Author Archives: arletelouise

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San Giovanni Day

This is THE day to make nocino at Justin’s.We started with breakfast.In (limited) keeping with ancient nocino tradition, this year five (not) barefoot (not) virgins gathered the green walnuts: Phyl, Maria, Val L, and Val S.We chopped, zested, and measured all the ingredients, then added a bottle of 100 proof vodka.We ended by tasting the 2016 batch of nocino.Fun! For the next 40 days, I will “agitate” the nocino jar once/day. One online source of information described it this way, “the soaking liquid will first turn sinister green then the tea-brown of bayou swamp water, [and eventually] black as cowboy coffee.”

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Leftovers

I made the most delicious Salmon Taquitos with Avocado Cream last night, but did I really want to eat 3 more servings? Solution: invite friends over for drinks & snacks.Thank you, Dave, for the gift of a hammer appropriate for me … bottle-opener on one end.

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Grandma’s Cooking School: Smoothies

Thank you Lauren for being the cheerleader to get this going. Grocery list:I will probably skip the grocery list/shopping step the next time we do this … because there is way too much stuff in the cart that has nothing to do with smoothies.Lauren made pina colada smoothies.Sophia made strawberry-guava which required additional sugar to be palatable and was ranked #3/3 by four taste-testers.Avery made very berry.Time for several games of Hide and Seek. The “it” person rode the stick horse and pressed one ear or the other to make clippity-cloppity sounds or a lot of neighing.The places they tucked themselves into were remarkable.Later in the afternoon, it was time for swim practice.Behind those towels is the meanest (most hilarious) face you can imagine.

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Small flood and new windshield

Thank goodness I was home (but out in the garage) when the new washing machine overflowed on the first rinse cycle of the first load. The installers returned immediately to check their work. It wasn’t their fault, but rather something in the wall. Uh-oh.Water onto the tile floor was easily mopped up but water also seeped out the back wall into the bedroom hallway. And it stayed wet all weekend.The builder began repairs right away. A cap on one of the pipes had not been removed, a T-pipe inside the wall would have to be replaced.For 2 days, loud fans and a dehumidifier blurred out all other sounds.And I had the second windshield replaced on the Subaru in 15 months. Grrr.

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First project completed

To get ready for Vacation Bible School at the end of July, I cut out lots of pictures, glued them onto foam board, and cut out the shapes again with a utility knife.Coolers and styrofoam boxes covered with “stone” plastic table covers will be fortress walls. The washing machine NOT in the laundry room is the subject of the next blog post 😦Crown and Ark of the Covenant finished: