Monthly Archives: April 2008

Food

Hell’s Kitchen 4/15 Live Blog

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So the chefs wake up to chickens around their apartments. They had to each grab one and bring it down to the kitchen. The chase alone was funny. Ramsay had them thinking they were going to have to butcher the chickens. Instead they returned the chickens to the pens and got to work with chickens that were already butchered.

The challenge was to butcher the chickens into 8 pieces. He had an interesting aspect of going through the wishbone instead of around. Then they 5 minutes to dispatch theirs into 8 pieces. Then Ramsay began counting pieces. The women had a total of 44/48 qualifying pieces. Jason has this “the girl’s surprised me” and then his first piece was trashed and he got 6/8. Then Craig got a measly 2/8. They didn’t even finish counting the men’s since there was no way they could catch up. So the women won! The men have already picked out Craig to go home.

The men got to go pick peppers in the sun and they were mad. Jason doesn’t “do” manual labor and the guys were throwing things at Craig.

The women got to go to the Sunset Strip were they ran into Aaron (the crier) from Season 3. Then they all got to ride the mechanical bull. The girls decided to start targeting the guys one at a time.

When they returned Corrie and some of the other girls invited some of the guys to join her in the hot tub. Ben recognized what a player Corrie was and he thought no one would buy into her. But Jason stripped down and hopped in. He even used, “Whatsup girl, how you doing”. Does that line actually work on anyone? But the girls fed him and pumped him for information. Now all the guys are mad.

As further punishment for losing Bobby had to cook table side whereas Jon Phillip was cooking table side for the girls. Then Ramsay said Jason was on desserts and began quizzing him on what the desserts were. When Jason didn’t know Ramsay sent him back to the dorm to learn them.

And then the cooking began! Christina and Craig were on the hot appetizers. Out the shoot the Blue Team was fighting and looking for flaws in Craig (not that he was doing well). Then Ramsay began yelling at Rosann about her cold appetizer. For the first time I have seen, Ramsay sent out a partial table (from the Blue Team).

Lou Ross goes and gets Jason to get him to try the desserts again with Ramsay. Jason couldn’t pull it out with Ramsay and then said he wanted to go home. Ramsay doesn’t let him off that easy and Jason ends up getting the desserts.

Then Vanessa delivered some raw meat as part of the first entree. After Ramsay yells at her and then she was shook and crying. On the Blue side, Lou Ross wasn’t told they needed veg so it hadn’t gotten done. So an entire entree was held up because the side vegetable wasn’t ready. Then Rosann torched some meat.

Then Jason put the brulee in the oven even though it was done. Isn’t it standard in restaurants to pre-cook the brulee’s and then just “brulee” them before service? (carmalize the sugar) And once again the fish wasn’t right on the Blue Team. It is salmon people! Salmon is quick and easy, I don’t know what the problem is. The salmon broke Ramsay and he shut it down.

There weren’t any winners, each team nominated 1. Christina got to nominate for the Red and Petrozza for the Blue. Petrozza put up Jason dues to cooking skills and communication. Then Christina put up Vanessa due to the meat station fiasco. Once again the chick cried. Who knows if that is the reason she got to stay. I think Ramsay was right in sending Jason home because he did give up before he started at service.

I think Christina increased her integrity stock with Ramsay by not nominating Corrie and we still have Craig to get rid of. I think how long Craig stays is totally dependent on how well the men work in spite of him.

Technorati Tags: Hell’s Kitchen, Fox

carnivals, Homeschoooling

Carnival of Homeschooling

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Welcome to the 120th Carnival of Homeschooling and come on into our home. I am sorry I am running late but I had women’s retreat this weekend and choir and Bible Study today. So sorry. Let me drop my purse and Bible, just make yourself comfortable and ignore the mess;).

Yes, your kids are more than welcome. They can play here with the others in the playroom. Maybe Sarah’s kids from over at Small World can show their wonderful creativity like they did At the Carnival.

Oh did you see the bookshelves and the computer? It is great to have such a learning nook. Kerry over at 10 O’Clock Scholar is sharing a great Geography and Science Combined Unit. Barbara Frank is sharing a great project when she asks, Is There a Young Writer in Your House? Tiffany at the Natural Family Living Blog does a book review on Finding Your Child’s Strength. One of my favorite sites, Let’s Play Math, is sharing Math Games by Kids that has lots of great Math resources. Homeschool Buzz Reviews asks us if we are looking for a break from your serious reading? Check out our review of the entertaining classic graphic novel Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The Reluctant Homeschooler has recently switched from using textbooks to using biographies with her 16 year old so now he is asking, “Why do I have to learn all that?“.

Let’s go in the kitchen and get a cup of coffee and a snack. Oh, over on the island is the crafting center. ChristineMM at The Thinking Mother is Playing with Needle Felting. sharing how she and her two boys have been enjoying doing daily needle felting which qualifies for ‘homeschool art class’.

I love my kitchen too. I am blessed to have so much space in here but it gets messy. Let’s look in at Ship Full O’Pirates. Jenny is sharing some wisdom on Galley Duty.

Take a seat at the kitchen table so we can listen to some of the wonderful people who are willing to give us advice and pointers. Michelle over at Organically Inclined starts the conversation with Attachment Parenting and the Independent Teen. Have you ever asked, My child won’t do craft activities- what now? If so, Melitsa at Play-Activities.com has some answers. Terri at Cricket’s Corner shares The Rite of the Hanger for those times that you realize your kids are growing up. Renae at Life Nurturing Education looks at life and the kids with Looking at the Future. A Mountain Homeschool deals with an issue we all deal with in Birthday Parties (and that whole “gift” thing). Life Without School says children need trust …. and they need mentors, guides, and facilitators in Healthy Mentorship. The Upside Down World wants advice on what to do when mom is the one who doesn’t want to do school work in Homeschooling Blahs.

Wow that has given us so much to think about but there are so many to talk to we have to keep moving. Let’s go sit in the living room and hear all the blood stirring political and insightful philosophical talk. HappyCampers at Reese’s View of the World start us off with a poignant Saturday Quote. Then Alasandra of Alasandra’s Blog Awards is talking about The Harassment of Homeschoolers Continues At The American Chronicle. Rational Jenn mentions something. Oh, In Case You Haven’t Seen This Yet includes some excerpts from an op-ed entitled “Your Child Is Not State Property,” and directly challenges the idea that homeschooling parents and children should be monitored by the state. Remember, THEY work for US! :o) Then Findings gives us Socialized Homeschooling in which she discusses the different alternatives available for establishing a social life for my children as homeschoolers. Cristina at Home Spun Juggling continues her series “You can learn a lot from watching animals” with A Tick to Ride. Theresa at Olin gives us another reason to homeschool with Coming to A School Near You. Then Henry Cate at Why Homeschool also gives us Yet Another Reason to Homeschool – Help Stop a Pandemic. Then Learning at Home reminds us that sometimes we are Getting MORE than we paid for in some cases. A Family Runs Through It give us Comment Love where she is seeking advice to jerks who leave her anti-homeschooling comments. Then Dawn Adams presents Day by Day Discoveries: If it Looks Too Good to be True… posted at Day by Day Discoveries talking about K-12 Free.

Oh, that group over in the garage, they are getting ready to take their learning out into the world. Bookworms and Tea Lovers is telling us how to get the most out of Visiting Museums with Children. Brain Blog has provided us with 2 essays that were submitted by homeschoolers in Florida with Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention. Jennifer of Diary of 1 shares The Child’s Spring Book. It tells us how to make a ziplock-bag-book full of the specimens of spring! My Domestic Church offers us If you build it, they will come! It is all about their homeschool soccer league. Peakmore Academy shares all about Science Fair and more! The Sojourner says Sometimes You Just Gotta Have Fun With Your Kids! She says that sometimes you need to just “play” with your kids like she did at the county fair!

Thanks so much for coming over and hanging out with me! Next week Principled Discovery will be hosting this wonderful carnival. Go over to BlogCarnival and get your entry in before Monday night at 6pm (pacific). If you like this carnival please use what ever social bookmarking (Stumble, Digg, etc) you participate in so we can share this with others. Now go visiting and comment on their blogs about what a great job they all have done!

Technorati Tags: Homeschooling, Carnival of Homeschooling

Food

Frezer Friday: Pasta Alfredo Bake

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Welcome to Freezer Friday. The goal here is to make our lives easier. Due to the fact I have 4 little ones and homeschool, I need all the help I can find. Simply post a recipe that can be made, frozen and then later reheated(thawed, etc) and consumed. Make sure that you include freezing and reheating instructions in your post. Then come here and add you post (not your blog) into Mr. Linky.
Now for some disclaimers:
If it isn’t a recipe, I will delete it.
If it can’t be made ahead, I will delete it.
If you don’t have a family friendly site, I will delete it.
Now onto the food fun!

Due to my women’s retreat I am reposting this as a Freezer Friday recipe. (It was around before Freezer Friday was)

Pasta Alfredo Bake

Here is my easy, peasy made up recipe to use leftover meat. I have done this with pork roast and chicken so far.

Ingredients:
Anywhere from 3/4lb to 1lb of pasta
2 cups of cubed meat
1 large bag of frozen veggies (I use broccoli)
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1 small jar of alfredo sauce or one batch of my Cheap and Easy White Sauce
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded Fontina Cheese

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil your pasta and drain. Rinse frozen veggies in warm water and drain. Then mix pasta, meat, veggies, chili powder, and alfredo sauce. Dump into a 9 by 13 pan and top with shredded cheeses. Then bake for 30 minutes until everything is warm. You can assemble this ahead of time and freeze it. Then just thaw and bake. I put it in partially frozen and cooked it for an hour and it turned out great.

Technorati Tags: Leftovers, Freezer Friday, Make Ahead

Homeschoooling

How We Got Started Homeschooling

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I often say the thing that got me started on the idea of homeschooling was attending public school and knowing kids at private schools. But I am not sure if that is totally true. I think it was watching my younger siblings starting school while I was still in high school. I started seeing all the negative things that started as early as kindergarten and paralleled that with my corrupting high school experience and it got me thinking about why we were in school. My brother was a severe asthmatic so at one point early in his school career my mother pulled him out to do a long term, parent directed schooling through the district. With just this change I saw amazing differences in both his intellect and personality. Then we he went back to school I saw him go from very advanced back to normal.

That was it for me. Then looking at my own schooling I realized how the herding mentality held me back as a student and I already knew the social issues that were bad (obviously I was and am a nerd). Then I was blessed to meet someone likeminded. NerdDad had seen the negatives in his own schooling career and decided he wouldn’t want to put his children in it either.

We both wanted 4 kids, the wife to stay home and to homeschool. That is part of what got me interested in him;). Now I don’t want you to think we were the kids left behind and we are bitter we couldn’t read. We were kind of the opposite. Self teachers who never felt nurtured. It was obvious that we weren’t in an environment that loved learning (except for a few teachers and their classes) and the school wasn’t really caring on developing our character. We were the kids who would have been better left alone in the library for a few years. Now we do know the kids left behind and the schools didn’t serve them either. So we decided the schools don’t serve anyone other than the government, for the most part.

Once we got married we began educating ourselves on homeschooling. Then obviously we had kids. I loved the classical theory and The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. So here we are just a couple years in but completely committed to homeschooling!

TV

American Idol Confession

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Ok, I don’t watch American Idol. I know it is shocking. But, this morning I was listening to KDUV, my Christian radio station, and they were talking about the big American Idol fundraiser that was on last night. Joe and Shannon said that the closing song was shocking and then played a little bit of it. It was “Shout to the Lord”. I confess that I just started tearing up immediately. The idea that the most watched show in television was playing that song is very exciting to me. After I get home today I will see if I can find a YouTube of it.

****Updated

Here is the YouTube. Within a half hour of my posting this one of my favorite nieces sent me the link! There is talk about the editing of the original words of the song. They did change “my Jesus” in the beginning but I am not sweating it. Anyone who has seen an infomercial has seen this being part of a Christian worship album so I don’t think there is a mystery as to who it is really about.

Technorati Tags: Fox, American Idol, Idol Gives Back, Shout to the Lord

Food

Top Chef 4/9: Live Blog

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So here we all are again. The kids are napping and Top Chef is purring on the Tivo. Let’s go!

Quick Fire Challenge:

So into the Quickfire Challenge. Ming Tsai is our guest judge. I used to watch him on East Meets West and he, like us all, is getting older.

So we are doing a palette challenge. They did pairs in which the chefs had to pick out the higher quality item. They did maple syrup, bacon, crab, chocolate, butter, cheddar, soy, sake, caviar, pork, and olive oil. There were more (15) but those were the ones I saw. The lowest was Stephanie with 6. Ryan and Jen tied for second with 11. The winner was Antonia with 12 out of 15.

Elimination Challenge:

This week’s elimination challenge was the Meals on Wheels Chicago Celebrity Chef Ball. They were responsible for the first course. The theme was the 4 elements fire, water, earth and air. They were then split into 4 teams.

Team Water: Richard, Mark, Dish: Suvee Poached Wild Salmon with Watercress Salad and Parsnip Vanilla Puree, Tapioca Faux Caviar

Team Fire: Dale, Stephanie, Lisa Dish: Prawns and Bacon with Chili Salad

Team Earth: Antonia, Zoi, Spike Dish: Carpachio with Wild mushrooms, Sun Chokes Aoili

Team Air: Ryan, Jen, Nikki Dish: Duck Breast with Herb Salad and a Shot of Proseco

Team Fire was having issues in the planning stage because they couldn’t agree on the deviled eggs they are apparently going to do. Then they get to the supermarket and change their mind. Then change their mind again.

All the teams were cooking at a new facility. Team Water set themselves apart from everyone else. Lisa seems very negative towards life and others. Tom didn’t seem impressed with Water’s plan at all with the Suvee. Tom said that Team Water seemed cocky, Air didn’t seem to have a clear idea of the dish, Fire may have gone to spicy for 1st course. Tom didn’t say anything about Earth so do I just assume that they win?

As we are in the last 15 minutes Team Water hasn’t started plating. Then there was a mention of scales on their fish. They decided to check them as they put the fish on the plate. Then Spike on Earth’s team thinks that Zoi’s seasoning is to light on the mushrooms. Richard said that there are compromises in cooking for all these people and implied that scales was one of the compromises. I don’t think so. It isn’t like that is done in the rushed end.

So onto Judges comments during the eating. Ming Tsai got some of Water’s scales and Tom said salmon was one of the things that aren’t good suveed. Then onto Fire’s food. Padma said the shrimp was good and everyone else said it was hot and good. Then Team Air’s was up next. Gail said that they didn’t render the skin. Tom isn’t a fan of the drink with the dish. Then Team Earth was up. Gail said Rosemary was bad and others said it was bland. One of the diners said if they were a judge that someone from the Earth team would be going home. It seems all the judges agreed that the Fire team’s dish was good, that the salmon had no texture, the Air dish Tom didn’t get. Gail and Tom seemed to dislike the Earth dish the most.

Judging Panel:

The Fire Team won right off with out any bad comments. The one winner out of the team won a trip. Lisa won with her interesting Bacon technique with the syrup and miso. Dale is bitter. Teams sent back were Earth and Water. When Team Water was asked who cleaned the fish Richard asked in what way. What was Richard really asking? I think he was deflecting. Ming pointed out to Antonia that she was wrong about the idea of Butternut Squash soup being bad. The judges said that the carpachio was bland except the Rosemary in the mushrooms that didn’t go with the beef. Tom really didn’t like that the Earth team allowed themselves to be driven by the person with immunity. Zoi was sent home for her mushrooms.

Then the arguing broke out. Spike said that it was Antonia’s fault. Then they went back and forth over whether Antonia had said she would do soup if that was what they wanted (which she did). Then Jen makes a comment about sending Zoi home. Then Dale made a comment and Lisa basically said shut up and Dale yelled at her.

So personalities are in it now. Let’s see what happens next! See you all next week.

Technorati Tags: Bravo, Top Chef

Food

Hell’s Kitchen 4/8

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First off, trim American Idol so the show starts at 9pm people.

How did Jason not know what he was getting into? Did he not watch any of the previous seasons? Which leads me to the next thing. Ramsay’s assistants woke up the chefs up. How is this a surprise? They do this every season. And then some of the women came out in pj’s.

Then we go into the challenge. Chef Ramsay demonstrated how to break down a halibut and then the chefs had to do it. I have to say I love these breaking down food challenges. It is interesting to watch and it also tells you a lot about big talkers. So the portioning fish challenge ended in a tie. So to break the tie each team had to send up one member. This member had to pick out the fillet closest to 6 ounces to win. The girls sent up Corey and the guys sent up Ben. Ben got a 5.9 ounce and Corey got a 4.8 ounce. So Guys win and got to go on a 100-foot super yacht. The girls got to prep all the halibut and make the fish stock.

Side note: Jen always has a problem and thinks that everyone is not competent.

Getting onto service. So Ramsay comes in pre-service and asks Petrozza (on the Guy’s side) what the appetizers are. When he doesn’t know, Ramsay bounces him out until he knows the menu and says the station will remain unmanned until he returns. Craig gets sent out to work the front of the house for the men and Rosanne will be going out for the women. Then Petrozza comes out to try the menu again and fails. Ramsay sends him back to read and he says he is done. He had to be convinced by another guy to try again. Then he got it.

It took 45 minutes for Rosanne to get any orders back for the Girl’s kitchen. The Guys got into a substantial lead. Craig hit a woman in the head with a chair as he was taking it to someone. Rosanne had orders that she brought after the people had been there 2 hours. The kitchen had all the standard issues: slow, not up to standards, etc. So eventually Ramsay shut it all down.

Based on comment cards and entree count the women lost. Corey was named best of the worst. Then she put up Christina for “strategic reasons”. Next up was Jen for “personal reasons”. The guys were laughing through the girls saying why they should stay. Jen listed everything that she did during prep as her reason to stay (and it lasted forever and was edited). The Ramsay kicked off Sharon without giving her a chance to defend herself. He said he appreciated Corey’s strategy but had a conscious and couldn’t keep Sharon.

We will see how nasty the women get, now won’t we;)?

Technorati Tags: Hell’s Kitchen, Fox