NEW BLOG GIVE AWAY!

24 January - 31 January, 2010

"Happiness,... not in another place but this place, not for another hour, but this hour." Walt Whitman

#1 1oo points for me! I finished my big project. I AM SO HAPPY. Here is the story. (journal entry) We loved the 2002 Winter Olympics. We loved it in 1995 when Salt Lake got the bid. We went to our first torch run celebration in 1996. We were thrilled when Grandpa Johnson gave us the 10 early Olympic pins for part of our Christmas. We participated in every pre-Olympic event possible.
Our Olympic celebration began when the torch came near our neighborhood on 8 Feb., 2002. I planned a party and we were there. Michael, Tracey, Jenna and Tashina came. Aulais were there. It was freezing, but so fun. Then we went back to our house for our opening ceremony party. We had our rings up in the front window. We had super nachos with all the toppings set up in an Olympic ring pattern. (Blue sour cream (it worked), black olives, red tomatoes, yellow cheese and green guacamole.) I ordered a big cake with the rings. A fun night to start our great Olympic experience.
I made foods from different countries each night of the Olympics.
Grandma and Grandpa Johnson bought tickets to some events for us. Uncle Michael and Aunt Kathy (she was still Kathy then) gave us some tickets to events. Emily and Mark camped out all night in freezing weather for free tickets to a Medals Ceremony and Smash Mouth concert. (I took more blankets and hot chocolate over in the middle of the night.) Uncle Michael represented the Coast Guard and carried a flag in the Opening Ceremonies of the Paralympics. He got tickets for Emily, Leslie and Mark to go. Our family's event experiences were wonderful. (Cold, too.)
Then there were our Olympic Plaza adventures and experiences. SO FUN!!! We took TRAX downtown almost every day. (afternoons, evenings mainly.) We used our Christmas pins (from Grandpa about 5 years back) and traded pins. We went to the COKE tent to play games. The whole experience was fun. We have celebrated each Olympics since then. (end of journal entry)
My goal? To finish our 2oo2 Olympic experience (a staycation before they were in) scrapbook before the 2010 Winter Olympics. Yea! I finished it. (I had forgotten that I was interviewed by the Tribune about our family's experience.)

A side note- I bought one of the Olympic scrapbooks that the newspapers sold at the time. Since then I found many of these albums at 2nd hand stores/yard sales. If you scrapbook 12'" x 12", these are a good deal. There are 10 page protectors with white paper, and sell for about $1.oo.


#2 Play Date made me happy. We went to the zoo for free zoo day. It was fun and not too cold. Leslie and Annie had other plans, but Emily brought Lincoln, Kenna and Ari. Lindsay and Logan and Layne and I met them there. We had lunch there, and stayed about 3 hours.

#3 Two months until Mark and Ashley will be married. :-D

#4 Leslie bought a new book that made me happy. It is the new Gospel Art book. For some reason I did not even know about it. I used it when I taught Mark's class on Sunday. Thank-you, Leslie.

#5 Unfortunately, homemade bread makes me happy. I made and cooked bread every day last week. Mmm. I love this bread. (Recipe is 17 Jan. - 24 Jan. post) I love making the bread, but certainly should not eat the bread, so I took a loaf to the women that I visit teach.

#6 I tried new recipes this week. (Of course. That makes me happy) One recipe was a crock-pot pasta fagioli. It was o.k. I am not saving it. But, I really enjoyed my Panda Expess experiments. Their kung pao and orange sauces are sold at many grocery stores. I wanted to make this easy, so I used popcorn chicken from Wal-mart's deli. They come in a cup (about 24 pieces) for $2.00. (I used 2 cups.) 12 pieces = 1 serving, 7 gms.fat, 170 cal.
I made plain rice and noodles. The noodles were an experiment that worked. I like the noodles from ramen noodles, but once cooked, they are not what I want. So, I rinsed 2 packs (discard seasoning) in hot water and put into a covered skillet with about 2 table. water. I added about 2 table. water each time it was gone until noodles were what I wanted. Then I added 1 table.sesame oil and 1 tea. hot chili sesame oil and 1 table. soy sauce, and some finely chopped carrots. and stir fried the noodles. I liked the texture much better.
For the orange chicken, I stir fried 1 cup of chicken with about 1 table. sesame oil (to reheat and crisp them) and then added some Panda Express Orange Sauce and stirred until hot. Some of my kidults love orange chicken from Panda.
Review- At first everyone said it was spot on. After eating more, they felt like the citrus was just too strong. (Maybe a bit of soy sauce & brown sugar?) Also, they thought it might be more authentic if cooked in a low heat oven for awhile.
For the Kung pao chicken I wanted some heat and extras. I stir fried red pepper strips, onion slices, peanuts (some), and red pepper flakes (to your taste) in about 2 table. sesame oil and 1 1/2 tea. hot chili sesame oil. Just for about 2 min. Then I added the cup of chicken and stir fried for about 3 -5 mins. more. I added the kung pao sauce and stired to heat.
Review-The kung pao was mainly for me. I like hot. This worked for me. I enjoyed the left overs on the noodles the next day. I will make it again.

#7 I love Valentine's Day. I enjoyed pulling out and putting up all my antique valentines. Here is a picture of just a few with some of my relatives wedding pictures.

#8 Christy wanted Jello poke cake for her birthday dinner on Sunday. I made "Lemon Lime Refridgerator Cake" (Christy's title) for her. Everyone loved it. Why did we quit making this? It is easy. Happy Birthday, Christy.

#9 We have had some cold weather, but Thursday, Friday and Saturday felt like spring was around the corner.

#10 My kidults talked me into Facebook. It is interesting.

Now for my next BLOG GIVE AWAY.
Lindsay is making 1 of her very cute crocheted hats with a flower. The winner can pick their colour (pink, black, white, navy blue) and size (about age 0-4, 4-10, teen, adult). These are darling and will include a flower and something extra. (These can also be ordered. The pink one is an order ready to be shipped.)

You have up to 3 chances to win. Have each coomment seperate, so that you will have 3 entry #s.
#1 Leave a comment with your name and the colour you would want to win.
#2 If you are a follower, type your name and "follower". To become a follower, click on FOLLOW and sign in using whatever account you use. (google, yahoo, twitter)
#3 Type your name and comment on a recipe or idea from my blog that you have tried or want to try.
I will announce the winner on Feb. 8th.

Are you doing The 14 Days of Valentines? Tomorrow I will post one of my family's favourite valentine things. I have used this idea since the 80's . It is my Day One for my husband.