Donald Duck Easter

I can't figure out how to rotate it but we thought it was hilarious.

Mutti's Birthday

Friday my mom celebrated her 74th Birthday but we always wait until Sunday to have a family dinner and celebration. Instead, we ordered Cafe Rio on Friday. Sister Ruka, my mom's friend Vicki, and Kristina, Scott, and Jax came over today to help us celebrate. We had a great meal of chicken cordon bleu, roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, salad of arugula, roasted broccoli & cherry tomatoes, and feta (my mom's favorite, rolls, deviled eggs, and green olives. Wow, it was a lot of food: I'm still stuffed. Kristina brought the cake from a great bakery by where she lives in SLC. It was so yummy; an orange poppyseed cake. Did I mention being stuffed. Event he frosting was good because I usually hate frosting.

Happy Birthday Mutter!!!

 New Sunday Clothes from Michael, David, Sister Ruka, and myself

 New lounger that Scott is sitting in that she wanted

 Jax, thinking he is one of the family at the table, but he thinks we are boring and his Mommy, Kristina

 My mom and her friend Vicki

One of the best cakes

Easter

We had one of the best Easter's that I can remember, other than Tyler was not there. I had been asked to speak in church on the resurrection and of course my family came to support me. We then had Easter dinner at my mom's and Sister Ruka joined us. She does a great job of ensuring we have FHE each Sunday afternoon and this Sunday we discussed the highlights from General Conference. For Easter dinner we had ham, funeral potatoes, roasted asparugus, salad, crescent rolls, green olives, and deviled eggs. The last two are staples at the holidays. It was very yummy but the best was the cake. My mom made a four layer yellow cake with pineapple and madarin oranges mixed in cream between the layers. That was fantastic all on its own, but then we decorated it with Peeps and Brach's easter shaped marshmallow candies, just like at my grandmother's house when we were kids. The Peeps and Brach's candy were so disqusting but delicious as it brought back memories. I had a pink egg and it tasted pink, just like when I was a kid. We had a great time. And of course in the evening, we watched Once Upon a Time. Kristina and Scott dropped off Jax as his mother doesn't like him. Seriously, who doesn't like Jax? They stopped by and had some cake with us.

 My mom decorating the cake, which she stressed over. We had to make a special trip to the store for the Peeps and Brach's eggs.

 The finished result - It was AWESOME!

 Michael and Sister Ruka waiting for dinner

David, taking it easy and relaxing before dinner

Cedar City

A few weeks back I went with my mom and Michael down to Cedar City because my mom wanted to visit a Wellness Doctor. Sad to say, but there is no place to eat in Cedar City. We drove around looking for a place and ended up at the Sizzler. But by that time we were starving and steak and salad bar was very satisfying. Michael and I went walking later that evening and discovered a great gift shop, where they had some Jim Shore Disney items at 50% off. Of course we could not resist. My mom about died. On the way back there was this lot with some old cars and they had a Mickey and Minnie in the front. We do know the best place to stay, the Abbey Inn, which has a great breakfast and the rooms are nice and comfortable.

 Sorry, this in an inside joke but we were laughing when we saw the sign

Main Street

Linzer Spritzgebaeck

My friend from Austria also invited me over one day to make Linzer Spritzgebaeck. They are really yummy, although my dough was too think to squeeze so I had to form them by hand. We ate them for FHE. I need to make some for Tyler one day. I promised him I would. Maybe for his birthday.

2 c. flour
2 sticks butter softened
1/2-3/4 c. powered sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk at room temperature
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of lemon zest

Cream butter, add little sugar than a little egg until incorporated. Do not use a stand mixer. It must be done by hand, which is why my dough was too think. Add salt, vanilla, lemon zest, and then slowly add the flour. Bake at 375

You want to make them into strips that are equal size so you can put them together using jam, apricot or orange but you could use any flavor you like. Then dip the ends in chocolate.

Griess Soupe

One of the things I love to make, now that a friend from Austria has shown me how, is Griess Soup. It is really easy to make and a quick dinner for myself when I do not want to cook something big.

Here's how to make it:
1 Egg
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Semolina Flour

In a bowl crack one egg. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and @ 6 tsp. of semolina flour, which you can purchase as Winco. Into boiling water add Maggi chicken flavoring and then form the dumpling using two spoons and place into the boiling water. If the dough is too wet it falls apart and if too dry the dumpling is hard. I add carrots, onion, and celery but you can add whatever you like or leave it simple and plain and add some fresh parsley at the end.

Blog Transfer

It has been a while since I last blogged because my email address changed and I had to sign out of my new email and sign in to my old, which made cutting and pasting between the two impossible. So, welcome to my blog area.