"Music speaks the beauty that words cannot express."

I love music.  I love piano music.  I love to play piano music.  And I love to hear Acadia develop her talent of playing piano music.  She is practicing at this moment in fact, preparing songs for a recital later this month.  She has more of a natural talent for playing than I do, easily.  Not only is she further along than I was at her point in her learning, but she is also composing.  This weekend, she composed two new songs!  They are simple, but they are good. 

When you hear her music, you can actually see what she was thinking.  One of the songs she recorded this weekend is called, "Waking Spring" - and it sounds just like a spring rainfall.  Today she recorded, "Chinese Chimes" - and it definitely sounds Chinese!  Her song, "To the Center of the Earth" absolutely sounds sci-fi. lol

Music is awesome. :)

Do two halves make a whole... or not?

When Cadi opened our bedroom door this morning, two things happened at the same time:

1.She announced she had "the runs", and
2.I felt nauseas and had a headache.

She doesn't seem to feel very sick and I don't have her problem. If just one of us kind of felt "off", I wouldn't really think too much of it, but to have two of us feeling weird at the same time, even though it's with different symptoms, I just wonder if there's a bug trying to get at us?

Church starts in just over an hour but I'm afraid that at least half of my family will not make it this week.

Asparagus Attempt #2

Tonight I had a need to use two boneless skinless chicken breasts and a couple cups of cooked rice, but I still wanted to experiment with asparagus.  The answer? ... Stir Fried Rice!



I didn't have a recipe for it and I've never made it from scratch before, but I make a real mean stir fry, so I figured it would be similar.  Here's what I did:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in small pieces
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chili oil
2 cups cooked white rice
5 asparagus, chopped
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup shredded carrots (I wanted to use frozen peas and carrots, but it appears I'm out)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 Tbsp Hot and Spice Stir Fry Sauce
1 Tbsp Teryaki Sauce
1/2 cup egg substitute

Heat oils in large frying pan, add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through.  Add rice to pan.  Meanwhile, blanch asparagus, then add to the pan as well as peas, carrots, and green onions.  Mix in stir fry and teryaki sauces.  In a seperate frying pan, cook eggs.  Add cooked eggs to the stir fried rice.  Remove from heat.

I liked it!  I think eating the asparagus mixed in with all the other foods, and especially with the flavoring of the oils and sauces, it really helped to mask the asparagus flavor for me.  Acadia said without the asparagus and onions, it would be perfect... and Aurora just picked out the eggs and chicken then threw the rest on the floor - yes, she did. (Grrrrr)  Again, Ryan is on his way home from work so he hasn't tried it yet.  (We don't usually eat dinner before he gets home, but last night and tonight we have things going on so we can't wait.) 

Even though the girls didn't love it, I think this one may stick around.  If I were making it for Ryan and I alone, I would add more heat, but still as is the flavor is still pretty good. :)

Winter Choral Concert

This school year, Acadia has been involved in her school choir.  For some reason, the choir is only for half of the year, so last night they had their final concert.  It was their winter concert, so all of the songs were winter/holiday related.  The kids dressed all in black and then had white snowflake headbands on their heads.  (I'm sure the boys loved that! lol)



The program was about half an hour long, the choir sung a few songs, there were some poetry readings, and there were also instrument performances.  Their choir director had asked the students if anyone who played an instrument wanted to perform; some of the instrument performances were 5th graders who are in the school band and some were kids who are taking private lessons.  Acadia volunteered to play a piano piece, "The Rage Over the Lost Penny" by Beethoven.



I don't really have time to post all of the songs that the choir sang, but I will post our favorite one.  It was the finale and they had special effects. lol  (The last half is the best, so be sure to watch the whole thing!)



I thought they did a great job, Acadia especially (No, I'm not biased. lol *wink*).  And I'm looking forward to when she'll get to participate next year, too.  I'm also looking forward to NOT having to get up extra early on Tuesdays and Thursdays anymore this year to get her to choir practice an hour before school starts! lol
Good job, Cadi! :)

"If you like to waltz with potatoes, up and down the produce aisle..."

As we sat down to dinner tonight, Cadi said, "Hey!  We're eating Junior!"

Asparagus Attempt #1

Thank you for the suggestions that you've given so far.  Keep them coming! :)

My friend, Triscuit, called me today after reading my Calling All Cooks post and told me her favorite way to make asparagus.  It sounded way too easy to really taste good.  I kept thinking, "Are you sure this won't taste like asparagus?"  I mean, it is asparagus, but I was expecting more ingredients to add super savory flavor.  Ya know?

But it was simple enough and I trust Triscuit, so that's what we had tonight.  I served it with a chicken recipe that I got off allrecipes.com called "Mom's Chicken".  It's not my mom's chicken though, so I don't know that I want to call it that... let's rename it, shall we?  I wasn't originally looking for a BBQ type flavored chicken recipe, but again, it was simple enough and got great reviews, plus I had the ingredients on hand, so that's what we went with. 



Triscuit's Foolproof Asparagus
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Place trimmed asparagus on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake for 5 minutes.

Seriously, that's the entire recipe!

Foolproof Chicken (Just stickin' with the theme.)

Boneless skinless chicken breasts (recipe calls for whole chicken cut in pieces but I made it this way)
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
3 Tbsp raspberry jam (recipe calls for plum jam but I didn't have any)
1 pkg. onion soup mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, combine BBQ sauce, jam, and onion mix.  Place chicken in baking dish and cover with BBQ sauce mixture, coating well.  Bake for 40 minutes.

And the verdict is...

The asparagus was alright.  I didn't go back for seconds (Sorry Triscuit!), but I did eat everything on my plate.  I could (and most likely will) make and eat this again - willingly even. lol  Acadia felt it was "edible" but not quite enjoyable.  Ryan is still on his way home from work, so we don't know what he thinks yet.
The chicken was quite tasty and Acadia really liked it.  I am not a huge BBQ sauce lover, but I did enjoy it, it was easy and I'll probably make it again, too.  Especially since Cadi liked it so much and knowing my husband, he'll like it too. 

While I trusted Triscuit enough to make her suggestion first, I guess I didn't trust her enough to make the whole bunch of asparagus that I had on hand. lol  It isn't cheap and I wasn't positive we'd love it as much as her family does... plus, now I have a little more to make another attempt.  Like I said, keep those recipes coming! :)

Calling All Cooks

Alright, I'm going to just put it out there:

I don't like asparagus.

There, I said it. And truthfully, I also don't like broccoli or zuchini. However, I have been trying, and finding, ways to eat broccoli and zuchini that I somewhat enjoy, at least once in awhile. Now I'm looking for good recipes and ways to make asparagus, too.

Here's the deal: it has to taste really good. (ie. It can't taste like asparagus! lol) I've had asparagus ONCE where I liked it. Ryan's cousin's husband cooked it in South Carolina and I seriously could have eaten a whole plate of it! I think he roasted or sauted it in olive oil with peppers, garlic, and onions (which I am going to try, but I don't really know what I'm doing - I've never attempted to cook asparagus before!).

If you have any recipes or tips on how to cook asparagus that is so yummy even I would eat it, please share! I want to keep it as healthy as possible, so keep that in mind. But at this point, I'll start with any good recipes/ideas you have.

You may share your recipe with me any number of ways:

•Post it in a comment here.
•Post it on your blog and then link to it in a comment.
•E-mail me privately.
•Invite me over to dinner, serve it to me and then give me the recipe. ;)
Or even just call me!

I don't have a preferance... I just want your words of wisdom!

Thank you!