Saturday, August 30, 2008

Sisters, Sisters

Today I'd like to tell you how wonderful my sister is.

Most of you know her. Her name is Thelissa. We've always been close, especially because each of us only has one sister! She is always willing to listen to my ramblings and thoughts. I love getting her advice on just about anything and everything!! I know I've always wanted to be just like her. It's been a life quest to reach that point. But, I'm sure I will just have to keep striving and never get there. She's always way ahead of me! She is always so much more in touch with the way things should be, than I am. A clear perspective is what I get when we talk.



This was the two of us way back when!!!


And this is the two of us on Christmas Day, 1998.

This is the two of us in the Spring, 1981.

She always supports me with all my crazy things I like to be involved in and laughs at my silliness too. Now she is married and has fun kids that I love to be 'Aunt Tam' to. I'll always remember the days though, growing up, when she would call down the hallway for me to come into her room before we went to bed. We'd talk, laugh, and I'd give her a foot massage. :)

I count her as one of my greatest blessings.

Thank you Thelissa! I love you so much.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

FIRE on the Mountain!!



FIRE on the mountain!! This is the view from my balcony of the fires this week!












This is the Sun behind a lot of smoke.



These are the flames that you could see if I zoomed in!!!!

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Deseret First Luncheon in the Park


Miles To Go played this last Friday at a picnic for all the downtown Church-owned businesses. There were about 3,000 people that stopped by for a hamburger and to sit down and listen to the music. Our music! :) Last year we played at this event as well. We sold out of all the CDs we had brought with us. My parents stopped by too!



Thanks to Travis Eberhard who took pictures from my camera! And to my mom who took some from hers.



Can you say Sunburned!!!?

Playing Wagon Wheel. Trent sings this one and always does a great job.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Tam's Cooking Corner!!

Welcome to the first episode of the Cooking Corner!

Yesterday I made homemade Italian meal from scratch and I thought I should share a little bit about the process! First you make the sauce and get it into a Crockpot. So...

Saute' onions, garlic, and some salt in Olive Oil. Several onions is not too many!While that cooks, you can start browning the Italian Sausage.
When the onions and garlic are ready (watch for the garlic to begin browning), you can either the plain red sauce to the pan or you can put them in the Crockpot and add the plain Hunt's sauce there. I like to get the Crockpot warming before I put anything in it so that the sauce doesn't start cooling off or anything.Make sure to make a mess.When the meat is browned and in small pieces, add it to the red sauce.After rinsing fresh basil leaves (you can buy these at Smiths, although I prefer to grow my own), cut them into fine pieces. The smaller the better! Add them to the sauce. Let the sauce simmer as long as you can...yesterday I let it simmer for about 6 hours.

Now it's time for the pasta noodles!! In a food processor mix 2 eggs per every 1 cup of unbleached white flower.Put the dough onto the clean counter top with flour accessible near by. Knead the dough until it is not at all sticky. Unlike a bread, pizza crust, or biscuit dough, the more kneading the better!
Then rip off small pieces of dough. On the widest setting, roll the dough again and again through a pasta maker. Gradually change the setting to the thinest until the pasta is in thin sheets.Set them out to dry wherever you can find! I use baking sheets and cookie cooling racks.
















I don't how one pasta strip got to be so long! haha....While the pasta noodles are drying (the longer the time to dry the better) you can make the Besciamella white sauce. This is a slow process of melting butter, adding flour gradually to create a base, and then adding small portions of milk at a time in order to create a cream. Add a little salt and nutmeg too.

While the pasta is drying, the sauce is cooking, and the Besciamella is warming, you can prepare the cheeses: Cut the Mozzarella into slices, grate the Parmiggiano (Costco is a good place for these), and open the Ricotta.About an hour before you want to eat, it is time to assemble the lasagna!

Place a little sauce in the bottom of a glass pan. Add a layer of noodles. Then fresh Mozzeralla cheese, more sauce, another layer of noodles, more sauce, cut up ham...
Parmesan, more sauce, more noodles, Besciamella sauce, Ricotta, red sauce, noodles, etc...etc...
Then sprinkle the top layer with a lot of Parmesan!! :)

Bake at 350 or so for about 45 minutes or until all the cheeses are melted and things look done.

While you wait, you can also prepare a salad with tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado to be dressed with Olive Oil and Basalmic Vinegar!

When all is melted you can take it out of the oven! The smell is so yummy! Enjoy!





TA DA!! Buon Appetito!








And that's it! Thanks for tunning in to Tam's Cooking Corner! We'll see you next time...

Tip: Remember that most everything that is delicious begins with onion, garlic, and salt sauted in Olive Oil! :)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Making a move...

Oh my goodness. I have been lost in the world of moving! Packing, taping, sorting, fitting, cleaning, hauling, settling, re-wiring, organizing, and cleaning some more!!

From the old place to the new place!

OLD:


































U-haul Time!
















NEW:















An organized kitchen!





























The hallway and supposedly expensive water filter!








































Food storage! (poor people who helped me carry all this up to the 3rd floor!)




















The nice, spacious deck that overlooks a cornfield!















My room!


































No more moving for awhile!!!!!