Day 171 - Mamoul Mold

6/20/2010

I bought this interesting cookie mold in the markets of Jerusalem. It is used to mold the Middle Eastern treat "Mamoul" which is a cookie usually made with semolina flour and stuffed with dates or walnut paste.

Day 170 - Amy

6/19/2010

Amy told me she looks forward to my "picture of the day" so today I am honoring her. Thank you Amy!

This photo was taken at the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Colorado annual picnic.

Day 169 - Anubis

6/18/2010

King Tut will be visiting the Denver Art Museum starting on June 29th.

To promote the exhibit, this large (26 feet tall - seven-ton), statue of Anubis, the Egyptian dog of the Dead, was erected at DIA on the South end of the main terminal looking in at the security lines.

http://www.tutdenver.com/

Day 168 - Measuring Cup/ Cookie Cutters

6/17/2010
Collectors look forward to the "scramble" where others sell extras at our Cookie Cutter Collectors Club Convention. I found this cute set of measuring cups with cutters on the bottom at a past Cookie Cutter Convention.

Day 167 - Cookie Cutters

6/16/2010
Preparing for "show & tell" at the Cookie Cutter Convention next week. I found this cute set in Munich last year on my way to visit Becca in Albania.

Day 166 - Guide Dog

6/15/10

Pierce was a very calm Guide Dog on one of our planes.
The problem with using the little camera is that sometimes there is a bit of a focus problem that isn't evident when you look at the picture on the little screen. I took another photo that was in focus but he was not looking at me.

Popcorn

Growing up in Missouri, we had a garden. Our garden took up a complete city lot, in fact, after we moved a house was built on the lot. We had a strawberry patch that was at least 3 feet wide and 12 feet long (that's what I remember at least - but then I was a lot shorter then!) The garden had a another berry patch that had raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries that grew on trellises. We had carrots, tomatoes and beets. The flower garden faced the house and included many beautiful blooms during the whole season. I remember the corn rows. We had 3 or 4 rows of corn in our garden and some of the corn was popcorn. If you have never seen popcorn growing, it looks just like regular corn until you husk the ears. Popcorn has a pointed kernal. You must dry these ears to use them. We would pick the ears of corn then shuck the husks off. The ears then had to dry. Ours were stored in the attic over the garage in bushel baskets. When they were completely dry, it was time to take the kernels off of the ears. Sunday evenings were popcorn nights. We would have Sunday "dinner" after we got home from church in the early afternoon. So in the evening we would have popcorn and some desert, depending on the season. It could be pie or cake or fresh berries or fruit or ice cream, whatever was in season and available. One of us girls would go to the attic room and get 3 or 4 ears of popcorn and bring them down. To get the kernels off the ears you would twist the ear in your hand or rub two ears together. The had kernels would fall in the bowl. (popcorn kernels are pointed on the bottom unlike sweet corn kernels which are flat) Dried popcorn kernels hold some moisture inside, that's what makes them pop. Different varieties of popcorn will make smaller or larger pieces. In later gardens, Mom planted cute strawberry and multicolored popcorn. The tiny ears had pretty little kernels but when it popped, the resulting popcorn was delicious and crunchy.

When we lived in Toril we sometimes saw popcorn from a street vendor in the market but had to find a package of corn to pop at the small grocery store in the city center. Davao grocery had "Jolly Time" popcorn! I remember the first time that we made popcorn at home. The children in the neighborhood had never seen it made before. Their eyes grew wide with amazement.

When we moved to Bohol, we couldn't buy popcorn on that island. It could be bought at a grocery store in Cebu, the 2nd largest city in the country. Cebu was a f5 hour boat ride from Tagbilaran where we lived. We were traveling around the island giving seminars. One of our hostesses asked Patring what I liked to eat and she told her that I liked popcorn. Gloria took that 5 hour boat ride to buy some popcorn to have for me. I actually had some at 6 different schools. Another teacher went on a pump-boat to the city but couldn't find the popcorn. She had Cracker Jacks for me.

The best pan for making popcorn is a heavy pot. I have an old aluminum pressure cooker that I only use for popcorn. My next door neighbor in our first apartment here in Denver borrowed it one day and managed to start a fire inside the pot so it is not good for anything else but popcorn. I like movie popcorn, microwave popcorn, "Smart Corn" and especially popcorn from my special pot. I don't really like air-popped corn. Yellow kernels pop into larger pieces but white kernels are crunchier. I like to eat popcorn like cereal with milk. I only have met a few other people outside my family who eat it that way. You should try it sometime.

Day 165 - Arriving Home

6/14/2010
David returned from his trip to Albania. Technically, this photo was taken on the 15th because he arrived in Denver after midnight. After flying back to the US to Dulles, he had to take a connecting flight to LAX to get home to Denver. He brought home two bags of Becca's "stuff".

Day 164 - Rain

6/13/2010

Rain for the third day in a row. My plants are loving it.

Day 163 -Filipino Festival

6/12/2010
There were volunteer face painters at the FACC Festival.

Melborne Fischer chose to celebrate Filipino Independence Day with this face after he finished performing.

Day 162 - Tornado Warning

6/11/2010
This is the squall line passing North of the airport while the tornado warming alarms were going off inside the concourse.

I Love the Fourth of July

I love the Fourth of July! When I was a child living in Hickman Mills, Missouri, the local drive-in theatre used to have a fire works show. The theatre was located just a couple of blocks from our house so we had a back-row seat to the display. The best seat in the house was from my 2nd floor gable window which faced the theatre. We used to have a back-yard picnic with friends and one year I remember we lit several railroad flares for our own fireworks. I loved running around the yard with sparklers.

Fast forward a decade to a trip to the Sheridan, Wyoming rodeo which was held on the 4th of July. I had the privilege of hearing the Sheridan Shrine Band play "Stars and Stripes Forever". My Father-in-Law, Harry Lipman, was the piccolo player in the band and he could play that piccolo solo better than any I have ever heard. I remember him every time I hear the song.

Fast forward another decade or so. We went camping with the Wilderness Kids, a part of the Colorado Mountain Club, to Marble, Colorado. Since we would be in the National Forest, we couldn't have fireworks or even be close to any fireworks show, we stopped at the WalMart in Glennwood Springs and bought some water rockets. The kids had fun filling them up and shooting them off. With a wonderful campfire and about 3 bags of marshmallows, we had a wonderful camp.

Fast forward another decade when my friend David was playing in the Longmont Symphony Orchestra. They used to do a concert on the 4th which included playing the "1812 Overture" with it's cannon, while the local fireworks were shooting off behind the bandstand.

Today, I have to work so there won't be any picnic, but I will be home early enough to see the broadcast of the Boston Pops concert with it's fireworks.

I love the 4th of July! It is our best American holiday!