July 2, 2012

Outside Temp: 62 F (it was pretty warm today, in the high 80's... except our little field trip, where it was probably in the high 90's... uck.  I don't like the heat.  At least it cooled off nicely!)
What I cooked today:
French Toast: I spoiled the kids with breakfast.  Connor doesn't like eggs (oh, that is going to suck when we soon have more eggs than we can eat), and I didn't feel like making pancakes.  So, we ended up with french toast, which they gobbled up. 

Mexican Lasagna (with homemade salsa!): When I made this a few weeks ago, the kids complained that the store bought salsa I used was too hot and spicy.  Ah, the joys of cooking for a bunch of spoiled brats, I mean, children.  So, I found a recipe for salsa and started playing around.  I roasted an Aniheim chili (instead of a jalapeno) and mixed together onions, garlic, salt, a little sugar, canned tomatoes and about 1/4 of the chili.  Patrick wanted me to add a little cumin, and I think it added a little something.  Then, I added the lime juice and cilantro.  Awesome salsa, and not hot at all!  I used it in my mexican lasagna, and everyone said it was great!  Woo hoo!

Update:
Today, we went out to Ulm to see the 'First People's Buffalo Jump', which I think used to be called the Pishkin.  When we were kids, we heard stories about how the Native American's used to run thousands of buffalo off cliffs, and how one tribe couldn't eat it all, so it all went to waste.  At least, that was the story I was told (or at least how I remember it).
So, today, we went out to where this actually occured.  As the curator explained, it was a time before the horses and guns and wiskey made all the tribes lazy and spoiled.  And multiple tribes would come to this location to run the buffalo off the cliff, and then they would share in the food and hides.  And, he explained, it was about 150 buffalo, not thousands.  The reason they would have to kill them all was not because they were wasteful, it was because if a buffalo experienced the jump and lived to 'tell about it', the other buffalo would never fall for it again.  So, they had to kill all the survives, so no one would live to 'tell the tale'.

It was a great center and really informative.  The butte doesn't look that steep from the ground, until you get right up on it.  Yea, it's pretty steep.  And the best (or worst, if you're a buffalo) part is that you can't tell there is a drop, until you are right up on it.  It looks just like a normal rolling hill. 

The only bad part was that it was hot.  And I hate the heat.  But the kids did great and didn't start getting snippy until later in the afternoon.  I'm so glad we went, since I've been meaning to go up there, since we got here!
So, when we got home, Ryan ran out to check on the chicks, and came running back into the house, really upset.  The chickens were gone!  Oh yea, Grandpa and Allen came down while we were gone, and moved the chickens up to their new chicken coop at the Grandparents' place.  They have a ton more space and a big coop.  Of course, they weren't quite sure what to do with all that space, but I'm sure they'll get used to it!