Mary Poppins on Broadway

I got the awesome opportunity to see Mary Poppins this week. We also got upgraded in our seats. How cool is that. We were 14 rows back on the left aisle. Ya!! it was awesome. I loved this one. (i am not the biggest fan of seeing disney on broadway, but this one actually looked like it would be good) It has a few twists that the movie didn't which was cool. Loved it. And we totally forgot to be touristy and take pictures of us in front of the theater or poster.....Doh!!...

Rolls to Die For

I found the BESTest of the BEST roll recipe and I have to share because it was so delicious. (It is actually for cinnamon rolls but i used it for Thanksgiving and they were fantastic)

Also for anyone health conscious i have substituted 1/2 the flour for Oat Flour which made the dough even softer and very moist but slightly heavier (but nothing like whole wheat)........but no one complained as they were still delicious. I have not yet played with the recipe using Whole wheat flour because Corey doesnt' really like Homemade wheat bread (usually comes out to heavy and dry) but i plan to eventually play with it and perhaps make a bread using no enriched white flour. But I digress......

Here is the Recipe
1/2 C. Lukewarm Water
1/2 tsp Sugar
2 Packets yeast (4 tsp Yeast)
Disolve yeast in this until yeast gets that "bubbly, I'm Growing" Look
Add Remaining Ingredients
2 C. Lukewarm Milk
8 1/2 C All Purpose Flour (if you use combination flour depending on the gluten amount of the flour you can susbstitute usually 1/4-1/2 the amount of the All Purpose Flour) We really Like the Oat Flour (which i made by grinding up oatmeal in my spice Grinder
1 1/4 C Sugar (if you don't like this much sugar you can cut some out but remember you might need to cut back some liquid as well
1 Egg Beaten
1/2 tsp Salt
1 C. Butter (I have substituted 1/2 c of butter with applesauce which worked well,although i needed a slight bit more flour which i added in when i kneaded it)
1 TBSP Gluten Powder (this is a great addition to any bread making adventure because it helps the bread stay intact and not get too crumbly (in NYC good luck finding this, i have no clue where you would even look. I got mine at a place in Utah.))
1 Tsp Dry Malt Powder (optional) - I have no idea what this even is.....so i have never used itand don't know that i ever will as these turn out wonderfully.

once you have mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl and the dough is not really sticky to the touch put dough on lightly floured surface and knead by hand 10 minutes. Put back in bowl and let rise, punch down and either make cinnamon rolls or bread or just Dinner rolls by shaping and letting rise till double in size and cooking.
Bake on 350 25-30 minutes for rolls or cinnamon rolls and 45 minutes for bread or until it is golden brown on top and has a hollow sound when tapped

Also you can put all the ingredients in your breadmaker and i always put it on dough setting cause i don't like the shape the breadmaker cooks in. But it works just fine. Depending on your breadmaker size you might have to cut the recipe in 1/2 because when it is on the rise cycle it will overflow in your pan. (i usually do cut the recipe in 1/2 when i use the bread machine)

You can also take the dough and make dinner roll shapes out of them and put them on a cookie sheet and freeze for about 1/2 hour and then put them into a freezer bag and store them up to 2 months. When you are ready to make rolls out of them take them out, set them in your roll pan and let defrost and rise till double and cook like normal. and now you don't have to buy the frozen dinner rolls with all the preservatives or nitrates and junk.

I made these for Thanksgiving Dinner and then a few days later Corey asked if I would make them again. Here is the Pic of the Cinnamon rolls i used with the leftover dough. YUMM!! my mouth is watering just to eat them

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a new Niece

I got news this morning that my sister was in labor, and in just a few hours my Mom called me to say the New Baby is born. She was a home birth and everything went well and just as it should. She doesn't have a name yet but i'm sure she will soon.

reminiscent

Last week I was able to visit some co-workers who were doing a workshop here in the city. It was so great to see them. However, the visit made me realize again how grateful I am not to be traveling anymore and working in that capapcity. I was in the workshop during a break, where typically it is my time to work the crowd and go and talk to as many people as possible, answering questions and getting them to move forward in their education. Well.....I didn't have to and it was great. Although I still felt like I had the Badge on "come talk to me". So instead of talking to people I walked around with a big grin on my face. I'm sure I looked like a nut....espiceially her in new york where no one walks around with strangers with a big smile on their face. But it felt soooo good.

ok....So the News is Really Really Out

So pretty much everyone is finding out; and enough people know now that it can't be kept a secret much longer.
so.... here is the update. I'm 14 weeks along. Feeling Better: meaning that i am actually (on a very small scale) starting to cook again........which Corey is probably so happy about. I am learning that I actually enjoy bubble baths (at least right now). And as painful as it is sometimes to get out of the house and just walk around, it does make me feel better. I'm starting to thicken around the middle (although you really can't tell) but all the skirts and pants that used to be big on me aren't so big anymore......most of my skirts are too small.........Guess it is time to visit the fabric store and whip up a few wrap skirts that can grow with me. And maybe make them from wool to keep me warm all winter.
Was it exciting for anyone else......this first 3 months have been great but on some level i just want my belly to pop out and actually look pregnant. I am really excited for it. I'm sure by the end i will be ready to not show so much anymore.....but right now it is still exciting.

Anyway....thanks for all the congatulation everyone who has recently found out. It is an exciting time.

The News is out

Well, Since the news is generally out....meaning the family know. I'm going to post updates about our little Kamquat!! For right now he is the size of a kamquat. (Last week he was our little grape:). 10 weeks and doing ok. I can tolerate liquids again which is a miracle. Although i am still very dehydrated because liquids made me nauseous for a couple of weeks. Right now i feel like all i do is sleeep and eat. Sounds extremely productive i know. In a week and a half we get to hear our Kamquat's heart beat. maybe by that time he will be a strawberry or something.
So far i don't really look pregnant. but i did buy a size bigger pant because i bent over in my old ones and ripped a hole in the bum. ya....maybe i'm expanding a little. fun fun fun

Me at the US OPEN. It was great. Our tickets were decent and for the last match we went down a section and had even better seats
The Globe outside the stadium. It is Huge