Mediterranean Dinner

One of the reasons that I love my civics curriculum is that it has such interesting, fun projects!

 My most recent (and possibly funnest) project was making a meal out of food brought to America after 1492.

I decided to have a Mediterranean themed meal, and my parents and I spent all afternoon on Saturday making food. The Menu included:

[the table...of course!]

Lubiya (a soup with lots of spices and black eyed peas--not pictured),

Caprese Salad-from Italy (Includes: Tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil with a balsamic dressing)

 

 Mejadarah (an Egyptian dish with lentils, rice and caramelized onions)

Bulgar Pilaf and Noodles (It should be obvious that this dish includes Bulgar. Noodles and LOTS of butter)

We invited a Lebanese guest who told us that the food was marvelous...(yay, we passed the middle-eastern-person-liked-it test)  All in all, I can't wait for another fun opportunity to do something like this again!

Hey, I'm still here {mostly}

Hi, just a quick post to say that I have not forgotten about my blog, but this month with NaNoWriMo its hard for me to blog at all, so expect more next month!

A bunch of random things that I feel like sharing:

"Sorry I haven't blogged in while"...wait, didn't I tell myself I would stop apologizing about my stuffed scheduale? (Answer: Yes, I did...in fact I posted that!) Well, I'm sorry anyway!
  Exciting news: Last week I got the most amount of blog visitors since week one, so thank you to everyone who has visited my blog so far, I hoped you enjoyed it! (BTW: feel free to keep coming back, I dont mind AT ALL!)
Other exciting news: This morning it snowed for the first time this winter/fall! Aroung midnight or 3:00 am last night it started hailing (which of course woke me up!) Then eventually I fell asleep. This morning I woke up (at a normal time) and there was a light dusting of snow covering everything! It wasn't enough snow to transform the neighborhood into a magical wonderland, but it was enough to tempt me outside. So, I put a coat and boots on, over my pajamas, and walked outside. Then (this is the exciting part) I scooped some slushy, melting, snow off our car, shaped it into a perfect ball and threw it! The first snowball of the winter! I am finally satisfied with life! [for today...]

NaNoWriMo {did you know that I'm a good procrastinator?}

Well, yesterday NaNoWriMo started. I signed up (Oct 28th) and started writing...of course when I went to submit my work, the web page shut down!
Luckily it was up again before bedtime, so I was able to submit my stuff and go to sleep.

Now, a billion hours later, I'm supposed to be writing my story (so far I only have 1,092 words and my goal is 25000), but instead I'm writing a blog post about what a good procrastinator I am... [exhibit A]
  Well, I guess if I'm blogging anyway, I might as well share a snip-it of my NaNoWriMo story:

Dear Lucy, Monday

  Today was totally dreary! It hasn’t stopped raining since, like, a billion days ago and the people here seem not to get the idea that umbrellas are allowed to be more than one color e.g. BLACK!
   Mum has finally opened up the shop. She says that at least something will be colorful in our world…yeah; she’s right if you count pink and green as colorful! (I know you do, but I don’t…and yes, so far we only have pink flowers—no dresses or anything!) Dad thinks it’s a totally crazy idea for a shop, but Mum just rolls her eyes and says, “I NEED colour!” I gotta say, I agree with her, how much black can you get? Then again, I also agree with dad: who would own a flower and fashion shop…it’s kinda’ stupid. (Not to mention the fact that we’ve only had ONE customer so far!) Anyhow, I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’d rather be with you!
    So, how are things back home? have you gotten 200 [different] customers yet? I wish you could send a famous Apple Crisp in the mail…with ORANGE frosting. I really miss helping out in the bakery.
Love,
Your miserable niece AKA Fiona




Dear Lucy, Wednesday
   FINALLY it stopped raining! Not that you care, you’re probably too busy with your 201st customer…that’s right, I still haven’t heard from you!
     PLEASE write back!
            Fiona



Dear Lucy, FRIDAY!
  You do know that stamps cost money, right?
Fiona

Well, you'll probably here more from me later today, but for now I'd better sign off and start writing...

Halloween and not much time!

How come I always seem to start off my posts with "sorry I havn't blogged in a while!"???
 It kind of bugs me how little time I seem to have these days for the things that I want to do, rather than the things I have to do.
      That said; I really have to go work on my Halloween costume!
  For Halloween I've decided that I would like to be Anne Boleyn. Unfortuantly, Anne Boleyn costumes cost a fortune...much more than I'd be willing ot spend for Halloween! SO, I have to make my costume and, as I said earlier, I don't have much time for anything anymore, so, I haven't really started until today. That means that I should probably stop typing and go start sewing (I will post pictures of the final product, but our camera still needs new batteries.)
 Before I go: What are you going to be for Halloween? (I still love hearing from you, so don't be afraid to comment!)

Slow days--Quick walks {also: NaNoWriMo}

I often find that after a week of very productive work days, I have very slow days, where nothing seems to appeal to me. I've had many of those days and was having one today. Our solution? A short hike, we bring sketching and writing supplies with us, and we just take about a 20 minute walk (give or take) and spend the rest of the time drawing or writing. I find this a very inspirational time where I am able to write poetry, draw things, come up with blog ideas, or just clear my mind.
  Today, I tried to write a poem about the evil cold of October (hinting at Halloween) and about writing at the top of a rock. It could use a bit of work, so if you have any suggestions as to how I could change it, I would love to hear them!
                                                                        An October Gale

A cold October gust,

ruffles through the pages of my notebook,

                   searching--

'am I in there? will you write about me?'

it whips and whirls by,

weaving through my  tangled tresses,

breathing it's frozen breath on my neck.

The sun bursts into overcast skies,

and--

 for a happy moment, it warms me

                             then--

A drifting cloud swallows,

and my heat source! GONE

The cloud's grey underside cackles,

'now, for frozen fingers!'

I stand up,

warrior pose,

squinting into the distance

resisting the frozen chills

these moments,

not caught on film

A bird chirps

An airplane rumbles,

I give up, and

huddled against the cold

my white fingers grip the pencil,

I begin

"A cold October gust,

ruffles through the pages of my notebook,

searching--"

It could use a bit more work (as I already said) but for now, I will stop erasing and rewriting...let me know what you think!

Two other things:

1. I made amazing Snickerdoodles and will post about them as soon as I am able to upload my (surprisingly good) photos. (our camera needs a new battery...)
2. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is in November, basically it's where a bunch of writers decide that they want to participate, and  they try to write something every day. At the end of the month (on Nov. 30 at midnight) they try to have a novel written. I am going to do NaNoWriMo this year, (you should too) so, I'm sure you'll hear quite a bit more about it in the near future... but for now:  If you would like to sign up; click here, and to learn more about NaNoWriMo; click here

All right, I think that's all I need to say so, I'm off...


Chocolate Lip gloss [yum, yum]

Hi again,
  After a hectic week, I've managed to snag some time to write a post! [so happy!]

So, the other day (after a bunch of holidays that took place on Thursdays) me and my friend finally got to have another Home Ec. class! It was tons of fun, we made two lip glosses, a vanilla one, and a chocolate one. (my friend got the vanilla, and I the chocolate.)
   I don't know where I got these recipes, but thanks to whoever made them.

Vanilla Lip Gloss

1 tablespoon grates beeswax
1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
1/8 teaspoon vitamin E oil
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract


Slowly heat beeswax, coconut oil, and vitamin E oil until melted. Stir in the vanilla extract then cool


Chocolate Lip Gloss

1 1/2 tsp grated cocoa butter
1/2 tsp coconut oil
1/8 tsp vitamin E oil
1/4 tsp grated chocolate or 3 small chocolate chips


In a double boiler or microwave heat the cocoa butter, coconut oil, and vitamin E oil until melted. Stir in the chocolate chips and keep stirring until melted and well blended Pour into small container and allow to cool before using

   This time, we were set up in my kitchen...a little roomier, but not much! We started with the vanilla lip gloss (which I dont have any pictures of). So, we did the recipe and heated it up, and then we poured it into a little jar and it hardened......really quickly, oops! To get to the point: it was a bit too hars so,I recomend you do 'half a tablespoon' beeswax and 'half a tablespoon' cocoa butter. (or something like that)

Then we worked on the chocolate lip gloss.

[a few of the ingredients...DELICIOUS!]

This time it looked pretty promising in terms of being the right consistency for lip gloss (instead of rock hard). That is, until it didn't harden at all! So, I added a little bit of beeswax and everybody waas happy again!


If you're going to make these, I'd recomend seeing the consistency once they're mostly cooled and if you need to, you can always try to re-heat the gloss and add more beeswax or oil. As for my lip gloss, it sure is yummy!!!