*Kina Grannis *Bon Iver *Foster the People *Eliza Doolittle
Favorite New Recipe Black Bean Sliders
Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion, diced small
1 14oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 carrot finely diced or shredded
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
Directions:
Saute onions in olive oil over medium heat until tender and caramelized. In a large bowl combine onions with the rest of the ingredients. Form mini patties. Heat and fry patties until slightly crisp on both sides. Serve on slider buns with mango salsa, tomatoes, and avocado. Yum! ~From Chef Chloe
Random Fun Thing to do...
The Hot Dog Roll - by Nate & Allie
This is a fun thing to do with your kids! After a bath or shower have your kid lay down on the edge of a towel on the bed. Tell them to lie really still and stiff (we say “stiff as a board”). Then slowly roll them over in the towel so they look like a hot dog. Then take the edge of the towel and pull it really hard. Your kid will flip out of it and fly through the air. It is so much fun!
Me and my ballet friends. Can you guess which bunhead is mine?
I am Young Clara, a Sugarplum attendent and an Infantry solider in this years performance of The Nutcracker at Maple Conservatory of Dance!! If you would like to see me, I am performing Young Clara in the opening performance (Saturday 2:00pm) and in the second to last performance on Wednesday (7:00pm.) I am performing as a Sugarplum attendant on the last performance and the second performance. I am Infantry on the rest of the days we are performing! I hope you can come :)
Post by Carly
Lately we've had some great music opportunities. We saw Colbie Caillat live and went to see a Jason Mraz concert! The Colbie Caillat concert was at The Grammy Museum in LA. It's an awesome museum full of information and great photos, videos, exhibits and hands-on activities on music, the Grammys, and famous musicians (right now they have excellent exhibits on George Harrison, Roy Orbison, and James Brown)! Fun fact: I have the same b-day as George Harrison (February 25th)!
The concert was in the Clive Davis theatre which is a small (only 200 seats) auditorium. We barely got in; we waited until the last of the members got their tickets to buy the few leftover tickets.
The performance was soooo great! Colbie answered questions and then played some songs (did you know her dad was the producer of the Fleetwood Mac albums?). It was excellent because it was a small show and you could see really well. She sounds fantastic live, I'm a big fan of her new album "All of You" (although all of the songs are about her boyfriend guhhh).
The Grammy Museum also offers workshops for homeschoolers. Speakers from the Musician's Institute in LA come and give a lecture and workshop about various things. I've been to a songwriting workshop, composing music for film, and composing for music videos workshop. If you are a homeschooler who loves music and lives in the LA area I highly recommend you go to these workshops! Only $8 for an informational and intriguing workshop about music!
Then, just this week we went to a Jason Mraz concert in San Diego! He is really my all-time favorite, numero uno musician. He sounds incredible live (this would be my third-or fourth time seeing him)! His tour was just him and Toco Rivera (his percussionist) without the band, all acoustic. Jason sang a ton of new songs, plus the oldies but goodies such as: You & I Both, Mr. Curiosity, The Remedy, Lucky, and I'm Yours (of course:P). The concert was in downtown San Diego so it was a bit of a drive, but totally worth it. It took place in the Spreckels theatre which is an old theatre that has tons of amazing sculpture and lighting. We were in the balcony (meaning tippy-top) so we were pretty close up there to admire the ceiling!
Here are some pics and a video of one of his new songs:
Today we had our annual pie making day for Thanksgiving tomorrow!! We made 12 pies in total, including our mini pies for breakfast in the morning! I made a key-lime pie, Carly made a pecan, Allie made apple, Nate made blueberry, my mom made a pumpkin pie and then we made two extra pumpkin pies. We experimented and made one with cream and regular milk which turned out super thick and rich. We made one that had no dairy (we used almond milk) and no added sugar, and then we made another that was completely vegan! Mini pies are amazing for breakfast, and super easy too! Usually we have extra dough and filling so we just make minis out of it, instead of throwing it out. Here are a few photos of our pie day!
Try to figure out fact or fiction with this fun Thanksgiving quiz. And you might enjoy reading this (our family read it last year before our feast; everyone around the table took turns reading a stanza).
We recently had the opportunity to go on another awesome adventure at Starr Ranch. This time learned how to track hawks using radio telemetry. We also got to hear the different calls that hawks make and saw a video of a hawk's nest with baby hawks that were born on the ranch.
Here are some interesting things we learned:
*Hawks are raptors that are diurnal.
*Owls are raptors that are nocturnal.
*Animals that are awake at dawn and dusk are called crepuscular.
*Raptors have large sharp talons and hooked beaks.
*There are around 7 different kinds of hawks at Starr Ranch.
-the ones we tracked were Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, and Cooper's Hawks
*Hawks make their nests out of sticks and often reuse nests from year to year.
*Hawks will eat rodents, birds, lizards and snakes.
*100 Disneylands can fit into Starr Ranch.
We saw these deer when we first got there.
Getting ready to collect data.
Carly using the transmitter.
Nate reading the GPS coordinates of the location of the found hawk.
I was in our backyard today with my younger sister and brother. I was doing a photo shoot of Allie when I spotted this amazing bug! From a distance it looked like a ladybug, but closer it looks a lot bigger and it doesn't seem like it has wings to me. It is about twice the size of the average ladybug and I found it on our purple cabbage plant in the garden. Here are the photos, if you know what they are please comment and tell me! Thanks!