sitting on the walk

I realized Rachel no longer need her car seat for walks. How fun is the world when you can see it better. How great is this smile.

Praying mantis

It was in our laundry area last night. How cool. It wasn't the normal green kind....preparing for autumn?

Tummy sleeping

Rachel is really funny. She likes sleeping on her tummy. You can start her wherever but she will flip to her tummy. The funny part is that when I put her down for the night give her a few minutes ann she is on her tummy and her knees. She is sleeping with her knees tucked under how funny??

first scare

Rachel and me had our first scare. She has been getting pretty wiggly so I have set up a play square of blankets on the floor. Our floors are pretty hard so I layer. Anyway I still put her on the couch with me when she is fussy for company. Tonight she was next to me on the couch and I turned to get a sip of my drink and she managed to wiggle off. It wasn't very far but it was a bit traumatic for both of us. I guess she is a permanent resident of the floor now. She also managed to wiggle enough while on the floor to get a receipt when I wasn't looking and chew on it for a minute without me noticing it. She is starting to get around a bunch!

park video

Just a clip of Rachel on her blanket.

day in the park

It was a really nice day yesterday overcast and cool. It rained pretty fierce and then clared up again for the late afternoon and evening. I took Rachel out and she enjoyed being on the quilt sarah made for her for awhile.

Mother sauces

I have been teaching myself about the mother sauces in a quest to better understand and master cooking, sometimes they refer to the four mother sauces and sometimes five. I have seen mayonnaise or vinaigrette as a sixth sometimes but here is what I learned.

The mother sauces date back to the early 1800's when a frenchman by the name of Antonin Careme categorized all sauces as coming from five "mother sauces" they are as follows:

1. Bechamel-a white sauce

2. Veloute - a blond sauce

3. Espagnole- a brown sauce

4. Hollandaise- a buttery sauce

5. Tomato - a red sauce

If you look at the actual recipe for these sauces you would be amazed at how often you are using them and not even realizing it. The first three use a roux as a basic part which is really cool to know. Roux=1 part flour+1 part fat(usually butter)