Camren Colley - Easter, 2009

Here are some pictures of Camren in Lubbock, Texas enjoying Easter, 2009!

How to Organize an Easter Dinner

Camren's Newest Picture

Happy Easter!

This blog is dedicated to the preparation and serving of the Easter meal prepared by Patti Greene on April 12 2009! Understand that I don't consider myself a cook. In fact, I am a "Celebration Cook." I like cooking for family gatherings, but not for every day cooking. So, I would like to share with my family how this meal was put together, and maybe---just maybe you will get some hints on how to make an Easter dinner or any dinner for that matter in the future.

1. First you need to think about what you want to serve. I looked through cookbooks (color pictures ones mostly) and the Internet. My final recipe consisted of...
a. Appetizer - Chips, French onion dip, Hot sauce, and Deviled eggs
b. Salad - Green salad, and Fruit cup
c. Smoked Ham, Raisin sauce, Marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole,Twice-baked potatoes, Savory peas, and Corn.
d. Thick homemade bread and Corn bread (courtesty of Grandmother)
e. Drinks - Iced-tea, Coffee, Coke in a bottle, Diet coke, and water
f. Pies - Apple pie, Sugar free apple pie, Sugar free blueberry pie, and Peach pie (courtesy of Grandmother and Melissa) and ice-cream

2. I had my recipes all together and I made my grocery shopping list.





3. Two days before Easter, I set the table.



Just joking. My table wasn't that pretty, but mine was cute. See below.



4. The day before Easter, I tried to make as much as I could, starting with the sweet potato casserole. (Oh, I made the deviled eggs too.)



5. I then prepared as much of the salad as I could, i.e. I washed and cut the lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cucumbers. I put them in plastic bags to keep fresh until Easter Day.



6. I decided I could cut up all the fruit cup except for the apples and bananas, so I did that on Saturday. I cut up the kiwi, orange, strawberries, and grapes. Again, I bagged them to keep them fresh.



7. I cut the pats of butter - I sliced the lemon - I made the raisin sauce - I made the twice-baked potatoes - I brewed the tea the day before. However, I had to wait until Easter to make the peas and corn.



9. Now it is Easter. We went to Saturday night church, so we were all rested on Easter morning. Grandmother and Grandfather came over. They are sitting on the couch eating their appetizers.



10.You can see me in the kitchen wearing my new apron from "The Bib Shoppe" (www.bibshoppe.com). I love it. It fits so nice, and I love the pockets in the front.



11.We ate the salads first, then we proceeded to the buffet line.





12.After the main course, we all had some pie (with ice-cream.) Yum.




13.After dinner, we go and hang out in the family room. Jimmy opens his birthday presents. Jimmy has come to love the old-time Coca Cola - in a bottle that is.



14. If you look, you can see Jimmy's Easter basket. It consisted of random things like bandaids, highlighters, notepads, toothbrush, etc. I think he was disappointed there wasn't any candy in there, but I didn't think he would want it.



15. And now Jimmy can start his 23rd year with 2 new shirts and 2 new pairs of shorts!



16. Then, we all sit around tired from all the calories we have eaten.



It was a good Easter. It would have been a perfect Easter if the entire family was there, but we will take who we can get.

Happy Easter everyone.

P.S. Sorry, no pics of dad. He was the photographer.

Patti

Easter is Coming!

Hi Everyone,

Well, Easter is on the way. I am cooking at my house. Jimmy, mom, dad, Chuck, Melissa, Michael, Madeleine, John, and I will be here. I really wish Jennifer and Coby and John and Danielle were going to be here. I enjoy it so much when the entire family is together - that is why I like Christmas so much. It seems that is the only time we are all together.

It is only Good Friday, and I have already set most of the table for Easter Dinner! Okay, the glasses aren't on the table yet, and yes, the table will look better when the entire family is around and there is food on the table, but here is a preview. Just pretend what it will be like.



Today, we waited for Victor Lopez to show up and give us an estimate on a back patio. He was supposed to arrive at 10:00 a.m., but since he didn't show up by 10:45 a.m., we decided to go and do our errands - a trip to the new outlet mall at 290; a stop off at a home decorating store; Garden Ridge; Mardel's (yes a new Mardel's opened near Fry Road on Monday); Hobby Lobby; and Kroger for our Easter food! Yum, we are having ham, corn, peas, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, twice-baked potatoes, salad, fruit cup, bread, and pies! The pies will be loaded with candles to celebrate Jimmy's 23rd birthday too. Anyway, the big thing was our trip to the Coach store. John bought me a Coach purse today. Jimmy got me hooked on Coach purses after buying two fake ones for me when he was in NYC. But, I longed for the real thing. I am so happy to get one now. Which one do you think is the real one?



If you guessed the one on the right, you are correct. Don't you just love it?



Above is the picture of John buying me my first "real" Coach purse! He looks good buying me stuff, doesn't he?

Other things I did today were putting more pics of Camren on the refrigerator, and taking a picture of the blanket that Carole Olivero made for Camren. Yes, Jen, that means a THANK YOU NOTE!



Well, gotta run and watch my favorite show - Friday Night Lights! It is amazing that I love that show when I don't even like football.

Patti

Mongolia - Dinner at New York Pizzeria - April 7, 2009

Hi Y'all,

John and I received a postcard in the mail last week inviting us to dinner at the New York Pizzeria in the Westgreen Gardens Shopping Center. CTW LifeQuest Mongolia was inviting us to attend an evening of food, fellowship and fun with some Mongolian guests, Norjin, Davaasuren, and Chimgee. CTW LifeQuest Mongolia is the organization that Jerry and Susan Smith operate in Mongolia ministering to the Mongolian people. They run an orphanage in the country that is well recognized by the Mongolian government. The children in the orphanage have been thriving both physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The reason we were invited is because John, Jennifer, and Jimmy went to Mongolia on a mission trip about 6 years ago! It was a very interesting evening and I want to share some pictures from our evening and about Mongolia. Enjoy.











So, just in case I have sparked your interest in Mongolia, I am posting an overview about the country from ABC CLIO World Geography below!

The north-central Asian nation of Mongolia (sometimes called Outer Mongolia) lies landlocked between Russia to the north and China to the south, east, and west (Inner Mongolia is part of China). Mongolia's semi-arid southeastern plain, which extends into the Gobi Desert, sweeps upward into vast steppes where extremely severe winters (known locally as zud) frequently kill livestock, the Mongolian people's most important resource. The nation has what is called a "continental climate"—wide temperature ranges in a single day, very cold winters, cool to hot summers, and little rainfall (Mongolia averages about 250 sunny days per year). Parts of the country can get as hot as 107°F in the desert, though in general temperatures range between about 20°F and 71°F nationwide. More than 90% of Mongolians are Khalkh Mongols, but this majority has no grievance with the country's indigenous ethnic groups, which mainly include a small Turkic (mostly Kazakh) minority. The Mongols, who are mostly Tibetan Buddhists, speak Khalkha Mongol, while the Muslim Kazakhs speak a Turkic-based language. (Atheism was the official state policy toward religion under the communist regimes that ruled from the 1930s to the 1980s.) Mongolia's population of almost 3 million people only sparsely inhabits its vast rural stretches. Less than 50% of the people live in the country's few cities. The capital and largest city, Ulan Bator, is located in the northeastern section of Mongolia's harsh, rugged terrain.

Chat later.

Patti

Pictures come from Patti's IPhone or ABC-CLIO World Geography