By
Lena on March 7th, 2010
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Enjoying spring (well, almost – it looks like spring):
Baking: lately I’ve been experimenting with sourdough. This past week I tried English Muffins with Mrs. Seifert’s recipe.
Reading:
Studying:
Writing:
Listening (mainly to History and Law lectures):
Cycling:
This was taken on a ride from last Saturday up in Cedar Creek.
Sewing:
No, I don’t think that I usually look that self-possesed when I’m doing it. But maybe someday…
Music:
After a very long hiatus, I recently started practicing this again. Despite the fact that I’ve never had a strong passion for music, I have enjoyed picking it up again.
By
Lena on March 6th, 2010
Posted in General | 3 Comments »
To a lovely, godly friend and honorary sister!
I hope your day is wonderful, Heidi!
By
Lena on December 23rd, 2009
Posted in General | 2 Comments »
I have a lot of different memories connected with all our Christmas celebrations, which by the way is my favorite holiday. Some of them are crazier than others – like the time Lydia and I got up at 1:oo and headed downstairs… and hung around the tree until morning and ate candy (yes, we do eat candy and we did sleep… some). We don’t do that any more; we lost, in part, that childish excitement and anticipation of being the “first” downstairs and the “first” to examine every present minutely… and also now we’re the ones going to bed at 1:00 on Christmas eve, and we’ve both come to realize that sleep is not to be despised.
But in light of a recent conversation I had, I started thinking about our tradition of drinking eggnog during December. For the uninitiated, eggnog is a foamy, whipped-up mixture of eggs, milk, whip-cream, sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. It can be made with or without cooking the eggs: the kind you buy in the stores and the kind I make is made by cooking them.
I remember that one of the signals that Christmas season was starting was that the stores would start carrying eggnog and Daddy would start bringing it home from the store to put in his coffee. We loved that stuff and nothing was better than being able to drink some of the foamy, rich, goodness – with the essential nutmeg sprinkled on the top.
Of course, as our family became more health conscious over the years, that tradition died. After all, that stuff is loaded with sugar! It probably has preservatives in it too… and artificial flavor might be in there also. So, the tradition was out for a couple years but we missed our eggnog. The season just wasn’t the same without it!
So three or four years ago, we’d thought we’d try making it. The sugar content is still pretty high: you just can’t make good eggnog if it isn’t! – but that’s okay. We only make it a couple times in the season but that’s fine too – we enjoy every drop and look forward again to next year when we can have it again.
Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be making it for our Christmas morning breakfast and needless to say, we’re all looking forward to it!
Edit:
Recipe: Homemade Eggnog
Yield: 3 1/2 quarts
12 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 quarts milk, divided
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups whipping cream
Additional nutmeg, optional
In a heavy 4-qt saucepan, whisk together eggs, sugar and salt. Gradually add 1 qt. of milk. Cook and stir over low heat until a thermometer reads 160-170 degrees, about 30-35 minutes. Pour into a large heatproof bowl; stir in vanilla, nutmeg, and remaining milk. Place bowl in an ice-water bath, stirring frequently until mixture is cool. If mixture separates, process in a blender until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. When ready to serve, beat cream in a mixing bowl on high until soft peaks form; whisk gently into cooled milk mixture. Serve in mugs with additional nutmeg, if desired.
Galena
By
Lena on November 30th, 2009
Posted in General | No Comments »
I was able to upload some of the pictures Johannes took of our last dance (11/28) and I thought I’d post a few.
Lining up!
The Virginia Reel.
Circle Dance called “I care not for these ladies.”
“The Sausage Machine” = Really, fun dance.
Part of the same dance.
The Physical Snob.
The Virginia Reel again.
By
Lena on November 17th, 2009
Posted in General | 6 Comments »
You know how you never use an oven mitt with a lid that is on a stove-top pan? Because, the lid isn’t hot and everything?
Well,
Lydia was making dinner tonight and she had one of those pans with a lid on it that you usually put on the stove in the oven. So she took it out of the oven with mitts and put it on the stove. However, she obviously forgot that it was hot because ten seconds later she had her hand under cold water because she had burned herself trying to take the lid off without the mitt. That was bad enough. But she tossed me the mitt so I could take care of the pan, which I did.
Five seconds later I joined her at the faucet because I’d forgotten the lid was hot and tried picking it up with my bare hand.
