The Melting Pot Experience

Yesterday was Josh's birthday.  To celebrate we were able to go out for a quiet evening together.  We had some generous friends offer to watch the boys for us and we were off.  We had heard about the restaurant The Melting Pot while we lived in Colorado but never took the opprotunity to go.  Apparently they are a chain and there is a Melting Pot here in Columbia.  The Melting Pot serves fondue and it turned out to be a fun, though rather expensive, experience.

The atmosphere was very intimate.  The tables were secluded and the lighting dim.  Each table has its own heat plate intigrated into the surface and the food is mixed and cooked right there in front of you.

We started with a cheese fondue.  We chose the spinach and artichoke fondue.  The waiter/chef comes out with a tray of ingredients and proceeds to mix our cheese right there.  He made it look SO simple and it was really good.  The ingredients he used were chicken broth, minced garlic, chopped spinach and artichoke hearts, and cheese (some white soft cheese) grated.  He mixed that all in the pot (double boiler) then added a bit of parmesan cheese (fine grate) and a titch of tabasco sauce.  The cheese fondue came with bread cubes, tortilla chips, apples, celery, carrots, and califlower to dip. 

Our dinner consisted of a broth mix and a platter of raw meat.  The broth started with a chicken (maybe it was vegetable) broth base and they added some fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, garlic, and cilantro.  The meat platter was a wide array of options including lobster, shrimp, chicken, brautwerst, and steak- all raw.  There was also a vegetable platter that included broccoli, red potatos, and mushrooms.  They also provided us with 7-8 different little dishes of dips.  The idea was to stab the raw meat and place it in the broth -that was at a rolling boil- and leave it in there for 2-3 minutes until it was cooked then dip it in one of the sauces and eat it.  It was a really fun way to cook and eat your dinner!  My favorite dip was one that had sour cream, cream cheese, chives and maybe garlic in it.  It was super yummy on the vegetables.

Dessert consisted of chocolate fondue - of course!  We got the turtle mixture which was chocolate, carmel, and pecans.  The dippers included strawberries, pound cake (white and chocolate), rice krispie treats, bananas, and marshmallows. (Sweet memories!)

I'm going to be keeping my eye out for a fondue pot and figure out how to do all this at home!  It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed my evening with the birthday boy.  Happy Birthday, my love!  I love you so much!

Menu Board Revisited and LOVED!

A few months ago I picked up a few wall charts. I blogged about possible uses for the charts and I am still using one of those ideas. I thought I would show a few more details about my menu board and how I use it.

The menu board is working really well for me. I like that it is big, dead center, and hard to miss. Planning and actually cooking what I plan has become a lot easier. When it gets to be 3 or 4 o'clock and dinner starts to weigh heavily on my mind, I can look at my board and feel relief knowing what is on hand for dinner. All I have to do is throw it together, all the brain work has already been done.


I have created for myself a little menu planning station. I have a maganet clip on the fridge with my printed grocery list along with a magnetic basket to hold a pen, dry erase marker, and my menu cards. You can print off a copy of my check-what-you-need grocery list and/or save it on your computer and customize it for yourself (which is what I did with a list I found online).

I'm a sale shopper so I keep tabs on what's on sale in grocery ads for the week and they greatly influence what I'm cooking. I can go through my menu cards and pick out the meals that use the ingredients I know are on sale. It is so much easier to do this with the cards in hand then trying to dig through all the recipes or do it mentally. If I decide to do a paticular dinner I circle what ingredients I need to buy, make a note on my grocery list, and put the card up on my board. Some meals I generally always have the ingredients for and others I will have to complete with my shopping. By circling the needed ingredients I can remind myself at a glance whether I have the ingredients yet or not depending on which day I actually make it to the store (always an iffy thing depending on whether I have the car and what mood myself and my children are in).

Also on the cards I can make note of what leftovers are in the fridge so Josh knows what is availible for lunches.

For those recipes I decide to try that are new or haven't yet been solidified into my regular cycle of meals, I simply write them in with the dry erase marker on the back of an existing card.

The Physics of Ice Cream

Last week Josh came home acting like a nine year old cub scout excited to get into trouble. He had brought home with him a container of liquid nitrogen which he uses at work to cool down his "fridge." He had actually buckled the container into one of the boys car seats to insure it's safe arrival home. The idea was to make ice cream with the liquid nitrogen and Josh was super excited.



He and the boys mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and then it was time for the exciting part... bring on the smoke!








I got most of it on video, it's a bit long but its pretty cool how fast you can do ice cream. The process probably took a total of 10 minutes. Yay for instant gratification! I was really surprised at how well the ice cream turned out. The next day it came out of the freezer and scooped out like store bought ice cream. Mmm Mmmm Good!

You're a bit crazy and a dare devil sometimes, Josh, but I will admit it was a fun and yummy idea. We even did a repeat of it at our friends house for FHE. Thanks Josh my scientist man!

***Okay so the video won't upload, ANNOYING! I'll try it in another post. Meanwhile you can see a video of our ice cream adventure for FHE at our friends house.

Spring Cupcakes

We made spring inspired cupcakes while at Grammies house. I had noticed some cute chocolate bunny crackers in Walmart's cracker aisle made by Annie's and we grabbed them and some jelly beans to put ontop of some chocolate cupcakes. We added some coconut dyed green for grass. They were so simple. I frosted the cupcakes and Elijah, Sam and my little sisters decorated them all. I think they turned out pretty cute. They sure didn't last long though.

The BEST food with the BEST Boys!

For Josh's birthday we all went out to eat at our favorite Arabic restaurant Ali Baba Grill. The food there is heaven and we go there every chance we get. We both always order the King Combo which comes with a little of everything. I love the Kobideh kabab and the falafel. Mouth watering! I had my camera with me that night so I snapped some cute pictures of my dates.

We chose to sitt in the upper room with the couches and low tables. The ceiling is drapped with fabric and the walls are covered with intricate Middle Eastern art and decor. Elijah is lounging on the couch while waiting for our food. There is a fountain in the middle of the room that kept Sam occupied when he got bored with dinner. (Isn't the birthday boy just the handsomest! I love that man!)

The Birthday Boy's Cake

Josh celebrated his birthday this past weekend. He has now breached the 30 mark. It's pretty crazy to think about. Anyway, he requested a German Chocolate Cake so I went to http://www.tastespotting.com/ and did a search. I found the most HEAVENLY cake recipe! I have never had a cake turn out so perfectly and it didn't call for any random ingredients I didn't already have. I had to take a picture of them still in the pans. I was amazed that they rose straight up without any little mound in the middle. AMAZING! I froze them over night and then let them sit for 20 minutes or so before I cut them in half horizontally to get four layers. The frosting recipe that came with the cake recipe was also really good. I took a liberty and toasted the rest of the coconut left over in the bag and used it to garnish the top of the cake. The result was an easy and quite stunning looking cake. (I am a bit proud of my self but I give most of the credit to the recipe)

Just writing about it I can still smell and taste it. MMmmmmm.

We had friends over to help us eat the cake. Josh had 4-5 kids helping him put his 30 candles on the cake. There definitly were enough to go around. Then it took us 5 minutes to light them all -Look OUT!







My attempt to get a picture of Josh blowing out the candles resulted in me getting a picture of the cloud of smoke. It was ALOT of candles.



Happy Birthday JOSHUA!




I am so grateful for Josh and that we get to spend our lives together. Every year gets better. I look forward to growing old with him.

Eating Rubber

Elijah is becoming more willing to try new foods or at least take one bite of foods he claims he doesn't like. The other night I made Chinese Hot and Sour Eggplant for dinner (a very good recipe despite the story to follow). Neither of the boys were thrilled, but there was rice involved so they ate. I had added red pepper to the eggplant and we told Elijah he need to try a bite of either the eggplant or the pepper and we put both on his plate. He opted for the red pepper, liked it and eventually ate more. What really surprised me was that eventually he tried the eggplant too. Well, the eggplant skin for some reason, either that paticular eggplant or me not cooking it quite long enough, was a little bit squeeky against the teeth when you chewed it. That intrigued Elijah so he proceeded to chew the eggplant despite his original disdain.

After finally spitting out the eggplant Elijah exclaimed, "The eggplant squeeked on my teeth like when you put a bouncy ball in your mouth!"

mmmm, YUM

Edible Snowflakes

I've done a fair amount of blog surfing lately so I don't remember where I got this idea BUT I did it today and I had to share it.

You will need:
Tortillas
Cinnamon and Sugar
Oil

For my tortillas I buy the fresh, uncooked ones at Costco. If you have never had these you are missing out. Fresh tortillas are wonderful, soft, and melt in your mouth. Perfect for tacos, egg rolls, floutas, chimichangas, etc... If you don't have fresh tortillas you can use the store bought ones. You will need to heat them a bit in the microwave or get them a little wet so that they don't break when you fold them.

Fold your tortilla in half, and in half again. Cut it like you would a paper snowflake with your kitchen scissors. I made triangle cuts on all three sides.

Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet. While the oil is getting hot mix your cinnamon and sugar together. Make sure you have everything ready before you put the tortillas in the skillet, they cook lightening fast!

Once the oil is hot, put in a tortilla, flip it, and remove it to a paper towel covered plate. Sprinkle immediately with cinnamon/sugar.

Eat them warm and yummy! They even sparkle like snowflakes. Mine didn't last around long enough for me to take a picture of them.

MIA... playing catch up

It has been a long while since I have really posted to this blog. A lot of my time has been sucked up with the Christ Centered Christmas blog. If you haven't checked it out recently, I will say you are missing out. My mom and I are adding new stuff regularly and thanks to sugardoodle and my new button the word is getting out there. I'm very excited about it! There are also new recipes up on Everyday Recipes including a really yummy recipe for Strawberry Cream Puffs.

Thanksgiving was wonderful other than we were unable to go to Utah and see our families. My dear friend Christina was able to come out, kid free, and we had a grand girls weekend. Thanks Josh for watching the boys! We basically ate and shopped the entire weekend and had a lot of fun. Thanksgiving dinner was made by my amazing husband. Everything turned out so delicious and we timed it pretty well. We had some friends over from our ward and they brought the most wonderful recipe for sweet potatoes with a coconut topping (I'm still working on getting the recipe, I'm not usually a fan of sweet potatoes but these were SO good). We just lounged around the afternoon, looking at Black Friday ads and plotting the next morning. Sam was so tired he fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor amidst all the bussle with his bum in the air. I was worried he would have a hard time going down. We had transfered him to a toddler bed the weekend before and he takes advantage of the new found freedom of being able to leave his room when he is supposed to be sleeping. The poor kid was so tuckered out like the rest of us after such a large Turkey dinner, that my problem was solved.

A couple nights ago the boys decided to sleep together in Elijah's bed. Melt my heart CUTE! Most of the time they just play together and make a mess in their room when they are supposed to be sleeping (Sam did it until 9:30 last night) but there are those rare nights when they are just cute and go to sleep so well.

One of the random things I picked up at Walmart on Black Friday was a Eureka lightweight vacuum cleaner. It was $9 bagless, lightweight, telescoping handle, lime green vacuum so I grabbed it. I love it! Mind you it is not a Dyson (which I also drool over) but it is so light and agile that I can whip it out and get most of the mess off my floor in nothing flat. Another big plus is that my boys love it. Unfortunatly I have yet to have them push it around while it is on, but they are practicing by running it along the floor. The telescopic handle makes it the perfect size for them. Sam is really good at moving the chairs around to get under the table. I'm trying to catch a video of them doing it. I'll post it when I do.

Elijah has been making more labels. The other day he asked me how to spell butterfly. I then found that he had done some other labels by himself and that Sam had gotten in on the action and done one too. I think it's great practice to get Elijah to learn how to control and contain his letters while writing.

We had a really cold day last week. Temps in the teens with powder snow on the ground (and all over my car). We trudged out in it because Elijah need to go to school. When I got home to put Sam down for his nap and took his hat off I had to grab the camera and get a shot of his crazy hair. He was less than pleased with me, but what else are mom's for.

Pumpkin Pizza

We have been in the Halloween spirit lately doing various projects and crafts. The other day for lunch we were making our ever faithful pizza recipe and decided to add a festive twist.

If you still haven't checked out The Crafty Crow yet, DO IT! There are some amazing ideas going up everyday.

Intimidated by Food Storage

Another project I have been researching but haven't yet dove into yet is Food Storage. My mother has been on a food storage rampage and I have let her know that I want a detailed report of what she has been doing. Hopefully it will be posted in a week or so. Until then I have been doing some research on various blogs and websites.

The LDS Church's stance on food storage has been adjusted in the past few years. Their recommendations can be found on the Provident Living Website. The focus has changed to families having a three month supply of food within the home, bare minimum.

Personally this is less intimidating than having a full year of food storage, especially in the limited amount of space in my apartment. But still, three months is a lot of food and it takes a lot planning.

How have you approached this HUGE challenge?
What meals do you have included in your three month plan?
How are you organizing and rotating your supply?

There are a few blogs that I have found to be helpful as I ponder these questions.

I have found Blog Totally Ready to have a lot of helpful information. The host has posted, since January 08, every week a break down of "Seven Steps" to take each week to gather your 72 hour and three month supply as well as make various other preparations around your home. Some of these steps are so simple, especially when broken down. She really opens up you eyes to things that would be helpful in being prepared for an emergency. A lot of information and advice to be had on her site.

Another blog that my mother pointed out to me is Everyday Food Storage. This gal focuses on how to make using your food storage a part of everyday life. She has many recipes and demonstrations.

Food Storage Made Easy is a website that has taken steps to break down the food storage process and make it more manageable while educating you on the hows and whys. They have a spread sheet available for download to help you plan and calculate your three month supply.

Lastly, the website Simply Living Smart seems to have a plethora of information (much of which I haven't digested yet). They also break the process down and help you understand what you need to do and why.

Now are you like me and feel like a deer in the headlights?

I'm really feeling the need and the pressure to get this all started (and done).
Any suggestions, feelings, experiences, words of encouragement, etc would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, also I'm in the market for a WHEAT GRINDER. What kind do you use? Do you love it; any problems; how often do you use it; etc?

Cowboy Party

Mom pulled together another amazing party for our visit. Last time we were here we had a Pirate Party. This time we had a Cowboy Party complete with costumes and cowboy grub. The boys had the greatest time, as did the rest of us. We were sad that Josh couldn't be here to join us (our brake adventure on the way out here prevented us from doing the party that night as planned with Josh).

The evening was spent getting dressed up, dancing to cowboy music, line dancing, making belt buckles out of pie tins, making root beer and eating cowboy dinners, having a cowboy relay race, a gold rush, and ending with singing around our fake campfire with papa dusting of his guitar to accompany us. Sam and Elijah were totally engrossed in the festivities and I enjoyed snapping all the shots (with my camera that is).

Southern Utah Trip: Just the Two of Us

Josh and I had the greatest time on our belated 5th Anniversary trip to Southern Utah. It was absolutely gorgeous down there and the weather was rather pleasant.

The following is a travel log of our trip:

We drove the three plus hours to Boulder, Utah along US 24 and US 12. The drive on US 12 was breath taking. I would highly recommend it and be sure to take a camera. (I was camera crazy the entire trip and I love my new camera! I included just a few of my favorite shots above.) The highway goes through Dixie National Forest which is full of stunning aspen trees, tall pines, and many cattle. There are a few campsites along the road that look rather nice (and the rest stop had flushing toilets). Once you get south of Boulder it runs along a ridge part of the time with beautiful views from either side and winds up and around stunning mountains and rock formations.

We stopped in Boulder for dinner on our way down to our Inn in Escalante. We ate at the Boulder Mesa Restaurant. The food was a little pricey, but it was rather good (though our least favorite of the trip-we were spoiled as far as food goes). I had their tostada, which was as big as my plate, and Josh had the trout. We ate out on the deck and were surrounded by hummingbirds buzzing all around.

We easily found the Slot Canyons Inn, just west of Escalante off Hwy 12, and were immediately impressed with it. The property was beautiful and the Inn was stunning. We were met by the owner, Joette, and she showed us around the main floor and then to our room which was on the ground level. I liked her immediately and she proved very helpful, kind, and informative on top of making wonderful breakfasts (we especially liked Aunt Mildred's Eggs). We really like our room, by far the best place we have ever stayed. (our only, ever so little complaint, was that you could hear your neighbors a bit more than usual.)

Friday morning we spent exploring the Inn's property. They have 160 acres of beautiful land. There is a cliff behind the Inn that we were able to climb up rather easily that gives you a cool view of the property. We also found some pictographs while we were climbing around and some amazing rock formations. Apparently there were Native Amercians living on the property hundreds and thousands of years ago. BYU is actually doing an excavation project on the property just behind the Inn at the bottom of the cliff. We went and talked to them for a bit and looked at the site (which wasn't that impressive unless you knew what you were doing). They have found evidence of people living there back 8-11 THOUSAND years ago! Can you imagine?

We had lunch at the local frosty shop in Escalante (per Joette's recommendation) and then drove around Escalante a bit, which doesn't take long, and explored some of the shops. I was not impressed with the shopping in Escalante. There were a few podunk shops that sold very expensive art and jewelry and then other junky stuff. Supposedly there were a couple antique shops but they weren't open at the time. There were a lot of cool old houses from the pioneers era. I just love those old houses made out of the rough red brick. The people were really nice and willing to give directions and suggestions on things to do.

For dinner we ate at the Escalante Outfitters Cafe (another recommendation by Joette that proved amazing). They serve gourmet pizzas to die for, well at least the one we had. It was their Chicken Pesto Pizza and it had a pesto sauce instead of a tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, chicken, mushrooms, and red onions. Oh so Yummy! I'm going to try and reproduce it at home with my homegrown basil. They also have a shop with camping and hiking gear and some souvenirs.

Friday evening we went to the Petrified Forest State Park. We had tried earlier in the day but it was too hot to do the uphill climb to the bluff. They have a 1 mile loop hike that takes you up and around the top of the bluff to see multiple pieces of petrified wood. The hike is very pretty and I would recommend it. Because it was so late in the day we were the only ones up there which was really nice. The bluff provides a great view of Escalante to the East and Wide Hollow Reservoir to the West. There is also a campsite near the reservoir at the base of the trail, though I wouldn't recommend it unless you enjoy seeing all your close neighbors.

Saturday morning we left right after an excellent breakfast at the Inn and headed on our way to Boulder. We stopped at the Escalante River to do a bit of hiking to find the Indian dwellings pictured above that were pointed out to us by the locals. It was a short easy hike along the river and cliffs edge. Well worth the time. If we had had more time we would have walked more of it. We then went on to Boulder to see the Anasazi State Park and Museum. The park and museum are fairly small but well worth the stop (and $4 each entrance fee). The Museum includes many artifacts taken from the site and information about the Indians that lived there. The park out back has a replica of an Indian dwelling and then the excavation site that you can walk around.

Our lunch in Boulder was also amazing. We ate at the Burr Trail Grill. It is a pretty laid back atmosphere (through out both Escalante and Boulder) and the food was well worth stopping for. Josh had their Blue Volcano Burger which had blue cheese and a chili sauce on it, and I had their Turkey Cran Pesto Sandwich which had a cranberry sauce, roasted turkey, spinach, and a pesto sauce. Mouth watering goodness! We also had their half order of nachos which were also really good.

After lunch we were off home to see our boys and my family. Overall it was a laid back, much needed trip. We really had a great time. There was so much that we didn't have time to do. I would love to go back and do some of the Slot Canyons and do some of Bryce Canyon which is about an hour west of Escalante. I really enjoyed discovering the pictographs and Indian dwellings and would love to explore some more (supposedly the visitors center outside of Escalante on US12 can show you some maps etc). Here's hoping we make it back sometime!

Taste of Summer

Nothing tastes more like summer to me than a bowl of vanilla ice cream (Bryers Double Churn) with fresh cut strawberries and homemade chocolate sauce.

Oh the sweet wonderful summer goodness!

A Finnish Favorite

The boys and I went to a birthday party last week. As one of the activities they had a pinata and inside the pinata among the candies were the ever famous warheads. Just thinking of those candies make my mouth water. They weren't a favorite of the boys so we saved them and took them home to Josh. Little did I know what crazy door I was opening.

Apparently the sour Warheads have a Finnish counterpart, Turkish Peppers, that Josh fell in love with on his mission and hadn't had since he got home in 2000. My bringing home the warheads spurred an extensive internet search for a store that sold Turkish Peppers. Josh was very excited when he found a store that had both the Turkish Peppers and his much loved Fazer chocolate. He ordered gobs of both and anxiously waited.

Well, today Josh's package arrived all the way from Sweeden. Josh excitedly opened the Turkish Peppers and insisted that we all try them. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I found a description of Turkish Peppers on Wiki :

"Turkish Pepper or Tyrkisk Peber (Turkinpippuri) is a strong liquorice candy flavored with ammonium chloride (salmiakki), made by the Finnish company Fazer and popular in the country. "

Essentially it is a salty, black licorice flavered hard candy that gradually gets spicer and spicer as you get to the middle. Honesly, I didn't make it all the way to the middle before I popped it out of my mouth. Poor Sam made it and cough/gagged when he did. Let's just say it is an experience.

I don't think Josh will have much competition for his Finnish candy, well at least the Turkish Peppers. I'm just waiting until he breaks out the chocolate. I'm all over that!

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday we had a great day together as a family. The boys woke up and put on their festive socks with stars and stripes. Elijah wanted to paint fireworks and Sam joined in on the fun.

We went on a picnic for lunch. We thought about joining in the festivities put on by the city. But drove by the massive crowds and decided against it. We ended up at a park with four ponds and a great walking path. After lunch we walked around a bit (it was rather hot and humid yesterday and today, ugh). We crossed a cool bridge and found a waterfall (man made) and a little cove where we "fished" for crawdads. I have memories of fishing for crawdads with my dad and brother many years ago in Illinois. I was actually able to catch a big one with only a stick and my hands (pat on the back) and the boys had great fun splashing in the water scaring all the crawdads.

We stayed home and BBQ'd with the missionaries and had a yummy red, white, and blue cheesecake. I found the recipe at familyfun.com. Mine didn't look quite as pretty as theirs, but it tasted oh so good and it was super simple.

We also sang Happy Birthday to America. Well, actually Elijah sang a solo for us. It was pretty cute. I made firecracker cakes with little debbie swiss rolls on end and candles. Both the boys loved blowing them out.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday too!

Balls of Fun Food

Dinner came together tonight quite by accident. The plan was to make cream cheese wontons and fried rice. That quickly went into the garbage when I found that my wonton wraps were moldy (I swear they hadn't been in my black pit of a fridge THAT long). Soooo, on to plan B. But I bearly had a plan A let alone a B.

Anyway, I eventually scrambled up everything (well almost everything, I was a little shy on the grape jelly) to make Spicy Meatballs in double crunch time. I already had made the rice preping for my flopped fried rice when it dawned on me I could have some fun with this. Thus enters one of my favorite kitchen tools the ball scoop. Great for making cookies all the same size with little mess, I wondered what this little gadget would do to warmish rice. Turns out it makes a crumbly yet recognizable little ball or rice, better when squished in a little bit.

Now I had meatballs and rice balls, there seemed to be a trend going here. Why not carry it even further. Presto, out came the brussel sprouts from the freezer! And there you have it, a Ball of a Dinner.

I will say it was a hit with the boys (though the shortage of grape jelly resulted in overly spicy meatballs. Poor Sam couldn't figure out what to do with his little tongue on fire) They even both ate a brussel sprout! Elijah's was leaf by leaf, but he admited he liked it.

Overall a great sucess that wasn't planned at all!

A day of FUN!

Grandma and Grandpa Strong and Cuyler are visiting us for a long weekend. Saturday we went out for a grand day of fun. In the morning we had Elijah's favorite green whole wheat buttermilk pancakes (and yes green food coloring is part of the recipe). After that, Allan, Chris and I went out and hit some garage sales. Then we were off to the Butterfly Pavilion.

We love the Butterfly Pavilion! We have been there a couple times but this time was especially fun for Sam who is really into noticing bugs. The pavilion has a room full of exotic bugs including an indoor beehive, multiple varieties of tarantulas, scorpians, cockroaches, stick bugs etc. They also have a tarantuala named Rosie that you can hold. Elijah wasn't interested but Sammy (with a little help) had the huge spider walk on his hand. He was then the proud recipient of a "I held Rosie" sticker. He wore his badge the rest of the day.

It was then on to the small aquarium section. They have a tank with Nemo and Dory and some open tanks where you can touch a horseshoe crab, sea urchin, and starfish. Again, Elijah wasn't interested but Sammy was very involved in getting his hands wet.

Then the main attraction --the butterfly garden. The pavilion has a large, very humid, tropical garden in which the butterflies live. There are pathways throughout the garden and you are actually walking amid the butterflies as they flutter around, eat of fruit and blossoms, and rest on leaves. Sam was full of "oohs" (for those of you that have heard his repeated sound of interest). This is where I really wish I had a better camera. I was unable to catch any good pictures of the butterflies. Oh well, maybe this week.

The pavilion also has a hands on play area. They boys had great fun climbing around the huge honey comb, doing crayon rubbings of bugs, watching other kids climb the spider web, playing with microscopes and mechanical representations of various bug functions (chirping legs, mosquito and butterfly noses, termite talk etc.) They also have huge, larger than human robot insects. Elijah steered clear of them but Sam would stare and point at them.

We finished the pavilion trip by watching one of their daily butterfly releases. The pavilion imports cocoons from around the world and then release the butterflies into the garden when they emerge. It was pretty cool to see the new butterflies up close, learn a little more about them, and see them flutter away when released.

After our visit to the Butterfly Pavilion we went to see the new animated movie Kung fu Panda. We had all heard great things about it and were not disappointed. The story was entertaining, the kung fu was amusing and silly, the music beautiful, and the message was good. A great movie for the entire family (though Sam did get a little bored in the middle, but Elijah was interested the entire time).

With all this playing the boys were exhausted and the rest of us were hungry. We decided to take the long road to an amazing resturant in Golden called Ali Baba Grill. It is probably a good thing this resturant isn't closer to home. I dream of this food! They serve middle eastern cusine, have the most heavenly hummus, excellent kababs, and fresh pita bread. Oh my, my mouth is watering! It is well worth the trip to eat there.

Overall it was an amazingly fun day spent as a family. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa we all had a great time!

Key Lime Pound Cake

Elijah has been begging to make a cake out of our key limes I bought to make a pie out of. He claims he doesn't like the pie and wanted to make a cake with a hole in the middle out of the limes instead. Yesterday we found a recipe on Allrecipes.com and Elijah and Josh made his cake. It was probably the prettiest, most perfect bundt cake to ever come out of my kitchen!

The cake came out cleanly. It was dense and moist. It melted in your mouth and had a nice key lime bite that was refreshing. The glaze gave it a nice extra zing. MMMmm! So good! (Unfortunatly the total goodness comes at a price. The cake is loaded -loaded with fat and sugar.)

I've uploaded the recipe onto Everyday recipes, check it out! There have also be a lot of great recipe additions to the site that I am excited to try out.

Eating Out

Josh and I have found ways to eat out cheaply as a family without always going to Wendy's (which even then can add up). Lately we have been doing Thai Kitchen, a local hole in the wall Thai food place, and Rumbi Island Grill. Spending under $10 for all of us.

We've found that at Thai Kitchen we can get one order of their curry (we like their red curry) to go, bring it home and eat it with some of our own rice and it will feed the four of us. It is SO yummy and ready in about the time it takes to cook the rice.

Rumbi's (which we did tonight thus inspiring this post) is another favorite, especially when I can find buy one get one free coupons online (This one only works locally, check your own locations). Whenever I find a coupon I will print off 5 or 6 and stash them in the car. Sometimes Josh will just pick up food on his way home from work. We order whatever Josh and I want and share it with the kids. Josh likes to get the rice bowls and I love their Caribbean chicken salad. I always leave very satisfied. MMmmmm, yummy!

Yay for not cooking every once in awhile!