Sesame Teriyaki Venison over Sticky Rice

You'll need:

• About two left over venison steaks, sliced into thin strips.
• a thawed bag of broccoli florets
• three cups of pre- made rice
• 2 heaping Tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 orange
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• sesame seeds (about 3 tablespoons)
• soy sauce (about 2 tablespoons)

This quick meal is not supposed to be a project, I throw this together for a quick lunch in about 5 minutes, so don't make it anymore complicated then it has to be :) All ingredients are approximate, so modify it to accommodate your tastes :)   I use what I have around example: if you happened to have opened a can of pineapple recently, save the juice, and use it in place of the orange.  I slice the left over venison steak up before I put it away from the night before, to save time.  Make your rice when you have time and stick it in the fridge a day or two in advance, then you have it ready for side dishes, quick rice pudding or whatever :)

Ready?    Saute your sesame seeds and sliced venison in 3 tablespoons butter, sprinkle the brown sugar over it, squeeze the orange over it, add your broccoli florets, splash the soy sauce on it......and stir.  Keep it moving till its heated through, and serve on a bed of white rice...... it's really that simple :)

Loofah Sponge Holiday Craft Project

We picked our gourds last week and brought them in to dry on a rack by the fire place.  Most of them dried out real nice, the skins turned a dark brownish green and they sounded hollow when I tapped them.   There were a few that got moldy and needed to be discarded, but we learn from our mistakes and next year we'll be more careful to turn them more often during the drying process.

The first step to this process was the most fun for the kids.  Zi got to slam the gourds against the floor to loosen the skin and knock the seeds loose.  After a few good whacks the bottoms break off and all the seeds can be shook out fairly easily.  We saved our seeds for next year's Loofah garden (Zi plans to expand this little enterprise).

After all the gourds were assaulted to the best of Zi's ability we sat and peeled the skin away with our fingers. This at first seemed like a grueling chore but after the first one it got easier.  It just took some practice to become efficient at it.

Next we rinsed all the sap off them, lightly washed them with dish soap, then soaked them in a mild bleach and water solution for a few minutes to destroy any bacteria or molds that may have been hiding in our sponges. After another good rinse, we squeezed all the excess water out of them and hung them up to dry by the fire. By tomorrow our loofahs will have dried again and we'll cut them into manageable sized sponges.

This project was probably one of the simplest and inexpensive educational crafts we did this year.  Zi saw a whole process through from start to finish, experiencing all of the stages of the growth and production of a loofah sponge, from a seed to practical holiday gift. 

Simple lazy night Hot potato salad

Very yummy, perfect for cool fall evenings when you just wanna sit on the sofa and eat something hot from a bowl.  I throw this together late in the season right before it's time to turn the garden under because  I can't stand to let the late broccoli go to waste.  very easy to make :)

You'll need:

• four or five baked potatoes
• fresh grated cheddar cheese
• steamed broccoli
• crumbled left over bacon
• salt and pepper
• sour cream

How much of any of the ingredients listed above you choose to use really depends on your tastes. Dice your baked potatoes with skins on,  chop up the steamed broccoli and gently mix it all together in a bowl with the crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar then add salt and pepper. Serve with a big spoonful of sour cream on top :)
 

Local Fallen Heros Ride & Pig Roast

beer line

This weekend we attended a fund raising event at the Cementon play ground created to benefit the children of Jesse Reed and Adam Keys, both were graduates of Whitehall High School.  Jesse gave his life serving our country and Adam was left severely disabled.  This event was very well organized, extremely family oriented, and had something for everyone :)  The people who organized this event are incredible people, as are the local businesses that made such grand contributions.   For $20 an adult (kids were free), it was all you could eat and drink, and the variety of food options was amazing.  There was over 300 motorcycles parked out on the grass, and roughly 1000 people came out in all.  The Chinese auction had over a hundred donated items to bid on, there was a moon bounce, face painting for the kids (free tattoos for the adults) door prizes, a live band, and beer. 



Chinese auction table



Tattoo artists were available if anyone wanted some ink, patriotic designs seemed to be the most popular.

Klein Farms Dairy Tour

 Recently I joined the Eco-Moms Alliance Group of the Lehigh Valley,  it's a group of  like minded moms pursuing an eco-friendly lifestyle. Members of this group coordinate family style outings to various places of interest in the area :)  Today we participated in our first group organized meet up event at Klein Farms Dairy & Creamery.  We made attendance of this event a priority because Zi desperately wanted to visit a farm that sold meat and dairy products that were raised and processed on site.  She was thrilled to be able to meet the cows that made the milk her yogurt smoothie was made from.    Klein farms gave our group a free tour of the premises, we saw the milking room, the cheese making kitchen, the baby cow area and the chickens.  There was also a playground and two corn mazes for the kids.  One corn maze was short and simple for the little kids and one was a much longer more complex maze for the big kids.  The tour was about a half an hour long and was honest and informative, and the kids had opportunities to ask questions (which was important to Zi).  After the tour, the group took a hay ride up to the pumpkin patch, then everyone was treated to product samples in the farm store.  We came home with a cooler bag full of milk, cheeses, yogurt and beef, and the prices were reasonable :) We were very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be present for the birth of a beautiful baby calf during our visit, and that made the day extra special :)   I think we'll make this a regular thing.
  





The calf being born :)



Anti-bacterial surface spray

Homemade spray cleaner is so easy to make, and it's so versatile you really don't need any other cleaning products :) 

Mix equal parts water, vinegar, and vodka in an empty plastic spray bottle, and go clean something!

You can add 30 drops of your favorite essential oil if you'd like a scented cleaner, lavender and orange are nice :)

Did they really post that?.......WTF

Seriously, I get it,  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.   But when it's a rude or deliberately hurtful opinion (in the form of any sort of random derogatory remark), directed at another human being, it's just bad manners, plain and simple.  Don't try to justify this behavior as some sort of social mores, some of us know better :P  

I have a love/ hate relationship with Facebook.  I love it because I know whats going on with all my friends and family, and I hate it for the same reason, LOL   One thing I have noticed is that I happen to know quite a few cyber bullies.  I've deleted about 50 people this year because they can't be civilized to one another online (and I don't want to see their posts on my news feed, even if the remark is'nt directed at me). I had know idea that there was an official  term for these people until it came up in my daughters Internet safety class.   Generally most people are polite and courteous with one another when speaking on the phone or in person, but they turn into animals "expressing their entitled opinions" online, almost all of which, I might add, are completely unsolicited by the target of the bully's aggression.  What happened to "if you don't have anything nice to say, keep it to yourself ?"........ :P