Our winter has been just as busy as any other time in our lives. We enjoyed our Christmas visit with Elizabeth, Zak, and baby Lucy, and will miss her dearly in the coming months… but that is the road we have all chosen. Just as they could never leave Kentucky, we could never leave Colorado. Home is home.

The new semester has begun, and we’ve enjoyed some beautiful outings and adventures. Mythili, Isabella, sixteen other Girl Scouts, and seven other parents joined me in mid-January for Girl Scout troop camping just outside of Estes Park. WE watched movies (that MacBook and LCD projector come in handy!), sewed, made crafts, sang songs, snowshoed and sledded, and had an amazing weekend without a tear in sight!

Snow has been lingering in and out since the first of January, somewhat hindering my bicycle commuting. Fortunately, my dad gave me his trainer so I can ride in the family room. I’ve been trying to ride at least fourteen miles a day and take longer rides on the weekends in preparation for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic that I will participate in on Memorial Day weekend with a co-worker. If you’re too busy to look at the web site, it is a race against the Durango-Silverton train, with an elevation gain of 5600 feet (we’re climbing a mountain!!), that is fifty miles long. Should be a challenge! I’ve been trying to put the trainer on the highest resistance for at least half the time I’m riding. Going from that to the bike is like putting on wings, enabling me to ride the Vittetoe Express all the way to the zoo and back last Saturday with all three girls (thirty miles). More about that here.

Meanwhile, both Isabella and Mythili are taking ballet class after school once a week, and Riona has begun gymnastics (finally). She just learned how to complete a forward roll, and has been endlessly showing us, she is so proud! Now, of course, Isabella and Mythili want to take gymnastics again, so we have reluctantly agreed to sign them up for the spring course.

The last bit of business is selling Girl Scout cookies, which is quite another job within itself. Perhaps I should have been an accountant! Keeping up with all the orders and money is time-consuming, but just thinking about all the fun ways our troop will spend it (we’re already planning a unit camp in July) makes it worthwhile. Both girls sold 75 boxes this year, and they have already written thank-you cards for all their customers. I’m so proud of their commitment to Girl Scouts! It’s such a great organization, and I hope they stick with it all the way through high school.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Riona is hard at work breaking the candy.

For the past couple of years I have been making the old-fashioned candy my mom always made during my childhood. It was always a tradition I loved, so I decided to make it a tradition for our family. I started early this year so I would have enough time to make it all before Christmas. The house has been full of a mixture of aromas including licorice, cinnamon, and spearmint. Riona loves to help me break the candy into the little pieces once it has cooled and hardened. All the girls love the candy and a day doesn’t go by without them begging for another piece. We can’t wait to hand out the little goodie bags full of candy as presents this year. If you get one we hope you enjoy it. The recipe I use is below, so you can make some for yourself.

ingredients:

2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 dram LorAnn flavoring oil* (1 dram is approximately 1 teaspoon)
Liquid food coloring
Powdered sugar
Candy thermometer
Aluminum foil

Directions:

1. The first thing I do is get my aluminum foil pan ready. The foil I use is the Reynolds Wrap Easy Release Non-Stick. If you don’t have that you may want to lightly grease the pan to prevent the candy from sticking. I use about a 12 inch by 12 inch piece of foil. Fold up the sides of the foil to make four walls. This should make a simple pan that is about 10 inch by 10 inch or so.
2. Next, in a mid to large sauce pan mix together the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Make sure all the sugar is wet before heating. I heat the mixture on high but medium high may work as well. Bring the sugar mixture to a boil without stirring and insert the candy thermometer. Continue to cook the mixture until the soft crack temperature or about 275 degrees and then add the color. No need to stir, the boiling action will incorporate the color. I use 4 to 8 drops of food color, depending on how dark or light or the mixture of colors needed. Experiment! Once the candy mixture has reached the hard crack temperature or about 300 degrees, remove the mixture from the heat and add the liquid flavoring oil. Stir. Use caution when stirring in the flavoring as steam may rise from the mixture.
3. Now pour the candy mixture into your foil pan making sure it is evenly distributed. When the candy begins to harden but still somewhat soft, fold down the foil walls and score crisscrossed lines to form small candy squares. I use a pizza cutter to do this. This will make for easy breaking when the candy is cooled. Wait till the candy is completely cooled and carefully break the candy squares apart. I dust my hands with powdered sugar to do the breaking and then dust the finished candy with powder sugar to prevent sticking.
4. Enjoy the intense aromas that will fill your home after making this candy!

I owe credit for this recipe to my mama, who taught it to me and has reminded me of various details over the years. Thank you mama!

* The LorAnn flavoring oils can be found on their website or at a local candy/cake supply store.

Isabella – “I don’t want to be a normal person!” Isabella exclaims this when Karen explains to her that “normal people” don’t get the summer off of work.

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf