The Jell-o Project: Mimosa Mold

Spring is in the air and Jell-o was on sale for a dollar a box. If that isn't the formula for Jell-o inspiration, I don't know what is.

Oh, wait, what about this?

It's a book of all my Jell-o Project blog posts to date. Robert was pretty excited when he saw my book and suggested I get it published. "I just did," I told him, holding up my evidence. "There was a print run of one." (Seriously though, if anyone wants to publish it for reals, call me!)

So, I pulled out Jell-o Collection, my newest and only Jell-o recipe book, and decided to make Mimosa Mold. 

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 (8 serving size) package of sparkling white grape or lemon Jell-o

2 cups cold seltzer or club soda

1 can mandarin oranges

1 cup sliced strawberries

Directions: Stir boiling water into gelatin in large bowl at least 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Gently stir in seltzer. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Gently stir about 15 seconds. Stir in oranges and strawberries. Pour into molds. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Unmold and garnish as desired.

The reactions to the second installment of The Jell-o Project were positive.

Ethan was the least enthusiastic, but found a way to suck away all the Jell-o while leaving the fruit behind. His method didn't even require a spoon. (That's right girl's. He's 14) He was ecstatic. 

Isaac mostly ate his Jell-o salad, but said he didn't like it. "But I ate one of each fruit," he offered.

Robert said, "This is really good," which is more than I could have ever expected him to say and it thrilled me to no end. He even pondered how he might bring some to work for lunch, but gave up on the idea after he couldn't find a suitable container.

Jonah. Oh sweet, sweet Jonah. He was the one who offered the prayer on our meal tonight, part of which--and I'm not making this up--included the phrase, "Thank-you Heavenly Father, that Mom made Jell-o for dinner tonight." After eating the Jell-o he declared, "Mom, this is delicious."

I have to admit, it was yummy. The club soda really added a fun kick and the fresh strawberries and mandarins were delicious. I thought the very fact that they were NOT crushed pineapple would have elicited more of a favorable response from Ethan, but even though he will eat a regular fruit salad with cut up strawberries and mandarin oranges, he would not eat the fruit surrounded by the club soda spiked Jell-o.

It doesn't matter.

I'm back!

Twinkie Mom

I've wanted to make homemade Twinkies for a while, and today I had a little time on my hands, so I went for it. I found this recipe online and luckily they had great instructions for making individual baking vessels. (And yes, I did realize this was a moment of crazy--making little baking vessels out of aluminum foil--but it's not like I was making my own goldfish crackers.)

Here's the finished product. You might notice that one Twinkie doesn't quite fit on the plate. So sad. I had to eat it. As for the rest of the family, I'm making them wait for dessert to try a Twinkie for themselves. 

One downside, the recipe made about twice as much cream filling as we needed, so now I have a good amount of extra cream that seems just too good to toss. What to do?

On a side note, I was listening to a Radiolab podcast about Fritz Haber while making these yummy cakes. But, I'm wondering if from now on, Twinkies will forever be associated with chemical warfare in World War I. 

In Which I Begin to Feel Like Dr. Frankenstein

I've never read the book, but am nevertheless, understanding the great terror that comes from creating a monster. Because like Dr. Frankenstein, I've created a monster. Well, three monsters to be specific.

I knew I was creating monsters when I showed my boys this video. It's eleven minutes long, but a sweet, fun story about a little boy. Watch it.*


Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

Now watch my boys' response, which is under a minute:

That was Friday. Today is Sunday and boxes are disappearing. First it was the recycling bin that was raided. Then it was my drawers. I'm finding stacks of zip lock bags sans box, next to the boxless roll of Saran Wrap.

They are wielding Xact-o knives and running through rolls of tape like it was Kleenex during cold and flu season.

There are bits of cardboard everywhere and I'm starting to suspect they missed the part of Cain's video where he cleans up.

It's getting to the point where I can't beat them. But I don't plan on joining them. I plan on curling up in my room and reading a book.

*Cain hangs out at his dad's used auto parts store and creates a complex cardboard arcade. He spends his days waiting for customers who never come. Until one day . . . 

Work

Someone asked me a few weeks back if I worked.

"I'm just a stay-at-home mom," I replied. And while I know we stay-at-home-moms are not supposed to say "just," I said it anyway. Because sometimes, that's how I feel. I think it's well established that being a full-time mom is a big, thankless job. Can you imagine a job that would require you to care for sick people when you, yourself are sick?

A moment after I answered this person's question, however, I realized that I actually do work. For money. It's just not a lot of money, but I do things. I rattled off a few of those things, and later that day, I realized I'd left a few off the list.

Then this morning, when I realized a deadline was coming up, I realized one more thing I do.

So, mostly for myself, I'm listing them here so I will remember all the jobs I have (besides mother, of course, which is the hardest and most rewarding of all my jobs.)

Job Title Pending - I work for reliefsocietygifts.com taking orders, doing data entry, customer service, packing and shipping and keeping records updated.

Proofreader - I proofread Vancouver Family Magazine monthly.

Writer - I write a monthly book review column for Vancouver Family Magazine.

Tutor - I tutor several students in writing.

Freelance Writer - I sometimes write articles for magazines, like The New Era, and Vancouver Family Magazine.

There are also several unpaid, non-mom jobs I do:

Young Women's Presidency 2nd Counselor - I work with the 12 and 13 year old girls at church and help them learn leadership skills and also develop spiritually. We work together on goal setting, and once a week we have an activity that I help plan and carry out. I attend leadership and planning meetings regularly.

Art Literacy Volunteer - I receive training on a different artist four times a school year, then present an informational slide show to two classes and lead them in an art project.

Out of all these jobs, being a stay-at-home mom is my favorite and I'm very blessed to be able to have that job.

Spring Break: The Final Day

The quest for Junior Ranger badges took us to Fort Clatsop on Friday. The rain pounded coming over the coast range and there were several times I had to slow way down and turn the wipers way up. But once we got onto Hwy 101, we were mostly rain free. I even saw a sliver or two of blue sky. 

At Fort Clatsop the boys tried on some replica clothing. Here, Jonah poses as a happy William Clark. Below, Isaac shows us his best, and most serious Merriweather Lewis. (Exploring is serious business.)

We walked around the grounds and looked into the fort. Unfortunately, there were no ranger talks. I guess they reserve that kind of thing for summer, when it's not so cold and damp and there are more people around. 

The boys played hide and seek and actually had a good time. Even the teenager. Which pleased me to no end. 

One friend, upon hearing about some of our Spring Break outings, said I was surely in the running for "Mom of the Year." But here's the thing: all the boys are at the perfect age right now. They are independent enough not to have to be watched every second. They understand that sometimes we have to wait for food, or take long drives, they can entertain themselves when they are bored. Everyone is at the perfect age for this kind of thing. They are easy to take places and I've actually had a lot of fun too.

I'm just glad I can take advantage of this perfect balance before things change. Because they will change, I'm sure of it.

Seaside was our next stop where again, the rain magically held off. I snapped "the picture" I always take when we go to Seaside--the boys sitting on the logs near the sign at the turn around. I was just thinking how fun it would be to put all these pictures side-by-side and see how they boys have grown. Maybe I'll get around to that some day.

But it was cold and super windy. We persevered like the true Oregonians we are. But we didn't go in the water. Because we are NOT crazy Oregonians. (See that couple way far off in the background? They went in the water. Because they are crazy.)

Finally, I got a picture of me. I'm not good at this self-picture taking thing.

On the way home we stopped at Camp 18 for dinner. It's an old logging camp and the grounds are loaded with old logging equipment and history. The restaurant is a stunning log building with a giant center beam that is the biggest in the United states and weighs like 25 tons. 

The food at the restaurant was a lot more expensive than I remember it being the last time we visited. (Maybe ten years ago?) But fortunately, we were still able to order from the lunch menu. Whew! 

After dinner we walked down to the river and the boys skipped rocks for what felt like FOREVER. I could not lure them away for anything. Isaac finally learned how to skip a rock, which was a good thing considering how much my boys seem to love throwing rocks into water. 

And here's the boys under this fabulously--what's the word--distressed? red train car. It looked really cool and would probably make a fantastic backdrop to some kind of fancy family photo-shoot. But this was the picture I got. The boys are pretending to get run over by the train. You can't see actual train car, but I thought the expression on the boys faces was too good to put the focus on the train instead of them.

Spring Break 2012 is in the books. I think we had a pretty awesome week. I'll have to remind myself that when the credit card bill comes. 

More Spring Break Embracing

Another "win" for mom today* and it all started with cleaning the garage. We all chipped in (except Ethan who, by 9:30, had still not eaten breakfast) and got things put away and thrown away and swept up. 

Then it was off to Fizz, a new-fashioned soda fountain on Belmont and NE 34th. The kids loved it. They mix up your soda right in front of you using pure cane sugar syrups and soda water. Jonah and Isaac both got floats: Jonah's is a chocolate peanut butter soda with chocolate ice cream while Isaac had the Blue Raspberry with vanilla ice cream. Ethan and I just had soda. I got a blood orange, which was super yummy, and Ethan got the blue raspberry, which tasted like melted, blue Otter Pop. So, it was delicious. 

The boys browsed the candy section and spent some of their money and made me promise to bring them back soon.

Parking around Fizz was almost non-existent and I felt lucky and a little suspicious to find a spot several blocks away. After all, why was that one spot available? Was there some "tow-away-zone" sign I didn't see? But the car was there when we got back and Ethan and Jonah posed with this flier for me. I only had to remind them about the delicious soda I'd recently purchased for them to get them to comply.

Then it was across the river to Powell's. I had a few books to sell but they only bought two out of six, netting me a whopping $4.20 in store credit. But $4.20 is $4.20. Each of the boys picked out a book, and I picked out a Jell-o cook book. And I couldn't resist the pad of fold and mail stationery. Oh, and I also couldn't resist the reusable Powell's shopping bag. 

Finally we stopped by Voodoo. Ethan was not looking forward to the visit because of the legendary long lines. And because rain was threatening. But when we drove up, not only was there no line in sight, there was also a parking spot right in front. (We waited for the homeless guy to wash his hands in the gutter before getting out of the car.) Eight donuts later, we headed home to our clean garage. 

(Can't say the same for the house. Or the goldfish bowl.)

Now I just have to figure out what to do tomorrow.

*Yesterday we spent three and a half hours at John's Incredible Pizza.

Embracing Spring Break

I have Spring Break ideas. Big ideas. Ideas that two of the boys are pretty darn excited about. However, one child remains unconvinced of my brilliance and the ultimate awesomeness of my Spring Break plan. One child wants to spend Spring Break in an arcade eating pizza until all his and my money has run out.

 

Jonah conquers his fear of heights and climbs to the top of the look-out tower

Hey you stupid hippies! Get off my lawn!

So we left that one child at home while the rest of us visited Fort Vancouver National Monument today.

You can tell just by looking at this picture we had an awesome time. What gives it away? Well, the sky was blue for one thing. Jonah was given an iron forged hook that he watched a wonderful volunteer blacksmith make. It made his whole week! We were super glad to have some friends along for our first-day-of-spring-break adventure.

After Fort Vancouver, the adventure took us to Mac! Mac & Cheesery. Yep, a whole restaurant dedicated to macaroni and cheese. It was an adventure, but disappointing. One reason was they didn't have the poutine mac and cheese I'd heard so much about. Another reason was because the deep fried mac and cheese balls they served us were jalapeno when I'd specifically asked for plain. But the main reason--the nail in the coffin, so to speak--was the fact that it took one hour to get our meal. One hour and we were the only people in the whole restaurant.

Three different reasons were given for the lateness: the printer was broken (no, I'm not joking, this was an actual reason they gave us), there was a miscommunication in the kitchen, and the dishwasher had gone home and when they finally finished our meal, there were no clean plates to put it on.

(My favorite comment from my friend's daughter: how can a dishwasher go home? It's a dishwasher, not a person. Her mom explained that dishwashers were sometimes people too.)

Anyway, the mac and cheese was fine and it was fun to try something new.

Ethan was very interested in the flint and steel fire start Isaac purchased at the gift shop and quickly got to work trying to start a fire. I provided marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate, but, by that time, it had started to rain, so we had microwave s'mores.

We ended the day by watching Hugo, which was wonderful. I loved it almost more than the book. It was very well done and Ethan's declaration of "that was a good movie," was the perfect, if not very late, end to the first day of Spring Break.