Fort Morgan Fly-in

Fort Morgan claims to be the boyhood home of Glenn Miller, the famous band leader. So to celebrate this, the city holds the Glenn Miller Dancin' on the Plains Festival. As part of this celebration they have a fly-in and have people bring in there vintage aircraft (typically WW2 era). Since the airport is not far from our house and the Lion's were serving a pancake breakfast and there was live 40's music we decided to check it out.

A Navy fighter.

This is a Beechcraft bi-wing

Gotta love the artwork, to customize the plane.


More planes came and went throughout the day, so we didn't see them all.

The most exciting thing I learned is that there is someone out there that does flight training....Ooooh I hope Kevin says yes to me getting a license .....

All things Bacon

Ok, so I like bacon, I mean who doesn't right? I have seen bacon used in many items, some good, some not so good. Some even unusual but tasty: candied bacon

But I did not know there was a website dedicated only to bacon: bacontoday.com

Check out their colored bacon....I don't know if I can eat Green bacon: http://bacontoday.com/colored-bacon/

Behind the Apron

So here is a fun little questionnaire for those who like to cook.

Who has been the biggest influence on your cooking? My mom, Kevin, and cooking shows and magazines. I learned how to cook from my mom, have gotten many yummy recipes from cooking shows and magazines, and Kevin is always asking for something new, and never complains when it just isn’t good. :)

What is your favorite dish to cook…your signature dish? BBQ ribs. I don’t make them often as they take 3 days to make. I do it all from scratch, the rub and the BBQ sauce.

What was your biggest cooking disaster? Soapy Sausage…college mistake…only Kari and Ralyn know the truth….

If you could travel to another country just to taste their cuisine, where would you go? Italy. I love Italian food

What is something you have never cooked, but would like to try? A chocolate souflee. Just because it would be a challenge…and, they’re good.

What do you consider the 5 most essential ingredients you keep in your kitchen? Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper (is that one or two?), Garlic, Onions, chicken.

What is comfort food to you? Lots of things… mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, potato chips, you know starchy things

What are the ideal toppings for pizza? Fresh Mozzarella, prosciutto, red onions, garlic, red sauce…or if I want white pizza: garlic sauce, red onions, chicken, bacon, mozzarella

What kitchen utensil/gadget can you not live without? This is hard as I can make do with almost anything. However, I would say my Santoku knives. I have a couple, and I use them almost for every meal.

So who is behind your apron?

Crunchy Pistachio Chicken

My mom gets the Cooking Club magazine, when she has read it, she passes it on to me. I enjoy trying different recipes out of it. In the April/May 2010 magazine there was a recipe for Crunchy Pistachio Chicken....now for copyright issues (Educators are big on that), I don't want to put the entire recipe...but let me give you the gist....

Mix honey, an egg and garlic together
Combine panko bread crumbs (I think you could do this without panko), chopped pistachios, parsley

Salt and pepper chicken breasts, dip chicken into honey mixture, then press into the pistachio mixture. Place on foiled lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees till done.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of this...but if you want more info let me know, and I would be happy to share with you. These were really yummy, and can be served with almost anything. Very high in protein too!

Our Pet Eagle

Ok, I don't really think you could keep an Eagle as a pet...but we have really enjoyed watching this eagle fly around in our backyard. Sometimes watching it dive as it hunts. The other day, we had a great surprise, it landed in the backyard and we got to watch it for a few min...





We had a hard time trying to get a good picture as we didn't want to scare it away.

Joslyn is 1

I am a little behind, but on June 6, we were invited to Desirae and Tim's house to celebrate Joslyn's first birthday. When Dez ordered the cake, they gave her a little cake all for Joslyn.

At first she wasn't so sure.....

Then it all made sense......

sunsets

Neighbors moving in

Sometimes a neighbor moves in and you just are sure you are going to like them. Nothing against them personally but you aren't sure if they will make good neighbors.

Yesterday, Kevin was in the yard doing some mowing and he came across this bull snake making himself a home.


Yes his head is in the hole, I think he was digging. It seemed to take him hours....sometimes he would be much farther in. Then late last night, we went out, and you can hardly tell where he was, the hole was covered up and he was gone. So did he move in or not? I don't know.

I have mixed feelings about this neighbor...he will eat mice and moles. A bull snake also will kill a rattle snake. Now we haven't seen any rattle snakes here, but we know they are in the area...so given that, this little bull snake, may make a good neighbor. The catch, his new "home" was right by the sidewalk and the dog run. May be too close to my house..... Sigh. I guess I will watch for him more closely now when I am outside.

UPDATE: Saturday June 5, in the morning I was outside with Deogi...we were looking for bunnies to chase (one of her favorite pastimes), and she found the snake....curled up, hissing, ready to strike at her, right underneath our bird feeders (about 4 feet from where I was sitting on a rock). So I think I have a new neighbor. Will have to be careful when the kids come to visit.

Corn tortillas....chips

So, I did it. I made the corn chips. First I made the "dough" corn masa mix and water....made balls a little larger than golf balls. Now, I don't have a tortilla press, and I really think it would have been easier with one. Instead I opened up a large ziploc bag and "smashed" them inside. Actually at this part,Kevin was much better than I was...I had sticking issues ;-)


Next I cooked them in a cast iron skillet.


They were really good at this point and would have made excellent enchiladas....but Kevin likes corn chips, so next I cut them into "chips" and fried them. Here they are waiting on the fryer...




And cooling after being fried.....

We had a taco/nacho bar, beans, cheese, taco meat......it was fun.

So my analysis? Well, I enjoyed the experience. But really they were a lot of work. And given that they are so inexpensive to buy....I probably won't be making them (the tortillas) again soon.

Crepes for Kevin....or were they for Holly.....

So after making tortillas, I said Kevin wanted me to make crepes....and Holly agreed, so here are the results....

I mixed up the batter, let it sit for a little over an hour and then cooked them up. I was surprised at how easy this really was to do.


Here they are cooling.


Once I had them cooked, I filled them with meat and cheese, rolled them and warmed them back up in the pan....and this is what they came out to be:
They were really good and a great dinner. We even made some dessert ones with jam inside. I think I may just have to make these again sometime.

Holly, what do they fill the crepes with there? I was looking for new ideas.....

Next up....homemade corn chips...well I have made the chips before our of store bought corn tortillas, this time...I make them all from scratch...

2010 Bolder Boulder

Memorial Day was here again and that is the day for the Bolder Boulder. It is either the first or second largest 10K road race that is held in the US, with 53,700 people participating. So it is fun to participate in, even if you are a big loser like me. I admit I really didn't have very high expectations for a good finish time. After all I was going to walk it rather than run it. Also, Jody and I really had not prepared like we needed to, mainly due to poor weather. So as long as we got to finish the race and didn't get kicked off the track for being to slow, we considered it a victory.

So here we are at the starting line, we were in wave PB, which had an expected finish time of 90 to 120 minutes. So right where we were planning to finish. There were about 40 waves that started before us. So we were near the back of the participants.

One of the fun things is the people that line the course of the Bolder Boulder. They entertain people and shout encouragement. Which makes the race more fun. Here is a group of belly dancers we saw between 2KM and 3KM. The funny thing, is that this one only one group of belly dancers, I think we saw two more on the course.

Between 6KM and 7KM you reach the summit of the course. If you didn't live here and were really running, this is where you would hurt alot.

One of the best parts is the finish of the race. The actual finish is in the Colorado University stadium. And there are all these people cheering you on, even slow pokes like me. It is really a cool feeling. Frank Shorter, an Olympic Marathon runner was doing the commentary for the people in the stadium, said that the Bolder Boulder is a unique race in that people actually stick around at the end. I think it has to do with the Memorial Day celebration that happens after the end of the Elite Races.

So the Elite runners finished in 28 mins, 13 seconds, which is 4:34 per mile. I wasn't that fast. I finished in 1 hour, 44 mins and 53 seconds or 16:52 mins per mile. My best time was in 2003 where we finished in 1 hour, 29 mins. I'll have to try again to see if I can improve my time, and why don't you come join us next time!

Lastest Cooking Experiment

By now you all know I like to cook. One of the blogs I read, was talking about cooking tortillas. I had never done that and wanted to give it a try...so yesterday I made some...here they are rolled out ready to cook...


The finished product. I only made half a batch (about 9 taco size), since I wasn't sure how they would work. But I have to say, they were very yummy!


While I was at it, I thought I might as well make my own refried beans. So I took some Pinto beans, cooked them in water, added some seasonings (red pepper flake, onions, roasted garlic, salt, etc..) and then smashed them...and cooked them a second time in the pan.

I admit, I don't know if you can take a picture of refried beans and have them look "good" so you will have to trust me, they were very Yummy!

Cooked some ground beef and we had taco night. I have to say, it was a successful experiment. I think next time, I will make more tortillas and make black beans... Yum

New Dining Room

So it only took us 6-10 months to decide what we wanted and take the plunge to have this built. Then it took 2 months for it to arrive. It was so worth the wait....now to fill up the hutch and redecorate that room.

Toronto

Ever been to Toronto Canada? If so let me know...I am looking for something fun to do there.

I have had 2 proposals accepted at the Ed Media Conference in Toronto the very end of June. My papers are written and my tickets are bought.

Kevin will be traveling with me, so we are going to stay an extra day to see what we can see. Any ideas?

Goodbye Shadow

11 years ago, Mert, Jean, Jody and Kevin went out to a small farm to look at the puppies. We picked out a very cute, sweet black lab mix, and she was named Shadow.


The last few weeks were rough on Shadow. She had arthritis, diabetes, and her liver and kidneys started to fail.

Thus Jean had to make the heartbreaking decision to put Shadow to sleep on Tuesday. We were all very sad. Even Stormy and Deogi miss her, as they walk around the house and look for her.


Our pets do become like family and we learn their personalities just like people. They bring us much love and enjoyment, and when they are gone we are saddened by our loss.


Here is a picture of Shadow....in order left to right Boo Boo (Doug's dog), Stormy, Deogi, and Shadow.

Disney 2010

So here are our pictures for Orlando.....We arrived on Thursday night and it was raining when we got to the hotel. We stayed right across the street from Downtown Disney.

Friday morning arrived, it was sunny and beautiful out. We headed over to Hollywood Studios as we had never visited that park. First stop was to take pictures of the big Sorcerers hat that is the symbol of the park...

And why do we really go to Disney? To see Mickey of course!


At Hollywood and Epcot (it was actually the International Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot), they had great topiaries. This is one of my favorites....it is the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Notice the brooms have buckets of flowers they are dumping and making them grow. Think I need this in my yard....

We had a good time at Hollywood. Rode some good rides...Kevin even had me ride the Hollywood Tower Hotel ride...which is an elevator ride that drops you and drops you and drops you :) They also have some good shows there too.

Then we headed over to the Magic Kingdom.....We did of course go to toon town to see Mickey's house and then a stop in to see Mickey at the Fair


Saturday we decided to go to Epcot. We actually got to the park early, and they let us go in early. We rode the Soarin' ride 3 times before the park opened. (nothing like hang gliding over all of California) That is unheard of as the day before we heard the ride had a 115 minute wait (yes that is almost 2 hours) so we took advantage when we could.

We also rode Test Track and Mission Space and almost everything else there. It was a beautiful day, not too busy at the park.

As I said above, it was the Flower and Garden Festival...so they had all these set up for the various Disney movies...here are some of the best ones...can you believe this is all flowers?


Of course, Mickey is one of the best :-)

Speaking of Mickey, we had to find him at Epcot too....

And Pluto....(we skipped the other characters...can you imagine?)

I think I need this in my yard too. That wouldn't be much to take care of, water, weed...ok, maybe I need a gardener too.



We had a good time at Epcot, and had dinner in France, at Les Chefs de France it was really good. So we had to stop to have our picture taken with the Eiffel Tower behind us...


Not long before we left Epcot, we came across this empty pavilion and then I realized why it was empty how could they ask the expert when I wasn't there :)
After we left Epcot we headed to Downtown Disney for a stroll through the stores before going back to the hotel.

Sunday we only had part of a day since I had to be at my conference in the afternoon. We also woke up to cloudy skies, but that didn't stop us. We went back to the Magic Kingdom and hit a couple of rides we had missed on Friday, and then went over to the Animal Kingdom...I know, I know, that isn't a lot of time, but really it is 4 parks, 1 World (or so we kept seeing).

The safari ride is one of the best things there, so we got to see it and the Finding Nemo Musical

Since it was cloudy out we got to see more animals, I won't bore you with lots of pictures



We left the park around noonish and by the time we got over to the conference it was pouring down rain...So I didn't feel so bad about having to leave the parks for the conference :-)

The conference was the real reason for the trip. The conference was all about course redesign. How to redesign courses for the best student learning kind of things. So we did a small presentation about one of our courses (this course has about 30,000 students a year so it is a big one for us), and how we redesigned it and improved our student success.

So here we are (Betsy and Me).



So all in all it was a good trip. Vacation is great...wish I could do it more often.... sigh....

Too Excited.....

Do you remember this video?




That is exactly how I feel as one week from today...I will be visiting with Mickey.

Its a Math Holiday!!

Happy Pi Day!

Today is March 14 (3.14) and celebrated all across the country as Pi Day. It is also Albert Einstein's birthday.

It was Albert Einstein who said “Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater. ”

This is a fun little Pi song for you to enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BwKZEp2K_0&feature=related

And Google is celebrating the holiday with a “Google Doodle” go that shows some of the many formulas that depend on pi to google.com to see.

How am I celebrating? Well I think there just might be some pi(e) involved for dessert tonight. :)

Happy Pi Day!

Jody

Orlando.....yea!

Today, I learned that I was accepted to present a poster session at the NCAT Redesign Alliance Conference in Orlando next month! Really any excuse to get to Orlando works for me. I am hoping for an additional conference presentation in November (I will be submitting a couple of proposals).

Yes and for those of you 'counting' I was just in Miami last month, in Chicago last week...will be in Chicago again the first part of March...then to Orlando the end of March.

I NEVER would have thought, that I would like to present at conferences nor that I would travel as I do for work and conferences....so not at all like me....well maybe it is now.

Happy Valentine's Day

It is so good to be home. Last night after Kevin picked me up at the airport and we got home, I found something special for me on the Kitchen counter:


Thanks Sweetie! They are beautiful and I love them. Tonight we are going to dinner at O' Sole Mio! Yum!


Kevin, you are the best!

A surprise Birthday Gift

Not too long ago, we received a box from Pauline. In the box was a memory game for Caelum for his birthday. Here he is playing on Super Bowl Sunday with Leslie