Mondays with the Madsens

Me, Danny and my cousin's family have fell into a fun pattern of dinner together on Monday nights. It started when we were canning at the end of the summer and just sort of continued. I love it. I love having her kids here and getting to spend some time with Amy and Kenley one-on-one. We've had roast and vegetables, tacos, fishsticks, butternut squash soup and crockpot chicken to name a few. Anyway, it's a great new tradition that I hope we can continue. Here are`some shots of the kids from last Monday.


P-ROSS


BAILEY BOO



COOP!

COMPUTER TIME

SWEET DAVIS!

...with a little pixie dust...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY, MICHELE and MOM!

I got the chance to make another birthday cake. Actually it was 3 cakes. the main one was for my cousin's little girl Bailey. She was turning 5 and wanted a Tinkerbell cake. So I did my best. it turned out pretty good for the most part. Until it started melting at the party and all of the frosting on the edge of the cake slowly slipped down the sides!! I could have cried. It took me about 4 hours to make that cake. I also made 2 cute mini cakes for my sister and Mom. They all have the same birthday. I forgot to take pictures of those though and then forgot to take my camera to the party. Hopefully my cousin will send me hers. So, here is Tinkerbell...

"GOURMET GIRLS"

So, I started a cooking club a year ago and it's called Gourmet Girls. I invited my sister and cousins and asked them to invite friends as well. I also asked my good friend Jen (she started our book club) and one of my neighbors. We started off with 8 members. Now we have 10! Each month we have a theme and we sign up to bring dishes accordingly. We meet at someone's house and share the recipes. We gossip, laugh, eat, laugh, learn and laugh some more! WE all look forward to it and really enjoy are group. I also think we've had some AMAZING food and learned along the way. (that was the original purpose HA!) This month was our last for the 2008 schedule. Our theme was PIZZA PIZZAZ and it was so dang good. We also got awards and prizes for the favorite recipes for the past year. I was lucky enough to win three 1st place ribbons and three 2nd places. Jill took home the most ribbons with a total of 7 and she was our oeverall winner! We start our 2009 schedule next month. The theme is GAME NIGHT (as in football). Our members are me, my sister Michele, my cousins Amy and Jill, Jill's best friend Christy, Christy's sister Brittany, Amy's friend Kathryn, mutual friends Heather and Vanessa (they are sisters) and my friend Jen. Whew, hope you can keep all of that straight. Our club has caught on with some, Kathryn has a relative that started her own based on how we run ours. That's kind of cool! Anyway, here are some pics from last weeks night...

1) Jill and Brittany 2) Heather and Vanessa

1) Jen, Christy and Kathryn 2) The Girls (minus Michele and Me)

1) The Girls and the Food 2) The Girls (minus Michele and Heather)

Snow before Halloween?

We had a snowstorm come through on Oct. 11th. That's pretty early for Utah. I was so shocked to wake up to about 3 to 4 inches of snow. I was pretty cold also. Of course Cabo didn't mind as he loves to run in the snow. I even had to wait to put my pumpkins out so they wouldn't get wet and moldy. Wow, I hope it's not a indication of what winter will be like...

TV SHOW TAG

I'M IT!!! and now I have to name my top 10 TV shows that I love to watch...in no particular order!

1. So You Think You Can Dance
2. Survivor
3. American Idol
4. Heroes
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. ER (die hard 'til the end)
7. The Hills
8. Ellen & Oprah (sorry I cheated)
9. Project Runway
10. CSI (Vegas & Miami)

YOU'RE IT! I tag Lisa H., Jen, Lisa T., Brenda, Melanie, Jill!

Looking for a good read?

As some of you know I am in a book club. This is our 4th year. All of our members LOVE our book club and wait impatiently for each month to meet and talk about our picks. Last month's book was "A Girl With A Pearl Earring," by Tracy Chavelier. It is a fictional story based on a real life painting by Vermeer. It was a great book. Quiet, easy to read, dramatic and sucks you in a bit. Something that I wouldn't have read if not for book club. Thank heaven for book club!!!Apparently there was a movie made based on the book starring Collin Firth and Scarlett Johanson. I'm definitely going to rent that now and compare the two. Anyway, just thought I'd share it so those of you who like to read could give it a try. I don't think you will be dissapointed. Our upcoming book is "The Icing On The Cake," by Elodia Strain. It is supposed to be a light and humorous read. I'm looking forward to some fun fluff. I'll let you know how it is...HAPPY READING!

The way Grandma used to...

My Mom, my cousin Amy and I having been canning up storm! WHEW! And we have the stained fingernails and sore backs to prove it. HA! HA! Amy has a wonderful assortment of fruit trees at her new home, so we thought we would take advantage of the yummy FREE produce. The first to come were the 2 apricots trees. I made several batches of fruit leather and we ate a ton. I love apricots and the stuff you get at the store doesn't even compare. We started with her 3 peach trees. We made cobblers, pies and fruit leather. We also canned over 40 jars of peaches and a couple batches of freezer jam. Next was the tomatoes growing on the farm just across the street from her house. We canned about 25 jars of those. Then came the green beans, also growing across the street. We had some help from my Dad who picked all the tomatoes and Kenley and Cooper who went over and picked all the beans. Jill came over one Monday and the 3 of us made several batches of salsa. Last, but not least was the pears from Amy's trees. They are the best pears ever! Better than anything you'll get in the store. We did about 20 jars or more of those...and there is still some left on the tree that aren't quite ripe. It was a lot of work especially while trying to help Amy still tend to her 4 kids. But, it was so nice to spend so much time together talking. You know how girls are! Amy has 3 apples trees and that will be our next project...applesauce, dried apples and fruit leather. Oh! And did I mention that she also have several chive plants that I have been very happy to cut and use when I'm cooking. Any was just call me Betty Crocker...or better yet Paula Deen!!!

Vamanos, Everybody Let's Go!

September 30th is our friend's Bryan & Jen's daughter Kembrie's 2nd birthday! She is having a Dora the Explorer birthday party. I got to make her cake and wanted everyone to see it...Adios!

So You Think You Can Dance

I LOVE the show SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!!! I wait all year for summer to come so I can watch the show. I have always wanted to see them live on their tour and this year I finally got the chance. Utah was one of their stops. They didn't come last year...the closest venue was Reno. I was planning on going to that one, but medical expenses got in the way. NOT THIS YEAR!!! My girlfriend Christy, who is in my Cooking Club mentioned that she loved it to and that started the ball rolling. She got the tickets for us, and a couple of her friends and off we went. The show was at the E Center which is normally for the hockey team, so it was small and most of the seating had great views. It was so amazing to see all of the dances that I watch over and over in person!! (Yes, I have all of the episodes in my DVR and I watch then when I'm bored. Even Danny knows some of them.) Anyway, needless to say I was in heaven and had the best time. Now is I can only be patient enough to wait for next season...

This is the opening dance with the whole crew.


Gev...one of the B-Boys from Utah!


Elaina, Christy and Heather


Me, Brittany (Christy's sister) and Ashley
(yes my hair looks crappy, trying to grow it out some)


Josua Allen...he is a B-Boy and he won this season.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BREAD?

OK...my girlfriends at book club were discussing how annoyed they were with their blogs because it made everyone's life look so perfect and joyous. You know, all of the trips, vacations, parties and gatherings. So, I decide to take heed and post about my horrible chocolate zucchini bread disaster....

On a lovely Friday morning I decided to make a few loaves of Chocolate Zucchini Bread. I found what seemed like a great recipe on line and was excited to try it out. I put it all together, filled up my loaf pans and popped them into the oven. As I am checking email and surfing the net I noticed the bread smelled like it was burning so I went over to check the oven. There inside was an OVERFLOWING LAVA TYPE GOO making the BIGGEST mess onto the bottom of my oven! As the oven was extremely hot all I could do was try to scoop some of it up with a spatula and hope the loaves would still be salvageable. I put tin foil down to catch any other "goo." It took the loaves FOREVER to cook and when they were done one was completely destroyed and had to be thrown out, one was completely sunken in at the middle and the other was semi-decent. Well, obviously I had filled the loaf pans up too much, but this recipe was to make 3 loaf pans worth. Now that I know how much it will rise I can clearly get 5 loaf pans out of the recipe.

Well, I decided that I now needed to clean the oven. I scraped out as much as I could and turned on the self cleaning option. Just a couple minutes into the cleaning my fire alarms went off...not just the one in the kitchen, but EVERY SINGLE FIRE ALARM in the house. I immediately let the dog out as he is ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED of the fire alarm. the cats were running around the house trying to find a quiet place to hide...as if that was possible. I ran to the oven and turned it off. Unfortunately the oven goes into an automatic "cool down" mode and does not shut off completely. I had every window and door open and all the fans in my home going. The alarms continued to ring for about 2 or 3 minutes without exaggeration. I sat in the backyard with the dog and 1 cat (the other one took refuge under my bed) and wanted to cry. I was just about to call the firehouse to see if they could make a suggestion when the alarms stopped. (I know you are all thinking, "just take the batteries out," easier said than done. First of all we have like 7 alarms and some of them are on the vaulted ceiling.)

So, long story short, when the recipe calls for 1 1/2 teaspoons each of baking soda and baking powder only fill the pans half way! Let me finish by saying that the recipe is fabulous and tastes great. Danny and I are munching on the mangled loaf.

See, my life isn't perfect pretty pictures. HA! More true life stories to come...

ALOHA!

ALOHA! We can't believe it, but we actually made it to Maui, Hawaii. We always wanted to go, but never thought it would happen. It was HEAVEN! I can't believe how peaceful it was. What an amazing place that God has created. We are so lucky to have been able to experience Hawaii. We stayed on the island of Maui. On the west side of the island called Kaanapali. The hotel we stayed in (Marriot, Maui Beach Resort) was right on the beach. We visited several places on the island, Kapalua, Lahaina, Wailea and Kehei. And others that I can't remember the names of. It was 8 glorious days of warmth, moisture and relaxation. We snorkled, body-boarded, hung out by the pool, ate and shopped. Wow, you can really do some serious eating and shopping there! HA! One of my favorite restaurants was called Aloha Mixed Plate. Whalers Village was a shopping paradise. We met Ray (Danny's brother), Shiryn (his wife), McKennah (our niece) and Nathaniel (Shiryn's nephew). That was the added bonus, getting to spend the time with them. We've been home for about 2 weeks now and I still haven't gotten my time clock back on schedule. That 4 hours is a killer adjustment! I've included some of our 245 pictures. HA!! I hope you enjoy them.

Colorado Family in Utah

My Aunt Lynette and Uncle Steve from Colorado stopped in Utah on their way to Montana. It was such a nice visit...although way too short. We took them to one my favorite local spots called The Oaks. It's a small restaurant that sits on the river. Then we took them through the scenic drive through the mountains past the lake that we visit during the summer. We stopped up at Snow Basin Ski Resort where my Dad used to work and took a quick tour of the beautiful lodge and gift shop. We had dinner at my parents the first night and then my house the last night. It sure was nice spending time with my Dad's side of the family!