Sick & Watchman and Karate Kid Reviews

Jennie was sick yesterday. Had to come home from work. When I came home we watched the rest of Watchmen, which we've been watching for about a month now (yes it took us that long to get through the movie) and we watched all of the new Karate Kid.

My thoughts on Watchmen, considering I read the comic book? There was something missing. Not sure what. But in the end it just didn't hit me like I was hit in the comic book. Just powerful. But the movie wasn't. Visually stunning, all that stuff... but... just lacked the emotional impact of the comic book. Not sure I can say anything else about it.

On the Karate Kid. I had read a review on this movie by Orson Scott Card, which was, in my opinion, an odd review. He seemed to really like it. I'll include a link HERE. So I was influenced by his review, but MY review came to a different conclusion.

I could not escape nostalgia. This movie was good, but it wasn't the first one, and there isn't much more I can say than that. Card was able to separate the two, and I think that he watched the first Karate Kid when he was older than I was, enabled him to overlook it's flaws. For me it's still a great movie that brought me back to that time when I was a kid and really FELT the movie. I was blind to it's shortcomings.

So I just couldn't escape nostalgia watching this new one. Sure Jaden Smith was good, great vehicle for the child star, etc, but in the end he didn't convince me. I just didn't feel the same angst from him or from the setting. Poor Ralph Macchio just got my sympathy way more than little Jaden. When he cried to his Mom, I HATE IT HERE (meaning in China) I just didn't feel it. He didn't convince me in that scene that it was really that bad. I'm sure it was, but it didn't really get me.

And when he convinced Mr. Han (played by Jackie Chan, who did a great job) to heal his leg so he could go back out and fight, I didn't believe it either.

Oh well, the movie was good. It just had the first movie to compare it too, and in that battle, at least for me, it didn't win. It did have some good parts, but it's not better than the first one. Sorry.

Halloween Cupcakes

Jennie and Ame made Spider Cupcakes today for Halloween! These are some of the pictures! Ame got into the black frosting as you can see on the final picture!

Been Down and OUT

Modem crapped out on us the other night. So no internet at home. Went to Best Buy today and got a new Modem and Router, and if you are reading this, then YES.... indeed things are working again.

Lazy Day? SURE!

We took Figgy and Boo into the vet this morning along with Houdini and Philo. Did the vaccinations update. Everyone looks good, but Figgy is definitely going blind, in BOTH eyes. Plus the vet said she was FAT.

We had some coffee at a new place in Midway, which was really good, but I can't remember the name of the place, so no free promotion for them. Then went to Best Buy, TWICE, the first modem didn't work right, watched the Ute game, got a sad letter from Jim (Jennie's brother) and a sad letter from Brandy (Jennie's friend).

At least the Utes one 59-6.

After all that you want a picture, don't you? Well I aim to deliver! Here you go:

Oh you wanted a DIFFERENT photo? Okay, here is an old one (can you tell I found my old photo albums?) of me and my nephew Sean (who is now like 26 with 2 kids) and my brother Rick, down in California! I think I'm like 20 or so here.

Another note. Ame's soccer season concluded the other night with a tie, which put them in third place for the season, which means they do NOT move up to Division 1. If they had won, and the other team scored to tie it with less than a minute left, they would move up to Division 1. As it stands, they will stay in Division 2. They started in 3, so that's not too bad.

Thursday we had pot luck dinner with the team and families. I brought 3 pizzas from Dominos, and that was a hit.

Now we just signed Ame up for INDOOR soccer! Sounds exciting, but it will keep her going through the winter as we prepare for Spring Season!

Oh, and we had Bagi and Brian and Tom and Jennette over for dinner last night. My fish monger crapped out on me so we had my beef stew, and it was warmly received as very good. That and some great steaks Bagi did! Jennie gave us all a lot of energy, but the night was cut short by the unfortunate news that Keith (Tom's 6 year old son) was puking his guts out and the babysitters didn't want to deal with it!

Seventeen

Do you all remember what it was like to be Seventeen? Here is a picture of Ben Larsen, me, and Menges C. Parker Garlitz loading up his old subaru for the 26 hour journey to Gen Con, Madison Wisconsin. Josh Hansen, not pictured, is taking the picture.

Seventeen. Asher will be Seventeen in 4 months. Wow....

Ame in 4th Grade

So I just posted a picture of Ame in 6th Grade (this year, 2010) and now I'm going to post a picture of her from 4th Grade.

Where is 5th Grade you ask? I don't know!

Ame's School Picture

Here is Ame's school picture. 6th grade this year. She's starting to look like a teenager, isn't she? And the blond hair has stayed. Her brother's were blond once, and now they are dark brown.

Happy Birthday!

To Dr. Stanchfield. We took him to see Thriller on Friday and they came up for Steak Dinner on Sunday! AWESOME!

And Ame's Pumpkin she carved:

Dad & Soup

Dad & Soup

Okay, so Asher and I went to Moab yesterday and picked up my Dad. He’s okay, having surgery on his elbow for a hematoma. No broken bones amazingly… just really badly bruised and in pain. Asher drove him home in his car following me. We got home at 1:00. Jennie held down the fort for us while we were gone. Of course, luckily, the kids are out of school today (Thursday) and Friday for UEA.

So he’s home resting and will need us to take care of him for a few days. No driving.

Okay, so this morning Jennie got up at like 4:45 to go to work early for a seminar and I got up with her (yep, on about 3 hours of sleep) and started the Split Pea Soup. So here is the recipe. As I type this it is simmering and will simmer all day long, so we don’t have a clue how it will turn out. It could taste horrible…

Okay… after trying to remember my Mom’s recipe (which we have written down somewhere but can’t find) I consulted with Jennie and Ame 5 different Cookbooks. Here they are:

· The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook – Revised Edition (This is a book I got at Costco and I have to say, I’m impressed with it. I think it’s a great starter place for cooking and I have given it to Ame today as she wants to learn to cook something and do it all herself. So I told her to pick out a recipe and she’s in charge, no help from me or Jennie. (I’m sure we’ll end up doing something to help her, but we’ll see!) She choose Chicken Teriyaki which looks simple enough. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am if Ame ends up helping Jennie doing some cooking. That would be exciting. I’m getting sick of doing all the cooking.

· Fiery Foods That I Love by Paul Prudhomme – (As anyone who knows me can attest, I’m a Cajun cooker at heart).

· Professional Cooking, Fifth Edition – This is a textbook my Mom had and passed to me upon her death. It’s a fantastic book, because it is geared to how to learn to cook for a restauraunt and how to make money at it. It’s kind of cool.

· Soups – Williams-Sonomo Kitchen Library –

· The Fannie Farmer Cookbook – Thirteenth Edition –

I also got a recipe from Elizabeth and Jennie had some ideas about how her Mother did it. Okay, so I put them all together into my head and this is what I came up with. (BTW – Asher and I just tasted it and it tastes good, but it’s not thickening up into a green paste like my Mom’s. Maybe it just needs time or we might have to put it into a food blender. (I’m hoping not, because I made so much).

Here is my Seasoning Mix, the ideas for which I got from all the recipes plus one ingredient just for Jennie:

SEASONING MIX

2 TSP Dried Basil

2 TSP Dried Thyme

3 Bay Leaves

2 TSP of Paprika

1 ½ TSP of Smoked Liquid Hickory

2 TSP of Chili Powder

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Here are the Ingredients we used

· 1 Ham Shank, with bone included. (Jennie said her Mom used a bone from those spiral hams you get on Christmas to make the stock, but those are really expensive. Ham Shank with bone is $20.00, so that’s what I used.)

· 2 Tbls Garlic (That pre chopped up stuff in a jar)

· 4 Medium Onions

· 1 Full bunch of Celery

· 2 Hormel 12 oz packages of Salt Pork

· 1 10 oz package of Shredded Carrots (Kroger Fresh Selections)

· 3 lbs of Split Peas (picked over by Ame)

· 2 lbs (2 packages) of Cantebury Naturals Garden Harvest Split Pea Classic Artistic Soup Mix Organic

We started at 5:00 AM by putting the Ham Shank, Garlic, 1 Onion, and the fluffy stuff from the Celery Bunch into a HUGE pot of water and boiling it for 5 hours. Thus our stock simmered all morning.

At 10:00 AM we diced up the salt pork and fried it in our largest pan. I read afterwards that you should do this slowly to render it down, and not to cook it fast or brown the meat. Well… I didn’t read that till after, so I cooked it high and fast and browned that meat good. Oh well. We’ll see?

Then I took the huge chunks of fatty Salt Pork (with attending browned pieces of meat) and popped them into the boiling stock pot for a while. Might as well add extra flavor over there, yes?

In the remaining fat in the pan we put the remaining onions and celery and carrots that Ame had chopped up. To this we added the seasoning mix. We stirred this pretty constantly, about 10-15 minutes till it looked really good and cooked.

Then we added the 5lbs of peas (with the little seasoning packages from the 2 organic packages) a huge pot, then added the vegetable mixture. This we stirred together. Then we added 12 quarts of the ham bone stock. They say about 2 quarts per pound, but I found that not to be enough (as you’ll notice even more later on).

We threw in 3 Bay Leaves at this point, some fresh Basil chopped and fresh Oregano sprigs.

I took the meat off the bone of the Ham Shank, separated the fat (which made a tasty meal for the dogs) and put the meat back in. Then we added the huge ham bone and the salt pork chunks (we will remove them later). We brought to a boil and it has been simmering ever since.

At this point I could tell I needed more liquid, so 2 more quarts of stock went in. (And yes, we had TONS of stock from the cooking and still have some left).

Then about 1 hour later, we realized we needed even more stock, so put 2 more quarts (which is 4 cups) of liquid in.

At this point we are waiting. We did taste it, as I mentioned, and it was fantastic, but we have mushiness at this point, no green mush looking stuff. But we’ll cook it all day long on low, and really simmer all those flavors together. Hopefully we won’t have to put it in the blender, as I made enough for a friggen army.

Yes… I will tell you how it turns out! Just be PATIENT!

October 13th, 2010 - Moab

My Dad went to Moab Monday for a photo trip, and yesterday (Tuesday) ended up slipping and falling down a set of stairs. He bruised himself really bad and had surgery on his elbow. They don't know if they are going to let him out today or not. Asher and I will be driving down this evening.

Last night Jennie and I spent a couple hours with Ame practicing soccer. After watching her game Monday, we decided she needed some work on fundamentals. It was great to see her improve. We all had a great time.

I asked Ame what one meal she might want Jennie and I to make her, and she said Split Pea Soup. My Mom had a great recipe for Split Pea Soup all my life, but she neglected to actually write it down in her handwritten cookbook. So we found 5 different recipes and Thursday, tomorrow, we will do one with the family.

I'm worried about my Dad.

The kids are off school Thursday and Friday for some UEA thing. I think it's a thinly veiled excuse for going on the Deer Hunt.