Fun Times at Michigan's Adventure

Yesterday, the family and I went to Michigan's Adventure, our 15-minutes-from-home theme park (see previous post for brief description). We got there around 12pm. Thaden rode his first rides, we rode 5 of the 7 roller coasters (minus Aurora and mom; Aurora was scared, mom felt sick most of the time) including the Thunder Hawk (which did NOT break down and had NO off-limits seats; we did not die), a ferris wheel, got a way cool $75 old-fashioned dress-up portrait, and ate majorly overpriced theme park food: greasy hamburgers, greasy hotdogs, greasy fries, greasy mini-corndogs. I had a pretzel and cotton candy. Yum. We also went to the water park that was a part of MA, but by then (5pm) it was windy and too cold for me, so I watched Thaden for most of the time. On our way out of the theme park, we helped a family whose car needed a jump. They said that everyone had been passing them, and even when they asked people to help, they didn't. So I felt good, and I'm sure the rest of the family did too. We went to TCBY after, and then Meijer for milk, and then I made sweet potato bakes (not fries, ha ha) and it was fun. REALLY fun. Aurora got over her bad mood eventually, and had fun too, and we all got along. I came home to my NEW LAPTOP (pink, pretty, new, with video chat) and played with it for a while.

This morning, I made a breakfast of toast, oatmeal, and hot chocolate for the fam, and we have a family pictures appointment at 12pm. It is 11:39am right now. We should leave. MMkay.

All I have to do is pack, then I'm "good to go" crunchwrap supreme.

Chloe

It's a Perfect Day for a Matinee

Hum Hum Hum. There's this place here called Michigan Adventures and Dad got some half-price tickets, so we're going there tomorrow. It's like Six Flags, but condensed into 1/4 the rides and 1/4 the size. And 1/8 the quality, supposedly. My sister keeps talking about how absolutely everyone who works there swears that all the rides break down at least once per day. "I'm not going, I want to go be with my friends, it's unsafe, all my friends have said..." blah blah blah. She puts too much trust in her friends' words, in my opinion. I, on the other hand, am excited. I love the thrill of roller coasters. And cotton candy.

I leave in 4 days. Eeek! I don't feel prepared. I've packed 2 suitcases (which Aurora had to sit on to get closed) but one contains my bedding and jeans and the other contains shirts. Yeah. And each can be 40lbs, and I'm pretty sure they each weigh more than 40lbs. I haven't even packed bathroom stuff or cooking stuff or school stuff! But clothes are important, especially if I have any hopes at all of attracting even a semi-cute guy.

Thinking about going to college makes me stressed, scared, and sad. So I haven't been thinking about it, so it hasn't fully hit me that I'm going to college. I'm sure, though, that when I get on that plane, and I'm alone, I'll cry myself to dehydration. Poor me.

Chloe

Worth 1,000 Words

I just know that everyone's been dying to see pictures of us, so here we go:

Here's Thaden eating something red...a crayon, maybe?

Giselle, Jothan, and Thaden on an electric tractor thing during the garage sale

Giselle, Jothan, and Thaden on scooters during the garage sale, Thaden eating Giselle's thumb

Thaden playing with Mom's emry boards

Jothan and Thaden

Thaden wants Mom!

Thaden being confused

Mommy

Me at the garage sale Saturday

A teensy fraction of the books we were selling at the garage sale

Thaden at the garage sale Saturday

Aaaaand....

Russian Black Bread and Honey Wheat bread!!!


I must post the recipe for the Russian Black Bread...it's just so delicious! It is dark, though, so don't try it if you don't like bitter things. I replace the 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup with 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and the 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules with 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder. I don't use the fennel seed, because I don't have it, but I'm sure it would be delicious with it. The caraway seed doesn't have to be added, but it's so much better with it in. And the bread flour makes a nice, soft loaf, but I want to try it with all-purpose flour.
If you don't have a bread machine, there's an alternate set of instructions below. The ball and baking stone instructions are more advanced, so if you have limited bread-baking experience, use the loaf pan. THE LOAF PAN INSTRUCTIONS ARE UNTESTED, I have not baked the bread this way, but it should work. The instructions are modeled after the way other loaf breads bake. The only thing I'm not sure on is baking time for the loaf pan.

Russian Black Bread
From allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon caraway seed
1/4 teaspoon fennel seed (optional)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients into the bread machine in order suggested by the manufacturer.

Use the whole wheat, regular (medium) crust setting.

After the baking cycle ends, remove the bread from the pan, place on a cake rack, and allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing.

Alternate directions:

Mix together the water, yeast, and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Let sit for 10 mins. Add vinegar, corn syrup (or brown sugar), brown sugar, flours, salt, cocoa powder, coffee granules (or cocoa powder), caraway seed, and fennel seed. Mix with a spoon (the dough won't be dry enough to handle, and it doesn't need to be kneaded.). Add the margerine (melted). Mix until together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in your oven (before placing the dough in, turn the oven on for 30 sec, then turn off). Let rise until double, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Spoon the dough onto parchment paper and, with floured hands, form into a ball (tuck the ends under, like turning a sock inside-out). Cover with plastic wrap and "tuck in" the ball (fit the plastic wrap to the ball, barely tucking the plastic wrap under the ball). Let rise until more than doubled, about 30 to 45 minutes more.

You could also spoon the dough into a greased 13x9-inch loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until the loaf rises 1-2in above the pan, 30 to 45 minutes more.

If using a baking stone or cookie sheet (ball only): You'll be baking on the bottom rack, so take out the top rack. Preheat the oven and baking stone to 450 degrees. (If using cookie sheet, don't preheat the cookie sheet). Carefully uncover the ball and transfer with parchment paper to oven on something flat. Bake 15 mins, then turn the heat to 400 and bake for 30-45 mins more. For a crispy, crunchy crust, you can pour 1/4 cup water on the floor of the oven every 3 minutes for the first 10 minutes. Avoid the heating element if you have an electric oven. Avoid the baking stone.

If using a loaf pan: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Carefully uncover the loaf and bake on the middle rack, 45 min to 1 hour.



Let bread cool at least 30 min before slicing. It tastes good with savory things, like mint pesto, ham, cheese, etc. or with peach preserves or other preserves, jams, jellies. I like it with peach the best, though.

Enjoy!



Chloe

The word "blog" sounds like a synonym to "barf"

So, garage sale's over. Not many people came, in my opinion. Mom made over $200, though, so I guess that's good. This week will be totally devoted to college. Packing and such. With mom's help, so I don't stress. I have NO idea what to bring. I want to bring nearly ALL my clothes, which is not practical. I have a limited amount of luggage space. And I'll only be there for 3 months this time. Then I get 3 months off. Summer/fall track rules!

My mom and I went to Goodwill on yesterday and Thaden smelled like vomit and we couldn't figure out why...until he was taken out of the cart and turned around. He had lovely pasty-green poop up his back and down his legs. Yum. Mom fixed it. I tried on shirts. I got lots of cute ones.

Yup.

Chloe

With some muffins on top

Garage sale=stress and forced interaction with weird people. I don't mind setting up, but I mind being out there while the customers paw through all your stuff and make comments. And then hand you money while glaring at you in their mind because everything is too "high-priced" (i.e., not free).
Not much was sold today, and that's either because it's a Thursday, or because our stuff really is too high-priced. I don't know. I'm horrible with pricing.

Mom and dad said they'd help buy me a computer for college. It's going to be a crappy Dell, but since they're paying for most of it, and since I'm a poor college student, I'm supposed to be grateful or something. So I am. I guess. I'd rather have a Mac though. (grumble grumble)

I like allrecipes.com. I also like library cookbooks. I have a black bread recipe on my mind that I would have made by now, but we have no all-purpose flour, just wheat and rye. I don't want to try using just wheat instead of all-purpose, just in case it becomes dry or whatever, so I'll wait. But I really want some.

I made little round sourdoughs on Sunday that were supposed to be eaten on Tuesday for bread bowls, but Dad defrosted his meat instead. So he cooked his manly meat. It smelled funny, so we fed it to the trash can. The trash can appreciated the twelve-dollar meat. Dad went to the store and bought three thick steaks. Manly meat. He cooked that instead, and they ate it. We're having the bowls tomorrow, I guess, because Wednesday is Wednesday and today people are at sports. Ick.

Because of the garage sale this week, mom's going to help me with packing and all that next week. Every time I try to do it alone, I get overwhelmed. Just thinking of college stresses me to death. I'm going to distance myself when I pack and just think about college later. Like in December, when I come home. I'm trying not to "let it sink in", because I'll just freak.

Now I'm going to go have some sopa de vegetables. And maybe cut into one of those bread bowls. Sourdough sounds awesome.

Fin.