Happy National Strawberries & Cream Day! 🍓 DYK strawberries are a healthy snack & full of vitamins? Adding some #Soyatoo vegan whip won't add much in calories!
— Jeannette Tomanka (@JeannetteTomnka) May 21, 2019
See my post for how to do a nice Strawberry Parfait: https://t.co/m5llV4PRaz #StrawberriesAndCreamDay #Strawberries pic.twitter.com/4vzSN12ryz
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Mom, housewife & life hacker! Corporate drudge escapee writing recipes, tips & discount alerts. Still bring home the bacon & cook it up in 101 healthy way. You’re also going to find out that I’m a total Disney geek. I don’t know if it started with the Read-Along records (“When Tinker Bell waves her wand – bbblllliiiinnnggg – turn the page!”) or the Disneyland book my grandfather gave me around age 3, but however the innoculation happened, it was very effective. I’m happy that my kids share my passion, and I’m even happier that Portland has one of the fancy-shmancy new Imagination Park Disney Stores!
Archive for Seasonal
Punxsutawney Phil at age 130
Well, here we are, February 2, Groundhog Day, that infamous day when the country looks to a large rodent to predict the weather. How did this all start? Did the folks in 1887 get tired of the weathermen always being wrong and decide a large gopher could do just as well?
Punxsutawney Phil could be Celtic, rooted in the Pagan holiday of Imbolc, when a hibernating animal casting a shadow predicted six more weeks of winter. It’s more likely that Phil is of German descent, though, with all the German settlers in that part of Pennsylvania. The German tradition holds that blue skies on February 2, Candlemas Day, predict more cold weather. Somehow the hedgehog got involved, and the myth became that if the skies were clear, a hedgehog would see his shadow. When the Germans settled in the New World, the tradition transferred to groundhogs, and in 1887, Punxsutawney Phil was born. He now lives a couple of miles outside Punxsutawney with his wife, Phyllis, and daughter, Phelicia.
What most people don’t realize is that there has only been one P.Phil. Every year he’s given a sip of Groundhog Juice, a secret recipe that gives him seven more years of life. Other fun facts about this famous rodent can be found here.
So how do we celebrate Groundhog Day? I will admit most of our traditions stem from the Bill Murray movie, which is one of our favorites, and which we watch after our dinner of leftovers (you know, the same dinner we had the previous evening). We all drink Groundhog Juice (a secret recipe, of course) for 7 more years of good life, and have a shadow-puppet show. How do you celebrate?
You may have figured out by now that we are movie-holics. We catch a few on the big screen (Pixar, 
space movies, and action movies), some we wait for the Blu-Ray, and during the summer we love to pack up the blanket and a picnic and watch movies in the park. We have a bit of a dilemma today, though, because Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder one) is showing at Wilkes Park, and The Lego Movie is at Warner Pacific College. We may be flipping a coin!!
Here’s the line-up for the rest of the season. I left out some movies that aren’t age-appropriate for my kids, but here’s a link to the full line-up.
Sunday, August 9, April Hill Park – A Bug’s Life
Thursday, August 13, Oregon Park – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
Saturday, August 15, Concordia University – Paddington (we haven’t seen this one yet – have you?)
Sunday, August 16, Arbor Lodge Park – Mary Poppins
Wednesday, August 19, Wellington Park – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Thursday, August 20, Brooklyn Park – The Wizard of Oz
Friday, August 21, Laurelhurst Park – Cinderella
Tuesday, August 25, Mt Scott Park – 101 Dalmatians
Friday, August 28, Dawson Park – Labyrinth
Saturday, August 29, Spring Garden Park – Back to the Future
Saturday, September 5, Hamilton Park – Maleficent
Sunday, September 6, Overlook Park – Toy Story
Friday, September 11, Multnomah Arts Center – Big Hero 6
Yes, I am all about spending time outdoors in the summer, but some days are just made for indoor activities – ’cause, you know, it does occasionally rain or get really hot in Portland. And occasionally there’s a movie that just demands you see it on the big screen.
Like Jurassic World. Even if you have a 60-inch TV screen at home, dinosaurs are best viewed on a theater screen (so is Chris Pratt – sorry, hubby, but it’s true). My kids have only seen Jurassic Park on the TV screen, so we were concerned about the intensity of these beasties on such a large scale. While my youngest did wrap around Daddy’s arm for some of the action, overall they were fine, and jabbered happily about the film all the way home. I would caution parents with children under 10, but for older children and adults, this movie is great fun. And by the way, it’s not necessary – and actually not recommended since they were not very good – to have seen the two sequels to Jurassic Park before seeing Jurassic World, but seeing the original is a good idea.
For all ages, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out is a must-see. The characters and visuals will appeal to all 
ages, thought the intricacies of the plot might go over the heads of viewers under the age of 13. It is quite complex as far as plots go, but handled well. I personally thought a few minutes could have been cut out to move matters along a little faster, but in all fairness, the added footage just made you love the characters more.
We haven’t made it to The Minion Movie or Pixels yet – have you? What did you think?
Ok, this guy isn’t actually in the movie, but we love love love Lego people!
I love living in Portland, but I really love summer in Portland! For one thing, my kids are out of 
school, so it’s just one adventure after another. We have a new adventure this year, directly related to summer, but it doesn’t involve a swimming pool – we’re jammin’! I stumbled upon some slow-cooker recipes for fruit jams, so we’re combining our love of cooking with our passion for the area’s fresh fruit, which I think may easily be some of the best in the world.
Which brings me to my next favorite thing about summer in Portland – the Farmer’s Markets. I’ve used this website to find markets and other sources of local produce, and we’ve also just driven around outside the city and looked for roadside peddlers. The cherries and blueberries are particularly luscious in the Northwest, and we are pretty much addicted to all things blueberry. Once we’ve made the jam, we’ll make healthy little pies (I’m going to be playing around with crust recipes, so I’ll get back to you on that), toaster pastries, and whatever else we can think of.
So, back to the jam. This is apparently not a new idea, but it’s new to me – so I’m excited!!! The kids are really looking forward to making their own jam – and they’re picking out our soundtrack so we can jam while we’re jammin’! Here are some of the recipes I’m looking over:
This site has several recipes, including one for blueberry butter! YUM!
I like the look of this one because it has the word “riesling” in the name.
I may try this one with riesling, too, just because. One comment on this recipe suggested not peeling the peaches. Works for me…I mean, less work for me!
I’ll let you know how this works out, once we get the fruit. If you try it before we do, we want details!
The secret to making jam is not to eat all the fruit before you cook it!
Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits, and they are the quintessential fruit of lazy summer days! Today is National Strawberry Parfait Day as described by the mysterious powers-that-be, so I recommend that everybody celebrate this with their families like I do!
Depending on how you make it, Strawberry Parfait can actually be pretty healthy!
One can create the beautiful layers using frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, and with graham cracker crumbs diluted down with granola and whipped cream. If you’re going increasingly plant-based diet as I am, you could use an almond milk ice cream or coconut milk based ice cream, and I’ve just discovered this really great soy-based “whipped cream”: Read More→
About Me
Housewife and DIY mommy blogger! Corporate drudge escapee writing recipes, tips & discount alerts. Still bring home the bacon & cook it up in 101 healthy ways. 🙂
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