Eclipse 2017

Our Epic Trip to the zone of totality I would say ranged up there with one of our best spur of the moment trips ever. In July we found out about the eclipse happening...a little late to the game I guess because some people have been planning for years. Our first thought was to just stay local and view it because even in Oxford Mississippi the totality range was somewhere in the 90% range and most of me was thinking that that was close enough. Then there was this little nagging inner voice that was screaming from the nerd in me, "NO!!! It must be viewed in totality. It is so very close we have to make it closer. So we tentatively planned to go to Nashville, but all the hype and media coverage of it seemed to be causing the possibility of huge traffic congestion and many millions of people converging on the cities that were being claimed as the best viewing spots. We started looking and after a while, decided that maybe Wickliffe, Kentucky would be a great place to go because it was close but a smaller town that wasn't participating in all the craziness, but at the last minute(like halfway there) I found out that even there was only 99.9% totality clearly if we were to make this trip 99.9% is just not good enough so Benton, Kentucky it became.

We left Oxford at noon after Mass on Sunday and drove to Middle Tennessee where we camped at Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park. It was a nice campground and not overly crowded or crazy. We got unpacked, and the kids began setting up the tents and hammocks while we checked in at the office. After we got back and finished setting up sleeping arrangements we went for a walk on a trail to cover our Sunday walk for the training that Matt is doing with the boys. The trail was beautiful, but very steep and rocky. Matt and I enjoyed it, the kids...not so much they were not prepared for so much uphill walking but they lived.

 When we returned to the campsite the kids gathered small sticks and Matt, Benjamin and I went to find some larger wood to burn for supper...Hot dogs and s'mores. We made a salad to take with us, but forgot salad dressing and forks to eat it with so we made do. Nathan, Noah, and Jacob set up hammocks in the trees and planned on sleeping out. Jacob made it about 10 minutes before deciding to sleep in a tent with Evelyn. Nathan and Noah made it the whole night. I was very nervous and worried(too many episodes of Criminal Minds I guess) about someone grabbing the boys in the night...I didn't get much sleep.

We woke up at about 5am(to beat all the expected traffic) and packed everything up to leave in what I would say was record time for us...just over an hour.
Our first stop on the road was Paris, Tennessee. Where we had the opportunity to see the splendor of the Eifel Tower and then headed to Walmart to stock up for our day with food, snacks, and more water just in case there was lots of crazy.

We were on our way. Several places along the way had highway signs warning of traffic and no stopping off on the highway to view the eclipse. We eventually arrived in Benton and settled on a state park area on the Kentucky Lake. We got to a Marina that looked promising and set up camp. There were lots of people coming and going with boats, but the area wasn't at all crowded.

 

We found a shady spot and set up some blankets(because we had so much stuff and so little space the camp chairs just didn't fit into the car...we were "roughing it".) We got out the lunch stuff, snacks, and drinks. We set up our pinhole camera and our white board to view the shadows. The kids took out their eclipse adventure papers for while we were waiting(we got there at 9am) and we just hung out along to water's edge.

Eventually another family showed up and they had an amazing telescope. All the kids played together and kept each other company while waiting for totality to arrive. As the kids were talking and playing we realized that everything was beginning to take on an eerie hue and it was getting close.

Things quickly started getting dark, and the temperature began to be noticeably different. As the moon closed on the sun the streetlights began to come on in the distance and a beautiful sunset fell over the sky around us and distant cheers and hollers erupted in the distance as it fell dark.  We were able to take off our glasses and see the stars(and Venus I think) had come out and everyone was able to look directly at the eclipse aura. I took a couple of quick pictures before it was over, and as if a light switch was flipped on everything began to return to normal.

We had an amazing time, and even though I was grateful that it wasn't crowded like all of the claims made, I think that it was so much more fun to enjoy the time with someone else, and when it was all done the kids left with new memories and friendships. 

We decided to head out before the actual ending of the moon's journey across the sun to continue our journey. Matt and I decided to take the kids to Sikeston, Missouri to go to Lambert's Café...Home of the "throwed" rolls. We set off to Paducha and then headed to Wickliffe and crossed the Ohio River and the Mississippi River because that is the point that the two converge. That was the first time that any of us saw this and it was an amazing site to see. At that point we crossed over from Kentucky to Illinois to Missouri in the span of just a few minutes.

When we arrived there were quite a lot of people there...quite a lot. The line was out the door and around the side of the building in the parking lot. We got there at about 4:30pm and were seated at about 6:10pm. Yes, it was worth the time spent waiting. The kids made friends with all of the other kids running around, climbed trees and played on the wooden train in the front. Lots of the adults were sharing pictures and stories of their eclipse stories. It was actually pretty amazing to see everyone standing around and sharing. The kids had a great time at Lambert's Café. Some of them were able to catch rolls. They looked like gophers when they heard "hot rolls" yelled out. We left there at about 8pm and headed home. We made it back home at about midnight.

So in the span of two days we went from Mississippi, to Tennessee, to Kentucky, to Illinois, to Missouri, to Arkansas, to Tennessee and Back home. I don't think we have covered so many states in one trip.

Snow Cream

Today we had snow cream...I tried this a couple of years ago when we last had a decent amount of snow fall. I have to say, I really didn't like it too much. It came out soft, mushy, and didn't have much flavor to speak of. Today we tried again with a different recipe and it came out really good. It had a fluffy creamy texture, and had the look of damp sand. It clumped together when it was scooped with the ice cream scoop, but was still a bit crumbly. We made chocolate, and vanilla, but everyone agreed that the vanilla was just better, of course we ended up with lots

more chocolate than vanilla. The secret to this snow ice cream...condensed milk. It was a little difficult to stir in and get evenly distributed, but it was really worth the extra effort.

Snow Cream
Snow...A couple of big bowls full to make sure you have enough.

vanilla extract...I didn't measure I just poured a little bit in.

1 can of condensed milk

Start out with a large bowl half full of fresh clean snow.
Pour about 1/2 the can of condensed milk and vanilla extract in and start mixing. I say mixing, but it will be more of a chopping, scraping, folding, smashing process. The snow quickly freezes the condensed milk and makes it a little difficult to work into the snow, but keep at it until the color is evenly spread throughout. If it gets too mushy add more snow and keep mixing in until you get a texture you like. Scoop and serve.

The chocolate one that I made was a little different because we unfortunately only had one can of condensed milk. I took some half and half and cooked it with a box of chocolate pudding. Cooled it down and added it to some snow. It didn't have enough chocolate flavor or sweetness for ice cream. I did like the texture though. I think next time I will add the pudding mix to the condensed milk. It was a fun and yummy experiment for this cold day...Now hopefully Spring is in the air and we can get to the business of warmer weather.

Wordless Wednesday

It's Gumbo Time!

Gumbo...South Louisiana Cuisine

Growing up in South Louisiana has been one of the best parts of my life. I absolutely love my home and my heritage. The people, the culture, the language...it is a place that is beyond compare and the top of that list is the food that we have grown up with.

When the temperature turns cool everyone gets ready for Gumbo. It is a time to enjoy the cool weather gather family and friends and enjoy good food, good music, good company. Today is our first gumbo of the season. I really enjoyed spending the time getting everything together and cooking it outside on our burner, which is nice because I was able to watch the kids, enjoy the weather and was not stuck in the kitchen all day.

Usually our first gumbo is chicken and sausage gumbo, but our local CSA has provided us with great fresh okra, and peppers so instead it will be shrimp and okra.

A good gumbo is only as good as its ingredients and the time, care and love that is put into it. It is not something that can be rushed to the dinner table. This dish is slowly cooked for several hours so that all the flavors come together for a wonderful food experience.

Shrimp and Okra Gumbo

1 pint jar of roux

5 quarts of water, stock, or mixture of both

2 lbs Shrimp

3 lbs Okra

1 can of chopped tomatoes with juices

3 large onions chopped

2 bell peppers chopped

4 stalks of celery chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic chopped

a pot of cooked rice

First start the roux and water boiling in a pot. Be sure to stir until the roux is completely dissolved in the water let it continue to cook while you prepare the other ingredients.

Then satue the onions, peppers, celery and garlic until translucent. Transfer most of the vegetables to the pot of roux and water.

Cook the okra with the rest of the vegetables for about an hour until it is no longer slimy. (a tablespoons of vinegar will help to reduce this. Add the tomatoes and cook for 15 -20 more minutes then add to the gumbo pot.

Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Let it cook on low so that the flavors can come together. 15 minutes before ready to eat add the shrimp. Test for seasoning, serve over rice and enjoy.

A slice or two of fresh french bread is also a great addition.

Note: this recipe makes a lot of gumbo so be sure to invite someone to share it with you, and any leftovers are a special treat, because it is always better the next time it is heated up.

Good Friends...Good Fun...Good Crawfish

We have been trying for quite a while to have a group over for supper at our house since we have moved in. On Thursday we hosted a crawfish boil for some of the people that work for Matt and some of our friends and neighbors. This was our first official gathering at the new house and despite the looming clouds and intermittent rain it seems like everyone had a really good time. We cooked about 75 pounds of crawfish along with lots of potatoes, corn, mushrooms and onions. The vegetables soak up the seasoning that the crawfish are boiled in and it gives them a really good spicy flavor.

The boys really enjoyed themselves. Nathan has been to crawfish boils before back home in Louisiana and probably ate his share and mine. Noah and Jacob on the other hand have never been to a boil before and had lots of fun catching and chasing crawfish in the yard. I was amazed at how brave they were. Neither of them had any second thoughts about sticking their hands into the pot of live crawfish to catch and play with them.


Eating it was a different story, though. they were not too sure about them. It was a little funny. Noah liked eating them, but didn't want to have to peel them. He mostly made a meal off of the corn and potatoes. Jacob on the other hand was positive that he didn't want to have anything to do with eating those bugs on the table, but every time you handed him a tail and he didn't know where it came from he would eat it and ask for more.

Unfortunately, after everything got cooking I put my camera down so that it didn't get rained on or fall into the pot and forgot to take pictures of the actual supper.