21st Anniversary Trip!!!

We celebrated our 21st Wedding Anniversary and went south!  Every time we go to Sarasota, Florida, we are again reminded how much we love it there!!!!  Easy flights there and home!  Good food!  Sandy beaches but we had COLD weather this trip.  Florida is just supposed to be warm and balmy always right?  Well, not this trip.  Sadly, we lived in our winter coats as we walked the beach and streets of St. Armands Key but the sun was shining and we were not shoveling snow!!!!!  We did need our sunglasses, we ate yummy foods and more importantly, Mike and I spent four days straight with just the two of us!!!!   

We boarded the plane early Friday morning.  Mom came and helped get the kids off to school and then the kids spent the rest of the time at Ava's house one night and at Matt and Lenas the rest of the time!  We are so blessed to have a good place for them to stay while we travel!  We boarded the plane and pulled out to the runway but had to turn around and go back because there was something not right with the switch board.  ????  We went back to the airport, everyone got off the plane, waited a few hours for a tire repair to be done on another plane, boarded again and we took off for the south!  We arrived late and sick of wearing our masks all day long but we arrived safe and sound!  Thank you Jesus!

Foods are so good in Florida!  Mike and I walked through the streets in Downtown Sarasota and visited the farmers market on Saturday morning.  It was cold and windy and we walked fast!

The first meal was at Venezia Italian Restaurant.  We shared pizza and salad!  This was the first Mike heard of a Shirley Temple drink (spirit with cherry syrup added) and liked it!  

Of course, I had to grab us some fresh fennel to eat while we were there!  And we got some guacamole and ceviche.

 

After walking the market streets, we rushed indoors to get of the cold windy streets and warmed up with breakfast at First Watch!  It was so delicious!  The lemon ricotta pancakes with eggs Benedict was fantastic!  

We stayed at the Holiday Inn at Lido Beach.  Our room faced the beach and we had pretty sunsets to gaze at each night!

It was too cold to sit out on the beach but with the door open and sitting right inside our motel room, the sun felt really good!  We did walk the beach but didn't touch the water.

We love to drive around the Sarasota area together.  We rented a Tesla and drove out to Anna Marie Island!  We stopped and walked around.  A fresh bag of hot tortillas chips went with us back and we ate them with our guac and ceviche.  Mike also found chocolate baklava that he loved!

We went back for round two the next morning and ate again at First Watch!  It is so amazing!  Mike is on a gluten and dairy free diet right now and so when I told him macaroons are gluten free, we grabbed some of them at the circle while walking around!  The basil white chocolate was my favorite!

And yes, I had to do laundry because we were living in our long sleeves and sweatshirts.  So much for the shorts and tank tops this trip!

I found this perfect sand dollar on the beach for Ashlyn!

We couldn't wait to watch the Chiefs play football on Sunday afternoon!  We wished to be out on the beach, in a tiki hut watching the game but the weather was tough on us and instead we opened up our motel door again and let the sun beat in on us while we watched the game inside!  

At half time, we took a quick walk on the beach.  I was laughing to see the seagulls looking cold too! 

We wiped a tear when the Chiefs lost by going in overtime but it was a good game!  Such a good game to watch again!  St. Armands Key had an art gallery show that took over the circle over the weekend.  Mike and I walked from one exhibit to the next and picking out our favorite arts pieces.  It felt good to walk in the sunshine!  We ate dinner at Crab and Fin and grabbed more macaroons and hot coffee on the way back to our room!  Florida is so fun even if it's chilly!  The main reason we went on this trip is to just spend time together ... talking, laughing and wishing for warmer weather!  Monday morning arrived so soon and we grabbed a coffee at the Postal Cafe and a breakfast wrap, said hello and goodbye to Mom Lapp and Mommy D. and headed to the airport to fly home to our kids!  Austin was in tears a few times while we were away and really couldn't wait for us to come back home!  Matthew and Ashlyn seem to be fine with us going on short trips!  

Another short delay at the airport but we had a safe flight and now we are back home in the snow, ice and bitter cold tempts.

Anniversary trips have not always looked like this for us over the years.  Some years, we chose to just do dinner and spend the night out but stay local.  It is harder to get away with small children but the past few years, Mike and I planned away trips and they are so fun!  We love to travel together!  We love warm places in January!  We love to go but it's always good to be back home with the family!

Mike rushed off to Matthew's basketball game while I went to pick up Austin at his basketball practice.  Ashlyn went with me and we all got home later last night!  Austin was so happy to have us back home!  He said, "I just want to hug you and hug you!"  

Thank you Mom, Lena and Ruthie for watching our littles while we were away!  You are the best!

I LOVE YOU BABE!!!!  Happy anniversary!

Sourdough.

 I have wanted to learn more about sourdough but ever since I was given my first starter, I have been baking with it and using it but not really trying new recipes.  This winter, I would like to keep working on this art of sourdough, so here goes!  

The one thing that I had to get in my head was, I have to plan ahead!  I don't really like this part of sourdough because I'm way to much the type to be "Oh, homemade bread would be great with our meal tonight!  Let's make some!"  That's not the way it is with real sourdough.  I did get a four hour sourdough bread recipe from my cousin but it's not fermented like real sourdough normally is, it just uses starter in the recipe.  

The past few weeks, there have been some fun sourdough recipes posted on Instragram and from ladies I know personally!  That always makes me believe that I can make it too!  😃

Roseanna Witmer, friend from church, shared her sourdough English muffin recipe and I was saving all her photos and tips!  She's the one that gave me a starter from our sourdough and it's because of her that I know anything about this kind of baking.  She inspired me to try it!  And I've made numerous round breads from her starter already!  I do have to admit that I took what she gave me and just did it.  No extra Youtube watches, etc.  Oh yeah, I did purchase a beginners book on sourdough that I do really like and have referred to that a lot!  

I mixed my first sourdough English muffin recipe last week and here's how they turned out!  The dough was a bit sticky but the taste was delicious!

Another church friend, Clarita Yoder, shared a recipe that looked amazing and because she had it step by step, I tried that too.  However, my dough didn't rise a bit.  Nothing!  I mixed the dough, left it set overnight and according to her photo's there should have been a nice risen dough!  So, I asked her for some new starter and tried again!  I think maybe my other starter was not being fed correctly.  I still have it and hope to bring it back to full potential!

Sure doesn't look like a nice rise to me!!!!  🤨

So I try again.

This looks better!  This is a sourdough chocolate twist.  Again, I did it step by step and it turned out pretty!

I made another batch of English muffins!  These turned out better than my first and had a much better rise!

These really are easy to make!  Step by step and taste great!

There's much to learn about sourdough and I'm by far not the expert but I'm working at it!!!  

Winter time is a fun time to learn things like this!  What will be my next recipe I will try?

He passed! Now driving solo.

 It's January and it's cold.  We had another dusting of snow this morning but not enough to delay school and Little Man was disappointed about that.  The tempts are to be below freezing tonight and for the weekend and that might mean Matthew will be out skating again with his friends.  Last weekend he was skating Saturday night, went snowboarding Sunday and then skated again Sunday night.  His lungs must feel amazing with all that cold air flowing through them.  I asked if he doesn't get cold and he said not if you play hockey!

While he's outside in the cold, I'd much rather be inside our warm and cozy home finishing up the puzzle!!!  It's complete.  Which one next?

Sunday afternoon I grabbed my seeds magazine from last year and started dreaming about the garden.  There's a few things I would love to add to the garden this year!  Maybe some fruit trees?  Maybe some preannuals?  For sure lots more flower seeds!  More lavender plants!  I'm dreaming and made a quick list of seeds and plants I want to grow.  One thing I did learn while researching seeds is that there is two different kinds of fennel.  I grew fennel the past two years in hopes of eating the white bulb of the plant that we all love so much!  The plant did great and grew taller than Ashlyn but never got a nice bulb in the ground.  I just read that there are two different kinds of fennel and I want to make sure I find Florence this year to plant and maybe that will give me the final result I wish for!

School projects are never so fun but only because the kids end up waiting till the last minute and then they suddenly need tons of glue, paper and display boards.  This time the kids did their projects all alone and had it done by fair day!  Good job!

Houston Cafe is a new cafe nearby and friends of ours own it!  Mom and Jody met me there for breakfast the other morning and it was all so delicious!  The hot chocolate was so tasty!  The poached eggs, salmon and avocado on top of a sourdough English muffin was delicious!  I can't wait to go back!!!!!

I stocked up on groceries earlier in the week and I love to fill up the vegetables and fruits!  The kids have a new favorite granola bar that was introduced to them by Austin's basketball team snack.

We love all the Florida fresh fruits you can buy right now!!!!

And whenever fennel is to be found, I buy it!  We love this vegetable!

Our slow pace of winter is so great!  We have many evenings right here at home and love to snuggle and watch the new Magnolia Network Show or football or read.  Basketball has our first priority of events though!  Matthew is the captain of his team this year and they are playing great!  No losses so far!  Mike and I drove to the Berks game on Tuesday night and we love watching this team play the game so well!!!!

 

I made sourdough English muffins for the first time this week!  They turned out yummy but a little flat!  I thought my dough seemed a bit sticky and I can't wait to make them again!  They were easy to make and a simple recipe to follow!  As I mixed the dough the night before, Matthew and Mike were sitting by the kitchen bar watching me.  Matthew can't figure out why you would go to so much bother if you can just buy English muffins.  The next day, he benefited by eating a big boy egg sandwich before heading off to take his drivers test.

He practiced some parallel parking by using the dumpster and off we went for his driver test.  On the way there, I was reminding him where the lights are, hazards lights and telling him to watch his speed on the back development streets because usually they are low speed limits.  He finally said, "Mom, I think you are more nervous than me."  Enough said.  It didn't take long at all for him to take his drivers test!  He passed and said it was easy!  He's now driving solo.

Kids grow up too fast!  It just seems like yesterday that Matthew was my little side kick when Hadassah started school.  Now he's growing into a man right before my eyes and playing basketball with all his heart.  He's breaking school records, leading the team so well, sweating off some bad orders and thriving in life.  He loves his friends!  Now, he's off driving by himself!!!  No more 'pick me ups' or 'drop me off'.  You know, you do get to this place because there does comes a time to drive solo but there he goes.  "Lord, keep him safe!"  I'm so proud of him!  

And then last night he comes home after playing some hockey at Justin's house.  He walked in and asked if I could make him two turkey apple butter sandwiches?  It was 9:45 PM!  Two sandwiches!  I looked at him and said, "What happened to you?"  He laughed and said he got hit by a hockey stick in the eye and fell down and got a bad scrape on his arm.  I'm so glad it's nothing too serious and this morning he went to school with a shiner of an eye and a bruised up arm!

The one to three inches of snow that was predicted for today, wasn't much.  The roads were wet this morning and it didn't start snowing till around 7 AM.  It was one of those moments where you think "is school going to have a delay or not?"  Not today but the snow was pretty while it fell on the magnolia leaves outside our house!

The house got cleaned today and we are ready for another freezing weekend!  Tempts are dropping low tonight and staying that way all weekend.  We have more basketball games to cheer at this weekend and I can't wait for it!

Happy January winter days, friends!