Cooking School

Last Friday night, April 30th, Matt and I enjoyed a date night with some of Matt's co-workers. We had a very fun evening together at Seattle's Blue Ribbon Cooking School! Our menu theme for the evening was Rustic Italian.

When we first arrived we enjoyed pre-made appetizers and drinks. It was a treat to enjoy their non-alcoholic Lavender Lemonade and Cranberry Ginger Iced Tea (my personal favorite of the two). They had a delicious antipasti platter that had gourmet cheeses and cured meats. I really enjoyed the Trio of Crostini: Chickpea and Mint Crostini, Anchovy Bruschetta: Brushetti di Alici (Anchovies and Garlic), and Traditional Caprese (Tomato, Mozzarella & Basil Bruschetta). The recipes for the trio of crostini's (and all the dinner menu recipes) were provided in a little booklet for each participant to take home. I hope to make the chickpea and mint crostini again...the combo of mint and chickpeas was different and really yummy. Matt and I love caprese salad - a frequent favorite of ours especially in the summer months when it is too hot to cook.

After some good fellowship time our group was led into the kitchen and we learned a bit of history about our chef teacher for the evening. He was terrific! We split into four teams, each team choosing a particular part of the evening's meal to prepare with chef's oversight. Matt was on the team that learned how to make Gnocchi al Romana (Semolina Gnocchi with Italian Salami and Bechalmel Sauce). I was on the dessert team. We learned how to make the Fig, Honey and Pine Nut Tart with Lemon Infused Creme Fraiche. The other teams prepared the remaining dishes...Tossed Green Salad with Lemon and Chives, Artichoke and Proscuitto Stuffed Chicken Breast with Romano Cheese, Roasted New Potatoes, Grilled Italian Vegetables, and Homemade Basil Pesto.

Here I am slicing up the candied figs that went on top of our dessert tarts

Chef showing us how to make delicious homemade basil pesto

The spread!

Upper left going counter clockwise:

Tossed Green Salad w/ Lemon and Chive dressing

Roasted Rosemary New Potatoes

Gnocchi al Romana w/ salami and bechamel sauce

Artichoke and Proscuitto Stuffed Chicken Breast w/ Homemade Pesto

Grilled Vegetables

(Asparagus, Red Bell Peppers, Yellow Squash, Zucchini,

Eggplant, Cremini Mushrooms, Green Onions)

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the beautiful finished Fig, Honey and Pine Nut Tarts before we consumed them. As I'm typing this up tonight, I just now realized our dessert team was also supposed to make the Lemon-Infused Cultured Cream Dessert Sauce, but we ran out of time. The tarts were delicious all on their own, but I can see where the dessert sauce could put them over the top.

Once everything was ready, we all sat down and enjoyed the sumptious feast. I'm looking forward to using these recipes again for special home feasts of our own in the coming year/years.

It was a very fun evening - right up this cook's alley!!

My Wonderful Grandma (Mom's Mom)

My Grandma, Dorothy Margaret Krause Stromberger, went (peacefully) home to the Lord this morning at approximately 12:30 a.m. PRAISE THE LORD she did not have to struggle long following a major stroke this past Saturday. Arrangements are currently being made for a Friday, May 7th burial and memorial service.

Here are some various snippets of my Mom's email to family yesterday evening as she updated us on Grandma's condition. "...We sang happy birthday to her today, as her (87th) birthday is this coming Monday, May 3. She was surprised, then smiled big, then joined in with the singing! ...Mom is so ready to go home. Tonight she was seeing her mom and dad and holding her arms out to them and calling for her daddy. ...Put the carpenters on overtime or hire extra workers to get her mansion finished! She's ready, Lord!" This was just how she wanted to pass away. Earlier this year she would say to my Mom as Mom tucked her in bed at night, "Well, I hope I don't see you in the morning." Ha! She always desired/wanted to pass away in her sleep peacefully and painlessly.

I can't help but recall so many wonderful memories of and with her...

• Sharing my birthday with her every year (yes, twin sis Molly and I were born on May 3, too)
• Time spent with her and Grandpa on their farm
• Her always beautiful and bounteous flower and vegetable gardens
• Walking with her down the road to feed the ducks in the neighbor's pond
• Throwing rocks with her in the nearby stream
• Chiclets chewing gum in her kitchen "gum drawer"
• Complaints about "too much food" for our meals as kids (portion sizes were oftentimes too big and we were taught to always clean our plate)
• She always had a stock of "sugar cereals" in her pantry for us grandkids
• Candy treats in her pantry (again for all her grandkids - then as time passed, her great-grandkids)
• Root beer floats
• Her DELICIOUS home grown and home canned dill pickles
• Her love and absolute enjoyment of "Sunday afternoon drives"
• Her love and enjoyment of ballroom dancing (so many memories of her dance studio)
• Her love and enjoyment of beauty in this world
• Her love of travel (vacations trips with family members, trips to Branson, MO, etc.)
• Decorating family graves with her every year for Memorial Day
• Attending church with her at her various Lutheran home churches (Sprague, Spokane, & Ritzville)
• Memories of helping Mom prepare "her room" in our home (wallpapering, etc.)
• So many conversations and sweet memories with her, especially when she moved into Mom's home nearly 8 years ago for home care. I always looked forward to trips home to spend time with her, my Mom, and Grandma Alma - what a BLESSING
• Watching cherished interactions with my first born son, Jay
• Her absolutely wonderful SENSE OF HUMOR - boy, she could sure make us laugh!

1977

Grandma Alma (Dad's Mom) holding me (I'm pretty sure) on the Left

Grandpa Art (Mom's Dad) in the Middle

Grandma Dorothy (Mom's Mom) holding Molly (I think) on the Right
1979

My Mom, Amy, holding me on the Left

My Dad, Mark, in the green shirt

Grandma Dorothy holding brother Scott

Grandpa Art in back

Grandma Alma holding Molly on the Right

Fast forward now to 2008:

December 2008

Grandma Dorothy with Jay (6 mo., almost 7 mo. old)

April 2009

Grandma Dorothy with Jay (10 mo. old)

July 2009

Four Generation Photo

Grandma Dorothy on Left

Jay, me, and Mom Amy in the Middle

Grandma Alma on the Right

December 2009

Four Generation Photo

Family Christmas Photo 2009

What a beautiful legacy you have left us, Grandma. You have 5 kids, 17 grandkids, 32 great-grandkids with #33 due June 5 and #34 due November 24...and future unknown number of great-grandbabies to come in the following years...WOW!

I LOVE YOU GRANDMA!! I'm sure gonna miss you! But I'm truly so happy and I'm rejoicing with you that you are finally in heaven where you have longed to be... XXOO

Jay "Reading" Aloud

Last week Wednesday (April 21) after Matt came home from work Jay decided to open up the cupboard at the end of our hallway and "read" the letters that were inside the cabinet to us. The video captures the last two times he "read" to us. Jay must have done it at least 6 or 8 times in a row.

Fun with Sarah

Jay hasn't eaten yogurt since I started solid (vs. pureed) food with him. He rejected it every time I offered it. But just recently he decided he'd try a bite of Mommy's yogurt and soon learned again how yummy it was as evidenced from the photos below. This time around, though, he feeds himself allowing Mommy to enjoy the freedom of eating at the same time.

My friend and I both needed a sitter this week so we decided to work out a trade...I'd watch Sarah Sunday afternoon and she'll watch Jay Thursday afternoon. Sarah is just 2 weeks older than Jay and she and I are again just 2 weeks apart with our second babies due late May and (me) early June. After Sarah arrived we decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon with a walk to the park to feed the ducks. The below photos were taken just after finishing feeding the ducks leftover bread. They both decided the ducks needed some "roughage" - some small pebbles to go with the bread. :)

On the walk back home Sarah and Jay spontaneously decided to hold hands and walk together. It took me a bit to get the camera out and to "movie" mode so I didn't catch the majority of it, but here is a small snippet of how cute they looked walking down the sidewalk hand-in-hand.

And here is life with busy two-year-olds. They loved running down the street, swinging their little arms while yelling - just so much fun.

The evening ended with dinner...cheese quesadilla, peeled apple quarter, cut up carrot, part of a homemade cinnamon roll, and water.

Thanks for a fun Sunday afternoon and evening, Sarah!

Fun with Family, Part 2

Thanks to Shawn we have more photos and a video from our time together last week. Here is the link!

Fun with Family in Oregon

Last week Thursday and Friday Matt had work training in the Portland, OR area so we all packed up and drove to Oregon. Jay and I enjoyed some great quality time with PopPop and Nana while Matt was busy with work.

Friday night Matt's sister Shawn, husband Mike, and their boys Alex and Joshua came over for a delicious dinner and fun time together. Here is a video of Jay and the boys playing "soccer" in the house. Jay obviously LOVES playing with others, so when you mix kicking a soccer ball and people, we've got one happy camper on our hands. We loved how he enthusiastically hugged his cousins after scoring a "goal." We laughed and laughed at his antics.

This next video snippet isn't the best since I just missed Jay "talking" to all of us from upstairs looking down on the rest of us in PopPop and Nana's living room. I thought I'd still post it since it is a great picture of the three boys together (thanks to Alex lifting up Jay so we could see him).

My camera ran out of battery power, but both PopPop and Shawn had their cameras and were able to capture more photos and videos of our time together. These photos are courtesy of PopPop. I think Shawn might post other videos and pictures on her own blog in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

At Friday night's dinner we celebrated PopPop's birthday (which was actually the day before). We are so glad you are part of our life, PopPop. Your godly wisdom, care, love and support enriches our lives in ways words just plain fail to describe. LOVE YOU!!

After dinner the guys enjoyed watching the Portland Trailblazer game on tv. Jay joined the boys on the couch and got into his super comfortable, super happy pose - legs scrunched up holding on to his feet.

Thanks for yet another wonderful time, PopPop and Nana! And thanks, Shawn, Mike, Alex and Josh for the "new baby" gift and for sacrificing your Friday night to come spend time with us.

Easter Weekend!

Yesterday our local Safeway store held an Easter egg hunt with over 1,000 eggs "hidden" in the produce department. We were fortunate to "find" 5 eggs that were filled with candy. Jay enjoyed the hunt. Since then Jay enjoys hunting for the plastic eggs around our living room here at home, too.

Jay "in action" picking up an Easter egg from among the bananas
Can you tell he loves his haul?

We took a walk later in the day yesterday. It was cool out so we put his warm winter coat on him which he seems to have recently outgrown, but it fit close enough for the walk. On our walk back home he spotted a house cat that was outside for a short time. I caught him on video below "talking" to the cat.

Today we enjoyed a wonderful Easter service at church followed by a ham, salad, strawberries, green beans, and candied yams dinner here at home. Sunday afternoon nap followed and we're now just relaxing getting a few things done around the house. We hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebration today with friends and family.

HE IS RISEN!

HE IS RISEN, INDEED!