Gelato recipe

For those excited about the gelato recipe, here's a link to the one I used:

Dark Chocolate Gelato Recipe

This can also be used with lactose-free milk, Laura! Oh, and I read somewhere that another difference between ice cream and gelato is that ice cream is supposed to have more air whipped into it during preparation. So really, you don't actually need an ice cream maker to make gelato- just stir it by hand a few times while it's freezing. I did tweak this recipe in one way and that is that I didn't use the additional baker's chocolate- I only used the cocoa powder. Still has plenty of chocolatey-goodness kick! Oh, I also used all vanilla instead of some Kahlua 'cause unfortunately I'm all out of Kahlua. Either one helps keep the gelato from freezing solid. If you don't mind it freezing solid, or if you want to use dissolved gelatin or cornstarch instead, I think those would work.

Enjoy!

Life Beyond Mordor (a post for Christian)

The Shire (greenhouse) and Gondor (outside garden) were attacked the day before yesterday with strong winds from Mordor. Today the wind speed reads "0" and we have surveyed the land and recorded not only the destruction, but also the survival- we will not be crushed! :) 

(The rest of you who are not Christian, pardon the extra-long post of seemingly boring pictures. For what it's worth, we have neighbors even stopping and taking pictures- so you can think of this as my saving you a trip. :) One neighbor stopped and talked to Mike who was working on some repair and told him they were glad to see that we're real people, as they had seen the greenhouse weather a few other very windy days- they thought miraculously. Ha! Yes, real people indeed.)

Under the wood frame door is the sliding glass door, unbroken!

Only the top of this window broke out

The far side of the Shire

Outer pepper bed

The baby peppers on the shriveled plant

 The inner pepper bed

 Melons

 Cucumbers, a couple of the training strings are amazingly still up

 Flattened beans, I think mostly still living

 Leeks/onions of the Shire

 My herbs- a few of the basil survived, I think everything else vanished, except a few of the dill from the other bed.

 The worst of the tomato plants

 Other tomatoes

 Notice the brace outside of the chicken tractor? Yeah, the tractor had been turned 90 degrees toward the road as well- these pictures are my attempt at restoring order

 Outside of the tunnel, by the sliding glass door

 The sink station got shoved over several inches

 The inside, looking toward the chickens

 Inside, looking toward the road

 Looking up

Off to Gondor...

 See how the peas are clinging on for dear life?! Again, the wind is not actually blowing at all in any of these pictures!

 Carrots, chard, lettuce- all fine

 The leeks and onions of Gondor- could be worse

 Cucumbers, melons are ok- just a couple gone

 Moses misses you. ;)

 The poor aspens are rather shell-shocked

I forgot to take a picture, but a plank from the kids' playground roof also ripped out and flew several feet into the yard.

 Flowers still blooming!

 Over by the truck, these windows fell over (I'm pretty sure you didn't lay them down...?) but none appear to be broken!

 Peter's new bantam hens to show at the fair

 This one's a blue silkie (we think; maybe black- about 6 weeks old)

I think this one's a partridge cochin, about 8 weeks- it's not going to get much bigger than this. Both of these grow feathers on their legs- pretty fun. 

And so life goes on!

72 mph

This is what 72 mph in Doney Park looks like, and this is after Mike fixed the broken 2x4's... :(

Boys' Weekend

Christian, the boys and Grandpa all went on the men's fishing trip up to Groundhog Lake in Colorado.

 Quick stop at some petrified logs

 Peter set up his own tent with some moral support from his buddy Noah

 And Elijah and Luke had a blast looking at the latest Lego magazine. 

And then the camera got put away. :) Good memories for them, though, for sure.

Girls' Day Friday

With the boys on the annual FCF men's fishing trip, we girls decided to live it up!

 What's more fun than making a doll out of toilet paper rolls, I ask you?! :)

 Picnic lunch on the living room floor because it's soooooo windy outside!

In the afternoon we went swimming. T and B got lifejackets this time and they were THRILLED with the freedom! Especially since their swimming lesson teacher was one of the lifeguards- they enjoyed just a little showing off, I believe.

 Personal pizzas!

 AND last but definitely not least, homemade dark chocolate gelatto! I learned that gelatto is made with milk instead of cream- healthier, easier, and cheaper- what could be better?! This stuff is so rich, I can only handle a little (and that's saying something) and prefer it with unsweetened coffee. The ingredients are: milk, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, a tiny bit of salt. Seriously good.