bon appetit

Saturday we had our Julia Child dinner. A very yummy and very simple Potato and Leek soup. I mean how much easier can it get. Chopped potatoes, sliced leeks, boiled in water, then pureed with a stick blender right in the pot. Then some yummy whipping cream added before you serve it. This was great fun. I hope you try it sometime.

My Little Cutie!

teehee! :)

Soda 3

The third soda was...

The first orange cream soda of the bunch.

Virgil's soda comes from the company REED's Inc. Which started with all natural ginger soda's. They now have many flavors of ginger sodas, energy elixers, ginger candy, ginger ice creams, Virgil's sodas(which are all the classic soda flavors), China Cola(cola with special chinese herbs), and sparking juice drinks, and are very proud of all their products. Ginger ice cream sounds very interesting, as does a rasberry ginger soda. Hmmm...

Check out their website:
http://www.reedsinc.com/

They were very very wordy about how they made this soda, and how amazing it is. Like it was you'll think it was 'made in heaven.'

I'm starting to realize that since I grew up on orange sodas made with everything but natural ingredients that its actually a little hard for me to equate the 'natural flavors orange soda' with the 'orange soda' flavor I know, and that might be throwing off my judgement of 'good' or 'bad'.

So I'd say this soda was just too rich for me. I also felt like the vanilla cream and the orange flavors didn't mix together well. I wonder now if I maybe should've slightly shaken it before I opened it, but the thought of shaking a soda is something you always stray away from.
It did smell really good if that helps. haha

Sunny Day

What a nice day. We all enjoyed the sunshine. Tom went down into the creek bed this morning and found that a coffee can that used to be in his shed was uncovered by the storm. Along with the can he found two large bolts. He said that for the coffee can being under the dirt for five years that it was amazingly in good shape. We hope you are enjoying your sunny day.

PS. Nessa played with her new toys for about 3 hours straight, with two 20 minutes breaks with it close at hand. It was fun watching her swat it out of her own mouth.

A very interesting day.

The rain has been off and on today. Nothing to really worry about. The creek is flowing in its channel, so no worries there. It looks like we got another inch of rain since last night. I took a drive out today, still lots of flooded areas but what was really beautiful is the snow. It got down to a really low level. There was a dusting of snow on the mountain behind Vons, that doesn't happen to often as well as a dusting on the mountain behind the elementary school. I purchased some cat toys, the little mice. Nessa is very busy with her new obsession. Its keeping her busy. Purr-fect for a rainy day.
As you noticed no photos today. Nora adds the photos for me and she is not here. She is at Disneyland. Making a rainy day memory for sure.

Stay dry, and find a new toy to pass the time.

Later in the day...

In many ways this was a much quieter day. In other ways not so QUIET! Around 6 pm we had a nice thunder storm roll over us. When it started, 2 cats and 1 dog were in the house. Which proved interesting because not one of them liked it. Then I realized that one cat was still outside. So when I went out onto the porch, I expected to have to look for him, but no, he was sitting on the railing just waiting for the next flash. Everyone is so different, even in the animal world. When the hail started pelting against the house, everyone got extra excited, except Tamaki. Eventually it stopped and all seemed to settle down. So I took a breather and sat on the couch. A few moments later the pillow that I was leaning on started to move. Aaaagh! It was just Quincy, hiding from all the noise.
We did get another inch of rain today. Bringing the total since Monday to 8 inches. I sure hope you are all dry where you are, or at least you found a dry spot, or you were able to find a pillow to hide under til it all passed.

As of 11am

A few pretty things this storm has brought us..

2 more inches today

Today was a really loud thunderstorm. Lots of fun that was. After the rain let up around 1pm, I went outside to take some snaps.
The creek as you can tell was up close to the pine tree, about 6 inches from the trunk.

I walked across the street and was able to take a photo of the Creek Road, Niagara Falls. This is the first year that we noticed that the "cover" has been removed during the storms.

Hope all is well where you are.

1 more inch today

Just a few more pics of the day.

4 inches of rain.

With everyone being concerned about the impending weather conditions, with the newscasters saying it will be as wet as 2005. I thought I would put up a few post during this week of storms to assist us all into knowing that we are all alright.
We did have an amazing about of rain, more like sheeting, for about a 45 minutes. After which it was over, we discovered that a tree had gone down, not a problem tho, it was a dead tree anyway. That is in the second photo.
The first photo is taken from the chain link fence gate, or about at the back of the old Quonset. This was taken about 30 minutes after that heavy rain. In the middle of the photo is a small tree. It is the pine tree that Tom has been nursing along since the flood. At the time the photo was taken, you can see that the creek was "running wide" and was about 2 1/2 to 3 feet away from the pine tree. I will use this position for any other photos I take regarding the rain. At the moment, the water is back down to about 6 feet from the tree. Run off, Runs off, thank goodness.
I had to get something to the post office, so I took a drive. Boy everyone was scampering in unplugging drains, trees had fallen, and at one point a bunch of rocks has flowed across the road. Not much fun driving there.One final note, Tom is working in the fields today, what a guy!

Soda 2

Soda #2 was...

Route 66 Soda is a company from Wilmington, Illinois, that got their start creating Root Beer way back in 1996. Their sodas can be found in establishments along the Historic Route 66, as well through out those states the Highway runs though. Makes me want to watch the movie "Cars". :)

Want more information? Check out their website.

They even have a "Root Beer" recipe section,

anybody want some Root Beer pancakes??

http://www.route66sodas.com/

As for flavor this was just a good basic orange soda, nothing to rave or complaint about - just yum. If I was traveling Historic Route 66 I'd definitely pick up one. ;)




It's no wonder they're...

Julie and Julia revisited.

A few months ago. Tom and I had a date night. We went and saw, Julie and Julia. The movie that highlights the life of Julia Child, before she was Julia Child. And Julie, a women who learns a lot about herself in the attempt to cook every recipe in Julia's cookbook, The Art of Mastering French Cooking. I was so taken by this movie, that I purchased, Julia's book, My Life in France. It was inspired by all the letters that Julia and her husband wrote to their siblings. Since no one threw these old letters away, it was a great resource for the book. This touched me of course because of all the "old letters" that I have gone through. They are truly amazing. I also read Julia Powell's book, Julie and Julia, the story of her cooking through the cookbook and blogging about it.

This past Christmas was my, Julie and Julia year. I got a rolling pin from Tom - I have been without one for 5 years. (Yep, since the flood) I haven't really "needed" one. When I did I would use a glass. It worked fine. But I would say it was so nice having a rolling pin again. It was fitting that Tom gave it to me. His Mother gave me the one I lost at one of my bridal showers, how we all laughed when it was discovered that Tom's Mother gave me "the weapon".
I also got the movie, Julie and Julia. I have watched it twice already. It is really fun to watch. I think the food itself has a starring role. Catherine gave me the cookbook, The Art of Mastering French Cooking. Wow, what a large book. I had fun looking at it the other day. Then I wondered, could I cook a recipe one a month from this book. Hmmmm. I think I could. So in honor of Julia Child, I will give it a try. Don't expect the Lobster dish tho, that ain't gonna happen. So for the year 2010, I will cook a Julia Child recipe once a month.

January 10, 2010- 5th anniversary since the flood.

T
Well, today(Jan. 10,2010) I got up this am, took a shower, blew dry my hair, went to church, taught a lesson in Relief Society, and when I got home I talked to my Uncle Paul. Quite a difference from 5 years ago. Check out that water line about a foot above the toilet tank. I guess one blessing tho was I never really did clean this up, we just tore it all out. ugh. The kitchen photo still makes me laugh, Tom had fun telling me I sure need to clean my kitchen. It sure had a way of making me smile.

The Kel Project - Soda One

The first soda I tried was...

which was...

Boylan is a family company out of New Jersey that is very proud of the fact that they still make their sodas the old fashioned way - like using cane sugar and glass bottles. The orange flavor is fairly new though, it was created in 1997. From 1891-1995 Boylan only made Birch Beer, when they came out with a black cherry and ginger ale soda, which are now part of the "Bottle Works" brand, as this soda is. Other flavors of "Bottle Works" include, grape, creme, and orange creme. And now they have many other choices of drinks to chose from, including, diet drinks, organic sodas, and natural seltzers.
Want any more info, check out their website: http://www.boylanbottling.com/

I liked this little detail, of "Sun" and "Shine" on each side the bottle.

Sadly, this soda did not taste very good. I looked at the ingredients and some of the main ingredients are mandarins and tangerines. It was very very sweet, like drinking the juice that's left in a can of mandarins. A little too sweet for me, drinkable but I don't think I'd get it again.

It was a really fun experience though, so I look forward to learning about the next 11 sodas. :)

The Kel Project!

This Christmas I received a really fun present from B&C.
Twelve bottles of vintage orange/orange cream soda!

Pretty, huh?

They all are so interesting and unique, like they each have their own story, that I thought it would be fun to not just guzzle'em all down but give each of them some special attention. To make sure I have time to really savor each one, and then write a blog about'em - what I think about the flavor, any info I can find on each company, and of course photos of all the bottle details. Ending of course with which one in my favorite! ;)

So be on the lookout for some yummy orange soda posts over the next few weeks! Mmmm I can't wait!

PS. I'm jokingly calling it the "Kel Project" because of a show I watched as a kid called Kenan and Kel. Kel was was obsessed with orange soda(as you can see in the clip below) so it just seemed fitting, since it was the first thing I thought of when I saw all that orange soda! heheh