We have relatives!!!

I guess I get to stop whining about not having any family around. I've had more family lately than I know what to do with...and it's been great. It's been nice the last few years having 2 siblings in Boise, and this month we added one more. Kirstin and Fred have lived in North Carolina for almost 7 years and they have finally moved this way. They were here visiting last week with the kids, something that I expect will be happening with much more regularity now. Siri is the only one of my kids who really has cousins her age, at least on my side of the family, and she knows Alex and Riley pretty well. I'm glad she's getting the chance to know Ashton, Rori, Gage, and Jaxson better too.





Those kids, especially Siri, Ashton, and Rori spent most of the night up in the tree. Gage sure wanted to be a big kid too.

We also had another surprise visit from Devin's Grandparents. It's always nice when they are here. It's fun for all the kids since they are so good to them all. It's fun for my kids to get to be with Devin's sisters too.

Siri just loves Jade and Sierra. She once tried to get me to tell me what their relationship was to her. I couldn't quite get her to understand that there really isn't a word for it. Autumn calls Dave her step dad and the girls her stepsisters but that didn't quite seem right. She tried cousin, but that's not quite right either. We discussed the fact that they are all Devin's half sisters - making them quarter sisters? But we don't speak in terms of half siblings in our family. She finally accepted that they are her good friends.


This was the group that hung out all week. I'm thinking Grandma and Grandpa must be exhausted by now, not used to so many kids running around. We are so lucky to have such a great extended family.

A Couple of Ways With Curry

Someone asked me what I do with curry powder. I'm not sure how she knew I'm a fan of curry but I thought I'd post a couple of my favorite easy curry recipes. I have a more involved one for Green Curry too that we love and it's posted on Recipezaar if anyone wants to try it out. These are easy, family friendly, not too spicy but oh so yummy chicken dishes that we love as a family. Only one has curry powder but I hope I'll be forgiven.

Grilled Chicken with Curry Glaze

1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. prepared mustard
1/4 c. butter or margarine
2 T. finely chopped onion
2 T. water or fruit juice (I use apple)
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ginger
chicken - I use thighs but can use breasts, or whole cut up chicken
salt and pepper

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a small sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to a boil. Stir and cook 2 minutes more; remove from heat and set aside. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Grill meat until nearly done. Brush curry sauce on the meat during the last part of the cooking time. Turn and coat the other side. Keep turning and adding sauce until the sauce is used up, allowing 1 or 2 minutes between turns to allow the sauce to cook onto the meat.

Chicken in Peanut Curry

2 (15 oz) cans coconut milk
2 T red curry paste
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
4 tsp sugar
4 tsp fish sauce
4 chicken breasts, diced
1 T minced garlic
1 onion, cut into wedges


In a medium saucepan heat coconut milk, curry paste, peanut butter, sugar, and fish sauce until they come to a very small boil. Set aside. Stir fry onion and garlic. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through. Add sauce and cook until slightly thickened. Season with salt if needed. Serve over rice. May also add fresh basil and/or cilantro if desired. This would also be good with any of the following: red pepper, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, chopped peanuts. Whatever sounds good to you.

CLOSED FOR BUSINESS: Keolani's Courier Service

Since the dawn of time the secretary's at my kid's schools have known who I am. For the obvious reasons, but also for another one. I have raised the most forgetful kids on the planet. In elementary school it was glasses and lunches. Now it's SSR books, homework, paper lunch sacks (for what? twice? in two days? give me a break) and orchestra dresses. Every time a kids calls, I drop what I'm doing, rearrange my life, go into the school and let the secretary give me the look. You know the look. The one that says "You're an idiot and so are your kids." My sister, who has finished raising her kids, told me that she had a very strict rule about bringing things to the school once a year for each kid. I thought that was crazy. Once? What if they are hungry? What if they can't see? What if they get a bad grade? In third grade. Because it matters then? Well, at this point I'm saying ENOUGH!!!! I have NOT raised responsible, independent people. And the oldest is the worst one! She has called me 3, I repeat 3 times this week. The first time I said "no way." Then she had the nerve to say "that's ok, I can't bring it tomorrow." Let me get this right. You were going to make me drop everything, rearrange my life, go into the school and let the secretary give me the look, but you don't really need it? The next day she called again for the same item. So, of course, I say "no way." "That's ok," she said. "We have enough without mine." ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME????? Does she not realize that my going to her school could make the difference in whether I get breakfast or not? I work till 2:30 with no lunch. Breakfast is not optional. So today she calls again. Obviously fearful. She doesn't need to be fearful, just very, very, very, very sorry. She forgot her orchestra dress to turn in. Now, this is something I can get on board with. She doesn't turn it in and it costs me money. I think Kathy had it right - I hate when that happens. Next year I'm thinking they each have one (maybe two, maybe three - you see my problem here) chance. Maybe being hungry once will teach them.

The Food From Devin's Birthday

BBQ BABY BACK RIBS

3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 1/4 c. ketchup
1 3/4 c. low-sodium chicken broth, divided
7 T. soy sauce, divided
6 T. (packed) brown sugar
4 1/2 T. molasses
3 T. red wine vinegar
4 large racks baby back pork ribs

8 T. chili powder, divided

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Press garlic through garlic press into pan. Stir 30 seconds. Mix in ketchup, 3/4 c. broth, 3 T. soy sauce, brown sugar, molasses, and vinegar. Bring sauce to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until reduced to 3 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle each side of each rib rack with salt, pepper, and 1 T. chili powder. Arrange 2 racks on each of 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Position 1 oven rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third; preheat to 450 degrees. Pour 1/2 cup of remaining broth and 2 T. of remaining soy sauce around ribs on each sheet cover each with foil. Bake ribs 30 minutes; reverse sheets. Bake ribs until tender, about 45 minutes longer. Uncover, cool slightly. Cut each rib rack between bones into individual ribs. Brush ribs generously with sauce.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill ribs until heated through and slightly charred, turning occasionally and brushing with more sauce, about 10 minutes.

BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE

3/4 c. cocoa powder
3/4 c. boiling water
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. canola oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Mix cocoa and boiling water. Mix buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla together. Mix dry ingredients together. mis dry ingredients into buttermilk/oil mixture. Mix in cocoa. Pour into two greased and flowred 9-inch pans. Bake until at 350 degrees approximately 30 min.

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1/2 c. butter
2 2/3 c. powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/3 c. milk or cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter. Blend in cocoa powder, vanilla, and sugar, alternately with the cream. Beat with an electric mixer until desired texture is achieved.

Another Teenager

As occasionally happens, Devin's birthday fell on Memorial Day this year. 13 years old! Can you believe it? I want to say that it seems like yesterday but that would be a lie. It's been a rough 13 years for him but he has overcome so much and is such a fantastic guy. Since it was Memorial Day we wanted to have some families over for a BBQ, but Devin is more of a one-on-one type so we invited his good buddy Christian over. Christian is the one looking down or away in every picture. What a funny kid.

It has finally gotten hot (yay) at least for a little while so the kids took advantage of that and spent most of the day in the pool. Hey, don't laugh, it's the closest thing we have to a pool.

And then some BBQ babyback ribs. We loved them. I made enough to feed an army but somehow we managed to eat most of them. Devin and Christian were definitely helpful in that.

I thought Autumn was being anti-social. I had to get a picture of how far away she was from the rest of us. I thought she was just being too cool for us and needed to be alone with her phone. Then Rob pointed out that while the rest of us were roasting under the hot sun, she was feeling just peachy in the shade. Personally, I've been craving a day like that for so long I was happy to roast in the sun.

I really wanted to get a good picture of Devin and me on his birthday. Or even just one of him but he wasn't having that. Today I got smart. I asked him if he was in a good mood. Yes. The I asked "Are you in one of those I-love-my-mom-and-just-want-to-make-her-happy type of places?" He seemed a little suspicious but said he was. That's how I got this cute picture of my boy. Love you Devin. I'm so happy I had you 13 years ago.

Spoon Me

A few weeks ago I was in a situation where we were trying to fit seven grown women in a small car. Why we were doing that is totally unimportant to the story. I didn't pay attention to what kind of car so I'll just say a Camry. It was small like that. To fit four of us in the back we all kind of sat on our hips instead of our butts. You know...spooning. I made some joke about my friendship with Shannon being complete now that we've spooned. One of the other ladies, who will remain nameless, asked what spooning was. We all explained it and she thought it was an inside joke. No, we insisted, it's a real thing that everyone knows about. Well, she didn't believe it.

Later we were driving around and saw this sign.

It's an ice-cream shop. How funny is that? But wait, it gets better.

I'm still not sure that it was enough to convince her. But we all know what spooning is. Right?

Sister Trip to Vegas

In January (or February, who can remember that long?) we got the call. My cousin Barbara was getting married. This was cause for much rejoicing for Aunt Helen because, well, it's Barbara's turn. I talked to my sisters and we decided that this wedding was one we needed to support. It didn't hurt that it was in Las Vegas. So Mother's Day weekend we all met up together. It was soooooooo much fun. I love hanging out with my sisters! We walked around doing the tourist thing, had a spa day, layed out by the pool and did all the "normal" things but we also had to do some things that are more typical for the Holzendorf girls. Yep. I'm talkin about FOOD. We spent hours wandering around a fantastic International Market checking out foods from different countries. We had all left our suitcases half empty so we could bring back foods from the market. So much fun. The other main activity was Buffet Challenge 2009, which I'm sorry (or maybe glad) to say I lost miserably. What is that you ask? Just what it sounds like. 3 hours a night at the buffet and the first one to cry uncle looses. UNCLE!

This was us at the wedding reception. That is, after all, the reason for the trip (wink, wink). It was about 98 degrees which caused a lot of complaints - but not from me. I loved every minute.

I don't know these people at all but I thought it was funny. The mom told the kid to go put his feet in the pool. So he did. She never said to take off his shoes. Maybe it's not funny to anyone else but I was cracking up.

Here are the cousins. Well, the ones that made it. From left to right: Me, Barbara - she's the one in white :) - David, Stan, Bonnie, Kirstin, and Kathy. David is Barbara's brother and walked her down the aisle. He kind of got the worse hot weather outfit. It's even warmer than the wedding dress. The things we do for the people we love.


I don't know these people either. We were leaving Serendipity where we had just had a fantastic lunch of Black and Blue Burger (black pepper bacon and blue cheese YUMMO!) and sweet potato fries when we saw this LOVELY wedding party on the street. We were laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. I wish you could see it better. It's not just hot pink, it's hot pink and green. That's Vegas for ya.