Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The garden renovation is underway

And should be done soon if it would quit raining. We are very excited about our plan, more photos are coming. Unfortunately, poor KC is sad. At least we think he is. His favorite azalea bush was moved up behind the retaining wall and he now spends time sitting in the open, surveying his ruined garden. We hope he finds it homey when the new plants are in.

Cathleen

www.phelpslore.wordpress.com
www.givingfullcircle.org
www.arlingtonchildrenschorus.org

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps

Monday, September 12, 2011

Magic!

We bought this apple peeler/slicer contraption at Williams Sonoma last spring after waffling about it for 20 years. You know what? It works! Even a five year old can do it as you can see in the video. I wasn't sure how such thin slices would work in the pie but it came out perfectly! Macintosh apples from the farmers' market and a lard crust helped too. Must make another one!

IMG_1530.MOV Watch on Posterous

Cathleen

www.phelpslore.wordpress.com
www.givingfullcircle.org
www.arlingtonchildrenschorus.org

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Love CrossFit Kids!

The coaches do a great job andorra is having a lot of fun. This circuit was preceded by a 400m run and I was too slow with the camera to get the kids all lying down on the floor to cool off. Tug of war is after this!

IMG_1506.MOV Watch on Posterous

Cathleen

www.phelpslore.wordpress.com
www.givingfullcircle.org
www.arlingtonchildrenschorus.org

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Cathleen Phelps

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Old Beer is (sometimes) Good Beer

A long time ago (at least a couple years before my 13 year old son was born) I briefly tried my hand at home brewing. I made several batches of passable ale, trying to imitate lower alcohol, lower carbonation English Bitter. I enjoyed the process, but decided that like bread making and wine making, the craft breweries made much better beer and ale than I could achieve. I am also a purist, and was frustrated using malt syrup (or whatever it is called) rather than starting with the grain itself. However brewing starting with grain is a whole additional level of complexity. After a few batches, my brewing equipment was retired to the basement, along with a case of beer to drink 'later'. We are about to embark on a basement renovation, and needed to clean out the basement, so LATER has finally arrived. I expected to just pour out the beer, figuring it had become undrinkable, if not downright toxic. However, being curious I tried a few sips. Then a few more to be sure I was not fooling myself. The ale was not horrible. I would not have bought a second glass in a bar, but I would not have sent the first one back. It have a faint molasses flavor, not much fizz (as intended) and very mild hops. Overall it is refreshing and easy to drink, although kind of bland. I decided to clean up a six pack, and keep it around to drink. My daughters were nice enough to label the bottles, and the ale looks quite good in a proper glass!

Via iPad

First Day of School - 2011

Will, Lyra, Eva Ready for Their First Day of the New School Year

Via iPad