tips!