Variety Feature: Teach Me the Cuban Way...

to prepare black beans!

A sweet friend of mine agreed to teach me how to prepare black beans, Cuban style, which she had learned from her mother before her.  I couldn't wait to add some taste to our somewhat bland black bean dishes.  And since I did an entire post on legumes I thought I should share this with you as well.

Most likely you will not be surprised, but I must warn you that there are no exact measurements. A little of this. A lot of garlic. And a little of that.

Our gracious host, Belkys

 Starting out with...

Onions
1 Bay Leaf
1 t of Oregano
Several Cloves of Garlic
Chopped red bell pepper
Salt to taste
Olive Oil
1 Packet of Sazon
Badia Complete Seasonings to taste

 First up. Saute the onion and then add garlic (Belkys used about 6 cloves)...

Already the kitchen began to smell wonderful

Next, we added the cooked onion and garlic to the pressure cooker, along with the rest of the ingredients listed above. I was surprised that in just over an hour, the beans were soft and ready to eat.

Be sure to keep your child from over feeding the dog with his bunny snacks...

Add a tasty, sweet side of plantains.  Belkys could not find a nice ripe plantain, so she purchased frozen plantains by Goya and baked them in the oven at 350. Good to know!

Not pictured is the rice that Belkys had ready to go in the rice cooker. We cannot have black beans without rice!

Lastly, share your table with friends. I thought it was so sweet that Belkys turned our teaching session into a lunch with some mutual amigas. This reminded me to be better about sharing my own table with others.

We also had a yummy salad

Thank you Belkys! Lunch was delicious and time with friends was fabulous. I can't wait to try these out at home. Since I do not have a pressure cooker I am going to attempt mine in the slow cooker. 

Do you have a family dish that you love?

Disney Commercial Audition & the Zoo

"Casting: Disney Water Parks Commercial" was posted onto my Facebook page by a friend a couple of weeks ago. We sort of fit the criteria so I thought, "why not?"

While lunching at Easter we had attempted a nice family picture but none of the boys were in the mood to cooperate. This left us with several blurry pictures, pictures with photo bombs of other family members and of course pictures where no one was looking at the camera.  Below is the best one I had out of the mix...

I submitted our photo to the casting agency with absolutely no expectations, so you can imagine my surprise when I received an email the next day stating that they would like to have our family come in for an audition.  As it turned out the available days were during our planned camping trip, so we signed up for a morning slot. If we were making a trip out to Atlanta we might as well go to the zoo. It was settled unanimously.

Breaking away from our first camping trip, we leave bright and early knowing the kind of traffic that would be awaiting us on the highway.  Almost two hours and a couple of wrong turns later we arrive at the casting agency.  Once inside I'm directed to check us in individually on their computer. I didn't realize I was nervous until I began clumsily pecking out our information, which led to shaky hands that clicked the wrong buttons. This in turn caused me to draw embarrassing attention to myself as I flagged one of the employees because I pulled up some kid named Timothy and did not know how to navigate back to the main screen.  After checking the 6 of us in, we sit down and wait, giving us a moment to see the other families. Cute couples. Cute children.

"Next Family", announced the casting director. Ugh! My stomach did two somersaults but I resolved myself to enjoy this experience and have fun.

"Please have only your bathing suits on and step in front of the camera for a picture, one at a time." That always feels nice.  A picture in your bathing suit.

Now it was time for the video segment of the audition.

"When I say go, I want you to step foward and pretend that you are looking at all the different water rides at the Disney Water Park", said the friendly casting director.

"Go!"

Everything happened so fast! I heard one of the little guys say, "I wanna go swimming!".
Glen was blurting out a ride he was excited about. I could hear Ethan and Collin.

Oh dear, what was the name of the ride I was supposed to have remembered??? Cross Over Creek? No! Lazy River? No! Cross Country Creek! Cross Country Creek! Hopefully, the blank slide that passed through my brain did not show up on my face.

Then we were told to act like we were waving to Mickey and finally, pretend we were watching the fireworks together.  I was slightly amused at the expression on little man's face as he wondered about the pretend fireworks the casting director was setting off with his hands.

We gave it our all and had a blast doing so.

In less than ten minutes the actual audition was over, but the adventure had not ended for us. We all chatted excitedly as we went over each detail over and over again. The younger boys stated their desire to pretend to go to Disney again.

Outside Stilwell Casting

Buoyed by adrenaline and shared experiences we moved on to our next destination - the Zoo! This is a place our whole family enjoys. Of course we took many photos, but if I may, I'd like to share a few snippets with you.

Surprisingly one of the boys' favorite exhibits...Parakeets

Wearing his "boo-boos" proud

Stealing a shot in the reptile exhibit

Perfect end to a perfect day that will not be forgotten. And as for Disney and that audition? Well, it's a "don't call us, we'll call you" type of business and we didn't expect to hear from them again. However a week later I received a message asking for us to come in for a callback with the casting director and the directors from Disney.  Seriously?? It would be on a Saturday so we said yes.  More to come...

Have you visited your local zoo lately? 

Camping Trial Run & Lessons Learned

Is it just me or does life get extra crazy when you are trying to prepare for a trip of any kind? My best efforts to plan ahead are thwarted at every turn.  Our first camping trip with the camper was no different. To say that we forgot a couple of things would be an understatement, and yes, I did make a list.

The Game plan: Hubby would go early with all the boys and I would run to the store for our last minute items.  Good plan.  By the time I finished he would have most everything set up.

Upon arrival I bring in all the cooler items.  We both stand before our camper fridge. "I guess we should turn this on now", he says.

"Yeah. How long does it take to get cool?", I ask.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure". Let me call our camper source."

 Hours. It takes hours.  We had no ice as of yet.  Another store run with the whole family.

Dinner time. I felt so discombobulated that I had trouble figuring out what we would eat.  Tacos. We had pinto beans, chicken, lettuce, etc. Tacos would be our first meal.  Now where did I put the tablecloth? Yup, you guessed it. Forgotten.  After digging around in the camper I found the set of curtains that went with the sheets someone had given us for our home away from home.

Like my pineapple centerpiece? Are you awed by how multi-functional it is? Curtain/tablecloth weight. Pretty to look at. Breakfast for tomorrow. My flighty, unprepared ways are teaching me to be a pro at using what we have on hand.

For a little insight into the Rowdy lifestyle, here is a comparison of our dining table at home verses the picnic table...To left we have the Rowdy Camping Table and pictured below is our Rowdy Round Table.  How ironic that I wanted to complain about my inability to reach the little guys without getting up.  However, I won't lie and say that a little more elbow space was nice.  We may have to go camping more often, huh? :)

Keeping each other close, literally and figuratively. :)

I think we bored Collin

Water: Of course it wouldn't be a camping trip for these boys (dad included) if we didn't go hit the lake to fish and get some, if not all, body parts wet. It was a pretty day with a lingering spring chill, but why would that stop them from acting like it's summer and wanting to swim?? I went back to straighten up the camper, or maybe to take a nap. No sense in putting myself in any danger of getting wet.

Fish Got Your TOES!!

Hey. You know what I really to like to have in the mornings when I first get up? Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. I shuffled as quietly as I could and turned on our stove to get our prepped coffee going. After what seemed like many, many minutes the water began to boil. My brain tingled in anticipation. Caffeine was coming. Pour. Add fixings.  Sit and get comfortable. Sip and - SPEW!!! It tasted like I just poured coffee straight from the water hose. Ewwww.  Another lesson learned. We will use bottled water next time.  Eck.  Time to start over.

The Camping Percolator 

Rain. Then came the deluge. Okay, maybe not a deluge but it did rain quite a bit. In between those rain showers we would hurry out of the camper and get the big boys out on their bikes to ride, while the rest of us walked. There would be no grilling outside that night.  What a great opportunity to test out all the kitchen appliances!

Hams & Hots, Sugar snap peas, Corn, Mango and Carrots

Yes, we will be dining in this evening...

That evening turned out to be very nice. We had popcorn and watched a movie together. Although this was definitely a trial run, the boys loved every moment. And me? Well, I guess I have to admit I had fun too. One of my biggest concerns turned out to be no concern at all. Would I sleep? Yup. I slept like a log each night. Sweet dreams.

Lessons Learned

• 1. Turn on the fridge the night before leaving to get it cooled.
• 2.  Take the camper keys with you so you are not locked out.
• 3.  Realize that a family of 6 can fill your water tank pretty quick! Who wants to hear, "Mom! There is water coming up into the bathtub!"?
• 4. Be prepared for rain. 
• 5. Use FRESH, bottled water for coffee.
• 6. Answer your phone if you are expecting a guest to come and visit (Mother). 
• 7. Chill out, be patient with each other and make great memories!!!

Memories Made

Some of you have already sent me some great suggestions for the next trip that I cannot wait to put into practice and share with the rest of the blog world! Anyone have any camping adventures to share?