Choice Goods Wednesday!

It's the second weekly Choice Goods Wednesday! Hurray! Today I have another item (actually items) that I wonder, "What did I ever do without you?"

Pictured at right are Adjustible Measuring Spoons from Pampered Chef. Mine are an older model and don't have the liquid-proof rubber. But even though I can only use mine for dry measures, they are sooo worth every last cent of their $7.25 asking price.

Imagine, if you will, you are making some spaghetti sauce. You know, that one from your great-grandmother Fortunella who immigrated from Sicily. The one with forty-seven herbs and spices. Well, just pick up your adjustable measuring spoons and with a little flick of the thumb, 1/2 tsp oregano. Another flick, 1 tsp basil. Flick again and you've got 3/4 tsp garlic powder. I could go on forever (or at least long enough for the other forty-four ingredients). It's all right there. One spoon goes from 1/8 teaspoon up to 1 teaspoon. The other picks up from the 1 teaspoon and continues up to the big daddy, Ol' Tablespoon himself.

These little guys are a huge time- and space- saver. Not only is every measurement available (including the 3/4 tsp and the ever-elusive 2 1/2 tsp), but it is literally right at your fingertips. No more searching around, finding the spoon and then realizing you grabbed the 1/2 Tb instead of the 1 tsp. Nope, not anymore. Plus you get all the measuring spoons you need only taking up the space of two, albeit bulky, spoons.

Some people have complained that the time needed to clean them negates any time saved by them. Here, I must disagree, and divulge a little secret in the process. Are you ready? I only wash mine when they get dirty. And I mean dirty, not just dusted with a little with cinnamon. But what about contamination?! I'll be honest with you. I have measured chili powder and cumin for chili and then turned around and made a cake with the same measuring spoons. Could anyone notice? Nope. (Although, I might have discouraged any of you from ever wanting to come to dine with us.) So my answer to the "they take too long to clean" people is this: You wash them too much. Throw them into the dishwasher with the dinner dishes after you're done cooking for the day. One thing to mention, I only use mine for dry ingredients. If I used wet ingredients in them, I would wash them more.

Since I'm raving about these, I wanted to inform you that I don't sell Pampered Chef, nor do I know anyone who does. I just happened to have bought these and love them. I also found a couple other spoons on the web here and here, if you're interested. Just keep in mind that I haven't tested the other brands. So their performance might vary.

Adjustable measuring spoons...they're choice!

Heaven is filled with sushi!

On Saturday I had a baby shower in Hillsboro to attend with our two girls. Daddy and the boys hung out with our friend, Trenton. After we were done, we went back to Trent's house for a few hours before it was dinner time. Trent took us to a little sushi place on Hawthorne in Portland, Mio Sushi. Even though we made reservations for six o'clock, we didn't get seated until almost 6:30. It's a little restaurant and we had seven in our party!
Here's Dodge outside the restaurant. It ended up being a delicious dinner. But then, again, it was sushi, what else did I expect?

Review time! I decided to go out on a limb and order the Salmon Roe. One word: disgusting! I had so hoped to like it. Although I did eat both pieces that came with my order, I didn't enjoy it. I hate not liking food. I grew up on the north Oregon coast near a fish packing plant. If you can imagine the smell that eminated from that place and then concentrate it into a little orange ball, then you would have Salmon Roe! My kids didn't mind eating them one egg at a time, though. Which quiet honestly surprised me.

This was my favorite, Unagi or eel. It is smoked or something and it is delicious. Oh my gosh. I'm closing my eyes and imagining it one more time. I get Unagi every time we go to a sushi place and I'm never disappointed. Sure it's not much to look at, but I find it to be a lot like an ugly friend. At first you don't think they're good-looking, but when you realize how wonderful a person they really are, they become more attractive. Oh, Unagi, how I wish I could have you tonight!

Above, is the Spicy Tuna roll. This was a sad disappointment for me. Aomatsu, our local sushi place, has a delicious Spicy Tuna roll. This one, albeit gorgeous, was of mediocre flavor. I was so sad. Our friend, Trent, warned us, but I was hoping that he didn't like Spicy Tuna in general and I ordered anyway. But no, that proved not to be the case. Trent spoke truth and I should have listened. Oh well. That happens when you live on the adventurous side of food. Sometimes it just isn't very good.

Now we come to the end of our meal. For me, I'm always a little sad when it's over. I just really love food. I was exceptionally sad this night because I forgot to take a picture of the spread before we ate it. It was beautiful. In the foreground, you can see the tray we have filled with plates, chopsticks and paper. That entire tray was filled with delicious, little sushis. I was too hungry and excited and so I dove right in. I'm sorry. Just know that the sushi chefs created a little bit of heaven for us that night. And I ate it all up.

Okay, it's a little bit of a brag. But I'm proud, okay?!

I had to make a snack for our home school co-op this week. We were studying brains. So I found a recipe for brain cupcakes. Theirs had pinkish brains but I wanted gray. As in "gray matter." Right? So here it is. I think they turned out uber-cute. I'm pretty partial to any sort of decorated cupcake anyway. Cupcakes have to be cute, 'cause they're miniature cakes. And anything mini is cute, right? Click on the picture, it looks better when it's bigger.

Choice Goods

I've decided Wednesdays are for posting things that I have found that I love. Things that make my life easier, happier, funner, whatever. (Yes, I know 'funner' isn't a word, but I'm working hard to make it so.)


Today my first "Choice Good" is Mrs. Meyers Clean Day All Purpose Cleaner. I love it. They use naturally derived ingredients as much as possible and their products are environmentally friendly and cruelty-free. But my favorite part is that it is aromatherapeutic. Sure, I want my cleaner to work good (and this does) but how much better is life when it smells rockin'?!

There are three fragrance choices for the All Purpose Cleaner: Lavender, Lemon Verbena and Geranium. They also have seasonals. Since it's starting into the holidays, Gingerbread is available! Delicious! (disclaimer: Mrs. Meyer's products are not intended for consumption.)

I currently have lemon verbena. You know how lemon is associated with clean? Well, this has a lemony aroma that rises to the next level. I spray it and mmmmmm...life is good. My favorite of all time is the spring seasonal Sweet Pea.

A little bit of advice: The fragrances are a bit strong, so don't wash your dining table with this stuff just prior to eating. Unless you want your mashed potatoes to taste like you added geraniums to the bowl.

Mrs. Meyers Clean Day All Purpose Cleaner. Don't have it? Get some!

p.s. Here's a shout out to my home slice Mej for turning me onto this stuff in the first place. Peace!

Breakfast as art?

I don't remember how I found this site, but I did. I love it. Jon Huck is a photographer and this is his breakfast project. I love the premise and think the pictures are beautiful. Charles' breakfast (at right) is one of my favorites. (To clarify: the breakfast is my favorite, Charles just happens to be attached to it.) The series is a pretty fascinating look at people. By looking at what they ate (or at least guessing what it is) you can get a tiny little glimpse of who they are. Some even evoke emotions. There's one with a teenager who has only a handful of Froot Loops in her bowl. That got to me a little. The whole thing is compelling in the way that you have to see the next one. My brother and I looked through all of them and commented on each: the people and the breakfast choices. Pretty fun, actually. Who knew breakfast could be so interesting?

The Face of Christianity

I'm sure you have read about Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist church. If you haven’t, they picket soldiers' funerals and the funerals of AIDS victims in order to spread their message that America is being judged by God for its embracement of homosexuality. The father of one of the soldiers recently won a court settlement of $11 million against Phelps and his church for damages.
This is already verging on old news, but I had to bring it up. I can handle a lot of what the news throws at me, but every once in a while something really hits me. This happens to be one of those things. It shocks, saddens, disgusts...there's a whole slew of reactions to this.

Just for the sake of argument, let's assume that everything Phelps says is true. All bad things that have happened recently, including 9/11 and the Iraq war, are in direct response to the acceptance of homosexuality into mainstream America. (I do not hold this as true, just for the record.) Is this (the picketing of funerals) the best way to make change? Do people respond, in any positive way, to broad, sweeping remarks of judgement, let alone at the service of someone they love, who has died? If one person does respond, is that a good trade-off for the thousands who are hardened even more against the message? And there is also the issue that America is a land who roots for the underdog. Homosexuals are considered a minority which ensures their qualification as "underdog." Blasting them with such hate-filled signs will naturally bring those to the fight who wouldn't have come otherwise. And dead soldiers? I don't even have to comment on that because everyone (well, except these people for some reason) recognizes the 58 levels of wrongness associated with that. Why haven't they thought of this? How can they think that what they are doing is the best course of action for rallying people to their cause?

This has been on my mind ever since I read about the court case in the newspaper. Either coincidentally or because of the same news subject, our pastor spoke about judging others yesterday. It was an excellent sermon.
One thing he said that particularly struck me was this: “The Bride of Christ (meaning the church and including all believers) should be beautiful, shining. The world should see her and recognize her for who she is.“ Does it? Does the world see her and recognize her as something worthy and magnificent? Specifically, with Phelps and his group of followers, the answer is a resounding, “No!” Luckily, he and his followers have plunged so far to the edge of the spectrum, it is a little easier for the population in general to see them as fringe and not encapsulating the philosophy of the church as a whole. But we are associated by the very fact that we both get our beliefs from the very same book. This will cause others to question the validity of our claims of a loving God.

I guess my main issue here is the extreme sadness I feel that these people are sullying the character of our loving, caring Father. Jesus, himself, ate with sinners and those who society had deemed outcast. He never confronted their behavior with pointed fingers and words of hate. He loved on them. God loves everyone. We are his children. If I, a very human, fallible mother, can be sad and disappointed in my children when they make poor decisions but still love them, how much more can a perfect, relational God be saddened by our folly and yet love us unconditionally and without fail?

The Westboro church believes that homosexuality should be outlawed and death should be its price. This is based on Mosaic law in Leviticus. I’m not going to comment on what I think of that doctrine except to point out this one thing. What did Jesus do in John 8 when the Pharisees brought an adulteress before him, stating that Mosaic law demanded stoning? He said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” When they had all left, Jesus said to the woman, “…neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” He didn’t condemn her. He showed her grace and mercy. I don’t have all the answers. I just take my cues from how Jesus walked and talked.

I just wish Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist church did the same.

My journey to "long hair" is always short lived...

Mej cut my hair on Saturday. It hadn't been cut for a long time and it had grown out a bit atrociously. My brother told me I now look like a boy. Don't worry. That's his way of saying he loves me. Dug told me that technically my hair is shorter than the majority of boys as of late. I decided to go for the sophisticated look and straightened it. So here's a little pic of the result. Please note, for full effect I wore my boatneck sweater, barely smiled and stood in front of my favorite curtain. All I need is a glass of red wine and my pearl earrings and I could be the conductor to Sophistication Station.