Grogger Blog I - Chicagrog

Guest post by our good friends, Benita and Bobbert Grogger, about their most recent trip to Chicago.

These opinions are not necessarily those of J-K-X-Y or our parent companies.  Nor is their exclamation point use policy.

Benita:
We went to Chicago.

Bobbert: 

It was horrifying! we got eaten by a T Rex, and got stepped on by the Hulk.

 

 

 

I know! And the zoo was so cool!

 I took a trip in a saber tooth tiger's digestive system!

So first we went to the T Rex pen.

There were 25 of them but I think they were starved.

And it was skin and bones.  Well, minus skin.

So, we didn't get digested when we were eaten.

And it almost ate us, and its breath was really, really, hot.

I just said that! Plus, its breath was gnarly!

And then, we went to the saber tooth tiger den! And it ate Bobbert!

Ever since then Xavi thinks I am Germanish Potatoish.

And then we saw a bear.

It break danced on my head.

It was taller then 5 Ysabela's!!!!!!!!!

And that's grooving tall.

It really knew how to break dance.

And lions were in the zoo too.

They were green.

Oh my gosh! They were!

And there was hair in its mouth. No wait, thats the one Mr. Stream
said was in front of the library.  Ysabela told me about it.

I thought they were German Potatoish.

What??!!!!

And then, a comic book shop!

And I read a book. Not much for me there.

But lots for me!

Go on....

There were all the essentials of the Avengers, and Power Man! 

They had millions of action figures, and the highest price was $20.00. 

There was lot's of my favorite comic book story lines, and it was awesome!

No German potatoes?

No. But there was Hulk.

Didn't you get stepped on?

Yeah! he was doing it for free!!

And Spider-Man! Thwip!

How old is your grandson?

What??!!

Lets talk about the Palmer House.

Okay...

We rode the escalator 15 times!

And we slept a lot. And watched a really bad T.V. show.
Xavier hated it, but wanted it on. Make of this what you like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lets quit talking about the lame stuff, and get on to the Griffins!

Oh yeah, there was some really cool Griffins, standing on a door that wasn't there any more.

And they spat at us.

They spat on YOU, and they were golden, that has to mean something, right.

Kittens.

Are you falling asleep or something?

There were kittens at the art mueseum, remember?

Oh yeah! The green kittens that escaped from the zoo!

And there was an awesome Matisse exhibit.

And then, there was modern art!!!!

We had to witness: Its making!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Its true! That darn Calvin tricked me!

Do you need a nap? I'm getting worried about you.

It's okay, I'll be napping on the way home.

Speaking of the way home, we went to Wonder Land with Alice,
and grew and shrank and grew and shrank and..... well, you get the idea.

Five thousand billion trillion...

Okay, you need a nap. We're going.  Say goodbye, Bobbert.

Bye, Bye, Bobby!

X=10

Or is it 110? Archivists have turned up this interesting little picture. Looks pretty familiar...

Actually, he got to go to DeWitt Schoolhouse and see how a turn of the century (20th) school worked.  They wrote on slate with pieces of chalk, cleaned the erasers by clapping them together, played new/old games at recess, arithmetic in math class, etc.  Xavier was singled out as having nice typical school clothes, but you'd change when you got home for chores.  If you went to school in chore clothes, the teacher would think you were behind on your work.

<---The full effect.

Of course, the major holiday around Memorial Day is Xavier's birthday.  We had visits from the Meyer clan, Aunt Liza and Mason.  Desserts by Design, one of our favorite local places, made a Batman: Brave and the Bold cake that was "in one of my favorite poses, with my favorite filling, and it was awesome."

How can both kids be double digits?

Coming soon:  groggers blog?

Haiti

Partners in Health is still doing great things in Haiti, but there's another organization we're trying to support now.

The What If? Foundation was started by a woman Karen knows, Margaret Trost, but she sees herself as just funding the Haitians to be self sufficient.

PBS recently ran a great story covering the two organizations efforts.



It's been very nice to see that Xavier in particular has taken this to heart, and prays for the Haitians every night.

Spring Catsup

We have been so delinquent! Sorry. When your instantaneous communication is slow, there's nobody to blame but yourself.

This will be mostly just pictures. What was up?

St. Patrick's Day with the traditional Corny Beef.

In some of our Pretties spring weather everything was Bubbly.

Some startling new science about Grand Haven. Click on the investigator's illustrations to spy all the surprising geological features.

Eggs were colored in the surprising shadeof cats, butterflies, Spider-Man, and the questionable Deadpool. Plus some actual Easter eggs, go figure.







So, this happened:

In what has become a family holiday, Free Comic Book Day was celebrated. The 501st showed up at Lange's, and our favorite Star Wars family showed up. Troopers seemed surprisingly friendly towards the rebel scum. Xavier was surprised to see one of his Tae Kwon Do chums there.



















Scott Rozema generously drew a picture for each of the Goldens in attendance. Match the picture with the recipient.

Hulk Bela

Blackbolt John

Harlequin Xavi

Somewhere along the way a Blue Stripe was obtained.












Recently, we did a whirlwind Chicago visit. The Matisse exhibit was amazing - really taught you about his crucial experimental period. Graham Crackers was visited, but for the first time, didn't snag Xavier's budget. Lego Store, Heaven on Seven and the Field Museum filled up the rest of the whirlwind itinerary. The Mammoth and Mastodon exhibit at the Field is definitely worth your time.

Now that's a Mother's Day shot!

Coming soon: an exciting new JKXY feature! Want a hint? What's full of beans and surprisingly noisy?

Wait, that's a terrible clue...

Madeline La Framboise

The Fifth Grade at Ferry does a special project each year: the Wax Museum. Students choose and research a historical figure and put together a verbal presentation that they then get to give dozens of times to other Ferry students and parents.

Our Miss Bela went off-list and presented Madeline La Framboise. She is an interesting figure from Mackinac Island and Grand Haven history. I'd tell you more, but why not get it from the furrier's mouth...

Lard

So Karen has become a lard rendering maven, on her way to expert status. Here's the video that started us off:

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp0QIo7OOBw

Lard-the most misunderstood of fats.

Home Rendering: Zarela’s Home Rendered Lard

Start with unsalted, frozen lard. We get ours from Creswick Farms, where it is called leaf lard. Cut it into small cubes. Can do this in the oven, but on the stove top you can see the three stages.

• Clear - very white and clear,good for anything you would use butter for, even frosting.
• Yellow (amarilla) - uses for making breads or non-delicate uses of oil and butter.
• Asiento - can spread on tortillas, or use with savory dishes. Has more of a pork flavor.

Cube into 1/2 in size. Be sure to carefully trim any remaining meat if you're doing this for baking. Add to pan. 15 to 20 min, then pour off fat slowly. (Helps to have someone else.) We use a 7-8 setting on the electric range (medium high). It's a judgment call when to pour off, we're still experimenting. You can always pour off more frequently and then combine by color.

Use a strainer or slotted spoon to return any cracklings to the pan. Return to the stove for the second stage. After about 15 min more, pour off separately.

Return to the stove. The bits of lard left will form pork rinds or cracklings - chicharrones. When these turn golden brown and are not reducing anymore, pour off the third stage of lard. This is the stage with the strongest smell, and if you’re not interested in the chicharrones or asiento lard, you can skip it.

2 pounds of lard gives about a pint of clear and a pint of amarillo. And close to a pint of asiento, if you keep going.

CINNAMON ROLLS - Dairy/Soy/Nut free
Dough

2 1/4 tsp yeast

3 cups bread flour

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 c warm oat bran milk to avoid dairy/soy allergy. (2/3 warm milk 1/3 c warm water if not)

3 Tbs lard ( I did a bit more)

Make the dough, raise once. (We use bread machine on dough mode.)

Filling
1/4 c sugar
2 Tbs cinnamon
1/3 c olive oil or melted lard

Roll dough out to about 16"x12" rectangle. Cover with oil or melted lard. Spread cinnamon mixture evenly. Roll up to make a 16" tube. Slice in 1.5" wide slices to make rolls. Raise a second time in roll form. Bake at 350 degrees 20 to 25 minutes (stay close to oven at 20 minutes)

Frosting
1/2 cup of room temp lard whipped until almost twice its size.
2 cups confectioners sugar (or more to taste) added slowly, while whipping at slow to medium speed
3 tsp of Vanilla

If your frosting is too thick, add oat milk, a tablespoon at a time, and whip thoroughly in. Adjust sugar to taste. Karen is willing to go up to 4 tsp vanilla (or more to taste) and a tsp of imitation almond extract. (Imitation to avoid nut allergies.)

Or you can make a drizzle kind of frosting with just oat milk, confectioners sugar and vanilla.

Pi

Every year, in honor of Pi Day, the Math and Stats Club runs a Pi your Professor contest.  I am a perpetual also-ran, but this year - I think through the combined efforts of Leah W and Paul F - I won handily.  The club raised $150 in total, so that's a win.  But you probably want to see...  (Click for full size.)

It was cherry.