Bona Vita

Festive Drinks For Children

Let your kids celebrate with Roy Rogers and Shirley Temple. Actually, children of all ages enjoy these refreshing drinks. They are so easy to make and a pretty addition to any party.

Shirley Temple

Fill an 8 ounce glass with crushed or cubed ice

Pour Sprite over the ice, filling about 3/4 of the glass.

Add 2 Tablespoons of Grenadine and stir.

Garnish with fresh fruit or mint sprigs.

Add fun stir sticks or umbrellas to complement your motif.

 

Roy Rogers

Just substitute the Sprite with Coca Cola and, presto, you have Roy Rogers!

I have used diet soda when it is requested with great results.

American Waffles

Deliciously fluffy waffles can be made ahead and frozen. They maintain their light fluffy nature when frozen unlike their commercial counterparts.  To reheat just pop the waffles in the toaster. This recipe was inspired by the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (the Red and White New Cook Book version).

 

Waffles

8 1/2 cups               Flour

5 tbs.                        Baking Powder

10                             Egg yolks

10                              Egg whites

8 1/2 Cups               Milk

2 1/2   Cups             Cooking Oil

1/2 tsp.                     Almond Extract

 

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a very large bowl.  Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, reserving the egg whites.  Combine the egg yolks, milk, cooking oil and the almond extract in a  large bowl and stir. Pour the milk and egg combination into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until this batter is just combined. Don't stir too aggressively. 

Now whip the egg whites until they start to form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the mixture. Be gentle and do not over mix. You need to see egg whites in the mixture after you have combined everything.

Lightly oil a traditional waffle maker and heat it per the manufacturer's instructions. When the waffle maker is ready, fill it with your waffle batter and patiently wait until the waffle maker signals it is done.

If you are freezing your waffles, cool them completely on wire racks.  Place the waffles in ziplock bags. After sealing the bags, place the waffles in the freezer. Simply pop your frozen waffles in a toaster when you are ready to enjoy them.

This recipe makes enough waffles to serve a family of 11 with many left over to freeze. You can divide the recipe according to your needs.

Enjoy your waffles with lots of creamy butter, real maple syrup, fresh fruit, and a hot cup of coffee.

 

"There's a stack of freshly made waffles in the middle of the forest! Don't you find that a wee bit suspicious?" - Shrek

For Emily (and Rachel)

 
I would love to wax eloquently (or is it wax eloquent) about life, love and spiritual matters. However, it's Saturday and I need to attend to the concrete matters of life such as cleaning the house.  But, I have made time to write down  our family's favorite cinnamon roll recipe. I did this because you two are becoming such lovely foodies!

 

Cinnamon Rolls

 

Butter two large cookie sheets or jelly roll pans and then sprinkle lightly with sugar. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Disolve 2 Tblsps of yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water, sprinkle with sugar to proof
• Scald 2 cups of milk (bubbles will just form around the edge of the milk)
• Melt 7 tblsps of shortening in the milk and then cool the mix      
•  Combine in a stand mixer:           

                                 7 - 8 cups of flour     

                                 1 tsp salt

                                 1/2 cup sugar

                                 3 eggs, lightly beaten

• Add the proofed yeast mixture and the cooled scalded milk mixture to the mixing bowl and knead one speed 2 for about 4 minutes. If you are using a Bosch mixer, knead for 6 minutes. If you are kneading by hand, knead for about 15 minutes or until you feel the dough is the correct elastic texture. This is not bread dough. It will be sticky. You are working with raw eggs so make sure you clean your work surface appropriately.
• After kneading, let the dough rise in a greased large bowl. Make sure you cover the bowl with clear plastic wrap and put it in a warm place to rise.

• While the dough is rising make the filling. Combine:

                                   1 cup of brown sugar

                                   1 cup sugar

                                   2 Tblsps Cinnamon

                                   1 cup softened butter

• After the dough has risen (double in size), divide it  into two pieces and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a 9"x 12" rectangle and spread with the filling mixture.
• Roll from the long side and cut the roll into 12 pieces. Place, cut side down on the cookie sheets.
• Let rise again for about 20 minutes
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes. Watch the cinammon rolls carefully, as you do not want to over bake these delicious wonders!
• While the rolls are baking, make the glaze:

                                 - Combine 3 Tblsps brown sugar and 2/3 cup evaporated milk in a sauce pan. Dissolve the sugar which will happen at a low boil.

                                  - Add 1 tsp of almond extract to the mixture

                                  - Place 4 1/2 - 5 cups of powdered sugar in a mixer and combine with evaporated mild mixture until a smooth glaze has formed.

When the Cinnamon rolls are done, glaze immediately and serve warm.

Enjoy!

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." - Oscar Wilde

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Ahead

It's the season of graduations. Students stand on the precipice of a new beginning. This year, Madeline is one of them. In the past, we've ordered graduation announcements from specialty stores. This year, we decided to try to print our own. First, we ordered blank two-fold graduation announcements. When they arrived, we admired the blank two-fold.

Then we drafted and scribbled and drafted and scribbled some more. Finally, the wording was just right. Our end result looked like this:

Then, it was time to format. I measured the card. I adjusted the size in Microsoft Word. We decided navy lettering was better than black. Then I pressed "Print". Then "Properties". Under the "Features" tab, I selected "Custom Size". I renamed it and plugged in the dimensions. Then I clicked "Ok". Back on the "Features" tab, I selected my newly named size under "Scale to Paper Size". I selected "Ok" again. On the main print page, I selected "Scale to paper size" and selected my newly named size again. Then I clicked "Ok". The end result was quite successful.

Franky ' s Story, Part II

After Franky had recovered from his surgery, he began speech therapy. His speech therapists used a strictly audio-verbal method. This meant that they required children to develop speech and comprehension independent of cues like lip-reading or hand signals. For some children, this works successfully. However, for Franky, it was a frustrating and fruitless process. After many long therapy sessions, he could still only elicit minimal sounds and had almost no comprehension.

We found a new therapist. She tried the same methods, still with few results. And so, one day, she suggested that we consider Cued Speech. Cued Speech is a series of a hand shapes and placements that indicate phonemes, or sounds. Cued Speech, unlike American Sign Language, is not a language at all. Theoretically, the same hand shapes could be used for a variety of different languages.

Cued Speech is used in conjunction with language to help listeners comprehend language. Cued Speech provides listeners with verbal cues, helping them distinguish between phonemes. Cued Speech has been successfully used with profoundly deaf children, as well as children with autism or other disabilities. Through Cued Speech, children without hearing have learned to speak and understand English and have been successfully mainstreamed. The same system is also used to help the speech of children using hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Although Franky already had hearing, his ability to distinguish between different sounds was not well-developed. Cued Speech would provide him with clear signals, helping him to distinguish between phonemes. And so, we began our journey with Cued Speech. Franky's speech therapist taught Mom how to correctly use the hand signals. She began to use it with Franky during his speech therapy sessions. Meanwhile, we began to use it at home.

Franky began to progress slowly, but steadily. Franky had a wonderful affinity for lip-reading; Cued Speech allowed him to use it. Slowly, Franky began to learn to speak and comprehend. When a job change forced us to move a state away, we once again began the search for a speech therapist. We found one who was willing to support our use of Cued Speech, although she was not personally familiar with the system. Franky's speech and comprehension continued to improve.

Because Cued Speech is based on phonemes, Mom was able to teach him phonics, alongside of other elementary subjects. Soon, his reading ability surpassed his speech, and he began to use his reading ability as an aid to his speech comprehension. Now, six years after he was implanted, Franky is rapidly acquiring language and comprehension.

The journey is not over. Franky's progress can still be frustrating and daunting. However, the child we live with today is far far different than the Franky of two or four or six years ago. When we look back, it is encouraging to see how far Franky has come. We can't wait to see what is in store for him, thanks to the miracles of cochlear implants and Cued Speech.

Germs Be Gone

We are a family of clean freaks. In our house, hands are washed before eating dinner, after eating dinner, before working on the computer, after touching dirty laundry, before handling food, after unloading groceries . . . and on and on and on. We also love those handy waterless cleansers. Pumps can be found in the cars, in purses, in backpacks, and in pockets.

Whenever we're out and about, we use Purell and Germ-X religiously. On long marathon road-trips where even the handles in public restrooms are suspect, they have been the life-savers. One day, though, the subtitle on one of the bottles caught my eye. "Kills 99.9% of bacteria." Most common illnesses aren't caused by bacteria, though, but by viruses.

A Great Debate began in our household over the waterless cleansers. Were they completely ineffective? Had we simply been imagining their cleansing powers? Or were they as effective as soap in warding off those creepy germs? None of us bothered to research the answer. We simply added a disclaimer as the Purell made its way around the car. "Remember . . . this isn't actually doing anything." We like to cover our bases.

The recent onset of swine flu has brought questions about cleanliness and germs to the forefront of everyone's minds. A cough or a sniffle in a public places now inspires looks of rage and panic. Teachers are carrying around bottles of Lysol. People are washing and disinfecting themselves and their children with a vengeance. It would be nice to know if those waterless cleansers worked. So, I spent some time this morning searching for an answer. This is what I found:

• The Center for Disease Control claims that alcohol-based cleansers work to prevent illness.
• Healthunit.com had a wonderful article that clarified most of my questions about waterless hand cleansers.
• WebMD performed a great study comparing the effectiveness of various cleansers.

The answer, it seems, lies partly in the alcohol. According to one article on Healthunit.com, "Alcohol kills bacteria and most viruses." So alcohol-based hand cleansers will protect users from common colds and other nasty germs. However, if the cleanser doesn't contain at least 60% alcohol, then it may be ineffective. Additionally, the article on WebMD noted that the most effective weapon against bacteria was a product called chlorhexadine gluconate (CHG). Benzethonium chloride worked most effectively against viruses.

According to WebMD's article, alchohol-based cleansers were less effective than CHG or the benzethonium choloride, though cleansers that contained ethyl alcohol still killed significant numbers of viruses. We're going to continue carrying those hand sanitizers around. Not that we had stopped.

Franky ' s Story, Part I

Franky was born into a world of silence. Stark, empty silence. He couldn't hear our clamoring voices as we held him for the first time. He couldn't hear the piano notes that drummed endlessly under the fingers of six older siblings. He couldn't even hear his own cry.

Franky's only access to the world of sound for the first three years came as he pressed his head up against walls and furniture and people. His only connection to our noisy world was through the pulses he felt a as he pressed his forehead against the piano or the floor in an attempt to feel sounds and voices.

At first, Franky's deafness went unnoticed. Adopted as an infant, Franky was diagnosed with a number of issues that  never manifested themselves. But at the age of one, Franky didn't make normal noises. He didn't try to mimic his older brothers' words. He didn't try to call for his mom. The only sound he could make was a piercing scream. His inability to hear took a toll on other areas as well.

At one year of age, Franky could barely crawl. He didn't learn to walk until he was two. He was extremely shy around strangers and terrified in crowded situations. As the first suspicions began to dawn upon Mom, an ENT told her that Franky probably simply had fluid in his ears. Surgically inserting tubes into the ears of young children is a fairly common procedure that is frequently used to solve hearing-deficiencies. But Franky had tubes put in his ears twice and even wore hearing aids for a time. Nothing worked. At three years old, Franky still could only make the simplest gurgling noises. Words like "Mama!' and "Dad!" were huge milestones. And there was no solution in sight.

So Franky went to a specialist. At three years old, Franky was diagnosed with profound deafness. For three years, he had been unable to hear the sounds around him. Hearing is measured in decibels. Franky could only hear sounds above 135 decibels. Sounds like jet engines and gunshots were the only sounds accessible to him.

A choice had to be made. We could help Franky succeed in the deaf community, using American Sign Language to communicate with those around him. Or we could give him access to the world of sound through a cochlear implant and slowly teach him to speak English.  Both paths require tremendous work. Both have passionate advocates.

We felt that, as a deaf user of ASL, Franky would only ever be able to communicate with others who used ASL. Studies show that ASL users, on average, only learn to read at a 4th-grade level, since ASL and English are entirely different languages. ASL users also find it difficult to mainstream themselves. If Franky was given access to the world of sound, though, he could learn to speak and understand English. He would have the ability to communicate with everyone around him, unhindered by language barriers.

Ultimately, we chose for Franky to be a part of our world, a world of hearing and sound and speech. And so, after months of testing, at four years of age, Franky underwent surgery at the University of Michigan. A tiny wire was implanted into the cochlea of his right ear. The wire communicated with a device that Franky wore on his head. Theoretically, Franky now had total access to the world of sound. He could hear a pencil scratching across paper, the sound of a bus down the street, and the sound of Mom's voice. But the journey was far from over.

Franky's Story, Part I is the first part in a series of blog posts detailing our family's journey through deafness. Part II will be published on Wednesday, May 6.

Visions of Sugar-Plums

I have loved peeking into so many of my blogger friends' homes this Christmas season. I am always  amazed at the elegant, creative motifs at this time of year. I have tucked away terrific new ideas hoping I might recreate these lovely embellishments in our own house . . . one year in the future.

In the mean time, I am enjoying our Christmas decorations and the lovely spirit that permeates our home and hearts . Our Christmas motif doesn't have a theme, it certainly doesn't carry a professional look, but it's cozy and warm, filled with my children's special touches. In the spirit of Christmas, we spent Sunday baking. Here is our favorite sugar cookie recipe. The almond extract adds a nice touch.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter ( 2 cubes), softened

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp lemon juice

5 cups flour

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 45 seconds. Combine sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the sugar mixture to the butter and mix until combined. Add the sour cream, almond extract, and lemon juice and mix thoroughly. Beat in the eggs. 

Now add the flour, one cup at a time and beat until blended into the mixture. You may have to mix the last cup or  2 of flour in by hand utilizing  a wooden spoon as the mixture will become very stiff. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Cover and chill for at  least 2 hours.

Working with 1 piece at a time, roll out the dough on a well floured surface to 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake in a 375° oven for 7 - 9 minutes. Do not over bake. The cookies should just start to turn golden on the edges.

Decorate with your favorite frosting and embellishments.

"Christmas was close at hand, in all his bluff and hearty honesty; it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness; the old year was preparing, like an ancient philosopher, to call his friends around him, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to pass gently and calmly away." -Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Woking In A Winter Wonderland

Our family packed up yesterday morning and headed up to our Michigan home. It was lovely drive filled with vibrant conversations, music and talk radio. Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh helped us digest bailout woes, naughty Chicago politics and the potential outcome of the Steeler - Raven game  (not that I care about the latter).

All the while I planned my menu for our soiree Saturday night. I was delighted to see the results of heavy snowfall as we inched north. Winter parties are best blanketed in billows of snow.

Our arrival home was full of adventure.   My husband, much to his delight, had to plow our drive with his beloved New Holland tractor just so that we could drive into our garage.

The house was uncomfortably chilly. We set our thermostat at 48°; thus, it takes several hours of brilliant fires and savory cooking to break the chill. Cooking and baking were only punctuated by a quick  cross-country ski adventure and a few photo ops.

I utilized my wok to saute vegetables.

I threw in the remaining Cilantro chicken  from a previous night's dinner, together with tortillas, cheese and salsa.

Then we enjoyed delicious quesadillas, fresh fruit, and a glass of Charonnay.

I relish the constancy of life up here: the rythmn of nature, the fellowship with friends, inviting fires, and the township's snow plow that never fails to flatten our mailbox.

Five Passions

I was tagged by Andrea at Embracing Him. This is a first for me. Thank you, Andrea. Reading her insights and tips has brightened my day on so many occasions. Stop over for a pleasant visit. You will be blessed by her.

Lovely acquaintances are made and nurtured in the blogging world. Andrea has instructed me to list 5 things that I am addicted to and then pass the award on to 5 blogs that I enjoy and follow. I am addicted to the following 5 things:

My family

Talking on my cell phone while driving

Food

Reading 18th- and 19th-century novels

Coffee

I am awarding the Fabulous Blog Award to these five lovely blogs:

• Ms. Tee at Delightful Home
• Amy at How Small a Whisper
• Jena at Organized Everyday
• Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Lori at Lions, Tigers, and Boys, Oh My!

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." -  I Thessalonians 5:11