Bounty of the Earth

I found this beautiful, fresh rainbow trout at the grocery the other day, and I just couldn't pass it by. I don't often see good, fresh fish around here so this was a real treat. Since I had no experience with whole fish, I did a quick internet recipe search. I found this simple, tastey recipe for grilled, whole trout using all ingredients I already had on hand. Stuff the inside with fresh thyme, rosemary (bought for a VERY tastey Turkey Osso Buco), garlic and lemons (from our obliging citrus tree out back). Wrap the outside with strips of bacon to hold everything together and keep in the moisture. Grill for 10-15 minutes each side. So easy! And so good that even my pickey, non-fish-eaters ate it up.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

I can't begin to explain why they do some of the things they do on deployments.

Just like I can't explain how they can stay friends through so many moves and so many miles.

Unles you've experienced it, you can't know the life-long cameraderie of the Marine Corps.


But if you know anything about them, you know that there's no such thing as a former Marine. So to all Marines, Happy Birthday!

Great White Birthday

We had Trevor's birthday party last night. He chose Grandma's Hamburgers, applesauce jello and broccoli with cheese for his birthday meal. The dinner table gets so quiet when everyone enjoys everything that is served! After dinner Trevor unwrapped the rest of his birthday gifts with plenty of encouragement from little brother. Everything was a hit, and we've got lots of fun stuff to keep us busy in the coming weeks! Some good friends came over to share the cake and ice cream and try-out the new toys. Oh, yeah, did you notice the cake? It was a big hit, too! Trevor gave me carte blanche this year, as long as the inside was red, and there was absolutely no fondant. (I'm not kidding about the fondant- he mentioned it by name) So I did a little brainstorming and came up with a shark theme. Shark books have been very popular picks from the library recently. Besides, what better to put with blood-red cake? True to my word, there was not a bit of fondant on the cake. The numeral 6 and shark figures were made from modeling chocolate- very cool! Once I got the hang of it, it was easier to handle than fondant, and 100% tastier! Unfortunately, one of the sharks got a bite out of the number 6 before I could stop him. I guess that's an occupational hazard of working with sharks.

Happy Fall

We had our own little fall festival last saturday. . . complete with hot apple cider and caramel apples. I think the last time I had a caramel apple was before I got braces in the fourth grade. Ooooh, they were good! Between yummy snacks we squeezed in some crafts and fun games. (The Gnip-Gnop was smokin!) We wish dad had been with us, but we made sure to save him a caramel apple. Under the circumstances, we thought that was extremely generous!