Easter Reflections - It's not what you think!

It is always such a joy to spend time together as a family and for us at least, it is never enough time. You all are such amazing and delightful adults and we look at you and marvel that you came from us, but we are incredibly grateful! Thanks for making the effort to come home for such quick visits. I know that you pay for your time away for the rest of the week so your visits are even more of a sacrifice.

Yab, I hope that you did not do terrible and permanent damage by coming here this weekend. You know that we would all drop everything and come to help if you need us.

Em, I am so sorry that you have to drive so far to retrieve Piggie and to make amends to her for being gone. Tell her that she was missed all weekend - it is not a holiday without Pigaletta!

Goose, it feels like you have been out of town or entertaining guests every weekend since Christmas. I don't know how you keep up with all the normal, everyday demands when you don't have time to refresh on weekends. I forgot to ask when you fly to Washington.

Hooey is the luckiest. She gets to spend all of her free time with her Mama and Daddy. It does not make sense that she keeps announcing that she is running away to New York.

Mattie has slept the rest of the day - you all wore her out!!

PS: The other lucky part for us is that we have some amazing leftovers - thanks for all the food prep!

Hoppy Easter! We love you!

Granola Bar Challenge: Accepted!

I would also like to accept the chicken tortilla soup challenge, but I am currently unable to find my slow cooker. I suspect it may have succumbed to the same fate as my other appliances that mysteriously wound up not at all where I left them. The investigation is still underway.

In the meantime, I did take a not very creative pass on the Flour Bakery Granola Bars. Joanne Chang includes this recipe in her newish cookbook. While not quick, it's very easy and well worth the effort. The only thing I did differently was dial back the sugar in the jam, as I like my fruit bars (and come on...that's what these really are) on the tart side. My bottom layer browned very quickly (they were a little overdone after 25 minutes in the oven), but this actually gave the bars a caramelized/brown butter flavor that I really liked. I may have eaten 6 bars in a 24 hour period. I don't recommend it. Luckily, coworkers took the rest off my hands.

Finally, I now have a lot of millet. I'm looking forward to making these (maybe with raspberries?), but all other millet suggestions are welcomed!

Recipe (Note: You're supposed to process the toasted walnuts with the oat, flour, etc. mixture.)

Labels Testing

Thought I'd try and contribute by doing the leg work of Emily's "tagging" idea. I've added a "gadget" to the right that should let us look at all the posts by a specific person, a close analog to everyone having their own "section" or "page". Whenever you write a post, if you add your name (pen name, signature, whatever you choose) to the "Labels for this post" section, then it will automatically categorize the post by author. I'm trying it with an "Andy" label to see if it shows up. Stay tuned.

Maprie is excited bout broggin

Granola Bar Challenge

Last weekend Goose and I ate at Flour Bakery even though we would never be hungry again. That is the kind of place I would love to start in Biltmore Park...fresh breads, a few bakery items, and delicious soups and salads with unique ingredients and combinations of ingredients. So we had a wonderful, seedy (pepitas, flax, and a few others) granola bar which was more like a chewy, fruity layer bar with a strawberry or raspberry layer between the granola layers. It would be fun to have that recipe in our repertoire. Has anyone seen something like that in your perusing?

Challenge Recipes

First challenge: We are looking for a delicious and easy Tortilla Chicken Soup recipe (preferably one we can put in the slow cooker). This is the one we have used the last two times I have made the chicken soup, but it is missing the depth of flavor that I seek. Perhaps I would like a little lime and cilantro?
Fix-It and Forget It Tortilla Chicken Soup

Those Blogging Buseys

AMY! GOOSE! GOOSELLA!

Follow the adventures of Amy and her frizz as they made/make their way across Thailand, and THE WORLD!

MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!

At "Don't Mind Me" you can learn what the brain is doing at any given point in time! Also, what Mama is doing as well!

EMILY! EM! EM-EM!

The Joyery, the worlds leading maker of joy, you can come with an inquiry about a recipe, and leave constantly craving chard and wishing she lived on the east coast.

MERF! HOOEY! LEIGHLALEIGH!

Similar to the Joyery, the Hootique is the world's leading producer of Hooey. And who doesn't need more hooey in their life? Come to the Hootique for inquiries regarding fashion and whimsy!

ALSO! Bella Busey, once the Italian adventurer, is now venturing up north! Attending NYU in the fall, Bella Busey will now be ciao-ing down on some big apple!