Muder Ballads and Lies... and visual artists

In case you were wondering who the mastermind for my visual effects and printing was http://www.twilightprinting.com/clients.cfm

Recording

I'm a compulsive picture taker. Why do I have pictures of us eating sandwiches or being goofy at camp? Well, I once heard that if an alien was to collect the videos and photographs from all over Earth they would think that we live on beaches, with cakes and candles, in suits and with babies and that life started at 0 and went to 12 with an entirely different group of pictures from 18 to 25 and then strange older people. You know what I mean? So I try to take pictures of all the neat stuff that might not be important. The aliens would know we ate sandwiches. Here are pictures of us recording.

Welcome to America

I'm an ambassador! Of course, after a thorough discussion of gun safety and shotguns, and showing Maeve the mechanisms and how the gun was not loaded, and there were no shells anywhere in sight ( I have to do this disclaimer, my father is an NRA instructor). We took these pictures.

So here is the deal. As I see it, Jason and I are quintessential Americans. We are mutts, we love country music, we are facinated by religion, history and the lot of academia, we play and sing everything, we make jam-wine-cheese, we garden and knit and read read read... so why not bring your foreigners to our house for a quick lesson in America. Krysta Dennis (local singer-songwriter-Notre Dame French Professor) went to Paris to study for a while and met Maeve, a lovely Irish girl. They are great friends. Maeve came to America to tour around and her next stop is Nashville. Incidentally, if you have a couch in between here and somewhere else in America, email me your # for Maeve.

Boggs 4th of July CD News

Yes, that's a cat in a guitar case. Cat's outta the bag. Brand new CD to be recorded this summer. "Murder Ballads and Lies" features traditional tunes, banjo and mountain dulcimer, and new country inspired ditties... gypsies, forest fires, Ohio, even a song about succession. Oh and I guess my "honey-smooth-croon" a description from some review that I can never run away from. Why don't you buy my last CD so you know what you're getting into? See the Rev Records label, etc here: http://www.therevrecs.com/artists_lauraboggs.html

What is the french word for the person in the restaurant that makes thee soup?

My new favorite sentence in french, Je ferais mieux de m'arrêter. Il est dangereux de conduire dans cette purée de pois.

Pea soup day part II

Dave asked me where I got my spicy pea soup recipe. Page 213 of this cookbook! It's also great because it can be made vegan ( just take out the butter, and don't add cream at the end). We did it during Lent and it worked. I also love the emphasis on BEANS and the many environment, waistline, and wallet conscious recipes.

I'll show you how I adapt it for the crock pot:
The night before I put all the ingredients (except the water) into a crock pot. Then in the morning Jason just throws in the water and it starts cooking (on low, 8 hours, but more doesn't hurt it).

5 tsp. bouillon powder
1lb dried green split peas (though you could use lentils if you want)
2 Tbs butter
1/2 cup chopped onion ( I just cut up whatever onion i have around, more doesn't hurt it)
1 clove garlic finely chopped(I use like 5... but I'm a garlicy gal)
1 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper ( I use a whole tsp... but we love hot stuff in this house)
add some salt if your bouillon isn't salty enough for you

* I also like to sneak in cayenne... but I sneak a big pinch into most things I cook...

then just add 10 cups of water (or 5 cups of water, and 5 cups of veggie or chicken broth if you want to eliminate the bouillon) and plug in your crock pot on low all day. When you get home add1/2 c light cream or milk. Jason sometimes purees it with an immersion blender. But you don't have to.
I like to smash a bunch of saltines into my bowl... yum yum yum!

What does your fortune say?

This book speaks to me. Maybe it is because the author reminds me of a Chinese-American Bill Bryson or maybe it's because I secretly want a numeral as my middle name. For those who are not so secretly obsessed with winning the lottery, ethnic identity, and food- this is a great book.

Pea soup day

I love my crock pot and making spicy pea soup. Today looks like pea soup. The trees look like pea soup... the river looks like pea soup. I feel like "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"

Street view maps

Do you know how Google makes those street view maps? They use cars like these. I met one at a gas station, it let me take its picture.

Interesting Party

So here is the story of this Saturday. Jason and I invited some friends over. The boys' fishing/cheese/sausage party was balanced by some lovely ladies that came out that day. First, we assembled, then the boys fished. Then we ate pulled pork, cornbread and more sausage and cheese.Then came the musical instruments and the wacky fun.

And by wacky, I mean that several people could have been horribly maimed-- though there were no fireworks or explosives involved this time. While making the cornbread, Jason was warned not to touch his hands (that had just touched hot peppers) to his eyes... or " [his] feet"
"His feet?" we asked...
"Yes, his feet... they will start to burn."
"Surely you jest."
"No, it's true."

So later we taste tested our infused strawberry vodka. It was great. The strawberries that had infused the vodka were taste tested by all-- they were lethal. So we had two strawberries left. I dared Adrian to eat them. He refused. I offered to give him a dollar if he ate them. He refused. I told him that I would rub a hot pepper on my foot if he would eat the strawberries. There were no grownups in the room to advise us not to do this.

I rubbed the pepper on my foot. It was, days later, still warmer than my other foot. But other than that, there was no painful effects. He ate the strawberry and it was a pretty good time had by all. Cayenne pepper can help with poor circulation in your feet though.

Then we played with a boomerang and it got stuck in the tree. Matt knocked it out with a hatchet tied to a rope ( I know, cringe, many people could have been injured in this activity).

Then... if that wasn't enough... they sharpened knives and then one person shaved their arm with the knife.

THEN... if the sharp, spicy, alcoholic dangers weren't enough, they decided to make cheese.

Though the cheese making process for mozzarella and ricotta is not difficult, we are sure that one could very easily create a biological weapon. But it was good. And we all went home happy.

Knock on wood there were no headlines the next day, "Teacher maimed in bizarre accident." "Librarian says, 'it seemed like a good idea at the time.'"

Cool hats

We have cool hats that we got at the Old Songs Festival.

Congrats Sam and Janice!

Dr Figity Dixieland band and an outdoor wedding. How sweeeeet. Sam and Janice gave me some wedding envy.

Plus they had purple damselflies all over the place... did you know the difference between a damselfly and a dragonfly is that damselfly wings go back, dragonfly wings are perpendicular to their bodies.

On the news

We saw the green screens and all the lights and cameras! We had fun!

Cat Cuddle

You knew I was a sap. I am making greeting cards from some of my cat pictures. Here is a cat huggle.

Instrument Addiction

You know that I have long coveted the dulcimer. You also know that of my two addictions (shoes and musical instruments.... oh wait... three... yarn) musical instrument addiction is the most dangerous. And luckily, I don't have some people's Gucci or Jimmy Chou preferences, my shoe problem is monetarily under control with nothing much richer than Borne .

So I'll count my blessings and say it's OK to buy beautiful things like my new mountain dulcimer I bought at Old Songs!