Four Things

I got tagged!!!

Four TV Shows I Watch:
1. Amazing Race
2. Avatar (Yes, I know it’s a cartoon, but it’s great!)
3. Mary Tyler Moore
4. NFL Football (particularly the Giants!)

Four Favorite Restaurants:
1. Red Robin (I'm not big on chain restaurants but my friends insist on them. This one is my concession to them. At least it's better than Olive Garden, where we always ended up before! Yuck!)
2. Hole-in-the-wall Italian joints
3. Obscure diners
4. That new teriyaki place by my apartment (can’t think of the name…)

Four Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Submitted names for new Nursery leaders again. I do this every week. It’s this fun game that I have with the Bishopric where I constantly submit new names and they reject them all.
2. Played the organ and didn’t mess up too bad!
3. Went to the Steen’s for dinner and laughed until I got the hiccups.
4. Studied for my Statistics exam (nothing like putting it off until the last minute).

Four Things I am Looking Forward To:
1. Leaving for Tulsa in a week.
2. Leaving for Italy in March.
3. Seeing my family for Christmas.
4. Retirement! (Come on, you know you’re all looking forward to that too.)

Four Things On My Wish List:
1. Some new Nursery leaders who will never move away or get burned out.
2. A mild winter that ends before June.
3. A new book of organ preludes (I think I’ve memorized my current book)
4. World peace. (Wouldn’t want anyone to think I was TOTALLY selfish!)

Four Things I'm Grateful For:
1. My family and friends
2. A stable and satisfying job, especially in the current economy
3. Church
4. My privacy

Four People To Tag:
1. Megann (because I know you want to!)
2. Wendy (because I know it will annoy you!)
3. Sharla (because I want to see what you have to say!)
4. Dez (because you make me laugh!)

Folk Festival

Our big fall folk festival was held this weekend at one of the community colleges in Spokane. A couple of years ago, I got recruited to volunteer for the festival by one of the guys I work with. I loved it, and I've always made a point of going back. This year the festival had nine stages that were constantly in use by music performers (lots of bluegrass and fiddling, but also some folk music from other countries), dancers (square dancing, line dancing, belly dancing, hula, etc.), and even some people telling tall tales. There were also areas for dance workshops and kids' crafts. Vendors sold artwork and costumes from several countries, and the snack bar was fantastic!



My favorite part of the festival is the people gathering in common areas and just jamming. Lots of them are performers who have some free time, but many of the jammers are just ordinary people who came to the festival with their instruments.

This year I was a button seller, selling buttons for $3 to help offset the costs of the festival (which is free to the public). In the past I've been part of the bake sale/snack bar or helped with children's crafts for a few hours, and I think I'll go back to doing one of those things next year. I didn't like wandering around trying to sell things, even if it was for a good cause.

Sourdough

Continuing with the cooking theme... The onset of fall always puts me in a domestic mood. This fall, I decided to give sourdough baking a try. I always wanted to try it, because I love sourdough bread but I don't like paying $4-5 for it at Albertsons or Safeway. (It's flour and water! How can it cost $5???) I tried to find a sourdough starter by asking around to see if anyone already had one that they would be willing to share, but nobody would admit to it! Finally I found some instructions on how to make my own starter, and it was WAY simpler than I ever thought it would be! I made some sourdough pancakes last week




and this week I made sourdough bread. Delicious! (See, Wendy, I really CAN make bread rise when I'm not at your house!)

Turkey Meatballs & Artichokes (for Dez)

Here's the link to the artichoke and turkey meatballs recipe. I left out the potatoes because I don't like cooking potatoes in the crock pot. (They get too mushy!) Besides, I like it better over noodles. I'm glad you liked it!

Dinner Challenge

My friend Sharla posted a challenge on her blog to keep track of dinner menus for a week to help her and others come up with new ideas for dinner. Since I did my cooking yesterday, it seemed like a good time to participate in a challenge! I usually cook several meals about every other week, then put them in individual-serving containers and freeze them. My menu is dependent on what comes in the box of organic fruits and vegetables that gets delivered to my doorstep every other Monday. I find out what's in the box (I don't have much control over it) and then find recipes to use everything up.

So here's what's on the menu for the next few weeks:
Baked Potato Soup
Steak Tacos with Cucumber Avocado Salsa
Greek Green Beans
Baked Macaroni and Cheese (I added tomatoes)
Sourdough Pancakes
Mango Crisp