Homemade Kitchen

If you are looking for a play kitchen that is compact when not in use and totally believable, then the wife and baby girl recommend this version.

The stove top is made from an old sheet and felt. It's a chair cover. The sink is made from the lid off of a formula box and the tube of a one dollar bubble wand. 

Pinterest has a few other ideas on the subject and some free patterns.

The Past Three Years

In one picture we are going to update the blog. It's been a while, and we apologize. After getting the hubby through med school, and surviving an internal medicine residency, we are ready to post again.

We added two new drivers to this pod. They really do run the show. And they are hilarious. 

The Perot

The two peas had the awesome opportunity to visit the Perot Museum in Dallas this past week. If you get the chance to go they highly recommend it. 

Along with all of the neat and interactive displays, the Museum has a sports section where you can test some of your skills. The wife took the time to visit the slow motion lab. Participants perform a skill in front of a camera and then can watch a slow motion playback juxtaposed to a recording of a pro-athlete doing the same skill. 

The wife chose a double jazz pirouette (compared to a single ballet pirouette). The results weren't too bad.

Medical School Graduation #1

As all medical students know, doctors to be really have two graduation ceremonies. 

And the first and most nerve racking of these is called

Match Day!

It basically determines where you will be living for the next few years, the program in which you will be fine-tuning your skills, and the doctors with which you will work. 

The wife and hubby entered the gymnasium of the medical school with hearts pounding and found out they will be packing up a moving truck once again. At least this move will be just a few hours away from their current residence.

Waiting in line for the greatly anticipated and dreaded envelope.

Conferencing family as we open it and read our destiny.

Wood Works

Now presenting, 

after a couple of years of thought, a power-tool-filled Christmas break, and few days of staining,

 our homemade nightstands:

The wife's design and the combined handy work of her father, the hubby, and the wife.

The wife's favorite parts of this project were getting to handle power tools, working with her dad and picking his brain for some handy wood-working knowledge, and watching the end product take shape.

Dad fitting the shelves with screws.

The nightstands after the wife added the trim and sanded them down.

Before gaps in the trim were fitted with wood filler.

After wood filler, sanding, and staining - a close-up of the beautiful design on the trim.

Whipped Cream the Old Fashion Way

This was so much fun to do around to the holidays!

You take all of the ingredients for whipped cream and pour them into a mason jar.

You tightly screw the lid onto the jar and then shake it mightily for 3-5 minutes.

The amount of time depends on what you would like to make: whipped cream or butter?

For whipped cream, you know you are done when the contents stop sloshing around as you shake.

For butter, you know you are done when the contents congeal into a ball (which happens just past the "stop sloshing around" phase).

I used one pint of cream, 1-2 tablespoons of sugar (to taste), and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Enjoy!

The home whipped butter was really yummy on our homemade pumpkin bread.

Inspirational Rules

The wife loves those billboards with house rules on them,

but she wanted something a little more personal and inspiring for the two peas.

With a canvas, some acrylic paint, and a scripture 

she came up with this little work of art:

It cost just over $7 to make.

She discovered there are plenty of writing samples online for the calligraphy part.

Paperworks

The wife really wants those wicker baskets one can place in shelves to make messy piles go away, 

but those things cost upwards of $20 or more. 

So she's going to,

you guessed it,

make them out of paper and cardboard. 

Yep. She loves paper! And there is plenty of paper around this domicile.

She's thinking of all of the phone books they've never used,

the mounds of magazines they've read and no longer read,

and the newspapers she saved for gardening....

She discovered tons of online videos about making baskets out of rolled up paper, 

and her work has turned out fairly well so far:

It's time, yes, but it is totally awesome! 

(The wife is thinking of the green papers she is saving by weaving these grey and yellow larger ones.)

I would post directions, but it's so much better if you watch someone make them.
Look up "Weaving Baskets from Paper" on youtube.com.

Halloween Magic

This year the wife decided the two peas would attend trunk-or-treat, 

and better yet, 

the Annual Allen After-Halloween Party,

in accurate and detailed sci-fi splendor 

(probably to satisfy her incredibly nerdy side).

We gave some teaser pictures in August 

and now all that's left is to show the final product:

With some fabric, zippers, bias tape, thread, cardboard, shiny paper, scrapbook paper, pens, paint, tiny neodymium magnets, and ingenuity we have two good looking medical officers. We saved plenty of money in making it all from scratch. Though it did take two months to put together. 

And we can't take any credit for the designs.

This device has a trap door in which we can place a glow bracelet to light up the screen. 

The effect was pretty awesome:

We made a fairly convincing pair.

Canning Peaches

The wife still remembers sitting at the kitchen table

and watching her grandmother and mother can...

apricots, peaches, and pears. 

Oh, my!

The aroma was sensational.

To continue this time-honored tradition the wife and some friends got together,

bought about 88 pounds of peaches whole sale,

researched the whole process online, 

called their mothers and picked their brains about it,

bought canning gear,

and after 6 hours of hard work...

Voila!

What we discovered:

1. You can peal your peaches or blanch them to remove the skins. Blanching involves placing the peaches in boiling water for approximately 1 minute, then placing them immediately into an ice bath for 1 minute, and rubbing off the skins with your hands. You know the boiling portion of the process is working if the skins split while the peaches are in the water. (Our peaches took 2 minutes of boiling in water to split their skins.)
2. The best way to cut the peaches is to place them in one of your palms (stem side down) and cutting 7-10 vertical slits evenly all the way around the peach. These slices will then easily fall away from the pit with a little encouragement from your fingers. (It's best not to include the very bruised portions, or moldy spots - the firm sections are the tastiest.)
3. Tightly pack your slices into a glass canning jar of your choice. Pack them up to just below the neck of the jar. If you don't tightly pack the slices you may have 2 inches or more of juicy space left in each jar after you're done canning.
4. For 22 pounds of peaches, if you've packed your jars tight, you'll only need about 3-4 cups of white grape juice, apple juice, or very light syrup. (The fruit juices can be diluted in water, if you like. A very light syrup consist of 1/2 cup granulated sugar of your choice dissolved in 4 cups of water. Heat the water to a boil to dissolve your sugar in it.)
5. Most of the recipes we read instructed us to leave 1/2 an inch of head space in the jars. This means you leave 1/2 of an inch between the top of your fluid and the lip of each jar. Remember to poke a spatula into the sides of the jars to dislodge trapped air. You may then need to add more fluid. Clean the lips of the jars well so the lids will seal.
6. Place the lids in boiling water for about 10 minutes to sterilize them. You can remove them and immediately place them on your jars wet, or dry them and place them on the jars - it doesn't matter and won't change the sealing process.
7. Place the jars in a wet bath to seal the lids. We got the granite ware brand pot; it's fairly inexpensive. You place your jars in the pot with warm water. A steal cage prevents the jars from touching the bottom of the pot. You heat the water to boiling. The jars remain in the boiling water for 30 minutes (if you're above sea level, you may need to boil them for 40-45 minutes). 
8. If your jars are already hot from the juice, syrup, and peaches, then placing them in nearly boiling water isn't a bad idea. But if they're cool, then warm the jars and water together - otherwise you'll have glass and peach stew.
9. The contents of your jars will boil and bubble - that's normal.
10. Find lots of space on your counters to leave your jars after you retrieve them from the wet bath. Lots of movement can prevent the lids from sealing properly. You let the jars cool and rest for 12-24 hours. You may hear the lids popping randomly into a seal during that time - that's normal too. 
11. If the jars don't seal, you can try boiling them again, or just sitting down and eating your peaches.
12. Your peaches will shrink after the jars have boiled in the wet bath. Don't worry, this is also normal.

The Almost All Vegetable Pot Pie

This week the wife made a chicken pot pie with scant amount of chicken, 

tons of vegetables, 

and a creamy potato soup sauce without the cream.

It turned out so delicious!

Ingredients:

• 3-4 large carrot sticks
• 1 head of celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 large onion
• 1 small head of broccoli
• 2 large potatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 (12.5 oz) can of chicken (you can leave it out if you like)
• 1 cup of chicken broth (I'm sure you can use vegetable broth)
• 1/2 cup soy milk (I'm sure you can use almond or rice milk; or have some extra broth handy)
• Seasonings, like thyme, basil, pepper, and salt, to taste

Instructions:

1. Chop all of the vegetable ingredients into 1/4-1/2 inch cubes. 
2. (a.)Two of the carrot sticks, 1/3 of the head of celery, 1/2 of the onion, 1 clove of garlic, and 1 of the potatoes go into a shallow 8-10 quart sauce pan with 1 tbsp olive oil and the cup of broth after they've been chopped. (b.) Bring this mixture to a boil on high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer covered for 20 minutes. (c.) Allow this mixture to rest for about 5-10+ minutes and then puree in a blender. I added the soy milk as I pureed the soup.
3. (a.) The remaining carrots, celery, and onion go into a deep sauce pan with 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook these ingredients on medium-high heat until they have started brown. (b.) Stir frequently so you do not burn the ingredients. (c.) Then add the broccoli and the last clove of garlic and cook for about 3 minutes on medium heat. (d.) Turn off the heat and add the chicken. 
4. Add the pureed potato soup to the vegetable/chicken mix in your deep sauce pan and stir all of these ingredients together. 
5. Mix together your favorite pie crust recipe.
6. If you make a pie with a bottom and top crust, cook the bottom crust by itself in the oven at 375 degrees F for 5 minutes. Then add the filling and the top crust. Remember to cut slits in the top crust to release steam while the pie cooks. And don't forget to oil your pans.
7. Bake the pies in the oven at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is light golden brown.

You can brush an egg wash (1 egg + water + dash of salt) on the tops of the pies before you bake them...or not. It's up to you. 

You can make 2 nine-inch pies or 5 four-inch individual pies. 

This recipe is very filling. One individual four-inch pie can probably feed two adults. 

Enjoy!

Flugtag!

Every year or so Red Bull hosts an awesome, ridiculous competition to see who can make any old, flimsy man-powered contraption fly.

It's called Flugtag.

This year our very own Dallas, Texas got to host one of the competition spots,

and lucky for us a dear friend had an apartment balcony with the best seats in the house!

There were so many people there!
We were just grateful not to be in the heat.

Some of those contraptions could "fly," and some of them could not. 

To quote an awesome Pixar movie, they were usually,

 "...falling with style!"

Team Fuel Fairy was a great example:

It looks like a promising contender for distance.

But drops immediately over the edge...

with an awesome splash!

The competition included best dancing and presentation.

We took several pictures of some fair competitors and magnificent flops.

It was a fun Saturday.

Enjoy!

This group took an immediate nose-dive: 

This was one of the more promising contenders 

(the big splash is from their launching system):

Best French Bread Ever!

This is, so far, the best french bread recipe the wife has come across.

It comes from the Heritage Cookbook by the Junior League of Salt Lake City, Inc. 

(On page 56 under Fabulous French Bread, for those who might own it.)

Ingredients:

• 2 packages dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups hot water
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 5 tbsp shortening or oil (I use canola oil)
• 6 cups flour
• 1 egg white

Instructions:

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and let stand 10 minutes.
2. Thoroughly mix 2 cups hot water, sugar, salt, shortening/oil, and half the flour in a large bowl.
3. Add the yeast to the mixture in the large bowl.
4. Add the rest of the flour to the mixture in the large bowl.
5. (This is where you might want a mixer) You allow the dough to sit for 10 minutes and then stir it really well. You repeat this process 5 times, or for 50 minutes. The dough gets really huge and fluffy during this time. Keep it covered; you don't want it to dry out.
6. Knead the dough on a floured surface 1-2 times.
7. Divide dough in half.
8. Roll out each half into 9'' x 12'' rectangles.
9. Loosely roll up each rectangle (hot-dog style) and pinch the the seams closed. 
10. Cover a large cookie sheet with a thin layer of corn meal. 
11. Place both rolls seam side down onto the sheet. 
12. Allow the rolls to rise for 30 minutes.
13. Brush a thin layer of beaten egg white onto the tops of the rolls. 
14. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes at 400 degrees F (my oven cooks hot, so I usually bump the temperature down to 380). You can tell they're done cooking if the loaves sound hollow when you tap them. 

The crust is so golden brown, and the insides are delicious!

Enjoy!

Halloween Preparations

Get ready annual trunk-or-treat

because this year the wife is going all-out 

for costumes and decorations!

The sci-fi adventurous and creative sides came together to create, once again,

some future space-faring medical officers and a shuttle pod. 

And if you don't have funds to spare, you say?

Cardboard, pen, paper, scissors, and glue will save the day!

It all began with an idea, some paper, a pen, and a pair of scissors.

Then the wife discovered she had glue, and gold and aluminum foil.

It looks fairly real to me! Perhaps a little more shiny, but it'll do.

A Quilt of Which Grandma Would be Proud!

Nearly 10 years ago the wife sketched and colored-in a quilt design on paper. 

She hoped it would reflect something about revelation, restoration, hope and love.

It's even got a little palm tree in it. 

She can't help it; sunny California has left it's mark!

Here's the finished picture:

Now all it needs is some batting and someone to cuddle with.

Anniversary Day

It's that time again!

The anniversary of the two peas.

Lately they've been taking hikes and walks to celebrate.

Here's the day in pictures from a beautiful nearby park:

Forests!

Beautiful clearings with gorgeous wild flowers....

And mushrooms....

And Assassin Bugs!

What a beautiful day!