LL and ROW

Yes, I am already using acronyms. Because I think I will have a weekly lessons learned and recipe of the week most weeks. The first because, as a stay at home mom, I sometimes wonder if the bleach in all the cleaning products is slowly leeching out my brain and it's nice to acknowledge that I am still learning stuff all the time. The second because, as a experimental cook, I cook different things all the time and can never remember what was good.

Lessons Learned

• Hail is made by ice particles being continually blown back up to the top of the cloud and adding another layer of ice, again and again, until gravity becomes stronger than the wind. You can tell how many times a piece of hail was blown back up to the top of the cloud by cutting said piece of hail in half crosswise and counting the layers of ice you see. Cool, huh?



• Auroa Borealis is made from solar wind from the sun. Our earth has an iron core that creates a magnetic shield that blocks most of these solar flares from colliding with earth, except in the most northern and southern poles. There, the solar wind comes close enough to heat the atmosphere so much that the elements in the atmosphere give off light and color:

• To remove a removable tattoo on your son's forehead (yes, don't ask)--you don't want to use soap or oil or it will get in his eyes; it's a sensitive spot so you can't scrub too much, but it's been there for 5 days and really people are wondering if you ever bathe your child--take a piece of scotch tape, put it sticky side down on the tattoo, gently rub and pull--no more tattoo!


• Athena likes choir so much, she refused to have the nurse call me, even though she had a fever, because choir practice was after school and she didn't want to miss it.

Recipe of the Week

I made this after Fun Saturday. I have learned from experience that if I don't have something quick and easy for dinner after Fun Saturday we usually give in to exhaustion and pick up fast food. This is from a Women's Day magazine that had quick and easy dinner ideas:

Put 1 TB olive oil, 1 TB butter in a skillet. Add peeled large shrimp and a cup or so of sugar snap peas, some salt and pepper to taste. Cook 3 min. Add halved grape tomatoes and minced garlic; cook til shrimp are done. Serve with garlic bread.

It was really good and so easy. I keep a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer--most bags come deveined nowadays. Put them in a colander under running cold water and by the time you have the tomatoes halved, they are thawed enough to pull the shells off. Shrimp are the easiest protein to cook--just cook until they turn pink, then they're done. And my kids love shrimp.