Random JOY

Ooooooh - I haven't checked in lately.  And then I wonder why I only have 33 followers.

Actually, I have MORE than THAT.  NO - I DOOOO.  LOL.  I know I do because I bug my facebook followers by posting all my new blog posts.  While I am extremely popular on Facebook have 303 friends on Facebook (very unpopular compared to my niece who's in the thousands for friends!  LOL), trust me - only a small fraction read my posts but I can truthfully say I have more than 33!!

So this will be a mish-mosh today.  I already over posted about my Baby Brooke's skating performances this weekend so I don't want to spend a ton of time there.  But know - I'm pretty sure I could not experience much more JOY than watching her perform after all her hard work.

It's hard to believe that an 11 year old can have such a work ethic.  But she does.  Since she first got on "serious" ice 3 years ago this week, she has skated a minimum of 4 hours each week and most recently a minimum of 7 hours each week and most weeks it's 10 hours.  Three years ago she was in Basic 2 which means she was barely able to skate across the ice without falling.  Today - she is working on her Axel and will definitely be working on double jumps before year's end.  

It is a JOY to ride in the car with her each way, freeze my ass buns off 2-3 hours in a rink each day and watch her practice hour after hour without one complaint from her.  She is an A+ student and I have never met a kid who loves fun MORE!  Social butterfly is her name!  I'd say she is a pretty well balanced kid.  

I can take no credit.  She was definitely born this way.  She even puts herself to bed each night on the dot of 8.  Who ARE you and who are your PARENTS!!!  I'd worry that they mixed up the petrie dishes way back when she was "conceived" but she's my mini-me.  Not a chance there was a mix up!!!

So it was a JOYful weekend for both Mom and Baby Brooke.  Oh - and did I forget Dad?  He hadn't seen her skate in months.  He was blown away.  She done good!

Can you believe it's March 11th???  This month came and is going faster than usual for March.  I am not a big fan of March and April because most years, it's the big tease.  You think you've made it through Winter because January and February are over but then it starts to warm up a bit, and RAIN, and MUD, and gray skies that never clear up.  Ughhhhhhh - I HATEEEEE it.  I am hoping for the early Spring we were surprised with a few years back.  It started in early March and I kept expecting the deluge of rainy days and instead we had beautiful, much longed for - Spring!

After all - we just had 2 straight days of a weather event that plopped 16 inches of snow on my yard.  But it's already half gone.  There's hope for that early Spring!  I sat at the St. Patty's Day parade yesterday with the sun beating down on my face, Sam Adams Starbucks in hand, loving the warmth on my skin.  Caught a wee bit o' JOY at that parade!

Now I have the bug!  I'll keep you posted!

I'm getting excited.  Working on phase 533 of my kitchen re-do!  This phase will be done by Easter!  Stay tuned!!!   Only a few more phases to go!

Made this soup today.  Stepped way out of my comfort zone.   It came out REALLYYYYY good!!!  It's called Pho Soup.  I have never had it but my friend Melissa was talking about it a few weeks back and then my friend Linda sent me a recipe for - you got it - Pho soup.  Bizarre!  I discovered that Linda's recipe is not actually traditional Pho Soup.  And I made more changes so it's REALLY not traditional but damn good! 

Faux Pho Soup

Ingredients

Meatballs
1 pound ground pork or any ground meat (I used turkey)
1 Tablespoon Coconut aminos (I didn't use)
1/2-1″ of chopped up ginger (you can use powder, I usually do since its easier)
3 mushrooms chopped. I used cremini, but shiitake would be good too.
1/2 Teaspoon cardomom (didn't have any)
Few sprigs of cilantro chopped (nope - none)
Salt n Pepper to taste

Soup
Olive Oil for sauteing veggies
2 Med. Carrots chopped
3 Celery chopped
5 Mushrooms sliced
1/2 Green Bell Pepper chopped (You could add more, but we aren’t eating a ton of nightshades right now)
1 Zucchini sliced
Handful of green beans chopped
1/2 Teaspoon each of Coriander, Cinnamon, Chili powder and Tumeric
2 Tablespoons Coconut aminos (I used Soy Sauce)
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Large Sweet Potato cut on your spiral cutter. I cut mine on the thinnest size. Probably 1/8 inch thick.
8 Cups of Bone Broth.  I used Chicken broth
3 eggs Optional; whisked these up and add at the end like egg drop soup.  (I didn't do)

Toppings
These are all optional
Chopped green onion or shallots
Mint
Basil
Cilantro
Limes
Coconut Aminos

Directions
Mix up all the Meatball ingredients together and form into 1″ meatballs. Saute them in a large pot in coconut oil. Once they are browned on all sides add in all your veggies except the sweet potato noodles. When the veggies are tender add in your spices along with your coconut aminos and fish sauce. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Once its boiling turn it down to simmer and add the sweet potato noodles. Let them sink into your soup then add your whisked eggs in slowly and remove from heat. Serve and top with your choice of toppings.  enJOY!

Ok - gotta go to...where else?  The RINK to catch more JOY.

JOY in 2008