Reading instructions for my up-side-down blog.

Just start with the blog titled, Food, Gratitude and Joy, in the side menu; then work your way to the top.
Thanks for your patience!

P.S. The food section is for the grandchildren.

I need help! How do I get the blog to come out in the order I would like? AND, how do I get more than one picture transferred from Picassa to my blog?

Here is a fun video of Jason doing his dance.

Jason

Cooking lesson - Leavening Agents
To leaven means to make light and porous (full of pores or tiny cells). A leavening agent causes cakes and breads to rise. Leavening agents include:
1. Air enclosed in beaten egg white as in sponge cake.
2. Steam, as in pop-overs.
3. Baking powder.
4. Soda and sour milk (or acid ingredient such as cream of tartar)
5. Yeast

More about how leavening agents work next post.

Last but not least, GRATITUDE. Gratitude is a leavening agent in our lives. It smooths out the rough days and allows us to feel peace amidst trouble. I am grateful for each of you. I love being your grandmother and your Mom!
Lots of love,
Grandma Davis and Mom
Questions? Suggestions? Comments? I would love to read or hear them!

Serve hot! I like to split open (separate top and bottom) and spread with jam, but it is also very good accompaniment to chicken dinner.

Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated, hot oven 450 degrees for 11 minutes. (If using convection air, reduce time to 7 1/2 minutes.)

Cut out biscuits with a 2 1/2 inch cutter using a straight down cut.

The dough is now ready to roll or pat out to 1/2 inch thickness.

Mix milk and flour mix with a fork, just until the dough follows the fork around the bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead the dough just 12 times, turning and pushing with the palm of your hand. (Do not over handle the dough or the biscuits will be tough and heavy.)

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add milk all at once.

Measure all dry ingredients and sift into mixing bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the margarine or butter into the flour mixture, until the size of peas.

Recipe time

First assemble utensils and all ingredients. After you measure each one, put the ingredient away.

Food & Gratitude ---> Joy!

I am going to start with joy!

"the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness -- year, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul..."*

I just had to share it with you since it was a cold overcast day with some sprinkles of rain here. Some days seem dark and gloomy but this scripture reminds me of the true source of joy. May you find joy as you notice the tender mercies of God in your life.

* Can you find this scripture reference?



Now for FOOD. This is a simple recipe for children to make. Try it this week!

I will try to get some pictures; but I just need to start now or this will not get done.



[This is an attempt to share some cooking lessons with any of the grandchildren who are interested. Please give me suggestions for improvements.]



My Favorite Biscuits



1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup shortening or margarine

3/4 cup milk



Follow picture directions or use the following standard directions:
Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Cut in shortening, with pastry blender, till like coarse crumbs. Push flour mixture up the sides of the bowl to form a depression or "well"; add milk all at once. Stir quickly with fork just till dough follows fork around bowl.* Turn onto lightly floured surface. (Dough should be soft.) Knead gently with floured hands 10 to 12 strokes. Roll or pat dough 1/2 inch thick. Dip 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter in flour; cut dough straight down. Bake on ungreased baking sheet on lower shelf of oven at 450 degrees about 12 minutes. Makes 10 biscuits. Serve hot, with jam, honey or marmalade.

*The more you handle the dough, the tougher the biscuits will be.

Almost home!

We say goodbye to paradise... and look forward to family visits!



The Recife Temple...
The gardens...

and the fountain;

The Brazil Recife Mission... President and Sister Emerick.


And say hello to America the beautiful, to children and grandchildren...
Our welcome home sign made by the Groll family and displayed by Brayden and Spencer. We played tennis, did some walking, saw a soccer game, played lots of catch with the twins, enjoyed piano playing, reading, scripture time and family prayers.


Davis, Andria and Brianna get ready for a Rook game. Meanwhile, Jeanette dips out double-decker ice cream cones.


To top off our visit we got involved in Christian's Eagle Project plans and made sample puppets with him for his project proposal.

We had an adventurous trip to Connecticut via plane and train, lugging lots of luggage.


We took a hike together. This tree was up-rooted, but is still growing. We avoided toe catchers, found some blossoms and a great view of New Haven. From the top of the hill we could see Jared's lab.
The special crown on top of Kelly's head seems to be attached to the end of Matthew's hand. Hmm... could it be two fingers?



Whitney and Katelyn enjoy blowing bubbles in the rain after a trip to the dollar store.



New Sunday clothes for Matthew, Whitney and Katelyn... and Easter Sunday smiles!
It is heavenly to be with family! We look forward to seeing more families!

Small Snail that likes to glide in the rain.

It is always fun to take pictures on the temple grounds. There are six full-time gardeners who keep the grounds looking beautiful. There are a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees.
We can see this fountain from our apartment window. The temple grounds are an oasis of beauty in the midst of a big, busy city.
The temple is an oasis of peace and truth in a world of trouble, turmoil, and deceit.
Now as for the snail, it is small and nearly all white and it glides across the wet sidewalk. A small reminder of the variety of creations in the world.

Snails can be beautiful

It`s coming, and it`s big. Well, maybe you can guess how big by the size of the blades of grass and the curb. The snail has traveled a long way to get here. It started in the middle of the street which is way back behind, at the other end of this curb. We watched it progress as we were doing our morning exercise. We looked for it each time we made a circuit around the temple grounds. It crossed the street successfully. It managed to go up to the top of the curb. By that time we were finished with our exercise. I just had to get a picture, so I got our camera and went back out to find the snail.
The reason this photo is a bit fuzzy must be because the subject was moving so fast? Imagine if you were carrying your house on your back; you would think this was a fast house moving job.


I took lots of photos, trying to figure out how to take close-ups with our camera. (I told Andrew in Japan when we bought the camera that I was just an aim and shoot photographer, so he didn't need to confuse me with details. Now I needed some details.) I tried push and turning buttons and knobs to improve the picture. I also had problems trying to keep the camera steady. If I rested it on the curb, it was too close. I was not willing to lie flat on my stomach on the pavement of a parking stall to take the picture. I could not even look at the viewer to see if I was aimed right. So I went home thinking that none of the pictures were any good. I determined to get at least one good snail picture. The next day I looked up on the internet how to adjust our camera for close-ups. For more than a week we did not see any snails. Then we saw only a couple of small ones. [See the next blog.]
Just when I decided I would have to settle for a shot of a small snail I down-loaded all my pictures from the camera and discovered that I had some pics of the big snail that would at least be interesting. Now you must understand that "big" is a relative term, but this snail was at least 3 to 3 1/2 inches long and about an inch wide.

Old Church and Good Ice Cream

This post was meant to be second in the series; I might learn how to blog eventually.
This church was rebuilt or remodeled several times. The original was built in the 1500's.


Olinda has a great ice cream shop, and we ended our visit with a treat. Left to right: W'Andre (a young man that volunteers in the Family History Center), Elder Davis, Sister Davis, Elder Ron Burrup (Sister Sheran Burrup is taking the photo.)

Snails or Olinda (which means Oh, beautiful)

(This was supposed to be the beginning of the Olinda blogs.)
It is a good thing that I can dig into past photo files since my attempt this morning to snap a picture of a nice big* interesting snail was less than acceptable.


These photos were taken last October, when we visited Olinda for the third time and remembered to take our camera and use it, and Elder and Sister Burrup took lots of good shots too. Olinda is an old city, founded in the 1500's. It has beaches, hills, old cathedrals, and a lot of tourist shops. We hailed a taxi to get a ride from the beach to the top of the hill. We tried a couple of different taxis, but they would only hold four people plus the driver, and we had five in our group. Rather than pay two taxi fares Dad decided to do a fast walk to the top. We saw the church pictured in the second part of the series, and by then he was at the top. Quite the exercise! (Dad and I had a tour of the church before and were even shown an inner room with all the costly robes and apparell. This time, even with a guide, we could not go in that room.)



Some streets are quite steep and most are cobblestone, or asphalt over old cobblestone. This picture includes a view of Recife in the distance. While I was checking out great vistas, Dad checked on the size of mosquitoes in the area. With his aversion to mosquitoes and allergic reaction to their bites, you would think he wouldn't get within ten feet of one if it could be avoided.



Actually, we talked him into this pose. (You can determine the size this critter yourself.)
*Big in this case means about three inches stem to stern.

It is about time that I put up a post. This picture was taken at the Christmas Social for women temple workers. It included a program, a short play, some choral music, and a game. Then we got to eat. As you can see there was a variety of food. With lots of refills and new things to sample waiting in the kitchens.