Trivia Night Calls for Bread

Our church has a trivia night every year where we team up and compete to see who knows the most amount of trivial information.  This year's trivia night included a spaghetti dinner beforehand.  Matt and I were privileged to be able to provide the bread for the dinner. Fortunately it turned out that I was off work the day before and was able to make all the dough Saturday.  Then on Sunday after church we came home, fired up the oven, and baked all 13 loaves in the brick oven.  Any time we can practice baking in the brick oven is a good thing since a brick oven you build yourself does not come with instructions  and a lot of trial and error takes place.  We didn't know how many people were coming or how much bread they would eat so we made 6 baguettes and 7 round loaves. A little over half of the bread got eaten with the dinner.  At the end of the night one person told us the prize for the winning team should have been the leftover loaves!

Visitors from Frozen Tundra Seek Refuge in Arizona!

My Mom and my nephew Levi finally came down for a visit.  Levi was here with his family last Christmas but my Mom has not been here in 3 years so it was great fun to have her and show her all the things we have done to the house and yard since she was last here.  

We spent most of the time relaxing, eating and watching movies.  We didn't want to put her to work too much but we did need a few Mom treats like what you see pictured here: her famous chicken salad and her delicious beef short rib and dumpling soup which I have named "Soup of the Meaty Bones."  When we could get her out of her chair and away from crocheting dozens of dishcloths we took her and Levi to the Gaslight Theater to see a fun production of "The Cisco Kid" which we all enjoyed. 

Levi, who is turning 14 in a few months, is almost as tall as Matt already!

New Recipe of the Week: Chickpea Curry with Rice

My friend Betsy and I both really love to cook.  In order to spur each other on in cooking new things we decided to take turns picking a new recipe of the week which we give the other each Sunday and both cook during the week.  FUN!  

I thought it would be fun to keep track of what we cook each week by posting a picture of the plated recipe, a link to the recipe and a short review.

I chose the first recipe which was an easy chickpea curry from Ree Drummond.

4 out of 5 stars.  I really enjoyed this recipe.  It was fast, simple and very flavorful.  Using the coconut cream from Trader Joes made the sauce so silky.  It paired perfectly with a semi-seco Cava from Spain which tempered the spiciness.  I will definitely make this again.

In Honor of the Sharptooth

One year ago today we had to put Sharptooth to sleep.  We decided from now on we would honor him by drinking our very favorite wine of all time each year on this day.  We have a little less than one case left and it is a 2007 so we will see how it fares over the years.  

We miss you buddy and hope for a reunion in Glory.