King Tut and Gen-Con

We had a fun short family vacation at the end of last week. We went up to Indianapolis and saw the king Tut exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's museum. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit, but there were some really neat artifacts to see. We have been playing my glyphs game of late, so we were even able to recognize some of the heiroglyphs.

After visiting the Tut exhibit we went to Gen-Con. We had a lot of fun looking at the booths and trying out new games in the board game library. On Saturday, Mariana, Isaac, and I went in costume and participated in a very funny event called the Killer Breakfast with Tracy Hickman. (He is a famous LDS author of the Dragonlance series of books) Mom watched and took pictures.
We also participated in a Live-Action Role Playing (LARP) event called True Dungeon. It is kind of like Dungeons and Dragons but with life-sized props and puzzles to figure out. Our group managed to survive the adventure by the skin of our teeth, and each of us was able to help the group out at one point in the adventure. Isaac figured out a tricky puzzle lock. Mariana fired a nerf crossbow and hit a button that opened a door for us. And I found the "magical" amulet we were looking for.

Now it is time to return to Seminary and School tomorrow.

My baby is 19

We celebrated Creed's birthday on Sunday. We had a big dinner with quite a few of his friends. They made short work of 23 pounds of barbacued ribs. One of his friends got his mission call to Chile last week and he reports to the MTC before Creed. Creed wishes he could leave sooner, but I am going to enjoy all the time I can with him before he goes, whether he likes it or not. I know Anette feels the same way.

We went to Flint' for Jenine's baby shower last Monday and on the way home we stopped a Verlin and Roma's, they get more visually impaired every time we visit. Roma met us and informed us that Verlin was in an Assisted Living Center. He developed pneumonia and was in the hospital for two weeks before being moved to the Assisted Living Center; they do not know how long he will spend there yet.

Every time we visit it just reminds me that I'm only 12 years behind him.
It was Verlin's 86th birthday.

Dad

Fish recipes

I hope I am not too late with these recipes.

Trout Almondine

8 to 12 trout fillets
Evaporated milk
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil

Dip fillets in milk. Add salt and pepper to flour. Remove fillets from milk as needed and dip in flour, shaking off excess flour. In an electric skillet at 375 degrees, fry fillets until golden brown in the butter and oil. It only takes three or four minutes per side. Do a few at a time, and as cooked place on a warm platter or cookie sheet and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. You can use regular milk, but the evaporated milk gives the fillets a darker, golden brown color.


SAUCE:
1 c. butter
1/2 c. almonds, sliced
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp flour

Prepare sauce by melting butter and lightly browning almonds in butter. Add flour, lemon juice, Worcestershire, salt. Mix and heat well. Just before serving, pour some sauce over trout and serve remaining sauce separately.




Fried fish (works best on any firm, white fish like cod, bass, bluegill, crappie, etc.)

8 to 12 fillets
Evaporated milk
1 c. flour
1 c. bread brumbs
3 tbsp Mcormick Seasonall
1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil

Add butter and oil to skillet and heat to 375 degrees. Mix flour, bread crumbs and seasonall. Dip fillets in milk, roll in flour/crumb mixture, then place in hot skillet. Cook about four minutes per side until deep golden brown.

A couple of recipes for Mariana

Here's our roast beef sandwich recipe. We call it the Peck Family Sandwich, since they are the ones who originally shared it with us when Rachel was born.

1 long loaf of French Bread, cut in half lengthwise
garlic butter (though we use just butter because of James' allergy to garlic!)
shredded roast beef, heated up and well drained
shredded cheddar cheese

Spread the garlic butter on both halves of the bread. Toast lightly in a 400 degree oven.
Remove from oven and spread the beef on the bottom half. Top with the shredded cheddar cheese.
Place the top half of the loaf over the cheese.
Put it back in the oven until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

That's it! Super easy. We usually stick a roast in the crock-pot in the morning so that we can make this sandwich for dinner. We serve it with some kind of potato, (usually tater tots since my kids are usually the ones that cook it), and a fruit salad.


Here's another easy recipe using french bread that my family likes.

Feta Bruschetta, Dalley Style
1 loaf french bread, slice into one inch slices
garlic butter
feta cheese, crumbled and with basil and oregano mixed in.
tomato, finally chopped and seeded

Spread the butter on each slice of bread. Toast lightly in a 400 degree oven.
Remove from oven and top with cheese and tomato.
Return to oven for about 5 more minutes.

This is nice to have with spaghetti. Enjoy!!

Muskatatuck River Canoe Trip

Mariana, Isaac and I went for a canoe trip down the Muscatatuck river today. Carolyn dropped us off and picked us up. The Muscatatuck river is a small river about 30 miles north of Madison. We put in at an overpass in a farm field, and took out at another overpass 13-1/2 miles downstream. It took us about 6-1/2 hours to make the trip. In a normal year, we wouldn't have been able to do this so late in the summer, but this year has been pretty wet so the water was still high enough. We wound back and forth between farm fields for most of the trip, though you usually couldn't tell because there was a thin screen of trees along the river bank. The challenging portion of the trip was all of the logs and trees in the river. We had to be constantly on the lookout for submerged logs. In two places we had to drag the canoe across or through big log-jams. In one place we were able to squeeze through underneath a log by laying down in the canoe. We saw lots of wildlife-- great blue herons, geese and ducks, turtles and muskrats, and even one deer that swam across the river in front of us.

We had a great time, and Isaac is looking forward to the scout canoe trip August 7. Mariana is lobbying for another trip for her birthday.

Here's my recipe

Well, here's my goulash recipe:

However much hamburger you want
Tomato sauce to match (16 oz. per lb, more or less)
1 tsp. of garlic powder, basil, and oregano
Egg noodles
1/2 cup or so of water
However much frozen corn you want to add

Brown the hamburger. Once it's ready, add the tomato sauce, corn, and spices. Once it's warmed up again, add the egg noodles and water. Simmer covered until noodles are done. Serve.

Yes, I know the measurements are imprecise, but that's how I do it.