Time To Make the Beignets

Do you remember the Dunkin Donuts "Time to Make the Donuts" commercials from the 1980s? Here is an example in case you have forgotten. Well the other day, Scribbles was having food day for French Class. French food is never easy for some reason. (I submit the eclair making into evidence your honor.) Anyway, this time, Scribbles had to make Beignets. You might be asking, "Exactly what is a Beignet"? You wouldn't be alone in asking this, because this is exactly what Jake asked when Scribbles announced that she need about 8 dozen of them by the next day. A Beignet is french for a fried donut. To be more precise, a Beignet refers to a pastry made from deep-fried dough and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. It just so happens that Jake is a pretty fair hand when it comes to fried food. Pretty much if you can fry it, he's likely to have tried it. Jake took one look at the complicated french recipe and said, "Not No But Heck No!" If they want fried donuts, we are going to make them the way God intended. Take your can of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits. Roll the dough into balls. Pop them in the deep fryer for a minute or so. Roll in sugar and voila (That's French), you got yourself some mighty fine fried donuts (or should I say Beignets).

Christmas Cactus

Molly is seen here with one of her Christmas Cacti which have begun to bloom.

The Christmas Cactus
(Thanksgiving Cactus, Christmas Cactus, Easter Cactus) are composed of several closely related species in the genus Schlumbergera and the species Hatiora gaertneri, (often called "Zygocactus" in older works). They are originally forest cacti, growing as epiphytes at elevations between 1000 and 1700 meters above sea level (3280 to 5575 feet above sea level) in the Organ Mountains north of Rio de Janeiro in southeast Brazil, South America (not to be confused with the Organ Mountains of New Mexico in the United States of America). They are called "Flor de maio" (May Flower) in Brazil.

Many modern holiday cactus cultivars are hybrids between Schlumbergera truncata and Schlumbergera russelliana, first bred about 150 years ago in England.

Propagation

All of Molly's Christmas Cacti started from a single plant. Holiday cacti can be propagated quite easily by removing a single segment and planting it a quarter of its length deep in a pot filled with slightly sandy soil (it also helps to put some kind of rooting hormone on the base of the cutting). Place the pot in a well lit area (but not direct sunlight) and keep the soil moist. The cutting should begin showing signs of growth after two or three weeks.

Care

Watering

The soil should be evenly moist for best growth, but they are intolerant to constantly wet soil and poor aeration. If outdoors, an established plant may only need to be watered every two or three days in warm, sunny weather; or every week in cool, cloudy weather.

Lighting

Christmas cactus will do best in bright indirect light. Long term direct sunlight can burn the leaves and stunt growth. If taken care of properly, a single planting can last for hundreds of years.

Flowering

Christmas cactus will create flower buds when subjected to cooler temperatures (10–14°C/50–58°F) for 6-8 weeks.

Pohick High School Christmas Concert 2008

A couple of days ago we attended the Sarah Ray's Middle School Concert. Last night, we attended Scribble's High School Band Concert. It was very nice. The band played for about an hour. The video above is a selection of three of the songs that were played. The songs included:

• Jingle Bells - "Jingle Bells", also known as "One Horse Open Sleigh", is one of the best known and commonly sung secular Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and copyrighted under the title 'One Horse Open Sleigh' on September 16, 1857. The song has been translated into many languages, was made in thanks giving by the composer.
• Ukrainian Bell Carol - "Carol of the Bells" (also known as the "Ukrainian Bell Carol") is a choral miniature work originally composed by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych. Throughout the piece, a 4 note motif is used as an ostinato and was taken from an ancient pagan Ukrainian New Year's chant known in Ukrainian as "Shchedryk". The original work was intended to be sung a cappella.
  
• Sleigh Ride - Sleigh Ride is a popular light orchestral piece, composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July, 1946; he finished the work in February, 1948. Lyrics were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. It was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Orchestra.
  

Lion Middle School Beginner Band

This was Sarah Ray's first year in band and last night was her very first performance. Sarah and the rest of the Lion Middle School Beginner Band did a pretty good job at their first performance. Way to go Lions!

Happy Mileversary Sally Racer

Congratulations Sally! What a milestone! Today Jake's Car Sally Racer had her 100,000 mileversary. Sally is a 1998 Mercury Tracer Wagon.

So how far is 100,000 miles? To put it in perspective, the distance around the Earth at the equator is about 25,000 miles. That means that Sally has driven all the way around the Earth about 4 times.

In all that distance, she has only had a minor failure or two like the Lost in the Wild Incident. She has been a steady performer during her 11 years of service to the Pohick family. It is especially noteworthy given the fact that recently she has been helping a student driver learn how to drive.

So what is the birthday girl going to do for her mileversary? First she is going to get a nice oil change and lube job. Then she is going to get a thorough washing inside and out and a nice coat of wax. We've got to keep her looking nice as she begins her second 100,000 miles.

Animated Christmas Lights

Motivated by the great Christmas Light Displays at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens Galaxy of Lights, Jake decided to get his very own light display put together. Though not as fancy as the Galaxy of Lights displays, Jake's display is still pretty cool. The trees and lighted border all change colors controlled by a computer controlled light controller from the Animated Lighting company. Next year Jake is planning to add a few more lights and set the whole thing to music.

Momma Mia That's a Good Pizza

Tonight Jake decided to cook his world famous home made pizza for dinner. Usually, he would just run out to a pizza joint and pick up a pie, but it was cold out tonight that he decided it was actually easier to just make it himself. It must have been pretty good because everyone came back for seconds and thirds. The dough was mixed in the Bread Machine, but you could probably make the same recipe by hand.

Here is the Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 Cups Flour
• 2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp sugar
  
• 1-3/8 Cups water
• 3 Tbsp. Margarine
• Sauce
• Cheese
• Pepperoni
• Oregano
• Garlic Salt

Directions:

Mix the Flour, yeast, salt, sugar, water and margarine and let rise for two hours. Knead several times and allow to rise. Spread dough on pizza platter. Add toppings and cook for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Enjoy!

We Haven't Moved Far Enough South Yet

This week we had a few cold days and even a little bit of snow. The snow didn't last very long, but it was just enough to get Molly all out of sorts. She is fairly against winter as general principle. To her family and friends she is known as the Heat Miser. She claims to have the magical ability to ward off cold weather. Well apparently her powers were exhausted this week.

I'm Mrs. Green Christmas
I'm Mrs. Sun
I'm Mrs. Heat Blister
I'm Mrs. Hundred and One
They call me Heat Miser,
What ever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch
I'm too much!

She's Mrs. Green Christmas
She's Mrs. Sun
She's Mrs. Heat Blister
She's Mrs. Hundred and One

They call me Heat Miser,
What ever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch

She's too much!

Thank you!
I never want to see a day
That's under sixty degrees
I'd rather have it eighty,
Ninety, one hundred degrees!
(spoken)
Oh, some like it hot, but I like it
REALLY hot! Hee hee!

She's Mrs. Green Christmas
She's Mrs. Sun

Sing it!

She's Mrs. Heat Blister
She's Mrs. Hundred and One

They call me Heat Miser,
What ever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch
I'm too much!

Too Much!

Galaxy of Lights

Last night the Pohick family visited the Galaxy of Lights at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. This exhibit consists of countless animated light displays. It took us about 30 minutes to slowly drive through the various displays. The displays included nursery rhymes, a holiday village, dinosaurs, wild animals, a magical twinkling icicle forest, garden scenes, a patriotic display featuring red, white, and blue ‘fireworks’, and a hilarious host of animated snowmen. This was the first year that the Pohick family attended the display which is open nightly from Thanksgiving until New Year's day. We will definitely go back again next year.

See the Galaxy of Lights on the map of places we've been.

2008 Hicky Awards

Hello Folks. It's time for the 2008 Hicky Awards. Entries on the Pohick Website that made us laugh and cry. Entries that we just couldn't get enough of. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Academy, you voted and here are the results.

In the category of People's Choice (most viewed blog entry):

• Belle of Georgia Semi-Dwarf Peach Tree
• A Bug In Your Ear
• How to safely remove a bug from your ear
• Helen Keller Birthplace
• Mythbusters Lunar Landing Hoax

In the Category of Comic Video

• Alone In The Wild
• Honey Do
• The Eclairs Are Finished

In the Category of Editor's Choice

• Black Racer Snake
• Snarly Kraut
• Procion MX Tie Dye T-Shirts
• Mount Manitou Scenic Incline Railway

Happy Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for this thanksgiving? We are most thankful for all of our friends and family. We are especially thankful for our friends the Frugenglagia family who drove all the way from Kansas to spend the holiday with us. Something we found out about the Yankees from Kansas is that they really do love their ranch dressing. Who knew?

Here are some additional photos from our visit with the Frugenglagia Family.

Salvation Army Credit Card Kettle

Since 1891, the Salvation Army and their Army of bell ringers have been collecting donations in a kettle. It is a Christmas tradition to hear the sound of ringing bells at the entrance to all of your Christmas shopping destinations. This year however, you may notice a small change in the tradition.

Not having cash is no longer a valid excuse for avoiding eye contact with the bell ringer. This year, a pilot program in several locations will allow donors to use their debit and credit cards to make their donations.

Mike Smith, who oversees kettle-based donations for the El Paso chapter, says one reason for the experiment is due to an increasing number of people carrying plastic instead of cash. Smith also cites slowing donations, which have decreased by 10 percent, and a 25 percent increase in demand for charitable services this year because of economic troubles.

"We're seeing people from middle-class neighborhoods who didn't used to need help now needing food, rent and utility assistance to get back on their feet," he told the Colorado Springs Gazette.

The locations where debit and credit card transactions are accepted will change during the campaign, which run until Dec. 24. U.S. Bank will oversee the transactions to monitor their security.

Some Salvation Army red kettle locations also accept used gift cards with balances for donations. The charity collects the cards, which can be from any retail store, and sends them to a Californian company that converts the balance into cash. If a location isn't handy, gift cards can be donated online too.

What do you think about this change? Is this taking technology too far or is this just the way things are done in 2008?

Snarly Kraut

A long standing tradition in the Pohick house is that when someone asks, "What's for Dinner", the wise guy response is, "Snarly Kraut and Reppy Snips". This tradition started with Molly's father, Mr. Boyardee. Jake however has taken this family tradition inherited from his father-in-law and carried it to the next level. Jake sings songs and injects "Snarly Kraut" any time he does not know the actual words to the song. Some folks use the word watermelon in a similar fashion. This word substitution drives Molly crazy for some reason which just encourages Jake to do it all the more. Molly has an uncanny ability to remember every word to every song. She routinely plays along with the show "Don't forget the Lyrics" and rarely misses a word. Jake sometimes pretends that he is a capable of playing along by searching the lyrics on the internet in the other room and calling over as if he actually knew the words to the song. Nobody actually believes that he knows the words though. In any event, Jake is ready for the upcomming Christmas season when he can loudly sing all of the old classics such as "Oh Snarly Kraut", "Deck the Halls with Snarly Kraut", and "Oh Little Town of Snarly Kraut".

Brush With Insanity: The Truth

Jake is a nice guy. I, the artist formerly known as Princess Scribbles, will admit that. He works hard all day, deals with last-minute crises, and only locks me in the tower on rare occasions.
However, Jake doesn't know all the things that go on in his humble abode while he isn't looking.
Hairbrush crisis? How can one not find a single hairbrush when one owns twelve? That is Jake's argument. Oh, it was so easy to track down all those hairbrushes. Those silly Pohick girls, not being able to find a brush! Even sillier than those little kittens who lost their mittens! Why, just round all those hairbrushes up, and BAM: Crisis avoided. Now, if those girls would just keep those brushes in the bathroom, life would be so easy!
Not the case.
A hairbrush is a devious instrument. It is, however, very useful and a great necessity for those like me who have long, beast-like hair. The brush uses this fact to its advantage and schemes against its owners in a repeated and predictable pattern:
1) In a calm, unstressed time, the hairbrush will allow itself to be found, used, and put away.
2) When no one is looking, the hairbrush will sneak out of its drawer and hide itself away. Some hiding places are good, while others are so bad they don't even count as hiding places.
3) A stressful time, such as a morning, will come about, and someone will need a hairbrush. But where have they all gone? A search ensues. The dastardly hairbrush will sneak around, slipping into nooks and crannies so that, even though a person may search for hours, the hairbrush will never be found.
4) When the hairbrush is needed least (as in, two weeks after somebody actually needed it), it will come out of hiding, chuckling malevolently, and allow itself to be found. The vicious cycle starts all over again.
It's the truth!
Haven't you ever heard the sad lament of Larry the Cucumber? "Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where is my hairbrush?"
"Hairbrush Matador" Scribbles signing off.

Brush With Insanity

This morning there was panic in the Pohick house. The girls could not find a single hair brush. Not one. This is amazing given that it is a rare day when Jake does have to police up a whole bunch of hair brushes that have been left around in a willy nilly fashion. Granted, Jake doesn't have a vested interest in hair brushes. As a matter of fact, it's been about 25 years since he actually combed or brushed his hair. But as a general rule, he is against drama first thing in the morning. So after the immediate crisis was solved, Jake took a quick tour of the house and managed to find an even dozen hair brushes of every conceivable design. Big Brushes, litte brushes, soft brushes and brushes that look like they would really hurt if you got them anywhere near your scalp. Now, what to do with these brushes Jake asked himself. The easy answer is to put the brushes back into the girls bath room where one would assume they should be in the first place. Using history of a guide though quickly rules this out as a feasible option. The brushes just wouldn't stay in the bath room. They have never remained there in the past at least. Perhaps Jake could keep all of the brushes and issue them out any time someone needs to spruce up their hairdo? No, this would probably turn into a full time job and make Jake grumpier than he already is. Maybe Jake could tie a string to the end of the brush so that it wouldn't stray too far from its rightful place. Hmmmm.... Well, I guess you are right. There is no real good answer to this dilema. Jake will just return the brushes and wait for the next cry of, "I can't find a hair brush!"

Pohick Park

CNN announced this week that scientists from Japan have produced clones of mice that have been dead and frozen for 16 years -- a feat that could lead researchers to one day resurrect long-extinct species, such as the mammoth.

Jake immediately got to thinking, if we can bring back long dead creatures, why stop with the mammoth. Why not get really old school and bring back some dinosaurs. As a matter of fact, if we brought back a bunch of dinosaurs, we could put them all in a park so that people can come and see them. Kind of like a dinosaur zoo.

Yes, I guess someone already had that idea. In other news, writer Michael Crichton author of the best selling book Jurasic Park died this week. Is there any connection between the timing of these two events? Probably not, but it sure is coincidental.

Welcome To My House

Well, that's another halloween come and gone. As usual, Jake did a fair bit of decorating. This year Jake constructed a graveyard, lights, spider webs, creepy guy in the upstairs windows, fog machine, and creepy music. Those trick or treaters who stopped by seemed to enjoy the theatrics pretty well.

The number of trick or treaters this year was a little disappointing though. Halloween this year fell on a Friday Night and all of the High Schools had football games. Last year Jake counted approximately 50 ghosties and ghoalies. This year Jake kept track of the haunters and the count was exactly 27. Check below for the distribution of the visitors.

As always, Jake bought entirely too much candy just in case there was a large turn out. This of course will put a bit of a crimp in his diet plans. He is already planning to take the extra candy to work with him. He figures that if he is going to get fat (fatter?) he might as well take the rest of his office mates down with him.

The Maize

The Pohick gang headed out for a little adventure today. We visited The Maize in Brownsboro, Alabama. As we wondered thru the maze cut into the corn field, we happened to find a number of Disney characters including Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Tigger who had apparently become disoriented and hopelessly lost. We never realized that cartoon characters were so directionally challenged. In any event, we help the characters find their way to safety and it was a lovely day to take a stroll.

Armadillo Aerospace Wins Prize

Congratulations, Armadillo team! The Armadillo Aerospace team made space history as they won the first level of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge in Las Cruces, NM. The win not only puts the private company into the history books, but nets them the long-awaited $350,000 prize offered by the NASA Centennial Challenge fund.

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (often called simply the Lunar Lander Challenge) is a $2 million prize program funded by NASA's Centennial Challenges program. The Challenge offers a series of prizes for the teams that launch a Vertical Take Off, Vertical Landing (VTVL) rocket that achieves the total delta-v that would be equivalent to those needed for a vehicle to move between lunar orbit and the lunar surface. The multi-level competition is conducted by the X PRIZE Foundation, with sponsorship from the Northrop Grumman Corporation, with the prize purses paid by NASA. The competition is held annually at the X PRIZE Cup, making its debut at the 2006 Wirefly X PRIZE Cup in October, 2006.

The Challenge is divided into two levels of Competition, an easier Level 1 and a harder Level 2. Both levels require teams to demonstrating control of their vehicle by flying to an altitude of more than 50m, flying laterally for 100m, and landing on a pad. For Level 1, this pad is a simple 10m diameter circle; for Level 2, it is a simulated lunar surface, complete with craters and boulders. After completing this first flight, the vehicle can then be refueled, and must then fly a second leg back to the original starting point. Each flight must meet a required minimum flight time of 90 seconds for Level 1 and 180 seconds for level 2. For each Level, the two flights along with any necessary preparation must be accomplished within a short 150 minute time period.

Each Level offers a first and a second-place prize. Level 1 features a first place prize purse of $350,000 and a $150,000 purse for second place. The more difficult Level 2 offers a first place prize of $1 million and a $500,000 second place prize. 2006 was the first year of the competition.

The Eclairs Are Finished

The eclairs are finished, or as the French like to say, "Les éclairs sont finis." This was one of those projects that none of us will soon forget. It seemed like a simple enough project. All Scribbles had to do, was make 30 eclairs to share with her French Class. This was the follow up to the video she made last week. But as often happens in the Pohick House, simple projects take on a life of their own. Scribble's friend Caramelina volunteered to help her with the project. Jake didn't pay much attention to what was going on at first. Actually, he hid out in his man cave since the girls certainly didn't need his help preparing a few pastries. His first hint that something was amiss occurred about an hour into the project. He detected a hint of smoke in the air. Hmmm.... he wondered. "I guess they left a batch in a little too long." A short while later, Scribbles knocked on the door of the man cave. "Yes?", Jake said. Scribbles then requested that Jake go to the grocery store to purchase more supplies for eclair making. This didn't seem right to Jake. He had purchased eclair making supplies just that morning, and he was pretty sure that he hadn't forgetten anything. His shopping list had included 3 dozen eggs, a sack of flour, 4 boxes of butter. What could he have forgotten? So he asked Scribbles, "What did I forget to buy?" Scribbles stated, "You didn't forget anything, we need more eggs, flour and butter." "What?", Jake said. "I bought enough stuff to make a hundred eclairs." Scribbles then stated, "We've had a few set backs." "What?", Jake said again. "How many eclairs have you made so far?" Scribbles said, "Well, we haven't actually had a batch turn out yet. The eclairs just won't rise."

Jake went into the kitchen and witnessed a scene reminiscent of Omaha Beach. Every pot, pan, cooking sheet, bowl, and spoon in the house was covered in a thick coating of eclair batter. The kitchen counter was overflowing with what could only generously be described as hockey pucks. A nice thick layer of smoke was eminating from the stove which was giving a very fair portrayal of an old fashioned franklin stove. Scribbles stated that maybe if she left the eclairs in long enough, they might rise a little. "No", Jake replied. "I'm pretty sure that once they get that nice charcoal briquette look, they aren't going to rise any more." Jake gave the girls instructions to clean up the kitchen and headed off to the grocery store for another round of supplies. Jake ended up with the same cashier he had earlier in the day as he paid for another 3 dozen eggs and various other supplies. "Did you run out of eggs already?", she asked him. Everybody is a comedian.

So here is what we learned from the experience:
1. Follow the recipe exactly. (Expecially when you are cooking fancy french food. If it says add the eggs one at a time, that is pretty much what you have to do.)
2. If what you are doing doesn't work, doing it over and over is not going to have a different result. (If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. Unless you actually need 100 eclair shaped charcoal briquettes.)
3. Never underestimate the time and materials for a project (ie., 30 eclairs = 6 dozen eggs, 2 bags of flour, 8 boxes of butter, and 7 hours of prep time)
4. French is harder than Spanish (All the kids in spanish class had to do was whip together a bowl of guacamole dip which took about 10 minutes)