Lumpia

I may not be Filipino, but this Filipino dish holds special memories for me, of my childhood. I remember every year, our church would have a bazaar. One church family always sold their specialty... Lumpia. You could buy it frozen, by the dozen, or have them cook one up fresh for you, right there on the spot. I used to look forward to the church bazaars for this reason alone.. okay, the stuffed animal table also excited me.. lol

You can imagine my surprise and excitement, when my Mom was able to obtain the recipe from Mrs. Oi. Jackpot! We could now make these yummy creations at home; and we did. Years later, as an adult, I once again got a craving for Lumpia, and went to my Mom for the recipe. Sadly, she didn't know where it was, so we improvised, trying to remember the ingredients. I do not know if the recipe I now use, is the same as the Oi's used, but to me, they taste the same. I also do not have exact measurements, for it's more of just sight and feel. But I will share it with you... you will be hooked!

I believe that a traditional Lumpia calls for ground pork.. I, however, use ground beef. First you want to brown your meat. I suggest cooking it over a low heat, for you need to break it down into very small pieces. Once it's brown, you may add soy sauce to taste. Depending on how much meat I have, will decide how much soy sauce I use. Today, I browned 2 pounds of beef, and used about 1/4 a bottle of soy sauce.

You will also need carrots, celery, water chestunuts, bok choy, and bean sprouts. For my 2 lbs of meat, I diced about 4 large carrots, 1/2 package of celery, 2 cans of sliced water chestnuts. I also used the leaves of 2 bok choy heads (sliced thin), and one can of bean sprouts (I like to use fresh sprouts, but couldn't find them). Once your meat is brown, add your celery, carrots and water chestnuts. I just put handfuls in. Stir until well blended with the meat.

Once your mixture is well stirred, and has cooked for at least 2 minutes, add your sprouts and then your bok choy. Just pile the bok choy on top, and stir.. it will reduce.. promise!

See! told you!

Here are the Lumpia wrappers I use. It takes a patient person to seperate all the wrappers. A word of advice.. they come frozen. Thaw them overnight before you try to use them. Keep them in the fridge until you are ready to use. Once they warm up, they are more difficult to work with. You can also find the wrappers that are individually wrapped. They cost more money, but if you are really impatient, it may be worth it! lol

Okay, on to the folding. Before you begin to actually roll your Lumpia, let your mixture cool for about 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop a small amount of the mixture onto the shell. The shells are pretty thin, and if you don't use a slotted spoon, you will saturate the shell.. which, I'm sure I don't need to say, makes a mess. You only need a little bit of mixture on each shell.. Place it towards the bottom.

Next, roll the bottom up, and over once.

Bring your sides in, and continue to roll up.

Seal the end of the wrapper to the roll by brushing on a bit of water.

Voila!

(I'm sure there are many ways to roll the wrappers, but this is the easiest for me)

To cook:

A nonstick pan and peanut oil is the best. You don't need much oil, just enough to cover the bottom of your Lumpia, as it cooks. Cook on medium heat.

When Lumpia is a nice golden color on both sides, place on papertowels to drain.

Now eat and enjoy! I love to dip mine in a sweet and sour sauce! :)

Happy Earth Day!

Trying to figure out what to do with two, 2 year olds for Earth Day, wasn't easy.. They don't really understand the meaning of the day, or all of the things that go along with it. So I decided just to keep it simple for them. I found a cute little 'grow a tree' kit at Target.. in their $1 section at the front of the store. Came with a soil pellet and seeds.. PERFECT! Also found some coloring sheets online, and printed those out. I told them that all the trees, plants and flowers, help our earth, and help keep us healthy (they don't understand about allergies yet.. haha). After naptime, we will take a walk and pick up trash.

Wildlife in the backyard

When we moved into our house, back in the Spring of 1998, we immediately noticed alot of wildlife shared our living space... at least outdoors! We had an opposum, squirrels galore, various species of birds, chipmunks, and a turtle. Hannah turned a year old soon after we moved in. We have pictures (which I will have to dig up) of her with this turtle, which the girls later named, "Crush". Seemingly from the movie, Finding Nemo. Every year, Crush comes out of hiding, delighting the girls when they find him. This year, Amanda is joining in the fun, and we've included Cece, a little girl I watch during the day. I allow the girls to keep Crush for a couple of days, but outside. They house him in a baby pool, and provide him with water, shade, and grass. They give him lettuce and other veggies, as well.









I've decided to use Crush as a learning tool this year. Amanda, Cece and I will learn what wild turtles like to eat, what kind of plants they live off, etc. I've already identified it as an Eastern Box Turtle. Not sure yet, whether it's male or female, but working on it. It seems to have found a place in the yard, near the fence, thatit prefers. It has dug into the wet soil a bit, so that it's nose is in the ground. We have been checking on Crush every day. Poor turtle has to deal with our dog, as well. lol 'It' seems to be doing pretty well, considering!

***Just edited to include a picture of Hannah and Becca with 'Crush', many years ago!

In addition, we have a bird making a nest in one of our smaller trees, so we are going to watch the progress of the nest, and look forward to the upcoming baby birds!! Last year, we had a nest in the very same spot, which did produce some baby birds. I'm guessing it's the same bird. Here's our observation of the nest today. Still on the small side, not quite ready for move in!

Click Clack, Quackity Quack!

Today I put on my brave suit, and took Amanda Joy to the library, for storytime. Let's just say that Amanda isn't the type of child that you can take out in public easily. She's not bad, she's just very spirited, and likes to do things her way. Maybe stubborn and independant is a better description! In addition, she isn't quiet. LOL I figured since this was a storytime for 2 year olds, she wouldn't be the only one to wander around the room, or talk during the story. We met up with Christy and her daughter, Ava, who is a few months older than Amanda. To my surprise, Amanda did REALLY WELL! She stayed by my side the entire time. Seemed to enjoy watching all the other kids, but didn't sing any of the songs herself. Once we were back in the car, however, she started singing, "If you're happy and you know it..." I was pleasantly surprised by her good behavior, and am looking forward to taking her again, next week! She was most proud of the book she got to bring home.. Click Clack, Quackity Quack!

It's been a while..

I've been on blogging hiatus, I guess you could say.. bitten by the Facebook bug that seemed to take over most of my online time. However, lately I have seemed to miss the blog. Thankfully, Blogger didn't delete me, and I am still here.. which, to my delight, saves me a lot of time since I don't need to create a new one. So for now, at least, I am back.

I'm not sure what I will write about. Don't think I will adhear to any certain format, or outline, but instead, think I will write about daily life. Most of the time I feel that life is pretty boring.. same thing day in, and day out, but surely with 3 kids, I will find something to write about. Especially since one of them is an extremely active toddler. Between life with a toddler, life with an almost teenager, and life with a teen, (both of which, play sports), I shouldn't have to dig too deeply to pull out some words. Of course, if words fail me, I always have my pictures... and I take a lot! Bewarned! ;)

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2008 was a great one for you, and that 2009 brings even more wonderful things your way. I was a little sad to see 2008 leave us, for it was an awesome year. After all, I did have a baby! I'm very optimistic that this will be a great year.

Seems like I've started a trend of having long absences from here, then showing up, out of the blue. I have to admit, that I've been bitten by a bug.. and obsession of sorts... called Facebook. For those of you who are on Facebook, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You know all about the addiction. All about the periodic checks during the day to see what your friends are up to. You know all about how much fun it can be to catch up with those friends in your past, as well as other people you knew, "way back when." It's a virtual reunion of sorts. It's a lot of fun, and yes, I am addicted. For those of you who are not on Facebook, I highly recommend that you give it a try. Even if you don't want to participate in all the fun little side games that are available. There's always the ignore button.

So we just finished up the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was pretty low key, compared to past years, and I'm starting to really enjoy that. Even though there's something about some of the craziness that I like, being able to breathe is important. I had every intention of getting all my shopping finished early. I was off to a great start, too. However, the week before Christmas, 4 of the 5 of us fell sick. Hannah was the lucky one who stayed well. Thankfully, we did not have a stomach bug, like many around us, instead it was all cold symptoms. Steve had pnemonia, I had something viral, and Rebecca and Amanda the same. We are all well now.

Christmas Eve we were lucky enough to spend with dear friends of ours. We've come to know this family over the last year and a half, and enjoy them so much. They opened their home to us, and others, for a quaint Christmas Eve gathering. We only stayed for a couple of hours, then we headed home for our traditional Christmas Eve happenings, but enjoyed ourselfs greatly while we were there... even if Amanda Joy did break a wine glass :( Sorry Donna! Christmas Day we spent with Steve's Dad and his wife, and the day after we spent with my family at my Mom's house. The festivities continued on Saturday at my Aunt's. It was wonderful to see the family, for we don't see them nearly as much as we should.

Of course that brought us straight to New Years. We opted to stay home so that Amanda could get to bed at a decent time. I wasn't so sure she would make it to midnight, and was also afraid that she'd be extremely cranky. So we skipped the party and made one here at home. Our friends, Rick and Heidi, came by for a few hours. We always enjoy their company. We rang in 2009 with the Jonas Brothers (on Dick Clark's Rocking NYE).. lol The girls spilled into the street, screaming and blowing horns. Then, we called it a night :) Nice. Next year, watch out! Donna, we're coming!!! ;)

We've had a fun break. Moving at our own pace, instead of that set by school and work. It's been nice. Steve was off for just about 2 weeks. We've worked on our kitchen remodel, TRIED to keep up with housework and laundry, and even have started on Weight Watchers again. To boot, we've pulled our our Wii Fit once again, and are trying to make that a daily part of our lives. The diet is going well so far, though we're both rather hungry! lol Both girls have started their indoor Field Hockey leagues, and are loving them. I'm thinking it's very likely we'll do it again next year.

Next thing on the agenda is Amanda Joy's birthday. Can you believe the little princess is turning a year old already! Crazy! I've got the invites sent, now I just have to work out the planning. She is such a wonderful little baby. I can't believe she's just about a toddler! She's a speedy crawler, can climb our long flight of stairs, is cruising the furniture at record speeds, and can stand on her own. She eats just about anything (thank you God!), and communicates beautifully! She now says, "Mama", "Dada", "BuhBuh" (for Becca), "Haaa" (for Hannah), "Pup Pup" or "Woof" (for puppy), and "BaBa" for 'Bye Bye'. She's got a great sense of humor, as well. I just love her so much! Oh, and did I mention that she's into EVERYTHING! lol

Monthly update!

LOL It's been a while (once again) since I posted. I've been bitten by the whole Facebook bug, and spend most of my online time over there, reconnecting (and playing) with old friends. It's been a blast catching up with my old high school friends, not to mention my college buds and sorority sisters!! If you haven't checked it out, you really should!!! And, while you're there, look me up :)

So, what's new around here.. well, we are still in the swing of Field Hockey. Both girls teams are doing incredibly well. In fact, they are both undefeated, and the season is almost over. Hannah's team has had the pleasure to play on the High School turf fields this year. This is a much welcome change from playing on our school fields, that are regular grass. You know the type, overgrown in some areas, and bare in others; with big tuffs that make the ball pop up, off the ground, and harder to hit. The first time Hannah got to play on a turf field, she was amazed at the size. "It looks like a regular football field!" That's because it IS. When playing on a regular grass field, lined very basically, you don't notice just how big it really is. I hope that next year, they will get the same opportunity to play on these fields. Both girls will be playing in an end of season tournament, in a few weeks. Rebecca's team is actually a league lower than Hannah's (due to age), but they are playing in the highest level of that league. They are still winning games with scores like 10-0! So, her coach is entering them in this tournament in Hannah's league. Should be interesting! The two teams could end up playing one another! lol

School is going well for them, too. Though Rebecca was off to a bumpy start. She was bringing home some (let's say) less than pleasing grades, but seems to have gotten herself back on track. She seemed so overwhelmed at the start. We're not sure what was going on there. She will likely not make Principal's honor roll (all A's) for this first semester, but I think Honor Roll is in her sights. I'm very proud of her though.. she's hung in there, done extra credit, and is bringing her grades up. In addition, she's running for Assistant Secretary for the Student Council. She's a bit nervous about it, because she thinks she will lose, but I have told her that it's okay if she doesn't win. All that matters is that she gave it a try! Not everyone does that! Hannah, right now, has all A's (so says her progress reports from her teachers). She even has 100% in several classes. Smarty pants! :) She certainly didn't get that brain from me! hehe At least not the Math portion. ;)

Amanda Joy continues to grow like a weed. She's just about 9 months old now. She's working on the whole crawling thing. It's actually quite funny. She doesn't really crawl forward, but she's got the backwards crawling down to a T. She'll scoot herself backwards, and get herself stuck in the funniest places. She's a champion eater, too. I haven't found one food that she doesn't like. Today, for example, Steve and I went to a buffet for lunch. I had brought a jar of babyfood with us, just in case she was hungry (she ate breakfast late), but instead, she just ate off of my plate. She had (and liked); cottage cheese w/peaches, lima beans, green beans, mac & cheese, roll, mashed potatoes, and black olives. Loved it all! She also likes chicken nuggets, hot dog, cheese, avacado, banana, apple, baby goldfish, peaches, hamburger, rice, oh I could go on and on!

I'll be sure to post some new pics of the girls soon. :)

In other news, our gutters are just about finished!! Hopefully, by this weekend, they will be done. The next project is the kitchen. We are preparing for demolition of the dividing wall between the kitchen and diningroom. I've got a few more things to clear out, then we can break out the hammers, and get to smashin'! We totally forgot to take a before picture!!! We already moved the cabinets that were on the soon-to-be gone wall. But I'll make sure to take pics along the way. I'm not looking forward to the mess in the process, but the outcome will be well worth it!! :)