How to Soften Brown Sugar

So, I went to use some brown sugar today that had been in my cupboard for over a year and wouldn't you know, it was hard as a rock. It was just a small box, but I had two of them and yes, they were both like concrete. I knew I had heard of ways to soften the brown sugar before, but couldn't remember, so I turned to the trusty (this time anyway) internet and found these great tips. I thought I'd share just in case any of you may run into this trouble as you pull that sugar out to do some holiday baking.

10 Ways To Soften Hard Brown Sugar

It happens to the best of us: rock hard brown sugar. How to soften it? Ten easy tips below:
Place the brown sugar in an airtight container with a slice of fresh bread placed on top. Seal and leave overnight. It should be soft and fresh again in the morning, if not just let it sit another day or two.

Sprinkle a few drops of water over the chunk of hardened sugar, place in a plastic bag, seal, and let sit for a couple days.

Place brown sugar in an open container, then top with a moistened cloth (paper towel works too). Let sit overnight.

Place the hardened sugar in an airtight container with a few apple slices. This should soften the sugar within the next day or two. Remove apple slices once sugar is soft again.

Use foil or plastic wrap to cover the top of the sugar. Then set a dampened sheet of paper towel (not dripping wet) on top of the foil. Place in an airtight container and seal. Let sit overnight or a few days as needed. Remove foil and paper towel once the towel is dry and sugar is fresh again.

Buy a clay disc or if you have a pottery piece on hand (from a broken clay pot, etc.), set it in water for about 30 minutes. Dry the piece so it isn’t dripping wet. Put the clay piece in a container with the sugar and seal. Check after a few days. Keep the piece in with your sugar for months if you’d like–will keep it soft.

Quick Tip #1: Need the sugar soft now? Put the brown sugar in a container and place in the microwave with a small bowl full of water beside it. Microwave for about 1 minute–check. If it’s still hard, try for another 30 seconds. You can keep doing this until the sugar is soft, but watch that you don’t melt the sugar.

Quick Tip #2: Place the hardened sugar in a baking pan and set in oven (temperature at about 250° F). Check after 5 minutes. If still not soft, continue checking every few minutes until it’s soft and ready to use.

Quick Tip #3: Place the brown sugar chunk in a microwave safe plastic bag. Take a square of paper towel and moisten with water (not dripping wet–wring out excess). Place the wet paper towel in the bag with the sugar and seal. Place in the microwave for approximately 20 seconds. If still not soft, microwave for a few seconds more, repeating until the sugar is ready to use. Be careful not to melt the sugar.

Quick Tip #4: Stick chunks of the brown sugar in a food processor or blender and chop/pulse until useable.

For best results, make sure to store brown sugar in a sealed, airtight container. A clay disc kept in the container can keep it soft for months (see tip above for clay disc).
Brown sugar can also be stored in the freezer and thawed a few hours before using.

Persimmon Update

WARNING!! Do not eat them!!-- even if you get really tempted to try it. Just don't. EUWWWWW!! So, here's how it went. I cut it open when it was looking nice and ripe (just guessing of course, because I don't have a lot of experience with them.) It looked innocent enough; safe and harmless with its pink innards just soft enough to bite into. I got the idea from the internet that you could eat it raw like an apple. Which just goes to show that you can't trust the internet info. all the time. I bit into it and immediately there was a coating in my mouth that was making my lips stick to my teeth in kind of a squeaky way. I felt like I need to stretch my mouth out, and drinking water did not alleviate the problem. As for the taste, I'm not really sure. It was probably okay, but I was so overwhelmed with the feeling of it in my mouth that I didn't even pay attention to the taste. I think it would have been okay though, if only there was a way to get past the lip shrinking experience. Bottom line--if someone gives you persimmons, either throw them away immediately, or find a nice cookie recipe for them. The cookies were really good. Really, really good now that I know what they started out as.

Have I mentioned that my kids are. . .

Smart?! It's true and I'm just a proud Mom. Here's the latest. Emma just represented her class in the schoolwide spelling bee. She made it through the first round (along with about 6 other kids) and sadly, got out in the second round missing the word "sarcasm." Alas, there is no "i" in the word and now she knows that. Maddie represented her class in the 4th, 5th and 6th grade in elementary school and decided not to participate this year. I'm not sure why. She fails to recognize where her talents lie.

Anyway, I know I have never mentioned this, but I think it's worth mentioning. On last year's standardized tests, which were administered at the end of the year and results distributed at the beginning of this school year, Emma was in the 100th percentile in the math, logic, and reasoning portion of the test. She scored a perfect score for that section. The other sections were all in the 90's. Her overall score was 97th percentile. (which means that she scored as high or higher than 97 percent of the kids who took that test.) I just thought that was amazing since it seemed to take a while for my math brain to kick in. She also received the Principals Honor Roll award again for this trimester. That indicates a 4.0 gpa overall in class. I'm really impressed with her.

So, we wanted to get her a little something in recognition of her accomplishments. . .which leads me to this.

Richard brought home an mp3 player--not ipod. I feel bad that I have these smart kids and I have to be so lame, but I cannot figure out how to put music on it for anything. Yes, I have an ipod and have no trouble whatsoever with it. But I can't get the Sansa Shaker to work at all. Anyone have any tips that might make this possible? The reward is seeming more and more unrewarding to Emma as the months go by. Poor thing.

Come One, Come All

I know most of my readers are from out of town, but for those of you who are here, come to the choir concert. It's a great way to relieve the stress of the holidays and get into the true spirit of the season. And besides, it's the last time you will get to see me sing with them.

This is the Feast the Kids Made

I'm starting to discover the joy of having your kids grow up. I decided that, rather than make the entire Thanksgiving feast myself, I would have the kids help as much as possible this year. This had three benefits. 1) I didn't have to do all the work. 2) The kids learned some cooking skills. 3) I was hoping they would feel some ownership and pride in the meal and want to eat it. That one didn't happen so much. Oh well.
So, here's how it worked. on Wednesday, Emma made the rolls and Ellie and I made the pumpkin pies. On Thursday, Lauren peeled the potatoes and helped me mash them, Maddie made the stuffing and the cranberry drink, and Elllie and Richard worked on the turkey. All I had to do was put the green bean casserole and the sweet potatoes together. I even cheated and got the sweet potatoes from Schwann's. It was totally easy for me. The kids also made woven placemats for themselves and set the table.
I'm thinking next year they do the whole thing and just let me know when it's time to eat.

Little Lost Lauren

This was a funny (now anyway) thing that happened a couple of days ago. It was getting to be bed time and I was helping Ellie get ready for bed. Lauren had walked downstairs and I hadn't paid attention that it was taking her a long time to return. I figured she was with Richard or something. Then Richard came upstairs and said, "Where's Lauren?"
My quick response was, "Downstairs somewhere."
"No, she's not. I was just looking for her down there."
"Well, she's not up here." So the search began. We looked in every room, under the piano, behind couches, in closets, and bathtubs. We were calling and calling for her, "Lauren, this isn't funny. You need to come out now." We figured she was trying to play a little hide-and-seek with us. That idea quickly turned to panic. Could she have gone out? Would she do that? Did someone come in and take her? Richard is prone to letting panic set in very quickly and immediately took hold of that conclusion. I had to call him to reason quickly before he dialed the police. I said, "Richard, we haven't looked somewhere. I've seen this before. I remember Joni doing this as a child. She's asleep somewhere and we have to find where." That's when Richard walked over to the couch,(that we had looked under, behind, and on every side), picked up a pillow and. . . viola! Just like magic, there she was. Pretty funny now!

I had stacked those pillows there earlier in the day and they looked exactly the way I stacked them. I never would have guessed that she had wriggled her way under them, and fallen asleep.

My smart kids

I just got back from awards assemblies today. Emma got the Principals Honor Roll (4.0 GPA) again! and Lauren got a special award for outstanding effort and achievement because her reading has improved so much in the past month. It really has. All of a sudden she wants to read everything: signs on the road, on buildings, Dr. Seuss books, my to do lists, or whatever else she can find. She's becoming a reader like the other girls. Yay!!

Very Big News. . .

I have the okay to spread the word. The contract has been signed. Richard has taken a job in Naperville, IL. He starts in January and we will probably stay here until the end of the school year and try to sell our house. We got a great relocation package, the job is awesome, and we are all very excited. Richard will be the new Naperville Chamber of Commerce Executive. It is the second largest chamber in IL. Two of the board members flew here last week to meet me and make sure I was okay with the move and everything. Of course I am. I'm excited to make a new start without all the stress that accompanied our move here. I think that's partly the reason I just never have felt comfortable here, (sorry Elk Grovians--no offense). Richard is happy too. He's been dancing on the clouds since he got this job (about a week ago). The one drawback. . .we will have to spend more money on winter wear. I have to admit, I'll miss the weather here. It is pretty darn ideal. Oh well. So, if you're ever in the area, you'll now have a place to stop. Chicago anyone?

Persimmons

What do you do with them? Richard knows a lady who grows persimmons and every year she gives him some along with some persimmon cookies. The cookies really are pretty good, but what do you do with the persimmon? I'm not making the cookies. I already looked it up. You have to wait until they are just ripe and then peel them and cook them. It seems like too much work for what you get in the end. I'll let you know how they taste. I'm going to eat them like an apple when they are ripe enough.

Activity Days Quilt

This is the quilt that I made and the activity days girls tied. They had a lot of fun learning how to tie a quilt and I thought it turned out quite cute. I put it together last spring and never got around to tying it and then one day I had to cancel our original activity plans and scrambled to put something together. It turned out to be a lot of fun and evryone was pleased with the end result.

Seussical the Musical

This has been quite a week. One of the best things that happened this week was Maddie's show. She participated in a theater workshop, which is designed to teach kids (ages 5-18) the in's-and-out's of theater productions. This workshop show was Seussical the Musical and it turned out to be soooo cute. Maddie was a bird girl. The show is based on the Dr. Seuss story of Horton Hears a Who and incorporates other Seuss story parts as well. They did a fantastic job. I wish we lived closer to you all so you could have seen it. Anyway, here are some cute pictures of her and the show.

Movie Review

So, Richard and I were in need of some "time out" tonight and decided to see a movie. We haven't done that in a while and really didn't even know what was out there. We ended up seeing Dan in Real Life.
This movie had the whole theater laughing and cringing and anxiously anticipating every scene. It far exceeded my expectations (since I really didn't have any to begin with). Steve Carell has found a character that fit him perfectly. I can't tell any of the story or it would ruin it. But do see it.
People who would enjoy this the most would be single adults (past or present), parents of girls, parents of teenagers, people from large families, okay, just about anyone even if you don't fit into any of those categories. Enjoy.

Look Closely

If you look very closely at this blank page you will see a faint outline of a picture that I drew of Ellie. I couldn't sleep one night and decided to just get up. While I was up with time to myself I decided to sketch this little photo of Ellie that I saw lying there on the desk. It turned out better than I thought it would and I have decided to continue to work on it. Someday it will be more than this faint sketch. It might not be great, but I just haven't done anything like this in such a long time, I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it.

Nature Walk

Just experimenting with Picasa. Thanks Erin. These are photos from our Actvity Days Nature Walk. The girls picked out cool stuff they saw.

Trunk-or-Treat

Just for fun I thought you might enjoy my costume for our ward's trunk-or-treat. I don't usually dress up, but thought I'd throw something together at the last minute. I went as a "washed-up" Diva. I didn't have time to make myself a Grammy, but that would have been the greatest finishing touch.

Also, we never did get a pumpkin carved this year, but Ellie and I did finally manage to put our gingerbread Haunted House together. Here it is.

Halloween Photos

And here is Halloween. Ellie was a fairy princess, Lauren was the Sugar Plum Fairy, Emma was one of the 12 Dancing Princesses, and Maddie went for quick and easy wearing the indian costume that I wore when she was 3 years old. Thanks to Grandma Myrna for making the adorable fairy costumes for Ellie and Lauren. They turned out very cute and the girls loved them. Emma's costume was her dance recital costume from last spring.

Vocab Definitions

1) u·biq·ui·tous /yuˈbɪkwɪtəs/
–adjective
existing or being everywhere, esp. at the same time; omnipresent: ubiquitous fog; ubiquitous little ants.
2)fla·gran·te de·lic·to (flə-grān'tē dĭ-lĭk'tō)
adv.
In the very act of committing an offense; red-handed.
In the act of having sex.
3)he·gem·o·ny [hi-jem-uh-nee, hej-uh-moh-nee]
–noun, plural -nies.
1. leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation.
2. leadership; predominance.
3. (esp. among smaller nations) aggression or expansionism by large nations in an effort to achieve world domination.
4)prog·na·thous Pronunciation[prog-nuh-thuhs, prog-ney-]
–adjective Craniometry.
having protrusive jaws; having a gnathic index over 103.

And there you have it. New vocab to thrill your friends with. I challenge you to use the word prognathism in a sentence this week. Let me know if you make it. I'll be trying too.

Here they are

Please read the next post. This picture relates to that. Blogger wouldn't let me attach a photo on that last post. And I do have to go on record as saying that I am in no way criticizing him or his family. I think he is absolutely incredible and has always had an enviable work ethic and winning attitude and personality. Obviously. . .otherwise he wouldn't be what he is today. Kudos to Chris.

Flagrant Vocab.

I just came across a list I made a couple of months ago. I made this list as I was reading the bio of a former classmate in high school. Yes, he's a smart guy. He became a doctor, a concert pianist, won some fancy humanitarian award in Paris, has the body of a god, is still active in the LDS church, and these seem to be just a few of his many accomplishments. His wife is, of course, a goddess and they have the quintessentially perfect Mormon family. He happens to live in the Lake Tahoe/Reno area. I am possibly the former classmate in closest proximity to him and feel honored that I spoke with him a few times in high school. (I'm not worthy:) )
Okay, the list. . .
As I was reading his bio I kept coming across words that I had to admit I didn't know the meaning of. Does he use these words in regular, everyday conversation? or was he referring to a thesaurus while writing the bio? You decide.
Word 1) ubiquitous
I have come across this word a few times in reading and was able to determine its meaning because of the context of its usage, but I'm pretty sure I've never spoken the word (working vocabulary < vocabulary comprehension)
Word 2) flagrante delicto
I was able to understand this based on the context of its usage also, but don't think I've ever heard it or seen it before. Anyone?
Word 3) hegemony
Okay, I had no idea and now that it's been a couple of months since looking it up, I still can't remember.
Word 4) prognathism
I remember what this means from looking it up, but who actually uses this word even for its real meaning. It's worth the extra effort to say "protruding jaw".
Come back tomorrow and I will post the definitions if you're interested. Let me see if I can post a picture of Mr. Chris Perfect Degn.

Eeeuuw. . . Mice

Although this little guy looks a little bit cute in a sad and helpless way (he's stuck in a printer), we have had our own mouse encounters lately and it wasn't so cute.

First of all, I must admit I get the idiot of the month award. We have two storage units in our garage that we use for food storage. It just didn't occur to me that there might be mice around who could access these. I feel like we live in this nice little suburb and how dare a mouse intrude on our life? But he/they did. We mostly put canned foods in there, but I put a big bag of noodles in one of them. You know, the kind you get from Sam's Club for $3. It's been there for quite a while (many months) and there hasn't been a problem. But, we went out to get something the other day and there were mouse droppings all over and it really stunk! So, guess who's job it was to clean it all out today. Yep, it was great. I was so grossed out by the whole thing that I scoured the whole unit and washed every can in soapy water. And yes, threw away the noodles. Yuck! Pros: I now know everything that's in there. It is all organized and clean. It smells great thanks to the air freshener I put out there. We will also be putting poison, traps, etc. and enjoying the neighborhood cats more.

Cateract Canyon

Most of you know that I took a trip down the Colorado River this summer. It was an all women's trip. Therefore, I was forced to go without any children or husband (I was all choked up about it . . . really. Okay, you caught me. HA!) It was such an excellent time I have decided that I will do this as often as I possibly can.

That first picture is of me, victorious after conquering the biggest rapids we went through (class 5) in a kayak with my new friend Kim. It was so great. I loved being so close to the water, almost like I was a part of the life of the river. It is a great feeling. It makes me feel very alive.
The next picture is of most of our women guides. They are all 18-25 years old. Most of them are students, some have graduated, but just can't give up this summer job. They are incredible. All very strong and capable girls. They guided and navigated us all through the canyon, cooked every awsome meal, set up camp every night, and took it down every morning. They really made our trip as comfy as possible.


Here I am taking a turn rowing. My appreciation for those girls is growing with every stroke. Two of our days were rowing only, no motor. Are you loving my hat? I didn't wear it all the time, but was really glad I had it. I'm very afraid of the sun, and I was able to come away my perfectly lily-white self.
Here I am at the top of the canyon during one of our hikes. It was great. I did have blisters on my heels that day, making the hike less than great. BTW, here's a tip. If you ever have bad blisters on your heels while hiking put a layer of moleskin on the blister, cover that with a bandaid and then cover the whole thing with a big piece of duct tape. I finally figured this out on the 3rd day. It was great! For some reason my water sandals were rubbing my feet badly and I was a little suffering from it.



The last picture is one of the great hikes we took to see petroglyphs on the canyon walls and graineries of the Anasazi. It was really cool.


This pictures were kinda bad because all I took was one of those disposable water cameras. But you get the main idea. I did have one scary incident. I started drifting downstream where the current was really strong and could not get back to shore. I thought I was a goner for a minute, but knew I was okay when I saw the guides laughing at me. That's all for now.

Thank you for taking our poll

I just have a hard time realizing that my kids are actually going to be (and are now) teenagers. She just seems so young, but Maddie wants to start shaving her legs. It must be time because even Richard is saying, "Yeah, it's time," with that what-are-you-waiting-for look on his face. And he is usually opposed to letting them "grow up too fast." So, brand new razor coming home soon.
Okay, I wanna know who starting shaving past 17. JK

I've Been Tagged (my first)

FIVE THINGS...

I WAS DOING FIVE YEARS AGO

Adjusting to life in a new town
Adjusting to life in a new job
Adjusting to life in a new marriage
Missing all my friends and family
Realizing I was pregnant again
(I call that year HELL YEAR, by the way)

ON MY LIST TODAY

Laundry (almost check)
Put up Halloween decorations (check)
Make banana bread (check)
Call credit card company to dispute a fee
Exercise

YOU'LL NEVER WEAR AGAIN

Uncomfortable shoes (I don't care how cute they are)
A wedding dress!
Long hair (I think I'm just too old now)
My pearl earrings (one got lost in Utah. I am in so much trouble)
A waitress uniform (been a while for that one--thank goodness)

BAD HABITS

Procrastinating
Leaving my clothes on my bed at the end of the day
Never sending cards (thank you, birthday, etc.)
Chewing gum (I guess it's bad, but I'll never quit)
Eating to avoid work

SONGS I KNOW THE LYRICS TO

*Disclaimer: I am a music junkie. There's no way I can single out just 5 songs that I know the lyrics to, so I have to be more general. (**This was Brooke's disclaimer, but I gotta go with it too. I'll try to think of some of my firsts.)

Almost every Beach Boys song
Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer/Gambler--Kenny Rogers This was the first album I ever bought with my own money.
Coat of Many Colors and all the other songs on that Dolly Parton album
Carpenters
Tons of Bette Midler
Really, way too many to list. If you ever listen to the radio with me you will know that I can while away many hours just singing old songs.



AND FINALLY, "Tag! You're it!..."

Joni, Christina, Erin H.

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On to New York

This is Maine

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We're Back

What a whirlwind tour of New England that turned out to be. We had a great time, saw a ton of stuff, and ate well. Happily, we are all safe and sound back at home. I will report in chunks because I probably won't be able to do it all in one sitting.

The first day was Boston. We never did get the stroller rental figured out, so we ended up doing the trolley tour to save our feet and our ears (from all the whining). We started at Faneuil Hall and picked up the Liberty Trail from there. We saw Paul Revere's house and saw a play done by "his wife" there, the Old North Church (1 if by land, 2 if by sea), Boston Harbor, etc. We spent quite a bit of time in the Public Garden. We had planned to ride the swan boats, but unfortunately they had already closed for the season. Bummer! But we did find Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings. The kids had a much better time there than anywhere else and couldn't figure out why we were traipsing all over Boston. They just weren't very excited about US history sites.