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- Family / Famille (47)
- Recipes (15)
- Thoughts (10)
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- Book Reviews (4)
- Health (1)
- Restaurant Reviews (1)
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Michael is 7!!
**Notre aîné a 7 ans! Ça ne fait pourtant pas si longtemps qu'il était mon seul enfant, mon petit "Pooka". Chaque nouvelle année emmène avec elle de nouveaux régales. Michael est un très bon lecteur maintenant et sa notion du temps est bien aiguisée. Il sait ce qu'il veut et comment l'obtenir. J'adore quand il engloutit les choses qu'il aime manger (comme les poireaux à la vinaigrette). Je n'en fais jamais assez! Quand je cuisine quelque chose de nouveau qu'il n'aime pas, il me dit "Tu ne devrais pas en refaire". Nous sommes heureux de l'avoir dans notre famille. Il est intelligent et énergétique. Jour après jour, il régale sa soeur et son frère en les entraînant dans des aventures imaginaires déchaînées à travers la maison. C'est un cyclone d'amusement et il laisse bien des traces!**
Oh Christmas Tree!
**Les décorations sont toujours sur l'abre de Noel et pas éparpillées partout! Les vieilles décorations étaient toutes cassées donc on a dû en racheter cette année. Les enfants ont bien aidé à les choisir. Peut-être que ça à aider? Pourvu que ça dure!**
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving
**Nous avons fêté Thanksgiving chez nous cette année avec la famille de Cameron (ses parents, sa grand-mère et son frère. C'était la première fois que j'entreprenais de faire le repas entier. Ça m'a pris des heures de travail mais j'ai aimé. Cam m'a bien aidé aussi. Il y avait bien trop à manger! Je suis reconnaissante d'avoir ma belle famille si proche et je suis heureuse d'avoir pu fêter avec eux.**
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Pre-Thanksgiving Celebration
**Pour Thanksgiving, les soeurs Chion-Hock seront avec leurs belle-familles respectives. Alors quelques jours avant, elles se rassemblent et fête Thanksgiving entre elles. On ne peut avoir trop de fêtes!**
The Night Owl Eats the Early Bird!
Claire's Reading Milestone
Claire worked hard and overcame her short attention span . She finished her reading manual and earned her Love Monkey Webkinz. We're so proud of her!
I strongly recommend the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann to anyone who wants to teach their child how to read. I used it for Michael too. The book was very helpful in helping the kids link sounds together to make words.
**Claire a travaillé dur et elle a surmonté son manque d'attention. Elle a fini son manuel de lecture et a, par conséquent, reçu sa récompense: un singe en peluche rose qu'elle peut "élever" sur le site Internet de Webkinz. Nous sommes si fiers d'elle! **
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Michael's Fall Clean Up / Michael nettoie le potager
**Je n'arrive pas à déraciner les plantes dans le potager avant la première gelée car elles sont encore en bonne état. Mais ensuite quand il fait froid, c'est pas agréable de travailler dehors... Heureusement que j'ai un garçon qui n'en croyait pas ses oreilles quand je lui ai offert $2 pour "détruire" le potager. Il l'aurait fait gratuitement! **
Box Car Drive In / Cinéma en plein air et voitures en cartons
Our Primary just had its third annual Box Car Drive In. This time I got to help because I'm a primary teacher. I even got to sneak Gabriel in who's not techinically in Primary yet. The kids look so forward to this event. They watched "Toy Story 3" on a projector screen in the church gym while munching popcorn and candy. They are just as happy about the planning and preparing process. They came with me to get supplies and they were all bubbling with excitment. We started the assembly together but saved the painting for after they were in bed :)
**Notre Primaire vient d'avoir sa 3ième activité annuelle de cinéma en plein air avec voitures en carton. Cette fois-ci, j'ai pu aider car je suis instructrice de primaire. Et Gabriel a pu participer malgré le fait qu'il ne soit pas encore tout à fait à la Primaire. Les enfants attendent toujours cette activité avec impatience. Ils ont regardé "Toy Story 3" en grignotant des bonbons et du popcorn dans la salle culturelle de la chapelle. Les enfant sont tout aussi ravis de participer à la préparation des voitures. Débordants d'enthousiasme, ils m'ont accompagner pour acheter les quelques fournitures nécessaires. On a commencé la construction des voitures ensemble mais on a attendu que les enfants soient au lit pour les peindre.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Oliver Twist
As a teenager, some of my favorite books were Emile Zola's. He's a French humanist writer. I don't think I would enjoy his books as much now. Having children made me a lot more sensitive to the suffering of innocent people.
The kids moderately enjoyed the book. Claire kept saying "Poor Oliver!" in echo to my own voice and all were glad to see the bad guys punished and some of the misled kids back on track.
Arabian Nights
Claire's Great Loves
**Les deux grands amours de Claire: les sucettes et les livres!**
Reading "Green Eggs & Ham" to Gabriel. What a good big sister!
Master Bedroom Makeover
Halloween
** Morticia (la famille Addams), Superman, Cendrillion et un soldat sont prêts pour aller chercher les bonbons malgré la pluie et le vent dehors.**
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Disneyland!
**Ça faisait 6 ans qu'on n'était pas aller à Disneyland. On voulait que tout le monde soit assez grand pour aller sur la plupart des manèges. Le père de Cam est venu avec nous. Ça n'était pas les vacances et il faisait gris donc le parc était épargné par les foules. C'était super. On n'avait presque pas de queue! Nous sommes tous repartis la tête remplie de beaux souvenirs.**
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Crème Brûlée - Easy and amazingly tasty!
1 cup half and half
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar, processed in blender to make a powder
1. Preheat oven to 325®F. Into a 13”x9” baking pan, pour 3 ½ cup hot tap water; place in oven.
2. In microwave-safe 2-cup liquid measuring cup, heat creams in microwave on medium (50% power) for 5 minutes; remove from microwave; stir in vanilla.
3. Meanwhile, in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup, whisk egg yolks and granulated sugar until well blended. Slowly whisk in warm cream until combined; with spoon, skim off foam.
4. Partially pull out oven rack with baking pan. Place six 4-ounce ramekins in the baking pan. Pour cream mixture into ramekins (mixture should come almost to tops of ramekins for successful broiling later). Carefully push in rack and bake custards 30 minutes or until just set but centers jiggle slightly. Remove ramekin from water and place on wire rack. Cool 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. About an hour before serving, place rack on its highest position and preheat broiler. Place brown sugar in sieve and shake over tops of custards to cover evenly. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and broil for 3 minutes. Refrigerate immediately 1 hour to cool custards and allow sugar to form a crust.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
2010 Races
These races wouldn't have been as meaningful without my faithful running buddies the Sabins!
June
Lehi's Round Up 10k (6.2 miles)
1:01:40
Provo River Trail Half Marathon (13.1 miles)
2:13:55
September
Utah Valley Relay Marathon (5.2 miles each)
Total Race Time:4:02:54
Rac's Time: 50:35
Fran's Time: 46:52J
ason's Time: 41:38
Drew's Time: 54:01
Amy's Time: 49:48
My neighbor Amy came to race with one hour's notice when our teammate, Jeremy, had to rush home with a bad case of food poisoning!
May everyone to even better next year!
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Interesting concepts: Dantes believes himself to be God's avenging angel... I think that although God often uses people to "punish the wicked" in his own due time, these people, if acting out of revenge, are actually comminting a sin. Dantes realizes that to some extent when things get out of hand and his enemies punishments end up being a lot harsher then Dantes intended. Feeling repentant, Dantes pardons, Danglar, his third enemy before his punishment is carried out completely.
Things I liked better in the book than the movie: I loved the way Alexandre Dumas describes the expression and the body language of the characters. The reader feels that much more involved.
In the book, you see Dantes doing good around him, especially toward the Morrell family.
Things I liked less in the book than the movie: I like fairy tales! In the movie, Albert is actually Dantes' son and Mercedes only married someone else upon Dantes' imprisonment because she was pregnant. When Dantes, comes back he gets both Mercedes and Albert back. '
My favorite parts: I really enjoyed the wisdom of the Abbe Faria.
The end of the book, when all "the dominoes fall" was very exciting, especially when Benedetto reveals, in the middle of a court session, that he is M. de Villefort illegitimate son.
The way Monte Cristo shatters most of the remainder of Danglar's fortune is hilarious although the reader is brutally brought back to soberness upon the recall of Dante's own starved to death father.
The reuniting of Maximilian and Valentine was of course sublime. From the time of Valentine's "death"until her reappearance, the author does a fantastic job of cruelly playing with the reader's emotion. He had me both anxiously hoping and desperately wondering.
Great read!!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tortilla Soup
This has been our family's favorite meal for a while now...
1 Tbsp oil
1 onion, minced
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 garlic cloves
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast or tenderloin
2 Tbsp lime juice
Tortilla chips
3 plum tomatoes, diced
2 ripe avocadoes, sliced or prepared guacamole (Costco's is delicious!)
1/2 cup cilantro
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, jalapeno, chili powder and garlic. Cook until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in broth and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and simmer, partially covered, until no longer pink, about 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and let cool. Continue to simmer the broth for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, shred the chicken into bite sized pieces.
- Remove the broth from heat and stir in lime juice. Divide portions of tortilla chips, chicken, tomatoes and aocado among individual bowls. Ladle the broth over each bowl and sprinkle with cilantro.
Enjoy!
Grapes Terrine
Sausage & Tomatoes (Rougail Saucisses)
· 8 Italian sausages
· 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
· 4 roma tomatoes, sliced thin then chopped
· Salt & pepper
· 1 tbsp oil
· ½ cup water
Prick the sausages with a fork then boil for 10 minutes.
Drain sausages and cut each in 3 pieces
Brown the sausages in oil
Add onions then tomatoes
Add salt & pepper to taste
Cook on high for a few minutes
Add water. Simmer down.
Serve over Jasmine rice.
Great sides: sorry the directions are a little vague, I never measure these dishes!
Lentils - Pour picked over lentils in a saucepan. Place a bunch of thin onion slices, fresh crushed garlic or garlic powder, salt and a fresh thyme sprig if you want, on top. Cover with twice as much water as there are lentils. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until all liquid is absorbed and lentils are soft (20 minutes?)
Zucchini Etouffee
Place zucchini slices or chucks in a saucepan. Place sliced onion, garlic (crush or powder), salt, olive oil and a fresh thyme sprig on top. Add a little water (1/3 as much as the zucchinis?), cover and cook over medium heat until the zucchinis are soft. Some like it with a little bite left, others really squishy. I like them in between: still fairly green but soft enough to squish with your tongue.
Ginger, Garlic Rub
1 piece (2 in) fresh ginger, peeled
1 Tbs coarse salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
2 lbs of meat to grill (beef or pork ribs work well)
Place garlic, ginger, salt & pepper in mortar or small food processor. Work in soy sauce and fish sauce. Spread spice paste over meat on both sides. Let ribs marinate in refrigerator, covered for 1 to 4 hours. Grill and enjoy!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Strawberry Basil Popsicles
original recipe calls for 1/3 cup sugar - I used 2Tbs honey
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
pinch salt
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and basil. Pour 1/3 cup water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until suagar has desolved ans mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain the basil syrup into a blender, discarding the basil leaves. Add the strawberry halves, lemon juice and salt. Process until very smooth.
Pour in popsicle molds.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sisters Lunch
My sisters and I resumed our monthly lunches. I'm so glad we live close enough to each other to see each other on a regular basis! We went to "La Jolla Groves" at the Riverwoods (see review).
Mes soeurs et moi avont repris nos déjeuners mensuels entre soeurs. Je suis tellement heureuse que l'on habite suffisament proche les unes des autres pour se voir régulièrement!
La Jolla Groves
The dishes I tried there (see below) were amazing-- fresh, flavorful and cooked to perfection. The portions were small compared to the average portion around here but they were sufficient. The waitress brought a basket with various bread rolls to our table. They were ok. I prefer hard crust breads...
The dessert I tried (Lemon Tiramisu) was very sweet. I took it to go and fed it to Cam :) The waitress said that all their desserts were very sweet. They won't be a temptation for me when I go there!
I also very much enjoyed the decor. Elegant, yet simple and fresh.
Website: http://www.provorestaurants.com/
Grilled Salmon with Cilantro Butter
Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp grated ginger
6 tsp Thai red curry paste
6 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
2 (14oz) cans coconut milk
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken meat, sliced thin into 1” strips (you might want to make it 2lbs if serving as the main dish)
(½ lb white mushroom, sliced thin)
(1 can bamboo shoots, drained)
1 can baby corn
1 pkg bean vermicelli – (if serving as main dish)
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
½ cup whole fresh cilantro leaves
Fresh tomatoes, quartered
1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat until shimmering. Stir in the ginger and curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add ½ cup of the broth and stir until the curry paste dissolves. Stir in the remaining broth, the fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 15 minutes.
2. Stir in coconut milk, chicken and mushrooms. Simmer until the chicken is cooked (abt 5 minutes). Turn off heat. (Add vermicelli and let soak for 15 minutes. )Stir in the lime juice and season with salt. Sprinkle the bowls of soup with cilantro leaves & tomatoes before serving.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Garden / Le Potager
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tom Sawyer
Principles
Use whole grains as much as possible
Have vegetables fresh or frozen at every lunch and dinner. (I don't like canned. I've read they still retain their nutrients but the color is gone and the taste is off so I rarely use them) A variety of fresh fruits available to snack on
I try to pair proteins and carbs as much as I can -
A balanced meal includes proteins, carbs and vegetables.
I try to sneak the calcium in at breakfast, snacks and desserts.
Fats... they get an undeserved bad name. I try to buy lean cuts of meat but all the milk products I choose are full fat!!!
I boycott:
Trans Fats - Partially Hydrogenated oils and Mono & Di-Glycerides
High Fructose Corn Syrup
BHT & BHA
Sodium Nitrite
Food Coloring
Bleached flour
Aspartame
A friend of mine had questions about some of the above mentionned substances or principles. I'm copying the answers I gave her to possibly benefit others too :)
What is BHT? BHT & BHA are preservatives. They have been shown by some studies to be carcinogenic. The State of California has actually declared BHA to be carcinogenic. They are found mostly in very processed foods (that we shouldn't anyways) but most cold cereals also use it in their packaging. How much exposure do we get from the cereals being in contact with the substance I don' t know. I prefer to stay away from them altogether. Most cereals have high fructose corn syrup too anyways. Cheerios uses Tocopherols (vit E) as a preservative which is great. The brands who don't are just trying to cut cost at the expense of the consumers' health. I've also found found that most gum as BHA ot BHT in it....
What are sodium nitrites? It's a meat preservative mostly used in deli meats (ham, hotdogs). The biggest danger is that nitrites can be converted in nitrosamines which are highly carcinogenic. This conversion more readily occurs when the meat reaches frying temperatures, think bacon and breakfast links! Here's a good article I found. The statistics are compelling... http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/08/22/the-dangers-of-nitrites-the-foods-they-are-found-in-and-why-you-want-to-avoid-them.htm
What do you consider to be good carbs, the kind to pair with a protein? Think Whole Foods (ie, the way God gave them to us :) ) Whole grains and fruits. Chemically, eating protein by itself is fine. It's when we ingest carbs that we can benefit from the blood sugar regulating effect of proteins.
Why do you feel it's okay to eat full fat dairy products? Taste? Yes, I use full fat because of taste. And it is the way God gave them to us... :) We need fat to utilize the calcium from dairy products because Vitamin D, which is required for fat utilization, is fat soluble. Sure, the fat doesn't have to come from the milk product. But then again, it's prefectly ok if it does. So cheers to whole milk and sunshine!
Here's another good article. http://www.sweetpoison.com/food-additives-to-avoid.html
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Random Thoughts
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Labor Day
Labor Day was a gorgeous cool and sunny day. I grabbed my little clan and headed for the beautiful canyon I feel so blessed to have nearby. Cam was plagued with allergies and couldn't come. I missed him very much.
This and that
Saturday, September 4, 2010
School! **La rantrée!**
Claire started Kindergarten. Isn't that uniform adorable? She barely missed the deadline to be able to attend public school this year. All her neighborhood friends are in Kindergarten and she's very ready so she's going to a private school. Next year, public school will have to accept her in 1st grade... he he he
Claire a commencé la grande section. Aux Etats-Unis, l'école publique commence à la grande section. Les enfants nés entre Septembre et Décembre sont mis avec les enfants de l'année d'après. Toutes les petites copines de Claire dans notre voisinage sont nées avant Septembre et on donc commencé l'école publique. J'ai mis Claire dans une école privée pour cette année. L'année prochaine, l'école publique la laissera entrer au CP.
And my little Gabriel started school too! He's in the same school as Claire so he goes every morning. He's happy to finally be doing something the big kids too!
Et mon petit Gabriel a commencé l'école aussi! Il est en petite section. Aux Etats-Unis, les petites et moyennes sections sont privées et ne sont souvent que 2 ou 3 jours par semaine. Il est dans la même école que Claire dont les cours sont tous les matins donc j'ai choisi l'option de 5 matins par semaines pour Gabi aussi. Il est content d'enfin faire ce que les grands enfants font!